Eye Creams- Depuffing and Dark Circles

I have dark circles- it's a sad fact of life. I have tried a lot of eye creams, and have yet to find "The One" that keeps me from searching, but here's a comparison of a few I've tried:

Avon ANEW Clinical Eye Lift- $28/oz

In general, my sisters and myself had good result with this, but i'm not crazy about the residue left by the gel. It does lighten circles and lift a heavy brow-instantly which is something of note- but it's pricey and doesn't always absorb so great.

Burt's Bees Beeswax and Royal Jelly Eyecream- $15/oz

This one is waxy and will leave a slightly greasy texture to your skin- i recommend using it at night. This one basically works on the premise of thickening the skin and keeping it moisturized. It works well on bags and does help with circles over time.

100% Pure Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream- $19/oz

The image won't cooperate

It comes in a glass bottle with pump



This one works fairly well- the caffeine is great for undereye bags, but it does a mediocre job on circles. It absorbs nicely, but smells like a popcorn-flavored dum dum, a scent i can't stand. DH uses and likes this cream for his eyebags.

Progress in Health-Erzulie Soothe Depuffer Eye Balm- $5/tube

This is another that works on the premise of moisturizing and thickening undereye skin. It's very herbal and takes awhile to absorb. I have worn in under makeup with a problem, but prefer to apply it at night. It's not going to do anything instant, but if you use it regularly- especially before bed- you'll notice smoother more nourished undereye skin in the mornings pretty quickly. It's not too fancy, but I like it.

Silk Naturals Holy Crow Instant Wrinkle Remover-$5.99/10grams

no photo of packaging



This is meant for wrinkles, so when you have really bad bags with deep lines, this will improve the look of them. Unfortunately, it doesn't really do anything for circles (nor is it meant to)

Garden of Wisdom

• Pack Your Bags & Say Goodbye Eye Gel-$14.35/.5oz

This is a newly released product and a new favorite of mine. It shrinks bags within seconds- instant visible results. love. I placed an order for the eye products below before this product was released, and a 5g jar was included in my package. I'm so happy it was.

• Waxless Eye Magic-$8.10/3g jar

I use this in conjunction with the other 2 GOW eye products reviewed here as a moisturizer overtop of everything. I'm not entirely sure it does anything, because the other two are so potent, but it's eye safe with ingredients that target eye area issues and i like to put a moisturizer over serums and gels to keep the tightening from causing skin irritation.

• GoAway Circles Serum-$13.95/.25oz

This is light serum that absorbs quickly and does seem to be impacting my circles. I've only been using it for a week, in conjunction with the other 2 GOW eye products reviewed, and I do feel that my overall eye appearance has improved.

100% Pure

Several years ago, I tried 100% Pure while on a hunt for an undereye cream. Their's works fairly well, but it(the caffeine one) smells like a popcorn flavored dum-dum and costs $19/oz. The packaging is quality- nice heavy glass bottle with a pump dispenser. I couldn't take the smell, but DH uses this one daily so at least my $19 didn't go to waste.

A couple of weeks ago, I won a contest on facebook (yes, they run facebook contests daily which I think is pretty awesome) and the sample-sized products came today. I searched through their website and aside from the 3 samples I have, they really don't have a whole lot in the way of samples- most of their bath and body products come in mini/trial sizes (about 2 oz) with a small range of scents/flavors and pricing ranging from $5-$15 depending on the product. I ordered a bottle of nourishing body wash on amazon for $15/17oz (the same as on their website, but they don't currently have apple available on their site)
So, on to the contest items:

One is the eye cream i already have- I smelled it, it's the same, and i already know i don't love it, but it's nice to know that it now comes in a trial size ($6).

 The second was a brightening facial scrub + mask in one- it smells like oranges, is full of jojoba beads, and in my opinion does work. It runs $21/4oz tube. I liked it enough that I ordered a full size- though i bought mine on amazon at a $4 discount.

The third is their anti-aging red wine resveratrol nourishing cream. It goes on silky, not greasy, smells fruity (but with an underlying note of popcorn dum dum) and moisturizes well. However, being 24, it may be more moisture than my skin is really ready for.

