February 2013 HITS AND MISSES!

Hi guys!

It’s a little late in the month of March to finally be putting this up online, but I wanted to share my 2 cents on my favourite and not so favourite products of February!
You might notice that this month I’ve titled my post “hits and misses” rather than “favourites”. Well… this is because a couple of make up items disappointed me THAT much that I needed to talk about them…

So keep on scrolling to see what they are!

Favourites:

EmerginC Earth Hydrating Phytelene Cream

EmerginC Earth Hydrating Phytelene Cream

I am LOVING this moisturiser! I have always stayed away from most hydrating moisturisers because I had the impression that they would make my oily skin break out. BUT. I have recently noticed that my skin was looking very tired. So after finding this in one of my Bellaboxes (November I think…), I decided to give it a go and WOW, the results were amazing!

My skin was looking much more plump and hydrated the next day. It gave me the boost I really needed and brightened my overall complexion, making me seem wide awake – even if I was asleep on my feet!

This is a miracle product people. *ahem* let me announce my FIRST HOLY GRAIL! So amazing that it’s hit the top of my charts and is being framed in 16K gold as we speak.

Clinique Even Skin Tone Moisturiser

Clinique Even Skin Tone Moisturizer SPF 20

Evidently I was experimenting with skin care during the month of February, and that didn’t bring the best of looks when break outs occurred. But my oh my I found another amazing moisturiser.

Whilst the EmerginC moisturiser was great for the occasional hydrating boosts, I didn’t want to have that as a daily treatment as at the end of the day it was for “dry” skin types. Excessive use could’ve created a great big mess with my oily skin (plus it’s super expensive – something like $109 for 50ml! So spacing out the use would be smart).

I found this tucked away in a Clinique gift pack I purchased online during Christmas and pulled it out to see what it could do for my skin. I suffer hyper pigmentation due to acne scarring, so the thought an “even skin tone” treatment was tempting. I had previously tried the Clinique Dark Spot Treatment Serum though and that didn’t do anything for my skin. So I was a little skeptical of this product.

But this moisturiser really does do the job! After all the break outs I’ve been experiencing last month, I was left with plenty of dark acne spots to experiment on. But after daily application of this moisturiser, my skin tone really has evened out and where there was redder patches of skin has now completely faded! I’m halfway through the jar so hopefully the results will continue by the end of it. But so far I am loving it!

I’ve also noticed that after using this moisturiser, my face hasn’t been as oily throughout the day. After about 5 hours with foundation, my face would become a slick of oil – enough for any make up to slide off. This moisturiser though must have restored the levels of hydration in my skin, making it produce less oils to compensate for my constant “oil-free” products. Amazing!

I love Clinique 🙂

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden

Now onto some eye products. We already all know who, what and how amazing Urban Decay Primer Potions are. If you don’t… then get yourself out from underneath that rock. Because this eye primer is amazing! It works especially well on oily lids (i.e. me), and even though it is high end and much more pricey than anything you might find in a Priceline/drug store, it is worth it.

With barely any product squeezed onto the smallest surface of your finger, you can effectively prime the whole of your lid and also your bottom lash line. But that’s not all! With the Primer Potion in Eden, the nude colour conceals any redness of the lid that isn’t covered when applying foundation. This gives the lid a really nice neutral base before shadow application, or even just evening out the skin tone under simple liner and mascara!

Random note: this is not a sponsored blog post. I’m just freaking out because all these products have made my wildest dreams come true…

Revlon Custom Eyes Shadow & Liner in Sweet Innocence

Revlon Custom Eyes Shadow & Liner in Sweet Innocence

Okay I’m not crazy about this whole palette, but the 2nd shade from the left is perfect! Not sure what the name of this is – or whether you can get it individually…
I tried to find it at my local Priceline but it seems like it only comes in the palette.

This is the perfect peach/pink shade for blending. When you’re trying for a less dramatic look and want to simply blend out those first 2 colours without adding in anything too intense, this is the perfect shade.

Simply the best shadow to soften the edges – what more can I say??

Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturising Lip Colour Balm in Chunky Cherry

Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizer Lip Colour Balm in Chunky Cherry

Now for the lips. It’s not only Chunky Cherry that I love; this whole Chubby Stick range is amazing!

I’ve always had this unavoidable dry lip that nothing seemed to work on! It’s not excessively dry but I’d always been able to spot some peeling and cracked lips here and there – and when you’re trying to put on lip colour, it’s always a chore to make it look presentable!

Lip balm: check. Lip moisturisers: check. Exfoliators: check. Even Lucas’ Paw Paw Ointment???: CHECK.

Everything I have tried so far does nothing. But these Chubby Sticks on the other hand have been god sent…
After one day of application, not only does it leave you with moisturised plump lips, you also have a really nice splash of sheer colour that show off your new lips.

Only problem is, it’s quite pricey…

Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Fruitti

Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Fruitti

Though this lip butter is a cult favourite, I don’t find it as great with moisturisation as the Clinique Chubby Sticks.
It’s nice and all – great packaging, price and a great range of colours. But I still prefer those Chubbys.

I must say though, I’m really warming to the shade Tutti Fruiti from this range. I find myself reaching for this shade every time I’m sporting a colour appropriate outfit.
And I really do love the packaging…

Misses:

Now for the disappointments that have cause this series to go from “Favourites” to “Hits and Misses”…

*Queue: disapproving silence*

Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector

Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector

I had high hopes for this one. Clinique, my best friend in the world of beauty products had never let me down before.
Sure there were some moments when I though we had differences. Some products that didn’t work too well for my skin and complexion issues. But we were still the best of friends.

But oh how you have disappointed me so!

After ignoring a friend’s protests that this product did not work for her, I went ahead anyway and spent my life savings to get my hands on a bottle of these.
I hurriedly tore through my package when I saw it in the mail and my eyes lit up like stars in the night sky.

Halfway through the bottle I see no difference… Maybe it takes some time to kick in?

3/4 of the way through… still no difference. Maybe I have a dud bottle!

When I finished the whole bottle, my heart sank. Still no difference.

I have found the first major flaw from Clinique and am now recommending others to try anything else before this.
Try the L’Oreal Youth Code Luminosity Serum I reviewed on. Try the Clinique Even Better Skin Tone Moisturiser I wrote about earlier. Both worked amazing for me and surely will help anyone else who has the same problem of hyper-pigmentation. But save your dimes and save your pride by turning away from this product.

We’re still friends Clinique, but from this moment they’ll be a constant shadow of doubt that I won’t be able to shake off.

Clinique Aromatics Elixir

Clinique Aromatics Elixir

Okay so maybe I was being a little dramatic just then. And maybe Clinique disappointed me more than once. But this might not be a disappointment for everyone – I’m just not someone who likes to smell like musk. Or a toilet.

I received a sample of this elixir along with all the other items I bought from Clinique over the holiday season, and was excited to try it on. But WOW, the moment I pumped a couple of sprays of this perfume, I felt like I was transported to the closest public restroom.

Nothing more to be said. It’s just sitting on my bathroom bench now, waiting to be picked up and tossed into the bin.

Another disappointment Clinique. But you never know, someone out there might be really into the wafts of fragrant public restrooms…

That’s all for my February favourites!
Hope you found a couple of things here interesting, and hopefully I motivated or deterred any choices that could’ve gone horribly wrong!

I was planning on putting together an empties post, but considering I only finished a couple of products, that would’ve made for boring news.

So follow me on any of the below fluttering social media sites (or all) if you wish to be flooded with interested pics and sound bites of my every day life!

Twitter: reanspeaks
Instagram: @reanspeaks

But for now…

Lovelove!

Rean

TALK ABOUT: Oz The Not So Great Or Powerful…

Hi guys!

I was out on the weekend and decided to watch a movie with a friend.
She was very keen on seeing Hansel and Gretal: Witch Hunters, but as I’m personally a scardy cat and can’t handle anything confronting, there was no way I was going to see a film rated ‘R’ for “strong amounts of violence and gore”…

So! We ended up seeing Oz The Great And Powerful.

I had high expectations for this. Okay maybe not sky high. It is about the Wizard of Oz after all. But considering the whole entertainment industry went insane over it and considering there are custom made Urban Decay palettes, I did think it was going to be a relatively good movie!

Urban Decay: Oz Palettes

Apparently not.

Okay so it’s a prequel of The Wizard of Oz. It’s a fairytale. It’s adapted from a children’s bedtime story. But it was not a good enough movie for all the hype!
The acting was way too dramatic and the make up on all 3 witches were only mediocre.
Even kids movies are entertaining to some extent for the average adult. Oz The Great and Powerful though was a disappointment and a half.

FYI: my friend and I had our phones out halfway through the movie.
Yes it was that bad.

I must say though, the mise en scene of the film was quite impressive. Colours, location design, the display of Land of Oz wonders was very well executed. The story itself just lacked.

The make up:

Back to the hype of the film, I was expecting outstanding make up and costumes but everything seemed fairly mediocre to me.

Evanora (played by Rachel Weiz) didn’t have any looks worth noting.

Oz The Great And Powerful: Evanora

Theodora (played by Mila Kunis) simply sporting a dark brown eye look before *SPOILER ALERT* she became green all over.

Oz The Great And Powerful: Theodora

The only other character that had slightly notable make up was Glinda, the good witch (played by Michelle Williams).

Oz The Great And Powerful: Glinda

She had a soft silver glittery eye that matched the silver dress she wore throughout the film.
There was this constant lone strand of hair that was sitting across her face all the time though, that was so annoying to see! No curl, no wave – it was sitting limp along her face, pulling away all the class that the rest of her exuded.

Initially I thought it could’ve been a sign of distress. Since she was going through a few hiccups throughout the movie. But NO! By the end of it, when the happy ending rolled around, that strand of hair was still there! No attractive.

Witch: Glinda. Horrible lone strand of hair!

This is a relatively good version of the strand of hair… but see what I mean?? What is that??

Deep breath. Life goes on.

Anyhow, that’s my little rant.
Though Glinda’s make up was a little different to what you’d normally see, I don’t think anything in regards to costume and beauty was worth all the talk.

Sorry if you disagree but… I just didn’t get it.

Let’s hope my next cinematic experience is better than this one. But for now…

Lovelove,

Rean