During my last drugstore window shopping adventure, I was looking for a new body scrub to try out. Sure I had two favorites (probably the same as plenty others in the world - St. Ives Apricot Invigorating Scrub and Victoria's Secret Garden Love Spell Body Scrub), but a little voice in my head said to try something new. I've always used my two favorites simultaneously - St. Ives for the weekly scrub, and Victoria's Secret for the super scrub sessions. The first is softer on the skin and does a general clear-out of the dead skin cells, whereas the latter is grainier and provides a deeper and thorough scrub (it also has some oils in it to moisturize skin - that kind of scrub can leave you dry as ash if not moisturized!).

As I walked the aisles of the new and improved version of the swanky Duane Reade by Bryant Park (not each one is created equal!), I noticed some goodies. Ice cream cones, bath fizz balls, tubs full of scrub reminiscent of sherbet containers. Was I in a candy store? Nope. This was my first encounter with ME! Bath Products. The brand has an interesting approach to skincare, and if you visit the site, you will find that they have an interesting setup for their site as well!

The sample jars had me sample scrubbing and sniffing jar upon jar of innovative flavors scents (Pomegranate and Hawaiian Plumeria and Freesia convince you?). Scrub granules were on the corners of my nose and my hand with no faucet in sight - if you didn't know me better, I'd look like I had a problem.

Every product has a story, and funny enough, the one I chose is the one they donate a percentage of the sales to benefit Cancer Research. Check it out here!

Tell me when you have a single day of not needing a lip gloss. No go ahead, tell me... I'll wait. If there are in fact days that I can't make it for long without my lip gloss, ipod, or cell phone - I feel naked without these! How sad!

If my bag doesn't have lip products, my money inevitably gets spent on something new. Most of the time it's on a cheap filler product and other times on a great newbie. The case with this Armour Beauty lipgloss was neither. I was at The Makeup Show (and going to the show, you can surely expect to spend money before you leave) and met the folks behind the company. They had a quaint setup for the product, and the packaging is pretty smooth too. I invested in a single gloss and promised to do a thorough review. 

The first major win for me was the packaging. I love a good packaged product y'all. If you're a regular reader on MOJ, you will know this to be a fact. Great packaging is the way into my wallet and heart!

Want to know more about the brand? Check out the info from their 'About' page:

p.s. I'm still figuring out the coding for this darn setup, so instead of having a 'continue reading' link, please click on the post title to read the rest! If you know the answer to my dilemma, I'd love to hear it!

I've said it plenty of times before and I'll say it again - the best part about writing about products and reviewing them is finding new ones. Sure, if you window shop and surf the net you'll find a gem or two, but when you come in contact with multiple brands and immerse yourself into the world, it becomes a bit of a treasure hunt. Even during the instances where I don't find the product fits me, there is usually a method or science to it that becomes my "learn something new for the day."

Enter Perfect Formulas nail polish. As you may now, I'm a sucker for packaging (and purple) so seeing these babies land on my doorstep was the highlight of the day. Check out what they've got to say about themselves:

The worst part of wandering drugstore cosmetic aisles is the inevitable money you will spend or debt you will force upon yourself (ok maybe that's just me). Why?

It's like a Murphy's Law of Cosmetics, whatever new and interesting product you can find that will be irresistible and beg to come home with you, will be found and will have to come home with you. Such was the case with the 100% Pure Cosmetics counter at Duane Reade (yes them again - I told you - they're taking over!!).

At first, just the title was enough to tempt me to take the bronzer home and dissect it.

The product testers piqued my interest twice as much after the super duper smooth application one swipe provided. It was a little pricey though for a beauty junkie like me, so rather than gamble on which color would suit my face, I settled on a bronzer. Who goes wrong with another bronzer in their powdery tan arsenal?

I had a fab photo shoot with the product. The little bird on my cardstock (my secret to the fab backgrounds! shhh!) made me think of Twitter and landing on a branch to nibble on my new bronzing fave.

When I opened the tin, I found that the cap can be used as a mirror - extra useful for on the go application.

The Shecky's Girl's Night Out event is coming up (March 9-12) and I wanted to rave about one of the products I came across the last time I was at this event. Bath by Riley is the cutest company I have ever seen. You know the niche market of ladies having all the products they need in a much more ladylike and cutesy way? Think Juicy Couture, Miss Dior, etc.

When I was at the Girl's Night Out, I came across Hand Candies and fell in love at first sight. Not enough words can describe how cute.

What is it? You probably want to choke me for the build up, but look. Y'all would be short for words too.

Hand Candies are basically little squares of body scrub wrapped as a candy. Take heed in the warning on the website! These look yummy and smell equally so, but they are not for consumption!! They are perfect for trying different flavors without committing to a big bottle of body scrub at a time - and how great is it that there are 40 different flavors of these? Also - these work best with traveling and if you are a stickler for not wanting to dilute your scrub like me. I really hate when my bottles get soaked with running water from the shower as I decide how much scrub I want to use, leave it open etc. The other great side? They are dry little squares, so you really don't get stuck losing a dollop and staring at the floor of your tub wistfully with sadness deep in your heart.



At the event, all the lucky guys and gals passing the table saw Hand Candies in bowls separated by flavor. At the end of the table there was a big sink where you can sample a hand candy. The sampling was the reason why I bought ten hand candies right away you guys. This scrub is not only a highly effective scrub, but it also contains lotion. My hands were so soft after using the scrub that I kept telling my friend to touch them. She wanted to clobber me, but I wanted more Bath by Riley!

If you make it to Shecky's Girl's Night Out (and I would so love to meet you if you do), you won't be seeing Bath by Riley until later in the year. You can check which events they will be gracing here. I can't wait to see what brands and products will rock my world in less than a week from now!

Have you tried Bath by Riley? Are you going to Girl's Night Out?

Share

I have been hearing about EOS lip balm for a while now. The cute packaging, the roundness. Everyone had something to say about it, but I felt a little left out. Not anymore!

After a quick trip to Walgreens, I found a holiday three pack of the buggers still on sale by the counter. The three pack was meant for the winter holidays, but worked for February just fine.

The pack that I purchased had two mint flavors (peppermint and sweetmint - a lot like the Orbit gum!) and a sweet flavor (honeysuckle honeydew - which my mom stole from me). I think the trio I purchased may have had an error as it said that I'd get a summer fruit flavor, but oh well!

There are so many things that I liked about these even before use.

First - the rubberized packaging. Think of a rubber grip cover for your phone. It feels like that but is in a cute round shape.

Second, I already mentioned it - how cute is this miniature roundbottom? If you are a sucker for cute packaging, you won't get far saying no to this.

Also, I am very much a fan of packaging that screws in instead of just popping off. After numerous a handbag accident where a cosmetic item has decapped itself and then proceeded to soil the contents of my bag, I can really appreciate packaging that requires opposable thumbs to open it.


But then of course, we had to open the product for the real review to begin.

All cuteness aside, I was looking for some soft results.

The love story with drugstores and me is that when I wander around aimlessly before my purchase, I am almost always guaranteed to find something new. Either to the market or to just lil' me. This time around? LASplash. I saw these at a Duane Reade. Bright colored eye liquid eyeliners and equally bright colored mascaras.

If you know me, you also know that I try nearly every color mascara out there because I just adore them. The trick to getting the color to pop is to have a dark eyeliner, and/or using a primer for your lashes or a white mascara. This will make the color pop even more (think about mixing paints: a blue will pop more if added to white than if added to brown).

These babies were $6.49 each but I also found them online at CherryCulture.com. The site has a rewards program that is a bit better than Duane Reade so if you are trying to get the biggest bang for your buck you know what to do. Also - I am not sure if other drugstores carry this brand yet. I know Duane Reade has the least amount of BOGO sales out of all the drugstores I frequent (but I still love it dearly). The mascaras on the site are $4.99 each and the liners are $5.99. If you get up to free shipping, you're getting them for a bargain. Also? The brand has eyeshadows, lipglosses, lipsticks, and glitter. You can check out their main website here but be warned they sell for $6.99 (but they have a full collection of ALL colors, and a Twilight inspired glitter mascara collection), so choose your battles lol.

Check out more pictures and swatches below!

After reading past reviews of mine, you would probably come to the correct conclusion that I put more thought into the product than just the product itself. Even if a product is effective, if nothing makes you pick it up from the counter at your nearest store, or from your nearest e-tailer, nobody gets anywhere. The company doesn't get the money they rightfully deserve for a great product, and you miss out on the product experience of having something so perfect for you land in your hand. So companies hire Public Relations and Advertising teams. And Yaya? She tries to pay attention to those efforts as well.

So where does Anatomicals fit in this equation? Well. Let's inspect. Start first with the website here. The page lets you choose if you want to be introduced to the company here or just go straight into a purchasing cloud nine here. Want to know more? Of course you would. The page flashes images and keywords on them. Cheeky. Pimpish. Urban. Lush. Defiant. Punky. Alluring. Etc. Catchy. The company is described to simply trying to make your life better, and says if you are not interested, to click over (won't tell you where, it ruins the surprise!).

Now we stand with a definite opinion about the company. Not sold yet? That's okay. They gave you enough to ponder about. Love it? I knew you would. Enter stage 2. The quirky and loveable product descriptions usually done with white font on bright color block backgrounds. This is for more than just the random 'let's read the label' moment. This makes you read. A bit like the Vitamin Water tidbits they have (on the Dragonfruit one they promise no real dragons were hurt in the making of the drink). You read the clever title and the description.

Now you might be hooked.

I've been seeing a bunch of bloggers mentioning Skin Food Nail Polish, and of course, you know me, the crazy eBayer, I had to get my shopper's delight satisfied. These babies flew over to me all the way from Asia (and of course they probably cost a pretty penny more than you Asian beauties get it for!). I chose some great ones, so keep reading and let me know what y'all think!

Of course, I am not sure what the colors were for any of these, but there were two bottles looking like medicine droppers and the other looks like a normal polish bottle. I got a bright color (of course) and a neutral tone holographic-y shade (which is quite appropriate for work as well!).

Title strike you as funny? I'm on a Beyonce streak so y'all know what the uh oh is!

Nfu oh. I have seen this polish across the net but have only experienced the joy in person. The polishes are wonders in packaging as they come like little bodies with corset handles. The polish that they are well known for are their gold fleck polishes.

The Korean brand has a pleasantly obnoxious collection of colors and products to have an over the top sculptural mani. Just check out their photo gallery and design blog.

I had recent fun with Nfuoh 51. It made me feel like a little kid seeing a magic trick for the first time, because really, I haven't seen flecks inside polish done as well as Nfuoh does it. It looks the best covering dark polishes, but is quite the fancy pants on its own as well. But don't believe me, read on and be your own judge...

One coat, two coat, three coat, see?

I missed the chance to give you the scoop about Inglot coming to NYC a while back (summer to be precise). Around the time of the first Bloggin' Beauts get together, the makeup brand with hues in the 100s under their belt opened their US flagship store in the Times Square neighborhood of my beloved Big Apple. (The store @ 1592 Broadway (between 47th and 48th Street) open 11 a.m. - 12 a.m.!!)

When I started planning my Florida trip for the Artist Summit in Miami, no one could have been any more excited than I when I heard that Inglot was making an appearance.

A Polish brand, slowly making their mark all across the continents, they have been present in the world as a brand for a quarter of a decade and counting. They are creators to over 390 shades for your eyes, and over 200 for your pretty nails. Soon, they'll probably have just as many stores for each color.

About Inglot Cosmetics:

"INGLOT Cosmetics was established over 20 years ago by Wojtek Inglot, a young chemist at the time working in Research & Development for a pharmaceutical company. INGLOT Cosmetics was founded on the principles of combining the most advanced technology and highest quality materials to produce the world's most unique beauty products. The company's point of difference is the freedom and flexibility for individuals to mix and match their own color line from the huge collection of colors. At present, INGLOT has one of the most extensive color ranges of cosmetic collections in the world and works with the best makeup artists to bring the latest trends in colors, textures and form of cosmetics to the market. With several new significant projects being fine tuned in the labs at the moment, coming months will see the introduction of a number of new and innovative products. All INGLOT Cosmetics are produced in the European Union and over 95% of them in INGLOT's own state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities."

Their Canadian website has some info about stores but not products. Their Malta site has some galleries, and the Australian site is under construction... but alas, none with e-commerce. And the one we've all been waiting for? The US store is in the works, but plenty beauty bloggers and product junkies alike have been promised progress, and quick!

Until then, enjoy the images I got for ya, and my two NOTD's for my nail-a-day challenge from their polish (with more on the way). Photos on the left are without flash, photos on right are with flash.


single eyeshadow pans (the refillable choices for palettes is the main pic)


lip gloss pots and trio color cubes


mineral shadows


Inglot Cosmetics Matte Nail Polish in 709


Inglot Cosmetics Matte Nail Polish in 722

These polishes are called matte but I would call them semi-matte, as they are flatter than a cream, but more satin-y than a normal matte.


I thought the polish looked like a yellow peanut M&M candy, so I had to buy a pack to compare. It was a little bit lighter, but way too fun... & yummy! :)

Heard about Inglot yet? Like it?

So now it's review time.

If you're just coming across this post, please make sure to read up on Thevi Cosmetics with my previous post. I tried to appeal to your patient nature and not test the limits by keeping the lengths of the posts manageable.

The products for me, myself, and I to judge?

• Triple Split Shadow in Bistro
• High Impact Lipstick in Plush

As you are reading this review, you probably are equally impressed with the Thevi logo girl as I am on the right. There she is with her hair all waving in the air with her "smiling with her eyes" pose and her fab earrings and top. She's reminiscent in design style to the Stila ladies, but by no means identical.

These are two savvy businesses that understand that the customer can relate better to an illustration than one single person (we are a judgemental bunch aren't we?).

Coincidentally, the logo lady can serve as a doppelganger to Thevi founder Thevaki. Don't you think?

Review (5 highest, 1 lowest):

Packaging: 5 out of 5 (it's super chic - you feel fancy just holding it)

Price: 4.5 out of 5 ($15 for the E/S $13 for the Lipstick at their website)

Quality: 5 out of 5 (they are super pigmented & are super light)

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 (I would love to be able to have a larger color selection)

Obviously I only used the lipstick for that swatch. Here, in addition to the Triple Split Shadow, I used Laura Geller Eye Spackle, a medium shadow brush, and Maybelline LashBlast mascara.


So here's what I did - after using Laura Geller Eye Spackle as base, I tested the shadow wet and dry.

Then I did one eye with a blended smokey look and one with a more regular, less dramatic look (which I would consider more appropriate for everyday/work). I added a second picture b/c they had better angles of the look.

My Verdict:

I am very happy with this brand. It is a completely new brand to me, so I had no bias when I started the review.

The eyeshadow is super pigmented and goes on like silk on your skin (like when I did the swatches) and your eyes. It looks great no matter if you apply it dry or wet, and is super long lasting. Another plus is that it blends very easily. I didn't try it out on it's own without a primer - but really - y'all should be using primers if you wear shadows - it just holds better.

The lipstick impressed me more than the shadow. It's super creamy and almost feels like lip balm. It's effortless, and though I didn't pick the most everyday shade for myself, I will be mixing this with other color, because it feels lovely.

The pricing for these two is $15 (E/S) and $13 (L/S). It's a bit more than drugstore cosmetics but not nearly as much as higher end products, with as much quality.

The only negative I have for this is that I would like to choose from even more colors. This of course is less a negative as it is a work in progress, as the brand expands.

I'd say it's a definite buy and that given the chance you should try it out!

Don't forget to read my first post all about the product line!

To prepare you for the review coming up, I would like to introduce you to Thevi Cosmetics.

So what is this Thevi Cosmetics line exactly?

"THEVI Cosmetics is a sleek modern line that celebrates color influenced by lifestyles and traditions. THEVI Cosmetics targets the New Ethnic market -- women to whom rich and vibrant shades represent beauty as a way of empowerment in both their professional and personal lives.

The tagline “Inner Beauty Made Visible” captures THEVI’s mission to express women’s lifestyles and traditions through color that truly shows up on diverse skin tones."

Yes - hello to you too - clearly this is the best product description I have ever read.


More you say?

I also thought it'd be neat to find out more about Thevaki - the creator of the line.

Where can you buy Thevi?

Though they plan to get to a retail counter near you this year, they are currently only available at www.thevicosmetics.com.

Well, what do they carry?

"Products include a Longlasting Lipliner, High Impact Lipstick, Longlasting Eyeliner, Lush Mascara, Eye Shadows, Matte Blush, and Liquid and Powder Foundation, all in a vibrant range of shades. You can also find a Brush Collection for easy application. Prices range from $16.50 to $38.00." Products are talc free and oil free as well as hypoallergenic.

Check out their:

• Website! first and foremost duh! :)
  
• Facebook Page (check out the photo album for looks you can create with their product!).
• Thevi's Blog you can find coupons and special deals here.

See what others have to say about Thevi:

• Cornell Chronicle interviewed the creator here.
• AskMeWhats did a review of the products as well!
• Thevaki also did an interview for AMomInRedHighHeels.
• Check out their own list of press features.

Keep reading for my review!