Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Beauty Product Reviews

In the past month I have added four products to my regimen and I thought I'd give a quick review on each. Korres Quercetine and Oak Primer - LOVE LOVE LOVE. This is silicone free and lightweight and actually is perfect for my skin in the summer without a moisturizer. I haven't had any breakouts and actually I think it has improved the overall feel of my skin. It smells fresh and I think the size will last at least three months. This will be a repurchase for me and it makes me want to try other products from this line.
L'Oreal True Match Natural Mascara in Black Brown. This is suppose to be 97% natural (or something like that), the packaging is also suppose to be more eco friendly. I love the shade, perfect for brunettes and very natural for day wear. The brush is very similar to the L'Oreal Voluminous which is my absolute favorite mascara. The formula holds curl without flaking but I did see some smudges on my lower lashline at the very end of the day. Overall a pretty good mascara, I'm a contact lense wearer and this did not aggravate my eyes. I would actually like to try this is black so I'll probably give this one a go for a few months. Don't be surprised if I go back to Voluminous....I always do.
Benefit Boiing concealer in Shade 1. Industrial strength? Used by professionals with actors under hot bright lights? This product does not live up to the hype and in my opinion not up to the company claims either. I love that it blends well and if you only need to cover a few red spots this might be a good choice but absolutely it does nothing for undereye circles. I don't even have terrible discoloration under my eyes and this didn't work for me. It doesn't stay either, even with powder on top it needs to be reapplied when I get home from work. I'll be exchanging this product tomorrow - the search for HG concealer continues!
Revlon Brow Fantasy in Light Brown. I DO NOT OVERPLUCK MY BROWS! I can not tell you how many times I have told friends, family, boyfriends, etc in the past. The good Lord did not see fit to give me a full brow line, I have a very thin line of hair with a few strays underneath that I pluck away - I never put my tweezers near my brow line because I need each and every hair! I have several products tagged to try from Benefit Brow Zing to the Anastasia brow products but I recently read a product review in a magazine raving about Brow Fantasy and I figured its cheap, I can buy it anywhere, I have nothing to lose. I really like it! I can't say it's necessarily HG but the color works for my medium brown hair and if feathered correctly it doesn't look like drawn on brows. The gel on the other side is what really makes it natural, just a quick swipe keeps them in place and darkens the hair a tiny bit, you just have to be careful to make sure the wide brush doesn't touch the skin under the brow. I would repurchase this, I still wouldn't mind trying the other products on my list as a splurge but this is a nice affordable option.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Tag: This or That

I feel like this is one of those quizzes you see in girly magazines sometimes that gives you a label is you answer mostly A or something else if you answer mostly B. A girl on youtube posted this and I thought it would be easy and fun since I didn't get to blog all week.

Makeup: blush or bronzer (I have to pick?!?!) lip gloss or lipstick eye liner or mascara (this should read eyeliner AND mascara) foundation or concealer neutral or color eye shadow pressed or loose eye shadow brushes or sponges

 Nails: OPI or China Glaze (I'd prefer Essie to either) Long or short acrylic or natural brights or darks (on my toesies....I manicure with natural or pastel) flower or no flower (um flower?)

  Body: perfume or body splash lotion or body butter body wash or soap lush or other bath company (I'm way too cheap for lush)

  Fashion: jeans or sweat pants long sleeve or short (doesn't this depend on a season?) dresses or skirts stripes or plaid flip flops or sandals scarves or hats studs or dangly earrings necklaces or bracelets heels or flats cowboy boots or riding boots jacket or hoodie forever 21 or charlotte russe (this one is a toss up, I rarely go in either store) abercrombie or hollister (really neither since I was in high school) saks 5th or nordstrom

 Hair: curly or straight (I'd go with either one honestly, mine has natural curl) bun or ponytail (hmm pretty much neither unless my hair is misbehavin') bobby pins or butterfly clips hairspray or gel (no southern woman is going to give up her hairspray!!!) long or short light or dark side swept bangs or full bangs (did they meant blunt cut bangs?) up or down

 Random: rain or shine summer or winter (the carolinas are 70% summer, 20% winter, 10% other) fall or spring chocolate or vanilla east coast or west coast

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Panthers!

I consider myself an easy going person. I have three main priorities: 1. Bible - to study the majesty of my heavenly father and learn how to live from my savior Jesus Christ. 2. Boy - assuming I have one at the time. 3. Ball - Football that is, my second religion. Leading into my favorite time of the year with a full heart of tailgating spirit, tonight is my first NFL preseason game. Currently I'm sporting my Peppers jersey mourning him as if he's dead but we have a replacement that is showing promise. Yes my OOTD would be a jersey and soffe shorts, hence why I haven't ventured into taking photos yet. Go Panthers! And happy anniversary to the Wizard of Oz (one of my favorite movies), google informed me that it was released 71 years ago!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

New Goodies!

I picked up a couple of items at Sephora this past weekend. I'm hoping to review them after a couple of weeks. This is Korres Antiaging Primer. I wanted to find something that was lightweight and could work alone or with daily lotion. The antiaging benefits and the fact that korres is all natural are big bonuses. I don't want to jump ahead of myself as I've only used this a few days but so far I like it.
Boi-ing Concealer by Benefit. This is a cult product and I guess I wanted to see why everyone raves about it. My concealer is officially out of date so I decided to try something other than my beloved MAC, this product is WAY more then and only comes in three shades. I'm not a big fan of the screw lid versus a flip cap just because of the inconvenience. I guess I got off on the wrong foot with this product but I'll do an official review once I've gotten used to it.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

New kicks and a self tanner review

Random I know... I've never in my life called them kicks but it sounded better than tennies (my usual pet name for athletic shoes). Of all the shoes I tried on these fit the best but I don't know anything about them or running shoes in general. If I continue to run outside they won't stay this white for long. I love my new Under Armour socks. These are usually super expensive at sporting goods stores but you can find them for half price at Marshalls or TJ Maxx. I love that they are slip proof.
My new ear buds, hopefully these won't slip out of my ears the way my old ones did. They are much more comfortable.
And a new self tanner....
Gotta say, this one is not a winner. I've tried various spray tanners and this one is definitely unsatisfactory. It does have a continuous spray and it can spray in all different directions but the formula is so wet that it is impossible not to streak. I dabbed first with tissue and ended up with muddy legs. I tried it a few other times with a much lighter hand and used a mitt to rub the product into my skin. Absolutely did not work for me and it was messy - everytime I used it I spent 10 minutes washing the bathtub trying not to splatter any water on my newly sprayed arms and legs. Even the inside of my nose tanned - no kidding - just try not to inhale this product. The aerosol formula carried all the way to the living room and had mom and me coughing for several hours. I was trying to blow it out of my nose or cough it up, whatever it took to keep from inhaling more of it. Did Not Work For Me.