Thursday, May 31, 2012

Estee Lauder Pure Color in Crystal Rose, review and swatches

Estee Lauder's Pure Color lipsticks in the Crystal range has gotten a lot of hype. Specifically, the infamous Crystal Baby keeps getting mentioned by the Pixiwoo. I know I've had this lipstick for a while - I'm not sure when I bought it - but it's been my go to lipstick for a few years now. I absolutely love it.
Sadly, the packaging is a bit battered from being in my handbag. 

Crystal Rose is my true lips but better shade. I think we all know that I'm a massive fan of Estee Lauder lipsticks, but this one... it's truly amazing. I think I will even go as far as calling it my favorite lipstick ever - GASP! The formula is amazing and feels like a balm (light as air!), it smells amazing and adds that je-ne-sais-quoi perfection to my lips. Perhaps it evens them out TO perfection? I don't know, but I love it.

Arm swatch:
Lip swatch:

This lipstick will be repurchased once it has been used. I love it that much. I can't say that of any of my other lipsticks... nothing comes to mind honestly! Now, I NEED Crystal Baby stat!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Sleek Face, yo.

Hi everyone! I thought I'd post a quick look I've done this morning with my new Sleek products. Reviews will be up as soon as the products have been properly tested!




Foundation: Testing out Estee Lauder's new Invisible Fluid foundation. So far so good! I'm not wearing any concealer in this picture, partially because I ran out of time/forgot about it. Hence the blemishes!
Eyebrows: MAC Brun to fill any gaps.
Eyeshadow: Sleek's Oh So Special Palette. I used the shade Gift Basket all over the lid, Boxed in the crease/outer corner, The Mail for blending the edges, and Noir in the outer corner/lashline (which, FYI, is 10X more black and awesome than MAC's Carbon). I used Revlon's Grow Luscious mascara and MAC's Kohl in Feline in the waterline.
Blush: Sleek by 3 palette in Sugar. I used the Demerara shade (the furthest to the right)
Lips: Remnants of MAC's Party Parrot, after being washed off, and Maybelline's Baby Lips in Peach Kiss

For color reference on the Oh So Special palette, this picture will help.

Hope you're all having a great day!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Polkadot Mess of a Mani with Nubar's Black Polka Dot

I intended this manicure to look like cute polka dots nails and I think they just look like a cookies & cream chocolate bar... which, in itself, is damn delicious, but on my nail... I'm not so sure. I did get a few compliments on this manicure though! A girl who works at my favorite bakery (the coffee is the bessssst!) didn't understand how the polka dots worked - I tried to explain that it was a topcoat but she didn't get it - I wish I could have shown her the bottle. Perhaps I shouldn't have chosen a Sally Hansen Salon Manicure polish in Lavender Cloud, which basically looks white, even though it is a bit lavender in the bottle. Cookies and cream is just... not nail appropriate! Cookies and cream is to be eaten!

Either way, the point was to test out the new Nubar's Black Polka Dot topcoat. I actually quite like it if I forget the fact that it looks funny on a white-ish nail polish. If you're not too picky about the placement of your black dots, you won't have a problem with this polish. I suggest to pick up a lot of polish on your brush and try to spread the "black dots" on your nail. They kind of "stick" and you can sort of pick up the excess nail polish off with the brush. It's hard to explain but it works quite well! If you're going in with very thin coats, I'd say you'll get 3 dots. But if you try a ticker coat, then you'll get about 5 to 7. Mine many was done with one coat of Nubar's Black Polka Dot, but I did dot a couple more polka dots on after.

 My gold and black bracelet is from an Etsy seller named helloberry. I love it so much!

Perhaps next time I'll try it with a light pink? What do you think would look cute with black polka dots? I suggest adding a thick topcoat over Nubar's Black Polka Dot because the glitter dries to a bit of a rough finish. Seche Vite just made everything smooth for me :)

I'm still dealing with dry cuticles but have been trying really hard to not pick at them. It's an ongoing battle really. My apologies for dryness!

I'm heading to bed early tonight! I haven't slept much in the past few days and this has been topped with afternoon migraines. Annick needs sleep! So see ya later peeps and have a great night!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

L'Oreal Color Infaillible - swatches and review

I'm sure most of you have heard of the L'Oreal Color Infaillible - they are meant to be long wearing, pressed pigment-like, softly textured eye shadows. L'Oreal came out with these as a drugstore response to the widely popular Armani Eyes To Kill eyeshadows and they have been receiving great reviews. I'm not sure why it took me so long to review these - perhaps I was a bit of a skeptic about these. It just seems like a recipe for disaster - eye pigment/loose shadow + drugstore quality = MESS. But I was pleasantly proven the opposite!

These babies are awesome. My trusty oily lids held on to these (with my Two Faced Shadow Insurance - it is necessary in my case) for a whole work day, which means about 7 hours. So, the wear test passed quite easily! However, I did notice a bit of fallout under my eye at the end of the day with Sahara Treasure - it's hard to tell if I rubbed my eyes during the day or they actually fell out a bit on their own. Either way, it wasn't much fallout and wasn't enough to be an issue in my humble opinion.
Shimmery goodness! You can see that the shadow is packed in there by the little black stopper - do not throw this black stopper out! It's what keeps the shadow packed!

Left to right: Sahara Treasure and Flashback Silver

Here's a quick looks I've done with Sahara Treasure. I believe I have the tiniest bit of MAC Brun in my outer corner. I suggest patting these on with a stiff applicator eye brush - they will produce a bit of fall out if you're not careful. It's always good to be careful when applying these types of product.

My favorite of the two is absolutely and completely Flashback Silver. I LOVE this shadow. It is very complex on the lid and blends beautifully with any crease color. Depending on the lighting, it can looks grey and lilac - it also changes tone depending on what color palette you use for your eye look. I'd definitely recommend this shade over Sahara Treasure - Flashback Silver is much more unique while Sahara Treasure is easily dupeable.

Have you had a good weekend? I finally got around to watching 28 Days Later with the boy and LOVED it. It's great to see a movie that's inspiring once in a while - that definitely did it for me. Can't wait to see the sequel!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Wild Fire with Estée Lauder Pure Color Lipstick

As a beauty blogger, I think I will always be searching for the perfect red lipstick. It's one of those famous categories - just like the "perfect nude" the "perfect pink" the "my lips but better lipstick"... etc. I always found those a bit silly because really, the perfect nude for someone can make another look dead. It's all relative! But at the same time, I do feel like this lipstick could be great shade on everyone, so I thought it was worthwhile to review it!

Estée Lauder's Pure Color lipstick in Wild Fire came out a while back with the Spring 2011 collection. When I saw swatches of it online, I knew this could be "it". 
Mmmmmm, the packaging of Estee Lauder Pure Color Lipsticks is one of my favorite. I love that the base is the same color as the lipstick and I LOVE the gold tone of cap.

Vanity shots alert!
Wild Fire, swatched heavily on my arm.
 As you can see in this picture, it's pulling a tiny bit orange. I think this is what I love so much about this lipstick - it's a true red, that has a tint of coral. That's just gold for spring/summer.

It looks quite orange in this lip swatch, but I find it more similar to the arm swatch in real life.

Find the lipstick in hair madness below?...

The surprising thing about this lipstick is that it lasts quite long on my lips. I wore it for 4 hours (drinking coffee, water, eating a muffin at my desk) with only a bit of wear by lunchtime. This is excellent for me! Plus, it wore off evenly, bypassing the ugly lip ring stain. And for a red, I was very comfortable wearing it to work! It's a step in the right direction for this bright-lips shy blogger!

Do you have a favorite red? If so, what is it? I've been very curious about NARS Heatwave myself - it looks fabulous on so many women - I really want to give it a go sometime!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Outfit and face of the weekend wedding!

I went to a wedding this weekend!

I actually love weddings - and the boy does too! I love dressing up and getting dolled up and sometimes (aka, this time) battling my hair and straightening them. The only downside of the wedding this weekend?... mosquito everywhere. Up my legs, in my hair, biting my shoulders... ugh. There was even one stuck up my dress during the vows... I couldn't really shoo it out!

I thought I'd post the pictures my boy took for fun! My dress is from Maggy London which I got from Ebay for ridiculously cheap. I also had beige/brown B. Makowsky wedges although they are not pictures. I thought I had outsmarted the grass by wearing wedges but they were thin enough to sink in anyway... hahaha!  I had a few silver bracelets from local jewelers and my nails are sporting Essie Tarte Deco. This polish sucked so hard, I couldn't even take a picture for the blog because I was ashamed of the bald spots. I'll try again sometime soon though, this time with three coats!

Apologies for the blurry! The face was made up with Estee Lauder BB Cream, Clinique powder, Harmony bronzer and Tarte Amazonian Clay blush in Exposed. My eyebrows had some MAC Brun eyeshadow and some clear brow gel by Maybelline in 'em, and my eyes were completely made up with the Wet and Wild Comfort Palettes. I smoked out some liner around my eyes with Estee Lauder's Kajal liner in Blackened Cocoa, which is becoming a favorite!!

I hope you're all having a good week so far! Mine has been good albeit tiring! Can't wait for the weekend - does anyone else find 4 day weeks drag on? It must be a mind trick!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Lancome Rouge in Love part II with Rose Rendez-Vous #230

After the awesomness of my first Rouge in Love experience with Corail in Love, I thought I'd give another lipstick a go. And once again, I was not disappointed!

Rose Rendez-Vous (#230), or in the US Rouge Rendez-Vous, is a beautiful browny/orange pink. It's a strange description, I know! But that's the best way I can describe it!

As you can see from the swatch, this lipstick is quite glossy. I personally find it glossier than my Corail in Love lipstick but they last the same amount of time on. Rose Rendez-Vous started wearing off at the 4 hour mark. However, I very much appreciate that this lipstick doesn't wear off leaving a lipstick "ring" around my lips.


I took a full-face picture to demonstrate how this lipstick looks on my skintone. I'm a MAC NW15/20 but in the picture, I'm wearing my Estee Lauder BB Cream. I also took this picture after I had been cleaning my apartment for an hour straight so my apologies for the messiness!

Again, Rouge in Love by Lancome has struck gold. I'm absolutely in love with the formula, the texture and the color of Rose Rendez-Vous. If you're looking for a good lipstick, I highly suggest these! They have a great range of shades as well.

We have a long weekend here in Canada! WOOT! It is much needed and I must say I'm also happy this week is only a 4 day week. The weather has been absolutely fabulous around here and sitting in an office doesn't float my boat right now!

Have any of you fallen in love with Lancome's Rouge in Love? If so, what shades? I'm curious as I'm debating which of them will be my next acquisition!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Wishlist of the moment!

My current wishlist is comprised of things I'll never ever be able to afford, and a couple things I plan on purchasing in the near future.


First on my wishlist is Stila's Kajal Eye Pencil in Topaz, which is perfect for a natural eye look. I've been wanting a nude eyeliner for the waterline forever, and since MAC's NC15/NW20 is always sold out, this was my next choice.

I am loving the look of bright belts with t-shirt type dresses. I think this Gorjana belt would look absolutely fab with a cream or navy casual dress.

I LOVE Pour La Victoire Shoes. I love the shape, the colors and the originality of their designs. These latest coral wedges called the Mai have me smitten. If only! The Cobalt version is also absolutely fabulous!

I'm a massive fan of Rebecca Minkoff, so it seemed only fitting to add one of her latest designs to this wishlist. One that I could never afford at that! The Buckled Clutch is soft, feminine and the most beautiful blush color. I can totally see myself wearing this with my Gap wrap dress!

This Burberry Lip Mist will be my end. I LOVE the samples I've tried out but its price is ridiculous and shipping and duty to Canada makes it not be worth it. So long Lip Mist! Perhaps I will see you at a counter, one of these days!

This Nuxe Rève de Miel balm has been raved about by so many bloggers, it's almost ridiculous. Consequently, it's evident that I will need to purchase it soon. Luckily, it is available at my local Shoppers Drug Mart!

Are you an occasional wishlister like me? What's on your wishlist right now?

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Makeup Storage for an Ikealess City


For those of us who do not have the luxury of an Ikea in their area, makeup storage can be a challenge. While my makeup storage woes would easily be fixed by an Ikea Alex drawer unit or the newly reinstated Fira/Moppe unit, I have had to look for other solutions. Knowing that I would be moving in a few months and that I did not want to store my makeup in the bathroom for humidity reasons, I started scouring the stores for a small, non-plastic, drawer unit. Eureka struck when I saw craft storage units at Michaels.

As you can see here at the bottom here, my mini storage is comprised of three boxes. The top compartment was sold on its own, and the other two were sold together. They were quite inexpensive at 20$or 25$ (Michaels often has a 40% or 50% these - wait for the sale!). When I put together to top compartment, one of the drawers that was facing out had something scribbled on it. I was pretty pissed having spent 45 minutes putting this baby together and then discovering writing on the drawer! That's when it struck me ... three drawers... maybe I should paint them ombre style! So I did! It's not too visible in the picture but I painted them a mauvy grey color, gradually adding more and more white to the paint to get an ombre effect.

Sorry for the mediocre picture but my apartment doesn't get much light!


The top unit of my little makeup corner, is a three drawer unit, originally designed to hold paper. I decided to store my palettes in the top drawer and my makeup small pots such as lip products, cream eye shadows and gel liners in the second drawer. The last drawer has plastic dividers which hold mostly lipglosses and a few lipsticks.





In the second unit, in the bottom drawer, I have housed my blushes and MAC, Dior and Estée Lauder lipsticks.

On top of my combined units, I have brush holder, and various (messy!) products I am either testing out, or plan on swatching.
My eyeliners and lipliners live in this little glass vase I found at Winners.

My foundations and powders are stored in the space below. The brown storage box in the back keeps my backups and extra mascaras yet to be opened.

Woah! That was a long post! But I figured for all you Ikealess ladies out there, this might be helpful! Be mindful that these drawers are a bit hard to open - they stick to each other as well so they are a pain to open. I hear this can be fixed by lubricating the drawer's underside with a wax stick although I haven't tried it yet. But I'm happy with this arrangement for the time being! I really wanted a more compact system to store my products and keep them in relative order at the same time. What do you think?

Damn, I still want an Ikea around here though. Sigh.

How do you store your makeup? Do you have a system? Have you had to expand your storage to accommodate your ever growing makeup collection?

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Maybelline Color Show: Green With Envy

Maybelline Color Show nail polishes are quite new on the scene. When I saw these were on sale at Walmart for a jolly $3, I decided to give them a go. The thing is, I really really wasn't moved by any of their colors. Most of them were colors I either already had, or was uninterested in. How many pinks and reds can a girl have?! Green With Envy struck me as a cute color for spring (summer!!) however, and it was my one and only pick.

The formula of the polish was quite opaque. I probably could have pulled off one carefully applied coat but I did two thin coats. It wasn't a seamless application though because the formula was thick and dried quickly. Plus, one of the bristles was all wonky and was sticking out, painting my cuticles while I painted my nails. I had to redip the brush a lot to get it to behave. Super annoying, but I also probably just got a bad bottle.


It's not as green as its name would make you believe. It's more of a soft turquoise with a bit more green than usual. Comparing this and my bottle of China Glaze For Audrey, Green with Envy is MUCH greener. It's really quite a nice color and the green didn't seem to accentuate the redness in my hands too much. A+ on that!

Another thing to note about this is that the polish started peeling off on me after a hot shower, the day after application. Granted, I was picking at my teeth (ewww alert!) but the polish was all "soft" and easily peeled off. Not kewl. I'm not sure if it's simply a bad combination of sweat from boxing gloves (see below!), steaming hot water, and thick polish + Seche Vite.

Either way, this is a great color option for spring/summer. It might also kill anyone's lemming for Essie's Mint Candy Apple. It seems similar to me but I do not own it to compare.

I've been having issues with my camera, hence the slow posting. But I think she will be back on track after a quick cleaning. She's getting dusty!

Also, boxing is cool. I went to the gym (!!) for my first real workout ever tonight (!!) and I must say, I'm really proud of myself for going through with it! I'm usually a runner - when I want to get in shape, I get my iPod, and run the trails by the side of the river, full speed, until I feel like throwing up. And repeat once every two weeks. Oh, if you can't tell, I'm not really one for working out too much. But I thought it would be cool to try boxing! It was really fun but typing is painful right now ha ha ha!! Therefore, I will try to sleep this one off - I'm wondering how much pain the morning will bring! Yay!

Cheers peeps and until next time! :)


Sunday, May 13, 2012

MAC Fashion Sets = 1 Lipstick haul for me

Oh MAC collections, how you reuse your products!

MAC's newest titled Fashion Sets has come out with a bajillion colors of matching lipstick, lip glosses and nail polish.

I swear, MAC has to be sitting in meetings, discussion how cheaply they can come up with a collection. The packaging of this collection is the same as what you'd normally buy at the store, but because of all the hype and publicity, I'm sure loads of people went and bought a bunch of sets, thinking you couldn't get those items in the past and OMG, they will NEVER EVER be available again! That way, MAC gets to boost their sales on regular, permanent collection products. It's frustrating and it's one of MAC fans' biggest complaint: less collections a year, more quality. But this isn't new, and I'm not the only one saying this. And like a hypocrite, I got something from the collection anyway. Sigh.

Some of the products of the Fashion Sets collection are limited edition and I thought the only think that might be worth it (the nail polishes were all dupeable in my humble opinion) was the Spice lipstick. So I went ahead and purchased it with the very real fear that it might be too brown on me. That's the disadvantage of not having a MAC counter near.  And guys, it's borderline too brown - borderline being the key word.




Even though it's a bit too brown toned for my liking, I still kind of like it. For a Satin finish lipstick, it applied quite well and wasn't dry like my other MAC Satin finish lipsticks: Brave and Rebel. Plus, I thought it made my whole face look warmer - I found it emphasized my freckles, which I liked.

I do kind of think this lipstick would look absolutely fab on a darker skintone/more yellow skintone. My skin is very pink and cool and I have a lot of issues with redness - that's why this lipstick pulls so brown on me. If you look around the interwebs, other beauty bloggers with a darker skintone/yellow skintone look absolutely amazing with this lipstick on. Perhaps I'll feel more comfortable wearing it in the summer, but for now, it's Spice and light lipgloss on top! 

Sidenote: I do realize that it's hard to see what the lipstick looks like with a picture of it just on my lips, so in the future, I'll be working on taking full face pictures to showcase the lippies I review. I figured it might be more helpful for you guys!

Have you gotten anything from the MAC Fashion Set collection? What do you think of MAC's collections lately?