N U D E

I've surprisingly stepped away from the bold lipsticks and into the nudes. I can't pin point where or why I decided to buy a nude lipstick but I do know that it was time for a change in my makeup routine. The Sephora Matte Lip Cream has a peachy undertone and MAC's Matte finish lipstick in YASH has more of a pale brown color to it, both lipsticks suit my skin tone quite well, I must say. I guess we shall see how long this phase lasts for, I know that dark red is eager to come out this Fall.

S U N D A Y

The calm before the storm, a weekend to relax before the hectic uni days take over. I can already imagine the large amounts of homework and the withering of my social life. I took it easy today, did all the little bits that will hopefully make my week go smoother.
After such a hectic summer, I spent my last Sunday washing the makeup from the several wedding events off my brushes. I painted my acrylic nails with the color "First Date" by L'Oreal, fixed up my vanity, sharpened my nude lip liners by Annabelle that I'm addicted too. I assembled my outfits for this week to save me the hassle that would happen in the A.M., thew on a Rose sleeping mask from Sephora to somewhat replenish my skin and unwound by reading a few pages of #GIRLBOSS.


This is also a good jam you should listen too

The bags under my eyes aren't Prada no more.

Lets be honest, we've all probably had that moment when we realize that our drugstore favorites just don't work like the real deal stuff does. I have officially retired my Hard Candy concealers for this shiny new glory.

I love NARS, I think I can say it's my favorite makeup brand & I held off buying this even though all the blogger & vlogger reviews were great because I just couldn't justify the price. Which kinda doesn't make sense because I have no problem buying a NARS blush...The point is, I finally gave in and purchased the Creamy Radiant Concealer in the color Ginger/Medium 2.

I've only used this a couple time but I can already tell you that I love it. It doesn't crease and it doesn't look heavy on the skin. I think the translucent powder from NARS would pair nicely with this. Maybe that will be my next splurge after I finish my Bare Minerals translucent powder.

The naked truth

Annabelle Lipliner in Spice, Cinnabar & Demure
Remmel Lasting Finish in Driving me Nude
Remmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 08
Bite Lipstick in Lychee and Musk
MAC Satin Lipstick in Verve 

When I first began to wear lipstick I was never a Nude lover. I thought, whats the point of wearing a plain jane lipstick? A couple years later and I have converted (not completely).. I do prefer to wear a brighter red or pink but throwing a brown or nude in every once in a while is perfectly fine. In the photos above are the only nude lip products I own.
My favorites are the Bite lipstick, though it's not matte I love how it looks over my Annabelle lipliners. I also Love the color Verve by MAC. It's basically the perfect brown shade for me. I could do without the Remmel products but they were a cheap addition to the collection for me to experiment with what formulas I found best.

What is your favorite Nude lip product?

Post-Canada Day and #ootd

Hello friends, if you care at all, I live in the land of which they call Canada. And on July 1st I spend the day celebrating Canada day with my gal Ruhina a.k.a. laruehina.wordpress.com

Here is what I wore...

Top, Zara; Bottoms, Talula Leggings; Sandals, XXI; Bag, Coach; Sunnies, XXI

The usual.

We've kind of had a Canada day tradition for about 4 or 5 years now. We meet up at Rue's hang for a bit, go to 7/11 and stock up on candy, ice cream, sometimes we get coffee. Then we watch the mediocre fireworks that happen close by. We never really faffed around with going to the fancy ones downtown, we are simple people, and I mean...Fireworks are fireworks. We also tried to film a June Favorites video...Oh the laughs, I'm not sure if it will ever be seen but it was a new memory that I'm lucky to share with her. 

I took a few pictures from our evening, and the tradition lives on. 

She is wearing the Red Sephora Cream Lip Stain, and I am wearing Ruby Woo by MAC

Here we have the 7/11 candy stash

Just felt artsy to be honest.

Original but still so magical

How vampy is too vampy..

This is the Sephora brand Lip Cream Stain in 07. I really wish I knew the name of it. It probably says somewhere on the website but anyhow, it's pretty amazing!

I've been looking at buying a really dark purple lipstick for a very long time and after running out of luck drugstore after drugstore, I decided to go to Sephora.... I guess it's a very weird thing to be looking for a dark purple lipstick in the Summer, because there was nothing but this one cream stain that came close to what I was looking for. 

So what I was looking for was just a dark purple matte lipstick, and what I bought was a dark purple-reddish-bronze slightly metallic semi-cream lip stain.

It works alright, I HATE that it comes with a doe foot applicator. How am I or anyone supposed to make a precise outline for my lips with a fuzzy little applicator- So I line my lips with a lip liner for a guide. This product also doesn't stain my lips. It's more of a really stay put cream because it will come off on a glass or wipe off on skin or clothes- So I blot it like I would if it were a lipstick

Overall, I like it, maybe like a 7/10. The color is growing on me. It kind of changes color in different lights, I guess that's the metallic being put into action.

What's your favorite stain lip brand & color? 

So many outfits, such little time

Lips, bite's Lychee; top, Ralph Lauren; shorts, Sewn my me (in 2012 I believe)

Review: Ciate Sequin Manicure Kit

I recently tried out the Ciate Sequin Nail Manicure that I received as a birthday present. It comes with a pot of glitter sequins, a brush to remove excess sequins and the top coat/glue. So basically it turned out better then I had expected, thought I do need to perfect my technique because there was SUCH a crazy amount of glitter on my nails. It lasted for about 5 days before I saw major chipping, which is really really good! There are so many types of designs and ways to use these sequins (using a few or making cool shapes).

You could easily go to Micheals or any other craft store and purchase more glitter/sequins or what ever pleases you, and go to the drugstore and buy a super awesome topcoat and get the same effect for possibily a cheaper price. I'll possibly be purchasing different glitters and textures to do a similar look so keep your eyes pealed for that!

Have you ever tried anything like this with your nails? If so, how did you do it?!

Review: fresh Sugar Lip Balms

Best lip balms ever? I think so! Being a Sephora beauty insider there are special perks such as getting certain sample/mini products when you reach 100 points, 500 points or on your birthday. This year I received a fresh Sugar lips lip balm minis! They are so cute and tiny! They are also so smooth and buttery! Around the holiday season they had a gift set or 2 but a full size for one of these is 26$ Canadian. Quite expensive for a lip balm, I know! They do last quite a long time, and although you could find other alternatives such as a Burts Bee's tints lip balm or a Baby lips chapstick the quality would not compare. They  have 7 types of Lip care treatment balm that you can have a look at here. Most of their other products are sold at Sephora, but if you have a Beauty Insider card and its close to your birthday or it just passed, I would highly recommend you go to Sephora to pick up your little gift! 

Have you tried any of the fresh products? What did you think about them?!

Review: Benefit They're Real Mascara

Benefit's latest mascara, "They're Real!" was introduced in Fall 2012. I was sceptical to try this mascara because a couple years ago I had tried the "Big Fatty Mascara" and I was not a hug fan of it. After hearing Youtubers such as Tiffany D rave about this mascara I knew I had to try it out. When I had purchased my Sephora Mascara Sampler in December this was one on the mascaras included, and I’m happy to say this product IS worth its hype!

It not only lengthens my lashes but give tons of volume!  You can get up to 2 coats without it looking clumpy, the staying power is amazing and it’s not super difficult to take off. The wand is plastic and the spikes wrap around the whole want, including the tip (look closely at the photo bellow). I definitely give this mascara an 8/10. Why not 10? I have a personal preference of non-plastic wands and I also like more lengthening mascara opposed to volumizing. I still think this mascara is pretty amazing and would totally purchase the full size!

Left eyelashes with They're Real Mascara, Right eyelashes are my natural lashes!

Note: In the pictures above I did not use an eyelash curler

Have you guys tried this mascara or any other from Benefit? What did you think?

Naked Basics First Impression

SO, I did it. I bought it! I was debating whether to get the Naked 2 or Basics. I ended up buying this one because, A. I still have plenty of my warm shimmery Naked palette left and B. The basics was cheaper. Now, you could probably go to another (million) blogs with amazing lighting and swatches but here are my horrid swatches anyways :)

The 1st thing I really really like how I don't own any of these colors! Haha All the colors are smooth and velvety, almost like butter. Seriously amazing quality guys! The color I will probably get the most wear out of i'm guessing would be Tease. It's similar to Buck from the original Naked palette but a bit cooler. This palette in general, and in my opinion are cooler tones just as the Naked 2 are. I still love all these colors regardless of warm or cool tones.

I believe this palette was 32$ (Canadian of course) And I think it was a total bang for my buck! (Get it? Buck? like the color I like the most? Harharhar) Especially since I love any Matte finish makeup.

Do you think it's work the money to buy the Basics if you have the original or the 2nd? What do you think about it in general?

Boxing Day Haul

Every year me and my sister have a boxing day tradition. I can see how a lot of people hate boxing day but me and my sister have always liked it and although there aren't any amazing deals its still just fun to wake up early and spend all your Christmas money :) Here's what I got!

1. Green zip up hoodie from H&M

2. Jean button up shirt from H&M

3. Nail polish in "Summer Peach" from American Apparel 

4. NAKED Basics palette from Sephora

5. Pink lipstick from Forever 21

6. London/Paris/New York thin sweater from Forever 21

7. Cotton half button black blouse from Forever 21 

8. "Totally Talula" top from Aritzia

9. Talula Manhattan legginings from Aritzia

Light Blue

The other day my sister received a fragrance from one of her friends. It was a roller/spray of Dolce & Gabbana's Light blue. I've heard a couple Youtubers talk about this fragrance but I never picked it up to smell my self. When my sister showed it to me and sprayed it on my wrist the scent was magical. My favorite perfume every has been LOLA by Marc Jacobs but ever since I've smelled this my mind has changed. It stayed on my wrist all night long, I was impressed since it is an Eau de toilette! And since I am terrible at describing scents here is what Sephora.com said:

A stunning perfume, overwhelming and irresistible like the joy of living. Surprising and colored: the liveliness of Sicilian citron, the happiness of Granny Smith apple, the spontaneity of bluebells. Feminine and resolute: the intensity of jasmine, the freshness of bamboo, the charm of white rose. Deep and true: the character of cedarwood, the fullness of amber, the embrace of musk.

Notes:
Sicilian Citron, Bluebell, Granny Smith Apple, Jasmine Sambac, Bamboo, White Rose, Cedarwood, Amber, Musk.Style:deep and true

Whats your favorite fragrance?