Pixi Glow Tonic

A few years ago, when I was first getting Glossybox and Birchbox, I always remember Pixi being a brand that would pop up occasionally. Fast forward a few years now, and that mint green packaging can be seen everywhere, as it is a largely recognised brand in the beauty world.

Not only this, but one product in particular has even reached cult staple among beauty editors and bloggers, and that product is Glow Tonic.

This product is so exclusive, it can only be bought online, or in Liberty London.

As soon as I hear about anything being a cult favourite, I always jump at the opportunity to find it, because, well, it's got to be good surely?

Thankfully, working up in London, Liberty wasn't too far for me to go to get this product, so I strolled in one day and picked one up out of the large tubs they had displaying them.

For £18, this isn't the cheapest tonic on the market, but it is also not the most expensive, and with ingredients such as Aloe Vera, Ginsing, and a little glycolic acid, I knew I was investing into some ingredients that my skin really loved and thrived off.

Or so I thought.

From day 1 of using the tonic, I was getting the largest spots I've ever had in my life, all over my forehead and between my brows. I thought maybe as it's an exfoliation product, that perhoaps this was the products way of getting my skin to remove impurities? As I thought that, I proceeded to carry on using the tonic twice a day, however the spots were not reducing, and where actually getting really painful, to the point where I though I was getting a headache to find it was just the spots throbbing on my head.

I cut down using it to once a day, but still, the spots wouldn't go, until I finally gave it up to give my skin a rest. For a few weeks, the spots remained but were going down. 

Even though I am mid twenties and have never suffered from acne as a teen, I do think I have developed more problematic skin in my adult life, so I can't blame all my spots on this product, however I never usually break out on my forehead, in fact I break out everywhere else APART from my forehead, so it did seem strange to me that this product was only affecting my head.

A few weeks passed, and I saw the tonic sitting there, and I thought I would give it another try. As I said earlier, the ingredients have been ones that have really helped my skin in the past, such as Ginsing which is the main ingredient in my Origins moisturiser which I would rate as my favourite moisturiser. Aloe vera which has always helped soothe and quench my dehydrated skin and seen me through many a sunburn whilst travelling, and also Glycolic, which is in the Ren Glycolactic mask which has never irritated me before.

Perhaps I had been hormonal the first time round and that is why I broke out so bad? Maybe I didn't persevere with it long enough to see the full benefits? Maybe it was actually another product I was using in conjunction with it?

With all this going through my mind, I wiped on the tonic with real commitment. The smell is so gentle and floral, it reminded me of rose which is such a soothing ingredient, so surely this would be just as gentle? I was using only my basic skincare as my skin had become so horrendous, and I had been dabbling with new skincare so wanted to strip back to what I knew worked for me so I could find the root of the problem.

I cleansed with my trusty Caudalie cleansing milk, and was moisturing with my Green People 24 hour vit fix. Two very natural products that my skin drinks up, and nothing else.

Sure enough, the next day, I woke up to a throbbing pain on my head, and yes you guessed it, I looked in the mirror to find a huge, under the skin spot, pretty much in exactly the same place as before.

I think it is fair to say that this tonic is not for me at all. In fact, this product is the first product to actually give me a noticeably bad reaction. I am really dissapointed about it as I really wanted to love this product. Having sensitive skin, I loved the idea of a gentle exfoliater using fruity enzymes so I didn't have to use a scrub. The ingredients sounded delicious and I also think it just looks like a really luxurious product to have on your dressing table.

There are other products from Pixi that I would really like to try such as the cleansing balm, or even from the glow range the glow mud cleanser and the glow mask. 

Due to my reaction from this product though, I am a little apprehensive.

I would love to know why I had such a bad reaction to this product, as my friend who has very similar skin to myself gets on really well with this product, so she is now the owner of my barely used bottle.

Have you tried this product? If so let me know your thoughts on it, or if you know of a similar product, I'd love to try it out!

Sorry this was a long one!

If you want to read about any of the other products mentioned in this post I have left links to my reviews when you click on them.

My Top 5 Autumn/Winter Lipsticks

Lipstick is probably my favourite makeup staple out there. It really finishes off your makeup, and I feel my shade of lipstick can reflect how I'm feeling or the kind of person I want to be that day.

Winter in particular is a great time to experiment with a darker shade, a berry tone, or a more racy red you wouldn't wear any other time of year.

Here are my top 5 lipsticks for the Autumn/Winter seasons.

From left to right

'Diva' by Mac

In all honesty, I have really neglected this colour over the years, but it is a gorgeous deep berry tone that I have been reaching for recently, I am a sucker for a matte lip, so this one ticks all the boxes for me. Just make sure your lips are nourished or it can go a bit chapped and chalky!

Lancome L'Absolu Rogue Shade 361

This Lancome colour is a much lighter berry colour and also a bit more sheer, so better for the day or a more subtle berry lip. It is really moisturing though and really comfortable to wear. Although it is fairly sheer, I find the fade is still a really pretty colour, so you don't have to race to reapply.

Rimmel London Kate Moss collection shade 01

I am no stranger to red lips, but find I usually go for quite bold reds with blue undertones to compliment by fair skin. I love this Rimmel red because it has a burnt orange tone to it, so it differs to my other reds. Perfect to match those orange autumnal leaves.

Urban Decay Vice collection Back Talk Comfort Matte

This is the  newest lipstick to my collection. I have recently been loving nude lips, but for the winter time, I find this one is perfect as it is quite a deep nude. It has a darker tone to it which makes it more of a smouler nude than a natural nude.

Mac Viva Glam Ariana Grande 

Lastly, is my Mac Viva Glam Ariana Grande lipstick which is a really dark, deep purple, which verges on black. I haven't been brave enough to wear this enough yet, so will definitely take the leap over the next few weeks.

I actually did a whole post on this lipstick, so if you want to read a more in depth review of this lipstick, then click here 

I hope you enjoyed this post! Are there any Lipsticks that you find yourself wearing more in the colder months? Please let me know!

Hair Chalk

If you follow my Instagram page, you would have seen I posted this picture of my beet root ended barnet. In this post I will show you how hair chalk is a great way to change up your look whether it is just by colouring the ends of your hair,  or your entire head.

I was inspired to try hair chalk after I saw ASOS post a video of Phoebe Lettice from Made in Chelsea, using hair chalk as a quick fix. Love her or hate her, she has been a big hair influence on me, and my Hair Pinterest board has a lot of pictures of Phoebe, and her occasionally pink hair.

Here is the video of Phoebe Lettice using hair chalk that I mentioned earlier. She uses a Kevin Murphy hair chalk, and also one from Fudge which is a brand I really want to try out. The round 'bugs' she uses look easier to apply than the Topshop stick one I used, as it has a flatter surface and a little case to minimize pink hands afterwards.

 I have wanted pink hair for so so so so so so so long now, but I wanted a quick fix into pink hair that could be washed out for work or in case I didn't like it. Hair chalk is a fantastic way to colour your hair without the commitment. This washed out of my hair fine and was a great change for one night.

The hair chalk I got was this one which was £4 from Topshop. I had a few issues with it, but overall it was a really cheap way to colour my hair. I literally coloured strands of my hair in. In the video of Phoebe using one, she ran it down from root to tip to create the pink. I found I had to really go up and down my hair though to get the colour out. It could be due to my thick hair though. Using this technique made my hair quite volumized so I didn't need to use any product to make my hair big like she does in the video.

If I'm being honest, my hair felt pretty horrible with the hair chalk in. A bit strawy and dry, but it stayed put all evening, and even when I slept with it in over night, it didn't come off on my pillow (thank god because we were staying in a hotel!) and was actually not as messy as I thought it would be. When chalking my hair, bits did break of the stick but other than that it was an easy process. Due to the thickness of my hair I spent about 30/45 mins chalking my hair.

