Resvology Age Corrective Eye Cream : First Impressions

From time to time, I receive free products to test and I, usually, turn around and tell you guys about them. One of the more recent products that I've received is an Age Corrective Eye Cream from Resvology. I'm calling this a "first impressions" post due to the fact that I don't think you can accurately judge any anti-aging treatment (or really, any skin treatment) in a short period of time. I think that I would need to use this for months to be able to tell you if there were any difference in my skin. That being said, I can tell you what I think of it now and a little bit about the company.

Resvology is a fairly new company and as of right now, they only have a few products available on their website, www.resvology.com. Here is some information about the brand from their website:

At Resvology, our dedication to advancing the potential of anti-aging skincare began in our research labs. Specialists in studying gene-activation, our distinguished scientists were awarded a medical grant to study the problems of aging skin from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington, DC. After 10 years of medical study and investigation, they isolated the power of the first ever stabilized form of resveratrol acetate, now called the 4-AR Molecule™ (US PATENT 7,714,161, with worldwide patents pending), a clinically-designed solution to help tackle specific aspects of skin aging including fine lines, wrinkles, loss of firmness and elasticity, uneven skin tone and sun damage. The only brand in the world to feature this transformative breakthrough, 4-AR is clinically-proven to help keep skin acting and looking younger.

Generally speaking, I think that a lot of companies use "science jargon" to make their consumers believe that they are fancy and have spent a lot of time in research. That's not to say that Resvology hasn't spent a lot of time researching, but the description above doesn't sound like anything particularly unique to me.

Resvology's selling point is the 4-AR molecule and since I took my last science class roughly 7 years ago and I don't know skin biology, I don't really know what this 4-AR molecule is exactly. They give a breakdown again:

Hydrating and rejuvenating anti-aging eye cream infused with active peptides, botanicals and the multi-patented 4-AR Molecule™, clinically-proven to help fuel healthy gene activity by 330%. Safe for all skin types, this lightweight formula helps minimize fine lines, wrinkles and crow’s feet, improves skin firmness, deflates puffiness and brightens dark circles. 
What is our multi-patented 4-AR Molecule™?4-AR Molecule™ is the only stabilized ester of the widely recognized “youth-molecule” resveratrol. 4-AR Molecule™ was discovered when our distinguished scientists, specialists studying gene-activation, were awarded a medical grant to study the problems of aging skin from the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC. After 10 years of medical research, they created the pharmaceutical-grade, multi-patented 4-AR Molecule™ -- a clinically-designed solution to help tackle specific aspects of aging skin.

Benefits:- Minimizes crow’s feet, fine lines and wrinkles- Reinforces skin firmness and elasticity- Deflates puffiness and brightens dark circles 

Our Exclusive Actives- 4-AR Molecule™- Oligo Tetrapeptides- Panthenol- Barley, Sandalwood & Olive Extracts

Unprecedented Claims:- 100% agree fine lines and wrinkles are minimized- 100% agree area is firm- 100% agree eye area is hydrated 

Again, I've only been using this eye cream for a short time, so I can't speak to a prolonged use of this... yet. I can speak a little bit more about the brand though. It does appear that Resvology is building quite a clientel and has partnered with several well know companies, such as Henri Bendel, to put on events. Not that Henri Bendel is the end all, be all of promoting skin care, but it is a boost of confidence in a company when brands partner with them. Since Resvology is fairly new to the scene, it's nice to know that they aren't some horribly shady company!

As for the eye cream itself, here is what I can tell you about it. The packaging is very sleek looking and I like it quite a bit. To me, eye creams generally seem pretty unsanitary due to the fact that they come in a pot and you're constantly sticking your fingers in there. This comes with a nice little pump tube so that you never have to dip your bacteria laden fingers into a pot. The only perk to eye cream coming a pot is that you get to use 100% of the product and don't have to worry about anything being left over to the the inability to get it out. I tried to unscrew the top of this container, but it doesn't unscrew, meaning that there might be a teaspoon or more left in the bottle that you can't get out.

The cream is just an off-white shade without any discernible scent, which is a good thing, because you wants to put fragrance right by their eyes? I don't even use a full pump when applying and although it says to use "day and night", I only use it at night. The cream itself is actually fairly lightweight and soaks into the skin fairly quickly without leaving much of a residue on the skin. If you have oily skin like me, that's a sigh of relief when it comes to anti-aging. After sitting on the skin for a few minutes, it's completely absorbed and leaves the skin feeling really soft. Since I use this at night, I can't speak to whether or not that feeling continues on throughout the day.

All in all, it's an intriguing product and a company that I am interested in seeing more from in the next few months. If you're curious about Resvology, you can check them out at www.Resvology.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/resvology.

