Sephora MUFE Haul and New Almay Hydrating Makeup

I went Sephora shopping over the past two days and picked up some Makeup Forever, along with some other items. During trip #1 I got the HD foundation and Too Faced Shadow Insurance, I wanted to try the MUFE HD foundation for the longest time and finally got it in the shade 117. Then trip #2 I returned the Too Faced Shadow Insurance because it was a watery runny mess, see yesterday's rant here. Now correct me if I am wrong, but I am not happy with Sephora's return policy when using a coupon. I purchased the MUFE HD foundation $46CAD, and the TFSI $24, and used a $20 off VIB discount, the way they do that is take a portion of the $20 off each item (I had two). Then when I returned the TFSI I only got $19.37 back instead of the full amount. I tried asking the cashier why, and she agreed with me, but that's how the system does it. If I had used the $20 off on the foundation and then did a separate purchase with the TFSI I would of not run into this problem. Have you encountered this before? I know it's just $5 but it bothers me you know? I am getting penalized for returning it, but the foundation alone was the $40 minimum purchase.

I also picked up the MUFE Face and Body in the shade #20. I really wanted to get the Mat Velvet +, but after reading review after review about how it's not good for dry skin (which I have) I felt it was better to leave it out. The Face and Body comes with a pump which surprised me because the youtube videos that I watched people do, it did not. And despite being very watery and not great coverage, I think it's a good bet for my skin.

I am a Sephora newbie, but I tried my best to get samples today, since on the first day I got nothing, too scared of the staff there. Today I told the girl that I have dry skin and am looking for a hydrating foundation, she suggested Laura Mercier's Silk Creme Smooth, which was no surprise to me since I heard it recommended before by beauty reviewers, she got me samples in the shades Blush Ivory and Warm Ivory. However, I am probably more likely to buy the one that comes in the pump bottle, which is moisturizing too, we shall see how this one works out. Then I got some MUFE HD blush samples, that at point, she staff girl seemed irritated with me, I got the lilac colour and a peachy coral one, not sure of the numbers, I think it's #13 and #6.

I also picked up the Sephora #55 brush (picture above). This was $44, I know a lot but it was on my "to get" list for a long time and despite having a ton of makeup brushes, I thought this one would be sweet to have. Like others have said before, the packaging on this brush is ridiculous, took me like 5 minutes to get it off. The brush is soft, not super dense, but looks like it will be good for liquid foundation.

I also picked up the new Almay Wake up Hydrating Makeup in the colour 020 Buff. I read about this and the Revlon Mineral Makeup on Nouveau Cheap and noticed it was on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart. Both products are pretty much the same I think, marketed to do the same thing, Revlon has coconut water and Almay has cucumber something or other, both look to be good for dry skin. Almay was $13.99 and Revlon was $15.99 (both are around $20 normally!) so after humming over it for a few minutes I grabbed the Almay. First impressions: The brush is nice, but I won't use it, the powder has a sifter so I left the peely thing on in case too much comes out for me. The powder does have shimmer which annoys me (zoom in on 2nd image above to see it), I wonder if the Revlon one does too.

I am loving Toronto living so far. I can take a streetcar to Union station and then two stops and I am at the Eaton Centre, which is crazy good. But I am afraid I won't be seeing Miss Sephora for a while now because I have no moola to spend on her. But I am excited to try out these new beauties.

Have you tried any of these products? And have you encountered that hassle with returns at Sephora too? Le me know your thoughts.

Review: Too Faced Shadow Insurance

I picked up the Too Faced Shadow Insurance as part of my Sephora haul recently. I had the $20 off $40 VIB coupon and was so excited to finally be able to pick up some goodies. Sephora is like a makeup candy store and for makeup hoarders (or lovers to put it nicely haha) it can be very dangerous. Too Faced Shadow Insurance was one of those products that I'd heard about years and years back, but being a UDPP kind of girl, I put it in the back of my mind. I did finally pick it up and man, I am severely disappointed unfortunately.

Essie Fall 2010 Collection Swatches and Review

I know we are into winter now, but I have the Essie Fall 2010 collection today to swatch and review, hope you don't mind. I purchased the Winter 2010 collection first, and then this one. You can read my review of the Essie Winter 2010 set here. This fall set definitely feels fall-like to me, the colours remind me of falling leaves: red, green, brown and a taupe mixed in, they had to add in that taupe it was the hottest colour for a while now and people still love the purple greys. The opacity of these is amazing, I found 2/4 of them (Limited Addiction and Little Brown Dress) went on with one coat coat only that's how pigmented they are.

Sephora: $15 or $20 Off $40 Purchase Beauty Insider Coupon

So I was so excited when I saw a $20 off $40 coupon from Sephora yesterday, I totally wasn't expecting it at all. Sephora and I are not the best of friends you see, living an hour+ away from Toronto before I could not get to a Sephora store and every coupon they had was in-store only, so it left me really annoyed. BUT! As you all know, I just moved to Toronto and Sephora welcomes me right in with this awesome, fantastic coupon.

Alright, VIB's you get $20 off $40, while everyone else with a Beauty Insider membership gets $15 off $40, which is still think is pretty damn sweet. This coupon is valid in-store only in US and Canada from December 2-13, 2010. I was worried cause I didn't get the $15 off one and I have multiple accounts (I've only shopped online with Sephora so I accidentally made several) but turned out it went into my Spam folder! So check your email carefully if you didn't get one, cause you may have. I think VIB's should get more, but whatever, I am using this and loving it. So I am making this post asking you what you guys are getting with your coupon, hmmm?

Going into Sephora is like entering a makeup candy store for me, I get way too excited and have to be very careful to not overspend. I got two coupons so I will be definitely planning this out. I am thinking Makeup Forever HD foundation and Sephora #55 Airbrush powder brush.

What are you girls getting with your coupon?

November Haul

Just a sneak peek at the items that I purchased last month and got in the mail recently. We don't have mail set up at our new place yet (the building isn't even finished yet and we are one of few people that live there). So we have to go way the heck to the other side of town to some mail depot to pick anything up, huge hassle. Anyways, I have goodies here from ELF, Essie, Sigma, Rock and Republic and Bare Escentuals. I will do full reviews soon once I try the stuff out some more, but I will add a short first impressions here too.

ELF: 
Flawless Finish Foundation in Porcelain - Smells like men's cologne and soap. I bought some bedding from Homesense recently and had to return them because they had a huge stain on them which smelled of cologne, this smell reminds me of that, not pretty and congures up the image every time I use it. Packaging is nice, pump is great. Colour is a tad light for me, but the next shade up would be way too dark.

Complete Coverage Concealer - Nice packaging, I have it in the lightest colour, "Light". The four colours in here look very similar though, not sure why they didn't use some variation. Consistency is creamy, covers okay, definitely sets into lines, creases though.

Tinted Moisturizer - I have this in the lightest too, "Porcelain", very yellow undertones in this. I have read others on facebook mention this too, but the tube feels 1/3 full, not sure if this was a random thing, or if they are all like this, be weary, haven't used it on my face yet, found not recommend this.

Essie:
Fall 2010 Collection - Beautiful fall colours, haven't worn it yet, but will wear the red one to a Christmas work party tonight. I am happy to have Sew Psyched and Merino Cool in here.

Sigma:
F05 Small Contour Brush - Tried using this with the ELF foundation yesterday, not crazy about it for that product. My MAC one is definitely more round. I will do comparison review soon.

F82 Angled Top Brush - Like all the Sigmax brushes, this is incredibly soft and full, like it a lot for contouring.

Rock and Republic:
Tease - Purple pink colour, very cool. Pigmentation is lovely.
Immoral -  Bright almost totally orange blush. I am loving this and curious how it will work on my skin. Just a note, I paid $18.50 CAD duty on these upon delivery, so watch out if you are international.

Bare Escentuals:
5 Brush Set - I was under the impression that these were horrible, scratchy brushes, but I really wanted the Maximum Coverage Concealer brush and these were only $20 altogether on The Shopping Channel Canada, and I had a $10 gift card, so I had to get them. But surprise, I really like them. They aren't as soft, but I think will deposit product very well.

And that's it... hopefully you will hear from me more now that I have found my camera!

Where I've Been Lately

Just a note in case you are wondering, I haven't blogged anything in the past few days. And my last 3-4 posts were pre-written scheduled ones too. I moved to Toronto a few days ago and am now in the un-packing stages. And before then I was packing everything to move over, and didn't have the time to blog anything here. All will be back to normal soon once I figure out where my camera is hiding!

I have some packages here from ELF, Sigma, Rock and Republic, Amazon Essie nail polish so there will be reviews/hauls coming up for sure, as well as my November favourites. Thanks for sticking with me and we shall talk soon! :)

Also, I just thought I would add this in..if anyone knows of a place in downtown Toronto that is hiring and could hook me up in any way, please let me know. :)