Origins By All Greens Foaming Deep Cleansing Mask - Review

I am not sure what this product is and I am not sure Origins knows what it is either. I have copied the description of this product straight from Sephora's website:

This two-in-one mask and cleanser detoxifies to draw out dirt, debris, pollutants, and makeup from skin and pores. Inspired by detox juicing cleanses, the foaming formula features green superfoods—including green tea, spirulina, and spinach—and gently cleanses without stripping or drying skin.

I got a good sized sample of this from Sephora. My sample was 0.9 oz. or 26g or 25ml. The regular can is 2.6 oz. The price is $45 Canadian or $36 U.S. Not chump change.

When you put it on, you can only sweep it on quick. If you rub too much or you are slow about it, it won't foam, it just becomes gummy goo. So once you have swept it onto your face, you wait for the magic to happen - its supposed to turn into a foaming lather. I am still waiting for the magic to happen and I have finished the bottle. Yes, it does foam up, but it's barely noticeable on me and it's very anticlimactic. A real bore actually. Once you give it a few minutes to do it's thing, you circulate the suds and wash it off. I found it slow to wash off and my skin didn't feel a thing. No tingle no nothing. My skin felt dirty still.

Did it strip my face? No. If you have dry skin maybe you would like this. It wasn't for me. I didn't feel like my face was clean and I really felt like it did nada for me. No glowing skin appeared and it seemed to ignore my blemishes. Not sure what else I can say. This must work for someone, but I didn't feel the love and didn't get the concept.

Oh and the smell. Like minty spirulina. Not my jam, but maybe it might be yours?

Packaging: 5/10 (my sample was kind of crappily made and the nozzle was terrible)

Texture: 1/10 (slime) 

Price: 3/10

Ingredients: 7/10

Easy to Work With: 1/10  

Travel Worthy: 5/10 (contents may explode) 

Deep Cleans: 0/10 (not for me)

Moisturizing: 6/10

Comfortable/Softening: 8/10

Blemish Fighting: 0/10

Smell: 2/10

Would I buy this again? Glad I didn't in the first place - No!  

Overall Rating: 3/10 

Estee Lauder New Dimension Shape + Sculpt Eye Kit - Review and Swatches

I had this little palette on my radar for quite some time. TiffanyD of YouTube fame raved about how much she liked this and I was intrigued. Now I love me some Estee Lauder. You can call it a mature woman's brand if you want, but they have a lot of solid products. This is not one of them.

Why didn't I rush to buy it? Price point. It's $44 Canadian or $40 U.S. I think that is a lot of money for a 3 "eyeshadow" palette from Estee Lauder. I ended up finding mine at the quarterly Estee Lauder warehouse sale for $15 Canadian. Much more reasonable. Haha. The primer, the first shadow, if you can call it that, is 0.03 oz. or 0.9g. The consistency is pretty much a greasy wax. It's a slip and slide on your eyelid and I can't get any shadow to stick to it. I have even tried a regular primer under it and same thing, slip and slide and won't stay put. It's useless I am afraid.

The second shade, Highlighter is 0.035 oz. or 1g. This too is waxy and a slip and slide on my eyelid. It won't stay put on it's own nor on top of the primer nor on top of a regular primer. It does stay put more than the primer in this set in general but it goops up and doesn't spread evenly. It is not even an attractive shade when laid down. I've tried it in the inner corner and on the brow bone you name it. You can barely see it and what you can see looks sloppy and clumpy. Dreadful. I have oily lids. Maybe this works on drier lids??? 

Finally, the "Powder" is 0.035 oz. or 1g. I use this as a crease colour. I've got to say that the first couple of times I used this, the colour barely showed up. The pigmentation is not good. I had to really work to get it to even show up a little bit. I have since used it a few more times and it is showing up more. Maybe there was a slight eyeshadow film on top that you had to break through? It's better and usable now, but it still isn't great.

On the far left is the primer which you probably can't really see. To right of it is the highlight shade. Looks nice enough but doesn't translate as such on the eye area. Finally we have the powder eyeshadow. It swatches much better on my arm than it applies to the eyelid or crease.

To sum it up, save your money and don't buy this. You really get almost nothing for a steep price. I truly don't get what Estee Lauder was thinking when they created this palette. The idea was good but the execution of it is beyond awful. The packaging is nice, small and sleek. It would be perfect for travel if it were any good. The dual end brush is useless.

Packaging: 9/10  it's cute

Pigmentation: 4/10 powder shadow only
Easy to Work With: 0/10
Longevity: 0/10 primer and highlight and 7/10 powder
Colour Stays True: 10/10 powder
Texture: 0/10 primer and highlight 5/10 powder
Price: 0/10 (for what you get)
Ingredients: 8/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10
Attractiveness of Product: 2/10 average of the 3 products
Would I buy this again? No Way in Hell
Overall Rating: 2/10

Shiseido Facial Cotton - Review

Jaclyn Hill was talking about these cotton "pads" a little while ago and I was intrigued. At $11 Canadian or $9.50 U.S. these cotton squares are not cheap. I understand some people are taken aback by the price but for some reason I didn't think it was that outrageous, considering I have seen a pack one third of the size of some no name brand in the drug store for more than half of the price of this. There are 165 sheets or cotton squares in this pack.

