I got a cute text from Bell Canada this morning informing me it is actually Canada’s 148thbirthday today! While I don’t have any exciting plans for the day, if you do, maybe take a look at my Canada Day looks post from last year! I promise lots of red eyeshadow! 😉
Haul time! Behold, all of June’s goodies!
One of my lovely blogging friends (Julie over at Swatch and Review) managed to snag me a few items from the MAC warehouse sale this past month. I love, love, LOVE MAC‘s transparent/see-through glitters and she found me the one I was after the most: Reflects Red. It comes out a bit more pink than I was expecting, but it’s GORGEOUS! And it’s in the old MAC packaging so there’s even more in there to play with. Yay!
She also found Reflects Blue! I realize the colours can be kind of hard to tell, but once you get these glitters on the skin, they reflect the colour that they are, which makes for a really lovely shimmery edge to your look. They also look very, very vibrant when you put them over a black base – the colour pops a lot more then.
She also picked up a few pigments from the previous year’s MAC Christmas collection, but didn’t want them all, so I happily took the remaining ones.
I ended up with the shades Reigning Riches (glitter), Whisper Pink and Rose. Gorgeous, gorgeous pigments. I promptly pressed the two shades that weren’t the glitter. For a how to on pressing pigments, check out my recent post!
All of the remaining items came from a CBB swap we had mid-month. I was able to ditch even more products that I wasn’t using in favour of trying out some new things. First up was the Mary Kay cheek duo in Juicy Guava. I had seen this one on a few blogs and the brightness of the blush really drew me in. I’m not excited by the lack of outer packaging, but maybe I’ve got a spare palette I can pop this into.
One of the first items at the swap I spotted was this MAC pressed pigment in Warming Heart. I have no experience with MAC’s pressed pigments so I wanted to give this one a shot.
I dove for this one when I realized no one was touching it. I have no experience with the new Revlon HD glosses, but this looked like a dupe for Adorned, a previously limited edition shade by Revlon in a formula that has now been discontinued. This gloss is incredible to look at and I swear it’s the exact same shade as the old one. This is HD Pink Ruby – a bright fuchsia filled with glitter particles. Seriously stunning!
Fundamentally, I’m not a gloss person. They just really annoy me. My hair gets caught in them, they wear off too fast, etc. etc. And yet… they always look so damn stunning in their packaging. I had held off for… well I guess a year or more now, on ever buying aMaybelline Color Elixir because I just wouldn’t get enough use out of it. But if it’s FREE, who am I to say no? Breathtaking Apricot is a lovely orange coral and I’m interested to see what all the fuss was concerning the Color Elixirs.
Another type of lip product I hadn’t sunk any money into yet. This is Revlon‘s Moisture Stain in Shanghai Sizzle. I love that it’s super bright, so I get to try out a new formula with a shade I really enjoy. These were also huge last year but I never took the plunge.
Hmmm nail polish. I’m not a huge nail polish wearer. Even though I’ve stopped playing Ultimate Frisbee, I’ve still been left with absolutely mauled fingernails that break and chip constantly. But these Julep polishes were lovely and no one seemed to want them. The top one is a glitter called America and the bottom reminds me of a shade of polish I got at Sephora (back in the early 90s, in Limoges, France when the franc was still the common currency) – it’s a lovely pearlescent shade with blue/green reflect.
There were a lot of false lashes on the table at the swap, so I grabbed a few pairs from brands I’d never used before. I don’t use lashes often, but it’s nice to have them when I do want to wear them. That Kiss pair on the right though… that looks so natural I could probably get away with that on a daily basis.
Again… not a nail person, but these looks fun. I’ll have to let my ratty nails grow out a bit before I can try these.
This trio of powders from Physicians Formula was left in a massive box (with bag that I promptly gave away). I can see why no one took it too – the box these three powders comes in is ENORMOUS. It’s larger than any compact I own – like it’s literally box height. Ridiculous. This isn’t travel friendly, or even user friendly. I’m going to have to depot them if I have any hope in hell of wearing them. I do love Physicians Formula products though so I’m happy to get to try these Nude Wear powders.
And lastly, I got handed some lovely MAC pigments that I will no doubt be pressing shortly. And glitter, yes! MORE GLITTER!
Of course, I ALSO picked up two very lovely Charlotte Tilbury items, but you can read more about that in a dedicated post I had earlier this month: Charlotte Tilbury Launches in Canada.
Phew, that’s it! Loads of products, and it would’ve been a low spending month… but thenCharlotte Tilbury happened and that stuff, while gorgeous, is still insanely expensive! And yet… I want more.
So, I’m not a Sephora VIB Rouge member (and I’m never sure if I’m proud I’m not, or sad that I’m not), and every now and again they release items that are available to VIB Rouge members at first. Last month, I noticed Too Faced Melted Rainbow sitting oh-so-pretty on Sephora’s site but it unfortunately had the nasty “VIB Rouge only” sticker tacked onto it. VIB Rouges usually gets first pick of the crop and then eventually the products open up to the rest of us peons who haven’t spent over a thousand bucks at Sephora that year. So okay fine, I’ll wait. And wait. And wait…
Imagine my surprise (quickly followed by shock and horror) when I tweeted at Sephora and found out that Melted Rainbow was not only a Sephora exclusive, but also a solid VIB Rouge exclusive! GYAHHHH NO! I panicked – what if I never got to add Melted Rainbow to my collection? What if it became the one Melted Lipstick I never purchased? Would I look back and mourn the one missing piece in my collection?!?!
