Category: Beauty

Finishing Spray Review: Skindinavia vs. Urban Decay

Published on by Eve Crabapple2 Comments

I never used to use makeup setting sprays until I noticed that for whatever reason (maybe I’m getting old) foundation just would not sit right on my skin after a few hours. No matter what type of foundation I used, long-lasting, oil control, with and without primers and moisturizer, I would see the foundation start to build up in my smile lines and underneath my eyes. It was then that I decided, enough was enough, I couldn’t keep worrying about what my foundation looked like during the day. I had other, more important things to do and my foundation just needed to figure out a way to stay perfect the whole day. That’s when I decided to try out these sprays. The logic made sense to me. Like hairspray to keep your fly aways put, a makeup spray to keep your face put. So today I bring you a review of two of the most popular makeup setting sprays.

I will start with the Urban Decay All-Nighter Spray since that is the first one I tried. I originally got this to use on my trip to Tunisia because I wanted to see how it would hold up in the Sahara heat. I purchased the largest size of 4 ounces, which set me back about $30. Here is the breakdown:

The Good

It definitely helped. The label says that it will keep your makeup looking good for up to 16 hours, on me it lasted 8 hours. I do not have oily skin so I thought it would last longer, but it didn’t. Now, although it did not last as long as it is claiming, I definitely noticed that my smile lines and lines under my eyes wouldn’t start showing until after those 8 hours, when normally they would show after about an hour so. After the 8 hours, I would just touch up with some powder to eliminate any creasing. The other advantage of using the spray is that it would give me a glowy, dewy finish for a few hours as well. Not for 8 hours, but around 3 or 4 hours. If you’re not the type to go for that type of finish, then I would not recommend this spray, because it will make you dewy.

The Bad

The sprayer broke and stopped working! I literally used it once and then it refused to spray anymore. I had to bottle it up into one of those travel size sprayers to be able to use it. I’m sure this probably affected how the product performed on my face since the spray nozzles were different but what happened, happened, so it’s going in the review!

Not a bad turnout for Urban Decay but because the situation with the spray nozzle annoyed me, I decided to try something else after I used it all up. I had seen that Skindinavia’s Makeup Setting Spray had gotten better reviews that UD’s so I thought I’d give it a try. Again, I bought the 4 ounce size and it cost me $29, so no meaningful difference in cost between the two.

The Good

The spray nozzle works! It’s the little things in life that really count and having a nozzle that sprays a fine mist without breaking is one of those simple things that make all the difference. Perhaps because of this, the lasting power is much better on my foundation. This spray touts a 16 hour hold time and while it doesn’t last me that long, it lasts me 12 hours — 4 hours more than UD’s. When I say “last”, I mean makeup that looks like I just applied it, not makeup that is still technically on my face. So for those 12 hours, I don’t have any creasing and I don’t have to touch up.

The Bad

None. I love it. It’s perfect. I’m set for life (pun intended).

The Verdict

Skindinavia wins! It lasts longer and the nozzle works for me so I’m happy. Maybe Urban Decay’s result would have been different if I didn’t have to use an alternative nozzle, but who knows? I am so happy that I discovered setting sprays in general though, they really do work! If you find that after some time your makeup is not looking fresh, you should definitely try one. All brands usually have a travel size spray so that you don’t have to commit to a full size one if you are unsure. I recommend Skindinavia’s spray because it worked better for me and because although this wasn’t a problem for me, there are some reviews saying that UD’s spray led to break outs and I couldn’t find any issue like that with Skindinavia’s.

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Beauty Review: YSL Black Opium Perfume

Published on by Eve CrabappleLeave a comment

If you follow my Instagram you will have noticed that I posted a picture showing that I used up all of my YSL Black Opium. I purchased the smaller 1.6 ounce size since I wasn’t sure if it would suit me despite its rave reviews from everyone in the world. I bought this at Sephora in early October to use during my trip to Tunisia and I used it on average 3 times a week (mostly because I would forget in the morning) since October. For a daily user of this perfume I can image it lasting at least 3 months based on how long it took to spritz my way through this bottle.

Let’s start with the bad and end with the good because it’s Friday and I want to end on a happy note.

