Review: MAC Blush in Dame

Mac Powder Blush in Dame 

This is my one and only MAC blush, because there aren't honestly very many blushes that MAC sells that I would actually wear. Plus they cost about $22 CAD, and I can good quality blushes from the drugstore!

I'm not bashing this blush though, I actually really like it.

Dame is a matte rose pink. It might look sort of scary and dark in the pan, but it's really not. I'm really pale and it works well. The pigmentation isn't that great. Well, it was when I first got it, and I had to use a really light hand, but now, well it's a kind of a weird story.

I don't know if this is just me, or if it happens to other people, but my blush developed a sort of hard layer over top, so I had to try really hard to get the tiniest bit of colour. Before that happened, it was very pigmented. After a while, I just scraped off the top layer, and then it was pigmented again. Weird. 

It's a really pretty colour, though. It can be light enough for daytime, or you can deepen it up for nighttime. 

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

Review: Essence Voluminizing Lash Powder

Essence Volumnizing Lash Powder

Whew, another Essence review! I bought this at the same time that I bought the "I Heart Crazy Volume" mascara that I reviewed in my last post. I bought it under the recommendation of my friend, or as she put it, "You buy it, and then I will read about it on your blog." Cool.

So me and her were both really intrigued by this product, because I mean, what the heck is lash powder?? Since it was only $3.50 CAD, I figured it couldn't hurt to try it out!

Ok, so here's what it is- Lash fibers. It comes with a jar of lash fibers, and a plain old mascara brush. 

It's actually very easy to use. All you do is put on a coat of mascara, and before it dries, apply a coat of lash fibers with the brush it comes with. The fibers will stick to the wet mascara. And then you seal it with another coat of mascara. 

Here's the fibers. 

WARNING: THEY GO EVERYWHERE. Up your nose, in your eyes, everywhere! I would advise closing your eye when you apply the coat of fibers. As long as you don't get them in your eyes, they're pretty easy to brush off everywhere else. Another application tip- tap the excess fibers off your brush before applying. But make sure you get an even coat on the brush.

So I guess we should get to the big question. Do they actually work, or are they just a gimmick? Well, I'm as surprised as you. It actually works!! For $3.50, you get lash fibers that really volumnize! They only claim to volumnize (which they do), but they also add some length.

bare lashes

lashes with mascara

lashes with lash fibers

I apologize for the crappy picture. It was early in the morning, and I was in a rush to get the picture taken. Looking at the two pictures, you can't really see much difference, but trust me when I say that there is definitely more volume with the fibers. 

I would definitely recommend checking these out! 

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

Review: Essence I Heart Crazy Volume Mascara

Ok, so I am going to make a very bold statement right now- this might possibly be my new favourite mascara. After seeing emilynoel83 raving about this in one of her videos, I had to go out and buy it, seeing as I usually like most of the same mascaras she does. And that definitely goes for this one!

Essence is a brand that only recently got onto my radar. I knew it was available in the US, but I had never seen it in Canada before, until I spotted a display at my Shoppers Drug Mart (not every Shoppers Drug Mart has Essence though, which is sort of sad; only two of mine have it). 

At first I was dubious, because the prices were SO cheap, and it looked sort of juvenile. But I decided to pick up an eyeliner just out of curiosity, and I loved it! I don't have a lot from this brand, but when I was recommended this mascara, I decided "what the heck"- it's only $5.

Yes, you heard right. The mascara that is my new favourite, that is better than any other drugstore or highend mascara I have ever tried, is ONLY FIVE FREAKING DOLLARS. Sorry if I seem excited. I am.

That being said, just because this mascara works well for me, does not mean it will work for everyone! I've tried mascaras that many other people have raved about that I ended up hating. So buy with caution (but really, it will only set you back five dollars).

Ok, anyway, on to the pictures!

The brush is a long, thick rubber brush, with short bristles. When I first saw the brush, I thought it looked like it might clump easily. But it doesn't.

THE FORMULA:

This isn't an overly wet or dry formula, it's sort of the perfect balance. It's a little wetter when you first buy it, and as all mascaras do, it will dry out as the weeks go by.

This claims to give "crazy volume", and it does give volume (though I'm not sure I would admit it to a mental hospital- get it? Because it's not actually that crazy...? Ok, moving on.) But it does give nice volume, but it also gives great length! Best of both worlds! Great, now the Hannah Montana song is stuck in my head. 

So to sum up, it doesn't clump, it gives good volume and good length. Awesome! One down side- it flakes a little bit. But it's a price I'm willing to pay. It doesn't give spidery lashes either, well, unless you put on like ten coats. 

There's only one colour available, which is just plain black. It's a nice rich black, though.

Ok, so now that I've rambled on enough, here is some before and after pictures.

Before

After

So, yeah, I'm in love. I definitely recommend checking this mascara out!!

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

Get To Know Me: The Beauty Blogger Tag!!

Hey everyone!
So once in a while, if I've seen a tag on a Youtube video or on another person's blog, I'll go ahead and do a tag on this blog! Usually they're beauty related, and I think it's fun to do a sort of different post every so often.

So, without further ado, let's jump into the tag! This is the Beauty Blogger Tag, with 30 questions asking me various things about myself :)

1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?
Curly. As much as I wish it was naturally straight, it's a big ball of frizz up there. Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit. It's pretty curly, but not super frizzy. Isn't it funny though- we always want what we don't have. Straight haired people wish their hair was curly, and people like me wish it was straight.

2. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?
I don't actually dye my hair. The last time I got anything colour related done was five years ago, when I got some blonde streaks. I haven't done anything since.

3. Do you wear the same style everyday or do you change it?
The same style, every single day. I don't feel very comfortable getting creative with my hair, so I will just straighten it (I know, I know) and will pin my bangs up on the side of my head.

4. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?
I've only ever been to a salon once to get my nails done, which was fun, but I couldn't shell out the cash for that all that often! I just do them myself.

5. How often do you change your nail polish?
Every week. It usually chips too much or I get bored of the colour.

6. Do you polish your toes in the winter or just the summer?
All year round. I usually leave my toe nail polish on for a lot longer than my finger nail polish, though.

7. How long does it take for you to put on makeup? 
If I only do my makeup, about twenty minutes. If I do my hair too, about 50 minutes. I enjoy doing it, though. Putting on makeup isn't a chore for me.

8. What do you do first? Face or eyes?
Face. I would just strange doing my eye makeup first.

9. Do you collect makeup or just buy what you need when you need it?
Well, I would love to argue that I "need" all the makeup I have, but in reality, I should be on the TV show Hoarders.

10. How often do you wear false eyelashes?
Only on special occasions. I find them too finnicky for everyday wear.

11. Do you do a full face of makeup everyday?
Yep. I just feel sort of...naked if I don't.

12. Do you wear makeup when you're home alone or with family?
I wear makeup everyday, no matter what I'm doing. I enjoy doing it! Well, unless I'm sick.

13. Will you leave the house without makeup?
I will usually have some sort of makeup on my face before leaving the house.

14. How many high end products do you have?
I never used to think I was a makeup snob, but I actually do have a lot of high end products. Most of my eyeshadows are high end, as I usually just reach for my palettes.

15. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you're getting dressed?
I'm not going to lie, I plan my outfits a week in advance. Life's too short to worry every night about what your'e going to wear. Might as well worry seven times as much, all at once.

16. How often do you change your handbag?
I've been using the same purse for about two years now, and I desperately need to buy a new one. It's falling apart!

17. What time do you wake up and go to sleep?
On weekdays, I wake up at 6am and go to sleep at about 9pm, and on weekends I wake up at about 8 or 9, and go to bed at about 10 or 11.

18. Left handed or right handed?
Left.

19. How tall are you?
5'10"

20. Do you speak any foreign languages?A little bit of Spanish and French, but I'm definitely not fluent in either.

21. How many pets do you have?
One, a cat named Munchkin :3

22. How often are you on Blogger?
Daily. If I'm not posting myself, I'll be reading other people's posts.

23. Do you read comments on blogs?
On my own blog, yes. Every comment.

24. Do you keep a list of products to try as you read other people's posts?
Yep, I put them on my "Shopping List" Note on my i-Phone.

