Product Review: Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadow, B-

Happy Monday to all! Up for product review today is an eye shadow I received as a BzzAgent - Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadow. This convenient eyeshadow is served up in a twistable, crayon like form and retails for $8.99.

Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadow, Stay-Put Plum

About Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadow:

Anti-Oxidant Rich Formula Nourishes the Delicate Eye Area

• Built-in primer prevents creasing, fading & smudging
• Cream shadow instantly revives & brightens eyes
• Sheer silky color with light reflecting pearls instantly brightens eyes
• Ophthalmologist tested.  Safe for sensitive eyes.

My Review:

The Good: I love the concept - an easy to apply, sheer but pretty wash of color for the lids that doesn't crease or fade. And yes, this delivers on those fronts. It's goof proof and the Lasting Taupe (muted silvery taupe) is especially pretty layered under a smokey eye and smudged on the lower lash line.

The Bad: Well, the wash of color is incredibly subtle. As in the Constant Copper looked more like ballerina pink on my medium skin tone - read: barely shows up. It's also worth noting that you should avoid layering the crease proof shadow on top of itself as it will start an ugly product buildup.

The Verdict: B-. For an eyeshadow base, this is a pretty sweet product. However, if you're looking for true color impact, go ahead and skip this option.

Product Review: Clinique High Impact Mascara, C+

Just like lip gloss/chapstick/lipstick/etc, I have a penchant for sampling a variety of mascara. Thus, it should come as no surprise that we have another option up on tap for product review...Clinique's High Impact Mascara.

While this is not a new product to the shelves, I've been meaning to give it a go for a while. Plus, with a promise of *high impact,* I was immediately intrigued. Unfortunately, I can't see myself purchasing this one in the future...

Clinique High Impact Mascara

About Clinique's High Impact Mascara:

What it is:
A richly pigmented mascara that kicks up the volume of each individual lash.

What it does:
Get instant drama! Pump up the volume and length of each lash for a look that's lusher, plusher, and bolder. Dress your lashes in pure, deep color—wear it once and you'll feel naked without it.

What else you need to know:
Ophthalmologist tested.

My Review:

The Good: It definitely doesn't clump, goes on soft and smooth, and provides a very natural effect. Plus, it washes off very easily with a mild face cleanser.

The Bad: Well, I didn't see any high impact whatsoever. This is after I made sure to curl my lashes and swipe on two light coats. Meh.

The Verdict: C+. I appreciate the natural, soft effect but this mascara doesn't live up to its high impact name.

Product Review: Eyeko Fat Stick, C-

You know that phrase, "Too good to be true"? Yeah, well, that's what I thought of when I used one of my recent Birchbox products, Eyeko's Fat Eye Stick in Old Gold. This smudgey stick can be found on Birchbox for $15 for a .14 oz.

About Eyeko Fat Eye Stick:

How it Works
Anyone can pull off these rich colors. Black is an intense charcoal, Petrol Blue is a deep blue that’s oh-so-edgy, and Old Gold is a metallic hue with olive undertones.

How to Use
Each creamy stick contains endless possibilities. Apply along your lashline and smudge out past the outer corners of your eyes for winged effects. Shade your lids and blend with your fingers to wear as a shadow, or dab a bit around the inner corners of your eyes for a discreet pop of color. For long-lasting pigments, use an eye primer.  

My Review:

The Good: The color, Old Gold, is a smokey greenish gold-grey. The shade is really oh-so pretty. And the product definitely smolders onto the eyelid and lashline.

The Bad: Well, beyond the pretty shade, this product was kind of a hot mess on my eye when used as a cream shadow. When they say smolder, they kind of mean smudge. All over your lid. Even with a fair amount of lid primer, this product bled almost up to my eyebrow.

The Verdict: C-. If you're using this strictly as a liner and a lower lashline smudge option, great. If you prefer to use it as a cream eyeshadow smudge, beware, this one can get messy.

Product Review: Revlon PhotoReady 3D Mascara, B-

Ah the search for the holy grail, affordable mascara continues. Today's product review highlights Revlon's newish PhotoReady 3D Volume Mascara. Expect to pay between $6.50-$9 for a .34 oz tube.

Revlon Photo Ready 3D Volume Mascara

About Revlon PhotoReady 3D Mascara: 
 Get glamorous, big volume lashes from every angle Lashes look 100% more magnified, multiplied, amplified* *with two coats.

My Review:
The Good: This is an anti-clumping mascara. Truly, I never get clumps when I use it. Each coat goes on thin and smooth and dries pretty quickly. I've also seen minimal smudging/mascara bleeding throughout the day, even in super hot conditions.

The Bad: It wears like a minimal mascara. As in, I didn't see too much volume...at all. Expect a pretty, natural look unless you have uber long lashes already. There isn't much of a "wow" factor with this mascara. 

The Verdict: B- from me. It's a decent drugstore mascara with a great brush that really separates your lashes. However, the formula itself isn't anything to write home about. As for the volume? It's a bit lacking overall.

Product Review: Benefit Stay Don't Stray, B+

Another day, another product to review! Today I'm talkin' about avoiding eyeshadow creasing. This is extra important for the steamy summer months coming at us. Creasing is most certainly not in for summer, when it comes to eye makeup, that is.

During a recent Sephora jaunt, I picked up Benefit's Stay Don't Stray, $26 for .33 ounces. This may seem a tad steep, but this product offers much more product compared to other similarly priced eyeshadow primers. i.e. Smashbox's Photo Finish primer is $20 for .08 ounces.

Thus, if we were comparing the two, side by side per ounce, Benefit would cost $78 per ounce while Smashbox would cost $250. See, math really does come in handy every once in a while.

Benefit Cosmetics Stay Don't Stray

About Benefit's Stay Don't Stray from Sephora:
What it is:
A 360 degree primer for concealers and eye shadows.

What it does:
Tell your eye makeup to stay, don't stray! This dual-action primer works 360 degrees around the eyes to make concealers and eye shadows REALLY stay put. Concealers never crease and eye shadows stay vibrant and true—you'll wonder how you ever lived without it!

What else you need to know:
Stay Don't Stray preps, protects, AND perfects!

Preps: The lightweight formula blends seamlessly into skin, brightens eye area to minimize the appearance of fine lines, and comes in a universally flattering nude shade.

Protects: Hydrates with sodium hyaluronate to lock in moisture, fights signs of aging with vitamins C & E, and does not contain parabens.

Perfects: It's long-wearing to keep makeup looking fresh, locks on ALL concealers & eye shadows and prevents creasing of eye makeup.

My Review:
The Good: The product definitely does as it purports - my eyeshadow stayed *almost* all day. No creasing, no sliding and color payoff was certainly present with my eyeshadows used.

The Bad: The pump produces too much product. You only need a few tiny dots to use on your eyelids, and the pump produces way more than that with just a light touch. I hate wasting product, so I need to finagle the pump a bit further to make it work for me.

The Verdict: B+. The value is here, the product is solid and as soon as the pump becomes a but less sensitive to a super light touch, I see this completely working for me.

Product Review: Stila Smudge Crayons, B

Hello hello! Who's ready for some new eye duds? I thought you would be.

My lovely friend Diana suggested I try out Stila's newest goodie, Smudge Crayons. Similar to the new craze over B.B. creams, these handy dandy little eye crayons offer the holy trinity of goodness: waterproof eye primer, shadow and liner. I played with the Smoke color...and found it super smudgey and fun.


About this product, via Sephora:

What It Is: A three-in-one gel-based eye primer, shadow, and liner that glides on with ease and stays in place until you say when.

What it does: This advanced, creamy, multi-pearl formula is infused with emollients for smooth, comfortable application. It provides rich, bold color and more than six hours of continuous wear that won't fade or crease over time.

What else you need to know: This product features a pull-out sharpener conveniently hidden in the base.

Size: 0.04 oz, retails for $22

My review:

The Good: The Smoke shade (as with many of the other colors) is lovely. Smokey, pewter prettiness. And true to form, this crayon offers a nice wash of color that stays put. I found that this product works best as a shadow and lower lash line smudger. If you're going to use it strictly as a primer, go easy on the application!

The Bad: As with many other gel or cream based eye shadows, time is sometimes not your friend. You may see a bit of creasing later in the day. Plus, the price tag ($22) may be a bit of a deterrent for some ladies.

The Verdict: B from me! This is a pretty solid product that, for the most part, lives up to its trinity of uses. Definitely check out Kitten, Smoke, and Midnight Blue for a multitude of uses.

Product Review: Julie Hewett Palette, A-

Ah, variety. 'Tis the spice of life. And what better way to celebrate variety than in a perfectly presentable makeup palette?

A few weeks back I sauntered into Jeffre Scott Apothecary (a must visit if and when you head to Charlotte) and purchased a gorgeous fall palette from Julie Hewett. The best part about these palettes is that they're incredibly easy to apply and multi-purpose - you can enlighten your eyes, lips and cheeks with gorgeous color.

I snagged a custom color palette, but below is the Ombre palette you can find at Anthropologie or the Julie Hewett website. Most of these quad palettes retail for $48.


About the palette:

A colorful, multi-purpose quad to shape, contour, highlight, line and shine your eyes, lips and cheeks.
* Key ingredients: castor seed oil, candelilla wax, lanolin oil, mango seed butter, beeswax, camellia seed oil, grape seed oil, vitamin E
* 0.4 oz
* Ombre: Contains Bellini and Brunette Silky Powder Shadow, Bette Cheekie and Mystere Cream Shadow

My review: 

The Good: The powder shadows is soft and velvety with pretty great color saturation, the cream shadow goes on very well over an eye base and the cheek/lip shade blends very well. Plus, the colors included in my custom "Jason" are beautifully plummy and rich.

The Bad: $48 for the eye quad isn't ridiculous ($12 per full sized shadow), but it's nothing to sneeze at, either.

The Verdict: This palette earns an A- from me. I love the mix of shadows and textures and, as long as the cream items stay fairly fresh for a few months, this palette seems like a great investment.

Product Review: Stila Peacock Eyeliner, A-

Happy Monday, everyone! Before I get to today's product review, don't forget to enter in my Laura James Jewelry giveaway by 12:00 midnight tonight! You could win these stunners...they're so pretty!

And onto today's product review...Stila's Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in their brand spanking new color, Peacock. Expect to pay $20 for the .01 oz self sharpened smudge stick.


Deets from Stila:
Obsessed for Smudge Pots? You'll go crazy for Smudge Sticks! This highly pigmented, waterproof eye liner glides on to deliver intense, vibrant color with staying power.

These easy-to-apply eye liners have it all:

• Long Lasting
• Waterproof
• Easy to apply
• Several shimmer-intense shades to make eyes stand out
• Vibrant colors
• Propel pencil

My review:
The Good: The liner glides very easily and stays all day long. The peacock shade is incredible and it even removes easily with facial cleanser. No tugging and pulling to remove this liner. And, Stila also does not test on any animals. Hooray!

The Bad: $20 for .01 oz is steep...but it's worth noting that many of these upscale brand self sharpening eyeliners offer a similar amount of product.

The Review: A-. The color is *stunning*, and truly a fantastic addition to your makeup case for fall. It's beautiful with a smokey eye and also lovely on its own...especially for brown and hazel eyes, this color is smashing.

Product Review: L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara - Carbon Black, D

Gaaah, I don't like writing less than stellar product reviews. And mind you, I've used L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara many times before. But something has radically changed about the formula...maybe it's because of the new "Carbon Black" shade...who knows.


Details from L'Oreal:

Uniquely formulated to resist clumping, soften lashes and build lashes to 5x their natural thickness. Unique maximizing formula quickly thickens and builds lashes in a single application for a full and dramatic lash look. The patented volume maximizing brush thickens lashes evenly and smoothly, leaving them soft with virtually no flakes, smudges or clumps. Formulated with panthenol and ceramide-R, protects and conditions lashes leaving them supple and soft to the touch resisting clumping and flaking.

• Ophthalmologist and allergy tested
• Suitable for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers
• Fragrance-free

Made in USA Place brush at base of lashes and gently sweep up to tip - no need to pump the wand. Removes easily with water.

My review:

The Good: The black is really really black. The brush does ensure volume and nicely separates the lashes.

The Bad: Holy raccoon eyes. Inside or outside, hot or cold, this mascara starts on my upper lashes and bleeds to my lower lashline. And not in an attractive way. In a, "Oops honey you have mascara running all across your under eyes."

The Verdict: D. I thought I would love this product again but the new color or formula has me throwing out a new tube of mascara after only a few uses. Sad mascara.

Product Review: Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer, B+

Happy President's (or is it Presidents'?) Day to all! I'm actually attempting to *truly* take the day off of work. Hope you're all enjoying a lovely Monday.

Up for product review today is Smashbox's Photo Finish Lid Primer. This .08 oz. little baby retails for $20 at Sephora and Ulta.


Details from Sephora:

What it is:
An ultra-luxurious lid primer.

What it does:
Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer creates the perfect canvas for eyeshadow application. Wear this universal shade under shadow to increase longevity, or create the perfect nude eye by applying over the lid for an even tone.

What Else You Need To Know:
The exclusive formula contains Phytomoist, a plant-based hyaluronic acid for ultimate moisturization and amino acids for skin-smoothing benefits. Soft focus pearls help diminish the appearance of fine lines on the lids while the patented Qusome® delivery system ensures all ingredients penetrate the skin to deliver effective results.

My review:

The Good: The product definitely lives up to its longevity promises. I had zero creases, slippage etc. Plus, the formula is quite silky and blends very easily.

The Bad: The price is a bit high, IMO. It seems as if I have to use a bit more product vs. MAC paints (.23 oz. for $16.50).

The Verdict: It's a nice product, especially when you can score it in a value package like Sephora is offering here, right now. And I love their face primer. So, will I rebuy? Not sure, especially when I compare it to other products that I love.