Blush Comparison: MAC Warm Soul & NARS Madly Swatches

As the cooler weather starts, I like to branch out from my bright coral and peach blushes and venture more into the warmer bronzy-peach tones. Recently, I picked up MAC Warm Soul and NARS Madly. I read that these two are very similar and some of the blog posts that I like reading the most are swatch comparisons. I am guilty of buying products that are basically the same, just because I feel like I need to have them. These blushes retail for $27.50 CAD for the MAC and $29 CAD for the NARS.

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.

Review: NARS Taj Mahal

Let me take a moment to profess my love for NARS Taj Mahal... this is a thing of beauty! NARS Taj Mahal is a true bright burnt orange blush with a pretty gold sheen. Just like all NARS blushes it's super pigmented and buttery quality, they make the best powder blushes in my opinion, at least from the ones that I've tried. I am a peach blush junkie, if there is a peach blush out there, I need to have it! And NARS Taj Mahal is up there with the best.

Monthly Faves: March 2011

I'd say I am excited for April to finally be here, because it means spring is almost here, but in Canada that is far from the case, February-May is basically all rain and miserable weather where I live. On a positive turn, I found several new products that I loved in the month of March. I find that monthly faves generally tend to be "new" products for me, I don't know if that's the case with most people, but most reached favourite type products do not change too much, but since I buy new products all the time, it means these are all new pickups.

Review: NARS Gina, My First NARS Blush

I got my first NARS blush ever, and it's Gina! The only other NARS product that I have at the moment is NARS Sheer Glow foundation (which I love). I find their products are quite expensive, so I limit myself to what I can get. I have heard raves about their blushes for years and finally got one. I looked for this at Sephora, but they don't carry out, I am not sure if it's discontinued or what, they also don't have Taj Mahal which I also lust over. I bought this from KissandMakeupNY.com which is a beauty etailer, they ship for FREE to Canada and the US and take Paypal, which is fantastic, and they carry lots of NARS, Laura Mercier, Smashbox and other brands. I am in no way affiliated with them, it was my first time shopping with them and I got my package in like a week, which was great. I will definitely buy more NARS stuff off them. This blush was $26US.

Friday Faves: What Makeup are you thankful for?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, (even though I am Canadian and celebrated it last month) we will look today at what beauty products we are thankful for. The products that make us happy to have them around and brighten up our day, or face in this case! I got this idea after reading Maquilagem Masstige do it on her blog.

What products am I thankful for? Ideally all the products that we buy would work well, they would not disappoint us, break us out, cause us to wonder why we bought them in the first place etc. But that is not the case, that is why you see so many favorite and HG posts all over the internet, people are always looking to find the next best thing, never totally satisfied with what we have already. I have a couple of products which I would deem my everyday favourites, products that I love having in my collection and would re-buy.

Quick dry top-coat. This has got to be one of the best beauty inventions ever. No one wants to wait for their nails to dry. Just pile on some top coat (specifically I love Seche Vite or the OPI Fast Forward or Start To Finish) and helps your nails dry quickly and makes them super shiny! Although I do find the Seche Vite to get gloppy and disgusting once you are halfway through the bottle, I still love it. I feel naked without topcoat, it's like a sweater for your nails.

The eyelash curler, another great invention. Pictured is my Revlon one, I haven't found a huge difference between high-end and drugstore eyelash curlers. For me this is a must-have item since my lashes looks so much better when they are curled, I don't even bother putting mascara on if I don't curl my lashes.

I am thankful for lash growth products. The L'oreal lash serum totally changed the look of my lashes, I still use it regularly. As someone who never had long-enough lashes, always wanting them to be fuller and longer, products like these make me happy. I am not sure if the Revlon grow luscious does anything, but I like to think it does.

Concealer is another item that should be essential in every girl's makeup bag and it's definitely a favourite of mine. I am thankful that there are so many different concealers out there, all types of formulations, textures, different ones for all areas of your face. I love the MAC studio finish for blemishes. The select coverup for pretty much all over, and the others primarily for under eye concealing. Where would we be without concealers? it's fabulous.

Being a light girl, bronzer is heaven-sent for me. I use bronzer pretty much everyday, as an all-over powder more or less. It gives me that extra perk me up, specifically I like the Physicians Formula bronze booster.

Last and probably most important, I am thankful for liquid foundation. The kind that provides good coverage while not caking up and making my dry skin look drier. Some favourites right now are Clinique Redness Solutions, NARS sheer glow and Lancome teint idole ultra.

What products are you thankful for?

I also want to take this moment to wish everyone in the US a Happy Thanksgiving! Don't shop too hard today!

Friday Faves: What's Your Favorite Foundation Ever?

I have an idea for a weekly Friday post, "Friday Faves", I will ask you girls what your favourite product is from a certain category as well as showing a peek into my makeup vault. You'll see me going back and forth between the US and Canadian spelling of "favourite" as I am Canadian, but I want my titles to be in the American spelling. This probably isn't a new idea, but I just thought of it today and I thought it would be cool. First up is foundation. I have lots of foundations, I don't know if I have more than the regular girl, tell me what you think. The picture doesn't have all of them, there are a few missing, I just grab these quickly.

Foundations is one of those items that I justify buying over and over again (even though I don't need more) because I want to find the perfect one of me and love trying out new ones. I really want to try the Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse but can you believe we STILL don't have it Canada?, it's ridiculous! I even see it in Canadian magazine ads and still nothing on the shelves! Some new purchases in my collection include Lancome Teinte Idole and Guerlain Lingerie De Peau which I picked up for free last weekend when I redeemed my Shoppers Drug Mart points. I will review those soon.

Anyways, what's my favourite foundation of all the ones I've tried? Nars Sheer Glow (which is nestled in the middle of my stash). I feel happiest with the result this one gives, it's not drying, feels light on the skin and gives good coverage. Since using other high-end foundations, Nars Sheer Glow comes to mind as being similar every time. I like how you don't have to pack a ton on to get the coverage that you want.

PS - The ELF Flawless Foundation is now available to buy on their website. I think I am going to wait to try this one out, but I definitely want to!

What's your favorite all time foundation?

Monthly Faves: August 2010

I like doing these blog posts because it helps me reflect on the products that I used and liked most each month. I like reading everyone else do their faves too. August is always a sad month because it means the end of summer. Onto my faves for the month of August.

Tag: My Everyday Routine

Here are the products that I've been using for my everyday routine, I did include options here, I won't use the same mascara everyday or the same setting powder, I do change it up. I've probably left something out with these pictures, but it gives you the general idea of what I use to do my face. If I sit at home all day and don't go out, I won't put anything on at all. I don't know if this is a tag, but I have dubbed it "tag" in case anyone else wants to do it. If you do, please let me know. The ♥ denotes that I love that product a lot.

Eyes:

* Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin ♥

* ELF Blending Eye Brush ♥

* ELF Eyeshadow Brush

* Sigma Makeup F25 travel size ♥

* NYX Versus Palette (just for the gold and brown shade numbered)

* Clinique eyelash curler

* Maybelline Lash Voluptuous mascara

* Cover Girl Lashblast Fusion

Face:

* Cetaphil SPF 15 Facial Moisturizer

* MAC Prep and Prime Skin

* NARS Sheer Glow (Gobi) ♥ or

* Revlon Skin Matching Makeup (Light)

* Maybelline Superstay 24HR Concealer (Ivory) ♥

* ELF Studio Blush (Candid Coral) (may also change)

* ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder (Sunkissed) (changes on day)

* ELF HD Powder

* NYC Translucent Powder (usually this one)

Brushes:

In addition to the eye ones mentioned above already

* Sigma Makeup F80 (for foundation) ♥

* ELF Studio Powder Brush (alternate for foundation) ♥

* Sigma Makeup F50 (setting powder)

* Sigma Makeup F25 (bronzer) ♥

* Sigma Makeup F15 (blush)

* ELF Foundation brush (for concealer)

And that's my pile of crap that I use everyday! :D

NARS Sheer Glow Foundation Product Rave Review

This foundation is neither sheer or glowy, but what it is, is wonderful! I've been meaning to pick this one up for some time after hearing awesome reviews and I must say, it lives up to everything that I have read. I got this in the colour, "Gobi" which is a perfect match for my skin (yellow undertones), which is MAC NC15. I went to a NARS counter at The Bay (in Canada), and was pretty confident that Gobi was my colour, from reading reviews and other people's suggestions. Upon swatching some colours on my hand, I thought Deauville was a little too orange, but Gobi was perfect. This foundation is expensive, and more than any other foundation I've never bought before, but the results are fabulous.

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?