However, I’ve got friends in high places (aka they spend more than me) and I reached out. Nicole over at Beauty | Brains | + was already putting in an order that day and added my beloved Melted Rainbow lipstick to her cart. YAY!
I mean, I had to have it. Have you not seen my collection of Too Faced Melted lipsticks? This sucker is limited edition! Nothing makes a makeup addict panic like the words “limited edition” and the idea of missing out on something.
So this is it. This is Melted Rainbow. And it looks rather unlike a rainbow. Or a melted one at that. (Wouldn’t a melted rainbow actually be brown?) It has the same consistency as all the other Melted lipsticks I own and it’s packed with just as much pigment as the rest of them do. There’s nothing subtle about this colour, and I love it for that.
I was curious how this would compare to the other shades in my collection. On the web site, Melted Rainbow looked rather similar to Violet, Fuchsia, and possibly Fig. However, once I got it out of the packaging and started swatching it, there’s a very real difference between the shades.
In the end, Fig was so far off the scale that it wasn’t worth swatching. However, Rainbowends up looking like the lovechild between Violet and Fuchsia. It’s certainly distinguishable enough from both shades, although it does retain some of their colour properties. But thankfully, it IS its own shade, and not so close to the others that I can’t justify owning it. (Haha… as if I wasn’t going to buy it no matter what!)
And there’s Melted Rainbow on me. Is it normal to match your eyeshadow to your lipstick? Probably not, but hey, I like it! Melted Rainbow turned out to be an especially vivid pinky-purple that looks vastly more pink on me. I love it, and I’m so glad it’s found it’s way into my collection!
/cradles lipstick happily
Although Melted Rainbow was limited edition, you can still pick up other Too Faced Melted shades for $25 CAD each on Sephora.ca or for $21 USD on Sephora.com.
As we reach the end of Pride Week here in Toronto, I thought I’d share another vibrant makeup palette that I own: Sleek‘s Acid palette. Due to the nature of some of these shades, they do benefit from a white base. So while the swatches on the neons may look a bit chalky, they do go on super pigmented with NYX’s Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk. Just something to keep in mind!
Last week I attended the “Get healthy inside & out with Dermalogica” event at the Gladstone Hotel, and brought along my dear friend Ali (from Ali Does It Herself) who was visiting from Ottawa. As this was a skincare and healthy eating/drinking event, I thought it would suit both our interests.
As with the theme of the evening, the spread set out before us when we got there was a healthy pile of fruits and vegetables that we immediately dove into. Hey, it was dinner time!
As we sat down to chomp on our food, Charmaine Cooper, Education Manager for Dermalogica Canada, stepped up to the front of the room and gave us a run down on why were here today – to talk about Dermalogica‘s brand new Overnight Retinol Repair cream. We ran through the basics of skincare and I learned a few things I didn’t know before:
The key ingredient in the Overnight Retinol Repair cream is the 0.5% microencapsulated retinol, which I believe is that highest content currently available in a retinol cream. Retinol has “demonstrated to reverse both the signs of intrinsic aging, as well as extrinsic or environmental photo-aging.” It also accelerates cell renewal, stimulates collagen production, improves epidermal thickness and increases elastin biosynthesis. (Umm yes please, I want all of those things on my face and body.)
The point of this being an overnight cream is to work on your skin while you’re sleeping and when your body is at rest. The science behind this is that your body won’t be fighting against the product (or anything for that matter) while you’re sleeping and the retinol can sink in do its job better while your skin works to regenerate and renew itself.
The Overnight Retinol Repair comes with a buffer cream to allow your skin to adapt to the solution. At first you start out with more buffer cream and less retinol, and as your skin adjusts, you start decreasing buffer cream and adding in more retinol.
After we finished up the skincare with Dermalogica, we were introduced to Greenhouse Juice Co., a Toronto-based organic cold-pressed juice company that first opened its doors at 5 Macpherson Avenue in January 2014.
I’m not a juicer, or even much of a juice drinker since it’s generally a waste of calories to drink manufactured juice since it has wayyy too much added sugar. However, Greenhouse Juice Co. explained that there aren’t any additives, this was literally taking that fruit or vegetable and turning it into liquid.
After a brief intro to the company, we sampled several of their different offerings. I was intrigued – while there was a sweetness in some drinks, it was all dependent on what fruit had been added in. Overall, most of the juices were just flat out refreshing. There was no added sugar and it just tasted… healthy! Depending on the combination of fruits and/or vegetables, there were some absolutely incredible ones (that I can’t remember the names of now – argh!). I was also introduced to liquid cayenne – something I didn’t even know existed! We mixed a few of our own drinks, although we made the mistake of adding wayyy too much cayenne pepper to one that made both Ali and I feel like our mouths were on fire. In the end, I created a fairly acidic and sour combination of carrots, lemon, pineapple and apple – I loved it though. Anything that makes my mouth pucker is a good thing!
All in all, it was a interesting and informative evening, and the tie in between the skincare and the juicing was a clever way to incorporate healthy living with a good skincare routine. I’m eager to try out the Overnight Retinol Repair and see how it works for me. I’ve yet to see any real difference with any previous skincare treatments from any brand, but maybe this will be the first! Dermalogica‘s Overnight Retinol Repair retails for $110 CAD and is sold at authorized Dermalogica spa, salons and skin centers across Canada, and at Dermalogica.ca.