Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon

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Marc Jacobs Highliner

What the… why does this get such good reviews? Did I get a faulty product, or something? Oh man.

This is a gel crayon, so I would expect that the color gets applied relatively easily, without having to push down too hard. Not so with this eyeliner. With a surprising amount of force, the color does come out okay, I guess, but not as thick and rich as other gel crayons usually do on the first go. Alright, fine, I guess I’ll just have to go over it a few … more… times. Nothing new to report here, just a normal eyeliner with slightly shinier packaging at a super high price point ($20-$25!!!!), with normal black coloration and harder-than-usual force required to apply it.

I wore this eyeliner over three days. Two with my Lash Paradise mascara (which doesn’t irritate my eyes or flake very often), and one day without anything (I know, I know, eyeliner without mascara is apparently a makeup sin). Every single one of those days, my eyes burned and subsequently started to tear up after fifteen minutes. This is never a good situation to be in when you’ve just hopped into your car for a forty minute commute. This eyeliner is not for people with sensitive eyes! I cannot stress that enough. Either that, or I really did buy a defective product. But I’ve applied so many other eyeliners onto my eyelids — heck, I’ve even used them on my waterline — without tearing the way I did with Highliner, so I know it’s not me being sensitive to eyeliners in general.

When I was stuck to carry out the sentence of having this on my eyes for a little bit longer than usual sitting at work, I noticed that it started to transfer onto my upper lid after two hours of wear, even with finishing spray and primer/concealer having been applied underneath, so the longevity was trash, as well.

There are better eyeliners out there for people with sensitive eyes. There are better, easier to apply and smooth eyeliners, period. This product is absolutely not worth the price — or any price, at all. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

How much I actually like this product: 0/5.

Timeless Vitamin C 20% + Ferulic Acid

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Timeless Vit C 20

My perfect Vitamin C quest has thus far been short lived, which is unfortunate since Vit C is touted to undo sun damage, which I undoubtedly have.

Prior to buying this product by Timeless (which, by the way, is pretty cheap on Amazon for $10-13), I had used some… unknown… concoction of Matrixyl and Vit C 10% that I purchased on Ebay for $5. As in, there was literally no branded name on the label. Probably not safe. Do as I say, not as I do. I didn’t really think that particular 10% product was doing anything, so I thought I’d up the ante to 20%, and use a product that was actually somewhat “heard of”, at least in the Reddit space.

I actually did patch test this one, since I’m a little leery of exfoliants — but nothing notable happened. So I went on with a full face of it at night. I did this every three nights, for about four nights total. It was slightly irritating each time I applied it, but nothing I haven’t experienced more profoundly with other exfoliants, and only for a few seconds. This liquid comes out clear, and very runny (if it’s orange or yellow, that means it’s going bad) — you don’t need very much of it for your full face. It actually smells like a really bitter/sour orange (“this is under-ripe” sour, not “spoiled” sour)

Ultimately, this was bad idea for me. Every morning I woke up with tiny whiteheads, which is usually indicative of me being sensitive to the product. I’m going to guess it was the 20% strength that did me in, not necessarily the product formulation itself — although, I have had issues with other Timeless products in the past, so who knows. It did make the still intact skin feel softer, but other than that, I didn’t notice any visible difference. In fairness, though, I didn’t try it out for very long. The end result of fresh break-outs really put me off of this.

All in all, this is definitely not a product for those with sensitive or acne-prone skin. If you want to try out Vitamin C, I would recommend trying out 10% first. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1.8/5

Longevity: n/a

How much I actually like this product: 1/5

 

Dermacol Make-Up Cover

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Dermacol

Oh man. Where to begin.

I tried this at the height of my cystic acne. I saw a ton of Youtubers swear by this stuff as the ultimate cover. It is used for stage makeup, after all! Girls with cystic acne, the same and even worse than mine, used this to cover up all of their flaws, no problem.

After hours of scouring the internet to make sure I was buying a real item and not a fake, because naturally the actual Dermacol website/retailer had spontaneously somehow run out of the 207 color, I was able to snag this for $13 a piece (although I think normally it retails for somewhere in the ballpark of $8).

To be on the safe side, I purchased 207, 208 and 209. 207 is darker/yellower than 208 (why it’s ordered like that numerically.. no idea), 208 is basically white, and 209 was way too dark for me. I ended up mixing 207 with a tiny bit of 208.

This stuff comes out of the tube HEAVY. It reminds me of that Rimmel Stay Matte foundation, but way heavier. A TINY, smaller-than-pea-sized amount of this will cover your entire cheek. Don’t even bother with your beauty blender, just smear this stuff on with your fingers and hope for the best. A brush will help blending into your forehead or your jawline, but if you’re hoping to use it for the rest of your face, all it will do is push the product around, further into an area you won’t necessarily want it in. What I’m trying to say is, this foundation/concealer is REALLY hard to work with, and it’s difficult to keep it applied evenly across your face. Probably goes without saying that it needs a good fifteen minutes to fully set.

Oxidation? Absolutely. 207 will skew pink/red and 208 will turn more orange, a few minutes after application. I had to mix the two of them anyway, but I recommend you mix them anyway, for that reason.

But Dermacol does cover, and it covers immediately, even before it sets. All redness and pockmarks on your skin = GONE. It is truly full coverage. I wouldn’t say the finish is “beautiful” — I mean, it’s really just a total concealer, so the finish is very flat, and paint-like. But if the goal is wiping out blemishes, then Dermacol will accomplish that, very much so.

This does not play well with other makeup that needs to be applied directly to skin. I recommend using a setting powder, not a setting spray or finishing spray (except possibly Ben Nye finishing spray), but go VERY lighthanded on the brush to set the powder, or else you’ll smear the foundation. Yes, even after you’ve waited for it to set.

Dermacol will hold up for the better half of the day — around five or six hours — but when it breaks down, it really breaks down. Dry patches will cling. Oil will break through. Entire sections of the makeup will mysteriously go missing (or maybe I just touch my face too much… I don’t know. You get the point, though).

This review was an emotional rollercoaster just writing it. It was so stressful to use, but I so desparately wanted to cover the insane blemishes on my face!! Cause it definitely did. I covered the craziest of cysts and scabs and blemishes that should not have been possible to cover. But it was an art to get this on in the first place — and to keep it on. Rimmel’s Stay Matte foundation (link to my review of that here!) has pretty close coverage to Dermacol, and comparatively less stressful to deal with — I would recommend that, instead.  ~A

Still want to take the plunge? Click here: https://amzn.to/2CfvwmZ

Perceived efficacy: 4.5/5

Longevity: 2.5/5

How much I actually like this product: 2/5

Pond’s Cold Cream Cleanser

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Ponds Cold Cream

This product has been around forever (since the early twentieth century, according to Wikipedia), and it’s in every grocery store in existence. Until two months ago, I ignored it completely, until it was at Target for $4 and I impulse bought it.

This product is a white cream cleanser. It’s, as the title would suggest, cool to the touch. The instructions on the back say to use it as cleanser. I was hesitant to do so because there’s definitely mineral oil in it, and my sensitive skin is very… particular to what oils end up on my face, if any at all. But I tried it anyway (no patch testing, yee-haw!). Although it required a little more manual effort of pushing the product around on my face than my normal foaming cleansers would seem to require, it actually did take off my makeup more effectively than aforementioned foaming cleansers.

I did this for a day or two. I am convinced it did cause a small breakout on my chin, but there’s no way to prove that. Needless to say, at that point, I started using the product only around my eyes, since it’s totally awesome at removing eye makeup.

There is an instruction on the back that suggests you do not have to wash off the product after applying it. After cleaning off my eye makeup one night, I decided to leave a few swipes “on”, under my eyes, right on top of my beautiful dark circles. It felt kind of nice, actually — the skin around my eyes tends to get irritated because of how sensitive my eyes are, and this product is super cooling (and, said product does not cause further irritation to my eyes!). And I SWEAR the next morning my circles looked a bit fainter. Placebo effect? Who knows. But I still do it to this day. Even if it’s just mind trickery, I’ll take it! ~A

To try out this oldie-but-goodie, click this link: https://amzn.to/2SOvycc

Perceived efficacy: 4.5/5 (as an eye cream, or eye makeup remover. As an actual makeup remover, 4/5)

Longevity: 4.5/5 — if left on

How much I actually like this product: 4/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: No

L’Oreal Lash Paradise

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Loreal Lash Paradise

I have super-sensitive-to-makeup-eyes, seasonal allergies and contacts, the trifecta combination of “crying in the middle of the day for no reason”. Lash Paradise was probably the most frequently suggested waterproof mascara on Reddit, so I thought I’d give it a go. It’s reasonably priced at $7-8.

This stuff won’t give you length, as the advertisements seem to suggest, but it will certainly give you volume. It’s the good kind of volume, too: it makes it appear as though you have more lashes, and doesn’t clump to make that point. It’s noticeable enough to give your eyes a bit of a natural pop, without the false eyelash effect.

For the most part, this holds up pretty well throughout the day, although applying a few layers from the onset, and a re-application after a few hours seem to be the key to longevity. It doesn’t commit the dreaded “mascara fall” where clumps and specks of black end up on your face; however, you MIGHT experience a small line of black under your eyes at the 6 to 7 hour mark.

Most importantly for me, this mascara did NOT irritate my eyes — no burning, no redness, nothin’. I think it’s held up pretty well in water, as well. I’ve cried with it on, and it also seems to take a few washes to remove it at the end of the day.

All in all, the effects of this mascara won’t blow you away — I would say this falls into the category of “subtle” added volume. However, if your eyes are sensitive like mine, I do absolutely recommend Lash Paradise. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 4/5

Longevity: 3.8/5

How much I actually like this product: 3.8/5

Bio-Oil Specialist Skincare Oil

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Bio Oil

Bio-Oil has been present and visible on the skincare market for just about forever, touting itself as a magical cure-all for all your scars and acne and infiltrating at least one full-page ad in every issue of Cosmo and Glamour. After some failed attempts to apply coconut oil (do not recommend) and jojoba oil (do not recommend, but to a lesser extent) as part of the “oil cleansing method”, I was pretty apprehensive to try this out. But hey, the claim on the bottle was that it was non-comedogenic so, here we are.

For an oil, it’s relatively watery and light weight — very thin. I don’t really love the bottle it’s packaged in, because if you squeeze too tight, you’re obviously going to get way too much product, but just flipping the bottle over on it’s side will only get you one or two drops, which isn’t enough. The smell isn’t obtrusive, it’s very light and sweet, and will linger if bio-oil is the last product you put on your skin.

Speaking of last product you put on your skin, bio-oil absolutely does not play well with anything else! It will pill the living daylights out of anything else you have on your face. For me, this was better to use in the summer at night-time, when my skin needed the hydration, but I wasn’t using any super-heavy moisturizers.

True to it’s word, it did not break me out. Obviously it’s oil, so you have to be careful not to touch anything with your face. I felt like my face was a little bit more hydrated and bouncy when I woke up the next morning.

As far as the scarring goes… I have some pretty severe scarring from acne on my face. In my personal opinion, the Epiduo and the lactic acid that I use are the most effective at clearing that up. The Bio Oil might “help”, but if it is, the results are comparatively very slow from what I’ve seen with lactic acid. Stretch marks, on the other hand.. I have a few long white stretch marks on my torso from losing weight. I used Bio Oil on this for a few weeks and I SWEAR they became less pronounced — less puffy, and less white-colored, more skin-colored. Another case of placebo, perhaps. But if you’re going to buy this stuff anyway, might as well try it, right?

For $9, it’s not a bad product. I certainly like it better during the summer, so I probably won’t repurchase it until then, but if you want to try out oils, I think that Bio-Oil is a good start, particularly if you are acne-prone. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 3.8/5

Longevity: 5/5

How much I actually like this product: 4/5

FLOWER Beauty Light Illusion Liquid Foundation

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Flower Illusion

I wanted this to be my HG so very badly. What beautiful packaging! What rave reviews it got from reddit and my favorite MUA Youtuber, thataylaa! Breathable! Dewy! Contains SPF! It all starts off okay, but around hour four, it fails to live up to my unreasonable expectations.

Let me preface this by saying this is day four of trying. I’ve tried all different combos of application. Hands, brush, blender (blender was best, BTW). Primers. Finishing powder, no finishing powder. Setting spray, no setting spray. No matter what you do, this foundation, in the beginning, is beautiful. Once it has time to set, it looks incredibly light and fresh. As I mentioned before, breathable and dewy (though not necessarily glowy). The color, for me, was pretty good – perhaps a tad dark with the slightest bit of oxidation after a few more minutes, but nothing that couldn’t be blended out. Other makeup goes over it just fine.

Then hour four hits. You walk into the bathroom and there it is. The makeup clinging onto every. Single. Dry patch. This makeup made me ACUTELY AWARE of all the hot spots of my dryness, by clinging to the edges and creating a perfect jagged border around them. Even where there was once normal, non-dry skin, it seemed as though the foundation had matted down and created dry edges around that, as well. I know this is all very colorful imagery that I’m using, but it’s just the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen a makeup do. I’ve seen clinging to dry spots, but not like this. It didn’t matter what product I used in the morning either — each day with this foundation always ended the same!

Weirdly, from really far away, it looked like I still had coverage. Granted, the dewiness was completely gone, and the coverage was entirely matte. But if anyone got up close, they’d be in for a shock. I looked like a crocodile.

This makeup was REALLY hard to wash off — I suspect this is due to the dry-spot cling-age, not necessarily because of the advertised “all day stay”. Unless that’s what they meant. “It’ll stay on all the dry spots!”

For $13, I’m not really digging this. I do wonder if it would work better for oilier girls than myself (although weirdly, I consider myself pretty oily still — combination skin, in fact, but this foundation is making me question everything…) I’d grab for Rimmel Breathable over this in a heartbeat — it’s basically the same foundation, for half the price, and doesn’t hold onto all the dry spots for dear life. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 3/5

Longevity: 1.5/5

How much I actually like this product: 2.8/5 (darn you, pretty packaging!)

Recommended for sensitive skin: No

Mario Badescu Facial Spray – Aloe, Herbs, Rosewater

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Mario Badescu Facial Spray Rose

I looove this stuff. I’m not sure why. It’s another case of “is it doing anything?”. I don’t know if it is, but it sure makes my face feel better.

I spritz this stuff on after I get out of the shower, or after I wash off my makeup — so, I use it both morning and night. It smells GREAT — like roses, of course, as the label would imply. This isn’t something that I would use in place of a moisturizer, although the aloe certainly does provide some moisturizing aspect, but it does give the skin a little boost prior to putting the next layer on.

The website says something about “dewy radiance” and “boosts … glow”. I mean, of course, you basically just spritzed yourself with water, so of course you’re going to have a glow for a minute or two. But once it absorbs, it doesn’t quite stick around. Sure does feel pretty soothing, though.

I can’t really tell if there’s been any long-term benefit from using it, and unfortunately that rose water smell kind of, wears off after a few minutes. But for a quick boost and the “first layer” after washing your face, this is great, especially at the price point of $5. And since the ingredient list is pretty minimalistic, it has no adverse effect on my skin — no breakouts! I just picked up the cucumber and green tea spray the other day at Ulta, so I’ll see how that one stacks up compared to this.  ~A

Grab this refreshing pick-me-up here: https://amzn.to/2RhFxtV

Perceived efficacy: 4/5

Longevity: n/a (I don’t know if longevity is what this product is going for, really… I mean, it’s basically fancy water)

How much I actually like this product: 4.8/5 (if only that wonderful smell just lasted a liiiiittle longer!)

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio

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Wet n Wild Eyeshadow

Eyeshadow has never really been my thing, but once in awhile, I decide that I want to dip my toes back into the eyeshadow arena. The idea is, if I go for one of these little Wet n Wild cheapie eyeshadows, then I can figure out my color and then move onto a higher-end product. I should have learned my lesson after almost a decade of doing this, that Wet n Wild eyeshadows unfortunately still fall into that category of “makeup you would buy for your twelve year old”, and ultimately turn me away from the idea of eyeshadow.

The foam applicator they provide is more or less garbage, the foam tends to rip through even after light use, and the “brush” has bristles that are hard plastic, too painful to use — so use your own brushes!

I swiped some primer on just to get some staying power since I know, from past experience, that these eyeshadows tend to disappear after an hour after application. I have the exact palette as pictured above, and several others, and they all seem to suffer the same problem in terms of coloration — the mid-level colors, like magentas, blues, greens, are near impossible to get to show up. They have absolutely no staying power even after you’ve gone over it a few times, AND applied primer.

The darker colors, well, are more pigmented of course, but not by much — the longevity is still poor, and they colors are not very malleable (okay, that’s not a good word to use, but you get the point). Once you put it on, no amount of good skill, light-handedness, or times spent swiping it over, regardless of tool that you’re using, will get that powder to “move over” where you need it. It’s very smudge-y.

The one thing WnW does do a bit better with are the lighter colors. I have a few one-shade palettes in my drawer (that are way too old, now that I think about it, so I should probably throw them out…) that are beige/sand/off-white colored. The longevity on these is a bit longer, maybe four hours, but there honestly isn’t really much color differentiation once you get the product on your skin — ie: doesn’t really look on the palette how it will ultimately look on your skin, and all of the lighter colors sort of look the same.

The powder on these eyeshadows WILL fall off. If you’re a contact lens user, beware! More than any other eyeshadow product I’ve used, I have the biggest issue with powder fall with WnW.

In my opinion, Wet n Wild definitely does a few things really, really well, particularly over the past few years as they’ve attempted to become more competitive with their drugstore peers. Their highlighting powders really blow me away. But these $2-$3 eyeshadows still stay firmly in the arena of “kid’s first makeup”. Even then, I probably still wouldn’t recommend it, based on the powder-fall alone.  ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

How much I actually like this product: 1/5

Cerave Foaming Facial Cleanser

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Cerave Foaming Cleanser

This cleanser is highly coveted by many, but I personally am just not feeling it. The caveat here is that I have a tough time with cleansers, generally speaking, and I try to avoid using them when I can.  I originally picked this up when I realized that the Cerave Hydrating Cleanser isn’t super-phenomenal at taking off makeup. I figured, hey this one is a foaming cleanser ergo it will remove my makeup, and it’s from Cerave who has never let me down in terms of pumping their products full of hydrating ingredients, so I won’t feel like I’ve completely stripped off the first layer of my skin after washing.

The product comes out as a clear liquid from a pump. It doesn’t really smell like anything in particular, maybe a bit like something you would smell from a generic handsoap, with substantially less fragrance. It’s supposed to foam up when you apply water and rub it against your skin, but I… don’t really think it does that? Am I wrong? Ok, it foams a TINY bit. Doesn’t matter. The next issue is, no matter how much product I pump out, it’s seemingly never enough to get my entire face, and I need to pump out more. Good thing this is kind of a big bottle, right?

In terms of makeup removal, it does… okay. Again, not great, but it’s not like this product is exactly screaming out “makeup removal” on the packaging (rather, not at all), so I’ll give it some credit. Certainly, it does a better job of stripping off oil and product than it’s sister hydrating cleanser.

What this product is really good at, though, is making your skin feel dry as a desert after you’re done washing. As I mentioned before, I try to avoid cleansers and it’s for this very reason — that is their purpose, to strip you dry of all the gunk on your face. But considering Cerave goes out of their way to advertise the ceramides and HA, I just feel like… I shouldn’t feel like that? I don’t know. I certainly feel like my skin barrier’s been disrupted.

Over time, I’ve discovered my secret combo: mix the Cerave hydrating cleanser and the foaming cleanser together! That way, it’ll take off my makeup and ever-so-slightly keep my skin hydrated, simultaneously. So I guess I’ll keep the foaming cleanser around, so long as it’s sister cleanser stays on my bathroom sink. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 2.75/5

Longevity: 5/5

How much I actually like this product: 2.5/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes