Appelles Apothecary & Lab | Brand Review | The Lipstick Hub

I would like to say first off, that this is not a sponsored post. I did buy all of these products with my own money.

Appelles is a brand I stumbled upon from after visiting some family and I instantly fell in love with them. To start off on some basic information on Appelles, it's an Australian skin and hair care brand, that's relatively pretty new. Appelles are a cruelty free brand and all the products are locally made.

The first product I ever tried from Appelles is the Wheat Protein shampoo, it is such a great shampoo that for one of the first times in my life, I felt like I didn't need to condition my hair afterwards. On the website it states that the Wheat Protein shampoo is ideal for normal to fine hair. I have pretty thick hair and it still worked great on me but if you are someone who fits into one of those categories, I would definitely recommend checking them out.

Around early-ish last year, a subscription box service (either Lust Have It or Violet Box, or a different one entirely) had featured Appelles in their box, which had the Blackseed shampoo and Tamanu conditioner. You can't actually get the 35ml sizes from their website, they are specifically for these kinds of services, like subscription boxes or hotel complementary shampoo and conditioner. The Blackseed shampoo and Tamanu conditioner have Rosemary, Ylang Ylang and Lavadin Super in them. The Tamanu conditioner has a very cream lotion type consistency and it definitely smells like when you walk into a new age store. I don't mind that though, it just makes me think that it has really good, natural ingredients in it. This duo is ideal for damaged and coloured treated hair, so since I've bleached and dyed my hair it's been a really good combination for me. The twist off lid can be a little difficult to open but its not too bad.

The other two products I have from Appelles are the Vitamin B5 skin lotion and the Comfrey hand and body wash. The Vitamin B5 skin lotion has Mandarin Peel, Rosemary and Cinnamon Bark in it. The Comfrey hand and body wash has Australian Lemon Myrtle, Sandalwood and Rosalina in it. When I first saw the ingredients of the skin lotion I thought the smell would really turn me off the product but I don't really smell the cinnamon at all. It has a really woodsy smell to it. The lotion itself is a quite thick formula so it can be a little difficult to get out of the bottle and it's a cream colour. Despite the thick formula, it applies really nice and evenly to the skin and does leave the smell on your skin. I haven't really noticed a huge difference in my skin after applying the lotion but maybe after a few weeks of using the product, you'd start to see a difference in your skin. The Comfrey body wash is probably my favourite product that I have. It's clear and is much more runnier than the lotion. It has a very fruity smell that I love, it's not quite as citrus-y as you think it would be because of the lemon, but it definitely makes me feel clean and fresh. If I could only repurchase one of these products I would definitely get the Comfrey body wash.

Appelles do have other products like bath fizzes, candles and essential oils but these are the products that I currently have. I do think that it is a bit expensive but for the beautiful packaging and amazing ingredients, I do think that it's worth the money. I would definitely recommend checking them out.

Skincare Products For Different Skin Types

These are a list of skincare products that work very well on my skin type (combination), but you may not know which ones to use for what problem or when to use them. So I've compiled a list of good skincare products and specified when they should be used and for what.

1. The St Ives Blemish Control Apricot Scrub
This should be used for extremely dry, flaky and acne prone skin. It should be applied after cleansing the face. Typically face scrubs are only to be used once a week, depending on your skin type, because it damages the skin. If your skin is always dry and flaky, try more hydrating methods before using this twice a week.

2. Montagne Jeunesse Peel Off Masque in 'Cucumber'
To be used for normal to oily. Peel off masques can be quite intense however this one is quite gentle on the skin. It's super hydrating and will leave your skin feeling healthier for days. I would recommend using this one once every 2 to 3 weeks, but it won't harm you to use it once every week.

3. Manuka Doctor Apipurifying Facial Peel
This should be used for normal skin, to oily, congested skin. It works fine on combination skin but it does leave a sheen affect of the face that feels smooth. If you have dry skin it would probably be best to leave the skin alone from peel-off masks as that can make it worse. The peel off affect really helps with the congestion, helps clear out hard to reach dirt. This one can be used once a month, it's a little on the pricey-er side compared to the other two but it's feels like a pampering product, which can be quite nice when you want to treat yourself.

