Lush Sultana of Soap Review

Recently I've gotten into Lush products. The sound of fresh, handmade cosmetics just sounded too good to be true. And I've passed the little shop countless times in Square One and decided to really see what the place was all about.

I decided to try some soaps because I wanted something to use when I was showering, not when I was bathing (as much as I love baths they aren't too good for the environment). I picked up Sultana of Soap, Rock Star and Honey I Washed the kids.

Claims from the Lush Canada Website: Revel in Sultana’s majesty, and have a wash with the royalty of soaps. It looks like a fancy Italian dessert; a giant nougat cake topped with succulent currants and apricots. Smooth a slice of our soft decadent soap all over your body for a creamy lather and the most dazzling bergamot and olibanum scent. Your skin will be delighted and you’ll be left softer and smelling like a fancy candy shop with a touch of fruity sweetness. If you weren’t invited to the wedding, at least you can brush shoulders with royalty in the shower.

I got this from Lush for $6.40 for 100g. This soap smells a lot like what I imagine to be a very Lush smell. It's sweet, a little fruity and there's some muskiness courtsey of the olibanum. It's soft and complex without being overwhelming. I find it nice and I'm a person who usually only likes gourmand scents.

Now the saleslady in Lush told me this soap was very moisturizing on the skin so I went into the shower with very high expectations. She told me the same thing about Honey I Washed The Kids which dried my skin out a lot and left me with that tight, squeaky feeling regular soaps often give the skin. So I deliberately sought out a soap that would be more moisturizing and I thought the Sultana of Soap would meet that criteria.

Unfortunately the Sultana made my skin feel that exact same way; tight and squeaky. No matter how gorgeous the smell, I can't put my skin through this sort of dryness. I do use it at a hand soap (no way I'm letting a soap this expensive go to waste) and I like the way the scent lingers on my hands. If (If and only if!) this soap was more moisturizing - like my all time favourite Dove beauty bars - I'd be in absolute heaven.

Likes:

1. The intriguing scent
2. How creamy it makes my skin feel while the lather is on my skin

Dislikes:

1. I feel like it's drying my skin out

 C+

Cake Beauty Heavy Cream Intensive Hand Repair Balm Review

Cake was so right to call this an intensive hand repair balm. It's rather thick for a hand cream. This is also the perfect product to take me through the cold Canadian winters. This is my first purchase from Cake beauty and I'm entirely pleased.

Claims from the Cake Beauty website: This supremely hydrating formula renews and protects hands for immediate and long lasting results. Made with 20% shea butter, this warm french vanilla scent melts into skin. 100ml

I purchased this hand cream at Costco; it came in a pair of hand creams that cost $22. This lured me in immediately with the whole 20% shea butter claim. I've got constantly dry hands so that claim sounded like absolute heaven. True to their word, Cake has jammed a lot of shea butter into this hand balm. The cream is as thick as you would expect it to be.

I was very afraid of the French vanilla scent. Cake's sister line Be Delectable has a vanilla hand cream out and I've tried it and it smelt like rotten vanilla scented play-doh. But this hand cream smells amazing. It's such a rich, sweet smell. Almost like the Nyx Butter Glosses but with a hint of buttery richness. I love how nice it smells and the fact that it's not cloying.

This hand cream is very very hydrating but doesn't cross the line over into greasiness (unless you apply too much). My hands feels moisturized but not slippery.

Heavy Cream has shaped up into being a lovely purchase and I'm very glad I bought it.

Likes:

1. It is so moisturizing!
2. It smells wonderful
3. No nonsencial chemicals in the ingredients list

Dislikes:

I haven't got any to list and if I were to look for any I'd be nitpicking.

 A+

Maybelline Limited Edition Holiday Baby Lips 2014 Ruby Star & Winter Flush Review

I'm a fickle fan of the Maybelline Baby Lips Line. Sometimes I put them on my lips and they feel like pure heaven. Other times I put them on and they feel like grease that refuses to sink into my skin. I love sheer red lips, so I snagged this two pack just for Ruby Star. I purchased these from Wal-Mart for about $6.

