Category Archives: Makeup

Holiday Makeup Releases: The Good, The Bad & The Boring

September 19, 2018MakeupAnastasia Beverly Hills, BECCA, Bobbi Brown, Kat Von D, Laura Mercier, Too Faced, Urban DecayChelle

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! For holiday makeup releases that is! September marks the start of a four month build up to Christmas as all the beauty brands launch their holiday collections. And, no different than years past, I am SUPER freaking excited for it all!

I’m going to walk you through what I’m interested in, what I think is bad, and what’s downright boring. Let’s go!

The Good

Let’s start this off with the item that I am THE most excited to get this year – the Too Faced Gingerbread Spice palette! This only got previewed about two weeks ago and it’s already launched… but only in the US so far. I’ve been trying to get my hands on it in Canada, but Sephora doesn’t yet have stock just yet (and it’s killing me). The colours are freaking stunning (although I had thought the deep fuchsia was more of a red in the original photos I saw), and it’s supposed to smell like gingerbread! I love their Gingerbread Man Melted Matte from last year, so I’m so happy they’re going down the gingerbread path and making more things in that vein. I cannot WAIT to get my hands on it! (If you’re in the US, you can already pick this up at Sephora!)

Too Faced - The Sweet Smell of Christmas — Too Faced – The Sweet Smell of Christmas

I cannot get over Too Faced‘s holiday Melted Matte releases – they make me so happy! I have Melted Candy Cane from 2016, Gingebread Man from 2017 and now I MUST own all four shades in their “The Sweet Smell of Christmas” collection. Each one smells different! Pumpkin Spice! Sugar Cookie! Cinnamon Bears! Hot Buttered Rum! I’m also happy to report that these come in mini sizes. I’m at a point in my life where I no longer need a full size lip product, so this is perfect for me! Sadly, this isn’t available in Canada just yet (again… dying over here), but if you’re in the US you can snag this sweet set for only $25 USD! (BTW, I’m taking a pass on Gingerbread Girl Melted Matte just because I don’t really need another full size lip product, and I love my Gingerbread Man from last year – which they actually re-released this year!)

Too Faced - Tickled Peach & Sugar Cookie mini palettes — Too Faced – Tickled Peach & Sugar Cookie mini palettes

Do I need these Too Faced mini palettes? Surely not. Am I going to get them? More than likely! The Tickled Peach palette hopefully smells like the original Sweet Peach scent (my favourite!), and the Sugar Cookie one? I mean… how am I supposed to resist this??

Laura Mercier - Hidden Gems — Laura Mercier – Hidden Gems

WOW! I only just saw this Laura Mercier palette come out of nowhere in the last few days and I’m intrigued. Her formula of eyeshadows is one of the best on the market, but she tends to create muted shades that fit more into the neutral side of things. When I saw this Hidden Gems palette I was blown away – there’s some legit colour in there! I’m not totally convinced I NEED it yet (and there’s potentially too much shimmer), but I’m going to see what the price is at IMATS Toronto (coming up this weekend) and/or wait till the November Sephora sale to potentially pick it up. This palette is already out at Sephora if you’re interested though!

BECCA - Mini Macarons — BECCA – Mini Macarons

I do NOT need more highlighters, but I find it hard to turn down BECCA highlighters in itty bitty packaging (which is a far more reasonable amount of highlighter than the enormous ones we all keep buying). This is the BECCA Mini Macarons set, and by some miracle I don’t have a single one of these shades! The four piece set comes with Opal (yes, I’m the last person to own this shade), Vanilla Quartz, Rose Quartz and Prismatic Amethyst. For once a practical set without a repeated shade (for me) – dead pleased with this one!

Bobbi Brown - Infrared — Bobbi Brown – Infrared

Whoa Bobbi – where have you been hiding these shades? I’ve never EVER been intrigued by Bobbi Brown‘s makeup… until this launch. Just LOOK at those REDS! The Bobbi Brown Infra-Red palette speaks to me on a different level and I’m curious to try out the formula of their eyeshadows!

The Bad

I can barely believe I’m putting this Urban Decay Elements palette under “The Bad”, but here we are. At a surface level I should frigging excited about this – it’s a rainbow palette and I *love* rainbow palettes. But… and this is huge for me… there is not even close to enough matte shadows in here. This palette becomes nearly unusable by itself for me because of that and I find that very frustrating when the palette is so enormous to begin with. I think there’s two, maybe three mattes in there, and given how many shades are in the palette, that just isn’t enough. I loved the concept of it, the colours, even the awkward layout was kind of intriguing… but I’m becoming a bit more discerning with my makeup over time and the lack of mattes in this palette is making me put my foot down and say “no” to it.

BECCA - Volcano Goddess — BECCA – Volcano Goddess

What the fork happened here? Ugh. When BECCA sneak peaked the front of their Volcano Goddess palette I was SO EXCITED. Look at that beautiful rainbow of colour on the palette cover! I thought they were finally putting out a beautiful rainbow eyeshadow palette! And then a week or so later they released a picture of the inside and I’ve NEVER felt so deflated by a makeup product in my entire life. It’s pretty much a neutral palette with… a red-ish shade, and a blue. I can’t believe what a let down this item ended up being. How could they release that outer packaging knowing that the inside was going to be bland as all get out?I want absolutely nothing to do with it. 🙁

Anastasia Beverly Hills - Sultry — Anastasia Beverly Hills – Sultry

What the hell happened here, ABH? My god, it looks like this palette is practically in greyscale! It’s like they sucked the life out of the Soft Glam palette, accidentally dropped in a poppy-red shade they’d discarded from another palette, named it Sultry (?????) and called it a day. This is HORRIBLE. I rather think NOT, Anastasia.

The Boring

Too Faced - Under The Christmas Tree — Too Faced – Under The Christmas Tree

I’ve got a lot of Too Faced palettes, and many of them are holiday launches, but I’ve felt for a little while that they’ve started to become rather redundant and are more for makeup newbies than they are true makeup enthusiasts. The Too Faced Under The Christmas Tree set is basically a repetition of shades I already have from the brand so I don’t really need these sets anymore. They’re fun to look at, and great for a beginner in terms of variety, but as someone who has all of these shades already (in my like… 40 different Too Faced palettes) this set isn’t vital to me. (And the same thing applies to their Dream Queen set and the Beauty Day Dreamer set.

I’m still trying to process what to do with Kat Von D‘s revelation that she’s an anti-vaxxer and won’t vaccinate her child when they’re born. I think that’s absolutely fucking CRAZY not to do that… like it really is bat shit insane to think that you know better than a doctor. But does that make HER a bad person? Not necessarily. So while I’m currently struggling with this internal dilemma on whether or not I want to give money to someone who has vastly different morals than me (and I do really freaking love her products and still wear what I already own), I’m happy to report that her holiday 2018 collection is boring me to absolute tears. The Fetish eyeshadow palette is nothing noteworthy as I find the shades far too muted overall. I’m not interested in a blush palette from her, so that’s out of the question for me. The only thing that might’ve swayed me was if she released another set of mini liquid lipsticks like she’s done the past two years (see the 2017 lineup here and the 2016 lineup here), but this year she isn’t doing that – instead opting to release four full size shades in a pack. I’m grateful that I’m not interested in any of it so it gives me a bit more time to determine if I even want to continue to purchase from her anymore. (I’m mostly hopeful she’ll see the light about vaccinating and will do it in the end…)

Urban Decay - Naked Cherry — Urban Decay – Naked Cherry

Urban Decay really isn’t hitting the right notes for me lately. Their latest addition to the Naked line is Naked Cherry… and I’m just so disappointed in it. Concept-wise, I liked the idea. A cherry palette would be great! And heck, the packaging is pretty too. But the shadows? I’m getting flashbacks of Naked Heat and I don’t think there’s enough variety amongst the shades. Not to mention… THERE IS A SERIOUS LACK OF RED IN THERE. For a palette based on cherries, they could’ve done more than whack in some mulberry-pink tones. Where is the RED, Urban Decay? And don’t try to tell me Devilish and Young Love cut it… because they don’t. The promo shot above shows more red, but I’ve seen the palette open in many other photos and they are WAY more pink. This is like Naked 3 2.0 and I’m not having it.

Phew okay… that’s it (for now). Let me know what’s piqued your interest this holiday season!

Post contains affiliate links.

Chatty GRWM: Autumnal Look with Old Favourites

September 18, 2018Makeup, Tutorials, YouTubeChelle

5 Blushes for Autumn

September 14, 2018Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesBECCA, Cargo, Clinique, MAC, Too FacedChelle

It’s finally autumn, and I am HERE for it! The cool, crisp air, the scent of the wind (yes – actually), the layering of clothing, HALLOWEEN… there is nothing I don’t love about this season!

I’m feeling particularly autumnal this year so I thought I’d do a post on the five blushes that scream fall to me. I’ve pulled them out of my collection and put them directly on top of my vanity so as to make sure I’m getting a ton of use out of them. They fall into the darker, more warm side of things. It’s kind of funny to me that I reach for darker blushes as my skin gets paler due to lack of sun… but these truly are the blushes I reach for during this time of the year. Not a single blush is new to me – they were all purchased prior to 2018, so you *know* they’re favourites!

The first one is MAC‘s Gingerly. I was heavily influenced to buy this blush when I saw Allison Anderson (formerly Amarixe) talking incessantly about this blush during the earlier days of her YouTube career. I always thought the shade looked ridiculously ugly in the pan. I mean it’s basically a warm brown – how the heck is that supposed to look good on my cheeks??

And yet somehow it does. It definitely gives more of an orange cast on the cheeks than the pan would lead you to believe, which means that it works with a lot of the eye looks I create during this time of year! (If you want to see more details on this eye look, you can take a look at this post from 2015.)

Too Faced‘s Peach Berry is the newest product in this whole post, but it’s a good one. I picked it up during the launch of Too Faced’s Peaches & Cream collection last year because it appeared to be the most unique shade in the launch. It’s a super dark berry shade that typically scares people off, but if you apply this with a light hand it blesses your cheeks with a gorgeous cranberry tone.

I’m super pale in the shot above because this tutorial was filmed back in March or April, but you can see how it doesn’t come across too dark or too strong on my cheeks. I promise you this shade will work for pale skin!

Although I don’t wear this Cargo Mendocino blush very often, it’s managed to sneak through several of my blush declutters simply because it’s incredibly unique and I don’t have anything similar to it in my collection. At first glance it’s a dark cranberry-mauve, but when you swatch it it has the most beautiful gold flecks scattered throughout the formula. The glitter flecks aren’t super apparent on the face though, so don’t be too worried about looking like a disco ball.

I do tend to wear this one rather heavily, and I really couldn’t explain why to you because it doesn’t swatch that strongly (swatches for all these shades are below). I love pairing it with a similarly coloured lip colour for that “matchy-matchy” look. (Post with this look can be found here.)

Next up is Clinique‘s Cheek Pop in Cola Pop – a long, LONG time favourite of mine, although you wouldn’t know it from the lack of wear on the embossed flower! Cola Pop is the shade that got me into wearing darker blushes because I quickly came to realize it was all in your application. You can wear this lightly if you want, but I tend to be heavy handed with my blush because I actually want to SEE it on my cheeks – none of this “barely there” nonsense thankyouverymuch!

Despite the pan colour, Cola Pop comes out very red on me. Dare I say the perfect red? For me this is that perfect “came in from the cold” cheek colour. And really, I need it in a blush, because when I actually flush from the cold I turn hella blotchy!

The very last shade I have to mention is BECCA‘s Songbird, and I hadn’t realized just how similar it is to MAC’s Gingerly – it’s only a hair deeper and slightly more orange. BECCA’s blushes have a beautiful formula – one of the most pleasant to apply and blend out.

And of course, since I do like to match, I pair this with a lot orange and red toned eyeshadow looks (like this one from my Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance post).

You know it’s funny – when I collected these shades from my collection, my initia; reaction was that they were all way too similar to each other and wouldn’t look like much in swatches. But now that I see them all side by side there are definite tone differences between them all (well, yeah, obviously between the more red ones and the orange ones, but you know what I mean!).

As I mentioned at the top of this post, none of these are new shades to me. These are ones I go back to every single fall and winter because I know they work beautifully on me and I absolutely love the shades.

Let me know if you’ve got any seasonal blushes you reach for every year!

The BECCA Songbird blush was sent to me for consideration many moons ago, the rest were all purchased by myself. Post contains affiliate links.

VIDEO: Revlon Colorstay Full Cover Foundation – Try On + Time Trial

September 13, 2018Makeup, Reviews, YouTubeRevlonChelle

Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters (Review & Swatches)

September 12, 2018Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesAnnabelleChelle

Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters

In a sea of international brands that somehow seem to always grab my attention, there’s a homegrown Canadian brand that I really need to start paying more attention to. That brand is Annabelle and they’ve been around as long as I can remember. In fact, I picked up my very first solid black matte eyeshadow from them decades ago when I wanted to dive more into goth makeup.

Relatively recently, Annabelle put out their Perfect Glow Highlighters. Good highlighters can be hard to come by at the drugstore, so I was eager to try these out. I was even more eager when I realized that they’re also priced around $10 CAD each. Canadian drugstore prices seem to creep higher and higher ever day and it’s not often that I feel I can actually pick something up under $15.

Annabelle says that these will provide a “provide a natural and luminous finish”. There are three shades total – I’m missing the white pearlescent shade called Topaz.

Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters in Golden Diamond and Quartz - swatches — Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters in Golden Diamond and Quartz – swatches

I was surprised at how much colour the Perfect Glow Highlighters had in a swatch. Golden Diamond was definitely what I would consider “appropriate for my skintone” – it’s a very, very pale gold with a decent amount of translucency (although you can definitely see colour!). Quartz shocked the heck out of me though! I had a feeling the powder would be much more sheer, but it comes across as a medium pink with a golden shift. Truthfully, I thought this shade would essentially be a blush on me instead of a highlighter.

In swatches, the Perfect Glow Highlighters did not have a ton of reflection to them (which kind of left me feeling a bit deflated), but, as we all know, swatches only tell half the story because holy cow was I ever surprised when I buffed it on to my cheeks and I suddenly had a beaming highlighter! The tone of Golden Diamond is absolutely beautiful – pale enough on me, but with enough colour to appear golden.

As I said before, I figured Quartz was going to be a blush on me. But once I buffed it on to my skin I quickly discovered it wasn’t as deep as I was expecting. I ended up layering blush on top of it, and then relayering Quartz on the blush so that I’d have a more dimensional look than just a shiny cheek. I’m still a little bit shocked that this works on me – especially since that swatch was SO dark! The reflection on Quartz is quite a bright pearl-pink, but it did also deepen up my blush a touch. I’m at a loss as to how this one works really because I really expected this one to be too dark on me!

Final Thoughts

I really need to pay attention to Annabelle more because these Perfect Glow Highlighters really surprised me! I often go into drugstore highlighter reviews expecting to be let down (there’s been a LOT of duds at the drugstore over the years), so when I find out something is actually good I end up being extremely delighted! I like that Annabelle is able to provide a good quality product for a reasonable price tag – this can be a frigging challenge in Canada as drugstore prices seem to be continuously on the rise. Out of the two I tried, I definitely liked Golden Diamond the most (seriously – what a gorgeous reflect on that one), but I like that Quartz worked for my skin tone as well.

Let me know if you’ve tried these out!

Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters can be purchased on shoppersdrugmart.ca for $10.49 CAD each (and they’re actually on sale for $5.99 right now!).

The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.