Its that time of year again....early Christmas shopping!

I'm one of those annoying people that loves thinking about and planning for Christmas...as early as September! I know, I should be ashamed but I'm not! ;-)

I absolutely detest the queues in stores nearer the festive period. The majority of people shopping for Christmas seem to be on a military style mission, all stressed out and annoyed. At that time I just want to wander around the shops, grab a coffee, enjoy the Christmas music playing in town etc.

A few years ago I started trying to do as much Christmas shopping as possible online. No queues, no stress and instead I can get on with all the enjoyable Christmas parts of preparing for Christmas.
 

MyPure is the perfect place to pick up a variety of gifts. Normally I just get beauty products from them but last month I noticed that they sell candles. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a candle addict. Between candles and oil burners I have every room in the house covered. Can anyone say obsessed? ;-) 

MyPure sells a whole variety of Munio Candela, natural soya wax scented candles. I ordered the marigold flower gift pack and at £15.30 I think it was an absolute bargain! It comes in a beautifully simple cardboard box. In the box there's a candle and wax tarts of various sizes, I love that small detail, because I have oil burners with different sized bowls. You can put the wax tarts in drawers, luggage etc. if you wish but I much prefer to melt the tarts and make the house smell lovely. I intend to pick up some of the cinnamon and clove gift packs for stocking fillers and as thank you gifts for a few people.
 

I also ordered the Eco Tools six piece starter set. I'm a big fan of Eco Tools. They're quite a recent find for me and so I'm building up my collection of them. I tend to have sensitive skin and where other brushes irritate my skin, the Eco Tools brushes are incredibly soft. When I was putting my makeup on this morning using the brushes it dawned on me that this set, at £13.49 would be the perfect gift to pop into each of my friend's Christmas gift bags.
While browsing through the MyPure website I have came up with so many more ideas for friends and family ~ shaving products for my dad, baby products to make up a little gift pack for my friend's soon-to-be-born baby, facial kits for my gran and mum. Have a look for yourself!

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?
Did you see anything you liked on the MyPure site?
 

Trilogy Refresh and Shine - Shampoo and Conditioner

I recently received Trilogy Refresh and Shine shampoo and conditioner from MyPure. They’re a store online that sell organic skincare and their range of products go from one end of the spectrum to the other. If you want organic, natural beauty products you’ll find them all here. 

The Trilogy Refresh And Shine shampoo claims to do a few things but the one thing I was most interested in is that it claims to rinse away product build up. Yes please! I use a lot of products: leave in conditioner, dry hair shampoo, hair spray, the list goes on! I try to be but I’m not very kind to my hair.

I’m sad to say that I didn’t particularly love this shampoo. It cleaned my hair but I had to wash it twice before it felt as clean as it normally would with other shampoo brands. It also didn’t lather that much. I know the lather isn’t important but once I rubbed the shampoo in I felt like I was just massaging wet hair. I guess the lather makes me feel like I’m actually working with something and I felt that missing. It sells for £12.50.

The Trilogy Refresh And Shine conditioner was a big hit though! A very well invested £12.50! It smells absolutely amazing, like sherbet almost. Really nice. My detangling comb just slid through my hair after using it which is a big plus in my book! It also gave my hair an amazing shine that I can normally only achieve after just getting my hair dyed. Strange, I know! The conditioner is also very light, it doesn’t weigh down my hair. It is so great that it makes me even more frustrated that the shampoo isn’t quite on the same level. It’s a shame really.

Have you tried any of the Trilogy hair products?
What did you think?

Inika Light Reflect Highlighting Creme

Highlighters and anything to do with contouring are things I have stayed away from in the past. It took me long enough to perfect a few basic looks that I was happy with without trying to contour or highlight.
Though recently I have been liking the dewy look and for me its not as daunting to try as some of the other looks out there.
I decided to try Inika's Light Reflect Highlighting Crème. It was ordered through the MyPure website and costs £17. I've said it before but MyPure are all about natural, organic skincare. I try to take care of my skin so any products I can use that don't contain any nasties is a positive thing for me.
Anyway, back to the product! Its a good shade for my skin now that I'm slightly sunkissed but I don't think it would work for me in winter when I'm much paler. A friend described the shade as "champagne" and I think that's quite apt. It blends in easily and gives me the dewy look that I've been after. I apply it to my cheekbones, brow bone and cupid's bow.
The only downside to it is that you barely have to touch the tube and some will splodge out so I've had to be careful with my heavy handed ways! :-)

Have any of you tried this product?
What is your go-to highlighting product?

Natural beauty with MyPure

I've decided that its time to start using eye cream. It probably should have happened long ago but I'm late to everything! :-)
I decided to get the Laid Bare Pack Your Bags Tighten And Lighten eye cream (how cute is that name?) from MyPure. I also decided to get the EcoTools Bamboo 5 Piece Fresh and Flawless Complexion Set

You need so little of the eye cream that I envisage it lasting a long time. At only £7.99 that's got to be value for money, right?

 I keep reading about how delicate the eye area is and how thin the skin is there so I was glad to find that this particular eye cream feels very light when its applied.
I'm mum to a very gorgeous wee boy but he's also a wee boy that has a penchant for 5am wake up calls! Because of this I find that I have dark circles under my eyes more often than not. I've been using the product for a week now and the dark circles have definitely faded somewhat. I can't say that the "tightening" has taken place though, maybe after using it for a few more weeks?
Laid Bare tell you to apply the cream and pat it in gently, it takes quite a bit of patting to be honest. Not such a big deal though when you're getting the results you want.
Onto the makeup brushes now. I tend to be quite religious about cleaning my makeup brushes weekly. A few of my brushes leave my face feeling quite itchy, kabuki brushes in particular! I seen that the bamboo EcoTools brushes were listed as "beautifully soft" so this sounded ideal.
The 5 piece set contains a flat concealer brush, buffing concealer brush, precision foundation brush, complexion blending brush and a full powder brush.
 

When you open the cute box there is a description on the left about what each brush does which I think is great for those that are unsure.
 

I've been using the brushes every morning since I received them and they genuinely are so soft, it feels really nice using them to apply my make up and no itchiness! :-) The brushes are smaller than usual but because of this they fit perfectly into my makeup bag for touch ups when out and about.
And for you cruelty free shoppers out there (I'm thinking of you Dani!), the bristles are cruelty free. The set is £11.99 too which I think is a pretty great price! I know I've spent more on makeup brushes in the past that were of a poorer quality.

Have any of you used either of these products?
How did you find they worked for you?

Pixy Cosmetics

I have always been a big fan of Pixy Cosmetics. They're a business based in Mallow, County Cork but they have stockists scattered all over the place. Their products are SLS and parabens free, no animal testing (big yay from me!) and their products are made from natural ingredients.
They sound great, don't they? :-) I was excited when I was recently offered the opportunity to review some of their products.
Pixy sent me out their limelight bath bomb, strawberry kiss face scrub and their lime body scrub cubes.

Limelight bath bomb
I have used this particular bath bomb before so I was so happy to receive it. I love the hint of grapefruit that you get from this. There also seems to be moisturising ingredients in there too because each time I've used it my skin has felt fabulous afterwards. The bath bombs are priced at £3.45

Strawberry Kiss face scrub

This scrub is full of  lovely ingredients such as macadamia nut oil and evening primrose to soften your skin. When I first used this product the strawberry seeds were so delicate that I thought there was no way they could possibly be exfoliating. They seemed to just glide over the skin, yet when I rinsed it off my face was as soft as when I've used "harsher" scrubs. Big thumbs up! This item is priced at £9.95.

Lime body scrub cubes
Pixy call these the best fake tan remover ever. I'm not one to use fake tan so I can't comment on that but at £4.95 they're one of the best body scrubs I've used. One side of the cube exfoliates and one side moisturises. You jump in the shower and exfoliate as normal. You then use the moisturising side, rinse off and pat dry. Its such a quick process but with such good results. The zingy lime scent lingers on your skin too which is always nice.

Have you tried anything from Pixy?
What are your favourites?

Keep moisturised with MyPure.

I recently had the opportunity to review two lovely products from MyPure. I love these guys because they are all about natural, organic beauty.

I decided to review the Lovea SPF 50 Daily Face Cream (new formula). Its currently priced at £17.99 for 50ml. This wee pot is jam packed full of anti-aging ingredients and given that I'm in my early 30's now I'm all for fighting the signs with any artillery I can get my hands on!
I often find sunscreens quite drying but I've been using this for a week now and it leaves my skin feeling surprisingly soft.
The only con is that while it states that it can be worn under makeup I've tried and it certainly can't be worn under my particular make up. I suffer from shiny patches as it is and these appear within minutes while wearing Lovea and foundation together. With that said, I would rather wear Lovea face cream on a hot day and protect my skin, as opposed to wearing make up and damaging my skin.

The second product I picked to review was the A'kin Pureman aftershave balm. Its priced at £9.60 for 75ml. I have been using the A'kin serum recently and I was curious to see if the men's range stood up as strongly as the women's. The fragrance of this aftershave balm is a mixture of orange, Ginseng and spice. It smells great, even my dad commented on how nice it smelled. I gave it to him to try out for me and he said his skin felt less "angry" after shaving once he applied this. He also said that it wasn't greasy which is a big deal breaker for him. He mentioned that if the fragrance is an issue for anyone then to let them know that it fades pretty quickly. He is liking it so much that he has asked me if I could pick him up another bottle once this one runs out so I think that's a big thumbs up!


Have you tried any of these products?
What were your thoughts?
                       



~ While I was sent these items for review purposes all of the opinions are honest and my own.

MYPURE A'kin and Hurraw review.

This month I had the opportunity to put in an order on the MYPURE website. I have been wanting to try some of their products for a while now. They're all about organic skincare and that's an avenue I have definitely been wanting to explore. I can see now why so many people move across exclusively to organic skincare products. 

Anyway, onto the products I tried. I have recently been trying to be kinder to my skin and that means more than a splash of water and some moisturiser for me. I know, shame on me!


In a recent post I tried my first skin serum. You can find that post here. I was impressed with just how effective these serums are so when I seen A'kin Revitalising Cellular Radiance Serum I knew that I wanted to give it a go. 

This product is an anti-age formula and being in my early 30s I'm all for nipping any signs of "wear and tear" in the bud! It has a luxurious texture and when you apply the recommended 3-4 drops after cleansing you can just feel your skin thanking you for it. I spend a lot of time outdoors and so my skin dries out quickly, this serum seems to almost rehydrate it and it immediately begins to feel softer. Its not at all oily like you might imagine it to be either. My skin absorbed it so quickly that there was no real shine.

Its currently on offer too at £23.40 so if you want to try something new, give this a go. I definitely definitely recommend it. The only thing I would say (and its not a big deal) is that I think a pump would be more effective than the wee bottle dropper.


I mentioned before that I spend a lot of time outdoors and how it dries my skin out quite quickly. Unfortunately the same applies to my lips. I used to lather them in a particular lip balm but I've recently discovered that it actually just dries them out even more. Based on that, I decided to try the HURRAW! grapefruit lip balm which is a steal at £3.59 and 100% natural. 

When I read the ingredients on this item I noticed that it contained coconut oil. When my son was born he was quite sensitive, coconut oil was the only thing that didn't cause a reaction so I used it on him for everything from massages to a moisturiser. Its good stuff so I knew I was onto a good thing with the lip balm at that point.


It smells exactly like grapefruit, not sickly and artificial like a lot of lip balms on the market. The stick is an oval shape which shouldn't matter either way but I actually prefer it when applying it. I have found that when using some lip balms I have had to drag them across my lips but HURRAW! glides on easily and I'm imagining that that too is thanks to the coconut oil.


All in all, I'm impressed with MYPURE, everything from their delivery speed to their customer communications and the best thing of all.....the 100% natural products.

Have you shopped with MYPURE?

Which of their products would you recommend?

*These items were sent to me for review purposes but my opinions are honest and entirely my own.