Happy Birthday Einstein!

Happy birthday to my littlest love, Einstein! I can't believe he's already seven years old, which is 49 in dog years - he's an old man :( He's the most annoying dog in the world: he barks at every leaf that rolls down the street and sniffs every blade of grass before doing his business, but I love him so much! Even though I'm his least favorite family member, he keeps me company on days off and watches Netflix with me and stares at me blankly when I complain about how much homework I have. It's wonderful. My little companion.

Sephora "Give Me Some Lip" Review/Swatches

Hey everyone! I got some requests to review and post swatches of the Sephora "Give Me Some Lip" set that I featured in a recent haul. I've had the opportunity to wear just about every product in the set so I thought I'd finally share my opinions.

In general, I think this is a really great set. The value-for-money ratio is awesome, since you basically get 6 products for the price of one (albeit sample sizes). I do think the set is better suited for lighter-skinned ladies, because most of these products are quite light themselves (some too light for me even).

I'll start off with the only full-sized product in the set, the Tarte LipSurgence Lip Luster in "Glitzy". I would characterize this as a pale berry color with a slight shimmer. You can only really detect the shimmer up close, but I'm assuming that's what makes this a "lip luster". This is one of the best products in the set, hands down. I think the shade looks great with my skintone, the "crayon" applicator is super easy to use, and it makes my lips look really full and healthy.

Next, the Buxom Full-On Lip Polish in "Dolly". Let me start off by saying this is my favorite lip gloss of the entire set. The color is a smidge less "berry" than the Tarte one, but it has the same golden shimmer. This is the one product in the set that I truly feel gives me the whole "my lips but better" look. The Buxom lip glosses have a plumping effect, so if that bothers you then you won't like this. You can even see in the picture that my lips look a little more lumpy than the first one (that sounds so unflattering haha but it's not as noticeable in person). Also, the scent of this is really yummy - it smells like vanilla cake! I totally foresee buying the full-size version.

The Laura Mercier Lip Glace in "Bare Pink" is one of the lighter shades of the bunch. It's got more a peachy-pink tint than the previous two. I don't foresee myself using this one as much as the Tarte or Buxom, but it's still totally wearable. As you can see it blanks out my cupid's bow a little because it's a lot more similar to my skintone.

The infamous NARS "Turkish Delight"... I had high hopes for this. I really did, but unfortunately I won't be wearing this one at all. It's entirely too light and milky for my complexion. If you're a fan of the blanked out lip look, you might like this, but I hate the say it sits in the folds of my lips. I don't find it flattering at all. (I have to say it doesn't look entirely terrible in the photo but had I posted a full-face shot, you would have been disgusted LOL)

The only opaque lip color of the set is the Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil in "Rhubarb". Although the shade is a little more on the brown side than I'd like, it's still a pretty lip color. It goes on smooth and is opaque with one swipe ("high pigment" is definitely an adequate description). The pencil itself is a bit fragile so be careful when applying it. I think it could work under lipstick or on its own.

From left-to-right: Bite lip pencil in "Rhubarb", Buxom lip gloss in "Dolly", Tarte LipSurgence in "Glitzy", NARS "Turkish Delight", Fresh Sugar Rose lip treatment, Laura Mercier lip gloss in "Bare Pink"

That concludes the review! Overall very pleased with this purchase (despite the mixup at checkout). Let me know in the comments which one is your favorite. :)

PS. how hard is it to take pictures of your lips?! Ugh haha

NOTD: OPI "Haven't The Foggiest"

When the OPI San Francisco collection came out, I allowed myself to grab one of their new nail polishes. There were a few that I was eyeing but "Haven't The Foggiest" is the one I gravitated towards. Do I regret that choice? Somewhat. Let me explain.

I was looking for a silver foil, but instead I got a dark gray foil. Still lovely, just not what I was looking for. The color, to be exact, is described as "pewter" which reminds me of the pewter cauldron Harry had to buy for Hogwarts. Overall the application is really nice - these "foil" sorts of nail polishes tend to go on quite smoothly. I can see myself wearing this a lot during the winter time, but for now I'll stick to my plums and navy blues.

What do you think? Have you picked anything up from the OPI San Francisco collection?

Sephora & Nail Polish Haul

Hey everyone! Tiny beauty haul for you today. Reviews to come!

The "Give Me Some Lip" set retails for $30 and contains 5 deluxe sample sized lip products, as well as one full-sized product (Tarte lip surgence in Glitzy). It's a great value because the full-sized product retails for $29, so you basically get the other 5 products for $1. I've quickly swatched them all and some early favorites are the Buxom gloss and the Tarte lip surgence!

The coupon code I used when getting the lip products off of Sephora.com allowed me to grab this Shaveworks shave gel which I'm really excited to try out. It's supposed to "treat ingrown hair, razor bumps, razor burn, and redness" and I'm pretty sure I'm prone to all those things, so hopefully it works! I tend to allow myself one new OPI nail polish per collection, so I chose Haven't The Foggiest from their new San Francisco collection. It's a lovely pewter foil - NOTD to come. I also picked up a new OPI Matte Nail Envy which I've been using consistently for about 8 months now. Let me know if you'd like a review on this! And I got a new bottle of the Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray (review HERE).

Does anyone else have a burning hatred for packet samples? I'll probably use the Bumble & Bumble shampoo/conditioner but that's about it, because these things seriously annoy me lol.

Anything here that tickles your fancy?

Anniversary Giveaway Winner!

Hey everyone! The winner of the 1-Year Abundance of Erica Anniversary giveaway has been picked... *drumroll*

Congratulations Danni Young!

Danni, please reply to the e-mail I sent you as soon as possible so that I can ship your prize!

Thank you all so much for entering. It really means a lot to me! I read every single one of the comments (which you won't find at the moment because I'm having blog issues, argh) and had so much fun interacting with all of you. It's great to see that people all around the world have discovered my little slice of web. I hope you all will stick around because there are bigger and better things to come!

PS. Advice for future blog enterers: I had the rules of the giveaway very clearly delineated on the giveaway page. Stated was that no giveaway-only blogs/Twitters/Facebooks etc were allowed to enter. I wanted this giveaway to be just for my readers. I had to sift through MANY winners because a lot of you didn't adhere to these rules. It would be in your best interest to read the terms & conditions before going on a giveaway entering spree.

What Bothers Me About Sephora (Canada)

Hey everyone! I have a bit of a rant for you guys today. I guess I'll be the first to admit that I don't always love shopping at Sephora. During the past few trips I've made, I've come to realize that I have more than a few problems with the store. It has absolutely nothing to do with the brands or products. All of their items are top notch for me, which is pretty much the only reason I continue to shop there.

My number one problem is that it's very clear that the Canadian branch of Sephora is poorly developed and managed in comparison to the American one. First of all, the prices are marginally more expensive than the US Sephora. Why? I'm not a business major so I can't rationalize this, but when I have to pay more than $15 extra in comparison to the US price, I get seriously turned off. We pay an extortionate amount of taxes in Quebec, so a trip to Sephora can really make a dent in your wallet.

Another problem I have with Sephora is their marketing tactics, which are clearly directed towards American customers. On multiple occasions I've received e-mails containing promotions that I could not take advantage of because they are only valid in the US. Also, their website is designed for American shoppers. The Canadian online Sephora store is the same website as the American one, except in choosing "Country: Canada" the prices are simply changed into their Canadian equivalents. You can imagine this might be problematic when I want to apply coupon codes to my order, or when shipping charges get mixed up, or when I add something to my cart that, oops!, isn't available in Canada. Additionally, Canadians do not have the option of applying a gift card to their order: what's up with that? All in all, the site is super glitchy and really unpleasant to use.

I guess this brings me to my main point of complaint. Yesterday night I came across an offer on their website that I couldn't pass up: the Sephora Favorites Give Me Some Lip box set. Let us all bask in the glory of this little bundle for one moment...

Image source

And for only $30! The Tarte LipSurgence costs $29 on its own, so basically you get the rest for $1. Honestly, I was genuinely surprised to see this available to Canadians at this time of the year. Usually these sets come out around Christmas time, but if I can recall last time this set was out it didn't include NARS Turkish Delight. ANYWAY. That's not my point :)

With shipping and taxes, the entire order would come out to $42... $12 more than anticipated. At that point, is it even a deal anymore? So I scoured the internet for a promo code that might help lower the shipping charge. Usually the deal is free shipping if you spend $75 (vs. $50 on the American site, just saying). Much to my surprise, I found a promo code that enabled free shipping after $50, and a deluxe sample! I was out of B&B Surf Spray so I added a new one to my cart and, with shipping, the order came to ~$64, so I punched in the promo code and right away, it added the deluxe sample, and reduced my order total to $49.50! Great.

You might notice the shipping & handling still said $7.95 (and taxes = $7.41), but I thought it was just being glitchy and not changing it. I refreshed a few times, no difference. Still $7.41 shipping and $49.50 order total. Weird, but I mean, it added the deluxe sample so the promo code must have worked, right? Wrong, of course. Wrong, wrong, wrong. When I got my receipt in the e-mail, my order total was in fact $64.88 (what you see in the yellow box).

And then I noticed that I didn't get my double points, which a recent promo email had promised me. Hell no. I called customer service and, of course, they didn't believe me when I said my order total was $49.50, not $64.88. "Ma'am, you're looking at the merchandise subtotal." No, no I'm not, sir. And then apparently the 2x points only kick in on October 15th (wtf?). AND as I was just back on their website to verify the prices as I was writing up this post, I noticed that they added a full-sized Deborah Lippmann nail polishes as a 100 point perk which is an absolute steal... I mean, totally not their fault, but way to dig the knife deeper, ya know?

All in all, I'm over shopping online at Sephora. Their awful website and poor Canadian marketing is frustrating at best. Maybe I'm a retail snob in the sense that I expect quality service. Or maybe I'm just a sensible shopper. I can't tell sometimes.