Collective Haul #1

Some items that I've picked up throughout the past few weeks. I am a total sucker for bargains and I will always look in the makeup section of grocery stores and scourer the racks for sales. I use coupons regularly too, cause it's always nice to not have to pay full price for stuff. I will try to include the prices below.

Just a quick rundown:
- Neutrogena Moisturizer SPF 20 and cleanser was $11 together on clearance (50% off, with the cleanser being a free bonus)
- Aveeno Moisturizer SPF 30 was 50% off reduced $13.
- Maybelline Lash Stiletto Voluptuous $8 - $1 coupon
- Maybelline Age Rewind Foundation $6 reduced - $3 coupon
- Maybelline Age Rewind Double Perfector $4 reduced - $3 coupon
- Maybelline Peach Satin Blush $7 - $3 coupon
- Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer $7 - $3 coupon
- Benefit Erase Paste $30 full price
- Benefit Lemon Aid $14 plus shipping on Amazon (free with swagbucks)
- L'oreal Insta-Dri nail polishes $6 each
- Maybelline The Falsies Mascara $3.99 on sale - $1 coupon

This isn't to brag, just to use you guys what I've been purchasing lately and to get an idea of what you'd be interested in seeing reviews of, if you want me to review anything, just comment below thanks.

The Importance of Sunscreen

Warm weather calls for sunscreen, although it's not just summer when you should be wearing it, it's important to wear it year round to prevent early onsets of aging, skin damage and other bad stuff. I am guilty of not wearing sunscreen year-round I admit it. On the weekend, we went out to the beach for fireworks, it was Victoria Day for those in Canada, and I was out all day in the sun. Granted I had an spf 15 face moisturizer and spf 6 in my foundation, but I could still feel my face was a bit hot at the end of the day. What sunscreens do you use? which ones are your favourite? I want one a light feeling one, with no funky smell.

The ones I have currently are:

The Body Shop Vitamin E SPF 15 Moisture Lotion: "Moisturize and protect your skin from the sun and damaging environmental aggressors with a lightweight, easily-absorbed, SPF lotion." I find this too thick for summer, I should of bought the Vitamin C one (I have it somewhere, but lost it) as it's cooler feeling, or the Aloe one. However, I love the Vitamin E line and thought this would be good.

Coppertone Nutrishield SPF 70. I bought this last year, gotta check the expiry date to see if it's still good to use. However, I have the body one, instead of the visage and I find this too thick as well. This one is supposed to prevent premature aging waterproof and all that jazz.

 

Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer SPF 15: This one is nice, I like the pump and it's not too thick. They have an spf 50 one too.

Aveeno Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer SPF 15: Nice pump on this one too, not crazy about the texture either. I want to try the Aveeno Continuous Protection Sunblock with SPF 30 for Face (pictured below). Or the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock.

April Favourites!

April is almost over, so it's time for April favourites. This includes products that I've enjoyed using during this month, and are not limited to products that I've actually purchased this month. This is a fun tag that I see people doing on youtube, so I thought it would be fun to do here too. So onto the faves...

1/ NARS Sheer Glow Foundation: My colour is Gobi. I got it this month and it's quickly becoming my Holy Grail foundation, no others compare. It makes your skin look like skin, applies smooth and lasts all day. I will post a review soon, but I want to use it a bit more before I can really judge how it compares and reacts to my skin.

2/ MAC Viva Glam Gaga: Everyone loves this lipstick including me, it's a pretty bubblegum blue-pink, smells fabulous (as all MAC lipsticks) and is sheer enough to wear anywhere.

3/ MAC Melba: This is the perfect peachy blush, very pigmented, soft and pretty.

4/ Maybelline Turbo boost mascara: I love the brush on this mascara, it's large enough to coat all your lashes with one sweep, I have it in the waterproof and non waterproof version.

5/ Physicians Formula Multi-coloured powder: This is PF's light bronzer, it's silky and works well as a subtle bronzer, I use it as a setting powder over foundation.

6/ Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion: I got this last year, with the 3 piece system, which I am not crazy about. I didn't like this lotion at first, it just smells like corn, but surprisingly I've been reaching for it a lot this month (trying to finish it off) and I like it all over again.

7/ L'oreal Lash Serum: I've been using this on and off for a few months, and I am seeing results! My lashes seem stronger, longer, fuller, less falling out. I will do a complete review soon.

8/ OPI Natural Nail Basecoat: I've never really understood the importance of using a base and top coat on your nails until recently. This base coat helps the polish adhere better to your nails and your polish turns out looking glossy too. Plus less yellow-ing of the nails, which is nice.

9/ Aveeno Positively Ageless Warming Scrub: Love this cleanser. I have dry-ish skin and all defoliators dry it out, except this one. This warms up and cleans my face perfectly. The only problem I have with it is the product dries up around the cap because the heat (I keep it in the shower) makes it harden. Also, the packaging isn't very thick, so once you squeeze some out, the package crumples.

10/ Escada Ocean Lounge Perfume: Forgot to add this in the pic, but this perfume is lovely. A mix of strawberry and lychee, very summery and girly. I got compliments wearing this during a recent salon visit, the girl said it smelled very young. Then we got into a conversation about how different age groups tend to wear different perfumes, some people wear old lady smelling perfume... I think she thought I was a lot younger than I am, I hope my Chanel and YSL is not "old lady smelling". ;)

So that's my top 10 April favourites... what are yours?