Monday, 25 March 2013

I ♥ Spring Tag

Hey everyone! Spring is just around the corner now (not quite yet for Quebec city though since we had a big snow storm yesterday, bummer) and the temperature is rising. Soon, there will be flowers in bloom and the days will get longer. :) It's super exciting!

In honor of the upcoming season, I decided I would answer missglamorazzi's I ♥ Spring Tag!


The Questions

1. Favorite spring nail polish?

Strawberry Electric by Revlon




2. What is your must-have lip color this spring?

Maybelline Babylips in Grape. Basically it's a sheer berry color.

3. Show us your favorite spring dress!

Don't have one :| I don't really wear dresses on a day to day basis. Besides, it's too cold for dresses around here during the spring anyway.

4. What's your favorite flower?

Hydrangeas :) Especially the blue kind. So pretty :) I also really enjoy the smell of lilac.



5. Favorite spring scarf/accessory?

Loads of arm candy :) I've been waiting all winter to bust them out again since I don't really like to wear them when I'm wearing long sleeves.


My ever growing bracelet stash :)

6. What spring trend(s) are you most excited about this year? (Makeup, fashion or both!)

Beading on clothes and florals.

7. Favorite spring candle?

Cranberry Pear Bellini by Bath & Body Works




8. Favorite body spray/perfume for spring?

Same as for the rest of the year : Jean Paul Gaultier Classique. It smells like vanilla and spices and it's not too strong, it's great any season in my opinion.

9. What is spring like where you live?

It starts quite late. Often around mid-april. It's not very hot  (maybe 10-15 degrees celcius?). The trees start burgeoning again and the snow melts little by little.

10. What's your favorite thing about spring?  

Bright colors, pastels, lace and florals.

11. Are you a spring cleaner?

Not really, but I'd like to be :P

12. Any plans for spring break or an upcoming vacation?

Spring break is already over for me and I didn't do much. I did a lot of blogging. No vacations planned so far for this summer either.

I tag everyone to do it! It's a lot of fun :)

Sunday, 24 March 2013

The Balm Nude Tude Palette Review and Swatches

Today I'm giving you a in depth review of the Nude Tude Palette by The Balm. This palette has received quite a lot of hype by the beauty community on the internet recently so I thought I would let you know if it's really worth all that hype! I bought it a few months back when I was in Vegas and I think I've had enough time to experiment with it to tell you what I think of it.


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Review

The Nude Tude Palette by The Balm is a neutral palette containing 12 matte, shimmery and glittery eyeshadows with fun quirky names. It's an everyday palette comparable to Urban Decay Naked 1 and 2 Palette.

Pigmentation
The pigmentation of all theses shadows is phenomenal. They are very saturated even without a base underneath. The matte colors are very intense as well, which is a bonus since mattes can be a hit or miss sometimes.

Texture 
The shadows are not chalky or powdery. They are buttery smooth and don't have too much fallout.

Wear 
As far as I have noticed, they stay on all day. However, I tend to use primer underneath everytime I wear them so I cannot say how they would last without it.

Application 
The shadows in the Nude Tude Palette glide on the lid and blend very easily when applied. They don't give off a muddy look when blended out. The exception in my opinion is the color Silly. When blending, the glitter goes everywhere and it becomes a bit patchy.

Color selection

I think the variety of colors included by The Balm in this palette is great. You can do all kinds of looks, from natural to smoky going out looks. It lacks a nice matte highlight shade though. I couldn't just use this palette when I travel because of this. There is a nice mix of matte and shimmer and it includes a great matte black color.

My only complaint is that I'm not a fan of the color Snobby. To me it's too yellow to be wearable and I don't really have any use for it.



Packaging 

Look : The Nude Tude Palette's design is very cute looking in my opinion.

Material : It's made out of sturdy, but light cardboard (unlike the flimsy cardboard used in Stila In the Lights Palette).  The main downside of the material is that it will get dirty relatively easily.

Size : It is small enough to travel with and has a magnetic closure to ensure that it won't open in your bag. It's also very thin which is another plus.

Mirror : The best part about the Nude Tude Palette's packaging is, in my opinion, the really big mirror it comes with. It's really convenient when you're on the go.

Included items : It comes with a double ended brush probably of synthetic bristles. One side has an angled brow/liner brush and the other side is a slanted flat brush. While I don't have a use for the flat side of the brush, I love the liner side. It allows me to skip bringing a liner brush with me when I travel. Very handy!


View of the depth and width of the Nude Tude Palette

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Swatches

To know what my favorite colors in the palette are check out my latest beauty favorites.

Note : All shadows are swatched dry using a brush over Urban Decay Primer Potion. 
All pictures are with flash.



Sassy is a frosty opaque white with quite a lot of shimmer.




Stubborn is a shimmery champagne color with a slight pink tone. Great for a subtle inner corner highlight or all over the lid.



Selfish is a super shimmery taupe color with a metallic finish. It looks more silvery in the pan than when swatched. It has a golden sheen to it.



Sophisticated is a deep cool toned brown with noticable brown flecks of shimmer.



Sexy is a matte reddish brown.



Serious is a matte black. It looks like it might have some glitter from the picture, but that's just fallout from the shimmery shadows in the palette.



Snobby is a shimmy and somewhat sheer yellowish gold color.



 Stand off-ish is a frosty champagne color with loads of shimmer. It has a almost metallic finish. In the pan it looks rather pink, but it gives off more of a subtle gold sheen when applied.



Sulty is a matte warm toned brown color. It's good as a transition color or to warm up a look.



Seductive is a burnt gold color in the pan. The finish is metallic and shimmery. When swatched, it is more of a deep yellow gold.



Silly is a deep warm toned brown with loads of noticeable gold glitter. When patted on, the glitter will show up on the lids, however, when blended out the glitter dissipates.



Sleek is very deep, almost black cool toned brown. It's perfect for deepening a look without going for black shadow.


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Overall thoughts : I love this palette! It has a great color selection, the pigmentation is amazing and the texture of the shadows is very smooth. There are only two colors which I wish weren't included in the Nude Tude Palette, but otherwise I think it's a great mix of light and dark shadow options. It's versatile and super practical. I use it all the time!

Overall Score : 9.5/10

Would recommend? Yes!!

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That's all for my review and swatches of the Nude Tude Palette by The Balm. I hoped this post was informative for you all reading this! Please let me know in the comments if you'd like more in-depth reviews like this or if you have any other questions or suggestions :)

Don't forget to become a follower and to like my Facebook page for more reviews like this.
Have a great week everyone! ♥




Saturday, 23 March 2013

Like My Facebook Page!

Hey everyone! Just a little post to let you all know I finally made a Facebook page :)

I've been meaning to do one for a while, but I was a little intimidated. Anyway, I have one now and I would really appreciate it if you all would give a me like! It would totally make my day. <3

My Little Pony Series : AppleJack Inspired Makeup

Today for this installment of my MLP Series, I present : AppleJack! I love AppleJack because she is courageous, determined and confident. She's really cute with her apple cutie marks and her big green eyes. I kind of had a hard time with the color scheme on this one though. Initially I wasn't sure how to incorporate her colors into a makeup. Suprinsingly, I think it works and it looks pretty nice after all. What do you think?


I love that Applejack has pony tails, it's really cute :)

I went for green under the eyes because AppleJack has the prettiest green eyes.

I'm really happy with the apple cutie marks, I think they came out nice!

Close up of the lashes. I'm in love with these :)

It's not that obvious but I did incorporate the brown from her hat into the look. It's in the outer corner, a little bit in the crease and on the outer lower lashline


 Products used :

Base


  • UDPP
  • NYX Jumbo Pencil - Milk

Eyeshadow

  • BH 120 Palette (1st Edition) 
  • Coastal Scents 88 Warm Palette

Liner & Lashes
  • NYX 109 Rebel lashes
  • Maybelline One by One Mascara
  • Wet'n Wild Gel Liner - Black
  • Milani Liquif'eye Eyeliner Pencil - Black
  • NYX Eyeliner pencil in white

Check out other My Little Pony Looks : Rainbow DashTwilight SparkleFluttershyRarityPinkie PieSweetie BelleSpike, Scootaloo, princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon

Don't forget to comment and follow my blog if you enjoyed this! Suggestions? Let me know in the comments :)

My Little Pony Series : Pinkie Pie Inspired Makeup

My MLP series is back today with Pinkie Pie! She's energetic, positive always ready to party or make practical jokes. She represents laughter in the show.

Pinkie Pie! ♥

I felt like doing something a little different with this one, so I represented her curly mane in the crease.

A splash of blue in the inner corners for Pinkie Pie's pretty blue eyes.


 Products used :

Base

  • UDPP
  • NYX Jumbo Pencil - Milk

Eyeshadow
  • BH 120 Palette (1st Edition)
  • Inglot Pink Eyeshadow (don't know the name)

Liner & Lashes
  • Ardell 102 Demi lashes
  • Maybelline One by One Mascara
  • Wet'n Wild Gel Liner - Black
  • NYX Eyeliner pencil in white

The crease art, and outline took ages to make, but I'm quite happy with the results. Definitely not a wearable look, but it was a lot of fun to make! Hope you enjoyed this segment of the My Little Pony Series! ♥ Next up is AppleJack and then I might consider doing Nightmare moon, Spike, etc. Tell me what you think :)

Check out other My Little Pony Looks : Rainbow DashTwilight SparkleFluttershyRarity, Sweetie BelleSpike Applejack, Scootaloo, princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon

Don't forget to follow me and like my Facebook page for more posts like this ♥

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Easy Nail Art : Ombré Nails

I haven't done a nail art post in a while on here! Lately I've been obsessed with gradient/ombré nails. I've been making a few variations of them. They're super easy to make, even a nail art newbie like myself can make them look nice!

Here's a few of my creations (excuse the bad image quality on some of these, I've taken some of them with my phone)

First gradient. Looked better in real life.

Pretty purple gradient. This one also looked better in the flesh. My middle finger is kind of messed up though.


Loved these. They would be perfect for Valentine's day.

My nails for Vegas. Sparkly! ♥

My latest gradient :) Reminds me of a sunset.
I could do a tutorial for these if anyone was interested. Let me know in the comments and I'd be happy to make one. (might make one anyway, even if no one asks :P)

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Beauty Empties n1 : Mini Product Reviews

Hey everyone!

Lately I've been seeing a lot of beauty empties posts around and it has inspired me to do the same! I like the concept because you can give mini reviews for each products you've finished. Once you've gone through a whole product, you can really tell whether of not it's a good product and if you like it, making the review that much more useful for the viewers. Anyway, I've been keeping all my empties since the idea to make my own empty post came to my mind (a few months back I believe). Today, I realized that I have been waiting so long that I have accumulated a lot more than I thought! I guess that means it's time to do my first beauty empties :)

I hope you like these posts! Let me know in the comments if you enjoy these. ♥

* WARNING * This post will most likely be super lengthy since I've amassed so many products to talk about. Hopefully it'll be interesting for you all :|

The first half!
 Pantene Aqua Light Shampoo
Supposed to leave your hair weightless and nourished  I don't feel like it made my hair any lighter than it usually is. Then again, I have a lot of hair and it is usually pretty heavy so maybe it would be more efficient on people with less hair. Anyway, it's a good shampoo and it doesn't leave my hair greasy feeling, but it didn't really do what it's supposed to do for me. Wouldn't repurchase.

Aussie Moist Conditioner
This is my second or third repurchase of this conditioner.  I love the smell and I like how super thick it is. Perfect for my really dry ends. I would definitely repurchase again.

Essential Shampoo - Nuance Airy
This shampoo was fine at first, but towards the end of the huge bottle I feel like it started to not agree with my hair. I started getting acne along my hairline and my hair would get greasy a lot faster than usual. I didn't enjoy the smell either since it's very floral and it's not really my thing. I wouldn't say I disliked the shampoo, but I'm glad it's finally finished (I don't usually tend to buy big shampoo bottles because I get tired my shampoo quite quickly).

Essential Conditioner - Nuance Airy
Unlike the shampoo which didn't impress me very much, I really enjoyed the Essential conditioner  It has a similar scent as the shampoo, but not exactly the same (I preferred it over the shampoo). It's very thick and quite nourishing. I ran out of it super quickly compared to the shampoo.

Thermasilk Conditioner for curly hair
I don't even know why I had this bottle of conditioner  My hair is far from curly and this line has been discontinued for several years. I think my mother had it sitting in a cupboard somewhere and she gave it to me. Nothing special, but I can't really talk since it's not made for my hair type. Plus, the bottle was really old, so maybe it had gone bad?

Colgate Total Tooth Paste
I had never realized how whitening whitening-toothpastes really are until I used this toothpaste. I have always used whitening toothpastes in the past and never really thought much about it. This tooth paste doesn't have a whitening agent in it and I realized  now that I'm using a whitening toothpaste again, that my teeth got a lot whiter since I stopped using it. I don't think I'll repurchase.

Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Gentle Cleanser
This cleanser lasted me for ages! It was nothing special though, in fact it's so gentle that I kind of felt like it didn't do much for my skin at all. I wouldn't repurchase.

Neutrogena Oil Free Moisturizer
Good moisturizer if you want something light and non greasy. It absorbs quickly and it doesn't have much of a scent. It lasts a very long time too and it's not too expensive. I've had two bottles of this and I might repurchase once I run out of the other moisturizers I'm currently using. It would be great for acne prone skin.

Clean & Clear Soothing Eye Makeup Remover
Does the job well, inexpensive, doesn't sting your eyes. It's a pretty good makeup remover and I would definitely repurchase.

Baptise Dry Shampoo
There are two travel sized ones pictured above and a full size in the following picture. I have repurchased this a few times now. I quite like it and it saves my hair when I'm in a pinch. You have to be careful not to over apply otherwise it leaves a grey film in your hair. I'm not a fan of the smell either, but I'm not a fan of the smell of any dry shampoo so far. Would repurchase.

Secret Gel Deodorant - Pretty in Peach
Absolutely love the smell of this. The texture is very nice and it doesn't leave a white film on your clothing since it's gel. Would repurchase.

Clean & Clear Persa Gel 5
I have raved about this spot treatment quite a few times on my blog in the past. It's still my holy grail when it comes to fighting off pesky spots. I've acquired the Persa Gel 10 in the US recently and it has only made me love it even more. It's super effective and gets rid of any spot that I have quickly. Would repurchase.

Softlips Natural Lip Balm
Another product I've mentionned already on here. It's discontinued unfortunately. I've gone through at least 4-5 of these and I still have three backups. I just love this lip balm so much ♥ Not gonna say too much about it since you can't get it anymore.

Maybelline Babylips Lip Balm
This is the culprit of my latest lip balm obsession.  It has launched me into a frenzy of Babylips buying recently  I think I've got all of them now. This one doesn't have a tint, but the texture is lovely and it smells quite nice. My favorites at the moment are Cherry and Grape. Would repurchase.

Blistex Pink Lemonade Lip Balm
I think I mentioned this one also in the past.It's my 2 or third tube. I love the texture and the smell, but the best part is the taste. It tastes exactly how it should : yummy tart pink lemonade. ♥ Would repurchase.

Nivea Whitening Happy Shave Anti-Perspirant
Love the packaging. It's great for travel and doesn't have a chance to melt in your bag. It does its job, but the smell is just average and I didn't really notice any whitening. I have a few backups for travel so I probably won't repurchase any time soon.

Sèche Vite Top Coat
As you can tell, there's quite a bit of product left in there, but it's all solid now. I was pretty bummed about that considering I paid 8 bucks for it. It's not easy to find over here in Quebec City either. Sometimes they have it at Winners, but you can't really count on it. I loved it while it lasted though. It made my nails super shiny and glossy. What I found though is that it applies very thick, which is why I went through the bottle very fast. I also sometimes made my nail art bleed (especially dark colors). Finally I didn't think it dried that quickly in comparison with other top coat I have tried. I liked it, but it's not quite a holy grail product for me. Might repurchase.

L'Oréal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Liner - Carbon Black
Adored this liner. Pretty much the only liquid liner I am able to work with. It's very dark and not too glossy. It doesn't flake off or run. My only issue with this is how expensive it is (12$ CAD), hence the reason I haven't repurchased it yet. Would repurchase eventually.

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara
I haven't finished this one officially since it dried up, but I'll count it anyway :P I liked it quite a lot. It's been a while since it's been dry though so I can't remember how much I liked it in comparison to my current favorites (Colossal and Clump Crusher). It wasn't so great when it started to first dry out though. Would probably repurchase.

Phew! This post is already super long and I'm not even done yet. If you're reading this, thanks for hanging in there ;)


Even more empties!
I should have done this sooner. Now this post is waaay too long! :( I'm glad I get to thrash all of these empties though. I've been hauling all this trash for a few months now lol.

Softsoap Creamy Milk Protein & Honey Body Wash
Just a regular yummy smelling body wash. Not particularly moisturizing, but it does the job and foams up nicely. Would repurchase.

Bath & Body Works Anti Bacterial Hand Soap
I finished a few of their Halloween themed soaps. I liked that it came out as a foam and that the packaging is super cute. I enjoyed all three scents, but, my least favorite was the Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin since it was a bit sickly sweet for my taste for a hand soap (since the smell does linger on your hands for a while). I thought these were a bit drying though, I might try the  moisturizing hand soaps next time. Would repurchase, but not this formula.

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes
I've heard a few beauty gurus on Youtube saying they like these. For some reason I didn't like them. I'm not sure what it is about them that other people like, but it's one of my least favorite wipes so far. It's too dry and abrasive for my skin and it cannot take my eye makeup off unless I scrub like crazy. Wasn't too fond of the way it left my skin feeling afterwards. Would not repurchase.

Equate Facial Cleansing Towelettes
These are my favorite makeup wipes. I think I have mentionned them a few times. I have a plastic container which I refill with these white packs. I think I have gone through at least 6 packs of these (and they contain 60 wipes, unlike other makeup up wipes brands which usually have 30 in them). I love everything about them. First off, the price is amazing (10$ for two 60 packs - incredibly low if you consider other brands sell them for 7-10$ for 30). They are also very soft ( they have a light quilting which helps remove all of my face makeup), and quite saturated. I can use them to remove my eye makeup and it doesn't irritate my eyes. Would repurchase over and over again.

Well that's it for this ridiculously never ending post. Hope you enjoyed this if you're still here :) Good end of the week everyone! ♥

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