The Beauty Wolf

Category: Reviews (Page 13 of 19)

NATURE REPUBLIC PROVENCE TWO WAY PACT REVIEW

February 20, 2014 /

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With my dry to normal skin, I realize I’m not the best person to review a powder, but I wanted to test drive a more matte face than I normally do and this fit the bill.

The Nature Republic Provence Two Way Pact SPF50+ PA+++ is a powder in a pretty, floral, geometric compact. I would be lying if I said I didn’t choose this one on design alone. Don’t judge, you know we’re all guilty of that from time to time 😉

There’s not a whole lot to say about this product honestly. It’s available in two shades, #21 light beige and #23 natural beige. Here I have #21.

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The powder is sheer and does a nice job of setting your bb cream or foundation. I don’t really get much shine in the winter time so I can’t really speak to it’s oil control properties but I can say my face stayed very matte all day. This also claimed to be somewhat moisturizing, which was good news for my skin type. I’m not sure if it actually was, but it certainly wasn’t drying. If your skin is in good condition I could see this being used on top of your sunscreen on lazy days when you don’t want to do full face makeup. And of course as always, I’m a big fan of the high SPF protection this provides. In addition to that, I love that this contains rose hips and rosemary extracts. As with most Nature Republic products, it’s also free of parabens, mineral oil, and benzophenone.

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I’m super neutral about this product. I don’t love it or dislike it, but that’s how I feel about all powders.

I do love the compact’s design though, and I will hang on to it as a mirror. Powders are way out of my comfort zone but as far as this one goes it’s pleasant, smells nice, has some interesting ingredients, a high SPF, and did it’s job. I guess I’ll have to give this 3 out of 5 turtles.
If you’re looking to try one out for yourself, it’s available here on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Republic-Provence-Natural-Beige/dp/B00CRAQ85C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1434119691&sr=8-2&keywords=NATURE+REPUBLIC+PROVENCE+TWO+WAY+PACT

And ebay here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nature-Republic-Provence-Twoway-Pact-SPF50-PA-/350833780265?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item51af52a629
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3 CONCEPT EYES HIGHLIGHTER REVIEW

February 19, 2014 /

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I am an addict. There I said it. I am an addict and my drug of choice is highlighters.  Really any glow products. I cannot pass up a highlighter, it is a serious problem. I remember about three years ago waiting backstage to meet Nicki Minaj and just furiously brushing Mac’s Mineralized Skinfinish in Shimpagne all over my cheeks to help compose myself (it worked and she ended up heavily complimenting my makeup to boot!). So the moral of the story is, highlighters are magical and everyone needs at least one good one.

3 Concept Eyes is a brand I’ve had my eye (my concept eye?) on for awhile now. Their minimalistic black and white packaging is so exactly my aesthetic that it just screams for me to buy it. I think the rest of North America might be catching on because I noticed they’re selling 3 Concept Eyes online at Urban Outfitters now.

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This highlighter comes in a slim mirrored compact. It includes a small flat brush hidden away in a bottom compartment. It’s pretty great packaging design! I am kind of enamored with it. The product itself is a powder with small shimmery particles. I chose the shade Beige but it’s also available in Gold Pink.

Going back to my glow addiction, I have really high expectations when it comes to my highlighter products. I like to, in the words of Rihanna, shine bright like a diamond. What I don’t like though, is glitter. I hate glitter. I like a very specific shimmery sheen.This product does manage to avoid the glittery texture that I hate, and does provide the sheen that I like. However, I find that this is not near strong enough. It makes an extremely, extremely faint highlight. So much so that I had to struggle to get a swatch. I ended up having to show this on top of another product (a blush) to really have it capture on my camera.
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The colour is perfect, the sheen is great, it’s just not nearly powerful enough for my liking. That being said, it does impart and extremely natural looking highlight for cheeks and the T-zone. If you’re going for subtle then this is the product for you. It’s just not the product for me 🙁 I can’t say this is a bad or poor quality product, it’s just not what I was looking for personally. 3 Concept Eyes Highlighter gets a middle of the road 2.5 out of 5 turtles.

If you’d like to give it a try yourself it’s available on ebay here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3CE-3-Concept-Eyes-Highlighter-Pink-or-Beige-/181747999406?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item2a510662ae

and Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Concept-Eyes-Highlighter-GOLD-PINK/dp/B00AF55XP2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433884041&sr=8-1&keywords=3+CONCEPT+EYES+HIGHLIGHTER

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ETUDE HOUSE SOFT TOUCH AUTO LIP LINER REVIEW

February 18, 2014 /

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I’ve been really into lip heavy looks lately. It’s a big change from the super neutral mouth I’ve been sporting since, well, forever. After years of just tracing my lips with a nude coloured pencil to stop feathering, it dawned on me that I needed a lipliner to compliment these new bolder lipsticks I’ve been favouring. So, I went out in search of the best ones to bring back to you guys.

Etude House Soft Touch Auto Lip Liner is exactly what it says it is, an automatic lip liner. I love these so much more than pencil liners. It seems so archaic to drag out a sharpener and crank a pencil through it. What really sold me on the Soft Touch Auto Liners is that they are fully retractable! No more swiveling up a liner too high only to have it break off because you can’t retract it back to a more manageable size. The mechanism is extremely smooth and has never given me a problem.

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Soft Rose and Milky Brown are the two shades I picked up to try. Both are great colours that could be used with a lot of different lipstick and glosses I have. The formulation is extremely nice. These are neither chalky nor dry. Unlike some dry pencil liners, these glide on and never drag. You could pretty much wear them alone on top of a lip balm if you wanted to. They apply easily, smoothly, and wonderfully. The wear time is the same as any other lipliner, it lasts as long as you want it to as long as you’re not eating or kissing someone. My only complaint with these are the limited shade selections available. There are only five shades and they are mostly earthy neutral sort of tones. Other than that though these are great! I’m very impressed, especially considering how ridiculously cheap they are. They can be had for under five dollars on ebay here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ETUDE-HOUSE-Soft-Touch-Auto-Lipliner-sing-sing-girl-/141521245989?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item20f352d725
and the various online Korean cosmetic stores. I think these great little liners deserve 4.5 out of 5 turtles.
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IOPE AIR CUSHION XP REVIEW

February 10, 2014 /

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Hello gorgeous Beauty Pups! I’m back with a look at another BB cushion. Today’s review is Iope’s newest offering, the Iope Air Cushion XP SPF 50+/PA+++. Apparently this is a revamp of their prior air cushion with an improved formulation. I have shade C21, Natural Vanilla (that sounds like the world’s worst R&B group). The C in C21 stands for Cover, as this has more coverage than the other options, which are N for natural and S for Shimmer. As with the majority of Korean bb creams this comes with extremely limited colour options, 21 being the lightest and 23 being the darkest.

Iope was one of the first companies to release a BB cushion onto the market and helped the trend catch fire in Korea. It’s been established that I’m a huge fan of BB cushions, the one I reviewed from Holika Holika sealed the deal for me. However, the Iope cushion is a higher end brand. If Holika Holika is Covergirl then Iope is Lancome. I’m not always a proponent of “expensive is better” but I came across this cushion on sale and knew I had to give it a try. It’s your typical cushion in that it’s a compact that comes with a silicone sponge and has a divider protecting the stamp pad like cushion underneath. What I did notice right away upon opening it was the weight, it’s so much more sturdily constructed than the Holika Holika compact, which is the be expected I guess. Another thing that was a really pleasant surprise is that it comes with a refill and additional sponge! Since this is roughly double the price of the cheaper brands, it almost ends up balancing out in the end once you factor in that you get two products with this for slightly more than the cost of two cheaper ones.
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I must say, this formulation lives up to the hype. It imparts that dewy glow that I’m addicted to yet it has none of the stickiness that can sometimes come along with it. Once it’s on your face is almost feels like a matte formula but it still looks like a glowing one. I’ve really never encountered anything like it and I’m in love.
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 Despite being billed as a higher coverage product, I’d say the actual coverage on this is just about medium. It didn’t do a lot to hide an angry red mark I had from a run in with a prescription retinoid (don’t ask) but it did cover my faint hyper-pigmentation spots. What it did do was give me a beautiful ,soft, even skin tone. You would still have to break out the concealer for serious blemishes, but for mostly even skin this is a stand alone product. I’m also in love with the fact that this comes with the super high SPF of 50, always a plus for me. I should also mention the scent, it has that pleasant floral smell that is typical of high end brands but it fades away upon application.
The wear time on this for me was the entire day long. Although, as I’ve mentioned before, I have a dry to normal skin type. I don’t really have problems with oil making my makeup disappear so YMMV. Although with the light airy almost matte feel I do think oily skins will appreciate this product. Even though I can’t speak to it’s sebum control properties, it does seems like it will be a good fit for everyone! The literature on this product claims that it is sweatproof. I plan on wearing this to the Kanye concert I’m going to next week so that should tell you I’m comfortable enough with it’s performance for harsh (glorious) conditions. I have no idea what outfit I’m wearing yet, but I know for sure what my face will be wearing.The Iope Air Cushion XP SPF 50+/PA+++ certainly deserves the full 5 out of 5 turtles.
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SKIN FOOD VITA WATER DROP CC CREAM REVIEW

February 5, 2014 /

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Skin Food Vita Water Drop CC Cream is an odd little duck in the CC cream world. Despite coming in two differently decorated tubes, this CC creams it comes in only one colour. Unlike most other CC creams, this one is not self adjusting. The single shade is a neutral apricot colour, so if that doesn’t work for you, you’re pretty much out of luck on this one 🙁

The coverage is sheerer than the Tony Moly Pure Luminous Aura CC and the formula is water based so it’s less emollient. This would definitely be appreciated by oily skinned folks, but it’s not drying so drier skinned people would still like it as well. When I first received this product I was kind of put off by it. It smelled a little funky (I still can’t place the smell, its like vaguely grassy chemicals) and I was so used to my other CC cream that this different formula was just strange to me. But I have to be honest I do find myself reaching for this a lot more often then I thought I would. I could see myself really appreciating this formula in Summer.
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Like I said above, the cover on this is extremely sheer. It does almost nothing to cover any redness or hyper-pigmentation you might have. It does however create a smooth surface for BB cream or foundation. As always with CC creams, if you have smooth blemish free skin you could definitely wear this alone. It also contains SPF 35 PA+++ so that’s a plus. I don’t quite know how to rate this cream! I keep changing my mind about it. I’m going to go with 3.5 out of 5 turtles, but somedays it’s a 4. This retails for under $15 in most online stores so it’s not that big of risk to give it a try!
Available on Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKINFOOD-Vita-Water-Drop-CC-Cream-30g-NEW-Korea-Cosmetics-/121416024021?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c44f57fd5
And Amazon here
http://www.amazon.com/Water-Cream-SPF35-Korean-original/dp/B00KR37X8M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433882930&sr=8-3&keywords=SKIN+FOOD+VITA+WATER+DROP+CC+CREAM

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