Origins Clear Improvement Mask - Review

This is one of my favourite masks. It doesn't smell like roses and it doesn't look very nice but it does a decent job. My husband screams every time I wear it. That never gets old. He always asks me why I use a grey, brown, white or green mask when I wear a mask. What colours are left? Pink? He is too funny. This mask is a grey brown.

This is a charcoal mask which is supposed to get rid of environmental toxins and clean deep down into your skin. Does it? Not sure. I will tell you what it does do. When my face is breaking out, especially right before that special time of the month, and it is red, blotchy and not happy, I reach for this. I find that this mask calms my skin and reduces redness immediately. My skin looks much more relaxed and normal toned the next day. It is not a miracle worker and my skin doesn't look like a movie star's afterwards but it does show vast improvement.

Sadly, I am a bit lazy so I only use this when my skin looks like trash. If I used it weekly or somewhat regularly, I would likely notice an overall general improvement with my skin. Because then I would be proactive not just reactive all of the time. Maybe my skin wouldn't be in such a bad state as it sometimes does if I am not careful. I tell you what. I will use this weekly for the next month and report back to all of you. I will update this post then.

One tube of this costs $27 Canadian. You can get it online, at Sephora or at The Bay. I have had my tube for a year or more and it doesn't even look used! I think this tube will last me forever. It does make my face feel super dry after I use it so I do apply moisturizer immediately afterwards. Just warning you! If you want to try it out for free, go to the Origins counter at The Bay or whatever department store carries Origins and ask them for a sample - they will make you one in a little cup with a lid. That's my suggestion.

Packaging: 10/10 

Easy to Work With: 8/10 (messy as heck though)
Texture: 8/10
Price: 7/10
Ingredients: 10/10
Husband Rating for Attractiveness: 0/10 (haha)
Would I buy this again? Yes
Overall Rating: 8/10 (wish it made my skin soft)

My Coach Purse - On its Last Legs and Worth Every Penny

 

I am going to go a bit off topic today. I know everyone and their mother (literally) has a Coach purse these days whether its the real thing or a knock off. When I got my first Coach purse they were at their peak of being "hot" and then within a few months everyone had one. They ceased in the fashion sense to be the "in" thing. Everyone went Michael Kors mad after that. I do own a Michael Kors purse by the way and I have never used it but I will this summer!

 

Back to Coach. I own 5 Coach purses. It's a little obsession. Anyone who thinks they know me will tell you that I am full of ^%$# and I only own the one. Not true. I am simply a creature of habit and I use the same one all of the time which is pictured above. Can't go wrong with a black purse I always say. Three of my five Coach purses are black by the way.

 

My husband bought this purse for me as an anniversary gift and I have had it for just over 3 1/2 years. I believe it is a Coach Signature Zoe purse. It is the real thing. I have used and abused this purse non-stop almost everyday for 3 1/2 years. It is on its last legs. The fabric is worn on back where it rubs against my body and the lovely baby blue satin liner is looking dingy. The strap is slowly starting to tear.

 

I decided to do this post because I love my Coach purse. I am sorry to say that my days with it are coming to an end. What I really want you to know is that Coach makes ridiculously good quality purses. Until I had this purse, I have never had a purse last longer than 10 months tops and usually 6 months or less. I am hard on my purses. They shop with me, commute to work with me, go dining with me, travel with me...

 

I thought when I got this purse that if it lasted a year I would be happy because then I would know that this was a far better quality purse than any other I have ever used. I have had a lot of Nine West and Guess purses before this one and they were garbage. When a year passed with my Coach purse and it was still in great shape I was impressed. Then another year went by and then another. I know my purse is looking a bit dated but I don't care. This thing is made of some nearly indestructible stuff. Hell, this purse even survived my house fire! The baby blue satin liner is still intact - no rips or tears.

 

Because of my experience with Coach I assure you that they have got themselves a Coach purse buyer for life. I also love the Coach symbol - so cool. If you go to a Coach outlet store you can pay half or a third the full price. That is what I do. When you do the math in terms of money paid for amount of time used, those Nine West and Guess purses cost me a hell of a lot more than this Coach purse cost. Since I have 5 purses, you probably guessed that I already have the replacement for this purse lined up and waiting in the wings.

 

If you are thinking about buying a Coach purse, I can tell you from personal experience that they are worth every cent, even if you pay full price. Mind you, find an outlet store and then you don't have to.   

theBalm Nude 'Tude Nude Eyeshadow Palette - Review and Swatches

I heard so many great things about this palette so I just had to get it. I love most of theBalm products too, especially their eyeshadow, so I was hell bent on picking this up. A couple of months ago Hautelook had a sale on theBalm and I snatched this baby up for less than $20. Is that insane or what? Normally, I believe they are $36 U.S. I really like this palette a lot. The colours are so pretty, blend like a dream, are soft, smooth and work well together. It is a great nude palette and my only complaint is that there isn't a good nude or bare lid colour. If there was, then I would just take this palette alone with me when I travel.

The palette I have is the "naughty" version. That is the only one Hautelook was selling. Mine has the pin-up characters "naked" - the other version is a bedroom backdrop. I think the naughty version is kind of cute, but I would just as soon have the "clean" version. A crappy brush came with the palette and I have already chucked it aside. The palette has 12 eyeshadow colours totalling 11.08g or 0.382 oz. So each eyeshadow is just less than 1g each. It was still a fabulous deal.

The mirror in here is huge. Overall, the eyeshadows are very pigmented but I do find a couple of the shimmery browns do fade a bit over the course of the day. The colours are from left to right, top to bottom, Sassy, Stubborn, Selfish, Sophisticated, Sexy, Serious, Snobby, Stand-Offish, Sultry, Seductive, Silly and Sleek. Four of the shades are matte - Sexy, Serious, Sultry and Sleek. I would have to say my favourites are Stubborn, Selfish, Sexy, Stand-Offish, Sultry, Silly and Sleek.

The swatch colours are from left to right Sassy, Stubborn, Selfish, Sophisticated, Sexy and Serious. Sassy is a multi-purpose shimmery white. Stubborn is a mid-toned peachy pink with just a little shimmer. Selfish is a taupe shimmer with silver in it. Sophisticated is a very shimmery milk chocolate. Sexy is a more red purple version of MAC's Folie. Serious is matte jet black.

The swatch colours are from left to right Snobby, Stand-Offish, Sultry, Seductive, Silly and Sleek. Snobby is more yellow brick road than golden and I don't really love it. I mix it with Sassy sometimes to tone down the yellow. This is where a nice buff colour for the lid would have come in handy.....Anyway, Stand-Offish is a very frosty pale pink which has some beige in it. Sultry is a very nice medium brown that works great as a crease colour. Seductive is a more golden version of Sophisticated. Seductive is my least favourite and is most boring colour in here for me. Silly is an awesome sparkly blackened red. I love this colour! Finally, we have Sleek which is the darkest shade of brown bordering on black that you will find. This is a gorgeous colour. Most of these colours double as excellent eyeliners and stay put and stay true all day long. Very impressive.

Packaging: 10/10 (so cute! and thin) 

Pigmentation: 8.5/10
Easy to Work With: 10/10
Longevity: 7/10
Texture: 10/10
Price: 10/10
Ingredients: 10/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10 (for overnight travel not daily purse travel)
Attractiveness of Product: 9/10
Would I buy this again? Hell Yes
Overall Rating: 9/10 

Sigma Beauty Paris Palette - Review and Swatches

I have had this palette for ages and I am finally getting around to doing a review. I left a bit of a teaser a couple of blog posts ago saying that I had a Sigma Beauty product to review which I was really pleased with. Well here it is!

In case any of you are wondering, I am quite fond of my Ikea duvet cover which is featured in the background of many of my blog pics. I have other duvet covers, but this one is my favourite and even though it has flowers on it, because it is grey/black my husband likes it too!

I digress. So this palette comes in a case with Paris "symbols" on it - Arc de Triomphe etc. There is also an insert. All that is in the insert is pictures of the blog contributors who came up with the colours and what their inspiration for their colour was. No tutorials, no suggestions as to how to pair the colours and so on. Honestly, I thought the insert was a total waste.

The palette comes with two brushes (E55 which is a quasi dupe of the MAC 239 and F40 which is a dupe of the MAC 168 I believe). Both are excellent brushes by the way and I am very happy to have them. There are also 8 eyeshadows, 2 blushes and 1 highlight/luminizer.

The box is a bit chunky monkey, but there is a lot of shizzit in here. I have to say that the eyeshadows in this palette are phenomenal. They are smooth, creamy, highly pigmented, blend like a dream and look really gorgeous on. They are extremely long lasting. I have the Sigma Dare and Bare palettes and the colours in the Paris palette are much better quality. The colours are as follows, left to right, top to bottom : Eiffel, Seine, Louvre, Orsay, Elysees, Notre Dame, Triomphe, Versailles, Rouge, Peche and Lumiere.

The ingredients are listed above. Sorry they are so small. Hopefully you can blow it up on your computer or mobile device. The ingredients are better than what is in the Bare, Dare and Flare palettes too. I have to say that I totally love Elysees, Notre Dame, Triomphe, Versailles and Eiffel the best. Elysees, Notre Dame, Triomphe and Versailles go so well together. When I want to look glamorous and like I spent a lot of time on my look, I reach for these 4 colours. Also, they really suit my colouring so when I want "going out eyes" and I am strapped for inspiration, these 4 do in a pinch. Eiffel reminds me of MAC's Black Tied except that Eiffel has rainbow shimmer and Black Tied is more of a silver shimmer.

Elysees, Notre Dame, Triomphe and Versailles are shown in the swatches above left to right as listed. They are the colours on the right side of the eyeshadow row obviously. Triomphe has a dupe in terms of colour with that of one of Maybelline's eyeshadows in the Olive Martini quad. The texture and quality of the two can not be compared though. Triomphe is head and shoulders above Maybelline's version. Versailles is super shimmery and glittery, but it looks amazing on. It is a little gritty but I can overlook that here.

From left to right we have the blushes in Rouge and Peche. Then (if you can see it) the highlight colour in Lumiere. The eyeshadows after that are Eiffel, Seine, Louvre and Orsay. Rouge looks like one of my favourite blush colours, Clinique's Mocha Pink, at first sight. I find it actually transfers a bit on the orange red side. It is brighter and heavier than it looks. I think I may need to work with it more, but so far I am not a fan. Peche is nice, just not overly my kind of shade. The highlight, Lumiere, is really subtle but nice. I have other loud highlighters so this is a nice simple touch to my makeup when I use it. You can see it if you look hard, but it is very natural looking.

Seine, Louvre and Orsay are all great quality eyeshadows, they just aren't my thing. Orsay is loud! I would wear it on my lower lash line or to a crazy party, but it is really bright on me. I bet if you have dark skin, this would look amazing on you. Louvre is nice, unusual, but again, kind of crazy for me. Looks great on the lower lash line. I like blue eyeshadow, but these are really teals. Finally, we have Seine. It's nice but I have Tarte and Urban Decay dupes for this one so I can't get too excited over it.

Overall, this is a fantastic palette. The two brushes are fantastic bonuses and they are excellent quality. The blushes would work for anyone, but in my case I have to use a light hand. The highlight - awesome. The eyeshadows are fabulous quality. If a couple of products were taken out of this palette, I would still think it was worth buying. My only other complaint is that the eyeshadow colours are all bright and there are no neutrals here. This is not a palette I would pick up to do say my office makeup. Therefore, it may not be for everyone. I seem to hit and miss with Sigma products but this one was well done!

The price was $59 U.S. (I got a TiffanyD discount but this is what I essentially paid) and it is on clearance right now on Sigma's website for $49 U.S. If you have been thinking about picking it up, pounce now!

Packaging: 7/10 (insert is a waste and it is a little chunky - pretty though!) 

Pigmentation: 10/10
Easy to Work With: 10/10
Longevity: 10/10
Texture: 10/10
Price: 8/10 (considering how much you get it is priced fair)
Ingredients: 7/10
Travel Worthy: 3/10
Attractiveness of Product: 8/10
Would I buy this again? One is enough but I would buy some of the eyeshadows separately
Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Too Faced Eyeshadow Collection in Exclusive Lavendar, Satin Sheets, Ever After and Birthday Suit - Review and Swatches

A little while ago I bought a set of Too Faced cosmetics called The Iconic Collection. This eyeshadow palette was part of the package and to my knowledge, is not sold separately. Inside is 4 eyshadows - Exclusive Lavendar, Satin Sheets, Ever After and Birthday Suit. I really wanted Satin Sheets and that is what drew me to this. Satin Sheets is in Too Faced's Naked Eye Collection palette. Birthday Suit is also part of that palette. I also got Ever After which is from Too Faced's Romantic Eye Classic Collection. Finally, Exclusive Lavendar is just that - exclusive to this set.

I had never owned any Too Faced eyeshadows before this so this was to be a treat. I have to say I was very happy and pleased with these eyeshadows. They are super smooth and creamy and blend well. All of these colours are shimmers though. My favourite is Satin Sheets with Exclusive Lavendar as a close second. Birthday Suit is my least favourite. It's kind of dull and sick looking to me. It reminds me of dirty, uglier version of MAC's Jaunty. Birthday Suit is not very flattering on me. All of these colours are long lasting with a primer.

On the top, left to right, we have Exclusive Lavendar and Satin Sheets. On the bottom, left to right we have Birthday Suit and Ever After. The whole palette is 7g or 0.25 oz. That is 1.75g each eyeshadow which is bigger than a MAC eyeshadow. The Iconic Collection also came with a blush, bronzer, mascara, lip gloss and a sample of their Shadow Insurance. The whole kit was $39 U.S. or $47 Canadian which is a good deal for all of that. I have reviewed the mascara already and I will get around to the rest soon.

Here are the swatches. They are left to right Exclusive Lavendar, Satin Sheets, Birthday Suit and Ever After. They look good together too on the eye. You can actually do a few looks with just these four colours.

Satin Sheets is a lot more golden on than it looks. I thought it was more of a very light pink with a golden hint but the golden is predominant on the eye. The pink in it though helps balance out the golden hue. It is very unusual colour wise. I don't have anything like it in my collection.

By the way, Too Faced seems to be taking out parabens and few things out of some of their eyeshadows. I find even with some of their old colours (like Satin Sheets) when repackaged into this palette and as well as some of the newer merged palette collections some of the nasty ingredients are gone. Good for you Too Faced! Now maybe I will buy more of your stuff!

Packaging: 8/10 (love the disc and there is a huge mirror)

Pigmentation: 7/10
Easy to Work With: 10/10
Longevity: 7/10
Texture: 10/10
Price: 6/10
Ingredients: 8/10
Travel Worthy: 9/10
Attractiveness of Product: 8/10
Would I buy this again? Likely and other colours too!
Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Sephora Online Order Haul

I still order from Sephora online once in while even though I now have a Sephora within 15 minutes drive from my house. There are two reasons for this 1) better Beauty Insider rewards perks and 2) more product selection. What drove me this time was the Beauty Insider goodies. I really wanted that free Stila cream blush! Just look at all of the goodies I got! I only ordered and paid for 3 things out of all that you see above.

I purchased bareMinerals Broad Spectrum Multi-Tasking Concealer in Well Rested which is an eye brightener, Cover FX Natural Finish Oil Free Foundation in N25 and bareMinerals Deep Cleansing Foam.

Since I had some Beauty Insider points, I also snapped up the following 100 point gifts: Stila Convertible Color in Peony (small size), Givenchy Le Rouge in 103 Brun Lipstick and Tarte Amazonian Clay Double Detox Facial Mask.

In addition, I got the Clarins Body Lift Cellulite Control since it was a free offer. If that wasn't enough, I also got 4 free samples - a Bumble and Bumble Shampoo and Conditioner, Boscia Self-Defense Vital Antioxidant Moisture, Philosophy Miracle Worker Miraculous Ant-Aging Retinoid Eye Cream and a Miss Dior Eau de Parfum.

Not too shabby. Reviews of these products will appear here on my blog sooner or later.

Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lipgloss in Strip, Wallflower and Naked - Review and Swatches

So I have kind of fallen in love. I am not referring to my husband, whom I already love, but specifically with the Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lipglosses. I had a sample of this product in "Naked" for I don't know how long. It came with my Naked 2 palette. I am the pickiest person on earth when it comes to lipgloss and I took one look at this plastic shimmery tube and said "yuck". Fast forward to February 2013. I acquire Urban Decay's Feminine Palette and there is another one of these Lip Junkie's in there. This one is called "Wallflower". I have since bought a full sized "Strip".

As I have mentioned in some of my previous posts, I had an allergic reaction to some facial soap a few months back and it has wreaked havoc on my lips. They are on the mend and are much better. They frequently peeled and burned for weeks after my reaction. One night out of desperation, I reached for Wallflower because I remembered that it is supposed to "Cool & Plump". Well it did cool the fire on my lips and I loved the soothing mint smell and effect. The gloss was nice and slick and sticky (the right kind of sticky) but not too sticky and it lasted and lasted. There was no offensive smell (unless you hate mint) and the shine was out of this world. It looks fantastic alone or over any lipstick. One of the best parts? The ingredients aren't too scary. Seriously, one of the best lip glosses EVER!

I'll admit that the full tube I purchased did smell a bit plastic for the first couple of uses but that is all gone now. I would prefer something easier than a squeeze tube for this product but I will deal with it. If you love lip gloss, you have to try one of these. If you are like me and aren't the biggest fan of nasty, smelly, burning and yuck feeling gloss, you have to try this! I don't notice any plumping with this product which suits me fine because I don't need it. This soothes and moisturizes my lips and does not irritate them in the least, and believe me, they were irritated before I started using this and now they are getting back to normal.

From left to right we have Strip, Wallflower and Naked. I have almost finished Wallflower and I enjoyed it very much indeed. The small size was perfect for my purse. Wallflower is a nude sheer. Strip is nude mauve colour and I quite like it. Naked is a shimmery rose. No clue why they called it Naked. To be honest, I prefer Strip and Wallflower over Naked because I like sheer glosses and Naked has shimmer. However, Naked is very attractive on by itself with a pink lip liner. I just prefer sheer - personal preference. I will be purchasing more of these in other colours. I wish they would change the packaging though. These are $19 U.S. and $23 Canadian. I can guarantee these will be in my best products of 2013 when the time comes.

Packaging: 4/10 (I like the lid but the packaging is weird and awkward)

Pigmentation: 7/10 (they are pretty sheer) 
Easy to Work With: 10/10
Longevity: 10/10
Texture: 10/10
Price: 7/10
Ingredients: 9/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10
Attractiveness of Product: 10/10
Would I buy this again? In a heartbeat
Overall Rating: 9/10

Sigma Beauty Eye Shadow Base in Persuade - Review, Swatch and Ingredients

First of all, I have to say that I was sooooo disappointed with this product. All of these bloggers were fawning over how wonderful this new Sigma product is and I got sucked into the hype. I love my MAC Painterly Paint Pot like nobody's business, but it creases. I have to use a primer with it. Well in walks the Sigma Eye Shadow Bases and everyone was saying that this is the first true creaseless eyeshadow base and that you could even wear on its own! This was exciting for me! I had to get my hands on this. Just imagine, a quick swipe and blend and I am out the door!

Talk about too good to be true. I tried just that one morning before work. I dipped my finger into the pot and blended it onto my eyelids. I had slight creasing by the time I got on the commuter train. By lunchtime, I had a full on crease on both lids. By home time, crusty bits started to form in some areas. Wow! That is all I can say. Creaseless, my ass. Because I wanted to make sure I had tested all theories, I tried it again yesterday with eyeshadow on top of it. Guess what? Crease city and melted eyeshadow in my crease. Talk about embarrassing.

Today, I used a primer underneath it and eyeshadow on top of it. No issues. Why? Because I used a primer....Guess what? I may as well stick with my MAC Painterly Paint Pot. "Now come on Alexis", I can hear you say now, "MAC's Paint Pots are more expensive, this is a better deal and hey, you have super oily eyelids, that's not my problem!". Okay, you may have a small point. But let's do some basic math to start with. Sigma Eyeshadow bases are $13 U.S. and MAC's Paint Pots are $18.50 U.S. and $22 Canadian. Unless you live in Minnesota and near their store, you have to pay to have Sigma to ship you their products. So that $13 easily balloons to $18.50 and beyond. MAC stores are everywhere in Canada and the U.S. if you live near a major city. MAC also does a lot of free shipping if you have a code etc.

I will be the first to admit that I have super oily lids. If you don't have oily lids, hey maybe this product won't crease for you. But don't give me some blarney about this being crease-proof. I am the test my friends. Persuade is an ok dupe of Painterly. Painterly is a much heavier and thicker product. On the one hand, I like that Persuade is so lightweight on the eyelids. Sometimes Painterly can be a bit thick and feel heavier than it should on. There is a neat cap in Sigma's Eye Shadow Bases which is supposed to keep them from drying out. Perhaps that is a good idea. I find this product watery though and I can't see it drying out cap or no cap anytime soon. My MAC Paint Pots do get a bit dry sometimes but nothing extreme. Just warm them up with a finger worse case scenario.

Even though the overall product weight of this product is identical to a Paint Pot (0.17oz/5g), I somehow feel a bit ripped off. This product is so thin and lightweight. It is smooth and soft and easy to work with though. In terms of consistency, there is no comparison. Painterly looks and feels more rich. Painterly also really covers your eyelid in terms of providing a base giving eyeshadow an opaque, rich look. Persuade does not give much coverage and does not give off that effect. Painterly is more pink toned.

I have taken a picture of the ingredients list for all of you. The ingredients are not too bad actually. I hope you can read that. I bought the Bare Kit by the way. I was going to buy two of the colours in this kit and one from another kit when I realized, what the hell I may as well try one kit and get a free brush. Reviews of the whole kit to follow shortly. Okay, other beefs about this product.The pot is plastic. MAC Paint Pots use glass and I love glass as it keeps products fresher. Also, glass is more environmentally friendly. Hey, there is also Back to MAC....

The Sigma Eyeshadow Base Pots are also huge! So ugly! Awkward! Cheap looking! Bulky. Not travel friendly. I think I better stop now. I will use up this product but I will not repurchase. I have higher hopes for the other two I have because I want the "colours" if that make sense. I will just have to use a primer with them. I actually am in the midst of reviewing another Sigma product and I am very impressed with it. Review to follow very soon. So for me with Sigma, it can be hit and it can be miss so far. I am considering getting the Resort Palette. The reviews seem excellent for it, but hey, so were the reviews for this Eye Shadow Base! Hmmph.

Packaging: 2/10  (the 2 is for the inner cap)

Pigmentation: 3/10  
Easy to Work With: 8/10
Longevity: 1/10
Texture: 5/10 (feels smooth and light but there is no substance)
Price: 6/10
Ingredients: 7/10
Travel Worthy: 2/10
Attractiveness of Product: 5/10
Would I buy this again? Nope
Overall Rating: 4/10 (being mega generous)

**Product Update 10/23/2014 - this product ended up redeeming itself to me a bit through a happy accident - http://mymakeupissues.blogspot.ca/2014/10/two-products-that-i-have-changed-my.html

L'Oreal Infaillible Color Eyeshadow in 015 Flashback Silver and 033 Tender Caramel - Review and Swatches

I was sick and tired of hearing the hype about these eye shadows so I went to the new Target "Tarjay" in my neighbourhood and picked up a couple. Curiousity killed the cat. I have since ordered 3 others online (before trying these - so stupid of me) and I hope I don't live to regret the purchase. How I ended up with 5 is a mystery to even myself. I bought 015 Flashback Silver and 033 Tender Caramel at Target. I have to say that the packaging is neat, the colours look so pigmented and cool, and they swatch like a dream. Yet, I am not overly impressed with them.

I have told you all before that I am spoiled with high end makeup and always find hyped up drug store cosmetics disappointing at best. Even though these swatch like a dream, I find they only looked so so on my eyelids. I wanted to love Flashback Silver so much but it looked downright "dirty" on my eyelids shortly after I applied it. It looked well...cheap. It looks like it should be a purple silver but it looks like a blackened silver dipped in dirt after a little while. At least, that was my experience.

Tender Carmel faded throughout the day but stayed looking attractive all day long. I thought Tender Caramel would be more pigmented on, but I have Stila and Tarte eyeshadows that look more pigmented and more shiny after wearing them the same amount of time. Out of the two, Tender Caramel is definitely the better bet. I wouldn't dream of using these without a primer.

Tender Caramel is on the left and Flashback Silver is on the right. The Texture is not as nice as it looks but it isn't bad. It feels kind of weird and a bit gritty.

Flashback Silver (doesn't that swatch well?!) is on the left and Tender Caramel is on the right. Such a disappointment for me overall. Finally, my last beef with these is that they both have phthalates in them. Now that isn't good. Frankly, I have way nicer eyeshadows than these. I find these eyeshadows fade and the colour does not stay completely true. Once I try the other 3 I bought, I will do a review but I won't hold my breath. I have to say that the inside cap is neat and hopefully it keeps the product moist for a long time but we will have to wait to see.

Packaging: 9/10 (inventive)

Pigmentation: 10/10 (swatched) and 6.5/10 (after wear) 
Easy to Work With: 7/10
Longevity: 6/10
Texture: 5/10
Price: 8/10
Ingredients: 4/10
Travel Worthy: 7/10 (small and convenient minus farting around with that cap and screw lid)
Attractiveness of Product: 5/10
Would I buy this again? Nope
Overall Rating: 6/10

L'Occitane en Provence Immortelle Brightening Foaming Cleanser - Mini Review and Impressions

I got a sample of this and I used it for a couple of days before the sample ran out which is why this is a mini review. I wasn't able to really road test it. I normally don't bother to do reviews on samples because you don't really get the chance to test them out before they are gone. So I only do mini reviews of samples if I had a noticeably bad or good experience. In this case, it was a good one.

The product is pearlized, which I hate in a cleanser, but that is just my personal preference. You might love that. It felt really gentle, calming and smooth on the skin. My skin felt nice and clean after I used it. I have to say the first time I used it was at night and the next morning I couldn't believe how much my skin was glowing. In fact, I had forgotten that I used the cleanser the night before and was wondering why my skin looked so good! Then I remembered what must have caused my skin to look different. I waited another few days and used it again a couple of times - same phenomenon - glowing, soft skin. The product had a slight smell which was not unpleasant. I am seriously considering buying a tube. It is $30 Canadian.

MAC Graphblack Technakohl Liner Eye-Liner Kajal - Review and Swatch

I got this as part of a MAC Holiday Set a year and a bit ago. It is full size - 0.35g or 0.012 oz. It costs $19 Canadian and $16 U.S. Normally I love MAC liners, but I don't really like this one. First of all, I don't find it to be very black. When I buy a black eyeliner, I want a jet black liner. Otherwise, I would buy a dark grey eyeliner. That's me anyway. This liner is a dirty black colour if that makes sense. It's kind of charcoal coloured. I grab this liner when I am in a rush, want black eyeliner and I have no time for gel or liquid liner.

On me this liner smudges and transfers. It is super soft and can be easily smoked out, but it's too messy for my taste. It is quick and convenient though not to mention easy to work with. MAC makes way better liners than this one. This will not be a repurchase.

Packaging: 9/10 

Pigmentation: 6/10
Easy to Work With: 6/10
Longevity: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Price: 6/10
Ingredients: 8/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10 (small and convenient)
Attractiveness of Product: 4/10
Would I buy this again? Nah
Overall Rating: 6/10

L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Eye Shadow Brazen Bolds in 560 Shopping Spree - Review and Swatches

I bought this quad out of morbid curiosity. Emily from Beauty Broadcast used this in one of her videos and I thought the colours looked great on her. So I decided to head over to Wal-Mart and pick it up. It cost me $8.99 Canadian but I think you can pay up to $12.99 Canadian for this at some drug stores. I thought the colour combination was unusual and neat and the peach colour looked like it really popped on camera.

The first thing I have to say it that the packaging is soooo cheap - both look and feel. I always get a shock when I make purchases at the drug store, however, I have bought drug store stuff that costs less than this and has far better packaging. Shame on you L'Oreal! The cover is a fingerprint nightmare and the gold reminds me of a cheap lamp.

 

I like the colour combination. L'Oreal gets props for going a bit outside of the box. I created the same look that Emily from Beauty Broadcast did and it was flattering. I laughed out loud when I went onto L'Oreal's website and saw some of the looks they put together with this quad - talk about amateur! Heaven help us all if that is the best L'Oreal's makeup artists can come up with! There are probably hundreds of YouTube beauty gurus that could put L'Oreal to shame!

 

I digress. Anyway, the colour payoff was not so great and the formula was not smooth at all. I am wearing it right now and it feels a bit itchy. Speaking of which...what the hell are the ingredients??? There are none anywhere on the package and there were none posted on the display. I looked on L'Oreal's website - nada. I briefly surfed the net and came up blank. I really hate that when a company isn't forthright with their ingredients.

 

I use a lot of MAC, Tarte, Urban Decay and theBalm eyeshadow. This stuff is &*%$ in comparison. I am sorry, but I am going to call a spade a spade. The colours were not hard to work with, but weren't easy to work with either. I can't tell you how many times I have to dip my brush into the peach and light blue colour just to get some product on my eye. The peach colour and the pink are the best of the four in terms of how they look and stand out on the eye. The colours are long lasting though with a primer and a paint pot base. I will be putting this up into my never use makeup bag. I will dust it off again at some point, but frankly I have some dupes of these colours in better brands which I could easily use to dupe the look I put together.

 

I know I have a Tarte eyeshadow from their Jewelry Box collection from a couple of years ago that has a dupe for the pink. You could probably mix MAC's All That Glitters and Jest for the peach shade, MAC's Swan Lake for the light blue and MAC's Typographic for the dark grey. I have to say that the L'Oreal colours swatch very well on the arm but do not transfer easily to the eye (even with a paint pot on)!



 

 

Packaging: 2/10 (it's slim and small but the shape of the pan eyeshadows is just plan awkward)

Pigmentation: 3/10 (the dark grey and pink aren't bad)
Easy to Work With: 5/10
Longevity: 9/10
Texture: 2/10
Price: 9/10
Ingredients: ??????? 0/10 (for keeping it a secret)
Travel Worthy: 9/10 (small and convenient)
Attractiveness of Product: 7/10
Would I buy this again? Heck No   
Overall Rating: 5/10