Lipstick -Revlon - Super Lustrous in Sandstorm
youdroppedabalmonme 3/1/2009 12:51:00 AM
One of the prettiest lipsticks I own- it's just perfect for PPP redhead me, with or without other makeup. A warm, cinnamony, medium rose-brown perle. Not as "flat" and brown as the display color swatch would suggest. There's enough pink to this that it warms my complexion, instead of deadening it like some bronze/brown shades can do if they have too much yellow or gray in them. It's like sunset on your lips. Really, really lovely.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Thierry Mugler - Angel
youdroppedabalmonme 2/25/2009 11:17:00 PM
I would never pay the outrageous full price for this, but my mom had a half-bottle of EDP left over that she gave me. It's... okay. Starts off with a weird sour-fruit note, like canned peaches, and quickly mellows to an interesting vanilla-caramel-patchouli thing, like a hippie roasting marshmallows. The juxtaposition of gourmand and patchouli notes is, I think, what gives Angel its cult following (and virulent haters). For my tastes, if I want a sexy vanilla-ish Oriental, I pick Shalimar or Obsession. They work better on me. How they get away with the ridunkulous pricing is beyond me-- it's not HG material for me, for sure. I actually find it rather simplistic. Parfums de Coeur just came out with a line of "sexy" body sprays and the "Va Va Voom" one smells just like Angel, for $6.95 @ Walgreens.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Philosophy - Fragrances--All
youdroppedabalmonme 2/25/2009 7:31:00 PM
**First, a purchasing tip if you like Philosophy** You definitely want to go on qvc.com or eBay to purchase Philosophy products, NOT retail stores. My mom is a Philosophy junkie and she gets ridiculously huge bottles (32 oz. shower gels, 1 oz. pure perfume oils) of the fragrance items for about half what Sephora, etc. charge. OK, now on to the fragrances themselves. To me they are a pointless, 5-second experience that you could easily get by washing yourself with Dove or Caress. And that's with the concentrated oil versions, which are greasy and stain clothes while leaving behind almost no scent. The "fragrance spray" versions are a total joke- like weakly perfumed water. And Falling in Love is the only Philosophy scent I can smell *at all*. All the "graces" just smell faintly of oxygen with a tiny whiff of fabric softener. For $40 a bottle, this is such a ripoff. They market the scents to folks who don't like traditional perfumes, but my feeling is why spend the money on a soapy/clean perfume that doesn't last worth a hill of beans, when you could just bathe with soap?
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Guerlain - Shalimar
youdroppedabalmonme 2/23/2009 9:28:00 AM
Shalimar is THE first and definitive Oriental frag, having blazed onto the perfume scene in the 1920s (along with Chanel No 5, the first aldehyde). Like C No 5, Shalimar remains distinctive and timeless--instantly recognizable, totally unique. It is a delicious study of contrasts: fresh lemon and bergamot with seductive vanilla; animalic opoponax (Obsession has this note too) with soft powdery iris. I took off 1 lippie because, on me, it is a bit TOO sweet; the vanilla dominates more than I'd like. I don't wear it often, for that reason, but I do appreciate the composition. If you like Angel, Obsession, Opium, Cinnabar, or any of the modern gourmand scents (Lavanila, etc)-- give Shalimar a try. It is actually the softest of the Oriental scents and is quite approachable, but never dull!
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Gloss -Sally Hansen - Comfort Shine Lip Glaze - Fresh Strawberry
youdroppedabalmonme 2/21/2009 9:49:00 PM
There's a reason these didn't sell-- the packaging is cute but doesn't work! I just pulled out the applicator device completely, as it's easier for me to just stick my finger in the stuff than deal with a teeny-tiny toothpick applicator. The actual product is "meh." Has a cheap artificial fruit scent; almost no tint; and the gloss makes my lips slightly numb (which I've noticed with other SH products, and which I find worrisome). On the plus side, it is very thick and moisturizing and glossy, and stays on a long time. But then there is that creepy numbing effect, like Sally Hansen is trying to keep me from speaking out against her products :^)
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Lipstick -Revlon - Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pinkerbelle 453
youdroppedabalmonme 2/21/2009 9:45:00 PM
This was on clearance at my local Walgreens, so I wonder if Revlon is discontinuing the shade. Too bad, it's a cute one! A very cool-toned, vivid purple-pink, the color of a tropical flower. Not the best, actually, for a warm-toned redhead, but I make it work by blotting and adding gloss. It's really a fun, spunky shade for fair- and light-skinned women (I think it would be too pale and garish for darker complexions). The Super Lustrous formula is great, as always.
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Gels/Soaps -VitaBath - Spring Green Shower Gel
youdroppedabalmonme 2/20/2009 8:46:00 PM
Ahhhh, such memories for me with this stuff. It was all the rage in the '80s, right when shower gels and sponge poufs were revolutionizing personal hygiene and giving bar soap a run for its money. I've always liked the original scent the best. It is a true fougere (fern/green) fragrance: it smells like forest pine and fresh-cut leaves. Rather like a fancier version of Irish Spring. The label says it has a "hint of musk," which I don't catch at all. I like the scent a lot and use the matching lotion when I use the bath gel. Those two alone give all-day freshness. I'm not always into a more unisex "clean/green" scent, but sometimes it's just right. (I work in a funky old building and smelling like expensive spa salts can come in very handy!) Vitabath is expensive- a 10-ounce bottle goes for $18. But that can be a little misleading, because it is super-concentrated and just a few drops produces mounds of bubbles and fragrance. (Ironically, this stuff is marketed in Germany under the brand name "Badedas" and is as cheap and ubiquitous as Olay Body Wash is for us!)
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Treatments -Burt's Bees - Beeswax Lip Balm
youdroppedabalmonme 2/20/2009 8:36:00 PM
I've really, really tried to like this product. I've tried it in the tube and in the yellow tin-- the tube is slightly firmer in texture, but both are exceedingly waxy to me. This is like putting melted candles on my lips. There is little emollience; it just feels like I have the same old chapped lips, but sealed under a white wax coating. I feel like I have to reapply every 15 minutes! I do think BB's lip balm has cult status because it was the first mass-marketed "all natural" lip balm. But there are so many better ones, IMO. To me there's just no reason to buy a lip balm that doesn't moisturize at all. I far prefer Carmex, Blistex DCT, Aquaphor, or Sally Hansen products-- if you're stuck on "all natural," try Lansinoh lanolin or Weleda Everon. That is, if you're like me and enjoy a soft, creamy, moist-textured balm instead of a tube of wax!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lipstick -Cover Girl - Continuous Color Lip Stick [DISCONTINUED]
youdroppedabalmonme 2/15/2009 11:33:00 PM
Ugh, I've really tried over the years with this product, because I like the formula a lot. It doesn't bleed, holds the lipline perfectly without lip pencil, feels smooth on the lips, and is insanely pigmented. It's fragrance-free and the substantial, royal-blue packaging is several steps above many drugstore brands (hello, Maybelline!). The deal-breaker, for me, is the shade selection. It is abysmal. I have probably purchased 15 different shades of Continuous Color over the years, hoping to find one that works on my pale, warm-toned complexion. I've tried "warm," "cool," and "neutral" shades. While they all looked OK in the package, once applied they morphed. Several different rose/peach shades all turned the same cheap fuchsia-pink once applied, and left a stain for hours. I mean, seriously, the "It's Your Mauve" is labeled "neutral," and looks like a nice peachy YLBB but turns neon blue- pink on the lips! The darker reds all turned bright magenta. The colors look very different in the tubes, but deep within each one beats the same ugly fuchsia heart.The seemingly lighter, more neutral shades went on with a metallic uber-pale frost last fashionable in 1967. And I finally had to come to the conclusion that as great as these lipsticks are in theory, when applied they look cheap and unflattering. Which led me to conclude that if they look cheap, they ARE cheap. There is no excuse for lipsticks that change color and have such a limited range of shades (basically, they're all pink, red, or white frost). Bye bye, CG.
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Lipstick -Cover Girl - Bronzed peach
youdroppedabalmonme 2/12/2009 11:36:00 PM
I agree with the last reviewer, this is extremely pale and frosty. Ewwww. I have "warm" coloring-- theoretically this shade should work-- but it just makes me look like I died (and was made up by a mortician from the late '60s). Thank God I only paid $2 for it, on a whim.
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Fragrances -Revlon - Norell
youdroppedabalmonme 2/12/2009 10:37:00 PM
A true classic, instantly recognizable. The quintessential soapy, bright "green floral"-- if you like Ivoire or Chanel No 19 or Charlie, you might like Norell. It has real presence, and has a slightly sharp/smoky edge if overapplied. I have a vintage bottle of the cologne spray and even in that strength, Norell is best used with a light hand! **Please note** to really appreciate this scent you need to find a vintage bottle on eBay (they're cheap). You can tell the original version because the letters on the bottle go down vertically, not across. The "remake" by 5 Star Perfumes has the letters going across and it is a PALE imitation IMO. It smells soft and inoffensive, like hand cream, and for that price you may as well buy hand cream. But the original Norell is a real masterpiece.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Estee Lauder - Cinnabar
youdroppedabalmonme 2/11/2009 6:30:00 PM
This is my Opium, since Opium smells like silkened spice in the bottle but takes on a rotten, fecal aspect on my skin. Cinnabar has that same heady, spicy, slightly cola-like Oriental feel (NOT "floriental"-- it's pure spice) and works better on me. It is like Youth-Dew minus the wacked-out aldehydes, and as much as I get in a Youth-Dew mood every once in a winter's while, Cinnabar is more straightforward and smells better on me than YD. I took off one lippie because the jasmine in this scent has a tendency to turn a little "poopy" smelling on me if I overapply. It's like a mini-version of what Opium does on my skin, but bearable. The overall effect, when I apply Cinnabar correctly (spray onto a cotton ball, and lightly wipe that on my neck before putting it in my bra), is of a rich autumnal sexed-up incense with delicious foody vanilla-cinnamon-cola notes. I'm a redhead and this scent just "matches" my coloring and fashion sense. The bottle is quite clunky and cheap-looking, although it was probably very chic when the scent debuted in 1978 (and I'd be willing to bet that when EL moved this scent to the back burner after its heyday, she skimped on the packaging). But hey, a $35 bottle of Cinnabar EDP can last many years, and it is a cold-weather pleasure for me. Cinnabar is a bold, unique scent that requires confidence and presence to carry off-- as well as a love of spice and incense notes. If you like Opium, Shalimar, Angel, Obsession, or Must de Cartier, you may really like this!
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lips -Burt's Bees - Lip Shimmer in Caramel
youdroppedabalmonme 2/11/2009 6:22:00 PM
*sigh* I was so hopeful this would be an expansion of the Lip Shimmers line-- a move to more natural and less pale/frosty offerings-- but no go. Caramel is like a mix between Nutmeg and Champagne, a light frosty peach-tan, and not the creamy warm nude I wanted. In fact, Caramel isn't appreciably different from either Nutmeg OR Champagne, and it isn't much different than BB's other new Shade, Peony. They all hover around that pale/frosty axis far more than I would like.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lips -Burt's Bees - Lip Shimmer in Peony
youdroppedabalmonme 2/11/2009 6:19:00 PM
I was excited when Macy's got in the two newest Burt's Lip Shimmer shades-- the website described them as "universally wearable," so I was hoping for something beyond BB's usual range of uber-frosty shades. From the cap color, I thought Peony might be a YLBB rosey-mauve, a slightly lighter version of Fig perhaps. It's actually more like a *slightly* deeper version of Champagne. I'd describe it as a light neutral rose frost-- and not appreciably different from Champagne. Not a great color for me, but not terrible. I do wish BB would come out with more non-frost shades in this line- Merlot and Fig are the only ones.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Caron - Nocturnes
youdroppedabalmonme 2/8/2009 5:59:00 PM
This was a coveted favorite of mine in the '80s-- I remember the EDT being a pleasant departure from the heavy-hitter scents of the day (Giorgio, Obsession, Poison, Opium). Nocturnes is a soft, lilting, cheerful white floral with green notes and a distinctive, sweet-sharp note I can't quite place, something like lily of the valley + a really sexy soap. It is light, but still distinctive and very womanly. I just got my hands on a vintage bottle of EDT splash (the vintage bottles are so pretty with their abstract etchings!) and was surprised to find that I like Nocturnes even more now. It is fresh and youthful, but unlike a lot of today's citrus/ozone/body spray scents it is not juvenile or generic in the least, and any woman can carry it off nicely. If you like Sung, Eternity, Pleasures, Daisy, etc., you might really enjoy this Caron classic!
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No