April 10, 2013

Hi lovelies! We're almost halfway through April and it's still friggin' cold here in Ottawa. I'm really itching to bust out my spring outfits but can't do just yet! At least I delighted myself in purchasing a few soft nail polishes and started painting my nails in happy colours already!

Here's my four pretties from left to right: Essie Bikini so Teeny, Essie Madison Ave-hue, China Glaze Keep Calm Paint on and China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's:



Essie Maddison Ave-hue was the first one I tried. This is a beautiful barbie pink with subtle shimmer. I thought for sure I would have a dupe for this but none could be found. The formula on this was amazing!



Essie Bikini So Teeny was released last year but I believe it's permanent to the Essie range now. It's a very light blue almost leaning periwinkle with subtle silver shimmer. The formula was good but I had some bubbling on the nail as you can see:



China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint on is a soft aqua shade. I have a few shades similar to this but no dead on dupe. Essie Mint Candy Apple is more pastel, China Glaze for Audrey is more blue. Application was a breeze and drying time quicker than most China Glaze polishes I own:



China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's is a gorgeous shade of peachy coral. It has enough pink to it to prevent giving me lobster hands though. Those of you guys with pink/red undertones probably know what I mean. This one is a lighter, more spring-y version of ChG Pink Plumeria:



I absolutely love all four polishes. If I had to pick a fvourite though, it would be Madison Ave-hue...which is strange as one would think pinks are common enough not to be my top choice.

Have you purchased any new spring nail polishes? What are some of your favourite seasonal nail polishes?

January 14, 2012

Hi guys! I went to my local Pharmaplus to get a toothbrush and walked out with all of this, hehe:



I've been meaning to give some of these products a try for the longest time and finally took the plunge.

I've already tried and loved Maybelline Color Tattoos. They apply smoothly and are very pigmented. I also love the glass packaging that very much reminds me of MAC Paint Pots. I would say the quality is also on par with the more high end cream shadows like MUFE Aqua Cream Pot, Sheseido cream shadows and MAC Paint Pots.

I purchased Barely Branded (LE) and Painted Purple. I adore Barely Branded and it reminds me so much of my beloved MAC Stilife though less white and more gold. Painted Purple is a gorgeous shade too though a tad more patchy. Still amazing as a base for purple eyeshadow but I probably wouldn't wear it on its own.




I also grabbed a couple of L'Oreal Colour Infallible eyeshadows. I keep hearing that these compare too GA Eyes to Kill and thought I should see for myself. Initial verdict is that yes, they are as pigmented and apply as smoothly as their Armani counterpart and of course cost a fraction of the price. I will do a more detailed comparison once I use them more.

I purchased Permanent Kaki, a beautiful shimmering olive. Reminds me of a less golden version of MAC Golden Olive pigment. Also bought Purple Obsession and holly molly this one is beautiful! Amazing purple, blows MAC Violet pigment out of water.



Last but not least, finally bought a couple of Revlon Lip Butters to see what the fuss is all about. I gotta say I see why people love these so much. They offer a wash of colour and are fairly moisturizing. The darker shades last much longer too. My haul includes Gumdrop (sheer violet) and Lollipop (fuchsia):

Do your guys own any of these products? What other shades would you recommend to me?

November 15, 2012

Hi guys! I dropped by my local Trade Secret to check out the holiday collections by OPI, Essie, Zoya and Misa. My Trade Secret totally sucks though; they seem to sell out of everything in a minute and never have a big stock to begin with. Half of the polishes I wanted to get were sold out and so this is what I ended up with:



OPI On her Majesty's Secret Service -  a blue/green shimmer in slate colour base, very unique to my collection.
Zoya Electra - multi coloured glitter bar in clear base. I don't have any bar shaped glitter polish so this was also a welcome addition.
Zoya Aurora - beautiful purple holographic. Oh how I love the holo effect this has!!

I'm gonna check out Loblaws in a few weeks as they also get the Essie collection just later. I really wanted a few shades from them too but my stupid TS is always out of everything!

Have you got purchased anything from various nail polish holiday collections? What is your favourite nail polish this season?

November 12, 2012

Hi guys! I think this may be the first time I've actually featured a drugstore haul. I do actually use some drugstore products that have been my long term faves; but I just always pick up my items when I'm grocery shopping so I forget to do a separate haul.

These items were picked up last week and so far I love all :) Here's a quick overview:



I finally grabbed a couple of the Maybelline Color Tattoo everyone raves about and I have to admit I'm also part of the "love" group. I purchased Tough as Taupe as I do use taupes very often and also Rich as Mahogany, a subtle bronze shade which I believe is limited edition.

Annabelle is my go-to for amazing selection of lip liners. They also apply relatively soft and last a long time. I use Flame and Fuchsia a lot and just added Cherry lip liner to my collection. This would go great with blue toned red lipsticks.

I haven't bought anything Prestige since high school I believe but remember really enjoying their black kohl liner. They had a sale at my local Pharmaplus so I picked up a couple of their kohl liners, Rhapsody (navy blue) and Magnetic (purple). I've already used the blue on my lower lashline and have been pleased with it.

Here are some quick swatches for you guys:

What are some of your favourite drugstore products?

October 29, 2012

Hi guys! I rarely haul these days but I was so excited about the Chanel holiday release that I decided to break the no-buy. Plus a little Chanel is always the exception. My husband actually surprised me and bought the holiday quad for me the day before I would go and get it myself :D

I love Chanel holiday collections. They're always small but very well edited. It's interesting how they stay true to traditional holiday colours yet manage to have unique combinations and textures each year. I wanted sooo many things but thought the quad, Harmonie du Soir, was the best part of the collection:





Each shade is very smooth and silky but not at all powdery. I would go on a limb and say this is the best quality eyeshadow quad in my collection. I love the logo design on each shadow though it fades upon a few usage:



I was so excited about this purchase that I put it to use right away when hubby, Sofia and I went to brunch yesterday. I ended up wearing mostly Chanel, down to my perfume of choice, Chanel Coco. Speaking of which, I will be doing a fall fragrance favourite later on this week.

Face
Marcelle BB Cream - Light to Medium
Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation - BR20
Ben Nye powder
Pink Cult blush (LE)
Pearl Blossom bp (LE)

Eyes
UDPP - base
Chanel Harmonie du Soir quad - all shades except for burgundy on the eyes
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
BB Chocolate Brown g/l - to line
Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara
Stila Topaz kajal liner - water line

Lips
Inglot berry l/l
Chanel La Sensuelle RAV





Sofia and mama before leaving the house. I put on a Halloween appropriate outfit on her. People in the restaurant loved her :D

Did you pick up anything from Chanel Holiday Collection? What is your favourite holiday collection this year?

October 8, 2012

Hey guys! I know everyone and their mothers were excited about MAC Marilyn Monroe collection, but I was counting the days to see Nars Warhol collection and stalking my local Sephora. Well, I mean I was going in once a week as it's kinda hard to get out that much with a 6 week old baby!

After reading reviews of the collection online, I decided I only wanted a couple of the nail polishes and snagged them up yesterday. My small haul consisted of Back Room (black) and New York Dolls (purple).



The nail polishes come in a silver box as opposed to Nars' usual black ones and are signed with Andy's name. The bottle themselves don't have special packaging though:



My experience with Nars nail polishes, unlike the rest of their products, is very limited and the only polish I own from them is Jungle Red. The first shade I chose to wear was Back Room. I found the formula very easy to work with; not too thin or too thick. The shade was opaque and shiny in one coat. It's rare for a nail polish to look this amazing with only one coat so I'm quite impressed! I think Back Room will be my new HG black (my old one was Misa I Will Survive).

Here's a quick swatch for you, pre-cleanup as I was trying to take pics before sunset:

I use black polishes quite frequently so this was definitely a great investment for me. I cannot wait to try on New York Dolls now! Will post swatches when I do :)

Oh and it seemed that I had enough points to redeem them for this lipgloss set. I'm not a gloss person but we shall see how these will perform:

Have you guys bought anything from Nars Andy Warhol? What are some of your favourite Nars polishes?

August 13, 2012

Hey guys! I go for a quick walk in the mall near me pretty much every day as it is still too hot for me to walk outside. But I need to get some kind of exercise and walking seems to be it. On my last trip the the mall on Thursday, I stopped by Trade Secret and picked up a couple of nail polishes from the upcoming fall collections. Fall is my favourite season hands down! I love the cool breeze and shorter days, dark nails, vampy makeup, velvet, suede and leather clothing and the earthy fall leaves. I have always been a little vamp in heart, lol!

Here's what I picked up from left to right: Zoya Daul (fall 2012), Essie Sand Tropez (perm), OPI (Every Month is Oktoberfest)



OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest - is an amazingly glowy red purple shade. It's so dark and delicious I cannot get enough.



It was the first polish out of the three that I wore, so here it is on my nails. There's a bit of top wear from having this on for 4 days with no top coat:



Essie Sand Tropez - is a nice beige cream. Most of the nudes in my stash have pink, gray or peach undertone so I thought I try something fully "beige". Nudes are my fave nail polish colours after the vamps so I'm excited about this one too:



Zoya Daul - OMG this is so beautiful in the bottle; can't wait to try it on my nails. It's a violet shade with a tone of gold shimmer. I thought the entire Zoya Diva collection was gorgeous but I picked what I thought was the most unique the most "me":

What are some of your favourite fall nail polishes? Have you purchased any new polishes from the recent collections?

June 10, 2012

Happy Sunday beauties! This was a super productive weekend again for me. I got a tone of baby stuff done and also spend quality time with hubs, my folks and also close friends. Got nice and recharged for another week of work!

I was sending out a package at the Canada Post in Shoppers when I noticed that they have a few Gosh items on sale. Gosh is one of my favourite drugstore brands especially for their eye liners, lip liners and lipsticks. I gotta say my biggest weakness is their Gosh Velvet Touch Eyeliner. If I see them on sale, I always snag a few:


Bottom to top: Girl Power, Copper Girl, Green Devil, Blue Lagoon, Ice Blue

If you've been following BeautySpot for a while, you may have noticed that I routinely use the Gosh liners on my lower lashline and even as base for eyeshadow. I love that they draw a smooth line effortlessly, are pigmented in one stroke, last 7-8 hours on me AND are waterproof.

Let's just say I'm a fan, and on $7.00CAD each I couldn't resist but grab five of them:


Left to right (NW25 skintone): Copper Girl, Girl Power, Green Devil, Blue Lagoon, Ice Blue

Copper Girl - medium copper shade, lighter than UD Copper
Girl Power - shimmery bunt orange, not sure how I'd wear it yet but I like :D
Green Divil - gorgeous deep grassy green, the smoothest one in the bunch
Blue Lagoon - creamy bright teal, sooo beautiful!
Ice Blue - very light silvery blue on me, will probably be great in tearduct area

Do you guys use Gosh Velvet Touch Liners? What are some of your favourite inexpensive liners?

May 19, 2012

Hey beauties and Happy Victoria Day Long Weekend to my Canadian friends and followers. Hubby and I are painting the nursery today and making a visit to Babies R Us later on. But Sunday and Monday will be filled with socializing with friends and family.

I picked up MAC Morange this past week with some Back2MAC I've been accumulating. I had wanted to own Morange for the longest time and never got around to picking it up. I also wasn't too keen on it before I got my tan during my Mexican vacation.

Morange is a bold orange with red undertones and has an amplified finish. MAC's Amplified cream shades typically apply very creamy and comfortable, have great colour payoff and last a good 5-6 hours on me; especially with a bold shade like this.





I have quite a few red oranges in my collection but they are all red as base and have orange undertones, Morange is the opposite. I actually quite liked how this shade looks on me now and so does my hubby. It is a bold shade so it requires some confidence to rock this on your lips. However, I think it will look fab on both warmer and cooler undertones as well as fairer or darker ladies.


Morange on my lips, applied straight from tube with no liner. I have pigmented and red lips

And here's my full face: the rest of my face is pretty simply with MAC F&B foundation (N3), Nars Irreisteblement Bronzer and MAC Bite of an Apply on my cheeks. I'm wearing Inglot gel liner #83 (a blue purple) on lashline and MAC Delphic fluidline (LE) on lower lashline:

Do you guys own MAC Morange? What is your favourite shade of orange lipstick to wear?

May 14, 2012

Hey beauties! I love wearing neon polishes in the summer. Each year I grab a few of the latest neon releases and rock them on as long as my summer tan lasts.

I happened to pass by a Chatters Salon here in Ottawa and noticed they already had the China Glaze summer (neons) collection in. I was surprised coz I haven't seen any reviews of these polishes so I assumed they are not out yet.

They were even sold out of at least half of the shades. I bought three that were most unique to my collection:





Pink Plumeria is a warm pink, it's kinda in between peach and pink. Bold and sophisticated.
I'm with the Lifeguard is a neon grass green, soooo gorgeous under the sun!
Sun-kissed is a highlighter yellow. I'm planing on rocking this one on my toes.

I chose I'm with Lifeguard as the first one to wear. I took a quick picture of it before heading out so my apologies for the messy cuticles. The formula was great and only needed two medium coats:

Will you be grabbing any neon polishes this summer?

February 12, 2012

February 10, 2012

December 28, 2011

November 14, 2011