Polishes -Sally Hansen - salon effects
qkellie 3/4/2013 8:28:00 PM
This stuff is crap. It is cleaner and less time consuming to use polish. Ugh. So many tiny pieces of sticker and foil everywhere, and no size or shape worked with my small hands. I tried the French manicure style, so maybe the multi-part process was even more difficult to apply than solid colors. Will NEVER repurchase.
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Liquid -Neutrogena - Shine Control Makeup
qkellie 2/1/2013 4:01:00 PM
I am wearing this right now and literally want to scrape at my face, it's so frustrating. If you like foundation to do key words like "slip," "spread," "fail," "itch," "slime," "clog," and did I mention "itch," then go crazy. This stuff is for you. If not, avoid like the plague, ladies. The bottle is also terrible and impractical and forces you to use a brush. The only good thing about it is you get SO MUCH of this garbage, and as I'm not the sort to toss something unless it's giving me hives, I suppose I'll use this stupid thing up. Ugh. Whiteheads in the crease of my nose, people. I swear, I just looked at my 4 pm face in the mirror and look like an oil slick, so HOW IS THIS SHINE CONTROL?!
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Cleansers -Acne.org - Cleanser
qkellie 1/27/2013 2:13:00 PM
There's something in this that I'm allergic to, I'm sure of it. Which is ironic, because it's supposed to be so gentle. I like the treatment and moisturizer from the regimen, but I won't be repurchasing this and suspect it's why I've felt like the entire regimen doesn't work as well as it claims. When I use the treatment with a cream-based cleanser, I get decent results, but not when I return to this cleanser. I get really red, irritated, overly-dry, itchy skin that actually breaks out MORE.
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Treatments -Garnier - Sleek and Shine Moroccan Sleek Oil Treatment
qkellie 12/15/2012 10:11:00 PM
This stuff is awesome! Years ago, John Frieda used to make a Beach Blonde oil that I swore by for making bleached hair look shiny and smooth. When they discontinued it, I thought I was out of luck. I randomly picked this stuff up on a whim after bleaching my hair. Very inexpensive. I color and highlight my hair, and my highlights in particular always lack shine and look dull and dry. Applying just a TINY drop of this stuff to dry hair immediately brightens it up and smooths down flyaways. I can already tell I will have a million uses for this little wonder product.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Moisturizers -Ponds - Dry Skin Cream
qkellie 10/29/2012 1:30:00 PM
I love Ponds cold cream, so I thought I'd give this a whirl. Not so hot. It's actually better for me as a body lotion than a facial moisturizer. Just a little too heavy for me and causes tiny whiteheads.
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Hair -Unlisted Brand - Prell Rinse Clean Shampoo
qkellie 10/27/2012 6:15:00 PM
This is good as a clarifying shampoo, body wash, bubble bath, and even hand soap. Didn't strip out my color, but it did leave my hair a little frizzy. I do think it was strong enough that I was able to go longer between washings, which is nice, but ultimately I think I'd only use this once ina while if a regular shampoo began to leave me with buildup.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Ponds - Deep Cleanser Cold Cream
qkellie 10/8/2012 8:42:00 AM
I've tried every cleanser on the market, usually gravitating toward acne-fighting products. Recently, however, my acne got so much worse than usual that I was at a loss. Out of the blue for a couple of days, I started only using moisturizer to remove my make-up: no salycilic acid, no benzoyl peroxide, no SOAP even. And within a day, I swear my pimples, redness, and even old acne marks began to heal. Then it dawned on me: I was over-treating a condition that, in adulthood, might be more due to lack of moisture than excess moisture. I read up on what an effective, moisture-based cleanser that was known to be good against acne and yet was emollient, safe, and time-trusted. I hit upon good old Ponds cold cream. It's been a week now, and my skin is clearer every single day. I haven't touched my BP cream or any acid-containing cleansers at all. My regime is as follows: in the morning, put a generous amount of Ponds on my dry skin. Take a shower. Once out, just wipe off with a clean, damp washcloth. Follow with Neutrogena Oil Free Moisturizer for Day with SPF. In the evening, repeat (but instead of leaving the Ponds on while I shower, leave it on while I brush my teeth), but for evening moisturizer use instead Boots Expert Sensitive Skin Moisturizer. Once these two are used up, I may get even more old school and try out some Olay Beauty Fluid as my night moisturizer. Sometimes the old standbys are that way for a reason.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Neutrogena - Naturals - Purifying Facial Cleanser
qkellie 4/10/2012 11:10:00 AM
I think I may have found my HG cleanser. I have combination, acne-prone, slightly wrinkle-prone skin. Recently, I was starting to have lots of cystic break-outs, which led to using so much benzoyl peroxide treatment that my skin was starting to get crazy dry. Up to that point, I'd been using Neutrogena Acne Wash in the Pink Grapefruit version. Normally, I use the non-grapefruit regular version, and I swear the PG variation was the culprit. I had gotten a Groupon deal for the Purifying Facial Cleanser, so when I ran out of the PG Acne Wash, I tried this. I had used the Naturals make-up removing cleanser before and didn't like it one bit, so the Purifying version was an absolute revelation! My cystic blemishes--less than a week later--are GONE. Red marks from old blemishes are fading. Small pimples are drying up with almost no benzoyl peroxide treatment (I'm down to now using just a very thin layer of that every few nights rather than the massive amounts I was using every single night). I am convinced there is something magical about the white willow bark. This stuff is AMAZING.
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Masks -Alba Botanica - Deep Sea Facial Mask
qkellie 12/15/2011 7:42:00 AM
I use this mask about once a week. I might get better use out of it if I used it more often, but I tend to be in a hurry with my skincare regime. This stuff is very relaxing, great for a little at-home spa day. :) Smells amazing, does a good job of making my skin feel cool and soft (my skin tends toward feeling too hot, oily, itchy, red, and uncomfortable, not to mention my tendency toward blemishes if I'm not vigilant). I do believe it has a little bit of a drying effect on existing pimples, but I don't know that that's it's primary purpose. For me, it just kind of calms everything down and makes my skin more comfortable.
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Shampoo -Suave - Suave Professionals Black Raspberry & White Tea
qkellie 12/15/2011 7:40:00 AM
I'm on my second set of the shampoo and conditioner in this formulation, and I love it! In fact, I love all the scented green-bottle Suave S&C combos, but even though I think the rosemary and mint smells the best, this one definitely works the best for me. Leaves my hair silky, shiny, very manageable, and full of volume, but it's also easier to straighten and holds a curl longer. I don't know that it's doing a whole lot to preserve my hair color between colorings, but I also don't notice my color fading. Suave is so unpredictable as far as performance goes, but this one is a win for me.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Shampoo -Suave - Professionals Dry Shampoo Spray
qkellie 12/15/2011 7:33:00 AM
This is a classic case of a great product being done in by its packaging. I'm not sure what Suave is doing wrong, but the can is absolutely, 100% defective. I have purchased multiple cans of this and at least half of the cans had some malfunction in them. One can's nozzle stopped working, and even despite clearing it over and over again, it would simply no longer function, despite having plenty of product left inside. Had to pitch it. Another can simply didn't seem to have enough product inside. I got maybe two uses out of it, and I wasn't using excessive amounts (as others have said, less is more with this stuff). This morning was the last straw. I store my can in a safe place and don't bang it around or anything, but it somehow developed a leak since the last time I used it. In 24 hours, it had somehow leaked everywhere, mostly evaporated, and left me a totally empty container. I couldn't figure out where it had leaked from, but my suspicion is that this was another faulty nozzle situation. The product itself is awesome, which is SO FRUSTRATING given how badly the can is put together! I have never had this much bad luck with any other aerosol product. Yes, we've all gotten the random can of hairspray that gets clogged or leaks or whatnot, but how many times does it happen with the exact same brand before you have to wonder if it's just bad luck or if there's something systemically wrong with it? But yes, if you use a small amount, wait about a minute, rub it in, brush it out, your hair will look fresh as a daisy for up to two days post-washing. I also sometimes uses a little of Tresemme's mousse shampoo on my roots first and then would use the Suave, which for me was a fabulous combination. I guess I have to find a new combination, because I'm done experimenting, wishing, and hoping that I get one of the 50% of cans that happens to work. :/
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Shampoo -Burt's Bees - Color Keeper Green Tea and Fennel Seed Shampoo
qkellie 10/29/2011 9:16:00 AM
Ugh, I wish I liked this stuff, I really did. The scent is awesome, and it does seem to keep my color lasting without fading. The conditioner is silky and I also use it for shaving, actually. But the shampoo itself? Eesh, no. My hair gets crazy dry on the ends but oily at the roots, as if it's not actually doing any cleaning of the scalp area, no matter what I do. No other shampoo has left my hair feeling so dirty. And because it doesn't seem like it's cleaning anything, if I use even ONE styling product after washing, my hair behaves as if it hasn't been washed for a week. I'm trying desperately to use up what I have left, but I hate this stuff so much that it's taken me months and months to do so. I hate being wasteful, so I'll finish it and just expect bad hair on the days I use it. Blech.
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Cleansers -Neutrogena - Deep Clean Invigorating Cleanser-Mask
qkellie 9/9/2011 7:50:00 AM
I'm sure this stuff works fine for some people, but I'm not one of them. After trying for years to get any use out of anything in the Deep Clean line, I realized after using this newer product that I MUST give up. If you have mild oil and little or no acne, I'm sure this stuff is great. It smells good, it feels good, it's even a pretty color. But if your oil is severe or you have any acne, the DC line (this product included) just simply doesn't have enough in it to make a dent in your skin issues. It doesn't do anything BAD, it just isn't healing like the actual acne line is. The difference is pretty dramatic in my skin when I switch from one of Neutrogena's Deep Clean products back to its acne-formulated cousin.
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Tinted Moisturizer -Physicians Formula - Organic Wear - Light to Natural
qkellie 8/5/2011 7:42:00 AM
I'm super torn on this. I was getting some itchy, patchy, flaky skin recently and decided to switch to all-natural makeup to see if it cleared up. I thought this TM would be a good thing to try out, since it's easy to find. First of all, I love the smell. I'm weird. It smells like a health-food store, not like perfume. The color is also good, not orange on me. The consistency is weird, even for a TM. It's VERY watery. After some experimentation, I found that you have to shake it a lot and also only use a LITTLE. Furthermore, it works better in conjunction with PF's concealor (I use the duo with one regular and one green side). I use a few dots of green on my red spots, a few dots of fair over top of the green and also anywhere I have dark splotches that aren't red, then smooth on the TM. For me, it's important to followup with a good powder. And while the effect is okay-ish after that, it's not perfect. It's not a look that will last all day. I like that it has SPF in it, but I'm still really torn about whether I'll buy this again. One day this week, there was so much product slippage by the end of the day that I felt like my eyes were somehow greasy. :( I will buy again if I don't find a good organic alternative, though. My patchy skin has cleared up thanks to this stuff. I just think it's perhaps not designed for what I'm trying to use it for. UPDATE: I had to take off two lippies and decide to discontinue usage. After several weeks of decent to good results, this stuff actually started giving me almost daily whiteheads all around my mouth, chin, and neck. I subtracted this product from my daily routine, and the whiteheads cleared up practically overnight. Thus, I must conclude that there's something in this that, over time, causes my skin to become very sensitive. This is a real shame, because now I'm scared to try any other item in this line, and I really want to turn my cosmetics regime into a fully organic one. Oh well. :(
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Unlisted Brand - Oil Cleansing Method OCM
qkellie 5/3/2011 10:46:00 AM
I've been doing this for about a month using jojoba oil only. The upside is that it's ridiculously inexpensive (especially if you use a one-formula oil), you can make the "packaging" be whatever you want, and it's insanely gentle on your skin. I've noticed I have to use a lot less moisturizer, and getting makeup off is much easier. The downsize, for me, is that while my skin looks clearer, I do feel like it's generally oilier throughout the day, even despite steaming out my pores as my last step in cleansing. I also feel that even though I have fewer blemishes overall, the ones I do get are kind of horrible, like blistery whiteheads. OTOH, the blemishes heal a little faster. I don't think you can make the OCM your sole skincare product, especially if you have mature, oily/combination, acne-prone skin as I do. My current regime is to oil-cleanse at night, use only water on my face in the morning. Every few nights, I slather on 10% benzoyl peroxide (usually Persa Gel or a generic version thereof), and the nights I don't use BP, I use Philosophy Hope in a Jar moisturizer/chemical exfoliator. For day, I either use a very light moisturizer or none at all, depending on what I'm doing that day/how much makeup I'm wearing, whether I need sunscreen, etc. I do have a tendency to get milia on my forehead no matter what regime I do, and the OCM will not do much specifically for fine lines, wrinkles, or loss of skin elasticity. However, OCM versus a gentle, mild cleanser? OCM wins, just on how it feels and how cheap it is, as well as how you can adjust it based on your skin's individual needs. I know I might have better results, too, if I use a combination of several types of oils together, rather than just jojoba by itself.
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