Polishes -Zoya - Perrie
alliebeth 9/14/2012 1:52:00 PM
I liked that Perrie was a cool lavender without being gray. But on my toes, it looked so much brighter than in the bottle after even 1 coat that it was more fuscia married with lavender. My toes perfectly match the photo someone posted, but I wanted the color in the bottle (don't we all...whenever we pick up a new shade). Not bad, just not what I had in mind.
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Treatments -Christian Dior - Capture R60/80 Extra Vital Restoring Serum
alliebeth 4/7/2012 9:37:00 AM
Every time i applied this, my deep forehead creases softened significantly; however, after washing/showering, the effects were gone. It was like a super-primer and tightener but not a treatment or true serum.
I also couldn't apply sunscreen over it. If I touched my face at all, it balled up and rolled off in pieces. water, glycerin, butylene glycol, methyl gluceth-20, phenoxyethanol, carbomer, lecithin, phosphatidylcholine, sodium tocopheryl phosphate, sorbitol, saccharide isomerate, tetrasodium edta, sodium hydroxide, avena sativa (oat) bran extract, zea mays (corn) kernel extract, algin, parfum (fragrance), malva sylvestris (mallow) extract, polyvinyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium hyaluronate, ruscus aculeatus root extract, potentilla erecta root extract, palmitoyl pentapeptide-3, cellulose gum, polysorbate 20, ascorbic acid, tocopheryl acetate, methylparaben, linalool, limonene, butylphenyl methylpropional, alpha-isomethyl ionone, citronellol, geraniol, hexyl cinnamal, tocopherol, butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben, propylparaben, ci 14700 (red 4), bht.
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Polishes -Essie - Mademoiselle
alliebeth 7/26/2011 9:45:00 AM
Too pale next to my super-fair skin tone. Just looked like a slightly, barely pink clear coat. Effective for a nude shade but boring on my toes. I wish I'd known this was a sheer shade and not opaque. Disappionted...
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Polishes -Essie - Muchi Muchi
alliebeth 7/26/2011 9:44:00 AM
This color looked great in the bottle. I wanted a light pink that wasn't sheer and nearly invisible next to my super-fair skin tone (like Mademoiselle was). The color was nice, but it went on with a glue-like texture and streaked horribly. It looked like I had gooped on too much nail polish in one coat. Luckily, it was on my toes so it wasn't too close to people's eyes to see how bad it was. This was seriously poor quality, especially for the teeny tiny bottle at $8. The concept of the color gets a tiny bump from one-star to two.
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Lotions/ Creams -Aveeno - Daily Moisturizing Lotion with Sunscreen spf 15
alliebeth 10/7/2010 9:03:00 PM
Thick in application and had a sunscreen-y smell. I applied to my neck, chest, and arms. Shortly after applying, my neck and and chest started burning. It wasn't a tingly or stinging sensation but a burning warmth. With the yucky, sunscreen-y texture and burning discomfort, this wasn't the right daily body sunscreen for me. Very old-school in the texture, fragrance, and irritation. For the record, this is a new, photostable, UVA formula.
Active Ingredients: Avobenzone (3%, Sunscreen), Octisalate (5%, Sunscreen), Octocrylene (1.7%, Sunscreen), Oxybenzone (3%, Sunscreen). Inactive Ingredients: Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Flour (Oat), Benzalkonium Chloride Solution, C12 15 Alkyl Benzoate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Diethylhexyl 2 6 Naphthalate, Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Methylparaben, Steareth 21, Water.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Mascara -Maybelline - Volum' Express Turbo Boost Waterproof 
alliebeth 7/8/2010 8:24:00 AM
It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's super-spidey! (mascara, that is)
Okay, that was corny. This mascara itched my eyes (a common problem for me, to be fair).
And then it was seriously super spidey in the clumping department. It also smudged noticeably. The flaking wasn't awful (just a little).
Why can't drugstore brands make a volumizing mascara that looks as awesome as Full N Soft WP but doesn't itch my eyes? This definitely isn't it.
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Mascara -Maybelline - Define a lash volume WATERPROOF
alliebeth 7/8/2010 8:21:00 AM
I've been struggling to find a mascara that doesn't itch my eyes and stays put in the southern summer heat/humidity.
This one did itch my eyes. :(
Furthermore, the clumping was spidery gross, and it flaked and smudged intensely. The flaking was actually the worst I've seen (even worse than Full and Soft WP that looked nice but itched/flaked).
This gets a 2 thumbs down from me.
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Mascara -Maybelline - Volum' Express The Colossal Waterproof
alliebeth 7/8/2010 8:15:00 AM
I've been struggling with mascaras that make my eyes itch and those that aren't smudgeproof/waterproof in the high heat/humidity of a southern summer.
This was one of the absolute worst mascaras I've tried on both counts. My eyes itched, starting later in the day, and didn't stop for a few days after.
As for the appearance of this mascara, it clumped my lashes together badly. I tried to improve the situation with a lash brush but only ended up separating the lashes somewhat with specks of mascara still intermittently down their length.
Furthermore, I had some smudges and flaking.
The result--my eyes were red and irritated with black specks of mascara down the length of my lashes and raccoon eyes on my lids and from the flakes under my eyes. I looked like I hadn't slept in a week and was auditioning for a horror movie. Baaaadddd stuff (for me).
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Mascara -Maybelline - Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Waterproof
alliebeth 7/8/2010 7:59:00 AM
I've been struggling to find a mascara that doesn't irritate my eyes and looks nice (doesn't smudge, flake, mega-clump).
On the upside, this mascara didn't irritate my eyes into an itchfest. That was the only positive (and enough of one that I really tried to make it work).
On the downside, the clumping was horrid (even after combing, my husband asked about it, and he hasn't commented about any of the mascaras I've tried), and it smudged quite easily, giving the smokey eye look on one lid or the other.
I gave it 2 lippies because of the lack of irritation, but the appearance (clumping, smudging) was pretty lousy.
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Mascara -Maybelline - Volum' Express The Colossal Waterproof
alliebeth 7/8/2010 7:54:00 AM
I've been struggling with mascaras that make my eyes itch and those that aren't smudgeproof/waterproof in the high heat/humidity of a southern summer.
This was one of the absolute worst mascaras I've tried on both counts. My eyes itched, starting later in the day, and didn't stop for a few days after.
As for the appearance of this mascara, it clumped my lashes together badly. I tried to improve the situation with a lash brush but only ended up separating the lashes somewhat with specks of mascara still intermittently down their length.
Furthermore, I had some smudges and flaking.
The result--my eyes were red and irritated with black specks of mascara down the length of my lashes and raccoon eyes on my lids and from the flakes under my eyes. I looked like I hadn't slept in a week and was auditioning for a horror movie. Baaaadddd stuff (for me).
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Mascara -L'Oreal - Extra Volume Collagen Mascara (waterproof)
alliebeth 6/1/2010 8:15:00 AM
To be fair, I've had a difficult time finding a mascara.
My requirements:
1. I need waterproof (I mess with my eyes too often because of my contacts and allergies). And I don't want raccoon eyes or smudges because of my weakness.
2. I need my eyes not to itch when I use the mascara. (Maybelline Full N Soft, Lash Stiletto Waterproof, and The Colossal Volum' Express Waterproof all caused itching.)
3. I need consistant results that make my super-fine, light eyelashes visible without being mega-clumped, flaking (causes raccoon eyes/smudges just like WP not being effective), or good-day/bad day inconsistancies (like Jane Hi-Fiber Waterproof Mascara).
With L'Oreal Extra Volume Collagen WP Mascara, I didn't have WP issues (a little smudging but ridiculous like L'Oreal Volumeous WP which looked awesome but kept coloring my eyelids gray-black). My eyes didn't itch.
However, the brush and formula made for results that were inconsistant only in what kind of problems I had in the appearance of my lashes. The brush was stiff and spiral in layout. Therefore, I couldn't just wiggle it down my lashes because only one side of my lashes were touching bristles. The other side would line up where the spiral dipped away from them. When rotated the brush and applied to the other side, I either got serious clumping at the intersection (where I'd already applied and the missed side), probably because this mascara was so wet, or little dots of mascara down my lashes instead of a smooth, consistant line of lash. Either look was very spider-y. I tried to improve the situation with a lash brush but only ended up separating the lashes somewhat with specks of mascara still intermittently down their length.
Ironically, this mascara didn't cause me problems in itching/irritation (which has been my most common complaint so far) or WP lies (a close 2nd in frequency). But its ridiculous brush and clumpy wet formula made for a mascara that wasn't worth even the $7.50 price tag.
The itching kicked in that evening and hung around for 2 mascara-free days afterward. :(
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Mascara -Maybelline - XXL Pro Volume Waterproof
alliebeth 3/20/2010 3:35:00 PM
I have used several volumizing mascaras recently in an effort to find one that doesn't make my eyes itch. While this one didn't do that, I was astounded how little it did do.
The base coat looked white but didn't make my lashes white (a positive). When I applied the mascara over the base, I could barely tell I'd done anything. I recoated my lashes multiple times, and still they looked skinny and barely there. My lashes looked all out sparce.
This mascara was noticeably more than the other volumizing waterproof Maybelline mascaras but didn't do anything volumizing at all. Sad, sad, sad!
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Sunscreen -Bioderma - MAX Fluide SPF50/PPD38
alliebeth 1/1/2010 9:00:00 PM
The new 2009 formula was w/o alcohol denat which I liked in theory and PPD 38 instead of 35.
Its texture wasn't as liquidy and, well, fluid, as the PPD 35 formula with alcohol. It left enough of a white cast that my DH said I looked like a clown. I didn't think it was as bad as some others I'd tried some time ago and ruled out, but I could see the whiteness all day and it wasn't all that subtle.
Also, when I was in direct sunlight, like in the car, my face was quite shiny (not alien shiny but definitely more than a healthy glow).
Finally, I got several small zits along my hairline initially which I thought was b/c i didn't wash it off thoroughly enough; then I got a minor zit on my cheek and a medium-red (not flaming but not as docile as the others) zit under my jawbone; for as white as this is (and I'm fair enough that I thought it might be brightening until my DH set me straight that I looked ridiculous) and the zits that continue to pop up, I think this might just not be lightweight enough to let my rosacean skin "breathe" so it's trapping heat in and causing rosacea zits, especially since they have taken a while to heal like my rosacean ones behave.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Mascara -Maybelline - Lash Stiletto - Waterproof
alliebeth 12/26/2009 7:09:00 PM
While this did lengthen a little, my lashes appeared scarce and pointed directly out, not curling at all. Also, I noticed a lot of flaked-off specks of black under my lashes during the day.
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Sunscreen -Coppertone - NutraShield Dual Defense 70+SPF
alliebeth 8/9/2009 7:23:00 PM
This sunscreen (the non-faces version) gave me burning, stinging, itching, and a general sensory reaction on my face. The first time I used it, it was intermittent. But the second time, it was immediate and intensified quickly. I do have rosacea, but I have been able to use many other sunscreens with the same ingreds w/ no problem.
Both myself and my husband also experienced stinging in our eyes if we perspired *at all*, even if we used a more water resistant sunscreen on our foreheads.
I didn't particularly find it even slightly water resistant either (not that it claimed to be). I remove it from my face, touching my face with wet hands caused my hands to be coated with its milky transfer, even before cleanser was introduced.
I did like the way the container sat on its cap. That made it easy to use and less exposed to oxygen so the antioxidants could avoid oxidizing.
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