Get Barry M To Canada!

Surely you've heard of Barry M Cosmetics? They are one of UK's affordable cosmetics line, they are known for their vivid use of colour in their products. I've watched many youtube videos on their products. Most of all I've always wanted to get my hands on their dazzledusts, nail paints (what the british call nail polish) and lip paints (lipsticks). I recently heard that they were trying to break into the Canadian market, so I contacted one of their PR reps and asked me they'd like to send me some samples of their products. Barry M is only sold in the UK at the moment, so being in Canada, I had no access to any of their stuff. I was pleased when I received a package last week containing some of their items!

Here are the lip product that I was sent, the lip paint (lipstick) in 100 Baby Pink and the lip gloss in 05 Bubblegum Pink.

The lip paint is definitely concealer lips going on, this went on much lighter than it appears in the tube. It is quite opaque, but pretty drying, so definitely wear a gloss over this.

Here is the lip gloss, which is a pretty pink with lavender undertones. This smells like Hubba Hubba gum! This one is going into my purse, I really like this.

And here with the gloss layered over the paint paint, I think it makes it more wearable, but this is still quite dramatic and very light. I would really like to try their 147 shade, which is a peachy pink.

The two nail paints included were Mushroom (top) and Mint Green (bottom). I love the Mushroom one, was glad to see this in the package, it's a medium brown with grey undertones (the picture makes it look more warm, but it's actually cool toned I think). It's "greige" shade for sure, and Mushroom is the perfect name for it. The other one Mint Green is a bright light green colour, this one was harder to apply than Mushroom (which applied beautifully in one coat), but is still really nice. I would definitely pick up more nail polishes from Barry M if I get the chance.

The blush(er) is a hot pink with purple undertones, "Pink Orchid". I like how the British call blush, 'blusher' so cute. I have nothing like this in my blush collection surprisingly (since I am more into peachy tones) so this was nice to have. I think it's comparable to MAC's Pink Swoon.

I got a Shimmering Eye and Lip Crayon in 07 Golden Bronze. I wouldn't use this on my lips, but it will make for a nice eyeshadow perhaps. And the Eye Kohl in 06 Electric Blue is a pretty bright blue, will make for a nice bold eyeliner colour.

I got some Dazzledusts, which are like pigments, included were 98 Petrol Black and 22 Electric Blue. I like these a lot, the containers are small, but you get a lot in there. The Petrol Black (close up above) is really unique, it has iridescent purple and green bits in it. I was surprised by the name since it doesn't look black to me at all.

Most of all I am pleased to finally get my hands on the nail paints. I am excited to see more once they start selling these products in Canada. I will covet these items. Thank you Barry M for sending me these and I urge you all to check out their site and their Get Barry M Into Canada! Facebook page if you are in Canada and anticipate their products hitting stores near you.

Have you tried any Barry M products?

MAC goodies from a friend

I ordered MAC Lavender Whip lipstick from Winnie at "All Styled Up" a few weeks ago, and she was super nice to include some extras in there for me! She hits up the MAC Warehouse sales in Toronto every few months, and I always buy stuff from her. Thank you Winnie for sending these to me! :)

Here is Lavender Whip in all it's glory. It's a cremesheen finish, pastel purple shade. It's totally unique and I love shades like this, although they are more for fun, and definitely not for everyday wear. Plus it was limited edition, so you can't get it anymore.

She also included Roman Holiday Dazzleglass, which is packed full of pretty shimmers that I tried to capture in the picture here. It's like a peach/brown golden colour, really pretty.

Here is a swatch of the two lip products. Lavender Whip is quite opaque and smooth on the lips. Roman Holiday is quite nice too, gotta experiment a bit with this over some of my lipsticks.

She also included Nocturnelle Nail polish in there, which is a black jelly, supposed to be really good. And a MAC pencil sharpener too. :) Thanks again Winnie, if you ever need to unload some MAC items, you know who to contact! :)

MAC Cham Pale Haul

MAC's Cham Pale came out a few weeks ago. I was only really into the paint pots in this collection, MAC rarely comes out with new ones and they looked really pretty in swatches so I picked some up. I've been "into" MAC for about 4 years or so and can you believe I never bought a paint pot? I had some samples, but never went out and bought one. I think the ones in this collection are perhaps not the best to get started with, since they are more glitter than cream, but they are pretty for sure, and with them being limited edition, we just gotta have them right? :)

I picked up 2/4 of the paint pots offered in Cham Pale. On the left is Chilled On Ice (frosted white gold) and on the right Vintage Selection (frosted dirty peach). They retail for $20 CAD each. Paint pots are most often used as eyeshadow bases since they tend to brighten/deepen shadows, but they can also be worn on their own for a subtle look.