Here are some of my dos and don'ts when using hair chalk

DO wear gloves when applying the chalk, as I had very pink hands for the rest of the evening which took a good few washes to remove.

DO section your hair into bits to make sure you don't miss anywhere.

DON'T wear your hair up. If your going to use this chalk make sure your wearing your hair down, as I also had a very pink neck!

DON'T wear an expensive top. I got a fair bit of pink on my clothes around the collar at the back so don't wear anything you absolutely love and paid a fortune for. The chalk washed out of my clothes fine but JUST in case.

DO this in a bathroom where you can wipe down surfaces and avoid carpet as much as possible.

Apparently you can apply the hair chalk to damp hair and then lock the colour in with hair straighteners when dry, which may be the solution to a lot of these problems, but I think that would make the colour last longer which I unfortunately didn't have the time to do. I will give that a try the next time I want to chalk my hair and let you know how it goes!

Here is a picture of my finished pink hair and my boyfriend enjoying a glass of wine before heading to the o2 to see Katy Perry.

Hope you enjoyed!

Hourglass Makeup

If I am completely honest, I had never heard of Hourglass makeup before I started working at Monty, who does the PR for them. A few days researching into the brand and getting to try a few bits, I knew I absolutely loved it, as it is a really luxury brand. 

If I was to describe Hourglass in three words, it would be warm, shimmery and glowy, and I hope my pictures will reflect this.

Since being at Monty, I was lucky enough to try some of the makeup, so today, I will be doing a full face in just Hourglass showing you some of the gorgeous pieces of makeup they have in an everyday Autumnal look.

To start of, I use the Ambient Light Correcting Primer. This obviously primes the skin but also acts as a colour corrector, and adds a glow to the skin. 

From Left to Right: Mood Light, Dim Light, Luminous Light

I have this in all three shades, but Mood light which is pinkier toned suits me the best. Dim light is quite brown, and Luminous light is a white toned primer for added luminosity. 

Next is foundation, and the Hourglass Vanish Seamless foundation stick is one of the most popular products from hourglass. The stick foundation comes in over 26 shades so is great for all skin tones.

A lot of bloggers either really love this product or don't seem to get on with it, but I absolutely LOVE it. For some reason I thought the stick would be really dense and hard to blend but it is really creamy and it has really great coverage. 

I am the shade Porcelain but you can get really light almost white shades, deep red toned shades and also really dark so it really does have a great variety. The foundation does have a Vanish Foundation brush that is sold separately, but I used my real techniques foundation brush and it blended out perfectly.

Next, I used the hidden concealer in the shade Vanilla for my under eyes and blemishes. I usually prefer a liquid concealer but the coverage on this is again really good so no complaints for me. 

I used my beauty blender to apply this as the smaller end of the sponges is perfect for getting into the smaller nooks around the eyes.

Next comes the real glow.

I use the blusher shade 'Dim Infusion' for the apples of my cheeks which is a quite a peach toned which works well for my fair skin, and the way it is packaged is just stunning.

I also use the strobe powder in 'Iridescent Strobe Light' for added glow

Finally I used the powder in 'Radiant Light' which has a slight shimmer, and sets the face as well as adding the dewy finish to the skin

Now the base is done, next is the brows, and I have been using the Arch brow pencil in blonde which I am loving. Usually I go for a more brown shade but I will never go back after using a blonde one (I know, go figure that the right colour would look better) but I usually get quite reddy tones in my brows when I use brown which shows up as really ginger in photos.

I love the way this is packaged, again with that triangular tip co-insiding in with the vanish stick, but it's shape also makes it really easy to get straight lines and angles. It also has a really chunky spoolie brush on the end which is really good at brushing out the brows and adding shape. The pencil itself is quite hard to I find I have to work quite hard to get good coverage, but that is quite a good thing as you don't want to be too heavy handed when it comes to brows.

