Pharmaprix VIP Day: Haul!

Hey everyone! On Saturday I got tickets for a VIP beauty event at the Pharmaprix near my house (called Shopper's Drug Mart elsewhere in Canada), and I purchased a few new products and received some cool items in my goodie bag! Additionally, Pharmaprix was giving 20x the Optimum points that day, so I had $30 extra to spend and I bought some giveaway items (which will be up as soon as I hit 100 followers).

Basically, if you purchased $50 worth of products, you received a goodie bag from Pharmaprix, and then the individual makeup counters were having their own special promotions as well.

I got my makeup done at the Stila counter (PHOTOS HERE), and I purchased their One Step Corrector and their In the Know palette. I also got a Stila makeup case (free with my $80+ purchase) which I didn't take photos of because I might end up giving it away. While I was there I thought I might as well pick up the Batiste Dry Shampoo I've been wanting (especially considering it was 20x the Optimum points). Full reviews on all three of these products to come.

I went with my mom so we ended up getting two gift bags. In the first one we received:

• Heidi Klum "Shine" perfume (which I'm not too much of a fan of so I might start a blog sale, let me know if you'd be interested)
• La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water Spray
• Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under-Eye Primer
• La Roche-Posay Redermic Intensive Daily Anti-wrinkle firming (deluxe sample)
• Vera Wang Princess Night perfume sample

In the second one we received:

• ROC makeup wipes (finally something useful!)
• La Roche-Posay Redermic Intensive Daily Anti-wrinkle firming (deluxe sample)
• Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under-Eye Primer
• Lady GaGa Fame perfume sample

This was my last purchase of the day: an amazing mascara sampler! Canadians, definitely get your hands on this if you can because it's an incredible deal. Basically, you get seven deluxe samples of high-end mascara to test, and you bring back the coupon inside to claim a full-size version of the one you like the most! The whole thing is $40 which is a deal if you consider the individual prices of each of these. Of course, I'll be reviewing all of them and letting you know which one I liked the most. 

• Clarins Instant Definition Mascara
• Shiseido Perfect Mascara
• Benefit Badgal Lash Mascara
• Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Mascara
• Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara
• Lisa Watier 24 HRS Glam Mascara
• Lancome Hypnose Doll Lashes Mascara

I didn't take photos of these, but my mom got her makeup done at the Lancome counter and bought a Lancome Artliner in an eggplant color (awesome, because I adore the Lancome artliner), and a lipstick. She also got a free makeup bag full of Lancome goodies for purchasing those products.

All in all, this was a very fruitful day as you can see! If Pharmaprix or Shopper's is having a VIP event like this near you, I urge you to go because it was a lot of fun. They also had a photographer, buffet, and hair dresser!

Anyway, let me know in the comments which of these products you would most like to try! :)

FOTD: Stila Makeup Counter

Hey everyone! Today I went to a VIP event at Pharmaprix (or Shopper's Drugmart if you live elsewhere in Canada), and I picked up a ton of goodies! I'll do some sort of haul/"unboxing" in a later post, but for now I just wanted to show you all the makeup I had done at the Stila counter!

Eyes:

• Stila Smudge Crayon in the shades Kitten, Antique and Black
• Stila Glamoureyes Mascara

Face:

• Stila One Step Corrector (primer)
• Stila foundation
• Stila Sheer Pressed Powder
• Stila Custom Color blush in Pink

Lips:

• Stila lip stain in Cherry Crush

I ended up buying Stila's One Step Corrector and their In The Glow palette (which is all matte)! Review and EOTDs to come :)

EOTD ft. Pixi2Woo Tutorial

Hey guys! These photos have been sitting on my computer for a while now because I was hesitant about posting them. I don't think the photos are very good and I did this just for fun so it's not the cleanest makeup job ever. Anyway, I copied Tanya Burr's YouTube tutorial on "How To Look Gorgeous For a Night Out" because I thought this look was going to be relatively easy to achieve.

I like the idea of extending the eyeliner up into the crease, however I had difficulty gauging how close to the center of the eye I should bring the cut crease. Next time I'm going to bring it in a little more, and I'm going to try making it less tapered and more diffused.

I mostly used my Coastal Scents Smokey Palette for the purple tones (click here for my review), but my all-over lid color was Virgin from my Urban Decay Naked Palette. I used my ELF shader brush to pack on the color, but my Sigma tapered blending brush for blending. I cannot stress how amazing this brush is for blending! You can see my full review of it by clicking here.

Here is the tutorial I followed:

Super Long WISHLIST!

Hey everyone! I've been meaning to do this post for a while now, because I keep a post-it on my laptop with a list of products I have my eye on, and to be honest, there's no more room for any thing else on it... Oops... So I've gathered all the products I want into some graphics and I've noted which YouTubers have recommended them!

1) Rimmel Stay Matte Powder: Tanya Burr or Pixi2Woo on YouTube uses this powder in just about all of her tutorials. What I love is that you can literally see this product mattifying her skin as she uses it, so you know it does the trick! Also, she recently mentioned that this might be her all-time favorite drugstore product and from what I've seen, I definitely believe her.

2) Tarte Lip Surgent Holiday Giftset: So nobody on YouTube recommended these (that I know of) but I swatched them in Sephora once and absolutely fell in love. They glide right on and they're so beautifully pigmented, but unfortunately the price is definitely not up my alley at all. However, their holiday giftset is now on-sale and I believe they're selling a pack of FIVE of them for $37 USD or something crazy like that! Ahh!

3) Urban Decay Vice Palette: Rachel or ICallItAmbrosia on YouTube reviewed this palette in a video, and to be honest, I literally want to go out and buy everything she recommends. I've purchased products on her recommendation in the past and haven't been disappointed. Plus, being a lover of the Naked palette and Urban Decay shadows in general, this just seems like a really nice investment.

4) MAC Extradimension Skinfinish in "Whisper of Gilt": NikkieTutorials uses these extradimension skinfinishes in some (or actually, most) of her tutorials and the effect is super gorgeous. This also comes in "Superb" which Nikkie uses as well, but I find that color too pink to use as a highlighter, so I'm sticking with this one. Unfortunately, these were limited edition, BUT, MAC is re-releasing them in one of their lines coming out in November, so I'm definitely not going to miss out on this!

5) Aussie 3-Minute Miracle Conditioner: I think Rachel mentioned this, like, once in a haircare video (I think she was reviewing Macadamia products) but considering she loves it and it's really cheap, I'm definitely willing to try it out. My hair is literally getting crispy so I think it could benefit from a bit of deep conditioning.

6) MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in "Soft & Gentle": Louise or SprinkleOfGlitter on YouTube recommends this MSF like crazy. I also think she got Zoe into it (and maybe Fleur, I'm not sure)! I've been wanting to try a MAC MSF for such a long time now, but I want to invest in one that I'm actually going to get a lot of use out of and not use only for special occasions and stuff. I think Louise said she's gone through multiple of these so it looks like this is the one! And it's in MAC's permanent collection so I don't have to worry about it selling out. Yay!

7) Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in "Honey": I know that pretty much every YouTuber has reviewed or recommended this at some point, but the most recent mention of this product has been by EssieButton. I think she talked about it in her Autumn haul video, and she purchased the exact color I've been wanting: Honey. I've been on the hunt for this specific color for ages but it seems to be sold out wherever I go! :(

8) Lush Magic Wand Bubble Bar: Zoe featured this product in her most recent haul and, I mean, just look at it. SO CUTE! Basically, you swish this around in your bath tub, and voila, bubbles! Apparently it smells like their scent called Snow Fairy, which is known as the LUSH winter scent. It's been described as very sugary sweet which sounds exactly like something I'd like. (Also, just note that I've written her YouTube wrong in the graphic above. It's actually "Zoella280390" with a 0 on the end. Oops!)

9) NARS Blush in "Sin": Honestly, everyone is obsessed with Orgasm, but Sin is really the blush that stands out to me in regards to NARS. I've actually been wanting it for quite some time now. It looks like the perfect fall shade (EssieButton talked about it in her top autumn blushes), and it's a color unlike any other blush I own. It doesn't really look like it in the photo, but I've swatched it at Sephora and it has a really plum-y tint to it!

