All posts by Chelle

Ipsy – August 2014 Glam Bag

August 20, 2014Hauls, Makeup, ReviewsAbsolute!, Coastal Scents, Dr. Brandt, Ipsy, Lord & Berry, Urban DecayChelle

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Everyone’s already talked about how the bag of the month looks like a deflated beach ball… So now that I’ve stolen everyone elses’ much smarter observation than my own, let’s move on to the contents of the actual bag!

The theme was back to school, but as with all Ipsy bags, the theme never really seems to make any sense. I mean it’s all makeup at the end of the day… we wear this stuff year ’round!

The big hitting product this month was Urban Decay‘s brand new Perversion mascara. People were absolutely freaking out over the size of this sample on the Ipsy threads, but when I go back and compare it to previous deluxe size samples of mascara I’ve received through Ipsy before, it’s near identical in volume. Most deluxe size samples are between 0.1 and 0.2 fluid ounces (this one is 0.1 fluid ounce). There is nothing wrong with this sample – heck you can even tell they stuffed the tube because the darn thing makes a squelching sound every time I open it. If anything, I think UD just really knew how to package this sucker.

ANYWAY. On to the actual mascara. Plain and simple: I love it. It has a natural, “normal” brush and it coats my lashes wonderfully. It’s smooth, thick and wetter than most mascara formulas, which is something I like in particular. This one is a winner, and I may very well buy the full size when I finish this one.

Dr. Brandt – Pores No More pore refiner primer

I had amazing results with Dr. Brandt‘s microdermabrasion scrub, but unfortunately a primer just isn’t necessary for me. It smells heavily of tea tree oil, which is really nice (if you like the scent, of course!). It has a silicone feel on the skin, which I quite like, but I couldn’t tell you if this does what it’s supposed to do because I never notice a difference with my foundation whether I use primer or not.

LORD & BERRY Black SILK mini kajal kohl liner

This is a black liner that does absolutely nothing. There’s nothing remotely enticing about this product. Lord & Berry say it’s a kohl kajal, but the damn thing is so stiff that it’s hard to get colour pay off (as you can see in my eye shot above). It was difficult to even get that much on my lid. I tried tightlining with it and I swear it smudged off within 30 seconds. I’ve no use for this liner at all.

This one wigs me out. Absolute‘s You’re The Balm in Grape looks, feels and smells like a very cheap product. It’s a relatively clear, gelatinous balm with multicoloured sparkles mixed in. Normally the glitter would fill me with glee, but since it goes on the lips rather gritty, I really just feel like I’m wearing a Wet n Wild sparkly balm from the 90s. I’ve only tried it once and was too disgusted to try it again. It’s sitting in a corner on my makeup desk, waiting for the moment that I gather the courage to try it again…

These Coastal Scents blushes aren’t too bad actually. The pans are really tiny and I made the mistake of accidentally cracking the product on one of them while trying to get it out of the plastic packaging. It can be a bit difficult to get your blush brush into these products though since the pans are so bloody small. The colours, however, go on my cheeks rather nicely and have lasted throughout and entire work day, so that’s a huge bonus for a relatively inexpensive products.

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Ipsy August 2014 Breakdown (all prices in USD)

Urban Decay Perversion mascara (0.1 fl oz @ $5.50, full size is $22 for 0.4 oz)
Dr. Brandt Pores No More pore refiner primer (0.25 fl oz @ $11.25, full size is $45 for 1 fl oz)
Absolute You’re the Balm Lip Balm in Grape ($2.99, full size)
Coastal Scents Forever Blush Sample Duo (2.5g @ $2, full size is $7.95 for 10g)
Lord & Berry Black SILK Kajal Kohl-Liner (0.6g @ $7.50, full size is $15 for… double the size? – just a guess, I can’t find sizing info anywhere)

BAG VALUE = $29.24

My Thoughts

Kalyn basically summed up my thoughts in her own post on this month’s Ipsy bag, but in essence… aside from the mascara, this bag bored me. After such an amazing last month, this bag was just an absolute downer. It was so offputting that I’m considering whether or not want to stay subscribed to Ipsy. I think I’m at this point where I’m realizing that some of this is really just unnecessary products that I use, but never really fall in love with. I’ll see how next month goes and then make a solid decision.

What’s On My Face – Volume 22

August 18, 2014Makeup, TutorialsBoots No7, CoverGirl, essence, Hard Candy, Hourglass, Lord & Berry, MAC, Makeup Geek, Maybelline, NYC, NYX, Revlon, Tarte, Urban Decay, Wet n WildChelle

Another set of makeup roundups!

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Something nude-ish for all your neutral lovers out there!

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Eyes

MAC Ricepaper as the inner corner highlight and to highlight the brow.
MAC Amber Lights all over the lid.
MAC Handwritten on the outer third.

CoverGirl Clump Crusher mascara is on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: Hard Candy – Hula Hula
Blush: MAC – Warm Soul

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The nude lips soooo do not work with this one!

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Eyes

Makeup Geek Mango Tango all over the lid.
Makeup Geek Bitten on the outer half of the lid.
Makeup Geek Creme Brulee through the top of the crease.
MAC Shroom to highlight the brow.

Tarte Black gel liner to create the wing and CoverGirl‘s Clump Crusher mascara is on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: NYC – Fire Island Tan
Blush: Tarte – Charisma
Highlighter: MAC – Whisper of Gilt
Lips: essence – Nude Love

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A fun dark one! As I’ve said before, I usually stay away from dark lid colours but when I do try it out I generally quite like the results!

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Eyes

Urban Decay Darkside all over the lid.
Urban Decay Blackheart on the outer third of the lid.
Urban Decay Nooner to blend out the crease.
Urban Decay Strange on the browbone.
Urban Decay Dust to highlight the inner corner.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: NYC – Fire Island Tan
Blush: Wet n Wild – Pearlescent Pink
Highlighter: MAC – Soft & Gentle
Lips: Maybelline – Maple Kiss

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This one doesn’t come across as well in photos as I had hoped. Isn’t it strange how that can happen? I really love orangey-reds on my lids and this was one of the first few looks I ever did that really pushed me into using more and more fiery colours.

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Eyes

MAC Gleam all over the lid.
MAC Coppering on the outer half of the lid and heavily through the crease.
MAC Handwritten in the very outer corner.
MAC Blanc Type to highlight the brow.

CoverGirl Clump Crusher mascara is on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: NYC – Fire Island Tan
Blush: Tarte – Charisma
Lips: NYX Butter Gloss – Cherry Cheesecake

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I had been lamenting how much I seem to fail at makeup looks that involve gold, primarily because I tend to combine them with brown. Kalyn showed me that gold just seems to work way better with black, so I decided to give it a shot the next time I incorporated some gold shadow.

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Eyes

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bold Gold all over the lid with Sleek‘s gold shadow from the Sunset palette layered on top.
I used a strip of tape on my outer lid to create the super sharp edge, then swept on Urban Decay‘s Blackout.
Makeup Geek Creme Brulee lightly through the crease to blend out the black.
MAC Blanc Type to highlight the brow.

I tightlined my upper waterline with the Lord & Berry Black eye pencil and applied Urban Decay‘s Perversion mascara on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Boots No7 Instant Radiance in Cool Vanilla
Bronzer: Revlon Photoready in Bronzed & Chic
Blush: Hourglass – Diffused Heat
Highlighter: MAC – Whisper of Gilt
Lips: Revlon Sunset Peach gloss

Fitness Friday: Half Marathon Training Update

August 15, 2014Fitness, RunningChelle

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So this is rather daunting for me: On September 14th, while on vacation in the Czech Republic, I’m going to run my first half marathon in Usti nad Labem (about an hour north of Prague). That’s almost exactly four weeks away.

Training, in all honesty, has not been that bad. I had expected it to be more strenuous and hard on the body since I’ve never consistently run so much for such a long period of time. But aside from being rather time consuming, I truly haven’t felt any ill effects on my body. I expected something really. A blown out knee, a rolled ankled, SOMETHING.

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But nope! Over the past month or two I’ve trundled along at a decent pace with my workout plan, very rarely missing runs altogether.

The last few weeks have pretty much looked like this:

Week of July 3rd – 2 x 7.2k and an 11.5k
Week of July 13th – 2 x 7.2k and an 11.5k
Week of July 20th – 2 x 7.2k and a 13k
Week of July 27th – 2 x 7.2k and a 13k
Week of August 3rd – 2 x 8k and a 14.5k
Week of August 10th – 2 x 8k and a 15k

Each week has consisted of two support runs alongside my longer run of the week (which will cap at 17k in three short weeks). I’ve started to turn the 8k support runs into interval training in an effort to break up the monotony and hopefully increase my shorter race pace. It’s nice to actually be able to say that – a few months ago I could barely do interval training for 4k, never mind double that! Mixed amongst my runs were my regular sporting activities (soccer and, more recently, ultimate frisbee), as well as strength training.

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There’s one month left of training to do! Then I start what runners call their “taper”, which basically means reduced distance running in the week leading up to the actual half marathon to ensure that my muscles are as strong as they can be.

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It’s funny because I expected training for a half marathon to feel more monumental. More like an 80s workout montage a la Rocky movies. But it’s been smooth and easy to do. Time consuming, for sure, but painless and very easy to progress through the increased distances week after week. (And for that reason, I cannot recommend the Hal Higdon programs enough!) I even started taking energy gels throughout my long runs a few weeks ago to keep my energy up and I didn’t experience any awkward stomach cramps which was a blessing as I’ve heard some pretty uncomfortable stories from other people.

My biggest recommendations for distance running? Aside from the obvious, which is sticking to your plan, I can’t recommend changing your music enough. Change it frequently, maybe even as often as before every long run because the monotony of kilometer after kilometer can become incredibly boring. At this point I am sooooo damn tired of Ke$ha’s Timber! (And yet, it’s still on my playlist, so I just keep listening to it every. single. time. I. run.)

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I’m really looking forward to this half marathon. It’s a new challenge for me because it’ll be a distance I’ve never fully completed to date. I’m especially eager to do it in a country I’ve never been to, which means it’ll be a completely new and exciting experience.

Sad Illamasqua News & Haul

August 13, 2014Hauls, MakeupIllamasquaChelle

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I don’t normally post mid-month hauls as I generally try to save all of my goodies for a big long post at the end of the month, but I had a slight panic attack today when I read Julie from Swatch and Review’s recent Illamasqua haul. She pointed out that Illamasqua was pulling out of the North American market and that all of their products were on sale at The Bay. If I had waited till the end of the month to haul this stuff, you guys would’ve been screwed!

So, I don’t know where the heck I’ve been, but when I started researching this on Google, I discovered this isn’t apparently news and the information has been out there since February. Colour me totally blind because I had NO idea. I only got into Illamasqua‘s products within the last year or so, and I’ve been a huge fan of their blushes (in particular Tweak and Hussy). Feeling somewhat panicked by the news, I stormed over to the Illamasqua counter at The Bay yesterday during my lunch break (a mere hour after I read Julie’s post) and snapped up a few products. ALL Illamasqua products are 25% while supplies last, which means you’ll be saving a pretty penny since they’re not cheap products to begin with. The woman I spoke to at the counter indicated that they were expected to pack up shop by the end of August. YIKES!

It’s worth noting that as far as I can see, Illamasqua is completely gone from Sephora as well. That being said, The Bay always carried Illamasqua at significantly cheaper prices than Sephora did, so you’ve still got a few weeks to pick up some nicely discounted products!

Here’s the loot I snagged. I may go back for more before the end of the month, but this will do for now!

Illamasqua Skin Base in shade 6.5 (on sale for $31.50 CAD, regular price is $42)

Skin Base. If there’s one thing that Illamasqua fanatics always talk about, it’s Skin Base. I first heard about their foundation through Pixiwoo, and kind of ignored it over the years because it’s expensive and I’m a cheapo when it comes to foundation. It’s not a product I wear every day, so it’s not really essential like eyeshadow is to me. But goddamn if I wasn’t going to get this at 25% off! (And even on sale, it’s still pretty pricey at ~$32!)

The makeup artist at the counter helped me pick out the Shade 6.5 which kind of surprised me. Despite having a decent summer tan right now, I wasn’t expecting to be so high up the line of foundations (this is good news for the super pale folk out there!). According to Illamasqua’s site, Shade 6.5 is similar to MAC NC25, so it’s not nearly as dark as I thought.

Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Alluvium (on sale for $19.12 CAD, regular price is $25.50)

Um hello there pretty! The Alluvium Pure Pigment is stunning in the pot (although the pots themselves are an absolute disaster packaging-wise. What a mess they make.). It looks like an incredibly dark navy blue with flecks of copper and gold sparkle. However…

What sorcery is this?!?! The swatch compared to the pigment in the pot is completely baffling to me. Honestly, I prefer the shade in the pot, and I’m going to see if I can try to pull more of the darker copper sparkles out of this shade by using a brown base. It’s still beautiful though. Despite the rather unexpected blue shade, you gotta admit that is one *stunning* shade of blue.

Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Static (on sale for $19.12 CAD, regular price is $25.50)

The Static Pure Pigment looks an awful lot like Beguile (a Pure Pigment shade I already own), but it has far more of a pink flash to it (whereas Beguile ends up looking like snow although it has multi-coloured shimmer in it). I bought this because I don’t have anything quite like it. It reminds me of MAC‘s Transparent Glitters (teal being my favourite).

Out of focus shot to the right so you can see the pink flash to the pigment. It’s obvious in person, but man oh man is it hard to photograph straight on.

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Raindrops (on sale for $12.75 CAD, regular price is $17)

I wasn’t sure what else to pick up from Illamasqua, so I did a bit of research before heading over. One of the things that Christine fromTemptalia recommended highly was their Raindrops nail varnish. It’s a muted grey polish with flecks of silver throughout. It looks like a polish I could wear week after week. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m excited to try it out!

And what’s a product photographing session without Nemo checking out what’s going on? 🙂

That’s it for this haul – if you’re interested in Illamasqua, you’ve got until the end of the month to pick up some lovely products at some very nice prices. Good luck, and let me know if you got anything!

The essence of Fall Beauty FotD + Giveaway

August 10, 2014Makeup, TutorialsessenceChelle

The Canadian Beauty Blogger brand of the month is essence! The brand has been kind enough to sponsor a giveaway for several of the CBB blogs and I was one of the lucky ones chosen to be a part of this fantastic giveaway. Having never tried any essence products before, I was excited to play around with some of their products and find out what I thought about the brand.

First up is my own Face of the Day using products from essence‘s Fall line. See below for giveaways details and how to enter.

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Having never been one for subtle makeup, I knew when I saw the All About Paradise eyeshadow palette that I had to do something fun with it.

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And have fun I did! I managed to use all of the colours in the incredibly vibrant six-pan palette. The end result is exactly what I wanted – something moderately tropical, semi tie-dyed and just all around fun!

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So here’s how I did it:

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Eyes

I first layed down a solid white base using NYX‘s Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk to ensure that the colourful shades would pack a punch. I then used essence‘s All About Paradise eyeshadow palette:

Yellow all over the inner corner and around the tearduct.
The pale green on the middle of the lid.
Blue in the outer corner and the outer half of the lower lash line.
Pink through the crease.
Champagne to highlight the brow.
Peach on the inner half of the lower lid.

I then used Tarte‘s black gel liner to create the wing and then tightlined and lined my lower water line with essence‘s Black gel eye pencil. On my lashes is essence‘s get BIG! lashes mascara.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Boots No7 Instance Radiance foundation in Cool Vanilla
Eyebrows: Anastasia‘s Dipbrow Pomade in Blonde
Bronzer: NYC‘s Fire Island Tan
Blush: essence Silky Touch Blush in Autumn Peach
Highlighter: Champagne shade from essence‘s All About Paradise palette
Concealer: essence Match 2 Cover! cream concealer
Lips: essence‘s Wear Berries!

The essence of Fall Beauty Giveaway

One lucky winner will win $100 worth of essence cosmetics! Items selected will be at random, but it’ll be $100 worth of awesome essenceproducts.

Details

Open to residents of Canada (you must have a Canadian address that we can ship to).
Giveaway runs from August 10th until August 18th at 12:00 a.m. EST.
Winner will receive $100 in products from essence, no purchase necessary.
Be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

The products featured in this post were sent to me to create this look.