Makeup For Ever HD Blush

Make Up For Ever have launched their HD cream blush this spring.

 Available in 15 shades each comes in a small 2.8g flat pot with mirrored lid.
 Cream lightweight texture which packs a punch when it comes to colour pigment. You need the tiniest amount to great a pop of colour so go easy. The texture is beautiful. Cream but instantly feels matte on the cheek once it is buffed in.

Formulated from silica powder and synthetic mica it will give a gentle radiance without causing flash back or shimmer. Gives a natural flush to the skin that lasts well even on an oily skin type.

We played with six of the shades....

Really good option for those who don't like an overly creamy cream blush or for people who just like a rosy summer cheek.

You can get hold of these and other shades from http://www.preciousaboutmakeup.com and are £22.25 each.

Jo Malone London Rain Collection

Inspired by our fabulous British weather Jo Malone have launched their London Rain collection.
 Master Perfumer Christine Nagel wanted to create a scented portrait of London. A collection which harnesses the power of nature in the city with drenched blooms and rainstorms hammering down in the park.

The collection which launches this March consists of four fragrances each bottled in a beautiful ombre coloured bottle.

 

The colour choices of the bottles remind us of the murky petrol coloured puddles in good old London town.

What are the scents?...

Rain and Angelica- Angelica and lime with a base of vetiver (this is our favourite).

Wisteria & Violet- Violet, water lily and wisteria with a base of patchouli.

White Jasmine & Mint- Jasmine, lily, orange and rose with a base of mate leaf.

Black cedar wood & Juniper - Cumin, chilli leaves and juniper with a base of cedar wood.

As always a beautiful limited edition collection. Each cologne is £82.00 for 150ml.

www.jomalone.co.uk

Oskia Renaissance Gel Cleanser

 This cleanser is great for a dull skin that's in need of a vitamin boost.
 Non foaming balm style cleanser that lifts all makeup and dirt off. Massage a pump of this balm over the skin and use a warm flannel to remove.
 Doesn't feel like a thick but more of a gel type texture and smells amazing. Scented with chamomile and rose this makes a particularly nice cleanser to use in the evening due to it's relaxing aroma.
 
 Key ingredients include Pumpkin extract to help lift dead skin cells. Vitamin A which helps with dryness and sun damage. Vitamin C and E to protect and restore. Starflower oil, omega 6 and magnesium to balance skin whilst helping improve elasticity and firmness.
 Great for a dry skin but also beneficial on a sensitive or blemish prone skin due to it's sulphur ingredient which acts as an anti inflammatory.
Only downside to this cleanser is it's a pump style bottle and after only a few days of using this my pump has now failed and I can't use it. Would be much better in a squeezy tube.

150ml bottle is £32.50 an available from http://www.oskiaskincare.com

Daniel Sandler Acid Trip Watercolour Blush

We want to party with Daniel Sandler! Daniel says the latest addition to his gorgeous watercolour blush line up are inspired by Ibiza parties, balmy summers and festivals.

These colours represent that image so well. We love the punchy colours and as with all the watercolours they seamlessly blend into the skin.

 If you have used watercolour blush before you will know you need the most tiniest amount. Give the bottle a good shake an apply one dot of liquid to the cheek and blend.
 You can use a brush or if you are living it up at a festival this summer then pop them on with your fingers.

Top colour Trip, bottom colour Acid

Don't be scared of these colours. I have built them up a little on my hand to show you the depth of colour. Easily toned down but we say if you're going to wear it then wear it bold and bright.

The colours have a very fine, silver pigment that is very natural but softly catches the light.
 These are water resistant and long lasting so perfect for your summer holiday.

These colours come as a duo together for £25.00 (special price) and are available now from http://www.danielsandler.com

Suqqu

Suqqu is a Japanese brand which here in the UK is available from Selfridges http://www.selfridges.com
The name Suqqu is derived from the name Japanese word sukki-to meaning posture with attitude.
 Their ethos is basically to create products that give women confidence and to enhance their natural beauty.

