bailey bee

beauty, home and lifestyle blog

Pixi Beauty Vitamin-C Collection + Skin Update

The Pixi Beauty Vitamin-C Collection

Yo, guys. Let me tell. you. My skin has been through the WRINGER over the past month. Now that I’m on the upswing I am getting the opportunity to really test these goodies that Pixi sent. We will ignore, for now, that they’ve been waiting for me for six months! For the most part I’m writing this post to be a PSA of these products being available, less for how they worked for me.

The Pixi Beauty Vitamin-C Collection
shown above:
Vitamin-C Serum, Vitamin-C Tonic, Vitamin-C Caviar Balm,
Vitamin-C Juice Cleanser and Vitamin-C Lotion

As for my skin, I had all of these posts planned that were along the lines of “HOW I FIXED MY SKIN! SKINCARE ROUTINE!” and “HOW I CURED MY ACNE” but…. as the months went on, I realized that my skincare wasn’t doing anything.

I decided to get off of birth control at the end of 2018 because I had been wanting to, generally, as I had been on BC since 2012 and also because I was able to be unemployed and thus, uninsured. It seems it took about seven months for my skin to react to the hormone change because the acne that began popping up in July turned out to be just that: hormonal acne.

I fought and fought and fought my face— walking the line between being overly harsh and aware enough to not harm my skin’s natural moisture barrier. I had prescription creams, prescription pills, endless moisturizers and chemical exfoliants and nothing seemed to work. It wasn’t until the end of November when I decided to get back on birth control. My skin cleared up within two weeks.

Lesson learned: outward beauty is only worth so much. Even when I attempted to combat my acne inwardly with eating less dairy and more probiotics, I still had no luck. The other lesson learned? Medicine and more particularly, birth control, is not a bad thing. I know there are so many positive, practical reasons for being on birth control. I fell into the myth that I needed my body to have a “natural” moment to “reset”. My body clearly needs assistance in the hormone department and I’m glad to be back on the regulated train.

Thank you to Pixi for sending me their Vitamin-C goodies. I would have been able to give a far more comprehensive write-up far sooner than it took me to provide this, had they arrived at a more opportune time.

I hope anyone reading this had a wonderful wind-down to 2019 and cheers to 2020!

Feel free to shop this post below:

Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant Is the Real Deal

Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant
Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant

Yep. This is one of those. Guys, my skin was SO. BAD. this summer. A new job plus that job being seriously one of the more stressful times I’ve ever lived through… My skin was hopeless all of July and August. I’m on the tail-end of things now and am just recovering some dark spots and small bumps on my forehead. I’ve been so desperate to get my skin back to “normal” that I was consistently found on Friday nights in my bathroom Googling “make small bumps on forehead go away.” Everything led me to Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant.

I am/was so desperate that I bought a travel-sized bottle on a whim to see what happened. Be advised, don’t get this stuff off of Amazon. The product sold on Amazon seems to be a rip-off. I rarely buy anything beauty-related outside of Sephora, Ulta or Nordstrom but I think something like this is best to get straight from the source.

I slathered this stuff on my face early in the evening and let it stay on all night as guided by the countless online reviews I read through. It does feel and appear oily so I would never, ever imagine wearing this during the day. Once the morning comes, you’ll wash the residual product off along with any pesky texture that you had on your facial skin before. My skin looked and felt so incredible after just the first application.

As with any exfoliating product, be wary of sun exposure (in general, but especially when using this!) I was so self conscious of the bumps on my forehead and I’m going to hype this stuff up as a miracle product because of how good it made me feel after using it. I got really excited and tried using it every day or two but my skin reacted poorly so I’ve been limiting myself to just once or twice per week.

The closest product to this that I have tried would be Pixi’s Glow Tonic. It gave me the same slough after the first application but seemed to fall off after that. Am I late to the liquid exfoliant game? If so, please let me know which products I have missed out on! I’m also curious to know which Paula’s Choice products everyone recommends for me to try out next. It seems I’ve been living in the dark!

Feel free to shop this post below:

My Target Anniversary Collection Picks

My Target Anniversary Collection Picks

If you can even believe it, Target has only been around for 20 years. To think there was a time where people furnished their homes (and themselves!) without the option of Target makes me sad. I know we all have a soft spot for our fave red store and most of you likely remember the days when Target collaborated with top designers to create exclusive lines at the store. Target still does this today but not nearly as consistently as they did when they partnered with the likes of Isaac Mizrahi, Missoni and Philip Lim. Although there are a decent amount of throwbacks, they are even paying homage up into the early 2010’s with Lily Pulitzer and the recent Marimekko collab.

Target is celebrating their 20th birthday with a release of limited edition styles from some of their most iconic fashion and home partnerships over the years. Everything is labeled limited quantity and set to drop on September 14th. Today I wanted to share with you the things I am eyeing to pick up from the look book released on their site.

A. Women’s Snap Detail Short Sleeve V-Neck Shift Mini Dress – Zac Posen for Target Navy – $60

B. 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target Mini Satchel Handbag – 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target Black – $35

C. Women’s Lace Long Sleeve Ribbon Detail Shift Mini Dress – Anna Sui for Target Ivory – $60

D. Women’s Sleeveless Metallic Boucle V-Neck Shift Mini Dress – Anna Sui for Target Silver – $60

E. Women’s Long Sleeve Tulle Bow Blouse, V-Neck Lace Cami and Mid-Rise Lace Tulle Mini Skirt – Rodarte for Target Magenta – $25, $20 and $30

F. 7.1oz Colored Zig Zag Glass Jar Candle Tuscan Sunrise – Missoni for Target – $12

G. 72″x40″ Beach Towel White/Black – Marimekko for Target – $25

Which items are you most excited to pick up? I know 100% I am going to try to get that Philip Lim bag over everything else but fingers crossed it doesn’t fly off the (virtual) shelves before we’re able to grab all that we want.

Feel free to shop this post below on September 14th:

My Favorite Shampoos for Leaving Hair Smelling Great

one of my three shampoos that smell great - Briogeo's Scalp Revival
via Briogeo

My hair doesn’t hold onto scents. It just doesn’t. I figured everyone else was in the same boat until my sister one day boasted she was on day six of no-washing and her hair STILL smelled like her shampoo. I couldn’t believe it! It is because of that convo that I wanted to write this post for all of you. This is not for me because, as previously stated, my hair doesn’t hold onto scents. This is my list of scented shampoos for those of you whose hair does!

First up is Briogeo’s Scalp Revival. It markets charcoal and coconut oil as the main two ingredients but this stuff actually smells like MINT! It’s so refreshing and really fun to apply. It’s a bit gritty in order to clear away build up on the scalp. Aside from just the scent, I really like this shampoo in general.

Next, I received Gloss Moderne Clean Luxury as a sample from Sephora a few months back and I still think about it from time-to-time. It was such a pleasant cleansing experience! It has a fairly heavy vanilla scent that will be a dream come true for the right vanilla-loving person. It’s also just a really fancy, high quality shampoo in general.

Last is the previously-reviewed The One shampoo by Kristin Ess. This shampoo has such a strong floral scent that I almost thought I wasn’t going to be able to use it when I first tried it. To be fair, I’m pretty sensitive to scents and live my life pretty scent-free. I think my nose simply wasn’t used to it. I eventually did get used to it and ended up really enjoyed this stuff. This is the shampoo that has lingered post-shower the longest of all shampoos that I have tried literally in all of my life.

Let me know your favorite scented ‘poos below! I’m curious to see if any can unseat Kristin Ess’ in linger–ability. I’m always game to try out new brands of hair cleansers and conditioners.

Feel free to shop this post below: