balance Me pure skin face wash; skin-balancing cleanser!!!

I'm always on the hunt for a good facial cleanser, I want something that feels nourishing and leaves my face feeling clean but not stripped. So I picked this up with the latest issue of Glamour magazine, I've not used many balance Me products, but always been quite intrigued. When I saw this cleanser as a freebie, I thought it was a great opportuinity to try it, especially as it's targeted towards combination skin.

This 50ml size costs £11, it's 98.8% natural based product and here is what balance Me say about the cleanser;

"A gentle yet effective non-drying sulphate and petroleum free face wash to cleanse skin of make-up and daily grime. Formulated with anti-oxidant rich moringa and rice bran oils to brighten and polish the skin and leave it smooth and gently cleansed. Ideally suited for normal to combination skins." 

It's a thick, white cream that is emulsified with water and applied to dry skin to dissolve daily grime, I usually remove my initial layer of make-up with a wipe, so can't fully comment on it's make-up removing abilities. However it does remove water-resistant mascara and leaves my face feeling clean but not stripped., I usually remove it with a muslin cloth, which adds a mild exfoliation aspect to the cleansing process. It has a strong frankincense scent I'm not massively keen on, but it's not a major deal breaker for me. 

I have really enjoyed using this cleanser and would definitely purchase this product, it's great for days when I want to give my skin a break from all the glycolic based products I use, while still feeling like my skin is being thoroughly cleansed and nourished.

From the 19th you will be able to purchase this cleanser from debenhams.com, so bring on the beautyclub card points!!! Have you used any other balance Me products, what other products from the range would you recommend? 

 

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex

Hourglass Mineral Veil SPF15 Primer!!!

Hourglass is a luxury beauty brand that's been gaining a massive following in the UK in recent months, I absolutely love the ambient lighting powder in dim light, review here. I'm eager to try more from the brand, but there products aren't the cheapest and my closest spacenk store that stocks there products recently closed down, meaning colour matching and swatching in person is difficult. However for my next dip into the hourglass pool I ordered the travel size mineral veil primer from the spacenk website, at 10ml this will set you back £20, a full size 30ml bottle costs £52. It's probably one of the most expensive primers I've used, but with the warmer months unusually warm for the UK and my combination oily skin setting in, I thought it was worth seeing what all the hype was about.

What Hourglass say about the product;
A mineral-based, water-resistant primer with SPF 15 that creates an impossibly smooth canvas and seamless look. Veil eliminates redness, minimizes pore size, softens fine lines and creates a uniform canvas for a flawless makeup application and minimises shine. This clean, satin-finish formula helps keep makeup looking fresh and prevents fading, while SPF 15 shields the skin from the sun.

 As you can see, it's a white, thinkish liquid, that looks like it would give my darker skintone a white cast, but doesn't. This definitely prolongs make-up wear and helps towards mattifying the skin, it got daily use during the heatwave, but now I try to reserve it for long make-up wearing days or events. The SPF is a nice bonus, although a little low for me during summer, so I still use sunscreen prior to this. The product keeps going, everytime I use it I think this is going to be the last pump, so this small size will still last a decent amount of time.

So far Hourglass is a brand I'm becoming increasingly impressed/obssessed with, I will definitely be trying a few more of there products, currently on the list is the No28 primer serum, for the colder months and the immaculate liquid powder foundation. I'm also toying with the idea of getting one of the new nude lip stylo's and possible the No28 lip treatment oil, among a myriad of other things, the list just keeps growing!!! 

Have you tried any hourglass products? What were your thoughts? Recommendations welcome.  Let me know what you would like to see on the blog.

Thanks for visiting today

Alex.

 

EX1 Cosmetics; Invisiwear foundation and compact powder!!!

So EX1 is the new cosmetics kid on the block, born out of Farah Naz's frustration to match her Asian skin tone, with a biochemist background she designed her own foundation. It's a capsule collection targeted towards Asian, Middle/Far Eastern and Mediterranean gals, with yellow, golden to deep olive undertones.

Now you're probably thinking how the hell do I fit into any of these categories, my intrigued was piqued as I regularly fall in between shades and find it notoriously difficult to be matched at beauty counters. I'm usually somewhere between an NC45-50 in mac, I'm between B70-80 in YSL le teint touché éclat, I'm inbetween bobbi browns extra tinted moisturiser in medium deep and dark...I could go on. I was even color matched by the Boots no7 machine and had a foundation applied on my face, I later glanced in the mirror and I looked grey, the beauty consultant also thought she'd give me a sample of the next shade up to take home commenting that it would look good when I tanned, bearing in mind this was the end of last summer how much darker did she think I was gonna get in autumn/winter. Plus isn't that the purpose of the machine, to remove the beauty consultants subjectivity?! I think you're starting to get the picture. If I use a foundation that's too red my face doesn't look like it belongs to my neck and chest, too light and I look ashy or just wrong, so I'm regularly mixing in Face Ateliers white foundation or mixing too shades together. I was hoping this would be my solution, is there finally a foundation that honours my golden yellow undertones, while respecting the depth of my skins tone, I decided to take the risk.

There are 5 shades in the invisiwear liquid foundation, F100, 200, 300, 400 & 500, I'm the darkest shade. It's housed in a plastic bottle, with a pump and gorgeous rose gold detailing, it's priced at an amazingly affordable £10.50, but I bought from beautyexpert for £7.72 and got a free blusher with 2 purchases. The foundation is thicker than the average liquid, but blends well into the skin, evening out your skintone without being cakey or heavy.

FlashDaylight

It initially looked like it would be too light, bear in mind my arms are currently extrememly tanned with the great weather we've been having, but it blends in beautifully on my face. It gives a semi-matte finish, which on my combination skin and with the current heatwave is great.

Heavily swatchedBlended out

The invisiwear compact powder comes in three shades, P100, 200 & 300, I have the darkest again. It cost £8.99, but I bought for £7.23, not sure how long beautyexpert will sell it at this price, so be quick if you're interested. It states that it mattifies, while hydrating the skin without caking and is oil-free. The first ingredient is talc, so for some this maybe a no go, it comes in the same rose gold packaging with a large mirror.  I found it felt light on the skin, and it did help to mattify my oily t-zone on my combination skin, and didn't look cakey at all. I expected that this would not be a good match for me at all, I assumed it would be too light and make me look ashy, I was wrong. I really like this powder, I can use it to set other foundations I have and it brings back some yellow into a foundation that maybe to red for my skin tone.

The free blusher is in the shade Natural Flush, it's a gorgeous pink hue, that doesn't read chalky or ashy on my deep complexion. I tend to use more coral/peach blushers in the summer, but I've been mixing this in to get a gorgeous pinky peach shade and it will definately get more use in the winter months, plus I love the screw top packaging.

                                     Foundation and powder used in a complete face of make-up!!!

So my risk paid off, I really like this brand, it's affordable, good quality and matches my undertones beautifully. There's also a concealer and mineral powder foundation in the range, which can also be purchased from lookfantastic.com, I'm contemplating ordering the concealer.

Have you tried this range? Any further questions, please put them in the comments below, thank you for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Perricone MD; The Glycolic Cleansing Bar!!!

This is without a shadow of a doubt my most repurchased Perricone MD product!!! I remember when they sold one 85g bar for 40 something pounds (can't remember the exact price), it's now 3x85g bars for £59.50, still expensive but much better at £19.83 a bar. Plus with Mankind offering 20% off, how could I resist

If you've read any of my previous posts this week, you'll know that my obsession with glycolic based products is at an all time high. It's so easy to find glycolic products for your face, but this one can be applied over your entire body, which is one of the reasons I love it.

Glycolic acid exfoliates the top layers of skin, to reveal smoother, brighter, more even toned skin, with the addition of olive oil it treats without stripping and drying out the skin. Based on a 4 week study dermatologist Dr. Perricone claims that consumer reported 95% improvement in clarity and brightness, 91% reported improvements in the skins texture, 86% reduction in visible size of pores and 84% improvement in skin dryness & less oily.

I absolutely love this stuff, I use it about 3 times a week on my body, I let it sit on the skin for at least 2-3 minutes to give the glycolic acid time to work. My skin feels softer, smoother and looks brighter, great if you're about to go on a beach holiday and will be revealing more skin or if you just want even toned skin all over, why should your face be the only even toned skin on your body?! I use it on my face daily, if I'm not using any other glycolic product, it's free from parabens, sulfates, phthalates, synthetic dyes & synthetic fragrances.

Have you ever tried any perricone MD products? Are you as addicted to glycolic products as I am?

Thanks for visiting the blog today, come again soon

Xoxo

Alex

Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner!!!

So if you've read my Nip+Fab post (here) you know I've been struggling with blemish marks over the last couple of months, while the Nip+fab range has helped, there's still some residual marks left. So after Caroline Hirons recommendation, I finally decided to pick this up to see if I could shift the last of the marks I have left, plus with 3 deluxe GWP samples at John Lewis how could I resist. (Search aallexxy on instagram to see what samples I chose).

You use this after cleansing, in the place of your normal toner, it's slightly thicker in consistency and very soothing on the skin. It's recommended to use 1-2 times a week, but initially I used it a little more frequently, I have now reduced my usage. It contains glycolic acid (AHA) to gently exfoliate the top layer of the skin to reveal brighter, smoother skin, at £25 for 125ml it's not the cheapest nor the most expensive glycolic based skincare product on the market. Ensure you wear SPF protection whenever using glycolic based products.

I noticed a difference in my skin after only a couple of uses, my skin appeared brighter, the texture was smoother, and the dark marks definately seem to be reducing in intensity. Needless to say I'm a little addicted to its use, I'm absolutely loving it and it's definately a product I would repurchase.

Have you ever used this or any other glycolic based product?

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex