Category: Reviews (Page 1 of 19)

GOODAL FIRMING CAMELLIA WATER OIL REVIEW

January 3, 2017 / The Beauty Wolf

Well here we are. We’ve reached 2017 and are in the icy grip of winter. While I was wishing for a white Christmas full of snowflakes, I wanted to avoid a white face full of skinflakes.

One of the products that has really helped me keep in my moisture barrier’s good books is Goodal Firming Camellia Water Oil. This is a sister product of Goodal’s beloved Waterest Oil. And like the classic Waterest, this plumps, protects, and undoes your naughtiest skin sins. It particularly stands out for being able to do all of that without the greasy tacky feeling you’d typically get from traditional oils and oil blends.

As far as the firming claims, ehhh. I largely ignore anything that claims it’s going to firm my face (sorry bout it, nothing topical can really do that, if you want firm get a mini facelift or some strategically placed fillers). That goes for the “slowing down aging claim” as well. There’s nothing in here that is going to straight up slow down aging, the only thing that I can confidently claim will do that is being vigilant with your sunblock. However this will plump and get rid of dehydration lines, which can give the illusion of firming your skin for as long as you’re using it. What this really does, and does well, is fortify your moisture barrier and hydrate like a superstar.

As you can see this is a clear, light liquid, with a little more slip than just plain water, but lighter than even a heavy serum. It sinks in almost instantly and doesn’t leave behind a tacky feeling.

Let’s look at the goodies in the ingredient list.
One thing I really like about this Camelia version as opposed to the classic Waterest oil is the exclusion of the potentially problematic lemon oil, which is a photosynthesizing oil (you can read about photosynthesizing oils here https://moonhaven.com.au/never-apply-photosensitising-oil-before-going-into-the-sun/ ) . The only red flags are infinitesimally small ones, it’s butylene glycol and dimethicone which score a 1 as a potential acne trigger. Some people do not like dimethicone in products and I normally am not a fan but I don’t even notice it in this despite it being pretty high on the list. I don’t know what kind of witchcraft they used when making this, but it clearly worked and I wish more products felt and worked like this. I love love love that the first ingredient is Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate, a longtime favourite of mine that helps restore radiance and give life to dull skin.

The biggest plus in my opinion is the inclusion of camellia. It’s something I’ve raved about in both the Illi Total Age Care line, and the Blossom Jeju Pink Camellia Soombi line. And camellia is not just some pretty smell, it’s an important ingredient that’s been used in Korean beauty since antiquity. It boasts high antioxidant content and is rich in omega 6 and omega 9 fatty acids. If I could only use one oil for the rest of my life it’d be camellia oil, that’s how much I love it. I also love it’s delicate floral scent, which this product has. It just makes everything that much more of a joy to use.

If you’re wondering exactly where a product like this is going to fit in, it’s going to be your serum step. If you have oily skin and have always wanted to try the benefits of an oil (which are many!) but you just can’t stand the texture and feel, this is definitely the product for you. If you have dry skin and need some muscle that help keep dryness and dehydration at bay, this is also a must have for you. This product straight up saved my skin when I was in my last trimester of pregnancy and shortly after I gave birth. I had a whole slew of complications that left me unable to move around much. I was pretty much bed bound and in and out of the hospital. My skin was suffering and the temperatures were dropping. I have chronically dry skin and was at a point where I could only get up and do my full routine once a day. To stave off the dryness I’d apply a liberal amount of this water oil twice a day and it totally worked. In fact, if you are someone looking to simplify your routine and just want to do a double cleanse, serum, and emulsion, let this be your serum choice for winter! It’s such a well rounded product, I’ve personally recommended it to my friends. I just love it to bits and everyone who has tried it has said the same!

The cheapest place I’ve seen it available is at ebay from a trusted seller here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/goodal-Water-Oil-Firming-Camellia-60ml-/311707561974?hash=item489337eff6:g:JiUAAOSwOyJX6imv

Also from this trusted seller here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Goodal-Water-Oil-Firming-Camellia-/331997487163?hash=item4d4c97a03b:g:jpMAAOSwLF1X~fjQ

It’s also available exclusively online at Ulta, which is very handy!
http://www.ulta.com/water-oil-firming-camellia?productId=xlsImpprod15351053

Canadians check it out at Bisou here
https://www.bisoubeautybar.com/products/goodal-firming-camellia-water-oil

And of course it’s available straight from the Club Clio USA website here
http://clubcliousa.com/skin-care/face-oil/goodal-firming-camellia-water-oil.html

KLAIRS MIDNIGHT BLUE CALMING CREAM REVIEW

March 9, 2016 / The Beauty Wolf

klairs midnight blue calming cream
I’ve been so drawn to Serenity blue lately, one of Pantone’s colours of the year, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it pop up in my skincare!

Klairs Mightnight Blue Calming Cream doesn’t release officially until today, but I was lucky enough to receive a jar for review from Wishtrend ahead of schedule. In all honesty, even before they sent me this cream, I was curious about it. Aside from my current blue obsession (a blue streak? haaa) the advertised ingredients had me like “Ooo interesting, let’s see what this can do”. First of all, it really is a gorgeous, gorgeous blue, a lovely sight when you’re first opening your jar. Don’t worry, you’re not going to pull a Tobias Funke and Blue yourself, this leaves no colour behind.

The texture of this product is a very light cream, one thing made clear is that although this is a hydrating cream, it is not a moisturizing cream. In fact, we were specifically told

“This cream is not a moisturizer for the whole face.
It is a special treatment for spots and repairing & calming cream.
So this product is only to use on the areas that need it, and has great effect with a routine Toner/serum/ moisturizer. It is good to apply it after mositurizing cream only on the areas which need to be calmed like trouble spots caused by external factors, sensitive or irritated areas”

klairs midnight blue calming cream swatch
So, you’re going to have to get your moisture elsewhere in your routine because that is not what this stuff does. This is meant to be a calming, hydrating, skin comforting step in your line-up. The directions for use state “Apply a small amount on the affected area in the morning and evening after using toner and serum“. Well, it’s the dead of winter here up north and my “affected area” is my whole weather beaten face, so the entire thing got a light coating. Honestly, I found that worked better for me than trying to spot treat. I mean, when you have irritation from temperatures hovering around -20c, you can’t exactly treat irritation like you would a crop of zits.
klairs midnight blue calming cream swatch 2
Now, this WILL pill under makeup if you do not use a light hand when applying and or let it fully sink in before applying bb cream. I had to break my bad habit of over indulging in my cream portion sizes in order to get this to properly sink, and even then,ehhhh not so much. However, keep in mind that I’m testing this while using my usual crazy winter line-up, full of oils, thick essences, and heavier than usual emulsions, so if you have a lighter line-up you will most likely avoid the stick to the degree I experienced.

I think the big star here, and the thing most likely to make the visible difference with your skin is the Centella Asiatic Extract. It’s the ingredient that had me hyped as soon as I saw it.
Centella Asiatica Extract
The CA extracts (CAE) have been used traditionally for wound healing and the research has been increasingly supportive for these claims[8]. A preclinical study reported that various formulations (ointment, cream, and gel) of an aqueous CAE applied to open wounds in rats (3 times daily for 24 days) resulted in increased cellular proliferation and collagen synthesis at the wound site, as shown by an increase in collagen content and tensile strength[17].

Apart from showing a stimulation of the collagen synthesis in different cell types, the asiaticoside were shown to increase the tensile strength of the newly formed skin, furthering the healing of the wounds. Also, it was shown to inhibit the inflammatory process which may provoke hypertrophy in scars and improves the capillary permeability[19,20]. In one laboratory animal study, the effects of asiaticoside on antioxidant levels were examined, as antioxidants have been reported to play a role in the wound healing process[21]

The other ingredient that’s a big favourite of mine is Ceramide 3, ceramides help your skin retain water and can help beef up that moisture barrier that we all need to be paying the utmost attention to at all times. So between the Centella Asiatica Extract and Ceramide 3, those two ingredients alone are enough to warrant giving this cream a try.

http://cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_1bf2223043.html
If you’re concerned about acne triggers, this scores very low, nothing above a 2 as you can see here. The petite offenders being cetyl alcohol, Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Jojoba Oil), and Stearic Acid. I’m pretty sensitive to acne triggers and I’m completely fine with these, of course YMMV.

Like I stated before, I do find this cream to lean toward the sticky side. Again, that can be minimized with a light application, but even after an hour sitting on my skin I still felt it, well, sitting on my skin. Now, that’s not such a big deal at night, and I actually quite like it then because I feel like it’s setting up a little irritation treatment plus barrier on my skin like a sleep pack, but during the day it’s not the most comfortable. It did do a decent job of plumping and soothing the cheek irritation I had going on, so it’s a trade off I guess. I found myself using it at night rather than during the day due to the aforementioned pilling issue under makeup and the sticky feel. I keep going on about sticky, so you might assume that it’s heavy, it most certainly is not heavy. All in all I’m fairly pleased with this cream. It contains ingredients that could be a big component missing in someone’s routine that’s looking to soothe, repair, and beef up your skin’s defences.

It retails at around $25 at Wishtrend, not a huge expense, so if you want to take a chance on this, you can pick it up by clicking here

As always you can get $5 off your first order by registering your account via my affiliate link https://www.wishtrend.com:48598/?s=022463306 then entering code 022463306 at sign up!

Also of note, Wishtrend currently has a promotion code for March that will snag you a free Klairs Rich Moist Soothing Mask (one of my all time favs) so if you’re interested in have a full soothing experience, enter the codeBESTMASK16MAR when you order

IPOO SMELL COVER OIL REVIEW

February 2, 2016 / The Beauty Wolf

We all know girls don’t poo. And if by some horrible happenstance, they do poo, only a soft breeze of pink rose petals flutter their way down where they bloom into magnificent gardens upon reaching the bowl.

Ok now let’s get real.

We are capable of some bathroom acts that the dedicated detectives of Law & Order SVU might consider especially heinous. Sketchy food, upset stomach, or even just a run of the mill toilet run, none of it leaves a pleasant scent. If you’re out in public, at a friends house, or visiting your new boo-thang, this can lead to intense anxiety and embarrassment over the lingering odorous traces of the food baby you’ve dropped off at the pool. What if I told you there was a product out there that could lay waste to the ghosts of poos past? A simple product that with only a few spritzes, could do much more than masking the odour, it could completely eliminate the smell.

Well there is one, and like a fart in the wind, potentially embarrassing bathroom stank is now gone forever! Sure you could end up taking these into public toilets and eliminate your smell, but part of me kind of wished there is more attention to the hygiene and smell of public toilets, as an example why don’t more public facilities use these air freshening systems or something similar that are available for purchase to them?!

Many public facilities, as well as work toilets are often tried to be kept at a cleanly standard, and the cleaning team of said facilities or washrooms often look at wholesale companies, for example, phs Direct provide washroom & specialist supplies for your premises. Their product range includes indispensable accessories for publicly accessible bathrooms – and all it should really take is frequent cleaning schedules by the hygiene team, this way us women (and maybe even males?!) might be able to have a cleaner, more relaxed visit to a public toilet.

iPoo Smell Cover Oil (I know, I know, that name) is a miracle product for anyone concerned about these kinds of things. If you’re not concerned about it, more power to you! Poo with pride and ease! For those of us that are, this stuff really is wondrous.

It’s simple as could be, just spritz 4-5 times into the toilet bowl’s water before using the restroom. iPoo Smell Cover Oil makes a thin film of nice smelling oil on the water’s surface, once you’ve lain your golden eggs, the oil traps the odour completely, leaving only the oil’s fresh scent behind. It’s witchcraft! It really, really works, really. If you live in close quarters with someone, live in a dorm, have any kind of bathroom sharing situation, this stuff can be a relationship saver/harmony maker. I think it’s considerate as hell to use this product, I mean, who wants to walk into a wall of sulphur stank? They should rename this product iPoo Peace Maker, because it fosters toilet sharing harmony! On a more serious note, anyone with bowel problems such as IBS, Crohns, or Colitis could particularly appreciate this spray, especially since attacks happen without warning. This could relieve some of the embarrassment and anxiety around those attacks.

It comes in three different scents, my favourite of which is the Fresh scent. I’m particularly amused that the bottle looks just like a soju bottle.
ipoo smell cover soju
You can get the 20ml or 70ml formats, if you want to try them all to see which scent you prefer, or just want to have some purse sized sprays to keep with you at all times (something I highly recommend, because you never know!) they have this handy travel sized set . I have both the travel trio and the large format. I can tell you this, I will honestly never be without a product like this again for the rest of my life. What a game changer it’s been!

Available at Wishtrend, where you can get $5 off your first order by signing up via my link https://www.wishtrend.com:48598/?s=022463306 and entering code 022463306 upon sign up!

I can’t do this review without sharing the Wishtrend ads for this product, which crack me up ipoo_smellcoveroil_3scents_detail_01

RE:CIPE ROSE PETAL CLEANSING OIL & GREEN TEA SLOWGANIC CLEANSER REVIEW

November 26, 2015 / The Beauty Wolf

Cleansing. There’s a reason that “lather rinse repeat” is shorthand for tedium, boredom, and the humdrum tasks we must do in life. Washing your face is one such task that’s usually pretty boring. It’s fairly hard to get excited about a cleanser, the last time the masses got excited was around the Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick, which will always be a favourite but I’m a thrill seeker. It’s been a while and I’m always on the lookout for something new. Fortunately, I had InsiderBeauty send me some excitement.

First of all, just let me say how much I love InsiderBeauty. Browsing through their curations you’d be hard pressed to find a dud in the bunch. Everything is wonderful! I am continually impressed with what they choose to stock their store with. Every single time I hit up the What’s New section I’m like “OMG yes, yes, yes, and yes, get in my cart”. I also love that they have free shipping on orders over $35 and $5 shipping on orders less than that. They’re really a pleasure to deal with and I highly recommend shopping with them! (and no, I’m not at all paid to say that, I just really enjoy their selection, pricing, and professionalism).

Back to the cleansers. Wooooo boy!
I’m going to start backwards and talk about the most unique of the pair, the Green Tea Slowganic Cleanser. This stuff is so neat! I’m going to try really hard to describe the texture but I don’t think I’m going to be able to properly convey to you how weird (in a good way!) it is. It’s bouncy like jello, but more firm like icecream. It would be kinda of like of a porous gelatine had a baby with a thickest mousse imaginable, yet it’s light and airy. See? It makes no sense!

Fanserviced has a great video of it in action from her amazing post about fun cleansers
https://youtube.com/watch?v=TjrRmC2S_6g

Insider Beauty describes it on their site as
“Carefully hand-made with 98% natural ingredients, this bouncy, souffle-like texture will slowly melt into a soothing and rich foam, dissolving impurities while retaining skin’s critical moisture barrier. Infused with 12 organic ingredients including green tea, this pH-balanced cleanser will leave your skin feeling soft, comfortable, and freshly clean.”
I thought it would be way more unwieldily to deal with than it actually is. It’s actually quite easy to get the hang of once you use it a couple of times. No, it’s not as easy as lazily tossing off a few squirts of liquid cleanser (oh my, that sounds so naughty) but it is a hell of a lot of fun using the provided spatula to dig into the jiggly solid mousse and getting out a small chunk to use. And the foamy mousse it suds up into is very creamy and nice. I can’t speak for the lemon version as I haven’t tried it yet, but the green tea version does not dry out my already dry face. It’s a very gentle, effective, cleansing. It leaves my face soft, clean, and happy! It also has a pH of 5.5 which is perfect!

Now, onto the other treasure, the Rose Petal Cleansing Oil. I mentioned the Sum37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick earlier, and actually, this reminds of of Miracle Rose’s oil cousin. Both have rose petals, both smell amazing, and both will expertly remove your makeup and sunscreen as a first step cleanser. I’m going to go farther and say that for me, this removes tough makeup even better than the Miracle Rose. The Recipe Rose Petal Cleansing Oil is so far, and by far, the only first step cleanser that has been able to remove ALL traces of my Duo brand eyelash glue. Duo glue is the devil, that shit is so difficult to remove from my very delicate eyelids and this cleaner just melts that stuff off like it’s nothing. As someone with both sensitive and delicate eyes, this is a godsend. I am cursed with straight, short eyelashes on my top lids, I wear false eyelashes almost every single day, the glue is irritating and it’s removal has always been a problem for me. I’ve used some excellent cleansers that removed all traces of my point makeup, and even then I’d still have a bit of residue left. This is the first oil cleanser I’ve tried that gets rid of everything and gets rid of it with a very gentle ease! Here it is up against TonyMoly Backstage Gel Liner (and some bb cream) which is the difficult standard to which I test all oil cleansers:

Hello Adele, now goodbye

Gone!

See? Like a knife through hot butter, it just cuts all through the shit. Easy peasy. And the smell, man, I loooove the smell. If you don’t like rose you probably won’t like this cleanser because the scent is strong. For me that’s a plus, I love it. I am a sucker for rose scents so this is like HG status for me as far as oil cleansers go. By far, this is my top pick for oil cleansers personally. It’s one of those products that hits all the markers for me. So if you like rose, and want to make sure you’ve gotten rid of even your craziest makeup, this is for you.

Both of these cleansers used as a team has been so A+ for me. I have a feeling I’ll be sticking with these for along while. In fact, I’ve already gotten myself backups!

Five out of five turtles PLUS another one for being so gentle, effective, and putting the fun back into my cleansing routine!

These are available at Insider Beauty, which I highly recommend you shopping with, especially since Insider Beauty is having a 20/20 sale right now! 20% off the entire site and an additional 20% off all missha and re:cipe products. Code is: Thanksgiving

Prices are:

Re:cipe Slowganic Cleansers: $15.20

Re:cipe Rose Cleansing Oil: $12.80

Missha First Treatment Essence: $31.20 (enter a time warp and read one of my earliest reviews about Missha FTE here!)

It’s also available at Memebox here for the slowganic cleanser and here for the rose cleansing oil!

CHOSUNGAH 22 DONG GONG MINN JELLO COLOR EYESHADOW PALETTE REVIEW

October 23, 2015 / The Beauty Wolf

With Korean Beauty getting more and more mainstream, we’re starting to get an influx of products easily available for purchase here in North America. (I for one welcome our K-Beauty overlords 😉 ) With places like Target, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and even the bastion of all things beauty, Sephora carrying K-Beauty products, I’m delighted with the direction I see this going in.

Speaking of Sephora, I have been so pleased to see them promoting K-Beauty in stores and in their mailings. If you walk into any Sephora right now you’ll see beautiful signage and displays showcasing different Korean beauty products. It’s everything I hoped for when I first got into this world. Seeing it so easily accessible at such a major influential retailer is thrilling!
Out of the many brands they’re now carrying, I noticed the addition of a few products from the Chosungah 22 brand, one of which is the Dong Gong Minn Jello Color Kit. When I saw this online I ordered it right away, Korean skincare is my bread and butter, but Korean cosmetics is where my heart really lies.

With it’s cute pop-art style packaging, this product is a real eye catcher. The casing itself is a nice size, about the size of a large pencil case with a similar type hinge and feel.

This palette of eyeshadows features six standard sized colours (each shade about the size of a Mac eyeshadow). The colours are warm toned and neutral with some very en trend dusky shades that are just perfect for Fall and adding a little warmth to your Winter. They have cute space names, here is Pluto and Venus, the lightest highlighter type shades:

Jupiter and Mars, which are my favourite shades

Mercury and Blackhole, which are great bold darks perfect for smoking the hell out of your eyes

What makes this stand out from other palettes, aside from the packaging, is the very unique formulation. These are not traditional powdered shadows, and while they are somewhat creamy, they are not a cream shadow either. Confused? Well, if you’ve ever tried Colour Pop eyeshadows these are very similar! They are an almost spongy, soft, creamy type shadow. If you press down into the shadow, they will depress, and they’re almost bouncy in texture. The closest I can get to trying to explain the texture is cream-ish to powder, but then again not really. Despite me not finding the words to describe these properly, rest assured, they are really fun to use.

The colours swatch true, if a little sheer, but that is kind of the point of this palette.

I really like the colour choices they’ve included in this palette. They’re neutral but not boring, and can be used for any time of the day. The wear time is great, but be aware I do not have oily eyelids so most eye products wear well on me.

If you’re wondering just how you’re supposed to work with this non-traditional eyeshadow texture, I have some suggestions. While you can use a synthetic brush to blend (and I do) the best way to pack on colour with these things is the pat them directly onto your lids with your finger. You can build coverage that way and it allows you a lot of freedom to play around. You can get a lovely sheer wash of colour for a simple daytime smokey look, or go more dramatic for the evening by building up to a dramatic opaque look by patting on a heavy coating. Because of the unique formulation, there is no fallout to speak of, so be as heavy handed with the colour as you’d like!

I’ve done some really fun eye looks with this palette and I’ve taken to adding in some of the Peripera Jewel Pots that I love so much into the mix for really dramatic nighttime eyes! Since both are finger friendly products, it’s like a glamorous grownup finger painting session when you get these two together. Who says you can’t have fun with your makeup?

This palette is a real pleasure, a lot of fun, easy available at Sephora in both the US and Canada, and is a good value. What’s not to love?

Five out of five little jelly turtles.

GOODAL FIRMING CAMELLIA WATER OIL REVIEW

KLAIRS MIDNIGHT BLUE CALMING CREAM REVIEW

IPOO SMELL COVER OIL REVIEW

RE:CIPE ROSE PETAL CLEANSING OIL & GREEN TEA SLOWGANIC CLEANSER REVIEW

CHOSUNGAH 22 DONG GONG MINN JELLO COLOR EYESHADOW PALETTE REVIEW

About Me