YouTube + The Internet Made Me Buy It!!

I've seen lots of people do this video in the past, as well as in the last couple months, and it's an interesting idea, so I thought I would share my purchases that were influenced by various youtubers, bloggers, and other places on the internet!

Let me know down below any purchases you've made because someone (or everyone) online was in love with it!

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

Thanks for watching!

August favourites

I apologize for the shortness of my Back to School series thus far, but I promise there will be at least 2 more posts coming for that, one here and one on my other blog, so check back for those. For now, though, it’s almost the end of the first week of September, so it’s time for my August favourites! I had quite a few listed down for this past month, but I weeded it down to six beauty items and three non-beauty. As usual, let’s start with my beauty favourites.

1. Make Up Forever Foundation:

As you know if you saw my IMATS haul post, I got this at Vancouver IMATS in July. I haven’t been using it every day, but I do really love the staying power, as well as the look and feel of it on my skin. It’s a bit pricey even with the IMATS discount though, so I’ll likely make sure to make this bottle last as long as possible!

2. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Topcoat:

I got this to try out partly because it’s several dollars cheaper than Seche or Out The Door, and also because I’ve heard good things. Honestly, I’m not sure that I would bother buying the other ones, since this dries really fast, shiny, is chip resistant, doesn’t have a strong odor, doesn’t shrink or look streaky, and, as mentioned, the price is great! I’m overall very happy with this purchase and have nothing bad to say about this product thus far.

3. Too Face Milk Chocolate Soliel Bronzer:

First of all, isn’t the packaging on this just beautiful? I’m pretty much in love. Plus, when you open it, the delicious scent of chocolate wafts out. Not only does this product give a really nice light bronzed look, which is great for my pale skin, but throughout the day I get random wiffs of chocolate, so how could that ever be bad? If this product looks a bit too light for you, there is also the regular Chocolate Soliel option.

4. Red Cherry Lashes –Demi Wispies

This is both surprising to me and not surprising at all… at the same time. I’m not surprised that I love these lashes because of the multitudes of other girls who adore this style. But at the same time, looking at them in the package, they look like a mess! On the eyes, though, they end up looking shockingly natural, if naturally my lashes were long, thick, and black. Basically, I’m in love, and the Red Cherry lashes are both cheap and really lightweight (read: comfortable to wear and easy to apply). Definite favourite!

5. Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr Eyeshadow in Bad to the Bronze:

I honestly don’t know why I never picked up one of these sooner! I’ve been wearing this one a lot lately, since it’s a great colour for a one-shadow look, either as a wash of colour, or built up on the outer corners and more sheer on the inner corner for added dimension. Its also a pretty good base, but the colour is so pretty on it’s own, and it stays so beautiful for so long, that I don’t really like using it as a base for other colours. I would love to pick up more of these shadows!

6. Clinique Clarifying Lotion for Dry Combination Skin:

I really like this toner, a lot more than my last Clinique toner, which was for acne-prone skin. This one is much more gentle, and doesn’t leave my skin feeling tight and dry. Instead, this one has menthol in it, so it leaves my skin feeling cool and refreshed. It also has witch hazel which helps to tone while also helping skin retain moisture. And it doesn’t have a very harsh scent. Really everything about it is a positive for me!

Non-Beauty Favourites:

1. Rainbow Unicorn Attack 2:

This game is bloody awesome. It’s really simple in concept—you are a unicorn, you run, jump, and dash through the map avoiding and destroying obstacles while acquiring tears which are the game’s monetary system—but also quite challenging, since the game is constantly changing. Also, you use your money to buy upgraded unicorn parts. My unicorn is the screenshot above. He’s pink, and I love him. You should get this game. (It’s available for both IPhone and Android, but it’s also very graphic-heavy, so slower or older phones might lag a bit.)

2. My New Phone – The Google Nexus 4:

Maybe I should have put this first on the list, as it’s the reason I can play RUA2, but meh. As you can see in the above picture, the back of this phone basically sparkles in the light. Yeah. Also, it’s really light, fast, smart… everything that a smart phone should ideally be. My last phone was at least 2 years old, so I’m really enjoying having something new, shiny, and basically top-of-the-line, at least for now =P. I also finally just got my case in the mail today, so I’ll be a little less paranoid about dropping him (the phone’s name is Jarvis, if you’re curious).

