Product Review - Origins VitaZing!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter weekend surrounded by friends, family & of course chocolate!  Today I bring you my review of Origins VitaZing. 


Some of you may be familiar with this product, as there is a certain amount of buzz & hype about it on youtube and various blogs.  I got caught up in the excitement & on a shopping trip one day I went to find out more.  Mr. J was with me & sweetly bought me this as a present. 


Here is what it looks like: 

This is what Origins claims about this product: 

This product contains no parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, mineral oil, PABA, petrolatum, paraffin, DEA, synthetic fragrance, animal ingredients and does not test on animals.  This little 50ml tube costs $44CDN or $35USD.  Yup you read that right, it's definitely pricey.  


This product is a bit like a tinted moisturize except this starts out as white, with little beads of tint in it.  Once you start to blend it out it turns into color, similar to a foundation color.  You can see the beads in the picture below, as well as some of the
color on the right hand side where I rubbed the lotion a bit.

  
This is how it looks as I start to blend it out:

You can see it starting to turn color, the coverage isn't as thick as this appears because you need to continue to blend it in.  Here is the hand with it fully blended:

You can see this gives you a bit of coverage, yet quite a nice natural glow.  This feels very soft on my skin & also has an SPF15, which is a bonus. If my skin is in good shape or if I just want a little something but don't really want to put on makeup, I can use this to even out my skin and give me a bit of coverage & some glow. Or if I want additional coverage I can use this with a bit of concealer and a bit of MAC MSF natural on top and I'm set.  I thought this would also be perfect for the summer if you were going to the beach or pool.  


I also love the way this smells, stand by for another revealing scent description...but it smells a bit like sunscreen (which I happen to love) and a bit nutty with a hint of soapy clean scent.  Doesn't that sound lovely?  No I know it doesn't. It smells really nice okay, just go with it.  

Sounds good so far right?  Well I thought so too.  But then I found out a couple of things that I didn't like. 


First, this can really oxide on my skin.  So what starts off looking like a nice tan glow can turn orange & a little greasy by the end of the day.  I think the issue there is using too much product, you really need very little of this and if you over do it you will likely be rewarded with the orange ala Jersey Shore tan effect.  


Second, after doing further research on this product, I found this review on Beautypedia;    


Reviewing new skin-care products from Origins always ends up in disappointment. Like most of the Lauder-owned brands, Origins consistently gets the critical issue of UVA protection right. That’s great, and in the case of this product, you’re getting an in-part avobenzone sunscreen. The disappointment is that unlike most of the other Lauder-owned brands, Origins fills their products with fragrant plant oils and extracts that potentially cause significant skin irritation. Even if you cannot see or feel the irritation, it is taking place beneath the surface of your skin, causing harm that can lead to collagen breakdown and a host of other problems. Your nose may love the way these unfriendly skin ingredients smell, but fragrance isn’t skin care. This daytime moisturizer with shine is not recommended because it contains an abundance of irritants. You should be “vitazing-ing” your skin with proven antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating substances, not with fragrant irritants.


And that kind of took the wind right out of my sails on this product, which is heartbreaking because there is so much I love about it.  Now I know this is only one review from one source, but this source has been so reliable for me in the past that I pay attention to their information.  As well, other review sites like Makeup Alley, etc. also have mixed reviews on this product and that is based on first hand experience.  So it's all of these things combined that caused me to have concern about using VitaZing.  


I have started only using it on my cheeks where I have some redness to cover & want a bit of a glow, and so far there is no visible damage to my skin. But I don't like the thought that there is unseen damage or irritation happening from using this further.  


Funny thing, AVON made a very similar moisturizer to this about 10 years ago.  I loved that too but they discontinued it.  It made me wonder, is there any other line that carries a similar product that I'm not aware of?  If you know of one I'd love to hear about it.  


So there you have it.  I love it like I love sour cream & onion chips...but those aren't good for me either.  So now what?  Well I haven't decided yet.  Just like chips I'm thinking I may use it in moderation but I don't know if it's even worth it, the jury's still out.  


What are your thoughts?  If any of you own this I'd love to hear your experience with it!

Tracy

Little Haul, Hot Sale Tip & I Took it Back!

 Well this post has a bit of everything.  I have bought a few things in the last week or so that I'm excited to share with you so I'll start with what I got;

Youngblood cosmetics, Origins Vitazing,
Sebastian Re-Shaper hairspray
Lush's UltraBalm

This brings me to my hot product tip.  Now there is good news & bad news here.  The bad news is that this is primarily for Canadian girls or those of you who have access to a Chatters Salon store.  Sorry!  The good news is that I found such a hot deal that I had to share it.  I don't know how many of you have heard of Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics.  I have to be honest that I hadn't heard of it until recently when I watched a youtube video by Lisasz09, where she talked about this line.  She said that the makeup artist she hired for her wedding recommended Youngblood & suggested she try it.  


A quick bit of information on the company, they were founded by a medical aesthetician who worked with plastic surgeons & dermatologists in Beverly Hills.  Her work with patients who had skin that was often recovering from various treatments, led her to develop make-up that would be gentle enough for them to use.  The result is a line of mineral cosmetics that are said to be perfect for all ages & skin types, even those with the most sensitive skin. These are typically distributed by spas or med-spas are are said to be non-comedogenic, and are made without lead, talc, artificial color/fragrance, mineral oil and other fillers.  They are also not tested on animals.  For more information you can check out their website here.


Anyway, this line apparently can be pricey.  So imagine my surprise to see it heaped in baskets at my local Chatters Salon (a retail beauty store), ON SALE!  

And when I say on sale I mean it.  Here is a quick breakdown of the retail prices in CDN dollars.


Eyeshadows: $20            
Blush: $21
Rice powder $24


A total retail value of $130CDN for my purchases.  But I got all of it for $30.  What?!  That's right, $30.  Everything Youngblood was on sale for $5 each.  At this price you just can't go wrong to try it, I mean seriously.  At my salon they seemed to mostly have the loose mineral products, I didn't see any of the pressed powders, blushes or eyeshadows.  The girls at my Chatters Salon aren't the most helpful/knowledgeable, but they seemed to think that most locations would have this sale.  I would encourage you all to run to you nearest Chatters & take a look, it is a great opportunity to try this line!  By the way the top eyeshadow is called Haze and might just be that perfect taupe color I've been looking for.  


Okay on to the 'I took it back part'.  Some of you may remember my Sephora haul, you can read my original post here.  In that I let you know that I got the Bare Minerals Mineral veil, pretty much on impulse because they didn't have Well Rested which I was originally after.  Well, I know this is a favourite finishing powder for many...but not for this girl.  This powder just did nothing for my skin.  I couldn't tell that I had applied it, didn't feel like it gave me any 'veil' effect and did not necessarily set my make-up any differently than most drugstore loose powders.  Overall I was just not happy with it, so back it went.  I exchanged it for this!

Benefit's Creaseless cream shadow/liner in Birthday Suit

Without flash

With flash

Birthday suit is like a soft beige gold color, that I think will look beautiful particularly with brown shadows over top.  It looks quite a bit darker in the flash photo than it does in real life. I really like Skinny Jeans and am excited to give this one a try.  

I'll be doing reviews of some of these products soon.  Have any of you tried Youngblood Mineral cosmetics?  What do you think of my product exchange?  As always let me know your thoughts!