Winter Haul! Makeup Goodies & More!

Hello everyone! Back to blogging after my school exams! This week, I'm excited to share with you all my birthday goodies and Christmas presents, all in a haul format. I'd also like to say that I am NOT a rich or spoiled girl, and that I saved up to buy myself a present and the other gifts were given to me by my very lovely friends. I'm truly blessed to have them in my life and I can't imagine what I'd do without them!

First of all, here is a picture of my lovely Christmas bear given to me by my boyfriend Gordon :) I haven't ever had the pleasure of getting such an awesome gift, much less from someone so special! It's the FAO Schwarz 150th Anniversary Collectible Plush Bear, and he comes with a cute varsity jacket that's oh-so-soft and has velour sleeves! I usually don't like stuffed animals, but for something with such sentiment, I'm instantly biased! Absolutely LOVE this gift.

Secondly, makeup goodies! I was lucky enough to snag the Urban Decay NAKED 2 palette at Sephora last Wednesday, right when they had restocked! They were out of stock the last two times I went to the store, so I was excited to be able to get it! I love the shadows included in this palette, and the packaging is super durable, is sleek, and wards off fingerprints well. I will probably include this in a future eye tutorial because I love the combination of looks that can come from it! Urban Decay shadows never fail to disappoint in the pigmentation department and quality- they are buttery smooth and never grainy.

I also got one of my Secret Santa wishlist gifts, which was the OPI Skyfall Bond-ettes Set. It has four mini nail polishes from the OPI Skyfall collection released recently in celebration of 50 years of 007 and the release of Skyfall (amazing movie by the way!) The four colours are GoldenEye, The Spy Who Loved Me, The World Is Not Enough, and Live and Let Die. I currently have The Spy Who Loved Me on my nails and I love it! The same quality of OPI, in mini format, so that I can finally finish a bottle!

Sephora Friends & Family Sale: What I Plan To Buy!

Have I got some exciting news to share with all my lovely readers or what?! As some of you may know, from October 18-31 this year is the highly anticipated Sephora Friends & Family (F&F) sale where a lot of people stock up on holiday gifts and things they have been looking at because of the (usually) 20% off discount. However, instead of making the sale public to everyone this year, it is quite literally a F&F sale where you have to obtain a card or online code from a sales associate. Luckily enough for me, I will be picking up the card from my friend and I will be heading off to Sephora next week!

Here are a few of my choice picks of what to get with 20% off:

1. Clarisonic Mia in Lavender

I'm not sure if I really need the Clarisonic, to be honest! I've been told my skin doesn't require such a thorough cleansing with something like the Clarisonic but maybe I'll take a look at the different brush heads they offer and see if I can find an option for normal and slightly combo skin. I've heard so many great things about this and I tried it out for a minute last time, it seems nice! I will at least do some in-store research and listen to what the experts have to say on it, since the Sephora guys and gals can be very knowledgeable!

2. Shiseido Pureness Mattifying Moisturizer Oil-Free
To be honest, I've gone through a few bottles of this, and I really love it. It is great for daily moisturizing and really keeps my face hydrated even though it is in the form of a light gel and not a thick cream as you expect anything deeply moisturizing to be. I even use this one in winter and it does a great job, and it won't affect any makeup you put on top of it!

3. Buxom Full-Bodied Lip Gloss in YOW
I've always been curious about the Buxom gloss line because of the plumping properties...but I don't like products that sting or have a minty tingle, as the original Buxom glosses have. Luckily for me, they came out with this new gloss with hyaluronic spheres that gently moisturize and plump lips over time without the sting! I look forward to trying this out!

4. Urban Decay NAKED Palette
The essential stash of neutral eye makeup shadows, Urban Decay always produces some of the highest quality shadows. I started out using Yves Rocher shadows and Urban Decay, and other brands have not compared in terms of colour payoff and ease of use and softness. Urban Decay is one of my absolute favourites, plus the colours are well suited towards my skintone!

5. Vera Wang Princess Eau de Parfum
I have been looking for a new perfume for a few weeks now, because I want a more mature fragrance to represent me and embody who I am. Of course, just doing online research and reading reviews is not enough to determine what I need, but going off of those, plus having used it once before, and loving the scent and packaging, I think I will give this one a go!

Does anyone know anything good that I should try out during the F&F sale? Do let me know by leaving a comment!

Overdue Haulage!

Woohoo! I finally have another haul post to show everybody! The story behind this post starts with a simple idea: do a joint e.l.f. haul to split the shipping and make it cheaper! So, about two months ago, a few friends and I got together to do said haul and we split the cost of shipping (super cheap!) but I wasn't able to claim these items until recently (read: today!) I also picked up some great freebies that my friend generously gave to me as well as a few tokidoki brushes!

If you've been keeping up with previous posts, I'm sure you all know I am absolutely obsessed with the artwork from tokidoki! I wish that Sephora continued to carry it because it was an absolutely amazing brand when it came to graffiti-style artwork and their bags! When they got these brushes back in stock, I asked my friend to pick them up for me before they sold out again. Now, I have the entire collection (including my beloved kabuki) and here they are, along with the other great things I got!

Loads of beauty goodies to enjoy :)

As you can see, I now have the tokidoki Siberia blush brush and the Pittura brush set! Although they are top-heavy because of the capped figurine, they are lovely brushes and are soft, not scratchy, on the face and eyes without being floppy. I also ordered my first brush from e.l.f., which is their Studio stipple brush. There are also a few assorted samples, notably a full size GWP Lancôme Juicy Tubes in Miracle and a C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine. I also hauled a Milani Liquif'eye liner with the old name and packaging in Brown, as well as the e.l.f. baked eyeshadow in Toasted (individual reviews to come soon!)

I can't wait to bring back more reviews to the blog! I love to share my honest opinion on products and I love to read them too! 

Summer Haul #3!

Just in time for back to school, I spotted some great deals this week and I can't believe I am posting about my very favourite makeup brands on clearance because they are clearing out their inventories/ being discontinued! I absolutely love Annabelle eye products and tokidoki collectibles so without further ado, here is what I picked up today!

I picked up six Annabelle studio mono eyeshadows, which I love! They shouldn't discontinue this system because it's rare to find a good quality (and Canadian!) drugstore brand which does single eyeshadows like this. They are super smooth and have decent colour payoff, but they can be applied heavily for more colour. I will show my eyeshadows in detail in a future post!

The other is the cutest and softest kabuki brush from tokidoki! It was being cleared out for $11, PLUS it was the last one in stock! I'm glad I was able to snatch it, because I've heard stellar reviews about this powder brush and its excellent yet natural coverage. This is my first kabuki and I look forward to using it lots! Isn't the design just adorable?

Hopefully I will be able to show you all how I incorporate these new products into my daily makeup routine!

John Frieda & Garnier Fructis Haul!

This week, every single store in the area seems to be having a sale on hair care! Most of my favourite brands at either Shoppers Drug Mart or Loblaws are having great sales, mostly 50% off or greater! It just so happened that I am running low on a few products and was looking forward to stocking up anyways.

The first two products I got today are both from John Frieda. I have their Full Repair Protecting Root Lift Foam as well as the Secret Weapon Finishing Crème. I have tried additional products from both of these hair care lines and love them equally because they fulfill their promised results, and do that well for their drugstore price. Always get it on sale!

The second product I didn't plan on picking up, until I saw it was marked down from $6.99 to $2.99 and looked like a fairly good quality product, which is the Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Frizz Control Deep Treatment. The Sleek & Shine line seems to have many similar products that all do virtually the same thing: tame frizzy hair and give it a healthy shine. I stood there comparing their products for quite some time, trying to take advantage of the sale! Admittedly, this was the priciest product there, with the greatest amount of product, so I have to say that definitely influenced my purchase decision!

Reviews to come soon! Can't wait to use these! Time to tame those frizzies!

Makeup Hauls Galore!

Wow, lately I have been lemming over both products that I have looked over many times before, thinking about whether to buy them or not, as well as newer (to me, at least!) products that I am very excited about trying out. I hope many of them will become staples in my collection! (Can you believe I have never tried bronzer before? I used to be a bit skeptical because I didn't want to look overly tanned, yet I've learned how valuable bronzer can be in contouring and adding depth to the face!)

This is what I picked up at the mall today!

The first item isn't actually a purchase, but I picked it up at Sephora because I might buy this product in the future! It's a shade bookmark for Urban Decay's new NAKED Skin Foundation, and I checked in with the shade 5.0, right near the middle of their spectrum. I must have gotten darker this summer from all that commuting and walking about, because this is darker than usual for me!

From Sephora, I also got the benefit Watt's Up highlighter as a sample I redeemed from my 100-point perk choices. I was planning on saving points, as that's my natural habit, but I was actually swatching this earlier in store and I was really looking forward to buying it one day, when lo and behold, it was available as a pretty generous sample (2.5 grams!) Will look forward to using this to bring light to my tired face come school time!

What caught my eye in the ever-shrinking collection of tokidoki makeup is this lovely lip gloss that applies as sheer as clear can get, but adds a lot of shine: the Prisma Lip Gloss in Strawberry Latte! I've wanted this colour since a long time ago, and to finally get it to add the cute packaging to my collection (I'm rarely a sucker for packages...or so I think!) along with a great gloss is great! I love the blueberry scent to boot! 

From Wal-Mart, where getting makeup is a nightmare (behold the opened packages, scattered tubes, mismatched colours...you get my drift!) I managed to snag the last Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Light, which is the one I've been looking at for a while. I am also planning on getting The Body Shop's Honey Bronzing Powder to compare, because I swatched that today and it was gorgeous on my skin! I hope this product will be a nice first matte bronzer for me, because I've heard this shade doesn't pack on too much colour for a bronzer. The fact that it was the last one made it feel extra special! There was seriously NOTHING left in the bronzer slots, just lots of loose powder. This was the only one left and with the safety seal tape intact, I didn't hesitate!

Finally...drumroll please, because I am about to present the most exciting item of all! Today I purchased a MAC Lipstick: See Sheer (Lustre) because I've been looking at it for the longest time and I've seen tons and tons of swatches of it. I tried it on myself today and it looks just simply gorgeous! Lustre finish lipsticks are one of my favourites because they have a sheen, but they're not overly frosty or shimmery and provide easily buildable colour that's great for any look! 

I will bring reviews of all these products slowly and surely! For now, I have a lot of products to work through, but if I see recommendations for new things, I am always on the lookout! (Note to self: Buy L'Oréal Caresse Sticks!)

Summer Haul!

Hello everyone! Today I went to the mall and was able to grab some nifty items that are great for summer! Recently I've acquired a lot of new summer tops, but the key is to be able to layer them together when the weather gets cooler (which it can do VERY QUICKLY around these parts!) so that you can have chic, trendy, and most of all, affordable outfits!

The first item I got was a Talula Bustier with Lace Panels in Birch. I love the side panels because they add a pretty amount of detail without going overboard, and it's not in the least bit gaudy. I would usually associate bustiers with casual clothes, but because the lace kicks it up a notch, I'd wear this with a nice cardigan in slightly dressy events like dinners out with friends for pretty pictures :)

The second item of clothing is a Dynamite Aztec Lace Top. This top is a pretty shade of orange-red, almost like a bold coral (think Pantone's colour of the year, but with a touch more red in real life!) I love how if I wear a solid coloured tank underneath, and I put this on top, I can see the zig-zag patterns and diamond crochet lace stand out. I also love the front chest pocket, even though it's completely useless! It's a nice decorative touch!

I hope to be able to coordinate these with other clothes to create nice OOTDs! Maybe I will post some of those ideas soon!

xoxo