face Archives - Page 15 of 19

Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash

January 11, 2015

Harroooo everyone! =)

About a month ago, I told you all about my Black Friday Sephora mini haul. One of the items I bought during the sale, which I briefly mentioned in that post, was the Bliss fabulous foaming face wash, a 2 in 1 cleanser and exfoliator.

It was one of those items where I wasn’t planning on buying it, but I saw that it was on sale for 50% off and had great reviews. I took too long deciding whether or not to buy it, and when I went to checkout, I found it was sold out along with all the other products I wanted =(

But when I went to Sephora in person the following day, I was happy to find that they had plenty in store, for the same sale price! I got it for $12 canadian, usually it is $24.

Because Sephora is always better at marketing a product than I am, here is what they say- “Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash harnesses the power of botanical soothing technology and super soft exfoliating beads to deliver a simply sensational skincare solution. This bestselling, oil-free purifier instantly dissolves excess oil and makeup and lifts away dead cells, leaving skin clean, nourished, and fresh.”

Maybe because I read so many great reviews on this product, I was expecting more than it delivered. Some people claimed that this product instantly melted away their entire face makeup, so I was really excited to try it because having difficulty removing makeup when you just want to go sleep is a pain!

I tried this a few times when I had full coverage makeup on, it did not remove all my makeup easily. It also did not come off instantly, I had to scrub. It also said that it is an exfoliator, but I see this as a cleanser because it doesn’t do a great job in exfoliating.

I think this face wash would be good on a daily basis, but if you are wearing full coverage, I would recommend something else. My Lush Herbalism cleanser does an amazing job at taking off makeup, clearing breakouts, making my skin tone even, etc… it is truly a magical product. Actually, even my $3 St. Ives Apricot Scrub does a better job at exfoliating and taking off my makeup LOL!

I really liked the light scent it had, it was very refreshing. The gel formula also had a bit of a cooling sensation. This did not dry out my face at all, and felt really moisturized after usage.

For $24 regular price, I don’t think I would buy it again because it’s not worth the price to me. There are products out there that are definitely better at removing makeup, and for a better price as well. However, I am glad that I tried it and I’ll probably finish the bottle eventually because it’s not a bad product. I just had higher hopes for it! =)

What are your favourite face washes? Let me know in the comments down below!

-Carmen

Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon

January 6, 2015

Hi everyone!

After buying Sephora’s Draw the Line 2014 set and using most of the products for two months now, I decided it was finally time to talk about them! One of the products included in this year’s set was the Marc Jacob’s Highliner gel eye crayon, which retails for $30 Canadian (full sized product) at Sephora. The set only included the sample size, which was half the size of the full but I still thought it was a good deal with the set!

Funny story, I wasn’t actually planning on using this until I had finished one of the other pencil liners in the set. Of course, I accidentally misplaced that one somewhere and the rest of the pencil liners I had weren’t that great, so I decided on opening this one.

It seems like gel liners are all the rage right now, and for great reason too! I remember the first time I tried gel liner, it was one of the gel pots from MAC back in high school. Ever since then, I’ve loved gel liners for how smooth it glides on your eyelid and the intensity of the colour. Gel liners are more pigmented due to the way that it is formulated.

Combining the gel and crayon eyeliner into one, the Marc Jacobs highliner was born!

I can’t think of a single negative thing about this product except for the cost, maybe. At first use, I loved how smooth and easy it was to apply, and how pigmented and intense the colour was. It also does not smudge the whole day and night, and is waterproof.

In fact, this eyeliner is all that I’ve been using lately since it seems I’m always in a rush in the mornings now. It takes me 15 seconds to quickly tight line my eyes, and what results is an intense and striking black that lasts all day! Any makeup product that is easy and fast to apply, and long lasting, is good to me.

One thing I don’t like about pencil products is having to look for my sharpener. This product comes with a built in sharpener so you don’t have to worry about it becoming dull. It also comes with a twist up bottom!

I’ve also been looking for a replacement gold liner since my favourite gold shade of the Sephora + Pantone has been discontinued (how sad), I might give the champagne shade a try next time I’m in Sephora. But at $30 a pop, it does not come cheap =( However, I’ve come to realize that I much prefer high quality eyeliners that are worth the investment, than a cheap one which smudges or does not last the whole day- the annoyance and retouching up is not worth it. Which means I need to carefully manage my money (aka no more useless sugary drinks or random snacks)!

What are your thoughts on gel liner? Have you tried the Marc Jacobs highliner before and what did you think of it?

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen

Montagne Jeunesse Blemish Mud Mask (Part 2/3)

January 1, 2015

Hi everyone, Happy New Year! I hope you all had a blast celebrating New Years Eve last night!

A few days ago, I had written about how Obsessed Canada had sent me a few samples of the Montagne Jeunesse facial product that they carry online. If you didn’t read that post, Obsessed Canada and Nail Polish Canada are sister companies that cater to the Canadian beauty addict!

They offer a $3 flat rate shipping, and also free shipping over $25 Canadian. Both are also Canadian owned and operated, which means that shipping times will be a lot faster. My interaction with Obsessed Canada has also been positive- they have been very responsive and informative!

I had reviewed the mud pac (far right), today, I will be talking about the blemish mud pack! The blemish mud pac is composed of a blend of aloe vera, willow, rosemary, and witch hazel. All of these ingredients are amazing at combating and targeting acne. The most toughest acne battling warrior products out there are composed of those ingredients! I was quite surprised that tea tree oil was not listed though.
When I first opened the package, I noticed that there was an unpleasant earthy smell to this. The bad part is that it doesn’t smell great, but the good part is that you know that this product contains natural ingredients. Let’s face it, natural ingredients normally do not smell good compared to fragrances or perfumes made in laboratories =P I have a Lush product that doesn’t smell great either, but it does an amazing job at clearing your skin =).

Compared to the mud pac, I found this mask to dry extremely fast. I was only done covering half my face when I noticed it started drying, to the point where it hardened and I couldn’t move my face. After I was done applying, the mask was starting to really tighten up because it was dry. Compared to other face masks I used, this one felt the toughest on my skin and dried the fastest.

After 15 minutes, I rinsed it off but it took a good, thorough wash. I took this time to carefully wash away the mask and moved my fingers in circles around problem areas. When everything was finally off, my skin felt really refreshed and it was nice to be able to move my face again! My skin also felt softer. I noticed that it seemed a bit dry though.

Comparing this mask to the mud pac, I prefer the mud pac one more because I found that this one dried out my skin and hardened really fast. I also felt that the mud pac was more moisturizing and gentle on my skin. Is it a good thing to have a mask that dries really fast and gets really hard?

Have you tried this mask before? If yes, what did you think of it?

Here is the full catalogue of Montagne Jeunesse products that Obsessed Canada offers! I will be trying the honey mask soon so keep your eyes posted on that one =)

-Carmen

Press product featured, all opinions are my own.

Montagne Jeunesse Mud Pac Mask (Part 1/3)

December 29, 2014

For all my Canadian readers, I am very excited to introduce Nail Polish Canada and Obsessed Canada to you all! As Canadians, we know how much harder it is to get beauty products we want due to shipping restrictions, or high shipping fees.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve gotten so excited over a product, only to find out that they don’t ship to Canada (AHEM Urban Decay Black Friday sale… that was my biggest US shipping heartbreak to date) or the shipping fees cost more than the actual product.

With sister companies Nail Polish Canada and Obsessed Canada, they offer free Canadian shipping on orders over only $25 or a $3 flat rate, which are both pretty great deals. Nail Polish Canada has brands such as China Glaze, Deborahh Lippmann, Essie, OPI, Sally Hansen, and much more! They have offices located in both Toronto and Vancouver so you can expect fast shipping as well, regardless if you’re on the East or West coast!

When Obsessed Canada asked me to write some reviews of the Montagne Jeunesse products they carried, I gladly took their offer up! I’ve never heard of Montagne Jeunesse before, so after some brief research, I found out that they are an UK based company.

Out of all the Montagne Jeunesse products that Obsessed Canada carried, I picked the top three I wanted to try: Manuka Honey, Blemish Mud, and Mud Pac based on their product descriptions. Unfortunately, I have been quite busy so I haven’t been able to try all of them yet. This post will be on the mud pac only!

The blemish mud pac is best used weekly for deep cleansing. It is suitable for acne prone skin and has a blend of Dead Sea mud, lavender, and seaweed.

I was quite surprised at how much product there was in the package (20 grams), considering that it is a one time use product. In fact, there was so much leftover that I talked my boyfriend into doing the mask with me because I didn’t want to waste the product. Well, I could have sealed it up I guess, but I preferred to use all of it right away, while it was still freshly opened. Even after applying it on his face, we still a tad bit left over so we applied a tiny bit more on our faces and washed away the leftover.

Texture and consistency- taken from ACosmeticAffair.Blogpost.Com — Texture and consistency- taken from ACosmeticAffair.Blogspot.Com

The mask was very cooling, and the texture of the mask made it very easy to work with. The mask was very smooth and thick, and had a minty green colour to it as well as slight mint scent.

After leaving the mask on for 15 minutes, we removed our masks with warm water and dried with a towel. Immediately, I noticed that both of our skin were really soft and looked really refreshed. It worked really well for me and I felt that it did a great job with deep cleaning!

Stay tuned for part two of Montagne Jeunesse masks! In the meantime, check out Obsessed Canada and Nail Polish Canada, or read some of my other posts! You can also buy this at Obsessed Canada for $2 Canadian, with free shipping over $25!

-Carmen

Press product featured, all opinions are my own.

Black Friday Sephora Mini Haul!

December 1, 2014

It’s funny that I’m doing this post, because I wasn’t planning or even wanting to go Black Friday/Black Friday weekend shopping. My friend and I had planned a girls day out, and only on Thursday did we realize that we accidentally planned it on Black Friday weekend. Ahhh! I really did not want to step inside a mall during Black Friday weekend, dealing with crowds and swarms of people fighting each other to get the cheapest prices. Anyways, since we had been planning our shopping trip for a few weeks, we didn’t want to reschedule so decided to just suck it up, and pray for the best. If it got cray cray, we figured we would just leave and find something else to do LOL.
I am happy to say though, that it didn’t turn out as crazy as we thought it would be. We went shopping on Saturday instead of the actual Black Friday, which probably really helped. Most of the stuff I bought was at Sephora (no surprise there hah), so I’ll just be focusing on what I bought there. Please keep in mind that I didn’t try any of these products fully yet, I may write a detailed review on some of these products after I’ve used them for longer.

Walking into Sephora, the first thing that caught my eyes at on the Black Friday exclusive shelf was the Kat Von D Lip Love Set. Admittedly, I tried to buy this from the safety of my laptop on Friday but just as I was about to check out my purchases, all of the items I wanted were sold out! So you can imagine my happiness when I found this in store, I grabbed one right away! This set is a Sephora exclusive and limited edition. I’ve always wanted to try Kat Von D lip products because I absolutely love their tattoo liner. It came in a lip gloss and lip stick duo, with pre-selected shades. Right after we left Sephora, I tried on the lip gloss. My first impression was that it was very pigmented, and the shade was a lot brighter and lighter than it looked in the tube. For the first few seconds, my friend and I were absolutely horrified at how bright it was but after applying it all over my lips, it didn’t look as bad and I actually ended up really liking the colour on my skin LOL. It stayed on for a few hours until I took it off at dinner. At $12CA for both, the lip love set was an amazing deal and I’m glad I was able to pick one up.

Just like the KVD lip love set, I was also hoping to buy this online on Friday, but it was sold out by the time I went to the online check out. Lesson learned, do your online shopping quick during huge sales. I’ve been looking for a new face wash, and read pretty good reviews on this. This was the Bliss fabulous foaming face wash, a 2-in-1 cleanser & exfoliator. From first glance, the formula looked very thick and gel-like. A lot of reviews that I read said that this does an amazing job of removing face make up immediately, and that was exactly what I was looking for. An amazing cleanser that will remove foundation right away, because let’s face it- after a long night out, there is nothing better than changing into cozy pajamas and letting your skin breathe and be makeup free. I know that when you sleep with makeup on, or get makeup trapped in your pillow cases (so gross), it is really bad for your skin so I don’t take any chances when I’m already susceptible to breaking out. Which is why I also don’t wear foundation on a daily basis. This was half price for their Black Friday sale, I got it for $12CA!

As I was about to leave the Black Friday shelf, the Buxom Power Players set caught my eye. Darnit, haha! Considering that it came with a full sized Buxom sculpted lash mascara, which retailed for $24 Canadian, AND a waterproof eyeliner, for $12 Canadian, I knew that it was a sale opportunity that I could simply not pass up. My friend gave me a gel pot liner from Buxom last year, which I really liked. I’m hoping that I’ll like these two products as well.

Time just disappears when I’m in Sephora, and before us girls knew it, almost one hour had passed by… we decided to finally go and pay for our things, but we had another tempting obstacle to overcome… the last minute product shelves they have while you’re waiting in line to pay. I was really wanting a darker lip colour ever since my possibly haunted experience with the Too Faced melted lip stick, and the colour in the Make Up Forever Redefining Red caught my eye. The duo also came with a colourless lip liner, known as their lip line perfector and claimed to prevent lipstick from smudging. And at $17 for two MUFE products, I thought it was a good deal.

As a bonus, I also received my birthday gift from Sephora! It was also MUFE, but with their mascara and other lipstick instead. I forgot to pick my gift up last year, which I’m still mad at myself for, so I’m glad that the cashier was able to give it to me even though my birthday isn’t for awhile. Since I’m a late December baby, did anyone pick this up already? How did you like it?

I am quite happy that I bought all these products on sale. And before you judge, let me just say this. If there wasn’t a sale, I probably wouldn’t have bought anything. Most the time I go into Sephora, I browse and end up walking out without anything. It may not look like it because my blog focuses on a lot of purchased beauty products, but I only buy products that are on sale and know are a good value for what you receive. You only see half the picture, and don’t know what else goes on which is completely okay because I like to keep some things personal. I usually don’t buy this much in one visit, but I wanted to take advantage of their sale because deals this great don’t come around often. I don’t want you guys to think that I have a habit of consistently blowing money for no apparent reason, because I am quite the opposite. I think carefully about my choices before I buy and am conscious of how much I spend (which is one of the reasons why I spend so long in Sephora, debating if I should actually get the products or not haha!). I know, and can distinguish when I can or should spend money, versus times that I shouldn’t. Okay that’s all, thanks for reading that blurb 🙂

-Carmen