Review: Urban Decay Naked Palette

 I finally got the Urban Decay Naked Palette, and if you saw my tweets, I actually got this baby for free. If you are in Canada, you'll know what I am talking about, Shoppers Drug Mart had a Beauty Bonus Redemption and I redeemed my points for $90 of free cosmetics, one of which was this palette. The Shoppers near me never had an Urban Decay section so I was floored when I found out the Yorkdale Mall location (in Toronto) had one and they had this palette in stock. I got there pretty late on Saturday, and was ready for disappointment but alas, I managed to get the last one in the store! I was amazed to finally have this baby in my hands. So if you are in Toronto, I'd suggest waiting to redeem this with your points, check if they have this in stock before and put it on hold.

Christmas Beauty Haul

I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday! I've been pretty busy lately, we spent Christmas Eve with my family (Europeans celebrate on the 24th) and Christmas Day at my boyfriend's family. I also had relatives up from Illinois so we spent a couple of days with them as well. And we still have Christmas dinner with my boyfriend's family tomorrow. Didn't do much Boxing Day shopping this year, decided to sleep in and relax instead. I am the beauty person in the family, everyone knows each year that I'd love to get makeup most of all and they came through. The above pic shows the goodies that I got this year.

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation: My first Laura Mercier product ever, I heard this is great for dry skin and it was definitely on my wishlist. It's full coverage and hydrates nicely.

Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet +: I picked this up before Christmas technically but it was with a gift card for Sephora so I've included it here. Despite hearing this wasn't for dry skin, I think I prefer this to the HD since the coverage is better.

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque: Got this with a Holt Renfrew gift card. I asked the sales person if they give samples to try it out first and she looked at me like I was insane, since it's so small no they do not. So whatever, since I don't normally shop at Holts I picked it up anyway and it's great, may be the best undereye concealer ever since it corrects instead of just covering, very creamy too.

Sonia Kashuk brushes: Every time I am in the US, I always hit up Target and get some of these cause we don't have them in Canada (we really should!). I asked my cousin to get some for me, even gave them links to specific ones. I got the Synthetic Multi-Purpose brush, eyeshadow brush, dome shaped crease brush (love this the most) and one of the regular line eyeshadow brushes too. I love the handles on these, so cute.

Urban Decay Primer Potion Professional Size: Thank the lord they came out with this in a professional size, much more user friendly. However, I do find the product really hard to get out since it's thick you have to really squeeze the container. This will last me forever since I had the original UDPP for two years.

I will do full reviews on all these products once I use them up more.

Now for some Christmas shopping pictures. Here is the Toronto Eaton Centre, they had a giant Christmas tree in the centre of the mall, it turned. Also that is snow that you see falling from the ceiling there, not real snow of course but a short of soapy stuff that fell from the ceiling, it was really cool!

They also had a Ferrero Rocher tree. We lined up for like 15 minutes to get a free chocolate. If you can see in the bottom left corner they had a smaller tree, you'd take a chocolate off the tree, open it up and depending on what colour ball you had on the inside you could win money or gift cards, or at least a free chocolate. We got the free chocolate.

The top 4 pictures are of The Bay Christmas window displays, the pictures do not do justice to how cool these are, there are moving parts and they are so elaborate. One of the nice things of living in Toronto is finally being able to see this.

And here is how busy the Eaton Centre was on the 23rd.. people everywhere! I do not miss this at all. :)

Did you do much Christmas shopping this year? Or boxing week shopping? Did you get some nice beauty items in your stocking this year?

Review: ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer Vs Urban Decay Primer Potion

I love my Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP), but recently my one in Sin cracked on the bottom. This is the result of it rolling off the site of my bathroom counter and falling on the floor too many times. The packaging of the UDPP is cute, but not practical, since mine broke! and it was only like 25% finished, it was a product I used everyday and now I have to find a way to depot it or continue to have it ooze out of the bottom. So while that one has been on standby, I have been reaching for my neglected ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer. I used this when I first got it and then reverted back to other primers. Today I will be comparing the ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer to the original Urban Decay Primer Potion.

ELF's Mineral Eyeshadow Primer (not to be confused with the "eyelid primer" which is $1) retails for only $3 on the ELF website and it rivals the cult favourite Urban Decay Primer Potion. Mine fell apart after a few uses, the cap unglued from the lid, it sucks, but it doesn't change the performance of the product at all. This product serves the same purpose as the UDPP, you put in on your eyelids and it acts as a base for your eyeshadow, keeping it in place and from creasing all day. You get about half as much product in the ELF primer than you do in the UDPP, but more than half the price (for the same size equivalent). The texture is a bit different, but I think the product is very comparable.

Both products have a doe-foot applicator. The new UDPP has a slanted one, mine is really old. As you can tell the UDPP is more opaque and will do a better job at neutralizing the eye area (taking away darkness and appearance of veins) because it is more pinky salmon coloured. The ELF is also thinner and waterier in consistency, while the UDPP is thick and more dry. I find the UDPP easier to apply because it is thicker, I feel like it covers quicker. My swatches are not straight out of the bottle, hence why they have dried on my arm, it takes a while to take proper pictures sometimes.

Now the important part, the performance! Does the ELF primer work as well as the UDPP? I put the UDPP on one eye and the ELF on the other and wore it around all day. Above is the final result after wearing it for 12 hours or so. The difference is very minor, if you look objectively (click to zoom picture) the ELF side is faded and less vibrant. The UDPP side is shinier and prettier. But neither one has creased. I used Rimmel's Smokey Brun quad here for the look, I wanted to use some cheap eyeshadow to really show any variation. I find with MAC shadows they always look good, regardless of what primer you use.

So for the purpose of "does it perform the same way?", I think the ELF Primer does a fine job. I think for $3 it's a really good buy if you are on a budget. If you used high quality eyeshadow you would not notice the difference between this and UDPP. Urban Decay has started to package their primer in better packaging recently, I am not sure if this is permanent though, many people dislike the UDPP packaging, as do I and should really be buying Too Faced shadow insurance instead, the ELF primer falls into the same problem, the package isn't great, but the product is totally fine.

Have you tried the ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer? How did you find it?

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

Review: Urban Decay Ammo Shadow Box

The Urban Decay Ammo Shadow Box came out ages ago, I got it three Christmases ago from my sister. It is quite slim and compact which I like, the packaging is cute too, the lighter purple print in the pic above is actually velvet. The print is quite elaborate too, with a pistol shooting out butterflies, skulls, fish, hearts and other swirly things. This shadow box retails for $36 on the Urban Decay website.

This shadow box came with 10 best-selling shadows to celebrate Urban Decay's 10th birthday at the time. They are said to be arranged in duos to be used together, if you want to go that route. It comes with a large mirror inside, and a double ended sponge applicator. The palette also has a magnetized closure, which is nice to keep it all tightly closed. Since it's black on the inside, it can get fairly dirty if used often.

The shadows in this palette are gorgeous, and they overall, are less glittery than the ones in the Sustainable Shadow Box. I would get this palette alone for the gorgeousness that is "Last Call" that shadow is soo beautiful and I think similar to MAC's Starviolet.

I will go over the shadows that are found in the Ammo Shadow Box, descriptions taken from Sephora:
Winners:
Smog - deep coppery bronze, this is a beautiful buttery brown everyday crease brown colour.
Maui Wowie - sandy sheen, I thought this shadow would be too glittery, but it's actually not horrible when swatches, pretty smooth gold champagne colour, extremely pigmented.
Mildew - shimmering metallic green, I don't have a lot of green shadows and this one is beautiful.
Last Call - iridescent plummy purple, one of the prettiest purples ever, love this shade and my favourite in this palette.
Chopper - shimmering fawn with glitter. Peachy colour with subtle shimmer.
Shattered - bright iridescent aquamarine. Pretty oceany blue with no shimmers, glitter anything.
Sin - light shimmering champagne, this is another beautiful colour, shimmer is delicate and the shadow is smooth and lovely.

