Review | How To Get Clear Skin ft. Banish Acne

Hey everyone!

Hope you've all had a great week - I am SO glad it's the weekend. Having uni 4 days this week with lots of 9am starts got me realising how much I love the warmth of the bed LOL! I mentioned that I would be doing a skincare post in my last weeks post so here it is! It's actually featuring a brand that you may or may not have heard of from YouTube but it's called Banish Acne Scars. This is basically a brand that was created by a YouTuber called Daisy and she created a solution to acne scarring which is her famous at home derma-rolling kit. Read on if you would like to know more about it - I will be doing a giveaway at the end for this product so stay tuned til the end :) 

I actually heard of Banish Acne after watching Elaine's video on YouTube - if you don't know her, she used to have severe acne but now she has really clear skin thanks to this miracle product! Essentially what dermarolling is, is a microneedling device that penetrates your skin and tricks the skin into thinking that there are wounds on the face. The skin then produces more collagen which helps to slowly get rid of acne scars. There's more information on the site if you do want to know more about this. The website sells a variety of banisher sets that range from different sizes such as Small, medium, XS stamp for spot treating and Large for those with scarring on the body that requires a banisher with larger surface area. Other than the Banishers, I've heard that their masks and facial oils are very effective on the skin as well. But for today, I will just be reviewing the medium banisher set. 

The set arrived very quickly, I think in about 2 weeks and comes in a padded parcel bag. Inside is the Banish clear zip up bag which contains the three products that comes in a set including: 

+ The 0.5mm medium banisher

+ Vitamin C Serum

+ Cleaning Container 

This set retails for $69 USD. 

M (Medium) Banisher

So lets start off talking about the banisher first - a roller device with microneedles. Essentially, it is recommended that you start of with the small banisher first before you move onto the medium banisher because you're skin might not be used to the harshness, but I just started off with the medium banisher because I think it's the more effective one. From the website, the different sized banishers have different uses and you can have a look to see which one best suits the condition of your skin. 

S Banisher(0.25mm) - Boosts the power of your skin care product and evens out skin tone.  Use once a week.

M Banisher(0.5mm) - Clear skin up faster if you have a lot of acne scars. Use Once every 1-2 weeks.

L Body - helps reduce the appearance of stretch marks.  Use Once every 1-2 weeks.

XS Pen - Spot treat acne scars. Use Once every 1-2 weeks.

In the package, the banisher comes in it's own sturdy clear acrylic box holder to keep it clean. It is also covered in a plastic layer that you need to take off, it may look clean but it is  recommended that you sterilise it before every use with either rubbing alcohol from your local pharmacy or if you're like me and couldn't be bothered, boiling water with salt works the same to sterilise the needles for 5 minutes. There's a cleaning container that is included in the package but I like to use a small bowl instead because I feel like it's not safe to put boiling water in the container. However, if you do decide to use rubbing alcohol, then the cleaning container will be ideal for you. 

Don't forget that before your dermarolling session, you must start with a clean washed face with nothing on your skin - so no moisturisers, serums or anything like that. Also, it is NOT recommended to use the banisher if you're planning to wear makeup during the day as the skin needs to rest. It is okay, however, to do it at night before you sleep and to put makeup on the next morning. 

After you sterilise your banisher, make sure you let it cool down because the last thing you want is to burn your face with a hot needle *_*.  Once it's cooled down, you can then look into a mirror to see where the acne scars problem areas are and then start rolling it on your face a few times in one direction and then roll again in another direction for a few more times. It may sound scary that you're putting needles to the face but it doesn't actually hurt!! It just feels like a few pricks on the face but not much pain is involved. 

When you're done with the face you want to sterilise it again and ensure that it's completely dry before you put it back into the acrylic container. You can check out the banisher set here. 

All natural Vitamin C, E, Ferulic Acid Serum

I don't usually use serums in my daily routine, only a toner but after using this product I have been obsessed with using serums. This product claims to contain 99% pure Vitamin C oil which is meant to promote collagen production, lead to brighter and firmer skin. It is also an anti oxidant product as it contains Vitamin E and claims to slow down the aging process. I have to say this is like my holy grail skin care product. I've had troubles with my skin for this whole year and it had left me with a lot of scarring on my face. I only used the banisher a few times but this oil every day and night. It has lasted me for about 2 months and  although my scars have not completely disappeared, they are less pigmented as they used to be and my skin is less red compared to when I didn't use this serum. 

I apply it after I tone my face and then I put a layer of moisturizer on top to lock the oils in my face. As you can see in the picture, I've literally used every single last drop in the bottle and I would highly recommend this product to use along side with the banisher or even if you don't want to use the banisher, you can definitely just buy this by itself HERE (retails for $39USD) and incorporate it into your daily routine. 

So I haven't been using this kit for the longest time, I'd say one and a bit month and so my acne scars have no faded completely yet, but I am definitely seeing an improvement. If you don't like seeing gross pictures, I'd advise you not to look at the next image but I thought i'd show you my before and after (one month difference). 

The lighting was a bit different in the first picture but nevertheless you can still see the difference one month has made on my scarring. 

Overall, I would recommend the Banish Acne Banisher set to those who have moderate acne scarring on the face! It did take some time to see results on myself because my scars were so pigmented but it differs from person to person. I've read on the website that some people have seen results from one week whilst for some people it takes few months so it really depends on your skin type. Nevertheless you can check out the website and read more about the different products that Banish offers HERE :)

Giveaway (ended)

Banish Acne has kindly offered to giveaway one of the medium banisher sets away in collaborating with this blog - Beautifyinglifee. This giveaway will be on Instagram so if you would like to enter, read the instructions carefully below or head over to Instagram to learn more. 

The Rules 

1. You must follow Banish Acne (@banishacnescars) and myself (@Beautifyinglifee) on Instagram.  

2. Comment on the Banish Acne picture on my Instagram and answer the following question: "Why would you like to win this kit?" 

3. This giveaway ends on September 10th 2015. Winner will be contacted privately. 

4. Good Luck everyone! 

Hope you all have a lovely week, and I'll see you in next weeks post! 

The Loved and Repurchased ♥

Hi Everyone!

How are you all? Today's post is something a bit different to usual because it's not a review or haul. Instead, it's about my favourite beauty products that I've loved and repurchased multiple times. I'm the type of person that usually won't commit to using the same product over and over again (unless I really love it!) because I'm always wanting to try new products that are being released. However, when I was going through my makeup stash I realised that I've actually repurchased some things and so I'll present you with my top 5 most repurchased products (aka my favourite beauty products)

Benefit Gimme Brow

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you would know that the Benefit Gimme Brow is my holy grail brow product and if you're new to my blog, you can basically tell how much I love this as I've repurchased it 3 times LOL. I first discovered this when I was in the Hong Kong Benefit Cosmetics store and one of the sales assistants recommended this product to me and ever since then I've really liked it. It's basically a brow gel/mascara that comes with a small precise brush that makes it quick and easy to apply to the brows. I like to use this when I'm in a rush because you just swipe a few times on the brows and you're done. Most of the time, I like to use the dip brow pomade but if I'm in a hurry, it just takes too much time to use a brush and slowly apply it to the brows so this brow mascara is very convenient. It retails for $37 at Myer - Pretty expensive but totally worth it. I have a full review that you can check out here if you want with swatches and demo.  

 Biore Cleansing Water

My recently favourite makeup remover. I've tried a lot of cleansing oils in the past few years but this time I think I've found my favourite one. I first bought this product off YesStyle when I had store credit and thought this was quite interesting because I'd heard of cleansing oils and cleansing balms but not water!  My first impression was that the bottle is so BIG! It's such a good size for the price that you pay.

In my daily routine, I like to triple cleanse my face because I do wear a fair bit of foundation as I have a bit of skin issues and need a lot of coverage. I usually start off with a cleansing wipe to remove most of the foundation and then afterwards I pump about 3 pumps of the cleansing water onto a clean cotton pad and swipe all over my face. This product literally just feels like water, it's super light and doesn't irritate my sensitive skin (compared to cleansing oils that I used to use which feels like you're actually smearing oil and grease on your face). They say on the packaging that there is no need to wash off the cleansing water but I like to go in with my QV cleanser afterwards just in case to make sure that my skin is actually squeaky clean :)  Definitely my new favourite makeup remover and I'll be happy to repurchase this over and over again. You can purchase this from Sasa and YesStyle. 

