Kiss My Face Pure Coconut Milk Soap Review

So my foray into the world of bar soaps that aren't from Dove continues! This time I spotted a delectable sounding bar soap from Kiss My Face which is the pure coconut milk soap. I love coconuts and the nourishing properties of coconut milk so I couldn't wait to lather up with this soap!

Claims from the packaging: Cleanse and indulge your skin with 86% pure Coconut Milk soap known for its hydrating benefits. Perfect for all skin types!

I bought this bar soap online at Well.ca for $4.49. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it so I just purchased one bar for reviewing purposes.

Here's the ingredients list and sure enough there is a lot of coconut in this soap! Coconut oil, glycerin from coconuts and of course coconut milk. I was intrigued at the fact that sea salt was in there as well as fragrance.

It doesn't smell like coconuts. It actually smells a lot more like lime with a hint of creamy softness. The smell is very soft, not at all overwhelming. It's not very strong which is what I expected from a naturally sourced fragrance. I like it!

Here's the bar in my hand so you can see how large it is. It's pretty big! A lot bigger then the largest of my Dove soaps.

It lathers really well. You're left with big, fluffy, creamy clouds of lather. It feels incredible on my skin. Creamy and hydrating and very nourishing. The sad part comes once I wash it off. It gives my skin that same feeling of squeaky tightness! I know that might not be a deal breaker for some, but it's important to me. I like my bar soaps to be like solid slabs of body wash, I expect them to leave my skin with that same feeling of creaminess after I rinse myself clean.

Likes:

1. It's a large bar!
2. It smells really nice!
3. It's full of coconut milk and coconut oil
4. Affordable

Dislikes:

1. The feeling of squeaky tightness it leaves my skin with!

C

Maybelline Master Hi-Light Blush in Mauve Review + Swatches

So I've been hunting around for a rose gold highlighter (something along the lines of Becca's Blushed Copper) but I'm definitely not trying to shell out money for a product at that price. So I did a little research and I found out about this gorgeous blush from Maybelline's Face Studio Master Hi-Light line.

After much deliberation I picked the shade that I thought would be deep enough to give me some colour but still had the rose gold undertones I was looking for. And that was 40 Mauve.

Claims from the packaging: Our multi-tonal blush palette highlights skin and softly contours cheeks for an instantly defined glow.

Claims from the website: Light- diffusing blush and bronzer formulas have an expert balance of shade + shimmer illuminator for natural glow. Skin goes soft-lit with zero glitz.

This blush retails for about $12.96 at Wal-Mart.

The powder lifts up to reveal a mirror and a little brush. This brush is softer then the usual included brushes (The brush from the Fit Me blushes is super scratchy!) but I still wouldn't use it.

This blush is made up of interlocking powder shades. One is a deeper plummy purple, the other is a deep cranberry pink, another is a pale pink toned champagne shimmer and another is a champagne shimmer. All swirled together the blush comes off this gorgeous deep rose gold.

Here's a swatch of all the colours blended together. You can see the sheen and then the soft hint of colour. I wouldn't rely on it for contouring though. I use it mostly as a highlighter on the tops of my cheekbones and I love it for that purpose. I also use it as a blush by focusing a small stippling brush on the cranberry and plum shades and then blending that on the apples of my cheeks. Focused on the blush shades, this product adds a luminous burst of healthy colour. Swirling your brush in all the shades it adds a lovely glow with slight colour to your cheeks.

Here's the blush at another angle where you can see the more of the colour and less of the sheen.

The powder itself has a great formula. It's remarkably soft and silky, it's so finely milled it feels like a cream on the fingers. It's incredibly easy to pick up with a brush. The shimmery shades do kick up a fair bit of powder but it's really not that messy or difficult to deal with and the product doesn't get all over the place.

This blush has great lasting power. It lasts about eight hours before fading slightly.

Also I feel like up close the powder highlights the imperfections in my skin but from a normal standing distance those imperfections aren't noticed. This product is pigmented, you will need a light hand and you will need to blend well!

But overall I love it. I like how it illuminates my skin, my bone structure and how easy it is to apply because of how pigmented and creamy the product is. It's easier to use then a liquid highlighter and I adore that. And the colour is lovely!

Likes:

1. Absolutely beautiful, unique colour
2. Affordable price tag
3. Soft, finely milled texture
4. Sturdy packaging
5. Bonus mirror
6. Long lasting
7. Easy to blend

Dislikes:

1. Scratchy brush
2. Can highlight imperfections
3. A bit of powder kicks up when swirling a brush in it

A-

Freeman Feeling Beautiful Sweet-Tea and Lemon Peel-Away Clay Mask

This mask allured me on the premise alone. A peel off clay mask? How could that possibly work? As soon as I saw it in stores I snatched up a tube just to see what it would be like and it's easily become one of my favourite Freeman masks.

Claims from the Freeman website: Charm skin with a little southern comfort in the form of Sweet Tea spritzed with a squeeze of refreshing Lemon! Our peel-away clay mask delivers the cleansing, oil-absorbing benefits you expect from clay…plus the all-over toning and refining perks of an easy-to-peel-off mask! Antioxidant-rich Tea and Lemon Fruit Extract calm for the ultimate in toning and soothing benefits. Perfect for normal to combination skin.
This mask retailed for about $4.29 at Wal-Mart. Thankfully this mask unlike the Honeydew and Chamomile sleeping mask made it into stores.

What I love about this mask is that its a hybrid of a clay mask and a peel off mask. You get the oil absorption of a clay with the more tightening of a clay mask. It is really and truly a hybrid of both with a high concentration of Bentonite clay.

The mask smells really nice. It's got a very subtle iced tea fragrance with a hint of lemon. It's not strong but it's very pleasant. At first this mask smelt exactly like the Cucumber peel off mask but the more I smell it the more I realize it's got a scent all it's own.

The mask is a creamy orange colour. Unlike Freeman's peel off masks, this one has clay in it and it shows. The mask is very runny but also thick a bit like glue in consistency. It makes it a little difficult to apply and spread but the thickness insures the mask doesn't run all over the place once you apply it. This makes it very easy to target specific spots.

As with most clay masks, I don't apply it all over my face. I just apply it where I feel I get especially oily - my nose and forehead - along with my cheeks which have large pores. On the face the mask feels wonderfully cool. No stinging. As the mask dries it hardens a little which reminds me a bit of clay masks but not as tight. When the mask is ready for removal, the edges lift up a bit and then you pull gently from there. There were a few little spots where the mask didn't peel away but that came off when I rinsed my face with warm water.

Heads up: this mask hurts a little when you pull it off. Considerably more so then the Cucumber Peel off mask Freeman offers. I think it might be due to the clay. But it's not enough to bother me or to make my skin red so I'm fine with it. I find that when I apply a thicker layer it comes off with less pain but the caveat there is that I have to wait longer for it to dry.

The results are worth the slight pain. When I peel off the mask my skin looks mattified, smooth and poreless. I love how velvety my skin looks and feels after this mask.

I like this mask more then I like traditional clay masks because I feel like clay masks leave my skin much drier then this peel off mask does. In addition to that, I have to rinse so much longer to make sure I get all of the clay off of my skin.

I really enjoy using this mask and I can see it's going to become a weekly staple in my skincare regime. I definitely would repurchase this mask!

Likes:

1. How easy this mask it to apply and remove
2. The matte, soft and poreless look this mask gives my skin
3. How innovative this mask is
4. How affordable this mask is

Dislikes:

1. It's a little painful to remove

A

Maybelline The Blushed Nudes: I Bought & Reviewed This Palette So You Don't Have To

 

 

So I was browsing my local Wal-Mart's beauty aisle on June 1st and what did I see? The Blushed Nudes! I was so happy (not to mention surprised, Maybelline said we Canadians wouldn't be getting them until early June, but I didn't know they were going to be right on time!) I bought it and forgot to buy several other things. Now I'm kinda wishing I had saved my money.

It cost about $10CDN. As with the Nudes palette it's divided up into quads, trios and duos on the back to assist those needing some inspiration when creating a look.

The palette looks visually gorgeous. It's got a lovely rose gold colour and closes with a secure snap. It comes with two sponge applicators that I leave unused. I think my Nudes palette came with one!

When I swatched these shades, things started to go downhill. I swatched the first row of six on one hand and then the second row of six on the other. They're all numbered for ease of reference.

The first row was a nightmare on Elm Street. It was one disappointment right after the other.

Almost every single shade aside from 1.4 and 1.6 were dry. They were just grey shimmers. I was really shocked at how sheer 1.1 is compared to it's white counterpart in the Nudes palette which has pigment and shimmers. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.5 are grey, chalky and dry with no pigmentation. 1.5 is a matte but there's no pigmentation to it. 1.4 has a bit more colour but it's still incredibly dry and sheer. I can't be too mad at 1.3, it's supposed to be grey but it's sheer, dry and chalky just like the rest of the first row. 1.6 is softer with a creamier texture and has better payoff and actually has a nice pink shift to it. It's rather sheer but it's not a total lost cause.

I knew Row 2 would be better because those shades are darker. 2.1 is a nicely pigmented and smooth rose gold but still applies sheer. 2.2 swatched awfully. It's a matte cocoa brown with rose sparkles but it is so dry and creates incredible fallout with very little payoff. 2.5 was the best shade in the palette, creamy, soft and pigmented with little fallout. 2.6 is another trouble shade. It kicks up plenty of fall out but it's decently pigmented. I stick to Row 2 and 1.6 when using this palette, those are really the only shades worth looking at.

These shades do apply better then they swatch, but the fallout issues and the sheerness prevail. I'm sure these would do better over a primer, but I expected better from Maybelline especially considering how nicer in quality The Nudes is compared to the Blushed Nudes.

I'm on the fence with this palette. The more I play with the bottom shades the more I like them. I just wish the palette had better quality overall as I never had to limit myself to one part of the palette using the Nudes. I really don't like the fact that 5 out of 12 shades are total duds, but the remaining six are nice in a pinch.

Likes:
1. Pretty rose gold colour scheme
2. Row 2 and 1.6

Dislikes:

1. Poor quality shadows in 5 out of 12 of the shades
2. Lack of pigmentation
3. Lots of fallout

C+