Review: Mary Kay tinted lip balm spf 15, Poppy

Three out of five stars.

It's great that this product had SPF. That is why I wanted to give it a try. However, I was also hoping for something that colored my lips that I could apply without a mirror. However, this is not the case. The color is great, but streaky if applied without a mirror. Maybe it's not possible to have a lip product with moderate pigmentation that can be applied without a mirror. This will stay in my beauty arsenal, but it's not a favorite or a regular. The formula is smooth and not sticky, and very moisturizing.

How long does a tube of eye primer last?

My Mary Kay Eye Primer .28 oz, I believe, lasted me about 9 months with daily usage. This means at least 5 times a week for fork, but probably more like 6 times a week. After 9 months, it started getting hard to get the last bit out of the tube, and I elected to buy a new one. I probably could have used it for another few weeks with difficulty, or scraped it out and gotten probably another 2 months of usage. (But unclean, because I would have needed to put it in a pot or something.

Short answer: .28 oz, 9 months.

How many lipsticks does one need?

So, how many lipsticks do I need? Not that many...

I've decided that I need:

a light pink, something close to my natural shade for work (work-neutral, as I think of it.)
a sexy red for nights out
a darker/more vivid pink for those looks that require a bit more of a lip statement
a shimmery/lighter lipstick that is slightly glimmery, sometimes you need something very light & sparkly.

It is nice for me to have one more work-neutral as I keep one at work and it's nice to have one on hand at home to be able to throw in the purse.

So - 5 lipsticks is all that I need. Right now I have:
2 reds
2 darker pinks
1 work pink
1 sheer fuschia

I'm holding out to see if I can get a holiday blockbuster with 2 lipsticks and be set. I love those holiday blockbuster sets! I'm thinking of getting Estee Lauder's Tuberose Gardenia perfume anyhow. Mind as well live it up!

How long does it take you to finish up a lipstick?

I am more writing this as a reminder to myself. I, like many other women, end up with way too much make up in collection when considering how long a single product will last.

I used up a lipstick! down to the plastic, not past. It wasn't worth my trouble to fish the leftover product out of the tube. It took me 6 months of continuous wear. I'm talking daily at work - application three times a day, at least 5 days a week. 6 months!

6 MONTHS! Application: at least 5 Days a week, 3 times a day.

Victoria's Secret VS Pro Lasting FX Eye Shadow Primer Ingredients

I couldn't find this info anywhere so I thought I would post it. This is not a product review; that will follow later.


Victoria's Secret VS Pro Lasting FX Eye Shadow Primer Ingredients: Isododecane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Talc, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Polyethylene, Trihydroxystearin, Disteardimonium Hectorite, VP/Eicosene Coplymer, Beeswax (Cera Alba, Cire d'abeille),Dimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Isopropyl Lanolate, Propyl Carbonate, Silica, Phenoxyethanol, PEG-40 Stearate, Polybutene, Methylparaben, Mica, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Isobutlparaben, Propylparaben, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491/CI77492/CI 77499).

I hope that someone finds this helpful!

Covergirl TruCheeks Blush $3

Hmm. I wanted a travel blush and this was on sale. ... I don't like it. Perhaps I picked a palette too dark for my skin tone? It's a little chalky and the pigmentation is also washed out looking. Which is too bad - I really wanted for this to work out. Or maybe I've been spoiled by more finely milled products? I love my Body Shop, Lancome, & even Revlon blushes, so I didn't think this would be a problem...

ELF Eye Transformer Review

Same as Complexion Perfection... good: no parabens. Bad: first ingredient is talc.

But it is so fun to play with! It goes on great as a highlighter shade, or under the eye to brighten with just a touch of color. I also sometimes use it on the inside corner to highlight.

ELF Complexion Perfection Review

Yay: No parabens.

Nay: #1 ingredient: Talc. Darn.

I just use this as a finishing powder to set everything before I go. This does the job fine. It's a very fine powder, but it does add a lighter cast to my skin (as in, it's not exactly translucent). The price is great, but I think that when I am done I may try a different brand because of that lighter cast. It's not something that's noticeable when I buff in, but I see it when applying. I have a medium beige skin tone, so maybe those with super light skin may not notice this? It's still a good product, and it really performs for the price. It does fall apart a bit - as in, the compact stays in once piece, but I think this will hit pan comparatively fast as I can already see a little indentation forming and I've only been using it for a few months. I don't think I've ever hit pan on any powder or blush - so that would really be something.

Lancome Flextencils Black Review

This product is discontinued...

It took awhile (30min?) for it to dry, but once it did, I didn't feel my top lashes tangle up with my bottom ones anymore. I liked the definition that I got, but like most mascaras, by the end of the day I had mascara under my eye. My biggest beauty pet peeve. Into the garbage with sill go, but I will rinse off the brush and experiment to see if maybe the brush was the key to the great definition. And, I need a real mascara brush for post application separation, those silly combs don't work for me.

Nicole Miller Lipstick: Sienna

This is a mail order product, and the undertone turned out wrong for me. It's a great product, glides on smoothly, good pigmentation. It just didn't turn out to be the shade for me. Now they have their lip shades labeled warm, neutral, and cool which I think is very helpful as I don't think that ordering cosmetics from a website is a great idea in general.

ELF All Over Color Stick: Pink Lemonade

This is a nice color, slightly pink. I chose it to possibly use for travel, as a cheek/lip/eyeshadow in a pinch. However, I don't like it. I have sensitive skin and it sometimes makes me react. It just causes skin irritation, but who wants that? So it's in my beauty graveyard. I would recommend it if you do not have sensitive skin.

Urban Decay Wallpaper Shadow Box

These eye shadows are gorgeous. They are milled beautifully and pigmented well. There is a great selection of both neutral and fun colors to choose from. And the size of them, while they look small, are really plenty for you to play with. The box is super cute, with beautiful design inside and out.

I am giving mine away... partially. This is because of the 9 shadows in this set, 5 are glittery. With the glittery shadows there is definietly fallout. But, I feel like at my age it is time to get rid of shadow that is outright "glittery". Some really subtle glitter may be ok, but no more large chunks of visible glitter for me. Hence, bye-bye to this set. I do love how easy the colors are to blend. I do highly recommend this set if you are not against glitter.

Physician's Fromula Shimmer Strips Custome Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner

Super smooth, almost creamy. Blends easily, great pigmentation. Unfortunately, also super frosty and I don't like that look anymore. I got the green eyes palette as the colors were more appealing to me than with the brown eyes The applicator that comes with it is pretty decent. I will give this to someone what will use it. The staying power is not good enough for me to keep as a travel shadow, which was what I was considering.

Milani Glimmer Stripes: Berry Glimmer

I got this at CVS because I am LOVING my Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips, and wanted a version in whites/pinks for blush/eye use. They dont' make one, so I went with Milani.

Ugh. Online reviews said this is a decent product, but I say no. This comes off as frosty. The white color is chalky. And the texture does vary with each shade. It's more frosty than pigmented, so I won't even keep this to use as a blush as I don't like frosty cheeks.

Clinique Lipstick Retired

I love this color but the texture has changed and I definitely do not NEED to hold onto it, as I realized recently that it takes probably 9 months of daily work use for a lipstick to wear down to the base.

I have retired my Clinique Gilded Pink. Beautiful metallic goldy-pink. I guess it's been discontinued but I'll find something. It's like Lancome Metallique in that I thought of it as neutral but kicked up a nitch, to be paired with stronger eye looks, or for work.

L'oreal Everpure Volumizng Shampoo

The first time I used this I saw a MARKED difference in my hair. It looked darker. Shinier. It seemed more .... intact? I like the herby smell, as well. And definitely more volume. I picked this up for it's lack of sulfates and lack of parabens. It suds just fine, but I need to use more of it than my most other shampoos. My hair also seems to be super greasy the next day, and I do not have the option of waiting a day and a half to wash it again.

When I combine with the conditioner, my hair feels too light. I don't like them together. But I'm loving the combination of this shampoo with Envia conditioner.

Juicy Tubes

I had to get the Holiday 2008 gift set of juicy tubes that I happened upon at Marshall's for a mere $20! For 8 travel sized tubes! I know I have plenty of gloss but I had to pick up this bargain set. I love it. I'll update later as I try more shades. But, so far...

Creme Brulee - has glitter in it but doesn't show up at much more than that on me. And has a scrumptious creme brulee scent that sometimes I love and sometimes I don't care for.

Simmer - a pink in the tube, color doesn't show up on me and a neutral sweet scent that hasn't been controversial yet

Sun Bronze - a slightly scary dark red-gold in the tube, it's very pretty on me, showing up as a twinge of slightly darkened red on my lips. Scent's different that Simmer but still a neutral sweet.

Goodbye, Metallique

This lipstick was hard to let go of because it was one of my first investments in department store make up and I loved it so. I remember Kieu going with me to Macy's and how she said I looked really happy when I decided on this color at the counter.

Lancome Metallique looked great on me. Similar to my lipcolor but metallicized. A nude Pinky-gold. I may have to repurchase this shade one day.

Mary Kay Eye Primer

Love that it comes in a squeeze tube. (Clean!)

Don't like that it has parabens.

But it does work wonderfully. And I have greasy eyelids. I was convinced they simply didn't hold eyeshadow.

I will start a search for a cheaper primer, though. You don't get much for $13. Preferably also without parabens. But also in a squeeze tube. We'll see! I'm also wondering what I will do when the product begins to run low... how will I get the rest out of the tube in a sanitary manner???

ELF Mineral Booster

I decided to try this for the small price tag. Over my L'Oreal Bare Minerale, I don't see much of a difference. I do use it over my nose as an extra layer of powder to soak up extra oil. I think I prefer a compact as it's easier to store in my make up box, but the actual product performs just fine. Mineral make up is just a little more fussy to work with sometimes. It's nice that it doesn't contain talc.

ELF Shine Eraser

All blotting papers are the same to me - with the exception that some are powdered and some are not. This is a fabulous deal for those that use blotting papers at $1 for 50 sheets. Sometimes I feel wasteful using blotters, but these are so thin that I don't feel bad.

ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder: Luminance -

I am light skinned, so I got the lightest bronzer shade. The ELF website is notorious for bad color quality. This shade is not a bronzer. It's a super pale slightly shimmery powder. I didn't even swatch it and saved it for a highlighter for a pale friend.

ELF Eye Shadow Brush (regular line)

I had to try some of these with the raves they get.

I am quite impressed with this brush. I have several that I use in my arsenal of brushes - I use them on the weekends when I go for bright colors, and so can use them without mixing different vivid hues. I will pick up a bunch of these for gifts since they multitask pretty well. Their shape miakes them great for highlighter, allover, lid application, and blending. The only thing I can't do with this brush is line. Not the best brush for shadow in the world, but I'd give it a solid 8.5/10.

ELF Studio Duo Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder

I decided to try this out after the online raves.

I don't like it. The powders are milled too soft, so I pick up way too much with a swipe of my brush. It's very shimmery, too much for everyday professional use. Since so much powder is dispersed with each swipe, the pigmentation is too heavy for me on both the blush and the bronzer. Also, the bronzer isn't the right shade for me - it's too dark and looks dirty. The blush is too dark as well, even with the faintest of swipes. Maybe this would work for someone with dark skin? I'm fairly light in coloration. $3 wasted. But the mirror is nice to have inside, and the packaging is nice.

ELF Liquid Eyeliner Coffee -

The tip on this is really hard - I tried it on my hand and decided I was not going to try it on my eye. Waste of money, sigh!

ELF Brightening Eye Color: Drama & Luxe 0/-

Drama got great reviews. For a good reason. Great pigmentation. But - it caused my eyes slight burning sometimes. It also has a different texture for each color. It migrated quite a bunch as well, and the white was too chalky for use. A lot of powder comes off when you swipe a brush over these quads. I put Drama in my travel kit for now - but I think I'll replace it with something higher quality.

Luxe has the ame issue of different texture per color. Pigmentation is decent. However, there is a strange metallic red shade that I didn't know what to do with here, and the highlight color, again, was too chalky. Not worth the $1. I cleaned out this palette for pigment pressing.

ELF Wet Gloss Lash & Brow Clear Mascara -

I wanted brow gel and figured price didn't matter. I was wrong.

The texture of both ends was... too gel-like. It didn't spread or pick up easily with the wand. Brow gel should have a mascara like consistency, and the one that I got was harder than typical jello. I hated it. A Waste of $1.

ELF Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF 15: Angel & Pink Kiss -

Pink Kiss didn't give a lot of color, which was fine with me. I wanted to try this out because of the SPF factor. Not a lot of moisture. I wear gloss as a protective coat for my lips that tend to dry out, and this did not last long or moisturize. The smell is very candy-like and childish, and I got really tired of it after not too long. The slanted applicator was nice. I gave away Angel without even swatching because of the scent.

Body Shop Lipgloss

A lovey friend was fabulous enough to gift me two body shop lipglosses. I've recently decided that I'm going stick with lipglosses in tubes. Wands are gross bacteria breeders.

Body shop lipglosses are thick and goopy, but that's probably why they have such great staying power. They also havea sweet passionfruit flavor, which I definitely like.

Unfortunately, I forgot to check the ingredient list. Sometimes I fall in love with something and get too excited to remember to do that.