Category: product

product, review

Beauty Minerals Eye Cream and Exfoliating Scrub reviews!

christinahopgood
Oh man!  I am SO CHEESED OFF.


So!  Many months ago now, I blogged about how the Beauty Minerals salesgirl sweet-talked me into buying $150 worth of products from her little stall in the middle of the shopping centre.  That $150 only bought me 2 products – the eye cream and the exfoliating face scrub.  Both claim to have minerals from the Dead Sea which makes them super amazing for your skin (the science says, just because).
I’ve been using the exfoliating scrub for ages, whenever I have the time to do so, but only just started with the eye cream as I only just finished my previous stuff.
Here are my reviews (click the links to go to the Beauty Minerals product page):


Exfoliating scrub (the one I got is not on the site any more, but this one is similar).
The directions are as follows: Apply to face and neck in a thin layer, leave for 15 minutes, and then rub it off in circular motions.  When you rub it off, it actually feels like it’s exfoliating your face, and it comes off like eraser rubbings.  Do this over the sink!  Afterwards, your face really does feel smooth and fresh.  It’s a lovely feeling!  I really like this product.
Packaging:  Comes in a nice little glass jar with a screw top lid.  Easy to access the product.
Product: It’s like a creamy moisturiser with little bits in it – the apricot grains.  That’s what is the exfoliating agent.  It smells really nice!  Super easy to apply.
Amount:  A pretty good amount!  You don’t need too much to apply all over your face, so it will last ages.
Effect:  Great!  It really leaves my skin feeling clean, exfoliated, moisturised, and soft.
Price:  RIDICULOUS.



Eye cream (This is what I’m so cheesed off about.)
The directions are as follows:  Pat around the eye area.  Easy!
This eye cream claims to do a whole lot of things: reduce dark circles and puffiness, stop wrinkles forming, cleanse pores, etc. 
Packaging:  Again, in a little jar, smaller than the other.  Not the best packaging for an eye cream, where you are aiming to get a very little amount on your finger.
Product:  It’s very thick, for an eye cream.  More like cheese than cream.  Very difficult to get a small amount on your finger, due to viscosity and packaging.
Amount:  You get a good amount, it would last a long while.
Effect:  I’ve only used this for two nights.  It’s irritated my eyes so much they’ve been watering and burning all night.  I’ve hardly slept at all!  So it has NOT reduced dark circles and puffiness, because I’ve been awake all night crying basically!  I’m really upset by this stuff.  It felt like there was acid in my eyes and I couldn’t wash it out.  By morning I had cried most of it out.  I don’t even know why I used it twice!
Price: RIDICULOUS.


That’s my review!  One very positive, one very negative.  I have sensitive skin!  

product, review

Nivea Q10 Night Creme and Eye Creme review!

christinahopgood


In my constant quest to find a product that lessens or eliminates my dark under eye circles, I came across the Nivea Q10 range.  I bought the night cream and the eye cream.  I know that Nivea spells it ‘Creme’ but we all know that they only do that because it’s fashionable, and it’s not actually how you spell cream.  This is what the Eye Cream blurb says:
With age, skin loses its ability to produce energy deep within the skin’s cells. As a result, wrinkles appear and deeper wrinkles are further accentuated.  
Now enriched with twice the amount of skin’s own CoEnzyme Q10 as part of a high performing Anti-Wrinkle System, NIVEA VISAGE Q10 PLUS Advanced Wrinkle Reducer Eye Creme activates skin’s energy metabolism from within thereby continuously fighting wrinkles in the deeper layers of the skin’s surface. The fragrance-free light, caring formula is easy to apply and quickly absorbed.
Result:
  • Appearance of dark under-eye circles is minimized.
  • Fine lines are visibly reduced within hours.
  • Mimic wrinkles are visibly minimized within3 weeks.
  • Deeper wrinkles are visibly reduced in only 4 weeks.
And the night cream adds:
During the night, when skin is most receptive for moisture intake, the intensively moisturizing formula replenishes & regenerates skin most effectively from daily stress for soft & supple skin in the morning.
So!  It says that appearance of dark under-eye circles is minimised.  I’d like that!  So I started applying both products every night.  Here’s what I thought of them:
Packaging: Win.  The night cream comes in a lovely little glass jar which made it easy to get out.  It’s also blue!  The eye cream comes in a squeeze tube.  Easy to get out but hard to get the dregs at the end.  A bit like a tube of toothpaste.
Amount:  Win.  They both lasted me about 4 months, with the eye cream lasting longer by a few weeks.    That’s a pretty long time, and I am fairly generous when I apply this kind of thing.  I want it to WORK dammit!
Dark under-eye circles:  No effect.  The only reason it would make your dark circles diminish is because the cream is white.  It doesn’t actually DO anything to your skin colour or anything.  People still told me I look tired.
Fine lines:  No effect.  I have fine lines around my eyes – have done my whole life* – and almost have some on my forehead.  While these creams didn’t promote wrinkles, I also didn’t find them diminishing, even after 4 weeks as advertised.


