Category Archives: Reviews

Revlon So Fierce! Mascara Review

Makeup, Reviews, Swatches

Revlon So Fierce! Mascara

There’s always a new mascara out on the market (or so it seems!), and for me, the most recent one I’ve tried out is the new Revlon So Fierce!  mascara.

Revlon So Fierce! Mascara
Revlon So Fierce! Mascara

It wasn’t till I started using this mascara that I realized that I honestly can’t remember a time when I used a Revlon mascara with any kind of consistency. I feel like when I think of drugstore mascara I think of Maybelline or Covergirl. To me, Revlon has always represented the very best of lipstick and foundation… so I’m drawing a total blank on mascaras I’ve tried by them. (In editing this post I’ve realized my memory is gash. I *have* reviewed at least one Revlon mascara in the past: the Mega Multiplier.)

Revlon So Fierce! Mascara in Blackened Brown
Revlon So Fierce! Mascara in Blackened Brown

Anyway, moving on to the So Fierce! mascara. I was initially excited for this mascara because I love smaller conical wands. I find they’re the easiest to use for my eye shape and make it super simple to get into the inner corners of my eyes without getting mascara all over my eyeshadow (I guess I’m super messy with mascara application). The So Fierce! mascara is what I would call a medium-sized conical wand, and has a plastic bristle brush that contains 252 multi-layered bristles .

The packaging for the So Fierce! mascara indicates that it has a glossy formula (??? I do not agree) with parraffin and rice bran waxes to quickly build up your lashes. The formula promises to be clump free, smudgeproof and flake free.

Revlon So Fierce! Mascara in Blackened Brown on lashes
Revlon So Fierce! Mascara in Blackened Brown on lashes

The formula itself is more on the dry side of things (not my favourite – I do prefer a rather wet mascara), and it imparts an incredible amount of volume. I’m more of a one coat mascara person myself, and found that I got incredible volume with just one coat with this mascara. Once you start going into two coats your lashes start to look somewhat fake (not a bad thing!) but you will notice that it does have a tendency to clump some of your lashes together. Of course, this creates gargantuan volume, but it’s definitely not for someone who is looking for a lot of separation.

Final Thoughts

For a dry mascara, I was so surprised and impressed with this one! The Revlon So Fierce! mascara gave me a heck of a lot of volume with only one coat, something I feel like I only generally experience with wet formulas. So Fierce! does has a tendency to clump (unlike their claim that it’s clump-free), and while you could comb it out with a lash brush, I find that that clumps really help to amp up the volume without looking too spidery.

I found that the wear-time was excellent, nor did it flake on me. I did have a little bit of smudging when I wore the mascara on my lower lashes, but it was only around the seventh hour of my day. On a day-to-day basis I don’t tend to wear mascara on my lower lash line, and I found I had no smudging when I wore this mascara just on my upper lashes. (Most mascaras, even when I only wear them on my upper lashes, have a tendency to transfer and leave smudges on the hollows under my eyes – I have no idea how this happens, but it does – and thankfully this mascara does NOT do that). I also like that my lashes don’t feel crusty when I have this mascara on. If I touch them they feel a bit waxy, but pliable and smooth.

In short, I was quite impressed with So Fierce! 

The Revlon So Fierce! mascara can be purchased at shoppersdrugmart.com for $11.99 CAD or on ulta.com for $8.99 USD.

The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

Sleek Solstice Highlighter Palette (Review & Swatches)

Makeup, Reviews, Swatches

Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette

Do you remember when the Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette was one of the most raved about products on YouTube? I sure do! It was back in the hey day when highlighters weren’t as common and ones at the drugstore were nearly impossible to come by. It must have been about ten or so years ago that the British YouTubers (and anyone else who visited the UK and brought this palette home) were raving about Solstice non-stop. It was one of the most hyped beauty products I think I’ve ever encountered in the beauty sphere.

And I’m only just trying it out now.

Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette
Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette

I picked Solstice up when I was on vacation in England recently. I felt a bit silly to be honest… this palette had been out for years and was hardly anything new. I also have a drawer full of highlighters that will undoubtedly outlive me just because there’s so many of them. And yet, even after all these years, I wanted to know what the hype was all about.

Surprisingly, when I hauled it in my (GARGANTUAN) May haul video, most people said they didn’t love it. I was initially put off because of those comments and didn’t try this palette out for a while, expecting disappointment.

Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette
Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette

What’s interesting about Solstice is that it comes with three powders and one cream. I’ve always thought that was a weird thing to do with a palette. Over time the powders will definitely end up getting caught up in the cream, which always makes for a bit of a mess. But I’m not that at that stage yet, so they’re all  mostly keeping to themselves.

Another unique aspect of this palette is that it has three of your more generic highlighters (champagne, yellow-ish and a rosy-gold) but it also has a purple. In an era when all highlighters were your basic shade of boring, a purple was something utterly unique. Nowadays most people wouldn’t blink an eye at a purple highlighter as they’re pretty common place… but back when this launched? Purple highlighters were nowhere to be found.

Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette - swatches
Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette – swatches

In practice, the highlighters swatch out with varying depths of colour and shine. The purple one is definitely the weakest in pigment, but I feel like that makes it a little bit easier to wear for those who can be a bit colour-shy.

Sleek Solstice - Top Left Shade
Sleek Solstice – Top Left Shade

The first shade I tried out was the cream, which I applied with my finger and blended it out. I felt like application was easy and smooth, but that the overall effect was quite subtle yet pretty.

Sleek Solstice - Top Right Shade
Sleek Solstice – Top Right Shade

The purple was definitely the least pigmented, although you may not necessarily think so from the shot above but that’s because I have a purple blush on underneath it. If you want to dip your toes into colourful highlighters, this would be one to try for sure.

Sleek Solstice - Bottom Left Shade
Sleek Solstice – Bottom Left Shade

The bottom left shade was quite bright and luminescent – a really pretty shade for pairing with yellow looks (which I’ve been rather enamoured with lately!).

Sleek Solstice - Bottom Right Shade
Sleek Solstice – Bottom Right Shade

And lastly, the rose gold shade was the most luminescent shade out of all four. This one has a massive amount of sheen to it, but I have to say it doesn’t come off much like a rose gold. It has a tendency to look more white on me than I was expecting given the colour of the pan.

Final Thoughts

I can see why the Sleek Solstice palette was hyped up so much many years ago, and I still feel like it’s a lovely palette today. I’m surprised so many people told me they didn’t think it was that good, because I found all of the products performed quite well on my face. Are they the most blinding, pigmented highlighters I’ve ever seen? No, certainly not, but I don’t always needs something that’s going to be able to signal spaceships in orbit. Are there more interesting palettes out there now? Certainly, but MOST of them aren’t at the drugstore for a reasonable price tag. Considering the time that this product launched (was it actually 10ish years ago?), I’m not surprised it ended up hyped up in the beauty community. Solstice is still on the market after all these years and therefore it’s certainly had quite a bit of longevity in the beauty market.

In short? I think it’s lovely. 🙂

Maybelline City Bronzers (Review & Swatches)

Makeup, Reviews, Swatches

Maybelline City Bronzers

I feel like more and more bronzers keep popping up on the market lately… and I ain’t mad about it because it’s one of my favourite face products to apply. I just love swirling my big ole brush in a massive pan of product and using it to warm up my face. It’s the next best thing to having a real tan, and obviously much, much better for your skin. I’ve been trying out the new(ish) Maybelline City Bronzer range lately for all of my bronzing needs.

Maybelline City Bronzers
Maybelline City Bronzers

The City Bronzers are actually labelled as a bronzer and contour product, but it’s going to depend entirely on your skintone if these will work for you as a contour shade. I don’t contour with any kind of frequency, so I use these strictly as a bronzer. The City Bronzers are infused with whipped cocoa butter and come in  three matte-finish shades.

Maybelline City Bronzers in 100 and 200 - swatched
Maybelline City Bronzers in 100 and 200 – swatched

Of the three shades, I have 100 and 200 which are the most likely to suit me. There’s quite a shade gap between 100 and 200, so I think medium skintones may be able to use 200 if it’s applied quite heavily. 200 also has a bit more of a warmer edge when compared to 100. For me, 100 is a winter bronzer, and 200 is a summer bronzer on my skintone.

Wearing Maybelline City Bronzers in 100
Wearing Maybelline City Bronzers in 100

Since it’s July right now and I have a bit of sun on my face, 100 comes across very, very pale. You can barely even tell I have bronzer on my face in the above shot. For me, this makes it an ideal winter bronzer since I know it won’t look too obvious when I’m at my palest.

Wearing Maybelline City Bronzers in 200
Wearing Maybelline City Bronzers in 200

Right now, 200 definitely has more depth on my skin and I’ve been using it a lot to add some strength to my summer tan!

Final Thoughts

Although I didn’t use the Maybelline City Bronzers as a contour, I’m impressed that they lean neutral enough that I could’ve potentially used them that way if I wanted. Bronzers, for the most part, tend to have a very warm edge to them which can make them harder to wear as a contour product so it’s so nice to see a bronzer that isn’t so warm toned because not everyone is comfortable using such warm shades. In practice, they’re easy to apply and quite pigmented. I used a lighter hand for 200 in order to ensure I wasn’t going ham with the bronzer, but I think that’s good because medium skintones may be able to use as a bronzer. There is only one darker shade though (300), so I’m not sure how super deep skintones will fare with these shades.

TL;DR: Nice tones and good shades for light (potentially medium) skintones. Soft and easy to blend.

The Maybelline City Bronzers can be purchased on shoppersdrugmart.com for $10.99 CAD or on ulta.com for $9.99 USD each.

Post contains affiliate links.