Julep Maven Feb 2014 - Modern Beauty Review

 

I have been skipping Julep boxes for awhile, but this month caught my eye with its beauty products. I still remember how disappointed I was with the whole DD creme fiasco but this looked more promising so I went for it!

 

First off, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the brush. It's handle is weighted so feels great to use, and the brush itself is VERY thin, but also soft and stiff enough to easily draw a line with.

 

The box alsp came with one free nailpolish that everyone got as a gift in their box this months. I love glitters but ooh they so hard to remove so not sure when I will get to trying this one.

 

First up, the gel liner. I love gel liners for their flexibility of use, I can just change up my brush and get easily thin lines, bold lines, tightlines, waterlines, wings, you name it! It's also pro-kit friendly since it can be spatula-'ed (lol is this a word) out so as to not contaminate, which I find easier than having to sanitize my pencils/liquids afterwards.

 

Gel liners aren't without their problems though, and mostly for me, as a oily-lid gal, is the smudging that I'm so prone to. I usually just settle for "less" smudging as some can be horrendous, even the waterproof ones! (waterproof doesn't hold up against the oil my lids, even with primer/powder and all).  So I really was hoping just for "less" smudgyness and I'd have been happy, except I got blown away that I had NO smudging at the end of the day! I can't believe it, Julep has made my HG gel liner...  if you have oily lids have this problem as I do I highly recommend you get this.

 

One down side is that this product is super tiny, the pot being one of those tiny sample jars size, much smaller than other gel liners out there in Sephora world. Luckily I don't use much day to day since my "everyday" liner is simply tightlining, so I'll be ok, but if you use a lot more daily or for the pros out there who will be going through a lot this may not be $-friendly It's ($22, $17.60 for Mavens for a very tiny jar)

 

Also, if you are wanting a gel liner to smudge and create a smoky eye with, this is NOT what you're looking for. Because it's so smudgeproof, it sets very quickly and can flake if you try to smudge it, so I recommend it just be used to make a sharp line, and that you not try to blend it or smudge it out.  For the best liner to blend and smoke out, I prefer MUFE Aqua Black.

 

 

Next is the liquid eyeshadow. I chose the lightest shade as I planned to try and use as a highlight or alone on the lids just to perk my eyes up a bit. I tried it without a primer and it did not crease after 8 hrs, and only very little bit at end of the day. Unfortunately as with the liner, because it dries down quite fast and is so pigmented that I find it hard to blend out at the edges. Luckily this color is so light so it's not such a big deal, but I imagine with the darker shades the difficulty in the blending may be more obvious.  If you have a darker shade let me know what your experience has been!  I imagine though, for blending, you could put a similar colored powder shadow over the edge, so you could still make it work.

 

That's it for my review! Hope it was helpful and let me know what you thought of your Julep box this month!

John Frieda Full Repair Touch-Up Flyaway Tamer Review

A quick review today...of one of my HG hair products! Ever since I had my little girl and lost tons of hair, which then grew back haphazardly, I've had TONS of flyaways which are very hard to manage. I have tried hair spray on a brush, hand, gel, etc, but nothing really holds them down like THIS little thing that looks like mascara for your hair. It looks very similar to a clear brow gel, but works like nothing I have tried before (I have tried brow gel in my hair before, does not work...). I basically just brush this on as the last step on styling on those pesky flyaways, and they just stay down all day...and my hair looks smooth!  My only complaint though, is being a gel, it does flake at the end of the day if I brush my hair where I put the product on. It easily brushes out though if I continue so it's not a big deal.  Overall, love it love it and highly recommend you try it too!

Let me know your experience with this if you have tried it!

Battle of Luxury Lip Care: Hourglass Lip Treatment Oil vs 3LAB Perfect Lips

(photo from Sephora.com)

(photo from www.skin1.com)

vs. 





If one can buy lipbalms/chapsticks for mere dollars in drug stores, why spend so much for luxury lip care?! Well... there's people like me, who have very sensitive and easily chapped and peeling lips, who I think require a little more TLC! Oh heck who am I kidding, honestly, the high end products just "feel" nice. Packaging is nicer to use, and I do think they do slightly better for my lips than the $1 chapstick. How much is that worth the price tag... that is for you to decide. If you do decide to splurge, this post is my take on the 2 pricey lip care items I've been using consistently for the last couple of months.  Click on to read the full review!

Topbox January 2014 Unboxing

 

Yay 1st Topbox of 2014 is here!! The shipment date has now been moved to the 15th of the month, and I felt like I did my wishlist so long ago that I completely forgot what I "wished" for...but lo and behold...

 

(*Note: I've updated this post with brief reviews of the products I've been trying out)

 

The benefit box!

 

With the whole Chinese new year theme, nice...

 

My 1st peek inside...

 

What I pulled out first...

 

Turned out to be the fake up sample. I've been wanting to try this, so this is great, though I really wish it was a deluxe sample rather than this one-time use thing...

 

(*Update: This concealer is actually pretty darn good! It is moisturizing and does not stick to the dry patches I sometimes get under my eyes. It also holds up for a good 8 hrs or so without creasing. Unfortunately medium is a bit too yellow for me, but other than that, I will actually consider purchasing this product in a lighter shade)

 

I accidentally pulled out the product card next, tried not to read it...

 

And the goodies!

 

First up...(ok I really didn't count the fake-up sample as the first since it was so tiny).  I've been loving benefit's other infamous mascara, so this will be interesting to try for comparison.

*UPDATE: I've been trying this mascara for the past couple of weeks, with and without a mascara primer, lid primer, powder under my eyes, and all such combos. Why am I trying all these combos...because this mascara looks amazing on the lashes but smudges like mad in a few short hours, like reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally bad smudging. Sigh...I haven't been able to find a combo that makes this smudge less, so am giving up on it. I do have oily lids that smudges all things quite easily, so if you have dry lids I would still give this a try as it is amazing on the lashes: no clumps, volume and length, keeps curl, etc.)

 

Next, moisturizer! This I will totally make use of, a girl can't have too much moisturizers, especially in the winter (and with the -30C coming again next week to Toronto, sigh...)

 

(*Update: I've been using this daily for the past week and it is one of the best moisturizers I've ever used! Very moisturizing but doesn't feel sticky or oily and absorbs very quickly.)

 

Next, the infamous benetint. I tried this right away, it actually was not as pigmented as I expected, so I had to actually put quite a bit on both my cheeks and lips for it to show up at all, but it does give a nice natural "flush from within" look. One thing I didn't like (not unique to this) is just that tints in general I find very hard to wash off. It's just like staining your skin with a marker perhaps, takes some time to come off...  Overall, I still much prefer Face Atelier's Facade when I want that natural finish, because it's a much more pigmented product that is actually easier to blend, AND easier to wash off. 

 

And lastly, the infamous Porefessional primer, which I have been wanting to try but have been delayed with all the other new primers I've been trying lately (and hopefully one day will get to blogging about...). I love primers and use them for sure underneath foundations and BB creams (yes even though BBs advertise as primers, they still look and last better with a good primer) and some days even just go primer alone to even out my skin a bit and get some oil-control without powdering.

 

 

That's it, super quick unboxing post for this month. What did you get in yours?! Let me know in the comments and link to your blog I'd love to visit.

DIY Tinted Lipbalm / Sheer Lipstick

 

Got just a bit of your favorite lip color left over in the bottom of the tube to use up?
Found a gorgeous color but wish it came in a more sheer version for daytime use?
Or maybe you just like to DIY things... read on to see how I make tinted lip balms / sheer lipsticks!

Topbox December 2013 Unboxing

 

I skipped an unboxing post in Nov because I got the Bioderma box (no surprises in that box, though I have been diligently using the products so will have a full review up soon!). Finally, a surprise is back for Dec! Click the jump for more :)

 

The Good and the Bad... NeoStrata and Live Clean (fresh face)

Wow I've neglected this blog for a very long time... ! Work and family life have really been all I've been doing, with some watching of Breaking Bad here and there... but somehow this evening I remembered again that I have this space that I love which I can share my opinion on and hopefully may help whoever is reading with their next beauty-buy or product choice, so I'm back! And hopefully to write more frequently again, but not making any promises...

Today I'm going to share two drugstore products that I've been using off and on for the last while, one which I love and has made it into my pro kit as a staple, and the other is off my list as a face product and I will not even finish using it.  Read on for why...

First, the good product I like!
This is NeoStrata's Oil Free Matifying Fluid
CDN $20-30 (try to wait for a sale at Shopper's!)

Surprisingly, my hubby actually introduced me to this! I know eh...  This is what it says, a  matifying fluid, but man is it good at it! It's a white cream product that goes on into a dry-powderly consistency and not only matifies, but also minimizes pores. I use this over my primer on my T-zone and then apply my foundation or BB cream. It keeps me shine-free for about 6-8 hours without needing to blot or powder. Pretty darn good! This is now in my pro kit and I happily recommend it to anyone who asks ^_^









Next, Live Clean fresh face daily moisturizer
CDN $10-18

This advertises all sorts of interesting "natural" ingredients, all of which doesn't matter much in the end because this moisturizer contains a couple of alcohol-derivatives which is drying. It didn't bother me much in the summer (though didn't moisturize much) but now that it's winter, I notice how bad this is for my skin. It actually STINGS...ugh. My skin is sensitive, but this is only the second product in my life so far that actually stings. Big no-no.

In the sense of not wasting product, I actually switched to using this as a body lotion/hand cream. It doesn't sting when used that way but also doesn't moisturize well... sigh, despite not wanting to waste, I think this might be headed for the trash.




So that's it for my first post "back" from my hiatus. Hope it was helpful and let me know if you have tried these and what your experience was!