- Kate
Beauty Product Diary
Updated: Nov 27
I have been unable to find a Goodreads for beauty products. I would like an app where I can rate products, easily see my own ratings, read other people's reviews, and create lists of beauty products and brands.
The ULTA app does not let you easily see your own ratings nor create more than 1 list of products. There are a few skin diary apps where you can set reminders to complete beauty routines, take skin progress photos, and log expiration dates, but none of the mobile apps allow reviews logs and multiple lists.
I went over to YouTube to see if any beauty gurus had any advice and the two suggestions are to blog about it or use use Excel / Google Sheets. My goal is to keep fewer spreadsheets, so I guess I'm going to go the beauty guru route and keep my make-up diary here on my blog.
Key: 5 - perfection / 4 stars - I like it / 3 stars - mediocre / 2 stars - acceptable / 1 star - Did not like
Ranked by Type
Cleansers & Masks
- Avène, Cleanance Cleansing Gel, $20 - This is a think gel that doesn't have any rough exfoliants. It's in a squeeze bottle so can be cut. Too bad it's plastic.
- Bliss, Mighty Marshmallow Whipped Mask, $16 - It's supposed to make skin brighter and radiant, which I think it slightly does. It's a very calm mask, it's light and the skin feels good.
- Fresh, Sugar Strawberry Exfoliating Face Wash, $33 - Dumb brand name, but I like this scrub a lot. I may have just been recovering from the wreckage the Ordinary products wrecked on my skin, but this really helped most of my acne clear up. It's in a squeeze bottle so can be cut. Too bad it's plastic.
- Patchology, Serve Chilled Bubbly Brightening Eye Gels; $3 each - nice but pricey
- Versed, Day Dissolve Cleansing Balm; $18 - this is really soft, it's not irritative at all, and does take off make-up well! Plastic bottle. I'm knocking points because it's only available at Target and Wal-Mart, so I can't earn Sephora or Ulta points, but it's very nice!.
- ZO Skin Health by Zein Obagi MD, Hydrating Cleanser, $49 - this smells like grapefruit and is very nice on the skin. I haven't noticed a change in the skin but the smell like grapefruit is wonderful. At this price, I wouldn't buy again but I do think for a gentle grapefruit cleaners this is nice.
Toners & Removers
- Lancôme, Bi-Facial Double-Action Gentle Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover, $42 - Great makeup remover, best used with compostable cotton balls! Too bad it's plastic.
- Mario Badescu Skincare, Glycolic Acid Toner, $18 - Solid toner. Plastic bottle of course.
Moisturizers
- Avène, Tolerance Control Skin Recovery Cream, $36 -it's fine but I don't notice any difference. I think someone whose already got clear skin could use this. Plastic of course.
- Clinique, Redness Solutions Daily Relief Cream With Probiotic Technology, $56 - The IT Cosmetics "bye bye redness" moisturizer was amazing at reducing redness and I was hopeful the Clinique would live up and it did not. I don't think it really helped with redness.
- Drunk Elephant, F-Balm Electrolyte Waterfacial Masque Hydratant, $54 - this packaging is horribly wasteful and plastic. Did not notice a massive difference.
- Drunk Elephant, T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serum, $90 - this packaging is horrible, but unlike the masque, this does appear to clear up skin.
- Estee Lauder, Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Complex, $70 - didn't do anything
- Estee Lauder, Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex Serum, $80 - great results. They have sustainable packaging commitments so it's near perfect.
- Kate Somerville, D-Scar Scar Diminishing Serum, $56
- Kiehl's, Powerful-Strength Dark Circle Reducing Vitamin C Eye Serum, $50
- La Roche-Posay, Retinol Face Serum with Vitamin B3, $42
- Lancôme, Rènergie Lift Multi-Action Ultra Face Cream SPF 30, $65 - Left a weird film on my skin, so only good at night, which doesn't make sense with SPF.
- Mario Badescu Skincare, Collagen Moisturizer SPF 15, $24 -it's fine but I don't notice any difference. I think someone whose already got clear skin could use this.
- Versed, Press Restart Gentle Retinol Serum; - this is fine, it is nice and gentle on the skin but I can't say it was a drastic change on the skin the way Estee Lauder creates a drastic change.
Foundation & Powder
- Honest Beauty, Everything Primer Glow, $23 - This is extremely light coverage and the bottle can't be cut up. There's only 1 shade offered for Honest's primer (this one) but they offer 3 shades for their tinted cream and 12 shades for their foundation. Maybe in conjunction with Honest's other full face products, this primer makes sense. However, as part of my general routine this primer does nothing. It's so light coverage that it doesn't help even my skin tone at all. Also, you have to be really careful to apply the primer evenly, because once the powder is applied, any unevenness or streaks from the primer show. - Honest Beauty, Magic Beauty Balm, $13 - This didn't really do anything for me, I think the pore fillers or petroleum jelly work better. - Maybelline, Dream Cushion Fresh Face Liquid Foundation, $6 - Messy to get the last drops of foundation, usually only found at Walmart. - Clinique, Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer Alabaster CN 10, $34 - This is Clinique's full coverage foundation. It comes in a glass bottle, which I dislike as it's too difficult to ever clean the insides to make it truly recyclable and you can't cut into it to get the last amount. - It Cosmetics, CC+ Cream Illumination SPF 50+ Color Fair Light (ivory pink), $44 - Decent coverage foundation and can be easily cut with scissors
- Fenty Beauty, Pro Filt'r Foundation in 175, $20 - medium coverage, okay. comes in a firm plastic bottle. Since the product doesn't blow me out of the water, going a "no" because of the packaging'
- Too Faced, Born This Way Matte, Snow, $45 - medium, long-wear coverage, okay. comes in a firm plastic bottle. Maybe product is worth the firm packaging?
- NYX, Bare With Me Foundation, Vanilla, $11 -
- Maybelline, Master Primer by Facestudio SPF 30, $11 - This is fine, it works as a primer. It has a pink tone and is light in coverage and feel.
- Smashbox, Halo Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20, $41 - This is fine for someone with no blemishes who wants to add a highlighter moisturizer to their light, SPF routine. However, for someone with blemishes and uneven skin tone, this is a waste of money. Just buy a foundation, highlighter, and SPF separately.
- Tarte, Shape Tape Contour Concealer, $14 - it is a solid concealer but does expire after a year and dries up. It is in a solid plastic tube so a lot of product is left in the tube.
Contouring
- Ofra Cosmetics, NikkieTutorials Highlighting Trio, $35 - Most like Becca's old highlighters and bronzers, very soft and shimmery.
Lips
- ULTA, Luxe Lipstick, $9 - Lancôme, L'Absolu Mademoiselle Lip Balm in Mint Fresh Blue, $20 - I get in this mood where I like the frosty and glossy look, but I got tired of it after a few weeks. - Burt's Bees, Lip Shimmer, $6 - Hydrating like lip balm but colored like lipstick
Eye Liner
- ColourPop, BFF Ultra Fine Liquid Liner, $9 - NYX, Matte Liquid Liner Vegan Long Lasting Black Eyeliner, $10 - The Nyx formula varies widely on the color and type. The neon bights dried out in 18 months, which isn't a bad run but the black lasted longer (about 24 months). The blue is more liquidly than the neon or black.
-Tarte, Tarteist Pro Lash Adhesive Black, $15 - having a black adhesive is nice but it's tough to get a clean line with the formula
Eye Primer
- Urban Decay Cosmetics, Anti-Aging Eyeshadow Primer Potion, $24 - This is a great primer, I really can notice a difference in both vibrancy and ease of application, but it also reduces eyeshadow fallout. The bottle is small enough for travel or makeup case. The best part? The bottle can be cut-up so you really get your money's worth and then recycle it.
Eye Shadow
- Aether Beauty, Joshua Tree Desert Matte Eyeshadow Palette, $58 - Does not contain plastic or parabens and is supposed to be okay with sensitive eyes. Matte, desert colors. - Physicians Formula, 24-Karat Gold Face Palette, $19 - lot of gold
- Covergirl, Clean Fresh Creamy Eye Shadow Stick Lilac Bloom, $11 - It's smooth on the skin but it's a very pale color and will rub off throughout the day. My main issue is how pale the color is on my skin, I felt it made me look sickly but may look better on someone with better skin. I passed it on to someone with darker skin tone.
- Kiko Milano, Baseline Long Lasting Eyeshadow Stick Vintage Rose, $11 - It's very harsh on the skin as it's a tough stick, but the color is nice and seems to be decently long lasting.
- NudeStix, Magnetic Luminous Eye Color Burnish, $27 - this is super soft on the skin and is a bold shimmer. Really enjoy this! It requires to be sharpened which makes it a longer stick by having the sharpener at the bottom.
Lashes
- Ardell, Magnetic Lash Wispies, $15 - I like the look of glue better than magnetic, especially because the magnetic liner tends to flake after a few hours.
Mascara
- Honest Beauty, 2-in-1 Extreme Length Mascara + Lash Primer, $18 - the white primer really does lengthen lashes - Eyeko, Brown Colored Lash Alert Mascara, $19 - solid mascara; expires standard time of mascara, after expiration it gets very lumpy
- PYT Beauty, Swipe Right 12 HR Mascara Date Me Blue, $20 - lasted exactly two years, solid
Settings
- Ben Nye, Final Seal Spritzer, $33 - I was told this is used by drag queens and it certainly lived up to that suggestion! Quite a set and lasted it me 2 years. Sadly, it's not sold at normal makeup stores.
Brushes & Sponges
- Morphe, All The Looks 5-Piece Eye Brush Set, $15 - Ulta, Super Blender Sponge, $5 - Ulta, Sculpting Blender Sponge, $5
Hair
- Curlsmith, Wash & Scrub Detox Pro-Biotic, $28
Nails
- Zoya, Naked Manicure Glossy Seal Top Coat, $14
Brow
- Benefit, Brow Microfilling Pen, $25 - The three prong brush helps to make this brow filler seem very real. Used medium brown.
Brands Ranked by Opinion
Perfection
Like
- Estee Lauder - wonderful skincare, can't wait until they launch even more sustainable packaging and they'll be perfect, sold at Ulta, Khols, and Sephora
- Fresh - great for skincare, sold at Ulta, Khols, and Sephora
- Lancôme - great for foundation and some skincare, sold at Ulta, Khols, and Sephora
- It Cosmetics foundation and powders (ivory pink)
- Burt's Bees lip colors
- Urban Decay primers and eyeshadows
- Ben Nye setting spray
Mediocre
- Avène - like the cleansers but nothing else, sold at Ulta
- Bliss - fun skincare but milder results
- Clinique - generally, not impressed, sold at Ulta and Khols
- Kate Somerville - fine
- Kiehl's - fine
- La Roche-Posay - fine
- Honest Beauty - the glow highlighter and mascara are nice, but dislike everything else
- Patchology - fine
Hate
- Drunk Elephant - horrible packaging
- Ordinary - pretty sure the creams wrecked havoc on my skin
- Dolce & Gabbana - horrible owners