My Essence Nail Polishes

I mentioned the Essence mascara in my last favourites post, so I won’t waste your time talking about that again, but I did want to show off my pretty Essence nail polishes that I picked up at the same time:

Above: “Grey-t to be here,” “Oh my glitter!”
Below: “Date in the moonlight,” “Walk on the wild side”

Swatches:

Left to right: Walk on the wild side, Grey-t to be here, Date in the moonlight, Oh my glitter!
Below: Oh my Glitter! on my nails

I really like these polishes. They aren’t super long-wearing for me, but they do go on nicely in two coats, and they definitely last better than ELF polishes, which are comparable in price. Also, I think some of the colours are great. I bought pretty much all of the shimmery ones they had at the time, but they also have a nice selection of bright and normal colours.

I would definitely recommend trying some out if you have access to this brand. I got mine at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, but it might be available other places, for all I know.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried these out, and if you’ve found this brand somewhere else! I’d also love to hear if you have any suggestions for products from this brand, since I definitely try some more out!

(Belated) Benefit Sephora Birthday Gift Review

It’s been almost a month since my birthday, but I’m finally getting around to this post: a short review of the Sephora birthday gift for this year, which consists of minis of the Benefit Watts Up highlighter stick and the They’re Real mascara:

Watt’s Up Highlighter:

This is a cream highlighter stick, which is very pigmented and quite shimmery. I think it might be better used as a base for eyeshadows, though I don’t know about its staying power yet. As a highlight, you have to use a light hand and do some good blending, but this goes give you a very pretty, warm glow.

Swatch:

Blended swatch:

They’re Real Mascara:

This is a well-known and well-loved favourite of many bloggers and vloggers in the beauty community, so I’m sure you’ve likely heard of it, even if you haven’t tried it. This sample-size has a full-sized brush, so you really get an idea of what the product is like. The formula is really nice, and I love the results, though I’m not sure a) if this is supposed to be waterproof or water resistant or b) whether it has good staying power, partly because I’m scared to wear it long or on its own in case it isn’t waterproof at all. Also, personally, I find the spikes on this brush a little too pointy and long, and I end up feeling like I’ve scratched my tightline more often than not when I use this product. It’s definitely good, but I have so many good mascaras that I don’t think I’d bother to repurchase this.

That said, this is probably the best Sephora Birthday gift so far, since I am likely to get the most use out of it, and it’s great that they’re are letting us try out some well-known products from such a great brand!

Lemme know what you think if you’ve ever tried these products, full size or from the birthday gift. Also, please let me know if there are any posts you’d like to see.

Thanks for reading! <3

April 2013 Favourites

Hello again, I’m sorry it’s been so so long since my last post… I know how annoying it is when I realise that one of my bloggers hasn’t updated in over a month. I don’t have much in the way of an excuse, either, since I’ve been on my semester break for a while now. So I will just apologize and hope I still have some readers. I’m also not going to lie this time, and I will, in fact, write up a few posts right now to go up over the next week or two. I really hope to get back into blogging regularly very soon. Thanks for sticking around!

I’ve bought some stuff since the end of March, but rather than trying to collect it all for a massive haul post for you, I think it would be better at this point to do some reviews on individual products I want to share. And for now, since I skipped March, and I didn’t have much in the way of favourites for March anyway, I thought I’d start off with my April Favourites post.

Beauty Favourites:

1. Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Natural

This is a product I’ve seen a lot of on YouTube and beauty blogs, and which I’ve loved for a long time. It’s just a basic face powder, but it does what it needs to do. It mattifies, sets foundation, and offers some light coverage on its own, which is most often how I wear this powder. I am lucky to have fairly even skin, so usually this, with a little bit of concealer for zits, is enough for my everyday makeup to keep me from looking blotchy or too shiny.

I felt like I went through this product really fast, but checking back, I bought this way back in December, if not late November. Considering that this product is $10 or less, 5 months worth of product is pretty awesome if you ask me! As you can see, I’ve almost completely used up this product, and I will certainly be repurchasing.

2. Cover Girl Clump Crusher (water resistant) in Very Black

This is the first of two mascaras I have for you this month, and one I’m way behind the rest of the beauty community in trying out, but I’m not unhappy that I did. This definitely does resist clumping, though clumps are possible. One coat makes a pretty natural look, but I find I need at least two to look really good. Other than that though, I do really like this mascara, and its even good for layering to unclump other mascaras, just because it does have a great brush.

3. Essence Get Big Lashes! Volume Boost Waterproof Mascara

I wanted to try out some Essence products because they are sold at Shoppers for so cheap, almost like ELF in Canada. This mascara is kinda great, though. If you’ve been around this blog a while, you might remember my love of Urban Decay’s Big Fatty mascara. This has a huge, wonderful brush just like that, and I do love the effect. It can get clumpy, but there’s really no mascara that doesn’t, and anyways, you can’t go wrong for the price!

4. Glitter Liquid Liners

This is sorta a general thing. I bought these all around the same time, and I’ve been loving layering these over black liquid liner for sparkle and awesomeness. It just adds something extra to a simple makeup look. The Annabelle ones are much better than the ELF one, though, so if you’re looking for a good glitter liner, I’d suggest Annabelle if you can buy that where you live.

5. Pro-FX Fiberized Ridge Filler

I showed this a while back, when I bought it, and I’ve liked this so far. It doesn’t help my nails for strength like OPI Nail Envy, but this is so much cheaper, and so big I may never need to buy a base coat again…! (So not true…) Anyays, I do suggest this if you can find it; I got mine at Wal-Mart.

6. True Blue Spa Shea Cashmere Hand Cream

This is from Bath and Body Works, and I bought it on sale. It smells like icing, and makes my hands super soft. I don’t have anything revolutionary to tell you about it, but it has been the hand lotion I’ve been reaching for most often over the last little while, just because it smells so good.

Non-Beauty Favourites:

1. Google Nexus 7

If you saw my post about wanting this on my other blog, you might have been wondering if I ever got it (probably not). And I did, and I love it. Its fast, it does games, ebooks, magazines, internet, email, lists, and lots more. It’s just super convient and really light, so it’s no problem to carry around. Also, now that I have a little cover for it, I don’t have to worry about it every time I toss it in my bag!

2. Mountain Dew Code Red

Image from Sodahead.com

I have loved Code Red since the first time I had it in Slurpee form the last time it came to Canada, and I have been sad ever since it disappeared. Recently, though, Mountain Dew has been holding a contest to decide which new Mountain Dew flavour will become permanent in Canada, and I really really hope this one wins. If you want to help me, and vote for Code Red, click here; you are also entered into a contest for voting.

And for some reason, I can’t think of much else at the moment, so I’ll leave it there for this post. Lemme know your thoughts on anything or everything in this post, and what your favourites over the past month have been.

Thanks for reading!

I’m Alive! (L’Oreal’s Glossy Stain Review)

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post, I’ve had a lot of homework to do (still do, actually, but as tomorrow is my birthday and I have another week until the next thing is due, nothing further will happen until Thursday night), and I also had to clean up my mess of a bedroom to finally get my desk in here so I could bring home the computer I built with my boyfriend, because he and his family are moving, and for some odd reason, they don’t want to drag around a desktop computer that doesn’t even belong to them. Odd.

Anyways, that is not what I’m here to talk about.

You’ve probably all already seen the new-ish L’Oreal Colour Caresse Shine Stains, and seen plenty of reviews of them. I picked mine up, however, not long after hearing about them, and I think they were on sale at Shoppers at the time, as well.

Anyway, if you have heard of them, great, but if you haven’t a lot of people have compared these to the YSL Glossy Stains, since both products go on as a gloss, but leave a stain on your lips, hense the YSL product name. That was the same idea I had when I first saw these, and since the YSL ones are so great (but sooo expensive!), I had to try out this product. Let’s take a look, before I give you my review, though, shall we?

Packaging: It’s cute, but I have two issues… 1) The second you touch it, it’s covered in your fingerprints and no longer looks all shiny and pretty. And, 2) No where on the package itself does it say the name of the product. I had to google “L’Oreal glossy stain” to figure out the official name. Ugh! For function, though, this is a perfectly good tube and has a perfectly good wand with a doe-foot applicator.

Swatches:

The second swatch is after letting the colour sit for a while on my skin, and then rubbing off the gloss. The product remains sort of tacky on the skin, and I find this on the lips as well. When you first apply, it feels very wet and slippery, and I find that it is very hard to get the colour to go on evenly, and very easy to end up blotchy. The best remedy I’ve found to this dilemma so far is to not try too hard, because the more you swipe at it trying to even it out, the worse it gets.

There’s really nothing about this product that I’m super happy with, and its pretty disappointing for the price. It doesn’t smell good, feel good on the lips, it feels wet, then gets sticky. It rubs off quickly, and even the stain doesn’t have much staying power. I really don’t think I would suggest this product for anyone in love with the YSL Glossy Stains… or anyone else for that matter, unless you are just curious and have the money to spend. Save your money and get a good Revlon lipstick instead, or almost anything else, really. >_<

***

So, let me know if you’ve tried these, I’d love to hear what you thought about them, I'm just not too impressed by them myself.

Also, I will have a birthday post in the next couple days, since today (March 27) was my birthday. However, since my presents weren't beauty-related, those, and some of my purchases from today will be over on my other blog: Thought-Constellations around the same time, and I'll also write about what I did today for those who are interested. I did buy myself a couple cheap little makeup presents today that I will show you, as well as a mini-review on the Benefit birthday gift from Sephora.

Anyway, thanks for reading, as always I'm very thankful that you take the time out of your day to visit my blog! =)

ELF Haul!

It’s been a really long time since I bought anything from ELF, unless you count a couple brushes that I bought in Seattle over the summer… Which I should. But I don’t. Anyways, the last time they had “free shipping,” which is actually $8 shipping for Canadians, my friend and I decided to split that cost and order some stuff we’d been wanting to try out for a while now. Almost everything I got was from the more expensive Studio and Mineral lines, though the most expensive thing was $6, so still awesome. Anyway, here’s a quick look before we get into the individual products.

Liquid Liner in Stardust:

Although I do like ELF’s studio liquid liner pen, I only recently bought the Wet’n’Wild liquid liner, which I’ve been loving, so I didn’t see a need to get a new black liner. I did, however, want to get a glitter liner. Little did I know I’d find A couple more Annabelle glitter liner at Shoppers on sale for $1 each a couple days later, so I bought a green and a bronze… though it looks like I never showed those in a haul. Strange. Anyways, not the point.

I really wanted to get a glitter liner to add some fun sparkle to regular liquid liner. As a kid I loved glitter, then I had a phase where I was afraid of it, and now I like glitter again. Who doesn’t want sparkly eyes? I haven’t used this one over my W’n’W liner, just my old ELF liner, which went oddly streaky underneath; hopefully that was an effect of the black liner, and not of this glitter. It doesn’t come across well in the swatch above, but I love the clear holo of this glitter!

Studio Small Angled Brush:

I got this for a couple reasons: it was $3, Studio brushes are fantastic, and I wanted it for cleaning up my manicures. Now I have it, though, I’m worried about putting it into polish remover. Instead, I’m thinking of using it for its intended purpose: eyeliner. We shall see. This brush is great, though. It’s very soft, and fairly firm. Another good studio line brush.

Essential Eyelid Primer:

I wanted to try out the primer from the essential line because I’ve tried the Mineral line primer from ELF, and I like it, but I’m not exceptionally impressed. Also, a lot of bloggers/vloggers use this primer, so I wanted to give it a chance. For a dollar, who can complain?  I haven’t got a chance to give it a try yet, though, since I want to use up the Mineral primer first. I might change my mind eventually.

Daily Brush Cleaner:

I’m lazy, and rarely get around to washing my brushes, which is why I bought this. It’s basically a brush sanitizer, that you spray on, wipe off excess product onto a clean cloth, and let the brush dry. Nothing special, and the effect could probably be achieved with an alcohol/water mix, but I’m giving it a try.

Mineral Lipstick in Rich Raspberry:

Of course I got another lipstick! These feel really nice and soft on the lips, and don’t end up drying. Also, the colour is very nice. However, it also doesn’t last long and wears off very easily. For a three dollar lipstick, though, I’m still pretty happy, since it’s a nice colour somewhere between bright and neutral on me, and it’s not that hard to reapply lipstick when it comes off anyways.

Studio Blush in Candid Coral:

I think I picked this colour because it looked pretty on the screen and reminded me of Benefit Coralista, which I love. Little did I realise that this is practically a dupe for that colour! It isn’t nearly as pigmented as the Benefit blush, and it doesn’t have the fantastic scent (which I’m sure some people would actually be happy with, but I love the smell of Coralista!). Overall, though, for a three dollar product (apparently, I’m going to keep emphasizing the cheapness of these products), I’m content.

I would have liked to get another colour, but I guess I can be happy to have a cheap version of Coralista to use when I know my makeup won’t be on long, or when I don’t need it to look as wonderful. This colour does give a nice glow with a nice bit of shimmer and colour. If you have Coralista, I wouldn’t recommend this particular shade, however. On the other hand, if you are lusting after Coralista, and can’t afford it, try this!

Studio Kabuki Face Brush:

I don’t think I needed a kabuki brush, since I have perfectly good fluffy powder brushes, but I did want it. And besides, who honestly needs any of the makeup they buy? I’m pleased again with the quality of this brush, like the rest of the Studio line. My only issue is that this brush somehow manages to dot a bit of the powder it picks up onto my shirt when I do my makeup. Whether the brush is too bendy, not quite dense enough, or it’s actually my own fault, I can’t really tell you. Still, I like this brush.

Studio Warm Bronzer Quad:

(Swatch: top four are the colours individually, and the bottom shade is all four shades swirled together. The first, bronzy colour seems to be the most dominant shade.)

I bought this in hopes that it wouldn’t be shimmery, and I could use it for contouring. To my sadness, it is fairly shimmery. However, after using it to contour a few times, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s pretty pigmented, particularly the two darker shades, and I only need a very little bit on my brush to make a subtle, pretty contour. Also, the two lighter shades can be used as a pretty highlight. Another not-amazing, but good product.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with this haul. I haven’t had much opportunity yet to try the products a lot, so we’ll see if any of them end up in my favourites in the future.

Thanks for reading!