REVIEW: Vichy CxP Eye Cream

I. Love. This. Cream!!!

If you like rich and creamy eye creams... this one is for you! It's not greasy at all, it absorbs really well and is great for under make-up - if you wear eye make-up.

This is an anti-aging eye cream. The C in the CxP stands for Vitamin C. And the xP stands for 2 peptides. Vitamin C is an amazing ingredient that should be mandatory in all skincare IMHO.

A little skincare lesson:

Vitamin C brightens your skin. It evens out your skintone. It helps to fade and soften age spots, liver spots, or any type of discolouration. It won't bleach your skin, but it'll brighten it and it'll help fade dark spots. Vitamin C encourages collagen production and it firms up your skin's elastin. This keeps your skin gorgeous and firm. Vitamin C is also an incredibly potent anti-free-radical. It fights the things that age you: pollution, smoke, the sun, etc.

EVERYONE should have some skincare products that have Vitamin C in them.

Vitamin C is fairly unstable, which is why you should buy one in an airless pump. And the higher the concentration, the more brightening and anti-aging benefits you'll receive (NeoStrata makes the most potent Vitamin C product out there - their Intense Skin Brightener with 20% L-Ascorbic Acid...but that's a whole 'nother post!).

Ok...end of lesson.

The folks over at Vichy aren't using L-Ascorbic Acid, but instead a combination of "glucosylated and phorphorylated Vitamin C" (I have no idea what that means). I'm assuming this is gentler for the eye area. They don't mention what the percentage of Vitamin C is in the product. But the cream also has a bit of caffeine in it to help eliminate puffy eyes and the peptides encourage collagen production to ease away wrinkles.

I have to tell you... I'm on my second tube of this stuff. And with all the products, new and old, that I get to try on a very regular basis, I have to tell ya - this is good stuff!

I havent' noticed a reduction of dark circles (I'm beginning to think they're permanent) but I have to tell you, my fine lines have been very much softened.

At $39 per tube (that lasts for-bloody-ever) this is not an expensive eye cream at all. I highly recommend this stuff to anyone who likes a creamy eye cream and wants their eye cream to address wrinkles and puffiness.

Rapid Lash Review PART II

So it's been almost 4 weeks of nightly use. I haven't forgotten to apply it once... I've been meticulously applying it to my upper lash line. Every. Single. Night.

I'm convinced my eye-lashes are the tiniest bit longer. Once I have mascara on, they are without a doubt touching my eyebrows now. One of the girls at work said she thought they looked more curled.

My eyelashes don't look any thicker, and upon closer inspection (I stare at them multiple times per day), I don't see any new baby lashes growing in.

But it's only been 4 weeks. Like I mentioned in the last Rapid Lash post, my customer at work who loved it said it took 8 weeks before she saw results. I've been meaning to ask her if it was 8 weeks before she STARTED to see results, or if she saw results after 8 weeks. Unfortunately I haven't seen her to ask. Sigh.

But I'm going to continue applying RapidLash. Every Night. Until I look like Bambi... :o)

NEOSTRATA... an introduction

First of all... GAH! It's been 2 weeks! Sorry you guys, life just got in the way. Plus I've been attending various schools and trying various new products... but there's really no excuse, I have a list as long as my arm of products I've ALREADY reviewed and just need to get up here. So - I apologize.

Today I want to talk about NEOSTRATA. Yes, I realize it's a brand, not a single product. But I want to talk to you about it, because there's something in the line for EVERYONE. And pretty much everyone should be using SOMETHING from the line to address their skin concerns.

I love NEOSTRATA. L-O-V-E absolutely LOVE it. For starters, they're Canadian (yay), but not that it matters when you consider that EVERYTHING they make is backed up by scientific studies. The kind of scientific studies that are done by an independent third party. The kind of scientific studies that are double-blind (which means neither the administrator or test subject know what they are using).

NeoStrata is famous for it's use of AHAs, specifically Glycolic Acid and Gluconolactone. Essentially what both AHAs do is dissolve the bond between dead skin cells. What is the benefit to this? Well, when you use a manual exfoliator (any kind of scrub) you run the risk of exfoliating unevenly, exfoliating too much (or not enough), or literally cutting yourself (which happens almost 100% of the time when you use a scrub that is naturally based, like walnut shell-based, etc).

Glycolic acid is amazing because at the concentrations found in NeoStrata's products, they speed up cell renewal. Therefore your skin sheds faster. The beauty in this is that because your skin cells are sloughing off faster, new skin gets pushed up more quickly. This flattens your skin, so acne-scars and wrinkles will soften. Their Skin Renewal Peel Solution is 10% Gluconolactone and 10% Glycolic Acid. I am literally on my 5th bottle of this stuff (I've been using it for about 3 years now, and let me tell you - my skin looks better now than it did 5 years ago).

Gluconolactone is amazing because not only does it facilitate a gentle peel, it also hydrates.

I think pretty much everyone, except those with crazy rosacea, can benefit from the Skin Renewal Peel Solution. It brightens your skin tone, firms up your skin (while Glycolic Acids thin out the skin on top, they encourage collagen production, thereby thickening the lower layers of skin, giving your plumper, softer, thicker skin), eliminates wrinkles and softens acne scars, and prevents break-outs (by eliminating surface dead skin cells which can clog pores, leading to pimples).

They also have an acne line... their toner for acne prone skin is 8% glycolic acid, which is PERFECT for a once-a-day application after cleansing and before moisturizing. I've sold this to MANY customers who have reported fantastic results after just a week or so of once-a-day application.

They have a 10% Glycolic Acid body moisturizer. Perfect for anyone who waxes or is prone to ingrown hairs on their legs.

They also have a spectacular line of anti-aging products, which I'll have to review for your seperately.

In the meantime, RUN to Shoppers Drug Mart to get yourself a bottle of their Skin Renewal Peel Solution. It's $73, but at under $1 per peel, it's well worth the results... one peel at the Doctor's office (or medispa) will set you back AT LEAST $100, and leave you hiding at home with an inflamed face for 3 or 4 days. But using this peel 3 times a week for one month gives you THE SAME RESULTS as a Dr's strength peel with ZERO downtime... Just make sure you use a good physical sunscreen and wear a hat as AHAs can leave your skin more sensitive to the sun.

REVIEW: Dior Lip Glow Lip Balm

I'm sure by now you all have heard of the various types of "intuitive" lip colour/gloss that is out there. Personally I remember my first exposure to such a thing when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. I think it was from Avon, and it was a "mood changing" lip colour. Truth be told, it only ever changed into a single shade, no matter what your mood. A hideous, completely unflattering shade of fuschia. At the time (please do remember... I was fresh into my double-digits) I was impressed. Even though the colour was wrong in every way possible, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. The actual stick of lip colour was green...or maybe blue (?) but by the time it went on it immediately started changing to the afformentioned shade of fuschia.

I wonder if that was when my obsession with make-up began?

Anyway... how far we've come! I know that Smashbox makes something called O-gloss. It's a very popular spin on their O-Glow (a gel blush): both of which turn into a sheer shade of pink on any and everyone.

I am olive toned. My colouring is very warm. And even though I've tried and tried to wear it, I just can't. The tone of it is too blue (the Smashbox "O" products).

Along came Dior. This stuff goes on like lip balm. Not gloss. It goes on like your favorite thick, creamy lip balm. The kind of lip balm that once it goes on, you forget it's there. It's rich, it's creamy, it sticks around all day. Unlike any other lip product out there, it actually hydrates and leaves your pout feeling nourished. When I wear Dior's Lip Glow, I don't think I reapply it more than 3 or 4 times all day long! Not only is it an amazing lip balm, and not only does it have an SPF 10 built in, but it's the perfect, neutral, almost warm shade of pink on any and everyone.

I like to wear it on days when I'm not at work and wanting something a little bit more than plain lip balm, without the shine and sparkle of gloss, and without the thick feeling of lipstick. I also wear this to work on days when I wear heavy and/or smokey eye make-up and my lips need just a little of "something" to tie it all in.

I know this stuff isn't cheap. At $35, you can buy a whole lot of cheap lip balm. But this is a luxury product, no doubt about it. However, when you compare it to other "prestige" lip products out there, it's really not that much more expensive! Plus once you factor in how well it wears, and how little of it you use with each application, you can justify it's expense.

Dior Lip Glow has earned a permanent place in my purse and I recommend you add it to yours too!

REVIEW: Cover Girl LashBlast Length

I gotta admit...I love Cover Girl's packaging. Receiving the wand OUTSIDE of the tube is just so pretty. It's almost a shame to put the wand into the tube and never see the yellow of the bristles again! :o)

I love the Cover Girl Lash Blast (the volume lash blast, and the original VolumeExact in the red tube) line so when they came out with the new length version, I thought to myself "Oooooh I gotta try that".

Come to think of it, that thought crosses my mind a lot.

Anyway, I've been using it and I have to say... just like the other Cover Girl mascaras that I've tried (just the new ones, the ones with the plastic bristles), it gives you great defined lashes without clumping - it must be the bristles.

But there's just something about the formula that gives you length. And only length. And nothing but length. Which is great if you have thick eyelashes and just want, yup you guessed it, length. But for someone who wants a little something extra; someone who wants length WITH volume - then this isn't the mascara for you.

I have to admit, there were times when I put two coats on and it made a small difference in the volume. But this is not a mascara I would wear to work. This is my *running errands* mascara. But even then I usually prefer something thicker.

I feel bald without mascara. Not so say I like the Tammy Faye Baker look. But I like something a bit more substantial.

So bottom line - if you want NOTHING but length, then this is a great mascara for you. It gives great natural length, there is no clumping, and it's easy to apply. But if you want volume and more substance to your eyelashes, then you may want to save yourself the $10 and try something else!

Rapid Lash Review PART I

Soooo.... I've been using RapidLash for 10 nights now. I tried taking "before" pictures so that I could *really* document this, but the camera just wont focus right without a flash, and with a flash you can't see anything anyway! ARGH! So I've been obsessively checking out my eyelashes every morning when I wake up.

My boyfriend thinks I've hit a new low with my vanity.

The things I do in the name of research.

Okay okay, it's cuz I'm a product junkie and I just can't help myself.

Anyway, it's been 10 days.

And nothing to report.

There' s no change in the length of my eyelashes. They look just as thick as they did before (not that I'm implying they're thick - I'm just saying they haven't gotten thicker). I see no evidence of little tiny lashes trying to grow in.

I had a customer at work (a sweet little old lady who looked like Bambi - with the use of RapidLash) tell me that one had to be patient and that it took her 8 weeks to see results. I have to remember to ask her the next time I see her if it was 8 weeks before she STARTED to see the growth, or if it was 8 weeks before her eyelashes were noticeably different...

Anyway, I shall keep you all posted with this as time goes by. So keep yer eyes peeled for a PART II soon! :o)