April 2017 Empties

*Post contains affiliate links*

I'm finally able to share the products I used up every month now! April wasn't the best for using stuff up, but I currently have a few products on their last legs. 

Starting off with a little bit of skincare, the first product I used up was the REN Mayblossom And Blue Cypress Balancing Facial Cleansing Gel. Phew, that's a long name! I did like this cleanser, but I could only get 2 uses out of it, so it's hard to say if I'd repurchase, if it's still available. It seems like it's nice for oily skin. 

I have been working on the InstaNatural Youth Express Eye Serum for ages! I have a review here and now that it's completely used up, my final thoughts are it's a nice product, but I don't think I'd purchase myself. If you don't have any eye issues except for a tiny bit of dryness, you'll like this. If you have lines, wrinkles, dryness, and every other issue with the skin around your eyes, this isn't for you. 

Last skincare product is from Borghese and it's their Intensifying Moisturizer. I used this as a serum underneath my regular moisturizer, and I really liked the extra hydration this gave. Even though I have oily skin, I've been battling dry, flaky skin in certain areas, and this helped immensely. 

For bath and shower products, I only used up two. My husband helped with the Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Shampoo, and we both liked it. It cleaned well, but I felt like it made my hair greasy faster. 

I don't think The Body Shop still carries this line of shower gels, but the Shower Gels For Earth Lovers in Cucumber & Mint was so refreshing, and my skin LOVED it! It lathered up nicely and left my skin feeling so soft and hydrated, I barely needed moisturizer after. 

The last sort of random product is the Wegmans brand One Daily Women's multi vitamin. What I liked about these is that they contain Folate and not Folic Acid. My body can't break down Folic Acid, which is the synthetic form of Folate, and it's surprisingly hard to find inexpensive multi's with Folate. Definite repurchase!

Number of products used up: 6
Total used up for the year: 22

AS I said above, I didn't do so hot last month. I'm hoping this month will be better so I can make my goal of using up 150 products!

What have you used up recently?

Review: Borghese Eclissare ColorStruck Lipstick

*Disclosure* Products were kindly sent to me for review purposes. All opinions are 100% honest and my own, like always

Hey guys! I got home from work the other night to a lovely package from Borghese. They sent me these Eclissare ColorStruck Lipsticks in 6 different colors. 

I received 6 of the 12 shades available. Here is a description of the product taken from the Borghese website:

Vibrant, color-saturated lip crème. Multi-dimensional infusion of pigment and pearl for a fuller lip illusion. Shine, smooth, creamy, radiant and available in 12 tantalizing, color-rich shades.

I received the colors Verge, Beyond, Halo, Swoon, Dare and Edge. The swatches shown are the lipsticks from left to right on the picture above this one. For me personally, all of these colors except for Halo don't look so great with my skintone. I did like the color Dare when I first opened up the tube, but when I put it on, the shimmers were just out of control. Same with Swoon. Beyond is such a gorgeous dark burgundy/brown shade, but when I tried it on and showed my husband, he looked scared and said it didn't look good at all with my pale skin. I did try all of the shades on my lips, but I didn't take pictures because I was unhappy with how they looked. I had glitter bits all over my face when I took off Swoon and Dare with a makeup wipe. The other shades really feel nice on the lips, are pretty darn opaque, and aren't very drying either. The colors just aren't for me unfortunately. 

These lipsticks cost $25 each and you can find them on the Borghese website. Some of the other colors look nice, but I don't think I would purchase any myself. I'm so grateful to be sent these lipsticks to try, and I really hope this review was helpful to you! Like I said above, I'm always going to be honest whether I'm sent products to try or if I buy them myself.

What do you think of these lipsticks? would you try them?

(CLOSED) Borghese Giveaway!

Hey everyone! If you remember my reviews of the Borghese Eclissare Eyeshadow Palettes and their Lip Glosses, you may remember me saying that Borghese was kind enough to send me duplicates for a giveaway! There will be 2 winners as I'm giving away 1 of the small eyeshadow palettes along with 4 glosses. Make sure to click the links of the review to see colors and swatches of what I'll be giving away! The giveaway will run until March 2nd, so that hopefully gives everyone a fair shot at entering.

