Sugar Bloom Beauty Boutique: Pamper Yourself

It's not a secret that I'm obsessed with makeup, skin care and all things organic. I had the pleasure of trying out a spa that recently opened in La Mirada called, Sugar Bloom Beauty Boutique. Sugar Bloom Beauty is owned and operated by makeup artist and esthetician,  Kristy Bradvica. Full disclosure, I've known Kristy for a very long time. She was the makeup artist for my engagement photos and wedding, over ten years ago.

Sugar Bloom Beauty Boutique is located at the Phoenix Salon Suites in La Mirada, California. The cool thing about Phoenix Salon Suites is that it's like a one-stop-shop for beauty lovers. Each proprietor rents their own suite, not chair. The experience is more personal and relaxed. Each suite is decorated to the owner's tastes.

The space was very cozy and comfortable. The products that Kristy has chosen for her facials are organic. She pays particular attention to the ingredients she uses on her clients.  She said she did a lot of research before choosing the skin care line, Skin Script. She likes how she can customize facials to her clients' needs and knows that the ingredients she is using, are healthy for us too, both inside and out.

I had the May special, the anti-aging Blackberry Facial. Kristy stated that, "Anti-aging care should begin in your twenties."  The smell of these products was amazing. You think, 'it's blackberry and it smells amazing, maybe I could eat it', but I was told, unfortunately, it wasn't edible.  The facial was divine. The Blackberry Mask, Kristy said, might tingle on the skin. I didn't notice much of a tingling sensation, for me it was more of a cooling sensation. No one likes pore extraction, but it's the price we pay for beauty. You can ask to skip that part if you're too sensitive, but what's the point of a facial if you don't clean your pores. After the pore extraction, Kristy used the cooling globes all over my skin. These glass orbs cool and refresh the face.

Kristy doesn't just specialize in facials and makeup, she's also licensed in spray tanning and sugaring. This was the first time I tried sugaring. Sugaring has been around since the time of Cleopatra. It's organic, water soluble and works with the temperature of your body. To find out the benefits of sugaring over waxing take a look on her Facebook page Sugar Bloom Beauty Boutique. To say that sugaring is like tiny kittens licking the skin, would be a lie. You do feel it, slightly, but you also feel waxing, hello you're pulling out the hair from your body. Sugaring had a resurgence in the 90's, remember when Monica, Phoebe, Joey and Chandler were stuck in Monica's room on Friends? That was sugaring. There are numerous benefits for the skin in sugaring. 1. The ingredients are natural  2.There's no damaging the skin, like in waxing and 3. Sugaring smooths and exfoliates the skin.  

Kristy also sells many of the amazing products that she uses. Facials begin at $65 with the option for add-ons, (like the refreshing cooling globes). Make sure to check for specials, like May's Blackberry Facial for $60.  Right now Kristy does accept walk-ins, but it's always best to make an appointment. 

Products used in my Blackberry Facial:

• Green Tea Cleanser
• Glycolic Cleanser
• Ageless Hydrating Serum
• Vitamin C Serum 
• Acai Berry Moisturizer 
• Blackberry Enzyme Mask
• Vanilla Bean Hydrating Mask
• SPF 30

I think that it's so important to support local businesses and to support companies using organic products. 

Too Faced Peaches Part II: Peaches and Cream Collection

I already gave a review of the Too Faced Sweet Peach line a few weeks back. I bought The Sweet Peach palette and a few of the lip oils when the line relaunched at the end of 2016. I love that palette, with the exception of a few colors.

Recently, I purchased some more products from the new Peaches and Cream collection, an extension to the Sweet Peach line. This time I bought the palette, a lipstick in I Think in Pink, a shocking pink, the primer, a setting spray, two blushes in the colors So Peachy and Peach Dream, and the only highlighter from the collection, Happy Face.

Let's start with what I loved............. the eye shadow palette. OMG! This is probably my new favorite from Too Faced. I think I like it better than the original Sweet Peach. The shades are all beautiful, are very pigmented and blend nicely. I feel like Too Faced got the colors right this time. There were a few shades in the original that I didn't really care for, but these colors are truly gorgeous. 

The scent is different than the Sweet Peach palette. I think that palette smells like the peach gummy rings I used to get at the movie theater, while this one smells like Fuzzy Peach, the old shower gel from The Body Shop. I worked at The Body Shop in the late 90's and that was my FAVORITE shower gel. The fragrance from this line takes me back to a simpler time.  I don't love the fragrance, I prefer the scent of the Sweet Peach palette. 

I love the packaging. It's very sleek.  Too Faced always has the cutest packaging, and while that's not a reason to buy a product, it helps to pique my interest in it. In this case the quality of shadows and packaging are both winners!!

Now to what I liked........ the blushes and highlighter. This wasn't a love for me. I didn't buy the blushes or highlighters in the last peaches launch, I'm not sure why I decided to buy them in this one. They're just "meh". I'm very fair, almost pasty, and Peach Dream barely gives me a wash of color. These blushes are infused with peach and sweet fig cream. Interesting, I ate some sweet fig creamy preserves this morning for breakfast?!?!?!?! Anyway I digress. To get any color payoff, I can only apply these with my fingers. They are a cream to powder formula. These blushes aren't horrible. I like them and I'll use them, I just don't love them and I probably won't buy them again.

The highlighter wasn't a favorite for me either. I have so many highlighters that I love more. It's the cream to powder formula just like the blushes. I'm not a fan of this type of formula.  Again, I don't hate it, I'll use it up, but won't buy it again.

My only regret.....the lipstick, I Think in Pink. It's horrible. I know that it's a matte formula, but this is just a patchy mess. I have other matte lipsticks that aren't as patchy. I'm not a huge fan of Too Faced lipstick overall. I love their liquid matte and melted formulas, but the actual stick is the worst. I have another lipstick from them, from the La Creme line and I just don't reach for it. 

For my peach lipstick in shocking pink, I've tried everything. I scrub and moisturize my lips, but nothing works. I will never buy another lipstick from Too Faced again. The color skips, the application is patchy and this isn't even incredibly matte either. It's a creamy matte formula. It also has the shower gel peach scent, something I don't care for on my mouth.

The color is off. On my lips, the color looks lighter than when swatched. It starts to fade very quickly and doesn't have much pigmentation when applied. One of my coworkers even mentioned how that color looks a bit off on me and I always wear colors like this. 

Overall I think this is an OK collection. I wish that Too Faced could improve the formula of their lipsticks. The only thing that I would repurchase would be the palette. 

The Just Peachy Matte Palette gets a 4 out of 5 Pink Gerber Daisies 
The blushes get a 2.5 out of 5 Pink Gerber Daisies
The highlighter, Happy Face gets a 3 out of 5 Pink Gerber Daisies
The lipstick gets a 1 out of 5 Pink Gerber Daisies

All Eyes on Me: My Ipsy January 2016 "Unbagging"

Adorable packaging 

Ipsy All Eyes on You!

I've been interested in signing on to a beauty sample subscription service for quite some time.  After doing a lot of research, I decided on Ipsy. If you decide to subscribe, there are a few options. 1.  pay monthly and 2. pay the entire year.  I paid the entire year upfront and and got some money off, which is always very nice. You can cancel at any time, but how or why would you do that if you paid the entire year?  What I love about this is that, it's like having a birthday every month.

 Each bag has 5 samples, some are sample sized and some are full sized products. Each month revolves around a theme.  The products you get are related to that month's theme.  This month the theme was All Eyes on You. I have to say that the packaging that these bags come in is absolutely adorable. It's shiny, hot pink, and very very girly.  Pink is my signature color. My mom decided to keep the shipping bag, because she loved the color too.  The makeup bag itself was vibrant and oh so colorful. Retro girls wearing black rimmed sunglasses, decorate the front of the bag. The back is a solid blue.  I'm obsessed with travel makeup bags.  I have them to hold all of my BareMinerals eye shadows. Since the theme of the month was All Eyes on You, 4 of the 5 samples were related to makeup for the eyes.

Smudger from Skone

The first product I got was a smudger Luxe pro brush, from Skone Cosmetics.  I've never heard of this brand before.  This is obviously a full sized brush.  It retails for $15.00.  The website, which I will link below, says that you can smudge your eyeliner or blend your eye shadow. I thought the brush was OK.  It felt too rough to smudge my liner, the L'Oreal Infallible Lacquer Liner in Blackest Black. It seemed too small to be an eye shadow blender. What I thought was cool was that this one item, already cost more than my actual subscription.

It's a little light and stiff

Jac swatched

The next thing was a gold eyeliner from another brand I've never hear of, The Balm Cosmetics.  I looked up reviews and heard some people rave about their products, except for the liner (insert sad panda face here). This was the product I was most excited to try. The liner I got in my bag is from their line, Mr. Write (Now) in Jac. I looked up this company and found that they are talc-paraben-cruelty-free. This makes me very interested.  I will definitely look into more of their products.  The liner itself, and I got a full sample, retails for $17.  I like that the liner is gold.  I'm obsessed with gold right now. I've used it a few times and I think it's a little light and a bit stiff.  

UPDATE: I have heard about this company The Balm Cosmetics. I've seen a review of the Nude Dude Eyeshadow Palette, it's adorable, so make sure to take a look.  

 Peek Cosmetics: Very cute tin.

This may be too light for my eyebrows? But we shall see!

I also got, from Peek Beauty, eyebrow powder in Expresso Natural Stain ( I know espresso is spelled incorrectly but, it's how they spell it). I have to be honest and say I haven't used this brow powder yet. I did receive a sample sized amount, but a full sized stain retails for $22.  The packaging is adorable. I love the tin it comes in. I did swatch this and it didn't look to be too pigmented. OMG the woman who started this company was once the creative director for NYX Cosmetics, a brand I do know and like. These products are also cruelty-free. 

A lot of fallout!

Tangerine Light

The fourth item in my bag was an eyeshadow from J. Cat Beauty. This is another company I've never heard of.  The eyeshadow is from their Blinkle Shimmer line and retails for $4.99. The site doesn't say anything about being cruelty-free and states to look at the ingredients list on the packaging to see if the ingredients are appropriate for our (the consumer) daily use. OK, the red flags are up here. The color I got in my bag is called Tangerine Light.  It's a very highly pigmented and opaque, orange shimmer.  Orange is just not my color, so I probably won't use this very often. I did try this out in my crease and it didn't stay on, even with my MAC primer.  I'm curious to try it with a dampened brush. Maybe then it will stay on longer and it'll be even more pigmented

UPDATE as I'm still writing this blog, I did find a section that states this brand in cruelty-sulfate-GMO-phthalate-triclosan-free, however some items use parabens and propylene glycol. If you're interested in these products, the link is below. This company did begin in L.A., which is nice. 

Great for the summer!

The last product I got had nothing to do with eyes.  It's a body cream from a company called Mitchell and Peach. This was definitely a sample sized portion. They're located in the UK.  The full price of this cream retails for 36 British pounds, which is roughly $51.50. They do ship to the US.

This body cream is so fresh smelling, I absolutely love it.  It isn't the most moisturizing for the winter, though.  I gave some to Tim, my hubby, and he needed something else. I would probably use this product in the spring and summer.  I just smells like summer. In the winter I want warm, comforting, rich fragrances, and this one in particular reminds me of a meadow.

What I love about this brand is that it is pretty much all natural.  Many of the ingredients are cultivated right on the family's farm in Kent.  They have been farming the same land for five generations. These are the stories I love to hear. These are the products I'm willing to spend a little more $ on.  

I love getting these products in the mail.  I know, I'm not going to like everything I get, but it's fun to try new things. Overall I'm pleased with the choice I made to try this type of service out, maybe next year I'll try Birchbox.  

Skone Cosmetics: https://skonecosmetics.com/

The Balm Cosmetics:  http://www.thebalm.com/

Peek Beauty: http://peekbeauty.co/

J. Cat Beauty: http://jcatbeauty.com/

Mitchell and Peach:  http://www.mitchellandpeach.com/

Remember, "Beauty isn't about having a pretty face. It's about having a pretty mind, a pretty heart, and a pretty soul." I don't know who said this, but I like it!

It's way to early to hand out Gerber Daisies, maybe next time. Thanks for reading!  XOXO 

Wet N' Wild

Wet n' Wild Smokin' Hot Pink & Spotlight Red

For the last couple of months I've been on the hunt for the perfect lipstick.  I'm not sure what it is that I'm looking for. Is it the color, texture, staying power or price? It's actually a combo of all those things.  In a previous post I reviewed the NARS Audacious lipsticks. Those are by far my all time favorite lipsticks, but at $32 a pop and on my salary, I try to limit the NARS lipsticks I purchase.   

Right now I'm obsessed with watching beauty YouTube videos.  There are three beauty experts that I watch religiously. I'm not sure of the protocol with regards to posting their information on my blog, so I'll refrain.  One of the Vloggers reviewed the Wet n' Wild MegaLast Lip Color and that peaked my curiosity.  I haven't used a Wet n' Wild product since I was in high school.  I loved the deep vampy blue that was all the rage in the mid 90's.  For .99 cents you couldn't beat the price.

A few months ago I bought four of the MegaLast Lip Colors.  Two of the colors are posted above. I also bought Cherry Picking and Don't Blink Pink.  The lipsticks were on sale at CVS, buy one get the other 50% off.  At 1.69 regular price and the second 50% off,  I couldn't pass up the bargain, so I bought four.

According to the Wet n' Wild site the MegaLast Lip Color lasts 4 hours and feel rich and velvety on the lips. They are not supposed to bleed or feather and are a semi matte cream.  I loved the fact that they are a matte lipstick.  I know that matte lipstick are extremely popular right now.  

I was pleasantly surprised by these lipsticks.  They did feel velvety like the site said they would, and they didn't feel over drying like the MAC retro matte formula. When I would reapply my MAC Retro Matte lipstick, the color would just peal right off, I didn't notice that with these. I felt that they didn't tug my lips or accentuate any dry patches I may have had on my lips. They didn't quite last 4 hours, but they did last longer than some other lipsticks I own.  I noticed the color would start to fade in the center of my lips. Even though they don't bleed, I like to use a lip liner.  I use the MAC Candy Yum-Yum with Don't Blink Pink and an e.l.f  lip liner with Cherry Picking.  

I absolutely HATE the packaging.  The plastic lid is annoying.  It can easily crack and looks messy after a couple of uses.  Of the four colors I purchased, I only kept two, Cherry Picking and Don't Blink Pink. The two in the photo above, I gave to my mom. They looked more coral than pink against my skin tone.  I  don't like that I can't color swatch the lipsticks before purchasing them,  but at $1.69 a piece, I'm not going to complain,

A couple of months ago I went to Las Vegas with my husband and decided to only take my drugstore lipsticks, nothing "high end".  These colors worked out amazingly well.  It just goes to show you don't have to spend a million bucks to look a million bucks.

Wet n' Wild MegaLast Lipstick gets 4 out of 5 Pink Gerber Daisies 

"The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides"
Audrey Hepburn

Marinello School of What?

It's 1:00 a.m., I'm still up, watching reruns of Beverly Hills, 90210.  I really shouldn't have had that second Starbucks Venti Cap.  

All of this information is irrelevant for my post.  Companies have been challenging the validity of the website Yelp, a site I've used a lot and have written about before.  I love the site, as a matter of fact, I'm trying to become an elite member.  

I recently wrote a negative review about Marinello School of Beauty in Anaheim, and one of the bigwigs contacted me regarding my negative review.  For the record, I went there to get my nails done ONLY!  

Tim getting a facial at "Jonelle's School of Beauty"

If a journalist gives a negative review about a company, movie, book or restaurant, do the companies respond to the journalist?  Are their reviews more important than mine?  In this day & age, I don't think so. 

Back in the day

I'm going to copy and paste my original Yelp review and responses from the school director.

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE DO NOT EVER COME HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVER

This can't even get a star.  Worst place ever.  I was even told by the student who did my work.  

Let's begin:

My cousin and I walked by.  A Marinello girl was outside on her phone while I mentioned, "We should go get a manicure."  My cousin agreed.  I asked the girl outside if they do gel nails.  I had already painted my nails at home and they looked pretty good but I like the gel nails and for only $14, why not?

For me, they called about 3 girls to ask if they can do gel before someone said they could.  I've had gel nails done before, and I've NEVER seen them do it this way before.  I don't know how long I sat under the light and the gel NEVER set.  Let's just say, by the time I left, my nails were already peeling.

Now my cousin's experience.  She wanted gel nails too.  The girl had no experience with gel AT ALL.  After 2 applications, the gel wouldn't set.  My cousin wanted to leave.  They spent at least the good part of 45 minutes trying to remove the gel they tried to apply. My cousin didn't want to pay for a "non service".  They still wanted to charge her.  Her nails were NEVER finished and they were bare.  There was absolutely NO supervision by a teacher.  The girl even told my cousin she had never done a gel set.  My husband and cousin's kids were waiting outside for us.  After 4 hours, my cousin called the police, who came and said she didn't have to pay for a service that was not done correctly.  

The staff was extremely unprofessional, trying to charge for a service they were unable to provide.  I've never been so disgusted by a place in all my life.

STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!  You get what you pay for.  The customer service was so beyond poor.  There has to be a number to call to recommend shutting down this school.Tabatha Coffey, please take over!!

Their response:

Marinello of Anaheim provides services to the public and all services are rendered by students and supervised by licensed Cosmetologists. Students are supervised throughout their time on campus and all services are crosschecked by the instructor prior to guest checkout. Guest are charged based on services received, nothing more. Our team does the best we can to provide the good customer service to each guest. We have many loyal and returning guest who are happy with the services provided. - Priscilla Villatoro, Anaheim School Director

My response:

Thank you for your comment, but I will have you know, that not once during our services did an instructor come to speak with us and nothing was crosschecked, as no one once spoke with me.  There was absolutely no supervision. Your customer service was nonexistent and the lady at the front didn't even know the company policy.  When your students are even complaining about your school, there is a serious issue.  I've worked in both education and public relations and I'm sure you know that the best PR is through word of mouth. Enjoy the customers that you do retain, as this was my very first and last visit. One last thing, when 6 out of 7 reviews are a 1 star, you many need to re-evaluate something within your company.

Their response: 

I appreciate your concern; however the six poor reviews do not equate to the thousands of satisfied clients which do not post to Yelp and many students, which we helped start new careers.

My response:  

Again, thank you so much for your response.  Instead of trying to justify your bad quality of service, why don't you just accept the faults and fix them.  It seems as though one of the reviewers is a former student and the students who I spoke to, said that had they known what they were getting into, they would have decided to find another beauty school.   My lord, acknowledge the issue, accept the criticism, fix it and move on.


For some reason when I copy and paste, the background comes out white.  

Marinello School of Beauty gets 0 out of 5 Gerber Daisies  

I have no quote for today.  It's 1:25 a.m. and I'm now tired.