25. How did you come up with your blog name?
Well, I wanted a blog to post my thoughts about makeup...I guess the name is sort of self explanatory.

26. What kind of camera do you use for your photos?
Canon.

27. How often do you clean your house?
Never? My mom does it.

28. What's your favourite colour?
Purple!

29. Do you swear?
Um...next question? Just kidding, sometimes I do. Gotta be honest.

30. What are you doing with the rest of your day?
Well, it's pretty late, so I'll be going to bed after this! Exciting, I know.



Whew, that was a long tag!!


Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

Review: Marcelle Luxe Metallic Liquid Liner

You know, sometimes you just have to wear glitter. There, I said it. And when you feel the urge, what else is more fun to amp up than your liner? It's not too pow! in your face, but it just adds a little something.

This liner has a slim brush, which is covered in sparkly green goodness. I usually use this on my upper lash line, and it just adds a pop of colour and sparkle to my eye look. Marcelle isn't a much talked about brand, but they do have some great products. I'm not entirely sure if this is a purely Canadian brand...but if it is, there's lots of green glitter liners out there. This isn't unique.

This needs a couple of coats to become opaque, and I definitely recommend layering this over a black liner to make it really pop. It looks awesome.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Dress Me Up

China Glaze Dress Me Up

I feel like it's been a really long time since I've done a NOTD post (it probably hasn't been at all, but whatever). The reason for this is because I'm trying to stop buying so much nail polish, and so I'm wearing all the colours I already own. And a lot of those I've already blogged about!

Anyway, this colour is from March 2012's the Hunger Games Collection, from China Glaze. That was probably one of my all time favourite nail polish collections ever; not only because I love the Hunger Games, but because I absolutely loved almost all of the colours in the collection. I own so many from it!

Dress Me Up is a brown toned mauve cream. It looks very natural on the nails, and works well for when you need your nails to look toned down or professional. And although you can't buy it anymore, there are many similar colours out there! This is a very dupe-able colour.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

Utter PAN-demonium! March 2013

So today's post is something I've never done on my blog before, but I thought it might be fun! This is going to be a post all about products that I've "hit pan on", or you can see the bottom pan on it. The reason I'm sharing this is because if I've hit pan on something, it most likely means I like it a lot! So this post might give you some new items to try! Let's get started!

FACE:

1) L'oreal True Match Powder in Neutral 1

This a powder that I've been using for quite awhile now, and I really enjoy. It's a much loved product around the beauty community anyway, probably because of how natural it looks and how much coverage it gives.


2. Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation in Ivory

I've already posted a review of this foundation, (you can see that here) but I absolutely love it! It works well on my dry skin, and has great coverage. I've been using it solidly for about six months, and I'm only just running out of it now. Luckily I have a backup!

EYES:

1. MAC Eyeshadow in Phloof!

Finally hit pan on this little guy after using it for about two years. Not much to say about it, except that it's a frosty pink toned light shade, and my absolute favourite shade ever to use for highlighting. 

2. ELF Single Eyeshadow in Pebble

This is the eyeshadow I use everyday to fill in my eyebrows, which is probably why I hit pan on it. It's a matte taupe colour, and the reason I like it so much is because it isn't too warm toned, and it doesn't make my eyebrows look red. 

3. Covergirl Eyeshadow in Tapestry Taupe

I've talked a lot about this one on my blog already, but I finally hit pan on it this month! I could have sworn it was a bottomless shadow, seeing as I've only just hit pan on it, and I've used it A LOT. A great basic to have in any collection. 

4. Urban Decay "Naked" Eyeshadow

This is from the first Naked palette, but it can also be bought on it's own. It's a matte light brown, which is wonderful for just running through your crease, which looks natural, but also adds a little something to a neutral shadow look. 

5. Smashbox Liner Palette

I hit pan on one of the cream liners in this palette that I've been using for a long time, on a daily basis. It's just a plain black liner, and I used it everyday on my upper lash line. I finally bought a new liner this month, which is a liquid liner, so I don't need to use this one anymore. But it was a good liner while it lasted!

So that's it for my PAN-demonium this month! This probably won't be a monthly thing, but I'll do another one when I have more things to make a post on.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa