satojoko
Member Since: April 14, 2010Reviews
Fresh Supernova Mascara
I had never heard of this brand before I picked up this mascara in a box, paired with another Fresh mascara called Firebird. $9 for both, and well worth every penny. Apparently I got quite the deal, when everybody else paid well over $20 for just... +
I had never heard of this brand before I picked up this mascara in a box, paired with another Fresh mascara called Firebird. $9 for both, and well worth every penny. Apparently I got quite the deal, when everybody else paid well over $20 for just one! I had no idea at the time how much I would love these suckers, or how great of a bargain I was getting.
These mascaras are THE mascara I have been searching for all my life. Between the formula(s) that never flakes, runs or smudges, the spectacular brushes on each which DO separate and define my lashes, the volume I get - spectacular - and the killer packaging, these are THE ONE. My mascara soul-mates and orgasms! Every other mascara I have tried promises all of these things, yet fails on nearly every count, and sometimes all. Whether it be high-end or low-end, all the mascaras I have tried have disappointed me on many points. I can honestly say nothing bad about these. Every time I use them, my lashes look spectacular and I can't stop staring at them. I know it sounds super-dramatic and all, but I seriously DO love these!
Both of thse formulas are super pigmented, black as black can be, which is such a nice change from so many other products. Oxides, the color pigments, are right up at the beginning of the ingredients list, which is why they are so beautifully BLACK.
The difference between Firebird and Supernova are as follows. Firebird's brush is different. Not quite as fat, narrower at the tip, fatter in the middle, and really does the separating and defining. It really gets EVERY lash around your eyeball! The formula is also not quite as thick as Supernova. I apply Firebird first to get my lashes lengthened, properly into place, and well coated. No clumping! This one also makes my lower lashes really stand out, which is very difficult for me with every other brand or formula I've tried.
Supernova has a fatter brush, different from the pictures above, a litle wider at the tip and at the base of the brush. The formula is also somewhat thicker, but doesn't clump at all. I apply this after Firbird has dried, especially to the outer corners of my eyes, top and bottom. Supernova really does the volumizing and thickening, to astronomical proportions. I have never seen my eye lashes look this great in my life.
Well worth the $9 I spent, and will not hesitate buying these at full price once I run out. I have had them for several months now and they are not drying out like so many of my other mascaras have. And still plenty in each tube. They are THE mascara I grab every time I am doing my eyes. Seeing as I have 12 different mascaras, including 3 MAC, 1 MUF, 1 Smashbox, 2 Lancome, 1 Ojon - as well as drug store brands - that's saying something.
LOVE THEM!
-
Duwop Smoke Kit
I also picked up this product, but in the Olive shade. I love it as soon as I swatched it in the store. A very deep olive with a beautiful pearl sheen to it. Not sparkly. These are available in some Shoppers Drug Marts which have a more varied... +
I also picked up this product, but in the Olive shade. I love it as soon as I swatched it in the store. A very deep olive with a beautiful pearl sheen to it. Not sparkly. These are available in some Shoppers Drug Marts which have a more varied selection of cosmetics. Mine cost $30 at the time, but I bought it during the 20x points promotion, along with a Smashbox kit, which gave me a lot of extra points on my Optimum card.
The cream applies very smoothly, is very spreadable and blendable, very pigmented (not the case with many cream shadows) and surprisingly, the brush with which to do so is not that bad, although very short and a bit difficult to work with because of that. The bristles are very soft, though, and you can manage with it if need be. It makes lining fairly easy, but to spread a layer over your entire lid, you would have to use a different brush with a wider taklon head. Even without layering the powder over top, it stays quite well, and the payoff is great.
The powder shadow sticks to the cream base very well and matches it perfectly. It has a very nice sheen, beautiful depth to the color, and great pimentation. Although this is quite a pricey product, I do get a lot of use out of it. Not sure if I would buy it again, just because of the price, but as I said, it is a quality product. I definitely don't regret buying it.
I did notice however, in the store, the testers had gone very hard from being exposed to the air. So I wouldn't be leaving this open. Especially the cream shadow, which was hard as a rock. Keep your case closed, and maybe cover the cream side with a bit of plastic to seal the moisture in. For the price of this product, I would be really upset if it became unusable.
-
e.l.f. Cosmetics Beauty Book Smoky Eye Edition
I picked this up for $9 at Winners, which is a great price considering there are 12 shadows, 1 useable liner, a mirror and a crappy brush :-) It's also magnetized, so it stays shut, with a permanent plastic sheet that flips over top when not in... +
I picked this up for $9 at Winners, which is a great price considering there are 12 shadows, 1 useable liner, a mirror and a crappy brush :-) It's also magnetized, so it stays shut, with a permanent plastic sheet that flips over top when not in use. The case is also a hard board type, which keeps the products safe when traveling.
It's got some lighter earth tones - a shimmery white and a matte flesh tone - which are good for highlighting, although not very pigmented, 3 blue shades from lighter to darker, 3 purples from lighter to darker, 3 greys/silvers from lighter to darker, and a matte black. While some of the colors are extremely pigmented, others are not. However, enough are quite pigmented that it is a very useable palette, especially for the price. The biggest problem I have are with the 2 lighter blue shades and the matte flesh colored shade. You really gotta pack them on to get decent payoff. You've also got to wear a base under these, or be prepared for a mess which disappears half way through the day, but *with* a good base, they definitely stay on.
Worth what I paid for it, although it is not my favorite palette. Might buy it again if I ever use it up, which is unlikely. But I don't regret buying it as I will get some use out of it for sure.
-
Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes
This is defintely a product which is NOT all it's hyped up to be. I bought some of these years ago in Hong Kong, when I had no idea WTH Makeup Forever even was. Got sucked in by the pretty colors, as usual, and the drop dead gorgeous Asian... +
This is defintely a product which is NOT all it's hyped up to be.
I bought some of these years ago in Hong Kong, when I had no idea WTH Makeup Forever even was. Got sucked in by the pretty colors, as usual, and the drop dead gorgeous Asian woman at their glitzy display :-)
*cough* dumb@ss *cough*
I get far better results from my NYX and Wet n Wild eye shadow sticks, to be quite honest, all of which I got for around $2 each. To make a liner stay put, just layer a bit of mineral eye shadow or normal eye shaodw over top. Works great, without the $20 price tag. I *never* have to touch up my liner when I use that method with my cheap liners. But when I use my MUF liners, constant touchups are needed. Ridiculous.
Have never and will never buy another one of these. Total rip-job. Some MUF products are passable, but they are certainly not as great as many people claim. Not for the price they sell their line at. No way.
-
NYX Jumbo Pencils
I have these in several colors. Cottage Cheese (shimmery white like MUF Auqa Eyes in White, which I also own), Yogurt (a shimmery pinkish taupe color, really nice), Dark Brown (metallic dark brown), and Milk (a flat white color, no shimmer). Love... +
I have these in several colors. Cottage Cheese (shimmery white like MUF Auqa Eyes in White, which I also own), Yogurt (a shimmery pinkish taupe color, really nice), Dark Brown (metallic dark brown), and Milk (a flat white color, no shimmer). Love them all. Another reviewer mentioned that hers smudged. Put some powdered black shadow over top, just lightly, and it will stay all day. Likewise for all the other colors of this product. Use either regular pan shadow or even better, loose mineral shadow applied with a thin edged liner brush. Works every time.
These are by far my favorite shadow sticks. Better even than my MAC shadow stick products and paintpots, and far cheaper. They work great as a base under powders, great on the water line for highlighting, as well as the inner and outer coners of the eye, and have actually even used them on my lips to tone down shades of lipsticks I don't like the color of. Super versatile products, for sure. I bought mine online for less than $2 each, which is spectacular compared to my local price. They are also better than all of the CoverGirl Shadow Blast sticks which I bought and got a refund from the company for, and are terrible in comparison, not to mention more expensive.
The other bonus is that they come in far more colors than any other brand I have tried. Will absolutely keep buying these as long as I am breathing, especally at the price I get them.
-
NARS The Multiple Bronzer
Lord, have I gotten me a mountain of unused bronzers - and other products which promised to make me look wickedly sexy - over the years. Very few I have bought have been used more than once, for very good reasons. The majority make me look like a... +
Lord, have I gotten me a mountain of unused bronzers - and other products which promised to make me look wickedly sexy - over the years. Very few I have bought have been used more than once, for very good reasons. The majority make me look like a ridiculous, orange, human disco ball. Far from a sophisticated, San Tropez-going wench.
I recently bought this particular bronzer only because the NYX cream bronzer stick I have been trying to hunt down is nowhere to be found. I had intitially heard that this NYX bronzer is very much like *this* NARS product. If that's the case, thought I when I was in my right mind, why spend over $40 for NARS when I can get a similar product for only a few $$? Well, finding the NYX dupe turned out to be more difficult than I thought, so I finally went ahead and bought the NARS product. Dumb dumb dumb....we know that us women ALL have a drawer of products we regret buying, even years later.
