Shea Moisture African Black Soap CLarifying Mud Mask

That is a mouthful to say out loud. I'm glad I only had to type it. So I don't do spa facials very often as I find it expensive and I'd rather get a massage than a facial for that price. But I do try to compensate with at home skincare as much as I can. Mud Masks are a personal favourite of mine to help get rid of the congested pores especially in my nose. So just to set the stage up, I have combination/dry skin. My skin is dry everywhere, except my nose and forehad which get very oily. My nose is especially oily and gets a lot of sebum build up, so regular clarifying on the nose is a necessity. I am out of my favourite mask though, so I thought try something else today and see. (plus maybe save some $$) So that's how I wandered through the aisles of Target and landed on this.

The Claims( literally stealing off the back of the back to type this)
Blend of African Black Soap and Raw Shea Butter to clarify, balance, and soothe
Tamarind Extract as an astringent to exfoliate and brighten
Tea Tree Oil to promote healing antiseptic properies
The benefits is drawing out dirt and congestion and control oil.

The main question I had after reading this was What is African Black Soap? This brand has an entire line dedicated to this, but it does an awful job explaining it on their products. Sitting in the aisle at Target reading every single product became tiresome, so I switched to google. African Black soap is locally harvested plants that are sun dried and roasted and mixed with shea butter and oils. It is used to treat oily acne skin or aging skin. It has been known to help with spots and uneven skin etc. I'm not a super ingredient junkie, but if you are going to use an ingredient as a sell point, please explain what that means. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in this industry.

So that's enough of my ramble, let's talk about the actual mask!

So I ripped it open before I took a picture....oops. Still building the habit of picture first, then play.

 There is a lot of product in that little package. I could have easily gotten two more uses out of this if I had sealed it. Despite being considered a mud mask, I found the consistency very emollient and thin. It didn't create an opaque coverage over my entire face no matter how much product I used.
The directions state to apply over clean skin and leave on for at least ten minutes. I always wear my masks longer than the directed time. I usually find something to do to occupy myself and come back 30 minutes later. Picture below is some of the mask on my hand and also a face shot so you can see how my skin still shows through the mask.

I left the mask on my face for approximately 35 minutes before rinsing. During the wear, I did experience a mild tingle. My face isn't as sensitive as the rest of my skin for some reason though .So if you are very sensitive, be warned.  It was easy to remove with water and wash rag. I could feel that my skin felt super smooth and soft instantly. And on first inspection, my face did have a subtle glow that made my complexion look healthy. Getting up close and personal to my problem areas I could see some sebum still lingering in my pores on my nose though.

So I have mixed feelings on my experience with this mask. I really liked how soft and radiant my skin seemed upon removal of the mask. However, as this mask claims to clarify and remove congestion, I didn't really find this to be super effective in that respect. So I can't in good faith say I was satisfied with this product or recommend it to someone. I think there are much better options even at the low price point available that I've found more effective in the past.

Shop Violet Voss Ride or Die Palette-

First and foremost, better lighting equipment is en route so picture quality will improve going forward. But I really wanted to start by posting something substantial.

Violet Voss is one of the many smaller makeup companies that has surfaced in recent years due to the overwhelming social media takeover of makeup. I discovered them several years ago when all they sold was their glitter glue and glitter. Since then they have expanded their line with a lot of positive attention. It was the posts about their large new eyeshadow palette that grabbed my attention recently. I'm an eyeshadow lover at the end of the day. Today's world is all about lips, but when I first fell in love with makeup it was about the eyes. So I continue to collect eyeshadow at an overwhelming rate. So when I saw the Violet Voss Ride or Die Palette I decided to start with this palette with reviews.

Ride Or Die Palette! What do you need to know about this palette? It boasts  42 full size (1.8g) shades in super saturated colours. The finishes vary between metallic, satin, and mattes. They are Vegan and contain Jojoba Oil. (side note: if you are going to list an ingredient, please list why the ingredient is relevant. I hate ingredient dropping without a purpose). The website says it is a $252 value for $75. Plus shipping.... so add at least $8 on top of that.

Super cute packaging design!

The palette comes in a cardboard box with the same design as the palette. Once you open the box, the palette is a cardboard flipbook. I'm not always a fan of cardboard packaged palettes because it can feel flimsy, but this feels very sturdy. The design is cute and has slight iridescence. Once you open the book there is a mirror on the top side of the palette. The mirror is a substantial size for those who like to use the mirrors in these palettes. I don't ever use the mirrors, so the size to me is irrelevant. True to their word, these pans are a solid size with a good amount of product. The shades are mostly warm and follow the red shadowed theme that has been so popular on social media lately.

 

The good: Most of the shades are very pigmented and blend beautifully. The shades are all buildable so you can keep them soft or make them bold. I have created some really pretty eye looks using this palette. See below, this was an eye look using Isabella, Erika, Abigail, and Ashley! 

The Bad: I find a lot of the shades in this palette redundant. Two matte oranges that aren't that different, Two Red browns that are matte, Three frosted Red/Orange shades etc. But check out swatches below and decide for yourself. To me, too many of the shades were too similar to really justify $75.

Swatches below

My Final Verdict: I would definitely be open to buying more shades of Violet Voss. I found the formulas to be pigmented and easy to work with. I will however, want to really look at the shades in a palette first since I found too many of the shades to be similar in this specific palette. However, if you like those warm red shadow shades you will love this palette. I will pull this palette out sometimes for sure, but not all the time.

Chrisa Mee

Hello and Welcome! I'm Chrisa Mee! I'm super excited to start actually to start sharing my ideas and passion for the beauty industry with the cyber world. Whether anyone is interested or not, who knows. But fmaily and friends have encouraged me for years to do this, so here I roll!

I have worked over a decade in makeup as a freelance makeup artist and retail makeup artist. So this experience I believe will let me provide a different perspective than some of the other traditional makeup artists sharing their own views. Here I will review products, share looks/trends, share tips and tricks, and probably embarrass myself considerably.