Highlighters -Stila - All Over Shimmer #9
elaina 10/12/2003 1:23:00 AM
I was lucky enough to receive a sample of this from the lovely peaches85, and I must say, it's gorgeous. It's a nude-pink with a mix of golden and silver shimmer in the pan, but on my PPP skin, it mainly imparts an almost "wet"-looking glow with a touch of pink. Great for highlighting the cheekbones.
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Makeup Brushes -Sonia Kashuk - Contour Brush (14)
elaina 10/12/2003 1:13:00 AM
Hmm...hate to be the lone dissenter, but this is one of the few SK brushes I'm not particularly enamoured of (the other being the angled eyeshadow brush). I guess I just don't quite get what it's for. (Look at me, ending all my sentences in prepositions!) I thought it might work as a mini version of the coveted MAC #168 blush brush, but it just leaves these little circles of blush on my cheeks that make me look like a doll. I also tried using it to apply a wash of eyeshadow, and it's too big and fluffy for my small eye sockets, not to mention scratchy. It looks cool and I'm sure it serves some purpose, so I'll give it 3 lipsticks for now. UPDATE: My existential crisis has come to an end. I use this brush to apply highlighter to the top of my cheekbones and browbones, and it works great. It's still scratchy as hell, though, so my rating remains a 3.
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Eye Shadow -Revlon - Eye Glide Shadow - Nude
elaina 10/22/2003 8:57:00 PM
Nude is a light, shimmery, peachy champagne with hints of pink. I usually avoid cream eyeshadows like the plague (as a sidenote: who doesn't avoid the plague? This simile is rather awkward, I admit) because they crease on me almost immediately and I don't like the way they "sit" on the skin. And clicky pen applicators are normally the bane of my existence. But I quite like the application of these: it's easy to blend the product, as the tip is very soft and it dries quickly to a soft, powdery finish that melds with the skin. It seems to last quite well on my oily eyelids--not as long as a MAC Paint, but considerably longer than traditional cream shadows.
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Eye Shadow -Stila - Summer shadow single
elaina 10/22/2003 8:45:00 PM
Summer is about the same depth of colour as Jezebel, but more neutral. It's a medium coppery-brown--almost caramel, as it's more yellow than orange--with fine golden shimmer, and it works as a wash as well as a crease colour (not dark enough for me to line with). It's not the most exciting eyeshadow in the world, which is what prevented me from caving sooner, but it will go with just about anything and isn't too over the top. A nice addition to the lineup for Stila.
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Eye Shadow -MMU Cosmetics - Cosmopolitan
elaina 10/22/2003 8:36:00 PM
This wasn't what I was expecting. From the swatch and description on MMU's site--"golden-rose taupe with polished gold shimmer"--I thought this would be an easy-to-wear shade for me, since I love rose-golds and taupe is pretty universal. Unfortunately, this showed up extremely frosty on me, and didn't appear golden at all. In certain lights, it was a semi-flattering warm, almost orangey-brown, but in others, it looked silvery-white.
The cool thing about this shadow is that (at least on me) it has a duochrome quality about it that allows for "automatic shading", i.e. it appears lighter on protruding parts of the lid and darker on recessed areas, even though you've applied the shadow evenly across the lid. I couldn't get the colour to work for me, however. Thank goodness for swapping--I'm glad groovy is enjoying it :)
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Eye Shadow -MMU Cosmetics - Luminous Mineral Shadow - Moonbeam
elaina 10/22/2003 8:29:00 PM
I agree with groovy. When I ordered this, the note about it showing up as brown on some people wasn't on the site, and from the swatch, Moonbeam looked like a light to medium rose-gold. Imagine my surprise when my sample arrived and it appeared as a medium to dark brown with gold shimmer on my skin. I honestly didn't see any rose or pink tones in this one, as much as I wanted to. I did like the texture; it's very soft and sheer. It's not a frosty shadow, the shimmer particles are suspended in the matte base, if that makes sense. I would definitely buy this if it showed up more rosy on me, but it just looked brown, and goodness knows I have enough brown shadows already.
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Blush -BeneFit Cosmetics - Dandelion
elaina 9/28/2003 2:52:00 PM
My friend gave this to me as a gift (*waves to ktm13*), and I'm most definitely in love. I swirl a fluffy blush brush around in the box a few times to pick up enough colour, and it definitely shows up on my NC15 skintone. I use it mainly as a blush, as I generally try to avoid adding pink to my entire complexion. The colour is a light neutral-to slightly-warm pink with a hint of golden shimmer, so it should suit both cool and warm skintones just fine. I love the smell of this--it's like sitting out in a garden--but I don't know that scented blushes are really necessary. In any case, I would likely purchase this again, because I haven't found anything that gives quite the same effect.
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Eye Shadow -Jane - Eye Zing in Surfer Girl
elaina 9/28/2003 2:44:00 PM
Um, this is bright. And also, bright. Did I mention bright? Because it's bright. And I knew that going in, I just didn't imagine it would be quite so...bright. I'm the Queen of Neutrals, but I decided to try this for something different. And different it is. It reminds me of the colour of Delux Chimpy Blue eyeliner, except less turquoise and more "electric." It's also got a bit of frost to it, so it looks a bit too 80s to be worn all over the lid. When I wear it as a liner colour, I feel like all anyone is looking at is my lashline. It's not subtle or especially flattering for my hazel eyes. But it is bright. And furthermore, bright. Rainbow Brite, even.
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Powder -Maybelline - PureStay Powder Foundation
elaina 9/28/2003 1:23:00 AM
I don't really care for this. I bought it because of the positive things Paula Begoun had to say about it in her latest book, but it just didn't work for me, which is surprising, because I usually love Maybelline products. The coverage is decent: medium, but it doesn't give me a flawless finish. The colour I bought (Ivory) is okay--not perfect, but it's yellow-based and almost pale enough for my PPP, NC15, Stila 10 Watts skintone. But the finish is what I dislike most: it's powdery, a little heavy, and unnatural looking on my oily skin. It doesn't melt into my skin, like my Pur Minerals powder foundation does. It also tends to look a little cakey by the end of the day. Perhaps if I hadn't been spoiled by better powder foundations first, I might have liked this better, but as it is, I'm pretty disappointed.
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Lip Treatments -Almay - Pure Tints -Pink Nude
elaina 9/21/2003 7:04:00 PM
Why the heck is this limited edition? Does Almay take some sick pleasure in releasing the most wearable shades for a fleeting moment before snatching them away and tossing them into the depths of discontinuation hell? That's just a bit cruel. In any event, Pink Nude is the only Pure Tint I've purchased, due to the good reviews, since the others all sounded way too opaque and bright for my liking. The Good: It's a medium beigey-pink (more pink than beige) MLBB that is neutral to warm-toned, with a hint of gold shimmer, and will go with just about anything. The Bad: It doesn't feel particularly moisturizing--in fact, it feels a bit dry on my lips, like a lipstick. The Ugly: The packaging. I don't really like these slimline tubes, because I have larger lips and it takes forever to coat them with something the size of a pencil eraser. And the product doesn't retract once you've raised it, so be careful with that. On the whole, I'm glad I tried it and will keep it in the car for when I need a quick hit of colour, but it's not something I'd go out of my way to purchase again--not that that's even possible, since it's LE. Evil.
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Lip Gloss -Cover Girl - WetSlicks lipgloss - Sugar Maple
elaina 9/7/2003 3:52:00 AM
I haven't purchased a Cover Girl product in years, but my friend ktm13 told me that I just *had* to try this gloss, in this shade, and I trust her opinion, so I took a little trip to the dark side. And she didn't do me wrong! Sugar Maple is a sheer maple-brown with fine golden-bronze shimmer, but it lets the pink in my lips show through, so they appear slightly darker pink with a caramel glaze--gorgeous! The texture is thinner than I'm used to, but not greasy. This isn't a high-shine gloss, and it doesn't have exceptionally long staying power (an hour or so at most), but it feels great on, almost like a balm, and did I mention it smells like cupcakes? Glad I got over my Cover Girl aversion for this one.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Misc Beauty Tools -Aveda - Large Paddle Brush
elaina 9/7/2003 3:39:00 AM
So glad I came across these reviews! I'm so clueless when it comes to buying hair care stuff, and unlike makeup, you can't usually test it out, so PV has been my saviour on many occasions. This is a *great* brush. I recently paid $28 CAD for this, before tax--substantially less than I expected to pay after reading the review below by a fellow Canadian, so I'm not sure if I just got a really good deal or if the prices have gone down since then. (I bought it at Eccotique, an Aveda spa in the Greater Vancouver area, which usually sells products for slightly cheaper than other salons.) In any case, it's loads cheaper than a Mason Pearson, which was the other one I was considering buying. I consider this a really good investment, especially since I was previously paying $10 or so every few months to replace cheaper hairbrushes that kept breaking in one way or another. I haven't had this one long enough to tell whether it will stand up to the test of time for my long, medium-thick, wavy hair, but it's off to a great start. The bristles are synthetic, so they won't give you the same shine as a natural/boar bristle brush, which might be its only minus for those with coarse hair, but it does a beautiful job of straightening and detangling. And it's lightweight, which is great for those of us who put ourselves at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome by straightening every day. Mine came with a soft plastic cover, which I hope will keep it safe for years to come. If something did happen, [Deity of choice] forbid, I would gladly repurchase. So what are you waiting for? Go buy it!
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Other -Bloom - Large cosmetics bag
elaina 9/6/2003 11:41:00 PM
I purchased this from adorebeauty.com when it was on sale (something like $14 CAD), and am really pleased with it. I like the Bloom girl illustration and the vinyl-coating (easy to keep clean).
It's sort of difficult to describe how it's set up, but I'll try. It's got two zip-up compartments; one side is for larger, wider items like bottles and jars, while the other has pockets and is flatter, so it's better for holding palettes, compacts, and the like. There are also four brush slots on the flatter side. Depending on your level of pack-rattedness, I'd say you could fit enough stuff in the bag for about a week's worth of travel (skincare, makeup, other toiletries). Zipped up, it is 8" long, 6" high, and 3" wide. (I have a few photos I've taken of the inside and outside of the bag, with some items it, that might give you a better idea of how much it holds--feel free to page me if you'd like me to send them to you, as I've run out of room to upload them on MUA.)
I think what appeals most to me about this bag is that it looks like a mini-suitcase. I even used it as a purse once while running errands, hee! I don't really consider myself a girly-girl, but this is too cute to resist.
(Just realized that this my 300th review-whee!)
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Treatments -Neutrogena - Pore Refining Mattifier
elaina 9/4/2003 9:08:00 PM
This has to be the most frustrating product to dispense, in the history of dispensable products. Okay, so you squeeze a little out onto your fingertip. If you're lucky, the very act of squeezing the tube doesn't cause a little blob of the product to shoot out onto the floor (and no, you will never retrieve it, even if you wanted to, because it is clear and impossible to pick up). So it's there on your fingertip, and as you go to raise your finger to apply it to your face, the little blob falls off onto the ground or wherever. So then you try again, keeping your finger parallel to the ground for as long as possible as you lift your finger tip to your face. You start spreading it in, and little blobs fall off your face if you aren't able to press it into the skin quickly enough. You could tilt your head so it's parallel to the floor, but really, applying a mattifier should not require going into contortions. Really.
If you don't give up and throw the tube across the room first, this stuff actually works pretty well. It gives a smooth, soft texture to the skin, and it does a good job of filling in my pores for most of the day, but it doesn't prevent shine for me as well as a blotting powder, like NYC. I'm torn about whether I would repurchase, because the application process is a huge PITA, and it's not exactly cheap. It also has a strong fragrance, like the other products in the Pore Refining line. I think I'll explore Clinique's Pore Minimizing Line before I repurchase, so I'll say no for now.
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Eye Shadow -Prestige - Eye Shadow "Briquette"
elaina 9/2/2003 12:36:00 AM
I almost passed this one over because it looked greenish in the drugstore lighting, but reading the reviews here convinced me I needed it, especially since I'm curious to try NARS Night Clubbing eyeshadow. Well, I'm not so sure this lives up to my (admittedly high) expectations, but it's very pretty. It isn't a highly pigmented black, more of a charcoal on me and sometimes has blue or green tinges to it on my PPP, warm-toned skin, depending on the lighting. (I seem to have this problem with black shadows; they need to be extremely pigmented to show up as a true black on me.) The gold microglitter shows up much better when it's used wet. I don't know if I'll use this much for lining, because it's not as black as I like my liner colours (which is why I wouldn't repurchase), but it does make for a nice smokey eye. I find mixing it with a matte black shadow intensifies the colour, but what can I say--I'm lazy, and I prefer to have my colours pre-mixed for me.
On a related note, why is it so hard to find a black shadow with *gold* glitter/shimmer, not silver? It's driving me crazy. Anywho, I guess I still need to check out NARS, but this will do in the meantime.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No