Aesop // Fabulous Face Cleanser and Parsley Seed Toner [v] [CF]

 Aēsop. The store that nobody ever pronounces correctly or can justify spending $60 on watery cleansers chock-a-block of herbs. Well, that's what I thought to begin with, at least. 

I could be slightly biased on how I found these products as I did receive them as a gift and, well, free stuff is always going to be fantastic. It's like those cheap bags of popcorn you receive at university open days that are the best things your taste buds have ever had the privilege of being acquainted with. Yes, I just compared a 100ml bottle of cleanser to a bag of popcorn.

Enough rambling, lets get down into the nitty gritty details of Aēsop's Fabulous Face Cleanser and Parsley Seed Anti-Oxidant Facial Toner.

Despite every drop being too precious for my empty wallet to even consider, the cleanser wasn't an overly exciting product, as it didn't really seem to do the best job at cleaning my face after a day out.

I might consider this as being more of a morning cleaner, with it's pungent citrusy scent and cool, watery formula being rather refreshing. It's definitely fit for sensitive skin, too. It doesn't strip your skin of it's natural oils, and whilst it isn't non-comedogenic, it didn't seem to clog my pores either. 

It surprisingly lathers up quite nicely too. I still don't know if I could justify spending $40-$65 on 100ml-200ml of this stuff. 

As for the toner, I definitely may consider splurging. I've had mine for over a year now (I know, I'm terrible) and it's still going strong as  little goes a long way with this toner. I apply this straight after a shower and allow for it to dry into my skin before moisturising. The next morning I find my skin to be soft and primed for makeup. It's soothing on angry flare ups and helps to reduce inflammation. It's also surprisingly hydrating as well. 

Will I be repurchasing these products again? Most likely not on my student budget as there are better drugstore products out there for a quarter of the price, but they certainly are luxurious products to use after a long week. 

What do you think of Aēsop products? Do you have any favourites you swear by? We'd love to hear!

Until next time,

Essence Eyeliners...cheap as pencils [v] [CF]

Cheap eyeliners. Now now, stop with the mental cringes. They can sometimes be alright. See thing is, I can never quite justify splurging on glorified eye pencils... I understand that with a higher price comes a heightened staying power, increased pigmentation etcetera etcetera, but eyeliner isn't too bad with staying on the old eyes for me so I'm perfectly fine with buying $2 liners. 

Liquid liners are definitely a different case for me with factors such as flaking, colour pay off, ink quality and the like. 

I've found a brand where quality isn't overly compromised with a cheaper price. Essence has been talked about within the Australian blogger community before, and I thought that it was time for me to jump on the bandwagon and see what all the fuss was about.

I'll begin with the kajal pencils. I found the ever-so-ingeniously named "white" shaded pencil to be a great highlighter. Not only in the inner corners and on my browbone, but also across the very tops of my cheeks. Sounds weird, but the formula allows me to easily warm up the colour on my finger, and apply any where I want to highlight. It provides a lovely brightening affect to the eyes when applied how I have above, or allows for your eyes to appear larger when applied across your waterline. I blend it in with "Feel The Mari-Time" shade which really helps to open your eyes (no no, don't put down the coffee. I'll get back to you when I do find an energy boosting liner. You know I really should consider a career in inventing).

Both shades are relatively long-lasting and generally don't need a touch up during the day. They won't bleed on your eyes either, and are very much build-able and blend-able. Both retailed at $2 each (I couldn't express my excitement at a single digit price tag. Like come on, this stuff could be bought with couch cash).

The 2 in 1 eyeliner pen has worked itself into my handbag essentials this month. With two ends allowing you to either opt for a dramatic, thick line or a thin, precise line, a variety of looks can be created. The world of cat eyes is your oyster. The only thing I'm not so big on is the formula that seems to fade as the day passes. Re-touching your work is easy and effortless though, so I'm not overly fussed. For $6, I'm really not complaining ("What $6, mum? No, I'm sure I gave that change back to you"). 

What's your take on the Essence liners? Have you tried any Essence products lately? Do you have a cheap eyeliner you swear by? We would love to hear in the comments below!

Until next time,

Have you read... A Frank Review ...?

A Frank review

Hello lovely humans of the internet, Emily here,

Let's be frank (I apologise for the pun, but it was there and there was no chance that I wasn't going to take it)...scrubs are difficult. Maybe it's just me, but I've never been able to find the perfect body scrub. They're either far too fine or uncomfortably coarse; overly oily or completely dry; horrifically pungent or not fragranced enough etcetera etcetera etcetera. Well today, I've come to tell you about the scrub I've found to check all the right boxes. 

Today I'm reviewing the well-renowned body scrub, Frank.

With Frank across every platform of social media, there is no doubt that this sweet-talking coffee scrub is sweeping across the nation, into everyone's bathrooms.

I've currently trialled two of Frank's scrubs; the Coconut Coffee Scrub and the Original Coffee Scrub. In my opinion so far, the Coconut Coffee Scrub is my favoured one. It leaves less residue on my skin,  seems to be slightly less moist and has a fragrance more up my alley. It's supposed to be the one best suited for sensitive skin, but quite honestly, other than not leaving behind as much oil as the Original scrub, it's not too much different in this department.

Both promise to target cellulite, stretch marks, psoriasis, varicose veins, eczema, acne and scarring with roasted and ground robusta coffee beans. I went ahead and did a little extra research to find out the benefits of coffee for the skin. I've received the following information from this site here.

What I've discovered, is that through the power of coffee, your skin's strength and facial elasticity is greatly improved, as is the production of collagen and elastin, thus classifying it as an antioxidant. Along with the help of chlorgenic acid to reduce puffiness and redness and caffeine to smoothen any roughness, lines or wrinkles, any acne or scarring of the skin is combated over a short period of time through the use of a coffee scrub.

The Original Coffee Scrub contains brown sugar and sea salt to smoothen your skin, and almond oil to nourish, repair and tone. The Coconut Coffee Scrub replaces the almond oil with grapeseed and coconut oil to hydrate and repair, and smoothens the skin with the help of coconut flakes and jojoba beads in addition to the original recipe of brown sugar and sea salt.

From my own experience, after three weeks of scrubbing my problem areas and leaving the product to dry on my skin for around ten minutes, every other day, any scarring and acne is visibly reduced in size and redness. 

As for smoothening your skin, Frank does the job like no other. After most uses, I find I don't even need to moisturise as my skin is left feeling soft and rejuvenated. 

The fragrance is rather pungent, so if you don't like the smell of coffee, you may take a while getting used to it. But I can promise you once you get used to the aroma, you'll be best buddies with Frank. 

I can highly recommend this little guy to anyone on the hunt of a high quality scrub for a low price. 

Until next time, 

Have you read...A Salty Beginning...?

A Salty Beginning...

Picture from Tumblr

After a year of  introductions and rejoicing over our passion for all things beauty, fashion, travel, food and everything in between, we’ve finally decided to create a place for us to write until our heart’s content on all of our favourite topics.

It was December 26, 2014 when Bella and Emily - full of Christmas food and Boxing Day prosperity - created the ingeniously named beauty, fashion and lifestyle blog, Sea Salt Sirens, the very website you, lovely human, are sitting on.

So may we all raise our glasses to the beginning of an exciting journey of quality content, written by two sixteen year olds who are still on a journey themselves.

All of our social platforms can be found above the website’s profile picture. If you would like to email us, you can do so here: seasaltsirens@gmail.com.

If you would like to get to know the two blondes behind the blog, visit the “Meet The Team” tab in our navbar.

See you on the flipside with our next post!