Drugstore Vegan Skincare Favorites from Pixi

People always ask me for cruelty free drugstore beauty and skincare recommendations. I always say the same thing! Pixi is cruelty free, and many of their products are vegan. You can find them online and at Target and CVS stores. But not only that, they make affordable vegan skincare products that actually work!

Before we get started with some Pixi beauty reviews, how bout them rainbows huh? I bought a crystal light catcher thingie to add some pizzazz to my photos. It’s hard to capture, and it requires the assistance of my husband to hold it up, but I like the effect!

Okay, let’s talk about one of my most favorite vegan skincare ingredients of all time – glycolic acid! It’s good for so many skincare conditions: oily skin, dry skin, dull skin, mature skin, acne, sun spots, acne scars, large pores, texture, fine lines…the list goes on. It can be very gentle or very active, depending on the concentration.

The Pixi Glow Peel Pads are a fairly high concentration (20%), but if you read through the reviews, a lot of people with sensitive skin have no problems with this product. If you do have issues, you can cut your use back to a few times per week, instead of daily or twice a day.

To use, apply to your face and leave on for 2-3 minutes. Then RINSE (I didn’t realize I needed to do this at first which is why they seemed too strong). When you add water to your skin, it neutralizes the glycolic acid. It should tingle a bit – that means it’s working. If it’s HURTING, then it’s too strong for you, or you have left it on too long for your skin type. You may find that your skin gets used to it, and you can do more over time.

I love to use glycolic acid products at night. When I wake up, I see a gel-like consistency of dead skin comes off on the cotton pad I use to cleanse (with micellar water)! You get a really nice glow!

If you’re a sheet mask lover, definitely give the Pixi Glow Glycolic Boost face masks a try! You get all the brightening goodness of glycolic acid, ginseng and witch hazel, which is especially great for us acne-prone and oily-skinned peeps! They just changed the packaging to make it more obvious that there are actually THREE sheet masks in this box. The photo on the Target website doesn’t make this obvious, but you can see in the description that it comes with three face masks. For $9.99, that’s not a bad deal!

Another one of my long-time Pixi favorites is their Peel & Polish enzyme exfoliator. It’s made with natural fruit enzymes and lactic acid that help clear clogged pores and dead skin. It smells fruity and delicious and it’s super gentle.

To use, just apply to dry skin and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then you can choose to rinse off immediately, or massage in and THEN rinse for a more intense exfoliation (it has little scrubby bits). This is pretty gentle, but a pro tip for ya – if you ever buy a facial exfoliator that you feel is too strong for your skin, try it out on your chest, abdomen, arms, or elsewhere on your body. (Unless you’re allergic to it…if that’s the case, then stop using it!)

For those of you with dry, non-acne-prone skin, Pixi’s Rose Caviar Essence is a great hydrating serum. It’s very, very light and absorbs instantly for a matte finish, so you can layer it under heavier creams. It smells SO good – like fresh roses.

The only reason I wouldn’t recommend it for acne-prone types is because it contains high oleic-acid oils, as well as algae and soybean oil, which can be high on the comedogenic scale. For those of you with rosacea, sensitive, mature or dry skin, this may be just what you’re looking for!

the Pixi skintreats DetoxifEYE Depuffing Eye Patches are great for soothing puffy eyes. If you have eyes, you’ve probably had a concern with puffiness at some point. Maybe after eating salty food, or drinking alcohol, maybe hormones…or maybe a daily concern. The main reason I love these is the caffeine – which instantly de-puffs! They are very soothing, and gentle on the undereye area.

My only concern for my fellow acne-prone friends is that they contain carrageenan, a type of algae that is known to be comedogenic. I have used them a few times without problems, but I generally try to avoid carrageenan. My non-acne-prone husband, LOVES these! At $24 for 60 patches, this is a steal!

Let’s go back to the Glow line for a second. If you have oily or acne-prone skin, the Pixi Glow Mud Mask will be right up your alley. It’s made with aloe vera, kaolin clay, bentonite clay, diatomaceous earth, sea salt, jojoba seed oil, hops, sodium hyaluronate, burdock root, rosemary and ginseng. It has ingredients to pull out oil and toxins, and ingredients to soothe and hydrate.

You can use this mask 2-3 times a week, or as a spot treatment for breakout-prone areas. Leave it on for about 15 minutes and then rinse. I like to use a washcloth to remove masks, so I can get that little bit of extra manual exfoliation.

There are a ton of other cruelty free (and many vegan) Pixi skincare products – which ones are your favorites? Right now I’m testing out the new retinol eye cream. What should I try next?