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Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel ($19.00) is an easy-to-use, multi-tasking product to keep your brows looking polished and in place throughout the day. It’s available in three colors: Caramel (warm golden light brown), Espresso (rich dark brown), and Granite (grayish taupe). The one pictured above is the Caramel shade, which is a bit too light for my tastes, but at the same time, the formula is sheer so it does help make my brows look less severe and very natural. I recommend Espresso for those with dark black/brown brows like mine, though–it’s a much better color match!
Brow gel is designed to keep your brows in place; it’s very similar to gel that you’d use in your hair in the same sense that it gives you hold. Since these are tinted, they can also help fill in sparse spots in your brows and eliminate the need to fill in. I find that when I use Anastasia’s Brow Gel, my brows are held in place all day long, even though they tout that you can easily toss it in your purse for touch-ups! (You definitely can, it’s not a heavy tube or anything, but I had no reason to touch-up!)
Anastasia states that the botanical formula plumps the hair follicle, which helps to give the appearance of fuller, thicker brows. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you if it was true, because my brows looked to be normal fullness once they were set with this. Because of the tinted nature of the product, I found it hard to truly tell if my brows were all plumped up (mine aren’t too sparse). I think if you had sparser brows, you might be able to ascertain whether it does or not! One thing I do wish they’d change is the size of the applicator brush; it’s basically a mascara wand, but it’s just a little large for my brows. If you have very full brows, you probably would have no issues with the size.
You can find yours at Sephora.com.
Lash Addiction is a brand all about giving you the lashes you’ve always wanted, whether they’re the ultra dramatic or just filling in sparsely lashed areas. They have over twenty different styles of eyelashes, and they’re available in drugstores nationwide for a whoppin’ $6 a pop. When you can’t afford the ever-luxe shu uemura fancy schmancy lashes, think about checking out Lash Addiction next time you’re perusing the makeup aisles at your favorite Drugstore.
Now, if only it came with a personal false lash assistant, because I completely suck at applying false lashes. I’ve tried tweezers to hold, eyelash holding devices, cutting lashes into halves, thirds… nothing seems to work out very well for me! If I had more time to waste (like an hour), I’d definitely practice more, but I simply can’t spend an hour struggling to get them on these days!
Here are some photos of other lash styles… Continue reading →
Lush Breath of Fresh Air Toner ($7.95 to 17.45) is designed to re-hydrate dry skin while restoring your skin back to the correct pH balance. What I really love about all of Lush’s toners is that they come in handy spray-bottles. You can spritz on the go, on your face, or on a cotton pad–whatever you like–and you know you’re going to get the same amount. I find two spritzes onto a cotton pad to be perfect for half my face, then I repeat on the other side of the cotton pad to finish my face. One bottle seems to last forever–it’s definitely not a product you have to buy more than once or twice a year.
While some cleansers have made toning unnecessary, it’s still an easy step to keep to your beauty routine. I find that they are really helpful to ensure you’ve gotten every last vestige of your makeup off. If you have acne-prone skin like mine (which is terrible right, ugh!), you definitely do what you can to minimize the chance of setting off a breakout by keeping that skin clean before you go to bed! I also like that this toner really does not dry out your skin whatsoever or make it feel tight at all. It is a toner more suitable for those with dry skin, because it helps to soothe it.
The one thing I dislike about the toner is that there is perfume in the ingredients’ list. I really don’t know why it’s necessary, and I’m not sure why there isn’t a more natural way to make it smell acceptable. I just worry when perfume is listed anywhere but in the very last portion of an ingredients’ list!
Ingredients: Spring Water (Aqua), Fresh Sea Water (Aqua), Aloe Vera Gel (Aloe barbadensis), Perfume, Carrageenan Extract (Chondrus crispus), Rose Absolute (Rosa centifolia), Patchouli Oil (Pogostemon cablin), Rosemary Oil (Rosmarinus officinalis), Seaweed Absolute (Fucus vesiculosus), *Limonene, *Linalool, Methylparaben.
Do you throw out your makeup when you should? Do you toss mascara after 2-3 months? Do you throw away old lipsticks and gloss? Or do you hang on to ‘em? Store things in the fridge?
If you could revamp DuWop Lip Venom, what would you change? What would you keep the same? How would you make it an even better product?
NARS Deep Throat Blush
During Sephora’s Friends & Family Sale last November, I picked up two NARS blushes and Orgasm Lip Gloss. I opted for Deep Throat, even though I’ve owned it before, because I wanted to give it another shot. People say for those who don’t LOVE NARS Orgasm Blush to give Deep Throat a try instead. I don’t have Orgasm blush, but I do have Super Orgasm blush, which does work really well for me. I don’t find it too glittery at all! Dolce Vita caught my eye mostly for its name (some are suckers for packaging, I’m a sucker for product names, sigh!). I also bought Orgasm Lip Gloss, because so many of you recommended it to me–especially because it was similar to Cle de Peau’s #2 Lip Gloss.
Can you believe I’ve only worn Deep Throat blush once? And Dolce Vita has gotten a lil’ more love with two or three uses. They’re in my blush containers, which I so rarely access with all of the newer cheek products that come out lately (MAC, I’m looking at you!). Deep Throat is a darker, deeper pink with peachy-gold shimmer (and it isn’t the chunky shimmer like Super Orgasm, for those wondering). Dolce Vita looks surprisingly good on my skin tone; I was quite worried it would be too pigmented and more muddy than pretty on my cheeks. It would make a nice everyday blush for me, actually. It doesn’t have any shimmer (that I could tell), which is a bonus for those who are hunting for shimmer-free cheek colors!
Orgasm Lip Gloss is not quite a dupe for Cle de Peau’s #2 Lip Gloss, which is not to say that it isn’t a pretty color, though! I find the luxe lip gloss to be much more shimmery and golden-toned with just a slight pink-peach base, whereas Orgasm Lip Gloss has a darker gloss base and less noticeable shimmer. They’re both fantastic glosses, and Orgasm Lip Gloss is a nice way to get close to Cle de Peau for half the price.
Photos and swatches… Continue reading →