Losers:
Oil Slick - black with rainbow glitter. I have this in the Sustainable palette too and hate it, never wear it.
Polyester Bride - sheer white shimmer, crumbly, thick mess.
Grifter - sparkling pale purple ,too much fallout and crumble on this one.

This palette is really nice, the packaging is cool and the shadows contained are pretty good, aside from the three "losers" that I pointed out above. I am happy that I have this palette in my collection and reach for it from time to time. I only have the two for now, Sustainable and Ammo and I would choose Ammo over the other in a second.

If you are thinking of picking up an Urban Decay palette, please keep in mind that their shadows can be crumbly, glittery and have lots of fallout, but some shadows are also very, very good quality and some of those are in this palette.

Review: Urban Decay Sustainble Shadow Box

Since there is a new Urban Decay eyeshadow palette out now, "Naked" which looks lovely by the way, I thought I would go over some of the Urban Decay palettes that I already have in case someone is looking for swatches. I got this palette a couple of years back now, honestly I do not reach for it a lot. The colours are pretty, but many of them have tons of glitter and that means massive fallout when you apply them to your eyelids.I don't like products that take a lot of effort and are messy, so this palette is much hit and miss for me.

Review: Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin

 I love the original UDPP, it's totally a cult favourite. It keeps my eyeshadow stay on throughout the day and provides a good base for the shadow to stick to. I got it two Christmases ago and even though I use it nearly everyday, it has lasted me this long still, and I haven't depotted it yet. There is a lot of product left that gets stuck in the tube (the packaging isn't great) so please remember to cut yours open and dig the remnants out! Anyway, instead of depotting mine just yet, I decided to try out the new UDPP in the colour, Sin. This is basically the same product, just coloured, the original was a translucent, matte base and this one is a creamy, shimmery champagne colour, just like the Urban Decay eyeshadow in Sin, which is part of the permanent line. I like that because most of the shadows that I wear are neutral so the colour compliments, and the colour is to die for.

May Favourites!

The end of the month is almost here, so here comes my monthly favourites for... May. These are products that I've enjoyed using the most this month. I like choosing products from every category, like one from brushes, eyeshadow, foundation, perfume, skincare, lip products and so on, just makes it easier to narrow it down, cause I use a lot of different things throughout the month.

1. MAC Face & Body Foundation:  I have raved about this product before but it was in pretty heavy use this month, so I chose to include it. It is great for summer, great for days when you don't want to wear a lot, but still want to cover up some flaws.

2. Miss Dior Cherie Perfume: I got this perfume around Christmas, it's one of my all-time favourites, very sweet smelling, it's got notes of caramelized popcorn and strawberry in it, really pretty, totally recommend it and I love the cute bottle with the bow on it.

3. L'oreal Copper Caravan Eyeshadow Quad - This quad is really nice, it has lots of bronzey colours, which I like for summer months. It really lights up your eyes. This is from L'oreal surprisingly, one of those limited edition types they sell in drugstores from time to time, I picked this up a year ago or so.

4. MAC Golden Bronzer - This bronzer is foolproof and great for lighter skintones. I use it with a pretty heavy hand and it adds a nice contour to my cheeks, one of my holy grail products for sure.

5. Revlon Lustrous Lipgloss in Lilac Pastelle and Peach Petal - These lipglosses are super pigmented and not sticky. I love the purple one especially, finally tracked it down while I was in the states this month and am really pleased with it.

6. Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin - My original UDPP was running low, so I decided to pick up a new one in sin. This is the XL bottle, which I think makes sense cause I use this every time I put on eyeshadow. I hear that some girls wear just this on it's own for a light shimmery look on your lids, but for me I find it just disappears after a while, so I use it as a base, just like I would with the UDPP.

7. Sonia Kashuk Powder Brush - One of two of the SK brushes that I own, this one does shed a bit, which is annoying, but I love the size and fullness of it to apply powders and bronzers. And the handle is really cool.

8. Garnier Skin Renew Brusher Cleanser - I got this as a tester two months back and love this product, it has quickly become included in my daily routine. It smells good, does not irritate my skin and the brusher is really handle to clean your face nicely.

