The Body Shop: So disappointed

I was going to do the rest of The Body Shop products one-by-one, but I’ve since become so disappointed that I won’t even bother writing out a long review. Here’s a list of what I’ve bought in the last month, and why most of them will be going back.

Buy 3 Get 3 Free haul:

Buriti Baby Body Butter:
I really like this so far, and it glides on really smooth.

Cocoa Butter Body Scrub:
Like it so far, but would not re-purchase. I would like to try other body scrubs.

Aloe Soothing Moisture Lotion, SPF 15:
Like it so far. Face doesn’t feel greasy. I’m assuming it works as a decent sunblock. I use it on weekends when I’m not wearing makeup (which has SPF). Indecisive about re-purchasing. 

Vitamin E Face Mist (will be returning):
Mediocre. I was going to keep it to avoid having to return it. Until I saw the ingredient list:

Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Panthenol, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Alchohol Denat., Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil, Methylparaben, Lecithin, Rosa Centifolia (Rose) Water, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Propylparaben.

For something as simple as a Vitamin E mist, why the heck is there so much paraben and alcohol in it??? Vitamin E (Tocopheryl Acetate) is the 6th ingredient…

Blue Corn Scrub Mask (will be returning):
Hate this. Feels like toothpaste on my face, and I don’t see any difference.

Buy 1 Get 1 Free haul (returning all of these):

Chocomania Lip Butter:

This buttery balm melts onto the lips for instant hydration. It contains real cocoa butter and has a delicious chocolate flavor.
– Instant hydration
– Buttery texture
– Leaves lips feeling softer and smoother
– Chocolate flavor

Um, I don’t know, maybe I got a bad one or something because it tastes absolutely disgusting. Yes, yes, it smells like that fake chocolate flavor/scent, but it tastes super bitter. I accidentally got some in my mouth because about 30 minutes after I put it on, I got to work, and we had free donuts; as I took a bite, I got some of the lip butter on my donut and promptly spit out my donut bite. I licked my lips, and realized my lip butter tasted nasty, so I wiped it off so I could resume eating my delicious donut. I tried it one more time, straight out of the container (maybe something got on my lips while driving?), and it was still bitter and gross.

I have this wonderful chocolate scented (albeit tasteless) chapstick, $6.50, and this minty chocolate one (also tasteless), $4. Tasteless > nasty tasting. They seem more expensive than the Chocomania (on sale), but I invite you to compare the ingredients list between Chocomania and the two chapsticks I have–I’ll keep the ones I have, thanks.

Rainforest Moisture Conditioner:
OK, I get that this is “a moisturizing conditioner without silicones, sulphates, parabens or colorants,” but I wish it didn’t suck. I don’t have tangly hair at all, but I had to use a lot of conditioner to get my fingers through my hair and it didn’t feel like it was moisturizing my hair at all :(

To be honest, I haven’t tried “natural” shampoos and conditioners, but I will try another brand. Let me know if you have any suggestions. I think I was still mad from my great Chocomania disappointment >.<

 

I also bought the Rainforest shampoo, and the Olive body butter, but I am too annoyed to give them a try. I already know I can find better products for similar prices.

The Body Shop: Blue Corn 3-in-1 Deep Cleansing Scrub Mask

(Image from The Body Shop product page)

I wanted the Honey & Oat one instead, but it was sold out. (On second thought, I could just make that, now couldn’t I? Expect a post with a DIY experiment soon-ish!)

I have some white/blackheads on my nose area, and white heads on my chin area, so I was really excited to get this mask/scrub! Sigh… I hate when I’m really eager to receive a product, and I am disappointed…

It feels like I am smearing toothpaste all over my face. Yes, I would know how that feels (sort of) because a few times I’ve woken up with a HUGE zit, and so I put some toothpaste on it in hopes that it would diminish/dry out. :( It’s kind of thick and a little dry/pasty and makes you “tingle” — see why I think of toothpaste?

Does it work? Hm.. well it’s a scrub, so of course my face is going to feel smoother. But aside from that, I don’t feel like I can see a noticeable difference in the clearing of my white/blackheads or anything. I used it once a week for two weeks. I know that isn’t a long time, but I’m not exactly thrilled to put toothpaste all over my face and leave it for 15 minutes if I can’t even see a difference :(

I’m going to try to return this product in store. I wonder how that will work since I did the Buy 3 Get 3 Free sale online…

Laura Mercier: Flawless Face Kit (Nude)

 (Image from Sephora product page)

I was really excited to get this set; it looked like a good deal considering all the mini-sized items plus two brushes, a sponge, and a powder puff. Sadly, it was just not for me :(

Oh, but it came with instructions! Definitely appreciated that..

Some initial thoughts:

1. Primer: The primers I had previously were silicone-based. This one looks and feels like a gel-based moisturizer.
2. Tinted moisturizer: Very light coverage. Felt non-greasy to me.
3. Secret Camouflage (concealer): The lighter color is like a pressed powder. The darker shade reminds me of Benefit’s Erase Paste: very opaque and tacky feeling.
4. Loose powder: Looks white, but mostly translucent; has a brightening effect. Finely milled.
5. Sponge: I used a disposable-type sponge once. This seems much longer-lasting, and feels velvety smooth on my face.
6. Brushes: Small one useful for covering up small blemishes. Big one useful for covering larger areas (undereye, redness)
7. Powder puff: Never used one before, so I can’t compare. This was nice and soft, and large.

Review:

1. Primer: No opinion on its texture; I find its performance average as a primer. Light/doesn’t make me feel greasy.
2. Tinted moisturizer: Coverage is too light for me! :( It helped even out my skin tone just a little bit; I don’t have extremely problematic skin, but I was hoping for just a little more coverage. I don’t feel like I can layer it at all for the areas where I need more coverage. Also, it is relatively runny (for a foundation or a moisturizer!) and the end of the tube (where the product comes out) gets kind of messy as the product leaks into the cap (the inside, not the outside of the bottle!); this isn’t an actual problem, but it annoys me.
3. Concealer: It was fine the first couple times I used it, but I’ve been getting tanner; I should have bought the Sand version. I mentioned that the darker shade reminds me of Erase Paste. I tried that one time.. (NOT A FAN). All of the makeup gives me a matte finish, but the darker concealer is tacky and leaves a shine! Even with the loose powder, I feel like the spots I was trying to conceal were being accentuated by the shine! I used it about 3 times, then stopped altogether.
4. Loose powder: I liked it.  Nice, fine, mattifying powder, helps with oil absorption throughout the day.
5. Sponge: I liked the way it felt on my face but it was absorbing product like crazy. I ended up using my fingers to apply the foundation.
6. Brushes: Soft but “sturdy” (retain their shape). Good quality–haven’t lost any hairs yet.
7. Powder puff: The instructions say to use the puff in a “rolling” motion on your face. I cannot help but imagine that I am shoving powder into my pores. Also, it is really really annoying because I couldn’t figure out how to get the powder onto the puff. If you notice in the picture, the powder jar is very small, and the puff is large. What I ended up doing was sprinkling powder onto the puff and rubbing the jar onto the puff at the same time to hopefully evenly distribute product throughout the whole puff?

Final thoughts:
Ended up mixing with my older foundation (Clinique Perfectly Real) which was a shade or two too dark for me as I’ve gotten pale in the winter. The blend worked well as it provided coverage but was still a little sheer so you can see my face through it. I hadn’t worn my Clinique foundation in a while and forgot that one thing I liked about it is that there is just a tad bit of shimmer (their description: “Patent-pending micro-mirrored technology optically resurfaces skin”) which is nice. Also, this enables me to layer for more coverage, and I can go without any concealer (in other words, I can be lazy..)

Clinique on the left, LM on the right:

Blended:

[Aside: Speaking of my sloth, I was a little annoyed that I had to moisturize, use primer, then use a tinted moisturizer (does not moisturize enough for me on its own) which was mixed with a foundation. I researched and bought some BB creams so that hopefully I can eliminate another step or two.]

Sadly, nothing really wowed me about this set. The powder is nice, and I’ll consider it the next time I need to buy loose powder. (I want to try the Smashbox powder, though.) The tinted moisturizer was useful to help me lighten up the color and consistency my foundation (it’s a little old and was feeling a little thick–getting dried out maybe?), but definitely useless to me by itself. I guess the only really nice thing was portability. The “Undercover Pot” has the concealers on top, and you unscrew that portion to reveal the loose powder underneath (except I don’t think you could “refill” that). Cute and compact.

Back story (not important)
Actually, I’d meant to get the oil-free version of this kit. But both Sephora’s I went to were sold out! I intended to go home and order it online… but I really didn’t feel like waiting for it to be shipped to me. I asked a rep at the second store to please double-check for me, and they really were out, but she mentioned that the regular version was popular, so maybe I should consider it? I tried on both products on the back of my hands, and oddly enough, the oil-free moisturizer felt more greasy. After letting both dry, I noticed the oil-free version left more of a shine (reminds me of when I apply a greasy sunblock on my body), whereas the regular was more matte–weird! On the other hand (no pun intended), the oil-free seemed to provide more coverage (or maybe I ended up with more product). Regardless, I preferred the matte finish and it felt a lot lighter/less greasy (and I wasn’t sure if the loose powder would be enough to take away the shine from the oil-free version).