Tag Archives: Julep

What I Bought This Month: June 2015 Haul

June 30, 2015HaulsCharlotte Tilbury, Julep, Kiss, MAC, Mary Kay, Maybelline, Physicians Formula, Revecen, RevlonChelle

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.

MAC - Objects of Affection Pigments — MAC – Objects of Affection Pigments

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!

Mary Kay - Juicy Guava Duo (free - swap) — Mary Kay – Juicy Guava Duo (free – swap)

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.

MAC Pressed Pigment in Warming Heart (free – swap)

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!

Maybelline Color Elixir in Breathtaking Apricot (free – swap)

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.

Revlon Moisture Stain in Shanghai Sizzle (free – swap)

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.

Julep Polishes (free - swap_ — Julep Polishes (free – swap)

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.

Physicians Formula – Nude Wear trio (free – swap)

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.

MAC - Mini Pigments — MAC – Mini Pigments

And lastly, I got handed some lovely MAC pigments that I will no doubt be pressing shortly. And glitter, yes! MORE GLITTER!

Charlotte Tilbury – The Vintage Vamp ($64 CAD)

Charlotte Tilbury – Filmstar Bronze & Glow ($80 CAD)

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.

Empties – August through October

October 17, 2014Empties, MiscellaneousAveeno, Benefit, Briogeo, CoverGirl, derma e, Julep, MAC, Marrakesh, Neutrogena, Pixi, Revlon, Sephora, St. Ives, The Body Shop, TweezermanChelle

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Time to rifle through my garbage! Makeup items first, all the boring stuff after that.

I loved this polish like nobody’s business. Kalyn had sent me a package of Julep polishes after I had won them on her blog and I dove nose-deep into this disco glitter one. Julep‘sParis is a 3D glitter polish that seems to hint gold more than silver. I wore this sucker out on my toes for several months and eventually finished up the entire bottle.

Repurchase? Unlikely only because it’s a mail order thing and I prefer to pick up my stuff in stores.

I bought MAC‘s Feline eye pencil because it was hyped up several years back on YouTube. It was supposed to be the blackest pencil available and would stay on my waterline. Well… it’s black. But it’s also incredibly smudgy and would never really stay put if I used it as a solid line. This was great for smudging out and creating smokey looks, but it usually had to be set with a powder to keep it from transferring. Wouldn’t stick on my waterline either. And unfortunately, the closer I got to the bottom of the pencil, the more it just kept breaking off. :/

Repurchase? Nah.

Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm in Twilight

I love the Revlon lipstains + balms something fierce. They may be drying, but they feel “normal” on the lips. I don’t have to be worried about my lip product transferring to clothing, food, glasses, etc., and that’s a huge relief to me. This product was in myProducts to Use Up in 2014 post and I’ve only just now reached the point where it’s dry enough that it’s not worth wearing anymore.

Repurchase: Yes, but a different colour.

CoverGirl‘s Clump Crusher mascara is a long standing favourite of mine: It separates my lashes well, the brush is fun and easy to use and the product doesn’t clump up. So with that being said, I don’t know what the hell was wrong with this tube but it sucked. It was too dry and didn’t work as well as the previous tubse I had purchase. This may have something to do with the fact that I picked it up at a discounted price at Winners one day, so it’s possible I just got a really old tube. (Ew)

Repurchase: Yes, definitely, but I’ll be picking it up at a drugstore next time!

I was gifted this pair of Tempting lashes from Sephora‘s collection by a friend who didn’t think she’d wear them. I didn’t get as much use out of these as I expected given the price tag associated with these suckers. I think maybe 3-4 uses? The band tended to straighten out more than I would like, which gave me a lot of grief when I would apply them. The effect was pretty, but not quite as voluminous as I tend to like my false lashes.

Purchase? Nope.

Soooo I didn’t realize that eyelash curlers aren’t supposed to hurt. I just assumed that since they look like torture devices, they’re actually supposed to feel like them too. Since this was my first ever pair of eyelash curlers, I really didn’t know any better. I left them at home by accident when I went on vacation and “had to” buy a new pair from a different brand at Sephora. The difference was unbelievable and I’ve since learned that theTweezerman eye lash curlers SUCK for my eye shape! I am so happy to discover that something can fit my eyeball shape better!

Repurchase? A world of no.

Benefit‘s Big Easy foundation (BB cream?) has certainly seen some hype, so I was interested in trying the sample packet I got from Sephora. However… First of all, there isn’t enough in one of those little swatchy things to actually do your whole face. Secondly, my skin was too dark for their third and fourth darkest shades and yet the 5th darkest said was way too dark. I mixed all three together and even then had barely enough to cover my face. The colour was still off. I’m kind of meh on the skin colours and the product didn’t wow me either.

Purchase? Not worth it in my book.

Another freebie from a friend! Pixi‘s Flawless and Poreless primer was… okay? I guess? I didn’t notice it actually doing anything under my foundation, but I felt compelled to use it anyway.

Purchase? No, I don’t see the point in it really.

You’ve seen these before, so I’ll be brief. Neutrogena Makeup Removing wipes are god-like. The Hydrating ones are better.

Repurchase? Yep!

Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer

Aveeno‘s Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer is a staple in my skin care routine. Love this.

Repurchase? Forever and a day.

derma e Microdermabrasion Scrub and Fortune Cookie Soap Walnut Facial Scrub in Swankified

derma e Microdermabrasion Scrub: Small sample from my Ipsy bag. It was fine. Smelled a little too much of fake lemon.

Purchase? Unlikely.

Fortune Cookie Soap Walnut Facial Scrub in Swankified: I hated this by the end of the bottle. It worked fine on my face, but the scent was gag-inducing to me.

Purchase? NO!

I don’t know if this actually smells like what Shea Butter smells like, but I couldn’t care less, this stuff is delicious. The Body Shop‘s Shea Butter scent is almost masculine and rather cologne-like. And I seriously love it. This is a wonderful scent and a fantastic product.

Repurchase? Definitely.

Marrakesh Endz and Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair

Two samples from Ipsy.

Marrakesh Endz: I quite liked this actually. It smelled faintly of cinnamon and was thick and creamy. The ends of my hair seem fine, but I also recently had a hair cut, so who the heck knows if it actually works.

Repurchase? Possibly, if I saw it at a discount store.

Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Mask: This stuff SUCKED. I used it as the instructions said and it didn’t leave my hair feeling nice at all. If anything, my hair was sticky and close to uncomb-able after using it. What a piece of crap.

Repurchase? NO!

St. Ives Oatmeal & Shea Butter Hydrating Body Wash was left at my place by a guest who had come and stayed for a while. I finished it up because why would I let it go to waste? It was okay. The scent wasn’t amazing to me, but it was a perfectly serviceable body wash.

Purchase? Unlikely.

July 2014 Favourites

August 2, 2014Favourites, MiscellaneousJulep, MAC, Nicka K, Sleek, Too FacedChelle

201407_favourites

ALRIGHT PEOPLE! It is 1:07 a.m. Friday night (aka Saturday morning), this blog post was supposed to get posted at 8 a.m. this morning, but clearly that did not happen. I’m a few glasses *cough*bottle*cough* of wine down, my photos are edited, I have episodes of Supernatural playing in the background should I require immediate distraction, and I just need to provide you with insightful data on what I loved this month.

Shall we proceed?

WE SHALL.

HNNGGGGGG. Call this my lipstick of summer. (Really, call it whatever you want, I’ll just be over in the corner calling it pretty.) This is Too Faced‘s Coral Fire and it apparently fits into their “red” category of lipsticks. Uh… okay. On ME it’s (oh god, am I really saying this?) it’s a fiery coral. Derp.

It’s deeper than most corals, but I can’t get away from the fact that I do feel it’s actually *coral* in nature. I don’t think it’s red (like Too Faced does), but anyway. It’s beautiful. It’s a colour that just suits me – I’m always shocked by my appearance when I see myself in the mirror while wearing this. It’s slightly pink, slightly “red”, slightly coral, creamy, luminous and it just *works* on me. It’s the kind of shade that makes you want the entire collection because you figure that one colour must make the ENTIRE LINE be as beautiful on yourself as this one shade is. Not to mention the luscious sweet lemon scent of the product which is TO DIE FOR, just so we’re clear, and totally unique as far as I’m aware!

Even if you don’t like this shade, I encourage you to try something from Too Faced‘s La Creme line. All of the lip shades I have from this line are glorious on a level I didn’t even know existed. Plus the name appeals to me. Aside from the colour, we all need to acknowledge the fact that packaging and the naming conventions of products do inspire us to like products more. If this was called “pink-red”, I’d probably like “meh”. But it’s not. It’s called Coral Fire, and it makes me swoon.

Sleek does gorgeous makeup through and through. Their 12 pan eyeshadow palettes are my absolute favourite product by them. I used the Sunset palette extensively throughout an entire week this past month! (upcoming Challenge Week coming this following week with this very palette) and could not believe I had used this palette so little before then. The colours are phenomenally pigmented. The only downfall is a lack of matte colours. But let’s get real here – you’ve got mattes in your collection somewhere, and you can definitely break them out to use in conjunction with this palette.

Like Sarah, I’ve also been loving this liquid eyeliner this month. Nicka K‘s Shimmer Eyeliner in Green (uhhh *sorta* green) arrived in my June 2014 Ipsy Glam Bag. I loved it at the time, but used it a few times and kind of disregarded it.

I’ll say the bad right off the bat: the brush is fucking weird. It’s not felt, foam or brush tip. It’s some weird plastic contraption that actually causes some patchiness when you apply it. The other downside is that it stains.

The upsides? IT STAINS, WHICH MEANS IT STAYS PUT FOREVER. The colour is incredible. The vibrancy and shimmer is completely unparalleled in anything I own. And it retails for $6 freaking dollars. My MUFE Aqualiner (read: is expensive) doesn’t even perform this well. I don’t mind staining when it means I can wear a product forever. And that colour… good lord. This is worth buying. And I want every shade.

I’m writing too many paragraphs, which generally means you’ve skipped over to the next picture and given up on me. But I love this, and it’s been my only eye makeup of choice when I’m visiting nearby friends or on a hot day when I really can’t be bothered to wear multiple eyeshadows.

Kalyn sent me this when I won a giveaway on her blog and I could kiss her for it. This is Julep‘s Paris nail polish. I don’t know much about Julep, but I know I love this. This is a chunky holographic glitter with a gold sheen. As I’ve mentioned before, I wear glitter on my toenails 24/7. When she sent me this, I had just run out of my current glitter polish and needed a replacement. I’ve worn this on my toes for the entire month of July and I only have about a third of the bottle left. I *love* this stuff!

When I bought MAC‘s Sea Me, Hear Me blush I kind of made fun of it in my head. I mean it… to me, it was a fall colour being promoted in the summer. “The heck am I going to do with this thing throughout the summer? It’s too damn dark!” is what I told myself.

Lies. All lies.

I wore the pants out of this blush this month. Despite the swatch, it goes on my cheeks slightly more orange, which means I’ve kind of paired it with some odd combinations this month… but really, I don’t care. Because it’s an extra dimension blush (which has always meant “harder than normal” texture to me), I need to use a stiff duo-fiber brush to dig into the product. Buff it on, blend it out and pray for the best. It’s beautiful. To me it’s a more vibrant, showy Tarte Exposed. Which is perfect for the summer!

And really, I bought it because the packaging was pretty. (Show of hands, you know you did it too!)

And this was a blurry Nemo. Because you know he wasn’t going to miss out on on showing off some cat butt for this post!

And now, my favourite gif, because this entire WORK MONTH has felt like this. My boss sent it to me today and I was reminded of how much I love this gif. Grumpy cat, I <3 u4lyf.

What I Bought This Month – May 2014 Haul

May 30, 2014HaulsBioderma, Dermal Therapy, Embryolisse, Hard Candy, Julep, MAC, NYC, OlayChelle

I actually hadn’t picked up any beauty products this month until the very last week and then suddenly I had a whole stockpile!

While MAC‘s summer collection didn’t have a whole heck of a lot of bright colours, I knew I still wanted to pick up a few products because holy hell is that packaging ever beautiful! The first item I picked up was the cremesheen finish lipstick in Mystical. The colour is slightly more brown than I had expected, but it’s a very easy, every day colour for me. Slightly more fall-oriented than spring or summer, but still really beautiful.

I wanted to give MAC‘s extra dimension products another shot because everyone seems to love them and I’ve always been kind of “meh” about them. I have the skinfinish in Whisper of Gilt, but I’ve always found the product to be very hard and stiff in the pan, which requires using a rather stiff brush to actually get any product out of the pan. Turns out the blush is really no different! Like the lipstick, Sea Me, Hear Me is far more of a deep fall colour (I really didn’t understand this collection, despite the packaging being spectacular) and it looks nice on my cheeks, but I really need to use a stiff brush to get it out of the pan!

Hard Candy Ombre Lipstick – Cheerful (~$6 CAD)

Hard Candy Cheeks and Balances – Cheeky Pink (~$8 CAD)

This works slightly better than the lip product, but not a whole heck of a lot. Hard Candy‘sCheeky Pink “Cheeks and Balances” is supposed to be a cheek colour and highlighter in one. It goes on stripey (obviously) and you really need to blend it out with a finger or two. It can be a bit greasy, but I’ve only tested it out so far without wearing it for any extended amount of time. It’s a bit too finicky to keep the actual colours separated once you blend them, so it’s easier to just smush the product together as you swipe it on your cheeks. It’s quite frosty overall (even the darker pink colour), so apply lightly and build up if you need to.

Julep polishes in (l-r): Michelle, Angela, Missy, Paris, Hilary (free)

Embryolisse – Hydra-Masque (~€15 CAD) — Bioderma – Crealine H2O (~€12)