Friday, December 25, 2020

Mascara Review: Quo Curl Effortless Mascara

Alright folksickles...
Today I will be reviewing the Quo Curl Effortless Mascara


Sans Mascara:


With Mascara:

Availability: This appears to be discontinued.
Would I buy this?: Probably not.
Notes: This mascara comes in just the black as far as I know.
Let's go over what the mascara's supposed to do and what it actually does. Well given that I can't find it on any websites, it appears that the main job of the mascara is to curl the lashes. Given that my lashes have some natural curl and that I avoid using a curler because then it's difficult to glue falsies on I just... don't ever super care for curling in particular. That said let's get on to the review.
Alright so I'm sure you can see from the photographs that this mascara certainly does give my lashes a boost in terms of curling and lifting them but it didn't really do much otherwise. I didn't have any issues with this mascara flaking or smudging. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thanks!

Disclaimer: My best friend got me this for Christmas last year. 

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Lipstick Review: ColourPop Solow Ultra Matte Lip

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip in Solow




Availability: This particular shade has been discontinued.
Would I buy this? Yes
Notes: I'd describe the shade of this as being a mid-tone nude pink. As its name suggests this dries to a fully matte finish. I personally love it and find that it's a great for an any occasion, goes with any look, type of shade. The formula is quite matte and I will say that if your lips are prone to drying out and you don't layer this on top of a lip balm then it will dry your lips out. That said I don't really have a problem with this particular shade flaking off or doing anything else odd. It wears just fine for 4+ hours. 

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.

Disclaimer: I purchased this myself. 

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

November 2020 Arrivals

Arrivals feature items I bought this month that are joining my collection; a haul if you will. Without further ado.

1. Miche Bloomin' Eyelash Glue Love Collection Clear Type: Frankly there were a bunch of these at the store and I wasn't entirely sure which was best to pick up as the explanations on the back were identical so I just went with the one that had the most appealing packaging to me. 

2.  patchology Poshpeel Pedicure: You folks know that these are BY FAR my favorite foot peels and my feet have been in need of some TLC so I decided to pick these babies up.

Disclaimer: I purchased everything listed above.

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

November 2020 Empties

 All my monthly trash on display for you to see. :P

Sheet Masks Galore:
A'pieu Air Pocket Sheet Mask in Coffee Milk x2: Ugh you know I LOVE these masks so much. In fact this scent is my very favorite! It genuinely smells like a cafĂ© au lait. It left my skin feeling super silky and hydrated.  

2. Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub in Passion Fruit & Guava x2: I feel like a broken record with these - I love them, they're super scrubby and take off dead skin; leaving my skin silky and easy to shave. This has a nice sweet-sour scent to it.

3. Trader Joe's Moisturizing Cream Shave in honey mango: This is a really nice shaving gel-cream that smells delicious. The formula is hydrating and it goes on clear so you can see where you're shaving, making it easy to use. In addition, I really thought I'd go through this in a week because I am a hairy beast and need to shave every other day but this lasted me closer to a month. I'm honestly very pleasantly surprised. 

4. Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Conditioner: Honestly I've had this conditioner for a long time and had rediscovered it hidden in my stash so I finally used it up. It's an intensely hydrating conditioner that leaves my hair soft, silky, and shiny. 

5. berkley jensen unscented baby wipes: I love these baby wipes - personally I use them for wiping down surfaces, wiping away blog swatches, wiping down my makeup collection... they're nice, thick, moist, and my favorite part is that there's a lot in the container so they last a good while.

6. Sol Janeiro Coco Cabana Cream: I feel like I went through this super quick. It's a really hydrating, slightly gel-like body cream that, to me, smells like pistachio ice cream and coconut. It's nice but I don't see myself investing in it as it's a bit too sweet for my taste.

7. Skinceuticals Physical Fusion UV Defense Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50: I really like this sunscreen as it's very lightweight, quick-absorbing, thin, fast-drying and has a bit of a tint to it to keep it from going white. While definitely an investment in the sunscreen game I genuinely feel like this is worth looking into because it is so incredibly weightless and is actually nice to apply. I found that it didn't dry my skin out either, even when using it without a moisturizer under it. 

8. LUSH Ro's Argan Body Conditioner: So as you all know I have never used this product correctly and feel like it's a waste to do so - I prefer to use it as a body lotion. That said, I'm not sure if it's this batch or what happened but I found the product to be  on the sticky side.

9. Trader Joe's Apple Cider Scent Foaming Hand Soap x2: This soap smells incredible, like spiced apple cider as promised. That said, I find that I need a more hydrating soap for my hands. 

10. Molton Brown London Heavenly Gingerlily Shower Gel: Honestly, this smells alright to me - very clean and lightly floral, but it's not a scent I personally would describe as heavenly. It's just alright.

11. dermalogica daily microfoliant: This is a really nice soft, gentle exfoliant. It leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth and lasted quite a while because it's a powder. This little bottle lasted about three months. 

12. Dove glowing mango butter & almond butter nourishing body wash: This smells fantastic and is a great moisturizing body wash that did a great job doubling as a shaving cream. It left my skin feeling very soft and hydrated. 

13. Bumble and bumble Liquid Wax + Finish Spray: So frankly I used this product as more of a hairspray to help smooth flyaways and frizz. I didn't love it for that purpose. As you can imagine from the name, this has a waxy finish to it and isn't a product I would suggest for finer hair types unless you're going for that really slicked back/wet hair or slicked back ponytail/bun look. 

14. Tree Hut Shea Moisturizing Body Lotion in Passion Fruit & Guava: This was a great hydrating lotion to use on my legs post-shave. It had my legs feeling really smooth and silky. Unfortunately, as with many other moisturizers, it didn't really do much for the soles of my feet. 

15. Darphin Paris Hydraskin Cooling Hydrating Gel Mask: As its name implies this mask gave my skin a really nice burst of hydration. It left my skin feeling very soft, supple, and silky.  

16. Colourpop Just A Tint Crayon in The Strand : You know I LOVE these so much. They're very silky and moisturizing while also giving the lips a nice hint of color. This one is a soft neutral rose. 

17. Anastasia Beverly Hills False Lashes in Gorgina: These are a really pretty voluminous fluttery lash. I got loads of compliments when I wore these. 

18. Anastasia Beverly Hills False Lashes in Eleganza: These are a really nice wispy lash and I really loved how easy they were to apply.

19. Moroccanoil Treatment: This is a hydrating, smoothing treatment for the hair and I really appreciate how it adds hydration and gives me shine without weighing down my hair and making it oily. 

20. Fourth Ray Beauty A-HA Moment exfoliating enzyme Mask:  This is a really wonderful, creamy, exfoliating mask that leaves my skin feeling very soft and smooth. It really helped draw out any breakouts and impurities to the surface without drying out my skin and also gave my skin a nice radiance.

21. Scentsy Pretty in Plaid Scentsy Bar: This just smells so good especially with the holiday season pretty much upon us. I just absolutely love its Christmas tree, pine scent.

22.  L.A. Girl eyeliner pencil in Mahogany: Unfortunately this pencil is just super dry and tugs on the eyes painfully. 

23. m-61 Perfect Cleanse: I was really hoping to like this but unfortunately I am very unimpressed with its Cetaphil-like texture. Unfortunately cleansers like that just end up leaving a film on my skin and clogging my pores. Hence I prefer a softer foaming cleanser. 

24. Caudalie Vinoperfect Essence: This essence did a really good job of leaving my skin feeling soft and smooth. It did have a bit of a funky scent though. 

25. Shiseido White Lucent Luminizing Infuser Essence Lotion: This is a rather hydrating essence that feels refreshing when applied. I don't find that it "whitened" my skin in any way but rather it provided me with a nice radiance. 

26. Laura Mercier Hydrating Eye Cream: I really like this eye cream. It gives a nice hydration to the under-eye area and provides a nice instant brightness/radiance due to the pearl pigment in it.

Disclaimer: I purchased all of the above with the exception of the Alterna. Sol Janeiro, Molton Brown, dermalogica, Bumble and bumble, Darphin, Moroccanoil, m-61, Caudalie, Shiseido, Laura Mercier,  and Skinceuticals  products. The Scentsy and L.A. Girl products were given to me as gifts.

Monday, December 21, 2020

Love It Or Leave It; Review 2.0: ColourPop Ooh La La! Pressed Powder Palette

 Hello folksickles. As a makeup junkie and blogger you may have realized that I review a LOAD of eyeshadow palettes and I like to think of myself as being largely an eyeshadow junkie. In order to de-clutter a bit  I've decided to pick out a palette or series of eyeshadows for the month and have that be my monthly selection for those instances where I'm not doing a tutorial for the blog. Every month I'll do a recap on the eyeshadows - how I feel about them and whether I'll be keeping them or giving them away (and why :P) as well as if I think it's worth its price tag. Yes there's two a month now! I figured maybe I could get through more this way :D

For a tutorial I did with this palette you can take a look here. These are the looks I created this month:
I think this palette is really fun and beautiful - because I don't really use pinks much I don't have very many of them in my collection and I'm excited to finally be adding something genuinely unique to it. I really enjoyed using this palette, and honestly, I was shocked because I was really mentally prepared to pass on it. I don't think I loved it quite as much when I first received it but now that I've been using it regularly I LOVE it. I mean look at what a variety of looks I was able to achieve with it! It has a rather Mattel, Barbie type feel to it due to the cool-toned pinks. It's made even more special because my best friend picked this out for me. He was right to choose this y'all. The shadow quality here is fantastic - beautiful pigmentation, the colors blend easily with one another, the apply beautifully both wet and dry (well, I've only used the shimmery colors wet, but they go on beautifully that way).

Disclaimer: I paid for this myself.