Bourjois Product Review: Stuff J'Adore

I know it's been forever since I got this stuff from Bourjois, and they sent it to me without asking anything in return, so I've really been wanting to return the favor by raving over the products that I love. Therefore, I'm starting with my FAVS of what I got (plus one thing I already had).

One thing I have to point out about all Bourjois products, that I think is one of the nicest touches - they all smell so lovely! It's always a subtle, beautiful scent, but it just makes the products seem so much more elegant and nice to put on, in my humble opinion. I just think Bourjois is brilliant. ;)

Let's start with the basic face. I already mentioned the concealer, but I'll do it again here.


Image from Bourjois

Brush Concealer

I love love love love love this concealer. I've never had a concealer provide such a nice finish. The brush is easy and convenient to use, and the color blends really well. It's the first time I've used a concealer and actually thought it looked like I didn't have concealer on when I was done blending. Most of the time I feel like I can tell but decide 'concealer' is a better look than 'dark circle'. It also holds up pretty well for me throughout the day...as long as I can keep my hands away from my face.


Image from Ulta

Brush Foundation

I also love love love love this foundation. I normally don't wear foundation because my skin tends to be dry. It seems like foundation only makes my skin look more dry. But not anymore! This brush allows me to put on just enough and easily add more if I want - I usually use too much or hardly any when I use the other ones. It also leaves a really nice, smooth finish. I used it today because, thanks to my pregnancy, I am again dealing with breakouts. Why must reverting back to high school be one of the side effects? But anyway...I used it today to even out my skin a bit and it lasted all day. (And made me feel a bit better!)

Mademoiselle Bourjois has an instructional video for these two products here.

Now for some eyes


Image from Bourjois

Volume Glamour Ultra Black Mascara

This is my favorite mascara on the planet. They didn't send me this one - they sent me a couple others, but they're a bit flashier, so I don't use them for everyday. (I'll review them later.) One weird thing for me - I love how long the wand is. I don't know why, but that seems to make it easier for me to apply it. I love how it makes my lashes look more fluffy and black, rather than painted, thicker, and black. I just had to include it because I love it so much. :)


Image from Ulta

Shimmering Shine Liquid Eyeshadow

This stuff is so neat! I have beige metallique. You can paint on a nice opaque layer like Mademoiselle Bourjois in this instructional video, or sometimes I just dab a few dots on and blend by tapping my finger. It adds the nicest shimmer to my eyes, making me look more awake and put together in a matter of seconds. Great when you are short on time. The shimmer is nice too; rather than being too young or sugary, it's very elegant.


Image from Bourjois

Effet Metallise

This metallic waterproof eyeliner is the smoothest eyeliner I've ever used. You have the ability to just draw it right on like a liquid eyeliner without the precision required with liquid eyeliner. It goes on like a pencil liner without the tugging. I have Feuille de Cuivre (copper), and I use it to add a nice warm glow around the eyes. I bet the tourquoise and green shades would look absolutely lovely!


Image from Bourjois

Vibrant Duochrome Liners

These liners are so much fun! They're like a normal pencil, but Bourjois has managed to blend two colors in one pencil, giving the line a lot of depth and 'wow'. I have Vert Dore (greenish gold), Noir Bluete (bluish black), and brun mordore (brownish gold). I LOVE the green and blue pencils, haven't tried the brown yet. The blue one gave me the perfect "Parisienne" eye I was looking for, and the green was just added a nice little pop. I HIGHLY recommend these if you enjoy playing with color!

Mademoiselle Bourjois has a few videos with this product, here's the most recent.

Let's finish off with lips


Image from Bourjois

Eau de Gloss

I have pamplemousse givre, a color not mentioned on the site, but regardless of the color you chose, I think you'd be happy. It says "non sticky" on the tube, and it's true. It's a very nice texture with a bit of that plumping-feeling some glosses have. It lasts me a while, and smells and tastes nice. It's one of the few things I kept using when I wasn't feeling so good during the early months of the pregnancy because it made me feel instantly nicer.

