Happy New Year!!

I have a ton of posts that I have written up but haven't posted, my new years resolution will be to consistently blog more!

2013 was a fantastic year for me, I have had such an amazing time. With spending the holidays with new friends I made in Japan, to going around Southeast Asia with a close friend of mine, then coming home and readjusting to my mundane life, and finally finishing school and preparing to start a new adventure. There are so many things I want to say about what I have been through this year, but it would be way too long to post.

All in all 2013 was a great year, and here is to another amazing year!

Forever 21 Haul

A couple of weeks ago, Forever21 Canada had a 30% off sale items sale. 

I was totally eyeing the sale section online, but having no money and to get free shipping you have to spend over $60, I didn't want to pull the trigger to buy a couple of items. But once I got an email that there was an extra 30% off sale items, I just had to order what I was eyeing, and a bit extra. 

The dirty box that my order came in

I didn't take a picture the clothes I ordered. All I got was a pair of athletic shorts, a emerald green v-neck shirt, and a blue dress (the blue dress and shorts were items I wanted the most).

My favourite purchases were the bags. On the left is this giant white duffel bag. It is HUGE! I decided to buy it because it was cheap (as was ALL the items in this haul) and it can fit so much! If I needed it for a impromptu trip somewhere, I can fit everything and anything in this bag!

On the right, the blue bag was labeled as a "camera shoulder bag". I was excited for a smaller bag to carry around my compact DSLR camera, but once I received the bag I realized it can only fit a point and shoot digital camera. Irregardless of the fact that my camera won't fit, love this bag. I have been using it daily ever since I got it! It fits my small wallet, coin purse, and my the front pocket fits my cellphone. It is great quality, and I am so happy that I decided to buy this!

Lastly, I decided to haul some accessories and nail polish. I bought some sunglasses because my parents wanted some, they were around $4 each so I bought two pairs, one for myself, and the other for my mom (although I am giving her some of my older pairs since they have recently discovered the importance of sunglasses). I bought two nail polishes because they were 70 cents each, and I wanted to try the formula. I have tried them but I don't know I feel about them just yet, a future review will come.

Lastly I bought some hair clips! My hair has been so plain lately that I really wanted to add something to make it pop!

If you can tell, I have been into the turquoise, blue/green colours. I haven't had a chance to wear the hair clips yet, but I love them, and can't wait to wear them once school starts. 

That will be my last haul for a while! I have to get a new laptop because my old one is slowing me down and heating up extremely fast. On top of that I am buying a coffee machine for my family (although it'll mainly be me using it, hahaha), and starting to save up for a (proper) DSLR. 

Next post might just be a life update post! That or a makeup review. 

I'm actually looking forward to going back to school, I'm entering my final year of university so a (majority) of my courses are ones I actually want to take. After taking a year off learning Japanese, I realized that I want to go back to classes with a little more... substance. 

Although I am sure I will regret that sentence within a week of school starting, but right now I'm happy to be doing something with my life, instead of my lazying around home and going to my part time job. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the last of their summer! :) 

Mascara Reviews! Maybelline Turbo Volume Express, Canmake Gokubuto, Kiss Me Heroine Long and Curl

While I was in Hong Kong during April, I stopped by Sasa to pick up some mascara since I had to look "dolled up" for an party with my friend. My previous mascara I threw out, since I didn't think I needed to wear makeup at all during my travel (all I had was concealer). 

In Hong Kong, I picked up a lot of face masks, skincare, and the two mascaras that I will blog about here.

Please keep in mind that all the mascaras I use are waterproof. They are the only type that will hold my curl.  

The first thing I picked up was Canmake's Gokubuto mascara. 

I only chose this because I heard that Canmake makes really good cheap makeup products. While I, unfortunately, didn't pick up any other makeup items by Canmake, I decided to choose this because mascara is VERY important to Japanese girls. 

My opinion: I didn't like it at all. Doesn't hold a curl and it smudges. The product gunks up on the brush so defining my lashes made it difficult, I had to clean the wand with a paper towel several times. Even after I cleaned it, the product quickly began to stick to the wand.

The only way I continued to use this by layering it over waterproof mascaras. 

When I realized that the Gokubuto mascara was horrendous, I went back to Sasa and bought the Kiss Me Heroine, Long & Curl mascara. I've heard fabulous things about the Kiss Me series, and I was not disappointed! 

My Opinion: Holds a curl, does not smudge, defines my lashes, it was amazing!

The wand is great, the product barely gets on the wand, and it's super flexible making it easy to reach the upper and lower lashes. 

I recommend this, and if I was to ever get a Japanese mascara again, it would be from the Kiss Me series! :)

After I came back from my Asia adventure, I returned to using my Maybelline Turbo Volume mascara. I love trying all the Maybelline mascaras because they are amazing. After my previous mascara post where I tried the Maybelline Colossal mascara, I wanted to try all of the Maybelline mascaras!

My opinion: As expected! Maybelline makes fantastic waterproof mascaras. Defined my lashes, kept a curl, and it didn't smudge! The wand is very simplistic, but it was still extremely easy to reach all of my upper and lower lashes. 

If I was to choose though, the colossal is my favourite Maybelline mascara though. This one isn't bad, but the colossal made my lashes look much better. I would still recommend this though. 

Right now I am on my second tube of the Kiss Me Heroine, Long & Curl mascara. It is amazing, I wish I had yet ANOTHER tube of it. 

Next on my mascara posts is the sample tube of Benefit's They're Real! I have also been using a non-waterproof version of L'oreal's lashblast volume. Basically, I don't like it. It does add a lot of volume to my lashes, but it doesn't hold my curl. Probably because it isn't waterproof. :( 

What mascaras does everyone like? I would love some recommendations! Right now I have more Maybelline mascaras to get through since I bought some during a sale at Shoppers. 

Etude House Haul

Slightly mentioned in my previous Korea skincare haul, I said my sister might pick up some items from Etude House for me (since after looking at blushes online), I realized I wanted to give them a try! Once again, I didn't get a lot because I personally don't need more makeup.

Overview of everything I got

Blush!

I picked the lovely cookie blusher in raspberry tarte and carrot cheesecake. The packaging is cute, but personally I would never use the puff. I haven't opened them yet, but I chose the colours because orange is really in and I wanted a cheap orange blush. And the raspberry tarte because it was bright and different. 

Water color blush in apricot

I really wanted to try this blush because I read it'd be perfect for my oily skin! I found this might be really good to layer under the orange blush from above.

I shouldn't have been too shocked, but when I grabbed it out of the bag I was shocked at how tiny it was! I decided to compare it to a roll of scotch tape. I haven't tried this either.

Last is the two items I received as a freebie. The wonder pore freshner trial glove and a hair tie! Haven't used them either!

Another thing that I just remember that I forgot to photograph, but it is included my haul photo, the "I'm blooming sebum control mist"!

I was trying to explain to the sales associate that my skin was oily, and I wanted a spray. I bought the aloe vera mist as a refresher, but this one I didn't get because I didn't think I'd use it. However after coming back to Canada, my skin has definitely got some oil control problems (probably just adapting to the different climate here). I haven't tried it here either but it worked really well when I tried it in Korea. 

Obviously, reviews of products will come! If anyone has any specific requests, just comment below! I can't wait to use the makeup, but I haven't really needed to wear makeup and I recently went hiking and got a mosquito bite on my face.... haha!

South Korea beauty and skincare haul!

As previously mentioned in my short update post about beauty associates in Korea, I now have a haul from South Korea to post! Korea was my last stop on my trip around Asia, by this time my suitcase and luggage was quite heavy and I didn't have space to buy a lot. Irregardless I managed to stuff as much cosmetic stuff in my bags as possible. Things that I did not take a picture of were face masks, nail polishes, some face powders and one eyeliner. I bought quite a bit of face masks because they are presents for my family and friends. 

While I absolutely love makeup, I was more on a skincare haul because they were (slightly) cheaper. Personally I don't feel the need to increase my makeup collection, so I didn't buy eyeshadows or mascaras. Although after I left, I did send a note to have my sister buy me some blushes because I love blush (not too sure if she got them for me though). 

ALSO, I apologize for the horrible quality. I took this on my iphone4 and it was late at night (I was still incredibly jet lagged when I was unpacking all my things). 

Onto the pictures!

Everything I got, including some of the free samples!

My 3 BB cream, and 1 CC cream haul

 I held back and only bought 3 BB creams and 1 CC cream. From left to right it is: Skin fit original from the Saem, CC Cream from tony moly, perfect cover BB cream from Missha, and precious mineral BB cotton fit cream from Etude House. 

Skincare goodies from Etude House and Nature Republic

 From left to right: Wonder Pore Freshner (toner) and Black Head healing deep clean gel from Etude House. And a pore and blemish cream and bee venom pink spot lotion from Nature Republic. 

Random goodies, I got a cute bunny pocket face mist and a lip and eye makeup remover with two lip tints from Tony Moly, and a aloe moistfull face mist from Etude House.

I have used the BB cream from the Saem already once or twice, I still want to use it more before giving my full opinion or review. 

The aloe moistfull mist is very nice, despite the fact that I have oily skin I still use this to refresh my skin if it is feeling dry, or irritated in any way. Sometimes I use this as opposed to a moisturizer in the morning because it's lightweight and soothes my skin before I apply any makeup. 

My favourite makeup store in Korea has to be Nature Republic. Every store I went to, no one really followed me around like the other stores, and even though one store was extremely busy during a sale in the store, when I asked some questions they tried their best to help and explain it correctly to me.

Not to mention they were the store that was the least stingy with free samples. The one that was most stingy was the Saem, the lady explained that because I bought stuff on sale, she can't give me anything. She promised that the next time I come in I will get more, and I said I was leaving soon and she said: "Oh, sorry." Not that I need more samples, but I was disappointed, I really wanted something from the store since G-dragon was promoting there!! 

My second favourite has to be Tony Moly. Cute and good quality items, but every time I went in they didn't have a sale and things were slightly pricey. However they gave me a lot of free samples, despite having bought everything cheaper items and things that were on sale!  

Reviews on items will be coming! They probably won't be for a while since I don't have my good camera and don't have much of a chance to wear makeup. 

Also I think I will do a small haul of things I got from Japan, because I did get quite a bit of makeup from Japan as well (even though it was expensive). 

Ridiculous things I've been told in South Korea beauty shops.

Just a small update, it has been months since I have updated this blog.
I am currently traveling around South Korea for 3 weeks, I'm a week in so I only have 2 weeks left!

Being a makeup lover, I absolutely adore looking through all the cute shops selling makeup and beauty products in Korea, however the things that salespeople have said to me just... baffles me.

I was looking at cheap nail polish, and ended up choosing only two colours because I didn't want to spend that much. I was led into the store where the girl kept trying to persuade me to buy some face masks. This is how our conversation went:
Her: But face mask cheap, very good present. Only 30,000won for a pack of 20! Very cheap.
Me: That is cheap, but I don't need face masks...
Her: You don't need for you? OK, that's OK. Buy as present for friend.
Me: It's ok, I already have lots of face masks from other countries.
Her: But... you need to buy face mask.
Me: No... no I don't.
Her: Yes, present for friend. You need! Good price!

The conversation kept going in a circle because I was telling her that I don't need it, and she kept telling me that I do need it. So I eventually gave up and bought something else just so she would let me leave the store.


The other thing was I stepped into another makeup store and was looking at BB creams. The salesperson kindly applied some on the back of both of my hands. The first thing I noticed, SUPER light. One was extremely light, and I was really hesitant. I told her it's too light, even on my face. I looked in the mirror and realized the store had extremely bright lighting, bringing up my natural face colour. She kept saying it's light on the back of my hand, because my hand is darker (true), but then kept telling me: "BB cream colour is made to fit your face. It'll fit your face."
...... Just because a BB cream is designed to fit your face colour, does not necessarily mean that it will fit your face colour. She just kept repeating that and I was constantly disagreeing.
Of course there might of been a translation error or something, as the sales girl did not speak good English (lots of uhh, sorry. I'm sorry!).

I also find it hard to trust someone's makeup advice (especially when it comes to face products) when they have such a thick layer of makeup on! It's quite off putting and honestly, I am all for looking flawless, but I don't want to look like I'm wearing a ton of makeup!

Julep August Mystery Box

In my previous Julep post, I mentioned that the only reason I would order from Julep again would be for the mystery boxes. Now I'm not too sure, but I think that Julep has mystery box sales every month. In the middle of August, they sent an email saying there was a mystery box sale. Seeing that I received a free polish coupon, and the fact that the box is a 'mystery', I decided to order the it girl box (because really, I want more polish than other items)!

The only gripes I had was that I was not given the "free shipping" option that is offered to Julep mavens, and the receipt I received in my email did not show details of what I ordered, and instead it showed the total amount that I paid (which included the price for the free polish I had a coupon for).

Slightly annoyed that I ended up paying for my free polish, I called customer service and asked whether or not I was charged. Fortunately, Julep customer service was surprisingly good, as she answered my question, she then proceeded to tell me that I could get free shipping and she was able to refund the charge on my credit card. 

Great! It was going ok, and then two weeks later my package came.... and I was disappointed. After looking up mystery boxes on the internet, I saw that I received the EXACT same box as other bloggers who ordered the same box. Not much of a surprise, and I was slightly disappointed in the fact that I received the minimum $60 box. 

From top to bottom: Sandra, Rachel, Megan, Jessica, Base coat

My general opinions on the polish, I'll use the base coat because of the convenience factor (it's so small, I can carry it anywhere), but other than that I have a bunch of base coats that I still need to use up, and would have preferred a top coat.

The only other polish that I tried so far was Jessica, sadly it was rather 'gloopy' and hard to apply. The brush was also odd, and overall the polish just... didn't wow me. I added some nail polish thinner, but I haven't tried it since.

Colour above: Taylor

For my add-on free polish, I chose Taylor. In my small collection, I don't own many blue polishes. Once I saw a periwinkle blue, I fell in love! Although for some reason, I pictured it to be a lighter shade of blue, but this one is quite pretty and I do enjoy it. 

Formula wise it applies nicely, the brush is decent, and I do like the colour! 

Overall, I think this will be my last julep purchase for a while. I'm done with the colours, as well as the odd bottles and I've noticed that the consistency of the polish gets thicker after each usage. 

I don't even find the mystery boxes to be worth your money. Unless you're lucky and get a better box, the chances you're taking with the small amount of polish contained in each bottle is not worth the $3 - $4 I spend with the box. 

Did anybody else get a mystery julep box before? Let me know your thoughts on the polish!

Preparation: Japan

That's right!

In October of this year, I will be on a semester exchange to Sapporo, Japan. The last time I went to Japan was in the summer of 2008, and I knew I wanted to come back after the short visit I had.

I've always had an interest in Japanese culture since junior high, so this opportunity is amazing and I am both extremely excited, and nervous at the same time.

Personally, this is a huge step for me. I've always lived a rather simple life, always being sheltered in my home city and living the typical school, work, and hang out with friends life.

Not to mention my first solo travel! I'm the type of person who is extremely shy when put into new situations, I'm taking this opportunity to come out of my comfort zone!

I still have a number of things to do (including figuring out what to pack), and working as much as possible before jetting off to the land of the rising sun.

Nervous? Heck yes. But at the same time I am looking forward to this!

Julep Maven - Intro and July Boxes and my thoughts

After reading and seeing several beauty bloggers and youtubers talk about Julep, I was curious and checked out the site. I'm not interested in subscription beauty boxes, I was signed up in the Canadian version of birchbox (Luxe Box) and I found myself hoarding the samples instead of trying them out weekly. Therefore signing up for a subscription nail polish box is not only costly to my wallet (at $20 a box), but to my already small growing nail polish collection. 

However after seeing the promotion for a 1 cent box, I figured why not! No shipping fees to incur (even to Canada! That is NEVER the case), and it was cheap. 

I took the test and was recommended the classic with a twist box. Now, given that it was my first time navigating the site, I settled on whatever my "quiz"  suggested I get. I didn't know you were able to switch boxes and decide on different colours. If I was to do this again, I'd probably go for the 'It girl' box, since it's a better bang for your buck. 

From what I've noticed, all the other boxes usually include 2 polishes and another small item freebie, whereas the 'It girl' box contains 3 polishes. I'd rather pay less for polish than get a sample of something else that I may, or may not use.

Without further ado, lets begin with the pictures!

Nicely packaged, I enjoyed the small box it came in and the toe separators (I don't have any, haha) and the pedi creme. Not that I need a foot cream (I have others that I use), but it was a nice addition and it smells quite nice.

The two nail polish colours I received were rose (top) and robin (bottom). I must say I quite like the colours. I'm not a fan of pinks or fuchsias, since I don't think they look good on my hands, but I have yet to try this colour and I am looking forward to putting it on. Both are nice creme colours, and the formula is really good. I've only tried robin so far but it goes completely opaque in 2 coats, and I'm sure you could do it in one coat but I like evening it out with two.

For me, robin wears a really long time. I usually get bored with my nails after 3 - 4 days, and my nail polish usually starts to peel off in the same time frame so I just take my nail polish off. However robin was kept on for around a week before I got bored of it. 

My major complaint would be the bottle design. It looks nice, but I'm clumsy when it comes to painting my nails and I'm always paranoid that I'll accidentally knock over the bottle and it'll spill. 

Onto the July box! After seeing that you get a free Canada or America polish, I jumped on that and got the (again), classic with a twist box. Once again I would have preferred the 'it girl', but I will explain that later on.

Julep sends a free polish voucher on your first full priced box you order. 

The lip gloss that was included! I forget the name but it's a incredibly pale pink gloss that makes me look..... ghastly. It doesn't compliment my current lip colour, and just makes my whole face look... weird! This was the main reason I wanted the it girl box, first off I don't even like lip gloss (I only own a handful compared to the rest of my makeup collection), and second off it's a pale pink colour that I know I won't look good in. But I figured it wasn't worth the hassle of mailing it back to Julep (since it IS from Canada, I don't want to pay shipping fees!), I kept the box.

 I've never had (or even heard of!) these candies but it's a nice addition.

The polishes I received. From top to bottom, O Canada, Freida, Audrey

Closer look at the colours.

The only colour I've tried is Audrey, and I can't say it's my favourite.

As previously mentioned, I don't like pink on my nails. I have yet to find the perfect pink for my nails, and I think if it wasn't so shimmery it might look better on my nails, but alas it doesn't.

Overall my thoughts on Julep:
It's an ok service. If you have the money to spend, go right ahead. Otherwise I would wait for the mystery boxes (which I have heard are worth the money) and any other specials they might have. 

I would highly recommend getting the 1 cent box, since it's a penny, you don't get that deal elsewhere! Just google for the code and check if it's still working.

Otherwise I'm still disappointed with the regular boxes, if I got 4 polishes, it only takes the cost down to  $5 per polish, which is cheaper than OPI or China glaze (at least in Canada), but then when you look at the amount you get compared to other polishes, I just don't think it's worth it. 

I have used robin twice (so 2 coats for each finger = I've used 20 coats of the polish overall) and I've already used up 1/4 of the bottle. I've been using several Revlon polishes over and over again and I still have a ton left. 

