Product Review: BADgal Mascara by Benefit Cosmetics

Alright. So a few months ago I got a Benefit Cosmetics bonus as Sephora. It included BADgal Lash and BADgal Plum. I was super duper excited to use the plum color because I've never really worn colored mascaras and I love other Benefit products like High Beam and Posie Tint.

I used the plum first. I was really excited about it. The color is understated but when I'm in sunlight it's very noticeable to others. It's pretty.

The trouble is...
When I went to sleep that night, I woke up in the morning with completely crusted over. I thought that maybe it was just the Plum. Then I tried the BADgal Lash. Same issue. So I tried a completely different tube just yesterday that I got in another bonus and I had the same issue this morning. I'm really displeased because I'm not sensitive really. It's a HUGE bummer that it would have that effect even after I washed it off.

So try it first because I've noticed a lot of people complaining on the Sephora web site that this mascara caused similar problems. But for people who don't have the sensitivity problem, it could work great.

It's How You Do It: Exfoliation

No matter how many steps a skincare line claims is necessary for great skin, one of those steps will always be exfoliation. Exfoliation is necessary to lift dead skin cells to allow all the other good stuff you're putting on your skin to get in there.

I'm not here to talk about what products are best for exfoliating, I'm here to talk about the best tools for exfoliating. Every line carries scrubs that work pretty well or astringents that help exfoliate, but I have found two tools that will maximize the results and can be used with any product you already have or will ever have.

ARTISTRY Microexfoliation cloth
I was given this cloth by my friend Anita who sells ARTISTRY products as a Thank-you for doing makeup for a party. I was intrigued that a Microdermabrasion set came with a special cloth. I took it home and used the cloth with my Korres scrub and I was amazed at how much better my scrub worked with the cloth. How it works is with it's super fine fibers, it helps the exfoliating beads from sliding between your fingers and not reaching the skin. The fine fibers aid in the process. It's finer than human hair. You can also use the cloth alone. It will never scratch your skin because they are 50x finer than the fibers in a regular wash cloth. I LOVE this cloth so much. If you want to buy one, or any ARTISTRY product, check out Anita Rohlf's Web site.

Exfoliating Rounds
Besides scrubs, another way to exfoliating is by an astringent or clarifying lotion applied with a cotton ball or round. Today while at Walgreens restocking on my cotton supplies, I found a fabulous new product : Exfoliating Cotton Rounds. They have tiny little raised portions meant to exfoliate the face. They work great on the face and awesome on the fingernails to remove polish. You can pick these up at Walgreens.

No matter what products you use to exfoliate, there are great tools that can help you to get the most out of them.