Surprising Find on Labels

Hello there! I found a couple of different products at, can you believe it, Walgreens. I really liked these products until I looked even further into the ingredients, so here's my review on them.

 First off is Organix brand shampoo in Moroccan Argan Oil. This scent was $7.99.What I like about this brand is that it tries to be pretty natural, there are no parabens plus it's safe for color-treated hair. It says that this shampoo is sulfate free, but yet it has Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate as an ingredient. So I don't consider it fully sulfate free. I've researched what it is and supposedly, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate is a larger partical than other sulfates so they "can't" be absorbed into your skin. While yes, this exact ingredient isn't as bad as a Sulfate, it can still cause irritation and is still not fully natural. I'm not sure if I want to finish this bottle after reading the ingredients.

I like the smell, it just smells good. Ha ha, I don't know how to describe it to you. This shampoo gets the job done. It does leave my strands squeaky, hard to comb, and also pretty tangled if I don't use a conditioner after, I just use any that I have around.

 The second item I purchased was the Organix brand Cherry Blossom Ginseng shampoo. For whatever reason, this scent costs $1 less than the Moroccan Argan Oil shampoo, so it was $6.99.The same deal goes with this shampoo, you will want to use a conditioner afterwards, unless you enjoy a tangled mess. Ha! I purchased both of these shampoos mainly because I wasn't sure how I would like them, the reason that I got two is because there was a buy one get one free, not 50% off, but free. So I was really happy when the cashier told me this, I ran back and grabbed this one. :)

This one smells so good. One of my favorite smelling shampoos out of any I've ever tried, right after Herbal Essences Color Me Happy. This shampoo is supposed to rejuvenate your scalp and hair follicle, add volume at your roots, nourish your hair, plus add hydration and shine, which I must say it does. I was very impressed with this one. I was going to keep purchasing this shampoo, but I went and recently looked at the ingredients list. I was a little disappointed by what I found, the bottle says "sulfate free" and so does their entire website, but one of the ingredients was Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, just like in the moroccan argan oil shampoo. Because of this, I will not be purchasing their shampoos any more. I don't know if I'll be finishing this bottle either.
 And all this just goes to show you that you can't really trust a label, always look at ingredients. The reason I am being more and more cautious about ingredients is because my I'm becoming more aware of what these ingredients can do and that the ingredients in the simplest things are not as safe as you may think. I'm not liking what I'm finding on my shampo and body wash labels, so I will soon be throwing most of them away. If you're looking at the ingredient lists on things, you'll notice way more than half of them have either Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate or even Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate. Of the three I listed, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is the strongest and most irritating.
 I've found Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, and Sodium Sulfite in my Philosophy body washes (the only two I currently have are Sugar Chick and Aloha Girl, Aloha Girl excluded Sodium Sulfite). Then I found that in my only Bath & Body Works shower gel (Coconut, from their Signature Vanillas) there is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, TEA-Lauryl Sulfate (which is a drying cleanser), and Sodium Laureth Sulfate. I wanted to go on their website to see if all of their body washes contain these, but they do not provide ingredient lists online, and I don't think it's because they don't want anyone copying recipes. Go figure. Looks like I won't be buying body washes from either company now.
 I find it extremely disappointing that companies know that they can make more natural and less harmful products, but yet they still choose to use these harmful fillers. They should be called beauty products for a reason, because they assist in making skin beautiful, and not damaging the skin, but most companies are just interested in making an easy profit. That just makes me want to look harder for better products now.

Walgreens can surprise you, Annie

Sephora Mania!

So I went a little crazy in sephora the other day. I had a make-up artist do my make-up for me, I told her I that I wanted something I could wear in both spring and summer, something that wasn't too bold, but not too neutral. She nailed it! I will explain what she did at the end of my post. :)
Here's everything to be covered. :)

First up is the Nars Illuminator in Orgasm. This is one of their names that will make you blush while asking an employee if they have it in the store. Ha ha. A little bit awkward, but it's a very pretty color. The Illuminator costs around $30. In the swatched photo, the top is just a dab of it, the below it's blended out on and around my knuckle. I really like this color, and it's great at adding a subtle highlight, once you blend it in on your face, there is almost no sparkle. Some people say that there is enough pigment in it to use it as a blush too, but I don't find this to be true.

Now for their Duo Eyeshadow in Sugarland, this goes for $34. In my swatch, the gold is on the top, and the purple below, the purple has a lot of gold sparkle in it, making them very compatible with each other. Very pretty colors, however, the sparkle tends to all go underneath the eye instead of on the eyelid. Even using an eyelid primer, the colors were bleak. The only time that the sparkles seemed to stick to my eyelid and the colors really show up, was when I used their Soft Touch Eyeshadow Pencil in Goddess. However, I decided not to buy it since it costs $24. Bad decision. I suppose that I'll just have to save up and return to get the eyeshadow pencil.

The Nars Eye Liner Pencil in Kaliste is super pretty!! I loveeee the teal color!! This pencil costs $22. I'm sure you could find one that's pretty close in color at a much lower price though. The swatched pencil is darker towards my wrist, and lighter/more blended towards my knuckles. I really don't have much to say about this pencil, I just like it.

The last Nars product I purchased from Sephora is their Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover for $24. This product is genius!! So pretty and wonderful. This is my life saver! Mostly because it stays where I put it all day, pretty much until you eat, even then the pigment still clings to your lips. It's a lot like a lip stain, but more like a gloss when applied, as the day goes on, it becomes more matte. Such a great invention. I love it because I hate reapplying lipgloss or lipstick throughout the day, it is just frustrating. With this product, I don't have to worry. :)

The last product I purchased from Sephora is from Tocca. It's a 1.7oz. perfume called Colette. I really like this scent, it's light and sweet, not super heavy like some of their other ones. All of their perfumes this size are $68. The one thing that I don't care for is that it doesn't last a long time, after about 6 hours I can no longer smell it on my skin. I like to spray it on my neck so that it kinda gets in my hair and on my shirt, so that I can smell it all day long. :) In my opinion, this perfume is worth the money. I had to show you guys the box too, it's so pretty! On the inside flap, it says "Love yourself", aww, so cute. :)

What the make-up artist did:

The woman began by asking me what my typical cosmetic routine consisted of, how often I wear make-up, and what exactly I used (foundation, powder, translucent powder, anything like that). I expressed to her that I generally don't wear eyeshadow unless I'm dressing up, going out, or just feel like looking 'nice', but always wear concealer, BB Cream, and MAC Fix Powder.

 ~Anywhoo, she took the Nars Illuminator in Orgasm and highlighted my face on the forehead, nose, and cheeks.

~Secondly, she took the Nars Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Goddess and applied it all over my eyelids up to the brow, again I soo wish I had purchased this because of how intense it makes my eyeshadow and makes the shadows stick.

~After that was applied, she used the purple from the Duo Eyeshadow (the name of the duo is Sugarland and incase you're not familiar with Nars, they name the duo, not the individual shadows in the duo) and applied the color across my lid up to my crease.

~She next applied the gold color from the same duo into my crease, I was slightly surprised that it looked quite pretty.

~Afterwards, she grabbed the Nars Eyeliner Pencil in Kaliste and lined my upper lid with a thin line.

~Last but not least, she applied the most amazing lip creation pretty much ever called the Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover.

So there you go, I hope this helps give you a new way to use these products.

A day full of happy splurging and wonderful make-up, Annie