Here is one of the most coveted nail colours of the year: A sparkly blackened grey polish as the base with medium-sized, multi coloured glitter. What I really love about this polish is that the glitter is not chunky so it’s festive and adult at the same time. Works well alone with 2-3 coats for full coverage but also looks amazing over black, grey and even white polish. It probably contains every colour of glitter – red, orange, teal, purple, silver – so you have lots of layering options.
This polish is sold out in most places, but you could still probably find it on eBay and a few other beauty sites.
FTC Disclosure: These products were purchased by Noire Tropical Beauty. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.
So this limited edition collection has come out in both the US and internationally. Here are my 2 cents.
I love the packaging, they did a good job on this one. The white background with the floral and bird motif works really well. Even the inside of the boxes were printed with a multi-coloured floral pattern. For those people that like to collect limited edition packaging from M.A.C., you won’t be disappointed.
For the rest of you, this is a good collection, not great but good. A lot of the colours are dupable, but there were a few standouts.
1) Blue India Nail Lacquer – The message boards have been buzzing about this one for months! A beautiful, midtone tealish blue creme with a greyed effect. Hot!!! Would really look good as a pedicure colour.
This collection came out on April 1st in the U.S., and while I loooooooove the greasepaint sticks (seriously they were the best thing M.A.C. created in 2009!!), I don’t think you need to pick up every colour. If you picked up the black one from the Style Black collection, or B (blue)or V (violet/purple) from the DSquared collection, you don’t need to pick these colours up from this collection. They’re pretty close. Also most of the colours are pretty dark, where Below Ground and Dirty are the only fairly light ones. These GPSs make great bases and after they have set, they don’t crease or rub off. Works especially well with mineralize eye shadows and those with oily lids. They can also be used as liners or by themselves as eye shadows. I hope M.A.C. makes these permanent! Ahem!…..M.A.C., yuh hearin’ me…!
Seriously, these are good, and I hope they bring out some lighter colours, along with some matte shades.
Top Row (L to R): Industrial, Petrol Blue, Undercurrent, GPS (L to R) - Slick Black, Below Ground, Brown Now, Greengrease, Charred Mauve, Zinc Zone, Dirty.
Must haves: Below Ground (this is a gorgeous bronze, great for summer and it replaces my Gentil Lentil shadestick), Zinc Zone (wonderful steely grey – for the not black but sultry smokey eye).
Overall Grade: A-
(only because I wanted more variety!!!)
Maybes:
As for the Pearlglides, they are brightly pigmented and Petrol and are absolutely gorgeous. I did not get any of them as they are NOT safe for use in the waterline !:-(
Overall Grade: B+
(Not waterline safe!)
I did not swatch the Prolongwear Lipstain Markers, because I heard a lot of not so good reviews on them. Apparently they don’t last that long at all and you have to wear a lip balm underneath as they are super drying…so they were a no go for me. I think there are cheaper alternatives like the Covergirl markers or the ones from Avon’s Mark line.
For my Trinis: These should be coming out within the next 2 weeks or so at the M.A.C. store at West Mall. Usually the collections come out on a Saturday, so call to find out, cuz they will sell out early!!!! Doh say ah didn’t warn yuh!!!
Until next time….laters!!!!!
FTC Disclosure: These products were bought by me. For more information on my Disclosure policy, please check out my disclosure page.
So, as I previously mentioned, I visited Target last week and bought a new hair product. Today’s review is going to focus on the SheaMoisture’s Organic Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque.
It is advertised to have Sea Kelp, Argan Oil and Shea Butter and it’s to heal, grow and strengthen dry, damaged hair.
First, a little history about SheaMoisture….
As per the packaging:
“Sofi Tucker started selling Shea Nuts at the village market in Bonthe, Sierra Leone in 1912. By age 19, the widowed mother of four was selling Shea Butter, Black Soap and her homemade hair and skin preparations all over the countryside. Sofi Tucker was our grandmother and SheaMoisture is her legacy.”
So this is basically a family business that has blossomed over the last almost 100 years!!!!!
Now back to the product…..
The thing that caught my eye is that the product contains no parabens, no phthalates, no paraffin, no gluten, no propylene glycol, no mineral oil, no sulphates, no synthetic fragrances, no PABA, no DEA, no synthetic colours, no animal ingredients and they conduct no animal testing. Therefore this product is also cruelty-free and made with ethically traded ingredients. This just has ‘great’ written all over it and as you know I am always looking for all natural/organic minority-owned businesses to support.
What this product does contain are some wonderful ingredients. In general, you want to make sure that the ingredients advertised are the first 5-6 products on the label and this one certainly follows that rule! Three of those first ingredients are:
Shea Butter – deeply moisturizes, and repairs damage to hair and scalp
Argan Oil – restores shine and rebuilds hair elasticity
Sea Kelp – trace minerals detoxify hair follicles of impurities and residue
The verdict: This product lives up its claims. It has a rich, creamy texture which coated my hair and instantly made my hair supa soft! This has a lot of slip and I left this in for about 1 hour with a plastic cap. I could feel the slip from the oil and shea butter, but I was not left with a greasy residue. My hair was real easy to detangle and, again, my hair was super smooth and soft.
This is a must keep for me!!! I love this product and it’s affordable price and great ingredients will keep this in my hair regime for a while!!!!!
Overall Rating: A!
This product is available from select Target locations and for the Trinis, this may be available from Beauty on D’Avenue in the coming months!
FTC Disclosure: Product was bought by me. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.
I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase one of the natural girl’s favourites, Kinky Curly Knot Today. I’ve heard a lot about this product and this line. I currently use their Come Clean cleanser, which works great as it cleanses without drying my hair out. A lot of people use this product as a deep conditioner and a moisturizing detangler.
Here’s what the product says:
“… This creamy herbal conditioner is enriched with botanical extracts and is designed to smooth the cuticle and to remove knots, snarls and tangles from thick curly hair.”
This is a cruelty-free, organic, nourishing concoction in a bottle!!! I love this product. I think it runs neck and neck with my all time favourite, Oyin’s Honey Hemp Conditioner. The ingredients list reads like a who’s who of wholesome, natural hair products:
Organic mango fruit extract – naturally occurring,used for conditioning properties
Organic slippery elm – slippery!! great detangling agent
Organic marshmallow root – conditioner and detangler
Organic lemongrass – adds shine to hair and anti-microbial
cetyl alcohol – it’s an alcohol, but it’s among other things, an emollient, which softens and smoothes hair and skin
Behentrimonium methosulphate – very mild compound which has superior detangling properties
citric acid – natural preservative
phenoxyethanol – organic antibacterial
natural fragrance
This product is worth the $$$$, it made detangling with a wide-tooth comb a breeze and added moisture to my hair. My hair was super smooth afterwards. Another good thing about this product, it’s also a leave-in conditioner. So after washing with the Come Clean and detangling with the Knot Today, I rinsed and added a little bit of the Knot Today again. This product helped keep my coils defined.
The only downside, is the price. At about $12 for an 8 oz. bottle, it’s pricey, but for me it’s worth it.
This will be in rotation, but I think I’ll use it every 2 weeks and use my Aubrey Organics in between for moisture.
Overall Grade: A!
Knot Today is sold at Body Beautiful on D’Avenue in Trinidad & at Ricky’s in New York and Whole Foods.
