I want to start with Egyptian Magic. About a year or two ago, I started hearing all sorts of raves about this product. According to the EG website, this is "a phenomenal healing balm with legendary powers due to a unique mixture of all natural ingredients derived only from living plants and organisms." The ingredients are listed as olive oil, beeswax, honey, bee pollen, royal jelly, bee propolis, and Divine Love. Oh. My. Goodness!! It must be magic!
 |
| Image from egyptianmagic.com |
It's touted to be miraculous for all types of skin ailments, such as psoriasis, eczema, rashes, cuts, scrapes, sunburns, burns, scars, insect bites/stings as well as being an anti-wrinkle cream, after shave balm, hair conditioner, lip balm, vaginal moisturizer and lubricant, makeup remover....the list is endless and covers the skin, hair and nail care gamut. Seriously, what's not to love? And celebrities use it and swear by it...
Just to be clear, it's not a bad product. I personally just did not encounter any magical miracles using this product. To me, this was nothing more than a heavy, greasy, slightly waxy all-purpose unguent. And it doesn't smell great, either. If you decide to buy this, use the heck out of it for everything because it has a limited shelf life and will go rancid in a year or less. And it is not cheap...$40 for a 4 ounce jar and $26 for a 2 ounce jar. I'm sorry, I felt it was vastly overpriced for what it is and didn't feel it was any better than Eucerin, Nivea, CeraVe or other commercial brands of skin lotions and potions available at any drugstore.
Another product that vastly disappointed me was IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream with SPF 50. (What a mouthful! Why does IT Cosmetics create such ridiculously long names for their stuff?) I've tried many of their other offerings and generally, they are very good. I'd heard so much hype about this particular product all over the web, I finally caved and bought it.
 |
| Image from Ulta |
I believe if you have the right skin type, this might be a dream product for you. The shade selection is very limited but unless you are super-porcelain or super-deep dark, you'll find one of the shades will most likely work for you (with the aid of bronzer and/or a properly matched-to-your skin tone face powder). I agree that this is way more than a simple CC cream. It is quite rich, feels wonderful on the skin and I've no doubt that daily use would produce some visible benefits for your skin. The coverage is unbelievable for a so-called cc cream. This has sheer to medium coverage and I feel it could easily be built up to full coverage. It also smells fabulous, with a fresh citrus-like scent.
However, this product looks like crap, yes crap, on me. It highlights every pore and wrinkle on my face and looks cakey no matter how much I use or however I apply it. I have tried using a tiny barely-there amount and I've tried a slightly heavier amount. I've tried a damp blender sponge, various foundation brushes and my fingers. Nothing seems to make any difference. No matter what I do, I end up looking like the surface of the moon...craters galore. And to add insult to injury, the 1.08 ounce tube runs $38. That's too much cash for something that makes me look perfectly awful.
If you have skin with little to no 'texture', and is fine-pored and smooth with few crinkles, this may be just what you're looking for. It just doesn't work for me at all. Sorry IT Cosmetics. Love some of your stuff very much, just not this one.
Physician's Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer and Blushes. These have been raved about all over the internet as well. At least the bronzer has been raved about. There are mixed reviews about the blushes. Let's take a look at the bronzer first, since it's gotten the most hype. I love Physician's Formula products. They tend to have a slightly higher price tag than other drugstore brands but the quality is there and generally the amount of product for $$ is a good value.
What is good about the Butter blushes and bronzer is that you do get a fair amount of product and they all smell like a tropical coconut-ty paradise. To just look at them, they are beautiful colors, especially the blushes. My problem? Color payoff. It's just not there.
The bronzer comes in two shades, Bronzer and Light Bronzer. I purchased the 'darker' one, Bronzer. It is very light and is barely visible on my light to medium skin tone. To get any color payoff, I have to reapply numerous times to get it to show up at all. Mind you, I'm not a believer in having obvious bronzer or blusher stripes on the sides of my face. But I would like there to be some color. That's the point of it, right?
 |
| Image from I Know My Makeup Blog |
The blushes come in two shades, as well. Natural Glow and Plum Rose. Natural Glow is a golden peach color with some light shimmer. The Plum Rose is what I'd call a natural nudie-pink color with no discernible shimmer. These blushes are so sheer, I seriously have to put four to six layers on for it to show up at all. I just don't want to have to work that hard to get a color cosmetic to do its job. It's a shame because these are really beautiful colors.
In addition, both bronzer and blush come not with the usual half-moon brush, but a bizarre silicone-like paddle applicator. Which, by the way, it doesn't work either.
I would buy these products for a very young teenager who doesn't really need to be adding a lot of color to her pretty face anyway. It's like kiddie makeup. My apologies, Physician's Formula, these were a bust for me.
Well, ya can't win 'em all, can ya?
Till next time,
"My own saying is: 'Create the hype, but don't ever believe it.' " ~ Simon Cowell
No comments:
Post a Comment