Beauty review: MitoQ Facial Cream

 One of my favourite things to talk about on this blog is beauty, especially when I get to play with new skin, hair and make-up products. I'm always on the lookout for something new that will work for me or my clients (when I'm playing make-up artist). I have a zillion products in drawers and boxes that make an appearance on the bathroom vanity from time to time, but the one I want to tell you about today has taken up a permanant residence. It's called MitoQ.

Here's what the company say's about their product:

MitoQ is an anti-ageing facial skincare cream. The skin renewal accelerant works at the cellular level using patented and revolutionary CoQ delivery science. MitoQ restores and enhances the skin’s natural antioxidant defence system and is scientifically proven to deliver CoQ to cellular mitochondria at 1000 times the concentration of the other CoQ formulations. MitoQ has a rejuvenative effect on skin cells which leads to younger looking skin with youthful levels of collagen and elastin within 30 days. MitoQ has been formulated in a zero irritant, hypoallergenic base that’s suitable for all skin types. The ingredient heals and prevents fine lines and wrinkles, scars, brown spots and skin discolouration as well as reducing the thinning of skin that occurs with age. With daily use skin will become firmer as increased collagen will reformat and strengthen the skin’s structure.

Here's what I say about MitoQ:

When I opened the package (important to me), it looked beautiful, elegant even, which made me want to use it straight away. It was the middle of the day and I had makeup on, but I couldn't wait to try it, so I removed the make-up and started all over, this time using MitoQ as my moisturiser. It was a pale yellow colour and odourless (great for sensitive skins). i'm told that most allergic reactions are from the perfumes in skincare products. 
It smoothed onto my skin easily, absorbed really quickly and left no residue. 
I gave myself a month of using the product, morning and night. I found after a few days that I needed to use the MitoQ in conjunction with a moisturiser (I have very dehydrated skin at the moment), so I used it as a treatment. If you have a normal to oily skin, you could give the moisturiser a miss. I still wore eye cream, but took the MitoQ right up under my eyes.
I'm really happy with this product as I can see an overall difference in my skin's tone and overall texture and colour. It certainly feels smoother and even some of the darker age spots on my temple have faded a little. I think (and hope) long-term use will see more improvement.

I also like the fact that the company offers a 30 day, money  back guarantee .

I'll definitely be using to the end and maybe even save my pennies for a new bottle.  

You can get MitoQ online at http://www.mitoq.com/

MitoQ retails for $USD185 and at the moment they are offering FREE shipping worldwide.

Disclosure: This product was provided for editorial consideration. 3pickles has no affiliation with any companies mentioned and has received no remuneration for posting this review. As always, all opinions are those of the author.

The video of our morning with Alonso & Massa

Here's the video of our morning with Alonso & Massa at the Shell/Lego media launch, plus the pickles playing with their own special edition Lego cars. The original post is here.



Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win your own set of Lego cars! GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Good luck

How to get the glow back to your skin with double cleansing.

In the day BC (before children), I used to set aside some special "me time" for all the beauty needs in my life. 

You know...the maintenance. 

I'd give myself a facial, do the nails, the hair treatment, the waxing, shaving, plucking etc, etc

The works.

My skin glowed, the hair shone, the nails were perfect........

Then along came the pickles, 1, 2, 3......

and no sleep

In fact, I was just saying to a friend a few days ago that I haven't had a full nights sleep in 13 years!

Source

Add to that the fact that I can often go to bed with the makeup on (looks fab on my pillowcase the next day) and the glow can start to dull....breakouts can pop up (I never had pimples as a teen, but as an adult I'd been getting the odd spot).

It can look ageing...in fact it IS ageing.

I thought that was it....I thought once it was gone there was no getting it back. But I was wrong.

You see, I forgot about something I learned a long time ago, when I was first training in make-up. 

I did a workshop with a Japanese skincare company that taught me the "art" of Double Cleansing. An ancient skincare method. Simple, but effective.

Since we moved into our new bedroom and I have a bathroom to myself, I have been much more attentive to my skin and have been double cleansing for over a month. I am amazed at the overall difference in my skin. Which is what prompted me to write this post.

You see, our skin produces an "oil" called sebum. The sebum traps dirt, dead skin cells and other junk in the air around us (smoke, pollution etc). Then we go and add layers of makeup, waterproof makeup & sunscreen to our skin. 

