DeodoRite by Native Remedies Review
I was lying in bed next to someone I occasionally hit the sheets with, and after several hours of extraneous activities I decided I was due for a deodorant touch-up (thanks to my apple cider vinegar trick I was BO free at the time, but totally paranoid that if a few more hours of heavy sweating took place I’d reach the danger zone. As a preventive measure a deodorant touch-up was a must)! While it was a daringly unsexy move to make while he was lying right beside me I figured it would be even more unsexy to start smelling like a toxic armpit, right?
I mumbled a casual “Sorry, gotta freshen up” as I reached over to my nightstand and busted out my Pit Putty. Sexily I slathered it on while doing a slow mo hair whip. Oooooh yeah. Applying deodorant never looked sexier, or so I hoped.
Then he uttered the words no smelly girl wants to EVER hear “Oh, I don’t wear deodorant”
This could not be true… seriously? What?! I’ve known this guy for three years and I just discovered he forgoes a main necessity in my life! My world revolves around layering 30 different deodorants so it was hard for me to fathom a person not wearing deodorant! “You’re kidding me, you don’t wear deodorant at all??”
“Nope”
“Not even in the summer?!?! I would smell awful if I didn’t wear deodorant!” …Little does he know I smell awful even when I do wear deodorant, but I plan to keep that on the DL.
“No, I like the smell of myself, it’s manly but I don’t stink. I shower daily and drink lots of water so I’m fine”
Sure, he did have a bit of a man essence going on, but he didn’t smell like BO which naturally made me jealous. For a split second I wanted to punch him in the face instead of make out with him. To really make matters worse I discovered he was one of those people. The kind of person that spews the ideals of ‘as long as you shower, eat right, drink plenty of water you should smell fresh as a daisy’! Those elitists assholes. People who don’t have BO issues don’t get it, it’s not that simple!
Perched on my couch later that night with a bottle of wine I started thinking about my body, no, not his body on my body. Sheesh. I was thinking about what kind of havoc must be going on internally within my body. If you read this blog you know that I am a train wreck- chronic yeast infections, acne, BO… you’re probably surprised I even had someone in bed. I’ve often figured there must be a connection, some sort of army yeast overgrowth overtaking my entire body causing me to be a human cesspool of toxic waste that affects my vagina, skin and underarms… I’ve researched it! Last summer I went raw. Gave up most sugar (I fully admit I still drank caramel macchiatos, if someone can find me a sugar free and raw variation for a caramel macchiatos I will PAY you). Moral of the story is the entire summer I worked hard at cutting out sugars, crap processed food and nothing changed. Still battled acne. Still battled yeast infections. Still battled unpleasant underarms. With no validation in my theory to maintain the raw lifestyle I eventually gave up the kale smoothies. All I had to show for being 3 months raw was a stomach that was slightly flatter and a dresser I painted in attempts to take my mind off eating candy. I chalk painted the hell out of that dresser too. All my rage and sugar cravings went into that little gem.
One glass of wine in I suddenly remembered a product called DeodoRite by the company Native Remedies, I stumbled across it while doing some shopping on Abesmarket.com. It claimed to help eliminate excess perspiration and body odor by aiding the liver work better and eliminating toxins. I’ve done everything for my BO externally so I decided to go back to the theory that something is going on inside of my body.
Here’s what DeodoRite claims to do, you can read all the info about it here: http://www.nativeremedies.com/products/deodorite-control-body-odor.html
DeodoRite temporarily:
Relieves all unpleasant body odors
Reduces excessive perspiration
Cleanses the body of toxins
Improves liver functioning
Promotes efficient elimination of waste products
Now I am not one to advocate tossing back random pills. Sure I take my vitamins, and during the summer I take Chlorophyll to help my BO (which does mildly help)! But other than that I am not a pill popper and always research any vitamin I take. It’s safe to say I was leery in regard to taking DeodoRite. Most of their ingredients I had never heard of! For instance what is Galium???? Apparently it’s a plant.
Here’s the ingredients of Deodorite: DeodoRite is a 100% homeopathic formula and contains the following ingredients: Calc sulph 6X HPUS, Carduus mar 3X HPUS, Galium 3X HPUS, Mag phos 8X HPUS, Merc solub 30C HPUS, Silicea 8X HPUS.
I spent some time researching Native Remedies and the ingredients in DeodoRite. While the ingredients are mostly plant based you still have to be careful because natural/plant based/homeopathic doesn’t always equal safe, especially if you are taking other prescription drugs or vitamins. Often times certain supplements/vitamins/prescription meds cannot mix, so it’s always a safe bet to check with your health care provider. With my initial research DeodoRite seemed safe to my untrained eye (apparently I don’t take my own advice of checking with my health care provider). If you look up some of the ingredients they are just fancy names for Milk Thistle and such, but I still decided to take a pass on trying DeodoRite, not because my research turned up anything bad but rather because I was skeptical. Seemed too good to be true and I couldn’t find a lot of reviews about the product beyond the reviews on the Native Remedies… can you say shady?? Thus why I am taking the time to write this novel of a review.
Several weeks later I came back to the Native Remedies site after an epic deodorant fail mid-day. I smelled horrible, was annoyed, and angry. Combine all those emotions it made for an excellent combo to force me into making a desperate purchase! It was totally one of those badass ‘F-it moments’. The DeodoRite was on sale at Abesmarket for $29.00, and I had a 20% off coupon and it was free shipping. Bam. Ordered placed! I ended up paying about 23 Bucks for 180 pills. I highly recommend ordering from Abes Market, they offer better sales than the Native Remedies site.
When my order arrived I didn’t take the DeodoRite because my F-it badass moment was over and the skeptic in me came back. So there those little pills full of promise and hope sat… until a glass of wine fueled my courage. I got off my couch and decided to bust those suckers open. Fuck that booty call who doesn’t need deodorant! I’ll show him! Show him what, I wasn’t sure, but I was determined to prove something.
I started off by taking 1 pill in the morning and 1 pill at night. The bottle says for adults to take 2-3 pills 2-3 times a day. I opted to start with a low dose at first.
Well, 1 pill in the morning and 1 at night did nothing. I almost returned them. Instead I upped it to 2 pills in the morning and 2 at night, and after several days of that dosing I was amazed. I had no ill side effects and I was almost BO free!!!!! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I could magically go without deodorant or anything crazy, but it was such a relief to only layer two different deodorants in the morning and still be fairly fresh by sundown. At the end of the day I’d have a bit of funk, yet it wasn’t anything out of control. For the first time I felt like a normal person. It worked consistently. Everyday I smelled great. Suddenly I could go about my day without worrying if I needed to touch up my deodorant.
This sounds like a fairy tale… I know, you’re on the edge of your seat thinking I hit the jackpot! Ehhh… well, settle down because after several weeks of use I noticed I was starting to pit out again. I figured my body was becoming accustomed to the DeodoRite. It’s a curse of mine. When I find a deodorant or supplement that helps it usually stops working on me after several weeks. This is why I never get too excited when I think I’ve found something that ‘works’.
So I upped my DeodoRite’s to 2 in the morning, 2 in the evening, and 2 at night. This did the trick, it started working again and I was back to being 80% BO free. …Until that stopped working several weeks later.
Out of annoyance I stopped taking the DeodoRite for a few days then started back up and this helped. Now I make sure to take breaks from DeodoRite every few weeks. Sometimes my breaks are only a few days and other times I give it up for a week or so. Then I’ll start back on the DeodorRite, 2 twice a day, and work back up to the 2 three times a day when needed.
Basically the effects kind of wean off as your body becomes accustom to DeodoRite.
No matter what, even when it ‘stops working’ it still helps a little, as in I don’t smell AS bad as I normally do. But when it’s working, man, it WORKS and it will work consistently, until, well it stops working.
Another thing I noticed is that once you find a dose that works for you if you skip a dose you’ll start to stink immediately. The pills are super tiny, so I keep a few in my purse just in case I forget a dose or I’m out and about when I need to take my next dose. The effects aren’t prolonged. Once you stop taking these pills you’ll start to smell back your old self right away. Notice the site makes a point to say it ‘TEMPORARILY’ helps. This is not a cure. No long-term effects.
I already bought a backup bottle, even if I decide not to continue to use them regularly I will keep them around to take if I have an event or some sexy date to go on. Also it takes about 2 days before you see results.
I can’t vouch for their long-term safety or anything as I am no doctor- nor am I sleeping with a doctor otherwise I’d ask him. However I’ve had no issue with any strange side effects and I’ve been taking them for almost two months now. While I’m leery to recommend a supplement like this, I would say if you do your research and you’ve found nothing externally is working to help eliminate your odor these are worth a try. I’ve had decent success with them, and when they work I feel so ridiculously free! Being BO free is amazing, makes me feel like I want to run around wearing sleeveless tops and stick my armpit in people’s face. Ok, so I wouldn’t go that far but if you suffer from any body odor you know how exciting it is to not have to worry about whether you stink or not.
If you try them let me know!
Poofy Organics Max Deodorant- Almond Clove and Orange Creme
I’ve been eyeing Poofy Organic’s Deodorant for a while, but for the longest time the one thing that stopped me from pulling the trigger was the fact that they don’t accept Paypal, which means you have to use a credit card… and I’m trying to get my credit card DOWN!
I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and placed a order for Poofy Organics Max Deo in Almond Clove (I LOVE clove as it works well to fight body odor for me) and I also got the Orange Crème to go with my Bumble and Bee Orange Vanilla Pit Putty! 25 bucks later my credit card was pissed, but I was excited about trying yet MORE deodorants.
My order arrived promptly, and upon ripping my new deo’s open I was assaulted by a gross and yet familiar smell. The Orange Crème smelled like cumin spice chili powder/BO mixed with orange. The Almond Clove smelled slightly better, but still had that cumin chili powder/BO scent with a hint of clove. Being the brave sole that I am I decided to sample the Almond Clove on my pits and INSTANTLY upon application it made my pits smell like Chili powder/BO. Literally it was like I swiped a BO stick on my armpit! Ugh. I’m trying to PREVENT BO here, not slather it on willing! If I wanted to smell like BO I could do that naturally and it would be a hell of a lot cheaper.
So this cumin chili powder/BO scent has plagued a few other deodorant brands that I have tried before. Several years ago I had the same issue with Primal Pit Paste. I contacted them and told them their deodorant smelled like BO, it was so strong I couldn’t even smell the essential oils/scents of the deodorants- I had purchased a Spice, Orange and Lavender scent and each deodorant smelled like a manly man who hadn’t showered in 3 months. Costumer service treated me like I was insane, and I thought maybe I was going insane because Primal Pit Paste had awesome reviews and I couldn’t understand HOW. Was it a set up?!?! Anyways, several weeks later Primal Pit Paste got back to me and informed me that they ended up with a few other complaints with the same issue- a weird cumin spice chili powder BO scent to the deo’s (so I wasn’t crazy after all! Hollar)! Anyways, long story short Primal Paste had switched arrowroot suppliers and they thought the gross BO smell was coming from the arrowroot powder. I tried Primal Pit Paste several times after that (always buying SAMPLES) and it wasn’t until about 8 months ago that I no longer smelled that BO smell. Now I buy Primal Pit Paste on occasion and haven’t had that issue since!
…Ok, I am telling that little side story because when I e-mailed Poofy Organics I let them know about my past experience with this smell, and how their deodorant also had that same BO smell as Primal Pit Paste once had. Poofy Organic’s didn’t really seem to care. They probably thought I was crazy and a complainer. They casually let me know that they use an organic arrowroot supplier… ok, congrats… but it smells like BO! I back up any company that is organic and cruelty free, and I love the ingredients Poofy Organics uses, however I don’t think “It’s organic” justifies a product smelling like BO. I’ve used plenty of other organic deodorants that DON’T smell like BO! Those of you who read my blog reviews know how much deodorant I buy, I’ve literally tried over 100 natural deodorants, no lie. I obviously wind up with a bunch that don’t work, or ones where I don’t fancy the scent. However this BO arrowroot powder is an entirely different situation. I can’t even use the Poofy Organic Deodorants. It’s literally like swiping BO all over my armpit. It’s foul. The two I ordered are absolutely un-wearable.
Poofy Organics offered me an exchange, which is nice but I wanted to send them back for a refund. I felt like the situation deserved a refund as the deodorants seemed defective but they refused. Exchange only. I can respect that, but I am still slightly annoyed because it wasn’t a matter of me saying “I hate the scent!” it was a matter of them selling deodorants that smell of BO. In their defense, much like Primal Pit Paste, they probably thought I was a big complainer fishing for a refund or something shady. Eh, maybe I’m just used to Bumble and Bee costumer Service, as their costumer service is beyond amazing. On the Poofy Organics site it looks as though they have a great line up of products, however I specifically was looking to review the deodorants and there aren’t any other product I need/want to exchange for at this time- especially having to pay return shipping and all that jazz. So I have officially chucked the deodorants in the garbage. I can’t even layer with them! I actually tried to off them on my mom and she said, and I quote- “These smells funny, sort of like a crayon” ….so apparently Poofy Organics it’s not ONLY me!
Granted I have a very sensitive nose. I’m not trying to scare anyone, and I am sure there are some Poofy Organic Deodorant users that may not smell the cumin spice/BO smell, so I’m not trying to sway anyone from trying the deodorant but I strongly suggest if you have a sensitive nose pass these deodorants up. And if you have smelled this strange smell in your Poofy Organics Deodorants I urge you to contact them and let them know, because maybe they’ll do something about it if they realize it’s actually a problem. Of course I could have just gotten an off batch with a off round of arrowroot powder, perhaps their deodorant doesn’t always smell like this??
On the bright side, I did apply the Almond Clove twice (smelled like BO each time) but I liked the consistency of the deodorant. They make a note on their site saying it can be slightly sticky or tacky but honestly I didn’t notice any tackiness. I used a few swipes on each pit, and it had a nice smooth texture that went on with ease and didn’t leave me feeling greasy. Obviously I can’t review its performance or scent, but texture wise I would give it a 8 out of 10. If they got the BO smell straightened out I would in fact order the deodorant again to give it a fair try.
I hate writing bad reviews about deodorants and companies, but I felt compelled to inform people of my experience. Obviously everyone’s experience and results will vary, so this is simply my own personal experience, but I wish I had found this review before I decided to make my purchase!
Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deodorant Review
Currently I’ve been wearing a combo of Healing Scents Deodorant Cream and topping it off with Bubble and Bee Orange Vanilla Pit Putty. However it seems my pits have been getting immune to this combo, because it hasn’t been working as well as it used to, but still works better than anything else I have used as of late…. UNTIL…..
Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deodorant. My new favorite Deodorant!
I was looking for a deodorant that had zinc in it, but in a Orange Vanilla scent (I tried the unscented Bubble and Bee Pit Putty with zinc, and like anything else unscented I totally pitted out, ugh! P.S. Review of Bubble and Bee’s Pit Primer is soon to come)! My obsessive nature lead me back onto Etsy where I discovered the Moe’s Apothecary Shop. On my screen I saw a picture of a jarred deodorant, and the heading read: ‘Zinc Cream Deodorant. 100% Natural, It really works’. I wasn’t sure, because it’s rare something works on my rebel pits, but when I found out the owner would make me a Orange Coconut scent I quickly made the purchase before I could talk myself out of spending more money on yet another deodorant.
Ingredients to Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deodorant: Zinc Oxide, Kaolin Clay, Arrowroot Powder, Essential oils, Organic Fragrances, Small amount of Baking Soda, Organic Coconut oil, Organic Shea Butter
The day the Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deodorant arrived, I had already applied Healing Scents Cream Deodorant by the time I got the mail. So I went ahead and added my usual layer of Pit Putty (ok, it’s two layers), I then I added a layer of Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deodorant and went about my day. I’m not ballsy enough to try a new deodorant out on its own at first.
…..At the end of the day I smelled fresh. I was a little shocked because I hadn’t even done my usual Pit Putty touch up mid day. I’m hard to impress, so at first I figured maybe my pits had randomly decided to behave that day and it had nothing to do with my new deodorant addition?
Next day I decided to use Healing Scents Cream Deo and the Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deo. No Pit Putty (which is a huge deal)! Again I smelled fresh at the end of the day, and even until the next morning!
Then I got ballsy and started using ONLY the Moe’s Zinc Cream Deodorant…. and low and behold I manage to stay pretty fresh all day. Say what? If I were a 15 year old I would have said: “ This is cray-cray!’, but since I’m 31 I actually said ‘What the f***, this is crazy!’. It’s pretty much impossible for me to wear ONE deodorant and stay fresh all day AND through the next day. I still prefer to layer it with my Pit Putty, simply because I like powder-y finish Pit Putty Leaves behind because it makes me feel extra dry, plus the Pit Putty is a little more heavy on the scent, which I happen to like, if I’m not smelling orange-y throughout the day I get scared. However, Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deodorant totally stands on it’s own and can be worn alone.
One BIG test I always put my deodorants through is finding out if it can eliminate odor on contact. I live in fear that I will get stuck out in a heat wave while I’m on a date. I’ll be standing there in a cute sun dress pitting out because my deodorant will suddenly revolt against me and my sex life… (we’ve all been there when out of nowhere your deodorant gives out on you… you may not be on a hot date when it happens, but it could happen)! Being assured that I have a few deodorants that are great for odor prevention, and also a few that are great for odor elimination on contact is key to me. For the test I put on a random deodorant I had lying around, and within a few hours I didn’t smell so sweet. Perfect! It was prime time to test and see if the Moe’s Apothecary Zinc Cream Deodorant would banish pre-existing odor…. *drum roll please* …. It did pretty darn well! It instantly ridded me of most of my odor and left me with a light and subtle scent of Orange/coconut. It wasn’t a complete clean slate, but it did better at freshening me up than most deodorants. Most of the time if you try to layer a deodorant over your pitted out pits, it makes things smell worse. This made things smell better!
Another important thing to me when reviewing deodorants is texture. The nice thing about Moe’s Zinc Deodorant is that while it’s a cream it goes on dry but smooth. It’s not too wet, or sticky, and it rubs in nicely. If you over apply, like I do, be sure to give it an extra rub down because it can leave your pits a bit white due to the zinc. It’s nothing major though, and a good reason not to be a deodorant whore and over apply like I do.
All in all this deodorant is my new obsession. I really recommend this to anyone who has annoying pits like me. I’m already planning to order a 4oz size for $12 dollars. The 2oz size is 6 dollars. Even with shipping included I think the price is very reasonable.
For those of you who are wondering about scent options here’s a list of the scents offered-. Rosemary/Lavender, Coconut/Lime, Peppermint/Eucalyptus, Orange/Bergamot, Cederwood/Bay and unscented.
I personally would LOVE to see a Lemon and Clove option as that’s another awesome combo that helps with odor (plus I could mix it with the Lemon Clove Pit Putty!) But like I always mention…. when ordering I always think it’s important to realize sometimes certain essential oils/fragrances don’t mix well with your chemistry, so sometimes it’s not the formula failing you. You’ll have far better success if you already have an idea of what essential oils work for your body. If you don’t know what essential oils work best for your body chemistry I’d recommend ordering samples of different scent combo’s! It took me forever to discover ANYTHING lavender, peppermint, or lemongrass seemed to make me smell 10x worse.
Also, I want to mention that shipping did take a while, however the shop owner states that it is just her making the products and it can take up to 5-10 before your product is ready to ship. It’s worth the wait though!
I wanted to put this review up in time for summer… cheers to hopefully being BO free all summer! If you try it I would love to hear what you think!
Here’s a link to Moe’s Apothecary Shop on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MoesApothecary
Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration
I’m a BzzAgent and when I was selected for the Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Campaign I was excited, not just because I’m a skin care/product junkie… but because I am a big fan of natural products especially when they are for dry, sensitive, acne prone skin. I have fantasies about discovering miracle skin care products that leave my skin flawless (On a flawless note…. I recently ordered an airbrush make-up machine/kit that I am DYING to try out. Waiting for it’s arrival is killing me), see I’m dedicated to finding flawless!
Well Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Skin Care came at the PERFECT time, I had just ran out of my Chae Organics face wash. Plus I’ve been using Paula’s Choice BHA 9 along with my favorite acne product- Chae Organics Eracer, and while this combo has kept my skin looking pretty clear I noticed the BHA 9 can make my already dry skin a bit more dry. I was on the hunt for an intense moisturizer that would tend to my desert of a face. Then enter Burt’s Bees!
When I opened my Burt’s Bees package I found a Intense Hydration Face Wash, Treatment Mask, and a Night Cream.
One thing that bothered me right off the bat was the heavy scent of the products. They don’t smell bad, they smell of orange/citrus/cucumber? While the scent is light, it feels heavily scented if that makes sense? Upon investigating the ingredients I noted fragrance was listed, but there was also orange and citrus oils in the ingredients that I’m sure naturally contributed to the scent. I’ve been using mostly all natural skin care products for a few years now and I will admit a lot of them don’t smell great (dirty socks and tea tree oil) or if I’m lucky they won’t have much of a scent at all, but I’m ok with that because I have sensitive acne prone skin. I would have liked it if Burt’s Bees wouldn’t have added fragrance to this line.
Intense Hydration Face Wash- This was the first product I tried and with it’s divinely creamy texture it spread over my face like butta (without feeling greasy like butter!). It doesn’t leave a film on my face as long as I don’t overuse. If I use too much I have to be very diligent in order to rinse away all of the creaminess. My skin feels amazingly smooth immediately after I use it, literally the first time I washed my face with it I couldn’t stop feeling my skin (too bad it wasn’t some hot guy brushing his manly warm hand on my cheek sayin ‘Oh girl you got smooth skin I can’t stop caressing it’). Also this is a great face wash to use with the Clarisonic.
Intense Hydration Treatment Mask- I use a similar product by Paula’s Choice called ‘Skin Recovery Hydrating Treatment Mask’ so I was familiar with the concept of the Treatment Mask. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Treatment Masks it can be kind of confusing because it’s not like your typical ‘mask’ which dries and hardens or peels. Burt’s Bees Treatment Mask is a thick cream texture, you rub it onto your skin and you can either leave it on overnight or rinse it off 10 minutes or so. Note that this doesn’t really fully sink into skin with ease, so it’s not a good ‘lotion’ as it’s meant to be a treatment! I started out by testing this on a dry patch which has been plaguing my chin for 6 months. It won’t go away (I think it’s maybe eczema or something?). It’s peely, dry and some days worse than others, but this dry patch is determined to linger on my chin no matter what! It’s my arch nemesis at this point. I noticed after a few days of putting the Burt’s Bees Treatment Mask on my dry patch for 20+ minutes the dryness noticeably became smoother because I was able to take tweezers and easily peel off some of the dry flakey skin due to the Treatment Mask softening the dead flakey skin (that sounds really gross, but hey… it was a plus for me!). I also use this under my eyes at night and it’s really adding a zest of moister to my under eye area. This is my favorite product out of the three I’ve tested. It’s a great multi-tasker for winter skin.
Intense Hydration Night Cream- Night creams freak me out a bit. My skin needs a lot of moister but I hate a sticky/greasy face. I have satin sheets and nothing is worse than tacky skin sticking to my pillow case! I find a lot of night creams are so rich, never fully sink in, and break me out. The Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream sinks into my skin very well. I like applying this cream right after I wash my face when my skin is still a little damp, this ensures that the cream soaks in while allowing me to use less product. My skin feels like velvet after I apply but the problem is 20 minutes later it has absorbed and I feel like it doesn’t leave enough deep lasting hydration, even after a month of using it nightly it didn’t leave me any more hydrated than when I was using my day cream for my night cream. I’m not saying this product is a terrible Night Cream, and the ironic thing is I usually find night creams too rich for me and this wasn’t rich enough. t’s sort of like Goldielocks and the Three Bears… you gotta find that porridge that’s juuuuuuuuust right!
One important thing to mention is that I’ve been using all three of these products on a regular daily basis for over a month and I haven’t had any breakouts or skin reactions!
Now I can’t say I’ve seen dramatic results… don’t get me wrong, I feel like this is a good skin care line for dry skin, and I think some of the products have even helped a few of my dry patches (mainly the Intense Hydration Treatment Mask) but I can’t say any of these products are my new holy grail products. The immediate results feel amazing- like right after I wash my face, or right after I apply the cream but long-term wise I haven’t noticed a huge change in my skin, and the Intense Hydration Line claims to help skins ability to retain moister, but at the end of the day my skin is still dry even after using these products religiously for over a month. Bottom line is that for me these products show me immediate results, but not long-term results. Now these products also claim to help soften wrinkles/lines but since I just turned 30 and thankfully don’t have any wrinkles yet (knock on wood) I can’t speak to if the product lives up to that claim.
…That being said, the big question is would I buy any of these products on my own dime? Yes. I’m mostly thrilled they haven’t broken me out, and that they are easy accessible. I buy most, well pretty much ALL of my skin care online and it’s nice to be able to pop into a local store and be able to pick up my skin care! I think the face wash and Treatment Mask will remain in my rotation of skin care products and I’ve even recommended them to friends and family… but I will still be on the hunt for something that can smooth out my dry patches long term- not just a quick few hour fix/dose of moister.
Sirius Aurora Light Therapy System for Acne Review
As always I’ve been on a hunt for a product that will take skin to the next level. I’ve mentioned before my breakouts have cleared up for the most part, but I still get the occasional small breakout… especially as of late because I’m getting way to daring and testing out new skin care and make-up. For instance, as I type this I am recovering from a HORRIBLE breakout caused by Graftobian HD foundation. That magic little pot of HD foundation turned my clear skin into a pizza face within a few hours after applying (I’ll write a review on that next! I got a lot of anger towards that product I gotta let out!!!!!) …..Back to my skin, I simply feel my skin looks congested- blackheads, large-ish pores, dry and yet crazy summer oily skin, a few small bumps that aren’t zits or blackheads but rather just clogged pores that sit there trying to decide if they want to explode into giant underground zits.
LED blue light treatment for acne is what I decided to try. I researched for DAYS! Originally I was going to grab a cheapo off eBay just to see if it worked. Thing with that idea is that even the cheapos are around 50 bucks and are usually non returnable, thus prompted me to go with an actual company because they usually have a 30-60 day return policy. Sure they have a bigger price tag, but I could at least send it back if it didn’t work for me and not be out any money.
I went with the Sirius Aurora Light Therapy System. 60 day return policy. $150 (this was way cheaper than most competitors), plus it came with three heads- blue light for acne, red light for anti-aging, and green light for hyperpigmentation. Any beauty girl LOVES multi-tasking products! One thing that I made sure of was the blue light had wavelengths of 415 nm, because that is the most effective wavelength for acne (according to my research) and I was shocked some of the bigger companies with more expensive products (lightstim) didn’t use the 415 wavelength!!! What’s up with that lightstim? Wanna answer me???
My sirius came in about a week. It felt cheap and the interchangeable heads seemed cheap as well. It reminded me of a toy? Despite that I started using it 5 times a week, and started with the blue light to focus on my problem skin. I had no expectations for this product, seriously. In all honesty I expected it not to work and to be sending it back. Negative thought process I know, but I’ve been let down by products so many times- for instance the Clarisonic. That thing did absolutely nothing for my skin. We’ve all been there, products not living up to their claim! Waving a blue light over my face seemed kind of ridiculous, but obviously it didn’t stop me from trying it. Desperate times call for desperate measures!
First thing I want to mention is the process of using an at home LED product… is monotonous and time consuming. That being said if you’ve researched LED light therapy you should be aware of what you are getting into! So I am shocked to seem people complaining about these LED light devices: “It takes too long!!!! I don’t have time!”…. well no shit. Sitting there rubbing a light all over my face for 30 minutes is not a fun filled job, but that’s what I signed up for! Duh! If you are one of those people who doesn’t have 30 minutes to use this light, or you get bored easily, or you don’t want to put a lot of effort into your skin care regime then LED light therapy is not for you. Don’t waste your money.
Second thing I want to make note of is if you are an instant gratification type person this is not for you either. I won’t lie, after the first time I used this I raced to the mirror half expecting to see some miraculous results, I knew I was acting afool but still every girl wants instant gratification. I’d even give up instant gratification in my sex life if I could add it to my skin care life. Hah! But, LED light treatment isn’t a miracle wand that will clear up your skin in one use. It takes commitment, which usually for me means I run the other direction but under these circumstances you can’t run from commitment.
Onto the results after several weeks of regular use-
The other night I went to pick on some blackheads (I’m a picker, I love it, I know it’s terrible and it’s probably half of my battle with bad skin) but to my horror I barely had any black heads that were pick worthy! Horror obviously faded into satisfaction. No my skin was not blackhead free, but I would say there was a dramatic difference… about 30% less blackheads and the ones that were still remaining looked smaller! That figure may not seem too high or hopeful, but if you suffer from blackheads any decrease in the number blackheads riddling your skin is exciting!
In that instant I was sold. Nothing has EVER been able to help with my blackheads, let alone help within a few weeks. Like I said, even when my skin is breakout free I still have a crapload of blackheads on my chin, nose and cheeks.
I’ve been trying to clear up the Graftobian breakout which is proving to be stubborn as hell. I don’t notice the blue light helping heal the breakout. I’ve also had a few new tiny-tiny breakouts since using th light, nothing major and nothing uncommon for my skin and they heal within a few days, which is normal with or without the blue light. So I can’t tell whether this is helping actual breakouts. But it’s only been a few weeks, and I am going to start incorporating the red light as I’ve read that blue and red both help acne. The red light should also help with texture/tone of skin.
Overall I am excited to see what happens after a some more time with the Sirius. I’ll update you guys in a few weeks or so!
Maybelline – Volum’ Express The Mega Plush Mascara Review
Back story: Long ago when I was an adorable 4 year old my brother brought home chickenpox’s. I ended up with a horrendous case of those red dots riddling my entire body. The chickenpox’s even took over my eyelids/lash line causing me to lose ALL my eyelashes on one eye. My mother, who is mascara obsessed prayed and prayed to the lord that my lashes would grow back (aw, thanks mom!) and they did grow back!
So what does this story have to do with current day? No, I did not get my mothers undying passion for mascara. I’m not a mascara snob in the least, but with that being said my chicken pox eyelashes are very different from my normal eyelashes. Chickenpox lashes are not as full, a few gaps, and not as long. It’s nothing crazy noticeable as long as I use the right mascara. If I choose the wrong mascara I will have an eye full of nice lashes, with decent fullness/length, while the other eye looks sad and pathetic with spindly lashes and accentuates a few of my gaps missing lashes.
This makes me an excellent mascara tester. I can test mascara to see what it will look like for woman with thinner lashes, and women with average to thicker lashes.
Onto Maybeline Volum’ Express Mega Plush Mascara. I was using Maybelline Falsies for a while and really liked that mascara, and then I abandoned it after I discovered L’Oreal Voluminous False Fiber lash! But upon upon seeing the Mega Plush commercial chuck full of air dancing feathers and puffyness I fell trap to the lure of ‘less wax’ and ‘gel mouse’. I thought it might make my chickenpox lashes more plump and feathery and thicker! A girls dream!
Obviously I write long reviews, but this review really speaks volumes with my moms comments about me wearing Maybelline Mega Plush Mascara:
I notice my mom staring at me and then she says: “Is that new mascara? Your lashes look like shit. Even your good lashes”.
My feelings weren’t hurt as this was the truth.
This mascara is terrible if you have thinner lashes and looking to build feathery volume. Also not so great if you have thick-ish lashes but still want some umph. The brush has a flexible head that wiggles like a mofo, which didn’t allow me to really get in there and coat my lashes at the base. I swapped out brushes and used a different mascara brush one day thinking this would help. Yes it did help a bit, I was able to firmly coat my lashes at the base. The picture below makes the flexible brush look exciting…. it’s not.
I’m not much of a crazy re-coater, but on my chickenpox lashes I recoat usually once. With this mascara no such luck. Once I tried to re-coat it stuck all my lashes together making my lashes look so thin, wirey and clumpy.
My good lashes didn’t look all that good either. No real volume or fullness. They also looked kind of wirey and brittle. Not plush. I noticed no difference in texture of this mascara… gel mouse can suck it.
Below are some pictures. First picture is me wearing my normal L’Oreal Fiber lash mascara. You can probably notice one set of lashes looks a little less full, but usually I have eyeliner on which helps disguise my uneven lashes. But overall not bad.
Second picture is Plush Lash. CLEARLY you can see the difference between normal lashes and chickenpox lashes. So if you have thinner lashes you’re lashes may end up looking like my right eye. While my left eye, which has thicker lashes isn’t so bad I still don’t think it looked plush especially close up and in person- the picture looks better than it does in person. Yes, it made them look longer…. but I couldn’t control the brush so lashes got stuck together and looked wirey and messy.
In these pictures I REALLY worked at the Mega Plush, took about 5 minutes to carefully apply this. L’Oreal mascara took me maybe… a minute to apply? Notice how my L’Oreal lashes look more plush than Mega Plush!!!!!
Next up, I can’t believe I am admitting this… but I never wash off my eye make up. Terrible. I’m probably going to beauty hell. So the big test for me is if I sleep in my mascara are my lashes ok in the morning? A lot of mascaras clump my lashes and coat them with a stiff glueness that I can’t get off in the morning (often reminds me of eyelash glue where it wads up on your lashes and sticks them together). When this happens I generally can’t wash it off- it’s really weird and yes, totally my fault. And no, I don’t use ANY waterproof mascaras.
So I wake up the next morning after my plush lash disaster and literally my lashes are stuck together. I’m all confused and wondering if I had some drunken wild night involving super glue… then I remembered it was just a new mascara test run. I peel open my eyes, look in the mirror and this mascara had gummed up so bad and stuck together all my lashes… literally. Big balls of mascara glueing my lashes together giving me the look of 4 lashes on each side. Cleary this is not a mascara to sleep in. I tried to wash it off and it took me 3 tries to get all the gluey, clumpy, sticky mess off! ….You’re all thinking ‘serves you right you idiot for sleeping in your mascara’ and I shouldn’t included this I my review because most of you smarties wash your mascara off an won’t run into this… however, what if you’re on a date, it’ goes really well, and you hit his place and ‘fall asleep’ in this mascara? Let me tell you that you will wake up with glued together eyelashes and balls of clumped together lashes. Not sexy. Last I heard men don’t like when you can’t open your eyes and gaze at them.
I read some reviews saying this is a mascara for beginners and I just beg to differ. It really does nothing for my lashes. I don’t know about ya’ll but I want mascara to make my lashes look better, not like “shit” according to my mom.
Review and Swatches: Revlon ColorStay Whipped Creme Makeup Buff 150
I’m a MAC Liquid Studio Fix Girl. I know, I know… full coverage, heavy, cakey, blah, blah. I know all about the horrible reviews! But I’ve been using it for years because it’s the ONLY foundation that has a good pale shade for my NC15 skin and can cover my blemished-red-combo-really dry-flakey-patched-skin-with-oily-T-zone-skin *whew*. I love the buildable/layerable coverage it offers me because some days my skin is clear-ish, some days it’s a mess, other days it’s crazy flakey and often during the summer time it’s oily….. I know, my skin has multiple personalities! With Studio Fix I can adapt it to my daily differing skin needs just by altering my application techniques/tools. Plus it has multi-tasking abilities because it doubles as my under eye concealer. Basically MAC Studio Fix is like the Jack Rabbit of the vibrators- does everything I want it to and MORE, but maybe sometimes it’s a little over the top?
You’d think MAC Liquid Studio Fix is my HG, but my skin never looks very ‘natural’ and I am firmly aware of this, but a made up face goes with my overly made up wanna be 1950’s sexy house wife style, maybe a slutty 1950’s housewife though? Slippers and blowjobs after work… I’m pretty sure that’s what my make-up whored up face says about me. Yet I’m always on the market for a foundation that does everything Studio Fix does but looks a tad more natural. When I stumbled upon raving reviews on Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation it seemed like everything I was looking for! Medium/full buildable coverage that looked natural! SOLD!
$13.99 got me a glass jar full of what I was expecting to be magic in Shade 150 Buff. I raced home and washed off my Studio Fix… I was sure I’d be saying “Peace out Studio Fix! This face is going to be looking flawless and NATURAL!” . I applied it with a stipple brush, but found I had to rub/tap it in with my finger for a smoother result. It wasn’t really whipped, more like a nice cream texture which I liked.
It applied easily but oh boy, the outcome was a horrible grey/green/yellow face. It was dull and had what I like to call ‘death’ undertones. It wasn’t even that the color is too light- like I mentioned I am a NC15, which is a light tone with yellow undertones. But the 150 Buff was grayish with a tinge of green/yellow making me look like a zombie. It’s so dull and muddy! Often times I have this issue with Neutral toned foundations, but it’s funny because I have pretty neutral undertone- not really yellow nor pink, sometimes I feel MAC NC15 can be too yellow for me depending on my application method and which MAC foundation I’m using. A lot of the reviews I found on Buff 150 mentioned it had slight yellow undertones, which I thought would be comparable to NC15 and a great shade for us pal gals. Didn’t work for this pale girl!
I tried to capture the grey color by comparing it to my NC15 liquid Studio fix on the left, Revlon Colorstay Whipped 150 Buff in the middle, and Studio Sculpt NC15 on the far right (every picture is in the same color order). I compared it to MAC Studio Sculpt because I wanted to show a range of the NC15 colors, plus the Revlon Whipped foundation reminded me exactly of MAC Studio Sculpt Which…. I hate, but we’ll get to that in a minute!
Some pictures have flash and some don’t- but I think you can see what I am talking about how the Buff 150 looks more neutral (which may be great for some people) but note how it looks a bit muddy compared to the NC15’s. Too muddy and dull for me (yet it’s very light/pale like the NC15’s). My initial reaction of the color was positive: “This will be a great color for me!” when looking at it in the pot. But pot to face is very different! You can’t tell well in these pictures but it turned so grey on my skin!
Now that we’ve got my color matching horror out of the way, lets move on!
I tend to like more of a matte finish, but I am always intrigued with foundations that claims to have a semi or natural matte finish- not dewy but not a complete matte. It seems to make for a more natural finish in theory but not on my skin! I should have learned my lesson with MAC Studio Sculpt which left me with a tacky finish that would not go away, I had to powder over a tacky mess which was a nightmare. The powder stuck like a magnet to my tacky skin thus making my face look disgusting and highlighting my dry patches and yet still looked dewy everywhere else. Dewy and dry? How does that work? It doesn’t work. Why does a natural finish have to mean sticky skin???
…. The Revlon Colorstay Whipped did the EXACT same thing. I even set it with my Skindinvia Shine No More spray before I powdered hoping that would take away some of the tackyness. I let it sit for a good 20 minutes hoping it would set…. but nope. It didn’t look as dewy as Mac Studio Sculpt, in fact it looked more powdery but my face felt so sticky. It was the sticky factor that prompted me to powder not so much the LOOK of the final finish. I just couldn’t stand my face feeling sticky plus I felt like it wasn’t setting. Like it’d smear/transfer everywhere sans setting powder. After 20 minutes of waiting for it to dry to a non sticky state, I had to re-rub it back into my skin because I noticed it started accentuating my peach fuzz hair that I’ve never noticed before! After panicking and thinking “I am not a Kardashian! I am not hairy!” I realized how strange it was to be able to re-work a foundation after it had been on my skin for 20+ minutes, it was as if I as just applied it…. obviously this foundation was not going to stay in place without some help. I don’t know about that 24 hour claim! The crazy thing is I didn’t over apply this- the coverage is pretty nice, a little goes a long way which impressed me. I didn’t have to ‘layer’ or build the coverage. One sweep all over my face resulted in awesome coverage, and two sweeps under my eyes hid my dark circles. But I can’t imagine if you are trying to build coverage because I see this getting more sticky/tacky as you layer/build! Finally I set it with my finishing powder and the fluffiest brush I could find. Yup, my colorless finely milled finishing powder clung to the sticky foundation making the result look even more powdery. Not the natural look I was going after.
At this point I looked liked walking death with a grey cast to my face and a powdery finish. Sexy? Sure if I were a zombie. A zombie who worked at a beauty counter and could not color match my own living dead skin tone.
Since I am hardcore I left it on my face just to test out performance (no I did not go outside, I didn’t want to scare any small children with my deathly look). I was curious how it would hold up throughout the day. After I powdered my face and waited another 20 minutes I felt like everything settled. My skin looked and felt pretty matte. The powder-ness kind of sunk in and looked a little bit better- although like I mentioned this really accentuated any facial hair I had. Keep in mind I’m naturally blonde and not hairy at all, yet I felt the need to go shave my face after looking in the mirror with this foundation. Ick. It held up well through the day, I had it on for about 4 hours when it started looking a little dry/dewy on my combo skin but nothing too terrible. A good 6 hours into it I felt like I needed to rub it back into my skin as it started to separate on my chin and settle into my larger pores on my cheeks.
I got less dewy with Revlon Colorstay Whipped than I did with MAC Studio Sculpt, which was a plus. I felt like MAC Studio Sculpt made my skin look smoother than Revlon Colorstay Whipped though. Also MAC Studio Sculpt offers livelier fair shades- bright and nice, not dull and deathly. Overall these two foundations are very similar. I’d say if you hated Studio Sculpt you’re probably going to hate Colorstay Whipped or vice versa.
I’ll stick to Studio Fix and I will be returning the Colorstay. Even if I could find a better color match in the Revlon Whipped Color Stay I can’t stand the sticky mess it leaves on my face. Sure, maybe it’s a skin prep issue or something… but I’ve never had issues my serum/moisturizer/primer combo before and I am not about to change it up just to suit this foundation.
Skindinavia Bridal and No More Shine Finishing Spray Review
Date night at a dimly lit bar has major skin benefits. Oh girl, you know what I am talking about… overhead beer signs casting off an amber glow that dances across your face creating a soft focus effect to blur out all your skin imperfections. Hollar! That’s what I’m talking about! However with my skin recently clearing up I find myself wanting to take my dates into locations with harsh light just to prove my skin is lookin good!
…But wait… what’s that… oh shit, a foundation meltdown. Make-up slipping and sliding. I’ve always suffered from this no matter what foundation or primer I have used. I end up doing a lot of re-applying my makeup if I have plans at the end of the day, because my make-up will not last a FULL day let alone a few hours. I always contributed my make-up meltdowns to my crappy dry patchy, oily, zitty combination skin.
With a newfound determination to put an end to makeup meltdowns I did some research on finishing/setting sprays. I swore on a bible that I would find a product that would extend the life of my make-up, help rid me of the summer greasies without over drying my dry patchy skin! Tall order but I was ready to use my face as a guinea pig. You do what you gotta do!
First I went MAC… once yo’ go MAC yo’ neva go BACK! Very untrue, I religiously use MAC foundation so I figured I’d pair it off with their Fix+ spray. I hated the Mac Fix+ spray; it made my make-up look disgusting and highlighted pores and wrinkles I didn’t even know existed. It was not a good introduction- ‘SURPRISE GIIIIIIIIRL your skin looks worse than you ever thought it could!!!!”
Next I looked into Model in a Bottle but a lot of reviewers felt it was overly fragrant and left behind with tight hairspray feeling on their skin, even with the sensitive skin version. Plus, to be honest the name ‘Model in a bottle’ gave me unreasonable expectations anyways. Knowing me I’d spray it on and expect to have Heidi Klum skin instantly. With Model in a Bottle scratched off my list I tried the Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray, and it started to break me out and I didn’t notice it doing much of anything. Felt like I was paying 30 bucks to spray water on my face and I could do that for free without the tight skin feeling. Plus spraying water all over my face seems more sexy, a hose, a bikini, a hot day… the start of a 70’s porno.
Then one morning I logged onto facebook with coffee in hand, a rich slathering of clay mask chilling on my face and I noticed a status update from Beauty Stat about Skindinavia 10 Years Younger Setting Spray. In that moment I asked: “Dear Lord… is this a sign? An answer to my prayers?”
Originally I was intrigued with the Skindinavia 10 Year Younger Setting Spray, no, not like I want to look 19…. but since I have dry-ish skin I thought this would be a good match because the 10 Years Younger is geared towards more dry and mature skin. However I researched the shit out of Skindinavia sprays and very few people seemed impressed with the 10 Years Younger. Apparently most reviewers found it to accentuated their make-up, lines, and pores all while giving dry skin a blast of glowy/dewyness… and I HATE dewy (dewy finishes look terrible on my skin despite the fact I have such dry areas).
Eventually I settled on the Skindinavia Bridal Setting spray. It seemed fancy and yet hardcore… a bride obviously wants her makeup to last throughout stress, pictures, tears, dancing, and mass amounts of steamy secret make-out sessions. I couldn’t find too many review on the Bridal spray, but the few I found said it helped keep make-up looking fabulous throughout the day, it had a nice finish and took away that cakey make-up look while still battling shine. In my cart it went! I was a little furious that Skindinavia didn’t offer The Bridal Spray in the smaller size. You can only get the Bridal Setting Spray in a 4oz for $29 while the other sprays are offered in a 2oz for $19.99. (P.s. I ordered from Dermstore because they have a return policy where on Skindinavia site… no returns if it’s open, but next breath they also have a 60-day satisfaction guarantee policy return with no questions? This made me confused. Which is it? I can return? I can’t? I’m naturally blonde… don’t confuse me. Plus Dermstore had a 10% off code and the most insanely fast shipping)!
At the very last second of checkout I panicked and also added the Skindinavia No More Shine Setting Spray. While I have horrible dry patches I also get the shinies mid day especially in the summer (I don’t handle heat well, and my make-up handles even less well than I do) and that’s been annoying me lately. Nothing worse than looking in the mirror to see your reflection starting back at you through your nose shine. I was worried about the No More Shine Spray being too dry for my dry areas but with a return policy on my side I got some major balls and threw caution to the wind and ordered BOTH of them! BAM. Something so freeing about ‘If I hate it I can return it!’
…..Onto the actual reviews!
Skindinavia Bridal Setting Spray-
I was looking forward to this spray extending my make-up life for up to 16 hours, but also taking away the cakey look my make-up can sometime leave behind. In the description it states: This weightless mist gives you a healthy, luminous finish over your makeup and sets it in place, for your special day and luminous is exactly right. It doesn’t leave a ‘matte’ finish, but it also doesn’t leave a ‘dewy’ finish. I will admit it’s a very natural like finish, but I don’t think it works out well for my skin. The luminous finish almost shows off my pores when sprayed on over my powder and makes my make-up look ‘gummy’. I found I get a better result if I spray this on right after foundation, then set it with my powder (I use a pore refining powder so it smoothes out and mattifys the ‘natural’ finish the Bridal spray leaves behind). This kind of defeats the purpose. I know.
On the plus side this does help extend the wear of my make-up and instead of my skin getting too greasy I just get a soft natural looking glow by the end of the day which is better than my normal summer oil ball at the end of the day. Another plus is when I spray it on it doesn’t make my skin feel dry, and it hasn’t irritated my skin nor has it broken me out!
No More Shine Setting Spray-
When I first tried this I used it under and over my make-up like some other reviewers suggested. Ick! Big mistake! It was probably a mistake because of my combo skin- my dry patches did not like that idea. My make-up, even with primer looked patchy and got stuck on my dry patches. My foundation would not go on smoothly when this was sprayed on my skin before make-up.
Next day I sprayed No More Shine on right after I applied my foundation (not before!). Let it dry. Powdered my face and added my blush then sprayed this on again as my final step. This method worked a lot better but left my face feeling like if I were to smile my face would crack. However it didn’t make my face LOOK any more dry, just felt drier.
My make-up help up better with the No More Shine than it did with the Bridal. The No More Shine left me with more of a matte finish, which I prefer and I really didn’t get shiny during the day, where as with the Bridal I got dewy.
A mix of No More Shine and Bridal-
Since I am a genius, I decided to work some magic and play around.
Realizing I didn’t like he luminous finish of the of the Bridal Setting Spray, but also realizing my dry skin felt too dried out with the No More shine but loving the matte finish it left behind I decided to apply a few spritz of the Bridal spray right after my foundation application. Then I powdered and blushed and set my entire face with a few spritz of the No More Shine.
Drum roll please……..
This combo works amazing for my combo skin! Oil control without being overly drying. Not too matte, not too dewy. Make-up lasted through a 4 hour date on a hot summer evening in a shithole bar with a broken AC, then it lasted another 3 hours of drinking and girl gossip with friends and still looked amazing at the end of my night (my hair was another story!). Keep in my mind my make-up never looks fresh and enacted past 3-4 hours just under normal conditions. I’ve been wearing this combo of setting sprays every day for about a week and everyday I am shocked that my make-up still looks great by the end of the day! I still touch up mid day if it’s a hot day, but I’m not having to re-wash ALL my make-up off and start over if I have evening plans!
I am thinking these Setting Sprays would be awesome as birthday, stocking stuffer, or bridal gifts. There’s a setting spray for everyone’s skin type- normal, dry, combo, and aging skin. No skin type is left behind! I’m honestly in love with these setting sprays, yeah I had to shell out some extra cash and buy two and do a little experimenting mix and matching but the end result is worth it!
On a side note I’ve also recently re-broken out my old Bare Escentuals Prime Time Primer (which I thought I hated, but apparently with my new found clearer skin I really dig it) and that’s also working great with these setting sprays to help prolong the life of my makeup.
Hair smell burned? Review: It’s a 10 Miracle Moisture Shampoo, TIGI Bed Head Anti dotes Resurrection Conditioner, It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-IN LITE, Redken All Soft Supple Touch Softening Cream Spray
With my recent curling iron obsession I’ve been curling my hair a good 4-5 times a week and I’ve completely damaged the beejusus out of my hair. I walk around with the aroma of freshly burnt hair! What a lovely scent giiiiiiiiiirl! Mmmmm Mmmmm! Experimenting with tons of thermal protectors, using lower heat temp, cleaning my curling irons, trying 6-7 different curling irons/wands/different coatings…. doesn’t matter. I can flat iron my hair every day and it doesn’t smell burnt, but the second I wrap a section of my red locks around a curling iron, hold for 10 seconds I’m in BIG trouble.
Anyways, I beach waved my hair last Friday because I had a bootycall, and I wanted my hair to look easy, breezy, and careless…. sort of like “Oh, hi, I didn’t spend 2 hours styling my hair for YOU. I just naturally look this good“. After perfecting this careless sexy hair it smelled burnt (I had given my hair a break and hadn’t curled it for a week or so. Apparently this was NOT enough recovery time!). Perfume, dry shampoo, leave in shit, more perfume…. still it smelled burnt. I actually had to apologize to my bootycall while we were passionately rolling around in the sheets because my hair was all up in his face.
“Oh sorry my hair smells burnt. It’s from curling it”
“Maybe you should curl it at a lower temp?”
“I did! I curled it 290 degrees, usually I curl it at the hottest temperature possible! It’s a girl thing. The hotter the better, sort of like how the bigger the better…. ya know….?”
Obviously men don’t understand. Pfffft.
The next morning I was rummaging through my sea of products and broke out my It’s a 10 Miracle Moisture Shampoo, TIGI Bed Head Anti dotes Resurrection Conditioner, It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-IN LITE, and Redken All Soft Supple Touch Softening Cream Spray for Dry/Brittle Hair… and got to work. I’ve been using this amazing random combo of products for a week and I’m happy to report my hair is in tiptop shape and smells lovely! It’s looking healthier than it has looked in a long while, and I plan to go another few weeks without touching a curling iron… ohhhhhh…. it’s SO hard!
1. It’s a 10 Miracle Moisture Shampoo- I got this shampoo and conditioner years ago as a duo set. When I tried them I used them together- Shampoo + Conditioner but the aftermath of this duo was not pleasing. It left my hair coated and greasy. I never tried the shampoo and conditioner separately though, I just assumed I hated them both and chucked them off into my land field of products. Recently I got the It’s a 10 Lite volumizing collection, I gave the entire collection a whirl and it dried the crap out of my hair (except for the Leave-IN which I’ll discuss in a few). This inspired me to dig out the original It’s a 10 shampoo and conditioner, because the benefit of the It’s a 10 products are the benefits my hair would love to receive. I decided to take it slow and use the shampoo separately, and the conditioner separately…. low and behold the shampoo works some magic on my hair!!! It’s not heavy, not coat-y. Turns out it’s the conditioner that is too heavy and coat-y for my hair. The shampoo is now proudly in my shower, while the conditioner is in my trash can.
2. TIGI Bed Head Anti dotesResurrection Conditioner- I use both this shampoo and conditioner pretty regularly but I prefer, well LOVE the TIGI Bed Head Anti Dotes Recovery (the blue one). But since my hair was having a moment of intense crisis I thought the Resurrection Conditioner paired with the It’s a 10 Shampoo would be a good combo, and they really work well together! I was impressed that this combo left my hair soft, but it also left some healthy bounce to my hair.
3. It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-IN LITE- For anyone who thinks the original It’s a 10 Leave-IN was too heavy and greasy…. I’m totally with you. I HATED that stuff. Despite the fact I have thick and color treated hair I felt it did anything for my hair except coat it! So I received the LITE when I got to try out the It’s a 10 Volumizing line, and while I hated all the other products in their volumizing line I LOVED this Leave-In LITE! It makes my hair crazy soft, manageable, less frizzy, works as a protectant all without weighing my hair down or giving me the coated feeling the original one did. I run this through my entire head when my hair is damp, and I’ve even used a tiny amount on dry hair and it acts nicely as a frizz tamer/shine enhancer!
4. Redken All Soft Supple Touch Softening Cream Spray for Dry/Brittle Hair- I actually bought this a few months ago when I first started my curling iron obsession. The ‘dry/brittle’ hair is what sold me, I perked up and thought ‘THAT’S MY HAIR!’ (not like I should be excited about that). When I first started using this I had the oddest reaction- it was a love hate. You know how most products claim to do all this magic stuff but they rarely live up to their claims? Well this product lived up to its claims but almost TOO well. Crazy right? It actually made my dry/frizzy hair too manageable and soft! No joke, I felt ridiculous for hating on it because it did what I wanted it to do but did it too well. It made my hair so soft and manageable without weighting it down… so my hair was this little fluff of supple hair that… just…. hung there soft as silk, but yet I couldn’t work with it. Once I started putting the It’s a 10 Leave-IN LITE through my entire head, I decided to follow up by putting the Redken All Soft JUST on the ENDS of my hair and this made all the difference in the world. It makes my ends nice and soft and I feel like it helps protect my ends, but it eliminates the issue of this product making ALL my hair overly soft to the point where I can’t work with it (that sounds so ridiculous, who woulda thought you could get your hair TOO soft?!)
Anyways, I thought I’d share some of the products that saved my hair. I’m sure I can’t be the only one who suffers from burnt hair syndrome, and if anyone has some magic curling iron that does not burn hair please let me know. I’m on the market, I just haven’t told my hair yet.
L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow Review
To be honest I don’t wear eyeshadow very often. My everyday look is black liquid eyeliner and red lipstick, so I often feel when I add eyeshadow into the mix I look like a total whore! However, since I died my hair red I found that golds and copper shades look awesome with the new do and don’t clash with my everyday red lips (red lips get top priority in my life).
Holiday 2011 I picked up the Lancôme Ombre Magnetique eyeshdow in Disco Gold because I fell in LOVE with the gold color (it wasn’t too light nor too dark, not orange, not bronze… but just a nice aged gold color) It was my first dabble at an eyeshadow in the pressed pigment texture, and I loved it. However it wasn’t very long-lasting or very vibrant in color (it would just fade away after a few hours). Then I made the fatal mistake of leaving the lid off and it dried out entirely changing the easy application of the eyeshadow. BUMMER! I have serious issues with putting lids back on things; you have no idea how many products I’ve ruined because of this horrible habit! (Below is a picture of my Lancôme Ombre Magnetique eyeshdow in Disco Gold to give you a visual on the comparison to the L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow).
When the L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow came onto the scene I noticed the gold/bronze shades immediately but decided to wait a while and see how the reviews were on these suckers.
Reading the reviews I noticed people talking about the pressed pigment texture, and I got a little excited because I thought of my Lancôme Disco Gold I had ruined. I caved, went to the local drug store and bought the following colors: Eternal Sunshine (hoping this would be a close match to the Lancôme disco gold), Amber Rush, and Taupe.
From left to right- Eternal Sunshine, Amber Rush, Taupe.
Once I got home and ripped into these L’Oreal Infallible eyeshadows I realized that yes, they were a dupe of the Lancôme limited edition 2011 version! But they are even better because I feel they are more pigmented.
Onto the colors- each of these colors on their own don’t do a whole lot for me. Eternal Sunshine is not the same ‘aged’ gold as the Lancôme (even though they look so similar in the pictures), it’s close… but doesn’t have the depth I was looking for. Taupe is too brown for me, and Amber Rush is far too pink for me. I almost wish all three of these colors would have an orgy and make me a bronze-ish colored love child!
The awesome thing about these shadows is their blending abilities and the smooth velvet texture. I love eyeshadow that I can apply with my finger, applying eyeshadow with a brush always takes up too much time for me. I want to savagely blend it with my finger! With these eyeshadows you can do just that, so I started playing around and blending the colors. Turns out when I lay down a layer of Amber Rush on my lid, then blend Taupe into my crease line and then highlight my brow bone and inside corner with Eternal Sunshine I get an amazing vivid wash of golds/bronzes. They blend beautifully together! I got the orgy bronze-ish color I was after.
Lasting power on these shadows is not so great without a primer, I invested in the L’Oreal eye primer and when I use that on my lids with these shadows I got a solid 8 hours of perfect wear, and even after the 8 hours the creasing is minimal and fading is minimal. Obviously 24 hours is a hard claim to live up too, and besides that who honestly needs eyeshadow to last 24 hours? Hell, I am happy with 8 hours. Maybe it doesn’t take all that much to please me? Hmm. If that’s the case I really should have a boyfriend by now?….
Anyways I would recommend L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow’s, especially if you are looking for easy blend eyeshadows at an accessible price. I feel these are virtually screw-up proof because they blend so amazingly well. Grab a few colors and play around.
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