Tag Archives: L’Occitane
VIDEO: What I Bought This Month – April 2018 Beauty Haul
What I Bought This Month – January 2016 Haul
Monthly haul time! January’s haul is a bit of a mix of things – some items I received for Christmas from family members (but didn’t get a chance to photograph until January), as well as some birthday items (January baby here!). Enjoy!
I know little to nothing about this brand Chemins de Provence aside from the fact that my brother picked it up for me in France. These are bath salts and the scent is in Almond. I’ve used them once so far and loved the scent, although I definitely did not smell almonds. I’ve previously finished up lavender scented bath salts by the same brand, which you can see in my most recent Empties video.
Another present from my brother, and presumably from France as well since I’m totally unfamiliar with the brand. Fraise l’exquise de Energie Fruit is a shower gel that I’ve added to my collection but haven’t had the opportunity to use yet because I’m totally overwhelmed with all the shower gel I currently have in my linen closet, so this has essentially moved to the back of the lineup!
L’Occitane‘s Pamplemousse Rhubarbe (Grapefruit and Rhubarb) is a limited edition scent that my mom picked up for me in a shower gel (yep, into the closet it goes!) for Christmas. She knows I love anything grapefruit scented, and the rhubarb is a great addition to the scent!
Annnnd since she knows I love grapefruit so much, she also picked up a pack of Neutrogena grapefruit wipes for me. Made me laugh when I opened the package!
My mother in law gifted me this Jergens Wet Skin Moisturizer. I had heard about in-shower moisturizers (like the one by Nivea), but I had never tried them out. This one is slightly different in the sense that you apply it just after you’ve gotten out of the shower, but before you towel off. While it feels like a normal moisturizer, what’s cool to me is that unlike a normal moisturizer, this works with the moisture on your skin in order to hydrate your limbs. Usually if I apply a typical moisturizer to wet skin it slides right off – this one doesn’t! So after I’ve applied to my wet skin, I towel/pat myself try and I’m good to go. Really, really handy for quick moisturizing without having to worry about it needing to sink in for a lengthy period of time!
One of the cute things my mother in law put in my stocking (hi Ruth!) are these Burt’s Bees items; a lip balm and a cuticle cream. She had read in my stocking stuffer guide (prior to Christmas) that my grandmother would typically put a Burt’s Bees lipbalm in my stocking, so she decided to keep the tradition going since we were in Wisconsin this year and not in Ottawa! Very sweet touch. 🙂
Sooo here in Canada, I’ve never seen Chap Stick in these cool scents. I’d seen plenty of American bloggers and YouTubers mention them, but they never seemed to be available in Canada. I need lip balm like I need more shower gel (which is to say not at all!), but I wanted these because I just can’t find them here! The Pumpkin Pie one is incredible (so, so nice to wear that one) and the Candy Cane one is as to be expected – very candy cane-like. Currently wishing I’d also picked up the Cake Batter one as well, but I think it would’ve been a little too sweet for my tastes.
Alright, here’s a biggie! My mother in law gave me some cash for my birthday and encouraged me to hit up Ulta while we were visiting. I needed no convincing and I knew exactly what I was going to pick up – the Lorac Mega Pro 2.
I had died a small death by not getting the original Mega Pro (RIP) and have been wanting to try Lorac eyeshadows out since then. What better way to do that than with an ENORMOUS palette? (I’m seriously dreading Swatch Sunday for this sucker… that’s a LOT of photos to edit.) I’m so happy to have this palette in my collection now. 🙂
Another thing I picked up from Ulta is the Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub in the Brazilian Nut scent. I’ve actually already finished one of these before and I knew I wanted more of them. Out of all of their scrubs, this is definitely my favourite scent.
While we now have NYX stores in Toronto, I hadn’t been able to get out there yet, so I picked up the very last NYX Micro-Brow in Taupe at Ulta while I was there. Love, love, love this brow pencil – it’s so much easier to use when I’m in a rush than say a pomade or the like. (I still love those too, they’re just not a product I want to dip into when I need to do my makeup quickly.)
