Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Luminous and Sparkling Shadows Part II

More Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Luminous and Sparkling Shadows since I have a ton of these and I haven't gone through all the colors yet.

- Miami Ice: metallic, low intensity. I actually like color and really I wish it had better staying power! It's a straightforward snowy white that's perfect for lining inner corner of eyes and as base for the upper lids. I absolutely hate the fact that it disappears after a few hours. Grr...




- Go Platinum: metallic, very sheer. A pretty smokey silver that's too sheer to use as liner, too translucent to use as crease color, and as the same time, too smokey to use as a highlighter. It works well as a gradation shade for smokey eyes, but that's about it.




- Jet Set: shimmer, medium intensity. A charcoal with silver shimmers that makes a good liner, being dark enough to define and at the same time light enough to blend. Now the problem is getting it to last longer and not fade. Sigh.




- Flashback: matte, high intensity. It's a very very pigmented jet black with purple iridescent shimmers as it's supposed to be the "Sparkling." Unfortunately none of the shimmers show at all the shadow goes on matte like crayon kohl!




- Clock wise, from top: Go Platinum, Flashback, Jet Set, Miami Ice


- Blutopia: metallic, medium intensity. A beautiful jade-like turquoise blue that reminds me very much of T'estimo Color Eyes GR-29, only a bit warmer even though GR-29 has tons of gold shimmers. I used Blutopia line the outer corner of my lower lids because the color really made my eyes pop this way. It's one of the first blue-green hues I could use comfortably because it complimented my warm skin tone. Again, I really really really wish it had better staying power. And now that I've tried this, I'm curious how T'estimo GR-29 would fare as a lower lid liner as well.






See my previous Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Luminous and Sparkling Shadows post.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream

The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream is another GWP item from the Vitamin E line, and I also used it for my neck and upper chest, much like the Vitamin E Sink-in Moisture Mask. And I guess because of my positive experience with the Sink-in Mask, I expected similar qualities from the Moisture Cream but was a tad disappointed with it in the end.



First off, it's not strange to expect products from the same line to have the same scent, for example, the products from the Aloe line should all smell similarly Aloe-y. So since I got accustomed to the rosy scent of the Sink-in Mask, I expected the Moisture Cream to have a similar scent, but it did not. Instead, its scent was a nutty coconut with a dash of rose, and while that sounds really delicious, for some reason that smell gave me headaches instead! Good thing I didn't put it on my face...



The Vitamin E Moisture Cream was also much thicker than the Sink-in Mask - think Yoplait Yogurt Thick & Creamy. That said, it absolutely was not greasy at all and absorbed thoroughly and quickly into my skin! The problem was that it also gave me blemishes on my neck and upper chest (yeah, not fun), which probably means it was either too moisturizing for use on those areas or there was some ingredients that irritated my skin. This surprises me greatly since the only other products I know that would break me out on the neck and upper chest is European sunscreen! In conclusion, if you want to try it, I suggest getting a sample or through a GWP first before buying the full size.

The Body Shop Hi-Shine Lip Treatment

The Body Shop Hi-Shine Lip Treatment is such a confusing name! It makes you think it's a lip treatment, but it's actually lip gloss, pigmented and moisturizing lip gloss (at least the ones I had were), but nonetheless lip gloss. I got a couple of these from previous GWP's but wasn't too thrilled about them. After all, they look like any other lip glosses on the market and there was nothing about them that really grabbed my attention.

Then came the day when I got -gasp- bored with my myriads of Lancome Juicy Tubes and decided I should at least give these a quick try. It turned out they weren't too bad at all. Actually, they were really nice! Their texture was smooth, thick, non-sticky, long lasting, almost identical to Juicy Tubes - I was impressed!

That said, I'm not jumping all over them yet. According to The Body Shop USA, they're all supposed to be tinted, and based on the two I have tried, they're more on the pigmented side and I prefer sheer gloss. I'm not saying all of my Juicy Tubes are sheer, but over time I tend to get rid of the more pigmented glosses because I seldom reach for them and they go bad after a while. But if you are into more tinted/pigmented glosses, or if you are a fan of Juicy Tubes like me but wish that they pack a better punch in terms of colors, I would really recommend these Hi-Shine Lip Treatment from The Body Shop. They are cheaper too, only $13!

- Pink Cream: this is probably the lightest color I saw on the website and it is pretty pale indeed! It looks like a pink champagne but goes on frosty pale pink, which is a total bummer for me. I did stick with this tube though and noticed that a while after application, the frostiness did subside to a more translucent shimmer. Its scent reminds me of canned lychee but it has no taste (phew!).


- Perfectly Pink: an opaque but pearly lotus pink, more on the cool side with just a touch of violet. The first time I tried this on my reaction was, "Woh, pigmented!" The color blended in and slightly faded after a while, but it was a pretty good dose of color at first. It has the same scent as Pink Cream.

Soap Crazy (picture heavy!)

You probably are all over Etsy right now, but if you haven't heard, it's like a pairing of Amazon x Ebay for all things hand made: you can buy or sell hand made things, it has a feedback system, and payments are made via Paypal (although some sellers do accept other types of payments). If you have heard but haven't been there, consider this a warning and proceed at your own risk - it is quite addicting and you may go nuts buying stuff (like I did).

Eno started using Etsy a couple of years ago and only buys greeting cards from there now because they are hand made and are quite original. For example, on my last birthday he gave me a hand-illustrated card says something to effect of, "You may be a vampire (because I have a bad habit of staying up all night), but I still love you." Pretty cute, but that still wasn't enticing enough to bring me over. Then came a few months back when I was in the midst of my soap phase and absentmindedly complained to him the soaps I've tried so far were all blah, he said, "Why don't you try Etsy?"

Yeah, that pretty much was the point of no return. It has only been 2 months since my first Etsy purchase and I think I've bought enough soaps for the next few years. Am I a total looney beeyotch or what? Ahh...but I LOVE the soaps I bought and I'm not going to stop any time soon. I spent the entire July 4th weekend checking out every freakin' bath & body seller and favorited everyone whose soaps took my fancy +.+

Below are a few reviews of the few soaps I've tried so far. I only use these soaps as hand soap because my hands are very dry and it's the best way for me to tell whether a soap is moisturizing, mild, and whatnot. Also, I "borrowed" a couple of the below pictures from the sellers themselves because I was so excited to use these first few bars I tore into them before their pictures could be taken :D If I do buy them again in the future, I'll update this post with the actual pictures.

- Heathen's Hearth: has a nice variety of bath and body items and occasional sale promotions; 1,400+ sales with 100% positive feedback.

Lemon Cream Goat's Milk Soap: I'm using this right now. It smells exactly like lemon cream, yum! Although it is not as moisturizing as goat's milk soaps could be, it still works up a creamy lather, plus the scent is perfect for the summer, so it was a pretty decent bar of soap over all. My bar doesn't look anything like the picture though, which is to be expected, I guess. This could potentially be a source of disappointment for some because, well, we all buy things thinking what we see is what we'll get. You'll just have to understand that hand made things are done in batches that will yield different results. The bar I have was made in a half-oval mold (see the Pink Sugar bar below from the same seller) and it is a pastel yellow instead of a marble white and yellow hand cut bar as shown. It is supposed to be somewhere between 4.5-5.5 ounces, pretty decently sized.

***Picture from Heathen's Hearth via Etsy.

The rest of these bars below, also from Heathen's Hearth, were gifts for my family and friends, but I was able to take pictures of them before their departure. Oh, and I actually took pictures of them in my hand so you can see their relative sizes. I tried to sniff-test them too but they were rather well-sealed so I couldn't really smell anything...Oh well, too bad. Next time.

White Tea & Berries




Lavender Mint




Tea Tree & Peppermint: I was very tempted to keep this bar for myself since I like anything peppermint, but I also wanted a reason to go back so...teehee :D




- Pink Sugar: this was supposed to be an Aquolina Pink Sugar duplicate, but I never knew the original scent before so I had no idea. From what I could smell though, it was a sweet and girly scent.




- Anderson Soap Company: one of the most well know soap maker on Etsy with a whopping sales of 18,000+ and going strong, 100% positive feedback, and rather frequent (almost every month!) sales promotions! For this, Dennis earned himself a May 8, 2008 spotlight on Etsy's blog, the Storque, as well as the #1 spot on About.com's article, "11 Etsy Super Stars: Handmade Soap."

Rosehips and Kumquat: vegan friendly with poppy seeds for exfoliation, quite moisturizing, gentle, and didn't crack or break until the very end, a definite sign of well made soap! One word for this soap: WOW. My favorite soap so far. It smelled soooooooo good and refreshing, like fruit punch only not overly sweet with a dash of citrus. It was so lovely Eno and I promptly used it up in a little over a week's time (record time so far). A nice soap is a reason to look forward to washing your hands, no? The bar we had looked very similar to the ones pictured, which was quite pleasant given the picture was what caught my eyes :) I should mention that it was a petite bar, about twice the size of a guest soap, weighing in at 2-3 ounces. I prefer smaller bars, actually, because I want to hurry up and get on with the next goodies in line :P


Exfoliating Lavender Buds: vegan friendly with real lavender buds sprinkled throughout for exfoliation. It was not as moisturizing as the Kumquat above but was still gentle and mild. The lavender scent was soothing but potent - while I store all my soaps in the linen cabinet, this particular bar overwhelmed the rest and my whole closet smelled like lavender and nothing else! Consequently, it also scented our sink area for the few weeks it lasted :) I had a bit of problems with this bar crumbling up into smaller pieces and chunks due to the lavender buds falling out and taking the bits and pieces of soaps with it. The bar I had was pretty big, 4.5-5.5 ounces, but much of it was wasted due to crumbling, so I probably won't buy it again.

***Pictures from Anderson Soap Company via Etsy.

The below bars from Anderson Soap Company were also gifts, but I took pictures of them too :)

Sweet as Sugar: smelled like sugar indeed!




Orange Clove Salty Bar: woh, this bar has a really spicy and grown up scent! I could smell the salts in it too!




Lemon Luster Massage Bar: another yummy lemony bar :)




- LoveLeeSoaps: carries a variety of cute (and wacky, gag gift-perfect) soaps, #6 on About.com's "11 Etsy Super Stars: Handmade Soap" with 4,700+ sales profile and 100% positive feedback.

Coconut Milk & Honey Herbal Bar: this bar was also a gift, but from what I could smell, it is a sweet but spicey-herbaly scent.




More to come later!

You Would Like to See More Reviews of...?

I'm running behind on reviews again. Sorry :(

Have you ever look through your stash and thought, "Arrrgh, too many choices!!!"? I sort of ran into that problem for the past month trying to pick out my next rotation items to use and review. Right now, every time I rotate a set of products out, I would pick a new set at random from different brands. The thing is, there are so many choices it's totally out of control and I just can't makeup my mind.

Quick, pick one!!!

***I have no idea where I got this picture from. If it is yours, please leave a comment and I will be more than happy to credit you.***

Of course I can't use all my makeup at once, so as a result, looking through my stuff I realized there have been products and entire brands, even, that were completely neglected and ignored, not because I don't like them but because I either got caught up with other things or tend to resort to other "safe" choices. Lame, I know.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE REVIEWS OF?

You can either VOTE (see polls at left) or leave me a comment. Either way works.

For now, I'll just continue to post random pieces...

Thank you!!!