Do you really think that when you wash your face at night that your getting all of that muck off?

Well you're probably not...not with one cleanse anyway.

Then it builds up and forms a glue like layer that block the pores and WHAMMO, Zitville here we come!

With double cleansing, you gently remove the layers BEFORE you cleanse the skin.

You don't shower with your clothes on, do you? 

In fact I have once...it was my Eighteenth Birthday and.......OK, OK...sidetracked ...I keep that story for when I get to know you better...K?

I'll take you through some simple steps.....

For the purpose of this post, I've chosen to use the Neutrogena Skincare range. Some of these products were sent to me for review, but to be honest, I have used them for years and they are a staple in my professional kit for the reason that I find them effective, good value for money AND I have never had anyone have an allergic reaction to them. (every skin and every person is different, so always do a patch test first with any new product).

OK.....

To double cleanse:

Always start with a dry face

1. Using an oil-free eye makeup remover and cotton pads, gently remove all traces of eye makeup. Be very gentle with the delicate skin around your eyes.

2. Use either a milky or oil based cleanser or if you're in a rush, use wipes to remove the rest of your makeup or the grime from the day. If you use the milky or oily cleanser, "massage" it in to break up the makeup. Dampen your fingers with water and massage to "emulsify", then remove with wipes, tissue or rinse off.

3. Pump a little foaming or wash off cleanser into the palm of your hand and add a few drops of water. Lather into a foam and massage over the face. Now rinse.
Feeling fresh yet?

4. Optional step. I like to do this twice a week, but it will depend on your skin type. Very gently massage in some facial scrub onto wet skin. Avoid the eye area . Rinse and pat the skin dry.

5. With a cotton pad that has been soaked with some toner, gently pat over your skin, but again, avoid the eye area.
Allow to dry.

6. Apply your favourite moisturiser/night cream and eye cream.
At night, I like to use a serum under my night cream.

So there you have it. Let me know if you give it a try.

Disclosure: These products were provided for editorial consideration. 3pickles has no affiliation with any companies mentioned and has received no remuneration for posting this review. All opinions are those of the author.

A morning with Alonso, Massa & a life-size Lego Formula One Ferrari

This is a sponsored post for Digital Parents Collective

Yeah, you could say that's a morning well spent......

Last Thursday, the 14th March, Mr3P and I attended the Shell media event which saw Formula One Champions Fernando Alonso & Felipe Massa unveil the world's first, life-size Scuderia Ferrrari Formula 1 car model built by Lego.

Awesome!

The life size LEGO Formula One car is made up of over 200,000 pieces of regular Lego...no special pieces were made for the construction, which means you could make this at home...all you need is 200,000 pieces of Lego, 800+ hours to spare and a couple of F1 drivers to sit atop. 

I think this would look very nice in our lounge room.

or...........maybe these would be a little more practical.

These are some of the newest collectibles from Shell & LEGO that were introduced on the day.

There are six limited edition Ferrari model LEGO cars with pull-back motors. These cars have the smallest pull-back motor ever produced by the LEGO group. They are capable of performing over 300 pulls, propelling the 30g vehicle up to 2 metres! the pickles will certainly be putting that to the test!

 Alonso and Massa looked like they were having fun playing with the new LEGO cars and even raced with some young fans who attended the event.

The cars are based on some of the most iconic vehicles in Ferrari's motoring history:

• The Ferrari 150° Italia
• The Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto
• The Ferrari F40
• The Ferrari FXX
• The Ferrari 458 Italia
• and a Scuderia Ferrari Truck

 Shell and LEGO worked on the development of the mini motor for over 18 months, which isn't surprising given the fact that Shell invests approximately 21,000 hours a year on research & development in it's technical partnership with Ferrari. They don't do things by halves. Good on em!

 From Monday, 18th March you will be able to purchase these exclusive Ferrari model LEGO cars at Shell Coles Express sites across Australia for $8 or $6 with a $40 purchase of 

Shell V-Power.

There will be a new model available every week, for six weeks.

Mr3P managed to talk his way into the life-size LEGO Ferrari. He's making his brmmm, brmmm face in this picture. 

 And guess what? 

Thanks to Shell & LEGO, I have 2 FULL SETS to giveaway!!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

 The international media went nuts about it....but only my 3pickles readers are in the running for a chance to win one of the 2 sets. 

