Best and Worst of 2009

I must admit I did not stick to my resolution of sticking to a makeup budget this year...on the contrary I went way over it :( On the bright side, I did discover several gems I will be repurchasing, but there are also a couple of products that I wish never to see again!

Lets start with the good stuff...

Best eyeshadow

Yaby Pearl Paints



Gorgeous shimmery colours that are pigmented and easy to work with. I will be reviewing these shortly!

Best mascara

Lorac Visual Effects mascara - lengthens AND thickens! The only drawback is that it does get clumpy with age.




Best coloured liner

Lunasol Geminate liners



Ok this is cheating a little since I got my Geminate liners end of 2008 but because I hadn't really used them as much then I did not realise how awesome they are until this year :) The metallic/subtle glitter in these are so unique and undupeable. They bring a subtle sparkle to the eye without being too obvious unlike glitter liners (eg. Urban Decay's)


Best glitter liner

Too Faced So Smurfy liner in Smurf You (glittery smurf blue)



Yeah I know I just bashed glitter liners above but this is one I really like to use over black liquid liner to jazz it up with more obvious sparkle.


Best concealer

Cle de Peau concealer stick in Beige



Goes on super creamy. Colour matches my skintone once blended right.


Best foundation

Lunasol Water Cream Foundation




This purchase was of course influenced by Fuzkittie. I had been debating this purchase for ages, and was not disappointed as the formula feels divine and glides on beautifully with fingers or sponge. Coverage is excellent since it is a cream but does not feel heavy at all. Best of all, it does not oxidize!


Best tinted moisturizer

Cover Girl Smoothers SPF 15 Tinted Moisture



Finally got to try this (because its not sold in Canada) and was blown away by how well it matched my skintone without oxidizing. Coverage is like a typical tinted moisturizer so that was to be expected. It trumps La Mer and Laura Mercier in that it contains UVA and UVB protection (both LMs have only UVB).


Best blush

Jill Stuart Mix Compact blush in 07 Lovely Tulip



Subtle cool pink perfect for spring.


Best highlighting product

MAC MSF in Refined



Gorgeous peachy glow without shimmer or glitter! Can also be used as blush.


Best drugstore lipgloss

Marcelle Vita Lip Plumping Gloss



Fragrance free, non sticky gloss that gives the illusion of fuller lips without any chemicals to sting your lips. Love it!


Best drugstore lipstick

Joe Fresh cream lipstick in Strawberry



Creamy, pigmented goodness in a tube for CDN$6 - what more could you want?


NOW for the bad...

Here are a few things I regret purchasing - not necessarily for poor product performance but also the price.

1. Guerlain le2 mascara in Bleu Cerise



Too expensive. Even though I hardly used it the formula went clumpy after 3 months. That may sound normal but considering I hardly opened the tube (like 4x in the 3 months) it really sucks!


2. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer



It looks great at first and gives a lovely glow that I got complimented on. However after a few weeks of use I noticed it tends to oxidize and make my face look darker :( For the price I was expecting better...


3. Urban Decay Box of Potions



Already went over this one here - do not recommend! All the products besides the famed UDPP failed to perform for me. Fortunately I was able to return the set.

4. Lunasol Full Glamour Gloss



Pretty to look at but wasn't much different from a regular clear shimmery gloss. Not to mention I paid well above retail, silly me.


What about you? Feel free to share yours in the comments or on your blog, and let me know! :)

Merry Christmas!

Have a safe, happy, and well-stuffed Christmas! I've been recruited to make a turkey dinner this weekend for the bf's family, so I hope it goes well, especially since I've never made turkey before...If successful, pictures will follow :P



Hope you find the presents you wished for under the tree! :)

China Glaze Cleopatra, Fortune Teller, and Matte Magic

First, Cleopatra is a yellower version of Medallion:


(sorry for the state of my cuticles!)

The glitters aren't *quite* as dense as Medallion so I think it would take 4 coats to create a thick enough coat to cover your nails. I had 3 coats on in the picture and there are some areas where you can see the nail bed still.


Fortune Teller took some getting used to, as I'm not accustomed to wearing black polish. Swatch below is without any topcoat. I think it would look gorgeous if I had used Seche Vite on top to give it a super glossy shine.




I didn't think of using Seche Vite because I wanted to use the Matte Magic top coat on top and test its wearability. Matte Magic goes on glossy but dries down matte. It doesn't protect the polish though, on the contrary I found that the polish was easily dented. The topcoat seemed to wear off easily too with just 1 coat - I would try 2 coats next time to see if it wears better. Or, maybe 1 coat Seche Vite (glossy) on top then 1 coat of Matte Magic on top...hmmm

Anyway, I prefer Fortune Teller matte more than glossy - the matte effect makes the black look more classy than regular shiny black.



Another shot to capture the matte finish:



I picked up Matte Magic at Sally's Beauty Supply for CDN$3.99 member price same as a regular China Glaze polish. However the bottle is much smaller than the regular polishes:



Still, its a nice product to have around to take advantage of the matte trend without buying a new set of matte colours! I doubt I would finish even this small bottle anyway since I don't get to wear polish that often.

Did you try any matte polishes yet? Or matte top coats? Which ones are you enjoying?

Blogsale update

New items added to my blog sale here.

Regular posts hopefully to resume next week - I want to update on the Yaby palette and the China Glaze polishes but just haven't had the time to edit pictures yet.

Smashbox Tokidoki palette in Celebrita

Something I swapped for ages ago:



Super cute palette but also quite small. I'd say its about 1/2 size of a MAC quad.





It looks like soft subdued version of the MAC Pandamonium palette. The colours are ok but not shimmery at all, somewhere in between a satin and matte finish.





As I recall, the Smashbox Tokidoki collection was released a couple years ago but there are still remnants being sold on eBay for dirt cheap prices. Just beware of the glosses though, I got a gloss that was starting to separate and a blush that fell out of the pan because the pan had rusted. The seller replaced them but other sellers might not.

Good Stuff: Marcelle Vita Lip Plumping Gloss

Do you use lip plumpers? I've never been interested in them since I always thought my lips look too thick naturally. Also I once made the mistake of trying the Cover Girl lipsticks, which had some kind of plumping ingredient. It stung my lips and made them feel swollen and funny so since then I had always steered clear of any lip products advertising the word "plumping".

I have to give it to Marcelle though, their Vita Lip Plumping Gloss is quite possibly the best gloss you can find in the drugstore.



Here's why its become one of my favourite glosses:

1. Its completely non-sticky
2. Its completely scent free
3. It smooths out the fine lines in my lips, making them look soft and full
4. No tingly effect (yes!). In fact it feels just like what the ideal gloss should feel - lightweight and comfortable.
5. Slant tip applicator means its convenient to apply on the go and risks less contamination compared with wand type glosses.

In fact, its so comfortable I might just use this daily instead of lip balm. You know how some lip balms feel waxy and seem to tug on your lips when you apply them? Or the ones that feel like a grease stick on your lips? This feels way better instead and protects my lips from the dry Canadian winter.

The only issue I have with the colour I received would be the sheerness of it. Its so sheer it goes on like clear gloss despite being a lovely peach in the tube. But then again this colour is called "Nude" so its probably supposed to be sheer anyway. I would definitely be willing to try their other colours to see how their colour payoff is.

Here's a swatch of the gloss in Nude (the top swatch):

Sheer iridescent peach




When applied its sheer but somehow minimizes lip lines and makes lips look fuller.



As you can see, the gloss didn't really show up colour wise (thats my natural lip colour under yellow washroom lighting), but it gave a fuller shinier effect.

Overall if you're on a budget and in the market for a non sticky, unscented gloss, I would definitely recommend these. Let me know what you think if you've tried these before!

Marcelle giveaway winner!

Thanks for all the entries for the Marcelle giveaway! As chosen by the Random Sequence generator, the winner of the Marcelle giveaway is:




#27 = hippocat!

Congratulations! Please contact me via email with your mailing address within 48 hours to claim your prize :)