Moisturiser: This is such a good moisturiser!  If you want a great luxurious moisturiser, then this is the stuff.  It’s thick and absorbs well and really does leave your skin soft and velvety smooth.  The reason I stuck with this stuff for so long even after it had no effect on fine lines or dark circles was because it was such a great moisturiser.
Price: A bit pricey I guess.  I think it was around the $25 mark for the night cream and $12 for the eye stuff.  It would be more worth it if it actually worked.
Originally I tried Olay’s product range, but it always burnt my skin.  Nivea doesn’t irritate at all.  All in all, a really nice moisturiser!  I would buy again – but after I finish using my next trial run!  Now I’m using Beauty Minerals eye cream for a while!  Review to come!








*When I was in year 7 I went to a friend’s sleepover and we did each other’s makeup, and the girl who did my eyes said “you have really wrinkly eyes.”  I thought it was such an insensitive thing to say, and it’s really stuck with me.  People don’t realise that the things they say can make such a huge impact for a lifetime.
makeup, product, review

Product review – Garnier Caffeine Eye Roll-On

christinahopgood

So as we all know, I’m a little sensitive about my eyes. I often have kind of wrinkly, dark circles. So my friend recommended this stuff: Garnier Caffeine Eye Roll-On!

The stuff comes in a little plastic tube with a big silver ball at the top – kind of like a giant ball-point pen. You roll it under your eyes and it claims that it tightens the skin, reduces dark under-eye circles, gets rid of puffiness, and refreshes your skin. Sounds super great! However, it’s kind of sticky and you have to make sure it dries properly before applying any makeup – or it’ll roll off in gross sticky chunks.
It is a pretty good product, but I have to admit, the reality is only moderately great.
Claim 1: Tightens the skin. I think this is actually true! It leaves a thin film on your skin, which really does seem like it tightens the skin. It could be that it’s covering up any wrinkles and making them stay put. This might be enough for some people!
Claim 2: Reduces under-eye circles.
Not at all. My dark circles are as dark as ever! The tightening of the skin might give the illusion of reduced circles, but I don’t think it works really. To reduce dark circles I think you probably need bleach!
Claim 3: Gets rid of puffiness. I don’t really have puffiness so that doesn’t apply to me. Puffiness is what I want. I suspect it would work though, because there’s caffeine in it. Or something?

Claim 4: Refreshes the skin. This is true! It feels really nice to put this on! It’s super cool the first few seconds and then it starts to feel warm, at least for me. I really like the cold then hot feeling. It is very refreshing for tired eyes.
Do the results last? No. As soon as you wash it off, the skin returns to its previous state. This is okay, I guess. But it does mean that there’s no opportunity for real improvement, and that improvements are only as good as the amount of product you put on your eyes. It’s just like a prep for makeup, or if you eyes look just a bit lame today.
My friend thinks that maybe different people have dark circles for different reasons – allergies, tiredness, genetics. Mine are because of genetics – my mother and grandmother both have them. So perhaps if your dark circles are because of lack of sleep, or allergies, or something – this product might work better on you than it did on me.
In a couple of weeks I’ll review that super expensive stuff I was conned into buying the other day. I’ve tried it out and it is SO NICE OMG. My face feels so good.