CVS Cocoa Butter Dry Oil Review

I was in CVS today and bought a ton of Maybelline products, which I will be reviewing in the coming days.  But I also found myself wandering in the skincare aisle and saw CVS Brand Cocoa Butter dry oil spray.

I have really dry skin, and I'm always looking for the next best moisturizer.  I love dry oils because the soak right in and leave your skin velvety soft without feeling greasy.  I also find that oils hydrate the skin longer than lotions, and work wonders if you use them when your skin is slightly damp from the shower.

This product comes in a spray bottle that is actually a continuous spray, so you hold it down once and it keeps going.  You can get every angle even your back pretty easily and it just mists on, rather than coming out in globs.

I used it today and here's what I found: 

Pros:

Intense moisturizers- Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Brazilian Nut Oil and Sweet Almond Oil. 

Leaves a gorgeous sheen on the skin. 

Soaks right in- no greasy feeling.  Skin feels like velvet.

Sprays a light mist

Smells like chocolate

 

Cons: 

Smells like chocolate. 

Ok, so I wanted to love this product so much, because the product itself is fantastic!  At first, I loved the chocolatey smell,  but at work, and the guy at the cubicle next to me started calling me Swiss Miss, saying that I smelled like "one of those packets of instant hot chocolate".  All day long, everyone who came over to my side of the room asked what smelled funny.  Then I got home and my fiancee said, "you smell really weird."  I told him the scent was chocolate and he said, "well, it's gross...sorry!" 

So...if you buy this product, be prepared for comments- good and bad. 

Unfortunately, I will be returning this because I can't take any more of the comments and the smell is so strong, that it lasts for hours and hours.  

CVS if you're listening, can you please, please, make a dry oil without a scent? 

XOXO Jenna

Neutrogena Clinical Review

 I wrote a post a while back on the new ion technology skincare, but I hadn't purchased it because I was still using my Garnier Ultra Lift Pro Gravity Defying Cream which I love and will definitely buy again! But, curiosity got the best of me- I can't resist a product that promises to prevent and eradicate wrinkles. 

So I purchased the starter kit at Walgreens, which has one tube of the Ion2 Serum, one tube of the Eye Activating Cream, and one Tube of the SPF 30 Activating Day Cream.  The kit orignally retailed for $40, but Walgreens was running a special for $10 off the Starter Kit.

According to the package:
"Healthy skin naturally restores itself with positively charged ion flow, which facilitates cell-to-cell communication. Dermatologists are now recognizing that as we age, this flow diminishes, leading to a breakdown in collagen that causes skin to lose shape and definition."

First, you apply the Ion2 Serum, which is gray in color (it goes on clear) and feels very silky, almost like primer.  Then you apply the eye cream and face cream to activate the serum.

Pros:  

• Makes the skin feel amazingly smooth and gets rid of redness. 
• Leaves skin perfectly primed for makeup. 
• After 4 weeks of use, the few wrinkles I had are, in my opinion, 90% gone!!
• The eye cream is one of the few that can be applied all around the eye, even on lids. 

 Cons: 

• The price is a bit higher than other drugstore anti-aging products. 
• The sizes of the tubes are smaller than other drugstore products.

Overall: 
I am extremely happy with this product!  It has worked better than any high-end product I've tried from Sephora and department stores.  It took a few weeks to see results, but that's normal in the skincare world.  Your skin takes about a month to shed and generate new skin cells, and many people get frustrated with a new product when they don't see results in a week.  My advice is be patient!  Oh, and try Neutrogena Clinical- it's amazing.

Here is a picture of results from their website www.neutrogenaclinical.com: My wrinkles weren't as deep as the ones in the before picture...more like the after pic, and this made them practically disappear.

Loreal Sublime Bronze One Day Review

Let me start off by saying that I despise self-tanners.  I follow all the rules, and I do everything the experts tell you to do.  I exfoliate like crazy, I moisturize my drier parts, like knees and ankles so that they don't soak up too much color, I wait 15 minutes before getting dressed, and I always make sure to purchase the lightest color, since I'm fair skinned. Yet somehow, they always turn out streaky and horrible and it's so embarrassing!  There's nothing worse than being out someplace, like, oh lets see...a friend's wedding, and having a total stranger come up to you and ask you if you spilled a drink down your leg.  (Yeah, that happened to me!) 

So, needless to say, I was psyched when I saw Loreal's Sublime Bronze One Day at Target recently.  Of course I bought it, because I've been waiting for something like this to come out for years now.  (What took you guys so long??)

Here's what the packaging says, 

"Natural Sun-Kissed Look

• Instant Tan / Non-Self Tanning
• Lasts one day, washes off with soap
• With natural caramel colorant

Results

• Instant radiance & sun-kissed glow
• Smooth, streak-free, even-looking skin tone
• Tan level builds with additional applications
• Long-lasting hydration for smooth feel

Sublime Bronze One Day instant tanning gel delivers a sheer tint of bronze color that lasts up to one day.  This unique quick-drying formulation with natural caramel colorant and golden pearls gives skin a natural-looking sun-kissed glow.  The no-mistakes formula washes away with soap and water." 

So here are a list of pros and cons that I found when using the product: 

Pros: 

• Sheer, light color you can build on if necessary. 
• No gross, fake tanner smell
• Dries really fast, so no staining your clothes
• Subtle, pearlized shimmer that hides imperfections. 
• Makes skin feel really soft and smooth
• Washes off with soap and water- you're not stuck with it.
• Can be used all over, even on the face

Cons: 

• Difficult to wash off palms- I suggest using gloves or a mitt to apply or washing hands frequently during the process. 
• May not show up on darker skin since it's so sheer. 

So here's an up close picture of my skin before and after application.  This is one coat but you can add more coats, which will deepen the result. Just a word of caution...even though this does not contain self-tanner, somehow the color deepens after about 15-30 minutes, so if you think it doesn't come out dark enough the first time, wait a little while and check on it again before adding a second coat. In the picture on the right, you can see that the color comes out very natural and reddish brown (like a real tan) vs. orang-y.  I love the pearlized effect it gives the skin also.

You can purchase this product at drugstores, like Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, or Target for about $8.99.

Six Eco-friendly Eye Brushes for $8!

I found this amazing brush set by Eco Tools...the best part is that it is $7.99 (yes you read that right!). 

The brushes are travel sized, but work the same as their larger couterparts (and I find that I have better control with shorter handles).  They're made of sustainable wood and super soft, cruelty-free bristles and come in their own cotton/hemp blend case with a mirror.  I love that the brushes are labeled so you know what to use them for...it's totally goof-proof.  Here's what you get...

• Large Eye Brush - Apply and blend shadows.
• Angled Crease Brush - Softly apply color to crease for definition.
• Petite Eye Shading Brush - Use with deeper or accent colors for a bold look.
• Highlighting Brush - Perfect for highlighting the brow bone and inner corners of the eye.
• Smudge Brush - Smudge shadow and liner along lash line for a smoky look. 

 To get yours, visit www.drugstore.com

Effortless Beachy Hair with this $23 Tool.

I love a sexy, beachy hair look just as much as a sleek, pin straight one- and I am always switching back and forth between the two.  Since my hair is naturally straight, creating a sleek style is easy, but getting those beachy waves right is a little trickier.  I was using a curling iron and just wrapping sections of hair around it without using the clamp to get loose waves...a tedious process at best.  So when a friend told me about the Revlon Jumbo Waver iron, I headed over to Ulta to pick one up.  

It's $23 and I will warn you...it's huge.  I'm talking half the size of my head.  But despite it's size, it's actually pretty lightweight and easy to use.  You just clamp it on a 2-inch wide section of hair starting a few inches down from the top of your head, hold it for a few seconds, then move it down to the middle, and finally clamp it on the ends.  Once I'm finished, I like to just flip my head upside down and ruffle my hair with my fingers to separate it. Then I run a finishing cream throught it quickly to keep it from getting fluffy.

Here's my before and after shots...you can see how the finished look is a more rumpled, beachy look than you'd get with a curling iron.  I love it- it's very Taylor Swift!

To get yours, visit the link below and search for the "Revlon Jumbo Waver".  Make sure it's the "Jumbo" one, because they do make a smaller version, but the waves will come out very tight (think crimped like in the 80's).  If that's what you want, cool, but to get the waves like I have, you have to get the Jumbo one.

                                                                                                                                                                          

Revlon Grow Luscious by Fabulash Mascara Review

As a self-proclaimed mascara junkie, I cannot resist walking past a new mascara display at Walgreens and this one was no exception!  Jessica Biel looks amazing as always and this display totally sucked me in with their claim that 96% of women who used this mascara saw "instantly longer, lusher lashes."  That was good enough for me...who doesn't want that?? I purchased one in black- non waterproof.

Here's what the packaging says: 

"Mascara & Lash Enhancer

96% saw instantly longer, more lush lashes

Get lashes that not only look instantly longer and lusher, they will also grow stronger day after day. Lash enhancing formula complements the natural growth cycle of your lashes and improves their overall appearance and condition with each use. Apply mascara to lashes as usual." 

I've been using this for about 2 weeks, and it does add a lot of length and makes my lashes feel very soft and conditioned- more than any mascara I've ever used.  They never get dry or brittle, even after hours of wear.  I can't say whether it is helping my lashes grow stronger, since I probably have to use it longer to tell any difference- I would say at least a month.  The one thing that is bad about this mascara is that it smudges easily and I find that I have slight raccoon eyes at the end of the night. But in the mascara's defense, it has been very hot and humid since I've been wearing it, so that could be the reason for the smudging.  I think that purchasing the waterproof formula should help with that, though.  Below are my before and after pictures- what do you guys think? 

Visit Our Contest Page for your chance to WIN a full sized Grow Luscious!

Got2b Smooth Operator Smoothing Lustre Lotion Review

Hey guys!  Sorry it's been so long between posts.  I've been going back to school which takes up sooo much of my time.  Anyway, I recently signed up to become a BzzAgent (www.bzzagent.com) and for those of you who don't know what that is, I'm going to tell you because it's really cool.  Basically, you sign up and they have you take some surveys to find out what you're interested in.  From there, you can sign up for campaigns, during which you'll recieve a product in the mail to try and all you have to do is tell people (friends, family, blog readers etc) what you thought about the product (good or bad).  

My first campaign was for Got2b's Smoothing Lustre Lotion, and I wanted to review it for Frugirl because it's at a great price point and I figured it would be something that my readers might consider purchasing at some point.  

Ok, so a little background...here's the description from Got2b- "Smooth Operator Smoothing Lustre Lotion shapes, smoothes, controls fly-aways and gives your hair an amazing weightless lustre that's touchably soft.  Plus it protects against damage from heat styling and contains a UV protectant too."  It can also be used on wet or dry hair, and I used it when my hair was dry. 

It comes in a pump bottle, and I pumped out a dime sized blob into my hand.  It's a very thick, white balm, almost like body lotion, and I was kind of nervous that it would weigh down my fine hair.  But surprisingly, it didn't- like the back of the bottle said, it goes on weightless! (Granted, I used a small amount for my very long hair, but that's what I always do, because you can always go back and use more but you can't take it away.)

It definitely took away the frizzies, made my hair incredibly soft and defined my layers, which I find that silicone serums don't do very well, so I was very happy with that!  It also smells great and I love that it protects your hair from heat.  I purchased it for $5 at Walgreens, so I thought it was a great deal, and is a product that I will continue to use.  

I really want you guys to try it out and let me know what you think, so...

The first 5 people to send me an email (abeautyofablog@gmail.com) will receive a free sample in the mail, plus a coupon in case you decide to buy it! Please include your full name and address.  I'll post on the site when all the samples have been claimed, but hurry before they're gone! 

xoxo Jenna