Colonel is a military blue packed with gold sparkle. It’s a beautiful color, but it’s fussy. I used it over Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy so the gold sparkle would really stick, and I suspect that’s where the problem was. It was difficult to get it to apply evenly, so I spent a looooong time blending – which of course meant most of the gold sparkle was lost. Boo hiss. Anyway, it’s still a fantastic color, but I’ll probably stick to using it with a wet brush as eyeliner. I used Colonel in the crease. On the lid, I used Nestyr, Shiro’s 3rd birthday color. Nestyr is a soft purple glowing with green, gold, and red duochrome. It’s quite lovely and I highly recommend it! You can see a bit of the red shift in the photo. I used Tears of Retail Employees under the browbone and in the inner corners. The eyeliner is L’Oreal Hip Eye Kohl – discontinued, which is too bad. Stuff was awesome.

I wore Shiro’s Coconut Mall bronzer (still addicted to this) with a light dusting of Detrivore‘s Lascivious Blush. No lipgloss because I’m an idiot and forgot to put it on before taking a picture. I wore Aveda’s Rehydrating Lip Glaze in Gilded Lotus.

1. Origins GinZing Eye Cream is here at the top because it’s my most recent discovery. It claims to brighten and de-puff, and lo, it does! It has a mega-slew of plant-based ingredients in it, and it does indeed brighten up the eye area (thanks optic brighteners!) and de-puff eyes.

2. L’Occitane Divine Eyes. The price of this product just kills me, but I can honestly say it’s amazing. It does help with fine lines, it does help with firming the skin around the eye area, and it helps with puffiness. It didn’t do much for my dark circles, but people with “tired eyes” dark circles (versus my genetic ones) will see a difference. If you want serious anti-aging, this will deliver.

3. Clarins Eye Revive Beauty Flash is pretty great. It’s supposed to hydrate, de-puff, smooth fine lines, yadda yadda (they all say the same thing, right?). Interestingly, the ingredient list has some crossover with the Origins product (ginseng, horse chestnut, optical brighteners) so it makes sense I’d like them both so much. The Clarins product is more expensive, but the tube is a little bigger (and it’s a tube, more hygienic). Don’t bother with Clarins Eye Contour Gel or Eye Contour Balm – they did not excite me. This one is great if you’re travelling, it’s an instant pick-me-up for your eyes.

4. Skyn Iceland Icelandic Relief Eye Cream is lovely. De-puffs, brightens, softens fine lines, blah blah blah, and it feels so very soft and soothing. My first “favorite” eye cream.

5. ShiKai Borage Dry Skin Therapy Eye Cream, the first eye cream I tried that convinced me that eye cream was worth using every day. It’s also what I recommend for anyone with sensitive skin/eyes, as the formula is pretty simple. It’s not an anti-aging miracle, but it will certainly hydrate and I think it’s great as a preventive measure against fine lines. Good eye cream for young people!

There are a few honorable mentions, including the others I’ve reviewed on the blog. These here are the standouts based on bang for your buck, and overall results.

I’m wearing Shiro Cosmetics’ Detective on the lid. Detective is a taupe color with blue duochrome. I put Alkahestry, also from Shiro, in the crease. Alkahestry is a sheer-ish pale violet with a brilliant blue-sparkle base. It’s amazingly beautiful, and I’m happy I got an out-of-focus shot so you can get a sense of the sparkles going on here. Also, Alkahestry is lip safe, and I won’t be happy until I have a custom lip gloss in this color. You know you want one too. I used Tears of Retail Employees under the brow bone and in the inner corners to highlight. IT IS TOTALLY YOUR LUCKY MONTH – because for a limited time, you can purchase Tears of Retail Employees again! GO! GO NOW! DOOOOOO EEEEEET!!!! It’s the perfect pale shimmery cream with a strong copper shift, and green and red sparkles. (While you’re at it, I suggest picking up Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon and Nestyr.) The eyeliner is L’Oreal Hip Violet Volt.

I also recently bought Shiro’s new bronzer called Coconut Mall. I am wearing it in the photo, along with a touch of Detrivore Cosmetics’ Lascivious blush. Coconut Mall is a shimmery light tan-bronze, and it has quite the gold sheen to it. I had a tough time, actually, deciding between it and the darker shade, and ultimately felt the lighter shade was the safer pick. But I bet the darker shade is awesome too. I really want the summer blush too. I need a job, dammit!

The lip gloss is Aveda’s Gilded Lotus Nourish-Mint Rehydrating Lip Glaze. It’s a nice caramel-gold color.

It’s described as a bright, juicy lemon, with lush watery fruits (huh?), fresh bamboo and pure Madagascar vanilla. I dunno about the lush watery fruits, but it definitely smells lemon-y and vanilla-y. It’s fresh and warm at the same time, but doesn’t smell particularly food-y. It’s not a dessert lemon scent at all. The wear time is not the longest, as to be expected for a perfume that doesn’t contain a lot of synthetics. The lemon burns off after about an hour, and the vanilla lasts for an hour or two after that.

I really like the rollerball format because it’s convenient for touching up the scent, since it doesn’t have the longest lasting power. It’s also pretty affordable, at $19 for 0.32 oz. The larger size is a better value, but I like the portability of the rollerball.

Fresh Lemon Vanilla also comes in a stick deodorant. I love Lavanila’s stick deodorant formula, but it’s soooo pricey. If I get a super-awesome job, I’d consider splurging for it, though.

Overall, if you like citrus scents and vanilla, I recommend checking out Lavanila’s Fresh Vanilla Lemon perfume. It’s perfect for summer!

The Meyer Lemon Creamy Cleanser is a unique hybrid between a milky or lotion-type cleanser and one that lathers. It has the emollient qualities of a milky cleanser but it also contains a mild detergent that provides a light lather. It’s great for normal to combination skin, since it cleans but doesn’t overdry the skin. It contains antioxidants like white tea and vitamin c, as well as citrus extracts and sunflower oil. My face feels soft and clean, but not that uncomfortable squeaky clean feeling you get from products that strip the skin. It’s definitely a very gentle cleanser, in my opinion. It smells very lemon-y. I like the bright and cheerful scent in the morning, which was what sold me on this cleanser.

I use it in the shower in the morning, but I’ve also used it at night just to test it out. It removed my face makeup, although I would use a separate eye makeup remover if you’re wearing a lot of eye makeup. It left some mascara residue behind.

It’s on the high end of what I consider an acceptable price for a cleanser, at $12.95 for 6 oz. However, a little really goes a looooong ways – I find a whole pump is too much product, so I only use about half a pump at a time. At that rate, this bottle is going to last a while. Overall, I definitely recommend this for normal to combination skin types. Two thumbs up!

ANYWAY. I don’t have a job lined up (yet), so I intend to blog merrily away once school is finished. But I wanted to mention a few products that have been keeping me sane (and looking good) while I’ve been in school. In no particular order, here are five products that don’t suck. (In fact, they pretty much ROCK and I can’t live without them now.)

1. Burt’s Bees Facial Cleansing Towelettes w/ White Tea Extract. Lo and behold, a facial wipe that I can use night after night, and my skin *doesn’t* get all pissy that I’m not really washing it. Seriously, these wipes are THE BOMB.

2. Origins GinZing Eye Cream. Holy catfish, Batman. One of my classmates gave me a deluxe sample size of this, which has lasted ALMOST the entire four months I’ve been in school. It brightens, it de-puffs, it makes you look like you actually got some sleep last night and you’re not miserably hung-over. No, really, it does! I need a full-size of this, like, yesterday!

3. The holy triumverate that is Shiro Cosmetics’ Homunculus, Chimera, and Fullmetal. These have been my go-to colors almost the entire time I’ve been in school for a quick, easy eye look. I just pick one, use it with a beige or taupe color, and VOILA! INSTANT AWESOME. Don’t over-think this, just buy all three. Trust me.

4. Aveda Nourish-Mint Renewing Lip Treatment. I know, it’s sixteen bucks. I KNOW. But it’s basically crack in a tube. My lips don’t want to live without it. I’ve had one in my pocket since like, week 5 of an eighteen week program, and I’m completely hooked. MUST HAVE THIS CRACK.

5. Speaking of expensive and CRACK. Fresh’s Supernova Mascara is my new Holy Grail of Mascara. I busted out my tube early on in the program, and everyone who’s tried it (on me, I’ve donated my face for science many times now to my classmates earning their makeup credits) LOVES IT. It doesn’t smudge, it’s black, it’s soft, it is AMAY-ZING. It’s the shizz, yo.

There you go. The stuff that has rocked my world for the last 18 weeks. I can’t believe it’s almost over.

A little back story – I used Benefit’s Erase Paste for a long time, during the phase where I was addicted to wearing tinted moisturizer every day. Then I got hoooked on powder mineral makeup, which didn’t play all that nicely with a concealer as creamy as Erase Paste. I got in the habit of using a concealer brush dipped in mineral foundation to conceal my dark circles and blemishes, which worked quite well (for the most part). As long as I used eye cream, it didn’t make my eye area looked dried out. Now that I’m mostly using a pressed powder foundation (with occasional forays into liquid foundation, as I use up my beloved Chanel Pro Lumiere), I decided it was about time to try a liquid/cream concealer again.

