Evil Shades: Beautifully Evil Skincare

 Company Complaint 

I want to start by saying that I loved Evil Shades, I think their shadows are complex, beautiful, and they wear well, my experiences with their lip products have all been good, the colors are fun, and not drying, but I was pretty pissed at them over this.

Toward the end of February I picked up Evil Shades Mystifying Face Cream for Dry Skin, I still had enough left for about a month, but I was running out of facial moisturizer and these were new at the time so I wanted to give them a try. I didn't have a lot of extra money so it was the only thing I bought, and I figured it would be a quick ship, so I waited, and waited, and waited....

The turn around time was at a maximum of 20 days not counting holidays and weekends. It's kinda hard to tell with Indy companies if their TATs are because of worst case scenarios, or if they really are that busy, so like the polite customer that I am, I waited some more. Finally, two days past the 20 day marker (around the beginning of April) I got into contact with them and just asked, what was up?

They said my order had gotten lost somehow, and that's why it hadn't been sent, even though I could find my order on their website. They apologized and told me they would send it out by the end of the week. A week AFTER that it actually did get sent out and arrived on my doorstep May 3rd.

So I realize this is not the worst story out there, but it did sour me on this particular company a little. Which is really, really sad.

Lotion Review

Okay, as for the cream itself, I like it, it's somewhere in the middle in terms of quality, it's better then Drugstore brands, but still can't hold a candle to Lushs Imperialis which is my normal go-to face cream. Despite the websites claims I did find it a bit greasy, it was slow to absorb and I would never try wearing it under my makeup so I relegated it to a night cream. I like it okay, but I wouldn't have felt the need to buy it again, even if I hadn't gone through so much trouble the first time.

Morgana Cryptoria Lip Product Review

 

I bought these during the Easter Egg sale though I've been meaning to buy from Morgana Cryptoria for awhile. Everything came within a reasonable period of time. Also I love the bag it came in hot pink with gold stars and moons!

The glosses come in containers with doe foot applicators. They apply fairly evenly and last a good amount of time for a gloss. They smell kind of gross and plastic-y but if you buy them for full price you can pick your own scent for them.

• Draugar: Surprisingly saturated sky blue with subtle blue shimmer. You'll want to cover the edges of your lips with foundation before applying.
• Medusas Magic: A pine green with gold hints loaded with green sparkle and shimmer.
• Galaxy: A semi-sheer fushia violet with heavy blue shimmer. Looks good with most everything.

These are gel lipsticks which come in tubes but are best applies with the help of a lip brush. They are very soft and become almost liquid when in contact with body heat. Though I've heard certain shades sometimes have difficulty staying even I haven't noticed that problem with these.

• Luminous Lava: Orange tinted red with a gold shimmer.
• Nevermore: A deep merlot with subtle red shimmer.
• Willow: A terracotta brown.

Colored lip balm in Qwark. I kinda thought this would be more orangy in life. It even looks orangy in this picture, but truthfully it's a light brown with green and gold shimmer.

Oh I adore Morgana Cryptoria, the colors are beautiful, they apply well, last long, don't dry out  my lips, and look fantastic.

Of the bunch my favorite was Nevermore, it's such an unlikely color for me but it goes with me skin tone so well. My least favorite is Willow my guess is it might look better on someone with a tan. Let me know if anyone out there would like to try it.

Ophelias Apothecary Review

I acquired a Heartsy coupon for Ophelia's Apothecary back at the beginning of September and made my order the same day. It took a little under 2 months to get to me, I was updated by the company from time to time, but still, it was a bit frustrating.

My products came in a bubble mailer.

I bought

• Lavender Rosewater Cream Facial Cleanser
• Sugared Candy Cane Shea Butter Lip Scrub
• Cool Cucumber Hydrating Facial Toning Mist
• Clarity All Natural Acne Spot Treatment
• Green Tea All Natural Hydrating Face Cream

Lavender Rosewater Cream Facial Cleanser: Okay I really didn't like this, it smelled of watered down dish soap and didn't seem to do much in that way of cleansing my face. I almost always use "gentle" cleansers. But maybe there's such a thing as too gentle.

Sugared Candy Cane Shea Butter Lip Scrub: The only lip scrub I had tried before this was the scrub they sell over at Lush. I thought I might like Ophelia's version since it's on a stick and I don't have to put my finger in a pot (I hate that). But Ophelia's version doesn't scrub as well, and the sugar crystals are quite large and sharp. The lip balm however is wonderful, and while I don't think I'll be buying a sugar scrub again I think I'd be up for one of her other lip products.

Cool Cucumber Hydrating Facial Toning Mist: I really have no complaints about this product, it's smells fresh, feels nice, and does an excellent job.

Clarity All Natural Acne Spot Treatment: This products does nothing for me. But no spot treatment ever has so I can't be too upset about it. Because of all the essential oils it smells quite strong and can make your eyes water if you have a pimple you need to get rid of near your eyes or nose. Instead of drying it leaves a sticky residue which can be annoying. Even though this product didn't work for me I still liked the roller ball applicator. If spot treatments have worked for you in the past I would suggest you give this product a try.

Green Tea All Natural Hydrating Face Cream: An excellent facial lotion, I only require a small amount to make my face comfortably moisturized, smaller if I'm using toner as well. The texture is velvety, smells lightly of green tea, and soaks in pretty fast. It does leave a powdery film when I apply is to "thick", but other that that great product.

So, would I buy from Ophelia's Apothecary again? You know, I think I might. I do have plans to pick their their lip balm (and we all know I'm a lip balm freak). We'll see whatever else strikes my fancy when I get there.

Benefit: b.right! Radiant Skincare

Sometimes I hang out at Sephora, I don't often buy anything cause I still prefer buying from Indie makeup companies, but the Benefit display had some new lotions out to try, I tried some of the Total Moisture on my arm and though it was very nice, I was not going to spend 38$ for it however. BUT they had a trial kit for 12$ and that sounded pretty fair. Along with the Total Moisture this kit also includes, the Triple Performance Facial Emulsion SPF 15, and Refined Finish Facial Polish.

This is not the thickest cream I've ever tried, it goes on like velvet without being oily. I don't plan on buying it, but I would say it's actually worth the 38$ pricetag. By chance I happened to get sick while I had this and used it to sooth my nose after blowing. It worked like a charm without stinging and was possibly the first time I've had a cold when the skin around my nose didn't flake.

Full sizes of this are 28$. Like the Total Moisture it comes in an attractive glass container, it's surprisingly thin but does a great job. I cat really say how well it works as a sunscreen, but it must be FDA approved so there you go. My only real beef is with the container itself since it's glass you can't really squeeze it out. When my Total Moisture was gone I transferred the remaining Triple P. into it's container for easy access. I believe the full sized are pumps, but I don't like those either.

Probably the only disappointment, a full size of this are 22$ and it is a truly terrible scrub. For one it doesn't seem to exfoliate that well. When I exfoliate I scrub gently in circles for a full minute, this stuff seemed to dry out and become waxy on my skin before a minute was up. At first I thought, well maybe it's working really well and that stuff is dead dry skin it took off, but it wasn't.

This whole line is scented with a watery floral/cucumber scent, which smells lovely don't get me wrong, but the only reason my face products should smell like cucumber and flowers is if they have cucumber and flowers in them. I'm not perfume sensitive, but a lot of people are, and seems like the product wouldn't smell BAD without the perfume in it, so just take it out.

Most of these products are formulated with what Benefit calls their tri-radiance complex which brings hydration to the skin, keeps it there, then helps skin to develop long-term reserves of water for genuinely moisturized skin. Which just sounds like what a good facial moisturizer is supposed to do anyway, they've just given it a fancy name. The complex uses a mixture of vegetable sugars, glycol derivatives, and different sizes of hyaluronic acid molecules to get all this done.

My skin does look nice. Not drastically bright, but not quite as nice as when I use only Lush products, (which I'm not currently using since I've been trying out several different skin care products over the last few months) but still good. Maybe a little bit of acne on my chin, but I don't think that is the fault of the moisturizers.

All in all this stuff work well and is a pretty good deal 38$ for the Total Moisture will get you 1.7 oz. of product, which is a pretty fair amount and will last you a good long time.

Review: Cleanse Your Soul

Not enough peanuts and everything was tossed up pretty badly.

Cleanse Your Soul is one of those companies I would not have tried on my own, the website is extremely simple, the products themselves are not as well described as I like, and there's always a 2-3 week TAT. This is supposedly because she makes each item when you order it. Of course I only know this because I've read blog reviews, it says nothing about that on her website.

I decided to buy because Phyrra recommend it, and the lady has good taste. Also have you seen Cleanse Your Souls scent list? It's amazing and well worth trying some dubiously described products for a chance at some of them. It took me all day to narrow down my choices, eventually I had to put the list on a word document and just start removing some till I had a more manageable list.

Behemoth Scrub in Creation: Jasmine, citrus, cucumber, and mint. But all I smell is Jasmine right off. The citrus did come out when I began applying this stuff to my skin, but not mint or cucumber, still nice however.

Behemoth Scrub in Almond Snowfall: Creamy almond blended with mountain air accord and the tiniest hint of mint. Pretty much as described I can pick out each scent individually and together it's...odd. The mint is quite strong and it's menthol-y.

Behemoth Scrub in New England: Gingerbread, applesauce, and hot tea. Mostly apples and cinnamon.

Behemoth Scrub Sample in Eucapyptus and Spearmint: Yup smells like that, sugary too of course since it's a sugar scrub. The sample tub cracked badly in transit and the outside of all my containers now smells like this.

Behemoth settles, so the sugar on top is powdery, if you try to use it like this you'll lose a lot of product. You'll need to stir it up again, but then you'll also loose a lot of product. My suggestion is put a paper plate underneath while you stir to catch the stuff that falls out, then when you're done fold up the plate so the excess can slide back into the pot.

This is probably obvious but, DON'T get water in the Sugar Scrub container, you'll end up with sharp painful bits instead of nice scrubby bits.

Hair Protein Mist in La Concha: Hibiscus flowers blended with blood orange and passionfruit. The fruity notes of Orange and passionfruit show up quite nicely, the Hibiscus is buried quite deep if it's there at all.

Hair Protein Mist in Lavender Berry Vanilla: Lavender, blackberry, vanilla bean. Not as nice a combo as you might think.

Hair Protein Mist in We Gather Together: Cranberries, oranges, cloves, and nutmeg. The orange is strong in this one and quite bitter at first sniff. Once you spray it the spices come out front and center then it all mellows and blends into a fruity holiday scent.

Shower Lock in Moisturizer in Hushed: Camomile, oatmeal, milk, honey, and vanilla. It might be the camomile but this scent really bothers me. The sweet comes out more once applied but I still just don't care for this.

Soy Silky Conditioner in Chestnuts and Brown Sugar: Yeah that's pretty much what it is. Very sweet slightly nutty and thoroughly enjoyable. I bought this one cause I'm on a chestnut kick and I thought it would smell like my Adagio chestnut tea, which it does. I'm sold.

Leave in Conditioner in Vanilla Bliss: Okay so I ordered Baked Vanilla which is a blend of several different Vanillas. There's no Vanilla Bliss on the website so I assume they're the same? Apparently it leaked as well since it's got 1/4 of the product missing. Which is sad since it's a very good product and I quite like the scent, it lasts for freaking ever!

Foaming Sugar Scrub in Candy Cane Fizz: Candy canes blended with 7up and strawberry syrup. Mmm delicious sweet peppermint. You can order this in a color, and I ordered mine in light pink, however it came super pale yellow which I assume is uncolored. When I mention this to Lisa, the owner she mentioned something about color stabilizers, and not putting enough in. It's only a little sad since the product is still wonderful, it just would have been cute in pink.

For both the Foaming Sugar Scrub and the Leave in Conditioner I was offered a refund or store credit before I even asked, so let's add great customer service to the list.

Silken Body Butter Sample in Vanilla Bean Noel: Vanilla and caramel Bath and Body Works dupe. Delicious! And this lotion is amazing, it really is silky and absorbs quickly, I applied it at night and was still smelling it really clearly the next morning.

So in recap a scent list that boggles the mind along with scents that last longer then anything you've applied before. Great customer service and quick answers to my questions more then makeup for a bland website. Monthly specials make spending up to the free shipping amount easy. Also the products themselves are seriously amazing. So will I buy again? You bet your fluffy butt I will!

Review: My Beauty Diary

I don't remember where I heard about these from, but I've been wanting to get myself some for awhile now. I looked into distributors and it turned out Amazon sells them! I bought myself a pack of 7 top sellers for 13.95$. I put it next to Randall's new Kindle to show how big these masks were.

My Beauty Diary is a brand of Taiwanese beauty masks. And like many Asian beauty products many of these masks are purported to lighten the skin, though I didn't notice any of that. The main page for these products is adorable and I whole heartedly suggest you go check it out.

Black Pearl Mask

For: All skin types, especially for dull-looking skin and lack of firmness.

Benefits: Firming, regenerating, moisturizing, whitening and brightening the overall complexion.

My Opinion: This mask was quite heavy with the essence and didn’t stick to my face very well. The moisture I got from it was just okay, but it did seem to brighten my skin tone. I doubt I’m any whiter then I was before though.

Pearl Powder Mask

For: All skin types, especially dull & damaged skin

Benefits: Hydrating, nourishing and brightening effects.

My Opinion: Nice, not any better or worse then the others.

Q10 Rejuvenating Mask

For: All skin types, especially loss of elasticity skin

Benefits: Moisturizing, anti-aging and anti-oxidant, restores skin structure. Skin elasticity improved and complexion looks younger, firmer, hydrate and softer.

My Opinion: Very saturated and moisturizing.

Aloe Mask

For: All skin types, especially dry, damaged skin

Benefits: Removes dead skin cells and lighten pigmentation spots. Hydrating and repairing. Retains & replenish moisture and soothe sensitive skin.

My Opinion: Has a light fresh scent and is quite saturated. Doesn’t seem to moisturize any better or worse then the others, but I can see how it would work better for those with sensitive skin.

Red Vine Mask

For: All skin types, especially for dull looking skin and lack of firmness

Benefits: Firms and brightens skin complexion with the addition of anti-oxidant content. Improves blood circulation and skin becomes glowing and radiant.

My Opinion: For some reason this mask didn’t come with any nose contours, I guess they didn’t want my nose to be hydrated…or something. It smells faintly of fruit juice. Immediately after taking it off there was a noticeably brightness back on my face, my favorite of the group.

Birds Nest Mask

For: All skin types, people with dull, uneven skin tone.

Benefits: Brightening, Nourishing, and Revitalizing for all skin types especially skin which is dull..

My Opinion: This was the first mask I used, this mask was more saturated and heavy like the Q10 mask, it kept sliding down my face and I kept having to push it back up. Moisturized quite well, but I didn’t notice much else.

Natto Mask

For: All skin types, especially dehydrated, dull & lack of elasticity skin

Benefits: Anti ageing, firming, and moisturizing.

My Opinion: Thankfully smells nothing like natto. Seemed to moisturize well, but I didn’t notice much else.

Attractive, ne?

1. Cleanse face thoroughly before applying mask.
2. Excess essence from the packaging may be applied on the neck by massage.
3. After 20 minutes, remove mask and gently massage face to assist absorption.
4. Rinsing is not required.
5. You may apply toner, moisturizer etc. after application
6. Use daily for maximum effect.

Final Word: I will defiantly be buying more of these. All of them, although a bit sticky when drying, made my skin feel amazingly soft. I didn't notice anything particularly firming about them, moisturizing well over time will keep skin firm, but I noted no instant firming. No whitening thank goodness, a few of them brightened my skin tone, some more then others. I would love to use these every day just for the way they make my face feel.

Review: Lush Serum Bar

As an early christmas gift a friend bought me a Lush Full of Grace Serum bar. I've been using it for a little under three months now so I think it's about time I gave my opinion. First though I want to explain what a serum is. There are a lot of them out there and they often have different purposes such as skin firming, vitamin C, I saw one that was a caffeinated eye serum (sounds healthy right?).

The molecules in serums are smaller then those in moisturizers and lotions they they are able to send nutrients to the lower levels of skin making skin softer and more healthy.

They sell serum in bar form over at Lush, you have to warm in up to get it to melt. I use it when I get out of the shower because I take quite hot showers and my skin is heated at that time so it's easier to melt the bar a bit. If I try it at any other time it takes awhile longer to melt and get's slightly frustrating.

And then after all that the oil sits on my skin for awhile. I thought at the time I was using too much, so I cut back and started putting it only on my forehead, under my eyes, and on the parentheses around my nose and mouth. But no it still does not absorb quickly.

And then after three months of using it daily I've seen no difference in my skins quality. Some of you might think three months is no big deal and maybe I should wait longer. But I'm used to noticing Lushs benefits almost immediately, and the fact that I don't from this bar makes me think it's not doing anything. I feel very jyped since I've only read glowing reviews about this product, it's possible that it's not doing anything for my skin because I don't need it.

Who knows, I won't be buying another ones that's for sure.

Lush: Ultrabland review

I am a Lush fanatic, and for good reasons, that shop does amazing things for my skin and I am grateful. Most people get introduced via their fun bath products like a bath bomb or bubble bar, and that's exactly what happened to me a few years ago. One Butterball and I was hooked, it took me a year after that to try a skincare product, I was slightly afraid of them because they were so expensive and I asked for some Ultra Light lotion, and instead was given Ultrabland Cleanser.

It was thick and creamy, at first I used it to just remove makeup and after I removed it I would wash my face again with your basic cheap grocery store cleanser because my face didn't feel tight the way I was used to after washing it. It took about a month for me to realize my face is supposed to feel soft and supple after cleansing.

I have dry skin so I'll follow up Ultrabland with Eau Roma Water Toner, and Imperials moisturizer and my skin was never horrible before, but it's fantastic now, I get compliments all the time. Lately though I've been realizing just how versatile Ultrabland really is.

I've been sick for about two weeks, I use half a box of tissue a day my nose was so red and sore and every lotion I tried stung, even my Lush Imperials. Three days ago I started slathering on Ultrabland in between nose blows and my nose while still a little tight is feeling soft and pink right now.

It's also great as a lip balm, or for any itchy or dry parts,

Although I've never tried it I heard it also does good work on diaper rashes, getting rid of mascara, as a cuticle cream, to remove pine cone sap, to take out oil stains on clothing, to soothe new tattoos, and to keep furniture from squeaking.

If you've ever tried one of these alternative uses please let me know.

It's mostly peanut oil and beeswax so it's not for anyone with an allergy. It's also probably won't do much for people with overly oily skin.