Beauty - sparkleshinylove

Roxymandy September 12, 2014

Handmade Creations from Carberry Soap Company + A Giveaway!

My first visit to Carberry Soap Company was on a whim when I was shopping for favours for a party I was having. My party included a night with my girlfriends where we did some private shopping at one of my favourite stores Turquoise in Whitby (I’ve got a post coming soon about them – stay tuned!), and then I had a cake pop making demonstration where all of the ladies were able to take home some of their own creations at the end of the night. I usually have a party favour for my guests to take home after one of my parties, and I was shopping around for something to go with my theme in some way.

What I found at Carberry Soap Company was perfectly fitting – individual cupcake soaps, packaged just for my event using the colours of my party theme. The cupcakes were incredibly life-like, and the smell of them was out of this world. Perfect, right?

I’ve been shopping there ever since for gifts for friends and family, and of course for myself when I need pampering, which happens pretty often!

The offerings are almost overwhelming, which is actually a good thing. For every soap there are a number of scents, colours and designs.

Carberry’s Organic Babycakes soap is made with pure organic olive oil and fresh organic goat milk. It’s ideal for people with skin ailments such as eczema, psoriasis and rosacea.

Their Gourmet Soap Collection is gentle, soothing, and they smell exactly like the gourmet flavour they are named after!

My favourite offerings from Carberry Soap Company are from their Carberry Cakery collection!
All kinds of baked goods are transformed into amazing soaps! Cupcakes, cake slices, doughnuts – these creations look as decadent as they would be in real life. Not only do they look amazing, but their scents are out of this world.

Carberry has a range of items for children as well. Their Soapy Pops look like real popsicles, which may entice your little one to actually want to scrub up and get clean! Soapy Pops are SLS free and all fragrance oils are phthalate free too!

Carberry has a cute kids station right inside the shop for little ones to keep busy while mom’s take a moment to shop!

And for those who love to have a relaxing bath there are even more handmade items such as Bath Creamers, Bath Blasters, and Recipe Soaps which include a combination of ingredients to create some yummy flavours.

As I mentioned before, Carberry Soap Company was able to customize my party favours to match the colour and scent I wanted, and their team is willing to work with their customers to create the perfect favour for your event.

I love the fact that Carberry offers hands-on workshops to learn how to make these fabulous soaps yourself. This is something I can’t wait to do. Classes are offered based on the type of soap you would like to make, and I think it would make an awesome girls night!

And now – a giveaway!

You can win a gift bag full of goodies courtesy of Carberry Soap Company which includes one if their large fabulous cupcake soaps, a pack of three yummy mini cupcake soaps, and their very own Cake Mix Bubbling Bath Powder!

I was lucky enough to try all of these items, and I literally smell like a walking bake shop right now. It’s pretty fabulous.

To win, all you need to do is enter using the Rafflecopter link below this post! You will need to like sparkleshinylove on Facebook in order to enter.

The contest begins today, Friday, September 12th, 2014 and will end on Saturday, September 20th, 2014 at 12:00pm EST. This contest is open all US and Canadian residents, and the randomly selected winner will be announced on Sunday, September 21st, 2014.

Good luck to everyone who enters!

If you haven’t yet, you should also like the Carberry Soap Company Facebook page here to see all of the great products and incentives they are running. If you visit them in store and like their Facebook page while you are there, they even give you a free mini soap!

Carberry Soap Company is located at 629 Liverpool Road, Pickering, Ontario. You can visit their website at www.carberrysoap.com to learn more or order products online which may be shipped to the US and Canada.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Roxymandy September 8, 2014

They’re Real! Remover Review

If you read the blog, you know my absolute love for Benefit’s they’re Real! Mascara, and how much I was a fan of Benefit’s they’re Real! Push-Up Liner. The final item I needed to try was Benefit’s they’re Real! Remover. I feel like it probably would have been a good idea to buy this in the beginning, but I will get to that later.

