Hello! Happy Holidays everyone! I hope everyone had a chance to start pigging out on awesome food and spending some quality time with your family and friends!
I was tagged by Lipstick Asian to do the 10 Christmas Beauty Questions tag (wow a mouthful haha). As you probably know, I’m a sucker for tags and this one is no exception!
Hello! As everyone is gearing up for the holidays, I feel like I’m slowly getting back to my blog! 🙂 It’s been a nice feeling! I’m gonna take it back a month or so ago to Black Friday! This year, I was actually in the US for Black Friday, but not really for shopping. I went down for the weekend with my boyfriend to check out a football game. 🙂 It was a great weekend trip and I managed to get some shopping done!
Hello! 🙂 I have another empties post ready to go. I feel like I’ve been starting to hoard a couple of small sample things so I’ve been trying to make an honest effort to use things up!
Bumble and bumble Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner
Repurchase: No
I got this as a sample with one of my Sephora orders. All in all a good shampoo and conditioner, but nothing really I would pay for. And Bumble and bumble you pay EXTRA for haha.
Yes to Blueberries Age Refresh Eye Firming Treatment
Repurchase: Maybe!
I’m not really a huge eye cream person but I actually really really liked this one! It just felt so refreshing. I would definitely use it again, but just not sure how much use I would get out of it if I bought it…
Biore Charcoal Nose Strip
Repurchase: Maybe
I feel like charcoal is definitely the ‘it’ thing for beauty products nowadays. I got this free in a magazine and was intrigued. I like the regular Biore nosestrips so I was wondering how these would perform. They kind of were pretty regular in their performance, but what I liked was you could more easily see the nasty pore gunk on the strip because it’s black!
Shiseido Eye Wrinkle Expert Cream
Repurchase: Nah
I got this sample from buying something from Shoppers! I love how every time you buy something from the Beauty Boutique you usually get a little sample (compared to Sephora…) This was a really nice cream too, but I felt it was just a bit thick. I guess that’s what eye cream is supposed to be but meh. I liked the sample, but don’t think I would repurchase.
Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes
Repurchase: Haha maybe
I’ve talked about these before, and I really don’t love them. I find they aren’t moist enough and have kind of a funny smell. They do the job though, so if I receive them from one place or another I’ll use them up.
John Frieda Brilliant Brunette
Repurchase: No
I don’t have colour treated hair, so meh. Haha.
Nexxus Therappe Shampoo
Repurchase: Maybe
I actually really liked this shampoo and conditioner. (Conditioner will be in another empties)! It definitely seemed like a higher end shampoo that did make a positive difference in my hair. I feel like these might be expensive though, haven’t really looked into it.
Living Proof Perfect hair Day Conditioner
Repurchase: Maybe
I’ve talked about Living Proof in the past and like their hair stuff. I think they are definitely overpriced for the full size, but I end up stocking up when I see them on sale.
Boscia Thermal Black Cleanser
Repurchase: Maybe
I thought it was really interesting how it warmed up! It was a nice cleanser that did the job, but I just didn’t feel that oomph. Like, it didn’t break out my skin, but didn’t necessarily help it.
Kirkland Daily Facial Towelettes
Repurchase: Yes
My friend Leah bought some of these and kindly let me have a pack. These are definitely quality wipes for a very good price. The only thing is that I don’t like the smell too much. They kind of remind me of baby wipes. But I did repurchase some because they work really well and are so cheap!
Up and Up Cotton Rounds
Repurchase: Can’t, but slowly going through my stock pile…:(
Clean and Clear Morning Burst Hydrating Facial Cleanser
Repurchase: No
I kept this in the shower as a cleanser and it did the job. I don’t see myself really purchasing Clean and Clear cleansers again just because I used one once and it totally broke me out. I wouldn’t say I have super sensitive skin either. This one I got for free somewhere and it works nicely though! Just fearful to try others…
Anastasia Brow Wiz in Ebony
Repurchase: Probably
Classic. I say I’ll probably repurchase this just because it’s so expensive! I’ve been using the NYX Micro Brow lately and I like it, but it’s not quite as amazing as this. But I’m willing to search for another dupe! I might try the Marcelle one next.
Thanks for reading!
*Purchased
This post has been a long time coming, but I’m finally getting to it! I wanted to chat about my first experience with gel. If you checked out my IMATS post, you’ll know that I got my first gel manicure from Bio Seaweed Gel that had a little booth there. I put this manicure through the wringer, and I definitely have my opinions about gel now.
So first I’ll start off with the application. This might sounds really dumb to some people, but I had NO idea that a gel manicure application included UV lamps. I just couldn’t help like feeling that my hands were slowly dying under mini tanning beds. The procedure didn’t take long, and I was happy with the result. The top image is of the fresh manicure (you can spot my IMATS stamp in the picture too)!
My initial thoughts of the manicure were good. Since starting my new job, I had not had any time to do my nails at all. The colour was vibrant and shiny. One thing I did notice was that the gel felt thick. I have no other way to describe it other than I ‘felt’ the polish on my nails.
So let me start by saying I wore this manicure for WAY longer than I should of. I think when I took this polish off, it was over a month and a half old. There was significant growth from my nails and it looked kinda funny. But I feel like I’ve had no time and I knew you couldn’t remove gel with regular nail polish remover.
In the pictures above, they were taken at about the 3 week mark. I would say there was minimal chipping and colour fade. There is that little knick on my pointer finger and if you look closely at the first picture, the top gel layer was peeling off of my thumb.
So now let’s get to removal. I don’t think I can put this any other way other than it was a nightmare. I know you’re technically supposed to get it professionally removed so maybe that was my fault, but ain’t nobody got time (or money) for that. So I DIYed it (sort of) and got a Sally Hansen gel acetone remover from Shoppers.
The instructions on the remover were similar to remove glitter polish, soak a cotton pad and wrap with aluminum foil. So I did what the instructions said, but the removal was a very painful process. I left the cotton pad on for about 10 minutes and nothing. The remover packaging pretty much said just continue to soak if the polish doesn’t come off easily, but it was midnight and I had to wake up at 5am the next day so nah. For most of my nails I ended up having to scrape most of polish off with a cuticle pusher (eek!).
So all in all, I don’t think gel is for me. I’m not saying never because it did last a CRAZY long time, I just don’t think the removal process is something I can get behind. Of course I don’t blame the brands that I used (polish and remover) just because I honestly think it was mostly user error for the mistakes I encounters. ;P
Anyways, thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day!
Well hello fine people of the interwebs! 🙂
Today is a CRAZY day. I’m Not a Beauty Guru turns 2 years old! I just honestly can’t fathom it. Excuse me while I get super nostalgic. To celebrate the occasion, I also decided to host my first giveaway! Wahhh?!
Before getting into that though, I’d like to talk about how blogging has changed for me during these past few years.
When I first started blogging, it was the purest form of a hobby. When I had free time away from work or school, I would snap some pictures and write up some posts. No pressure and no commitment. I’m so happy to say that blogging is still this and so much more.
This year has been full of ‘firsts’ for me in terms of blogging. I signed up for Instagram and it’s been one of the funnest ways to engage with the beauty community. I also was able to receive PR samples and attend a beauty event for the first time. Like, what?! I’m by no means a professional blogger, so thinking back on these experiences boggle my mind. I feel like such a fraud amongst all of these legit bloggers.
I would say one of the BEST parts of blogging this year has been meeting more bloggers in real life. I’ve been apart of the Canadian Beauty Bloggers for quite some time, but it was only until this year that I was able to meet some members for the first time! It’s been so nice and I look forward to hanging out more often with these lovely ladies.
So now for the coming year ahead! Similar to my last blog birthday post, I just hope to continue LOVE blogging. This has been such a fun hobby for me! Here’s to the coming year!
And now for what I’m sure the majority of you might be here for. A GIVEAWAY! So to say thanks and to celebrate my 2nd blog birthday, I wanted to gift someone a BITE Beauty Mauvember lipstick! If you’re a long time reader, I talk about BITE to no end. It’s probably my favourite makeup company ever! I recently posted a haul where I picked up a Mauvember lipstick! I’ve seen many people lusting over this limited edition do-gooder product and thought I would pick up another one (thank goodness my local Sephora still had some left!).
Also, because I know that Mauvember was made limited edition to Canada, I will be opening up this giveaway internationally! That’s right, I’ll ship to anywhere! 🙂
Rules:
1. This contest will be from November 20th, 2015 12:00AM EST – December 11th, 2015 12:00AM EST and is INTERNATIONAL!
2. You must have reached the age of majority in your local region to be eligible.
3. Only entries through the Rafflecopter widget will be accepted. You may put in as many (or few) entries as you like through the different options.
4. A winner will be randomly chosen from all eligible entries. (I will be checking entries for fairness).
5. Once the winner is contacted, they have 48 hours from the time stamp of the email to get back to me with their shipping address. If the winner has not gotten back to me in that time frame, a new winner will be chosen and so on.
Disclosure:
This contest is in no way affiliated with BITE Beauty, Twitter, Instagram, or Bloglovin’. I purchased this product with my own money and will be shipping the item through my own means. I will try my best to ship the product as quickly and safely as possible. As is the world, sometimes things happen and mail gets lost. I will not be held responsible for the product after it is sent in the mail. I will make every intention possible to ensure that it gets to it’s destination.
So thank you again to everyone and your support! Hope you are having a wonderful day!
*Purchased and Gift
So because I’m a terrible beauty blogger, I made a Sephora purchase before the current VIB Rouge/ VIB sale *collective gasp*. In my defense, I didn’t know when the sale would be (which continues to reinforce the idea that I’m not a real good beauty blogger). Also recently I celebrated one of those things called a birthday. I didn’t receive very many beauty gifts, but the one I got was a doozy and thought it would be nice to include it in this haul!
So this puppy right here was the sole reason I decided to make an online order. I thought that this lipstick would be available ONLY online but apparently that isn’t true. When I first saw this, I DIED. BITE is probably my favourite cosmetic brand and the fact that they have this Canada Movember exclusive is just amazing. So far I really love it. I would like to say though that I’ve seen a LOT of different swatches of this. I would NOT say this is a ‘my lips but better’ shade as it leans so much more plumy. Swatches are at the end!
So this is what I got from my birthday from my boyfriend’s parents. A very generous gift indeed. I actually was going to buy this anyways. It’s so pricey for so little product, but I thought it would be worth it. I don’t own any Hourglass powders and this seemed like the best ‘starter pack’. I’ve been using this for a couple of weeks (mostly the blush and bronzer) and LOVE it. They have been the longest lasting powders that I’ve ever used and diffuses so well. I also notice that it’s really light and is totally travel friendly. I hate to say that I recommend this. #sorrywallets
I bought this back in the spring thinking that it would be a complete rip off but I really really like this primer. I was trying so many different primers and this is one that I’ve stuck to. It’s such a small container for the price, but it lasted me for a couple of months. During the summer it worked really well. I’m usually a slick ball and this made me less…slick-y. I’m curious to see how this will wear over the winter months.
I’ve noticed that my beloved Tattoo liner has been running out and I decided to get the limited edition packaging. I thought it was a bit of a waste just because it’s the same product, but makeup lovers love limited packaging, amirite?
Here are the samples I got with my order. So far I’ve used the Touche Eclat (really liked it for under eye circles), the Bumble and bumble shampoo and conditioner (nice but wouldn’t repurchase), and the Boscia BB Cream (a bit of a weird consistency but decent enough to use up).
Thanks for reading! Have an amazing day!
*Purchased and Gift
This year’s Halloween was a momentous occasion. I decided to put some effort into thinking of a costume.
I’ve never been huge into Halloween, but I’ve never disliked it either. It was always just a fun little holiday for me. If I had somewhere to go, I’d dress up. I have my go-to Super Mario costume that I feel like I’ve been using for years.
This year my friend was throwing a Halloween party and I decided to try my best and do something a little creative. I wanted to do a ‘makeup’ costume, but something that didn’t require too much. I didn’t want to go out and buy a lot of supplies when I had neither the skills or use for them. I decided on a deer costume as it was fairly simple and I could use makeup that I already had. Here’s the final makeup result!
Lips: Colour Pop’s Ultra Matte lipsticks in Beeper on the top lip
Eyebrows: NYX Micro Brow in Black
White Dots: Essence Kajal Liner in White and the Sephora birthday gift from 2010 (a mini pearl eyeshadow)
*Purchased
I blame it on the beauty bloggers. After months and months of seeing hype over Colourpop, I decided to place an order. I knew I wanted to try the matte lip colours along with their eyeshadows. Also because my blush collection has been growing at an exponential rate, I decided to grab one as well.
First let me just say that Colourpop is one of the cutest companies ever. The packing box unfolds to the super cool brand design which was perfect for my blog shots. They also included product cards which were actually super helpful. They also had a hand written thank you note, and I think I died.
Anyhoo, back to the haul. Swatches at the end!
I definitely had a specific colour scheme in mind with either darker greys or sparkly bronzes. Here’s a breakdown of what I got:
3
Nillionaire
To-A-T
Party Time
Cheerio
I was pretty positive I would get Bumble, but I wanted another to add to my collection. I ended up going with Beeper, a very Kylie Jenner-esque pink brown colour. Of course as expected, these were drying, but I love the look of them so I don’t mind.
Bumble
Beeper
All in all, I’m super happy with my purchase. I guess one of the only negatives I found about Colourpop was that I can’t depot them and put them in my Z Palette or they’ll dry out. I guess it makes sense due to how buttery they are. Pigmentation on most powder products was so so. If you’re going for a big impact, I would suggest Makeup Geek for a similar price range. With that being said though, these are pretty inexpensive, and even with the terrible dollar and shipping, I can see myself making another order.
Have you tried Colourpop? What are some of your favourites?
Thanks so much for reading! Have a great day!
*Purchased
Hello friends. As we are almost half way through October, I’ve come to a sad realization: Summer is OVER. ;___; For this empties post, I’ve grouped together August and October. Here’s what I finished off in those fleeting days of summer.
Fresh Rose Face Mask
Repurchase: Probably not
This was a nice face mask. I’ve used this one before in the little foil packets. I think the full size is just too far out of my price range considering I really don’t use masks all the much.
Biore Nose Strip
Repurchase: Probably
I have a few of these to use up. I never find the time to end up using these. I don’t think they work great, but they do a decent job to remove my yucky blackheads pretty much ingrained in my nose.
Balea Purifying Face Mask
Repurchase: No
I really like the Balea masks just because they are so affordable, but I didn’t like this one all that much. I prefer the mud masks from them, as I thought that this one really didn’t do all that much for my skin.
Dove Body Wash in Cucumber and Green Tea
Repurchase: Yes
Probably my go to body wash! If you’ve been reading my empties for awhile, you’ve probably seen this one pop up quite a bit!
Klorane Dry Shampoo
Repurchase: Maybe
If you’re interested, I did a dry shampoo comparison post here. This worked quite nice and I liked the scent. I’m just not sure if I would pick it over Batiste or Colab. Also, the price is a bit of a turn off too.
Cetaphil Makeup Removing Wipes
Repurchase: Yes
I won this deluxe sample size from a contest that Alanna had over at Classy on the Run. I was very pleasantly surprised with these! They left my face feeling very clean and were very very moist! I look forward to picking up a full size of these after I go through my wipe stash.
Boscia Cleansing Gel
Repurchase: Maybe
I got this in one of those Sephora Favourite kits last year. I liked this cleanser, but nothing really all that special. It did the job and didn’t break me out, but I didn’t feel any real benefits for my skin.
Josie Maran Bare Naked Wipes
Repurchase: NO
I was very disappointed with these. The packaging was kind of weird and would not close properly, so the wipes dried out very quickly. Even when I first opened them, I really didn’t feel any cleansing properties. It got off some makeup but not nearly as good as other wipes I’ve used.
Up & Up Cotton Pads
Repurchase: I can’t
Another Target cotton pad pack is done! I’m slowing making my way through my stash.
Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Shampoo and 5 in 1 Styling Treatment
Repurchase: When they have the Sephora sales!
These are from the Sephora 500 point perk (which you can check out here). I like this Living Proof line, but I am honestly not willing to pay that much for it. It’s great in my opinion, but not thatttt great. Lets see when they have the Boxing Day/ Black Friday sales if I’m able to snag the sample packs.
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Repurchase: Maybe
I’ve had this little bottle for an embarassingly long time. It’s so old that the packaging was starting to break down a bit. :/ I finally finished it off though. I like the primer potion, but I’d be open to trying different eye primers out. I’m using the NARS one right now and I like it. I’d also like to try the Too Faced one eventually!
Urban Decay De-slick
Repurchase: Yes
I loved this for summer. It’s been the only thing to keep me somewhat matte throughout these sticky months. I’ll probably use this less now that winter is coming, but I’d kind of be curious to see what it looks like now that the air is much drier!
And there we have another empties post! Soon enough I’ll be posting how I did in my Finish 5 by Fall Challenge (spoiler, not good). Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend and thanks for reading!
Hello! So about a week ago, I had the pleasure of going to IMATS with one of my other makeup-obsessed friends, Leah. If you don’t know, IMATS is an international makeup convention primarily targeted towards makeup artists or students. It also caters well to beauty enthusiasts as I am neither a MUA or student. The deals are great and the variety is wonderful. It was both our first time going, and let me just say, it was a complete blur. I was in a makeup induced coma and completely loved it.
We had carefully planned out our route and had prepped as much as we could. We were going the Sunday, and were able to get there about an hour before it opened. The day before on Saturday, I had the pleasure of having lunch with some beautiful Canadian Beauty Bloggers so I was able to grab some intel from them. My main takeaways were that Morphe was gonna be a complete mess and BRING CASH! Since we had an hour before it opened, we were able to go over our plan again. Leah was gonna dash to Morphe and I would go to Make Up For Ever. We’d meet up after these two.
Once we got in, the anticipation boiled over, and we were able to shop up a storm. We were both able to go to our respective booths and complete our purchases within 15 minutes of IMATS opening. Not too shabby. Afterwards we kind of wandered around to other booths we wanted to visit. We both grabbed some awesome stuff with some great deals.
I set myself a limit of around $150 and I came just under that at around $120. I didn’t go crazy (which I very well could of), but I feel like I’ve bought so much makeup recently that I wanted to keep it as cost effective as possible. Here are the goodies I picked up.
Make Up For Ever probably had one of the best deals at the convention with 40% off. I LOVE the MUFE HD foundation, but since it’s discontinued, I wanted to grab a bottle of the Ultra HD. I’ve heard some not so great reviews of it, but I still wanted to try it. Maybe I’ll do a comparison post of them both. I also got a mini size of the HD powder. I wanted to get a bottle of the Banana Powder but couldn’t find it anywhere! I thought I could try this one though as I’ve never ever used a translucent powder before!
From Farleyco I knew I wanted to grab another bottle of the Volume Extreme Colab dry shampoo. It was so tempting as they had some new scents such as Tokyo and Paris, but I stuck to one that I knew I love which is Rio. I was also so happy to see the Zoella bath and beauty line. They didn’t have her new stuff, but I wanted to grab the body wash. So far I really like it!
NYX was probably the longest we waited in which was around 30-40 minutes. I’ve been searching for the NYX Micro Brow for what feels like forever and finally found it. With the new NYX store opening in Toronto, the branding was pretty specific and targeted which was nice! I just started using this as my Brow Wiz just ran out (perfect timing!) and like it so far. I got the colour Black which I thought might be too dark, but I think it’s pretty decent!
If you go to IMATS, I feel like you NEED to get some brushes. And that is what I did. I hit up Crown brushes which were super affordable and had a great array of choices. I have one Crown brush from an ipsy bag and really like it! Also, funny enough, I got a Morphe brush from Crown. I didn’t know they had them and actually had no idea it was a Morphe brush until I took it home!
I’ve been going nail polish-less for a few weeks now just because I have not had time. Bio Seaweed Gel was offering $10 manicures so I jumped on that. I’m gonna do a full post on my first Gel experience in another post soon!
And there we have my first IMATS experience. I had such a fun time and I look forward to going back to IMATS next year!
Did you head out to IMATS? Get any great deals?
Thanks for reading! Have a great day!