Eye Shadow -MAC - Bamboo
Breve 9/3/2010 8:13:00 PM
This is a very limited shadow for me. It's too light and orangey to use over my lid or as a highlight. How I use it, is as an in-between the highlight/brown bone and crease color. It's a good blending color. I generally only need to do this when I'm wearing a darker color on my lid. I find Bamboo works really well for this. For example, if I wear a dark color in my crease, I will put bamboo right above that, and a light, highlight color on my browbone and the colors have a nice graduation so your makeup looks more soft and professional :) Because I only use this a little bit at a time, I imagine it will take a long time to go through, so no repurchase. However this is a good shadow to have on hand for the purpose I mentioned. Btw I'm NC20.
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Ion - Anti-Frizz Solutions - Extreme Moisture Nurturing Creme
Breve 9/3/2010 8:04:00 PM
This is my favorite conditioner that I've tried so far. I like it better than some HE favorites on MUA. I even like it more than Kerastase's Masquintense which leaves my hair very smooth but also feeling very sticky. This stuff however is different. Not only is it super affordable and easy to find, it has a much nicer sent than Kerastase's (which smells like old lady perfume!). This smells like cherry/potpurri to me. It's a bit stronger than I would like but not enough to bother my sensitive nose. This conditioner is a thick cream that leaves my hair very glossy and soft but not weighed down. I have lots of fine, long, porous and a little frizzy hair and this doesn't weigh down my hair-(If it does, it does only a tiny bit- I haven't noticed it). My hair is very soft and touchable with this conditioner, whereas with some other heavy conditioners, it feels tacky and greasy and sticky. I don't have any leftover residue feeling when I use this conditioner. I used this after botching up and recoloring my hair several times over the past 2 weeks and my hair feels soft, silky and looks shiny after I use this conditioner. No roughness or dryness to be found. It's really an awesome moisturizing conditioner and I highly recommend trying it!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eye Shadow -MAC - Veluxe - Kid
Breve 8/22/2010 10:42:00 AM
This is a good crease color if you have warm undertones. I'm NC20 and it's great for adding a little definition to outerv/outer crease area. I like to wear it this way: All that Glitters on the lid, over Painterly p/p and Kid in the outer crease. The pinky gold looks nice with this flat brown color. I'm giving this 3 lippies because I agree, the color payoff is pretty bad. Also for some reason, this does not remind me of any other Veluxe Pearls I own. There is no shimmer. It really is more like the original Matte formulas from Mac. Very flat and a bit chalky- have to put a few layers for it to show up on your skin. However it does show up and stay put (at least over a primer). Unfortunately it also does not work for me as an all over lid color or all over crease color. It's a bit muddy looking- if I use too much, it brings out orangey bronzy undertones and looks icky on my skin. I like to wear neutral matte browns as all over the lid but this one didn't work for that so I'm a little disappointed. So for it's limited versatality, and overall boring-ness, I'm giving it 3 stars. I wouldn't buy again; I think there's cheaper alternatives to the limited options this shadow offers. However I am keeping it for now.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eye Shadow -MAC - Satin Taupe
Breve 8/15/2010 11:12:00 PM
Oh, sad, yet another much-loved Mac shadow that didn't work for me! It seems the less popular eyeshadows from Mac work so much better on me. I'm warm toned and this eyeshadow is VERY cool toned. It is taupe afterall, which is sort of a silvery brown color. Besides the tone mis-match, I really don't like how heavy this shadow looks on me. I can't make it work as a crease color, even blended a lot. The silver shimmer in it, combined with the cool-toned brown looks too heavy on my eyes. I also tried it with 10 million different eyeshadows to see if that was the problem. Nope, no matter what eyeshadow I used, it didn't work! That said, this eyeshadow has beautiful pigmentation and blends well. Just didn't work for me. It probably looks amazing on cool-toned girls who look good in silver!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eye Shadow -MAC - Shroom
Breve 8/13/2010 4:00:00 AM
I guess this is one of those shadows that works for you or doesn't. It didn't work for me. On my NC15-20 skin, it was a very chalky and beige/off white color. It didn't pop on my skin or give me any sheen, it just looked like I put some white chalk onto my skin! Literally fitting the definition of chalky. And the tone of it was totally wrong with my coloring. It made my skin look yellow. If you have any warm tendencies I'd try this one out at the store first. Naked Lunch works so much better for me.
