I recently made three separate trips to my local Rite Aid. And, true to my nature, I couldn't leave the store without purchasing some type of beauty product!! This blog post will be about what I bought and what I honestly think of each of them. Again, keep in mind that these were purchased during 3 different trips to the store...no way could I afford to purchase all these at once.
DISCLAIMER: All products featured were purchased with my own money with the exception of the 'John Frieda Precision Foam Colour' which I received for FREE courtesy of the company 'KAO Brands' which owns the rights to the John Frieda line.
Revlon PhotoReady Pressed Powder in 'Light/Fair'
Retails $10.49
Ok...now I have always loved the Revlon line, and this powder really didn't disappoint me. It's light enough to not get all 'cakey' on your face while still providing excellent coverage. It also has a luminescent quality to it on the skin. I really like this product and plan on getting the matching "PhotoReady" foundation to go with it. I do recommend this product...definitely!
L'Oreal Studio Secrets Professional Magic Perfecting Base
Retails $10.36 (on average) for 0.5 fl.oz. (15ml)
This stuff is simply AMAZING in my humble opinion!! Yes, you don't get much in the jar in comparison to the price tag...but a little bit of this product goes a long way. The first time I ever heard about this was through my favorite makeup guru on YouTube "panacea81" (aka Lauren Luke). She used this in one of her videos and I immediately wanted it! Now, the majority of my makeup collection is L'Oreal and I simply ADORE their products, so I knew that this wouldn't disappoint me...and it sure didn't. Like I said, a small amount goes a long way in application and it makes your skin feel amazingly smooth like silk. Yes, it does have that silicone feeling to it that I know a lot of people are turned off by but I personally like it. Upon my first application my face felt like my 7 month old sons skin...baby soft and smooth. After applying this base I went ahead and applied my regular everyday foundation like I always do. Let me tell you, my foundation went on seamlessly and my face looked flawless. This base kind of fills in any little lines you may have on your face as well ensuring that flawless look. Admit it...none of us are getting any younger and lines are going to announce themselves! I highly, highly recommend this 'Magic Perfecting Base'! Bravo, L'Oreal!! You've done it again with another amazing pr
oduct...and still have me as a loyal consumer!
L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara in Blackest Black
Retails $8.95 for 0.3 fl. oz. (9ml)
Again, I will say that L'Oreal is one of my favorite cosmetic brands out there. I simply love their products and how innovative they are within the beauty industry. That being said, this mascara isn't the best they've released in my opinion. The tube has this scraper like piece inside the tube to ensure the wand is cleaned of excess product when you pull it out. It also has the rubber brush that I'm not particularly a fan of sorry to say. Yes, this mascara DID define and separate my lashes nicely. BUT...it left little "balls" of product clumped on the tips of my lashes. I also feel that the formulation of this mascara is a bit thin and watery. I personally like a regular bristled brush with a thick formulation to give me that "falsie" effect. This mascara just didn't have what I needed. Sorry, L'Oreal...this one just didn't cut it for me!
John Frieda Precision Foam Colour in 5R Medium Red Brown
Retails for $12.99
(Also shown in 5B Medium Chocolate Brown)
This product was the sole product in my haul that I received for FREE. I had taken a survey on the John Frieda website. About a week later I received a coupon for a free box of the new Precision Foam Colour in the mail. Only stipulation was that it was only good at Rite Aid stores. It took me FOREVER to find this red shade. I went to my local Rite Aid and they didn't have it. I then gave the coupon to Dave (my fiance) and he went to three different Rite Aid stores in three different towns....no one had it. Not only didn't a single Rite Aid store have it, but they didn't even carry the red dyes in this line!! Hence the 2 pictures above...Dave felt bad knowing how I am with beauty products, lol, so he used the free coupon and came home with the brown shade above. When he came home he said to me, "I didn't want to come home with nothing for you!". Sooo...I didn't use the brown because it was basically my natural haircolor. I didn't feel it would make any change. It still sits on a shelf in my dressing/makeup area because since I used a "FREE" coupon to get it Rite Aid will not accept it for a return. They will exchange it, but, what's the point if they don't have what I want?!?! Two or three days later Dave had to go out to our local WalMart and surprised me by coming home with the EXACT shade I had been searching fruitlessly for for all that time. I just LOVE that man...always thinking of me! I used the dye that very night. This was my first experience with foam color and I loved the application. It did not drip at all. My hair just looked like I went overboard with a can of mousse! Oh, and the gloves deserve some recognition!! You know how you usually get a pair of those cheap SaranWrap like gloves that most times you have to peel off of the instruction sheet? Not with this dye...no sir! In this foam color you get a pair a tight fitting professional black gloves. And they even go up your forearm a little for more protection against staining. They rocked!! They fit so well and didn't slide all around my hands like those crappy ones do. Anyway, as I was saying the foam application was wonderful. It didn't stink to holy hell either. And the enclosed conditioner is also amazing. You get a good bit of it too...a 1.69 fl.oz. (50ml) tube of it that also smells amazingly good! All in all I do recommend this product. I was not happy with the outcome of the color solely because I wanted a deeper more burgundy red. I just picked the wrong color. This is how it turned out on my naturally dark brown hair.
As you can see it's not very red. Totally not the products fault...I just should have had the insight to choose a deeper red shade but was kind of afraid too, lol! All in all, I really feel this is a damn good product and will definitely be buying it again! Good job, John Frieda....like the rest of your product line....I love it!! And, thanks for the coupon!
Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat Nail Color
Retails approx. $6.37 for 0.4 fl. oz. (11.8ml)
I've been hearing about, reading about, and watching reviews about the crackle type nail colors for some time. Finally, I got some to try out. The shades shown above are the colors I purchased. They are 03-Fractured Foil, 06-Antiqued Gold, and 04-Fuschia Shock. I have tried out all three colors and I must give my opinion on them here. The fuschia shade? Beautiful and crackles great! The two metallic shades of silver and gold? Beautifully shiny and metallic but I think these two are crap! Let me explain ..... A crackle overcoat is simply a nail color that you overlay on top of a base color and within seconds the overcoat "crackles" as seen on the brush tops in the photos above. The bottles say to "Apply one thin or thick coat of Crackle Overcoat (depending on desired effect) over any Sally Hansen Nail Color, then apply a Sally Hansen Topcoat". Now, you know as well as I do that they're saying to put it over another SH nail color simply so you'll buy more of the brand. Although I DO love SH nail polishes in general and own quite a lot of them...I'm not falling for that one. So, I put on a base coat of Sinful Colors in "Black on Black-2" a simple glossy black polish and tested each of the three crackle polishes on separate fingers. They all went on nicely albeit you have to be rather quick with your application as it dries pretty fast. The fuschia crackled very well as it was supposed to do. The silver and gold, however, barely crackled. Tiny faint little cracks appeared. I tried those two again on different fingers and again the same result. My opinion, avoid the metallic shades because they don't crackle as advertised. The cream shades are wonderful I think and I plan on going back to get more of them. There's a really pretty purple shade and also a bright blue shade I want to get. I also might try the black and also the white shades simply because they would "go" with basically any base color you try and look good. Thumbs down on the metallic crackle overcoats Sally Hansen!! What happened? Your nail products are usually utterly wonderful as I've learned from experience. But, these need some work.
Sinful Colors Professional Nail Enamel
#319 'What's Your Name'
Retails for $1.99 for 0.5 fl. oz.
(not my hand shown)
Now, I really really like the Sinful Colors line of nail enamel. I own many bottles of their brand (TOO many my fiance would say) and have loved them from Day 1. And this shade just deepened my affection for it!! It's a dark teal almost black base with bright blue micro-glitter that kind of has a duo-chrome effect to it as it also reflects purple. It goes on really nice and smooth. Two coats is all I need. This shade is absolutely gorgeous and is fast becoming one of my favorite "go to" nail colors. I think it's perfect for fall and winter seasons when a deeper darker nail color is on trend. I highly recommend this shade as well as the rest of the Sinful Colors Professional Nail Enamel line. Beautifully perfect shades and you can't beat that price with a stick!!
