I love it when products that I need in my life happen to fall into my lap. I really needed a new primer that would be kind to my oily skin when Influenster let me know that I'd be receiving Ole Henriksen's new Banana Bright Primer to review.

A couple of weeks ago I received some NeosStrata products to test and review for free courtesy of Influenster. It's probably one of the most expensive items that I've ever received from Influenster (or any review program) to review. In the NeoStrata VoxBox, I received four items to review: a facial lotion, facial cream, facial cleanser, and a glycolic peel.

The products that I received are supposed to help enhance skin clarity by smoothing the texture and reducing wrinkles through exfoliation (which is weird, because they're all very smooth products that don't feel exfoliating at all). I'm only 25 and don't really think about using products to target signs of aging, but I do have some thin lines on my forehead that I'm concerned about so I figured that these products may do me some good.

NeoStrata Resurface Glycolic Smoothing Lotion - $45 CAD

The facial lotion that I received is supposed to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, enhance skin clarity, exfoliate with AHAs, and is ideal for people with normal and oily skin. I have oily skin so this product is suitable for my skin type. The lotion came in a 10ml bottle and was okay, but didn't feel like anything special for me. It wasn't the most moisturizing facial lotion I've used, and I couldn't tell at all that the lotion was exfoliating my skin. I do think that it has helped a little with the redness on my skin, but aside from that I wasn't wowed by it.

NeoStrata Restore Bionic Face Cream - $75 CAD

The Bionic Face Cream honestly didn't wow me (and holy hell, look at that price tag). The cream is ideal for dry and sensitive skin, and is extremely hydrating. I received a 10ml bottle and I find that the product goes on very thick, a little sticky, and doesn't fully get absorbed by the skin. I can put it on an hour before bed and still have my face sticking to my pillowcase. My face feels super greasy afterwords which isn't very impressive for a $75 face cream.

NeoStrata Restore PHA Facial Cleanser - $30 CAD

One of the most affordable products in this line, the facial cleanser was probably one of my favourite products that I received. I received a 10ml bottle to test out, which I feel isn't a whole lot of cleanser for this particular product. I feel this way because the product applies a with a jelly-like consistency, and doesn't have much spreadability when applying it to the face. However, it's a very gentle cleanser. It's soap-free and lightly exfoliates without drying out the skin. It's also ideal for dry and sensitive skin types.

NeoStrata Smooth Surface Glycolic Peel - $80 CAD

The glycolic peel started off by wowing me, but quickly turned into my least favourite product from the line. It's a high strength exfoliating treatment that is meant to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, uneven pigmentation, roughness, and pore size when used as part of a NeoStrata regimen. It's most ideal for normal and oily skin types. For $80, I thought that this product was going to be amazing. Boy was I wrong. When I started using this product, it definitely reduced the redness of my face as well as diminish the size of some of my larger pores. It stung a little with the first use, and only for a few seconds, but I may have just had some open sores (i.e. I popped some black heads). The more I used the product though, the more white heads appeared on my face. At first I figured it was like the skin regimen that my doctor prescribed me when I was in high school; that my face would get worse before it would get better. But my face progressively got worse and worse. I hadn't had such a bad breakout for several years. So sadly, after two weeks of using the peel, I had to give up on it. It's been a few days since I stopped using the peel and my face has almost instantaneously recovered.

I wish that I could say that I loved these products, but I just can't. For a luxury skincare line, I wasn't wowed. I've tried drugstore brands of products that are more gentle on my skin and don't cause me to break out in horrible whiteheads across my face. I expected more from a brand that is so ridiculously expensive and meant to help my face recover. Instead, it made my face look reminiscent of my years in high school — of when I had horrible teenaged acne. A memory I'd strongly like to forget.

This week I received a box of goodies to test and review from Covergirl and Influenster! I couldn't be more excited, as I've always loved Covergirl's mascaras (minus the Plumpify one, but that's another story!). I also wasn't even expecting to get this VoxBox, as it showed up in my mailbox a few days before I got VoxBox confirmation email. The VoxBox contained Covergirl's Total Tease mascara, and Katy Kat Eye eye liner. 

The mascara, like most of their brushes lately, seems gimicky with a different-than-the-norm brush that promises length and defined lashes. The brush is different from other mascaras because the brush has two sides. One side has short bristles which are very similar to the Covergirl Super Sizer Mascara's bristles. These allow the wearer to get close to the eyelash roots to create volume and defined lashes. The other end has a smaller addition, with two rows of slightly longer bristles. This smaller end is to help tease out the length of your lashes. I found the best method to tease them out while still getting definition is to use to larger end, smaller end, then larger end again. However, I don't think that the teasing portion of the brush makes a very noticeable difference. Instead, I found that it works best to define my lower lash line, especially near the corners of my eye. I don't think the teasing end is something necessary or very handy, as I find that the normal brush does a very satisfactory job at giving my lashes volume and definition on its own. In my opinion, the mascara was fun to try and a rather decent one at that, but The Super Sizer mascara is essentially the same brush, sans teasing end.

I was excited to try the Katy Kat Eye eye liner because I knew that I needed to replace my current pencil liner soon. The colour that I received was Kitty Kadabra, which is a grey-black liner with some shimmer in it. I have to say that the liner was unfortunately not very pigmented, but it looks very nice for a neutral look because it's not very bold. However, I was hoping for a bit more of a pigmented colour from this liner.

The liner also has a smudge stick on the other end to help soften the lines that you create. But because the eyeliner isn't very pigmented to begin with it may unlikely that you would ever have a need for it. Overall, I can't say that I was "wowed" by this eyeliner, and it's definitely not something that I would go out of my way to buy. The only wow factor I found with this eyeliner was how I broke down crying when I got a new job, and it was the only part of my makeup that didn't budge. The mascara didn't fare as well. It didn't run down down my face, but it all came off as soon as I had to blot my face with some tissue. 

The products were nice to try, but I unfortunately didn't think they were very special or unique enough for me to repurchase. 



A special thank you to @InfluensterCA and @Covergirl for sending me these products free to test and review (#TotalTeaseMascara #contest).

*I received these products free to test and review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are solely my own.

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