2019 - Pretty In Bronze

Friday, November 22, 2019

Chrissy's Long Socks Review ~ The Best Long Socks? (AD)
November 22, 20190 Comments
Hello!

Chrissy's Knee High Socks have sent over two pairs of their famous long socks for me to try out and review in exchange for this blog post, which they have sponsored! The website has THOUSANDS of different colours and styles, but the obvious takeaway from the name of the site is that their socks are all long.

The website offers free shipping on orders over $50 USD  (in the USA) and they usually ship the socks within 24 hours, which is great for the holiday season! These socks are very affordable considering they're really great quality and made in the USA. The socks feel like they'd be more expensive and didn't sag on me while wearing them, which is great since I normally find myself pulling my socks up at least a few times a day. Compared to the other cute socks I own, these are definitely higher quality and not as thin, so I don't see these wearing out after only a few months of use.

What really caught my eye when looking through the website is that they don't only have knee-high socks, but also thigh high socks, which I've never tried before. I have a huge love for cute socks, especially in the Autumn and Winter since I want to be extra cozy. I'm also obsessed with pink things, so of course I chose two pairs that were pink.

I picked the white/light pink tube socks for my knee high pair (they're on sale at the time this post is going up for only $7.99!) because the combination of white and pink is my favourite as you'll be able to tell from the pictures below.


I find knee high socks easy to style because most of my boots end lower than them, so I can always have the tops peaking out. They add so much to what otherwise appears as a boring outfit in the winter. I live in leggings when I'm not at work, so these are great since you can put them on top. I especially like wearing them with my Uggs for an extra cozy outfit.

For my thigh high socks I picked the Solid Baby Pink Thigh Highs, which are also on sale ($9.99 USD!) specifically to wear with my over-the-knee black boots that I've owned for two years now. I didn't really know how to style them before and because it gets really cold here in Canada, I avoided them in the winter. Now that I have socks long enough to keep me warm underneath these boots I can wear dresses or skirts with them and have them peak out for a nice pop of colour.  Basically, I can wear cuter outfits without freezing to death.


Another really cool thing about the long socks on the website is that they have styles for every occasion! If you're looking for great socking stuffers, check out the Christmas socks they have available! It's already passed this year, but their selection of Halloween socks is great from witchy socks to rainbow socks to candy-themed pairs! I included a picture from the website to show you an example of a cute pair of socks that remind me of candy corn you could wear in the Autumn/Fall or on Halloween.


Overall I'm very impressed with the quality of the Chrissy's Long Socks and can see myself purchasing them for myself and others in the future whenever I want cute socks for holidays or themed outfits. You can never go wrong with gifting socks so if you live in the USA I highly recommend picking up a bunch if your'e interested so you can take advantage of free shipping and include them in all of your loved-ones stockings this holiday season!

Thank you again to Chrissy's Long Socks for sponsoring this blog post and sending over the socks for review. I love them and will definitely keep wearing them all year round :)

See you soon!



Saturday, October 12, 2019

Zoya Sensual 2019 Collection ~ Review
October 12, 20190 Comments
Hello!

Nail Polish Canada reached out to me several weeks ago asking if I would like to receive the new Zoya 2019 Sensual collection in exchange for a review. I was surprised that they remembered me and my past nail biting habit and chose to reach out to me specifically seeing as I'm not great at painting my nails. I really loved the colours in one of the sets and have also used Zoya nail polishes in the past so I know I like the formula. It was a no brainer to me so I said yes and that's what today's post is all about.

Since you already know that I enjoy the Zoya formula, this is mainly to review the colours so lets jump into it!


I chose the warmer set out of the two because I'm obsessed with warm tones, pinks and nudes. The three are my absolute favourite. I find that the colours work very well together, so I've swatched them together and wore the first three for a week to see how they would hold up.



These shades (from left to right) are: Joss, Kinsley and Foster If I had to pick my favourite it would be Kinsley because it's a great nude on my skin tone that still leans pink, which is my favourite colour.


These shades (Also from left to right) are: Briar, Margaret and Rashida.

I'm not the biggest fan of reds so obviously Briar is my favourite, but the reds are really pretty and I can definitely see myself wearing them on Christmas, Valentine's day, Canada day and any other day that makes sense to wear red nail polish.

Now onto the nail swatches! As I've mentioned before, I'm not great at painting my nails and am in no way a nail blogger, but hopefully that'll be useful for those of you who are like me and just want to paint your nails at home and aren't professionals.


I really should've prepped my nails (including my cuticles) beforehand, but this is just two layers of the polishes added to my nails, directly after removing my old polish. I didn't do buffing or anything so I think it looks pretty great considering the amount of bumps my nails have and how dry and uneven my cuticles are. This is my left hand and I am right handed, so I didn't struggle much with putting the polish on.



Here are the three darker shades. This is my right hand, which means I had to use my left hand to paint the nails. Obviously I suck at applying polish with my left hand, so please try to look past the questionable application and just look at the colours and how smooth they look.

After taking these pictures, I removed the nail polish from my right hand and re-painted it with the first three colours so I'd have matching nails for the week. I paint my nails once a week because they grow pretty quickly thanks to the multivitamin that I take daily. They look really bad if I don't redo them because of the gap, so even though the polish was still looking great, it grew out. This also helps keep me from biting my nails. It's very important to me that my polishes don't chip quickly because I will rip the rest off with my teeth, which will lead to me accidentally chipping a nail, which makes not biting them even harder.

I really love these colours and have kept them all while doing my nail polish declutter and can definitely see myself wearing them a lot. I'll definitely be wearing the first three a lot more, but that's ok because I have a lot of polishes to go through and have been making more of an effort to actually cycle through my polishes and make sure they're being worn.

Go check out the Sensual collection by Zoya on Nail Polish Canada if you want to purchase this set, individual colours or even the other set that they have available.

See you soon!





Friday, October 11, 2019

Does CBD Really Work? Calm By Wellness Hemp CBD Sleep Oil Tincture + Bacon Dog Treats ~ Review
October 11, 20191 Comments
Hello!

Today's post is very exciting for me because I get to review something I've been wanting to buy for myself for months. Specifically I'm reviewing a few Calm By Wellness CBD products. They sent over a full size bottle of their Hemp CBD Sleep Oil Tincture, a bag of their Hemp CBD Bacon Dog Treats and a sample packet with a few of their Hemp CBD Gummies. These were all sent to me for free in exchange for my honest opinion/review as well as a video so I'm going to link that at the end of this post in case you prefer watching rather than reading. The links to their products and website are affiliate links so I will make money if you purchase anything using them.

I also thought this fit perfectly because it's October, the month where we try to raise mental health awareness! I do recommend reading my review as I forgot to mention a few points in the video that could be useful.


I struggle with Anxiety, specifically Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I also have chronic joint pain all over my body, but the worst places are my right hip and my left knee. The only thing that these two things have in common other than existing for the bigger portion of my life is that they affect my sleep—specifically making it difficult for me to fall asleep at night.

I was at the point where I was going to make a visit to the clinic to be prescribed CBD that was THC free since none of the dispensaries (legal, because Canada) seem to carry anything with 0% THC. I also wanted to get CBD formulated for dogs because Chewy also suffers from anxiety and some joint pain (Like mother like son, am I right?) so I was very surprised when I received an email from the founder of Calm By Wellness, talking to me about their CBD products.

After a lovely video call (which is rare when dealing with companies I work with) all my questions had been answered about Help CBD Sleep Oil Tincture and I agreed to test the products out for a few weeks and providing a completely honest review. They threw in dog CBD treats for free, as well as a few surprise CBD gummies. I received the products on September 27th and have been using the Tincture every day since! I'm posting this review the same day that I finish it off to make sure I don't miss anything.

I kept track of everything on my period app (you can track everything, including key words) so I specifically looked at if I was having trouble falling asleep, having intense nightmares, waking up with joint pain, anxiety attacks, or anything new. The tincture contains several ingredients like lavender that are proven to improve sleep, so I wasn't surprised that I was falling asleep much quicker. For the first few nights, I was still waking up once or twice from my vivid dreams, but I was definitely having way less nightmares.

I also noticed that I wasn't waking up from joint pain, even though the weather has been all over the place. On the first week it literally jumped from 16 celcius on the Monday, to feeling like 36 on Tuesday, back to 12 on Wednesday. Weather changes always cause my pain to flare up so this was a big deal for me. The biggest thing I noted overall is that I wasn't waking up with strong heart palpitations.

Because the gummies came in a sample size packet (with three inside) I can't give a full review. What I will say from my experience is that I felt a bit less anxious while out in public and at lunch with family. I'm very picky about food and tastes and did not like it, but if I could guarantee that it would always keep me calm when I go to busy places (especially in crowds) I can 100% look past the taste. I think I'm more of an oil/tincture girl though.

Chewy is in love with his CBD treats so I'm pretty stoked about that. He's pretty much fully stopped trying to bite his dew claws off (a habit that his vet confirmed he's developed due to his anxiety)so I know they work for him. If you have a dog who might benefit, please talk to your vet and if they say it's ok, I HIGHLY recommend trying these ones because Chewy loves how they taste and they've really been helping him.









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I did try the tincture this (Friday October 11) morning, the same day I'm posting this review to see how it would work during the day, since it's specifically formulated to take before bed. Surprisingly, it didn't make me feel drowsy. It also didn't make me feel more awake, which makes sense since it's meant to help you relax. I'm sure some people may feel drowsy with it because it has a blend meant to help with sleep. I definitely felt more relaxed, but it's hard to tell based on today alone since I still have a cold (you can hear it in my voice in the video below) and it's the day before the long weekend so everyone seems more chill.

That's it for this review! These have definitely been working for me to help me sleep better so if you're interested I recommend trying the products out. If you really love them, you can save some money by picking the subscription option when checking a product out. Here's the video I filmed a few days ago providing a review (and showing how I take the tincture).



See you soon and if you're in Canada have a great long weekend!

Friday, September 13, 2019

Indie Expo Canada 2019 - My Experience, Press Products and What I Bought
September 13, 20190 Comments
Hello!

Last year was the first time I attended the Indie Expo in Toronto as a press member and it was pretty exciting! It was the second year that the event has been happening in Canada, but the first year it was in Toronto. I was invited back as press this year and I gladly agreed so this post is all about my experience there. I'll also be showing you what I got for free for being a press member, and what I purchased myself!

This event happens every summer at the Hyatt Regency hotel and is amazing for those of you who want to support indie brands that make great quality products. Nail polish is definitely the most popular product you will find from the brands so if you're into that, you need to check it out next year! You can't easily find products from most of these brands unless you're ordering online, so this event is a great chance to stock up on whatever you need and seeing it beforehand. Most booths had amazing deals running only for those making purchases at the event, so it's also a great way to save money.

If you're someone who likes to use natural products, or has a hard time finding cruelty free or vegan products, there's also a great variety of products across the brands that cater towards you. I personally prefer skincare to be as simple and natural as possible and indie brands are definitely the way to go. There are also many workshops you can attend before or after and you'll get to meet a lot of amazing people!

As Press, I got into the event about an hour before the doors opened to everyone who purchased a ticket. This allowed me to go around and take pictures of every booth and chat to those running the booths (often the owners or their employees) and ask whatever questions I had about particular products. Some of the booths had free gifts for press members so I got to bring a few goodies home with me aside from what I purchased.


These are all of the products I received for free as press this year! Last year the VIP bags were free for press so I had a lot more, but this year it was not and because my wedding is happening in the near future, I couldn't afford to purchase it. 

Cuter Cuticles has this new Cutie Care Cream for your cuticles that is similar to their Barrier Butter—I received one last year—and this new version does the same thing, but absorbs even faster! There is a non-scented version as well as a bunch of scents to pick from on their website!

Bees Knees Lacquer gave me a baggie with a lovely teal nail polish named 'Colossal Claude' as well as a sample of their Meringue in the scent 'Lure' and their Cuticle Butter in 'Sand Snakes.'


While at the Cuter Cuticles booth, I was raving to the owners about how much I loved the lip gloss and cuticle oil from the free pr samples from last year, but sadly learned that they no longer have the lip gloss available. I was very pleased that they located one of the old press bags and ran across the room to give it to me! It was very lovely so THANK YOU again if you're reading this. It was very sweet and I really appreciate it! Now I don't have to nurse that lip gloss and have tons of cuticle products to last me through the next few years.


Here's a pictures of all of the Bees Knees Lacquer goodies! The nail polish is in the shade 'Colossal Claude," that doesn't seem to exist on their website. I'm not sure if it was a special limited shade for the event or part of a previous or future collection, but if you like the look of it, 'No Gods No Kings' is the most similar one I could find on their site! Their polishes are 5 free, which means it's way better for your nails since they don't contain the normal harsh ingredients. I'm wearing the nail polish a few pics down so you can see how pretty it is! Their Cuticle Butter in 'Sand Snakes' has a very tropical scent, while 'Lure' is  a fresh scent is inspired by Sirens from Greek mythology. The cuticle butter also came with a nail polish applicator to make applying it easier and mess free.


Now for my purchases! My budget was very minimal ($30 at most) because of my crazy wedding saving so I knew I had to focus on things I really wanted to try and value. One thing I cannot go a day without is lip balm so I run out of them at an alarming rate. I also want to get into nail polish more and learning now to do designs and figured it was about time that I got myself a stamper.


When I saw these Cuter Cuticles lip balms were only $2 each and offered so many different flavours, I couldn't pass them up. I honestly thought about getting one of each flavour, but that would've placed me above budget so I restrained myself (it was hard) and only picked up my top three favourite scents for lip balms. I'm currently using the Watermelon one and I'm thoroughly enjoying it! The scent isn't like watermelon candy (one of my favourite smells), but it's still really nice and you get a tiny waft of it once in a while. These are SO nice and are just as good as my other favourite lip balms (which are all also natural). I figure the three will last me a year and then I'll have to buy more in other scents if they're still around! As of right now I can't find them on the website, but I'm holding out hope!


While I still don't own the other items required to do nail stamping art, I'm very happy I picked this stamper up from Hit the Bottle. This has two stampers in one, which means I saved money and it will last me a lot longer. I have yet to purchase stamping polishes or the little design thing that you put the nail polish on in the first place, but once I do I will jump into nail art and will hopefully learn quickly! This was under $15 and it seems like it's very good quality, but I haven't used it yet due to not having the other required materials. Once I do have them and start playing around with it, I'll let you know how good it is!


I posted stories on my Instagram the entire time showing every booth, some of the products and some great deals so head on over and watch my Indie Expo highlight on my page to see it all!


That's all I have to talk about for the 2019 Indie Expo Canada! Thanks again for inviting me to be part of the official press team again!

See you soon!

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

GO, by Headzone Review
August 14, 20190 Comments
Hello,

It's been a little while! The end of July and August have been the busiest months so far this year. Every weekend we've been all over the place (usually between all of our parents houses) so I've been doing my makeup on the go or at other people's houses a lot. This is a perfect segue into GO, by Headzone, which is the product I'm going to be talking to you about in this post.


Headzone sent me their compact makeup mirror, GO, last month to try out and write a review on. While I did receive this for free in exchange for the review, I'm not being paid by them and all thoughts are my own. They currently have a kickstarter going on (that ends in four days!) for this compact so if you want to get in on the lowered pricing (starting at $49 USD), you'll want to check that out right away.

This is amazing for me since I'm always doing my makeup at other people's houses, but their lighting is always different, which makes it difficult. This is amazing for travel so I'm really excited to take it with me to NewYork City soon. We'll be driving at night, so it'll be great to have a mirror with a light built in so I can still see what I'm doing while replicating natural light with all of the settings. There are 11 different brightness levels as well as 11 different colour tones so you can really find the perfect lighting no matter where you are!

I'm very happy they sent me the rose gold since it's my favourite colour, but this mirror also comes in silver and pale gold! It feels like it's very high quality and so far it's been working perfectly, even after lugging it around with me everywhere I go (and I'm not the most gentle with my bags). The battery has also been great since I only charged it when it first arrived and so far it doesn't look like it's going to run out. They claim 5+ hours of battery life, which is really long, but just to be on the safe side I will charge it before my trip. It's really easy since it's just a USB charger.

Would I recommend this? 100% if you are doing your makeup outside from your usual set up frequently and find that it's hard to find accurate lighting. If you travel a lot, I also highly recommend this! It's pricey, but it's very good quality and honestly does a better job than my big makeup mirror simply because the lighting functions are so customizable vs my big mirror that only has one light option. This would also make an amazing gift.

I have an instagram post below that shares a few photos of me using this awesome mirror, but if you want to see more, their kickstarter page includes videos and graphics that do a much better job than I can.





