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Friday, September 11, 2015

Review of belif The True Cream – Aqua Bomb

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I love getting samples of skin care because products like moisturizer and eye cream can be so expensive. There was a lot of hype about this product when it first launched as Sephora. I received a deluxe size sample with a purchase from Sephora.com that is 0.34 oz (a $7.69 value). At Sephora the full-size of this moisturizer is $38 for 1.68 oz. This is a review of a product that is newer to the States—belif The True Cream – Aqua Bomb. belif is a South Korean brand that fuses traditional and modern methods to create their skin care products. It is an aqua color (hence the name, I assume) that I couldn’t get to photograph right. It’s pretty, but weird to put a blue moisturizer on your face. From what I found, belif is not a cruelty-free brand.

The Claims:

This product is paraben, sulfate and phthalate free. It claims to hydrate the skin, reduce the appearance of pores, increase skin elasticity and fight off free radicals. It is suitable for all skin types.

My Impressions:

The Aqua Bomb has a light lemongrassy/medicinal scent. The consistency of this moisturizer is gel-like, definitely thicker than a normal moisturizer so I used this at night only. A little tended to go a long way. There were a few things I did not like about this product. I did not feel that it absorb well into my skin—hence why I used it at night only. It left my skin slightly sticky well past the time a moisturizer would normally absorb into my skin. When I wash it off in the morning I can feel the product coming off my skin—like it was a mask that you wash off after 20 minutes as opposed to a moisturizer. So, I’m not sure how this would work for oily skin since my dry skin didn’t even want to absorb it. Overall, I was not impressed with the product and I wouldn’t purchase it or choose it as a sample again. It has a 4.5 star rating on Sephora.com so it’s obviously popular with a lot of people, but this product is just not for me.

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Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Review of: TATCHA Pure One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil and Polished Classic Rice Enzyme Powder

I first saw the TATCHA products on QVC around a year ago when Vickie Tsai introduced her brand. Her skin was so damaged from testing cosmetics for science that she sold all her possessions and bought a book on the skin secrets of the Japanese Geisha. This book, supposedly, holds the secrets she used to fix her skin and share with the world how Geishas keep their skin perfect. It is a very expensive line and the travel size of products would sell out immediately so I could never get my hands on them to try. Then, one day I was looking around the “aisle of doom” in Sephora (all the travel size products lining the checkout line—my favorite place to look, actually) and saw the Classic Rice Enzyme Powder in a travel size and snatched it up ($15 for 0.35 oz). I immediately went home and checked Sephora.com and found the travel-size Pure One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil ($12 for 0.8 oz). The cleansing oil and rice enzyme powder are supposed to be a one-two punch for cleansing your skin, and improving it. TATCHA is a cruelty-free brand and these products are formulated without parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrance, mineral oil, DEA, etc.

The Pure One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil is supposed to remove your most stubborn makeup while cleansing your skin. It contains vitamins to nourish the skin, camellia oil to remove makeup and HADASEI-3 complex (a blend of ingredients to protect the skin). You pump about a quarter-size amount of the product onto dry hands and massage it onto your dry face and then rinse. To me, this didn’t do the greatest job at removing my makeup. Granted, I usually wear a full-coverage foundation, but the hype is that this will take off your waterproof, long-lasting makeup. I still had a bunch of makeup left on my face and always had to use a normal cleanser after to get the rest of my makeup off and actually cleanse my skin. It did leave my skin feeling super soft.

The Polished Classic Rice Enzyme Powder is a chemical exfoliator. That may sound scary, but I actually prefer chemical exfoliators to physical ones. Physical exfoliators have beads in them that I find to harsh for my skin, and they are bad for the environment because they do not breakdown. Chemical exfoliators don’t have the same scrubbing sensations, but use enzymes and other ingredients to exfoliate your skin. This exfoliator contains rice bran and papaya extracts to exfoliate, decrease hyperpigmentation and breakouts and even out skintone, pearl to condition the skin and HADASEI-3 complex to protect the skin. For the Rice Enzyme Powder, you pour about ½ a teaspoon of the powder into your wet hands, add water to create a foam, then massage it onto your wet face and rinse. This is a gentle exfoliator and it did not irritate my skin at all. I used this in the morning to wash and exfoliate my face. It left my skin smooth, as the cleansing oil did, but again nothing earth-shattering.

