Treatments -RoC - Retin-Ox+ Serum Max - Intense Anti-Wrinkle Serum
magentagreen 9/20/2009 2:55:00 AM
Meh. I almost used up the whole bottle of this. It lasted a long time for a serum, about 4 month and there is still something inside, impossible to tell how much. I used one pump every evening on clean skin. Didn't have any redness or irritation but didn't see anything changing in my skin, so I started using 2 pumps. Like this, I didn't need any moisturizer on top. But still no changes. It felt nice on my skin and that's all. No help with large pores, clogged pores, fine line between my eyebrows and around lips (and they are very fine and small, so how is this supposed to work for real wrinkles?), no skin tightening benefits. No discoloration benefits. It might work for some people, but it didn't for me. Not at all. Will not buy again.
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Toners -Environ - Alpha Hydroxy Toner Forte
magentagreen 8/17/2009 3:15:00 AM
I live in South Africa and have hard times finding many good products suggested on skin care board. I have enlarged pores, blackheads on my nose, very clog prone skin, not sensitive, faded but still visible melasma. After unsuccessfully trying some BHA products for the blackheads and clogged pores, and knowing my pretty tough skin, I decided to give AHA's a shot. The only one I could find (and halfway trust) was this. I was little bit worried how my skin will react to this, as I never used anything with AHA in my life. I was applying this toner for 5 evenings in a raw and have great results so far. My pores look so flat, almost non-existent, blackheads are gone, bumps left from some cystyc acne are gone, fine line between my eyebrows almost disappeared. This is as miraculous for me as it gets, I've never seen such quick and noticable results from any product in the past. Now, this toner is very strong, I can feel it, although Environ doesn't disclose the percentage of glycolic acid, but there is a milder version as well. I'll use this every 2nd evening or even only twice a week from now on, as I feel my skin becoming little sensitive. All in all, I would certainly recommend this product to those who need/wand a strong-ish glycolic acid toner. EDIT: Ok, this is not strong-ish, this is strong. It looks like I unintentionally gave myself a light chemical peel with this one. My chin developed frosting and it's peeling now. Be careful with this one. But the rest of my skin looks amazing. EDIT: I'm using this for about a month now and my skin adjusted completely. I can use it every evening without any irritation. However, I stopped using it nightly and apply only twice a week. That's enough glycolic acid for now. My skin is very smooth and soft and improved texture stays the same.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Brows -Rimmel - Professional Eyebrow Pencil
magentagreen 7/30/2009 11:31:00 AM
I was surprized that nobody mentioned Brown-Black color. I bouught it today again and it clearly says Brown-Black, not just Brown or Black. It's awesome cool, charcoal, very dark brown, exactly what I need for my brows. Many pencils are way too warm for me or just plain black which looks unnatural and hilarious on me. It's very easy to apply, looks natural and is cheap. I wouldn't be surprized if some other HE company used identical ingredients and charged 4 times more. I love the brush attached to a cap, great for blending the pencil in.
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Cleansers -Garnier - Clean Sensitive Moisture Infusion Cleansing Water
magentagreen 7/5/2009 9:52:00 AM
I have slightly sensitive cheeks, otherwise my skin is combination. I already used the whole bottle of this. I think it's great for removing non-waterproof makeup. It removes my hard-to-take-off, non-waterproof Revlon Beyond Natural mascara very well, I just have to soak the cotton pad little bit more and leave it on my eyes for 10 sec or so. Leaves my skin clean and fresh, no oily residue, no dryness, no redness on my cheeks. In the evening I follow up with a scrub, in the morning I clean my face only with this and a splash of warm water. This does have the same ingredients as Vichy micellar cleanser, maybe the amount of some ingredients is different, not sure about that. However, unlike Vichy, it doesn't contain any perfume. Obviously, if your skin is very sensitive, you may want to pass on this, but otherwise, I would recommend it for sure. And the price can't be bet. I really like it and will continue to buy it. EDIT 26/02/10 This has become my HG cleanser, especially for AM when I don't have lots of products/makeup to take off. Panthenol in it is very, very soothing for my Retin A treated skin and the cleanser itself is slightly moisturizing without being sticky. I'm on my 7th or 8th bottle.
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Lip Gloss -Palladio - Herbal Lip Gloss in Ruby Red
magentagreen 7/1/2009 3:05:00 AM
I'm going to get more of these! Moisturizing, not sticky, smooth, and I feel my lips are nourished when I wear mine. Moisture from it lasts fairly well. The color pay-off from Ruby Red is surprizingly good and it doesn't disappear from your lips after half an hour like many other glosses do. (If you're not eating or licking your lips). I have to reapply couple of times during the day, but what lipgloss lasts whole day long? For this price, nothing can beat it. It doesn't have spf though. I'm exited to try different colors soon!
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Powder -Palladio - Wet/Dry foundation
magentagreen 6/30/2009 2:52:00 AM
Palladio is my discovery of the year. The quality of their products for such a low price is amazing. This powder is my current everyday staple foundation. I use it dry. I found it applies better with a sponge than brush. When I apply it with a brush, it accentuates my pores for some reason. Not so with a sponge. It goes smoothly and evenly allover the face. After I'm done applying I press it with the provided sponge into my skin really well and that's it. It might look little powdery at first, but it melts with your skin after 30 min or so. The finish is matte and pretty natural, the coverage is light to medium, depending on how much you use. I do get a little bit oily forehead after several hours, but I just apply little more of the powder and that takes care of it. It doesn't disappear from my skin, and I don't use any primer, maybe because of "pressing with the sponge" application. Like all the powders, it will get cakey if you overapply it, especially if you apply a heavy layer straight on. I didn't try it wet, but it is wet/dry foundation and you can try wet application for a full coverage. This has talk in it, so if you dislike talk products this is not for you. The color range is not the best. I use the lightest shade available, Laurel Nude and is pretty good match for my NC 20-ish (more between 15 and 20) skin tone. It could be a tad lighter but it's still fine. Packaging is great. Sturdy black box with mirror and a separate chamber for the sponge. Not too bulky to put it in handbag. All in all, a really good pressed powder if you can find color match. I also love their brow powder (only the brush sucks) and their herbal lip glosses. Very happy to discover this brand. PS. This powder doesn't have any built in sun protection, which I like a lot, because it doesn't interfere with my sunscreen underneath. (Lots of powders have "uncoated" zinc oxide which destabilizes avobenzone in sunscreans)
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -MAC - Strada
magentagreen 6/22/2009 3:55:00 AM
I said I would buy this blush again. But it's been discontinued. However I found it yesterday at the MAC store in South Africa where I live and I'm seriously considering buying one more. The pot of this is big and it will last a long time, but I don't think I want to be without this for as long as possible. I hoped for a lot from this blush and I got everything what I hoped for. The color is amazing. True, I would never give it a second thought if it weren't for MUA reviews. It is pretty subtle, you won't get very strong contours or pop of color on your cheekd out of this. I don't have problem with this showing nicely on my light, neutral to slightly yellow, cool skin tone. NC 15-20 apx. I bought it mainly for contouring my square face. I apply it on sides of my face just below cheekbones and there I swipe two "servings" to build up the color. Then I apply on my temples, forehead just below the hairline and on the sides of my jaw bones to tone them down + under my jaw line to "separate" my face from my neck color-wise and give it more definition. Perfect! Honestly, this really IS one of the best contouring powders out there. It contours my face without being obvious. I'm so happy to be able to still find this. And, yes, I'll go soon to get myself another one. EDIT: It looks awesome as an eye shadow too!
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Liquid -Clinique - Even Better Makeup SPF 15
magentagreen 6/22/2009 3:25:00 AM
I noticed that this foundation can look really cakey If you apply more than a pea-size. I'm used to applying more than that with other foundations so I had to adjust. It also accentuated my flakes if I didn't exfoliate very well as well as settled into fine lines under my eyes and corners of my mouth. But with a lighter application it looks quite nice. Evens out skin tone and has a little powdery but not too matte finish. Shade Alabaster suits my light skin ok, it's pretty neutral to slightly pink, not yellowish, although I'd prefer more yellow in it for myself. But there is none, as you know with Clinique color range. I'm not sure if I'd buy it again, probably not. Mainly because I think I can find a better color mach elsewhere. EDIT: I finaly found the best way to apply this foundation. Fingers. Brush or sponge didn't work at all, probably because it's quite thick. Spred on your fingertips, dab allover your (well moisturized and exfoliated) face, blend and then press into all the creases, pores and skin in general. Looks awesome! Applied like this, it doesn't settle into my pores and fine lines, doesn't emphasize them, just blends nicely into your skin. The finish is also less powdery and not cakey at all. AND... now it matches my skintone perfectly! Not too pink at all any more, just neutral. I apply a little translucent powder on top (Palladio Rice Powder is my fav at the moment, just use sparingly) and it stays on very long time. Really like it now! EDIT: This is officially my foundation now. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Creamy, easy to apply and blend with fingers, stays on whole day long on my face, gives me glow without being greasy and shade Alabaster is perfect match. Love it. EDIT: This foundation has octinoxate as one of the sunscreen ingr. That's why I'm not using it on a regular basis because my sunscreen contains avobenzone. These two sunscreen ingredients shouldn't be applied at the same time, the combination is not stable.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Nails -Sally Hansen - Manicure in a Minute
magentagreen 6/20/2009 1:13:00 AM
I was greatly surprized at the lack of reviews for this product. I bought it about two weeks ago on a whim to try to help my dry hands that seemed to be resistant to any hand cream, rich or otherwise. I even posted a cry for help on a skin board and got a lot of nice suggestions, tried some of them and it still nothing worked. My hands just soaked up everything, even vit E or castor oil, and half an hour later were dry again. So I tried this. It's a mixture of a gel and sugar with vit C (Ascorbyl palmitate), E (tocopheryl acetate) and A (retinyl palmitate) - not the most potent forms or vitamins but good enough for a scrub - and some nice oils like olive, castor and grape. You can apply it on wet hands for a lighter exfoliation or on dry hands for a heavy-duty one. I always apply on dry, clean hands, rub and scrub for a minute and rinse. After the first try I was amazed at how my hands looked and felt. Smooth like a silk, brighter and moisturized as well, not dried out at all. Now I use this every day to every second day, almost all my creams work again like a charm and I'm so happy. I must add, I tried home made scrubs with sugar and olive oil before this and they didn't work for me for some reason. So if you battle with your dry, resistant to creams, hands, please try this. It's not expensive and the tub lasts a long time, I can tell that already. I will buy this as long as they make it and recommend to everyone. EDIT 26/02/10 I'm not using this any more because I found a better way to exfoliate my hands. Glycolic acid toner from Environ. GA improved moisture of my hands and made them smooth and less wrikly ( wrinkles were there manily because of dryness).
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Mascara -Revlon - Beyond Natural Mascara [DISCONTINUED]
magentagreen 6/17/2009 3:19:00 AM
I like this mascara for the simple reason that it doesn't clump my fine, long lashes together. It really separates them and it gives them nice volume too, and I never found anything else that does both. Other ones I tried (all drugstore I must admit, Maybelline, Loreal, some other Revlon) either stick my lashes together or are so thin and don't give any volume. I apply only one coat and that's enough. This mascara lengthens too and holds the curl the whole day. The brush is brilliant. I love the color Brown-Black, it's more natural than Black but still gives you great impact. I use non-waterproof and have no problem of not drying quickly enough or smudging. I'm sure there are better mascaras than this (it all depends what do you try to achieve), but I'm so happy with how my lashes look with this one, I'm not looking for anything else. (unlike foundations and many other things). I'm on my second tube. The only negative thing is that it's not easy to take off, even though it's not waterproof. I have to clean my eyes at least twice, if not three times in a row to get everything off. But I don't mind. EDIT: I just got a 3rd tube of this. It always amazes me how thick and long and separated my lashes look with it. With only one coat. Amazing!
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Lip Treatments -Clinique - Repairwear Intensive Lip Treatment
magentagreen 6/11/2009 11:46:00 PM
I must add my comment on this despite the fact that I only bought it yesterday. It healed my lips in ONE DAY. They were cracked and peeling to the point where they started to hurt. No other lip balm in my collection seemed to help any more. Out of desparation I forked out for this treatment yesterday morning and reapplied several times during the day + nice thick layer last thing at night. I woke up this morning and am in awe. My lips look like new. All the dry, loose skin is gone. Somwhere. Somehow. Pouf! Lips are smooth, plump and completely healed. I still can't believe it myself. From now on, I'll apply it mornings and at night, as directed by Clinique. Will definitely repurchase and recomment to anyone with dry, painful lips. Yes, it is expensive, but worth every penny and it will last a long time. HG! EDIT 26/02/10 I stopped using this for now because my lips are in fairly good condition. But if I ever have dryness and chapping emergency again, I will get it again, that's for sure.
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Powder -Clinique - Almost Powder Makeup SPF 15
magentagreen 6/10/2009 10:49:00 AM
I had a love-hate relationship with this foundation for a long time, almost a year now. I got a sample in a magazine, neutral-fair, and it matched my skin perfectly. I loved the effect, light, almost non-existent on the skin, but evened out my skin tone beautifly. So I bought it. I tried applying it with a sponge it came with and, needles to say, I ended up looking cakey and heavily made up. It accentuated my pores and some flakes around my nose and mouth. I tried using some brushes I had at home, different sponges and the results were different every time I applied it. Sometimes it looked gorgeous, sometimes horrible. I just couldn't understand what was wrong. Then I bought a nice kabuki brush (the body shop one) and Clinique pore minimizing serum (it happened to be Clinique again) and remembered the rule of applying mineral powder foundation. Always apply lightly allover your face, buff properly, wait a little and than apply a second layer (or third if you need to), not heavily straight on. Doing this with my new brush and a serum, my skin looked flawless. Absolutely amazing. I love it now. I have about 10 different foundations at home and if I had to choose only one, I think I would choose this. UPDATE: I need to mention two more things. This powder will accentuate every little flake on your skin, so make sure you exfoliate and moisturize well. The second thing is, as I mentioned above, it will also accentuate your pores if you layer it up for a heavier coverage. Then best use with some pore-filling primer. EDIT: This broke into 100 pieces while being carried in my bag. Just like that. I pressed it back and it's still usable, but I can't take it with me for touch ups any more. Because of that, I wont buy it again.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Treatments -Elizabeth Arden - Eight Hour Cream lip protectant stick Sheer Tint SPF 15- Plum
magentagreen 6/4/2009 12:39:00 AM
Pros: I love the color on my pigmented lips! It turns out sheer dark red/brown and it's beautiful. It also lasts quite well for a lip balm color. I also love the feel of this product. It moisturizes very well, smoothes out my (dry) lips, doesn't migrate into any creases or beyond lips. just stays where is suposed to stay. I almost always put it without any mirror. The moisturizing effect lasts really long. My lips feel plump and healthy. I also don't notice any bad smell. I tried many lip products with horrible taste and smell, but this is not one of them. It has faint herbal smell that disappears almost instantly when applied. It doesn't "taste" bad either and I don't need to be carefull not to apply it too close to inside of my mouth so I don't get the feeling of poisoning myself. Cons: The tube is standard lipstick one and sometimes gets stuck so I have to turn it several times and press in order to get the product out. (but maybe it's only the mine one with some error) The surface of it is bit gummy/sticky and it collects dirt from hands and handbag and it's not easy to clean off. I'm also not sure about effectiveness of spf 15 in this product. Overall: I like this very much. Despite packaging, I would definitely buy it again, and I also want it in Berry shade.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Treatments -Olay - Regenerist Anti-Aging Lip Treatment
magentagreen 6/1/2009 11:44:00 PM
I agree with another reviewer below, this is a rip-off of the year! If it was a cheap, average drugstore lip balm, I probably wouldn't repurchase it either. But for this price, it is simply outrageous. Ok, it feels silky when first put on lips, it is moisturizing for a while, it tingles a little giving you a feeling that it's "working", but that's it. I put this over night and wake up with dry lips. I have to reapply every half an hour during the day to keep up the original moisture level. If I don't, my lips start chipping after 2-3 hours. My cheap Zam-Bak works 10 times better. Even castor oil puts this to shame. And the worst thing is that this costs more in South Africa than the amazing Clinique Repairwear lip treatment! UPDATE: I'm downgrading this to 1 lippy. After almost finishing the whole tube (and it didn't take long) my lips were in need of some serious help. Peeling, cracking, hurting. And I still applied this blindly to give it a chance to work it's magic. I had to go yesterday first thing in the morning to get my poor lips something else to heal them again. There is still a little product left and it's sooo going to go into the dustbin right now. Never again!
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Treatments -Sally Hansen - Complete Care 4-in-1 Treatment
magentagreen 6/1/2009 12:02:00 PM
This product is honestly crap. Maybe they had a nice idea of all-in-one product, but it definitely didn't work out. I have tiny chips on two of my nails and I got this to prevent them going further + to be able to wear nail polish without it chipping over them. This chipped 5 hours after I applied it on its own. I tried it then with the polish and it chipped even quicker. Waste of money and time. Will never use it again, not to mention buying.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No