Caudalie New Vine [Activ] Range

I think it is safe to say that Caudalie is one of, if not my very favourite brands of skincare. I think there is nothing else like it out there on the market, and the simplicity and freshness of the brand makes it such a pleasure to use. 

The newest addition to the brand is their new and improved anti ageing range. The Vine [Activ] range has been repackaged and improved, as well as the actual products having a bit of an update too. The range contains vitamin C, to help add radiance and brightness to the skin. A lot of people don't know when to start using anti ageing products, and to be honest, there is no specific age. Someone once told me that when it starts to become a concern for you, that is when you should start using them. I am now 26 and would say it is starting to play on my mind, so I may start to look at more anti ageing products. Starting early won't do any damage!

I managed to get a little sample box of the new stuff to show you!

To start the routine I use this energizing and smoothing eye cream £27.50.The consistency of this cream is light so it doesn't block the pores around the eye as it is very delicate skin. This cream can also go around the lip area (not the actual lips) to help firm around the mouth. As the name suggests, it really cools the eye area, eliminating dark circles and hydrating skin to banish fine lines

 Next is the glow activating anti-wrinkle defense serum, £36 which has that beautiful fresh smell that I love so much from Caudalie. It sinks into the skin really well and hydrates and prepares the deeper layers of skin for when they are ready to surface. 

Next is the 3 in 1 moisturiser £32 which is anti-pollution, anti wrinkle, and glow activating which is achieved by the vitamin C in to brighten your complexion. It also has a slight smell or oranges which is really fresh. Again, it absorbs into the skin really quickly, and my skin feels instantly hydrated and fresh as soon as it is on.

 Finally the over night detox oil £30. My only complaint with this little size was that it was hard to get out and there wasn't enough! I really wanted to gorge on the stuff! The real product will obviously have enough in it though, but this overnight oil is a dry oil meaning it won't leave your face greasy or shiny. It absorbs into the skin really well and leaves your skin really smooth and soft. It repairs your skin from the pollution, stress and UV rays you are exposed to in the day and it detoxifies your skin ready for the next day. Infused with anti-oxidant grape-seed, regenerating rose hip, purifying neroli, soothing lavender and detoxifying carrot oils, this 100% plant-based formula promotes cellular renewal & toxin elimination.

I really love this range and think I think it is a great option for starting an anti ageing journey, as Caudalie products are really gentle, and the fact they also hydrate and add radiance is a bonus. One thing I really love about it are the words used to describe the products. Glow activation, energizing, smoothing and detoxifying all sound like such strong and protective words. It maybe a mental thing, but those words make me feel a lot more confident about the products I am using.

My skin is always the absolute best it can be when I use Caudalie products, and it is a brand I always come back too. Caudalie is a natural brand that contains no parabens or mineral oils, so overall, this range really ticks all the boxes for me!

The best part? Caudalie are offering 20% off this bank holiday weekend, so get online now and stock up!

Escentric Molecule 04

Launching on the 25th April 2017 is the fourth addition to the Escentric Molecule range.

If you have read 'What I got For my Birthday 2017', you will see I got the Molecule 01 which I absoluetly love.

To explain a little more about the brand, Escentric Molecules was created by German born Geza Schoe.
Each range is made up of two parts:

The Escentric and the Molecule.

The Molecule fragrance is very unusual, it is essentially one large molecule of fragrance, which is absorbed by each wearer, and smells differently on every person, marrying their natural scent to the fragrance. Because it blends with your natural scent, it means you can't smell it a lot of the time.

But "why would you buy a fragrance you can't smell though?" I hear you cry?

Well in all honestly, when you put it like that it does sounds pretty stupid, however I absolutely love my Molecule 01, which is a molecule called Iso E Super, and I find I get little burts of the scent when I wear it, making it that much more special.

If you are still not sold, then the Escentric counterpart is probably the fragrance for you. This is an oil based fragrance which has the same ingredient in as the molecule, just with more ingredients to layer it, so you can wear it on top of the molecule to intensify, or on it's own.

So now you know the science behind the brand, we can talk about the new and exciting 04.

 

Firstly, the packaging.
For me, the orange colour suits the fragrance however the 02 Escentric Molecule range is very a similar orange so I think it will be a little confusing.
I think a bright pink would have worked perfectly for this fragrance, once you see the sorts of ingredients there are involved.

 As I work on a fragrance department, I have been able to find out a lot about this fragrance before its launch, as well as being able to wear it. These fragrances are perfect for summer due to some of the ingredients, however they are not the sort of things you'd expect to see on a fragrance label.

Firstly, the one Molecule that makes up the said fragrance is Javanol, which is a labatory made sandalwood fragrance.
Whereas the 01 Molecule is a woody floral musk, this is a much lighter sandelwood molecule, which almost has a metallicy smell to it.
 Geza Schoen, the creator of Escentric Molecules himself says Javenol

“smells as if liquid metallic grapefruit peel were poured over a bed of velvety cream-coloured roses.”

Whilst that sounds delightful, for me, it was so light I really struggled to smell it. Apparently it is meant to be very similar to the Molecule 01 which comes and goes throughout the day, so it may be a case of being patient with it.

 

This is when the Escentric comes in, as this is a much more concentrated fragrance in a more traditional, oil based formula which makes the Javanol more complex.

You can see from the colour that this has more to it, as it is concerntrated with lovely oils that give the strong aroma.

The top notes which fade away after a little while, are made up of Pink Grapefruit peel which is very strong, pink pepper, lime juice, juniper and, wait for it... Marijuana! Thats right, this fragrance has Pot, Weed, Grass, 420, Ganga, Dope, Herb or whatever you want to call it, as one of the top notes.

I was worried that it might have that "walk through the park on a summers day and smell it everywhere" vibe, but it actually works really well with strong citrus and peppery scents, and that is coming from someone who absoluetly hates the smell of weed.

This strong scent doesn't last long, as citrus scents in particular evaporate very quickly, however the grapefruit does seem to linger which may be because the extract of grapefruit is from the peel.
The middle notes which are Rose and Orris, make the fragrance much more comfortable to wear after the initial punch.

The long lasting base notes are the Javanol and Polysantol which is another type of Sandalwood which makes this fragrance really aromatic and sexy as well as being fruity.

So my verdict?
I love this fragrance! I will certainly be wearing it over the next few months as I think it embodies the smell of summer and is really wearable for day and night.
My sister who is not a fragrance-y person at all always comments when I have this on, and I think it is another genius addition to the Escentric Molecules range.

Both the Escentric and Molecule fragrances are
£75 for 100ml
£47 for 30ml travel cased

For more info go to
www.escentric.com

Coachella Nails

 

Yesterday marked the official end of Coachella 2017, and I am not going to lie, I am so glad it is finished!

Scrolling through instagram and seeing beautiful people have the most amazing time at one of arguably one of the trendiest festivals, is sure to make me just a little bit jealous.

Although I have never been, it is on my bucket list of festivals to go to, so until then I can dream... and paint my nails.

I've seen so many Coachella inspired nails, and whilst I have done some pretty crazy tie dye Glastonbury inspired nails (a festival I have actually attended) I took inspiration from @dreamynaildesigns instagram for this cooler more relaxed design. 

As it is the end of Coachella, I chose more pastel colours, to represent the sun setting on the festival for another year.

I started with a pale pink base my Models Own which is the strawberry scented polish, and then ombred on a pale blue by Nails Inc.

 

If anyone knows me, then they'll know messing up any nail art drives me crazy, so I was pretty nervous about adding the thick black text over my cute pastel ombre.

All I had to do was spell it right, and did I? NOPE. I'll add a little picture at the end of the typo which meant I had to take off one nail and start again... not happy.

When I DID eventually spell it right, I added text and encorporated the signature ferris wheels, and a couple of palm trees (which my sister says looks like Ts... Coachetta lol)

On my other hand I did some palm trees which I think look pretty cute!

 

Here is to another sundown on Coachella, and hopes that one day we can all be that cool hippy chick throwing up peace signs in front of the wheel.

absolute mare

Body Shop Buys

Hi all, just a little post today.

 

I have recently noticed that The Body Shop is become increasingly popular amongst skin care bloggers, and especially when I did the 'Skincare challenge' in January, I saw so many Body Shop items pop up. I went and purchased some of the items I saw the other day, and with a 3 for 2 offer being on, I managed to get a nice little trio of products.

