Brighton. Beauty. Bliss. - A Collection of Favourites from January 2014

Wow! January has been crazy for sure; I started this lovely little blog you're currently reading, worked my butt off, went on vacation and fell even further into my skin care addiction! I've always loved monthly favourites on other blogs because you just know you're going to find some treasures, so here is a small collection of my essentials, why I love them and why I just can't get enough of them!

Let's start with why most of you are here; skincare!

MAC's Lightful Marine Bright Cleanser and Softening Lotion

These two aren't just January favourites I've been using and loving on these guys for a while now; I tried the entire Lightful collection including the essence and the moisture creme and to be honest I really liked the entire line. With continued use I saw an increase in the overall clarity of my skin, old scars from blemishes have drastically lightened in colour, it's reduced the frequency of spots cropping up and left my skin glowing. I traded out the essence and moisturizer for other products but the cleanser and softening lotion have become a permanent fixture. The cleanser leaves your skin squeaky clean, I will say though that if you are normal to dry definitely make sure you're using a moisturizer as I do find my skin tends to feel a bit tight after cleansing. As for the softening lotion I use it religiously myself and put it on every client that sits down in my chair, it's a liquid moisturizer that softens the skin and removes dead surface cells giving you instant gratification! You can feel an improvement in texture after a single use!!

Rocky Mountain Soap Company Body Butter

Not only are the winters in Alberta murder on your skins moisture barrier but if you're like me you're constantly having to wash your hands, apply hand sanitizer and your hands wind up all dry, cracked and beyond painful. This body butter was my absolute SAVIOUR this winter. I got the unscented version as my hands were so bad they stung if you even looked at them the wrong way. The little twist up bars are super convenient for stashing in your hand bag, night stand, even the glove box of your car; I will say though I got more than one strange look while applying this in public as it does look like you're smearing deodorant all over your hands. I love the body butter for my elbows, the backs of my hands and any other super dry spots that creep up but I did find it left a little bit of an oily residue on my palms that I did not like.

Sanoflore Nourishing Honey Smooth Hand and Nail Cream

Now this is a more recent addiction; my lovely boyfriend took me to Paris for a weekend a couple weeks ago and waited patiently while I went skin care crazy in the pharmacies, I fell in love with the Sanoflore brand and I'm a complete sucker for anything with honey so when I saw this I had to give it a try! I swear this is the hand cream of the gods; it is so moisturizing, has an incredible scent that isn't overpowering but lingers on for hours. My co-workers have dubbed it "hand crack" because I use it non-stop and won't stop talking about how amazing it is, seriously, if you can get your little hands on some, DO IT, you'll thank me later. On another note; if you're in France, walk into a pharmacy and ask for help, the ladies that work there know their products inside and out and will help you find things you didn't even know you needed. I was trying to explain this to the customs officer in London when he saw €300 worth of skin care from a two day trip...

Now on to a quick note about what's been keeping my tresses happy this month...

While in London I was in Boots on one of many shopping trips and saw the Tangle Teezer I've heard so much about and decided to give it a go, let's just say this thing is a miracle worker. I am able to brush my damaged, fragile hair wet  without any breakage and it seems to just slide through the knots effortlessly which has made brushing my hair enjoyable as opposed to bracing myself for the battle of the scalp that I've come to associate brushing my hair with for the last two decades.

The other favourite is something you'll recognize from here which is the Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse which I'm sure you're sick of hearing me talk about by now so let me just say this - put a couple drops in your palms and run it through wet hair, or use it to finish styling your hair to tame fly aways and make dry crispy ends looks so much healthier. Give it a go and let me know what you think in the comments below!

And finally for a couple of my staple beauty picks as this is a beauty blog after all...

 Urban Decay Anti-Aging Eyeshadow Primer Potion

I've had the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion for ages now and I don't know why I wasn't using it! I bought it at Sephora a life time ago and it's just been sitting in my make up bag collecting dust. Well, at the end of December I decided to give it another chance and I've never looked back. I get so many compliments on my eye make up, especially how smooth and flawless some of the chunkier, sparkly shadows appear when worn over this, and hey, anything with anti-aging benefits is a winner in my book!

 MAC's Double Happiness Cremesheen Glass

Let me just start with saying that the co-worker that brought this into my life has forever changed my life, this is the perfect lipgloss; I know that's a bold statement to make. It looks great over a wide variety of lipsticks and liners but looks amazing on it's on when you don't have the time or energy to perfectly sculpt your lips. Go here and get yourself one now. Heck while you're at it get one of every cremesheen glass, they all rock. It's like lipstick and lip gloss had a baby and it's not a huge sticky disaster!

