REVIEW: Brow Kandie Eyebrow Stencils

I recently bought these eye stencils out of curiosity at Superdrug. I've always found my brows annoying to shape and when I think they look OK the next minute a photo is taken they look ridiculous! I'd known about eye brow stencils for a while, but I'd never bothered searching for them with all the youtube videos that teach you how to do brows anyway. But I found these by chance, and at £4.99 (bit steep for what you get really) I thought it might be worth a try.

First thing to note - these stencils are for Western shaped brows. If you don't get what I mean, in Asia brows are far less arched and tend to be thicker and fuller for a more youthful effect. The "Korean Brow" , which is basically a thicker straight line is very fashionable right now, but this trend hasn't transferred over to the West.  Being Asian, I tend to find that arched brows and straighter brows are both fine, but I prefer thicker brows for the youthful look and my brows are pretty full anyway. The stencils in the pack are all pretty arched and either start off thin and end thin, or start off thick and end thin. I ended up going for the thickest one, and even then it's pretty thin! Let me show you.

They come in a plastic packet like this.

And here are the instructions:

 Basically, put the stencil on your brow and fill in your eyebrows as normal. Remove the stencil and then pluck out any hairs that don't "fit" in the stencilled shape.

 As you can see, I didn't exactly do that. I opted for black eye shadow (something you should never use for eyebrows, even if they are black, always go for a shade or two lighter.)  just so I could see the shape. Even though I hadn't plucked my brows for a long time, the stencil fitted pretty well. The only problems I had were that my brows are naturally shorter than the stencils, so no matter what I do my brows need to be extended anyway.

My Zoeva angled liner brush did the trick in filling my brows.  After using the stencil on one brow all you need to do is flip it over onto the opposite brow - which is exactly what I did. Here's the final result!

 Sorry for the dodgy picture, I actually think the picture is a little misleading with the way I've angled it. My brows actually match a little better, and as you can see they are full and short.

Final thoughts:

- I originally was disappointed with the pack when I opened them. All of the stencils were far too thin for my taste, but I worked my way around that simply by allowing a little more room around the stencilled shape. But honestly, some of these stencils are so thin I have no idea who would want them to look that artificial.

- The plastic the stencils are made out of isn't particularly strong, if you cut it it's easily tear able. I understand that the stencil needs to be  flexible but I feel that they could be a little sturdier! They should really make these a bit cheaper - £4.99 for something so easy to break makes my wallet cry a little.

- Out of the entire pack, I only used ONE. That means 9/10 of the stencils have gone to waste (unless I'm dressing up for a particular look) so that £4.99 only paid for one useful item.

- Would I repurchase? Not really, I think I could live without these. I did end up liking them quite a lot after I had finished using them, but for £4.99 I think I could spend that money elsewhere. If you are completely clueless about brows and can't do them freehand, these could be super useful though.

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Natural spot treatments, natural acne treatment: Bicarboante of Soda as an ex foliator/ Baking Soda scrub.

Hey guys - now this ex foliator is definitely worth writing about. It's so cheap and it really does scrub!

My teensy weensy jam jar (taken from a scone serving at Valerie Patisserie wahahahaa) filled with baking soda. It's so cute! xD

Despite the powdery texture of the soda, it really is gritty stuff. A large pinch of it in the palm of your hand with a little warm water and a wet face and it really feels like a a tough scrub. I've never felt anything so gritty. Not unpleasant gritty, like a tough sand if anything. This stuff is so much better than other ex foliators, those have zero exfoliation powers in comparison to this stuff.

Has it got rid of black heads or cured any of my skin issues? Not that I can see, as of yet. I'm using it in conjunction with the OCM Method, It definitely is getting of dead skin, and I look forward to see what long term effects it will have. One thing I've been very bad at is that I think I've recently over ex foliated my face, which has made my skin a little rough. I'll let my skin heal for a week and see how it goes. But on the whole, this stuff is natural, cheap and is really great so far.  

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REVIEW: Holland and Barrett PUKKA Castor oil & REVIEW: Miaroma Grapeseed Oil

Hey guys, just wrote another post about the oil cleansing method and here are the products I'm using for it! Just two oils, and that's all ya need for the method anyway.

I ordered both of these on line, and I think because my cart went over a certain price the shipping was free. 

PUKKA Castor oil &  Miaroma Grapeseed Oil

I think the price for both of these are just over £10, and considering how much you get and how much you need they really will last a long time. A scrub nowadays costs roundabout £5 anyway, so two of these together I wouldn't consider expensive. 

PUKKA Castor oil: One thing about Castor Oil. IT SMELLS. Now, I don't know whether it's just this brand,  because I've googled to see if it was just me dying from the smell and it seems that the internet disagrees since others have said that there shouldn't be a smell or that there wasn't one to begin with. This leave two options a) It's the brand I'm using b) My bottle has gone bad. I know it's not b), since the expiry date is about 2 years, and the bottle was sealed when I got it. So I guess it's just this brand. I'll write down below how to deal with the smell. Other than the smell "problem", the oil is thick very thick, and is a very, almost clear, pale yellow. It seems to be doing its job with the cleaning, and at 250ml it's a good size. The bottle is made of glass, which will be a pain in the butt for me since I don't want to take it overseas. Then again, I could just buy Castor oil when I go the USA as all the gurus who use the method are from the US anyway. (Also, this oil is cold pressed and organic, which is the ONLY type you want.)

Miaroma Grapeseed Oil: At 118 ml, this plastic bottle helpfully comes with a lid that you can squeeze oil out in drops. Still causes a slight mess, but it's better than the Castor which is just a screw on lid. A pain in the butt when you only need 3 drops! Anyhow, the oil is much thinner and is a yellow colour, very easy to distinguish both oils from each other so I can never get them mixed up. This oil doesn't really have a strong noticeable smell, and the only tiny tiny issue I have is that I'm not sure if Grapeseed oil in general should only be used if organic. If so, I can't tell with this one. The ingredients only say Grapeseed oil and vitamin E. Neither are bad for you, and the oil doesn't seem to have a negative effect even if it isn't strictly organic. 

Solving the smell and quantity issue! I recently bought these two joys from Ebay. Two glass 10ml droppers. One for Castor and one for Grapeseed Oil. This solves the smell problem with the Castor as I only need to open the droppeR and squeeze 3 drops onto my hand. This minimizes the strong smell and the only time you smell it is when you rub it on your  face. You have to squeeze the dropper quite hard on the Castor oil to get the oil into the pipette, but it's doable. Before getting these droppers I was pouring the oils into a small shallow plastic jar, which wasted SO much oil and made it so hard to measure. I would have to pour the oils into a spoon trying to get the right quantities and then pour them into the jar. Annoying as heck, especially with the extra cleaning you had to do all the time. These droppers also make measuring SO much easier, 3 Castor drops to 7 Grapeseed Oil crops. Mix, and rub it on ma face! Love these two, and using them is actually quite fun. Kind of like having vials of chemicals that you need to scientifically measure wahahaha. Vials are always cooler, they seem like fun old school chemistry that you see in old books. The droppers were relatively cheap by the way, when buying from Ebay only look for them sold in pairs, buying one on it's own isn't really worth it.  

Grapeseed Oil left (the oil is actually much more yellower in real life), Castor Oil right.

My review of the OCM:

http://thesilverpocketwatch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/natural-spot-treatments-natural-acne.html

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Natural spot treatments, natural acne treatment: The Oil Cleansing Method! OCM Method

Hey guys - as said in a previous post I said I would try the oil cleansing method. Well, I have, and so far it's been...good?

I add the question mark because I'm still using it and despite having used it for a while I've read that the method does take a few weeks to work its magic (and I think in general skincare products take 6 weeks to work, and I don't think I've used this method that long as of yet) so I will persevere. Having said that, I have noticed a few changes to my skin, so good, some not so good:

- The blemishes on the top of my cheeks and under my eyes have gone completely! My skin used to have a constant strip of tiny bumps and now they've been replaced with smooth smooth skin! Great stuff.

- My overall face has feels smoother and cleaner, despite what it looks like (more on that in a sec.)

- Some big pores that were bothering me have definitely gotten smaller or have gone completely. Another thumbs ups.

- OK, now onto the "bad" stuff. I say "bad" because the method has caused me to break out. Not major terrible breakouts but there have been a number of small white heads and recently there was a very large white headed on my chin, which is still healing. From what I can see the white head wasn't made from one big white head but a few small ones together. It's mostly gone, but there's still a spot and it will definitely make a mark afterwards. Hopefully it'll clear up soon.

- Blemishes have appeared elsewhere. For some reason very recently above my left eyebrow a group of spots have emerged - not big angry ones but little ones. Not even spots really, blemishes. Maybe they like that eyebrow for some reason. Also, my cheeks. Both cheeks have blemishes and they are pink and noticeable. Not big angry spots, but it sure is annoying. I hope these will clear up too since they are appearing in places where I don't normally have spots.

- Blackheads. When I talked about some of my cheek pores getting smaller, I'm sure it was my pores getting clean. My chin and nose however, haven't had massive changes. I know I have a deep suspicion that I will always get blackheads, so this isn't that big of a deal. I think some of my blackheads of risen to the surface a little and some have gone, but it's not been a magical change.

- *NOTE* I want to point out that I have recently (I think) over ex foliated my face. Two days in a row of ex foliating and I think I've caused a mini breakout or made more spots appear. These recent spots are VERY recent, so I will report back in the long run since I'm not sure if it's the ex foliation of the oil doing its work.

- *NOTE* For those who are unfamiliar with the oil cleansing method, there will be a detailed run down below. The reason I haven't stopped this method even with breakouts is that the method takes a lot of time to work. Also, I believe that the process I am going through with the breakouts is called "purging", as in my skin is getting rid of the impurities and pushing them out, hence the breakouts.

*UPDATE* 10/08/2013 Hey guys - I recently decided to stop using the oil cleansing method. For a short period of time I stopped using the method due to laziness and when I resumed using the method I broke out. I decided to persevere for a little longer but after another week or two I decided dealing with the breakouts really wasn't worth it. I'm not entirely sure if my skin was going through another purging stage or if my skin was rejecting the method entirely. Either way, I decided to stop. I have recently started using another natural cleansing method, and somehow that's backfired on me too -_-.


THE METHOD:

Now, I have read far better blog posts on the OCM method with much greater detail and easy instructions I have followed with no problem. I'll an excellent one here so I don't have to write a mediocre one in comparison:

http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method

Scroll down to "What oils are best for your skin?" And read from then on.


Follow those instructions well, and see how it goes! I have to point out that the method DOES NOT WORK FOR EVERYONE. As with every skincare routing it never works for everyone, but this method does take time to work and does cause breakouts, making it even harder to tell whether or not your skin is liking it or not. Only experience can solve it I'm afraid.

See ya soon! (Expect reviews on cleansing oils next!)

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REVIEW: Babyliss Ceramic Straightening Brush

Hey guys, quick review on something I bought the other day. I've been interested in getting one of these since I saw Lisa Eldrige talk about it on one of her youtube videos about her favourite hair styling tools and products. Whenever I wash my hair I tend to leave it wrapped up in a towel for a  good while while I put lotion and moisturiser on, and by the time I take the towel off my head my hair has dried to the damp stage. I have a big habit of tucking my hair behind my ears, so whenever I do this with my wet hair I get a gigantic fabulous kink when my hair has fully dried, even after using the hair dryer.

So I bought this! 

Here's the brush open and closed normally.

It's really easy to use, and the little vents on either side of the brush allow hot hair to easily pass through.

And it comes with two sectioning clips as well, though I don't use those.

I have to say I really like this product. When I use it I brush my hair through first to get ride of knots, then I divide my hair into two, and clamp individual sections with the brush and bring the brush down slowly while passing hot air through the length of the vent. Here are my results:

Pretty happy with the results. Bear in mind that my hair is naturally straight and the front part of my hair was cut so it would feather towards my face. 

I very rarely do anything to my hair - I wash, dry and that's pretty much it. But this method I think will help me not get the gigantic kink from putting my hair behind my ear. I'm sitting here typing this now and I haven't been tempted to put my hair behind my ears, since my newly dried hair isn't really moving or getting in my face. 

Pros:

- Less than £10 for the brush, you could get these instead of straighteners if you wanted.

- Works, and is easy to use.

Cons:

- I wish the brush came with a case so I could put the brush in a case with the clips. I'm afraid that I'll one day I'll need the clips for some reason then realise I can't find them. Right now I'm just leaving the brush and the clips on the floor next to my hair dryer.

- Some who prefer super perfect hair may find that these don't create the perfect straight hair in comparison to straighteners.   

Overall:

I really like this, I'll probably use it quite often whenever I wash my hair. 

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