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Eye Shadow -MAC - Wedge Eyeshadow
Breve 8/13/2010 3:54:00 AM
Well I was disappointed in this one. I love matte eyeshadows from Mac but so far the only ones I've owned have been the Matte squared. This was the first Matte shadow that I received in a swap and I'm highly disappointed with it. The texture and color payoff is awful! It is very chalky. I don't know if I got a bad shadow or that is just how the first Matte formulas are made, but it was not nice to work with. The color itself is a plain, neutral brown that would be great for an everyday shadow if not for the terrible chalky texture. I quickly swapped this one away.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lotions/ Creams -Vaseline - Aloe Cool & Fresh light body lotion
Breve 7/27/2010 8:13:00 PM
Dirt cheap, awesome smell *JUST like Bath and Body Work's Cucumber Melon* for those two things it gets 2 stars. BUT If you have sensitive skin like me I would not recommend this product. Maybe it's the fragrance in it that bothers my skin, I don't know. All I know is a few seconds after putting it on my skin starts to burn and tingle. I gave it to a family member with less sensitive skin than me. Good thing it was only $2.50!
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Lotions/ Creams -Cetaphil - Cetaphil Daily Advance Ultra Hydrating Lotion For Dry Sensitive Skin
Breve 7/27/2010 7:59:00 PM
This is an awesome BODY lotion. I see some reviewers put this on their face but it is clearly not a facial lotion...it doesn't say anywhere on the tube to use it on your face and face lotions never come in this big of a tube! ;) Anyway, I love using this creamy lotion on my legs after I get out of the shower. It takes all the dryness away. My favorite part though is that It instantly soothes the irritation that sometimes comes from shaving. It's unscented so it doesn't bother my sensitive eyes and nose.My skin is super sensitive too and any fragrance in lotion makes my skin burn. This lotion has never irritated me one bit! It's very creamy but doesn't leave a white streak like sunscreen does. It absorbs fairly quickly...just a few minutes of waiting before dressing and it won't rub off. Tip- Mixes great with tinted moisturizer! I personally like mixing it with my Tarte Smooth Operator tinted moisturizer. It makes the deathly pallor of my legs go away and so my legs match the the color of my arms ;)
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Toners -Unlisted Brand - Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar
Breve 7/15/2010 8:35:00 PM
I'm sure this product (any ACV) is good for something, I just don't know what that is. For skin- NOT GOOD! Yikes. If you have sensitive skin don't put any sort of strong acid on your face. Even diluted, with a tiny tiny tiny bit of this stuff on a cotton ball it made my face burn and get red and rashy. Never again! For health: As for a detox-drink: I was into all natural, raw eating for a Summer a few years ago and drunk this diluted and all it did was give me acid indigestion. I didn't lose any weight or get better digestion or better skin or hair or nails or any of that jazz. It seems like a hoax to me. For Hair: Irritated my scalp. After using this as a diluted rinse, in the shower before conditioning, my scalp was itchy. I tried it 5 or 6 different times and there was no difference in my hair after using it. Maybe my hair pH was already balanced so I didn't need it? I don't know but it did absolutely nothing for restoring bounciness or shine or volume or anything like other people advised it would. I just don't get it I guess!
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Lotions/ Creams -Unlisted Brand - EXTRA VIRGIN Coconut Oil (All brands)
Breve 7/15/2010 8:23:00 PM
Coconut oil is awesome! For HAIR: How you use it is dependent on your own hair type. I have a thick amount of hair, but it is fine in texture, and wavy (2c) and highlighted (so very dry at top). I also have a slightly dry scalp that gets itchy sometimes. Coconut oil does many things for my hair: - Leaves my hair stronger, shinier, and a little more moisturized. For my hair type, it actually works more as a fortifier and strengthener, than a conditioner. I use it before shampooing and conditioning. When I let my hair air dry, my hair is smooth, and super shiny! Without any product in it at all, it's amazing. The shine is a very natural, healthy sort of shine though, not like shampoo commercials, but it is noticeable. -As a smoother, frizz eliminator on frizzy bits at my crown- Only using not more than 2 finger tips worth of oil though! It's easy to get it greasy or crunchy if you put in too much. Only the tiniest bit of wetness on your fingertips will do the trick. - As a leave-in: I like to put a few fingertips worth of oil on my fingertips and run my hands through the undersides of my hair. - For defining layers: I rub my hair ends in between my fingers and lift up the layers to define them a bit. FOR SKIN: This is one of my favorite ways to use it, but unfortunately you have to use up quite a bit of it so it gets expensive. Mix some brown sugar with coconut oil in a jar and use it as a body scrub and foot scrub in the shower! It's very messy though and the oil soaks up the sugar fast, so only make a little bit at a time. It leaves my skin moisturized and soft and glowing. It's like a daily spa treatment :) This scrub also works as a shave protectant! I've used it instead of shaving cream and my skin has that oil barrier on it from the coconut so i've been able to shave without that stinky shaving cream. As a food, I personally don't use it. I tried it on toast, and it's okay, but I personally don't care for it. VIRGIN VS. NOT? I first bought coconut oil from NOW foods- it was a deoderized, natural processed coconut oil (NOT extra virgin, unrefined). However I used up the whole tub and the next time I bought coconut oil (a few weeks ago) I bought another one from Whole Foods that says it's raw, extra virgin, unrefined, etc. The only differences I could find were: The extra virgin is whiter and it has a very faint coconut smell. As for working on your hair, BOTH worked exactly the same on my hair type. So if it's cheaper to get the un-virgin coconut oil, I would recommend getting it (if you're just using it for your hair that is). For me, both worked exactly the same. This may have been though because the un-virgin one I tried was extracted in a good way so it was the same quality as the virgin? Not sure.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Conditioner -Terax - Crema
Breve 7/15/2010 7:56:00 PM
I'm only giving this 3 stars because though it's not a BAD conditioner, it's not a particularly special one either. I have a lot of hair but it's fine, dry, wavy, and highlighted. This one had lots of good reviews from people with fine hair and curly hair so I figured it wouldn't hurt getting the $9 2 oz. tube at ULTA. I used this a handful of times, and didn't find it did anything special for my hair. The good news, is that it didn't weigh down my hair at all. It did a good job conditioning it but it didn't leave my hair feeling amazing or anything. The only good thing I can think of that beats a cheapy Suave conditioner is that I feel that it penetrates your hair shaft better than my Suave conditioner does. However, once my hair is dried, my hair doesn't look ANY different when I use this conditioner or use a $1 drugstore conditioner. So I think it's way overpriced and am not that impressed, though if it was cheap, I would buy it again since it does the job, just nothing more. If I was grading it, I would give it a C+ ;) Also, as for the smell, I have a VERY sensitive nose and eyes,and the smell isn't very strong at all. It does have a smell but only if you put your nose right up to it! Just my opinion anyway, I was really nervous about the smell before buying this because of other reviews, but it didn't bother me at all. Maybe some people got old stock?
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Styling Products -Phyto - Phytodefrisant
Breve 7/15/2010 7:48:00 PM
I was disappointed with this product. It's pretty much just a light, botanical gel. It leaves your hair sticking together/hardened like a gel does- it does smooth your hair down a bit, but nothing more than a cheap gel could do. I didn't notice my hair in any better condition or shininess using this product either. I was hoping this would smooth down my frizzy hair and make it smooth and shiny... It didn't keep my frizz away at all, which is what the product was SUPPOSED to do so it was an epic FAIL.
