Like A Green Juice For Your Face.

For super healthy skin you really need to pay close attention to both what you eat and what you apply topically. Well, with the Dr. Alkaitis Organic Universal Mask you’re getting the best of both worlds. The ingredients list is pure as pure can be, with everything sounding as at home in a salad or fresh juice as it does now in a face mask.
The Universal Mask is for skin that’s dry, sensitive, inflamed or feeling irritated. It’s also a good one for when you just need to perk up your skin with a mask session, so really, it’s for everyone. I really prefer masks in powder form these days as I like to customise how I mix them; plain water, floral waters, oils, honey, yogurt or even mixed in with a cleanser. It’s up to you. This particular mask really shines when mixed with yogurt, some oil & water, or a cream cleanser. The powder is really easy to manipulate – it’s isn’t scrubby, gritty or hard to mix (some clay masks can be a pain to get just right) just a few drops of water turns the powder into a silky cream type of formula that spreads easily on your skin. And yes, it does turn you an attractive pea green.

To keep the ingredients active on the skin Dr. Alkaitis recommend not letting this mask dry, so if you do use water to mix just keep a mist handy to spritz every few minutes. If you’re using something like honey then this isn’t necessary as it won’t dry!
After 10-20 minutes I like to press a steamy hot cloth to my skin for a few seconds before wiping the mask away, then following up with a swipe of toner on a cotton pad to get any last green residue. I don’t know if anyone else has this issue when masking but my flannels or muslin cloths can never really get every last scrap, I always find my cotton pad has some mask on it afterwards.
Once removed my skin feels soft and calm, this isn’t a super active going to pull out every spot and reveal your brightest glow kinda mask. It’s calming, soothing, a little rejuvenating and very softening, like a chill pill for the skin. I reach for this after a detox or exfoliating mask, or when I don’t know what else to use. It’s reliable, comforting and feels like it’s doing some good.
Ingredients:

Dr Alkaitis’ Grass Juice Complex (kamut grass*. alfalfa*, oat grass* and wheat grass*), oat Buds*. Dr. Alkaitis’ Sea Vegetable Complex (chlorellaº, dulseº, spirulinaº, sea palmº and sea willowº) Dr. Alkaitis’ Vegetable Protein blend (brown rice*, quinoa* and amaranth*) Dr. Alkaitis’ Vegetable Complex (carrots*, cabbage, sweet potato*, kale*, broccoli*, asparagus, brussels sprouts, cucumber, ginger*, onions, cauliflower, beets*, tomatoes* and parsley*). Dr. Alkaitis’ Seed Complex (pumpkin*, sesame*, amaranth*, flax*, soy*, oats*, rye*, buckwheat*, millet*, barley*, brown rice* and sunflower*)

* certified organically grown
º ethically wild-crafted

You can pick up the Dr. Alkaitis Universal Mask here (£48) and get yourself 15% OFF with the code ‘ANNABEL15’ at Alyaka. I would also really recommend the Dr. Alkaitis Travel Kit (£56) too, which has 7 very generously sized different products for you to sample from the range – it would last you aaaages! A good one for a gift or travelling, or just trying something new.

Have you tried this mask or brand?

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Luxury Candle Sets: Not For Sharing

bella freud candle set christmas

Some great candle sets for you here; but don’t think you can start divvying them up into little individual stocking fillers. Oh no. These were not made for sharing: they are little boxes of pure, selfish candle indulgence, each fragrance carefully chosen so that you have a kind of “scent experience” going on*.

jo malone travel candle collection

Take, for example, the Jo Malone Scented Travel Candle Collection, £64 here. There’s a classic Blackberry & Bay candle and then two scents that are more festive – Roasted Chestnut and Pine & Eucalyptus. Pine could be burnt now, to get into the Christmas spirit, then warm Roasted Chestnut to take you through the New Year and finally, once the tree has been packed away and you’re sat feeling glum in a sea of debris, Blackberry & Bay to lift the spirits.

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Complexion Rescue: The Total Tiredness Turnaround

BareMinerals Complexion Rescue in "Wheat"

This is the second time in only a few weeks that I’ve gone to write a rave review about something and then found that I’ve already done a rave review about it. On the one hand, it’s very annoying, because I invest quite a bit of time testing things, photographing them, checking the ingredients and taking various pictures (if relevant) of them on my actual face. On the other hand, it has to be a big old tick against the product if I’ve gone to rave review it not once, but twice. Don’t know what an earth it says about my memory, but we’ll brush over that…

So the Complexion Rescue from bareMinerals. Yes I have reviewed it before (you can find the original post here) but at that time I had shade 2, which was a bit pale, and now I have shade 4, which is exactly the sort of my-skin-but-a-bit-warmed-up tone I’ve been looking for. It’s perhaps darker than I need, but so sheer that I can get away with it – nothing drastic, but definitely noticeable. My perfect summery shade.

This Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream is one of the most hydrating tinted moisturisers I’ve ever tried; fresh, plumptious and can, unless you have incredibly dry skin, be applied over the top of serum rather than having to wear a proper moisturiser in between. I’ve worn it both ways (numerous times) and I’d almost say that wearing it over a serum and moisturiser is too much moisture

 

Weekly Window Shop: The Beach Queen

queen of the beach window shopping

This week’s window shop was going to be all about how to recreate the beach experience at your own home, but these summery morsels are too good not to show off. Maybe I’ll do the beach-in-your-garden theme next week – I just need to source some nice, golden sand that doesn’t smell of cat piss or contain bits of building rubble and I’ll be sorted. (Mr AMR would have a total fit if I poured sand all over the lawn – HA! He mows it every week, makes those alternating stripes and everything…)

Let’s get started, then, with the bits and pieces that will make you Queen of the Beach this summer.

lisa fernandez bikini

Behold: the ultimate bikini, from the Queen of Bikinis Lisa Marie Fernandez. So expensive that you will never want to dip a toe anywhere near chlorine or seawater, but hey – proper beach people just pose on their loungers. Don’t they? (I don’t often go in the sea or the pool unless I’m so hot that my toe hairs are catching on fire. I just don’t like lying there all soggy afterwards and I hate having to reapply my sun lotion when there’s sand about.) You can find this Holy Grail of Bond Girl bikinis at Net-a-Porter here – the price-tag will make your eyes water…

miu miu acetate sunglasses

…but nobody will notice if you have your amazing Miu Miu shades on! (See what I did there?) These cat-eye beauties are completely OTT – just add silken headscarf and bright coral lipstick. £135 at The Outnet.

Clarins Radiance Plus-Golden-Glow Booster

To get the bod to a good level of beach-bronzeness without even stepping foot in the sun: the Radiance Plus Golden Glow Booster for Body from Clarins. A few drops of this, nightly, mixed into your preferred body lotion, cream, oil or serum and you’ll build up a beautiful tan. It’s very gradual, but you can speed things up by adding more drops. Find it here online –  £22.85.

roberts radio

Picture the scene: you’re in your retro bikini, wide-brimmed sunhat on, sunglasses looking sharp, body all bronzage and shimmering, reclined on your wooden sunlounger on one of those beaches where they have proper toilets and people that come and bring you drinks and cold flannels… What are we missing? Sounds. Music. I mean, you could just plug some headphones into your iPhone like everyone else, but who wants to fade into the crowd? I’ll be honest, this Roberts Radio was a more of a “recreate the beach at home” sort of item, but boy does it look pretty. It’s £169.95 at John Lewis here.

slydes white cocacabana

“Slides” (those rubbery shoes with a thick band across the toes) have fast overtaken the flip-flop as my casual summer shoe of choice. No longer do I have to endure the initial pain of breaking in when I dig out my Havaianas, when I spend about three days feeling as though someone has driven a large chisel into the gap between my big toe and – er – next biggest toe. I just slip on my slides and go! In all honesty, I do find them a lot less delicate than flip-flops and it’s unlikely I’d ever wear them with a pretty dress, but for now, I am enjoying my non-splayed feet. You can find these palm print slides (made by the appropriately-named brand Slydes) at ASOS here – they’re a mere £18.

Browse more Weekly Window Shops…

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© 2016 A Model Recommends®: all opinions are my own and any sponsored or paid posts will always be very clearly marked. I accept press samples and receive product and services to review as part of my job. Outward links to retailers will usually be affiliate links. Please see here for full “about” section and disclaimer.  A Model Recommends and Ruth Crilly are registered trademarks.

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The Science Meets Nature Box.

With ‘green’ and organic beauty, there is often the misconception that these products won’t perform as well as their standard non-natural counterparts. This simply isn’t true anymore. With new research, development and money going into this niche market, there are more high-end brands and complex formulas than ever before.

The latest Naturisimo box embodies this with its curated selection of 8 luxury products that make use of cutting edge technology for their all-natural ingredients.
The box is worth £67 but costs just £13.95 – a great price to try some very expensive products. The Skin & Tonic Brit Beauty Oil sample costs £13 on its own if you were to buy it from the sample section!

Inside the box:
Madara Cellular Repair Serum, 15ml.
Skin & Tonic Brit Beauty Oil, 10ml.
Aurelia Cell Revitalise Day Moisturiser, 10ml.
Dr. Hauschka Tinted Day Cream, 5ml.
Caudalie Resveratrol Eye Lifting Balm, 5ml.
Bloom & Blossom Rejuvenating Spritz, 40ml.
Jurlique Nutri-Define Rejuvenating Overnight Cream, 1ml.
Kae Argaroyale Serum, 2ml.

I was most excited about finally getting to try Skin & Tonic! The Brit Beauty Oil is a blend of just 5 oils to hydrate and smooth. The oils (thistle, chia, borage) are ones that you don’t commonly see in facial oils, so I feel like this is unique enough to have a place in my skincare collection.
The Dr. Hauschka day cream is a cult product that I’ve always wanted to try and now I finally can, I hope it lives up to expectations as I’ve loved other products I’ve tried from the brand. I’m also going to save the very generously sized Aurelia moisturiser for winter when I will need that extra cushy layer of cream for drier skin. I know it’s dreamy.
Lastly, after not paying it much attention at first, I’m all for Madara lately. Affordable, effective and simply elegant. I have loved their peel mask and micellar water so I’m really interested in this serum which claims to ‘dramatically boost the cellular renewal cycle to visably improve skin’ … It’s more for wrinkles, but it can’t hurt to see how it works for me 😉

Dont miss out and get the box here, it’s a good’un!

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