MAC Lipstick Collection and Swatches

 

I am not really a lipstick or lip product kind of girl, so it's crazy that I somehow accumulated 12 MAC lipsticks. I swear half of these are from the Back 2 Mac program. I think they look pretty on, but not really practical for everyday wear because they come off so easily and I hate the feel of stuff on my lips. I find that I mostly buy MAC lipsticks when they come out in limited edition collections, and I especially like when they come in cute packaging (like the To The Beach and Liberty of London ones that I have). From my collection, I believe only 4 are from the regular line.  I love MAC lipsticks for their cute packaging, they look like a bullet and their great smell, I can't get enough of that vanilla smell, that makes them great alone.

MAC Blush Collection and Swatches

Today I will share with you my MAC blush collection. I love MAC blushes because they come in a wide variety of shades (although most of mine are peach) and they have good pigmentation. I have depotted all of mine except for the limited edition and mineralized ones. I will talk about them briefly here and show you swatches.

Review: Physicians Formula Eye Booster

I am always attracted to eyelash boosting products, or serums that promise to give you long, fluttery lashes. I recently picked up Physicians Formula Eye Booster 2 in 1 Day and Night Lash Boosting Serum. It was sitting in the clearance bin at Shoppers Drug Mart for $2, I couldn't pass it up. Plus, it has a Full Price Rebate form on it, meaning I could mail the manufacturer the receipt and get all my money back, I think I will pass on that, it was $2 after all! I have previously used the L'oreal Lash Serum and had decent results with that, and I like Physicians Formula as a brand, so I thought I would give this a try.

Review: St Moriz Instant Self Tanning Mousse

I love how nowadays you don't have to bake in the sun, subjecting yourself to harmful sun damage to get a nice tan, you can just slap on some self tanner and you are good to go. Being a pale girl, summertime scares me, because it means I will glow like a ghost when I go out in public. In the past I have embraced this paleness, but this summer I wanted to look normal like everyone else. Please don't take this to mean that I think being pale isn't beautiful, it is, but some of us can rock it and others can't and wish to be darker. St Moriz was my first attempt ever at a self tanning product. I have used gradual tanners from the drugstore before, ones from Dove, Jergens and the likes, but never an instant tanning product. I have looked into St Tropez, but it's far too expensive, and since I wasn't sure if I was going to like the self-tanning thing, I wanted to try something more affordable.

St Moriz is known on the interweb as being a dupe for St Tropez, it's much cheaper and does the same thing. It's an instant tanner that promises "professional flawless tan, easy, no mess application". St.Moriz is made in England, so it's next to impossible to find in Canada and the US. I purchased mine from Amazon.com, there are two sellers that carry it, both in the UK, Cosmetics Factory and Blush Cosmetics. I purchased mine from the latter, it was $8.12 for the product and $6.63 shipping to Canada. I was pleased that they even shipped, since many sellers on Amazon.com do not ship to Canada. This is the only place that I know of that carries this product anywhere. If you know of anywhere, please leave me a comment below.

Review: Boots No 7 Lifting and Firming Foundation

I found a foundation that I consider holy grail, this doesn't happen often, I try a lot of foundation. Some of my favourites include NARS Sheer Glow, Clinique Even Better, Chanel Pro Lumiere, Dior Skin Nude and now, Boots No 7 Lifting and Firming. But the love affair will be short lived because I cannot find this foundation anywhere in Canada anymore. If you remember from my earlier post, I actually got this foundation on clearance for $3 at Shoppers Drug Mart last month, and it was expired. I haven't heard back from head office but, I believe Shoppers has stopped selling Boots No 7 makeup and is now only focusing on their skincare line only, if you know anymore, please leave me a comment below! I tried looking it up on makeupalley and it's listed as discontinued, so perhaps it's totally unavailable now?

Review: Reviva Labs Glycolic Acid Facial Cleanser

I don't post a lot of skincare reviews here because I am not well versed on the topic. Skincare varies greatly from person to person. The products that are best suited for you will depend greatly on what skin type you have, and what kind of care you need (how healthy your skin is). Skincare is a completely different beast than makeup, with makeup you base if you like it or not on how pretty it makes you look, but skincare is based on how well it improves your skin. Makeup results are instant while with skincare it takes a routine, and time to see a change. My skin is quite dry, I find most products suck all the moisture of it and make it even drier, leaving it feeling uncomfortable, which in turn makes the makeup that I apply to it look not so great. That's why proper skincare is very important.

I became interested in Reviva Labs recently, they are a skincare company that uses all-natural ingredients in their products. I was sent some products to review, I got to choose the products that interested me, which was very nice of them. The first product that I began using was the Glycolic Acid Facial Cleanser. This product comes in a small plastic bottle with flip top cap and retails for $12 for a 4oz or 118ml. It's a "hydophilic (water activated) cleanser that contains no oils or soap substances that remain on skin and interfere with the glycolic action."

Review: NARS Luster Blush

I don't think it's humanly possible to own ONLY one NARS blush. I say that because once I bought one, I had to have another, and another. It started with Gina, she was my first NARS blush love, then Taj Mahal and now Luster. Oh luster, you sparkle and give me stunning peachy bronze cheeks, you are the ultimate blush out there, you shine over every other. Luster is described on the Sephora website as a "sheer golden apricot", which is pretty accurate. To me this looks peachy/bronzey gold, aka perfection.

NEW Sigma Cleansing and Polishing Tool Unboxing

I love getting packages in the mail and today I had a really nice surprise! As part of being in their affiliate program, Sigma sent me their newest product, the New Cleansing and Polishing Tool! Sigma is known for their makeup brush line, but they are coming out with lots of new products. This post is in no means a review, I just got this today and while opening it took these pictures for you guys. I will go over how it looks and what it's supposed to do.

When I first heard about this product, I thought Sigma was doing a cheaper knockoff of the Clarisonic (Sigma claims their version is better). I did some research on the Clarisonic and what makes it different and more effective than all these other rotating brush products is that it's 'sonic', "Clarisonic systems use a patented sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second to gently, yet thoroughly remove 6X more makeup and 2X more dirt and oil than cleansing with your hands alone." I've never used a Clarisonic, but I have used drugstore dupes of it, like the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Rejuvenator. Basically what this product is meant to do is be an applicator for your skincare, you place your favourite cleanser or exfoliator on the brush head and then apply it to your face. The brush head vibrates or rotates and massaging the product into your skin, exfoliating dead skin cells and exposing fresh healthy skin.

Monthly Faves: May 2011

It's such a beautiful day today, actually all week has been so far in Toronto. I am blogging outside on my balcony! June is here and here are my May favourites.