Firstly I will start with the free item I got as it isn't massively exciting to talk about, but I have wanted a fan brush like this for ages as they are perfect for gliding on highlighter without being to heavy handed. This one is really gentle, and it is something I probably wouldn't usually pick up to buy, but as it was part of a deal, I thought why not!?

 

Next is the Chamomile cleanser which I have seen being talked about everywhere and I can understand why. This cleansing balm is so gentle and fantastic at removing makeup. It has become a bit of a cult product and for £10 it really is a great cleanser for all skin types. It melts on the skin and is really hydrating. As Chamomile is a calming ingredient, it is great for sensitive skins.

Lastly, I picked up this self warming Mineral and Ginger face mask. The only problem I have with this mask is that it is so hard to squeeze out of the tube as it is clay, but once it is one, I love the comforting way it warms up your skin, allowing your pores to open and have any dirt drawn out. This only needs to be on for 5 mins and it works absolute wonders!

 

I hope to use some more Body Shop skincare soon, and now I have a loyalty card with them, you can expect to see a lot more!

Chocolate Nails

It is Easter Monday and if you haven't been stuffing your face with Chocolate all day, then I take my hat off to you. Where ever I have been today I have some fragment of Easter Egg in my hand.

I have wanted to do Chocolate nails for a while now, as there is a great tutorial in my I scream Nails book I bought when I was in Aus. I thought as I didn't do any Easter nails this year, this would be  nice way to wind down from my long weekend.

My base colour is 'Espresso' by Mavala which I think may be a tad to dark for the milk chocolate I have been eating all day, but I am really pleased with the way the 3D chunks of chocolate came out.

These nails look quite hard but all you need is a bit of patience. 

Draw a black line down the centre of the nail, then create square blocks.
After that, paint on tiny L shapes with a dark colour and a light colour, opposite one another and that is it! 

I hope you all had a really Happy Easter!

Hair Donation

If you read my New Years resolutions posts at the beginning of this year, you would have seen my wish to donate my hair to a charity.

Around this time last year, my mum was diagnosed with the big C, and has since gone through all the chemo, radiotherapy and surgeries you would expect a cancer patient to go through.

I know a lot of people say this about their loved ones during such a hard time, but I am actually astonished at my mums courage and attitude towards the whole thing.

She worked full time throughout the whole process, and made up any days that were dedicated to chemo or appointments over the weekend. Not only this, but she still did the school run, and managed to look after three of her kids, one of which is only 10.

Everyone told her she was insane, and to slow down, but she honestly treated her cancer like a minor case of flu. 

She'd come back in the evenings and announce she'd popped up to London in her lunch break for a bout of chemo like she'd met a friend for coffee.

I don't think she moaned once about how sick or rubbish the drugs made her feel.

The occasional "I'm tired" would come up but, I almost willed her to moan more and milk the illness for all it was worth. She honestly really shocked me at how normal about the whole thing she was.

The only thing that really really knocked her was her hair loss, as it probably would anyone.

Even though she actually looked pretty hot with a number one buzz cut, going from thick curly waist length hair made her feel pretty vulnerable.

Even now, after she was given the all clear before Christmas, it is the one final thing that reminds my mum of her rubbish year, and even though she has regrown a lot of hair, she still feels as if it makes her look a 'victim'

This is why I wanted to donate my hair, as if something as small and natural to me can just cheer up someone going though such a rubbish time the smallest bit, why the hell would you not??

For the last few months, I had already resided to the fact that my hair was not mine anymore, and have looked after it as best I can so it can hopefully be transformed into a wig for a little child at the princess trust. I've stopped using heat on it, tried to keep it well oiled, and had a mini pre cut trim so the ends weren't broken.

As long as your hair is a natural colour, not made up of too many greys and over 17cm,

all you have to do is wash your hair prior without conditioner, let it dry, tie it up, and put it in a bag and post it off.

This is just my hair alone...told you I had loads of hair

Just a few days before my chop my little sister decided she also wanted to donate her hair. This is a girl who has grown up watching Tangled and always loved the idea of princess hair and relished in brushing it for hours and having people braid it.

She was so nervous before, and I think a little part of her regretted her decision, but she still went ahead and now loves her little bob!

