Clinique: 3-Step + Moisture Surge

Dolls, Adriana here explaining all things skincare. Since having terrible acne since I was 13 and now coming to the end of my course of Roaccutane/Accutane, I have a lot of experience with testing many skincare brands, products and regimes!

So.. Hundreds of brands, all promising the same sort of thing - so which brand can you trust? Well essentially, all brands will get the job done to some degree, but in terms of how clean your skin is and it's current and future health, I trust 1. Clinique. 

Clinique's 3 Step system offers a different collection of 3 products (cleanser, toner and moisturiser) for 4 different skin types: 

1 - very dry/dry skin 

2 - dry/combination skin 

3 - combination/oily skin 

4 - oily/very oily skin 

I personally am a #2! And Clinique's system has always been the skincare I have run back to! And not just for their skincare..

Personally, I consider Clinique's 3-Step to be a product for all ages and skin types and is definitely the perfect base skin care for everyone! On top of these products, you are then able to add products to cater to your skins specific problems/needs. For example apart from acne scarring I find that my skin becomes dehydrated and due to my European background I have darkness (and often puffiness) under my eyes. To combat these specific issues I use Clinique's Moisture Surge (amazing hydration) and Clinique's Repairwear Laser Focus (for the under eye). Both of these products are extremely light but have maximum impact (which I find is a general trait amongst Clinique's products).

Whilst I have used a few of Clinique's makeup products and not been so impressed (oxidising foundations and lip-drying lipsticks) their skincare range definitely has a product for everyone and whilst you may find their products more pricey than those at the drug store, they are a lot less harsh and a lot more beneficial for your skin - worth every cent!

Adriana's Skin Regime

Nights
Clinique's Rinse Off Foaming Cleanser (to remove makeup - even waterproof)
St. Ives Apricot Scrub - Invigorating formula (exfoliate)
Clinique's Liquid Facial Soap -mild, oily/combination skin (cleanser)
- I never wear a moisturiser to bed unless I really need it (I like to let me skin breathe)

Mornings
Clinique's Liquid Facial Soap - mild, oily/combination skin(cleanser)
Clinique's Clarifying Lotion (toner) - #2
Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion
Clinique's Moisture Surge (use like a serum - minimal amount necessary)
Clinique's Repairwear Laser Focus (eye cream)
- Then primer and makeup application.

The Best ..and Worst Mascara!

Dolls, A here. I believe it's time we address lashes.

Chunky, spider lashes - hell no. Long, thick and voluminous lashes - hell yes. 

So with an absolute mecca of mascaras on the market, which one do you buy? Do you go straight to high end, because that couldn't possibly fail you - right? SO WRONG. I have collated my most recent mascara purchases, so I can strip them down to their bare basics to show our dolls what's really up. 

1. L'oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess Mascara

$27.95 - Available at your nearest Priceline, or L'oreal stockist

This mascara is my second best friend (Sarah takes the cake on first place). If you were to buy one product, and you were not to stray from this product for the rest of your life, this should definitely be your best bet. It does it all.. Thickens, lengthens and creates an intense curl (without using a separate eyelash curler). After picking this product up last week during Priceline's L'oreal sale, during first application, I contacted Sarah straight away to announce Holy Grail Status. Whilst on the higher end cost-wise for a drugstore product, still cheaper and more effective then any high end mascara I have ever used. 

2. Maybelline Volum' Express The Mega Plush Mascara - waterproof formula 

$19.95 - Available at your nearest Priceline, or Maybelline stockist (not that you would want to buy this)

Hated this more than any mascara. Ever. 

I don't know if it is just the waterproof formula that is this terrible because Sarah loves her water vulnerable version. This product did nothing to my lashes, and if I hadn't bought it that day I would have assumed it had run out of product. No colour, no lengthening, no thickening, only a dusty looking chunk party. And if this worked I would rave about the staying power for all you ladies who love their mascara waterproof. Me personally, I am not the biggest fan of water proof mascaras, but this one was next level - I couldn't even get it off with a powerful waterproof-makeup remover, so it's pretty impractical - unless you are into that thing.

3.  MAC Haute and Naught Too Black Lash Mascara

$42 - Available at your nearest MAC counter 

So usually when I see a mascara with dual brushes I get super excited and expect a extreme volume, as well as lengthening, and in this case - SUPER BLACK!! And thank the heavens, this is exactly what you get with this mascara. I never doubt MAC products, and this mascara was bought by accident, but what a blessing in disguise it turned out to be! Now as you may have figured out by now, Sarah and I LOVE MAC products - definitely up there in our top 3 cosmetic brands - but with saying that we are all about finding products that are their perfect dupe! I would definitely say that a dupe for this mascara is the L'oreal mascara mentioned about (which requires less effort as one wand does the entire job of MAC's two). For those who enjoy a real natural, yet defined look during the day (wand #1), but an amped up lash for the evening (combination of #1 and #2) this dual look mascara will soon become your next favourite!

So that's a wrap on the good, the bad, and the best mascara you could ever purchase! We would love to hear what mascara's our doll's are loving! Hit us up on Instagram and Twitter:

@rockndollbeauty

L'Oréal True Match Foundation: Review

Hi dolls!

So about a week ago Priceline had a huge 40% off L'Oréal Paris sale, so of course we had to go check it out. One product that both Adriana and I picked up was L'Oréal's True Match foundation, that usually retails for $32.45 but we got for about $20.

Some of our favourite youtube beauty gurus had brilliant things to say about this product so we were excited to check it out! Nicole Guerriero is one beauty guru to rave about it, and I'll admit, I had my reservations because of this. She has naturally beautiful skin, and both Adriana and I use foundation to cover a bunch of imperfections, so I was just crossing my fingers that it would do a good job like my MAC Studio Fix does.

So here's the review: (And basically a comparison between L'Oréal True Match and MAC Studio Fix Fluid!)

PRO'S: 

It doesn't simply cater to one shade:
They have the same shades with either a warm or cool undertone, so that it matches your skin tone more accurately - just like MAC foundations (NC or NW shades), so that was a plus - anything that could make this product more similar to my favourite foundation ever (MAC Studio Fix Fluid (SFF)) the better!

I am quite pale, so I picked up their lightest shade (W1) Golden Ivory (The W stands for warm toned, just like MAC foundations) Funnily I am an NC15 in SFF, but I find it to be a warm toned foundation.

They Look scarily similar, right!

Smooth application:
I find the application of True Match to be much more fluid, and easily blend-able because it's not as thick as SFF. It blends extremely easily, and evenly.

Good coverage, yet natural finish:
I would classify this as a medium, build-able coverage foundation. I only apply it lightly all over my face, and dab a little bit more over any problem areas, and my skin looks almost flawless. Because it's not a matte finish, it looks muuuuuch more natural than SFF!

Less product wastage:
As usual for a drugstore brand (although L'Oréal is high end drugstore) it comes in a pump bottle. The great thing about this particular pump is that it's sensitive to the amount of product you want to use. It's not one of those pumps that you HAVE to push all the way down, you can only apply a light pressure to the pump and it will only release a tiny bit of product, or you can apply a lot of pressure and release a lot of product, or anything in between :) (and of course unlike SFF you don't have to separately purchase the pump)


CONS:
Need more range of colours for darker skinned people:
They have quite a good range of colours for light skin , but I'm not sure how diverse the darker shades are for dark skinned women, and I don't believe they have very dark shades at all (Of course there are some great tan shades you could use for contouring). This obviously isn't a problem for me personally, but but it's a shame that they don't cater to a wider demographic (atleast in the stores I've seen it in), because everyone should be able to enjoy this awesome product, not just lighter skinner people :)

That is, however, the only con I can find!


THE VERDICT:
Once again, a drug store product has one upped a high end product! I don't see myself buying Studio Fix Fluid again anytime soon, I will keep re-purchasing this, simply because it's cheaper, and also a bit better in my opinion! (Never thought I'd say that!)

For $32.45 it's a steal if you're currently using MAC Studio Fix, which is $52.00, and Priceline are nearly always having some sort of sale - so keep an eye out for those, and maybe grab it for a bargain, like we did!! :)


Let us know if this review was helpful! Leave a comment on this post, or let us know on our Instagram or Twitter! @rockndollbeauty

xxxxx

Essence Brow Stencil Set: Review

Lately we've been thinking about easier ways to do our eyebrows, and we thought what better way to cut off some time to our face routine, than to use an eyebrow stencil.

There's a really basic and cheap brand sold at Priceline called 'Essence', which does a set of 3 brow stencils and a light and dark powder with a brush. It's only $4.25 so we gave it a shot.

Maybe it's just because we're not experienced with brow stencils, or maybe it's just because we only paid $4 for our product, but we would not recommend the Essence stencils to you dolls!

HOWEVER

We do LOVE the two powder colours that come with the stencils, so if you're looking for a good brow powder, it's definitely worth picking up the set and simply throwing the shitty stencils away.

There's a darker and a lighter colour, so it's perfect to create a good gradient effect, which is the most natural looking, and they are also really pigmented with great colour pay off.

The little brow brush that comes with it isn't horrible either! (Though if you have a great eyebrow brush already - like us, it may not be enough to make you give it up!) The bristles are quite stiff and packed tightly so you have a good amount of control over your line, making it easier to achieve straight lines!

Definitely worth it to give it a shot for such a cheap price, dolls! Or at least worth checking out at your local priceline!

Let us know if you have this product / try it / love it or hate it! Leave us a comment :)!!!

