Category Archives: Reviews

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder (Review & Swatch)

February 19, 2016Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesThe Body ShopChelle

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder in 01 Light Matte

I’ve waited a loooong time to pick up The Body Shop‘s Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder (eesh what a redundant name). It’s been in more blogs and vlogs than I can even recall and it’s been haunting me for not owning it. But really, when you already own 15+ bronzers, why do you need another one??? So I held off buying it for months, maybe even years, until just this past holiday season when The Body Shop was having an unbelievable sale and I caved. (I was also shopping with some beauty blogger friends, and we’d had some wine… so you know how THAT goes!)

I picked up the lightest shade in 01 Light Matte. Notice it says matte right in the name of the product? Love that aspect, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted this so badly. Although I love shimmery bronzers for certain occasions, I had found I was a bit overrun with them and needed ones that were actually matte. (On me, shimmery bronzers look a bit odd during the winter months – I far prefer them for the summer.)

The Honey Bronzer Bronzing Powder has a honeycomb pattern on the powder (and we all know how much we love our embossed products, don’t we?), the case is sleek, compact and even has a honeycomb pattern embedded on the lid. The whole compact just feels really well put together which is something I can really appreciate. One thing to note though: while this product is enriched with Community Trade Honey from Ethiopia, it does not actually smell like honey. (Boo!)

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder in 01 Light Matte - swatch — The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder in 01 Light Matte – swatch

So while this may be their lightest shade, if you look on their web site, their range of colours is actually pretty impressive and there are intensely dark shades that look like they’ll be really fantastic for darker skin. 01 Light Matte is slightly warm, but I never feel like it looks too warm on my skin. It’s easy to blend and can be built up for extra intensity if desired.

If you’d like to see the bronzer in action (applied on top of foundation), you can see that in one of my tutorials from last week – the Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons/Valentine’s Day look over on YouTube (scroll to the 1:33 mark if you’re only interested in the bronzer).

Final Thoughts

Although I’m currently trying to finish up another one of my bronzers (I’m soooo close), this will absolutely become my go-to winter bronzer. The Body Shop‘s Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder feels dummy-proof to me, and I *need* that on winter days when I can barely see my face in the mirror because the sun hasn’t risen yet. I’ve yet to actually go truly overboard with this powder (unlike blush… holy smokes sometimes I show up at work, take a look in the mirror and I’m like “Hey there clown cheeks, how come I didn’t notice this at home???”) and I think that’s partially a factor on how well this blends out and how pale the colour is. For the snow queens out there who are scared of bronzer, you may want to check this one out – it might just be pale enough for you!

The Body Shop‘s Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder can be purchased on thebodyshop.ca for $20 CAD (or for wait for a sale and grab it at a cheaper price!).

Too Faced Spring 2016 La Creme Lipstick Additions (Review, Swatches + Video)

February 18, 2016Makeup, Reviews, Swatches, YouTubeToo FacedChelle

Too Faced Spring 2016 La Creme Lip Swatches

If there’s something you know I like, it’s a good Too Faced collection!

Too Faced Spring 2016 La Creme Lipsticks: Topless, Double Bubble, Mean Girls, WHAM!, Berry Naughty, Ursula and Unicorn Tears

I’ve got seven out of the 10 new shades in the La Creme lipstick range and wanted to try them all on. Let’s go!

Too Faced Spring 2016 La Creme Lip Swatches

Topless is a beautiful peachy nude – this is a nude that I love seeing on myself.

Double Bubble is the Barbie pink of the collection.

Mean Girls is a slightly deeper pink chockful with glitter.

WHAM! surprised the hell out of me. The tube looks like a total glitter bomb, but I LOVE how this looks on me. The glitter doesn’t really transfer as much as I expected – instead I’m left with a gorgeous glossy berry shade.

Another stunner! Berry Naughty is quite plum/purple and unlike anything I own. I tend to steer towards the red-berry shades, but this is sooo nice.

Another killer one. Ursula is a deep plum with a lot of glitter in it but it doesn’t look like a glitter bomb on the lips which I highly appreciate.

EDIT: I wore Ursula to work the next day and encountered problems with the glitter in the product moving around on my lips. The colour is still gorgeous, but I’d recommend wearing a similar coloured lip liner all over your lips and then applying this shade on top.

Unicorn Tears is the most unique shade out of the whole launch. It’s blue in the tube but turns silvery purple on my lips. It definitely has a lot of duochrome in the shade, which can make it look a bit chunky on the lips. This would be best for layering on top of other lipsticks to give them more dimension. (Although I kind of want to wear it to work as is and see who comments on it!)

Too Faced La Creme Spring 2016 Additions – Swatches

If you want to see me apply them and talk a little bit more about the shades, I’ve also done a lip swatch video as well:

Final Thoughts

I was a little apprehensive about some of the shades because I had seen that Too Faced was starting to add glitter into the some of their La Cremes which kiiind of didn’t make any sense to me (I mean… La Creme does not mean “with glitter”!). I’m so happy to be proven totally wrong. The only shade that had noticeable glitter was Mean Girls, the other two (Ursula and WHAM!) are beautiful with the addition of the glitter particles (and they also don’t feel super chunky which I appreciate).

These new shades are just as amazing as the original shades I have from the line and it was really nice to see Unicorn Tears being added into the mix. It’s a “strange” colour, sure, but part of what makes Too Faced such a fun brand is that they add whimsical touches onto their products. It may not always be conventional, but it definitely keeps it intriguing!

Out of this launch, WHAM!, Berry Naughty, Topless, and Ursula are my favourites. And I’m currently eyeballing 9021Oh (not pictured above) which I may “need”. Let me know what shades were your favourite!

Too Faced La Creme Color Drenched lipsticks can be purchased on Sephora.ca for $26 CAD and on Sephora.com for $22 USD.

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.

Mary Kay Into The Garden Color Compact (Review, Swatches & Look)

February 17, 2016Makeup, Reviews, Swatches, TutorialsMary KayChelle

Mary Kay Into The Garden Color Compact

I’m fairly new to Mary Kay makeup. My only lasting impressions of the brand was that it was always an Avon-type brand. You know the kind… where older women in your neighbourhood would have makeup parties and they’d all go through the catalogue together and pick out items they wanted to wear. They’d then place their order via their representative and wait for their products to get delivered. Since my recollections of this were from an eight year old perspective as I watched my mom take part in these things, the brand kind of became branded with a “that’s for old ladies” perspective. And while I think some of those memories still linger for me, I’m quite happy to try out a brand for the first time and see what *I* think about it, and not what my 8 year old self’s impressions are of it.

Well that was an intro and a half. Let’s get into this. As part of their spring collection, Mary Kay has released their Into The Garden collection (available now) and this Color Compact is part of that release. Florals for spring is hardly a new theme, but I know there’s a lot of women out there who appreciate the softness of pastels and gentle colours when it’s finally time for us to exit winter.

The Into The Garden Color Compact comes with four eyeshadows that all have a shimmery finish. The three lip colours are more of a gloss, but they do have some colour in them so they’ll help augment the colour of your lips.

Mary Kay Into The Garden Color Compact - Swatches — Mary Kay Into The Garden Color Compact – Swatches

The eyeshadows impressed me: they may all have the same finish, but they’re soft, easy to blend and the pigmentation is definitely there. There’s no chalky-ness to them and all four colours are highly complementary.

The coloured glosses stood out a bit more to me in this palette as they’re not shades I would expect to see paired with these eyeshadows. They also have a bit of glitter in them.

Here’s the look I put together using the Into The Garden Color Compact.

I used all four eyeshadows and the more coral-red lip shade.

Wearing Mary Kay Into The Garden - close up — Wearing Mary Kay Into The Garden – close up

I applied the taupe shade all over the lid, the deep, dark purple on the outer corner and through the crease. I lined my lower lash line with the vibrant purple and applied the soft pink shade to the inner corner. The look came out quite pretty, and yet dramatic enough for my tastes.

Let me know what YOU think of Mary Kay products! I was pretty impressed with the eyeshadows in this palette and would love to hear more about what you recommend from the brand.

The product featured in this post was provided to me for consideration.

Maybelline Master Prime Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Base (Review & Testing)

February 15, 2016Makeup, ReviewsMaybellineChelle

Maybelline Master Prime Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Base

I’ve really been struggling with eyeshadow primers in the last two years. I’ve been unable to use a single primer on my greasepit eyelids and have had to double up (lately I’ve been using Too Faced and Milani in conjunction). This is expensive, time consuming and, frankly, quite frustrating.

So I’m ALWAYS up for trying out a new eyeshadow primer in the hopes that I can find THE ONE. Suddenly… along came Maybelline‘s brand new Master Prime Long-lasting Eyeshadow Base in 420 Prime & Matte (although I believe this is the only shade available).

Maybelline Master Prime Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Base

Here are the basics: The Master Prime contains a colour grip formula to hold pigments in place – making any shadow a 24Hour formula. It creates a perfect, smooth canvas for pure colour impact – no creasing or smearing to get in the way of showcasing your eyes. It retails for approximately $11 CAD.

24 hours is a HUGE claim, but the reality is that most people just want their makeup to last an entire workday (which is somewhere in the 10-12 hour ballpark area when you factor in commuting).

The Master Prime comes with a typical doefoot applicator. It does collect a lot of product on the wand as I think the filter on the inside of the packaging isn’t very tight. That being said, it works out quite well because the amount of product you see on the wand above is exactly how much I use to cover both eyelids.

I almost totally disregarded this product based on how it looked. I mean, it’s this awkward colour of brown that doesn’t go translucent (or so I thought), how the heck was I going to wear this on my eyes as a base? I was very, VERY wrong however. Despite the stark colour difference in my hand swatch, the colour seeps into my lids and loses a lot of its colouring. I don’t know how it does that, but it works for me!

Maybelline Master Primer Time Trial - comparison between 7:30 am and 5:15 pm — Maybelline Master Primer Time Trial – comparison between 7:30 am and 5:15 pm

So here’s how it plays out. On the left is my eye makeup at 7:30 AM right after I’d applied it to go to work. The shot on the right is how my makeup looked when I got home from work at 5:15 PM. Aside from a slight lighting change, I see no difference in my eye makeup at all.

Maybelline Master Primer after roughly 10 hours

Here’s a close up shot of my closed lid so you can see a little bit more. I’m starting to show faint signs of creasing on the inner most corner of my eye where the deep fold in my lid is. And… that’s it. For 10 hours, while only using a single primer, this is INCREDIBLE for me. I’ve been using it for a week solid now and it’s the same results every single day!

Final Thoughts

I may be totally done with all of my other eyeshadow primers, because the Maybelline Master Prime is totally doing it for me! I’m so pleased with the long wear time, the lack of creasing which I’m excessively prone to and the fact that this is a drugstore product with an excellent price point. If you’ve been struggling with your eyeshadow creasing on you like I have been, you may want to give this one a shot!

The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration.

Joe Fresh Illuminating Primers in Pure Glow & Champagne (Review + Swatches)

February 10, 2016Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesJoe FreshChelle

Joe Fresh Illuminating Primers

With the news that Joe Fresh cosmetics are now being carried at Shoppers Drug Mart locations, I’m seeing a lot of new products popping up! I don’t know if I’ve just been out of the loop regarding Joe Fresh Beauty, but I’m seeing some fairly new and interesting things from them!

Like these Illuminating Primers that retail for $16 apiece. They come encased in beautiful translucent containers with a white top and…

A FREAKING PUMP! Cream/liquid products without a pump are the absolute bane of my makeup existence, so it’s really, REALLY nice to see a brand release one with a pump without a second thought. The packaging is solid, well built and feels more expensive than the $16 price point would indicate.

The Illuminating Primer is a light, reflecting primer that can be used all over your body (mix it into body lotion for extra glow!). Joe Fresh claims that these illuminating primers create a radiant canvas, hide imperfections and provide longer-lasting makeup.

Joe Fresh Illuminating Primer in Pure Glow

The white shade is called Pure Glow and it has a small hint of pinky-blue duochrome to it. Don’t be frightened though, it’s very, very subtle and you won’t look like a disco ball.

Joe Fresh Illuminating Primer in Champagne

The more golden toned shade is Champagne. It’s a gold-caramel shade that seems to reflect a tiny bit of silver (odd to say, but I do see that in there). I was a little apprehensive that this shade would make me look like C-3PO, but thankfully that was not the case!

Joe Fresh Illuminating Primer swatches - Pure Glow & Champagne — Joe Fresh Illuminating Primer swatches – Pure Glow & Champagne

Both primers pack a colour punch when you apply them as a heavy swatch, but when you blend them in they create a dewy cast to the skin. It can look a bit TOO dewy, so I would not recommend wearing them alone – instead, stick to wearing it under your foundation or with a moisturizer as it was intended. For reference, since it’s the winter right now, I’m on the dry side of things skin-wise.

Wearing Joe Fresh Illuminating Primer in Champagne

In the shot above I’m wearing Champagne – I find it adds a subtle hint of radiance without going totally overboard.

Final Thoughts

When used as a face primer under foundation, this is a very subtle highlight. As I mentioned above, I wouldn’t recommend wearing this alone on your face as I found it may look a touch greasy but it really does look excellent under foundation. It helps even out the texture of my skin and adds some luminosity to any matte foundations I own (which is especially nice during the winter). I wasn’t truly expecting this to increase the longevity of my makeup because I never really notice that with a face primer… but I’m quite happy to report that on the days that I wore these primers, I did notice my makeup looking particularly fresh by the time I got home from work.

You don’t normally find these kind of products at the drugstore, so I’m really happy that Joe Fresh is delivering something fresh and exciting and a much better price point than high end brands. Let me know if these illuminating primers are something you’re interested in!

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.