Thursday, March 31, 2011

Bath Bombs!

So I've never used one before, but I've been liking the rest of LUSH's stuff so far and since they have a really large inventory of bath bombs, and those all seem to get great reviews, I thought I'd try out a couple bath bombs. Now, I gather the concept is to drop the bomb into the bath as it's filling, and it's supposed to disintegrate into the water and make the bath absolutely epic, while at the same time making the skin super soft and yummy smelling. We'll see. I got these all and since they were kinda expensive for one use items, I'm gonna open them all and cut them down.

Initial Impressions!

Mmm Melting Marshmallow Bath Melt -ok. This isn't quite a bomb, it's a melt. Supposed to have oils and moisturizers in it. On opening it, it smells really sweet, like strawberries. And some vanilla. And marshmallows. I put it on my little cutting board and cut it down and... well, the product feels powdery. It cut ok, but it kinda crumbled at the same time. Anywho. It smells fantastic, and left a sugar sweet smell on my hands after handling. In addition to all the tasty smells of strawberry, vanilla, marshmallow, and sugar... I feel like I'm detecting a hint of the Fairy godmother Soap scent. Anywho- Moving on.

Mrs Whippy - Uhm. This is way more powdery than the other one. It's uhm.... Like powdered sugar. very fine powder. It arrived and the outside shell had kindaof already crumbled away pretty badly. In the picture you see a white swirl... well thats just a soft outside shell. Inside is a harder pink Ball. I tried to cut this one down and couldn't the outside just crumbled away, and the inside was incredibly hard. The smell... Sort of a sweet baby powder, with strawberry and a hint of cinnamon. There's kindof a smokey, almost musky scent to it, but not overwhelming like some more mature perfumes.

Blackberry -Woah. ok. I just opened it and sniffed it... It is a MUCH more masculine scent than the other two. The other two were definitely girl bombs, this one could be marketed to boys. It's not a hardcore male scent, but definitely not as foufou as the other two. And this one, just like the last one, couldn't cut down. It seems the actual "bomb" part is a incredibly hard ball.

Whipstick - Not a bomb or melt. I've been mixing the double choc and honey trap so much and kept thinking how great it'd be if I mixed them. Well whipstick seemed to be pretty much that- a mix. So i got it to try. I applied it and yeah, it's pretty much a mix of the two. A hint of color, and lots of moisture.

 

...ok. Time to go take a bath!

 

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Products to consider

As I grow out my hair.... I'm gonna have to start styling it. Which means I'll need some products. So. Here's a few straightening ones to consider:

Bumble and Bumble defrizz

John Frieda 3-day spray

Frederik Fekkai balm

Saturday, March 26, 2011

HG and More!

As promised, a brief list of a couple of my HG's. Also.... a couple things that I'm craving right now.

 

First up- sunscreen. Anyone who knows me knows that my skin has a slightly delicate... temperament. It tends to burn at the slightest provocation from the sun. I did go through a phase of trying to tan, but that also turned to a burn, and the color never held. And so, with all the vampire stuff coming out, and pale rapidly becoming the new "it" skintone, I'm embracing my what I've got. And that means sunscreen. Drugstore sunscreens... they'll work. I've gone through a lot of them. But. They tend to be thick, heavy, greasy, pore clogging monstrosities whose only redeeming quality is their SPF. So, courtesy of reviews at www.makeupalley.com, I decided to go out and try a higher quality brand name sunscreen.

I would like you to meet Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Lotion Sunscreen SPF 60+++. Quite a mouthful, huh? Shiseido is a fantastic sunscreen. The formula is thin, and spreads easily. You don't need to use nearly as much as any drugstore brand. It also has cooling properties. When you apply it, if you apply after you've already started to burn, it instantly cools the skin. I remember applying it to myself at a range, and when one of the guys was bitching about the price of it when I told him, I slapped my hand, which still had a bit of sunscreen on it, on the back of his neck. He instantly shut up, and then commented about how just that one area on the back of his neck had stopped burning, whereas the rest of his skin where he had applied a drugstore brand felt like he had applied tanning oil. Shiseido also lasts forever. I can put it on at the beginning of the day, and it will provide protection all day with normal sun exposure. (with extreme exposure, I suggest more applications) Shiseido also lightens my entire skintone slightly, evening out any redness, and smooths the skin out a but, acting almost like a primer. It's never greasy, and after it sinks in and dries within a few minutes of application, you can hardly tell sunscreen was even applied. At 40 dollars a bottle, I will acknowledge that it's expensive- very expensive. But for me, it's perfect, and definitely a 40 dollars that I am willing to part with.

 

Next up, a bedside lip balm/treatment.

