Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Mini Haul & Website Comparision

This post is about some of the skincare stuff that I bought online from iherb.com. It is my go to website to buy natural skincare products. They always have amazing deals on along with super inexpensive shipping options. New users can use this discount code "ZUF525" for $5 off any order below $40 and $10 off any  order above $40. Before I found this website, I used to shop at vitacost.com but they increased their shipping cost many folds in the past couple of months. First their shipping cost to Canada was just $3.99 (amazing), then they increased it to $5.99 (really good), then $7.99 (okay) and now it is $11.49 (like wth?). So now I only shop at iherb because the shipping is only $4. 


Even though the shipping cost is very low, the shipments usually arrive within 2 weeks to Canada. Also, there aren't any shipping restrictions on oils etc. like their were on vitacost. I really love the fact that they have detailed information and list of ingredients for each product on their website. This time, I actually placed two orders on the same day but I am not including other items in this post as they are not relevant to the content of this blog. 


Derma E Scar Gel: I absolutely love Derma E's Refining Vitamin A Oil so I thought of giving this scar gel a try. It is a gel formula which goes on very lightly on the skin and doesn't feel greasy or sticky. However, you are supposed to use it 3-5 times daily and I sometimes forget to do that. 


Bee Naturals Queen Bee Facial Nectar: This is just a regular facial moisturizer but I bought it because I really liked the simple and natural ingredients. Also, it has a pump, which is always a bonus. 


Devita Revitalizing Eye Lift Cream: This is one of the main products that prompted me to place the order. However, I haven't tried it on yet as I am still working on my current eye cream but I really liked the ingredients. It contains some amazing vitamins and oils for nourishing the delicate under eye area. Also, it doesn't contain alcohol and is made with organic substituents. 


Quantum Health Scar Reducing Cream: This is another scar cream that I bought for my acne scars. However, this one is quite thick and has a distinct smell which I really don't like. Also, just like the other one, it is supposed to be applied at least 3-5 times daily. 



Sierra Bees Lip Balm: iherb always have freebies to choose from and I chose this lip balm in Pomegranate. I pick it up every time I place an order and I have almost every flavor now. 


Free Gift: iherb always sends a free gift, which may not be very valuable but definitely a very sweet gesture on their behalf. I have received a napkin, a marker, a stylus etc in the past. I really appreciate the fact that they think about their customers. 

Have you shopped from iherb before? If not would you like to in future? Do you have any favorite websites to shop for natural skincare products?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!


Disclaimer: I bought everything with my own money and any of the websites mentioned don't even have an idea about this blog post. 


Monday, September 30, 2013

Products I Regret Buying: Makeup


I buy a lot more makeup products than skin care or hair care, therefore, I have a lot more regrets in this category than the other two. I have dry, sensitive and acne prone skin so I tend to go for makeup products that are geared towards that but still some just do not work out the way I expect them to. Therefore, the products that I regret may be holy grail for you guys so please do not get offended with my opinion. Also, I have tried each and every product multiple times before forming an opinion. 


L'Oreal Voluminous Power Collagen Waterproof Mascara in Blackest Black: I bought this mascara because I absolutely adore the Voluminous Million Lashes which comes in a similar tube but golden color. The problem with this mascara is that the brush is very oddly shaped and no matter how hard I try I always end up putting some on my eyelid. Also, it claims to have collagen for added volume, which I believe just adds up to the clumps resulting in spidery sparse lashes.


Almay One Coat Noursing Mascara Tripple Effect in Black: I was actually intending on buying Almay Get Up n Grow because of Emilynoel83's (my absolute favorite youtuber) recommendation but somehow I ended up getting this one. Firstly, I am not a huge fan of the wand as it doesn't coat the lashes uniformly. Secondly, the formula is super dry and it has been like that from the moment I took it out of the original packaging. It is so dry that hardly any product is transferred on to the lashes. I am not sure if I got a dud or the formula is meant to be like that. 


Milani HD Advanced Concealer in Medium: There was a lot of rave about this product when it was first launched because of its light texture and peachy undertones, and I love both of those aspects. However, the problem is that the formula is quite drying and I already have super dry under eye area so it settles into fine lines and accentuate them. Also, powder is a must for this concealer as it creases very easily, but that dries out the delicate under eye skin even more so I hardly use it. 


Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in Light Medium: This concealer is meant for dry and aged skin so it has a swirl of eye cream along with the concealing product. Since I have super dry under eye area, I thought this would be the perfect product for me, but unfortunately it is not. It settles into every single crevice and line making the under eye area look awful . Also, no matter how I try to set it, it starts creasing within 15 minutes and the added setting powder just makes it look worse. So it is just collecting dust in my drawer. 


Skin Food Salmon Darkcircle Concealer in No.2 Salmon Beige: Until recently there weren't a lot of salmony or peachy toned under eye concealers in the drugstore, so, there was a great deal of buzz about this product. It comes in only two shades: No.1 & No.2.  The second shade is closer to my skin tone but still ends up looking ashy sometimes. Also, it just brightens the under eye area instead of covering the dark circles. And technically that is what salmon undertones are meant for and are supposed to be topped off with another concealer. But, firstly, this product is marketed as a concealer and not a brightener, which is somewhat deceiving. Secondly, the formula is drying and creases really badly so if another concealer is used on top, the under eye area looks very dehydrated with loads of makeup piled on. Therefore, I dread putting it under my eyes. 


Origins All and Nothing Powder: This powder comes in one universal shade, and that is what attracted me towards it. It is a sheer powder which goes on like nothing and  retails for $34.50 on origins website. I normally use translucent powder for setting my makeup so I thought this would be great for me. However, it turned out to be a complete waste of money because it doesn't even control oil for full 3 hours, given that I have dry skin. Also, I noticed that it oxidizes after a while, and I am sure that its this product that is causing the problem because this was the only new addition to my regular routine and everything went back to normal as soon as I stopped using it. 


Yves Rocher Soft Eye Makeup Remover with Chamomile: I really adore Yves Rocher products but this one just didn't work out for me. On the packaging it says "Gently removes eye makeup, soothing, refreshing & non-oily" and I do not agree with any of these. Firstly, it does not take off the makeup completely in a one or two swipes so you will have to rub it a couple of times which doesn't make it gentle. Secondly, it says soothing and it should be because of chamomile but it burns. Thirdly, it feels oily and makes the vision hazy due to the formation of film so it isn't non-oily and definitely not refreshing.


ELF Professional Eye Makeup Remover Pads: If you have read my past blog posts, then you know how much I love ELF. But this particular product just didn't work for me. The pads are extremely thin and not very saturated so it takes a lot of effort and rubbing to take the makeup off. Also, the pads dried off pretty quickly, but at the end of the day it costs just a $1 for 18 pads so you can't expect much. 

Have you tried any of these products? If yes, how did they work for you? If no, then do you have any recommendations?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for the second part. have a great day. 

Friday, September 27, 2013

Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips Dupe: Neat & Easy

Biore Pore Strips have been around for years and almost everyone knows about them. And even though the general idea of pore strips is pretty popular but still there aren't many drugstore alternatives, which could be a problem for people like me for whom Biore strips do not work very well. However, I really loved them when they came in the green packaging. Actually I loved all of their products in the green packaging and I don't why they decided to change everything when they were doing pretty well in the market. Also, I have noticed that this new line contains a lot of unnecessary dyes (probably for the orange coloring) that were not present in the original products. Since I am not very happy with the outcome of Biore Strips so I instantly picked up this new alternative without giving it a second thought. I found them at my local Dollarama for $2, and honestly speaking, the price point also influenced a huge part of my decision.


I found these strips in the beauty aisle of Dollarama near the regular makeup and skincare stuff. The brand is called Neat & Easy and contains 10 nose strips each. They claim to be Deep Cleansing and remove blackheads, oil and dirt along with diminishing large pores. 


The inside packaging is just like the Biore. Also, both of them are imported to Canada, the Biore strips are made in Japan while Neat & Easy are made in China. 

Ingredients of Biore Strips: Polyquaternium-37, Silica, Aqua, Glycerin, Polysilicone-13, PEG-12, Dimethicone, Titanium Dioxide, Butylene Glycol, Methylyparaben, Melalecua Alternifolia, Menthol, Hamamelis Virginiana. 

Ingredients of Neat & Easty: Aqua/Water/eau, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Leaf Extract, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Parfum/fragrance, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Phenoxyethanol, Butylated Hydroxytoulene. 



Size of the Strip: Biore Strip is a little bit longer and wider than Neat & Easy. However, both of them cover the nose area properly so the size is not an issue. 

How to Use: Both of the strips are to be applied on clean and slightly wet nose for 10-15 minutes. 

Overall Performance: 

Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips: For me, Biore strips only work 1 out of 5 times in the sense that they only clean my nose partially and that too sometimes. I feel they work better when I have more blackheads but then I do not want to wait until my nose starts looking dirty and clogged. Also, under normal conditions, it only cleans up partially i.e. up to 50-60% of the blackheads and at times that cleaning ratio drops to just 10-20%. So they are kind of a hit or miss for me, and this was not the case with the previous formula because that one worked every time without fail. 

Neat & Easy: Firstly, this strip sticks to the skin harder than Biore, so it takes some effort to take it off. Secondly, it has a distinctive smell which is not very attractive, and after I read the ingredients I realized that it contains fragrance but unfortunately not a very good one. Thirdly, in terms of cleaning the blackheads, it performed just like Biore. The similarity was so stark that for a second I thought I am actually using the Biore strip, just from different  packaging. So, I am not sure if I should say it performed just as good as Biore or just as bad as Biore do. 

Final Thoughts: Apart from some difference in the ingredients and the size of the strips, I feel that both of them perform alike. So, if you like Biore ($7-9 for 6 strips) and find them to be expensive then definitely give these (Neat & Easy: $2 for 10 strips) a try because they are super affordable. Also, if you have not tried nose strips before, then these can act as a budget friendly experimental start. But otherwise, I feel that even though the black clay masks for blackheads are messy but they work the best.

Have you tried either of these? If yes, which one is your favorite? If no, then which one would you like to try?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!





Wednesday, September 25, 2013

New Product Alert: Super Inexpensive Nail Polishes

I went to the Walmart today and was browsing through the aisles casually and came across a hidden display of nail polishes.  At first I thought these are the nail art type with pointed brushes because of the bottle design and the overall display,  but since there were a lot of glitter options so I checked one out and found them to be regular polishes. The brand is called Fingrs Heart 2 Art, and they carry standard polishes with cream, shimmer and glitter formulas along with  a lot of other nail art accessories and kits. Even though they do not have a lot of unique colors but I found the collection to be pretty decent with a lot of neutrals and mid-toned shades and some bright colors. After pure ice, I feel that this nail polish has the most attractive price point of $1.98 and that is what made me pick up so many shades at once.

New Nail Polish Brand at Walmart: Fingrs Heart 2 Art

I usually do not buy multiples at once, especially from a new brand but this time I did because the formula seemed pretty nice and the shades were also very wearable. 

From Taupe to Bottom - 2 coats 

This polish passed the test when I swatched the lightest shade as lighter shades are usually streaky. However, this one went on very nicely without streaks in just two coats. 

Left: Julep (8ml); Right: Fingrs Heart 2 Art (8.8ml)

The bottle is very similar to the Julep, except the shape of the cap. Julep has a rectangular cap while this one has round cap. However, the main difference is that Julep polishes retail for $14 (8ml) while Fingrs is just $1.98 (8.8ml). I find this brand to be pretty generic, just like any other nail polish brand. The brush is just like Julep or any other typical nail polish brush. The only thing with cheaper polishes is the strong scent. I felt the scent was really strong and chemically when I had a whiff at the store, however, now that I tried smelling the other polishes for comparison, it seems fine to me. 

I can't really comment about the lasting power because I just bought it, but I am planning to do NOTD's with these shades so will let you know about their wear time in those posts. However, it is definitely not one of the quick drying nail polishes and it does take a while to dry off without a top coat. 

The colors that I picked up are as follows (in the order shown in the picture):

From Taupe to Bottom: This is a gorgeous sandy beige shade with a hint of taupe. To me, it looks very similar to Essie Sand Tropez, may be a bit lighter. 

Mauve It or Lose It: This is a mid-toned mauvy neutral shade. It is basically the above mentioned shade with mauve tint to it, but a very beautiful work appropriate neutral color. 

You Pinky Swear?: This is a nicely pigmented standard baby pink, which goes on without any streaks. 

Peri-Wink, Wink: As the same suggests, this is a periwinkle shade with a tinge of purple and goes on very nicely. 

Catch Some Grays: This is a grey shade with a slight taupey tint to it. In the store I thought it is similar to the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe but it is not. It looks taupey grey on its own but more like a standard cement grey in front of the color tattoo which pulls more purple near it. 

V.I.Purple: This is a shimmery duo chrome bluish purple shade. When you look directly at the bottle it looks like a deep blue, but when the light hits at an angle, the beautiful purple shows up. 

Red You Loud And Clear: This is a true velvety red shade which reminds me of holiday season and Christmas. The shimmer in this polish is so finely milled that it just takes this color up a notch. 

Even though I bought these polishes today but I already love them because it doesn't take too long to test the quality of nail polishes. Especially because the wear time is not an issue for me as I change my polish every other day. Also, I give this brand props for giving a thought to the names like the OPI does. So overall, I love the packaging, the shades, the formula, the pigmentation, the names and off course the price. 

Have you seen these polishes at Walmart stores near you? Have you tried them? Or do you plan to try them in future?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!