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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

affordable makeup

Wet n Wild MegaGlo Makeup Stick Blush Review

Wet n Wild MegaGlo Makeup Stick Blush Review
October 10, 20180 Comments
Hello!
A few months back I received a huge package from the beauty brand Wet n Wild (well… their Canadian PR firm) and I’ve been working on testing out all of the products ever since. I’ve posted a few reviews so far, but now I have a bunch more. I haven’t been wearing makeup frequently at all (sometimes on the weekend) so it’s taken me months to truly develop a real opinion on several of the products.

Today I’m reviewing their MegaGlo Makeup Stick - Blush in the colour Hustle & Glow, which retails for $3.99 USD on their website. Before this I’ve only ever owned one other cream blush, and it was a ridiculous shade of pink that I never got any use out of. I was pretty scared to use this for the first time because I’m not a big blush girl. Including this one, I currently have 6 individual blushes in my whole makeup collection (and a few in palettes), which may seem like a lot, but for a ‘micro influencer’ who receives PR and buys a lot of makeup, that’s really nothing at all.

This blush cream blush is amazing! It applies sheer, but evenly, and layers very well. This means that you really can’t mess it up easily by applying too much in one swipe. Of course if you layer it without paying attention it might become too pigmented, but it blends out very nicely so it’s likely still salvageable. The colour works very well for me during the summer months, an I will continue trying it in the winter months, but I tend to shy away more from blush since my face becomes redder from the cold, so the last thing I want is to add pink to it.

This applies great over foundation, but I did not like it over powder. Some cream products work all right over powder (I had a cream highlighter that still worked amazing on it), but this isn’t one of those products. Not that I’d normally try, but I did for the purpose of this review. So if you accidentally powder your face before using this, go for a powder blush for the day instead. This also lasts for a very long time without fading, and when it does fade, it does so evenly, rather than patching off.

I've realized that I never show myself wearing products in my reviews, so here's a photo of my face while wearing my blush, where you can't really see the blush that well. I promise for future reviews to try actually ensure I have swatches. I tried getting a picture that would show the blush the way I like to wear it, but the truth is, I blend it out a lot so you can only really tell in person. I have it on in both photos!




Like I said before, I’m not a blush girl, so I don’t have much else to say. I highly recommend picking this up if you’re in the market for a cream blush! Would I purchase this myself? Yes if I were looking for a cream blush, but the odds of that are low since I don’t use it very often and will always reach for bronzer and highlighter above it unless I have enough time!

I hope you enjoyed this review. See you soon!
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Sunday, September 30, 2018

hair reviews

Nutree Professional Amazonliss Smoothing Keratin Treatment Review

Nutree Professional Amazonliss Smoothing Keratin Treatment Review
September 30, 20180 Comments
Hello!

So as some of you may know, I have naturally SUPER curly hair. It's hard to believe when you see pictures of me now, but my hair has been through a lot of treatments (view the end of this post to see my 100% natural hair). Two years ago was the last time I got a Japanese Permanent Hair Straightening treatment done, so most of my hair is back to being natural, with the exception of the very ends and hair colour since I have died it dark brown multiple times.

My hair is no longer spirals as much as it once did due to all of the heat styling on the regrowth, but it's still very curly and puffy. I've been wanting to get a keratin treatment done for a while now since it isn't permanent, which will allow me to eventually return to my natural hair (kind of) and would make my life much easier too. I ran into the opportunity to review this Amazonliss Keratin Treatment in exchange for the product a while back. It's been several weeks now since I've done the treatment and I can confidently say that I'm very impressed. I'm going to walk you through everything I had to do with pictures, and then I will give my final thoughts for this moment.


Below is what my hair looked like after washing it (I used theAnti Residue Shampoo from the kit) when about half dry. As you can see, it's pretty wavy and already starting to become a mess. The last picture shows you the type of ringlets I get on my less damaged hair.


After my hair dried naturally to about 85%, I sectioned it off and started applying the Brazilian Smoothing Treatment. This made it pretty wet again, but since it was sectioned off into multiple parts (as seen below), drying it completely with cool air wasn't too bad. The second picture below is my hair 100% dried after the Smoothing Treatment.


As you can see, it was already a bit straighter just from that. The next step was to straighten every single hair I could get my hands on. This took a very long time because the hair felt like there was a ton of product in it. While this product does not contain formaldehyde, this really burnt my eyes. I recommend some sort of eye protection because it was very hard to get through, even with my windows open and washroom fan on.


After finally finishing to straighten my hair and allowing my eyes to recover a bit, this was the result. It appeared very greasy, but that's ok because the next step was to wash it all out and use the Intensive Repair Mask.


Thankfully washing my hair out didn't hurt my eyes. I did stand under warm water for a long time before attempting to open them, but I had no issues. My hair felt insanely soft and silky while washing and using the repair mask. I've been exclusively using my Chorus Supernatural shampoo for other washes since doing the treatment since it does the job while being very gentle. I've washed it three times since (I wash my hair once a week) and so far no issues.


The next step was to dry my hair 100% (no temperature mentioned) so that's what I did, and I put it on high heat to make things quicker. I was very surprised at how much smoother my hair was after doing this. Yes, it's still wavy on top and requires me to straighten it every time, but it's a million times easier. I suspect that if you have regular wavy hair, or straight, but frizzy, that this would work perfectly without any straightening required.


Here's my hair after straightening! I didn't realize that I didn't do a great job straightening it here (I was also very impatient and tired after spending hours doing the treatment on myself), but this was very quick. From the time I started drying my hair to the time I was done straightening it, it had only been 20 minutes. Before the treatment this would take me about an hour and a half.


Now that I have washed my hair three times since doing the treatment, I feel comfortable giving this review. While it still takes a bit of time for me, this is 100% worth it and I will gladly purchase this product on my own when my hair is back to normal. My hair isn't as straight as it was the first time, which means it is wearing off rather quickly on me, but since I wash my hair once a week, I suspect it'll take two to three months to be completely back to normal. While that doesn't sound like a lot, this saves me a lot of time and trouble, so it makes the price worth it for me. The price on Amazon is currently $55 (USD), but that may go on sale so I will keep an eye out.

After six months to a year my hair will be completely natural again so I will be able to wear it curly when I want to, or straighten it. There is a lot of information on the product, where to purchase and before and after pictures on the Nutree Professional website, so please check them out for more information!

I will definitely be filming a follow up video in a month or two to update everyone on how well this has lasted, and to answer any questions people may have, or express concerns, but for this review with what I've seen so far I am super happy with the results, and recommend trying it out! Also, check out my 100% natural virgin hair before I ever had any treatments or colour ever done.


See you soon!
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Monday, September 24, 2018

highend makeup

Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil Review

Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil Review
September 24, 20180 Comments
Hello!

Are you surprised to see me posting so soon again? I know I am! This week I wanted to review the Benefit ‘Precisely, My Brow’ Pencil. This was another product that I receive for free #freesample from the Topbox Circle in exchange for reviews, but this blog post was not a requirement—I’ve just decided that if I’m going to review a product anyway, I might as well have a post up so all of you can learn more too.


I was sent the colour 4, which is described as a ‘warm deep brown.’ This seems to be a perfect match for me at the moment, but if your hair is super warm or cool, there are other colours available in their range. I’ve heard about this product for years and always assumed that the influencers raving about it were only doing so because they were sponsored. While they were sponsored, I now believe their claims because I love this as well!

The pencil is really thin, which makes it super easy to create brow-like hair strokes. The formula isn’t super creamy, so it doesn’t smudge, but it’s also not too hard where you have to press hard. It’s the perfect consistency and so far I haven’t had any issues with it snapping. I only twist out the amount that I’ll need to use it, and when I’m done I twist it back down and put it away.


The downsides? This is a high end product. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that you’ll be spending a lot of money for this, and if you do your makeup everyday, those price tags really add up. The spooley isn’t my favourite. The ABH spooleys are by far the best that I’ve ever used, but this Benefit one is a little bit too soft so while it brushes out the hairs, it doesn’t help blend easily. I’m not a cruelty free blogger and probably never will be, but I do use a lot of products that are, however, for some reason I assumed that this brand is cruelty-free, but when doing a quick Google search, I learned that it is not the case. So unfortunately, if you are cruelty-free, you can’t use anything from this brand.

All in all I do really like this brow pencil. Will I purchase? Not for daily use, but yes for very special occasions. Something like this would be amazing for my wedding day (which is a few years away) so if I run out of it before then and don’t have a different product that I like more, I’ll probably buy this again. That being said, I do have a lot of brow products that I love that are more affordable so I don’t think this is life-changing and you can probably settle for a drugstore alternative.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review and seeing me post consistently for once in my life. In case it wasn’t already obvious, while I did receive this product for free I am NOT sponsored. One day when I eventually am sponsored by a company, I will make it very clear as I never want to throw out my morals, break the law or trick anyone. As usual, all opinions are 100% my own.

See you soon!
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Wednesday, September 12, 2018

affordable makeup

Revlon Colorstay Full Cover Foundation Review

Revlon Colorstay Full Cover Foundation Review
September 12, 20180 Comments
Hello!

I received a few products in PR from Revlon about a month ago, but just realized that I hadn’t shared them yet. I went to the Revlon event (#feelthelippie) back in July where I received two lippies that will be in my next Revlon review, and ate their free ice cream, which was awesome. After the event, I found an email from them where I could tell them my foundation shade and makeup style, so I did and soon after I received more products (a foundation and a new lip product).

The product I want to feature today is their new(ish) Revlon Colorstay Full Cover foundation. I didn’t know my shade, so I took a wild guess based on the swatches online, and thankfully was spot on for my skin tone at the moment. This matches my end of summer shade (yes that's a thing for me) perfectly without having to mix any other foundations in, or tan up my neck. The formula is very moussey, but it applies really well with your fingers or a beauty sponge and even with a brush. My favourite way to use it is with my Beauty Blender pro (the black one) after warming it up with my finger.


This foundation claims to be full coverage, which on me isn’t true. It’s more of a light to medium coverage, but that’s perfect for me as that’s the most coverage I want. I have a few breakouts, but nothing serious and most of my skin is pretty good, so I don’t look for heavy coverage anyway. This completely evens out my skin, which is great considering I have a tiny bit of discolouration, and my under eye concealer sits perfectly on top.

I normally set my foundation in my t-zone, but I have worn this a few times without setting at all and it hasn’t caused any problems. I just really like to set my forehead and chin since those places tend to get a bit shinier no matter what foundation I wear. When the foundation is set, it lasts a few extra hours, but this formula is so nice that it’ll evenly wear off throughout the day so it isn’t very noticeable. I’ve never experienced it coming off in chunks, or bunching up anywhere (not even on my dry patches). I'm wearing the foundation in the instagram picture below!


Overall I’m very impressed with this foundation. It’s the first Revlon foundation I’ve worn in years because I had a very bad experience in the past with one (does anyone remember the Naked foundation?), but this one really surprised me, and it’s been pretty the only actual foundation I’ve been reaching for (and my cc cream on even more natural days). Here's an arm swatch to show how close it is to my skin tone. I'm now losing my tan thanks to the lack of sunshine and cold weather so it matches almost perfectly on my arm, which is typically darker than my face, but at my darkest a little bit of bronzer would probably be enough to make this match ok.


The Canadian Beauty Bloggers Network's theme for September is fall faves, and the brand of the  month is Revlon, so I will be reviewing the other products I received in another post since the rest are all lippies! I’m also trying to focus more on beauty blogging again so don't be too surprised if you see more frequent posts for the next little while!
I hope you enjoyed this post and look forward to the next review!
See you soon!
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Saturday, September 08, 2018

affordable makeup

e.l.f. Cosmetics Molten Liquid Eyeshadow and Lash Extending Mascara Review

e.l.f. Cosmetics Molten Liquid Eyeshadow and Lash Extending Mascara Review
September 08, 20180 Comments
Hello!

A few weeks ago I received these two e.l.f. products in the mail thanks to Topbox! I've had plenty of time to play with these products to give a full review. Even though I did receive these for free, all my thoughts are 100% my own and I am not being paid to write this post. Let's get started.


The elf Cosmetics Aqua Beauty Molten Liquid Eyeshadow in the colour 'Rose Gold' is beautiful! This is very pigmented and didn't crease on me at all. The swatch below is one swipe on my hand and it looks similar on the eyes, but once you use a brush to blend it, it does disappear quickly. My favourite way to apply this is with the brush, and then using my finger to gently blend it out since it prevents the product from being picked up by the brush.


The mascara is all right, but not the greatest. It works, but I have other mascaras that I love so much more that fit within the same affordable price range. If you forgot a mascara at home, this is great if you want to buy one just for the day, but it won't give you amazing lashes. It'll be black and help lengthen a bit, but not enough in my opinion, so this will be going into my 'at work' makeup bag for days that I might forget my regular bag and for whatever reason need mascara on. I'll be sticking to my other mascaras and wouldn't purchase myself.


In this picture I'm wearing the eyeshadow with a neutral colour on the outer third and the crease, and a bit of highlighter on the inner corner. I am wearing the mascara, but it didn't do much as you can probably see, even though this isn't the best picture to showcase that. Overall I'm very impressed with the liquid eyeshadow and will definitely continue using it, and the mascara will remain in my work makeup bag in my desk for emergencies.

I hope you enjoyed this short review. Thank you again to Topbox for sending these products to be in exchange for a review. This blogpost isn't part of the exchange (just an instagram post and review on the website), but I wanted to write about it anyway since I really want to review more makeup on my blog.

See you soon!
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