Review: Sally Hansen MICROWAVABLE EYEBROW, FACE & LIP WAX KIT

Hello friends,

Today I am back with a review of the Sally Hansen Microwavable Eyebrow, Face & Lip Wax Kit. Wow that name is a mouthful! First off I want to say that I was kind of unsure when I bought this product as I had read absolutely no reviews on it prior to purchasing; however I was pleasantly surprised! This waxing kit really worked well for me. Usually I use another Sally Hansen kit that has actually wax stuck onto clear plastic strips but this microwaveable wax kit works far better for me and actually hurts a lot less.

A little background on my skin, I have fairly sensitive and dry skin, it is acne prone and easily irritated by almost anything-it also has a ton of fine peach fuzz that is dark. So any kind of disturbance to my skin, whether it be from a face wash, a peel, or in this case-waxing, will cause some kind of reaction on my skin.

The last waxing kit I used that actually came with strips left me with a ton of raised white bumps and a lot of itchy, red, patches that I can't tell if those were from an allergic reaction or just from the friction of waxing, but I am proud to proclaim that this kit from Sally Hansen does not do that to me, after finishing my entire waxing I only had a couple of those raised white bumps by the right side of my mouth and overall the red patches I did have were gone by morning and did not hurt even after waxing initially.

Onto the actual waxing experience and process:

Once I opened the package and began reading the instructions, they said to only heat the wax for 90 seconds and to not exceed 2 minutes of heating time; however it took about 5 minutes for the wax to be completely warm up and be pliable. On top of the long heating time, it smelled awful. The closest I can describe the scent to is like burning plastic, and honestly the smell made me hesitant to even put it on my face because I was concerned the chemicals in the wax would give me a bad chemical burn just from smelling the wax itself.

Secondly, included in the package was a tiny blue plastic spatula to stir the wax and the spatula itself wasn't particularly helpful in stirring. The wax as it cooled continued to stick to it and clump up so that made mixing the wax itself even harder. As an application tool though, I found it rather precise and I managed to get 98% of the hairs on my upper lip covered with the wax without having to go back for a second pass like I normally would using a small wooden stick.

When it came to the actual waxing, the wax did work. It did do its job on my hair at least, the peach fuzz on my face isn't particularly coarse or stubborn, it's just very dark against my skin tone  so it is noticeable. I will say this wax got about 80% of the hairs all over my face in one swipe when I was working section by section. Some places like my sideburns did require second passes, but I think that has less to do with the wax and more to do with the fact that the hair I have there is stubborn.

(if you look closely you can see the little hairs, and blue spatula making a cameo in the background)

As far as pain went, I actually did not find this wax painful at all. It hurt initially but not as bad as the waxing strip kits I have used in the past have hurt. I attribute the lessened pain due to this kind of strip-less wax being less sticky than the wax that comes on the clear plastic strips so it doesn't grip on to the skin as much.

One major complaint I do have about this wax besides the smell is the fact that you get such a small amount of wax for the price you pay, I got my kit at WalMart for around $5.50 however I know some places can have huge price disparities so the amount you pay vs the amount of wax you get can be a bit steep. One jar was enough for my whole face, and I did have some left over but probably only enough left for a touch up on my upper lip and nothing more.

To sum up, I think this waxing kit is a step up from the Sally Hansen kit I was using previously and I will repurchase but it is not spectacular. I give it a 3.5 out of five stars in terms of value, effectiveness, and pain level.

Off and Out,
Minted Rose

My favorite makeup for Spring: Makeup of the Day 4/12/15

When it comes to makeup for warmer weather, I like to keep it as simple and lightweight as possible. That means, no heavy powders, no heavy concealers, just fresh and easy.

It gets warm fairly early in northern California, where I reside, this week it's been in the low 80's and that for sure means I don't want my makeup sitting heavy on my face, or melting off my face. The makeup needs to be: sweat proof;check, water resistant; check, and oil proof; check.

Basically my spring/summer routine starts with an exfoliated and well moisturized face, to get deep moisturization while drying down to a matte finish, I apply the Cetaphil moisturizing cream(it's in a huge tub and is for sensitive and dry skin like my own) and the Neutrogena oil free moisturizer form combination skin. Here's the interesting thing about the Neutrogena moisturizer, when I first got it, I liked that it was lightweight, but it ended up doing nothing for my skin even though my skin tends to lean from dry to combination depending on the time of year. So I thought to myself, how can I make this work? One day I decided to mix my Cetaphil moisturizer and my Neutrogena one before bed because in all honestly, the Cetaphil moisturizer can be quite greasy on the skin and not be fun to sleep in, the mix of Neutrogena and Cetaphil ended up being a miracle creation, it locked in the moisture of the Cetaphil moisturizer while drying it down so it wasn't greasy. This is now my go-to routine to get away with wearing a heavy moisturizer during the day without it feeling heavy.

Next I apply sunscreen, SPF 50. Now, I'll be honest, I am olive skinned and I never really believed I needed sunscreen because I always tanned deeply as a kid. Well, I grew up and spent more time in doors on the internet as most people between ages 19-23 do, and I lost a lot of that beautiful tanned color, which also means, because I have less melanin to protect my face, I have to wear sunscreen. And everyone should wear sunscreen of at least SPF 15 to combat skin cancer, even if you are dark skinned you should still wear sunscreen. I personally wear SPF 50 because even though I'm sure it's not really that much more protective than SPF 30, I'm lazy and don't want to have to reapply(which under makeup is not gonna happen without taking all of my makeup off), so I slather on the sunscreen on my face, and prepare for makeup application. The sunscreen I use is the generic brand from CVS and it comes in a foil-like squeezy tube, I like the formula, it is moisturizing but not too greasy, and it doesn't break me out, and bonus, it's cheap!!

After that I like to apply eyeshadow primer as I always do my eyemakeup first 90% of the time, even if it's light eyemakeup. It just makes the process easier and it gives my facial products time to sink in to the skin a bit. One thing I do that I think may shock people, is I apply eyeshadow primer to the places my foundation creases on my skin. For that would be my forehead lines, and a bit around my mouth, you'd be surprised but this actually does help fight those creases and oils because eyeshadow primer is designed to prevent oil from breaking down shadow as long as possible. I just always make sure to apply a generous amount for a thin layer across those specific areas and wait for it to dry completely before I apply any base products.

After eyemakeup is done, I prefer to use a tinted moisturizer over a heavy foundation in warmer weather. One, it tends to sit on the skin better, and two it usually won't melt off as easily because it's a tinted moisturizer and is a lighter formula so it doesn't sit on top of the skin as much. My preferred choice is the Sonia Kashuk Radiant Tinted Moisturizer. Believe it or not, it dries down to a semi-matte finish instead of being too dewy, which I prefer.

Next up I conceal where I need to and only where I need to, my skin is actually fairly clear and has been for about 6 months now. I only get a few breakouts here and there, and conceal them if need be but usually I just leave them be and show through my foundation or tinted moisturizer a little because caking them with makeup just ends up causing more breakouts in my experience. I mostly just focus concealing redness on my cheeks and cheekbones and the under eye area. Depending on the day, I'll use either the Maybelline fit me concealer under the eyes or Benefit's boi-ing concealer under the eye. It just depends on how much color correcting I need that day because my under eye circles shift from a blue tint to a purple tint depending on the day. The Maybelline is more yellow toned while the Benefit one is more peachy-tan. And that's what makes the Maybelline fit me concealer perfect for concealing redness around the face, I have it in the color 20 Sand and it does a decent job at concealing redness while not settling into pores if blended in seamlessly and set with a powder.

The third step I do is setting with powder, this may seem counterproductive to having a healthy dewy glow, but I always set my makeup with powder even if I am just wearing a tinted moisturizer, it just seems counter-intuitive not to set with powder. Powder keeps oil at bay and increases longevity of face makeup. My favorite powder as of late is the Physician's Formula CC Powder in shade Light/Medium. When I first got the powder it was speckled with yellow, green, and pink spots on the powder, but as you use it they slowly wear away. As far as color correcting goes, this is a pink toned powder and it does do some color correcting, especially when setting the under eye area. I personally like the powder for the coverage because that means I can get away with not wearing a heavy base because the powder has medium coverage and it blends really nicely into the skin. The great thing about the powder is the more you buff it into the skin, the more coverage you get, on my extremely lazy days I just buff the powder into my skin and conceal my under eye circles and call it a day. Another bonus is the powder has SPF 50, which during summer in a warm climate, you need all the sun protection you can get.

Lastly I finish my base by applying bronzer and a little bit of blush. My favorite is the Wet N Wild Color Icon Bronzer in Ticket to Brazil. It has a nice golden undertone and a nice sheen, it's medium pigmented and is easily to build up if need be or for your desired look. I sweep it along the temples and up into the hair line, on my cheekbones blending in softly towards the apples of my cheek and onto my chin and down the bridge of my nose for a glowy bronzed look. Depending on the day I will use a more neutral or a coral colored blush. For coral I use the Covergirl Instant Cheekbones Blush Trio in Coral, I use the midtone shade out of the three shades. And for a more neutral color I use the Revlon Blush in Naughty Nude.
Lastly I finish off with a tinted lip balm or high shine lipstick as those tend to be more glossy and sheer and look more effortless. The one I am wearing in my pictures below is from the Revlon Super Lustrous line in Fuchsia Shock.

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