Tag Archives: Fantasy Makers

What I Bought This Month – July 2015 Haul

Another month, another roundup of beauty goodies. I have to say, I’ve been spending a lot less, but my makeup intake has been insane because the CBB keeps doing swap after swap after swap and I keep walking away with more and more products to try out!

Becca - Champagne Pop ($46 CAD)
Becca – Champagne Pop ($46 CAD)

Let’s start with the one item I did purchase this past month: Becca‘s collaboration with Jaclyn Hill resulted in Champagne Pop. Quite possibly the most beautiful highlighting shade I own. (Full review here.) This was expensive – there’s no doubt about that. But as a regular viewer of Jaclyn Hill’s videos I wanted to support her latest creation since I’d also been meaning to try out Becca‘s stuff too!

Estee Lauder - Courreges - Black Silver (free - gift)
Estee Lauder – Courreges – Black Silver (free – gift)

My first Estee Lauder product, I think. This was from a limited edition collection called Courreges a few months ago. The shade is Black Silver and there’s a LOT of it in the that pot!

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes in Pink Poppy (free - gift)
The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes in Pink Poppy (free – gift)

A quad cast off from a friend. This is The Body Shop‘s Shimmer Cubes in Pink Poppy. They’re in truly bizarre packaging. There’s the outer layer that holds all four of them, and then each individual shade is in its’ OWN little plastic tin with a cap. Super weird.

The texture is a bit powdery, but the colours are lovely. I didn’t take any decent photos of my makeup with it on, but I did snag a shot for Instagram while wearing them:

Quite pretty!

Avon - Anew Vitale (free - swap)
Avon – Anew Vitale (free – swap)

A brand new tube of Avon‘s Anew Vitale Day Lotion. I’ve had no experience with it, but as someone without sensitive skin, I’m always up for free skincare!

Dolce & Gabanna Light Blue - Escape to Panarea (free - swap)
Dolce & Gabanna Light Blue – Escape to Panarea (free – swap)

I got this at the swap because it seems like nobody wanted it! I’ve been a fan D&G‘s Light Blue for a while… but as it turns out, I’m not so much of a fan of this version called Escape to Panarea. Ah well.

Fantasy Makers - Feather Fetish - Hypnotise
Fantasy Makers – Feather Fetish – Hypnotise

Okay yeah. I have no idea when or where I’ll wear these – maybe for a Halloween look? But they were awesome and no one else wanted them!

Glitter Gal - Copper (free - gift)
Glitter Gal – Copper (free – gift)

Shawna of Spill The Beauty accidentally ordered two of these halographic polishes and I was the lucky recipient of the extra one! I’ve not applied it yet, but damn can I ever not wait. Holographic anything? Yes PLEASE! (This is Glitter Gal’s Copper shade.)

Variety of lip products courtesy of the CBB swap
Variety of lip products courtesy of the CBB swap

I don’t know all the shade names (because I’m currently writing this while on vacation in Montreal – follow our blogging hash tag for the past weekend with #CBBroadtrip – we’ve been having a blast!) but I got some lovely lip products to try out. There’s a Maybelline lipstick in there, a Revlon lip butter in Peach Parfait (I’ve actually finished an entire one of these before – true story!), a Australis Velourlips (if Sharon Farrell loves them, then *I* must love them!), a mini from Tarte, a lipstick from the Sephora brand and a red lip paint from a brand I’m not familiar with.

Lise Watier - Eden Tropical Bronzing Powder (free - gift)
Lise Watier – Eden Tropical Bronzing Powder (free – gift)

The imprint on this compact is gorgeous. And I love me a humongous bronzer. But the sad news is that Lise Watier‘s Eden Tropical Bronzing Powder is oompa loompa orange and I just cannot wear it. 🙁

Make Up For Ever - Cream Blush in 210 (free - gift)
Make Up For Ever – Cream Blush in 210 (free – gift)

Another cast off from a friend. This is the kind of shade I hate to love. Make Up For Ever‘s 210 cream blush is a bubble gum pink that has the unfortunate habit of looking lovely on me. It’s not the kind of shade I like looking at as it’s far too girly for my tastes, but the reality is that it looks really good on me, and therefore I love it.

