Tag Archives: beauty

Butter London Nail Polish in Queen Vic

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I got this last fall on a whim after seeing it a few times. I was going to a wedding and wanted something festive to go with my simple dress. The color is amazing and vibrant, a nice deep raspberry shade, but the formula makes me wish I hadn’t dropped so much monies on it.

It’s pretty thin for one. Now, I like thinner polishes sometimes because it’s easier to get a smooth layer without any lumps on the nail tip, but there is such a thing as too thin. It’s hard to tell in this photo, but I have three layers on polish on, and in the light you can still see streaks. I don’t mind doing three layers instead of two if I love a color, but it better be opaque by that third coat.

It also chips fairly early. I used a cheaper NYC topcoat instead of Seche Vite, so I didn’t expect it to last a full week or anything, but I put this on Sunday night and by Monday afternoon I could see the tip wearing down, and by Tuesday there were some full on chips and cracks in the polish. Disappointment city.

Despite all that, I already own it and the color is beautiful, so I might as well use up this bottle. I’ve had great luck with some other Butter London polishes (I’m looking at you, Rosie Lee), but I’d look for a dupe of this one if I were you.

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GlamGlow Super-Mud Clearing Treatment

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I took a hint from my good friend Becca and picked up the GlamGlow Super-Mud Clearing Treatment mask that I sampled a month or so back. You can get it for almost half off on Amazon, and that’s what I did. Here is a play by play recount of what happens when I wear it for your viewing pleasure. This mask sucks the junk right out of your pores, so if you’ve got a lot of pore congestion like I did when I used it, you can see it all right out in the open. It’s kind of gross, so be warned, but if you like to see a product with immediate results, this is extra fun (and effective!). If you have trypophobia or a fear of pods/clusters, some people don’t like the exaggerated look of the pores, so be careful going forward if you’re sensitive to that!

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Here’s me straight out of the shower, wet hair and all. I’m hiding as best I can while still showing a little bit of my nekkid face.

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Here’s the mast right when you put it on. It goes on a dark gray but starts to dry down to a light gray-green almost immediately. Even though I got this at a good price, I still only spot treat on my worst areas (nose and chin).

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This is the 5-minute mark. It works fast, especially if you’ve got gross stuff hiding in your disgusting pores like me.

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Ten minutes in and it’s getting good. The sides of my nose are always the worst along with a few spots on the bridge and bulb.

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I waited it out until the 20-25 minute mark for the last set of photos. You can see how much oil and greasy gunk came out of the crease above my nostrils. It’s not even the little circles above the pores. They all join together. Nice.

I hope everyone can still look at me the same after seeing all my dirty grossness. When I was looking for product reviews on this I really wanted pictures like this so I hope I can do someone out there a favor. This mask is kind of pricey for the amount you get, especially at full value, but if you use it as a spot treatment and not a full face treatment every time, you can make it last quite awhile. It has other benefits besides clearing out congested pores, like helping with texture and discoloration, but I love it for the pore clearing properties.

When I first wash it off my skin is a little red and my pores are still a little stretched out, but once my skin has few minutes to recover, my pores are noticeably cleaner and smaller-looking.  They stay that way for days and with repeated uses, it takes longer for them to fill up. I use this about once a week to keep them under control.

If you’re interested, definitely soften the blow to your pocketbook and looking on Amazon.com for places that offer it cheaper than Sephora or department stores!

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Boscia Luminizing Black Mask Review

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Boscia Luminizing Black Mask

This mask made me feel like I was wearing a ski mask. This one seemed to boast more detoxing effects, and it did give me a warming sensation that the white mask didn’t. This sample didn’t have enough for me to try it twice like I did the white Boscia mask, but even after one use I could tell this one was a little harder on my skin. It’s supposed t help strip away excess oil and dead skin cells, but with my skin being so reactive and dry, that irritated my face.

I took photos so you could see how it peels away in rubbery pieces. That was the same for the white mask. Of the two, I’d probably buy the Bright White Mask. It’s always fun trying a new mask. There’s something very fancy about it.

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Yes to Cucumbers Gentle Milk Cleanser

 

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This was another Ross find, and even though I’ve had some let downs from the Yes to line, I’m always willing to try something new if it’s a bargain. Luckily for me this one paid off very well.

I’d just run out of my precious Cetaphil (off-brand) gentle face cleanser, so I hoped this would be able to replace it. It has a nice refreshing smell to it and has a very similar consistency to Cetaphil. It doesn’t foam and it doesn’t have any parabens like Cetaphil, so if you’re looking to avoid SLS and parabens AND you have sensitive skin, this might be worth a try. I’ve used it for two weeks now and my skin doesn’t feel dried out or irritated. My skin is almost always a little red unless I’m wearing make-up, so even though this claims to be calming, it hasn’t reduced my redness. It hasn’t made it worse though, so that’s all I need.

I’d repurchase this at the full price of $8-9 once it runs out because it’s really similar to Cetaphil but is made of more natural ingredients, and I’m a sucker for that.

This doesn’t clean really deep into pores, but neither does my Cetaphil. My Mia helps with that, but my nose and chin have been really congested lately. Still looking for a miracle product to pull the junk out of my pores.

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I Hope You’re Not Sick of Coral Yet

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I feel like coral is one of those colors that everyone flips out over when spring rolls around, and I wanted to think I wasn’t one of those people. Except I am. I have several coral blushes, lip colors (not here though, I’m wearing NYX’s Soft Matte Lip Cream in Monte Carlo), an eyeshadow aaaand this Revlon Colorstay nail polish in Marmalade.

Sometimes I think it’s more orange than coral, but I can’t stop wearing it. I usually don’t like to repeat colors so close together (I wore this about two weeks ago here), so I tried to switch it up by using a matte top coat instead of a high-shine one. I use Deborah Lippmann’s Flat Top but Essie makes one called Matte About You that’s much cheaper.

Sorry for the weird quality of the second photo. I didn’t want to mess with my tripod and tried to take a picture with my iPhone since I use it for a lot of pictures in a pinch. Can you tell which ones are with my Nikon and which are my phone? This one came out grainy and I didn’t realize it till I had it on my computer and it was dark out. Boo.

I still need that bang trim.

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