Beauty Product Reviews | Page 9

Love these!

Vivian, you took the words right out of my mouth! I needed a lip liner that would go with any thing in my lippie wardrobe, and would go with all my nude lip products. This dark pinkish/reddish/brownish color is not light, but works with my skin tone, and it blends seamlessly with a ton of other lip products- making it extra versatile. It blends in with nudes, purples, pinks and the like. I love lining my lips with this- they stand out beautifully, but it looks so natural, not harsh. I love experimenting with different lip shapes, and this is the perfect l.l to do so! Addiction is also great as a lipstick and can be made lighter depending on what you throw on top. I love the twist up feature, and these are soo silky smooth- you barely need to use pressure to apply, it just glides right on, and its easy to remove mistakes. I'm a l.l. noob, so these were the best to start out with- and now are a favorite no matter what l.l. I use in the future! The pink shade Eastend Snob 063, is also gorgeous and It looked amazing with the pinks from Revlon's matte l.s. line. That one though was fragile and broke apart, even with the lightest hand. It also was a little more crumbly than Addiction. Its fine, as long as Addiction still stands. Yet another one of Rimmel's hits- they just keep coming! Plus, the reviews for these liners were uniformly positive- so I lucked out! Thank you, ladies! <3

Very nice

I got the Soft Smudge brown and S.S black artist pencils inside of my massive Estee Lauder xmas makeup set from 2011. I didn't get around to using the pencils until the summer- and I started with the brown. I almost wrote off the pencil because as a bit of a MU noob I forgot to rub off that whitish, chalky/waxy layer that forms over a fresh pencil liner point. I wanted to do a golden brown smokey eye- but my shadow stood out more than the liner! So I was mega annoyed. I tried it again, this time properly, and it made such a difference (obvi). The brown is sorta unique- not super basic brown. It has sort of a golden/reddish undertone, almost auburn, and although it doesn't match my brows, its a fun brow color to experiment with. The black I have yet to use, but swatching on my hand, its super black and creamy, very black and pigmented- it might be too creamy/messy, but at least from the swatch it looks good! These weren't mini sample size, they were full size (awesome for being in a kit!) - so they didn't come with the smudger sponge on the bottom- but that's fine cuz they are sorta unsanitary and I find they remove the liner more than they smudge it! So no loss there. All in all I quite like these. Not sure I'd run to buy them when I run out, but they'd be nice to have as a staple when you're not sure what else to use/sick of what you normally use.

Awesome for makeup brushes!

I was having a small dilemna cleaning brushes (aside from the fact I need to clean them more, instead of always spot cleaning, I know I'm lazy). I used to use hand soap and that seemed to do the trick, yet I always feared it would be too harsh on my brushes. (And I can't remember if it started to leave build-up, esp. in my thicker bundled brushes). I used leftover shampoo that I wasn't using, and that seemed to work (might go back to that from time to time) but was seduced into using some Dr. Bronner's to deep clean. I love D.B.- I use it as a bodywash, and for that its great- super gentle, smells great, no residue. However, on brushes its a whole other thing. Castille soap does leave a little residue- and it got caught mainly in my thick kabuki style elf powder brush and sonia kashuk blusher brush. As much as I tried to deep clean- I still had gunky white residue! eww. As soon as I stumbled upon this page recently, I ran out and got a mini bottle of this, which was a good idea, seeing as how you don't need that much to deep clean. I have one brush that's been a little stubborn, so I can't say this is a perfect method, but it beats D.B. gunking my brushes up! Plus, its so sentimental- bringing up memories of bath time playing with your bath toys! XD

Very nice- great smell and great texture

I wanted to try another Alba moisturizer, one that didn't irritate my skin like the last one I tried. This has a creamy, thick texture- you only need to dab the smallest amount on, it will spread very nicely. My skin drinks it in like the last one I tried, but I don't get itchy, or feel the smallest bit of residue. The smell is very floral, which I'm usually not a fan of- but its since grown on me. I figured the other ingredients would counteract the jasmine scent, yet I also was clueless about the fact that jasmine is a flower- hence floral scent. The plastic cap is fragile, so if you drop the tub, it might break- mine did. All in all, I prefer this one to the other Alba moisturizer I have, and it makes a lovely makeup primer. The price is still steep though.

Great way to edge into masks/exfoliants

I'm no stranger to exfoliators and cleansers, but I am to masks. I got this because I was wondering if the mask aspect of the product would be something of interest. I like that this is a three in one, although the cleanser and exfoliator steps are pretty much the same- although to exfoliate, I guess you could add some more and scrub more, as opposed to when you cleanse. This has a nice creamy consistency and the beads aren't harsh and sharp like the St. Ives scrubs. The mask aspect is kinda nice because you can leave it on and let it dry (almost a chalky consistency) while you brush your teeth/do other things in your morning routine. I like that the tube is sorta see through so you can see how much product you have left. I like the scent because its the same as the scent used in their Moisture Rescue Line- consisting of 3 products I have liked/used in the past. It does leave my skin feeling clean, not tight or dry. Aside from the animal testing/beads bad for your skin thing, its a nice cleanser and you get a lot for a low price.

