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Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection What You Need to Know

June 21, 2015 · Leave a Comment

REVIEW: Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection. The pros and cons

As soon as I heard about Urban Decay’s Mascara Resurrection, I was talking about it all the time. Urban Decay has developed some great lash cosmetics products. Was this one of them?

The Need for Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection

By the end of the day at work, my mascara tends to be dry and clumpy and I was really excited about a product that could, well, resurrect my mascara to it’s morning freshness.

I view this in the Apple Watch category of products: great concept, and hopefully will be improved in the future.

I picked it up as soon as it was released at Sephora and tried it out the next day after work.

While I spent the time in the morning to separate my lashes, they had clumped a bit by the end of the day. So I was pretty game to try Mascara Resurrection.

It’s a good product, but I found a couple of issues that keeps it from being a fantastic product.

What is Bad Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection

First issue is the wand. For mascara or lash treatment products, a curved wand is usually a good thing. With Mascara Resurrection, the product tends to cling to either end of the curve and does not catch in the middle of the curve.

While the product is described as a liquid, it is more of a glycerine-y gel (glycerin is the third ingredient). So instead of using the wand horizontally and catching the full lash fringe, I had to use the wand vertically. This is not very functional for the purpose, and the product ended up distributing in globs on my lashes instead of evenly.

What could make it better

When I tried it with straight disposable wand, it distributed evenly and did the job. So I hope Urban Decay includes a wand with a straight brush in the future to take advantage of the consistency of the formula.

My second issue really comes down to expectations.

I expected Mascara Resurrection to dissolve clumps with ease, but that is really the province of eye makeup remover, not a “freshen up” product.

While clumps do dissolve with some brushing. But they also get flakey if you aren’t thorough about removal. It didn’t refresh the mascara I had on. But rather it provided a clean, silky base for me to reapply mascara without having to take my eye makeup completely off.

So those are my issues with Mascara Resurrection. If you go in armed with said facts, you’ll have more appreciation for what is a good product.

Now that we’ve covered the bad, let’s move on to the good.

What is Good Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection

I like the fact that Mascara Resurrection allows me to brush out dried clumps and have a new base for mascara without disturbing my other eye makeup.

If my eyeliner and concealer are still looking good, I’d rather just freshen up my lashes without starting over.

TIP: Just make sure that you remove all the loosened mascara or else it will flake off onto your under eye.

It is also great to use to change the consistency of your mascara.

I never have been particularly fond of high-gloss mascaras. but Mascara Resurrection provides the right balance of “sparkle in your eye” shine without looking wet.

It also provides the right level of malleability to be able to safely recurl your lashes during the day, which is great.

Final Thoughts

We tend to only review products that really excite us on Style Chicks, so this might seem like a lot of negative for one of our reviews.

The thing is, though, this product still excites me since Urban Decay tends to improve their packaging etc over time.

So Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection is still a product I recommend – just make sure to get used to it before you bring it with you to a photo-op event, which as you know, is anywhere and everywhere these days.

Where to Find Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection

Find Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection at UrbanDecay.com for $16.00.

Urban Decay Mascara Resurrection

Product Review: Luminess Air X-Out

January 27, 2015 · Leave a Comment

At the end of the year I picked up a few items (well, maybe more than a few) at Luminess Air. One of them was new to me – Luminess Air X-Out, for under eyes. It’s not quite a concealer, it’s not quite an eye primer…let me explain.

X-Out is to be used with your Luminess Air airbrush around the eye. I picked the Light color, because let’s face it, I’m ridiculously pale. It is actually a peach color, which works well for the reason I’m about to mention.

Here is what I found interesting about X-Out: do you remember when YSL touchE Eclat made you look like you slept for 12 blissful hours, at which point you jumped out of bed full of energy (when in reality you were up until 3am for whatever reason)? Adding a drop of X-Out under Eclat gives the same super-bright eyed look. I am thrilled.

I found after a day in a very, very dry office that it got a bit dry, but nothing that a dab of moisturizer on a Beauty Blender couldn’t fix. As you see in the swatch below, it is a thin enough formulation that the moisture bleeds onto paper. Also, After about a week I went to open the bottle and the entire bottle ripped in half, which unfortunately has happened before on the large Luminess bottles I have used. I will probably pay a bit more and get the small bottles from now on to prevent it from happening again. I couldn’t retrieve much from the bottle, but I did experiment a bit with what I could retrieve, and mixed it with Hyaluronic Acid Serum(manually applied, not airbrush applied) and it stayed dewy all day.

Find Luminess Air X-Out at HSN.com.

On White Paper

Color Swatch (bottom) and blended (top)

Product Review: Fekkai Apple Cider Shampoo

January 27, 2015 · Leave a Comment

I have been using my old bottle of Fekkai Apple Cider Shampoo as a great hair clarifier. As I came to the end of my bottle, I picked up the new formulation in hopes that it worked as well. Here’s my thoughts on the new updated formulation of Fekkai Apple Cider Shampoo.

The Good:

It’s a solid shampoo that doesn’t overly strip hair. The pear scent is lovely (though I preferred the apple cider scent in the previous version.) In the rotation of shampoos I use, it is a decent shampoo that doesn’t do damage.

The Bad:

It no longer leaves my hair silky and frizz free. In fact, it leaves a bit of a reside that, in my mind, disqualifies it as a clarifying shampoo. Lyn mentioned to me that she had to lather twice, and even then it didn’t give the results that the old formulation did.

Now, I will allow the proviso that the old formulation left hair squeaky clean, which can be bad for hair in the long term. However, whenever I needed to get rid of serious product buildup, it got the job done without leaving my hair dry. This won’t be my “get the buildup” shampoo now, unfortunately.

So what’s the alternative?

If you adored the old formulation, try using actual Apple Cider Vinegar when you need to clarify. Some people say to dilute it with water, some say to mix it with conditioner, I just use it straight when I wash my hair and end up with shiny, bouncy waves after. I definitely preferred the old formulation to this, but it is a decent replacement.

Now as a word of caution: I don’t color my hair, and straight Apple Cider Vinegar will likely make your hair color fade faster if you use it on a regular basis. But Lyn uses it occasionally and it does not adversely affect color.

So all in all, the new Frederic Fekkai Apple Cider Shampoo is a good shampoo that I will likely buy again, and it is great that I can pick up a shampoo at CVS that doesn’t completely dry out my hair, but if you were devoted to the old formulation, it doesn’t match the wonderful clarifying results of the old formulation.

Find Frederic Fekkai Apple Cider Shampoo at drugstore.com or wherever the Fekkai range is sold.

Miracle Skin Transformer Vanish Instant Imperfection Corrector What to Know

May 22, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Miracle Skin Transformer Vanish Instant Imperfection Corrector touts “treatment benefits of a serum with the optical diffusers of a primer”.

What I Love

What I like about Miracle Skin Transformer Vanish Instant Imperfection Corrector is probably not quite its “traditional” use, but it sure works for me.

I prefer a diffusing primer to a foundation on my face, I never seem to get a good color match for my skintone. But since my dark circles are a very dark, bluish undertone to them and they really stick out with my very fair skin. I am also dark on my upper lids, so eyeshadow primers such as Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer just don’t give me enough opacity for a shadow base, I need some coverage so my shadow colors are true. However, I really dislike how cakey my eyeshadows look when I use foundation on my lids. I was surprised to see vanish Instant Imperfection Corrector addressed BOTH of these problems for me.

First, my shadow really STUCK far more than it does with any eyeshadow primer I use, and it did not get all creasy and looks FRESH hours later. The Instant Imperfection Corrector feels a little tacky after application, which was great to “lock” my eyeshadow and keep it looking fresh. I was surprised my eye looked as bright since the product is clear, yet instill managed to counteract the darkness of my upper eye area.

Second is my undereye dark circles. Normally I do a light moisturizer, wait for it to absorb, then a base, then re-apply Yves Saint Laurent Eclat throughout the day for some brightening around my eye. I am not crazy about how it fills into my lines and at some point in the day I usually give up or start all over.

But a little Miracle Skin transformer on my undereye area, I just used my trusty YSL Eclat and it did the trick! I need to use enough concealer that on close inspection it did not look like naked skin, but it did not crease in my lines. VERY NICE! I am excited to give this a try on a long day at work and see how the shadow holds up and if I need repeated concealer touchups during the day.

I can’t speak to the treatment benefits after one use, but there is a boatload of powerhouse ingredients in this: Vitamin C, ergothionene (antioxidant), lupine (brightener), Perennial plants, sesame, and grapefruit.

MY “CONS”

Some might find this a little sticky/tacky after application, I found that this dissipated as it dried down. If it really bothers you a light powder did the trick for me. It also made my powder contour/blush stick on well and look freshly applied.

I will give an update in a few weeks to see if I consider there to be benefits as a serum treatment as well. Stay tuned!

Where to Buy It

Miracle Skin Transformer Vanish Instant Imperfection Corrector, $58 for one ounce available at Ulta and Nordstrom.

Disclosure: We received a sample for review.

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