Skincare Rx Giveaway!

Since summer officially started a few days ago, being sun smart seems to be more important than ever. Skincare Rx, who specializes in various skincare products including the renowned sunscreen line La Roche Posay Anthelios, is generously sponsoring a $75 gift certificate giveaway for you readers!

This gift certificate will be valid at SkinCareRx.com, Apothica.com, and SkinBotanica.com.

How to enter:

1. One entry for becoming a fan of SkinCareRx on Facebook
2. One entry for following SkinCareRx on Twitter.
3. Two entries to tweet about this giveaway as follows: "Visit @watercoloursky's blog at www.watercoloursky.blogspot.com to win a $75 gift certificate sponsored by @Skincarerx1 "
4. Three entries to signup for the newsletter at Skincare Rx
5. Ten entries for a blog post about this giveaway--*Must have a minimum of 100 words, include a link to this giveaway, and a link to "La Roche-Posay Anthelios" in your post. "La Roche-Posay Anthelios" must be linked to http://skincarerx.com/la-roche-posay-anthelios.html.


What happens after:

Giveaway ends in 2 weeks, Wednesday July 14, 2010, and is open internationally. Winner will be picked randomly. I will NOT be emailing the winner as they should be a regular reader of my blog. Instead I will announce the winner within 1 week, after which the winner gets 1 more week to email me with their details or another winner will be chosen.


Where do I start?

For me to count your entries, simply fill in the Google Doc form below. No need to leave comments this time so all info is private :) Good luck!

MAC Cleanse Off Oil / Tranquil

This is an Asia exclusive product. It was available in the US last fall through the MAC Upstarts collection as a sample, but I don't see it on the MAC site so it probably isn't there anymore.



As you can see, the Cleanse Off Oil / Tranquil is packaged in a clear green bottle, different from the normal Cleanse Off Oil which comes in a clear bottle.

How to use

If you already know how to use cleansing oils these are no different. Basically, the cleansing oil is meant to be massaged onto your face dry, to dissolve your makeup. After that you should dampen your hands with water and massage your face again - the water and oil will emulsify and turn cloudy, while removing makeup at the same time. Finally rinse off with lukewarm water.

Thoughts on the performance

I can't seem to find the Tranquil oil on the MAC website, even the Asian sites, so I am not 100% sure if it is targeted at different skintypes than the regular oil.

In terms of makeup removal, the Tranquil is similar to the regular oil in that it removes most face makeup easily and quickly. It gets a bit hard to remove eyeliner that is closer to the lashline, since I don't like getting oil in my eyes but that is the same as all cleansing oils I've used.

After cleansing, both feel quite clean without any annoying residue on the face. However, I feel that the Tranquil version may be slightly gentler on my skin. I love both versions, but find the Tranquil feels like it leaves a bit more moisture in my skin compared with the regular oil.

They are both fairly odorless, but the Tranquil version has a slightly different smell - it seems to have a more bitter citrus smell than the regular oil. This is probably due to the slightly different essential oils in each product.

Tranquil Oil info & ingredients



The main oil components of the Tranquil oil appears to be sunflower and olive oil, while the regular oil is mainly olive and jojoba oil.

The regular Cleanse Off Oil ingredients list

Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, PEG-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate, Squalane, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Germ Oil, Tocopherol, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Oil, Citrus Aurantium Amara (Bitter Orange) Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil, Water / Aqua / Eau, Rosa Canina (Rose) Fruit Oil, Limonene.

Price

Both the regular Cleanse Off oil and Tranquil retail for approximately CA $30 per 150 mL, taking into account currency conversions.

Overall

Both oils are quite effective at makeup removal, and are priced in line with, or slightly cheaper than other popular cleansing oils such as DHC and Fancl. The Tranquil version is slightly harder to get, but may be worth a try if you find the regular Cleanse Off Oil to be a little drying.