I picked up this remover at Sephora, and likely the reason I held off on buying it right away was that it was $22. That’s a lot considering I already have a remover on the go, and although I am not sure it’s worth the price, I did have a great experience with it!

The remover is specially formulated to remove Benefit’s they’re Real Mascara and Push-Up Liner, which is exactly what I wanted to try removing.

It is a bit different than the remover I am using now, which is Philosophy’s Purity. That remover is more of a liquid, and that makes it a little difficult to use on the eyes. It does dry my skin out a bit and I need to moisturize immediately after, but it does a great job of removing my make up. I also use Vaseline as well if I have a hard time with my eye makeup.

They’re Real! Remover is a white creamy gel, and in comparison it is very easy to apply. You can use a cotton swab, or in this case since it’s more of a gel you can even just put some on your finger and wipe. It actually works well with a Q-Tip to just remove a small portion of your makeup if you have made a mistake.

I found that this remover did not dry my skin out at all. I was really waiting for it to irritate my skin or make it feel tingly, but it didn’t at all. It felt like I was putting cream on!

The remover lifts away waterproof eye makeup pretty easily, as long as you give it a minute. It took my liner right off, and I held the cotton swab on my eye for a moment with remover on it, and it took my mascara right off as well. I found that it needed more time to sit on my eyelashes for the mascara to come off, and when I waited it easily removed my makeup.

I washed my face with water when I was done to get rid of any excess make up, and it was a little scary to see all of that make up gone! So that is really what I look like under there? Ok maybe next time I will leave a bit of mascara on!

I didn’t find this remover irritated my skin or eyes at all, which makes sense because it is formulated for contact lenses wearers and people with sensitive eyes.

Overall I was pretty happy with this product, but I am not sure it’s is worth the price. Yes I really like it, and I will be sad when my bottle is empty, but there are lots of things I can do with $22, and a jar of Vaseline is only a couple dollars….

It does pair perfectly with my Benefit mascara and liner, so I feel like I need all of these products, but at the same time if I had to choose, I would be able to live without the remover.

If you want to try it for yourself, you can purchase it on the Benefit Cosmetics website here, or at Sephora here.

Roxymandy August 25, 2014

Clinique High Impact Waterproof Mascara Review

To keep up my rep of being a total beauty junkie I picked up a new mascara last week that I totally didn’t need. Well, at the time I thought I might need it since it said it was High Impact mascara. Those couple of words reminded me that I totally needed some High Impact lashes in my life, and I thought I would give it a try.

At $19 it didn’t totally break the bank either, so I spent the week willing it to replace my favourite Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara. The mascara only comes in Black or Black/Brown, so it’s really all business and no fun (usually there are a few other colour options with mascara, but it’s not like I have bought a blue or a green one lately anyway).

The claims? Instant volume and length that resists flaking, clumping, smudging. They said it could stand up to heat, humidity, and an active day.

The first thing I noticed was how smooth it went on. The consistency is a little watery so it easily smoothed onto my lashes and was easy to apply. The tips Clinique gave for the mascara was to start at the base of my lashes and then wiggle the brush up to the tip of my lashes. It said to repeat this step, and to prevent clumping to let the mascara dry between coats. I am all about following instructions so I did exactly as told. I didn’t notice any clumping at all which was great, but what I did notice was that the consistency of the mascara was so watery I had to build over and over and over again to get any “Impact”. It went on so smoothly I didn’t really see a lot of volume, and to create the volume I wanted I had to put a lot of this stuff on.

I also found that it didn’t separate my lashes as nicely as I would have liked. I had to use another want to separate my lashes the way I like them to be. It seemed to clump them together, and I think it was all the brushes fault.

It really doesn’t like it when your lashes curl. It seemed to want to straighten my lashes out which was sort of annoying. The formula just didn’t seem to be thick enough to bend your lashes in the shape you want.

Towards the end of my day, the mascara would start to flake. I find I have this issue with all of my mascara’s (probably because I like to put it on very thick!) so I wasn’t overly surprised at this. I had a very hard time getting this mascara off! It is definitely waterproof. It was hard to even smudge it. Apply this mascara very carefully since you are going to be stuck with it for a while.

So the funny thing was that after I tried this mascara for a week, I found out Clinique not only has this mascara in a non-waterproof version (not surprising), but a lash curling version, and they have a mascara just for your lower lashes as well! So they really want you to buy two mascaras – one for your upper lashes and one for your lower lashes? It seems really wasteful to me. Wouldn’t it make sense for everything to be in one mascara? I guess that is why this mascara is a little cheaper than most of the mascara’s at Sephora – technically you need two of them.

Overall I think I am done with this mascara. I gave it a week and it didn’t really work for me, and I did not feel like it lived up to it’s “High Impact” claims. I thought it worked just fine on my lower lashes (I can’t imagine buying a mascara just for those few lashes, which says a lot because I buy useless stuff all the time), but other than it being waterproof it didn’t live up to it’s claims of being “High Impact” for me.

My favourite mascara continues to be Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara! If you have one that you absolutely love and thing I should try, let me know if the comments and I will add it to my arsenal!

Roxymandy August 12, 2014

My Review of LIVING PROOF Perfect Hair Day 5-in-1 Styling Treatment

When something includes the title “Perfect Hair Day”, it had better deliver. Those words will entice me to buy anything if they can really get me a perfect hair day. I try not to go to Sephora, but every once in a while my foundation, concealer, and face cream supply will suddenly be depleted (why does this always happen at once?) to the point where I have no choice but to walk into Sephora and drop a gross amount of money on refills. The good news about this trip was that I also picked up Living Proof’s Perfect Hair Day 5-in-1 Styling Treatment.

What do you know about LIVING PROOF? Whenever I see it I think of Jennifer Aniston, the brand’s ambassador who was chosen wisely as she has hair to die for.

Right now on my hair I am using Joico shampoo and conditioner, and I alternate between Moroccan Oil, or whatever other product I get a free sample of that promises to strengthen, provide frizz control, and repair damage to my hair.

I have used Moroccan Oil for a few years now, and I seem to get an oil build up every few weeks, so I need to alternate products. I have talked to other people who use it and they don’t have the same problem, so I guess it’s just me!

So there is a lot of science behind this product (reduces breakage by 78%, for the first time ever they have combined patented Healthy Hair Molecule – OFPMA – and their own Volumizing Molecule – PBAE), but really the claims are that in one step you will have added smoothness, volume, conditioning, strength and polish to your hair. It also claims to keep your style cleaner for longer, and it’s sulfate-free, silicone-free and oil free.

These all sound like the ingredients required for a perfect hair day! I gave it a try, but was confused at first because there are two ways to wear this product. You can either apply it to your clean, damp hair and then comb through, or for best results blow dry your hair. Usually I find products say you must blow-dry to heat-activate the product, so I was surprised you could just leave it in and that the perfect hair day promise would still stand.

The smell is a light citrus, and although it smelled great I didn’t smell it in my hair after I blow-dried it. As soon as I started blow-drying my hair I was surprised because my hair felt way softer. It’s probably the quickest I have ever seen a result from a product in my life. My hair was instantly becoming softer, and I wasn’t even done blow-drying yet!

I tried not to get too excited, and went to bed with my super soft hair to see what would happen in the morning.

I woke up not even remembering using the stuff until I started to use my hair straightener, and then I realized that my hair was very soft and smooth. LIVING PROOF provides some tips and tricks for the product, and they say if you use a flat brush as I did when blow-drying, your hair will have a more smooth and polished look. I can attest that they were right on that one!

So I went about my day with what you could call a “Perfect Hair Day”. No frizz, it stayed smooth all day, but I can’t attest yet to how much stronger my hair is because I don’t know if I would ever notice that, but the only thing missing was volume. That could be my fault as one of the tips and tricks LIVING PROOF offers for this product is that to enhance body you should apply the product, and blow-dry using a round brush instead of a flat brush. Sorry, I don’t even own a round brush so I couldn’t test this one out.

LIVING PROOF also mentioned that when air-drying with this product to use a little less of it, and so I did when letting my hair dry naturally. My hair was left very soft, and I could smell a bit more of the product in my hair this way as well.

This product claims to repel dirt and oil, which extends your style and allows you to wash your hair less often. It’s true I found my hair less oily on the second day then when I use Moroccan oil, but anytime I don’t use Moroccan Oil my hair is less oily the second day. I never go for a third day without washing my hair, and this product didn’t change my mind. I’m not sure it did much to repel oil, but it definitely didn’t contribute to the oil-slick issue I have on top of my head.

The bonuses to this product? It offers both heat and UV protection! Hair is protected from the heat up to 450 degrees and it contains a UV defense that absorbs harmful, damaging UV rays from the sun.

Overall I think it holds up to most of it’s claims for a “Perfect Hair Day’. I really like this product a lot, and I like that I don’t need to combine a heat protecting spray to my hair as well for straightening or blow-drying. It’s a pretty convincing little styling treatment that gave me results almost instantly, and at a cost of $32.00 CDN it’s really not a bad price to pay for a perfect hair day, plus to not need to use a heat protecting spray as well.

You can purchase it online here at Sephora, or ask them for a free sample to try it yourself!

Roxymandy July 14, 2014

My Review of The Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Some may find this embarrassing, but the reason I learned about Urban Decay’s Naked Palette was because I Googled what make-up Kim Kardashian used at her wedding to Kanye. If anyone ever saw my Google history I’d probably die of embarrassment, but that is one of the things I felt I needed to know. Thank god for Google. Anyway, I read that she used one of Urban Decay’s Naked Palettes, and before finding this out I actually never thought about going looking for Urban Decay products. I knew the brand, but I just didn’t think about looking into what they had to offer. Well, that was all before Kim married Kanye, and since I thought she looked pretty great I decided to investigate.

It turns out that I was pretty behind on this one, because not only is there a Naked Basics Palette, but also a Naked Palette, Naked2 Palette, and Naked3 Palette. This is apparently such a popular product there are multiple sequels!

I previously posed about my love for Benefit’s Big Beautiful Eyes Palette which I love, and I really didn’t need more eyeshadow in my life, but I was intrigued so I went with the Naked Basics Palette for my test run.

The Naked Basics Palette is cheaper than the other Naked Palettes, and since I really didn’t NEED the product, the size of this small palette made me feel less guilty for purchasing it!

First of all the palette itself is pretty great because it’s sturdy enough that when you close it, it will actually stay closed. I’ve been using it for almost two months now and the lock is still working, and I have dropped it a few times and the eye shadows and palette have not cracked or broken.

There are six neutral shades, and they are all matte. The first three are perfect for a neutral eye. Venus works great as a highlighter and because the shadow is matte it isn’t too shimmery. Foxy and Walk of Shame are my absolute favourites. I alternate using them to cover my lid, and sometimes I just wear one of these colours with mascara so I look awake! It’s like the “I’m not wearing any make-up” look, while actually wearing make-up and looking fab. I thought I would hate Naked2 because it almost looks grey in the palette, but after a couple weeks I tried it and I really like it! It’s perfect to layer on the crease of my eye, and it doesn’t look grey at all on top of Foxy or Walk of Shame. It looks very natural, but at least defines my eyes. Finally Faint and Crave are more for a dinner and drinks type of look. Both can be very heavy so very little is needed, but both are complementary. It’s like this palette was made for my face! Obviously Urban Decay knew what they were doing when they created this Naked Basics Palette.

I LOVE this palette, but now it just makes me want to try one of the other Naked Palette’s in Urban Decay’s collection. So really, purchasing this small palette has actually cost me money in the long run because now I feel the need to try out another palette. I really did a bad job of saving money in this instance, but that’s pretty normal for me. Anyway, give this palette a try – it’s totally worth it!

It retails for $33 Canadian, and you can purchase it from Sephora here.