Suqqu has quite an intimidating appearance at first glance and doesn't immediately entice me in. The packaging is all black and almost everything written on the box is in Japanese (obviously!).
 Don't be put off by this though as there are some really nice pieces in the brands portfolio.

A brand for all skin tones but as you may expect being Japanese the colours do sit nicer on a more porcelain, fairer skin.

Balancing Cheek Duo-£38.00
Available in two shades this consists of a natural cheek colour and matte highlighter.
Colour pay off is very sheer and even after building it will only ever give you a natural cheek colour. It is made of very fine red and gold micro particles which give a slight radiance and provide a soft contour. Likewise the highlighter is a tone of the blusher but much lighter and with a matte finish.
 Perfect for all of you with fair skin who like a no makeup look cheek.

Shade No2

Cream Glow Lipstick moist in No 6-£27.00
 Wow this lipstick is a perfect lip colour. You know when you just want a colour that is maybe slightly brighter than your own natural lip colour with a balmy finish. This is it. Moisturising but not glossy.
 After years of doing brides makeup I know this colour would be an absolute winner for a natural bride look.

Colour 06

Pleasantly surprised with Suqqu and definitely worth a look if you are shopping in Selfridges any time soon.

Kiko Boulevard Rock Collection

With last nights Brit awards in my mind I noticed many of the celebs sporting a smudge of colour on the eye.
 It's nice to see we are stepping away from the same old grey/black smokey eye and injecting a bit of colour into our makeup wardrobe.
 As if by magic some products dropped onto my desk this morning which reflected the looks of last night all courtesy of Kiko's latest collection Boulevard Rock.

Beyonce as always looked stunning in a sequined Emerald dress and opted for a dark teal eye.

A great base colour to use for this look would be Kiko new Colour Shock cream eye shadow in Inspiration Emerald No 107.

It looks as though Beyonce then has a darker green and black powder over the top to add depth.

Lily Allen looked better than ever last night and I loved her matching hair and clutch bag!

 

To re create Lily's navy blue metallic eye Kiko colour Shock in Rhythmic Blue No108 would be a good choice.

 Both of these cream eye shadows are £7.90 each and are part of a collection of ten cream eye shadows in total.

Also as part of this collection there are six skinny fit eye kohls. Ultra soft texture which blend well.

 We tested two colours which look fab in the water line of the eye or smudge under the lower lash line.

These are £6.90 each.

This collection is available now for Spring/Summer http://www.kikocosmetics.co.uk

Zoeva Luxe Colour Blush

New Luxe Colour blushers from Zoeva come in a chunky, mirrored compact holding 8.0g of product.

 These are such amazing value at £6.95. These add a beautiful spring pop of colour to the cheek and are even nice swept through the eye socket with a soft brush.

  

 Colours have a great colour payoff and go on with a natural satin finish (no glitter).

 The colour in Last Love is also a great dupe for Springsheen blusher by MAC.

These are available now along with other shades from http://www.pomshopltd.com/product-category/brands/zoeva/page/2/ who also ship worldwide.

Smashbox Full Exposure

 Smashbox has recently been producing some beautiful products and their new palette Full Exposure is a thing of beauty.

 A 14 shadow palette containing a gradient of warm through to cool colours in both matte and shimmer.

Stunning array of nude colours for a natural look or a smokey evening look. Dare I say it but I think this may rival UD Naked palette.

It also comes with a dual ended brush for applying and blending (similar to MAC 239 and 217 Brush).

Shimmer colours

Matte colours

Matte colours are notoriously bad at blending but these matte shades are really soft and blendable. They are in a good selection of colours to create a natural contour colour for any skin tone or to layer on for an intense smokey eye.

The shimmer colours also blend well and even after buffing the shimmer the fine glitter still remains rather than blending away to nothing.

