Loose Powder

With my fantastically stubborn eyelashes, traditional eyelash curlers don’t work for me. If I can get them to curl at all, it never holds and the lashes got right back to pointing straight down.

I recently saw a review by Eki for a heated eyelash curler. At first, it sounded a bit scary to be putting a heating element that close to your eye! Looking at other reviews, the girls seemed to have both eyeballs intact, so it was probably fine right?

The Panasonic Heated Eyelash Curler (model EH2351AC) had good reviews and for $10, it was a great deal!

I liked the form factor of this design, as opposed to some of the other ones I’ve seen that were more like a thin mascara tube. There is a simple on/off switch and the cap functions as a safety measure – with it on, the curler will be in the off position.

The head of the lash curler is a plastic comb with a flat top and teeth  on the sides. It also functions as a cover for the heating element underneath. DO NOT use the lash curler without the cover – you’ll definitely burn yourself and those heating elements get very hot! The third picture shows the indicator on the back of the head – when the tool gets hot, it will turn pink.

It did take a couple uses before I was used to using this and I’m not going to lie – I did kind of poke myself accidentally with the teeth. Thankfully, I wasn’t really injured nor did I burn myself. However, it definitely made me treat this thing carefully while learning to use it!

There are a few tutorials on youtube that might be able to help, so do a search for those.

Here are my before and after photos; sorry the before photo is so dark!

I really like that this looks more like a natural curl than the harsh angular crimp you get with a traditional curler. Without applying mascara, the curl does stay for several hours. Once I apply mascara, however, the curl falls a little almost immediately (depending on how heavy/wet the mascara is). It’s okay, though, since my lashes don’t go back to their normal state, which is to point straight down.

The best technique to use when curling your lashes is to hold the curler at the base of your lashes and press a little for a few seconds, then slide it up the lash to the tip and to the tips, and hold for a few seconds. Brushing a heated curler through does nothing – much like curling your hair.

Depending on the mascara, you can use the heated lash curler after your mascara is dry. This technique works really well with mascaras like imju Fiberwig and blinc. I’ve also tried it with Buxom mascara and it smooths out the lumps but the heat will melt the mascara a bit and remove some.

The heated eyelash curler runs on a single AA battery. I’ve been using it every other day for the last month and the battery is still good. The first couple times you use it, it will heat up very quickly and get very hot. Be careful! Each subsequent time, it will take a little longer for it to reach full temperature, but so far it’s still been quick – a minute or less. I haven’t tried using a rechargeable battery in this yet.

This is definitely the best tool investment I have made! If you have trouble with curling your lashes, be sure to check out a tool like this.

I’ve read quite a few reviews for Japonesque tweezers and all of them praised these specialty tweezers for their sharp edge and ease of use. After searching Amazon, I found this pair on sale for $12.99.

Slant tip tweezers are my preferred type for plucking my eyebrows and these definitely have a nice angle and a sharp edge. The box also includes a sleeve to store your tweezers.

One of the best features of the Japonesque brand is that they will sharpen your tweezers if they ever get dull – you just have to mail them back to the company.

While I do like to the design of these tweezers, I actually didn’t find that these worked for me at all. It did pick up really fine hair, but when I tried to pull it out, it would slip right out of the tweezer. Also, with slightly coarser hairs, it also seemed like there wasn’t enough grip to pull them out. For me, they seem to work about half the time which means I’m still using my $8 drug store tweezers to finish the job.

Overall, I found the performance of these tweezers disappointing. I guess I’ll be sticking with my less expensive, duller tweezers!

Like a lot of other ladies, I used to use expensive disposable razors with their fancy triple or quattro bladed heads to shave my legs. They all did their job, of course, but I’d finally had it the cost of the replacement heads! Depending on the type of razor you have, a set of replacement heads – usually in threes – cost $10 or more. Sure, you get fancy moisture strips and possibly a vibrating head (seriously… vibrating blades?), but personally none of those made a difference to me.

Last year, I switched to using a double edged safety razor. Yep, you got it -  classic safety razor that’s best used with shave soap and a shave brush. The initial investment was more, of course, but once you’re set, the replacement blades cost as little as $0.10 each.

