Gels/Soaps -LUSH - Rock Star
maddsox 5/15/2010 12:35:00 PM
Simple. Sweet. This is a great sweet soap. I am not a fan of sweet smells, but I LOVE Rockstar. LOVE it. This is the ultimate girly soap. Try it, you'll love it.
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Eye Shadow -Wet 'n' Wild - ColorIcon Palette in Lust [DISCONTINUED]
maddsox 5/2/2010 12:44:00 PM
Quite seriously, the best $5 you will spend. I agree with everything other reviewers have said about the smoothness,the pigmentation, and the blendability. The ONLY downside (and it's minor) is that there is a considerable amount of fallout if you are not extremely cautious when loading your brush. I have the Greed palette as well, and am in love with both. Very happy with my purchases. :)
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Eyeliner -NYX - Glitter Mania Jumbo Pencil
maddsox 4/30/2010 5:36:00 PM
I don't know, man. I ordered these as part of the "bundle of joy" sale this year. If I hadn't paid so little for them, I would be raising a stink about returning them. Like the review before me, these are basically transparent gel with glitter... big glitter. They slip and slide and don't deliver a lot of glitter for the amount of emollient gel stuff you have to rub on. I think these will go in my god-daughter's play makeup kit. I just don't see finding a use for these that doesn't involve a lot of hassle. Boohiss on this one from Nyx. I usually love their products for the price point, but this one seems worthless.
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Pressed Powders -E.L.F. - Complexion Perfection
maddsox 3/26/2010 7:50:00 PM
Hello Lover! This stuff is currently my favorite powder. I have *gasp* set aside my MAC Blot powder for now to give this a shot. So far, so good. I picked this up at Target a couple of weeks ago, and am loving it so far. At home, I use a large powder brush to apply a light dusting to my face. I just swirl all of the colors together, because honestly... they aren't that pigmented. I'm careful with my application because I have fairly light skin and don't want to have that chalky too white look. I find this to be comparable to other blot powders I've tried. On the go, I just slip this into my purse and use my Too Faced retractable kabuki to apply. I find with this, I don't get a complete mask-like matte finish. I get a natural no-shine satin look. I find this works beautifully with my Chanel and NARS foundations. Not as well with my MUFE and Maybelline. Not sure why. I'm sure I'll eventually go back to my MAC Blot powder, but for now, I'm loving this!
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Pressed Powders -E.L.F. - Translucent Mattifying Powder
maddsox 3/26/2010 7:41:00 PM
I wish they'd do away with the gross little sponge applicator and make a full pan of product. This pressed powder works well for mattifying my oily spots. It doesn't last all day, but does last about as long as other blot/oil control powders do on my oily T-zone. Overall, its an okay product. I say "okay" because I think it's an odd shade that won't work for lots of skin types. I see this being far too dark for very light skinned gals and way to light for darker skinned ladies. Get rid of the sponge and add more colors, and you've got a top notch product.
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Mascara -Korres - Abyssinia Oil Mascara - Volumising/Strengthening
maddsox 3/26/2010 5:12:00 PM
I really really like this mascara. Other reviewers have done a great job of describing the small brush, the formula, etc. What I will say is that I already have pretty great lashes to begin with. It's my one beauty positive in a face full of issues. :/ I found that this mascara gave me really beautiful dark natural lashes with no clumping, no flaking, no smudging, and a gorgeous matte black color. I can't really find much of anything bad to say. I've been on a mascara kick here lately, and feel like I've been disappointed more than not with everything I've tried. This really surprised me. I'm new to the Korres brand and actually wound up with 2 of these mascaras when I purchased the Golden Goddess kit and the Smokey Eyes kit. I was really really happy with this mascara. For me, it's a keeper.
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Eye Shadow -Korres - Eye Shadow
maddsox 3/24/2010 12:53:00 PM
I am truly in love with these shadows. Browsing around my local Sephora last week, I picked up the Golden Goddess Collection (silver, golden bronze, golden brown, and golden green) and the Smokey Eyes Collection (white, plum, dark gray, and gray brown). Each collection comes with 4 eye shadows, an eyeliner, a mascara, and a lipgloss. The only thing from Korres I've ever purchased are the Pomegranate cleansing cloths, and I love those! So I figured the collections were a good way to try lots of different eye products. I am so glad I did. These eyeshadows are silky, buttery, smooth. The pigmentation is great. They last all day with both my UDPP and my MAC PP's. I love that these don't irritate my eyes, are wonderful natural neutral colors, and apply beautifully. I will definitely be purchasing these again.
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Skincare - Face -MAC - Fix+
maddsox 3/22/2010 6:49:00 PM
I use this for so many things from sunburn to foiling my pigments to setting my makeup to detangling my hair. I realize it's expensive, but I like it and it works for me. A MUST HAVE in my arsenal.
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Eye Shadow -MAC - All That Glitters
maddsox 3/22/2010 6:35:00 PM
I use this in my kit and in my personal stash. I've hit pan in both and will keep repurchasing. I find this works on most skin tones and plays nice with other e/s. Right now I'm really liking this with the new WnW Color Icon in Greed. Over-hype hoo-hah aside, I like this shadow despite the countless dupes that are supposedly readily available.
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Misc Beauty Tools -MAC - Brush Cleanser
maddsox 3/22/2010 4:13:00 PM
This is my go-to daily cleanser for spot-cleaning my brushes. I love it. I feel like it's a great deal for the $$. You get tons of cleanser. It conditions the brushes without making them oily. My only complaint is the packaging. I wish it had a spray top. I feel like I waste product sometimes with the pour top. I find a bottle of this lasts me for about 4 months with daily use on my eye brushes. I don't use this on my bigger face brushes. I shampoo them once a week with either EnKore's homemade brush cleaner or baby shampoo. I have tried other cleansers, but I find that I come back to this one repeatedly.
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Bath Treatments -LUSH - Dorothy
maddsox 3/22/2010 4:07:00 PM
Please please please make Dorothy a keeper! I love this more than just about any other bubble bar I've tried so far. :D Figs, ylang ylang, and lilac; heaps of bubbles; and cuteness galore. And to top it all off, bright blue bath water! This makes the best little thank you gift in the world! Just wrap one up in a $1 organza bag from Michael's bag, and you're good to go!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -LUSH - Go Green Solid Perfume
maddsox 3/11/2010 1:55:00 PM
This is a wonderful spring/summer solid fragrance! It smells fresh, clean, and well... green. I get a wonderful citrus, lavender, and pine scent on my skin. It's clean, but it's NOT Pine-Sol. I find that it smells much brighter on the skin that it does in the pan. So much better than Snow Fairy and Karma imo. I find both of those to be somewhat rank solid perfumes even though I like the soap version. I'm a big fan of clean scents like Brit Sheer, Light Blue and True Religion, but they NEVER last as long as I'd like. I find that I can rub some Go Green on my pulse points midway through the day and it livens up my already applied Brit Sheer (my all-time fave) as it goes through it's dry down. I love using Go Green on my skin and spritzing my perfumes on my clothing. As far as the packaging goes, I have never had a problem with the LUSH solid perfume tins. For me, the lids stay on tightly even to the point of being difficult to open at times. I will be going back to LUSH soon to use up a couple of coupons that are about to expire and I will definitely be purchasing a backup of this. :D
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Top/Base Coats -China Glaze - Strong Adhesion Base Coat
maddsox 3/2/2010 5:21:00 PM
This is definitely HG for me! I have tried nearly every base coat out there, and this one works wonders for me. I want a base coat to primarily do two things: keep my polish on and protect my nails from turning yellow. This does both. This was actually one of the first base coats I ever purchased. But over time (and b/c of youtube!), I purchased lots of other base coats to try thinking they were better. I actually kind of forgot about this one in my determination to make the others work. I kept thinking it was my topcoat or my cuticle cream or anything other than these highly recommended base coats! With my other base coats (Nailtek, Seche Vite, Opi Nail Envy, etc.) my polish would peel off in sheets. So I actually gave up base coats for a while and just tried buffing the hell out of my nails before a manicure. That helped the polish last more than 2 days, but then my nails started to turn yellow. Cleaning out my stash one day, I came across this stuff. And I CANNOT believe how much better it is. My polish stays on for 5 days with no problems. For reference, I use a variety of top coats, but primarily use Seche Vite. I will NEVER use another base coat again. EVER.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -China Glaze - For Audrey
maddsox 3/2/2010 5:13:00 PM
I adore this color! It's a wonderful Robin's Egg Blue. With 2 coats, it is an exact match for my Tiffany's boxes! The color is gorgeous. The formula is not exactly my favorite. Like others have mentioned, it's thin and can be difficult to work with. But 2 coats give a nice opaque finish. I would definitely buy this again. I love using this as a base for my Konadicures. It's also fun to use when marbling my nails. :D
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -MAC - Cremeblend Blush - Optimistic Orange
maddsox 2/25/2010 6:31:00 PM
I love this blush! It is quickly becoming the ONLY one I use. Let me start by saying that this is super scary in the pan... when they say "orange" they are not kidding. For reference I'm an NW20 in the winter and try as I might to stay out of the sun I live in Texas... so I'm always more tanned in the summer. Anywhoo... This blush is vastly different than some of the other cream blushes I have from MAC. They are oily and slick and tend to break me out. This cremeblend is none of those things. You can immediately tell the difference in the pan. This blush has a "hard" consistency, but I only have to use a tiny bit of pressure with my brush or my finger to pick up plenty of product. Next, this stuff goes on like a dream. I use my 188 or my 168 to apply on my cheeks after my foundation or MSF. Occasionally, I'll set it with a powder blush, but usually I don't feel like I need to do so. This gives an awesome peachy/pink glow to my skin. It blends really well and stays put all day long. I have combo/oily skin, so I was skeptical at first about trying another MAC creme face product. I'm so glad I did. I have even used this on my lips. It was a bit dry but sheered down with a good lip balm or a clear gloss, it was amazing. This was part of January's MAC in Lilyland collection and is still available at my local MAC counter, but not online.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No