All posts by Chelle

What I Bought This Month – January 2015 Haul

January 26, 2015HaulsChemins de Provence, Elizabeth & James, Makeup Geek, Marcelle, NARS, Omnia Botanica, Smashbox, The Balm, The Body ShopChelle

I’m one of the fortunate ones that has their birthday in mid-January. So just when I’m getting over (aka sad) the fact that I was showered in presents over Christmas, I get to do it allll over again for my birthday! Woohoo!

Sephora BI Birthday Gift (free)

I also get to get my hands on the Sephora Beauty Insider gift early. This year they were handing out a duo of NARS in Cruella and Rikugien. I’ve never picked up any NARS lip products before so this was a nice surprise.

Some Makeup Geek shadows….

…and then some more Makeup Geek shadows. ($5.99 per pan, $9.99 per foiled)

I also went haywire this month with Makeup Geek. An order I placed mid-December finally showed up (problems at the border due to a shipping method they tried out) annnnnd then I placed another order. I won’t list them all, but I ordered 32 shadows, including the full line of foiled shadows which are just as incredible as everyone else has been saying. I think it’s now my life goal to own all her eyeshadows… (As a note, Marlena has said that she expects to be raising the price of the eyeshadows by a dollar in the coming year because she needs to be able to pay her staff before… hence why I’m going bonkers.)

Smashbox – On The Rocks palette (gift) — Elizabeth & James Nirvana Black (gift)

Challenge Week: Urban Decay Vice 3 Palette

January 23, 2015Makeup, TutorialsUrban DecayChelle

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My mom was a sweetheart and picked up the Urban Decay Vice 3 palette for me for Christmas. This was the first Vice palette I’ve owned and the first I was ever really felt drawn to. I mean… just LOOK at it:

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Good god is that ever pretty! While this palette seems to be no longer available at Sephora, at the time of posting (January 23, 2015), it’s still available on urbandecay.com. I’ve been so very tired of the trend of naked this, naked that, that this palette feels like I can finally get some damn oxygen amidst all the browns and neutrals. Oh sure, this palette has its fair share of neutrals, but that’s really helpful for blending out some of the brighter shades.

Anyway, enough yapping, on with the looks.

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Okay so I know I just complained about too many neutrals, but this type of looking is probably the most flattering on me and the easiest one to pull off without thinking about it.

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Eyes

Angel on the lid.
Defy on the outer half of the lid.
Undone through the crease.
Truth on the browbone.

I created the wing with Kat Von D‘s Tattoo Liner in Trooper and applied Benefit They’re Real mascara to my lashes. I then applied a pair of Femme Fatale lashes in Catwalk with duo lash adhesive.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: Tarte Park Avenue Princess
Blush: Elizabeth Mott Tints & Sass in Cherry

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I was not expecting these colours to come out so bright but man am I ever happy they did. Some of the swatches for the green (Dragon) had looked rather unpigmented, but I had no trouble get really vibrant colour onto my lid!

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Eyes

Dragon all over the lid.
Heroine on the outer half of the lid.
Undone through the crease.
Bobby Dazzle and Truth on the browbone.

I then lined outer lower lash line with MAC‘s Phone Number eye pencil and dabbed someHeroine on top. I then applied Benefit‘s They’re Real mascara to my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in shades 51 Light Vanilla and 52 Vanillamixed together
Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand
Blush: Tarte Exposed

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Favourite. My absolute FAVOURITE look that’s come out of this palette so far. Even my husband really liked it, so I’d say it’s an all ’round success!

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Eyes

Lucky on the inner half of the lid and heavily on the inner tearduct.
Sonic on the outer half of the lid.
Vanity through the crease.
Bobby Dazzle and Truth on the browbone.

I finally learned how to freaking blend out my lower lash line properly, so there’s someVanity on the outer corner and Sonic on the inner half. I used Kat Von D‘s Tattoo Liner inTrooper to create the wing and applied Benefit They’re Real mascara to my lashes. There’s also a few individual lashes glued on as well. On my upper and lower waterline is Urban Decay‘s Black Velvet liner.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in shades 51 Light Vanilla and 52 Vanillamixed together
Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand
Blush: Tarte Charisma
Lips: Revlon Papaya

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I’m fiiiinally trying out a technique I’ve seen done for years on YouTube videos, but never got around to doing. You basically create an enormous half cat wing, then blend it out. While the photo came out pretty decently, I think I need to make it even larger next time and work with own eye shape more. When my eyes were fully open, it didn’t look as sharp as it does my eyes are closed (thank you very much hooded lids…).

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Eyes

I first created a huge wing with Tarte‘s black gel liner, but didn’t drag it all the way down to my lash line. I then patted Revolver on top of the liner and blended it towards the inside of my lid.
Last Sin was then blended on the inner half of the lid and blended into Revolver.
Bobby Dazzle was applied lightly to my brow bone.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in shades 51 Light Vanilla and 52 Vanillamixed together
Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand
Blush: Hourglass Diffused Heat
Highlighter: MAC Silver Dusk
Lips: Too Faced Melted Candy

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The blue (Freeze) and purple (Vanity) were some of the weaker shades in this palette. The pigmentation just didn’t come off as strong as I would have liked. Maybe a white base would bring out some more of the impact of the colour.

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Eyes

Freeze on the inner half of the lid.
Vanity on the outer half of the lid.
Alchemy through the crease.
Bobby Dazzle on the browbone.

I lightly lined my outer lower lash line with MAC Phone Number eye liner and patted Vanityon top.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand
Blush: Hourglass Diffused Heat
Highlighter: MAC Soft & Gentle

This palette? Love it! It has enough vibrant shades to keep me entertained and yet enough boring neutrals to balance out any bright eye look. If you’re looking for a good mix of shades, or want to try playing with more vibrant shades, this is a pretty solid choice.

Guest Post: Natalie’s 2015 Beauty Resolutions

January 21, 2015MiscellaneousChelle

Well, howdy friends! Nice to see you all again. In case you don’t remember me (how could you?!) I’m Natalie and I blog over at Ivory Avenue. I’m back again this month as part of the CBB Monthly Guest Posting, and this time I’ll be talking about my beauty resolutions for 2015.

I’ll be honest: beauty resolutions are tricky.

Clean makeup brushes monthly
I put this one first because I think it’s going to be the hardest one to stick to. I feel like we all feel that we’re terrible at cleaning our makeup brushes on a regular basis, but it’s seriously an issue. Do you know how much bacteria is in there? A gross amount. And then you put it on your face! Apparently even washing makeup brushes once a month is enough, so that’s my goal. I can totally do this, right?

Stick to a skincare routine
I’ve only recently even had a skincare routine, and I loved it! I loved the consistency and how great my skin felt. Unfortunately, I kind of fell off that bandwagon over the holidays as I was travelling and couldn’t bring all of my skincare with me. I really want to get back to a regular routine, and actually stick to it for longer than a month.

Use high end products more regularly
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I have a seriously hard time using up expensive makeup and beauty items. It’s so silly because obviously it’ll go bad eventually, but I just can’t get myself to use them on a regular basis. I think it’s because it’s such a treat to myself that using it often would make it less of a treat. Silly, right? Anyways – hopefully I’ll start using these products on a more regular basis and actually enjoy using them, not just staring at them.

Rotate makeup & be adventurous
I think we too often fall into a makeup rut. I too often grab the same lipstick or same blush, even though I have so many other options. I may start doing those 30 day challenges where you use a new lipstick or blush every day for 30 days to help. It makes me sad to think of the products I have that are going untouched and unloved!

Buy less makeup
Well, this is a hard one isn’t it? Zoe and I actually decided last October to do a no-buy for 2015. I have, unfortunately, already broken this. And yes, I’m going to justify it: Bourjois is so much cheaper in the UK, and it was buy one, get one 50% off! I only bought two things, but still, I broke the no-buy. I’m going to pretend that didn’t happen though, and continue on nonetheless. Even if I buy something here and there, it’ll be far less than I would normally have bought.

What are your beauty resolutions for the New Year?

Chelle’s Aside: Thanks for sharing your beauty resolutions for the year Natalie! When I saw that you listed clean your makeup brushes more regularly I was like “ughhhh why didn’t *I* think of that?” And I want to see all your ventures into trying out your entire collection!

Use Up 2015

January 19, 2015MiscellaneousBoots No7, Bourjois, Hourglass, MAC, Maybelline, RevlonChelle

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I had moderate success with my Use Up 2014 collection of items, so I wanted to continue the trend this year. I have no desire to restrict myself to a proper Project Pan (and buynothing while on it!), although I really, REALLY do enjoy finishing products. Last year I tried to clear 14 items out of my collection, and I bombed out of a few of them. It was too large of a number and some of the products just frigging sucked to finish. This year, I’m keeping it to a reasonable 10 products, and I’m wayyy more enthused about using these than I was last year’s items. As with last year, these are items I want to finish up and move out of my collection, but they’re not necessarily ones I’m going to be repurchasing any time soon.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light

I bought into the hype of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders and picked up the one I most wanted to look like. Ethereal? Hell yes I’d like to look like an otherworldly being! But this does… nothing? I don’t know what everyone else is seeing but this might as well be a mattifying translucent powder. I notice no difference on my face when I wear this, but I bought it, paid an astronomical price, so I may as well use the darn thing. Since I don’t actually use face powder anywhere in my routine, this is actually a super easy step to throw in. And it’s not like I can fuck it up really… since it looks like nothing on my skin.

Barely Beige was one of those limited edition Maybelline Color Tattoos from many, many seasons ago. Despite the mad love that everyone gives them, I’m just not much of a Color Tattoo person. They tend to go on my lids and make them look crinkly – as if I suddenly aged 20 years. Not flattering. They are, however, very easy to use, when I need something to wear without thinking about it (like when I hit the snooze button for an entire hour and suddenly have to run to work). I own about 10 shades, but this is the colour I’m most likely to use up within the next year. It’s starting to go hard on me too, so I’m not even sure it’ll make it the whole year without becoming cement.

MAC eyeshadows in (clockwise starting from top left) Club, Fade, Print and Cork

I somehow managed to finish up four eyeshadows from MAC last year, so I’m doing the same this year.

Club has been a longstanding awesome shade, but I now have dupes in my collection and this is the oldest formula I own of this shade, so it’s time to go.
Fade is sheer baby blue from my teen years that I need to just completely move away from (incorporating this one is going to be painful – this one is the most at risk for not getting used up this year).
Print is a lovely dark grey shade, but it’s almost done and it’s old, so it’s time to say goodbye.
And lastly, Cork. It’s old, I have plenty of browns like it, so it’s time to move on.

Throughout 2014 I realized that I’m just done with lipgloss. It’s too finicky for my liking, so it’s time to clear out what I have. Revlon‘s Papaya is a lovely shade, but it just needs to go. It’s hard to tell from the tube, but I think there’s a little less than 50% remaining.

Boots No7 Instant Radiance foundation in Cool Vanilla, Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in shades 51 and 52

I managed to finish up one foundation last year. Only one! So I don’t know how the hell I’m going to finish up three… While they’re all quite lovely on the skin, I just need to move these along since they’re liquid products and they’re a few years old. These are ones I’d consider repurchasing at some point, but for now, I need to use up what I have and I have a lot more foundations that are waiting in the wings after these.

Boots No7 Instant Radiance in Cool Vanilla – I was colour matched to this at Boots in Galway, Ireland, and it’s the perfect shade as I move from spring into summer. I seem to only have a small window when I can wear this for it to match my skin, but it’s one of the best-looking foundations I own. Highly recommended. (In general, I highly recommend the No7 colour matching system. It works far better thanSephora‘s Color IQ and it has never failed to pick my right shade no matter what the season.)
Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in shades 51 and 52 – 51 is far too pale for me, but mixed with 52 it’s fine… but only in the dead of the winter. I’ll trying to get these finished before spring hits otherwise I’ll have to wait until December to wear them again.

Do you have any plans for a Use Up 2015? Or a Project Pan for the year? I have a ridiculous fascination with used up products, so let me know what your plans are!

Fitness Friday: Current (Frustrated) Musings

January 16, 2015Fitness, Running, WeightliftingChelle

So I’m kind of irritated with myself when it comes to my exercise routine.

To be perfectly honest, this about sums it up.

I have a 5K race coming up mid-March (Achilles St. Patrick’s Day Run) and a 10K planned at the start of April in Panama City, Florida (we’ll be on vacation there), but I’m feeling kind of like I’ve shot myself in the foot in regards to training. I put on a heap of weight in December and I’m struggling to get it off. All while trying to work on getting my running distances and speed back up to parr. I know that as the weight comes off, my speed will increase, but it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating because while I’m not starting from scratch, I’m working back up from a deficit just from having whacked on the weight and not exercised much throughout December. And that’s just stupid. Why do we do this to ourselves? We just let exercise fall by the wayside and then when we dive back in we’re in all kinds of pain and/or frustration. So while I’m lugging myself to the gym four times a week, I’m still annoyed that it’s gotten to this point. No one likes starting from scratch.

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I’m lifting low amount of weight right now since I need to re-adjust myself so that my muscles don’t cave under the sudden pressure. I’m also only running around 5-7k at a go, which feels really, really puny compared to what I was doing when I was training for that half marathon last year. On the upside, I do have another half marathon planed (Ottawa Race Weekend in May) so I know that at some point I’ll be covering those distances again.

Anyway, that’s a brief amount of moaning about my miseries. It’s not always easy to try to stay fit. I’m not really motivated all that much right now, but I am thankful that I have enough of a “must exercise” mentality that I can drag my ass to the gym at 9 pm at night without having to put too much thought into it. One of the massive upsides to having maintained a consistent level of physical fitness last year is that I no longer find it difficult, or strenuous to push myself to go to the gym. Now it’s just a matter of fact and I do what needs to be done.

So while it’s not always easy, I’ll persevere regardless. I’m sure in a month or so I’ll feel back to normal, but for now… I grumpily push on, all while reading fitspo tumblrs to try to get me motivated! How about you? Are you struggling with your exercise routine, or your motivation to start one?