I haven't tried any of their makeup and while I'm sure that it is quality as is everything they make, it's still really expensive, and because they use fruit pigments- their makeup has a shelf life where mineral makeup does not. In general, I approve of 100% pure as a company- they're 100% natural, 100% Vegan, and they strive to support animal rescue efforts which is a big win with me. Their priceline, however, will keep me from becoming a diehard costumer. I might try their shampoo, but I'm pretty happy with the natural haircare i already use. In truth, they're really not worse than Burt's Bees and I love Burt's Bees too, but I've been spoiled by Silk Natural's quality and budget friendly natural skincare/makeup. It is my sincerest hope that they offer samples of more of their skincare in the future and maybe some intro-sample kits. I would definitely try more of their products- and purchase the ones i fall in love with, but diving in at an average of $15-$20 a pop is a bit much for me.

Added April 8th, 2011:

So 100% Pure was recently featured on hautelook.com, a website that offers products at a 50%-75% discount from their regular purchase price, and i jumped at the chance to try a few of their products that I would never try at their regular price point. I ordered: Glossy Locks Hair Care Set, Lip Color Wheel, and Tinted Moisturizer each around $12. All products are full sized and were purchased at roughly a third of their regular price.

Glossy Locks Hair Care (8oz Shampoo/Conditioner, .5oz hair balm- regularly $38 for all 3)

Okay, I'll be blunt- I hated this and am very glad I got to try it at a discount. The scent is sickeningly sweet with again that underlying note of popcorn flavored dum dum that I hate. The shampoo is very liquidy and I felt like product was wasted. It's very gentle (which most natural 'poos are) and I don't feel like it cleans my hair. I have other natural shampoos I like better. The conditioner is a very thick cream and mine smelled like oils gone off (that bitter nutty smell that runs underneath the actual scenting- this has happened to me with certain bottles of burt's bees pre-shampoo treatment too). I felt like it didn't rinse off cleanly, was very heavy, and left a residue on my hair. I washed my hair a second time with my normal haircare products, blow-dried it, and it still felt like there was a waxiness to my hair that kept it from falling naturally and my fingers felt coated in product too. All-in-all I was very disappointed in this. I gave the tube of hair balm to my husband who tried it right away- it smells strongly of pine, but styled his hair while leaving it soft/touchable.

Island Kiss Lip Palette (Regularly $32)

I do like this palette, it comes in an adorable pink tin with a mirror in the lid, the lip colors are highly pigmented and smooth though not as moisturizing as i would like. They're labeled for scenting, but the palette smells mostly like peaches.

  

Tinted Moisturizer(regularly $32)

There aren't a lot of tinted moisturizers in the natural makeup world, so I thought I'd give this one a go. My shade wasn't available on hautelook so I bought one slightly darker than my skin with the logic being that I'd rather wear a tinted moisturizer than makeup in the summer and my skin is darker in the summer. It goes on very different in color from my skin but mellows out in a minute or two (it's considered sheer to medium coverage) and is definitely wearable for me now with lighter skin even though a different shade would probably go on perfectly without needing to mellow out. It's not greasy at all, goes on smoothly and sinks in quickly with a soft finish. It also didn't react badly with my mineral makeup or serums the way some moisturizers can. I give this an A+ and will probably consider repurchasing when I run out a long time from now.

Meow Cosmetics

I'm posting this because I recently won one of their contests- In december, i placed an order for samples of some of the holiday colors and was randomly selected for 5 free colors from their 12 days of Xmas collection, which was exciting.

I have to say, i've never been hugely wowed by meow's eyeshadows- they're expensive and they often don't suit me. They're also super pigmented which means they take a little more effort in applying. However, for the most part, i was really happy with the colors that i received.


What I do really love about Meow is their foundation- they have a ridiculously huge array of colors to pick from and reasonably priced samples. The pricing on the full sizes is a little more than i would like to pay, but i just buy mine during sales. Their foundation is creamy, easily matched, with a nice finish, in topnotch packaging- i love all of their foundation jars. My skin varies somewhere between korat and sphynx throughout the year so i have both.

The theme: okay, I'll admit, I'm a dog person. At first glance the cat theme was rather a turn off for me, but one order from them helped overcome that pretty quickly- the cateye logo that's on everything is actually pretty cute and there is definitely an underlying theme of sexiness here (sex kitten?). They put a lot of effort into cute and clever names and ship everything in themed packaging (leopard print tissue paper, sewn leopard print cloth bags, and cateyes on everything)  You feel treasured when you open a package from meow.


Meow isn't the cheapest out there, but they aren't super expensive and the owner runs discounts and contests often (in easter, there's an on web easter egg hunt with coupon codes and halloween is her favorite day of the year) and you definitely get quality, variety, and thoughfulness for your money.

A Fairytale Wedding

(Naturally, I posted about my wedding when I got married August 23, 2009, but since I've just started padding this blog with reader-worthy posts, i decided that my fairytale wedding constitutes as reader-worthy).

Ahem:

Not being Christian or traditional in pretty much any way, it should come as no surprise that my wedding was anything but traditional. We got married on a Sunday...at night...in the woods... with white lights everywhere!

My mom calls it the ceremony that was shorter than the walk, and that's fine by me! The guests held votives and witnessed from log benches on a creek bank while Bob and I said our short vows on an island in the middle of the creek. I made my dress- a fairy dress- and wore fairy wings rather than a veil.  

Guests threw rose petals and carried their votives through the woods down a dirt path lined in paper lanterns, to a pavillion all aglow in white lights with a table of yummy hors' d oeuvres(summer rolls, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, cream puffs) and glass jugs of mojito and pink wedding sangria. The tables glittered with crackle glass wasp catchers with "firefly" lights inside and rock candy favors. Crystal bowls of chocolate dipped mint leaves brushed in gold luster dust offered a unique treat. A black and white cake sat under its own pavillion of lights with the tossing bouquet, backdropped by a lake of floating candles.

The night was unique, magical, perfect...and ours.

Silk Naturals Review

Those who know me, know that I have a special place in my heart for Silk Naturals. I started using Silk Naturals products in October 2007. At the time, they had just expanded their single-formula foundation to include a second color for warmer skintones, still operated an ebay store, and were considered quite new to the market. There wasn't a skincare line back then. I stumbled upon them through a forum, fell in love, and never looked back. Bear with me if I gush a bit much on how amazing their products are. I wear it pretty much everyday.

*SN has a wide client-base, but the most diehard customers are those with sensitive skin, skin problems (like eczema and rosacea), formerly unmatchable pale or dark skintones, those with a wide range of allergies to traditional makeup and skincare, and the environmentally conscious.

Some cool things you should know:
-They offer a Vegan line
-Most SN products are gluten free (most are soy free too) and all the ingredients are labeled.
-There's always a GWP (Gift With Purchase)
-SN is one of the most affordable mineral makeup lines available- with quality to boot.
-SN is fast becoming a one-stop shop with makeup, skincare, and haircare all in one place. They occasionally offer fragrances too.

The Foundation

Silk Naturals' foundation is very unique in that it's designed for custom mixing your perfect shade from a white base and color additives. Women who have never found a foundation match before have found salvation at silk naturals. The white bases are all super creamy in texture and vary in coverage and formula, and the colored additives cover a wide range of skintones as well as concentrated color correctors (yellow, green, lavender) to accomodate extremes and prevent orange-ness. I like their newest foundation (multi-purpose) best, which is designed to work well with wet mineral application, and is Vegan. I don't particularly love mixing foundation, and occasionally don't mix mine well enough. SN's foundation is very nice and of almost 50 mineral companies i tried when i was first delving into the world of indie mineral makeup, SN is definitely in my top 5, but it's not my alltime favorite just due to the fact that i don't love mixing my own.

Blushes, Bronzers, and Glows

Silk Naturals was the first mineral blush I found that I could use- it wasn't dull, it didn't give me clown cheeks, and it didn't turn orange. The sheer shades can be used with a baby buki and the newer more vibrant colors just need a fiber optic. My favorite colors are Sassy (no longer available but I'm stocked up) and Cider. Drama is perfect for contouring. The Bronzers are special in that they're mistake proof and natural looking for a touch of sunkissed color. The Glows have not surpassed Dayna's Minerals glows for me, but are ridiculously popular among women on the forum. Adding Glow to foundation became so popular that SN offers a Glow Foundation base.

Concealers, Primers, and Finishers

When I first found SN, there were only 3 concealers- powdered- a yellow and a salmon called "Sleep in a Jar" and a green called "Unblush". In general, I found them to be too sheer for a concealer and passed them by. Later, Karen (owner/formulator), came out with cream concealers and multiple shades which offered more coverage than a powder and great coverage with layered and set with a corresponding powdered concealer. I would still like them to be a little more opaque and would really love for the cream concealers to come in a stick (they currently come in stackable pans), but they are quality. I currently use a cream concealer stick by another company and set it with a peach shade of powdered SN SIAJ. I, personally, don't use a primer (because i don't need one and it's an extra step), but SN offers several nice ones including blurs (to shrink pores), mattifiers (for those with oily skin), and skin treatments. The Perfecting Powder was the very first product SN ever offered, and does an amazing job of soft-focusing skin and hiding imperfections. There's also tinted finishers for those who don't love a white finisher that really give dull or tired skin a pick-me-up.

Eyeshadow & Primers

I have a real love for SN eyeshadows. They come in a wide range of finishes and colors (satins, suede, mattes, morphs, and shimmers- muted metals and neon brights) and are always wearable. Some shadows really need a learning curve, but not SN shadows. The colors are easy to pack on or blend out and SN offers a foiling medium (especially great for morphing shadows) and a primer (lasts all day without creasing, and gives eyeshadows an oomph similar to foiling). This would probably be the place to review the cream-liners, but it's the one SN product I don't use due to an ingredient allergy- i am allergic to soy and while I actually can use skincare with soy in it, eyeliner gets in your eyes and mixes with your bodily fluid (tears) and i had a very bad experience with this liner. SN gave me a refund/credit when we discovered i couldn't use the product and i just get to be jealous of those who can. It's supposed to be very comparable to indelibles if not even more loved.

LIPPIES!!!

SN makes hands-down THE best lippies on the market, from balms to glosses to lipsticks. Karen is always trying to find the perfect balance in texture, moisture, and lastability, and she nails it. She even won an award recently for it. I'm not positive, but I'm fairly certain all of the lippies are organic now, there's a vegan line available, all are gluten free, and only one or two types contain soy. There's also a list of which ones contain carmine for those who avoid it. The lippies were my true weakness in SN. It can be really difficult to find mineral lip colors in general, and to find them without a bad taste or drying formula is even harder, at a decent price? impossible. SN has all you want in a huge array of colors with new ones being released all the time. In the lip balms and treatments, there's even a plumper of sorts and lots of fun flavors. I own them all. no joke. They're like crack. We have a 12 step program on the forum. Seriously. Yes, the font for this section is excessively large. It deserves it. I promise.

Brushes

SN doesn't make their own brushes, but the brushes they offer are top-notch soft, silky, synthetics (trust me, if you don't have a synthetic, you NEED one). I especially love the long handled flat top and the ultimate eyeshadow brush- they are must haves. The fiber optics offered are really nice too and essential for the more pigmented blushes. With these 3 brushes, you can live quite happily in makeup land for a long time. Synthetics are great because they offer unrivaled softness and texture, pick up and buff in minerals really well, last longer because the bristles don't wear down and break like natural hair, and are VEGAN, so no animals were harmed in the making of these brushes. lol. I prefer synthetics for my paintbrushes and I prefer synthetics for my skin. *I have several of the makeup bags as well- they're really well made and perfect for traveling.

Skincare

Skincare is a broad category, and there are some products i love more than others, but because skin varies so much from person to person, i don't really feel it's fair to review it. The quality of SN is ever present, and many products are formulated to do special things for special skin needs. I have sensitive skin so some of the harsher acids don't work for me and (hangs head abashedly) i don't always like to wash my face at night, so I'm finding tthe moisturizers aren't the best fit for me either because of the emulsifier. Some of my favorite products are the KISS cleanser (a recipe that was actually bought from a beloved skincare company that closed shop and the recipe tweaked with SN flair), all of the masks, the strawberry spritz hydrosol, the cuticle balm, and especially the lavender hand lotion which my mom loves too. The eyelash gel is actually amazing as well- i have really long lashes to begin with, so i often forget to apply this, but at one point i used it regularly and DID see ridiculously long lashes (they started touching my brow bone when i opened my eyes). It's basically an energy drink for your lashes. The haircare line hasn't trully been launched yet- but the conditioner is amazing. It's meant to be a cleansing conditioner, but i use it as conditioner only (what can i say, i like shampoo- it's part of my routine and i'm set in my ways). The conditioner makes my hair softer, shinier, and detangles in the shower so that i don't need a separate detangler.

As for men: my husband uses SN lipbalms, and KISS cleanser and when solid cologne sticks were available, he loved those too(SN had an Armani Code dupe). He also steals my clay masks occasionally.

Customer Service

Bar none, SN customer service is exceptional. Shipping is fast, and communication is fantastic. Your packages arrive with handwritten thankyou notes, free samples, and GWP surprises. The SN forum is one of the friendlist I've ever found, and Karen asks for client opinion, and often makes what we ask for. She also holds contests and sends out test batches of works in progress.

Full Disclosure

I am not paid by SN in any way. I have purchased and use almost every product they make, because i love it. I often send out samples and freebies of things that i have and sort throught my stash for pictures- it's my favorite company.
Have I ever gotten a freebie?
 yes, most people who purchase from SN have. There are freebies in every package. Karen also sends the made product to the person who requested it if she makes it and adds it to the site. There are even 2 customer created sets on the site based on a forum contest. Karen is just that cool. In the interest of full disclosure, i have gotten one freebie in particular outside the norm- a package of special, just for me, one-of-a-kind colors (mostly ones that i had requested at one time or another) for my wedding(roughly 2 years after i had already been using and "collecting" SN products and praising their wonderousness). It was a gift from someone i consider to be a friend, and i suspect I am not the only one to receive such a gift- Karen treats her customers as friends, and she loves what she does. Her generous nature is just another reason why so many people love SN.
Have I ever been part of a test group?
Yes, i frequently get to test out works in progress and give feedback on what i like or don't like about a product so it can be changed- those test groups are comprised almost entirely of SN customers and I am not the only participant. I do not participate in test groups for things that I'm not a target for (difficult skin, ethnic skin, curly hair, humid climate testing, etc.) Honestly, i most often get to test lippies, which you can see from this review are very easily my favorite product.

Progress in Health & Erzulie Cosmetics

A few months ago, I was turned on to progress in health holistic skincare by someone on the SN forum while I was looking for a replacement for UGG's discontinued buttercup cream concealer (basically, i needed a yellow cream concealer with good coverage). I purchased a concealer/corrector stick in yellow, a tube of eye depuffer balm, and their oxygen blemish treatment. Overall, i was very impressed. They seem really committed to being non comedogenic too, which is always appreciated, and the prices (at least for the essentials i ordered) are really reasonable.

 I actually ended up purchasing from Erzulie Cosmetics on etsy (a partner? of PIH- both sites' banners say "Progress in Health & Erzulie Cosmetics"). I don't remember why, but i kind of think there was a sale going on. At least one of the times i purchased i got a free juicee lip color/balm.  I also find the etsy site a bit more user friendly; it's organized into more subcategories that make things easier to find, and you don't have to flip multiple pages within the categories.
The Concealer/Corrector Stick $6:

This is packaged in a slimtube, and is smooth, creamy, and highly pigmented/opaque. It gives great coverage for dark circles- especially when set with a powder (I use SN extra light peach SIAJ)

The Depuffer Eye Balm $5:

This smells really herbal and does feel kind of thick/moist so i'm not always inclined to use it under makeup. With all the nourishing oils though, i do often use this as a night treatment and feel like it does help with circles and thin undereye skin, as well as bags when i'm super tired or know i won't be getting enough sleep.
The Oxygen Blemish Treatment $6:

They have a whole acne system, but I'm not particularly acne prone so i just bought this treatment as an overnight zapper for the occasional zit. I have certainly not been disappointed. Overnight, it will severely diminish a bad zit (like a cystic acne spot which i recently experienced) and erase an oncoming zit from ever coming to fruition. A bad zit might take 2-3 days to completely disappear, but this product will shrink it and suck the red out of it faster than anything i've ever used. I consider myself to have pretty sensitive skin, and i haven't experienced any rashes, irritation, or dryness with this product- just fantastic results. It's a rather runny lotion with a very herbal smell, but it's VEGAN and it does its job. I also use Burt's Bees repair serum on scars and the two have a lot of ingredients in common. It comes in a blistex type tube (squeeze tube with a slanted tip and a hole for dispensing)

Customer Service:
I feel I really need to note an important thing about their customer service. When I first purchased the blemish treatment, it was in a liptube with a doefoot applicator. Being a runny lotion, a LOT of product was wasted with the packaging and it was hard to close without gushing product. However, i was aware of the packaging and foresaw these problems before i purchased it, so i really couldn't complain (though i may have mentioned it in passing when i left a positive etsy review- not sure). Anyhow, a month or two after my purchase, PIH/Erzulie Cosmetics remedied this obvious flaw in packaging to the current squeeze tube. Through my etsy account (i purchased from etsy), I was sent a message saying that the product had been recalled and i would receive a new tube in the mail within the week. To my knowledge, the only reason for recall was the packaging.I find it very cool that they took the time to send out a new tube to a recent customer when they changed packaging, very classy indeed.

OCC Liptars

OCC Liptars are colored liquid lipsticks designed for mixing like paint. The first time I looked at them, they had mostly primary rainbow colors as well as black and white, but have since expanded their colors vastly. At roughly $12/tube, owning an OCC liptar palette is pretty pricey. I bought 2.

I purchased vintage and clear. While vintage really wasn't quite what i was hoping for (i wanted more of a wine color and vintage is more of a burgundy/maroon color- more brown than purple), clear really opened a whole array of experimentation for me. I don't recall a flavor associated with vintage but clear is lightly minty- which i love. Both are non-sticky liquid lipsticks that require just a drop for application and dry down to a longlasting non-drying matte lipstick finish.

For the clear, I decided to add in SN pigments since I have such a huge array of them. I tried to dupe existing OCC liptar colors though I'm sure they're not exact. If you try this, I will caution that pearl eyeshadow make frosted lippies and tip that a touch of heavy base will help make any color more opaque. I find liptar especially wonderful for making the perfect nude lipstick from your foundation.

*I haven't experienced color bleed with the clear and pigments, but some of the premade OCC colors do feather on lips, and a clear (or appropriately colored) lip liner is recommended.

OCC by SN

 

*The basic ingredients in OCC clear liptar are castor oil, vitamin e, hemp seed oil, and flavoring. I have purchased those ingredients myself and duplicated their clear liptar at home (let's say roughly $20 in supplies for enough ingredients to make 10-20 tubes of clear liptar). Both castor oil and vitamin e lend the sticky liquid-to-powder liquid lipstick texture found in liptar while the hemp oil adds conditioning for your lips and i used a drop or two of peppermint oil for flavoring. As seen in the image above, you can customize the product from there with your favorite eyeshadow.

Lip Plumpers

I like to layer lip fusion XL and either PF Plump Potion or City Lips

*All images owned by parent sites.

Physician's Formula Plump Potion
Retail price: $8.95
Flavor: chemically vanilla
Texture: Thick, very sticky, high shine/glass effect, can be drying
Colors: 12 colors available including clear
Application: Lip Brush
Tingle: Tolerable tingle. You do get used to it but the first time i used it, it was a little burny.
Plump Factor: Fantastic for instant plumping. Your lips are noticeably fuller and smoother (and redder, lol) within minutes. Lasts as long as the gloss is on (and it stays on pretty well)


Maybelline Volume XL Seduction Lip Plumper
Retail price: $8.49
Flavor: orange
Texture: slightly sticky, a little glittery, rather drying
Colors: 10 colors available including clear
Application: Lip tube that you twist from the bottom to dispense through holes at the top
Tingle: Just a little tingly
Plump Factor: Decent plumping. It isn't instant wow but you definitely get smoother, fuller lips and great color.

Sally Hansen Lip Inflation Extreme
Retail price: $7.79
Flavor: clove
Texture: slightly sticky
Colors: 4
Application: Lip wand with sponge tip
Tingle: not tingly
Plump Factor: zero

Celebrity Sexy Pout
Retail price: $29.99
Flavor: clove
Texture: smooth/ non-sticky
Colors: 1
Application: Lip wand with sponge tip
Tingle: not tingly
Plump Factor: zero

City Lips Advanced Formula
Retail price: $35
Flavor: a little off scented. don't love the smell but it is subtle
Texture: smooth/ slightly sticky
Colors: 8 including clear
Application: Lip wand with sponge tip
Tingle: minimal tingle
Plump Factor: extreme within minutes. Bonus: lasting results

Lip Fusion by Fusion Beauty Micro-Injected Collagen Lip Plump
Retail price: $36
Flavor: orange blossom
Texture: smooth/ non-sticky, slightly drying
Colors: 20 including clear
Application: Lip wand with sponge tip
Tingle: none
Plump Factor: lips are visibly smoother
Lip Fusion XL by Fusion Beauty
Retail price: $50
Flavor: minty
Texture: smooth/ non-sticky, moisturizing
Colors: clear
Application: Lip wand with sponge tip
Tingle: minimal tingle
Plump Factor: lips are visibly smoother. Noticeably fuller lips over time.

Patricia Wexler Advance No-Injection Lip Plumper
Retail price: $17.50
Flavor: unflavored
Texture: smooth/ non-sticky
Application: Lip brush
Tingle: slight tingle. If you lick your lips, your tongue numbs a little
Plump Factor: lips are visibly smoother and fuller. 3.5 out of 5 stars for plumping.

Silk Naturals Smooth & Full Black Label Lip Treatment

Retail price: $5.95
Flavor: unflavored
Texture: smooth/ non-sticky
Application: Slim Tube/balm
Tingle: none
Plump Factor: lips are visibly smoother and fuller. 3.5-4 out of 5 stars for plumping

Mascara

I have tried a fair amount of mascaras in search of "The One"- the one that gives long full lashes without too much flaking, smearing, and most importantly (to me) without clumping!!!

A background: my lashes are already quite long and fairly full, but bleach out quickly and are nearly invisible without mascara. The right mascara definitely gives my lashes a wow factor. I don't do fake lashes (i just don't have the patience) and honestly think it should be illegal for mascara ads to use fake lashes- it feels like false advertising to me.

Tips & Tricks:
1) I have found that handedness does, in fact, matter when it comes to applying mascara. For a long time, I had a problem where my right eye always came out better than my right (i'm right handed). When I use my left hand for my left eye and my right hand for my right eye, both sets of lashes come out perfect!

2) using a darker shadow color in the corners of your lids or drawing your eyeliner thicker at the outer edges creates a backdrop for your lashes that makes them look fuller.

I have tried a lot of mascaras: jane be pure, maybelline, the "pink and green tube", lash stiletto, covergirl, silk naturals, sheer cover, lure beauty, etc. ALL fell short of expectations in some way (they flaked, they didn't give enough volume, they clumped big time, they had really weird applicators, they took forever to dry, they came scented, etc.) and I absolutely refuse to spend $20+/tube for some of the more popular brands.

I present to you, the holy grail: Avon Supershock Mascara

I only buy this when it's on sale- it's often part of a BOGO promotion and at the time of this posting is on sale at 41% off ($4.99/tube). This mascara is regularly priced at $8.99/tube and can also be found on amazon (i have found the black at $2.99/tube on amazon). I buy the regular (not waterproof) version in brown. It's a nice large tube with one of those great spiky brushes that tends to curl, coat, and separate all in one.

Caution: While both the regular and waterproof versions give you wow lashes, the waterproof version is "wetter" to begin with (read as: takes longer to dry) and is what i call a "tubing" mascara, which means that when it comes time to remove this mascara you can pinch the base of your eyelashes and little rubbery tubes of mascara will slide off your lashes. It's not my thing ergo i buy the regular version, but feel you should be informed that the formulas are different.

Also, another fun little product from Avon is their mistake proof mascara- which I buy specifically for the eyemakeup remover end which has a doefoot applicator and removes mascara smudges easily.