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

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

Thanks for watching!

November 2013 Favourites!

As you may have guessed, considering it’s the end of the first week of December, it’s about time for me to post my favourites from the last month! Just like last year, this will be the last normal monthly favourites post, and at the end of December I will be posting my All-Time Favourites of 2013! But for now, let’s get onto this year’s November Favourites!

1. Scarves

I loooove scarves! I wait all year for it to be cold enough to wear them. I just think they are so cute, especially with a leather jacket. Pretty much any outfit can look fabulous and put together with a scarf and a leather jacket. That said, I don’t like wool or most other kinds of knitted scarves, I just usually find them scratchy and irritating.

So that’s a bit of a staple in my wardrobe at the moment. That, and my next thing:

2. Lipstick

Recently, lipstick is a part of just about every single one of my outfits. I know this is similar to one of my favourites last month, when I said “bold lips,” but I have to be honest. I haven’t even really had dry lips, despite the cold weather setting in, since my lips have pretty constantly been coated in gorgeous, comfortable lipsticks! (Oddly enough, both of those pictures are me… not sure why one is so white and the other so much more tan…)

3. Out the Door Topcoat

This has already been a favourite in the past, but after trying a few different ones, I have to say that this is still the best one I’ve ever used. It’s shiny, doesn’t smell terrible, dries fast, doesn’t shrink, and lasts a looong time! Also, a massive bottle, like I showed in my last haul, cost me only $22 dollars, which is ~$3 for a regular-sized bottle. All things considered, it’s basically perfect!

4. Eyebrows

Not only do I love clean, well-shaped, and filled-in brows, but they’ve become a regular part of my daily makeup. As I proved to myself just the other day, when I somehow forgot to fill mine in, I just feel like my entire look is messy and unfinished without my brows done! It doesn’t matter how perfectly covered my skin is, how much I blend my eye shadow, or how well my mascara turns out, I have to do my eyebrows now!

My Non-Beauty Favourites:

1. Glee

Image from Fans-De-Series.fr

I started watching Glee about the middle of October, I think, but I am completely in love and I have been speeding through the episodes since then. I’m currently, at the time of posting, only three episodes from the season finale for Season 4, so I’m almost caught up! Which is actually a little depressing, because that means I won’t be able to watch episode after episode anymore! Anyways, if you, like I had, have been living under a rock up until now, and you like music, dancing, and/or musicals… definitely give Glee a try. I’m betting you’ll be totally hooked.

2. Reading

Surely I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. I just finished two different teen, dystopian series, and am going back to Harry Potter, since GoodReads kept reminding me I only got halfway through Goblet of Fire last time I restarted the series! (The pictured quote is from “Allegiant” by Veronia Roth, which is the final book in the Divergent trilogy. If you haven’t read it, you should. And there’s a movie coming out in a few months or so.)

3. Marshmallow Fireside Candle from Bath and Body Works

I almost put this as a beauty favourite, but I’m not sure how a candle could possibly have anything to do with beauty, aside from the fact that it’s from a bath store and all the beauty bloggers love to talk about B&BW… but anyways. At the moment this is my absolute favourite candle. It smells all warm and smoky and comforting, but also a bit sweet and tasty. Mmm… If I didn’t have so many Christmas presents to buy, I’d probably pick up one or two more of this scent.

***

And that’s everything from last month! Thanks for reading, and make sure to comment and let me know what your favourites were for November!

June 2013 Favourites

Hey all. I really should be writing an essay right now, but I wanted to make sure this got up before the end of the week, so this is my last chance! Let’s jump right into it, shall we?

Cosmetic Favourites:

1. Urban Decay 24/7 Liner Pencil in Freak

Yep, I have another colour in the UD liners! I’m so in love with his neon, lime, almost-metallic liner! It’s just so easy to use this liner as a one-step eye look along with my usual daily black waterline and mascara, and I love it. Plus, it’s a fun, bright summer colour that isn’t going to go anywhere all day long! The swatch didn’t photograph well, but it looks really cool. I’d suggest going to swatch it in store if you have a Sephora.

2. Out the Door topcoat

This has been in my favourites before, but that was last September, and I thought it needed a re-mention. I love this topcoat even more than Seche Vite, since this one never seems to shrink on my nails and, even with half the bottle used up, it still hasn’t gone gloopy. I’m definitely going to have to try and find a store around here that sells it. They have it online at Sally Beauty Supply, so I might have to make a long trip over there to see if they have it, but I think there is a store in my mall that sells it as well. And, if all else fails, NailPolishCanada.com has it for $11, which is twice what I paid for it at Target in the states, but no more than I find Seche for in stores.

3. Collection 2000 Sparkle Top Coat

Another nail polish! I love this polish, since it can make any colour last a few more days by covering some little flaws while adding a gorgeous sparkle and shine! Its also really fast drying, so I don’t have to add another coat of topcoat when I put this on top of an older mani! As you can see, I’ve used a lot of this, and it isn’t available in Canada, from what I know. If you know where I can get some that will ship it to Canada for me, please let me know!

4. Baby Lips Peach

I may have mentioned the bright pink Baby Lips before in a favorites post, but I recently bought the peach one as well. I’ve been loving this because, without any help, my lips have been sunburning like crazy this year. The Baby Lips formula is smooth and smells fantastic, and it has SPF 25. This shade is very neutral, and I don’t notice any colour on my lips, which is great, because my first one was bright pink, but I don’t always want bright lips, so it’s good to have a neutral option as well. It has a slight shimmer to it, which just adds to the shine, and it helps to protect my lips. Also, did I mention they smell great?

Honorable Mention:

Elf powder. Wrong colour, but very buildable, and shockingly good coverage. Also, doesn’t break me out at all.

Non-Cosmetic Favourites:

1. Crystal Light Singles in Pink Lemonade

I got these on sale a while ago, and I’ve actually really been liking them. It’s been pretty hot lately, but I get sick of water pretty quickly. Having these with me in my bag when I’m out help me to stay hydrated, since I can just mix them into a cup or bottle of water. They also sometimes help to keep me from hitting a vending machine for a Coke or Pepsi, which is good, because these have only 5 calories per packet, as opposed to the 200 or so calories in a bottle of Coke.

2. Clif Bars

These are basically energy bars, and they come in tons of flavours. They can be pretty pricey, but Target sells them here in Canada for less than $1.50 each. They’re basically like soft, chewy cookies, but they’re also more filling, and full of fibre, minerals, and vitamins, so they’re a lot more healthy while still satisfying a sugary craving! I’m not saying they’re low-calorie, by the way. As an energy bar, they are going to have calories (where do you think your energy comes from? Calories are just a unit for measuring energy!), and these have about 250 cal/bar. But, if you were going to reach for a bunch of cookies, chocolate, or a brownie or something, and pick this instead, at least you’re gonna get some nutrients at the same time! My favourite flavour is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

3. My sunglasses

I love my sunglasses. They were super cheap, and I probably got them at Ardene or Stitches… I can’t actually remember. But they don’t distort anything, and they’re fun and pink, and they protect my eyes from the sun so I can see. Also, I love my bright green sunglass case, which I bought at Urban Planet a year or so ago after years of breaking/crushing/losing other pairs of sunglasses. So, yeah.

Anyways, that’s all for now. 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!

My Current Nails: Bright Reverse French Manicure

Requested by my boyfriend. I actually have been wearing this for (I think) four days, though my thumbs have peeled off and needed redoing since I first painted them.

Also, since then, I’ve received compliments from 3 or 4 different people! =P

Anyways, I used Strawberry Margarita by OPI for the pink base, and Smoke and Ashes by China Glaze for the black tips. There is a bit of tip wear, though that may be shrinkage, since I used Seche Vite as my topcoat. I think it’s stopped shrinking since last night, though, when I added a coat of Out the Door topcoat to the other nails at the same time I repainted my thumbs.

If you’re wondering how I did the tips, it’s just a simple tape line!

What do you think? Let me know what you’ve been wearing lately!