LUSH Catastrophe Cosmetic

Sorry for the lack of updates! The last few weeks of school can get pretty busy, finishing assignments and studying for final exams. I'll be going on vacation soon, so I won't be able to update very much. I really wanted to post something new though, so here's a LUSH review! Hope you're not getting sick of them yet :)

OVERALL RATING: 4/5
WHERE TO BUY: lush.com, lush stores/counters
WOULD I REPURCHASE?: Yes

MY THOUGHTS: This is a soothing mask which is great for sensitive skin. To me, it smells like a mixture of yogurt, blueberries, and clay. There are also little chunks of what looks like blueberries mixed in. Like other fresh face masks, you have to keep it stored in the fridge.

The consistency is thick but creamy and spreads onto my face easily. I leave it on for around 10 minutes. Once the mask is dried, it starts to crumble off whenever I move my face. I wiggle my nose or raise my eyebrows and there's a bit of powdery fallout. It's kind of messy, so I have to make sure I run back to the sink as soon as the mask has dried. However, the end result is soft, clean, and calm skin. It doesn't make me break out either, so I would definitely buy this again.

POSITIVES:
- Spreads onto my face easily
- Makes my skin feel smooth, clean, and calm
- Doesn't irritate my skin

- Doesn't make me breakout
- Affordable
- Fresh

NEGATIVES:
- Only has a shelf life of 3 weeks
- Must be stored in the fridge

- A little bit messy once it dries

*UPDATED* Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips

OVERALL RATING: 4/5
WHERE TO BUY: Most drugstores (Walmart, CVS, etc)
WOULD I REPURCHASE?: Yes

MY THOUGHTS: This is my first time using pore strips. I purchased these because everyone and their mom seems to use them. I followed the instructions on the box for application; I wet my nose, placed the strip on, and peeled it off after 15 minutes. It stuck on to my nose really well. Removal was a little bit painful, but tolerable, sort of like taking a band-aid off your skin. Inspection of the strip showed that some blackheads and whiteheads were removed, but not everything.

UPDATE [May 09, 2010]: I don't think I did anything differently but these worked a lot better the second time I used them. They removed a lot of whiteheads so I'm bumping up the rating from a 3 to a 4. I'm also adding new pictures :)

Each pore strip comes in its own individual packet.


Here's what a brand new pore strip looks like.


On my nose.

First pore strip I used. Removed some blackheads.

Second pore strip I used. Removed a lot of whiteheads!

MAC Viva Glam Cyndi & Laugh A Lot

I got a lovely package from MAC this week.. a birthday gift from my other sister. Thank you Ate Lisa, Kuya Bobby, and baby Gabriel! :) They sent me lipsticks that were on my blog's wish list, so here are some swatches.

Viva Glam Cyndi


swatched lightly on the left, heavily on the right


coral-red. i heard this suits a lot of skintones.


Laugh A Lot


swatched lightly on the left, heavily on the right


this is like like my natural lip color, but a tad darker.
i can definitely see myself wearing this on a daily basis.

Lush Haul

Here's a collective LUSH haul using a gift card that my sister got me for my birthday. Thank you Ate Anna <3 Everything here was purchased within two visits. The employees at the store are starting to recognize me, haha.

- Baby Face makeup remover
- Shampoo bar tin
- Ma Bar bubble bar
- Cupcake fresh face mask
- Fresh Farmacy cleanser
- Buffy body butter bar

Baby Face and Ma Bar were used already but I wanted to include them in the group photo. I got a lot of these things based on good reviews. Oh the influence of the online beauty community..

Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner

A few weeks ago, I saw a blog post by vintageortacky about new gel liners from Physician's Formula. Gel eyeliners are my absolute favorite and 3 shades for $11 seemed almost too good to be true. I was excited when I found them at CVS! This isn't really a review, just my initial thoughts and swatches.

The 3 gel liners snap together. The kits come packaged according to eye color; I purchased the one for brown eyes.

You can see my fingerprints all over the packaging.. I can deal with that though.

It comes with a brush that's actually not half bad. I prefer to use angled brushes though.

Dark brown.

Purple.

Black.. once you dip the brush into this one, it actually has tiny purple glitters!

After applying these, I rubbed my hand over my arm for a few seconds to test out the staying power. They did not budge. At all. These are definitely worth checking out.

Outfit of the Day + Webcam Pictures

For once, I finished getting ready before my parents! We went to a friends house yesterday for a filipino party; the kind where dads sing karaoke and moms gossip. Since I had some extra time, I took pictures on my webcam. I thought I should post them here since my face has been MIA from my blog.

I haven't worn eyeshadow in a really long time since I'm lazy to put it on for school. My skills are pretty rusty so I just did some neutral browns using the 88 palette - nothing too exciting or close up worthy. Didn't wanna scare any parents. My mom compliments my smokey eyes by telling me I look like a vampire, ha.

I also took a picture of my outfit. Jeans, tank, and vest are all from Forever 21.