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REN Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial

Want a little pampering but totally pressed for time? You and me both, chica! REN’s Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial (R470, Woolworths) is a one minute mask that promises to blitz the look of tired, grey skin in a mere 60 seconds.

How does it work? It contains encapsulated vitamin C (10% – very nice!) that’s totally stable and only comes to ‘life’ when it makes contact with water. I’m a big fan of vitamin C as it’s a great antioxidant, helps boost collagen and can even out your skin tone while giving your skin a li’l ‘energy boost’.

Also in the mix? Boswellic Acid from a certain type of bark that, REN reckon, can relax ‘micro-contraction of facial tissue to help smooth lines’ and a marine glucose mineral to boost skin energy and radiance.

The mask is a weird texture. Kind of like an oily, slightly gritty (but not exfoliating) mint green paste that smells like oranges. You’re to smooth it over your face and then apply a little water and then wait one minute before rinsing and I’ve been doing the ‘water activation’ bit by spritzing it with a thermal water spray. I find this keeps more product on my skin as opposed to splashing my face with water.

I then leave it on for two minutes as opposed to one – ‘cos I’m a hard guns girl – and then take it off with a baby wipe. Afterwards, my skin feels refreshed and a little bit dewier, but the difference isn’t astounding. In all fairness though, when I use the product on the back of one hand and then compare it to the other, the treated hand definitely does look less ‘mottled’ in comparison to the other so I’m assuming that marine mineral or the vitamin C itself has worked some magic in regards to improving my skin’s microcirculation.

In all, this is a nice, easy to use, one-minute treat for a busy girl (or boy) on the go and will be hitting the shelves in September. (Can you believe that’s less than a week a way? It felt like I was wrapping Christmas presents only yesterday.)

Invisibobble launches a Pastellicious line

Haven’t heard of Invisibobble? It looks a bit like an old dial-up telephone cord (remember those?!) and is made from smooth, super-flexi plastic. It’s design ensures its ‘grip’ is evenly distributed so it’s not going to leave a dent in your hair when you take it out. It’s also less likely to snap and break your hair, leading to split ends.

Anyway, the bestselling bobble’s now launched a new Pastellicious collection consisting of four pastel hues – mint, lavender, duck egg blue and butter yellow – just in time for spring.

I was given a 3-pack of the lavender version (the official shade name is Spring Fling) and it’s been my go-to hair band every time I’ve wanted to tie my hair up around the house. It really does what it says in regards to no ‘denting’ and I like that you can use it a zillion times and it doesn’t seem to lose its grip.

Want one? You’ll find them in selected salons as well as retailbox.co.za and rubybox.co.za going for R110 for a pack of three.

Lashem Colour Stroke liquid eyeliner

Lashem is a new cruelty and paraben-free cosmetics lines that’s now available in selected Woolworths stores. Their hero product is a peptide-packed lash enhancing serum that promises longer, thicker lashes, but I’m going to chat about their liquid eyeliner (R295 and available in two shades – Blackest Black and Espresso).

Packaged in a cool-looking, expensive-feeling metallic ombre ‘pen and ink’-style bottle, it boasts a nice, finely pointed tip. The liner itself, Blackest Black, reall is jet black and remains that way when it dries, but doesn’t have a wet, vinyl-like finish – instead it looks as though you’ve used a koki pen*, which is the look I like best.

While I’m hardly a pro at applying liner, I found this especially easy to use and depending on the angle at which you hold your tip, you can create either a thick or fine line.

The only negative here is that it’s not waterproof or even very water-resistant – if you get caught in the rain or happen to catch Kevin’s funeral in My Girl (‘Where are his glasses? He can’t see without his glasses!’… Oh my freakin’ God!) you’re going to end up looking like that dude from The Crow. Still, that aside, this is a lovely liner.

Love, love

Leigh

*Did you guys know that the word ‘koki pen’ – much like ‘robot’ when referring to a traffic light – is unique to South Africa? For any foreign readers out there, please know this simply translates to ‘magic marker’.