Product Review: Lola Lip Gloss

Small things. They are cute. Small pets, itty bitty clothes for babies, little bottles of booze... all these things are appealing on some level. (Especially the tiny bottles of booze. Many of them, preferrably.) There's some theory that we're genetically programmed to link "small" with "adorable" and "deserving of love", so as to encourage adults to take care of young 'uns.


And most things that are small and cute are good and all, but small can also be very bad. Take for instance, very small cup cakes. They look all dainty and innocent and then before you know it, you've eaten like half a box of them before lunch. (Er, not that I speak from experience or anything.) But what if your poison is cosmetics rather than confections? Let all be warned now: small lipglosses are equally damaging, but to your wallet instead of your waistline.

I know we're all supposed to tell our gentlemen friends that "size doesn't matter"*, but surely that sentiment doesn't apply to makeup! I'm paying good money, I should get a decent return!** Which is why I'd avoided trying Lola lipglosses -- $20 for a teeny 3mL tube of gloss? That's over twice the price and less than half the amount of the typical glosses I get.

But when Blossom Bath & Body had a sale on Lola lip products recently, I couldn't resist. 50% off the price = 100% sold!




I picked up a "full sized" tube of Fantastica, and a mini keychain tube of Muse. Fantastica is touted as a medium pink, and shows up as sort of a sheer, cool, candy-ish hue on me. Muse is a slightly more opaque peachy gold with a hint of rose. Both of them have a nice shimmer, and smell like Wrigley's Double-Mint gum. Very refreshing! (Muse, however, has this odd plasticky scent underlying the mint that I don't like.)

The texture of the gloss leaves something to be desired. Maybe I've just been spoiled by super-smooth glosses like those by Bourjois and Estee Lauder, but I found the Lola lip gloss to be too thick and tacky. It was still smooth (i.e., not chunky or gritty), but just didn't have that nice glide.

Worse, if you have dry lips, the gloss grabs the flakes and "balls" them up on your lips, instead of smoothing them over. Even if I start out with smooth lips, if I don't use balm before the Lola gloss, my lips start to feel dry and crackly.

So what's up, Lola? You're a pretty reputable brand, why are you charging big dollars for a not-so-great gloss? And why are my friends over at Meg's Makeup raving about your Lip Indulgence gloss? It certainly does look smoother, and I much prefer brush applicators over the felt doefoot ones. But given my current experience with Lola's glosses, I won't be running out to try Lip Indulgence until there's another 50% off sale somewhere.



* And it doesn't! Unless you're reeeeeallly super small. Or if you're a tube of lipgloss.
** Conversely, this sentiment should NOT apply to the men in your lives.

Product Review: La Senza Itec Bra

AKA: The Magic Bra

Okay, so it's not lipstick or eyeshadow, but it's girly and necessary, so I'm posting about it. I'm talkin' bras, friends. (And any gentlemen friends out there, you can go right on ahead and skip the rest of this post, because you probably don't need or want to know the intimate details of my choices in underwear.)

I'm pretty fortunate in the bra department, because I am easy to please. I don't much support, and I fall in the range of standard store sizes. Basically, if it fits reasonably well, and looks decent and isn't crazy expensive, I'm there. If there's a bit of padding for bit of boost? Even better.

Lately though, my bras have been rebelling. I bought a new Jockey strapless that looked great on the hanger and in the change room. It's one of those with rubberized inside seams to help keep it up... it felt tight, but not extremely uncomfortable or anything. I even fell asleep in it. Well, apparently "tight" when you are awake translates to "OWWWW" after a night's sleep. I woke up to raised red welts where the wire from the bra dug into my skin. It was not good. It looked like I decided to experiment with some kinda kinky bedroom activity which went haywire. Just a bad scene in general.

Plenty of jojoba oil later, the welts subsided and I was ok. Until the other bras decided to act up. I don't know if the negative experience made me more sensitive or they just decided to declare mutiny or something, but all of a sudden, everything was pinching and poking. The underwire in the front would either pinch the area, or actually poke through and jab at my chest. Mmmmm... scars are totally hot!

So, when I walked past La Senza the other day and saw they were having a store-wide sale, I had to stop in. And I'm so glad I did, because their Itec bras, which usually sell for over $40, were on sale for $16.50!