4. Clean and Clear Essentials Oil Control Toner
For normal skin, I wouldn't really use toners when my skin is feeling particularly oily because I feel like it intensifies that and it doesn't help oil-control at all. It does make my skin feel more clean though, if that makes sense,

5. Crop Daily Facial Moisturiser
I would say this is for normal to slightly dehydrated skin. It's great for someone whom might just be experiencing some light dryness or someone who's looking for a vitamin hit to the face. It's not super hydrating but it does have a nice feel to it, you could definitely use this daily.

6. Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash (Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub)
This face wash is definitely for acne prone skin, it can be for any skin type but I'd say it suits combination skin more adequately. Its quite a gentle wash/scrub, so if you have sensitive skin I'd say it would work for you as well. Would probably use it about once a week.

7. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel
The product says its for combination to oily but its more for combination to dry as the product itself is quite oily and leaves a sheen on the skin. This can be used as a daily moisturiser or, what I personally use it for, little touch ups throughout the day. I definitely wouldn't say its dramatically different from any other moisturiser though.

8. Neutrogena Deep Clean Gentle Scrub
This scrub is definitely for oily, hydrated skin more than dry skin. This scrub can be really harsh so I wouldn't recommend it for sensitive skin types, I also wouldn't use it more than once a month.

9. Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash
Not in anyway similar to the previous oil free acne wash scrub listed above, though this is for acne prone skin, it is suited more towards oily skin types. Typically to be used once a day. This wash is nice and gentle so it won't hurt your skin at all.

10. Swisse Bioactive Nature Oil
The bioactive nature oil can be used for dehydrated, very dry skin with acne scarring or normal scarring. However, there are definitely better oils for those kinds of problems with better results, such as rosehip oil or jojoba oil.

11. Glamglow Thristymud Hydrating Treatment Mask
This is a very hydrating mask which is great for dehydrated skin, the mask will pretty much hydrate instantly. It is on the more pricey-er side but for such effective results, I'd say its worth it. To be used whenever you need an instant hydrate (is that the correct terminology? Whatever, you know what I mean).

12. Clearsil Daily Clear Superfruits Refreshing Wash
My god, I swear by this stuff. It's suited to every goddamn skin type and works wonders. To be used daily, I use it at night and it's definitely something thats worth checking out. Its just makes your skin feel fresh with a nice fruity smell. 

Priceline Skin Care Sale Haul ft. The Face Shop

My little skin care haul, it's not actually that little seeing as it damaged my bank account more than I care to admit. But I thought, this is probably worth blogging about seeing as it seems like I bought a thousand things. This is a little combined haul because the Priceline Skin Care sale was on the 27th and 28th of Jan but I also went to The Face Shop (for those of you who don't know what that is, The Face Shop is a Asian beauty store).

I only got two things at The Face Shop so I'll start there. The two things I got were a Blackhead Out white clay nose pack and a Pore Tightening cooling mist.

I got the Blackhead Out white clay nose pack because I saw Shaaanxo use it in one of her 'daily' vlogs and thought it would a cool alternative to the Biore nose strips. I haven't been able to use it yet as my skin is still peeling from that sunburn but I have high hopes for this product. It was $11 at The Face Shop and you get 50g of product. I also have to say that the packaging is really nice, the pale blue was a good choice and there's a fair amount of english on the container considering this is an Asian product.

The other thing I got, the Pore Tightening cooling mist I got because I needed something to tighten my pores after ripping the blackheads out. I never had anything when I used my pore strips, the best I could do was put some cold water on the area and hope for the best. I'm fairly certain that Lush might have a pore tightening face mask but I just never got around to getting it. It's really bad to use pore strips because it makes your pores bigger and they collect more dirt, so I'm hoping this is really effective. This was $27 for 150g of product. It is an aerosol can but I'm really excited to try it. Again the packaging is really nice, the pastel teal was a great choice and just looks nice on the vanity.

The Priceline I went to was the Hurstville shopping centre one and it was savage. The amount of people all trying to get what they wanted was ridiculous. However I did get almost everything I wanted except for one or two things.

Neutrogena Deep Clean Revitalising Pink Grapefruit Foam Cleanser - This appealed to me because lately I've been loving grapefruit on my skin. I know it makes a great exfoliator because of the acid but I wanted more for different things like cleansers. The packaging is super cute and Neutrogena have had some pretty good skin care stuff before.

Neutrogena Deep Clean Revitalising Pink Grapefruit Daily Scrub - Same thing as above, basically it screamed grapefruit at me and I thought it would be good to get the duo, one to match the other.

People for Plants Aloe, Grapefruit, Garnet Face Scrub - I actually went to a second Priceline for this, unplanned I just happened to pass another Priceline and they had it in stock. Again grapefruit stuck out to me but aloe also sounded really nice because of my recent sunburn. I haven't tried the brand before and thought this would be a good start.

Yes to Cucumbers Soothing Eye Gel - This stood out in particular because I had a reaction (don't know if it was an allergic one) and my eyes swelled up to the max. I needed something to fix it but didn't have anything. I'm fine now and it only lasted about three days but it got me thinking, my mother suggested that cucumbers might help with the swelling. So I found this on the Priceline website, I picked it up because I thought it would help if it happened again.

Bliss No 'Zit' Sherlock Spot Treatment - Let's be real here, I picked this up because of the name. I also have a lot of pimples/zits (being a teenager does that). Some other things influneced me to pick it up, it said that it could help absorb excess oil and I, myself personally had never tried the brand Bliss, I have given something else by them as a present.

Milk and Co Ultra Light Face Moisturiser - I picked this up on a whim, though I did want to pick something up from this line because I love Milk and Co. I got the moisturiser because it appealed to me the most from the stock they had. I did get excited when I saw that it said vitamin e, aloe vera and jojoba oil on the box.

Clearasil Daily Clear Superfruits Refreshing Toner - I got the wash version in this in my Bellabox and my god I needed the rest of this collection. The wash is amazing and well why not get the rest of the Superfruits stuff?

Clearasil Daily Clear Superfruits Refreshing Scrub - Read above haha.

Biore Charcoal Pore Minimiser - I've wanted this since I saw it on Biore's instagram page. I didn't think it would be an exfoliator and more of a mask thing but oh well, I'm sure I'll enjoy it just as much. I love all the pore products from Biore and think they work really well so I'm hoping this will be a great product.

Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips - I got the 14 combo pack which includes 7 nose strips and 7 forehead strips. I haven't tried the face strips so that should be fun. I really wanted to get the charcoal strips but at both Pricelines they didn't have any.

Skin Doctors No More Oil T-Zone Cream, I originally was going to get the Skin Doctors T-Zone No More Bores Night Treatment but I thought this one was better suited to me. I wanted something that was going to help with my oily t-zone so I picked this up. I've never tried the brand or heard of them, so this should be interesting.

Montagne Jeunesse Green Tea Peel Off Masque - My god I love this stuff. I'm fairly certain I've talked about this on instagram before because it's magical. I'll actually be talking about this in an upcoming skincare post so keep an eye out for that. I just wanted to restock on this basically.

St Ives Facial Blemish Control Scrub - Another thing I wanted to restock up on. A lot of people have mixed feelings about this. I love this, one of the best scrubs I've had but I've always had the small one, this is my first full sized one.

Manuka Doctor Peel Off Mask - The most expensive thing I got but easily the best thing. I was worried that it would be sold out, they don't have it on the website and since Shaaanxo talked about it on her vlog it's been in high demand. This was just a restock up.

The last thing I got was the Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes, the Night Calming ones. This wasn't on my list initially but seeing as it's how I remove my makeup I thought I should get some backups while it's cheap.

Some things that were on my list but they were out of stock on - Milk and Co Face Cleanser and the Biore Deep Cleansing Charcoal Pore Strips.

I've also included a photo of some other stuff I got today like makeup stuff, so if you guys would like to see any reviews on it just let me know in the comments down below! :)