Loose Powder

About a week ago I discovered the Lush store at one of my local malls. It’s pretty new and I think I’d noticed it once or twice before, but never gone in. Big mistake going in, because now I’m going to keep going back and spending money.

The store partially drew me in because it is called “LUSH – Fresh Handmade Cosmetics”, which made me think they also had makeup. They don’t. It’s all bath/body/hair stuff, but what wonderful stuff it is! The products are all-natural/vegetarian, with over 70% being vegan. They use natural ingredients and about two-thirds of their items are preservative-free; the products are hand-made, they do not test on animals & don’t do business with suppliers that do, and they use ethical suppliers for their ingredients (this is all from their website).

I’ve been in twice so far, and the salesgirls have been very friendly and eager to help, but not obnoxious. The store smells delightful and it’s hard to choose just a few things to buy! My first time in, I started with two things: the Buffy body bar (bottom in pic) and the Therapy massage bar (top in pic).

The Therapy massage bar is a shea and cocoa butter bar with lavender & orange oil for a relaxing scent. They use organic fair-trade shea butter and cocoa butter for this product. It is designed to be massaged into the skin and not leave oil on your skin; it does absorb in pretty well. Cocoa butter is good for stretch marks & they advertise it as particularly good for pregnant bellies. Personally, I’ve been using cocoa butter products for years now on the stretch marks on my hips (from weight loss/gain, not pregnancy, lol) and it works very well to minimize them and really moisturize the whole area.

I picked up this bar because of my love for cocoa butter and the yummy scent: it smells like other cocoa butter products I’ve had before, but with a hint of lavender. The girl at the store explained that the reason the bar has one raised bump and three little holes on it is because apparently one out of every four babies is born with an outtie belly button, and this bar is marketed as being good for pregnant women. Cute! I’ve used this about a week now & it’s moisturizing, working great on my hips, smells yummy, so overall a great product; however, it basically does the same thing as the Cococare cocoa butter stick I have been using for a long time, which costs less than $2 at drugstores. I probably won’t buy the Therapy massage bar again just because of the cost as compared to the cococare stick, but it is really a great product.

Now onto the Buffy body bar. I cannot even begin to express how much I LOVE this! It is a scrub bar of shea and cocoa butter mixed with ground rice, almonds and aduki beans for exfoliating. It smells like shea and maybe a little oatmeal-y to me, but there’s no oatmeal in it – not a delicious scent, but I like it. I bought the smaller one because it was cheaper, have used it for over a week every other day, and it’s almost gone, so I will buy the larger one next time.

(Buffy after a few uses, showing the abrasiveness of it)

I use this bar in the shower right before I get out: just scrub wherever you want, then rinse & dry off. It leaves your skin feeling like you’ve already put lotion on - it’s not greasy, and your skin feels just so soft & smooth. I have a huge problem area of dry skin in the winter on my hips, and I usually have to slather on lotion after a shower because it gets itchy.  I use the Buffy bar and don’t feel the need to put any lotion on whatsoever, and it has eliminated dry flaky skin I get on my hips. It is actually a bit abrasive so be careful if your skin is super sensitive, but I love it on my arms & legs in addition to any other dry skin areas. I will keep buying this again and again, I can’t say enough good things about it!

One other thing; at Lush they use very little packaging. The bars, soaps, bath bombs etc are sold without any packaging and displayed in bins and stacks (which makes for pretty cute displays). They put things into little paper baggies when you buy them, for which they use as much post-consumer recycled materials for as they can, or you can buy tins for $2.95, which are re-usable of course. I bought tins with these two items.

 So to conclude, Lush is a new favorite of mine. I’ve made a second purchase  already and will be continuing to go back to try things out. If you have one near you and haven’t been in, absolutely check it out.

EDIT 5/2/10: DO NOT leave your buffy bar in a hot car Mine melted to liquid in the car yesterday on the 6-hour drive home from Jersey. I was so sad last night when I got in the shower & realized it was totally dead! I don’t know what you can do to remedy this if it has to be in a hot location, but my apartment gets pretty hot in the summer so I’m going to have to figure something out.

The first time I used BareMinerals foundation was in 2001. I will admit to being sucking in by the non-stop infomercials all over TV, but after having used the original formula for over 5 years, I thought the coverage was great and I didn’t feel like I had a mask on face — all the things that were advertised.

There was one drawback to this foundation, though: it made my face itch. This happened over time and I kind of ignored it, thinking it was something else. Well, using my Mad Google Skillz, I discovered that a fair number of people were also having the same reaction and it was likely due to the bismuth oxycholoride. This mineral has not been shown to be toxic, but apparently, it can be an irritant. Their mineral eye shadows with bismuth were also making my eyes itch, so I had to search for alternatives.

After trying various samples from smaller mineral makeup companies, I settled on Everyday Minerals. I thought their prices were fair and when I started with them, they had great sample kits so I could figure out my color. Admittedly, their foundation didn’t have the same sort of coverage as BareMinerals, but their products don’t contain bismuth or talc so I could use them without a problem.

Recently, I received a mailing stating that BareMinerals had released a new SPF 15 Matte Foundation and samples would be available in Bare Escentuals boutiques and at Sephora. I had a look at the ingredients and it was certainly promising:

Active Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide. Inactive Ingredients: Lauroyl Lysine, Silica, Calcium Silicate, Soil Minerals. May Contain: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides

The only ingredient of theirs I am skeptical of are the “active soil minerals,” but whatever. I’m not worried about some lab dirt on my face. I was really excited that they were making a bismuth free foundation! Which also means this stuff does not sparkle. Now, I am not opposed to some sparkle, but honestly, it was a bit annoying being on set and having camera crew stop and stare at me and tell me that my makeup sparkled. I know guys; I’m secretly a Cullen, okay?

Needless to say, I ran to my local Bare Escentuals boutique, got color matched, and was luck enough to get one of the last remaining samples of Light. I’ve used this foundation every day for about two weeks prior to writing this review so I could make sure I didn’t have the same reaction and that it didn’t make my face break out. Well, I can happily say that thus far, this foundation has worked a treat. Good coverage and, when paired with Tarte’s Clean Slate face primer, it lasted me 10+ hours. It is about twice as much as I was paying for my other mineral foundation, but I feel this coverage is much better and one 6g container will last me nearly a year.

In the sample set, you get a 1g pot of foundation and tiny kabuki brush. Get rid of the brush. Seriously. BareMinerals brushes are crap. The bristles are harsh and abrasive and frankly, I think they were making my skin break out. I suggest getting brushes with full heads and soft Taklon bristles, like e.l.f. or EcoTools. For mineral foundation, I like e.l.f.’s Studio Line Powder Brush.

The amount in that jar should be plenty for you to try the foundation out for a week or two. If there aren’t any more packaged samples for you, ask the sales associate at Bare Escentuals or Sephora if they could give you a sample. They’ll usually give you a small sample pot with 0.5g or whatever they dump in it.

I did a sample application so you can have a look at the coverage. Photos are taken with a flash because that harsh light is going to show all sort of stuff you don’t see in soft light or even daylight… not that my face it totally awful. The first photo is me with a clean face, followed by just the BareMinerals foundation and an EDM concealer. The last picture is after I applied blush, eye shadow, and a finishing powder.

(Blush is e.l.f. in Coral; Eye shadow is Cotton Tale by Everyday Minerals & pink from a Beauty/UK palette; finishing powder by Fyrinnae.)

Overall, I am pretty happy with the new BareMinerals Matte Foundation and I hope it continues to perform well. I’m sure you’ll hear from me if it doesn’t.

Have any of you had experiences with mineral foundations you’d like to share?

Never one for pink polishes in the past, I’ve recently just started trying some reds & pinks. This one is a really gorgeous cranberry color by Zoya.

Mieko is described on the Zoya site as a, “metallic orange red with gilded sparkle highlights,” with an opacity level of 5. It’s definitely got a nice opacity – two coats was all it took to get the color in the bottle. I’d describe the color as more of a raspberry or cranberry, but it does depend a bit on the light. I love the gold shimmer that the polish has.

Just for fun, I also used my new Konad kit to stamp a fun design on! I kind of love it. It’s image plate m63 and e.l.f. polish in Plum.

I used the Sephora OPI Strengthener as a base coat with Essie Three Way Glaze for a top coat. After 5 days, I see some edge wear, but no chipping.

Love the Zoya line and this is another great polish!

In my efforts to start replacing items I use with more eco-friendly/less toxic items, I have started doing research on product ingredients, “green” companies/natural products companies etc. Some search I did earlier led me to a website called GoodGuide, which rates products in the categories of health, environment, and society; i.e. how healthy the product is for you, how the company does with energy management & other environmental concerns, and customer satisfaction, quality & safety, philanthropy etc. Products are rated on a scale between 0 and 10; the higher the score, the better the product is overall - I think they score ‘health’, ‘environment’ and ‘society’ all out of 10 then average them for a final rating. They also list all the product’s ingredients and whether they are a “controversial ingredient” or an “ingredient of concern” and provide information on effects these controversial or concerning ingredients can have.

While I liked GoodGuide because of the environmental friendliness and society ratings, Cyn directed me to another site, Skin Deep (cosmeticsdatabase.com), which basically does the same thing but goes more in depth. Products are given a score between 0 and 10, with a product rated 10 being a high hazard. They list much more information about a product’s ingredients and the hazards associated with the ingredient than GoodGuide does. It does not, however, contain any data about the company’s ‘green-ness’ or ethical/societal practices. Skin Deep is run by the Environmental Working Group, who describe their mission as “to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment.” (they also run a site called the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, a website about pesticide use in produce) Being in public health, this group actually interests me on a number of different levels, but right now we’re focusing on cosmetics & personal care products.

So, after finding GoodGuide, I started browsing through the site for items I use. I settled on my Aussie Hair Insurance spray conditioner to check out first.

I realized it probably was not the most natural product in the world, but was still disappointed to find some questionable ingredients and a couple of not-so-good ratings for the company in environment and society. Here is the page. GoodGuide has two ingredients listed as controversial: DMDM Hydantoin, a preservative which can release trace amounts of formaldehyde, and “fragrance”, which could contain anything – apparently there is no requirement for companies to disclose what they use for fragrances, and many contain compounds that can be irritants or allergens to some people. The company received average or below-average marks on several other items including energy management, air pollution and quality & safety (just a disclaimer: I have not done further research on these matters for this company, I am just rehashing it here). In total, this product received a rating of 6.6 out of 10 from GoodGuide

After I was made aware of Skin Deep, I checked out this product there too (Here is their page on it). At first I was a bit more concerned reading about my Hair Insurance on this site than on the other (and remember, this site does not take environmental or ethical practices of the company into account for anything). However, once I looked over the ingredient details a bit I realized they were basically the same. The DMDM hydantoin and “fragrance” are listed first and given a 9 and 8 rating, respectively. They go into more detail about the other ingredients too, even though none of the others listed are rated over a 4. Concerns with the less hazardous items included allergies & irritation. The product was rated a 6 out of 10 (“moderate hazard”) from Skin Deep.

The biggest concern with this item, based on the little bit of research I’ve done, is the formaldehyde from the preservative hydantoin. Here is Skin Deep’s formaldehyde ingredient page (lots of detailed information there), and it rates the chemical itself as a 10 out of 10, or a high hazard. It is a known carcinogen and can irritate eyes, throat & nose when inhaled – obviously at least a mild concern when it’s in a mist you’re spraying on your hair.

Now, let me actually review the product. A few months ago I realized I wanted to try a spray conditioner to help with the frizzy halo my hair gets after I blow dry it. I’d had some years ago from a different company (might’ve been Pantene) that I couldn’t find anymore, and someone recommended I try Aussie. I picked it up for not too much money and started using it right after I blow-dry my hair. The bottle actually says to use it when your hair is damp, but I’ve found it’s best for me when I use it on dry hair. It works wonders! I get way fewer frizzies & flyaways after using it; my hair stays nice and smooth & shiny, and doesn’t make it feel significantly heavier or greasier when I use it. I don’t go overboard with it, just spray nice & lightly over my whole head. I usually wash my hair at night, and when I wake up the next morning my hair usually looks amazing. I have been really happy with it.

Now, don’t get me wrong; after reading up on the ingredients in this spray and the health concerns about them, I am not freaking out, throwing it away and sure that I’m going to get cancer from it. I was a little disappointed to learn about the undesirable ingredients and will probably look for something to replace this when I’m done with it, but chances are, if I can’t find something that works as well, I’ll keep using it, albeit a little more sparingly. I’ve been having problems with my eyes feeling dry and irritated lately, and even though I’m sure it’s a number of different things contributing to that, this spray could, for all I know, be aggravating my symptoms. I am being careful not to use too much and careful not to get it in my eyes.

In conclusion, this product works exactly as I’d hoped it would and I like it. However, researching what’s in some of your favorite products can lead to a rude awakening if you are interested in using eco-friendly, non-toxic products. This product isn’t as bad as I’m sure some are, but do your research – you might be surprised! Your favorite product may be more toxic than you realized and the company that produces it might be dumping toxins in the creek out back. However, one thing to remember if you find a questionable ingredient in a product you use is don’t freak out! Do your research, be objective, read the material. I care about trying to support companies that are environmentally conscious and I prefer trying to use more natural products that are better for me and the environment; if you feel the same way, it’s worth it to do the research.

I am fickle with foundations.  I’ll be all mineral for months and then switch to a tinted moisturizer before moving back to full-coverage liquids.

When I was in the kitchens (culinary school), I was having a lot of issue with sweating off my makeup or just having magical disappearing foundation in the heat.  Mineral makeup has a longer last point than some but my skin gets itchy when I sweat; the tinted foundation that I love (Laura Mercier; maybe I’ll do another post on it) didn’t have enough coverage to last for a whole day.

And then I discovered China Doll by Napoleon Perdis.  I’d heard about it from Australian friends but hadn’t been able to find it over here until about six months ago.  It used to be available at Sephora but I think it’s switched to Ulta now.  It runs at $50/bottle, which might sound steep, but one bottle lasts at least four months —unless you’re putting way more on your face than I do.

The upshot of all this is that China Doll is a foundation plus a powder (it goes on wet and dries to a matte finish).  I love that because it saves me a whole step in my morning routine.  The coverage is very nice, solid enough to cover imperfections but not so opaque that you look like you’re wearing pancake makeup.  It needs to be applied with a foundation brush or it gets streaky.  My favorite is the Sephora Professional line.  Soft, durable, and not too expensive ($25).

I share a bathroom with my sister. It isn’t fun, but it has its advantages. For example, when I ran out of mascara and asked if I could borrow hers. She said yes and immediately launched into a rant about how her mascara is amazing and I’m going to love it. I mentally rolled my eyes.

I take my skepticism back. Diorshow waterproof mascara is my favorite to this day. It lengthens. It volumizes. It’s magic.

The brush is thick and straight, which I find easier to maneuver than curved brushes, and it narrows at the tip so you can get the lashes at the corners of your eyes without blotting mascara everywhere. It’s $24 (at Sephora) and worth every cent.

It’s bold and full, and I mention it first because it’s the standard to which I hold all other mascaras. Why am I even looking? I love trying new things, and maybe I can find something good at a better price in the process. Sometimes all I need is a quick fix but all I can find is a drugstore. And not everyone wants to pay $24 for mascara — thus my search for a more frugal substitute begins.

This week I tried Maybelline’s Waterproof Define-A-Lash Lengthening Mascara in Brownish Black, which is supposed to define and lengthen. It looks okay, but it doesn’t pull a rabbit out of a hat or anything. I kept applying more, waiting for the length to show up. I felt like my shorter lashes got lumped together with my longer lashes, which certainly makes them stand out, but that’s not really defining each lash — and it comes at the price of volume.

Maybe it was the awful brush. I didn’t pay attention to the packaging when I bought it, but the brush is “flexible” and “shaped to the lash,” which I translate to cheap, flimsy and oddly-shaped. Honestly, the shape might not be so bad if it stayed in place, but I could feel it bending while applying it to my lashes and I don’t understand how this is a good thing. That is a smudge waiting to happen while you’re in a rush, already running late for work. Not that I would know…

Pros: $8.29 and it really is waterproof. I went to the gym, sweated like a hothouse tomato and still had great eye makeup when my workout was over. No raccoon eyes for me.

