Makeup
- volta » See my profile
- Points: 149575
- Reviews: 566
Here are all my reviews:
-
I originally started using the Peter Thomas Roth Anti-Aging Buffing Beads because I heard good reviews about it as a gentle, yet effective exfoliator. Then I heard some awesome things about the original anti-aging cleansing gel wash as well. I LOVE this wash! This has 1% glycolic acid to eat away the dead skin and 1% salicylic acid to clear the pores of debris to help clarify this skin. The wash also has botanical blends to soothe and brighten the skin as well as a pleasant, but subtle scent. I also love how well this foams as well as you are lathering it onto your skin. The trick to this--AND the Anti-Aging Buffing Wash is to let it sit on your skin for a minute or two while the glycolic acid gently exfoliates and eats away at the dead skin. This is perfect to use in the shower! I only use this a couple times a week and use a normal cleanser on other days because just like any exfoliator, you need to give your skin a couple days to repair itself. This one bottle is definitely going to last you a long time, so don't fear the price tag ($36).
February 22, 2012
-
This stuff is very intensive! This cream is super rich though, so be careful! The instructions say that you can use it twice a day, but for normal/oily/combination skin, I would highly advise to using this once a day (preferably at night) and different, more light-weight moisturizer at the other time. If you have very dry skin all over your face, then this would be suitable for using twice a day. I have dry combination, so even this is a bit too rich more than once a day. Too rich for my skin and that can make me break out. However, Peter Thomas Roth is becoming one of my favorite lines for skin-care, be it to clarify my skin or for anti-aging solutions. With this cream I noticed that my skin felt plumper and firmer after continued used, and it also look more even and brighter in the morning when I woke up after applying this at night.
February 22, 2012
-
I have tried SO many Peter Thomas Roth products to my amazement of how well they work. This is basically a Salicylic Acid wash at 2% which is going to clear your pores of debris. Most clarifying washes aimed at treating acne usually contains salicylic acid. What I love about this wash is that 1) it doesn't dry my skin like other salicylic washes can do to me 2) it does help to clarify acne and blemishes, 3) it foams a lot. It may seem like a bit of money for a bottle, but trust me that one bottle lasts a VERY long time. The only reason that I prefer my PTR Anti-Aging wash to this is that the Anti-Aging wash has 1% glycolic acid and 1% salicylic so it clears the pores and lightly exfoliates.
February 22, 2012
-
I haven't had any breakouts after using this, as is that's my primary concern with products. Nearly every Peter Thomas Roth product I've tried, I've had lovely results. This will be adequate moisture for people with normal or combination skin, but if you have drier skin like me, I would still supplement this on top of another moisturizer. This has spf 30 in it so it will be a life saver for the upcoming harsh Arizona summer. However, even with sunscreen in it, it still feels very comfortable on the skin.
February 22, 2012
-
First and foremost, I definitely respect Sephora's own signature collection in attempts to cover literally every beauty need possible; rather than copying other brands that specialize in only color or skin care, etc. The Sephora collection recently redesigned their classic eyelash curlers into a new jewel-tone series (which I am reviewing the new colored curlers). The curlers are pretty, I bought the green one in hopes of obtaining a quality curler. When holding the curler, the construction is ergonomic and sturdy--not many curlers have good construction as this. This comes with several replacement silicone pads too, rather than the one extra that most curlers only supply before they make you purchase a whole new one. The curl on this thing is quite beautiful on my lashes. I've tried MANY curlers and they either barely made a curl, or they would basically fold my lashes in one severe angled crimp. This one left a beautiful long lasting curl that even lasted all night after I curled bare lashes and slept to awaken to still wonderfully curled lashes. Although things seemed perfect with this tool, my BIGGEST peeve and ultimate deal breaker with this is that the opening is SO small. I have awkwardly shaped eyes which made it EXTREMELY difficult to fit ALL of my lashes in that tiny hole without missing a mess of edge lashes. Another thing is that since my eye shape is weird, the shape of the curler itself made my lids very prone to painful pinching. Although this tool looked cute and curled the lashes well (that could actually fit inside the opening), overall the pain and extra time wasted was not worth it to me and I returned it for a Tweezerman curler instead which I am quite happier with. Sephora has a lot of experience with hit or miss products and I think that they definitely need to redesign the new curlers once again!
February 21, 2012
-
I've tried countless eye creams in search of finding the perfect comprehensive one that will take care of ALL of my needs. Don't get me wrong--I don't have very many needs because I'm young and I don't have a lot of problems around my eye area. However, I am a firm believer that every person should start using eye creams starting in their early 20s because the earlier you start, the easier it's going to be to maintain a more youthful look. Anyways, I came across this "complete" eye "balm" from Algenist. I came across the story of how the company first started in search of alternate energies, but discovered the amazing revitalizing effect that Alguronic acid had on living cells. Basically, what Alguronic acid does in this cream is that they revitalize collagen and elastic cells to completely renew the eye area. I also love that this has caffeine in it--that's going to reduce puffiness, firm and contour the skin around your eye area, but also increase blood circulation which is going to brighten your eyes. I have hereditary dark circles and almost nothing worked. After using this about a month, I have noticed a significant improvement in brightness under my eyes. This balm is super rich and creamy and I like to put it on in the morning and night so I can ensure that my eyes are going to stay well hydrated and supple. This also has cucumber, bamboo and shea butter extracts so it feels extremely soothing on skin, especially after the wiping I have to do to remove my eye makeup. One jar does cost about $65 for a 30mL (1oz) jar but I think that's a great price for a truly wonderful eye cream. I'm definitely going to stick around with this for a while unless I hear about something that's even better (which I assume won't happen any time soon).
February 20, 2012
-
I have never been into the bronzed look, only because I have medium skin that tans easily to begin with. I typically use bronzer to contour my face because it's round so I want to do everything to give myself the appearance of cheekbones. I have used many different bronzers, from the cheap drug store, to expensive brands. I'll admit that I'm a Nars FREAK to begin with--I know just about everything about the brand and its products. François Nars is one of my personal heroes. However, every time I was at Sephora, the bright floodlights in the store made the bronzers appear shimmery and I've never been crazy for shimmer. I think shimmer in bronzers are overkill, especially paired with a highlighter. In my opinion, shimmery bronzers are okay if you're using them alone. HOWEVER, in real light these do NOT look shimmery--you can barely notice it. In bright light, it looks more of a satin sheen. Regardless, I have the best selling bronzers in Casino and Laguna and they BOTH look incredible on ANYONE. They look so natural on any skin type and they're pigmented, so you don't have to use a lot (unless you want to). But point being, these bronzers will last you a LONG time. Casino is a bit darker than Laguna, with Laguna being the ultimate best seller. These bronzers are one more reason why I love Nars!!!!
February 17, 2012
-
I was really eager to try this after hearing rave reviews about it. Vitamin C is a big trend in skin care right now, considering its antioxidant, anti-aging, and brightening benefits. It feels more like a gel than a serum and if you look closely, there is pinkish pearl to brighten the face, but it's barely noticeable, so don't fret if you think it'll look noticeable on your face. You put a pea size amount AFTER you moisturize to smooth the skin and give your face a radiant and silky texture. I have uneven texture and no matter HOW MANY products I use to resurface, it still remains uneven. I was hoping that putting this on would smooth out a bit of the uneven texture so my skin with makeup would look better and smoother. This really doesn't do much, at least nothing noticeable. This can be used as a primer and some people it works well for that case, but for me it causes my liquid foundation to bead off when I brush it on. This may serve as a better primer for powder foundation, but I haven't tried that yet. I was at a point where I starting having a decent complexion and I was happy, but then I started breaking out. I narrowed it down to this product because it does have silica which gives it that silicone-feeling when you put it on and my skin usually hates that. The only thing I ended up liking was the smell of it, but I noticed on the ingredients list that fragrance is the second thing on the list! The ingredients listed list are in descending order, starting with the highest quantity ingredients first. Needless to say, some people often have reactions to high fragrance quantities, they might also want to stay away from this. So unfortunately I'm going to return this because it wasn't for me.
February 17, 2012
-
I have the plain white pot, but I reckon the other two are similar in consistency and texture (but differing in effects). With my medium skin, vibrant colors often don't show up very well, or very true--regardless of how pigmented the shadow is. Pinks look more like reds, and yellows barely even show up, etc. So I opted for a white base. I have love for NYX products, particularly their eye make up, so I was thrilled to find a cheap white base. This is supposed to make shadows 1000x more vibrant. I wouldn't say it makes it THAT vibrant, especially on my medium skin tone, but for light or fair skin, they can definitely expect to see better results. This cream is quite thick and kind of hard to put on. I've had better results using my finger to get more of an even coverage, rather than using a brush which tends to make it a little more streaky. The one thing that drove me CRAZY was that this has the tendency to crease on me within a couple minutes, even with a thin layer. So one thing that has helped me was to immediately use setting powder over this on my eyes to set and "dry" it. In addition, having that extra powder makes the bright pigmented shadow much easier to spread and blend (powder on powder blends better). I have to pack on a bit of shadow to get the color I want, but even so it's not nearly as vibrant as the packaging--though much more vibrant than not using this white base. Therefore, this white base does do its job to make shadows more vibrant, but there is definitely a trick to this for some people like myself with more oily-prone lids (even after I swipe toner over my lids prior to using this to remove oil). The more pigment I pack onto this base, the less likely it creases on me. I'm kind of eager to try the white pearl base next. Although the base is not the best, you do get good results considering the cheap price you pay for a large pot of primer.
February 17, 2012
-
Let me first start off by saying that I normally HATE retractable pencils, primarily because they are often too soft, too large for precise control, or too creamy so they give you dark streaks over your brows. This pencil is the perfect combination between a harder traditional pencil and the softer retractable. It's firm enough to where it still gives light and naturally looking strokes at your command. There's no need to sharpen your pencil because the tip is small and fine so you have precise control. I like the brush at the other end; not only does it groom your brows, but it also evens out the pencil. I was originally going to buy the traditional Anastasia pencil where you needed to sharpen it, but the brunette pencil was too light. The Brow Wiz in Brunette is the perfect color for dark hair. I have tried EVERYTHING from drug store or luxury pencils and retractables, to filling in using a brush and eyeshadow and even loose powder. Nothing looked nearly as natural or as defined as what the Brow Wiz has done for me. My brows have honestly never looked better! Top it off with the clear brow gel and you have perfect brows that last all day and doesn't wash off if you sweat or get wet. Yes, it is $20 for a brow pencil, but for as little as you use, I definitely think this pencil is going to last me a long time. For the results it gives me, I think it's definitely worth the price. Before I started using Anastasia products, I thought the price for such brow tools was ridiculous, but I can see why they call Anastasia the Queen of Brows!
February 17, 2012
