Empties #5

The accumulation of empties has gotten past my point of tolerance. This particular round up of products is a good one, there’s some real gems in this group. There’s also a big old dud, and if you’ve been reading this blog for a little while it should be an easy spot. But if not, can you guess which product I was totally unimpressed with? Let’s get into it!

Ahh the unloading of empties, just makes room for more new products… right?

To start out with I went through my Avalon Organics Lavender Luminosity Facial Cleansing Milk like it was water. This is a really nice, brightening cleanser that doesn’t foam up, but still makes your skin feel nice and clean. This product is really nourishing to the skin, smells like lavender, and is priced well. I would definitely purchase this product again. Another product I have repurchased time and time again is the Giovanni 2 Chic Deep Conditioner. This stuff is gold in a bottle, I swear. I use this in place as a regular conditioner every time I was my hair. This always, without fail, makes my hair feel lovely, washes out easily, and is generally a joy to use. I will always try new products, but I feel as though I’ll always go back to this guy. It’s time to say goodbye to this tub of Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner. Not going to lie I have another tub sitting in my boyfriend’s shower. I love this stuff so much, and the decadent Rose Jam scent, but I think I’ll hold off on buying more until next Fall when the weather gets colder and skin gets drier. Plus this stuff is super expensive.

I used up a full tube of the Tom’s Simply White toothpaste, and have already repurchased this. My boyfriend hates the way this tastes, but I honestly do not mind it at all. It’s not overwhelmingly minty and that’s a quality I really like. This toothpaste does the job, and I had a great check up at the dentist not too long ago. Alright, time for the dud, the Flower Zoom-In Ultimate Mascara. This mascara has an adjustable wand that is just a straight up gimmick. Nothing wrong with that, I just didn’t care for the formula, or the brush. The formula is super clumpy, not lenghtening, or volumizing at all. This is a total pass. Lastly, I used all my Yes to Tomatoes Facial Cleansing Wipes. I really enjoyed using these, and was genuinely sad when I used them all up. They’re great for taking off make up, cleansing your skin, or removing swatches. These face wipes didn’t leave my skin feeling dry or uncomfortable at all. They also didn’t irritate my sensitive skin at all. I would repurchase in the future, however I try my best to steer clear of make up wipes as they’re not the greatest thing for your skin.

That’s it for this batch, I hope you’re having a lovely day!

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Polish Remover

One of the hardest things to find, I thought, when going cruelty free was nail polish remover. For whatever reason I was only used to seeing the classic Sally Hansen or Target Brand who most certainly test on animals. I was aware of the Zoya polish remover, but not only is it really pricey for what it is, Zoya seems to be incredibly difficult to find in my area (if anyone knows where to find Zoya in the Vancouver area – I’d love to know!). Not too long ago I was killing some time at a Real Canadian Superstore, and to my pleasant surprise they carried a lot of cruelty free cosmetics, including Joe Fresh.

Joe Fresh Nail Polish Remover – $3.00 CAD

I picked up the smaller bottle of this non-acetone nail polish remover because I wasn’t sure how well I’d like it, and it also came with a pump and I was all about it. This small bottle is only 3 bucks, and the bigger bottle is 4 dollars, which I plan on buying once I’ve finished this bottle up and just pouring polish remover into this little bottle because I love the pump so much.

The pump just makes life so easy. I take a cotton pad, press on the top, and find that one pump is good for taking polish off of 2 nails. I think the polish remover does a really great job at taking polish off in just 2 or 3 swipes as well. I opted for the non-acetone version because I don’t really ever wear glitter polish (I don’t think I even own any) and I never get gel or shellac nails so I don’t need anything heavy duty. Joe Fresh does make an acetone version if that’s what you prefer.

The pump version also ensures that there’s no mess. Before, I’d take a small paint brush, fill up the cap of my polish remover and dip the brush in the cap to clean up the edges. Well, being the spaz that I am I somehow ended up spilling nail polish remover all over my keyboard which ended up with me having major drama with the Apple store. Long story short I paid for a new keyboard, but they somehow managed to break both the charging component of my battery AND my screen. I was extremely unimpressed and clearly am not over it yet because this was almost two months ago. Not to worry they fixed what they broke for free, but I was computer-less for a week which is a long time if you work from home like I do. The point of that rant was to say that if I had this polish remover, I probably wouldn’t have been in that saga with the Apple store because the packaging is so fantastic and mess-free.

Joe Fresh also makes nail polish that sell for $4/bottle, or you can pick up 3 for $10, and the colour selection is massive! I’ve got three that I’m currently putting to the test, and will most definitely report my full opinion once I’ve given them all a wear.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Naturally Flawless

My interest in the RMS brand came from a fellow blogger. Fellow Vancouver suburb native Emma at Sincerely Skin recommended that for lots of air travel, to turn to RMS Beauty as it’s made with only skin friendly ingredients. From there I researched the brand like a private investigator. I found out that the company was created by Victoria’s Secret make up artist Rose-Marie Swift, who is the personal make up artist for Miranda Kerr and Gisele Bunchen, umm… where do I buy every single product? I started my collection of RMS products with the ‘Un’ Cover up.

RMS Beauty ‘Un’ Cover Up in ’11’ – $36.00 CAD

This stuff is pricey, especially considering you get a tiny pot that contains .20 oz of product. Luckily, a little goes a long way. This ‘un’ cover up is essentially a light coverage foundation, or tinted moisturizer if you like, that seamlessly melts into the skin. The first ingredient is coconut oil, followed by castor seed oil, beeswax, cocoa seed butter, jojoba oil, and rosemary seed extract. There’s a whole lot of moisturization going on here.

I find the shade ’11’ to fit me very nicely. The first time I wore this my boyfriend thought I had no make up on my face. The ‘un’ cover up comes in 4 shades, one lighter than ’11’ and two darker. I think this product would be great if you picked up a couple of shades to highlight and contour the face in a very natural way. As mentioned earlier, this product has a very light coverage, but it is buildable. I tried using this as a concealer for blemishes and it doesn’t cover the best, I really needed to layer the product up to gain any sort of coverage. That being said, it’s really lovely as a base for mineral make up.

I really like applying the ‘un’ cover up with the Real Techniques Pointed Foundation Brush that you can get in the core collection, or the Eco Tools Flat Foundation Brush if I’m looking to cover a larger surface. I find these brushes help the ‘un’ cover up to get the best coverage possible from the product. I’ve used the ‘un’ cover up with the Real Techniques contour brush (also available in the core collection) and achieved very, very light coverage.

Here you can see the ‘un’ cover up runs just slightly more yellow than my natural skin tone, however once blended out it’s really impossible to see any difference as the coverage is more on the sheer side.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna