Thursday, March 21, 2013

Nivea Lip Butter in Raspberry Rose Kiss


I decided to do a review on a lip balm that I just got today with my recently acquired birthday money and have been super excited to review. You may know that Nivea has come out with a new line of lip butters. I got a coupon for a free Nivea lip care product and knew immediately that I wanted to try one of these out. I was hoping to nab one of the Vanilla Macadamia Nut Kiss flavors, because it seems like a flavor that would be hard to miss with and I do love both vanilla and macadamia nuts. When I finally found where the store had them, the only flavors they had were the original and a single tin of Raspberry Rose Kiss. The tins were in the skin care aisle, not the lip products, make up products, front store impulse buy section, or bargain which are the places I checked first looking for them. I’m a lip balm junkie, so I figured that I’ll review some of the  other lip balms that I have in my purse mixed in with reviews of other things so you don’t get bored… don’t judge me.  We’ll start with the Nivea Lip Butters.

The Raspberry Rose Kiss Lip Butter comes in a rather nice tin. The lid is pretty tight, which makes me feel safe about keeping it in my purse, without it being too hard to open. It’s a good size package as you can see in the picture. It has over half an ounce of product in it, which is a great deal more than most lip balms. The average tube lip balm size is .15 oz and this tin has .59 oz in it. It’s a rather cute tin, one of the cutest packages for lip balm that I’ve seen. My only problem with it being in the tin package is the hygiene factor. It’s not a good idea to dip your finger into a product over and over and put it on your mouth. That product will become germ central very quickly. There are a few things you can do to prevent this, however. You can use a lip brush to apply this, which is a bit overkill for lip balms in my opinion. You can try kissing the lip balm as the tin is big enough *I actually tried it just so I could tell you if it worked*, but you won’t be able to do that once you hit pan on the product. The easiest and most sanitary solution is to simply wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before applying it. Most of us carry hand sanitizer anyways, so I’m not seeing the tin package as a huge problem for me.
Lip Butter Package

The “flavor” of this lip butter is “Raspberry Rose Kiss.” I’m rather conflicted on whether I like this or hate it. I love the raspberry in this. It smells more natural and less like a fake “raspberry” flavored candy which is what I was honestly expecting. I wasn’t expecting to like the raspberry aspect of this balm, but it’s my favorite part.  The rose aspect isn’t as exciting. I’m not a huge fan of rose flavoring/scent, but I think that when it’s used to compliment another flavor/scent it can really bring something to the table. When I was a kid, my dad used to take me to a Greek restaurant where we would finish the meal with “Persian ice cream”. It was mostly vanilla flavored with touches of rose water and saffron. It was absolutely amazing. I was expecting the rose flavoring to complement the raspberry in the same way. Instead of being a nice back tone to the lip balm, it is a bit over powering. There is just a touch too much rose for my liking and it keeps the scent from melding the way I would like. I think that the raspberry and rose scent profile has a lot of potential, but they don’t have the mixture quite up to par just yet.  My only other problem with this “flavor” is that it’s not a flavor; it’s pure scent. I don’t mind this, I just think it’s a little misleading. The package clearly says on the ingredients list “flavor”, where it should really say “fragrance.” I’m a bit glad that they didn’t make it flavored. It’s hard to play up a flavored lip balm as a grown up lip product especially when the flavor is this complex. This line of lip balms is definitely meant to be a more sophisticated version of the lip balms we all loved as kids.

I really like the feel of these on my lips. It feels slick without being too heavy. The first ingredient on the list is petrolatum, which is basically petroleum jelly, which is great for moisturizing lips… at night. Pure petroleum is just too thick, slick, and messy. This obviously toned it down to a wearable level. This “flavor” has a very minor color payout. It’s a very light, delicate pink that seems to provide more coverage than actual color. It might show up better on someone with darker lips, but I’m really pale, so the color is almost exactly my regular lip color. I might make my boyfriend put it on for a second just to see if there really is much color payout. What I mean by coverage is that I have a scar on my bottom lip and while this doesn’t completely cover that, it definitely makes it less noticeable. This also has a nice shine without it being like an oil slick, which is what I’ve found many to do. I don’t like the super shiny lip look, so I’m not a big fan of lip glosses. If you’re looking for something super shiny, this probably isn’t the product for you. Because it has the petrolatum in it, it would not be a good base to put lipstick on, but it would make a good balm to put in the very center of your bottom lip to make them look plumper.

The price of these can get a little steep, but there’s a really wide margin on the price. I’ve found them for anywhere between $2 *a BOGO deal* to $6 each. I don’t think I would buy one of these for $6, but I would probably pay up to $4 for one *especially the Vanilla Macadamia Nut Kiss, since I’m still dying to try that.* I will definitely be buying these again and I have a feeling it will become a regular in my purse.

I’m going to start grading each aspect of the products. Let me know in the comments what you think about my new system.

Packaging- C
Size- A+
Flavor- D
Texture- A-
Look/Performance- A+
Price- B
Overall- B

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

L'oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara


This is one of the L’oreal mascaras of which I’m not too fond. I have a love/hate relationship with this mascara. I think it’s great for a really natural downplayed look, but it has a number of flaws. My biggest problem with this mascara is that although it says it’s suitable for sensitive eyes, it’s certainly not! I put this on right before going on a date and about fifteen minutes into the date, my eyes were burning so badly that they were watering all over the place. I ended up having to go to a bathroom and scrub it off with soap and water. I looked horrible. I managed to get all my makeup off, but my eyes and face were bright red from a combination of the mascara and using hand soap to wash my face.

One of the reasons I think that it caused such irritation in my eyes is another one of my issues with this mascara: the smell. The smell hits you as soon as you pull out the wand. It’s strong and unpleasant. I really wish I could describe this better, but it smells awful and “chemically.” Yes, I just made the word up. I’m not sure what they put in it to make it smell this way. It might be the collagen. There was a lot of hype about this mascara having collagen in it. I don’t know why that’s supposed to be a good thing in mascara. I think that the word “collagen” has become so sensationalized in skin care products that manufacturers are throwing it into just about everything. Yes, collagen has some anti-aging properties when ingested or injected and it is being debated over whether a topical application can help reduce the appearance of wrinkles, but you know what’s not wrinkled or old? My lashes. I just don’t see the point in putting collagen in a mascara, especially when it’s known to have adverse allergy reactions including…you guessed it, prolonged redness, rash, and a burning sensation. The back of the box claims, “Ophthalmologist & allergy tested. Suitable for sensitive eyes & contact lens wearers. Fragrance free.” All of these claims are incorrect in my opinion except for the first one. I’m sure the product was test by an ophthalmologist for allergies… they didn’t say it was APPROVED by an ophthalmologist.
This wand is perfect for natural, lengthened lashes

Wearing two coats of the mascara, pardon my lack of other makeup.

Other than my qualms with the formula upsetting my allergies, I also thought it was too thin for the look I typically go for, which is bold, beautiful lashes. It coats the lashes evenly and nicely, but it just doesn’t have the consistency to provide real volume. Couple that with the brush design, and you don’t get the desired volume. This brush is great for providing length and separating lashes. It absolutely defines every lash, but for a product named “Voluminous” its volumizing qualities just don’t cut it in my book. I do really love the “excess wiper” that keeps you from getting way too much clumpy product on the wand, though. Overall, this mascara gives a very nice, very natural look, it just doesn’t do what it promises and for $8 a tube, I will not be repurchasing this.  I do think that I’ll keep the wand, though for if I want an elongated, down played lash look.

Monday, March 11, 2013

L'oreal Voluminous Macara


L’oreal Voluminous is my absolute, all time favorite mascara. It has a nice, fat brush with a ton of bristles to separate lashes while coating them all. In the pictures below I’m wearing the mascara in “Blackest Black” color. The color is very saturated and pigmented. You get a lot of color payout from even one coat, which is all I usually do. I’d also love to try the brown/black version for a bit of a softer look for Spring.  I have very sensitive eyes and skin, and this mascara doesn’t bother them, unlike my next mascara review. It doesn’t have a detectable scent, which is nice as a lot of mascaras smell a bit unpleasant. I can’t be the only one who sniffs their mascara, right?


The actual mascara formula is thick and rich. It coats the lashes but has enough texture to give it the volume that this mascara is named after. It’s the perfect consistency that I like. Not too runny or too dry. So it gives them a nice, even coat without pulling the lashes out, which happens more than you might think with mascaras. I find that the size and shape of the brush are great for getting both top and bottom lashes with no problems, though some people prefer to have teeny brushes for their bottom lashes. It also happens to be one of the cheapest mascaras on the market at around $5 each, and you can get it on sale or use a coupon. I’m really impressed all around with this mascara. The only thing I’ve noticed is that it will start to clump your lashes if you’ve had it too long, but a little secret I have is to add just a few drops of pure saline solution *like you use to moisten your eyes* into the tube and swirl it. You’ll get rejuvenated mascara and save some money, which always a plus in my book. This mascara is so great that they’ve run out a whole line of mascaras under this name. The next mascara which I’ll be reviewing is one of those. It, unfortunately, is not the star that L’oreal Voluminous is. 

Just a little fun- theme songs

I saw a shared post by a friend that had popular song names and of which show should they should have been the theme song. Looking at my itunes, I came up with a few of my own.
Gargoyles- "Turn to Stone" by ELC
Any current teen show- "Everyone's At It" by Lily Allen 
Once Upon a Time- "Evil Woman" by ELC or "Killer Queen" by Queen
Freaks and Geeks- "How Do You Tell Someone" by Cowboy Mouth
500 Days of Summer- "IKEA" by Jonathan Coulton
Twilight- "Let's Go Sunning" by Jack Shaindlin... except it wouldn't kill him...
Any show about being friend zoned- "Never Gonna Happen" by Lily Allen
CSI or similar- "Watching the Detectives" by Elvis Costello

Did it without a single Beatles song. You should all go through your playlists and pick a few and post them. Do you guys mind if I put sprinklings of non-review related posts? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine/ the Dark Side of Garnier


Because I just posted about a Garnier Fructis product I really liked, I thought I’d balance the scale and live up to my blog title by review and Garnier product I really don’t like.

