Musings of a Muse

Count the Muse curious but she’s busy a wondering. Are Bare Escentuals a Yay or a Nay with you?

Jump ahead to find out if the Muse is feeling Yay or Nay about ‘em!

I imagine many would beg to differ with me and tell me how much cheaper online mineral etailers are and how much more variety I can get for less, etc…but honestly Bare Escentuals Glimmers are a big yay for me!

I have dozens and dozens of these little guys and I continue to buy more as they release shades. I can find them on E-bay for really good prices plus pigmentation is awesome and quality is fantastic. Yes, mineral etailers definately have competitive pricing and variety but I haven’t met a mineral yet that’s as good as a Bare Escentuals Glimmer.

Big Yay for me!

How about you?

Yay or Nay?

Tell the Muse!

Best get into your inbox and start looking for your Sephora Spring Catalog 2009 ladies! The Sephora High Voltage Spring Catalog for 2009 is winging it’s way to your mail box as I type this.

I was shocked to come across my catalog so early in the season but hey I’m not complaining I always get hyped over a Sephora Catalog no matter the time of the year.

Surprisingly it’s jammed packed full of plenty of new products. Why my surprise? Well, I guess the economy has convinced me that somehow variety wouldn’t be making an appearance but have no fear plenty of choices to be had in the new catalog.

This year alot of emphasis on bright neon nail shades with more subdued eyes and brighter lip looks. I found the combos interesting to say the least. Some may open the catalog and think the models wearing the neon colored wigs a tad on the ridiculous side but I was feeling all that neon for some reason. Guess we can chalk it all up to my need for something bright as the weather is bleak and the economy is just plain dark, I’m sure we can all use a tiny bit of color in our lives at the moment! As per Spring 2008 they went with alot of bolder, vibrant looks but mostly it seems to lean more heavily on pooping lip shades and really outrageous nail colors.

Pretty good selections to be had as well and plenty of new items that we have pretty much already heard about already anyway but it’s always nice to read the details, see the prices, and just drool over the pretty pictures. Few reruns are thrown in for good measure from last season but I can cope with that.

Quite a few new mascaras are mentioned such as Benefit Bad Gal Waterproof, a new version of Lorac Specla Effects Mascara, and of course Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash. I was delighted to see the new Smashbox Beauty Guru Palettes which I hadn’t heard of until reading the catalog, those are looking quite nice!

Overall, I guess it isn’t an overwhelming amount of BRAND new items but plenty of selection for sure. I’m normally one for ranting a blue streak about how much I’m hating the catalog but I was kinda hyped to see it in with my mail today.

Flip through Sephora Catalogs from the past:

Sephora Spring Catalog 2008
Sephora Holiday Catalog 2007
Sephora Fall Catalog 2007

Did you get yours?

What do you think?

Loves it?

Leaves it?

Tell the Muse!

You know how the Muse is always going on and on about Too Faced Mirror Mirror Lip Gloss? Well, for Spring 2009 we have Milani Buzz Worthy Lip Gloss which is actually an off the hook dupe of Too Faced Mirror Mirror plus it’s a fraction of the cost.

Dude…for serious you need some.

The buzz on Milani Buzz Worthy Lip Gloss is all good. Milani Buzz Worth Lip Gloss is currently available in 9 Shades at a cost of $5.49 USD per a tube (sometimes less if you score it on sale!). Enriched with honey but without the tacky, sticking feel these glosses are absolutely awesome. A mirror like finish and highly glossy lips await you for a nice budget friendly price tag.

I highly recommend snagging some of these and I’m Muse Approving ‘em for purchase as the price is right and the quality is definitely there.

I really loved Too Faced Mirror Mirror Gloss because of it’s incredibly glossy formula so when I tried these out I knew I could offer a wallet friendly option to my readers that wasn’t going to break the bank. The formula offers extraordinary high shine and a mirror-like finish to lips without stickiness or that irritating tacky feeling. It glides on beautifully and has a sheer to medium coverage depending on your color choice. The glosses are quite tasty and sweet plus they smell delicious, that’s always a plus in my book as I prefer a flavored gloss. The formula is paraben-free and contains plenty of good for you ingredients like vitamins A & E.