The Bad

When I used this at around 7AM by around 12PM the scent was gone. Since this lasted me only halfway through my day I invested in a portable perfume atomizer so that I could top up during lunch. Perhaps this is an average number of hours for a perfume to last but I’ve used perfumes that would last me the whole day from 7AM to 7PM that weren’t as expensive as this one. The lasting power for Black Opium just wasn’t there for me.

Secondly, while strangers and friends would compliment me on the scent, I wasn’t that partial to it. This is definitely an intense, darkly sweet scent that I didn’t enjoy on myself even though others liked it on me. I did start to like it once it had been on my skin for a couple of hours and the top and middle notes had evaporated, but by that time I would have only had about 3 hours of a scent that I actually did like. It isn’t smart for me to purchase a perfume for just its base notes.

The Good

While the actual product didn’t please me, I’d like to give YSL recognition for the packaging. It is beautiful. Consisting of a shiny black bottle shot through with subtle pink glitter with a glass peephole in the center that reveals the light pink liquid — it perfectly reflects the whole feel of the perfume. It tells you that it’s sweet, feminine tones are surrounded by a dark, heavy domination but still shine through at just the right angles that surprise and delight you.

The Verdict

It isn’t for me. However, I can see why it would be popular because of its packaging and mysteriously almost sickly sweet scent. It’s funny that other people liked it on me but I only like the perfume once it has sat on my skin for a couple of hours, but nobody has time for that. So now I am back to my signature Bvlgari White Tea scent until something else comes my way. Let me know if you guys have any recommendations for me for a spring or summer perfume for the upcoming season!

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My Scathing Beauty Review

Published on by Eve CrabappleLeave a comment

This is my review of the Yes! to tomatoes clear skin acne pore scrub. Normally, I don’t bother doing reviews of beauty products because there are people out there in internet land who have probably already done one better than I can do on a huge number of products that I couldn’t use in ten lifetimes. However, I feel very strongly about this product.

In short, I really dislike this face scrub. This is the worst one that I’ve ever tried. Again, not that I have tried an entire aisle’s worth at Bartell’s, but I’ve purchased and used up a fair share to know what a good scrub should be like. It should be grainy, but not lacerating, it should feel like you are scrubbing away any trace amounts of makeup, sweat and grime from the day while revealing the fresh and smooth skin underneath. As you pat your face dry, your skin should feel squeaky clean and ready to drink up whatever moisturizer or serum that comes next in your skin care routine.
If what I just described to you sounds like a face scrub you’d like to try, then don’t buy this one. I have two main gripes with this product, firstly, the size and sensation of the beads and secondly, the inability for the product to remove even the most tiniest amounts of foundation, or lotion or liner from my face.
Let’s start with the beads. The beads are rough and I don’t have particularly sensitive skin. So it doesn’t feel as though I’ve gotten rid of the dead skin and other matter from the surface, it feels like I’ve just taken sand and rubbed it on my face without actually removing and revealing a cleaner layer. It’s as if my old, dead skin cells are still on my face, but just scratched up — not a nice sensation. Also, because the beads are very small, a slightly annoying occurrence that would happen frequently is that they would end up in my lashes and make their way into my eyes. Again, just not a pleasant experience.
On to the actually cleansing aspect of the scrub. I have never had a face scrub or face wash quite do what this one does. It’s like this: it’s the end of the day, you get home, you use a cold cream or makeup remove to remove your makeup and despite doing your best to remove every single patch of foundation and every smudge of liner, there will be some makeup left on your face before you go to use this scrub. Now, normally, this isn’t an issue and a facial scrub will be able to fully remove whatever traces were left, but not if you are using this scrub. I’m not sure what ingredient is specific to this scrub that makes it react the way it does to makeup, but unless your face is a clean surface to begin with, this scrub will take whatever trace foundation remains on your face and turn it into this stubbornly greasy film that just coats your entire face and it will spread your mascara and liner around until it completely smudges around your eyes. I understand that a face scrub is not a makeup remover and I was not using the product in this way, but I would expect that whenever I wash my face with any product, it would make my face cleaner and not coat my face in a greasy film. After using this scrub I end up having to use a different face wash to get my face clean.
So there you have it. I am not one to write negative reviews or positive reviews of makeup products, just because I feel like there are other blogs that specialize in that type of content, but this is one that had to be written due to the very strong feelings I had about it.

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