Tony Moly Caviar Skin Care

I got samples of just about a complete skin care regime.

Toner, serum, eye cream and moisturizer.

So I thought I'd give some initial thoughts...

The packaging both in the mini’s and the full size products is less than inspiring. 

That’s ok though, as much as I love beautiful things, It’s more important to me that my skin care works.

Toner - Thick almost gel like. A slightly unpleasant smell, chemical and old lady-ish, but not overwhelming.  No toned feeling.

Essence/ Serum- thick, really thick and white. Doesn’t absorb well, doesn’t make the skin feel softer, same smell. My skin actually started to burn and itch just slightly after using this.

Eye cream, thick, absorbs better. But very thick. 10 minutes late I can still feel it on

Moisturizer - same unpleasant smell, which, with all four products on I can still smell. It’s not thick, but I can still feel it on my skin. I actually applied a lot less than I do with other products, but my skin feels almost greasy.

Basically, The samples were big enough I got nearly 3 days use out of the whole line, and more from the toner and serum. But... They suck. I am definitely NOT going to buy the line, or anything from it...

Rimmel Glam eyes

Price: ~7.25

One might wonder why I bought the Rimmel Glam eyes mascara when I already am in love with the CG lash blast. It might seem like a waste of money.

… Well, there was a cute little crown on the mascara, and it came with a free eyeliner….

Damn gimmicks, they get me every time,

Anyway…

The Rimmel glam eyes does come in adorable tube. Its black with a matte black lattice and a shiny pink crown.

Inside the brush is silicone and curved.

The little spokes though are very short…. Especially compared to other Mascara’s. I have no idea why this is…

The result though, is barely done eyelashes.  It does darken them, and thicken them a little. But not much. Not much at all.

The composition of the mascara is pretty good though. it’s a good dark color (sometimes black just isn’t very black), it doesn’t clump, and it only smudges minimally. It’s not waterproof, so crying/ rain does make it run some, but not terribly, and it isn’t advertised as waterproof, so really this is to be expected.

I think the issue is mostly the brush.

In the end the mascara isn’t terrible. I keep it in my car for emergencies (*laughs*). I wouldn’t buy it again.

Maybelline pulse perfection mascara 

(Vibrating)

Price: about $15 (ewww for a drugstore brand)

Ok. Ok. I was taken in by the glittery and new…

And its maybe line. I don’t know why I even buy their mascara, I hate them ALL.

This one is the worst though.

The whole gimmick is the brush vibrates, separating the lashes, supposedly making them fuller.

It doesn’t work. My cover girl BIG LASH gives me bigger fuller lashes.

I can’t even tell the difference between using the mascara with and without vibrations.

One thing that the mascara does well, is it clumps very little, even with a couple of coats.

The vibrating helps with this, but barely….

The reason I hate this Mascara though, it flakes.

It flakes like crazy.

I admit, I tend to rub my eyes. But this is ridiculous, After like an hour my boyfriend is saying I have black stuff all over my face.

And I do… It’s so bad.

Even when I don’t rub at my eyes at all, the stupid stuff still flakes.

It’s so bad it’s un-usable.

CG exact eye lights 

(black ruby) 

Price: ~6

Cover girl has never let me down when it comes to mascara, well, that it until the exact eye lights collection.

They SUCK.

The brush design is basically the same as CG’s Lashblast. So really there are no complaints there.

But the mascara itself is Shit.

It wasn’t worth the money I paid for it.

I have Hazel eyes…. Which I know can mean pretty much anything. Technically they are blue and brown, but they come across green. So my eyes look fantastic with subtle red. I have a gorgeous liner by Sheer cover that’s subtle, but makes the green POP.

So when I bought the  Eyelights in Black ruby, that’s what I was hoping for.

I didn’t expect to open it up and find a tube of red mascara.

 I didn’t expect dramatic results.

But I had hoped for something. 

For my whites to look just a bit whiter, and the green a bit greener….

No…

In fact, the color, though slightly red, tends to turn ashy on my lashes.

So they end up looking like I have white primer on my lashes.

It looks wrong.

I’ve even tried putting it over/under other mascaras.

With no success.

The Eyelights line is a complete rip.