Again, at the suggestion of reviews on makeupalley, I tried out Rosebud Strawberry Lip Balm. I was blown away. It smells delicious(but not overwhelming) applies easily, smooths out and softens lips, and soothes any chapping going on. I love it. I would carry it everywhere, but the tin is too large, and the product consistency is very prone to melting. Those flaws don't really make it ideal for a pocket or purse, but as a bedside balm, to apply before sleep, it's amazing and perfect. This product gets a short entry just because it's the simplicity that makes it so great. And the pricetag of 7 dollars is perfectly acceptable. The tin itself is huge and will last quite awhile, even with daily use.

 

Ok. That's it for HG's for now. I have a lot of products, and a ton of them are fantastical, but they haven't quite made it to HG status like those two have. I do, however, anticipate that a couple of my LUSH products might make the cut soon enough.

Moving on- a couple things I want:

An orange polish. Last year was all about the bright pinks, with some greens and purples and blues thrown in. This year, for the toes, it's all going to be about the oranges. Calypso is a fantastical orange that I think will look great on the toes. I'm probably gonna pick up a bottle within a couple paydays. It's a very bright, airy color, with some sparkles/shimmer which will be incredibly eye grabbing with a pair of sandals or open toe heels.

A lush bath bomb. I think I'll have to actually go to the store to pick one. They do seem a bit expensive for a one time use thing, so I'll be cutting it down to try to get more uses out of it. I've never used a bath bomb, but I do hear great things about them.

and of course.... THE Dress and shoes. *sigh* I'm kinda just eyeballing the sites, and crossing my fingers hoping for a huge sale or something.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Coming soon: HG Products!

That's right, I'll be putting together a list of some of my favorite, can't live without, holy grail products.

You can spend a lifetime searching for a HG product and when you find it, there's hardly ever a need to move on. It's a product that you go back to time and time again and that always works right, all the time, everytime.

Bear in mind- everybodies HG products are gonna be different, because everybodies chemistry is different, items included in my list are just things I've found that work miraculously for me. What works for me won't necessarily work for you.

Stocking up, and trying new things.

So I made another order from LUSH. I stocked up on a couple of the basics, things I just love- Honey I washed the kids Bar Soap and Jungle Conditioner.

I also grabbed a couple new things to try out. Since Schnuggle didn't work out so well, I was a bit doubtful of the body bars. But, I decided to try an give another one a shot. I got a bar of King of Skin to try. First out of the box impression- it's massive. Larger than the round shampoo and conditioner tins, and also a bit too large to fit comfortably in the soap tins. The smell if very... clean. A little bit of a powdery smell. I rubbed a bit on the back of my hand, and it certainly does seem to moisturize.

Next up is Double Choc lip tint. On the webpage, the pictures show a nice, deep pink color. When I opened it, it was brown. Not a little bit. But a solid brown, and smells like chocolate. Well, more like cocoa. Simply delicious. Despite the color, I decided to give it a shot. After a bit of a workout to break through the initial solid layer on top, I was able to get to the meat and potatoes of the product. The color presented with a very nice sheer tint, just slightly darkening the lips. The darkening was did not cause my lips to become red, red, but instead just darkened the natural color a bit. It also provided a small bit of a sheen. All in all, very nice, and it has a good possibility of becoming a staple.

Finally is Honey Trap lip balm. I've tried LUSH's tints and really like them, so I decided to try a balm. The tints, while they provide excellent color, don't really meet my expectations in the moisture department. The color in the pot is a clear/white color. It smells a bit honey-ish, and a bit minty. Thus far, it provides decent  moisture. The texture is nice and smooth, and application is easy. Lips are left soft, and not overly "goopy", although you can feel the product a bit.

Oh, right. and I grabbed their perfume sampler. Soooo NOT impressed. One of them leaked a wee bit, and the smell of that one is sooo overwhelming that I can't really bring myself to try them. Maybe I'll try giving them away or something.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

When Hope is Not Enough (capsules)

Ok. So I just HAVE to talk about this product. It's amazing. And even though it's expensive as hell, in my opinion, it is WORTH the splurge.

I was at Ft. Bliss shopping with my roommate when she saw these on the sample table and snagged one. She popped the capsule, and squeezed the contents onto her finger. It looked like a little gob of petroleum jelly. Seriously. I didn't believe that philosophy would sell something like that, so I snagged a bit off her finger and rubbed it into the back of my hand. Oh. Em. Gee. It was amazingly moisturizing, soft, and just, awesome. It provided a little shot of moisture to the back of my hand that left me amazed when I touched it. So, I purchased a jar of them.

When Hope is Not Enough Capsules

I've been applying them daily since. I was using them both morning and evening, but have since gone to only morning simply to try and make them last longer. A jar of 60 costs 50 dollars through sephora and 40 through AFFES. But, as I said before, I believe they are worth it.

Each capsule contains enough product to cover the entire face. When applied... it turns the face buttersoft, babybuttsoft, any kind of soft you can think of. The finish feels a little... almost powdery, but it's not. The finish also seems to smooth out skin, working as almost a primer. It gives an instant boost to moisture, while not being overwhelming. There is no crazy shine left behind by this stuff, either.

I daresay... this is quite possibly going to become my very first HG product.