I have been buying a big pack of cotton pads from Costco because the price was right. However, I am finding them to be a bit scratchy and that was starting to tick me off. So I thought what the hell I'll treat myself and tried these. Um there is no comparison. These are by far the best cotton pads I have ever used. I now get the hype. They are so soft it's ridiculous. Nothing compares. The size of the square is quite generous and I find one is all I need for eye makeup removal. I also use these when I use toner. I haven't tried them for nail polish removal yet, but that is next on the list. I will report back on that!

I tend to use more than one cotton pad for eye makeup removal sometimes but with these one is plenty. I think it is a combination of this pad being so large and the fact that any product you put on it disperses nicely throughout the pad and is not absorbed by the pad like many cotton pads do. You can use every piece of this cotton square. Somehow this pad gets into every nook and cranny in your eye area and gets every trace of makeup off. Some other pads you end up avoiding the edges because they are scratchy or just not soft on your face. Not an issue here.

I bought my first package of these a number of months ago. While I am still trying to use up those nasty Costco cotton pads, I have been using the Shiseido ones primarily and I still have half the package!!! It's like the package that won't end. This, of course, is a good thing. I fill up my cotton pad container in the bathroom with these and it's full in no time and the bag still has lots left. Anyway, needless to say, I will be repurchasing again and again. You've got to try these!

October 2016 Empties

It's already November 17th! Where does the time go? Here are my October 2016 Empties. Better late than never. Not too exciting last month but a few big bottles are dunzo.

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 2 tubes.

L'Occitane Dry Skin Foot Cream - This stuff is fantastic. Went through another travel sized tube (how many of these do I have!) and I have repurchased the full regular sized version. (review here)

A La Maison de Provence Honeysuckle Liquid Soap - I had the Sweet Almond version of this and liked that smell much better. I've decided I am not crazy about anything Honeysuckle scented. Still a great hand soap if you can find it at Marshalls, TJ Maxx or Winners.


Wen Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner - Another one bites the dust. I've mentioned before I have a cupboard full of this stuff. I was on Wen's mailing list but finally cancelled it. I have a lifetime supply at this point and I get so bored with shampoo and conditioner that it doesn't make sense to continue this madness. I have so many other shampoo and conditioner products on the go that it's time to clean out the cupboard before I bring more stuff in. (review here)

Estee Lauder Double Wear Zero-Smudge Lengthening Mascara Already repurchased again times 3....enough said. (review here)


Estee Lauder Little Black Primer I got this travel sized sample from an Estee Lauder counter a little while ago. I did find that it added length, volume and curl to my lashes. I will definitely repurchase but just haven't yet. I will do a full review of this product when I buy the full sized version and work with it some more.


Colleen Rothschild Balancing Gel Cleanser I am not sure that this product was for me. I didn't feel that it got deep down and cleaned my pores. I used it all as you can see but I don't see myself repurchasing it. (review here)


Murad Time Release Acne Cleanser I quite like this product. I have a travel sized version and I have already repurchased the full sized version. (review here)


Estee Lauder Advanced Time Zone Cream I got this in a gift with purchase set. It's not bad. I can't say that I would rush to repurchase it, but I would gladly use it again. (review here)


Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream So I am out of this and am not very happy about it. My skin is not digging some of the other moisturizers that I am trying to use up. Will need to repurchase stat. Love this stuff to the moon and back. (review here)


I am planning to have a post up tomorrow and Saturday. The palettes are piling up.



Beautyblender Liquid Blendercleanser - Review

I have owned a couple of the blendercleanser solids to date and loved them so I thought I would try the liquid version. The bottle version has a pump action lid which normally I love but it just doesn't work for the purpose of cleaning brushes or the beautyblender in my opinion. It just becomes a big old mess that bleeds into the product that is in the bottle! Do I think the liquid version works well? Yes, but frankly I prefer the solid as it's less messy and more travel friendly. I am still debating whether the liquid is better value for your buck. The liquid does go a long way at $28 U.S. for 5 oz. or $42 U.S. for 10 oz. but you can also get a lot of use out of the solid. Also I'm convinced that the solid works better on the actual beautyblender and uses less product than the liquid to clean it. I swear I must have to reapply the liquid to the beautyblender at least 7 times to get it reasonably clean.

I plan on using every drop of this and I only have about 1/3 of the bottle left. My bottle is so gross I don't dare show you. That's how messy this product is to use unless you are pouring it into another container to clean your brushes. I have already repurchased the solid version. Both smell nice but there is something about the smell of the solid that I just prefer. Here is the link to my review on the blendercleanser solid.