September 2017 Hits, Misses, and Pans

Stuff I've been loving, hating, and finishing off.  Ingredients at the end, because there are so many times I realize I'm reacting to something and then I try to think back to what products I've used that had that thing in it.  But I can't turn the information up because the ingredients aren't online, or they've changed, or whatever. 

Hits:

Cotz Face Non-Tinted SPF 40.  My heritage is Scottish, Irish, English, and Danish.  I'm paler than any human should be in this life.  I fry in the sun and never turn any shade of brown.  I do go yellow on occasion, like an old book.  That's the effect the sun has on me.  I fry, and I turn yellow, and look older.  I reject this.  Chemical sunscreens bother my eyes.  I'd been using La Roche-Posay mineral sunscreen but it was making me a little itchy.  That's when I discovered the cassia alata in it.  I Googled and found out this plant is supposed to cure all kinds of things including genital herpes.  Call me skeptical.  I don't know if I'm allergic to it or if it's just irritating my skin but it's clearly not working for me so bye.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a physical block without a bunch of stupid fucking plant extracts in it?  Pretty much all the hippie dippie brands think it's fun to throw in as many of my allergens as they possibly can.  Chamomile isn't enough on it's own; they have to use sage and sunflowers and probably straight ragweed blossoms too.  I wouldn't put it past them.  I am very bitter about hippie beauty products.  I almost cried when I found this Cotz sunscreen.  It's just titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and a crap ton of silicone.  I know silicone breaks a lot of people out.  I'm not one of them.  It's too soon to call it a holy grail product but so far, it is pretty damn fantastic!  

Misses:

This stupid fucking sponge.  It came free with purchase at Ulta when you spent more on a Tarte purchase than I did that day.  I think the cashier felt bad for me because they were out of the free IT Cosmetics brushes you were supposed to be able to get with any purchase.  I'm not mad.  It was free, but this sponge was the worst.  It absorbed product and didn't blend out at all.  It would have been trash a long time ago but I had to save it to take a picture.

Weird-ass mini Tarte sponge with Beauty Blender for size comparison.  They're both dirty.  I'm probably supposed to apologize but I'm uncouth.

Panned/Empties:

Elucence Moisture Balancing Conditioner.  This is an old standby.  A holy grail, if you will.  I've been using it off and on for probably the last decade.  I've gone through so many liters of it.  This round, I just finished off a 10-ounce bottle.  My shower can't handle endless liter bottles.  Elucence hadn't been working for me on my bleached hair.  (I underwent black dye removal last year and it involved a couple rounds of 40-volume bleach.)  I still used it but only as a leave-in after bleach.  I just had to use it after using a protein conditioner.  Will definitely repurchase in the future unless they change the formula.

Joico K-Pak Color Therapy Conditioner.  I polished off an entire liter.  I originally bought this because it was a protein conditioner I could find that I'm not allergic to.  Even though soy is one of the top eight most common food allergens, soy protein is prevalent in protein conditioners.  Tocopherol acetate is potentially soy-based, but I don't know if I react to that derivative so I took the risk.  I definitely react to soybean oil, soy lecithin, and soy protein.  K-Pak uses keratin instead of soy protein.  If I'm reacting to the tocopherol acetate, I can't tell.  That's good enough for me.  After going through black dye removal, this was the best thing I could find.  My hair went from sucking up handfuls of conditioner to being satisfied with just a golf ball sized glob.  Already have a second liter ready to go, but probably won't keep buying it when that's gone as I've just chopped the damaged hair.  Too much protein on healthy hair makes it crunchy.

Renpure Coconut Water Conditioner.  I got this free with points at Walgreen's last year.  My hair was damaged from black dye removal so when I used it by the handful and it had no effect, I didn't judge the product.  I've recently lopped off all the damage and it's still useless!  I have to use a lot, and my hair will tangle.  Threw it out with about an inch left in the bottle.  Trash.  This is from Renpure's Professional line.  I honestly have not been impressed with that line at all.  Stick with the Originals.  The Originals are good!  

Maybelline Master Prime Blur & Smooth Face Primer.  This wasn't my first time finishing off a tube of Master Prime.  I like how inexpensive and moisturizing it is.  My skin is on the dry side.  I live in a dry climate and I take allergy meds every single day of life.  Plus I'm old!  I'm turning 43 this month.  My skin needs moisture.  This helps.  I've been using Master Prime over moisturizer and sunscreen and I like the results.  Probably won't repurchase though because I've discovered Cotz sunscreen, which acts as both sunscreen and primer.  That saves me a step and a product and a bunch of unnecessary ingredients.

Ofra Liquid Lipstick in Napa Valley. My favorite lipstick of 2017.  I get compliments every time I wear it.  It doesn't dry down to a painful matte finish.  It lasts a long time, but it's comfortable.  I don't need lip liner with it.  It's $20, but Ofra always has coupon codes and you can also buy it online at Ulta's site.  Already repurchased.

Urban Decay Afterglow 8-Hour Powder Highlighter in the shade Aura.  This is a pink highlighter that I love to pair with any kind of purple or berry shade of blush.  I think it works particularly well with my daily red eye makeup look.  It's easily one of my favorite highlighters. I used the entire thing.  Every last speck!  Would definitely repurchase, but I won't for the time being because I have a similar pink shade in my ABH Moonchild Glow Kit.  

