Favorite Skincare, Bath/Body, Haircare Products of 2014

I don't talk much about skincare because everyone reacts differently with the product since we have different types of skin and expectations.
I don't have much trouble with my skin. I have some hyperpigmentation on my cheeks, everything I tried I was never able to get rid of them. I get the occasional break out, usually around menstruation or when I'm very stressed. I am fortunate there is no signs of wrinkles yet. I think the regular maintenance must've done the job but my overall complexion is a bit dull and uneven. I have combination normal skin and slightly oily on the T-zone.

Raccine Ultimate Hydra Perfection Advanced Lumious Gel. I was sent this product for review but it's really a nice gel and gives a boost of hydration. Feels and looks luxurious. Price is average.

Algenist Firming & Lifting Eye Gel. I really like how quickly it absorbs and keep my skin feel hydrated for hours.

Algenist Firming & Lifting Cream. I've been quite pleased with the couple products that I tried from the line. The texture of the creams are smooth and hydrating. I love that they are unscented. I dislike the jar packaging but what's inside is good.

Origins A Perfect World Age Defense Skin Guardian With White Tea. You must test this when you get a chance because it feels so silky smooth. It feels silicone-ish so if you don't like this feeling then it's not for you. I find it works well for me during winter for some of the areas that feels a little dry. It reduces the appearance of dry skin.

Shiseido The Skincare Night Moisture Recharge. I haven't been using this in the winter because it's a light-weight moisture night cream, well actually it feels more like a gel. I used it more often in the spring and summer when my skin isn't as dry. If you have normal to oily skin, I think you'll like this but if you have dry skin you might not feel like this would be enough moisture for you. You get a lot of product and a little goes a long way. This will last a pretty long time.

Garnier Nourishing Cleansing Oil. It does a wonderful job at removing makeup. I wished drugstore carried more of these cleansing oils.

Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Gel Mask. By far my favorite mask of all time. It's a bit pricey but next time they have a sale, I'd definitely picking up more of these. Once you're done, your skin feels soft like baby skin.

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. Nothing worked for me like this drying lotion for pimple spot treatment. It sucks that bad boy dry overnight and helps reduce the look of scar and speed the healing process.

Freeman Facial Polish Mask Charcoal & Black Sugar. There's some issues with the cap not wanting to stay close after you used it a few times but other than that it's a wonderful exfoliator. My skin feels clean and smooth after use. I didn't find it harsh or drying either.

L'Occitane Almond Collection. I love the almond line from L'Occitane. I'm usually not a big fan on sweet scents but it smells warm, sweet, and divine. I didn't care much for the soap cause it's so small but the supple skin oil, shower oil, and almond milk concentrate are my favorite.

L'Occitane 100% Shea Butter. This stuff is pricey but I haven't found anything else that compares. It feels thick yet it absorbs quickly and easily into skin. This is the most hydrating cream I ever tried. It works wonders on my dry hands during the winter time. I also like that it is unscented.

Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Spray. I love the light-weight feel and healthy shines it gives my hair.

Garnier Fructis Marvelous Oil Frizz Defy Hair Elixir. A little goes a long way to smooth and detangle hair without weighing it down. Smells nice too.

Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Spray Review

I picked up the Macadamia Healing Oil Spray at my local TJ Maxx a little while ago and have been using it for at least a month, if not more so I'm ready to tell you what I think about it.

Packaging

• The bottle is made of glass and the overall packaging is aesthetically pleasing and stand out from other hair products. The size fits comfortably in the palm of my hand and comes with a spray nozzle that emits a fine mist of oil. 
• 4.2 oz or 125 ml

Product

• A little goes a long way. 2 or 3 spray is good enough for me. I typically spray it on towel dry hair and comb through my hair to evenly distribute the oil. It also acts as a detangler and makes brushing hair easier and less damaging.
• The oil is light-weight and adds a beautiful shine to my hair without looking oily. It doesn't weigh down my hair. My hair still feel light and airy and I love that about it. If you want a little more shine, you can spray once or twice again after your hair is completely dry. 
• It has a warm oriental scent to it that isn't too strong. That's the best way I can describe it. I prefer more fresh and flowery scents for my hair but I'm ok with this. 

