Liquid -Clarins - Everlasting Foundation SPF 15
igrancea 9/11/2012 9:04:00 PM
This foundation has everything I want – good coverage, long lasting, natural finish and a perfect matching shade! It's medium coverage so it easily hides redness and blemishes and can be layered for fuller coverage without looking heavy. It has a more matte finish but still looks natural. The trick though is to apply it with a makeup sponge for that natural look that doesn't settle into lines; using a brush made it too cakey. The shade selection is great - the 105 Nude shade perfectly matches my fair skin with yellow undertones - and it never oxidizes. The price is also reasonable for the quality and a bottle lasts me about 4-5 months (and I use it daily).
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Eye Shadow -Maybelline - EyeStudio Color Explosion Eyeshadow in Caffeine Rush
igrancea 4/12/2012 6:34:00 PM
Have never been a big fan of Maybelline products but took a chance on this one as I really liked the color palette. The results have been disappointing as the shades don't look the way I expected them to when applied. The beige shade on the left is more matte and yellow rather than the golden beige I was hoping for, while the metallic taupe/plum shade on the right is far darker than I wanted, almost as dark as the "v" shade. Maybe it's because I have fair skin... That on its own may not be enough to give it a poor review, but I also get a lot of fallout when I apply it (especially the shimmery yellow shade at the top) and the staying power isn't great (it fades and creases by noon). Even if you don't want to upgrade to more expensive brands I feel like you can find better quality eyeshadow for the same price.
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Moisturizers -Nuxe - Creme Fraiche de Beaute Suractivee (for normal skin)
igrancea 11/29/2009 6:54:00 PM
Love this moisturizer. I have sensitive rosacea-prone skin and use this as my night-time cream. It moisturizes and hydrates really well and visibly reduces redness, tightness or itchy dry skin. I'll even use this on my arms and elbows when they get noticeably dry and itchy for immediate relief. The only snag is that the cream is slightly too thick and causes minor break-outs if I use it every night. I now use my lighter daytime moisturizer in its place every third night and that seems to fix the problem. I may try the light formula for combination skin once I run out to see how that works.
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Conditioner -Kiehls - Amino Acid Conditioner
igrancea 11/29/2009 6:44:00 PM
I found this conditioner to be too light. I have fine hair, and even though it's not very damaged, I usually need some moisture for my ends. This conditioner did not deliver any, making my hair look rather dry, even during the summer.
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Shampoo -Kiehls - Amino Acid Shampoo
igrancea 11/29/2009 6:41:00 PM
Worse than a drugstore shampoo and three times as expensive. Made my fine hair lifeless and dull, and my roots would be greasy by the end of the day.
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Liquid -Christian Dior - Diorskin Nude Hydrating Makeup SPF 10 [DISCONTINUED]
igrancea 11/29/2009 6:33:00 PM
I've been a long term Lancome makeup junkie but wanted to trade up to one of the famous European brands thinking they'd have better products. I started with Dior and with their Diorskin Nude foundation, and was very disappointed. The first problem was the shade selection - even their lightest shades are too dark for someone with fair skin, and they made my face look slightly orange. I was able to find a shade in the 200 range to match my more olive-toned tanned skin (only a summer phenomenon), which I could only pull off for about 2 months while the tan lasted. The second problem was the foundation formula itself. Although it started off as a thicker cream that had to be blended with a sponge (looked too cakey with a brush), after only one month of use the cream became even thicker and grainy, clumping and flaking off as I'd apply it and making a mess on my counter and sink. To make matters worse, the pump bottle would get stuck after every week of use and I'd have to play around with it for minutes at a time to get it working again. The foundation looked good once applied and lasted virtually all day without requiring touch-ups, but the effort of applying it was too much of a pain. Overall a bad experience. Even drugstore foundations do better than this.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Shampoo -Oscar Blandi - Pronto Dry Shampoo Spray
igrancea 11/8/2009 8:03:00 PM
I got 4 uses out of it. That's it. I even followed the instructions provided, which required a lot of shaking before product usage and twisting the cap in full rotations about 10 times to force any solids out of the spray tube post usage. Unfortunately the product worked well when it actually came out of the bottle. It did leave some white residue after spraying (after all, it is a dry shampoo), but brushing your hair took care of that. Too bad the formula fizzles out before you can get your money's worth.
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Treatments -Dr. Brandt - Pores No More
igrancea 9/22/2009 11:10:00 AM
Like one of the other reviewers of this product, I found this primer completely ineffective if applying anything else over it, such as moisturizer or foundation. I have large pores on the apples of my cheeks and although this does minimize them when first applied, it takes quite a bit of product to do so. As a result, it flakes/clumps off the minute I apply moisturizer and foundation (I've tried applying it after the moisturizer, and the clumping is even worse). I've tested this theory by applying the product to half of my face only, and once the foundation is on there is no difference whatsoever between the two sides of my face. And if I apply it after the foundation, it melts right through it and almost "erases" it. This could possibly work if I only needed a light dusting of powder after applying it on bare skin, which is certainly not the case for me.
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Liquid -Christian Dior - Diorskin Airflash
igrancea 8/13/2009 4:30:00 PM
This is probably the best foundation I've used so far, but it's not perfect. Pros: It really does give you an airbrushed look, and it lasts pretty much all day. I lightly spray the foundation on a kabuki brush and then apply it to each area of the face; the foundation blends in really easily and covers my imperfections with the first sweep of the brush, reducing the need for additional touch-ups. The best part is that this coverage lasts throughout the day, making me look perfectly polished and not overdone. Cons: My biggest problem is the shade selection. I have very fair skin and use the Ivory shade in pretty much every foundation I buy. Unfortunately Airflash doesn’t come in Ivory; the lightest colour is one shade darker, which is one shade too dark for me. Not only is it too dark, but it has an orange tint to it, making me look like I have a fake tan. I can only pull this off right after I’ve had a lot of sun exposure, such as a week at the beach, when the tan is still dark and more intense. Another issue with the foundation is that it smears. Whether it’s wiping my mouth with a napkin after eating, or wiping my forehead with a towel at the gym, I find the foundation transfers off really easily from certain parts of the face. This could be linked to over-applying, but I’ve never had this problem with any other foundations. Lastly, the application can be a bit messy. Even though I use a wide brush, the aerosol still sprays little coloured particles everywhere, including on my bathroom sink and counter. Again, not an issue I’ve ever had before. Overall the pros do outweigh most of the cons, but because of the shade selection I can only pull this off during the summers when I'm in the sun a lot. I guess that means my quest for the perfect foundation continues.
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Cleansers -Unlisted Brand - Spectro Jel 609
igrancea 4/26/2009 11:00:00 AM
This cleanser may be OK to use in the morning, since it does a decent job of prepping the skin for a moisturizer without drying out my face (very important for my sensitive skin), but probably not a good choice at night since it doesn't remove all makeup. Sometimes I'd have to wash my face twice, and even then I'd still see traces of foundation in my pores. Very decently priced, but there's other cleansers that can do a better job at actually cleansing for a similar price.
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Treatments -Vichy - anti-imperfection concentrate
igrancea 4/13/2009 10:04:00 PM
This product didn't do anything to help reduce my localized breakouts. It didn't have any negative side effects, but it also didn't have any positive effects either.
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Cleansers -Lancome - Creme Radiance
igrancea 4/13/2009 9:56:00 PM
This cleanser dried out my normal/combo skin worse than regular soap. It gave me dry patches on my forehead and side of my face after three uses. It also aggravated my rosacea. It's too bad because it did a great job at getting rid of all traces of makeup off my face, and only a pea size amount of this foams up to cleanse your whole face (it may cost a lot, but I can see it lasting forever).
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Treatments -Good Skin - Smooth-365 Intensive Clarity + Smoothing Peptide Serum
igrancea 3/10/2009 3:02:00 PM
I used up an entire bottle of this and saw absolutely no results. I do not have problems with acne, but I have uneven skin tone and a very pink complexion, so the promise of improved skin clarity and the blurring of imperfections attracted me to this product. Although it didn't cause any breakouts or any other adverse effects, it also didn't improve my skin's softness or tone in any way.
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Moisturizers -Burt's Bees - Radiance Day Creme
igrancea 3/10/2009 2:48:00 PM
My feelings are really divided when it comes to this product. I love that it's 98% natural, so I don't have to worry about overloading my skin with strange chemicals. It's also quite moisturizing without feeling too heavy, which makes it a good product for winter. On the other hand, the cream doesn't absorb into the skin all that well and the leftover residue can cake up when I try to put on my liquid foundation. After reading some of the reviews on MUA, I've realized that a little goes a long way with this product, so I only use a small amount on my face. This has improved the absorption issue, but not fully. My makeup just doesn't go on as seamlessly as it does when I use other creams, and the staying power isn't the same. I also haven't noticed any improvement in my skin's tone and texture since I started using it a month ago. I'll probably use this as my night cream from now on (or just try the actual night cream version), as the residue issue won't really matter in that case. However I won't re-use or re-purchase as a day cream.
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Liquid -Clinique - Superfit Foundation [DISCONTINUED]
igrancea 10/10/2008 1:42:00 PM
The foundation isn't too bad, but the shade selection is very limited. Their lightest shade was much too orange tinted, so I couldn't build up coverage without looking like I had a fake tan. The foundation also looks a bit heavy once you apply it, so even if I could find a shade that matched my natural skin colour, I still wouldn't repurchase.
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