Multi-Week Collective Haul

Hello again! Over the past couple of weeks I’ve picked up a bunch of stuff that I’ve been wanting to try or needing to replace, and a couple extra things. Most of the following is cosmetic related, but I’m also going to show you a few other things:

Random food/snack purchases:

• Vanilla sprinkle Dunkaroos: I hadn’t had these in years, and they were less than $4, so bought them on an impulse.
• Mint green tea hard candies: I wasn’t completely sure what I was buying when I got these (since all the writing is in Japanese), and I didn’t realise they’re mint as well, but they’re still good.
• Dragon Pearl jasmine green tea: this tea is super expensive, which why I only got a small sample bag. It’s really good, but, to be honest, I don’t think its all that much better than other Jasmine green teas, like from David’s Tea or Stash, which are much cheaper!
• Agave nectar: They use this sweetener a lot when you get a hot tea or tea latte at David’s Tea, and it gives a completely different flavour to sugar, so I got myself a bottle for at home.
• Greek yogurt: Everyone is always talking about this stuff, so I finally had to try it. I actually bought three different brands, to try and find the best one, and the one pictured, which is Liberte in coconut flavour was really good, and bits of coconut in it as well. I really disliked the Krema branded one. The first one I had, which was a honey flavoured was probably my favourite, but I can’t remember the brand off the top of my head…

Other random purchases:

I got these super soft sweatpants from Bluenotes for $5. The colourful pens are smelly pens from a Japanese dollar store near Chinatown, and the black one is just a liquid ink fineliner from a dollar store.

These pretty earrings I found in a little store in Chinatown. They were 40% off, and less than $7. They have sterling silver posts and the stones are Tiger Eye. I really love them, and the way they shine in the light!

Cosmetic purchases:

Rexall Vitamin E Nail Polish Remover with Conditioners:

Just your regular everyday nail polish remover. I was completely out and this was only about $1.50 at Rexall.

Clean & Clear Invisible Blemish Treatment:

I have  Clinique acne gel somewhere, but it’s been lost for a while. I don’t like to use my concealer spot treatment at night, so I finally got myself a new bottle. I picked this one because it was the cheapest one at my Shoppers that had 2% Salicylic Acid, which works best on my zits.

Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water:

Unless I’m very much mistaken, this is basically a combination of toner, cleanser, and makeup remover (hence Triple action). You just swipe it on with a cotton pad or ball, and it takes off all your makeup, even waterproof mascara with minimal rubbing. There’s a larger size which is much more cost effective, but I wasn’t sure I’d like this product, so I got this one.

Though I’ve never tried it, I think this is basically Sephora’s version of the Bioderma cleanser. So far, I’m really liking it. It leaves my skin feeling clean, without the dryness of my usual toner. I also like the convenient pump-top on the bottle.

Maybelline Turbo Express Volume mascara:

If you remember from past posts, this is my favourite mascara, and has been for a while. The formula and the brush just agree with my eyelashes so much more than other mascaras for some reason. So when I found this one sale for $5 at London Drugs, I had to pick it up, partly out of fear that they’re discontinuing this particular mascara.

Nyx Lipstick in Fig:

I picked this up partly because I wanted to try a Nyx lipstick and I’m pretty into lip stuff lately, for some reason. This is basically a my-lips-but-better type of colour, maybe a bit more bubblegum than the average lip. It’s creamy and shiny, but without any sparkle. I wanted to get one of their matte lipsticks, but they didn’t have any colours that suited me. I’m liking this lipstick so far, but I find it can be hard to make it go on un-streaky sometimes.

OPI polish in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service:

You may already know (or be able to guess) that this colour is from OPI’s Skyfall collection. I fell in love with this colour, and thought about it for a week before finally caving and picking it up. It’s got this beautiful blue-grey base with a crazy amount of silver, blue, and a bit of purple sparkle! It’s so gorgeous in natural light! The swatch above is two coats; I’ve taken to wearing two coats of it over a blue or grey polish to add some more opacity.

OCC Lip Tar in NSFW:

Above: dotted onto my hand; Below: blended out.

I had to pick this up with all the raving about it on Reddit, as well as a couple vlogs. It’s a super pigmented liquid lipstick, which is also very long lasting, and a little bit staining. As you can see from the swatches above, a little goes a long way, and this colour blends down almost to a bright pink, or you can build it up a bit more for a pure red lip.

I haven’t worn this for a full day yet, but I have tried it on. It’s fairly easy to spread and work with, and it feels pretty good on the lips, with a little bit of a minty scent to it. As you can see in one of the other pictures above, I got the colour NSFW. My Sephora only had this colour and Anime (a neon pink) left when I went, so I chose this, which I thought would be more wearable.

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And that’s everything for now! I do have some more stuff to show you, which I got after starting this post, but that will come eventually. I’ve decided that when I get to 50 followers, I’ll start my giveaway… I’ve even started buying the prizes.

Anyways, let me know if you’ve tried any of these products and what your thoughts were. I love getting your comments!