Physicians Formula Felt Tip Eye Marker Review

Some of you who follow us on Instagram may have seen my photo of the Physicians Formula eyeliner I picked up on sale at Priceline. It looks awesome, right?

This is just a quick post to tell you guys what I think of the product.

IT. IS. AWESOME. 

Okay, I never thought I'd say this, but it's better than MAC's liquid liner, which has been my favourite forever.

It's a felt tip, so you use less product, and you also have more control over the thickness of your line. You can easily create very slim lines for the inner corner of your eye, and gradually make it thicker as it wings further out. It can deliver the same thickness of the MAC liner, but can also allow you to create muuuuch thinner lines also.

The formula is a different consistency, but this is a good thing. It's not as thick.

It is also extremely long lasting, smudge proof, and has pretty much zero drying time. This can be an issue if you make a mistake while applying your line, because it doesn't wipe away easily, unlike the MAC liner, which takes a few seconds to dry - so it's easy to wipe away any mistakes and fix them before it sets.


This is a winged liner look I achieved with the Physicians Formula Felt Tip Eye Marker

I would highly recommend this liner to anyone who is experienced with liquid liner, but if you're not that confident creating straight lines / wings with your liquid liner, I would stick to a liner that's more accomodating to mistakes .. check out my recommendations on my previous liquid liner post.

You can pick it up at Priceline for $15.25!


S.

Inglot's Freedom System

Dolls, today we are all about our favourite eyeshadow company!

Inglot cosmetics are of a high end quality with a mid-range price scheme, making their products extremely desirable for us both. They have an extensive colour range in all their products and a fantastic system for creating palettes of face powders, blush/bronzers, concealers, brow powders and eyeshadows. This system is called the Freedom System.

http://www.inglotaustralia.com/Empty_Palettes-Freedom_System_Palette_4_Eye_Shadow_Square.html

The Freedom System allows you to select the colours of the products you want and implement them into Inglot palettes that are extremely heavy duty and use a magnetic strip on the bottom of the palette to hold your products safedly in place whilst securing the lid of your palette firmly to avoid mess or breakage.

The eyeshadows that Inglot make are of extremely high quality, pigment and value. As you can see below, we have swatched the 4 colours from Adriana's favourite Inglot eyshadow palette she created. On the left side you can see the eyeshadow on top of NYX's Eye Primer in White, and on the right you have the eyeshadow without a primer (this will show you the quality and pigment).

So whilst a palette at MAC will generally cost you $65 for a quad, Inglot's quads will set you back $53, whilst also allowing you to pick the colours in your quad, as opposed to MAC's custom palettes (obviously you can create your own palettes with MAC's eyeshadows but this will cost you a lot more than $65..).

Full Freedom System Price List

Products
Eyeshadow - $10
Lip Stick / Lip Gloss - $10
Face Powder - $21
Blush - $16
Concealer - $10
Brow Powder / Brow Wax - $10

Palettes
x2 Pressed Powder - $20
x4 Pressed Powder - $32
x4 Blush Powder - $20
x2 Eyeshadow - $11
x4 Eyeshadow - $13
x10 Eyeshadow - $20

- So obviously for a 4 quad of eyeshadows you would purchase x4 eyeshadows ($40 together), plus the x4 eyeshadow palette ($13), totalling $53.

To find your closest Inglot store, visit www.inglotaustralia.com.

Caramel Favourites!

Just a quick post today about two of our favourite products this month! Both of which just happen to be caramel flavour...actually the fact that they smell like caramel is probably half the reason they're our favourite....whatever - these products work brilliantly!

First of all Nivea's Caramel Cream Lip Butter:

You know those lip balms that feel great when you first put them on, but dry out really quick. Not only the product - but your lips? This isn't one of those. With a bunch of balms that we've tried - at first they felt moisturising and like they were doing our lips some good, but really they just had us reaching for our lip scrub and blaming it on the weather.

This actually moisturises your lips for hours, and the moisture really soaks in so your lips aren't dry and chappy every time you forget to put it on! Plus it smells amaaaazing, like caramel popcorn! Can you really go wrong?  Recommend 10/10

It's available at Priceline for $5.69 (or Coles, Kmart, Woolworths etc..)

Secondly, LUX Exfoliating Shea Butter and Caramel Scrub:



LUX scrub caught my eye when I was browsing Priceline, after I had just run out of my Soap and Glory Breakfast Scrub. It smelt amazing, and for $5.49 I really had no excuse not give it a go. Thank god I did.

Compared to Breakfast Scrub ($18.95 from Mecca Cosmetica) it smells just as yummy, and the scent actually lasts a lot longer after you get out of the shower. You do need to use it with a shower glove/sponge to get the same exfoliating effect, but in saving $13 or so dollars - it's well worth it!

Everyone wants to come out of the shower smelling edible, don't lie! We definitely recommend this product - and it's awesome value for your money!


Let us know if you've tried either of these products, and how they worked for you dolls!