And that's it for May... what were some of your May faves? xo

Haul from Chicago Trip

So I came back from Chicago yesterday and I thought I would show all the goodies that I got. The trip was made a lot more bearable by my cousin taking us around Chicago. We walked a lot, so much that I got blisters on my feet. But it's all good cause it was a good time. Maybe I'll post some photos of the scenery that I took, Chicago is really nice.

Onto the makeup.. we went to Walgreens, CVS, Ulta, Target, Marshalls.. didn't hit up a CCO unfortunately, but it was fine cause I spend too much money on everything anyway.

Left to Right: Revlon Foundation Brush, Sonia Kashuk Powder, Blush and Mineral Flat Top Brush, Sonia Kashuk Blending Sponge, Revlon Colorburst Lipsticks in Soft Nude and Baby Pink, Neutrogena Healthy Skin Makeup, Revlon Lipgloss in Lilac Pastelle, Revlon Spa Concealer, Revlon Colorstay Mousse Foundation, American Apparel Nail Polishes (Peacock, Mount Royal, Dynasty and Office), Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion and Urban Decay Primer Potion XL in Sin.

I had to go to two Targets to get the Sonia Kashuk stuff, their brushes seem really popular, they are pricey for a drugstore brand though. And the blending sponge is cool, I've never seen those here, except Sephora and I don't have one near me, hence why I bought the Urban Decay Primer Potion XL as well.

The Lash Blast Fusion was really neat to see, only one Walgreens had it (we went to a couple), and we definitely don't have it in Canada yet, so that was cool. I think Walgreens is like Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada because it's on like every corner. Same with the Revlon brush and Revlon Colorburst lipsticks, and mousse foundation, we don't carry those.  And I was pleased to see one Lilac Pastelle lipgloss (from the Daydream collection) which was tucked in with the regular lipglosses, I snapped that up pretty fast! :D

We went to an Ulta too, it's kind of like Sephora or the beauty boutique section in Shoppers Drug Mart, there is a section for every brand and sales people standing around ready to help you. The one we went to had an upstairs too and that had drugstore brands and I got the Neutrogena healthy skin there, which I am excited to try out. We don't carry any Neutrogena makeup in Canada.

We have American Apparel in Canada, but not near me, so I picked up some polishes, they were 3 for $15. I got 4 cause I had trouble deciding which ones. I had Metro Chic on and wanted to get the Factory Grey colour and my sister was like... that one looks just like the polish you are wearing and Peacock looks like Suzy Says Feng Shui, if only she knew how many similar colours and dupes I had in my collection! And no, they are not the exact same.

All in all, I am happy with the items I got, I didn't see the L'oreal North Fork dupes anywhere! So I couldn't get them and didn't see the EOS lipglosses either. I will be reviewing these products as I use them. I will swatch the polishes next...

Oh, I also got one Milani nail polish in Pink Rocks, it's a neon colour and hated it so much, it has this weird gradient effect purple by the cuticles and more vibrant pink as it goes along to the nail line... eww and it wasn't cheap either. I should of opted for the Sinful Colors neons, they were only $1.99 at Walgreens...  And I saw a lot of girls wearing neon colours in Chicago, I guess it's "in".

FOTD: YDK and Twice Baked

It's my first FOTD, and ya it's not my whole face lol, my mouth is all deformed and I don't want to show it..  just kidding. Anyway, maybe you'll get the rest of me later.

So here are the products that I used:

FACE
- Elf Mineral Face Primer
- MAC Studio Sculpt in NW15
- MAC Studio Fix Powder NW20
- MAC Dainty Blush

EYES
- Elf Eyebrow Kit in Light
- Urban Decay Primer Potion
- MAC Bare Study Paint Pot
- Urban Decay in YDK on lid
- Urban Decay in Twice Baked in crease
- Lancome Courbe Virtuose

I gotta say those lashes are looking hella long there... I am always complaining that they are so short and thin, but there they look bam! I guess that L'oreal lash serum may be working.