Empties | January 2015

I love empties! I love reading blog empties, watching Youtube empties & all kinds of other people's trash.  Here's mine from recent days.

1. Secret Fresh Effects in Fresh Water Orchid 
I love the smell of this deodorant, but I HATE using it. It is definitely not invisible. It is white & cakey, even when I barely use any at all. So glad to be tossing this one (I did finish it though, painfully)!

2. Lush Bath Bomb in Sparkler Bath Salts 
This was a limited edition bath bomb this fall & I just used it over the weekend. It was lovely. It turned the water a golden sunshine colour & it smelled like a citrusy dream. Perfect for a Saturday morning bath! I would definitely buy this again if they were to bring it back.

3. Organix Argan oil of Morocco
This stuff really is weightless. It was wonderful & easy to use. The spray bottle formula made it easy to apply & it smelled lovely. A drugstore product definitely worth the hype! I would buy this again, but I have other oils to get through first.

4. Burt's Bees Facial Towelettes
I've already reviewed these, in my battle of the facial towelettes. You can read that here. Needless to say, I won't be repurchasing these.

5. Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover
This took me forever to use up, but it works just as well or better than other nail polish removers I've used in the past. I would buy it again, & I probably will when I get through some other nail products.

6. Herbal Essences Naked Shampoo (sample)
While this was a sample, I have used an entire normal sized bottle of this as well.  It's nice. It's nothing special, but it has a pleasant scent & it does the trick.  If I didn't know what else to choose, I would buy this, but I would rather test out some other shampoos, especially at the drugstore.

7. Maybelline's Define-a-brow in Medium Brown
I have bought this eyebrow pencil probably 4 times now, and I have already repurchased since finishing this one.  I think it's the perfect drugstore choice for my brows.

8. Bath & Body Works Foaming Hand Soap in A Walk in the Woods 
Oh my goshhhh, this soap smells amazing! I bought this way back in September when the fall collection came out. It literally smells like walking outside in the fall. I love it & if it is released again next fall I will definitely buy it again!!

What products have you been using up lately?

Cheers,
Kait

Revlon Multi-Care Base + Top Coat | Review

I picked up this seemingly awesome idea about 6 months ago, after I had used up my current base & top coats (which were two different products). I thought "hey, if I can save money & get two uses out of one product, why not?!" Boy was I wrong.

While this product has a nice brush and a thin, even application, it doesn't dry that way. As a base, it sets your nails up to be bubbly, streaky & just plain terrible looking. As a top coat it fairs a little bit better, but one wrong move & it's bubbled up on top of a fresh coat of colour, ruining your DIY manicure before you've even had a chance to get out of the house.

If you manage to get it to work enough as a top coat that the bubbles are few and the majority of your nails look passable, it does keep your polish from chipping for a couple days longer than colour alone, but is all of that really worth it? I would rather paint my nails more often & not have to deal with all this frustration.

Bottom line? While this product is cheap and convenient, it's not worth the time. Spend your money elsewhere & enjoy the benefits of a better product than this one on your nails.

Do you use a base or a top coat? What ones?

Cheers,
Kait

Battle of | The Cleansing Cloths

I'm starting a new series on this blog in which once a month I compare 3-5 products in the same category and decide which ones I enjoy the most on a specific criteria. That way for you it becomes a giant review of a bunch of things & maybe a starting point - or a new product or 2 to try. 

For the first round, I decided to do cleansing cloths/wipes. I chose the 4 following brands to try:

   Simple , Live Clean, Pacifica & Burt's Bees.

   All four of these brands sell their wipes for around the $10 or less price mark (Canadian).

I gave each 10 days worth of use (not necessarily in a row). Usually I use facial cleansing wipes when I'm too tired to care (Friday nights) ... but for this I used them a little bit more frequently, so that I actually got to the end of this experiment. Mostly, I used them after work to remove the bulk of my makeup before exercising.

 I judged them on:

•  overall moisture upon first opening the package
•  moisture still remaining after 10 uses (more than 10 days)
•  effectiveness - does it actually remove face makeup 
•  pleasantness to use (this includes whether or not it's nice on the skin, smell, etc.). 

Simple Cleansing Wipes
For sensitive skin. 25 wipes in a package for around $8.27 ($0.33/wipe)

No artificial perfumes or dyes.

The moisture at the start was good. Not sopping wet, but enough to be pleasant and not rough.  These do remove makeup pretty well with a little bit of effort. They feel nice on the skin and they don't smell like a whole lot of anything. They are also a little bit bigger than the others.  92%

Live Clean Fresh Face Refreshing Facial Wipes 
30 wipes in a package for around $9.99 ($0.33/wipe)
97% plant derived, SLS/sulfate-free, paraben free & phthalate free

The moisture on these babies is great! They are soft and pleasant to use.  They do smell quite strongly of flowers - botanical orchid in fact - so if scent is something that is not great for you this might be a deal breaker.  I actually enjoyed the scent & it didn't seem to bother my skin any. They do, despite the smell, remove makeup like a dream, even waterproof eye makeup! They also have a hard-top with a snap closure, which keeps the moisture locked and loaded & of course best of all (for me) is that they are fairly natural & made with better ingredients for the same relative price as all the rest! 94%

Burt's Bees Facial Towelettes with White Tea Extract 

30 wipes in a package for around $10.29 ($0.34/wipe)

Natural Fabric & natural fragrance. 

Moisture at the start was alright. I found these wipes to be rough and the scent to be a little bit overpowering - especially at night. They were soft, but they left a tingly-stingy sensation. They did remove makeup though, without trying. 67%

Pacifica Purify Coconut Water Cleansing Wipes 
30 wipes in a package for around $8.00 ($0.27/wipe)
100% vegan, petroleum, phthalates, SLS/sulfate & paraben free, biodegradable towelettes
&& A portion of proceeds support clean water

So these aren't the most moist (ew) of the face wipes in this battle, but they still have a lot going for them! They are doing great in the natural skincare department, they support a good cause, the packaging is adorable & features, like the live clean ones, a snap closure to seal in what moisture was to be found. They also smell lightly of coconuts..yummo! They are also (as already noted) the cheapest choice per towelette! 75%


Ready for a conclusion??
So you may have noticed that I graded each one (teacher that I am). I graded each out of 16 - 4 points for each of the 4 criterion. Then I converted them into percentages so that people actually understood my madness. I am totally happy with the one that worked out with the highest score - the Live Clean Fresh Refreshing Facial Wipes. I would definitely buy those over & over again. I did however enjoy the Pacifica ones almost equally, even if they weren't the most soaked in product, they were nice and natural. I would definitely buy those two again. The others? Not so much.

What are your favourite wipes? Do you have any criteria when you pick out products like these?

Cheers,
Kait

2015 Beauty Resolutions

I like to set goals for myself. I'm not always fantastic at achieving these goals, but I work pretty hard at most of them, if they are realistic.

This year, I am resolving to be better about certain aspects of my beauty routine. 

1.  I resolve to wash my makeup off completely every night
2.  I resolved to always use heat protectant on my hair when styling.
3.  I resolve to try a new colour of lipstick/eyeliner/eye shadow every month that is out of my comfort zone
4. I resolve to hydrate myself more ( drinking more water). 
5. I resolve to wear SPF under my makeup every single day.

I realize that a lot of these are unexciting resolutions ...but the key to great beauty regimes begin at the base. So by drinking water, protecting my skin & caring for my hair, makeup and styling become much easier tasks.  But I'm also excited to step out of my comfort zone colour-wise & to, of course, report my adventures on here!

Do you have any resolutions, beauty or otherwise, this year? Let me know!

Cheers,
Kait