Shopping The Beauty Department… On TV

Even though TV Shopping channels has been around for years, I can imagine it being a strange concept to people who are younger than me, especially with the ease of Internet shopping, but this kind of distribution is still a success in shifting large volumes of stock – albeit to an older, more traditional audience, but it does work! After all, it was the original ‘shopping from the comfort of your own home’.

I don’t have Sky or anything like that, so when there’s absolutely nothing on TV (which seems to be quite often these days!), I will put the home shopping channel on for a bit of background noise. But ONLY when it’s the beauty segments, though!

Usually, a rep or an expert from the brand’s head office talks through cult classics and new releases, and I’ve learned more from watching them than the advice given to me from sales assistants.

I find them really informative as they go in-depth about the brand and whatever they are selling… although they’d have to be pretty thorough when your segments are on for 2 hours long! Gotta fill that air time! 

But seriously, they go in to a lot of detail about one product as they describe it from top to bottom, inside out, front and back – from how to use it, different ways of getting the most of it, and the key ingredients. They know how to sell a product to the viewers, that’s for sure! The reps passion for what they’re selling rubs off on you and by the end, you’re like SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

What’s great about the major TV shopping channels is that they can shift a huge volume of product like you wouldn’t believe and due to the sheer quantity that they buy in, they can afford to transfer the discount on to the customer, so that’s probably why most things are a few bob cheaper than the high street. 

Sometimes brands give these channels exclusivity and launch products on there first. You’ll also often see exclusive gift sets that are made just for the channels, and I believe this has happened in the past with Benefit Cosmetics, Tarte, Liz Earle, Molton Brown, and Philosophy.

Recently, I learned that Ideal World TV has a beauty department and I’ve been gifted some of products they offer. They are brands that I’ve never heard of before and upon first impressions, they seem to fit in to their demographic (the older, more traditional audience that I mentioned), but I can see past that because it’s not about the packaging, as you know. 

I’ve tried many Glycolic acid face masks this year and this is top 5 of the ones I’ve tested. Glycolic acid is an exfoliator so this facial mask if formulated to remove dead skin cells (just as a regular exfoliator would) to give your face a smoother appearance. 

I love how smooth foot creams make my feet feel. It makes a big difference and good quality foot creams can smooth out cracked heels. 

Elizabeth Grant Hydra Cell Active foot cream features a number of highly moisturising  and hydrating ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, coconut oil, avocado oil, and shea butter. Anything combining those 4 ingredients is bound to help your skin feel moisturised!

When I was younger, I used to be desperate for a tan so if I had known about tan accelerators back then, this would’ve been on top of my beauty list! However, these days, I don’t like to mess around with my body’s natural melanin process. If I tan, then I tan. But if I don’t, then I’m not too bothered – I’ll reach for the self tan instead!

Zhuzh! Tan Accelerator does exactly what it says on the bottle. It helps the speed up the tanning process to give you a deeper tan in less time. The bottle is 200ml, so it’s a huge amount of product for £15.99 and it will last for several holidays! You mist it on to your skin and rub in to achieve an even tan. It doesn’t contain SPF so if you choose to use a product like this, don’t forget to apply sun cream!

Wet Brush are my favourite hair brushes and this is my 5th one! I have a low tolerance of pain when it comes to hair. Don’t know why, like! I should be more than used to it at the strength my mum used to yank at it when she did my hair when I was little, haha!

I think Wet Brush deserve more hype than original Tangle Teezers. It’s just my personal opinion but I fell for the hype of Tangle Teezers when they first launched – and I’ve mentioned this before – the way bloggers describe it as gentle and pain-free got me hook, line, and sinker. And maybe it’s just me, but the spikey bristles didn’t feel good on my scalp. Let’s just say that it wasn’t as “pain-free” as I expected. 

However, Wet Brush is amazing and I can not praise it enough. I know some might thinks it’s “just a hair brush” but when your long hair that gets tangled a lot, you’ll know the eye-watering pain of teasing those knots out. LOVE ‘EM!

I’ve been saving this rusty dark red lipstick for Winter! But now Winter has come round, my lips are too dry to wear lippy. Thankfully, Skinn Cosmetics Plasma Fusion Full Pigment Lipsticks have a moisturising core built in to it. The inner part of the lipstick is infused with organ oil and rosehip oil whilst the outer layer provides a vibrant colour of red.

Eyeliner pencils are my desert island product. It’s a question I get asked quite a lot; Which three beauty products would you bring if you were stranded on a desert island?

Eyeliners were the first make up product I ever bought for myself in Year 7 and I haven’t looked back since. My entire face looks dramatically different with and without eyeliner. Without it, I get those ‘oh you look tired’ comments, so I know I’m not alone in thinking that! Maybe it’s comments like those that I’ve given me a complex? I don’t know, but one cosmetic item I will never ever want to run out of is eyeliner! A total bonus if it happens to be waterproof too. Actually, no, I’ll tell you what the bonus is… it’s the sharpener hidden at the other end of the pencil. Brilliant! 

Last year, I went through a stage of using sheet masks all the time but I’ve somehow ended up with a pile of sheet masks that I’ve haven’t used yet. I shouldn’t be so precious about them since they are extremely convenient to use, especially when you’re strapped for time.

Beauty Pro Rejuvenating Collagen Masks sound like it’s an all-rounder and multi-tasker. It can help combat oily skin AND rehydrate dry areas at the same time. A box of these retail at £12.99 and contains 5 individual packs. 

These eye pads are soaked in a concentrated liquid (including Torricelumn, collagen, and Vitamin B5) that strengthens the skin under your eyes, so if you have tired, puffy eyes that need cooling and hydrating, these eye pads are a luxurious way of treating them. The formula is designed to lift, firm, smooth and brighten the eye area. 

Each box (£14.99) comes with 6 twin packets and you see best results when used once a week for 15 minutes.