beauty blogger Archives - Page 4 of 16

ELF Tone Adjusting Face Primer

September 14, 2016

Since I’ve been jobless for the past few months and will continue to be while I strap on and focus on my FINAL semester of university, I’ve been cutting down on a lot of my spending. Lately, I’ve been really into looking at drugstore alternatives to alleviate costs!

I came across the ELF Tone Adjusting Face Primer while watching beauty videos on Youtube. One of my favourite beauty gurus, Weylie, really recommended this primer and said it kept her foundation locked in on a 40 degrees Celsius day picking berries in the California heat.

For only $8, I was really intrigued and wondered if it would work just as well for me! I bought the primer a few weeks later at my local Superstore.
The product is pretty straightforward and easy to use. It dispenses in a pump, and is green. Green helps cover up redness, which I tend to have.

I usually pump about one and a half pump for my full face. Once you put it on your face, it really smooths out your skin and creates a nice, lightweight and breathable film for your foundation to go on. It also blurs out your pores nicely.
To give this primer the ultimate test, I wore it to Whytecliff Park on a super hot, 30 degree day. The sun was shining directly on me, no shade at all, and the perfect weather to climb the huge boulder (about a 10 minute steep trek up the boulder).

I was SUPER IMPRESSED when I got back home, and my foundation was just as nice as when I had put it on in the morning!
Here is another picture with the primer, with no filter or photo editing. I am also wearing the L’Oreal true match foundation and Maybelline mineral powder. The two products work well with the primer and are really blendable!

I’ve been using this for about three weeks now, and I absolutely LOVE it and am so impressed! My makeup lasted a full day with this on. Even my blush did not budge at all, and stayed put at the end of the day. For only $8, it is definitely a steal!

Yay!

ACI Fall 2016 Preview

September 2, 2016

I feel as if I haven’t blogged for awhile, although it’s only been a week! As some of you may know already, the past two months were absolutely crazy for me. I finally have the tail end of summer to relax, and I’ve been really trying to savour the sunny days before fall rolls in.

Another year has gone by, and it is time to share with you all the upcoming products from ACI Beauty. ACI is a Canadian beauty distributor, or in super simple terms, they bring products to the shelves of our favourite beauty stores.
Paul & Joe never fails to impress me with their product designs. Like seriously, who designs their packaging because it is seriously amazing. This season, Paul & Joe have partnered up with Looney Tunes to launch a limited collection set of themed products!

Last fall, the boyfriend and I watched Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. I am really loving how companies are coming out with modern ways to invoke nostalgia. (Side note, I really recommend going to the Bugs Bunny at the Symphony if the VSO brings it back! Not sponsored btw)
These were too cute not to include. Apart from the lipsticks, they also have blush and shadow compacts with the limited edition Looney Tunes sets. Which one is your favourite design?
Remember the cat lipsticks I talked about last year? Well, Paul & Joe has launched a new cat blush this season. The cats here are also blush beads. But with a product so cute, I would be really reluctant to use it up.
Cargo is a brand that I’ve seen here and there, but I was able to learn more about it at the event. I am a big fan of palettes, so I am pretty excited to try and test their palettes out!
I raved about my Korres wild rose oil back in May, and have really started to take a liking to this Greek brand. This Fall, they are releasing a few skincare products and a soap bar.

I’ve been using the wild rose day cream & night mask for the past week, the two on the left and right pictured above. So far, it’s been working really well with my skin and leaves it hydrated and plump. I’m going to use it a bit longer before I write the review, but I’ve been really loving it!
This star light, star bright highlighting trio is part of Stila’s holiday collection. Just like their putty foundation that I reviewed last year, the highlighters also have a nice bounce to it.
Some liquid lipsticks from Stila! These come in sets of three, but I just put them all together so you can see what colours they offer.
Nail polishes from Seche & Ceramic Glaze. Both are companies that I can vouch for. Once I discovered the Seche Vite top coat, there was no going back. Seriously, it’s a phenomenal top coat and I recommend that you try it for yourself if you haven’t already.
Fusion is a smaller brand that I haven’t tried that much of yet, but so far, I’ve been really liking the browfusion. It is a double ended brow pencil and gel. I love how angled the pencil is, and how easy it is to get a nice shape!

Apart from the browfusion, they seem to specialize in mascaras. Pictured above are their new mascara launches, which I need to try!
Last but not least, new products from St. Tropez. Self tanning seems pretty intimidating to me, I’ve heard many horror stories of people trying this at home and coming out looking like an orange. Perhaps one day I’ll give it a shot!

However, we were told that the gradual tan mousse (pictured on the right, the white can) is perfect for beginners because the tan builds up slowly!

Press event. Opinions are own.

Estee Edit Skin Glowing Balm

August 29, 2016

If you’ve missed my previous posts, Estee Edit is a new line launched by Estee Lauder. Think of Estee Edit as the hip, trendy, younger sister! Over the past few months, I’ve been slowly reviewing some of their products.

Today, I will be talking about the Estee Edit Skin Glowing Balm, which unfortunately, did not work well with my oily skin.
The Skin Glowing Balm describes itself as a tinted moisturizer that enhances your natural skin, without covering it up. In addition, this product is supposed to leave you with a nice glow and is infused with ultra hydrating ingredients such as shea butter, primose oil, and muru muru seed butter (What even is that? It sounds cool).

I definitely agree that this is a tinted moisturizer, although it looks like a liquid foundation at first glance to me. The coverage is very light, although it feels slightly heavy and has a strange scent to it.
I know this looks very light in contrast to my tanned arm, but my face is a lot lighter than my arm. I have the shade chanois, and I found it matched perfectly with my skin tone.

Although it matched really well, I had a hard time agreeing with this product. As mentioned above, I found it to feel quite heavy and uncomfortable to wear, even though it’s supposed to be a light tinted moisturizer. It was also chunky when I dispensed it onto my hand and hard to blend.

In addition to the strange smell, it didn’t make my skin glow or look radiant at all. It looked cakey, left a lot of streaks, and did not last that long (especially in the heat!). For the areas that my glasses touched my face, the product came off really quickly so it looked splotchy.
So I thought, ‘hmm, maybe if I add some of my Korres facial oil it would help”, as I love dripping the Korres oil into my other foundations for a beautiful dewy, glowy finish. Nope. As you can see above, it did not want to mix at all.

I’ve tried a variety of different products to use with this – different primers, different setting powders, different foundations, etc but the result was still the same for me. A combination that I liked a lot was the ELF green primer, this product, and the Maybelline mineral powder – it left my skin looking flawless, but this product ended up coming off and looked cakey within four hours.

I wouldn’t wear this by itself because I like medium+ coverage, and it still felt heavy despite not improving my skin complexion at all! If my foundation is going to feel heavy, I rather it at lest have some sort of coverage.

I really love recommending makeup products to you guys, but there will always be some products that don’t work well for me. And I am always honest in my reviews. All in all, I can’t recommend this product for oily skin. It is not worth the price either, which is $36 CAD.

Perhaps for combination or dry skin, it would be better. My skin type tends to change as the seasons shift, so I will be trying this when my skin becomes drier in the winter time. I will do an update then!

On a happier note, I have really enjoyed all of the other Estee Edit products! Keep an eye out for those in the coming months 🙂 Here is a review on the awesome lip flips and a brief overview of the products!

Nay…

Press samples featured. Opinions are own.

Nova Scotia Fisherman Overview

August 1, 2016

No, I am not talking about fisherman on Curiously Carmen today! Rather, I am talking about a Canadian based company that was featured on Dragon’s Den. Can you guess which province this is from? Yup, my first product from one of the Maritime provinces!

I’ve been meaning to try these earlier, but unfortunately my grandma passed away last month and I didn’t have the time to fully test these as I was going over to the hospital everyday beforehand and concentrating on full time school as well. My apologies for the late review, but it’s been a very hectic July.

Nova Scotia Fisherman started off as a small business selling wax candles run by two nephews. Eventually, they expanded to carrying body care products that features 100% natural ingredients!

