Now don't get me wrong, I love Lush just as much as the next person but I wouldn't consider myself a lush "junkie." I've spent a good deal of money there but nothing that would be considered unhealthy. I choose to do that MAC, but anywho. The other day while I was visiting our local lush I was browsing the facial cleansers. I already have Angels on Bare Skin but I've been having a little bit of trouble with oil recently because of the crazy Las Vegas weather we've been having. So I was looking at the Dark Angel scrub when one of the sales people came up and started to tell me that Dark Angel is made for people with REALLY oily skin, and unless I have super oily skin it's gonna dry me out and do more damage than good. Afterwards she pointed out Coal Face, which is made for people with oily to normal skin. Now I have combination skin, so I don't have a very oily face but what she said next is what sold me. She explained that she has combination skin and she'll wash her face with the Coalface and then Angels on Bare Skin. The oil absorbing effects of the Coalface keep the oil at bay, while the Angels on Bare Skin moisturize and heal the other damages, so it seems like a perfect mix. And when things seem perfect, get them. So here's what I think.
What they say:
Who would have thought charcoal and liquorice could get along? One is tough and gritty, the other sweet and syrupy. But charcoal and liquorice could just be the odd couple of skin care, teaming up to fight oily, troubled skin in our Coalface cleanser. Powdered charcoal removes impurities and mildly exfoliates while liquorice heals naturally. Sandalwood oil tones the skin (and mediates should charcoal and liquorice disagree about anything). (via: Lushusa.com)
Ingredients:
Liquorice Root Decoction (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Propylene Glycol, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Stearate, Rosewood Oil (Aniba rosaeordora), Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Powdered Charcoal, Sandalwood Oil (Santalum album), Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, *Linalool, Perfume, Silver Edible Lustre (Potassium aluminum silicate, Titanium dioxide, Iron oxides and hydroxides).
*Naturally occurs in essential oils (via: Lushusa.com)
How to Use the Product:
Moisten the cleansing bar with water and rub in your hands to create a lather. Apply to your face in a gentle, circular motion, rinse thoroughly, pat dry.(via: Lushusa.com)
Another essential for summer makeup bags is a nice bronzer. One of my personal favorites is Stila's bronzer. I have it in Shade 01, and I love love love it. It doesn't have too much shimmer, it's just perfect for my skin tone. Really you need to shop around for the perfect one. Physcians's Formula has a really nice one called Bronze Booster, I have that one as well which I would suggest whole heartedly. I suggest you have two bronzers. One that has some shimmer for a little bit of fun, and a matte one for just a glow.
For lips you'll want to stay away from glossy products because they'll act as tanning oils for your lips which will cook and crack them. Kinda like the way butter cooks eggs. So unless you want friend lips I suggest you stick with a lip product with spf. The MAC tendertone is a good one, with spf 15 and a nice color it's perfect for those nights when you leave the beach to go out for dinner. If you want excellent lip protection I suggest Burts Bee's Lifegaurd's Choice. It's the best lip protection out there. However it has zinc in it which will turn your lips white. I guess then you'll have to decide if it's gonna be protection or pretty.
I don't suggest you use eyeshadow when going out to places with water. It's summer, and once again your makeup shouldn't be your first concern. However if you guys are like me and feel some what naked without your eyes all pretty the MAX Factor Vivid Impact Duos are absolutely amazing. I would say you almost don't need to carry a brush, because the applicators can blend! If that fails or you don't want to mix the products, these shadows are soft enough for you to blend with your fingers. They come in a nice variety of shades so you can find the perfect one to match your skin tone or your bathing suit. I think they're a perfect thing to have in your makeup bag so you can throw on a simple wash of shadow before you go out to eat after a long day at the beach.
The final thing that I suggest that you have in your makeup bag is a good water proof mascara. Now you don't need to run out to sehpora and buy the most expensive one you see. Personally I believe drugstore mascara is just as good as high end if not better. For me personally I love the covergirl Lash Blast mascara. Not only is it a fabulous mascara it has a waterproof formula which is perfect for the beach. Now I don't suggest getting your face wet and rubbing it because you will most likely have some bleeding, but other than that if your face gets splashed by a wave or an evil little brother you won't look like you just got dumped on prom night. However just like any eye product, if you're planning on getting dunked or going underwater mascara isn't really necessary.
About two weeks ago I purchased the Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara, and I won't lie. I was so terribly excited to try it out when I got home. I couldn't help but to keep buzzing the wand in the packaging in the car on the way home. It drove my boyfriend absolutely bonkers. The second I got home I tore off the wrapping and went onto examining the product. Now this wasn't some cheap investment. This isn't any old $7 even $10 mascara. No, this is a $15 mascara. So I'm expecting gold to pout out when I open. (So that may be a little bit of an exageration, but you get the picture.)
The brush was the exact same one as the lash perfect, so right off I wasn't to terribly impressed. But I wasn't turned off yet. I mean c'mon high end makeup lines are coming out with a vibrating mascara and all in all the mascara is mascara in general so this one should be just as good.
As I was examining my new purchase I read over the package. Supposedly the brushe was a "Patent-pending elastomer brush [that] vibrates 7,000 times per stroke." My first impression was holy hell thats really fast. Curious I pulled out the wand and pressed the vibrate button and watched the wand. I'm not sure if you're suppose to be able be able to see the vibration, but quite frankly for the 7,000 times per stroke I'd like to see the wand move a little bit. Just so I know it's not all in the handle. That was the first thing other than the price that turn me off a bit from this mascara
Next it was time for the application, like I said before it's similar to the define as lash if not the same thing. I own the define a lash and I'm the the biggest fan because of the brush is too wobbly and it often bend out of the bottle when I'm trying to put it away which always causes a HUGE mess. This one seems a little stiffer so I didn't have the same problem.
As I was applying the product I wanted to make it vibrate. I mean thats the whole purpose of having a vibrating mascara. The button is in a terribly akward spot. It's right at the top the handle so in order to press the button you're holding it in a terribly akward spot. Really for me, in order to hold the button my application suffered. However if I wanted half way decent application I wouldn't be able to use the vibrating function which is the whole reason I even bought the mascara.
At this point I was disapointed with my experiance with the product. The actual subtance of the product was really no different than any other mascara. Most likely if it was 7 dollars it'd just be a novel thiing that it vibrated. But for $15, it was a huge bust because you can't really use the feature without having messy mascara.
So lets do an overview:
According to the Maybelline website this is what you can expect from this mascara:
However I don't feel it met what they claimed the product would do. I honestly believe that the wand is just vibrating in the handle and itsn't transfering any of it to the brush to aid in application. The color really wasn't anthing special, to be honesly it was a little lackng. I didn't feel like it was anything spectacular especially for the price. I have to admit, the waterproof aspect is nice, however it really isn't all that different from anything else. As for the building of curl, volume, and legnth it again isn't that different from define a lash which personally I feel like it's the same formula with a fancy brush.
I just don't feel like this mascara is worth the heafty price, especially for the fact that it is a drugstore mascara. I think if maybelline improved the formula to give it that little extra "sha-zam" it'd be better. Also the button needs to be moved because it's postion now just makes for difficult application. I think for this mascara to be 'worth it' they need to lower the price or improve the product.
But that's just one opinion of a makeup junkie.
<3
Chelsea
