Week of Reviews Day 5: Equate Cocoa Butter Conditioning Body Lotion VS Vaseline Cocoa Butter Deep Conditioning Body Lotion

     As I have said before, I have super sensitive skin and cannot use lotions with any sort of fragrance in them. I use lotions with cocoa butter in them because (1) they smell good and don't irritate my skin and (2) cocoa butter helps prevent stretch marks and other skin conditions. The Vaseline lotion was the winner by far. I was very unimpressed with the Equate lotion. A 24.5oz bottle of the Equate lotion retails at $3.42 and a 32oz bottle of the Vaseline lotion retails around $6.64. Although the Vaseline lotion costs nearly twice as much as the Equate lotion, it is much better and definitely worth the money. Plus, the Vaseline bottle is also larger than the Equate lotion, so you are paying for a larger amount of a better quality lotion. I have loved every Vaseline lotion I have tried and I highly recommend them. The Equate version is just a cheaper alternative that simply isn't as good.

Week of Reviews Day 4: Certain Dri Anti-Perspirant

Certain Dri is an aluminum chloride deodorant for people who suffer from excessive perspiration. It comes in a both a roll-on and a solid form. I have tried both and the roll-on definitely works better than the solid, but both work much better than typical over the counter antiperspirants/deodorants. The solid is designed for those with sensitive skin to use instead of the roll-on. I have very sensitive skin and as long as I didn't apply it after shaving, the roll-on never irritated my skin. Certain Dri is an antiperspirant that you apply at night and lasts for up to 72 hours. For me, it doesn't stop my sweating, it just lessens it. It's affordable and costs about 40% less than other Clinical Strength deodorants/antiperspirants and it works much better.

 I do have to say that I prefer Drysol over Certain Dri because Drysol lasts MUCH longer than Certain Dri and Drysol is MUCH more effective than Certain Dri. Since Drysol is not an over the counter antiperspirant, Certain Dri is a good alternative and possibly cheaper (depending on how much your insurance covers Drysol). I would recommend Certain Dri but if you can get a prescription from your doctor for Drysol, get that instead! I get Certain Dri at WalMart for about $5. You can also get Certain Dri AM for morning application, but I haven't tried that so I'm not going to say any more about it. :)

Yes, I do realize that a post about antiperspirants isn't necessarily "charming". Oh well. :)

Week of Reviews Day 3: Garnier Fructis 3 Minute Undo Dryness Reversal Treatment

You know I love me some Garnier. I've loved almost every Garnier product I've tried and was super happy when I got this for free thanks to Garnier's glorious manufacturer's coupons that you can find on the shampoo & conditioner bottles.
Disclaimer: This is more of a first impressions than a review, but who cares?

The first thing I noticed was that it smelled amazing, as do most Garnier products.
Then I noticed that it was a thinner formula (for Garnier) and had little beads in it.

Let's just get to the point; this did not condition my hair! It made my hair really dry and tangly. I ended up putting my normal Garnier conditioner in my hair afterwards because my hair was really dry and tangled.

After I got out of the shower I went to see if other people had this problem. Turns out most people loved this product and swear by it but people have also had nearly identical experiences to mine. Seems to me that this product isn't for everyone. I personally wouldn't recommend it and I will never repurchase it, but hey- if you can get it for free like I did, go ahead and try it. Maybe you'll love it. Maybe.

Week of Reviews Day 2: Garnier Fructis Fall Fight Conditioner VS Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Condtioner

Don't get me wrong, these are both great conditioners, but they are very different. They both smell great and work well, but I think that the Fall Fight would be better for oily hair and the Triple Nutrition would be better for dry hair. I have a huge problem with my hair falling out, which I've talked about before on this blog, so I was really hoping I would love Fall Fight, and I did, but I still love Triple Nutrition more because my ends tend to get really dry and it really moisturizes them. As far as the Triple Nutrition in the green packaging as opposed to the yellow packaging, I do see a difference and I like the one in the yellow packaging much better than the one in the green packaging. 

Week of Reviews Day 1: Pond's Dry Skin Cream

Today I'm reviewing Pond's Dry Skin Cream, which I purchased because Clean & Clear no longer makes their Morning Glow moisturizer (which I am still super upset about) and this was the most affordable alternative. I found Pond's at Walgreen's on sale and ended up getting two 3.9oz creams for about $3!
My biggest concern was that this moisturizer was going to break me out because it didn't say "oil free" on it, but I trusted the packaging, which said it won't clog pores.
My first impression of the cream, which I use as my primary moisturizer in my morning and my under eye cream at night, was that it was very oily. It has occlusives and humectants in it, so I started to freak out when I saw how oily it was. Luckily, it was only oily-feeling for a couple minutes & then it just made my skin feel super soft. Also, it did not break me out and still hasn't after 3 week of using it religiously...and I have sensitive skin!
The only thing I do not like about this product is the packaging. I wish it had a pump! Other than that, this is a pretty great, affordable moisturizer/cream, especially if it's on sale!
I have both oily and dry skin and I absolutely love this stuff for my dry skin, but it doesn't make my oily patches any oilier than they already are. If you have dry skin or combination skin, I highly recommend trying Pond's Dry Skin Cream!

