Treatments -Unlisted Brand - One n' Only - Argan Oil Treatment
vain_emily 10/23/2012 7:24:00 PM
Wow. Bought this stuff on a whim, thinking it would do a serviceable but unspectacular job at making my coarse & thick, long, wavy hair a little softer and more manageable. When I bought it, the checkout lady said "this stuff is really good on the hair," but I didn't put much stock in it because I already use serums often, and had been using Chi Silk Infusion for a while and thinking it was pretty top of the line. WOW though, this stuff is amazing. Not only does it make my hair softer, it actually softens the curl, relaxing the kinkier sections near the nape of my neck and at my hairline, and it just sort of turns thick chunks of wave/curl into soft, bouncy curls. I didn't know my hair could do this shape so easily- I usually need to blow dry to get this kind of result, but with this stuff I can twist my hair into a low ponytail, air dry and have my hair look great. I would definitely caution people to be careful with this stuff though- it's very thick, which is probably why it works so well for me, but a little goes a long way. You can find yourself with greasy hair if you're not careful. But overall, I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone, especially those with coarse, thick, or curly hair. I'm going to keep buying this and no other serums for as long as this stuff works for me.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Revlon - Nail Enamel
vain_emily 1/15/2012 11:04:00 PM
I always come back to Revlon polishes. You get great color payoff with only one coat, the brush gets the job done in two swipes, and they go on the smoothest of any other polishes I've tried (including essie, OPI, Chanel). Still my favorite. I just wish there was more of a color selection.
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Treatments -Acne.org - Treatment
vain_emily 2/24/2010 12:31:00 PM
OK, so this review will be long. I don't usually write super long reviews, but I think this product is the kind of thing where a longer review is helpful. So, here's my deal: I'm 19. For years my skin has been pretty good, a few period zits, but nothing you could ever call acne. Then, I started taking Adderall. Though it's not listed as an official side effect, anecdotal evidence from a lot of people points to Adderall as a big cause of acne. And it certainly caused acne for me. I went from needing only periodic concealer for one or two zits to a full forehead of acne that required foundation, concealer, and powder to look even close to ok. I was frustrated with my skin to the point of tears, and I didn't want to go off the Adderall. I have never taken good care of my skin, so it was a big deal for me (and a sign of how desperate I was) to start washing my face every night/using a salicylic acid treatment (over the counter, Neutrogena). That didn't help at all. I bought a face steamer. That didn't help. My acne was in between a mild to moderate on the Dan Kern scale, it wasn't cystic or pussy, it was just bumpy and inflamed. So in brief, my skin before starting: A bit on the dry side, bumpy whiteheads that never actually came to a head and were kind of unpoppable. No blackheads or cysts. So anyway, all signs pointed to the Regimen as the thing that would save my skin. Well, that or Retin-A. I started the regimen about a month ago. Here's how it's gone: Week 1: Slight improvement. I probably purged but at that point I couldn't tell the difference between purging and my skin being crappy as usual. Week 2: Ok, so I'm really mean to my skin and really irresponsible, so I used way WAY more than the recommended amount of BP (like a pump and a half at least,) plus I used AHA every night, right off the bat, without getting used to anything. AND I wore very heavy makeup and touched my face a lot, and got barely any sleep. So my skin purged pretty badly (like, about on the level of the worst breakout I'd ever had). I was frustrated, but also could only really blame myself. I think I have very resilient skin, because the worst reaction I ever had to anything on the regimen was a bit of redness/stinging around my eyes and mouth, and a tiny bit of flaking (but nothing very noticeable). Week 3: Really started to clear up. I didn't feel like I'd put foundation on first if there was a fire in my house. Downgraded my skin from "eeew acne" to "unfavorable zittiness". Week 4: My skin is pretty clear now. To be fair, it's not totally clear. I have one or tw o zits each on my chin and forehead, and some lingering under the skin redness (I think it's all the zits that want to come up but the BP/AHA won't let come to a head, so they