The Eraser comes in a glass tube with a funky twist-up dispenser and a fuzzy puff applicator thing. (That’s a technical term.) You click it a few times (two clicks for both eyes seems to work), it pushes product into the fuzzy puff applicator thing and you swiped it where you need it. On the pro side, the fuzzy puff applicator thing does a pretty nice job of applying the product evenly and with a nice airbrushed-looking appearance. A pat or two with a finger, et voila! Dark circles (and other blemishes) are concealed! I’ve used it both before and after applying my foundation (even though applying after breaks the no liquids after powder rule, thhhpt to rules) and it looks great both ways. The formula FEELS GOOD on my skin. It’s hydrating, but not greasy, doesn’t settle into my fine lines or eye creases, and wears well. It has good coverage. It’s not a full bullet-proof coverage, but for everyday use I prefer to just camoflage my dark circles rather than attempt all-out obliteration. It looks more natural. So, I really, really like the “looks like skin” finish of this concealer. It photographs pretty well too.

On the con side, the fuzzy puff applicator thing isn’t the most hygienic thing in the world. You can’t remove it and wash it. The directions recommend wiping it off with a dry tissue after use to remove excess product. Umm, okay. Supposedly it’s treated with some kind of anti-bacterial magic, and it’s not like I’m licking it or something. Probably, washing it would introduce more bacteria than just leaving it alone (since bacteria really looooove water and wet things, I imagine getting it really wet would just make it a nice germ home). I’m not a huge bacteria-phobe, but it’s worth mentioning in case you are. The applicator also means it’s not friendly for pro makeup artist use – it’s really difficult to get the product off the applicator and onto a concealer brush for a truly hygienic application on a model. Since that’s not a concern for most people, it’s not a big deal. It’s too bad though, the stuff photographs nicely but it’s too much of a pain in the ass for me to want to use it in my kit.

It’s been a long time since a concealer impressed me, and I’m pretty darned impressed with this one. It does what I want it to, at a very budget-friendly price. I give it an enthusiastic two thumbs up!

The Argan Hair Oil also contains baobab oil, jojoba oil, and an essential blend that includes bergamot, sandalwood, and orange essential oils. It smells GREAT!! The instructions indicate that you should apply the oil to damp hair. I personally don’t want oil on my head during the day, so I’m a rebel and apply it at night. I use about a pump and a half, and spread it through my hair, concentrating at the scalp and roots.

I have noticed that my hair seems less dry and crispy since I started using the oil before bed each night. It washes out cleanly the next morning, so my hair isn’t greasy during the day. My hair seems a lot happier than it has in the past when I’ve abused it this much, so I think this oil has been good for it.

The lovely orange-y scent also makes it a great body oil. I’ve been using it after my shower once in a while and I really like it all over my skin. I want to try some of Badger’s other body oils now. The Argan Hair Oil gets two thumbs up!

I used Crocodilia on the lid. Crocodilia is a dark teal satin eye shadow with heavy sparkle. I put Cetacea in the crease. Cetacea is a dense purplish blue satin eye shadow. It has blue, purple, red, and pink shimmer. I used Shiro Cosmetics’ Finkelstein to highlight. Finkelstein is a sheer creamy white with turquoise sparkle, and an intense aqua sheen. (It was from the Halloween collection.) I used Physician’s Formula kohl eyeliner on the upper lashline and the lower waterline.

I didn’t use blush for this, but rather Physician’s Formula Healthy Wear Bronzer. I’ve been hooked on this bronzer lately. It must be all the sunny weather we’ve been having. It’s an SPF 50 product, but personally I don’t think you’re going to put enough on your face to matter, from a sun protection point of view. But it’s a great every day bronzer.

I forgot to put lip stuff on before I took the picture. Doh.

The Exfoliating Serum is meant to be used at night, every other day or every day if your skin isn’t sensitive. It comes in a brown glass bottle with a dropper – I prefer pump packaging, since you’re exposing the product to air and light every time you open the bottle, but it’s not a deal breaker for me. It’s just important to keep in mind the anti-oxidants will lose potency over time with exposure so it’s best to use it regularly and use it up in a timely fashion.

It contains a veritable SLEW of stuff – vitamin c, glycolic acid, antioxidants like goji berry extract, a skin brightening botanical blend, ceramides, vitamin b, and so on. It doesn’t contain parabens, synthetic color, or synthetic fragrance. It doesn’t have much of a scent at all, really.

I can feel a slight tingle when I put it on, but it’s not uncomfortable at all. The directions indicate applying the product to cleansed skin, and then putting moisturizer over. I have to admit, I’m kind of bad at remembering to put moisturizer on, since I usually wash my face, apply the serum, and fall into bed. My skin still feels happy and not dry in the morning, so I don’t think this is the end of the world.

It’s not the best time for conducting skin care experiments, since I’m still getting facials at school on an almost weekly basis. My skin looks pretty good. I can say that this product hasn’t caused any bad reactions or breakouts for my face. It’ll be interesting to see if my face continues to look great after I’m done with school…

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with Mad Hippie’s Exfoliating Serum. It’s a pretty good price ($34.99) for a product that has a LOT of active ingredients in it. As with all things that contain glycolic or a high percentage of actives, if you’re sensitive, you might want to purchase from a place that allows returns in case of a bad reaction. I’m quite pleased with the product, and would consider trying other products from the line.