Don't Give Me Any Lip: I Want Gimme Brow by Benefit!

Product: Benefit Gimme Brow

Where did I buy this? I bought this product from Sephora.com.

Price: This cost $22.00 -- quite a lot, I know -- but I didn't have too use much, so it should last me a very long time (plus free shipping with the Sephora Flash program).

Benefit Gimme Brow

Performance: I got the Light/Medium shade (it comes in Medium/Deep shade, too). It looks dark blond/taupe-y in the tube, but it looked great on my light-brown-turning-gray brows. It's biuldable, so you can get as strong a look that you're willing to go for. I was afraid that the darker shade would have been too stark against my pinked fair skin. The teensy-tiny wand is like the pointed end of a mascara spoolie but even thinner, perfect for brow work. It works by depositing tiny fibers in with your sparse and/or thin brow hairs, thus making them look fuller. They also look more tamed and professional, too.

Packaging: Wonky geometric tube. Sort of like an elongated three-dimensional rhombus (largest pic, middle row, far right image). Benefit is know for kitschy product packaging and gimmicky product names, but the is nothing kooky about the greatness that is this product. Benefit hit it out of the ballpark with his one!

Sorry for the fright. This is my left brow without Gimme Brow.

Better. Left brow with Gimme Brow.

Right brow without Gimme Brow (can't you just see that big chunk o' skin right along the middle of it? I could host a small nest of birds in there!)

Right brow with Gimme Brow. Way better, dont'cha think?

If I lost, spilled, or broke this item, would I buy again? Yes, without a doubt. It's the best brow product I've ever used. Maybe Benefit is finally focusing more on product performance than on gimmicky product packaging and names.


Overall rating: 5 of 5 lippies! Yay!

New CVS Red-Box/Coupon Center Policy

You know those long strips of coupons that spit out of the CVS Red-Box/Coupon center machine, even the ones with CVS Extra Bucks on them and your quarterly Extra Bucks rewards, as well as coupons for $5 of a $15 purchase(or similar) that you might get at the bottom of a cash register receipt? I just heard from a CVS associate today that CVS coupons will be bow be accepted at any time after their expiration date, i.e., they'll never expire. Yay! Plus, this new policy is applicable nationwide.

All hail the new CVS coupon policy!

My regular weekly post will be up tomorrow :-

Fun Fingers*

*And probably the only time anyone will ever see me with more than a one-nail mani! (Yeah, I did my thumb, too. I didn't like the color [and ended up returning it], so I didn't include a photo it).

Product(s):  Sephora by Opi for Sephora Jewelry Topcoats

Indi-go With the Flow

Mauve-ie Star in the Making

Traffic-Stopper Copper

The Golden Age

Where did I buy these? Sephora.com

Price: $4.50 each when I bought them (regularly $9.50 each) ($13.99 at Amazon.com!!!!!).

Right to left: Indi-go With the Flow, Traffic-Stopper Copper, and Mauve-ie Star in the Making over base colors

The pinky is actually a pink WNW glitter top coat

Performance: Excellent. Fun and funky alone (multiple coats) or over a base color.  Personally, I would NEVER do a full mani with these . . .way OTT! But each to her own. If you can pull it off, then do eet (no, that's not  typo; it's my Pepi le Pew voice).

Packaging: Standard OPI-shapped bottle with "bullet"-capped wand.

If I lost, spilled, or broke this item, would I buy again? Yuppers.

Overall rating: 5 of 5 lippies! 

Snack Taxis: Speaking of Which

Regarding my last post on Snack Taxis, I just received a sale email from them today! So, now would be a good time to try them if you like. They rarely go down this low in price: Their sales are usually for 20% off.

Happy Halloween from snackTAXI!

Halloween greetings!    We'd like to invite you to celebrate the spooky fun of October 31 by offering 31% off all full-priced items!    Use coupon code  spooky31  at checkout!   Offer valid now through Halloween, October 31, 2013. Doesn't apply to sale items or bulk purchases.

Not Cosmetics: Snack Taxis :-)

Product: Snack Taxis -- The original bags for snacks and sandwiches since 2003
Where did I buy this? I buy these from www.snacktaxi.com.

Snack taxi product insert

Price: Snack-Sacks (6" wide x 4.5" tall; good for snacks like cut up fruit, corn chips, Cheerios [for young children], and raisins) are $7.95, and Sandwich-Sacks (7.5" wide x 6" tall; large enough for a generously sized sandwich or bagel) are $8.95. They also sell napkins and "sporks." They have frequent sales around holidays and back-to school time. If you sign up on the site, you'll be notified. I usually wait for the sales myself. And shipping is extremely reasonable, just a couple of bucks. No postage-overcharging here!

Small Snack Taxis open

Performance: I recently made my second Snack Taxi purchase because I loved them so much for toting snacks for the kitchen to my home office. I first bought the sandwich-size "taxi," which is ironic because I don't each sandwiches (gluten sensitivity). I've had these for about 5 years now, and they are still going strong. Recently I bought two smaller taxis, and these are perfect as well as adorable. Snack Taxi has a lot of patterns to choose from (you can even design your own). They are lined with a pliable, bright blue waterproof fabric so are easy to throw in the washer or just wipe out. They have Velcro closures. I've never put mine in the dryer, so I don't know how they would fare when subjected to high heat. I just air-dry mine. I imagine these would be great for kids' lunches if you can train them not to throw them away!

Small Snack Taxis closed

If I lost, spilled, or broke this item, would I buy again? Yes, without a doubt. If you're trying to reduce your plastic use, you might want to consider a modest purchase of these cute and fun snack-portability options!

Overall rating: 5 of 5 lippies (taxis?)!

Femme Fatale Nail Polish Contest :-)

Some of FF's latest colors (they applied a filter here, so colors are slightly less saturated in real life)

Hi everyone,

This quick post is to let you know that Femme Fatale, an Aussie company that makes unbelievably good duochrome eyeshadows (you can see my review with video swatches here), is having a great contest to celebrate their second year of being in business. The contest is over on October 2, 2013, and there will be six unique winners of six unique nail polish sets (four colors in each set) as follows. You can enter the giveaway here.

Six unique nail polish sets for 6 unique winners!

Prize pack no. 1: Happy Hands, Shades of Phoenix, Serum No. 5, and Cadillacquer

Prize Pack no. 2: Emily de Molly, A England, Crows Toes, and Smitten Polish.

Prize pack no. 3: Cirque, Scofflaw, A England, and Wing Dust.

Prize pack no. 4: Contrary Polish, HARE, Enchanted Polish, and Emily de Molly.

Prize pack no. 5: Girlie Bits, Jindie Nails, Lush Laquer, and Arcane Laquer.

Prize pack no. 6: Gloss and Sparkle, HARE, Happy Hands, and Wing Dust.

I like sets no. 2 though 5 or 6. Which one(s) do you fancy?

Anticipating Small Aromaleigh Haulage: Brilliant Deductions Collection!

Hi everyone,

I'm prepping today for a medical procedure tomorrow, so I'm not doing the usual product review. Instead, I'm showing you photos (rather large ones to show their intricacy of color and contrasting sparkage) of the order I'm placing soon for samples (17 of the 21) from Aromaleigh v.2's brand-spanking-new Brilliant Deductions collection!

The collection is based on the PBS show, "Sherlock," which of course I now have to catch up on based on the quirky and intriguing names of the shadows :-) Makeup + mystery = "arresting" combination (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun)!

This new collection is currently 25% off at Aromaleigh.com, so now is the perfect time to buy samples. I have a strong feeling that I will be getting more of these shades.

I cut and pasted these swatches from the color chart that Aromaleigh v.2 recently released. If you scroll down about half-way down the page, you'll see written description, and if you keep on going two thirds down the page, you can also see a nicely put-together slide show of color collages of each hue, including product alone and several skin swatches.

For now, these are the colors I plan to order. I'm also getting a few more from the recent Ancient Magick collection :-)

Muted teal frost with soft grey undertones and bright sparks of chartreuse and silver

Rich purplish grey with overall iridescent shimmers of peach and rose

Smooth plush burgundy wine frost with striking gold highlight

Rich warm reddish brown with cool silvery iridescence of green, blue, and violet

Smokey cocoa frost with shimmering highlights of fuchsia and violet (*contains carmine)

Lush smoked navy blue with bright, saturated sparks of sapphire blue

Strong weathered gold with olive and khaki tones and tiny borealis shimmer

Warm brown frost with iridescent gold and rose effects and brilliant sparks of teal and blue

Muted warm mauve with coppery iridescence and bright golden sparks

Smooth liquid metallic bronze with rose tones and bright sparks of green

Frosted periwinkle blue with intense golden iridescence and bright lemon-gold highlight shimmer

Vibrant medium grape purple with subtle aqua iridescence

Smooth taupe frost with golden highlights and interference shimmer of green and blue

Deep low-sheen evergreen with brilliant sparks of warm yellow-gold and cool silver

Smooth English rose frost with golden highlights and tiny copper shimmers (*contains carmine)

Soft atmospheric twilight mauve with overall iridescence of gold, green, and blue

Smooth saturated dark purple with lush rose and violet iridescence and smoke tones (* contains carmine)

Avon Glazewear Diamonds Eyecolor

Product: Avon Glazewear Diamonds Eyecolor 

Where did I buy this? I bought two of these eyeshadows from my Avon rep, Lisa Wetherby.

Price: $1.99 each (clearance price)

Performance: I try my best to review a product on its own merit, not my expectations or preferences. Having said that, I should have paid more attention to the product description in the Avon brochure/Web site. I got suckered in by the glossy photo in the brochure and the inexpensive price. Application-wise, these went on excellently and with ease, even slightly better than the Chocolate NYX cream eyeshadow.

Avon Glazewear Mauved Metal on my pale skin under natural light: You can barely see it!

There was no clumping of the product, no need to smooth it out with a finger, no need for double-dipping to get more product on the wand. It lasted all day, but I don't have oily lids, so YMMV. Color-wise, they were pretty much spot-on. Finish-wise, however, my fantasy of how they would look exceeded reality. Right when applied, for a nanosecond, I saw a metallic finish. However, like the Avon Web site description says, it "flows on like liquid metal, cools to a shimmer, and keeps its luster all day." That's the part I didn't pay attention to, i.e., that the finish changed with wear time (in just a minute or two in my experience).

Avon Glazewear under natural lighting: Mauved Metal (left) and Mocha Flash (right).

So, they did exactly what Avon said they would do, but I was "expecting" them to do something different (isn't that the definition of "insanity"?). I bought these in Mocha Flash and Mauved Metal. They are both very neutral colors, with a neutral finish, and don't show well on my lids because my complexion is very light. There not bad, just rather innocuous.  They would be gorgeous on someone with a darker skin tone. All in all, these Glazewear shadows would be good if you wear a lot of matte neutrals because they have absolutely no shimmer in them; they're quite satiny though. Perfectly acceptable for, say, church, synogogue, a job interview, or dinner with grandmother, but they're not how my lids roll :-) I wear almost all sparkly eyeshadow wherever I go (although I do love me a good matte shadow from time to time)!

Avon Glazewear under natural lighting: Mauved Metal (left) and Mocha Flash (right).

Packaging: Standard tubed wand with doe-foot applicator.

If I lost, spilled, or broke this item, would I buy again? No, I wouldn't buy this product again (unless I find myself reaching for them a lot).

Overall rating: 5 of 5 lippies (for accurate color, finish, and performance as described by Avon; three lippies for my personal preference)

Dawn Eyes Cosmetics LE Universal Beauty Collection

Product: Dawn Eyes Cosmetics Universal Beauty Eye Shadow Collection
 
Where did I buy this? I didn't buy it. I won it in one of Dawn Eyes Cosmetics' (nearly) weekly collection-naming contests :-)
 
Price: N/A in this instance but currently $.50 for a sample and only $3.00 for a full-size jar.
Colors (all colors swatched over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy and shown in alpha order, top to bottom and left to right, in the photos/videos below):

• Faerie Forest: Deep brown-based green w/ strong shift to teal and copper sparkle and pink- to gold-shifting lights
• Field and Stream:Grassy green w/shift to dusty blue w/ blue and gold stars
• Fire Opal: Pale pale pink/coral shifting through slightly darker coral to pale gold
• High Tide: Bright blue w/ lavender sheen dripping w/ blue sparkle and gold- to green- to aqua-shifting glitter
• Mossy Mauve: Mauve matte base w/ shimmering teal overlay

First five colors under flash lighting

First five colors under natural lighting

• Plum Perfect: Plummy purple w/ bright copper sparks
• Solar Flare: Bright orange satin w/ hint of pink studded with bright gold glitter
• Space Dust: Deep deep blue-black w/gold and purple glitter and tiny blue sparks
• Stormcloud: Dusty purple grey w/ tiny golden sparks
• Sweet Sunset: Pale blue w/ lavender shift w/ strong pink overtone w/ tiny sparks of gold, copper, lavender, and blue

Second five colors under flash lighting

Second five colors under natural lighting

Sephora Flash [Beta] Program

Product: Sephora Flash free-shipping program

Sephora Flash Beta program

Where did I buy this? An iniatial beta-test group received invitations directly from Sephora.com to join the program. I'm assuming that the trial period went well because they started accepting applications almost right away from us peons who had to ask for an invite (or at least it seemed that way). I requested my invite probably about 3 months ago; I received it on Thursday, and signed up for it (it shows up in your basket); and placed an off-priced-for-free-shipping order to test it out (I had to do that right a way, don't you think?). I bought this from Sephora.com.
Price: $10.00/year.
How it works: ONCE YOU PAY THE $10.00 YEARLY JOINING FEE, YOU GET FREE, UNLIMITED TWO-DAY SHIPPING ON ANY ITEM (S), NO MINIMUM EXPENDITURE REQUIRED! FREE RETURNS AND THE LIBERAL RETURN POLICY STILL APPLY! (YES, I SCREAMED THAT FOR THE AWSOMENESS EFFECT!)

Evidently you can also achieve this free 2-day shipping by becoming a Sehora VIBRouge customer. To do that, I believe you have to rack up something like $3000.00 in purchases during the year. Which do you like better to get free shipping: $10.00 OR $3000.00? I'll take the former, thank you very much :-)
Performance: Excellent! I placed my order on 8/28; it was packed and shipped the next business day; and I had it in my sweaty little hands by yesterday afternoon. So, yeah, it works. Gonna try it next with my $5 for $10 Sephora gift e-card, about which I blogged about yesterday. Unfortunately, the Groupon offer is over now. Did you get it?

If I lost, spilled, or broke this item, would I buy again? The program: Um, yes? The products I bought:? Let's see, shall we?

1. Sephora Instant radiance Foundation in no. 10 (light): No; too dark for my pale pink skin! ($12.00 shipped).

2. Spehora by OPI nail Color in Already Famous (left bottle in photo): No, but only because it;'s nearly identical to an Avon polish I bought recently bought and love (review forthcoming) ($5.00 shipped). 

3. Sephora by OPI Let's Plie' (center bottle in the photo); No because it look too sickeningly sweet a matte peachy-pink on me and doesn't have the miroshimmer described on the Sephora.com Web site ($5.00 shipped).

4. Sephora by OPI in Wild about Shimmer: Yes because it is remarkable, fairly neutral, pale, sheer  golden/champagne with fine golden shimmer, but the sheerness is buildable, so I will also enjoy wearing this over other colors to bring out their light , so to speak!  

5. Samples included (1) Honey EDP spray by Marc Jacobs; (2) YSL Touche Eclat (I've always wanted to try this); and (2) Josiie Maran's Argan Matchmaker Serum Foundation.

If I lost, spilled, or broke this item, would I buy again? Mais oui; but of course. I'll buy a yearly Sephora.com free-shipping subscription, with no minimum purchase, as long as the price remains worth it to me!

Overall rating: 5 of 5 lippies!