Beauty and scents Haul

I'm back with another haul! This time with some Elf, Revlon, Organix and Bath and Body Works!

I'm sorry I have been neglecting my blog lately, but school has kept me busy! (In fact I'm kind of still behind on studying, there is so much to learn). Hopefully I will find more time to post from now on, since I'm getting somewhat used to the rythym at this point.

First up is the Bath and Body Works stuff. That's where I got most of what I bought today. Like I mentionned in my last Bath and Body Works Haul, I got a coupon last time for twenty percent off your whole purchase, so I got  all kinds of goodies.

I ended up picking up mostly fall themed things, and only one Halloween soap. I wanted more Halloween things, but somehow once I got there, the autumn scents were more appealing to me. Here is what I got :

Cute little fox wallflower

The scents I got for the wallflower : tried and true salty caramel and mint chocolate and pumkin caramel latte which I've never tried yet. Salty caramel is plugged right now and it smells so good!

The only Halloween item I got : sweet cinnamon pumkin! The scent is subtle, the soap foamy and the bottle super cute, I love it!

Two small candles : oatmeal raisin cookie and hot chocolate! (hot chocolate is very true to its name, love chocolate scents :D)

 I also got shampoo and conditionner which I have been looking for forever! It's made with argan oil, is parabens, sulfate and cruelty free1 It's by Organix and and I cannot wait to try it out! Anyone has tried it? Tell me what you think about it if you have ^^

 I also got a nail polish at the drugstore (it was more than half off!) This is a repurchase, I loved this nail polish so much the first time that I had to get it again once it dried off. The color is amazing :D

Finally, last but not least, I got this Elf lip palette at Winners! Now I got tons of colors to use for looks :) I working on a celebrity inspired look which I'll post as soon as I get it right.

That's all! Would you try any of these products? Tell me what you think!

Fashion Haul + dress dilemma

Apparently, my university program hosts many parties where you need to dress up (wine and cheeses, official ceremonies, conventions, etc.). Since I don't own anything dressy, I decided to go shopping for a dress today (which turned out to be dresses :D)


I chose to go to Winners because I can always find a bargain and they have a great beauty section! Ever since I started school, I had so many things to pay for that I'm glad I was able to find these for cheap. I got two dresses, some dry shampoo and a Wet n Wild kit (only 6$ for all of it! such an awesome deal) and opaque tights.

Now I have a dilemma, I have a ceremony coming up next week in which we will officially receive our lab coats. Apparently there will be 600 people in attendance, the organizers told us to dress up. I bought two dresses so I have two outfits to choose from.

This one is very flattering and girly. I love the shape and the lace, but I'm concerned that it might be a little too much for the occasion (I hate feeling overdressed!). I have to admit that the opaque tights and the booties make  the dress a little more wearable though. Another thing I'm concerned about with this one is that it is light and short sleeved. It's already really cold out here and I don't want to wear a cover up all night!

This dress cost me 50$, awesome deal :D

Please ignore the awkward posing :P It always happens when someone points a camera at me!

This dress is more edgy than the first. It's super comfy and I love the long sleeves. The dress in itself is very warm so I would be sure not to be cold during the evening. It is however, somewhat less flattering that the first one on me, so I'm unsure whether I should chose it to walk on a stage in front of a bunch of people!

This dress was 40$, it's by the same brand than the other one! I only realized once I got home. I guess I love their stuff :P

Anyway what do you guys think? Which dress should I chose?

I also put this nail polish on tonight, I think it complements both dresses! It's Revlon's midnight affair. I love how it almost looks black from afar, but it has subtle blue glitter in it.

BH Cosmetics 120 Eye Shadow Palette 1st Edition Review and Swatches

I've been using my BH palette for a couple months now and I believe I know the palettes and colors/finshes well enough to review it thouroughly.

First, I want to say that I really enjoy this palette and that the multitude of colors and finishes as well as the possibilities that it offers far outweigh, in my opinion, some of its flaws. This is to say that this palette isn't perfect (which you wouldn't expect it to be, since it's only about 30$), but for the price, the quality is definitely very good.

Ever since I got the palette, it inspired me to do tons of colorful looks. I have included some of my favorites along the review to help everyone visualise the kind of looks that are possible with this palette.

I would say that the two most important aspects to consider when buying this palette is pigmentation and texture. The main issue I have found is the pigmentation of many of the matte shadows in the palette. They tend to barely show up unless used over an eyeshadow base or primer (even then, some of the colors are still quite sheer). It is not uncommon with inexpensive matte eyeshadows however, and most of the colors can be used over a colored base for a better intensity.

On the other hand, I have had no issues with the pigmentation of shimmery, metallic and glittery eyeshadows, which all give great pigmentation (the results will of course be amplified over a base, which I recommend using anyway, since it helps the shadow stick and in the case of primers, will keep it from creasing).

Another slight issue with the palette is the chalkiness of some of the colors. Many shades have quite a bit of fallout, which isn't too hard to deal with, but something to consider nonetheless.

That is all the negative I have to say about the palette. Everything else is great. The color selection is mind blowing! With this palette you have every color of the rainbow, enough to make pretty much any colorful look you could think of. There are even a couple neutral shades such as gold, bronze, brown, white and black to smoke out looks or for natural crease and highlight colors. I don't think I will need much more than these eyeshadows in terms of colors any time soon.

The quantity of product for the price is also very impressive. You get 120 shadows that are about the size of a dime for a little less than 30$. That's around 25 cents per eyeshadow! An incredible find for anyone on a budget like me. The palettes are very often on sale too and you can get them for as low as 22-23$ sometimes. Now obviously the shadows are pretty small, but they last quite some time (and since there are so many, you never quite use the same ones, which also lenghtens the longevity of the palette).

As far as shipping goes, I always pay a bunch of money for it, since to get items here in Canada, shops from the US pretty much add a hefty 17$ to your shipping bill as soon as you mention your location (and Montreal is only about 1h30 from the border XD) even for tiny orders. I split the shipping for two palettes with a friend which was more reasonnable. The good side however is that the delivery was quick and that the product was very well packaged when it arrived (many layers of bubble wrap). All the shadows were intact, which I was very relieved about!

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this palette for makeup beginners, or people that want to expand their collection. The quality is great for the price and I use it all the time. However, if you are used to high end shadows, you will definitely see some of its flaws. I personnally think it is worth the money though and I would definitely repurchase, I'm very happy with it!

Here are swatches of the whole palette. Keep in mind that this is swatched over Milk jumbo pencil (my only base at the moment -_- my UDPP ran out ages ago and I can't afford a new one!), since I wouldn't recommend using them without any kind of base underneath anyway!

From the first row up going down these are the swatches :

These swatched pretty sheer as you can tell. Love the 3rd one from the second row though!

More blues

Beautiful green shades, including yellowy ones.

The palette has an endless supply of greens XD

I love the first one from the second row! Isn't it intense? This one is also great with nothing underneath :D

Oranges! Cannot wait to use these for Halloween next month.

Blacks and whites, essential to most looks.

Pretty metallics! Some of my favorites of the palette.

These matte purples are great! Love pretty much all the purples of the palette :)

Look at that crazy hot pink! It's almost neon it's so bight (warning, it stains your eyelids, yep :S Love it anyway)

A real red shade! So rare in palettes (this one also stains, hence the rarity of the color). Tons of pretty pinks as well.

No palette would be complete without a couple earthy/neutral shades! Can make any look more wearable :)

Update : University initiations and first week of school

I haven't posted in a while! I cannot say that I will be able to start posting more from now on, but I will try! Since school has started things have been completly hectic and I have barely had time to myself, let alone write, but since I've had such a busy week I thought I would share some of it!

Just before this week started, last weekend, we decided to go to Montreal to pay our friends and family a visit for the first time since we moved here in early august.

We only stayed over one night because we couldn't leave our cats home alone very long, but we still managed to do a couple fun things. Most of the first we spent there was used to shop for my university initiation costume (which was kind of elaborate...still debating if I'm posting a picture or not below, should I?) We also went for lunch at my favorite all you can eat sushi Kanda :D

Then, on that evening, we decided to try out one of Montreal's famous medieval inspired restaurants : L'auberge du Dragon Rouge. The concept is that there are waiter and entertainers which are dressed as medieval characters and act/serve you with the speech and manner of the epoch. The ambiance is extremely lively and quite loud. Since we didn't have a reservation, we chose to eat outside  where you are not part of the direct entertainment, but you still get in-character waiters which was fun. I had a veal burger, while Mathieu and our friends chose boar ribs and stew! Great night overall!

The next day, we went to restock some goodies in chinatown and ate at Sumo Ramen for lunch. I had the unagi which was super tasty :) For dinner we joined Mathieu's dad and his girlfriend for a great meal in a french Bistro. I had boeuf Bourgignon and raspberry sorbet. It was a really fun evening!

After that, we came back to Quebec City by bus to make the finishing touches on our costume for the initiations.

This week consisted of a full initiation day, three nights out in a row (two in bars which we attended, and one in a sugar shack) as well as full days of classes pretty much everyday, but monday. I have already got tons to review and memorise!

I can tell this is going to be a busy four years! I'm really excited for it.

Here a some pictures of the week's festivities :)

I also forgot to mention, I bought some great suede booties! They're my first heels in forever, gotta get used to them, but they look great on!