L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

This post is more of a warning for fellow ladies who suffer often from smudging of their mascaras. For me, this happens with most mascaras, as I have monolids and my lashes point straight down. This means they're almost constantly brushing against my undereye area, and often by the end of the day I'll have black marks there.

What I've realized is that this problem is made much worse by L'Oreal and Lancome mascaras (they're the same company, so probably no surprise they share certain formulations). The Lancome Hypnose mascara smudges like mad under me, and unfortunately so did this L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara.

While I did like the applicator and dark formula, I now know to stay far away from these brands. Try Covergirl or Maybelline mascaras for slightly less problematic wear.

Ipsy January 2016 Unboxing

I finally joined the subscription box bandwagon, but only for Ipsy as it seems to genuinely deliver value, and is almost universally ranked better than Birchbox on the comparisons I've seen. This was my first subscription bag, and honestly I'm very pleased. At $10.89 a month after tax, I think it's a fun way to try out new products, and at a very fair price point assuming you actually use everything they include. I've definitely spent more on just a single product, and here you get at least one full-size item, plus several samples and a cute little bag (one can never have enough bags in my opinion).

Since I joined while they were running promos for the free Em by Michelle Phan mascara, I also got a free full-size of the lash gallery mascara. I get that the Em brand hasn't exactly taken root and thus they're probably just giving away the old, unsold products, but I'll take it! Awesome value, and even without the mascara I would have been pleased as I got a full size The Balm eyeliner in a deep purple shade called Scott. That alone would retail for the price of the bag, so throw in the cute glasses bag plus all the other little items and I'm thrilled.

Below is a snap of all the items in my bag. I will update this review with impressions / thoughts once I actually start using all of these items.

Hanalei Sugar Lip Scrub

I was initially least excited about this item, because I'm not a lip scrub user as I generally don't think they do much except irritate the lips. Yet I had to change my mind once I actually tried this. Unlike other sugar scrubs, this one is surprisingly not gritty, and features a delicious lemony scent and sweet taste. You're meant to scrub and wipe off with a tissue rather than rinse off, and I found it to be gentle and very moisturizing. It leaves a hydrating layer afterwards, which goes away after a few moments. And my lips looked very hydrated and plump, which is always a great thing. I like!

The Balm Mr. Write (Now) Eyeliner Pencil in Scott

When I first previewed my Ipsy bag online, it looked like they had selected the yellow /gold shade of this eyeliner for me, which would have been awful as there's no way I could have used that on my Asian complexion. But it seems like Ipsy does take into account your profile details, and luckily I received this very usable, deep purple color, which is quite flattering against dark eyes and which I can't wait to start using.

The product features a pointed tip, and I'm not sure about how it sharpens but assume the cap is self-sharpening. It was incredibly easy to use and glided very smoothly on the skin in my trial-run on my arm, so we'll see how it holds up on the eyes. Generally I'm quite pleased.

(Sorry for the blurry swatch!)

Pixi by Petra eyeshadow dual in Lavendar Bloom

This was another product that I'm surprisingly pleased with. Again, the colors are perfect for my Asian-toned skin and eyes, and will go beautifully with The Balm liner. They swatch beautifully as well, especially the bronzey-champagne shade. The lavendar shade is more matte, while the champagne is a nice shimmery color that I can probably wear everyday.

Burt's Bee's cleansing oil: Interestingly, I was just about to buy this product in CVS, but luckily did not as now I can give it a trial run. I haven't tried many cleansing oils, but as I'm always on the hunt for one that will be effective at removing all of my makeup I'm excited to give this a shot. Will keep you posted!

Skone Eyeshadow smudger brush: To be honest, I don't foresee much use for this. The bristles are really short and were quite hard to work with in my quick trial run. They were also quite hard and uncomfortable. We'll see if it softens up, but for now I'm not impressed.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any thoughts on subscription boxes / Ipsy!

Tarte Blushing Bride Set

As part of the Sephora sale, I also picked up the Tarte blushing bride set, for ~$25. I've tried the Tarte blushers, but never their lip products or mascara before so thought it was a good opportunity. Considering that the retail price for one of their LipSurgence glosses alone is $19 (ridiculous I know), this is seemingly a great value. 

The set included the following:

Lingerie bag

The design of this is actually quite cute, and the quality surprisingly nice. It has a silken sheen and is about the size of a shoe bag. Now, considering that I'm not actually a bride-to-be I may just use this as a general travel bag rather than a lingerie bag. 

Cheek stain in blushing bride

I'm honestly not super impressed with this. I feel like I'm more of a powder blush kind of girl, as cheek stains are a pain to blend. The color is also more barbie pink on the skin (see below swatch) rather than the coral it seemingly is in the tube. Not terrible, but I wouldn't buy it.

  

LipSurgence lip gloss and power pigment, both in blushing bride

These I love. I used to be afraid of bold colors, but something about this cool-toned violet pink lipsurgence balm is just perfect for my skintone and I've received numerous compliments when it's on. It's super pigmented and not drying. I also love the color of the gloss - it's such a peachy, pretty pink that's natural but also done up.

The only negative I have to say about these lip products is that they contain artificial color ingredients, e.g., red 7 etc. I've read that artificial colors are basically poison to your body if you ingest them, and considering that it's near impossible to not wind up eating some of your lip product, this is a bit worrisome. I'm not bothered enough to stop using them, but I think next time I'll try for a more natural pigment based brand. I'm just surprised by Tarte using such cheap ingredients, considering their price point and seeming reputation for being an all-natural brand. But these days I don't trust in most big-box brands.

Lights, Camera, Splashes Mascara and blotting sheets

I haven't tried either of these as I'm still finishing up another mascara and I don't really need blotting sheets in the winter. Will report back. 

All in all, I'm happy with the set, especially due to the lip colors. I don't think I'll be repurchasing any of the items once I'm done trying them out, but it was fun to open up and experiment with this here. 

Tarte: Skinny smolderEYES Liner Review

This summer, I was on a quest to find the perfect eyeliner. One that had natural ingredients (important since it sits on such a delicate area of skin), applied easily without tugging, easy to remove, and wouldn't smudge. Unfortunately, this product from Tarte, which was a recommendation from a Sephora staff member, only met my first two criteria.

This liner comes with a smudging sponge on one end. It's a pencil liner, and I got it in the traditional black color Onyx.

 

In terms of ingredients, I was fairly pleased that it was made free of parabens, mineral oil, and phthalates. I also liked that it glided on easily, making for smooth application, and you could also smoke it out with the sponge.



My main issue was with the difficulty in removing this product. I get that Amazonian clay is branded as a long-lasting product, but honestly I felt like I was almost tugging my eyelids off every time I tried to remove it at the end of the day. Even with designated makeup remover and multiple face washes (including my trusty Kiehl's calendula cleanser) I would be left with smudges of black under and around my eye. Maybe something like Bioderma would have been better, but I never tried it, and frankly I doubt even that would have been enough.

Worse yet, since it's a pencil liner it would smudge by the end of the day, making it impossible to get that perfect smooth line to stay. At a price of almost $20 each, I didn't feel like it was justified. I have since returned it to Sephora.

If any of you have suggestions on good eyeliners, please let me know and I look forward to finding a better product to fit my needs.