Here’s the thing. I had a great brow gel, but in my move to go cruelty-free this brow gel is no longer an option. So, I was on the hunt for a great brow gel from a cruelty-free company. I am sure that you can tell by the title that my hunt has not been going well. The two brow gels that I have tried are E.L.F.’s Beautifully Bare Sheer Tint Brow Gel in Medium and CoverGirl’s Easy Breezy Volumizing Brow Gel in Medium.

To be fair, I did not do my homework on these products and they were both spontaneous buys while I was at Target or the grocery store. Let’s start with the E.L.F. product. To start with a positive–I really like the color of this product. It perfectly matches my eyebrow color. Unfortunately, that is where the positives end for me. The product is quite wet and doesn’t seem to set or hold my unruly brows. I wish it was a slightly drier product. The product wand is what I disliked most. It is super long and flexible. I found it really difficult to use and the bristles are very short. Basically, this product just didn’t perform the way that I had hoped.

CoverGirl’s Easy Breezy Volumizing Brow Gel has a more traditional wand that I like. It is small, compact and stiff–the type that I need to get through my unruly brows. Although the color is light, it doesn’t show up much on my brows which is perfect. My brows are very prominent and i don’t need any extra color in them so this color worked for me. The only thing that I don’t care for is the formulation which was way too waxy. It made my thick brows feel stiff and gross. This formulation might be better suited to someone who doesn’t have the excessive amount of eyebrow hair like mine.

For now, I am working through these two products—you know the old adage: waste not, want not. Ultimately, it is back to the drawing board. If anyone has any cruelty-free brow products that they can recommend I would love to hear them!

Has a matte liquid lip seen the last of its days? Or is it still a popular choice? If you look at the popular products that have come out in the last few months, it’s all matte liquid lips. But to my surprise lip gloss seems to be on the rise.

Gloss has never been one of my favorite lip products. I find it sticky, tacky, patchy–all the things you don’t want a lip product to be. I am sure that at least a few of you have worn gloss on a breezy day and ended up with your hair stuck to your lips. Not a good look.

I have gone a bit more dew-y with my skin for the summer months and didn’t feel that my matte lip products were the right fit for a dewier look. So, after seeing a few reviews of the CoverGirl Colorlicious Lip Gloss I decided to give them a go. I purchased the colors 630: Give me Guava and 680: Sweet Strawberry. The copy from the CoverGirl website describes this gloss as “dripping with shine, ripe with color. Get lustrous, vibrant shine and rich true-to-tube color without all of that stickiness. Our conditioning formula moisturizes, leaving your lips feeling soft and silky and weightless.“

Both glosses are lovely. They feel very hydrating and moisturizing with no tacky feel. They go on very sheer, but the color can be built up with out feeling too sticky. They aren’t super long lasting, which, let’s be honest, no gloss is. I really like them and find myself reaching for them when I need a bit of color or shine. I find that I like them on their own, but have also used them as a topper to other lipsticks. The Give me Guava has beautiful gold/pink sparkle to it which catches the light in a gorgeous way. For a drug store, cruelty-free lip gloss (that is under $10) I would highly recommend picking up at least one shade to try!

*all products mentioned were purchased by me.

I know there is a lot of controversy out there regarding Wet n Wild…is it, or isn’t it, cruelty-free. Well, I bought this foundation to test out prior to all of the hoopla and I couldn’t just through it away. You know the old adage: waste not, want not.

I have been using the Photofocus foundation for over a month now. I can honestly say that it is not my favorite. I have tried it with and without a primer, with a makeup sponge, and with a brush. It is a very watery formula, which I am not super crazy about. It has light coverage, but is build-able to about a medium coverage without looking cakey. This would be a great foundation for beginners or someone with flawless skin.

For me, this just doesn’t work for a whole slew of reasons. One: the applicator. It comes with a plastic spatula to dispense the product. I find this to be messy, unhygienic, and all around ineffective. I would have much rather had a pump dispenser…especially since the formulation is so running. Which leads me to two: the running formulation. It felt like putting tinted water on my face. I like something with a more cream texture. Lastly: the longevity. I personally didn’t feel like this lasted on my face for the entire day. It would separate on my nose and leave it looking patchy. To be fair, I have the habit of touching my face…leaning my chin in my hand…so the foundation didn’t stay on my face. I even tried using a setting powder to see if this would help the separating, but it didn’t.

All-in-all, it isn’t a terrible foundation especially for the price (around $7). It comes in 20 shades, but leans heavily to the fair to medium skin tones. Like I said above, it would be great for beginners, people with flawless skin, or people who don’t want to spend a fortune on foundation. For me, it just didn’t give me the look and feel that I want.