Skin Care

March 13, 2014

Ipsy glambag March 2014

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie™ Lipstick in Get Ready – no cones. Good ingredients. Smallest lipstick sample ever! (It’s actually kinda cute … but almost in a funny ridiculous way.) I really would have preferred the lipgloss though. The color of this is just a little off for me. I realized that one of the reasons I prefer lipglosses is that the tubes are longer and are easier to find in my purse (and don’t pop open accidentally.)

NYX Love in Rio Eye Shadow – cones rule this one out for me. Gorgeous colors though.

Chella Indigo Blue Eyeliner – cones rule this one out for me.

Pixi Beauty Flawless Beauty Primer – cones rule this one out for me.

Well this month is a little bit of a bummer for me since cones cause my skin to break out badly and that means I can’t even try 3 out of 4 of the products. I do continue to appreciate that ipsy posts online 100% of the ingredients to the products they send. I’ll also create cosmetics database reports here soon since cones aren’t unhealthy and several of these products may be good choices for other people.

Wish I had received:

Pacifica Body Butter – obsessed with this brand.
bareMinerals – Marvelous Moxie™ Lipgloss in Rebel because although I love to try lipsticks, I tend to wear more lip glosses.
Vita Liberata pHenomenal 2-3 Week Tan Lotion – this one I’m hesitant on because I’m not much one for self tanners. But the ingredients look decent and I would have tried this if it had been in my bad.

Sign up for Ipsy:

http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-h051sec1kqq5g8p
{affiliate link – I get 250 points which points equal products but it’s still a little unclear how many points to the dollar}

March 13, 2014

Birchbox unboxing March 2014

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Hair, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

I’ll come back soon and do cosmetics database reports on all of the products anyway. Some items with cones may still be healthy. Cones just cause terrible breakouts for me.

Gilchrist & Soames London Collection Body Lotion – cones rule this one out for me.

theBalm® cosmetics How ‘Bout Them Apples?™ – cones rule this one out for me

Curly Hair Solutions™ Curl Keeper – no cones. But it does use synthetic fragrance AND I received this from Birchbox once already back in August. The scent was so strong and it gave me a headache so I had to throw it out. UPDATE: Birchbox apparently noticed my mention of a duplicate and gave me 100 birchbox points (value $10) so I believe if you don’t have a blog but received a duplicate, you may want to contact their customer support.

Screen Shot 2014-03-17 at 3.31.46 PM

Jurlique Herbal Recovery Eye Cream – no cones, fragrances are from essential oils, this one I’m excited to try BUT this is like the amount for one use (or least the packaging makes that likely) and I’m a bit disappointed since this is so thin and small.

Jurlique Herbal Recovery Night Cream – another that I’m excited to try. Good ingredients, no cones. This one is a more reasonable sample size.

Ghirardelli Intense Dark Cherry Tango – chocolate … nom. Fine as an extra.

Sooo a little disappointing on this one this month since one of the samples I can try is super small, the chocolate extra was three bites, and then I have some night cream.

I’m a little concerned that since I’m turning 35 this year I’m going to have to go back and lie about my age to continue to get better boxes. I do not care how old I am but I’ve heard rumors that if you’re over 35, Birchbox seems to think all you need is wrinkle cream. I hope I’m wrong.

Still not signed up for Birchbox?

http://birchbox.com?raf=3l3e7
{ yes it’s an affiliate link, I get 50 points which equals $5 credit – share the love! }

March 5, 2014

derma e Age-Defying Night Crème with Astaxanthin and Pycnogenol
empty and re-purchased

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Skin Care

Just finished off and re-purchased this. I love this face moisturizer. I actually have been using it this winter in the daytime as well because it’s not TOO heavy (though it still may be too heavy for daytime use depending on your own skin.)

Does it have age defying properties? I have no idea. I just like that it’s just enough moisture without feeling oily and the ingredients are awesome and non-toxic! 🙂

Oh one thing I dislike – I’m never fond of containers I have to dip my fingers in. I would much prefer a squeeze tube. Despite that I did go through an entire container even though this type of container has kept me from using other products in the past!

February 22, 2014

Ipsy Glambag unboxing February 2014

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

POP Beauty – Plump Pout Mini in Peony Petal – no cones, no parabens, no synthetic fragrances. Great so far. Health wise we’re actually good on this based on ingredients. Although they don’t rank as unhealthy though this does have petrolatum and mineral oil which are very unnatural. I’ve also started noticing that since I’ve switched away from using products with these ingredients, when I try something with them, they just feel … weird. The cosmetics database ranks this a 3 … BUT OMG! DOES IT SMELL BAD!!! I do not care what the report says because it smells like melted plastic!!! I don’t know what they’ve done wrong with this product but NO – I just will not be wearing this. Overwhelmingly bad smell and I talked to someone else about this – theirs smelled horrible too so it wasn’t just one bottle.

Zoya Nail Polish in Odette – ALWAYS a Zoya fan. Ipsy sent out two colors, Odette and Dot. I recently bought Brigitte and Normani from the “Naturel” collection. And with this month’s Ipsy I received Odette which is awesome and I’ll be doing a review of those shades here soon.

Mally Beauty – Evercolor Starlight Waterproof Eyeliner – no cones, none of the normal nasties. The only thing on the list that threw up a red flag was “aluminum powder.” Not sure that it was the same kind of aluminum used in say aluminum pans, I decided it was best to check the cosmetics database first for some feedback. The aluminum is a four and the overall product score is a 3 which honestly is still pretty good. Since I don’t expect to be wearing silver/gray daily I’m good with this.

First Aid Beauty – Skin Rescue Deep Cleanser with Red Clay – at first glance the ingredient list looks good. No cones and no other obvious nasties. Rates a 3 with the cosmetics database. So I think my only concern on this one will actually be how harsh it is on my skin BUT it looks like it has several good-for-your-skin oils like rosemary in there so I actually expect that this will be pretty good. The smell is decent and natural (no synthetic fragrance.)

Jesse’s Girl – 9 Pan Eye Shadow Compact – cones rule this one out for me. Plums and purples. one of the ingredients, propylparaben, rates a 10 and the overall score with the cosmetics database is a 5. I think I would steer clear of this one. They have some loose mica eyeshadows that are much healthier (but they are more on the shimmery glittery side.)

What other people got. Not in my bag but looks interesting, healthy and I might buy them:

Pacifica Hawaiian Ruby Guava Body Butter – LOVE this brand. I can use almost ALL of their products (a couple like the eyeshadow have cones in them) and the scents are all natural. Ruby Guava is one of their most popular scents for a reason. LOVE LOVE LOVE Pacifica. 20% off has me because I can easily spend money with this company.
PHYTO-C Velvet Gel
skyn ICELAND Fresh Start Mask with Ice Age Mud
NuMe Intense Renewal Mask

February 18, 2014

Birchbox February 2014 unboxing

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

First lets start with what you can see in these photos – this is the first time I’ve had something leak in one of my Birchboxes. When I posted this on instagram I was told to contact in**@bi******.com which I did and since I told them I hadn’t wanted to try the hair oil and nothing else was ruined they gave me some birchbox points for the trouble.

I didn’t take any additional product photos after opening this month’s box and I threw out the hair oil bottle and the packaging so let’s move on to what was inside. 🙂

COOLA Tinted Matte SPF 30 for Face – cones rule it out for me (allergy / breakouts.) I think I swatched this on my hand with a sample I received in the past though and wasn’t thrilled. I’m never thrilled with tinted moisturizers though. Love the Coola sunscreen though and I can highly recommend that!! This tinted matte moisturizing sunscreen rates a 3 with the cosmetic database. (reminder: lower is better with 0 being best and 10 being worst with regards to being healthy.)

Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish in Kitten Heels – is this 3 free? I need to do a bit more research (tiny print.) Love the brightness of the shade indoors. We’ll see how this wears.

Smashbox Cosmetics Full Exposure Mascara – have to call. Not waterproof so not worth it for me. Not going to do the cosmetics database report on this one either.

Beauty Protector Protect & Oil – cones rule it out for me. Rates a 6 with the cosmetics database so even without the cones it’s a bit too high.

Smashbox Cosmetics Full Exposure Palette – Most of these don’t have cones but there are one or two shades that have cones in them. Also I’m half and half on this “card” style sample. There’s enough to try but not enough to play with. I can maybe do swatches on my arm ONCE and ONCE on my eyes and that’s it. Yes, retail it would be $49 for the full palette so I get why they couldn’t give us the full palette but this paper card seems a bit of a cop out – like something you might see for free in a magazine. Colors are good but I don’t think I’m impressed enough to buy the full set. The ingredients are long and listed out on the back of the card (and nowhere online) so I’ll have to come back to running a cosmetics database report on these.

Still not signed up for Birchbox?

http://birchbox.com?raf=3l3e7
{ yes it’s an affiliate link, I get 50 points which equals $5 credit – share the love! }

February 4, 2014

Ipsy Glambag unboxing January 2014

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

Elizabeth Mott Smooth Shadow Pencil – no cones and it’s an excellent healthy ingredient list. The cosmetics database brings this back as a 1 so the only additional question is whether or not it will last the day or crease a lot.

(MALIN+GOETZ) Mojito Lip Balm – the initial search on the cosmetics database had me wowed with a zero (best score ever!) but turned out that their listing for this product only had two ingredients whereas the product is now much more complex OR simply entered wrong for that listing. I created a custom report based on the longer list of ingredients and came back with a rating of a 5. Bah humbug. Other than the synthetic fragrance though it doesn’t have ingredients that have me running for the hills. If this doesn’t bother my nose I MAY try this one anyway.

Proactiv+ Mark Fading Pads – Well it’s not the usual ingredient I call out but if you see “urea” you probably have a less than healthy product. I had high hopes for this after I checked for Benzoyl Peroxide (I’m allergic to the key ingredient in the main Proactive product.) I like the idea of something with glycolic acid that would promote skin cell turnover for healthier looking skin and fading acne scarring faster however the IMIDAZOLIDINYL UREA (FORMALDEHYDE RELEASER) is not something I want on my skin. The cosmetics database report brings this product as a whole back as a 5 rating.

Sexy Hair Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner – cones so I can’t use this one personally. It’s also a 6 with the cosmetics database. This brand is fairly hit and miss. Some products that are excellent and healthy and others that might do great things for your hair but aren’t so healthy.

skiin Soothing and Smoothing Eye Cream – cones so I can’t use this one personally. It’s a 5 with the cosmetics database and it brought to my attention one other thing. I like essential oils but since Tim is allergic to certain natural oils I don’t like the vague “blend of essential oils” on the ingredient list.

Not in my bag but wish I had received (and I may try):