Cons: The lengthening effect was unsatisfactory. My lashes don’t look any longer than they do with any non-lengthening mascara. Hooray for returns policies.

I’m not ready to give up on Maybelline yet, though. They make like 20 different mascaras. This morning I tried their Waterproof Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Mascara in Very Black, which is supposed to give your lashes length and volume. I’m happy to report it does both.

The brush is, thankfully, not flexible, though they’re still doing something fancy with the shape. This had me worried. I always think that if a product is good, it doesn’t need gimmicky selling points like a loop-de-loop brush that glows in the dark and doubles as a vibrator. Curvy shapes get in my way more than actually helping. I think it’s because I know where the straight brush is going to go, whereas the curve of a brush might not end up where I think it will, and that is how I end up poking my eye…like I did this morning.

But it looks pretty good. You get length and some volume, and my lashes don’t feel stuck together.  It’s not quite as full a look as I would like, but for $8.49 I don’t expect miracles. I would say you definitely get your money’s worth. Lash Stiletto is a good drugstore brand choice that gets the job done.

Pros: It’s a good look for the price, length + volume.

Cons: Brush is unnecessarily curvy, but some people like that.

Everyone knows someone who knows someone who sells Mary Kay. It’s the more expensive Avon. Plus, well, to be real, those who sell MK get a bigger commission, and they know and love the product they sell. I actually ran into a convention of MK reps in an airport and after an eye-opening conversation, discovered that they do indeed still give out the pink Cadillacs, and that amused me. I actually don’t sell MK myself (though I am thinking about it – have been for awhile), so this review has the benefit of being unbiased in that I’m not linking everything back to my sales page.

Predominantly, the things I get from MK are skin care products. Their Velocity line has the medicated acne-treatment skin care, but I’m not a huge fan when I can use a combination of Clean & Clear and St. Ives products to get the same result. However, I do enjoy and utilise their TimeWise line of skin care products.

TimeWise is their anti-aging line, and while I wasn’t too concerned with those products at 19, I started trying a few of them anyway and in general, despite my excessive sun exposure, I’m seeing a fewer tiny lines and discolorations than others my age (which would be 26, while we’re disclosing to prove the usefulness of a product). My favorite is their TimeWise Moisturizer (for oily/combination skin) - it’s a very light moisturizer that you’re supposed to use day and night, but I never put anything on my face at night – that’s when my pores get to breathe. I’ve used over-the-counter moisturizers that feel greasy and make me break out, but this is the first one that’s passed all the tests. Oil of Olay is generally a recommended moisturizer because they are department-store quality (think the gals at Macy’s who are hawking brand names few can realistically afford) at over-the-counter prices. In my experience, even their formula for oily/combination skin made me break out a little. Your skin changes as your hormones change and you age, so this could very well no longer be the case, but at 19/20/21, I still had very angry skin, and Oil of Olay was not cutting it. I simply have not gone back and retried it, I’ve  become an MK brand whore, as it were. I use a very tiny amount and it goes a long way, so my single 3 fl. oz. is worth the money to me ($22). 

MK Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover: As Cyn already showed us, there are plenty of options for eye makeup removal. Since we’re talking Mary Kay, I thought I’d share my one of my favorite products, which is a fantastic eye makeup remover. It’s oil-free, and gentle on the skin in the eye area. Another plus, I accidentally poked myself in the eye with a Q-Tip removing eyeliner with the product, and I only suffered a poke in the eye, not a situation that required EMERGENCY EYE WASH from one of those goggle-sinks. So it seems to be gentle enough you can be a klutz and not blind yourself. Well, unless you poke yourself really hard with that Q-Tip. That could do some damage. ANYWAY, back to the product. It looks like it should be oily, because it separates in the bottle, but wonderfully, it’s not. I shake up the bottle, and drip the product (which is about the consistency of water) onto a Q-Tip for eyeliner and most eyeshadow removal. For mascara (even waterproof! I almost don’t want to know what magic is in this stuff – I just know it won’t give me cancer and isn’t tested on animals, so that’s enough for me right now) and sometimes with eyeshadow where I’ve done more than a quick swath with my Victoria Secret EyeShadow Wand, I use a cotton pad. You don’t need a lot of product, and while it doesn’t leave any residue behind, I do usually wash my face afterwards just in case anything is left behind. The big plus here? You just gently wipe. No scrubbing, no rubbing, just a gentle swish and it takes off everything I’ve thrown at it so far. Easily, simply, without irritation, residue, or hassle. Aside from the moisturizer, this has quickly become a favorite product now that I have to be all girly-professional for work.