All you have to do to enter is email me at threepickles@optusnet.com.au and tell me,

if you could build anything you wanted with LEGO, what would it be and why?

The 2 most creative and entertaining stories (chosen by me) will win a set.

Sorry, but only Australian residents can enter.

Entries will close at midnight, Melbourne time on April 1st.

I will announce the winners on April 2nd, here on the blog.

 So get cracking and good luck!

PS: Stay tuned in the day or so where you'll see these little cars in action (thanks to the pickles and their brilliant LEGO skills)  and some footage I shot on the day of the event. (video here)

Happy Tummies Link Party #2

I'm running late today! It's been a mad 2 weeks for me, with everything happening at once. I have a million blog posts floating around in my head and stacks of stuff to tell you AND some AMAZZZZZZING giveaways coming up. So if you love collectables and Lego, then visit back this week.

I started Happy Tummies link party off last week, kinda out of the blue, so thank you to the lovely ladies who shared their recipes. 

You can visit their blogs from here.

Hopefully it will gain some momentum, so I can feature my favourites (or die a sad quiet death...lol). 

So please spread the word. It would be great to have a collection of healthy, family friendly reipes here on the blog.

My contribution this week is a link or two from some of my favourite recipes on 3pickles.

Today is Banana Bread...an oldie, but a goodie.

The link to the recipe is here.

Now on to the party. I'll kick things off with a link or two......feel free to add yours. the party runs for a week, so you have plenty of time.

Boring rules:

•  Please Link up only your own recipes. No round-ups, giveaways, etsy shops are to be linked here thanks. 
•  Try to keep the recipes as healthy and family friendly as possible. There are no hard and fast rules here, but that would be nice. 
•  Please link back to 3pickles in your post by grabbing the Happy Tummies button in the sidebar and adding it to your recipe's post. 
•  Stay and mingle…remember, this is a party!! Please leave a couple of comments for others who have shared their recipes.

See you soon.

Toasted Chicken Wrap & Happy Tummies Link Party #1

Toasted Chicken Wrap (and my first link party)

I'm kicking off my first link party with a very simple but old favourite of mine and the pickles.

As you may have seen, we are quite fond of wraps and this one couldn't be easier. It's more of a filling suggestion than a recipe and you can see how I toast my wraps from this recipe here.

Simply fill the wrap with:

• Shredded chicken (I used a store bought BBQ chook...it was quick and easy yesterday and way too hot in Melbourne to be using my oven)
• Mixed lettuce leaves
• Cheese slices
• Tomato
• Sweet chilli or BBQ sauce.

The toast so that the cheese is melted and the wraps are crispy. 

I like to serve this with extra salad and more sauce on top....cos you can never have too much sweet chilli sauce!

Now onto the link up.....

Hi and welcome to my very first link party.

Every week I'll be hosting Happy Tummies, a new link party where we can share our favourite family recipes.The healthier the better, but the occasional sweet thing is good for the soul too ;)

Now for the rules..... I've tried to keep it simple and not really any different to other link ups I've seen.

•  Please Link up only your own recipes. No round-ups, giveaways, etsy shops are to be linked here thanks. 
•  Try to keep the recipes as healthy and family friendly as possible. There are no hard and fast rules here, but that would be nice. 
•  Please link back to 3pickles in your post by grabbing the Happy Tummies button in the sidebar and adding it to your recipe's post. 
•  Stay and mingle…remember, this is a party!! Please leave a couple of comments for others who have shared their recipes.

I'll keep the link open for a week and feature my favourites next Monday. You can link up below....thanks for joining in....I'm looking forward to seeing some yummy recipes and making them for my pickles!

InLinkz

Priceline I Feel Beautiful is on the road and so am I!!

 I'm very excited that this week I'll be onboard "Pinky" as one of Priceline's Make-Up Artists for the I Feel Beautiful promotion at the Melbourne locations.

Come along and have a makeover, get your hair or nails done...it's free and there are also lots of goodie bags to give away (Get in quick as there is a limited number of bags).

I probably won't have a lot of time to blog this week, but I'll try to Instagram and Tweet as much as possible about the event and all the beautiful products that Priceline have to offer.

If you don't "follow" me already...here are the links to my Instagram and Twitter accounts. I spend far to much time on there, so I need you to enable this behaviour ...that will make it OK...right?

Click here to see if there is a Priceline I Feel Beautiful event near you

Have a great week and if you see me there, please drop by and say hi!