Bitter Sweet Discovery! + Haul

I was bored today, and since I was all dressed up, I decided to take a trip through the mall and also book my optometry appointment while I was at it. I stopped by Zellers and picked up a blush brush from Bella Brushes for $4.99 + my SPC discount.

I've started noticing a small selection of these brushes being put out at my local Zellers, so I decided to pick up an angled liner/brow brush for $2.99 a while ago. The brush is really good, and at an exceptional price, so I decided to branch out and pick up a blush brush also. So far, so good!

While browsing, I noticed a new store that opened up called "Designer Cosmetics." I walked in and it was like heavennnnnn! I keep hearing people talk about NYX products and L.A Colour palettes and Art Deco nailpolishes with those thin brushes, and what does this store carry? All of the above! This is the first time I've ever seen ANY of these products in person and I swear I was like a kid in a candy store.

They had a good selection of NYX products. For example, the new Runway palettes for $12.99, single eyeshadows for $4.99, the glitter liners for $4.99, jumbo sticks, blushes, round lipsticks that were 3 for $9.99, brushes and lashes, concealers in a jar and foundation, OPI collections, EVERYTHING!

So how is this a bittersweet discovery? Sweet, because I've finally found NYX & L.A Colour products, but bitter for my wallet cause I'm going to be hauling from there like crazyyyyyy!

Seriously, you do not know how excited I am!

The prices aren't that bad, but I have seen them cheaper on line, on the other hand though, it saves on shipping fee's and all that. Also, the products don't seem individually wrapped, for example, my blush that I bought wasn't wrapped, so you want to double check that someone hasn't swatched it or anything. But, the jumbo sticks were wrapped with tape (it looked like the sales associates did this)

Anyways, here's what I hauled! I had to control myself..

The Bella Blush Brush is on the left, then a NYX blush in Mauve for $6.99, and Art Deco polishes that were 3 for $9.99.

Till later! (:

Busy Bee & FOTD

I've been so swamped with work, so I haven't been wearing much make-up to work, and when I get home I'm dead tired. Sorry for the lack of updates, even though you guys are probably sick of hearing that. :/ Anyways, here's a look that I tried today before work, I wasn't too sure if I wanted to wear it to work, but I was too lazy to take it off so I just went like this, haha. And go figure, I couldn't find my camera to take pictures, so these were taken with my camera phone.

Weird picture. :/

Used:
UDPP (all over the lid as a primer)
MAC Soft Ochre paintpot (all over the lid as a base)
MAC All That Glitters e/s (all over the lid and under lower lashline)
88 ultra shimmer palette (light purple blended above the crease)
Urban Decay Ransom e/s (in the crease and under the lower lashline)
MAC Nocturnelle e/s (in the crease, ontop of Ransom and under the lower lashline)
L'Oreal HiP Duo in Wicked (dark matte purple in the outer V)
Annabelle Gleam e/s (as highlight)
MAC Blacktrack fluidline (as liner)
L'Oreal Carbon Black Voluminous mascara
Wet n' Wild Glow e/l on (on waterline)

Ughh, I'm sooooo tired! ): Luckily tomorrows my day off. I'm going to go register for school and then do some back to school shopping. (:

This Time Baby, I'll Be Bulletproof! + Ardene Eyeshadows

Why are guys so stupid? I went out with this guy earlier this year and after we broke up I kind of just stopped talking to him, and he kept insisting we be friends and what not. Finally after a long time we started talking again (as friends) and I stopped talking to him again, cause he was being all flirty and it just threw me off, and I realized it wasn't worth it. Why am I going to bother being friends with you if you insist on messing with my head? So I blocked him off Facebook, deleted & blocked on MSN, deleted his number, all that.

And thennnnnn, a couple of days ago he calls me randomly and acts like we're best friends. Um, are you oblivious to the fact that I blocked and deleted you - after a SECOND time? Wouldn't you feel stupid? If someone you know stopped talking to you completely after a second time? If it was me, I would have to build up A LOT of nerve and confidence to actually talk to that person again for a third time. Know what I mean?

Then you say, "let's meet up and talk about us." And then WE do go for lunch (which by the way, he 'forgot' his wallet - and I decided to be nice and pay - it was only pizza so it's all good), you're JUST the same? And on top of that, you can't reply to my texts?

Ugh, maybe I deserve that? But you're an idiot, and we can't be friends. You're too egotistic, and you play too many mind games. Seriously, you're like a woman. Maybe that's where you get your nickname from.

ANYWAYS, I had to rant.

The other day I picked up two single eyeshadows from Ardene. I don't remember where, but I read somewhere where someone mentioned getting nice eyeshadow from Ardene. For those who aren't familiar with Ardene, it's a tween clothing/jewellery store. Similar to Claires.