Final Thought

I don't feel like this oil is "healing" as stated in the name but what it does is add a lovely healthy looking shine on your hair without weighing it down. It also helps detangle hair and makes hair brushing easier. I got this for $16.99 at TJ Maxx, which is a more reasonable price, in my opinion. I feel like the retail price is too much of a rip off.

Rating: 9/10

Price: $27-$30 (retail price)
Availability: Ulta, Target, TJ Maxx

TJ Maxx Haul and Nail Polish Swatches - OPI, Butter London, and Julep

I was at TJ Maxx last week and they had quite a selection of nail polishes from brands like Essie, OPI, Orly, Nicole by OPI, Sephora, and a few Ciate, Butter London, and Julep. I love finding these treasures at TJ because they are typically half off the original price.

The only non-nail polish product I got from this haul is the Macadamia healing Oil Spray for hair. Love the packaging. This is $16.99 as opposed to $29.50 retail price. Ching Ching! Gotta love the savings!

This set of OPI costed me $7.99. They usually retail about $9.00 each.

OPI Baring It All is a light cool toned flesh nude with a cream finish. I have 3 coats on the swatches. The formula is not too thick or thin and is a bit streaky at first but levels well and looks even on the 3rd coat. It's very plain jane for me and needs either glitter or some sort of design to oomph it up.

OPI Frog In My Throat looks beautiful in the bottle. It's got a dark jelly base with goldish green shimmers, small holographic glitters, and orange flakies. It's so much prettier in person but I gotta admit that the shimmers are understated once the polish dries. The formula is thin but easy to work with and can be built up to an opaque coverage in 3 coats.

Julep Paris has a clear base and a mix of gold and silver holographic glitters with smaller holographic glitters. Here I'm wearing one coat over OPI Bare It All. Told yall it looks better with glitters. The base is not too thin or thick, picks up a decent amount of glitters and you only have to pat them a bit to get them where you need them. The bottle is so little, only .27 oz, about half the size of a typical nail polish bottle. Even paying $5.00 for it doesn't feel right.

Butter London Swinger...haha, the name makes me laugh because I'm definitely a swinger when it comes to nail polishes. I'm greedy and I gotta have all them preciouses. Swinger has a lightly green tinted base with very tiny gold and green glitters and small green glitters. It's rather sheer but applies fairly evenly and you can get opaque coverage in 3 coats.

Swinger with a clear top coat

Garnier Fructis Marvelous Oil Frizz Defy Hair Elixir Review

I picked up this new hair product at CVS a couple weeks ago and I was very curious to try it. I like to use oil, serums, or conditioning treatment after I wash my hair because it helps making my hair feel softer and more manageable. 

Packaging

• I love the bright orange tear-drop shape of the bottle. I think that's what first attracted me to the product.
• It comes with a pump for easy dispensing. 
• 5 oz or 150 ml

Product

• So at first I thought it was going to be an oil treatment because it says Marvelous Oil but when I got a feel for the product, it feels more like a serum. It's light, very silky and slippery at first, and absorbs quickly. 
• It contains amla and jojoba oil and suppose to smooth and tame frizzy hair.
• According to the label, you can use this hair serum 5 different ways. 
• You can use it as a pre-shampoo treatment. Apply to wet or dry hair before shampooing. 
• You can use it as a conditioner booster. Add a couple drops with your hair conditioner. 
• You can use it as a blow-dry accelerator. Apply it to damp hair before blow drying. 
• You can use it as a Ends Finisher, meaning applying to the ends of your hair to smooth split ends and prevent flyaways. 
• You can use it as an overnight leave-in treatment.
• Some of these different ways of use overlap if you think about it. What I normally do is apply two pumps to damp hair, particularly at the ends. And then one pump, lightly around the crown of my head. Comb through and then blow dry using a low heat setting. I don't have much hair so my hair dries fairly quickly but I do feel that this helps dry my hair just a bit quicker. 
• Once dry, my hair feels soft and manageable. It gives it a bit of shine without looking oily and because of its lightweight feel, it doesn't weight down my hair which is really nice because some serum tend to make my hair flat but this one doesn't. My hair feels airy and light when I use this serum. I have slightly frizzy hair and this product helps smooth them out but if you want pin straight hair, you'd still need to use a straightener. 
• It has a subtle fruity scent. Kinda smells like melons. 

