Archive for category: Beauty/Fashion

Break Up Crazy Haul

So … if you’ve been reading my Twitter the past few days, you’d know my boyfriend of nearly four years and I broke up. Devastated (you have no idea), I went to do some retail therapy. I mean, it is what it is; can’t mope forever. Don’t worry I wasn’t too crazy with my money. My awesome mom gave me some “pity money” to spend because I looked so sad, haha (I feel great now, don’t worry, no longer a miserable little thing).

(I also quit playing World of Warcraft because, well, he plays it … and we were in the same guild where 70% of the members are his real life friends, so … yeah).

This is over the course of 3 days (I didn’t buy it all at once). Three heartbreaking days … but I’m slowly bouncing back :)

1. Of course I will start with the lipsticks. As you can see, my collection has another four lipsticks in a very short time. From left to right: MAC’s Creme Cup (cremesheen); MAC’s Ravishing (lustre, I think … funny story, the saleslady actually gave me Crosswires -__- I had to go back the next day and return it for the lipstick I wanted!); Lancome’s Lily Rose or No. 308 (limited edition! As a result … super pricey. Thanks mom!); and Make Up For Ever’s No. 38. If I were to describe what it looks like on the lips because the colours in the picture may be slightly off, Creme Cup is a natural dusty pink colour, Ravishing is a vibrant coral, Lily Rose is a natural light pink and MUFE’s No. 38 is a bright pink (but not too crazy or neon).

2. My sister and I chipped in together to buy this mask cream thing from Lancome as well. Because ….

3. Lancome was giving free gifts if you buy 2 items, one of which must be a skin care product. I should have picked an eye make up remover (for the cheapness factor), but the lady talked the two of us into the expensive mask cream. I slightly regret it, since the limited edition lipstick was so expensive (it cost more than my YSL lipstick!), but the free gifts were pretty cool. I only have the lip gloss and the sample size Genifique serum showing in the photo because I decided my sister can have the mini foundation, mascara and make up bag. I have heard AMAZING things about the Genifique serum and am excited to give it a whirl. Unfortunately it’s VERY expensive (see prices on website), so this is probably the only time I’m going to use it (unless it turns out to be just so jaw dropping amazing that I must have it, hahaha).

4. Kat Von D liquid eyeliner pen in Trooper. I don’t know why, but everytime I buy Revlon’s liquid eyeliners, they go from being a rich dark liquid to a watery mess after only a few uses! And I store it only in my bedroom, so I don’t know what went wrong. It does this EVERY time, I’ve gone through like four of those Revlon liquid liners. Frustrated, I decided to try out this pen liner from Kat Von D, since one of my favourite make up gurus on Youtube use it as well.

5. There’s this little cart in the mall that I think is new or something, and all they sell is fake eyelashes! They had sooo many and I thought it was a really good price. At the drugstore, when I see Revlon or NYC fake lashes, they usually cost around $5 for one set. MUFE sells their’s for a whopping $15 for one set! These (Luxe) ones are 3 for $12, or $4 each, so I thought that was a good price. Plus, they give you a little card where you can get a stamp every time you buy a box. After 9 boxes, you can choose a free box! Oh, and of course, got some eyelash glue to go with it.

6. Half price Hello Kitty earrings. I thought they were cute, haha! It’s three Hello Kitty silhouette things stacked up on one another! I also got a pair of (fake) diamond studs at the same shop for only $1.50, but I didn’t show them in the picture because I was wearing them when I took this picture, haha. But I’m sure you can imagine what a pair of (fake) diamond studs would look like.

ANNDD I totally forgot to show it, but I also got two L.A. COLORS nailpolishes. One in a bronze colour and the other in a hot pink. I found them for sale in this clothing shop I usually frequent, but they never used to sell make up. They’re now selling L.A. COLORS products and E.L.F. lipglosses :O How strange! I usually totally brush off make up that’s sold in clothing stores ’cause, well, they’re usually either brandless or the “store brand” and … well, they usually suck. But L.A. COLORS and E.L.F. are legit brands, so I was surprised.

Ok, that’s all :) Probably shouldn’t spend money for a while …

March 5, 2011 4 comments

NYX Lipsticks: First Impressions

My NYX lipsticks finally came in the mail! Argh, took about 3.5 weeks … I hate ordering things from the States, takes forever for the stuff to pass through customs. When I order things from Canadian sites (ex. Amazon.ca) I only have to wait one week. Well, I guess it could be worse. It came with a free lip balm though! Which smells like bubble gum. Which is awesome. I’m using it right now, its kept my lips soft for the past 4 hours now and no hint of drying out any time soon :)

Anyway, these are the five lipsticks I ordered from Cherryculture.com. They’re from the regular round label line of lipsticks. The above image I shot with my digital camera is pretty accurate to what they really look like in the tube. Compare with the online images NYX and Cherryculture provide:

Sorry, the order of the lipsticks are out of order, but you can see a fairly large difference, especially in Tea Rose and Thalia.

