Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters (Review & Swatches)

Makeup, Reviews, Swatches

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.

Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters in Golden Diamond and Quartz
Annabelle Perfect Glow Highlighters in Golden Diamond and Quartz

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.

Wearing Golden Diamond
Wearing Golden Diamond

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.

Wearing Quartz
Wearing Quartz

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.

Swatch Sunday: Too Faced Sparkling Pineapple

Makeup, Swatches

Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple

Too Faced has just launched their Tutti Frutti collection at ULTA, and of course I snapped up the eyeshadow palettes! (See the Razzle Dazzle Berry palette swatched out in last week’s Swatch Sunday post.)

Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple
Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple

Too Faced‘s Sparkling Pineapple palette is definitely scented, but it’s hard to put my finger on what it smells like exactly – it’s kind of a mix of pineapple, sunscreen with a hint of… banana?

Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple
Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple

Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple Swatches

Too Faced - Yum-Yum
Too Faced – Yum-Yum
Too Faced - Coconut Sugar
Too Faced – Coconut Sugar
Too Faced - Passports & Pineapples
Too Faced – Passports & Pineapples
Too Faced - Sparkling Pineapple
Too Faced – Sparkling Pineapple
Too Faced - Island Queen
Too Faced – Island Queen
Too Faced - Tutti Cutie
Too Faced – Tutti Cutie
Too Faced - Pineapple Cooler
Too Faced – Pineapple Cooler

The Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple eyeshadow palette can be purchased at ulta.com for $34 USD.

This post contains affiliate links.

Wella Enrich Haircare Review

Hair

Wella Enrich Haircare for fine to normal hair

As a blogger, I tend to have my staple haircare and skincare favourites, but there’s always a few times a year when a product or two shows up that causes me to stray away from my usuals. Sometimes it’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s (very) bad thing. But I’m always so, so glad when it’s a good thing like these haircare products by Wella!

Wella Enrich Haircare for fine to normal hair - shampoo and conditioner
Wella Enrich Haircare for fine to normal hair – shampoo and conditioner

Wella is a totally new to me brand – while I had heard of them , I had zero experience with the brand. When I posted about them on Instagram stories, I had a viewer/reader tell me their mom used the Wella brand back in the 60s – I had no idea they’d been around that long!

While Wella has a whole bunch of different product ranges, the ones I’ve become familiar with are in the Enrich line for fine to normal hair (they also have one for coarse hair as well). The Enrich range is intended to volumize your hair, which for me, at this point in time, basically means not to weight it down. My hair is exceptionally long at this point and almost nothing will volumize it outside of backcombing, so when I was trying these out I just wanted it to feel like my hair was bouncy – and it definitely was. I didn’t feel like my hair had any extra weight to it and it was definitely not greasy either (one of the ways I know a shampoo or conditioner combo is bad for me is if my hair feels as if it hadn’t been washed as soon as I get out of the shower).

Wella Enrich Moisturizing Treatment
Wella Enrich Moisturizing Treatment

While I really liked the shampoo and conditioner, the product that really delighted me was the Enrich Moisturizing Treatment. It’s essentially a hair mask, but one that only requires you to leave on your head for five minutes. I always get annoyed when a hair mask indicates you need to leave it on for 20-30 minutes! I want to moisturize my hair quickly in the shower while I’m washing my face and shaving my bits – I don’t want to stand there like a nonce while the mask works itself into my hair!

Of course, I half wondered “well how good is this hair mask going to be if it only takes five minutes?”. That thought was quickly put to rest because this is hands down the best hair mask I have ever used. It is super concentrated and thick – you barely need any product at all (which is a slight relief since the tub is on the small side!). It sank into my hair incredibly quickly and my hair felt like absolute BUTTER when I was rinsing it out. Almost unbelievably, there’s no heavy residue left over from it either!

Final Thoughts

The one thing I didn’t get around to mentioning is that the scent on these products is to die for. The shampoo and conditioner smell lovely and rather neutral, but it’s the hair mask that really set me over the edge in terms of scents – it smells WONDERFUL! Fresh, clean… and there’s something in there that reminds me of my childhood.

So the products work great, they smell lovely and they don’t leave my hair feeling heavy – all huge wins in my book. I’ll definitely be picking up the Moisturizing Treatment whenever I run out!

Wella‘s Enrich range can be purchased on chatters.ca and on ulta.com.

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