I haven’t tried this but I know lots of you guys love it, so here’s a deal for you. Right now, it’s 50% off at Sephora. If you’ve tried it, tell us what you think in the comments!
Annabelle Master of Eyes Collection
This fall, Annabelle launched their Master of Eyes Collection and it is great for anyone who wants some quick eye makeup especially now that we’re wearing masks all day and all you can wear is eye makeup.
There are 2 sets of eyeliners in the collection – Chrome Kohl, and matte waterline eyeliners. I’ve written about the Matte Waterline eyeliner before, because it’s really hard to find a black matte that lasts a long time, and these totally do!
Here are swatches of the three matte colours I got: black, Blue Moon, and white. The black is great in the waterline, but the blue is good for a pop of colour on the lid. I love using it because it’s so unexpected.
The Chrome Kohls work well as eyeshadows on the entire eye or as eyeliners to add a pop of shimmer. I wear them with an eyeshadow base for more lasting power. They go on smoothly without any skipping and are easy to wear.
Here are the swatches of the gold, black, and rose-gold. Rose-gold is definitely my favourite and it’s the one that I wear all over my eyelid.
Here are a couple of little pictures of me with eye makeup from this collection.
The matte kohl eyeliners are $8.95 and the Chrome Kohl eyeliners are $5.95.
Pick them up online or in some drugstores.
Lise Watier Neiges
It’s time for holiday gifting, and I know that because some cities are in lockdown, it might be difficult to go shopping for presents this year. I’ve gotten used to ordering things online, and I think that there are some great deals to be had.
Like this Neiges gift set from Lise Watier. This time of year is the best time to buy perfume, because of the value offered.
Where you would normally just get the bottle of perfume, now you can get the bottle, a shower gel, and a travel sized spray which is amazing.
Neiges is a beautiful powdery musk perfume that would be perfect for anyone who likes clean scents. Blind buying perfume, especially as a gift, is really difficult, but this one is a wearable innocuous scent that isn’t offensive or too strong. The set is $76 but is valued at closer to $94.
You can find all the fragrance gift sets at Lise Watier’s website, and at Shoppers Drug Mart (where if you wait for the right day, you can probably get 20x the points too).
Posted in Perfumes
Tagged Christmas Gift Guide, Christmas Gifts, Gift Guide, gifts, Lise Watier
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Nars Contour Blush in Olympia
I opened this up today and found it completely shattered. I had to pick the powder up off my lap and the floor, and throw it out. There was no salvaging. But this is what’s left.
Nars launched the Contour blushes in 2014 and they were contour colours with a highlight strip next to them. As you can see of what’s left, both the colours are totally matte and not at all shimmery. They are flat and perfect, actually.
The Olympia blush/contour colour is a pinkish beige, which works well as a blush on my skin. I use the highlight colour on the high points of my face, but you could also use it to set the concealer under your eyes.
Both the colours are super smooth, blendable and just so finely milled. You’re really getting a luxury product in this compact. I’m going to try to use the last little bit.
Anyway it seems to not be in production anymore, according to the Nars website (it’s showing as all colours being sold out), so I’m not sure if you can still get it. Oh well.
L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Pro-Perfect Self-Tanning Mist Review
OK, I have officially found my most favourite tanning product to use EVER.
I am kicking myself for not using L’Oreal Pro-Perfect Self-Tanning Mist earlier. It is so easy to use that I would recommend it to a beginner. It gives you such a flawless tan that a pro would want to use it. Indeed, this mist is true to its name, because you end up with a tan that looks like you had it done by a pro. Because you’re spraying, you end up with no orange hands and no tan lines anywhere!
The spray is colourless so there’s going to be no obvious mess in your bathroom and the nozzle is 360 activated so you can even hold the can upside down and spray yourself evenly. That is what makes this spray “pro-perfect”. You never have to worry that the spray of the product is going to stop because of the way that you’re holding the can. The nozzle just works with you and you’re supplied with a fine even mist no matter what you do.
Just move slowly as you cover your body with the product so that you get a nice and even layer. The solution dries really quickly so you’ll be able to get dressed in minutes and the tan starts to develop in a could of hours. If you want a darker tan make sure you let this develop for a full 24 hours and you’ll get a nice glow.
I used a bottle all over and I could do 2 generous applications with it. I even held my breath, closed my eyes, and quickly misted my face so it would look bronze as well, and the trick worked. The day after using it I ran into a friend who I hadn’t seen in a while and she asked me where I had been on vacation! If that’s not a testament to how good this is, then I don’t know what is.
Available online for about $14!
Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector Review
So last year, we fell in love with Clinique’s Even Better product – we found that it really did help dark spots fade.
Clearly, that product was a winner, and now Clinique has made it better and come out with their Clinical Dark Spot Corrector. Like its predecessor, this helps fade dark spots and promises to give your 35% clearer skin in as little as 4 weeks. The active ingredients are a combination of natural plant extracts as well as a mix of glucosamine and salicylic acid which have been proven to get rid of the top layer of skin and reveal the clearer skin underneath.
I did my research on this product after I actually used it, and I have to say that I saw results after using it just for 1 week! I noticed that my skin was clearer, and dark shadows that had developed were now gone.
They are comparing the results of this product to Hydroquinine, and having used that before, I have to say that this is comparable. The immediacy of the results was amazing, and I think that my skin is going to get to the point that I don’t have to wear foundation anymore. The Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector is cheaper than any Hydroquinine product that I’ve tried, and it’s nice that I can just get it at the department store instead of getting it over the counter.
This product is a serum, and Clinique recommends that you use it twice a day to see results. In my experience, I used this instead of my regular moisturizer and just put my makeup on top. It has a silky smooth feel when applying so makeup actually goes on top nicely without any gunking and streaking. At night, I just used this after my toner and I found that I didn’t need to use any moisturizer with it.
I like that this actually works, and for me, it was easy to incorporate it into my regular skincare routine. You can get this at all Clinique counters for $146 and if you suffer from any kind of dark spots, then this is well worth the price. I am curious to know whether it works on freckles, so if you’ve tried it, let me know! Available here.
100 Years of Solitude
I finally finished reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez… and I feel like I’ve lost 100 years in the process. Seriously, this book was like reading a Russian novel that goes on forever, and people have the same names.
This was not my favourite book to read – kind of long, tedious, and although I did like reading it at the end, I just didn’t feel like it was worth the time that it took.
And if you’re wondering about the name – it’s about a city that’s removed from the rest of the world and so its inhabitants are stuck in 100 years of solitude.
About $20 on Amazon.
New Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealer
Nars is known for keeping us on our toes, with the best new product innovations every year. I’m finding that more and more, their formulas are truly made to look like skin – they might not last on skin forever but – to me – and I believe to the average woman – it’s more important to look more or less like yourself than to look like you’re wearing a mask of markup.
The new Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealers are Nars’ most high-coverage concealers yet. They are in a pot formula allowing one to dip in a finger or a brush – perhaps not the most hygienic way to dispense product but a tightly packed cream always allows for more coverage, and if that’s what you’re after then this is the way to get it.
The formula truly is “soft matte” – it feels silky smooth when you’re patting and blending it on the skin and the final finish is a powdery one, not one that looks or feels caked on. The colours are natural-looking with lots of shades being available in more yellow-based colours which always looks more natural – 16 shades available in all.
Here’s Caramel, which is a medium/dark 1. It’s a wee bit darker than my face, but it matches my neck so I’m using it. I find that it really makes your skin look smooth and filtered, so I love that.
Check them out on Nars.ca and Sephora stores. $39.
Dior Matte 999 Lipstick Swatch
This Dior Matte Lipstick in the colour 999 is a fire-engine red and it is so beautiful. If you normally don’t like the texture of matte lipsticks, try this one because it is so smooth and creamy. That also means that the colour wears off sooner, but at least this lipstick feels comfortable.
I loved wearing this colour. It is so glam and just perfect.
Available at any Dior counter for $49.
The Body Shop Mango Body Butter
I started cleaning my house when we were on quarantine, and really went through some of the creams and lotions that I was hoarding. I gave some away to family that wanted them, but I couldn’t let go of The Body Shop Mango Body Butter mini because my kids love the scent of it. It smells just like fresh tangy mangos.
This body butter has a creamier texture than some of the other Body Shop body butters. It’s not as thick and rich, and it absorbs into your skin quickly, leaving it moisturized. It’s not exactly light but definitely not the richest, which I’m ok with! It’s the perfect cream to use in the summer when you still want to moisturize your skin and don’t want something sticky.
I used it every night, and this mini probably lasted me a week.
The small 50ml size is $6. Great for travel. The larger size, 200ml, which is definitely more suitable for regular use, is $21.
Available online on The Body Shop’s website. It seems that they are going to turn a portion of their business into an MLM because every I post about them on Instagram, I get a DM or comment from someone asking me if I want to sell their products from home. To be honest, I love The Body Shop, and have used their products for over 25 years, but I don’t want to push them on people.