Beauty Experiment – The Eyes Have It

Hypothesis:  I read somewhere that if you spritz a bit of hairspray on your finger and brush it upwards into your bare eyelashes, you get a more natural-looking enhancement than with mascara.

I borrowed some of my sister’s hairspray (because I don’t believe in putting the stuff in my own hair) for this experiment. The brand was Suave, though I’m not sure what it was called specifically.

Conclusion: Before my fingers even came close to my eyelashes, the potent chemicals of the hairspray made my eyes water, which in turn made any effort to keep hairspray on my lashes impossible. Once I was finally able to stop the Niagara Falls coming out of my eyes, I got the stuff on and noticed not appreciable difference to my lashes. DROP this tip!

Makeup Test – The Full Monty Redux (pt. 5)

And at last we get to the powder…

I’ve used CoverGirl’s powders in the past and thought they were pretty good (especially when my skin was dry and I couldn’t use my Revlon powder), so I went to buy some more and couldn’t find the stuff I’d used before. I picked up the Fresh Complexion powder, hoping it would be just as good.

The Good:

• Good application (It goes on smooth and even and hides the patches of dry skin rather than accentuating them.)

The Bad:

• More colors! (I bought the lightest color and it was still too dark. It makes my skin slightly orange.)

The Ugly:

• $6+ for .37 oz.
• CoverGirl tests on animals (Grrr!)

The Grade:  C

You can get better for less money.

On the whole, my second Full Monty was a lot less pleasant than my first. I ended up having to wash it all off and start again twice, mainly because the products weren’t right for my skin color.

Makeup Test – The Full Monty Redux (pt. 4)

Sorry that it’s taken me so long to complete my reviews, but I’ve had some internet troubles (it never seems to work when I need it to). It may be several days late, but here (at last) is the concealer portion of my Fully Monty Redux:

I was at the store with a Neutrogena concealer stick in my hand, when my sister guilt-tripped me into putting it back and getting a Physician’s Formula concealer instead (because PF doesn’t test on animals and Neutrogena does – it also helped that the PF was slightly cheaper than Neutrogena).

The Good:

• Physician’s Formula doesn’t test on animals
• Good application (It goes on smooth and isn’t too chalky or greasy.)

The Bad:

• More color options! (Fair, light and medium do not encompass the full range of skin colors.)

The Ugly:

• $6 for .15 oz (It seems like I paid less than this at Walmart.)

The Grade: B+

All in all a pretty good concealer. I do wish these stick concealers were longer lasting, especially when worn by themselves. It seems like they’ve faded away within hours of application (not just this one, but concealer sticks in general.)

Makeup Test – The Full Monty Redux (pt. 3)

And now let’s talk about foundation. I got a hold of some of Sue Devitt’s Whipped Foundation in Quiet & Still (the palest color they make, of course), a very expensive bit of makeup.

The Good:

• Good coverage (This stuff applies thickly and is just slightly chalky.)
• Sue Devitt does not test on animals!

The Bad:

• The smell (I know it says that it has seaweed in it, but I didn’t actually expect it to smell like seaweed. It’s not overwhelming, but it’s there.)
• The color (This was the palest shade, but it was not pale enough. It was extremely orange and left me looking like an Oompa Loompa.)
• The consistency (It says it is whipped, but it had a weird formula that was thick and muddy, like clay.)

The Ugly:

• $40 for 1 oz.!!!

The Grade:  D+

This makeup makes many claims, about how healthy it is for your skin and how it reduces the appearance of wrinkles. I can’t judge that because I only used it twice and saw no such benefits in such a short time. But I can say that it is not worth the money, especially if you can’t find a shade that matches your skin tone perfectly.

 

Makeup Test – The Full Monty Redux (pt. 2)

So remember how I said I wanted to try Hard Candy’s Skin Perfecting Primer because I liked their Illuminating Primer? Well, I tried it, and here are my thoughts:

The Good:

• Hard Candy doesn’t test on animals (And that’s pretty much the only good thing I have to say.)

The Bad:

• The Formula (Goes on pretty greasy and isn’t as light on my skin as the Illuminating Primer. I can’t imagine this being at all good for you because it feels like lathering oil onto your face.)

The Ugly:

• $8 for 1.3 oz

The Grade:  D-

I washed this stuff off immediately. It was awful. If you’re going to use Hard Candy’s primers, definitely stick with Illuminating or even the plain ol’ primer. Don’t waste your money on the Perfecting because it is anything but.