Forever 21 Nail Polish Review and swatches

I'm going to apologize in advance for the pictures. I was being rushed by my boyfriend and didn't get a chance to clean up my nails.

Today I'm reviewing Forever 21 nail polish. I'm a sucker for bright colors :) these are $2.80 each, not bad right? I expected them to be low quality because the clothes I've gotten at Forever 21 range from great to low quality.

I picked these up in Sugar Plum (purple) and ...Blue. I kid you not, the nail polish's color is Blue.

I love them! The first coat is thin, but even, and the brush doesn't hold too much. It applied so well, instead of blobbing all over the place. The second coat is the perfect coverage. I love the polish's consistency. It's not too thin to need 4 or 5 coats. But it is thin enough to not look clumpy or like I have a lot of polish on my nails.

The polish dried quickly and evenly. I find no faults in this polish, and for $2.80 each...I want more!

Rating: 10/10

Softlips Lip Tint review

I love Big Lots for my make-up. For some reason, the Big Lots near me carries so much more e.l.f. products than the local Target.

Anyway, I grabbed these Softlips liptints because they made me smile, remembering how they were the coolest thing in middle school. They were a buck fifty, so why not.

The two colors are Sultry (the brown) and Sweet (pink). They have a spf of 15, so that's nice.

I want to love these. I used to love Vanilla Softlips. But these smell like those chewable Flintstones multivitamins that my mom had to force down my throat when I was a kid. Yuckkkk. They also have so much shimmer, they're both very frosty and almost purely white. :(

As for their moisturizing power, they don't seem to do much. Maybe the shimmer prevents moisture from coming through.

Pros:
SPF 15
Very cheap

Cons:
The smell
Not very moisturizing
So frosty, like for a middle schooler

I can't even rate this. It's pointless, I'm sorry. Probably what I get for buying something based solely on nostalgia.

Mask Treatment for Totally Fried Hair review

I'm sorry guys, this is the second bad review in the same day. Today's just not my day for hair products :(

I have no idea what the brand name is for this. I tried googling it, everything. Nothing. I picked it up at TJ Maxx for 10 bucks, although the suggested retail price is $35.00 (or so it says on the container). It's made by Luxo Laboratories, is paraben free, and has argan oil AND keratin protein. My two favorite ingredients!

The container says this is a mask treatment, deep reconstructor, and frizz tamer all in one. It's supposed to defrizz, protect, nourish, detangle, condition, repair, shine, and restore.

The instructions say to use it once or twice a week for 20 minutes. That's all it says. So that's what I did. I used it twice in one week. The issue with this is that the texture is so thick and almost waxy, you can't tell if all your hair is being covered. It's almost annoying. But it doesn't drip off my hair, so that's nice. It smells so strongly of fake coconuts, it almost made me feel sick.

I left it in for 20 minutes the first time, then rinsed. It felt like it would never fully rinse out. Then I let it air dry.

Now, my hair is NOT totally fried. But it is damaged from a couple highlights I got last year. This product made my hair frizzy, poofy. I couldn't stand it. It felt like I didn't use anything on my hair at all, and yet it made my hair actually curl at the ends. Maybe I rinsed it too thoroughly?

So, my second try.
I left it in for 30 minutes this time, and didn't rinse it so thoroughly. I thought, maybe this will help.

Nope. Now my hair took forever to dry and felt sticky. There is simply no middle ground. Maybe if my hair really was fried, this would help. As it is, my hair feels worse than when I started. I think there might be too much protein in this (it is a reconstructor and keratin is one of the first few ingredients), which caused my hair to frizz and curl. It might work for someone else, but there was too much protein in this for me. 0/10

Chi Keratin Leave-In Conditioner Review

I got this little 2 fl oz. spray bottle at TJ Maxx for 5 bucks. CHI is a great brand, I love their silk infusion. And who doesn't love keratin? My hair is very dry so I need a good leave-in conditioner.

I can honestly say... I don't like this. It sprays evenly onto my hair, sinks in, and smells like cologne....but as soon as my hair dries, my hair feels STICKY. It feels waxy and gummy. I can't stand it, I have to wash my hair AGAIN which is the ultimate no-no.

I give this a 1/10, utter disappointment. Sorry :(

Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser Strength Reconstructing Butter review

Hey! I'm back!

After all these months of stress and daily life, I finally have a minute to post :)

So I'm trying out the Damage Eraser from Garnier Fructis. It's a brand new line and I'm going to be honest, I only picked it up because it's orange. I love orange. 

Anyway, it cost about $8.00 from CVS. It smells like... something sweet and fruity, but not the usual Garnier Fructis scent. It's almost annoyingly sweet. Like... Laffy Taffy, in orange flavor.

This reconstructing butter promises to "intensely reconstruct hair's strength for strong, rejuvenated hair." Whew. Big words. I've been using this for about a month now, once a week, and the jar is almost gone.

The consistency is like mayonnaise, thick and buttery. It stays on my hair very well without sliding off. I massage it into my hair and leave it on for about 5 minutes, then rinse and air dry.

Pros: Leaves my hair soft, detangled, and shiny. My split ends don't show up as much. For some reason, this product gives my hair VOLUME. Woo!

Cons: I can't stand the smell. It stays after my hair has been rinsed and dried. Other reviewers say they like the smell, but I'm not too into smelling über sweet. It also doesn't seem to do much more than regular conditioner. Maybe I should try leaving it in for 15 - 20 minutes, but I don't really have time for that. It also seems to be the kind of deep conditioner that leaves a film on my hair. My hair just feels ....smooth in a filmy way.

TL;DR : Makes my hair soft and fluffy and kinda shiny, but for the obnoxious smell, I'm not sure it's worth it. Seriously, I smell it just by turning my head either way.

My rating: 7/10

L'oreal Paris Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream in Medium REVIEW

Hey! It's been a while, sorry about that. School's been crazy and I just had the flu:(

But I'm back!

I picked this up from K-Mart, because I had a gift card and had no idea what else I really wanted/needed. I picked it up for about $11.

I read really good reviews about this. It goes on white, and then blends in and becomes the skin tint color. Reviews say it keeps matte well and blends easily. The tube says the product primes, corrects, hydrates, and perfects. Sounds good to me!

I grabbed this in medium because I'm a medium in Maybelline's BB cream. This BB cream was maybe a bit too dark for me, it made me look orange :(

It didn't blend well for me, and so it took a bit more than usual to get my whole face. It started out watery and became sticky and thick very quickly.

There was no smell and the packaging was fine, just like any other bottle of BB cream I've tried.

The coverage was the best part for me. It stayed naturally matte and covered well so I didn't need to layer it.

All in all, I give this a 5/10. It was ok, but not worth $11 for such a small tube.

Organix Anti-Breakage Keratin Oil shampoo and conditioner review

Did I mention that I'm getting more into keratin-infusing hair products? Hair has to be strong to grow longer.

This is a relatively new product in the Organix field. This line promises keratin proteins that "reinforce each strand, increasing elasticity to resist breakage caused by brushing and styling, while argan oil conditions and smoothes creating a luminescent shine." Sounds good right? Retails at Target for $8 each.

Considering my past history with Organix products, I'm surprised I picked this up, but I liked that keratin was further up the ingredients list compared to the other keratin products I picked up. More keratin, sounds good to me. And no sulfates!

The packaging is just like the other Organix products, sturdy and won't break if I drop it in the shower like I tend to.

The smell is kinda strong...and too sweet. But the product itself is really nice! Lathers nicely without sulfates and conditions well without leaving residue. My hair is so soft and fluffy, I don't need to put in any other product afterwards. Cool :)

My rating? 8/10 -- if only it didn't smell like that.