We’re breaking up.
We’ve talked, tried to hash it out… at the end, I just had to say sorry, I’m just not that into you. Which sucks considering I threw away the box and any chance at a return. Perhaps I will rationalize using it in some places…. it wasn’t too bad on the arm pits… and removing hair from random places.
But my legs? Ohhhhhhh *sigh*…. I gave up. Despite my best efforts trying every tip I’ve heard of, it just could not remove short hairs. And my leg hair was growing in some kind of weird cycle with the epilator where I would epilate one day, be sourta smooth, but 2 days later the shorter hairs it hadn’t gotten had turned into stubble. It also liked to break some hairs as opposed to pulling them all out… and voila… stubble again.
I missed the silky smoothness of the razor. I missed that I was actually staying smoother longer with the damn razor.
And let’s talk about time efficiency… if it actually could deliver smoothness for up 4 weeks it would totally be worth the time commitment to epilate. Hell, it would be worth it if it lasted a week! But nope. So why spend 20 minutes or more getting only kinda smooth when I can shave in 5-10 minutes and be totally smooth.
I tried to love it, but I think I’ll stick to the ye ole razor.
I’m jacking the picture of this from the website b/c I don’t feel inclined to take a picture of a pretty straight forward product that I’m not in love with.
This is a newer product from WnW. I’ve been searching for a cheaper mineral foundation that I’m in love with (so far no luck) and decided to try this since it was like 4 bucks and some change.
This doesn’t differ extremely from the first mineral foundation that WnW put out aka the Ultimate Minerals Foundation which I’m pretty sure I reviewed here as well and I was less than impressed.
The packaging makes it so the brush is right there and it ideally makes it good for plopping in your purse. I find it kind of unnecessary especially since 99% of you probably wouldn’t want to use this brush to apply it anyways. It is small, sourta stiff, and somewhat scratchy.
The plus side of this product from the Ultimate Minerals foundation is that the color selection is a bit better.
Wet N Wild promises you a matte airbrushed finish but sadly falls short. Like way short.
The foundation applies smoothly enough. The coverage is on the sheer side, better for evening out skintone than attempting to really cover anything.
What is the major problem with this?
Several hours after applying it turns into an oil slick (and I don’t have oily skin, swear) and the product cakes up in random places and turns yellow. Uhhh…. gross.
I thought maybe I could salvage this by using it as a powder over liquid foundation. Same problem, turns liquid foundation into a yellow cakey oil slick.
For as cheap as it is, feel free to give it a try, but don’t say I didn’t warn yah.
I’ve been pretty happy with the Braun Epilator that I purchased, all things considering it is better than shaving and does last longer. I suppose though that unless I just have insanely fast hair regrowth cycles it’s going to take a while to get “most” of the hairs out at once. The ones at the surface get epilated but then the ones lurking just beneath pop up in 4-5 days and then I have to get them. Also I’ve found that the epilator just cannot get itty bitty peach fuzz hairs very well so it will leave those behind and then of course in 4-5 days I have to go back and get those. It’s nice though b/c even though those are there, for the most part, they still look hair free.
The pain factor definitely gets better with repeated usage. Except in a few areas, it now just feels like a tiny irritating scratch more than the burning snapping rubberband feeling it left in the beginning.
I’ve found a good AHA lotion is a must have and thus have invested in a $25 bottle of AmLactin lotion but at least it will last a while. I also got one of the buff puff like sponges to exfoliate my legs in the shower which keeps them super smooth, helps prevent ingrowns, and better exposes hairs for epilating.
I did make the mistake once so far of getting some skin in the epilator. Eeeps… busted blood vessels. Not so pretty.
This is one of those products I’ve been hearing people rave about for literally almost 10 years now and just never tried. Why? I have no idea. But I’ve been missing out something fierce.
Sure it’s a little pricey but I have found it to be totally worth it because:
1) It dries sooooo fast. Like smudge proof dry.
2) Adds are beautiful shine to polish or bare nails, very glassy.
3) It makes even super cheap nail polish hold up amazing well. And also makes super cheap nail polish look fabulous. I think it is the glossy shine.
4) It seems to help smooth away any streaks or imperfections from a polish job.
The downside is if you start to mess with your nails after a few days, it may begin to peel. But overall, an excellent choice for super fast, super pretty nails.
ETA: Okay so after about 4 days this peeled pretty badly! NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING AT ALL. And at the time of this review I don’t know if they have done anything about the ingredient but this is apparently an ingredient in Seche Vite top coat (or was) that has a warning about causing cancer in California. That kinda makes me nervy, although I guess if you are ingesting the stuff….. hmmm
I’m pretty bummed about the peeling issue. I read about it on MUA but didn’t think it would be quite so bad. On the plus side though, even if it doesn’t last as long as I had hoped, it still lasts longer than polish normally lasts on me (1-2 days, ha), it dries wonderfully fast, and while it lasts, it looks perfect.
So while I’ve been away, I discovered the facial moisturizer that seems to be doing it for me.
I bought this one a whim at one point and since then have went though about 3 small jars and recently purchased 2 of the 6.7oz jars.
Ingredients:
WATER/EAU
PROPYLENE GLYCOL
SD ALCOHOL 40-B
STEARIC ACID
HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL
BUTYL STEARATE
ISOPROPYL PALMITATE
TRIETHANOLAMINE
LANOLIN
CETYL ALCOHOL
LANOLIN OIL
GLYCERYL STEARATE
METHYLPARABEN
SESAMUM INDICUM (SESAME) SEED OIL
CARBOMER
PARFUM/FRAGRANCE
PLANT PSEUDOCOLLAGEN
HYDROLYZED WHEAT PROTEIN
BHT
HYDROLYZED WHEAT STARCH
YELLOW 6
YELLOW 10
I felt like a hit the freaking jackpot finding a moisturizer without a bunch of silicones in it.
It absorbs super fast, leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturized all day, isn’t greasy at all, doesn’t make me breakout, makes my skin look smoother & clearer, and has more of a thicker lotiony texture than a cream. The only downfall is 1) the jar container sourta sucks, I would prefer a tube but it it isn’t the end of the world and 2) it has this funky chemical grape scent but it fades pretty fast.
I have super finicky skin when it comes to moisturizers and this stuff is a dream come true!
Never in a million years did I think I would try an epilator. I usually don’t try to do too many things that involve unnecessary pain, but well I was at the point where shaving was more of a pain than manually ripping out hairs.
I was sick of shaving every other day and still not having that clean freshly shaved look for long (I’m pale and especially below the knees…dark hair).
I wasn’t afraid of this product… I’ve experienced pain before (helllloooo ankle tat…. PAIN) but when I got it, opened up the box and turned it on… staring at the tweezer things going round & round scared the crap out of me. It took a bit of courage to actually hold it to myself.
My leg hairs were pretty long when I started. i hadn’t shaved for probably a week or so b/c I was awaiting this thing’s arrival (ordered on Amazon, saved about $20). There was no choice but to go with it. I stuck it to my leg… and about an hour later both legs were done.
Did it hurt? Hell yes. But it wasn’t unbearable. Some spots hurt more than others. My ankles for example, ugggh. I’m told the pain resides the more you use it. The pain is pretty much like a rubber band snapping your skin over and over and over. The more you relax it doesn’t feel quite as painful though. Eventually I just spaced out and watched tv while ripping out leg hairs. I’ve already used it a bit to clean up a bit of stubble that was coming in and just the second time it hurts MUCH LESS. Just itty bitty stings.
My legs didn’t feel razor smooth after using this, but they looked razor smooth. Even kinda shiny. And those black dots a day or two later from the hair growing back? Nope none of those. Yaaaaaaaay!!! A few ingrowns popping up. I’m keeping my eye on those.
This comes with two attachments… one with massage rollers
that is supposed to help relieve the pain by massaging the skin. Ehhh it helps a bit, but can also be sourta irritating when going over the area a few times.
The other thing you can attach to it is the efficiency attachment
which is more efficient b/c it provides maximum barrel to skin contact and also helps stick hairs up into the tweezers.
It also comes with a razor/trimmer attachment, so it’s kinda like getting 2 products in one.
The light rocks, letting you see renegade hairs so you don’t have to epilate in pure daylight.
So far I’ve only done my legs. I did rip out some arm hair but kinda went into “Ow, this hurts, eff this” mode. I got pretty close to my bikini line without much pain. Want to do pits, but well…. quite scared.
I’ve been using an AHA lotion to help with any ingrowns and to keep legs smooth.
Honestly I wish I would have discovered epilating so much sooner. So much more awesome than shaving.
I’ve really really REALLY neglected this blog for sometime. It isn’t that I haven’t been into my regular beauty endeavors, but I just haven’t had a lot of time to talk about them. Heh. I’ve been super busy but did really enjoy adding to this blog so am gonna try to get back to sharing goodies with you.
Okay so I’ve been saying for like 2.5 months that I was going to get around to updating this. So I guess it’s time that I finally do that huh? My life has been so busy… school… and I’ve just recently started getting my first photography gigs and I’m oh so excited!!!
***
That aside, I guess it is time to tell you guys about the Urban Decay Book of Shadows that I got for Christmas and have really used the heck out of since December 25th.
You pop it open and it has this cuteness where the mirror is
The palette contains 16 shadows… some were pre-exisiting, some were new. You also get 2 brushes, which I just love… really good quality and a small tube of Primer Potion, which this was my first time trying Primer Potion.
The brushes… one that is soft and good for all over color. Pics up color well and applys it nicely. The other brush is stiffer and good for lining, packing on shadows, and apply crease colors.
The Primer Potion… I’m prett impressed with. It lives up to it’s hype pretty well. It really just grips shadow and holds it there all day w/o fading. I have a similar product that I bought for around 4 bucks at Meijers, but I think the Primer Potion works a wee bit better.
This palette made me really love UD shadows. They are all so buttery soft and richly pigmented. For the most part they apply like a dream. The only downside I find is that UD has so many shades that are so closely related to each other… and you kind of get that with this palette when it comes to shades like Smog, Gridlocked, Sidecar, Midnight Cowboy, ect.
Shades:
Perversion
A matte inky black. Great for lining. Extremely pigmented, won’t look gray.
Last Call
Shimmery pinky purple… a bit reddish but still manages to be pretty cool toned for the most part.
Grifter
A cool pinky lavender with heavy silver shimmer & glitter.
Mayhem
A deep blue based purple… the blue creates sort of a flash or duochrome to the color.
Baked
The color of this one is a little off in the picture. It is a highly intense yellow gold, finish is extremely metallic. I have’t played with this one much because it is hard for me to pull of golds on my eyes.
Smog
A pretty neutral high shimmer medium brown.
Sidecar
A highly shimmered champagne brown.
Gridlock
Very similar to Sidecar. Seems to be a wee bit more neutral perhaps.
Shakedown
Bad pic, sorry…. hard to capture the color. It is actually a shimmery greyed smokey green.
Roach
Shimmery reddish/pinkish brown. Hard color to pull off on myself.
Scandal
Shimmery golden peachy pink. On the warm side, another one that’s a bit hard for me to pull off. Wonder how it would look as a blush though..hmmm
Midnight Cowboy
Super shimmery champagne beige with silver glitter. The best way to prevent glitter fallout is to apply wet, while Primer Potion is still slightly moist and if you’re adventurous, spray a teeny dab of hairspray on your brush and dab over shadow.
Goddess
Deep shimmery sapphire with sparkle.
Shattered
Metallic pale blue.
Absinthe
A gorgeous metallic mint green.
A slightly metallic olive green.
And an attempt at some swatches:
From left to right: Gridlock, Sidecar, Smog, Baked, Mayhem, Grifter, Last Call, & Perversion.
From left to right: Shakedown, Roach, Scandal, Midnight Cowboy, Goddess, Shattered, Absinthe, & Protest.
I’m very happy with this palette and for all you get, it was an awesome deal.
I know this blog has been pretty slow lately but it should pick up a bit soon because I have a few reviews I am working on and will be adding more lip swatch pictures.
I’ve been trying a bit here and there of the new stuff that has been coming out in the drugstore (and if you haven’t been out looking around lately at drugstore stuff, almost EVERY line has something new to offer).
I also still have some stuff clear back from Christmas that I never got a chance to review here. Some fragrances and my next review with pics will probably be about a UD (Urban Decay) shadowbox that I love and have used the hell out of already.
The past few months I’ve been battling some wacky skin breakouts. I felt like I had reverted back to being 13 again with all the breakouts. Ack. I tried all my usual tricks of the trade and nada. I went back to my benzoyl peroxide which always does the trick but the dryness I was experiencing was just insane. It seems that my skin has changed and BP was leaving me skin so dry that it felt rough and dry scaly pathces that I actually felt embarassed about. But it was clearing up the breakouts so I felt kind of stuck.
As luck would have it… I ran out of BP one night and headed off to the store to get some more. Wouldn’t you know it, they were out. I began scanning the shelves for another brand and my eye was caught by this
I was intrigued by it being listed as a product “for adults”. Let’s face it, adult acne IS different from the acne and zits we got as teens. The active ingredients are Resorcinol 2% and Sulfer 8%… I was intrigued so I bought it and tried it out.
The cream is very light, almost like a gel-cream or gel-lotion. It can burn a bit if it goes on irritated skin. The tint is gross and useless… only use this at night it does not look natural in any way. It has a bit of a stink to it, but of course it does contain sulfer but the smell fades pretty fast. It has a matte finish and really sucks up oil.
After only about 3 uses my skin cleared up dramatically. Not only that, but the pores on my cheeks that had previously been looking massive were basically invisible. Zits I had been fighting with for weeks shrank and disappeared and my skin felt smooth and baby soft. And if that all wasn’t great enough, no excessive dryness and no scaly patches!
The tube is tiny so I’m working towards buying my second tube in a day or two, but I am totally in love and think I would cry if this product disappeared off the market. It has been an absolute miracle for my skin.
