Treatments (Eye) -MD Formulations - Moisture Defense antioxidant eye cream
zhaya 6/27/2012 11:14:00 PM
Best under-eye product I have found. It has a bit of the light-reflecting stuff common to other under-eye products, like alpha-hydroxy. It moisturizes nicely without creating an oil slick, and does not dry out as the day goes on. When applied, my lash-liner and mascara do not migrate. I find it best used alone- when I put a bit of foundation or cover-up over it, my wrinkles seem to pop up again. Now I just apply it first, then face moisturizer or primer, and then when applying foundation I avoid the under-eye area. All by itself, this product perks you up and brightens you up, and leaves your skin feeling healthily hydrated. I noticed in some of the other reviews that folks were unhappy with its performance regarding dark circles. I always have dark circles, and always have had. Not horrendous, but definitely there, and I have tried most of the cover-ups and concealers on the market at some time or other. For me, all of those products made my eyes look worse. Under-eye concealer made me look like raccoon eyes regardless of the color or texture of the product I used. Then when I hit about 50, concealers seemed to accentuate my wrinkles. Not good. So even though this product will not magically erase circles, it does make me look more rested. smooths out the tiny wrinkles, tightens and tones the area, and hydrates beautifully without getting greasy. Perhaps those who were unhappy with it should try wearing it without any concealer or foundation over it. It does a super job all by itself.
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Bronzers -Bare Escentuals - Faux Tan all-over face color
zhaya 6/27/2012 11:00:00 PM
I never thought I'd end up using a "bronzer." I hate most bronzers because of all the glitter that seems to be in almost all of them. I am naturally olive, and tend to get very dark in the summers since I'm lazy about using sunscreen. But now at my age, almost 60, I am trying to start taking better care of my skin, and have been using products that lighten age spots and even skin tone. So when I go out unshielded I end up undoing all that I've been striving for. But then I had this problem- sort of the reverse of a Farmer's Tan. My arms, legs, neck, shoulders, chest are all brown, but my face is several shades lighter. I was leery about trying this product, because many of the Bare Escentuals have a shimmer that seems magnetically attracted to my wrinkles. I usually use a very light consistency cream foundation or BB. But I decided to give this a try one day while at the Bare Escentuals counter. It is great stuff! More matte than most of their original products, but not quite as matte as the new line. For me, the color is great- not too orange, not too dirty, not too shimmery-- just right. It made my skin look lovely when very lightly dusted over my foundation. I smoodged it down below my jawline and into my neck so as to diminish the difference in color between the two areas.Yea! It worked! So I bought it, and have been happy with it. I found accidentally that it is also wonderful for making skin-tone look very even, and blends in areas where you have tan lines. When I wore a strapless dress the other day, I had strap marks from my tank tops. I fluffed on the Faux Tan, gave it a couple of coats, and voila, tan lines virtually gone. I have now begun to use it routinely on my legs when wearing skirts this summer because even though I am dark, my legs have age-spots and uneven coloration. Faux Tan evens me out and gives a very faint healthy glow with NO shimmer. The only drawback is the usual one with mineral products- it makes a mess. Can't keep that powder off the bathroom counter. But at least with this product, if some gets on my arms or neck, that's just fine. I just buff it in and look even better.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Moisturizers -MD Formulations - Moisture Defense Antioxidant Cream
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:48:00 PM
I like this moisturizer- it hydrates without feeling greasy. It seems to firm my skin up a bit too. I am inconsistent, and use lots of products, but this is one I seem to come back to fairly often. I don't like to use a primer over it because I end up feeling like I've got too much stuff on my face by the time I add a light foundation. When I want a primer-effect I use the PTR laser resurfacer cream-gel, but can't use the two products together so I use one or the other-- I use the MD when I want more hydration, and the PTR when I want a smooth surface to work on.
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Lip Gloss -Bare Escentuals - Buxom Lips Lip Gloss Candi
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:43:00 PM
This one surprised me. I thought it would be way too pinky for me, but the color seems to somehow adapt to the lip color of the person wearing it. I have seen it on many people with very different coloring, and somehow it seems to suit just about everyone. It is a sort of straw-berry color, shiney but not shimmery. Can be used alone or over another color. It is one of those shades that just brightens you up. As sated in previous reviews, I also love the Ginger lip gloss. Few of the other colors suit me. Except for that ubiquitous problem of my hair getting stuck to my lips, I love this product.
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Lip Gloss -Bare Escentuals - Buxom Lips Full Color Sophia
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:36:00 PM
Big disappointment, as I love the Buxom glosses (though find the color range limited for my taste- too many bubble-gummy colors). So I had high hopes that being a full-color, non-bubble-gummy product, I would like Sophia. But Sophia is a gloppy mess. It is not sheer like the other glosses and this is a detriment to the texture, look, and feel. It looks like a pretty shimmery bronzey-plummy color in the tube and when first applied. But on me, and everyone I know who has used it, it quickly turns into a silvery mess, with the color almost disappearing as the metallic look takes over. I hoped one of my daughters could use it, but they passed it around between the 4 of them til someone finally tossed it. I also didn't like the brush that comes with this one; I prefer the sponge tip as in the glosses.
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Lip Gloss -Bare Escentuals - Buxom Lips Lip Gloss in Ginger
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:31:00 PM
LOVE this stuff! In my experience, the best gloss ever. And I've lived a long time and used LOTS of glosses! Some people may not like the plumping feel, but I find the minty tingle and the faint vanilla-ish scent to be just fine. This color suits my complexion quite well, and I wear alone or over regular lipstick if I want the shine and plumping effects. The only thing I don't like about this or ANY lip gloss, is that my hair gets stuck on my lips all the time, which is highly annoying. The texture of the Buxom glosses is not particularly gooey like many glosses are, but I guess there is just nothing that can be done about the hair-sticking-to-the-mouth problem that seems common to all glosses. Altogether, one of my favorite articles of makeup. Wish Sephora had not taken over the line so that I could still get it where I work, sigh... but that's monopoly capitalism.
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Treatments -Peter Thomas Roth - Un-Wrinkle
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:24:00 PM
This review is specifically for the PTR Un-Wrinkle Primer. I have had good luck with some of the other Un-Wrinkle products so was disappointed in this one. As a primer, it seems to be the same old silicone that every other primer contains. It seemed to make my foundation bead up a bit, and I don't care for the feel of it. I cannot address how it worked on the wrinkles, because I only used it a dozen times or so. And since I do use the Un-Wrinkle Peel Pads, the Dragon's blood resurfacer, and the laser-free cream-gel serum, it would be hard to discern how the primer added or detracted from the mix. As a primer, I now use the PTR laser-free cream-gel, and it glides on, absorbs in, and provides a smooth surface for my foundation.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Peter Thomas Roth - Un-Wrinkle Peel Pads
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:18:00 PM
These are great! My skin tends to be pretty insensitive (not like my soul ;-P) so I can leave this product on for 10 or 20 minutes with not problems. While they can be used daily I am erratic, (and on a tight budget) so I use them once a week or so; sometimes I'll use for 2 or 3 days in a row, in which case the results are more pronounced. They help keep the age spots lighter and seem to help with the wrinkles and the pores too. I've been using this product for a few years now, and think it has a good deal to do with why my skin looks younger than I deserve for it to, considering the considerable sun damage I have and continue to accumulate in my life. I do use the DDF micro-exfoliating REVOLVE, so this combination most likely works synergistically in a good way.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Skincare - Face -Peter Thomas Roth - Instant FIRMx
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:12:00 PM
I was a bit disappointed in this. If only it would make your face STAY as it looks when it first dries. Of course that is impossible, and I suppose I shouldn't ding the product because it does not perform miracles. But there are a few other problems with it too. I have found it hard to remove by "splashing water" on my face as per directions. It leaves white spots and smears until you really remove it with a cloth, cotton ball, or wet fingers applied a few times. That white residue sometimes reappears later, when you think you've gotten it all off. It does indeed lift and firm your face, and though the dramatic effects disappear as soon as you've rinsed, overall you still look younger and more uplifted for several hours after, just not in a big way. I'd read in some reviews that some people leave it on and apply makeup over it. I did try this, both with and without moisturizer, and found that it still tends to get residue-y. Perhaps if I used it every day the effects would be longer lasting, but I rarely use it. It reminds me of when we were kids and would put Elmer's white glue all over our faces and then pull up our eyebrows or pull down our lips, and things would stay in place. One other comment, don't be tempted to use this near your eyes for uplift or to disguise crow's feet. Since its action is to tighten and draw as it dries, it ends up pulling the skin under your eyes into a cluster of wrinkles. NOT pretty. To be fair, it did not have this on my younger sister, so maybe it is just that I have more baggy skin under my eyes than she does :-) One more positive- I used this before a job interview last summer, and left a bit of it on, smoothing moisturizer over it to hide the white residue, and applied some very light creamy foundation. The people there thought I was in my late 30's, not my late 50's-- so for a temporary youthful disguise, go for it!
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Peter Thomas Roth - Dragon's Blood laser free resurfacing treatment
zhaya 6/27/2012 10:00:00 PM
I have used this in the original pump form, as well as recently adding the cream-gel. While it is outrageously expensive, sometimes you used to be able to find a bit of a deal on eBay. I think I paid $50 for the first full-size bottle. This is the first stuff that made a dramatic difference in my melasma and age spots. I always used to look like my neck was dirty. (and now it looks that way again because it is summer and I am too lazy or in a hurry to use sunscreen, so I'll have to start over again with the PTR.) Don't expect it to work with one treatment. I think it was about 2 weeks in when I noticed the fading age spots, the decrease in lines, the smooth skin, the smaller pores. I am currently out of this product, having used my last little sample sized pump, but am using the cream-gel, which I'll write about in another review. Suffice it to say here that I love it, and it makes the BEST primer I've ever used! So while I say I would buy it again, the truth is that I probably won't, unless I can find a fantastic deal, because it is so expensive. That's why I deducted a lippie. But if you've got the bucks, go for it.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -DDF - REVOLVE 400X Micro-Polishing System
zhaya 6/27/2012 9:54:00 PM
My daughter gave this to me as a gift last Christmas. The first time I used it, that day 2 people asked if I'd "had work done." The next day, someone else commented on how glowing and great my complexion looked. And the compliments have kept on coming. Not that I usually look bad, lol, don't get me wrong...but when you're pushing 60 and you start getting lots of compliments on your skin, that is a good thing! I work part-time in a salon that sells skin-care products and makeup, so I probably come under closer scrutiny than many people. Since I want to sell our products I don't burst out with, "Oh I use DDF and Peter Thomas Roth," because some of the products in our line are great too. But honestly I think it is the DDF micro-polishing that makes the biggest difference. I am erratic about skin care, but try to remember to use this one every few weeks at least. I use the DDF cleanser first, with the brush attachment. Then I use the sponge attachment with the micro-exfoliating cream. After this my skin feels like silk and looks glowing, rosy, and fresh. (And younger :-) The only drawback I have found is that if I don't rinse super carefully, for at least a few minutes, I will end up with a tiny pimple the next day. I think because I am older and my pores are probably larger, that it is easier to get these teensy polishing beads left in a pore. So just be careful that you do a super rinse. Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, it would probably be a good idea to use the brush attachment again, as this would dislodge any extra bits. All in all though, somewhat of a miracle worker.
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