Mini haul from adambeauty

I just wanted to taunt you with my shipment that arrived today from adam beauty!
I needed a new makeup remover desperately, and decided to add in two other little things...
Items:
Mandom cleansing lotion
Dariya hair sheets
Skin79 bb cream sampler
Reviews will follow shortly!
PS Lime green Bed sheets.. fabulous or tacky? 

Sheer Cover Mineral blush

Price= $25

Size = 1g

The Sheer cover mineral blush comes in the same boring black compact as pretty much all of their point make-up. There is a fairly large mirror in the compact. Big enough to be actually useable.
The blushes don’t come with a little mini brush or sponge, but that’s fine with me since I never use the applicators that come with make up anyways.

They come in three colors, Pinched (Pink), Plum perfect and Ginger.

Pinched is on the left, ginger is on the right.

They can be bought singly, or for a little more you can get a duo of Pinched and Ginger.

Pinched is the most wearable color, and can be worn on nearly any kin tone. The Ginger and Plum are a lot more iffy. The Ginger is orange enough that even on warmer skin tones it can look a bit odd.

The sheer cover mineral blushes aren’t exactly what I’d look for in a blush... They are very matte, and two of the 3 colors do not appeal to me. Since I have the duo half of my blush is pretty much wasted.

                                                             Mixed, Pinched, Ginger


As you can see on the swatches, when I swirl over both colors the resulting blush is too dark for me!
I occasionally use both colors, but very very lightly.

                                               This is me wearing a very light layer of Ginger.

They are medium pigmented, so one or two swipes on me results in more than enough color. 

The texture are smooth, and only a little bit of excess blush comes up each time. And even though they are only one gram in size, they are pigmented enough that they last a really really long time.

                                 This is me in Pinched. A much better color for my skin tone.

I pretty particular when it comes to blush, there are certain types and colors that I avoid like the plague.
I HATE cream blushes... I always seem to make a mess, getting too much on the brush; smearing it...
I also avoid dark colors and Matte blushes. Since the foundation I use is very Matte, I like my blush to either have a hint of shimmer or preferably to be a tint.

But as far as matter powder blushes go the sheer cover are of good quality. They last forever and they have pretty solid colors.

Sheer Cover mineral foundation

SC Mineral foundation

Size = 4g of Foundation in the regular size

Cost = $14.95

Foundation is quite possibly the least exciting of all the forms of make up in existence. If it’s doing its job right one should barely know it’s even there. A good foundation should cover problems and even skin tone without looking made up, or dry or greasy. That should be easy right? Maybe for some people it is... I however am plagued by foundation that goes on one color, and the mysteriously changes into another, by too much coverage and too little, by make up that sweats off or rubs off on my clothes. After ruining 3 nice white shirts with rub off I spent a Year refusing to wear anything white.

So if anyone out there has seen the Sheer Cover infomercials you’ll know it seems like the Perfect product. The infomercial touts customizable colors (so one can match their skin tone perfectly); easily customizable coverage and sweat/rub proof staying power. Of course none of this is revolutionary since mineral powders have been around for ages. But most brands don’t have a late night infomercial to temp insomniacs.

But even though the infomercial was tantalizing as a rule I do not buy stuff from the TV or over the phone. So it wasn’t until my employment situation changed (IE I returned from Japan and had to find something local) and all of a sudden I had bountiful access to all things Sheer Cover (and Meaningful Beauty, Youthful Essence and Proactive, but UGH!) So I started using it (I mean it’s there so Why not...)

The Colors

The mineral powder comes in 9 colors from super light to Darkish (It’s supposed to be for African-American complexions but generally is still too light)
COLORS

When you order the kits you get two foundation colors

Light= Nude + Bisque  

Medium = Buff + Latte

Tan = Almond + Golden

Dark= Mocha+ Almond

Special Colors = Frost(Super Pale) and Chocolate (Super Dark)

If you are super light (Like me!) or super dark you have to order your shades special because they aren’t available in kits. But why the Chocolate color is considered special order I don’t know since it’s really not all that dark.
The colors paired in each kit contain two different tones, one yellowed toned and the other pink.

They have intended the color mixing to be the ultimate in customization (Or they say that as an excuse to cover up the laziness of only having 7 shades). I mean, how many of us can’t find the right shade of foundation from popular brands, it’s always too dark, to yellow or too pink. It’s downright aggravating.

But the sheer cover solution isn’t much of a solution. It’s downright frustrating. You have to Mix to find you perfect shade.

Using my Mother for example, her coloring tends to pink (like me) but a whole lot darker. She fits perfectly into the light category. Bisque is just the right level of darkness, but it’s so yellow that no matter how she blends it, her makeup doesn’t match her skin tone. The nude shade, which is pink toned is darker than Bisque, and so even though it’s the right tone, on its own it’s too dark to be worn alone.

So now comes the tricky part, her ideal shade is somewhere between those two colors. But finding it... *sigh* I can’t tell you how much make up we’ve wasted trying to get it right.

The result is sometimes my Mom looks lovely and smooth, as though she woke up looking perfect. But sometimes she goes out and all of a sudden she’s too yellow or too dark or too yellow and too dark. I concede that the lighting in her bathroom isn’t the best but in all her years of using other Make up brands my mom has never gone out looking so wrong.

It may be worthwhile to practice mixing to find you Perfect shade, but it’s time consuming and finicky, so really unless you have awesome lighting and lots of time, it’s better left to the professionals.

But, my experiences with SC are a bit different from my mothers. See I’m so pale that the lightest shade is just near perfect, no mixing required.

The Review

The powder is smooth, finely milled and Matte.  The finish it creates is totally unlike the glowy finish of Bare Minerals. But if you’re tired of the too glittery, too obvious finish Bare minerals can create SC can be a good options.

SC is also a step up from a lot of the common drug store mineral powders, seeing how it doesn’t contain Talc, and has a more intense color pay off.

Application is similar to other mineral foundations- you are supposed to “swirl, upwards in circular motions”. The instructions dictate that it’s to be applied after the moisturizer has dried, - the result a dry powdery finish, totally unlike the soft dewy finish on the infomercials.
On me anyways. If you have a bit oiler skin this method might work a bit better for you.

For me, I apply the foundation when my moisturizer is just barely still damp.  This achieves a smooth dewy finish.
In fact, random strangers have stopped me to say how perfect my skin is...

Lasting Power

The infomercial touts “Sweat resistant”, showing a woman who’s been jogging for like 40 minutes but still has perfect make up... Yeah, right.

The only reason the model has perfect make up is the mineral power can be so drying it just absorbs the sweat (ew....)

However it is true that the makeup won’t slid right off your face (do many people have this problem?)
But it will rub off on everything.
As for staying power under normal conditions, eh. It’s ok. It lasts most of the day, just gradually fading.

Creasing + Pores

*sigh* It’s wonderful and awful in turns. If you aren’t careful I your application (very little on the brush and lots of swirling) it can clump in pores and fine lines.

And unlike liquid foundation where you can gently smooth out mistakes or Touch up with a Q-tip, with SC you generally have to wash it all off and start again.

On the other hand, once correctly applied it firmly resists creasing (well... unless you apply tons, then it can gradually shift...)

The Verdict

Having tried many many mineral powders (bare minerals, physician’s formula, Revlon, etc.) Sc is pretty good. It’s smooth and well pigmented. But it’s also very matte...

So I’d stay it’s a step up from drug store, but not nearly as nice as most of the brands at Sephora (mmm smash box)

Sparkling Body Powder
Silver color

I was shopping in one of the big department stores in Kobe, browsing the make floor (there’s a WHOLE floor of just make up and skin care!) when I spotted this body powder.
It looked so pretty. Oh so pretty.

But I resisted, I mean I know I practically never use body powders. I have had this fabulous one from Lush forever  and have used it maybe twice…

Inside the cute packaging is a blue powder puff with a glitter purple flower.

I find the powder puff peculiarly ugly…
I’m not entirely sure why.
You pat the puff on your skin, and it leaves it covered with silver sparkles.
It takes an awful lot of patting to get and sparkles to come out.
So the first time, I pat it gently on the back of my hand.
Nothing.
Again, nothing.
And again, until I’m basically beating myself trying to get the god damn sparkles out.


They did. Eventually.
Once they did though, I was pleasantly surprised, the sparkles were small, delicate and almost shimmery.
They are actually wearable.
I cat pat the powder puff along my collar bone, atop my arms, or down my legs, and get a very attractive effect that doesn’t scream disco ball.