What were your first makeup items?

I started late with wearing makeup. My parents never allowed me to buy or use makeup, with the exception of a lipstick for a piano recital when I was around 8 or 9. Even during university, I felt quite lost anywhere near a makeup counter or Sephora. In fact I hated the strong perfume smell whenever I passed by Sephora, and was quite unimpressed with the confusing array of products available.

However when I started job hunting I realised I would soon have to start learning how to wear makeup. Back then, there weren't any beauty blogs around, but there was Makeupalley, so it was from those reviews, and magazines that I ended up starting with these products:



100 yen store eyelash curler
I had to buy this secretly because my mom would have asked me what it was, and then why I was wasting my money on unnecessary stuff (She only wore blush and lipstick her entire life, and only to work). I still have it but never really use it since I preferred my ELF curlers. I got this when I was visiting my parents in Japan, and I do remember secretly trying a gloss and eyeshadow from the 100 yen store as well. Too bad I threw them out long ago...so no pictures.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer
Discontinued now. I read probably a million reviews on concealer before settling on this one. It was fine in terms of consistency (not much caking) but did not fully cover my dark circles. I've since found that most drugstore concealers just cannot do as good of a job as the high end brands. This went bad a couple of years ago so I got rid of it.

Rimmel Exaggerate liner in a forest green colour
I picked this up because many articles I read said green would make brown eyes pop :) It was really nice soft pencil liner, but to my dismay migrated to my lower lashline immediately. Not impressed. I've tossed this since.

Rimmel Kajal liner in a brown colour
Basic liner. Also smudged easily but a little less noticeable than the Exaggerate liner. I think this has also been discontinued. Have tossed this since as well.

Maybelline Expertwear Quad in Seashore Frosts
This quad is still sold in stores, but in a reformulated version. Mine was the old version with poorer colour payoff. Back then I had no idea how to wear all 4 colours at once, so I would only wear 2 at a time. But I figured at least I was getting my money's worth by having 4 colours in one. I don't use it anymore but still keep it in my stash for old time's sake :P

Maybelline Dream Mousse Bronzer in Sun Glow
I don't think I read reviews on this one. I just bought it because the idea of mousse sounded cool, and at the time bronzer was just gaining popularity. This actually contains more shimmer than colour, which makes it more of a summer highlighting product. I still use this once in a while - have scraped off the top layer a few times to ensure it is still sanitary. By the way, if you're wondering why this is the 3rd Maybelline product here, its because I had a bit of a soft spot for Maybelline as they were one of the few brands my mom ever used.

The Body Shop Cranberry Lip Balm
Although this was a lip balm, it contained a moderate amount of shimmer, which gave a moisturized, 'my lips but better' look. I loved the smell too. Must repurchase this winter - I think its only sold during the Christmas season.

So tell me, what were your first makeup products? Do you repurchased them still?

The Body Shop Love fragrance

From The Body Shop website:

Fragrance personality: A sensuous blend of Egyptian jasmine with warm, radiant notes of vanilla and sandalwood.

Family: floriental

Notes:

* Top notes: pear, neroli, bergamot
* Middle notes: jasmine, heliotrope, lily of the valley
* Base notes: vanilla, sandalwood, musk cream


My impression:

- warm floral notes at first
- sweet vanilla endnote
- not overly strong
- great day to night fragrance
- affordable ($24 for 30 mL, $29.50 for 50mL)

Overall, I thought this was a really wearable fragrance. Its not too strong, so you can still wear it to the office, but it is also complex and feminine enough that you could spray on a little extra after work for a night out.

Have you sampled this fragrance yet? What did you think?

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.

Smurfette FOTD and more deals

Sephora has giftbags containing 10 skincare samples available in-store or online. According to the newsletter in store, you can get the samples after a consultation with a Beauty Advisor. However I just asked if they had any available when I went to cashier and they gave me one :) You can also get them with any online order by using the codes SKINTREATS or RIGHTBAG3 (either one gets you the same thing).

Bath and Body Works in Canada have a 3 for $18 sale on their Signature body washes, lotions, creams and body butters. Their Signature body splashes are on sale for $3 each! Handsoaps are 3 for $12.

The Body Shop at Yorkdale Mall (also Canada) had the blushes from the Fall'08 Deadly Desires collection on sale at 3 for $10! I haven't seen this in any of the other locations I've visited. When I went though they only had a few of the peach blushes left, they had more of the darker rose blush available.


***

FYI...

Sephora lowered the price of the Givenchy Couture palette again down to US$35. I guess they realised $45 was still too high for something so tiny! I ordered it originally at the previous price, but once I saw how freaking small the thing was I returned it. I'm still not convinced US$35 is a good value either.

Here's a picture to give you an idea. It looks decent enough online until you compare it with a lipstick (MAC Slimshine) and a quarter. Umm...thats the smallest tube of gloss I've ever seen! The eyeshadows are so tiny it would be a hassle to use the colours without accidentally mixing them up. Its so tiny, I love how they still consider it a $90 value...




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FOTD using some products from Too Faced's Smurfette collection:

Face

• Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation #3
• Sana concealer
  
• Silk Naturals' blush in Lady
• MAC Emote to contour a little
  

Eyes

• Pink shade from the Smurfette palette all over lid
• Blue shade from the Smurfette palette on outer corners (I used very little as I wanted a more subtle day look)
• So Smurfy Face Powder to highlight under browbone
• MUFE Aqua Eyes in OL to line top lashline and outer 1/2 of lower lashline.
• Smurf You blue glitter liner to line top lids, going over the MUFE liner
• Blinc Kiss Me mascara

The pink and blue shades I used went on nicely even though I skipped using any base. I love the glitter liner, the brush is really easy to work with because its so fine and has the right degree of firmness to draw a thin line smoothly.



MUFE Aqua Eyes stayed better on my top lids than Urban Decay's 24/7, but it still smudged on the lower lashline :/


Lips

• Mood Swing Emotionally Activated lipgloss

The gloss wasn't as bright pink as I had feared, its quite wearable as long as you balance it out by going lighter on eye makeup. Not that sticky either - nowhere near as annoying as MAC.

spoils of war...

Contrary to what my last post may have sounded like, I didn't haul much from Boxing Day sales. The reason for waking up so early was to help the bf get the stuff he was eyeing at Futureshop (a Canadian equivalent of Best Buy that is ironically now owned by Best Buy...).

We only had two things to get - a Yamaha home theatre receiver and a pair of Energy speakers. They only had a minimum of 8 per store of receivers, and I think 4 pairs of speakers, and because they were discounted over 50% we had to go there early if we wanted any chance of getting them at all!

First we woke up at 4.45 so that we could get to Best Buy by 5.15am. They open at 5.30am and if you stand in line beforehand, you get a chance to win a $500 giftcard from the store. And yes thats the only reason we stopped by there first :P

There were a lot of people there already before us...I heard someone in front of us say they came here at 4am....crazy. Anyway we basically froze our butts off waiting til 5.40 (they were late!) when they announced the winner. Unfortunately, it wasn't us :(

After that, immediately we drove to Futureshop to wait in line. The people in line at Best Buy probably thought we were crazy for leaving right then, lol but there really wasn't anything at Best Buy that interested us. Anyway, there were less people at Futureshop but still quite a bit considering the insane hour. Surprisingly they let us in early, 10 minutes before the store was supposed to open at 6am.



(doesn't that figure look creepy? hooded and ominous...like the grim reaper :P)


The store staff had all the big Boxing Day deals pulled out of their warehouse and set up along the aisles.




Its a good thing we got there early because when we found the speakers, there were only 2 pairs left, and right after I pulled aside our pair another person came and grabbed the last! Same for the receiver, they were all gone within 20 minutes. The lineups at the cash registers were super long but luckily because we were in the home audio section they had separate computers to ring up your purchases right in that department.

Spoils of war...




The rest of the day was spent at Eaton Centre mall...which was nice in the morning, but it got more and more crowded after lunch. In previous years I had never been bothered to wake up early, but I think I would wake up earlier in future just to avoid the crowds. Once there got to be too many people I just didn't feel motivated to shop anymore.

Some stores had lineups to get in too - like the Nike Store, Hollister, and Abercrombie and Fitch. In fact the lineups were so long at A&F they spanned a couple of stores. I guess the clearance sale there was a really great deal but still, I wouldn't have the patience to wait that long for clothes. Maybe if it was shoes or bags I would :)

Anyway I really didn't find anything I liked...My main goal was to find a pair of heels/pumps, and also a pair of comfortable low-heeled boots, but everything looked so ordinary and blah. It seems like I'm getting too picky as I get older. These were the only things that caught my eye:

• Zoya polishes in Lily and Harmonie 30% off from Trade Secrets
• Fresh Mangosteen set about 40% off at Sephora
• American Apparel Double U-neck dress in red, 20% off
• American Apparel Over the Knee socks 25% off
• American Apparel Knee high socks 25% off

Closer look at the Zoya polishes. I've wanted to try some ever since Audrie posted about them.




Contents of the Fresh Mangosteen set: Full size perfume, smaller sizes of the body lotion and soap.




I also bought some stuff from The Body Shop website. Originally I wanted to see the items in store before buying but they didn't have any left so I had to order online. At least the shipping isn't too bad, only $5 and all of the items were 50% off:

Brush roll


Travel makeup bag


Fragrance Atomizer


Aqua Lily Me Time giftset



Thats probably it for a while. I doubt I'd find anything in other malls since most stores are similar. There will be some other pre-Christmas hauls from Sephora and Adam Beauty coming up in future posts...

What would you replace if you lost your makeup collection (touch wood)?

I've amassed quite a lot of makeup since the beginnning of my obsession. My bf got me the Sephora traincase back in November, and it was barely enough to contain all my makeup. Now with the new items I've hauled since, I need another one...although I think I might just get one of those Caboodles traincases from Wal-mart instead of blowing money on a new one. In the meantime, I'm going to refrain from buying more makeup for the next few months, although the Fafi collection will be an exception.

Anyway, recent posts by Mayaari and Mrs Lynne on what they would keep if forced to pare down their collection, have gotten me thinking about that same question. although in a slightly different context:

If I lost my traincase, what would I absolutely need to replace? A lot of my stuff was bought because I wanted to try it out, but there isn't a whole lot in there that I actually depend on.

So here are the products I would repurchase:

Foundations/concealers

• Everyday Minerals Intensive Light concealer
• Everyday Minerals Sunlight concealer
• Silk Naturals foundation
• Silk Naturals perfecting powder
  

Blushes/Bronzers/Highlighters

• Everyday Minerals Apple blush
• MAC Emote blush - to contour
• MAC Light Flush MSF
• MAC Global Glow MSF (if it wasn't LE that is)
  

Eyeshadows

• MAC Electra eyeshadow
• MAC Beautiful Iris eyeshadow
• MAC Violet pigment
• Everyday Minerals Snowflakes eyeshadow
• ELF quad in Butternut
  

Eyeliners/Mascaras

• Blinc Kiss Me mascara
• MAC Fluidline (although I might use the chance to try Dipdown instead of buying Blacktrack again)
  

Lipsticks/glosses

• MAC Viva Glam V lipstick
• Dior Addict Ultra Reflect gloss in Raffia Orange
• The Body Shop Shimmer lip balm in Cranberry
  

Primers

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
  

Brushes/Tools

• MAC 188
• Sephora Stipping brush (or I might take the opportunity to try the full sized 187 this time)
• SpaResource angled cheek brush (Wal-mart brand)
• ELF eyeshadow brush
• Sephora crease brush - to blend eyeshadows
• Annabelle slant liner brush
• ELF eyelash curler

I also calculated the estimated cost of replacing all these items, including international shipping for products from ELF, Everyday Minerals and Silk Naturals, and the total comes to about...

$400.

Guess I better take care of it lol. It usually sits around at home anyways. Its the MAC makeup and face brushes that account for a large percent of that total. Also doesn't help that in Canada, MAC costs more and the tax in Ontario is 13%.

So, if you lost your makeup collection, what products would you absolutely have to repurchase?

More MAC

Just finished watching Ratatouille on Blu-ray. I actually like the movie, didn't think I would. Watched it since the bf wanted to get it, as the Blu-ray version apparently got super high reviews, the picture quality was apparently flawless....etc etc :P i guess i should admit the picture did look pretty darn clear, and the plot was interesting, wasn't at all a kids movie (which I was afraid of. I don't go for kids movies normally).

Anyways, I picked up the Cool pigment set from MAC today:

From left to right: Forest Green, Softwash Grey, Naval Blue, Helium, Reflects Blue Glitter



The description per MAC Cosmetics Online is:

Helium, a light pink with red duochrome; Softwash Grey, a grey with purple pearl; Naval Blue, a subdued frosted navy blue; and Forest Green Pigments, a dark green with silver frost; and Reflects Blue Glitter, a very fine particle glitter that flashes violet blue.

But to be honest, these colours dissappointed me a bit. I was expecting the blue and the green to be a richer, more intense blue, and more intense green. Probably going to put it aside for a bit, and see if I can live with returning it.

See swatches below - the colours just aren't showing up good. And it doesn't help that I had to take these pics with flash too, since by the time I got home it was already dark and there isn't any good lighting in this place at all.

From left to right: Forest Green, Softwash Grey, Naval Blue, Helium, Reflects Blue Glitter



I also picked up the full size MAC 194 concealer brush. Was trying to decide between this and the NARS concealer brush, but figured I'd try the MAC and see since the bristles seem softer. Also the brush is slimmer than the NARS one, so it looks like it'd fit well around the undereyes.

Also I just have to say I'm annoyed at myself for going to MAC today, because at the counter I saw the Warm lipglass set, and now I'm craving it. The colours look very wearable on me, not something that I feel often when checking out lipglosses. Most lipglosses disinterest me because they usually are too sheer and I know they'll all look like clear gloss if I were to wear them. But that set is so pretty, and I really want Ornamental lustreglass :(

On another note, I picked up The Body Shop Shimmerwaves in Blush last weekend, as I had $10 off as part of their membership.



Its similar to Sephora's Luminous rose trio, and the same price, but has more product for your money. Swatched it and basically its a light pink with silvery shimmer, more suited for lighter skintones.

Anyway thats it. I got to get to bed for work, sigh.