Boscia Makeup Breakup Cool Cleansing Oil - Review

I've had a travel size of this cleanser for months, but I was afraid to use it since I didn't like the Boscia Detoxifying Black Cleanser (review here). But I've been pleasantly surprised by this product.

I has a scent of menthol in my opinion, though it doesn't irritate the skin which I like. It's easy to massage into the skin and it is really good at breaking up makeup and cleanse the skin. When you add a bit of water the cleanser turns milky and I think this really helps making the product easy to wash off and prevents you from having an oily film over your skin.

I do like this cleanser, but for the prize I think there are a lot of other cleansers out there that does the same thing for less money.
I've done a review on the Una Brennan cleansing oil and I think that's a good affordable option. (review here) 

I hope this was helpful

~Kira

Lip oils - comparison

My lips have been dry lately and I've started to use my lip oils more. Even though both products are lip oils there is a big difference between them.

Clarins make amazing lips products and these oils are no exception. They feel moisturizing on the lips, and give a glossy finish.

YSL made the tint in oils, but the oil is not as moisturizing as the Clarins oils, and honestly I don't like the smell of the YSL oil, to me they smell like chemical fruit.

The Clarins oils look like they would give a color to the lips but I don't see any color when applied to the lips.
YSL has a lot of color and they give a really nice tint to the lips if you choose one of the more vibrant colors like the two shown above.

If you're looking for a moisturizing oil that will hydrate and stay on your lips longer than a lip balm Clarins is the way to go. But if you want some color with a bit of gloss and moisture then go with YSL, if you don't mind their smell.

~Kira

Clarins - Radiance Plus Golden Glow Booster - Review

I've never been a fan of self tanners. I can't apply them right no matter how hard I try, so when I saw this I was curious to see if this was easier to apply.

I've put this to the test for a couple of months now, and honestly I have a love hate relationship with it. The first many times I tried it with a Clarins body cream and I hated it. It didn't sink into the skin. It would get streaky and if I scratched my leg the tan would come off.

Then I tried it with my Nuxe dry oil and now I love it! It sinks into the skin super fast and it doesn't transfer to clothes and the color is so much easier to get even because it's easier to mix the tanning drops into an oil instead of a cream.

I usually mix 6 drops of tanner into a coin size amount of dry oil and rub my legs with the mixture. My legs get a golden glow immediately and if I do the same mixture the next day my legs look visibly tan.

I usually just do the tan 2 days in a row since I find that it gives the most natural results for my pale skin. But you honestly wont get self tanner results with these drops. They're good for prolonging the tan you already have or just give the skin a healthy glow.

Clarins also do these drops for the face but looking at the ingredients it's the same product just in a smaller bottle, so if you want to try these tanning drops go with the big bottle, it'll work for both body and face and you'll get more product for your money.

All in all I do like this product as long as you remember that it's not going to give a whole lot of color, probably why they named it "golden glow" cause that's exactly what it will give you!

~Kira

Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette - Review

So highlighter is all the rage right now and I've seen this palette in a couple videos on YouTube, and people seem to love it. I've never really been into highlighters because of my oily skin, but since this is a drugstore item I thought I would give it a go.

First off, this is absolutely stunning inside and out. The shiny gold packaging makes it seem very luxurious and the colors in the palette are beautiful.

There is one cream highlighter a powder and two baked powders in this palette.

Ecliptic - cream bronze
Hemisphere - baked lilac
Subsolar - powder yellow
 Equinox - baked champagne gold

(bottom to top: Ecliptic, Hemisphere, Subsolar, Equinox)

On the box you get a guide on how to use every shade, but you can of course use any shade where you prefer. The directions on the box are - Ecliptic on the browbone, Hemisphere on the cheekbones, Subsolar on the bridge of the nose and Equinox on the cupid's bow. 

Personally I do not like to highlight the bridge of my nose, so instead I used Subsolar in the inner corners of my eyes and that looked very nice. I used the other shades as directed and I liked the look except Hemisphere didn't look that good with the brown blush I was wearing that day, so I would suggest matching Hemisphere with a pinky blush. The Highlighters does not show up as colorful as they are swatched in the picture, only Hemisphere has a slight pink purple hue when blended out, which is why I think it would look great with a pink blush.

I've heard people say that it is not possible to use the cream highlighter as an eyeshadow which is true if you're trying to use it as an eyeshadow base. I tired making an eyeshadow look with the cream highlighter as an allover color and dabbed a bit of the purple highlighter on top and it looked great! And it lasted like all my other cream eyeshadows with a primer underneath, but you will need a primer for these to stay on your eyes. 

I really love this palette and I think it has many uses, plus I've seen another blogger say that Equinox is a Becca Champagne Pop dupe, but she didn't include a picture of the two compared though she had both products, so I'll just take her word for it. 

I hope this was helpful!

~Kira

eBay finds - Drew bag dupe

The Drew bag style has been very trendy this year and pretty much every store does their own version of it. I've needed a small black bag for a while now so when I saw this dupe on eBay I was very happy.

The look of the bag is very much like the Chloé bag except the materials and the inside of the bag. This bag has a zip pocket and an open pocket for a phone. The bag feels very sturdy and seems to be very good quality for the money.

This bag works at both cross body and as a hand held bag. The bag is very secure with the lock mechanism and I really like that, plus it looks pretty cool and adds detail to the bag.

If your not into this particular bag Topshop makes a similar one but I absolutely loved the color of it.

The Topshop bag is slightly more girly looking because of the colors and it doesn't have the cool looking lock. Still the bag is beautiful and also had a zip pocket and a pocket for a phone plus a slot for a credit card.

This bag closes with magnets and isn't as secure so I would keep that in mind when your out and about. Other than that it feels sturdy and good quality, and it should because it was twice the price of the eBay one!

Sadly the eBay seller sold out of the bags and hasn't relisted anything new. But I found these that look very much the same here

~Kira

Comparison - Clarisonic, Konjac sponge and Foreo dupe

I've been using cleansing tools for years now, and whenever a new tool comes out I wonder if it's better than what I already have or if it's worth the money, since most of them tend to be very expensive.

The most popular tools I've seen are the Clarisonic, I have the Mia version, and Konjac sponges, and recently I found a Foreo mini dupe. I bought the dupe since I can't afford the real thing but wanted to test if this kind of tool was better than what I had already tried.

Clarisonic: This was my first cleansing tool and I was really happy with it for a long time. Then I had to buy new brush heads and realized that they were very expensive and usually they didn't last the 3 moths they were supposed to. I found them hard to clean and they started smelling funny. It was nice for gently scrubbing my face clean, but only for a short time, because I had a hard time cleaning the brush properly which resulted in bacteria growing in the brush.

Konjac sponge: I bought this after my Clarisonic in hope that this would be as good as the hype said. This sponge blew my mind! It exfoliated my skin so gently but still removed all traces of dirt from my skin. I notice my skin get smoother and clearer. The sponges are super easy to clean and even after 3 months, when they recommend you to change the sponge, it didn't look or smell weird. I do believe the material the Konjac sponge is made of is something bacteria can't grow in, but I'm not sure. I any case I haven't had problems with them at all and I have actually used sponges for 4 months with no problems.

Foreo dupe: I was very curious when I saw the new Foreo cleansing tools that didn't have to be replaced every 3 months and was made so bacteria couldn't grow on the tool. But I had no money, and at the time I was very happy with my Konjac sponges. When I saw this dupe I jumped on it, cause I really wanted to know if it would make a big difference. I tried it a couple times but wasn't impressed. The vibration made my dizzy and I didn't feel like my skin got the exfoliation I wanted. But I stuck it and noticed that the blackheads on my cheeks, forehead and chin were gone. The tool does say the vibration will unclog pores but I didn't think it was possible after I first tried it. I've gotten used to the vibrations now so I don't feel dizzy anymore and I really enjoy using this tool. Because it's made of a rubber material it's super easy to clean.

In my skincare routine right now I use the Foreo dupe and a Konjac sponge. First the Foreo dupe to clean my skin and make sure my pores are unclogged and then I'll use the Konjac sponge to gently exfoliate dead skincells off. This is a winning combo for my skin and I get both the Foreo and the Konjac sponges on eBay for a very good deal. I usually buy Konjac sponges in a pack of 4 which will last me a year since every sponge will last about 3 months. The sponges on eBay are only a couple dollars for a 4 pack and I'm happy to pay that because the Konjac sponge really is a great tool. I got the Foreo dupe a little over a month ago and it's still going strong on it's first charge. 

I recommend Konjac sponges and the Foreo dupe to everyone, they're super great at cleaning your skin and they both come at a very good price.   

Earlier review and eBay link to Konjac sponge is here
Earlier review and eBay link to Foreo dupe is here

I hope this comparison was helpful!

~Kira 

Charlotte Tilbury - The Spy Who Loved Me dupes!

A while ago I bought this little eye and lip/cheek duo from Charlotte Tilbury. When I started swatching it I was pretty sure I had cream blushes that was similar, but it turned out that all my cream blushes were way off in color. However I do have a lip color that matches the color and two eyeshadows that matches as well!

Here you can see the two eyeshadow sticks pointing to the eyeshadow shade in the duo and the lip color pointing to the lip/cheek color in the duo. At first glance it doesn't look like they will match but they really are great dupes!

The Charlotte Tilbury swatches are marked with a "CT". The 3 bottom shades are the eyeshadow and the two on the top are lip color.

Dupes for Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow shade:

Clinique - Chubby eyeshadow stick in Ample Amber: This dupe is pretty much spot on. The color looks identical and the texture of the product feels very similar. The eyeshadow is great and lasts all night on my eyes with primer. Highly recommend this one!

Rimmel - Kate shadow sticks in 100 Rose gold: When you swatch this it will be way too dark, but when it's blended out the color is very similar to the Charlotte Tilbury shade and it lasts just as long on the eyes with primer. The eyeshadow stick is very pigmented and you only need a little bit to blend it out to look like the more expensive shades. By far the best buy for drugstore makeup!

Dupe for Charlotte Tilbury lip/cheek shade:

Clinique - Chubby stick in Whole lotta honey: This lip color is very similar to the Charlotte Tilbury shade, maybe slightly more on the pink side where the CT shade is a tiny bit more brown in undertone. Also the Clinique stick has a glossy finish where the CT shade dries down matte. Otherwise a very close dupe for the lips.

Hope this was helpful!

~Kira