Hey Guys!!!
First of all, apologies for my dire lack of blogging lately. I allowed October to get the better of me and when I had to prioritise, the blog took a back seat but I am ready to get back into the swing of things again starting with my pick of some lovely PIXI Makeup products that I have accumulated over the past few months. (Sent as PR samples sporadically).
I excluded the bits I'm not mad about and decided to round it off to my Top 10 favourite items from the brand.
I'll start off with the Skin Care picks;
 |
| From L-R; 24K Eye Elixir Serum, Nourishing Sleep Mask, Nourishing Cleansing Balm, Glow Mud Mask, Rose Oil Blend. |
I've had these masks for longer than most of the other products and have grown quite attached to them. These were released as part of Pixi's new Skincare Collection and both cost £18 (about €25) for 30ml of product.
The NOURISHING SLEEP MASK is suitable to wear all night and is highly moisturising thanks to oils in the formula. It also works as a protective balm and contains botanical extracts with anti-aging and regenerative properties. This would be a great mask to wear on long flights to protect your skin against the dry recycled airplane air but I have been using it as an overnight mask whenever my skin feels particularly dry or tight. I have also been using it on my boyfriends skin lately as a night mask as he gets very dry and flaky and needs it more than I do!
The GLOW MUD MASK is designed to be used as a 15 minute facial and is a mineral-rich clarifying mud mask. This contains Aloe vera & ginseng and works deep down into the pores to help clear out any impurities. My skin feels amazing after using this, my pores look shrunken and the skin looks and feels firm and clean. I am a big fan of these types of clay or mud masks anyhow as someone who does get quite congested around the nose and chin area and between my eyebrows. I started by slathering the mud over my entire face but doing that only 3 times halved the content of the tube, so now I just use the mask on the areas where I most need it.
The NOURISHING CLEANSING BALM is one of the newer products from the brand and also costs £18 for a very decent 90ml of product. It is a very oil heavy balm designed to melt off the days makeup and clear away any impurities. I have been using this as part of my double-cleansing night time regime and even though I only started using cleansing balms very recently, I have become a big fan of them very quickly and can see why they have been so popular among other bloggers and beauty fans. It contains Sweet Almond Oil (the first ingredient) which dissolves surface oils and impurities, Cocoa Butter (second ingredient & an antioxidant) & Shea Butter which are moisturising, with healing/protective properties and Vitamin E, another powerful antioxidant.
And there is no need to be scared of trying these types of balms out if you have oily skin as nothing dissolves oil on the face as well as oils! This can help rebalance the skins' oil production levels if the glands have been working over time pumping out too much sebum.
The ROSE BLEND OIL is an anti-oxidant rich, fast absorbing oil made up of a blend of Sweet almond oil, Rosehip oil, Jojoba oil, Pomegranate seed oil and Rose geranium oil. Rose oils are known to have powderful anti-aging properties when used on the skin and this particular blend of botanical oils helps to improve elasticity of the skin as well as protecting and nourishing it to boot! Only 2 or 3 drops is more than enough for the face, and I always apply an extra drop to my neck and decolletage area as well and sometimes on the backs of my hands. I apply this either straight after my serum or sometimes after applying a moisturiser for extra super-duper moisturising. This costs £26 for 30ml of product and should last you a long time!
The GLOWTION DAY DEW is a brightening lotion that again utilises the benefits of botanics on the skin. My first thought when I used this initially was how similar to MAC's Strobe Cream it is. A lovely illuminating cream that has a delicate pearlescent finish (though perhaps ever so slightly less so than the Strobe Cream) and brightens a dull complexion. It doesn't at all remain sticky or wet on the skin, feels very light once rubbed in and thanks to minute mineral particles (mica) in the formula, gives a lovely radiance to the skin. It contains Lavender oil which is nourishing and calming and it also contains kaolin which is purifying. The tube has a handy pump action dispenser and this costs £24 for 35ml of product.
The 24K EYE ELIXIR SERUM is an anti-fatigue peptide serum that comes with a metal roller ball applicator which is designed to massage & cool the delicate under eye area, helping to refresh the skin and reduce any puffiness in the area. These roller ball applicators work best when popped into the fridge for a while before using (or stored there all together) but I'm too lazy to do this with the fridge being all the way downstairs :P
Peptides are somewhat wonder ingredients in the anti-aging world and they work to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by plumping out the skin and stimulating new cell growth. There is also Glycerin very high up in the ingredient list (no.3) which is a humectant and will aid in the plumping and hydrating of the delicate under-eye skin. It also contains collagen (though topically this doesn't do much) and Raspberry to tone the skin. Eye serums are again another product I have only recently discovered and started using but as someone who suffers from dry under-eyes (and can look 10-years older when the area looks particularly dry or tired) I can really appreciate the extra boost of hydration this extra light layer adds to the skin, beneath my regular eye cream.
 |
| From L-R; Matte Lustre Lipsticks, Book of Beauty, Lengthy Fiber Mascara. |
Now onto my picks from the makeup....
I was sent two of their MATTE LUSTRE LIPSTICKS and immediately feel in love with the new formula. These are high coverage lipsticks that have a finish very similar to the Satin or Amplified ranges by MAC; not glossy but not flat mattes either. These, according to Pixi, have a plumping effect on the lips, though I can't say I noticed this benefit when I wore either of the two gorgeous shades. The colour is super vivid though as you can see in the swatches below, and I found that both colours I was sent left a stain on my lips after the lipstick began to wear away, but the wear time of these on me is a good 5-6 hours. These don't dry out your lips, even after wearing them for several hours (well in my experience anyhow) and that is probably thanks to the addition of Hyaluronic Acid in the formula. There are also peptides and Vitamins C & E in these bad boys. These are just lovely lipsticks with a great colour pay-off! There are 11 shades in the range and they cost £14 each.
The LENGTHY FIBER MASCARA has already made quite a few appearances on my Youtube channel since receiving it as it's such a feckin' great mascara! I think I have shown this in my last 2 'favourites' videos as well as in a good few tutorials and for good reason. It is a fiber mascara as indicated and has a lovely blackest black medium formula. (not runny, not too thick). I have had issues with fiber mascaras in the past due to the fibers falling down onto my cheeks and under eye area throughout the day/night and the fibers themselves going on to the lashes criss-cross or just plain messy looking. I haven't had any of these problems with this mascara, the fibers apply really smooth and do genuinely lengthen the lashes so much so that I don't use it very heavily on my bottom lashes (as the tips of the lashes rub off the skin). If I do use it on the bottom lashes, I run my finger tip back and forth along the end of the lashes to remove any longer fibers sticking out. This mascara costs £14 for the 6.5g tube.
EDIT: I can't find this on the website so I'm not too sure of it's availability at the minute but it is a new mascara and may not be available just yet!
AND FINALLY!!
The BOOK OF BEAUY Minimal Makeup Palette is a limited edition face palette which is exclusive to the Pixi Store for £24.
Petra, the founder of Pixi Beauty designed this palette to suit her lifestyle and beauty routine which needs to be 'fast & effective'. She calls these her favourite 'next to nothing' shades; there are 4 neutral eyeshadows, and 4 neutral face colours.
The eye-shadows consist of a warm beige and warm medium brown with a pearl finish, and a pale beige and darker brown which are matte. These apply really well to the skin with or without a primer, with the pearly shades being quite buttery and smooth and the matte shades soft and blendable.
The cheek shades are the perfect neutral shades; there's a warm/neutral peach blush shade that's of course matte, a warm bronzer, and 2 lovely highlighters that really surprised me when I swatched them. They look as if the darker one would be deep on the skin and the whiter one pure white but the 'darker' one comes out as a gorgeous frosty pale neutral highlight, and the 'white' one is actually quite gold! See the swatches below.
The packaging is cardboard though which is the only downside of this palette so care should be taken if you are prone to throwing your makeup items into a busy handbag, and of course keep it away from anything wet!
So those are my top 10 Pixi Makeup picks of the products I have been testing out recently.
Let me know in the comments below if you have tried any of them out and what your favourite bits are!
Oh and PIXI Makeup is not tested in animals =^_^=
Chat soon:)
Shiv.
xx