I’m not going to get too much into the How To in this post, but I want to talk about two of the razors I’ve tried as well as some of the accessories I’ve purchased.

The first razor I bought was a satin chrome Weishi safety razor that I purchased on eBay. It cost me about $25 and came with a storage box and Dorco blades.

This was a pretty good beginner’s razor. It’s a butterfly open safety razor – you twist the knob and the top opens like double doors. Then you simply take the old blade out, and drop the new one in.

Below are photos of the mechanism opened, a new blade placed in the razor, and the razor closed with the blade edge showing.

Overall, I was pretty happy with this razor and averaged about 2 or 3 days before I really needed to shave my legs again. I never used it on my underarms as I prefer to use an epilator in that area.

However… while I was waiting for my train at Washington Union Station last month, I wandered into the Art of Shaving store. I couldn’t resist buying the long handled Merkur (Model 180) for $40!

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I use eye pencils as eyeliner for years, and it never occurred to me that sharpeners made a difference because aren’t eye pencils are just pencils with softer tips? With this mentality, I’ve been using a cheap Wet ‘n’ Wild sharpener I got for $0.99. Generally, the sharpener worked… to an extent. But at the time, I was using cheap eyeliner pencils that cost no more than a dollar or two. So if the tips kept breaking and the sharpeners chewed the pencils like a wood chuck, I didn’t really care. But now that I am actually investing money and purchasing better eyeliners, such as, Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-on eye pencils, I did not want to have half of my eye pencil eaten up by a faulty sharpener, especially at $17 an eye pencil.

This review is for three sharpeners that I have in my makeup bag, and does price really make a difference in sharpeners?

Wet ‘n’ Wild

I got this sharpener a long time ago. I think the sharpeners that Wet ‘n’ Wild puts out now are silver in color, and I don’t know if they have improved their product or not, but after using this one. I’m not tempted to try even if it is only a couple bucks. However, this is a dual sharpener and has a sharpener for the jumbo eye pencil as well.

This sharpener did its job. It sharpened my eye pencils, but it sharpened the pencils like a regular No. 2 pencil. We’ve all experience the sharpened pencil where one side is the lead and the other is side a wood point, and just when you thought you had about half a centimeter of lead left, you find that you can’t write normally anymore and you have to start writing at a ridiculously odd angle because the sharpener does not sharpen evenly around the pencil.

Now this is a problem for eye pencils because when you’re lining your eyes and reach near the end of the tip, the wood strip at the end can scratch your eyelids, and I’ve done this a bunch of times when I didn’t pay attention to the bluntness of my eye pencils. Believe me, it hurts!

In addition to getting scratched eyelids, this sharpener has a tendency to break the tips while sharpening, and this happened quite often. So often that I would give up and only half sharpen the pencil enough to give me enough of a point to line my eyes, but that problem still led to my eyelids getting scratched. I can’t win!

Maybe Wet ‘n’ Wild has changed the blade in their silver sharpeners, but I won’t be trying it anytime soon unless I get it for free, then maybe I’ll give it a go.

ELF Sharpener

I actually forgot I had this sharpener. I received this sharpener through the ELF “Get the Look” set and just tossed it into my makeup bag and never looked back until now. In fact, I have three of these sharpeners.

Since ELF sells these sharpeners at about $1.00, I assumed they were as bad as the Wet ‘n’ Wild one I have, but since I had them, I thought I’d try them out. These ELF sharpeners are a hit or miss. The first sharpener I grabbed was bad. It did not sharpen at all. I stuck the pencil into the sharpener and twisted and twisted and nothing happened. I even tried pressing the pencil closer to the blade thinking if it “caught” it would start sharpening. No luck. Just as I was about to write off these sharpeners, I remembered I had another one in my bag and tried that one out.

This sharpener looked exactly like the one I just tried, but instead it sharpened my eye pencil like a breeze. It didn’t get stuck, didn’t break the tip, or make a big mess. In fact, I was able to sharpen my eye pencil to a pretty sharp point without any breakage. Also it didn’t sharpen the pencil like a No. 2 pencil, so no scratchy eyelids.

I also tried the third sharpener I had, and that one worked fine as well. So if you want a cheap sharpener, the ELF sharpener is good… if you get one that works. 2 out of 3, I guess those odds are too bad. Another downside is that this sharpener only has one size, so if you have a jumbo eye pencil you’re going to need another sharpener. However, ELF does have a Dual pencil sharpener for sale that comes with two sharpeners for $1.00, which is a great deal. Apparently the ones I have were the “bonus” sharpeners.

Urban Decay: Grind House

After a couple weeks of watching my Urban Decay eye pencils get mutilated, I bit the bullet and bought Grind House. I figured that Urban Decay must make a sharpener that is made for their eye pencils, and they did.

I have never been happier with a sharpener than with Grind House. With just a few twists, my blunt eye pencils were sharp again without any breakage or wooden points to scratch my eyelids. Grind House is basically a sharpener with a built in container to hold the pencil shavings so you don’t have to be standing over a trash can to sharpen your eye pencils. But be warned that the cap is not very tight and can come off if it is being tossed around in your makeup bag or purse, so I recommend emptying the container of shavings before putting it away to prevent shavings littering your bag.

I also like that Grind House comes with two sizes, so my regular eye pencils are covered and so are my jumbo pencils. But I have noticed that for the jumbo pencil side of the sharpener, the plastic point stopper prevents my jumbo pencil from getting too sharp. I would like my jumbo pencils a bit sharper, but this is not a huge problem for me.

At $9 a pop, Grind House is expensive, but it is worth it. Also it has a very interesting design on the cap that includes a butterfly, a heart, a flower, a worm or caterpillar, a skull, and a gun. A perfect design that goes with the Urban Decay brand.

So basically, there are cheap sharpeners that work as well as expensive sharpeners, but just beware “you get what you give”.

I’ve never thought of using a glass nail file until recently, mostly because the ones I have seen in person looked too scary to use! They’ve been letter opener shaped and had a filing surface like coarse grit sandpaper – hardly something I would want to use on my nails!

However, the advantages of glass nail files sounded great! Since the glass is permanently etched, the surface won’t get worn down like a traditional emery board. The glass surface is also less harsh than a steel file. Also, since it’s glass, you can wash the file to clean it! If you need to, you can also sterilize them by boiling in water. The downside is that they’re breakable, so be careful not to drop them and to store them safely.

Not liking any of the glass nail files at my local beauty supplier and a bit wary about buying duds online, I happened to come across a review on All Lacquered Up. Their reviews of files from GlassNailsFiles.com was very positive, so I thought I would give those a try!

Be warned: the site does look kind of sketchy and there is a loud audio introduction on the main page, so turn your sound down! My nail files arrived very quickly, though, so I don’t hesitate to recommend them. For $7 and shipping, I got a set of 3 different files.

The surfaces on these files are very nice! They don’t feel at all abrasive, but I’ve used them several times already and they do a nice job filing down the nail without taking too much or leaving jagged edges. Here are some close-up of the filing surface:

The three different sizes are nice, but I do find that I’m using the medium sized one more than the others. The smaller one would make a good travel file.

I definitely recommend buying files from GlassNailsFiles.com! (Just remember to turn your sound down!) I will probably be buying some more sets in the future for gifts and to have extra on hand in case something happens to mine.

6/24/2010 – I just wanted to post an update to this. I placed a second order for files from GlassNailsFiles.com on May 23, but hadn’t received them after a month of waiting. I’d been out of town and only today had the chance to hunt down their number and call them. The guy I spoke to on the phone was very nice and tracked down my order. Apparently, there was some sort of mix up – my order had never been shipped and it’s possible there was a mix up in order fulfillment.  In any case, he apologized profusely and said the files would be going out tomorrow. To make up for it, he’s including two free files. I was a little worried about having recommended this company here, but after speaking with their representative, I’m satisfied they are still a good company.

Who knew that soft brushes could be bought without breaking the bank? For years I have been using cheap brushes I’ve found at discount stores, since I had always assumed that good quality soft brushes would cost me an arm and a leg and maybe an ear. But thanks to Cyn’s recommendation, she told me to give Ecotools a try.

Since there was another “Buy one get one free” sale at Rite Aid, which happens every so often, I picked up the 5 piece brush set for about $9.99 and the Retractable Kabuki Brush, but this review is for the 5 piece brush set.

This set comes with the following:

• Mineral Powder Brush
• Concealer Brush
• Eye Shading Brush
• Baby Kabuki
• Cosmetic Bag

Mineral Powder Brush

I used this brush for my mineral foundation and it works very well, and I just can’t get over how soft the bristles are.

Concealer Brush

This brush is still soft, but it is still stiff enough to apply concealer on a specific location without it spreading all over the place.

Eye Shading Brush

Again I love the softness of the brush, but I like my eye shading brushes to be a little stiffer. This brush might be a bit too soft for eye shading. Though I think it makes for good shadow blending and applications for a softer or natural look.

Baby Kabuki

I love this Baby Kabuki. This Kabuki is perfect to carry around because of its size. Because it’s not huge and not too small, I can apply my finishing powder all over my face quickly when I’m not at home. And like all the other brushes putting this on your face just feels like heaven.

Cosmetic Bag

This ecofriendly cosmetic bag is made of 55% hemp linen and 45% cotton. All the brushes fit neatly into the bag. However, the cream white color of the bag may get dirty very easily, but it is still a very cute and ecofriendly bag, but wish it was a darker color.

These brushes are “travel size” so they are nice and short and can fit into any makeup bag easily. The bristles are amazingly soft and they also pick up the powders very well. I have not noticed any shedding, and they don’t feel like they are going to shed anytime soon. The handles of the brushes are made from bamboo except for the Baby Kabuki. Bristles are synthetic taklon and 100% cruelty free, and lastly, the ferrule is made from recycled aluminum. So not only are these great brushes at a great price, but they are also earth-friendly.

After one usage of these brushes, I was in love, and I highly recommend these brushes. I will most likely review the other brush sets once I get my hands on them.

With everyone “going green” or picking environmentally friendly products, Physicians Formula’s Bamboo Wear definitely brings that to mind with its bamboo motifs on its boxes and pressed powders.

I only purchased the Bamboo Wear Compact, Mirror & Brush because Physicians Formula had a “Try Me Free” rebate special going on. I figured it couldn’t hurt, and I was looking for a new compact mirror that wasn’t an old Clinique mirror that came from free gift set my mother bought eons ago.

The exterior of the compact is very natural and sleek looking since it is made from bamboo and has a simple green colored bamboo motif on the front lid. The compact is on the thick side, but the three layers of the compact swivels open in any direction you prefer. Each section is snapped shut with a magnet. The magnet feels pretty secure and does not feel like it would snap open accidently in your purse or gym bag.

The top compartment is where the mirror and brush are stored. The bottom compartment is where the refill pan of either the Silk Face Powder Refill or Silk Bronzer Refill can be dropped in. The refill pan is held down by two magnets on the bottom. Since the compact does not come with a refill pan, I was hoping I could put the brush in the bottom compartment and just flip open the top section and use the mirror. Unfortunately the bottom compartment is thinner than the flat brush, so I couldn’t stash the brush below. Since I don’t care for the Physicians Formula flat brushes, I’ll probably just leave it out. However, I don’t think putting the brush and mirror in the same compartment was a good idea, since after usage, the residue powder from the brush would fall onto the mirror making it dusty. Then again this is a problem for all compacts.

I like the idea of a refillable compact. How many times have you finished a press powder compact and thought, “What a waste, the mirror is still good,” before chucking it into the garbage bin?  Unfortunately, the Silk Face Powder in this collection only has colors that ranges from light, lighter, to translucent though I may consider the Silk Bronzers in this collection.

Overall, the compact has a nice natural Eastern look and feel to the design. It gets a plus for being refillable and recyclable even though it can be a bit bulky.