A Dabble into Aesop

Some time ago, my lovely friend April sent me a tweet to let me know that Aesop was finally getting with the program and opening a store in Canada, and in Vancouver to boot! Not only did they open up shop, but it just so happens that the store is LITERALLY around the corner from my boyfriend’s house. If this doesn’t spell trouble, I’m not really sure what does. Needless to say as soon as I found out it had finally opened I made my way in there and tried out a ton of products, and you know I could never leave empty handed.

There is no two ways around it, Aesop skincare is pricey. But they make up for the crazy prices with an awesome shopping experience. The store in the Gastown neighbourhood of Downtown Vancouver is pretty small, but it’s wall to wall products, I wish I had taken my camera with me because the space really is awesome. Each wall is covered with shelves stuffed with products, and Aesop packaging is really lovely. I can’t remember the name of the awesome saleswoman who spent like 45 minutes with me, but she was super sweet and nice to talk to. She asked me questions about my skin and picked out a whole range of products to test out and talk about. I ended up buying two products, but she sent me home with multiple samples of some products she had shown me, which I’ll talk about at the end of this post, too!

Aesop Immediate Moisture Facial Hydrosol – $33.00 CAD

The first thing I picked up is a facial mist. Now is this really a necessity? Absolutely not, but when I picked this product up, Vancouver was in the middle of a crazy heat wave, there were forest fires everywhere and the air quality was so bad because of the smoke. I was looking for some sort of relief for my skin, and I had asked if Aesop carries any facial toners, to which the saleswoman said no, but they did have this mist. This mist is marketed to hydrate and revive the senses. I can attest to the refreshing claim, as this has a really nice floral, kind of earthy scent that really smells lovely.

The mist is quite fine, so you can spray this over your make up without things slipping and sliding around. I’m not really sure how much a mist can truly hydrate the skin, but I have found that this works as a nice facial spray to get rid of any powdery effects that a setting powder can sometimes create. I really like to spray this on my face right out of the shower and just before applying a moisturizer. This is a total princess product that nobody really needs, but it makes you feel good, and it smells pretty good, too.

Aesop Rosehip Seed Lip Cream – $21.00 CAD

20 bucks on a lip balm, I know. I picked this up as a kind of impulse purchase on my way to the check out counter. Does this happen to any of you, when the salesperson really goes the extra mile and is super helpful so you feel like you have to buy something? I get suckered into this all the time. Anyways, I was hoping this would be kind of like the Bite Beauty Agave Lip Masque, as I really like that product but it costs 30 bucks. Well, I’m sad to report this is nothing like it, both in texture and performance. This is a true cream that you put on your lips. Luckily it sheers out and you’re not left with a white cast, unfortunately you’re also left with dry feeling lips the second you apply it. The product claims are that your lips are going to feel conditioned, softened and hydrated, but honestly I just feel like I need to put on my Burt’s Bees. I find this product so frustrating because you put it on and then all you can think about is how your lips feel worse.

Another downfall to this product is the packaging. I do like the metal squeeze tube, however when you open the cap, product just starts oozing out and you’re left with way more than you need. I’d definitely recommend skipping this one.

Lastly onto the samples. I had 5 products to try out:

The Parsley Seed Anti-Oxidant Serum – $89

The Parsley Seed Anti-Oxidant Facial Toner – $ 51

The Parsley Seed Facial Cleanser – $49

The Chamomile Concentrate Anti-Blemish Masque – $65

The B & Tea Balancing Toner – $43

The Serum and Facial Cleanser were absolutely lovely. I had multiple packets of these, and over the course of getting multiple uses out of each, I can honestly say that I enjoyed the effects and the way my skin felt. I would definitely consider re-purchasing if I’m having a ‘treatyoself 2015’ moment. I’ll be downright honest that I haven’t tried either of the toners, as I don’t really see much of a point to them, but I will get around to it.

But the Chamomile Concentrate Anti-Blemish Masque I specifically want to talk about, as I didn’t get along with it at all. It’s marketed as an astringent masque that will draw out impurities and blemishes. I let the saleswoman know that I have crazy sensitive skin, and she said this would probably be a good fit for my skin. Now I’m not sure if this was user error and I just left it on for way too long, but my skin totally freaked out after using this. The next day my skin was scaly and so dry it felt like sandpaper. This has never happened to my skin before, and because it was so dry and parched it broke out like crazy. It took about 3 weeks for my skin to get back to normal after using this masque, so I’m pretty happy I didn’t shell out the $65 this thing costs.

Overall I have some mixed opinions about the small sampling of the Aesop line, but what I did like I really liked.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Josie Maran Argan Oil Hair Serum

If you have read my blog post called Hair Help, you’ll know that I’ve been having a lot of issues with my hair. To put a long story short, I was experiencing stress related hair loss, and it really sucked. I’m very happy to report that it has finally stopped, and I’m back to heat styling my hair. It feels so amazing to run my hands through my hair and not have any come out. I feel like a new person! I wanted to talk about a product that I was using during my hair loss, and have loved and continued using post Telogen effluvium (the technical term for stress related hair loss).

Josie Maran Argan Oil Hair Serum – $15.00 CAD

I have the little mini size of this hair serum, my boyfriend surprised me with it because he knew I was having a really hard time with my hair. He’s the best. I have the trial size here, so it’s only half of an ounce, but there are bigger bottles available. I don’t even mind having the small bottle because a very small amount of product goes a very long way.

The pump is really lovely on the packaging, but I find it pumps out a little too much product for me, because I have medium length hair that’s super thin right now, if I use more than half a pump things tends to get oily and funky looking. I would suggest using about half of what you think you’d need. Now on to the actual product: this serum is really lovely. It’s thicker than your average oil, but still translucent and not nearly as thick as a lotion. The oil smells really nice as well. It’s got a nice light and fresh scent that has a hint of citrus. The serum sinks in quickly to damp hair, and keeps things moisturized and helps cut air drying time somewhat.

This product claims to have anti-frizz and high shine properties. I can attest to the shine factor, however I don’t think it does much in the anti-frizz department, which is ok with me as I’m mainly looking for moisture. I’ve used this serum when air drying my hair as well as using heat styling tools, and the effects are pretty much the same either way. The serum helps to add some moisture to the ends of my hair, and adds a nice fragrance and some shine.

Overall I do like this product, however I’m not sure it’s a holy grail product. I wouldn’t recommend running out and buying it immediately, but if you’re looking to give the ends of your hair a little TLC, or want to try a more natural hair care product, I think this would be a good place to start.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Flower Beauty BB Cream

One of the biggest drags that the summer brings is the constant shifting of your skin tone. I find it so frustrating to fall in love with a formula of a base product only to have it make you look ghostly in a few short weeks. This summer I have really made it a point to cut down on my screen time and increase my outdoor time, hence the shortage of blogging recently. With this, my skin has finally seen the sun, and I am no longer the palest of the pale. I ran out to the drugstore to find a bandaid for my skin tone issue.

Flower Beauty BB Cream in BB2 – $12.98 CAD

I originally heard about this BB Cream from Leighann Says on YouTube. I remembered her saying that she really liked this BB Cream, and I also happen to like lighter coverage base products, so I figured I’d give it a go. I settled on the shade BB 2, mostly because I knew BB 1 would probably be my year round fit, and the shade 3 looked crazy dark. I got lucky and it seems to be a really good match for me. I’ve been using this BB Cream as my every day base for a good couple of months now, so I feel as though I can give it a pretty good review.

The packaging is super cute and very functional. I love Flower Beauty’s packaging, and the line in general is super great. This BB Cream has an awesome consistency, it’s quite thick which I think helps out in the coverage department. I apply the BB Cream with a beauty blender, and it comes to a light coverage.

I don’t find this product to be very buildable. Once you have applied one layer that’s kind of all you can get without things looking cakey. I also find that this product sets up and dries pretty quickly, so I like to work in one section at a time. This doesn’t really bother me because I think the natural finish is worth the little bit of hassle. I’ve been really impressed with the wear time on this, it doesn’t break up and get weird, and it tends to keep my skin looking matte for a pretty long time. The only places where oil breaks through is on my nose.

As you can see, this BB cream mostly evens out my skin tone. You can still see some freckles through the product which is nice for summer. The only thing I can think to improve on is adding some sort of SPF into the formula. It is marketed as a BB Cream, and to be honest I’m not really clear on what this claims to do. As a tinted moisturizer, however, I do really love this, and will continue to use up for the rest of the summer and beyond.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna