**Update** Clarisonic Plus Malfunction

Ok so I ended up taking my Clarisonic Plus back to Sephora with my receipt despite the fact that it'd been way past the 60-day limit. They were so great and let me do an exchange and said they'd send the wonky Clarisonic PLUS back to the manufacturers themselves.

I waited to post an update just to be SURE everything was ok. So 1+ month into testing my new machine and all is well! It's gone strong on the 2 minute setting has been able to hold the charges with no issues :)

Swarovski USB Robots $180

Look at this bling I've been gazing at all day! They're USB Charms from Swarovski and Philips. I want one so bad but I just can't justify forking over 180 bucks for only 2GB worth of space. They're so darn cute and their little LED ears light up when data is being transferred.

Naughty Raymond


Happy Laura


Dreamy Tina (My fave!)

Clarisonic Plus Skincare System $225 Review

The Clarisonic is a facial cleansing system that uses sonic technology to loosen dirt and oil for clearer pores. It's from the same makers of the SoniCare toothbrush.

I got this a little over a month ago during an online Sephora promotion. Before the promotion came along I had recently visited Sephora and the SA showed me both the Clarisonic original and Plus mode. She had the original model herself and insisted that I get the Plus model. I wasn't sure I really wanted to fork over the add'l $30 but I caved.

The regular models can be bought a a number of stores: Sephora, Nordstrom, Saks and Ulta. It even has a pink model! The PLUS model is only being sold at Sephora for now and only comes in white - Boooo! Of course you can also get both models at their website and get free engraving.


The Plus model has a body brush attachment and a second button to vary the intensity of the sonic vibrations (low, medium and high).

To use, you divide your face into 4 zones: Forehead, Nose & Chin, Left Cheek and Right Cheek and move the Clarisonic over your face in this order.

There's 3 different timer settings you can choose from and the Clarisonic will turn off automatically after the time is up. The default timer is 1 minute and it beeps at 20-20-10-10 second intervals to let you know to when to move on to the next zone. There's also a 2 minute timer for 40-40-20-20 second intervals and a 2 minute timer that just goes contiually with no beeps. There is also a timer for the Spot Therapy brush that's a continuous 3 minutes, but I don't get how to set it. I think when it senses that you have the Spot Therapy brush on, it will default to this setting.


A shot of the box with the top flap opened. It lists all the Benefits of Clarisonic which is also on their website.

This is my cat Nemo and he is THE nicest cat in the whole world! Seriously. He comes when he's called and he talks back when he's talked to :) O and he is super nosy. As soon as I set this down he zoomed in to give it the once over. He's just finished his official inspection in this pic.


Here's what came in this kit. The Clarisonic Plus appliance itself which is cordless. The charger which is supposed to have a universal plug, but I would never travel with this. It's pretty hefty and takes up a good amount of space. I would carry my Dove SkinVitalizer (Clarisonic wannabe) for travel.

The brushes it came with were 1 sensitive brush head and 1 spot therapy brush for the body. It is recommended that you replace the brush head every 3-4 months following daily use. You'll be able to tell if you need a new brush because the bristles start to splay out like the bristles on a toothbrush. They sell replacement Delicate (light blue), Sensitive (white) and Normal (grey) brush heads for the face. There is only 1 Spot Therapy brush head and I've not seen the replacement for those yet. It also included sample sizes of 3 facial cleansers and 1 skin polish.


Some shots of the manuals and registration card that it came along with.

The Verdict: A+
I was so worried that my skin would go through a purging period, but that did not happen at all! I only use this once a day because it gives me a super scrubdown but it's still very gentle. I've notice my pores getting clearer day by day. Also if I do develop acne it's not deep rooted like before. The acne clears away in about 3-5 days and it used to take it a good 7-10 days. I'm hopeful my cystic acne will be gone with continued use.

I love that the creators made a brush cover to protect the bristles. It's such a small detail but it's such an important one! It protects the bristles when it's stored so that they don't fray as quickly.
Cap on brush.


Cap alone.


This is the appliance itself without the brush attached. The brush is kind of screwed on and it gives a "snap" when it's in place.


Here's a pic of the Sensitive brush head up-close. You can see on the left how the black bristles are already starting to fray. Also the only bristles that vibrate are the black bristles and the white bristles inside the black ones. The outer ring of bristles do not vibrate. Since they are stationary they actually keep the foam and water from flying all over the place when you're using this. Again - the creators paid attention to details!

I really have NO complaints about this wonderful tool (well maybe if I could have chosen a different color, I just think the white will yellow over time). It leaves my face so supple and I can feel the moisturizer I follow-up with soaking in fully.

SK-II Air Touch Foundation $165

Tada! I finally got it! After all the months of wondering it will work, second guessing the product and just plain not knowing if it would be for me - I took the plunge and it was well worth it! I don't know why I didn't just go to the SK-II counter and have the SA apply it on me. As soon as the SA sprayed this on me and I saw myself in the mirror, I needn't need any more convincing cause I was already handing over the cash. Thankgoodness for the Saks F&F or else I'd be nursing my wallet wounds. O also you can now buy SK-II products online through their website!

The SK-II Airtouch Foundation is basically a portable airbrush foundation compact. As with all SK-II products, this foundation contains Pitera (I think it's exclusively patented by SK-II) which hydrates the skin and leaves it smooth and radiant. It was discovered when a scientist noticed the hands of sake brewers were unusually soft and smooth compared to the skin of their face. So after much research and hundreds of experiments with fermented yeast, scientists were able to extract Pitera!!


What's in the Package?

I know the Airtouch used to come with an instructional CD and when I opened the outter red box there was a gap that looked suspiciously CD-shaped. Unfortunately nomore CD anymore. The Airtouch comes with it's own user's manual (very informational and lots of pictures!), a Panasonic CR2 3V Lithuim battery, a refill packet and the Airtouch compact itself.


Shot of where the Lithium battery goes. The SA said the battery should last 1.5 - 2 years with daily use and that the battery can be bought at any electronic store. I've not seen or looked for this type of battery before so I don't know if it's easily found or what the price would be. Online I found it for around $3-5 depending on what site you get it from.


Close-up of the compact's button and the 3 different settings:
On - Used to apply the foundation.
Off - Turns off the appliance (I thought this was weird but then again - it is electronically powered)
Droplet - Used to "decompress" the foundation packet (gets rid of the air in the packet). The instruction manual suggests using this everytime before applying the foundation so that you get an even application, but the SA said to just use this about once a week. You hold the unit with the nozzle pointing down and hold down the silver button until a small droplet of the foundation appears. Once you see the droplet, release the button, wipe the foundation off the nozzle and turn to the "On" setting for application.

Product Assembly


This is the back of the unit where the foundation refill packet slides in. Below are some pics of how all the parts of the compact unit are assembled together.


All taken apart. From top to bottom: The Compact Cover, the Refill Cover, the Refill Packet and the Compact itself.


The Refill Packet inserted into the Compact.


The Refill Cover placed on the Compact. This is how the compact will normally look.


And the Compact Cover to complete the Unit!

The Verdict: A+
I LOVE this foundation!! I was matched with the BP-4 color for Rosy Toned Medium skin. It's totally my HG (and I hate using that reference). The foundation goes on super even and natural. It does not look like I'm wearing any makeup - just makes me look better. My pores are minimized and my skin looks evened out. It's not strong enough to cover acne scars, so I've got to use a concealer underneath. It lasts all day and does not melt off. Even my boyfriend thought I had no makeup on and he commented that my skin looked dewy but not greasy. It's easily layered and you can have anywhere from sheer to medium-full coverage.

Another cool factor about this foundation is that it is only attracted to moisture. It has something to do with positive and negative ions mumbo-jumbo. So basically, it will only adhere to your skin and not your hair or clothing. The SA placed a tissue over her hand, spread out her fingers and sprayed the foundation across her hand. When she lifted the tissue, the foundation was on the tissue in the shape of her hand (remember making turkeys with your hand in kindergarten?).

On the first day I used this, my face got itchy after about an hour after application. It wasn't overbearingly itchy but I was concerned for about 5 min while it lasted. I did not remove the foundation and the itchy feeling went away. The 2nd day I used this, I never felt any itchy-ness so maybe it was a combination of other things causing it.