This product is the Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine line. This product has gotten a lot of great reviews and I’m honestly not sure why. I’ve seen reviews that literally claim that it has changed their life. I’ve only found one negative review and it was purely for the shampoo. Below I’ll list the reasons why I find this line to be awful for my hair.

Because I don’t know where to start with this product, I’ll start with the shampoo. When I first started lathering it into my hair, I immediately noticed that it wasn’t gliding through the strands like it should. I knew things were going wrong right from the beginning. I make sure to shampoo from underneath my hair and massage my scalp when washing to get the optimal results. This only works when the shampoo has the right texture, which this one really does not. It felt like it was clinging to my hair instead of removing the oil. I finally managed to get the shampoo out after a ridiculous amount of rinsing.

I moved onto the conditioner because I thought that it couldn’t be worse than the shampoo, that since this line had gotten such great reviews, the conditioner had to be so amazing that it redeemed it all. I felt like it was while washing it. It felt creamy, and made my hair feel softer as I was washing it. It wasn’t until my hair had dried that I realized that while this line promised “sleek shiny hair”, the exact opposite had happened. My hair was frizzier than ever which is hard to do considering it was also limper and flatter than ever before. It seemed like the product had enough oil in it to weigh down my hair and take away its main redeeming quality, the volume, while still being light enough to let individual hairs stick out and make me look like I had been electrocuted.

One of the worst parts about this line is that because it has so many oils in it, you can’t style your hair with heat after using it. If you do, it will literally fry your hair in every sense of the word. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use hair oils. They can be very beneficial… you should just use them AFTER you style it or if you don’t plan on styling with heat. Your hair my look great immediately after you style it, but I learned the hard way that it will not look great after doing this and you’ll end up needing even more frizz fighting products than you did before you started.

Pros:
Smells nice
Good packaging
Possibly redeemable conditioner
Very affordable

Cons:
Made hair frizzy and limp
Sticky, unpleasant texture
Can’t use heat styling
Was demoted to dog shampoo

This product was bought with my own money and not given to me by a company. These opinions are my own.

Garnier Fructis Hydra Recharge with Coupon


Garnier Fructis products tend to be either a big hit or a disappointing miss for me. The products I love, I REALLY love, and the products I don't like... I really don't like. Happily, this one is a hit. I was a little worried about it being too gimmicky and not giving the results it promised. I've been disappointed with "microbeads" before with an unnamed product. A lot of the beads in that product didn't burst and didn't add anything to the product except probably looking cool and allowing them to charge more money. Based on my previous experience, I was a bit worried that I would have left over beads all in my hair. This was not the case at all. The microbeads dissolved easily and the products was really foamy. It felt decadent. It might be a deterrent for people who are trying to avoid sulfates. I personally feel that it's really not an issue in this case. I like the lather and didn't feel that the shampoo stripped my hair, like most sulfate shampoos do.

 Another thing I really loved is the smell. It smells much like the Garnier Fructis Color Shield line of hair care, with a touch of kiwi added in. It's lovely. It has a mix of a few berries that have an exotic, fruity feel, but when my boyfriend hugged me he said I smelled like strawberry and kiwis. He obviously liked it a lot as he kept smelling my hair.

Air dried and unstyled after using the Hydra Recharge line
 I liked the hair treatment when left on for a minute, but I feel that it really shines when you leave it on for longer than that. I put it on and then proceeded to wash my face and body and shave my legs. After I took it off, my hair was so shiny. I've never had shiny hair, no matter how much product I put on it, but it was sleek and looked like spun copper. It's just so gorgeous. The only thing I would really change is the packaging of the conditioner bottle. The conditioner is a flipped version of the shampoo, which is great for distinguishing between the bottles when you're blind without your glasses in the shower, like me, but because it was a narrow base with a wider top, it kept falling over when I grabbed products around it. All in all, this is a great product for people with dry, frizzy hair or even curly hair, which tends to be on the dry side. It's affordable, but has better results than many products I paid $30 a bottle for. What more can a girl ask for?

If you're wondering how I got this product, I got it through a site called BzzAgent for free. They did not buy this review and my opinions are my own. I am putting a code here that BzzAgent told me to put on my HONEST review.

Link to a coupon on this product- Hydra Recharge Coupon I'd like to mention that this is not an add. I'm not getting paid for posting this nor will I get any revenue from you clicking or not clicking on it.


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Monday, March 4, 2013

Welcome and Introductory Ramblings

Welcome! My name is Logan. I get a lot of beauty products whether I buy them, get samples, or get them as gifts. If you want a post on how I get product samples and full size products for FREE, I'll be happy to make one of those. I'm using this as a place to review them so you can decide whether or not the product is right for you. I like to be thrifty, but still get the most bang for my buck, so I'm pretty picky about what I'll use. If these are a hit, I might start a Vlog on Youtube. This is my first time blogging, but I'm hoping I'll get into the swing of it rather quickly. I might, also, expand this into a blog where I can review food recipes and maybe even books. Drop me a comment below to tell me if you would be interested in sections on books, food, or a post on getting free stuff... because really, who doesn't want free things?