indie G.'s (girliereview) Beauty Product Reviews
Good product, horrible packaging
I tried this when my local Sephora stopped stocking the Dr. Brandt microdermabrasion. It's really similar. Same amount, same price. The Dr. Brandt has a screwtop which was fine. And it's supposed to be applied to wet skin. The DermaDoctor is supposed to be applied to dry skin, so I found I used a LOT more product than the Dr. Brandt. But the real killer for me was that the packaging has this built in pump. It's awful. The product is super thick, the pump just never worked. I ended up prying the lid off. I'm going back to Dr. Brandt.
super thin bristled applicator, fantastic pigmentation, smudges
This liner is definitely meant for precision jobs. It has an actual bristle brush that is super fine. If you need to put down a thick line of product, be prepared to spend some time doing it.
The formula is incredibly pigmented. This is hands down the blackest black liner I've ever seen.
It doesn't have the greatest staying power. It does tend to smudge on me and if your eyes water at all, it will move around.
Great pigmentation, super staying power
I love this stuff. Provided you give the bottle a good shake before application, the pigmentation is great. The applicator is a little on the thick side, so it will put down a fairly thick strip of product, which I like. I have never had any issue with this product flaking or running. It's great.
I will say that it's not my favorite for any kind of dramatic winged liner look. When you apply it really big sections, it will tend to crack and pull. So for those looks I just use a gel liner anyway.
Watery, uneven formula
I bought this because I'd heard it was a dupe for the Lancome Art Liner. It's not. I heard raves about how super pigmented the formula is. It's not. I find this formula to be incredibly watery with really uneven coverage.
bought it for the wand, turns out I hate it
I bought this mascara strictly because the wand is like the Givenchy wand. It was highly touted as being perfect for getting maximum coverage. Well ... I hate it. It's really easy to flick the wand and send mascara flying.
horrible brush
The brush pictured here is not what the brush looks like in the tube I just picked up last month. The new brush has a crimp between the wand and the head of the brush. I have no idea what the thinking was here, but when I go to use it, it is SO easy to accidentally flick the end of the brush and send mascara flying everywhere. I absolutely hate it.
Heavy on the silicone
Not all primers are created equal. I found after purchasing this primer that I am really not a fan of the super silicone primers that have a lot of slip to them. Putting this on my skin just felt like I was wearing a mask. But my foundation did look good.
Great range of colors
I've used this foundation off and on for a year or so. It's okay. It's a solid foundation. It comes in a huge range of colors. It's not terribly expensive, so I don't feel ripped off when I have to buy two different shades and mix them to get it just right.
This foundation does have a very matte finish and on my dry skin, that's not my favorite look. So I don't tend to use it much in the winter. In the summer, I really like to mix this foundation with my moisturizer and use it as a tinted moisturizer.
Great as bases
I have a couple of these palettes in different colors and I really like them. I always use them as bases under powder shadows, so I can't speak to how quickly they crease on the lid. I do wish their pink color wasn't so blue based, but other than that, I really like them.
My favorite brushes!
I purchased this brush set six months ago and I use at least one of these brushes every single time I put on makeup (5-6 times per week). The brushes are great quality. The bristles are super soft and they're synthetic so they don't soak up products and are especially great at applying any creamy products (cream eye shadows, concealer, etc). I wash mine 2-3 times per week and they don't shed at all and have kept their shapes beautifully.
I find the base shadow and the crease brushes to be absolutely essential to my cosmetics routine. The base shadow brush is similar to the MAC 217, but slightly smaller, which I love. It is so useful! And while I rarely use the crease brush on my crease, I use it all the time as well. I use the crease brush to apply/blend cream products. I use it on cream eyeshadows, cream eye bases, eye primers, concealers, etc. I use the accent brush less often, but it is great for any type of detailed application. When I do need and angled brush, I prefer the Real Techniques brush to far more expensive brushes from MAC and Sephora. The pixel point brush is one that I use very rarely only because I use eye liners with built in applicators, but again, if you needed a precision brush, it would do nicely.
All in all, these brushes are a GREAT deal. A single MAC brush would cost more than all 5 of these brushes and in my experience, not hold up as well. I love these brushes and I really wish Amazon would restock this line so I could purchase some more brushes.