Jack Black Moisture Therapy Lip Balm

Holy crap folks, this stuff is amazing. First of all, I have a confession. I am a lip balm junkie. Out of necessity really, I've always had incredibly dry lips. Mostly because I'm not good at drinking water as often as I should (shhh!). When I say that I've tried nearly every balm, lip treatment, and what ever else you can think of, I mean it. Nothing really worked. Most of the time it was a band aid effect, making my lips feel smooth and lovely...  until the product wore off, which usually wasn't long. After it was gone, if I didn't have the current product of the day/month on me to reapply, my lips would be peeling or cracking within the hour. It was a very vicious, tedious, painful and expensive cycle.

I kind of rambled a bit, didn't I? Sorry 'bout that, just felt I needed to put this into proper perspective so you can know how absolutely incredible this balm is.

Now, onto my life saver. Or lip saver, which ever you prefer. Jack Black Lip Balm.

$8 at Sephora here in Canada, with 5 different "flavours": Vanilla & Lavender, Grapefruit & Ginger, Black Tea & Blackberry, Natural Mint, and Lemon & Chamomile. I wanted the Black Tea, but they were out of stock, so I bought the Grapefruit. It's not sweet, not really flavoured much at all, just enough so it doesn't seem like you have some random balmy substance on your lips. I hate that generic balm taste! I have literally only been putting this on about 3-4 time a day. Seems like a lot, I know. But I was putting other balms on much more than that. I'm going to say at least, if not more, than once an hour. 

Now that I've had it for about 4 or 5 days, I can really tell that it's repaired and moisturized my lips, rather than just making them soft for a little while. I am in love. I will never buy a different type of lip balm, ever again.

If they stop making this, I will cry and hoard loads of it before it disappears. I swear I will!

I want to thank Cora of Vintage or Tacky on YouTube for using this, because without you telling us what you use, I would never have found this lovely little blue tube. 

5 Stars, 2 thumbs up and all sorts of praise for Jack Black Lip Balm!

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Coconut Oil & Its Awesomeness

Oh coconut oil, will you never cease to amaze me? 

Fairly recently I had found a video on YouTube detailing how do a coconut oil mask for your hair, promising to up the moisture, softness and shine of your hair. Considering my hair is fine, bleached, blow dried and straightened, I was game to try it out as my shorty locks can be pretty damaged at the ends by the time Salon Day comes around. 

I'm impressed with this little trick. I leave the oil in my hair for a few hours at most, wash gently and condition normally. The best way I can describe how it feels after is renewed. Soft and not weighed down. Just lovely.

Well, since I've had the jar around the house for a while now, I'm finding all sorts of things it's good for. Dry patches of skin, greatly improved after putting the oil on daily. Dry feet and those odd little patches of skin that lift on the pads of the feet? Moisturized and not lifting or sore anymore. Chapped lips (often due to me being dehydrated... water is not fun to drink, I tell ya), smooth and not peeling with very little use of the oil. Cuticles? Smooth and repairing from all the nail polish removing I do. Makeup remover! I have pretty sensitive eyes, so makeup removers are often a hassle to use, leaving my eyes teary and tender, if not outright stinging and crying. Coconut oil not only removed my stubborn makeup, but didn't bother my eyes! Also, when I wake up in the morning my eyes are nice and soft having been moisturized all night.

I buy a jar at Bulk Barn, for around $16, but you can get it anywhere now. I even saw it at Sobey's the other day. I buy organic and cold pressed, and the jar lasts forever. I haven't run out and it's been months now. I urge you to give it a try, especially with those chilly and dry winter months coming up!

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Sephora Collection Lipstick Review

Hello Folks!

My first review, and it's going to be on my first ever lipsticks! People are going to laugh when I tell them these are the first lippies I have ever bought or worn (trying out my mom's when I was 4 doesn't count I'm afraid). But whatever, I'm doing it anyway, for science!

I bought three different ones, a Rouge Cream lipstick and two Rouge Shine lipsticks. Having never bought lipstick before and with the purple hair, I had to get help from the lovely Sephora ladies, ya know, just to make sure I didn't get some terrible shade that would clash and make me look clownish. These are the three I picked.

From left to right:

Rouge Shine Lipstick, No. 47 Heartbreaker

Rouge Cream Lipstick, Love Test 11

Rouge Shine Lipstick, No. 43 Make Me Famous

Cost: $15 CND.

The Cream are the more matte finish, and the shine... obviously have some shine to them. You can see the Make Me Famous has a bit more shine and sparkle. This one so far is my favourite.

As someone who is new to this kind of thing, I'm really glad that they have the colour swatches on the underside of them. I will never remember names. I'm just bad at it.

The lady helping me in store explained to me that although Sephora Collection items tend to be cheaper in cost, it's mostly due to their packaging being simple and not bulky. I hope that's true, plus I actually like the packaging. The outside of the tube is a matte or shine depending on the lipstick inside. 

I did a quick swatch on my hand, and you can see there's more of a matte to the middle one. It's not an intense matte, and it doesn't feel drying. It really is a nice transition lipstick for someone like me, who's used to balms and glosses.

(The colours are backwards to the above picture, oops!)

The first is the Make Me Famous, middle is Love Test, and the right is Heartbreaker.

You can see the two Shine lipsticks are a bit more sheer. I did know this when I bought them, I tested them out. The idea was that they were again a nice transition into wearing lipsticks and they really are.
As well, for a more glam'd up look, I can apply them over the Love Test for a nice bright shiny colour.

The swatches really didn't do them justice (also probably my awesome camera skills, am I right?), so I've done a few lip testings as well, with them by themselves and combined.

As someone who is used to balms, I am thoroughly enjoying these lipsticks. They don't dry out my lips, they last a decent amount of time (when I remember not to lick them all off... balm girl here!), and they are an awesome enhancement to my hair and daily makeup. Smooth and not sticky, they are definitely a re-purchase for me!

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A Little Introduction is in Order, I Believe?

Hello folks, and welcome to the Bin! 

I'm Boots, and this blog is going to be a documentation of my journey into the world of cosmetics, beauty and hair! 

Sadly, I'm nearly 31 and know very little about these things. Nail polish is really the only thing I do well. I grew up on an acreage and was always a daddy's little girl kind of tomboy, running around with the animals and tractors, unflatteringly draped in baggy and boring clothes, long & pale brown hair always in a ponytail and no makeup, ever. Over the last few years I've started doing the mascara and basic eyeliner thing, maybe some creamy eye shadows in stick form, but that was about it. Then the hair was chopped off to a nice angled bob, and then the colour change to purple and black. 

Now, I'm diving in head first. Eye shadow, liquid liners, mascaras, hair bleach and much more! 

I'll be on a seemingly never ending search for products that don't make my eyes itchy and watery, as there are seasonal allergies and sensitive eyes at play here. I've signed up for the Ipsy monthly subscription, which will be awesome to get me started, trying all sorts of new things, and I will be reviewing them all! There's nothing I won't try! Unless of course it will actually damage my skin or hair. Cause that would be bad, right?

This will also be a nice little follow along as I grow out my hair and learn some tricks to keep it healthy and happy while I bleach, blow dry and straighten it to death. Stay tuned for the colour changing that will start happening as well! Ombre bright colours!

Hope you all enjoy following along as I test and review a wide range of products that will be sent, and also all of the products that I myself have chosen. Everything will fall under the scope here on Boots' Beauty Bin!

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