Monday, April 29, 2013

Moroccan Argan Oils :D

I'm in love with moroccan argan oil :) It's like a leave-in conditioner, or shine serum, but along with moisturizing and causing shine, it makes your hair stronger and helps protect against heat damage.

The two kinds I have are Mystic Divine and Creme of Nature. I bought them from Sally's Beauty Supply. Mystic Divine retails for around $12 and Creme of Nature goes for $20.

They both have a thick oil texture (think vegetable oil) but they soak very well into the hair, leaving very little on my hands. So here are the differences.

Mystic Divine smells sweet, like a raspberry-ish perfume. The smell goes away once it dries. It comes out pink and the bottle features a nice little pump. It takes me about 4 pumps to get enough for all my hair. Once my hair dried, it was fluffy and soft, not sticky. No build-up :) I used it on dry hair for extra moisture and that worked well too. My rating: 9/10

Creme of Nature smells like a musty, coconut-y perfume, but the smell goes away too. It's thicker than the Mystic Divine and can be used as a hot oil treatment. I guess that's why it doesn't feature a pump, just an open neck to pour out. It might be aimed towards people with really thick, frizzy hair. When I used it on my wet hair, my hair was soft but heavy and slightly limp. I used it on dry hair and my hair got sticky and gross from only using a little. My rating: 6/10

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Review: Vassen Super Pinky Grey

I have a confession to make:
I'm addicted to colored contacts.
 
 
I do my research on each type I'm interested in, making sure to find pics of Asians wearing them (not including the pics on the actual website because, come on, those girls always look good) to check for size, opacity, etc. I have astigmatism so my eyes dry out faster than others do. Otherwise, these contacts usually work out well. Usually.
 
By the way, check with your eye doctor before you decide to try these contacts out.
 
 
Today's post is about my favorite pair, the Super Pinky Grey contacts. I bought them at HoneyColor. The diameter is 15mm, so they're pretty big. Here's the picture from the website:
 
Stunning right? I wanted a pair of grey contacts since I saw the second Xmen movie, with Lady Deathstrike.
 
These contacts are more silver than grey, which is MUCH better in my opinion.
 
 
That's me wearing them. They're big, you can barely see the whites of my eyes. They cover up my natural color (dark dark brown), but they show some slivers of brown to make it look more natural. The hole in the middle is big enough for me to see through, so no complaints. The best part is, I can't feel them in my eye. I wore them all day with no dryness. Woot!
 
Comfort: 10/10
Color: 10/10
Size: 8/10
 
They look almost robotic and up close you can see the design, so it's not really natural. That's probably why my mom hates them so much. But they're still my favorites and I think they look good with my skin tone and hair color.
 
If you ever buy contacts online, make sure you soak them in solution for at least 6 hours before wearing them. The solution they preserve the contacts in can irritate your eyes. And if you feel any irritation, TAKE THEM OUT! Safety first, y'all.
 
My rating? 9/10


TIGI Bed Head Superstar Volumizing Leave-In Conditioner review

I need to save my hair. I've bleached it, highlighted it, and then got so annoyed at the constant re-dying I had to do to keep up, that I dyed it back to brown. I rarely blow dry my hair, but I do like to heat style it because I love curls :-)
 
As a result, my hair is dry. No, wait, let me re-state that. My hair is weird. My roots get oily easily but my ends are extremely dry. To try to balance it out, I only shampoo the roots and I only condition the ends. I read somewhere that your hair gets washed anyway from when the shampoo gets rinsed out through the ends. I'm always, ALWAYS on the lookout for something that will restore my hair. My hair is also thick enough that when it gets long, I don't have much volume up top because it's so heavy. So, when I came about the Bed Head Volumizing Leave-In Conditioner, it was like YESSSS!!!
 



I got it at Ulta on clearance for about $6, but I think it retails for $11 - $18.
 
I read the reviews, some people raved about it and some people complained about the scent. It was on clearance, so why not?
 
I opened the bottle and sniffed it. Strawberries, ok, I can deal with that.
Then I sprayed it. Because I have so much hair, it took quite a few sprays. After the second spray, the smell was overwhelmingly horrible. Have you ever smelled rotten, fishy strawberries? This is what the conditioner smelled like. When it dried, the smell went away, but that took about 10 minutes. This smell is nauseating.
 
As for the conditioning effects, I saw none. My hair went limp, my roots went greasy, and my ends were still dry. Maybe I didn't use enough, but there was no way I was risking even more of that smell.
 
I thought it was just because my hair was too thick, so I gave it to Claudia. It didn't work for her either, and she hated the smell too.
 
Bad, bad product. My rating? 1/10.

Maybelline Color Whisper review and swatches

From left to right, Cherry On Top, Mocha Muse, Rose of Attraction, Pin Up Peach, Orange Attitude
 
As soon as I saw the advertisement for these, I knew I had to TRY THEM. I bought these at CVS but I'm sure anywhere that carries Maybelline has them. They promise to be sheer color with no waxes, just smooth moisture. I haven't fully gotten used to wearing opaque lip color yet, so this is a nice step up from clear lip gloss. They retail for about $7.00 each, a little pricey for an .11oz/3g tube without rich color output, so I hope they deliver.
 
There look to be about 24 available shades. I tend toward the softer, easier shades, but this time I ventured out and got one bright tube too.
 
The packaging is pretty cute and looks to be stable, so if I were to drop the tube (I'm pretty clumsy), I don't think it would crack too much.
 
Color swatches:
 
 From left to right, Cherry On Top, Mocha Muse, Rose of Attraction, Pin Up Peach, Orange Attitude
 
 
Cherry On Top: Almost fuschia, leaning more towards the pink side. The brightest of the colors I bought today.
Mocha Muse: The most nude color, gives slight color.
Rose of Attraction: A mauve-pink
Pin Up Peach: Similar in color to Rose of Attraction, but a lighter shade and not as grey
Orange Attitude: A sheer tangerine color with a slight tinge of red.
 
I've tried Cherry On Top the most extensively because it's the one I wasn't sure about. I wanted to see if I could maybe get used to it. And I love it!
 
It's bright but wearable. The texture is very smooth, not sticky, not too shiny. There is no detectable smell and it feels really light on the lips. I feel like this color would look good on anyone, if they were up to it. I got a compliment at work on it, too :-) The color is buildable, which is nice for when I just want a hint of color. I like how light it feels, instead of heavy like lip glosses or dry like lipsticks. It's more like a balm.
 
My only issues with this product would be the price, how it fades, and the application. The product is nice, but nothing worth $7 - $8 per tube. It fades unevenly (patchy) and comes completely off when I eat. As for the application, even when I exfoliate my lips, the balm would leave little lines of color on my lips similar to what it would look like if I had dry lips. Not too noticeable but still there. It would be nice if the colors gave a little stain on the lips when they faded, but after an hour, the color was completely gone.
 
My rating? 8/10

 
 

About Me

April 28, 2013 --

Hey! My name is Khue (pronounced Kway) and I've developed a slight....make-up addiction. I've also become addicted to reading beauty review blogs. So why not start my own? I am Vietnamese, in college, and I'm new at this whole blogging thing. If there's anything you think I can be doing better on here, let me know :-) I got into make-up only recently. I used to never care what I used, but now I've become obsessed with trying every new thing I see. I tend to lean towards Maybelline products but I'll try other things too. I'll be reviewing hair products, make-up, and my circle lenses :-)

 I love doing Tae Kwon Do and swimming, so I'm on a constant hunt to find something smudge-proof. My major is Secondary Education in the Biology track....basically, I'm trying to become a Biology teacher or professor.

I have long, wavy, thick Asian hair. My face is normal-oily, my skin is dry elsewhere.

Occasionally, my friend Claudia will be doing some of her own reviews on here. Her hair is a "frizzy mess", shoulder length, and thin. Her skin has slight eczema.

Thanks for reading -- stay tuned!!