For two products that are on the skin for such a short amount of time, I wouldn’t purchase the full size of either the cleansing oil ($48 for 5.1 oz) or rice enzyme powder ($65 for 2.1 oz.). Though both left my skin feeling nice, my less expensive skincare products achieve the same results. I would be interested to try her skin care items (e.g., serum, moisturizer), but they will cost you $100 and above…

Have you tried any TATCHA products? Let me know your thoughts on TATCHA!

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Monday, September 7, 2015

Project Pan: Foil Packet Samples

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My Finish 5 By Fall Project Pan challenge features four makeup products so I wanted to start another project pan that focuses on other types of products. I have so many foil packets laying around that I want to use up so I figured a Project Pan would remind me to use them. Every time you order from Sephora you get three sample packets and if there is a special promotion going on you can get even more. Ulta also gives out sample packets with purchase, as do a lot of companies when you order from them. That being said, I didn’t pay for any of these samples. Most are one time use only, so this Project Pan should move quickly.

What’s a Project Pan, you ask? The goal of Project Pans (made popular by YouTuber Amber F) is to use up products or hit pan (read my Beauty Lingo Defined post here for a definition of hitting pan) on products. They help you use up products that you’ve had for a while or just want to finish up.

Here are the 10 samples I picked for my Foil Packet Samples Project Pan:

1. Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Dark Brown

Anastasia is very, very popular for their brow products so I’m excited to get to try them. The samples are on a card so it should only last me a couple uses, but enough to get a sense of whether I like it or not.

2. NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in Deauville/Light 4

I have a feeling this color will be too dark for me, so I’ll try this on a day I’m not going out. Even if the color is off, I should be able to get a sense of whether I like this product.

3. Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Buttercream in Sweet Lime

4. Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment

An iconic product in her line.

5. fresh Black Tea Firming Overnight Mask

I have two samples of this so I will be able to try it a couple times.

6. GLAMGLOW Supermud Clearing Treatment

This is supposed to be good if your skin is acting up and breaking out.

7. Nuxe 24 Hour Soothing and Rehydrating Fresh Mask

8. Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil

I have three samples of this and have tried in the past. It is too rich for me to use as a moisturizer so I will use it as a body moisturizer, on my cuticles and in my hair.

9. Agave Healing Oil’s Oil Treatment

This is supposed to tame frizzy hair and provide nutrients for your hair.

10. Perfumes: Victoria’s Secret heavenly and CLEAN Shower Fresh.

Neither of these samples are full so I’m counting them as one sample. Heavenly has notes of sandalwood, vanilla, peony and musk. Shower Fresh smells really clean and like a shower—yup.

I'm hoping to work through these pretty quickly--I've got plenty more samples/foil packets to use up! Are you Project Panning? Let me know!

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Monday, August 17, 2015

First Impressions: ispy Glam Bag August 2015

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ipsy is a monthly subscription box company created by Michelle Phan and is $10 a month. You get a mix of makeup, skincare and hair care items, usually 4-5 full- or deluxe sample size products in a makeup bag. When you sign up for ipsy, you take a quiz in order for the bag to be customized to your skin type/tone and your general preferences. You can retake the quiz as many times as you like. You can also review each product in your bag to help ipsy further customize future bags and earn points to purchase products. You also receive points when people sign up for ipsy through your referral link.

This month’s theme is “prep school” and the bag reflects that theme. The bag this month has a black and white houndstooth pattern with fuschia detailing on the zipper. The vinyl lining inside is also fuschia.

Product #1: noyah All-Natural Lipstick in Desert Rose (sample; 1.4 g)

This lipstick is a bubblegum pink color which was surprising given the name a look of the product in the tube, I thought it would be a rosey color. This is not a color I would ever buy for myself so it’s nice to get a sample in a subscription bag to add to my collection. Now I have a bubblegum pink if I’m ever in the mood for that color. This lipstick applies a bit patchy and settled into the lines of my lips so I would recommend exfoliating your lips first. I also think there are performance issues because the finish is matte. This lipstick claims to be all-natural, synthetics free and never tested on animals. The ingredient list looks pretty good, but then again I’m not an ingredients expert. A full-size (4.5 g) is $18 on the noyah website.

Value: $5.60

Product #2: Doll 10 HydraGel Cream Blush in Flirt (deluxe sample; 0.11 oz.)

