Although previously called the Paris Runway palette, this Wet n Wild palette now goes by the name QuartzCenter. It was part of the Fergie collection, so I’m not sure if it was renamed for release in Canada, or if Fergie’s contract with Wet n Wild expired.
Either way, this palette is surprisingly good given it’s inexpensive price point!
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration.
LOVEFRESH is a brand I’m completely unfamiliar with but it’s one I want to get to know better. I was gifted their Pear Scrub when I went for my waxing at Smooth Wax Bar because they recommended it as a great scrub for keeping my legs exfoliated in the coming weeks.
I was intrigued by this brand because they’re local to Toronto and it feels important to support the local guy. (They do ship across Canada and the US though!) They describe themselves as “Toronto-based luxury line of fun and natural beauty products that will keep your skin glowing. Lovefresh was founded by Stacey Davis on the premise that you could have beautiful, glowing skin using all-natural products, that would be as luxurious as they would be healthy for the body. What began as a “kitchen chemistry” experiment in Davis’ Toronto home soon evolved into the creation of a complete line of all natural, non-toxic and highly effective body care products – offering an “easy luxury” experience. Every Lovefresh recipe is formulated with the best ingredients from local and global sources, including layered notes of beautiful, fresh-smelling scents.”
LOVEFRESH has an enormous collection of wonderful sounding smells, but I received the Pear Scrub option. While the scent is not necessarily to my tastes (I’m currently eyeballing the Pink Grapefruit & Tangerine one!), I can definitely vouch for the product itself. The scrub is full of sugar particles enveloped in oil to keep your skin hydrated. It’s gentle enough for daily use and it definitely left me with very soft feeling skin. It’s quite a sticky/solid paste when I first applied to my skin, so I was pleasantly surprised at just how much of the oil ended up adhering to my skin. The oil does linger for a while, but I liked that because it meant I didn’t need to apply moisturizer once I got out of the shower.
I’m also pretty pleased with how enormous the tub of scrub is. It may set you back $30 CAD, but you’re getting 16 ounces of product which is far larger than any other scrub in my household!
Let me know if you’ve tried anything by LOVEFRESH. I’d love to hear about your experiences and favourite products!
All LOVEFRESH products can be purchased on their web site at lovefresh.com.
Snow Queens out there can rejoice: there’s finally a highlighting shade pale enough out there for you! And it’s all wonderfully packaged into one of the best performing highlighting brands ever: BECCA!
It was so strange… for the longest time, BECCA Cosmetics had Pearl as a staple colour in their Shimmering Skin Perfector liquid and poured line up. But never in a pressed form…. until now!
As the name would suggest, Pearl is a very, very pale highlighting powder and it actually packs a significant white pigment punch. While most highlighters are chockful of shine and occasionally shimmer and glitter, there’s usually very, very little apparent pigment. (You know what I’m talking about – when you swatch a highlighter and all you get is sheen? That’s what I mean.)
So here’s a comparison between the newly pressed Pearl and Champagne Pop. While Champagne Pop definitely looks like it’s got some colour to it, when you swatch it on the skin…
…it’s Pearl that comes across wayyy more pigmented. Surprising, and yet somewhat impressive.
On my cheeks, Pearl adds an incredible white sheen. I may actually be slightly too dark in tone for the highlighter, but I do not freaking care – I love how this makes me look I’ve been snow-kissed. This is such a stunning highlighter for the winter months because I feel like snow angel.
Here’s a close up shot. You can see the added whiteness in the pigment really helps to brighten up the skin on my cheekbones.
I fell madly in love with BECCA‘s Shimmering Skin Perfectors when I got my hands on Champagne Pop last year and Pearl is keeping that flame burning! If you’re a very pale person who is in need of a highlighter that won’t look too dark on you, this has the potential to be your absolute holy grail item. (If you’d like to see Pearl in action, I used it in a recent makeup tutorial.) The product itself is smooth, blendable and I experience no fading throughout a 10 hour work day.
The BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Pearl can be purchased on sephora.ca for $46 CAD or on sephora.com for $38 USD.
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration.
I’m still a little while off creating five looks for a Challenge Week with me beloved Too Faced Peanut Butter & Jelly palette, BUT I wanted to do a video tutorial with it immediately!
Although by now you probably realize I’m a hardcore Too Faced fan, I have mentioned on several occasions that I’m really not interested in their Melted Metal lipsticks. Although I own A LOT of the regular versions (see here, here and here), there’s just something about the Metallics I’m not into (primarily their sheerness).
So when I managed to snag all three shades of the Melted Chocolate Metallics, wellllll it was like someone was telling me to just suck it up and review them/try them/something. (An ENORMOUS thank you goes to Katherine of The Green Bows for giving me two shades without a second thought, as well as to Laura of Lipstick and Laura for inviting me to a Sephora VIB Rouge Too Faced event where I managed to snag the shade I was missing in the goodie bag. I have truly amazing friends surrounding me!)
The Melted Metallic Chocolate lipsticks smell identical to the regular Melted Chocolate lipsticks (full review of those can be seen here) – it’s slightly cocoa powder scented, although it’s not the same smell as the one that it’s in their Chocolate Bar palettes. It does smell artificial though (as to be expected really!).
Swatched out, there’s not a huge amount of difference between the shades. Frozen Hot Chocolate is slightly more red-toned, Candy Bar is slightly more yellow-toned and Chocolate Diamonds is as the name indicates – chocolate shimmer.
Here’s how they look on:
In general, the Chocolate Metallics offer a sheer wash of brown colour – which is something that may be helpful to those who don’t want to go straight into wearing brown lipstick. The formula is similar to the regular Melteds, although they don’t dry down matte. They will dry down a bit, but it’s not the same consistency as the originals and they do retain some of their glossy appearance even after several hours of wear.
Of the three shades, Frozen Hot Chocolate and Candy Bar were very, very similar – there’s not a huge amount of shade difference on my lips. Chocolate Diamonds on the other hand is very different – it has far more glitter particles contained within the lipstick and I even noticed a bit of… errrr… crunching inside my mouth after awhile when the particles eventually got past my lips over time. It’s not that the formula moved around on my lips, it’s just that some of the flakes came loose and inevitably ended up in my mouth. It was a bit weird, but it didn’t taste bad nor was it a deterrent for wearing that particular shade. Chocolate Diamonds also has a LOT of shine impact, so if you’re looking for a fun, sparkly lip colour, that’d be the shade for you.
My original assessment of the Too Faced Metallics is still relatively intact: it’s a nice formula for someone who likes to wear shiny lip colours, but it’s not a ME thing. (I prefer non-opaque colours with a lot less sheen.) Keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with this formula at all, that’s just a personal preference for me. If you like any of the shades, definitely have at it!
The Too Faced Melted Chocolate Metallics are available on sephora.ca for $25 CAD or on sephora.com for $21 USD.