Over Mardi Gras weekend, theBalm had a sale, so I thought I would try out some of their products. I'd had some eyeshadow, lipstick, and eyeliner in my Amazon shopping cart for a while, so the sale at theBalm's web site made the purchase irresistible. I was going to get the same things from the sale, but the lipstick I wanted ("Committed") was sold out, as was the eyeshadow I wanted, but I did get their Schwing Eye Liner and Meet Matt(e) Hughes lipstick in a similar color, "Honest."
These purchases were delivered yesterday, so I thought I would give them a go this morning and see what I thought of them. My criteria for a good eye liner is as follows:
The applicator needs to be able to make a wing point that could draw blood
The liner itself needs to be thin enough to create said wing, but thick enough that it doesn't run into my eyes before it dries
Smooth to apply; no clumps
Dries quickly
Doesn't make my eye lids itch (I have this problem with a lot of liners) or swell up
Lasts all day
My criteria for a great lipstick are these:
Color looks great with my skin tone and makeup style
Lasts for at least a few hours
Doesn't get clumpy or make my lips dry or cracked
On the Schwing eye liner: I'm impressed. The applicator is small and sharp and lifts out a goodly amount of liner liquid, enough to make the whole wing and fill it in in one dip, which I like. It goes on smooth and does seem to dry quickly, as I didn't have to keep my lids low for too long while it dried. I've been wearing this application for about three hours now and I don't have any itchiness or swelling, which is a problem I have had in the past with some brands of eye liner.
As you can see, the Schwing eye liner delivered on making a sharp wing. My overall rating? A+! I love it so far! I will update if anything changes by the end of the day or after using it for a week, but the outlook on this one is BRIGHT!
On the Meet Matt(e) Hughes lip stick, the first impression I got from it was the scent of it. I had never really given a lot of thought to how a lipstick smelled, but this was really nice. It has the scent of Peppermint Patties with a strong chocolate overtone to a minty scent. My second impression of it was the color, which seemed really orange. I was a little afraid of how bright orange the color was, but I only applied it to my upper lip and then pursed to get it on my lower lip. After a soft blot with a tissue, I actually really liked the color, too.
I'm not usually one for a lipstick that is so matte as this one is, but I knew what was coming based on the name of the product. I actually like it a lot with my skin tone and coloring, and it seems like it will be good for understated looks. Plus, I've been wearing it for a few hours now, and it is still on, just like when I put it on, and I've eaten some crackers and cheese in the meantime. Makes me a happy glamper.
Overall rating on the Meet Matt(e) Hughes lipstick? A+! I'll definitely be buying the "Committed" color from Amazon next time I place an order.
In this post, I'll be comparing four setting lotions I have used, how they worked on my hair (long, fine, lots of it), their holding power, scents, ease of use, and more.
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have a LOT of very fine, long, straight hair that resists being curly the way a toddler resists liver and onions. I have to force it to have any curl whatsoever, and, even if I do, I literally get one day out a roller set. Curling irons don't work on my hair. I recently discovered setting lotions, remembering that my Grandma and Great-Grandma used setting lotions back when I was a kid - they used Nestle Superset Wave Setting Lotion, which smelled like a combo of Mentholatum and floral perfume - that they would dip combs into and then through their hair, roll onto sponge or plastic rollers and into pincurls, and let dry overnight. Being that I was 4, I don't remember how long their curls lasted.
Below, I have rated the products for Ease of Use, Scent, Drying Time, Curl Production, Hold, and Length of Set.
I should note here that no person or entity is paying me for these reviews. I am just your average user who is looking for a product that works and I am sharing my experience with y'all. The following reviews reflect my experience with these products.
This is a photo of my hair when I do nothing to it:
A photo posted by ✨Molly Starlite✨ (@sixstringlass) on
A plain water set might last me a few hours, if I am lucky. Honestly, pincurling my hair while it is damp from a shower or swimming is pretty much a waste of time. After a few hours, my hair has a slight wave to it, the ends are probably frizzy as all hell. Not cool. Here's a pic:
Lotta Body Texturizing Setting Lotion Ease of Use: 4/5 Curls Scent: 5/5 Curls Drying Time: 4/5 Curls Curl Production: 4/5 Curls Hold: 4/5 Curls Length of Set: 4/5 Curls Overall Rating: 4/5 Curls Comments: Probably my favorite one. I use this by spraying my combed out hair before I start, and then again at the end before I put on a scarf for the night. Smells like a tropical drink, which is nice, lots of coconut scent, which lasts a long time. I've used this setting lotion with pin curls, magnetic rollers, and sponge rollers, and the curls all turn out about the same: lots of spirals, not crunchy, light and bouncy. At the end of the day, my hair will still look the same as when I styled it after taking the set out, which is what I want. Even after sleeping on the curls, the next day, I'll pretty much have the same look. I can usually get three good days out of a wet or dry set using this setting lotion. Drying time on a wet set is the biggest downside - as it is with all the setting lotions I have tried - but this one dries the fastest on a dry set and holds the longest. To use, I pour it from the bottle into a spray bottle and spray at the beginning and end of a set; that's it. BOTTOM LINE: If you've got long, fine hair like I do, this is the product to choose. Smells great, works well, and, most of all, the curls last a long time. Even with having to find a sprayer to put it on my hair, still my choice.
Lotta Body Setting Lotion (Concentrate) Ease of Use: 3/5 Curls Scent: 2/5 Curls Drying Time: 3/5 Curls Curl Production: 3/5 Curls Hold: 3/5 Curls Length of Set: 3/5 Curls Overall Rating: 3/5 Curls Comments: Related to the setting lotion above, this version must be mixed prior to use, and I think the addition of water adds troubles to the whole process. To use, I fill the spray bottle partially with the setting lotion and then fill the rest of the way with water, using the mixing instructions off the bottle. After mixing, I use the same process to apply: through hair at the beginning and spray over curls at the end. Curls on wet set with this product tend to be a little flat. Also, the drying time is just unbelievable. I have left a wet set with this product in for 22 hours and it was still wet at the back of my head while I was unrolling it, which meant that my hair - instead of being sweetly curled - was just frizzy with a little wave here and there. On a dry set, it isn't a bad product and works like it's supposed to; however, sometimes, the curls are a little on the crunchy side - occasionally, glued together - which makes the brush out very difficult. Why 2 out of 5 Curls on Scent? I dunno. It doesn't smell like anything. BOTTOM LINE: Works pretty well on fine hair; inexpensive option.
Jane Carter Wrap & Roll Ease of Use: 3/5 Curls Scent: 4/5 Curls Drying Time: 5/5 Curls Curl Production: 4/5 Hold: 2/5 Length of Set: 1/5 Overall Rating: 2/5 Curls Comments: I had high hopes for this one, as it was recommended to me by a lady whose hair looked freaking amazeballs and whose set lasted a full week. I wanted that, so I got some. So, it's a mousse, you spritz some in your hand and spread it through your combed hair, then curl as usual with sponge rollers and pin curls. It smells like floral shampoo, neither overtly pleasant nor unpleasant. My hair dried pretty quickly with only slight dampness at the back of my head after sleeping with the set in my hair, about 10 hours. The resultant curls were very "spring-y" and coiled and very soft. However, the curls tended to come out as soon as I started brushing my hair to style it, and, by the end of the day, my hair was just wavy; hardly any curl at all. By the next day, the curls were gone completely and I had to do an up-do. That night, I re-curled my hair with the mousse doing a dry set, and it was pretty much the same story: gorgeous curls that lasted a few hours, only a little bit better than a plain water set. Also, I have noticed that the product made the ends of my hair really dry and it's breaking some at the ends, which hasn't happened in a long time. BOTTOM LINE: I don't think that I will use this product again; I just don't think it works well on fine hair. It's probably a product that works best on thicker hair, or some type other than mine because it really doesn't work for me.
Suavacita Grooming Spray Ease of Use: 5/5 Curls Scent: 5/5 Curls Drying Time: 4/5 Curls Curl Production: 2/5 Hold: 2/5 Length of Set: 2/5 Comments: This comes in a handy pump sprayer that produces a fine mist, so I don't have to mix anything or use my hands to get it in my hair, which is a major win, in my book. Also, it smells like sweet watermelon, which is also a major win. It dries quickly in wet or dry hair, but the resultant curls - using this as a setting lotion - are a bit lackluster and didn't last. However, this product's strength isn't in its curling prowess: it's in smoothing hair as you style it! Right before I spray with hairspray to set my style, I spray some of this on my hair and use my smoothing and teasing brush to get a really smooth hair style on top. Big win. Using it as a curling agent, I didn't get curly, long-lasting hold out of this product, but it works great in other applications, so I will definitely be buying more. BOTTOM LINE: A better grooming spray than a setting lotion, but well worth the money for vintage hair styles; makes for a beautiful, smooth finish on fine hair.
I am a bit of a penny-pincher when it comes to just about everything; when it comes to beauty products, large sums of money are reserved for pretty dresses and eyelashes and eye wrinkle cream and not much else. When it comes to makeup, I tend to just stick to whatever I can get from drug stores on sale or whatever. I'm not too picky: Covergirl for foundation and powders, e.l.f. for most everything else. I did splurge recently and bought a really nice set of makeup brushes. Made my life so much easier.
So, I recently heard about Colorpop lipsticks and someone I know said that they were amazing, so I bought a set of six Velvet Gloss colors from Amazon to try out.
My first impression: the colors I would be getting weren't really represented well in the photos on the web site; the colors I got were pretty much nothing I would ever use. The nude looked promising, but it is too pale for my skin; I look like an alien. The only color that I ended up being even a little bit interested was the red. So I tried the red, and it is a little more orange than I would like, but it did go on pretty well, for all that it is applied with a lip gloss wand.
This stuff dries really, really fast. Like, the first coat was totally dry before I was even finished applying it. I expected that, and I also expected that it was going to be tough to get off, based on the Amazon reviews, so I expected that it would last all day without reapplying.
Not only did it not last all day, my lips felt super dry, and, within an hour, it was flaking off. Two hours in, and my lips looked pretty awful. Ultimately, I wasn't very happy with it, and I have already gone back to my Jordana lipsticks, which, properly applied, do last all day without flaking. To apply my lipsticks, I cover my lips with a light coating of foundation, pat it dry, dust with powder, and then just apply like you would any lipstick. Then, I blot, reapply, blot, reapply, sometimes layering different shades to get different effects. A couple times through, and the color is set and doesn't smudge or transfer or smear or anything. Not bad for $1 per tube.