How I spent the last of my Glymm points…

Sorry for the gap in posts! It’s been about a week since my last post. I’ll try to be better now, really, but it can be hard during the semester, especially since this semester is very reading-heavy! I’m already feeling exhausted… Oh well, moving on:

Anyway, this is just a quick post to show you what I got with the last of my Glymm points. I ordered this during the boxing week sales, so there were discounts. On top of that, the lashes were part of the December box, so they made my shipping free as well. So in total, this order came to less than $4! Then, when I opened the box, there was an extra set of lashes! They were supposed to be 3 for $15, but I got 4.

Lashem False Lashes:

These aren’t really anything special, and definitely heavier than the Ardell lashes, which are fairly comfortable. They’re also pretty crazy dramatic, at least for me. I mostly bought them because they were so cheap, and they saved me shipping, but I should definitely get some use of them! At worst, I might trim some of the longer pieces shorter on at least one of the sets, since I have 3 that are identical, and it might make a more wearable pair. (Technically, since I’d be happy to get a Butter polish for $4, I can claim these were free!)

Butter London Polish in La Moss:

I wanted to get this because I love my deep red Oxblood polish from RGB, and I wanted something like a backup. This looked more purple on the site, but it’s actually very close. Either way, I love it, and it’s very good quality, being a non-glitter Butter polish! More than worth the $4!

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And that’s all! I’m definitely happy with my order, but especially after Glymm’s price increase to $15/month, I’m almost certainly done with the company.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I should have a big haul post up in a couple day. Please let me know if there are any posts you would like to see. Also, I have started buying things for my giveaway. I think I’ll start it when I hit 50 followers, so if you follow, but not publicly, it’s in your best interest to follow through GFC! =)

Thanks for reading!

Broadway Nails imPress Press-on Manicure Review

A couple days ago, I showed you that I won these press-on nails in a contest, and I wanted to do a separate post to tell you more about my thoughts on those.

The back of the package, and also the instructions:

Pretty straightforward. One great thing about these is that they already have the adhesive on them, and so you just have to figure out what sizes fit your nails, pull off the plastic backings, and stick them on! Also included in the box is:

This is basically just a little pad with alcohol to get any extra dirt or oil off your nails to make sure that the nail sticks properly. Just make sure to let your nails dry before you try to apply the press-ons, otherwise it’s not going to work.

They also include this mini nail file, maybe for shaping either your nails or the false ones, or for smoothing out the top of your nails. I’m not sure, since it doesn’t say. I didn’t really use this, but I’m sure it could be useful for some people.

And here is the adorable packaging inside:

I think it’s so cute that it looks like a big nail polish bottle!

And here’s what the nails look like:

If you look really closely, you can see the plastic tab coming out from under one side of the nail. This is to show you which end points towards your cuticle, and also to make it easier to get the plastic off the adhesive.

And, here they are on:

If you look too close, you’ll see a couple of my nails are a little crooked. This is something to watch out for, since, once they’re pressed in place it isn’t easy (read: next to impossible) to get them off again. The one that I did peel back off to set straighter never re-adhered properly, and ultimately was the first one to come off.

And here’s a look at the length compared to the length of my nails at the time:

These were pretty long, but definitely still functional. My biggest issue with false nails is that my nails are very curved, and often falsies pinch or pull on my nail bed. For some reason—even though these weren’t the same shape, and often were either too wide or not wide enough for my nails—these didn’t do that. They were actually perfectly comfortable, and did last almost a whole week for me. The only irritating thing about these was that when I ran my fingers through my hair for any reason, hair would get caught under the edges close to the cuticles. This makes hair washing pretty annoying! It’s possible I didn’t get them close enough to the cuticle, but for the most part, I think they are, so I think it’s a fault in the nails, not in my application.

Overall, I would like to be able to say I would purchase these for another time. Before I realised they were usually very short, I thought they’d be great for nail-meltdowns, when I just seem to be breaking everywhere and need pretty nails. However, while sometimes I get some bad splits and breaks, I rarely loose so much of my nail that the regular imPress nails would cover my natural ones. Very disappointing! They need to make a longer version!

And, finally, I wanted to show off how I dressed up these simple black nails for New Year’s Eve:

I did a holographic glitter gradient. A quarter of the way down, I did a coat of my holographic topcoat. Then I used my LA Colours holographic glitter for one coat from half-way down the nail, and then at three-quarters. I love the outcome; it’s like I dipped my nails in crystals or diamonds! I know I’ve done glitter gradients before, but somehow I’m always so astonished at how easy it is to do something so stunning!

Also, while I’m annoyed at the shortness of the regular nails from imPress, and will likely never repurchase them, I can see how they could be great for people who just can’t grow their nails long. If you wanted just a little extra length without it being so long that it’s hard to deal with, these would be great, and (if I remember correctly) they come in simple colours, French tips, and crazy patterns, so there are lots of options!

Let me know if you’ve tried these nails out, and what you thought of them. Thanks for reading!

London Drugs mini-haul + One last Christmas prezzie!

Since it’s so obvious in the picture below, let’s start with my final Christmas present from my boyfriend. He bought me lots of presents leading up to Christmas, but I love surprises, so I told him I just wanted one small thing to unwrap from him as well. This was a bit late, since he ordered it online from ThinkGeek, but I don’t mind because I’m so happy I have it: My Gandalf plushie! They had these a while back, marketed as Lord of the Rings plushies, but because of the Hobbit movie, they released them again, and I was so excited because I’d wanted one last time, but they ran out a day or two before I was going to place my order! I love my squishy little wizard so much… I’m such a nerd… let’s move on to the makeup, shall we? >_>

Because he’s crazy, or too nice for his own good, or both, or something else, my boyfriend buys me a lot of stuff. We needed something to do last week, so he asked for some of the products I’ve been wanting, and I gave him a short list. He decided we were going shopping. I wanted to pick up a white liner, a lip liner, and a brow pencil. I estimated they’d be less than $30… since they were much less than that, David decided I also needed the Real Techniques brushes, since I was looking at them probably somewhat longingly while we were at London Drugs! I’m kinda spoiled…!

On to what I got, and swatches!

NYC Kohl Eye Liner Pencil in White:

I’ve been wanting to try using a white pencil in my waterline for a long time, which is why I finally picked up this pencil. I chose NYC because it was long, very cheap, and because I wasn’t sure at all if I would like the effect, since I’m so used to my black liner in my waterline. This pencil is actually creamier than I expected it to be, considering the brand and price (less than 3 bucks, and it was 40% off!), but it isn’t very pigmented and it takes several swipes to get any visible colour on my waterline.

As for whether I like the look on me: not so much. At least, I don’t like using it on it’s own. I have yet to try using this in the waterline, and a black or colour along the lower lash-line, and I want to try that eventually. This is pretty good, though, as a subtle highlight on my inner corner.

NYX Auto Eyebrow Pencil in Light Brown:

This is a retractable brow pencil on one end, with a small brow brush on the other end, as you can see in the picture. Oddly, the brush end is like a cap, but when you take it off, there’s nothing underneath. Though that’s not all that important. It’s nice to have the brush to tidy up the little hairs in your brows and to even out the colour. The colour goes on really easily, and the pencil is slightly oval shaped, so that it’s easy to draw a very thin, precise line.

Overall, I really like this pencil, the only issue is that I bought one colour too light. It looked good swatched on my hand, but it ends up looking a little orange in my brows, especially if I draw a little too heavily. Still, it’s workable; I’m sure I’ll repurchase eventually in my correct colour.

NYX Retractable Lip Liner in Nude:

I’ve never been a lip-product type of person, but lately, I’ve been starting to like lipsticks a lot more, which is why I wanted to get myself a good liner. I went with a nude coloured liner so that I can use it with a variety of colours, rather than trying to find pinks, berries, and reds to match my different lipsticks. I thought this pencil would be too brown or too dark for my lips, but its actually very hard to tell the difference between the pencil colour and my natural lips. Also, I’m not sure if I should continue using it as I have so far, which is just thickly lining the edges of my lips, or try filling in my lips with the pencil first like I’ve seen some YouTubers do… that almost seems like a waste of a pencil.

Anyways, I have found that my lipsticks last a bit longer and look a bit cleaner over the liner, so I’m happy with it. It also claims to be waterproof, which I hadn’t noticed before. I haven’t tried it enough times to really judge this claim, but that’s cool nonetheless!

Swatches:

Left to right: NYC eye liner, NYX lip liner, NYX brow pencil

And here’s me with the white on my waterline and the brow pencil in my brows. It’s not the perfect colour, but I’ve figured out that if I use it a lot lighter, I get a much more natural line, and the colour doesn’t look so off. That said, I do think I’ll need a darker colour next time, so I don’t end up with orange eyebrows!

And finally…

Real Techniques “Core Collection” brush set:

(Sorry for the weird colouring on this one…)

I forgot to take pictures of the brushes in the packaging, but you can see it in the collective picture above.

These brushes are definitely really nice. I’m not 100% sure what I’ll do with the foundation brush yet, since it seems a little small for foundation. The little brush I’m sure I’ll mainly use for lip products, unless I need it for eyeliner, the flat brush will likely be face powder or setting powder, and the small domed brush will be great for highlighting or contouring. I think I was expecting a little too much from these brushes, because I was expecting them to be softer, though that said, they feel even nicer than my ELF studio brushes, which I was—and still am—in love with.

The case is nice, and would be good for travelling, I’m sure, but for my everyday makeup, it just kinda gets in the way. As these brushes are incorporated into my routine, they’ll probably end up living outside the case with the rest of my brushes! Also, four brushes for only $20 is a pretty great deal, considering the price of single brushes at Sephora, MAC, or Sigma! I definitely think these are a good buy.

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So that’s everything this time! I still have some more reviews and purchases to show you, which I will hopefully get up in good time. Also, I have a pretty good idea what I’m going to buy for my giveaway, but it’s not too late to give me your input if you have any good ideas.

Thanks for reading!