Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Ultra-Hydrating Body Butter in Vanilla Apricot - Review

Hello! Quick review tonight on the Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Ultra-Hydrating Body Butter in Vanilla Apricot. I have the 24 ml or 8 oz. jar or tub if you prefer but you can also get it in a 2 oz. tub. The full 8 oz. size that I have is $43 Canadian or $35 U.S. The 2 oz. size is $15 Canadian or $12 U.S. I personally think $43 is a lot of money for a body butter, natural or not. I bought mine during the VIB Rouge 20% off sale. I think the next time I buy it, I will wait for the sale. Also, I still have a little over a third of my jar left.   

There are 9 different scents. I am funny about scents and I heard the Vanilla Apricot is the least offensive scent of the bunch. I quite like this scent and I think I may stick with it. There is a Sweet Citrus I might consider too. I really think if you are unsure about what scent you want to get, I would smell them in a store first if you can.

This is an exceptionally good body butter and when you use it side by side with a cheap body butter, the difference is horrifying. This feels so luxurious on and really helps with any dry or itchy areas. It saved my bacon this past winter. A little goes a long way. It doesn't smell like a chemical cocktail. The body butter is long lasting on the skin. This is honestly awesome stuff. The only con is the price. If you are looking for a phenomenal body butter with good ingredients, look no further. This is the stuff to get.  

Packaging: 10/10
Longevity: 10/10
Texture: 10/10
Price: 10/10 (if on sale as worth the money) 7/10 (if not on sale)  
Ingredients: 10/10
Moisturizing: 10/10
Scent: 9.5/10
Travel Worthy: Maybe in the 2 oz. size
Would I buy this again? Hell Yes!  
Overall Rating: 9.5/10 (the price is the only downside)  

tarte Tartlette Tease Palette - Review and Swatches

I can't believe I haven't blogged in nearly two weeks. Sorry guys, got busy and very tired. I'm back though with a palette review I have been meaning to do for nearly two months. I picked this little palette up around the time of my birthday back in February. Had Sephora gift cards. What can I say...

This palette is $25 Canadian or $21 U.S. and contains 6 eyeshadows at 0.85g or 0.03 oz x 6 which is reasonable. A lot of bloggers extolled the virtues of this palette so I picked it up. I also love me some tarte. The eyeshadows are from left to right and top to bottom: Whisper, Crush, Heartbreaker, Wink, First Kiss and BFF.

I think the palette and the packaging is cute. Yes, easy to travel with. The mirror inside is nice and a good size. I think $25 may be a tad steep for this palette, but not crazy insane. I can't see myself travelling with just this palette as my only eyeshadow. You could maybe, I can't. I say this for a few reasons. One of my main beefs, and I will speak to this more when I review my next palette later in the week on another brand, is that the one thing tarte sucks at is matte light coloured eyeshadows. MAC, Makeup Geek and Urban Decay have that stuff down pat. Other companies like tarte have no clue.

Whisper and Wink are barely noticeable on my eyelids. They provide very little highlight to the eye and have no "glow" or luminous effect. The looks I can do with this palette alone are very dark and somewhat muddy looking. Even though I use a Paint Pot underneath always, you would need to use a white base or something to make the lighter colours stand out even a little

Crush is very metallic and not suitable for an everyday look in my opinion. Heartbreaker is a nice matte medium to dark brown shade. That and First Kiss are my favourites from this little palette. I really like the colour BFF but I found that it applied a bit streaky. I noticed that it did the same thing on a vlogger that did a makeup tutorial with this on youtube, but the vlogger didn't complain about it. I will get some use out of this palette, but it's not one that I find myself reaching for. If I knew then, what I know now, I would pass on buying this palette. Here are the swatches:

From left to right and from top to bottom we have Whisper, Crush, Heartbreaker, Wink, First Kiss and BFF.

Packaging: 10/10   

Pigmentation: Whisper and Wink 1/10 and the rest 8.5/10 (points off for streaky BFF
Easy to Work With: 6/10
Longevity: 9/10 (they stay on as they go on - no change)
Colour Stays True: 10/10
Texture: 7/10
Price: 7/10
Ingredients: 10/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10
Attractiveness of Product: 6.5/10 some good ones and some not so good ones
Would I buy this again? NO 
Overall Rating: 7.5/10

Makeup Eraser - Review

Review today on the Makeup Eraser. So this is a cloth that is sold at Sephora that removes makeup by simply wetting the cloth with warm water and then wipe your little heart out. I was very skeptical about the Makeup Eraser when it first came out. I didn't understand how this cleaned your face with no chemicals. I figured there must be some lotion or something in the fibres. It also seemed faddish and gimmicky. I still don't understand how it works but I no longer really care lol. Nevertheless, I was running out of my Boscia Makeup-Breakup Cleansing Oil ($38 Canadian) a few months ago (now finished) and decided I wanted to see what this was all about. The price was right too. The Makeup Eraser is $24 Canadian or $20 U.S. You basically wipe your makeup off and then throw this in the wash.

