New Favorite Conditioner EVER

This is the best conditioner I have ever used. My hair has never been so consistently soft and frizz-free. The first time I used it was about a week ago. I was doing a massive hair treatment night- coconut oil, rinsed out with shampoo and my new conditioner, Moroccan oil used after my shower. Boy was that a mistake... I ended up going to class the next day with hair so greasy, it looked like I had just gotten out of the shower.

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My routine since them has been a basic coconut-scented Suave shampoo with Suave Professionals Moroccan Infusion Shine Conditioner. Even in the dry winter air, my hair is super shiny without being greasy or frizzy. My hair is so soft that all I want to do is play with it all day. I never buy the same conditioner twice because I have always seen room for improvement. I can honestly say that this conditioner does not leave any room for improvement. The cost for this conditioner is $2.88 at Walmart, and for me, that makes it a grand slam product.

Week of Reviews: Model Co. Fibre LASHXTEND Mascara

This is definitely the most natural mascara that I have reviewed this week.

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bare lashes

one coat of Model Co. Fibre LASHXTEND

This mascara has little hairs in it that are meant to adhere to the ends of your lashes and make them look longer. The brush is super fluffy, and the formula is relatively dry so there is never any clumping. You may be able to see that the ends of some of my lashes are a little jagged. The fibers occasionally don't attach perfectly straight, so I usually pluck those off. This is a great mascara for layering with something more volumizing underneath, or you could just wear it on its own if you have a very chill day ahead of you or a conservative event to attend. I'm really interested in trying drugstore fiber mascaras now that I have tried this and loved it. I got the full sized version of this in a Birchbox, but it normally retails for $24 and you can buy it on the Birchbox website.

Week of Reviews: Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara

This is the first high-end mascara I am reviewing this week. While this is a good mascara, it does prove that you can find mascaras at the drugstore that are just as good as the expensive ones... 27 dollars expensive to be exact. 

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bare lashes

one coat of Lancome Hypnose Drama

Probably my favorite thing about this mascara is the unique brush. It really grabs onto your lashes and gets lots of product on them. It does get a little clumpy, however, since the brush can collect a lot of extra product in certain areas. Overall, this mascara really does lengthen and separate, but I wouldn't say it does any better of a job than L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black. I got this mascara as a sample, but I definitely wouldn't go out and purchase it. You can find mascaras that are just as good and save 20 dollars in the process.

Week of Reviews: L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara

Today's mascara, just like the mascara reviewed yesterday, is true to its title.

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bare lashes

one coat of L'Oreal Volumious Million Lashes

This is definitely an essential for me, and I will run out and repurchase it the second it runs out. If you compare this mascara to the ones I have reviewed previously this week, you will notice that this one definitely gives you the look with the most lashes. Mine has dried up a bit (which I blame the hard to twist packaging) but I almost prefer it that way. A lot of my other mascaras are more wet and clumpy, and using this over top of them helps to separate, clean up, and make your lashes look more full. I don't usually wear it on its own like I did in the picture above, but it does give a really nice, almost natural enhancement. It seriously looks like you have a million lashes! Like mascaras mentioned earlier this week, you can find this super cheap at any drugstore :-)

Week of Reviews: L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

 Today I am talking about a cult favorite mascara that I had never tried until recently. L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara is known to give you a one stop shop to voluminous dramatic lashes.

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bare lashes

lashes with L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black

I love this mascara for a super quick intense eye look. It has great pigmentation, lengthens, and volumizes all in one sweep. The one downside I found was that the brush tends to collect a lot of product on either end of it. The hair-like bristles are very thick,which are great for volumizing, but make it more difficult to work out the clumps. I have not tried doing multiple coats with this mascara, but I can only imagine how clumpy it would be. Maybe using a more separating mascara after this one would help with that. Overall consensus, great everyday product if you really want to eyelashes to pop. Readily available at all drugstores, and available in waterproof. 

Week of Reviews: L'Oreal Telescopic Carbon Black Mascara

Every day this week I will bring you a review of one of my top five mascaras. Today I will be discussing L'Oreal's Telescopic Mascara. Later this week I will review:

-L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

-L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black

-Lancome Hypnose Drama

-Model Co. Fibre LASHXTEND

Stay tuned :-)

At first impression, this mascara brush is very thin with itty bitty rubber bristles. There is nowhere for the mascara to clump on this brush, so it applies very smoothly. I got the blackest color, and you can see that it really darkened my lashes. This mascara has a very liquid formula which seems like it may weigh down/ straighten out curled lashes..

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bare lashes

 

with one coat of Telescopic Carbon Black

 

Naturally, I have thin, long, light brown lashes. They aren't as thick as they could be because I have a habit of picking off my mascara and pulling out my lashes in the process... 

My personal experience with this product is that it gives me very spidery, dark, long lashes. The tiny brush makes it great to get in every nook and cranny, but the liquidy formula and tiny bristles don't do a very good job of volumizing and spreading out my lashes. Overall, it really does what the name implies-it gives telescopic lengthening. Because I have sparse lashes, I always follow up this mascara with another coat of something more volumizing. However, if you are solely looking for something to give you length and definition, this may be the product for you! This can easily be found in any drugstore.

Maybelline & Nars Concealers Used Throughout 2013

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Treatment Concealer

 

 

 

 

This is meant for under the eyes. It creases very little, is very blendable, and provides great coverage. It also works well as a blemish concealer. The antimicrobial sponge tip applicator makes it easy to apply and travel with.

 

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Spot Treatment Concealer

 This works basically as well as the concealer above. The only difference I can identify is that this product has vitamin C in it to help lighten dark spots. Its formulation seems to be identical to its dark circle version, and I fail to understand why you would need both of these products on the market. It seems like the one with vitamin C would be good to use with both dark circles and spots.

Maybelline Fit Me! Concealer

There was nothing special about this product. It is a basic concealer- creamy and easy to blend. I don't remember it having stellar staying power, but it is a very decent concealer.

Maybelline Cover Stick Concealer

 This concealer really surprised me. I got a shade too light, but it blends very well and works excellent for lightening up under the eyes. This has become my "heavy duty" concealer. The stick formula is very thick, but it is creamy enough that there isn't too much sticking to dry spots. However, the Age Rewind concealers work better over dry spots.

Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer

I did not repurchase this concealer, and I would not repurchase it over the Age Rewind Concealers. It is a nice product for brightening up under the eyes, but it does not have much coverage. It is nice that it has an attached brush, but the brush would not work well with blending out concealer over blemish spots.

Nars Stick Concealer

This was my only non-Maybelline concealer that I used this year, and Maybelline definitely out-did themselves. I had never tried a high-end concealer before this one, but it didn't really shine for me. I did find an exact color match which was nice, and it was very blendable. However, it wasn't the fullest coverage, and it seemed like I ran out of this product very fast which you never want to do when you spend a lot of money. It did cling to dry spots badly, and all it was really good for was new, red acne or dark spots that were healed.

Overall, I applaud Maybelline. Their products are consistently good, and the value is there. For less than $10, you can pick up any of their concealers at your nearest drugstore. I hope this was informative!

Lane