Ipsy – April 2014 Glam Bag

April 18, 2014Hauls, Makeup, Reviews, Reviews, SkincareBig Sexy Hair, Dr. Brandt, Elizabeth Mott, Ipsy, Starlooks, Urban DecayChelle

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Another month, another bag of Ipsy goodies. This month’s theme was “Beauty Rocks” or something to that extent. Aside from the record on the front of the bag (an object I’m not sure the generation after me has even had physical contact with) the theme is slightly debatable.

Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-on eye pencil in Black Velvet (travel size)

First up, and the item everyone got in their bag, is Urban Decay‘s new 24/7 eye liner pencil in Black Velvet. I’m one of few people who doesn’t actually own an UD liner so I was really happy to receive this. Urban Decay says this is “an ultra velvety, plush version” of their usual liners and this can create “perfectly blended-out or rich, precise lines that are blacker-than-black”. This is a hefty size sample – in fact it’s only 0.01 oz smaller than a full size product!

Judging by the picture on the diagram that came with the liner, I assumed I could blur this out to a really smudgy, smoky look. Well… that didn’t actually work out. The pencil is certainly very black, but blending this sucker out was difficult – too difficult. I ended up using UD‘s Blackout eyeshadow to blend out the pencil liner in an attempt to make it smudgy. As you can see, I didn’t really succeed, but I ran out of time that morning and finished it off as quickly as I could. Despite the pencil not actually smudging like I thought it would (or like they implied), I really do like this liner. It’s super black, and it’s wonderfully smudge resistant (hah). It sets really, REALLY quickly, hence why I had problems smudging it out. The liner didn’t transfer to my upper lid throughout the work day. It also claims to be waterproof, but I didn’t test that bit out. Definitely love this one.

I was excited to try this out as I definitely feel like I need some lift in the roots of my hair and this product looked interesting. Big Sexy Hair‘s Root Pump is a white mousse that dries clear. The instructions indicate to apply it to the roots of your hair while your hair is damp and blow dry your roots away from your scalp. Did that and I think it worked – I certainly seem to have more lift to my hair through the scalp… but now my hair feels like CHALK! Like chalk that’s been smashed into powder, had water added to it and then rubbed into the roots of my hair. I constantly run my fingers through my hair throughout the day and the texture this created in my hair to give it the extra OOMPH just totally freaked me out. (It feels similar to those powder-shaker root lifts, another product I can’t stand.) So while this product DOES work, the texture is so awful to me that there’s no way I’ll use it.

Elizabeth Mott – Pop! goes the shadow in Champagne (full size)

A lot of people are going to love this colour I’m sure, but I’m only so-so on it. Elizabeth Mott‘s Champagne eye shadow is a barely there shade that adds a little bit of shine on my lids, but not a whole lot of colour payoff. It swatches okay, but the end result on the lids isn’t spectacular even with a primer. ( In the shot above, the shadow was applied all over my lid right up to my brows.) I was happy to try it out though, and I’ll give it a shot as a cheek highlighter as well.

Starlooks Luscious Longwear Lip Pencil in Naked (full size)

Since I discovered MAC‘s Prep + Prime for lips I don’t have a massive need for lip liners (as a result, I only have two!). As a result, this item was actually pretty welcome in my bag as I didn’t have a colour like it for the times where I do want to add some extra wear time to my lip colour or even just to wear a liner under some gloss. Starlooks Naked lip liner is a peachy-pink colour that slid onto my lips without any tugging (which isn’t something I can say about MAC‘s pencils… those suckers tug at my lips!). It does have a bit of a plastic taste to it which is a bit meh, but not enough to prevent me from wearing it.

Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion skin exfoliant (trial size)

I had to look up what the heck microdermabrasion was in comparison to a regular exfoliator and it turns out microdermabrasion utilizes smaller beads and is stronger than a regular exfoliator.Dr. Brandt‘s microdermabrasion feels really lovely on the skin and I can definitely feel the granular difference between this and the cheapo exfoliators I buy at the drug store. It also, incredibly, smells just like Sabon‘s Lemon Mint body scrub which makes this an absolute PLEASURE to use.

The full price of this product, however, is a whopping $78 USD. I love trying out this luxury brand, but let’s get real – this is a sample in a $10 a month beauty bag – most of us are not looking to spend nearly $80 on one skincare item. So it seems out of line with the clientele, but what do I know?

I used this once on my face and it felt wonderful, but I’m going to restrict the use of this to a pesky milia pearl I’ve got on one of my lower lids and see if this will work to get rid of it with prolonged use.

Ipsy April 2014 Breakdown
(all prices in USD)

Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-on eye pencil in Black Velvet (0.03 oz @ $15, full size is $20 for 0.04 oz)
Big Sexy Hair Root Pump Volumizing Spray Mousse (50 ml @ $3, full size is $17.95 for 300 ml)
Elizabeth Mott Pop! goes the shadow – Champagne ($12.99 USD, full size)
Starlooks Luscious Longwear Lip Pencil in Naked ($14, full size)
Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion skin exfoliant (7.5 g @ $9.75, full size is $78 for 60 g)

BAG TOTAL = $54.74

My Thoughts

Yet another good bag put together by Ipsy! I loved trying everything out even if some of them didn’t work out for me (I’m looking at you specifically Root Pump). Double pencils (eye and lip) was a bit of a let down at first but once I used them I was really happy with them. The Urban Decay one definitely lived up to the brand’s reputation and I love the microdermabrasion product – I just wish the full size wasn’t so expensive because I could never bring myself to spend that much on an exfoliator. Definitely staying subbed!

5 Blushes for Spring & Summer

April 16, 2014Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesHard Candy, Hourglass, MAC, Revlon, TarteChelle

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Is it time for bright cheeks yet? Could it be that spring is finally going to happen at some point? (Sources say no based on the amount of snow that Toronto got this past Tuesday… yikes!) Maybe we’ll skip right into summer – either one is fine, let’s just feel some heat already!

These are my top blush picks for the spring and summer. I’m a sucker for coral and orange shades, which, conveniently enough, is the theme of every spring and summer EVER!

Hard Candy - Skinny Dipping — Hard Candy – Skinny Dipping

First up is Hard Candy‘s boxed powder blush (which they refer to as Fox in a Box) in the shade Skinny Dipping. The left side is more of a bronzer really and has a sheen to it. The right side is bright orange that seems rather matte. You could use them independently of each other, but I prefer to swirl my brush into the two shades and get the combined muted peach shade. It’s almost a boring shade – it really doesn’t look like much in my swatch does it? But this shade is really surprising on the cheeks. There’s an instant pick-me-up vibe to the shade that is really refreshing. This has been one of my most surprising blushes (in the sense that I wasn’t expecting to look as amazing as it actually did!

MAC recently came out with a collection for the spring called Fantasy of Flowers and this blush in Petal Power was part of that limited edition collection. Unfortunately it’s sold out online, but you may be able to still find them at free standing stores or counters (Edit: It’s part of the permanent collection now!). Petal Power is one of their mineralize blushes which usually means it has more dimension to it than a normal blush by MAC. Petal Power is no exception – this is a bright hot pink/coral shot through with gold shimmer (not glitter). Personally, I find mineralize blushes can be pretty hard to apply so I have to use a stiffer brush to apply them to my cheeks otherwise I don’t get enough product onto the brush. The nice thing about this shade, aside from the fact that it’s stunning, is that since there’s so much gold in the product, you don’t need to add highlighter to your cheekbones as the gold flecks in this product will set off your cheekbones anyway.

This is the first blush I ever owned and it’s my absolute favourite to this day. Tarte describes their Blissful blush as “warm peach”, but to me this is the very definition of the colour coral. The shade is completely matte and goes on the cheeks wonderfully. Tarte‘s Amazonian clay formula is pretty stiff in the pan, so I use a duo fiber brush to really stab at the product before buffing it onto my cheeks. This isn’t to say that the product doesn’t blend nicely, it does! It’s just something with the formula that seems to make it a harder blush. On me, this blush looks especially good in tandem with a shimmery bronzer.

Revlon - Coral Reef — Revlon – Coral Reef

Revlon‘s Photoready cream blush in Coral Reef is a strong orange coral. The texture of this product is pretty neat – it has a slightly waxy but slippery slicone-y feel. Fingers or a synthetic brush work really well to blend this into the cheeks. It goes on smooth and can be built up in light layers if you’re afraid of the vibrancy of the colour. Me though? Pack that on and blend out the edges and you’ll get a wonderfully flushed look.

Hourglass - Diffused Heat — Hourglass – Diffused Heat

Hourglass‘ Ambient Lighting blush in Diffused Heat was such a huge shocker to me. In the pan it looks like a bright vibrant pinky-coral mixed with the Diffused Light powder. As a result, I was expecting coral *something*. Instead, this swatches out, and applies like, a pale pink. This is almost a bit of a relief to me as I tend to focus too much on coral blushes and as a result don’t end up with much variety.

