Empties Review 5/17/15

Every three months or so I like to do a review of the products I have used up. I talk a little bit about the product, and as a bottom line, discuss whether or not I would repurchase it.

Today, we will start with Hair.

I have been an It's a 10 fan for a long time, but I recently purchased a bottle of their keratin treatment product to try. All I can really say is that it smells better and is more expensive than the original. I won't be repurchasing the keratin product, but have already repurchased the original bottle in the purple packaging. It's simply the best leave in conditioner/ detangler I have ever tried and I feel like my showering routine isn't complete without it.

Bath and body empties:

I purchased the Dove clinical strength deodorant hoping it would really be something special and maybe really make a difference when working out and being active. Boy, was I disappointed! In addition to being unjustifiably more expensive than my old favorite, secret, it performed worse, left white streaks on my dark clothes and just felt greasy. Needless to say, I am back to Secret.
Ulta bath and shower products are one of the few things in the lineup of Ulta store brand products that I really like. This shower gel was no exception. It smells wonderful when you put it on in the shower, but the scent is subtle enough so you don't walk around with a strong fragrance all day. Normally I prefer the Ulta beauty smoothies because you can use them as a bubble bath and a shampoo as well, but as a shower gel, this one lived up to its expectations. As for repurchasing, I think I will stick to the beauty smoothies, though.

Now, for cosmetics:

 On the left there is a sample of Tarte BB cream I got in a kit a while ago. Of all the BB creams I have ever tried, this is it. This is the one BB cream that really does it for me. On days when I don't have the time to put on full coverage foundation and then contour and highlight, this sheer coverage BB cream just evens out the skin tone and keeps you looking alive without needing any more bronzer or blush on top. Have I repurchased? Of course! I bought two more of the full sized product, which should last me a while. They are $32 USD each, but so worth it.
On the other hand, and expensive product not worth your money is the mascara to the left, Make Up For Ever's Smokey Extravagant mascara. I got the sample in a birthday gift from Sephora.com, so I didn't pay for this one. It's a pretty forgettable black mascara. I thought the tapered wand was neat, but that's really about it. It was clumpy, added volume without adding length and made a mess on my bottom lashes. I have a lot of mascaras from free sample bags and subscription boxes saved up, so I really don't think I'll be buying any more mascara for a while. For $24 USD, It's not going to happen with that one.


Thanks for reading the quick little review of my beauty trash, and hopefully I'll see you again soon!

-Emmy

The Perfect Palette Tag!

I admit it. I have a lot of eyeshadow. Make up is a hobby for me, I have done lots of theatrical makeup and special effects in the past, and would love to do more for the creative side for me this year. That being said, I have to be able to create almost any kind of look, so I have a large complement of product that goes with that.
Today, I am going to show you how to get the most makeup for your dollar- the rewards programs and websites I use to buy products and the sales I take advantage of. I am also going to give you my opinions on some products I use- what is worth your money and what isn't worth the hype.
Anyways, let's get on with the perfect palette tag. If you are a blogger of any kind that wears makeup, consider yourself nominated by me to do this tag. I'd love to hear some differing opinions on the matter!

A few of these palettes will be mentioned in more detail in my post, some are just here for visual balance in this picture.

1. Best packaging- Smashbox's Smokebox 2. I did not pay full price for this palette- I paid $15 for a set on HauteLook, which is Nordstrom's flash sale site. The palette itself is normally more that $15, but for that price I got the palette, an eyeshadow crayon, a lip gloss and a cute little bag it all goes in. I have seen the site having this sale more than once, so go check out the beauty offers for that or something even better! http://www.hautelook.com/invite/EHill96067
I picked this palette for best packaging because it's sturdy and high quality, something I feel safe taking with me if I were to travel somewhere to do makeup. Also, a lot of palette packaging can look really gross if there are fingerprints all over it, and this one doesn't show that.

The palette even comes with a brush!

Swatches: Blackout, Thunder, Alabaster, Seafoam, Mulberry, Roast.

