December Empties!

Another month, more products used up!

L to R: Lancome Bi-Facil Double-Action Eye Makeup Remover, Maybelline Dream Fresh 8-in-1 Beauty Balm in Light/Medium, Secret Clinical Strength Waterproof Anti-Perspirant

Lancome Bi-Facil Double-Action Eye Makeup Remover: Still the best makeup remover I've used, this deluxe size was picked up in this haul.

Maybelline Dream Fresh 8-in-1 Beauty Balm in Light/Medium: This BB cream has lasted me years (don't worry, expiry date is in 2015 and as a squeeze bottle I didn't have to worry about the cream being contaminated (like dip jars, gross)), I really enjoyed using this BB cream as I found it had enough coverage for my "good skin days", it did blur my pores, and it was non-drying on my skin! I typically reach for this in the summer as it also has SPF 30, but wanted to finish this up before the expiry date! Definitely one of my favourite BB creams I've tried and one of my favourite skin products! I haven't repurchased since I have a backlog of foundations, etc to use up, but I will definitely pick this up again when I've gotten through my hoard!

Secret Clinical Strength Waterproof Anti-Perspirant: same as last time (see review here). Have already repurchased!

L to R: Ducray Squanorm Shampoo, Calvin Klein Down Town

Ducray Squanorm Shampoo: still a constant favourite! See original review here.

Calvin Klein Down Town: Sample received in this haul. This fragrance is described as "modern floral woody", while this description is not appealing to my own nose, I actually liked this fragrance. Yes it was a bit more floral than I typically like but it also had a freshness to it.

Happy New Year!

Which products did you use up in 2014 / December?

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: September 27, 2013

Another simple mani but still fun I think

This is 2 coats of Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish in Styled Out (from this haul), I used Orly Top2Bottom as the base and top coat for this mani (Styled Out dries semi-matte).

I actually really liked this colour, it is very denim-like and think it would nicely compliment jeans.  It was also easy to work with and dried pretty fast (not sure if that is consistent for all Maybelline Color Show polish or just this particular one).  I will definitely have to check out more of this brand!

What are your suggestions for Maybelline Color Show polish to try out?

Thanks for reading!

June Empties

Less empties this month, but I do find that posting is encouraging me to use up samples and products rather than alternating everything.

Back row L to R: Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation, First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser
Front row L to R: Bioderma Sensibio H20, Sensodyne Pro-namel Gentle Whitening toothpaste, Citrus Body Mist, Maybelline Illegal Length mascara

Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation oil-free, brightening moisturizer: I received this as a sample from Sephora during the VIB Chic Week (post here). I really wanted to like it, because I've heard awesome things about Ole Henriksen, and I thought an oil-free moisturizer would be perfect for my oily, combination, acne-prone skin.  I got about 4 or 5 uses out of this foil packet, since the moisturizer feels super creamy when you put it on.  However, this actually dried my skin out! I've never had that problem before, so this is not something I would purchase.  I guess I'll have to keep looking for my HG moisturizer

First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser: I received this sample as a purchaser from Sephora back in December and finally got around to using it. It's safe for sensitive skin and says it has an antioxidant booster, so I thought I'd give it a try. OMG. This smelled awful, and super strong. This foil had about 2 uses in it for me, but I had to force myself to use it the second time since the smell was that awful.  I also didn't notice any improvements, so I will not be purchasing this product.

Bioderma Sensibio for sensitive skin: This is a water-free cleanser (ie no rinsing required) that also boasts its makeup removing skills.  I received this as a free sample from Shoppers Drugmart (this haul). I know other beauty bloggers that swear by Bioderma, however I found this very ineffective at removing more eye makeups, and my skin didn't feel as clean as a normal rinse-off face cleanser.  Therefore, I will not be purchasing, I much prefer traditional face cleansers and Lancôme's Bi-Facil for makeup removal.

 Sensodyne Pro-namel Gentle Whitening toothpaste: This is my favourite toothpaste, as I do sometimes have teeth sensitivities when eating candy or drinking something cold.  This doesn't have an overwhelming mint taste, and I find it pretty effective at whitening.  I have already repurchased this product to replace the empty.  Definitely recommended for those with sensitive teeth.

Citrus Body Mist: This is super old. I'm pretty sure I got this in a loot bag from a birthday party (yes, that long ago!). I finally finished it up! I'm not a huge citrus scent person, but I did find the scent of this refreshing almost like orange, grapefruit, and strawberries? The scent was not long-lasting, it would fade within an hour of application. I'm guessing this was bought from a dollar store or the like, so I wouldn't repurchase, but I didn't hate it!

Maybelline Illegal Length mascara in very black: I bought this last year on the way to work after realizing I'd forgotten to apply mascara that morning.  I do prefer CoverGirl LashBlast to this, but this does do a nice job lengthening and volumizing lashes.  The brush is different from other mascaras with softer bristles. I would repurchase this product, but definitely won't be needing mascara anytime soon thanks to the Sephora Lash Stash and a multitude of VIB mascara codes!

Any suggestions for moisturizers to try out? What products did you use up in June?

Thanks for reading!

Haul: June 12, 2013

Planned myself another big haul! Went to 2 Winners and a Shoppers Drugmart, here's what I found!

Starting with nail polish:

From L to R: Orly Gumdrop, butter London Billy No Mates, butter London Scouse, Orly Angel Eyes, Essie Buy Me a Cameo

 



These were all on sale to varying degrees, the butter London were $12.99 each (compared to the usual price of $17 I couldn't resist!), Orly Gumdrop was $5.99, Orly Angel Eyes was $2.99, and Essie was $7.99 (I know it's cheaper in the states, but in Canada Essie is usually $11 - a big rip-off).

So far I've only tried Gumdrop, which is almost exactly a Tiffany blue, I love it! Very different from anything else I own, and I'm thinking it will go well with Revlon Whimsical.

Makeup and skincare:

From L to R: Vichy Normaderm Salicylic Acid Lotion, Bioderma PP Baume, Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Nude Lustre, Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Temptress, Maybelline Color Tattoo Metal in Barely Branded, Bioderma Sensibio H2O Cleanser

 

The Vichy and Bioderma products were actually samples, the nice lady at the beauty counter gave them to me, I've never received samples at Shoppers before but apparently you can! 

 

The deal was to buy 2 Revlon lip products and get 2000 bonus Optimum points, since I've been wanting to add more lipstick into my beauty routine, I decided on Temptress

 

 



As you can see it's a beautiful medium pink.  Since I have fuller lips, I'm a bit intimidated by lip colour, so this should help me start to get out of my comfort zone!

 

I picked out Nude Lustre since most of my lipglosses are pink or very shimmery, so I thought this would also be a nice change.  I think it has enough colour to it not to make my lips look dead, but I haven't tried it out so we'll see!

 

I've been hearing rave reviews over at MakeupTalk for a while about how awesome the Maybelline Color Tattoos are, and they were on sale this week so I picked up Barely Branded, which I've heard can be used as a base as well as alone.  The colour is a bit lighter than I was expecting, but it definitely lasted a long time without creasing so far in my experience!

 

What do you think of this haul? Any drugstore product recommendations for me?

 

Thanks for reading!





April 11th Haul

To celebrate the end of exams, I planned myself a big haul for today! Not everything went as expected, but I was able to find some pretty decent deals!

Everything all together! So much prettiness!

So I started the day at Target (it's new to Canada, so I was excited to see which US brands would finally be available). Since my goal for today's haul was to focus on nail polish I started in the beauty section. Was surprised to see OPI and Essie at Target (although they were both overpriced in my opinion, there was quite the selection). Then I spotted Sinful Colors, and knew I had to get Frenzy, it's beautiful purple and blue glitter, which I'm hoping looks as good on as it does in the bottle!
Then I spotted NYX (again new to Canada, and I love 2 eye shadow palettes of theirs that I own), but I didn't buy anything, the selection was limited and I wanted to move on. So all I ended up with from Target was the 1 nail polish.

From left to right: OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise, Zoya Kate, and Sinful Colors Frenzy

After that I went to Trade Secrets, there was a bin of about 40 OPI and Zoya nail polishes that said Buy 1 Get 1 50% Off, of course the first 2 colours I picked out were both not supposed to be in the bin, so I went back and found these 2: OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise and Zoya Kate. I currently don't have any turquoise-y teal colours, so this looked good and the pink looks like a neutral girly pink. Can we stop and celebrate these are my first every purchases of OPI or Zoya nail polish!!!! Yay!

Then I headed to Sephora, my purpose of going to the mall, since the VIB Chic Week started today. Yes, I was there when the doors opened. No, it wasn't crazy busy. I got my free tote and samples and I purchased Sephora by OPI Who's Spinning Tonight (on sale for $7) and the Buxom Amplified Smoky Eye which includes a mini Amplified Lash Mascara and a mini Smoky Eye Stick in 5" Stiletto. Honestly I was just looking for something cheap to buy to get the free stuff (since I went totally overboard at Sephora in December).

Sephora by OPI in Who's Spinning Tonight and Buxom Amplified Smoky Eye surrounded by free samples

Next up was Shopper's Drugmart.

From left to right: Essie Ballet Slippers, Essie As Gold As It Gets, Essie Eternal Optimist, Essie A Cut Above, Maybelline Color Show in Styled Out

Found these Essie sets for $9 each. Awesome! That's cheaper than 1 Essie polish here in Canada!! So I swooped up the 2 colour combos of those and headed to look at the discount/clearance section (after checking out the normal Essie section and finding the 2 I really wanted not there). There was actually a really good selection in the clearance spot, a bunch of Nicole by OPI for $3-$5, some of the Covergirl nail polish for $3 or so, and then I spotted this Maybelline one, with a $1 sticker on it. It's a shimmering denim blue, and for $1, how bad could it be? The saleslady didn't believe it was only a $1 and even after looking at the sticker still ran a price check. Lol.

Then I drove to Winners, to see what deals were offered in the Beauty/Skin Care section. I will say it is always chaos at Winners, but the deals I've found the last few times have been worth it (but you really have to work and search for the good items). Today I found a set of 4 Color Club mini nail polishes for $5 as well as a set of Andrea Oil-free Eye Makeup Correctors and Andrea Moisturizing Makeup Remover Pads also for $5. I've used the Andrea pads before and found them a bit greasy but effective, so I figured why not try these out? Plus the q-tip shape of the correctors looks perfect for when you make mistakes while doing your eyes.

Colours in the Color Club set from left to right: Pearl-spective, Abyss, Endless Summer, and Bright Night

My last (successful) stop was Sally's Beauty Supplies, where for all of April all nail polishes are Buy 2 Get 1 Free. So after much deliberation (sooo many pretty colours!) I wound up with 2 Orly and 1 China Glaze.

From left to right: Orly Ingenue, Orly Nite Owl, and China Glaze Recycle

Yay for hauling! What do you guys think of my haul? Any suggestions of deals in Canada? Any nail polishes I should check out?

Thanks for reading!