Tag Archives: Cosmetics

[REVIEW] Aveeno Positively Radient Maxglow Micellar Gel Cleanser and Serum+Primer

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Have you heard of Aveeno’s latest launch? It is a collection of new skincare products that promises to give dewy radiant skin. I received two products from the line to try and here are my thoughts:

Left: Aveeno MAXGLOW Serum + Primer; Aveeno MAXGLOW Micellar Gel Cleanser
  • MAXGLOW Serum + Primer: A two phase liquid you shake to mix and apply to clean skin. It claims to hydrate without clogging pores and also primes your skin for makeup. I like the scent of the line, it’s like fresh kiwi cucumber and the fact it is paraben-free (safe for Mama’s to be!). I like the concept, and the bottle looks pretty on my sink vanity. The texture is much lighter than I thought – very watery! I think this would be great in the summer when my skin is in need of less moisture than in winter, and will work good if I am aware of the makeup I put on afterwards. This is due to the texture on the skin, I can’t use my mineral sunscreen on top as makeup would not adhere on the skin at all. The sunscreen I am using is Bare Republic Mineral Tinted Sunscreen, and the combo just makes my skin so slippery (not in a good way)! It felt like a thick layer of oil under makeup so any makeup slid around like crazy. No thanks!
MAXGLOW Serum + Primer – two phase serum
MAXGLOW Serum + Primer – Mixing the two layers
MAXGLOW Serum + Primer – Applied 2 drops to my arm
  • MAXGLOW Micellar Gel Cleanser: A clear gel cleanser that is supposed to cleanse makeup and your skin in one step. It is also paraben-free and non-comedogenic. I really like this one! The texture is clear and thick coming out of the container. Once applied to dampened skin and rubbed in, you can feel your makeup dissolving but the best part is it DOES NOT dry out skin… LOVE! It was very gentle on my sensitive skin too. I was surprised how well this cleansed without stripping, and I haven’t had a skin reaction to it at all. I tested the “cleaning power” with several of my favourite makeup products, ranging from regular formulations to hardcore, long-lasting formulas and a long wear lip colour. As expected, the regular formulas dissolved right way, while the long wear formulas hung on longer. But keep in mind, the long wear products are MADE to be long wear i.e. they should be removed with an oil cleanser/double cleanse method anyway. See the results for yourself below!
Left to Right: Becca Ombre Nudes Eye Palette; NARS Creamy Concealer (Macademia); MUFE Full Cover Concealer (#7), Giorgio Armani Lip Magnet Liquid Lipstick (#506); Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner (Black)
Test time!
Apply cleanser to dampened skin
Rub, rub, rub
Dissolved the BECCA eyeshadow and NARS creamy concealer without a trace
MUFE Full Cover concealer and Giorgio Armani Lip Magnet hanging on!

I think you can see the efficacy of the cleanser on regular formulated makeup, and also much could be said for the long wearing formulas too! I love long wear makeup because I don’t like to check/reapply makeup throughout the day. I’m usually too busy at work and too lazy anyway 🙂 So if you’re looking for a simple one-step cleanser for everyday, I would recommend trying this out. Just remember to double cleanse if you’re using long wear makeup!

Hope you find this review helpful!

Let me know your thoughts, whether you tried the new Aveeno line yet or any comments on this review. Happy reading folks!

-E

[REVIEW] Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Eyeshadow Palette

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Who HASN’T heard about this release yet? From the day it was available I read and watched all the reviews, trying to imagine the swatch tones on my skin and decipher if it is worth purchasing for myself. I mean I own a variety of eyeshadow palettes already, so do I really need another one? I hummed and hawed for weeks… I even added it in my Sephora basket and my Beauty Boutique by Shoppers Drug Mart basket just in case either one sold out (lol) but I didn’t hit the “ORDER” button until last week. I know…I’m so indecisive! My order arrived today and could hardly contain myself! I ripped open the brown box to get my slightly sweaty hands in it, and now I just have to add my review here 🙂

The focus will be on my initial reaction and swatches on my own skin, since there are already plenty of reviews comparing the prior Naked palettes to this one. Some of the reviews are so top notch I really have nothing else to opine on the palette differences.

At first glance – Beautiful packaging in a gorgeous monochrome colour scheme, and choice of material is soft and a little plush. It glimmers a little when the sunlight hits it.

The above and following two photos were taken in bright sunlight, I was hoping the colours would read as true to real life as possible. You can see the entire palette veers heavily on the warm side, which is right up my alley. My skin tone is light-medium and very yellow (MAC NC25-35 depending on season), so I tend to lean towards warm terracotta browns and bronzes for my eyeshadow colours.

On my skin, most of the eyeshadows compliment my skin except for Bribe, which is looking a tad cooler than the rest on me. I tried this on my brow bones to highlight today, and I can still make it work by blending really well. Blur, the last shadow in the palette, is so close to my skin colour it almost disappears! Still I think it’s a good base colour to lay down before adding in any other colour including the transitional shades.

Many other reviews said the worst shade is Dreamweaver due to it’s formulation, and I agree – It is so chunky and hard to lay down even to swatch the shadow! The above photo is telling of how I struggled to swatch that darn colour on my arm! I can’t even imagine what my eyeshadow brush will do to it..probably make a mess of my still clean palette or not pick up colour at all. I saw another reviewer said to use a damp, dense, flatter brush to work the colour so I may try this method when I test it out on my lids (so far I’ve avoided using Dreamweaver because of my initial struggles with it!)

I’ve gotten good use out of the rest of the shades so far: Barely Baked, Angel Fire (both for the ball of my eye and inner corners), Reputation, Burn, End Game (as my liner), Distilled, Bucked and Boundaries for a nice sheen of colour. The only shade I’m still figuring out is Retro, a bright coral shade. I’m simply intimated by this one, as I hardly where coral colours and unsure how to incorporate this into my daily looks. I’ll play around with this at home. Maybe I’ll find good use for this as a night-time punchy colour…but not so much for the office. 🙂

I included a couple more photos of the palette in different lighting for perspective. I always find this helpful when checking out reviews. Hopefully you do too!

Have you tried the new UD Naked Reloaded palette yet? What do you think?

-E