If you haven't heard about the Itec bras, La Senza claims they're the most revolutionary bras ever, or some other such hyperbolized ad copy. It's made from a single piece of odd fabric (more on that later), and promises complete comfort and seamlessness. I tried their "Wireless" version, and bought 2 on the spot.

Ladies, this is the most comfortable bra that I have ever put on. It's light weight, moves with you, and avoids the dreaded quad-boob. The lack of underwire means that there's no uncomfortable jabbing -- you don't even get those temporary "bra marks" after a long day's wear. The edges are subtly scalloped, and the band across the back is wider than average. It's lightly padded (comes in more or less padded versions too) and looks natural under clothes. In fact, I wore one of my tightest, thinnest t-shirts over it the other day and you could barely see it. Under a normal shirt, it's pretty much invisible.

The fabric is odd if you've never encountered it before. It's like a microfiber that has been made into a very thin layer of foam. It reminds me a bit of the stuff they make wetsuits out of, only thinner. It's very soft, smooth, and comfortable, just slighly neoprene-y. At the same time, this makes the bra truly lightweight. Apparently, you are supposed to hand wash these, which is kind of a pain. But certainly less of a pain than having angry red marks on your chest from stupid bras with stupid underwires.

The sales associate had no idea why they were on sale (only some styles in the line were)... she hazarded that they might be introducing new colours and thus were phasing old ones out. (A new black and a new white? Er... okay) Maybe they're re-designing some of them, or putting in the Ipex line instead*. Whatever. All I know is that they're on sale, for an undetermined amount of time, and they're going fast. The La Senza website only has the orange colour left, although the physical store had more colours. Both the "unwired" and "lace pushup" varieties are on sale.

I am so in love with these. I feel like I could work out in them if I wanted to, they feel so nice. They do have wired versions, and apparently those are WAY more comfortable than your typical underwire bra. But it doesn't matter, because I've just decided that I am so done with wires, and need to go buy more of these, stat.



* If you've tried the Ipex line from Victoria's Secret, the concept is very similar. In fact, last year, VS sued La Senza over the similar naming and marketing of the bras. Not sure how that resolved, but it doesn't matter as they've now actually acquired La Senza in a friendly takeover. (In fact, you may have seen some of the VS cosmetics being carried by La Senza as of late.) I haven't tried Ipex, so I can't say how they compare, but people on random message boards report that the La Senza Itec looks better and is cheaper, so take that for what you will.

SHOES

Yipiee, the Comments for a Cure eBay auctions are up! We've decided to split up the uber-ginormous auctions into several smaller-but-still-ginormous ones, so that lots of people can have a chance to bid. Also, not even a makeup junkie like me could use *that* much stuff! Rest assured though, each auction is still chock full of luscious goodies, so go check 'em out!

Sharon Bolton Scented Candle & Perfume Oil Retail: $70, Starting Bid $10

Nubar Nail Collections and Manicure Set Retail: $119, Starting Bid: $20

Zoya Nail Collections & Gift Basket Retail: $132, Starting Bid: $20

Gigantic Goodie Bag #1 (Bourjois Paris! Kenzo! China Glaze!) Retail: $500, Starting Bid: $50

Gigantic Goodie Bag #2 (DuWop! Alterna! More Kenzo!) Retail: $360, Current Bid: $50

Gigantic Goodie Bag #3 (Tarte! So much Tarte!) Retail $460, Current Bid $66

Gigantic Goodie Bag #4 (T3 Tourmaline Appliances! Dermacia! Max Factor!) Retail: $1040, Starting Bid: $100



In other news: Shoes. I don't usually post about this, but I'm so delighted by my recent find that I feel I should share. You see, I am a lover of strappy heels and tall boots, because, well come on! They're strappy heels and tall boots! However, with the lazy hazy days of summer arriving, sometimes you just want to throw on a pair of damn sneakers and get out of the house, ya know?

The problem is, nothing I own (other than a couple pairs of jeans) really goes with sneakers. I'm a dress-pants and flippy-skirts kinda girl. Sundresses are calling out to me. I just don't feel right wearing runners with most of my outfits, and flip flops are too casual for work.

But oh oh oh, I don't have to worry anymore! Lay your eyes on these lovlies:



These flats are perfect! Girly and cute without being too casual or athletic. I can pair these with jeans, skirts, dresses, trousers... everything! Plus they're flat, comfy, and closed-toed, which is just the ticket for days when I'm too tired/busy to deal with touching up my pedicure.

You'll never believe where I found them either: Athletes World. For reals! They were $40 for 2 pairs, so I also got these:




I'm not 100% about these ones. I half-think they're really cute, and half-think they're kind of ugly. Cugly? I'm leaning more towards the cute side though, they have this hint of a country picnic feel to them that I really like. They also come in blue with white dots (how nautical!), and cream with red/brown dots (also nice, but I was already dead set on the floral cream pair). Lots of other styles at the store too... give their website a visit if you're in the market for comfortable, good looking flats.

Much much love to these shoes! Now my feet can feel as light and carefree as the rest of my summery wardrobe!

Comments For a Cure: The Final Count!

Whooooeeee! So the final comment tally on this blog over the past three days is .... 30! Accordingly, I have donated $30 to the Canadian Cancer Society. Thank you to all you commenters -- your support made this happen!



As promised, one lucky winner will be receiving this T-shirt:





And the winner is..... AMBER! She left a comment on the Dove Antiperspirant review. Congratulations, Amber! If you could please contact me at brainspammer@gmail.com, we can talk size and colour and all that. Please contact me by the end of Tuesday June 12th, as our fabulous CaféPress store will be closing soon after that.


Oh ho ho, but wait, the fun's not over! Remember those eBay auctions I talked about? Well, there's THREE of them, and they all kick off on Sunday, June 10th! Check it out:

Huge. HUGE! There is so much effin' stuff in those auctions! An entire collection of Tarte Cosmetics (pretty much every product you could think of using). $250 worth of Bourjois Paris. Nail products from China Glaze, Nubar, and Zoya. A frickin' T3 Travel Dryer!!! (You may have read about the BeautyAddict's yearning for a T3 dryer) Holy guacamole. Check out the entire product listings for each auction here. There's close to $1000 dollars worth of stuff in each of the big baskets. My eyes glaze over just looking at it all.

Even better, the entire winning bid will be going to the American Cancer Society. Every cent.

Here are the links for the auctions. They won't go live until Sunday June 10thso you'll just get an error if you visit the auctions before then:

[EDIT: The links here have since been updated, please see this post for the new listings!]


I... I can't even write about this anymore. It's just too much. I'm just going to spend the rest of the afternoon clicking through the slideshow, and count down the hours until Sunday when I can start bidding.

Eat bread crusts to curl your hair

Day 3 of Comments for a Cure -- this is your last chance!! I'll donate $1 to the Canadian Cancer Society for each comment left on today's post, so please leave a comment -- I'm at 16 so far and it would be great reach my $50 goal!

I haven't been replying to comments, so as to not artifically inflate the count, but I just wanted to say a BIG THANKYOU to everyone who's commented. Your support means a lot, and I really appreciate it! Keep 'em coming!


Anyone remember this one? It was a popular saying from back in the day. Obviously, it isn't true, but who knows how many loaf-heels little girls chomped on in hopes of achieving glorious ringlets? And why are little girls so dumb as to believe such crazy things?*

Perhaps I'm being too harsh on the little girls... plenty of adults belive in the idea of eating something to enhance your appeal. I'm not talking about antioxidant and vitamin rich veggies and fruits (although we all should eat more of those anyway!). I'm not even talking about products like Tarte's Inside Out Lip Gloss, which is apparently enriched with extracts of green tea, grapeseed, lychee, vitamins, and something called Acai (whatever! They're shimmery and pretty!).

No no, my friends. I am talking about chewing gum that makes you smell pretty.




Fuwarinka gum promises to not only deliver a pleasurable chewing experience**, but also to perfume you with a rose or vanilla fragrance. Mentioned in Sephora's Blog and Now Smell This, this gum supposedly makes your skin secrete a rose scent, and the candy in the same line creates a vanilla scent.


Could this possibly work? I mean, one time my friend smelled like onions after he ate a lot of Pho, but he eats a lot of things in general, so who knows? But, according to a hilarious review at Gastronomy 101, it doesn't work. In addition to not working, it (the rose candy) also tasted pretty much disgusting. It comes in 3 flavours: Rose, Citrus (much less gross than the Rose), and Menthol-Rose (which the reviewer did not try, but sounds like some kind of novelty cigarrette to me.)

Nonetheless, I just need to try this. I have no idea how I will go about finding it, but I'm due for a trip back to the Motherland (aka: Hong Kong) this Christmas, so maybe I'll be able to track some down there!


Thanks for visiting & commenting today, and please check out the Comments for a Cure website, CaféPress Store, and leave comments for the other participating blogs too!

99 Products
A Touch of Blusher
A Girl's Gotta Spa
Aging Fabulous
All About the Pretty
All Lacquered Up
AZ Spa Girls
Beautiful Makeup Search
Beauty & Fashion Tech
Beauty Hatchery
Beautynomics
eBeautyDaily
GirlPaint
Life of a Ladybug
Lipstick Powder n' Paint
Makeup Minute
Mystical Beauty Musings
Pretty by Nature
Real Self
The Beauty Newsletter Blog
The Makeup Bag
The Makeup Girl
The Product Girl
The Perfume Bee
We Love Beauty
Yummy411



* For instance, when I was little, I believed that I wanted to be a cartoon volleyball player. I practised using a blown-up grocery bag, tied tightly at the handles. It was a pretty sad scene.

** In truth, I have no idea what they promise, as I don't read Japanese. "Promising great pleasurable chewing experience!" does sound like something you'd see on a package of Japanese gum though.

Product Review: Orange Palms Preventor

Things that suck:

- Cancer (I mean, duh, right?)
- The Sens game last night (Started out so strong! All for naught!)
- Streaky, stinky, orange palms after you self-tan

Fortunately, there's something we can do about 2 of those things*. Not that we can reduce the incredible suckiness** that is cancer, but we CAN help support the research and development of cancer treatment, prevention, and care. We at the Beauty Blog Network are making it easy to help. All you have to do is leave a comment on this and other participating blogs (see list below), today and tomorrow! For every comment made on this blog over the next 2 days, I will donate $1 to the Canadian Cancer Society, up to $50. (I'm only at 8 comments so far, let's kick it up a notch!) Plus, commenters get a chance to win a free t-shirt. It doesn't cost you anything other than a couple of seconds, and the comment doesn't have to be anything profoud... just say that you're "Commenting for a Cure" or something. Or share your own stories about how cancer has touched your lives. Or tell a joke. Or share a recipe. Whatever. Just comment! It's fun, I promise!


Okay, so what about those orange palms? Savvy ladies know that sun tanning is a big no-no (cf: cancer sucking), but sometimes you just want a little glow to go with that sassy little sundress. The marvels of modern self-tanning technology have made it a snap to achieve golden skin without the risks of sun damage. In fact, there are so many self-tanners on the market that Kristen over at Beauty Addict is doing a series of very helpful reviews on a whole bunch of tanners. But while good formulas can give you streak-free, natural looking colours, virtually all of them require you to rub it in with your hot lil' hands. Which often means that you end up with palms that are stained orange and reek of the telltale DHA smell.

Soap and water will help, but not much. Even if they get the colour off, I can always still smell the DHA stank, which is especially gross on your hands since it comes into close contact with your nose and mouth so often. Plus, it interferes with perfume if I spritz it on my wrist. This is where this nifty little product comes in to save the day:





Orange Palms Preventor. Not the most original name to be sure, but at least it's obvious what it does. After you apply your tanner, all you need to do is wash your hands with a squirt of this creamy white scrub. It exfoliates away the residual tanner, and the plush formula keeps hands from drying out. Plus it's got this nice vanilla-orange smell to it -- the smell doesn't linger, but somehow, it eliminates the DHA smell from my hands. If you're like me and you just tan your legs (my arms tend to have more colour than my legs... I know, incidental exposure, bad!), you can scrub-up Grey's Anatomy style and use the Preventor all the way up your forearms. (I find I'm always inadvertently resting my arm agains where I've just put tanner). If you self tan your arms, you'll have to be more careful about splashing.

Just 1 squirt of the product will suffice for each use, and the bottle has lasted me through all of last summer and this spring so far (although I only self-tan sporadically). I got mine at Shopper's Drug Mart, but I haven't seen it on store shelves recently. You could try asking their cosmetics manager to order it in for you. You can also try purchasing Orange Palm Preventor from their website, or from this site.

I truly consider this item a summer essential. Check it out and see how you like it... anything to make self-tanning a more pleasant process is good in my books!


Thanks for visiting & commenting today, and please check out the Comments for a Cure website, CaféPress Store, and leave comments for the other participating blogs too!

99 Products
A Touch of Blusher
A Girl's Gotta Spa
Aging Fabulous
All About the Pretty
All Lacquered Up
AZ Spa Girls
Beautiful Makeup Search
Beauty & Fashion Tech
Beauty Hatchery
Beautynomics
eBeautyDaily
GirlPaint
Life of a Ladybug
Lipstick Powder n' Paint
Makeup Minute
Mystical Beauty Musings
Pretty by Nature
Real Self
The Beauty Newsletter Blog
The Makeup Bag
The Makeup Girl
The Product Girl
The Perfume Bee
We Love Beauty
Yummy411


* The Ottawa Senators are, I'm afraid, on their own.
** I sound flippant for such a serious topic, I know. But when it comes down to it, the disease just sucks, plain and simple.

Product Review: Dove Ultimate Clear Antiperspirant in Smooth Cashmere

Hi y'all! Today is the start of the Comments for a Cure campaign! Please leave a comment today, tomorrow, or Wednesday to help me raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. I'll donate a dollar for every comment made on these days, up to $50. Plus, at the end of it all, I'll do a draw for a cool t-shirt from our Comments for a Cure CaféPress Store. So comment it up and tell your friends!


Many people would not consider antiperspirant or deodorant a beauty item*. I mean, who looks at your armpits? But when the scorching days of summer arrive, and all you want to do is eat popsicles in the lightest tank tops you can find... well, dry, rough, and irritated underarms can really put a damper on the party. So Dove has created an antiperspirant to help you pamper your 'pits as much as you do the rest of your body! Made with Olay moisturizers, it promises to deliver smoother, softer underamrs, and wetness and odour protection that won't leave white marks on your clothes.




I'd tried the original Dove antiperspirant when it first came out, and must admit that I was not the biggest fan. It felt nice and worked fine, but the scent really bugged me. It smelled good on my coworker who also used it, but on me turned kind of sharp and acidic. Just my body chemistry I guess. So I was really excited to see that the Ultimate Clear Antiperspirant came in 7 scents, including the Original version, and a fragrance-free one for sensitive skin.

I got the Smooth Cashmere one to review. Normally I stay away from scents labelled "Cashmere" (usually too warm/spicy for me), but I'm thrilled that I tried this one. The listed notes** are Jasmine, Peach, and Vanilla. None of those individual scents really jump out at me -- instead, it blends into a smooth, soft, elegant floral with powdery clean hints. It's good enough to be a fragrance in its own right, and really doesn't smell like any other deodorant or antiperspirant I've ever tried. Gorgeous.

But let's get down to business -- does it do everything it promises to do? I don't know if it's just because I'm digging the fragrance so much, but I find that Ultimate Clear is really fantastic at stopping odour. I put some on right before I go running, and at the end of it, I still smell all fresh and lovely. (Well, ok, my underarms smell all fresh and lovely, the rest of me is sweaty and gross.) Wetness protection is pretty standard -- nothing earth shattering, but it does a decent job. Same goes for the white marks -- it's ok, but I do get marks on black tops if I'm not careful. I've certainly seen much messier deodorants though.

Finally, the claim that it gives you smoother skin. This antiperspirant goes on so silkily it's almost as if I'm rubbing a cocoa butter stick on my armpits. After about a week of use, I noticed that the few red bumps I had in the area that came from shaving had minimized and looked less red and irritated.

So for the wonderful scent, it's silky feel, and arm-smoothing properties, I would definitely repurchase this one -- I'm especially interested in checking out the other scents!


Thanks for visiting & commenting today, and please check out the Comments for a Cure website, CaféPress Store and leave a comment for the other participating blogs too!

99 Products
A Touch of Blusher
A Girl's Gotta Spa
Aging Fabulous
All About the Pretty
All Lacquered Up
AZ Spa Girls
Beautiful Makeup Search
Beauty & Fashion Tech
Beauty Hatchery
Beautynomics
eBeautyDaily
GirlPaint
Life of a Ladybug
Lipstick Powder n' Paint
Makeup Minute
Mystical Beauty Musings
Pretty by Nature
Real Self
The Beauty Newsletter Blog
The Makeup Bag
The Makeup Girl
The Product Girl
The Perfume Bee
We Love Beauty
Yummy411



* In a survey in some random teen magazine I read a million years ago, when guys snoop around your bathroom, they are apparently most turned on by seeing things like deodorant and toothpaste in your drawers, instead of things like curling irons, medication for yeast infections, or 3 gadzillion lipglosses (damn). The More You Know...

** Notes! In antiperspirant! Love it.