P.S. If you have any recommendations on great facial moisturizers with SPF in them that are under $10, please let me know! I'm going to Belize this summer and I need to find a good one since Clean & Clear doesn't make theirs anymore. I have tried Jergen's Natural Glow (or whatever it's called) and I liked that one, but I went through it so quickly! 

Week of Reviews

Hello there, ladies! I thought it would be fun to post a review every day this week....sooo there will be a new review posted at 7am PST every day this week :)

Affordable Pencil Eyeliners

I'm going to do a mini review on all the pencil eyeliners I have tried (don't worry, I'm somewhat new to the eyeliner world, so there aren't a ton)! I decided to do this post for girls who are still trying to find a great pencil eyeliner :)

1. Ulta Collection Gel Eyeliner Pencil: These were the first eyeliners I ever tried and I have them in the colors Peacock, Majesty, Black/Brown, and Black Out. At first I really loved them, but now that I have experimented with other pencil eyeliners and gel eyeliner, I think they're pretty dry compared to the eyeliner I mention for #5. Don't get me wrong, I still love them, but they are definitely not the best out there. I don't think I would ever repurchase the Black/Brown and Black Out ones, but I would definitely repurchase Peacock and Majesty (yes, I do love colored eyeliner). Peacock is such a fun color to wear in the summer and Majesty is a fun purple. They also come in many other beautiful colors! $8.00 each at Ulta
2. Bonne Bell Eye Define in Espresso: I really like this eyeliner and it was very affordable- it retails around $2.50. The color is easily the best brown color I have ever tried- it's a beautiful dark brown with hint of plum (don't get me wrong, this is not a purple eyeliner, it's definitely brown). It's very creamy and easy to apply, great for a beginner!
3. Maybelline Line Express Eyeliner in Ebony Black: I honestly didn't like this eyeliner. The color is great and it's easy to apply, but it kind of ends up looking waxy, like a crayon. I also didn't like the smudger; it's more like an eraser. $4.97 at WalMart
4. Ulta Collection Automatic Eyeliner in Raisin: This eyeliner was great at first, but it started drying out after about a month. The color is gorgeous- it's a very wearable plum color that is very subtle. It's a little harder to apply and hard to get a thin line. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the "automatic tip", especially for beginners. $8.00 at Ulta
5. Ulta Collection Design A Line 12 piece eyeliner collection: My grandma gave me this for my birthday and at first I thought I was never going to use it- there was 1 black and 1 brown and the rest were crazy colors (like gold and orange). I'm really sad that Ulta no longer sells this because they are my favorite eyeliners now! They're extremely creamy and go on very easily and look absolutely flawless. They are so creamy that sometimes I blend them out and use them as eyeshadow. By far the best pencil eyeliners I've tried. Plus, who else has awesome, festive eyeliners for almost every holiday? Yes, I am wearing green eyeliner on today. 

Rank (1=Best, 5=Worst)

1. Ulta Collection Design A Line

2. Bonne Bell Eye Define

3. Ulta Collection Gel Eyeliner Pencil

4. Ulta Collection Automatic Eyeliner

5. Maybelline Line Express Eyeliner

Review: CoverGirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation

CoverGirl's Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation is meant to be a primer, concealer, and foundation in just 1 simple step.

I wanted to purchase this foundation after hearing about it from Ingrid (missglamorazzi), who always mentions it in her videos....then I saw that it was nearly $10. My holy grail drugstore foundation (also by CoverGirl) is only about $5, so $10 didn't make this foundation very appealing. One day went to WalMart and they were out of my color (Creamy Natural) and any color close to it. I ended up purchasing Classic Ivory and planned to mix it with the foundation I use when I get a tan (CoverGirl Clean in Medium Light). 

CONs: Since I do mix it with a light coverage foundation, I do not get the full coverage results I would get if I used it alone. I have used it alone and it did give me great coverage, but I still needed to use concealer on some pimples. It can look patchy very easily and it doesn't look very natural like it claims to. I have also found that it's more difficult to set than other foundations I have tried. More than anything, the thing that disappointed me the most about this foundation is that it didn't last all day. I wear it from 5am-10pm (yes, I realize it's probably not meant to last that long) and there's very little left on my face by the end of the day when compared to the CoverGirl Clean foundation.

PROs: It mixes well with my other foundation and it does a great job at covering any redness I have and it doesn't break me out. I really like the packaging and the pump works well. I also like that it has SPF in it. For the most part, I do like how it looks and you can pretty much make it any finish you want, depending on what you use to apply it and what you use to set it. I personally like to apply it with a sponge and I did not like how it looked when I applied it with my Real Techniques Stippling Brush because it looked very cakey (btw- there will be a post about my Stipping Brush in the near future). 

Bottom Line: I would probably repurchase this in the right color, but I don't think it will ever be my go-to, holy grail foundation. I do think a lot of you will like it and I do recommend it, especially because so many people love it and it has great reviews.

...and that concludes this insanely long review!

The Charming Miss

Last night I decided to give my blog a complete makeover. I changed EVERYTHING, even the name! I just wasn't a huge fan of what my blog used to look like, or that it was the cliche "Makeup By...", but now I love it and I hope you will too.

Review: NYC High Definition Liquid Eyeliner

Confession: The 1st time I EVER wore eyeliner was last summer.

I seriously wore makeup for years and never even touched eyeliner! After "mastering" the art of pencil eyeliner (I will review some of the pencil eyeliners I've tried in another post), I decided it was time for me to try liquid eyeliner. 

I wanted to start with a felt tip eyeliner and I wanted it to be pretty cheap because I was learning. Alli (MakeupByAlli) mentioned that one of her favorite liquid eyeliners was from NYC, which I knew was an affordable brand & I loved all of their products I'd tried, so I decided to go check it out. When I went to purchase the liquid eyeliner Alli talked about (which wasn't felt tip), I saw that NYC also sold a felt tip liquid liner, so I purchased that instead.

It's such a great eyeliner! For me, a beginner, it's super quick & easy to use! I can do it faster and make it look better than I ever could with any of my pencil liners. The tip is great and I can get a thin line or a thick line with it. It has never smudged for me and lasts all day--even when I have naps. If I mess up while applying it, it is easy to fix. It also works great when it is set with a shadow (I do this to make it matte). 

After reading some other reviews on this product I found out that a lot of people do not like this eyeliner, so this eyeliner is not for everyone. I do not have oily eyelids or anything like that, so I don't know if it will work for people who do.

I would mainly recommend this for anyone else who's learning how to use eyeliner. It's not too dark, so it won't look super harsh, and it's easy to use.

For under $4, this is a great product to try because it's not a huge waste of money if you don't like it. It's very affordable, possibly one of the cheapest liquid liners sold. 

PS- I decided not to do my Favorite YouTubers of February. I was way too behind to choose my favorites and it's already the middle of March.

DIY Matte Nail Polish: Does it Really Work?

I recently heard that you can change the finish of a nail polish from any finish to a matte finish by holding your fingernails in steam while the polish is drying, so I decided to experiment and see if it actually works. Yes, it does take away a good amount of shine from the polish, but it does not make them completely matte. If you look a few posts back at my Valentine's Day nail post, I actually tried this on them- as you can see, they are still fairly shiny. I'm sure there are certain polishes that steam works better on than others, but so far I haven't had much luck. I would recommend buying a matte polish or top coat if you want your nail polish to have a matte finish, as the results are much better than the results I got from the steam. 

A few reviews as well as my Favorite YouTubers of February should be up soon :) I've been trying a lot of new products lately & I will share my thoughts on them with you as soon as I have time!!

In the Tropics

I'm sure you've all been wondering where the heck I've been...
Well I've started taking a few more classes and one of them starts at 6am, so that's kind of messed my whole schedule up. I get up around 5:15am, get home around 2pm, work until 10:30pm, and then I basically stay up all night doing homework, so I haven't had time to blog for a while and I probably won't post very often for the next few months.

Anyway, as you have probably figured out by now, I am a huge fan of Sephora's eyeshadows. If they have a new palette, I usually buy it right away (unless the reviews are horrible or something like that). Well they have a new palette that I'm planning on purchasing and it's called the Moonshadow Baked In the Tropics palette. The colors look gorgeous, the reviews are good, and I think it would be great for a ombre eye look for spring! What do you think? It's only $27 at Sephora!

Now I'm going to get caught up on Pretty Little Liars :)

My Nail Polish Collection {3}: The Palace Life by L'Oreal/Valentine's Day Nails

For Valentine's Day I decided to get somewhat festive with my nails!

For my fingernails I decided to go with The Palace Life from L'Oreal's Versailles Romance Collection from Spring 2013. Since they no longer sell this polish in stores, you can click here for a link- it's about $7.50 on Amazon. This color is a warm pastel pink cream. It's pretty pigmented and it's opaque in 2 coats; much nicer than similar Essie colors that take at least 3 coats to even show up ;) I thought the formula was quite streaky (I don't think it was the brush) and I noticed that it chips pretty easily, even with a good top coat. Overall, this polish is not my favorite, but I do think it's pretty for the spring.

On my toes (don't worry, I'm not going to post a picture!) I am wearing OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark, which is a very deep purple, with Ulta's Material Girl on top, which is a plum-colored glitter. To be honest, I don't think that Lincoln Park After Dark is worth the hype; it's easily one of OPI's most popular colors, but I honestly wasn't too impressed. I initially was going to just do Lincoln Park After Dark all by itself, but it was super streaky (which is probably because of the brush- I was using a mini bottle that came in a gift box), so I had to put a glitter on top so it wouldn't look horrendous! Ulta's Material Girl looks amazing on top of Lincoln Park After Dark and it seriously looks like professionally done glitter toes! I love this combination and definitely recommend it. If you're interested in purchasing Lincoln Park After Dark, I would definitely recommend purchasing the full size over the mini.

Lincoln Park After Dark is $9.00 at Ulta: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod5180201&_requestid=439857#

Material Girl is currently $2.00 (reg. $6.00) AND buy 1 get 1 free at Ulta: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod3570051#

Hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day!

5 Favorite YouTube Beauty Gurus of January

As always, I am super late with this post! & since I am so behind I even threw a 6th one in there for you!

1. April (AprilAthena7): I'm pretty sure I have watched more of April's videos than any other YouTuber this month. I love her beauty channel, her vlog channel, and her cooking channel (which is my most recent obsession). She's so sweet and genuine & I just love watching her videos! Click here for her Blueberry Scones video on her cooking channel, here for her vlog of her 4D ultrasound, and here for a drugstore makeup haul & review video!
2. Mindy (CuteGirlsHairstyles): People call Mindy a braid ninja...and they're not kidding! Her videos always amaze me. Click here for her Zipper Braid Updo tutorial.
3. Danna Ann: Danna does the best swatch videos and makeup tutorials ever. You can click here for her review & swatches of the new Nyx Butter Glosses and here for her Valentine's Day makeup tutorial.
4. Tess Christine: Tess makes the best videos and I wish she made more! She is so beautiful and I love her simple style. Click here for a tutorial with 9 different hairstyles for when you're running late.
5. Michelle Phan: I'm not going to lie, I am typically not a huge fan of Michelle's videos, but I really enjoyed one of her videos this month. You can click here for her DIY Rice Scrub & Mask tutorial. 
6. Tiffany (MakeupByTiffanyD): As I've said before, Tiffany's videos are typically 20 minutes or longer, but she is so easy to watch and clearly knows what she's talking about! You can click here for a wavy curls tutorial and here for her favorite makeup brushes video.

Tip: Get Organized

Today my lesson in church was about how we can live happier lives. One of the things we talked about was being able to spend more time with our family. The lady teaching the lesson shared a personal experience about how getting organized helped her see that when you get the things you need to do for school or work done as quickly as possible, rather than spending time on the Internet or something, you end up having a lot of time to spend doing things that will make you happier. This made me realize that I get on the computer and time passes so quickly & the next thing I know it's super late, I still have a lot of things I need to get done, & I end up staying up super late, rather than doing something more rewarding.
I have made a goal and I encourage you to it too! I want to get organized this year. I'm going to do my homework and work (I work from home in the evenings, mainly quoting open ends, and go to school during the day) as soon as I get home. I'm so excited to see how this is going to improve my life. I feel like I'm going to have a lot more free time to spend with my family if I make this change in my life.
So my tip is to use a planner/calendar & write down what you need to do each day. As soon as you find some time to do the things you've written down for the day, do them! After you've completed everything on the list, the rest of the day/night is yours & you can do whatever you want without having to worry about due dates, projects, etc. This will lessen the stress in your life and allow you to spend more time doing the things you love!
I found a super cute free printable 2014 calendar on Pinterest (link below) that I'm going to use to keep organized.
Link: http://spoonful.com/crafts/20-free-2014-printable-calendars#carousel-id=photo-carousel&carousel-item=12

P.S. I am working on my Favorite YouTube Beauty Gurus of January, but I'm still trying to catch up on some videos from this past week. The video should be up sometime this week! I also have a few other posts I'm working on, so be on the look out for those!