Sample Saturday - Pulpe De Vie Sweet Frappe Mask And Face Scrub*

If you've ever subscribed to a beauty box or you've ever bought a glossy magazine then you're bound to have a drawer full of sample sachets and mini bottles. Don't get me wrong they're fabulous for holidays and weekends away but more often than not they sit in the drawer unloved. A few days ago I found another bagful of sachets and it gave me an idea. In an attempt to use up some of my numerous sachets, and mini bottles I've decided to introduce a series called Sample Saturday.

I'm not saying it's going to be every Saturday but from now on, as regularly as possible I'm going to be doing a review of a sample from my collection. Depending on the size or the number of samples that I have, it will either be an initial impressions post or a full review. Believe me I have all different sorts of minis and samples in my drawers, so there should be a post to suit everyone.

Today's post is going to be all about something that I was sent. Sometimes as bloggers we're lucky enough to be sent full sized products, but on a lot of occasions we're sent sample sachets or minis. I'm grateful for everything that I'm sent so I was excited to be sent some samples from a new brand to me Pulpe de Vie.

Pulpe de Vie are a small French company based in the beautiful region of Provence, they produce a certified organic line of skin and body care. Their products are predominantly fruit and vegetable based and their ingredients are all purchased from local suppliers and growers. They are an all French company and all of their ingredients and packaging and products are grown and manufactured in France.

They offer a small range of skincare and body care products, ranging from body moisturisers, to facial self tanners, facial moisturisers and masks. The product I received was the yummy sounding Sucre Frappe, or in English the Sweet Frappe Face Mask and Scrub.

Designed for all skin types, this two in one product is designed to deep cleanse and exfoliate the skin. The manufacturers claim that this product will improve the skin tone and appearance of the pores, whilst at the same time leaving the skin moisturised and radiant.

This product contains 99.8% natural ingredients, 94% of which, are organic. Did you know for something to be classified as organic, only 10% of the product needs to be organic? That seems like such a small amount for me and it's definitely made me think a bit more about the concept when I'm looking at cosmetic labelling. I guess in this case though, with such a high percentage, it really shows Pulpe de Vie's commitment to using organic ingredients.

All of the ingredients in this product are easy to find both on the full sized packaging and online. This scrub and mask contains organic grapefruit oil, cucumber extract, apricot kernels, and acacia honey. It also contains vegetable glycerin, organic and fair trade sunflower oil, and emulsifiers which come from sugar.

Source 

Sounds pretty natural to me but what is it and what does it do? Well the product itself is a sort of sticky amber coloured gel, with is crammed full of tiny pieces of apricot kernel. Appearance wise it reminds me a little bit of Origins Never A Dull Moment, only slightly less scented and a bit less gritty. It has a very subtle, sweet, fruity scent and thankfully for me it doesn't smell of honey. All you do is massage the product into clean, dry skin, avoiding the delicate eye and lip areas, and your hairline unless you want your hair to be full of apricot kernels!  Despite the stickiness it is pretty easy to massage into the skin - scary pictures time!

You then leave it for about 5 minutes to let the majority of the ingredients do their thing. The mask doesn't really set but some of the gel does seem to thicken slightly. Then using a small amount of warm water, you just rub your face gently in circular motions. The consistency then turns from a gel into a creamy, milky particle packed exfoliator. The scent of the grapefruit oil also appear to be intensified with the addition of the water.

Then using a face cloth, soaked in warm water, you just wash away the remnants of the product. The apricot kernels are numerous, as you can probably see from this picture so it can take a little while to get it off, just persevere, and be gentle.

After rinsing my skin looked a little bit pink but it did actually feel really clean and smooth, as if I'd had a nice facial :)

I actually really liked the two samples that I tried but I have to say I'm not the hugest fan of using things like apricot kernels on my face. Try as manufactures might they still tend to feel a bit scratchy on the skin. Pulpe de Vie suggest that you apply a little bit of water to the skin when your first applying it if you have a sensitive skin, but if you have skin that's easily sensitised I would probably avoid this product and pretty much any other kernel containing. manual exfoliator on the market.

It's really hard to review a skin care product in just two uses though and whilst this left my skin feeling nice and soft, it didn't have the wow factor which would make me spend £19.50 on the full sized tube. That said the two sachets that I had contained 5ml of products each so a 75ml tube would go a long way, so if your a fan of this type of product and your after something natural and predominately organic, this could be a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately I dont think that this is an investment I will be making, but I will definitely consider trying some of the other products from Pulpe de Vie in the future.

Pulpe De Vie "Sucre Frappe" Sweet Frappe Mask And Face Scrub retails at £19.50 for a 75ml tube and ia available from Absolutely Divine in the UK. They also have a very nice, website of their own which alas for me is in French. Some browsers have a translate feature on them though which I would highly recommend using because the website gives you a lot of additional information both on the brand and on the product line.

Are you a fan of facial scrubs? Leave me a comment and let me know your favourite x

(*PR Sample)

Daily Facial And Body Cleansing With The Magnitone Pulsar* - Warning Long Post!

I guess I should start this post with an apology - I went sent this product towards the end of last year and the intention was to use if for a month and then get a review up in time for Christmas. It wasn't to be though and in someways I'm glad about that. This product isn't the cheapest and the time span has given me the opportunity to give it a full and thorough review.

So what is it ? Well in it's simplest terms it's a daily cleansing brush. There are lots of these on the market now catering for all budgets but the Magnitone Pulsar is different.

What It Does

Designed with Active Electromagnetic Technology it nor only provides around 15,000 rotational oscillations a minute but also has a unique pulsing action to stimulate the skin.

Magitone Pulsar claim that you will see up to 10 amazing benefits to your skin with 7 days of usage

More effective deep cleansing and removal of impurities***

Can help increase collagen level in skin**
Softer, smoother and clearer looking skin tone*
Firmer, tighter feeling skin texture*
Can help diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles*
Noticeable increase in blood circulation to the skin*
Helps reduce appearance of visible pores*
Gentle exfoliation of dry skin for silkier arms and legs
Helps reduce razor rash and irritation after hair removal*
Enhanced moisture and nutrient absorption of your regular skin products (SPF, self-tan, moisturisers)

* 28 day home-use study, SGS Institut Fresenius GmbH 2013
** in-vitro study, Trinity Bioactives 2013
***internal study of Magnitone Pulsar vs hand washing until visibly clean
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What Do You Get? And How Does It Work?

Impressive but what do you get? and how does it work? -  Well inside the box you get the basic hand held unit, a stand and charging adaptor, full instructions and two brush heads.

The main handheld unit comes partly charged. It features an indicator light which flashes when it needs charging up. The unit is fully sealed and cordless so you can use safely in the bathroom and it can even be used in the bath or shower. It comes complete with it's own stand / charging cradle. You can use it to store the unit in the bathroom, and all you need to do is plug the stand into the adaptor provided to wirelessly charge your Magnitone Pulsar.

The brush comes with easy to attach and remove brush heads. The brush head at the top of the picture with the blue ring is the Active Clean Brush. This is your basic daily, facial cleansing brush, ideal for deep cleansing and gentle facial exfoliation.

The slightly larger brush below is the Body Cleanse Brush. The bristles on this brush are slightly firmer, and this brush head can be used in the bath or the shower for general body exfoliation and dry skin removal. Each brush heads comes complete with a ventilated plastic cover to keep it clean. Each brush head lasts about 3 months with regular use. To care for mine I just give them a quick rinse in clean water and leave them to air dry.

The brush itself has a rubberised feel, meaning that it's easy to hold with wet hands.

The brush operates courtesy of just two button, a basic on off switch and a mode selection button.

The brush four distinct massage and cleansing settings. The first setting is Sensitive, this is the setting that you should start off on. It offers a deep cleansing experience but with a more gentle action ideal for delicate and more sensitive skins. I'll say more later but this is my preferred setting. Next up you have the setting that's unique to Magnitone Pulsar - Pulse Lift Massage. This isn't a cleansing setting really and it's a mode that you would use after say the sensitive or deep clean settings. As the name would suggest this mode gives more a massage treatment. Next is the Exfoliate setting, this setting is predominantly for use with the body brush. It's a more vigorous motion that helps smooth and exfoliate the skin.. The final setting is Deep Clean. This is the setting that the majority of people will use of they want to amp up the results of the Magnitone Pulsar and give the skin a good deep clean. This is the mode to use if you want real result.

My Experience

Face

It's recommended that you start off using the unit on the Sensitive setting for the first few days to get used to it and I have to say this is without the setting that suits my skin best.

There are a few ways to use it and for me it depends very much on the cleanser that you use. For more thicker and creamier cleansers I found it easier to wet my face and then apply the cleanser directly to my face before removing it with the damp brush. Where as with more liquid based face washes and cleanser, it worked just as well applying the cleanser directly to the dampened face brush, and then using on my dampened skin.

Once you've worked out the best way for you, you use the brush either on the sensitive or deep clean setting and move it gently in circular motions around your face I normally split it into sections and did both cheeks, then my nose, then my forehead and finally my chin and jawline, taking about a minute or so in total.

I didn't use the unit on the Pulse Lift Massage setting that often but I generally used after I'd use the brush to cleanse. Making sure my face and the brush were both wet, I concentrated specially on my chin and jawline. The sensation is very different, the name fits the setting and the unit perfectly, you can almost feel it pulsating on the skin, and the you can really feel the increase in circulation that it provides.

Immediately after using the brush I noticed how pink my skin was, not uncomfortably so but it definitely exacerbated my already pink toned skin. My skin can be quite sensitised anyway so after a few uses I decided to change how I used the brush and what I used with it. As I said earlier the brush comes with two types of brush heads but you can also buy another type of brush head for more sensitive or delicate skin.

So I decided to buy a two pack of Sensitive Brush Heads to see how I got on with those. Whilst none of the brush head feel overtly hard or scratchy, the sensitive one feels extra soft. It's plain white and colour and despite the softer feel you still get a good level of cleansing and exfoliation. This brush definitely suited my skin better and it's the only brush that I will use on the Deep Cleanse setting.

It's recommended that you use the brush twice a day but after a week or so I realised that this wasn't for me. I've been using it once a day on a night time either on my bare skin or after I've removed my make up as part of a double cleanse.

So what results did I see? well after the first couple of weeks I have to be honest and say it wasn't great - my okayish skin started to breakout - From just having the odd hormonal spot on my chin I had spots on my forehead, cheeks and on my nose! They do say that this might happen, it's just a result of the new cleansing method pulling out all the gunk and impurities out of your skin so you just need to deal with it. I upped my water intake and took a few more vitamins which I think helped.

After that though the spots cleared up and haven't came back. What has came back though is much clearer and much smoother skin. I've actually had nights where I can't stop stroking my cheeks they feel soooo smooth. Other people have even commented on how much clearer and brighter my skin looks, and I've even being cutting back on the make up going barefaced eek or managing with just a BB cream. Yes the large pores are still there but they don't seem quite as obvious as they were, and the bumpiness of my forehead and chin has definitely reduced.

Body 

I'm going to let you into a secret I hate upper arms! The thought of accidentally touching someones upper arms makes me feel a bit sick, and to be honest I'm not even a fan of my own. Over the last year or so I've noticed that my upper arms are starting to get that rough, plucked chick look - urgh!. So I've looked for solutions and one of the most important things are to moisturise and to exfoliate. 

So this was the first place that I tried using the Magnitone Pulsar, I tried on both the deep clean and the exfoliation settings with equal success again it depends of you shower product how you use it but I preferred to create a lather on my skin first before using the bush under the shower. It wasn't an in your face, scratchy or harsh exfoliation but it still felt as though it was doing something. Immediately afterwards the skin felt really invigorated and much smoother and over time I've noticed a definite improvement in the skin texture.

Personally on my legs I prefer a bit more of a gritty exfoliation but for my arms and upper body, and for after hair removal I think that this does the job perfectly.

Okay this isn't the cheapest product by any means and if you'd asked my a year ago if I needed one in my skin care routine I probably would have said no, but having used it and found a way to use it that suits my skin type I can definitely see me continuing to use as part of my regular routine. All results will vary I guess but I've seen enough of a change to keep using it and to recommend it. The Magnitone Pulsar is available from various retailers including Superdrug, Boots, Look Fantastic and HQ Hair. The recommended retail price is £129.99 but at the moment is on sale for half price in a lot of retailers making it a much more affordable £65. The replacement brush heads are available from the same retailers and retails for around £15.99 for a pack of two. If you have any questions on the Magnitone Pulsar please leave me a comment or check out their official website. 

(*PR Sample)

Making Up With Sensitive Skin - A Review Of Queen Cosmetics

I have to be honest and say my skin isn't that sensitive, but I know I'm one of the lucky ones, a lot of people can experience reactions to both skin care and make up products, and to everyday life. Like most people I thought that this was a new phenomenon but that's not the case. Queen Cosmetics were founded in the UK way back in 1927 by a group of dermatologists whose aim was to provide a skincare and cosmetics line that was suitable for anybody with a sensitive skin. The very fact that the company is still in existence over 80 years later shows the products obviously do work, don't however expect this company to use only natural ingredients, and forgo synthetics Queen Cosmetics have done their research on the most common allergens and if a synthetic or chemical product causes less reactions than the natural alternative then that's the one they'll use. Don't expect this brands products to contain the trendiest anti aging ingredients either, again they only use ingredients that they are sure will cause as little sensitivity as possible. I recently received a press release on behalf of the company, and they very kindly sent quite a number of products from their make up range for me to try.

They sent my so many things I don't quite know where to start, so we'll start with base products. Queen very kindly sent me a 10g sample jar of their Tinted Foundation Cream. Their are four shades to chose from and the colour I was sent was Warm Peach

Designed to provide a touch of colour, and be the perfect base for sensitive skin, this foundation has a creamy smooth texture, and as you would expect no real smell

Unusually for a cream foundation I found this really easy to apply either with a brush or with my fingers. Often cream foundations are heavy, and thick but not this one, it actually felt really light on the skin, and it was pretty easy to blend in without any caking. From that you can probably gather that this isn't a very full coverage foundation, I did seem to need quite a bit to cover and even out my skintone, sorry for the not so great photos here - as you know the lighting hasn't been great lately,

Before

After

I don't know how well you can tell from these pictures but this foundation gave me a light to medium coverage and a very glowy and natural finish. Personally I think the foundation would be better for a drier skin, unfortunately it didn't seem to last very long on my t-zone without using a primer. Another downside for some may be the fact that it only comes in four shades, come on Queen give us some more colours! If you can get a colour match though, and you would prefer a lighter coverage foundation and you have sensitive skin, then maybe this could be the one for you. Queen Cosmetics Tinted Foundation Cream retails at £15.35 for 50ml.

OK I mentioned primer, well the people at Queen also sent me a sample tub of their Sensiderma Foundation Cream. Despite the name this product is in essence a primer, which can be used to even out your skin texture in order to make either a cream or powder foundation last longer and look better. I mentioned previously that there isn't great colour choice in the Queen foundation range, well this product can be used to provide a barrier between your skin and any high street or high end foundation.

The product itself is white in appearance and has a smooth and creamy texture, there is no silicone in it so you don''t get any of the stickiness or greasiness. This cream seems to absorb into the skin really well and it leaves a clear, none ashy, semi matte finish.

I have to say I quite liked this, first of all it doesn't contain silicone, a lot of people love silicone based primers but I'm not one of those and find they can really make my skin even more greasier than it already is. This as I said left a semi matte finish and I really think it helped the Queen foundation in particular stay put for longer. There are only two drawbacks with the product for me, first of all the smell, it has quite a synthetic smell a little bit like Vaseline, which isn't the most pleasant but it's understandable I guess as fragrance is a big cause of skin sensitivity. The second drawback is the price, the Queen Cosmetics Sensiderma Foundation Cream retails at £23.45 for 100g which a bit steep in my opinion. Having said that though you really don't need very much so I guess if you have sensitive skin or your looking for a silicone free primer this one may be worth a try x

Next up the thing that excited me most - a little palette full of goodies :)

Queen Cosmetics sell a magnetic based palette very similar to the Z or Freedom palettes for £8.95, to house your blushers and eyeshadows, if you buy 2 or more blushers, or 2 or more eyeshadow duos,or 1 blusher and 1 eyeshadow duo though you get a free palette.

I love this idea, it basically means you can buy the colours you like, or you can just take the colours out with you that you want. I was lucky enough to receive 5 eyeshadows, and 1 blusher to try out

Queen Cosmetics sell 4 Soft Powder Blusher shades and the colour I received was Natural Blush , a gorgeous nude, peach shade

I have to say Queen were completely honest with me in their correspondence, they did tell me that I may need to scratch the surface of both the blusher and the eyeshadows the first time I used it to get the colour going and I did. Once I'd done that though the blusher was fine, not the smoothest admittedly, but it was very pigmented and easy to apply - Apologies that this photo isn't the best or the clearest, but this is a natural blusher

Over the last month this has definitely been one of my most used blusher, it's a such a natural colour that it's been a real go to, any occasion blusher so much so that it popped up in my September / October Favourites Video , I'm not sure I would repurchase on account of the price but this is definitely something I will use regularly. Queen Soft Powder Blusher retails at £10.75.

In my palette I also received 5 of Queen's top selling eyeshadow shades, I received two of the duos in Brown and Grey, and 1 of the single shadows in Baby Pink, Queen do 6 duo shadow sets, or you can buy all 12 shades individually, they will even make a mixed duo set of your choice. The colours I got were

Top Row
Baby Pink, Dark Grey

Bottom Row
Dove Grey, Chocolate Brown, and Beige / Nude

As you can see from these pictures all of these colours are matte shades, about the same size as a MAC shadow, again I found I had to scrape a little bit of the top of each shadow but for pigmentation in a matte shadow they really weren't too bad, and they lasted pretty well too - I've taken a few pics of them on the eyes for you - first up - the grey duo x

and the chocolate and beige shades



As you probably know I'm not the biggest fan of matte shades, I need a bit of sparkle in my life but I was pretty impressed with these for lasting power and pigmentation. The Queen Eyeshadow Duos retail at £10.95 and the Queen Individual Eyeshadow Pans retail at £6.95. (click the links to see the colours and combos)

Next up eye pencils, Queen were kind enough to send me two of their Eye Pencils. I have to say these look gorgeous, they have a lovely white and gold design which looks so expensive

There are 6 colours to choose from and I was sent, Violet, and lovely dark purple, and Brown, a lovely rich chocolate colour

Specifically designed for the delicate skin round the eyes,  Queen say that these pencils "are easy to apply and easy to remove". Queen recommend that you use a bit of pressure on the hand or piece of paper the first time you use it to get the pencil going.

Even after doing that though I still didn't find these pencils particularly soft, I found it took quite a bit of pressure to transfer the colour on to the skin. I've taken a few pics just to show you the colours on the eyes, first up an unusual look using the Violet with the Grey Eyeshadow Duo

Next up a more neutral look, with the Brown pencil and the Brown Eyeshadow Duo

Would I purchase these pencils again? Unfortunately not I prefer a much softer liner than these, they were just to difficult to work with :( Queen Eye Pencils come in 6 shades and retail for £6,75 each.

The final item that I was sent the Queen Mascara. My skin isn't that sensitive but my eyes can be, a couple of times I've bought mascaras to review I've tried them once and I've had to throw them away. This mascara is especially for people with sensitive eyes and for contact lens wearers.

The packaging is quite chunky for a mascara but surprisingly the brush is quite slim



The mascara comes into two colours black and brown, I was kindly sent the brown, I don't generally wear brown mascara so this was a bit of a departure for me from my classic black

As you can see it's quite a dark brown, but I hope what you can also see is the texture, this is a very wet and slow drying mascara, and do you know what that means, yes smudging and mascara dots boo. Never the less armed with a cotton bud it does actually give a nice natural lash look

Before

After

See, a nice natural lash look :) As nice as it looks at moment I can't recommend, the formula is just too wet to be practical. That said mascaras due dry out the longer they are open so I'm hoping after a while the formula will be more manageable. Queen Mascara retails at £10.75 for 12mls.

OK there have been a few hits and misses in the items I've tried, and Queen Cosmetics aren't the cheapest brand out there, but if you have sensitive skin and have trouble buying make up on the high street, this may will be a brand for you to try. As well as make items, they also sell, skincare bodycare, shampoo and more, all created for the most sensitive of skins Not only that but they also sell trial and sample sized products, and can offer product advice either by email or over the phone. For more on information on Queen Cosmetics, and to purchase an item or find a stockist please take a look at the Queen Cosmetics website. If you have any questions please leave me a comment x

(All The Products In This Post Were Provided For Review Purposes)