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ACI Beauty Fall/Holiday 2015 Media Preview – Part 1/2

August 18, 2015

Following Stila’s fall media preview event, I had the pleasure of attending the ACI Beauty fall collection preview event as well. After doing some research, I found out that ACI Beauty is one of the biggest beauty distributors in Canada and work with big beauty brands such as Anna Sui, Ardell, Bliss, Ceramic Glaze, Clean, Paul & Joe, Stila, and more.

As a result, I was able to see a variety of different products from all the brands that ACI works with. I left the event with a lot more knowledge about these different brands, and am excited to see the 2015 Fall/Holiday collection in stores.

All the different brands were beautifully placed inside the room, I will be discussing the products in the order that they were presented to us in by the wonderful ACI ladies.

The first product we were introduced to were the new holiday collection line from Bliss. The gift sets come in different sizes, which is convenient if you are just looking for a stocking stuffer or a larger present. You can either get a set of lotion or skincare products, which are the two bigger boxes.

We sampled the grapefruit body butter, shown in the big blue box in the middle, which smelled amazing.

I’ve only recently seen Paul & Joe products on social media and other beauty blogs, but this was the first time I’ve seen their products in person. I am absolutely smitten by Paul & Joe’s packaging. It is a mix of classic elegance, with a touch of cuteness.

Pictured here is a makeup bag, with all the contents spread out. This would make a good gift to someone over the holidays, or a great way to be introduced to the brand as it comes with a few of their different products.

All of us beauty bloggers were in awe with the elegant and innovate packaging for their eyeshadow samples. I’ve never seen them be presented like this before so it was definitely really cool. There is a definite cat theme going on this season – this is for all you cat lovers out there! Meow =)

The next table featured some of the Fall 2015 Anna Sui products. Starting on the left is the limited edition miniature fragrance gift set. The fragrance set includes the new perfume, ‘Romantica’ along with other returning favourites. All of the bottles are so beautiful!

Beside the fragrance set is the limited edition moisturizing set. This comes with nail care oil, rose hand cream, and moisturizing balm.

On top of these two is the customizable makeup box, available exclusively at Hudson’s Bay. It comes free with any cosmetic purchase of $80 and you are able to choose from Anna Sui favourites.

All of these products will be available in stores in October 2015!

Following, we were introduced to Cargo Cosmetic’s eyeshadow palette. I love the darker shades of this palette, and it feels very romantic to me. This palette would be great for holiday parties – look at all the shimmery gold tones! The pinks would look nice as a office day time look as well.

Behind the palette are some Fall 2015 nail colours from Ceramic Glaze. Just like Cargo’s eyeshadow palette, the rich and darker shades would pair very well with an evening party dress for holiday parties. I can’t believe I am talking about the holiday season already! =P

Ending off part 1, we were also introduced to Paul and Joe’s bath & body collection as well! There are two bath & body collections – Arlequin and Columbine. Both smelled very luxurious and feminine – I would love to take a bath with these bath salts!

Which products are you most excited for?

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2 of the ACI Beauty Fall/Holiday 2015 Media Preview!

-Carmen

Press samples featured, all opinions are my own.

GUEST POST: Sasa.com Makeup & Skincare Haul!

April 16, 2015

Hi everyone!

Special blog post today- everyone, virtually meet one of my good friends, Pauline (She’s super awesome)! She has agreed to write a guest post for me and I’m excited to share it with you all today. See what type of Asian cosmetics Pauline bought from Sasa.com and how she wore them to the Japanese cherry blossom festival.

Happy reading everyone!

Carmen

~~~~~

Hello everybody! I am doing this for my friend, Carmen, as a guest post, and will be the very first time doing this! So, hopefully this goes well… haha!

I recently bought some makeup and face products from this super famous Hong Kong make up store: Sasa. I usually purchase my makeup and face products from here because it’s cheap and my skin seems like to like Asian brands of makeup/skin products. They also often do free shipping once in a while!

The first product I’m going to introduce is an eyeliner by Majorlica Majorca: the cream pencil liner.

I must say, this cream liner is super smooth to line your eyes with, and it’s super creamy. Usually with creamy eyeliner, it smudges easily, but this eyeliner didn’t smudge and actually stayed on my eyes for the whole day! Especially when I tight lined with this eyeliner, I was ready for this to smudge all over my eyes by the end of the day. I was so surprised at how it stayed on so well! 5/5 for this product! =)
The second product is: Majorlica Majorca’s jeweling pencil. This product is basically a white eyeliner to put on your eye corners to brightening up your eye as well as giving an illusion of having bigger eyes!

Nothing really special about this eyeliner, as I think all white eyeliners can do the same as this one can. 😛

Third product: Majorlica Marjoca’s perfect automatic liner: This product was kind of weird to use at first. So, the first thing you do is twist the bottom of this eyeliner until the ink comes out from the tip. The con of this is that if you twist too much, the ink will splat out and comes into a big mess.

However, after you clean that up, you can just apply that on your eyes just like any other eyeliner would … If you do not want to clean up the mess, this might not be the best product for you, because you will have to twist the bottom every time you want to use this product.

This eyeliner also stayed on really well on my eyes, and was pretty easy to apply as well. So, other than the whole twisting thing, I would rate this 4.5/5 ☺
Hehe … I have combined the three eyeliners mentioned above today, for my makeup look of the day! I went to the cherry blossom Japanese festival with a couple of my friends today, so I thought “hey, why not try out these products if I am going to blog about them anyway!”

I used the cream eyeliner to tight line my upper line as well as my water line. Like I mentioned, it stayed on without smudging the entire day. I then used the perfect liner to line across my eye and winged it out just a tiny bit, facing downwards, to give an illusion of a cute round eye. (…or eyes…)

Finally, I used the white eyeliner to put on my eye corners to brighten up my eyes. ☺

And here’s me in a Yukata ☺ .. To protect my friends’ privacy, I have turned them into Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma.

Okay, on with the other products!
Fourth product: Shu Uemura Skin purifier (in premium A/I) This product … is godly. Although this is a “cleansing oil”, this will not clog your pores nor will you have a disgusting oily feeling left on your skin after. Honestly, I can say it is like rubbing pearls on your face. There are 4 easy steps to using this purifier:

1.) Pump 4 pumps on your hand (hand and face dry)
2.) Rub the oil all over your face (and eyes if you have eye make up on)
3.) Add water to the oil until it turns into a milky foamy wash
4.) Rinse and wipe your face

Your makeup is literally all gone, and you do not have to go through a second cleanser to clean your face. The oil also leaves you with smooth skin and feeling hydrated.

The best part about this product is : THIS IS FOR SENSITIVE & DRY SKIN!!! Which is a big problem for me, because sadly, I have super sensitive skin … So now that I have found this, I rate it 10/5!
Last product I’m going to talk about is: Laniege Multiberry Yogurt Pack. I have mentioned above that my face is super sensitive … and this mask did not go well with my skin. I gave this mask a try because of all the good things I have heard about it.

It also says that it is for “all skin types” – and let me tell you … It’s not. If you have sensitive skin, do not go for this product. My face reacted one minute after I put this on … The burning sensation and my face was literally all red like a cherry.

I must say, though, this mask smells like as if you are in a strawberry land … So the pro I can only say about this is that it smells super yummy.

That’s it to my guest post! I hope all of you enjoyed reading about these Asian products and maybe try some out on your own as well!

-Pauline

~~~~~

Thanks for guest blogging, Pauline! You look so good in the yukata. I want to wear one too!

What are some of your favourite Asian cosmetics?

-Carmen

NAILKALE – Nails Inc.

April 8, 2015

Hello everyone =)

On one of my ~~many~~ visits to Sephora, I saw a line of nail polishes by Nails Inc. I’ve never tried their products before, so decided to try out their gel effect line. I really loved the results, they lasted longer than usual and had a nice, thick glossy shine to them! A few visits later, I went back and decided to try their other polishes.
Why the name “NAILKALE” ? Because it rhymes and sounds cool off your tongue. Nah, it is because their NAILKALE line is actually infused with kale extract! The kale extract stimulates advanced keratin production, hydrates, and nourishes your nail. Personally, I love eating kale and including it in smoothies. Kale is a superfood and has a tremendous amount of nutrients, it isn’t long before beauty companies incorporate it in their products.
I bought the shade “Hampstead Grove” which is a dark coral colour. Coral is my go-to colour in the summer.

I used two coats to achieve this look, followed by a clear top coat. One thing I love about Nails Inc. is their fanned nail brush. The shape of their nail brush makes application so easy. One quick swipe covers my entire nail, leaving no streaks behind.

This is what the polish looks like with flash. Less orange-y tones, more pink.

The day of, I was pretty satisfied with the way it looked! However, I was a bit surprised that the next morning, I woke up only to find that it was already starting to chip. For a $20 polish, I expected it to stay longer, this didn’t even last for 24 hours!

I recommend trying Nails Inc gel effect line instead of NAILKALE, it lasted many more days without chipping.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

6 Eye Makeup Looks With One Liquid Eyeliner (Part 1/2)!

April 6, 2015

Hi everyone =)

What else is there to do on a rainy, wet, Vancouver day? I had already baked a batch of fresh, delicious hot chocolate cocoa cookies and made a big bowl of spicy chicken stew. The next logical step was to obviously experiment with different eye liner looks.

As you may all know, my makeup always consists of liquid eyeliner. I’ve been using it for many years now, and over the years, the style of my eyeliner has changed depending on the occasion or my mood.

I decided to come up with a few fun liquid eyeliner looks for you all today, and to show you all that eyeliner should not be a daunting task! Depending on your look and application style, it can drastically change your eye shape or dress you up/down.

Instead of using my Kat Von D eyeliner for this post, I decided to bring out my Dolly Wink eyeliner! Dolly Wink products are tremendously popular in Asia, it is probably their equivalent to a Covergirl/Maybelline. I’ve heard such great things about this product from the Asian community, and when my friends went to Hong Kong last summer, I asked them to buy it for me.

The fine, thin tip (as you can see above) of this product makes it very versatile. It is probably the thinnest liquid eyeliner pen I own. I also love the super cute and girly packaging!

No eyeliner: Here is what my eye looked like before starting. I’m showing this to give you an idea of how the following different looks will change my eye shape. I’m also not wearing any mascara in this post, but adding mascara will intensify the look of your eyeliner.
The tightline: Tight-lining your eyes is a great way to naturally make your eyes seem larger and rounder. Tight lining refers to putting the eyeliner as close to your lash line as possible, so that it sort of blends in with your lashes. Doing this makes your eye lashes look thicker, which will make your eyes stand out.

To do: This look is best achieved with a thin liquid eyeliner. Simply put the tip of the eyeliner as close to your lash line as possible, and draw a line. To keep it natural, don’t wing it out and stop where your outer eyelashes end =)

The slight flick: Sorry for lack of better titles to name these eyeliner looks! This past week, I have been really loving this look as I find that it makes my eyes look rounder due to the thickness of the liner. It’s also a bit more natural looking than my usual dramatic wing and casual. I would use this look on a daily basis, but not for special occasions.

To do: If tightlining looks too natural for you, add a few thicker strokes of the eyeliner and extend it slightly past the outer corner of your eye. I start by tightlining, then adding about 5 stokes until it reaches a visible thickness. The slight flick at the end opens up your eyes, but not enough to make it a dramatic look.

The classic wing: I called this the classic wing because it has been my go-to eyeliner look for a couple of years now. I can easily do this with my eyes closed, that’s how familiar this look is to me! Compared to the look above, this one is more feminine and girly. This look is great for both casual days and special occasions.

To do: Start by tight lining your eye. When you reach the outer corner, extend the line upwards and imagine that it slightly curves to reach the tip of your eyebrow. After that initial wing, it is up to you on how thick or thin you want to retrace the line on your eyelid. After winging it out, I go back to the outer area of my eye, making the line there thicker and keeping the inner corner the same.

I decided to split this into two posts as I thought that one post would be waaay too long for one post! I hope that you all enjoyed these three looks, and/or that it inspires you to create your own! Maybe I’ll write a review on my Dolly Wink eyeliner soon as well =)

What is your go-to eyeliner look? These days, I have been alternating between the slight flick and the classic wing.

Happy Easter & hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Estée Lauder Spring/Summer 2015 Preview Event

March 27, 2015

Hi readers!

Back in August, I had the pleasure of attending my first Estée Lauder media preview event. I was thrilled when they invited me back to their Spring/Summer 2015 preview event this month!

The format of the media preview event this season was a bit different, but I still enjoyed it. Here are some of the highlights, plus some products that I am looking forward to in the upcoming season!

Bronze Goddess shimmer collection: Want to achieve that tanned, golden, bronze look with a hint of shimmer this season? My favourite from this line would have to be the shimmery body spray, seen in the back left. An Estee Lauder spokesperson showed us how to apply this product by gently dabbing it onto your skin to achieve a glowing sheen.

I love this line because it reminds me of a tropical vacation… if I had these products, I would bring them on my next tropical excursion!

Up next, a pretty array of lipstick and nail polish shades for this season! I am a huge fan of coral and pinks, so these products are wonderful to me! My favourite would have to be the coral nail polish in the front.
Next up, my FAVOURITE Estee Lauder products… their perfumes! I’ve never encountered an Estee Lauder perfume scent that I did not like, so I was quite excited to see how these smelled. Of course, they did not disappoint.

The AERIN line, launched last season from Estee Lauder’s granddaughter Aerin Lauder, has the most amazing scents so I’m glad they came out with a few more this time around.
This was definitely an interesting product that captivated my eye. It is their new finishing mineral powder.

It looks like a regular, mineral, loose powder foundation but upon application, it feels like pure silk. It is unbelievably soft and has a nice, smooth finish to it.
We also previewed the new Courreges x Estee Lauder line, which the attendees were really excited about. Andre Courreges is a French fashion designer, known for his modern and futuristic design.

This preview session definitely did not disappoint. I’m super excited to see the new AERIN perfumes and finishing powder foundation on the shelves!

What were your favourite products that I talked about? Let me know in the comments down below!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen