Fragrances -Elizabeth Arden - Radiance by Britney Spears
bloodyroses 12/9/2012 10:13:00 PM
I quite like this! I bought this without trying because I've been a huge fan of Midnight Fantasy and Believe by Britney Spears, so I figured, why not? At the first spray, I like the florals, but as it dries for a little longer, I don't like the particular florals, but then after an hour and until it wears off, there's an absolutely comforting and beautiful--slightly floral vanilla! Love!
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Conditioner -Burt's Bees - Volumizing with Soy and Pomegranate
bloodyroses 10/24/2012 2:11:00 PM
MY HAIR NOW FEELS LIKE STRAW. And that never happens. Even when I got my naturally level 1 coloured hair bleached, it was still soft. But after ONE use of this shampoo and conditioner set... MY HAIR IS DEAD. There are absolutely NO detangling properties. I might as well have just stuck to my Herbal Essences... How sad. This is going back to the drugstore.
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Mascara -Bobbi Brown - Everything Mascara
bloodyroses 8/20/2012 6:08:00 PM
I had high hopes. The brush seemed awesome at what I want a mascara to do--just light volumizing and definition. Right after applying, that's exactly what I get. But in a few hours, my lashes lose their curl and then the lovely little smudgies come out... Not pretty. Pretty packaging for disappointing performance.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Gloss -Revlon - Lilac Pastelle 200
bloodyroses 4/9/2011 2:32:00 AM
LOVE THIS GLOSS. OMG. It's rare enough to find a gloss that is a lilac colour with a high amount of pigment--even more surprising that I found this at a drugstore, on sale for $3.99 CAD. CRAZY. It's not too sticky, which is what I love about the Revlon Superlustrous lipglosses and the pigmentation is crazy beautiful. You can wear a thin layer, though. My lips are really pigmented, so I love to wear a thin layer--great pop of lilac that just looks light pink over the redness.
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Blush -MAC - Mineralize Blush in Sakura
bloodyroses 4/8/2011 6:11:00 PM
THIS WAS TOTALLY NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. To say the least. I'm NC25/C3 and totally in love with everything lilac/lavender and cool-toned. I wanted this blush BECAUSE of the lilac colour...but it's not even REMOTELY lilac on me. I don't know if it's the underlying warmth to my face or something, but this blush is just PINK, lol. It's almost exactly like MAC Two Virtues Mineralize Blush Duo, but the latter has more purple sparkle to it. The colour is absolutely misleading! It's SUPER pigmented, though. I applied with my 187 on my right cheek and my 165 on the left cheek...both turned out quite brightly pink. It's not even the least bit of a cool-toned pink on me. Beware of swatches on those beauty blogs--you really have to try this blush out for yourself. Lasting power seems to be pretty good, too! Quality-wise, this blush is really great. You might want to keep the little plastic insert over the blush because the blush itself is crumbly. Colour-wise? It totally depends, I think--it's a go-see-it-for-yourself type of product.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lipstick -MAC - Courting Lilac
bloodyroses 11/1/2010 5:04:00 AM
I was absolutely excited for this lipstick. I've been really into purply lip colours lately--seems like everything new that I want has to have some sort of purple twist. Too bad that this disappointed me so much. Sure, there's some lilac, and in the tube, it looked so pretty... But once it hit my lips... It's like the lilac completely disappears. It's definitely not a colour for pigmented lips. And I think that MAC ruined this lipstick with the gold frost. I would have been perfectly fine with it being a sheer, almost disappearing lilac, but the gold shimmer just KILLED it. It makes my lips look like it's reflecting candlelight. DO NOT WANT. I'm sad--I had such high hopes.
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Polishes -Revlon - Devilish
bloodyroses 9/26/2010 2:08:00 AM
Oh, how BADLY did I ever want to love this polish!!! This is possibly the worst Revlon polish I've tried so far. Goopy, streaky... I can't get it to apply evenly AT ALL. Lovely colour. But that's about the only good thing I can say.
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Top/Base Coats -Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri
bloodyroses 9/22/2010 10:50:00 AM
HORRIBLE top coat. It's way too thick, way too goopy. When you try to put it on a little thinner, you'd just smudge the nail colour you had on, right off. Oh and halfway through the bottle, it gets SO thick that you can barely even move the brush over your nails. Takes FOREVER to dry properly. Sure, it's dry to the touch, but the underlayer of polish underneath is NOT dry. Disturb it too much when it hasn't had about half an hour to harden, and byebye manicure! Oh, and like the other reviewer a few reviews down below me, this topcoat makes my polish peel CLEAN off my nail, even when I'm using a basecoat. There's just something about this that seems to curdle the polish around the edges and then start to lift off--either on the 2nd or 3rd day, or the 1st time you do a 2nd layer of topcoat. Also, it's SO not anti-chip. I already start to get chips on the same day--at the same rate I would if I didn't even bother with the topcoat anyway. Waste of money. Seriously, since it's 10CAD.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Treatments -Shiseido - THE SKINCARE Protective Lip Conditioner SPF 10
bloodyroses 9/21/2010 9:20:00 PM
I normally rave and absolutely LOVE Shiseido products because they work and they're high quality. I had bought this lip conditioner with really high hopes. My lips are INSANE. They are so dry, they peel all the time, and nothing has really worked to make them better for good. However, I had only been buying drugstore balms, so I decided to turn to my beloved Shiseido and get this lip conditioner. Turns out, this is really NOT the product for me. It's got the same smell as the Skincare's other products, great texture, and a bit of shimmer (not really something I was looking for). I used this lip balm, and only this lip balm, for 3 consecutive days. As the first day went by, I realized my lips had not gotten any better. By the second day, dry sections of skin from my lips were forming into scale-like pieces. By the third? My lips were cracking and bleeding and they were in pain. I could feel throbbing. I'm very sad and disappointed. I gave this product 1/5 because it just made my already-chapped lips much, much worse. Price was a 5--I've never paid so much for a lip balm before. I gave the packaging a 4--the metal body felt like it would dent easily. Would I buy again? Only if Shiseido decides that they would reformulate and then maybe, I'll try it again.
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Eye Shadow -MAC - Sassy Grass
bloodyroses 9/10/2010 1:44:00 PM
I really like the colour. It's a darkened kelly green with a matte finish. It's a very intense colour--not at all short on pigment. I've found that it's a bit hard to blend, and thusly not my favourite to use. Also, as a bit of a sidenote, this shadow was REALLY hard to depot for some reason. I had it heated for around 20 minutes, nothing like the 5 minutes it usually takes for a MAC shadow. AND the entire cake of shadow fell out of its pan.
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Polishes -Revlon - Valentine
bloodyroses 8/14/2010 2:18:00 AM
Great red polish. It's a darker red with no other colour undertones to it. It's a cream--one of the finishes that I find to be quite difficult to apply. The formula is pretty darn good--very opaque in two coats (but just doesn't quite cut it in just one coat), which I always do with every other polish I own. It's a teensy bit goopy, but still the same kind of runniness that I like in Revlon's polishes. It dries quite quickly for the level of goopy. A very classic, all-occasion, every season colour. My absolute favourite.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eyeliner -Lise Watier - Lise Watier Waterproof Eyeliner
bloodyroses 7/28/2010 2:22:00 AM
I figured it's much more useful to review 7 different pencil liners at the same time. For reference, I'm Asian, my eyes are not hooded and are very sensitive. I wear contacts and my seasonal allergies go berserk when spring comes, so they get really watery and itchy. I never wear liner alone--always with eyeshadow primer and eyeshadow. The bottoms of my lids are not oily. The objective was to test out how these liners wear on the waterline LISE WATIER WATERPROOF EYELINER in NOIR INTENSE This liner definitely STAYS put. Just watch out if you're crying--then it can get a little smudgey. It's very smooth--no skipping or anything. It's also really pigmented, so you only need to draw the line once. It wears really well on the upper waterline, the upper lashline and the lower lashline, but when you put it on the lower waterline, it doesn't stay on. It fades from the lower waterline and also feels sticky--I've figured out that this is part of this particular liner's stay-put quality. The wear on the other parts of the eye are all-day. Lower waterline wear is just a little uncomfortable and lasts only about half an hour (which is good--the sticky feeling won't bother you the whole day, then). 17CAD, found at London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart and Sears Canada. LANCOME LE CRAYON KHOL in BLACK EBONY Super sotty black. Like, THE blackest black. Super easy to apply because of the high pigmentation. But aside from that, it's no fun to wear. In about half an hour, I no longer have a prettily lined waterline--instead it has migrated three times the thickness of the original line and it DOESN'T come off. Well, not unless I go at it with a q-tip soaked in makeup remover, but really, who carries makeup remover in their purse? 27CAD at The Bay, Sears Canada, Sephora, Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs. MAC EYE KOHL in SMOLDER For an eye kohl pencil, the staying power is really not that bad. It's about 2 hours of perfection. As the day goes on, it fades away. It does smudge, as well, but minimal. An "eh" pencil. One could do better. But if your eyes aren't very watery or anything, it'd probably be great for you. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. SHU UEMURA DRAWING PENCIL in M BLACK 01 Hard to put on the waterline. It's probably because it's a waterproof pencil trying to draw on a wet waterline. It's very smooth and very black, though. Staying power is NIL. Absolutely nil. It was so bad, I returned it in a flash. After about an hour, it fades away COMPLETELY from the waterline and migrates waaaaaaaaay down below the lower lashline. 25CAD at Holt Refrew. MAKE UP FOR EVER AQUA EYES in 0L After the makeup board was recommending me this liner, I decided to try it out. I'm disappointed. It literally is the same story as the Shu drawing pencil. Very black with panda eyes in an hour, flat. Sigh. 19CAD at The Bay, Sephora, Sears Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart. URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE ON EYE PENCIL in ZERO Again, another liner that just pissed me off. Everyone I talked to promised that it'd be THE liner and I was particularly excited because when Sephora opened just last summer, I made it part of my first purchase there. And you know what? Exact same story as the Shu drawing pencil and the MUFE liner. Pooey. 21CAD at Sephora. MAC POWERPOINT in ENGRAVED This liner has the same consistency as the Lise Watier liner, but this one actually stays much longer on the waterline, without that weird stickiness. Very smooth. You might need to run the liner over twice over the same place to make it darker, though. The fading is very gradual and very neat--it doesn't smudge and leave a mess below the lashline. I believe it only started to fade after 4 hours. So far, this liner wins the contest. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. Phew. That was long. Hope this helps someone!
36 out of 36 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eyeliner -Urban Decay - 24-7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero
bloodyroses 7/28/2010 2:20:00 AM
I figured it's much more useful to review 7 different pencil liners at the same time. For reference, I'm Asian, my eyes are not hooded and are very sensitive. I wear contacts and my seasonal allergies go berserk when spring comes, so they get really watery and itchy. I never wear liner alone--always with eyeshadow primer and eyeshadow. The bottoms of my lids are not oily. The objective was to test out how these liners wear on the waterline LISE WATIER WATERPROOF EYELINER in NOIR INTENSE This liner definitely STAYS put. Just watch out if you're crying--then it can get a little smudgey. It's very smooth--no skipping or anything. It's also really pigmented, so you only need to draw the line once. It wears really well on the upper waterline, the upper lashline and the lower lashline, but when you put it on the lower waterline, it doesn't stay on. It fades from the lower waterline and also feels sticky--I've figured out that this is part of this particular liner's stay-put quality. The wear on the other parts of the eye are all-day. Lower waterline wear is just a little uncomfortable and lasts only about half an hour (which is good--the sticky feeling won't bother you the whole day, then). 17CAD, found at London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart and Sears Canada. LANCOME LE CRAYON KHOL in BLACK EBONY Super sotty black. Like, THE blackest black. Super easy to apply because of the high pigmentation. But aside from that, it's no fun to wear. In about half an hour, I no longer have a prettily lined waterline--instead it has migrated three times the thickness of the original line and it DOESN'T come off. Well, not unless I go at it with a q-tip soaked in makeup remover, but really, who carries makeup remover in their purse? 27CAD at The Bay, Sears Canada, Sephora, Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs. MAC EYE KOHL in SMOLDER For an eye kohl pencil, the staying power is really not that bad. It's about 2 hours of perfection. As the day goes on, it fades away. It does smudge, as well, but minimal. An "eh" pencil. One could do better. But if your eyes aren't very watery or anything, it'd probably be great for you. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. SHU UEMURA DRAWING PENCIL in M BLACK 01 Hard to put on the waterline. It's probably because it's a waterproof pencil trying to draw on a wet waterline. It's very smooth and very black, though. Staying power is NIL. Absolutely nil. It was so bad, I returned it in a flash. After about an hour, it fades away COMPLETELY from the waterline and migrates waaaaaaaaay down below the lower lashline. 25CAD at Holt Refrew. MAKE UP FOR EVER AQUA EYES in 0L After the makeup board was recommending me this liner, I decided to try it out. I'm disappointed. It literally is the same story as the Shu drawing pencil. Very black with panda eyes in an hour, flat. Sigh. 19CAD at The Bay, Sephora, Sears Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart. URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE ON EYE PENCIL in ZERO Again, another liner that just pissed me off. Everyone I talked to promised that it'd be THE liner and I was particularly excited because when Sephora opened just last summer, I made it part of my first purchase there. And you know what? Exact same story as the Shu drawing pencil and the MUFE liner. Pooey. 21CAD at Sephora. MAC POWERPOINT in ENGRAVED This liner has the same consistency as the Lise Watier liner, but this one actually stays much longer on the waterline, without that weird stickiness. Very smooth. You might need to run the liner over twice over the same place to make it darker, though. The fading is very gradual and very neat--it doesn't smudge and leave a mess below the lashline. I believe it only started to fade after 4 hours. So far, this liner wins the contest. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. Phew. That was long. Hope this helps someone!
24 out of 33 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eyeliner -Lancome - Le Crayon Kohl
bloodyroses 7/28/2010 2:20:00 AM
I figured it's much more useful to review 7 different pencil liners at the same time. For reference, I'm Asian, my eyes are not hooded and are very sensitive. I wear contacts and my seasonal allergies go berserk when spring comes, so they get really watery and itchy. I never wear liner alone--always with eyeshadow primer and eyeshadow. The bottoms of my lids are not oily. The objective was to test out how these liners wear on the waterline LISE WATIER WATERPROOF EYELINER in NOIR INTENSE This liner definitely STAYS put. Just watch out if you're crying--then it can get a little smudgey. It's very smooth--no skipping or anything. It's also really pigmented, so you only need to draw the line once. It wears really well on the upper waterline, the upper lashline and the lower lashline, but when you put it on the lower waterline, it doesn't stay on. It fades from the lower waterline and also feels sticky--I've figured out that this is part of this particular liner's stay-put quality. The wear on the other parts of the eye are all-day. Lower waterline wear is just a little uncomfortable and lasts only about half an hour (which is good--the sticky feeling won't bother you the whole day, then). 17CAD, found at London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart and Sears Canada. LANCOME LE CRAYON KHOL in BLACK EBONY Super sotty black. Like, THE blackest black. Super easy to apply because of the high pigmentation. But aside from that, it's no fun to wear. In about half an hour, I no longer have a prettily lined waterline--instead it has migrated three times the thickness of the original line and it DOESN'T come off. Well, not unless I go at it with a q-tip soaked in makeup remover, but really, who carries makeup remover in their purse? 27CAD at The Bay, Sears Canada, Sephora, Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs. MAC EYE KOHL in SMOLDER For an eye kohl pencil, the staying power is really not that bad. It's about 2 hours of perfection. As the day goes on, it fades away. It does smudge, as well, but minimal. An "eh" pencil. One could do better. But if your eyes aren't very watery or anything, it'd probably be great for you. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. SHU UEMURA DRAWING PENCIL in M BLACK 01 Hard to put on the waterline. It's probably because it's a waterproof pencil trying to draw on a wet waterline. It's very smooth and very black, though. Staying power is NIL. Absolutely nil. It was so bad, I returned it in a flash. After about an hour, it fades away COMPLETELY from the waterline and migrates waaaaaaaaay down below the lower lashline. 25CAD at Holt Refrew. MAKE UP FOR EVER AQUA EYES in 0L After the makeup board was recommending me this liner, I decided to try it out. I'm disappointed. It literally is the same story as the Shu drawing pencil. Very black with panda eyes in an hour, flat. Sigh. 19CAD at The Bay, Sephora, Sears Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart. URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE ON EYE PENCIL in ZERO Again, another liner that just pissed me off. Everyone I talked to promised that it'd be THE liner and I was particularly excited because when Sephora opened just last summer, I made it part of my first purchase there. And you know what? Exact same story as the Shu drawing pencil and the MUFE liner. Pooey. 21CAD at Sephora. MAC POWERPOINT in ENGRAVED This liner has the same consistency as the Lise Watier liner, but this one actually stays much longer on the waterline, without that weird stickiness. Very smooth. You might need to run the liner over twice over the same place to make it darker, though. The fading is very gradual and very neat--it doesn't smudge and leave a mess below the lashline. I believe it only started to fade after 4 hours. So far, this liner wins the contest. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. Phew. That was long. Hope this helps someone!
8 out of 13 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eyeliner -Lancome - Le Crayon Kohl - Black Ebony
bloodyroses 7/28/2010 2:19:00 AM
I figured it's much more useful to review 7 different pencil liners at the same time. For reference, I'm Asian, my eyes are not hooded and are very sensitive. I wear contacts and my seasonal allergies go berserk when spring comes, so they get really watery and itchy. I never wear liner alone--always with eyeshadow primer and eyeshadow. The bottoms of my lids are not oily. The objective was to test out how these liners wear on the waterline LISE WATIER WATERPROOF EYELINER in NOIR INTENSE This liner definitely STAYS put. Just watch out if you're crying--then it can get a little smudgey. It's very smooth--no skipping or anything. It's also really pigmented, so you only need to draw the line once. It wears really well on the upper waterline, the upper lashline and the lower lashline, but when you put it on the lower waterline, it doesn't stay on. It fades from the lower waterline and also feels sticky--I've figured out that this is part of this particular liner's stay-put quality. The wear on the other parts of the eye are all-day. Lower waterline wear is just a little uncomfortable and lasts only about half an hour (which is good--the sticky feeling won't bother you the whole day, then). 17CAD, found at London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart and Sears Canada. LANCOME LE CRAYON KHOL in BLACK EBONY Super sotty black. Like, THE blackest black. Super easy to apply because of the high pigmentation. But aside from that, it's no fun to wear. In about half an hour, I no longer have a prettily lined waterline--instead it has migrated three times the thickness of the original line and it DOESN'T come off. Well, not unless I go at it with a q-tip soaked in makeup remover, but really, who carries makeup remover in their purse? 27CAD at The Bay, Sears Canada, Sephora, Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs. MAC EYE KOHL in SMOLDER For an eye kohl pencil, the staying power is really not that bad. It's about 2 hours of perfection. As the day goes on, it fades away. It does smudge, as well, but minimal. An "eh" pencil. One could do better. But if your eyes aren't very watery or anything, it'd probably be great for you. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. SHU UEMURA DRAWING PENCIL in M BLACK 01 Hard to put on the waterline. It's probably because it's a waterproof pencil trying to draw on a wet waterline. It's very smooth and very black, though. Staying power is NIL. Absolutely nil. It was so bad, I returned it in a flash. After about an hour, it fades away COMPLETELY from the waterline and migrates waaaaaaaaay down below the lower lashline. 25CAD at Holt Refrew. MAKE UP FOR EVER AQUA EYES in 0L After the makeup board was recommending me this liner, I decided to try it out. I'm disappointed. It literally is the same story as the Shu drawing pencil. Very black with panda eyes in an hour, flat. Sigh. 19CAD at The Bay, Sephora, Sears Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart. URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE ON EYE PENCIL in ZERO Again, another liner that just pissed me off. Everyone I talked to promised that it'd be THE liner and I was particularly excited because when Sephora opened just last summer, I made it part of my first purchase there. And you know what? Exact same story as the Shu drawing pencil and the MUFE liner. Pooey. 21CAD at Sephora. MAC POWERPOINT in ENGRAVED This liner has the same consistency as the Lise Watier liner, but this one actually stays much longer on the waterline, without that weird stickiness. Very smooth. You might need to run the liner over twice over the same place to make it darker, though. The fading is very gradual and very neat--it doesn't smudge and leave a mess below the lashline. I believe it only started to fade after 4 hours. So far, this liner wins the contest. 17.50CAD at MAC at The Bay, MAC, MAC Pro. Phew. That was long. Hope this helps someone!
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No