General Thoughts: Firstly, I like the packaging although I do wish they put the lipstick colour name on the bottom of the lipstick rather than on top of the lid. When I took off all the caps to shoot that picture, I was afraid I’d mix up the lids! I guess normally you wouldn’t take off all the lids on your lipsticks, but … I did … hehe. Also, those barcode stickers are hard to rip off … I just left them because when I tried, I could see it was going to leave a sticky spot on the lid. Ick.

Secondly, these lipsticks are quite creamy, which makes them easy to apply. However, it also means it easily smudges and whatnot. Obviously I haven’t tried wearing the lipsticks yet for a long period of time (hence, first impressions post!), so I can’t comment on whether they are long lasting or not. I did, however, briefly test each colour on my lips to see what they look like. Never judge a lipstick by the colour in the tube!

Circe: This is my biggest lipstick disappointment out of the five. It came off as a tannish-yellowish colour. I remember watching Youtube videos and people commenting on it being a great nude colour. However, I think because I have Asian skin or something, it just didn’t seem that great on me. I stood far away from the mirror and I guess it sort of looks good on me from far away, haha. But I don’t know, my first impression wasn’t really a happy one. I’ll give it another go another time.

Pumpkin Pie: It’s a cute peach colour that I feel is very wearable, for an everyday look if you like. I have a lot of peach-coloured lipsticks already so this one didn’t stand out very much as a unique colour, but I do think it’s nice and I will definitely be using it a lot.

Tea Rose: Probably my most favourite one out of the five I purchased. It’s a dusty pink colour (to me) that can easily be used as an every day colour. It comes off as a very natural colour on your lips. Really love this one.

Thalia: NYX’s most famous lipstick colour, from what I gather. Um, I mainly bought it just to have it, I guess (hey it was only $2, I’m not sore over it!) A lot of people love this colour, so I thought maybe I would too, but I think I should have heeded the implied warning when I watched a Youtube review on this, haha. The reviewer was an Asian girl who said the brown undertones of the lipstick simply didn’t suit her skintone. Yeah, I should have listened. This is quite dark on me, and basically, just doesn’t look good on me =( Ah well.

Harmonica: I wanted a very light pink colour, and I did get that, however, I didn’t quite realize how frosty this lipstick colour is! But I think as long as you don’t apply it thickly, it can work out okay. Saving this lipstick for parties and going out, haha. Definitely not an everyday colour.

So, yeah! These are my first impressions! Maybe I’ll purchase some more in the future, because overall, I do like these lipsticks and for the price I paid, I’m quite impressed with the quality. It’s just unfortunate I got some colours that don’t suit me, but hey, that’s what happens when you buy make up over the Internet. Let me know if you have any NYX colours to recommend!

February 28, 2011 0 comments

Shopping: YSL & Make Up Forever Lippies

My sister and I went shopping today; she needed to buy a new foundation. We went to downtown’s The Bay, and it’s probably my first time in the cosmetics department of that particular Bay store. I love it! So big and more room to move around in than Sephora. And they had a lot more make up brands, at least, upscale ones. Though it kind of bugs me how the salespeople are … overly friendly. Oh well, can’t win them all.

I ended up buying something as well, because I’ve got such little willpower. But it’s okay, I was using the money I got for Chinese New Year, so it’s not like it’s really my money. Ah, rationalization … Hahaha. I got something I’ve always wanted: a Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte lipstick. I fell in love with this line of lipsticks ever since I saw them on cl2425‘s lipstick collection videos. I got myself YSL Rouge Volupte in No. 1. I asked for No. 2 but it was sold out, however, No. 1 is not that different from No. 2, so I didn’t mind No. 1. It’s so creamy and beautiful on my lips! It’s a light pink colour when applied on the lips. And the packaging is simply exquisite. Of course, now the problem is, because it was rather pricey, I don’t want to use it too often ’cause I don’t want it to run out! (I also got a bunch of YSL perfume samples when I bought the lipstick, hehe!)

