Explaining my absence and reviewing: Lookfantastic beauty box May 2017

Hello lovely people! I'm back after a 3 week break from the beauty blogging world. It wasn't intentional - I had some "technical" difficulties (I accidentally spilled coffee all over my laptop and ruined it & I accidentally cracked my iPhone screen). Since my boyfriend got himself a new computer, being the sweetheart that he is, he gave me his old one. It's in a better condition than my old one ever was, I hope I won't screw this up! 😀 But chit-chat aside - here's the review you've been waiting for.

 Lookfantastic Beauty Box May 2017

This month's theme is "Get the glow" and the box is themed to make your body, face and hair glow effortlessly. 

As usual, you get the Beauty Box magazine and your complimentary Elle May 2017 issue.

And here are the goodies. I made the picture a bit bigger, so you could actually see what's what. 

1. James Read H20 Gradual Tan Mist (30ml) 

This mist is supposed to make your face gradually more tan. I've been using it for about 3 weeks now, I can't see a difference at all. But then again, I've always been naturally pale, maybe that's why I can't see anything yet. But I'm still pretty interested in using it - maybe at the end of summer, my face will get a bit more tan (hopefully!) but we'll see. If it works, I'll definitely update you!

2. System Professional Solar Sun Oil (30ml/full size) 

This oil is supposed to protect your hair from UV damage and pollution and it should reduce frizz. As I've already told you guys, I use my Matrix Oil with Indian Amla (http://review-bar.blogspot.com/2017/04/reviewing-matrix-oil-wonders-indian-amla.html), but I decided to change my hair routine a little bit - I replaced the Matrix Oil with this one to see better effects on my hair. I really didn't know what to expect but I didn't expect my hair to turn very oily. I usually have to wash my hair every 5-6 days, but the next day after using this oil, I felt like I need to wash my hair again. The second time, when I didn't apply it to wet hair - my hair didn't feel any different but the smell was pretty great. I think I'll give it a bit more time. 

3. GLOV Hydro Demaquillage (one little finger glove)

This little glove is made from hypoallergenic fibres, it is a gentle makeup remover (you can also just cleanse your face with it).  You shouldn't use it more than 3 months in a row. You put the little glove on your finger, add water and then do whatever - clean your face or remove your makeup. I was really really excited to try a product like this and it's great! I really really love it. It does remove all of my eye makeup in one go but you do have to use it sparingly, then, if you need more cleansing - wash it with soap, add water and clean your makeup off again. It would be a hassle to remove lots of makeup, but for removing an every day look - it's great. I also have this soap that is meant for babies - it cleans the little glove perfectly!

4. Mellow Baked Eyeshadow in Peach (full size)

You could have got this baked eyeshadow in either a Cream or a Peach shade. I got the Peach one, pink tones usually don't look very good on my pale skin, but this shadow is really shimmery and bright, it actually gives me a light flush and I really like how it looks on me as a highlighter and also as an eyeshadow. Oh, and it's very pigmented, I was really surprised, since I wasn't the biggest fan of the Mellow lipsticks. 

5. Real Chemistry Luminous 3-minute Peel 

This peel has got a blend of proteins which helps with removing dead skin cells from your face. It really does work - I had to massage the peel into my skin and after  a few seconds, I saw my own skin coming off - it was really weird. But this is why I usually don't like skin care products in beauty boxes - the packaging is too small, I can't even understand if I liked it or not - this peel lasted me one time and after only a one time of using anything - you can't understand if it works for you or not. I need at least 3-5 times to really know if I like a product that much or no.

6. NuFACE Prep-N-Glow Dual-sided Cloth (1 cloth)

This cloth has 2 sides, with one you clean your face and then you use the second side to exfoliate and hydrate your skin. The microdots in the exfoliating part felt a bit rough on my face, it didn't feel as clean, as I'd thought. It actually felt like little tiny rocks were brushing against my face. And again - it only had one cloth, I can't really see the effect but the next day I did feel brighter. 

7. Scrub Love Coconut Cranberry Body Scrub (100ml)

This scrub is meant to brighten up your skin and that's what it does - it brightens, softens and makes you feel like a million bucks! The ingredients are natural, the smell is amazing. I do feel a bit oily afterwards but I don't mind. I looove this scrub. It's a bit more grainy than I expected but it does it's job well!

I won't be having a rating system for the beauty boxes but I can tell you that I liked 5 out of the 7 products in general. And this is one of the rare beauty boxes, where I'll be using all 7 products. This box is really good. I hope June's box will bring me something new to try, like the little finger glove!

You can subscribe to the Lookfantastic Beauty Box here - (https://www.lookfantastic.com/offers/beauty-box.list)

Thank you for your time and have an amazing day! :) 

Laura

Reviewing Artistry's Signature Color Eyeshadow Quads

Hello lovelies! I've had some problems with my computer (or I'm rather clumsy), but I'm back with a new review and today I'm reviewing the Artistry's eyeshadow quads. In the previous post (http://review-bar.blogspot.com/2017/05/reviewing-artistry-concealer-stick.html) I've already told you how I got hold of this product. 

 Artistry Signature Color Eyeshadow Quads 

You can clearly see which one is my favorite shade!

Artistry really doesn't mess around with packaging, it looks really chic and I really like the gold and black combo. This eyeshadow quad also has got this tiny mirror which I don't personally use but it might be useful for someone who does their makeup outside their home.

This is the swatch - the lightest shade is on the top, then goes the rose gold, gold and the brown shimmer.

These shades are called "Spice Bronze". As you can see from the swatch, these are not that pigmented. And for the price of 39.58 euro (you can buy the quad without the mirror as a refill, it will cost 30 euros instead)  I expected a lot more. But they do stay in their place throughout the day, even without eye primer. I use the shimmery brown one a lot - I do my brows with it and it's an essential part of my every day look. The eyeshadows do blend nicely, though. But I've had better eyeshadows for less money. 

In my honest opinion, this is a basic product which does it's job (not perfectly, though) but is priced as a high-end product and the quality doesn't match the price at all. This is what I really dislike in this one, because the packaging makes it look so promising!

And now to the ingredient part : of the 13 ingredients, 1 is rated poor in the Paula's Choice ingredient dictionary, which is  LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA EXTRACT,(http://www.paulaschoice.com/cosmetic-ingredient-dictionary/definition/lavender-extract-and-oil). The components of lavender oil can be damaging to your skin even on a very low concentration. And interestingly enough, there's a second ingredient, which isn't even mentioned in Paula's choice CID, which could mean that it's not widely used in cosmetics and really shouldn't be used at all and this is TIN OXIDE (http://sciencing.com/tin-oxide-uses-8125683.html). If it's commonly used to create custom glass, should I really be putting this on my face and especially, on my eyelids? I'm probably going to have rethink using this every day. 

But if you still want to buy it - it is available in the Amway Latvia store in all sorts of shades. Since I was a member, I got it for a cheaper price of 39,58 euro but on the website it says that for reselling it costs a bit more - 54.50 eur and the refill eyeshadow quad (only the quad, without the mirror) costs 40,73 eur. If you want to spend 50 euro for an eyeshadow, I'd rather recommend you go to your nearest Urban Decay store! (In Latvia we only have one but hey, at least we have it!)

Time for the rating system!

I created my own little rating system(0-10 point scale) so I could tell if the product is good or not and should I recommend it. So I have 5 categories for 2 points each and they are :

1. Texture
2. Packaging
3. Does it work for me? 
4. Price 
5. Ingredients

The texture gets one point, packaging gets 2 points, it kind of works for me, so I have to give a point here, the price gets 0 and the ingredients get 0 points. I rate Artistry's Signature Color Eyeshadow Quads 4/10!

The lowest score any product has gotten here but I think it's well deserved!

Thank you for your time and have an amazing day! :)

Laura

Reviewing Artistry's Concealer Stick

I was always a big fan of concealers, since I have a lot of things to hide on my face. But I've tried some good ones and some bad ones, this is definitely one of the best concealers I've had in a while.

Artistry Concealer Stick 

I bought this concealer from Amway (https://www.amway-latvia.com/), since my mom signed me up there because she wanted to try some cleaning products and to see if they were any good at all, she needed some additional points for the purchase, so I got this concealer (in the shade light) and a little eyeshadow palette.

The concealer itself already looks glamorous - I love the gold and black theme in the packaging, it just looks very classy. The texture is thick and creamy, it's one of the thickest concealers I've used but it definitely does it's job.

It looks dark on my pale hands but on my face, especially when I've got my foundation on, it blends pretty well and it's not visible, it blends in well with my skin tone. At first, I thought - oh no, it's going to be too dark for me, but it was a very pleasant surprise that it wasn't. It blends in perfectly.

It covers the bags under my eyes really well, I really love using this concealer but again, I'm not a huge fan of the price - 18,96 euro for a concealer this small? (3,1g) Well, I still haven't used it up but I also don't use it every day.

Almost all of the ingredients of this concealer were rated "good" in the Paula's Choice CID (http://www.paulaschoice.com/cosmetic-ingredient-dictionary/), except one - BHT was rated average (http://www.paulaschoice.com/cosmetic-ingredient-dictionary/definition/antioxidants/bht). I outlined this because it says that it has health concerns if consumed orally, but it's fine when it's on the skin - it doesn't penetrate the skin far enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream. So, if you have this concealer and have little children at home - please keep it out of reach from them. (I know you probably already do, but it's safe to remind people, right?!) I also have a little child at home, so I'll make sure that this product doesn't even get into her line of vision. 

(Disclaimer: I was almost finished with the review and found out that they don't sell this concealer on the Amway Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia site anymore, I have no clue why. You can still buy it on the American site but they change things a lot on their sites, it's confusing to me.)

Time for the rating system!

I created my own little rating system(0-10 point scale) so I could tell if the product is good or not and should I recommend it. So I have 5 categories for 2 points each and they are :

1. Texture
2. Packaging
3. Does it work for me? 
4. Price 
5. Ingredients

Texture of the concealer gets 2 points, the lovely packaging gets 2 points, too, it works, so it has to have 2 points, the price gets 1 point and the ingredients get 1 point. I rate this concealer - 8/10!

I recommend it, if you can get your hands on it! 

Thank you for your time and have an amazing day!

Laura :)