Cargo Cosmetics – review
If Cargo was a girl in my former high school, she’d be our valedictorian. Obviously one of the smartest girls in our school, but also one of the prettiest. She had it all. Oh yeah, and she was also super sweet (so you couldn’t hate her!)
It’s that winning combo of brains and beauty that Cargo shares; gorgeous makeup meets clever ideas and pioneering packaging to give you one of the most original lines in the business. Since their launch over 13 years ago (remember the introduction of their huge dual lip gloss tins? I sure do!) this Canadian company has been in the forefront of innovative products. From the revolutionary blu-ray collection, created especially for filming in high-definition to the Red Dot Design Award winning Foundation Pouch, they continue to figure out what we need before we even know we need it.
We felt like regular beauty scientists testing four of their latest ground-breaking products…
Lash Activator Mascara – Packed with natural ingredients proven to increase the appearance of lashes’ length and fullness. You can use this as a primer or a mascara alone, but best of all? Bigger, better lashes is 30 days.
Water Resistant Bronzer – Their beautiful, natural looking bronzer gets even better with the addition of waterproofing. A silicone-coated talc helps it to stay on the skin and withstand water and perspiration. Hello Summer!
Classic Lip Gloss – How do you make a great lip gloss even better? (To me, that’s like how do you make chocolate even more delicious?!) With Timestrip, a technology that shows you when your gloss needs to be replaced. That’s if you don’t use it all first, with it’s non sticky formula and fabulous pigmentation.
Plant Love Lipstick – And just like the valedictorian, they’re sweet too! Cargo is the first prestige beauty brand to carry a ECOcert natural designation with the introduction of Plant Love. Plant based packaging materials, no use of synthetic dyes or fragrance and 2 dollars from every sale is donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The line recently branched out to other products, but we got to test their first outing, their lipstick in the Angie Harmon designed shade of Grace (an ode to her daughter).
So, how about it Review Team, are you going to write LYLAS in Cargo’s yearbook? Let us know your thoughts!
(5 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
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12 responses so far ↓
I received the Classic Lip Gloss in Luxor (Golden Beige). It’s a good gloss, non sticky and nice amount of shine. I wouldn’t call it my all time favorite gloss or Cargo product, but it’s very nice. The timestrip idea is genious. I am so bad at throwing away make-up, I will wear it until it starts to bother me, this makes no sense, but come on I know you all do it. I have no idea why I do this, I mean I wouldn’t drink milk that was 2 weeks past it’s exp, why on earth do I put gloss or mascara on that I’ve owned for a year? Kudos to Cargo for making me be better to myself. Also as a side note, it make me more mindful of my wallett. Just the other day I was going to buy a cute tube of gloss for $15. In my purse I had 4 other glosses that I’ve had for at least 6 months and they aren’t even half gone. Why would I spend more money on something I should be throwing away? Of course I bought the gloss anyway since I need to throw those out…. Thanks Cargo another good product.
I chose to test the waterproof bronzer. Or rather it chose me. One look at it and it was all mine. I happen to love Cargo’s signature tins. Really durable, very portable and great to stack on your vanity.
The bronzer itself is all kinds of beautiful! The waterproof version only comes in the medium shade (the regular bronzer comes in 3 shades, plus one matte). That was fine for me, I’m a medium. But for light and dark gals, that’s kind of a shame that you can’t be waterproof too! It’s got a very subtle gold shimmer too it, super wearable. So it kind of acts like a highlighter as well.
I honestly can’t say much about the waterproofing as I have been nowhere near water and have been running from one air conditioned place to another (you kinda have to do that when it’s 110 outside!) But I can say that it wears very well. It was on just as strong at 5:00pm as it was when I applied it at 7:30am. And it’s very finely milled so it’s very silky to apply.
4 stars from me, a really great bronzer! And I may just have to come back later and tell you about some of my all time favorite cargo products…
I received the Plant Love lipstick in Grace, a light baby pink that is a real departure from the bright or dark lip I usually wear (are you guys trying to tell me something?!) Maybe I should let other people pick colors for me more often, because even though this is nothing I would have reached for, it’s very, very pretty. A bit sheer, a bit of shimmer and really wearable.
Sadly, it also smelled a bit…old. That oily kind of smell of an old lipstick? Yeah, that. I doubt new ones smell like that and maybe I just got one that was around for awhile.
On color alone, highmarks. Same for all the do–gooder aspects to the line. But I don’t feel it’s fair to rate as I think I definitely got a dud. Sorry Cargo and we heart this!
But I’m a Cargo fan and one old lipstick would never change that.
Sorry, forget to say that I’m a huge fan of their lip gloss tins too. So much product!
Cargo’s tin lip glosses are fabulous! Machu Picchu is probably my favorite—a highly pigmented bronze and equally pigmented shimmery pink. Gor-geous!*said in a sing-song voice* I’m still trying to use up my Catalina blush tin (the best bubblegum pink that actually manages to look natural)–those suckers have quite a bit of product in them. I’ve been coveting their Blu-ray line for a while now—has anybody tried the blush from that? Opinions? Tell me how awesome it is and that it will change my life…
I was super lucky and received the Lash Activator Mascara. It has a nubby plastic brush that is quite flexible and according to Cargo, this formula is proven to make lashes bigger and longer thanks to Marine Algae extracts, citrus-derived Flavonoids, and a Peptide-biotin complex (basically, all the stuff that makes your lashes healthier and thicker!)
My first application was a little rocky; I applied too much and the mascara clumped! However, I’m chalking this up to my inexperience with plastic brushes because after a couple of tries, I was able to apply with no clumping at all. Despite my own shortcomings, to my surprise, the mascara dried clump-free! The result was longer, thicker, but very natural looking lashes. I knew it was a hit when one of my friends randomly told me that my lashes looked “amazing”!
Even though I had great success with the Lash Activator, it doesn’t supply the dramatic lashes that a lot of other products do, so many women use it only as a primer. I tried this a couple of times and it worked fine, but as I said I liked the look of the Lash Activator by itself so I wore it like that for a majority of the month.
As for the claim that it will give you longer and fuller lashes in 30 days, here is what I found:
Within a week, my lashes felt significantly softer than they had before – surprising considering that I had never thought my lashes were dry or brittle in the first place. After about two weeks, I actually sprouted three NEW lashes! And at the end of the month, my naked lashes genuinely looked fuller and, dare I say it, a little bit longer (my eyelash curler was my measuring stick).
At $35 a tube it’s pretty pricey compared to its drug store counterparts, so I can’t say that this would be my everyday mascara choice, but if you’re in need of some serious lash therapy I would wholeheartedly recommend the Lash Activator – you start seeing results quickly and by the end of the month, you really will have bolder looking lashes!
(5 stars)
I have the waterproof bronzer so my review gets -1 star because I don’t feel like it did anything different. I do LOVE LOVE the PlantLOVE lipsticks! The packaging is totally biodegradable (and you can plant the box and flowers will grow-really!) Plus, its non-sticky lovely and glossy sheer lip color!
Yep, loving the Cargo tins! I always wondered why the eye shadows are so tiny and the blush is so huge though?
Hi Krista, it’s your evil enabler! The blu_ray blush? Absolutely gorgeous! Probably one of my top 5 favs. It looks like it would be too light, but it’s not. It’s really natural, just a teeny tiny bit of shimmer, and totally buildable for this flushed, glowy perfectness.
You need this. Mike, I’m sorry- but she does!
I KNEW it!!! I am such a blush whore…
I totally remember those great big gloss tins – Stef you must have had a dozen (it seemed that way at least!)
I tested the Classic Lip Gloss in Cyprus. First, props for the Timestrip – it’s great to have something to remind me that my gloss may have moved past its expiration date. What I really loved about the gloss is the consistency – it feels very balm like going on – smooth, slightly creamy and no stickiness at all. And like a lip balm, the gloss keeps my lips soft and moisturized and seems to form a protective barrier against wind – love it! I’ll pick a lip balm over lip-gloss when out and about and know I don’t have to choose! I received the gloss is Cyprus, described as a sheer strawberry red. The color is so summery and fun – looks almost like fruit punch in the tube but applies sheer for a subtle pop of color – sort of like you just had a cherry popsicle. There is a tiny bit of gold shimmer as well (nothing overdone) so make that a popsicle with a little bit of shimmer.
I was trolling Cargo’s site some more and I think I’ve fallen in love with the blu_ray mattifier. Has anyone tried it out yet?
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