Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Extra Creamy Cleansing Foam Review

Happy Monday!  I hope you all are having a good start to your week.

"Ahhhhh"! Can you hear that? That is the sound the skin on my face makes after I cleanse it with the Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist 24 Extra Creamy Cleansing Foam. This is my new favorite cleanser and I absolutely love it!!

This cleanser is very mild, but removes my makeup completely, including my eye makeup. Normally, a creamy cleanser tends to be too creamy and doesn't give me a clean feeling but this cleanser becomes a foam once you apply it to your face. It has small, orange exfoliating beads that melt into the foam as you lather. After using it, my skin feels clean and quite soft without any hint of dryness. The smell is very pleasant as well.

Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Extra Creamy Cleansing Foam

It's a little more expensive, but a little goes a long way. I use about a dime size each time, so I imagine this tube will last me quite a while. I also only use it in the evenings to remove my makeup and daily grime. I use the Philosophy Purity Cleanser to cleanse my skin first thing in the morning.

I will definitely purchase the Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Extra Creamy Cleansing Foam again.  You can find it at any good department store, I purchased mine at  http://www.macys.com/ or you can purchase it from http://www.sephora.com/.  The cost is $35.00.

What's your favorite cleanser?  Am I the only one to use two different cleansers?  I'd love to hear what you use. 

Take care and have a good week!

Sephora by OPI A Little Bit Dangerous

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're all having a great day.  It's a beautiful Fall day in the Ohio area.  

This polish is from my Sephora Friends & Family haul. It's the Sephora by OPI A Little Bit Dangerous. The polish is a gorgeous, dark purple color.  Initially, I thought it was too dark, but once you get it in the light, it looks amazing!  It goes on smoothly and has a beautiful, even surface. My colleague, who is a 51 year old male, even commented on how nice my nails looked.

I'm posting this six days after I painted my nails with A Little Bit Dangerous, and it's just now starting to chip. I applied two coats of polish and one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Sephora by OPI A Little Bit Dangerous

Take care and I'll talk to you soon.....

Sephora Friends & Family Haul

I love a good sale - especially on cosmetics.  Sephora had a Friends & Family Sale that I had to take full advantage of.  I spent hours on their internet site looking at a lot of different products and reading reviews. When I decided on everything I wanted to purchase and actually looked at what all was in my shopping cart, I about choked at the dollar amount.  So, I spent hours narrowing down my items. Here is what I settled on:

Top: Urban Decay Lush Lash System

Left to right: Sephora for OPI Just a Little Dangerous Nail Colour, Givenchy Mister Mat Mattifying Foundation Primer,

Dior Skinflash Radiance Booster Pen

As you know from my previous post, I use LiLash Eyelash Stimulator. I like it, it does make my lashes longer, but it makes my eyes so bloodshot that it just isn't attractive. So I'm really excited to try the Urban Decay Lush Lash System. I've read some good reviews on it. I'll post the results after two weeks of using the product.

I also use the Chanel Stylo Eclat Lumiere Highlighter Face Pen and love it, but ran out of it. Sephora doesn't sell Chanel, so I thought I'd try a different brand since I would be able to get a 20% discount on it. I chose the Dior Skinflash Radiance Booster Pen. I've only used it once but my initial thought is that I liked the consistency of the Chanel product better than the Dior. I need to keep using it though before I make a final decision.

I'm almost out of my Smashbox Light face primer, so I purchased the Givenchy Mister Mat Mattifying Foundation Primer. The main reason I decided on this product was because it's a mattifying primer. My skin gets oily and shinny in the afternoon, so we'll see how this one works. This product had a lot of good reviews, especially from older women in the 50-54 age group. Unfortunately, I'm 11 months from being in that age group. :(

Lastely, I've been searching for a beautiful purple nail polish and bought the Sephora for OPI July a Little Dangerous Nail Colour. The color is lovely and I can't wait to use it. I'll post a picture when I do.

If any of you have used these products, please leave a comment and let me know how you liked or disliked the products!!

You can purchase all of these products at www.sephora.com

Hope you all are doing well and are having a wonderful day!

Tarte neutralEYES Eye Shadow Palette Volume II - Review

I love Tarte Cosmetics. I've tried their eye shadow, eye primer, cream stick blush, mascara (Lights, Camera, Action is my all time favorite mascara) and their emphasEYES aqua gel liner.

I was in Sephora a month or so ago, and I purchased the Tarte neutralEYES Eye Shadow Palette Volume II. It included a full size emphasEYES aqua-gel eyeliner in brown, a double-ended eye shadow brush and a free sample of lifted natural eye primer with Firmitol.

My first thoughts about this palette was how beautiful the packaging was. The color on the outside is a beautiful rich purple with a leather like feel. There is a place on the inside to hold the brush and eyeliner. It's so easy to pop in a suit case or in a cosmetic bag. Very travel friendly.

　

The eye shadow colors in this palette are gorgeous. They are blendable and soft, highly pigmented and last all day. A little goes a long way. The colors would look nice on any skin tone and I think they are all wearable. Some palettes come with colors I'd never use, but I've used every color in this palette. There are five matte colors and five shimmering colors. Since I'm middle aged, I don't wear shimmer eye shadows very often, but these have just the right amount of shimmer, perfect for any age!

top row (L-R): matte soft beige, matte pink cashmere, matte buttercream, matte pebble, matte espresso

bottom row (L-R): shimmering whisper pink, shimmering golden peach, shimmering hazel, shimmering plum

smoke, shimmering cinnamon (my camera didn't do the best job of showing the true colors...trust me, they are gorgeous.)

The double-ended brush is very nice. I use the rounded end of the brush to apply my base coat of shadow, then use the blunt end to tap on the color into my crease. I find that's the best way to apply this eye shadow, with a tapping motion. Then the rounded end of the brush nicely blends everything. Another reason this palette is travel friendly...you only need to take one eye shadow brush and it stores in the case.

　

The emphasesEyes aqua gel liner is a very unique formula. It takes a lot of practice to use them. The tip will break off easily, so you need to be very light-handed when applying. The lighter the pressure, the better. It goes on very wet so you can blend it out if you want. I had a very difficult time using it under my bottom eyelashes. It kept clumping in my lower eyelashes and I just couldn't get it to look nice. I do not recommend the emphasesEyes aqua gel liner.

However, the Tarte eye shadows have a huge payoff, and I highly recommend them. I also like the fact that they are formulated without mineral oil, parabens, phthalates and sodium lauryl sulfate. I loved this palette so much I bought one for my sister for her birthday. She loves it!

The palette comes with a chart showing each eye shadow color and inside are two different instructions pamphlets, one for a day look and one for a night look,

You can purchase this palette at www.sephora.com or at www.tartecosmetics.com.  The cost is $44.00 and if you consider the amount of products you are getting, it's a great value!

Take care...

Josie Maran GOGO Instant Natural Volume Argan Mascara

I used some of my points at Sephora to get a Josie Maran product sample kit. I have never used any of her products, so I was looking forward to trying some of her products. Included in the kit was a sample of the Josie Maran GOGO Instant Natural Volume Argan Mascara in Pitch Black. I was excited to try the mascara - I think I'm a mascara junkie, always trying to find the perfect mascara. After using this mascara for a couple days, I have to say this mascara is not the perfect mascara.

The first thing I didn't care for was the brush. It's very large and has a lot of bristles that are bunched together.

The picture doesn't really show how large the brush is. It was very difficult to use on the lower lashes and in the inner corner of the upper lashes. I also didn't care for the formula. It went on very dry and really didn't do much for my lashes at all in terms of thickening and lengthening. I had to apply a lot of coats of the mascara just to get the look that I get with two coats of my regular mascara.

The website describes the mascara as "...the rich, hydrating formula evenly builds thickness and smoothness, delivering a full fringe of blacker-than-black lashes with dewy shine." The color was very, very black, but I didn't get the thickness or a dewy shine. It could be that I just got a bad or old sample with my kit. If that is the case, the company should do a better job with their quality control on their sample products, since a lot of people base their buying decision on whether they liked the sample or not. My sample went in the trash.

A full size GOGO Instant Natural Volume Argan Mascara costs $22 at www.sephora.com