I said it the last time I mentioned this blush, but I’ll say it again: This blush is idiot-proof. The swatch above is heavy, but it doesn’t apply like that. It goes on softly and can be built up in intensity. The powder swirled into the mix ensures that the blush isn’t as stark or as bright as you would expect it to be by looking at it in the pan. This is an incredibly easy colour to wear and on my fair skin it’ll match pretty much any eye look I come up with.

My blishes pics - click to enlarge — My blishes pics – click to enlarge

Hard Candy’s Fox in a Box in Skinny Dipping
MAC – Petal Power
Tarte – Blissful
Revlon – Coral Reef
Hourglass – Diffused Heat

That’s my roundup! Any blushes you’re loving for the warmer months?

What’s On My Face – Volume 14

April 14, 2014Makeup, TutorialsBourjois, Chella, CoverGirl, Dior, Hourglass, INGLOT, L'Oreal, MAC, Makeup Geek, MUA, NARS, NYX, Physicians Formula, Pixi, Revlon, Sleek, Tarte, Too Faced, Wet n WildChelle

MOAR LOOKS

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I really like how this one turned out. Inglot‘s AMC Shine 24 is ridiculously amazing – one of my favourite eyeshadow colours ever. I love seeing how it pairs up with other colours and this one turned out to be a good match!

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Eyes

Inglot AMC Shine 24 all over the lid.
MAC Sushi Flower at the top of the crease.
Makeup Geek Simply Marlena in the outer corner.
Makeup Geek Burlesque to darken up the outer corner on top of Simply Marlena.

MAC Shroom to highlight the brow and L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Alaska (Light 2)
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Diffused Heat
Highlighter: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle
Lips: NYX Butter Gloss in Strawberry Parfait

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I wish I knew how to photograph MAC‘s Vanilla Pigment – it has a beautiful pinky, orange sheen to it that just never seems to come across in photos I take. It’s a seriously stunning pigment, even though it looks rather white-ish here!

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Eyes (all MAC)

Vanilla Pigment all over the lid.
Charcoal Brown in the outer corner.
Gorgeous Gold blended between the pigment and Charcoal Brown (that being said, I really don’t think it showed up all that much).
Cork through the crease.

Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Revlon Colorstay (Combination/Oily) in Buff
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Tarte Exposed
Highlighter: Dior Amber Diamond
Lips: Revlon Cherries in the Snow

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This eye look turned out better than I expected, but I’m not showing you the full face shot because holy crap did I ever choose a bad lip colour to match with this (do NOT use MAC‘sDarkside, I looked ridiculous). Despite the bad lip choice, this is a really beautiful combination.

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Makeup Geek Dirty Martini all over the lid.
Makeup Geek Bitten in the outer third, through the crease and brought slightly down to the outer lower lashline.

MAC Shroom to highlight the brow bone and L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara on my lashes.

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A play around with some of the goodies from Ipsy’s March 2014 bag.

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Eyes (NYX‘s Love in Rio – Segredos De Giselle)

The cream coloured shade from the trio all over the lid.
The brown shade in the outer corner and crease.

Too Faced Cream Colored Ponies to highlight the brow, Chella Indigo liquid liner to create the wing (this colour is amazing) and Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Primer: Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer
Foundation: MUA Matte foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Sleek Chantilly
Highlighter: MAC Whisper of Gilt
Lips: Nothing

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This lip combination is seriously having me rethink my idea to no longer buying any lipglosses, especially when layered over a lipstick.

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Eyes (Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette)

Cherry Cordial on the inner and outer third of the lid.
Creme Brulee in the middle of the lid.
Haute Chocolate through the crease.

Too Faced Champagne Truffle to highlight the brow bone and L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: CoverGirl CC Cream in 110 Classic Ivory mixed with Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Light Vanilla
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Wet n Wild Pearlescent Pink
Lips: Wet n Wild Red Velvet (901D) with MAC Strawberry Malt lipglass on top

Fitness Friday – Spring Run

April 11, 2014Fitness, RunningGarmin, Nike+Chelle

FINALLY! After a horrifically long winter that is still sort of hanging around, we have *finally* had some decent weather in Toronto. The very last day in March was beautiful, so I yanked on my running gear and headed out.

Awkward attempt to show you what I was wearing… suddenly made better by Nemo coming in the room and then running away as I tried to snag him!

So it was about 6 degrees, sunny, and I had some vague idea that I was going to head down the Don River Trail. This was a mid-distance run day, so I had to get in about 7 kilometers.

Waiting for my Garmin to connect to a satellite

With all my devices connected (Garmin, iPod with Nike+), I was ready to go!

I first headed out through Cabbagetown since the area is really pretty and the houses are quite beautiful.

Made it down to Riverdale Park West…

Riverdale Park almost flooded and completely muddy

…where it turned out to be totally soaked. I couldn’t take the path to the left because it was flooded and the baseball pitch was equally muddy and soaked. That little plank in the bottom right shot? Total saviour for getting across to the dry-ish pitch. Then I had to climb through the soaked dug-out to get to the other side and up to the bridge. Eesh. I’ll be avoiding this park until this city is a lot dryer.

Down the bridge and onto the Lower Don Trail

Off the bridge and onto the trail, where hopefully it’d be smooth sailing for a long while. Thankfully, it wasn’t too bad, but there were some flooded areas that caused a few problems.

I think this section is right before the trail loops back to the downtown core. There were a decent number of runners and cyclists out on the trail as well. I love running past other runners as they come towards me – there’s always the mutual recognition of “hey you, you’re doing a good job out there exercising!” – whether it’s a nod of the head, a wave, or a full blown smile, it’s always nice and super encouraging!

Yep, that’s the CN Tower, and yep, that’s snow on the left side of the path!

My favourite part of this trail is where it crosses the train tracks and then runs parallel to them. I used to rollerblade on this trail to work every day when I worked in the Beaches and there were a few times when the train would cut you off and you couldn’t cross. OR, the fun times where you’d race the train and try to beat it to the crossing! This sounds more dangerous than it actually was… because this is so close to downtown, the train was barely crawling along the tracks. Still fun though.

Finishing up along the trail alongside the Gardiner Expressway.

And headed right into the heart of downtown to run back to the apartment.

Job done = 7.3k completed.

I spoke about tea the last time I blogged about a run so you’re going to think I do this every time, but I really don’t. That being said, I recently tried out Peaches and Cream from David’s Tea and it’s by far the best flavour I have by them. I could go on and on about it, but really… just go get some. It’s delicious and helps to rehydrate after my run.

I’m hoping the weather stays good in Toronto and doesn’t drop into the negatives again. The bright sunshine was really, really nice on this run.

The Unmentionables

April 9, 2014Makeup, ReviewsL'Oreal, MAC, NARS, Tweezerman, Urban DecayChelle

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I absolutely adore these products. I use them every single time I do my makeup. But it gets incredibly repetitive saying that I use them every time I do a makeup look because really… these products aren’t changing in my routine any time soon and it’s not like you need to hear what primer I used unless I actually change it up, right?

So here are my unmentionables… and they’re only unmentionables because they’re too well loved!

The Tools – Tweezerman eyelash curler and an old mascara wand

Nothing glamorous about these two but they’ve ingrained themselves into my daily makeup routine.

The eyelash curlers are self explanatory – They’re a pair of Tweezerman ones I picked up at Shoppers Drug Mart several years ago. I’ve run out of the rubbery things to replace on the band, but they’re still working just fine as far as I can tell. (Although… side note, where the heck do you actually get replacement rubber thingies?!)

The old mascara wand is from a tube of L’Oreal Voluminous that I cleaned up and use as a spoolie for running through my brows when I’ve applied too much powder through them. Works like a charm, so why bother paying for an actual spoolie?

The Eye Primers – Urban Decay Primer Potion and NARS Pro Prime

Double primers because, for whatever reason, using only one of them no longer seems to work on me. I use the NARS one first, allow it to dry, then apply the Urban Decay one on top. These two together ensure that my eyeshadows don’t budge all day.

The Lip Primer – MAC Prep + Prime for lips

MAC‘s Prep + Prime for lips has been an absolute lipstick saviour for me. I was a really timid lipstick wearer until about three years ago. My major problem was that my lipstick, no matter what brand I used, would slide all over the place and bleed outside my lip lines. Lip liner never worked for me. Nor concealer. Someone at a MAC counter eventually suggested this primer and I was incredibly skeptical… how much better was this REALLY going to be? Well… it is. It just flat out is. My lipstick stays on my lips and doesn’t bleed outside my line. I won’t wear lipstick without this now!

The Brow Filler-Iner – MAC eyeshadow in Omega

I’ve been using MAC‘s eyeshadow in Omega to fill in my brows for the last two years and I’m only just now getting to the bottom of the pan. The colour is a perfect match for my barely there blonde eyebrow hairs. I’ve been surprised at the longevity of this product too – it doesn’t wear off during the day and that’s a necessity for me since my brows are so blonde it looks like I’ve overplucked them to hell and back. (I haven’t, the hairs just don’t seem to grow where the tail of my brows are supposed to be.)

All of these products are part of my daily routine and won’t be changing any time soon. They’ve all attained holy grail status in my collection. Is there anything you use in your daily routine that you can’t be without? I’m at the point where I don’t even want to test out replacement products or tools because these are already so good as is!