This was such an impulse purchase and I’m still a little dazed and confused by it. I was inside a Sephora at JC Penney (holy smokes they have a lot more amazing sets there!) and noticed they still had a few shades left from the US-exclusive Frozen Berries collection by Bite Beauty. I picked up the shade Juniper because it’s a stunning shade… but on further reflection I already have this shade in a few other lipsticks! It’s not dissimilar to Kir Royale (also by Bite) and Too Faced Melted Berry. Did I need another lipstick in the exact same shade? NO! But now I own it and I feel kind of silly about it.
A few products from a generous friend here. She was at the MAC Warehouse sale a few months back (I think) and picked up this Full Fuchsia pan blush for me because it was super bright and she figured I’d like it. And I do! Soo pretty!
A new Maybelline quad in Luminous Lilacs. This looks like new packaging for the quads (to me anyway, I’m not overly familiar with their eyeshadows except for the ones that used to come in a chevron pattern) and I have yet to bust open this one!
Next up is a trio of The Body Shop body butters in their tiny size. She gifted me this because it has a tiny Satsuma one in there (and she knew my husband wasn’t a fan – haha!). There’s also a Strawberry and Mango one in there as well.
The next two items are freaking AWESOME! She also gifted me The Body Shop‘s Frosted Cranberry Shimmer Lotion! I had a small bottle of it last year but had used the whole thing up. This stuff is MAGIC. I love the scent, and it actually deposits very fine silver shimmer onto your skin. It’s not for everyone, but I love glitter all day, every day, so this is so, so nice to wear because it makes my skin gleam.
In addition to the shimmer lotion, she also handed me the shimmer mist (also in Frosted Cranberry). This is more of a bodyspray with fine shimmer in it, but I find the shimmer particles are not as strong as the shimmer lotion. Love the packaging too – it’s like a snowglobe!
The next two items are from my lovely friend Kat (well… her real name is Sara, but I call her Kat). We do a gift exchange at Christmas and she freaking spoiled me this year! She knew I had been lusting over the Laura Geller baked sorbet blush in Guava (Laura Geller is impossible to find in Canada), and not only did she find it, but she also managed to score it in an amazing set that came with a face primer, lip gloss and mascara. Unfortunately, the sparkly clutch it came in started shedding glitter particles everywhere so it’s not especially usable. The blush though… incredible. I’m so, so in love with it.
The other thing she spoiled me on is the Lorac Unzipped Gold palette. Kat had asked me what brands we didn’t have access to in Canada and Lorac was my first response since I didn’t have any of their palettes at the time she asked (of course then I went and bought the Mega Pro 2 above when I was in Wisconsin…).
The shades in this palette speak to me and I’ve heard Samantha Jane going on about it a lot so I knew it had to be mine!
Phew! That’s it for January! I’m sticking to a very minimal buying pattern for the next few months since I’m saving up for IMATS New York (Sugarpill EVERYTHING) in April. Luckily, I’ve also received a few Sephora gift cards so if I feel the need to splurge, I’ve got those in my back pocket! 😉
What I Bought This Month – September 2015 Haul
September… you were a painful month for my wallet. Not only did ALL of the makeup brands decide to launch ALL of their freaking holiday palettes (like actually – they totally all did), but it was also a month I traveled to New York City (so obviously I had to take advantage of brands that did free shipping within the USA) AND Toronto IMATS happened. I’m actually physically removing my credit card from my wallet as of today because that poor thing has been rung up so many times I’m worried it’s going to burst into flames shortly. So despite my money flying out the window, this haul is actually a lot of fun because there’s a LOT of fun things in here.
As always, the haul is in chronological order, so there’s a lot more interesting things halfway down the page!
The least interesting thing I bought this month is Johnson’s Baby Shampoo so that I can finally clean my brushes again. I ran out at some point last month and waited till it was on sale to pick up the large bottle.
The next whack of items are marked as swap, which some of them are, and some are just overflows from other beauty bloggers who want to pass on some of the love (de-stashing, as it were). I really like the Jealous Body scrubs, so I snagged this Grapeseed and Macadamia one. I’ve reviewed their latest scents right over here.
I grabbed these two L’Occitane products simply because of the name. Verveine (French) is actually Verbena in English, and I’ve somehow found myself sucked into The Vampire Diaries recently and they use verveine to ward off vampires. It made me giggle, plus I liked the scent… soooo… mine!
I’ll never ever turn down free body care, so I looted the mark Crazy for Cranberry body scrub, the Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean Deep Cleansing Milk and the Live Clean Hydrating Creamy Cleanser. Because I don’t have sensitive skin, I am afforded the luxury of trying whatever skincare products happen to cross my path. Lucky me when someone else doesn’t want them!
Random assortment of makeup in here:
- Rimmel Provocalips in Make a Move: THIS IS INCREDIBLE! It has unbelievable staying power and it’s not super drying like most liquid lipsticks. The colour is “fall appropriate” and I absolutely MUST have more in my collection. LOVE.
- Rimmel Stay Blushed in Pop of Pink: These cream blushes intrigued me but aside from the texture and tube, there’s nothing particularly unique about the shade. Quite pretty on the cheeks though.
- Maybelline Rebel Bloom lipstick in Coral Burst: OH MAN. I wanted this shade so badly from the Rebel Bloom collection but told myself I didn’t need it because I’m sure I have a near dupe in my collection somewhere. So I was mighty happy that someone had a duplicate of the shade and was more than happy to toss it my way! (And yes, it’s fairly similar to a lot of other lipsticks I own.)
- Shawna pressed me a pigment (using my own tutorial!) from NYX. I think the shade is Rustic Copper… and it’s GORGEOUS.
Soap Stories soap… because who doesn’t want free soap?
The Sonia Kashuk Jewel of an Eye palette. I wanted it for SO LONG, but Target Canada never had it as far as I ever saw and I kind of figured it just wasn’t meant to be. Until a blogger destashed it and I was like OH YESSSSSS!
The Lise Watier Expression palette is full of pastel shades that I probably won’t get around to playing with for a while, but they looked super pretty so I thought I’d give them a shot. Plus I don’t tend to have muted versions of my bright shadows, so this’ll help with blending.
And now we come to the New York City portion of this haul. While visiting some friends out in New York, we went over to the Bite Beauty Lip Lab to get some custom lipsticks made. (You can read about that experience here if you like!) In the week I’ve been back I’ve already worn this shade three times. I’m amazed with just how much I love it!
Of course, what’s a visit to the US without placing a Colour Pop order? I ordered several of the Ultra Matte liquid lipsticks because EVERYONE is raving about them. The colour range I ended up with is a little strange for me, but I did manage to cut it down from 10 shades….
I also grabbed one of the Lippie Stix (Toucan) because the smell of these is intoxicating and I didn’t own any. And, lastly, the Super Shock Shadow in Coconut because I’ve seen it on two bloggers in person now and it’s STUNNING.
I recently went through a false lash meltdown: I was going out one night and I was trying different lash brands on… and nothing was working. The bands were too inflexible, they looked too plastic, etc. etc. Seriously, I tried on four different brands and I got so annoyed I ended up throwing everything out that wasn’t House of Lashes (which have never failed me). So I had an order placed and shipped to my friend in New York where I picked it up. The Bombshell ones are my favourite so far so I got a three pack. I’m also eager to try out the Iconic lashes because a lot of people seem to like those.
I also picked up a Milani eyeshadow primer at a Duane Reed while on vacation because I just don’t have access to it in Canada and lately it’s the only primer that’s been working for me.
Sabon is a bodycare brand that I first fell in love with in New York about a decade or so ago. I was happy to stop in and pick up some stuff but I kept it to a single item because the USD to CAD version is absolute BALLS right now. This is my absolute favourite product by Sabon: their Body Scrub in Lemon Mint. Between the scent and the feel of the product, I’m in absolute heaven!
And the last item I had shipped to a friend was the Too Faced Star Dust palette by Vegas Nay. I wasn’t originally sure I wanted this palette, but the price tag along with the extras (primer, glamour dust and mascara) were enough to win me over based on value.