ColourPop Ultra Satin Lip in Marshmallow. Didn't actually finish this off.  I was going to use it and it smelled really gross, so I had to throw it out.  It got old and died.  Such is life.  Not going to repurchase because I'm not a big ColourPop fan.  I love the color, but I have so many other products that last longer.  Additionally, one of the draws in the first place was being able to get a matching lipliner for this rather unusual shade.  But I'm allergic to the lipliner!  So why?

What have you been using up lately?  Any particular loves or hates?  Let me know!  I love hearing about other people's most and least loved products.  It's totally normal.  Don't judge.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ingredients for Products Mentioned Above:

Cotz Face for Lighter Skin Tones Ingredients: Active Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 8% (Sunscreen) Zinc Oxide 3.8% (Sunscreen) Inactive Ingredients: Alumina, Cyclohexasiloxane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethiconol, Lauryl PEG/PPG 18/18 Methicone, Methicone, PEG-10 Dimethicone.

Elucence Moisture Balancing Conditioner ingredients: Panax Ginseng root extract, cetraria islandia (Irish Moss) extract, saccharomyces cerevisiea (Brewer's Yeast) extract, Gingko Biloba extract, pimpinella anisum (Anise) fruit extract, prunis persica (Peach) extract in purified water, hexadecanol, stearakonium chloride, certimonium bromide, Squalane (olive oil lipid), Capric Caprillic Triglycerides (coconut fatty acids), Panthenol (pro-vitamin USP), Biotin (USP), imisazolidinyl urea, methylparaben (USP), fragrance

Joico K-Pak Color Therapy ingredients: Water/Aqua/Eau, Stearyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Sorbitol, Hydrogenated Castor Oil/Sebacic Acid Copolymer, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Pentapeptide-29 Cysteinamide, Pentapeptide-30 Cysteinamide, Tetrapeptide-28 Argininamide, Tetrapeptide-29 Argininamide, Keratin, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Cocodimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Keratin, Hydrolyzed Keratin PG-Propyl Methylsilanediol, Aleurites Moluccana Seed Oil, Schinziophyton Rautanenii Kernel Oil, Psidium Guajava Fruit Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hyaluronic Acid, Glycolipids, Silicone Quaternium-16, Isopropyl Alcohol, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Bis-Isobutyl PEG/PPG-20/35/Amodimethicone Copolymer, Polysorbate 80, Undeceth-11, Disodium EDTA, Butyloctanol, Butylene Glycol, Undeceth-5, PEG-90M, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Polyquaternium-55, Glycerin, Arginine HCL, Polysilicone-19, Dipropylene Glycol, Thioctic Acid, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Allantoin, Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, DMDM Hydantoin, Citric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Fragrance/Parfum.

Renpure Coconut Water ingredients: Purified Water, Cetyl Alcohol (Palm Oil), Glyceryl Stearate (Palm Oil), Behentrimonium Chloride (Rapeseed Oil), Glycerin, Bambusa Arundinacea Stem Extract (Bamboo), Hypnea Musciformis Extract (Red Seaweed), Gellidiela Acerosa Extract (Red Alga), Cocos Nucifera Extract (Coconut), Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil (Argan), Amodimethicone, Trideceth-12, Cetrimonium Chloride (Palm Oil), Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride (Guar Bean), Glycereth-26 (Coconut Oil), Silicone Quaternium-17, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Fragrance

Blur & Smooth ingredients: Aqua / Water / Eau, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Propylene Glycol, Polyglyceryl-3 Disiloxane Dimethicone, Vinyl Dimethicone / Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Boron Nitride, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Polyacrylamide, Ammonium Polyacryldimethyltauramide / Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Tetrasodium EDTA, Citric Acid, Laureth-7. May Contain: CI 77891 / Titanium Dioxide, CI 77491, CI 77492 / Iron Oxides, CI 77288 / Chromium Oxide Greens.

Napa Valley ingredients: CYCLOPENTASILOXANE AND DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE AND PROPYLENE CARBONATE, ISODECANE HYDROGENATED POLYDECENE, TRIDECYL TRIMELLIATE, BIS DIGLYCERYL POLYACYLADIPATE-2, PHENOXY ETHANOL, ETHYLHEXYGLYCERIN.  MAY CONTAIN: MICA, TIO2 CL 77891, IRON OXIDES, FD7C BLUE #1 CL 42090

Urban Decay Aura ingredients: Isoeicosane, Silica, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Zinc Stearate, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Polypropylsilsesquioxane, Polyisobutene, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Methicone, Tin Oxide, Hexylene Glycol, Laureth-4. [+/- (May Contain/Peut contenir): Mica, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 75470 (Carmine)].

ColourPop Marshmallow ingredients: ISODODECANE, DIISOSTEARYL MALATE, HYDROGENATED POLYISOBUTENE, C10-18 TRIGLYCERIDES, ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) BRAN WAX, DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, PENTYLENE GLYCOL, SILICA, POLYETHYLENE, DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE, PROPYLENE CARBONATE, BLUE 1 LAKE (CI 42090), IRON OXIDES (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), RED 27 LAKE (CI 45410), TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891).