|| My Holy Grail Products || Most Re-purchased & Most Loved! || {video}

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

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|| Soft Spring Makeup Tutorial w/ Orangey-Red Lips || {video}

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

I think I'm going to try to do this when I can, but here are some more pictures of the makeup look. And also a look into just how many pictures I take when trying to take title-card pictures! (if I've done it right, you should be able to clikc on any image below to view the full-size!)

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|| Tutorial || Urban Decay Naked on the Run Palette || {video}

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

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Daytime Smokey Eye Tutorial ft. Naked3 {VIDEO}

Looking for more ways to use your Naked3 palette and justify that pricey purchase? Here's what I'm calling a daytime smokey eye look, since it's darker than my usual everyday eye shadow look. Maybe it will be some kind of inspiration for you!

As always, you can click here to watch in HD, or watch below in the embedded player:

Thanks for watching!

MetropolisxKlout Spring Fashion Event

I’ve been on Klout probably for a couple of years now, but up until a couple weeks ago it had been completely and utterly useless. I’ve never got any perks that didn’t seem like spam, and there isn’t much to do on the site itself to try to get a better score, unlike Influenster, which allows you to be active on its own site, as well as ranking your social media scores.

But this post is not a rant about the uselessness of Klout, instead, I wanted to talk a little bit about this cool event I got to go to because of Klout!

I’m pretty sure they invited just about anyone in Vancouver who uses Klout, which probably isn’t all that many, because it was pretty busy, and I was only at the first event. They ran the same event at two different times. There was a bunch of free treats, samples, a big prize draw, and a (slightly lame) fashion presentation. For a better look at the event itself, how busy it was, and to see what the presentation looked like, don’t miss my vlog from the event (click here to watch on Youtube. Sorry, I messed up exporting this video, so no HD. Next time!):

And now that you’ve seen that, I just wanted to give you a better look at some of the stuff I got from the event. . .

As we entered, we were given these packages:

Which held our free giftcards (everyone got $10 to use in the mall), as well as our ticket for the prize draws, and our treat coupons:

The mini cupcakes were provided by Cupcakes, which I’m pretty sure is a Vancouver based brand. The hors d’oeuvres weren’t anything too special; there were 4 options including (half) samosas, a meditteranean wrap, an asian veggie wrap/roll thing, and cheesy mushroom tarts. I had the mushroom tart and samosa, and both were pretty good.

Mocktail, as you may already know, is a fancy name for fizzy juice drinks; Brit had the Pineapple Sunrise, which I think was pineapple, sprite, orange juice, and grenadine, and I had Midnight Pomegranate (or something like that), which had pomegranate juice, blueberry juice, sprite, and cranberry juice. It was alright… coulda used some rum =P Finally, the chocolates were provided by Purdy’s! Nom! They gave us a small salted caramel chocolate (which was aaaamaaaazing!) as well as a chocolate lollipop thing:

One of the tables at the event was The Bay, which was displaying Shiseido and Nars, who signed us up for complimentary facials (Shiseido) and makeup applications (Nars), which we went to do last Saturday:

L’Occitane was also there, and were signing people up for their newsletter and giving out free samples of their body cream:

My favourite, of course, was the Benefit table! They were doing mini makeup applications. My girl, whose name she either didn’t tell me, or else I completely blanked on it, put HighBeam and ChaCha Tint on me, and was very chatty and friendly.

Oh, and I got another sample of They’re Real mascara:

Did I mention we also got super cool/corny floral headband things?

By the way, if you like my makeup in the picture above, I have a tutorial for that look (minus the orange lips) going up next Saturday, so don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel to see that as soon as it’s out!

So that’s everything! Let me know if you were at the event, or if you’ve ever got anything cool from Klout. Thanks for reading!

B2S 2: Back to School Makeup–Fresh and Natural

Hello again. You may be confused by the title, and wondering why you can’t find B2S 1, if this post is #2, which is honestly fair enough. That post is up on my other blog—Thought-Constellations—and you can find it by clicking right here.

If I had the lighting in my house, I would have liked to have done this post as a video for you, since video tutorials are much more helpful. As it is, I guess these types of posts (I’m planning to do a couple more after this one) will be more of a look inspiration post, just to give you ideas of what sort of products you could use and what type of looks you could make.

The idea for today’s makeup look was meant to look simple and somewhat natural, while still pretty and more pulled-together than no makeup. Here’s what I used to achieve my look:

Garnier BB Creme in Light/Medium:

This is an optional step, especially in a natural look, but it does give extra coverage if you need or want that, especially when layered with a coloured—rather than a translucent—powder. For more coverage, you could used a light foundation; one I would suggest is Revlon’s Nearly Naked.

Clinique Acne Solutions Concealer:

If you need a concealer to cover zits and pimples, like I do at the moment, then I would suggest using one that fights your acne while it’s covering it. This is the one I use, and I quite like it. It doesn’t do as much as my regular zit gel for clearing up the issue, but it doesn’t make the problem worse like other concealers, and it covers well.

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Silky Beige:

Even if you don’t want to use a foundation or BB cream, you should use a powder that matches your skin in order to help even out your complexion and help mattify some shine. This is my favourite one.

Benefit Coralista Blush:

This is my favourite blush, and I think it gives a really natural glow, as well as some colour, to your face. I love the coral more than a pink, because it almost doubles as a highlighter, and with the pretty gold shimmer, it also helps to highlight the face. If you want to try this, but don’t have the money, ELF has one in their Studio line called “Candid Coral” which is identical and only $3.

Nyx Eyebrow Pencil in Taupe:

While not essential, filling in your eyebrows helps to pull the look together and ultimately makes you look a lot more polished. There are tons of alternatives to a pencil, if pencils and you don’t get along, such as brow powders, gels, waxes, etc. At the very least, I would suggest shaping your brows and cleaning up any stray hairs, or going to get them done professionally.

Essence I <3 Stage Eye Primer:

If you use the next product that I am as well, you don’t really need an eye primer, as the Maybelline Colour tattoos aren’t going anywhere, but if you use any other shadow, especially a powder shadow, then a base helps to cover up any imperfections on you eyelid and really pumps up the pigmentation of your shadows, as well as increasing their longevity.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze:

These are kind of a miracle product. I can’t believe I waited to try them. I only have this one, but it’s wonderful. It’s super easy to apply, very buildable, very easy to sheer out… very versatile, really. It’s great on it’s own or layered under powder shadows as a base. I’m in love and want more.

For this look, I started on the outside corners of my eyes to put the most pigmentation there, and then sheered it out towards the inner corners.

Covergirl EyeEnhancers Shadow in Champagne:

After applying the Colour Tattoo, I used this shadow just as a highlight around my tearduct on both the upper and lower lash line.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner Pencil in Perversion:

I used a black liner just on my waterline. This is definitely optional, but I love how it helps to define my eyes. Another option would be to use a white or skintone coloured pencil, and just make sure to apply mascara to your bottom lashes. This would open up your eye more and help you look more awake.

Revlon Lash Potion Mascara in Blackest Black:

Finally, you need to finish the look with some mascara. I’m wearing about two coats of this one for this look. This mascara isn’t phenomenal, but it is a pretty good, basic mascara. If you don’t like a lot of volume or length, and just want something simple, I would recommend this one.

Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch:

Although I’m not wearing it in the picture below, I’m including this because it seems wrong to call a look finished when you aven’t mentioned the lips. This would be a good choice for a natural look because it just gives a bright but sheer wash of pink to the lips, and it’s also very hydrating and contains SPF 20.

The finished look:

This look is great because it’s shimmery and pretty, but not overdone. Also, since the eye shadow is so long-lasting, this would be a great base to work off if you needed a look to go from day to night. Just add some liquid liner and a wing on top, another coat of mascara, and a bright or red lipstick. And maybe some bronzer to contour.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out my other Back to School posts!

***

Other posts in this series:

B2S 1: Back to School Food and Snacks	B2S 2: Back to School Makeup—Fresh and Natural
B2S 3: Back to School Book Haul

(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

Face of the Day: Valentine’s Day Makeup

I did a post about my Valentine’s Day over on my new blog—Thought Constellations—but I thought this was the best place to show off my makeup for that day. If you want to know more about what I did, ate, wore, and got, you can take a peek at the new blog. =)

I decided to go pretty and simple, so as not to draw too much attention away from my new dress.

As usual, I used a mix of my Garnier BB Cream and my Lancôme foundation as a base, which I set with my Rimmel Stay Matte powder. For blush, I used Benefit Coralista. On my eyes, I used my ELF Mineral eye primer, and used the bronze colour in the Hard Candy box powder in Truth or Dare as my base colour and a champagne shadow from Cover Girl as a highlight on my inner corner. Then I used my Wet’n’Wild H2O Proof liquid liner, my Urban Decay 24/7 pencil liner in Zero, and one coat each of Maybelline’s Cat Eyes mascara and Maybelline Turbo Volume Express. I finished with my NYX brow pencil and a soft, glittery, neutral Revlon ColorStay lipstick (which the colour name has rubbed off). Oh, and I set everything with my Urban Decay All Nighter spray, of course.

Anyway, here’s the finished look:

Thanks for reading! =)

Random Face of the Day

I don’t often get a chance to do as much makeup as I like to do, but this Friday I managed to make myself wake up early enough to do a full face, so I thought I’d share the results.

What I used:

• Garnier BB Cream in Light/Medium mixed with Lancôme Color Ideal (not sure the colour)
• Benefit Coralista blush
• NYX mechanical brown pencil in light brown
• Urban Decay primer potion
• Urban Decay Virgin on the whole lid and Toasted in the crease and outer corner, from my original Naked Palette
• Urban Decay 24/7 pencil liner in Zero
• Maybelline Colossal Volume Cat Eyes mascara followed my Maybelline Turbo Volume Express in Very Black
• NYC Moisturizing Lipstick in 353A
• Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray

I hope you liked this post, thanks for reading!

September 2012 Favourites!

Hey! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted, but I’ve had school stuff to catch up on. Also, I know I skipped my fashion pet peeve post, and that will be up in a couple of days, but I wanted to get this one up before the end of this week! And now, for my September favourite products.

I had a few more last month than I have for a while because of my trip to Seattle, so I had several new things to play around with and fall in love with.

1. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains:

As I mentioned in my PAX/Seattle haul post, I got these in the States, though they are now available in Canada. I am absolutely in love with these! They feel great on the lips, they’re moisturizing and a tiny bit tingly because of the mint. Also, the colour is fantastic! Honey, the paler one, is a very neutral colour on my lips, and very wearable for everyday. Sweetheart, the bright pink, is just what the packaging suggests: a perfect, bright Barbie pink colour. And they last and wear wonderfully; the colour stays a long time, especially on Sweetheart, even once they stop feeling like lip balms! If I had more money, I’d probably try to pick up a couple more colours!

2. Benefit Coralista blush:

I also picked this up in the States, so it would be a bit cheaper, and I have used it so much in the past month that my NARS Orgasm blush is probably starting to feel left out (though I use it every once in a while, because I feel sorry for it!). The colour is very natural on my skin, and its harder for me to put on too much than it is with Orgasm. Also, I hadn’t noticed before I bought this, because of the overwhelming (and wonderful) scent of Sephora itself, but this blush has a bit of a fragrance. At first I didn’t like that, because it seems unnecessary, but I’ve grown to love it. If you want to see swatches, check out my Seattle Haul.

3. Urban Decay All Nighter make up setting spray:

I already knew that I loved this before I picked it up, which is why I knew I wanted it! This actually does make my makeup last so much longer than it would without this step. Also, it doesn’t smell like much of anything, and is so fine that it doesn’t make your face feel wet or anything, and it dries very quickly. And, this bottle will probably last me forever, since I only use one or two pumps of it and only when I do a full face of makeup that I need to last all day.

4. Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream:

I don’t actually own this right now, but I have before. And recently my hands had started drying up and peeling terribly for some reason. Change in the weather maybe? At any rate, nothing I had was working, not Body Shop body butters, Ahava hand lotion, or any number of other pretty smelling lotions I have. Luckily, my boyfriend had this from last winter, when his hands had decided to hate him, and I made him buy this because my old bottle had worked so well for him. I’ve used this maybe 4 or 5 times since I gave up on my regular hand lotions, and they’ve almost completely stopped peeling already. I definitely need to get myself another tube of this!

5. Out the Door fast drying top coat:

And finally, one more product from the States. I don’t think you can get this one anywhere in Canada, which is really sad, because it is quickly replacing Seche Vite as my favourite topcoat. I don’t mind the smell of Seche, though that is one of people’s biggest complaints, however, I am getting very sick of the shrinkage, which OTD doesn’t cause! The only thing I prefer Seche for now is it’s shininess, which OTD is just a bit inferior for. Also, Seche is a little better for smoothing out the roughness of glitter polishes. Maybe I actually need both polishes… At any rate, this was definitely a favourite this past month, and I’m sad that I’d have to pay almost three times as much as I bought it for in Target to get it here (it’s $11 on nailpolishcanada.com, whereas it was $4.99 at Target).

Non-beauty favourites:

1. Garlic Hummus (and potato chips)

Image taken from Contest-Corner.com

All of my non-beauty favourites this month are food, and two of the three are also from the States, or at least thanks to my Seattle trip. This one is the latter, since I discovered eating hummus with potato chips during my trip one night. Our hotel had a grocery store next door, and one night, tired of fast food, my boyfriend and I decided to get a bunch of random food and ended up with deli meat, garlic sourdough bread, cheese, hummus, and potato chips. The picture is of the same brand we had in Seattle, though any Garlic Hummus is good enough for me. Mmm…!

2. Cherry Coke:

Okay. This is an obsession. I bought an entire case of this while I was in the States, and I have been very good at rationing it thus far, and I have 4 or 5 cans left. I’m pretty proud of myself, especially since last year I bought a case and drank it in about two weeks! It makes me so sad that we don’t have Cherry Coke here in Canada, even though we have before for a limited time. Also, there’s a 50’s diner in Maple Ridge that makes it from cherry flavoured syrup and regular coke. If I had more money and room to store it, I’d probably have bought more of this, because it is literally my favourite pop ever.

3. Tea (especially Irish Breakfast):

Image taken from BakersandLarners.co.uk

Finally, tea! Specifically Bewley’s Irish Breakfast tea, which I bought a couple months ago at a British Store in New Westminster. Since it’s finally cooled down around here a bit (and because I don’t have the money to buy myself a coffee or tea each morning for class), I’ve been drinking several cups of this tea pretty much every day! It’s just a regular tea, somewhat similar to Red Rose, if you know what that is, except that this tea company is so much older, and actually from Ireland, which is pretty cool. I like to drink this with milk and a fair amount of sugar. I also really like that this tea gets pretty strong, and the bags are pretty big, since all of my mugs hold at least 2 cups of hot water!

So, those were my favourite products for the month of September. I’d love to hear what you think, or what your favourite products were! Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading!