Nivea Visage pure effect stay clear purifying toner review

Whew that name is long! (actually it’s just all the friking ranges and subdivisions that skincare companies have, the name of the toner itself is just purifying toner)

    A couple of months ago, I was browsing Priceline when I found this, and was intrigued by the idea of a toner with a specific objective, beyond some vague variation of ‘moisturise’. I was more than halfway through my Neutrogena alcohol-free toner and I figured I could sort of compare them. Plus I like the idea of using toner to refresh my face during the summer, and might as well use an oil-controlling toner while I’m at it right?

Natio eye contour treatment gel review

    It hasn’t featured on this blog too much yet, but I love eye makeup. Eyeshadow, eyeliners, I love the colours and the awesome duochromes (and the fact that I don’t have to reapply is a distinct bonus), and it is actually why I became interested in makeup. Since I frequently wear eye makeup, I was worried that the skin around my eyes was drying out from the constant cleaning off of makeup, and decided to get an eye-cream for moisturisation.

    There are a lot of eye-creams out there and most are relatively expensive and trumpet their anti-aging properties like there’s no tomorrow. I chose this one because it didn’t specify anti-aging properties, which were not my main concern, and because it was cheaper. Plus I like Natio as a brand. Natio is an Australian skincare brand that uses plant based ingredients and is certified cruelty free, is overall vegan friendly with exception to some of their makeup, which contains carmine and beeswax, and some of their skincare products which contain beeswax and/or honey (the specific products are listed in Natio’s FAQ).

Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser review

Ok so it's technically not Tuesday anymore eheh, but I'm still awake so we're gonna pretend it's still Tuesday yeah? 

And I had to pick today to say that since my backlog is almost gone, I'm lowering it to one review each on Tuesday and Thursday. (Even though I still have some old reviews, I haven't figured out how to take the photographs for them yet so they're going to continue to sit on the back burner while I review other things) 

Today's review is on the already-reviewed-to-death-so-I'm-just-adding-my-2 cents Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser!

    I had high expectations for this cleanser as it's supposed to be for sensitive skin AND good at cleaning, where often 'for sensitive skin' just means doesn't do jack. But after using it for more than two months, I'm still a bit on the fence about it. I bought a smaller bottle that just came with a plain lid, no pump, and contains 250 ml of cleanser. The plastic bottle is light and flexible, and it’s shape can be annoying or convenient depending on where you put it. The flattened shape makes it easy to put on thin shelves, but it’s also quite wide, so since my shelf is lacking in space I end up just putting it on the floor of the shower.

Rimmel Scandal'Eyes waterproof kohl kajal eyeliner in 06 deep blue and 01 black review

So I forgot to do it before, but I've edited some of my photos because I'm a crap photographer (sharpening in an effort to fix blurriness is really all I've done), so I figured in the interests of transparency I now need to label all the pictures I've altered (although considering how bad my photo editing skills are I think it's pretty obvious which ones have been edited, and which haven't). I'll be going back through my posts and labelling the pictures so after today all pictures on this blog that have been altered will be labelled as such. (technically I've altered all of them since I add a watermark but you get the idea).

Seriously Rimmel why the heck have you called it a “kohl kajal” liner? Kajal = kohl!

    Anyway, when these eyeliners came out last year, I was interested in some of the colours, but didn’t have very high hopes as I already owned a Rimmel pencil eyeliner that creased on me and wasn’t as black as I wanted. But when I swatched the blue (the black tester was always missing, or there weren’t any blacks at all) I was pleasantly surprised by the richness of colour and the smooth application. I bought 06 deep blue on sale in 2013, and bought 01 black late last year (also on sale), hence why the blue one is a bit shorter.

Polished London dry shampoo in Blightly Brunette review

Today's review is on another dry shampoo . . . as you can tell from the title.

taken from Priceline website

    These are the cheapest dry shampoo (by size) in Priceline and I really wanted to try them especially since they clearly had 3 colours instead of just light and dark hair. However I hesitated as it was a large can and I didn’t want to get such a large can of dry shampoo when I wasn’t sure if I wanted dry shampoo at all. So after being unimpressed by Cedal dry shampoo for dark hair, I bought blighty brunette because I have almost black hair, so the normal ones were unlikely to match. 


    The colour of this dry shampoo was a good darkness, though a tiny bit light for my hair, it would probably suit most brunettes. I would say the colour was neutral to cool, though one of the reasons I noticed polished London dry shampoos was because they had a dry shampoo for red shampoo, so if you have auburn hair you have that option instead of blightly brunette. 

    In terms of what dry shampoo is actually meant to do this one was about the same as the Cedal dry shampoo for me though. It didn't get rid of the oily feeling and didn't add lift. If I sprayed a little it didn't do anything, and if I sprayed a lot, my roots would feel slightly sticky. I did feel like it got rid of the greasy feeling when I’d sprayed to the point of stickiness, but why swap one uncomfortable sensation for another? Unlike the Cedal one, I really didn't like the smell of the Polished London dry shampoo; I don't know how to describe it, it was just one of those weird chemical smells that your nose instinctively wrinkles at, not like cleaning chemical smells but more like "what is that funk?!". Thankfully the smell didn't really cling to my hair, but it stayed in the bathroom air for more than an hour. 

    Another thing is that for such a seemingly large bottle this dry shampoo lasted about as long as my mini Cedal bottle i.e. not very long (I don't use dry shampoo regularly so I can't really give an estimate).

    I’d recommend this dry shampoo to people who want that grit/stickyness in their hair for better styling (apparently, as my hair type isn't the kind that benefits from grit). Sharon Farrell on Youtube for example listed this product in one of her monthly favourites for that reason and I suspect that this would best work if you have soft, fine (as in thin), not shiny hair, a bit like cotton. I’ve only seen this hair type among Caucasians, and since my hair is nothing like that, (thicker individual strands, naturally smooth) this product does nothing for me and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with a hair type similar to mine.

Effectiveness: 4/10

Feel: 4/10

Packaging: 6/10

Avene thermal spring water review

    As if a stingy hoarder like me would ever pay for friking water in a can right? If you haven’t noticed in my previous reviews, I pretty much only buy “drugstore” (i.e. Priceline) products and they’re almost always on sale. Since my mum liked to use one of their other products I figured I’d try an Avene product while Priceline had a sale. So now you get a review of one of those fancy shmancy French thermal waters! I never understood the deal with these thermal spring water spray-cans, but after trying the Avene one I can see at least part of the appeal. (note: I don’t know why they need to call it thermal, it’s not hot anymore, but I guess it sounds fancier than spring water)

(edited because out of focus)

Nivea Pure & Natural moisturising day cream (for normal to combination skin) review

    Ok so I kind-of-accidentally skipped uploading anything last thursday, my excuse is my brain was fried from heat and fanfiction and what I had prepared just wasn't ready. So heres Tuesdays reviews up early! (actually last thursdays shut up)

    I bought this cream almost on a whim, unlike 99% of my skincare and makeup purchases, because I was going on a trip and I needed a moisturiser stat. I didn’t particularly like the look of any of the other moisturisers on sale (because even in a hurry I never pay full price -_-), and I’d been meaning to try out the new Pure & Naturals line anyway. 

Formula 10.0.6 So Totally Clean deep pore cleanser original formula review

    Whew what a long name. Ok so today’s review is going to be on this no-rinse cleanser from Formula 10.0.6, which is honestly the only such product I know.

Like a toner you just soak a cotton pad, wipe and that’s it, no need to rinse, no need to get your hair (and shirt) wet if you’re as clumsy as me. And man does this thing do the job! I use this to clean my face in between showers and it takes off every bit of dirt that’s on your face, it’s really refreshing.

Neutrogena alcohol-free toner review

(late i know but i was distracted by inception fanfiction so please forgive me)

This is a well known and well loved product so this review is almost pointless but hey, I bought it, I’ll review it.

    I’ll be honest I don’t really know what toners are for, some say it’s moisturising, some say it’s for cleansing after your face wash, which is honestly one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard, I mean if you need cleaning after your cleanser, get a better cleanser!

    Supposedly toners were originally used in England (and other European places?) because their tap water tended to be ‘hard water’ (i.e. water that contained dissolved calcium and magnesium carbonates), which can make your skin feel a bit weird, so after washing their faces they’d use the toner to take the ions off. This is not a problem in Australia unless you live in the middle of nowhere and your only source of water is bore water. As the Wikipedia page attests however, toners are marketed for a variety of things so if it claims to do something unique, go ahead and try it. It’s just that toners are a rather pointless step in skincare unless they claim to do something unique. 

(Also it’s kind of a waste of cotton pads.)