Pretty In Bronze: makeup
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Showing posts with label makeup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label makeup. Show all posts

Friday, May 21, 2021

lifestyle makeup

My Simple 'Zoom' Makeup

My Simple 'Zoom' Makeup
May 21, 20210 Comments
 Hello!

Makeup isn't something I was worried about for the longest time when the pandemic first hit. I think I went an entire quarter without even putting so much as mascara or brow gel on. The company I work for made it a point to minimize meetings in order to avoid "zoom fatigue" so I was rarely seeing others online, so it never crossed my mind that I might want to look presentable during the work day. By presentable I don't necessarily mean makeup, but more so not having a really messy birds nest on the top of my head with PJ's that I'd been wearing for a week straight.

Several months into the pandemic, the realization hit that we'd be working like this for a long time, so everyone slowly started creating new routines and looking like humans on video calls, with the number of video meetings going up. One year in now, I have a really quick and easy routine that works well with the low quality webcam so I can look really good on camera without having to put much effort in. Some of the links in this post will be affiliate links.

The webcam in general blurs my skin because it is such low quality (you'd think for the price of a MacBook that they'd be great), but on Zoom specifically, I have the beauty feature enabled, which smooths everything out a little bit. Those features make my brows look a lot lighter, as well as my eyelashes and lips, so that's where I focus. This is the makeup I've been doing whenever I have slightly more important meetings, without the potato quality camera from my work computer:


The first picture shows what I look like with the lighting I utilize with zoom calls. The second picture is with my phone flash, which I never use at work, but does show the concealer marks more clearly.

Brows are my priority. I'll mainly opt for my Essence Make me Brow Gel since my brows are fairly decent on their own and the fibres to make them look a little bit fuller. If it's something very important, I'll first go in with my Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow Pomade to make me look extra put together. I use the smallest amount of product, but it makes all the difference.

Concealer is the next thing I go for because my under eye area will forever be darker and I also like to spot-conceal my darkest acne scars (which I'm in the process of trying to fade as much as possible, check out my last skincare routine post for more info). Since the webcam helps with some blurring, I don't use my full coverage concealers and instead opt for my Revlon Photoready Candid Antioxidant concealers, mixing colours 015 and 020, which are both warmer (yellow) toned. This is my new favourite drugstore concealer and it's super easy to blend with my fingers or a brush, which is a big deal because getting my beauty blender wet and having to wash it is just too much work.

Mascara is my third priority, which may seem weird, but for that I'll use whatever mascara is open at the moment. I ran out of my last lash paradise (my favourite) and just started using the Almay Liquid Lash Extender mascara, which I'm not sure if I love it or hate it just yet. I do like my Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara for my bottom lashes since it doesn't smudge, the wand is small enough to not make a mess and it's easy to remove.

Finally, lips. I avoid lip products as much as possible because if we go out after work for something, I'll absolutely destroy my mask. I'm also no longer used to the feeling of a lipstick or lipgloss on my lips, so when I pulled out my NYX Lip Lingerie in “Push-Up”, I was really happy to see how good it looks on camera and how thin it feels. I often times forget I have it on at all and once it's been on for a while, it doesn't transfer to my mask. I'm honestly surprised liquid lipsticks haven't made a comeback because of the pandemic. This is definitely my favourite formula for what I own because it is so light on the lips and it's easy to take off when you want to.

Those are all of the products I focus on for meetings. Once in a while if I have a big meeting, like interviewing candidates or presenting to important stakeholders high up in the company, I'll do a few extra steps, so I'll quickly list those below.


In real life the makeup won't look heavy since I'm going for sheer options and no foundation. Of course doing my hair look nice, either having it straight and brushed, or reviving my natural curls with some water and conditioning products, makes a huge difference and for my more casual meetings, that's all I'll really do.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for 'Zoom Makeup' that are easy to put on and remove. I'm really liking this little routine right now and can see me sticking to it even once I'm back in the office since my skin has been a bit nicer without foundation, but we'll see what happens once things start going back to normal.

I'll be back next week with my review and results of my six-week skincare routine for trying to fade my spots!
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Friday, April 23, 2021

makeup reviews

Products I'm Throwing Out

Products I'm Throwing Out
April 23, 20210 Comments
 Hello!

Welcome back to another post. This one is a little bit different since I used to film an empties video every few months back in my YouTube days, but it's been a long time. It's been over a year since I've stepped foot into my office, which means I've been using up product way less with the only person who has to see me being my husband. This, unfortunately, means that a lot of products that I've owned have expired and gone bad. Well, to be perfectly honest, a lot of these products were already expired, but now they're completely unusable. In this post, I'm going to focus on the products that aren't empty and will give each one its own mini individual review. Next post will look at product I've actually used up!

This makes up roughly half of all of the products that are being thrown out, which is terrible. Most of these were products that were sent to me in some form of PR or to try out, so while my wallet isn't necessarily crying over it, it's still terrible for the environment and I really hate being wasteful. I feel especially guilty because I wrote a good chunk of this post on Earth Day. Oops. I've committed to not buying products that I won't use so I know I'll be better going forward, but it still sucks that a lot of these went to waste.

Most links are affiliate, though a lot of the products are no longer available.




Bio Oil - Yes, THE bio oil. I'm pretty sure I've had this stuff since late middle school or early high school. I still remember the day my mom bought this for me while at our nearest Walmart. The promise of this stuff getting rid of stretch marks was what drew us to it first, but what made my mom actually buy it was the hope of it fading scars. I will say, this stuff did help, but it's so expensive (at least it was at the time for us) and it was very high maintenance. I'm talking three times a day (once before school, once directly after school and once before bed) just to fade some light scars. It worked, but I suspect that with a few more years of patience that the shaving scars would've gone away on their own like all of the other ones I've gotten have without me using this stuff. It's nearly half full, but it's been well over a decade so it needs to go.

Elancyl: Slim Design lotion - This is meant to eliminate cellulite by applying every night. This has a caffeine complex and what they call a "GP4G" night booster. This was sent to me by a PR firm to test out. I remember being late to posting this, but they were ok with it because I wanted to make sure to test it for at least ten days, which was the earliest it claimed to show results. I won't lie, this stuff did help a little bit, but it is pretty high maintenance in that you need to apply it every single night, using "professional massage techniques" that they provided in the manual all over your legs, hips and butt area. I feel like it helped firm up the area and decreased the look of my cellulite, but to be honest, I doubt it would ever completely get rid of it (I'm pretty sure that's impossible, but correct me if I'm wrong) so I gave up on using it. At the time I could barely wash my face every night so it was too much work for me.

The Green Beaver Company: Boreal Body Lotion (Dry Skin Therapy) - This was sent to me in a box that was periodically sent out to Canadian beauty bloggers. Unfortunately they no longer send these boxes out, but I did love them and all of the natural products they promoted (all of which you can find on Well.ca). I loved other products by this brand, but this body lotion was too hard to work with. It's very thick, but even when you try to use a really small amount, it takes forever (if ever) to absorb into your skin. It was to the point where I'd think I'd massaged it for long enough, but would put on a pair of pants that would immediately have a giant white cast on them from the lotion. My husband tried using it for a little while, but also couldn't get past how hard it was to work with, so unfortunately this is being thrown away as it's been at least three years now and it is a very natural product. The product linked is the closest thing they have now, so I guess they received negative feedback overall for the Boreal lotion.

Clean and Clear: Acne Triple Clear Clay Mask - I've had this for at least four years now. I got this in one of those online sample website cycles (I can't remember if it was Influenster or Chickadvisor... I just know it wasn't Topbox). I loved this stuff, but because of the nature of the product I couldn't use it every single day. This is a 99g tub so that's huge. I really slathered it on my breakouts and all over my face whenever my skin was being oilier, but even though I desperately tried to use this up, I just couldn't get through every last bit before it completely dried up and became unusable. It does work well and it's pretty affordable, so I do recommend, but maybe get this if you have someone else that can also use it.

Catrice Cosmetics: Prime and Fine Mattifying Powder (Waterproof) - I won this product in a giveaway I entered while attending an event at Shoppers Drug Mart that a PR firm invited me to. The gift was a lot of products, but this happened to be the one that I dropped. It was pretty much annihilated by my floor, so my only hope for saving it was doing the alcohol trick, but I feel like it was never the same and when I use it, it leaves a very obvious white cast. It doesn't help that the packaging is broken and looks really sketchy so needless to say, it's going in the trash. Thankfully I have a loose setting powder that was included in the giveaway that I like much more!

Delectable: Everything Balm - I got this at the 2016 Generation Beauty Toronto convention as part of my goody bag. I'll never forget since I met my now real-life friend Chantel there for the first time after only knowing each other through YouTube. This stuff is pretty good and works as a million different things. It works as a balm for your lips, a highlighter, taming eyebrows, dark circles, dry skin etc. It works well for anything related to moisturizing, but because it had so many uses, I kept saying I would wait for the perfect time to use it and it ended up staying at the back of my drawer for too many years and is now, unfortunately, way past its expiry date.

Bioré: Baking Soda Pore Cleanser - I'm pretty sure this is a sample, but it's a full 30ml that I never got through so I'm including it. I had this for years and really enjoyed it, but to be perfectly honest, I lost it for about two years. Once I found it I tried using it again, but my skin is just too sensitive to risk it. I think this works great if you have combination or oily skin, but I don't like it as much as my Cetaphil, so I wouldn't repurchase.

Wet n Wild Photofocus Face Primer (Dewy) - This stuff is great if you don't already own a dewy face primer that you enjoy. It looks sparkly until you put in on the face, but under makeup it just makes your skin look super dewy... almost  too dewy for my liking. This is good, but I had so many other products like it from similar brands that I ended up using those and this one has since expired. I did try using it up as much as possible. Two summers ago I actually used this all the time on my shoulders and collar bones as a highlight. I never ended up using it up, so that's why it's being included in this post, but it was well-loved while it lasted.

Essence: Rock 'n' Doll Volume Mascara - This one is kind of cheating since it's pretty much used up and I feel like most people I know won't actually use up every last bit of a mascara before they toss it. It always feels wasteful to me, but my eyes are truly so sensitive that I can't use a mascara for more than four months at a time. The longest I've been able to go in recent years is six months, but that's only with my Lash Paradise mascara if I'm not putting it near the root of my lashes. My eyes will actually hurt for days if I wear an expired mascara so I never risk it anymore. I probably made it to the full four months with this one, but it said six months on the back, which is why I'm including it in this post. There's definitely enough product left in it for another two full months of wear. 

Maybelline: Fit Me Concealer (10 light) - This one is kind of a shocker to me since it was once my favourite concealer of all time. I loved this stuff and exclusively wore it for years to the point of having it be a subscription item on Amazon that got shipped out every six months. Unfortunately for my wallet, I discovered my Too Faced concealer which has won my heart. There are other concealers that I enjoy now, specifically the Revlon Candid, so I don't see my self repurchasing this again. I stopped wearing this and it expired to the point of it starting to smell funny and the colour going off, so in the bin it goes!

That was A LOT, but I wanted to give decent reviews to the products that I've wronged. Even if some of them were negative. I mainly want to make sure I let you know if I don't like something to avoid you buying it if you like similar products to me. I tried providing links, but a lot of these are hard to find since they're old, so many of the links are for American websites. Let's focus on not over buying so we can avoid products going to waste like this.

Sneaky self-promo: If you like Fantasy and even Romance novels, my newest novel is available for pre-order, available on May 9th. Check it out here!

See you soon with my actual empties + their own mini reviews!
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Saturday, January 02, 2021

makeup

My 2020 Makeup Favourites

My 2020 Makeup Favourites
January 02, 20210 Comments

 Happy New Year and welcome to my first blog post of 2021!


2020 was the year that I wore the least makeup since I was seventeen-years-old. I'm not just talking about the amount of makeup going on my face at once, but also the frequency in which I wore it in. I did purchase a decent amount of makeup in relation to the past few years since it was also the year of my wedding and I wasn't going to skimp out on something that'll live forever in pictures, but overall I mainly repurchased things of filled the few gaps in my collection.


My wedding day reaffirmed to me which beauty items I own that are truly my favourites so I thought I'd dedicate a post to makeup since that's how this blog started. I won't be following any type of structure (so some categories may be missing and some may contain multiples) and I will only be sharing products that I consider favourites of the last year. Most of the links will be affiliate links that will give me a few cents if you decide to make a purchase, but won't cost you anything at all. One affiliate code will be included as well!



Eyes + Brows

After years of not purchasing an eyeshadow palette (I don't include ones I received for free in PR) I finally decided to fill the gaps in my eyeshadow collection.

RawBeautyKristi AKA my favourite YouTuber for the past few years did her first collaboration ever with PÜR Cosmetics and created a double-sided eyeshadow palette. Thankfully I pre-ordered for the second launch and received my palette in late September. I could easily live off of this palette, my custom Makeup Geek palette (I talk more about this in my wedding makeup blog post) and the last palette of this post forever and be perfectly content as long as they kept magically refilling.


Too Faced Chocolate Gold eyeshadow palette - This is my last favourite of 2020. I'm pretty sure this is no longer available, but I sometimes see it for sale so I'm not 100% sure. I talked about this briefly in my wedding makeup blog post, but I did a dedicated blog post for swatches and a mini-review so check that out for more information! 


ESQIDO False Lashes - 'Heart and Soul' is my favourite lash style that I own from ESQIDO and what I wore on my wedding day as well. I've had these for years and they're still going strong since I'm careful when removing and cleaning them. These were sent to me and if you use my affiliate code 'amys' you'll get 15% off your order!


 L'Oreal Lash Paradise - There isn't much to say here to be honest. The brush, formula and application is all amazing. It's black, doesn't clump my lashes together and makes them look really nice and long. It's not impossible to remove, which is also always a plus for me!


Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow Pomade -  Dark brown - best tone and with Inglot duraline it'll last you forever


Face (Base)

Nars Sheer Glow foundation - I've mentioned this  countless times on my YouTube channel and Instagram page, but I've never reviewed it on this blog before! This is my favourite foundation formula out there. The coverage is good, but not too high that it looks cakey and the shade (Punjab) is perfect for the summer. Several years ago when I went outside more and gave my skin a chance to tan the shade 'Stromboli' was better, but now I no longer lay out in the sun for the purpose of tanning and spend most of my time indoors, so Punjab works well for me. This was my wedding foundation so I bought it for that purpose along with a pump because foundations are truly better when they have one. I don't have a perfect winter shade (Ceylan is the closest undertone wise, but way too light), but if i did it would replace the next foundation on the list.


Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Foundation -  This is pretty high coverage, but it works well in the winter and when my skin is acting up. I mix it with a bit of beauty oil so it applies a bit more sheer since I'm not a fan of super high coverage and the matte finish. The shade is as close to perfect for my winter skin-tone as I've ever seen. It's beautiful, but NARS is still #1 and I hope they expand their light shades to include more yellow undertones. I did a review blog post on this foundation as well as a first-impressions full-day wear test on this and other products in the line if you want to learn more!


RCMA No Makeup Powder - This is still amazing and for a lighter, more natural finish. It lasts forever and even though the price has gone up quite a bit, it's still very affordable for the amount that you get.


Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder - I used this on my wedding day and it looked beautiful. It's super thin and luxurious (the packaging is also really nice). This is so similar to the RCMA, just slightly thinner and the packaging is way nicer. If you're on a budget, stick with the RCMA, but if you're buying a translucent powder for a special event (like your wedding) I would splurge a bit on the hourglass because it does look the slightest bit better, but the experience of using feels a lot more pampering for some reason.


Under Eyes 

Too Faced Multi-Use Sculpting concealer - I have the shades Vanilla and Swan and these on their own and together cover my skin-tones throughout the seasons. These are HUGE (about 1.5 the regular amount) so I can justify the high price tag of $40. I always go a few shades lighter for concealer so for me it works well. I used both on my wedding day and now that it's winter I exclusively use a tiny bit of Swan under my eyes and lightly under foundation to cover dark spots. This concealer was also featured in the full-day wear test from two years ago (as well as the chocolate gold palette) so that's a good video to watch if you want to see a lot of these products in action.


Revlon Candid Antioxidant Concealer - This is fairly light coverage, but I love both shades I have. They're SO yellow, which is all I've ever wanted in a concealer. It blends out beautifully and doesn't look cakey whatsoever. It's not very affordable considering it's 'drugstore' since that means it's normally around $10 nowadays, but if you don't want to deal with a high coverage concealer, this is worth it!


Becca Undereye Brightening Corrector - I got the light/medium shade Colour corrector - After watching tutorials on how to use this (spoiler alert: barely use any at all) I fell in love. I also used this on my wedding day and I use it any time I'm wearing a full face of makeup. Originally this was only going to be for special events, but since I don't buy makeup often and this makes such a huge difference in making me look healthy and awake since it reflects light in a way that hides my darker under eyes, I've decided to use it any time I wear more than just the absolute basic face of makeup. 


Lipstick

MAC 'Cosmo' - This has been my #1 favourite lipstick of all time since I first bought it back in 2014, on the day my husband officially asked me to be his girlfriend. The medium pinky brown colour looks amazing with my yellow undertone and the formula is really comfortable. I also wore this on my wedding day which shouldn't be shocking to anyone who follows my Instagram page or YouTube channel due to a million mentions over the past six years. This is the 'Amplified' formula, which is definitely my favourite.


Rimmel London 'Notting Hill Nude' - This is definitely my second favourite of all time. It's very similar to the MAC 'Amplified' formula, but just a bit thinner. It's the same undertone as 'Cosmo', but the colour itself is more brown-nude so it all depends on what colour I'm feeling more like on a specific day. I'm almost out of this so I really need to get a new one if it still exists. I'll be really sad if it's been discontinued so I really should have a look sooner than later. 


Anastasia Beverly Hills 'Pure Hollywood' -  This one is a liquid lipstick, which I rarely wear anymore, but if I'm going to throw something onto my lips, especially if I'll have to wear a mask at some point, this is the only lipstick I grab for. The colour is perfect and the formula isn't too drying, but will not come off once you blot (I just kiss the back of my hand a few times after it's dry).


Face (The rest of it)

NYX Bare With Me Setting Spray - This is technically also a priming spray, but I find it doesn't really do anything for that. This works great to set my face and make me feel less dry. It doesn't give me any type of dewy or luminous finish, but it certainly makes the makeup look a bit more natural and helps make it look like my skin is showing through a bit, including my natural sheen. 


Lancôme Fix it Forget it Setting Spray  - I spray this on days that I feel like I'm looking really oily (depends on the time of month) or if I used something too shiny on my skin while applying makeup. This helps make the makeup look a bit less cakey (not quite as good as MAC fix +, but decent) while keeping my forehead and chin from getting shiny. It also helps my makeup stay in place, which is helpful with masks since they love to rub off makeup from my nose or chin. While I've used this a lot and it's a favourite for 2020, I do think I'll pass on it once it's gone and give MAC another try just to make sure I don't like that one better.


Milani 'Luminoso' Blush - Another long-standing favourite of mine that I wore on my wedding day. The tone is perfect, the application is great and the sheen is also really nice for not making my cheeks look dry. It works well with my skin-tone, no matter the time of year, and just makes me look healthy without making my face look red and defeating the purpose of putting foundation on in the first place. This is also a drugstore product so I highly recommend picking it up!


The Balm 'Mary-Lou Manizer' Highlighter - This has always made the top of my highlighter list and 2020 is no exception. At this point it's pretty much useless to link back to mentions of it because there are so many, so I'll let you know again that I wore this on my wedding day!


That's it for my 2020 makeup favourites! I'm not sure if I'll do any other posts since my skincare and haircare favourites haven't changed and if you scroll for one or two pages you'll see what I used for my wedding and that sums it up.


2020 wasn't a great year aside from getting married (it actually sucked quite a bit aside from the wedding) so let's hope that 2021 will be better. If you can, stay at home and stay safe!


See you soon!
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Friday, October 16, 2020

makeup wedding

My Wedding Makeup

My Wedding Makeup
October 16, 20200 Comments

Hello!


I'm back with another wedding-day related blog post. This one is all about the makeup I wore and my process in applying it. I'll also be talking about regrets, products I forgot at home, and products I ended up not using last minute. 


Disclaimer: I attempted to link everything in this post, however, most of the links are affiliate (mainly because Magiclinks lets me paste a bunch of products in one go and it creates them for me in bulk). While I can make money if you buy clicking my link, I will say that in my history (years) of using this tool, I've made a whopping 20 cents total! A lot of the links are not affiliate links, but are from random websites because some of these products are old, or aren't available outside of their brand websites.




I messed up by not leaving more time for me to get ready prior to the wedding. I had an hour and fifteen minutes to do my hair AND makeup. That's insane for me considering it takes me two hours to do those on any normal day that I decide I want to look nice. This is my wedding day I'm talking about here and I had much less than that.


Upon jumping out of the shower and being freshly moisturized and with my nighttime skincare routine done (yes I did my nighttime one to look extra moisturized) I sat in my chair and got to work. I had planned on starting with my eyes to ensure my base looked flawless, but in my haste to get ready in time, I jumped right in with my base.




Base Products:


The base probably took me under five minutes to complete due to me practicing my makeup several times leading up to the wedding. The only thing that was annoying was that my cystic acne on my chin was acting up and nothing would stick to it. I powdered and attempted adding more concealer, but that only did a bit. One little circle refused to comply. At least there's photoshop for that!


For the second step I moved onto the face shaping products:

Too Faced Sweetheart Bronzer - Sweet Tea (baked bronzer)

Milani blush in Luminoso 

The Balm highlighter in Mary-Lou Manizer 


This was one of my smallest categories, mainly because I forgot to use two products. These three have been my staples for years and I have yet to find makeup I like better than these products so it should come as no surprise that I used them. As for what I forgot, they're both from the KVD Vegan Beauty Shade + Light palette.  I'd planned on using the light yellow "Lyric" powder for under my eyes, and the contouring colour in "Sombre". Thanks to the Becca under eye corrector, my under eyes looked pretty good and the Too Faced bronzer did the trick, but I do wish I had a bit more of shape going on for photography purposes.



Brows—my smallest category yet! I plucked my eyebrows well the night before the wedding (along with my half moustache and unibrow) so I didn't need to worry about this one too much. The only two products (technically three) I used were from the same brand and long time favourites of mine. The third product, Duraline, deserves a spot in the post since without it, my dipbrow pomade wouldn't have worked. This stuff seriously works on dried out products like this, or pot eyeliners. It's also apparently great for using eyeshadows as eyeliners (though I've never tried.) The one product I forgot to use was my Essence Make me Brow Mascara, but I didn't need it since I had freshly plucked eyebrows. I mainly use that when my brows are wild and free to tame them, or when I'm using on its own.


Makeup Geek (MG) custom palette single shadows & Too Faced Chocolate Gold palette (TF)

  • MG Banana split all over the lid
  • MG So Pale on the brow bone and inner area of the eye (not inner corner)
  • MG Had me at Yellow as the transition shade and for blending out the darker colour
  • TF So Boujee with previous shade to blend outwards and have more dimension
  • MG Mocha outer third of the lid and blended out well
  • TF Gold Dipped as the shimmer shade - Neutral gold
  • The same Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter for inner corner and under the brow bone (just a little bit)


Eyes—Definitely my biggest category, simply because I used a bunch of different eyeshadows from each palette. In reality I only used two palettes so I guess that's not really a lot. I did forget to bring one loose shimmer eyeshadow, which didn't make a big difference for the final look thankfully. Like everything else I forgot, it'll be later in the post.



Lashes. So important for wedding photos and especially important for me since I forgot to put on bottom mascara for the engagement photoshoot. You'd think because of that I'd remember to pack the mascara I bought specifically for the wedding. So much regret there because my other mascara would've done a much nicer job making my bottom lashes look long and black. My eyes are also super watery so it was so hard to get the glue to stick, but thankfully the false lashes cooperated with the lash glue for the most part so they didn't pop off during the ceremony.



These lipsticks actually mean a lot to me. I bought Cosmo on the day that Steven and I officially became boyfriend and girlfriend (though we already knew we were together for a few weeks). Angel was part of my one-year anniversary gift that Steven got me. I love these colours together and Steven always knows when I wear Angel (he seriously loves it) so I figured it'd be perfect to wear on our wedding day. Once the ceremony was over, I did only bring Cosmo with me because my lips were dry at that point, and while Angel isn't your typical frost lipstick, it isn't quite as flattering on dry lips the same way Cosmo is.






For nails I had them done at a salon and picked a light pink shellac polish with some silvery gold sparkle on my ring fingers. As for my toes, I painted those myself with the Zoya nail polish in the colour "Briar" from their Sensual 2019 collection. I'm not a huge fan of my feet due to having the typical "Greek" toes (second toe longer than the big toe), but here they are anyway!

This is a bit of a miscellaneous category for me. They're things I don't typically remember to mention in reviews or looks, but are so important. The perfume is never mentioned since smell-o-vision doesn't exist, but it's important to me since I maybe wear it twice a year on special occasions. My allergies forbid me from using it, so I sprayed it on the inside of my dress a bit before putting it on so it wouldn't linger in the air and make me sneeze or make my eyes water even more.


Zoeva brush set I used the brushes from.

  • BH Cosmetiscs: no names but: large powder brush (translucent powder) and small fan brush for highlight. Small flat but tapered brush - eyeliner tight-lining and in lashes
  • Royal Landnickle Moda Pro pointed blush brush: Bronzer all over my face
  • Zoeva 127 luxe sheer cheek: Blush
  • ABH brush - Linked in the brow section
  • Elizabeth Mott all over shadow brush - Shimmer + to blend out after using finger
  • Zoeva 228 Luxe crease - Blending brush. 
  • Sonya Kashuk pencil brush - Lower lashline
  • Revlon tweezers - (Not pictured) for applying lashes


Most of my brushes are super old so I don't have any links for them. The Zoeva brush set is the only one I can still find online and they've seriously expanded their collection since then so I highly recommend checking them out. I brought a lot more brushes with me. Like A LOT. Of course because I was in such a rush, I didn't fuss around and only used one blending brush. In the end it didn't make a huge difference and it definitely made cleanup easier. The blue Zoeva brush is from a 70's look I did the next weekend for one of my bridesmaid's outdoor rollerskating birthday party. It's the same brush I used, but obviously I wasn't wearing blue eyeshadow for my wedding day.


Eyeshadow swatch, but also a sneaky ring pic.


 These are all of the products I forgot at home and wouldn't have been able to use.


The mascara was definitely my biggest regret. My lower lashes would've looked amazing if I'd brought it with me. They didn't look bad, but this mascara is on another level. The eyeshadow would've been nice, but that Too Faced palette is amazing for the shimmers so I just used my finger and it was just as beautiful. You also can't really notice my eyeshadow in the pictures, or even in the swatch photo above so it wasn't a big loss.


 I was very careful to remove every bit of makeup from my hands before putting on my dress though. As for the primer base, it probably would've made the eyeshadow pop even more, but it didn't make a huge difference since I brought a bit of concealer all over my eye area so at least the veins were cancelled out.


Here are some more photos where you can kind of see my makeup. If you're worried about your makeup for your wedding day, just note that you can't see the makeup in detail since that isn't the focus so me forgetting that eyeshadow didn't make a big difference at all! Most of these are super zoomed in so the quality isn't great, but that's the beauty of photos vs reality! My imperfections were definitely more visible in person.


Mary-Lou Manizer coming through in the super zoomed in pic.

You can see my falsies attempting to pop off, but the brows look good.
Makeup in progress. Check out that contoured cheekbone!


That's it for this post! This may just be the longest blog post I've ever made, so if your'e reading this THANK YOU! It makes me happy that my blog readership has grown, despite my inconsistent posting. I still have a few wedding related blog posts coming, but after that I'll return to my infrequent lifestyle and beauty related posts.


See you soon!
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Monday, March 30, 2020

bodycare haircare

Winter Empties Mini Reviews - Would I Repurchase?

Winter Empties Mini Reviews - Would I Repurchase?
March 30, 20200 Comments
Hello!

I thought I'd do a beauty/lifestyle related post rather than talking about wedding things, even though I have an update post surrounding that, which will likely be up next or in two posts! Today I wanted to share my empties from the past few months. There aren't many as I've rarely been wearing makeup and even more rarely buying new things. I want most of my content to be on this blog and Instagram since during this time I won't have easy access to my camera (self-isolation and all that) and this is much more manageable for me.

My first category is makeup + tools



The Beauty Blender makeup sponge is my favourite sponge that I've used so far. I've tried sponges from Quo, Real Techniques, and a few other affordable ones and they just don't compare to the Beauty Blender in my opinion. The BeautyBlender Pro is my favourite and I've used this one for a bit more than two years (I know, that's crazy!) I clean mine really well and have never had a problem with them growing any mold. Even when I used the pink original ones, I made sure to check and would normally keep one for an entire year and cut it open when throwing it out. Never any mold, but the sponge itself would start to disintegrate and leave little pieces all over my face.

The L'Oreal Bambi mascara was really nice for an everyday mascara when not wearing a full face. It definitely gave a doe eye effect and was really good at separating my lashes. I received that one for free to test out, which was also the case for the Revlon brow pencil. I really like the Revlon pencils and so far it's my favourite from the drugstore. This was the thin pencil one (I'm not a fan of their chubbier one), but I wasn't a fan of the powder portion that  is easy to miss. That's a bit too messy for me. The spooley works, but nothing compares to my ABH eyebrow brush spooley.

Now for the lips!


 I go through lip-balms quite quickly and rarely lose them anymore. Out of these three there's only one that I would re-purchase and that's the Cuter Cuticles lip balm. I have two more of these in different flavours. This was the watermelon flavour, which wasn't my favourite in terms of scent since it's a natural watermelon scent instead of the fake candy scent that I love. The lip balm itself is amazing and I bought it at the 2019 Indie Expo. I'm on the vanilla one now!

The Laneige sleeping mask is nice, but I don't understand all of the hype around it. I personally don't think the price tag is worth it at all, and much prefer my Catrice Shea Butter lip treatment, at a fraction of the price with MUCh nicer packaging. It just works way better. The scent is nice and I might consider purchasing if it was in the $5 range, but it's not so I wouldn't recommend this one.

The Softlips lipbalm is really old, but I decided to finish it up. It's nice and smells really good and at one point was a favourite, but it doesn't compare to my Cuter Cuticles and especially not to my favourite lip balm of all time from Surya Brasil. Natural lip balms work way better for me, which isn't a big shocker.

Face and body moisturizers


These were all samples, which makes it difficult to give a proper review. Out of these three, the Caudalie (which I got as a Sephora Birthday Gift a few years back) is my favourite. It was great for the daytime and I kept it in my bag for days that I forgot to moisturize, or needed extra hydration.

The North American Hemp Co face cream was good for night time, but the sample was too small for me to be able to tell if it actually helped much with lines. As a regular moisturizer it's nice, but I don't love it as much as my The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors (which is super affordable too). I got this one for free in an old Blogger Box that I received for consideration.

The Renewed Hope moisturizer was all right, but nothing special. It was super small so I think I only got a handful of uses out of it, only using it on trips where I brought my travel skincare bag. It was so small that I can't recommend or not recommend it.


 I've purchased and have been sent so many moisturizers these past few years, but my favourite has always been Cetaphil. I know there are mixed opinions on the brand. Some people absolutely love and swear by it and I fall into that category as it's great for my sensitive skin, doesn't contain added fragrance and their face care products have helped majorly with my acne issues. Some people hate it because of their parent brand (not cruelty free I'm pretty sure), the higher price tag and it doesn't seem to work the same for them. I love it and will always recommend it, but like with everything else, do your own research!

The North American Hemp Co. body lotion is the same size as the face cream sample I reviewed above. I maybe got two uses out of this so it definitely wasn't enough for me to give a review. It didn't irritate my skin, likely because it doesn't have added fragrance. I can't tell you much else so I'll end it on that note.
Face and body wash!


I think I've reviewed this on this blog (and if not, I have a review on my Instagram page), but this is a huge favourite for both myself and especially my Fiancé Steven. I love this for when my skin is extra greasy, sometimes after a bigger workout or on a heavy makeup day (which are rare). It's a bit too drying for every day use, but Steven loves it because he believes drying your skin out is better for acne, despite my years of begging him to moisturize (he absolutely refuses).  This smells nice, foams up a lot (so a little goes a long way) and I repurchased one to put in Steven's stocking before this one ran out. We're staying at his parent's house as during this self-isolation period since I've been working from home (a week or two before it even started) and Steven ended up taking vacation days before finally being given a laptop to work from home as well. We live in a condo building, so it isn't as safe considering we have to leave to walk the dogs a few times a day, and this is the only face wash we brought since it's less bulky. I've been putting on more moisturizer to combat it, but it's been nice because my skin has been a huge break-out filled mess from all the stress of re-scheduling our wedding and being on my period, etc. This is also affordable so we highly recommend it!


I got this body wash for free either from Influenster or from Topbox a long time ago. I used to be bad about using body wash and would just use whatever bar soap was nearby, but this winter I was good about it and finally went through this big boy. Steven uses his own body washes so this large one took me a while to go through myself. I LOVE how this one smells and it's not only fairly affordable but it's very natural, cruelty free and vegan! If we hadn't bought a costco-sized package of a different body wash months ago (on sale) I would've likely purchased a new one of this, or one of their other scents. It'll probably be another year or so before I go through all of the bodywash I currently own, but when I do I'll be sure to look out for this. I highly highly recommend it and I'm curious about their other products!


Haircare


One of the products I've most been sent to review has been Shampoos and Conditioners. This is great for me because I don't use regular drug-store shampoos on my hair since it's been very damaged in the past, and it's naturally curly. I also only wash my hair once a week to keep it as healthy as possible, so I need a good shampoo to do its job. I was originally sent a set of Saryna Key haircare products a few years back, but I loved them so much that I repurchased the Shampoo, which I'm already halfway through as I've exclusively used it for the rest of the winter since finishing this one up. This is hands down my all-time favourite shampoo and likely the one I'll use on my wedding day because I know it'll make my hair look and feel its best. There are many others I love, and my hair is the type where it needs to switch products every once in a while so for self-isolation I brought a different set to give my hair a break from this one, but once the wedding is near I'll definitely switch back to this one a week or two before so my hair is ready to look its best! This is very natural and is great for damaged hair and even though it's not drug-store priced, it's 100% worth it. I highly recommend and will continue to repurchase!

Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant


Ok this is a bit of a weird category, but recently I've seen a lot of people talking about these types of products again. The Secret gel antiperspirants are my favourites for how it feels and smells. They don't make the underarms of my clothes go all weird and they feel fresh (with many different available scents. Whenever they're on sale I'll buy them because I'm a super sweaty girl.

The Degree motion sense aerosol antiperspirant was really good, but I almost choked every time I sprayed it. It worked really really well, but I know aerosols are bad for the environment, and getting it in my lungs at a time like this isn't the best idea so I likely won't repurchase. I hope they can make a stick or gel version of this that works the same way because I'd definitely purchase it myself for workout days. I'm currently using a completely different brand I've never tried before so we'll see how that one goes.

I'm excessively sweaty so I NEED an antiperspirant to keep my clothes from not being completely drenched, so simply using a natural-deodorant isn't an option for me unfortunately. However, do your research into it. Some people say they're deadly and others say they're completely safe. Look into actual scientific data so you can make the best decision for you!


That's all for this empties review / would I (re)purchase. I hope you enjoyed and will stick around to see my future posts!

See you soon!
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Wednesday, August 14, 2019

highend makeup

GO, by Headzone Review

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
A post shared by Amy Sousa (@beautybyamysousa) on

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!
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Wednesday, June 26, 2019

highend makeup

MGS Beauty Liquid Lipsticks Review + Wear Test

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!
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