Final Thought

Overall, I really like this. I love the silky feeling of the serum. It delivers soft, smooth hair, with a bit of shine and doesn't weight it down. It has a nice fruity scent that isn't overwhelming.

Rating: 10/10

Price: $5.99
Availability: CVS

Sally Beauty Haul

Happy Sunday! 

I hope you're having a lovely weekend. Last night, it snowed pretty heavily and we ended up with 6 inches of snow. Not in the mood to be outside for sure. I've yet to clean up my car and dig it out of the parking stall so that I don't have to do that in the morning tomorrow before going to work. 

I stopped by Sally Beauty Supply a few days ago. I wished I had waited till this weekend because they currently have nail polishes on BOGO free and the sale ends today. 

I intended to grab a hair conditioner but mistakenly got the shampoo, lol. I hate it when the shampoo and conditioner bottles look the same. 

The main reason I had to go there was that I needed a nail polish thinner. I'm about to run out and needed a back up asap. I have some nail polishes that could use some thinner as they are either starting to feel drier or they are a little goopy and need to be thinned out. I've seen some people use nail polish remover to revive their nail polishes. I've never tried it but it must somehow work for people to do that. I heard it could ruin your nail polish so I'm not taking chances. This bottle cost $3.79 with Sally Beauty Club Card and trust me, it is going to last a very long time since you only need a few drops at a time. 

I saw these two Hair One conditioner trial packages and figure wanted to give them a try to see if I like them. They're about a dollar each.

Golden Kisses, Kiss by the Tree, Sparkle in the Sky

And of course, I couldn't help myself but scoop some sparkly nail polishes. Stay tuned for swatches. 

Macabre Masquerade

Haul and Sneak Peak Swatches - L'Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire, Garnier Fructis Marvelous Oil, Rimmel ScandalEyes Eyeshadow Paint, NYC Expert Last, And More...

Hello lovelies,

I had to run some errands on Friday and while I was doing that I found some new products and decided to pick up some to try.

At CVS, I had a 20% off coupon and I needed some Advil, well that was just my excuse to go there, lol.
I picked up a glitter nail polish from Sally Hansen Triple Shine line. It's called Twinkled Pink ($4.79). I completely forgot to take a picture of it by itself but I will do that on a different post.

Next thing I got from CVS is this Garnier Fructis Marvelous Oil for hair ($5.99). I thought the bottle looks so cute plus I like using oil on my hair so I was curious to try it.

Also from CVS, I stumbled upon the new L'Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire glosses. Eh they were expensive, $9.49 each. I wouldn't have gotten them if I didn't have my coupon. They seem like the slightly more pigmented version of their Colour Riche Wet Shine Lip Lacquer. I got $7.00 of Extra Care Bucks back so I will probably to back to pick another shade, lol. Will do a more in-depth review and additional swatches when I get a chance :).

Orange Tempo and Plum Adagio

I picked up at CVS, Milani Up Town Mauve ($5.29), and wow I am in love with the color! Yeah I've been really into Berry and Plum colors lately. 

At K-Mart, I scooped up the new Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Paint ($5.29) in the shade Pomegranate. They had some nice neutral and earth tone colors but I decided to skip cause I already have something similar. Pomegranate is a shade that I don't think I have so that's why I got it. 

NYC has some new lippies and lip crayons. I spotted a full display at K-Mart as well. I had too many jumbo lip crayons so I completely skipped them and now I'm wondering if I should've picked up at least one. I was particularly interested with the Expert Last Lipsticks. Check out the gorgeous swatches of the shades I picked up. They are pigmented and creamy but you do need 2 or 3 swipes in order to get a really opaque coverage. Still not bad at all for a $1.99 lipstick! 

I found these Jordana Lipsticks at K-Mart. They were on sale for 50% off so $1.24 each. I got Hollywood Red on the left and Pom-Tini on the right. Hollywood Red is a gorgeous berry pink red, however, I won't be reviewing this one because I got a bad one. When I opened it, it smelled like it had expired for a while and when I swatched it on my arm, the color was sticky and dry. So I am definitely not putting this anywhere near my mouth, lol. Pom-tini on the other hand didn't go bad. It does have  a strong and slightly sweet plasticy scent but it was smooth and quite pigmented. 

Obviously, I just can't stop shopping. I'm going to run to Ulta and use my 20% off coupon on something, lol...See you guys later!