And now for a few odds and ends that I just couldn't get enough of this month...

 Brighton, England 

Forget Disneyland, Brighton is the happiest place on Earth! From cute independent boutiques, to thrift shops and kitschy little tea rooms; this little seaside town is a must do if you're in England. It's under an hour from London by train and makes for an amazing afternoon of wandering in and out of the historic lanes, shopping and games in the arcade on the pier. With all the fun you'll be having you'll probably work up quite the appetite, in which case I highly recommend heading to the Black Lion Pub for some food, with an extensive menu and lots of vegetarian friendly options this place makes for the perfect end to a perfect afternoon before you grab the train back to London.

A Quick List of Bits and Bobs You Can't Live Without:

•  Coffe Cake Tea from David's Tea - served with Stevia and a splash of Almond Milk and you'll feel like you're having dessert before breakfast!
• Downton Abbey - a British period drama that when paired with the tea listed above makes for the perfect lazy afternoon
• Intellectulights - hands down some of the best candles I've ever owned

Blog of the Month: Fleur de Force whom I absolutely adore and you can find her super cute vlogs here 

Have you tried any of these things? What did you think? What are some of your must haves? Let me know in the comments below!

Skin Care for the Gods!

Clearly if you read this review or asked to borrow lip balm and I handed you this you've probably heard me sing the gospel of the french skin care brand Nuxe; if you haven't heard the Gospel of Nuxe then prepare yourself because this is another installment of "why is french skin care so damn amazing?!" Let me start with saying I recently had a "facepalm" moment with skin care; one of those moments where in retrospect you totally knew better buuut still did it anyways. Working in make up I have a lot of co-workers that are also skin care enthusiasts, some of which share my dry skin dilemmas, others that are facing a battle on the oily front. One day whilst musing about masks a couple of the girls were talking about how much they loved the REN Glycol Lactic Radiance Mask and how amazing it left their skin afterwards, and neglecting the fact that they both had either oily or dehydrated skin (not the same thing as oily - ladies and gentlemen, I'm looking at my Alberta peeps especially...) ALSO neglecting the fact that my skin is far too sensitive I decided to go ahead and try it anyways, cue the facepalm! The instructions say to leave it on for 10 minutes and you may feel a slight tingling sensation; 5 minutes in my face was burning and I had to rinse it off - I was left with dry, itchy welts that the next morning had turned into huge dry patches on the skin I've been working so hard on!!

The next day is the day I did my haul at the drug store, I was a little weary of trying a new moisturizer with my skin already so angry at me so I did a small patch test that night and in the morning my skin in that area felt so amazing I decided to be brave and use my new Rêve de Miel® Ultra-Comfortable Face Cream. I've been using it for about a week now and I'm so very in love with it and let me tell you why!

So first it has that unmistakable scent all the products from the Rêve de Miel line, it's sweet from the honey but also has a really soft herbal smell to it. It's a thick cream but almost has a whipped texture to it which makes it fantastic to apply - a little goes a long way here people! I also love that like most Nuxe products the vast majority of ingredients are naturally sourced, it's got a 6 month shelf life after you open it, which to me speaks volumes about the ingredients. It contains Sunflower oil derivatives, safflower ceramides and precious plant oils to repair the lipids in your skin, barley, aragan oil and shea butter to soothe and nourish your skin as well as honey to repair and vitamin E to protect. 

After just one week of using this I've noticed my skin seems much plumper and softer and it's even diminished the dry patches I was left with from the glycolactic mask mess, it has quickly replaced my previous day moisturizer and I'm excited to get my hot little hands on the night cream version while I'm in Paris because that does seem to be one of the items that hasn't made it over to Canada yet, but if you see it somewhere let me know in the comments below! 

I'm currently on vacation and may not be posting as much as I would like but you can follow me on Facebook I am also on instagram @facepalmbeautyblog I will most likely be posting pictures of my exploits into French and British skin care and cosmetics, so be sure to check those out for all the latest and greatest in the FacePalm world! 

Ambiguous Asian Bath Salts...

