Author Archives: Emi

Tinted Brow Gel Review & Comparison: Glossier Boy Brow vs. Essence Make Me Brow vs. Benefit Gimme Brow

I’ve been meaning to put together a post comparing Glossier Boy Brow, Essence Make Me Brow, and Benefit Gimme Brow for a while now, and with the news of a Benefit Gimme Brow recall, now seems like a good time to make it happen.

First, my brows: I have relatively full brows, so I am generally looking to fill in the tails a touch, groom, and add polish. I don’t need to create a brow anywhere that I don’t already have brow hairs or fill in any truly sparse areas. Most days I use a pencil in the tails then go through the whole brow with a tinted gel. All three of these products work well as that tinted gel – for that reason, I consider them to be functional dupes, though there are some noticeable differences in formula and color options.

I purchased all products featured in this post. All referral and affiliate links are individually marked; unmarked links are not affiliate.
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Olive Undertones & Blue Mixers, plus a review of MUFE Chromatic Mix Foundation Mixers

When I started wearing makeup, I couldn’t figure out my undertone. I am caucasian and have light skin (somewhere in the vicinity of MAC N15 without a tan), dark hair, and dark eyes. I tan easily and rarely burn; I feel like silver and gold are equally flattering; I’m not sure if true white or off white looks better on me – my preference is for black; and the veins on the underside of my wrist don’t look particularly blue or green. Long story short, I realized that I have olive undertones that are sort of a cool yellow/green – I was confused because I have surface redness and if I am tan, golden overtones.

I purchased all products featured in this post. All referral and affiliate links are individually marked; unmarked links are not affiliate.

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Glossier Milky Jelly

Hey, it’s yet another skincare review! Between trying to downsize my makeup collection [with less success than I would like, alas] and taking care of a baby, I’ve been buying & wearing less makeup than I used to – which has led to an increased interest in skincare. Today I’m going to talk about internet cult brand Glossier’s very popular cleanser, Milky Jelly.

I purchased all products featured in this post. All referral and affiliate links are individually marked; unmarked links are not referral or affiliate. Continue reading →

Holy Snails Shark Sauce Review plus Holy Snail Water, Snowbang Essence, and Perseids Oil

I have yet another skincare review today! Holy Snails skincare [referral link] is another handmade, blogger-founded line, started by Chel of the blog Holy Snails. Holy Snails sells Korean-inspired products, most notably Shark Sauce (which does not contain any sharks). I read many, many glowing reviews of Shark Sauce before deciding to take the plunge. Continue reading →

Stratia Skin Liquid Gold, Rewind, and Fortify Review

Stratia is a fairly new handmade, science-based skincare line. It was founded Alli Reed, who blogs over at The Acid Queen (I found it via her blog). She currently sells five products, and I have three of them to review today.

I purchased all items featured in this post, and there are no affiliate links.
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Deciem The Ordinary Skincare Review

Today, I have a review of several products from parent company Deciem‘s new-ish skincare line, The Ordinary. All the products from the Ordinary are inexpensive; Deciem has said that the low cost is in large part owed to the fact that The Ordinary doesn’t have innovative formulas – it has “ordinary” ones. While the formulas may be ordinary in that particular sense, offering proven ingredients in well formulated products at such low costs is unique among the skincare brands I’m familiar with. (Also, Deciem has several other brands that do have innovative formulas if that’s what you’re looking for.)

There aren’t that many reviews of the products yet, so I thought I’d throw mine out there. I have first impressions only for some of the products, and more thorough reviews of a few.

[Ed note: Oh hey there. I haven’t blogged for a long time. I got burned out on blogging for a while, then I had a baby and moved across the country. Now the baby is old enough that I’m starting to get some time to myself now and then, and I have the itch to blog. No promises on how often it’ll be though.]

(I purchased all of these products and this post does not contain any affiliate links.)