My lovely friend Jess who is a hair dresser came over and cut it for us. She had to cut my hair off in layers as it is so thick so it took a little while. She did such a good job of our new dos (we spend our whole lives trying to look different to our siblings and myself and my two sisters all asked for the same hair cut) she even gave my mum a little trim as she had a few fluffy bits she wanted tidying up.

As for my hair, here is my new sleek summer bob.

If your hair is over 17cm and you fancy a change, please think about donating your hair to a charity.

This time of year with it getting warmer is the perfect excuse for a shorter do, and rather than have it swept up into a bin, think about what your few extra inches of hair could mean to someone else.

Beauty Pie

 If you keeps tabs on the beauty industry, then there is no doubt that you will have seen Beauty Pie floating around bloggers and beauty editors Instagrams.

I was lucky enough to be working at the PR company promoting Beauty Pie at the time of it's infancy, and got to be a part of the process of getting it to where it is today, from researching packaging to tasting pies for the launch.

So what is Beauty Pie?

Beauty Pie was created by Marcia-Midas Touch- Kilgore. Marcia is the creator of Soap and Glory, Fit Flop and more recently, Soaper Duper.

Beauty Pie provides high end makeup at cost price.

How does Beauty Pie work?

There has been a bit of confusion surrounding Beauty Pie and the idea of it being a membership system. It is NOT a subscription service like Birchbox or Cohorted, where you pay £X amount a month and get a box of goodies to your door.

No, beauty Pie allows you to choose what products what you are getting.

you are still paying for them like you would an online shop, just at the cost price that the products cost to make. Dreamy, I know!

How much does it cost?

A year long membership is £120 or a monthly membership - which you have to sign up to 3 months minimum- is £10 a month so that is a flat rate. How much you choose to spend that month is up to you, however there is a £100 cap at the RETAIL price of each product. The good news is that if you choose not to buy anything one month, your allowance will roll over to the next month.

The products themselves can range from product to product. You'd find it very hard to find a product for over £20 though.

How comes it's so cheap?

Beauty Pie aims to be completely transparent about what the cost of each product comes too.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where there is a huge mark up on a majority of our items, but that is how brands make their money.

For example, a lot of brands want to be seen an a luxury, brand so will put weight into their products because for some reason, consumers believe weight equals luxury.

Beauty Pie however have made their products super light which also makes shipping cheaper!

You will also notices the very clean cut, (almost Bobbi Brown-esqe) packaging. Again, very little money has gone into branding to keep it cheap cheap cheap (although it does look pretty sleek)

So are the products good?

A lot of the products made for beauty Pie are made in the same factory as a lot of high end brands so essentially, you are getting the same product just without the branding and packaging. Obviously they cannot disclose which products theirs is the exact replica of, but I can assure you there are some cult classics in the mix.

To prove they're worth the hype, I have a little selection of products the girls at Monty sent to me after I left, so you can hear my honest thoughts and see the prices of each item once you have a Beauty Pie membership.

I was sent the oil free micro mineral serum foundation £4.84 which is absolutely silky smooth. It's a tiny bit dark for my skin but this will be perfect for my summer holiday as it's light weight, and just adds a layer of colour. 

I was also given a Incrediblur concealer, £3.02 which again is a little too dark, so I will save that for my holiday, but it has a lovely balm consistency that melts into the skin.

One thing you can't go wrong with is lipstick colour! And the 2 shades of future lipstick matte £2.24  I was sent have been in my handbag ever since. They're so hydrating and kind of the lips. They last all day and the variety of colour is pretty impressive.

I was also sent a beach gloss, £2.02 which I have heard nothing but good reviews about. Fleur de force even said in a vlog they were very similar to the formula she used for her own brand of lip glosses. 

I hate sticky lip glosses, but the beauty Pie ones are not tacky at all, and give a subtle sheen to the lips, plus they smell really vanilla-y

Finally, and probably my favourite product, is the One Powder Wonder, £3.73. This honestly blurs my skin and makes it look as if it has been photoshopped. 

So... will I be signing up?

Well I've just filled out the application and have my first official box of goodies on the way :)

Plus with the addition of a skincare range coming soon, there is no way this skin care junkie is missing out!

To find out more, go to www.beautypie.com