Sephora PURE Natural Believer Palette in Star Gazer - $15 at sephora.com
Please click the photo above to see the palette in more detail! Last week I posted about another one of these awesome palettes, in Island Sunset, and I like this one nearly as much. These palettes were originally about $36 but then were marked down to $15. So during the 15% off sale at Sephora I picked them up. I am so glad I did. First off, as I said before they are purported to be made of recyclable metal pans, sustainable bamboo and no less than 95% natural ingredients. I was afraid that since these are "all natural" and "pure" that staying power, texture and color pigmentation would suffer, but they don't. I am exceedingly happy to be able to tell you that these six shadows and blush are smooth, soft and packed with color that sticks around pretty well. The shades are beautiful and range from cool to neutral, as opposed to the warm shades of the Island Sunset palette.
Like the other palette, the packaging is attractive, includes a large mirror and includes all the shade names on the back of the palette, which is hard to come by in a pre-made palette, especially such an inexpensive one. The textures again range from buttery mattes, to lustres, frosts and satins. All are blendable and pack a punch whether it be in shimmer or pigmentation. Click to read shade descriptions and see swatches...
LUSH Ocean Salt Facial Scrub - $18.55 for 4.2 oz or $32.95 for 8.8 oz at LUSH stores or lushusa.com
LUSH has an amazing facial scrub that now rivals my previous Holy Grail facial scrub, MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator. Ocean Salt is a mixture of large and small grains of salt, along with lime oil and a grapefruit infusion which are supposed to brighten and cleanse. Topped off with a bit of moisturizing avocado butter and coconut fat for good measure, this is a wonderful and nourishing scrub that won't dry your skin out so badly as many scrubs tend to do.
When you first open the container, you see a lot of blue business going on on top. This is where most of the salt is, so you have to mix it up before you use it. If you go to a store, chances are there will be a little container of popsicle sticks for this purpose. Mix it up well and you'll have a light blue fluffy but viscous consistency. The scent is a mix between a musky fragrance "pour homme" and Bath & Body Works Coconut Lime Verbena. A little goes a long way, as a lot of LUSH products seem to do, so a fifty-cent piece sized amount should do your entire face. Because I have oily skin that not only tolerates frequent exfoliation, but almost demands it, I bought the large size. If you try a sample and like it, I recommend buying the larger size because you're paying about $3.74 per ounce whereas you'll pay about $4.42 per ounce for the smaller tub. That being said, if you've got dry or sensitive skin, you might actually want to entertain buying the smaller size. The shelf life of most LUSH products is rather abbreviated because of the lack of preservatives, and if you use a product infrequently, you run the risk of having it go foul on you.
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LUSH Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter - $13.25 at LUSH stores and lushusa.com
Finally, me and this years-long lemming have been united. Don't ask me why I've never bought it. I have no idea. Either way, I finally picked up this amazing and much-raved-about cream and I am IN LOVE! I'm obviously a nail product junkie, but I'm all about LUSH and their amazing natural products and I love the fact that they're handmade. This balm is full of good stuff like shea and mango butters, as well as cold-pressed avocado oil. It's a thick cream in the pot, but at the slightest application of your body heat, it becomes a gorgeous light vaseline-like substance that sinks in and moisturizes anything it touches immediately. Actually, it looks and feels just about exactly like real butter. Sounds gross, but it's amazing; mainly because it smells like fresh lemons. It's a great alternative to actual cuticle oils which can be messy to take with you. Oils are also annoying unless you don't plan on doing anything except sitting idly while it sinks in. If you want cuticle oil results with the ease of a cream, Lemony Flutter is an awesome choice. Plus who doesn't love the cute little black pots? The scent reminds me a lot of Fresh Lemon Sugar, that almost household-cleaner lemon. However, there is an earthy undertone to the scent once you get past the stringent citrus scent. Overall, the scent is incredibly pleasant to my nose. Another thing that is worth mentioning is that this isn't exactly a "little" pot; you get 1.5 oz and you only need a dab for a hand's worth of cuticles. You can also use this for larger scale scariness like dry heels and elbows. Love it. So have you tried Lemony Flutter? It would make me feel better as a beauty blogger if I were to find out I'm actually NOT the last person to try this stuff. What do you think of it?
Revlon's Luxurious Color Eye Shadows are a newer addition to their line of shadows. First came the Mattes, and then those were followed with Perle and Satin. The Perle's are obviously the most shimmery of the three choices and they seem to have just the right amount of shimmer for me. I'm a fan of the Matte shadows as well, but it's nice to see a drugstore brand coming out with some decent shimmers. Nude Slip was talked about on one of my favorite blogs; Nouveau Cheap; she was pretty positive on these and then she mentioned recently that one of her readers spotted them at Walgreen's for $3 of the retail price, making them $1.99!
The packaging is pretty simple and utilitarian, but not chintzy, which is a plus. Even at full price you're getting a lot in the package, and if you can get them on sale, it's even more of a steal. The texture is fine and not chalky at all, though it also doesn't crumble like the buttery shadows we all seem to love, like Stila and LORAC. They are pigmented, but not overwhelmingly so, making them easy to blend, and the shimmer is not over-the-top, but are quite glimmery.
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