I know I am not alone when I say, I am dubious when skincare brands launch a makeup range?? It’s been done so many times; successful and well-loved skincare brand decides to widen their offering with ‘skin-friendly’ makeup that never quite lives up to expectation and/or price point, in fact, the only such launch I have liked in recent years is the Perricone No Makeup range – I seriously love it (theirs is the only mascara I use now) but their range is small and dedicated to basics, not colour.
So, when I decided to try the Pixi makeup (yes, I realise it has been around for a while now) I did so with my usual sceptical hat on.
Well, first of all, I need to eat said hat because what (embarrassingly) I hadn’t realised, is that Pixi was founded by a makeup artist! With a background not dis-similar to my own! How did I not know this?! The shame.
I, like many people who have heard and seen so much on the hero skincare products by Pixi, assumed that Pixi was predominantly a skincare line. Wrong!
Pixi creator Petra Strand shares my belief of skincare before makeup, I too am a makeup artist and having a good canvas (complexion) is the key to achieving every great makeup look. So, each product she creates, is dedicated to creating a flawless face.
For any of you that haven’t heard of Pixi, their Glow Tonic is a multi-award-winning best-seller and their recently released Retinol Tonic looks set to be as popular (dare I say it, if not more popular). I have just started using the rubbery DetoxifEYE eye patches (in fact, I have some on right now as I type) containing collagen, caffeine and peptides to instantly firm, plump and brighten the delicate under-eye skin (and help protect me from the light emitted from the computer screen) and their Plump Collagen sheet masks are dreamy! But, back to the makeup! Early favourites for me are the Flawless Beauty Primer (£24) which contains skin-loving vitamins A,C and E and gives you the healthiest, most natural glow ever, and The Layers Highlighting Palette (£22) which has 5 buildable and mixable shades that give the post perfect finish! The eyeshadow palettes mix current with classic and are so soft and bendable, I defy anyone to not create an Insta worthy makeup look! Likewise, with the Endless Silky Eye Pens (from £6) apart from being a pencil not a pen, they are exactly as described; silkier than silk (is that possible?!) and can be used blunt for a cool smudgy look or after placing in the freezer you can sharpen into a point to create the finest and cleanest feline flick ever!
I will most definitely be putting all my new Pixi makeup in my work kit, as Petra fully understands, us artists need products we can trust and rely on, but for now, I might just keep them in my personal makeup bag for a teeny, tiny bit longer……