All Eyes On Her

I kept promising I’d update some 100% Pure reviews here, and the drafts have been sitting around for ages. So I figured I’d finally get started and kick some of these out!

First up is the Peach Pigmented Brightening Concealer (in White Peach). Not surprisingly, this stuff isn’t even close to a good color match for me. And with only three shades, I’m not surprised! I do wish the company would make more shades for all of their products. I’d love to try out their new-ish tinted moisturizer and powder, but I suspect even the palest shade will be as dark and orangey-awful as this was… and most QVC reviews seem to confirm this.

But enough about the color! At first I liked the consistency of this concealer, just based on how it felt on my skin… but eventually I realized that it gave blotchy and weak coverage at best (especially for really red acne marks). This was a real bummer, since I’m concerned about mineral pigment concealers clogging my pores and making my acne worse. But alas, I’ll be sticking with my Everyday Minerals custom palette, since I haven’t yet found a better solution.

And as far as under-eye concealing goes, I found that this stuff clung to any dry/flaky skin patches that my Retin-A might leave behind, and that it was prone to settling into the fine lines I admit I’m developing there. So that was a no go, too.

However, I was surprised by how much I liked the brush-tip applicator. (I had always shied away from those, thinking they’d spread bacteria if I used them to conceal acne. But when I saw this one up close, I could tell it would be possible possible to wash the brush without contaminating the product, as long as I was careful to keep the brush facing down the whole time.) It’s still not my ideal, but I didn’t hate it, which is big for someone as picky as me!

I wound up just giving this away to someone on Makeup Alley. I see from QVC that they seem to have switched to a wand-tipped applicator — fair enough, but the important changes need to be the formulation, not the packaging!

Ages ago, I received a swap on Makeup Alley for an Ojon conditioner. I remember using the conditioner, adoring its rich sweet/spicy scent, and being absolutely amazed at how it left my hair. However, since I was a) reluctant to pay Ojon’s high prices and b) already committed to my Redken AllSoft duo, I never really pursued the Ojon thing further. (I left it as a wishlist item on Makeup Alley, but no dice.)

I finally caved and decided to order the trial-sized versions of their Ultra Hydrating Shampoo and Conditioner with my last Sephora order. I could’ve sworn that the sample I tried ages ago was a brown-tan color, but this time around the conditioner was bright yellow. And I swear, it just doesn’t feel like the same product.

The same fabulous smell is there, but my locks are left kind of dry and unhappy with this stuff. And the shampoo is frustrating — it feels fairly drying and not all that moisturizing/frizz reducing, yet it has a really weak lather and I have to use it twice to even get my scalp clean after a mere two days of unwash. I even tried doubling this duo with Ojon serum and my standard L’Oréal leave-in conditioner (that’s meant for African-American hair, it’s so rich!) but it STILL left me feeling parched.

The verdict? No way am I spending Ojon-high dollars on haircare. Many a hairstylist has pooh-pooed my addiction to Redken AllSoft, but nothing has EVER made my hair look, feel or behave as well as that stuff. At some point, I hope I learn to just quit experimenting with other options… but until then, at least I’ve gotten smart enough to stick to the travel size options when I deviate, so I don’t go TOTALLY broke!

Hard Candy is having a big (going out of business?) online sale — 75% off is a whole lotta off! Mind you, ya won’t catch me making the same mistake as I did with Besame, but I may splurge on an item or two if shipping costs are low enough.

After all, the eye shadow quads I’ve lusted after since I was in HIGH SCHOOL are now affordable! And I’ve tried Hard Candy stuff before, so I know what I can and can’t do from their collections. (Let the justifications continue…)

I may even try out some new items like their mini nail polish set, too, if I can wrangle the shipping to work in my favor. I am SUCH a glutton for a bargain!

I recently caught wind of a massive sale at Besame Cosmetics. I found out about it on a Friday evening, and the sale was only good through the rest of the weekend.

I had questions about ingredients since none were listed on their site, and I couldn’t get hold of their customer service over the weekend. I did find a page that described their general ingredient philosophy. It seemed fairly natural, so I took the plunge.

Bad call! Turns out, everything they make is chock full of petrochemicals, bismuth oxychloride, dimethicone, and lots of other ickies. (Even the foundation has petrolatum listed very high on the ingredient list — blech.)

In their favor, the packaging is truly lovely. But I’m not sure I’ll ever be putting their stuff on my face, assuming I can find another way to rid myself of it! Realistically, I will probably just empty out all their (thankfully magnetic) compacts and replace the contents with pans from other brands. Or just put them on display somewhere — they truly are that beautiful. Too bad the contents didn’t wow me as well.

Sigh, this is what I get for shopping without doing ALL of my homework. I have a soft spot for a) bargains and b) fabulous packaging, so I made an exception to my normally stringent ingredient-checking rule. Hopefully this will serve as a reminder to anyone else thinking of breaking a worthwhile rule!

So, dear beauty freaks, I have kept you waiting for a very long time.  Yes, I finally got around to ordering another 100% Pure product — namely, their eye shadow palette.  Since the item is often out of stock on their QVC Store, I jumped when I saw it listed at Chocolate Lotus.

I first purchased the Cocoa palette, reasoning that plummy shades don’t usually flatter my already-pink-toned skin, especially if they had a lot of red to them — and these certainly seemed to, if my Web browser’s color specs weren’t deceiving me. So I settled on cocoa, praying it wouldn’t be full of terra cotta shades.

But once the item arrived, I could tell with one glance that only one of the six shades would look non-hideous with my coloring. Thankfully, Chocolate Lotus’s Kim is AWESOME, and she let me exchange the item free of charge. So I really wanted to like this item even more!

Sadly, though, the plum palette is not my thing either. I have a slightly higher percentage of shades that work on me — I’m going to ballpark it at 2.5 of the 6 (don’t ask) — but the wonky rating is rendered moot by the shadows’ textures. Though each pan is a bit different, almost all of them are very hard, and almost gummy — no powder sticks to my brushes, and the only way I can get any pigment onto my lids is to really scrape it off with my fingers and rub it in. (Which seems like I’m further compacting/oiling up the pans, so I’m not keen on this method.)

Another minor complaint is that the packaging is blah at best. I’m glad there’s a nice big mirror, but there’s nothing to keep the wallet closed, and the well for applicators isn’t deep enough for decent tools. All in all, I think most makeup aficionadas would agree that these are just not a superior product. 100% Pure has some fabulous ideas, for sure, but they don’t always translate when it comes to usability. (Ahem, body butter and concealer…)

I’m still keen on the line, but I won’t be taking any more pricey chances on maybe items, like I did with this $30 palette. It’s a real shame that Bath and Body Works won’t be carrying 100% Pure in more of their stores, because I’m sure I’m not the only one who would like to be able to try before I buy! There are so many other newish items I’m dying to sample, like the brow powder, cream eyeliner, and tinted moisturizer. But until there’s a better way to test them out, I’m afraid I’m holding off for now.

So I’ve been using Devita’s Solar Protection Creme 30 for a couple years now, and it’s still treating me well.  Despite concerns about the actual level of sun protection, this product is the most cosmetically elegant and skin-friendly sunblock that my picky skin has ever found.

Turns out, there’s an even cheaper way to enjoy it! The company came out with a body block formula that’s nearly identical to their facial sunblock, but is significantly cheaper.

The body block also comes in smarter packaging (a bottle rather than a jar) which makes it more hygienic and therefore increases its shelf life. Sure, it’s no amber glass vacuum-sealed pump bottle*, but they can’t all be winners. I’m pleased to find a way to make this sunblock a bit more user-friendly.

Devita products can be tough to track down, though. I’ve found that the best prices are at Internatural, though they haven’t yet caught on to the fact that this sunscreen’s growing popularity means they might want to maintain a larger product stock — they frequently run out and take forever to get a new supply in. But at 15-20% cheaper than the rest of the Web, plus free shipping for larger orders, they’re the best vendor I’ve found.

Fair warning to those of you who get inspired to try other Devita products: they’re not all golden like this one! Devita sure did hit a home run in the sun care department, but I’ve found their other creams to be mediocre at best, and I have serious beef with their body wash and their allegedly alcohol-free acne pads (which are, in fact, chock full of alcohol — sensitive complexions beware!). So much so that I don’t trust anything else they formulate. So experiment at your own risk, but don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

*And in fact, the packaging shown on the Devita site is not accurate. Instead of a nice cosmetically sound pump bottle, it’s in a flip-top plastic bottle. Still functional, but not quite as elegant and a wee bit harder to use.

I’ve been working on a DIY beta hydroxy solution that doesn’t contain any alcohol, and I pestered the chemist over at The Personal Formulator about solubility, and they were pretty informative:

Salicylic acid is only slightly soluble in water, one gram dissolves in 460mL water. To incorporate salicylic acid to a formulation, the following methods can be used:

1) it can be added to the oil phase of the emulsion and heated to 80-85C

2) it can be added to a water phase containing sodium phosphate, borax, alkali acetates or citrates to increase its solubility in water

3) it can be combined with a glycol, such as propylene glycol

Since I’m not gung-ho about using borax, glycols or any other unnecessary chemicals, I went ahead and tried to dissolve it in oil alone. However, the crystals seem to re-crystalize once the oil returns to room temperature. I’ve been shaking the solution vigorously and applying it anyway, and I haven’t had any problems — but I’m just not convinced it works well.

Blast it, I wish I knew more about solubility and other basic chemistry concepts! Next time, I’ll be trying to add it to a lecithin-emulsified solution to see if that helps. If any other skincare gurus have ideas, please share them!

In my continuing obsession with 100% Pure products, I’d like to highlight their delicious body cream collection. I’ve sampled their pineapple, nectarine, honey almond, and coconut scents, and I loved them all! (Though I have to admit, I was partial to the coconut — it made me smell exactly like a fresh-baked macaroon.)

I expected to hate some of these creams, because I usually can’t stand a lot of fruit fragrances, even if they’re allegedly natural. But I was pleasantly surprised every time with these guys! The pineapple and nectarine smell closer to the real thing than anything else I’ve tried. (And as an aside, their strawberry lemonade shower gel smelled drinkable, that’s how accurate it was. It’s kind of eerie.)

I’m not sure exactly how they derive their fragrances, but whatever they’re doing is working for them. The scents do last a long time, but they’re not so strong that they overwhelm your normal fragrance products. (They’re just noticeable up close — but be careful, you may be tempted to lick them off your skin!)

The consistency of these creams is just dreamy — softening and moisturizing and yet it sinks in great. It’s a very thick cream, so it’s nice and concentrated, but it doesn’t feel greasy at all after you apply it. I’ve found that they help a lot with my dryness-prone skin.

I can’t wait to try out some of their other dessert-like scents, such as chocolate mocha, white chocolate, and vanilla bean. I’m a sucker for lotions that smell like baked goods, I guess! I’ll definitely update if I try out these scents, but for now I’m not even halfway through my bottle of Organic Virgin Coconut — it’s that potent!

I’ve been enjoying my 100% Pure products for some time now, and I keep meaning to formalize my thoughts in a review. What better time than 12:48 AM? Since I have a TON of products to comment on, I’m breaking them into individual posts. First up — their Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream. My six-month-plus search for the perfect eye treatment is finally over!

This stuff is rich and thick, but doesn’t feel too slick or balm-like on my skin. It sinks in fairly well, but still leaves a moisturizing feel. I can use it under makeup without it being too crazy and oily-feeling or looking.

It hasn’t caused milia or irritation for me as of yet, though it does occasionally clog my pores where my crows feet join my temples. (Nothing a little Retin-A/Clarisonic can’t handle, though.) It seems to contain a bit less caffeine than my oldy-but-moldby Best Bath Store eye cream, but I still notice a bit of a plumping effect. It can sting a bit if I get it directly in my eye, but that’s true of almost any product when it comes to my sensitive peepers.

Plus, I LOVE that it comes in a glass pump bottle instead of a jar, so it can’t go bad as quickly. (I just wish they’d make it dark glass so the product would hold up better, but hey, that’s a small complaint amidst a sea of raves!)

And best of all, and the delicate vanilla scent is so enjoyable, and I can smell it for quite some time after I apply it. (This might be a drawback for some users, but I adore it — most of my fragrance choices have vanilla notes to them, so it blends well in my case.) All in all, I’m super-happy to have found this — I’ve even gotten a couple of friends hooked on it!

I’ve been reading cult reviews of Urban Decay’s Primer Potion for ages, and I finally broke down and impulse-bought some at Sephora a month ago.

I wanted to really give it a good run before I reviewed it, but my goodness has it earned its stripes! Or rather, lack thereof — I’ve NEVER found an eye shadow base that actually prevented that mid-lid crease line before. (They all say they will, but most don’t.) Sadly, I can’t show you amazing pics of my shadow holding up, because I don’t have a camera that really captures it well — you’ll have to trust me for now! I’ll upload a pic once we get a real camera.

I only have a couple problems incorporating this new product. First of all, if you’ve been using a product like Retin-A around your brow bone like I have*, it can highlight any flaky patches you may be going through.

Secondly, it really grips your shadow, which means you have to be much more precise about application — I find that it’s a lot harder to blend shades with a coat of Primer Potion on, so no more sloppy half-awake shadow jobs!

These aren’t big issues — I just use it up to and slightly above my crease, avoiding my brow bone. And I think it’s actually trained me in better applications techniques for my shadows!

And thankfully, I had come across buzz in the beauty blogosphere about how to remove all the excess product from the adorable but poorly-designed container. Clumps of Mascara writer Brittany has laid out a helpful how-to here, complete with pictures to guide you.

Read the rest…