So I'm pretty much a permanent figure in TNT's beauty aisle; chances are if you can't find me and I'm not at work or the gym that's where I am. I've walked passed these I don't know how many times and the complete lack of English on the packaging and the picture of a girl sweating profusely has both engaged and terrified me every time I've passed them, I finally decided to take the plunge and give them a go, I went for the most pleasant looking package with yellow and gold on it as opposed to the more intimidating red and black of some of the others.

After some googling I discovered that these Bath Addictives (additives? I've seen them spelled both ways numerous times across the interwebs) are supposed to encourage profuse sweating in the bath tub (don't think about it too much or it's super gross) to help promote circulation and detoxification. I grabbed the Royal Honey Milk variety as it turns out; it contains rose hip essence, rose extract, hot-spring mineral, hyaluronic acid and collagen. Its a fine pink powder with some crystals in that sound like pop rocks when they mix with the water, once dissolved in the water the water will turn a sort of milky white colour. The water was insanely soft and moisturizing, it felt like I was sitting in a giant tub of milky lotion, which I kinda was... One of the only downsides to this product was the scent, it had a gorgeous, soft luxurious, subtly floral scent when you opened the package but when mixed with the water the scent was so soft I barely noticed it anymore.

And a final note on this glorious bath addictive (I'm sticking by this description because I've already placed an order on Sasa for a bunch of scent's TNT doesn't carry) in terms of the sweat producing effects I found this one fairly mild, some blogs I've read on other scents talked of profuse sweating during the ginger or chilli varieties but I think this guy was a good starter sweat bath. I was definitely sweating more than in a regular bath but nothing too crazy, I really only noticed it when my bath water had gone cold (I sit in the tub until I've shriveled up) and I was still sweating. As with anything that makes you sweat make sure to drink lots of water to stay hydrated or you may feel ill and have to forsake the tub before the full moisturizing benefits sink it! If you take nearly as many baths as I do these need to join your bubble bath/ bath bomb collection, I found them for $4 at my local TNT Supermarket, I have seen them on eBay but they're twice the price, if you can't find them at a local asian supermarket check out Sasa for a large selection for a decent price but I would recommend stocking up because shipping can be pretty pricy!   

Stay tuned - review on Nuxe's RÊVE DE MIEL®ULTRA COMFORTABLE FACE CREAM should be up on friday!

January Drug Store Skin Care Haul

I will be the first to admit I'm kind of a skin care snob and I've been that way for a while; I would turn my nose up at the thought of purchasing a cleanser or a moisturizer from somewhere that also sold cereal and postage stamps. Having been this way for ages I was probably the last to know that some of the drug stores have really stepped their game up and are now carrying high end brands and even foreign brands that are next to impossible to find even online.

After sending a copy of my Paris shopping list to a co-worker who is also interested in skin care and lamenting about how I couldn't even find any of it online she brought to my attention that she'd seen quite a bit of the Nuxe skin care line at Shopper's Drugmart. On my break I dashed over there and quickly spent $98 in 15 on so many goodies!

The only thing I've tried from this haul before was the Rêve de Miel® Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm which is a life saver for someone with constant chapped lips like myself; if you live in Alberta you NEED this in your life! I've been battling super dry skin for a while and finally had it under control until I tried the Ren Glycolatic Face Mask I had mentioned in a previous post and had a horrible reaction to it that left my face super dry and flakey, so I figured I would also give the Rêve de Miel® Ultra-Comfortable Face Cream a try and see if it was able to restore my skin back to its soft supple past! I am also in the process of trying to grow out my hair that I've been dying for well over a decade and hearing amazing things about Klorane I decided to give their Desert Date Hair Mask a go! After seeing Avène Thermal Spring Water on so many beauty blogs and vlogs I had to find out what all the fuss is about and I'm super excited to see what kind of results it gives. I'm just as addicted to Soap and Glory products as the next girl, I have been since I used to live in Ireland so I was so excited to see Shoppers Drug Mart expanding what the collection they carry to include cosmetics and since I've been battling dark circles under my eyes I figured I'd give the Trick & Treatment Under Eye Concealer a whirl! The other two products I picked up at TNT Asian Supermarket, one you may recognize as the Mysterious Flesh Eating Booties I reviewed last week, I bought a pair of them for my mum to try as she's always complaining about her dry cracking feet, so we'll see how she likes them! And last but not least the strange package of powder with no English on it whatsoever that depicts a girl sweating in a bathtub, best guess is it's bath crystals of some sort, mildly nervous but kind of excited to try them!

