Curiously Carmen

ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadows

Instagram and Youtube have been blowing up with rave reviews on ColourPop. After seeing SO many of the trusted beauty accounts I follow praising ColourPop, I decided on finally placing my own order! ColourPop is an online makeup store, most famously known for their intensely pigmented lip products (Lippiestix and ultra matte lip), as well as their super shock eyeshadows.

As you can see from my Instagram, I bought three Lippiestix and three super shock eyeshadows. To qualify for free shipping, you need to spend over $40 USD and seeing that I HATE paying for shipping, I decided to get a few more products as I’ve heard such great things about them anyway.

ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadows Review

Shipping

The processing took five days – I placed my order on a Sunday and it shipped out on Friday. The products arrived to the parcel center on Tuesday, so overall, it was a bit over a week.

Since I am a Canadian based beauty blog, I should mention that shipping to Canada will probably take a bit longer. Luckily, I live about 45 minutes from the USA border so I had my package shipped to a US parcel service, which entitled free US shipping. Otherwise, shipping would have costed almost an additional $20 Canadian to my house (shipping rates differ depending on exchange rate, etc).

Yes, I know you might be thinking it’s not worth it to drive down to the states. If you think it’s not worth it and you rather pay for Canadian shipping & convenience – by all means, you are welcome to. For myself personally, after thinking about the pros and cons and calculating the gas cost, it was still cheaper to drive to the border. As well, I was able to go on a weekday early afternoon so there was no border wait at all. I was in and out of the states in literally 5 minutes, LOL.

For future orders, I might get it shipped to US again if I have time to go. But if not, I’ll just have to suck it up and pay the expensive shipping >.<
ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadows ReviewHere are the three shades I ordered! For the super shock eyeshadows, ColourPop has six types of finish – satin, matte, metallic, ultra-metallic, pearlized, and pressed pigment.

The dark blue metallic shade is rex. The one beside it is porter, a warm purply/burgundy with gold glitter. Finally, the one on the bottom is stereo, a reddish/burgundy with copper metallic glitter sprinkled on top.

All three shades I ordered were the metallic finish. Upon first touch of the three eyeshadows, I found them to be very bouncy and light. I also find them to be slightly damp too, but the product goes on dry. I really like the formula of the metallic finish super shock eyeshadows and thought they were very unique. I also had no trouble with fallout, which is a major WIN in my books!

Needless to say, I was VERY impressed with the pigmentation and application of all three eyeshadows. I was in love at first application, and couldn’t believe that they were only $5 USD each! What a crazy steal!

ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadows ReviewHere is one of the looks I created using the eyeshadows. Look how pigmented it looks, and I didn’t even use that much of the product!

For this look, I am wearing stereo all over my eyelid, and used porter just above my upper lashline to give it a pop of colour.
ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadows ReviewHere is another look I created using all three super shock eyeshadows. I am also wearing ColourPop’s Lippiestix in the shade dalia. I plan on doing a separate review for the Lippiestix!

Overall, I definitely recommend the ColourPop super shock eyeshadow and I wish I ordered more. They are amazingly pigmented, and the fact that they are so affordable makes it even better. Intense pigmentation, no fallout, long wear, and for $5 USD. I’m so glad I finally tried ColourPop because their products are just amazing!

yay-nay-or-meh

Yay!

Thanks for reading,
Carmen

Coast Restaurant

Note: I wrote this review a year ago, last March. I came back here in May 2015 and didn’t really have a good experience, so I hesitated to put this review up. The service was really slow and un-attentive, while the food didn’t taste as good as the review I have written here below.

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Back when I used to work in downtown, I had the pleasure of going to Coast for lunch. It was my second time here, and I suggested this place because I had a wonderful experience the first time I went. From the atmosphere to service to food, everything was exceptionally done (the second time I came which is what the review is based on, the third time was not good).

Originally, my cousin and I had plans to eat at Black & Blue for lunch, and I decided to read up on the menu before we went since I had a limited lunch break. I was a bit shocked at how abysmal the Zomato ratings were for that restaurant – I thought it was a good restaurant!

Since the Glowbal Group restaurants aren’t particularly cheap, we decided to be safe and go back to Coast, since it was good the last time we went. I was able to make a last minute reservation online without any problems.

IMG_1908.JPGThe circular oyster bar in the middle of the restaurant. I love the interior and ambiance of Coast. Some of the seating is a bit squishy and uncomfortable, especially during peak hours. You could be sitting almost shoulder to shoulder with the next table.
IMG_1904.JPGSorry, I forgot what drink this was but it was one of their non-alcoholic cocktails. I tried to read their menu online, but none of the drinks there seemed to ring a bell so perhaps the menu changed.

I thought it was really refreshing, and wasn’t too sweet but had some strawberry pulp in it. If I was going to be picky, I would have liked it with less ice because I found that 1/2 the drink was ice.
IMG_1905.JPGMy cousin and I decided to split all of our lunch items. We both weren’t that hungry since we had some light snacks before meeting up, so decided to split some items.

You can’t go to Coast without ordering their seafood.

First up on the left, was the spicy ahi tuna roll. For $12.95, it is a bit overpriced considering a lot of Japanese restaurants can serve this for half the price, but there is no denying that the quality was definitely there. The tuna was extremely fresh and melted in your mouth. It came flavoured with a mouth watering sesame yuzu sauce, and a hint of spice. There were small crunchy flakes on top which topped the cherry off in an amazing roll.
IMG_1907.JPGOn the right, were the fish and chip cones. It came with cod tempura, greens, fresh tobiko, and rice wrapped in some sort of soy paper (???). Again, everything tasted delightfully fresh and the tempura was perfectly crunchy. I loved biting into the crunchy tobiko as well, which popped with flavour! The rice bed did a good job in filling me up as well.
IMG_1906.JPGOur last dish was the smoked salmon flatbread. Give me almost anything with smoked salmon and arugula, and I will eat it. Smoked salmon and arugula is probably one of my favourite combinations of food.

The flatbread was thicker than I expected, I was expecting some sort of thin crust pizza-variation for some reason.

I came back here last May (see note above), and ordered this as well. Unfortunately, it was not as good as the flatbread was drenched in so much mayo that it we couldn’t taste anything else. This place isn’t as consistent as it used to be, so I’m unsure if I would come back especially since it’s not cheap dining.

yay-nay-or-meh

Would have been a yay! but because of the second experience, it is a meh…

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Coast Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Guest Post: Fable Kitchen

Guest post from the boyfriend today! Read on to see his thoughts on Fable 🙂

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Hello readers! I’m back for another guest post. While not officially a part of the DOVF list of restaurants, Fable Kitchen does its very own take on Dine Out, called Dine at Fable.

It’s a three course offering (appetizer, entrée, dessert) for $35, much like those offered at DOVF restaurants. This was the second year for our group going to Fable for this event.

The menu changed slightly this year, but there was no doubt it would be delicious once more.

Without further ado, the food!

Fable Kitchen VancouverHouse made tomato soup: For the appetizers, this is the one we had to come back for. There was a scare when we thought it would not return for this year, but thankfully it did.

It’s a generously sized portion, and comes topped with two pieces of their grilled cheese. Rich and thick, creamy, velvety smooth, and delicious.

It was the unanimous choice for the six of us when it came to appetizer. The other choice for appetizer was a Moroccan style eggplant salad.

Fable Kitchen VancouverDuck carpaccio: This was a feature that night, and we were sold the minute we were introduced to it.

It was a nicely smoked duck breast sliced thin, topped with crispy rice, different veggies, poached apples and what I think was said to be a truffle vinaigrette or something.

It was an explosion of flavours in your mouth, and was definitely worth ordering.

Fable Kitchen VancouverChickpea fritters: These were made into falafel, but it was topped with pickled red onions and a curry sauce.

They were crispy and flavoured well, but was something more of an acquired taste.
Fable Kitchen VancouverMaple brined pork chop: Two people ordered it as their entrée that night.
It consisted of a grilled, bone-in pork chop on a bed of spaetzle, topped with cabbage.

The pork chop was grilled perfectly, being juicy and having excellent grill flavour.

If I had the choice to change my entrée, I would have picked this one for sure.

Fable Kitchen VancouverLing cod: It consisted of a piece of ling cod served over a brandade (salted cod and olive oil, similar to a crab cake consistency), and mussel and bacon chowder.

I found the ling cod to be kind of plain, but everything else in the dish was very delicious. This was the entrée I had picked.

Fable Kitchen VancouverLemon parfait: The lemon parfait I tried a bite of was very lemony, but had good balance with the vanilla ice cream.

S’mores: The s’mores for one was a sweets lover’s dream: chocolate ice cream with brownie chunks, and graham cracker bottom. Definitely my favourite of the two.

There you have it: If you like what you read, go try it soon. Dine at Fable runs until the end of January so you still have a bit of time.

Even if you don’t get the Dine Out style menu, the food at Fable will still be delicious. We all left Fable satisfied with our experience once again, and it’s safe to say we’ll be back for a third year for the Dine at Fable should the event still happen.

Thanks for reading. Happy dining!

Fable Kitchen Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

 

Zest Japanese Cuisine – Birthday dinner!

For my birthday this year, I didn’t feel like doing anything big, so the boyfriend just took me out for dinner. Originally, he had made reservations for Suika but the day before, we both decided we wanted to try a new upscale place.

We saw that Zest had tables left on OpenTable, and have heard good things about this place and made the reservation.
Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverI used to frequent this neighbourhood a lot, but I actually never noticed Zest and was so surprised at where it was. It is tucked behind/beside the Starbucks on 16th & McDonald.

There was a really small parking lot but we found free street parking really close by.
Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverThe restaurant was pretty empty, but we had an early reservation. The restaurant slowly filled up near the end of our meal during regular dinner hours. The restaurant was very clean and the seating was very comfortable.
Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverWild Sockeye Salmon Sashimi, $15: Every time we go to a new Japanese restaurant, we order their sashimi and use it as a basis for comparison.

The sashimi tasted fresh and had a good salmon-y taste to it. It wasn’t anything that special and we weren’t too blown away with it, so probably wouldn’t order it again.
Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverAssorted sashimi salad, $15: I’ve been having sashimi salads more lately wanted to see if Zest can make a stellar sashimi salad as well. It came with one thick piece of seaweed tempura, sashimi, fresh greens, seaweed, and grapefruit.

We thought the grapefruit was strange, but it actually went really well with the salad. We both devoured the salad within minutes because it was that delicious. It came with a soy onion dressing, which was delicious.

Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverThis is what it looked like on my plate, with the dressing on the side. The greens were very fresh and crisp, as was the seaweed. Everything about this dish was so refreshing and delicious. We would definitely order this again!
Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverMiso Cured Grilled BC Wild Salmon, $16: This dish originally came with quinoa, but I substituted for rice as I was really wanting plain, warm white rice that day.

Again, this dish was delicious. The house blend miso was slightly sweet and thick. There was just the right amount of miso so that I could still taste the freshness of the salmon. Speaking of the salmon, it flaked off perfectly and had a nice, subtle smoky flavour to it.
Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverRoasted Duck Breast Carpaccio, $14: This was the boyfriend’s entree, I don’t think we both expected it to be that small.

This dish was an explosion of delicious, crazy flavours that went together so well. It was an eclectic mix of savoury, zesty, sweet, and crunchy (due to the fresh veggies) that had us wanting more.
Zest Japanese Cuisine VancouverZest Roll, $13: We were glad that we ordered this since the duck carpaccio was quite small, albeit delicious. The zest roll came with albacore tuna, grilled salmon skin, cucumber, and tobiko.

The grilled salmon skin was the highlight of the roll and saved the roll from being bland. Without the grilled salmon skin, it was underwhelming but the salmon skin gave it a nice smoky taste and crunch texture.

The only complaint I would give them was that service was slow, especially since it was quite empty when we were dining.  The servers also weren’t that knowledgeable of the dishes.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal here and glad that we tried it out. Our favourite dish would have to be the sashimi salad, followed by the entrees. Zest does an amazing job of combining different ingredients together, resulting in an explosion of fireworks for your tastebuds.
yay-nay-or-meh

Yay!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Zest Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser

One of the gifts I received for my birthday this year (Well, technically last year since I have a late December birthday haha) was the First Aid Beauty face cleanser. I’ve heard so many great things about the FAB brand from the Youtube community, so I was really excited to try this out.
First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser ReviewI received the travel sized cleanser, which was perfect because it takes me such a long time to finish using products. I don’t know how beauty gurus can produce monthly empty videos/posts because I always struggle with finishing products within a month.

If you’ve read my posts this past month or so, you’ll know that this winter made my skin really, really, really dry. As a result, my skin had a dry, leathery texture- which has never happened before!  I had to moisturize a lot more than I usually do to compensate.

First Aid Beauty Face CleanserSince my skin has been so dry lately, I decided to try this cleanser rather than my normal one that I use to remove foundation. This foundation had a nice, creamy, and somewhat thick texture to it. It didn’t really have a smell, and I could definitely tell that it was more on the gentle side. It reminded me of my Olay witch hazel facial cleanser.

I was really surprised at how it dissolved and washed away all my foundation in one wash. In addition, my skin felt really fresh, soft, and moisturized. It did not try out my skin at all.

First Aid Beauty Face CleanserOverall, I think that the First Aid Beauty cleanser really lives up to the hype. It does a great job in refreshing your skin, as well as removing heavy duty makeup.  It is also very gentle and suitable for sensitive skin!

It also came with bonus facial wipes! Since I’m still using another brand of makeup wipes, I have yet to give these a try. I don’t like opening multiple makeup wipes at a time because I find that they dry out easily, even when they are properly sealed. Maybe I’ll do a quick review on those once I open the package.

yay-nay-or-meh

Yay!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen