Eye Shadow -Smashbox - Eye Shadow Trio in Cocktail Hour
avocate 11/18/2006 1:19:00 PM
I was going to swap this because I don't reach for it much. But every time I went to swap it I was so mesmerized by the colors and shimmer that I'd keep it. I'm glad, because now I love it.
I have green eyes with a ring of brown so what I like to do is use the purple color to line my top lashes. The brown is sheer enough to wear as a wash and I highlight with the cream. Then I line my lower lashes with the brown as well. This combo is noticeable without being dramatic and it really brings out the green in my eyes. The quality of these shadows is great and I love how compact the packaging is. Another great Smashbox product.
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Lip Gloss -Clinique - Colour Surge Impossibly Glossy - Crushed Opal
avocate 8/15/2006 11:49:00 AM
This is a truly beautiful color, but the staying power is not great. I find myself having to reapply constantly throughout the day, and I don't like that in a lipgloss! But if you don't mind reapplying or you never eat or drink, it might be a good choice.
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Blush -Smashbox - Transparencies - Flaunt
avocate 8/13/2006 1:54:00 PM
I'm a big fan of cream/mousse products for some reason, even though they don't seem to last as long as powders on me. I LOVE the texture of this Transparencies and I love the color. But it takes a lot for it to show up, and I have to be careful in applying or I'll just rub it right off, leaving just a bit of shimmer behind. I agree with the reviewer who said it's nice under a powder blush for more dimension. That's my favorite use for it at the moment. For a shimmery cream blush that shows up, try Smashbox's French Kiss highlighter. I love using this with NARS South Beach multiple.
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Lotions/ Creams -L'Occitane - 100% Pure Shea Butter
avocate 8/13/2006 10:46:00 AM
This is my absolute favorite multi-tasker. The tiny $8 tin replaced my lip balm, cuticle cream and brow wax and it does each of those jobs very well. In a pinch I also use it as a skin moisturizer and even will apply it very very sparingly to hair to smooth flyaways. Even though I use it daily for all those applications, this tin has lasted me months. When it runs out, I'll probably replace it with 100% shea butter from the health food store--just melt down and refill the tin.
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Skincare - Body -NADS - Hair Removal System - No-Heat Hair Removal Gel
avocate 8/12/2006 10:27:00 PM
I have fair skin but dark, coarse body hair and lots of it--sorry if that's TMI, but this is a hair removal product after all. I've tried a LOT of things to control my body hair, usually trying to balance convenience with thrift. So, I've self-hot-waxed, used an epilator, shaved, depilated (I don't think that's a word, but whatever), and finally, throwing thrift to the wind, sprung for laser treatments basically everywhere on my body except my arms. The laser treatments worked to get rid of most of the dark hair but I still do have a fair bit of hair, especially on my underarms, upper legs and around my ankles and feet. I'm leading with this because I want to say that this product really works for the hair that's left after lasering. Some people have said that this won't work on coarse hair and that's something I really can't say. I will say that after having used hot wax for a few years, this is such a relief. There is no fuss with having to melt the wax and keep it at the proper temperature. Because it's water soluble, there is no need to use mineral oil to get excess wax off your body and to clean any instruments (the hot wax I used to use was applied with a roller, so you had to use oil to get off the wax and then alcohol to get out all the oil--it was a huge pain). Just wash with water. You can wash the cloth strips they give you and reuse them indefinitely, but it's also just as easy to buy cotton and make your own strips. This has got to be the most economical way to get rid of your body hair. I find it doesn't hurt as much as hot wax--but again, I'm kind of comparing apples to oranges since my hair is finer now than when I was hot waxing. I love Nad's and can't believe I waited so long to try it. I just hope they never stop making it.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Blood Amber
avocate 3/1/2006 3:13:00 PM
This is just beautiful. In the bottle and wet on the skin it smells cinnamony, spicy and overwhelming, but it softens as it dries into just a warm, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, sensual amber. It lingers nicely. I didn't expect to like this, but I love it.
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Eye Shadow -Stila - Glee Eyeshadow
avocate 2/28/2006 12:31:00 PM
Glee is absolutely gorgeous. The best way I can describe it is the color of an oak leaf in fall, but shimmery - a really pretty orange-gold. I find it to be pretty sheer, and it works well as a wash. It looks very similar to the second shade in the Golden Moon palette.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Lolita
avocate 2/27/2006 10:19:00 AM
This isn't really that sweet on me (but I'm a huge honeysuckle fan, so maybe I'm immune to it or something). It's a true citrus, very bright and sharp, with a tiny floral note peeking out through the lemon trees. Not an everyday scent for me as I usually prefer floral or spicy blends, but this is a good citrus scent to have in your mix. I like.
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Highlighters -NARS - The Multiple in South Beach
avocate 2/26/2006 11:12:00 AM
This fat stick is absolutely brilliant. I was skeptical because I'm not usually a NARS fan, but I do love South Beach. I am warm-neutral PPP and wear this on the apples of my cheeks with Smashbox French Kiss blush/highlighter on the cheekbones - the combo is really fantastic. In fact, it's all I've been wearing for the past week. Can't get enough of it. I was worried that the shimmer in South Beach would highlight my large pores, but it really doesn't. It's just a beautiful warm flush. I can't wear it on my eyes without an e/s base and it's a little too bronzey for my lips, but in a pinch I would use it on eyes and lips as well for an easy monochrome look. This stuff is expensive, but the tube is huge, and you could always slice the bullet in half to split with a friend.
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Brows -Smashbox - Brow tech
avocate 2/20/2006 4:20:00 PM
While you can, get this product as part of the Brow Tech kit. For $22, the regular price of just the Brow Tech, you also get the brow brush, a mini mascara, and sample of Photo Finish primer in a useless black mesh bag. When I saw this I was surprised by how small the Brow Tech is - but I like that, because it's easy to travel with. (The brush is tiny, too.) The little split pot is adorable and the product itself is very easy to use--just brush in the powder, then brush or dab on a bit of the wax. I have dark brown hair and nearly black eyebrows, and the Brunette shade is perfect for me (it would probably be too dark for lighter brunettes). I was nervous that filling in my dark brows would look too harsh, but this product looks totally natural, and just gives a nice groomed look. Love it.
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Highlighters -Smashbox - Smashing French Kiss
avocate 2/20/2006 2:53:00 PM
I got this as a GWP and I'm so glad I did, because I probably never would have bought it otherwise. Smashbox calls it a highlighter, and I'm not very drawn to highlighters, but this is pretty pigmented, and is actually more like a cream blush. And as a blush, it is absolutely gorgeous. The color is a strong (but not bright) neutral pink, and it has very fine shimmer that gives a subtle but noticeable glow. The staying power is also pretty good for a cream blush. This is a no-brainer for me for a fast, foolproof and natural face. I love to wear it on the cheekbones with NARS South Beach on the apples of my cheek - the perfect glowing one-two punch. :)
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Eye Shadow -Stila - Shadow Pot - Moon
avocate 2/10/2006 2:01:00 PM
This is a straight cool silver-white on me (warm-neutral PPP). It is gorgeous as a wash dotted on to the lid with your finger, extended a bit to the inner corner. However, it is very frosty and thus pretty dramatic - way too dramatic for the office, although I think I will be wearing this on the weekend as a sort of wintry look. The texture is interesting, sort of spongy, and a little goes a long way.
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Lipstick -Clinique - Colour Surge Butter Shine Lipstick - Cinnamon Stick
avocate 2/7/2006 12:56:00 PM
This was my first Butter Shine and I love the formula. It glides on beautifully, is not at all drying and has nice pigment. Unfortunately, this color didn't work for me (it looks brick red in the tube but goes on rather orange), so I swapped it. I do love the Perfect Plum Butter Shine I got afterwards, though. I'm a warm-neutral PPP with dark brown hair.
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Palettes -Sephora - Midnight Face Palette
avocate 2/7/2006 12:47:00 PM
I was not impressed with this palette, even for the $10 I paid on sale. The colors are okay, but the texture and quality of the products is not the best. The eyeshadows went on chalky and didn't blend well, and the blush did not apply easily. I had to layer to get the color to show up and by that time I had a thick layer of blush on my cheeks that I had to tissue off. All in all, this palete gave me a very clownish, heavily-made-up appearance. I know some people love it and I hope the woman I swapped it to does!
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Lip Gloss -Stila - guava lipglaze
avocate 2/5/2006 5:56:00 PM
I still haven't mastered the click pen--I can never tell how much gloss I'm going to get out of it and end up getting a lot. Which is okay, because if you apply a fairly heavy coat of this you end up with a really lovely and very glossy pink. The smell is nice and fades quickly, and the lasting power is decent, for gloss. The big downfall is the price--$20 and it seems like it'll run out pretty quickly. Stila seems to throw in lip glazes pretty generously as GWPs, so get one that way if you can.
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