FOTD: New Display Pic

Finally! A new blog post. I have been meaning to get this posted for many weeks now. Sorry for the wait!
I have a new display picture for my blog and this is the makeup I was wearing the day that I snapped that shot. 

the new display pic

I was in a blogging/photographing mood that day. I'm really happy with how all the pictures turned out and I am also very fond of how "natural" looking my makeup was that day. 

I'm not one to get all decked out in makeup everyday, I'm not joking. I always like to have a flawless base, i.e. my foundation and concealer, but in terms of eye makeup, on a day to day basis I like to keep it neutral with a subtle shimmer. The look that I'm wearing in this picture is SO ME it's not even funny. 

Face:

My Soleil Tan de Chanel and I have been inseparable all summer long. It has been a key product for me to even out my tan and tone down a bit of the redness in my face, inevitable from hours of sun exposure. I then used my handy dandy Bobbi Brown corrector in Porcelain Peach to get rid of the look of dark circle under my eyes. To even out my skin tone, I used the new Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream in the shade Light-Medium. I've only used this product a handful of times so I don't yet have a good feel for how much I do or don't like it. My typical concealer routine consisted of Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer in shade 52 to cover any blemishes and discoloration. Maybelline Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser in Light to add another layer of concealer to my insanely dark circles; and finally Rimmel Match Perfection highlighting concealer in shade 003 to add some brightness to my face. I set that all with my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in the shade Medium Plus 

Cheeks:

I have been loving my new blush, Well Dressed from MAC (full review of this blush can be read here). This blush just adds the nicest hint of colour to my cheeks. I then contoured and warmed up my face a bit with Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in the shade Medium Dark. 

Eyes:

I found some NYX eyeshadows stashed away in my collection that I brought out to use for this look. Ever since then, they have been a staple in my makeup bag.

The lighter shade on top is Champagne. I used this shade on the inner third of my lid. The darker shade on the bottom is Iced Mocha and I used this shadow on the outer part of my lid to add a little bit of dimension.

I used Almay's One Coat Nourishing Triple Effect mascara (what a mouthful of a name). It's decent enough, but it didn't provide me with enough length or volume, but I do really like the wand and brush - full with natural bristles. 

Lips:

I decided to keep the lips pretty neutral, glossy, and feminine. I chose this pink gloss from Dior that I've had lying around forever (Dior Addict Ultra Gloss Reflect in shade #257). This was just a simple and clean way to finish up the entire look. 

xoxoDarlingBuds

P.S. this little gem came out of all the pictures I took for this FOTD. I couldn't resist, I had to include it. It's so funny! 

Optimum Points Haul

I love Shoppers Drug Mart and I love Optimum Points. If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain. Shoppers Drug Mart is a huge chain of drugstores in Canada. You can get all sorts of stuff there: prescriptions, tylenol, toilet paper, snacks, shampoo, face wash, and many drugstore makeup brands such as Maybelline and Revlon, etc. A couple of years ago, Shoppers added a "Beauty Boutique" section of the store where they sell high-end makeup such as Benefit, Clarins, Smashbox, Lancome, Dior, etc. 

Optimum Points are collected at Shoppers by using you Optimum Card every time you spend $$ there. You get 10 points for every $1 you spend. The points can then be redeemed for monetary value, for example 8,000 points gets you $10 off, and the highest level is 95,000 points gets you $170 off. 

I only shop at Shoppers when they have a 20X the points event so you get 20X more points for every dollar you spend.

A couple times a year they have a bonus for points redeemed. So with 95,000 points, instead it being worth $170, it's worth $200 during the bonus event.

All year long, I save and save and save my optimum points throughout the whole year for THIS! The bonus points event. I then take my points to Murale, which is a Sephora-esque store affiliate with Shoppers and their optimum points program. At Murale, I go crazy.

This is this year's haul:

• Caudalie Beauty Elixir (34 FL. oz & 16 FL. oz). I featured this product in my first Beauty Wishlist post. This is a multi-purpose product: toner, facial mist, makeup refresher. It has a really fresh scent, sort of pepperminty, and from reading the ingredient list I know there's also some orange extract and rosemary in this product. It's so lovely. It's a beauty recommendation from one of my favourite bloggers, Vivianna Does Makeup
• Bobbi Brown corrector in Light Bisque. My current bobbi brown corrector in Porcelain Peach is getting dangerously empty. I don't ever want to to be without this product. I think the lady at the bobbi brown counter matched me to the wrong shade when I first bought porcelain peach, so I knew that when I purchased my next one I would go one shade up. I still have a couple weeks of use out of porcelain peach, but I won't be near a bobbi brown counter in a couple of weeks so I needed to get this stat!
• Nars eyeshadow duo in Alhambra. (swatch below) This too was featured in my first Beauty Wishlist post. I've used this a couple of times already and it's amazing! Once again, everything I thought it would be. The lightest shade in this duo is like a rose gold colour, whereas the other shade is more of a peach-yellow gold. The texture of nars eyeshadows is so velvety and luxe. I would definitely look into getting more nars eyeshadows, maybe for my next optimum points haul.
• Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Emerveille (swatch below). I talked about this in my second beauty wishlist post (Another Beauty Wishlist). I haven't had a chance to use this product yet, I'm kind of scared to ruin it, but it's just as lovely as I expected it to be. It's a very subtle champagne-pink, not too shimmery. It has a mousse-like texture. It's Chanel! Total luxury. I'll have to do a full review of this product in time
• Bourjois Volumizer mascara. I know I'm doing my Mascara Problems series to try and find the best drugstore mascara, but this is my favourite mascara outside of the drugstore. If someone told me I could only have one mascara for the rest of my life, it would be this one. I know that Bourjois is a drugstore or high-street brand in the UK, but in Canada, this mascara is about $21 (not exactly drugstore prices). I'll also do a full review of this mascara when I get around to using it because it's a really neat concept
• Olivella daily facial cleansing wipes. I was $7 short to my total, these wipes were $8 so I got them. The girl who was helping me at Murale said these were really good at cleansing, and also not harsh on sensitive skin. I haven't used them yet so I don't know if that's true. I'm waiting to use up the last of my Neutrogena makeup removing cleansing wipes.

Eyeshadow swatches

Nars Alhambra

Nars "Alhambra" swatch

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre Emerveille

The Chanel illusion d'ombre eyeshadow product comes with a cute little synthetic brush to use to apply the product. I'll probably just use my finger, but I thought this was so adorable. 

Ah, Chanel. It's so lovely

Chanel "Emerveille" swatch

I haven't used the Chanel eyeshadow yet. It always takes me a little bit of time to rack up the courage to dive into using a luxury product. I'll get around to it eventually though. How can I not? It's such a lovely shade of champagne-pink. Right up my alley


So that's my Optimum points haul from Murale. In Canada, Murale is such a great place to shop for high-end makeup because they have some brands that Sephora doesn't carry, such as Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Deborah Lippmann, and a great selection of Clarins makeup. PLUS you can collect optimum points when you shop :)

Such a wonderful place. Bad though, for people like me, with a serious obsession with makeup. 

xoxoDarlingBuds

Hautelook Haul: theBalm

Hautelook had a sale on "theBalm" a couple of weeks ago. Too many times has theBalm escaped my grasps, and a sale on Hautelook is just too good to pass up. Everything I got was seriously discounted!

I haven't had a chance to really try any of these products yet but I fully intend on doing some more in-depth reviews once I've gotten a better feel for the products

This is mostly a first impressions and swatches post

click below to read more (+ swatches)

Uh Oh...I've done it again

Hue from MAC is one of my favourite lipsticks of all time; but, I hate the way it clings to any little dry patches on my lips. It's a glaze finish which is also a sheerer formula, another aspect I'm not too particularly fond of. I feel like it really just accentuates any flaw. So I went to MAC looking for a replacement, and I ended up coming out of the shop with 2 replacements! And then randomly, as if driven by some supernatural force, I ended up in Sephora...but I only bought one thing so that is a vast improvement! Yay me!

The MAC Lipsticks:

The pinky-nudey colour on the left is Creme Cup, and the peachy-nudey colour on the right is Creme d'Nude. Two colours which have coincidentally been on my MAC Want List for a while. When swatched side by side with Hue, they look sort of similar. Obviously Creme Cup plays up more on the pink tones in Hue, whereas Creme d'Nude leans more towards the peach and nude hues in Hue (ha, no shit).

I'll do a more in depth review and comparaison bientôt.

MUFE at Sephora

I have been eyeing this colour aqua cream shadow ever since I bought my first one way back in November. I couldn't decide between #15 and #13 at the time. I ended up buying #15 which as it turns out, is a total dupe for the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze . Which leaves MUFE #13. A lovely champagne-beige colour. It's got shimmer, but not too much. I've seriously been loving cream shadows recently because they're easy to apply, they last all day, and they don't crease or smudge. 

MUFE Aqua Cream eye colour, #13

Such lovely new products! I've been such a haul-zilla lately! 

xoxoDarlingBuds

Another Beauty Wishlist

1. Dior Hydra Life BB cream (SPF 30):  I have been very into BB creams lately. For the past 2 months or so, I have been using the Garnier Skin Renew BB cream non-stop (full review here). I've also heard that Maybelline and L'Oreal are coming out with their own BB creams that will hitting the shelves in Canada in July. However, I have been very tempted by the Dior Hydra Life BB cream - I've just heard the most amazing things about this product, and the SPF 30 doesn't hurt its cause.


2. Dior Rosy Glow - healthy glow awakening blush: Apparently this blush "adjusts" to the perfect colour to suit your skin colour. Even if that is the case, I think this blush looks like the most lovely true pink colour. Almost all of the blushes I have lean more towards the coral end of the spectrum - I don't own any nice bright pink blushes. Dior wouldn't be a bad place to start...


3. Dior 5-Colour eyeshadow in Earth Reflection: I'm going a little wish-crazy with the Dior products, I know; but, Dior has a reputation for not only being one of the finest Haute Couture fashion design houses, but also the creator of fabulous cosmetics. Their 5-colour eyeshadow palettes are, according to the divine Lisa Eldridge, the best eyeshadows on the market.


4. Clarins Liquid Bronze self tanner: I love being tan, but I don't want to damage my skin for the future or get skin cancer. I've heard this self tanner is a really great product, especially for the face. 


5. Clinique Airbrush concealer: Another because -of-Lisa Eldrige want. I'm trying to use up the last of my YSL Touche Eclat and Rimmel Match Perfection concealers, and then this Clinique concealer will be mine!

6. Stella McCartney Stella eau de parfum: Vivianna Does Makeup recently did a blog post about how this is her new favourite perfume for summer (her blog post here). I honestly haven't even smelt thsi perfume yet, but I covet everything Miss Vivianna talks about, so naturally, I put this perfume on my wishlist without even the faintest clue if I'll like it.


7. Phyto Volume Maximizing shampoo: 

Just reading the description of this product will explain why I want it. I have very fine hair so I have been looking for hair products lately to provide my hair with more body and volume.


8. Lush Ocean Salt cleanser: As far as I know, this product can be used on the face and on the body. It's basically a deep cleanser/exfoliant - I've heard it's a good scrub to use on the body before applying fake tan. It's also one of Lush's best-selling products.


9. Lush BIG shampoo: Yet another shampoo that promises volume and body for your hair. Another one of Lush's best-selling products. I have been wanting to try this product for a long time, especially after watching MissGlamorazzi's favorite Lush products video.


10. Clarins Instant Light Natural lip perfector in 02 Apricot Shimmer: between a gloss and a balm, this is the only lipgloss I have tried that literally isn't "sticky". I have one  already in a pink colour, and it just leaves my lips with the loveliest hint of pink. They smells good and they moisturize the lips. I'm looking forward to trying this peachy shade in the near future. 


11. Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Emerveille: this product is basically a cream eyeshadow. It's the most beauty pinky-champagne colour. It would be such a luxury product


A girl can dream...


xoxoDarlingBuds 

FOTD: Lazy Weekend

Beauty Wishlist