neon

July 22, 2015

Swatch & Review – Stila look at me liquid lipstick in Bella

Stila look at me liquid lipstick in Bella (swatched below) is a matte neon lipstick that’s part of the stila’s stay all day liquid lipstick line. And although I didn’t wear this one all day … yet, this neon matte lipstick seems like it will have some staying power. I ended up using coconut oil to get it back off both my lips and my hand.

Swatch - Stila look at me liquid lipstick in Bella

Stila look at me liquid lipstick in Bella – Neon Matte madness!

Stila look at me liquid lipstick in Bella neon pink not so sure

I’m on the fence about this. I am kinda in love with the color … but I also feel like I look a bit freaky with it on. And I don’t wear a vibrant or deep lipstick … ever. I recently posted the EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. Skin Deep Cosmetics score on my Birchbox July post and it’s a little less healthy than I would normally go with but I don’t know of any natural equivalent to this. And this is not the type of color most people would wear daily!

I do think this would be pool proof and waterproof…. it does . not . budge . once it’s dry. Which is nice because one of the reasons I don’t wear a lot of dark or vibrant lipsticks is because they do smudge or come off on my teeth. This does not.

But that means you also have to be careful putting it on. You should use the wand to get the shape you want on both top and bottom lips, don’t press your lips together because that can make it look weird. Just apply and let it dry. I have no idea what lip liner you could even begin to use with this so apply carefully because Unevenness WILL show … you can kinda see that in the image below:

Swatch on lips - Stila look at me liquid lipstick in Bella

Final review of the Stila look at me liquid lipstick in Bella

I’m eyeing the other colors even though I’m not even sure that I will wear this one! The matte neon is very appealing to me. I don’t know why but it is. The fact that it stays put and also comes in a lipgloss tube is also appealing. I’m so torn!!!

July 21, 2015

Birchbox July 2015 and EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database Scores

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Subscription boxes

stila look at me liquid lipstick in bella – I thought this was one with dimethicone in it but in looking at the Birchbox listing, it isn’t (cones rule things out for me – allergy-like issue.) It does have parabens though. This MAY fall into a category of “unhealthy but use once in a blue moon” because the color just pops and is fun. Actually it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s not healthy but it’s a 5. Right in the middle. Mostly because of Propylparaben. I think I may give this one a shot here. Just for those times when I want a super vibrant neon pink lip. 🙂

Juice Beauty® GREEN APPLE™ Peel Sensitive – I’m half and half on Juice Beauty products. Although most are SUPER healthy, I have found that only about half of them seem effective on me in doing what they claim. Juice Beauty’s oil-free moisturizer was one I used until I came across the Derma that trumped it. With that in mind, the ingredients here look good. It’s going to get docked some points with EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. for Vit A and maybe a few things that would make this a good peel … but it’s a PEEL. Yup right about where I expected it to be – it’s a 5 with Vit A causing a lot of that. Look over the ingredients and decide for yourself. I’m going to give this a try.

Keep in mind that with peels you don’t want to use them and then say go to the pool for a couple of hours. I like to use peels and exfoliators at night so I can apply some heavier moisturizers and give my face some time to heal.

Macadamia Professional™ Weightless Moisture Leave-In Conditioning Mist – Cones rule this one out for me personally but there are a lot of long ingredients in here that are throwing up warning flags as well. There is fragrance but no parabens. Let’s see what other ingredients get called out and why…. right off the bat “POLYQUATERIUM-37” doesn’t match anything. No obvious alternative name so going from there. Ah yes … an ingredient I’m starting to see more because people have become aware of parabens. Companies are choosing other preservatives that can be just as bad. In this case: METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE So this ranks a 6 with the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics database.

Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Liquid – so not a “cone” by name but dimethiconol is a silicone polymer which rules this one out for me personally (personal issue with cones.) Two other ingredients were clearly misread by OCR “crosspolyrner” should be “crosspolymer” for example. Yet again with that tricky paraben preservative replacement – Methylisothiazolinone … what a mouthful. This ends up ranking a surprising 6 with the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics database.

English Laundry Eau de Parfum No. 7 for Her – synthetic fragrance. Headache and itchy nose without even opening it. Seriously I need them to realize that this HURTS me and makes me think each month I get a fragrance about quitting. And I would readily accept having one less product in my box if it meant not having to be exposed to synthetic fragrance samples that affect my allergies. And if you think “how do you live with people around you who use these products” to which I say “there’s a reason I don’t live in NYC or some of the other major cities.” And yes I have left places when someone’s perfume was overwhelming. Fragrance is an unhealthy 8. PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE BIRCHBOX GIVE ME A WAY TO OPT OUT OF FRAGRANCE SAMPLES! I know I may still get a scented shower gel I can’t handle but I would at least like to stop getting little vials of insta-headaches. PLEASE!!!

Stila in Bella below:

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! }

June 13, 2013

June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

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

My Birchbox unboxing AND my Ipsy unbagging in the video below along with some swatches and commentary. AKA June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag:

My June 2013 Birchbox:

Davines 3-Step System – Davines Love Smoothing Shampoo, Davines Love Smoothing Conditioner, Davines OI/ OIL. dimethicone… 0/5 stars
Mirenesse Glossy Kiss in “Quick Kiss” – the color was growing on me and at first glance I thought that the ingredient list looked ok. Not super healthy but not super toxic. What I missed was that they include fragrance AND dimethicone. The dimethicone is a deal breaker for me personally. And it’s a gorgeous color.Argh. Cosmetics database custom report has it about a 4. Since I had already swatched on my hand, I tried on my lips just because I was curious about the color. I think it might be a little hard to wear but I do think it might have certain occassions that it would be nice to have that extra pop. Then I washed my face intensely and I’m hoping that a limited test isn’t going to cause cystic pimples anywhere near my mouth. I was thinking of the Laqa & Co Lil’ Lip Duo when I was doing the video so I’m frustrated I didn’t get this product. 0/5 stars for the Mirenesse (would have been a 5 star if it had been without dimethicone and fragrance … or if it had been the other product.)
Color Club Wanderlust Collection – I received “Pardon My French” which is a nice lavendar but I was hoping for “Reign in Spain” because I have a thing for corals. My problem with this isn’t that I have to buy the nail polish color I want, it’s that they don’t have full size bottles and you can only buy the set. Since you already have one of the colors, then you’re buying a second of that color no matter what you got in your box. The purple is a good enough color to have as a mini but I don’t need two and I really wish that they offered these as full sized individual bottles instead of the collection. I will probably buy the collection though at $8 and free shipping, so whatever. 3/5 stars (I’m just not a big purple fan plus my comments about the collection above and no full size products even available. For purple it’s an excellent shade and always love the Color Club polishes.)
Oscar de la Renta Something Blue – synthetic fragrance. They now have a new check box for “don’t send me more than 6 fragrances a year” but I really wish I could make that setting “don’t ever send me fragrances” …. maybe with the additional of “I’m allergic to half of them and I don’t want to use the other half and this is such a waste. One even gave me a headache just from opening the box so please stop sending perfume already.” Sigh. Just know, unless it’s natural / organic and it doesn’t give me a headache (which does exist, just rare) I’m not going to give a fragrance a positive review. 0/5 stars

My June 2013 Ipsy Glambag:

Starlooks Lip Pencil in “Bare” – I had high hopes for this one. However the color made me unsure if it was meant to be a lip liner or a light eyeliner (though lip liner makes more sense …) Nothing jumped out as obviously bad ingredients that I could identify. No dimethicone, no frangrance, no parabens. But the custom report, it ended up a 6. (pdf linked on this one.) 0/5 stars
J.Cat Beauty Eyelash + Eyelash Glue – even the glue on this isn’t bad for you. I may cut these apart into individual lashes instead of trying to use the full strip but I’m happy enough with these. Until you get into some really specific eyelashes, those in the under $8 price point are all fairly decent and your biggest factor is lash style / cut. Latex free glue. And these are human hair … ok so a little higher quality than your average drugstore lashes but also a little creepy in that sense. Cruelty free (not tested on animals.) I don’t wear false lashes maybe more than … once every three years but I will be using these for an upcoming special event probably fairly soon. 5/5 stars
Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil – AWESOME no cones. Turns up a 3 in a custom report. Talc is the worst ingredient and in this case I’ll forgive it since it’s not going to go on my eyelids (where talc tends to crease) and it’s not filler reducing impact of some other pigment. I love this in the inside corner of my eye and this looks perfect and natural. No shimmer so it can be used easily and I wonder if it might make a good concealing pencil as a result as well. 5/5 stars
J.Cat Beauty Sparkling Cream Palette – this is categorized under “body glitter” instead of eyeshadow. It’s a chunky glitter so this makes more sense. No, just no for so many reasons. Plus there are the ingredients which aren’t good as well. Kind of on par with petroleum jelly mixed with glitter. It even says “This product should be used on the body and not on the eye area.” I’m not sure what they were thinking. Halloween? Rave? 8 year old girls? I don’t know and this just really doesn’t seem like a great fit for an ipsy bag even ignoring the ingredients for a minute. Yes it’s wild but… Might have made more sense it to be sent out in October just for the Halloween reason. 0/5 stars
NYX Blush in “Pecan” – awesome bronzer shade but there’s dimethicone and talc so I won’t be using it. I haven’t swatched this but I suspect the color is excellent for a beachy summer look. 0/5 stars

I also just realized that people were commenting below the products on ipsy (linked to in the glamroom) if they wanted to trade. OR there’s also http://mygl.am/glammieswapforum (though the other seems more efficient… or makeupalley would also work better than the facebook page.)

And I’m happy with the leopard bag with the neon zipper. I’ve been leaving the chevron bag in my swim bag recently just to throw my jewelry in so it’s not lost at the bottom of the bigger bag. I’ll probably find a use for this one too.

So there you have it … another mildly disappointing month with Birchbox and a good month with Ipsy. I think I wouldn’t even be saying this if I had received the Reign in Spain polish and the other lip gloss Birchbox had promoted on facebook. Actually I’d probably have been happy with just the other shade of nail polish just because the swatches I saw of it looked like a nice bright fun summer color. The creamy shade is one that I already own something similar and the green … meh, not as versatile. Actually the purple I already own something similar to as well just the that Color Club purple is just a hint better actually.

Swatches of some of the products from these boxes:

April 7, 2013

Recently on Pinterest : April 7th 2013 edition

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Clothing, Dresses, Jewelry

Just a selection of things I’ve pinned or repinned on pinterest recently.

Click on any image below for a larger view OR go for the links to sites, go to: http://pinterest.com/hilary_baumann/style-files/

September 26, 2012

What I wore: Polka Dots & Mix N Match Neon nails

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Clothing, Nail Polish, OOTD

I’m playing catchup here on some things here. This outfit, let’s see, I wore it March 27th! Oops. It’s been a repeat outfit though because I really love the polka dot shirt I found at the Talbot’s outlet. Click for a larger view.

And then there are the nails. I actually did a full post on the nails before but you can tell here that they really can work well with neutrals.