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Curiously Carmen

ACI Beauty Preview Fall 2018 – Part 2/2

September 27, 2018

Here is part 2/2 of the ACI Beauty Preview for Fall 2018! This time, we previewed Stila, Korres, and St. Tropez.

You can read part 1 for the cult favourites of each brand above, as well as one of the new releases from Korres! This post will continue on with the products from Korres, Stila and St. Tropez.

The second major release for Korres is their Pure Olive Oil line! This line was originally only available in Greece, but it was so popular that they decided to expand! As of now, there are only 3 Shoppers Drug Mart locations in North America that offer this line – one of them is in Vancouver, and 2 are in Calgary. They are available online at the Shoppers Beauty Boutique though.

For their Pure Olive Oil line, there are 3 aspects: hair, bath & body, and skincare.

The Pure Olive Oil hair line features conditioner, shampoo, and hair masks which all help to hydrate your hair with the use of olive oil. These products are more catered towards dry and damaged hair and will give a healthy, bouncy shine to your hair!

Their body line features bar soap, creams, and a body oil. I found the body oil to be interesting because oils are usually dispensed in a dropper as it is too dense to be sprayed. Their body oil is called a ‘dry body oil’ because you can spray it. The consistency when you apply is still slippery and oily, but absorbs fast.

Lastly, we have the Pure Olive Oil skincare! While the Wild Rose line focuses more on brightening your skin, the Pure Olive Oil line focuses on intense hydration. We tried a bit of the day and night creams, and the night cream in particular was very rich! The night cream could also be used only 2-3x a week for an intensely hydrating sleeping mask.

Moving on to Stila, Heaven’s Dew Glimmer has a new formulation, making it softer and weightless than ever before. It features a glossy illumination, with a gleaming, wet-like finish but without the tackiness​. This would be nice to wear on its own for some sparkle, or over a highlighter.

The second main feature of Stila was the vivid & vibrant eye shadow duo! Each contains a sparkle and coordinating metallic foil-finish shade. They are less pigmented and pack a lighter punch than the intensely pigmented liquid eye shadow. 

St. Tropez did not have any new launches this season, but we went over some of their existing products. Starting from the far left, in the metallic green/blue bottle, is the Extra Dark Mousse. It offers the quickest and darkest self tan.

Next to the Extra Dark Mousse, the small gold tube is the Gradual Tan Tinted Everyday Moisturizer + Primer. It gives a sheer bronze glow to your face and will gradually develop if used daily.

The Gradual Tan One Minute Pre-Shower Tanning Mousse is to be applied dry, one minute before your shower. You then rinse it off in the shower and a gradual tan will reveal after approximately 8 hours.

The Self Tan Purity Bronzing Water is a hydrating water spray that helps lock in your spray tan. It also includes the deeply moisturizing hyaluronic acid!


 

 


Filed Under: Beauty, events, makeup

ACI Beauty Preview Fall 2018 – Part 1/2

September 24, 2018

It’s time for my semi-annual ACI Beauty Preview post! In case you don’t know, ACI Beauty is a Canadian distributor for brands such as Stila, Korres, St Tropez, Ardell, CLEAN, Paul & Joe, etc. This post will feature products from Korres, Stila and St. Tropez.

I always look forward to seeing what new product launches they will have in the Fall and Spring!

This season had a section on cult faves, aka products from each brand that made them famous. Aka, their OG products – hence the nostalgaic decor! Recognize any of these nostalgic items? 🙂

For St. Tropez, we have the bronzing mousse. They have mastered the art of the at-home spray tan, especially when it comes to the scent. I am not familiar with spray tans but I have heard most spray tans do not have a great smell. St Tropez ensures that their tans smell great so that it is not off putting.

For Stila, we have a variety of different cult favourites including the Stay All Day liner, One Stop Correct primer, certain shades of eyeshadows, and the liquid eyeshadow! My own personal favourite also includes the Stay All Day foundation.

Lastly, for cult faves, the two products from Korres was the Golden Krocus Elixir and the Black Pine Eye Serum. The Golden Krocus Elixir can be described as a very rich, liquid gold product. And with that name, I would certainly not question it! The Black Pine Eye Serum has a push cap and helps to fill in fine lines and plump up the eye area. It can also be used as an eye primer to smooth everything out.

I have tried neither of them so I can not really offer my own opinion on them.

Moving on now to the new releases! There are a bunch of new releases from Korres, but I will only talk about one line in this post. I don’t like super long posts so I will make another post on the  other new Korres, Stila and St. Tropez releases after this.

The Korres Wild Rose oil is one that I have raved about multiple times here. This season, they have released the Wild Rose 15% Brightening Serum which is basically an improved version of the original Wild Rose… I mean, the Wild Rose oil was already amazing at brightening up your skin, so I can’t imagine how it can get any better. The vitamin c oil helps brighten skin and with regular use, you will notice a difference.

Another new launch in the Wild Rose line is the Korres Wild Rose Foaming Cleanser. It also contains the same vitamin c as the oils above, which will further assist in brightening your skin. The cleanser is gentle and moisturizing yet is able to remove waterproof makeup easily. I have been using it for a few days, so stay tuned for a review!

This post is getting lengthy so I will end it here! Stay tuned for part 2 where I share another Korres line launch, and the new Stila and St. Tropez releases!


Filed Under: Beauty, events, makeup

Beauty: ACI Beauty Preview Spring 2018(Part 2/2)

May 6, 2018

Hi hi! Continuing along for the ACI Beauty Spring 2018 event, here is part 2/2!

One of Paul & Joe’s most popular products is their cat shaped lipstick, which we have been for the past couple of preview events. They have switched it up for spring 2018 and put a flower design instead of a cat. The formulation is still the same and if you see a cat themed lipstick case, that is after the founder, Sophie Albou’s own cat!

Moving on are these super thin and travel friendly cheek/eyeshadow ‘records’. They are designed after vinyl records and last about 30 uses. I like how they are super thin and compact, about the thickness of a credit card.

CLEAN also has some new fragrance releases this spring! We were introduced to CLEAN’s Ultimate Beach Day at a previous launch. This time, they have released an Ultimate Beach Night to go with this theme. It reminds me of a tropical and fun vacation… if I think hard enough, I’m in Mexico, right? 😉

CLEAN is also big on encouraging customers to create and layer their own scents. This is their new 6 piece CLEAN Reserve Hygge collection. The word Hygge is a Norwegian word for a mood of coziness, wellness, contentment, etc. The word has since been adapted into Western culture as a term synonymous with self care. Each of the caps are made of real wood, so the design of each cap is unique.

Last but not least, Ardell is launching magnetic lashes! I haven’t seen these before and I was very curious as to how they worked. The main difference is that they do not require any glue. Each eye takes two pieces of falsies, which have magnets. You put one piece on top of your lashes, and one on the bottom so they clip together. I had a demo after the event and the Ardell rep made it look easy to apply, but we shall see when I try at home myself. I suspect that there will be trial and error. I wore them for the rest of the evening afterwards and they were so easy and mess free to remove!


Filed Under: Beauty, events, makeup

Beauty: ACI Beauty Preview Spring 2018(Part 1/2)

April 30, 2018

Last week, I attended the ACI Beauty preview for Spring 2018. If you’re new to my blog (welcome!), ACI Beauty is a Canadian distributor for brands such as Korres, Stila, Paul & Joe, Fresh, Ardell, St. Tropez, and more. This means that they work with stores such as Shoppers Drug Mart or Sephora to ensure that those brands (and others) are on the shelves.

Starting with St. Tropez, there are some notable new releases. Although I have yet to use a self tanner, I found that the new colourless spray tan (in the middle) was very cool!

With this product, you just spray liberally over your skin and do not have to worry about it staining your clothes (we were so nervous when the ACI rep sprayed this on her neck and arms with her beautiful white linen shirt!!!).

Moving on with Korres, this is one of my favourite skincare brands. I was actually wearing their Wild Rose Oil mixed into my foundation that day, which gives your foundation a dewy finish and rose scent. Their main focus this season is the black pine line, which is focused on anti-aging.
Stila also has some notable products being released this season. The new Stay All Day micro-tip liner will be sold in parallel with the original. The new liner has an even more precise and defined tip.

As well, there are some new shades in their lipstick and Glitter and Glow liquid eyeshadows. I have reviewed their Glitter and Glow liquid eyeshadows before, which I absolutely love. And if you love sparkle, you will love these too!

For festival season, Stila will be releasing some coloured, sparkly highlighters reminiscent of unicorn sparkle. These are meant to be used for fun and can be put all over your cheeks or neck/chest area.

Stay tuned for part 2!

 


Filed Under: Beauty, events, makeup

Beauty: Estee Lauder Spring 2018 Preview

February 16, 2018

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Estee Lauder Spring 2018 preview! It’s an event I always look forward to attending because of the innovative products they come out with.

I meant to write this post last week, but I fell terribly ill with the flu and was sick in bed!
One of the main focuses of the Spring preview is the launch of the Perfectionist Pro cream. It is a rapid firm & lift treatment which is supposed to show instant results. I have been using it for the past two weeks and I do agree that it is quite instant. I like that it has a pearly sheen to it and makes my face feel plump and hydrated right away!
The other main focus is the Instant Wrinkle Filler. Although I’m not at the stage of my life yet where I have to fill in wrinkles, this can be used as a preventative measure. At the event, I found out that these days, us young people are more willing to splurge on high quality skincare products to prevent aging rather than on makeup. These days, we prefer to prevent wrinkles rather than treat.

As well, the Instant Wrinkle Filler can be used as a primer. Compared to the Perfectionist Pro cream above, the Wrinkle Filler was really thick but absorbed quickly and felt light weight.
It’s not an Estee Lauder preview without many different shades of lipsticks! Pictured above are the matte, vinyl, and glossy lipsticks. I brought home one of the vinyl lipsticks which I have been wearing almost everyday since! Expect a full review on that.
Today is Chinese New year, which is fitting for the post! Estee Lauder released some limited edition bottles of their classic Advanced Night Repair. Red and gold signify happiness and wealth in the Chinese culture, and they do have a large Asian market.
There hasn’t been an AERIN fragrance launch that I didn’t enjoy. This was no different. The scent is titled ‘Hibiscus Palm’.

Stay tuned for a review on the Perfectionist Pro cream and also the vinyl lipstick! And Happy Chinese New year 🙂


Filed Under: Beauty, events, makeup

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Hi and welcome to Curiously Carmen! I am Carmen, the girl behind the blog. You can read more about me here!

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