Forgive me, I forgot to take pictures for this post!

I've recently been trying to take better care of my skin. It is my belief that the better you take care of our skin today, the better it will be years from now. One of the products I recently decided to try was the Neutrogena Microdermabrasion kit. When I was going through Cosmetology Microdermabrasion was a big new spa treatment where crystals basically took off  layers of dead skin, if felt like a cats tongue and it was applied by a little tube being slowly run over your face. I was a wee bit hesitant to try it but when I came across a $3 coupon I decided to give it a go.

The kit includes 12 "rejuvenating" puffs, 2 AA batteries, attachment head and of course the applicator. Mine came with a bonus refill pack of puffs. The applicator is a little handheld, very similar to the Olay Pro-X. It's just a white little handle that fits well in your hand with a "pad" at the top and a switch on the back. It has a waterproofed battery compartment (that is quite difficult to open) despite a warning on the box saying not to even hold it under running water. It has 2 speeds which vary only slightly. The attachment head clips on to the top "pad" of the thing and has this weird almost velcro like texture to it which is meant for the puffs to cling to which works better than I expected. The puffs are kind of like cotton rounds and one side is coated with rough little blue "crystals". They also have a floral scent to them which I could do without (scent = unneccassery chance of irritation in my opinion).

Now, I had thought the thing was going to spin or something but what it does is just vibrates, quite hard. The instructions on the box are quite vague: "Massage 1 to 2 minutes per facial area. Rinse and discard puff." No, there are no other instructions in the box. Okay Neutrogena, game on. First off, what exactly is the definition of a "facial area"? Second, am I supposed to massage slow or fast? Soft or hard? In circles or strokes? Not even a warning about the eye area either? For a product designed to be kind of rough on the skin they really don't go into great enough detail in my opinion.

You know what is on the box though? Claims, and lots of them:
Today: pre-dosed puffs deliver the perfect degree of gentle exfoliation with ultra-fine crystals and mild purifiers.
Tomorrow: Massaging micro-vibrations boose surface cell turnover for firmer, younger- looking skin.
Instantly: 91% had smoother, more luminous skin.
1 week: 88% had visible improvement in the look of fine lines.
4 weeks: 88% had siginificantly reduced appearance of wrinkles or age spots.
8 weeks: 72% had substantally firmer- looking skin.

In purchasing this product I was looking to minimize my pores, exfoliate my horribly dry skin and get rid of the dead skin cells giving my skin it's dull and uneven appearance. They do mention it being used for pores elsewhere on the box but not in the claims on the back.

So here are my thoughts on how it worked...A pulsing and vibrating disc pressed against my skull does not feel good or gentle. The crystals are rough on the skin, especially if used 1 to 2 minutes per "facial area", yet somehow it didn't manage to exfoliate my dead skin away anywhere near as well as a standard scrub does. The puffs do produce a nice lathery foam that I did like. I used it for 1 week and saw no improvement in my skin at all. After the first use my skin certainly did not feel smoother, if anything it felt more dry than it began. I suggest skipping the Neutrogena Microdermabrasion Kit, $21.99 and opting for a standard facial scrub and leaving the microdermabrasion to the professionals.

I said this would be up last night but Blogger was just not cooperating so here it is now...

When I first heard about Urban Decay's new eyelash curler, dubbed The Revolution, I was overly excited. Long had I wished I could curl my eyelashes without crimping the outer corner into a ridiculous L shape. On my first visit to Sephora when it came out, I talked myself out of buying it. I find it quite hard to pry $19 out of my wallet for an impliment like the eyelash curler which I can buy for $3 at the drug store. And they didn't even have one you could pick up and play with or even really look at.


Now, I just need to go off on a little tangent here about Sephora. At least, my local Sephora which isn't all that local at an hours drive away in Albany. How is the service at your Sephora? Here it usually seems none existent. I may have ended up buying the damned thing the first visit if one of the associates could have bothered to ask me if I needed help on any of my five laps around the store. I wanted to see if they had tried it, heard anything or perhaps had one somewhere I could play with for a second? Not to mention the absolute mess the testers and products are in, how am I supposed to buy a product when the boxes are all mixed up? And when I get to the counter a smile would be nice! I've even complained about this before to Sephora but they don't seem to give a damn. Sephora: your products are expensive, I do not enjoy spending my hard earned money in a store I am treated like crap in.


Back on track, I ended up coming back to the store a couple months later and splurging on it. I anxiously brought it home and opened it up to play with...
Disappointment. I just could not get the thing to line up right. The whole gimmick of it is that it's missing the bars on the sides that normally constrict your lashes and cause pinching. Well, I pinched. Everytime. I just could not get it aimed, the depth perception of where I had to crimp was off because, well there was an eyelash curler in my eye. I tried about five days in a row and couldn't get the hang of it and the couple of times I did manage to find the sweet aka not pinchy spot it didn't curl very well. I don't know if the pads just don't have enough squishy "give" to them but I had to squeeze SUPER hard to get it to curl them noticeably. And then they were awkwardly curled. Oh, and those little pads? They include extras. Because they fall out! At least the ones in mine did, which is why I only tried it for five days. When I lost the little pads I deemed this product had sailed away on the fail boat and would be cruising back to Sephora.



Cosmetically, another complaint I have is the finish on the thing. When you first take it out of the box it is so shiny and pretty but it is a fingerprint magnet and those fingerprints are very noticeable.
I guess that the little cage on the curler isn't such a bad thing, it's better than poking yourself in the eye or crimping down on your lid. It prevents me from getting too close to the base of my lashes and that's a good thing.

Have you tried The Revolution?

Let me start off by saying: I currently have no 'net. Which is why I have disappeared. I also have recently gained a promotion to Head of Cosmetics in my sweet retail job so have been working more. I have also been horrible and not even bothering to take photos of anything I do with my nails or makeup although for the most part it's been rather boring. But, I have photos already edited for a review of the Revolution curler from Urban Decay so I should hopefully have that up tomorrow night. For now, here is a random picture post. Hope you enjoy <3

Let's start with some sweet bathroom pics from work...

Dressed up...

Halloween...


My newest obsession, MAC Let's Skate! Paint pot

My new lazy makeup, blended eyeliner. I used the Prestige white liquid liner and the rest are MUFE (hot pink, red and purple...I hate how their names are coded to numbers because I just can't remember them) which are also my other new obsession. Taken after 9 hours of wear!

Anyone watch Rupaul's Drag Race? I LOVE it. Stacy Layne Matthews and Carmen Carrera (my fave <3) recently came here to perform so here I am with them. I look a little ragged, I came off a 9 hour shift and this was at like 2am so I was exhausted.
My newest tattoo and my Bioshock one filled in, not sure if I ever posted that! The Octopus is fresh, he was done yesterday. You can't quite tell but he's holding a little compact and everything. When it's filled in it will be sea green and pink mostly. Both done by the awesome Rhiannon from Shocker Tattoo in Albany.

I don't even have internet service right now but I just have to write this review. I didn't even take pictures of this product and for that I'm sorry but it really doesn't even deserve that effort! I will not be using this again.

I recently tried a new product called Nutra Nail Gel Perfect UV-free gel color. This product comes with 3 teeny bottles: Gel color, activator and cleaner. I've only seen it offered in 4 shades, all solid no shimmer colors. I tried Lily Pink, a medium toned no thrills pink cream. These sell for about $13.99 ::cough::ripoff::coughcough::.

Now, this obviously isn't your normal nail polish. Let's check out the claims we have here:
*Applies Like Polish- quick and easy application.
*Protects nails from breaking- gel color activates to form a rock solid shield.
*Ding free protection
*Sets in just 5 minutes
*creates a patent leather shine that lasts
*easy to remove

Basically, they are saying this is just like polish but it doesn't chip, dries completely in 5 minutes, protects your nails and is all shiny and pretty!

Pfft, yeahhhhh right!

Now let's see how those instructions look...have you ever seen a polish with instructions like a box of hair dye? Now you have! Here is the jist of it:
*Put down papertowels
*Unscrew all 3 caps (best not be clumsy and make a mess!)
*Apply a thourough coat of activator to first hand. Enough to make nails wet and shiny but not too much! And try not to get it on your cuticles even though it's super runny. Don't touch it!
*IMMEDIATLY apply a THIN coat of gel- color. Use slight pressuer so it will blend with the activator, whatever that means! Really, it just kinda floats all over in a way I can't even EXPLIAIN so just give up on not getting it on your cuticles and only using a little.
*Clean the brush, wipe that thing right on down with some paper towels and then put that brush in the cleaner and use the brush that's in the cleaner instead. Annoying? Nah!
*Repeat, and then repeat again for a 2nd coat which they assure will be enough but it isn't because it's still streaky.

