Another contest link for you!

Nancy over at SpiffyKerms.com is having a massive giveaway with your choice of prizes for her birthday! She’s giving away $500 worth of stuff, and nine people will be chosen to win one item or set of items. Here are the prizes:

To enter, just go to spiffykerms.com/2012/05/my-birthday-giveaway and fill out the Rafflecopter form!

This contest is only open a couple more days, until May 13th, so enter soon!

(The link to this contest, as well as other current contests, can also be found in the “Contest Links” tab at the top of my blog)

My April 2012 Favourites!

It seems the months have once again changed, as they frequently do, and so it must be time again for another favourites post! So, what, you ask, were my favourite products during the last month?

1. Garnier BB Cream in “Light/Medium”
   
   
   Or, if you want the whole, insanely long name, the “Garnier Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream” … Yeah. I don’t know why they can’t just call it a BB Cream, but apparently there are some very wordy people in the Garnier product naming department.
   Anyway, I really am loving this product. Although I am a little let down that it doesn’t have SPF in it, which I think another country’s version of it does, I really love the texture, and the light coverage of this product. It also smells really good and just makes me sort of happy when I put it on. Also, unlike the powders I’m used to using, it doesn’t make my skin look flakey, and it doesn’t cake like foundation. Definitely in love.
2. Revlon Lip Butter in “Strawberry Shortcake”
   
   
   I know I purchased this product a long time ago, but I’ve really been loving it in the last month, since it is very moisturizing, and not annoying to wear like a lipstick. Also, the colour is really beautiful! I’m finally validating my purchase of this product.
3. Mai Couture Social Gloss in “G’Vinity”
   
   
   I didn’t expect it when I first got last month’s Glymm box, but I actually really love this lip gloss. I’m not a big lip gloss person, since I hate the sticky feeling that even the best glosses seem to devolve to as you wear them, but this one’s very subtle, but sparkly colour is great, and it never really gets sticky! Also, if I didn’t mention in my Glymm box post, it smells a but like chocolate cherries, which is never a bad thing!
4. The Body Shop’s Chocomania Body Butter
   
   
   I got this late in the month, so it almost doesn’t count, but I’ve been using it so frequently since that I think it deserves its spot on this list. Its so moisturizing, and it smells bloody fantastic! Who doesn’t want to smell like chocolate? (Though, this probably isn’t a great summer scent, once the bees and wasps start to emerge.)

Non-cosmetic products:

I actually haven’t had that many obsessions this month, to be honest, but a couple of my favourite things include:

1. The Avengers
   
   
   After seeing the trailer for the Avengers movie before the Hunger Games in theatres, I decided it looked really good, and got my boyfriend to tell me what movies I had to watch to be ready for this new one. I’d actually never seen any of them before, and now I’m almost ashamed to admit that, because they are just so fantastic. The Hulk and the two Ironman movies are certainly my favourites, and I love that neither of the two set out to be superheroes, and that it was something that just sort of fell into. So this series has quickly become a favourite and I am so excited to see the new one, now that it’s out!
2. Concerts
   
   
   A large part of my time and money last month went to concerts, with the Coldplay on on the 21st, followed by the Snow Patrol concert on the 30th. Both were fantastic, though the venue and the show for Coldplay were both better than Snow Patrol. There were too many screaming girls at Snow Patrol for my liking, and Coldplay puts on one hell of a show, not just because they’re awesome, but the lights, the wristbands, the various screens… it was just beautiful! (This picture is from the same night at the Coldplay concert I was at, but my seats were much closer. This is a nice picture though!)

Sorry it took so long to get this up. I also just wanted to let you know that I am currently trying to make sure I have enough money for PAX at the end of August, as well as this semester’s one class, so I’m on an absolute minimum budget, which means no makeup. So far I’ve done well, but it’s only been a week. I’m waiting for it to get painful, heh. So yeah, most of my posts for the next little will be nail art, if I do any, and Glymm boxes, which I am still receiving, because I am addicted.

What were your favourites last month? Let me know!

Second Attempt at Water Marbling

Hello all, sorry for the long wait between this and the last post. I completely forgot somehow that I hadn’t posted this mani from about a week ago!

The first thing to note is how my left and right hands turned out completely differently, basically because one of the colours I used on my left was too translucent, and I had to do two layers to get a good amount of colour, which causes some really bizarre patterns from the layering. So my right hand used only two of the colours. While I like the colours better on my left, the right hand turned out looking much cleaner.

You’ll also notice that there are weird blotches and white spots on all the nails. Its weird, because these were raised bumps before my topcoat, but the Seche Vite did something weird to the polish, resulting in this odd look. Anyways, here are my pictures:

My right thumb turned out really cool, whereas my left thumb didn’t even warrant a picture.

Sorry for the messy cuticles, I’m a very impatient person! Also, the dark splotch on my right ring finger is also because of impatience… I really thought they were dry, and went to make tea… they weren’t dry. =(

If you are wondering what polishes I used, I did two coats of Sephora by OPI’s A-ha Moment as my white base. Then my right hand has OPI Did it On ‘Em and Fascino #26. My left has both of these, plus Wet’n’Wild Caribbean Frost.

Thanks for reading! Remember to check back, as I’ll be posting my April favourites soon!

Another Mini-haul (or in other words: I shop too much!)

So I was at the mall earlier because Brit had said that Sephora was having some special Nars event, and they were doing mini makeovers, and if you bought two products, there was some kind of gift bag. However, Nars is expensive, and the gift bag was just a few deluxe samples, and they were all different. So we didn’t buy anything, but we got our makeup done, and the artist who did mine commented on my Ravenclaw necklace, and then I remembered she was the one who had also noticed my Gallifrey shirt a couple weeks ago, so we talked about Doctor Who for a while, which was pretty cool. =)

Anyways, then Brit and I walked around the mall a bit, and I found a couple of polishes at Icing, which I haven’t been to in a long time, and their polishes have gotten so much more interesting! I fell in love with about 10 different glitters, but I picked two (since it was a buy one get one 50% off deal). I got:

Radio Super Star, which, as you can see is blue mini glitter, pink hex, and big silver stars! So cute!

And I also got What Planet Are You On?, which is this gorgeous neon green full of glitter, which gives is a really cool quality and depth!

Here’s swatches of these two polishes. I think you can tell which is which:

Icing also has this glitter nail polish remover thing, which is a little tub I’m guessing is full of polish remover, and has a brush inside that is supposed to help scrub off glitter, but I decided I wasn’t allowed three things, though its a great idea if it would work…

Then, in The Body Shop, another place I haven’t shopped in a while, I picked up a couple things from the Chocomania line, which were on 2 for $10. I got the lip butter, which smells exactly like chocolate icing:

And a small (50ml) pot of the body butter, which smells exactly like the lip butter:

And here’s everything I purchased today all together:

Also, in the mail today, I finally got the stamper and scraper I ordered from eBay so I could use the stamping plate I won, what, a couple months ago?

It took a really long time… Also, I am currently pretty bad at this, here are my first attempts:

April Glymm Box!

Guess what I got today!

If you guessed my April Glymm box, you would be correct! It actually came two days before Canada Post’s prediction this week, though for some reason they didn’t leave it at my door like usual, so I had to wait an extra day and go pick it up. But anyways, let’s get right on to the box, shall we?

I’m not a big fan of the picture cards, but this month’s is very pretty. But it’s supposed to be April Showers, not flowers, please excuse me if that was meant to be a cute play on words, but to me it just sounds like they confused the line. …ANYWAYS… here’s the other side of the card:

As you can see, this box had four samples (depending how you count them) and a “Bonus.” I’ll show you the bonus first, because I am simply not impressed:

First thoughts after looking at the front: “Yeah, but how much do I have to spend?”

Technically, this is just a $100 to use on Nu Me products—or at least, on their hair extensions and styling tools—and you don’t need to spend anything to use it. However, what isn’t mentioned on this card, is that the feather hair extensions from last month DO NOT COUNT for this promotion, which made me sad, because my first thought was that I would be able to get a few different colours of extensions with this. Instead, the cheapest thing you can buy with this card is their Mini straightener, which is $115 (American, I think), and if you read the reviews, this is too small to be good for anything other than touch-ups. The next size up, the Petite straightener, is $125, and with the discount, plus shipping to Canada, this product will still cost you $40.

So, although this sounds like a great bonus on first glance, this is pretty much useless to me. However, go ahead and use the code if you are in need of a new straightener or some hair extensions… everyone got the same code. I know I won’t be using it.

And here’s the first look into my box:

You can’t see too much with that first sample on top, so we’ll start with that one:

Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine Fragrance:

Full size: 30 ml for $60 or 200 ml for $165
Sample size: ?? It doesn’t say, but I’d estimate 1.5 ml
Approx. value: $2.12
(I took an average of the prices; it could be valued anywhere from max: $3.00-min: $1.24)

I’m not exactly impressed by this sample, since it is annoyingly packaged and small. I don’t like this packaging, since it is hard to open without getting all over your hands when you take the lid off. Also, this is a very small sample, and Glymm is supposed to be supplying us deluxe samples not the same samples you can get for free from makeup counters. So I’m a little disappointed that this isn’t a little larger.

However, I do like the product itself. With the fancy French name, I was expecting an expensive, flowery fragrance, however this smells very strongly of oranges, like when you peel an orange and the zest gets everywhere. And I really like that. I probably wouldn’t repurchase this, though.

Lucia Soap No. 6 (Wild Ginger & Fresh Fig):

Full size: 8 soaps for $17.50
Sample size: 1 soap
Approx. value: $2.19

I’m not a big bar soap user, I prefer liquids, however, this smells really nice. I’ll probably take a long time to use this, though, since most of my showering happens at the gym, and it would be hard to pack a bar of soap there and back. I am very sure I wouldn’t repurchase this, though, since it’s very pricey for soap. I think the most expensive soap I’d ever buy would be a shower gel from the Body Shop.

Free Your Mane Sulfate-free Hydrating Shampoo & Daily Detangling Conditioner:

Full size: 300 ml for $16.00 (each, so $32 total)
Sample size: 7.4 ml each
Approx. value: ~$0.39 each (or $.079 total)

I haven’t used these yet, so I can’t tell you if I like them, and because of the stupid packaging, I can’t even open them up and tell you if they smell any good. You might be sensing another rant about bad packaging, and if so, you’re right. I know I’m not the only one, and I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I HATE THIS PACKAGING!! Why is it so hard to give us good sized samples? These packets cannot be closed, and there is no more than two uses in each packet. That is not enough to really try out a product, and if you want me to spend $16 a bottle on your shampoo, you better give me more to work with! I’ve gotten the same sized samples for free in the mail and in magazines, and since I’m paying for deluxe samples (I feel like I’m repeating myself), I expect to get them. Since this is worth less than a dollar for both samples, I’m sure it wouldn’t cost Glymm or the company much more to give us proper sized samples IN BOTTLES!

Sigh. That said, I’m also disappointed because this sample sounds promising, and I want to like it, but I’m sure, again, that I won’t be repurchasing, because this simply isn’t enough to get a feel for such an expensive product.

Mai Couture Social Gloss in G’Vinity:

Full size: 5 ml for $28.00
Sample size: full size; 5ml
Approx. value: $28.00

Finally, we come to what it pretty much my favourite thing in this box. This gloss looks a little scary in the tube, with its odd tan colour, but it goes on almost clear, and ends up looking basically like a shiny, glittery top coat for your lips! Also, it smells like chocolate cherries! Yum!

I really like this, and that its full size, but I probably would never purchase this, because it is very small, especially for the price! While it is a nice gloss, there are plenty of good glosses that won’t set you back thirty bucks.

One odd thing I noticed is that the prices on the card are not necessarily the same as the prices of these products if you want to buy them from the Glymm shop, which seems a little silly. For example, the shampoo and conditioner are $19.99 from Glymm…

Approx. Overall value of this month’s box: $33.10

Anyways, overall, I suppose I’m satisfied, but not actually impressed with this month’s box. However, if you have a use for the $100 gift card, I could see you being much more impressed with this month. I’m glad I got a full sized product, and that everything I received I can use quite happily, unlike some products, which I use just because I feel like I have to, since I technically paid for them. If you think about it, though, the lip gloss alone pays for this month almost three times. So, once again, I’ll be continuing my subscription at least one more month.

Did you get a Glymm box this month? Let me know what you thought, or if you want to share your experiences with any of the other monthly box programs, that’s great too.

Thanks for reading, have a great day =)