Happy Feet with Bliss Softening Socks
Bliss Softening Socks ($48.00) are a real treat for dry, cracked, and tired feet. These are an indulgence, not a necessity, but those with brutally dry or cracked heels will find these a nice way to get a little at-home spa treatment.
The socks can be worn as they’re bought, or you can lotion up your feet with any shea butter-based product (I used Bliss’ Lemon & Sage Body Butter) and then slip on the socks. The socks are lined with a “self-activating gel lining,” which is supposed to release olive oil, jojoba seed oil, grape seed oil, and vitamin E for hydration. On my foot, the gel lining goes up to my ankle, while the sock itself extends up a few more inches (but I have big feet–size 10). The gel kind of clings to your feet, and to be honest, the feeling is weird (not bad, but it is an odd feeling!) at first, but once your feet have warmed up the gel inside, they’re pretty comfortable.
I usually will slip these on when I know I’m going to be at my desk for awhile, because I feel like you probably shouldn’t walk a mile in these, though nothing indicates you couldn’t (but it feels funny, ha!). I will wear them for about thirty minutes or so, and my feet come out feeling soft and smooth. For reference, though, I don’t have the most beat up feet. I have baby feet in the sense that I pad around the house in socks on the regular, so walking on pavement makes my poor feet cry.
You can use these without lotioning up and still get a nice softness after twenty to thirty minutes of use, which is nice for those days where a thick body butter just won’t do. Those who just want an indulgence and general softening will find that enough, but for those with cracked heels, I definitely recommend using a body butter or Bliss’ Sock Salve to really treat your feet.
For those who can’t afford these socks, I recommend using a body butter (if you want to stick with bliss, I like Bliss’ Lemon & Sage Body Butter) to slather on your soles and then slip into a pair of thick socks and leave on for an hour (or overnight) for softened feet.
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: With the price tag of these socks, they are definitely a luxury to own. They’re good for those who want to make the softness of a pedicure last and last or for those with extremely dry heels and toes. If you have fairly happy feet, you may want to try moisturizing with Bliss Sock Salve
($28.00) and slip on a pair of thick socks as a less expensive alternative.
Lancome O My Rose! Collection: Pop ‘n Green Eyeshadow Quad
Lancome Pop ‘n Green Eyeshadow Quad
($42.00) is a sultry blue and green palette for spring. It’s surprisingly un-spring-like and yet it’s not totally out-of-season either. It’s almost like the perfect accompamiment to a gloomy, rainy day–and I do mean that as a compliment!
Pop ‘n Green includes a bright silvery-white with shimmer; a greenish-gray with taupe with a more metallic finish; an olive-green with a subtle yellow-olive sheen/pearl (not really shimmery); and a blue-teal with soft silver shimmer over a pearly sheen finish. I don’t have colors quite like the olive green and teal in my collection–similar, but the pearly finish makes them distinctive against anything I might already own (all of which are either more matte or shimmery). I think it would have been cool for the entire palette to have the same pearled sheen finish, actually.
The green-gray-taupe shade is so-so; a little on the sheer side, even though it has a kind of “wet” look to it, I wish the pay off was more. The silver shade has decent pigmentation, but it’s not as color-rich as the olive green and teal are. I like the palette, though I can see this not being something for everyone. I like the way it fits a different side of spring; not the blossoming, pastel side, but the cooler, rainier weather. I think I’m really swooning for that green, though, and I must say, I’m a sucker for olive greens, so…
It’s like I’m in love with half the quad, but the other half is just so-so–the pigmentation is perfect and the texture isn’t as smooth as the good half. I do like that the other half makes sense, though–you can wear these four shades together or variations of three of the four.
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you love cooler, non-traditional spring shades, you might find Pop ‘n Green to your liking!
Availability: Nordstrom
Bobbi Brown Color Strips: Orchid Palette
Bobbi Brown Orchid Palette ($60.00) is an eye, cheek, and lip palette from Bobbi Brown’s Color Strips Collection, which includes three palette variations. I’m typically wary of any palette that has lip wells in them, but I was excited, for these aren’t just the typical lip color, these are Pot Rouges, which are designed for cheeks and lips.
Pot Rouge
- Powder Pink is a creamy rosy pink that can be layered for an opaque look on lips or sheered out for an everyday blusher on cheeks.
- Pale Pink is a cool-toned blue-based pink that feels creamy and goes on fairly opaque.
- Sand Pink is a creamy coral-beige shade. I don’t see a lot of pink in this, but it’s a muted, played-down coral that will work well on warm skin tones in particular.
Eyeshadow
- White is a matte white. It’s a muted white, so it’s not a bright, totally unwearable white.
- Dusty Plum (Metallic) is a mauvey-plum with a shimmery finish. It has that “metallic” feel, like it’s almost wet you swatch it.
- Orchid Sparkle is a sheer, sparkly lilac–very light, very sheer, and prone to fall out.
- Mulberry is a richly pigmented royal purple with a matte finish. Like a lot of mattes, it applies better when you use a brush than anything else. I don’t have a shade quite like this.
- Caviar is a dark black-brown with a matte finish.
Oddly enough, my favorite part about this palette are the Pot Rouges. After trying Cabo Coral last month, I was curious about the other shades of Pot Rouge, and this is a good way to try out three new shades. All three were very creamy and pigmented, and they’re wearable on both cheeks and lips, so they do double-duty.
The eyeshadows didn’t get me too excited–I really liked Mulberry, though–I’m not sold on these five together. I can see a few combos, but usually I see a lot of combos in Bobbi Brown’s palettes and that wasn’t the case here. Orchid Sparkle is a throwaway shade for me, just because I know it’s a pain in the butt to use and it’s incredibly sheer; to make it work, try wearing it over a dark, metallic base. Dusty Plum Metallic would be my other shade favorite, because it’s smooth, pigmented, and versatile.
I like Bobbi Brown’s palette packaging, because the palette itself is sleek, but it’s practical, too. The cheek/lip shades are separated from the eyeshadows quite well, and each palette also has a clear lid that flips up to further protect the shades from dirt and dust.
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’ve wanted to try Pot Rouges, this is one way to try three at once… and get some eyeshadows as a bonus!
Beauty on a Budget: Maybelline Eye Studio Sapphire Siren Eyeshadow Quad
Maybelline Eye Studio Sapphire Siren Eyeshadow Quad ($9.99) includes an icy silver with bright silver shimmer, a muted teal-blue with silver shimmer, a dark navy blue with a soft sheen, and a matte black with silver sparkle. The eyeshadows have a very soft texture, so they are best applied by patting the eyeshadow on rather than sweeping it on.
The silver, dark blue, and black were surprisingly pigmented and really didn’t have a powdery or chalky finish to them–the only one that I had any issues with was the teal shade, which tended to go on very soft and really had to be packed on in order to get decent color. I also found that it was easy to overblend the teal shade to a very faded teal shade, but the other three shades I didn’t have that problem with. I thought I might have had that issue with the black, but it stayed dark and black for the most part.
The silver reminded me of MAC Electra, while the blue was similar to a mix between MAC Freshwater and MAC Deep Truth, and the black was a less glittery version of MAC Black Tied. The teal was a bit too faded to really be comparable to a MAC eyeshadow, but it has a similar tone as MAC Surreal (which is now discontinued).
The packaging is the same as the other eyeshadow quads I’ve reviewed, so I still have the same gripe — it’s cheap and flimsy. It’s easy for the clear plastic lid to pop off the hinge, though I haven’t had it break, so I can still pop it back on. For the price tag (particularly if you catch these on sale), they’re worth checking out!
More Maybelline Eye Studio Eyeshadow Quads…
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
Recommendation: If you’re on a budget and want to try out some new eyeshadows, Maybelline’s Eye Studio Eyeshadow Quads are worth a look!
Availability: Local drugstores
Beauty on a Budget: Maybelline Irresistibly Ivy Eyeshadow Quad
Maybelline Eye Studio Irresistibly Ivy Eyeshadow Quad ($8.49) is a mix of four eyeshadows that can be used together or alone. They’re very soft, slightly powdery shades, so it’s better to use a tapping technique, rather than sweeping/brushing it on a lot. Think less windshield-wiper motions when applying these with a brush. I find that this is just something that holds true for all softer shadows (e.g. Stila and Urban Decay).
Irresistibly Ivy includes a softly shimmered champagne beige; rich, orange-copper with golden shimmer; matte teal with glitter sparkle; and reddened bronze-copper. I found that the orange-copper shade had the best texture and color pay off–very smooth and true-to-color. The teal had a little more of a dusty feel to it, since it’s more of a matte base with shimmer on top.
For drugstore beauty, the pay off is intense and over a good primer (e.g. UDPP), I had no problems with the color popping and staying true. I found minimal fading after eight hours, so they’re not quite as good as some of my favorite eyeshadows, but for the price, they’re an excellent alternative for those on a budget–or would like to try certain colors without shelling out $15+ for one.
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
Recommendation: If you like soft shadows and want something affordable, Maybelline Eye Studio Quads might be up your alley!
Availability: Local drugstores
Bobbi Brown Cabana Corals Collection: Shimmer Lip Glosses
Bobbi Brown Cabana Corals Collection includes three new shades of Shimmer Lip Gloss (Coral Sand – a golden peach; Golden Nectar — a peach coral shimmer; and Sunset Beach — a golden pink coral). Both Coral Sand and Sunset Beach are limited edition. Each gloss retails for $20.00 and contains 0.14 fl. oz.
- Sunset Beach is a sheer, peachy-coral with golden shimmer. It has a very wet, kind of creamy/milky look on lips with just a hint of shimmer.
- Coral Sand is a sheer, bronzy peach with peach-gold shimmer. This has more of a traditional shimmer gloss look — sheer with noticeable golden shimmer.
Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Lip Glosses are thick, sticky, and always run on the sheer side (so those who love pigmented glosses, look elsewhere). They are designed to be subtle and glossy with light shimmer–not thick, opaque, richly colored glosses, for reference. Because they are thicker and tackier, they last longer than most glosses (I get about three to four hours).
Two things I wish would change about this product, though: a better applicator and more for your money. The applicator is a stubby plastic-y bristled brush that’s tiny and doesn’t feel great on lips. I wish it had a doe-foot applicator or a more traditional brush applicator. For the price tag, even against its competitors in the price range, you just don’t get that much gloss in each tube for the price, so they are on the pricier side. (Realistically, if you have a ton of glosses, the amount probably isn’t a big deal, since you’re unlikely to finish it.)
Did you grab any of the new Shimmer Lip Glosses?
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- Product: 28/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’ve always wanted to wear coral, but you couldn’t find the right shade, Bobbi Brown has five different versions to check out.
Availability: Bobbi Brown