I do regret buying this product, but not because it is the worst I have ever tried. This isn't by any means on my 'most hated bronzer list', but it sure isn't my favorite either. I like it for a couple of reasons, but I also DIS-like it for more reasons than that. Firstly, it doesn't streak on me or settle into my pores, making me look like I have glowing bronze blackheads. That I am thankful for. Secondly, it doesn't look orange on me, which I find Smashbox's bronzer wheel does, as do many other brands - from low-end to higher-end - and which I really hate. Next, I do admit, it can be used for multiple things, like the lips, cheeks, eyes, etc. Lastly, it's super easy to apply and to blend with just the finger tips, or to even nicely buff it out with a synthetic foundation brush, which really gives it a nice, soft, natural look. Bonus on that point. Streaky, bacon-strip-looking-bronzer just looks SO BAD, no matter who is wearing it or at what age. Youth does not justify nor erase ugly bacon-strips, however, it can make us oblivious to them on our own mugs.
The reasons I don't like this product? I personally find it a bit oily, and *that* coupled with the amount of shimmer in it magnifies my pores. I have really come to appreciate the *very* few good matte bronzers I have found, which TRULY leave a soft, healthy color to my skin without creating shine or that word I dislike so much - GLOW. Glow in my mind usually means a woman with a look akin to a shimmering oil-slick, complete with cavernous pores and like she has OD-d on a 20kg bag of radioactive carrots. 'Glow' isn't supposed to look like that, but it more often than not does because, in our desperation to regain some smidgen of youth, we end up slapping on far too many products which promise that elusive state our skin supposedly once had.
This NARS product does not even come close to any of the matte bronzers I love, although I do not find it to be orange on my skin tone. That's a plus. However, in the summer, when you're sweating buckets and have a lot of shine going on with your face already - and god forbid you also have oily/combo skin like mine - the last thing you want is to make your schlep look like a lighthouse in the distance. A natural, healthy tone, sure, but not the shine you'd get off a newly polished chrome bumper. It just looks nasty and greasy. YUCK. It was a hot day today and this bronzer made my entire face look GREASY due to the oil in my skin mixed with the shimmer in the bronzer. Holy war-of-the-blotting-tissues! Lastly, the price just irks the hell out of me. There are now so many great products on the market that are anywhere from dirt-cheap to mid-range in cost which perfrom SO well. So why would I keep this product, when I can spend $3 to $10 versus the $40 - which I stupidly did - just to get less than stellar results? For $40 , I expect a great deal more out of a product. I feel like I just chucked nearly half a hundred bucks in the toilet, really. I did! Not a good feeling at all :-(
Prestige products and cosmetics lines like this, IMO, are losing quite a bit of steam and attractiveness to women like me who are sick and tired of overpaying for just a name. NARS. And then? Yes, NARS does have some good products, and yes I admit I do own and love some of them - especially their packaging. I also admit I too am a sucker for their marketing and slick-looking, matte-black compacts - but this just isn't a product I can justify keeping. I'm taking it back for a refund tomorrow and will continue to use the bronzers I already own until I manage to hunt down that NYX cream bronzer stick. I can spend the money I save on the new bag or the spectacular new pair of shoes I saw today and am lusting over. Or both, as they are *both* are priced far lower than this over-hyped bronzer.
-
Goody Colour Collection Claw Clips
I am so disappointed in these hair clips, which I used on a daily basis til every single one of them broke. All of them. Fortunately, that just motivated me to find the SpinPins even faster, which work perfectly and will never break. Every one of... +
I am so disappointed in these hair clips, which I used on a daily basis til every single one of them broke. All of them. Fortunately, that just motivated me to find the SpinPins even faster, which work perfectly and will never break.
Every one of the claws on these broke off in my hair. They are junk, cheaply made and - as a result - a totally disposable product. The sad thing is that they worked quite well until they all wound up in the trash.
Would never buy these again, not in a million years. They may be cheaper overall compared to the SpinPins, but in the long run you will spend a great deal more cash just replacing these every couple of months.
-
Goody Simple Styles Spin Pin
These are the most phenomenal hair accessories/tools ever, and extremely easy to use. My hair is well past my shoulders and now medium thickness after using Ojon products for more than a year. We had been living in a very hot, tropical country for... +
These are the most phenomenal hair accessories/tools ever, and extremely easy to use. My hair is well past my shoulders and now medium thickness after using Ojon products for more than a year. We had been living in a very hot, tropical country for over a decade and I was always looking for decent pins/clips/etc to hold my hair up, which inevitably broke. My search ended when we came back to Canada and after having the same thing happen - clips breaking, bands snapping and tearing my hair out - I saw these advertised. It actually took me quite some time to find a store that stocked them, so by the time I did, I didn't care much about shelling out the $6.98 tax, although they are pretty pricey for just 2 to a package. I was just happy as a booger to finally have them :-)
I forgot when I bought them to check the package for directions because I was in such a rush to get them home and try them, but I have never had a problem with them staying in or even getting them in. I have found them very simple and straight forward to use. I use only 2, but will be buying more in case they ever take them off the market. The way I use them: pull my hair back like I would for a pony tail and then twist this hair starting at the scalp until it starts forming a bun all by itself, which I completely wrap around in a circle. I then screw one in close to the scalp and grabbing the edges of the bun going from the top to the bottom and then one from the bottom of the bun to the top. You can also twist one in from each side, intertwining. Never fails to work for me. If you've got thick hair, try crossing them so they intertwine within the middle of the bun and hold your hair more securely. I have never had them come out, not even when I have been sleeping. They definitely stay put!
They get even better :-) What I love even more about them is that they are completely invisible because they are buried deep in my hair leaving a perfectly smooth bun, and also keep my hair from being damaged by elastics, hair bands, etc. I also use far less hairspray to keep my hair in place, and when I take them out, my hair is perfectly wavy and beautiful looking, even at the end of the day. I also often go to bed with my hair damp and use these to keep my hair securely up during the night. When I wake up, I brush it all out into gorgeous, voluminous waves. Pretty impressive, with absolutely no effort. I can't even remember the last time I used a curling iron, which rarely worked for me anyways.
Well worth the price. I'll be buying at least another 8 to 10 packages of these because I can't ever see myself stopping using these. I would suggest stocking up on this product before they one day disappear. Like all great products, they undoubtedly will :-(
-
MoroccanOil Treatment
I really dislike this product and this company. Their products are beyond thievery price-wise. From what I remember when I purchased it, it is far from 100% pure argan oil - which is what Moroccan oil actually is. To test it, I went out and got a... +
I really dislike this product and this company. Their products are beyond thievery price-wise. From what I remember when I purchased it, it is far from 100% pure argan oil - which is what Moroccan oil actually is. To test it, I went out and got a bottle and compared it to my 100% pure argan oil that I buy from my supplier. Had it worked and been worth the price, I would have kept it for sure. It doesn't even stand up against the real stuff, which will help your hair grow longer, thicker and stronger. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the list of the actual ingredients on the company's website - why would they omit that info anyways? so I can't share them here at the moment.
Insanely over-priced & massively over-hyped - like so many products out there are - this just ain't worth the dosh. I took the bottle back and went back to my REAL argan oil and Ojon products, which are all light-years ahead of this kid's stuff.
-
got2b Smooth Operator Smoothing Lustre Lotion
This product is no more effective or better than any other cheap silicone based hair smoothing serum at all, other than the sickly sweet smell. That's all that is in it, other than synthetic fragrances. Silicones. Which quickly build up on the... +
This product is no more effective or better than any other cheap silicone based hair smoothing serum at all, other than the sickly sweet smell. That's all that is in it, other than synthetic fragrances. Silicones. Which quickly build up on the hair and prevent colors and other products from properly entering the hair shaft. If you truly care about your hair, and yer noggin, stay far away from butt-nuggets like this one. I admit, I am sometimes a sucker for a pretty bottle, and that's what got me with this one *smacking self in the head* WTH was I thinking? The bottle should have been the first red flag.....Hello Kitty pink.....the cheap little plastic charm hanging off the neck......the shape of a voluptuous woman......gag gag and GAG.....ah well....live and learn, foolish woman that I am :-)
I can't possibly give it any more stars than I have because when I compare this to my pure sea buckthorn oil, pure argan oil, or any of my Ojon products - all of which super condition my hair and take care of all fly-aways, static, etc and actually make my hair healthier, grow longer and faster - this crappy product falls flat on its face. And as an extra added bonus, the vomit-inducing scent in it sends me running for a barf-bag as well. As a full-grown woman, I really don't enjoy walking around smelling like an air-headed, cotton candy munching ditz. It smells like bubble gum on crack cocaine for the love of god. Out of all the scents this company COULD have chosen from, they picked this?? Hello??
Would never ever buy it again, not even if Elvis came floating down on a star-spangled cloud and offered it to me on a golden platter with one of his famous peanut butter sandwiches and a big fat spliff.....THAT is how much I detest this product :-)
-
Looking for more?
Check out our other review websites:
