Yes...Another Old Navy Haul

Old Navy had a Friends & Family sale back at the beginning of November. I'm pretty sure this is what I got during it. I say "pretty sure", because I've gone to one of the stores twice and ordered online twice in the past month or so. That's more often than usual for me, but I'm not complaining because they have had some great sales lately. I know I recently purchased the items below together...I may just have the sale wrong. Retail therapy puts me in my own little world and as long as I don't take up permanent residence, I think I'm ok. ;)

black cardigan- A must-have for me. I can never have too many cardigans, especially black ones!
PJ bottoms- I could live in ON's PJs. They're reasonably priced and so comfortable.
Striped sweater dress- The shape of this dress is amazing. It's very slimming.
Ruffle henley- I love ruffles! This has little hooks so you can have the ruffles go up straight or spread out a little and make it more of a v-neck.

You know...now that I think about it, maybe I got this with my Old Navy cash the other week. They often have it where if you spend so much, you get a little gift certificate taking money off of a future purchase. Well, I'm too lazy to change the graphic so we'll pretend that it was with the F&F sale. This post has been a complete fail. Haha!

Etsy sale on one of my favorite shops!

I don't think she'll mind if I share this with you, but one of my favorite shops is having a sale right now on handmade brush rolls, makeup bags, etc. I reviewed one of her brush rolls here. It's the only brush roll I'll use and it holds up so well.

Image belongs to asoftblackstar! Clicking her name takes you to her Etsy shop. I just know you'll love it! :)

Hope all of my American friends and family had a great Thanksgiving. It's always hard to celebrate a holiday abroad, but it really puts the true meaning in perspective. You learn what you're truly thankful for when you may not be near it everyday. :)

Urban Decay Naked Lipstick

I've gotta say that I'm really loving the Urban Decay products that have Naked has its name. Naked Palette, Naked eyeshadow, and now the Naked lipstick. Now I just need to get my hands on their lip pencil and lip gloss of the same name. I guess I love getting Naked. ;) Here's my swatches and review of the lipstick!

The packaging is cool with the sword on the end, but it's a bit of a nuisance. You have to hold onto the sword to get the lid off, as the lid goes straight down to the bottom of the tube. The product sticker is actually located on the top of the lipstick lid.



^ I personally prefer hand swatches to lip swatches, because everyone has different lip pigmentation. The true-to-life color is better represented on my hand, as my pink lips have the tendency to change most lipsticks unless I cancel out the pigmentation. I do try to provide both types of swatches (hand and lips) though, as I know many people prefer lip swatches!

It has a really lovely sheen to it. I'd say it's a "my lips but better" shade. It smells strongly of caramel, but it does disappear after awhile on the lips. I think this is a shade that is going to look good on just about everyone. I can see myself reaching for this one quite often in the future!

LUSH Twilight Bath Bomb Review & New Layout!

Well first off, I'm cheesy. I've been planning on reviewing the Twilight bath bomb and figured I would wait until today since the new Twilight movie came out. ;) You can go see Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 and then come home and melt away into a bath! Secondly, I changed up the layout on here last night. Hopefully it loads properly for everyone.



^ When you first put the bath bomb in the water, it looks like an atomic bomb of pink matter exploded. I approve.

^ As it melts away, the bubbles start to form and the bath bomb separates. Here is where you start to see the blue center core that holds the glitter. At this point, the smell of lavender really comes forth but not in an overwhelming scent.

^ The bubbles don't last long, but the smell does.

I loved how moisturizing this bath bomb was, though it did make the bottom of my tub very slippery. The smell was heavenly and just what I needed during that certain day (horrible day, to say the least). One thing I didn't care for? The glitter. Sure, it's pretty floating in the water but it was a complete nuisance to get it all off of my bath tub. You know the problem with glitter- it multiplies somehow.

I know the trick of wrapping up the bath bombs, if you don't want anything floating in your water. I don't know how useful that trick would be with glitter, as I feel that it would still float out due to its size. I would probably repurchase this again, because I love the color, the smell, and the way it made my dry skin feel silky smooth.

Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

MUFE Aqua Creams 5 and 15

I picked up Make Up For Ever's Aqua Cream in #15 at this year's IMATS, but I grabbed #5 last year and forgot to swatch it. So I'm bunching them together in this post! I'll also compare #5 to NARS Orgasm blush.





^ Here's Orgasm and #5 side-by-side. They look similar in their packaging but do swatch a bit differently.

^ As you can see, Orgasm is a bit deeper in color. MUFE #5 is formulated especially for cheeks and lips, but I find it works on the eyes as well. MUFE #15 is formulated for cheeks and eyes. I'm too fair for this to work on my cheeks, but it looks lovely as a base for a smoky brown eye or alone for a wash of color.

These should be blended in quickly as they dry fast. And once they set, these bad boys aren't going anywhere for the rest of the day. I do find them to be drying on the lips, so a lip balm is in order. I feel like using fingers are best with these. They get a little hard in the pot and the heat of your fingers really help loosen it and allow you to blend these easier. So if you hate dipping your fingers into a product you'll probably want to stay away from these.

IMATS Toronto: Haul

I had so much fun at this year's IMATS. It was probably my favorite yet of the three years that it has been in Toronto. I stuck mostly to my wishlist and only went $5 over my allotted budget. Yay! Better yet, every thing that I got can be used in everyday looks. :)



^ Everything together, minus an OCC Lip Tar in Hush that I picked up for my friend Kerri! One of my Crown brushes is dirty in the picture, because I have no self control and just had to break it in. ;)

^ I believe they had one available for $15, but I think they might have sold out of the singles. I picked up this double set for $30 CAN.

^ NYX Lip Gloss Palettes. I'm not sure why they spell it "pallet". I picked up three of these at $5 each. I got The Nudes, The Naturals, and The Perfect Everyday Colors.

^ Crown brushes. I grabbed all of the ones on my list! Two C433s, C405, and a C412. I can't remember individual prices, but I did spend $29 at the booth.

^ Best kabuki brushes ever. These are part of the Silk line from Royal and Langnickel. They always have an IMATS special where you can get any size of them for $7 each. I got another domed one (in a smaller size from the one I already own) and an angled one.

^ OCC Lip Tars in Trollop and Divine for $10 each.

^ MUFE Aqua Eyes in 24L ($14), Aqua Smoky Lash ($16), and Aqua Cream in #15 ($17).

I'll provide swatches in upcoming posts! To see other pictures from my day at IMATS, just scroll down to my last post. If you're near an IMATS, I really suggest checking it out. Just the discount at NYX alone covered the price of my ticket with what I saved! I already cannot wait until next year!

IMATS Toronto: OOTD and Pictures

Here's what I wore to IMATS and a few pictures that I took. I'll show my haul tomorrow! :) This post is picture heavy!

^ Old Navy blue sweater dress, black leggings, leopard print scarf, charm bracelets, evil eye bracelet, IMATS wristband, Tiffany key (not pictured were my shoes- black boots)

^ Koren doing Tess' makeup

^ I couldn't get my usual pic with Elessa, because she was busy doing body paint so I snapped her in action.

^ NYX had loads of crazy lashes available.



^ Body painting at the MUFE booth

^ I loved this model! She really got into the posing and was a lot of fun.

^ This was one of the student competition models.

^ Horrible picture of me but a wonderful picture of Koren. Seriously, the guy never takes a bad picture.

^ Some of the brushes that were at Royal & Langnickel.

It is always so much fun to get my shopping out of the way and just go to town snapping pictures. I get so much inspiration from it! I look forward to sharing my haul with you tomorrow. I am in love with everything I got. Or if you've been to my YouTube channel, you've already had a sneak peak of what I'm showing tomorrow. ;)

Old Navy Christmas Haul

I'm calling it a Christmas haul because I ordered it from the US site and I'm having it shipped to my mom's. I'll be there for Christmas to open it up. Nothing like sending gifts to myself! ;) I took advantage of the F&F sale and picked out items that I can't necessarily get in stores or online here.



Have you been taking advantage of all of these F&F sales popping up? There's been Old Navy, Benefit, Sephora, Urban Decay...and more. Are you broke yet?! :P

IMATS Wishlist, Tips, and More!

Hey guys! With IMATS Toronto happening this upcoming weekend, I thought I'd do a master post on it. I'll tell you what I'm looking to purchase, a few tips, and what and when I plan on being there. :)


Crown
Studio Pro Series C433 pro blending fluff - A perfect dupe for MAC's 217. I already have one and love it. I'm stocking up...and for under $7 CAD, it's a steal!
Studio Pro Series C405 contour brush - looks like a MAC 165 dupe
Studio Pro Series C412 deluxe pointed crease - looks like a MAC 224 dupe

NYX
Pinky Promise lip gloss palette
The Nudes lip gloss palette

OCC
Trollop Lip Tar
Divine Lip Tar

Royal and Langnickel
SILK red dome kabuki brush

It's not a big list, but those are the things I truly want. Anything else I pick up will be things that caught my eye. And because I always get most of the things on my IMATS wishlists, they dwindle down a bit each year. Probably a good thing with the Sephora VIB sale happening this week! Now onto what I think are "must buys"!

Eve Pearl Salmon Concealer - so amazing at covering under eye darkness
Make Up For Ever HD Foundation - a great discount price
Crown Brush Pro Blending Fluff - see above for why!
Royal and Langnickel domed kabuki - I use it almost everyday with my MAC MSF Natural.
OCC Lip Tar - I really like Hush for a pink lip.

I have a few tips for those going to future IMATS shows.

1) Take your camera. I get very camera happy and nobody minds at all. I also use pictures from the last events to look at products that I might have forgotten about and want to take a closer look at them.
2) Take makeup wipes and anti-bacterial hand gel. You will more than likely end up with swatches on your hand and these will come in handy.
3) Dodge the long lines, if you can. If you know what you want, either tell the workers or hand them your list. They'll gather the products up for you and cash you right out!
4) Bring cash. It's so much easier and faster to check out, in my experience.
5) Hit up the bigger brands first. The MUFE line will more than likely be crazy but if you want to get your hands on a specific item, get in that line! They sell out of certain items pretty quickly.
6) Carry a water with you. You'll be on your feet a lot...which also reminds me...
7) Wear comfortable shoes. I know you want to be cute and fashionable, but at least try to wear flats. Your feet will thank you! There aren't many places to sit down, aside from the scheduled presentations. Even then, you're not guaranteed a seat.
8) Don't worry about bringing a bag to carry everything around. A huge IMATS bag is provided.

I am only attending November 12, 2011- the first day. I'm going to try to get there as early as I can. I think I was there at 9am last year and out of there by 2pm, if I'm not mistaken. With the schedules that IMATS has released, I believe this is close to what my schedule will look like on Saturday.

8:30-9am- arrive at IMATS
10am- Koren's presentation (He's adorable in person, by the way.)
11am-1pm- shop the booths
1pm- MAC Presents Melissa Gibson
2pm- leave IMATS

I'd love to stay longer this year, but my husband has to get me home and go to a side job he has booked downtown.

Past IMATS posts can be found under the IMATS label.