Review: L’Oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara

Name: L’oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara

Price: $7-9

Product: 0/5

Available: Anywhere L’Oreal is sold

This has to be one of the worst mascaras I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. Many people like this mascara and I’m trying to figure out how some people can actually like this piece of crap mascara. I recieved this mascara through Total Beauty to test and review, and was turned off by it as soon as I saw the brush. I have never had good experiences with mascara wands that have the big fluffy bristled brushes. They are extremely hard for me to work, and it doesn’t work well with my eye lashes. The Maybelline Collagen mascara was like  that for me.

This mascara is supposed to be a a volumizing mascara, but when I applied it carefully to my lashes, I just got spider lashes and clumps, which is something I usually never have to deal with. Then again I use Lash Blast and the Max Factor counterpart. After I applied this onto one eye, and saw the clumps, I grabbed my eyelash comb and tried to comb through the clumpy mess to make it workable for my lashes. In the few seconds that it took me to get the comb, the mascara had already hardened on my lashes, making it impossible to work with my lashes.

I quickly used some of my makeup remover and took off the mascara on that one eye. I didn’t even bother putting it on the other eye. I wasn’t going to walk around in public with clumpy, nasty eye lashes. I am not surprised that this mascara did not work for me. So far it seems that only two brands have worked for me so far;  Cover Girl / Max Factor and NYX. I combined Cover Girl amd Max Factor, because they are basically the same company. I don’t recommend this mascara at all. There are many better mascaras out there that give off great volume without being a clumpy mess.

You can get more reviews on this mascaras and others from Total Beauty.com

Funniest YT Videos that I have seen in a very long time!!

Enjoy!!!

**Warning!!! You will piss your pants laughing while watching these videos!!!**

Review: The Rest of the Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Collection

Name: Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Collection

Price: $2.99- 5.49 each

Available: Anywhere Herbal Essences is available

Here is the rest of the Tousle Me Softly collection. Earlier this week I wrote up a positive review on the Shampoo and Conditioner from this collection. Today I am going to do mini reviews for the rest of the products.

Tousle Me Softly Mousse: I tried this both in my hair and in my aunt’s hair, and the result was the same. Disappointing. This product is extremely light weight in both texture and hold. My hair is really thick and straight, and my aunt has really fine hair that is quite thin. This product had no hold in either of our hair. Worthless

Product 1/5

Tousle Me Softly Hair Spray: This product is a lot better than the Mousse. I never use hairspray, but I tried this one for review purposes. This is quite nice, it doesn’t leave my hair smelling of alcohol – like other hair sprays. It holds my hair in place, and doesn’t turn it into a crunchy, hard mess. This also works equally well in my aunt’s hair as well.

Product: 4/5

Tousle Me Softly Spray Gel: This does the job that a spray gel is supposed to do. This has a pretty decent hold and it leaves the wet look that is trendy right now. I personally don’t like that look however, but that is just my personal taste. This is allows for hair to be textured, and it will actually hold the hair in place. Just not something I’ll ever use.

Product: 4/5

Tousle Me Softly: Finishing Cream: This is the only other product other than the Shampoo and the Conditioner that I actually like. This comes in a tub and it for smoothing out the frizzies. Since I live in a high humidty area, this is very nice to have. This can be used in both wet and dry hair. It helps keep my, and my aunt’s hair smooth and frizz free. My aunt’s hair is worse than mine when it comes to frizziness, so it works really well. This is not a substitution for a deep conditioning treatment.

Product: 5/5

You can get more reviews on these products and more at Total Beauty….

Review: Caress Evenly Gorgeous

Name: Caress Evenly Gorgeous Body Wash & Body Bar

Product: 2.5/5

Price: $3-4 each

Available: Anywhere Caress is sold.

If I were rating this product just on quality alone, I would give this a perfect 5/5, however there is more to a product than just its quality. This is a new product to the Caress bath line, Evenly Gorgeous is a very nice exfoliating body wash that lathers nicely and leaves my skin feeling soft. The only thing I don’t like about Evenly Gorgeous is the scent.

I am very particular about my scents, and I almost always shy away from products that are food scented, such as vanila or sugar cookie. I do like some food scents, such as some apple scents, peppermint and certain citcrus elements when they are mixed with other scents. I do NOT like the scent of  the Evenly Gorgeous set. It is a very sweet, sugary, syrupy, food type scent that reminds me of sugar cookies and vanila.

Honestly the smell turns my stomach and makes me want to vomit. All sugary smells, food smells do that too me. If the scent of this wash faded after getting out of the shower, then I wouldn’t mind using this wash on occasion. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your personal preference, the scent lingers on your skin long after the shower is over.

The beauty bar isn’t any better. This bar is susposed to be used on the face, and honestly using a bar on my face does not appeal to me at all. I much perfer using facial washes and scrubs that are liquid and come from a bottle or a tube. I used this once on my face and it was very awkward to handle, and I didn’t really like having the scent of Evenly Gorgeous on my face or near my face. I won’t be using this bar or any other facial bar again.

You can get more reviews on this product at Total Beauty….

Update: Court Reporting School

I mentioned a few days ago, that I was working on going back to school for court reporting. Right now I submitted my application for a student loan which will help pay for the rest of my tution. If all goes well, then I should be able to start school at the end of the Sept.

Right now my fingers are crossed that everything falls into place for me. I want this more than anything right now, even makeup. LOL!! I’ll definitely let you guys know what happens in the next few days.

Review: Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Shampoo & Conditioner

Name: Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Shampoo & Conditioner

Product: 4/5

Price: $2.99 each

Available: Anywhere Herbal Essences is sold

I received the complete Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly from Total Beauty to test out and review. I was almost out of Shampoo and Conditioner when I got these, so I started testing out the Shampoo and Conditioner that very night. I am not someone who likes using styling products in my hair, so I have yet to try any of the other products I received.

I have been using the shampoo and conditioner on and off for the past few weeks, and I quite enjoy the products for what they are. Shampoo and conditioner doesn’t actually have anything to do with how tousled your hair eventually ends up. That is where the styling products come in at. The purpose of the shampoo and conditioner is to clean the hair and prep it for the styling, and these do it well. My hair didn’t dry out or feel oily after using the products. My hair wasn’t all that moisturized, which is usually something I look for in shampoo and conditioner, but these products never made the claim to be moisturizing, so I can’t really count this as a negative.

I think these are a good buy if you are looking for a new shampoo and conditioner to try. There are definitely better products available in this price range that does give more moisture, such as Aussie Opposites Attract Protect and Soften. However, if you are lucky enough to score these on sale, then I definitely recommend that you pick up a bottle or two and  give it a whirl.

You can get more views on Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Products on Total Beauty.com

Sorry for the unexplained absence

I realize that I have been neglecting this blog this past week, and I am sorry for that. I have been dealing with real life situations this past week. I got my finances in order and now I am looking into going back to school. I am working on going back to to study court reporting, which is an extremely difficult program to go through. I just can’t deal with being in a dead end 14 hr a week job any more. I need to make a change in my life and this is my way of doing it.

I have the feeling that these absense may become more frequent while I get settled into my new life path. I’m still going to post, so I hope you guys are understanble!!! My nerves are off the radar right now.

30 Days & NYX: The Most Popular Products

Yesterday I talked about NYX, and where you can find it. Today is all about the most popular products from the brand. NYX offers a HUGE array of products from eyeshadow to blush to foundation.

Here is an updated list of everything that is available from NYX:

Eyes

Eyeshadows:

Pressed:

• Singles $5
• Ultimate Pearl $6.50
• Trios $8
• The Caribbean Collection – 5 Color Palette $9
• The Runway Collection – 10 Color Palette $9
• For Your Eyes Only – 10 Color Palette $9

Loose:

• Chrome $5
• Loose Pearl $2

Mascara:

• Doll Eye $8
• NYX Mascara $5

Eyeliner:

Pencil:

• Jumbo Eye Pencil $3.50
• Slim Eye/Lip $3
• Auto Pencils Eye/ Lip $3
• Long Pencils Eye/ Lip $2
• Glitter Mania Jumbo Pencil $3

Liquid:

• Felt Tip Liner $7
• Liquid Eye Liner $5
• Glitter Liner $2
• Candy Liner $4

EyeBrows:

• Auto Eyebrow Pencil $4

False Eyelashes:

• False Eyelashes $4
• Special Effects Theatrical Eyelashes $10

Lips:

Lipstick:

• Diamond Sparkle $5
• Round$3.50
• NYX Professional $4
• Tinted Lip Spa $5
• Black Label Lipstick $7

LipGLoss:

• Diamond Sparkle $6
• Mega Shine $5
• Lip Balm $3
• Sheer Gloss $5
• Super Volume Lip Pumper $7
• Cupcake Gloss Set $5
• NYX Girls Round $3

Lip Liners:

• Jumbo Lip Pencil $3.50
• Long Pencils Eye/Lip $2
• Slim Pencils Eye/ Lip $3
• Auto Pencils Eye/ Lip $3

Face/ Body:

Foundations/ Loose Powder/ Bronzer/ Highlight – Contour:

• Liquid Makeup $14
• Twin Cake Powder $14
• Black Label Compact Powder $25
• Loose Face Powder $14
• Body Bronzer $12
• Powder Bronzer $15
• Highlight / Contour $17 each or $30 for both

Concealer:

• Concealer Jar $5
• Concealer Stick $5
• Concealer Magic Wand $5

Blushes:

• Mosaic Powder $8.50
• Cream Blush $7
• Powder Blush $6

Glitter Products:

• Body Glitter Gel $5
• Glitter Wand $4
• Glitter On The Go $4
• Glitter Cream Palette $5
• Glitterati Glitter Cream Palette $12
• Glitter Powder $2

Nails:

• Ink Nail Art $3
• NYX Polish $4
• Oasis Nail Treatments $4

Tools:

Bags:

• NYX Brush Belt $30
• Professional Bag $15
• NYX Bags Various
• Makeup Artist Traincase Small $85
• Makeup Artist Traincase Medium $125
• Makeup Artist Traincase Large $500
• Makeup Artist Traincase 4 Tier $300
  
• Catalog Tote Bag $30
  

Makeup Brushes:

• NYX Brushes Various
• Professional Brushes Various

Miscellaneous:

• Director’s Chair $69
• Makeup Sponge and Puffs $3-$6
• Eye Lash Curler $7
• Sharpener $4
• Blotting Paper $3

It’s surprising to know that only a few of these products are well known. I own a lot of the products available and I feel that there are some definite winners that a lot of people tend to overlook in favor of the popular ones. but I’ll get into that later.

Here are the most popular and well known NYX products:

Square Single Eyeshadows – Over 160 colors

Powder Blush – Over 24 shades

Trios – 45 Trios, Some NYX colors can only be found in the Trios

Round lipsticks – Nearly 100 different shades, often compared to MAC lipsticks

Mega Shine Lipgloss – Over 100 shades – non sticky and generous sizes

Caribbean, Runway and Your Eyes Only Palettes – These are brand new additions to the NYX family, and have quickly become some of the most wanted items from NYX.

Tomorrow will bring some pictures hopefully of some of the products that I have.

30 Days & NYX: Overview & Where to Get It!

NYX has an interesting reputation. Quality wise, most people would agree that they are very comparable to higher end cosmetics, in terms of pigmentation and texture. The one brand that NYX is most often compared to is MAC, partly because of the huge array of colors and products that both brands offer. Price wise however, NYX falls into the category of drugstore cosmetics, with most products falling in the $1-10 price range.

Which makes this brand very, very desirable. The only problem is that NYX isn’t easily found. Ulta does carry a small selection of NYX, but it isn’t the entire brand. Other places that carry NYX is extremely random it is mostly found in beauty supply stores (not to be confused with Sally Beauty Supply). Most of these beauty supply stores can have a very small selection of the brand, even smaller than Ulta’s, and since these are small stores, the selection can be tampered with or even bad.

So unless you are extremely lucky to have a store with a great selection, you basically have to turn to the interwebs to get your NYX fix. Fortunately, there are many online stores that offer most if not all the NYX brand.

Here are the places that carry NYX

NYX Cosmetics – Official Site

Cherry Culture – Carries the largest selection of NYX other than the NYX website

Nonpareil Boutique - Independent site that offers a decent selection for a discounted price

My Diva Closet – Smallish selection – not nearly as cheap or popular as Cherry Culture

Makeup Masala – Smallish selection – offers slight discount and other brands as well

I’m sure there are other places to purchase NYX, but these are the most talked about resources. Many of these sites offer free world wide shipping with a minuim purchase, which is a good thing for the international fans of NYX. Outside of the States, NYX is practically nonexistent.

Tomorrow’s 30 Days & NYX post will focus on my favorite products and how they compare to MAC and other higher end brands!!

Starting tomorrow, a new series…

I have decided to work on a new series starting tomorrow focusing on NYX Cosmetics. I have a ton of NYX that hasn’t been getting nearly enough love from me. I plan on posting new things every day – so there should be at least one post per day – if not more. Even though NYX is still my main focus for a while, I still have obligations to write other reviews of products I have been testing.

So be on the look out