Etsy Review: Herbolution Makeup Cleansing Oil!

I volunteered to be a tester for a fellow Etsy seller's product: Herbolution's makeup remover cleansing oil! I paid for shipping and it arrived within the week!

The oil is quite thick in consistency, so definitely use only a few drops and on a moistened cotton ball or cotton pad. It smells like watered down tea tree oil.

Such a cute little glass bottle and a 10% off coupon!

I normally do not use makeup, but I always use waterproof sunscreen. Right now I am trying a non-physical option: EltaMD spf 50 UV sport waterproof sunscreen. It is extremely hard to take off, so the first thing I did was test this cleansing oil on my face.

First I put two drops on a moistened cotton ball, then rub rub rub!

The before and after looks pretty drastic. It did not leave an oily feeling on my skin, but I put a warm moist towel on my skin anyways, as per instructions. I then washed my face with a facial cleanser and definitely felt my skin being smoother and cleaner on the side I used the oil!

Now to test it on some eyeliner over primer. Products used:

The before:

After equal amounts of time gently rubbing: 

Hmm it seems like Nature Republic is not coming off. Also, the eyeliner is being pushed around on my skin.
MAC and Maybelline came off very easily!

 Some more rubbing, a lot harder this time:

You can still see some eyeliner on the bottom from the Nature Republic!

Conclusion: The cleansing oil takes off gel and pencil liner quite easily, but the waterproof liquid eyeliner required rubbing that may be too hard on the eyelids. I later tested again and found that if I used more cleansing oil it would come right off, but that also left me with greasy eyelids. Fortunately the oil dried relatively quickly.

Recommended use: Spread oil evenly over the moistened cotton pad/ball and use it to break up makeup. Don't expect it to clean everything off! Definitely use another gentle cleanser afterwards to get everything off. 

Summary: Thicker than I am used to for a cleansing oil, but that is easily resolved by spreading evenly on a moistened cotton ball/pad. Would recommend for makeup that isn't very waterproof or for double cleansing. It is better than plain oil in that it isn't very greasy and has a nice tea tree oil scent.

Thanks for letting me review the product!

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for review! I volunteered to review it and paid shipping. All photos were taken by me. Results may vary due to different skin types and makeup used! 

Sunscreen Review: Thinkbaby, Episencial, Burnout Eco-Sensitive

Burnout Eco-Sensitive

My HG sunscreen, Burnout Eco-Sensitive got a reformulation and now I am afraid to use it. According to Amazon reviews, the new one has a terrible consistency and is now full of "bad" ingredients.

New ingredients (according to Amazon):

Active Ingredients: Zinc Oxide (non-nano) 18.9% Other Ingredints: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Water (Aqua), Glycerin, Polysorbate 60, Stearic Acid, Cetyl Alcohol, Sorbitan Stearate, Cetearyl Glucoside, Stearyl Alcohol, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Polyglyceryl-3 Ricinoleate, Isostearic Acid, Lecithin, Phenoxyethanol, Xanthan Gum, Carrageenan, Helionori, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopherol, Ethylhexylglycerin.

Old ingredients (according to my bottle from last year):

Zinc Oxide (non-nano) 18.6% Other Ingredients: Deionized Water, Capric/Caprylic Triglycerides, Vegetable Glycerin, Sorbitol, Imperata Cylindrica (Root) Extract, Caprylyl Glycol, Lecithin, Arabidopsis Extract, Plankton Extract, Aloe Vera, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Citric Acid

It is upsetting that Burnout reformulated it, because this sunscreen has protected me even in 90 degree weather for over 6 hours with no reapplication. I got no burns at all, only a very slight tan.

Episencial

My former favorite body sunscreen also got a reformulation and is now sticky and difficult to spread. It definitely leaves a white cast that you need to rub in. The only good part is that it still provides good protection (read: slight tan despite no reapplication for several hours). It also got smaller and more expensive!

Thinkbaby spf 50+

I bought this sunscreen to replace my HG sunscreen, but unfortunately it does not live up to the raving reviews on Amazon. Yes it is a nice scent and has a lotion like consistency. It is also dry to the touch once absorbed, but does get oily on my combination skin after around 3-4 hours. However, I was burned and heavily tanned in 80 degree weather for 5 hours. I also got spots on my skin from the sun damage. As with my usual use of sunscreen, I did not reapply, but it was ridiculous how tanned and burned I got. I use a lot of sunscreen on my nose, forehead, and cheeks, because that's usually where the sun hits. Surprisingly, that was also where I got burned! I was red and peeling for a week! I cannot believe that this sunscreen is the #3 bestseller and has such high reviews.
I was also slightly burned and tanned in 4 hours in the sun playing handball and again developed spots. I started peeling on my arms, which is also where I apply sunscreen heavily. I don't believe it is waterproof and sweatproof at all. I cannot believe that ThinkBaby has such poor performance.

In short: Thinkbaby has a wonderful lotion like consistency, and does become dry to touch. It should be applied to moisturized skin, or else it will be difficult to spread. However, you will get burned and tanned if you use this under the sun without reapplication. It is also not waterproof.

The search for a new sunscreen continues.

Co wash for Asian hair

After months of trying out co-washing, I finally decided to write a post on how co-washing worked for my damaged Asian hair. I decided to try co-washing because daily shampooing seemed to be drying out my hair even more and caused many split ends.

First, what is co-washing? 

Co-washing is simply washing hair with handfuls of conditioner (no really, one handful for the scalp and one for the ends). The conditioner must not contain silicones, or else it will accumulate and weigh down your locks. The biggest difference between shampooing and co-washing is that you must use large amounts of conditioner and rinse for a very long time to ensure all the conditioner has come out. 

Trial and Error

I have always washed my hair daily and then applied conditioner to the ends, so not using shampoo was a significant change to my hair.

Take 1: V05 Strawberry and Champagne Conditoner

I started co-washing with V05 Strawberry and Champagne conditioner. The first two days my hair felt softer than ever before, but on the third day, my scalp was a bit smelly and my hair was rapidly losing volume. By the fourth day, my hair was matted, so I caved and washed with silicone-free shampoo. This made my hair smooth and full of volume! I stuck with this pattern of washing every 3rd day, but that only made my hair become greasy faster. 

Take 2: V05 Strawberry and Cream Conditoner

I swapped conditioners to V05 Strawberry and Cream, which is noticeably heavier and more moisturizing than V05 Strawberry and Champagne. It actually smelled like Strawberry and Cream! The downside is that it made my hair crunchy after a few days, even if it did smooth down the frizz better than V05 Strawberry and Champagne Conditioner. This is likely due to protein in this conditioner. You must maintain a balance of protein vs moisture in your hair, so definitely don't overdo it with this conditioner!

Take 3: V05 Chamomile Tea Conditioner

This conditioner was more moisturizing than the first conditioner I tried, but it is really hard to wash out, making my roots greasy after 2-3 days, so I still could not escape washing my hair with shampoo every few days. Hence, I had to cycle conditioners to delay build-up. 

Take 4: V05 Vanilla Mint Tea Conditioner

This is my holy grail conditioner for sure, because it cleansed my hair like shampoo and left behind a wonderful scent. It took out the buildup from my other conditioners and gave my roots volume back. At this point, I cycled V05 Chamomile Tea Conditioner with this conditioner and was truly co-washing for a few months! 

The downside is that eventually my hair became too dry from the cleansing effects of this conditioner. In fact, it began to build-up on my hair too! Hence, I was forced to shampoo it out. 

I had returned to the old habit of shampooing every few days, and this was gradually reverting my hair to its old icky state. I also began to lose more hair than usual!

Take 5; Suave Ocean Breeze
This one is quite similar to the Vanilla Mint Tea in that it helps remove build up from other conditioners. In some ways it is even better because I have yet to get build up from this conditioner! The only downside is that it left my ends very dry! 

Current Solution: Mix Co-washing w/ Shampooing and Water-only

To prevent the disgusting matted look, but also the frizzy dry look, I mix the two on a schedule. I wash with either of the Strawberry conditioners for 2-3 days. When my hair begins to lose volume, I wash with Vanilla Mint Tea or Suave Ocean Breeze for 2-3 days. Finally, I lather on the Strawberry and Cream conditioner or Chamomile Tea conditioner so that my locks feel slick. Then I wash it all off with silicone-free shampoo. The next day, my hair is bouncy and shiny. The day after I only wash with water to prolong that state. 

This new cycle has really worked for my hair, making it smoother than it used to be. I highly recommend you to try it too if your hair is damaged! 

On Scents
I think everything but VO5 Green tea conditioner smells wonderful. Suave Ocean Breeze is definitely a gender neutral scent because it smells a bit "salty" like the ocean. Vanilla Mint Tea and Chamomile Tea are definitely sweet smelling teas. Strawberry Champagne does not smell like strawberries at all, and leaves virtually no scent on the hair after washing it out. The strongest smelling one is Strawberries and Cream, which definitely smells like what it should.
For long lasting scent I would suggest Vanilla Mint Tea, Strawberry and Cream, and Ocean Breeze.

On Thickness

Green Tea, Vanilla Mint Tea, Strawberry & Cream, Ocean Breeze

Unfortunately, I ran out of the other conditioners, so I could not get a picture to compare. As you can see, Ocean Breeze is the thickest of them all, while Green Tea is more fluid. Strawberry Champagne and Chamomile Tea have a consistency similar to Green Tea. Due to their fluid nature, more conditioner must be used to really coat the hair to get it to work. 

I hope this long post filled with several months of experimentation helps you transition or make the choice to co-washing! It can be done, even with Asian hair!

Also, I have just opened a new Storenvy! Please check it out. Unlike my Etsy store, I offer flat rate shipping! See here.

Disclaimer: All products were bought by me and all photos are taken by me. Everyone's hair is different, so I cannot guarantee similar results for your hair!

NYC Tudor City Teal, Essie Pure Pearlfection

A review of multiple nail polishes!

First up: NYC Tudor City Teal + Essie Pure Pearlfection

Tudor City Teal seems more of a mint green than a teal, but still a wonderfully bright color for the spring and summer. Application is great; it's not very streaky and opaque with two coats! My biggest gripe is that it dries quite matte, so I decided to layer Essie Pure Pearlfection on it.

No Essie topcoat. Quite matte.

Essie Pure Pearlfection is basically a silver microglitter coat. It is gorgeous and smooths out any bumps in my bottom layers! The combination is amazing in the sunlight and the best part is that my nails were chip free for 5 days straight! 

Gorgeous glitter!

NYC Tudor City Teal and Essie Pure Pearlfection are an amazing combo that I highly recommend. 

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

A small update on my Etsy:

Posted a modeled pic of my gothic cross cuff set recently! Get it here. And stay tuned! 

Review: BSN Matte Sky

B.S.N. Matte Sky with Nicka K Express Fast Dry Top Coat.

I bought this at my local dollar store. It goes on far better than expectations! This is two layers with the NK Fast Dry Top Coat. The first layer goes on streaky, but seems to become a sticky base coat for the second layer, causing the polish to smooth out as seen:

Excuse the bubbles! They are a result of too much topcoat at once. 

Unfortunately, my camera could not capture that it is more teal on the nails than seen in the bottle. Still gorgeous though! A nice summer color without being too bright and pastel. I would definitely recommend it if you can find it. It also seems to be 3-free, which is nice, but smells terrible as with all nail polish.

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

Facial Peeling Gel Review: IOPE Moisture Skin Soft Peeling Gel, Ecopure Aloe Peeling Gel & Etsy Update

As promised, a review of two Korean Facial Peeling Gels! I will be reviewing Ecopure Aloe Peeling Gel and the IOPE Moisture Skin Soft Peeling Gel. 

Both are marketed for people with dry or combination/dry skin, like mine. Ecopure boasts of being 89% natural and "5 free," which is about the limit of what I can understand from the bottle. IOPE was recommended to me by a Korean beauty salon salesperson, who really understood my skin type!

To experiment, I am using them on my hands.

Before.

IOPE is on the right and Ecopure is on the left. Texture is quite different because Ecopure turns a bit grainy just from spreading it and is a bit more sticky because of the aloe content. 

Ecopure on the left, IOPE on the right.

Also note that IOPE has small, blue beads to help with the massaging: 

See the little beads in the photo? I don't think they make a difference.

After rubbing! There is practically no difference in the amount of gel rubbed off. The beads just disappear. 

After cleaning it off, my hands feel significantly smoother. There is practically no difference except that Ecopure will dry a little slower due to the aloe content.

After washing it off. 

Although on the hands it is quite similar, it is a different story when used on the face. Although both do not remove whiteheads and blackheads, they bring them to the surface to make them easier to remove with a blackhead mask or washing off with a  washcloth.

Differences: 

IOPE dries out my skin a lot more, so it actually creates some more flaky skin after the scrubbing on areas that were originally dry and flaky. However, my cheeks are extremely smooth after using it. To combat the dryness, I always use a moisturizing mask or a heavy moisturizer afterwards. The good thing is that the drying effect wipes out acne effectively and even shrunk my pores after a year of use.

Price: Expensive. $30 a bottle (100 mL)

Ecopure is extremely moisturizing, to the point that after use there is no flaky skin and I only need to use some toner. Due to this, I would only recommend it to people who have dry skin, since otherwise it may be overly moisturizing. I have not seen any differences in my pores or acne. 

Price: Relatively inexpensive. $13.95 a bottle (150 mL).

Overall: Choose the one best for your skin type. Both are good for smoothing out the skin, but IOPE does not work well on skin that is extremely dry and flaky. IOPE caters more for people with acne, while Ecopure moisturizes. 

Finally, an Etsy update:

Limited edition! Only one available. It is a cuff to stud earring featuring three mini stars dangling off a silver plated chain. The stud is genuine 925 stamped sterling silver. You can buy it here. 

It can also be seen on tumblr: http://everlastinghail.tumblr.com/  Please follow me!

A special note: If you notice I have watermarked that image, because someone stole my blog picture without permission or crediting me! Please know that all photos are my property, so please do not take them without permission or crediting. You can always ask me first if you want to use something from my blog. This includes text!  

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by any company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

Nail Polish Review: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Clear, Wet n wild Kaleidoscope

I decided to do a very plain, clean manicure featuring only these three nail polishes:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Clear, Nicka K Express Fast Dry Top Coat, Wet n wild Kaleidoscope

My new manicure is a break from all the colorful nail polish. I simply had on two coats of Sally Hansen's Clear, a coat of Nicka K Top Coat on that, and finally some Kaleidoscope at the tips for some sparkle.

 Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Clear is very shiny, and really hardened my nails. The photo below was taken 5 days after my manicure was done. Not a single chip! The only downside is that it takes too long to dry, but I solved that with a coat of Nicka K Top Coat. Since it is in clear, the top coat will not change the color of the polish. 

Sally Hansen clear is extremely shiny! Unfortunately the glitter of kaleidoscope is not captured here.

Although in the bottle, the polish looks dense, the tips took a few strokes to paint such "dense" glitter.

I definitely recommend the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in clear, because it is so shiny, anti-chip, and protects my nails from breakage or denting. Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope is not really recommended, unless you are willing to spend time painting on several layers to get denser glitter. As usual, both nail polishes are below $4, and can both be purchased at the drugstore.


This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by any company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

Nail Polish Review: Nicka K Top Coat, Nanacoco Ocean Blue

Nanacoco Ocean Blue nail polish with Nicka K Express Fast Dry Top Coat.

Taken under indoor lighting. The Ocean Blue nail polish looks very green. 

Ocean Blue was bought at my local beauty supply store for about $2. It is a beautiful metallic nail polish. Although it should be blue, it is much more like green under normal lighting. The second picture is directly under the sunlight, which shows its true blue color. The pictures simply cannot capture its glittering beauty!

Under regular indoor lighting, with the Nicka K Topcoat on. Not a fleck of blue anywhere!

Under sunlight. If you look at the tips, you can see where I repainted, which is a different blue than the rest of it, which has Nicka K Topcoat on it. 

A big issue with this polish is that it chips in a day! It eats through topcoat, so I had 5 layers of the Nicka K Top Coat to make my nails smooth. Even with all that, my nail polish came off in sheets! Perhaps I need a better topcoat.

As for the Nicka K Express Fast Dry Top Coat, it does indeed dry the polish wonderfully in a few minutes and has a gorgeous gloss.
 However, it cannot be used on fresh nail polish, because it will smear! You must wait a bit for the base layers to adhere to the nails. Furthermore, it changed the color of my Nanacoco nail polish into a bronzy green, rather than a blue. So I would take caution in using this on metallics and polishes that reflect light.

Summary:
I would not repurchase Nanacoco Ocean Blue unless I have a good enough topcoat to prevent it from chipping.
I would repurchase the Nicka K Express Fast Dry Top Coat, since it was only about $1 and would be okay to use with regular color nail polish.

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

Nail Polish Review: Nicka K Heart Blue

Another nail polish from the cheapest brand I use: Nicka K in Heart Blue.
In the bottle it looks like a dusty blue, but on the nails its sheen made it have a purple undertone as well.

The formula is quite streaky, as you can see in the photos. It is also really sheer, so even after 3 coats there are patches of translucency.

See how streaky the thumb is?

That translucent patch at the tip!

 I didn't really like the color, so I decided to add Sinful Colors Nail Junkie over it. It then turned into this pretty color! Close up it looks blue, but in certain lighting you can see the teal of Nail Junkie. I personally like this color much better, especially with that light dusting of glitter.

Sorry about the messy nails! I didn't do clean up before taking this picture.

Overall, the Nicka K Heart Blue is not worth the buy, because it would take many coats for full opacity. Even then, the polish would likely be spotty because of its streaky formula. Furthermore, although the basic color matches the bottle, the purple hue makes the color a bit unpleasant to look at. However, it seems to work well for layering under a translucent jelly like Sinful Colors Nail Junkie.

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

Nail Polish Review: Nicka K Sapphire Blue

Another nail polish from one of my favored cheap polish brands. It was only a buck at my local beauty supply store, and seemed gorgeous in the bottle. I was hopping that it would be something like the famous Essie Starry Starry Night nail polish.

3 coats later:

Thumbnail is scratched because it didn't dry even after 3 hours. 

Under bright light, it is more of a light blue. Shimmer could not be captured by the camera here.

Clearly it looked nothing like the bottle, because the blue wasn't a dark navy blue, even after 3 coats. However, the polish is still a gorgeous blue, and is very shimmery like the picture of the thumbnail, because of the dense blue microshimmers throughout. The main drawback is the extremely long dry time. Even after 3 hours, I could still scratch it or dent it by accident. Maybe I should have used a quick dry top coat. 

Overall, an amazing blue shimmer polish that is a great pop of color in this winter/spring weather. But use it only if you are patient enough to let it dry for 6 hours!

UPDATE: This chipped within 3 days! Definitely use a good anti-chip top coat for this one. 

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by the company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me. 

Sinful Colors Glass Pink and Nail Junkie Review

I've been really in to glittery nail polishes lately, and I found this nice glittery teal (Sinful Colors Nail Junkie) and a pale shimmery pink (Sinful Colors Glass Pink) at a Rite Aid for only $1.99 each.

Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

Under direct light, it looks blue, but in regular light it is a teal color, much like  Wet and Wild's Bijou Blue. 

 Although the end result was nice and sparkly, the formula was very difficult to work with, because it was gooey and sheer. I had to use several brush strokes to spread out a single clump of polish. This led to some unevenness on my thumbnail.

See how it clings to the side of the bottle? Gooey!

Two coats provided opacity, but under the light, it did not look like the color in the bottle. Furthermore, it began chipping a day after application, probably because it is gritty and I did not put on a top coat.

Edit: Apparently the gooeyness was because it was a bad bottle! The other bottles were more fluid.
Also the nail polish peeled off! It was like peeling off dried liquid glue. Not recommended! Perhaps a top coat would help?

Sinful Colors Glass Pink

This is a very clean color, very translucent. The formula was fluid and easy to put on, but 3 coats still caused VNL, which I don't mind at all. It has tiny micro glitter, making the nail polish extremely shimmery in the light.
Unfortunately, its shimmer is difficult to capture on camera.

Very translucent! 

Attempt to capture the shimmer in the polish. Notice especially the index and middle fingernails. 

With 3 coats and no base or top coat, this polish lasted about 4 days before chipping! So it has great staying power, unlike Nail Junkie.

Overall, I would recommend Nail Junkie only for single occasion wear, because it peels off so easily, and Glass Pink for daily wear if you want to just have a touch of shimmer on your nails.

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by the company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

Palty Jewelry Ash Hair Dye Review

Sorry I've been away for so long! I went on vacation and bought lots of beauty products, which I will review as I use them!

I have virgin brown-black Asian hair and decided to dye it a few days ago with this Japanese hair dye. It was in a cute pink box and had clear pictorial instructions, but of course, being able to understand a bit of the Japanese helped.

Virgin black hair! 

I squirted the tube of paste into the bottle of fluid and shook it. Then I applied using their given applicator. It was a very simple process. I waited 35 minutes, washed it out, and applied their leave-in hair conditioner, which left my hair very smooth.

