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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Review: Almay Wake Up Hydrating Makeup Powder

Since I have dry/dehydrated skin, I find it very difficult to find a powder that goes not emphasize my dry areas and more often than not, I do not "set" my makeup with powder for this reason. Powders make me look ashy or like I am wearing caked on powder basically, and that's not a pretty look. Some even cause my skin to itch and feel tight. Almay's Hydrating Makeup does not do that, it has this awesome cooling, wet feeling that I really enjoy and is unlike any other powder I've ever used. This product is identical to the Revlon Colorstay Aqua Mineral makeup (they came out at the same time), but for a bit less money, hence why I chose this one.

Drugstore and MAC Shopping Time

I ventured out and bought some beauty products today, drugstore and MAC. I was on a mission to find the new Maybelline Fit Me foundation, people have been asking me on twitter, what I thought of it, but I have no opinion because I haven't tried it! Canadians get stuff late a lot of the time. Although the Shoppers Drug Mart flyer has this foundation... no store actually has it, at least not the 4 that I hit up today! So it will be some waiting for that one I think. I loathe waiting around while everyone else gets to try stuff and rave about it.

The two paint pots that I picked up from Cham Pale were terrible in my opinion and went back, I exchanged one for Bare Study paint pot, which I am much happier with. I know I will like this because I had a sample of it before. This paint pot is shimmery too, but not at all to the extent of Chilled On Ice paint pot and it's much more opaque, should of got what I knew was good in the first place.

While I was paying, the MAC girl handed me an invite for the new collection coming out "Wonder Woman". I got this very elaborate animated ad invite, she told me to RSVP right away if I want to be part of the pre-launch party. I don't know, do you guys like anything from this collection? I thought it looked a bit kiddy.

If you've been following my blog you know that I don't have blue eyes (they are green), but this palette from NYX looked gorgeous so I picked it up. The colours are so buttery and pigmented. They had one for blue/green/blue and a smoky one, but this one stood out the most to me, not crazy about the blues, but the others are pretty.

And lastly, I got the Ganier Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Creme. I've had my eye on this for a while, and finally got it. I've been using my small jar of Clinique Moisture Surge and this definitely reminds me of it, same texture. I know lotions are more for dry skin, but I actually prefer gels, they go on really nice and feel great on my skin. This stuff is love love love. Have you tried this product? You should, it's fabulous!

Monday, January 10, 2011

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?

Saturday, January 8, 2011

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! :)

Friday, January 7, 2011

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?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

♥ 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.