NOTD: January 29, 2014

A blue-ish purple mani for today! This is 2 coats of Dr.'s REMEDY in Lovely Lavender over my Dr.'s REMEDY base coat. I received both of these products from this haul.
I did quite enjoy the colour and that the polish applied easily, however this chipped almost immediately without a top coat.

Are you prone to immediate polish chips?

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: January 26, 2014

Today I tried something new with a light brown mani.  This is two coats of Nails Inc. Jermyn Street over and under my Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat.

What do you think? Have you ever used brown nail polish?

Thanks for reading!

Sephora 20% off Haul

Sephora recently had a promotion going on where VIBs got 20% off their purchase. Here's what I picked up!

Back row L to R: NARS Nail Polish in Disco Inferno, Tarte Stop & Stare 6 piece Eyeliner & Lash Set, Stila Portrait of a Perfect Blush
Front row L to R (freebies): DKNY Be Delicious Skin, Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask, WEI Golden Root Purifying Mask, Benefit Happy Birthday Gift

This is NARS in Disco Inferno, it's described as an iridescent silver green, but when I used it had purple in there too. Almost a duochrome.

Tarte Stop & Stare Set L side Top to Bottom: Skinny SmolderEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof liners in Onyx, Azurite Green, Purple Garnet, SmolderEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof liners in Taupe and Rose Gold
R side: lights, camera, flashes Statement Mascara

I have been loving this set! The skinny eye liner pencils are smooth and creamy and very pigmented, basically on par with Urban Decay's 24/7 liners. The bigger pencils are great for all over lid shading and perfect neutral colours!

Stila Portrait of a Perfect Blush L to R: Golden, Illume, Pretty Pink, Precious Pink, Rose

At $12 this is a steal! Love the variety of colours and finishes in this palette! Great for someone like me just getting into blush!

Last year's birthday gift was from Benefit and included a mini They're Real! mascara and Watt's Up!

 

 

Did you pick up anything during the 20% off event?

Thanks for reading!

 

NOTD: January 22, 2014

A perfect winter mani in my opinion, definitely a look I will do again and again!

This is two coats of Color Club Lady Holiday over my Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat. For the accent I layered on coat of Color Club Savoy Nights over Lady Holiday. Both Color Club polish are from this haul.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: January 21, 2014

A bright pinky red mani!  This is two coats of OPI The One That Got Away (from this haul) over my Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat with NYC Matte Me Crazy on the accent nail.

I really like how this mani looks shiny, the matte coat isn't that exciting for me here, but I will definitely need to try it out with more polish!

Which of my polish would you like to see mattified?

Thanks for reading!

Christmas and Birthday Haul

L to R: Color Club Savoy Nights, Color Club Lady Holiday, Color Club Sugar Rays, Color Club Apollo Star, butter London Artful Dodger, butter London Primrose Hill Picnic, Nicole by OPI Totally in the Dark, Essie Lilacism

L to R: Dr.'s Remedy Remover, Dr.'s Remedy Base Coat, Dr.'s Remedy Deserving Diamond, Dr.'s Remedy Lovely Lavender

So there you have it! The beauty items I received for my birthday and Christmas!

What items were on your wishlist?

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: January 18, 2014

A vampy, winter appropriate NOTD! This is two coats of Nails Inc. Richmond Terrace (from this haul) over my Orly Top2Bottom base coat.

Sephora describes this shade as a rich glossy plum, but I found this more red and less purple or blue than a true plum shade.

Regardless it was a nice vampy shade that was easy to work with!

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: January 15, 2014

A classic mani! This is two coats of Essie Eternal Optimist (from this haul) over my Orly Top2Bottom base coat.

I love this colour and think its one of the most flattering neutral pinks in my collection!

Thanks for reading!

Sephora Black Friday Haul

Another Sephora order...

Back row L to R: Nails Inc. Autumn Winter Collection, Nails Inc. Best Sellers Nail Polish Collection, Stila In the Garden Eye Shadow Palette, Stila In the Moment Eye Shadow Palette, Lancôme Bi-facil Make-up Remover
Front row L to R: Origins GinZing Energy-Boosting Moisturizer, Calvin Klein Downtown, Pink Sugar

Best part all of this was only $76! Those Stila palettes are usually $50 each so I am quite pleased with the value I got for my money here!

Stila In the Garden Eye Shadow Palette
Back row L to R: Chinois, Breeze, Bark, Freesia, Rosette
Front row L to R: Nectar, Honey, Sage, Moss, Juniper
Smudge Stick in Starfish
I've been eyeing this palette since last November when I first got interested in make-up, and have come this close to splurging on it a couple of times. Really glad I waited for the 50% price reduction and also glad I picked this up!

Stila In the Moment Eye Shadow Palette
Back row L to R: Instinct, Impulse, Glance, Improvise, Catalyst
Front row L to R: Desire, Wonder, Spontaneous, Whim, Captivate
Smudge Stick in Tetra
Like In the Garden, I've been eyeing this for a while and couldn't let the 50% price decrease pass me by!

L to R: Chelsea Bridge Road, Bruton Mews, Sloane Gardens, Jermyn Street, Chester Street, Richmond Terrace
I thought this collection gave me a great chance to both try out some more Nails Inc. polish and also expand my collection with darker colours.

L to R: Porchester Square, Chelsea Square, Kensington Caviar Top Coat
How could I not buy this adorable $11 set?

L to R: Calvin Klein Downtown, Origins GinZing Energy-Boosting Moisturizer, Pink Sugar

There you have it, what I bought on Black Friday! So many new pretties to play around with!

What did you buy for Black Friday?

NOTD: January 10, 2014

A really colourful manicure! This is Wet N' Wild Fast Dry in Buffy the Violet Slayer with Saved by the Blue as the accent (both from this haul).

Not only are these super colourful, but they dried super quickly as well and were very easy to work with! It took 2 coats of WNW over one coat of my Orly Top2Bottom base coat for this mani.

So glad I gave this brand a chance!

Thanks for reading!

Fav Movies of 2011

Another movies post!
I've finally watched all the 2011 movies that interested me or that I'd heard things about, here are some of my favs!

10. Something Borrowed: I love chick flicks so it's no surprise that this different take on a traditional chick flick (she falls in love with her best friend's fiance! shocker!) with John Krasinksi (who doesn't love Jim from The Office?) was in my top 10 favourite movies of 2011.

9. Battle: Los Angeles: I was dragged to this movie at the theatres and had low expectations based on the previews and synopses I'd seen. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. The way it was filmed was very realistic in terms of the action sequences, fast-paced and shaky unlike traditional action movies. This movie also had a heart to it that I didn't expect. Definitely an overlooked movie of 2011 in my opinion.

8. The Descendants: I really enjoyed this movie, not only is it a great story about family and loss, but the acting is terrific. Thanks to her performance in this film, I am now a big fan of Shailene Woodley and have watched a number of movies just to appreciate her performance. This definitely deserved its nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor. Really glad that this won in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, because it's a terrific movie.

7. Limitless: Another movie I saw in the theatres. I was wary of this film from the previews which showed that success could be achieved by taking a pill. However, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro were fantastic, and it showed the powers and rationalization of addiction from a different angle that was definitely interesting.

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II: I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, and I was generally pleased with this movie adaptation. Great performances by the majority of the cast and it did an excellent job concluding an epic film series.

5. The Help: This is actually the last movie I had left to see, and I finally saw it! Can't believe it took me so long to finally see this much-talked about film. You can believe the hype surrounding this film, great performances all-around, tragic/uplifting story, interesting characters. Really nothing bad to say about this film. Yes, it's close to 2 and a half hours long, but it is well worth that time!

4. Hugo: Another movie I'm surprised I liked. Again the previews seemed to focus on a young boy building an automaton. But the story is so much more than that. I urge all film lovers to give this movie a try as it not only has a great story but also highlights the history of film. Definitely deserving of all the accolades it received!

3. Super 8: Another great coming of age film. I loved the story behind this one as well as the focus on the main character and his dynamics with his friends. Again this movie is about movie making and boys that love movies. Dare I call it the E.T. of this generation?

2. X-Men First Class: Loved! Great cast (except for maybe the stone faced January Jones), lots of action, good character building (particularly for Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique). One of the best comic book movies to be released in a while. Action fans go check this one out! I can't wait for X-Men Days of Futures Past to be released!

1. The Debt: I cannot believe how little recognition this movie received. A great mystery/thriller set after World War II with several moral dilemmas at the forefront. Can I also mention how amazing this cast is? Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain are among the best actresses and deserve juicy roles like this one. Not only would this movie please history fans, but also thriller fans, and movie fans in general.

Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Any of your favourites missing? I'm also open for suggestions for movies to watch!

Thanks for reading!

December Empties

This might just be the saddest month of empties. December had me travelling for work and then sick with a cold, so I did not use up as much products as I would have liked. The good news is that I think January will be a much better empties month!

Prada Candy (from this haul): I actually really liked this perfume, it's a sweet vanilla-caramel scent with slight muskiness to it, sweet and sexy! I have already picked up another sample of this, and who knows I might even buy the full size!

Sephora Anti-shine Foundation Primer: I received this back in last year's It Kits. I do actually really like how this feels and think it does a decent job smoothing my face. I'm not sure how much the anti-shine part works since I do have an oily complexion and this didn't completely mattify my face. This might be a repurchase once I'm done testing my primers since I didn't hate this and it didn't have any adverse effects on my skin.

So there you have it. My empties post for December. I promise January will be more productive!

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: January 4, 2014

Another fun, pink mani!  This delicious looking mani is courtesy of Nails Inc. Topping Lane (from this haul). I used my Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat to start this mani, 2 coats of the polish, and didn't use a top coat.

This isn't something I would normally have been drawn to (except that cupcake on the lid, yum!). But I loved how it turned out and definitely would pick up more of these Special Effects colours in the future!

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: January 1, 2014

Happy New Year! Today my nails are adorned with Julep Cara (from this haul). I started this mani with my Orly Top2Bottom base coat and used two coats of Cara. Such a pretty shimmery pink-toned red!

My resolutions included blogging more frequently and spending less money on makeup. What are your resolutions?

Thanks for reading!