Tag Archives: Pacifica
2015 Gift Guide: Makeup Stocking Stuffers
I don’t know about you, but I often struggle to think of reasonably priced, small items for stocking stuffers. Here are some items that stick to $25 CAD and under that I think most beauty lovers can appreciate on some level.
Since they’re small and compact, rollerball perfumes are one of the easier things to pick up. Almost every brand out there has a rollerball sized perfume, but it’ll be up to you to figure out the scent the person you’re gifting will most like to receive.
My suggestions:
- Elizabeth & James Nirvana Black ($14 CAD for the ornament sized rollerball): Nirvana Black was a new discovery for me this year and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever worn. It has notes of alluring violet, sensual sandalwood, and rich vanilla.
- Elizabeth & James Nirvana White ($14 CAD for the ornament sized rollerball): Nirvana White is the softer side of the Nirvana line and while it’s not precisely to my tastes, it’s been a huge hit for a lot of people this year as well. It has notes of delicate peony, chic muguet (lily of the valley), and tender musk.
- Pacifica French Lilac (~$11 CAD): I picked up this Pacifica rollerball back in May from a health food store and it was love at first roll. This smells exactly like lilacs and reminds me of the lilac bush my parents have in their backyard when I was growing up. Pacifica has an ENORMOUS selection of roll on perfumes, so there’s plenty to choose from for really reasonable prices.
Another small item that’s perfect for stockings is nail polish! And the cheap stuff is almost always as good as the expensive ones. I’ve included some of my favourites and recent collection additions:
- Julie G: Created by beauty YouTuber JulieG, this line is not only enormous, but she also has regular seasonal collections. What I’ve tried from the line not only wears well, but also doesn’t seem to thicken up even after years of owning it! And you’re looking at less than $5 USD each! Colour pictured is Mermaid’s Tale.
- H&M Beauty: Priced at $7.95 CAD each, H&M’s nail polish line is no joke. (Seriously, it’s enormous and the colours are varied!) Colour pictured is December Dawn*.
- China Glaze: China Glaze first stole my heart with their yearly Halloween collections. And then I fell for their Christmas collections. China Glaze always puts out fantastic glitters (the one pictured is old and was limited edition) and they’re around the <$8 CAD price mark.
- Formula X: A more expensive brand (~$15 CAD each), the Formula X by Sephora polishes are fantastic. They have an enormous selection and I consider them one of the better brands out there simply because their variety of polishes is so unique. The shade pictured is Alchemy II*.
Another small item great for stockings are lipstick and lipglosses. The NYX butter glosses are great for any age, but are especially good for pre-teens since they’re not as strongly pigmented as a lipstick and the glossiness of the product keeps it quite fresh looking. If you’re giving a lip product to someone who loves lipsticks, you really can’t go wrong with a lipstick by MAC (more pricey) or one by Revlon (less pricey). Or, give them a sparkly lipgloss like the Sephora* ones and they can be used alone or as a topper to any lipstick.
Look at the fine glitters in the Sephora glosses!
Lip balm is a reoccurring option for stockings in my family. My grandmother always gives me some Burt’s Bees lip balm and it usually ends up in one of my winter coats pockets for easy access when it’s blustery outside. Lately I’ve been ploughing through my Nivea lip butter in Vanilla & Macadamia (the smell is divine) and the EOS Sweet Mint has been in my bag for travelling. Sephora also has the Super Kisses* lipbalm trio that can be given as one gift, or broken apart for three separate people. These Sephora balms do pack some colour punch – just something to be aware of when you’re gifting them!
Don’t be fooled by the ridiculously low price tag (less than five bucks each!), essence makes some of the absolute best blushes on the market. They’re pigmented, easy to blend and the colours are gorgeous.
The Sephora Diamond eyeliners* are not just plain old eyeliners… instead, they’re shot through with small glitter particles! The black base brings out the colour and you’re left with a subtle shimmery red (Swagga – my personal favourite) or purple (Phat Rock). These liners will set you back $18 CAD, but they’re awfully unique and I think if this was received as a gift, the person would be awestruck by the colour (I know I sure was when I first swatched these).
Last two items!
The Body Shop has released limited edition Sparklers ($22 CAD each – comes in gold or silver) for the holidays and these guys are pure magic in a bottle. They poof out clouds of shimmer and smell like vanilla! While this is far more elegant than those old 90s bottle of roll on jelly glitter I used to love in my teens, this still makes me squeal whenever I spray it. Perfect for the holidays. (I plan to douse myself in it on Christmas and New Year’s!)
Lastly, are these amazing holiday crackers* by Quo. They come in a set of four (perfect for breaking up and putting into stockings!) and contain one lip gloss and one eyeshadow. All the colours are fairly neutral so you won’t struggle with the decision on what colour to give each person in your life. I love how the packaging adds a bit of extra flare too.
That’s it for this gift guide – good luck with your shopping!
Items marked with an asterisk(*) were provided by PR for consideration.
What I Bought This Month – May 2015 Haul
Another big makeup haul this month! Although I can (thankfully) attribute the bulk of this haul to a CBB swap we did at the very start of the month – I was able to get rid of a TON of products I don’t use or don’t like, and in return I got a whole bunch of freebies from other bloggers who had the same issue with some of their products. I’m so happy to be trying some new things and get rid of ones I don’t use – what a relief!
And because I have no real self-restraint, I did order a few things…
You knew this one was coming! I picked up ALL of the new Makeup Geek Foiled Shadows, and a whack of the regular line that was I was missing as well (including the new Poppy, High Tea and Rapunzel). Unfortunately for my wallet, but fortunately for you guys, I accidentally ordered TWO sets of the foiled shadows. Ouch, pain. So much pain to the wallet. BUT I’ve absorbed the cost (and shock) of it by now and I’m going to hold a giveaway shortly for the entire line of new foiled shadows. Look for a review and giveaway for those in a week or so!
The Silverlake collection by Wet n Wild has been the most exciting thing I’ve seen from the brand lately, so I had to finish up my collection of the palettes. I had two of them in last month’s haul, and here’s the remaining three!
Next up are a bunch of items that I picked up from the CBB swap/meetup that we did. For more details on that, check out Jenn’s recap, but the basic gist is that about ten of us brought makeup that didn’t work for us, dumped it on an enormous table at Tim Horton’s and took whatever we wanted from what others were willing to give away.
This Kat Von D Star Studded palette was part of the swap, but kindly held for me by Steph of Fun Size Beauty who had lugged it out there. I had debated getting this over the holiday season, but never bit the bullet. I’m happy to now have it… although I have yet to use it. Ack!
I’ve never used one of the Stila foiled shadows, so this should be interesting to test out. I ended up with a LOT of blue shades from the swap so I’m working through the slowly, but this one hasn’t made it through my rotation yet!
At the swap I got to meet Zoë for the first time ever (!!) and she pushed this Lise Watiereyeshadow single into my hand that she had been holding onto with me in mind. At the time, I was half worried she was giving me the shade I already had (Teal), but it turned out to be Violet, a shade I had sent to my friend as a gift, but never picked up for myself. This has turned out to be a beautiful shade, and I love it more than Teal as the colour payoff just seems to be so much better. Yay!
No one was looking at the Wet n Wild Megalast lipsticks, so I snatched up 965 Cherry Picking. These are some of the best lipsticks I own, despite their ridiculously cheap price point and I am always more than happy to add another shade to my collection.
WHO WOULD TOSS THIS AWAY? I love my L’Oreal Infallible shadows and I didn’t ownEndless Sea, so I gleefully added it to my ever growing pile of makeup.
I swear this essence Metal Glam shadow in Jewel of the Ocean is the exact same shade as the L’Oreal one above. I never really thought I wore that much blue shadow, but I sure do gravitate towards them quite often.
Yessss! Make Up For Ever‘s Smoothing Primer has turned out to be my favourite primer from the new Step 1 Skin Equalizer line (read my recent review here). This didn’t work out so well for another blogger, so I gave it a shot – and I’m so glad I did.
Rejected because it had too much glitter in it… which makes it perfect for me! The NARS Multiple in Undress Me is a pale lilac-pink chockful of glitter particles. The base colour basically disappears on my skin when I apply it, but it leaves behind glorious glitter particles. I tried it once as a highlighter, and it works, but it’s not for those who don’t want glitter on their face. I am SUPER excited to use this all over my body during Pride!
I’m not much of a nail polish person, but I didn’t have anything like these Sally Hansen ones and I thought they’d be fun for some holidays like Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day.
I’ve never used Wet n Wild‘s liquid liners before and this one was completely untouched in the swap. It’s a beautiful shade on the lids, although a littttle bit shiny which isn’t my favourite kind of finish for a liner. The shade is so gorgeous though that it’s worth ignoring that slight sheen.
Man, I walked out with a LOT of Wet n Wild in this swap. People kept throwing the bright eyeshadows at me because they knew I’d use them.
Last month’s CBB brand of the month was Marcelle, which offered everyone the opportunity to get 30% off on their web site for a limited time. Bonus was that a lot of items on their site were already on sale, so I stocked up on a few items. Marcelle‘s eye makeup remover has been a longstanding favourite of mine, so I snatched up four bottles at less than half price of what they normally cost at the drug store. SCORE!
I also picked up the Marcelle Liquid Dip-Pen in Blackest Black because Sarah fromWorkaday Beauty told me they were matte. They are indeed matte, but the felt tip isn’t quite long enough for my tastes. Like any black liquid liner though, I’ll definitely use it up.
As beauty lovers are apt to do, we end up with duplicates of items. I was handed this lovely Maybelline matte lipstick in the colour Craving Coral, one I had actually been eyeballing since this line was launched!
These next two palettes came from a fellow blogger who hadn’t touched them and decided they needed to be re-homed. I have no familiarity with Makeup Revolution as a brand other than that they’re based in the UK. What I CAN say though is that this palette and the next one are dead knockoffs of Sleek palettes – the shades are identical in both palettes. I have no idea if the quality is the same however – that’ll be interesting to see. This one is a rip off of Sleek‘s Acid palette.
And here’s the other one. A knockoff of the Sleek Mattes V1 palette.
And who could resist this one? I didn’t really need anything from MAC‘s Wash & Drysummer collection, but every year I get suckered in by the packaging. I’ve already gone through a full MAC bronzer before (Golden) and figured I’d step it up a notch this time and go for Refined Golden. It’s a beautiful bronze-y (veers orange though) shade with gold sparkle. The sparkle doesn’t translate to the skin much though, so I’m sure that will make a lot of people happy. And really… how was I going to resist that packaging? I mean my god.
I knew I was going to have a bunch of French skincare waiting for me at my parents’ place that my dad had picked up for me when he was in France earlier this year (I went back forOttawa Race Weekend), but I couldn’t wait any longer – I needed my Bioderma solution micellaire! In Canada it’s called Sensibio, and in France it’s Crealine – same product though. I was especially drawn into this one because it has a pump top (so handy) which also means it has a twist off top, which NONE of the other Bioderma bottles have. Seriously, have you ever tried to get top off of your regular bottle of Bioderma? Best wishes to ya!
And this is the one that was waiting for me at my parents. Now I’ve got one in the bathroom and one on my makeup desk. I love this for not only taking off my face makeup at the end of the day, but also for spot correcting as I’m applying it.
I really only rotate between two facial moisturizers and this is one of them. When I first tried Embryolisse‘s Lait-Creme Concentre (after having watch many Pixiwoo videos, of course) I didn’t think much of it. But, for whatever reason, I have found myself going back to this one again and again. This is probably my fourth or fifth tube.
And the last French item is Nuxe‘s Reve de Miel lip balm. I’ve never used it, but I’m excited to. It smells nothing like honey and a lot like lemon – totally unexpected!
And the other moisturizer I use is by Aveeno. My mom picks this up for me whenever she’s either at Costco or Walmart because I don’t have convenient access to either of those places here in Toronto.
While in Ottawa, my mom and I were in a health food store briefly and I somehow (lol) found myself in their beauty area. I wasn’t taken by much except for this perfume byPacifica. It’s their French Lilac scent and it smells identical to the lilac tree in my parents’ backyard. Interesting fact… I bought this for $10.50 at the health food store. A few days later I went to Terra 20 (a natural beauty and other stuff store) and they were selling the exact same thing for five bucks more. Holy jeez, gouging your customers much?
Ah Burberry. I found myself at Nordstrom in the Rideau Centre and wanted to check out what Burberry had to offer. I never find myself at Holt Renfrew (frankly, I don’t think I look the part when I walk in there), but I felt a lot better about being in Nordstrom in Ottawa (Nordstrom has yet to open in Toronto!) so I swung by the Burberry counter. The item I was Most drawn to was this Lip and Cheek Bloom in Poppy – an incredibly vibrant pinky-red shade. It’s so gorgeous and was impossible to pass up.
Phew, we’re getting down to the end of the line! The last few products are all from Sephora. I placed an order for a hair care item I needed, and “had” to add these on to my cart to get free shipping. I picked up the Clinique Cheek Pop blush in Cola Pop because I’d read on Jen’s blog about this one and I was struck by the uniqueness of it. I’ve tried to curb my spending on blushes, but I truly do not have anything at all like this shade in my collection and am curious to try the formula out.
This was a spur of the moment decision. I once turned down a free white liquid liner from Illamasqua (I opted for a free eyeshadow at the time) and I’ve regretted it ever since. I actually feel like that white eyeliner haunts me – how could I turn down such a unique product?! So I grabbed Kat Von D‘s Neruda Ink Liner to see how it goes. It’s not a brush tip like the Tattoo Liner is, but it’s a long-tipped (highly necessary!) felt tip that lays down one hell of an opaque line. I’ve only swatched it so far, but can’t wait to use it in a look.
And lastly (phew, we made it!) is the Marc Jacobs 500 point perk. I got this primarily because if I hear one more person go on about the Marc Jacobs Highliner gel liner, I was going to scream. (And so far, it does live up to the hype, this thing sticks to skin like nothing I’ve ever seen.) I’ve also been sitting on about 1500 Sephora points and was happy to finally see something come up that WASN’T skin or haircare based. There’s also a mini lipstick, liquid liner and mascara in this box, so I think it was well worth the 500 points I spent on it.
And that’s it! How was your month? Did you pick up a lot of new goodies?
Products I’m Pitching
I couldn’t justify doing an Empties post with these products because they’re really not empty. In fact, these are some barely touched products that I’m just completely chucking from my collection. These are items that I just don’t use in my collection and so I have no reason to keep them around. So let’s check out what I’m pitching or passing on!
This was actually a great product. I loved KIKO’s Smoky Look eyeshadow pencil but I only got to use it twice before it dried up and fell out of the tube that was its home. It dried up within a year which I found slightly shocking since I have eyeshadow pencils that are much, much older than that and aren’t anywhere near as crusty and hard. Into the bin with this one.
Oh god this thing is AWFUL. Hard Candy‘s Highlight and Contour (really? Contour your cheeks with pink?!?!) Cheek Duo smells rancid right out of the package. It smells like plastic that has gone off. It goes on the cheeks in a waxy, slimy mess. It never fully sets, so you’re left with a grease smear across your cheeks. This one isn’t even worth passing on to anyone so I’m throwing it out.
MICA Beauty lip balm in Natural came in my very first Ipsy bag and I’ve not used it since then. It’s too pigmented to be convenient in a pot as I really feel like I need a lip brush to use this product. My mom liked the colour however, so I’ve passed this on to her.
Another Ipsy item. I got this Grape balm from Absolute! in my August Ipsy bag and hated it right away. I couldn’t bring myself to wear it again, so it’s getting tossed. Jelly balm with chunky craft glitter in it? No thanks.
This never ended up working for me how I wanted it to, so I passed it on to my mom who was willing to try it out. (Yet again… another Ipsy product…)
And anottttther Ipsy-delivered item I never reach for. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this eyeshadow, it does in fact apply rather nicely, I must have about five different dupes for this shade in my collection. It’s the most basic of basic eyeshadow colours and not one I need multiples of. My mom snagged it from me.
Are we noticing a trend here? Yep, another Ipsy product, also from my August bag. The world’s smallest eyeliner from Lord & Berry and it’s useless. Not creamy or smooth, barely transfers onto the lid, not fun. GARBAGE.
Nothing wrong with this product other than the fact that the scent of Olive Oil and Lemon doesn’t seem to be too enticing for me. I love Nivea lip products in general though so I’m definitely not harping on the product quality. My mom liked the scent so she snagged it from the pile of things I was going to throw out.
And lastly, another Ipsy product. Pacifica‘s eyeshadow duo is too weak in pigmentation for me to bother using. My mom liked the softness of the colours (aka lack of pigmentation) so she’s taking it home to play with.
While culling my makeup collection of items I don’t use/don’t like, I noticed that the bulk of them are all from Ipsy bags. Of the nine items I’m getting rid of today, six of them are from my Ipsy subscription. That right there was enough realization to cause me to cancel my Ipsy delivery. I’ll be receiving the bag for the month of September, but that’s it. For me, it’s just not worth the money to be receiving products I generally tend to use up without repurchasing or just throw away entirely. It was a fun novelty for a while, but the excitement has really worn off by this point.
Ipsy – May 2014 Glam Bag
Another month, another Ipsy bag! I really like the bag this month – I’m a sucker for anything green and leafy. It’s also a cloth bag this time so that’s… moderately interesting? (Honestly I really have no idea what to do with all of these bags.)
Let’s dive right in.
This was definitely the most exciting thing in my bag. The chubby stick lip craze that seems to have swept the beauty world for the last year or two was just something I never really got into. My first exposure was the Revlon Balm Stains and I was not a fan of those. Those ones fade really funny, slide around on my lips and they feel really waxy/hard to apply.
That being said, everyone keept going on about the matte balms, but I held off on buying them because I didn’t need/want anymore. So I was definitely happy to get this for “free” in my bag. The colour is a bit tame, but obviously this makes it easier to please everyone who may get this colour.
And I have to say… this is awesome. Revlon‘s matte balm in Elusive is a damn showstopper. It goes on smooth, dries down to an almost transferproof finish (not right away though, you may want to blot a little to get it that way) and it stays PUT. I tried this without a primer because I was feeling lazy and it definitely lasted several hours. It even lasted through a semi-greasy lunch until I swiped at my mouth with a napkin to tidy up and it all came off then. The other side of this is now I want EVERY SHADE.
I don’t really have much to say about Hang Ten‘s Classic Sport since it’s a sunscreen and I haven’t had the opportunity to use it yet, but unlike a lot of people who got this in their bag, I’m more than happy to test this out. I usually stick to SPF 30 but I’ll try this out when I play soccer throughout the summer and see how it holds up compared to my usualCoppertone Sport sunscreen. I also like that it comes with a safety seal on the tube and that it’s not even remotely close to expiring which I know has been a concern with beauty box samples before.
Eva NYC is a brand I’m completely unfamiliar with. The instructions for their Therapy Session Hair Mask say that it can either be used as a deep conditioning mask, or an every day conditioner. Now, I’m not really sure what the heck the difference is since I leave conditioner in my hair for about five minutes every time I shower anyway. It left my hair feeling no different than any other conditioner so I didn’t feel like it was particularly special.
I’ve known of the brand Pacifica for years, but had never tried their products. As far as I’m aware, they’re well known for their lotions and butters, so I didn’t really know what to expect from this eyeshadow duo. It doesn’t help that they don’t seem to sell single or duo eyeshadows on their site – they’re all in palettes.
Anyway, this duo (#2?) turned out to be a dud in my opinion.
The white-gold shade is really patchy and chunky. The purple takes a lot of swipes and packing in order to get any kind of decent colour pay-off. In the end, the pictures really look better than I felt it looked in person, but by the end of the day the whole thing had faded and I didn’t even think it was that pigmented to begin with. So I basically went from a soft smudged out look (unintentionally, I just could not get enough colour to come off on my lids) and ended up with a faded out muddle of a look by the end of the day. Boo.
I was a bit surprised to get another microdermabrasion scrub in my bag since I got one just last month (however, I was so pleased with my previous sample that I sure wasn’t going to turn my nose up at this one!). I didn’t have anything in particular to use this derma e on so I just used it on my upper arms in the shower since I have a few random dry spots there. It felt exactly the same as the Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion scrub, although this one smelled rather lime-y (a positive for me!).
Ipsy May 2014 Breakdown
(all prices in USD)
- Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Elusive ($8.99, full size)
- Eva NYC Therapy Sessions Hair Mask (60 ml @ $4.80, full size is $40 for 500 ml)
- Pacifica Natural Beauty Duo #2 (they don’t sell single or even duo eyeshadows on their web site, so I’m taking a complete price guess here based on their palette price ~$10)
- Hang Ten Classic Sport SPF50 (30 ml @ $2.20, full size is $12.99 for 177 ml)
- derma e Microdermabrasion Scrub (28g @ $16.25, full size is $32.50 for 56g)
BAG TOTAL = $42.24
My Thoughts
I’m a little indifferent to this bag. I’ll certainly use the hair conditioner, sunscreen and microdermabrasion scrub up, but they’re not really things I would get super excited about. The eyeshadow is something I’m really happy to try out, it’s just a shame that the pigmentation is a bit of a dud.
The Revlon matte balm is an amazing product though – I’m really happy that was included in this bag because my disappointment with their balm stains had turned me off chubby lip pens entirely.
Anything you love or hated in your bag?