keep my skin from looking perfect and it looks a bit ruddy). My skin isn't perfect, but compared to what it was (and considering how much I'm straying from the routine) it's pretty effing amazing. What's good about the AHA is it stops zits from really getting bad, so even though my skin's still a little ruddy, it's not really zitty because the AHA keeps everything at bay. I would highly HIGHLY recommend the AHA, it also fades scars really fast. Usually I'd have bad red marks from all the picking I do at my face, but I don't really since I've been using it. To recap what I'm doing WRONG on the regimen: Heavily scrubbing face with washcloth Using St. Ives scrub sometimes (outside factor) Not using moisturizer every night Only doing regimen once a day Using way more BP than I'm supposed to Using AHA every night and way more than I'm supposed to Wearing makeup Not drinking enough water Not sleeping enough Touching my face/picking at it I'm doing ALL OF THAT, and this regimen still has me clear enough that I don't feel like I NEED makeup to leave my room. I still wear it, but now I'm down to light foundation (Dream Matte mousse) and maybe a little concealer, and that's if I'm feeling "put together". It used to be that I'd do heavy foundation/concealer/powder even if I was wearing like, ratty shorts and a tshirt with no bra. I feel so so SO much better about my skin, I can look people in the eye now, I can wear my hair back, I don't try to cover my face with my hands when I'm talking to people. So basically, if you have acne, try the Regimen, it'll probably work, and it'll probably work very well, and you're really doing yourself a disservice by not trying it if you have the money. Of all the beauty/skin products I've ever bought, this has by far been the most worth it. Small notes: The smaller size of the BP is annoying because it's a flip cap and not a pump. I'd get the pump bottle, it's much much more convenient. I wish the bottles didn't have ACNE.ORG emblazoned on the front. I live in a dorm, and I just don't want any skin product I use to proudly announce that it's for the treatment of acne. I black them out with sharpie. The AHA balls up a lot even though the new formula is apparently not supposed to. I don't care that much though, I just put it on at night and wash it off in the morning. SO TO RECAP THE RECAP: BUY THIS. GO, BUY IT NOW. SERIOUSLY, WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS? edit: Going on about 3 months on this and I still love it. My skin is now really clear, more than it was at 4 weeks, like I get only a very occasional zit or two, and the scars/redness have gone down a ton. For a while I had under the skin redness, not zits really just slight ruddiness, and even that's pretty much gone. Now I barely ever wear any skin makeup at all (an improvement from even my pre- acne state). AND I'm still not even being religious about the regimen, since I only do it once a day, forget to moisturize half the time, and skip at least a day a week (accidentally). I'm so so so so glad I tried this stuff, oh my GOD it's amazing.
13 out of 13 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lotions/ Creams -Nivea - Original Lotion for Dry Skin
vain_emily 11/5/2009 11:49:00 PM
thorougly average. it spread OK, absorbed OK, smelled OK. there are better lotions, and there are worse ones. i can't see this being anybody's HG. my main gripe is with the way too powerful pump which, when handled the wrong way, will spurt out moisturizer onto your face/sweater/nearby poster of the beatles and you will feel sort of embarrassed because you just got skeeted on by a bottle of body lotion.
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Misc Beauty Tools -Unlisted Brand - Rohto V - ICE Redness Relief Lubricant Eye Drops
vain_emily 11/5/2009 11:43:00 PM
these drops sting. like, they sting so much that after you put them in you'll go "shit SHIT did i accidentally buy fucking EAR drops?" and you'll be making a really attractive squinty eye face as you hobble to the bathroom to frantically splash water on your poor corneas. now, AFTER your little eyeball-stigmata, you will again be granted the miracle of (bleary, bloodshot) sight, and you'll curse rohto v and all the stupid makeup artists who swore in beauty magazines that it was THESE TINY MAGICAL EYEDROPS that saved the fall runway show and made the coked out russian models look SUPER fresh and clean. then maybe you'll dab some of the rohto v on a pimple because hey, you also read somewhere that this was the miracle home remedy that a-LiSt CeLebz swore by, and you will be disappointed again and you'll come crawling back to your unsexy bottle of visine.
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Conditioner -Queen Helene - Cholesterol Hair Conditioning Cream
vain_emily 12/23/2008 7:25:00 PM
eeew I did not like this at all. maybe it's because I put it on top of conditioner (neutrogena triple moisture) but the one time I decide to let my hair air dry it didn't make my hair soft and instead made it dryer and frizzier and reeeally tangly. seriously, after i used it my hair looked awful and i was really worried that i'd ruined it forever. i have coarse, curly, pretty dry hair and thought that something with cholesterol in it would surely work, but no such luck.
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Cleansers -Neutrogena - Acne Stress Control Foam Wash
vain_emily 12/23/2008 7:16:00 PM
I don't know, I'm not overwhelmed by this. I like the foam part of it, mainly because I'm a five year old who likes everything to be light and fluffy. But that's about it. It really dries out my skin without really doing much else. It doesn't take my makeup off at ALL (not even dream matte mousse, which isn't exactly heavy) and it doesn't feel like it's cleaning my skin at all. I won't repurchase.
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Scrubs -Clean & Clear - Soft In-Shower Facial STEAM [DISCONTINUED]
vain_emily 12/23/2008 7:13:00 PM
Oooh I love this. I pat it on my face in the shower, leave it for a minute or two, then massage it into my skin (it has exfoliating stuff in it.) I can feel it really cleaning out my pores, my skin feels so tingly and clean when I use it, and the steam really helps it work. I like that it also exfoliates too, because I don't have to use a separate scrub and cleanser anymore. It's thick and kind of paste-like, so I don't think it would work well as a regular mask, but that's ok. Anyway, this stuff is really good and I'm going to repurchase when I run out of it.
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Foundations -Maybelline - Dream Matte Mousse
vain_emily 12/23/2008 7:09:00 PM
Ok well, I really like the texture, the mousse feels really nice on my skin. The color was good, I don't remember what color I got but it matched my skin pretty well. I should've remembered when I bought this though, that it's foundation, not concealer, and putting in on zits and really red marks won't make them look invisible. It works to cover the all over redness that I have on my forehead from my recent horrifying descent into terrible skin, but it doesn't cover zits that well. It's pretty light, good if you only want a little coverage and nothing heavy or cakey looking.
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Deodorants -Tom's of Maine - Long-Lasting Natural Deodorant (with hops) in Apricot Scent
vain_emily 11/19/2008 6:33:00 PM
ok, you know what? i don't really care about being natural with my armpits..i mean, if i was going to go that route i would also not shave. but at some point during the summer i decided that i would use natural deodorant, and that was kind of a dumb idea. i mean, the stuff worked alright, i didn't stink, which i guess is the main goal of deodorant, BUT i didn't smell that great either. the natural ingredients in the stuff (i'm looking at you, hops) seem to mix with the sweat and make this other scent, which isn't bad really, but it's not good. for me to feel really clean armpit-wise, i need to not sweat and to smell really, unnaturally fresh, like powdery or zesty or some other scent that non-natural deodorants use. this stuff however, smells kind of earthy and not good, like the apricot isn't the fake clean apricot that i've come to know and love, but a sort of musty patchoulii-ish apricot. also, the formula of this is kind of sticky and weird, if it gets on your hands it leaves a residue that's sort of unpleasant and weird and i don't like it. so overall tom's of maine deodorant is not really that great, i know we all want to feel like even our smelly disgusting armpits go with this whole cute little all-natural flower child thing we're sort of trying to cultivate, but in the end, i want lots of chemicals and antiperspirant goodness.
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Cleansers -Weleda - Wild Rose Cleansing Lotion
vain_emily 11/19/2008 6:16:00 PM
this stuff is pretty good. it's really liquid-y and milky and it you have to pour it out of the stupid glass bottle and it comes out too fast a lot of the time and you end up with too much. seriously, i hate the bottle so much, it's like heavy and fragile and annoying to hold in the shower and weleda needs to realize that while it looks cute on a bathroom counter, it's really irritating when you feel like you're wielding a crystal goblet to wash your face with. also, i don't really like the smell, but then again i don't really like rose scents, so i do'nt know what i was expecting. the lotion sinks in and cleans my face pretty well, it's nice to use because you don't need a ton of water to lather it or anything. it's a lot like bliss steep clean cleansing milk actually, except i think the bliss version is better, albeit more harsh on the skin. oh ps i bought this at target, which is being really awesome and stocking higher end brands now, like fekkai (!) and weleda and terax, so i can feel like i'm somehow getting a better deal on my ridiculously expensive beauty products just because i'm buying them at the place where i also get febreze.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Moisturizers -Weleda - Skin Food
vain_emily 11/19/2008 6:11:00 PM
Ok, just a warning, this stuff is really really REALLY thick, like when you squeeze it out of the tube it looks like toothpaste made of clay, and it feels greasy and not at all like something you want to smear all over your face. That said, I wouldn't use this unless your skin is pretty dry, and even then I'd reserve it more for like, the winter and after long plane rides. I put this on before I go to bed and let it absorb overnight, because it takes it a while to sink in, which is the reason why I have to use it then. But anyway, when it does sink into my skin and I wake up, my face feels soft and looks a lot healthier. But I would maybe try this out as a tester or something before buying it, because like I said, it's going to be too thick for a lot of people. It doesn't smell very good either. Also, like someone else said, I could see this being a problem for people who have acne prone skin, because it's pretty greasy and thick. But overall I really like this stuff, it works for me and I'd buy it again. UPDATE: Well a couple days later, I got a bunch of breakouts on my face, and I'm usually not sensitive to stuff I put on my face, so the comedogenic stuff in Skin Food must be pretty strong. Seriously, I have zits where I never EVER get them, and the only explanation is that this stupid stuff clogged my pores. So I'm taking it down to one lippie because well, it might moisturize but it also makes my skin look like crap.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Mario Badescu - Drying Lotion
vain_emily 6/8/2008 11:46:00 AM
This stuff didn't work at all for me. It doesn't do anything, I just feel like I'm washing off chalky residue when I get rid of it (or scrubbing off, it's a pain to totally get rid of,) and my whitehead is always still there and hasn't gone down in size or redness. It wasn't super drying on me, so at least that's good. But for my kind of pimples, it didn't work. Regular clean & clear, clearasil, etc., works for me a lot better. The packaging is cute, but the glass bottle isn't practical.
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Conditioner -Unlisted Brand - Neolia Olive Oil Conditioner
vain_emily 5/22/2008 12:03:00 AM
Hmm I'm surprised there aren't any reviews for this yet, I bought mine at Costco and I think a lot of people from here shop there. Anyway, I liked this conditioner quite a bit. I sometimes put olive oil on my hair to moisturize it but it smells weird and it's a pain to wash out, so I don't do it as often as I should. This has similar effects, it's very moisturizing and smoothing. Plus it smells nice and it's not too expensive. I got a big bottle of shampoo and a regular bottle of conditioner for not too much. I think anyone with dry, coarse hair (like me) should try this, it's among my favorite conditioners.
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Styling Products -Frederic Fekkai - Glossing Cream with Olive Oil
vain_emily 5/21/2008 11:53:00 PM
now this is a fekkai product i can get behind. this stuff is GREAT. it's so creamy and nice smelling and it's great for smoothing my hair before i use the blowdryer. i would skip buying the matching shampoo and conditioner and just get this, it's good enough on its own.
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