When I saw that Covergirl had teamed up with Crest toothpaste, my first instinct was to roll my eyes. Considering that lipgloss shouldn’t end up on your TEETH, Covergirl Amazemint Lipgloss seemed like just a stupid gimmick. Do we really need “smile-brightening” lipgloss with the power of Crest Peppermint Oil? Sounded like hogwash to me. Sure, they weren’t charging any more for Amazemint than they do for their other lipglosses, but is Crest really the way to go?
It wasn’t until I watched this review of the product from colormemakeup that I realized that it might not be all that silly:
The thought of a lipgloss could make your breath smell good is kind of silly, but the idea of flavored or smelly lipgloss has been around for a LONG time. Having a minty lipgloss to choose from after all the fruity flavors over the years sounds kind of… refreshing, actually.
The first new makeup product I’ve tried in the last few years is the L’oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara. I usually use a wax-based mascara from Cover Girl called Lash Exact. The L’oreal Double Extend Mascara, however, uses what they call “beauty tubes” to extend your lashes. There is a white base coat that is supposed to be “nourishing,” and then a second coat of color. Since I don’t usually put two coats of mascara on, this two step process is a pain in the butt. I decided to compare it to my usual mascara.
In each of these photos, the eyelashes were curled with an eyelash curler beforehand. No eyeliner was worn and the mascara was applied to the top lashes only. I applied two coats of the Covergirl Lash Exact to compare with the two step process required by the L’oreal Double Extend.
Considering how difficult it is for me to get mascara right and how similar my lashes look when they aren’t wearing any mascara at all, I decided to stop wearing mascara altogether. There have been too many times when I’ve totally screwed up with my mascara and needed to clean my entire eye off with makeup remover and start again.
One good aspect of this mascara is that it can be removed with soap and water. Unfortunately, it leaves the “beauty tubes” all over your washcloth. I found this aspect of it kind of gross and would rather just use a tissue paper and baby oil to remove the inexpensive wax-based mascara.
Here is a video review of this mascara from pursebuzz. She didn’t much care for it either:
Considering how good my lashes look before the mascara ever touched them, the true hero of my eyelashes is the eyelash curler. Here is a link to a simple Eyelash Curler from Sephora.
In the end, I’ll probably stop using mascara at all. When I can get ninety percent of the curl in my eyelashes from an eyelash curler with no mess, flaking or irritating makeup removal cremes, it really seems like the most logical option.
That is, until the next cool mascara gimmick comes along.
There have been a ton of mascaras on the market lately with vibrating wands. The last thing I want next to my eye is a vibrating brush. Really, how hard is it to wiggle a brush on your own to make sure each lash gets some mascara? It seems like they are trying to solve a problem that I don’t have. In fact, the only problem that this product solves is the question: How can we get women to pay thirty bucks for a tube of ten dollar mascara?
This review from lollipop26 for the Lancome Oscillation says everything that I worried about a vibrating mascara and MORE.
It’s not like gimmicks like this are new. In the Eighties, Revlon (among other brands) came up with curved brushes for mascara. You can see an advertisement for Revlon’s Flex Appeal Mascara here:
In the end, some makeup gadgets don’t solve any problems and merely cost more.
Sephora has posted a great video showing you how to apply your own false eyelashes:
Last Halloween, I used false eyelashes as part of my Star Trek costume.
It took me a solid thirty minutes just to apply them. If I had to do it every day, then I’m sure that I would get used to it and be able to do it in a couple of minutes just like in that video. If you’re trying it for the first time, however, make sure you give yourself at least a half hour to get the job done. Additionally. buy yourself a couple of sets just in case you massively screw up the first ones.
I can’t imagine using false eyelashes every day, but for a once in a while fun look, they are one of the best makeup gadgets around.
Now that Amazon has release its second reader, Kindle 2, it has finally reached the point where I’m tempted to buy one.
Why? One reason: FREE 3G wireless. According to Amazon’s site:
Whispernet utilizes Amazon’s optimized technology plus Sprint’s national high-speed (3G) data network to enable you to wirelessly search, discover, and download content on the go. Your books and periodicals are delivered via Whispernet in less than 60 seconds. And unlike WiFi, you never have to hunt for a hotspot.
No monthly wireless bills, data plans, or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle’s wireless connectivity so you won’t see a wireless bill. There is no wireless setup–you are ready to shop, purchase and read right out of the box.
Here is a quick video about the Amazon Kindle 2:
I don’t have a need for an e-book reader, but if I read best seller books or newspapers often, this is the reader that would finally get me off the fence and buy one.
“It’s true that many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth including a pristine forest in Mozambique that is home to previously unknown species and the remains of an Ancient Roman villa,” a Google statement said.
“In this case, however, what users are seeing is an artifact of the data collection process. Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor,” she added. “The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.”
The really cool thing is that now Google Earth includes data from the ocean floor. It’s not perfect, but it gives us the idea of how much of the ocean there is still left to explore. If you have never played with Google Earth, here is a tutorial about it here:
Check out this awesome hack of a Wii Balance Board by Matthieu Deru and Simon Bergweiler from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence.
They are using their Wii Balance Board to send input to Google Earth, so it appears that they are flying over the planet using the board. It’s like a virtual hoverboard. This has Scott Westerfeld rather excited because his Uglies book series features hoverboards quite prominently.
Anyone out there willing to create a video game for his books that use the Wii Balance Board?
There are many times when I’m trying to take video of the cats playing, but they are in the dark bedroom in the evening, so all I get is a reddish tinted video that shows little if any of the action. ProdMod has made a super bright LED camera light that attaches to your tripod mount and gives you more than enough light to catch the action.
You can attach it to any camera or camcorder or even a tripod for more professional looking steady recording.
It projects a roughly 100 degree wide beam of light so you wont see a spotlight effect or dark circles around your subjects and hot spots are limited. With a few nuts and bolts you can mount this to your tripod for macro photography too.
Here is a video that was filmed in a dark room:
They don’t sell the camera light fully assembled. It’s a kit that you put together. Here is a video telling you how to put the kit together:
If you like to take a lot of video in the house or other poorly lit areas, then this camera LED light from ProdMod might be just the thing for you!
The very excellent Ms. Jen got a hold of a Nokia N85 and compared it to her N82. She took TONS of photos with both cameras in several situations and posted her findings here:
You might think that the N85 MUST be better than the N82 just because it’s newer, but that wasn’t always the case.
The N82 has a better flash and a better focal range than the N85, but the N85 takes the photos as you click, it does not focus and then capture. At times this is much more satisfactory as one is not frustrated as the camera focuses, but as you can see from the photos above the N82 takes much clearer and sharper photos than the N85. I conclude that it is worth it to wait for the N82 to focus rather than have the immediate satisfaction that the N85 is fast.
Dark situations are the bane of the camera phone, so she tested in that situation. The N85 won that round.
As for night and difficult lighting situations, I purposely took the camera phones to the badly lit red interior of Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, California, which is the bane of rock photographers LA wide for the lack of spotlights and the red walls which eat light right on up before your camera can sense it. The N85 won in this situation when I turned off its flash and just had it shoot. It was fast, captured warm colors and made the most of the dim lighting, but the N85 failed miserably when I turned the flash on as it was dark and dim. The N82 was blurry and a bit darkish with no flash inside of Alex’s, but with the lovely Zenon flash really lit the band right on up.
Next time you curse your cameraphone for not taking great pictures, remember that Nokia is making cameras… err… PHONES especially for you!
Since there were so few crowds at CES, it was shocking to see one. The biggest crowds EVERY day at the Sands Expo Center were surrounding the Mattel booth.
It was all because of a game called Mind Flex.
You wear a band around your head and you try to guide a small ball through an obstacle course using the power of your mind.
We never saw anyone master the technique of moving the ball through the course, but EVERYONE was interested in seeing people try.
Here is a video from The Guardian showing how the game works:
Here’s another video from CBS that shows it in MUCH more detail:
At a convention that was as empty and quiet as CES was this year, it was surprising to see so many people interested in one thing. Mike and I were never able to get close enough to it to try to play because it was so popular. Mike supposed that it was a form of biofeedback used as a controller for the game, but we weren’t able to test that theory.
Kudos to Mattel for being able to draw a crowd of people during a CES that was void of crowds!
When I saw that Covergirl had teamed up with Crest toothpaste, my first instinct was to roll my eyes. Considering that lipgloss shouldn’t end up on your TEETH, Covergirl Amazemint Lipgloss seemed like just a stupid gimmick. Do we really need “smile-brightening” lipgloss with the power of Crest Peppermint Oil? Sounded like hogwash to me. Sure, they weren’t charging any more for Amazemint than they do for their other lipglosses, but is Crest really the way to go?
