10 Products I would repurchase - September 2012

I wanted to take a break from reviewing products and thought I would do a fun post. Here are 10 products that I would repurchase if my make-up bag was stolen or destroyed. In no particular order.

1. Revlon Colorstay Foundation for combination/oily skin. My favourite foundation ever, lasts on my skin wonderfully so I don't need to use a primer and I could probably get away without a powder if I needed to.

2. Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder. Keeps my skin matte all day, great for when i'm not wearing foundation but don't want to look like a greaseball.

3. Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in the colour blackest black. Allows me to create a finished eye look with out eyeshadow.

4. Rimmel Glam Eyes Mono Eyeshadow in the colour Dusk. I use this as a brow powder, a contour and obviously sometimes as an eyeshadow. A multi use product that definitely deserves a place in this list.

5. Rimmel Sexy Curves Full Body Mascara. Great mascara, gives volume and length. Can get flaky towards the end of the day.

6. Wendy Hill Blusher Duo in Riviera. The blush is great for everyday and the bronzer allows you to warm up your skin when you need to.

7. Wendy Hill Lipstick in Au Natural. A great nude lipstick to give your makeup a finished look.

8. Rimmel Fix and Perfect Primer. Brilliant cheap primer. Reduces appearance of pores, make up last longer and makes skin feel silky. Also evens out skintone.

9. Designer Brands Lip gloss. They add a nice gloss to the lip without being too sticky and leave the lips feeling soft not dry.

10. Rimmel Stay Matte Concealer Stick. Good coverage but catches on dry skin. Great for redness if your skin is in good condition.

Those are my 10 products, some i would repurchase over others but I had to pick 10. Any questions about any of the products mentioned just leave a comment.

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder Review

Cost
$13 from Farmers. Marked down because of a crack in the lid.

Product
14 g of product.
I have the colour 001 Transparent

Claims
Up to five hours natural shine control with natural minerals.
Helps minimise the appearance of pores.

First Impressions
First time I applied this the powder it caught on all my peachy face hair and dry skin, I was not impressed. It did keep my shine at bay. I am someone that will get an oily glow an hour or so after applying make-up and the Rimmel powder kept me shine free for most of the day.
The packaging is a bit flimsy and the lid never really locks in place but in saying that when I dropped this product and it smashed, the lid stayed on and I was able to re press the powder.

Thoughts
Because the powder kept my face shine free all day, I decided to give it another go. I made sure to exfoliate my face well before applying the powder with a powder puff and dusting off the excess with a brush. It definitely applied better this way and reduced the look of my pores.
I have tried this product in conjunction with other products to see how it works best. I applied it over my Revlon Colorstay foundation as a setting powder. It kept my face shine free all day. I also applied this on top my Rimmel fix and perfect primer and my stay matte concealer. This gave a natural look with no shine all day.

Overview
My first attempt at using this product was not impressive, I'm not sure if maybe there was a film on top of the product that made it act the way it did or perhaps my skin wasn't in the best condition. I tried again with the powder because I had heard many good reviews of the product. I am now in love with the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder. It keeps my face shine free and my skin feels silky with it on. I apply it with a large fluffy blush on an everyday basis and with a powder puff if I'm going out and really want to minimise my pores. I feel it lives up to its claim of 5 hours shine control and can exceed 5 hours depending on the weather. I wore this powder over sunscreen when I went for a run and I was still not shiny. When used with the Rimmel fix and perfect primer I think it does minimise my pores and is overall a great product. I think I would repurchase this product and I recommend this to anyone that has issues with shiny, oily skin.

Dove Nutri Oil

Price
$5.69 on special from New World.

Product
40 ml of product.
Main ingredients are coconut and almond oils.

My hair
I have a natural wave to my hair and it is quite dry due to being highlighted. When my hair is left to dry naturally it is dry and frizzy and does not straighten well.
Because my hair is highlighted I have issues with greasy products in my hair. When I use some oil products it makes my natural colour darker and leaves my highlights light, which makes my hair look greasy. I do not have this problem with the Dove Nutri Oil.

Thoughts
II apply it to my damp hair then gently twist my hair in sections as it dries. This leaves me with loose curls. Once my hair is dry I add more product if it is needed. The oil is so lightweight and non greasy that you can keep applying the product if your hair gets frizzy from the weather or from sleeping on it. Using the Dove Nutri Oil serum makes my hair soft and smooth.  The oil is so light weight you can use as much or as little as you need.

Overview
I love this product. It is cheap and works extremely well. I love that it does not make my hair feel greasy and leaves my hair looking soft and healthy. I definitely recommend trying this product for yourself, it doesn't cost a lot and might change your hair for the better. Because of Dove Nutri Oil Serum I can now wear my hair down with out using heat tools on it.

Before and after photos here.

QVS individual eyelashes

Cost
$13.99 from pharmacy

Thoughts
I used these on a client and I'm not sure if its just the ones i got or they've changed the way they make them but these were really annoying to use. The glue that holds the eyelashes in place was too far down the eyelash so if I grabbed it near the root, the lashes would stick to my tweezers and not to the eye. If i grabbed the lashes were there was no glue I would only grab 1 lash and it would unravel the join. I have used these lashes before and they have worked perfectly well. I might have to purchase them again to see if its a one off thing. The glue they come with works perfectly well so no need to go out and purchase glue separately. They last well on the eye and give a more natural look than strip lashes. Individual lashes in general can be hard to apply on your self but with patience and practice it can be done.

Nail Art

Nail art on top of gel nails. Copied from this design.

Rainbow nails.

Artiste Brush Cleaner

Cost
$20.49 from Farmers minus $20 loyalty voucher.

Thoughts
Works well, I use about 2 sprays per brush depending on size or product on brush. I also used this to sanitise my lipsticks and it worked well.
I quite like the scent of the product as it lessens the smell of the alcohol, but the fragrance does stay on my brushes, so if this is something you wouldn't like I suggest not buying this product. I think it smells like vanilla.
The listed ingredients are Isopropyl Alcohol and fragrance. I can buy a litre of Isopropyl Alcohol for $18 from http://www.beautygallery.co.nz when this is $20.49 for 100ml. So I would probably not repurchase this, but since it was only 49 cents after my voucher, I am glad I got it.

Overview
This product does what it says, and leaves a scent on the brushes. It works but is extremely overpriced so I will not be purchasing this product again.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions,
Frankie.

LA Colors

Cost
3 for $10 from the Warehouse usually $5 each.

Lip liners
I am currently trying out the LA Colors Auto lip liner in Fiery Red and so far so good. I am using it with my LA colors red lipstick which when worn alone usually bleeds at the edges of my lips. I lined my lips with the pencil then lightly smudged the colour onto the rest of my lips before applying the lipstick. Was much easier to get a clean line with the pencil rather than the lipstick.
I wore this lip combo for a total of 5 hours before I took it off. It hadn't bled and it felt creamy on my lips. It did not stain my lips when I took it off with my makeup wipe.
I did think the colour was a little bit darker than I wouldve liked, but overall good.

I applied the nude lip liner with a wendy hill au naturel lipstick on top and then a sheer pink gloss over top. I do not like the colour of this lipliner on my skintone but with the lipstick and gloss over top its ok. I wore the lip combo for about 3 hours and it only came off when I ate. The colour is not as obvious as the red but from what i can tell it didn't bleed.

I like the staying power of the lip liners, they definately extend the wear of my lipsticks and prevent bleeding. Only down side for me was the colour but thats a personal preference.

Loose Eye shadow
The Loose Eye shadow in Snow White worked well as a highlight on my skin tone. The colour is sheer and very sparkly. It comes with a brush which is OK for placing the shadow as a highlight but it needs to be blended with a fluffy brush. I don't think the brush is very good for the eyelid but it could be used if there is no alternative.

Final Thoughts
These products definitely exceeded my expectations for $5 each they do a good job. I am sure you could find better products but for the price these can't be beaten. I would repurchase these products.

Hope this was useful, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
Frankie.

Coming soon

I just bought a few products today, so expect to see reviews of some, maybe all of these;
Artiste Brush cleaner spray - basically just isopropyl alcohol with fragrance but I got it with loyalty points so that's OK.
Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder in 001 Translucent.
QVS individual lashes. I have tried these before and I like them.
LA colors shimmering loose eye-shadow in Snow White.
LA colors auto lip liner in Fiery Red and also in Nude.
If your hanging out for any of these to be reviewed, just leave a comment below and I'll post that one first.

Frankie.

Nails

Here are a few of the nail designs I have done in the past year or so. Please excuse the poor quality photos, most were taken with my phone.

These are acrylic nails I did on myself. The have a gel topcoat and nail art on the ring finger. They are small purple beads with a flower.

Here are my friends nails, again with acrylic, although with a purple glitter tip. I mixed purple glitter with a clear acrylic powder before mixing with the monomer and applying to the nail.

Another friends nails, this time gels. The glitter was applied before the gel topcoat as well as the pink and blue rhinestones.

Here are my mother's nails with a subtle pink water marble with regular nail polish.

My own nails again, this time with a retro looking design that I absolutely love.

My nails again.... This is bluesky shellac with a glitter on top.

These are my sister's nails, there are two pictures because I think they are awesome. They are my version of a galaxy nails, done using Bluesky shellac over a gel nail overlay.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Frankie.

Let's start with hello

Hello everyone!!! I'm Frankie and I'm making this blog just for the fun of it and to give me somewhere to put all my thoughts and ideas.

Firstly a little bit about myself. I am a beauty therapist, I am weeks away from finishing my final year of school and looking forward to getting into the beauty industry full time.

My first passion is nails and more specifically nail art. This is how I first got into studying beauty therapy. But from day one of my diploma I realised there was a lot more to beauty therapy than I thought. To be honest, I went into it thinking it was something I wouldn't have to think about, something that would be fun and girly. Don't get me wrong it really is fun and girly but the depth that we go into on the science side of things. Its definitely not rocket science but it wasn't far from the level of biology I studied in a pre nursing course I did. Just putting it out there, not all beauticians are bimbos :) Though there are a few orange faced barbies out there.

Anyway, rant over. I'm planning to post a little of everything on here. Make-up, nails, anything beauty related. There may be reviews or tutorials, we'll see as it develops.

Thanks for stopping by,

Frankie