So the last few days CVS was having a generous sale with Physician's Formula. It was basically $7 off anything that cost more than $7. While I didn't find the products that were just over $7 (totally sold out) I did get a good deal of products. I bought 10 items and "saved" $70. I believe I spent about $37 on all the stuff so not a bad deal at all. If you look on the CVS website you'll notice they sell online and the prices are a bit cheaper than in store. But this was strictly store only and it totally brought out my mini hunter instinct.
This will be fairly long since I will be reviewing what I got so bear with me.
First off, I got yet another 2 in 1 Lash Boosting Pen in Ultra Black. My other goal of the sale was to find products that offered bonus product. This included the clear lash serum with it.
Orig. Price : $11.49
Price Paid: $4.49
I've been hoarding these since last week when there were BOGO 1/2 off. I only got one since it was the only bonus pack left and I do love the clear serum.
The eyeliner is amazing and it is probably going to replace a lot of the black liners I have. I will keep Urban Decay Perversion around for my smoky eye but I will never buy any other black liner but these two. When I hoarded them during the BOGO 1/2 off they ended up being about $4 each pen (Rite Aid was slightly cheaper). With this deal, the last two pencils I got came out to $2.25 each. Can you imagine paying that little or an eyeliner and lash serum?
Next I got the Shimmer Strip Palette in Nude. I really love the colors and thought it would be really great to try out. I got two of them.
Orig. Price : $11.49
Price Paid: $4.49
There has been a lot of comparisons of this as a dupe for the Urban Decay Naked Palette. I have to say it is not. The colors are all shimmer, and the Naked Palette does contain a couple of mattes.
While this looks like a very wide assortment of colors, the shimmer in them tones it down and they look very similar when on. I have the same issue with the Naked Palette as well. The palette is kind of sectioned off in 3's. Each set of three shades corresponds to a look (Natural, Playful and Dramatic).
It comes with one sponge tipped applicator, which honestly, I'm not used to. I find that while the sections are on the small side, I find that my brushes fit just fine.
The box also indicates that the shadows can be used wet or dry. Wet will give a bolder, longer-lasting finish and dry will be softer. I can agree that the shadows are bolder when applied wet and also wear longer even without a primer.
The application can be tricky and these don't blend as well (especially wet) as some of my other shadows. But the colors are lovely and I do think I will be getting good use out of it. They wear really well (10+ hours) when used with a primer and still look okay even after a long day.
My only real gripe is that shimmery shadows are mainly used for highlighting so to have a palette that uses them all over the lid seems like overkill to me. I think I'm going to try to blend some of the shades out with face powder or the not-so-shimmery darker shades in here so that I can get a bit more versatility out of this palette. But as is, it's way too much shimmer for a grown woman to wear.
I also got a couple of concealers. I tend to get red around my nose and when I get pimples so I decided to try out some color correcting concealers.
I got the Concealer Twins (CT) and Perfecting Concealer Duo (PCD) in Green-Light.
Orig. Price : $8.29
Price Paid: $1.29
The CT is a cream concealer. You are supposed to apply the green to areas and blend. You then apply the light over the green and blend out. This has not gotten many good reviews and judging by how they tell you to use it I can understand why.
I however, found this concealer to work very well provided that I don't touch my face afterwards. My trick is that instead of applying green directly to my face, I mix in a dab of green into a liquid foundation to give the foundation the color correcting properties. I then apply to my trouble areas with a brush and blends with a make up wedge sponge. I then use the light (which is too light for me) to brighten my darker spots on my face like I would with my Dior Skin Flash pen. I finish with a good dusting of powder and I am done. This came in a twin pack so each CT came out to be $0.65 each.
The PCD is a cream to powder formula that works really well for ruddy areas like cheeks and chin. I get some green with the included brush and dot in my trouble areas. I blend with a make up wedge and repeat if needed. When I get the cover I want, I dab the light on and blend out. I then finish with powder.
These work pretty well. I find that the PCD last longer than the CT but I still like them both. The CT goes well on areas that can be tricky to cover like the nose area. The PCD is great or larger areas with a smooth surface like cheeks.
Just remember that patting is your best friend when concealing. Never rub. If you're using powder to set then apply with a stippling technique.
Now then, the worst of the worst products that I got..... the Custom Eye Enhancing Kohl Kajal Eyeliner Trio.
This sucks so badly I want to punch!
Orig. Price : $11.49
Price Paid: $4.49
Seriously, I paid way too much for this. This is touted to be a 100% waterproof eye kohl that can be used on the waterline. The colors looked so pretty that I grabbed it and thought "What the hell, I'll give it a try." Even the worst liners have some redeeming quality right?
WRONG! So wrong in fact that I will tell you everything that is wrong with these.
1- The formula on these is so greasy. This is why it's 100% waterproof because oil and water don't mix.
2- Smudges like a mofo because it's basically grease and once it gets to your body temperature it will melt like butter and spread everywhere.
3- Only the black in the kit is intense. While the other colors are nice, it takes a lot to make them as bold.
4- They should come with a fragile warning. The company could have packaged these as an automatic pencil like their other liners, but they didn't. Because of that, the liners can't be sharpened, will only get increasingly thicker and if you apply any pressure on these they will break apart. I had the black on break off at the base when I was swatching it.
5- The formula irritates my eyes. They don't get red per se but they do feel congested. I blame the oil in the product. I it's melting on my waterline and going into my eye then I'm going to get a film of this stuff all over my eye. Not cool.
6- What you see is what you get, literally. There is nothing to twist up and that giant pencil you're looking at is all the product you get to work with.... if you don't break it.
Can I still return this if one of the liners is missing? What the hell am I going to use these for?
Onto something happier now. I bought their Mineral Wear Airbrushing Pressed Powder in Beige. For reference I use MAC MSF in Medium and love it.
Price Paid: $7.49
Now if I'm paying regular price I would rather just get MAC, even though it's $29. Only because it is superior for me. I originally wanted to try one of their powders in Buff but couldn't find it. I settled for Beige and I'm happy to say that it works on me.
The casing is cute and it comes with a useless brush and an awkwardly placed mirror. Why they decided to put it below the pan I will never know since it totally negates the practicality of having a mirrored compact. The brush is useless and the company should stop making them.
The powder itself isn't half bad. It feels "stickier" than my other powders but it does provide a decent amount of coverage. It is darker that MSF in Medium but it still matches well. I noticed that this does accentuate flaky spots and pimples so moisturize well. Also, the best technique I found in application was to stipple it on with my MAC 187 brush. If I tried to just brush it on, too much product would get on my face and it would darken to an unnatural color it would also make my pores very noticeable on my nose once I started to sweat or get greasy. I don't know if this is just oxidation or too much powder or both. When I stipple, it find that takes care of these two major problems for me and it actually becomes something I would wear.
As for 16 hours of airbrushing finish... not really. But it will last me most of the work day. If I use this I will set with a finishing powder.
Almost done here. I also bought the Organic Wear Mascara. I guess it was my inner hipster looking to be green.
Orig. Price : $10.49
Price Paid: $3.49
This was in a bonus pack so I got 2 of them. That comes out to $1.75 each. The box says that it's suppose to boost lashes by 5x and that it lengthens, volumizes and defines.
First off I love the brush and the formula. It's a dry mascara so there will be a bit of clumping but not a lot. It really does define the lashes and it lengthens well enough. Volume wasn't really noticeable. This give a great natural look for when you don't want dramatic lashes. But, the product contains beeswax and though I'm not 100% sure this is the reason, it does smudge on me and I get light raccoon eyes in a couple of hours. This is very true when I'm wearing the Mineral Wear powder because the stickiness helps the mascara transfer. But most mascaras smudge on me so this isn't news. I can usually prevent any mascara from smudging by finishing off with a layer of MAC Opulash. But for mascara, Opulash works great without it so it's pointless to layer this beneath. Might use it as emergency mascara and just be mindful to check for smudges every couple of hours.
Finally! My final items are the Baked Collection Wet/Dry Eye Shadows in Baked Sands and Baked Oatmeal (BS and BO hahaha!). These are super cute in their little domes. The colors are very similar between these two sets but Baked Oatmeal is more neutral and Baked Sands is warmer.
Orig. Price : $9.39 (BS) $8.79 (BO)
Price Paid: $2.39 (BS) $1.79 (BO)
They apply very well when dry and they give a sheer natural finish with not too much shimmer. I have yet to try them wet but I am happy with them as is. Be sure to use a primer with these for maximum staying power. Each set contains 3 shadows (base, highlight and contour) and directions are given on the back of the box. I don't know why these are priced differently since the packaging is the exact same but it is what it is. I wouldn't pay the original price (maybe $5 at most) for these shadows but for the sale price I think these are a great deal.
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