Brand Review: Flower Beauty

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I have always been interested in Flower Beauty. I remember years ago it was in Walmart Canada, but the products I bought just didn’t really sing to me. When the brand left Canada, I didn’t think much of it. Then, I began to see the blush bombs, and the foundation, and highlighter being used by some of my favourite content creators. I was really pleased when I saw the brand was put on well.ca. 

Here is the story according to their website:  “FLOWER Beauty was the brainchild and mission of Drew Barrymore and her straight forward, no-nonsense philosophy of empowerment: that women everywhere deserve the best quality, most efficacious products at an affordable price.  Growing up in the makeup artists chair, Drew has learned a thing or two about beauty. Now as a mother, award-winning actress, entrepreneur, producer and best-selling author she wants to share her passion. Drew’s gift to everyone, FLOWER empowers women by developing products that help you look and feel great in your Own skin, and to embrace your individual beauty with the support of inspired, luxurious products made with you in mind. At FLOWER our passion is creating cosmetics and tools that not only make life easier and more fun, but look and feel amazing- from our prestige quality formulas to packaging that’s designed for performance”

I was interested in gathering only a few items from the brand including their cult-favourite blush bombs and the highlighting palette that Andrea Matilliano uses. I also got the concealer and the blush pyramid. 

Let’s start with the concealer. I’d say this is just a classic concealer, nothing too special about it. It wears and blends out really nicely. I got the shade fair. This is a good shade for me, though the shade range could be expanded. This is a really nice lightweight concealer, I find that this concealer really covers the dark circles without looking cakey or heavy. 

The flower beauty blush bomb is the next product I was excited to try. I got the shade melon. I would say these are similar to the Glossier cloud paints but the cloud pants are less liquid and airier than the flower. I find the Flower Beauty ones almost have a thicker consistency whereas the glossier has a lighter consistency and dry more satin whereas the Flower Beauty one dries a bit more glossy. 

The highlighting palette is called the shimmer and strobe highlighting palette. There is champagne, pink champagne, and a more golden highlighter in the palette. The palette is super smooth and buttery and appears shimmery on the skin not metallic. I am not surprised by the quality of the palette, but I am pleased that it has the same feeling as a high end highlighter This is a lovely gem and I think if you like a highlighter and want something that can be built up or sheered out this is the perfect palette for you. 

The blush pyramid in peach glow. I bought this thing it might be similar to the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick. This is not similar. I am not really sure how to use this. As a blush, this does work, but it does appear a bit chunky on the skin. I like this as an eyeshadow but I want to continue trying to use it as a blush. I love me an all in one shimmer brick so I am going to keep try to use it and see if it can be diffused into the skin the way I like most of my blushes.

 

Overall I would give this brand a 4/5 stars. This brand is expensive for the drugstore. I really enjoy this brand, and enjoy that the packaging and product feels high quality. If you are Canadian you can buy this on well.ca 

The swatches

First three shades are the highlighing palette,
Then the peach pyramid, and then everything mixed together
Light illusion concealer in fair, Melon blush bomb

Fenty Moroccan Spice Eyeshadow Palette Review

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The Fenty Moroccan Spice palette has really not gotten much hype. I don’t really understand why. I wanted to review this palette because ever since I bought it, I’ve been able to create various looks with it, and have found it to transcend any occasion. 

A bit about the palette according to Fenty’s website: |An eyeshadow palette of 16 longwearing Moroccan-inspired shades ranging from matte to shimmer finishes—perfect for spicing up your look in limitless ways”. It appears that this palette is no longer on Sephora.ca but I did recently find it in store. 

What drew me to this palette was it was on sale and I had been wanting it for awhile but wasn’t sure if I wanted to take the plunge. The palette has a range of warm and cool tones with pops of colour that are wearable. I have created a pink look for you today, but I do mostly use the browns and oranges in the palettes. 

The formula of this palette is really smooth and creamy. I find a few of the shimmers to be a tough to get pigment in the palette and translate as a bit sheer on the lid, but for the most part thses are smooth shades with minimal fallout. This palette is rectangular with cut down edges. The packaging is beautiful. It is weighty and for size comparison, it is a smidge smaller than the Natasha Denona palettes. The palette also I fits nicely in my makeup desk therefore the kind of strange shape doesn’t really inhibit my use of it. 

The wear time: these shadows do last forever. I have worked 12-14 hours a day and these shadows have lasted throughout. I also frequently get compliments on my eyeshadow when I wear these shadows so that doesn’t hurt. 

Overall rating: this palettes was $78 originally and quite frankly it isn’t worth that. I got it for $39 which was a much more digestable price. I don’t think I would have bought this palette had it not been on sale, but I will say that I do enjoy it daily or at least wear it a few times a week. I find the shadows quick and easy to blend. I’m giving this a 3.5/5 stars simply because I think the original price is a bit too much. However, I love Fenty and if you can find this and want a palette with literally everything you need, go for it!

Physicians Formula X Weylie Palette Review

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When I saw this palette on shoppersdrugmart I knew I had to get it. Physicians formula generally comes out with influencer collabs in these huge boxes, so when this was in the thin box (albeit no mirror) with the butter formula throughout I knew it was something I wanted in my collection. 

The palette has two bronzers, two blushes, and to highlighters, and two blushes. The formula is not different from the singles. On the website, Weylie says she wanted to make something that was easy for people to use to create various different looks. The palette is also in collaboration with the Best Friends Animal Society which makes me even happier to purchase. I would like to say I don’t watch Weylie but I did watch her video on this and I like that she created a palette for medium skin tones. 

The two bronzers in Deep Bronzer and sunset bronzer. The deep bronzer is a golden tan with a satin finish and sunset bronzer is a deep taupe with a satin finish. I believe these are also in their regular line. I have the single in sunkissed bronzer and because I love the formula I will likely keep the single in my line as well .. though I haven’t fully decided. 

The blushes are beautiful and have a nice satin finish. One of them is a nice mauve shade and the other blush shade is a nice peach shade appropriately names Apricot. I really enjoy that these blushes can be used as eye shadows and can be mixed together. 

The highlighters are a whimsical and golden hour. Whimsical is a pink highlighter with gold running throughout. It has a nice satin-glassy finish on the skin. I did not think I would be able to wear the golden hour shade because of how dark it looks but surprisingly it works pretty well on my skin. That is a rose gold shade. 

Verdict: I’d say for the price of $24.99 Canadian I don’t know if this is worth it in Canada. There is no mirror and the formula is pretty similar to the singles. I find the formula in this palette is far more pigmented than the single I have of the sunkissed bronzer. I would give this a 3/5 stars simply because of the price and lack of mirror. I really do like this palette because I have an infatuation with face palettes. 

The swatches

Left to right: Whimsical, Golden Hour, Apricot blush, wild flower blush, sunset bronzer, deep bronzer, sunkissed bronzer single

Have you tried this palette yet? 

My Solo Trip to Vancouver, Canada

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When I started thinking about a solo trip I thought of a few things: where can I go that is safe, and where can I go that is fun but not too much fun. I have always wanted to do a solo trip and I have always wanted to go to Vancouver. Now that I am employed, I thought this was a perfect time to take some vacation and get some R&R. 

On my first day of adventuring, I went to Calipano Stanley Park which was an absolutely beautiful place to go. It was super serene and super easy to navigate. What was nice about traveling solo in Vancouver was it is Canada. So that made everything easy to understand which already removed a barrier. The city is also super easy to navigate. My hotel was within walking distance to pretty much any tourist attraction in Vancouver. This made it easy to explore and go to everywhere I saw on Pinterest. After this, I went to Canada place and walked along the Canada Walk. Then I did some shopping (classic) at the CP Pacific Centre which was one of the nicest laid out malls, and the Nordstrom was just beautiful to gander around in. I also had chipotle for dinner which was amazing. 

My second day was Grouse mountain. Now, I don’t ski so I didn’t go skiing which might have been something I could have looked into, but I did rent some skates and skate on their little dinky rink. In the lift I chatted with two fabulous ladies (one that offered me a ride but wasn’t going to where I was heading) and it was just nice chatting and see why people were there and where they were from. I ended up busing to Stanley Park where I walked along the seawall and checked out the Totum poles. It was a very peaceful walk and of course, my legs were sore at this point, but it was lovely. The weather was also so nice, it was plus 5 and the vibe was so chill in the city and on the Seawell. After this, I went to try and find this Italian resteraunt but somehow ended up in the Downtown Eastside. I eventually made it to Gastown where I ate the best Carbonara of my life. Also only in Canada can you go in the same city to snow and then go back down a mountain and it is practically Spring!

My third day was full of adventures let me tell you. First, I went to Granville Island where I got lost and couldn’t really find where I was going. I walked around the little market and then got myself some fish and chips. I then went downtown again near my hotel to check out Robson Street, the most popular street for shopping. What a fun place. The whole vibe of downtown was actually quite chill, but as I found out during my time in Whistler apparently this is not always the case. After this I might have gotten Chipotle again…

My next and last day was a day in Whistler. This was a fabulous day. I met two women who where traveling together, we had lunch and gabbed. They told me about Vancouver and Whistler and we exchanged emails. To me, this is what solo travelling is all about, meeting new and interesting people. It was great! I then went to the Squamish cultural centre which was very interesting. 

What did I learn solo traveling? It was an experience that I want to do again. I am really glad that I went within Canada and that I had the confidence to take public transit. I also liked that I could wake up when I wanted, eat when I wanted, and essentially had the freedom to just roam around and adventure. Where should I go next!?