Review: June by Netatmo UV Monitoring Device

This year for holiday gifting my spouse bought me something I was very excited about. When this product launched, I considered plunking down my hundred dollars and buying one immediately but convinced myself to wait as the first generation of anything tends to have issues.

June by netatmo

(Sorry for the kitchen counter picture, still haven't figured out photos in this place)

The June by netatmo seemed to be the perfect solution to a problem I've frequently had; how, exactly, am I supposed to know how much UV I've been exposed to? How am I supposed to remember when I'm out how long I've actually been in the sun? How much UV am I getting in the shade?

I was very excited to see this under the shiny wrapping paper in December. Unfortunately, I had to make sure and take some photos today instead of working out a prettier photo set-up because this is headed right back to Amazon (an authorized seller, which will become important later in this post) so that we can (belatedly) choose something else for my holiday gift.

The concept is sound - a UV monitor that syncs with your iOS device via Bluetooth and will keep you updated with alerts and reminders when you've reached certain UV exposure levels. The app for your iOS device provides a forecast for the day, including sunrise and sunset times, as well as recommendations for what to carry in your bag for the day for sun safety. The forecast is just about the only part of this that reliably worked well.

(Screenshot taken after I had given up on my June and turned Bluetooth off.) 

As far as looks are concerned, the June is still very much clearly a piece of wearable tech. Certainly prettier than my spouse's Fitbit but still something people would point out and ask "what does it do?" The included leather strap is of reasonable quality but doesn't do the best job of holding on to the June - the device slides around on the band and while I was out doing some light shopping nearly came off of the band, as it is only clipped on. I'd much rather see a slide-on-to-strap set up so as to prevent loss of the hundred dollar gadget I'm wearing.

There are no actual printed instructions in the booklet that comes with the device, it seems that you're supposed to divine that you need to download the iOS application and it will walk you through set up. Pay attention and keep that charger handy - you're going to need to go through the set-up process every few hours. My June kept claiming that it wasn't connected, that Bluetooth wasn't on, that there was no data coming from the June, and that on a bright, sunny day there was no measurable UV.

Screenshot taken after I had given up and boxed up my June for return. "No Data" is when it convinced it wasn't connected. Conveniently when my phone and I were away from home and outside.

I was asked every few hours to re-setup my June - a process which requires the little USB charging cable in the photo at the top of this post. When it did work for a few hours at a time, it was neat to watch the minutes of UV exposure rack up but if it couldn't take a UV reading at all on a sunny day, who knows how accurate that reading was.

Netatmo's website claims that the battery life for the June is one month. Mine made it two days and then told me through the application that the battery was running low and needed to be charged. This repeated two days after I let it charge for twelve hours. Of course, charging it means you have to re-sync it through the set-up process if you'd like to use it again.

Netatmo's website also claims that the $99 price of the June gives you "Lifetime Support." I learned exactly what that meant when I emailed Netatmo to ask for support (the only contact method provided) for my apparently malfunctioning June. The first response was an automated email that let me know that netatmo only worked Monday through Friday and would only help me if I could respond to the automated message with a copy of my receipt for the June, which I did. A week later, the response from Breiuc at Netatmo's customer support to my detailed question regarding the issues I was having with my June simply gave me instructions on how to sync my June to my iPhone (a process I was very familiar with by the end of my first day of owning the device) and a request that if syncing it didn't fix the issue, I was to contact my retailer (Amazon) to arrange a return if that did not work. So not only was I not going to get support, the representative clearly hadn't bothered to even read my message where I outlined that one of the issues was needing to constantly sync the device.

That is in no way to me "lifetime support." What happens when you're out of the return window for a retailer's policy? What if, like me, you received the June as a gift? Thankfully, my gift was from my spouse so we can simply return the June and hope that Apple or Fitbit adds UV monitoring to one of their wearable devices soon.

A sound idea, thoroughly wasted. If you read reviews on Amazon it seems that these have a hit-and-miss production and that customers either get one that works well and love it or get one that does exactly what mine did (require constant syncing, refuse to take UV readings, lose charge ridiculously quickly) and have their enthusiasm for the device dampened.

Not recommended, someone tell Fitbit and Apple to get on UV monitoring!
June by netatmo - purchased from Amazon

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, lovely readers!

It's that time again for quarterly, monthly, and yearly beauty clean-ups. Just a reminder to: 

Change out your toothbrush, manual or electric headsChange out your Clarisonic or other brush heads
Replace your facial sponge/body brush/pouf if disposable
Change your razor blade
Toss your mascara - experts recommend keeping it anywhere from 3 to 6 months
Wash all of your makeup brushes and sponges
Sanitize your powder products
Check for and toss any expired or "off" makeup
Toss any expired sunscreen, medications (check proper disposal for your medication,) contact solution, mouthwash, and so on
Order replacements or backups of any of the above if needed

As soon as I can find a good corner for photos in my new residence, I hope to see more of you all in 2015! 

Emergency Post! Kat Von D Light 42 Back in Stock!

Hello lovelies! I know I haven't been around for a while and I promise to explain that a bit soon (and come back with some posts. I know you want to see some Charlotte Tilbury eye quads and Tom Ford lipstick - amazing stuff) but this emergency post is brought to you by:

As you might know from last year's foundation hunt - this is the pale foundation unicorn for me: full coverage, long-lasting, neutral.

Go forth and purchase! 

Urban Decay Electric Palette Review

This is overdue, so I'm postponing my Palette Parade check-in to tomorrow.

After so many years of Naked, we have all been looking forward to Urban Decay getting back to their brightly colored, grittier roots and giving us some color. As soon as this was announced (or leaked, depending on how you look at it,) people were itching to get their hands on it. I picked it up as part of Sephora's Chic Week early access and jumped it in line in the aforementioned Palette Parade. 

Urban Decay is calling this one a pressed pigment palette. To be honest, I can't tell if that's to excuse the chalky quality of the red and pink shades or because of the FDA warning those same shades carry. FDA Warning?! Nothing too alarming - several red dyes and pigments that are approved in other countries are not yet approved for use in the United States. The warning reads, “Warning: Slowburn, Savage, Jilted, and Urban are not intended for the immediate eye area.” For most people, it shouldn't be a problem. If you've ever had an allergic reaction to red or pink dyes or cosmetics, you might want to skip this one. The risk here is irritation, nothing more. 

Let's talk about the packaging a little bit. I'm not excited about the space consuming round pan palette. I'm also not excited about the plastic packaging - I much prefer either metal or cardboard packing. Even Too Faced seems to be moving to metal palettes, so this one feels a little cheap in-hand. However, if you look at that third picture again, you'll see something you don't see with the Naked palettes - the mirror stays at the angle you place it at - you can actually use it without holding the palette or trying to hover over a flat surface and get decent lighting.

The included brush is nearly identical to the ones included with the Naked palettes. Honestly, I wish they'd include eyeliner instead of brushes, since the brushes are not anything I'd want to get stuck using.

Swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion, indoors with "true-white" lighting

Left to Right: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage, Fringe, Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak, Thrash

These are really hit and miss and I hope they offer some of these shades individually. 

Revolt (Urban Decay says: bright metallic silver shimmer w/silver glitter) isn't really all that dense or bright. It seems to look most like a silver glitter. It does wonderfully over a silver cream base and can make a white base sparkle but can't really stand alone as anything but a glitter.

Gonzo (Urban Decay says: bright turquoise matte w/ floating tonal pearl), really flails with texture. The mattes, in general, in this palette seem to be chalky. Urban Decay described them as 'velvety' - so I was expecting something at least closer to Sugarpill's super-bright mattes. 

Slowburn (Urban Decay says: bright red-orange matte w/floating pearl) continues the matte problems. If you have Sugarpill's Love+, you can skip this one, it's not as orange as they would have you believe.

Savage (Urban Decay says: bright hot pink matte), was one that I was really looking forward to and have been struggling to use. It's chalky. It doesn't like to blend. It doesn't like to apply evenly - it's the worst of pigments (I usually buy loose) and pressed shadows (hard to get just a little bit to work with.) I'm very disappointed.

Fringe (Urban Decay says: bright metallic teal), is one of the stand-outs of this palette. It's beautiful, it's smooth, it looks metallic without looking glittery. This is an incredible color and I really hope they offer it as a stand-alone.

