MAC Snow Ball Holiday 2017 – Here Comes Joy (Review & Swatches)
There are some products and packaging that simply take my breath away… and the entire launch of MAC‘s Holiday 2017 collection did that to me. Called “Snow Ball”, the entire collection is a gorgeous scintillating mixture of beautiful products and stunning packaging.
I mean, come on – just look at that! It’s a muted gold-silver packaging that feels smooth to the touch but has a kind of crackled-foiled appearance.
And when you look even closer… it looks like snow frosted on a window or car hood! It’s beautiful, ethereal and so simply stunning that I’m surprised they have done something like this sooner for their packaging. It suits the name Snow Ball so well!
Anyway, enough about the (gorgeous) packaging! Although I wanted the entire collection, I really tailored down what I was getting and opted for the Face Powder (Opalescent) in Here Comes Joy. Here Comes Joy is a peachy-gold with shimmer that MAC says “transforms cheeks into pearly orbs that light up the night. Adds the perfect high-impact shimmering glow to skin”. There is a gold highlighter as well, but I have enough golds in my life so I wanted something a bit more unique.
What threw me off a bit about this powder initially is that it’s labeled as a face powder. Not a highlighter, not an extra dimension finish and not a skinfinish – a face powder. So I was a little bit worried about how strong the highlight was going to be. We’re so used to the screamingly bright highlighters that something that seems softer may not fit the bill of what I was wanting.
Swatched out, Here Comes Joy is definitely a peach-to-gold shifting colour. The pigmentation did seem strong and it definitely looked like there was quite a sheen on it.
But uh… where did it go on my cheeks? I mean, it IS there – there is a slight sheen bouncing light off the top of my cheekbones.. but it’s not enough for me. In person, Here Comes Joy is a soft, subtle highlighter that is perfect for people who want a “lit from within” look. For me? It’s just not enough (and I applied it HEAVILY here!).
Final Thoughts
I wanted to love this product so badly – the packaging, the beautiful imprint, even the shade of it is beautiful. But, in the end, Here Comes Joy just doesn’t have enough reflective properties to make me want to use this with any kind of regularity. I wore this highlighter for a week straight trying to make myself fall in love with it… and I was just never satisfied with how my cheekbones looked. I kept wanting to reach for something more vibrant, more luminescent to add on top of it.
All that being said… if you dislike the beaming bright highlighters that become such an enormous trend in the last few years because they’re just too much, then this might be a product suited more towards you.
The MAC Face Powder (Opalescent) in Here Comes Joy can be purchased on nordstrom.com for $34 USD. Oddly, Nordstrom refers to this as a “Impalpable Glare Powder”… which uh… is not listed on my packaging at all.
Swatch Sunday: Sigma Creme de Couture
When I heard that the Sigma Creme de Couture palette was coming back, I was SHOCKED! This palette first launched something like five years ago and it was limited edition. I hemmed and hawwed on it for far too long… so of course it sold out.
I was pissed off, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was gone! Then, maybe a month ago, Leesha of xsparkage put out a video saying it was coming back! I was floored – I’ve never experienced a brand bringing a palette back after half a decade! And there was NO WAY I was going to miss out on it this time!
The entire palette is all matte shades which was kind of revolutionary five years ago! I’m so, so happy to see it back in stock now and it doesn’t seem to say it’s limited edition so here’s hoping it’s permanent! I’m toying with the idea of doing a full video review on it – let me know if that’s something you’d be interesting seeing.
Sigma Creme de Couture Swatches
The Sigma Creme de Couture palette can be purchased on Sigma’s web site for $39 USD.
This post contains affiliate links.
Skincare Saturday: Aveeno Shower Routine
This post is sponsored by iHerb.
Aveeno is always a failsafe brand for me, so it’s no surprise that their products are constantly in rotation in my bathrooms. Whether I’m using a toner, applying a moisturizer, washing my face or having a shower, it’s safe to say that Aveeno is involved *somewhere* in my routine year ’round!
I’ll be focusing on an Aveeno–specific shower routine for today’s post so you get an idea of what products I love from them. On this particular day, I happened to have come back from running a half marathon, so I was not only weary, but also in desperate need to use products that I was supremely comfortable with (because running 21.1 kilometers is not only physically stressful, but emotionally as well!).
After hopping in the shower and letting the hot water warm up my body and soothe the aches of running long distance, the first thing I do is soak my hair and plop on some shampoo, suds it up, rinse it out and apply some conditioner. While I don’t have fragile hair in general, I still wash my hair daily so I prefer something with a strengthener in it which is what the Aveeno Nourish + Strengthen range provides. Both the shampoo and conditioner work in tandem to make sure my hair is strong and can hold us to heat styling on the regular.
My favourite part of showering is getting super clean and scrubbing away any of the grime and sweat from my day. And of course, having run for 2+ hours, I was super salty and sweaty so I was extra desperate to get all fresh and clean. Aveeno has more than a few body washes, but I’ve been rotating between the Daily Moisturizing Body Wash and the Positively Nourishing White Peach and Ginger Body Wash. While I love the White Peach and Ginger for a revitalizing scent boost (which is especially good in the mornings!), on this day I was needing something to soothe my senses so I opted for the Moisturizing Body Wash. Both body washes lather up well with a poof and smell wonderful on my skin.
Once out of the shower, it’s time to put some moisture back in my skin that has potentially been scrubbed away. Aveeno‘s Positively Nourishing Comforting Whipped Souffle moisturizer packs a hell of a moisturizing punch for my skin. Not only does it feel great but it also sinks in quickly which means I’m not fighting to pull on my clothes after my shower. You know that feeling… super sticky greased up moisturizer skin trying to pull on pants? Yeah, it’s not fun, and thankfully there’s none of that with this one!
