Liquid -Becca - Luminous Skin Color sheer foundation
anniele 4/3/2006 4:39:00 PM
I reeeeeally wanted Becca to work for me, so much so that even after I went through my samples and discovered that it was just not good for my oily skin, I STILL wanted to buy a bottle - that is how inexplicable the pull of Becca products is! The colors are a great match, and I loved the sheer, light texture of the foundation, but in the end it was just so shiny on me. Laura Mercier's TM, which has a thicker texture than Becca, looks MUCH less shiny on me. I tried to combat Becca's shininess with powder, but I had to use a LOT of powder to get rid of the shine. I'm sure this product would be a godsend to people with normal/dry skin, but it just was not for me :( Also, the pump is incredibly annoying. It always pumps out WAY more foundation than is necessary and I had to spend a lot of time caaaaaaarefully squeezing out the tiiiiiiiniest pump each time. I suppose it doesn't matter, though, since I found my HG in Make Up For Ever's Face and Body foundation - read my review on that if you shiny ladies out there want a mattifying foundation that still makes you look like you GLOW!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -L'Oreal - Blush Delice in Sugar Plum
anniele 4/3/2006 4:25:00 PM
I LOVE this blush! Gorgeous, plummy pink shade with tiny shimmers that aren't overwhelming. I adore the fruity smell of this blush too! I introduced some friends to it, and they all love it as well. This would look good on any skin tone, I think. I'm naturally tan (NC 35-40) and this looks great on my cheeks. The packaging is cute, but kind of flimsy, as the top broke off and I still can't figure out how. However, as great as this blush is, I have no idea why it's so expensive for a drugstore brand - everywhere I go, it is at LEAST $9, and it's not like there is a HUGE amount of powder for the money. The blush is fairly small and lasts a decent amount of time, but not long enough to warrant a drugstore price tag that is almost $10.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Pressed Powders -Clean & Clear - Blue powder
anniele 4/3/2006 1:54:00 AM
What a load of crap. It did nothing but sit on my face and make itself known to the world. Weird and useless.
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Liquid -Make Up For Ever - Face & Body Foundation 
anniele 4/3/2006 12:35:00 AM
ohhhhhh my gooooosh. I love this product SO MUCH! The only thing I DON'T love about it is the packaging. The plump glass bottle is heavy and clumsy and I hate how wide the mouth is - I always pour out much more than I need, and I hate the fact that air, the enemy of any foundation, gets in every time I open the bottle. I would greatly prefer some sort of pump, since it's too watery to put into a tube. Other than the packaging, this is a perfect, perfect foundation. I believe it's 80% water, and feels so airy and gel-like when I put it on my face! It gives amazing coverage, because it's buildable, and it's incapable of looking fake or cakey. I used Laura Mercier TM for years, and have raved about it for years, but this blows LM TM out of the water if you have oily skin (which I do). It is a breeze to blend, and doesn't look like I have foundation on AT ALL. The problem with Laura Mercier was that, while it gave great, natural looking coverage, I could always FEEL it on my skin. With MUFE, I can put this on, and when it dries and I touch my face, it feels like I'm just touching my bare skin. Also, with LM, I always needed powder to stave off shine and oiliness, but with MUFE I really feel that powder isn't necessary. I still use powder to give myself a more finished look, but I like the fact that MUFE allows my face to stand alone without it. The only other problem, besides the packaging, is that the colors are so deceiving! I tried about four different samples before I finally found the color that matched best, and the color that matches best looks like it should be way too dark for me! The samples that I tried that looked like they should have been perfect matches always showed up too light! I guess you should just keep in mind that when the foundation dries, it's several shades lighter than it is when it's wet. Very strange, but since I've found my color, I'm not complaining.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Neutrogena - Deep Clean Invigorating Cleanser-Mask
anniele 4/2/2006 11:59:00 PM
eeeek. This cleanser/mask felt AWFUL! It lathered nicely and I love the fresh smell of this, but my face felt like it had this hideous film on it after I cleansed. I used it two or three times and just never felt comfortable with it on my face. On the bright side, it didn't have any adverse effects on my skin, but using it just gave me the heebie jeebies. Will not repurchase.
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Hair Styling Tools -Conair - Ceramic Smooth Hair Dryer
anniele 3/19/2006 12:05:00 AM
Wow - I had always thought that hairdryers were interchangeable, and that which hairdryer you use can't possibly make a difference when you style your hair. I was completely wrong!!! My other hair dryer had broken the day before, and I bought this hair dryer in a hurry because I was running late meeting up with some friends, but I HAD to take a shower and wash my hair. Usually, when I wash my hair, I towel dry for at least thirty minutes before putting the blowdryer to it, otherwise it will take me almost half an hour just to get it dry, and if I do blowdry it while it's soaking wet, it always ends up kind of coarse. However, I was seriously pressed for time so I just turned it on the minute I got out of the shower. What happened in the next five minutes completely stunned me. Not only was my hair completely dry in the five minutes that I mentioned, but it was INCREDIBLY soft, shiny, and silky to boot!!! And when I finally arrived to meet my friends, the FIRST thing they said was how great my hair looked! If that isn't confirmation that this hairdryer is a miracle worker, then I don't know what is. And the best part - it was less than $20! I raved about it to my roommate and when she tried it out, she was so amazed by how her hair felt and looked that she went out immediately and bought one of her own! I LOVE this hairdryer!!!
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Loose Powders -Laura Mercier - translucent loose powder
anniele 12/30/2005 1:06:00 PM
In terms of controlling oil it does a very average job, but my main beef is with the COLOR! Being a translucent powder, it's not supposed to have color, but this definitely changes the color of my face/makeup after I dust it on over my tinted moisturizer. My skin looks flat and pale, even though I'm naturally pretty tan (about NC 35 or 40 during the summer). I tried dusting it on without any makeup on at all and when I looked in the mirror I almost jumped with fright because I looked like a ghost! And I do NOT put a lot of this stuff on, just a light dusting. Also, it doesn't seem to be as finely milled as other powders I've seen, like MUFE or Becca. All in all, I'm sure there are better loose powders out there at a better price.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments (Eye) -Dove - Fresh Radiance Anti-aging eye cream
anniele 12/26/2005 2:56:00 AM
This was disgusting, period. I don't know if it just took too long to sink in, but it never felt like it did. The WORST part of this eye cream is that it's filled to the brim with iridescent pink sparkles. I put this on in the morning and in the afternoon I looked at myself in the mirror and actually PHYSICALLY recoiled in fright because there were little pink sparkles ALL OVER MY CHEEKS. I love Dove skincare, but this was a HUGE disappointment.
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Toners -Dove - Essential Nutrients Clarifying Toner
anniele 12/26/2005 2:40:00 AM
I wrote a review earlier, but I wanted to mention that I was browsing the Paula's Choice website and came across her list of what drugstore brands are the best in each beauty category, and this toner was listed as her one and only choice for ideal drugstore toners! go to www.paulaschoice.com to find it! I forget where exactly it is, but I know it has to be downloaded in a Word document.
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Eye Shadow -BeneFit Cosmetics - Show Offs (all shades) [DISCONTINUED]
anniele 12/16/2004 4:13:00 AM
I was poking around Sephora and experimenting with different shades, and I had just put a nice matte turquoise/aqua color on my eyelids and smudged the corners with black shadow. It looked nice, but I felt that it was missing something. Then, I wandered by the Benefit counter and these adorable little pots of shimmery powder caught my eye. I picked up Mint Julep, a gorgeous green-gold shimmer, dotted it on my eyelids and voila!!! It set off the eyeshadow beautifully and muted the color at the same time (in a good way - the turquoise was pretty, but a little harshly pigmented). I was thrilled with the effect, and three different people came up to me and asked me what I had put on my eyes! I even overheard a lady telling one of the makeup artists that she wanted to get her eyes done like mine, and I didn't even know what I was doing! (Sadly, I'm not exactly proficient at eyeshadow application) - these shimmer powders are fantastic. They are foolproof to apply, you basically can't go wrong when you put it on and it stays on all night! I used it at a formal and what with the dancing and the humidity of the room I expected it to be gone by the end of the night, but when I looked in a mirror it looked exactly the same as it did when I first put it on! I love this and can't wait to try other colors.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Basis - Sensitive Skin Bar
anniele 3/9/2003 4:09:00 AM
This was horrible! I tried both the sensitive skin bar and the other bar (not sure what formula it is, but it was clear instead of white and had tea tree extract in it) and they were both disappointments - they both left a weird, oily film on my skin, and they didn't glide smoothly on when I massaged the cleanser into my face. I would advise anyone wanting to try a bar cleanser to go with Aveeno oatmeal cleansing bars which lather wonderfully and always leave my skin feeling soft and smooth.
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