Yeah, it's just a little walk in the park. Just like using regular polish! And to make it all better it smells like nail glue! Don't get it to close because it makes the eyes WATER and then you can't move quick enough! And if you put too much on you'll have lumpy nails!

So yeah, if my sarcasm was too subtle let's just say it's annoying to apply. But, it might be worth it all if the product was any good. So is it?

Well, let's break down those claims one by one (we'll skip the like polish one):

*protects nails from breaking- well, seeing as how I broke THREE nails while wearing this product for THREE days (one of which I was simply lazy) I'm going to just call bulldookie on this.
*ding free protection- within 2 hours of being at work I managed to get my first of many chips, which rarely happens with regular polish.
*Sets in 5 minutes- I will agree with this but if you put too much activator and/or polish it will take forever and you have to apply yet another coat of the cycle.
*Patent leather shine- the first day it was fairly shiny, and just like regular polish as it wears it gets dull.

There were a couple other things about this product I just simply did not like:
After a day I started noticing redder splotches throughout my nails, something was causing them to become slightly discolored. I also started to see tiny cracks all over my nails, when my nails would get knocked the color broke instead of bending with my nailbed. It also feels disgusting when you do get it on your cuticles, kind of like nail glue.

Now about the removal...Nutra Nail is also selling No mess Express Gel Perfect Remover kits which sell for about $6.99. They contain 5 little foil envelopes that you are supposed to soak the color off with. They are simply wide pads soaked in (super highly offensive smelling) acetone. Don't waste your money. The foil packet is supposedly to allow you to soak all your fingers on one hand at once. Let's simply say it doesn't work. Glorified crap. As for general removal it actually wasn't bad.

But you know what I REALLY didn't like about this product? After I removed it from all my nails I came to realize that it had left them damaged. The top of all my nails is now peeling and dry and flaky, which is nothing like my nails were when I put this product on them.

Conclusion? DO NOT BUY OR TRY THIS PRODUCT! If you don't believe me, check out other reviews, I found several saying they also had damage dry nails after removing. I DID take a picture of the damage they did but with no internet I don't really have a chance to upload it right now.

 As soon as I picked up the Make Up Forever Aqua Liner in 10- a bright shiny red. I never thought I would love these liners this much.

It's October, which means Halloween. And for the first time ever I really don't have a costume. I honestly don't feel like spending the money on a costume, even a cheapie DIY one. Most likely I'm just going to go with some "spooky" makeup for the day. Over the next couple weeks I'll have a few creepy FOTD's for you, if you have any requests please let me know! I would love a challenge :)

Here's the first one...
Products used:
MAC Bare Study paint pot
Urban Decay Naked palette- Gunmetal
Fyrinnae Looking Glass (inner corner)
Urban Decay Polyester Bride

For the lips:
I applied chapstick (I like Carmex's new Vanilla Twist, maybe I'll write a review) and then patted on Urban Decay's Gunmetal eyeshadow. I dabbed a little of Sally Girl Glitter Gel and then applied a gray/silver glitter. For the second photo I dabbed some clear gloss over.

This is pretty pathetic but I seriously can't remember for certain what I used on this FOTD...at all. I *think* it is a Fyrinnae shade (one of the darker super shimmer ones) possibly over MAC Blacktrack paint pot but I really can't say. I do remember that I was told I looked like Snow White. I don't recall her ever wearing dark smokey makeup but I'll take it as a compliment ;)

Probably should have actually posted this with the last post...oh well...


And here is a cute puppy under the cut. My Apoooollo in her raincoat. Being Pouty. She hates the getting wet.

aka prolonging my manicure...

Quick pin-up FOTD using Revlon Fire & Ice lipstick because it's a vintage shade and I'm like that ;) I have no clue what I used on my lid tbh! Seems to be UDPP + UD's Naked Palette's Virgin to highlight and Wet n Wild's Creme Brulee all over. Cheeks I think is Jane in Baby Doll. When I wear red lips I try to keep my cheeks as neutral as possible. Finished off with Milani's Brow Kit. The hairband? From $10 for $10 clearance at Claire's. Loves it!

And that concludes today's lazy-catching-up-post!

Toot-a-loo my dears!

Using MAC's Sun Blonde from their Surf Baby collection. I hate MAC eyeshadows. Every one I've tried has been pretty horrible. But the swatches convinced me. I fell in love with the dirty almost mustard yellow. But, it pulls completely yellow gold on me :( No sign of the dirty mustard I wanted. I am disappoint.

I've been bad. Really bad. I have barely updated in months. Honestly, I got massively overwhelmed trying to keep up with the new job, family, friends and it being summer. And then when I tried to get back on track, my netbook died. Now I have a fancy new laptop (that I got lucky with and got for $100 or I wouldn't be here typing) but with the number of posts I had built up I'm a little lost. I lost track of what I had already posted and most of what I used is no longer fresh in my mind. So here's what I'm going to do. All the posts I have built up (most are FOTDs because I've been horrible at swatching polish) I'm just going to do no-frills posts. I'll write the products I remember, if you want to know something specific I'll try to recall but no promises. No other writing, just pictures until I have all my back log cleaned out.

So here is your first no-frills FOTD post.



Products used: Fyrinnae Looking Glass, Fyrinnae Bali Mynah, Make Up Forever Aqualiner #9


And while we're here...
I would like to thank all my readers for sticking around. I really appreciate everyone who visits my blog and I hope I can manage to keep it interesting for you guys!

I recently picked up a couple bottles of EOS Shave Cream when they were on sale for 2/$2 after Register Rewards and included a disposable BIC Soliel razor each.

EOS Shave Cream comes in 6 scents: Pomegranate Raspberry, Lavender Jasmine, Island Blue, Cucumber Melon, Vanilla Bliss and Sensitive- Fragrance Free. For this review I choose the Lavender Jasmine scent.

The packaging is color coded to scent (light purple for Lavender Jasmine) and is a tall plastic pump bottle- which won't leave rust on your tub- containing 7 fl oz of product.

The scent of Lavender Jasmine is faintly floral and slightly fruity. Both named notes are pretty common but I can't see to really detect either. I buy products based on scent most of the time so this was kind of disappointing. A sniff test of the other bottle I bought, Vanilla Bliss, also fails to meet any type of "bliss" I would describe.

EOS Shave Cream is advertised as "ultra moisturizing, paraben-free with natural aloe and shea butter" and can be used wet or dry. The ingredients do list shea butter, aloe and oat extracts. One thing EOS boasts about this shave cream is that it can be used dry or wet. The texture is really more similar to a lotion than anything. If you've seen the advertising you would have seen a product that looks like a thick luxurious whipped cream. Nope, not what you get at all.

When used dry this product feels like applying lotion, wet it also does but with a melting effect. To do my leg from the knee down or my arm (yes, I shave my arms) it takes about FIVE pumps of product. To me, that seems pretty excessive. And I could do for an extra pump or two because really, no one likes the feeling of a razor on bare skin. Wet or dry, it's unimpressive. When wet it is way too thin, dry it drags.

Does it leave skin feeling softer than before? Not noticeably, other than the obvious fact that my legs are now shaved.

Would I buy this product again? Honestly, no. I will probably end up giving away my other bottle and going back to a more traditional (and likely cheaper) shave gel/foam/cream.

You can find EOS Shave Cream in most drugstores and on drugstore.com for around $4.99.

Have you tried these? Interesting in trying them?

Trying to get back in the swing of things! I am now operating on a laptop I was lucky enough to buy off a friend of a friend for $100. It was a super deal because this is a pretty pimpin' laptop lol. Anyways, I don't really have much to say on this but wanted to show some activity on the blog. I need to get back into posting and trust me- I have no shortage of posts backed up for you! Hoping to finish up a nice little review on EOS Shave Cream for you tomorrow (no promises) so stay tuned!

I actually don't really think this look is very gothic at all but I think it comes off that way with my skin and hair. Even when I'm not wearing makeup people have referred to me as "that goth girl" (I'm talking customers at work mainly) so why not embrace it once and a while? ;)

I haven't forgotten about you! I had an issue with my netbook's power cord for months and was too cheap to replace it and then it just pooped out on me one night. And then I ordered one and sometime in between it arriving I managed to crack the screen. I don't know if you've ever seen what can happen with a cracked laptop screen but it ain't purty. On an already mini sized screen I now have 1/3th of the viewing space- most of which is covered in trickles of black wherever it cracked. Not easy to work with, and all my photos are on it. And it's just getting worse. And it's blue screened me twice which probably isn't a good sign. I'm working on moving things to my desktop so bare with me!