Origins - Clear Improvement mask.

Origins Clear Improvement Mask

A little background

These last couple of years I've been really getting into skincare - reading up on what ingredients are good or not so good, watching loads of YouTube videos and reading tonnes of blogs. I'd been wanting to try out Origins' products for a long time before I finally bit the bullet late last year and got a few of their skincare goodies. Living in Australia, it was really difficult to get my hands on anything Origins (although Sephora ships to Australia now, yahoo!), many of my go-to online beauty stores that stocked really good brands didn't stock Origins and I didn't want to have to pay the inflated Australian prices at Kit or Mecca. In the end I had to give in and just purchase from Kit Cosmetics (the only Australian stockist I've come across). I bought the Vitazing moisturiser and a face polish/exfoliator with apricot and mango bits that I can't remember the name of. Both are wonderful products, really lovely consistencies and they smell really good.

On the bright side, I got to visit family over in America a few months ago... needless to say, I went a little too gung-ho in Sephora. I got the Origins Clear Improvement Active charcoal mask (among many other things). 

The mask

After hearing good things about this mask, I was expecting good things and this mask did not disappoint. The consistency (as you can see below) is really nice and easy to apply. I've used it maybe half a dozen times at this point, and I normally leave face masks on for much longer than is instructed, like an hour or more. After rinsing this mask off, my skin felt soothed from any irritated spots and one or two annoying little zits actually came to a head. My face seemed instantly cleaner and calmer... and it just felt... altogether pleasant. :) The product itself has barely any scent at all (or none at all), which is nice, and when you move your face once it's dry and it forms cracks, the product adheres well to the skin even when dry - it doesn't crack and flake off, it cracks and stays put (which is more than I can say for one particular REN mask I tried in the past). 

This is what I reach for when my skin's feeling annoyed at the world, with spots trying to scream at me and I just want everything to calm the heck down.

Have you tried this one before, or any of Origins' other masks?

Frangipanis and breakfast time.

I haven't blogged in a long, long while but I thought I'd share a few fun photos with you today. 

Here are some lovely blooming frangipanis growing at the front of our house. Aren't they beautiful? 

I took this the other week. Right now most of those buds are in full bloom and there are a tonne of pink flowers blooming.

Perhaps a gross close-up to some, but to me, my breakfast! Oats with unsweetened almond milk, a spoon of Jarrah honey, chia seeds and a healthy pouring of frozen blueberries mixed in. Healthy and filling! I took my bowl upstairs with me...

... to watch the latest Survivor Live episode - Parvati chatting to the newest evictee Cliff Robinson. I love my reality tv shows. Especially the competition type of programmes like Survivor, Big Brother and The Amazing Race. CBS really know what they're doing. 

And here's my ceylon tea with rose and french vanilla (Dilmah). Bought this tea yesterday, and the flavours are really present in this one... not subtle at all - I put my teabag down next to my Tazo Zen teabag (I re-use and re-infuse my teas at least once) and when I went to make a cup of Zen, I could taste the rose flavour from the Dilmah tea. It's not a bad thing, because I am obsessed with rose flavoured everything at the moment - especially rose teas. One of my favourites is a white tea with rose by Madame Flavour (an Australian tea brand). It's divine.

I was planning on trying to finish reading Nightshade by Andrea Cremer today - but my neck hurts and I just feel like taking a nap. Blurgh. And I have a teensy bit of a headache. 

Hopefully more posts to come soon! Skincare/makeup related, or something just as exciting.