which is rather unfortunate seeing as we're skint ;)
so what's all the fuss about then? it all started two weeks ago when i unexpectedly found myself in the dropdead gorgeous great eastern hotel for a breakfast pre-meeting meeting - no that isn't something that generally happens to me, it was a one off. anyway, i excused myself to touch up my lippy and check for stray cappuccino foam/croissant flakes before the main meeting, and while in the rather lovely walnut-lined ladies i helped myself to some handcream. as soon as i smelt it and as i felt it's silky smoothness melting into my skin i knew i would have to get some. in my rather nervous state i wasn't sure i'd remember the full name but i remembered enough when i got home that evening for google to recognise "cardamom honey handcream" as the needy cry of a woman searching for beautyexpert.co.uk: an online store offering, amid a dazzling array of top brands, ren starter packs and free samples. woo hoo! nowadays it's so hard to find the manufacturer amid the million shopping search sites. hate em. but a few wild guesses finally led me to the REN site. they claim to only use natural ingredients, avoiding unproven or unnecessary ingredients and known allergens (something horrendous like one third of the populations have an allergy to one of the dozens of potential allergens in everyday products. often preservatives, the whole parabens family and even, i was surprised to learn, what they call natural perfumes. things like limonene and cinnamal are, as you'd expect, extracts of lemon and cinnamon. but they are extracted in such a way as to get a pretty scathing review from the various allergy awareness websites) so this company relies on essential oils and plant extracts, stating the active ingredients and their source. the only thing i couldn't see up front was their testing policy which is rather worrying. you - or i, at least - rather expect a british cosmetics company, particularly one specialising in natural products, to also be against animal testing. it took a while to find out, but eventually i got the info i needed: they do indeed operate an anti-animal testing policy.
so we looked through the delights on offer, coughed and keeled over at the prices and eventually decided to go careful and get things we were certain of and the starter packs. i got a "normal" starter pack, despite having slightly sensitive and slightly dry skin. i decided that if they really are so groovy then my sensitive skin won't in fact be sensitive and the sensitivity is generally what leads to dryness... that is how i reasoned it out anyway. or it could just be that the normal range is based on roses. ah. i requested some combination skin samples for boo. he is a total convert to his mayflower balancing cream, and threatening to collect a fair range of products out of the men's catalogue (very clever marketing. same products, same company, same prices but renamed and packaged for the blokes.) i love the rose otto bath oil, rose face wash and the grapefruit body milk. then there's the monoi body oil - truly a luxury grooming product. let me tell you all about them in turn. when i get around to it... too busy submerging myself in a rose oil and milk bath at the moment...
i went to www.beautyexpert.co.uk for the starter/trial pack and REN's rather nice site can be found at www.renskincare.com
