DO WANT makeup

Gia Shoes: ~$60 CAD

[image from Zappos]

Mariella at Musing On Beauty tries the whole Becca Skin Perfecting Makeup System and reviews all the products for you.

Spiced Beauty is on a crusade to end discolouration, scars and stretch marks with Palmers: Skin Therapy Oil!

Kelly from Gouldylox learns that a nude by any other name is not the same. Or at least this nude looks different on everyone. Any by different, she means gorgeous.

Do you hate messy mascaras as much as Tracy at Beauty Reflections does? Then you should try LashControl Mascara and say goodbye to gloopy mascaras!

Miss Beauty Nerd is a sucker for cute and is hopelessly giddy over Anna Sui’s Doll Face lipstick collection.

Nicole from Lipstick and Luxury shares how to get a perfect pout from the NEW Beauty for Real lip glosses!

Kimberly from KimmieKarmaLove has a camera dump and struggles finding the perfect lippie.

Vonnie of Socialite Dreams goes blonde! Check out her Marilyn Monroe inspired hair and makeup look.

Have relaxed hair? See how WEN Pomegranate Cleansing Conditioner worked for Kim Porter.

Wedding season is upon us! So if you are getting married then have a read of Makeup Savvy’s Wedding Makeup Series for tips on how to look picture perfect for the big day.

Beauty’s Bad Habit reviews and swatches uber geek chic indie make-up brand, Shiro Cosmetics.

Check out swatches and a review of Morgana Cryptoria’s new Shifty Eyed Eyeshadow Collection at the Pretty Exclusive.

Jellyminx shows you how to recreate the look worn by Megan Fox in the Armani Code ad in this simple tutorial.

With the long awaited sunshine finally arriving, Hellcandy gives a sneak peek at Estee Lauder’s new Bronze Goddess Collection for S/S 2011!

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Beauty Crazed is giving away more makeup then any sane person could possibly want - but who said you were sane? So go enter already!

Beauty Info Zone is celebrating their year anniversary with contests galore. Visit to see the latest MAC giveaway!

I did a quick comparison of the difference between purchasing the same product (Water Fuse BB Cream) from Sephora and from popular online retailer Sasa. It’s slightly cheaper at Sasa right now (~$29.20 CAD) because it’s 20% off, but at regular price is more expensive than Sephora ($33.20). Shipping is also pricier too: ~$17.20 at Sasa vs. $9.95 at Sephora, and both offer free shipping if your purchase exceeds a certain dollar amount. Overall it’s less expensive to purchase from Sephora even after the 20% at Sasa. Lastly, for what it’s worth I think Sasa (like other Asia-based e-tailers) might calculate their prices based on current exchange rates, whereas Sephora has a set price regardless of exchange rates.

What Asian brands would you want to see at Sephora?

Totally different from the last dress but I would rock them both. Seeing the print up close is a must.

ASOS: ~$312 CAD (eep.)

[screenshot from ASOS]

Love the crochet detail.

ASOS: ~$80 CAD

[screenshot from ASOS]

I MISS YOU ;______;

I’ve gotten the okay to wear eye makeup again but I am still on a regimen of several doses of eyedrops a day, which presents a new problem: excess eyedrop fluid smudging all my eye makeup. I’ve been avoiding eye makeup altogether to avoid the potential makeup disaster, but I’m really missing my gel liners and mascara. It looks like the next couple weeks will be a test of what products are the most waterproof/resistant.

Although I have a few waterproof eyeliners, I don’t have any waterproof mascara :< Have any suggestions for me?

Fruits & Passion currently has a promotion going where you can pick up 5 mini-versions of their products ($5-6 regular) for $20. I was a big fan of Fruits & Passion in high school (it was where I bought that amazing-smelling honeydew melon lip balm that I will never stfu about) but we sort of grew apart. Pretty much all my favourite scents have been phased out a million years ago so I had to go back and check out all their new offerings to make my picks.

In the end, I went with Quenching Body Butters in Grapefruit Guava (Elle Canada 2011 Grand Prix winner for body moisturizer) and Orange Cantaloup, Radiance Purifying Exfoliating Gel, and two bottles of Radiance Cleansing Mousse (also an Elle Canada 2011 Grand Prix winner). There’s quite a few minis to choose from, with all sorts of product types such as scented waterless soaps (i.e. hand sanitizer), body butters, shower gels, and hand creams in a wide range of floral and fruity scents. The body butters come in 60 mL bottles, which make it perfect to throw in my purse and are airport security-friendly since they’re under 100 mL.

The minis are a great opportunity to test different products and are a better value than the original sizes if you take advantage of the 5 for $20 promotion.

I’ve mentioned Physicians Formula Powder Palette Multi-Colored Face Powder in Highlighter before in a post about the sorts of products I’ve hit pan on (or otherwise very nearly used up). Eventually I not only hit pan, but was at the point where there was hardly any left and I was still mining it for anything I could get. Finally I had to let go and pick up a new palette.

