Beauty Product Reviews

Worth the Wait

I was among the Pacific Northwesterners who had to wait an extra ten days to get their lucky bag due to weather. In the meantime, I was seeing pics and videos of other Lucky Bags and getting ever more anxious. I was hopeful to get one of the Danessa Myricks palettes or the ND Xenon palette— to my delight, I got the Danessa Groundwork palette which is perfect.

Everything else was great— if there's any one complaint I'd have is the inclusion of Wayne Goss products in the regular Lucky Bags since there's an exclusive Wayne Goss bag.

The Serum's great—the packaging, OTOH...

This came as part of my Beautylish Lucky Bag this year; initially, I was reluctant to try it, since I haven't had good luck with Holifrog products in the past, but I had been in search of a Vitamin C serum, so I decided to give it a go.

Surprisingly, the serum has been great—hyperpigmentation has definitely lessened, my skin looks more even, and best of all, no breakouts, which is my general litmus test.

HOWEVER—let's talk about this packaging. It's DREADFUL. It's impossible to get an even, consistent pump. Sometimes, I have to pump it 5-6 times to get any product out, other times, I pump once and it's way too much. And since the bottle/jar is opaque, you can't really tell how much is left. It's annoying enough that while I might have considered purchasing another bottle after this one is empty, I won't. I'll look for another Vitamin C serum with a more reliable dispenser.

Wanted to love it, but...

I absolutely adore Wayne Goss’s products— his brushes are amongst the best in my collections; the blush palettes and Imperial Topaz eye palette are outstanding, and among his lip products, I was finally able to find a nude that didn’t turn me the approximate hue of a malaria patient. So when I saw the announcement of the Pearl Moonstone collection, I was so excited. Cool tones are completely up my alley and it seemed as if here was a palette tailor-made for me.

With respect to the colors, I can’t complain—they’re absolutely beautiful. They texture is soft and blends like a dream. However, try as I might, I was never able to build the products up into any sort of intensity, even layering shades or using different brushes. Out of desperation, I finally attempted a wet brush application with the teal shade (even though it’s not recommended) and while it controlled fallout, intensity didn’t really approach anything close to the images of Colleen Heidemann being used in the ad campaign. And yes, I know about filters and lighting— what I’m talking about is actual opacity.

The kohl pencils on the other hand were marvelous— it was that rare occasion where I was sorry I’d ordered the collection as a whole because I would have loved to have kept the pencils, but I couldn’t justify keeping the palette just to keep them. I’ll probably just order them separately at a later date.

This certainly doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for Wayne’s line— this one was just a dud for me. Here’s looking forward to the next release.

Absolutely gorgeous!

This is an intimidating color in pan, for sure, and you do have to be careful picking it up on the brush because it is soft and a little goes a long way, but that said, once you get the hang of it, it is one of the most gorgeous blushes I’ve ever worn. It’s just as Wayne said in his video—these blushes give the sense of having been outside on a crisp fall or winter day and the beautiful, natural flush your skin takes on. The blue undertone of Vivid Azalea is perfect on my olive skin tone and just makes me feel vibrant and healthy.

The highlighter is equally pretty, just giving a kiss of light on high points of the face or building it up for a more intense dramatic look.

Definitely a winner!