The applicator took a little getting used to as it’s extra long and distributes a bit too much product but after a bit of practice I was all for it as it works well at getting product onto lips and creating a full lip look with a nice high gloss finish. I tried the shades Bee Rich and Bee Mine both of which had different finishes. Bee Rich had more of a sheer glossy finish even though in the tube it’s a popping red where as Bee Mine had a good amount of pigment to create a nice glossy pink pout.

I seriously can’t rave enough about the quality on these and think they are well worth picking up. Considering that Too Faced Mirror Mirror Gloss is $16 USD plus only has six shades available I’d say that Milani Buzz Worthy Lip Gloss is a fabulous find offering more variety and a smaller price tag! Good stuff! The Muse likey. Alot.

Grab ‘em now at CVS or check out Milani for further information.

Anything that promises me the world is easily headed straight to the top of my priority list.

Take for example Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer, promises me the world and then some more.

The Muse is ever, always on the quest for thee best concealer on the market so of course when my eyes recently landed on Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer I was feeling quite hyped.

What’s this? A tattoo concealer? That sounds like some seriously pigmented stuff!

What is it?

A heavy duty, multitasking concealer with a moisturizing, creamy base for covering up bemishes, dark circles, tattoos, and other woes. Supposedly this is super pigmented and wears ultra long. It’s $25 USD so it has to do some of what it promises wouldn’t you agree?

I’m thinking if it can cover up tattoos it shouldn’t have a problem with a few nasty dark circles. Yes, indeed I needs this right away, on the double please, I’ll take a case.

Contrary to whispered rumors that the Kat Von D Collection is a revamped, repackaging version of the Sephora Makeup Collection the Muse can verify that she’s tried a few bits and bobs from the line and quality is brilliant so of course I’m putting my full faith into Miss Von D with this concealer.

It’s on order now and review will be upcoming soon!

Get it now at Sephora!

Whatcha think?

Gotta work right?

Tell the Muse!

Yes, well, I have a ton of things to do today as it’s a super busy time of the year at my offices but I’ve been sucked into the procrastination vortex when I visited Rimmel London’s website this morning and started playing around with the new Rimmel London Virtual Makeover Tool.

I didn’t have a photo sans makeup aside from the one I uploaded last night with my Yes to Tomatoes review so I ended up using that one and although I’m looking mighty ridiculous I couldn’t help but enjoy my visit with Rimmel London Virtual Makeover Tool.

It’s kinda cool! Likey!

The site allows you to upload your photo (or use a model’s photo that’s provided by Rimmel) and use it to try out virtually all the products in the Rimmel London library from glosses, to blushes, and beyond! Granted I looked a bit ridiculous with Rimmel London Sexy Curves Mascara on (can you say exaggerated lashes?) but I was still loving trying on the glosses and blushes! Coolness!

Need some help procrastinating today?

Check it out at www.rimmellondon.com

Tell me whatcha think!

I’m wasting away the better part of 20 minutes with this today!

Oooooo I do believe I spy with my little eye something new from Bourjois Paris!

I was excited to see that Bourjois Paris has updated the master portal of it’s website with a new page! Aside from the French portal nothing else has much changed upon clicking through all the country portals but it doesn’t leave me without hope that maybe, just maybe, we’ll finally see some sort of update on the US portal!

Please Bourjois? Pretty please.

I’m not really counting on it with the economy the way it is but it sure would be delightful to hear about some new tid bit or another. Or even a page change from the Bourjois Paris Clubbing selection that’s been up on the US portal for over a year now.

Le sigh!

The French portal has completely updated the look and feel of their site so I’m hopeful these changes will relay back to the other country portals, of course, in particular, the US one!

Here’s to hoping! I long for some small bone from Bourjois Paris US! Your fans are out here, the Muse happens to be one!

Missing Bourjois Paris?

Tell the Muse!

Going into Ben Nye virtually blind folded about the line is truly a stupid idea. Take for example that the Muse recently purchased Ben Nye Red Neutralizer to use as a concealer….

Tis virtually white what the heck was I going to do with it?

Read ahead to find out if it was a trash or a stash.

Ben Nye Red Neutralizer is specially designed to conceal intense redness due to bruising, acne, broken capillaries, etc….so of course it was a rather a silly idea to purchase it for use as an under eye concealer.

I unintentionally purchased this off of E-bay after hearing the wonders of Ben Nye products as a concealer. Little did I know that the concealer was used for treating redness not dark circles. Considering the E-bay description was completely wrong describing the product I ended up with a white base that’s almost gray in color which was definitely not something which would turn out useful as an under eye concealer.

Turns out it actually kinda sorta works.

The E-bay seller said that this particular shade could be used to brighten the eye area and could be used as a base prior to foundation for brightening the face and concealing problem skin. Considering I don’t have a problem with my skin aside from icky puffy, dark circled eyes I wasn’t looking to conceal much but turns out that the product works quite well at brightening up my completion when I use a very tiny dab!

The product is nice and creamy plus has a nice rich pigmentation. It smooths under eyes fairly well to brighten the eye area up. I took note that it kinda sorta works like the white powder that comes with the Bobbi Brown Concealer Palette or the mineral finishing powder in the Laura Mercier Camouflage Pot.

Interestingly enough I thought the product worked as a great prep prior to applying concealer or foundation. Remember though a simply dab will do otherwise you’ll be ghastly white looking if you go overboard. I use a tiny amount under my eyes followed up with my own concealer and it seems to do well at covering up my puffy eyes and my dark circles. A little dab around the sides of my chin and under my upper lip brightens my face up and hides any dull, darker areas on my skin. Follow up with foundation where ever you apply so the finish is more natural.

The product is slightly drying under my eyes so I have to be sure to prep and prime well prior to use as although it has a nice formula that’s soft and silky, it still manages to feel a tad on the drying side.

Although the product is meant to neutralize red I made as much use of it as possible for a few other things and I think I’ll consider purchasing it again should I run out as I’m starting to like it more than my normal skin whitening routine! I only paid $8 USD so of course I’ll be going back to try out a better shade for use under my eyes as I’m positive I’ll be able to find a more suitable color to use.

Have you tried Ben Nye concealers?

Loves it?

Leaves it?

Tell the Muse!

I’m probably thee worst person in the world to review a product like Yes To Tomatoes Total Treatment Facial Mask as it’s a pore refining mask. Much hate goes to the Muse when I say I don’t have a problem with pores! Grrr! I wish I did so I could experience all the woe that goes along with having large pores but I just don’t have this problem so reviewing this mask was difficult to say the least.

But jump ahead anyway to see what I thought!

Yes To Tomatoes is in the family of Yes to Carrots and Yes To Cucumbers…these people sure do say yes to alot of veggies! Yes to Tomatoes like all the “Yes To” line is a line of products that contain 99.6% of natural ingredients! Sweet right? Who can’t get excited about organic beauty that’s as hard core as 99.6%!

The Yes to Tomatoes Total Treatment Facial Mask is a mask meant for Oily/Combination Skin types to purify and refine pores. The Muse wasn’t in need of any refining at the moment but she could use a bit of purifying so away she went and slathered on some of this fresh scented gray mud mask.

As mentioned above the Yes to Tomatoes Total Treatment Facial Mask contains 99.6% Natural Ingredients such as tomatoes, watermelon, avocado, and dead sea minerals plus it’s paraben free. The mask is meant to refine pores and purify while absorbing sebum build up to keep pores clean and free. It contains 26 different minerals and mud from the dead sea to exfoliate your skin to a squeaky shine-free appearance.

Whoa….this is a bad idea as my skin is currently dry as the Sahara Desert…putting anything on my face that could make it drier could present some serious problems…but we shall see!

The treatment contains anti-oxidant lycopene from organic tomatoes to brighten, refine, and purify the skin. I’m getting hyper just typing this! The avocado in the formula improves the skin’s moisture retention, hey good news as I can use all the moisture I can get at the moment!

After slathering on a thin layer of the mask on my face I waited for 5 minutes and proceeded to rinse off with a wash cloth and a bit of cold water. The formula of the mask isn’t much different from any mud mask you may have tried before aside from the fact that it feels rather cooling during the initial application and it doesn’t dry down to a cracking mess but more of a soft gooey finish. I hate the dry, tight, cracked feeling of mud and clay masks so this felt rather nice on the entire time I was wearing it. The scent is a pleasant fresh scent which I associate with many of the products from the Yes to Carrots Collection. I’m always shocked that these products contain so many fruit and veggie ingredients but fell to smell as such…I was expecting some sort of watermelon scent…but ado..it’s merely a very fresh almost floral smell.

The product does have a shelf date of a little over a year so you do have to be sure to use all of it within that time or it’ll go bad. I’ve been storing the mask treatment in my mini fridge with my other Lush products to keep it nice and fresh!

After rinsing the mask off I was a tad worried my skin would be dry as most masks, excluding Lush Fresh Masks, leave my face rather dry and tight. So actually, after very little debate with myself, I have to say I like the mask. I can’t really say whether it’s “refined my pores” and I can’t honestly say if it “purified” them either but I can’t deny my face was looking fresh, healthy, and had a nice tint of pink after use.

I experienced no dryness, thank god, and no tightness after use. Funny as the box says “Splash with cool water, pat dry, and take a deep breath, “Yes that’s really your reflection in the mirror!” I kinda sorta have to agree. Looking at my skin after use I couldn’t deny that fact that I glowed a little bit. I love the look of clean, healthy skin and indeed after using this I experienced just that. One minor rant was the fact that using warm water to rinse is so NOT a good idea. I’ve no idea why but when I tried rinsing with warmer water it caused an unpleasant tingling on my skin so I did as the box suggested and stuck with cool water. Aside from that my experience with the mask was an overall Yay!

Yes to Tomatoes Total Treatment Facial Mask is only $14.99 USD so I figure it can’t break my bank to indulge in a second pot when my first one is through. If you’re looking for a nice budget mask that makes your skin look…good…healthy…this would be a great start!

I liked this one. Not bad at all!

Yes, well there are no humiliating pictures of the Muse wearing the mask but here are some of me after rinsing off the mask and I must say my skin is looking rather nice! Be kindly and disregard the fact that my face is devoid of all makeup including concealer…oy vey….!

Goofy faced and all wet!

You can purchase Yes to Tomatoes products at Walgreens, Target, Amazon.com, and more….check out the Yes to Carrots website for further information about the entire Yes to Tomatoes line by visiting www.yes-to-carrots.com

Have you tried any “Yes To” products?

Which ones?

How about this mask?

Tell the Muse!

I’m such a makeup geek so I’m of course loving this Musing!

So spill it…just single shadows….How many MAC shadows do you have in your stash?

Find out my answer after the jump!

Just counting my singles, not my doubles or my palettes, I was surprised to learn I don’t have nearly as many MAC single eye shadows as I thought I did!

Grand total:

Remember my lemming for the Marcelle Concealer Palette? Well I decided to act on that lemming and purchased the Marcelle Concealer Palette after very little debate.

Overall, I actually really loved it aside from one or two rantings!

Read ahead to find out what I loved and what I didn’t!

Marcelle is a Canadian based beauty brand that has an array of affordable cosmetics available within Canada. Actually, “affordable” is the key word of the day. At $15.95 USD the Marcelle Concealer Palette isn’t exactly affordable in the Muse’s humble opinion. Affordable for Canadians yes but affordable in terms of USD? No. Taking into consideration many high end cosmetic brands within the US have a price range of $15 USD to around $25 USD (some higher of course) for a concealer this isn’t really a cheap product. Taking CDN (Canadian Dollar) into consideration than yes indeed this would be cheap. The product is a bit too small to be considered a beauty budget purchase in my opinion as it contains very little product for nearly $16 plus the cost of airmail to have it shipped over makes it equally costly (Marcelle is exclusive to Canada and is not available for purchase within the US). Aside from my rant on the cost I must say it’s a decent product overall.

The palette contains four shades of concealer in a slim circle compact with a tiny brush for application. Indeed, some may rant that the brush is too small to do anything but I quite liked the brush as it fits quite nicely under my eye, applies and blends the concealer nicely, and fits snugly back into the compact with little fanfare. The concealer shades all work well on me aside from one shade that’s a bit darker but that’s why I have three other shades…just mix a bit of the dark with the light and it’ll work fine! Colors range from a pale light beige, to a darker beige, a yellow corrector with hints of beige, and medium set beige. You can use colors individually or mix them up to create the perfect shade that’s suitable for your dark circles. I simply mix the lighter and medium shade and apply it on top of the yellow corrector. The yellow corrector erases my dark circles and the two beige shades brighten the eye area up.

The formula of the concealer is nice creamy base that dries to a powder finish. It doesn’t have amazing pigmentation but it’s enough to cover up many of my under eye problems such as dark circles, puffiness, fine lines, and tiredness. I found that the formula was a tiny bit drying since it dries to a powder finish but it’s nothing too bad and my eyes seemed to like the product overall considering it didn’t crease, fade, or cake up.

I probably wouldn’t purchase the product again solely due to it’s price tag as I can find much better at around the same price range. However, I do think it’s not too bad a product and well worth picking up if you have easy access. Remembering that MAC and many other cheaper brands that we take for granted in the US are quite costly within Canada I do think that the Marcelle Concealer Palette is a nice budget friendly option for those who are within Canada. If it was a tad bit cheaper I’d probably pick it up again.

Have you tried Marcelle?

Which are some of your fav products?

Loving this concealer palette?

Tell the Muse!

The Muse is a fond fan of her Benefit Lemon Aid so when she seen Neutrogena Skin Soothing Eye Tints she thought that here was a rather decently priced substitute!

Neutrogena Eye Tints promise to brighten up the eye area just like Benefit Lemon Aid but at a mere fraction of the cost plus had the added benefits of multitasking as a primer and having a cooling sensation to calm puffy eyes.

Will it replace my beloved Benefit Lemon Aid? Find out after the jump!

One of the first things that kinda puzzled me about Neutrogena Eye Tints was the entire cooling sensation epidemic. I didn’t get it at all. My eyes do become puffy but that’s under my eyes not on my lid area….does anyone get puffy eyes around the lid area? Unless you’re having some serious allergies or cried yourself silly I doubt you have problems with this. This promises a lasting cooling sensation for puffy, tired eyes! And guess what? It does delivery a cooling sensation. But completely pointless for me…cooling would be fabs UNDER my eye not over it. Sadly, I actually found that the cooling sensation or whatever active ingredient is doing all that cooling created an irritating feeling for me. I’m unsure if I was having a reaction or what but it made my eye feel very strange and after I washed it off it still felt weird. I experienced a bit of blurriness as well but I’m chalking that up to maybe my eye makeup remover? But either way I thought the cooling was absolutely annoying as hell. The best way to describe it would be as if I had placed some dry ice on my eye lid or something. Fair warning for those with sensitive eyes!

Now this is available in two shade selections only which are a flesh colored honey shade and a pale pink shade entitled Petal Shimmer, this is the one I got. The product comes housed in a small glass jar a la MAC Paint Pots. The product has what some may call a “fresh floral” scent however for me it smelled like cheap cosmetics. It’s a creamy shimmer which I consider more of a shadow rather than a base or a brightener. I dunno if it’s my skin tone but I experienced no brightening of my eye area at least not the results I’d see using Benefit Lemon Aid which brightens my eye area up considerably. This simply looks like I’m wearing a pale pink shimmering cream shadow which in fact, is what the product is but just advertised as something more which, in fact, it’s not.

Well that’s two things it doesn’t do so far. No brightening and no soothing my puffy eyes.

Finally it promises to act as a primer for my eye shadow and prevent creasing and fading. Ummm ya….not so much. Mostly it makes applying my shadow more difficult since it pills as I blend my shadow. After the drama of finally getting my shadow on all straight I set out to begin my day and waited out the promise of crease-free shadow! Within 2 hours my shadow began to fall apart, literally. It pilled, it creased, and it just created a whole lot of drama. Not fun.

Three uses, one product. Neutrogena Eye Tints promises three products in one little pot.

Soothes puffy eyes? Fail.
Brightens the eye area? Fail.
Prevents creasing and fading? Fail.

Sadly, it delivers on none of the promise it makes. I’m quite happy that I paid a sale price of $3.98 USD for this as if I’d paid the retail of nearly $9 USD I’d be crying right now at the unjustness of it all. Aside from acting as a very pretty pale pink cream shadow with a hint of shimmer (which I can’t even use it as since it irritates my eye with the “cooling sensation) this pretty much does nothing it claims, so not worth it in this Muse’s opinion.

Give the Muse the deets!

Have you tried Neutrogena Eye Tints?

Love ‘em? or Leave ‘em?