Loose Powder

I was asked to compare & review some of the cleansers I have used for eye makeup removal. Until recently, I haven’t used many difficult to remove items like mascara and eyeliner so my regular facial cleansers and a wash cloth seemed to work just fine.

However, once I began using eye primers (like Pixie Epoxy), mascara, and heavy eyeliner for smokey looks, I quickly discovered that the normal cleansers weren’t going to be effective. Sure, they worked — it just required a bit more scrubbing, which might be fine on other parts of your face, but around the eye? Not so much.

In this article, I’m going to talk about three products: Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple Foaming Cleanser, Philosophy’s Just Release Me Eye Makeup Remover, and Burt’s Bees Orange Essence Facial Cleanser.

You might be thinking it isn’t fair to compare one eye makeup remover against two face cleansers. Well, why not? Some people suggest using sunflower oil and that certainly isn’t a cleanser!

To start with, I picked several eye products: e.l.f. mineral eyeliner w/powdered eye shadow on top, e.l.f. waterproof eyeliner, NYC liquid eyeliner, Wet N Wild liquid liner, e.l.f. sugar kiss glitter liner, and NYC waterproof mascara.

And made four sets of lines on my arm with each product. I used Tarte Clean Slate primer underneath and let everything for about 3 hours.

My method for each product will be the same: I’ll use a q-tip with the product and some water. At the top of the test patch, I’ll use minimal pressure when rubbing on the product. Below that on the same patch, I’ll use a bit of scrubbing pressure, which you probably wouldn’t use on your eyelid. Then rinse with water and see what happens!

Now for the results!

(more…)

I’m still testing out a lot of features and plug-ins on WordPress, so I apologize if things work and then are suddenly broken.

I just installed the WP to Twitter plug-in to automatically tweet site updates to the @loosepowder Twitter account and I’m also fixing the social bookmark bar as the Twitter feature is a bit tweaky.

Thanks for your patience!

This was one of a few Zoya polishes I ordered as an introduction to the brand. LOVE this color! I haven’t been able to stop looking at my nails since I put it on. In most light and from many angles, it looks like a nice shimmery purple. Then you tilt your hand a different way, and it’s a brilliant jungle green. In some light it also looks taupe. It is just delicious. This is seemingly staying on a little better than the first Zoya (Lael) I tried; I applied a basecoat, two coats of polish, and a topcoat and it still looks decent 2 days later. I super highly recommend this color, especially if you like purples or duochromes. The pictures I added show the duochromatic(?) effect very nicely.

I’m really liking this brand so far, and it’s an added bonus that it is a bit less toxic than other polishes; it’s tolulene, formaldehyde, phthlate and camphor free. I’d like to find a salon near me that carries this brand, but I’m not sure there are any :-/

Last month I decided I wanted to start wearing mascara. However, because of my sensitive eyes and general allergy to many cosmetics, I didn’t have too many options.

Physicians Formula’s Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Mascara was one I was really hoping to like.

(Sorry about the stock image. I don’t have the product anymore.)

The company’s site describes the product as:

• Revolutionary 100% Natural Origin formula contains the purest ingredients and provides 5x Lash Boosting for lash length, volume & definition naturally.
• 100% Recyclable Eco-Brush defines each lash with ultra-soft plastic bristles.
• 100% Free of Harsh Chemicals, Synthetic Preservatives, Parabens, Clumping, Smudging, Flaking, Fibers & Dyes.

All of that sounds really good! Even looking at the ingredients on the box, I didn’t see anything objectionable:

INGREDIENTS: CITRUS AURANTIUM DULCIS (ORANGE) FRUIT WATER*, GLYCERIN, IRON OXIDE, MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE, GLYCERYL STEARATE, WATER, BEESWAX*, JOJOBA ESTERS, TAPIOCA STARCH*, COPERNICIA CERIFERA (CARNAUBA) WAX*, STEARIC ACID, GLYCERYL CAPRYLATE, ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF JUICE*, CELLULOSE GUM, CUCUMIS SATIVUS (CUCUMBER) FRUIT EXTRACT*, GLYCINE SOYA (SOYBEAN) OIL*, HYDROLYZED ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) PROTEIN, LEUCONOSTOC/RADISH ROOT FERMENT FILTRATE, MAGNESIUM ALUMINUM SILICATE, OLEA EUROPAEA (OLIVE) LEAF EXTRACT*. MAY CONTAIN: TITANIUM DIOXIDE *PRODUCED FROM ORGANIC FARMING.

So, I went to my local Rite-Aid and picked it up. I can’t remember the price exactly, but it was about $8 – which is an average drug store mascara price and very inexpensive for a natural mascara.

I wanted to like this product, I really did. First problem – it had a weird smell. It wasn’t really a chemical scent, but it smelled a bit sharp? Possibly a little glue-like. That went away though, so it didn’t bother me that much.

The weird, bendy, spiked wand didn’t bother me. Actually, I think it worked pretty well for application. This mascara doesn’t add volume, but it does add some length. It was what I was expecting when I bought, so I was happy with it.

The huge problem was after about 4 hours, it started to flake like crazy. I had black specs all over my face and some of it got into my eyes. I wear glasses constantly and don’t rub my eyes, so it wasn’t even from that.

I figured I would give this product a second chance, so the next day I applied the mascara again. Same thing occurred and this time, my eyes got a bit red and irritated — probably from the black flakes falling in them.

So that was it, I gave up. Thankfully, Rite-Aid has a great cosmetics return policy, so I was able to bring it back and get a refund.

Which is funny, since I bought the Organic Wear because I’d previously returned a L’Oreal Double Extend Mascara, but I’ll talk about that in another post.

This is my very first WordPress blog, so I’m still trying to figure out how to tweak some things.

Hopefully I’ll use this thing a bit more? I’ve already accidentally abandoned my Livejournal. Oops.

But, yes, I plan to go back through and review some of the items I have tried.