Thursday 2 August 2012

Bronze and Teal Summer Makeup!

Hello lovely blog readers!
I hope you have been enjoying my posts this summer because I can promise you that it won't last once school starts again.
This will most likely be my last post before I leave for my vacation, so maybe I'll post some pictures here when I get back.

This post won't be super long as I've actually filmed a tutorial to go along with it!
Crazy right.
WARNING: I am super quiet and nervous throughout the whole video. My editing and filming skills leave something to be desired. It's kind of terrible. But I worked hard on it, so it's going up anyway.


Anyhoo, this is my go-to summer eye look and it takes me seriously less than five minutes to do which is plus because I'm always running late. To everything.


The look only requires 4 products and one brush! 
Above: MAC "Robin's Egg"
Maybelline Color Tattoo "Bad the the Bronze"
Physicians' Formula brown liner from the "Nude Eyes" trio
Sephora Smudge Brush
Urban Decay 24/7 Liner "Radium"

Bracelet from The Gap, goes great with this look


Use the bronze cream shadow as a base and line the lashline with a dark brown liner.


Line the outer corners of your upper and lower lashlines with the blue pencil and smudge it with a shadow similar in colour. 


Use a short, flat brush for smudging the shadow over the liner. 


Creates an effortless summer look with a nice bright pop of teal! 



Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading! 
-Tash <3 

PS. This is what happens when you try to take pictures with your unruly dog. 


Sniffing my lip balm... 




Finally! 

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Skincare Review: Clean Start!

Hello lovely readers!
I've been promising you a skincare post for some time now. It's taken me a while because I don't like recommending something right away especially skincare products. It takes time to know if you like something and whether or not it has actually made a difference in your skin's appearance.

Fair warning- I do not have problem skin so I may not be the best person to review skincare. I don't get have acne or red spots. For the most part my skin doesn't give me trouble aside from the odd pimple every now and then (usually a stress pimple around finals). I also don't have a problem with oily skin or need to blot. My skin type is very specific, I have very dry skin which tends to look very dull and washed out. I tend to get really dry on my nose and forehead and I have some blackheads on my nose, behind my nostrils which I really hate.

I got the Starter Kit from a skin care brand called Clean Start from Dermalogica which basically has trial-sized bottles of five of their products and I thought I'd review it for you guys!


These are one-month supplies of five products from Clean Start. Including a spray toner, a morning moisturizer, night moisturizer, scrub/mask and a foaming face wash. You can buy this kit on their website, or in stores at Sephora. It retails for about $45. (It's not on the Sephora website for some reason). 


Hate to start on a negative but I did not like their day time moisturizer. However I can't blame them because the "Welcome Matte SPF15" was not formulated for dry skin. Obviously since it's a mattifying product, it says right on the bottle it's made for oily skin. It didn't work for me, but if you had oily skin you'd probably like it. 


I love "Wash Off" the foaming face wash! It's amazing. I usually hate foaming face washes because they somehow always end up in my eyes and it burns. Eugh. But I don't have that problem with this one. It foams but not as much as some others I have used. I really love the sharp citrus/lemon smell in this, it just smells so refreshing and clean. This product has lemongrass and orange peel oil in it, so I'm assuming that's where the smell is coming from. My face feel really soft and clean when I used this and it's made a dramatic difference to the dry spots around my nose and it got rid of the blackheads I had on my nose as well. 


"All Over Clear" is the toner in the set and it is just as amazing as the cleanser! It's new to me because I'm used to using toner by pouring it on a cotton pad and then rubbing it on my face but the Clean Start toner comes in a spray bottle which you obviously spray on your face.
*Toner in case you're wondering is a cleanser that you do not wash off your face. You apply it on the skin and let it sink in. It's used to cleanse the skin of any sweat or dirt that may have built up in pores and shrink their appearance. 
 It has the same smell as the toner as it also contains lemongrass. A lot of toners are filled with alcohol and they can really dry out your skin. This one has no alcohol and it's really refreshing and light. It also has extracts of Argan in it so it's not drying at all like some drugstore toners I've used. 


 Sorry to say I really did not like "Bedtime for Breakouts" which is the nighttime moisturizer. It's very runny and not at all creamy which is not good for my dry skin. This left my face still feeling really dry after using it. I get that I could use this only in spots with acne but it says right on the bottle it's made for use over the entire face at night. And for me, it just doesn't perform. I also really hate the smell of this. It's also a citrus smell like the others, but somehow more intense and sour. It kind of smells like a lemon that's gone bad. 


This might just be my favourite product of the bunch because it's effects are immediate and clearly noticeable. At first I was confused by "Ready, Set, Scrub" because it's described as a face mask and also a scrub. And I was like... ummm.... what? 
But stay with me. This product squeezes out like a clay mask and you apply it in the shower and let it sit on your face for five minutes or so. This has lemongrass in it like the face wash and toner, so it has the same light, refreshing lemon scent. The menthol in this product creates an awesome, refreshing tingling sensation on your face where your trouble spots are. So for example, I felt the tingling around my nose and behind my nostrils specifically. It's so weird/awesome, you can actually feel this mask opening and cleaning your pores. 

Then you rub it around with your fingers and there are tiny granules of silica that scrub dead skin off your face. As someone with dry skin, I was always drawn to really abrasive, chunky face scrubs because  I thought they'd be more effective at getting rid of dry, flaky skin. But this is definitely the most effective scrub and maybe even skincare product I've ever used. 


Overall:
3 out of 5 ain't bad in my opinion and here's why in a neat little pros and cons list. 
  • Con: The two moisturizers didn't work for me.
  • Pro:  I absolutely fell in love with the three other products and have in fact already repurchased the full sizes. Pro: They made a marked improvement in the appearance of my skin and  I didn't even have bad skin to begin with. 
  • Pro: Even my boyfriend noted that skin looked better without me asking him. 
  • Pro: Got a super cute, reusable water bottle with my purchase (this one doesn't really count, I know).
  • Pro: I use this skin care more regularly than I have ever used any other skin care from the drugstore because it's a routine at night to use all three products so there's less chance of forgetting to do it. 
  • Pro: I also really like that all the products in the Clean Start line are made without using artificial colours. fragrances or alcohol. 
  • Con- The full sizes are pricey. Very pricey. The full sizes of these products range from $20-$25 each which kinda sucks. 
  • Pro- the trial-sized bottles were supposed to be a month's supply. I have had the set for two months now and I still have haven't finished anything from the set. So these full sizes are going to last me forever. 

Is it worth the hefty price tag to me? Definitely. 
But if you're still unsure I would suggest buying the trial kit at Sephora and trying all five products out. If you don't like any of it, return it and get your money back. You've got nothing to lose right?

So I hope you liked this review and as always, thanks for reading!
-Tash <3