After: why  is it brown?!

This would have been rated 10/10 for not damaging my hair and being easy to use if it weren't for the BROWN hair it gave me! It was supposed to have purple undertones, but all I saw was brown, and it wasn't even done evenly.

As you can see here, there is a patch of black at my roots.

After only a few days, the color has already gotten darker, but that may be because I'm not using shampoo for color treated hair.

Overall rating:
Ease of use: 10/10
Damage to hair: a tad drier
Availability: Most pharmacy stores in Flushing and Chinatown
Cost: Inexpensive considering it's from Japan.
Color compared to model's: 0/10 Nowhere near the colors on the box

Maybe it was just my hair, but when my friend used Macaron Beige, her hair turned out brown instead of blonde as on the box. So I'm not sure I would use Palty again.

This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by the company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.

Sidenote: My Etsy store has been on hiatus, but I promise to bring new products soon! Please visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/Everlastinghail  Thank you!

Nicka K Pastel Blue Nail Polish

I've been trying to find a good pastel blue nail polish and saw this for a dollar. I've used Nicka K's glitter top coat before, which gave gorgeous results, so I decided, "Why not?"

Unlike the glitter top coat, this blue came out quite streaky. Only my pinky finger, which required one brush stroke to cover, came out nicely. The polish took a very long time to dry! Hours after application, I still managed to dig into the polish, causing that unsightly chunk in the photo and several scratches. By the next day, parts of the polish was already peeling off. Maybe this was a bad bottle?

The color on nail was definitely brighter than in the bottle.

Under dull yellow light. You can see the chunk on my middle finger.

Under bright white light. 

Overall, not recommended!


This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.

Facial Moisturizers: Bioglo & Clinique

With combination dry skin, so finding a good moisturizer has been difficult, especially because many leave me with dry patches.

I have been using Clinique Moisture Surge for a while, and have recently tried Bioglo Aquavit Water Essence Cream.

Bioglo is obviously smaller, but about half the price of the Clinique moisturizer.

Open containers sitting on their lids. 

They both a cool, gel-like texture that quickly absorbs into the skin, but are different colors. Clinique is pink and Bioglo is a blue-green. Both can be used as masks by simply slathering more on the face and then washing or wiping it off after five minutes.

For those who dislike fragrances, Bioglo is not recommended! It has a pleasant scent, that might be a little overwhelming at first, but it fades quickly.

As a test, I used each on separate occasions after washing my face with a facial cleanser after swimming. Since the chlorine had already dried out my face, I required a lot more moisturizer than usual.

Clinique Moisture Surge
Absorbed very quickly.
Used about a thumb-sized amount to get rid of all dry patches on my face.
T-zone became significantly oily after a few hours.
Caused itchiness on eyelids (inflicted with slight eczema)

Bioglo Aquavit
Cool to the touch, even after slathered on face; absorbed slightly less rapidly.
Used a little less than a thumb-sized amount
T-zone a tad oily after a few hours.
Caused itchiness on eyelids (inflicted with slight eczema)

Overall winner: Bioglo Aquavit Water Essence Cream

Despite it being better in all the aspects I mainly tested for, I would not recommend Bioglo to those with extremely sensitive skin for its strong scent. Since the moisturizers' effects are so similar, I would rather stick with the pricier Clinique, because I prefer my facial products unscented and widely available. 

This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.

Nail Polish Review - Bijou Blue & Secret Admirer

I bought both at Rite Aid for under $2 each!
Wet 'n Wild Shine Nail Polish Bijou Blue - $0.99
This is a very nice teal color with a bit of shine. It requires at least two coats for opacity, but as you can see in my picture, there are still spots. So to be safe, put on three coats. It matches the color in the bottle exactly and looks super pretty! My only complaint is that it's clumpy.

See the translucent spots on the ring fingernail. 

You can see how it clumped a little, making the polish uneven.

Sinful Colors - Secret Admirer : $1.99

This is a beautiful black with tiny, silver sparkles. It truly glints in the sunlight, and because of how compacted the sparkles are, it looks like silver-black from afar. It was very easy to apply, but once again necessitates two coats for opacity. 

In extreme sunlight it looks more like gunmetal.

Overall, I favor Sinful Colors over Wet 'n Wild for ease of application, opacity, and smell. Plus it's cheap!

This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.