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.