cynthia lions: January 2014

Monday, January 27, 2014

New Year New Wishlist!

I haven't put together a wishlist in awhile so I thought I'd share with you what beauty products I have been saving in my shopping carts all across the internet...

1. Kevyn Aucoin The Sculpting Powder in Medium
I've noticed recently it takes quite a bit of product on my current contour powders to get any results because I'm naturally quite tan. I want to give the Sculpting Powder a test to see if it's a much better match for my skin tone.

2. Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Streak
I want to try the formula of these lipsticks because they look super buttery and creamy. It's suppose to have intense color payoff and really easy to apply. The shade Streak is a coral pink color that looks so beautiful and perfect for spring.

3. Clarins Instant Eye Makeup Remover
On days when I want to wear waterproof mascara I really need a good waterproof eye makeup remover and I just don't have any at the moment. I've heard excellent things about this one and I want test it out.

4. Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo
Every once in awhile you need a clarifying detox shampoo to give your hair a thorough deep clean of all the heavy hair products you slather on. I really want to try this shampoo so see if it's worth the hype and makes my hair less oily so I can rock better day 2 hair.

5. Dr. Bronners Magic Soap
I want to try this because I want a product that I will actually use to clean my makeup brushes. These have a million uses from being a body wash to your shampoo you can use this for anything you want to clean basically. I will be using this for my makeup brushes and I have a feeling I will be picking this up soon.

6. Kate Somerville Goat Milk Cream
I've seen a lot of bloggers mention this moisturizer and name really intrigues me. I also saw online that Freida Pinto likes this cream. A+

What's on your wishlist?

___

Friday, January 24, 2014

Kiko City Filter Primer

The most important step to your morning routine whether you wear makeup or not is sunscreen. If you're planning on leaving the house, then you better plan to wear sunscreen. And not all my foundations and almost none of my moisturizers have SPF. Kiko City Filter Sunscreen Primer is that middle step when the middle step is needed. I foresee this being a very important product come the summer months, but it is still important when I want to use my Nars Compact Foundation or my new Bourjois Happy Light Foundation that I will do a review soon. The primer is yellow just like the stripe of yellow on the lid. It's liquidy and smells really nice (major plus for sunscreen). AND it's SPF 50!!! It's got such a high SPF coverage and you don't look like an oily ball after applying it to your face. It's really affordable (although a little hard to find in the U.S.) but I would highly recommend this if you can get your hands on it.

Happy Friday! Wear sunscreen!

___

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Tea Tree Products

Tea tree in skincare products helps treat acne, eczema, and can also be an ingredient for shampoo and even deodorant. It helps kill bacteria, controls oil if you have blemish prone skin and is usually very affordable!

I have been loving the Tea Tree Water Toner from LUSH for the past few months. I use this morning and night and it feels very refreshing and clean when I use it. I don't mind the scent and I love that it packs very few but good ingredients. It contains antibacterial tea tree, juniperberry (great for controlling oily skin and acne prone skin) and grapefruit water.

I recently also began using the Tea Tree Blemish Fade Night Lotion from The Body Shop to help on nights when I feel breakouts are about to happen. I am not the biggest fan of the scent. At all. The only real problem I do have with this is the smell but that might not be the case with everyone. What drew me to this product was it's claim to help improve the appearance of blemish-damaged skin while you sleep so after I finish using this lotion up I will report back.

Hope everyone's having a good week!

___

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Green Fizz | Bourjois 1 Second Nail Polish

Maybe I'm hopeful for Spring or maybe I just like to wear green nail polish on my nails but lately I have found myself always picking up green/teal shades to wear. I picked up this nail polish when I was in Barcelona because you cannot get Bourjois nail polishes in the states... or so I thought. I recently just saw Drugstore.com is now selling Bourjois! And you can picked up Bourjois also on ASOS but ASOS does not sell nail polish internationally for some reason which really makes me sad because I want to try Barry M nail polishes!

Anyway, back to the nail polish - it's got a super wide wand which normally I wouldn't like because I feel like I don't have as good of control but the coverage is so thick and actually really easy to apply so I thought this was an excellent polish! I'm not sure if it dries as fast as it claims but I put Seche Vite top coat on top and I'm good to go.

I picked up a few more things from Bourjois while I'm there. Maybe I'll do a Bourjois makeup post so you can can see what I have from them!

___

Friday, January 17, 2014

January Birchbox

January's Birchbox was a little bit of a let down for me. I think I just wasn't that excited about the products this time.

I got the Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy fragrance which I have gotten before from somewhere else so that wasn't that exciting. I got the Inika Mineral Eyeshadow in Eternal Marine which is looks like a powdery silver muted teal shimmer. An interesting combo: The Nail Rock nail polish and Sequin pot is something I will be willing to try but I'm not that huge of a glitter/sequin nail polish person. The instructions say to use 2 coats of the nail polish, then dip your wet nails into the sequins and they're done after 20 minutes (that's a long time).

I also got the Burts Bees Dry Lotion which has a very clean smelling sage scent to it. I really haven't tried anything from Burts Bees other than their chapsticks and an exfoliator but I'm interested to see how this will work with my skin. Lastly, this is my second product from Beauty Protector that I have received from Birchbox. This is the Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle and I love leave in sprays for my hair so this will be good for travel.

I saw a few other January Birchboxes that looked way better than mine so I'm still a little disappointed. Fingers crossed for next month.

___

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

KIKO Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow

When I was in Barcelona I picked up a few KIKO Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows because Eyeshadow crayon/pencils are my favorite to apply. They are just no fuss and super easy to wear as an all over eyelid look. And that is my everyday go to look. KIKO is an Italian brand that we cannot pick up here in the states so I was super excited to see they had a store in Barcelona. I swatched a few shades and finally picked 04, 05 and 06. They are swatched above in that order.(I also picked up a few other things from them... might share later...) I have been wearing 05 and 06 the most since they are lighter and they really do stay on my eyelids all day and look great. I wear them on top of a mac paint pot because I just like priming the lids with something to reduce oil and create a base for my eyeshadows. I love the subtle shimmer and I highly recommend you go swatch these and pick up some if you can! The matte packaging of these eyeshadow sticks are great too!

Have you tried KIKO?

___

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Bright Eyes | Rohto Redness Relief Eye Drops

Highly recommended from beauty bloggers (especially from fashion models) I had to pick the Rohto Eye Drops because I tend to have red eyes from the dry weather and long hours in front of the computer. I originally picked this one up for my flight to Barcelona as well because I hate that dry eye feeling after I wake up from a nap (contact wearers I know you feel me). I love the packaging because the eye drop comes out of a very small opening so it's much easier to control when dropping them into your eye. And I wasn't expecting much about the "cooling" title written on the front but boy does this really give your eyes a wake up call. I love putting this in my eyes just to freshen up and feel more awake. It's a great refresher right around 4pm.

___

Monday, January 13, 2014

Empties #6

Another Month! Another Empties post!

I have recently finished a few products that I wanted to share with you! First, I finished the Whish Exfoliating Body Wash that I received in a Birchbox awhile back. It has a nice vanilla scent and was a nice overall body wash but I don't think I will repurchase this one. I like other scents better. Next I finished the Amore Pacific Rejuvenating Eye Treatment Gel which was very nice and light. This was very moisturizing and feels amazing but it's a bit too pricey for to run out and repurchase right away. I also finished the Benefit It's Potent! Eye Cream which I thought was alright. It's a good eye cream but nothing really stood out for me. I really like the packaging though! I also finished the Klorane Extra Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk. I love love dry shampoos and this was great to toss in my bag for any touchups when necessary.

I finished 2 lip products. I finished the EOS lip balm in Summer Fruit. Absolutely loved the scent and will want to try others. Also finished the Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie. This was a staple for me this Fall and I will probably go out and pick this up again too! I finally finished my NARS Laguna bronzer which I have had forever. This is seriously the best bronzer I have ever tried and I think I will always go back to this. Lastly I finished the sample of the famous Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish that is so raved about on beauty blogs and I did enjoy using this but I think the best part is the Hot Muslin Cloth. Using the cleanser on its own is just alright but I did enjoy trying this new product.

And that's it! Hope you have a good monday!

___

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

December Glossy Box

Glossybox Try #2 really surprised me! It's really good!

Inside I got the Naobay Oxygenating Cream Moisturizing which has essentials oils including rosehip oil and sweet almond oil to help skin balanced and fresh. This seems like a great moisturizer especially a good size for travel. Next I was so happy to receive this next product: the Michael Todd True Organics Pumpkin Mask because I've been wanting to try Michael Todd products for ages now. The pumpkin mask contains pumpkin enzyme and glycolic acid to help take off dead skin and clear pores. It's also good for wrinkles! I tested this mask last night and when I woke up this morning I was super impressed! It almost feels like you're putting pumpkin baby food on your face which is a bit strange, but obviously it's a much thinner consistency. It also tingled a little on the face and at first it stung a little but only lasted maybe for 2 minutes. I left it on for about 10 minutes and then washed it off and then did my normal night time skin routine. The next morning my skin looked so smooth and bright! I am super impressed with this mask so far and can't wait to see the results after a few more uses!

I also got the Ardency Inn Punker World's Baddest Eyeliner which is super compact and pretty cute. Its got a really dense fat felt like tip and is good if you're looking for some very dramatic eyes! I was SUPER excited about the Nails Inc nail polish in Victoria. I already own a few Nails Inc polishes so I was happy to add another one to the collection. This one is a perfect shade of deep rich burgendy. I love the brush and their polishes are incredibly shiny! Finally I got the Anatomicals You Need A Blooming Shower! This shower gel contains witch hazel which is an ingredient I'm very curious about. Overall this was a FANTASTIC glossybox!

Have you guys tried Glossybox?

___

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Rimmel Lipstick by Kate Moss in 107

I finally got my hands on the Rimmel Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick by Kate Moss in 107. For some reason none of the CVS and Duane Reade stores in NYC carry that shade. I found it at a beauty/convenience store next to Trader Joes in Chelsea. This is such a beautiful winter shade and I love the formula. It's easy to apply and I just put it on straight from the bullet. It's very pigmented and you really just need one coat. I wore it while I was in Barcelona and it's just a really nice pretty long lasting matte lipstick. There is something very chic and wintry about berry matte lipsticks. Just make sure your lips are well moisturized beforehand because matte lipsticks don't look good at all on chapped lips.

It's more red-berry colored than say MAC Rebel which is more deep purple berry. Although for a matte lipstick this one is definitely not as rough to apply. Some times matte lipsticks can really tug at your lips because they are so dry but this one is very easy to apply and I highly recommend checking out the Rimmel by Kate Moss lipsticks. She has glossy ones too!

Thanks for reading!

___