I ordered these Aveeno products via iHerb – both shipping and delivery were quick and efficient. They send out your order the day of! And that’s not just on products I’ve ordered via sponsored posts either – I’ve ordered products that I needed outside of posts like this and the shipping notices have gone out without hours of me placing an order. That’s easily one of the things I appreciate most about iHerb – fast shipping alongside low prices!
iHerb in particular carries over 80 Aveeno products (see some of the other ones they carry in this previous Aveeno-centric post of mine) and they can ship to over 160 countries. They also have customer support in 10 different languages as well.
If you’re a new customer to iHerb, you can get $5 off your Aveeno order of $20 or more by signing up here!
Fitness Friday: 2017 Scotiabank Waterfront Half Marathon
Phew! Two marathons in a month’s time span meant I wasn’t really sure how my body was going to react to the overexertion, but it did make for easy enough training! Instead of training two sets of half marathons routines throughout the year as I normally do, I managed to squash it all into one. I ran the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival back in September, and the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon event was only five weeks after that race!
I like the Scotiabank Waterfront Half Marathon course because it’s one of the flatter ones out there. The only real uphills are at the start (which is fine, because you’re only really getting started then) and then the last kilometer or so of the race is a very slight incline. Of course, since it’s at the end of the race, it feels like one hell of an uphill battle. However, this year it didn’t feel as strenuous, and I think a large part of that is because I just run the quite hilly half marathon in Sydney, Australia.
As I’ve done in the past, I opt to do the Scotiabank Charity Challenge for this race. It’s kind of a unique structure for the race. What you do is pay the entry fee, but then sign up to raise funds for a charity. The goal is to raise a minimum of $200 for your charity of choice (this year I chose the YMCA of Toronto) and then you’ll get your race fee refunded. My goal is always to raise about $500 since I feel like that’s a decent amount of cash for charity, but it also gives me and two guests access to the Scotiabank VIP tent where my guests can watch me finish up the race. Not only is the VIP quite large and roomy with plenty of chairs and tents set up in case it rains, but it’s also fully catered. There’s water, juice, Gatorade, muffins and *amazing* grilled salads that you can grab to eat. In the end, I raised $610 and I was so, SO happy with that as I think it’s the most I’ve raised so far.
Anyway, back to the race! Since I’ve done this race a few times in the past (see my race recaps from 2014 and 2015), I don’t have a whole lot to add about the course. The volunteers are always helpful, the kilometer markers are huge and easy to read and there’s gel packs provided around kilometer 12 in case you didn’t bring your own.
The only thing that was weird this year was that I read a number of spectator signs that were actually pretty condescending/petty. And honestly, I was really shocked. The spectator signs are one of the things that really keeps me motivated to keep running all 21.1 kilometers and when you see one that’s just kind of passive aggressive, it really leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth. I saw one sign say “You’re the slowest runner yet”, and I don’t know if that was supposed to motivate me to run faster, but this person was placed within the first two kilometers of the race when everyone is feeling pretty fresh and pumped up. I wasn’t impressed. There was another one that was actually worse than that, and I wish I could remember what it said, but it left me with such a sour taste in my mouth. Race signs are for encouragement, or tongue in cheek jokes, don’t be condescending to runners – they’re out there busting their ass while you’re standing on the sidewalk. For the most part, the signs were lovely and encouraging, so it’s not to say that every sign was bad, it’s just that these ones really made me go “wtf were you thinking when you wrote that?”
ANYWAY, one thing Scotiabank changed up this year was add in a huge screen in the last three kilometers with video clips of people actively encouraging runners to keep pushing. It feels slightly dumb to say it because it’s not like I recognized anyone in those clips, but they were really effective at keeping my motivation up. Half marathons really break me down emotionally, and any kind of positive reinforcement to keep on moving is HUGE!
Of course, there was another really emotional piece along this race course as well. If you’re involved in Toronto’s running scene in some capacity, you may be aware of Ed Whitlock. To keep it brief, he was a consistent runner but he died this past year at the age of 86. The year before he died, he ran that Scotiabank Waterfront MARATHON in three hours and 56 minutes! He is officially the oldest person to run a marathon under four hours. And when he was in his 70s? He ran a marathon in under three hours! It’s just absolutely mindboggling to think of that kind of pace at those ages. I can’t even do those kinds of paces and I’m only 34!
Sadly, Ed died in March of this year to prostate cancer. He is fondly remembered by the running community – so much so that they put a pace bunny up with his marathon time at age 85 (3:56:34) and I saw that pace bunny constantly along my route. Of course, they split off to go do the full marathon, but seeing that pace bunny with the “ED WHITLOCK 3:56:34” sign was extremely motivational. It was a good reminder that even when I’m frigging tired and don’t want to keep running, someone more than double my age was pushing harder and going faster. I hope they keep that pace bunny up for years to come – it was a really, really lovely touch.
So in the end, I was faster than my Sydney Running Festival pace, but not by a whole lot. I was slower than my fastest race, but not by a whole lot. My half marathons vary between 2:07 and 2:09 and for that I’m happy since it’s a pretty consistent pace. I say this every time, but I would like to get under the two hour mark… but I really don’t think I have it in me to do the training necessary to get there. Ah well, maybe one day I’ll have the motivation!
Race Results
- Finish Time: 2:08:51
- Pace: 6:06 per kilometer
- Overall placement: 4966/9806
- Age group placement (Female 30-34 years): 311/769
- Gender placement (F): 1893/5006