Headzone sent me their amazing compact makeup mirror as a #PRSample recently to share my thoughts. This mirror includes an led-light panel with a bunch of different brightness and warmth settings in order to mimick natural sunlight for better makeup application. I've used it a bunch of times since receiving it last week, including in my dark beauty room as pictured here and it works super well! I thankfully got the rose gold (my favourite!), But it comes in silver and pale gold as well. This is currently a Kickstarter so the price of $54USD will be going up afterwards so go check it out at headzonelighting.com #gobyheadzone #kickstarter #kickstarterprojects #bbloggersCA #beauty #bblogger #canadian #beautyaddiction #canada #canadianbeautyblogger #torontoblogger #youtube #discoverunder1k #makeup #instamakeup #makeupjunkie #makeuplover #makeupaddiction #makeuptools #makeupmirror #me #motd #eyeshadowlook #brunette #beautyreviews #yyz
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I don't have much else to say since this is a mirror, but I'm truly loving this and can't imagine going back to the little makeup mirrors I often got for free when purchasing giftcards. I really do recommend this for all makeup lovers who are frustrated with finding good lighting. Thank you so much to Headzone for sending this amazing mirror to me. I'm going to get so much use out of this and I'm sure everyone else who purchases one will too.

See you soon!

Friday, July 19, 2019

Daytime Skincare Routine ~ Summer 2019
July 19, 20190 Comments
Hello!

My last post was focused on the products that I use every night for my skincare routine, but this one is for what I use every morning, or at least after I wash my face during the day. I didn't include sunscreen in this post since I'm terrible and don't wear it on a daily basis (and I only own two that I switch between), but I'll do a post comparing them at some point this summer!


Clearly I've been trying to stick to the same line of products, which is why I've also been using the Dr. Belmeur Panthenol Soothing Gel Cream. As the name states this is a gel and it does feel quite soothing. I just keep this under the sink with the other skincare I use on a regular basis, but it somehow feels a bit cool to the touch. This is very hydrating and very spreadable so you really don't need a lot. I really enjoy it, but I definitely feel like the moisturizer I use at night from the brand is harder to replace and I can easily switch this one out for something else in my collection. I reviewed the full line in an old post here if you're interested in more a more in-depth review than my nighttime skincare routine post.

I mentioned this same IQ Natural Rested Eyes gel in my last post so I won't go into this one here. It's great and works well under concealer so I'm happy with it!

The unique product here is clearly The Ordinary's Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%. I featured this product in a post about my favourite The Ordinary products a long while back and still love it! I give a full review there, but I truly believe this works for my skin. I went a long time without using it so that stinging pain (which definitely isn't a light tingle like the website claims) did happen again for the first few days, but after using it for a week straight my skin got used to it and now it's just another product I use and don't think about since it no longer hurts. Beauty is pain, right?

I don't see myself adding in any new products to this routine on a daily basis because it has been working so well, but because the eye cream is running low and I'll eventually run out of the moisturizer, I'll do an updated post since the routine will be changing at that point.

That's it for my morning/daytime skincare routine! It's kind of boring, but I'm really proud of myself for being consistent with my skincare. I know many don't worry about it in the daytime, but if you do, let me know some of your favourite products to use!

See you soon!

Friday, July 05, 2019

Nighttime Skincare Routine ~ Summer 2019
July 05, 20190 Comments
Hello!

It's been a very long time since I've done a blog post focusing on a skincare routine of mine. Now that I think of it and scroll back, it's been a while since I've made a post dedicated to a range of skincare products.

Summer is finally here in Toronto and while my skin tends to do better this time of year, I have no intentions of slacking on my skincare again considering how much it's been acting up for the past year. While my wedding may still be closer to a year away, I need my skin to be in its best condition.

Skincare is going to be the focus of this blog and my Instagram for the month of July. I've realized that I depend on buying new beauty products or receiving them in PR in order to put out posts when I have perfectly good products that already exist in my collection—even if I've already mentioned them before. Most of these have been mentioned on this blog at one point, but I'm using them differently and it's been really working for me.

This is my nighttime skincare routine that I have been using every single night for the past month and a half. Some of you may think this is over the top, but I also know some of you think this is tiny in comparison to your routines. The only products not mentioned here are my cleansers, but I'll mention those later on in this post since I cleanse my face every morning as well.

I use my Foreo Luna Mini every single night when I cleanse my face and this has probably made the biggest difference in my skin. This is very gentle, but gets my face super clean without irritating it. My coworker and friend gave this to me because her skin is really sensitive and can't even use this one and I'm super grateful because these things are expensive. However, now that I've used it extensively, I can truly say that it's worth the money and would purchase one myself if something happened to mine.

I did a blog post on this Dr. Belmeur skincare line a while back, but at the time I wasn't super blown away with it after only testing it out for a few weeks. While I use these both every night, the Cica Recovery Cream is my favourite from the line. I honestly can't tell if the serum is doing much, but the cream really sinks into my skin and hydrates it after washing all of the bad stuff off in the sink. You only need the slightest amount to cover your whole face so mine is going to last me a very long time. In my last review I didn't think I would purchase this on my own once I ran out, but now I think I will unless I opt for an old favourite instead.

My IQ Natural eye cream has been a favourite ever since I received it years ago from the brand. Yes, you read that right. YEARS. This stuff lasts for ever and still works amazingly well at moisturizing my under eye. If I do my whole routine and skip this step, I can really feel that it's missing. This just makes my undereye area feel a lot nicer. It doesn't help with brightening, but definitely at keeping the area from becoming dry.

I got this Divine Essence Rosehip Oil in an old blogger box over a year ago and never paid much attention to it because I thought it would make my skin oiler. But one day RawBeautyKristi mentioned that she was using Rosehip Oil in her skincare routine and that it made a huge difference. Ever since I've been using it and am in love! This is the second last step of my nighttime skincare routine when I have active breakouts, but the very last one when I don't. After doing some research, I learned that oils should be the last step at night. I'm not sure if that truly works, but I've just been listening to that. This stuff also lasts forever.

Last, but not least, I use the Clean & Clear Salicylic Acid on top of any active breakouts that I may have. I usually always have two, but for a few days out of every month my skin will go without any and those are the days that I ignore this step. I've tried many salicylic acids and although they are technically the same ingredient and strength, I feel like this one along with my The Ordinary one work the best. The packaging on this sucks though, but it's affordable so I can't complain too much.

For my cleansers at night, I mainly use my Cetaphil 'Oily Skin Cleanser', but two to three days a week (very rarely four) I will use my Neutrogena 'Pink Grapefruit Pampelmousse Rose Cream-to-Foam Cleanser' for acne-prone skin. I pretty much gave a full review on both on my Instagram so I'll just post the photo below.


View this post on Instagram

I'm hoping for July to be a skin focused month on here and my blog so to kick things off are my favourite cleansers! I have combination skin, but love my @cetaphilcanada oily skin cleanser for a majority of my face washing (morning and night). It's very gentle, but does a great job of cleaning my face and helping keep my acne to a minimum. I also have eczema a few times a year and this is the only cleanser I can use that doesn't irritate it. I won this particular bottle in a giveaway, but I've purchased it many times in the past and will continue to in the future! My @neutrogena cleanser (also for acne-prone skin) is what I use after the gym (three times a week) or after very heavy makeup days (maybe once every 1–2 weeks). This one gets everything out, but is heavier than what I need on a daily basis and especially mornings. This is Steven's favourite so he uses this a majority of the time and sometimes used the Cetaphil. I got this from @chickadvisor for free months ago, but will definitely purchase if it's still around when we finish it! #bbloggersCA #beauty #bblogger #canadian #beautyaddiction #canada #canadianbeautyblogger #torontoblogger #youtube #discoverunder1k #skincare #instaskincare #skincarejunkie #skincareaddiction #bodycare #cleanser #drugstorecleanser #drugstoreskincare #sensitiveskin #acneproneskin #adultacne #pinkpower #cetaphil #gotitfree
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That's it for my nighttime skincare routine! I'm not sure how long this will stay the same considering some of the products are running out,  but if it keeps working well then there's no point of changing it up too much aside from maybe trying a new eye cream and using my The Ordinary salicylic acid once this one runs out completely.

See you soon!

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

MGS Beauty Liquid Lipsticks Review + Wear Test
June 26, 20190 Comments
Hello!

Today I have a full review on a liquid lipsticks from a brand I had never heard about prior to them reaching out to me. I was sent these two MGS Beauty liquid lipsticks in exchange for this blog post review and I accepted because I really haven't tried many different formulas and these ones are both cruelty free and vegan, which I know a lot of people are looking for! I was also very interested after learning that the owner of this brand used to be a beauty blogger and put so much thought into this so I thought that was super cool. The company itself is MGS Accessories and they also sell other makeup products as well as jewelry and more!


When the brand reached out, I mentioned that I liked the dark nude colour 'Posh'. If you know anything about me, I love medium toned nudes and wear them at least 80% of the time that I have a lip product on. The bright pink colour is called 'Cutie' and while it looks very pretty swatched, it doesn't suit my skin tone at all. That being said, I will try to get some use out of it by wearing it in fun makeup looks so keep an eye out!

These liquid lipsticks retail for $20 USD, which is pretty much the same price as my other high-end liquid lipsticks that I can buy at Sephora (In Canadian dollars that would be $26.38 CAD at the time that I'm writing this). The packaging is also BEAUTIFUL with a rose gold / copper lid as well as writing. I wish all of my lipsticks had pretty packaging like this!


The doe foot applicator is a bit smaller than the ones that come in liquid lipsticks like the ABH ones, MAC, NYX and many more, but I LOVE the size. The smaller doe foot makes it easier to control where I put the lipstick down. For someone like myself who doesn't use lip liner before applying liquid lipstick, this is very easy to apply.



Here are the lipsticks swatched! The first pictures is right after swatching them so they are still a bit wet, and the second picture is about a minute after when they're fully dried down! Now let's get into the wear test.

This formula reminds me a lot of the KVD liquid lipstick formula, which is great because I know A LOT of people have been searching for a vegan dupe since all of the drama surrounding the brand and it used to be one of my favourite formulas.


Before I scar you with closeups, I wanted to tell you that I'm the idiot who forgets to moisturize their lips the morning before wearing a liquid lipstick, as well as not exfoliating my lips. The liquid lipstick listing actually recommends that you exfoliate beforehand, so that's my bad.

I took these pictures just this Sunday, but I've been super sick for over a week, which has led to my lips being dryer than usual so please excuse the dry flakes. Those aren't the lipstick, but pieces of my lip coming off. My lipstick was applied at 1:00 PM and I only did one layer (with wiping off some of the excess lipstick into the tube before applying).


Here's a super close up look of the lipstick on my lips about two minutes after applying.  As you can see, 'Posh' is very opaque and applied very evenly. If you have lips that aren't dry, this would look beautiful on you! Unfortunately, no liquid lipsticks look nice on me when my mouth is closed because my lips are so dry. Exfoliating is pretty much a necessity for me before wearing a liquid lipstick and I regret not doing it this day. Thankfully, I didn't feel like this formula dried my lips out further. In fact, I couldn't feel this on my lips at all so that's a huge win for me! It turns out that these lipsticks contain vitamin E and jojoba oil as ingredients so that makes a lot of sense.


I'm also the idiot who forgot to take a picture before touching up my lipstick so here's a bad quality video still! This picture was taken two and a half hours after application at 3:30 PM. This is what my lips looked like directly after eating some deep fried greasy greek pastry things. I'm honestly impressed as how little lipstick came off at the edges of my mouth considering the pastries were touching and rubbing against it (I have no idea how to explain that without it sounding weird) because they're too big to fit in my mouth whole.

Because the pastries were greasy, I did wipe the edges of my mouth wherever I could feel the oil threatening to drip down my face and that's when the lipstick started to come off a bit. I fully expected this because in the news release the brand states that you will need to reapply if you eat something oily.

I would never wear a liquid lipstick with the intention of eating greasy food and not having to touch up all day long. I have no doubt that it would've lasted a lot longer if I ate non-greasy food and didn't wipe my lips with a napkin, but that just wasn't the case the day I did this wear test. Sure, there are formulas that last a little bit longer (though most that cost the same aren't vegan and cruelty free), but I'd still have to touch them up for the most part so I'd bring the lipstick with me, or remove the whole thing and throw a different lip product on. I decided to do what I'd normally do while wearing a liquid lipstick all day and I touched up the colour!



This is a picture after I added a bit more lipstick to my lips in the areas that needed it. This layered nicely at the time and didn't feel heavy, but it no longer felt like I wasn't wearing anything on my lips (especially where I applied it that still had lipstick on it). Appearance wise, I think it looks brand new so that's really all I can hope for so I'm happy with it.


7:30 at night, six and a half hours after initial application and four hours after my touch up and these were my lips. I didn't do any more touch ups throughout the day and my lipstick looked great after a pasta dinner, but I did eat a double fudge sundae from McDonalds and that's what took off the new layer of lipstick that applied during my touch up earlier on.


As you can see, the corners of my lips are where most of the product came off from. I don't know if this is because that's the wettest area of my mouth or if it's because of the touchup, but I'm pretty happy with how it wore.