First of all, this really works well and I was shocked. Takes off foundation, mascara, eyeliner - the whole kit and caboodle. I would say it takes off 95-98% of your makeup. If I really "got in there" I could probably get it all off with this but instead I am happy to get nearly all of it off with a few soft wipes. The rest is what eye makeup remover and cleanser is for as far as I am concerned. Since this takes the bulk of your makeup off easily, it takes two seconds to get the rest off with a cotton pad and a little eye makeup remover and/or cleanser on your face. You can see all of your makeup, all of the filth, on the cloth. It isn't pretty. I try to get 3 uses out of the cloth between washings. I use a different section of the cloth each time. Needless to say, that is a hell of a lot of frequent washing so I am debating if I should buy another one. I just throw it in with my towels and we are good to go again. It is dryer safe but I haven't bothered to do that. I just air dry it in my bathroom.

I only find that the inside of the cloth works for makeup removal. I think that is how it is supposed to be but don't quote me on that. The information in the package says the other side of the cloth exfoliates. I haven't really seriously tried that yet but I will and then get back to you. I would recommend you get the cloth really wet when you use it as that works best. If you slightly damp it and wring it out, it will be like rubbing a dry cloth across your face with little results. The cloth is soft enough and is not abrasive on your face. It's actually enjoyable to use. I think I read somewhere that this will last 900 or 1,000 washes. Umm that is a lot and if I only get a fraction of that, I will more than have gotten my money's worth. This could last for years!

I have probably washed this 10-15 times maybe and it shows no signs of wear nor tear so far. You are supposed to wash it in cool water on the delicate cycle. I have done that and it washes up like a dream. I have also been naughty and have washed it in warm and hot water on the heavy duty cycle. Again, washes like a dream. So don't feel you need to baby this and do a special load for it. It will probably last longer if you follow the instructions, but I am happy to mistreat mine as I have seen no negative effects and it makes my life easier.

The insert in the Makeup Eraser says by using this you will save money, live chemical free and cut back on Non-Biodegradable waste. I would agree with all of those statements well as far as makeup removal is concerned. As you can see, I have the pink one. You can also buy it in black now. I think the black would be good so that you don't look at the nasty used cloth in your bathroom, but I get a sick thrill and smug satisfaction from seeing that my makeup has been removed on the pink cloth.

The only con I can see to this product is that I wouldn't want to travel with it. I am not into carrying soggy cloths around that can't air out properly. If I was staying somewhere for an extended period of time and had access to a washing machine I would consider it, but otherwise no. This is far from a deal breaker for me. This product is worth all of the hype it has had and it is worth every penny and will pay for itself over and over again in no time flat.  

One of my bad habits is to leave my makeup on way too long every day. Using this cloth is so easy and it inspires me to get off my bum and take my makeup off because it is so quick and easy to use. I am going to use it right now. 

Packaging: N/A

Texture: 10/10

Price: 10/10

Ingredients: 10/10 or N/A

Easy to Work With: 10/10  

Travel Worthy: 2/10

Deep Cleans: 10/10

Comfortable/Softening: 8/10

Would I buy this again? HELL YES

Overall Rating: 9.5/10 

April 2016 Empties!

I can't believe it is May already! Well my April empties is not as bountiful as I would have liked, but it beats the pathetic display that I had for my empties post last month.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light in 2.0 -  Another one bites the dust. It's my fave and I keep going back to it. Nothing compares. Already repurchased. 

The Body Shop Honeymania Body Butter - It did the job this past winter, but I am not sure if I would repurchase. There are better body creams out there (review here). One of better body creams I must review soon...

Origins Zero Oil Pore Purifying Toner - I was off using toner for awhile and now I am back at it. I seem to be going in phases. I have not yet repurchased but likely will as this is my favourite toner and it seems to make a difference. (review here)

eos Lip Balm in Vanilla Nonsense - I was sent this as a promotional item. It was part of the Alice in Wonderland limited edition set that eos had out ages ago. While I probably own about 10 eos lip balms, some purchased by me and some I was sent as a promotion, this is the only one I have ever finished. Well almost. It's down to the wood so to speak. I would have to pick the rest out but I can't be bothered. There was a big issue with these lip balms reported a few months ago in the news. I will let you google it for yourself. Some of you might recall I was having some bad lip issues a couple of years ago. I am now wondering if these eos lip balms were to blame. It seemed to only be certain scents/flavours though and I don't think Vanilla Nonsense was one of them. I have done a review on these but I won't bother posting the link as my mind has changed about them if they were in fact the culprit behind my lip issues. I highly doubt I will be repurchasing these. I'm just turned off and scared.  

Tarte Lipgloss - This was in a Holiday set a year or so ago. It's become a mission of mine to finish all of them. There were I think 8 of them?! They aren't bad, but they aren't the best lip glosses ever. They don't have names and therefore I could not repurchase or figure out that I could repurchase them if I wanted to. Therefore, I must finish them as they are easy to pop in the purse and they are taking up room in my stash. Another one done.   

Beautyblender - This was my first beauty blender and it is toast. It has at least a dozen rips and cracks it in. It's lost it's bounce and it feels kind of gross on the bottom despite my frequent washings of it. I used it along with a second beauty blender but I definitely used this one the most. I am now using my backup and a third one is already repurchased. Can't live without this now. (review here)

I will be back in a couple of days with a palette review and a makeup remover review! Talk to you soon.