Quelquefois

Did any of you with access to Sephora get to check out their new tokidoki collection? I saw the eyeshadows and makeup bags at the Bloor Street Sephora the week before, but was not impressed enough to buy the makeup for the following reasons:

- Chunky, clunky packaging. The eyeshadow quads are approximately 2.5 x 3 x 3 inches, basically a chunky lucite box. There is a huge compartment at the bottom just to hold the charm which is why the entire quad is box shaped.The singles are oversized as well.

- Overpriced (in Canada). The markup ranges from $2 extra for the mints to $8 extra for the quads, and luminizing powder.

- Glitter (in the eyeshadow quads). All 3 of the quads include 1-2 glitter shades which in my opinion are useless and annoying. The other shades are frost shades with superb pigmentation, so I don't get why they had to ruin it by including glitter in every single quad.

Anyway, here's a quick look at my only tokidoki from Sephora purchase & the VIB Tarantino GWP:



Love the tin! I just wish it wasn't so expensive....just for a small tin of mints!



Handy little mirror inside:






And the Tarantino bracelet:



Its not really my taste but hey it was free! They had red or purple available as well, but I figured black would be the colour I would get bored of the least.



I'm not a fan of the Tarina Tarantino makeup packaging either. I first checked it out a few weeks ago with Rasilla and Babybubblz and we agreed it looks tacky and childish. As Catherine said, the Japanese do cute much better!

What do you think? Yay or nay?

Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer

I love red papayas, but good ones that are perfectly ripe and sweet are hard to find here.



For now I'll have to make do with Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in Papaya, courtesy of the folks at Burts :)



It swatches as a warm, orange toned sheer red, with gold shimmer:



See below lip swatch. It is suprisingly pigmented (I had thought this would be sheerer like a MAC Slimshine), almost like lipstick. I could blot some off as well for a sheerer, more subtle look, but this is how it looks applied straight from the tube.



I've noticed it leaves slight tingly mint feeling. The flavour is pleasant and refreshing, it makes me feel as though I just brushed my teeth.

The product is also moisturizing, similar to a stick lip balm. By that I mean it is not as moisturizing as pot balms, but is on par with other stick balms I've tried (Blistex, Chapstick, Burts Bees Honey balm in stick form).

Here are the ingredients list off the website:

Ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, cera alba (beeswax, cire d'abeille), candelilla cera (euphorbia cerifera, cire de candelilla) wax, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, lanolin, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, cera carnauba (copernicia cerifera, cire de carnauba) wax, tocopherol, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, canola oil (huile de colza), limonene, May contain+/-: CI 77491/77492/77499 (iron oxides), mica, CI 77891 (titanium dioxide), CI 75470 (carmine), CI 778161(tin oxide)

I definitely like the fact that it doesn't contain petrochemicals, or sulfates, parabens, phthalates. Doesn't hurt to be safe!

My only gripe about this product was that it cannot be twisted back down once you have twisted it up. So don't twist up too much product...like I did in the picture above!

The lip shimmers come in a variety of other shades and retail for CA$5.99.

So have you tried any of the lip shimmers? What do you think?

Spring colours

As promised in the Painted Love post here's my look using the new colours:


(Top L-R: Helium, Pinked)
(Bottom L-R: Nymphet, Toxic Garden)

First I used an eyeshadow primer (it was eiter Urban Decay or Smashbox).

Then:
Toxic Garden on inner 1/2 of lid
Pinked on outer 1/2 of lid
Helium in centre of lid to blend the above two colours
Nymphet as a liner on the lower lash line (outer 1/2 only)








Face makeup used: Lunasol Water Cream foundation, some concealer, Everyday Minerals Soft Touch blush and MAC Emote to contour.

Lip gloss used was The Body Shop Love gloss in Shade 13 from my previous post.

Also used Marcelle Volume Precision Mascara over Shiseido Lash Base, and a mix of Kate liquid liner and a Gosh liner pencil.



Its not a dramatic look, but more wearable, because I was going out shopping after and did not want to over do it :P The colours definitely put me in the mood for spring though!

The Body Shop Love Gloss

One of the many things I received to review from the Toronto Beauty Blogger meetup a month ago was this gloss:





The applicator is heart shaped. It looks cute, however I found it does not pick up quite enough gloss to cover my lips and 'double dipping' is necessary.

The colour I got was Shade 13 Pale Pink, which is a sheer light pink with multicoloured shimmer.



Texture-wise it is sticky, but as a result the staying power is good. Fortunately it is not as sticky as MAC Lipglass (which I have stopped buying because I can't stand the stickiness).

It has a slight scent but not strong at all. Smells sorta fruity but I can't quite put my finger on the fruit name...

Lip swatches:





My lips are quite dark naturally so it shows up mostly as semi sheer pink shimmer. I think this colour would work best on me if I wore a nude lipstick underneath first.

Retails at CA$12 on TheBodyShop.ca website. You get 7.5 mL of product as well so it is more budget friendly than MAC glosses. Not to mention the Body Shop does a lot of promotions frequently (for example this weekend they had a get 50% off everything if you purchased a $5 eco bag).

Overall, this would suit you if you like glosses with great staying power. Shade 13 would be a good choice if you are in the market for a gloss with a natural look, or to add shimmer to a flat lip colour.

Dove Beauty Bar

Its hard to write about something as iconic as the Dove Beauty Bar. Granted, I grew up using whatever soap was on sale, but whenever someone in my family had skin issues or sensitivity we would always turn to Dove.

So its almost reassuring that 10+ years later the Dove bar still looks and smells the same :)



I had the opportunity to try out and share my thoughts on Dove. Out of curiosity I asked if the formulation was still the same, and was suprised to learn that it was. I guess its like KFC - you really shouldn't mess with a tried and tested recipe :P

The bar has the pleasant signature scent of Dove. Its hard to describe until you've smelt it - I would say its almost like a floral clean scent? I love the smell though, its the kind of smell I can inhale all day.

When comparing the bar to regular soap, the bar definitely feels gentler and less drying. Like most Dove products, it claims to contain 1/4 moisturizer which is great in the dry winter weather. In fact, my boyfriend who has eczema finds it works well even on his dry, itchy skin.

So have you tried Dove before? What did you think?

Painted Love

Annabelle's newest release for Spring is the Painted Love collection:



The promo image is very pastel and fitting for spring. In fact the colours on the model remind me of the China Glaze Up and Away nailpolishes!

The new releases are 4 new single eyeshadows in Helium, Pinked, Toxic Garden and Nymphet. Thanks to Annabelle I was provided with the 4 colours to swatch and test out. Here are the closeups:

Helium


Pinked


Toxic Garden


Nymphet



Swatches:


Pinked - reddish pink, very fine shimmer
Helium - beige champagne, shimmer is a bit less fine than the others
Toxic Garden - light olive with gold tinged shimmer
Nymphet - pastel mint, with a slight sheen. It looks like a eyeshadow version of China Glaze Re-fresh Mint!


Here they are arranged in the custom Annabelle quad (sold separately):






The Annabelle website also features another take on these colours - the Remix look:



Its more wearable than the promo, and the winged liner is gorgeous! However I still think the original promo is much more memorable :)

If you are like me and love checking out multiple reviews here are some that I've spotted around the web:

Rae @ The Notice (gorgeous swatches girl!)
Rasilla
Sparkled Beauty

Stay tuned for a look featuring these colours! Speaking of which have you bought any Spring makeup recently? Do share!

P.S: I almost forgot to mention that you can enter to win these colours on their Facebook page!

Or if you're impatient, there is a $2 off coupon which works for all Annabelle products and is good til end of this month!

They also have a Painted Love Spring look contest going on for the month of March - enter to win a $50 gift basket!

Psyched that...

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy is coming to Toronto!



I'm not a Final Fantasy player or anything, but I've wanted to bring the bf to one sometime as a present. So far they always travel around the US, mostly to San Diego and Chicago. Last year when they were playing in Vancouver I was so close to planning a vacation there...but decided the cost wasn't worthwhile since the bf isn't even interested in visiting Vancouver.

Anyway earlier this week, they announced that they are actually coming to Toronto for the first time! They'll be playing Nov 27 at the Sony Performing Arts Centre. And I already got tickets, even though its so long away. I just know that I want to have reasonably good seats and I'd hate to end up with a seat too far to the side or back.

If you're interested the presale tickets are available here via Ticketmaster. You have to enter the code 'Fantasy' to access the pre-sale.



Anyway I just had to share because I'm so excited to surprise the bf with the tickets! So happy :D I usually suck at thinking of presents that he would like (he's a picky one) but am pretty psyched about this! Lol :D