And then the two of us went to Sephora (after running around the mall a bit and devouring some food in the food court). I still had money left on the Christmas gift card from my boyfriend. I had used most of it on a NARS lipstick I bought a while ago, but had about $16 left. My sister wanted me to buy an eyeshadow palette from Tarte, or the Sodashop palette from tokidoki, because, in her words, “You have too many lipsticks” (no I don’t!) However, if I bought the eyeshadow palettes, I would have to to pay $30-$40 of my own money because the gift card won’t cover it all. And that’s more than I was willing to spend considering I had just bought the YSL lipstick. So I ended up choosing a lipstick from Make Up Forever’s lipstick line. They’re $22 each, so my gift card covered most of the cost :)

The colour I chose was No. 30 (Make Up Forever doesn’t give their lipstick colours names) and when I swatched it on my hand, it seemed a little dark, but my sister insisted I should just get that one, so I did. I’m really happy with it though. I tried it on my lips when I got home. It’s a beautiful dusty pink colour, a little bit darkish, I think, but still very natural looking. It looks nearly exactly the same as it appears in the tube. One thing I really like about Make Up Forever’s lipsticks is that they are very pigmented. Some lipstick brands are quite sheer when you put them on and you have to build them up, but not these ones. You can apply it in one swipe if you do it right!

Anyway, that’s all. I try not to make a post every time I buy a new piece of make-up, but I’m just really happy with these purchases so I thought I’d share. (P.S. My sister did end up buying her foundation, also from Make Up Forever. She loves it, but is also a little unhappy because it was quite expensive).

February 15, 2011 0 comments

Online Shopping: NYX Lipsticks

I have a confession to make: I am addicted to lipsticks.

I just freaking love lipsticks. I don’t know why. I never used to like lipsticks all that much. I was more of a eyeliner/eyeshadow person. The only product I’d put on my lips was lip balm … maybe some gloss. But for the past few months, I have fallen in love with lipsticks and my “stash”, which started with one measly MAC lipstick, has now grown to 20 lipsticks in 3 months … which is scary for me, haha.

And I swear someone up there is egging me on, because I was happily browsing Youtube for lipsticks I could buy from Sephora because I still haven’t used my $50 gift card my boyfriend got for me, when I stumbled upon NYX and Cherryculture.com. When you are on a lipstick high, the two DO NOT MIX TOGETHER! After doing some “intense” research, it’s become apparent that NYX has some really great lipsticks and oh my, Cherryculture.com is having them on sale for a mere $2.50 each and … my credit card was so close … the rest is history. NYX is not sold in Canada as far as I know, so this is my first time hearing about it and online is the only way I can get it.

Above are the five lipsticks I bought. What you must know is that the colours shown on the NYX website and the Cherryculture.com website are WRONG. Seriously, go on Youtube and look at the REAL colours. I’m glad I “research” into the product before purchasing, otherwise I wouldn’t have known that the websites (even the official one!) have such wrong colours.

Harmonica is a light, pale pink.
Pumpkin Pie is a light peachy/orangey colour
Tea Rose is a pretty pink/red colour (more pink than red)
Thalia is one of NYX’s most famous and popular colours and is a pink colour with purple undertones I believe
Circe is a slightly dark peach/beige colour (the online swatches are just … wrong)

I really wanted Strawberry Milk too, which is a creamy looking light pink and apparently quite popular, but unfortunately CherryCulture.com is sold out of it =( But anyway, five lipsticks for $12.50 is pretty sweet.

I hope the NYX lipsticks prove to be as awesome as people made it sound on Youtube. When they arrive, I’ll do another post to show just how different the real colours are from the online swatches :O And of course, let you know what I think about them.

February 8, 2011 7 comments

Review Of That ELF Stuff That Took Forever To Arrive

A few posts ago, I wrote about my experience ordering from ELF. As an update, I received an e-mail back from them stating that the three items that weren’t sent are actually out of order and I was not charged for them (and if I was, they will refund it). Okay … but why wasn’t I informed about this? Why did nobody tell me until I received my package, noticed the missing stuff and asked about it? I mean, they had five weeks to tell me …

Anyway, the ordering process has been a major hassle, but I tried not to let that unhappy experience affect me when I turned my attention to the quality of their products. Here are my thoughts (pictures taken from official ELF site):

I ordered 2 eyeshadow brushes from their regular line. Umm … these are okay, but they’re definitely low quality brushes. The little bristles aren’t even cut evenly. Mine had random bristles sticking out longer than others. Brushing against the skin, it’s a little rough to the touch. It’s pretty meh at picking up eyeshadow. I wouldn’t order these again. They’re usable, but I’ve got better brushes to do the job …

I also ordered 1 defining eye brush, also from the regular line. I actually really like this brush. It is softer than the eyeshadow brushes I talked about above, much softer, though it does also have random bristles sticking out longer than others. I use this brush for blending, personally, and it does a pretty good job of it, so I recommend this brush of you want something cheap.

This eyeshadow C brush is from their studio line. There is definitely a LARGE difference in quality between this studio brush and the other three brushes I got from their regular line. I love this C brush a lot. It is VERY soft, no bristles sticking out oddly, it picks up eyeshadow like a pro, and all in all, a very nice brush. Highly recommend!

I got this eye primer as well, because I watched a YouTube video comparing this product with Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. For the most part, it does work exactly the same as Urban Decay’s. If there are any differences, I didn’t notice. My eyeshadow doesn’t crease (much) or fade throughout the day when I used ELF’s primer. The ELF formula seems a bit thinner, but I don’t think that really matters. So this is another item I recommend.

The last item is one of ELF’s eyeshadow quads from their regular line. I got this quad called “Glam”. The colours don’t show up exactly the way it does in the picture (which is from the ELF website). Left to right, the light pink is a light pink, that gray colour is actually a black, the cranberry red colour is actually a fuchsia/hot pink colour and the peach colour is actually darker. The black and the dark peach are sparkly. Um, I was a little disappointed because I chose this quad specifically for what I thought was a cranberry colour =( Anyway, when I used this quad, I realized I really hate the stupid triangle shapes. The quad is not huge, so the triangles are quite small and I feel like my brushes can’t pick up the eyeshadow as well. If they were squares or circles I wouldn’t be having this issue … why triangles?!

The eyeshadow itself is alright, I suppose, but nothing really to go crazy over. The pinks/peaches are a little sheer, while the black was VERY pigmented. I personally don’t really like sheer eyeshadows, so I can’t see myself using it that often. And I can’t see myself ever using fuchsia coloured eyeshadow (I wish it was cranberry!) Umm, I don’t know. I’m not really that impressed with the eyeshadow colours or quality.

So that’s my little review. If I ever order from them again (which probably won’t be for a looooooong time …), it will probably be just studio line stuff. Based on that one brush (haha), that stuff seems to be very good, and according to Youtubers, they agree. The eye primer is a good buy too. But all their regular line stuff that I bought seem to be hit or miss for me, and I don’t really want to gamble my money like that.

January 18, 2011 0 comments

Don’t Order From ELF! :(

Argh, so, as some of you know, I placed an order at the E.L.F. Cosmetics website over a month ago (check out Order Date on screenshot) and I’ve experienced nothing but shitty service since. I was warned of this too, but I didn’t listen because everyone says E.L.F. stuff is pretty good and I wanted to try it, but nobody sells E.L.F. stuff where I live, so online was the only way … long story short, I should have heeded the warnings.

First of all, as you can tell by screenshot, I ordered on Dec. 7, 2010, and the date my order got SHIPPED was Dec. 21, 2010. Uhh, I’m not quite sure why it takes two weeks to put an order together and ship it. One week is the LONGEST I’ve ever had to wait for something just to be shipped. I just don’t even– I don’t understand that.

Secondly, I got my package today, January 14, 2011. Exactly FIVE weeks after I placed my order. Yes, yes, I did read on their website how orders to Canada may take up to 30 days. I’m still annoyed because they could have shaved off one or two weeks if they had promptly shipped my order. Instead of waiting five weeks, I would have only waited three if they worked faster.

Third, and even more annoying than the above two if you can believe it, is that out of the nine things I ordered, they didn’t ship three items: the Kabuki brush and 2 blending brushes I ordered. And there is no explanation or anything in my package. My package didn’t even come with a receipt thing like Amazon or YesAsia does when I buy things from them, that shows you ‘Ok, this is what should be in your package…’ and there will be a list so you know if they forgot something or are sending them later or something. I’m missing three items and I have no idea if they are forgotten or being sent later or what.

Fourth, upon visiting their website to contact their customer service, I decided to try their Live Chat. It was closed because it’s not their business hours at the moment. It said ‘Please come again between these times’ and had them listed in various timezone times. I checked my timezone time. They SHOULD have been open, they weren’t due to ‘close’ for another half hour. So I don’t know. I just sent an e-mail and hope they read that, though god knows it’ll probably be ten years before I hear from them.

I haven’t tried ANY of the products I bought from them yet, but regardless, even if they are awesome amazing products, none of it is worth this hassle. What a headache. I might do another ‘review’ post of their products after I get around to using them, but my impression of the brand is already heading in the wrong direction :@

January 14, 2011 1 comment