Oh the ups & downs of being a beauty consumer! There are times when we pick up a random blush for a couple dollars & it unexpectedly ends up being our favorite go-to cheek color! Then we have times when we wait & save up for the most anticipated "must have" of the season, & it ends up being a total piece of garbage! We've all been there. I've collected some of my biggest favorites & some of my biggest disappointments lately. Lol I was considering doing just a [Favorites] post because I hate being negative but some of these really let me down! & I must vent!!
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♥ The Hits ♥
1.)
Wet n Wild's Petal Pusher: After being lightweight let down by "Blue Had Me At Hello", I wasn't really planning on picking up anymore of the 8-pan palettes. The blues were kind of hard to blend for me & I thought I would probably get "Comfort Zone" but not this one. I decided to give it a try anyway & I love it. I literally love every color in this. The shadows are soft & the quality is perfect.
2.)
Orly's Oh Cabana Boy: Ahhh I love this color! It's a hot pink with a blue undertone that's more obvious IRL. When I first saw it, I thought "Cotton Candy!" lol & for some reason I expected that to be the name of the polish when I turned it over lol. The application is great! The pic above is two coats & was 2 days ago & I haven't had any chipping yet. An obvious hit for me! <3
3.)
Physicians Formula Mineral Glow Pearls 3D in Translucent Pearl: My hands down HG face highlighter. I was on the hunt for a powder highlighter for my cheekbones (that's really the only place I highlight) now that summer's coming up. This powder gives off a great glow without being too much. It makes the face look really healthy & I love the way it smells. + The packaging is adorable! It also has a little pearl at the top lol so pretty. (:
4.)
Pond's Clarant B3 Moisturizer: It's a dark spot correcting moisturizer that's supposed to even skin tones in 2 weeks & reduces the appearance of dark spots in 4 weeks. I don't use it for this. I just use it as my everyday face moisturizer before I put on my makeup & after cleansing before I go to sleep. It doesn't clog the pores & it does wonders under my eyes. I love it!
Before & After using Shampoo [4 wks]
5.)
Regis Designline Silver Shine Shampoo: This shampoo saved my life recently lol. When I dyed my hair blonde, I was left with an ugly ugly yellow-orangy color. My cousin gave me this shampoo that they had recommended to her when her highlights came out brassy. The bottle says "helps to neutralize brassy & yellow tones on grey & blonde hair" & I used it all last month, everyday after using my regular shampoo. I'd leave it in for about 5 mins before rinsing it out. I loveee it! I'm so glad my hair didn't stay looking like Cheetara lol I don't have to use it anymore.
6.)
Urban Decay's Naked Palette: Now I'm not a big sucker for neutral shadows. In fact, I think they're quite boring lol I don't know what made me want to jump on the Naked bandwagon but I eventually did & I'm actually glad I did. lol I love this palette & I think the colors (although neutral) are actually really unique & so gorgeous. Even the matte colors like Naked & Buck are so pretty to me. I've been reaching for this a lot since I got it. I love it.. I just didn't love the steepish price. Lol
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The Misses! :c
1.)
Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Antique Gold: Okay before you freak out. Let me explain myself! lol I really really really wanted the black one but when I got to Walgreens when they came out, it was already sold out. :c So I thought maybe the gold would be okay. This was the only color I got from the set & the picture above was like my 10th try doing this & it came out decent, at best. =/ The polish is very sheer & you can't see the cracks. You literally have to apply the whole glop of polish to get a thick layer & have some crackle (like the pic above). That's the most crackle I could get out of it & it's not what I expected. I wanted it to look as good as the China glaze & OPI ones but no such luck. It's not the worst polish, I just feel like for a $7 nail polish, we shouldn't have to work so hard to get the effect that it advertises on. If anyone wants this, I'll send it to you lol I get so mad when I look at it. I still want the black one though. I've seen some reviews that bash the silver & gold ones but love the regular ones. So I'm thinking maybe the #fail in this has to do with whatever they use to make the polish shimmer.
2.)
Milani Even-Tone Powder Foundation (01 Shell): I really had high hopes for this. The product feels sooooo silky & feels just amazing on the skin. The color matched me exactly!! Which is amazing 'cause I have the worst time trying to find my color in any foundation/powder. I'm light-skinned but most of the fair foundations/powders have pink undertones & mine are yellow. So I was really excited about this one until I put it on my face. It's extremely sheer. I guess this would be good as a setting powder. But one of the main things I look for is coverage. I loveee a flawless matte face. This offered the matte but not the flawless lol If I try to build it up for coverage, it starts to look a bit ashey & powdery. So although this has the potential to be a great powder for other girls.. it's a big fat MISS for me. =/
3.)
MAC Violet Trance Eyeshadow: I got this awhile back at The Cosmetic Company Store where they sell discontinued or hard to find MAC stuff. I was really excited to try it. I have such a big thing for purple eyeshadows. I love the way they look on brown eyes. So anyway! This shadow's initially came out like 2 years ago, it's from the Makeup Art Cosmetics Collection, it's a matte shadow. *Sigh* So it sounds & looks so perfect but I was so disapointed when I tried to swatch it. No, ladies.. You don't have to adjust your screen settings. That is not a smudge you see above.. that is all I could get when I swatched Violet Trance. It's sooooo sheer & to its defense, it is buildable! & Eventually, after a crapload of rubbing & rubbing & rubbing your brush into the shadow.. you will be able to build the color up. It just didn't seem worth it, at all to me. I lightly swatched some WnW shadows from the Lust palette to show the difference. When I'm paying 3-4 times more money for an eyeshadow.. I expect the color payoff to be better. Call me crazy! I guess I just payed for the brand. *tear*
4.)
Crest 3D White Strips (2 Hour Express): Yes, I too fed into the hype of these. :c Can I just say though, for the record.. This is the
Mother of all misses. This is the worst thing that has ever crossed paths with me all year. I can't even remember a time I was more in pain than after I took these strips off. I wish I would've read the HONEST reviews on these before I tried them. The only reviews I had seen on these strips were those by Youtube gurus =/ & after trying them myself.. I'm convinced they were lying or didn't leave them on for two hours. I took these off at around 7pm & didn't get any sleep til around 6am. I stayed up all night in agonizing pain & crying.
(Thank God I have such a wonderful boyfriend btw) The pain was far beyond just sensitivity. My teeth hurt inside & out & didn't let up at all. I couldn't even open my mouth because the air hurt. I don't recommend these to ANYONE.. besides the fact that they hurt like hell. I noticed zero change in my smile. All the reviews from normal people (non-youtube gurus) that I've seen, have had the same bad experience I did. I don't even know how this product is still out. It really should be banned. It's absolutely horrible!
Sorry to end on such a negative note lol Welp! I hope everyone had an awesome weekend!! ♥
Thanks for reading!!
xOxO
