Makeup By Chiara

Mini review: Lush Mask of magnaminty face mask + project 10 pan

2011-02-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
First, how is the project 10 pan going? I have finished 4 products which is not bad considering I started a little less than a month ago. However, I'm already getting bored of it because it forces me to use the same products all the time. Plus the Mac Wonder Woman collection is coming out next month and I really want to get a lipgloss from that collection. I know I'm not supposed to buy anything while the project 10 pan is not over, but maybe I'll do an exception for the Wonder Woman lipgloss.

Onto the mini review now:

Lush Mask of magnaminty face mask:

How do I use it?
This mask is quite drying so I only use it on my problem areas, meaning forehead/nose/chin that tend to get oily. I leave the mask on for about 10 minutes and then rinse doing circular motions so I exfoliate the skin.

How did my skin react?
Very well, I could feel my pores were tight, cleansed and refreshed. Almost too refreshed to be honest (I guess it's the mint essential oil), it can get quite uncomfortable if you leave the mask on for more than 10 minutes. That's the one negative point about this product.

How was my skin after the mask?
I was perfect. I just applied my moisturizer and my face felt amazing.

Would I repurchase it? Yes!!

Thanks for visiting my blog, comments are always appreciated :)

Project 10 pan

2011-01-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I haven't been the best blogger these past months, I know...
But today I wanted to do a quick post on the "project 10 pan" I am doing right now. The "project" is something that was quite popular among the beauty girls community a few months ago (yup, I am very late at following the trend) and (if you don't already know what it is) it basically consists of not allowing yourself to buy any beauty products until you have finished 10 products you already own.
So I chose my 10 products (1 mascara, 1 paint, 1 blush, 2 lip balms, 2 lipsticks and 3 lipglosses) right after I went to Mac to get things from the Cham Pale collection. I got these amazing new products but didn't even use them once since I got them. Alarm signal! When I get a new product, I always think "well this is new, I don't want to use it up too fast so let's save it and use my older stuff." As every makeup addict, I have a big collection, but I realized I can't buy anymore products unless I put some of them away.
I started at the beginning of January and I've used up 2 products (mascara and lipgloss). I'll keep you updated and we'll see when I am allowed to buy makeup again!

Please leave a comment if you did a project 10 pan and tell me your results!

Review: Lush The Böög bath bomb

2010-12-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

Lush The böög bath bomb ($6.95; 3.5€)

What is it (as described by the brand )?
« The Böög was inspired by a Swiss tradition of building an effigy of a snowman. They fill its head with fireworks, hoist it onto a bonfire and wait to see how long it takes for its poor little head to go BOOM. The longer it takes for his head to explode, the better the following Summer will be. Although this seems like snowman-related barbarism, the LUSH version is quite different, though no less explosive with colourful surprises and a calming, herbal fragrance. » (from the Lush website)

My experience
Let's say that I was disappointed by this bath bomb. I didn't see anything festive, explosive or colorful. Basically it is just a white bath bomb filled with small colored particules that are liberated in the water when the bath bomb melts. However, those particules don't dissolve well, and once they are, there is no color left, the water is just slightly milky white.
On a positive note, I loved the scent. To me it's a fresh lemon and spices scent and it calms the mood. And, also, the little guy's face is very cute!

Product: 2/5

Packaging: 5/5

Quality versus price: 2/5

Ease of use: 3/5

Would I buy it again? No

Lush haul!

2010-11-21T05:26:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone!
Sorry I didn't do any October favorites post, but I couldn't figure out any favorites. However, I have some products I've been using a lot this month of November so expect a November favorites post.
And, today, I'm showing you my Lush haul. I'll try to post a review of every product as I use them. I'll probably start with one of the bath bombs so stay tuned for a review some time this week.

Now, onto the haul:

From left to righ, top to bottom:
- Winter bath bomb: It smells like ginger and apparently it has cocoa butter parts in it to moisturize the skin.
- Marilyn hair mask: It's a hair treatment you apply on dry hair and leave in for 20 minutes.
- Glögg shower gel: Basically spicy wine in shower gel form, I like the strong cinnamon scent.
- Mask of magnaminty face mask: A detoxifiyng mask for combination to oily skin.
- Christmas eve bubble bar: I got it last year and loved it so I repurchased it. It has a deep floral (mainly jasmine) scent.
- The böög bath bomb: This smells like lemon and spices, and I liked the little guy's face (ahah!).
- Candy cane bubble bar: It has a very sweet sugary scent.

Most of these products are from their Christmas collection. Did you get anything this year from this collection? Has you tried anything yet?

Thanks for reading and following my blog :)

Review: Benefit BADgal lash mascara

2010-11-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

I changed the categories of the review a little bit, tell me in the comment what you think of this new version.

Benefit BADgal lash mascara ($19; 22€)

My experience:
I bought this mascara probably 4 years ago and I didn't like it at the time. However, a few month ago, I came across positive reviews on this product and I wanted to try a new mascara (my quest to the perfect mascara is never ending!) so I thought « why not give it a second chance? ». And, well, what can I say? I was disappointed again. It's not that it's a bad mascara, it has some good points to it, but I didn't get what the brand promised (sexy voluminous lashes). I was waiting for amazing voluminous and long lashes, and all I got was a natural look.
So this is a mixed review: it's a good mascara if you want a natural effect, but it's a bad mascara if you want a dramatic effect.

Pros:
- It's the blackest black. I hate when black mascaras are, in reality, a dark grey color.
- It separates the lashes very well
- It doesn't clump
- The packaging is very cute and girly

Cons:
- No volume, no lenght, just a basic natural enhancement of the lashes
- It gets dry too quickly. I made it work for 3 months but that was really the maximum. I know some of you may say that 3 months is the limit to use a mascara so that my complaint is irrelevant. But I've used mascaras up to 6 months, and I never had any eye infection. So a mascara that I can barely use after 2 months is not a good mascara to me.
- Too expensive for so little results

Product: 2/5

Packaging: 5/5

Quality versus price: 2/5

Ease of use: 5/5

Total: 14/20

Would I buy it again? No

Mac Venomous Villains collection haul and review

2010-10-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

I finally got the chance to see the new Venomous Villains collection (I don't live in the USA so we have the collections later). I really liked the collection so I bought a few things, but not as much as I expected. I guess my bank account is very happy about that!

Here are the things I bought:

- Formidable! nail lacquer
- Strange Potion lipglass
- Truth & Light magically cool liquid powder
- Bite Of An Apple blush

As I said, overall I liked the collection. It features many products and everyone can find something depending on their makeup tastes, which is not always the case with Mac. Sometimes the collections are too oriented towards one makeup style.
Now, for the packaging, I agree with people who says it's a bit childish, of course, it's Disney. But I liked it anyway, as the Mac packaging is typically very simple, it's nice to have a pretty packaging for once.

My favorite part was the Evil Queen part. I generally like such colors: purple, pink, coral... The blush was the most outstanding product to me. I had never seen such a color at Mac, and the texture is amazing. It is very buildable so even with my NW15 skin I can manage to brush it lightly and create a fresh coral cheeks look. The Toxic Tale lipstick would be the lipstick to wear with the blush, a deep coral color and a very smooth finish. The shadows are very beautiful and the two purple paired together would do an amazing eye makeup. However, you can find great dupes in the permanent line.

The Cruella part was the lest interesting one to me. There were mostly classic colors (neutral, bright red) and you can easily find dupes in the permanent line. I guess the Cruella products can be nice to buy if you're new to Mac and want some classic colors but with a fun packaging.

The Maleficient part was great, but if, like me, you got things last year from the Style Black collection, it's pretty much the same colors and products. The mineralize shadows are dupes of the Style Black ones, so if you missed them last year, now is the time to get them. I liked the nail lacquers the most because those were colors I had never seen at Mac. The one I got, Formidable!, is a brownish purple with green duochrome.

The Dr Facilier part was a mix of different things, mostly repromotes or dupes from the permanent line. However, the magically cool liquids powders caught my eye because they were new products. They can be used all over the face for a glowy look, or only on some areas for a suble highlight. And they are true to their name: when you apply the powder, it feels like you're applying a wet brush on your face, very surprising.

Did you see the collection? Did you get anything from it?

Thanks for visiting and following my blog :)

Review: Philosophy Hope in a jar

2010-10-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

Philosophy Hope in a jar ($38 2oz)

What is it (as described by the brand )?
«Our award-winning, lightweight daily moisturizer hydrates and provides antioxidant protection, while improving skin texture and tone, leaving it smooth and radiant.»

My experience:
The first thing you notice when opening the jar is the strong lavendar essential oil scent. It is very different from a traditional moisturizer scent but I liked it.
The texture is quite unusual too, it feels like whipped buttercream. Yes, I said buttercream, because it is a bit greasy. However, once it is applied, it sinks into the skin very quickly and it doesn't leave a greasy feeling. I wouldn't say it's « lightweight » though and that's why I use it at night and not in the morning. I have combination skin but people with dry skin could use it in the morning too.
The results: the skin feels fresh and moisturized, looks plumped and definitely radiant as promised by the brand.

Product: 5
Even though the scent and texture are surprising, I loved this product as it provided me the results annonced by the brand.

Packaging: 3
They could have done better with the packaging, it's average.

Quality versus price: 5
I think the price is reasonable compared to other department store brand and it is great for such good quality and results. Also, you only need a little amount of product for each use.

Ease of use: 5
It applies very smoothly and easily.

Total: 4.5/5

Would I buy it again? Definitely, I already have a backup because my current jar is almost finished.

(This product was bought by me and I am not sponsored by the brand)

Top 5 Mac lipsticks

2010-09-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is a famous tag on blogs and on youtube, so I decided to do it. I only picked 5 because I don't own many lipsticks from the permanent line. I thought it would not be really nice to show you all these pretty lipsticks that are not in stores anymore so I just picked my favorites out of the permanent line.

From left to right: Angel, Gel, High Strung, High Tea, Pretty Please
(Sorry no swatches, I took tons of pictures yet they all turned out blurry and horrible...)

Angel:
It's a creamy, quite opaque medium pink. I think it looks gorgeous with black/grey smokey eyes.

Gel:
A very frosty gold beige. I like to wear it with a pale gold lipgloss because the texture is a bit drying to the lips (lipsticks with a frost finish often do that to my lips).

High Strung:
I feel like this lipstick doesn't get enough publicity from the Mac lovers community. I never heard of it anywhere, yet I think this is the perfect frosty pink with a hint of purple color.

High Tea:
The most neutral out of all these colors, it just gives a nice gold sheen to the lips.

Pretty Please:
Just a very subtle pale pink but it should be applied lightly otherwise, it looks too white.

If you own Mac lipsticks, what are your favorite colors?

Mac Style Black products

2010-09-19T04:03:00.000-07:00

Last year, Mac came up with an amazing and innovative collection: Style Black. I hadn't used the products I bought from the collection for so long that it was time to take them out of my makeup drawer. Mac Young punk eye shadow is probably one of my favorite ey shadow ever because it's so unique, a black with silver and pink glitter. However, it's not your typical everyday look eye shadow, especially if you use it all over the lid. One trick is to use as a liner so it looks a lot more subtle. By the way, I think the next Mac collection with the Disney villains will have some mineralize eye shadows quite similar in texture to Young punk.

What I used:

Face:
Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer
Mac studio sculpt concealer
Mac mineralize skinfinish natural
Nars Laguna bronzer
Mac Dame blush
Mac Shy Angel blush(on top of mu cheekbones, as a highlight)

Eyes:
Mac Painterly painpot as a base
Mac Odd bits e/s (the pink side on the lid and the purple side in the crease)
Mac Mink Pink e/s on the browbone
Mac Blacktrack fluidline on the upper lashline
Mac Engraved powerpoint eye liner on the waterline
Mac Batblack cream color base on the lower lashline
Mac YOung punk e/s over the Batblack
Benefit badgal lash mascara
Mac brow shader

Lips:
Mac lush-n-lilac lip liner
Mac Full Blown lipstick
Mac Blackfire glimmeglass
Mac Sea Myth e/s on the center of the lips

Thanks for visiting and following my blog :)

Review: Lush Ocean Salt Cleanser

2010-09-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

Lush Ocean Salt cleanser ($19.95 4.2 fl.Oz; 10.95€ 120 gr)

What is it (as described by the brand)?
« Ocean Salt comes from Rowena's love of all things scrubby. It is like taking your face on a trip to the seaside for an invigorating splash in the water, then cleansing and refreshing it with lemon, grapefruit and lime juices.
Fresh avocado and coconut give hydration back to thirsty skin, while violet leaf absolute calms and nurtures. The fruit contains unsaturated oil that rehydrates skin. Both avocado and coconut soothe the upper layers of skin and are very good for dryness.
The antibacterial effects of lime and the trace of alcohol in the product is ideal for blocked pores, blackheads or blemishes. The minerals in sea salt soften as the salt scrubs away dirt and blockages. » (from the Lush website)

My experience:
(Although Lush calls it a cleanser, I use it as an exfoliator and not as an everyday product.)
The first thing I noticed when opening the pot was the amazing smell: exotic and yummy. To me, it smells like margarita, (and that's my favorite cocktail!). The texture is very gritty and some salt chunks are too big. It doesn't stick very well to the skin, you need to rub it quickly but very gently too as it can be a bit rough to the skin (after all it's real salt). Using this product only takes a few minutes but it's a very pleasant moment: it leaves the skin refreshed, perfectly exfoliated, soft and moisturized.

Product: 5
I loved everything about it. However, as I said, it can irritate the skin so I wouldn't recommend it to people with sensitive or dry skin, and I would say to only use it once or twice a week even for normal/oily skins.

Packaging: 2
Nothing very exciting about a simple black plastic container... but it's the typical packaging of Lush products.

Quality versus price: 5
I think the price is very good for such a product. It is mainly made of natural ingredients, and you don't need to use a lot of product so a little goes a long way.

Ease of use: 4
As I said, some salt chunks are a bit big and fall from the face but that's ok if you exfoliate above your sink in the bathroom.

Total: 4/5

Would I buy it again? Yes