a different review, a throwback to an old favorite drugstore bath brand.

So, this may seem like a strange review for a lot of people but the only bath products people seem to review is LUSH and I wanted to throw it back to the drugstore days of bath gift sets before LUSH existed.

When I was younger I received lots and lots of bath gift sets for pretty much any holiday involving presents and a lot of those were Fa sets. Has anyone heard of Fa? My guess is no but I love these soaps. I'm much more of a shower gel person however.

Fa's soaps are made with coconut oil and they all have the marble look you see above, they are also preservative free in case you care about those kinds of things. I think the difference in these soaps to many is the coconut oil. It doesn't dry out your skin like many others because of that factor which is why I hold these soaps high above any others and they're very cheap as they are only a drugstore product.

If you are on the lookout for new soap, I recommend giving this a go.

e.l.f polish in metallic elegance

Hello everyone, please excuse the nails.

I couldn't manage to get all the black polish from previous out of the corners of my nails and as you can see it's peeking through in these photos.

A while back I purchased the e.l.f. brights nail polish cube which included 14 sample size nail polishes for $14. I have never tried e.l.f. products before but I'd heard a lot of hype so I took the plunge. 

Today I wanted to share my thoughts on the "Metallic Elegance" polish by e.l.f.

You can't tell by these photos that it's metallic but it is. The polish itself is extremely sheer, it takes about 3-4 coats to achieve color pay off which is a mega pain as I'm a very impatient person and can't stand having to wait between every coat. It applies unevenly and goopy and streaky as I'm sure you may have noticed. The packaging for these mini polishes I enjoy as it's very simple but still cute sitting on your dressing table. It's a nice color don't get me wrong and I think e.l.f polishes are a bit hit and miss as there were others in the cube I loved, sad to say this was not one of them although they have to yet to chip so that's a bonus!

watt's up?

 Hey everyone, here it is the first "new" so to speak post on the new blog. Another very hyped up and cult favorite among the blogosphere is the "Watt's Up" highlighter by Benefit. It's a soft focus highlighter with a champagne sheen as you can see in the above swatch.

I have tried this and Benefit's "High Beam" and I quite honestly can't decide which one I love more. This provides a beautiful glow to your cheekbones and works great on dry skin, blends wonderfully. I don't have enough praise for this product. When it's blended out it looks natural on your skin and provides you with a gorgeous glow. I use Watt's Up over my foundation currently but I have wonders about using it underneath so I am thinking of giving that a go.

 I only have the sample size right now but once this little fella is dried up I will be running to the closest Sephora to pick up the full size.

OOTD - BUSINESS CASUAL

Are you looking for something casual but still good for work? Here it is cute but still comfortable.
Shoes — $60 from Spring.
Skirt — $6.95 from H&M
Shirt — H&M sorry can’t remember the price
Necklace — $8 from Dynamite
Blazer — From a friend and I’m not sure where they got it from sorry everyone!
Hope you like this OOTD.

HOOLA

This little product is a cult favorite among MANY bloggers as you all know. It’s a great bronzer for fair skinned gals such as myself as most tend to make me look I rolled my face in dirt or mud, not flattering.  I love that this is a matte bronzer as it creates much more natural finish then a shimmer would and it blends beautifully! The packaging is super cute and comes with a handy little mirror and a brush, I don’t use the brush as I have other brushes I prefer to apply this with and the one this comes with isn’t of the best quality. This is on the pricey side but if you’re like me and don’t use bronzer very often it should last you a lifetime!

 

This post was supposed to be done yesterday. I’m creating a weekly series of the song that’s been the most listened by me for the week, it’s called Monday Melodies.
This week it’s Maps by Maroon 5 which right now is a perfect description of how I’m feeling about my relationship right now and I just don’t know what to do…

OLAY - Foaming Face Wash (Normal)

I was on the search for an inexpensive cleanser and hit the nearest drug store. A big problem with me when finding facial cleansers is one that doesn’t dry my face out. This claims to remove makeup, I wouldn’t say its the best for that purpose, I mean if you’re wearing light makeup such as a BB cream instead of a heavy coverage foundation then it might work for you.
It lathers nicely and it doesn’t have an overpowering sick chemical smell as a lot of other products.
It does my skin out a bit but I have never found a product that doesn’t so I just follow up with a face lotion to keep my skin nourished.
Not all that but nice if you’re looking for something light on the purse!

Never Say NO!

Oh hey guys! It’s been a while since I’ve done a nail review hasn’t it? Well I’m back! This time it’s another one from the Sephora mini collection I started reviewing a couple months ago.
I think i’ve only reviewed about four of ten colors, maybe this is the fourth. However on to the review…
This color is called Never Say No, it’s just a metallic looking brown. Looking at it in the bottle I honestly thought I’d hate it but on the nails I actually really really like it. It’s subtle but still noticeable if you get that. The color payoff, absolutely incredible. The above photo was achieved with ONE COAT, ONE. Solid color for one coat which I love because I find painting nails to be a chore but I love having painted nails….
Not only is the color payoff great the lasting power and how quick it dried is  shocking. I don’t think I could be more in love with a polish at the moment. It’s a great neutral color and I’m loving it currently. I know summer is the time for brights but…oh well.

It's a mini bath haul!

Hey everyone,  just a little mini haul. After taking the photo I realized I forgot something. Rookie mistake! haha.
I went to Bath & Body Works a little while back and they were of course having their infamous buy two get one, buy three get two, so naturally I was drawn right in. Yes there is one product that is actually from Victoria’s Secret.
The item missing in this little photo is the Warm Sugar Vanilla perfume. I picked up the Lovespell body spray from VS and wow I fell in LOVE by far one of my favorite scents!
The other products are the Warm Vanilla Sugar body spray and lotion and the Japanese Cherry Blossom body lotion. Hmm can you tell I like vanilla? ;)

E N C H A N T R E S S

Enchantress by CoverGirl is a vibrant pink lipstick. Claims to be moisturizing however I beg to differ.
CoverGirl claims that these lipsticks are infused with silk protein to keep lips moisturized. Don’t get me wrong I love these lipsticks but CoverGirl is out to lunch on that claim.
After about only an hour these become cakey on your lips and really dry them out, best idea is to wear a lip balm underneath and maybe even a sugar scrub before application. The color of Enchantress is VERY pigmented and vibrant and a rich pink although the color it applies as is not the color it stays. During the day it turns into a darker pink and it stains your lips. When I wake up in the morning after wearing this I still have pink left in cracks on my lips and I have to scrub my lips raw to get it out…No thanks.
Most of the flaws of this lipstick I can live with for the fact the color is so great but if you’re after something moisturizing toss this out the window!

Conair Instant Heat Curling Iron - Review

Hey guy!
I received the Conair Instant Heat curling iron for a Christmas present a couple years back.
Features:

• A chrome barrel
• 25 temperature controls
• one minute heat up
• Ready to use, ON/OFF indicator lights
• Tangle free swivel cord

What I love about this product is the price, I’ve used a variety of high end//low end curling irons and this works better than most and it’s about five times cheaper being about only ten dollars at Wal-Mart, hello steal. However if you do use this daily it will cause severe damage to your hair, be sure to use a heat protectant!
I have very very fine hair and have the 1 inch barrel and it creates a gorgeous bouncy curl. I tend to use around the 20-15 heat setting along with the Tresemme thermal heat spray.
The downside for me is the curls don’t hold for long unless I use a can of hairspray on them, I don’t see this as a downside to the iron itself though I believe it depends on the hair type. My hair has never been one to hold anything well.
I will continue to use this curling iron and when its eventual death occurs I will be buying the same exact one for a replacement!

Another OOTD.

Sorry guys I’m not the greatest at these posts mostly because I have no one to photograph me but I am working on getting a tripod!



Like I said earlier, I know not the best which is why I took the close up of my shoes//shorts. I paired this with a faux black leather jacket for when I was outdoors.

• Black flats — $50 from SPRING
• Black Tights — $7 from TARGET
• Lace Shorts — $75 from Aritzia
• White tank (underneath) — $5 from Wal Mart
• Purple blouse — $120 from Aritzia
• Faux leather jacket (Not posted) — but it was only $25 from Bluenotes!

Well, that’s all for today. Bye!

mac myth

Back again with another lippie review, I have quite A LOT of lipsticks so there will be a lot of nail polish/lipstick reviews in the next month. Today, I’m here with a MAC lipstick review in the shade Myth, a nude.
One of the few nudes I have. I’m not much a nude lipstick fan as I’m really really pale as you can see in the above picture so I tend to stray from nudes but lately I’ve been trying to find one that works with my skin tone I don’t think Myth looks that great on me I do like to use it to tone down brighter shades (i.e. Enchantress and Hot Passion by Cover Girl) On rare occasions I’ll wear this shade alone, I just feel it could be more flattering. As with all MAC lippies it is highly pigmented, the above picture is only one coat. I don’t find the lasting power of nude lipsticks (any of them) to be that great and this is no where near as good as other MAC lipsticks.
Overall I do like it for wearing under other lipsticks but not by itself as it washes me out.

FIRST ootd and fotd

Alright everyone here it goes, I really struggle with my body so this is my first “shot” at doing and OOTD and FOTD, I unfortunately don’t have a tripod at this point in time so I really had a difficult time trying to get a good picture of what I was wearing unfortunately but here goes anyways. (Sorry for the awkward hand in my sleeve, kind of makes it seem as if I don’t have a hand there) I’m wearing a pair of black tights from Target, the dress is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE pieces I just so happen to have it in three other colors and it is from Aritzia, pink pleather jacket from Charlotte Russe and then I have two rings on but you can’t see one is just a gold ring with emeralds in it that I found on the ground and the other is a cross ring from Aldo Accessories the shoes you can’t see well but they are just a open toe black high heel.
FOTD — For my face I’m wearing E.L.F.s BB cream (SPF 15), a free foundation my mom got I’m not sure of the brand but it’s in a spray can type container which is definitely different, Sonia Kashuk translucent setting powder, Benefit’s Hoola bronzer which can’t really tell. On my eyes I used a pink champagne color from my Rimmel Royal Tea quad (looks more brown here) all over the lid. In the outer corners I used a matte black from a Lancome eyeshadow palette from my mom and then a glitter black as well from the same palette which I also used to line my upper lash line. I used a tiny bit of the matte brown from the Rimmel Royal Tea quad on the bottom of my eye and for mascara I used the CoverGirl Bombshell. On my lips is the gorgeous Impassioned lipstick by MAC.
Well I hope you guys like this post. Would love to get a tri pod to more outfits if you guys do. So let me know on twitter @brirue
Bye loves!

Conair 1600 Hair dryer, my most trusted

This blow dryer is my all time love. It may not look like much but this little baby has a punch of power. I have very fine hair but this dries my entire head within ten minutes, even a tad under! It’s lightweight which makes it great and easy for travel, I’ve seen other people claim this is quiet I think it’s quite loud personally. Only has two settings which for me is great as I don’t really like having to mess around with a bunch of different buttons. The settings are high and low and that blue button you see on the side is a cold button so if you feel that the dryer is overheating you can cool it down! The price is fairly cheap for a blow dryer and as you can see part of the name has rubbed off, mind you I’ve had this dryer for I can’t count how many years and it’s still in fantastic working condition!

Whats in your bag?

 
Here it is the infamous “What’s in my bag?” tag. Yes, that is a tampon and yes my makeup bag is filthy. Let’s start with the big items; the green bag is my makeup bag, then my wallet and in front of my wallet is a travel brush set from Sephora. Underneath my makeup bag is my work schedule and there is more papers underneath of that, a newspaper ripping with someones number, comb, I have two Blistex balms (I never leave my house without these), a lipstick container a Sonia Kashuk setting powder, locker key, perfume sample (See, by Chloe), ponytail, AVON lipstick palette, keys, lipstick brush (well, that’s what I use it for), two black sharpies, iphone headphones, WestJet heaphones, golf glove and golf ball and I think that’s it. As you can see I hoard A LOT of things in my bag…Bye loves!

h o t d

Flower crown from Forever 21
This was how I wore my hair to work yesterday and I got a ton of compliments on it, so read more to find out how I created it.

• Step 1 —Brush all the tangles out of your hair
• Step 2 — Put a headband over your head. You can use any headband you want but I personally love the flower crowns.
• Step 3 — Take a small section of hair from the right side and pull it over and under (twist) the headband.
• Step 4 — Repeat step 4
• Step 5 — Gather the remaining hair into a ball just below the headband.
• Step 6 — Tuck pieces of hair from the ball into the headband
• Step 7 — Complete the look by pulling on the hair to make it look a little more loose.
• You’re done!

Let me know if you guys like this kind of post, tweet me @brirue

MAC Lip liner in Brick

When it comes to lip products I am a MAC slave, guilty as charged! They are a tad pricey however but, I find MAC to be on the cheaper end of the higher end makeup. I use lip liners for a number of reasons and I also like just wearing a solid lip color using a liner which if I’m not using this under my Russian Red lippie is what I’ve done.  Helps to keep your lipstick on longer and prevent feathering if wearing underneath. On it’s own it makes a wonderful dark red shade, I LOVE this on its own the color pay off is incredible as with every MAC lip product I’ve experienced but on it’s own it does feather and after a few hours I was left with the outline instead of the solid color but nothing a reapplication can’t fix. Brick is an extremely versatile liner and can be used with a variety of red shades. If you love reds this is your perfect lip liner.

LUSH - OCEAN SALT

The LUSH Ocean Scrub sea salt, I wouldn’t say I LOVE this product but because I only use it a couple of days a  week I should take a gander into my local LUSH and buy the full size as I’ve only been using the samples I have which have lasted me over two months. The ingredients in this scrub include fine and coarse sea salt, lime and vodka, avocado butter and coconut.
LUSH’s claim “Washing with Ocean Salt is like taking your face on a trip to the seaside for an invigorating splash in the water. The minerals in sea salt soften as it scrubs away dirt, dead skin and blockages for a bright, fresh face. We mix in fresh avocado and coconut to hydrate thirsty skin, leaving it balanced and soft. The cleansing effects of lime and vodka are ideal for blocked pores, blackheads or blemishes and leave skin visibly brightened. It’s no wonder Ocean Salt is so enormously popular!”
The smell is fresh and smells just like standing on the sea side which is lovely. Due to the vodka, lime and salt this scrub is quite drying on the face for me as I have already extremely dry skin but I only use this twice a week along with a facial moisturizer to hydrate my skin afterwards. I have a noticed a difference in the roughness of my skin and it does look a lot better using this. I have yet to try this on my body but am looking forward to using it on my legs. I will be buying the full size of this product as the benefits outweigh the cons.

imPRESS Manicure - Disney Villains

Hello loves, I recently qualified for my first ever Influenster VoxBox. Influenster is a site where people can review products and the more products and social media presence they have the higher their score on the site is, the higher the score the better your chances are of scoring a voxbox which are sometimes specific brand based or variations of brands and items which are sent free for review compensation. I qualified for the Broadway Nails - imPRESS manicure voxbox. I’ve only been on Influenster for three months and already have qualified for my first voxbox, not bad hey? I received two imPRESS manicure sets. One is a pink, black and silver pattern, very pretty and the other a Disney Villain themed pack. I LOVE anything Disney so I tore into that pack right away. The color is a silver purple. In the picture above it reflects as more silver but in natural daylight it looks much more purple, gorgeous either way. The imPRESS sets are press on manicures. When you open the pack there are different sizes packed into a plastic nail polish bottle. Open the polish, the nails have a tape on the back that you pull off and then you press the nail onto your nail, start by pressing up the middle and then the sides of the nail. I love how easy this is to apply although within a day or so a few nails did fall off which was disappointing but they are not actually glued on so the staying power can not be expected to last as long as a real manicure. I love the concept of these and the price I just really wish they lasted longer. These retail for $10.99 in Wal-Mart so quite inexpensive. I would repurchase these again, they’re quick and easy and look fantastic.
*These products were sent to me for review purposes

Letting my favorite blogs go unread for this amount of time was a horrible mistake. I’ve been reading my followed blogs for about three hours now and to say the wish list on my phone has added a few things is an UNDERSTATEMENT, its time for me to go out and make some money!

Review: Sea Mineral Moisture Shampoo//Conditioner

Hey guys, as you all know I’ve been dying to find something to help the dryness of my hair. I previously did a review on the Anti fungal shampoo, Nizoral. To begin with I already have very damaged hair and the Nizoral is making my hair even more dry. I’ve only been using it on my scalp not the ends of my hair due to the dryness it causes. I saw this combo at Shoppers Drug Mart on sale at $7.99 from $10.99, pretty good deal! I’ve heard a lot of good things about the coconut water, argan oil and morrocan oil products from the Organix brand. I’ve been using this about four times a week for the past month, I haven’t noticed any real change in my hair the ends are still very dry not quite as brittle but there is nothing amazing about this product.  It’s got a strong salty smell to it due to the ingredients which include sea minerals, algae and sea kelp. It did make my hair softer and more shiny but I was looking for the help with my split ends which this did not provide as it claimed it did. I was really hoping for a new holy grail shampoo but the search will continue I guess. Happy I bought this for three dollars cheaper than normal as I wouldn’t repurchase but if you’re looking for a brand that doesn’t test on animals Organix is your guy!

Bronze Of Champions

Hey everyone, sorry it’s been a few days I’ve been quite busy but I’m back. A while back I bought the Benefit - Bronze of Champions kit which includes a sample size of the creaseless cream shadow in Bikini-Tini and a longwear powder shadow in Thanks a Latte, Watt’s up! highlighter, Hoola bronzing powder and brush, They’re Real mascara and Hoola gloss. Today I’m going to review the eyeshadow combo of Bikin-Tini and Thanks A Latte.

Left: Bikin-Tini and Right: Thanks A Latte

I used Bikini-Tini all over the lid and Thanks a Latte along the crease and in the outer corners of my eyes. I like the combo of these eye shadows, its a nice neutral everyday look. However, the CREASELESS Bikini-Tini cream shadow is not creaseless it may be because I did not use an eyeshadow primer but I found within a couple of hours the shadow was creasing so I am going to try this with a primer next time around. I had no problems with the Thanks A Latte. If you notice that shimmer under my eyes that is product fall out from the Bikini-Tini so another downside of this shadow…Overall I don’t LOVE it but I like the look so I will continue to use it would I buy the Bikini-Tini full size, no but I might try some of the other Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadows.

GOSH 3 in 1

GOSH’s 3 in 1 BB Cream is the first BB cream I’ve used. Unless you’re looking for a fairly light or natural coverage I wouldn’t personally use this as a foundation although lately I have been as my skin’s been quite bad lately so I don’t want to cake it with multiple layers of makeup. I don’t mind that this is a normal squeeze tube but it leaks, BIG TIME. Every time I take the lid off there’s product everywhere….GOSH you need to work on the design as this is a massive waste. I got the shade Sand (the lightest shade available) and its almost too light for my skin although the second shade was darker unfortunately. It’s not a bad cream, fairly light coverage it does cling to dry patches though but my skin is so dry it’s almost impossible for me to find anything that doesn’t. Aside from the bottle design I don’t have anything bad to say about this product. It’s light good for days you want something not too heavy and stays put. I don’t think it does any more than other BB creams I’ve tried though.

Foundation Review : Maybelline Fit Me Foundation Stick

Hey everyone, bear with me for the next week please as I’m in the process of moving out and my camera is in another town right now so I’m currently using my phone camera. Terrible, I know. And apologies as the outside of my makeup bag is quite dirty.



What Maybelline has to say “Creamy gel foundation transforms to a matte powder finish. Ultra-lightweight powders in the anti-shine core instantly dissolve excess oil.”
At the time I purchased this I made the mistake of not reading the label. I am not a person who needs to dissolve excess oil, in fact I need the complete opposite. I got the shade 110 in porcelain, when first put on it’s nothing special but it does the job. Note that this foundation must be blended in with your fingers. HOWEVER I have extremely dry skin so to no surprise in about a couple hours this foundation was left clinging to the dry patches I looked blotchy and it made my face dry out even worse. When people say you look like a “hot mess” I didn’t even look good I looked like I had a skin disease, this was on fault of my own for buying a foundation meant for oily skin but hey! So give it a go if you have oily skin as I’ve read many other reviews of people who loved it but ladies who suffer with dry skin like me, stay clear!

B L A C K L A C E

ruebri

Hey guys, back with yet another nail polish review this time it’s Sephora’s black lace. It doesn’t look like the best nail polish because I fell asleep before it dried. Oops! This is my favorite of the other three I tried it has lasted the longest without chipping and only requires ONE coat for a perfect color pay off. What more could you ask for? I only have a sample size of this polish but would definitely purchase the full size.