Moisturizers -Trader Joe's - Enrich Moisturizing Face Lotion
lyrastar 5/1/2013 3:03:00 PM
*I do love this and will keep repurchasing. I think this will be my new standard spf 15 lotion. *I wish it came in spf 30. =( *I have oily skin and feel that this product does not contribute to my oiliness. *Of course, it doesnt reduce oiliness, but that's not one of the claims as it is meant for all skin types. *I also really love the ingredients of allantoin and ascorbic acid listed at the top of the list. *It has never given my acne prone skin a problem. (Although i do have a pretty aggressive face washing regimen.) *I use this daily with foundation mixed in and it smoothes wonderfully as a tinted moisturizer.
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Foundations -Neutrogena - Healthy Skin Glow Sheers SPF 30
lyrastar 3/27/2013 4:09:00 PM
Did anyone else notice glitter pieces? Its not packed with a crap ton of them, but they are definitely there and show up on the skin - gold flakes! I do not like that. My heart sunk as i was surveying the results of this product on my skin. =( On darker skin, like mine, glitter is incredibly OBVIOUS. I dont understand why companies do this. It does nothing to enhance the look and can even be a bit embarrassing >.< That said ... I'm not going to return it. I'm hoping the antioxidant and spf benefits will outweight the disaster that is gold flakage. I love how this sinks into the skin, leaves a very nice "glowy" (not greasy) finish, and evens out my skin tone. The color I got was Medium to Tan and it works very well for my weird olive/yellow/brown skin. Definitely still require concealer in strategic areas if you've got active breakouts or really bad scars. I think it would make a good primer for my favorite cream foundation. The real reason to buy this is for the evening out of skin color, antioxidants, and spf. I am relatively pleased.
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Scrubs -Alba Botanica - Acne Dote face & body scrub
lyrastar 3/26/2013 9:17:00 PM
The only other SA scrub I use is the St. Ives (which i love). I do like that this product has more SA than the St. Ives, so it has a nice fresh tingle to it. The gritty beads (walnut) are rougher and (i think) there are less of them than in the St. Ives, so use it with a very light hand. I use it as a mask and scrub. I'd repurchase.
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Moisturizers -Avalon Organics Botanicals - Vitamin C Renewal Facial Creme
lyrastar 3/26/2013 9:12:00 PM
I have a love hate relationship with this. Im not sure what my issue is, to be fair. Firstly, its very thick. I HATE that. Once its rubbed in it feels very occlusive. To fix this I have mixed it with extra water in the pot - just shake it like crazy until its all incorporated and viola. I like it much better this way but it still feels a little on the heavy side (at least for me.) I don't know if the vitamin C has done much. I'd like to say it has but to be honest I just don't know. ( I have pretty messed up skin.) I did say I'd repurchase this but I do think I'd like to explore other options, definitely with Vit C as a main ingredient.
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Moisturizers -Yes To Carrots - Repairing Night Cream
lyrastar 3/26/2013 9:06:00 PM
This is a very creamy face lotion. It feels silky, contains great ingredients, and has not broken me out. This was my winter moisturizer. My skin is pretty oily so I would use it very lightly. Im sry I dont have much to say since Im not all that familiar with a bunch of other moisturizers. My goal is to use products that are pretty "natural". So far, I like this.
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Concealers -Rimmel - Wake Me Up Concealer
lyrastar 3/5/2013 5:55:00 PM
**My skintone is deep olive... I've been using Light-to-Medium. **The Light-to-Medium concealer color works great to counter my dark circles and dark eyelids! It seems to just sink into the skin. It works best for me as a color corrector & so i have to use it only on the dark areas. I might try the Medium shade (which is more of a yellow color) and see how that performs on dark areas. **I tried to find the ingredients online but with no success. Im assuming it has light reflection (from titanium dioxide perhaps) because the liquid has a nice sheen to it - great for under eyes. And its a very smooth texture. **Previously I was using the Almay Line Smoothing concealer in Medium, but this is cheaper and has a strong pink coloring which counters my dark eyes nicely. **Package is standard but the wand seems kind of tightly packed inside. Im afraid i'm going to break it one of these days. **I will repurchase. ** **i hear we wont get the WakeMeUp foundation until next year , which is disappointing but i look forward to it.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Crème -Cover Girl - Simply Ageless
lyrastar 2/8/2013 7:15:00 PM
I liked this and I would buy it again.* I Had to buy two containers (soft honey and classic tan) to get a close match, and the jump between the two is truly enormous for being that they're adjacent shades. So I spent a lot of money for 2 foundations - I dont like that part! (I'll have to keep an eye out for the sales.) But the foundation itself is really quite lovely. I apply it very thinly and it covers my dark scars quite well. I still use a concealer underneath when I have extra time, but the foundation is quite imperceptible on the skin. Very natural looking.* I usually have oily skin but the winter cold and heater usage is starting to give me a dryness that my Aquasmooth cream foundation was only enhancing. This foundation works very nicely for dry or dehydrated skin. I do still have to blot with tissue when I need, but I love that I dont have to apply a powder if I dont want. Its a very nice finish.* I find it applies best with a paddle brush, and gives a really thin application. A little goes a long way. I also love that I dont feel it sitting on my skin.* The packaging is pretty and sturdy but I wish it were a bit more like the traditional clamshell with a mirror - simple and compact. This seems a bit chunky for such a small amount of product. And since I have two containers to carry in my makeup bag its a bit annoying.*
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Crème -Cover Girl - AquaSmooth SPF15 Make-up
lyrastar 1/7/2013 4:51:00 PM
I haven't worn CoverGirl since i was in high school - ages and ages ago. I don't know what got into me when I purchased this product, lol. But I'm really glad i did! I have a very tough time finding foundations that match because i have terrible scarring and blotchy complexion from acne - even when my skin is clear. Therefore, I like to wear a light coverage of this foundation over a tinted moisturizer - which helps even my skin tone better. It covers lovely. How I apply: Using the ecotools dual fiber kabuki brush for a thin application. I'm a little afraid to pile too much on because I'm oily and prone to breakouts. So I concentrate on my problem areas and blend out very thin. I can even use it as a spot concealer. Works pretty good! And So far no breakouts from it. This is a smooth and pliable foundation. I think it leaves a nice finish and doesn't look as greasy as my CoverFx cream foundation does. It almost has a velvety finish (??), not matte but not dewy. I sometimes set my Tzone with the lightest dusting of baby powder. Even though the packaging is quite sturdy its a bit absurd in it's size and shape. I'd appreciate a smaller container perhaps with a better mirror, especially since i have to use two colors for a proper match. I'll buy it again.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Primer/ Corrector -Physicians Formula - Mineral Wear Talc-Free Mineral Correcting Powder
lyrastar 1/3/2013 6:24:00 PM
I dont use this as a primer but over my tinted moisturizer to help correct discolorations. Im of dark complexioned, very olive tone in winter, and can pretty much only use this during the winter months. So i use the small Elf blush brush, tap into a color, then tap onto my face where I need it. I mostly use the green and yellow: So green goes on my red cheeks, yellow on my darker patches. To use it as an all over powder either under or over makeup would just give me a ghastly look, but I only like to use a very small amount so I can get away with it just fine. It seems like it'd be a really nice all over powder for lighter skin girls.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Powders -Johnson & Johnson - Baby Powder
lyrastar 12/22/2012 12:09:00 AM
How I use: My skin is oily, acneic. I LOVE using cornstarch based baby powder. I seem to have a hard time finding fragrance free but that just might be a bad coincidence. My skin is dark, too, and I don't have a problem using it as a finishing powder. I sprinkle some into my hand, dip a finishing brush with the dual fibers, shake out as much as I can, then gently sweep all over. Works great to keep oils at bay better than any loose powder I've tried. And I've not found it breaks me out. Also use to take out oils at the scalp: just a small amount rubbed into the hands and then massaged into the scalp. Works great.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Pressed Powders -Wet 'n' Wild - Natural Blend
lyrastar 12/11/2012 6:21:00 PM
i am a darker skin tone and am oily. I love this powder. I love that Classic Beige is a nice yellow toned powder - something that is hard to find in drugstore. The colors aren't necessarily made with darker skin tones in mind, but for gentle blotting these are great. They're soft and feel quite light. And I love that they're more plant based. The packaging is paper based - which is nice - but it does tend to get messy and the little mirror is, well, little. I'd almost prefer if they just left the mirror out, or used a package similar to the PF organic wear line of powders. Anyway, I'd love it if WnW made these in loose powder form.
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Scrubs -St. Ives - Green Tea Scrub
lyrastar 12/11/2012 6:03:00 PM
I love this scrub. I use it pretty much everyday. It helped to soften my rough textured skin as well as shrink large pores around my nose and cheeks - although I think that might be from daily exfoliating in general. I love to mix this scrub with my Cetaphil cleanser, or jojoba oil, or almond oil. I typically don't use it alone because I feel its quite a dry consistency. Mixed with the oil I can leave it on for several minutes as a mask. This scrub helps to keep my skin clear - although when Im broken out pretty badly with cystic acne I don't feel it does much to heal them. But in terms of maintaining clear skin and clearing clogged pores this product is wonderful for daily use.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Liquid -Neutrogena - Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup SPF 20
lyrastar 12/6/2012 6:01:00 PM
I'm having a hard time finding the proper shades in Neutrogena... This is a nice feeling foundation but makes me feel a bit greasy.
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Liquid -Neutrogena - Skin Clearing Oil-Free Makeup
lyrastar 12/6/2012 5:59:00 PM
I find this foundation to have nice coverage but is really drying on my skin. It is so drying, in fact, that i find it accentuates wrinkly areas that are normally not even wrinkly! I always wear the Eucerine spf 30 sunblock underneath my foundations, so I don't really want to have to wear a second moisturizer on top just to ameliorate the drying effect. Other than that, it does not break me out and does seem to help clear my skin.
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Foundations -Rimmel - Clean Finish
lyrastar 12/6/2012 5:49:00 PM
I have very oily and acne prone skin:: I'm really enjoying this foundation even though I must blott often. I find that the finish is quite nice, indeed. I mostly just blott excess oils with a tissue. I hate the look of powder over foundation on my skin (＞_＜）but I will sometimes use the lightest dusting of baby powder over my T zone. I haven't found a magical method for keeping the oiliness at bay, except I try to remember to apply MOM underneath. However, I can't really tell if it makes a difference every time. I don't find that this foundation oxidizes through the day. However it darkens pretty strong as it dries. (Takes about 10 minutes.) So color matching was tricky for me. But its so cheap I don't mind if I need to pick up another bottle and mix the colors. As I say, I'm acneic and also have a rough texture to my skin sometimes, and my favorite way to apply this foundation is with the Ecotools duo fiber kabuki, or with the #55 Sephora foundation brush (really soft and fluffy). I feel the foundation is thick enough that it lays quite nicely over my bumpy imperfections and large pores better than if I were to use a buffing brush. Hope this helps.
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