Lip Treatments -MAC - Prep + Prime Lip
thrpschr 11/16/2008 10:50:00 AM
Like pikacharma, I love bright lipsticks but have trouble getting the creamier, shinier ones to stay in place - they bleed, smudge and look really bad after a while. Lip pencil helps, but what if you love a specific colour, but can't find a lip liner that doesn't change it? I bought Prep + Prime Lips mainly because I love my Impassioned lipstick, but it smears and feathers, and I haven't been able to find a lip pencil that doesn't dull down or change the fantastic colour. Prep + Prime Lips doesn't completely eliminate that problem, but it helps quite a bit, enough to make Impassioned wearable without a lip liner for me. Added bonuses: it also smooths out my chapped lips, keeps them from being dried out and protects them from lasting lipstick stains. I'm happy with this product.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -Face Stockholm - Powder Blush
thrpschr 11/3/2008 6:04:00 PM
Great blush! I have this in Extas, a bright candy-apple red matte with pink undertones, and I'm very pleased. It's very pigmented, and this is definitely a blush shade you have to be careful with, it's easy to over-apply. When you get it right it can do anything from a very natural-looking just-in-from-the-cold kind of flush on my PPP skin, to very dramatic. It's perfect for a porcelain doll kind of blush, and I like that it doesn't really look pink, but like the sheer, transparent wash of red that it is. I think this would make a great eye shadow for anyone looking for a true red, too. Lasting power is excellent, the packaging is sleek, functional and attractive. I want more of these blushes and other products from this underappreciated brand.
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Lipstick -Kryolan - Lipstick 212
thrpschr 11/3/2008 5:52:00 PM
This is my first Kryolan lipstick, I'm extremely pleased with it and I am definitely going to buy more Kryolan lippies. 212 is a bright, true red, very much a classic shade. It's a slightly more cool-toned red than my only other bright red lipstick, Givenchy Rouge Miroir 705, which is more yellow-based while Kryolan 212 is blue-based. It's not completely matte, there's a slight sheen to it, comparable to MAC Amplified Creme lipsticks. So far I don't find it drying. It's fragranced with the same powdery scent that's in their eye shadows. I rather like it, it smells like old-fashioned make-up. Performance is great, it's extremely pigmented, smooth, creamy, lasts like a matte and stays where you put it, too. I have only worn it with lip liner, so I can't say anything about how it behaves on it's own yet, but I haven't seen the slightest trace of bleeding or feathering. The packaging is nice enough, especially considering how little this costs. It's housed in a plain, square frosted silver container with a shiny silver Kryolan logo, and the price is unbeatable - 59 SEK, which is 7,50$ at today's exchange rate.
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Eyeliner -Guerlain - Divinora Liquid Eyeliner
thrpschr 9/16/2008 9:16:00 AM
Excellent brush and beautiful packaging, but the liquid itself isn't better than any other liquid eyeliner out there, including much less expensive ones. The consistency is nice and easy to work with, but the formula tends to crack on me at the end of the day, so the lasting power isn't stellar. I was given this as a gift, I like it well enough that I will use it up (and probably re-use the lovely bottle and brush) but I would not spend the money on this myself.
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Concealers -Prescriptives - Camouflage Kit
thrpschr 9/11/2008 4:47:00 PM
I'm very pleased with this concealer. I have been using Laura Mercier's Secret Camouflage for years and I really like it, so that's what I'm comparing this too - and it stands up well to the competition. I like having two different shades to mix, that's why I was drawn to this product. SC was too expensive for me last time I ran out, and this seemed like a nice substitute. I ended up liking this as much, but it's quite different in some respects - first off, the consistency. SC is quite hard; this stuff is much creamier, but still very pigmented and a little sticky. It is definitely better suited for undereye circles than SC, and the pink-toned shade is perfect to counteract the blue-green undertones in mine. I use the yellow-toned shade on spots and redness, which works very well too. I have it in the lightest shade, and it is a very good match to my pale skin with yellow undertones (NC15-20). It stays put, and stays very natural-looking too. I don't get an awful lot of use out of the powder, but it's very good and definitely comes in handy when I'm traveling with the compact. Great concealer, highly recommended.
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Mascara -Max Factor - Masterpiece Mascara
thrpschr 9/11/2008 4:34:00 PM
I'm reviewing the waterproof version of Masterpiece. This is a really good mascara! The results are not dramatic, but I get a decent lengthening effect out of this and a little added volume, too. What really stands out about it to me is how consistently good the results are - no clumping, ever, the smooth consistency makes it unusually buildable for me, and it really stays put. It's also very black and glossy, which I like, and as a top coat over a good lenghtening and volumizing lash base (I use Estée Lauder's) I can get some pretty spectacular results. The brush picks up too much product, but I have yet to find a mascara that doesn't do that, and it's easy to scrape off enough. It's very waterproof and not entirely easy to get off, but that's a pro as well as a con. Recommended, in short, this is a great budget mascara.
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Highlighters -Everyday Minerals - Sparkle Beige
thrpschr 7/12/2008 6:49:00 PM
Sparkle Beige is described on the EDM website as "a very light cream-coloured fine white sparkle that's to be used as an all over face or as a mixing powder to lighten and glow", and I'd say the description is very accurate. The swatch on the site is not, though - in the pot Sparkle Beige really is beige, not even close to the plummy grey the website shows. It shows up on my fairly pale skin as a discreet, off-white shimmer. The overall effect is not glittery or even frosty, as the sparkle really is very finely milled, but more of a natural-looking glow, which is exactly what I was hoping for. It's perfect as a subtle highlighter. I've been wearing it as a browbone highlighter for a couple of days now, and the lasting power is excellent on me. I put it on over twelve hours ago, on top of my regular sunblock eye cream with no base or lid primer, and it's still there, looking pretty much as it did when I applied it. The consistency is smooth, almost creamy, it doesn't look in the least chalky on me and it's easily applied where you want it without making a sparkly mess over the rest of your face. I imagine that Sparkle Beige would suit almost anyone. It's a fairly neutral off-white, neither icy white nor very warm-toned. There's nothing terribly special about it, it's very much a boring basic kind of colour - it's just so darn good at what it does, better than any other highlighter I've tried, and so inexpensive at that. I will definitely buy a full-size of this as soon as my sample is running low.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Brows -Paula Dorf - 2 plus 1 for Brows - Pewter
thrpschr 7/1/2008 2:10:00 PM
Very pleased with this product. I'm fair with dyed black hair and cool/neutral colouring, so warm brown eyebrow products look very unnatural on me, and black is too harsh. I still like my brows strong and defined, though, so taupes like the darker of the two colours in this trio are perfect. The powder is very pigmented and stays where you put it, especially when used wet, which I prefer because it applies faster and more precisely that way, too. The wax keeps stray hairs in place and generally does what it's supposed to do very well. I don't have much use for the lighter shade yet, which is why I'm only giving this product a four. It's a great colour, a friend of mine with light brown hair and brows used it and loved it, but it's too light for my brows. I'm going to try it as an eyeshadow and see if I can get more use out of it that way. Overall, though, even if you can only wear one of the two shades provided this is great stuff, and I will buy again.
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Lip Treatments -Unlisted Brand - Bepanthen salve
thrpschr 6/30/2008 9:09:00 AM
Another rave review - there just isn't anything better for very dry lips, cold sores, dry, flaky patches and the like. I haven't tried it on zits, but I can imagine that it could be great after and combined with very drying acne treatments - this really helps skin heal faster. It's not very portable - the tube tends to get dirty and nasty in the purse, and Bepanthen salve transferred to a pot goes slightly rancid after a few months - but as a night treatment it's unbeatable.
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Lipstick -MAC - Impassioned (Amplified)
thrpschr 5/27/2008 8:56:00 AM
I love, love, love the colour of this lipstick - an extremely bright, fluorescent pink without any hint of fuchsia, and with neutral undertones rather than cool-toned ones, which I imagine would make it wearable for many different skin tones. It is absolutely beautiful. I'm having some issues with the formula, though - I like the sheen and the non-drying properties of the amplified creme, but this lipstick feathers and bleeds on me even blotted with a MAC lip liner underneath, and it's very obvious with a colour this bold. I will do some experimenting with lining and setting it in different ways, though, to see if I can work around that problem, and the colour is so perfect and so unique that I will definitely keep wearing it and buy again anyway if ever I run out.
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Mascara -Helena Rubinstein - Lash queen
thrpschr 4/18/2008 4:48:00 PM
This is a review for the waterproof version of this mascara. I've come across a few people who really love Helena Rubinstein Lash Queen, in both regular and waterproof formulation, so obviously this works for someone, and I'm coming around to it somewhat myself - it's not quite as bad as I thought after the first few days of wearing this. This is not likely to become a favourite mascara of mine, though, and I will not buy again, as it is way too difficult to get decent results with it. Lash Queen WP has an odd, oval brush - similar to MAC Plush Lash, judging from the reviews - which is tricky to manoeuvre, and picks up way to much product. Scraping off excess mascara against the top of the tube is not enough, I have to first scrape, then wipe if I don't want messy lashes and mascara smears all over my eyelids. Considering that this really does live up to the waterproof claims, I don't. Too much product is very bad news with this one - I get short, clumpy spider legs that are impossible to fix once it dries, which it does very fast. Because of this, it does not build well. The one technique that does give a decent result with this on my lashes is applying fast, wiggling the brush good and proper at the base, drawing it out to the ends swiftly and working as little as possibly with the tips. I've taken to using this as a finishing layer over my non-WP Lancome L'Extreme, and I like the results; with L'Extreme I can build length, and Lash Queen makes a very deep black, slightly glossy and very waterproof top coat. It's also surprisingly good applied carefully on the lower lashes.
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Lipstick -MAC - Spirit
thrpschr 3/29/2008 3:14:00 PM
Bought this as a replacement for a perfect, neutral lipstick that I lost. I'm pale with very pigmented lips, and I wanted something close to my natural lip colour, but slightly paler and beiger to tone them down a little. This does just that, a warm beige, with faint rosy and peachy undertones, one shade lighter than my lips. I was expecting to come away from the MAC counter with Blankety or Kinda Sexy, but they were both much paler than what I wanted; a neutral beige MLBB kind of shade rather than a full-on nude. I don't find this very dark, but YMMV. Honeylove was too yellow for me, Brave was too pink and Velvet Teddy too brown, for reference. Spirit was sort of in-between the three of them on me.
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Mascara -L'Oreal - Voluminous Waterproof
thrpschr 1/10/2008 6:28:00 PM
This is a very good mascara for the price. Extremely waterproof, which is a pro in my book, and it does give a little extra length and some volume. It's also very black, and does a decent job of holding a curl. For 59 SEK, you can't expect too much, though, can you? On to the cons. The brush picks up way too much product, so wiping a lot of excess mascara off the brush before applying is necessary, or you will end up with thick, clumpy spider legs and waterproof mascara smears all over your eyelids. I don't find it very buildable - it's hard to keep the lashes separated and defined with more than two very thin, careful layers. Removing it takes a bit of work, but that's on the pro side, as well. Finally, I don't think it layers very well with other mascaras - I've tried it as a sealer over Lancome L'Extreme and Chanel Sculpte Cils and ended up with a royal mess. It's great for waterproof eyebrows and lower lashes, though, if you're careful with the big brush.
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Eyeliner -MAC - Liquidlast Liner - Point Black
thrpschr 11/15/2007 5:58:00 PM
This liner has amazing staying power, and I will probably buy again because of that alone. However, it has two major problems: first off, the brush is awful - more like a nail polish brush than an eyeliner brush - and because it is so extremely waterproof and hard to remove, I am hesitant to use my regular liner brush with it. Second, the consistency is too thick and goopy for my taste, which makes it very difficult to apply in the sharp, clean line I want, and I haven't found any mixing liquid or medium that dilutes it; it seems to be entirely oil-based. I still get a lot of use out of it, though, but more as a very waterproof mascara for the lower lashes and eyebrows, applied with a separate mascara brush, than a liquid eyeliner. I do wear it as a liner as well, but only to seal a first layer of another eyeliner when I need a completely budge- and waterproof eyeliner. So; would buy again, but I would love it a lot more if MAC reformulated this into a working eyeliner!
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Eyeliner -Ben Nye - Ben Nye Cake Eyeliner
thrpschr 11/15/2007 5:48:00 PM
Great basic eyeliner. I wear liquid eyeliner pretty much daily, I have tried several brands and this is hands down the best of the ones that are available to me. I like my liner very liquid, so cake liners are practical to me, but other cake liners I've tried dry very matte, or a greyish off-black. This one, when used with Ben Nye LiquiSet, produces a true black line with a slight sheen to the surface that I like, and it stands up to long days (12+ hours) without smudging, running, crumbling or disappearing, and unlike a few liners I've tried, this one doesn't irritate my eyes in the least. The price is hard to beat. I payed about 16$ for the cake eyeliner and LiquiSet, and both will last me for well over a year with daily use. Excellent product, overall - money well invested. The only reason it doesn't get a 5 is that it isn't waterproof; but it doesn't claim to be, anyway.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No