10) OPI Nail Envy: I've been searching for a nail strengthener for a while now, and I've been recommended this product countless of times. Essie talked about it in a recent video, and she said she's noticed her nails getting stronger and not breaking as much. I have such a problem with my nails breaking, especially when I shape them "square", the corners become really fragile (that was a really weird thing to try and describe lol).

11) Seche Vite Top Coat: This seems to be like the nail guru top coat, but when it comes to nail recommendations, I seem to really trust MissJenFabulous. Her nails are always so perfectly manicured, and she uses this top coat in every tutorial. I recently ran out of my Sally Hansen top coat, so I think I'm going to try this one out next!

12) Batiste Dry Shampoo: Ingrid or MissGlamorazzi on YouTube included this dry shampoo in her London haul during the summer, and for some reason her recommendation really stuck with me and it's been on my wishlist ever since. I've been looking for a dry shampoo because I wash my hair every couple of days, so it would be nice for my hair to have a little pick-me-up on the second or third days. I doubt this is available in Canada so I'm going to try to find a place to buy it online! If anyone knows where I can get it, please let me know in the comments!

And that ends my current wishlist! (Except, not really, because I could literally think of 10-12 more products to include here lol!). Let me know if you enjoyed this post or if you have any reviews of these products because I would love to hear about them!

Awesome Giveaways Happening NOW!

Last month I made an entire post dedicated to giveaways going on in the beauty blogger community as a way to get you guys into entering contests and such. (CLICK HERE to view it, there are some giveaways on there that haven't ended yet!) That post has now become my most-viewed post of all time which indicates to me that you really enjoyed it! So without further ado, here are the giveaways I have been entering recently. (Note that they are all either international or at least Canadian)

LolaStarHearts is giving away an Illamasqua beauty box which is, in my opinion, an awesome way to sample Illamasqua products if you haven't yet tried them. This giveaway ends on October 23rd. CLICK HERE

Tattooed Tea Lady is giving away a ton of skincare essentials, including UK brands, so if you live in North America/elsewhere in the world where you cannot get ahold of these, this is a great opportunity! This giveaway ends on November 2nd. CLICK HERE (Note that the above photo was taken by Sophia of Tattoed Tea Lady)

Lipstick Fridays is giving away 50 pounds worth of NARS makeup (that's about $79 CAD given the current exchange rate!). Good news is that you have tons of time to enter this because it ends on December 31st. CLICK HERE

Captivating Claws is giving away some great nail polishes (including Essie, OPI and DD) to celebrate one year of blogging! This giveaway ends on October 16th. CLICK HERE

The Scholarly Nail is giving away awesome Halloween-theme nail polish prize packs, including China Glaze, Sally Hansen and OPI. The beauty of this giveaway: there are FIVE chances to win! This giveaway ends on October 16th. CLICK HERE

EndlessPanache is giving away a bundle of beauty items including brands such as MAC and Inglot (two of my favorite!). The giveaway ends on October 30th. CLICK HERE

The Lacquer Factor is giving away Orly's Naughty or Nice holiday collection. In my experience, Orly is some of the highest quality nail polish that's out there, so be sure to enter this giveaway! It ends on October 20th. CLICK HERE

Laurzie Mack is giving away this bundle of NARS items! Super exciting considering NARS is an incredible brand. I'm always happy when I see NARS being given away lol! This giveaway ends on October 30th. CLICK HERE

Where Is My Mind? is giving away a box of cool beauty items. I'm really intrigued by her choice of Calvin Klein makeup because I've never tried it before! This giveaway ends on October 14th. CLICK HERE

Both Meg's Budget Boutique and The Beauty Belle are giving away your choice of MAC lipstick. Coincidentally, both of these end on October 11th! CLICK HERE for Meg's Budget Boutique and CLICK HERE for The Beauty Belle.

Epiphanniea is giving away MAC's Love Goddess from their Marilyn Monroe collection. If you didn't get a chance to pick this one up, definitely enter because it's a limited edition lipstick! This giveaway ends on November 8th! CLICK HERE

So that's it! Let me know if you have a giveaway going on at the moment and I will be sure to enter and add you to this post :)

New Sigma Brushes and EOTD!

Hey everyone! I finally purchased the last two brushes I thought were missing from my brush collection: a dense kabuki for liquid foundation, and a tapered blending brush for eyeshadow. I was debating between which brush companies to buy from, so I did some research and finally settled on Sigma... Best. Decision. Ever.

I'm sure you all know tons about Sigma, but I want to quickly stress the quality of these brushes. I've shelled out $50+ on individual MAC brushes, and now I see how ridiculous that was. Sigma brushes are extremely comparable to my MAC brushes, and only a fraction of the cost.

F84 Angled Kabuki: This is a very dense angle kabuki brush that I use for liquid foundation. It applies makeup like a dream. Because the brush is so dense, the makeup won't seep in the bottom/brown part of the brush, making it easier to clean as well. I chose the angled kabuki as opposed to the round or flat top one because I thought it would be easier to manipulate around my face. I feel like the round or flat top one would be more suited for powders, but that's just my opinion. One thing to keep in mind about this brush is that it MUST be spot-cleaned in between washes, otherwise the foundation will dry onto the bristles and leave your makeup streaky.

E40 Tapered Blending: I have literally heard every beauty guru rave about this brush, and now I know why. It's the fluffiest brush I have ever owned and it makes blending SO easy. With a light hand, I gently swipe the edges of my eyeshadow a few times, and voila. All blended. I don't have to sit there for 5 minutes trying to smoke out my eyeshadow anymore. A few swipes with this brush and the job is done.

I apologize for not getting better pictures lol but as you can see, it blends all my dark shadows extremely well.

If you would like to purchase the brushes I talked about, I'm going to leave the links below. Again, I can't recommend these brushes enough!

Angled Kabuki Brush: http://www.sigmabeauty.com/Sigma_Angled_Top_Synthetic_Kabuki_F84_p/f84.htm?Click=326250

Tapered Blending Brush: http://www.sigmabeauty.com/product_p/e40.htm?Click=326250

Or if you just want to browse their website: http://www.sigmabeauty.com/?Click=326250

Also, from now until October 31st, Sigma is giving purchases of $30+ this exclusive gift: their brow powder in the shade Scarlett. If you were eyeing their brow design kit, this is a great way to sample it.

Let me know what you guys think of Sigma brushes in the comments below! Would you be interested in trying them out?

Great Giveaways Happening NOW!

One thing I've been loving about blogging has been entering tons upon tons of contests and giveaways. I think giveaways are a wonderful way to interact with other bloggers and readers. Many times, when entering a blog giveaway, you receive added entries for advertising it on your blog. So, while I will get some extra entries from writing up this post, I think it will ultimately benefit both of us in many ways.

1. You guys can see which giveaways I'm interested in and then you can enter them yourselves
2. I can use this post as a means of keeping track of which giveaways I've entered and which ones I haven't

Seems like a win-win situation, n'est-ce pas? Additionally, at the end of this post I will show you guys my past month's winnings. Sound good? Let's get started!

Oh! I should quickly mention that all of these giveaways are likely international seeing as I'm from Canada :)

1) FacesByFarah is having THREE (!!!) giveaways right now: one to win a pair of Ray Bans, one to win an entire fall collection of makeup from Caryl Baker Visage, and one to win a Body Shop gift set. Both the Ray Bans and Body Shop giveway end on September 23rd (CLICK HERE and HERE) and the Caryl Baker giveaway ends on September 20th (CLICK HERE).

2) Sera from The Agoraphobic Fashionista is holding a "Budget Beauty Giftbox" giveaway that ends on September 19th (CLICK HERE). There are some really nice little prizes to be won!

3) Sandra from The Black Pearl Blog is giving away a massive bundle of beauty goodies. Her giveaway ends on September 29th (CLICK HERE).

4) Lola In the Lounge is having a giving away a beloved YSL Rouge Volupte lipstick! (Exciting!!!) It ends on October 10th. (CLICK HERE)

5) The Lacquer Factor is giving away two Butter London polishes, a Bath & Body Works Lotion, and an EOS lip balm. Anyone who knows me will know that this giveaway is right up my alley. (Seriously,  how gorgeous are those polishes?!) The giveaway ends on September 23rd (CLICK HERE).

6) Sophia from The Tattooed Tea Lady is giving away an extremely generous amount of products on her blog that includes beauty favorites such as Stila, MUA, and Burt's Bees (among others). It ends on September 30th (CLICK HERE). Also note that the image below is one that Sophia took herself.

7) Zoe at the Beauty Shelf is also giving away a handful of wonderful products over on her blog, including brands such as Sleek, MAC, and Real Techniques. The giveaway ends on September 29th (CLICK HERE).

8) Both Elysa at MakeupByElysa and Charlotte at NotAFashionStudent are holding MAC lipstick giveaways. Elysa's ends on September 21st, and Charlotte's ends on September 22nd (CLICK HERE and HERE).

9) Honey Go-Lightly has two giveaways going on to celebrate her one-year blogiversary. She is giving away a lovely necklace and earring duo from Pilgrim, as well as a Mac lipstick. This giveaway ends on September 30th (CLICK HERE). 

10) Jasmine from Sweetaholic Beauty is giving away three limited edition Nails Inc polishes in the most beautiful colors ever in order to celebrate 200 likes on Facebook. The giveaway ends on October 8th (CLICK HERE). 

11) Christine Iversen and Cloud 10 Beauty (joint contest) are giving away some goodies from OPI, Real Techniques and Sleek! You have until September 27th to enter (CLICK HERE).

12) Pointless Cafe is giving away this wonderful Butter London polish in the color "Fishwife" (how gorgeous is it?!). Good news: you have three chances to win! The giveaway ends on September 28th (CLICK HERE). 

13) Grace from AllThatSlap is celebrating her one year blogiversary by giving away this amazing NARS Foreplay Blush Palette. NARS is one of my all-time favorite beauty brands so I'm super excited about this! You have until September 20th to enter (CLICK HERE).

14) What Kimmi Did Next has a bunch of items from Mac, Ecotools, Urban Decay and L'Occitane to give away! These are some incredible brands so this one is definitely worth entering. It ends on September 24th (CLICK HERE).

15) Caateryna is also having a one year blogiversary giveaway including products from Revlon, MUA and Soap & Glory. You have until September 25th to check it out! (CLICK HERE).

16) McMiki is having a 100-follower celebration giveaway including products from Barry M and Revlon. This is her first giveaway so let's all go show her some support! It ends on October 7th (CLICK HERE).

17) Kerrie over at PishPoshAndPolish is celebrating 300 followers by giving away some nail art goodies over on her blog. The giveaway ends on September 29th (CLICK HERE).

18) Shrinking Wallet is giving away some beloved beauty items such as a Revlon Lip Butter and the MUA Undressed palette! The giveaway ends on October 14th (CLICK HERE).

19) DreamMakeup-Blog is giving away a Sigma travel brush kit, which is incredible because Sigma is one of my favorite brush brands. The giveaway ends on November 2nd, so you have plenty of time to enter! (CLICK HERE)

20) Lori from A Crazy Walk on the Safe Side is giving away a handful of her favorite fall must-haves and the giveaway ends on September 18th at midnight so get entering ASAP! :) (CLICK HERE)

21) Last but not least, Jessica from PassionStarButterfly is giving away some goodies from BH Cosmetics and Julep Maven to celebrate the end of summer! This giveaway ends on October 4th (CLICK HERE). 

The generous Jessica from PassionStarButterfly is actually the blog where I won my first ever beauty blog giveaway. She gave away the Coastal Scents Smokey Palette of which I was the lucky winner! Thank you again, Jessica! I can't wait to start creating some fun eyeshadow looks with this :)

(Excuse my makeup-less face lol, it's been a homework day!)

Additionally, make sure to check out NYCMakeupLover1's giveaways, where I was the lucky winner of a $25 Sephora egiftcard! She has great new giveaways every month, which is a real treat! Thank you again, Meredith :)

Alright, so I apologize for the lengthy, picture-heavy post, but I wanted to make sure each giveaway was properly advertised! Also, if you have a giveaway going on right now, please let me know in the comments below and I will be sure to enter and add you to this list (international only, please!). I hope you guys enjoyed this and let me know if you did, that way I can do these more often!