Styling Products -Schwarzkopf - Osis Shine Duster Velvet Shine Powder
JClarke 4/13/2011 2:20:00 PM
No I absolutely would not buy this again and I can't imagine anyone else would either! Don't these people test their products? I feel seriously ripped off! I bought this because I am a no 1 fan of Osis Dust It and have been a regular user for a long while. I thought this might be an equivalent that gave a shine instead of a matte finish. It's not. It's virtually unusable after about 2 weeks. I tried it for a couple of times - even watched a demo on the internet - and couldn't quite see what it was all about. It did give the hair a slight shine but there wasn't a great deal of styling about it - very difficult to get the hair to go into place as demonstrated on the video. They tell you to rub the powder in your hands until it goes creamy then apply to the hair, coaxing it into place. After using it a few times I noticed it was becoming increasingly difficult to shake any out of the container - I know it's small but surely I hadn't used it all up already? Eventually I prised the top off and saw what the problem was. The "powder" had solidified into a solid lump and no way was it going to shake out of those holes! Now I had just kept this on the dressing table in my bedroom - not in a steamy bathroom where you might expect it to pick up moisture. In any event, there's no warning on the packet that it's liable to do this. Rubbish! It is now completely unusable.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Gels/Soaps -The Body Shop - Sweet lemon soap
JClarke 4/13/2011 2:05:00 PM
Nice soap, nice smell, nice price! Not a lot else I can say about it but it's a good staple buy with a realsistic smell of lemon and a good lather.
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Moisturizers -Clinique - Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion
JClarke 4/13/2011 1:59:00 PM
I'm surprised at the low scores this product has received although I do notice it seems to be better received by older ladies (like myself!). I confess I'm not especially demanding as regards moisturizers and I don't recall ever having one I would have given a really low score to. After all, they just moisturise the skin, how hard is that? I don't expect too much else from it andf I tend to use a whole arsenalk of other products - serums and the like - to correct all the myriad other problems that come with age. As regards Dramatically Different... I think the colour sucks, but it's unfragranced, which is good, and quite light so that it sinks into the skin easily. I bought a tube first as it was smaller than the plastic bottle and I just wanted to try it out but I found it difficult to get the last out of it so I went for the bottle second time around. I have the Very Dry to Dry Combination formula, which I have to say isn't especially rich so I think if you did have very dry skin (which I don't) this probably wouldn't do much for you.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Revlon - Gray Suede #705
JClarke 4/13/2011 1:48:00 PM
Really good value for money - huge bottle, excellent quality polish. I apply just one coat over a base coat - there's no streaking - then I apply a clear top coat and it lasts me a good 5 days without chipping at all. (I should add that I redo the top coat every night which I guess helps). The colour is a basic nude colour very similar to Dior's Nude Chic but considerably cheaper! Perhaps a tad less grey than Nude Chic, ironically given the name.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Styling Products -Redken - Rough Paste
JClarke 12/28/2010 1:14:00 PM
I have fine hair that I recently had cut short so I wanted a product to get that piecy textured look. It's Redken code 12 which means it has a medium hold. I use a small amount on damp hair then blow dry. You can also use it on dry hair. I do find it stays in better with hairspray. Possibly not as good as Redken's Rough Clay, which is for use on dry hair. Maybe better to combine the use of the two.
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Bath Treatments -Ren - Moroccan Rose Otto Bath Oil
JClarke 12/28/2010 1:04:00 PM
There's not a lot I can say about this that hasn't been said before. I bought it for myself as a special treat. It is very expensive but a little goes a long way. Unlike some other bath oils, it's not in the least bit greasy and doesn't leave a nasty film on the bath. The scent is divine. I do find the bottle a little down-market for the price.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lotions/ Creams -Caudalie - Nourishing Foot Cream
JClarke 12/28/2010 12:59:00 PM
Non greasy rich foot cream. Pleasant smell which makes a change because so many foot creams reek of peppermint which I hate . This one doesn't. Ingredients are: Vinolevure®, grape-seed oil, organic shea butter obtained through fair trade, red vine extract, gingko biloba, mint extract, sweet orange pulp. The mint extract isn't obvious. What comes across most in terms of fragrance, strangely enough, is grape. I apply this after a bath and it softens the skin.
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Brows -MAC - Brow Set - Beguile
JClarke 12/28/2010 12:46:00 PM
I got this after having first being misled by the MAC assistant into buying it in Show Off, which is far too dark for me. This looks a light sand colour in the tube but comes out darker. It is a good colour for my auburn hair. I find it much more effective than a brow pencil and a little longer lasting too, altough it still has a tendency to wear off towards the end of the day. It's basically like a mascara - a liquid that you apply with a brush. I usually run a dry mascara brush through the brows afterwards, just to remove any excess, which is how I go about applying mascara as well.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Brows -MAC - brow set - show off
JClarke 12/28/2010 12:37:00 PM
The only reason I have scored this so low is the colour - see my separet review for Brow Set in Beguile which scores much better as the colour is much better suited to me. This looks like an auburn shade and as I have auburn hair I went for it. I am a little annoyed that the MAC assistant, who you would have expected to know that this in fact comes out a VERY dark brown, encouraged me to buy it. In fact, she even said that Beguile (which works perfectly for me) would be "too yellow". As it was, they got £20 out of me instead of £10 because I had to go back and buy a second and in the UK we don't have this strange practice of taking things back if we don't like them which our sisters in the US seem to do all the time! In the UK once it's opened that's it - which I think is fair enough - they can't sell it if you take it back then can they? Although in the case of the MAC assistant who misled me I confess I do feel a little aggrieved.
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Eye Shadow -Bobbi Brown - Slate Cream Eye Shadow
JClarke 12/28/2010 12:22:00 PM
From the other reviews I notice this seems to be a shade favoured by those with green eyes and I guess this can't be a coincidence. It is essentially a medium grey but the intensity can easily be increased by building up the application - note you have to work quickly however as you can't add to this once it's dry without making an awful mess. It really is long lasting, doesn't budge. Very easy to apply, a child could do it.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eye Shadow -Bobbi Brown - Long Wear Cream Eyeshadow in Glacier 
JClarke 12/28/2010 12:14:00 PM
Unexpectedly a bit disappointed with this eyeshadow because I have stacks of these in other shades and love them usually but for some reason this one doesn't work so well. I wanted it as a highlighter for the brow bone and it looks fine in the pot. But it goes on a bit watery looking, a bit uneven and not nearly as smooth as the other shades - don't know why. When you wipe the brush over the cream in the pot it sometimes forms little nodules which isn't good. This doesn't happen with the other shades! I also find it a tad on the glittery side. The problem is that BB doesn't really have an alternative highlighter.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lipstick -Laura Mercier - Shimmer Lip Colour (Copper)
JClarke 12/28/2010 12:05:00 PM
Not sure why this is called Shimmer because there's absolutely nothing shimmery about this lipstick. It's quite matte.Copper is a bit of a misnomer too! It's not really a copper colour,more of a brick red - quite a strong colour. Creamy consistency but unfortunately not very long lasting.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments (Eye) -Philosophy - Hope in a Tube - High Density Eye and Lip Firming Cream
JClarke 12/28/2010 11:59:00 AM
This is an Eye & Lip Firming Cream - I bought it for use round the lips - i.e. to prevent wrinkles round the lips. I don't think it does prevent them but it would have to be pretty damn good for me to buy another tube! It sucks. It is so thick it's like smearing Vaseline round your lips. There's absolutely no way you could apply this in the morning, as instructed, unless you want to go out looking like a clown. I only use a little but it just doesn't sink in - it just sits on top of the skin . So it's strictly night time only.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Bath Treatments -Burt's Bees - Baby Bee Nourishing Baby Oil
JClarke 12/28/2010 11:47:00 AM
I bought this to use as a bath oil. I was rather disappointed. I had orderd online so hadn't appreciated how incredibly small the product was! This makes it very expensive - didn't last very long at all. No smell at all to speak of. Very oily - yes, I know it's an oil, but compare it with something like Ren's Moroccan rose bath oil - there's just no comparison. And although Ren seems a lot more expensive it's probably not when you take into account the size and how much you need to use. Baby Bee was so oily it made the bath dangerously slippery and very difficult to clean afterwards.
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Gels/Soaps -The Body Shop - Pink Grapefruit Soap
JClarke 12/28/2010 11:36:00 AM
OK sort of soap, lathers quite well, but I had forgotten that when I bought the pink grapefruit body butter there was a distinct aroma of B.O. and this comes through on the soap as well.
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