From the swatch there you can tell these are... gritty? I have read mixed reviews about these, if you like glitter you will like these since they are packed full of the stuff. They aren't as smooth as regular paint pots. However I am no paint pot expert, so I cannot say for sure. I think as bases they are just fine.

While I was there, I also picked up Painterly paint pot, which is described as a nude beige and a cream finish, so it's got no glitter whatsoever, just flat colour. This one is a staple of many, and I thought it would be a good simple paint pot to have around for everyday use. I prefer this over the two Cham Pale paint pots by far.

And here swatches of the two Cham Pale ones (two in center) and Painterly (far right). I also included Bare Study paint pot (on far left) as a comparison to Chilled On Ice. I read that the two were similar, but Bare Study is much more opaque and a solid gold beige tone while Chilled On Ice is less opaque, chunky and more yellow. I would suggest getting Bare Study over Chilled On Ice. I only have a sample of Bare Study from ages ago and it dried out, you gotta keep those paint pots tightly closed or else you are in trouble!

edit: I ended up returning both paint pots, they weren't for me.

Did you get anything from Cham Pale? Which paint pots do you like best from MAC?

♥ Best of 2010 ♥

Now that 2010 has come and gone and 2011 is here, it's time to reflect on what products did the job well in 2010. Here is my list of favourite products of last year. I've tried to incorporate as much as possible products that came out in 2010, but in the mix got products that just worked for me too, regardless of when they came out.

Best Foundation

NARS Sheer Glow

MAC Pro Longwear

MUFE Face and Body

Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse

Best Concealer

Revlon Age Defying Creme

Benefit Erase Paste

Bobbi Brown Corrector (Light Bisque)

Best Lipgloss

Revlon Super Lustrous Lilac Pastelle, Pink Pop and Peach Petal

Best Lipstick

Revlon Soft Nude

MAC Jazzed

MAC Viva Glam Gaga

MAC Blooming Lovely

Best Blush

MAC Stereo Rose

MAC Peaches

Benefit Coralista

NYC Blushable Creme Stick in Plaza Pink

Best Eyeshadow

NYX Champagne and Caviar

MAC Naked Lunch, Sable and All That Glitters

Best Bronzer

Physicians Formila Bronze Booster (Light/Med)

MAC Golden

Best Powder

Revlon Colorstay Pressed Powder

Almay Wake Up Hydrating Makeup

MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural (Light)

Best Highlighter

Hard Candy Honeymoon

MAC By Candlelight

Best Mascara

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Voluptuous

Loreal Million Lashes

Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion

Revlon Grow Luscious

Best Eye Primer

Urban Decay Primer Potion (Pro Size)

Best Skincare

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

Clean and Clear Dual Action Moisturizer

The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost

Best Fixers

Neutrogena Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover

MAC Fix+ Rose

MAC Prep and Prime Skin

Best Perfume

Thierry Mugler Womanity

Givenchy Hot Couture

Best Nail Polish

OPI Suzy Says Feng Shui

OPI Jade is the New Black

American Apparel Malibu Green

Best Brush

ELF Studio Powder Brush

Sigma F80 Flat Top Synthetic 

Sigma E25 Mini

Sigma F25

What were your favourites of 2010?

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?

Sigma: New "Make Me Up" Collection 12 Brush Kit and Brush Container

"Introducing the new Sigma Beauty 'Make Me Up' collection! Our best seller professional 12 brushes kit now comes in beautiful colors and inside a durable and multifunctional container! Besides protecting your brushes, this exclusive container transforms into 2 stylish brush holders!" I like scoping out the Sigma makeup website from time to time, just to see if they have any new items available and just looked now and they sure do.

These new products are basically their 12 brush kit collection in 4 colour: black, purple, coral and aqua and then a handy dandy brush holder container to put all your brushes. The way I see it is the holder can be used to transport brushes during travel or keep them dust-free, or you can open it up and have two compartments to store your brushes, one side for face, one side for eye brushes. I like the idea of the brush holder a lot, and it's cute that it comes in different colours, although I probably would aim to get the black one. These sets sell for $99 and come with a free E25 blending brush too.

The brushes that come with this set include:
Medium Angled Shading - E70
Large Shader - E60
Pencil - E30
Large Angled Contour - F40
Large Powder - F30
Duo Fibre - F50
Foundation - F60
Concealer - F70
Tapered Blending - E40
Eye Shading - E55
Eyeliner - E05

Click here for more information.