Lush Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub Review

This is the Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub from Lush Cosmetics, a store that makes fresh handmade cosmetics for skin and hair. This is one of their best sellers they have. A sucker for a good exfoliant and scrub, I snagged it up.

The minerals in sea salt scrub away dirt, dead skin and blockages for bright looking skin. It is made of vodka infused sea salt with a mix of avocado and coconut to hydrate skin. The antibacterial affects of the vodka and some lime juice help to eliminate blackheads, blemishes, and blocked pores for a visibly healthier skin. It is a pretty blue color that reminds you of the ocean. You can see the sea salt crystals in it, like a typical beaded exfoliator. I actually got a taste of it, and it tastes just like ocean water (don't recommend eating it, though).

To use, you wet your face, take a scoop full and massage it onto your face to exfoliate, then rinse. I have to admit, the salt felt pretty rough on the skin. I would not use this daily, as much as I'd love to, but boy did this work! As soon as I towel dried my face, my skin felt immediately softer and had that really clean refreshed feeling. I typically end my skincare routine by rubbing on a product with salicylic acid to help with breakouts (which is actually really drying) but I didn't even feel like I had to after this. I can't wait to continue using their products to watch the wonders it does for my skin using natural homemade recipes with fresh ingredients meant for specific skin issues.

I also got some masks, and a toner that I can review if you're interested. Let me know in the comments. :)

July Ipsy Bag

I was very excited and anxiously awaited my first Ipsy Glam bag. The fact that it was called "Beach Beauty" made me even more excited because I love summery, bright and fresh things. It was delivered in a pretty pink metalic package. Inside, the products were contained in a clear-pink zip up travel pouch. When I opened it up I was shocked by the fact that something was spilled all over my products. It was a tan dried up liquid that resembled a foundation or something of the sort. I wiped off the products and examined each one. To my surprise, nothing was broken or even the color of what was spilled in the bag. What the heck? A bunch of people on twitter were telling me to contact their customer service but I didn't see the point considering everything was intact and usable lol. Not the best first impression though, I'd have to say.

The 5 products I received were...

Sexy Hair's Soy Renewal Beach Spray: This is described as a spray that provides body, fullness and light hold while helping to nourish, protect and heal hair damage with the power of Argan Oil.  It creates undone texture that looks and feels like you've spent a day by the sea. I'm not a big fan of sprays like this considering you are usually meant to spray it in your hair while it's wet and let it air dry. I'm not sure if I'll even use this since I never let my hair go natural. :(

BH Cosmetics California Collection: This provides three pretty colors from 3 different palettes. The dark purple shade is from the Hollwood palette, the brown from San Francisco, and the goldish yellow from the Malibu. They're all such gorgeous colors and come in cute packaging, that I'm actual considering buying the full size. I just checked them out on their website and discovered that they're relatively cheap, going for $9.95 and also include blushes and bronzer in the palette! Such a nice deal. Question is, which palette do I choose? Hollywood, San Francisco, or Malibu? Hmmm...

Coola Mineral Sunscreen: This is loaded with organic vitamins and minerals It's hypoallergenic, anti-aging, water resistant and also reduces redness and irritation on the skin. It has cucumber that calms the skin and a plankton extract that rejuvinates. Sounds pretty nice to me! I will probably use this because I hate burning my face and I've been getting so many new freckles that I just want to go away!

Pouty Pop Lip Crayon in Coral Crush: I am so glad I got this color. It's just the right coral color, so bright and pretty. It felt moisturizing and smooth on the lips unlike how I'd expect most crayons to feel. I'll definetely be enjoying this product.

Derma E Microdermabrasian Scrub: This is an exfoliater that contains sea salt and volcanic sand. It is said to help deminish the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and acne scars leaving the skin youthfully radiant. Even though I'm only 23, I have all of the above springing up on me and love that this will help me with those issues!

All in all, I'm happy with the products I received. I think $10 is definitely worth all that I got. Minus the spillage, I'm excited to get my next Ipsy bag and see what they choose for me next. :)

Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo Eyeshadow Review

What can I say? These eyeshadows blew me away with their long lasting capabilities. It is a cream/gel based eyeshadow that can be smoothed on with your finger tip for crease proof color that doesn't fade. It comes in 10 gorgeous colors ranging from a vibrant teal to a dark asphalt black. Like I mentioned in the Walgreens Haul post, I swatched these on my hand and they didn't come off at all when I rubbed at it. I am not kidding when I say these really are tattoo like. It was still on my hand the next morning even after I had washed my face and had my hands in water. I suppose a good makeup remover will be needed to remove this. The Colors I chose were the Bold Gold and Tough as Taupe which are pretty neutrals that I know I'll get a lot of use out of using them as bases. I found these at Walgreens but they are also available at Ulta, and a select few at Target going for $6-7 depending where you get it. They are buy one get one 50% off at Walgreens and Utla, so get them while they're hot! ;)

Kat Von D Ladybird True Romance Palette Review

This is my first purchase from the Kat Von D line and like I expected, it did not disappoint. It didn't oil up and crease during the day like a lot of eye shadows tend to do. I love that it is formulated without paragens, and has ingredients that include vitamin E, rose extract, and conditioning oils that keep your skin feeling smooth. 

The colors are perfect for a smokey eye, or neutral eye. They are rich, pigmented, long lasting and easily blendable. The palette starts with a beautiful deep purple called Für Elise, and continues with Vespertine, Renholdër, Siouxsie-sioux, Unrequited, Harlow, Wölf, and Cleopatra. It also comes with a mini dark brown eyeliner called Immortal Love. The colors are very versatile and wearable for any eye color. 

The packaging is so cute and easily portable. Is it cliche that it reminds me of tattoos? I just really like this palette and know I will got a lot of use out of it! :)

Do you have any Kat Von D products? I'm interested in more!

Million Dollar Tan Review

Sorry all of my reviews so far have been about tanning products! But hey, it's summer time! :) I got the Million Dollar Tan in the mail yesterday and immediately tried it out because I was so excited about it. It came in a flat rate USPS packaging. They had it wrapped in cute heart tissue paper with a little note tied to it. It explained that they gave me two 4 oz. bottles instead of the 8 oz. that I originally ordered because they were sold out of it (WOW!), and they didn't want to delay my order. It also came with a note card explaining the product, and then application tips on the back. That was really awesome and helpful.

Once again, I showered and exfoliated first. My tan from the tanning towelettes I had tried a couple days earlier had already faded for the most part. I rubbed it in circular motions on my face (it says we can use it there without clogging pores!), and all over my body like a normal body lotion. It came out a translucent white and spread easily. 

It had a very faint smell that I can't really describe. Kind of plastic-ey? It didn't bother me though. I didn't really notice a difference on my skin until a couple hours later. It gave me a very deep tan with no streaking besides a tiny bit on my wrist where I probably stopped applying it.

You can really see a difference! The top picture was yesterday before I applied it, and the bottom was this morning when I woke up. It looks a little orangey but naturally, that's how my skin tans anyway. I like the results considering that's how the sun or tanning bed makes me look anyway! This was worth the money for me. $26 for the 8 oz. bottle on their main website, milliondollartan.com. This is a product I'll definitely repurchase when it runs out.