eye makeup - A Girl's Gotta Spa! (sm) Top beauty blog, spa, hair care, makeup, beauty trends, skin care | A Girl's Gotta Spa! (sm) Top beauty blog, spa, hair care, makeup, beauty trends, skin care

Suave Moroccan Argan Styling Oil Review

Moroccan Oil is all the rage for the benefits of argan oil on both skin and hair. Suave's Moroccan Infusion line of hair care products aim to deliver incredible shine, softness and conditioning to your hair. I had the opportunity to try the new Moroccan Argan Styling Oil from Read more

EnvyDerm Lip Volumizing and Conditioning Plumper

As I get older I notice the collagen making a prompt exit from my lips leaving them looking lifeless and thin. The best way to combat thinning lips (or if you have thin lips to begin with) is to keep them hydrated and to use a lip plumper. When Read more

No3 Berry Face Oil Review

Can I use face oil if I have combination skin? Of course you can, simply avoid pore-clogging oils and use only the ones intended to moisturize your face. L.A. Christine's No3 Berry Face Oil is comprised of Lingonberry, raspberry and acai berry, yet smells of an herbally sweet concoction. High Read more

Need for Speed: New Quick Drying Nail Polishes

Today's modern polishes promise to dry faster than a speeding bullet, but which ones actually save the day? Top manicurists have known about pro top coats for years - those specially formulated clear coats that left lacquer intact for an extended wear manicure. Compatible with nearly every brand, topcoats like Read more

Verb Detangle+Defrizz Conditioning Leave-In Mist Review

To be completely up front about things, I hate washing my hair because it's a nightmare to comb afterwards.  It’s much like that of a 6 year old little girl. It tangles like nobody’s business and is a nightmare to comb after washing. It’s so bad that my hairdresser Read more

eye makeup

Review: Too Faced Matte Eye Shadow Collection

Whenever I wear makeup I always tend to hide from eye shadow.  Not because I don’t like eye shadow or have an allergy or anything like that, but simply because I am terrible at applying it.  I would love to wear any sort of an eye; matte, smoky, gold…anything. But whenever I make an attempt at eye shadow application, I fail miserably and always end up just wiping it off and going with a naked eye.  I decided to give Too Faced Eye Shadow Collection a try because it comes with three how-to lesson cards that give you step by step application instructions for creating the looks on the cards which include a Fashion Eye, a Classic Eye and a Day Eye and also combines both warm and cool tones.

I decided I would first try the classic eye.  The instructions were absolutely very easy to follow and took me about five minutes…maybe even less than that.  The colors were  really silky and easy to blend  so I did not end up with three different lines of color on my eyes. I have to admit I was a bit leery about applying  matte navy and matte stone grey shadow to my lids and imagined I may look like a caricature of myself, but the look I ended up being a mixture of  soft, pretty and a little saucy.  I have not tried the other two eye looks as yet, but I am definitely planning on trying out the fashion eye on Valentine’s night.

Have you used this eye shadow palette?

*Disclosure

Posted on by Gail Lewis in beauty, eye shadow, Makeup Leave a comment

Clinique Lid Smoothie Antioxidant 8-Hour Eye Color

Clinique’s Lid Smoothie Antioxidant 8-Hour Eye Color ($19.50) is a creamy eye shadow that promises no creasing for up to eight hours and says it will “coax fine lid lines into a blanket of smoothness”. The only thing Lid Smoothie coaxed my eye lids to do was itch like crazy.

I tried Clinique’s eye color out over several days, with a day off in between to be sure that it was the culprit for irritating my skin. It was/is. I am officially allergic to Lid Smoothie. Perhaps I am unusually sensitive because I have read that Clinique allergy-tests every product 12 times on 600 people and reformulates if a single application out of those 7200 incites an adverse reaction.

I think that the culprit might be an anti-caking agent. Ironically, since this is likely responsible for the much vaunted no crease of Clinique’s Lid Smoothie. There isn’t much information on HDI/trimethylol hexyllactone crosspolymer, but its material safety data sheet (MSDS) says that it may cause eye and skin irritation, including itchiness and redness. MSDS information refers to 100% concentrations and I am clearly not being exposed to it in its pure form. However, there may be enough in Lid Smoothie to make this product too uncomfortable to continue to wear.

It has a couple of potential partners in crime, including dimethicone/PEG-10/15 crosspolymer, which should not be used on damaged skin as it is suspected of skin and sense organ toxicity, according to the EWG. Another common irritant in Lid Smoothie is bismuth oxychloride, a white pigment whose tendency to cause allergic reactions is increased by sweating due to its molecular crystalline shape.

As far as the antioxidants go, I don’t think I’m going to be missing much. There’s a handful of perfectly nice botanical extracts, including antioxidant-rich spinach. Clinique has also given Lid Smoothie a bit more anti-aging oomph with the peptide that reduces expression lines, acetyl hexapeptide-8.

Performance of Lid Smoothie is a bit moot in my case, since the discomfort of using this product and an overriding concern that things that irritate should never be used anywhere near the eyes puts it firmly on the reject list. However, I can say that it does what it says on the can – it doesn’t crease. And the color I tested, pinkgo biloba, is a subtle pinky brown that gave a rather good highlighter effect that made my eyes look wide open. I’ll miss that part.

For more honest reviews and information about beauty and personal care products, visit Truthinaging.com

Ingredients: Water, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Methyl Trimethicone, Trimethylsiloxyslicate, HDI/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Polysilicone-11, Glycerin, Magneseum Myristate, Copernicia Cerifera, Wax, Silica, Microcrystalline wax, Butylene Glycol, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Cucumber fruit extract, Carrot Root Extract, Spinach leaf extract, Broccoli Extract, Blueberry Fruit Extract, Caffeine, Aloe Barbadenisis Leaf Water, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Dimethicone/PEG-10/15 Crosspolymer, Ozokerite, Ethylhexylglycerin, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Hexyl Laurate, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Tocopheryl Acetate, Dipropylene Glycol, Sodium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, | +/- Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Bismuth Oxychloride, Iron Oxides

Posted on by Marta Wohrle in eye shadow, Makeup 3 Comments