Finalement

I hope you enjoyed my long and involved review. I just love this brand. They don't test on animals, and they do such a thorough job of making a wonderful product. For more instructional videos, check out Mademoiselle Bourjois' channel on YouTube. You can also meet Mademoiselle Bourjois on her MySpace or Facebook profiles.

minority vs majority

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority.
The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.

-Ralph W. Sockman


This is the first time in a while that I've seen a quote that made me think 'now that's a great quote'.

French Dressing, Where Art Thou?

What's the deal with French dressing? I had no idea it was such a commodity. We had to visit 2 stores over the weekend to get some because the first store didn't even carry it. The second store had ONE brand of it, if I remember correctly, and I think it was even more expensive than the other flavors. When did French dressing go out of style?

After thinking about it, I realized that you don't always hear it as an option at restaurants either. If it's the French thing, we can just be really cool and defiant and call it Freedom dressing. Because that makes the kind of statement that will be taken seriously. It can't be the flavor because it always seems to be the chosen dressing if we offer options when having people over for dinner.

So what happened, French dressing? What did you do that was so wrong?

This Pregnancy Roller Coaster

Being pregnant has certainly been an wild experience. It's nothing like I thought. I know of a few other women in my circle who are pregnant right now, and I find it fascinating how different our pregnancies are. They weren't kidding when they said every pregnancy is different.

The especially trying part of mine has been the emotional or depression side of it. I've heard about all the "I hate you for doing this to me!" type emotions, but that's not what I've been experiencing. For me, it has been the struggle against the "glowing pregnancy" stigma, or the idea that if you don't love being pregnant, you must not be a good mother or want your child or whatever else bad thought that comes to mind. :/

I have been taking the Vitamin B6 and Unisom combination for morning sickness. The odd thing is when I try to stop taking the Unisom, these emotions really flare up, along with a feeling that I thought was indigestion but am now wondering if it's more like a panic attack or stress. I'm back to taking the Unisom; the theory is the better sleep I get, the better I can manage my physical and emotional issues. I've always had sleep issues, so maybe it's just aggravated by the pregnancy.

I hope other women out there who have the same issues with emotions and depression make an effort to get help, or that people who know women in this situation try to help them. It is such a miserable feeling, and I know I had trouble coming to terms with it because I didn't want to admit having negative feelings about being pregnant. That was part of me reaching a solution, however. I had to admit what I was feeling and decide that I didn't want to feel that way anymore.

One of the things that helped me was what I call "giving in to my hormones" - I've realized (with help) that hormones affect us in different ways, whether it's terrible morning sickness or depression, and this just happened to be the way my hormones really affected me. Every time I felt down, the rational (and optimistic) side of me knew deep DEEP down that if I had a choice, I would NOT dislike the pregnancy, the situation, or anything else, but I kind of don't have a choice at the moment. My hormones are affecting everything from my stomach to my memory to my emotions - it's normal and OK. Just because I don't want to be pregnant every once in a while doesn't make me a jerk.

Another thing that has helped is that my husband takes it seriously. He doesn't think I'm just being emotional or whiny or silly, and he doesn't discard how I'm feeling. I hope other partners out there have the patience and understanding to deal with all the fluctuating emotions because, trust me on this, she's not enjoying it any more than you are. ;P In fact, it's likely there's a part of her inside that's whispering "I don't want to feel like this!" while the outside of her is turning into a crying or angry mess.

It's not all bad, though! We've had another appointment where we got to listen to the heartbeat again. Getting those little moments of real feedback - that there REALLY IS a baby in there - are nice and too infrequent at this point. I would probably be much happier if I could listen to the heartbeat all day. Or maybe that would annoy me after a while with these emotions. ;) But I keep being told that I may feel better once I start feeling movement. It may give me the reward I need to know that I ain't feeling like crap for nothing!

we all must work

We all must work to make the world worthy of its children.

-Pablo Casals

Sky Show July 4th and 5th (Not Fireworks!)

The planets Saturn and Mars, and the star Regulus (Harry Potter!* w00t!) will converge on Friday, July 4th. There's an awesome skymap of it here.

Then on Saturday, July 5th, the crescent Moon joins in. Check out that skymap here.

Find out more about these convergences and the probes orbiting or inhabiting the two planets and the moon here.

*A shout out to the mysterious Regulus Black from the Harry Potter books.