This palette is £36.00 and available now from http://www.smashbox.co.uk

Oily skin drama and Cystic spots

If you watch Pixiwoo tutorials you will probably know that Sam and Nic both naturally have amazing skin. Regardless of skin care routine they do just have great skin. Their mum does too, so do their aunties and grandmother, it's in their genes. They also have normal/dry skin so they never really suffer too much from blemishes.
 I (this is Stacey by the way) on the other hand have a combination skin type which is also extremely hormonal.
 Generally my skin behaves but at certain times of the month I get hideous cystic spots that come up, usually on the chin and jawline. If you have experienced these you will know how horrid they are. Solid, swollen lumps under the skin that never really come to a head. They just sit there distorting your face shape and hurting so much it's impossible to forget about them.
 Now I know that you HAVE to leave these alone. They take weeks sometimes to go down but if you leave them they will eventually go. I know this...however as gross as this sounds I always have to fiddle about with it and try and extract fluid from it to see if it will help the swelling go down. Well guess what, it never does. It just swells up more, goes red, forms a massive scab, looks worse than ever and just to show you who is boss it leaves you with a red scar that takes weeks and weeks to fade.

 Here at Pixiwoo I am so fortunate that I am able to try lots of amazing skin care products. I eat a healthy balanced diet (I do cheat now and again), avoid sugar, changed the type of milk I drink (I'll talk further about this), have a 2 litre bottle of water on my desk which I pretty much nail every day, I have the odd glass of red wine at the weekend and I go to the gym 3 times a week. Lord give me strength, I can do no more.

I have accepted that my skin is hormonal and each month there will be a point that I will have a breakout. I think if I ever got married I would have to plan the date arount my skin breakout time!!
 I have also learnt that certain things help it and certain thing seem to make it worse.
 I often feel like a total drama queen when moaning about my skin. I'm well aware there are tons of people out there dealing with illness, scarring and disabilities and here I am thinking strategically where I can sit in a restaurant to avoid the light hitting my face. Believe me I feel pathetic but I also know I'm not alone for feeling this way and I receive tons of emails each day from ladies and gents feeling the same so that is why I wanted to share my experiences.

What annoys my skin?
Milk. I learnt this from Ruth Crilly (A model recommends). You can read Ruth's article on milk and spots here..
http://www.amodelrecommends.com/2013/02/08/milk-dairy-and-acne-connection/
 After reading this I decided to change my milk to Almond Milk. It tastes quite nice really and my breakouts definitely became less frequent. After a few weeks of drinking this I became complacent and decided I would rather drink soya for some reason!
 I seemed fine at the start but then I began to make fruit smoothies in the morning with the soya and after two weeks of drinking more than normal amounts of soya I had the worst breakout. I counted seven huge cystic lumps all along my jaw line right on the bone just to ensure they hurt a little bit more. I don't know if the soya had done this and there is a lot of conflicting information out there about soya milk but for me I have decided to go back to my Almond Milk for now.
Chocolate is another no no for my skin. I know that chocolate upsets my skin because I hardly ever eat chocolate. I'm not really into it, never have been and can go weeks without eating it but when I do have some boy do I know it. My skin freaks out.
Coca Cola. We went through a stage here at Pixiwoo of drinking a can of Diet Coke with our lunch every day and my skin was not great for this period of time. I don't touch the stuff now.

What my skin likes
The girls recently did a Body Talk video with Caroline Hirons who is a skin care goddess and I took lots advice from this video all of which has helped my skin enormously. You can watch this video here.

Two things I learnt..
A balm cleanser and flannel are my best friends. I always thought a balm cleanser would make my skin feel greasy and cause it to be more oily. It doesn't and after learning about the various types of cleanser available I wouldn't use anything other than a balm cleanser.
 My absolute favourite at the moment is balance me Cleanse and Smooth face balm.

It smells lovely, it's 100% natural and the balm lifts off all of my makeup including mascara with ease. Tiny pieces of oatmeal inside help to gently exfoliate also. Targeted at a more dryer skin but is definitely not too rich for a combination skin.
This is £20 for 125ml https://www.balanceme.co.uk/face/product-family/daily-essentials/cleanse-smooth-face-balm/

My second favourite product is Biologique Resercher P50V phew what a mouthful.

