Curiously Carmen

KORRES Greek Yogurt Primer / Moisturizer

Greek yogurt has always been something I enjoyed eating. Compared to ice cream, it was a guilt free snack and I used to love drizzling honey and dark chocolate chips on it. But now that I can’t have dairy, I am quite sad to have parted ways with Greek yogurt.

At the Spring 2017 ACI Beauty event, we were introduced to the new Korres Greek yogurt primer/moisturizer. We were told that in Greece, a popular treatment for sunburns was Greek yogurt due to the proteins and cooling effect it has. I’m not surprised that Korres has taken this knowledge and created a primer/moisturizer with it!

I was quite excited to try this as I have really loved the two other Korres skincare products – the wild rose oil and Arcadia line!

What it says (taken from press release):
Greek Yoghurt Smoothie Priming Moisturizer is a weightless, multi-action priming moisturizer packed with probiotics, proteins, and minerals to deeply nourish and smooth skin, while also prepping it for flawless makeup application and all-day wear. Formulated with three types of hydrating hyaluronic acid and powerful skin-saving antioxidants and extracts, the smoothie gives skin inner strength for healthy look on the surface.

The product feels very sturdy but not heavy. It would be great to bring for travelling as it’s 30 ml and could take a bit of wear and tear tumbling about your makeup/luggage bag. As well, it doubles up as both a primer and moisturizer so you can pack lighter!

Application: The product is more on the light side and has a milky texture. It is very easy to spread onto your face and does not leave a sticky residue. There is also a slight scent but I can’t pinpoint what it smells like exactly!

Wear: Since this is also a primer and contains hyaluronic acid, this left my face feeling very smooth and soft! The scent also lingers and the boyfriend asked if I had put on perfume one night. My skin has been really sensitive this month and I normally don’t wear foundation, so I’ve just been using this as a moisturizer.

But, I could tell that this would work very well as a primer too. It gives your skin a hydrated and smooth base to work with. It also absorbs really quickly.

Korres products have worked tremendously well with my skin, and the Greek yogurt primer/moisturizer is no different!

  • Leaves skin feeling soft, smooth and hydrated
  • Has a bit of a cooling effect, I love applying this after my shower

  • Pricey at $55 CAD

Yay!

 

 

ACI Beauty Preview Spring 2017 (Part 2/2)

Hi! If you have just stumbled upon this post and not sure what is going on, here is part 1 of the Spring 2017 ACI Beauty Preview event that I attended last week. Half of the post was me gushing about cute cat themed products from Paul & Joe. I would absolutely lose it if they came out with bunny products in the future (hint hint??? hehe).

In part 1, I talked about Stila, Paul & Joe, CLEAN, and St. Tropez. This post, I will feature Ardell, Bliss, and Korres.

False lashes are all the rage right now, and I wish I didn’t have to wear glasses so I could wear them more. Ardell is a staple in the falsies game, and it is no surprise that the releases this season look great! I love how they are so affordable too.

The two falsies on the right feature multiple layers to give your lashes more of a voluminous appearance. Gone are the days where you have to glue together two pairs of falsies!

There was only one Bliss product featured that day, which was their rubber mask, the mask-a-peel. I was first introduced to this at the previous ACI Beauty event, and was very intrigued. It comes in a powder form, and when mixed with water, it dries on your face into a rubber texture.

At $15 for one use (once mixed with water, the mask will dry and turn into rubber even if not applied on your skin), it doesn’t come cheap so I’m curious to see if this is worth the price.

The last brand we were shown was Korres! Korres has easily fallen into one of my favourite skincare brands. Their products work very well with my skin!

That day, we focused on their Greek yogurt line. After having to cut out ALL traces of dairy due to stomach problems, I’m glad that I have a use for Greek yogurt again, if that makes any sense? Haha! I used to love eating greek yogurt and miss it. =(

Anyways, we were told that in Greece, a popular way to soothe sunburns was to slather your body with greek yogurt. I could definitely see why, as it would probably feel very cooling and yogurt is rich with many benefits. So, Korres decided to incorporate Greek yogurt into their products and created a face wash, and primer/moisturizer.

I was given a sample of the Korres Greek yogurt primer/moisturizer. We were told in the morning to use it as a primer and at night, to put use it as a cream. I just use it as a moisturizer since I don’t wear face products on a daily basis, and I have been really loving it so far. But I could see it being a good primer since it makes your skin very soft and supple.

Keep an eye out for reviews of some of the products mentioned in these two posts!

 

ACI Beauty Preview Spring 2017 (Part 1/2)

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Spring 2017 ACI Beauty Preview. I always look forward to going to this event and learning about the new launches, and then sharing it here! Since I hate having long & wordy posts and try to avoid it as much as possible, I decided to split this event into two parts.
We started off with Stila. Take a guess what the product above is. It looks like lip gloss or some sort of lip product, right? That’s what I thought at least. But, it is actually part of their new mermaid inspired line, Magnificent Metals, and they are actually eyeshadows!

I wish I took a picture of the swatch, but sadly I only put it on my Instastory and it’s gone by now. =( The shades were AMAZING. It had some intergalactic, out of this world vibes but with a hint of sparkle and girliness. This is definitely something for the bold and brave, as you will definitely be getting some (good) attention when wearing this!
The next brand we were brought to was Paul & Joe. Paul & Joe are always super creative and detailed in their packaging, so I’m always excited to see what they come up with next. Just when I thought their cat lipsticks from previous seasons were cool, they did it again with their cat shaped lipsticks!

The pinkish-red lipstick in the middle goes on pretty sheer, while the grey ones go on to match your lip colour. I find that Japanese products (Paul & Joe is made in Japan), they are all about the sheer and subtle which Paul & Joe does perfectly, with a huge dosage of cute!
Another picture of the cat lipstick because it is just too cute.
Continuing along the cat trend, the brushes in the back are actually cat paws! How cute! They were so incredible soft as well. I believe the box contains a blush, but I was too distracted by the soft and fluffy cat paw to be 100% sure.
Paul & Joe usually house their products in paper boxes, that have very cute and detailed designs. These are the new blush and bronzer releases.
Perhaps one of the only Paul and Joe products that weren’t cat themed? I was given a sample of one of their nail polishes here and will be writing a review for that this week as well!

You’re probably tired of me gushing over how cute and girly Paul & Joe’s products are, so we will move on to CLEAN. CLEAN is a perfume brand that I haven’t seen around much apart from in the blogosphere, but they do deserve more attention and love.

As their name suggests, CLEAN products smell very fresh and well, clean. One of my favourites from them is a perfume that smells like fresh laundry.

This season, they focused on two summer fragrances, Ultimate Beach Day and Lovegrass. At first, I was a bit reluctant of how the Ultimate Beach Day could smell like a day on the beach, but damn, it really did smell like a day on the beach. It smelled exactly like summer and sunshine, which I am not sure how they perfected it but they did.

The second one was Lovegrass that I didn’t like as much as the Ultimate Beach Day. To me, it had more of a heavier scent and I prefer lighter scents on myself. I think it would be suitable for both females and males.
I’ve never been one to try self tanners or even go to the tanning salon, and have never done both. Does that make me a bad beauty blogger? =P

The main reason why I’ve never tried self tanners is because they look so intimidating and daunting! I always hear horror stories of people not doing it correctly and ending up looking like an orange or waaayyy too dark.

But, I think I do want to try using a self tanner one of these days. I would probably start with the St. Tropez gradual tan, on the left. That way, I can slowly adjust to it instead of somehow messing it up.

The blue bottle in the middle is the same day tan that you spray all over your body. What’s new about it is that it has a 360 degree nozzle so it’s easier to reach your back! The squeeze tube beside it is essentially a body highlighter, you rub this over the parts of your body that you want to have a nice tan sparkle.

This post is getting quite long so I think I will end it here! Part two will be shorter and feature Ardell, Korres, and Bliss.

Lafe’s Natural Deodorant Stick

Deodorant is something that I’ve used for many years now, and something that just feels natural to me. Recently, I went deodorant-less for almost a week. That was because I ran out of my regular Dove deodorant, and I wanted to try being deodorant free to see if my body could uh, handle it I guess? LOL.

