Products I can't resist

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I think we all know I have a bit of thing for makeup, a bit of an affinity for shiny and pretty packaging and certain brands. I saw Michelle Wang do this video, her titled is products I’m a sucker for, and have had it on my list to write on the blog for a while. I wanted to go through some of the products I just cannot resist. Now, this isn’t comprehensive because we know that I love eyeshadow palettes but I wanted to write about a few product categories that I always seem to be drawn to in 2019.

Potted eyeshadows

The first product I am always buying is potted shadows. Whether that is the Colourpop supershock shadows, the Hourglass Scattered light shadows, or the Maybelline colour tattoos I just cannot help but be attracted to little pots of pigments. When it comes to these I have no self control. When I’m on the colourpop website I guarantee that I probably have at least 3-4 supershock shadows in my cart … and I click check out. 

Multi-use Face Sticks

The second product category I love is cream blushes (well and powder but let’s just say creams). I accumulated quite a few of these over the summer and just love the way that they sit on my cheeks. They are easy to blend and fast to use in the morning, as well as are generally multi-use.  Some of my favourites include the nudestix nudies sticks and the colourpop blush stix.

Face palettes 

There are some people who just aren’t smitten with a good face palette. But I love me a good easy to use face palette, whether is a highlighter palette, an all in one palette or what have you, they are all just so wonderful and easy to use. What I love about face palettes his that you can do an entire look using a face palette without having to reach for other products.  My personal favourite palette currently is the MAC Cosmetics Star dipped face palette. It has beautiful pink tones perfect for my skin tone. I also have been enjoying the Hourglass ambient lighting face palette. I also really enjoy the Cheekbone beauty palette, it has two highlighters and pinky highlighter that I used a blush topper.

Rose nude lip products

I buy the same lip colour basically anytime I buy a lipstick or lip gloss. I love rosy nudes and peachy nudes. They just speak to me on a deep level. I always find myself wanting to try new lip products and formulas but then just buying the same colour. I’ve been attempting to cut back but if we are being real, I still find myself grabbing a new lipstick when I’m in the drugstore. I have been loving easy to use lip products (I mean this is not new for me but alas I’ve only been wearing nude lipsticks). I used to be a lot more adventurous with lipsticks, but as a career women I find the tints and glosses have been my go to for the daily.. I love my classic Fenty gloss bomb and the Colourpop lip tints if I want more colour on my lips.

MAC Christmas Collection Review

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I don’t usually buy whole collections during the holiday season. However, I was really attracted to the packaging of the MAC Christmas Collection and was very excited about the prospect of trying a few of the items. I did not buy the whole collection but I picked up a few items I was really keen to try.

I got three different items from the collection. I bought the Star Dipped Face Palette, the Star Sighting Compact in Neutral and the Lucky Stars lip kit in bold. I was very attracted to this collection and saw Beauty Unhyped on Instagram share the medium face palette. I got the light one and have been using it daily. I have also been using the eye shadow palette daily and in combination with other single shadows.

Let’s start with the description description of the: “palette of six neutral eye shadows in finishes from demure mattes to meteoric Dazzleshadows”. I am honestly not sure if all of these shades are also permanent shades but they are all beautiful. The glitter shades aren’t too chunky and have a beautiful sheen that I find works for day and night. Though let’s be real I don’t go out so I am wearing this during the day.  The eye shadow palette is probably my favorite addition to my makeup collection. I really enjoy that this is a neutral palette with a fun shift of colour. I know I know, I have too many palettes, but I had no idea how good MAC Shadows really were until using this palette. The shadows are glossy and metallic without being chunky and they have a lovely finish with a brush or a finger. I really enjoy that I can use all the shades in the palette for the daytime which is when I wear eye shadow.

I also got the face palette. The description of the palette on MACs website: a palette of star-powered extra dimension blushes, extra dimension skin finishes and extra dimension bronzing powders in light and medium-deep shades. The blushes are super glowy and dewy. The highlighters are metallic but not chunky and really match my skin tone which I appreciate so they don’t look like a strip of gold (which I”m not opposed to but that is how I would describe it). 

The lipstick kit is also such a hidden gem. The three bold shades are well suited to my skintone and are classic shades that my skin tone and other skin tones. The shade cosmic comic is a really nice nude for my skin tone. It’s a hair darker and more brown then my lips but is beautiful. There is also the classic Ruby Woo shade and the purple shade a Star Walks into a bar.

The swatches:

The eyeshadow palette: wedge, North Star, Let’s Roll, stars in my pocket, star violet, cordial
Left to Right: Blush in Dipped in Stars, blush in sippin’ on stars, highlighter in snow gold, highlighter in hi-sequincy
left to right, A star walked into a bar, Ruby Woo, Cosmic Comic

A look using the palette

Sephora VIB Sale Haul

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Better late than never I suppose. I took a brief hiatus from the blog purely because my work has been busy and I haven’t had the time to sit down and write. I wanted to go over what I bought in the VIB sale in November aka Sephora keeps having these sales that I keep getting suckered into even though Shoppers generally has better deals and a better point system. 

The skincare

For this haul I was very into the idea of skin. I commute, and drive  A LOT for my work, and am in an office, which takes a whole separate toll on my skin.  I have been noticing a lack of hydration and also really wanted to try a super expensive cleansing combo and then do a blog post in the coming months about what happened to my skin. The first cleanser I bought was the Tata Harper nourishing cleanser. This cleanser is specifically a makeup remover (which I use in my drugstore routine so I thought I would do it in this one). Review to come. I then bought the Drunk Elephant Beste Cleanser. Honestly, I love this cleanser, I’ve had a few samples of it and so far it’s lovely. 

I then bought my trusty Drunk Elephant Lala retro moisturizer and a new essence from Tata Harper. It is the Tata Harper Hylaronic Acid Floral Essence. Again, a review to come on all these. 

Hair Care

After listening to the Emma Guns show with the Living Proof creative director I was super inspired to try the line. I got the super detox shampoo and their famous dry shampoo. I will say, this is one of the better dry shampoos I’ve tried and will likely repurchase. The clarifying shampoo isn’t my favourite but I’ll use it up. 

Makeup

I swear friends, I was not going to buy any makeup this year at the sale but you know what I cannot resist sparkly packaging so here we are. I got three items from the MAC holiday collection. I love these products. Review to come this month! I got the neutral eye shadow palette and the Star Dipped face palette in light and the lip set in bold.

Quo Liquid Holiday shadows: Review and Comparison

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Liquid shadows are eye shadows, in a liquefied form. They are generally very glittery and shimmery, but some are also matte. When I saw the Quo Holiday Collection in ShoppersDrugMart I had to pick up the Fenty inspired liquid glitter shadows. I was really hoping these would scratch the same itch that the Colourpop Supernova shadows do but they are not my favourite.

Let’s start with the Quo ones. They are in this triangular packaging and come in three shades, gold, pink, and silver. When swatched, these shadows do have lots of pigment, but I find on the eyes each shade sort of just blends away and only has a slight tinge of each colour. I find that the shades in this are perfect for a glitzy holiday look, but for during the day, I’m not sure if its something I’m going to wear at the time as I find the glitter is quite chunky. These also have quite a bit of fall out so I’d recommend some sort of glitter glue underneath. 

The MAC Dazzle shadows have a similar vibe, but are slightly more finely milled and don’t have hardly any colour to them. I find these are better for layering and less messy than the quo. These stick a bit better to the eye and a look a bit less chunky than the quo. I have the shade blinking brilliant, that I got at the cosmetics company store, but compared to how these look online, this does not have that pigment behind the glitter that I thought it would. I saw KatieJaneHughes used this one (or one of them) and they looked beautiful on her. I find that the dazzleshadows look less chunky and don’t have fall out but are not my favourite of the liquid shadows I own. 

The best liquid shadow of the three I own is the Colourpop supernova shadow (which I have a feeling are discontinued which makes me very sad). This shadow is exactly what I want in a liquid shadow. It has an easy glide-on formula, with no fallout and is basically a shadow, that has been liquefied. These don’t crease (though I need a primer) and the color and shimmer is absolutely beautiful. 

I would like to try the Milani and the Stila liquid shadows to have more things to compare this to,  but for now, these are the three that I have rotating for now. If you are wanted a super glittery one night a year (or for the day if that is your game). I think overall, the Quo liquid shadows are a nice topper to an eye look, but for me personally, I don’t think I would wear these alone like I do with the Colourpop.

The swatches

Left to right: MAC Cosmetics, Colourpop Supernova Shadow, Quo Shadows in silver, pink, and gold