Make Up For Ever Plexig Gloss in 101, 402P & 403 (free - swap)
Make Up For Ever Plexig Gloss in 101, 402P & 403 (free – swap)

The Make Up For Ever Plexi Glosses are something I had passed on entirely because I don’t feel I’m a gloss person. I had several of them very nearly thrown at me during the swap, so I figured I’d try them out. End result? I can confirm they’re not for me. They fade off quickly (as to be expected of a gloss) and I just can’t be bothered with the constant reapplication.

Milani blushes in Tea Rose & Love Potion (free - gift)
Milani blushes in Tea Rose & Love Potion (free – gift)

More cast offs! I already owned Coral Cove, and I was happy to add Tea Rose and Love Potion to the collection.

Miracle 10 Light Serum (free - swap)
Miracle 10 Light Serum (free – swap)

A full tube of Miracle 10‘s Light Serum was left on the table after the swap. I’m not a huge fan of the scent of this thing, and it’s really only decent for hydrating in the summer time since it is VERY light. But I did run through a whole tube of it before, so I mean… I like it enough to use it all up again!

NARS Rated R duo and Revlon 501 Meotropolitan (free - swap)
NARS Rated R duo and Revlon 501 Meotropolitan (free – swap)

Ohhh yes.  NARS Rated R and Revlon Metropolitan.  Both items I’ve been wanting to try and thankfully totally free!

Olay Fresh Effects - BB Cream in Light to Medium (free - swap)
Olay Fresh Effects – BB Cream in Light to Medium (free – swap)

Another item I’ve been wanting to try because the Olay Fresh Effects packaging ALWAYS pulls me in. I need another foundation like I need a hole in the head, but hey… this one is a BB CREAM, so therefore it’s totally different…

Random assortment of eye and cheek products (free - swap)
Random assortment of eye and cheek products (free – swap)

A bunch of cast offs! A MAC paint pot, an Australis plush, a Laura Geller blush (it’s GORGEOUS!), an essence mineralize eyeshadow that is really, really good quality, a Kryolan blush (also stunning) and some gold eyeshadow cream/pigment type thing.

Red Cherry lashes (free - swap)
Red Cherry lashes (free – swap)

I don’t know why I insist on trying out different kinds of lashes when I *know* that House of Lashes make the ones that work for me the best. But I keep trying others… mostly because I hear about how everyone likes other brands. I’ve heard plenty of good things about Red Cherry so I’ll happily give these a shot!

Smashbox SantiGold - Earth As We Know It (free - gift)
Smashbox SantiGold – Earth As We Know It (free – gift)

I wasn’t sure what to think of Smashbox‘s Earth As We Know It palette at first. But then I created this:

and I was like… oh okay. I like you.

The Body Shop - Mango Sorbet (free - swap)
The Body Shop – Mango Sorbet (free – swap)

I absolutely love the texture of The Body Shop‘s sorbet moisturizers. It has this frothy, foamy like consistency and is soooo much fun to play with… uhhh I mean fun to put on. Mango‘s a new scent to me and I quite liked the few sniffs I had of it.

Wet n Wild - 911D Stoplight Red & 969 Carrot Gold (free - swap)
Wet n Wild – 911D Stoplight Red & 969 Carrot Gold (free – swap)

Man, everyone keeps ditching their Wet n Wild Megalast lipsticks, whereas I just LOVE them! Here’s Stoplight Red and, one I’ve been meaning to find, Carrot Gold. It’s way more orange than I thought it would be – we’ll have to see how it looks on my lips!

Wet n Wild - Petal Pusher (free - gift)
Wet n Wild – Petal Pusher (free – gift)

And finally (phew!) an eight pan shadow palette from Wet n WildPetal Pusher. I’d always glanced at it but never bought it. I know the quality will be on parr with The Comfort Zone palette so I’m looking forward to playing with the shadows.

PHEW! GOOD GRIEF THAT WAS A LOT OF STUFF! I hope the swap stuff is interesting for you – please let me know whether or not it is. It’s all gently used makeup and stuff I’m adding into my collection so I think it’s relevant. But I’m not sure if people like seeing the swap stuff, or if they’d rather just see the brand new stuff I purchased.