There are some rules so please make sure to follow them:
1. This will be a USA only giveaway. I'm sorry to my Canadian and overseas readers, but shipping is just to complicated and expensive for me. 
2. You must follow my blog via Bloglovin' or GFC to be entered, and I will be monitoring that very carefully. 

The first set is the Sultry palette with the gloss colors in Chaos, Odyssey, Omen and Brightside

The second set is the Torrid palette with the gloss colors in Darkling, Simmer, Gilt and Brink




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Borghese Eclissare Eyeshadow Palettes

*Disclosure* I very kindly received these products for review purposes. All opinions are 100% honest and my own, like always :)

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry for the long absence on the blog. The week of Christmas for me was really busy at work, and now that I have a day off, I have alot of catching up to do! At the end of November, I posted a review of the Borghese Eclissare lip glosses and I mentioned that I would post about the eyeshadow palettes I also received separately. Again, I'm sorry this review is up so late, December is a busy retail worker's month!

I was sent the three eyeshadow palettes in the Eclissare collection. There is the Eclissare Color Eclipse Shadow And Light Luminous Eye Palette, the 5 Shades of Sultry and the 5 Shades of Torrid Palettes. First, I'll talk about the larger palette, the Shadow and Light Luminous Eye Palette.

Here is a description of the product taken from the Borghese website:

Neutrals have never looked so good.  Stop and stare dazzling color.  A rich combination of crèmes, soft shimmers and high impact glitters that create a perfect range of neutrals that can take your look from day to night.  Long-lasting, crease-free shadows that are velvet in texture and blend seamlessly.  Everything you need to create multiple looks - light and natural to dramatic and glamorous.
Includes:

-12 new neutral eye shadows that range from light to dark  
-Signature Borghese compact with mirror 
-Dual-ended blending and precision brush for flawless application

I absolutely love how the packaging looks! It's really sleek and fancy looking, to me at least. When I feel the packaging and open it up is when I feel it loses that fanciness. In all honestly, the feel is kinda cheap. On the inside where the mirror is, the black casing is peeling off. The actual product inside though is what's important, though!

The descriptions of the colors are also taken from the website, since I'm bad at describing colors:
Bask - a light, warm-toned creamy-beige with a satin-matte finish. 
Afterglow - a warm-toned medium-beige with a highly metallized.
Pulse - a warm-toned, soft-peach, highly metallized.

Veil - a cool neutral soft-brown with a satin-matte finish.
Muse - a burnished gold with brown undertones, highly metallized.
Ascend - a light, soft-tan with yellow undertones, satin-matte finish.

Wane - a rich medium brown with warm undertones, satin-matte finish.
Impact - a medium rose-copper, highly metallized.
Downfall - a dark brown with depth, matte finish.

Out There - a medium pewter, highly metalized.
Shroud - a deep charcoal-grey with blue undertones, highly metallized.
Immortal - a deep charcoal-black with subtle silver glitter

Swatches from top to bottom: Bask, Afterglow, Pulse, Veil

Muse, Ascend, Wane, Impact

Downfall, Out There, Shroud, Immortal

These are some of the best eyeshadows I think I've tried, ever! Seriously, these are incredibly pigmented, they blend really well, and look gorgeous on the eyes. I know the lighter colors are hard to see, but I think it's because I'm so fair. The darker colors are so beautiful for a smoky eye, and the lighter ones are great for everyday use. This palette does cost $55, which makes the shadows worth it, but the packaging can use some work, that's for sure! I also should mention, it does say that this is made in Italy, but I don't know if that means the shadows are made there, or everything is, including the palette itself. Either way, these shadows are pretty darn awesome! I also have not used the brush it comes with, but it's a double-ended brush that has a flat shader type end and fluffier blender type end. I'm usually not a huge fan of double-ended brushes that come in palettes, but this one is soft and seems like it would serve a purpose.

The smaller palettes, the 5 Shades of Sultry and 5 Shades of Torrid are made of the same packaging as the larger palette. These ones seems alot more sturdy and less cheap feeling. They also come with a mirror on the inside just like the larger one, and they each retail for $29. 

First, here is the Torrid palette:

Wisp - a light, matte-finish ivory.
Kindle- a soft champagne taupe, satin-pearl finish.
Stoke- a medium brown, warm undertones, matte-finish.
Sear- a deep brown, matte-finish.
Torch- a medium champagne, pink overtones, highly metallized

This is another great palette for everyday use, but you can use the last couple shades to make it darker and smokier. These shadows are just as pigmented and blendable as the large palette is as well.

Here is the Sultry palette:

Lit- a light white-silver metallic pearl.

Vapor- a medium grey, blue overtones, metallic pearl.
Smolder- a dark smoky charcoal, high frost finish.
Fume- true black, matte finish.
Scorch- medium, glitter-laden graphite-grey.

Talk about deep and dark! Sultry is the perfect name for this palette as you can tell. I think this palette is great if you love a good dark, smoky eye. I also think this would be great for New Years. Out of the two smaller palettes, I have to say Torrid is my favorite. Since I am so fair, the super dark shades in this Sultry palette can look really harsh on me, but I can work with it as long I take my time and use a lighter hand. Again, these shadows are amazingly pigmented and really easy to use.  

I also have some fantastic news! Borghese was kind enough to send me duplicates of these products, including the glosses I reviewed, so I'll be doing a giveaway! I probably won't have it posted until next week when my schedule calms down a bit more. I am thinking of having two winners though, so I'll be giving away a small eyeshadow palette along with 4 glosses to each person. Or I'll do both the small palettes and glosses for one person. I'm still figuring out the details so bare with me on this! Definitely keep an eye out for the giveaway though. 

What do you think of these palettes? Have you tried anything from the Eclissare line?

Review: Borghese Eclissare Color Eclipse Color Glass Lip Gloss

*Disclosure* I was lucky enough to have the entire collection of Borghese's Eclissare line sent to me. Any opinions are 100% honest and my own, like always!

Hey everyone! I have some exciting posts to share with you today and hopefully later next week. As you can tell from my little disclosure, Borghese sent me their line of Eclissare products. The line includes lip glosses, a large eyeshadow palette and two smaller eyeshadow palettes. I was thinking of combining the posts into one, but I thought it would be way too long, so the palettes will be reviewed in a separate post.

I had heard of Borghese before, so when I received a lovely package from them, I was ecstatic. I had always thought of Borghese as a luxury skincare brand, I had no idea they had makeup as well. I'm not 100% sure when this Eclissare line came out, but from doing some research, I think it may have been launched this past September (don't quote me though!). Anyways, that was a longer intro, so lets get into my review of the Color Eclipse Color Glass Lip Glosses. 

First, here is a product description taken from the Borghese website:
"Lustrous and captivating, Eclissare ColorGlass Lip Gloss is a hydrating lip gloss that offers high shine and color. Ultra-reflective pigment and pearl deliver a luminous glow. Eclissare ColorGlass Lip Gloss are available in 9 new exciting shimmery shades."

I received 8 of the 9 shades that are available and here are the first four:
-Gilt which is a bronze-y goldshade
-Brink which is pretty much a straight up dark brown
-Darkling which is a very beautiful burgundy/berry shade
-Odyssey which is a light bronze/brown shade

Last four:
-Brightside which is a beautiful pinky champagne shade
-Omen which is a plum-y purple shade
-Simmer which is basically a clear gloss with shimmer in it
-Chaos which is still a clear gloss but has a lot more silver shimmer to it

There is one more color called Spark which to me looks like a dark champagne shade.

Now going back to the description of these glosses, I do agree with them being high shine and hydrating. They do feel nice on the lips and are only a little bit sticky, but not bad. Wear time is alright, about 2-3 hours or so. The color payoff? I don't think it's so great. The darker colors definitely have more pigment to them. These glosses really only seem like topper glosses, if that makes sense. Use a lipstick and top it off with one of these and you definitely have a beautiful shiny look for day or night. 

These glosses retail for $21.50 each and you can find them on the Borghese website.

What do you think of these glosses?