This is an acid toner. Sounds scary but it's all designed for the skin and is perfectly safe. I'm not going to lie, this stinks like vinegar. Nic couldn't use it because she said she could smell the vinegary scent on her skin all day. Initially for a few days I could smell it too but you get used to it and now I don't notice it. To be honest I would still use it even if I could smell it anyway.
 Also this stings big time. I wipe it all over my face and it stings me but you are actually meant to pat it on which lessens the sting.
 I actually love the sting because it generally stings in the areas where I can feel a lump deep down in the skin waiting to errupt. I find after application 9/10 times the spot never comes up and on the odd occasion that it does it quickly heals and goes away again.
 After prolonged use it makes my skin appear smoother, even and generally amazing. It balances my skin out so much that I don't even need to powder my T-zone anymore during the day.
 I've had two bottles of P50v both inherited from Nic and Sam. It wasn't for them because they already have a dry skin and found it dried them out more and also because of the smell.
 They both got theirs from Liberty in London however Liberty no longer stock it so after mine ran out I couldn't get hold of another and my skin went pants again!

I emailed Biologique Resercher to their French site and UK site asking if I could buy direct from them or if they could tell me stockists but I never received an email back. I called them in desperation and left a voicemail but they never returned my call. I had resigned myself to thinking I'll never get one again unless I go to France however Caroline Hiros came up trumps again and told me where I could get one Hurrah!

A few salons in the UK do stock it and I got mine from Zen Spa in Notting hill, London. http://www.zenspalondon.com/ I called and spoke to a lovely therapist who happily took my payment over the phone and popped it in next day delivery for me.
 Zen spa looks particularly lovely and somewhere we will be definitely stopping by.

Ok so P50V isn't cheap. It's £52 a bottle for 150ml but it is worth every penny. I wouldn't think twice about going into TopShop and spending that on an outfit for a Saturday night and to be honest I would rather spend it on this product because when my skin is bad it doesn't matter if I was wearing a Vivian Westwood gown, I would still feel grumpy if my skin was having a meltdown.

This product is strong so it may not be for everyone but it works so well for me that I wanted to share with you.

Anyway sorry for the long rambling post and I hope it has helped some of you.
 We would love to hear your comments on your favourite products for your skin type below.

Nails inc and LFW 14'

From Left Teatum Jones, Emma Shipley and David Longshaw designs

To celebrate 15 years of Nails inc and also the launch of London Fashion Week starting 14th February Nails inc have collaborated with three upcoming designers.

The three designers are Teatum Jones, Emma Shipley and David Longshaw and they were each given creative licence to design the packaging for three new shades. The three pictures above are the images which each designer produced for their individual packaging.

We took a look at the Teatum Jones designed polish called Sloane Street. Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones trained in womenswear at Ravensbourne college and Central Martins college respectively and met whilst working together in Italy.
 They launched their debut womanswear collection in 2010 and have gone on to sell in the prestigious retailers Liberty and Fortnum and Mason.
 This coming fashion week they will be showing their first catwalk show for AW14.

The colour of the polish is hot pink and rather than a high shine finish it is slightly more of a matte finish.

I love the idea of celebrating British designers like this. I do think it would have been nice to fit a couple of sentences on the back of the box about the designer though as other than the name there is no indication that the designer designed the packaging.

These are available nationwide now and are £12.00 each http://www.nailsinc.com/products/nail-varnish-colours/40/

Elemis Top to Toe Beauty Skin Care Collection

Elemis have popped together a collection of their award winning products all in a lilac vanity bag.
 If you haven't tried Elemis this is a good opportunity to sample some of their best sellers at a reduced cost. This collection is £55.00 but worth £115.18.

What's inside ?...

A full size 300ml skin nourishing shower cream. Hydrating and scented with macadamia and Jojoba oil.
A full size 50ml Papaya Enzyme Peel. This is a cream exfoliator, non granular wash off style. Great for a sensitive skin that requires a really gentle exfoliator. For you hard core scrub kinda girls and guys this may not be enough.
Frangipani Monoi Body oil 35ml. Imagine if you could bottle the scent of your holiday on a tropical island....well this is that scent. The body oil solidifies at cool temperatures so place it in a sink of warm water to melt and massage into skin once you have showered. You can use on dry hair ends and cuticles also.
Pro-Radiance Cream Cleanser 30ml is good for a dryer skin. Massage in and wash off. The size makes it a good cleanser to pop into your wash bag for weekends away.
Pro-Collagen Marine Cream 30ml has been winning lots of awards just lately. Best for a mature skin that is in need of extra hydration.

For your opportunity to sample these best sellers head over to https://www.timetospa.co.uk/elemis/collections/elemis-top-to-toe-beauty-skincare-collection/

Too Faced Chocolate Box Palette

If you follow us on Instagram and Twitter you'll know we have recently been on a health kick. Sensible eating and tons of exercise has been our life recently and with Easter approaching I think we've found a healthy alternative to scoffing chocolate eggs!

You can't eat it but you can smell it and pretend!

Too Face have launched their new chocolate bar eyeshadow palette. Holds 16 shades that are infused with 100% cocoa powder giving a sweet chocolate scent to the colours.

 Mixture of matte and shimmer finish in various gold and taupe tones with a handful of cool and warm plum tones thrown in also.

 The two of the larger shades are the highlighting colours. One is matte and one is shimmer.

 Colour payoff is good but the shadows are a little crumbly and they do drop slightly. Maybe it's the added cocoa!

 The colours are very attractive though and we particularly love the purple shade which is infused with a fine pink glitter.

Colours form the left hand side

Colours from the right hand side

If you're skipping chocolate this Easter maybe you can treat yourself to this instead.

Available from February 2014 at selected Debenhams stores nationwide and www.debenhams.com

Neom Luxury Organics Love Candle

Neom have some amazing candles and this February they have lunched their limited edition three wick candle set in black glass called Love.
 Neom candles are made using vegetable wax and pure essential oils. Because they contain only these natural ingredients they don't produce any harmful pollutants or soot.
 The three wicks must be lit all at the same time and Neom state that this candle will have up to 50 hours burn time. People please burn the candle! I know it looks beautiful and you don't want to burn it but life is short.. burn the candle!
Having said that you actually don't have to light this candle to be able to smell it. After opening the box on Friday I left it sitting on my desk and on Monday when I came to work it was all I could smell.

The scent from this candle is so gorgeous. Containing oils from Tuberose and Jasmine flowers combined with essence extracted from the Mimosa tree and combined with honey.
 Sweetly floral but warming this instantly relaxes me with one deep inhalation.

This makes a beautiful gift and you can add a message inside the box. Ours came with a lovely quote in the box saying "Happiness is not something you find, but rather something you create".

This 380g candle is £42.00 and available for a limited time now from http://www.neomorganics.com/love-home-candle.html

Tweezy

This product is genius and is a tool we each have in our makeup bag at all times!
The Tweezy is basically a facial hair removing tool that you can do your self easily.
It is a really tightly coiled metal spring with a rubber handle at each end.

It works in much the same way as threading by trapping the hair between the springs and pulls it out from the root.

It does take a few minutes of playing around to get the correct twisting action you need but persevere because it really is quite easy once you get the hang of it.

To use the tweezy you need to bend it into an up turned 'U' shape, hold it onto the facial hair you want to remove and twist the tweezy inwards and outwards.

Where the spring is bent and slightly more open it will grip the hair. The twisting action will then pull the hairs out.

Does it hurt?
Yes if you are new to hair removal it will hurt for a few seconds but the good thing about this is that it grips lots of hairs at one time so you cover a large area quickly.

Does it work?
Absolutely! It's perfect for the fine peach fuzz hair on the face and also for annoying darker hair around the upper lip and chin.
 It wouldn't work on brows as it's difficult to bend it into a precise, small area but for the larger areas of the face its great.