And I am so very glad I picked it up. The Too Faced holiday palettes aren’t really doing it for me this year so I’m considering this my “Too Faced holiday palette”. It’s phenomenal. The pigmentation is incredible and the shades are wonderful. While it could be considered a neutral palette, there’s still a lot of fun ways to play with the colours. Oddly, the two warm brown shades (Millenial and Girl’s Night) are my absolute favourites – those colours work MAGIC in the crease!
And now we come to the holiday palette debacle. WHY MUST BRANDS RELEASE THEIR HOLIDAY PALETTES IN SEPTEMBER??!?!? This is Urban Decay‘s Urban Spectrum palette. It’s available on the brand’s web site or on Sephora’s site for VIB and VIB Rouge members.
Shade-wise, I prefer this a lot more than the Vice 4 palette (that’s coming below), but it’s definitely not a standalone palette. Every single shade in this palette has shimmer of some sort. They’re gorgeous, there’s no doubt about that, but you’re going to need some mattes if you don’t want to look all shiny all the time. I didn’t pick up the Anniversary palette a few years back, and this has the shades I wanted from that so I’m really glad to own this one now.
I can admit it, it’s the packaging that sucked me into this one. Urban Decay‘s Vice series always has a wonderfully large mirror, a well layed out palette and gorgeous packaging. I love how all Vice 4s will have a slightly different colour pattern on the top too – feels very unique.
But the shades themselves… are weird. Last year, the Vice 3 felt very cohesive. The shades were layed out nicely, there were colour gradients and complimentary colours… but this year I can’t figure out what the hell I’m looking at. There’s no brow bone shade (not for me anyway – that top left shade is more of a grey-pink pearl colour) so that’s awkward. I love the two oranges in the bottom left hand corner but that’s kind of it… There’s three oddly similar greens/aquas/seafoams in the middle row that kind of make me feel like they could’ve aimed for a bit more variety. I don’t know man… it’s a WEIRD palette. And I really only got it for the outer packaging. What a doofus.
https://instagram.com/p/7qqhzsRayI/
Argh, I forgot to take a picture of the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix palette ($71 CAD). This is the palette I was most excited about for Holiday 2015. The shades in this palette are to die for and I cannot wait to swatch them all and create a bunch of makeup looks. It’s a bit on backlog though as I work through the other palettes first! The only thing I’m not keen on is the packaging. It pulls out like a record, which sounded cool and all… until you tried to use it and then it was just annoying. Ah well, you can’t beat those shades!
The remainder of this haul are items I got from IMATS! When I found out that Viseart was going to be available via Frends, it became my number one place to stop. When I got there, they didn’t even have the palettes available to swatch yet (or even out of their crates), but I knew exactly which one I wanted – the Editorial Brights. It’s a spendy item, but it’s still cheaper than buying it at Sephora! Looking at this one just makes me so, so happy.
A bit of a random assortment of glitters from Lit Cosmetics. I originally bought three, but ended up going back later in the day for more. I’d like all their colours, frankly, but I’ll have to deal with building up my collection relatively slowly. In hind sight, I wish I’d gone for more of the neons, but hey, I gotta start building up this collection somewhere.
Grabbed a Z-palette because I’m running out of space for my Makeup Geek shadows!
And finally, a tiny metal spatula to help me get products out of containers when I’m getting down to the bottom.
/covers face with hands
That was… a lot. A LOT. I’m happy with what I bought and got, but damn son, I need to chill out cuz this kind of spending is not sustainable! How about you? Are you happy with all of the holiday releases? Or do you feel like they’re being released far too soon like I do? I feel like we kind of got dumped on this year and no one was prepared for it!
Empties – February 2014
Nope, not a La Senza haul, instead this is a product empties post and that big ole La Senza bag just happens to house all of them.
Having never really saved my empty products until I created this blog, I was a bit surprised that I had enough empties for another blog post only three months after my last one. I’m only posting products I’d actually haul – so you’re not going to be seeing shampoos and toothpaste in here.
First up are the actual makeup products, because I know that’s what interests me most when I read these kinds of posts.
These are my two staple mascaras. The CoverGirl Clump Crusher mascara is probably my favourite out of the two of them, but even though this is the water resistant formula (a true waterproof one doesn’t actually exist in this formula) is really isn’t water resistant at all. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating, if you get water near your lashes while wearing this, it will definitely run or smear. That being said, the formula really is fantastic and it’s worth wearing – although I stick to the summer months when my eyes are less likely to tear up.
During the winter, or when I need a truly waterproof mascara, I’ll use L’Oreal‘s Voluminous Carbon Black mascara. I always come back to this formula, but I definitely prefer it when it’s in the “wet-er” stages, which is within the first month of opening a new tube. I’m currently using another tube of the L’Oreal one right now.
Verdict:
CoverGirl Clump Crusher (water-resistant) – definite re-buy
L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black (waterproof) – definite re-buy
The Revlon Lip Butter in Cherry Tart is a beautiful shade on the lips, it goes on smooth and looks rather glossy. The wear time is about average for a balm (~1.5 hours before you need to re-apply) so don’t expect this to be a particularly long lasting product. I’ve used up as much as I can get out of the tube without actually digging into the bottom of the bullet (can’t be bothered really). While it’s lovely on the lips, I’ve also grown rather tired of the maintenance required with non-long-lasting lip colours so while I like the colour, I just don’t have the patience to keep touching up my lip colour every hour or so.
Verdict: Unlikely re-buy
These Ardell 102 Demis are my favourite false lashes to wear and I have certainly worn these to death. I don’t wear false lashes often (once or twice a month, if even) and I believe I got about 8-10 uses out of these. They’re starting to look rather gungy (not to mention they’re also quite old) so it was time to just throw these out and start in on a fresh pair.
Verdict: Definite re-buy – I’ve already got another set waiting in the wings!
This Jack Black balm was included in my Products I Want To Use Up In 2014 post, and I’m happy to have finished it. You can see remnants in the tube, but I really can’t squeeze anymore of it out. This product was… adequate. I don’t feel it did much for my lips, neither helpful nor destructive, it was just kind of there. It was great for protecting against windburn throughout the winter since its main ingredient is petrolatum. The thing I liked most about this product is that it comes in a squeezy tube, which makes it easy to apply. I’m not a germaphobe at all, and double dipping in my potted lip products really doesn’t bother me from a hygienic point of view, but I reaIly wish more lip products came like this if only because it’s so much easier to apply on the go.
Verdict: Unlikely to purchase again
I know sample size empties are hardly exciting, but sometimes they’re worth mentioning for that first impression.
Clinique Superprimer Universal Face Primer – Won’t buy full size
I used this just for the sake of using it. I didn’t notice it affecting how long my foundation lasted on my skin, but then again I’m not prone to foundation just sliding right off my face in the first place.
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden – not sure what to think…
I’m not sure what to think about this. I started using this primer right around the time where even my Original UDPP started creasing on me (which shocked and frightened me, to be perfectly honest), so my only exposure to Eden is to say that it creased on me. But so did my usual primer at the time. So maybe it was a weird hormonal fluctuation in my skin, but this didn’t work out for me at the time that I used it.
L’Occitane Delicious Hands Almond – won’t buy full size
Smelled like almonds and worked well but it’s pricey and not a scent I’d usually pay a lot of money.
Illamasqua Hydra Veil – possible purchase
My first exposure to a gel moisturizer – this felt SO COOL. When I think of gels (of any kind), I think of alcohol, so I didn’t really understand how the heck this was going to moisturize my skin. This felt really neat on the skin and I *loved* the smell of it. However, at the $48 CAD price point, I’d have to be gifted this because I’m perfectly happy with my Aveeno facial moisturizer and that is way too steep of a price in my books.
Laura Mercier Face Polish – won’t buy full size
This felt cool to use, but it’s not something I really need or want. The granules in the polish are so small that they actually feel kind of soothing as you rub it into your wet skin.
Nourish Organic Face Lotion – will avoid for life
The smell became rather sickening after a while and after this dried down on my face it felt like I had a thin mask over my face that I had to crack just by moving my features around. Unpleasant all around.
Laura Mercier Foundation Primer – won’t buy full size
Just like the Clinique one, I don’t find this foundation primer actually did anything for my makeup. /shrugs
I used the pants out of this China Glaze shade. Kiwi Cool-Ada was a matte neon polish (use a top coat to get some shine) that just glowed in the daylight. Since the polish went on rather streaky, you usually needed about three coats before it looked perfect.
Verdict: Possible re-buy, but I’d rather use up some of my other polishes first.
Marcelle Gentle Makeup Remover for Sensitive Eyes has been my go-to makeup remover for years and years. It’s an oil-based remover (shake before using) which, of course, ensures that it’ll take off any and all waterproof makeup. I find this works just as well as MAC‘s makeup remover (the one in the red/pink tube), if not better, and at almost half the price. Since the Marcelle normally runs around $15, I usually wait for a sale at Shoppers and/or buy it when it’s in the larger bonus size bottle (like the one above – 33% more product). I can’t recommend this enough, I’ve been using this remover for well over six years now and haven’t found anything better.
Verdict: Forever repurchase
It’s hard to vocalize just how disgusting these Make-Up Cleansing Tissues from Absolute! are. I saw on the Ipsy forums that someone referred to these as smelling like beer… and they nailed it. In my original Ipsy review, I said that they smelled like some kind of alcoholic fruity drink, and I was kind of close, but also off the mark. These smell like beer that has gone rancid. They don’t smell like pomegranate, that’s for sure. And they don’t even work that well either – removing waterproof mascara was a nightmare and I’m fairly certain I pulled out more lashes than I actually cleaned. (Let it be known that it also said on the packaging that it would remove waterproof mascara.)
Verdict: You couldn’t PAY me to use these again – avoid like the plague
The Body Shop Body Butters are legendary – I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard of someone disliking them. They’re thick, moisturizing and these two in particular, Satsuma andCoconut
Verdict: Love these and will definitely repurchase at some point.
I picked up Embryolisse‘s Lait-Creme Concentre while vacationing in France in 2012 (picked up a few tubes actually, this was my last one) because I’d heard so many people rave about it. And it’s… okay. It’s not especially expensive (under 10 euros I think), which is rather nice, and cheaper, than my usual facial moisturizer. It feels kind of fancy to say you use French skincare that you bought in France… but the reality is that I didn’t notice anything different about my skin after using this cream. It smelled like generic “unfragranced” skincare and goes on smoothly.
Verdict: Will repurchase if I’m in Europe again.
This Bath & Body Works lotion in Midnight Pomegranate took me forever to use up. It’s one of the mini bottles, but the scent was so strong that it was actually incredibly overpowering when I used this a few times at the office (just ask my coworkers from several offices over). I was happy to finish this up (and I’m still struggling with the 3-wick candle I have in the same scent, although I have to say the candle is far less powerful than the lotion) but it’s not something I can say I really enjoyed. The lotion is on the thin side and really didn’t seem to do anything other than fragrance my skin.
Verdict: Won’t repurchase
I was given this Lindesa hand cream as a gift and I believe it came from a German Christmas market. The cream seems to contain a substantial amount of beeswax, so it could feel pretty heavy on the hands. The smell was really nice, although mild, and it was a great moisturizer for when my hands were on the drier side.
Verdict: Unlikely re-buy since I have no idea where to even get it!
I never see any Sabon products mentioned in the beauty world but I love their products so much. I first discovered them in New York City about seven years ago by accident. They also have a location in Toronto, but it’s nowhere especially close to where I live. Anyway, this Body Gel Polisher is fantastic, it’s a full body exfoliant, but you don’t need a ton of product to get the desired effect. I quite like the Lemon Mint smell, although I’ve been told my others who got a whiff of it that they can’t stand the smell of it – to each their own!
Verdict: Will repurchase when convenient.
Not an especially exciting empties roundup, but I was happy to empty out my bag of garbage!