I hadn't tried any products from this brand previously but their first impression unfortunately wasn't a great one for me. I gave this eyeliner a try without using any kind of primer on the lid first since it was supposedly smudge resistant. Not... +
I hadn't tried any products from this brand previously but their first impression unfortunately wasn't a great one for me.
I gave this eyeliner a try without using any kind of primer on the lid first since it was supposedly smudge resistant. Not the case for me - it honestly all transferred to my upper lid area within a couple of hours of normal wear indoors. Now just as a caveat to you readers out there, I do have quite oily skin so I can be tricky with these kinds of kohl liners. I don't normally buy them but since this one was a gift I gave it a try anyways.
I will say that the application part was quite nice and easy. The pencil is very pigmented and creamy when it applies. Not too much tugging at the lid or poking to try to get a nice cat-eye. If you have drier skin this may work for you. The pencil comes with a little smudger on one end you can use to blend out your smoky eye.
-
This lash primer by Dimitri James goes onto the lashes as a blue colour when first applied. I have never seen anything like it but I supposed that maybe it dried down clear. Apparently not! After waiting for 5 minutes my lashes still weren't fully... +
This lash primer by Dimitri James goes onto the lashes as a blue colour when first applied. I have never seen anything like it but I supposed that maybe it dried down clear.
Apparently not! After waiting for 5 minutes my lashes still weren't fully dry and they were this funny blue colour. I was in a rush to get to work at this point so I just grabbed my Urban Decay perversion mascara to throw on top and boy - what a mistake that was. Maybe I did something incorrectly but my lashes instantly clumped right up into dreaded spider lashes. I wanted to apply just a little bit of mascara but I kept having to apply more to cover up the strange blue colour.
I have been afraid to touch it since. I want to give the creators the benefit of the doubt and try this again when I have time. There's a possibility that there is some kind of a trick to getting it to work but there is certainly a learning curve.
It might be intended only to be worn with a mascara from the same cosmetics line. I got this as a gift from my mom so if there is some kind of special instruction I am not aware of it!
-
I have really been enjoying this mascara from Elizabeth Arden. It is perfect for creating a nice light feathery lash look. It doesn't initially load up the lashes with product like say a too faced mascara would. It provides nice natural looking... +
I have really been enjoying this mascara from Elizabeth Arden. It is perfect for creating a nice light feathery lash look. It doesn't initially load up the lashes with product like say a too faced mascara would. It provides nice natural looking lashes that can be built up with adding additional coats. I like the shape of the brush - it's tapered towards the end so you can easily maneuver into your inner eye corners to coat the tiniest little lower lashes without issues. So far no smudging that I could tell after a long day of wear in the outdoors.
I use this more for days when I want a more subtle makeup look. Anybody who wants a very intense, smoky glam look may want to give it a pass.
-
I was lucky enough to receive this little beauty as a gift - and it's been a wonderful little makeup find. This shade really works for me in my under eye area to counter any dark circles. It doesn't work in the same way as a concealer, I should... +
I was lucky enough to receive this little beauty as a gift - and it's been a wonderful little makeup find. This shade really works for me in my under eye area to counter any dark circles.
It doesn't work in the same way as a concealer, I should clarify that. It doesn't have opaque coverage. What is does do is what the name implies - it makes the skin appear luminous. This would be a fantastic item for anyone who rocks the no-makeup makeup look. Under a bb cream or cc cream this would be perfect. It just adds a subtle but buildable highlight wherever you put it.
The consistency of this product is a bit like a chapstick or something, but a little more dense. It's creamy but not too soft. I have used it several times as a kind of primer under my normal under-eye concealer and it worked wonderfully together when I blended it overtop using my beauty blender.
The product doesn't necessarily disappear into the skin, but it does make the under eye feel refreshed and not cakey. I haven't run into any issues with creasing.
My favourite aspect of this product is that you can bring it up a little more into the inner corners of the eye to get that lovely wide-awake and fresh look. No fake-looking glitter here, just a gorgeous and natural glow.
I feel lucky to have gotten it as a gift because at 50 dollars I might not have taken the chance on this tiny little pot of product. Then again, if you can score this at a sale I say go for it! The quality is most certainly there.
-
This eye primer has been a staple of my makeup bag for years for good reason. It is a wonderful, easy-to-apply texture with a fun little tube that you can use again and again to help lock-in your eye makeup. I have extremely oily lids as I have said... +
This eye primer has been a staple of my makeup bag for years for good reason. It is a wonderful, easy-to-apply texture with a fun little tube that you can use again and again to help lock-in your eye makeup. I have extremely oily lids as I have said in other reviews. Especially over a long night out where there might be dancing and frolicking, when I want my makeup to stay put I know this primer potion will do the job.
I have repurchased several times and probably will continue to do so. Shoppers drug mart carries Urban Decay products now and I have noticed they usually have a lovely little gift with purchase when you try their stuff online. I would highly recommend you give it a try.
I haven't yet sampled the anti-aging version but I am curious to try it. Maybe when this tube runs its course I will give it a whirl.
Great job Urban decay!
-
I had high hopes for this bb cream after hearing from a popular beauty youtuber that is is great for dry skin. I had been using a new skincare regimen with a benzoyl peroxide treatment which was over-drying on me in the wintertime. I was looking... +
I had high hopes for this bb cream after hearing from a popular beauty youtuber that is is great for dry skin. I had been using a new skincare regimen with a benzoyl peroxide treatment which was over-drying on me in the wintertime.
I was looking for something that would give me some light coverage but mostly give my skin some moisture and sun protection. This item ticked all the boxes for me on paper. For the retail price of $46 CAD plus tax I had extremely high expectations.
Sad to say after giving it many attempts, it has fallen out of my makeup repertoire for the most part. I will still reach for it on occasion, when I want to run errands or something but there are a few things about this cream that don't meet my standards of quality.
First and foremost, it sits on the outer surface of the skin and slides around during the day, collecting in creases. I have used other drugstore bb creams which haven't performed this poorly on my face. I have had this melt around my mouth so much that when I lick my lips it tastes like sunscreen. The ironic thing is that while it smells and tastes like sunscreen, I have definitely still suffered some light sunburns while wearing it on my 20-minute walk to work.
Second issue is the tendency to transfer onto clothing. Oh the humanity! Ladies, please don't wear white if you use this bb cream because the second you accidentally brush your face with your sleeve or something, your garment will become a makeup wipe. This is unfortunately something that I have come to expect with a lot of bb creams, so I just try to be conscious of not wearing shirts with tight necklines in case it wipes my whole face of makeup off.
I feel like the bb cream I tried from Garnier back in my early twenties was far superior to this one from Kiehl's and it was honestly 1/5 of the price. With only 4 different shades to choose from, it's really difficult to justify this price.
Sorry Kiehl's, I love your avocado eye mask but this bb cream was a miss for me.
-
I have been a long time lover of the too-faced brand Better Than Sex mascara. I love how fluffy the brush is and how easily it coats even the tiniest little lower lashes. It really gives a gorgeous fullness to the lashes and a doll-like, pretty look... +
I have been a long time lover of the too-faced brand Better Than Sex mascara. I love how fluffy the brush is and how easily it coats even the tiniest little lower lashes. It really gives a gorgeous fullness to the lashes and a doll-like, pretty look to the eyes. The only issue I ever ran into was it would sometimes smudge a little bit around the outer corners of my eyes after a long day of wear. As someone with oilier lids who doesn't always wear primers, I figured this was to be expected. When I learned there was a waterproof formula for the same mascara at Sephora I rushed out to buy it immediately.
Maybe this is naive of me, but I actually thought this mascara would be SO completely waterproof you could theoretically swim in it. Well I was wrong on that count, as I learned on a trip to Hawaii. I came back from a day at the beach with pretty bad raccoon eyes.
That said, if you wear this as normal mascara it does have a very nice long-lasting formula which doesn't smudge like the non-waterproof version does. I have found that with both versions, it is pretty inky and watery when you first open the tube and might be a bit more difficult to work with. If you allow the tube to 'age' slightly in your makeup bag before using it, it gets a bit more tacky in texture and then WHAM you have amazing lashes. I heard about that trick from Adele's makeup artist in a video somewhere and boy, was he right. Sometimes letting the mascara dry out slightly makes it better!
I still use this one occasionally but should probably toss it soon since it's been in my kit for longer than a year now and most likely its expired by now. It still works great so I am loathe to part with it. It has a wonderful buildable quality and really stays put even when you sweat or get drizzled on in an unexpected rain storm (I am in Vancouver)
All in all, it was a good purchase and I would recommend it! Just don't try to go swimming :)
-
I adore this clarins blush and have been pleasantly surprised by how nice and pigmented it is! I purchased the shade #2 called 'cheeky pink'. It’s got a flattering rosy shade which looks far better on the face than in the container. It came with a... +
I adore this clarins blush and have been pleasantly surprised by how nice and pigmented it is! I purchased the shade #2 called 'cheeky pink'. It’s got a flattering rosy shade which looks far better on the face than in the container. It came with a lovely circular brush which is a higher quality than one might expect at the price point. This blush isn’t shimmery or glittery so would work great for a natural-but-better look.
I think one area where Clarins could improve is their packaging. It may seem like a silly thing to criticize them on, but I just feel that for the price point (32$ CAD) it just doesn't look like a very upscale product. The brush is nice but the exterior plastic packaging of the blush just looks and feels a bit flimsy like a much cheaper drugstore product. That said, the product itself is great.
-
After getting this lipstick as a mini sample from Sephora I immediately fell in love with this colour Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It looks like my own lip colour but a little more intense and pretty. It is somewhere between a nude and an antique-rose kind... +
After getting this lipstick as a mini sample from Sephora I immediately fell in love with this colour Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It looks like my own lip colour but a little more intense and pretty. It is somewhere between a nude and an antique-rose kind of colour but leaning more to the pink side not too taupe. This shade is so, SO flattering on me that I reach for it most days.
I am marking it down to 2 stars on the value scale only because it does wear off after a couple of hours of wear since it's a very hydrating formula and for 42$ CAD plus tax I would expect a much longer wear time. That said, this is one of my most used makeup items. I simply love the colour and there's no fragrance that I can notice which I consider a plus. I don't care for strong fragrances on my lip products generally. I also love the nice little magnetic case that it comes in which makes it super easy for the lid to stay on.
-
I have been trying this for a little while now and have been loving the feel of this on my skin before makeup application. I don't always use it if I am in a rush but when I do use it I notice my makeup lasts much longer before wearing off my face... +
I have been trying this for a little while now and have been loving the feel of this on my skin before makeup application. I don't always use it if I am in a rush but when I do use it I notice my makeup lasts much longer before wearing off my face. It's not an inexpensive product but it does give a generous supply of product for the price and it comes in an easy-to-use squeeze tube. There is no chemical scent to it and it doesn't have any pigment either so you could use it with any colour of concealer/foundation afterward. -