Awake Invention Stretch Concealer

Awake is one of the highest quality color lines but unfortunatly it has been much reduced over the past few years, the company used to have a full color line that contained fantastic shades for every facial feature.  One of the best products that they carried was a loose powder with a bit of shimmer in that I found wonderfully flattering and I wanted to order again.  However I am on the company's website and instead of finding my powder, the only products that I am finding are skincare and then a few face foundations and concealers.  To my extreme displeasure, all of the great Awake products are gone and only a few of the half decent products are left.  I have used the concealer from this company in the past but have never written about it.  While mourning the lack of color products, I do want to write up the concealer and see if the formula has changed over the years.

This company currently only offers one formula of concealer, much less than was originally offered.  The product is the Invention Stretch Concealer, a lightweight liquid formula.  To begin with, liquid concealers are not my cup of tea, I never find them pigmented enough to cover my flaws.  I prefer cream or stick formulas so that they fully cover my dark circles and any last areas of redness.  Overall, i have found that liquid concealers are too thin to cover any major flaws and wear off too quickly during the day.  So it won't come as a shock to anyone that this product didn't work well for me and that I didn't like it.

"A full coverage liquid concealer that minimizes the appearance of dark circles, fine lines, and all skin imperfections with a soft matte finish.  The stretch matrix base accomodates the facial movements to stay crease-proof throughout the day.  Rosehip Oil softens skin and provides hydration."  The company recommends use as follows: After applying to problem areas with the brush, lightly tap with fingertip to blend. 

This formula is housed in a thin tube with a small brush applicator.  Most liquid concealers come with a sponge tip applicator to dot the product onto specific spots.  I disliked the small brush applicator, it allowed me to get the product to very specific areas however it didn't blend the product well at all.  To make this product look somewhat better upon application, I had to then use a flat concealer brush to blend it in.  And then I had to finish blending the edges with my finger.  This formula actually took longer to apply then most cream formulas.  Considering how intense the application was, I was really disappointed that the product didn't covera very well.  It took my less time to get better coverage with the Amazing Concealer.  I had to apply a minimun of three coats to make any difference underneath my eyes.  At this point, I began to run the risk of the product clumping and looking worse than the dark circles themselves.  I honestly would rather left all my imperfections show then look like I applied too much makeup and can't get the application right.

After all it took to get the application correct, it added insult to injury when the product began to wear off within two hours.  By lunchtime, my morning makeup application was almost gone and I needed to restart all over again.  I just can't use liquid concealers, I just will never see good results with them and I wish that this wasn't one of the few products that the Awake company decided to keep around...

photo courtesy of Awake

Awake Clear Gel Wash For Combination Skin

Right now, I am in the process of alternating two face cleansers in an experiment to see if I get better results than with just the use of one. So far, I am not seeing much of a difference in my skin than if I would just use one at a time. I am alternating the Philosophy foaming cleanser that I have reviewed about a month ago and this one from Awake. Both formulas are similar and of the same type of cleanser so I still have ruled out if I would get better results from using two completely different types of cleansers, one foaming and one creamy for instance. But since that's not the case at the moment, I am going to write about the Awake wash that I am using and how much I like it.

This face wash is made for normal/combination skin. It could be too drying for dry skin. The Beauty.com website states the following as the description of the product. "A mild blend of gentle non-soap bases. This foaming, non-soap facial gel removes all dirt and impurities without drying out combination skin. It gently exfoliates to reveal healthier, clearer skin. Natural extracts of lemon, burdock, and ivy help tighten pores and control sebum". The texture of this cleasner will satisfy anyone who loves foaming cleansers or feels that they don't get their skin clean if the cleanser doesn't foam. This is one of the best foaming cleansers that I have ever used. It produces a thick, rich foam that actually doesn't dry skin out. I use a drop that is less than the size of a small button and got all the foam that I needed to clean my whole face.

I found that this this cleanser is more effective on my T-zone area than on my cheeks. It helps to control my oily areas and to reduce the appearance of my larger pores. This cleanser didn't irritate my skin and didn't leave any area tight or dry after I rinsed it off. I am gald that Awake released a non-soap foaming cleanser for those among us with love foaming cleansers but can't always use the traditional formulas on their faces. This formula rinses clean and removes all of my face makeup (I don't use it to take eye makeup off). It didn't irritate my redness but doesn't have any type of ingredient to reduce the appearence of ruddiness.

I have been such an Awake junkie lately and I just wish that I could buy these products at a store instead of just online. I bought this one from Beauty.com and I have no issues with the website, but I just prefer to try a product on my hand/take a sample home before I purchase it. The issues finding the line aside, I love this face cleanser and recommend it to those with combination to oily skin.

photo courtesy of Beauty.com

Awake Hydro-Force Eye Treatment

I have been an eye cream junkie lately, I feel like my bags and dark circles are getting worse by the day. Next to nothing has been making me happy lately and I feel that I am relying much to heavily on the concealer to get out of the house in the morning. I don't know if it's because my skin is so pale with the winter season upon us or that my eyes are getting worse than they were before. Right now, I have been using Awake Hydro-Force Eye Treatment for the past two weeks and am just beginning to see some results in this area. I have had great results from other Awake skincare items that I have used so I am very hopeful that this one lives up to the my expectations.

The Beauty.com website describes the product as follows, "Keep your under eye area hydrated and plump with this refreshing gel formula. Just dab on a little to reduce the appearance of fine lines, dullness, and dark circles - your makeup will glide on effortlessly from now on". This product is said to "instantly hydrate the eye area with a refreshing serum-gel formula" and "plump the skin and reduce the appearane of fine lines, dullness, and dark circles". This formula contains Ceramide and Almond extract to provide radiance to the eye area and reduce dark circles.

I use this product in the morning and evening after cleansing my face. I need only one pump of the product to do liberally cover both under eye areas. I love the feel of the formula, it glides on easily and smoothly and absorbs quickly. Over the past two weeks, I have seen a reduction mostly in the puffiness under my eyes. I am also happy to report that my under eye area isn't getting as dry as it usually does this time of the year. My dark circles are somewhat reduced with use of the poruct but I mostly find that it helps to make my concealer go on smoother and I have to use less makeup than before.

The Awake line is getting harder and harder to find but I do recommend searching for it. I bought this from the Beauty.com website but if you are close to Bergdorf Goodman or a Neiman Marcus, you will be able to get this product easily. I really like this product itself but I must say that I love the packaging even more. The pump bottle is very easy to use and one pump gives you the perfect amount of product for both eyes so I'm not wasting any product.

This product is best recommened for those who have dryness under their eyes and puffiness is more a concern than dark circles. I also believe that this product is best used by those who don't need extensive anti-aging products in the under eye area. This is another product that I really like from Awake skincare and I really wish the line wasn't getting harder and harder to find by the day...

photo courtesy of Beauty.com

Awake Hydro Force Oil-Free Treatment

A couple of years ago, I developed an obsession with Awake skincare and makeup. However, that was when it was more readily available than it is now. With Bath and Body Works now longer carrying the brand and it not being available at Sephora, it is no longer a line of products that I can drive to my nearby mall and pick up quickly if I hear about an interesting product from them. Which is a shame, since almost every product that I have used so far from this company makes me very happy. Awake is a brand that is part of Kose, it is made in Japan, and is centered around the use of botanicals to brighten and improve the skin.

Hydro Force Oil-Free Treatment is the current moisturizer that I am using to take my skin from later winter into early spring. For this time of the year, I need something that is very hydrating and soothing since during the changing of the seasons, my face gets very dry and is more easily irritated than usual. I bought this product at Bath and Body Works sometime before they discontinued the line and I just found it recently in my pile of unused skin care products.

"A lightweight, intensive moisturizer that provides 24-hour hydration for soft, smooth skin. Phospholipids supply natural moisture, while pure Almond Extract creates a water reserve for long-lasting hydration. Uses a Hydro-Fix polymer base for a water-like texture that transforms into jelly-like texture when absorbed into skin, helping to retains moisture", states the Awake website when describing this product. This product can be used once or twice a day, applying after serum for best results. This product is housed in a pump bottle and usually one or two pumps is perfect to cover my entire face. At one point, this product was also available in a creamier formula housed in a jar however I no longer see it on the Awake website so I guess that it is no longer available.

I use this product both morning and night. My favorite aspect of this product is the texture, I love the light texture because it is easily absorbed and it still very hydrating. This product has not irritated my skin but I really haven't noticed much redness reduction in my cheek area. I also haven't broken out once since using this product, which is a huge plus in my book. The product has no real discernable fragrance and is a good choice for those who have sensitive skin.

I really wish that I didn't have to drive an hour and a half down to King of Prussia to get this line of skincare products.

photo courtesy of Awake/Kose

Fond Farewell Products

There are very few beauty products that I swear by and could not live without. Urban Decay Primer Potion, Vincent Longo Water Canvas Blush, Caudalie Vinoperfect Serum, Lippmann Collection Just Walk Away Renee Nail Polish, Benefit BadGal Lash, Stella McCartney’s Stella fragrance are just a few of the products that I really love.

So I get really disappointed when I manage to find a product great enough to love and then it ends up getting discontinued. Here are my five most missed beauty products…

Chanel Ciel de Nuit Nail Polish - My first piece of expensive makeup ever. This is what got me hooked on makeup back in the seventh grade. I loved everything about it; the color, the bottle, the interlocking Cs on the cap, the fact that no one else in junior high had it, and even the cute little Chanel shopping bag that it came in. I have searched high and low for a polish that even comes close to this color and have continued to draw a blank for over ten years. Chanel introduced Blue Satin and Azur last spring and I tried to recreate the original color with it but still came up empty.

Fresh Memoirs of Geisha Sake Bath - One of the most amazing bubble bathes ever released. A florally, peachy scent that produced thick, luxurious bubbles. It never dried my skin out and was just the best bath experience ever. Fresh has their original Sake Bath but I prefer the scent of this one more.

Vincent Longo Gel-X Lipstick in Lust - The perfect deep red for me. I have never found a color quite like this one and am beginning to doubt that I ever will. It was a cream lipstick that resembled the formulas that were popular in the 1950s. This lipstick lasted forever and always garnered me compliments with every use. This lipstick contained shea butter and tons of emollients to keep lips hydrated and plump looking.

Dessert Beauty Deliciously Kissable Bath Bubbles in Creamy - I don’t have great luck with bubble bathes obviously. This one wasn’t popular on Makeup Alley and this line overall just sucked and had the crappiest quality. But somehow this product was a gem for me. Only a little bit of this gel is needed to create a huge mountain of foamy bubbles that make the whole bathroom smell like cupcakes. Just because I loved it doesn’t mean that it was loved overall and the whole line was gotten rid of.

Awake Optic Force Mascara - One of the most amazing and unique mascaras that I have ever used. It had dual ended brushes, one for a base coat and the other for a top coat. The brush on the base coat was shaped like a W to get the product to the edges of eye and to make the middle of the lash pop. The brush of the top coat was small and easy to get every single lash. The first time that I used this mascara, a friend looked at me and told me that my eyes looked amazing. It really killed me that I found an AMAZING mascara and it got discontinued. I still believe that if more people knew about the amazingness of this mascara, it would have been a top seller for Awake.
Ok, now I’m just getting depressed…

Awake Stardom Mascara

During casual days and anytime that Phenomen’eyes was just too much, I was also using the Awake Stardom Mascara. I actually bought this mascara by accident, I was rummaging through the Awake makeup drawer at my local Bath and Body Works and I was trying so hard to find the black shade in the Optic Force area that I just grabbed this one and never bothered to make sure that I actually got Optic Force. So a couple of months later, I got the tube out and was shocked to discover that I actually picked Stardom up instead.

I had never used this product before, I always used Optic Force and Escalation when I bought mascara from this company. I first noticed that this mascara has one curved brush and a small comb on the other end of the tube. The curved brush applies the mascara base and then the comb separates lashes and applies another coat of mascara. I can’t find a description of this product because it is not listed on the Awake site so I guess that it is gone for good. And the worst part is that Optic Force is not listed either so I am now nursing a broken heart over that mascara.

And the verdict? I was so unhappy the first time that I tried this mascara. It is not meant to give the user huge, fake looking lashes and I knew that but I still was not happy with the results. The firs thing I noticed was that it highlighted the fact that a huge chunk of my lashes were broken or missing on one of my eyes (a casualty from the super scrubbing needed to get Smashbox Bionic Mascara off). What a great look for me! However, over time, I did get used to this stuff and the more defined look that it gives me. I realized that I have to use four coats of it to even begin to give myself that look that I normally desire with a mascara but I can get a kind of thick lash look from it (sort of). Not my favorite and not a repurchase but it did force me to think out of the super sized lashes box.

Vitamin C and Awake Vital Express

As any beauty addict knows, Vitamin C is one of the most popular skin care ingredients but it can also be one of the worst offenders for the skin when it is used incorrectly. Please refer to my last entry for a detailed discussion of the pros and cons of this ingredient. I decided that after my research into this ingredient, I had to find the best product containing this ingredient on the market. Ok, best might be a stretch, but I tried to find the product that hits upon every single point that I made in my argument for the correct us of this ingredient.

The Japanese based skin care line Awake is one of the only lines that I know of that carries a facial care product with a high concentration of stabilized Vitamin C. This product is called Vital Express and can be used for a variety of uses. This product is a patented powder-to-emulsion skin treatment that contains comfrey and dog rose extracts to invigorate stressed skin and improve elasticity and firmness while creating a more youthful appearance. This product also prevents the signs of aging, while creating a more youthful appearance. This product prevents the premature signs of aging, helps in the skin’s natural ability to maintain and produce collagen, as well as improve skin clarity and radiance.

The container of this product is very important. It actually comes in four small vials. The most important part of the usage of this product is that the tip of the container cannot be touched or the whole product is considered contaminated and must thrown away. After the tip is touched, the oxidation process begins and the product would then be more harmful to the skin than helpful. So if one of the vials becomes ruined, the entire product is not ruined because there are three more vials. The vials are also dark colored so the product inside is not exposed to the direct light.

Another important feature of this product is that it is white and contains no added colors. This allows the user to see if the Vitamin C has begun to oxidize and to decide when to throw the product away.
This is what a high quality Vitamin C product looks like. And to find this product? Try Bergdorf Goodman, beauty.com or Neiman Marcus, not your local Wal-Mart. That is not me being snobby, that’s me being smart with my what I decide to put on my face.

photo courtesy of Beauty.com

Benefit Bad Gal Lash

First let me say that I am a mascara fiend, I am rarely without mascara and I have two or more in my makeup case at any given time. So I have tried quite a few and I still keep coming back to Benefit's Bad Gal Lash.

I first used this product in Fall of 2005 and used it faithfully until the Winter of 2007 when I decided to cheat and caved into the hype of Diorshow. I liked Diorshow but it was still missing "something". It wasn't living up to the hype for me which left me very disappointed. At this point, I should have gone back to Bad Gal Lash. But I didn't, I decided to continue the search for the perfect mascara.

At this time, I was also using Pout Big Lash. I was lured in by the beautiful tube and the promise of 300% your lashes' natural size. Let me just say, don't waste your time of money of this one.

I next bought Awake's Optic Force mascara. Awake is very high end makeup and skincare line from Japan and is only available in a couple of places in the United States. This mascara is very unique in that it has two ends (one base coat, the other top coat). The base coat end has a W shaped brush because it is supposed to enhance the middle of the lash for extra volume. Optic Force came very close to my love of Bad Gal Lash except that it is hell to remove. Even my Biotherm eye makeup remover had problems getting it off.

Next, I decided to try Urban Decay's Big Fatty Lash Plumper. I love everything from Urban Decay so I really thought that this could be my Holy Grail mascara. Well, big and fat is exactly what it didn't do to my lashes. After one coat, it left a natural look; after two, decent sized lashes. However, this is not what is is supposed to do. Then to top it off, the tube broke.

I ran to sephora one day after work and I got two tubes of mascara. The first is Cargo Texas Lash (supposed to make your lashes Texas sized) and yes, my beloved Bad Gal Lash.

I haven't used the Texas Lash yet but I have returned my original love of Bad Gal Lash. Its like getting back together with "the one that got away".