 Satin Lips Set: I’ll admit up front, I hate that the balm no longer comes in a little pot. I kept my little pot, and tend to buy it in the tube, squeeze it all into the little pot, and stick it in the fridge to set it before I use it. Through some weird magic of chemistry (yes, it IS magic…leave me alone), it doesn’t go back to being all gooey unless it gets REALLY warm. At which point, back into the fridge overnight it goes! But back to the usefulness aspect of this duet. Wearing a lot of chapstick in general, inevitably you’ll get dead skin on your lips. Most of it comes off with a good regular scrub, but sometimes I just want to do this with my lips – and most facial scrubs are going to be a little harsher than you want on your lips. This isn’t called a scrub for that reason – it’s a buffing agent. It removes dead skin cells with a gentle, tiny-beaded (okay, so I’m going to do it anyway) scrub. After washing it off and patting your lips dry, putting on the balm is fantastic. It sinks right into your lips and, I know this might be funny to say, but it makes my lips feel refreshed. Even though there isn’t a minty tingle I usually associate with the word “refreshed”. And did I mention soft? I actually really like touching my lips after this process. I use the balm more often than the buffing agent, but I’ve found that if there is a build-up of dead skin cells on your lips it doesn’t absorb as well and can feel a bit waxy sitting on top of your lips. I don’t use this exclusively – more like when I’m feelin’ sassy. It has no scent, flavor, or color, and doesn’t in general play well with others (the no-smear lipstick from MK lives up to its name, but smeared when I put the balm on top…curious?), but is a useful product to keep your lips healthy.

Next time I’ll sing the praises of varying makeup products themselves, but these three are products that I keep myself supplied with on a regular basis and still haven’t gone out of style for me seven years after I bought my first “dose”.

Last summer, Sephora OPI came out with a fantastic shade of green/blue called Mermaid to Order. It reminded me of the nails that AndrAIa had in the old computer animated series, ReBoot. (Hi, geek alert!) I tried it as soon as I got home and I loved it!

The inevitable happened of course – even with a polish that is Big Three Free, after a week of wear, my nails started peeling. This is the main reason I had stopped wearing polishes and hadn’t put any on in almost 10 years. Still, I was really loving the colors that Sephora OPI had and I bought a few more to wear, just resting my nails a week or two between each color like I used to. I figured that once again, there was no way I was going to be able to wear polish constantly without ruining my nails!

In November, I came across OPI’s Nail Envy in a beauty supply shop, but decided not to buy it as it was $15. I did, however, check out some reviews for it on MakeupAlley and discovered that Sephora OPI had something similar for a little less money; the reviews were generally positive.

The next time I stopped in Sephora, I had a look at the Sephora OPI Strengthener. I hadn’t tried nail strengtheners before, so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I figured I would give it a try. If nothing else, it would make an expensive base coat.

The product itself looks ivory in the bottle, but applies nearly clear. You can wear it alone as a treatment, which gives your nails a nice gloss, or you can wear it as a base coat before applying color. Some people say you shouldn’t mix base coats/products from different companies, but I’ve used this item with all OPI lines, Zoya, Essie, and drugstore polishes without any chipping or drying problems.

I’ve been using this product since December as a base coat and I love it! I’ve had a polish on every day since I bought it and I change nails colors about once a week. I have not had any of the peeling problems I’d previously experienced.

Well, okay, except last week, but it was only both index fingers and was probably due to all the shoveling and my hands getting cold/wet/dry. There was no peeling on my other nails and I didn’t experience any breaking, which my nails have previously been prone to do.

Along with using this strengthener, my nail care routine also includes using a 4-way buffer, which is supposed to help stop peeling as well. I think both of these things together have really helped improve the quality of my nails.

If you’ve had problems with peeling and breaking nails, I highly recommend trying this Sephora OPI Strengthener. It’s definitely my HG nail product!

I wasn’t sure what product I should chose to make as my first review on Loose Powder, but my question was answered when I stuck my hand into my gym bag and pulled out my ChapStick: True Shimmer.

Lately the weather has been unkind to my lips, and I’ve been using a lot of lip balm. When I ran out of my Classic Strawberry flavored ChapStick, I decided to give the True Shimmer version a try. I figure a little shimmer added to my lip balm would be nice without the stickiness of lip gloss.

There are four flavors for the True Shimmer line of ChapStick: Botanical Berry, Tropical Peppermint Rush, and Blended Fruit Sherbet.

I opted for Botanical Berry, since I figure that would have the closest flavor to the Strawberry. Botanical Berry smells like berries with a little tangy scent in it, while the Classic Strawberry has a sweeter smell, and there is always that slight hint of the petroleum jelly scent, but that scent doesn’t bother me unless I’m inhaling my ChapStick, and lip balm goes on my lips, not in my nose. So that isn’t a problem.

The color of the True Shimmer is a lot darker compared to the bright pink Strawberry stick. It is a bit hard to see the color differences in the pictures, but you can see there are quite a bit of speckles of glitter mixed in the True Shimmer stick, which makes the color look almost metallic, but not quite. Though it might just be the trick of the light.

Out of curiosity, I took both sticks and rubbed them over a piece of white paper. The Strawberry stick has a pink hue, while the True Shimmer has an orange tint to it. Since the colors are so light the slightly different tint in colors do not make much of a difference.

When I applied both onto my lips, half Strawberry and the other half True Shimmer, I couldn’t really tell the difference when I stood at a normal distance from the mirror. I only noticed the “Shimmer” when I was literally two inches from the mirror.

Also the glitter speckles on the True Shimmer stick made the color of the ChapStick seem lighter when applied. I like my lip balm to give my lips a light hue since I don’t use lipstick much, and Classical Strawberry had just the right tint for me.

I have to say that I am a bit disappointed by the True Shimmer Chapstick. For $2.99 I was hoping for the color to be like the Classic Strawberry with a little Shimmer, but it was not. If I wanted color on my lips and prevent it from chapping, I would stick to my Classic Strawberry, but the True Shimmer: Botanical Berry is still a fun ChapStick to have because of the shimmer, and it has the sweet taste that makes me love ChapStick brand lip balm.

I currently have two awesome lip glosses I’ve been using regularly and figured I would share them here! On a day-to-day basis I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but lip gloss is a staple… probably the only staple I really have at this point, lol. When I find good glosses I like to hang on to ‘em, and I love the two I’m using now.

Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush lip gloss – Puddin’ Pie
This was a hesitant buy after I tried the VS Sweet Talk lip gloss a loooong time ago (which I think was among their first lip glosses?). I didn’t mind that gloss because it was so shiny & lasted a really long time, but it was so sticky that it got a little aggravating to wear. This new Beauty Rush gloss is formulated much better; it’s still sticky, but not bad enough to make you not want to wear it. The flavor I got, Puddin’ Pie, is absolutely yummy and seriously tastes like chocolate pudding. The color is pink in the tube with sparkles, and on your lips it comes out shiny & a bit sparkly, with a teeny touch of pink color. It also lasts quite a long time on your lips. I don’t know about the other colors/flavors but this one is great, definitely worth giving a shot!

C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint – Magenta Mint
I have never met a Bigelow lip gloss I didn’t like, but this one is one of my favorites. It has 2% peppermint oil in it, advertised “for fresh breath” although I haven’t found that to make a difference, but I love the minty tingle! I bought a pretty strong cinnamon oil one from them one time, and the ones with the peppermint oil are much better. The color of this one is Magenta Mint, and looks darker in the tube than it comes out. It gives you slight color & a whole ton of shine. As compared to the Beauty Rush, it doesn’t last quite as long because it isn’t as thick, but it does feel better on your lips.

Both of these glosses are available for about $7/tube: the Beauty Rush obviously from Victoria’s Secret, and the Bigelows I get at Bath & Body Works. The Bigelows go on sale pretty frequently. I’m using both about equally and am quite happy for now with them!