Marcelle Hydra C Cleanser + Moisturizer

I received the Marcelle Hydra C cleanser and lotion a while back to test. The Hydra C line, according to Marcelle, is "enriched with a unique vitamin C & E complex that revitalizes the skin, bringing back its radiance and vitality."

The products are also notably hypoallergenic and perfume free, which I like!

Hydra C Gentle Self Foaming Cleanser



Packaging
The cleanser comes with a self foaming pump, and is packaged in a sturdy eye catching orange bottle. However the packaging may have been changed lately as the product on the website has a lighter colour.

Performance
I always use a cleansing oil before face wash, so I couldn't review the makeup removing properties. As a face wash though the foam cleanses well. It is supposed to suit all skintypes, but I felt that it was a little drying if used twice daily. I switched to using it once a day, in warmer weather and it was ok then.

Ingredients


Price
CA $13.50 for 5.5 FL OZ / 165 mL

Overall
Convenient everyday face wash, but best suited for oily skintypes.



Hydra C Complex Hydrating Fluid 24 Hr with Vitamins C & E



Packaging
Comes in a hygenic pump bottle, which is clear so you can easily track the usage.

Performance
The lotion dispenses as a lightweight pale orange lotion.



I found the lotion to be hydrating and light at the same time. However, what I didn't like was that it left my skin feeling a bit oily and looking shiny. Also this lotion does contain some silicones, which some people might choose to avoid.

Ingredients


Price
CA $22.95 for 1.6 FL OZ / 50 mL

Overall
It has a great lightweight texture, but unlike the cleanser, this lotion seems best suited for dry to normal skintypes.

Fruit Frappes from Upper Canada

The new Fruit Frappe line from Upper Canada was introduced in April, featuring various bodycare products formulated with antioxidant ingredients:

Foaming Shower Gel
Luminescent Hand & Body Cream
Dry Oil Body Spray
Exfoliating Shower Gel
Body Gel Spritz
Bath Fizzies
Lip Gloss

All of these products come in 5 fragrances:
Passionfruit with Noni
Grapefruit with Gooseberry
Apricot with Kiwi
Pear with Mangosteen
Watermelon with Acai Berry

I got the chance to try their Dry Oil Body Spray, and the Body Gel Spritz.


The Dry Oil Body Spray I received is the Pear with Mangosteen version, which smells heavenly! The product is a dual phase oil that has to be shaken up to emulsify, before spraying on your skin to moisturize.





I found the spray to be a little too concentrated in one spot. As a result I found I had to use more to cover more areas. It smells exactly like what I expected, fruity but not too sweet.

The oil seems to work best on damp skin. With dry skin I had to use more sprays, and it still had some trouble moisturizing my skin sufficiently. Definitely a light moisturization product for summer, rather than winter.

Overall, I don't think the dry oil concept really worked for me, but I really enjoyed the scent and would have loved it in another product, such as a fragrance spray.


The Body Gel Spritz I received was the Grapefruit with Gooseberry version. This is a body spray in gel form, supposed to freshen up both body and hair.




The smell is on the fruity but sweet side. The spray bottle has a lock to prevent any accidental spraying, so it would be great for stashing in your gym bag or purse whenever you need to freshen up.

The only downside I found was that the scent didn't last long. I would spray what I deemed a normal amount for a fragrance, and the smell faded within an hour or two. Perhaps I should be using more, but I wouldn't want to smell too strong initially, especially with a sweet scent like this. Taking this into consideration, a less sweet scent would be best suited for this product - perhaps one of the other variations like Pear and Mangosteen.

Overall I think the product concept and design is good, except that the staying power of the product needs to be worked on.

Guerlain Parure Extreme & Dior 649 Ready to Glow

About 2-3 weeks ago, the local drugstore chain here, Shoppers Drug Mart had another of their bonus redemption weekends. I took the opportunity to redeem my store points since the bonus was an extra $50 in addition to the $150 worth of points I had.

In fact, this weekend is another bonus redemption weekend - perhaps the last chance to redeem points before changes to the point values take place in July.

Anyway since I don't really need more colour makeup, I did some research, and decided to focus on foundations since I don't have a good summer foundation. I settled on the Guerlain Parure Extreme, and Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Powder foundation. I also decided to try a Dior quint for the first time. (The rest of the redemption was made up of just non-makeup items.)



Guerlain Parure Extreme in 02 Beige Clair. This is the lightest shade available here(I think they might have a lighter one in Asia), but I find it a shade too dark for me right now :(




Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup SPF 10. I haven't opened this because I am still trying to decide if it is worthwhile keeping...should I? I have 1 more week to exchange it...any opinions on this foundation?




Dior palette in 649 Ready to Glow, Summer 2010 collection. My first Dior quint! I've used Dior Detective Chic palettes before, but their texture is quite different from their iridescent quints.






The colours are very glowy, and quite suitable for daytime wear at the office. I like that there is a cool grey shade and a warmer brown shade that allows you to darken the colour for a more intense look, just in case you are going somewhere right after work.




Here you can see the Guerlain Beige Clair shade is a tad darker than my neck :S I tried dusting some Guerlain Mythic meteorites on top but it doesn't help to lighten the look very much.

I do like the finish of the Parure Extreme though, it controls oil nicely, and seemed to last longer than other foundations. Not to mention the scent is light and pleasant, quite different from the sweet rose scent Guerlain uses in their powder products.




The colours in the Dior 649 quint are quite iridescent all right, you can see how glowy my eyelids are! The only drawback to the light colours is that the pigmentation isn't intense, so they look similar from far.



Funnily enough, despite the mismatched foundation colour I received some compliments on my skin the day I used it, but perhaps it was because I was indoors where the difference between my face and neck wasn't quite as apparent. I think I may still keep the Parure Extreme because of its wear and finish, but find ways to match up my neck skintone instead...


What I used

Guerlain Parure Extreme Foundation 02 Beige Clair
Guerlain Meteorites Mythic
Cargo Blu-ray concealer 01

Etude House Cheek Stamp Blush in Happy Peach
Marcelle Lux Gloss in Muse

Urban Decay Primer Potion
Dior 5 Color Iridescent Quint in 649 Ready to Glow
ELF Pink Ice to highlight under brow
Mary Kay Ultimate mascara in Black

You Give Me Fever

...is the name of this pink hued gloss I received from Balmshell to try :)



Balmshell glosses, have a unique packaging style - the gloss on one end and a cute floating art keychain on the other side, that can be removed to be attached as a keychain. (Full details in my previous review of Darling You Look Fabulous.)




When swatched, the colour is a sheer medium pink. It runs neither cool nor warm so it would suit both cool and warm complexions.




Lip swatch. Note my lips are on the pigmented side so it would show up lighter on someone with lighter lip pigmentation.




The gloss is similar to the other Balmshell glosses I've reviewed previously. They all have a vanilla flavour, and a slightly sticky feel but not to the extent of MAC lipglasses.


And of course you need to check out the key chain portion of the gloss. This one has a pink slider that makes it look like the girl is getting the hots for the cute guy and starts blushing...






Anyway, if you haven't already you should check out Sephora's sale on the Balmshell glosses! 50% off, need I say more?

Johnson & Johnson's Face Powder SPF15

This face powder was probably one of the most requested items from my vacation haul for a review:



It comes in 3 versions: Translucent, Beige, and Pink. I picked Beige because from swatching at the store on my arm the translucent seemed to have a white cast. Pink was definitely out since my neck skintone is super yellow.

The compact is typical of most pressed powders, a slim plastic case with a mirror, and sponge (appears to be latex type material).



The colour Beige was perhaps just a touch darker than my NC20 skintone but as a finishing powder it worked fine. Probably not if it was a foundation. This shade would still work for someone up to NC30 at least.


Ingredients list



First, since this is a drugstore powder it does contain talc, as most cheaper powders do (for example Maybelline). I do like that it uses a physical sunscreen, zinc oxide, as the sunscreen ingredient for UVA and UVB protection, since zinc oxide is supposed to be more stable than some other chemical sunscreens. I wouldn't be depending on this for full protection, since it would be impossible to apply enough product to get the full SPF 15 protection. However, it is a nice way to touch up any foundation or tinted moisturizer that may have worn off, while adding some SPF as well.

The powder itself is ok. It isn't the most finely milled, but the texture is good enough to do what its supposed to - mattify and touch up skin. I have found it a bit cakey sometimes, especially in drier weather. However, on hotter days it seems to set my foundation just right, so I think this is best suited for oiler skins in temperate climates, or just more humid climates overall.

I found the included sponge to be quite bad. The sponge itself picks up too much product, and will definitely give a cakey look regardless of skin type. The sponge also picked up foundation OFF my skin, which defeated the purpose of touching up. Only when I changed the sponge out for a cotton puff did the powder work much better for me. If you do get this product, just toss that included sponge right out and get your own. It should fit most similar sized puffs that are sold at drugstores.

The powder has a fresh scent which is faint and not at all off putting for me. However if you are sensitive to scents you might want to be careful with testing this out first.


Pros
- mattifies well
- slim and portable
- contains some UVA/UVB protection
- inexpensive (approx US$4 converted)
- expendable; not something you'd cry over dropping it

Cons
- cakey for drier skins
- included sponge sucks unless you get your own
- hard to come by unless you are in Asia
- limited colour range


Overall
For the price, this compact performs well as a touch up powder, and is priced right for something you would have knocking around at the bottom of your bag. Unlike say a Guerlain compact, which I would shed tears over if there was a scratch...lol

Annabelle Glitterama Liquid Eyeliner

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the turquoise nails :) Should I do a tutorial? There are many tutorials out there already though...hmm

Anyway, I've been toying around with the Annabelle Glitterama Liner in Blue Comet lately:



The applicator is a fine tipped brush, easy to control.



Blue Comet consists of mostly blue sparkles with some multicoloured bits in a clear base.




It adds a really nice zing to finish off subtle looks or night looks. I do find the glitter a bit sparse compared with the Too Faced glitter liner:



However, it just means a bit more patience and a few more layers of this product to get the same intensity.


For this look, I used Vincent Longo eye souffle in Babelon as a base for the outer 1/2, before using the colours in the Lavshuca Eye Select Quad BU-1. Lined the lashline with a black pencil liner, before going over it with a coat of Annabelle Blue Comet glitter liner.








What's your take on glitter liners? Love, hate, or indifference? Personally I think they're an easy way to play up ordinary black liner, or to add sparkle to an otherwise boring look.


P.S. Maybe I should've done a Lights-inspired look. Blue Comet really reminds me of her music video for Saviour:




Added June 22:
See glitter is glamourous...listen to him @3:45 :D



(If you watched the whole vid, do you agree with him not smiling as a guide to applying blush? I personally don't do it...smiling doesn't help one bit, just confuses things for me)

Delicate turquoise

I did my nails last weekend. with the intention of making use of my Konad set.

First, used 2-3 coats of China Glaze For Audrey, followed by Seche Vite topcoat.




Then used OPI Golden Rules! with Konad m73 plate.











Not sure why, but the colour combined with the pattern reminded me of antique china...anyone else getting that vibe? Or does it remind you of something else?


What I used:



China Glaze For Audrey
OPI Golden Rules!
Konad m73 plate
Seche Vite top coat


Bonus: Topped with China Glaze Matte Magic topcoat!










So do you prefer the look shiny or matte? I really liked shiny at first, but after putting on Matte Magic and comparing the two pictures I think matte wins out slightly for me :)

We have a winner, again

Sorry it took me a while to go through the names for the 3rd giveaway in this series. I went through the usual steps of randomizing the names & assigning them numbers, then generating a random sequence to pick the winner:



(The list goes on up to #66 for 66 eligible entries but I could only screen capture part of it)



The winner is Rena - congrats! Please contact me within 1 week to claim your prize.

Thank you to all who entered :)