The Tanning Files: Disappointments in Paradise

I'm sorry to inform you all that the one tanner I've been super excited to try (St Tropez) has been just slightly more then a giant pain in the ass to get a hold of, between this company listing things on their website they "Don't have in stock anymore" and ridiculous shipping times I threw in the towel so to speak, I can't wait anymore. (My issues weren't from St Tropez' website, it was a different online retailer)

This company seems great, which is why I'm not going to drag their name through the mud. But I just had enough. I placed my first order with them and it took them about 6 days to let me know that they no longer stocked the item and that my money will be refunded. Fair enough. So I placed another order for another product on April 21st and they have yet to ship the items to me I called them today, the lady on the phone told me "I don't know why your order is taking so long to ship, we have those items here, if you want I can express post them to you and you'll have them before the weekend". Great solution, BUT I was just beyond pissed to hear that they have the items there and there's no reason for a delay. I told her I found another tanning product in the time that I'm happy with while I waited for them to ship and I no longer need the items.

So long story short, I will not be reviewing any St. Tropez Tanning products.. Which, In Canada anyways is super hard to find, I haven't found one store locally that carries it and I live in the Toronto area! If anyone is aware of any places I can buy some let me know, because I'd really like to try it!

I'm still waiting for my most recent tan to fade away full to do another review, hopefully I can start on one next week =)

YUKLUI * STYLE GIVEAWAY!!!

YUKLUI Style is having an AWESOME Giveaway for her Birthday!

(Happy Birthday by the way!!)

Check out all these goodies!!

You can enter this contest Here

Bonjour Beauty Giveaway!

Bonjour Beauty is having an INTERNATIONAL giveaway that ends on June 1st 2011 for a Sigma F80 brush!

This exclusive flat top synthetic kabuki was designed to deliver a flawless makeup application. The Sigma Makeup F80 is a buffer brush that can be used to blend powder or liquid products. The short and dense bristles make it easy to buff your liquid foundation. The long handle adds comfort to your makeup application. The synthetic fibers are ideal to be used with liquid products and can be easily cleaned. Made of Synthetic Sigmax HD filament.

You can enter the giveaway Here.

Again Good Luck!! =)

Cosmetologyy Giveaway!! =)

I just thought I'd let everyone know about this giveaway! Here are the details:

The giveaway includes -

• L.A Colours : Baked Shadow in Neptune
• Sleek MakeUP : i-Divine in Bad Girl
• NYX Cosmetics : Runway Collection in Haute Model
• NYX Cosmetics : Runway Collection in Bohemian Rhapsody
• NYX Cosmetics : Runway Collection in Casting Call
• NYX Cosmetics : Ultra Pearl Mania in Oro
• NYX Cosmetics : Ultra Pearl Mania in Nude
• NYX Cosmetics : Ultra Pearl Mania in Mocha
• NYX Cosmetics : Long Eye Pencil in Black
• Shiro Cosmetics : Pokemon Collection (Sample) in Rattata
• Shiro Cosmetics : Pokemon Collection (Sample) in Poliwrath
• Shiro Cosmetics : Pokemon Collection (Sample) in Hyper Beam
• Shiro Cosmetics : Legend of Zelda Collection (Sample) in Master Sword
• Shiro Cosmetics : Legend of Zelda Collection (Sample) in Deku
• Eyeko : London Lips in Knightsbridge
• Eyeko : London Lips in Primrose Hill
• Eyeko : London Lips in Mayfair
• Eyeko : Nailpolish in Petite
• Eyeko : Graffiti Eyeliner Pen in Fierce Purple
• Knight's Castile: Exfoliating Massage Soap
• An Eyeko sticker
• Some Garnier and Avon Samples

This giveaway ends on the July 28th 2011; and it is also INTERNATIONAL.

All of the rules are outlined in Cosmetlolgyy's original blog post Here.

Good Luck everyone!!  =)

Review: LUSH New! & Karma Komba Bar Shampoos

Karma Komba Shampoo bar after approx. 25 uses & Brand new New! Shampoo Bar

These shampoo bars both retail for $9.95 CAD + tax. To use them I just wet my hands and the bar and rub the bar in my hands to get a good lather going and just rub the lather into my hair until my whole head is covered in the shampoo.

This is what LUSH says about the New! Shampoo:


"We use cinnamon leaf oil in New, a warming and nourishing solid shampoo bar, which stimulates your follicles and encourage healthy hair growth. Clove and peppermint oils to motivate tired scalps. Help treat hair loss with cinnamon, clove and bay oils. When stress or life goes to your head, this shampoo will encourage hair growth and stimulate scalps. It's intense, but works a treat on irritated scalps or hair that's thinning. Rejuvenate hair with rosemary and nettle to make hair shiny and soft. Nettle and peppermint stimulate the scalp and the hair follicles"

 This shampoo bar is red/pink and has 2 cinnamon sticks in it, which I think looks cool and makes the bar smell even more cinnamon-y haha.I'm not really sure about the benefits regarding hair growth and scalp stimulation with this product, but so far I'm really loving it! I really like this bar because it seems to dry out my hair, which is awesome because if I use normal shampoo (like Herbal Eessences or Pantene for example). My hair gets very greasy and I have to wash it everyday. With this stuff I can 100% get away with washing my hair every other day. Obviously this wouldn't be a good shampoo to use regularly if you have dry hair to begin with. This shampoo is also great for leaving my hair smooth and silky. The only thing I didn't like about this shampoo is that it doesn't leave much of a cinnamon scent in my hair, which is kind of a bummer so just for that reason I'm rating this shampoo 4.5 GlitterBombs out of 5.

This is what LUSH says about Karma Komba Shampoo:


"This Karma scented shampoo uses lavendin oil to promote a relaxed attitude, calmer mood and softer skin. It's a simple base that creates a rich foam to clean hair, but this one is really for scenting your hair with our Karma fragrance. It has toning orange oil, plus pine and patchouli to help keep your scalp soothed and free of the problematic microbes that could cause dandruff. Lavendin oil is used in our Karma range, from soap to fragrance and haircare. It is soothing, calming and works to relax the emotions"

Karma Komba is green and has a small chamomile flower embedded in it which I think is also super cool haha. Again this shampoo is also really good at drying out my hair, when I use it I can get away with washing it every other day. This shampoo, unlike its cinnamon sister leaves a fantastic, quite indescribable smell to the hair it smells a lot like incense, my mom hates it and claims I "smell like an old man" I couldn't disagree more. I suppose it could help in calming me since I do enjoy the smell but I don't know. As far as the scalp soothing properties, I'm not 100% sure on that either only because I don't have dandruff.  I give this shampoo 5 GlitterBombs out of 5 because for me, it just works well and couldn't really ask for more of Karma Komba.

Just so you guys can see the approx. size of the Stimulating Spice Shampoo Bar.

You can buy these shampoo bars here.

Review: Skin79 VIP Gold Collection Super Plus Beblesh Balm [BB Cream] + Swatches

I'm really new to the world of BB Creams, before I bought this I did a lot of reading on the Internet to get a general idea of which BB Cream brands and types would be good for my skin type (Fair-Medium & Dry). I found a website that gives a small description of some of the most popular BB Creams and which skin types they're good for. Click here to read more on the different creams. I still don't think there's enough information on BB Creams out there for most people to make an informed decision. Lots of people say buying a BB Cream is mostly "trial and error" until you find the right one for you. Thus, do as much research as you can.

This is what Skin79 says about VIP Gold Super Plus Beblesh Balm: "BB CREAM THAT PRESENTS LUXURIOUS SKIN. Ingredients with an abundance of nutrition keep skin resilient and moist and its whitening and wrinkle fighting properties helps maintain clear and resilient skin, while giving the skin a natural and bright look."

I bought this BB Cream for $16.99 USD (shipping was free). When I first opened the package and pumped some of the product on to the back of my hand I was really surprised. In doing my research to buy this, tons of reviewers claimed that the product had a grey tinge to it when they first pumped it out and applied it to their faces. To me it just looked like a dull beige.

This cream feels really rich, it's very thick, but not so thick that it's hard to blend into the face. I think it's definitely geared more towards dry skin. I was a little nervous to put this stuff on because I came across a ton of girls saying it feels "heavy" on the skin and that "it wouldn't be good for humid days". I could see that this product may seem a little heavy if you put on too much but with just a half pump of the applicator, I had more than enough to cover my whole face.

I think that this product would be good for either summer or winter depending fully on your skin tone and how oily your face gets. Personally I plan on using this a lot of the time in the winter because I'm pretty fair (NW20) and in the winter, I obviously don't get a lot of sun. I think this stuff will require an additional moisturizer previous to putting it on because my skin is really dry. As far as summer is concerned, I'll use it on days that I'll be in the sun more than usual and also on days that I need a little bit more coverage than my MAC Face & Body gives me.

My face feels very soft when I put this on. I do look a tad paler than normal but a quick swipe all over my face with my GOSH Giant Sun Powder fixes this. Obviously just looking at this product you can see it's not made for people with darker complexions. Like I said I'm an NW20 and this is a little bit too light for me so I doubt anyone darker than an NW20 could get away with wearing this BB cream. It's a shame to say that most BB creams are geared towards lighter skin tones. 

This product does have a very light scent, it's not over powering at all and fades away quite quickly.

I like the way the packaging looks and that it's quite compact, but I don't like it at the same time because I'm not going to have any idea how much product I have in it at any given time.

Straight out of the bottle

Half blended into the back of my hand

Fully blended (notice the difference of the skin color of my hand from the previous photos & the sheen this gave off due to the flash) 

Overall, so far, I'm really happy with this stuff but due to the packaging I'm going to give this 4/5. I'm not even going to provide an official rating to this until I use it for about a month to let you know of any improvements to my skin because BB Creams do have a lot of beneficial claims to them.

I bought this BB Cream off of eBay. But you can also buy this directly from Skin79 Here. 

If your interested in seeing my FULL REVIEW of this BB Cream click here.

The Tanning Files Chapter 3: A Bronze Spritz? L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Sun Splash Medium Review

So, this is just a heads up, this particular Tanning Files post will be a tad longer than the ones to come only because I did a horrid attempt at this self tanner last week and I just had to show you all the photos (which you can click to make them larger)


These photos are from my first attempt from last week with my L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Sun Splash in Medium. Honestly, I didn't even photograph my arms, they didn't look bad, or whatever but the fact that I was SO dissatisfied with my hands and feet are all the evidence that I needed.

The instructions on the bottle are pretty basic, cleanse & exfoliate skin, apply bronzer, smooth onto skin and apply less product to knees, elbows and ankles. Allow product to fully dry before putting on clothing. Repeat until desired color is reached.

On my first attempt, I'm not going to lie, I didn't rub it in. I didn't feel it was necessary. Clearly. It was:

Now after seeing the result of not following the instructions, I let this tan fully fade away and I attempted this again. This time I followed the instructions, except rather than rubbing this in with my bare hand I used a mitt, so I'm not walking around with stained palms. I sprayed the product onto my body then rubbed in tanner with the mitt on my hand. Previous to this though I moisturized and let it absorb. After rubbing in the tanner it did dry pretty quickly: Within 2-4 mins I was ready to put clothes on.

DAY ONE

This is what one application looks like:

 

My toe area came out really nice and evenly colored as you can see above (left) but the top of my foot (right) itself came out pretty much as if no self tanner was applied.

Look at this line down the middle of my arm! I promise you all that I rubbed thoroughly all over my whole body with what I thought at the time was too many sprays of the product!

I applied the tanner again the following evening after showering, moisturizing and before bed this is how it looks: (Keep in mind I went to town in applying this because after one application it barely looked like I had applied anything at all) The orangeness begins haha

DAY TWO

^This is how my arm looks naturally^

Overall this tanner is ok, I guess, only because it does do the job...sort of. Seriously though, like, this does perform well in that it does 'tan' your skin well but the application completely sucks. The product dries so fast that you don't really know where you've applied it. I think it sucks that it's clear when it's on the skin. I really wish it was slightly tinted so you know where you've put everything. I guess this would be a good product if you don't mind being extremely thorough and don't mind taking 25-30 mins just going over your whole body with a fine tooth comb to ensure that you got it everywhere fully. I just don't think it's worth all the effort needed to make sure your tan is perfect. I used this product 3 times and it's over half-gone. As for the smell, it's ok, when you first apply it, it's just a prefumey smell that slowly fades away to that normal fake tan smell, nothing too overwhelming. I 100% would not buy this product again.

You can see how my arms look normally, without sunless tanner here.

Review: GOSH Giant Sun Powder 001 + Swatches

I can't tell you enough how much I've wanted this product, every time I saw it I was like.. Should I buy it? Shouldn't I buy it? and I've passed on it more times then I can count, I just never saw it as something I'd get a lot of use out of. Finally I snapped and just had to have it.. This product wore me totally down and no matter how much I tried to I just could no longer resist. It retails at Shoppers Drug mart (Canadian Drugstore) for $25.99 CAD Luckily though, when I bought it as I was paying I realized it was on sale and I got it for $18.99! Woo! (though this stuff is 100% worth paying full price for)


Anyways, I've used it quite a few times since I bought it and I can't explain how happy I am that I have it, I'd buy it 1000 times over. The first day I used it my boyfriend said to me three times (Yes I counted lol) that my face just looked so naturally nice and glowy.


This stuff isn't super brown, for example I probably wouldn't ever use this for contouring, because its a tad shimmery and its quite light, but its purpose isn't for contouring anyways. To use this just do a light dusting over your whole face concentrating more on the sides of the forehead, the cheeks and down to the chin using the '3' shaped motion on both sides of the face, also apply some on the bridge of your nose and the center of your forehead.


Onto the packaging.. Seriously.. I love..LOVE it.. Its HUGE! and it comes with a fair sized mirror in the top of the case.. This is a great purse item because the mirror is nice and big, way better then those 1"x1" purse sized mirrors.. I carry an obscenely large bag, so I can justify carrying this little baby around =)



Overall this is a 100% love for me, and I will be purchasing again.. Whenever it is that I run out, which won't be for quite awhile because you get a MASSIVE (1 oz!) amount. As much as I thought there would be a huge downfall for this product in that it only comes in this shade there really isn't, it really seems the the people at GOSH covered all their bases on this one. Though the shade of this is quite light the difference I see on my skin tone (NW20) is quite minimal. This seems to just brighten and enhance completion and not really provide a bronzed effect. I do see a slight difference in my skins color, so I assume anyone lighter than an NW20 also would. I think that darker skinned ladies (and gents if it tickles their fancy) could really benefit from this product too, it just gives you such a healthy glow from within look!

So I rate this lovely 5 GlitterBombs out of 5! 

You Can find this product at Shoppers Drugmart Locations or Here.

The Tanning Files Chapter 2: Arms To Compare

I'm really excited to begin testing out all my self tanners for you guys this is just a post to bring me one step closer to being able to start reviews! Yaaay!


Okay, now for all of you to be able to make informed self tanning decisions you need to see what my skins starting out as so here are a couple photos of my left arm totally free of any sunless tanners or anything to alter my skins natural color. This will be the photo in which you will compare to people, since I like you all I will be including at least one of these photos in all of my Tanning File Reviews just so you don't always have to refer back to this post to compare.. But I thought just for consistency's sake I'd throw it on here also.


I forgot to mention this in the Intro to the tanning files that I will 100% absolutely let whatever self tanner I have on during any given testing period to completely fade out/off until I'm left with my natural skin, then I will proceed to the next product review. I will also not be doing any type of outdoor tanning because (obviously) the whole point of this is to look like you have a legit tan without actually having one!

Expect the first Self Tanner Review Soon!

GlitterBalm Gets Scammed? Benefit Coralista.. Or RIO?

Photo from Sephora.com

So I bought what I thought was an authentic Benefit Coralista blush off of eBay, and I did my research, this seller has a good rating and didn't have many buyer complaints ALSO there were reviews for this product on eBay from the people who bought this item from this seller through eBay.. I thought I did my research and though I'm not 100% positive that its fake, something smells a little bit fishy.


Generally I'm pretty happy with the product I received with only one exception. You know how the blush is called Coralista.. Well the one I have, says Coralista on it but its a sticker, which I may have not even taken notice of if there wasn't scotch tape on one side of the box holding the freakin sticker on. That was all the proof I needed to know this was at least somewhat tampered with. I proceeded to peel the sticker off and it says RIO on it, I tried to see if that was a blush made by benefit currently or in the past but I can't find much info about it.


The blush came with a brush (which doesn't look like the one in the Sephora photo - its more cream in color and it doesn't have a wood grain on it, its just flat smooth plastic) and it had the plastic casing to hold the brush inside of it. The blush itself was untouched (or at least it looks that way) is smooth and super pigmented. I did only pay $8.50 USD (not including shipping) for it so I guess this all boils down to you get what you pay for.


I just thought I'd give everyone who may be in the market for a Coralista Blush off of eBay. Also, if anyone knows anything more about this Benefit RIO thing please leave a comment below and let me know whats up.

Here are some pictures of what I received.