Chaos (Urban Decay says: bright blue matte w/floating tonal pearl), back on the matte fail wagon. I have Sugarpill's Royal Sugar and this doesn't hold a candle to it with regard to ease of use, smooth application, and blending ability. 

Jilted (Urban Decay says: bright metallic fuchsia w/blue shift) - photos do not do the blue shift justice. This is absolutely stunning and I hope I can buy this in single pans sometime soon.

Urban (Urban Decay says: bright metallic purple), seems like it has a blue shift as well. Another stunning metallic and I'm glad we finally have a namesake color for the line - I've wanted cosmetics the color of that purple tissue paper they put in your orders since it started appearing. 

Freak (Urban Decay says: bright green w/gold shift) has no gold shift that I can see but that doesn't prevent this from being amazing. I've used it as an inner corner highlight and as a lid shade and it really pops no matter where you put it. This has made best friends with my pencil brush. 

Thrash (Urban Decay says: bright lime green matte w/floating gold pearl) looks a little sickly on my skin, I'm sorry to say. I think this is the shade I'll struggle the most to use. It has some of the texture probelms of the other mattes and, again, I don't see the gold pearl. 

Swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion, outdoors

Left to Right: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage, Fringe, Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak, Thrash

I feel like you can see the texture issues in the sunlight better. We've had a lot of sun in Seattle over the last several days and I was hoping to get a more indirect sunlight photo but I had zero weather cooperation. My neighbors aren't complaining - they've all dragged out the grills. 

As you can see in the sunlight photo, the metallics are smooth, opaque, and gorgeous. The mattes are spotty and uneven. Some of that can be attributed to these being pigments without a smoothing base but I feel like both MAC and Sugarpill have provided us with loose matte pigments that behave a lot better. Revolt really is a nice glitter but nothing more, which I find disappointing. 

All of that said? I really feel like Freak, Urban, Jilted, and Fringe save this palette from the returns pile. These shades are brilliant (as in color,) smooth, and fairly unique. The red shades have been reported by a few bloggers and vloggers to cause staining - I experienced this on my fingertips when I swatched them directly but with a layer of Primer Potion, I haven't had any trouble with it otherwise. 

Let's get real for a second about that pigments bit - I really don't see your average person using these for much other than eyeshadows. The shades don't lend themselves well to other daily-wear uses. Urban Decay claims you can use them as temporary hair color, which while technically true seems like it would be difficult with the palette in the way. Pressed pigments are harder to use as eyeliners or mixing colors. I really think Urban Decay should have thought more about their average customer when they put this one together; we've been waiting a long time for Urban Decay to come back from Naked and pack a punch that reminded us of the "Does pink make you puke?" campaign they launched with. It's a lot to live up to, sure, but I think they could have delivered with an all-metallic palette, given the metallic shades presented here.

Is this palette worth picking up? I'm happy with my purchase. If you are thinking about purchasing, I'd visit an Ulta, Sephora, Macy's to swatch it or pick it up directly from Urban Decay so you can return hassle-free - it is pretty hit-or-miss, so I feel like it doesn't quite deserve a full recommendation. It's a permanent addition to Urban Decay's collection, so I would probably wait for a sale, coupon, or other deal. At $49, each of the pans works out to $4.90 - even the less amazing shades are worth that. If you break the price down to just the pans I feel like are something you can't get anywhere else, they're still $12.25 each. A respectable price point for decent-quality pigments or shadows. With Sephora's Chic Week sale, I paid $41.65 for this palette ($3.47 per pan.) Otherwise, this palette is $49 at beauty.com, Sephora, Ulta, Macy's, and UrbanDecay.com.

Tomorrow I'll post up my Palette Parade check-in with looks from this palette. If folks are interested, I'd be happy to do comparison swatches with Sugarpill shades I have on-hand. 

Nail of the Week: Zoya Katy

This week I decided to go with a more pronounced accent nail - Zoya's Katy with butter LONDON's Black Knight. The photos can't really do justice to the color combination but the photos do show the thing I like least about Black Knight.

In natural light

Katy really brings out the colored glitter in Black Knight but the texture of Black Knight is really distracting, especially in a shade that's not matte. It looks like eggshell paint or poor application technique  and it's really bothering me. It's a shame because I do like the glitter in this better than Zoya's Storm.

Indoors

Katy's blue-based pink is perfect for the Electric palette from Urban Decay - swatches and review on that tomorrow! 

Smashbox Full Exposure - Review and Palette Parade Check-In

What's a palette parade? See this post.

Smashbox Full Exposure palette ($49 at Sephora, Ulta, Beauty.com, Nordstrom, and Smashbox.) 

For the past week, I've been using the Smashbox Full Exposure palette. You might have seen the black shadow from this palette in last week's black shadow round-up. 

The packaging is pretty good - I love the rainbow lettering on the front and the magnetic closure palette is pretty standard these days. Nothing over the top or special but it feels substantial enough to protect the shadows inside. Sorry to say, I neglected to take a photo of the palette open. Like so many others, this palette has a mirror inside but no way to prop the lid so that you can actually use it. I'd really like to meet the person that applies shadows from a 14-pan palette holding the palette or with it flat on a table somewhere. The included brush is decent quality, natural hair on one end, duo natural/synthetic on the other; I'd say more actually versatile and usable than the brushes that come with any other palette.

I swatched from left to right, top row and then second row. These shadows don't seem to have names, they're referred to by Smashbox as Shimmer 1 through 7 and Matte 1 through 7. 

Smashbox Full Exposure swatches

I'm sure you've already spotted the main problem with this palette. The shimmer shades suffer from major fallout and wash out to a very similar color in all but the darkest shades. The mattes, however, do not suffer from this problem. In fact, I think this palette is worth purchasing just for the mattes, if you're looking for matte neutrals. However, I have the Naked Basics palette along with Urban Decay's Buck, Laced, Tease, Secret Service - I'm well-served in the neutral matte department.

Even worse than that, though, was what happened when I applied these without the shimmer shades sticking around:

So similar. Still fighting with the eyebrows.

No matter what application method, tools, or look I used, they just kind of washed out to being the same. I don't have this trouble with Urban Decay's Naked Basics, which only has six shades. It's disappointing, at least to me, to spend between ten and twenty minutes standing in front of your mirror to walk away looking like you did the day you spent five minutes on a look.

Overall, I'd say this one is a pass unless you're really looking for basic mattes that will give you a consistent look day to day. Honestly, I think that may be part of the design, as the packaging describes Smashbox's process for choosing these colors - colors that can be used to create a "natural" look on a variety of skin tones for makeup pros. Certainly, you can choose the shades that work best for your skin and eye colors and have a standard look that's easy to pull together quickly - but don't expect versatility out of this one - but it seems an awful shame to buy fourteen pans of product to only use three or four.

This is why you didn't get full-face at all - my glasses were uncooperative this week.
F-Bomb is still awesome, though.

Coming up this week I have swatches from Urban Decay's Electric Palette (oh, come on, you knew I'd buy it) and a short review for the Paw Palette I recently purchased.

Sunblocks and Suncare Products I Use

When I posted a few weeks ago about sunscreens, sunblocks, and sun safety a few people reached out to me to ask for recommendations on suncare products and what I used. Additionally, the lovely folks at Goddess Garden contacted me to see if I would like to review one of their products (little did they know that I had a small army of their products already lurking in my home. They're my preferred sunblock brand!)

The regular use pile from my vanity. That trigger-spray Goddess Garden sunblock is the one they sent for review; you can tell it's new to the family because it doesn't have a yellow expiration date sticker dot on it yet. The poor Mustela is lingering for another few months from winter, so its sticker is on the back.

Small reviews, explanations, and general rambling after the jump:

Nails of the Week: Butter London and Deborah Lippmann

This week's nail of the week is more like a nail-of-the-three-days. The Butter London polishes I picked up are all very pretty and come in colors that Zoya doesn't have but are only lasting about three days on me, no matter what  do. So this week, I have two manicures to share this week.

First up: Butter London's Fairy Lights with the accent nail having a two-coat topper of Knackered

Butter London Fairy Lights and Knackered

Butter London describes Fairy Lights as a "rose gold" - but much like Urban Decay's Naked 3 palette, I'm not seeing the gold qualities. The rosy pink is too cool-toned to be "rose gold," in my opinion, but that's certainly not a complaint! It is on last orders at Butter London's own website but Nordstrom and Beauty.com have it in regular stock still. Knackered on its own is kind of a sheer metallic blue with a bit of sparkle, which made for a nice lavender here that worked well with Fairy Lights. 

On Monday that was so ragged that it really needed to be redone so of course I waited an extra day to do anything about it. That brought me to Deborah Lippman's Private Dancer, which Beauty.com is currently doing as a gift-with-beauty purchase (ending 4/4 - go! They're stackable, too, so get as many as you can!) For the accent, I settled on Zoya's Mimi

"Outdoors" natural light

Indoors, no flash

I feel like the chrome on this one isn't very, well, chromed. It's a very pretty color and seems to ride the line between duochrome and just chrome. We'll see how it wears! 

Black Shadow Showdown Redux

You might remember my disappointment that Sugarpill's Bulletproof didn't live up to the hype or Urban Decay's Blackout. A generous friend sent me Makeup Geek's Corrupt because she was pretty sure it could slay the competition.

Of course, between now and then, I've managed to obtain a few other black shadows. Who doesn't need more black shadow? Before I move on to the swatches, I wanted to say that I bought two pans of MAC's Carbon, certain that I had a defective one. Both pans swatch exactly the same and the MAC counter rep I spoke to told me that "you don't actually want a shadow that black, because it wouldn't blend well!" I disagree, clearly, and so do many other cosmetics companies, apparently.

On to the main event:

My ten black shadows, in natural light

1. Sephora Collection No 54 Black Lace 2. Kat Von D Lucifer from Sinner 3. Smashbox M7 from Full Exposure 4. Sugarpill Bulletproof 5. MAC Typographic 6. MAC Carbon 7. MakeupGeek Corrupt 8. Urban Decay Blackout 9. Urban Decay Crave from Naked Basics 10. NARS Pandora II

Do you see the lengths we have to go to in Washington state to get 'natural light' photos? I'm hanging my shadow-covered arm out of my kitchen window for this. I think the MAC shadows are the most disappointing here - Typographic (5) and Carbon (6) are practically the same color and neither are what I would call black - they're clearly gray shadows.  I was a little surprised by (3) Smashbox M7 from the Full Exposure palette. That palette has taken a beating on a lot of reviews I've seen as being poorly pigmented. I'm going to do a review for that palette next week but spoiler alert: buy it for the mattes.

The MakeupGeek Corrupt (7) and Blackout (8) seem to be going head-to-head. Blackout is smoother in texture and Corrupt seems to have a little glitter in it but they're both very dark, deep black shadows.

Let's look at these shadows inside, shall we?

1. Sephora Collection Black Lace 2. Kat Von D Lucifer 3. Smashbox M7 from Full Exposure 4. Sugarpill Bulletproof 5. MAC Typographic 6. MAC Carbon 7. MakeupGeek Corrupt 8. Urban Decay Blackout 9. Urban Decay Crave 10. NARS Pandora II

I feel like you can see which shadows lean brown or gray with indoor lighting a little better. I also think the difference between Typographic (5) and Carbon (6) is more clear here but I'm still not impressed.

If you're looking for a velvety-smooth true-matte black shadow, I still think Urban Decay's Blackout ($18 alone or available in the Naked 2 palette) is the best you can get - but at one-third the price, Makeup Geek's Corrupt ($6 in a naked pan, $8 in a single compact) is a serious contender, even with a little bit of shimmer.

Do you have an expiration routine?

Quick post - as I was going through and replacing my toothbrush and Clarisonic heads, I wondered: do all of you have a routine to keep track of when you should be tossing things?

For instance, on the first of each month, I switch my razor blades (even if they "don't need it,") toss anything that has reached the open-for-too-long point, and try and clean out my makeup area.

At the first of each quarter, I change toothbrush and Clarisonic heads, toss any open mascara, and sanitize anything that hasn't been taken care of (I set stuff aside to be sanitized as it is used. You know that one wash-by-hand dish that sits next to your sink? Like that.)

At the new year and half year, I check medications, sunscreen, and other expiration dates. Of course, I label everything and toss as I go if I encounter a passed expiration date but this helps me stay ahead of the panic that I suddenly don't have eye cream or one of the three types of sunscreen I keep in my cabinet.

Do you have a routine? Do you prefer a more relaxed approach?