Rosie Jane Cosmetics Eye Definer Beech Tree

Rosie Jane Johnston is an Australian makeup artist with a small line of products based around the idea of an effortless, beachy glowing look. I like the idea in theory, even if my twisted brain connects it to Australian surfing soaps such as Home and Away and everything blonde.

Rosie Jane's Eye Definer in Beech Tree was part of a previous BeautyFix kit. I liked the faceted rectangular shape of the pencil and the fact it allows for drawing a thin or a thick line. I admit I have yet to figure out how to get it close enough to the lash line- even using the thin edge is still not as efficient as a thin brush or pointy pencil, so this is a major issue. However Beech Tree is a medium bronzed brown that's too light for me to use as a liner anyway, so I have to supplement with black or espresso brown at the lash line.

The texture of Rosie Jane's liner is soft and pliable. If you're pale/blonde/blue eyed it would make a very flattering bronze smoky eye. It requires serious cementing with a primer underneath and a powder eye shadow over it, because it's almost as soft as a cream eye shadow, so while the look might be effortless it doesn't cut corners in application.

Bottom Line: Not my color, but has potential.

Rosie Jane Cosmetics Eye Definer ($15) is available from beautyhabit, b-glowing and rosiejanecosmetics.com. Mine came with a free BeautyFix press kit.

All photos are mine

Pur~Lisse Pur~Lip Comfort

I probably got the tube of Pur~Lisse Pur~Lip Comfort in a Beautyfix box and put it aside for a time of need. Recently that time arrived- a day of not drinking enough water combined with extra unpleasant weather resulted in dry and cracked lips. The perfect setting for testing a new lip product.

The Good: It worked very well. The rich cream smoothed and healed my lips in no time. Using it for a couple of days left me with soft and healthy looking lips.

The Bad: All the oils and emollients don't make a good base for lipsticks.  Pur~Lip made every lip color I tried slide and migrate. Not a good look.

The Questionable: Pur~Lip's ingredient list is full of good-for-you ingredients. This Pur~Lisse product is full of natural butters and oils, vitamins and nutrients. It's the fragrant ingredients that make me raise an eyebrow. Both orange peel oil and linalool have been targeted by IFRA as possible skin allergens and are supposed to be restricted when used in perfume. I'd think that if that's the case, maybe skin care products that go directly on one's lips should be just a little more discriminating. 

Pur~Lisse Pur~Lip Comfort ($22) is available from purlisse.com. I received mine in a press kit from Beautyfix.

Tricia Sawyer Smoke And Mirrors

Smoke & Mirrors, a loose eye shadow powder, was my first encounter with Tricia Sawyer's products. Sawyer, a Hollywood makeup artist had an interesting idea: to make smoky eyes a simple, one product process that doesn't require 30 minutes work. It's a neat idea, actually, even if reality is a bit more complicated than the vision.

Smoke and Mirrors is a very dark not-quite-black powder that has quite a bit of purple, brown and gray in it and a gold (or is it bronze?) shimmer and comes in a tube with a sponge wand. It sounds a bit like Guerlain Terracotta Kohl, but since there's no mention anywhere of using it on the water line I'd avoid trying it as such. The color, despite the several pigments used is flatter and not as vivid as any of the Guerlain kohls I've seen. So Smoke & Mirrors is an eyeshadow supplement of sorts, though you can use it on its own. You apply it over your existing eye makeup, depositing most of the powder over the lash line and blending/smoking it upwards and to the outer corner of the eye.

Then you look at the royal mess you created, mutter a few expletives and ask yourself where you went wrong. It's not you. Mostly it's the applicator. Loose pigments such as this one are messy by nature (remember my blue pawed kitten?), and the way the tube and applicator are constructed makes using them even worse. While you can't prevent the black cloud that comes out as soon as you pull the wand out without de-potting the whole thing into a jar, you can use a medium size eye shadow brush (to transfer the product from the applicator or if you pour a little onto a flat surface) that collects less powder, absorbs more and distributes it evenly. It also prevents some (but not all) of the fallout, which is a huge problem here.

If you're not using Smoke & Mirror over an existing eye shadow, make sure your eyelids are well-primed. Otherwise the powder wouldn't stay in place for more than an hour or so. It fades, migrates and smears if you  even look at it funny. So a primer and a nude base eye shadow that helps you blend the dark smoky one are essential. I'd also be very careful when using under the lower lashes. It's very hard to make Smoke & Mirrors remain where it's supposed to under the lashes, and I'm also not too fond of the shimmer particles in that area. It just looks off to me.

This tutorial on Tricia Sawyer's site shows both the strengths and weaknesses of the product, so you can make your own conclusions. My bottom line is that it's a good idea that could have used more tweaking. I'd also like to see more color options. If this shade is borderline too dark for me, it would be way too Lindsay Lohan on many others (the very pale model in the tutorial is a good example for that).

Tricia Sawyer's Smoke And Mirrors ($21) is available from QVC and through Sawyer's website. It was part of my free BeautyFix kit.

Photos by me.

Redpoint Kabuki Brush and Retractable Lip Brush

The last Beautyfix kit was quite impressive with its offering. Among the items I picked were these two brushes by Redpoint, a brand that in new to me and is sold on QVC. I'm a firm believer that one can't have too many good makeup brushes, so I was happy to give these a try.

The Kabuki brush is more a mini than a full size one. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's more suited for a travel bag and quick fixes on the go. For my everyday use, when I take my time and want the absolute best products, I prefer fuller and thicker face brushes. I use it for loose or pressed powder and not for mineral foundation, which I'd rather apply with a larger brush that gives a better coverage. Still, it's adequately soft and the handle is comfortable and gives you a good grip, which is another thumb up as a travel accessory. I've had the brush for two or three months now and it has yet to shed even a single hair, so that's also an impressive achievement.

The retractable lip brush is excellent on every front. It doesn't have and doesn't need a cap, so that's one less thing to lose (and have to fish from the bottom of a makeup bag or a drawer). The brush itself is both soft and precise, works very well with any solid or liquid lipstick I've tried and gives perfect results every time. It's easy to clean with a standard makeup brush solution and have earned its place in my regular rotation.

Bottom line: These brushes added quite a bit of value to the Beautyfix kit.

Redpoint Kabuki and retractable lip brush (originally $24 each) are currently available from the company's website at 50% off and can also be part of a Beautyfix kit when you order it. I received a free press membership.

Photos are mine.