Both have a peppermint smell and go onto lips feeling fairly minty. I don't care for minty scents or tingles but it's there. Ruby Star is the pink tube while Winter Flush is the red tube. Ruby Star is a fairly pigmented blue toned red lip balm. Winter Flush is an almost milky peachy red with the slightest shimmer (its absolutely unnoticable on lips).

I swatched Strike A Rose next to these two because I though that Strike A Rose might be very similar to Winter Flush. Unfortunately it's not. Winter Flush is definitely less pink then the permanent electro shade.

I love Ruby Star but I don't like Winter Flush. It's the sort of lip balm that clings to any dry patches on your lips and that is just intolerable in a lip balm (at least to me). Ruby Star just glides right over my lips and masks any dry patches.

I know Baby Lips tends to have a very slippery formula, but these can feel extra slippery to me at times and even downright greasy. Maybelline says these lip balms keep your lips moisturized for up to 8 hours and I don't find that to be true; reapplication is necessary. And really when they glide on so easily application isn't a problem.

I wish Ruby Star had come in a package by itself.

Likes:

1. The cool red colour of Ruby Star
2. The "wetness" of the lip balm feels very moisturizing on dry lips initially
3. How easily these lip balsm glide on

Dislikes:

1. How greasy these lip balms can feel
2. How Winter Flush clings to dry patches
3. Peppermint smell

Winter Flush C 

Ruby Star B

GOOD TO GO The Body Shop Honeymania Bar Soap Review

I received this soap bar as a christmas gift and I was really looking forward to trying it. I love honey in my bath and body products (it makes me feel so luxurious!) So I had high hopes for this bar soap.

Claims from The Body Shops website: This honeycomb-shaped soap has a cute bee at its centre. It has a rich, floral scent and contains Community Fair Trade honey made from the nectar of over 1,000 wildflowers. Lather up for skin that feels silky soft.

Isn't that bee shape adorable? I just love it. It cost $4.00 for 100g. The honeymania soap is also shaped differently then the other Body Shop bar soaps and I think that it was a smart choice that makes the product stand out.

This soap doesn't smell like honey at all, it's got a light floral scent. I feel like I would have preferred it to have a more sweet, gourmand scent but the floral smell has grown on me. It doesn't linger on the skin afterwards unfortunately.

The soap lathers up easily and feels so silky and smooth on my skin. When I rinse, I encounter problems. My skin gets this squeaky, dry feeling afterward. I can't deal with that. Sure you're supposed to moisturize after a shower but I shouldn't feel as though the soap I'm using is drying out my skin. While I like the scent and the presentation, I'm not going to use this soap on my body. Like all failed soaps I buy, it's going to become a hand soap.

Likes:

1. The floral scent is light and pretty
2. The presentation of the soap is superb
3. The soap does a good job of actually getting me clean

Dislikes:
1. It makes my skin feel so dry!

 C+

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Lycra Flex Mascara Review

This mascara has been out for quite sometime and I've been meaning to try it out after I had read the stellar review it got over at clumpsofmascara.com. But new mascaras kept getting in the way! Finally I got my hands on a tube and I've been using it for about two months and I've got a few things to say about this mascara.

Rimmel's Claims: A big volume mascara that won't leave your lashes stiff or brittle, so you can build drama from day to night! Lycra Technology formula makes lashes look full and voluptuous while remaining soft MaxDensity brush covers whole lash line with one effortless coat to reveal and plump every lash.

Okay so this mascara does build up a lot of volume and it builds volume very well. The Max Density brush is very large. Almost too large (I've included the brush with a quarter for scale). I kept nicking my eyelids with the brush and occasionally I still do, but this brush takes a while to get used to. The denseness of the bristles do ensure that your lashes are evenly coated with, so that's another positive.

I don't understand how Rimmel infused Lycra into their mascara but somehow it works. My lashes didn't feel stiff or crunchy but I was able to build volume easily. I find mascaras that claim to make lashes soft aren't so good in the volume department Rimmel's struck the perfect balance.

I find this mascara didn't flake or clump up on me. Then again very few mascaras flake on me. This mascara doesn't make my lashes feel heavy. I can't speak to how this mascara holds a curl because I don't curl my lashes.

Now that one coat claim isn't exactly true. You do have to take the brush and comb through your lashes to get your desired effect. I'm not the sort of person who applies some mascara and then lets it dry and then goes over it again. I used to be and I find that's the fastest road to clump city. I apply a continuous coat until I'm satisifed with the way my lashes look. I took that approach with this mascara and here are my results.

I love it!

This is definitely one of my favourite new mascaras and I'm glad I finally got around to buying it.

Likes:
1. Formula keeps my lashes soft, not crunchy
2. Isn't too wet or too dry
3. Builds volume and length
4. Dense brush ensures defined lashes

Dislikes:

5. The brush is very large and took me a while to get used to
6. The packaging is a bit bulky

 A

Nyx Butter Lip Gloss Review

I bought my first butter gloss online last year because I wasn't even sure if Nyx was sold in Canada or where to find it. Cherry Pie was my first. After that I fell hard and bought six more in that same year. Now they're all available at Target Canada.

Claims from the Nyx website: Buttery soft and silky smooth, our scrumptious new Butter Lip Gloss tastes as sweet as a sugar cookie—and makes your lips look downright luscious. Swipe it on alone or over your favorite lipstick for creamy sheer to medium coverage that melts onto your lips and is never sticky.
Price: $8.99 at Target Canada

This gloss has no taste at all, so I don't know what Nyx is talking about with the whole "tastes as sweet as a sugar cookie" line. It does smell completely heavenly though. Coverage is medium to sheer with some shades like Sugar Cookie running sheerer while others like Cupcake are very pigmented. The gloss doesn't feel sticky on the lips at the outset but as time wears on it begins to feel a little tacky.

Right now I've got six (in the order pictured above):
1. Peaches and Cream
2. Cupcake
3. Sugar Cookie (loved it so much I bought two tubes)
4. Cherry Pie
5. Praline
6. Gingersnap
7. Devil's Food Cake

I really really love them and I'd buy them all if I could.

The formula is lovely. Very moisturizing, glides on like butter. Lasts about four hours before needing a touch up.  It smells like vanilla cupcakes! Of course the smell disspates but it's so lovely I wouldn't really care if it never disspated.

I love the packaging and the slimness of the tubes (but they still have quite a bit of product in them at 8ml each). And the cream finish on all of them makes them so easy to wear.

I've included this picture to show you how the shades compare with one another.

A slightly cool toned red with a cream finish. Fairly pigmented. My first love and one of my favourites.

A neutral chocolate brown with a cream finish. Very pigmented. Such a wonderful nude gloss for those of us women of colour. I cherish this gloss because I know Nyx is the only brand that makes a nude gloss in a colour so deep. I wanted this shade as soon as Nyx announced their new shades.

A bold, cool toned fuchsia with a touch of lilac. Is a little sheer like Cherry Pie. This shade is a great shade to just throw on and add a pretty pop of feminine colour to the lips. I love the way it looks against my skin tone. I've actually finished my first tube because this was a shade I reached for so much.

A slightly milky, very bright pink with hints of coral. It's one of the most pigmented butter glosses out there. I thought it would be a warmer version of Sugar Cookie but its definitely different. I'm not a huge fan of this shade because of how pigmented it is! Generally I prefer semi-sheer lip colours and this one is just very pigmented. Stains my lips after the gloss has worn off.

A slightly milky, cool toned pink. Doesn't apply peachy on my lips (mine at least) at all. It's a sheerer and cooler version of Cupcake. I actually like it a lot because of how subtle it can be.

A blackened red with a slight hint of plum. Super pigmented and very gorgeous. I love how vampy this gloss is! Stains the lips after the gloss has worn off.

A chocolate brown with a hint of peach. Lighter then Gingersnap. So what's the difference between Gingersnap and Praline? I can't tell the difference myself with the tubes so I have to look at the names. Praline is peachier and lighter. Out of the two I prefer Gingersnap as an everyday shade to just throw on by itself. Praline is very nude on my skin, so nude I wouldn't wear it on my NW45 skintone without a smokey eye or at least some colour on my cheeks.

Likes:
1. The delicious scent!
2. How moisturizing these feel on my lips
3. Wide variety of colours in the range
4. Budget friendly
5. Slim, portable packaging

Dislikes:
1. Cupcake is too pigmented (For those of you who love highly pigmented products, this won't be a problem at all!)

 A