Beauty Haul from Atlanta

Remember July's no-buy? Well, it was so that I can shop to my hearts' content when I travelled to Atlanta early August, and this was my damage / splurge on make up products. 

At CCO, I picked up MAC's Veronica's Blush. I swatched it at the store and really liked it but decided against buying it because I wanted to think it over. The next day I went back and purchased it.

On the day I purchased the MAC blush, I visited an Ulta store for the first time and ended up with some RT brushes that I had not seen in Tdot (or when I did, it was not at the the price I wanted to pay.) I was so glad that they had both blush and powder brushes. At checkout, I also picked up this cute Bare Mineral Ready touch up veil in translucent, I thought that it would be awesome for on the go and it came with a tiny brush and clear makeup bag.

My last stop was at Sephora. Even though I have an overwhelming amount of eyeshadow palettes, I decided I needed to have the Urban Decay Naked Basic after hearing quite a few YT gurus raving about it. Alas, I now have all three UD Naked palettes.. Suckered~ I hope I won't regret it, as I have yet to test it out. I have my doubts that it would be able to replace the Naked 1 palette.  

My next two products, were the only products on my to-buy list. The Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in Diffused Light and its powder brush. I enjoyed Dim Light so much that I wanted to try the rest of the lighting powder, Diffused Light was the next on my to try list. I've tried it and to be honest, am not liking it as much as Dim Light. I will continue testing out with various foundations and see if I will come to like the result, will update!

Dim Light (barely made a dent and have been using it almost everyday for the past 2 months) and Diffused Light

I did surprisingly less damage than expected, but I think it is partly due to the fact that I did not encounter any Chanel counters, else the Les Beiges powder, the Tan de Soleil bronzer and the CC cream would put me way over... Perhaps I can continue lemming over them and keep the money in my pocket a little longer~

Ipsy August 2013

Underwhelming bag for me this month~ I try not to expect much from beauty subscriptions any more, but seeing how most people got the UD lipstick and the Smashbox photo finish primer, I had high hopes of getting either one. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem the majority. I just wish that Ipsy's distribution of products were more even, instead of having select 'super awesome' bags and 'mediocre' ones. It hardly seem fair. Of course, you can't satisfy everyone. With that being said, I did get one product I'm excited to try and the once again pretty bag seem to justify the $15+ that Canadians pay.

Here are the list of items in my purple Glamour Academy bag:

• Pacifica Alight multi-mineral BB cream (10ml)
• Pixi Lash Booster mascara
• Noya vanilla lip balm
• City Color Cheek stain in pink
• Michael Todd jojoba charcoal facial scrub (30ml)

How lucky were you this month?

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Buxom - Big and Healthy Lip Cream

Description from Sephora website: "Tingle, plump, and shine your smile to super-sexy proportions. No shimmer, no glimmer—this creamy lip gloss delivers velvety-smooth color with intoxicating shine. The hyaluronic filling spheres infuse lips with moisture for creamy soft perfection and the look of a full, extra-kissable pout. Vitamins A and E help keep the skin supple, yet protected, and the fun tingling sensation reminds you the gloss is hard at work." 

This creamy gloss is described as a peach sorbet, which goes on quite bright when applied on bare or dull looking lips. On days I'm too lazy to apply much colours, ie blush and bronzer (which is most days...) I find that this help to instantly brighten my face and make me look more awake/alive. This product is actually quite moisturizing and feels lovely on. It's lasting power is decent, as long as I don't constantly sip my coffee in the morning, reapplication is pretty minimal. I love this especially for the fact that it is non-sticky and not overly shiny since some glosses have that 'greasy' looking effect. When you first apply this, there is the initial tingling sensation, which goes away around the same time the 'plumping' effect wears off. 

Creamsicle was purchased on a whim... and I have been hopelessly hooked ever since! However, due to my lips acting up to Fresh's Sugar lip treatment (has beeswax as first ingredient) I had a severe reaction that took me nearly 20 days to heal... in any case, I'm glad my lips are finally back to normal and I can take pictures of this wonderful product on my lips. Now onto some pictures!

On my lips with no flash

with flash

with flash

Overall Rating ***** / 5 (1 = worst 5 = best) I really enjoy this and I'm looking forward to trying other colours which this formula!

Price ****/5 (1 = soooo cheap! 5 = pricey!) It's $23CAD for a lovely gloss that you wouldn't need to apply a lipstick under... I think it's worth it~ :)

Packaging Quality ****/5 (1 = worst 5 = best) I think that the tube is quite big and bulky, but not nearly as big as my Dior addict gloss. I really enjoy the frosted look of the tube with the silver letterings. 

Scent? I expected it to be a candy sweet scent, but this lip gloss is actually a sweet mint that is quite refreshing. 

Would you buy this product again? This colour would definitely bI'm very interested in trying the rest of the range, especially looking forward to Mai Tai and possibly Mudslide~~ can you say obsessed?

more swatches:

swatched on the back of my hand, no flash

with flash

with flash

with flash

Here's a picture of me sporting Creamsicle on my bare lips. As you can see when paired with neutral eyes, this lip cream can really add a pop colour and brighten the entire face! :)

I also find that this gloss is great layered over a darker lip colour, this will 'brighten' the colour for a more daytime look. I tried this over Clinique's A Different Grape and really liked the colour, you should do some experimenting too!!

Ipsy July 2013

Hello pretties!! 

I got my Ipsy bag quite early this month, but I had been a tad too lazy to post up my pictures, so here's a few I took~ This month's theme was Beach Beauty~

 Items in my pretty pink bag:

• POP Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon in Coral Crush (I wish I can use this, but I found out it has beeswax in it... so gotta give it away~!)
• BH Cosmetics California Collection Eyeshadow sample (I still have not yet opened the packaging)
• Sexy Hair Soy Renewal Beach Spray Conditioning & Texturizing Spray (promptly given to the wonderful Moose, cuz she can rock waves better than me and would get more joy out of it than me)
• Coola Mineral Face SPF 20 Rose Essence Tinted Moisturizer (so looking forward to using, although I want to finish the samples I'm working on now first before opening this)

Coral Crush looks so lovely from just looking at the colour, unfortunately, I won't be able to use this product.

When I saw sneak peeks of this month's bag, I wasn't too psyched about it, but after I received it and started using it, I find myself really loving the ipsy pink bag. It is the perfect little make up bag to carry around during the summer. You can see what's inside and it holds quite a bit of stuff... Don't believe? check this out!

a not even full bag

everything inside

There was still more room to fit stuff in :| I am so surprised~~ Are you loving your bag this month? :)

Random fact: This past two weeks, I've actually been busy hunting down the McDonald's Despicable Me 2 minions... and alas, we succeeded in finding the last one last Monday ^_^ Here they are fighting over bananas!~