Sure, I know the KVD liquid lipstick might have looked a bit better at the end of the day, but many people have been looking for a replacement or their liquid lipsticks and while I'll still use the products I own in my personal life, I don't feel comfortable promoting them to you. If you've been struggling to find a long wearing vegan formula, I recommend giving MGS Beauty a try! Also, remember to exfoliate and not eat super greasy foods if you don't want to touch up at all during the day.

I hope you enjoyed this review on the MGS Beauty liquid lipsticks! Let me know if you have any questions.

See you soon!

Monday, June 24, 2019

Revlon #feelinglippie 2019 ~ Lots of new makeup!
June 24, 20190 Comments
Hello!

I went to the 2019 Revlon #feelinglippie event a few weeks back and got to see and bring home some new products that will be available in stores very soon (if not already). I also have other newer products that Revlon sent me in the mail a few months back that I completely forgot to write a post about, so I'm including them here since most of the were also featured at the showcase!


I've already given a mini review of the products in the first picture so I'll link my Instagram posts that reference them here. I'll provide a quick breakdown though. Love: Foundation, lipstick. Like: Brow pencil and lash curler. Meh: Concealer. Let me know in the comments if you want to know any specifics about any of those that I don't mention in the post. The one product I did want to touch on is the brow product since there's only one thing I don't like about it that didn't have me including it in the love category.





Here's the Colorstay Brow Creator swatched on my wrist. The thinner line on the right is the actual brow pencil, and the thicker one on the left is the powder. Yes, there's a powder sponge thing included in that pencil, but it's also the part I don't like. The powder itself works nicely in the brows, but at least with mine, there's no way to stop it from falling all over the place. Luckily when I swatched it I found this out, rather than using it on my face and ruining my foundation. The next pic is what my desk looked like after just swatching my arm.
 

Now imagine having those powder speckles all over your finished makeup face. Yeah... I wouldn't want that either. If you want to use the powder in this product, I highly recommend doing your eyebrows first or at least before your foundation. Maybe my particular pencil is the only one falling all over the place like this, but I'd rather let you all know just to be safe. I love the brow pencil and spooley though and think it's 100% worth purchasing it,  even if you don't end up getting use out of the powder.

Now onto the newer products!


These are brand new Ultra HD Vinyl Lip Polishes and I LOVE them! They're SUPER pigmented and wear for a very long time, but that also means they're a bit sticky so you probably don't want to wear them on a windy day with your long hair down. In the second pic of this post you can also see a clear gloss. That's the new formulation of their Super Lustrous lip gloss (I guess it's now called 'The Gloss') and I'm a little sad to say that I don't like the new formula as much as the last one. It's way too sticky for my liking, though it is a lot shinier so it really depends on your preference!

For the Lip Polishes I was gifted the colours 'Berry Blissed' and 'Cherry on Top' and I've been loving them! I'm hoping to get my hands on some of the nudes. I'm wearing 'Cherry on Top' in this next pic!


Isn't it so pretty? Ok enough of that. Now onto the eyeliners!


The So Fierce Vinyl Eyeliners got me so excited at the event! They swatch like a dream and stay on forever if you don't rub them. This is something that I could wear on my eyelid that wouldn't smudge off when I forget that I'm wearing makeup and accidentally rub my eyes. It'll stay on my hand forever if I don't intentionally try to scrub it off. The colours are so rich and creamy (I had a swatch of the red one on my hand the night of the event an I loved it) and I was super excited to get the purple colour in my gift baggie. I'm leaving the black on in its packaging for now because I have so many other open black liners, but I'm hesitant to give it away because the formula is seriously amazing so we'll see. Perhaps I'll keep it on hand until my next declutter series so I can add it into my main collection!

As for the mascara, I have a million to go through first (as usual) so it might be a year or two before I eventually get to it (unless I start seeing people raving about this one).

All in all I'm very excited about the new releases. I love most of them, but there are always a few things I don't love so I enjoy being able to share my honest thoughts with you and really appreciate that Revlon keeps sending me their products to try out and inviting me to their Toronto events, even though I'm not afraid to tell my readers and viewers if I don't like a particular product. Here's a little pic of what I wore to the event because I love the pants (even though it's unrelated to this post hehe).


I hope you've enjoyed this post and can get your hands on some of these products (Especially the foundation, lip vinyls and eyeliner!).

See you soon!

@beautybyamysousa