Just sharing my usual nighttime skincare routine for full-face makeup days! Or any day, really, but it's especially my go-to on days when my face is covered in makeup.
Sorry for the possibly awkward angles and focussing... I've never filmed in this room, and there was no great place for the camera. Hope nothing bothers you! Enjoy, and let me know your favourite nighttime products!
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Hello again!
Today I have a quick review for you on the ChopSaver Original Lip Balm. I was sent this product to review for you, but as you know, the opinions expressed on this blog are always 100"% honest and my own.
So maybe you've never heard of this brand... I certainly hadn't. And it is very small, they only seem to sell two products: this lip balm, and an SPF version. They are available online and at CVS in the US. And surprisingly, they're available right here in stores in Vancouver. According to their site, ChopSaver balms can be purchased at Long & McQuade Musical Instruments stores around the Lower Mainland. (Store Locator)
One thing that's interesting about this product is that it is primarily targeted at musicians, especially wind musicians, since playing those instruments can cause really chapped lips. The formula was also devolped by a musician, and contains no petroleum or animal fats, mostly just good oils and other natural ingredients.
The website claims that Arnica (sunflower oil) is the key ingredient, but this balm also contains beeswax, shea butter, and avocado oil, among other things, so it sure sounds pretty moisturizing! I will point out that the beeswax (and maybe other ingredients?) do give this balm a very thick, heavy texture. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it feels pretty soothing on chapped lips, but if you don't like thick balms, this might not be for you. I'm really glad it doesn't have petroleum in it, though, because it doesn't have that greasy feeling petroleum based balms tend to have, and I also find that this stuff really stays on the lips, even overnight!
As you can see above, this product doesn't have any artificial colours, and it doesn't leave too much of a shine on the lips, so it would probably be pretty good for both guys and girls. It does have a light citrus-y scent from the Citrus and Ginger essential oils, but it's not sweet or overpowering at all.
Another interesting thing I found on their website was a breakdown of the purposes of a couple of the ingredients, which I'll paste in here:
- Arnica – used for bruising
- Calendula – treats inflammation
- Comfrey – general wound healing
- Ginger – treats inflammation and stimulates blood flow
- White Willow – often referred to as “herbal aspirin” (people with aspirin allergies should use with caution)
So, overall, what are my thoughts on this product? I quite like the scent, and that it is all natural. I also like how open the company is about sharing the ingredients and their uses on their website. I think this balm is pretty great (and a good price!) for anyone with really dry, chapped lips who need a lot of help and protection. It is far from my favourite balm (have you seen my review of the F.A.B. Lip Therapy?!), but I do think this is great at what it does. If you are a light, shiny, slippy balm type of person, this isn't for you, but I think most people who have ever had badly chapped lips would enjoy this product at least some of the time!
For me, I don't think this is an everyday type of balm. It's much too heavy for what I usually like to wear, but I do see myself continuing to reach for it when my lips get really bad!
If you don't have a store near you that stocks ChopSaver balms (See the link to the Store Locator at the top of this post), then you can purchase it online, or get a free sample, though you will need to pay shipping. A set of 2 to Canada, by the way, runs about $18 USD including shipping (or three for $26), so it gets a bit pricey if you want to buy online from Canada. Shipping to the US, though never seems to go above $3, though, so that's a pretty good deal for you guys!
To purchase online, you can go to Chopsaver.com/try-it-buy-it/shop, and you can also find more info about the product and company on the site.
Let me know if you've tried out this brand before, and also what your favourite lip balm of all time is!
Thanks for reading!
Just a quick review of the Tresemme Beauty-Full Volume Reverse Wash system. These products were sent to me for review, but all opinions are 100% honest and my own!
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**These were sent to me for review, but this video is NOT SPONSORED**
I'm not sure how long this will be available, as it's a limited edition set exclusive to Sephora, but the two products are permanent, so hopefully this is still helpful even if the set sells out! Enjoy!
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Thanks to ChickAdvisor, I finally got to try out a product I've been wanting to try for a while now, but wasn't available in Canada until recently (I think): the Garnier Micellar Water! They also sent me the Garnier SkinActive Wake-Up Hydra-Gel Moisturizer, an adorable little mug, and a bag of tea from DavidsTea that was an awesome surprise! Of course, my review of these products isn't biased, and is completely honest and my own, as per usual. =)
Here's a look at what I got:
I have a mug addiction, and I love this one, even though it's tiny. It's the perfect size for my Keurig coffee, so it all works out =P... Also, the tea is pretty tasty. It's a black tea, so it has caffine, which makes sense with the wake-up theme of this box, to go with the moisturizer gel. The tea also smells great and tastes fruity and delicate. Yay, free tea!
Garnier Skin Active Micellar Cleansing Water
As it was the thing I was most excited to try out, let's start with the Micellar water. As you may or may not know, I have purchased the Bioderma micellar water before, so I do have something to compare the Garnier one too. Personally, while I liked the Bioderma, I did find it could sting my eyes a bit, and took some rubbing to remove stain-y lipsticks, and mostly didn't try to remove waterproof mascara. It was okay, but it didn't impress me.
That said, I prefer the Garnier one. It's far from perfect; it doesn't remove all my waterproof mascara, but it does give it a go... it works great on even red lipstick, and I feel like it removes all my face and eye makeup (aside from mascara) without much effort, and without stinging my eyes or leaving my skin feeling tight, which was another slight drawback of the Bioderma for me. Both cleansing waters are scentless and claim to be great for sensitive skin, but I do think the Garnier has a slight edge.
On top of that, the Garnier bottle is almost twice the size of the Bioderma (which I know comes in a larger size), but for much less money. The 500 ml Bioderma costs $27 (at London Drugs), while the 400 ml Garnier costs only $10!
Also, I only got to try the pink, regular Garnier Micellar water, but they also have a blue bottle that claims to remove even waterproof mascara... which I'll have to give a go next!
Garnier SkinActive Wake-Up Hydra-Gel Moisturizer
You may already know that I love my gel moisturizers, so I was pretty happy to be testing this one out! Gels are usually great because they are light, absorb quickly, and feel cool on the skin, where creams and oils can make my skin feel hot. This one is meant to be a day moisturizer, to make skin appear plump, fresh, and awake, containing wild berry extract, vitamin C and E, and hydro-glycerin. It also contains no parabens, and is supposed to absorb quickly and work well under makeup.
I do quite like this moisturizer. It is light, refreshing, and has a light refreshing scent to go with it (which not everyone will like, but I like the scent, personally). I don't honestly have too much to say about this, though. The biggest complaint I had is that it doesn't absorb quite as quickly as I wanted, but I found it was hydrating enough to be a pretty nice nighttime moisturizer, as well as a good one for use under makeup, if you give it a little time to set. I like it, and if you like gel moisturizers, this could be a good choice.
Let me know if you've tried either of these, and what your thoughts were! Thanks for reading!
I recently received this cream from GlamSense, which is another product testing company like Influenster that was started by Canadian subscription box company Top Box. I'm pretty excited to be working with a new, Canadian company, and talking about a Canadian brand today, but as always, my opinions here are completely unbiased, honest, and my own.
There is a cool little gadget that I got with the moisturizer, but I'll show you that a little later. First I want to talk about the moisturizer itself.
As you can see below, this product is meant for people with normal to dry skin types:
Here's a look at the product itself.
It's a thick white creme, but not quite so thick as to be opaque. Also, what you clearly can't tell from the picture is that there is a pretty intense perfume to this product, which means it won't be good for everyone, either because you can't deal with scents or because your skin hates perfumed products. Still, I do like the scent, even if it is a bit strong. It's not really floral, just a perfume-y version of fresh and clean... which isn't very well described...
Anyways. It is really easy to apply too much of this stuff, so use it sparingly! I used too much the first time, and my skin felt greasy and hot even hours later, until I washed it off! That said, this isn't really a greasy feeling product, and if you use a small small amount, it absorbs really well and is really moisturizing. Probably still more a night-cream type product, I don't think you'd want to use this under makeup during the day.
This would be a great winter cream, especially in colder climates and for dry skin types, but I think anyone who deals with dry patches in winter would like this in small doses! This line promises to make skin three times more hydrated, and to be weatherproof! Pretty big, impressive claims! I'm not sure how legitimate these claims are, but maybe for the driest skin types? My skin probably isn't quite dry enough to really get that much benefit.
