Vancouver IMATS this weekend!

Maybe I should have made this announcement a while ago, since either online sales or discounted tickets end today, but Vancouver IMATS is going to be held this Saturday and Sunday!

**EDIT: Tickets will still be on sale until 5 pm today (July 25th). $35 for one day, or $60 for both. =)**

I’m so insanely excited! I should be writing an essay today, and really all this weekend, but I will be at IMATS on Saturday. This is my first trip to IMATS, so I’m not exactly sure what to expect. That said, I have done an unbelievable amount of research, watched videos of past Vancouver IMATS, hauls from last year, and looked up blog posts talking about the discounts given at the different vendors! I think I’m looking forward most to heavily discounted Make Up Forever products, as well as getting my hands on a bunch of Red Cherry lashes. Also, one of my absolute favourite youtubers—Karissa of SaturdayNightsAlrite—will be there as well, so I’m hoping to run into her as well!

Also, as you might guess, I should have a few posts up after Saturday about my experience including probably a review of the event, my FOTD for the show, an OOTD, and haul. I may also do more in-depth reviews of some of the products I pick up later on, especially if anyone is interested.

Let me know if you’ll be at IMATS or if you’ve ever been to one before in any city. I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation // Quick Review

Hey, just wanted to post a quick review of the Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation, especially since I don’t think I ever posted about it in a haul, and it hasn’t exactly made it into a favourites post yet, since, to be honest, I don’t wear foundation all that often.

I wanted to try this product because a couple of the blogs and youtubers that I follow had great things to say about it, and I was looking for a replacement for my old bottle of Lancôme. One review in particular, though I can no longer remember whose, compared this foundation to a much higher-end product, and so I thought it sounded like a good use of my money!

At first, I wasn’t super impressed with this product, but it has definitely grown on me. Some products take a little getting used to, and in my experience, foundations are certainly one of those products. However, this is a really nice foundation. It has nice coverage, without being too thick, cakey, or unnatural, and I find it to be somewhat buildable, though I don’t usually bother. It goes on smooth, and I don’t find that it gets flakey looking on my skin, and make me look like I have dry patches, which is a problem I’ve had in the past with foundations.

I also haven’t had any problem with breakouts or oiliness while using this product, and my combination skin can get fairly oily and breakout if I smother it in the wrong products.

My colour isn’t perfect, and that is my only critique of this product, to be honest, and that isn’t the fault of the product, so much as the whole drugstore makeup model, since there often aren’t any testers at the majority of drugstore makeup retailers. That said, I think I picked a fairly good match for my skin tone, and nothing that a little blush and bronzer can’t perk up. (It looks right on my hand, but it’s fairly pale on my face, especially if matched with my Shiro finishing powder.

This product also functions well mixed with my Garnier BB Creme, or over top of my sunscreen, either the Hawaiian Tropic Sheer Touch Oil Free Sunscreen or my L’Oreal Paris 48 HR Ideal Moisture lotion.

Have you tried this product? What did you think? What are your favourite drugstore foundations? Let me know in the comments, and thanks so much for reading!

Julep Maven Destination Mystery Box: Miami Review

This post has been put off for a while now, probably because I just wasn’t all that excited about the contents of my box. A while ago Julep was offering mystery boxes, which they do every once in a while, but this time, they had three themed boxes to choose from: Miami, Laguna Beach, and the Hamptons. I picked Miami, because the description seemed to suggest bright and glittery colours, and I was hoping for lots of polishes for the $70-$200 worth of product promised in each box.

Technically, I wasn’t wrong to expect glitter and brightness, but I was still a little underwhelmed by my box, and I am even less impressed after having tried all the of the products. Here’s a quick look at my box before I move on:

Since they are the products I’m least impressed with, I’ll show you the two non-polish items first.

Julep Invisible Dry Shampoo: (worth $22 for non-subscribers)

I was actually pretty happy to see this in my box when I first opened it, as I’ve really only recently started trying dry shampoos, and have yet to find a really good one. The first time I tried this it was good; the product smelled nice and it wasn’t heavy in my hair, and it helped my hair look clean. However, that was the only use I got out of this bottle. For a product that costs $22, you’d expect that you might get more than one use out of the bottle. It isn’t even like the bottle is empty, there’s plenty more product in there sloshing around, but it doesn’t mist out anymore. I can get it to spray erratically out of the bottle and all over everything in my room, but that’s it. It’s like all the aerosol is gone. I don’t understand, and I would never recommend this product to anyone.

Julep Strawberry-Mint Lip Balm: (worth $8 to non-subscribers)

I was a bit disappointed when I opened the box and one of my things was a lip balm for a couple reasons:

1. Strawberry-Mint? Weird (Actually, if anything, it tastes/smells like licorice, which isn’t great either).
2. Lipbalms are cheap, easy to find, and I have tons of them.
3. Lip products aren’t Julep’s niche… they should stick to nail stuff.

But I tried to keep and open mind and tried it out. I don’t like it. It’s too soft, and its hard to get only a small coat on my lips, especially if they’re a little dry, since the rough skin scrapes up even more product leaving my lips slimey and covered in a white/pink film that I eventually have to wipe off. Also, $8?! For this sad little lip product? Complete waste of money.

Let’s get on to the polishes, shall we?

Julep Polish in Isla: (worth $14 to non-subscribers)

At least it’s nail polish… I mean, it’s not that bad, but I do have a polish very similar to this one already, and I never use it, so it’s likely that this polish will kick around in my drawer for a long time. It isn’t even great for layering over other polishes for a milky metallic colour, as it goes on very unevenly with one coat. I found I need at least three coats of this on my bare nail to look even, as well. So I’m not super impress with this polish.

Julep Polish in Lauren: (worth $14 to non-subscribers)

Now, you can’t go wrong with bright pink, so despite the fact that I have a couple different bright and neon pink polishes already, I’m pretty happy with this. It does act like a neon polish, which means it’s a bit sheer, and would probably benefit from a white base coat, but it is just opaque enough after three coats that I haven’t bothered to try layering it over white yet. So I’m not ecstatic, and I wish my bright colour had been green, blue, orange, coral… something that wasn’t pink… but at least it’s something I’ll use and love.

Julep Polish in Paris: (worth $14 to non-subscribers)

This was the best thing in the entire box. It’s got big, chunky, gold-ish holographic glitters and a bunch of little holo glitter as well. The swatch above is only one coat, but I have a feeling that three coats would almost be an opaque glitter-bomb nail! I’m in love with this glitter, and I’m glad I received it.

***

In total, this box, which I paid $29 for including shipping to Canada, is technically worth $72, so, in all technicality, this lived up to the promise that the mystery box would be worth at least $70… technically…

However, that said, my dry shampoo, even if I had liked it was defective, so I don’t think it counts towards the total of this box, bringing it down to only $50. Assuming I accept the insanely priced $8 lip balm. Still, even if I just include the nail polishes at $14 a pop, this box was worth $42… which is more than I paid for it.

That said, though, I’m pretty unimpressed with this company as a whole. Their polishes are an alright quality, no better than Essie or OPI, though, which cost around $10 compared to Julep’s $14. Additionally, Julep’s polishes are only 8ml, whereas most other brands of polish—including OPI and Essie—are 15ml… that’s almost half the size of a regular polish and a fair bit more money!

In the end, I think this purchase from Julep will mark the end of business with them. I just don’t think they’re worth the hype or the prices that they charge.

***

What do you think of Julep? Do you think I’m being too harsh? Did you get a mystery box? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

Review/First Impression: Revlon Lash Potion Mascara

I came across this the other day while I was looking at other makeup, and I realised I hadn’t heard anything about it yet from the various bloggers and Youtubers I follow, which is really unusual for a new product, which made me curious, so I picked up a tube in Blackest Black (also available in Black and Black Brown) for $10.

A little Googling when I got home found some reviews as far back as April, so this was probably released a few months ago in the US, which makes it even odder that I haven’t heard anything about it.

Anyway, the packaging alone was enough to draw me in: so many pretty shiny colours! Also, it claims to be lengthening, volumizing, waterproof, and to strengthen and grow your lashes… which is a lot of claims for a single mascara to make.

The brush is pretty cool; it’s a good size, not massive like Essence or the original UD Big Fatty brush, but not super skinny, either, which I really can’t stand. It has regular brush bristles, some of which are shorter, and some longer, which is apparently supposed to help pack on the volume while getting rid of clumps.

I think the formula is pretty nice, as far as I’ve tried so far. I’ve only worn it once, but it’s stayed on all day long, and it was a pretty warm day. I didn’t notice any flaking or smudging, so I’m pretty happy. It also isn’t too wet of a formula, which I really dislike, but it isn’t dried out either. It’s like a happy middle-ground, in my opinion.

Here’s a glimpse at how it works for me. Me with no mascara:

One coat:

It gives my lashes good separation and length, and no clumps, with one coat.

Two coats:

There’s a tiny bit of clumping at the ends of the lashes, but I feel like my lashes overall look well-defined, volumized, and pretty awesome in general.

As I mentioned before, I’ve only worn this the one day, so I don’t know yet if I like it as much as—or more than?!—my Maybelline Turbo Volume Express mascara, which is my current HG, but I’ll keep trying it out. Maybe we’ll see if it ends up in my favourites at the end of the month.

Be sure to let me know if you’ve tried this product, and your thoughts on it! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day!

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!!