In my opinion, it's just not worth your money. Especially when you can get other polishes for cheaper that will last you longer and that come in a better bottle design, save your money and buy those instead.
If you do decide to sign up, please use my referral link (CLICK HERE)!
I am in no way affiliated with Julep, I just get credits for every referral I get which eventually would lead to a free box. I am not forcing you to use my link, it is totally up to you whether or not you want to use my link or not!

Sasa.net Haul

I've heard rave rave reviews of Sasa.net, since they carry such a wide variety of Asian cosmetics and beauty products. I've been stalking the website for a couple of months now, adding items to my cart, deleting them, and then looking at the shipping cost and giving up altogether. 

One day it said free shipping if you spend $38, given that my cart was already around then $25 - $30 mark, spending the extra $8 was no big deal. It wasn't until I realized that it was only a sale for 3 days and I caught it on the last day and missed it because I wasn't home to order everything. That and some of the items I wanted were out of stock.

A day or two later I checked again and saw they had another promotion but it was spend over $19USD!! I jumped at that chance and immediately cut down my cart so I spent around $20 total with shipping. That's an amazing deal, and I got everything that I wanted this time as well. 

2 weeks later I go to the post office to pick up my package and I see this behemoth box.

 WOW! Sorry to say I thought this was a little excessive, considering that I didn't order much for $20!

I was shaking it at the post office trying to figure out why the hell they packaged my stuff with this big of a box! Excessive box, but nice packaging! I love the use of the foam peanuts to protect everything in the box.

My packaged up items

Everything I ordered! See how big the box is compared to what I ordered!

First off is this foaming net, this was one of the items which is ALWAYS out of stock. It retails for around $2.60 CAD (at the time I ordered the items). I was really looking forward to this! This does an amazing job of creating tons of foam from one pump of my cleanser. I really do feel it's helped clean my face better because of the foam and how easy it is to massage into my face. Love it! Definitely worth the money.

Next up were cotton layers and cleansing oil. The cotton pads were $3.40 but they are amazing quality! So soft and really nice, and splitting it up into layers makes them last a lot longer.

The cleaning oil was $8.60, extremely cheap, and unfortunately I haven't tried it yet but I am so excited! I got the whitening kind because I want to see if it helps reduce my past acne scars.

Next up cheap blotting papers! I have been running out and didn't want to shell out the $8+ for clean and clear or other brands that I don't find work too well for my oily skin.

I also got a sample of the eye gel cream, which I don't know if it will work too well, given that gel eye creams don't tend to work well with my dry under eye. We'll see.

Last up! A shampoo brush. I know it seems a little weird, but I find that washing my hair with my hands don't really 'massage' my scalp. I know that brushing your hair while it's wet is damaging, but so far nothing horrendous has happened to me yet, so I will continue using it. 

With hair, it's very subjective in the way that what works for me may not work for you. I have lots of hair that is thing, so using this really helps massage my scalp and evenly distribute conditioner that I apply.

I will go into further reviews of everything else later on, as I use them more often, but for now this was my sasa haul!

I just checked the website and saw that there is a promotion of spend over $19USD and get free worldwide shipping! If you band together with friends to spend over $150USD you get cash back too!

Sounds like an amazing deal, and definitely check out these items before this promotion runs out!

It ends August 2 23:59 Hong Kong time! Do be sure to check it out :)

Bang Bang she shoots' giveaway!

Congrats to Nic Nic and her 500 000 hits! 

Please check out her blog and enter her giveaway by clicking on the photo above! :)

Daily Makeup Box

I have a small stash compared to others (although my family thinks it's huge and rather wasteful), but I have a small box that carries the makeup that I grab for on a frequent basis.

 The container, as you can see, is a thin cardboard box that I found in a big pocky package holding smaller pocky bags. Hard to explain, but I saw that this box was the perfect size and I decided to keep it. To make it a bit more sturdy, I taped the sides and... well, the whole box to make it sturdy. 

Now onto the products!

Hard Candy glamoflauge, I bought this because of all the rave reviews but it's a little too dark for my undereyes. I still use it for undereyes and spots because the coverage is amazing.

Mascaras, I am using the NYC volumizing show time as a base and then overtop use a sample of Clinique's high impact mascara. I really wish the Clinique mascara was waterproof (or at least hold a curl) because it makes my lashes look amazing. 

I got the Physicians Formula eyeliner and eye booster liquid eyeliner because there was a rebate for it to try it free last year. I decided to jump on that opportunity because free eyeliner, why not! I got it in the colour brown and I absolutely love this eyeliner. Thin felt tip, opaque and made applying eyeliner feel like a breeze! Can't say much for the eyelash booster portion of this, but it already ran out so once I go through my other eyeliners, it's a definite repurchase!

Lorac's behind the scenes eye primer, sadly I bought a set just for this eye primer (since Lorac isn't readily available in Canada), and I was disappointed. Urban Decay primer potion didn't work well for my eyelids, I figured this would be the next best thing. Nope, and not a repurchase from me.

Last is a Clinique pencil liner in 04 black coffee. I received this from a family friend, because it was part of a gift with purchase and they don't want the makeup, just the skincare items. Ah well, it works like any other pencil liner. I do however like the cap it came with, and will reuse that with all of my pencil liners in the future.

And last but not least my tweezerman tweezers, nothing special there, they work just fine.

Eye products next! Sephora eyeshadow that I received free as a birthday gift. I actually don't use this often at all, beside that in the white container is whatever is left of the taupe shade in the Wet and Wild silent treatment trio (it fell on my bathroom floor and only the taupe shade broke). A Rimmel eyeshadow in black, but it is really sheer and applies like a light charcoal so I use it for my brows. Elf cream liner in black, it dried up so I used some eyedrops to revive it but once again, I don't use this often (I prefer pencil, it's faster and easy to draw on). 

Ardell eyelash glue, nothing special but I won't be using this again and would rather try a Japanese brand or maybe the duo brand in the future. 

Last but not least my only cream shadows, Revlon in black magic. I don't use this as often as I want, but my lids are so oily that these crease within an hour without a primer. With a primer, maybe three hours. Definitely going to use whatever I can and then toss it.

NYC loose powder in translucent, for the price you get a lot! I'm going to have a hard time using this up, it works alright, I don't see it making a HUGE difference! L'oreal mineral foundation, I don't really care for it. Same goes for the blush beside it, and then a sample of blush from coastal scents.

NYC blushable cream sticks, I don't use this too often too but will try to because for some reason, I have a backup of this.

Three most commonly used eyeshadow palettes

Left to right, Laura Mercier in sandstone. Estee lauder palette and a Elizabeth Arden palette.
I absolutely love the Laura Mercier shadow, I got this in my luxe box and was extremely happy with the box. Amazing and easy wash of colour that brightens up above my eye easily, lots of product and small packaging.

As you can tell from the picture above, I used up the pink shade in the Estee Lauder palette, not my favourite colour but I managed to use it everyday for a few months. 

The Elizabeth Arden palette is extremely old, I actually found this in my mom's room. She doesn't use eyeshadow, and I fell in love with the browns in the palette, so I took it. The pink is extremely sheer, so I only use the brown colours.

My only lip product, Maybelline baby lips. I received this as a prize from a giveaway, and I must say it smells really nice! It adds a nice bit of colour too, but I can't say I like it very much. Mainly because I am a lip chap junkie, I reapply as much as possible throughout the day. Because of that the pigmentation on this builds up and turns into a really unflattering colour with my skintone. But for a sheer wash, works fine!

Another longer post! I am on a role. 

So what do you use on a daily basis? Around the same - or even more - than my little box of products??

Mascara galore!

As stated in my previous post, I am a mascara junkie. I absolutely love mascara! Fortunately I have been blessed with fairly long lashes (for an Asian girl) and I find that my eyes really stand out when I have mascara on. 

Rexall usually has a 50% mascara sale once (or twice?) every year, I usually take that time to try out new mascaras, as well as stock up on old favourites. 

As mascaras can range from $4 - $15 in Canada, I really like taking advantage of this sale because each mascara will usually end up being around $2 - $5 each. I definitely can't pass up a sale like that!

I decided to review the mascaras that I have been using since I bought them in October/November.

Side note, the Lorac one is actually from a Sephora Lorac kit I bought back a while ago but became interested in using the eye primer.

NOTE: All of them are waterproof except for the Lorac one. I find only waterproof mascara holds a curl.

Top to Bottom: Maybelline Colossal Volume, Revlon Grow Luscious Plumping, Revlon Grow Luscious, Lorac Special Effects and Prestige Lash Matrix.

 Starting off with Lorac special effects, my only mascara that is not waterproof. Half mascara and half mascara primer, I was quite excited to try this because I've never tried a mascara primer.

 If I had naturally curly lashes, I'd love this mascara! However I just have long flat lashes, it lengthens it nicely but that's about it. 

Top: Primer side, Bottom: Mascara side

Close-up of the bristles on the wand (same type of bristles on the primer end)

Altogether

 Overall it's a nice product, but not for me. I do really like the primer side though, when I used it under other waterproof mascaras, my lashes looked gorgeous. I will definitely look for another good primer to use on the special occasions where I don't want to apply falsies. 

Prestige Lash Matrix, as it says on the tube: Length, Lift, Volume mascara. Sadly I can't say too much about this mascara because it was pretty much dried up by the time I opened it. I can't remember but I think I might have opened it once and took a look at it when I first bought it... but as I said I can't remember. 

All the dried up product gunked on the brush, yuck. 

I do have to say though when I tried it the few times, it was nothing special. That and it has a REALLY strong fragrance. I'm used to smelling chemical like mascaras, but this one... smelled really nice. But if you're sensitive to fragrances, you probably don't want to apply this near your eyes... at all. 

My FAVOURITE of the bunch! In the past I tried Maybelline's Falsies (in black drama waterproof), It didn't really stand out for me and while it made my lashes look nice, nothing amazing. This mascara however... AMAZING!!

 The brush is nice, covers all my lashes, volume and lengthens it just enough. Not to mention my lashes stay curled all day long. Best of all, NO SMUDGING! I have had so many smudging problems with my old mascaras, that when I tried this and there was no smudging, I fell in love! This is a definite repurchase for me.

SUPER close up of the bristles

 Next up are the Revlon ones!

 I decided to try both because eyelash growth serum? Yes please!

Needless to say, both flake, didn't notice a difference in length and they dried up really fast. 

Grow Luscious

Grow Luscious Plumping

Top: Plumping
Bottom: Original

 Final verdict: Even though I wouldn't repurchase either, I did find better results with the original formula. Mainly because of the brush, it worked a lot better to get into the inner and outer corner of my eyes to reach every lash. Something to note is that both of these flake horribly. If your a contact lens wearer, there were times where it would just flake into my eyes and cause temporary pain.  

Last but not least, NYC Show time.

I bought this because my HG for a while was the Cover Girl mascara professional in the blue tube (I think) and I thought this would be similar. I would've continued using the Cover Girl brand, but it started smudging under my eyes so I stopped using it; even though it gave my lashes an amazing look. I thought this would be similar, as it was cheap and looked about the same.

I think the brush is what made it fail on my lashes. Didn't coat my lashes, and in the end didn't do anything for my lashes. It gave my eyes an extremely natural look, it didn't even seem like I had mascara on! But that isn't my preferred look, if I use mascara I want major definition of my lashes. I ended up mainly using this under other mascaras because it was somewhat waterproof, but again it didn't even hold a curl so in the end a waste of money.

Phew, long post! 

If anyone has a HG mascara please share! I love trying drugstore mascaras, with the occasional high end mascara that I get as a sample. I love mascara! Who else does to?! :)