So, what's interesting in particular about this campaign is the little device that was sent along with the moisturizer:
That little thing plugs into the headphone jack of any phone, and connects to the app available for both Android and IPhone. Somehow, the little wings help the app measure moisture levels in the skin, and the app then tracks that info, so you can see the different states of your skin in different places, especially your hands, t-zone, and cheeks.
Below, I show the difference the app read between my normal skin, before washing and moisturizing, and then after using a cleansing water and (probably too generously applying) the creme.
T-Zone (specifically, I measured in the middle of my forehead):
Apparently the driest part of my face, the middle of my oily-feeling forehead measured only 38%, which is kinda dry. After I applied the hydraforce creme:
After applying and allowing to absorb for a few minutes, my forehead measured more than 20 points higher. It is possible I didn't wait long enough for it to absorb, and like I said above, I did apply too much, but this is still interesting.
Cheeks (measured from the apple of my right cheek):
Not as dehydrated as my forehead, my cheeks weren't perfect, but weren't bad. After applying the creme:
Here I only went up about 8 points, so much more logical, and probably a better representation. I don't think I applied the creme more heavily to my cheeks than forehead, though, so I'm not sure there was such a drastic difference for the t-zone but not my cheeks.
***
In summary, I don't think my test results are very accurate as shown above. I tested a few more times on my hands before and after applications of logical amounts of the creme, and hydration rose by about 4 or 5 points each time, but the creme definitely works. What I would have loved would have been to test out the lip balm that is part of the same line, so I could compare it to the F.A.B. one, which I'm in love with.
Do I think this creme is worth it's $45 price tag? If you need some serious hydration, probably, unless you're sensitive to scents in some way. It feels very creamy and refreshing, not super heavy and greasy, so it's very nice. I will definitely be continuing to use it, especially when I'm feeling a bit dry, now that I've learned my lesson about over-doing it with this stuff! =P
To find out more about this line, and to find an event in your area where you can find out how hydrated your skin is and get samples from Lise Watier, you can go to Hydraforce.LiseWatier.com. (Sorry, Vancouver people! The Vancouver event was March 4th! Hopefully if you were interested, you saw my tweets about it at the beginning of the month!)
Thanks for reading!
Hi guys! Here we are once again with another review thanks to Influenster! I'm sure you all know this by now, but it's kinda required that I remind you that although I was sent this stuff for free to review, all of my opinions are completely my own and completely honest.
This time, I was sent a set of skincare items from L'Oreal, specifically the Ultra-Even formula of their new Hydra-Total 5 line. There were three different routines sent out to different people, including ultra-even, ultra-soothing, and ultra-fresh. The Ultra-Even line, which I received is targeted towards normal skin types, and is meant (as the name clearly suggests) to help even out skin tone. Here's what I received in my L'Oréal Hydra Total-5 VoxBox:
As you can see, the line I received contains four products: an exfoliating face wash, a toner, a daytime lotion with SPF, and a nighttime moisturizer. The idea of the whole line of products seems to be that each product has 5 benefits; this seems like a gimmicky marketing tactic to me, but I suppose if everything meets the claims, that's alright. The common promises of each of the products in the Ultra-Even line are:
While the other benefits are more specific to each product. Now, let's get into each poduct, shall we?
L'Oreal Hydra-Total 5 Ultra-Even Routine Scrub
So, the two special things this claims to do, aside from the three they all share, is cleansing and exfoliating, and these aren't exactly hard claims to live up to. This is basically a gel cleanser with scrubbing particles that, from the ingredients, I'm guessing are "armenica seed powder" ... or ground up apricot pits. This is a pretty harsh scrub, and may not be great for all skin types. I also feel like I hear people disliking the St. Ives apricot scrub because the apricot pit particles make tiny cuts in your skin, which isn't great. Definitely not for sensitive skin, at any rate. At least this scrub knows it's a bit harsh, and recommends only using it once a day, either in the morning or at night.
As for what I thought of the scrub, first of all, it smells really great! Fruity in a natural way, not a really candy-scneted way, which is lovely. Basically like peaches or apricots... which makes sense for the scrubbing particles. Overall, this cleanser made my freshly cleaned skin feeling quite tight and dry, but not really irritated. I'm not sure it's the right formula for my dry-patch prone winter skin, as after using it a couple times, I started to notice fresh dry patches popping up on my face that meant I had to take a break from this system for a while. I've stopped using it now, but will try it again when I start getting oilier in the summer months.
L'Oreal Hydra-Total 5 Ultra-Even Routine Toner
The toner claims to tone and remove impurities, which is pretty much what I figure all toners do? It's an astringent toner with two types of alcohols high up the top of the ingredient list, along with salicylic acid, sulfonic acid (which sounds scary), and other big chemical words, with nothing soothing like witch hazel, aloe, or cucumber to tone it down a little. It is very medicinal smelling, although it seems like they tried to make it smell like the cleanser/scrub.
This was my least favourite part of the routine that I was sent. It smells strong, and especially after the scrub, it causes my skin to burn! I thought maybe that was my fault because I didn't notice the first time I used it you're instructed to dab it on, not swipe like usual. But after trying both ways, this toner seems to be way too harsh for me. If I continue to use it, it will probably be with a gentler face wash and a heavy moisturizer.
L'Oreal Hydra-Total 5 Ultra-Even Lotion
This "lotion" is basically the day time moisturizer with SPF for this routine, and claims to moisturize and protect skin. I would hope a moisturizer with spf would moisturize and protect... >_>
Anyways, this lotion is oil-free, and is actually not the worse facial spf I've worn. It has a more classic L'Oreal skincare + SPF scent, and the perfume might not be great for anyone with sensitive skin or a sensitive nose. The active sunscreens in this product are Octisalate, Octocrylene, and Avobenzone. It also contains salicylic acid, which seems unnecessary.
I don't really like or dislike this particular product... I'm pretty indifferent. I'll probably use it some more since it does have a bit of SPF, especially as we go into summer months and I'm outside more. However, it isn't great. I don't personally think it sets and absorbs well enough for use under makeup, unless you use it sparingly (which defeats the purpose of an spf) and blot your face well before makeup. I think it might work better for drier skin types.
L'Oreal Hydra-Total 5 Ultra-Even Moisturizer
This second moisturizer is more of a night cream, and promises to moisturize and reduce dark spots. Unfortunately, I don't really have dark spots to test this stuff on, so that claim will go unchallenged. This cream is very thick and opaquely white, and does have a very faint scent, though it is surprisingly faint compared to the SPF lotion. However, unlike the other products in this line, the moisturizer does contain parabens, so if you try to stay away from that, this isn't the product for you.
While it looks really heavy, it does absorb into the skin pretty well, and without leaving your skin looking white and pale. It also doesn't leave the same greasy look I found with the day lotion, which might make this a better day-time lotion too for under makeup. I don't love this product, but I do like it and will continue to use it up. I just won't likely run out and uy another when it's gone. I have used better products, whether I want something light that absorbs quickly, or something heavy and super hydrating, but this is still possibly the best part of the box that I was sent.
***
All-in-all, I wasn't super impressed with anything in this box. Some of it was wrong for my skin type, and some were just alright. However, the more I've tried from L'Oreal's skincare ranges, the more I'm convinced that it isn't their strong suit! I've had great products from L'Oreal's hair and makeup ranges, but their skincare always leaves me unimpressed. Sorry, L'Oreal, but that's my honest opinion!
That said, if you've had good luck with L'Oreal skincare in the past, this may still be a good line for you! Everyone's skin is different, even within skin types. I'd recommend this mostly to someone who, like the package suggests, has normal skin; if you aren't sensitive, prone to oiliness, dry patches, or bothered by scents in your products, this might be for you if you're looking for a line to help you acheive a more even overall skintone. Just be sure to be gentle with the scrub and toner, and I think you could get along fine.
Sensitive, oily, and dry skin types? Keep looking!
Did you get one of the Hydra-t Total VoxBoxes? Let me know which one, or if you've tried any of these products, or just generally tell me about your experiences with L'Oreal skincare!
Thanks for reading!
I'm so in love with the way this makeup look turned out, so I hope you enjoy it too! I was looking for a new combo to make out of my beloved UD Naked palette, and this is what I got pairing two colours I wasn't sure would work together!
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Let me know some of your favourite shadow combos from the Naked palette if you have any!
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