This is almost a full-size product! The full-size on the Doll 10 website is 0.14 oz for $16. Warning - alittle bit of this cream blush goes a loooong way. I applied it with the e.l.f. small stipple brush. It is a pretty rose color, just apply with caution since it is very pigmented. It claims to be lightweight, blendable, buildable and natural looking. I would agree with these claims with the exception of natural looking. This claim I cannot speak to because I definitely applied too much so we shall have see the next time I try it. I can’t find information on whether this brand is cruelty-free or not.

Value: $12.57

Product #3: Lord & Berry Ultimate Lipliner in #3035 Nude (deluxe sample; 0.03 oz.)

This lipliner is a browny nude with a hint of pink. It could double as an eyeliner, I think. It has a creamy texture and is easy to apply. Lord & Berry is a Europe-based brand so I’m excited for the opportunity to try them out. I can’t find how big the full-size of this product is so I’m estimating the value based on the sizes of my other lipliners. The blogs I use for reference say that Lord & Berry have a questionable cruelty-free status, which is a little concerning…

Value: $13.50

Product #4: Albertini International Divine Skin Hydrator In Shower Body Moisturizer in Unscented (deluxe sample; 1 oz.)

In-shower lotions are popping up more and more lately so I’m glad to get to try one through ipsy. I haven’t tried this yet, but it claims to hold moisture/rehydrate your skin. It is made with women over 40 in mind so I wonder why ipsy sent it to me as I am nowhere near 40…maybe because I have dry skin. You can use this product two ways: either as an after shower moisturizer or you can apply it in the shower, lightly rinse it off and then towel pat dry. A full-size is $16 for 9 oz. This is a cruelty-free product (yay!).

Value: $1.78

Product #5: eco-beauty by La Fresh Group good night. night cream (deluxe sample, 0.5 oz.)

I was so, so, SO EXCITED to see this in my ipsy bag. I received the day cream version of this moisturizer in my January 2015 ipsy bag and absolutely loved it. I will be using this night cream once I get through the sample I’m using right now (review to come). This moisturizer claims to hydrate, smooth and plump skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and crow’s feet. It is free of parabens, sulfates, artificial fragrance, animal byproducts, etc.. It contains a lot of anti-aging ingredients, including the super popular hyaluronic acid. A full-size is $40 for 1.7 oz. This is a cruelty-free brand.

Value: $11.76

Swatches (left to right): noyah lipstick, Doll 10 blush sheered, Doll 10 blush, Lord & Berry lipliner

Overall Value: $45.21! I will use all of these products and am especially excited for the eco-beauty night cream. I will use the three makeup products (lipstick, blush and lipliner) and they are good compliments to what I have in my makeup collection. I’m interested to see how the in-shower body moisturizer works. I have tried a few different subscription boxes but none have consistently hit the mark like this one. ipsy delivers again!

If you subscribe to ipsy, what did you get in your bag?

If you’re interested in signing up for ipsy, feel free to use my referral link J

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Friday, August 7, 2015

Bye Bye Beauty: The Body Shop Aloe Soothing Moisture Lotion SPF 15 (1.69 oz.)

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I am running out of day time moisturizer/SPF so I’m looking around for a new one. The Body Shop is a Leaping Bunny approved cruelty-free brand so I figured I would try one of their moisturizers. What’s Leaping Bunny? You can read my post about changing to cruelty-free makeup here.

Most of The Body Shop moisturizers only have an SPF of 15, which is not very high. There is one moisturizer (Vitamin C line) with SPF 30 but ingredients in it could potentially irritate my sensitive skin. So because my skin is sensitive, I went with the Aloe Soothing line which is geared toward sensitive skin.

The moisturizer is light and a little goes a long way. I don’t recall it having much of a smell. It took 10-15 minutes to dry down so I would put on all my eye makeup while the moisturizer absorbed into my skin. It did not irritate my skin at all and I thought all was well. At this time I was also trying out the Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup (read my post here) and my skin was very oily. I thought it was the foundation since the moisturizer had absorbed into my skin and the foundation is supposed to be dewy. I returned the Urban Decay foundation and went back to the L’Oreal True Match foundation as part of my Finish 5 By Fall Challenge. A couple hours into the day my face was so oily it looked like I had poured olive oil all over my face (thank goodness for blotting papers ;)). That’s when it dawned on me that this moisturizer was making me oily, not the Urban Decay foundation. *sigh*

Needless to say, I returned this moisturizer. Very disappointing. I usually have dry to normal skin—it’s very hard for something to make me oily. I would not recommend this moisturizer because of how oily it made me—my makeup was shifting on my face! This product was returned and now I wish I still had the Urban Decay foundation…

Have you tried any moisturizers from The Body Shop? Let me know if they worked for you!

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http://features.peta.org/cruelty-free-company-search/index.aspx

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Friday, July 24, 2015

Cruelty-Free Cosmetic Brands

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In this post, I’ll list some of the more prominent companies that are and are not cruelty-free. I got my information from two main sources: Leaping Bunny’s cruelty-free database and PETA’scruelty-free database. For those of you who missed my post on switching to cruelty-free cosmetics, you can read it here, the post includes the differences between Leaping Bunny and PETA cruelty-free criteria.

I’ll mark if the brand is cruelty-free based on Leaping Bunny standards (LB) and/or PETA’s standards (PETA). Brands marked with an * denote brands whose parent company is not cruelty-free; I do my best to mark these brands. This list is by no means exhaustive, and if there is a brand not mentioned, I recommend searching for the brand in one of the databases. Keep in mind that just because a brand isn’t certified by Leaping Bunny or PETA that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are not cruelty-free. I suggest checking the brand’s website or emailing their customer service. Also, a quick Google search of “Is THIS BRAND cruelty-free?” usually yields results. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Brands That Test On Animals (According to PETA)

Almay

Aveeno

Benefit

Bobbi Brown

Caudalie

ChapStick

Clean & Clear

Clinique

CoverGirl

Dove

Estee Lauder

Kiehl's

L'Oreal

Lancome

L'Occitane

MAC

Maybelline

Olay

Organix

Origins

Pantene

Revlon

Secret

Shiseido

St. Ives

Stila

Tresemme

Vaseline

The good news is that there are a lot of well known brands that are cruelty-free!

Cruelty-Free Brands

Acure (LB, PETA)

Alba Botanica (LB, PETA)

Anastasia Beverly Hills (PETA)

Ardell (PETA)

BareMinerals* (PETA)

Bellapierre (LB)

BH Cosmetics (LB)

Bite Beauty* (LB, PETA)

Burt's Bees* (LB, PETA)

CAILYN Cosmetics (LB)

Cover Fx (PETA)

Dr. Bronner's (LB, PETA)

Dr. Dennis Gross (PETA)

e.l.f. (PETA)

EcoTools (PETA)

Flower (PETA)

Formula X (PETA)

Hourglass (PETA)

IT Cosmetics (PETA)

Jack Black (PETA)

Jordana (LB & PETA)

Josie Maran (PETA)

Kat Von D (PETA)

Lavanila (PETA)

Marc Jacobs (PETA)

Milani (LB, PETA)

Murad (PETA)

NYX* (PETA)

OFRA Cosmetics (LB, PETA)

Ole Henriksen (PETA)

Pacifica (PETA)

Physicans Formula (PETA)

Smashbox* (PETA)

Supergoop! (PETA)

Tarte* (PETA)

TATCHA (PETA)

The Body Shop* (LB, PETA)

Tom's of Maine* (LB, PETA)

Too Faced (PETA)

Urban Decay* (LB, PETA)

Wet'n'Wild* (PETA)

Observations

I was surprised at the number of brands that market themselves as all-natural/more of the peace, love and happiness type of brand that are not cruelty-free (I’m looking at you, Origins—you broke my heart). I’m also happily surprised at the options still left in terms of buying cruelty-free. The majority of my lip products and skin care are not cruelty-free so that is disappointing. It is going to be hard to replace a lot of my Holy Grail items (why, Origins, why??). And as with most things, you usually get what you pay for so a large number of drugstore brands are not cruelty-free, however there are some solid choices such as e.l.f. and NYX that are cruelty-free but won’t break the bank.

I’m going to be gradually working toward having only cruelty-free cosmetics and home care products (ideally, Leaping Bunny approved since their criteria are more stringent). It will be a gradual change because this can be an overwhelming process. I think I might work on switching over one or two items at a time. I’ll also try my best to make anything new I buy cruelty-free. I’ll keep you updated on my progress!

What are your thoughts on going cruelty-free? Let me know in the comments.

Sources:

http://www.leapingbunny.org/shopping.php

https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/LeapingBunny

http://www.peta.org/living/beauty/companies-that-still-test-on-animals/ & two PDFs from this webpage: Companies That Don’t Test on Animals PDF Format and Companies That Do Test on Animals PDF Format

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