Moisturizers -Olay - Olay Complete Ageless Skin Renewing UV Lotion SPF 20
Enkida 7/24/2012 7:39:00 AM
I have mixed feelings about this product. As a daily face moisturizer with reasonable SPF from a drug store, I'm not sure I could do much better than this product. I've been using it for about 4 (summer) months now and with daily outdoor dog walks of 1-2 hours at a time, I haven't noticed my face getting tanned as it usually does in the summertime; in fact I had to switch up foundations recently because my springtime incidental tan from outdoor activities was fading. So as a sunblock, it gets full marks for protection. It doesn't irritate my skin, and it doesn't have that over-obvious sunblock smell that a dedicated sunblock product usually does (though it isn't fragrance free, which is a minus in my book). As a moisturizer, I suppose it's okay. Parts of my skin are a little drier than usual due to my pregnancy, and this helps keep them moisturized, but it also doesn't clog up my oily T-zone. I haven't noticed any pimples or, more problematic for me, blackheads developing with the use of this product, which is a huge plus. On the other hand, for a moisturizer it feels very heavy and sticky going on; if I didn't care about SPF protection I am absolutely sure I could do better at the drugstore. The packaging is fantastic, in that I love opaque bottles that protect potentially light sensitive products, and I love pumps because they're hygenic and easy to use. I have had no clogging problems with the pump at all, and I use this daily. The reason I don't give this full marks is because of the finish it leaves on my skin. As stated above, it feels a little sticky and heavy going on, less than sunblock but more than moisturizer - and the result is a slightly whitish cast to my medium-tan face, and a general glistening look as though I have been sweating. Not a dewy or sparkly or otherwise well moisturized look, just a plain old sweat-shine-without-the-redness-of-exertion look. I generally let it sit on my face for ten minutes to half an hour before applying anything else to ensure the effectivity of the sunblock, and while the sticky, heavy feeling and whitish cast does fade with time, the shine simply does not. Without at the very least a face powder to dust over this, it would be unwearable for me - I'd look like I was constantly sweating. The good news is that as a base under makeup it works well - the shine doesn't pop through either my mineral powder or my water-based liquid foundation, and the "stickiness" fades with either time or whatever you might layer on top of your moisturizer. Still, it's annoying to me that you can't simply slap this on and go, if you're not interested in wearing makeup. As a side note, I wouldn't recommend using this as a mix with any kind of concealer or foundation or whatnot before application - you're paying the relatively high drugstore price here for the sunblock in this product, not the moisturizer. Mixing any kind of sunblock with any kind of other product before you apply it to your skin (as well as not letting it absorb properly into your skin) generally reduces its effectiveness and protection, so it would be like throwing that extra money out the window. I will finish what I have, and since I wear makeup daily, I'm not displeased with this product, but I wouldn't buy it again unless I had no other alternatives. It's an excellent sunblock, a mediocre but acceptable moisturizer, and a great choice for makeup wearers but a terrible choice for those who want to go makeup-free.
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Eye Shadow -Cover Girl - Eye Enhancers Quad (all shades)
Enkida 7/23/2012 8:18:00 AM
Palette tested: "Dynamite Drama" (Burgundy, gold, pea green, beige). They look nice in the package, but they're chalky, poorly pigmented, the packaging is cheap and the applicator is useless. Also, no staying power or color intensity even with a primer. In my own pack, I could only get the burgundy color to show up without hurting my eyelids while packing it on, and even then the result was underwhelming. If you're going to get a cheap drugstore pressed eyeshadow, go with Wet n Wild. They're cheaper and better quality in every way possible, except for perhaps the packaging (equally bad).
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Lip Treatments -Neutrogena - Revitalizing lip balm
Enkida 7/22/2012 1:37:00 PM
I own this in "Petal Glow" and "Soft Caramel." How much you like this product depends on what you need it for. As a moisturizing lip balm, it's right up there with every other well known top notch brand of lip treatments. It has a creamy texture, it keeps the lips soft and moisturized, it heals damaged and chapped lips, plus it has SPF for further protection to boot. If you need to throw on something to treat overly dry lips and don't have time or desire for gloss or lipstick, it comes in a variety of nice, subtle gloss-like colors to choose from (when you can find them in your drugstore, that is!) for an added effect. Full marks as a lip treatment! As a lip gloss, however, I personally find it falls a little short. While it does last for a while, the colors are very transparent, whereas the shimmer (at least in the colors I own) is not. The result is basically a very frosted lip look, tending towards either pinkish or brownish undertones. This is fine if you like the frosted look, but if you're more of a matte, glossy or natural looking finish fan, you might be dissatisfied with the visual result on your lips. Perhaps other colors might not be so shimmery, but I felt good enough to stop with two, personally. The lightweight oval shape of the packaging is a little weird and takes getting used to, but isn't really a big enough encumberance for me to rate the product down. Plus, it makes it more convenient for slipping into pockets or not rolling off countertops if you're on the go. ;-) Overall I would purchase again if I ran out, just for the treatment properties alone. The color is a nice touch, but I would definitely try to search out something darker and less shimmery from their lineup in the future.
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Pressed Powders -Revlon - PhotoReady Powder
Enkida 7/22/2012 1:17:00 PM
This reciew is for the "Translucent" (silver case) variety of powder. First of all, my skin tone is a "30" in Dior Hydarating Nude Foundation; that's a medium tan with warm yellow undertones. I find like many other reviewers that this powder does tend to make my skin appear lighter than it really is, though apparently not as dramatically as paler reviewers here. That did not bother me overly much, as I had been using a foundation with this that I purchased while more tanned, and I found it evened out the too dark foundation tone nicely. Still, if you are looking for a "translucent" powder, this is not it. The formulation is chalky, and the packaging is crap. You really need your own soft kabuki or powder brush to put this on properly, the packaged brush is completely worthless. I had been misusing this as a setting powder, and it worked just fine in that regard, but in reality this is a finishing powder - like a cheap version of Guerlein Meteorites, or a comparison to Physician's Formula Pearls of Perfection, etc. It is not a foundation powder, not a setting powder, and not an oil absorbing powder. It's supposed to give you an illuminated look, otherwise known as "dewy" on the youthful, or "youthful" on the older. ;-) In all of these cases it is really important to have a good powder brush to apply properly, and to use a very light touch when putting it on as a last step powder over all your other "stuff." A lot of people complain about the sparkles; I really didn't notice a sparkle overkill going on, though it is definitely not a matte powder (and doesn't advertise itself as such). My one complaint about the shimmer - and I would call it shimmer rather than glitter or sparkle - is that the particles that are there could have been more finely milled. But I don't find the highlighting effect excessive at all, compared to the powder's much more obvious shortcomings: non transparency and chalky texture. I think if you find the sparkle in this product overwhelming, you may be putting it on too thickly. These days for a transparent setting powder I have moved on to better things, but I would still keep this around for when I start losing my summer tan and don't want to switch up foundations. Not worth repurchasing, though - at this drugstore price, I would expect a better texture and packaging.
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Pressed Powders -Revlon - PhotoReady Powder - Translucent
Enkida 7/22/2012 1:07:00 PM
First of all, my skin tone is a "30" in Dior Hydarating Nude Foundation; that's a medium tan with warm yellow undertones. I find like many other reviewers that this powder does tend to make my skin appear lighter than it really is, though apparently not as dramatically as paler reviewers here. That did not bother me overly much, as I had been using a foundation with this that I purchased while more tanned, and I found it evened out the too dark foundation tone nicely. Still, if you are looking for a "translucent" powder, this is not it. The formulation is chalky, and the packaging is crap. You really need your own soft kabuki or powder brush to put this on properly, the packaged brush is completely worthless. I had been misusing this as a setting powder, and it worked just fine in that regard, but in reality this is a finishing powder - like a cheap version of Guerlein Meteorites, or a comparison to Physician's Formula Pearls of Perfection, etc. It is not a foundation powder, not a setting powder, and not an oil absorbing powder. It's supposed to give you an illuminated look, otherwise known as "dewy" on the youthful, or "youthful" on the older. ;-) In all of these cases it is really important to have a good powder brush to apply properly, and to use a very light touch when putting it on as a last step powder over all your other "stuff." A lot of people complain about the sparkles; I really didn't notice a sparkle overkill going on, though it is definitely not a matte powder (and doesn't advertise itself as such). My one complaint about the shimmer - and I would call it shimmer rather than glitter or sparkle - is that the particles that are there could have been more finely milled. But I don't find the highlighting effect excessive at all, compared to the powder's much more obvious shortcomings: non transparency and chalky texture. I think if you find the sparkle in this product overwhelming, you may be putting it on too thickly. These days for a transparent setting powder I have moved on to better things, but I would still keep this around for when I start losing my summer tan and don't want to switch up foundations. Not worth repurchasing, though - at this drugstore price, I would expect a better texture and packaging.
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Brows -Max Factor - Eyebrow Pencil
Enkida 7/15/2012 3:35:00 PM
EDIT: took down a lip because after getting feedback from friends, family and MUA boarders, I decided that the taupe shade was, indeed, still too warm for my black eyebrows. Not a bad pencil, but my asian brows will have to keep on searching. Max Factor products aren't sold in the US anymore, but it is still found in Germany (where I live). I bought the eyebrow pencil in "Greybrown" - their taupe color, I suppose meant for blondes - during a drugstore sale with a 30% discount. This meant the price of the pencil was well within the affordable range, in keeping with other similar drugstore products. Normaly priced, however, I think it goes for around 4 euros or so, which is a bit stiff for a mere eyebrow pencil. The consistency is a little hard and waxy, which is fine for using on the eyebrows as you wouldn't want it to be too smushy going on anyway. The good part about this pencil is the color - I have black hair and eyebrows, and ashy taupes free of any red undertones are the colors I need to make a "natural" looking eyebrow. Blacks make me look like a carnival clown, and reddish-browns show up unnaturally brightly as well. Most drugstore companies in Germany don't produce a red-free taupe that suits my skin and hair type, and Max Factor was the only one I could find that came close enough without being too overtly warm-toned. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done without having to shell out ridiculous amounts of money for what it actually is. I would buy it again if I really needed to, but I would also hold out for a sale price to make it affordable, since it isn't perfect.
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Mascara -New York Color - Sky Rise Lengthening Mascara
Enkida 7/15/2012 3:25:00 PM
General information about my eyes: warm-toned darker skin with inwardly-folded semi-mono asian eyelids. First of all, my lashes are pretty long, and I have black hair, so I don't find myself needing to use mascara all that often. As a casual user, I am completely satisfied with this mascara, especially at the price. I suspect it won't really satisfy someone who uses mascara daily, however, and was really looking to lengthen their eyelashes significantly. The best part about this product is the price. The black is, for what I can tell on black lashes, opaque, and does a nice job of defining my lashes. It also doesn't dry out very quickly if you don't pump the wand in the bottle, so the product can last you for a while. What it doesn't do well is hold a curl on my relatively straight and stubborn lashes. It also doesn't seem to lengthen them significantly. Also, the brush that comes with the product isn't very good at separating the lashes; I always go over them with my personal lash brush after putting on the mascara, to prevent an overly artificial "spider legs" look. If you're going for a natural look and you have your own lash brush - which is a good cheap investment anyway - this is a fine, satisfying "generic" mascara of good quality for the price. It doesn't do what it advertises, though, and if you want a dramatic look, you'd probably be better off using a more expensive product.
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Eyeliner -E.L.F. - Waterproof Eyeliner Pen
Enkida 7/15/2012 3:10:00 PM
General information about my eyes: warm-toned darker skin with inwardly-folded semi-mono asian eyelids. I bought this pen in black because (I thought - maybe I got the wrong product) it got a good review from Beautypedia and at $1 it was dirt cheap. I got what I paid for; perhaps with $2 it would have covered both eyes. The product itself is not bad, the black is rich and covers well - when you can get anything out of the pen. Usually the flow of color petered out right after I finished one eye, leaving me with nothing a light greyish smudge on the other. No amount of storing head-down or shaking would solve this problem until at least a couple of hours had passed. On top of that, the felt tip of the pen, which was very precise and useful at first, unravelled very quickly. This may have been in part due to my frustrated efforts to use the dried out pen tip on my second eye after the liquid pigment had already dried out. I want to add here that I am not a heavy makeup user, nor was I making wingtips or cat eyes or anything else dramatic. I am relatively tan and can get away with using black eyeliner lightly for a natural eye look, which is what I was going for with this pen. And again, with what product I could get out of the pen, I was relatively satisfied with. While it is waterproof, I found that on my normal-to-dry eyelids it did significantly fade fairly quickly. I always use a primer (TFSI) before putting on any eye makeup, so I can only assume that without the primer, the lifespan of this eyeliner would have been even shorter than the 4 or less hours it did actually last. For a short-term look, or if you have the time to reapply frequently, this eyeliner is okay - so long as you buy two pens, one for each eye. At $2 it won't break the bank, either. But as someone who has neither the time nor patience to reapply eyeliner mid-day, however, and since having upgraded to higher end drugstore brands, I won't be looking back at this one, not unless they significantly improve the packaging.
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