Lafes deodorant does not contain aluminum, prophlene, and glycol. I’m not sure why the latter two are considered “bad” for you, but there were claims that aluminum causes breast cancer and Alzhemier’s.

For the record, this has not been proven and many scientific experts say it is a myth. But that is not here or there so today we will just be focusing on the review, and not if deodorant/antiperspirant is bad for you.
My regular deodorant is more white, while the Lafes stick is more clear. It has a nice scent to it, and I would describe it as pretty feminine and fresh!

Application: The application is the only thing I don’t like. When you first apply it, it feels wet.

I find that if this deodorant touches bare skin to skin, aka wearing a tank top or naked, it will feel sticky. But if you are wearing a long sleeve like a sweater, cardigan, you won’t feel the stickness since the fabric is under your armpit.

Wear: Perhaps the most important part right, does it keep you from smelling good and odourless? Yes, yes it does! If I put this on in the morning, it does last me the whole day and night. But I guess it depends on the amount you sweat and if you have strong body odour.

Thankfully, I don’t have much body odour and I could get away from wearing any type of deodorant, as long as I shower every day (Which I do!).

  • Aluminum free and organic, for those who are “health conscious” or don’t like chemicals in their products
  • Cruelty free =^__^=
  • Smells good and fresh
  • Lasts whole day & night (haven’t tested this during a work out though)

  • Has a slightly ticky & tacky residue when skin to skin, unless you wear a sweater/cardigan/etc so that there is fabric separating your armpit (if that makes any sense?) so perhaps wouldn’t be good as a summertime/hot weather deodorant

Yay!

Press product provided. Opinions are own.

Maybelline Lash Sensation

Wow… so the last time I sat down and wrote an actual mascara review was three years ago. THREE YEARS AGO!

I can’t say I’m TOO surprised though… because mascara and I have never gotten along. I’ve tried many different mascaras over the years, but mascaras just don’t seem to work well with my lashes. They either clump, don’t lengthen well, or the curl doesn’t hold. In addition, I wear glasses everyday so it’s even harder to see mascara. At this point, I’ve just given up unless I’m wearing eyeshadow because the shadow falls onto my lashes and makes them look short.

Luckily, my lashes are decent without mascara (but definitely wouldn’t consider them super nice either) and I have nice bottom lashes already so that’s something right?

It takes a lot for a mascara to wow me, and after three years, I’m back with another mascara review!
My mom had actually bought this mascara and I was just using it once in awhile, because it was conveniently there. It is housed in a pink tube, which makes it easy to stand out.

What it says (Taken from Ulta):

Lash Sensational Mascara from Maybelline is the first patented fanning brush with 10 layers of bristles to reveal a full flourish of lashes. Liquid Ink formula coats from all sides for a sensational full fan effect.

Again, I’ve seen sooo many ads for mascaras with “revolutionary” brushes that claim to do this and that, but never end up working with my lashes. So, I’ve turned a blind eye to whenever I hear or see those claims on TV because it never works for me… and plus, they’re wearing false lashes so you can’t even see the full effect of the mascara?!
Application: I’m not sure if this brush is actually “revolutionary” but DAMN, does it work well with my lashes. And that is RARE! This mascara goes on evenly, and does not clump my eyelashes at all. It separates and lengthens each lash in a very natural way.

Wear: Here is where I was very impressed, and knew that this mascara deserved a recommendation. After a long night of working at my company’s gala event, I came home tired, and ready to remove my makeup. I had just put this on quickly after curling my lashes because I wore eyeshadow that night. I had to do a double-take when I saw the mascara in place as if I just applied it. My lashes were still nice and curled, and there was no clumping to be seen! This RARELY happens!

Here is a picture of before and after the mascara! My lashes definitely look longer, but still very natural and darker.

  • One of the very few mascaras that do not clump and actually hold up the whole day on me
  • Affordable drugstore prices
  • Simply AMAZING!!!! I LOVE IT.

  • Nothing!

A million times YAY!