Soap and Glory Fab Pore Hot Cloth Cleanser Review

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

soap and glory fab pore hot cloth cleanser

Regulars’ll know I’ve been trying to get my hands on this for a few months and every time I entered a Boots, it scuttled off the shelf and hid itself from me. Well, it was either that or it kept selling out.

Probably the latter.

Anyway, I finally tracked a tube down and as Boots was doing an offer, it was only €10.79, down from a regular price of €13.49 for 100mls. While I get a lot of stuff sent to me for review as part of my job as a beauty writer, I’m still a total cosmetics junkie like the rest of you and will hunt high and low for stuff I’ve read great things about.

But I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. I have been lucky enough to try and use some amazing products in my time, the whole way across the spectrum of price and brand. So while there have been so many rave reviews about this, I’ve got quite a bit of experience with balm cleansers and wondered if it’d stack up.

Recently I’ve put my trusty Eve Lom away to give myself a chance to see what else is out there. And this one is a very good substitute, as it happens. Lets talk a little about price before I get into its abilities though: at €13.49 full price for 100mls, I don’t think I’d get longer than about three weeks out of this with daily use, based on the instructions to use ‘a generous splodge’. I use maybe a 10c coin-sized piece of Eve Lom to effectively remove a face full of product and the grime of the day, and I’d generally get up to three months from a €70 pot. At full price, Fab Pore Hot Cloth Cleanser would cost €53.96 for the same period.

That probably won’t change anyone’s mind but hey, I like working these sort of things out.

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Tags: balm, budget, cleanser, Soap and Glory
Posted in Beaut.ienomics - brilliant budget buys, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Skincare | 38 Comments »

So I Finally Tried Out Silver Nails: Gosh Silver to The Rescue

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

gosh silver

I’ve been slightly obsessed with the idea of silver nails ever since Lynnie posted about Chanel’s catwalk silver manicure back in February. I’m usually a fan of dark, glossy shades on my own nails, but the clean, futuristic look on the models’ nails drew me in. Sadly, the shade Chanel used was a limited edition that was no longer available and so the idea went out of my head.

And then I came across Gosh cosmetics nail polish in Silver, €8.50, as I browsed the shelf in my local chemist and that image from the Chanel show came back to me. Would I be able to pull off the smooth silver look with it? Well at that price I was certainly going to try.

I didn’t know if I’d be able to get the smooth, polished finish they managed at Chanel as Gosh Silver looks more metallic and textured in the bottle. I knew this shade was one where I’d definitely need a basecoat – metallics can be really hard to remove when applied directly to a naked nail. My first attempt involved two layers of Silver, but I’ve since decided this looked too heavy on my nails, so read on to see the results with one coat of Silver applied over a base coat.

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Tags: GOSH, metallics, nails, silver, swatch
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Hands, Body & Feet | 22 Comments »

Bare Essentials: Pale Foundations for Irish Skintones

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

lighter foundations

We get so many queries about products for lily-white skin that I decided to jam all my pale foundations onto my hand so you could see what may be suitable for your particular milk bottle concerns.

Do note that while I’m pale, I am not the palest girl I’ve ever met. Redheads with that beautiful luminous, paper-fine skin would be below me on the register and tend to find it even more difficult to get a match, but as a Mac NW10-15, I find it’s nearly impossible for me to buy foundation in the chemist or supermarket, as the shade ranges simply don’t cater to that classic Irish colouring.

I’ve found that you’ll generally have to look to department store offerings or buy online to avoid the dreaded tide-mark I’m afraid, but there are some notable exceptions: in the mass market, Bourjois and Revlon cater to us paleys, so give them a try.

After the cut, you can see swatches of all my pale foundations as well as a few more recommendations for brands who do cater for porcelain types, but which I don’t necessarily own. We’re almost ready to rock, so here’s a little warning! This post is very pic-heavy.

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Tags: Bourjois, Clarins, Dior, foundation, Giorgio Armani, Mac, NARS, Revlon, Stila, swatch, Too Faced, une
Posted in Bases, Foundations & Concealers, Brands, treatment & product reviews | 86 Comments »

Battle of the Eyelash Curlers: Shu Uemura V Jemma Kidd V Mavala V Ruby & Millie!

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

shu uemura eyelash curlers

Like anyone else who has ever perused a best beauty buys list, I’ve come across rave reviews of Shu Uemura eyelash curlers a time or twenty. Industry insiders regularly list them as a must have, but when I recently asked a couple of make-up artists about what makes them so damn special I was whelmed by their response, to say the least.

They told me breathlessly that the shape of rubber pad – rounded rather than flat at the top – was what made all the difference. I nodded, polite but sceptical – mmmhmmmm, right, because no-one else has ever thought of that. Fairly sure that I had chosen my trusty Jemma Kidd curlers for that very reason, I had a good look at them on my return home. Sure enough the rubber pad on them is nicely rounded rather than flat at the top.

Feeling smug as you like, I continued to use my Jemma Kidd eyelash curlers … until I espied a lonesome pair of Shu Uemuras on a shelf in the Las Vegas Sephora and got a major itch to try them for myself.

Well. It would have been mean (not to mention rude) to just leave them there on their tod, yes?

Happily, they have been rewarding my incredibly selfless act of kindness and charidee with fabulously curly lashes, and I have to reluctantly admit that they are giving better results than my Jemma Kidds. What gives the Shus the edge, I think, is that they’re a better fit for the shape of my eyes – wider and with a shallower curve across the business, clamp-y end, I can get them right in at my lashline without missing out on any at the corners. They also feel more tightly sprung than other metal eyelash curlers I’ve tried.

The Mavala and Ruby & Millie offerings I have in my stash, meanwhile, are plastic yokes that commit the cardinal sin of eyelash curlers with their flat rubber pads (boo! hiss! etc) and I find they’re both divils for creating kinked rather than curly lashes.

And, of course, you can’t pimp them out to be heated eyelash curlers like their metal equivalents!

Tags: eyelash curlers, jemma kidd, Ruby & Millie, Shu Uemura
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks | 21 Comments »

Tried and Tested: Max Factor Smoky Eye Effect Eyeshadow + Swatches

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

max factor smoky eye

I’ve had my eye on these Smoky Eye Effect bad boys for a while, and during a fact-finding mission to Liffey Valley Boots a week ago, I made a beeline for the Max Factor stand and picked up a trio of them. The blogosphere bubbles with the word that these are a direct copy of sister-company Covergirl’s Smoky Shadow Blast, and from top, you’re looking at Indigo Mist, Onyx Smoke and Citrus Thunder. There was a three-for-two offer in place, meaning I got one of my €9.99 double-ended shadows for free. A good start, eh?

First impressions on these is great. They look fab: all chunky and perspexy and brightly coloured, you really want ‘em to do what they say they will. But almost immediately, I came unstuck. While I’d be of the opinion that this line of six shadows is designed for those who are unsure how to create a smokey look with powder shadows and brushes, it’s actually not easy to know what to do with them, which is completely counter-productive.

There are absolutely no instructions on the bullets, barring the wording ‘step 1′ on one end, and ‘step 2′ on the other. I was a bit flummoxed, especially in the case of Onyx Smoke, (middle, the black and white), because the first step is to apply the white.

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Tags: eyeshadow, Max Factor, swatch
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks | 16 Comments »

Lash Back: Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara

Monday, August 30th, 2010

rimmel lash accelerator

Coming atcha in September is a newbie from Rimmel. We’ve loved, loathed and been whelmed by the brand’s offerings in the past but it’s a company I usually find really reliable for well-priced mascaras, and Lash Accelerator, at €10.95, fits the bill.

Rimmel boards the RapidLash/Lancome Hypnose Precious Cells/ L’Oreal Paris Renewal Lash hair-conditioning gravy train with this one. It’s good to see one at this end of the market, and Revlon have such a thing in-coming too. Now, a point of note: Lash Accelerator will not cause lashes to grow – and I’m blue in the face saying this – as no one has yet invented such a thing, which is why we still see bald men.

But it will condition and nourish lashes thanks to its Grow-Lash Complex. A trial of 41 women found that that 88% saw significantly longer and fuller lashes after just one week, with lashes looking up to 117% longer after a month. Me? I am all for colour cosmetic products that add in care benefits – it just makes sense that your blusher should be imbued with antioxidants if you’re gonna be wearing it all day. So I’m liking these mascara innovations we’ve been seeing over the past year or so, but in the case of L’Oreal Paris and Lancome’s offerings, I just wasn’t wowed by them as actual mascaras. That ‘oohh, I love how it looks’ wow-factor was missing.

This one is good though and I enjoy using it. Setting aside all the claims, for a day-time lash-coater it just does the trick. I’ve been using it for a week or so and the brush is nice, simple and uncomplicated, the gunk itself is good and non-clumpy, and it gives a nice bit of definition for daytime eyes. It’s just a nice extra that it’s got some more gizmos built in, but I haven’t yet noticed any dramatic improvement personally, though it’d be too early to judge in any case!

In three shades, extreme black, black and brown, here’s the clincher: Zooey Deschanel is the face of the product, which will ensure it’ll sell out in droves.

Tags: budget, mascara, Rimmel
Posted in Beaut.ienomics - brilliant budget buys, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks | 2 Comments »

Sweaty Bettys rejoice: Garnier Natural Minerals Ultra Dry Deodorant is super strong and super effective

Monday, August 30th, 2010

“What’s the best anti perspirant?” asked a friend, knowing that we’re obsessed with deodorant on Beaut.ie. “My normal ones just don’t seem to be working that well anymore and I wind up feeling sticky half way through the day.

“Did you try Mitchum?” I asked. “The girls on the site rave about it.”

“Yeah I did” she said. “I don’t find it much good to be honest.”

“Driclor?” I tried. “Ugh she said. No way – that stuff is terrible to put on.” And I had to agree.

“What about man deodorants?” I said. “They’re stronger than girlie ones.”

“Don’t like the smell” she said “The search must continue.”

A couple of days later she told me “I’ve found THE one!” New Garnier Natural Minerals Ultra (from €2.95 for the roll-on) apparently not only smelled nice but worked really well, keeping pits dry and fresh from morning shower until bed time.

Of course I had to instantly hurry out and pick up a can for myself to test this claim and I’m in full agreement. There’s lots of different types of deodorants in this range – anti white marks; sensitive skin; post epilation and so on. But the one we are loving is the Ultra.

Deadly buzz. Have you tried it yet?

Tags: deodorant, Garnier
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Hands, Body & Feet | 27 Comments »

The Budget Brush Challenge: How Did Boots Brushes Fare?

Monday, August 30th, 2010

budget brushes

I quaveringly told you all last week I was abandoning my decent brushes to give a set I’d bought at Boots a go. Five brushes for face and eyes cost me €44.95, and I vowed to give them a decent whirl to see if they’d make the grade.

My pre-conceived ideas and prejudices about brushes mean I’m probably always going to recommend that you spend on good tools – it’s a basic principle, I think, as decent ones really give that pro finish to makeup. But I am also a woman who loves a bargain and it would be great to find some performers down at the low end of the market.

Regarding the challenge I set myself, did I stick to it? Actually I did, with one exception, the night of the Prudence beauty awards, I just couldn’t use ‘em. I needed my trusty reliables. The rest of the week though I dutifully cheap-brushed away, and you can read my findings below.

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Tags: boots, brushes, budget
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks, Gadgets, Books & Accessories | 21 Comments »

Student Style: Cetaphil For Sensitive Types on a Budget

Friday, August 27th, 2010

cetaphil

It is common knowledge on the blather that I am one of the thousands of scaly people – 2% of the world’s population, 3% of Ireland’s – who have psoriasis. As such, I am super careful about what products I use and give preference to natural ingredients, as anything can cause a flare up of my delicate skin.

When I was sent cleanser and moisturisers from Cetaphil, I have to say I gave a “Squeeeeee!” of delight that is usually reserved for sparkly nail-varnishes and the delish Robert Sheehan. This soap-, fragrance- and lanolin-free line is also non-comedogenic, meaning it’s rich and lush without being a pore-clogger. Specifically recommended for people with common skin conditions, this means that using it even on damaged skin is not a problem. Yay!

The giant Gentle Skin Cleanser, €14.86, is a daily, non-drying, 250ml product which is effective at removing makeup, a major weakness of a lot of gentle facewashes. Now, I loved Clarins’ Daily Energizer foaming gel, but as a rule, cleansers with water dry out my skin. The star talent of this super stuff is that it can be used with water or without. I use it with water for heavy duty makeup or alone for everyday – and always tone with rosewater.

The Moisturising Lotion, €14.86, packed a punch again at 250ml. Although I used this on my face and neck, it is suitable for the body too and would probably be great for people without skin conditions. It is quickly absorbed and left my skin feeling lovely and sleek, almost as though I had applied a primer. You only need to use a tiny bit too.

Lastly, the Moisturising Cream, €17.11, is the most heavy-duty of the three products. I used this as body moisturiser even when my skin was itchy as hell and it calmed it down and actually left it soft, which I can NEVER say. My skin drank it up; I would bathe in this stuff.

All the usual, subjective skin condition disclaimers apply here: my mum’s best friend’s son might swear by mud from the Dead Sea, but all it gave me was the aroma of the River Lee at low tide. It’s all trial and error, it all depends on your own skin concerns – so with that in mind, go forth and moisturise!

Tags: budget, cetaphil, cleanser, moisturiser, student style
Posted in Beaut.ienomics - brilliant budget buys, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Skincare | 15 Comments »

La Roche Posay Respectissime Densifying mascara: the verdict

Friday, August 27th, 2010

La Roche Posay mascara

Well, I’ve been faithfully using La Roche Posay’s new super duper multitasking Respectissime Densifying mascara for the last fortnight now, so it’s high time for an update on how it’s made my lashes look.

They certainly seem thicker – in that there looks to be more of them along the lashline than previously, rather than that the individual lashes have fattened up – and they seem less prone to falling out. That’s not entirely surprising, since some of the key ingredients in the Lash Activating Serum are things which prevent hair-loss and strengthen lashes, therefore allowing each individual lash to achieve its maximum possible length.

So it’s not that Respectissime Densifying is encouraging new lashes to spring up, it’s just making the most of the lashes that you already have – the longer they stay put, the longer they can grow and the longer and more full your lashes will appear.

I wore it while wearing contacts and also when my eyes were really, really tired, and it caused zero irritation.

Thumbs up!

Tags: La Roche Posay, mascara
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks | 6 Comments »