Wish-List Wednesday: Clarisonic Cleansing System

This week's "Wish-List" product may be familiar if you watch alot of youtube videos, it's the Clarisonic Cleansing System. The Clarisonic Cleaning System is a popular beauty product that is used for cleansing the skin and claims to improve the condition of your skin through regular use.

On its website, it states that it uses a patented sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second to clean, soften and smooth skin. In just 1 minute, the brush gently, yet thoroughly removes 6X more makeup and 2X more dirt and oil than manual cleansing alone. It states that removing these impurities has been shown to allow a 61% better absorption of Vitamin C, and better prepares skin for other products and is highly recommended by spas and dermatologists.  Throught regular use, it claims to give you healthier skin which is smoother, more radiant and more beautiful.

How it works is that you simply charge it on its cradle. When you want to use it, you remove it from the cradle, wet your skin and apply your cleanser on the Clarisonic brush head. Then using circular motions, apply the Clarisonic on your face and it will beep, signalling you to change the area you are cleansing. According to the instructions, it is 20 seconds on the forehead area, 20 seconds on the nose/chin area and 10 seconds on each cheek. It states that with just 1 minute a day, you can improve your skin through regular use and get smoother, more radiant and beautiful, healthy skin.

I would love LOVE LOVE to have one of these! Especially since I wear makeup 5/6 days of the week and the benefits that the Clarisonic promises are sooo appealing! I mean, which guy/girl doesn't want to have flawless, healthy skin? What I like is that they make different brush heads for different skin types, for example they make brush heads targetted for normal skin, sensitive skin, deep pore cleansing, delicate cleansing and even a brush head specifically for the body. Only problemo with this is that you obviously have to buy different brush heads if you want, and you need to replace them when they get old. I'm not sure how long you can use a brush head until you have to replace it, but it may be difficult to replace if you stay in a place like South Africa that doesn't sell the Clarisonic and there are some items that Amazon does not deliver to as well...

Since I am in Hong Kong, I googled to see whether I could purchase the Clarisonic here. There are two stores here that sells it and it costs around R2300! That's quite a bit. I read some reviews on it and every one who has used the Clarisonic raves about it and said how their skin has improved!!!  I would love to buy it but it is very expensive, and the thought of not being able to purchase brush heads conveniently once I'm back in South Africa is a little bit of a let-downer.

Have you heard of the Clarisonic? What are your thoughts on it? My mom says that it isn't good to wash your face with a machine because your skin can be easily damaged if washed so vigorously. My thinking is that it should be quite gentle since their brush heads are made from the same material that is used for high quality cosmetic brushes. And their website states that it is gentle enough to use the Clarisonic on your skin twice daily.

If anyone is interested in more information about the Clarisonic, check out their website for more information: http://www.clarisonic.com

Wish-List Wednesday - Nars and Smashbox Holiday Palettes!

I am so excited to share with you these "wish-list" products that I have been eyeing lately. The first product is the Smashbox "Click You're It" Eye Palette. It comes in a beautifully packaged, red box that includes 15 eyeshadows, 5 cream eye liners and a mini Photo Finish Lid Primer. It also comes with Smashbox's "Get The Look" cards that gives you some eye makeup look ideas for the upcoming holiday season. 

 

Smashbox is one of my favourite makeup brands! Although they are quite pricey compared to other beauty brands, their makeup is always of the highest quality. I'm not sure if they selling this in South Africa yet, but this retails for $49 so I'm guessing that they will probably sell it for between R550 - R650 in South Africa (that is if they stock it).

I really like the shadows on these palette. From the picture it appears that there are a good variety of colours that you can use. I like that the cream eye liners can be used as a base for eyeshadows or as a gel liner, which ever one you prefer and I think that its great that they included a mini version of their Photo Finish Lid Primer. I've used their Photo Finish Face Primer and I love it! So I am quite sure that the eye primer is going to be awesome as well.

I think that this eye palette is such a great Christmas gift for ladies that love their eyeshadows because of the variety of colours that you get in this set and the high quality of Smashbox's eyeshadows. The only critique I have on this holiday palette is the name. Click You're It? Mmmm...

The second "Wish-list" product I would like to share with you is the Nars Danmari "All About Cheeks" blush set! Look at this beauty! I've been dying to try out some of Nars makeup products, especially their blushes because I've heard so many people rave about them! This palette is perfect for blush lovers like myself since it includes 4 of Nars's most popular blushes, namely Orgasm (middle top), Desire (right top), Super Orgasm (middle bottom) and Sin (right bottom). It also includes a highlight colour, Hungry Heart (left top) and a bronzing powder, Casino (left bottom)! This retails for $65 which is quite pricey, but if you consider the fact that each Nars blush usually retails for $27, then getting 6 blushes for $65 is a steal. These blushes aren't as big as the single blushes, but they only slightly smaller, of the same quality and its all in one palette! Nars blushes are well known for its high pigmentation and silky texture so it's really worth the splurge in my opinion since a little goes a long, long way! I like that this palette comes in Nars signature, sleek, black palette that they normally use to package their blushes and eyeshadows, just in a much larger size.