I unfortunately don't have any eye products from Hourglass to show you, so I've just used my regular eye makeup products which, at the moment, are the Lancome Grandiose Liner which you can read a review of here, and also the Smash Box full exposure mascara which I got in their recent gift set which I will review soon!

Although I don't have eye makeup to show, I do have some lip products, and since I have been obsessing over Autumnal berry shades recently, I thought this liner and matching matte lipstick in the shade 'Empress' would really finish off the whole look.

And this is the final finish

I love this brand and hope to try more of it in the future. As a usual lover of matte finish, I love the way Hourglass has a subtle shimmer to everything, and think it is turning me down the dewier finish route.

Have you tried any Hourglass before? If so let me know what I should try next!

'Heirloom' swatch by Ciate

I think I may have found my favourite Autumn/ Winter nail polish...

Correction: I think I may have found my favourite nail polish EVER! That's right, I said it!

I have probably said this before, but this time I really mean it!

I have had a love affair with this polish for a very long time.
It started when I saw it swatched a few years back, and ever since that day I pined over it, but I swore I'd never be lucky enough to have such a polish in my collection.

I knew every year it made a feature in the Ciate advent colour, and therefore I thought it would only be available through that, until one day this year, on a cold winters morning, I decided to venture into the online world of finding it.

I couldn't find her at first, but after searching through the riff raff of glitter polishes that try too hard, I found her there, waiting to be purchased on some obscure online site. I had my doubts, I did, as such a gem could not be so accessible surely? But alas, there she was, waiting to be taken.
I punched in my card details with the hope that such a polish would arrive as soon as possible.

They say good things come to those who wait, and indeed it is true. 

HOW FRICKING STUNNING IN THIS NAIL VARNISH?!?
I am jealous of my own hands in these pictures it just looks utterly fabulous!!

Heirloom by Ciate is a dual toned nail varnish and it is sheer perfection. The glitter formula is so fine that every grain of glitter refracts the gold pink tones which make it extra sparkly, and put over a black base as I have here, I honestly can't keep my eyes of it.

It really is my favourite nail varnish. For just £9, I can see this being a polish I buy over and over again.

The reason I know I love it it because:

• I have worn it three times consecutively which I never do.
• I haven't added any nail art to it because I think it is honestly just so flawless on it's own.
• And lastly, I usually hate glitter polishes because of the removal, but as I said above, I have worn it THREE times since I got it, and as the glitter is so fine, the removal is no chore whatsoever.

When it starts to chip it genuinely makes me really sad about my hands, and sad for the people who didn't get to witness it in its best state.

Here are some snaps from my SLR camera but I think it doesn't show them of as nicely as the iphone camera.

Pictures do it no justice, it is simply marvelous.

Bliss Mask A-'peel'

Hi all! Today I will be talking about this new face mask just in time for #FaceMaskFriday

The latest mask from Bliss comes in the form of 'Mask A-'peel', a rubberizing peel off mask that exfoliates, brightens and tightens. The box itself contains 3 little pots of the powder so you can get 3 uses out of each box costing £20. Each pack also comes with a handy spatula to help you apply the mask, especially in the hard to reach areas such as nose creases. Make sure you wash the spatula off after each use as the mask will harden and ruin it.

To mix the mask into a paste, there is a water line on the inside of the pot, and you fill it up to that line and then mix the powder until it becomes a really thick bouncy paste.

Once the paste is mixed, I would recommend applying this to cleansed skin as soon as possible as it does dry out quite quickly.

I applied the mask on quite thick, but after about a minute or so, the paste started to dry up and became crumbly when applying so this was my end result.

As you can see the right side of my cheek area is applied thickly and resembles the front of the packet, however my forehead and left temple area is where the paste started to dry up again, so maybe apply a little more water after a while to keep it bouncy.

From here, you leave the paste on for about 20 minutes until it becomes rubbery and starts to feel as if it trying to detach from the skin. The actual mask itself contains detoxifying seaweed to rid impurities and deeply cleanse. It also contains Bilberry extract to quench and hydrate the skin, and finally vitamin C to brighten the complexion as well as gently exfoliate using fruity enzymes. As well as this, the actual peeling motion of removing the mask, will lift all the dead skin cells, revealing a brighter complexion underneath.

I found the mask naturally started to become loose when I moved my face around, so you then have the incredibly satisfying job of peeling it off. My boyfriend also did this mask with me, and he found a few facial hairs came out in the mask too, but other than that, it is a very gentle mask and won't pull skin that isn't ready to be lifted.

The result afterwards was really, really touchable smooth skin, as well as glowy and bright. I found I did have to put a little moisturiser on afterwards as I felt a little tight, but only because my skin is very dehydrated at the moment.

This bouncy rubbery mask is great as a general skin service, or if you want to look especially bright for an occasion, so perfect for the pending Christmas party season.

 This mask is so much fun to do and will leave you with a spring in your step!

Soaper Duper

I am so excited to finally be able to write about this brand!

If you have been keeping up with my blog then you may have seen that I have been interning at a Beauty PR company (if you want to read the post then click here). Since I've been there, this brand has been bubbling into the success that it has become, and I have been able to see the whole process!

Having been sworn to secrecy in it's infancy, it is now out there loud and proud in the beauty world, and I am so glad it has been so well received.

Soaper Duper was created by Marcia Kilgore, creator of Bliss, Soap & Glory, and Fit Flop.

Her new brand is all about natural and green ingredients which I am such a huge fan of. At the moment, the range has 3 fragrances, Zesty Lemon , Zingy Ginger and Fruity Tuberose. There is a body wash in each range, and then various little extras.

The Lemon is the largest range so far, with a body wash, body lotion, hand wash and hand cream. As the name suggests, it really does have a zingy scent but not too much to make you smell like a lemoncello, as it has a verbena note to bring it down but also nuetralise and sweeten it. I have been using the hand wash, and I find it leaves my skin soft and clean, and without that stripped feeling a lot of foamy washes can leave. The gel like formula lathers up nicely, and leaves your hands softly scented. 

The next fragrance is fruity Tuberose and I have this in the body lotion. Tuberose is a love/hate scent, and unfortunately it is just one I can't seem to enjoy. Some people smell floaty and floral, and I seem to get rubbery undertones from the fragrance.

That said, this body lotion fragrance is one of the best Tuberose I have smelt. I think the pineapple really lifts it and gives it that light edge as like the lemon, it is very soft, and really doesn't have that rubbery smell. I don't think I could cover my whole body in it as I'd find it overpowering, but it really is fruity and light. This fragrance comes in this body lotion and a matching body wash.

Finally, my favourite scent is the Zingy Ginger. This comes in a body wash and a body butter, which is a thicker consistency to the lotions. I like this kind of thick butter during the colder months as it really helps hydrate dry skin. The zingy Ginger fragrance is like Christmas at first, very sweet and almost slightly cinnamon-y, and then as it is rubbed into the skin, you get a really earthy tone, and it just smells scrumptious! The mix of almond oil, eucalyptus and shea butter really nourishes the skin, and the twist of lime and grapefruit extract adds a fresh zing.

The whole brand is green, in terms of packaging and ingredients, and things like SLS, parabens, mineral oils, microbeads and other nasty chemicals will not be found in any of these products. 

Another thing worth mentioning is the price point of this brand. Usually natural brands have to charge more due to the expense of growing all the natural ingredients needed in the products, but this is really reasonably priced for a green brand, with the most expensive product being the body butter at £11.00.

 I can't wait to see this brand grow more, and expand to be a really accessible, green brand. They also support water aid so are just completely faultless! At the moment, Soaper Duper is only available in Liberty London, or alternatively be bought online.