Saturday, March 31, 2012

Going to be busy for a while…

Just updating to let you all know that I won’t be posting for a few days since I have two essays due this week (one of which is a minimum of 10 pages, and is due tomorrow night at midnight…) by the fourth. I also have my birthday party with my friends tomorrow night, I’m hanging out with my boyfriend Monday, and I’ll have that night and the next to write my second essay.

I do have lots of posts waiting to be written for you guys, though:

  • My Birthday Haul
  • 40 Question Beauty Tag (I’ll probably also include the Hunger Games tag)
  • More Hunger Games swatches
  • March Favourites
  • And I want to start my Fashion Pet Peeves posts… if you have a better name for them, please let me know!

Also, as a random aside, you might notice that I’ve added my blog on Bloglovin’ and Hellocotton, if you prefer to follow your blogs through either of them. Buttons are in the right sidebar! I also made a Facebook page for this blog a little while back, and I would be way too happy if you liked it!

Talk to you all again soon!

<3

Thursday, March 29, 2012

My Giveaway prize from GretalRabbit’s blog arrived!

I’m sorry this took so long to post, since I got this around the middle of last week! I don’t know what I’ve been so busy with, but here it finally is now!
(Most of this post was written soon after receiving this package)

Just thought I’d show off a little! In case you don’t follow her, the lovely Louise over at GretalRabbit Writes held a giveaway after reaching 100 followers! Her’s is definitely one of my favourite blogs, since she writes about not only cool make-up and nail polish stuff, but she also posts some pretty great recipes from time to time! Also, she’s British, and loves Doctor Who. So yeah…

Here’s what I got:

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  • MUA Heaven and Earth eye shadow palette. This is almost a UD Naked Palette dupe, and has some really nice, neutral shades, and are pretty well pigmented!
  • Carmex Cherry Lip Balm. This stuff smells really good and is really moisturizing.
  • 2000 Collection Glitter Top Coat. I put this on pretty much immediately on my ring fingers over my China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, and it is just so gorgeous! You can’t see it as well in the bottle, but on the nail the glitter sparkles a pretty pink and blue!
  • Hello Kitty nail stamping plate. This is my first stamping plate, and since I don’t have any others, I also don’t have the tools to use it, but I did purchase them from eBay for only a couple bucks after winning, so I’ll have to wait for those to arrive before I can test this out!
  • That little tub with the heart on top is actually a little pot of lip scrub that Louise made herself. I’m not entirely sure what’s in it, but I’m pretty sure the scrub bit is sugar! Which is kind of awesome =P
  • And, she threw in a bonus little surprise: Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Bunnies! So awesome! If you have never had British chocolate before, you are really missing out. Somehow it manages to be completely different from American Chocolate. Also, this is closest to a Caramilk bar, only so much better. I had to force myself not to scarf these down the moment I noticed them!

And that’s everything! I’m already pretty much in love with all of it, and I’m really glad Louise decided to do this giveaway and that I won! Thanks again! =)

Just as an update, since I’ve taken so long to post, I’m really in love with the palette, and would go so far as to say its a good dupe or replacement for the original Naked palette, since it’s such a great set of neutral colours! I haven’t tried much else out too extensively, but the bunnies were all gone by the day after I got this in the mail! =P I also tried out the polish over China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, which I was wearing at the time (just my ring fingers):

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Thanks for reading! I have more Hunger Games polish swatches to come soon, and I will also probably be posting my birthday haul after my party this Sunday!

Oh! And I’m considering doing a series of posts about my fashion dislikes and pet peeves, and I’m just wondering if anyone would be interested in reading that, even though this is supposed to be a beauty blog, not fashion! Lemme know!

<3

Friday, March 23, 2012

Hunger Games -- Colours of the Capitol by China Glaze Polish Haul and Swatches!

Alright, I’m finally going to show off and brag about these beautiful polishes! I got these on the 16th, and that’s what I want to talk about first.

First of all, the site I bought them at said that they wouldn’t ship until the 21st, but they actually shipped the very next day after I bought them, and I was really surprised when I checked my tracking number and noticed that they were already in Richmond, which is generally the last place Canada Post registers the day before it arrives at my house, and beside that CP estimated it would arrive on the 16th, which it did! I was shocked so I did a little searching on their site and found out it was so quick because NailPolishCanada.com ships from Vancouver! So I was really pleased, and I absolutely recommend them to anyone on the West Coast of Canada, since you don’t pay any customs or duties since its a Canadian company, fast shipping, and shipping is either $5 or free if you spend more than $29, which really isn’t hard.

Anyways, on to the polishes! I got:

100_0753From right to left: Fast Track (District 6), Stone Cold (District 2), Harvest Moon (District 9), and Smoke and Ashes (District 12).

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And, since it’s my absolute favourite, I wanted to try and show off the glitter in Smoke and Ashes, which is so bloody hard to photograph:

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And nail wheel swatches! Fast Track and Harvest Moon, both two coats:

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I’m completely in love with Harvest Moon, which is on my toes right now, and Fast Track looks like a perfect match for my skin! I can’t wait to try out the gold glittery mannequin hands this will surely give me! I’ve also seen swatches on other blogs where Fast Track makes a great glittery top coat.

Smoke and Ashes and Stone Cold, also both two coats:

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These two are completely opaque with two coats, and about the same opacity as my other polishes are with two coats after only one! Stone Cold is beautiful, and I am currently in love with Smoke and Ashes, which is on my fingers now, and has been since the 17th!

The glitter doesn’t show up well in any of these pictures, but I swear it’s there in the sun! Sorry about the messy cuticles, I was a little too excited to get pictures…

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Finally, I wanted to include this picture to show you the colours in the glitter, since the unfocused light picks it up a lot better for the camera:

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Have you tried any of the Hunger Games polishes? Dying to get your hands on some? Too excited to express about the movie about to come out? I want to hear about it!

Thanks for reading! <3

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

March Glymm Box

Hello again my beautiful readers! I wanted to try to get this post up before I started seeing everyone else posting their YouTube video and blog posts, which I haven’t seen any of, so far!

I got my box yesterday morning, one day later than Canada Post’s tracking site said I would get it, but technically, that isn’t Glymm’s fault. It’s really disappointing that it takes more than a week to mail a little pink box from Ontario to British Columbia, but that’s beside the point! Let’s get to this month’s box:

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Above: The usual pink boxes.
Below: This month’s card.

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Above: This month’s product descriptions. As you will see in a minute, one of the products was excluded from the card for some reason. Also, still no jelly beans or replacement treat. I’m starting to be very disappointed. Not only because I miss the jelly beans, but because Glymm promised a replacement and it is taking far too long to implement one.
Below: An Anastasia Beverly Hills offer.

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Above: Other side of the offer card. A free lip gloss sounds great, but you know there’s always a catch. In this case, you have to order two other Anastasia products in order to redeem this offer. I’m a little disappointed, but I definitely don’t like this brand enough to bother with this, this time.
Below: Basically all you could see at first glance into this month’s box.

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Nu-Me Feather Hair Extensions:

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Full size: 3 extensions for $25.00
Sample size: full size; 3 extensions
Approx. value: $25.00

Alright, this was the biggest thing in the box, and right on top, so clearly it was the first thing I pulled out. I was kind of excited to see them at first, then I realised they looked a little hard to use. That feeling intensified once I realised they had one end that looked like shoelace ends and came with little circles on the back of the card stapled to the top.

According to the directions that sealed my disappointment with this product, you have to get your hair inside one of these little circles, insert the extension, and then use “extension pliers” to clamp the circle tight over your hair and the extension. Really? Am I supposed to have my own extension pliers? How am I supposed to get my hair into that little circle, neatly? Am I supposed to just take this to a salon and get them to put them on? Also, how am I supposed to take them out if I do manage to get them in?

All in all, I’m not impressed. The instructions aren’t very helpful, the pictures are tiny and pixelated. And the card from Glymm says “Get professional-grade DIY feather extensions instantly!”, so it looks like I should be able to do this myself, without difficulty? I think a little more information is necessary, don’t you?

M.Asam “Perfect Teint” and “Magic Fini”:

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Full size: Perfect Teint is 50ml for $42.00 | Magic Fini is 30ml for $38.00
Sample size: Both are 5ml
Approx. value: $4.20 for the Perfect Teint | $6.33 for the Magic Fini

I’m doing these two products together instead of separately because they are the same brand, so I’m sorry if the above was a little confusing. I was, and still am, a little disappointed that it doesn’t say anywhere on the packaging or the card from Glymm what these products are meant to be, exactly. I’ve decided that the Perfect Teint is meant to be a primer, and that the Magic Fini is supposed to be either a foundation or tinted moisturizer, but it would be nice for this to be obviously stated.

I tried these out pretty much immediately, since I opened the box before doing my makeup yesterday. Besides both of these products smelling a little bit like old-woman creams, they do go on very light and very smooth. I didn’t see a difference with the Perfect Teint, and the only thing I noticed about the Magic Fini is that it was much darker than my skin, but blended in, it acts more like a light bronzer than like a too-dark foundation. When I got home six hours later, however, I noticed my skin still looked pretty fantastic, the stuff hadn’t left like foundation tends to, and I was much more matte than my powder keeps me. So I guess I’m not too disappointed with these two products after all.

Ocean Nail Polish in “Getting Reddy”:

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Full size: 15ml (or .5oz, like most polishes) for $12.00
Sample size: 1/2oz, aka full size.
Approx. value: $12.00

My honest first impression, when I noticed that they labelled the size as “1/2oz” rather than “0.5oz” like most brands was that they think they are a lot cooler than they are. I also don’t like that, although the card from Glymm says this brand doesn’t contain any toxins, there is no information about the ingredients that are—or aren’t—in this polish on the bottle.

This product isn’t too exciting. I' have tons of red polishes, cream, shimmery, and glittery, and this one sort of blends in with the others. Nothing special. It is pretty, a rather pink-based red shimmer polish, and it does go on nicely in two coats, as shown in the swatch above. However, like everything else in this box, I’ve never heard of this brand, so I can’t even be excited about getting a good quality product in a boring colour. I’m definitely happy to have received a full-sized polish, but I would have loved it to be a Butter, Essie, OPI, China Glaze, or at least something in a crazy, exciting colour.

But alas, it’s just a plain red. Hopefully it’s a good quality. I’ll share my swatches on my nails when I get around to this polish. (But that likely won’t be until after I get through my China Glaze Hunger Games polishes, which I’ll show off in my next post!)

And then there’s the random product. I’m not sure if this was thrown in as a bonus, or at the last minute, and so not included on the card, but here it is…

Coup D’Eclat Lifting Ampoule:

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In every way, this product looks just like the Lise Watier Flash Lift Radiance Vial that I’ve gotten twice: once in my November Glymm Box and before that in my first and only Luxe Box (from October). So suffice it to say I’m not particularly impressed to see this product in this month’s box. On top of that, I’ve never heard of Coup D’Eclat, whereas I’ve heard about and used Lise Watier.

I haven’t used this yet, but I don’t expect it to be any better or more useful than the Lise Watier Samples, and because it isn’t on the card, I don’t know it’s value or full price.That said, however, if I were to pretend this last product wasn’t in the box, I wouldn’t be any less happy, because the boxes are supposed to have 4-5 products each month.

Approx. Overall value of this month’s box: $47.53

That estimate obviously excludes the random serum, but you can see that Glymm is still worth the $10 a month I pay. That said, however, I haven’t been really happy with Glymm in a while. At this point I’m staying subscribed on the off chance that the new surprise, when they finally introduce it, will be worth the wait. This is probably exactly what they are planning on people doing, and it likely won’t be anything too special, but such is life. And I will admit, it is still fun knowing there’s a surprise coming every month.

If Glymm does disappoint me again, though, I may very well cancel and head over to Top Box or GlossyBox, for something different. Glymm needs to realize that they need to step up their game with so many other options now on the market here in Canada. They may have been one of the first, but loyalty will only last so long if they don’t make themselves worth the price they ask!

Anyways, that’s enough of my ranting, and, before I forget, I wanted to give you guys my referral link, in case you’re interested in signing up, and want to give me the 50 points I’ll get if you sign up with my link. Of course it’s just an option.

http://www.glymm.com/share/youwerefantastic95

Did you get this month’s box? What did you think? Did you get anything different? Have you ever tried any of these products before? Let me know!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

St. Patrick’s Day Eyes

I should have posted this days ago, and if I had, I would be posting my Glymm box which I finally received tonight, however, when I realised that I hadn’t yet posted this look, I decided Glymm could wait, but it will be up tomorrow, I promise.

Anyway, you’ve probably seen tons of fun St. Patty’s makeup already, since that was several days ago, and if you frequent makeup blogs or the makeup subreddits, you might be tired of looking at green makeup, but I was very pleased with mine, so I’m still going to share =P.

I worked St. Patrick’s day 11-5, and didn’t have time before I left to do anything fun, but when I got home and my little sister was all decked out in green clothes and makeup, and my mom got us all Shamrock Shakes from McDonald’s, and I was planning on dropping green food colouring into beers for us, I figured I had to do some makeup for the night, even though I wasn’t leaving the house again! (I know, I’m probably the only person of legal drinking age not out drinking/partying/at a pub, but it was after work and I was going out with my friend the next day, and shush you I can do what I want!). So below is the look I worked up:

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You might notice I didn’t bother with foundation/concealer, but, like I said, I wasn’t going anywhere.

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And, if you were wondering what products I used, they were:

  1. Sula Natural Crème Shadow in “Why Not?” as a base instead of primer:100_0748
  2. The Brightest green from my ELF 32-colour palette. Unfortunately these colours don’t have names. I used this from the middle to the outer corner of each eye:100_0746
  3. Ardene Eye Seductive Shadow in neon green. This is a really cheap shadow that my sister gave me, and its like a loose powder, which is the main reason that I used it over the crème shadow, since this tends to have some pretty crazy fallout. The colour, however, is great! I used this from the inner corners to the middle of each eye:100_0750
  4. Finally I used Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in “Graffiti” on my top lashline, and my bottom waterline:100_0749

Of course, I also used my L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara as the finishing touch. Hope you liked this look!

Did you do some special make-up or nails for St. Patrick’s Day? Even though it was several days ago, I’d love to see what you did, or hear about what you did to celebrate!

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

My Current Nails: NerdLacquer Polish–“All of Time and Space”

I know I posted these already, when I got them for Christmas from my friend, but I can’t recall if I ever posted swatch pictures of this colour on it’s own, since I was so excited about the other two! So here’s some pictures of “All of Space and Time.” If you like this, or want to see more, just Google “NerdLacquer Etsy” and the store should pop up!

Here, I’m wearing 4 coats over OPI Nail Envy, with a top coat of Seche Vite:

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I apologize for my uneven nail lengths, and for the middle finger on my right hand, which refused to play nice!

I really love this colour; have you tried any Nail Lacquer polishes yet? Or polishes from any other Etsy seller? I really want to try some Lacquistry polishes, too, when she gets her store up and running again!

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