2. Best Color Payoff- Anastasia Beverly Hills Tamanna Palette. This is a palette I paid full price for, an would do so again. Worth the hype. Shadows are so beautiful, pigmented, blendable. The great thing about these shadows is the endless variety of looks you can do with them. There is a great mix of neutral and colorful shadows. It's supposed to be a holiday palette, but you can make it work for every day by sticking to the browns and blacks. My favorite look involves using the two pinkish colors and then blending them out with the matte brown shade.

Comes with a brush too!

Swatches: Sangria, Venezia, China Rose, Bengal, Noir.

3. Most versatile: Pixi Ultimate Beauty Kit 2nd Edition. This is now on sale at Target! I wasn't about to spend $34 on drugstore makeup, but $17 I can justify. It may still be in stock, so check the cosmetics aisle at Target. It may still be there!
This palette is so versatile because there are 40 eyeshadow shades, 6 highlighter shades and 6 blushes. The palette is organized by undertone, so you can do a cool tone look on someone with pinkish undertone skin or a warm tone look on someone with yellow undertones in their skin. There are pink blushes and peach blushes, bright colors and more subtle colors, so the palette really does have something for everyone.

All 52 colors!

Some swatches from the palette- my favorite colors are the two greens closest to my wrist.

4. Best for Traveling- Urban Decay Naked 2.  I did not buy this one myself. A dear friend gave this to me as a thank you gift a few summers ago. I feel honored to have it in my collection.
I feel very safe taking this palette traveling with me. This one I brought along to do a whole wedding party's makeup with in May. I put it in my suitcase, took it on the plane with me and unpacked it without a worry and without bubble wrap. I could not say the same about a lot of my other palettes. It's a very sturdy metal palette with a hard acrylic interior that snaps closed completely without magnets. While the colors aren't as great as the first Naked palette, the packaging was a great improvement.

I broke the mirror dropping it once. Now there is nothing left to break. :)

Swatches of Foxy, Chopper, YDK and Snakebite

5. Biggest Regret- NYX Golden Horizons Palette. This palette is about 14-16 dollars depending on where you buy it. I got a $10 birthday coupon from Ulta and used it on this palette, so mine was around 5 bucks.
This palette is so not worth the full price! It's very cheaply packaged, not very compact or logically put together and the eyeshadows really leave something to be desired. They smell a little bit like silly putty, are very chalky and crumbly, and really don't have a great deal of pigment or color payoff to them. Unless you use them with an *excellent* eye shadow base, they don't really show up on your eye and will fade and flake off quickly. There are two more of these palettes in the "dream catcher" collection, and when they go on sale I will be testing them out to see if it's just the gold one or if all of them are like this.

Do you see the way the shadows slide out to reveal a mirror and a sponge tip applicator? Not the most well thought out design.

The gold shade is the best of the bunch, but go back and compare these to the swatches from #2.

6. Best Names- Stila In The Garden Palette. I really liked all of Stila's "In The" palettes, and this one is my favorite. All the names really go well together, all of these things being plants you could find in a garden, parts of plants, etc.
This is a great palette for creating a variety of looks, because there are about 3 very bold colors and the right sort of more neutral ones to incorporate them into an eye look that is wearable and not clownish at all.

This one comes with an eyeliner in "starfish" which is a greenish brown color. If you have brown or hazel eyes, it's really flattering!

Swatches: Honey, Nectar, Bark, Moss, Juniper

7. Most Used- NYX Secret World Palette. This is a palette I picked up on a whim quite a few years ago during a clearance sale at Ulta and I use it all the time and just love it. The colors are all kind of fall-ish, purples, greens and oranges with enough neutral/ highlight colors to blend them. All the shades are metallic/ glittery, except for the bright green on the bottom row that is a satin finish.The "runway collection" NYX palettes were the perfect compact little 10 pan palettes. I hate to see them go, but I'm always on the lookout for the rest of them to complete my collection.