Also I thought I would find it to be much bulkier, but it's really not that huge. I wouldn't want to have to carry it around with me, but if I had to it's not gona weigh me down. Since it lasts all day, there really isn't a need to take it along.

Spinlash $15

Look what I found! It's the Spinlash by Akasha! I dunno why but I just had an urge to try this out when I saw it at CVS. I think I saw this on some late night TV infomercial a couple of months ago and laughed at it - now I'm the sucker that fell for the gimmick. Hahaha!

My first impression was that this thing is monstrous and not exactly compact or portable (in relation to average sized mascara tubes). Still it intrigued me enough to give it a shot. It comes with the the ginormous wand that has the built-in mini-motor and a stand alone cap that contains Spinlash mascara. You can use this or your own mascara of preference.

**Update** ok I compared this with the Dior Mascaras I have and it's about half an inch longer but the barrel size is about the same. So not as hugemongous as I thought.

The brush spins very slowly, gently and there is only 1 speed. So no worries about poking your eye out on a turbo spin settling. You have an option of a spin direction so you can switch it up if you're spinning lashes on your left or right eye.

The Verdict
Not so sure that it's doing anything that a normal mascara brush wouldn't do. It's just that it's an automatic one. My lashes did not fluff out like the pictures after going through a spin and I didn't notice any additional ease when applying mascara. I did not use the mascara that came with the Spinlash because I didn't want to "dirty" the brush. I only used it to separate my lashes and then applied a separate mascara with a separate brush.

It's a fun novelty but I would not purchase this again. What really pissed me off is that you can't replace the battery to this once it's used up. You're required to throw this away and purchase a new one. It's even printed on the Spinlash to do this! I find it so aggravating! No mascara of mine is gona tell ME what do to!

Conair Facial Steamer $22

When I was a little girl I always remembered my mother and my aunt using a facial steamer in their beauty regimen. After seeing cutie patootie youtuber Lindi use one I got the itch to get one too! Check out her site at http://www.bubzbeauty.com/ or you can find her on youtube too. I love her hair/makeup tutorials plus she's got this awesome Nor-Ireland accent <3>

So I bought this guy off of Amazon along with another gadget a Panasonic Pore Cleanser $30 and got super free shipping - woot woot! At first I was hesitant to purchase this steamer model because I read the reviews on Amazon and there were 2-3 comments about the steamer not being wide enough to fit your face in it. I don't have a particularly GIANT face but I was worried that it would turn out smaller than I expected. So when I took this out of the box, I started laughing hysterically! The opening for your face is quite adequate for any normal human face so I dunno if the reviews were written by human bobble-head people or not.

The Swag

But back to the steamer! It comes a lot of baggage. There are 2 attachments: a large one to steam your whole face and small one to aid nasal decongestion. With the small one you can add a bit of menthol oil to the base where the water is added and you just breathe in the medicinal steam. It even included a little beaker to measure and pour water into the basin. I have not used the beaker thingy once - I just put the basin directly under the faucet and fill.

It also came with a bad Clarisonic knock-off which also has 2 attachments: one is a brush and one is a sponge. I haven't tried the sponge attachment yet but I probably should as the bristles on the brush are too harsh for my skin and I got splotchy and broke out after using it.

How to Operate

The steamer is really easy to use. You just fill it up with with water and hit the "ON" button. Once the water is fully heated and ready for steaming it gives you a beep. You set the timer dial (0-15 minutes) to how many minutes you want to steam and hit the "TIMER" button. Start steamind and once the set time has passed it gives you another beep. The dial itself doesn't move or tick after you set it so there's no annoying motor sound.

The Verdict
I love using this before applying mask to really open my pores. The unit is very lightweight (probably 1 lb at most) and compact so I can carry it anywhere. I mainly bought this for facial steaming but the fact that it came with the nasal steamer was a bonus as I know I would use this on the days when I have a really bad cold. I'm not thrilled with the weird cleanser tool or the little beaker because I'm not getting any real use out of them.