Lash Splurge

Even though I'm a bargain shopper, sometimes it's fun to splurge. If you ladies are on youtube, lollipop26 is someone you need to check out. She's from London and she's got one of the most incredible lashes ever. They just go on for miles and miles... basically they look like she's wearing falsies.

Anyways, comparatively, mine are puny. They are short and stubby and I really depending on curling on a daily basis and building up the mascara to give it the volume and the length that I want. I was looking up some of the lashing enhancing/growth products out there, trying to find the right one for me that would not clean out my bank account....

Talika Liposomes
There is such an industry now. A word of warning though. Many of the lash growth products out there have as their active ingredient prostaglandins which is a medication used in glaucoma eye drops that were found to also have the added side effect of lengthening lashes. They can cause discoloration of your iris as well. Because of this, the FDA has banned some, asked the companies to reformulate some of them to cut out the prostaglandins.

I found Talika liposomes at Sephora. It's kinda pricy, cost about $40 for a tube. But that's cheap in comparison to other lash growth products that easily cost $100-150. The other advantage about the Talika is that it is prostaglandin free. In general, I tend to be very paranoid about anything I put near my eye and prospect of using a glaucoma medication to grow out my lashes scares me a little. It last for about 2-3 months for the tube, I've had mine for a little more than 2 months and it's starting to dry out now. I guess just in time for the 2-3 months shelf life for mascaras in general. You're supposed to use it twice a day for 28 days and then afterwards use it once daily for maintenance.

Results? I think overall, it works pretty well and I've already bought my next tube. It probably doesn't work as well as the lash growth products though because I think it's more of a conditioner than a growth product. But even so, I've noticed over the first couple of weeks of using it, my lashes had more volume and appeared to be longer. I know I didn't grow new lashes in that time so it must have conditioned what I had to make it appear longer.... Dunno how it works but it works. I've stopped curling my lashes and I've noticed with mascara, I finally have the length and volume that I want from my lashes


Fiberwig

So I've tried to wear false eyelashes and besides not be coordinated enough to be able to put them on, I find them so uncomfortable to wear. I think I have two left thumbs... I just can't do it. Fiberwig is one of those Japanese mascaras that help give the appearance of false lashes. It adds on "fibers" to the end of your natural lashes to help lengthen them. And it works wonders. The fibers wash off in warm water very easily. It cost about the same as other higher end mascaras, I think $20-ish dollars on Sephora. The only problem I have with this mascara is that it doesn't do much for volume. So, I find that I often have to do apply a second volumizing masacara as well in addition to this. I think it probaby doesn't compare to false eyelashes but this is as close as I will ever get to false lashes.

Spring 08 Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow/Liner

Benefit is giving away a free full sized Badgal mascara with $35 dollar purchase (usually sells for $19) with purchase code pretty50. So I decided to take advantage of it. And since I'm a bargain shopper, (I always try not to pay full price if I can) I decided to look through the discounted items on benefitcosmetics.com and wanted to share what I got.

My recent steal from Benefit...


From Left to right:
Marry Up (Gabbi), Pre-nup (Betty), Bunny Hop (Lana)

These cream shadows come in these gorgeous glass container, comparable to Mac fluidline containers. You get 0.16 oz of product for orginal price of $19. But because these shadows are from last spring's limited edition collection, they are currently on sale at benefit for $14.25.

I love this product. It's fast and easy to use. The texture is nice and creamy. It's versatile. You can use it as a base or a liner or if you are in need of a fast and easy application of a single wash shadow, this could be used alone as an eyeshadow. For me, because I'm lazy, I mostly use it for days when I want to apply shadow but want to be able to put it one in a couple of minutes. I literally just swipe this on my lids with my fingers and I'm good to go. They last all day and they absolutely do not crease. I apply alone without any primers. For example today, I put on my makeup at 2pm and now at 10 pm, it's still not creasing or fading. Amazing...

For the colors... Each one is from Benefit's Love Your Look makeup personality line. Lana is supposed to be the light and neutral look, Gabbi the medium toned look and Betty the more deeper dramatic look. Marry up is my favorite. It's from Gabbi and is described as a brush copper. It shows up as a slightly shimmery bronzy, antique gold. Pre-nup is from Betty, is described as rose metal and it shows up as a shimmery salmon color. Bunny Hop is from Lana, is described as sterling pink and shows up as a champagne color.

Finally how cute is the name... Pre-nup, Marry up??? I also have one in My Date's My Brother. You have to leave it up to Benefit. They get an A+ for their packaging and catchy names.

Arcona Reozone Sunscreen

I'm currently finishing up my Arcona Reozone sunscreen and just wanted to put out a warning about how horrible this product is. My first arcona purchase was the tea tree oil mask/scrub which I loved. It's got such finely milled particles and makes your skin feel so cleansed and fresh after using it that I got overly excited about arcona and bought a bunch of their products including their skin kit for congested skin. The only product that I've loved from Arcona unfortunately are the masks. Everything else is difficult to use, not very effective and comes in the most poorly designed packaging I've ever seen.

There are a few pros with this line. It's one of those ever so popular green beauty products which on surface value is a bonus.... but honestly, I rather use a nonorganic product that works well. It comes in SPF 20 instead of the standard 15. It smells wonderful, kinda light melony smell. And that's about it in terms of the advantages.

First of all, it's not cheap. For $25, you get a whopping 1.75 fluid oz which is ridiculous. I'd be willing to pay this much for something exceptional but this cream is thick and difficult to apply. You have a narrow window of a few seconds to work it into your face before it dries up and leaves a white ghost like film on your face. It comes in this horrible hard plastic tubing which is difficult to squeeze out. Towards the end, I was basically sticking my finger into the tube to fish out more. When I couldn't get any more product, I cut the tube into three parts and look how much product I got out of it!!!!! It's enough for a month of use!!! To pay $25 for a crappy sunscreen and have this much waste is just.... I'm speechless. I won't be repurchasing.

Please save your money and get another product. Try the Boscia sunscreen... probably one of the best ones I've used so far. Arcona is only good for their mask. All the other "lotions" and "treatments" come in this sticky, liquidy, messy pump that squirts out everywhere. I end up wasting so much because the people at Arcona obviously do not use their own products and never realized how cumbersone they can be. I don't have the time and the money to go throwing it away like this.

Stila Night Flower Blu Orchid Palette

I'm really excited about my new Stila palette. I've just recently caught the Stila mania. The packaging is just too cute. I bought the palette recently on beauty.com when they had their sale for only $12. It's sold out right now on beauty.com but it's still available on skinstore.com. It's supposed to be $36 value but is currently selling for $18.

First off, the packaging is increadible. I saved the box it came in because I couldn't bear to throw it away. It's a metallic blue box with embossed design in the front. The palette is made of metal and very sturdy. I think I can just throw it in my purse on not have to worry about it breaking up. The orchid is held in a glass window in a 3-D ish design. The compact has a huge square mirror. It's just beautiful.

It has 4 eyeshadows (one highlight, two midtones and one darker shade) in nectarine, venus, sunkissed and mahogany. There is a blush in quaint which is a really nice shade of matte pink. One lip glaze in apricot and one lip color in melissa. The palette is very wearable and is neutral enough to wear on a daily basis for work. The lip glaze is creamy and moisterizing. The lip color is the perfect shade of burgandy. Believe me ladies, you will get good use out of this palette.

It is an older stila product so it's somewhat hard to find. The only place I could I find it now at skinstore.com. But again, I couldn't be more satisfied with the palette. I hope Stila comes out with more combination palettes like this in the future.

ANEW clinical

ANEW CLINICAL
advanced dermabrasion system

Avon's ANEW clinical is one of the best exfoliator I've used. It is kinda gimicky. Probably not anything close to dermabrasion but overall, it's a good exfoiliator. It retails for $28 on avon.com.

It's a dial up system with 4 levels which is ramped up every two weeks to a more intense exfoliator. The base is white cream with fine particles in the white part of the system. You use it for two weeks, then turn the dial. Each level incorporates more of the larger particles from the grey side for a more intense exfoliation. After 8 weeks, you let your skin rest for two weeks and then start back at level 1.

Overall, it's not miraculous but does the job. It's a good scrub and overall, I find that my skin is smoother and the quality is better with this product. It also helps with reducing pigmentation a little faster. But I think that you can probably get the same results with any other good scub. I love the smell. It's light and pleasent smelling. To tell you the truth, I would just be happy with using the level one white creamy exfoliator. I don't really like more grainer scrubs and could probably be happy without dialing up . (Which I guess defeats the entire purpose of the product. ) Like I said... it's a little gimicky.