I also picked this little dude up at the grocery store the other day, seriously if you see me in public don't let me anywhere the hair/skin care section, I HAVE A PROBLEM! This is just a single use deep conditioning hair mask that clearly states it's for people like me that use and abuse their poor hair, plus it's paraben free and I like that!

I will most likely be writing a review of some of these products within the next week, if there's any item specifically that you'd like to see a review of let me know in the comments below! Also, if there's any drug store "must haves" that I need to check out also leave those in the comments below.

Face Q Peeling Foot Mask

I picked these guys up from the asian supermarket at the recommendation of a girlfriend who had nothing but AMAZING things to say about them and having adored other products by the same brand I figured I'd give them a go!

First let me give you the instructions for use because the only thing in English on this packaging is the ingredients list. Put the enclosed booties on (from here on referred to as the Mysterious Flesh Eating Booties) and let your feet sit and stew in the booties for an hour. I would recommend putting a towel under your feet if you're going to put your feet up as they may drip! After the hour is up rinse any of the residue off your feet and apply one packet of the enclosed lotion to your feet, I recommend putting socks on to help it soak in and not get everywhere.

Over the next couple days socks are going to be your best friend for a couple reasons; A. Because it'll help the lotion soak in (I recommend doing it at bed time) and B. All the dead skin is going to start peeling off your feet and it's super gross so spare everyone around you the sight of your feet molting!

I've got mixed feelings on this product so let me tell you what I love and what I didn't love so much; first of all they were a little more expensive than I expected as all their face masks are like $1 each, I can't remember the exact price but it was around $25 for a box that contained one set of booties and five packets of lotion. Secondly, my feet are more dry than scaly and I was hoping they'd have a more moisturizing affect which sadly it was the exact opposite they were quite drying. If your feet are extremely scaly and rough I think this would be amazing for you, I would also recommend using extra lotion on your feet while doing this to prevent them from getting so dry - use the enclosed packets of lotion at bedtime and wear socks and in the morning before putting socks on slather on some extra moisturizing lotion. I do have to say that while they did leave my feet a bit dry they are quite soft and two days after finishing the lotion I still have dead skin peeling off and now that I'm loading them with lotion they feel super soft.

If you're somebody that needs to see immediate results these are not for you; a week after using the mysterious flesh eating booties I'm now just starting to see the results but I am happy with what I see. I will most likely purchase these again but they won't be a staple in my skin care collection thats for sure! If you can get your hands on a package try them out and let me know what you think!

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse

After finding out the boyfriend had booked us a surprise trip to Paris in a couple weeks I fell into the black hole of googling French skin care; several items kept popping up on every blog I came across, ask anyone who knows me, I've been beyond excited to get my hot little hands on some of this liquid gold. Whilst counting down the days to Paris, and hording all the skincare trying to get my face ready for the streets of Paris, I was in Sephora picking up Ren's Glycol Lactic Radiance Renewal Mask(watch for a review in the next couple days!!) and whilst standing in line pursuing all the little goodies near the till my eyes fell onto a golden little bottle I've been dreaming of for weeks! Nuxe's Huile Prodigieuse was just sitting there calling my name!

As soon as I got into my car I cracked the seal, put a couple drops of heaven into my hand and ran my fingers through the ends of my parched hair! First I would like to mention the scent; its a really light aromatic smell with hints of floral without being overwhelming and obtrusive and yet has warm undertones, I can't quite place a finger on any specific familiar fragrances within it but the overall smell is a delicate inviting one. It has a light weight texture, not sticky and heavy like some other oils I've tried. Six hours after applying it to the ends of my hair I find my hair feels soft, still smells fantastic and is not at all greasy - although I would avoid applying it to the scalp as I feel it might get a bit greasy and unmanageable. So far I've put the oil in my hair, smoothed it all over my body after a bath and mixed it into my night cream. It absorbs into the skin quickly leaving your skin soft and dewy but not at all 
greasy. I found it instantly brightened my face and I'm excited to see what continued use has to offer.

Aside from how amazing this product smells and feels the ingredients are of 97.8% natural origin whish is definitely something to get excited about in the day and age when in comes to skin care with ingredients lists that barely fit on the packaging.

 I found my 50ml bottle at Sephora for $26, they also had the Huile Prodigieuse with shimmer dry oil that would look amazing in your hair and on your skin giving you that almost sun-kissed shimmer, I'll being going back for it shortly! If you haven't tried any french skin care yet this is an amazing introduction; it's simple, sophisticated and the results speak for themselves.