JoJo Makeup Silky Eyeshadow 

I think I've talked about this product a few times in previous posts, but just in case you missed it, this is a super affordable 5 colour eyeshadow palette that I bought from Hong Kong. It contains various brown and copper shades that can be used to create different smokey eye looks. Some of the colours may be a bit chalky but most of them are quite silky and blend easily. I repurchased this after I had used it for a year and found it a really affordable product (I think it only costed $6AUD) that is small and sleek, great for travelling. I also bought this product but in purple so it had a variety of light to dark purples. 

You can check out my full review here if you would like to know more. 

Fairy Drops Mascara

Omg if I had to use one mascara for the rest of my life it would be Fairy Drops Mascara. First introduced to this through Bubzbeauty and I bought it at my local Sasa in Hong Kong when I was holidays a few years ago (the purple on on the right). BEST.MASCARA.EVER. It does everything that a person could look for in a mascara. Length, volume, curl, long lasting, doesn't smudge, you name it. Totally devastated when it was no longer sold in Sasa stores last year when i went. I went to Hong Kong for about 30 days and I literally walked into every Sasa store that I walked past all around HK just to see if they sold it and even when I asked for help, most sales assistants hadn't even heard or seen this brand before! It was only until recently that I found it again on Sasa.com but it was in the platinum version. Nevertheless, I purchased it right away and I have to say Fairy Drops never dissapoints. It was still the same quality and still has the same amazing quality as the previous mascara even though it was a different version. I'm actually on the Sasa website right now ready to order two more of these just incase they decide to discontinue this brand again! ;P

So if you're planning to make a purcahse on the Sasa website any time soon and looking to try a new mascara, definitely check this out. You'll definitely love it ;)

Again, full review is here with pictures and demo. 

NARS Creamy Radiant Concealer 

Last but not least, this is my favourite concealer at the moment. Although pricey, $40 at local Mecca Maxima, I have to say it's performance is the best out of all the concealers I've tried. The name says it all, it's creamy and brings radiance to the skin as well as providing good coverage. I like to use this both under my eyes and on my hyper-pigmentation and acne spots. I think I actually got matched with the wrong shade the first time, it looked okay but the new shade that I got matched with so much better. Just for reference the one of the top was the one I used to use in shade Honey which is more pink toned whilst the new one that I bought and got matched with was in Custard which is more yellow based. 

Bought this product two times and still loving it. Will definitely repurchase and won't try any other one as of now unless something amazing hits the market. Full review is here where you can check out my swatches. 

That was a long post! Hope everyone who made it through this entire post enjoyed the different content here on Beautifyinglifee and if you liked it don't forget to leave me a comment down below! 

What are your favourite and most repurchased beauty items? 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and stay tuned this coming week as I will have an Acne related post coming up and a giveaway :) Follow me on my social media - instagram @Beautifyinglifee to be the first ones to know about the giveaway~ 

Haul | Urban Outfitters Makeup ♥

Hi Beauties, 

Hope you're all doing very well - my week has been pretty awesome filled with shopping adventures all day every day since I'm FINALLY FREEEEE from all exams :)) 

Whoever said uni was going to be a breeze was definitely lying. Freshly graduated year 12 students next year will be very surprised at seriously how different high school is to uni. On the good side - you do meet a lot of new people through various courses and what's better than having uni in the city all the time with access to yummy food :~) 

Anyways, as I mentioned in a few posts back, I'm so happy I've found uni friends that have the same common interest as me and love to buy makeup as well! Recently, I was casually scrolling around Urban Outfitters and spotted two things that I really wanted to buy but if you've been on their website before, you'd know that free shipping is only available for those who spend over $50USD. So I went ahead and asked my friends if they had anything they wanted to me to buy as well so we could all enjoy the perks of free shipping. And this is all the makeup goodies we ended up with. If you would like to know more about the things my friend and I bought, keep reading til the end :) 

Review | FreshFlower.com Australia ♥

Hey everyone!

Hope your week has been going well! Today's review is slightly different to what I usually do here on my blog because it's a review on an online flower shop called FreshFlowers.com.au.


So if you have special events coming up, friends/family birthdays or you just want to find a convenience place online to purchase flowers in Australia, Fresh Flowers is the place to go. Read on if you want to find out about how my experience went.