I know that there is one Nars store in Hong Kong, so I'll be heading there to check out this palette since we don't have Nars in South Africa. Between the two holiday sets, I think that I would rather purchase the Nars holiday palette since I do have alot of eyeshadows and not much blushes in my makeup collection.

I'm interested to know which one between the two you prefer, or what you think of these holiday palettes if you own them already. Please let me know in the comments below :)

Wish-List Wednesday - Benefit's 2011 Holiday Collection!

 

Oh how I love writing "Wish-List Wednesday" posts because I get to rant about my lust-haves! This one definitely sits quite high in the lust-list! It's Benefit's 2011 Holiday Collection! Oh my... just look at that cute, girly, pink packing and tell me in my face that you don't want that! I dare you!

So I haven't had the time to check these babies out yet (hence they on my wish list, otherwise I would have purchased some already!). But I thought that it would be great to post this since christmas gifts ideas are already on the mind and who said you can't treat yourself a little bit for Christmas ;)

1. All Decked Out for a Flawless Complexion
This holiday package contains some of Benefit's top-sellers, including the POREfessional primer, the Some-Kind-a-Gorgeous medium deluxi mini and the Benetint. All these products work together to give you flawless skin with a beautiful flush. I've been wanting to try POREfessional for a while now! I've heard so many good things about it! I've used the Benetint before and it really does give you the perfect "happy-from-the-inside" flushed look.

2. Life-Of-A-Party Makeup Kit
This all in one makeup kit contains eyeshadows, a blush, the popular Bad Gal Mascara, a pretty lipgloss and even the "Girl Meets Pearl" highlighter! It contains all the essentials you'll need to glam up from AM to PM. I don't think any girl who loves makeup would mind having this as a gift!

3. Boxing Day Beauty
This gorgeous gift set contains the some-kind-a-gorgeous medium, the high beam deluxe mini highlighter (LOVE THIS STUFF), Hoola bronzer and a mini sized Bad Gal Mascara. I've used both high beam and hoola and they look amazing together! This is the perfect gift set to choose if you need beauty products for contouring and highlighting your face.

4. Romancing the Mirror
This gift set contains the "That Gal" face highlighter, the SugarBomb Blush and the Bad Gal mascara.

5. POWda WOWza
Love LOVE LOVE! This contains four of Benefit's famous face powders in one portable box! It contains the CORALista blush - a coral-pink coloured blush, Hoola bronzing powder, Bella Bamba - the newest blush that has joined the Benefit family and a 3D brightening pink face powder! It even comes with a mini brush! Now that really is WOWKAPOW!

6. Ticket to GlossyTown
This is every lipgloss girl's dream gift! This set contains six glitsy mini lip glosses that are sure to fit with any makeup look! These lipglosses are ultra shiny, their colours are juicy yet never leaves lips feeling sticky.

I'm guessing that all these items are limited edition.  I'm a sucker for things limited edition. I know its all a marketing ploy but its hard to resist when they look so pweeeety! I've used quite a few of Benefit's products namely High Beam, Hoola bronzer and their Benefit PROWL lipgloss/glitter mascara as well and I love them! So I'm definitely interested in purchasing some of these gift sets. I think the setsI am likely to purchase are 2. Life-Of-A-Party Makeup Kit and 5. POWda WOWza. My Hoola bronzer has hit pan and I've always wanted to get the new Bella Bamba blush!

Drooollls.... Wow they are beautiful! I think these gift sets are a great idea to try smaller versions of Benefit's products to see whether you will like them. For those that don't know, there are Benefit counters in Woolworths, so be sure to have a look-see when you're there. If you want any more info you can also check out the Benefit Cosmetics website at: www.benefitcosmetics.com

Let me know which sets you are the most interested in, in the comments below.

Wish-list Wednesday - Sigma Beauty Brushes

For my first "Wish-list Wednesday" series, I would like to share with you one of my most-wanted beauty products of all time, that I love and want so badly, but aren't available to buy in South Africa - Sigma Beauty Brushes!!! I first heard of Sigma through Youtube and after watching countless videos on these brushes, I am officially in love.

Sigma is a makeup brand that makes a complete line of professional makeup brushes. All their products are handmade, of high standards and very functional. They sell their brushes from their website and deliver internationally.

There are so many of their brushes that I would like to purchase, because I heard that the quality of their brushes are better than MAC and also more affordable! Everyone that has reviewed them says that the brushes are super soft, have hardly any fallout and works similar, if not better, than MAC brushes.

I have been wanting to purchase some of their brushes and brush sets for a while now. The brushes itself is affordable if you compare it to how much MAC charges for one brush. It only becomes unaffordable when you add the costs of shipping it from America to South Africa.

These are the brushes I've been wanting for a while now:
The Make Me Up Collection

This collection is great for girls who want to buy one set that has all the face and eyes makeup brushes that you will ever need!  Look at how cute the packing is! It's super travel-friendly but is also great for holding your brushes at your vanity too. They come in four different colours, which is great since most brush sets just come in black. I love the names that they gave to the brush sets. The black one is "Make Me Classy", the pink one is "Make Me Blush", the purple one is "Make Me Crazy"  and the turquiose one, (my favourite colour!) is called "Make Me Cool"! Just look at these brushes, they are to die for! Each brush set comes with 12 brushes and it costs $109 (around R800 if you convert it to Rands) which is super duper affordable for 12 high quality, handmade brushes! (faints!!!). I paid R230 for one flat shader brush from MAC...


Like I said my favourite is the "Make Me Cool" brush set because turquiose is so beautiful! For other beauty fudus like me out there, let me just quickly list the types of brushes they have in these sets:

• Eyeliner Brush
• Pencil Brush
• Tapered Blending Brush
• Eye shading Brush
• Large Shader Brush
• Small Angle Brush
• Medium Angled Shading Brush
• Large Powder Brush
• Large Angled Contour Brush
• Duo Fibre Brush
• Foundation Brush
• Concealcr Brush

In my opinion, its such a great price for all these brushes! I always maintain that its better to pay more for high quality brushes because they will last for a lifetime and you will also use your makeup more efficiently. When I first started with makeup, I simply used my hands and fingers for everything, including applying eyeshadow. And I've kind of ruined some of my eyeshadow because when you use your fingers, the natural oil that your skin produces gets in the shadow and it may sometimes cause a crust to form on your eyeshadows (sounds gross... i'm sorry... but its true). I've cleaned the shadows with some alcohol wipes to remove the crush, but I wasted quite a bit of shadow doing so. So investing in good brushes will really help your makeup last way longer and it is also more hygienic. 

The other set of Sigma brushes that I have been lusting for is the Synthetic Kabuki Brush Set! This brush set contain four face brushes for high definition flawless makeup application. The brushes are made from Synthetic filament, specially designed to apply powder and liquid products without absorption into the fibers, thereby reducing the amount of foundation/powder that is excessively wasted.

The F80 Flat Kabuki Brush is perfect for applying liquid and cream formulas on the flat areas of the face and seamlessly buffs foundation into the skin (drooooolssss....). The F82 Round Kabuki Brush is also great for applying liquid and cream foundation but is super awesome for the curved areas of your face, like around the eyes, nose, chin and jaw line. This brush is super awesome for applying mineral foundation. The F84 Angled Kabuki Brush is an angled brush that is great for applying and blending cream blushes onto the cheeks. It can also be used to shade in the hair line, cheek bones and jaw line for effortless contouring. The last brush is the F86 Tapered Kabuki Brush which is great for applying powder, cream and liquid products on the hard-to-reach areas of your face. It is also great for applying primer application, contouring and highlighting. This brush set costs $56 which is around R400!!!! (faints again)... I think my friend bought a synthetic stippling brush from MAC for R320... (wtf?) What makes these brushes unique is that they are super dense (the most dense compared to any other brand), yet is super soft and gentle on the skin.

Ok, so I'll admit its a bit excessive to want all four of these brushes. So if I had to only get 2 I would get the F80 Flat Kabuki Brush and the F84/F82 brush... Can't decide between the two. But obviously having all four would be the most ideal! (Brushes have become like shoes for me, you can never have too many of them! *winks)

So it is clear that these world-changing-beauty-fanatic-must-have-brushes are awesome and affordable, but like I said earlier, its the shipping that is the killer...  There are two options for shipping, the one is the
"First-Class Mall International Package" which is around $25 (around R170). The other option is the "Express Maill International for $47 (around R300). The difference between the two is that the "first-class" option takes 2 to 12 weeks depending on the country and does not provide a tracking number and the "express" option provides a tracking number and takes 6-20 days depending on the country.

It just breaks my heart that what I will be expected to pay for shipping costs will be able to afford me to buy another three brushes! That's the only reason I haven't gotten my hands on these brushes yet! So if anyone is interested in purchasing these brushes and would like to share shipping costs and you live in the same city as me, then maybe we can split the costs and get our hands on these baby! Until then, these will remain on my wish-list...

For more info or to check out other Sigma Beauty goodies, their website is:
www.sigmabeauty.com

Hope you enjoyed my first "Wish-list Wednesday" post :)