Ingredient Focus: Introduction to the Series

Today I am so excited to share the news about a new series I am starting! I've always thought that knowledge is vital to a purposeful existence, and its so important to know as much as you possibly can - being smart is sexy!

 One subject that I think people have the right to know a lot about is ingredients. We are living in a world where most of the things we use are made in factories by other people, people that don't know us, our individual needs, and most of the time are only concerned about the bottom dollar. This can lead to companies making poor quality products while charging us an arm and a leg. This whole system irritates me, because I do not feel well informed and I feel like I am being taken advantage of.

Today I am glad to say that I taking a stand against not knowing what are in my products!

The onus is on us, the consumer, to figure out what the heck is being put into the products we use and what effects they have on us and the world! And I know that there are regulations put in place to protect us and stuff, but lets face it, I like to go above and beyond when it comes to my safety and I think you should too. We need to look into our foods, household cleaning products, textile products, and beauty products and make informed choices on whether or not we would like to purchase products.

The issue with being informed is that its difficult to find quality information online. There are so many individual biases and people who don't know what they are talking about that just makes the whole process frustrating and confusing.

This is where my new Ingredient Focus series comes in. Since I love beauty and skincare, over the next few months I'm going to learn as much as I can about the ingredients we find in skincare/can use in skincare and share this information with you guys! I will be creating posts that focus on on one ingredient (shocker) talking about its source, uses, benefits and whatever else seems relevant.

 Some of the ingredients will be "natural", things that you can find at your local health food store or kitchen. Think of honey, shea butter. ect. Some of the other ingredients will be more "not-so-natural", things that you would expect to see in commercial skincare products. Think of salicylic acid, hyaluronic acid, mica, and parabens.

Now I would like to note that some of these "not-so-natural" ingredients can be sourced naturally, but are not commonly thought as being "natural" and are often synthetically produced. I would also like to note that just because a product is natural doesn't mean it is good for you (ex, poison ivy) and just because a product is synthetic doesn't mean its bad for you. With this series I hope to clear up any misconceptions surrounding products and help you make better decisions when it comes to choosing the proper products for you.

I'm so excited to start this journey with you!

Yours in beauty, 

EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balm Flavors! The good, the not-so-bad, and the yucky!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
The cute circular lip balms by EOS are no secret in the beauty world, and rightfully so! Who doesn't love cheap, adorable, and almost all organic products?! You've probably seen many famous YouTube guru's like Emily Eddington from Beauty Broadcast using them in many tutorials, because they work super well. (If you watch Emily on Youtube you may remember that these are three time Emily Award winners in the lip balm category! If you don't watch Emily on Youtube, that just means that they are off.the.hook.)

Applying a lip balm is an important part of any beauty routine. They make a perfect base for your lipstick, make your lips look soft and plump, and in some cases taste really delicious! Even the most minimalist beauty routine deserves a lip balm and my favourite by far is EOS.As I said, the main selling points for these lip balms are their unusual shape, fun colours, and "delicious" flavours. Unfortunately, after purchasing four of these balms I have come to the conclusion that only some are delicious, the others are kinda gross. Today I'm going to give you the scoop on these flavours so if you choose to purchase a balm for your routine you can get the most delicious one possible (I know you're not supposed to eat them...but whatever! We all know that's what happens to lip balms, am I right?)

Just so you're aware, here at Blissful x Beautiful we like to do things old school, I mean like going back to elementary school old school - you follow? All products are reviewed using a letter of the alphabet, ranging from F to A+! And remember, today were just reviewing flavour not performance (these little gems already have an A in that department!). So without any more babble, here are the flavours and their rating.

Honeysuckle Honeydew, what a mouthful! When I hear a name like this I immediately think of fruit tray full of honeydew melon, which makes me happy, because most of the time I would consider Honeydew to be my favourite fruit (Raspberries and Pineapple are the other contenders, in case you were wondering). This gives me really high expectations when it comes to yumminess of this product.

 When you first open it up the smell of melon is apparent, not smack-you-in-your-face apparent, but its pleasantly noticeable. Another thing I noticed about this scent is that at the end of it there is a little bit of an artificial plastic/rubbery smell. I'm not sure how to describe it, but if this lip balm was a perfume I would say that its top note is melon, and its bottom note was eraser. I think this may be caused a by the rubber packaging, kinda gross, but its something I can move past.

When you apply this to your lips the taste of melon is definitely there, but that slight rubber taste does linger a little bit. This taste does last long on your mouth, in about five minutes all the flavor will be gone. Overall, the taste is very sweet and pleasant, making it is one of my favorites from my collection. The melon flavours in this balm deserve an A, but those slight plasticy flavours bring the rating down to a B+.

Out of all the EOS balms I have, this was the one I wanted to purchase first. Maybe its the mint flavour -my favourite flavouring- that drew me in, or maybe its the baby blue packaging -my favourite colour- but I bought my first one one of these back in 2010! Since then it has been a definite repurchase.

When you first open the balm and take a stiff, the smell of mint just pops right at you. Its delicious. Its not strong enough to make your eyes water, but your nose may feel a bit of minty tingle. Similarly to if you smelt mouthwash, toothpaste, or a breath mint. When you pop it on your mouth, the first thing you notice is that iconic cool-mint sensation. Its not uncomfortable, but just enough to remind you of its presence - nowhere near the intense cooling sensation you get from plumping glosses. If you lick your lips, the flavour is clearly mint and there is no weird plastic after taste!

EOS really hit the mark with this balm's flavor. It definitely met my expectations and keeps me repurchasing every time I run out (or in the case of my first one, gets thrown across the room by some jerk-faced-meathead in my grade ten math class. It was open and landed balm-side down on the dirty floor. This is the same guy who also drew mustaches on the photos I had covered my binders with. I still haven't forgiven him). Bad memories aside, this product's flavour deserves an A+!

Seriously, who doesn't just love strawberry sorbet? This gluten/dairy/egg free gal ADORES sorbet! I knew that it would be impossible for a mere balm to capture the amazing flavours of an ice cold dish of strawberry sorbet, so for this balm I was really just looking for it to convey some type of strawberry message.

When you smell this balm there is a sweet smell, but I don't know if I would necessary put it into the strawberry category  Sure, if you give it a really serious sniff you can make out that its strawberry, but its definitely not bursting with fragrance in the way sweet mint is. In the average application, all I smell is sweetness. Taste-wise, I feel the same way. If you lick your lips, you taste some kind of sweetness. I would probably have to eat the entire balm to get the kind of strawberry punch I was hoping for with this product, but I dont think its safe to do that, so I wont test that for you.

This balm has a nice, sweet flavour. Unfortunately, I just doesn't hit the strawberry mark for me. If EOS could have added just a little more flavour this balm would have nailed it, but since the scent is so weak, I'm going to have to give it a B-. 

Lastly, Im going to talk about summer fruit. This balm lives in my overnight bag at home because truthfully, im not a fan. At all. Not even a little. Why? The flavour on this balm is so weird and yucky. It is so bad that it inspired me to write this whole post.

Summer Fruit is really similar to Honeysuckle Honeydew in the sense that they both have that weird plastic/rubber/synthetic  smell. The only difference is that the weird smell is not at all subtle with Summer Fruit, its probably the boldest fragrance out of all the balms I have. Total disappointment.

This balm has so much potential! When you first open it you get a tiny whiff of fruity goodness that you would expect from the balm, and then that yucky smell sets in. When you put it on your lips all you can smell and taste is plastic with a little added sweetness. Its truly horrible. If this was the only balm I had purchased from EOS, this would turn me off of the line completely. For this reason, this product will receive an F. 

 

The EOS lip balms are truly phenomenal on for the lips. If you were looking at purchasing one of their balms in the future I hope this post gave you all the insight you needed to make the right choice for you (please, please, please, don't choose Summer Fruit!).

After examining all the scents closely I think EOS is much weaker with their fruity flavours. So not only do I feel that mint is the best choice, but I also feel that as they continue to release new flavours in the feature you may be more satisfied with your purchase if you stay away the fruity ones. If you do want to try a fruit one, I would recommend that you keep your expectations low - you're surely not getting a lip-smackers esque flavour with this product!

Hope you enjoyed, remember to comment, subscribe, and let me know if you think differently of these flavours!

Yours in beauty,

Mascara Review! Maximum Definition Volume Mascara by Essence

Today I am coming at you with a product review! Mascaras are the one product where I'm always looking for the next best thing, so I was super excited to give this Essence mascara a try after I read all the rave reviews their "I love extreme" mascara was getting. Since I prefer length and definition instead of volume for my lashes, I decided to purchase the brands " Maximum Definition Volume Mascara" which retailed for about 5$.

 For those who aren't familiar with Essence, they seem to be a relatively new brand with prices comparable to those of Wet and Wild. So far, I have only seen their products in Shoppers, but that could just be because I live in the middle of nowhere. They have a variety of uncommon products, like a lash volumizing powder (what?!) that seem like they would be awesome to try!

This mascara features bold red and black packaging that reminds me a lot of the new Covergirl flamed out mascara, although I believe the black things on the tube are supposed to be abstract swirls and not flames. The brush is rubber, which typically is my favorite. It also claims to give the ultimate volume and definition without clumps! On the Essence website, they describe this mascara as:

No lash can escape this mascara: the innovative and flexible synthetic brush reaches even the shortest lashes in the corner of your eye for perfect lengthening effects from base to tips. for a beautiful look.

 Sounds great, right? Lets see how it preformed! 

Before I show you my lashes with this mascara, I think it is important that you, the reader, understands what my lashes are like naturally. I truly believe that knowing your lash type is just as important as knowing your hair type, because every product will perform differently on each type of hair/lash! You wouldn't expect a shampoo meant to keep straight hair oil-free work well on curly-haired lady, would you? No! The same logic applies to your lashes as well, and that's why there are so many varying opinions on mascaras.

I have longer lashes that flare out towards the end. For the most part, they have a nice natural curl however it can droop near the outer corner of my eye. I lack volume in both the inner and outer corner of upper lash line, but my bottom lashes are fairly dense. Because of this, I look for a mascara that will fill in the sparse corners of my eyes, lift my lashes at the ends, and give them doll-like length without clumps!

Here's what the Maximum Definition Volume Mascara did to my lashes

KA-POW! No other makeup product can make the same impact on your face as mascara!

I liked how this mascara lifted, darkened, and lengthened my lashes. It really perked up my eyes - as all mascaras should! It also did a lovely job at defining my bottom lashes, but most mascaras do that. I was particularly impressed with how this mascara handled the sparse lashes in my inner corner. If you take a peak at the top-right photo, you can really see the fluttery, natural look it gave me. GORGEOUS.

Unfortunately I don't have all good things to say about this mascara, starting with the bottom lashes. As I said before it does a lovely job at defining the lashes, but that's it. The majority of mascaras will do that for me. There is nothing unique about how this mascara performs on this area, its just average. Another issue is that although this mascara performed well on areas with nicer lashes, it didn't do well in problem areas - particularly my outer corners! If you turn your attention to the top-left image, you'll see that the lovely definition stops and the lashes start getting clumpy and spidery. This isn't anything like the soft, natural volume I had in the inner corner! Since the outer corners can really make an eye look pop, this is a huge issue! I found that no matter how hard I tried, I could not separate or soften the look of these lashes and they just don't blend well with the rest as a result. Another issue is that its really messy. I am not the most careful mascara applier in the world, and I usually smudge it a bit, but with this mascara it was x10 worst than usual!

In summary, this mascara is alright. Really, if it weren't for the whole outer-corner-looks-funky issue, I wouldn't have that big of a problem with this mascara. All the other issues I have are relatively minor! And believe me when I say that I have tried EVERYTHING to fix this issue. I've applied less, applied more, waited time between coats, applied coats right away, brushed the lashes out with a spoolie... and nothing seems to give the end lashes that "wow" factor. Overall, I give this mascara a 

Hope you found this review interesting and insightful! What mascaras have you been lately?

Yours in beauty,