Fun fact- my mom is a competitive ballroom dancer, which means she has a big makeup collection for her performances! She usually wears drugstore makeup and doesn’t like to splurge on makeup products, but she was looking for a very high grade and long lasting full coverage foundation for her performances.
This was already 5+ years ago, but the lady at Sephora recommended a Smashbox foundation, which was my first introduction to Smashbox. Being the curious teenager I was, I decided to try it as well. Unfortunately, we both did not like the foundation at all! It was very thick, oily, and uncomfortable. I hope they have since improved their formula!
Since then, I tried a sample of one of the Smashbox primers (forgot which it was) and it made me break out. As you can see, my experience with Smashbox hasn’t been positive so I haven’t really tried any of their other products for a long time, until now! Hopefully, their lip products would be better for me than their face products???
I bought this lipstick ‘somewhat’ impulsively. I say ‘somewhat’ because I was looking for a dark, deep burgundy lipstick for awhile now although I didn’t know which brand I wanted. I went to Sephora one weekend and after looking around for awhile with no luck, I asked one of the girls there if they carried a lipstick similar to the Too Faced melted in berry red.
(I would have just bought the Too Faced liquid lipstick, but had a bad experience and ended up returning it. I know, I am probably one of the only people who don’t like the melted lipstick line! I wish it turned out for me because their shades are gorgeous.)
The girl suggested the Smashbox Be Legendary line in the shade witchy. I didn’t want to keep looking anymore, and when she swatched it for me, it was the definitely the perfect vampy shade I was looking for!
The Smashbox Be Legendary line is available in both matte and creamy shades. As you can see from the swatch, witchy is part of the cream line. I honestly didn’t have a preference for matte or creamy, I just really wanted a dark and vampy shade!
As advertised, this lipstick is pretty creamy, smooth and moisturizing. It is also nicely pigmented. My favourite part of this lipstick is how smooth and non-drying it was.
However, I did find that the lipstick did apply unevenly. You can slightly see on the swatch that the shade is a bit uneven. You can’t really see the unevenness in real life or in pictures though, unless you look really carefully. I also found that there were small ‘specks’ of colour when applying.
I fixed this by dabbing the specks off with a napkin or by using more product to cover it up.
Overall, I think this lipstick is alright. I don’t think I would repurchase this as there are cheaper options out there, but I don’t hate it either. I really love the shade and how creamy it is though!
Meh…
Thanks for reading!
Carmen
The next time this happens will be in 4 years, I wonder where Curiously Carmen will be in 2020!
What sets this line apart from other products is that you are supposed to use the conditioner first, and then shampoo! Following the proper steps will lead to what TRESemmé describes as ‘bouncy, touchable hair’.
Step 1) TRESemmé Beauty-Full Volume Pre-Wash Conditioner: As mentioned above, you are supposed to condition your hair first. I liked that this came in a pump bottle, as it was easy to dispense the product. It has a clear but slightly thick consistency to it.
Step 2) TRESemmé Beauty-Full Volume Shampoo: Following is the shampoo! I wished that the shampoo came with a pump as well, but no big deal. I squirted some product into my hand first, about the size of a Canadian quarter. Then, I lathered it into my hair.
Step 3) TRESemmé Beauty-Full Volume Hair Maximizer: After getting out of the shower, apply the maximizer to damp hair, then blow dry. I normally don’t put product in my hair after I wash it, but this would be good on special occasions where I want my hair to look a bit nicer!
There are three types of foundation under Covergirl’s clean line. I don’t recall what the other two are, but this one is meant specifically for sensitive skin. Although I don’t have sensitive skin, I bought this one because it was the only one out of the three that was on sale.
I got the shade ‘soft honey’, a lucky guess because it matched my face nicely!
I found that the foundation was easy to blend, and came without a scent. It was also very buildable, which is something I always look for in foundation. Being buildable allows you to be flexible with the amount of coverage you want.
Overall, I really liked this foundation, especially since I found it on sale for only $5! That is a steal and if I saw it on sale again for that price, I would buy it in a heart beat.
Out of the designs that I was allowed to chose from, I decided to go with the Cora series, with the beautiful 
One thing that is really great about Jord watches is that most of them do not require the use of batteries. This watch is a self winding watch, meaning that the movement of the watch depends on the wearer’s wrist movement.
Overall, I enjoyed the Jord watch, but it was my first time having an automatic watch. Since I would only wear it for a few hours at a time, it became tedious to have to reset the time each time I wanted to wear it. Clearly, I am not #fancy enough but at least I learned something new from this watch!
I received the travel sized cleanser, which was perfect because it takes me such a long time to finish using products. I don’t know how beauty gurus can produce monthly empty videos/posts because I always struggle with finishing products within a month.
Since my skin has been so dry lately, I decided to try this cleanser rather than my normal one that I use to remove foundation. This foundation had a nice, creamy, and somewhat thick texture to it. It didn’t really have a smell, and I could definitely tell that it was more on the gentle side. It reminded me of my Olay witch hazel facial cleanser.
Overall, I think that the First Aid Beauty cleanser really lives up to the hype. It does a great job in refreshing your skin, as well as removing heavy duty makeup. It is also very gentle and suitable for sensitive skin!