Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I hope you have a nice, relaxing time with your families and get lots of nice presents! :)

Sephora: Awesome Beauty Insider 500 Point Perk Benefit Benefaves

Every time I am at Sephora I scope out what the Beauty Insider freebie gift is, and it's rarely something that I would actually redeem for. Then the other day, while looking up products on Sephora online I notice this awesome Benefit 500 point perk and almost placed an online order just to get it. Then I was at Sherway Gardens (Toronto) tonight shopping and their Sephora had it. So I picked up some things, or so my cousin bought me some Christmas presents and I got this pretty thing. This is the first time I've redeemed my points ever, so it's a big deal for me.

It comes with a full sized Coralista blush (I know full size!), and a 4g size Badgal lash mascara. I have several Benefit boxed blushes and they are pretty good, but expensive and I've always wanted this one, so I am so happy to have it. The blush retails for $36CAD ($28 US) and the mini BadGal I think I saw it for $8 CAD in the store today. So that's not a bad value there.

Coralista is a peachy blush, it has a coral pink sheen which is supposed to look great on the cheeks. It's definitely a sheen and not glittery overload, which I appreciate.

And here is the brush on the Benefit Badgal Lash, pretty average looking I think, it's a big brush for sure. I took it out of the tube for the photo-op and it's going back sealed and in the box until I go through my mountain of opened mascaras.

Anyway, I loved Sephora's little Christmas present to those who spend lots of money in their stores. This was a nice start to Christmas for me. Definitely check out your local Sephora if you are interested in this one, they change around the perks every now and then.

What's the best points perks you've redeemed for at Sephora?

Review: Make Up For Ever Face and Body Foundation

If you are looking for a foundation that looks like a second skin, undetectable and gives sheer-light coverage, Make Up For Ever (MUFE) Face and Body will be the foundation for you. This retails for $42CAD ($38US) at Sephora, I bought it recently during the $15 and $20 Sephora coupons offer. This foundation is described as "liquid makeup combines an ultra lightweight formula with seamless coverage. The unique gel formula comprised of more than 75% water delivers a natural result suitable for all skin types. It gives the skin a uniform tone and leaves a satin finish. Easy to apply and water resistant, this is a also a perfect formula for the body." I love this foundation, it feels like nothing on, however I would only recommend it to those with decent skin because this won't cover anything really, it just gives colour and evens out, but it does give my skin a radiance I really enjoy.

American Apparel: Trenchcoat and Rouge

Did you like my American Apparel swatches yesterday? Hope you aren't sick of them, I have a couple more here today. These two come from the new shades that they've recently added. These two shades are pretty unique I think, which is something AA polishes are known for.

Trenchcoat is like a muted mustard colour. I imagined it would be a tan, but once I received it, I realized it definitely was not. A shade that you are either going to love or hate I think. I don't know how I feel about this, it reminds me of Misa's Hot Couture a bit. This one is going to my cousin, we will see what she thinks of it. It applies very nicely.

American Apparel: African Violet, Coney Island and Berry

I love American Apparel nail polishes, most are opaque in one coat (I know one coat!), they are all creme finishes and they come in cute square bottles. They have recently added some new colours to their collection, I checked my local AA store for them last night and they only had one new colour in stock (African Violet), they hadn't received any others yet. I will show that one to you today as well as some old colours. They sell for $7.50CAD, or 3 for $18, so of course I bought 3.

Review: Lauren Conrad Style

I think Lauren Conrad is totally cute. I was an avid fan of The Hills, The City, even Laguna Beach and I appreciate her simple, laid back, classic style. Despite being younger than me, Lauren is what I would love to be when I grow up, who got famous for being a reality-show star, then went on to "write" very successful books and has a style that gets mentioned in magazines everywhere. I purchased this book for my cousin, and I admit I flipped through it myself too. It's a very light read, basically pictures of Lauren being cute and sharing her fashion and beauty tips. Anyone could write a book like this since the tips in here are pretty common sense, but she does add her own style tidbits in there, the stuff she is known for, her winged eyeliner, goddess sidebraid, light makeup etc. Although this book is aimed at teenagers, Lauren is filthy rich and has expensive taste like Chanel, Balenciaga and Christan Louboutin, stuff that those even in their late 20's cannot afford (ie me).

Lauren starts out her book by thanking her stylists "this book is dedicated to the wonderful team that spends countless hours doing hair, makeup and styling to put me together." She sounds pretty high-maintenance right? In the picture above you can see her in a pointed shoulder blazer, I think those are really cute.

One of Lauren's basic go-to pieces are black heels, especially platform heels, she owns countless pairs of shoes, but always comes back to these. You can tell these are Louboutin here with the red bottoms. Nice shoes.

I was hoping this book would give actual examples of what Lauren like and wears, but it isn't difficult to figure out some of the items in the pictures like the Essie nail polish on this page. Lauren sports what looks like black nails in the entire book, her nails are short and filed. She lists nail polish as her "outfit finisher". I definitely agree with that.

Oh look some NARS products! This book is careful in trying to disguise what brands they use, but we all know this is NARS.  "Apricot or peachy colored is a good basic standby, and if there's a range, go for one that's slightly more orange in shade, otherwise it will turn pink once it's on the face." I usually opt for peach blushes so I found that neat.

The white brushes in this picture definitely look like Sonia Kashuk and that purple sponge is her's too, I have that sponge!

This book wouldn't be complete with instructions of how Lauren's does her side braid, possibly her "trademark". She claims that the first time she did the side braid was to "hide an unfortunate self-bangs-cutting incident." She goes over how to do this, if you want to read about it, just enlarge the image above. The book also goes into embracing what nature gave you and ensuring your hair is healthy before anything else.

This picture is cute, she is surrounded by people making her up. And notice the Sonia Kashuk powder brush? I have that same brush. ;)

I think this book is cute, more for young girls, even though they can't afford most of the stuff. In the back, there is a section for 'fashion credits' and it goes through page by page what clothing she is wearing, and you'll notice some of it is her own fashion line too. Some pieces are listed as unknown because they are vintage. It's a style guide so to speak and makes for a nice Christmas present.

Have you read Lauren's book? or any of her others?