I hesitate to call this a review, because it doesn’t include the kind of before/after use pictures that I always want to have in a review. However I did feel like just writing a post about it because it’s kind of a big deal that I bought it again. I rarely repurchase makeup items because I’m always interested in trying new products.

Over the last couple months, this palette has become a staple for me in the mornings when I look like a corpse and don’t have much time/energy to apply foundation and powder. It certainly doesn’t provide the same effect as a foundation, but it lives up to its name by brightening and perking up my skin tone a little bit with a quick dusting.

Bonus: I like using a small paddle brush to pick up the individual colours in this palette for spot-work. On my first palette, the yellow bits were the first to go because I was constantly using the yellow to reduce the severity of my dark circles. It’s not a miracle worker and I can’t use too much without risking a yellowish cast but it certainly helps. Occasionally I will also use the green to neutralize the red of a pimple, but again it has to be used sparingly.

The Lip Print gets the Smooth Infusion treament thanks to Aveda and Oscar Oscar salons.

The Pink Sith invites you to marvel at the Givenchy Prisme Yeux Quatour in Candide Garden, which is a nice departure from tired old Spring pastels.

Over at The Glamorous Gleam, Mz. More introduces a dupe for MAC’s Ripe Peach blush: Sleek’s Life’s a Peach!

Got a craving for something sweet? well, Krasey Beauty has swatches and a full look into the MAC Cosmetics Quite Cute collection!

LaaLaa may not have been wearing makeup so much as of late but that doesn’t mean her brushes have been neglected. Take a look on Dolce Vanity how she deep cleanses her brushes.

Tracy@Beauty Reflections got to try the new Sebastian Color Ignite Line and it whipped her hair into condition!

My Lips But Better put OPI Black Shatter to the test under various conditions - see the results!

L from Beautifully Addicted To re-discovers a favourite foundation in Bourjois 10hr Sleep Effect.

Jellyminx shares a super simple Nail Art tutorial.

Kimberly from KimmieKarmaLove learns to Bite the Bullet and to wear a black base!

Madame B Fatale has a tutorial on soft green and purple eyes.

Are you having problems with your foundation? Check out Spiced Beauty’s HDsecret.

Alyson at The Gloss Menagerie has some Inglot AMC lipgloss swatches to share with you!

At Music and Makeup Jo can’t stop raving about a £1.50 Accessorize eye dust bargain and features it in this face of the day.

Spring is here, so Mariella at Musing on Beauty reunites with her fake tan and reviews Clarins Delectable Self Tanning Mousse.

Daily Polish has teamed up with a top London salon to give away a FREE Minx or Shellac Manicure or Pedicure! Enter now!

theNotice is giving away two rather surprising products that’ll get your skin summer-ready in no time flat. Find out what they are!

There are actually 24 shades in the Neutrals range, so here’s part one. This time I took the swatch photos with flash on, which I think is a bit more accurate.

Coralberry (creme), Champagne on Ice (pearl), Sparkling Cider (pearl), Caramel Glacé (pearl), Sandalwood Beige (creme), Highbeam Tan (pearl)

Fun fact: my first blush ever was the Revlon blush with the rectangular pan in a shade called Sandalwood. And yes, I did use the tiny brush included.

Copper Chrome (pearl), Toast of New York (creme), Rum Raisin (creme), Blushing Nude (creme), Chocolate Velvet (creme), Cocoa Bronze (pearl)

I unintentionally took this second photo with my arm at a different angle in relation to the lighting overhead so these swatches look like have less of a shine than those in the first one.

Again, a very pigmented shade range. The only one that sticks out is Coralberry. This bright pink is a lovely colour (especially for Spring!) but seems like it would fit better with the Pinks. It is too bright to be in Neutrals and doesn’t have brown tones to it like the others.

More Revlon Super Lustrous love:
swatches: Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks (Plums)
review: Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Wine With Everything (creme)
swatches: Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks (Reds)

I had my second post-operative check today with my optometrist. The healing process is going quite well for me and my eyes should be done healing in about a week. I’m ridiculously happy to say that right now I’m pretty close to 20/20 vision—about -0.25 to -0.5 diopters. Although I have some sensitivity to bright light and spending long hours in front of a computer since going back to work, I should be back to posting normally very soon, including a new set of swatches for Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks tomorrow :>

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog and where I am going with it. My co-op/internship term ends this month and I will be back to school in the summer, meaning that I will have more time to dedicate to this blog. I love sharing my opinions about products with people and having conversations with other makeup lovers. In the future I’d like to have more posts geared towards style such as favourite pieces of clothing and outfits of the day, and of course get back to reviewing products—I haven’t done a review in a long time /shame

I don’t reblog posts and that’s because I want this blog to be very focused on original content; I use product images with credit for Wishlist Wednesday posts and I think that’s about it. I save the reblogging for my personal Tumblr, which is kind of a weird mix of cute animals, nerdery, and occasionally makeup.