June 2011 Favorites & Not-So-Favorites

Hello, Beautiful!

I wanted to post this earlier in the week but it's been a really crazy busy week (and crazy busy month). Below are my personal picks for favorite and not-so-favorite products of June 2011.

Favorites: June 2011

OSCAR BLANDI Dry Shampoo Spray
With all the traveling I've been doing this product has come in handy many times. Up until recently I hadn't found a decent dry shampoo that worked with my hair, or if it worked it had such an awful smell (Treseme brand) that I wanted to shave my head so I wouldn't have to smell it! Then I came across the Oscar Blandi Dry Shampoo Spray in TJ Maxx for just $12.99 (this retails for $21 at Sephora).
This product has gotten bad reviews on Sephora, with most people saying it's not for dark hair. Well I have dark hair and I had no problems with this. Sure, when you first spray it on your hair looks gray, but you're supposed to spray it on and then wait a little before working your fingers through it. That's exactly what I did and my hair looked great afterwards. It didn't leave any white residue behind like others have reported. My hair was greasy and gross before using this, then I sprayed this on and a minute or so later my hair looked acceptable again. This is absolutely a hair saver for my crazy busy summer!

DDF Sulfur Therapeutic Mask
DDF has got to be the best skincare brand for my skin type. I swear, every product they make works wonders for my skin! This mask is no exception; I use it once a week on a normal basis, and 2 or 3 times a week when I'm having bad breakouts. Recently I had to bump up my use of this mask and it always helps. Always. I've had my jar for half a year now and I still have plenty of product left. I've even used this as a spot treatment overnight on really trouble spots. Love this stuff!



LAURA GELLER Blush-N-Brighten in Apricot Berry
I received this Laura Geller blush in my June Birchbox and fell in love with it really quickly. The color scared me; it looked too dark and too orange. Yet somehow this blush translates so beautifully on my skin. I'm not a big blush wearer because I usually have breakouts on my cheeks and blush on top draws attention to my blemishes, but my skin was doing pretty good for awhile and I was able to use blush again. This blush just was so perfect. The application was beautiful and so was the color. I love this! 

OLAY Refreshing Toner
A toner is a great part of any skincare routine and I have two that I use. One by DDF that is a glycolic toner (which I use at night) and then there is the Olay Refreshing Toner, which I use in the morning. This toner feels so good in the summer time. It really does feel refreshing and I do notice a difference with my skin on the days I don't use it compared to the days I do use it. On days I use this toner my oil production is less, meaning my makeup is going to stay on longer. I've had a hard time finding this in stores lately, but I think they just repackaged it. I'm on my last two bottles of it and then I'll have to find it again.



TOO FACED Naked Eye boxed palette
I purchased this palette back in April or early May and ever since I've found myself reaching for it time and time again. The colors are soft and beautiful (or soft and sexy as it says on the front of this boxed palette). I don't use all the colors in this, but I tend to use the shades Lap Dance, Satin Sheets, Unmentionables, and Birthday Suit the most. The colors, although pretty neutral, are beautiful enough that even the ladies who hate neutral colors may just fall in love with these shades. The formula of the shadows are really nice too. This palette is going to last me a long time! I highly recommend checking this palette out in person, or just going ahead and purchasing it online. It also comes with three eye looks with instructions, but I haven't actually followed any of them; still a good idea for anyone who doesn't really know how to put the colors together or what color would look best where.




BARE MINERALS Naturally Luminous Purifying Facial Cleanser
This may be my favorite facial cleanser of all time. It cleans my skin really, really well and my skin doesn't feel dry or tight after I use it. Not to mention that this cleanser has helped keep my skin clear, even better than anti-acne cleansers. It's not a foaming cleanser, so if you need to see a lot of foam to feel like your face is clean then you will be disappointed. The way I use it is I pump two pumps into the palm of my hand and spread it onto my face and rub it in with my fingertips. The more you rub the more of a lather you'll get, but don't be surprised when you don't see a whole lot. Add a little water if you want. Then I put one pump on my Clarisonic and clean my entire face that way. Love this cleanser!



LAURA GELLER The Real Deal Concealer 
I've had this concealer for a long time now (I think it's been over a year), but I had almost forgot about it because I was using another concealer for awhile. Then I pulled this back out and fell in love with it all over again. I forgot how great the coverage is and how little you need to use to get amazing coverage. You could even use it all over as a full-coverage foundation, but I don't like doing that because then it feels heavy on my skin. But I do love this concealer for concealing under my eyes and all my flaws. It works and it works really well. This was the first Laura Geller product I fell in love with. Up until this product I actually was really turned off by her makeup; it seemed too "old-lady" and the shades and finishes also seemed dated. Then this concealer came out and blew me away. And her Blush-N-Brighten... yeah, that I love too! Laura Geller, you've got my attention... keep the great products coming!

Not-So-Favorites: June 2011 

L'OREAL Infallible Le Rouge lipsticks

When I was on the search for a long-wear lip product to wear on amusement park days I decided I had to try the L'Oreal Infallible Le Rouge lipsticks. I purchased two shades that seemed pretty safe: Unending Kiss and Tender Baby. Both shades looked pretty in the tube but not on me. They're a little too much on the cool end of the color family and warmer tones look best on me. Sadly, based on the color alone I just can't wear these. As for the formula, they felt good on the lips but didn't last and weren't smudge proof. They still rubbed off easily. These will go up for sale in my blog sale after I do swatches of these.

BLISS Poetic Waxing kit
This is another product I've had for awhile now. I actually purchased this for my husband who wanted me to try to remove his back hair (he's not even hairy on his back other than the normal light hair, he just wanted to try waxing). This option was supposed to be a less-painful, or painless, way to wax. Um... no, not really. Based on his experience it still hurt. Not to mention this stuff is messy, as are most waxes. The microwaveable cup was easy to use, and the whole system is really simple, but it wasn't a less painful way to remove hair. We were both underwhelmed. I would have returned this to QVC but we waited too long and are now just left with the remains of the kit.

BUMBLE AND BUMBLE Surf Spray
I love wave sprays; I had one - Frederick Fekkai Wave Spray - that I LOVED. And I mean LOVED. I used it almost every day, but ended up losing the bottle. So I bought another one and guess what? That bottle went missing too. I have no idea why that one product keeps disappearing but I was ticked to not have it again. So I purchased the Frederick Fekkai Beach Waves spray, which is basically the same thing... except it doesn't work as well for me. Then I saw Bumble and Bumble had a Surf Spray. I had fallen in love with some of their other products so I figured I'd give it a try. Well it just doesn't work for me. It's just like the Frederick Fekkai Beach Waves where it works for a second, then just makes your hair look dirty and not wavy at all. My hair has a natural wave to it, so wave sprays should work well with my hair type. Sadly this just doesn't cut it for me, but I have a hard time letting it sit on the shelf un-used so I do keep trying to make it work. I think I may put this up in my blog sale.... if I can part with it.