I think I have quite a quick hair renewal time as my hairs start to come back after around 3 weeks but in theory if you normally go 6 weeks between waxing then this should last you the same.
 It doesn't cut off the hair so there is no fear of stubble, it just removes from the root the same as waxing or threading.
The hair won't grow back any darker or thicker.

The Tweezy is £10.00 with £3.00 P&P from http://www.tweezy.co.uk

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Envy

 

 Estee Lauder's latest in lip technology is here. Estee Lauder state that these new lipsticks will "intensify the lips with saturated colour whilst sculpting with their multi-faceted pigments".

 Sounds pretty good but how will this look on the lips?

 These lipsticks have a creamy, rich texture that leave a moisturised sheen that won't feel tacky or sticky. A great texture for this time of the year when our lips are in tatters from the cold. These colours don't cling to dry skin and provide a bold, opaque cover masking any lip imperfections.

 Hyaluronic Acid seems to be cropping up everywhere at the moment due to it's ability to naturally hold water. In return it provides a plumping affect to the skin it covers and helps to smooth out any feathering lines around the mouth.

The pigments in the lipsticks are true, strong and bold and help the colour to last on the lip. The colours do stain the lips slightly which is great for longevity.

We took a look at four shades out of the twenty available.

The twenty colours are broken down into four categories of nudes to brown, pinks to berries, corals to red and mauve's to plums.

 Everything about this lipstick launch is strong and bossy. From the magnetic snap of the packaging lid to the collection imagery of Carolyn Murphy driving off into the night like a woman on a mission these colours are not for the feint hearted. We love them!

Available now for £24.00 each http://www.esteelauder.co.uk/

Dior Trianon Collection Spring 2014

 You can tell instantly from the imagery Dior has used for this campaign that it takes it's inspiration from Marie Antoinette. The name Trianon comes from the hamlet which Louis XIV purchased just outside of Versailles, France. The exterior decorated in white and blue pastel porcelain made this an exquisite retreat for himself and his guests.

You can view the inspiration video below...


We took a look at a few key pieces from the collecion..

The Trianon palette

The show piece of the collection in the silver handbag style palette which Dior have previously done.
Contains a trio of frosted finish pastel shades in taupe, sea grass green and ice pink. The black is a powder eyeliner.
The colour choice in the palette was not our most favourite blend of tones. Nice enough individually however not the most wearable together. If you like these cool pastel tones that are every where on the high street at the moment then you may enjoy this palette.
 The center blusher is a baby pink which is so sheer it would only really show up on a porcelain skin tone but I guess Marie Antoinette wasn't known for being a bronzed godess!
This palette is £59.00

 

It does come with a nifty blush brush and sponge style applicator.

We also tried out two of the nail polishes from the collection in Bloom and Perle.

Bloom is a beautiful blue toned fuchsia pink and Perle is a much softer almost transparent pink with tiny flecks of purple and blue pearl. Both are £18.00

This collection is available now http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk http://www.selfridges.com/

 

The London Beauty Box

When you have as much makeup as we do here at Pixiwoo HQ storage becomes an issue. With the exception of a shipping container there isn't much hope for us finding a storage solution, however for our own personal use at home these acrylic storage boxes from London Beauty Box are ideal.

 

If you're makeup obsessives like us this may not hold all your gear however we like to pop our essential everyday skin care and makeup in it so it's always easy to find. If you are super organised you could plan your weeks makeup pieces and place inside or even pop in bits to create a look for a special night out.

 If you are You Tubers like us you could use it to hold your key look products in ready for your next tutorial.

Being transparent helps you to locate everything you need and with varying drawer depths it will house most products including skin care.

The box is made of thick acrylic with four drawers and is very sturdy. Total height is 9.5", width is 7" and length is 10".

These boxes are not cheap at £120 which does seem very pricey however you can get a lot in them and they do make life a little easier when searching for your products.

If you decide this is something you need then pop in the discount code 'london15' on checkout to receive 15% off, that makes it a little bit easier on the purse!

http://www.londonbeautybox.com