Lise Watier Waterproof Eye Liner Noir Intense - Review

This eye liner retails for around $18-$22 at drug stores. When I spend that kind of mad cheddar on an eye liner, I expect it to be pretty decent. This one is very disappointing. It says it is waterproof...no idea where Lise Watier got that idea from. It sure doesn't even come close to that on me. Noir Intense is the colour I have and there is nothing intense about it.

The liner glides on smoothly in the sense that there is no tugging. However, very little colour gets put down.You have to repeatedly draw the line. I just don't find this liner very pigmented. Staying power is weak at best. Within a few hours of wearing this, it has clumped, flaked and melted into my eyelids. I use this liner if I am going to work and wearing my glasses. I would not use this eye liner with any self-respecting makeup look or on a night on the town. When I do wear this to work it is with the idea that the liner will smudge itself so that I get  a bit of a smokey look happening by mid day. Sounds crazy but it is true and this is guaranteed to happen. So a little clean up with a tissue to get rid of any flakes and viola! smokey eyes with little effort on my part. Still, there is no way I would buy this ever again. This is a $5 eye liner in $22 packaging.

Rating: 3/10

January Find of the Month - Burt's Bees Shea Butter & Vitamin E Body Lotion

I have always loved most of Burt's Bees stuff. They make a lot of solid products and I promise to review the best and the worst of Burt's Bees very shortly.

Whenever I have some Burt's Bees lotion at my desk at work, everyone wants to smell it and try it. Not that I mind. I just find it funny how no one is intoxicated with the Vaseline Intensive Care bottles of this world...lol. Burts Bees is just clearly superior in every way. It smells better, feels better on, has no harsh chemicals and somehow you feel better about yourself when you use it. Ok, maybe that's just me.

I have purchased almost every lotion and cream that Burt Bee's has made over the last few years and by and large I like them all. This one though is my favourite to date. This one is fragrance free (so it says) but I detect a hint of something something. A tiny hint and I doubt anyone will be offended by the ever so slight smell. This lotion is nice and rich and thick but isn't greasy or watery at all. Glides on smooth. It is supposed to last 24 hours (assuming you don't shower in that period) and I believe that it can and would last under those circumstances. This lotion is very soothing, comfortable makes my skin feel younger. You will want to touch your skin over and over again (not like that!). You can wear it all day all over your body (within reason of course). Where has this lotion been all of my life???? It retails for about $15 Cdn. If you wait to get it on sale I think you could score it for $10. All major drug stores and department stores (including Bed, Bath and Beyond oh my) carry this line now.

Rating: 10/10

MAC Miss Piggy Pink Eye Shadow - Review and Swatch

 I recently purchased this eye shadow online. MAC, for some reason, refused to sell this new release at their counters. It was online only. After testing this out a few times, I can see why they made that decision. They wouldn't sell many of these if a tester was available.

I had to have this because as a child I loved The Muppets and who doesn't like Miss Piggy. The colour is very unique for an eye shadow and it matches my memory of Missy Piggy's 70's eye shadow perfectly. This is a medium blue pink. The colour is too dark, in my opinion, to wear on your lid, at least if you are fair skinned. I have tried this over a couple of nude coloured eye shadow bases and it is still too much. Maybe if paired with a white cream shadow base it could be more wearable. Haven't tried that yet. Or maybe in the crease or to blend out a harsher colour might work. This is a hard one to deal with. The container says it is frost. It is not even close to a frost. It is barely a satin.

I did check online before I bought this and the reviews said that the colour payoff and pigmentation were bad. I had to have it anyway, "damn the critics", I said! How foolish of me. The swatch below was only possible (and I realize it is a sucky swatch) after I feverishly swirled my clean finger into the pot 3 times. Yes, I said 3 times. It takes some patience to apply this colour too. Much patting is necessary. Blend the edges lightly or you will lose the colour.

For MAC, this has got to be one of their worst bombs ever in terms of eyeshadow. Other than the neat colour and the Muppet association, they've got nothing with this one.

Rating: 3/10

Nature's Gate Body Wash Pomegranate Sunflower - Review

So I bought this a little over a month ago. Indoor heating is brutal on my skin. I normally can not stand the smell of a lot of the drug store body washes. They are either too synthetic smelling (Oil of Olay) or heavily scented with some strong fake fruity or perfumey smell. I don't like to gag in the shower every morning. This mammoth bottle is 532ml/18 fl. oz. I think it might last me for the rest of my life. It says it contains 7 Natural Moisture Boosters and that it is paraben, sulfate, phthalate and EDTA free. I bought it at my local grocery superstore in the health food section. I had never heard of this brand before. The cost was just under $10.

The scent is nice and it is subtle. That may or may not be your thing. It lathers like mad on my shower puff. The smell is refreshing and the product is super gentle. It has helped my skin, but I must say it does not moisturize on the same level as most major drug store creamy brands. This is the type of stuff that you can use when you are in a pinch in the winter but it is more summer geared. If you are looking for a body wash that is nourishing and super moisturizing you may wish to pass on this one.

Rating: 5.5/10

Victoria's Secret VS Makeup Lip Liner Nude Plum - Review and Swatch

I have had this lip liner kicking around my makeup bag for God knows how long. I had $10 worth of rewards points or something from Victoria's Secret (VS) a long time ago so I put it towards this. I got it during a trip to Buffalo. Now VS makeup gets little to no love out there in the makeup world. Their stuff is nothing fantastic, nor is it terrible, so I can see why. I believe they no longer make "nude plum", the colour I have, anymore. Like I said, this liner I have is ancient. It has been through thick and thin with me and now it is a lowly stump which is just about ready for the trash. I think this liner though could speak as a general review of VS lip liners since I have used pretty much the whole thing. I have a bet going on with myself that I will use it all within the next 2 weeks.

The colour I have is a nice shade. Works well with a number of my lipsticks and glosses. The pigmentation is very decent. The price is not crazy, but is not super cheap either. It is $12 U.S. The colour does last a respectable amount of time on my lips. Just as long, if not longer, than many other brands.

I have two complaints about this liner though. Sometimes the liner gets hard if it is not freshly sharpened, and you have to press a bit to get it on. Also, I don't think the physical construction of the liner is the best. Maybe it's made in a sweat shop somewhere. There is a lot of ridiculous space between the product and the wood pencil shell. Therefore, not only does it wobble around inside of the pencil sometimes, the liner falls out or breaks off sometimes. That drives me batty. For that reason alone, I will not rush to by another. Also, they don't make this colour anymore so my interest has waned.

Rating: 6/10

Physicians Formula Organic Wear Mascara - Review

A friend of mine asked me to review this new product so here it is......I have been using it for about two weeks.

This review pertains specifically to Ultra Black Organics 1062C. The packaging says that is is 100 % natural origin, 5X lash boosting, Eco-Cert, EcoBlens, 100% free of harsh chemicals, synthetic preservatives, parabens, fibers and dyes. It is also 100% cruelty free and it is supposed to lengthen, volumize and define. Sounds good to me! So I bought it. I was a little hesitant since it is a "natural" mascara, but hey since I have never found a synthetic one that totally blew me away, what the hell.

This mascara is very black, but in a good way. It might be the colour I chose, but I think I chose well. This mascara does lengthen, volumize and define. Considering this is a "natural" mascara, I am impressed. It is the best natural mascara that I have ever used and it is available at the drug store. This mascara does not give me quite as much volume and length as L'Oreal's Voluminous Mascara, but it is still pretty good. The fact that it doesn't have synthetics in it pumps my rating up a few notches. This will be my go to mascara I think now for most of the week. It does smudge a bit when I wear glasses, but all mascaras do that to me. When I wear my contacts, no smudging!!!! No flakes, no clumps. It even curls my lashes a bit. The "lift" it gives my lashes and the colour intensity lasts all day long when I go to work.

Now Physicians Formula has two other Organic mascaras called 100% Natural Lash Boosting Mascara and 100% Natural Origin Jumbo Lash Mascara. I have not tried them. But I will. The word on the street is that they may even be better than this one!

Now this mascara is around $18-$20 here in Canada retail price. I got mine on sale for $15. They sell it in the U.S. for $9.95. Now that burns my biscuit! The dollar is almost at PAR! Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws sell it here and have it on sale from time to time, so if you are interested, you may wish to lay low and wait for the sale.

Rating: 7.5/10

Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream and Rose Day Cream Light - Review

One of my friends requested that I do some reviews of Dr. Hauschka products. I was going to get to reviewing it, I swear! This is the moisturizer I use almost everyday. I have been using it for a little over 2 years. Wow how time flies. I normally wear this on top of an Origins serum which I will get into in another blog post.

I didn't take a picture of my current tube as it is all squeezed up to hell. This is a thick, rich, white moisturizer. You may thick when you first look at it that this stuff is a cream cleanser, it is so rich. You don't need a ton of it because it spreads very quickly, nicely and evenly. Your face feels comforted all day and your face feels light, not heavy. It gives me a nice dewy glow which many people have commented on. Not shockingly, it smells of roses, but the smell is nice, not overpowering.

Other than the fact that this is a very good, solid moisturizer on it own, it has changed my skin in another key way. I used to have problems with acne, and I still do somewhat, but ever since I have been using this, my problems have decreased dramatically and when I do get a zit (sorry for being crass) they tend to be a lot smaller than they used to be.

This product is geared more towards people with dry skin. I have combination skin. I was originally using another Dr. Hauschka moisturizer geared towards people with oily skin for a few months but I switched to this one and I will explain that in another blog. This one works just as good as the other one did in terms of getting rid of acne problems and this one moisturizes better.

I have no idea what I would do in winter without this. It is the only moisturizer that stays working all day long and keeps my nose from peeling from dryness due to indoor heating. I was plagued with the nose peeling issue for years no matter what rich moisturizer I used. I also use this in the summer, no problem. I did once buy the Rose Day Cream Light when the store was sold out of the regular one. The Rose Day Cream Light is also a good product, but I prefer the original. I think if you have oily skin or if it is summertime than you might want to go the Rose Day Cream Light route.

I do not use this moisturizer at night. Dr. Hauschka does not think you should wear anything at night so as to give your skin time to breathe and shed or rid itself of bad stuff in your pores. At first I thought that was insane! But I think the theory has some merit. I need to use at least eye cream when I go to bed and I have a mini laugh line which I like to put something on. It is easier to do this in summer than in winter obviously. I have other stuff I use in a few key areas at night. That being said, you could use this product at night, I don't see why not. I have just been trained not to.

It retails for about $43-$46 I think and you can buy it at some Shoppers Drug Mart stores and some higher end Bay stores like the one in downtown Toronto. Failing that, you can order it online. It is well worth the money for me as a tube can last me 4 or 5 months.

Rating: 10/10

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Ultimate Length - Review

This review will be quick and dirty. I am not going to waste much breath on this one.

I bought this one when I was desperate one day. I had forgot my mascara at home and I had somewhere important to go later in the day. I ran into the drug store and this was on sale. This is bad stuff. It smears under your eye like crazy and does nothing for your lashes (neither curls, lengthens or volumizes). The only redeeming value it has is that it is quite glossy (what you can get onto your lashes) and it doesn't flake.

Rating: 2/10

MAC Studio Tech - Review

I bought a couple of these about 10 plus years ago when I was more into fast food make-up. What I mean by that is that I was more into buying make-up for quick, on the go application out of necessity than I was into the "craft" of make-up if that makes any sense. This was the kind of stuff that I would splash on in the car if I was running late or on the Go Train (commuter train). I never loved it but it suited my purpose at the time. 

Fast forward to Fall 2011. I picked one of these up as I was going to the U.K. on a trip and I thought this will be great to use on the airplane so I can touch up before I get off of the plane after a painful, sleepless overnight flight to greet my relatives. I am not sure if the formula has changed, but this animal is worse than the first couple I bought 10 years ago. The price has also gone through the roof. It's now $36.50. Even if this was an amazing product, which it is not, that is too steep for the precious amount of product that you get. You could seriously blow through one of these in under a month if you used it daily. When I pay $40 or $50 bucks for foundation, that bottle better last me for at least 3 plus months.

When I was a little girl, my Dad always teased me with a certain nursery rhyme. The rhyme was this, "Not last night, but the night before, three big tom cats came to my door. One with a fiddle, one with a drum, and one with a pancake stuck to his bum". I always laughed and told my Dad he was crazy. I mean how ridiculous, why would a cat be walking around with a pancake stuck to his bum? It was not until last Fall that I finally could appreciate how that cat must have felt. This product feels like a pancake stuck to your face!

This stuff is heavy feeling like a mud mask. I could actually feel my skin screaming for air. Whatever is in this product makes my face sweat like crazy. So guess what? You end up reapplying every 2 hours since it starts sliding down your face with the beads of sweat. Horrible!

Rating: 1/10 (1 point for neat, on the go packaging)

MAC Penultimate Eye Liner in Rapidblack - Review

The MAC Penultimate Eye Liner is only good for the trash as one of my friends would say. I am actually dumbfounded that MAC still peddles this crap. I bought one of these last year. It is supposedly a good product for beginners to use. I am not a novice at applying eye liner by any means, but hey I know I have room for improvement. If you are a novice, you better learn fast with this product because you won’t have this puppy for long.

I had this product for 3 weeks and it went dry as a bone. I did not use it every day during that period of time. I would say I used it between 6-8 times. It has a felt tip and like I said, it went bone dry. This product is $21. Not chump change. I would happily spend the money if this was a decent product that lasted any length of time. Also, this is by MAC. Come on, they can do way better than this!

After making this diabolical purchase, I looked online for reviews and quickly learned my mistake. I should have checked it out online first and saved my $. Sometimes though you have to see it to believe it. The insta dry out is apparently common phenomenon with this product. Some tips to make it last longer included taking the tip out and reinserting it. What a mess that was as the previously inserted part was still wet and jet black of course. I tried this technique and it didn’t make much difference. I asked a girl at the MAC counter what the deal was with this thing. She freely admitted that a lot of people complain about this product and aren’t happy with it. Her suggestion was to remove the tip and reinsert it backwards thus dipping the tip into the reservoir. So I did that. Got maybe another 3 uses out of it and it was tough going drawing the lines on. Never again! I have already returned this product in a baggie with other empties to their Back to MAC program and got my free eyeshadow.

Rating: 1/10 (1 because it worked decently for that whole 5 minutes)

MAC (Make-Up Art Cosmetics) Overall Review - The Good, The Bad and the Nasty

MAC is my crack. If you were to lock me up for the night in a room filled with MAC cosmetics, it would be akin to locking up an alcoholic in an LCBO store (liquor store) overnight. I love MAC (Make-up Art Cosmetics) a lot. Way too much for my own good. I have a serious addiction to their eye shadows in particular - a solid 9/10. I have to force myself to walk past the MAC counter every time I am in the Bay. I have issues, I know. However, I plot my purchases well in advance, so sometimes I show considerable restraint. I rarely make an impulse buy. I stalk the online info of their new collections before they are released. I pay attention to the reviews of a few trusted makeup gurus who get their hands on this stuff before it is available to the public. I have even been known to go for 2 or 3 months and buy nothing from MAC. At the moment, I believe I have gone a whole month with no purchases from MAC and I am planning to go at  least another month. I am well stocked up and any new additions would be a bit greedy and excessive on my part.

I am usually on top of every new collection they bring out and decide quickly if I will love or leave each new release of products. What is perhaps most disturbing, is that I have been told before by MAC artists that my knowledge of their line of products is far superior to theirs. They always look at me like I am a plant from head office spying on them when I ask them about specific colours and collections. I remember colour names that are discontinued and most of the artists can only hope to remember some of these names one day when they do a repromote to jog their memory.

I am in no way being endorsed by MAC. I wish I was. Think of the freebies! Every product that you see on my blog was purchased by me and/or I got free by recycling 6 empty MAC containers from the Back to MAC program. MAC is a very successful Canadian company as many of you know and that is something to cheer about.

For every bad product that MAC puts out, they have another 2 that are fabulous. I will probably dwell more on their bad products on my blog because I think that is more constructive. The alternative is to rant and rave about all of their good products until the cows come home. Fear not, I will definitely show off my faves to you at some point.

Now for the nitty gritty summary of MAC. This is strictly my opinion only.

Loves – Eye Shadows, Paint Pots, Gel Liners, Lip Liners, Pencil Eye Liners, Pigments, Some Mascaras, Blush, Highlighters, Concealers

Do not Love – Lipsticks, Foundations, Face Powders, Liquid Liners, Lip Gloss, Skincare, Some Mascaras

I will get into the loves in more detail in separate blogs. Some quality time needs to be dedicated to that.

MAC Lipsticks are ok. I would give them a 5/10. They are not overly moisturizing, I don’t like this particular vanilla smell that they have, they don’t last long without need to reapply and frankly their colours are weak. By weak I mean they have a lot of nudes and bland colours. That’s just not my bag. You may as well wear lip balm as far as I am concerned and save the cash. Don’t get me wrong, I own at least a dozen or more MAC lipsticks. Most of them were free from the Back to MAC recycling program. I do wear them, I just don’t dig them. They only have a few neat colours but frankly there are far superior lipsticks on the market.

MAC Foundations and Face Powders do not impress me. They have recently brought out some new stuff lately, which I haven’t tried, so I will reserve judgement on those. I find though in general that they are thick, cakey, and feel heavy on the face. They are not moisturizing. No dewy glow here. Even the cult favourite, the Mineral Skinfinshes, are substandard as far as I am concerned. It cakes if you put on too much and a little doesn’t do anything.

MAC Liquid Liners suck….don’t get me started. I will save this for another blog.

MAC Lip Gloss and Lip Glass for the most part are not great. They have really neat and exceptional colours though. Some are sticky, smell bad and are full of some nasty ingredients. There are exceptions. The newer creamsheens are a refreshing addition to their “lip goo” line.

Clinique Brush-on Cream Liner vs. MAC Fluidline - Smackdown

In the first picture I have swatched the Clinique gel liner in 02 True Black and on the right is MAC in Blacktrack. Both are obviously black gel liners. I have had the Clinique one forever. It's almost gone and what is left is definitely starting to dry up. They both look the same swatched and I was heavy handed with the swatches so please forgive me. Both took me three cotton balls of makeup remover to get off.

They are both solid products. I would happily buy either of them again. I have to say though that in my humble opinion, the Clinique one is a bit superior. It is creamier, smoother and in general easier to work with and more forgiving if you make a mistake than the MAC one. I believe they are around the same price - around $21 - I think.The Clinique is in a plastic, cheaper container and the MAC is in glass. Props to MAC. Products always do better in glass whether we are talking about food or makeup. 

I also find that the Clinique one stays true all day and maintains the same black intensity. The MAC one stays pretty true but just looks drier and a bit more powdery on I find. If I had to choose between the two, I would buy the Clinique one again first. The Clinique one also comes with a liner brush which looks cheap as all hell but is surprisingly easy to use and works well. I have heard that the MAC one dries out faster than a lot of gel liners but I haven't used much of mine so time will tell. A good tip I hear is to store them upside to keep them from drying out. There's your tip of the week.

I reach for the Clinique one most of the time when I want a black gel liner. I guess that says it all.

Rating: 9/10 Clinique (lost a point for plastic packaging and narrow jar opening)

Rating: 8/10 MAC  

Lush Ultrabalm is the Bomb - Review

I have mixed feelings about Lush. Sometimes I love them, sometimes I hate them. They make some decent stuff but some of it is not so great. I hate all of their glitter products. They have a lot of gimicky items which have more bark than bite.

That being said, this product, Ultrabalm, is seriously the bomb. I love this stuff. This is the best thing that Lush has going for them in my opinion. It says it is an "all-purpose balm for all of your bits". That puts bad images in my mind but I digress.

I use this on my elbows, cuticles and feet. It works wonders in sandal weather and also in winter. It's all natural too so that is a bonus. It looks like melted butter and it can get a little greasy if you use too much. When travelling, put it in a Ziploc bag just in case of leakage. I wish they made it in a bigger size. I think this is my 3rd container and I only discovered it in the last year. It smells like rosewater, which I love, but if you find that off putting than you will not like this.

I can honestly see people finding other purposes for this product like maybe fixing squeaky hinges or something. WD-40 sales are going to plummet.

Rating: 10/10

Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream 13 - Review and Swatch

This product is a waterproof cream colour. That is what it says. I really wanted this one to be a keeper but it's not. It is not supposed to crease on your eyelids. It won't either...at first. It creases after about 5 hours I would say. You can also use this product on your cheeks or anywhere else you fancy I suppose. What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business.

This product stinks. I mean it reeks like crazy. Smells like a plastic factory. The smell makes me gag every time I open it. I guess the smell had dissipated from the Sephora testers when I checked it out prior to purchase. It's made in Belgium so I thought that was a good sign.

The colour "13" is a champagne number. It looks great swatched. At least I think so. It is nearly impossible though to apply to your eyelids evenly. It dries super fast. As in before you blend it onto one eye. You have to be quick or it is over. This product barely budges once you swipe it on. It does not blend well and good luck wearing it with other eyeshadow. You'll have lumps, bumps and jagged edges. I don't want that. Do you?

If you dip your finger into it quickly and get a small dab and rush to apply it to your eye, you may find you didn't dip enough and now it looks sheer on your eye. Another coat you think, but it's too late. Adding to it will make a huge mess and look totally FUBAR. If you dip too much, you might end up with parts drying while you try to spread it and build it to look even. I give up. Maybe I can wear it as a highlighter for my cheeks, assuming super speedy application, when I am totally desperate. This is just ewwwwww. This product could have really been a winner but MUFE, you dropped the ball big time.

Rating: 2/10 (props for colour)

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment Plum - Review

I heard about this product through TiffanyD's website. Actually, she was going on about how much she loved the Rose one, but when I went to Sephora it was slim pickens and I could only secure a smaller sized gift set which contained the Plum one. I love this product!!!!! This is the perfect colour for me. I have brown eyes, brown hair and fair skin so this colour is just up my alley. I love it so much it does not leave my purse and I am not even willing to try the other 3 colours I have now acquired from this line. Okay, of course I will try them eventually.

This product has a decent amount of tint in it so it can pass for a sheer coloured lipstick. This is perfect for running errands or sprucing up your lipstick when it faded throughout the day. The packaging is a kind of tin style plastic. Actually, I am not sure what this material is but it looks good. You can tell Fresh put a lot of thought into this. The lid and base are screw so it can't come apart and create havoc in your purse. How perfect is that?

The only drawback is the price. I think the full sized ones are $26. Yeah, ouch. That is steep for lip balm, but I look at it as a hybrid lipstick/lip balm. Smells amazing. A good way to try them if you are interested is by purchasing one of the smaller sized gift packs like I did around Christmas time to save some coin and get a variety. Sephora has a couple of different sets available still. 

Rating: 9/10 (price is steep)

L'Oreal Voluminous Original Mascara - Review

For me it is status quo to avoid drug store mascara like the plague. I have tried so many bad drug store mascaras it would make your head spin. That being said, I have also bought and/or tried gift with purchase mascaras from all of the high end brands too over the years. To this day, I have never found any mascara that I totally 100% loved. There is some small or large problem with all of them.

Marlena of Makeup Geek fame has long applauded this mascara. I trust her opinion on cosmetics so I thought I would give this drug store Bessie a try. I was actually impressed. This is, hands down, the best drug store mascara that I ever tried. Coming from me, that is saying something. It curls, volumizes and lengthens. I have very stubby lashes so if I can get all three in a mascara, I am all over that. The brush is average sized (I usually go for smaller brushes so I can get all of the lashes) but this one does the job for me. It isn't flaky or clumpy but it can smear a tad if I wear glasses with it all day. The "raccoon effect" as I call it, haunts me with every mascara, even waterproof, that I have ever used when I wear glasses. Only one mascara in the history of women didn't do that and it is no longer on the market. Sob. I will save my ode to that mascara in a separate post.

There are parabens in this formula so I try not to use this one daily.

Rating: 8/10

EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balms - Review

I kept hearing about these lip balms all over the Internet. They are supposed to be all natural and mostly organic so I was intrigued. So when I saw them at the drug store several months ago and they were marked down to half price I said, "giddy up"! At the time I bought the red one above (Summer Fruit I believe) and a green one (Melon I think it was). The green one is currently M.I.A. so I couldn't take a picture of it for you. I also bought the set of three shown above on another occasion. They are Strawberry Sorbet, Sweet Mint and Passion Fruit. They all smell very nice and I can say that EOS makes a very decent lip balm. My only two criticisms would be that although the shape of them is unusual and kind of fun, they take up a lot of room in your purse and/or makeup bag. The moisture factor could last a smidge longer too for my taste between applications. Will definitely repurchase. I prefer the Strawberry Sorbet and the Sweet Mint flavours myself out of the 5 I own. I think for the set of 3 I paid around $15 Canadian. Singles were around $4 or $5 ($2 on sale when I got them)

Rating: 8/10

KIBIO 24-hr Effective Deodorant Care - Review

I was in a strange mood when I bought this. I was looking for a new deodorant. I am normally very wary of natural or eco-friendly deodorants as they tend to not really work well. But like I have said before, if I can go organic and eco-friendly, I will. The lady at the drug store suggested I try this. Now normally I never trust the "lady" at the drugstore. This is because 9 times out of 10 I know a lot more about the product and my needs and wants than the so-called cosmetics staff at the drug store. I guess I was feeling adventurous as I had heard very little about this brand and knew nada about their deodorant. Definitely a mistake on my part.

The scent I have is Sweet Orange, Vanilla, Aloe Vera. The best thing about this product is the smell. It smells like orange creamsicles from my childhood. The bad part is that it doesn't work. I would say on average out of 5 days, this deodorant might get me through the day without reapplication maybe 2 of those days. That is a 40% chance that it won't fail you. I don't like those odds. I have only used this over the winter and I certainly would not risk trying to use it on a hot date or heaven forbid, in the summertime.

This product is a roll on. It is super wet and sticky. I think the "wetness" causes you to sweat more than you normally would. Sorry but thumbs down for this one. Retails for around $14 Canadian.

Rating: 2/10 (props for smell)

Maybelline Mascara - Falsies and Great Lash Review

Maybelline Great Lash Mascara
For years I have read magazines claiming that Maybelline Great Lash is utterly fantastic and is as good, if not better, than designer brand mascara. Greatest thing you can spend $6 on at the drugstore they always say. I bought a tube of this when I was a teenager and I was not impressed. That was a good number of years ago. I then bought another tube when I was in my early twenties and still thought, "this stuff is crap".

I have very short eyelashes. I need something that works, not just adds a little black colour. I bought my third and final tube of this a little while ago, thinking "man, they must have improved the formula by now". Nope, same neon tube since the 1980s, same nil results. This product does not work at all for me. I am convinced that the beauty editors at magazines have some kind of side deal or something going on where they plug this stuff and get a kick back when sales go up as a result. Not only does this product do nada for me, it always flakes and smudges like mad. Yes, one tube I have tried was the waterproof version......

Maybelline Falsies
I bought this when I was in a pinch one day. I forgot to apply some at home, there was no mascara in my purse and I think I had somewhere I had to go that day and it was preferable that I looked my best. So this was on sale at the drug store and I thought to myself, "falsies, eh? It must do something if they have the nerve to call it that". So I bought it. I couldn't get anything out of the tube but dried up mascara chunks. I tried to apply it and it was like I had nothing on at all. The wand was as scratchy as a cat with rabbies. Once again smudging (don't know how since none seemed to go on) and flake city. I tried it again on two other days to make sure I was not imagining things. Ditto again and again. I tossed it in the trash. I decided then and there that I will never purchase another Maybelline mascara. This stuff is beyond the pits. They have nerve putting this stuff on the market.

Rating: 0/10 (worst mascara I have ever tried)

Sigma Bare Palette - Review, Swatches, Dupes

So I bought this palette a few months back for $35 from Sigma - the makeup brush people. I saw a few online tutorials about it and I thought, "gee, that looks nice". It is a neutral palette but it is filled with a lot of cool neutrals which is what I like to see. The packaging is cardboard and chunky monkey. Kinda of cheap. It certainly is not travel friendly. I hear Sigma has revamped their packaging for their palettes so this may be an antique collector's item by now! I better call American Pickers! 

The cool thing about this palette is that it comes with a dual-ended makeup brush with an E30 and an E25. Translation is MAC wannabe 219 and 217. If you are low on neutral palettes and you want value for your money, this isn't a bad choice especially since it comes with the brushes. These colours are all easy dupes though. For that reason, I will not be repurchasing this baby. MAC is my favourite. Period. So if I can get these colours from MAC than the choice is clear. The Sigma eyeshadows though are highly pigmented and look nice. They stay on and wear well. To build a set like this from MAC including the brush equivalents would be around $200 plus tax here in Canada. Ouch. I already have a good MAC collection though so there is no need for me to run out and buy the dupes from MAC. If you are budget conscience and only wear makeup occasionally this is clearly the cheaper, more reasonable option.

Left to Right (both on arm and palette pic above) - Shine, Control, Snoop, Hitch, Act, Command, Elope and Approach

MAC Dupe Suggestions: 

Shine = Black Tied 

Control = Carbon/Print Mixed

Snoop = Scene/Copperplate Mixed  

Hitch = Quarry/Swiss Chocolate Mixed (this was the toughest dupe of the lot)

Act = Patina

Command = Soba

Elope = Blanc Type

Approach = Shroom (only Approach is a bit creamier)

The eyeshadows in this palette contain parabens and the packaging is gross. So those are points off in my book.

Rating: 7/10

I have the Dare palette too so I will review that as well once I have had a chance to really use it. If anyone has better dupe suggestions for this palette, I would love to hear it!

Urban Decay Naked Palette - Review

Urban Decay, how I have grown to love you and that was never my intention.....

There are a million reviews of the Naked Palette online, and here I am about to do another. I love this palette. There is something so simple, yet genius about it. When I frist saw it, I thought OMG is this what all the fuss is all about??? A neutral coloured palette. Come on people. But it was hard to get as it was sold out everywhere, even online. It became elusive, like the fabled Loch Ness monster. Then one day, out of the blue, my local Shoppers Drug Mart had it. I snatched it up faster than you can say Jack Rabbit. I held it in my hand debating the purchase. What sealed the deal was the dual-sided eyeliner pencil and the cult favourite Urban Decay Primer Potion (not pictured here sorry I forgot to put it in the photo). I had never tried the UD 24/7 pencils before nor their Primer Potion. It seemed overall like a good deal and I knew I would use the shadows at some point.

The colours are great. This is not your average boring neutral palette. The colours are so pigmented and vibrant. There are infinite looks you can conjure up with this palette. You can go from everyday makeup to wild woman on the town. The colours in this palette are mostly cool toned strangely enough which is perfect for me. Warm neutrals just make me look tired half of the time.

There is a lot of eyeshadow here. I have no idea how long this palette will last me. Each colour is 1.3g which is very generous for a palette. I can't pick a favourite here. I love, love, love the duo-sided pencil. I love the whiskey colour. But guess what??? Whiskey is not part of UD's 24/7 pencil line. I could weep. Hopefully, UD will come out with a matte brown pencil soon because they don't have one! Unspeakable, I know. All those colours and no matte brown eyeliner.

I like the velvet packaging. Not travel friendly though. I know if I packed this in my purse or a suitcase that the eyeshadows would be sayonara. It's a bit bulky too but I fits nicely in one of my vanity drawers for easy access. I won't bother to swatch the colours for you since that has definately been overdone online.

Naked2 is out. I don't need it at the moment so I will bide my time and lie low. I will pounce when it too no longer becomes an elusive forest creature that no one can find and it is easy to get your hands on.

Rating: 8/10*

*would have given it 10/10 but I deducted 2 points for some questionable ingredients in some of the shadows and not being travel friendly

Origins Eyeshadow Twinkle - Review and Swatch

First of all, let's get one thing straight. I love most of Origins skincare line. Don't know how I lived before I knew about the company. Naturally, since I covet many of their skincare products, I thought I should try their makeup line. So I bought this eyeshadow. I like to go organic or as natural as I can with a lot of my cosmetics and skip out on as many synthetics where possible. I have to say that I was shocked by this product. It is possibly the worst eyeshadow I have ever used. Let me tell you, that is some steep competition. I have tried it all.

This product is fallout city. It is also scratchy on your lids when you apply it. Sometimes it even feels scratchy during the day. It's like the flecks of organic glitter or whatever the heck it is - is some sort of sea salt grit! Yikes! This product creases like nobodies business. What doesn't crease, melts into your skin in no time. Staying power - zero. It becomes very sheer. The only way to get a thin layer of it to stay on is with a eyeshadow primer and even then it is still gritty. When you remove it, it feels scratchy coming off. The colour shade is nice - that's the only nice thing I can really say about it.

I was actually so blown away by how nasty and pathetic this product was that I contacted Origins about it. I was very surprised by their response. They told me that they have received rave reviews on this product and no complaints and basically told me that I was talking out of my ass. Based on their response and this product, I will never spend money on their makeup line again. I will stick to their skincare. Total waste of money. You would do better at the drugstore in the clearance bin.

Rating: 1/10 (totally brutal)

Boyfriend Rollerball by Kate Walsh - Review

I love Kate Walsh of Private Practice fame. I think she is gorgeous and she has the best eyes ever for makeup. So of course I had to try her new perfume when it came out. It's called Boyfriend. The idea behind this perfume, I believe, is to remind a girl what it smells like when two scents mix together - yours and that of your boyfriend or something like that.

When I first tried the sample at Sephora, I thought uh oh I don't like this at all. I could only smell patchouli, and man...I hate patchouli. So I left the store disappointed. A few hours later, I kept smelling something that was intriguing. It was purely a subconscious thing. It started to bug me as I wondered what the hell was that musky familiar scent all around me. I then realized it was the left over dab on my wrist of the Boyfriend perfume. Somehow the scent changed over time on my skin and I loved it. I started reminding me of the ghosts of boyfriends past and I felt all warm and fuzzy. Needless to say I went out and purchased a rollerball. I only wear this when I am in mood for this smell and I am feeling daring, but it really grows on you after awhile. Perfume lasts me an eternity as I can't stomach it daily, so this size is perfect for me. The train case for this collection looks pretty cool too. You should check it out.

Rating: 7.5/10