makeup reccer rec
Monday, December 16th, 2013 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
afunaI just found out about Beautypedia.
It has a sortable index of product reviews which you can filter for type or brand and then sort by rating/price/etc. Reviews are short, but they don't just parrot the product descriptions. Instead they tend to bring factors that might affect your individual decision. (might work for oily skin / might not work for sensitive skin etc). Also they often make it a point to note when foundation/concealer has a wide range of shades or not, or whether a line of blush will work with darker skin or just fairer -- just... things that most other places don't mention (to be fair most other places are individual bloggers so of course they'll just talk about what works for them).
Filtering by type is great for finding the best in a particular category. Which is nice but a lot of places do the same, albeit more informally. What really makes it for me is the ability to filter by brand + sort by rating. I've long been looking for a way to get an overview of each brand, get some idea of what each brand is known for. Because NARS has awesome blushes and concealers, but gel eyeliner you probably want to get at Bobbi Brown, and eyeshadow take a first stop at MAC -- or maybe try NYX (but skip NYX foundation) etc etc.
One thing: they do tend to mark down for fragrance, which may be good if your skin is sensitive to fragrance, but not as helpful if you don't care about fragrance as long as the product works or the pigmentation is fantastic.
Their review of Avene Cleansing Foam is a good example of the kind of review they give ;) Fairly positive review overall for people with $skintype, because it does work but then also calls them on their bullshit when it's needed (beauty products are full of bullshit~)
Con for me is that since it's a US-based site, there are no reviews of local brands. Also even some of the relatively cheaper brands on that list sell at a premium here ("imported kasi" bleh!). But it really does have a broad selection of brands, both at the higher and lower ends of the market, and they don't seem to be biased towards higher-end brands (which is... a difficult bias to fight so yes!)
It has a sortable index of product reviews which you can filter for type or brand and then sort by rating/price/etc. Reviews are short, but they don't just parrot the product descriptions. Instead they tend to bring factors that might affect your individual decision. (might work for oily skin / might not work for sensitive skin etc). Also they often make it a point to note when foundation/concealer has a wide range of shades or not, or whether a line of blush will work with darker skin or just fairer -- just... things that most other places don't mention (to be fair most other places are individual bloggers so of course they'll just talk about what works for them).
Filtering by type is great for finding the best in a particular category. Which is nice but a lot of places do the same, albeit more informally. What really makes it for me is the ability to filter by brand + sort by rating. I've long been looking for a way to get an overview of each brand, get some idea of what each brand is known for. Because NARS has awesome blushes and concealers, but gel eyeliner you probably want to get at Bobbi Brown, and eyeshadow take a first stop at MAC -- or maybe try NYX (but skip NYX foundation) etc etc.
One thing: they do tend to mark down for fragrance, which may be good if your skin is sensitive to fragrance, but not as helpful if you don't care about fragrance as long as the product works or the pigmentation is fantastic.
Their review of Avene Cleansing Foam is a good example of the kind of review they give ;) Fairly positive review overall for people with $skintype, because it does work but then also calls them on their bullshit when it's needed (beauty products are full of bullshit~)
Con for me is that since it's a US-based site, there are no reviews of local brands. Also even some of the relatively cheaper brands on that list sell at a premium here ("imported kasi" bleh!). But it really does have a broad selection of brands, both at the higher and lower ends of the market, and they don't seem to be biased towards higher-end brands (which is... a difficult bias to fight so yes!)
no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 04:52 pm (UTC)Yeah I find it good for a baseline and am overview of the brand -- but definitely wouldn't stop there! The reviewer is opinionated in a couple ways that don't matter to me, but seems fairly predictable about it so i know which way to lean to counterbalance.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-19 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-21 01:59 pm (UTC)Oooh I'm sorely tempted but I'll be good and hold off ;) (I've been buying a lot of makeup lately. I should be very good haha) <3333
no subject
Date: 2013-12-21 04:50 pm (UTC)Haha, I know that feeling. NYX had an online sale last month and I bought six lipsticks because three dollars each. Except with the other stuff too it was like forty dollars of make-up >_>
no subject
Date: 2013-12-20 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-21 01:59 pm (UTC)asdfhfggfhhfhfhghhhhh ilu that explains so much. I am going to have to experiment with this in mind :D
no subject
Date: 2013-12-21 04:49 pm (UTC)You're welcome :D I found it when I was looking for stuff for hooded/deep-set eyes on the Makeup Addiction subreddit (apparently the gradient method works fairly well for those types too, despite the fold being waaaaay different in structure)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-23 03:02 pm (UTC)As for local reviews, I've listed my favorites at http://www.eulasleeps.com/2012/10/feature-friday-my-top-5-beauty-bloggers.html. Best thing about local blogs is that they take into account our humid climate! Not to mention our traffic and energy situation and local availability of products.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-03 08:09 am (UTC)Ahhh thank you :D I definitely love the local bloggers -- I mean I'll read non-local bloggers because I enjoy reading about makeup etc, but for actually figuring out what will work for me here? Local bloggers talaga :)
Thanks fro the links, and I'm checking out the videos too!
no subject
Date: 2014-03-05 04:28 pm (UTC)