Pop Art Zombie : Halloween Tutorial

The first of the Halloween tutorials! I am so happy with how this turned out, but not so happy with how the video turned out.... I'm really jonesing for a new camera, but I want to wait until Cyber Monday to buy one since the deals might be super awesome. The video quality isn't stellar, but it will still take you through the steps to achieve this look. The only "halloween makeup" that I used to achieve this look was white cream face paint, everything else came from my makeup bag. 

If you have any questions or comments, let me know down below! The next Halloween tutorial miiiiight be Rocky Horror Picture Show related...

It's A Giveaway! : October

FINALLY, the time is here! This promised giveaway has finally arrived! I'll break down what everything is and include supplemental photos, but first, the rules.

Rules for the Giveaway

• You must be 18 or older; no exceptions
• You must enter using the Rafflecopter app provided below, no other submissions accepted.
• All entries must be received by October 16th, 2013 by 12 a.m. CST.
• Winner will receive (1) Benefit Ultra Plush Lipgloss in Sugarbomb, (1) "Hit Like a Girl" Wet N Wild Eye Shadow Trio, (1) Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick in Nylon Nude, (1) Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Dolce, (1) Mirabella Primer, (1) Pouty Pop Crayon in Fuscia Flirt, (1)Cailyn Gel Eyeliner in Purple, (1) Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss in Pout, (1) tube of Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, (1) Nailtini Nail Polish in Mai Tai, (2) J. Cat Nail Polishes in Mango and Neon Pink, (2) Wet N Wild Megalast Nail polishes in Red a Good Book and Sugar Coat and (1) Nicole by OPI Nail Polish By Selena Gomez in Pretty in Plum.

Other general info:

This is open internationally, so anyone over 18 can enter. I will post the winner on October 16th and I will send you an email to let you know that you have won. I will mail the winnings to you, so you must provide your address within 48 hours of winning; if you don’t provide me your address, I will re-draw and there will be a new winner.  All items are brand new and have never been used.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Vice 2 Palette : Swatches and First Impressions

For those of you follow the makeup realm closely, you know the lore of the Vice palette that Urban Decay put out last year. If you look up prices for the original, you'll find them pretty close to $200, which is a good chunk of change considering it retailed for $59. Now, what made that palette special? It was 20 brand new shades that were limited edition and only available in that palette. Obviously, the palette sold out and then prices sky rocketed (just like most designer collections at Target). So, fast forward a year and here we are with the Vice 2 palette. In my humble opinion, I don't see this palette doing nearly as well as the previous and to me, it's because of one shade in particular; this palette is missing anything as amazing as the original Vice's Chaos. 

Just google the original palette and you will see what an amazing masterpiece the shade Chaos was. Even if you don't care for blue shadow, you have to admit that there is something magical about that shade. It was matte (ok, there were some chunks of glitter), royal blue, and the depth on it was amazing. This palette doesn't have a run away shade like that.

That's not to say of course that this palette is bad, as it has a lot of really awesome shades in it that will be awesome, just nothing that lives up to Chaos (for me). All of that being said, let's talk about this palette. It's 20 shades again, all brand new, and all limited edition. You have all different colors, but they all pretty much have the same finish, which is shimmer. However, if you've ever bought Urban Decay eye shadow before, you should know that shimmer and glitter are kind of their namesake.

I'm not really impressed with the case itself since it feels really cheap and plastic-y, but I do really like the jewel like UD on the front. I assume some people may not like that since it makes it so that you can't put anything on top of the palette, but it's pretty, so who cares? You get a huge mirror on the inside, which is a great thing to include since so many palettes these days still don't include one. You also get a double ended brush...

If you don't have a good brush collection, then this is going to be a welcome addition, but if you have something going on in the brush department, this will be useless. For me, I have a lot of brushes and I have a lot of soft, nice brushes (nothing fancy like Hakuhodo; I wish), so this brush will probably not get used. Its bristles don't feel great to the touch and they're pretty stiff. 

And now for the swartches! I'm going to break it down by shade, so here we go:

Smokeout: Meh. Smokeout is your standard black matte shadow with silver glitter. I am not a fan of silver glitter in my black shadows, so this will hardly be used.

Lovesick: Not quite black, not quite charcoal. It has some shimmer to it and will be great for creating a smoky eye. Applies very nicely.

Shellshock: SILVER. Even though I can't remember the last time that I wore silver eye shadow, this is one of the nicest shadows in the palette. It applies beautifully and the pigmentation is A+. It makes me want to brush this on, add only mascara, and berry lips for a total 90s throwback.

Coax: This is a very true pink, shimmer shade. It is very, very pretty and fairly pigmented. Unfortunately, it kind of blends into my arm so you can't see it too well, but it will look great on the lids. Very much a princess pink and would look good with any of the browns from this palette.

X-Rated: And pastel pink! Maybe because it's lighter it looks a lot more shimmery than Coax or it could, in fact, be more shimmery. Not my favorite shade of eye shadow, but this might be the jam for some people.

Prank: Swatch wise, this one was really hard to swatch and I hope that it doesn't translate that way to the eyes. This is a navy blue shadow with a mermaid blue green shimmer to it. Ugh, you guys, I wanted this one to be magical, but it was just not cutting it. I'm really really hoping that it will be better on the eyes, but I'm scared. I'M SCARED.

Madness: This shade is gorgeous! It's not really my cup of tea, but I won't deny that it's one of the prettiest shades in the palette. It swatched easily and is very pigmented.

Strike: Yo. This is going to be my new go to gold shadow. I have a L'Oreal Infallible shadow that is gold (and amazing), but it is shimmery like a disco ball and sometimes I want something a little less reflective on my eyes; this is that shadow. So pretty. So great. Pigmented and swatched crazy easy.

Stash: Don't be offended by this description, but this shade is weed green... I mean, there's a reason is called stash. I don't mean marijuana leaf green, I mean like sticky icky green (too much?). Again, very pigmented, smooth, and easy to apply.

Poison: This is like a lighter, better version of Smokeout. Shimmery, pigmented, and smooth.

Radar: WOOIE! This is a coppery brown that is super gorgeous and pigmented and smooth. You see a pattern here? If you have green or blue eyes, this is going to make them pop like crazy because it's great warm shade.

Damaged: This is actually one of the shades that made me want to buy this palette and it does not disappoint. I love dark green shadows because I think that they are awesome and that anyone can wear them. Bright green? Not as wearable. Dark green though? AWESOME. Just like the previous shades, it's crazy pigmented and smooth.

Voodoo:  This is one of the other shades that made me buy the palette and it's not as awesome as Damaged. I find that purple is one of the hardest colors, for any brand, to make extremely pigmented. Not light purples and lilacs, but dark purples are almost impossible. This is a very pretty shade, but it took some work to get it to look that pigmented. I will make it work though since it looks so pretty in the pan.

Betrayal: For light purple lovers, you have this amazing shade. Betrayal is a duochrome shade, so the base is a warm lilac shade and has a blue-violet shimmer to it. This one is a little thinner than some of the other shades, but it applied easily and it will definitely be buildable. Not my favorite shade, but pretty quality.

Derailed: This is your basic, dark taupe-y brown. You know those shades that you can just sweep all over your lid and call it a day? This is one of those. It has great pigmentation and goes on so, so smoothly. Say hello to your new best friend.

Dope: SO PRETTY AND IT DOESN'T SHOW ON MY ARM. Ugh. You guys. SO pretty. This is a light, shimmery, peachy pink. It's pigmented and buttery smooth and wonderful and will go great with....

Toxic: SO PRETTY. Ok, I think you can tell by now what my two favorite shades in the palette might be. :D Toxic is a beautiful rose gold shade and like the other winners in the palette, super buttery and pigmented. I plan on doing so many looks with this shade. Or just wearing it all over my lid. It's fantastic.

Habit: Wait... There isn't a shade called Habit pictured above! Yeah, there's a reason for that. Habit is one of two true matte shades in this palette, but unfortunately (for swatching purposes) it is the exact shade of my arm. I mean, I swatched it and then accidentally swatched over it because I didn't see it. It's a great, matte, nude shade and will be great as a base for you pale ladies and awesome to help blend.

Ambush: Another coppery brown shade. Ambush is more on the brown side, but it's still kind of similar to Radar. In fact, it's so similar that I kind of had to question why they put both shades in the palette. I like them both, so I'm not complaining and they both apply well.

Rewind: And here is our other true matte shade! This applied a bit splotchy when i used my finger, but I find that a lot of matte shadows do that and that it will apply much, much better with a brush. Just a very nice, neutral brown that will be great for a quick easy matte look with Habit or as a fantastic blending shade.

And there you have it! Questions, comments? Let me know down below!

Birchbox Sneak Peek: October 2013

Hey guys! You know how much I love my Birchbox, so here is the sneak peek video that they've just released for October. If you want to get the October box, you just have to subscribe by October 14th (and you can cancel at any time if you end up hating it!). Right now, Birchbox is also running a discount code, BIRCHBLOGGER15, for 15% off any $50+ purchase in the Birchbox shop. 

You can follow my referral link here to sign up for Birchbox.