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Treatments -Phyto - Phyto 7
Breve 7/15/2010 7:42:00 PM
This did absolutely nothing to my dry, fine hair. I saw no difference or felt any difference in my hair after using it for a week. My hair didn't look healthier, feel softer or more conditioned, or stronger or shinier or anything...completely useless! Plus it kind've smelled bad. Like vegetable oil or something.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Masks -Unlisted Brand - Yogurt Mask
Breve 7/14/2010 8:13:00 PM
I love using yogurt as a face mask! I use a plain, full fat yogurt from Whole Foods...a big tub of their brand yogurt was less than $2. They also sell plain yogurt in tubs at Target I know, in the grocery section, so it's pretty easy to find if you have a Target near you. So for me, yogurt is awesome. My skin tends to get red, and I have dry cheeks that will cause breakouts, I guess from my skin being so dry there? Definitely not from oil. But anyway, I like using yogurt as a mask because it cools my skin down tremendously, feels amazing, very soothing and leaves my skin even in tone and the lactic acid in it eats up the dry skin! It's just awesome. I've tried putting honey in the yogurt a few different times, but found that my skin would start to tingle, itch, burn...and left my cheeks a bit red after rinsing off. I've also had this problem using avocado on my face (except even more so with the avocado). SO I think if you have sensitive skin like me, humectants aren't such a great thing to mix with the yogurt. However, I've had no problems whatsoever just using the yogurt plain by itself. If you get the full fat yogurt, it will stick to your face pretty well- no drippiness! Just be sure it's patted down with your hand so nothing's hanging off and it shouldn't drip. It may sound funny but I even applied my yogurt mask to my face this morning before working out to a workout dvd and it stayed on fine! I only do a light 20 minute workout in the morning so not sweating very much, but the yogurt stayed put. I did wait about 5 minutes before starting so the yogurt had time to dry a bit. I'm sure I looked ridiculous but when I was done, and rinsed off my face, my skin was calm, even and a bit glowy! I love you yogurt mask...
15 out of 15 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Styling Products -Nick Chavez - Amazon Infinity Mist
Breve 6/26/2010 12:13:00 AM
I'm changing my original review for this product. I actually do like the smell- sort of a beachy smell with a light citrus or flowery scent- hard to explain. It's very nice. And even though the product is $20, it comes in a pretty large spray bottle that disperses a fine mist so you can spray a ton of it at a time and it will take you forever to go through the bottle, so I think the price is fair for how much you use up at a time. However there are some cons to this- I got it for both heat protection and volumizing- but this did not give me any heat protection. I still had lots of frizz at my hairline and crown when I used this product and blow dried. I tried using it twice without blow drying, and it was completely ineffective. I didn't get any volume at all. It seems to be activated by heat but it doesn't protect you against frizzies. You have to spray a lot of it through your hair and really rub it in to get volume. I've tried not touching it and just lifting up sections of hair at a time and spraying all over but it didn't seem to do anything to my hair when I blow dried this way. It seems it has to be rubbed in to your scalp and the hair shaft to work, otherwise it'll just sit on top and be a little sticky. It also is very drying on your hair. No fun. So, I'm giving it 3 stars because it's great for blowdrying your hair straight if you really rub it in first when you're hair's wet; it gives you a good deal of volume. I also really like the scent of it and the spray bottle applicator is just really awesome- no worries about getting spray in your eyes or on your face, it's very easy to control and put in as much as you want. It also has good ingredients- not too many chemicals. However it doesn't combat frizziness so you'll have to use a heat protector as well and perhaps a leave-in moisturizer to combat the dryness this product gives. Overall it's not a very versatile product for me so I wouldn't buy it again.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No