She's not much to look at anymore, but me and this palette have gone through a lot together.

My favorite colors from the palette. That bright orange color is so cool!

8. Most Loved- Sephora/ Pantone Marsala Palette. I got a gift card to Sephora for Christmas, and I almost bought the Tartlette palette. So glad I didn't! This compact little palette has delivered consistently on every single look I have created with it. I even get compliments from men who don't care or appreciate the makings of a good smokey eye when I wear the colors in this one. The colors are beautiful, blendable and versatile, and you can make cool toned, warm toned, special occasion or every day looks with this palette. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants an eyeshadow palette that can really do it all.

My washed out picture that doesn't do it justice.

Swatches: Desert Mist, Castor Gray, Chutney, Marsala Satin, Nimbus Cloude, Kelp

9. Desert Island Palette- NYX Nude on Nude Palette. If I had to pick any palette to bring with me to a desert island, it would be this one. Strange question, I'd probably bring bottled water and a jetski, but if I had to look nice for the desert island, this is the one. I got it for 80% off on clearance at Ulta, and it is one of the most welcome editions to my collection. The matte shadows leave something to be desired, but the metallic ones are gorgeous- but the best part? Lipsticks. Yes, hidden in a bottom secret compartment are 10 potted, opaque lipsticks in a variety of pinks and reds. This is my favorite part of the palette. On the island, I could do eye looks, wear lipsticks, and even use the lipsticks to add some color to my cheeks, and the mirror to signal for help- so yep, perfect palette for being lost at sea.

Hidden compartment full of lipstick!

Some of my favorite colors. That gold is just beautiful!

Anyways, if this post helps just one person decide what kind of palette they'd like to try out, I did my job. Lots of palettes didn't make my list, but I'd love to see what makes yours. What would your perfect palette list be?

-Emmy

Hair and Makeup Empties Review

Hey guys,

Sorry for the inactivity. Just got a new job, so while I was figuring out what I want this blog to be, I also had to figure out my days off and things have been hectic lately.
I have decided, however, that I'd like to do a post like this about once every three months, because that's approximately how long it would take me to accrue enough empties to make it interesting. For each product, I'll score it out of ten, give you my opinion of the value, a "bottom line" synopsis and tell you if I want to repurchase.

Hair products:

1. Gud by Burt's Bees conditioner in Mango Moonbreeze. 10/10. I cannot say enough "Gud" things about this product! It cost me about 6 or 7 dollars at the grocery store, and worked just as well to tame my hair as any of my previous favorite high end brands. It smells fantastic, leaves hair very soft and manageable. The brand seems to be focused on being "natural," so after some further investigation we'll put that down as a plus too. I have already repurchased! I got the grapefruit scent to try out.

2. It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in plus Keratin. 9/10. I know what keratin is, so that definitely improved my perception of the brand right there. No wishy washy fruit complexes to blindly trust, but an actual organic compound found naturally in hair. Tames hair, zero tangles, keeps it manageable and shiny all day. The only reason I don't give this a 10 is because of the price. $16 for a bottle that size- ouch! Anyways, I have already repurchased this product and use it on my hair every day.

Makeup empties:

1. Too Faced lashgasm mascara: 10/10 This mascara is great! It's the right mascara for me as it is kind of a lengthening/ defining mascara with one of those nice plastic applicators, nothing crazy or bristle-y that's going to clump and look awful. I actually like this one better than "Better than Sex." I won't be repurchasing as I have too much mascara to go through right now, but if I end up needing some, that's what I'm getting.
2. UD naked skin in 3.5- 7.5/10 Okay foundation. Looks fine with a primer, powdery and uneven without. I also had issues with this color as I was matched incorrectly- I actually don't have cool undertone skin, so I should be using 4 instead of 3.5. I may repurchase this in the right shade, but I bought a different foundation recently, so it won't be for a while.
3. UD primer potion- 4/10- not worth your money. While it sticks to your foundation, it does so by being a pink plasticy mess that clogs every pore and makes any facial redness you have going on that day even worse. I paid a lot for this foundation, so I tried, I really tried to use it all and give it a chance, but in the meantime I am switching to Smashbox indefinitely.
4. Ulta Fabulous Face concealer- 3/10. While I am a huge fan of Ulta's store brand makeup brushes and bath products, the line is very hit or miss. This product missed the mark. The concealer was cheap, only about 6 bucks, and about right for my skin tone, but these are the only positive things going for it. It's a gummy, sticky formula that does not blend, and once it is on your face, you maybe have an hour to enjoy it before it fades and leaves you forever. I got a sample of It Cosmetics concealer and realized quickly that I deserved better. However, if you don't want a high end concealer but also want a high quality formula, I suggest you check out the Maybelline FitMe concealers. They are wonderful and about the price of a latte.


Anyways, I hope this helps someone with their personal care routine, and I'll do another one of these when I have some empties!

-Emmy

Pink Lemonade 5 Hour Energy

I received this product free for review from Smiley360. All opinions are my own.

In honor of October Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 5 Hour Energy goes pink and donates a portion of proceeds to Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) from every purchase of their pink lemonade flavored 5 hour energy.
For this reason, I appreciate the brand and what they stand for, but I unfortunately did not really like the product.
Reason number 1: Taste. The product tastes awful! It is clear that some effort has been made to make the product palatable, but the flavor was very artificial and very sour.
Reason number 2: Energy payoff. I was working on my halloween costume the first time I tried the product. I did not immediately feel tired or anything, but I didn't feel any more energetic or focused after using the product. As promised, there was no crash after 5 hours, so that's a plus.

Bottom line: I didn't like it, but you might.

Dean's List Vox Box!

I qualified for the Influenster Dean's List VoxBox this quarter! About once every 3 months, Influenster curates a series of products which they give to members free of charge in exchange for their opinions. This month, I got:

-Airheads Bites candy
-2 Pilot Frixion Clicker pens
-Sinful Colors nail polish in "No Text Red"
-Softlips cube in pomegranate/blueberry
-Kiss Looks So Natural lashes
-Luden's cough drops in watermelon
-Playtex Sport tampons

Here is a picture of some of the products. Everything else has been used/eaten.

And here is the rundown:

Airheads bites: a little bit hit and miss. The blue raspberry and cherry bites- delicious! Orange and grape, not so much. Those were a little medicinal.

Pilot Frixion clicker pens- pretty neat. Erasable pens with no cap to lose. I gave Boyfriend the black one, and I kept the blue. I think the blue ink color is really pretty, and the pen itself is pretty sturdy and help up during a whole 50 minute essay test. My one complaint is that erasing and then writing immediately over what was erased can result in weird ink delivery.

Softlips cube in blueberry/pomegranate: a definite favorite of mine. smells/tastes great, packaging is cute, definitely leaves lips very soft. Hydration leaves something to be desired, but I will probably try one of the other flavors/scents when I run out of this one.

Kiss lashes: to be honest, these look a little scary. They seem completely normal and logical in makeup tutorials on YouTube, but in real life things often don't go the same way. I haven't really had the right occasion for them yet, but when I do, I'll give you a follow up on how it went.

Luden's cough drops: Awesome! I've always been a cherry Luden's girl, but may have discovered a new favorite. I got bronchitis a few weeks ago, and these helped a lot, both in the comfort and morale categories.

Playtex Sport tampons: Awesome. I had one in at the gym a few times, and zero discomfort whatsoever, no matter what machine I was using. They could do away with all the extraneous plastic packaging, but overall a really good tampon.

I really enjoyed my box, and I can't wait to see what we'll get next quarter!

-Emmy

o.b. Pro Comfort Tampons

I received this product from Smiley360 for review free of charge. All opinions are my own, however.
I have been using this brand of tampon for years. I have always been extremely impressed with the quality and commitment to the environment through the non use of a plastic applicator. They are a great value and highly recommended.

My review of the product below on target.com: