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Saturday, December 31, 2011

NYE!

Get your favourite lipstick, lipgloss or whatever you prefer on and pucker up ladies! I hope you all get to ring in the New Year on a good start! ;)

P.S. Party responsibly and be safe!


xoxo

Jenny

NYX Creme Blush in Natural Photos, Swatches and Review

NYX Creme Blush in Natural Photos, Swatches and Review
NYX Rouge Cream Blush Natural
This NYX creme blush is my first ever cream blush - how exciting! I've always strayed away from cream-based blushes just because of the perception of needing a lot of time and effort to blend the blush and also, I was scared of the fact that it in the blending process, it would "erase" some of my foundation.. So I did not really care for them! Then I decided, why not? This product is relatively cheap and there was nothing to lose. I saw the swatches online and of course, I'm going to play it safe and get a nice, natural shade. Another plus for this blush for me was that it does not have any shimmer or glitter.


This stuff is so pigmented! I go in with my lightest hand and even that could be too much - thus, I usually use this with a brush and ever so slightly, dab it a little. (This product will probably last forever because you need so little!) It is super blend-able so you can really get a nice natural glow. Not only that, I find this lasts all day! If not, you can even go over it with a powder blush but I think that would be a bit too much and it really isn't necessary. For a nice but natural pop of colours on your cheeks, this is perfect.

I am definitely going to try out other shades. I am very impressed with this; long lasting, super pigmented (though there are downsides to this!) and a super nice shade. Thank goodness this did not make me stray away from cream blushes all together! It was my first and definitely won't be my last - of this type and from this brand.


NYX Creme Blush in Natural Photos, Swatches and Review
NYX Rouge Cream Blush Natural
NYX Creme Blush in Natural Photos, Swatches and Review
Different swatch intensities of Natural
XO Nicole

New Year Resolutions


I always try to make New Year resolutions but I never stick to them - it is just so hard to! Every year is the same though, lose weight, be healthier, be more organized, do not procrastinate, cherish each moment .. but you just get caught up in the moment you know? Well, as I get older, I am slowly freaking out as I am terrified of aging so I realize that time is my worst enemy. I have got to stick out my resolutions because they all go to bettering myself and in turn, affecting those around me.

While I am not going to go into making my gigantic list of resolutions, I will mention one thing that is 'blog' related: I am going on a "makeup prohibition". The amount of $$ I've spent this past year on makeup has been insane. Looking back at it all really disgusts me; yes, my love and addiction for makeup is just constantly growing, but as I am getting older, I have to set my priorities straight. In the Fall of next year, I will be beginning my senior year of university and if I want to go to graduate school, and I should mention, in the states (this is significant as international students tuition fees are like a billion times more), I have to start living start and prioritizing things that matter. I understand this is probably the worst thing to happen to a beauty-centered blog ... I might as well just put this thing on hiatus right? Nope. I still have a lot of new makeup (purchased this past year remember?) to review and do swatches up. Until those run out, then this blog will be a ghost town... which should not be totally unusual as it is during the semester and especially exam season..

This is really going to be something. Let's see how it goes - whatever happens, I am determined to stick to my promises and resolutions though. See, I'm prioritizing already! :)

XO Nicole

Friday, December 30, 2011

Urban Decay NAKED Palette & Sephora Lipgloss Haul

I wonder...
This post is honestly really overdue because even though I did get the UD Naked Palette way late than everybody else, like a year later, ie. the mid 2011 (it was not just recently - give me some credit here!). I had to track this down when Sephora still was selling out. Looking at when I took these pictures, it says it was around July that I got the palette.

I know to post this right after NAKED2 has come out..



Anyway, I thought I'd just share the pictures (since I've took pictures of them and tagged them already) to maybe remind everyone how much nicer the first Naked palette packaging is compared to Naked2,

By the way, not to take away from the Naked, but for all my Canadian ladies, "Shoppers & the Shopping Channel should have Naked2 early February"! In the meantime, ... appreciate the original palette!! :)


Oh, and I picked up a coral-y/peachy lipgloss with during the same visit to Sephora.



 XO Nicole

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Physician's Formula Shimmer Sticks (Purple) Photos, Swatches and Review


THE GOOD: They transfer fairly smoothly. The black and the brown shades are good essentials and the purple is available if you want the pop of colour.



THE BAD: The 'shimmer' aspect of this product lacked greatly as there was hardly any shimmer to be seen at all! Really, it just did not even show to exist - you can see from the swatches. I was really disappointed in the black liner mainly because I already own black liners and this one is basically a black eyeliner where you might spot a speck of purple sparkle somewhere once in a while ... if you are lucky.


BASICALLY...: I recommend this to someone who is just starting with makeup and does not own any eyeliners already as this is relatively of good quality for just coloured eyeliners. This is a good "beginners" item as it comes with three eyeliners that complement your eye colour. It will cover the basics!

XO Nicole

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Drugstore Beauty (feat. Soap and Glory, Revlon, Garnier & more..) Photos, Swatches and Review

Most of these items purchased are kind of random because I was mostly running errands today and dropping by places that were on the way.

Anyway, as I mentioned, now that I am free to shop, there will be more haul posts, though I am way past overdue on some reviews and swatches!


Revlon Lip Butters (Creme Brulee, Cotton Candy) - Yes, I finally found the famous Revlon Lip Butters! Well, to be honest, they weren’t hard to find (ie. SDM, Well.ca, Rexall..) but they were still quite expensive for a drugstore lip butter so I kept putting them off until I saw that they were only $7 at Rexall. That is the cheapest I’ve seen them and they were on sale from $9.99. I picked up two, Creme Brulee for me and Cotton Candy for my sister (a stocking stuffer!) - I will do a review post for my creme brulee soon!

Quo Blending Brush - Purchased this as a stocking stuffer as well! I own a few Quo brushes and they are pretty good so I thought this will do. I got this at 40% off so it was only $7.80.

Soap and Glory - Flake Away Spa Body Polish - I got this as a gift as well. It was only sale for $15.99!



Almay Oil Free Makeup Eraser Sticks - I did not know about these until juicystar07 mentioned them and I was on the lookout for them ever since. These are so useful for touchups and especially since my eyeliner keeps smudging, Even though it was quite pricey for 24 q-tips ($3.99 on sale), I am saving this for emergency





Maybelline Color Sensational - Born With It
Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color




XO Nicole

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Hard Candy Fox in a Box in Smooth Talker Photos, Swatches and Review

Hard Candy Fox in a Box in Smooth Talker Photos, Swatches and Review

I purchased this boxed blush because I thought it would be very versatile since it does have four different shades. Also, these shades looked/reminded me a lot of Benefit’s Sugarbomb so naturally, I just had to test it out!

This product is definitely more sheer than Benefit’s Sugarbomb and it is still even more sheer compared with Skinny Dipping.


You can also see from my swatches that the blushes/bronzers are very chalky/powedery as well. If you swirl your blush it in, you will get a lot of powder left inside the box and your brush too. Therefore, if you are wanting to mix all the shades together, I recommend you use gently swirling motions and you will might want to layer the colours on to get a more pigmented deposit.



Hard Candy Fox in a Box in Smooth Talker Photos, Swatches and Review

Hard Candy Fox in a Box in Smooth Talker Photos, Swatches and Review
Swatches of the individual shades, CCW
XO Jenny

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays


Wishing you all a wonderful, love-filled and happy Christmas! 
 
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

XO Nicole

Saturday, December 24, 2011

All I Want For Christmas/About Me in Wish List form

Decoded by Jay-Z
Acoustic Guitar

Crystal Head Vodka

Grey Goose Vodka

Chanel Chance Eau de Parfume

NARS blush in 'Douceur'

Wrist Tattoo

If this says anything about me, I guess I'm a classy, hip-hop loving, alcoholic singer with tattoos who loves to wear makeup.... yup, basically! Hahah ;)

Hope you all get what you asked for this Christmas!

XO Nicole

A 'JUICY' Filled Christmas??

I just realized that I got both my sisters (older and younger) something from Juicy...!  It was totally unintentional. I am personally not a fan of Juicy Couture except for their perfumes so of course, I am more fond of the perfume gift! haha. Anyway, while I am here, and to make this post less pointless, I would like to point out the awesome deals I got for these gifts. The bag was purchased with a 30% sale and an addition $25 off on top of that (this was purchased at a Juicy Couture store). Viva La Juicy was originally $99CAD but I had a gift card/coupon (if you will) from Murale of $40 off a $100 purchase so I got this 100ml baby for only $60 (not including tax) - which is basically the same price as a 50ml bottle. Hey, I'm still in university so snagging good deals, especially on items that rarely go on sale (*ahem, beauty and brand name items) are definitely scores! As long as everyone is happy right? :-)



The SA at Juicy put the bag in such a big box and bag that I didn't even have enough wrapping paper to wrap the darn thing, and since putting it under the tree would just be the biggest giveaway, it is literally hiding under my bed right now, along with my mom's Coach bag present (same scenario as well). i cannot wait for them to open their gifts tomorrow morning!

 
P.S. Since this was the most random thoughts, I do not have good photos of the actual products (but I've included a quick twitpic I took of the bag during my gift wrapping session) - you will probably see them in a future post though once my sister unwraps these gifts but I thought I might as well share this interesting coincidence!

*stock image credit goes to weheartit.com

XO Nicole

Happy Christmas Eve!


XO Nicole

Friday, December 23, 2011

MyFaceCosmetics gilt-y Blingtone Eyeshadow Photos, Swatches and Review


I received this eye shadow from a friend as a gift and decided to review it since 1. This gold looks phenomenal! 2. I don't have anything like this. 3. Christmas and NYE are THE occasions to rock gold eye shadow!

First of all, I have never heard of this brand before and that is only because since researching more on this product to give ya'll some background, I realized it's a UK brand. The company is My Face Cosmetics and they make a wide range of products from lipsticks to foundations.


This eye shadow appropriately in their collection of other glittery eye shadows called BLINGTONE. The eye shadow reviewed here is called gilt-y. All I can say is that it is freaking gorgeous. However, you do need a yellow based eye shadow underneath to really bring out the gold glitter as it does not tend to pack on very well. Nonetheless, I do not own anything like this in my collection so I love the new addition and I will most definitely be using this during the holidays.


The packaging is so simplistic and I love that it showcases the entire eye shadow so you can see exactly what you're getting and what it really looks like.


From the MFC website: http://www.myfacecosmetics.co.uk/blingtones#eyes

XO Nicole

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Bath & Body Works - Christmas Candles Haul


I actually hauled this a while ago - probably early November or late October (so hence the Fall candles), I don't quite remember, but again, because of school, I never got around to posting this blog. I apologize about that since you can't actually find the 4oz Christmas-inspired scents at your local Bath & Body Works anymore - but you can get the 14oz ones (in stores now). I should of course mention that the bag and those mini Christmas candles were a free gift with purchase during a promo they had back when...

Christmas is literally THREE DAYS away and it's about time to take these Christmas themed candles babies out so I thought why not show ya'll since I was about to do a 'what is buring' post anyway! (Rationalizing some relevancy of this post ;)


I love this scent so I bought two! :)

Free Christmas samplers


The Fall Scents
ETA: I literally just went to dig up the candles to get a quick snap (excuse the awful lighting) of the five candles that I will be burning for this holidays because they are a little bit different as I've added a new one to the mix!


Some of the candles seen on this post consists of:

Holiday Gum Drop
Mint Chocolate
Marshmallow Peppermint
Hot Chocolate
Hot Buttered Rum

Leaves
Stress Relief - Eucalyptus Spearmint

XO Nicole

NEW SIGMA BRUSHES

These BRAND NEW Sigma Extravaganza Face Kit are to die for! They are so gorgeous and not only that, the beautiful shiny gold will for sure be the showstopper on your vanity!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

NYX Blushes Haul, Photos, Swatches and Review (Taupe, Raisin, Mauve)


Lately, I've been on a "blush" drought, ie. I haven't been looking forward to applying blush (which is usually my favourite part of my routine). Needless to say, I haven't had a favourite or any blush I've been grativating to. Instead, I've been using whichever blush looks subtle so I don't have to deal with it much.

So what do you do when you're on a blush drought? You buy more blush! Yes, that is exactly what I did. I've been eyeing Tarte's "Exposed" but I'm hoping I'm going to get that in my stocking (for Christmas, hehee). I was watching Michele1218's video and I saw her compare two other blushes with Exposed and I immediately decided I needed all three. So I went to ebay to search for the NYX blush. Since it's fairly inexpensive and a better deal when you buy more than one, I didn't mind picking up three.

These were purchased on eBay; I've purchased multiple blush items from this seller before so I know they're legit and also, they have a huge shade selection.

Mauve, Raisin, Taupe

Mauve
I saw the swatch on Karlasugar and thought it was nice so I threw that in my cart as well. When I received it, it looked so much like another NYX blush, "Angel", that I own! Thankfully, when swatched, it is not as similar. However, it is not as mauve-y as I was expecting/would have liked so I haven't actually been using this as much.

Raisin
This is the one I am most excited about and love the most so far. It's a mauvey purple blush and I love the fact that it can act as a bronzer and blush as one.
 

Taupe
Since the winter is fast approaching and I'm already losing all my colour, I picked up Taupe. I read on MUA that it's matte and good for contouring. I have since been using this over my NYC Sunny bronzer as I find that one to be slightly too orangey for me right now.

Mauve, Raisin, Taupe
Mauve, Raisin, Taupe

XO Nicole