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Tag: Reviews (page 3 of 5)

A few swatches and thoughts from M.A.C.'s Art Supplies Collection

April 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

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.

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Product Review time!!! Looking for a good deep conditioner???

April 19, 2010 / / 7 Comments

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.

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Is Karen's Body Beautiful a keeper??? A review…

December 3, 2009 / / 0 Comments

So I have been waiting to try Karen’s Body Beautiful (KBB) until I fully transitioned, but curiosity got the better of me!!! So last Friday, I headed down to my old neighbourhood of Fort Greene in Brooklyn to the store on Myrtle Avenue.  I did some research on YouTube and beauty blogs to see exactly what people liked.  And hands down, the Hair Milk came in as the numero uno, must-have item from this line.  People just went on and on about it, so I wanted to see what the deal was.

Upon arriving at the boutique, I noticed how many scents the hair products came in.  Vanilla Latte, Egyptian Musk, Pomegranate Guava, Chamomile Sage to name a few.   I needed some help deciding what to choose and I was greeted by a wonderful lady with big curly hair.  I explained to her that I was looking for a deep, moisturizing treatment that I could detangle my hair with.  We eventually decided on the Luscious Locks Moisturizing Hair Mask (LLMHM) and of course the Hair Milk in Pomegranate Guava.  The service was great and I was dying to get home to try it out.

Luscious Locks Hair Mask, photo courtesy KBB website

On wash day, I cleaned my hair and scalp with Kinky Curly Knot Today followed by Aubrey Organics GPB Protein Treatment.  I then applied the LLMHM thoroughly from scalp to ends.  LLMHM had a light, herby scent.  This was probably due to the ayruvedic herbs, including shikakai and amla.  This all-natural product was designed to moisturize, strengthen hair, detangle and promote hair growth.  It’s a white, semi thick product with good slip, but not as much as my all time fave, Oyin Honey Hemp Conditioner.  I left it on for about 1 hour and sat under the hair dryer on low heat for about 20 mins.  When it came time to detangle, could I say whoa!! It was so easy to slid my shower comb through my hair and it easily  detangle the hair at the intersection between relaxed and natural.  It also washed out really easily and my hair felt really soft, moisturized and my curls were well defined!  This a keeper for sure.  Now it is a little on the expensive side but for me its worth it.  It’s meant to be used once a month, although I plan on using it twice a month in the winter.  I would not cowash with it as it would be done in a week.

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Swatched!: Zoya Matte Velvet Winter 2009 + one more!

November 5, 2009 / / 1 Comment

So I have been impatiently waiting for my shipment of the latest Zoya matte collection. I ordered these since mid-Septmeber and they took about a month to come. Boy, I checked my mailbox every single day! The folks at Zoya tweeted that they had to rework the formulas to make them more matte hence the delay in the shipment.  Glad to hear that they really try to put out a quality product.

I’ve had lots of fun testing out polishes using the Essie Matte About You topcoat, but sometimes you have to just buy the matte polish as it is just that gorgeous!!!

Enter the Winter collection for Zoya.  I can tell you it was well worth the wait for these colours!  Once again Zoya brought out three A-mazing colours encased in a frosted glass container with easy-to-use rubberized cover.  I really, really like this packaging.  At first glance, the colours in the bottle are really rich and pigmented with silver shimmer.  These colours are beautiful! Especially that purple one! You KNOW I had to get that one! They all applied great and took a little longer to dry which allows you to smoother, cleaner finish and once again,  they dry matte but the tiny shimmer particles give it great dimension so it’s not flat. They really created some unique matte colours.  These are must haves and they’re one of the best matte collections out there. Get them!

All have 2 coats.  These also were not the easiest to photograph. Still working on my photography skills. Any tips?

Harlow is a midtone rose with a hint of purple. Almost fuschia.  It’s on the cooler side but it’s a really nice colour.  This photo’d mostly true to colour.

Harlow

Veruschka is a deep, hunter green and the silver makes it very festive, great for the holidays. This is my second favourite!  For some reason this photo’d grey, it’s a dark, but bright green.

Veruschka

Veruschka

Savita is a rich, royal purple. What a regal colour!!! Of course this is my favourite one!!!! It’s dark but still bright enough to be seen as purple.  This one is coming across as more of a blue-purple.  It’s actually a true purple. It would look great with a grey sweater or something – especially on darker/tan skin.  I need to play with these colours in a manicure, maybe mixing the matte and adding some gloss. Oooooooo!

Savita

Oh and one more…….

So, I ordered only one of the Zoya Ultra Glitter polishes. I got Astra, which is a reddish pink jelly polish base with red, pink and silver glitter.  I only applied 2 coats, but I think you need 3 for full coverage.

Astra

The glitter is bright and applied fairly smoothly and the surface was pretty smooth.  You’ll need to use extra nail polish remover to get all the glitter off of your fingers. You might shimmer for a day or two.  I think I’ll get the other two colours but I am not sure I’ll wear this all day everyday.  I think they’ll make a good accent colour or added as a top coat for the holidays.

What have you gotten??????

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Volume Alert!: Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes Mascara Review

October 29, 2009 / / 1 Comment

Hey ladies!!

So almost a year after this mascara launched, I finally caved and bought it!  I’m always in search of the ultimate mascara and I had heard a lot of great things about this one.

The Claim

Givenchy promises a mascara that can grip even the tiniest lash from the roots, separating and curling to give a fanned-out, panoramic effect.

The Description


The most striking feature is the wand.  Usually wands are cylindrical or conical in shape but Givenchy came out with a revolutionary, spherical shaped wand. The sphere is covered in short, fine but firm bristles.

The other thing that drew me into the mascara was the colour.  Since I am dark-skinned, I love wearing the blackest, deepest mascara and liner I could find and this one is certainly black! On first application the Phenomen’Black colour was very black and very shiny, another plus.

The mascara comes with a little instruction booklet and it directs you to use the brush vertically, horizontally and diagonally to draw the lashes out in multiple directions for that panoramic effect.

The Verdict

Eyes without mascara

With 2 coats of mascara

I found this mascara to be easy to use and made my lashes stand out.  Especially on my tiny, almost non-existant lower lashes.  I was very impressed with how well-defined each lash was and how black it made my lashes.  The length was incredible and I looked like I was wearing falsies.  I also found that the volume was really good as it nicely thickened my lashes.  I got a bit of a curl but I did not think that they were super curly.  I don’t care as much for curly lashes so this gave just enough.  I got used to using this newly-shaped wand very easily and I have been wearing this mascara just about everyday, on the top lashes alone. With this mascara, I reserve the lower lashes for night-time because the effect is so dramatic.  In the photo I have 2 coats of mascara, and I found little to no clumping, my lashes were still soft and very little smudging even after a loooong workout at the gym!!

I would recommend this mascara to anyone looking for some eye drama.  The only drawback is of course the price. At $28, its is not in the reach for a lot of people, but I think this is well worth it as I have found few mascaras that give this kind of effect!!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

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