((Gold star to whoever can figure out which of the pictures in this post were taken with my phone’s camera!))

3. Frozen Grapes:

Image from AskMerriAuthor.Tumblr.com

These are such an awesome, simple, refreshing warm-weather treat (though that won’t stop me from eating them when it’s cold out). One thing that I don’t like about buying grapes is that they tend to go soft before I finish them, but when they’re frozen, they’re not getting soft any time soon! Basically, these are like little self-contained popsicle balls, but much healthier than a popsicle! I definitely suggest getting some grapes and giving it a try. It’ll work with whatever colour grapes you prefer, but my favourite are the red ones, like in the picture.

***

And that’s all for this month! Let me know about your favourites in the comments below, as well as your thoughts about anything in this post or if you have any post recommendations or requests!

Thanks for reading! =)

My Vancouver 2013 IMATS Haul

Hello again everyone! I’m back again to show you everything that I bought at IMATS last Saturday. If you haven’t already seen my IMATS Experience post, which has a bunch of pictures, you should definitely check it out. But for now, let’s take a look at my haul!

And here’s everything in no particular order. I’ll try to tell you how much everything was as much as I can remember:

Ben Nye Cream Foundation (??) in Pale Biscotte:

I’m not actually sure that this is a foundation, it might be a concealer, but it is fairly thin, so I think it’s more likely a foundation. As you can see by the “tester” label, this was a free sample from the Ben Nye booth. There was a little bowl of these with a sign saying everyone should take one, so I did, of course. It’s fairly smooth and a pretty good match for my skin, but I haven’t tried it out on my entire face yet. I did, however, use it as an under-eye concealer to touch up my makeup after IMATS, though, and it worked pretty nicely, even without a powder to set it.

Morphe Brush Cleaner and Disinfectant Spray:

While I have the ELF brush sanitizer spray, I absolutely hate the scent of it, so I picked this little guy up to try. It was only $4. I’ve tried it once, and I realised after spraying it on the first 10 brushes that it needs to be rinsed off, so washing my brushes that night took a little longer than expected, but it does a pretty good job.

Morphe Brushes Single Shadow in #11:

This was a last minute impulse buy. My friend was getting one of these shadows, and I saw this one and swatched it, and pretty much had to have it. They had a 3 for $5 deal on, so my friend got one more, and I gave her back about a $1.60 for this shadow. It’s super soft and almost creamy, despite being a powder shadow. Its also really pigmented, and the colour is sooo pretty!

Morphe Brushes – C310 Large Soft Fan brush:

I honestly can’t remember how much this brush was, but none of the brushes I got from the Morphe Brushes booth was more than $5, and they all came to only $21. This one was probably about $4. I’d been wanting to get a fan brush for a while for highlighter… However, it was not until I was taking these pictures and going over my purchases that I remembered I don’t actually own a highlighter. I’m working on picking one out at the moment, so any suggestions in the comments would be awesome, or if you use a fan brush for anything else, let me know. That said, this brush is really fluffy and soft!

Morphe Brushes – C225 Mini Liner brush:

I already have a liner brush, but I figure it’s good to have two, in case, say, I wanted to use one for black gel liner and one for my eyebrows, or something like that. I think this one was $3. It’s basic, but still as soft as a brush that needs to be this stiff can be.

Morphe Brushes – C250-0 (Pointed Liner??) brush:

There’s something incredibly adorable about this brush! I think it was another $2 brush, and the hairs are just tiny! It comes to a super-thin point, and I think it would be great for getting a really precise line, which is why I picked it up. If all else fails, it would be a fantastic nail art brush!

Morphe Brushes – C149 Small Round Contour brush:

This is just a simple contour brush. It feels a little rough just to stroke, but on the eye it’s perfectly soft. It’s also a fair bit smaller than my ELF contour brush, so it’s great for a more precise eye look. I think this brush was $3.

Morphe Brushes – Retractable Lip Brush:

I think this was one of the most expensive brushes I got. I think it was $5, though it might have been $4. I got this primarily because I have several potted lip balms that I hate sticking my fingers into. The fact that it’s retractable means it can come with me in my purse, which is definitely a plus!

Morphe Brushes – Angled Brush:

And finally, for my brushes at least, I picked up this angled brush as a back-up blush brush. I currently use an odd bamboo ELF brush for blush, and it’s a little scratchy. This one is likely now to become my primary blush brush, because it’s a lot softer, and I feel like it picks up and distributes colour better on my cheeks! This brush was probably $4.

Red Cherry DEL Lashes:

At the Red Cherry booth, all the lashes were $2.60, plus tax. Also, if you bought 5 or more pairs, you could get a free nail polish, so of course I got 5! Though if I was going to get more than 5, I would have come back later to cheat the system and get another polish… But I didn’t. ANYWAYS…

First, I picked up this pair. I’m not great at wearing lashes, but Red Cherry lashes have a very thin band, plus this pair looks super natural, and like they’ll just add some really nice length!

Red Cherry #503 Lashes:

Next I got the 503s, which look a little more dramatic, with thicker and thinner parts. It’s also a fair bit longer than the DELs. Another pair I’m excited to try out.

Red Cherry #601 Lashes:

These lashes look a lot like the 503s, but one pair is a little shorter and more natural looking. I think the more natural one is this one, but it’s difficult to tell! Either way, I’m sure they’ll both look great on!

Red Cherry DW (Demi-Wispy) Lashes:

Heading to IMATS, and considering the love for these lashes from so many different YouTubers, this is one of the two things I knew I was going to buy! It doesn’t matter the brand, but lots of bloggers and YouTubers love the Demi Wispy lashes, so I had to give them a try. They look a little messy in the package, but a little poking when I took them out of the box tidied them up a bit, and they just look fantastic on! Here’s picture from when I wore them the other day:

So yeah, I’m pretty much in love.

Red Cherry Flared Short Black Individual lashes:

Finally, I got these as a lighter alternative to false lashes. I figured I could sick a couple of these on the outside corner or outside half of my lash line for a little extra length and drama. Also, placing these single lashes is a fair bit easier than getting a whole lash band down straight on your lash line, I’ve found!

Princess Nail Polish in Silver Mining:

This is the nail polish that I got for buying all those lashes! It’s not a brand I think anyone’s ever heard of, but hey, who’s going to complain about free polish? It’s also a really pretty blue-silver metallic, and almost gives a foil effect on the nail. Here’s a swatch of it on my nails after a couple days wear:

Combined with my Out the Door and Essie base coat, it barely has any chip wear. So I’m pretty impressed.

Beauty Treats Green Tea Makeup Remover Cleansing Tissues:

These wipes were 2 for $5. There were several other scents/formulas, but I really like green tea products and scents, so I got two of the same. I think there was also Collagen, Rose, Cucumber scents as options. I’m glad I picked these up, they have a nice, light, fresh scent, and they do a pretty good job at taking off most of my makeup. Mascara not included, but waterproof mascara is a pretty tough job for most products! I’ve also used them every day since Saturday and my skin hasn’t had a melt down of any kind (breakouts, dryness, rashes, excess oiliness, etc.).

Make Up For Ever HD Foundation in N115:

It’s always a good sign when swatching a foundation is a complete waste of my time:

As I mentioned a little earlier, there were two things I went into IMATS knowing I was going to purchase, and this was the other one. This was the most expensive purchase I made that day, at $33 (which is still $9 off the Sephora price!). I almost didn’t bother picking this up, even though I’ve been wanting to try it for ages, because some blog posts from last year talked about MUFE being 40% everything, so I was pretty disappointed to find this less than $10 off. Still, in the end, I wanted it, and I had plenty of money left after picking up everything else I wanted, so I got it. I’m happy I did because it’s both nice and has really nice coverage. Also, the colour is literally perfect on my skin!

***

So, that’s everything I got! All in all, I spent just over $80, and I feel like I got a lot for that money!

Oh, and here are a couple pictures I forgot to include in my last post.

My ugly-as-hell glowing orange IMATS bracelet! Seriously guys? Orange? Couldn’t these have been a nice colour like Pink or Red?

And a closer shot of my eye make-up and my heavily mascara’d eyelashes:

I love this shot of me, which is part of why I’m including it, but it does also give you a really good shot of what my makeup looked like.

Also, if you are interested, I can do a Face of the Day post and show you all the products I used for this look, but unless there’s interest I don’t think it’s necessary, since all my good pictures of my makeup have been posted already! Let me know what you think!

And let me know if you have tried any of the products that I bought at IMATS! Thanks so much for reading once again. <3