Output Stream of Consciousness

I enter all kinds of contests. As a Canadian, my two favourite sites for contest listings are Contest Canada with its good listings and amusing taglines, and Contestgirl, with some good tools to keep track of contests.

My wins are fairly sparse, but one recent surprise was winning the "Elle Grand Prix 2012 Beauty Product Contest". Products competed for Best Of titles, and the prize here was the best of and runners-up in quite a few categories. We opened up the box and found all manner of cleansers, makeup, moisturizers, hand products, shampoo and other hair products - some of which we found out definitely cost a pretty penny off the shelf!

No shaving products or anything, but hey, Dena can't use all that moisturizer herself, so here are our thoughts on some of these products so far:

• Biotherm Skin Ergetic Energy Up Complex

Lots of these products have 'gimmicks' of sorts to distinguish themselves. One that is definitely full of gimmicks but is otherwise a good product is Biotherm Skin Ergetic.

I mean, its magic extra ingredient is broccoli extract, and you 'activate' it like it were some kind of epoxy and you're supposed to use the dropper to put it on your face. How many more gimmicks can you get?

That said, it smells something along the lines of starfruit or pineapple (no sulf'rous broccoli smell to be had, strangely) and it's a mighty good moisturizer. I tried it, and it did great things for my face; even made me look awake during our harsher days with our new baby daughter. You can just put a couple of drops into your hand to apply it instead of the recommended ritual too, of course.

That said - it really needs some sort of equivalent cleanser, because with normal soap and water cleaning, it left me really moisturized but prone to breakouts after a few days.

• Crabtree and Evelyn Handy Therapy Citron

Loved the smell, but the good effects on hands were not pronounced enough for us to really seek it out on a constant basis.

• Nuxe Body 24 hr Moisturizing Body Lotion

Will need to try this out a little more. It seems effective in the small trials we have given it. It is definitely not for the face, though; the smell is a bit too strong for that and it sits on top of facial skin a bit.

• CoverGirl Natureluxe Gloss Lip Balm

Not tons of colour, but it has a tint and looks shiny. Interestingly, Dena had already bought this very product in a different colour and quite liked it.

• Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill #8

Definitely a bit fancy-looking for day/work wear; it's rather on the sparkly side. That said, however it catches the light makes it look like slightly different shades all around the eye, so at a party, you could get away with just this one shade if you wanted to.

• L'Oréal Total Repair 5 Hair Masque

This really looks and feels like conditioner, but they put it in a jar. Dena did not have much luck with this product, though it may have been the shampoo she tried out beforehand.

For me, on the other hand, this was wonderful stuff. Normally, I am still quite tangled after a shower and need a good 15 minutes of brushing out; this stuff made the post-shower brushing out really easy and pleasant, but I don't want to burn through it too fast if it turns out to be expensive :)

...

To be expanded as we try out the products and/or remember what they were called :)