The breakdown:
Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm in Nude Glow, 0.17 oz.
Fresh Sugar Petal Lip Treatment, 0.07 oz.
Buxom Lash Mascara in Blackest Black, 0.2 fl. oz.
Living Proof Nourishing Styling Cream, 1 fl. oz.
Urban Decay b6 Vitamin Infused Complexion Prep Spray, 0.5 fl. oz.
Origins Plantscription SPF 25 Anti-aging Cream, 0.5 oz.
Perfume mini vials in: 1) Giulietta by Tocca, 2) Clean by Fusion, 3) Dot by Marc Jacobs
Peter Thomas Roth Oilless Oil, 0.05 fl. oz.
Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick samples (2 foil pouch, single use)
Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation and radiant touch samples (foil pouch, single use)
Kat Von D Lock-It Powder Foundation in Medium, 0.1 oz.
Dolce & Gabbana deluxe perfume sample in Desire (seriously the cutest miniature bottle), 0.16 fl. oz.
Benefit They're Real Mascara, 0.1 oz.
Benefit What's Up Highlighter, 0.08 oz.
DISCLAIMER: I did cash in 350 of my Beauty Insider points to get the Kat Von D powder foundation and the Doce & Gabbana perfume. I also got the Benefit mascara and highlighter set as my Beauty Insider birthday gift. The rest were part of the BLITZ code that is currently active or one of the three tiny samples they automatically send with your order.
So, we started with a fresh face:
Since I like to get the disappointing out of the way in advance, I cannot review the Too Faced Beauty Balm (FULL DISCLOSURE: It DID say that this came in "nude glow", but it certainly didn't sound like super dark foundation and I should have looked it up) because it was entirely too dark for my fair complexion. I also cannot review the Kat Von D foundation powder. I'm actually upset about this one because I spent my Beauty Insider points on it and I have double checked and the color was never disclosed. They sent a ginger face a medium foundation. It made my face orange. Here's a quickie look:
Not sure if you can see it in the bottom picture, but I literally look like I have an orange beard. The Kat Von D was a waste of points. I'm surprised that they would send me a product in such a dark shade, given that they must have some kind of beauty profile on me, since they make suggestions specifically for my grey eyes. I'm super disappointed in this. The Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation also was a miss, complexion-wise, but it was just a freebie foil packet sample, so I really wasn't very invested in it.
I think it's important to stress that this isn't a bad review of these products. In fact, this isn't a review at all. I am disappointed that Sephora doesn't color match point-paid products at the bare minimum, but that's certainly not a fault of the product itself.
Let's move on to some better things! :)
I am not sure if you can tell based on the clean faced photo at the top of this post, but my hair is long and extremely thick. It, as such, gets frizzy very easily. I tried the Living Proof Nourishing Styling Cream which claims to fix that and, surprisingly, it does an incredible job.
It kept my hair smooth and frizz-free, which is always a wonderful thing. That said, it's a bit out of my price range for a permanent addition to my hair care routine. I have a 1 oz sample here, but the 4 oz bottle is $26 and the 8 oz bottle is $36. The price, coupled with how much I need to use each application thanks to the super thick hair I have just excludes it, unfortunately. It's a super buy though and works like a miracle.
Next up, I tried the two different mascaras that I received.
The first photo is of the Buxom Lash Mascara and the second is Benefit's They're Real coupled with their Watt's Up highlighter. I made sure to only use two coats of each mascara I tested, to make things fair and, while I don't really notice any kind of difference with the highlighter, the Benefit mascara is, hands down, the best of these two (although I would certainly use the Buxom Lash mascara as something to carry around in my purse for a lash emergency).
Lastly, I tested the lip products. Surprisingly, the Fresh Sugar Petal Lip Treatment was my favorite. I really disliked the Rose color in the lip sampler, but this tint was beautiful (although, like its Rose tinted counterpart, it still would need to be reapplied more often than I would prefer).
It's really quite a sweet color.
On the other hand, I got foil samples of two colors of Marvelous Moxie Lipstick (Speak Your Mind and Never Say Never) and they were both UGLY:
The top one is actually way too pink (although the camera doesn't do such a hot job of showing that) and the second one I'm pretty sure electrocuted me. In all seriousness, it's just way too...much. I'm already slightly bias in that I dislike lipsticks and prefer glosses. However, even with the bias taken into consideration, these are still just really ugly lip colors. Luckily, it was just some foil samples that I can toss without caring too much about their loss.
Lastly, some non-picture reviews. I received a sample of Peter Thomas Roth Oilless Oil, which softens skin or hair and proclaims to improve the look of fine lines and wrinkles. I used it as a moisturizer and it was impressive. The sample I received was the size of a tiny perfume sample vial and I'm currently thinking about ordering this in a full-sized product. I really did like it and it has excellent reviews.
I received a 0.5 oz sample of Origins Plantscription SPF 25 Anti-aging Cream. It's a morning cream and I've been using it for a few days, but I'm not sure the sample is big enough to use long enough to notice results. Then again, the full-sized product is only 1.7 oz and $55 (eeek). I do love the Origins brand, but probably not enough to throw caution to the wind with such an expensive product. The reviews often mention that it feels greasy, which is true, although I'd LOVE to see the clock turn back a bit. I'll see how this trial goes.
Lastly, I spent 250 Beauty Insider points on a super deluxe perfume sampler by Dolce & Gabbana called Desire. It was really a gamble as I hadn't smelled it before and, if I'm being honest, was in a bottle that was reminiscent of the black and gold lacquer bedroom furniture craze of the 1980s. The 1 oz. spray goes for $79 and the 1.6 oz goes for a whopping $93. I wish I could take a picture of the smell of this perfume. It's incredible. I don't remember the last time I spent more than $40 or $50 on a bottle of perfume (and, even at that price point, it's been years), but I think this might be something that I need in my life. We'll see if I get sick of it by the time the sample size is gone. Regardless, it's amazing.
Seriously.
No comments:
Post a Comment