Clinique Redness Solutions?

I am confused.  A week ago I picked up the Clinique Redness Solutions cleanser after long dealing with redness and splotchiness in my skin, and recent despiration to aquire some clinique skincare.  I have a large hunch that the redness Clinique aim to solve is that of irritated, sensitive skin.  Skin that burns and itches from products, environmentals, and allergens.  Well I am none of the above,  but redness in my skin is something that I have srtuggled with for quite some time, and my next option is high end skin care, hence the purchase. 

Oh great, sideways photo. Well you get the point nonetheless.

It is an oil-free, fragrance-free gel cleanser that is suitable for all skintypes.  Melts away makeup and impurities. bla bla bla. Calms persistent and reactive redness.

Well I will tell you that I also purchased the Sephora face brush with this product, to really massage it into my skin to get the "full monty".  I mean, I want this redness GONE. FOR EV ER....FOR EV ER.....(sandlot? anyone?)  This is how I've been using it and this is how I've found my experience thus far...

I take a Blob...yes that is very technical makeup artist terminology...on my little sephora face brush, as shown.....and massage it into my dampened face all over for about 60 seconds.

Smiling like an ass the entire time...yes there's no other way to do it! Then a simple rinse with warm water and a pat dry.

Well anyway I'll let you know here that my hugest disappointment, which you'll plainly see in this photo, is that the product does not foam up.  It is indeed a gel cleanser.

On a positive note, it does slightly, not significantly, but enough that I am happy with my purchase, reduce some of my redness, But I do feel that the brush helps the product really get into my skin, and feel that if i were to only use my fingers, it would not penitrate and affect my deep redness but would only help with light surface redness.

The product may also be used similar to the likes of Lush's Ultra Bland, just rubbed onto fdry skin and wiped off or rinsed off, which just left me feeling icky, so that was a bust personally for me.

This product definitley does seem like it would cater nicely to all skin types, as it moisturizes and strips oil in all the right spots of my combination skin.

I do only use this product in the morning, as I do not see the point on using it before I go to bed, especially at about triple the price of what I spend on my night time drugstore cleanser.

As an alternative for this, I would recommend the Aveeno ultra calming line, although I find personally that the moisturizer is too thick (I use it as a night cream) and the face wash does not remove makeup very well.

So all in all I am satisfied with the purchase, but do believe that there might be something even better out there.  For now, I will continue to use, and maybe repurchase, this product until the HG redness removal cleanser is found!

What do you use to remove redness from your skin pre-makeup?

Nail Polish Mixology

I am a huge fan of mixing my makeup.  Blending eyeshadows, nuding out every colour lipstick that I own, and layering mascaras to get my perfect lashes....well more recently I have moved into the nail polish realm, and  I tell you there is no turning back.  After proving to be an extremely difficult find in pre-made form, my most recent mix is a gorgeous light grey colour, similar to the eyeshadow likes of MAC's Copperplate.

Now since I could not be bothered to worry about bottling up a batch or making enough for more than I need at the time, I do have to make a new "batch" every time.  Basically I take some form of plastic or non absorbent material, plastic wrap or disposable shot glasses work really well, and start by pouring out a few drops of the lightest colour in my mix (in this case, white).  Then I take the brush from the darker colour (always do this, it will rarely affect the colour of the darker polish, but always will for the lighter polish)  and mix in whatever comes out on the brush in with the lighter colour (in this case, black).  I also like to add a drop of top coat or nail hardener to elongate the lasting power. mixa mixa and you have your new polish! this works great with colour, as well as adding subtle glitter to existing flat polishes.

These are the polishes I used to achieve this look, from left to right; Borghese Bianco White Tip(6 drops), Mac Nocturnelle (1 drop), Sally Hansen Mega Tuff (1 drop), Sally Girl Silver Glitter on ring fingers (as top coat)

Have you ever experimented with mixing nail polishes? What are your favourite colours to mix?