Very natural looking, good for my every day natural look

Obvi I have seen these blushes been praised to high heaven, so on one of my more recent Target trips I had to check them out. I had been wanting to grab one for a long time but decided to wait- impulse control after all! :) The day I got them the other colors I had in mind had just about been ransacked- the boxes were all crumpled up and the shades I wanted were nowhere to be found- a lot of stuff was not in stock. Luckily Candid Coral was still around to I chose it. Its not super coral-y or super pink, and the gold micro-glitter stays in the pan and not on my cheeks, thankfully. Its a little stiff in texture and I needed to dig with my brush many times to get the desired pigmentation/amount but once I got what I needed it was great. This shade appears more pinky than coral on me, looks very natural, and fits in great with my light MU/ no makeup makeup look/natural look seamlessly. It also lasts for quite awhile, and works as a very natural/light contour. The compact is very cute and light, and of course I love the price. You might have to dig around in stead of tap (like WnW's Color Icon blushers-very pigmented) but its well worth the extra effort. These also don't turn orangey through out the day- they stay the way you applied them at the start of the day- at least Candid Coral does. I'd probably pick up more when I have the time/money.

Very cute- can be used as a lip stain!

I had gotten this awhile back and hoarded it in my train case until I got around to using it. This makes a great companion to a fresh-faced, no makeup makeup look. It does look extremely hot pink in the pan, but it is a nice light pink when applied with fingers, and is more pigmented if you use, for instance, the Sonia Kashuk blusher brush. I also like using this for a lip stain, almost more than using it as a blush. Its not super pigmented so you might need multiple layers on your cheeks. The container is cute, and you get plenty of product, but it was a little expensive. I prefer this creme blush texture to creme blushes that are in mousse form, so that's a plus. (Already wasted money on creme/mousse blushes.) This also looks great when a powder blush is layered over it for more pigmentation and staying power.

A little over hyped

The nearest Lush to me is over 2 hours away, so when I had the chance to find one during a makeup shopping trip, I jumped on it! I wasn't ready to make any other Lush purchases but felt safe trying out this lip scrub every one is raving about. I got it, but obvi had to be pestered by the sales teen trying to get me to buy one of their lip balms (I would have but my bf already spent 50$ at MAC, my first MAC purchases). The smell is a little different from your typical bubblegum smell, so kudos to originality, but its not quite what I expected. I don't really like licking the sugar off my lips and I feel like you need a ton to properly exfoliate- many times I just use a hand-towel or wash cloth to slough off the dead skin that doesn't come off with the scrub. I don't know why I felt like this would be such an amazing product- its just pretty colored sugar, no different than something you could make at home (But I'm lazy, hence getting the scrub). I don't use it that often, but I'm determined to use it more, so that 10 bucks won't go to waste. Its perfectly fine- but a bit lackluster.

UD dupes at the drugstore!

Once I noticed these were getting a lot of attention awhile back I had to see what the commotion was about! I love that these 8 pans have a lot of product- 8 wide wells. The shadows are creamy and buttery- so soft and pigmented just a tap will give you plenty of shadow to play with-if you accidentally dig, you'll have kicked up too much. Love how cheap they are, and the color selections. The neutrals on the left are gorgeous, and the duochrome shade looks amaze over a black base- and like Mary Anne M. said, its def. a dupe of UD's Lounge e.s. The right side with greens I have yet to play with, but I plan on creating an olive smokey eye by patting the greens over my Stila Smudge Pot in Black. These are so versatile and feel high end. These and the e.s. trios/singles were really the start of Wet n Wild's rise to popularity. Love their new shadow formulas!

A little let down, but not surprised

I initially got this because I needed a new mascara and all my faves were way or just about past their expiration date and I'm way more into mascara than I've ever been! My fave drugstore mascara is a Rimmel London one, and I can't wait to try more, but something about the gorgeous metallic sheen of this packaging made me want it SO BAD. The reviews were pretty positive so I thought it was time to change it up from my Rimmel London Volumeflash Scandaleyes, Estee Lauder Sumptuous Bold Volume and Benefit Badgal Lash mascaras. But I guess being spoilt rotten by the nice mascaras made me forget about the mediocre ones. The best part of this might actually be the packaging/color of the tube- but I can't say I'm surprised as I kinda figured this would be sub-par.

The brush is a nice size, but the mascara itself gets all gooped up on the brush and clogs the opening of the tube- it gets messy this way. So make sure you scrape as much as you can off the brush. The formula is a little sticky and it clumps easily- something my faves barely ever did. I almost would need a lash comb for this, but I'm too lazy to use one. Also, this gives me raccoon eye smudges on the lower lash line- whereas the Badgal and E.L. ones I used on the bottom lashes never left a streak or flake- just gorgeous definition. With lashes curled this does have some nice hold, but not a substantial amount of volume and length. Its also a little smelly. I wouldn't re-purchase- I guess curiosity did kill the cat! Maybe this will work better with a nicer mascara layered over it, and I'd certainly use it up more!

EDIT* The hold on this one is actually great, especially after a long day, and there is a good amount of volume. I just need another mascara for my bottom lashes!