Concealers -Laura Mercier - Secret Brightener
hirondelle 4/12/2007 8:47:00 AM
Really terrible product. Thin, watery and useless as a concealer, it also does little to nothing as a highlighter, aside from adding a weird sort of glitter. The color is simultaneously pink & white-ish. If you like the slight cast you get from certain sunscreens, this is for you. If you want a light concealer/highlighter, get YSL Touche Eclat, the original. It kicks the LM's posterior from here to Paris.
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Tinted Moisturizer -Laura Mercier - Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20
hirondelle 4/12/2007 8:41:00 AM
A lot of tint and almost no moisture. More coverage than I expect from a so-called tinted moisturizer. This is much more like a foundation. It dries almost instantly, so fast you have to be Speedy Gonzalez to get it smoothed on evenly before it streaks. It does absolutely nothing to moisturize or soothe my normal-to-dry skin. The color is extremely yellow. And it is overpriced too. I can see, however, than an oilier-skinned lady with a different skin tone and an aversion to wearing something called "foundation" might like this. But it is not for me.
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Lip Gloss -Rimmel - Vinyl Lip in Mmmm
hirondelle 10/12/2005 8:52:00 AM
Pretty nude color that a PPP like me can wear. I don't find it the least bit sticky; it is much more of a Bourjois-style gloss, soft, goopy and moisturizing. Its staying power is average, not awful, not great either. The smell is just vile, an artificial sweet-candy scent. Fortunately, the scent dissipates very quickly, or else it would be unwearable to me. It doesn't dry out my lips, and at Rimmel prices I believe I would purchase again.
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Mascara -Christian Dior - Ultimeyes
hirondelle 10/9/2005 9:40:00 PM
Really good mascara, and surprisingly water-resistant too. Ordinarily I buy only waterproof due to my allergy-prone eyes, which can tear a lot. This isn't waterproof, but it still wears very well. I have it in an eggplant color (882) which is beautiful. It gives lush, full, dramatic lashes like YSL Faux Cils, but doesn't have that product's overwhelming scent. I am sold and ready to buy it in another color.
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Lip Gloss -Christian Dior - Dior Addict Lip Fluid
hirondelle 10/9/2005 6:07:00 PM
An impulse buy, which is usually a bad idea for me. This is good stuff, though. It is opaque like a lipstick, but is soft like a gloss and comes with a sponge applicator. Mine is Soft Beige, which is more of a brickish-brown IMO. Very, very little sparkle, thank god. It wears very well and doesn't dry out my lips at all. I was going to give it four stars, but then DH commented on how great my lips looked, so five it is.
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Fragrances -Serge Lutens - Borneo 1834
hirondelle 10/5/2005 11:53:00 AM
If there were a head shop on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris, this is what you would smell when you went in to get your haute couture bong. It is the same old sweaty patchouli, dressed up for a night on the town. Owes a great deal to Angel, one of the worst insults I can personally give a perfume. I have no idea why this was even deemed necessary in a world where patchouli-focused scents are a dime a dozen. [Full disclosure note: While I review each scent with an open mind, I am not a patchouli fan.]
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Eye Shadow -Sue Devitt - Sue Devitt Eye Glides
hirondelle 9/17/2005 7:56:00 AM
This is just about the dumbest applicator I have ever come across. As Jamiefox notes, rolling a hard little ball across your eye isn't very comfortable. In fact, it wasn't comfortable back in the 1980s, either, when this was the trendy packaging for lip gloss. The tiny little ball means that the shadow comes out in stripes. It does not blend well at all; if you want more, you gotta roll that ball some more. And only a tiny amount comes out at one time. The shadow itself is an OK color, albeit extremely glittery; so I have pried the stupid roller ball out and transferred it to another container. But there is no way I would ever pay Sue Devitt prices for this silly gimmick. Thank goodness this was in the Barney's Gift with Purchase!
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Lip Gloss -Make Up For Ever - Super Lip Gloss No. 20
hirondelle 7/22/2005 8:32:00 PM
Utterly gorgeous color that would probably look good on any fair-to-medium skinned woman. It is very sticky, almost gluey, which feels unpleasant as you apply it, and it can't be applied without effort. So one lippie off. But once it's on, it is ON. And it doesn't feel bad once it is on the lips. So you get the soft, muted texture of a gloss like Bourjois or Vincent Longo, but the durability of Lipglass. Works for me. At C$16 I would definitely get another tube.
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Fragrances -Penhaligon's - Bluebell
hirondelle 6/25/2005 8:21:00 PM
Bluebell is delicate almost to the point of being mincing--as unlike its famous devotee "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher as it is possible to be. I imagine this wafting off of her during question time in Parliament and it gives new meaning to the term "mixed message." I also find it hard to conceive of the hard-partying Kate Moss wearing this, though reportedly she does. Opposites attract, I suppose. And there is something very English about this well-behaved scent. There is a distinct blast of hyacinth at the beginning; I don't get anything metallic or chemical at all. It mellows into a slightly spicy carnation, a bit like Malmaison, but unlike the Floris the clove doesn't take over. There is nothing complex, sexy or mysterious about Bluebell, but I still find myself liking it and I can easily imagine buying a small bottle.
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Fragrances -Caron - Tabac Blond
hirondelle 6/25/2005 1:15:00 PM
Powder, vanilla, amber, the full-out smack of what must be the ultimate leather accord. But describing the components does absolutely nothing to convey what you get with Tabac Blond extrait de parfum. If ever a perfume required poise of its wearer, this one does. One day I was going to put on some of this stuff. At the time, I was wearing yoga pants, a t-shirt, fuzzy flip-flops and no makeup. I caught a whiff from the cap and my hand froze on the sprayer nozzle. Tabac Blond itself seemed to be telling me that I had better not even think of wearing it with such an unworthy ensemble. I wound up putting on Petite Cherie. The extrait is beyond strong, veering almost into chemical weapon territory. Last night I was decanting some for a friend. About 18 hours later, the bathroom still smells like Tabac Blond. My hands (washed many times since, and showered along with the rest of me) still smell vaguely of Tabac Blond. Even my kids, whom I bathed after decanting, still smell a bit like Tabac Blond. In short, this perfume wants to take over the world. I suggest you let it. Wear this on days when you want not just respect, but craven obeisance.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Shampoo -Phyto - Phytocitrus
hirondelle 6/21/2005 1:34:00 PM
Yes, the packaging is ridiculous. One lippie off for the moronic idea of putting a slippery glass bottle in a tiled shower stall. Couldn't they at least put a more grippable label on the thing? It's just pasted-on paper that peels off, leaving you with nothing but glass. Obviously no one would put up with this if it weren't a good product, and it is a great product. It revives and brightens my hair, doesn't strip the color and works brilliantly in conjunction with the Phytologie mask. Because I have baby-fine hair I don't like a lot of conditioning stuff in my shampoo anyway, and this doesn't seem to have any. But I didn't find it drying at all. It just cleans thoroughly and rinses away. Pretty much the best shampoo I have found so far.
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Conditioner -Phyto - Phytocitrus Vital Radiance Mask
hirondelle 6/21/2005 1:28:00 PM
Good conditioner for color-treated hair. My hair is baby-fine and this rinses well. It moisturizes, but does not weigh down my hair with a bunch of silicone nastiness. It also has a pleasant smell that rinses right out with the conditioner. I am not crazy about the metal tube, as it bends and dents and just seems to be more about looks than function. But overall I am pleased.
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Conditioner -Bumble & Bumble - Leave in Conditioner
hirondelle 6/21/2005 1:25:00 PM
Good, but not great. Perhaps if I were a daily blow-dryer I would like it more. I tend to towel-dry my hair, and this moisturizes and detangles but is so-so at taming the frizzies. It works better on the occasions when I do blow-dry, and seems to protect a bit from the straightening iron. Overall, I am not terribly impressed, especially not at Bumble & Bumble prices.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Misc Beauty Tools -Diamancel - Foot Buffers
hirondelle 6/21/2005 1:20:00 PM
Eh. I have the #11. It works, but no better than other buffers I have used at a fraction of the cost. The Diamancel nail file, by way of contrast, works much better than the cheapies. If I had it to do over again, I would just buy the Dr. Scholl's.
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Misc Beauty Tools -Alcone - Makeup Sponges
hirondelle 6/21/2005 11:53:00 AM
These are the only makeup sponges worth buying. Not one other brand I have used can touch them. They are very thick and dense, so they pick up the perfect amount of foundation for blending. They are smooth and don't drag on the skin. They are huge and can be custom-cut into smaller pieces for whatever purpose your heart desires (that is what they do at the Alcone store in Manhattan). They clean well, and they don't cost much either. Order them on the Internet if you aren't in the NY area. They will be worth it, I assure you.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No