What I Bought This Month – November 2013 Haul

Brace yourselves, this is a big one. I’ll include reviews for some of the products if I’ve used them long enough to form an opinion.

MAC Blacktrack Fluidline – $19 CAD
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline – $19 CAD

Out of sheer frustration with my Maybelline gel liner, I picked up MAC‘s fluidline inBlacktrack. I had used up an entire tub of it before, but had decided to try the cheaperMaybelline one to see if I preferred it. What a mistake. The Maybelline one had a nasty habit of smearing near the outer corners of my eyes, a problem I’ve never encountered with MAC‘s gel liner. The Maybelline one was also significantly stiffer and less fluid to apply. I certainly don’t intend to stray from this MAC product again!

Fantasy Makers Glitter Palette in Fairy Flight ($4.99 CAD)
Fantasy Makers Glitter Palette in Fairy Flight ($4.99 CAD)

This product absolutely enrages me. I love Wet n Wild (although I’ve never used any of their cream products) and Fantasy Makers is a derivative of that company. I picked up this glitter palette in Fairy Flight shortly after Halloween (as it was a leftover from their Halloween display at the drug store) thinking that I could use the glitters for something fun.

Wrong. So wrong.

These aren’t even GLITTERY! There’s an overspray of glitter, but it certainly doesn’t go any deeper into the product. That gorgeous dark blue with shimmer on it? It’s just black underneath. The first swipe removes all of the glitter and you’re left with nothing but a black base. The same is true of all the colours – any of the glitter that you see is just an overspray. So frustrating.

Not to be deterred, I thought I’d at least give the products a shot. I decided to use them as a base for eyeshadows (over top of my usual primer from Urban Decay). I tried out the pale green and the darker green, but within four hours of application my makeup was almost completely disintegrated. It got SO BAD that I actually took my eye makeup off at work. Which is something I don’t think I’ve ever done.

Here’s a look at it. The shot on the left was before I left for work, and the one on the right was taken around noon (so about four hours into wearing the makeup).

I haven’t tried them again on my eye, but just for laughs, I thought I’d swatch them on my hand as I’m typing this to see if maybe I could use them as face paint later on. But ten minutes later, they’re still wet, and smudgy, which makes them pretty much unusable for anything at all. Straight into the bin with this one! What a waste.

MUA Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand – £1.00 GBP
MUA Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand – £1.00 GBP

MUA is a company I’ve always looked at whenever I visited the UK, but not one I ever purchased products from. They were recently having free international shipping so I took advantage. I picked up their matte foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand. I do especially like that even though it doesn’t come with a pump, it is at least a squeeze tube with a nozzle which makes it very easy for dispensing product.

MUA BB Cream in Light – £4.00 GBP
MUA BB Cream in Light – £4.00 GBP

At £4, this was one of the most expensive items I picked up from MUA. Having never tried a BB cream before (I know, shock, horror), I decided the best idea would be to pick up a cheap one. (There’s some sarcasm in that statement!) At the moment, MUA‘s BB Cream inLight is just way too light for my skin. I’ll need to wait for the dead of winter before trying this one out again. Again with the nozzle – love it.

MUA Matte Lipsticks – £1.00 GBP each
MUA Matte Lipsticks – £1.00 GBP each

I picked up a few of MUA‘s matte lipsticks since they’ve received quite good reviews in the beauty blogging world. They swatch semi decently (and I only say that because Wild Berrywas particularly awful to swatch, but the others were not). At a pound each, they’re quite easy on your wallet. So far I’ve only worn Scarlet Siren and I loved the colour of it on my lips.

MUA Matte Lipsticks – Wild Berry, Scarlet Siren, Peachy Keen
MUA Matte Lipsticks – Wild Berry, Scarlet Siren, Peachy Keen
MUA Pearl Eyeshadows in 9, 1, 26 – £1.00 GBP each
MUA Pearl Eyeshadows in 9, 1, 26 – £1.00 GBP each

These eyeshadows by MUA are absolutely insane. They’re a single pound each and they wear like a dream. The colour payoff is unbelievable and the dimension to the shades is absolutely unheard of in a product that is just so cheap! These are definitely worth purchasing from MUA.

MUA Pretty Pastels Palette – £4.00 GBP
MUA Pretty Pastels Palette – £4.00 GBP

The other “expensive” product from MUA was their 12 pan eyeshadow palette in Pretty Pastels. While going through their palettes on their web site, this one struck me because it was unlike most colours I have in my eyeshadow collection. This palette has a lot of soft colours that will mix well with a lot of my brighter shades. The colour payoff is what you’d expect with pastels – very pale, sometimes sheer. As a total surprise though… that innocuous looking light shade in the top left corner? It looks boring as hell, but it has a beautiful pink duochrome to it. Very lovely colour.

MAC Prep + Prime Lip – $19 CAD
MAC Prep + Prime Lip – $19 CAD

MAC‘s Prep + Prime for Lips is something that I can no longer be without. If I’m wearing a lipstick, I have to have this underneath as a base layer for my lips. I discussed it at length in my recent empties blog post, but, in short, this prevents bleeding, feathering and makes my lipstick stay on for hours. You need this in your life.

Real Techniques – Expert Face Brush ($6.74 USD) and Blush Brush ($8.98 USD)
Real Techniques – Expert Face Brush ($6.74 USD) and Blush Brush ($8.98 USD)

I had a credit for amazon.com and decided to pick up some products that are not regularly available in Canada. The Real Techniques kits are sold at Walmart here, but the individual brushes are not. I don’t have enough face brushes, so I picked up the Expert Face Brush(which has been much raved about in the beauty community) and the Blush Brush. I’ve never actually owned a “proper” blush brush and have been using my MAC 130 dual fiber brush for blush. I’m loving the soft fluffiness of the Blush Brush and have used it to apply my blush every day since I got it (it does work better for softer products though. I find it struggles to pick up product with “harder” blushes). I do like the Expert Face Brush as well although it does feel rather small for applying foundation.

Maybelline Vivids lipstick in Neon Red ($4.97 USD)
Maybelline Vivids lipstick in Neon Red ($4.97 USD)

Oddly enough, Maybelline‘s Vivids line in Canada does not include Neon Red. Why we get some shades, but not all of them (this goes for various makeup brands), I’ll never know. I love the entirety of the Vivids line and this is no exception. The shade does lean rather orange.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Cherries in the Snow (Creme) – $6.92 USD
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Cherries in the Snow (Creme) – $6.92 USD

As one of Revlon‘s longest standing lipstick  shades (from the 1950s), I’m really curious as to why Cherries in the Snow is not available in Canada. I searched many a drugstore for this one and was never able to find it. As I was making my amazon.com order, I made sure to include this shade. While I see a lot of pink to this shade, almost everyone who commented on this lipstick while I was wearing it referred to it as red. /shrugs All I know is that I love it!

Tarte Off The Cuff palette – $50 CAD
Tarte Off The Cuff palette – $50 CAD

Be still my heart. This is a thing of beauty. With Sephora’s VIB sale fast approaching, I knew I wanted to pick up Tarte‘s Off The Cuff palette since I had missed out on their holiday blush set the previous year by waiting too long. Of course, the first day of the VIB sale I discovered I wasn’t ACTUALLY a VIB member of Sephora and couldn’t get this with the 20% discount. At this point it didn’t matter, I just wanted to get my hands on it. Tarte‘s Blissful was the first blush I ever owned and they remain my favourite blushes to this day. I don’t have a lot of them as they are quite expensive individually, so this was a perfect opportunity to get more bang for my buck.

The palette comes with four blush shades (Crave, Dazzled, Darling and Dollface) and their infamous Park Avenue Princess bronzer. The texture of the blushes is consistent with Tarte‘s standards and I’m really happy I picked this one up while I did because that very same day they sold out online and in stores. Phew!

Laura Mercier Artist Palette – $48 CAD (regularly $60 CAD)
Laura Mercier Artist Palette – $48 CAD (regularly $60 CAD)

This Artist palette is my first introduction to Laura Mercier products. This is another one I waited for Sephora’s VIB sale to pick up. However, despite not actually being VIB status, the woman at the cash sold it to me at the discounted price anyway, which I didn’t even notice until after I’d paid!  I had to make a mad dash between Sephora stores as the one near my office sold out before I got there (and this also sold out online as well). I’ve used it several times since I picked it up and I love the feel of these eyeshadows – they blend beautifully and the pigmentation is fantastic. (The matte shades remind me a lot of MAC‘s Matte2 formula.) The shimmery purple with gold in it, African Violet, is a particular favourite of mine.

NYX Butter Glosses – ~$4 USD each
NYX Butter Glosses – ~$4 USD each

Oh man, I’m not even going to pretend like I have a reasonable explanation for this one. A lovely friend of mine in the US sent me two of NYX‘s butter glosses after I lamented about how I couldn’t find them anywhere in Toronto. Being the wonderful person that she is, she sent me two as a surprise (Creme Brulee and Maple Blondie). I received them, freaked out, applied them, freaked out again, logged online and ordered the whole damn set from a vendor on Ebay. It was like instantaneous loss of willpower. I BOUGHT THE WHOLE SET AND I’M NOT (completely) ASHAMED! These smell like vanilla, cream and candy.

Since the numbering/colouring system of these glosses seems to be totally out of whack, I decided to put them in some kind of colour gradient order. Which certainly isn’t helping me now that I want to name them. Ugh. Well done Chelle. Anyway, as per the above picture, the colours are (left to right): Strawberry Parfait, Merengue, Eclair, Vanilla Cream Pie, Tiramisu, Creme Brulee, Apple Strudel, Maple Blondie, Peaches and Cream, Cherry Cheese Cake, Peach Cobbler, Cherry Pie. And that’s it. I’m so done with glosses. I don’t need ANY more.

Garnier Moisture Rescue Cleansing Cloths – $5.99 CAD
Garnier Moisture Rescue Cleansing Cloths – $5.99 CAD

Garnier Cleansing Cloths were on sale for $5.99 (regular price is somewhere around the eleven dollar mark). I’ve never tried them before, but as I’ve said in the past, if it says it removes waterproof makeup, it’s worth a shot!

The Body Shop’s Body butters in Satsuma and Shea Butter – $10 CAD each
The Body Shop’s Body butters in Satsuma and Shea Butter – $10 CAD each

The Body Shop was having another sale on selected types of Body Butters. I already ownSatsuma, but I’ve been doing quite the number on it (and the smell is just absolutely amazing) so I picked up another one and grabbed a Shea Butter one at the same. Now,  I’m not sure what Shea Butter actually smells like, but I thought it would be slightly nutty. I don’t smell any nuts in the Shea scented one. If anything, it smells slightly like a mens cologne! Lovely scent though.

Revlon Parfumerie nail polish in Autumn Spice – $6.99 CAD
Revlon Parfumerie nail polish in Autumn Spice – $6.99 CAD

I came across Revlon‘s Parfumerie stand in a Rexall by accident. Although they had been popping up all over US drug stores, I hadn’t expected to see them in Canada so soon (we normally get drugstore makeup releases very late in comparison with the US. And sometimes we don’t even get them at all!). The Parfumerie collection appears to be a permanent addition to Revlon’s range, so don’t feel you need to pick up all of the colours immediately!

I’d heard mixed reviews as to the potency of the scent, but I loved the look of Autumn Spiceso I wanted to give it a try. I had thought that this shade/scent was more reddish, but on the nails it’s definitely brown with sparkle. There may be some red to it, but there isn’t a whole lot that’s apparent. In the bottle, you’ll only be able to smell nail polish, but once you get it on the nails and it dries down, it definitely smells of spices. So much so that while I was sleeping at night, I had to change the position of my hands as they were far too close to my face and I was just constantly inhaling spices. I had several people sniff my nails over the next few days (and yes, asking them to do that is as awkward as it sounds!) and all of them said my nails smelled like cinnamon. I didn’t use a top coat to ensure that the smell would be as potent as possible. However, after this scent trial, I will definitely be applying top coat from now on as the polish was chipping within a few days.

And that’s my beauty and makeup shopping done for the month of November!