To have a little touch from home in their products, Nova Scotia Fisherman proudly features Nova Scotia sea kelp in their products. A portion of all their sales go back to the Nature Conservatory of Canada to protect natural resources, especially in their home province.
Hand & body cream ($11.95 CAD): For the past month, I’ve really been loving this hand & body cream and it’s pretty much the only moisturizer I use now. I have absolutely no complaints about it. There is a pleasant, neutral smell to it. The cream is rich and deeply moisturizes my skin without feeling sticky or greasy afterwards.

I can definitely see myself purchasing this cream again. I love using this cream before I sleep, because I wake up with really soft and smooth skin. This would make a great gift for people who use their hands a lot or have constantly dry hands!
Assorted soaps ($7.95 CAD): I was sent a few of their soaps to try. Each of the soaps had a lovely scent to it. Before I had time to review these, I stored them openly in my closet so that my closet would smell nice and fresh!

I was expecting more in terms of moisture. I normally just use bar soap when shaving my legs. When I used one of the soaps to shave my legs, my legs were a lot drier than usual and kinda stung (probably because it didn’t have enough moisture from the soap).

The soap also didn’t lather much, but it didn’t bother me. It had more of a waxy consistency, which makes sense because I mentioned earlier that they started out as a candle company. I still felt nice and clean, and smelled slightly like the fragrance afterwards. Which by the way, they do not use any artificial fragrances!

—-

Overall, I really liked the lotion more than the soaps. I found the soaps to be just alright, and not worth the $7.95 although they cleaned well and smelled really good (naturally).

You can check out and buy their products on their website, with free shipping after $50 CAD. In Vancouver, they are located on shelves in various markets such as Donald’s Market (Nanaimo Street), Pharmasave (Commercial Drive only), Thrift Foods (North Van only), and Whole Foods (West 8th). Check out this page for the full list of retailers!

Yay!

Introduction to essence cosmetics

July 31, 2016

I’ve been hearing such great things about essence cosmetics, and decided that it was finally time that I tried some of their products myself. essence cosmetics (Not a typo, the ‘e’ is a lowercase) prides itself on quality makeup products, at extremely affordable prices. They are a German brand that launched in the US in 2008, reaching Canadian shelves in 2012.

Today, I’ll be talking about the essence products that I purchased recently! I’ve come to really like the brand and can definitely see myself trying other products in the upcoming months.
essence lipliner ($1.99 CAD): The lipliners were the first thing I tried from essence. For $2, I definitely think they are worth it and they do last a good amount of time (3+ hours without eating/touching). I love that they are really pigmented, and glide on your lips really easily. I really wish they had more than four shades!

essence long lasting lipstick ($2.99 CAD): I already have way more lipstick than I need, but I was really curious as to how this one was. So, I went out of my comfort zone and bought a colour I don’t normally wear- a bright, coral pink! The lipstick is very moisturizing, and creamy. I find that this shade goes on a bit clear, so I normally go over it 4 times to get the shade it actually is.

essence eyebrow designer ($1.99 CAD): I was looking for a new brow pencil to try, and didn’t want to splurge so it was the perfect opportunity to buy the eyebrow designer! I was really impressed with this. Just like the lipliners, the brow pencil glided on really easily, and was very pigmented. I was out for 12 hours, and this did not smudge one bit. However, I took a nap with this on once, and it did smudge off a bit – woke up with less eyebrows, haha!! Can you believe I only spent a total of $12 CAD for all FOUR of these products?! In the picture above, I am wearing one of the lip liners and the coral lipstick. On my computer screen, the lipstick looks a bit darker, probably due to the screen resolution and brightness settings.

Anyways, my first impression with essence is that I absolutely LOVE their products! As a beauty lover who is also a student with no job right now, I love that I can buy makeup products without feeling guilty. If you haven’t tried essence, I highly suggest you go to your local Shoppers Drug Mart and try some now! You won’t be disappointed.

Yay!

*Products purchased by myself