I picked up Be Bronzed & Flirty Plum. They had a promotion going on where you could get two make-up items for $6. Originally they're $4.99 each, which is not that bad. On top of that, I received a discount with my SPC card (I don't remember how much, I think it was 10%). The selection for the single eyeshadows at the location I went to wasn't that good. I think there was 4 eyeshadows. Be Bronzed (which is a gold colour), Flirty Plum (purple), a royal blue colour and a white duocrhome colour.

Left to right: Flirty Plum and Be Bronzed.

I haven't used these shadow's yet, but they're pretty pigmented. I would recommend a good base because these seem like those kind of colours that would dissappear if you blended too much, but for 6 bucks for two, you can't really go wrong. Here are some swatches:

Flirty Plum - it was hard to get a good picture of this shadow, but it's basically a light pinkish purple.

Comparing Ardene's Flirty Plum to Urban Decay's Fishnet. Fishnet is more duochrome, and Flirty Plum is a bit darker with not so much of a duochrome property.

Be Bronzed can also be a nice similar dupe to MAC's Woodwinked. I did take comparison pictures, but I forgot what order I had them in, and my camera phone pictures suck. Hopefully I'll be able to take better pictures tomorrow when my sister gets back with her digi cam. (:

I've been busy with work, and when I come home I'm too lazy too blog, although I do check my dashboard and read new posts. I'm going to be busy with work for the next week, and the week after, but hopefully having a better camera will motivate me to post.

I'll end this post with a picture that I took during my walk through a park. Till later guys. (:

Collective Haul & FOTD - One Of My Favourite Looks

It's been a while since I've posted, and over the past couple of I've hauled quite a bit. Butttttt, I justified my hauling cause..

My 18th birthday is tomorrowwww!

I'm not planning to do anything, I'll probably just go out to dinner with family or something, I don't really celebrate birthdays, haha. But the first thing I'm going to do is hit up the local convenience store at 12am and buy myself my first lottery ticket. Hopefully I'll get lucky! *crosses fingers*

But anyways, here's what I hauled. I hit up MAC's freestanding store in Eaton Center to exchange Satin Taupe. I ended up exchanging it for Nocturnelle eyeshadow pan, and I also picked up Cork and Era eyeshadow pans. I haven't really used Cork or Era much yet, but I'm in LOVE with Nocturnelle, it's such a pretty colour, but the payoff sucks butt. I have to dig my eyeshadow in to get some colour, and really go back and forth and pack it on. I also had 6 empties, so I decided to trade it in at a store instead of a counter and get an eyeshadow. I picked up Woodwinked potted eyeshadow (which I later depotted). Woodwinked is a staple in a lot of peoples kits, and I really loved the colour, it's so pretty, and I think it'll be really versatile too. I especially love that it's a veluxe pearl formula. VP's to me are soooooo buttery, pigmented, and easily to apply. I only have two VP's; Woodwinked & All That Glitters, but they are definitely my favourites as far as my MAC collection goes. I also picked up a empty quad.

From top to bottom, left to right: Empty quad, Woodwinked eyeshadow pot, Era, Cork and Nocturnelle eyeshadow pans.

I also stopped by Sephora and picked up my Beauty Insider birthday gift.

I stopped by Claires the other day and picked up this brush set for $9.75 CDN, and I got an additional 20% off with my SPC Card, so my total came up to $8.81 CDN. The brush set is not bad, it came with 6 brushes, 2 shader brushes and a angled eyeliner/brow brush made from synthetic bristles, a foam-tipped applicator brush, eyelash/eyebrow groomer brush, and a blush brush. I've used them a bit so far, and they're nice. I would recommend them for a beginner, or for someone looking for cheap travel brushes.

That same day I also stopped by my MAC counter in The Bay and picked up Bare Study paint pot. I love paint pots cause they seem to help a lot better with creasing on my oily lids, but I find that the colour fades after a couple of hours. It sucks cause it seems like I'll never find anything that'll help make my eyeshadows last longer. :/

From left to right: MAC paint pot in Bare Study, brush set from Claires.

I also picked up two Annabelle eyshadows from Shoppers Drug Mart that were on sale for $3.99. I picked up Vanilla Chilla (pan) and Gleam (potted). I also depotted one of my other Annabelle eyeshadows a while ago, and for anyone wondering, they do fit into MAC palettes.

Annabelle's Vanilla Chilla eyeshadow. It's a pretty highlight colour, it has a satin-like finish, but there's minimal glitter or frost.

Annabelle's Gleam eyeshadow. It's a pretty light-golden colour.

Anyways, here's a look that I've been doing a lot lately. It's pretty simple and quick, and I love the purple. I'm still using my camera phone, so picture qualities will suck until my sister gets back with a new camera next week.

Used:
UDPP (as a primer)
MAC's Soft Ocher paint pot (as a base)
Annabelle's Aura e/s (all over the lid)
MAC's Nocturnelle e/s (on the outer 1/3 of the lid)
L'Oreal HiP Duo in Wicked (matte purple on the outer V)
Rimmel's Sexy Curves mascara
Wet n' Wild's Glow e/l (on waterline)

I also have to catch up with things that I've been tagged with or awarded, so I'll do that on my next post. (:

Till later!

Really? (My LONG 'Investigation' Post!)

First of alllllll, I'm sorry for the lack of posts! I'm on the computer daily, and I have a lot of hauls and stuff to blog about, but a) since I don't have a camera, pictures suck! and b) writing is not my forté, so I really did not know how to word or write my 'investigation' post. So here you guys go! (Finally, haha)

Disclaimer: I really hope that this post does not offend anyone. I just did it because being interested in beauty, I was curious to see what those who have beauty procedures done are told about what they are doing. If you have any questions or comments, shoot! I'd love to hear your feedback on this topic.

Let's start this at the beginning. A couple of weeks ago, at the beginning of August, Toronto hosted it's 42nd annual Caribana Carnival weekend. This is a huge event that highlights and celebrates Caribbean culture. It's like a big party with tons of things to do, and this event is a huge thing for a lot of teenagers and young adults. I have a lot of friends that book Caribana weekend off work months in advance - and most of these friends have their outfits, shoes, make-up, hair and nails in check. There's sooo many people there, and you want to be dressed to impress! Understandable, right?

Before I start, let me give you some background information. I've noticed lately that a big trend that's emerging where I live is girls having eyelash extensions/false lashes. Big DRAMATIC lashes. No biggie. But it's JUST lashes. No other make-up, no liner to hide your lash line, nothing. I guess that was one thing that was starting to bother me because from I've learned from the make-up community is, you don't want to people know you're wearing fake lashes, so you wear eyeliner to hide the glue and what not.

That's where I come in. One day at work, 2 days before Caribana weekend, one of my co-workers walked in false eyelashes on. Me, being interested and curious, I asked her about them, how much she paid, where she got them done, all that. And she was cool (she's a nice girl) and she told me.

She had on individual lashes, but on her whole lashline, so basically it was like a full false lash, but done with individual lashes.

She had them done at one of those nail salons. You know, those small business that do acrylics, manicures, pedicures, waxing and all that. She said that she wanted something that would last, and the lady that did them on her told her that would last for a good couple of weeks.

This is when I got interested, from what I know, lashes are only suppose to be worn for one day, then you take them off, and put them on again the next day. Right?

But no, the lady told her, she could leave them on for however long she wanted, that they would last for week, she just couldn't get them wet.

Me, being intrigued, I asked her exactly where she got them done, and I set out to investigate.
On the store window, they have a list of their services, and one of them was "Eyelash Extensions."I don't know too much about them, so I went home and asked my good friend google.

Eyelash extensions, according to Wikipedia, are hair like extensions that are added to each single lash to create a fuller, longer look. Since they are attached to each individual eyelash, it's a tedious process, and it can range from $60 and up. It lasts depending on your lash cycle, cause when your lashes naturally fall out, so will the lash extensions, cause it's placed right on top of your natural lash.

I walked into this nail salon, and it was pretty small. There was only 2-3 girls working, and they were pretty busy. There was 4 girls getting pedicures in those massage chairs, and 2 were getting their nails done.

I walk in and one of the girls doing nails welcomed me. I asked her the eyelash extensions and she said she would show me in a moment, and to have a seat.

I wait for a couple minutes, and then she comes back to me and asks me to follow her to the back. She takes me to a small room, with a padded table for someone to lie down on.

I ask her about eyelash extensions, and she shows me Ardell individual lashes clusters and a little petri dish of hair. She starts telling me about how they can use individual lashes and apply them all across the lashline, or they can use individual hairs to apply to each lash on your natural lashes.




I asked her what kind of glue she uses, honestly, I was expecting her to show me a Duo tube, and I would of laughed and called it a day. But she hesitates, and tells me she uses a special glue that they have to order from the States and keep in the refrigerator. She shows me a box with some kind of Oriental writing on it.

"Can I still wear make-up? What about mascara?" She tells me that you can wear make-up and mascara, you just have to be careful about removing it to not get anything near the lashes.

I was kind of done at this point, and so I finally ask her, "How long do they last?" She said they last for up to 6 weeks, you just can't get them wet. She said they do fall out on their own, but if you wanted to continue them, you would just come in and the fill in the missing lashes.

Still puzzled, and not wanting to confront this poor woman, I thank her, leave and never look back.

The thing I found interesting about this whole thing is, the dramatic lashes, with no make-up. I've googled eyelash extensions, and they can look pretty natural without make-up. But that's not what these girls are getting, they're getting, dramatic, thick, long, in-your face lashes. I don't know, it doesn't look good to me without make-up, or atleast some liner to cover up your lash line.

Natural looking eyelash extensions, without make-up.

Imagine a look like this, but without the liner, and shorter - to match your natural eyelash length.

I really don't know where I was going with this whole post, but I hope it entertained some of you. What do you think? Would you get this done? Would you rock strip lashes without make-up?

Also, I know I have some tags & awards to get to, I'll do that this weekend, I also have a lot of stuff to post. (:

* Images from Google.

My Small Makeup Collection

Here's just a quick post about my make-up collection. I don't have much, and I don't really buy much either (well I'm trying not to, haha), but it's slowly growing. My mom & I are on the look for a vanity, and we haven't found anything yet, until then, I do my make-up on the floor infront of a full length mirror. On to the pictures:

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Where I do my make-up, I have my own bathroom, but I don't like doing my make-up there because of the lighting. If I do my make-up in my bathroom lighting, it'll look good in the bathroom, but wack in normal light.

My little plastic 2 drawer organizer with plastic organizers on top, small mirror, brushes.

Closer look at my mirror and brushes. Yessssss, that's a paper cup I hold my brushes in, haha, I haven't gotten around to looking for a glass jar yet.

Palette's (my 88 matte & satin, 88 shimmer and Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box), face stuff in a smaller container (foundation - which I never use, translucent powder, sponges, oil-blotting sheets - don't use these either, I bought it at the dollar store to see how they work, lol.) and cotton pads & q-tips in a smaller container which I stack ontop of the face stuff container.

Containers on top of my plastic drawer organizer. Eyeliners on the left, blushes on the top right, and lip products on the bottom left.

Eyeshadows, Annabelle pigment dusts, and small palettes in the first drawer.

Mascara's, fluidline, primers & bases and eyelash curlers in the second drawer.

And finally, lotions, moisturizers, sunscreen, contact lens solution, contact case, vaseline, brush cleaner & floss in a container infront of the mirror.

That's basically it! Haha, I don't have much, but I try to utilize what I do have.

Anyways, about that "investigation" thing I wanted to do (how lame does that sound? :/), I went on Monday to this place, but it was closed cause there was a civic holiday, I'll probably go today once I get off my lazy butt and get ready and what not. What I'm "investigating" is actually pretty interesting, it is beauty related, and I think most of you would be like, "what the hell?" I'll defintely go today cause I really want you guys to know about this! Haha.

FOTD & Another 'Haul.' (:

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've just been busy with work and enjoying the rest of my summer. I have a couple of reviews and stuff lined up but by the time I get home from work, it's too dark to take nice pictures, or I'm just too lazy, haha.

Also, lately I've been feeling like my make-up is not on point, and that nothing comes together how I want it to. I should practice more, cause it seems like everytime I try something I end up with a 'what the hell did I do to my face' look, and then I just get frustrated and give up. :/

Here's a simple look I did the other day:

Used:
Eyes:
MAC Soft Ochre p/p
L'Oreal HiP Duo in Wicked (gold side used all over the lid)
MAC Espresso e/s (used in outer V and crease)
Annabelle Ebony e/s (matte black used wet as liner & to fill in brows)
Maybelline Clear Great Lash (on brows)
Urban Decay's Ransom e/s (on lowerlash line)
Wet n' Wild Glow e/l (on lower waterline)
Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara

Cheeks:
Jane Be Pure Mineral Blush in Rose Satin
NYC Chroma Faceglow in Moonstone (as highlight on cheek)

Lips:
MAC Bare Slimshine

(Sorry about the sweaty pictures, I took this after I came home from playing basketball :D)

Yesterday me and my family went to Niagara Falls, and I went to the Coach Factory there. They had 2 bags that I wanted to pick up, but my sister had got me one of them in the States for me already for a birthday present, so I just picked this little baby up:

I know I'm on a 'No Buy.' But I feel like I can't cut out buying things completely, but I have cut down from spending ridiculous amounts of money like I used to do. I think I'm gradually going to cut down, but I feel like I should treat myself once in a while instead of being so frugal with everything. I'm happy cause I haven't blown my paycheck like I usually do!

Ohh, and on Monday I'm going to do a little beauty investigation. I'm actually really interested in this, I'm not going to give you any details, but it should be interesting, haha - as stupid as this sounds right now.

Till later! (:

P.S - Thank you to all my followers, new & old, I love knowing that people are interested in my blog, and I love finding new blogs to read also! (: