Is Your Eyeliner So Sharp You Could Kill a Man?

The delightful and cherubic tadelesmith has been going viral with this satirical feminist makeup tutorial which she promises will smash the patriarchy and have you lookin' fine.

The video is hilarious and, jokes aside, the tutorial itself is actually very good.

June 2013 TopBox Review

 

I started my TopBox subscription a few months ago, but truth be told I wasn't impressed enough by its offerings to post a review until this month. This month was a huge and very pleasant surprise -- not only did I like every single thing I received, but three of the four items were full-sized.

For those who can't read the ingredients list above, this month's regular, non-Prive box included the following:

Belvada Cosmetics Mini Eyelash Curler

 A very cute little portable eyelash curler which Belvada sells on their own website for $5.99.

Benefit Cosmetics' Sugarbomb Ultra Plus Gloss

  As the name would suggest, it's a sweet-smelling, non-sticky, rose-colored gloss. Can't wait to properly try it out. Full size (15mL) is $19.00, so this 6.5mL sample is valued at $8.23.

Jelly Pong Pont Cosmetics Fairy Lashes Mascara

 

A cute, basic mascara with a normal wand. Apparently this full-sized sample is valued at £15 on the company's website and $24.00 in Canada. Another one I can't wait to test out.

Lise Watier Solo Eyeshadow in Blue Cuaraco

 Another full-sized sample, this Lise Watier solo shadow is a gorgeous light '60s-style blue. I've actually been wanting something identical to it for ages. Valued at $18.00.

So this month's TopBox not only looks impressive, but comes to a whopping $56.22. Not bad for $12 a month.

Review: SENKA White Milky Lotion

I bought this during a long-standing obsession with the cosmetics section of T&T last fall. The obvious problem with this obsession is that I don't speak Cantonese, Mandarin or Japanese, and had to rely on the always suspect English descriptions to figure out what I was buying.

Though labelled in English as a "lotion," this was more of a cloudy-looking toner. The full description goes: "SKENKA White Milky Lotion - Fresh/Lotion. Facial moisturizing lotion, prevents blots and freckles, and brightens skin tone. Apply to cleansed face. Gently pat to absorb." So no further clues there.

It wasn't until after I bought it that I noticed the "brightening" part, which did concern me a bit as I'm wary of the chemicals in some "skin lighteners" (bleaches). I will say that after using up the whole bottle, I felt like my skin did look noticeably whiter/brighter, but then I was also going from fall into winter.

In any event, I'm sorry that I stopped using asian products and went back to drug store, because I felt like -- bleach or no bleach -- my skin did genuinely look better and feel fresher using $10.00 T&T toners/moisturziers than their more expensive western counterparts.

I'm still confused as to whether this is a toner or a moisturizer. I tended to use it as both or either. But if that question doesn't concern you too much, I would recommend it.

Grade: B+

Jewish Woman Sues Lancome for Lying About the Shvitz-Proof Powers of their Foundation

As any Big Lebowski fan will tell you, there are a lot of things you aren't allowed to do on Shabbat -- cook, roll, drive -- and, apparently, touch up your makeup. So when Rorie Weisberg wanted to look flawless for her son's bar mitzvah this summer, she splurged (God I hate that word) on Lancome's Teint Idole Ultra 24 Hour Foundation, which purports to last all day with no need for re-application.

What she got instead was a shonda.

All yiddish jokes aside (and I've yet to see an article that managed to resist that temptation), Weisberg's lawsuit does bring up a fair and interesting point -- should companies be allowed to make claims that are flat-out untrue? On the one hand, I could've told Weisberg that even the highest-end, longest-lasting foundation was probably not going to make it through 3 or 4 hours of dancing in a rented hall in June without some of it sliding around and making her face look like a gently-melted candle. On the other, maybe it should be illegal for a cosmetics company to pretend otherwise.

The United Kingdom has made great strides lately with their photoshop bans, so could outlandish claims be the next victim in the war on misleading advertisements?

And let's be clear here -- the woman in question didn't just blindly trust the company and wear this foundation to an event only to find out later that she looked like a mess. She actually tested the foundation out months ahead of time in preparation for the summer party.

Shaindy Kelman of ShainDee Cosmetics (whose "Shabbos Queen" line is specifically aimed at observant Jewish women who need long-lasting makeup) has called the lawsuit ridiculous, advising people in Weisberg's situation to choose powder foundation with better staying power and arguing that a company can't and shouldn't need to guarantee their foundations for all skin types. But again, if this is such an obvious fact, should Lancome be allowed to effectively label and market a product with the claim that it will last for a full 24 hours without any further caveats?

My personal opinion is that the lawsuit isn't quite as silly as it seems, and it would be nice to have a bit more truth in advertising, but I have no expectation of that any time in the near future.

And Rorie, girl, if you're reading this -- go get MAC Face and Body with your out-of-court settlement and thank me later.