Sunday, February 24, 2013

Quick Drugstore Haul and First Impressions: L'Oreal EverCurl Hydracharge Shampoo and Conditioner, Flower Beauty Concealer, and Nail Polish!

Hello lovelies! I made a quick trip to Target and Walmart this morning to pick up some groceries and of course that means that I picked up some hair and makeup stuff too.

I grabbed Flower Beauty Lighten Up Brightening Concealer, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Mermaid's Tail, and L'oreal EverCurl Hydracharge Shampoo and Conditioner.

I will definitely be reviewing the hair stuff and concealer in depth, but I wanted to give you my quick first impressions of each product.

Flower Lighten Up Brightening Concealer
This stuff was pretty reasonably priced ($7.98).  The shade selection was a bit of a bummer though, as there were only four colors.  I debated between this one (BC2) and the next darkest shade for quite a bit, but settled on this one.  Luckily it matches pretty well with the concealer I've been using.

This concealer promises seamless coverage with a "lit from within effect."  I have really horrible, true blue under eye circles, so I always have low expectations for what a drugstore concealer will do for me.

When I got home, I wiped off the undereye concealer that I was wearing (Maybelline Instant Age Rewind).  This concealer twists up so that the product dispenses through a brush.  You've gotta twist it for a while for the first use as is usually the case with this packaging style, but it does dispense well once you get it primed.

This applied smoothly.  It's pretty pigmented and I did feel like it was comparable to my Maybelline concealer.  I've only used it once and haven't been wearing it for long, but it seems promising thus far.  

As I said, be on the lookout for a full review in the next week or so.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Mermaid's Tail
I picked this up because it is supposed to be a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe which I think is gorgeous.  It's been out for a little while as part of a seasonal collection but it has been promoted to a permanent spot in the line (it had it's own name slot at my Target).  

This isn't a color that I can wear on my finger nails right now because I'm in the midst of job interviewing, but I went ahead and did two coats on one nail so that you guys could see the color swatched.  I'm not planning on doing a separate review of this nail polish because I think most everyone is familiar with the Sally Hansen Complete Manicure line.  


This is a blue jelly filled with tiny blue glitter plus larger green and blue hexagon glitter.  

These pictures show 3 coats on a naked nail:
Naked nail: 1 coat
Naked nail: 2 coats
Naked nail: 3 coats (sorry about the messy edges! I wasn't being
careful since I knew I'd be taking this off right away)
These pictures show 2 coats over an electric blue (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue It)

Over "Blue It": 1 coat
Over "Blue It": 2 coats
I love the way it looks over a blue nail polish.  I don't own a super dark navy, which I think would really make this something special, but I will definitely be purchasing one (hmm maybe Flower's April Showers...).  Like all glitters, it takes a bit of elbow grease to get it off, with I use 100% acetone as my remover, which makes it less of a chore.  I think this is a fun glitter that would work really well as an accent nail color or as a full manicure color

L'Oreal EverCurl Hydracharge Shampoo and Conditioner
This product is a spin off from the EverPure line of sulfate free hair products.  Both of these products are "100% sulfate free, no harsh salts, no parabens, natural botanicals, and 100% vegan." The shampoo contains silicones, however (amodimeticone, which generally does not build up, and a new cone to me, divinyldimethicone/dimethicone copolymer).  The conditioner contains mineral oil, so if you watch out for that ingredient, this conditioner is one to avoid (I personally don't have problems with mineral oil).

The shampoo bottle says that it is for wavy to tight curly hair, that it is non-drying, and that it uses an anti-frizz system of natural botanicals, including hibiscus and grape seed.  It promises to give you smooth, defined curls (every curly reading this just said "Yeah...ok...like I haven't heard that claim before!"  The conditioner also promises to give you smooth, defined curls.

The line also has a silicone-free cleansing conditioner, a leave in conditioner, and a cream gel.  I really wanted to try the cleansing conditioner, but it was sold out.  

My first impressions of this stuff are limited because I haven't actually used them yet.  But, I did pop open the caps to smell them and to take a look at the texture.

As far as the scent goes, let me just say I hate the smell of the other L'Oreal Ever-Whatever lines.  I think they smell very overpowering and fake.  This stuff, I was surprised to find, I like the smell of!  It's much more subtle/toned down from a quick bottle sniff, but obviously that opinion is subject to change after I get it on my hair!  Don't get me wrong, it's still pretty strongly scented.  It just isn't as bad as the other stuff from L'Oreal's hair care lines.

The shampoo is a semi-translucent pearly white and is pretty thick and creamy.  The conditioner is opaque, thick, and white.  They look promising!  I will be posting a full review once I've had enough washes to get a feel for what I think of them!  

No comments: