1. I had discontinued my Glymm subscription since June 2012.

For new members, the price has been increased from $10/mo to $12/mo before taxse. As an existing member, I retained my rate of $10/mo, but I didn’t think it was worth $12/mo for 4 items. They replaced the cardboard Glymm Boxes with makeup pouches in the name of reducing waste. In all honesty, I think it’s better to recycle a cardboard box than to accumulate a mountain of makeup pouches. They’re nice, but they’re probably contributing to the raised price, too. Most importantly, the items were consistently mediocre. The “deluxe-sized” samples were small, and I got way too many packets (I hate packets – you get them for free at the mall) and perfume samples. I would always find at least one item intriguing, two at best. It wasn’t worth paying for miniscule samples and one good item.

2. I am still consistently pleased with my Glossybox.

Which is why I will be sharing the latest one with you – I’m way too excited about it not to. HOWEVER, it seems that they no longer use referral links, which means I actually have to send out an email to friends who are interested. I have emailed them to ask them for a new referral link, but in the meantime, I’d appreciate if you’d use me as a referral by leaving me a comment or a message

3. I am getting my first Topbox this month!

I have high hopes. We will see.

And now, without further ado… here’s the September 2012 Glossybox!

Do you see the discrepancy? This is the first time it’s happened since I joined Glossybox in March, but I’m actually missing an item: 01 Wella Professionals Mirror Polish Shine Serum! I emailed them today when I noticed it. I’m optimistic that they’ll respond quickly, as I’ve found their customer service to be really good before, when they had shipped my box to the wrong address and then followed up to make sure that I got my box.

Left to right:

1. Wella Professionals Mirror Polish Shine Spray (40 ml full size)
2. Dove Cleartone anti-perspirant (17 g)
3. B. Kamins Lip Balm SPF 20 (4 ml)
4. B. Kamins Maple Body Lotion (12 ml)

I have been enjoying the Wella hair products that they have sent me in other boxes, but I’m cautious with shimmer or shine in my hair, for fear it would look oily. I’m neutral about the travel-sized Dove deodorant, as I’ve stopped using anti-perspirant for over a year because (1) I’m lucky enough not to have offensive body odour when I sweat, and (2) I found that all my white shirts were getting stained at the armpits – yes, that comes from the deodorant, not your sweat! So, I’d rather perspire than to stain all my nice shirts Otherwise, I would’ve appreciated this item.

B. Kamins is a Canadian brand that I’d first been introduced to by a Sephora sales associate when I was looking for an effective but gentle pore-cleansing mask. She raved about the B. Kamins line, and highly recommended the mask. I ended up picking up the Origins charcoal mask instead (because it was less expensive), but she gave me a generous sample of the B. Kamins mask. I can’t remember where I put it, though. I’m really glad I got these two samples so I can find out firsthand how great the line is without breaking my bank

And now for the most exciting item in the box: a full-blown NYX palette!

Included are 24 eyeshadows with 4 sponge-tip applicators. The bottom left corner shadow must have chipped during shipping There wasn’t very much padding in this Glossybox due to the large size of this NYX palette. Behind the mirror is another compartment…

…with a tube of NYX’s HD Shadow Base and a tube of eyeliner, an illuminator, 5 different shades of blush, and 4 lip glosses.

I swear I squealed and jumped up and down when I saw this. Even Dark was shocked at the inclusion of this palette.

What do you think? Have I convinced you to subscribe to Glossybox yet? Haha Unfortunately, I’m sure they don’t repeat goodies, so I can’t guarantee the next boxes will receive such a nice surprise. Although they may be hard put to impress me for all future Boxes!

I’m not going to forget my missing item, though.
Edit: It turns out I had forgotten about an email I had received, where the Wella Spray was for fine-normal hair and the Wella Serum was for medium-thick hair. So I did get all my items after all. Still, no complaints!

That is how I feel about blogging right now. And how I have been feeling about it for a while. So now the question is: how do I re-enter the blogosphere gracefully?

My last post lamented my lack of blogging when I worked full time over the summer. Then I had went on vacation to Hong Kong and upon my return, had to prepare for school. I had figured that I’d be able to blog during school as I had previously, but it turns out I had severely underestimated the difficulty and the workload.

I do want to thank everyone for their kind inquiries regarding my absence. Each put a smile on my face. And I assure you that I hold you close at heart. In fact, sometimes I find myself commenting on the weather in Vancouver, the lack of Sephoras in Belgium, the lackluster malls in Ottawa, the shopping in India, cosmetics available in Singapore, and so on and so forth. And my friends look at me oddly and wonder how I know these things.

I can guarantee nothing but my promise to try to keep up. There is so much I want to say. If only I could type as fast as I think! It would sure help with school. Wouldn’t we all have so much more time?

1. I have no life.

Seriously. I’ve got work 8:00-4:00, but I have to travel over an hour each way. This means I have to get up at 6 am and go to bed by 11 pm to be able to do it all over again the next day. By the time I get home it’s around 5:30, which gives me enough time to help with dinner, eat dinner, clean up after dinner, and shower before going to bed. If I’m playing badminton, I would head out right after dinner, jump in the shower afterward, and hope that I can get up the next morning. I don’t have energy to think, let alone blog. Any time I have left over is inevitably filled by family obligations and social calls.

I believe a much-deserved shoutout should be given to all you bloggers who work full time jobs and yet are still able to blog each day, or quite regularly at the very least. I have no idea how you do it, but my respect for you all has been elevated to new heights.

2. Not only can I not blog, but I can’t read blogs either. 

I have been deprived of the time and energy to blog, so I thought that I would at least be able to browse your blogs when I have off-time at work. I work fast, and so have more free time than most. I really didn’t think it would be appropriate to blog at work, but I thought I could at least enjoy my daily blog reading. But no. My organization has blocked access to all personalized web content (blogs most definitely included). Which means I can’t even pass the time by catching up on everyone – no WordPress sites work. I am not a happy camper.

3. I am still not unpacked. 

My goal had been to completely clean out my room and unpack everything I’d brought home in the free week I had between exams ending and work beginning. All I have managed thus far is unpacking some of my clothes and reorganizing my dressers so that I have somewhere to put the unpacked clothes. I’d cleared off my desk (by stacking everything into several mountains in a corner), but it’s already beginning to lose visible surface area again. That was a huge fail.

4. My summer night class starts this week. 

I can expect time to be in even shorter supply when classes start. I think this pretty much speaks for itself.

5. I have gained weight since coming home.

Why must food in Toronto be so tasty and inexpensive?!

The L’Oreal Infallible lipsticks were on sale for $7.99 CAD each – I spent quite some time swatching promising colours on the back of my hand. Here are the results of my efforts!

I know it looks very funny, mostly because my image editing skills are close to nonexistent. But all I really did was take pictures to remember exactly what I had swatched in order – so I just cut and paste the labels (saves me having to type out every name). This was done in-store, obviously, under bright fluorescent light.

After much deliberating, I decided that if I absolutely had to choose one shade from each colour group, I thought that these would look most flattering on me:

Of course, it’s never easy to tell what would look flattering without actually trying it on your lips, but I really didn’t want to put any of the drugstore aisle lip products anywhere near my face. I figured I probably shouldn’t buy that many though, seeing as how I’d never tried them before and didn’t know how they would perform. I decided to go with 412 Charismatic Coral and 112 Unending Kiss. 814 and 227 seemed similar to Clinique’s Creamy Nude and Smashbox’s Primrose, respectively – at least from what I could recall. And I didn’t think I was quite so brave as to sport such a bold red, so I skipped out on 312 as well.

421 Charasmatic Coral and 112 Unending Kiss in natural daylight

I really like the L’Oreal brand etched into the lipstick – gives it a bit more of a classy feel as opposed to your usual run-of-the-mill drugstore product. And of course, the eye-catching clear and silver packaging didn’t hurt any. After all, it was why I decided to swatch the Infallible lipsticks as opposed to L’Oreal’s other lines. Oh, did I mention that these are my first drugstore brand lipsticks?

Below are swatches on the inner side of my forearm with 1 swipe of lipstick, 3 swipes, and then wiped off with a plain tissue – taken in daylight.

Firstly, the swatches differ significantly in fluorescent lighting versus natural daylight – I don’t know how my camera picked up so many “sparkles” under fluorescent lighting, but the lipsticks certainly don’t seem to have sparkles in them.

The colour applies seemingly light at first, but pigmentation can be built up quite nicely. They are quite resilient in terms of staying power as well – stains can still clearly be seen after wiping off with a tissue. In fact, the back of my hand was still stained with colour after using make up remover from SDM after swatching on the back of my hand. Granted, I can’t attest to the quality of the makeup remover offered to me by the sales associate. I fell asleep with 421 Charismatic Coral on for about 4 hours and it looked unaffected after my nap. L’Oreal advertises the Infallible lipsticks as having 10 hours of lasting power – I find that half my lipstick disappears after eating, but I’d say that they do last quite nicely.

Here is the comparison of my bare lips to 421 Charismatic Coral:

421 Charismatic Coral turned out to be much more of a hot pink on my lips than I’d expected. It also seemed to be a metallic pink, seeing the way that it reflected light. This lipstick turned out to be much more bold and pigmented on my lips than as a swatch. I’m not sure that they really named this shade correctly – I don’t feel that it’s much of a coral at all. I do love the colour, I’m just a tad intimidated by the bold statement it makes!

Below is the comparison of my bare lips to 112 Unending Kiss. I take separate bare lips pictures as opposed to recycling the same one – so these would be post-lipstick-removal lips.

112 Unending Kiss turned out to be more natural-looking than I’d hoped. I was looking for a nice pink lipstick that could work with my skin tone – but I’m pretty sure I’m too warm-toned for anything resembling pastel pinks. This was a lovely surprise, though – it seems to be a very natural-looking rose colour that gives me just a bit of colour because it doesn’t exactly match my natural lip colour. I can definitely see myself wearing this one more frequently.

The L’Oreal Infallible lipsticks apply very smoothly with a creamy consistency – they don’t drag or feel thick, which I find the Smashbox lipstick to be. You can very easily rub your lips together without feeling much resistance. They don’t dry my lips out, despite my having notoriously dry and flaky lips. Granted, I never apply lipstick when my lips are in the flaky stage, but nor do I need to apply lip balm before the application of the Infallible lipsticks. I generally do not apply lip balm prior to lipstick application unless my lips are very dry and yet the occasion absolutely calls for lipstick.

This was an amazing drugstore find for me, especially on sale and for free with my Optimum points! Definitely worth repurchasing, perhaps in some of the other shades I highlighted earlier – what do you think?

Like the March Glossybox, this one was pretty weighty with lots of large-sized samples.

Glossybox is a beauty box service available in Canada that sends 5-6 deluxe beauty samples to your door every month for $15 CAD, tax and shipping included. If you’d like to learn more about the beauty box services, please check out my in-depth post here.

Left to right:

1. Wella Brilliance Treatment for fine to normal hair
2. Wella Brilliance Conditioner for fine to normal hair
3. Elizabeth Grant Skin Care Shower Gel
4. AVEENO Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer
5. Marcelle Xtension Plus Mascara
6. bonus: Marcelle BB Cream sample

Wella Brilliance seems to be targeted toward those with coloured hair, despite having different formulations for fine/normal/thick hair. There were no products for regular, untreated hair in the pamphlet included. The Treatment and Conditioner are not exciting for me, as I have plenty of treatments and conditioners that I don’t even use – I mostly just use shampoo, sometimes using treatments or conditioners only during the winter. Besides, my hair isn’t coloured (not right now, anyway). I’m not overly thrilled with getting two items from the same brand and the same line and have similar uses – hair treatments. I received 25 mL of Treatment (150 mL/$13.99 CAD) and 30 mL of Conditioner (250 mL/$13.99 CAD). Yawn.

Both the Elizabeth Grant Bath & Shower Gel and the AVEENO Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer with SPF 15 are full-sized, retailing for $20 CAD and $22.99 CAD respectively. I’m very happy with both of these, as one alone already makes up the subscription fee! I love luxurious body wash, I just have a problem justifying spending so much on it. This one is lightly perfumed, but I can’t put a finger to the scent. The AVEENO moisturizer was one that I had contemplated purchasing last year – now I’m very glad that I didn’t!

Marcelle is a Canadian company based in Quebec. It’s better known for their skincare products than their cosmetics, but I have always had good experiences with Marcelle skincare – my sister and I still use them regularly. I have never tried their cosmetics, but Marcelle is also known to be hypo-allergenic – you can browse their website to search for products that do not contain certain ingredients if you choose.

The Xtension Plus Mascara is new – not one I’ve noticed before. This 9 mL mascara is full-sized, retailing for $12.50 CAD. Marcelle has also come up with a BB cream, following the current BB cream craze. BB cream, or blemish balms, are all-in-one skincare-cosmetic products that moisturize, conceal, fight wrinkles, or control oil, depending on the brand and formulation (read my in-depth post about BB creams to learn more). Marcelle has two different shades for their BB cream. I’m not particularly excited about this sample, as 1) it is only 1 mL (full-sized 25 mL/$22.95) – I don’t expect to get more than one use out of the packet to really try it out; and 2) Asian brand BB creams can at least make more claims than Western brand BB creams, so I have less faith in Western brand BB creams. Not to mention they’re ridiculously overpriced in comparison. Still, this is my bonus 6th sample, so I’m not complaining too much.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the April Glossybox as well, with 3 full-sized products that made it more than worth it. I will probably be sticking with Glossybox for a while at least. My only problem with it is their unpredictable shipping time – my two Glossyboxes thus far have never been shipped earlier than the very end of the month. That’s one thing they really need to work on. Otherwise, I’m pretty happy with the samples and the size of the products.

If you’re interested in signing up for Glossybox, please do so as my referral – I’d really appreciate it!

What do you think?

One of my favourite places to shop is… Dollarama! Although you really need to have time and patience, because it’s notoriously difficult to find what you’re looking for – and to walk out with only what you were looking for. I was only trying to find a glass jar, and ended up with cute extras that I couldn’t help buying.

The pink Bic permanent markers caught my attention because they were… well… pink. The glass jar was what I had wanted to get – it was perfect, but it was the last one. I spent 20 minutes scrutinizing every aisle – three times – to no avail. Then I saw the cute mini drawers and picked one up. On my second venture through the aisles, I decided that they were so cute I needed a second one. The package of mini containers are handy to have, especially if I wanted to put them in my new mini drawers! I figured that the drawers would hold my Sephora samples pretty nicely, too. When I have a chance to organize all my cosmetics, I’ll probably end up going back to hunt for more mini drawers, if they don’t run out of them. Stock at Dollarama is always unpredictable

In Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) is a drug store that usually sells everything quite overpriced, in comparison to prices at Walmart and at grocery stores. The only consolation is that when they have sales, the price usually drops to below that of competitors. An additional perk is the opportunity to collect Optimum points for almost every dollar spent. Some purchases will give you extra points, depending on the weekly deal. Once in a while, you have the opportunity to earn 20 times the number of points if you spend over a certain amount – usually $50-75 CAD. Along with gift with purchases, the deals can become pretty hard to resist. You can collect points with an Optimum card, which you can get for free. You can earn additional points if you have an Optimum MasterCard for purchases outside of SDM as well  Optimum points can be redeemed for merchandise value. After a recent 20x points event, I had enough points to redeem $85 CAD worth of merchandise from SDM.

Left to right:

1. Soap & Glory The Fab Pore facial peel ($25 CAD)
2. Dollarama jar full of Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer for fair to medium skin keep your pants on, I’ll explain) ($6.99 CAD sale)
3. La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL Melt-In Cream SPF 60 sunblock ($28 CAD bonus set)
4. Maybelline Color Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24HR Cream Gel Shadow in 50 Edgy Emerald ($7.99 CAD sale)
5. L’Oreal Infallible Lipstick in 421 Charismatic Coral ($7.99 CAD sale)
6. L’Oreal Infallible Lipstick in 112 Unending Kiss ($7.99 CAD sale)

I gby these free after redeeming with my Optimum points. You can choose to purchase essentials too like Kleenex or eye drops – anything goes!

I had never heard of Soap & Glory until recently, when I read reviews by other bloggers about this brand. I’m always looking for pore-clearing products, and The Fab Pore sounded promising. Then again, all products sound pretty promising if you go by their description alone… In any case, I’m excited to try this out, in addition to the other handful of pore products I’ve recently acquired. This may take quite a while…!

Okay. I got the Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer because of the Earth Day event at Sephora on April 22nd: bring in a full-sized empty moisturizer container to receive a free full-sized Origins moisturizer! I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve had an empty (I know, I’m horrible!). I also didn’t have my moisturizer on me at Dark’s. Since the Jergens moisturizer was on sale, and I could redeem it as part of my Optimum points reward, I essentially got a free moisturizer and traded its container for another moisturizer! It’s convenient when things work out so nicely

The Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer is supposed to darken your skin tone gradually. I actually didn’t realize that it did until I picked it up in store – I had my eye on it during pre-haul flyer perusal. I thought it was a temporary illuminating moisturizer, with reflective properties. I’d love to see exactly how well it works out – ideally, the best way to do that would be to apply it to one leg only and then compare the two. But with summer approaching (aka leg-baring season), I’m not that brave. So, this may have to be more guesswork than I’d normally like. Maybe I could save it for winter before I do such a comparison – there’d be less opportunity for me to walk out with one dark more tanned than the other

Sephora offered two Origins moisturizers for the Earth Day event: Starting Over Age-Erasing Moisturizer with Mimosa (50 mL for $57 CAD) or A Perfect World Antioxidant Moisturizer with White Tea (50 mL for $49 CAD). The Age-Erasing Moisturizer with Mimosa targets mature skin, helping “to rebuild collagen, repair visible lines, and improve skin texture and tone.” The Antioxidant Moisturizer with White Tea aims to prevent skin damage with the properties of white tea: “potent antioxidants, anti-agers, anti-stress, anti-smoke, and anti-pollution.” Both moisturizers are usually packaged in jars:

I chose the Antioxidant Moisturizer because I’m really not at the age where I have defined lines to fix, despite the Age-Erasing Moisturizing being the more expensive one. I suppose I could have given it to my mother, though. Either way, I’m glad that the Earth Day event moisturizers were packaged in tubes as opposed to the regular jars – much more sanitary and travel-friendly!

I have been using La Roche Posay’s sunscreen for a few years now, ever since I decided on it during my sunscreen-craze two years back. The bonus 50 mL in addition to the full-sized 100 mL was a great deal at $28 CAD, especially since my own tube is running out. The sunscreen isn’t overly greasy, nor does it have an unbearable scent. I’d hated sunscreen as a kid because Coppertone Kids sunscreen felt like grease and smelled like plastic – so I never wore it. Horrible, I know, but I always thought I was invincible, and was quite proud of my t-shirt tan, thank you very much. I have never burned with this sunscreen, despite being in the sun all day. Granted, I am more careful with application and apply it more frequently.

I have also been hearing many good reviews of Maybelline’s Color Tattoo eyeshadows. I’ve never had much confidence in the staying power of any eyeshadow, simply because my eyelids produce natural eyeshadow repellent. No, I’m serious. Despite many different primers and many different brands and many different formulations. In any case, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try Color Tattoo, since it’s inexpensive and I was redeeming it with my points anyway.

I had never been a lipstick girl. My lipstick arsenal consisted of lip balms, glosses, and any lipsticks I owned were either from my mother or obtained in GWP’s. angelandthings‘ lipstick obsession has infected me quite recently, though. Since my first NARS lipstick purchase, I’ve been on a roll, looking for lipsticks left and right. I was intending to get L’Oreal’s Color Riche SPF 15 balms, but they weren’t very pigmented and were still around $10.99 CAD on sale. The testers also looked very mushy and gross – not appealing at all. So I opted for the Infallible lipsticks, which were packaged very nicely:

I really like these – and they were only $7.99 CAD on sale at SDM. Charismatic Coral the one on the left, and Unending Kiss is on the right. Swatches and review to follow!

Contest ends May 1st!

Please enter as my referral, if you like!

Now. I know I’m a little late to the party. Okay, a lot late – 15 years late. But as 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the tragedy of Titanic with a re-introduction into the theatres of the movie in 3D, I was reminded of the fact that I still hadn’t yet watched Titanic at all. I was never privy to the quotes and quips my classmates made from the movie – a decade ago.

Well, at long last, I finally watched the movie a few days ago for the first time. And I bawled hysterically. I need me a Jack Dawson.

Jack as he watches Rose descend in a life boat, assuring her that he will be fine whilst she is borne to relative safety.

He is a dream – no suits or pizzazz needed. And his passing, along with that of the 1500 others portrayed in the movie, moved me to no end. A few years back when I watched The Notebook, I was convinced that it was the chick flick – the one love story that every girl who watches it will melt and tear up. I loved that movie. But Noah and Ally died together, old, after having lived a long happy life with each other. But Jack, at the ripe age of 20, gives everything for Rose. What hit me hard was Rose’s comment that she’d never even had a photo of Jack, that he only exists in her memory – followed by the revealing of the photographs she took everywhere with her, all the photos of herself doing all the things she was supposed to have done with Jack. I’m very sentimental, so that really sent me over the edge. I’d have to say that Titanic is much more moving than The Notebook. Well done, crew – especially for enduring the severe conditions and putting up with the illness that ensued.

Jack telling Rose that she must survive while he floats next to her in the frigid Atlantic waters.

Prior to watching the movie, I’d read up quite a bit of history on the RMS Titanic, her sister ship the RMS Olympic, as well as the company White Star Line, which had built the two ships. I delved through the Wikipedia pages, watched YouTube documentaries. I was half-convinced by the insurance scam conspiracy theories. Numbers flashed left and right – total passengers, total survivors – organized by class. The statistics had made me feeling empty, but nothing was quite as heart-rending as watching the hundreds of people being denied a chance at life. Human nature can take quite an ugly turn when it’s every man for himself. The societal rankings and priorities issued were also very upsetting. It was all understandable, but still quite ugly. The overconfidence of mankind has often had deadly consequences – Titanic was not the only large-scale tragedy to have occurred from it.

The funny thing is, I also read the synopsis of the movie before I watched it. I knew what was coming. I knew who was dying. But that did not stop me from crying enough to compete with a broken tap. And respecting so many of the characters. I can’t believe this was what I’d missed out on in the last 15 years.

Only a few of the many who lost their lives on the Titanic – the Ship of Dreams.

In any case, a night of crying combined with an early morning did horrors for my facial expression the next morning. I wish I had a “before” picture to show you, but I’m kind of glad I didn’t take one, because then I would’ve been obligated to post it up. In effect, I had horrendous dark circles under my eyes, with puffy eyes and eyelids. My double eyelids had puffed up to make two creases, giving me triple eyelids. I looked quite miserable.

It’s a wonder that little fixes could help so much, but I had limited resources. I folded and wet some tissues with cold water and placed them on my eyes to reduce the puffiness and bring my eyes back to double-lidded ones. A brightening eyeshadow base (Laura Mercier Eye Canvas in EC-1) underneath some concealer (Maybelline Double Face Corrector – discontinued) hid the panda eyes. A touch of natural lip colour (NARS lipstick in Dolce Vita) helped bring life to my complexion. A little goes a long way, even with a miserable mess.

Eyes are still a little puffed up, but much better than they were when I woke up, believe you me.

I’m so glad I didn’t watch Titanic for the first time in theatres – my sobbing would have been quite embarrassing. Dark witnessed my breakdown and referred to Titanic as having “magical tear-inducing powers.”

Have you watched Titanic? In 3D?

What I used:

1. Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation in Light
2. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Double Face Perfector (discontinued)
3. NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base (left eye, to compare)
4. Laura Mercier Eye Canvas in EC-1 Light Ivory (right eye, to compare)
5. MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Cream in 3 Silver
6. MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Cream in 2 Steel
7. MAC Fluidline in Added Goodness
8. Shu Uemura eyelash curler
9. Fairy Drops Scandal Queen mascara
10. theBalm Hot Mama! blush
11. Mai Couture Social Gloss in Sake Sunrise 1001

I used Silver on the inner two-thirds of my eye and Steel on the outer one-third. Since my eyelids fold over so much, today I tried something new and applied eyeliner close to the lashline and only from the middle to the outer side of my eye -w hat do you think? I’m sure those of you with Asian eyes can relate.

Then it was off to a trip to Sephora! I wanted to check out the current 500 point perk from Too Faced:

While I liked the two eyeshadows on the left, I didn’t need or want (or hardly ever use) the highlighter in the center, and I don’t like having the two lip glosses on the right in the palette. I don’t like applying lip products from palettes – they tend to dry out much faster than individually packaged lip gloss. The palette was about the size of my smartphone – cardboard and magnetized for closure. Instead of a mirror, the application instructions were on the inside of the palette. I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, so saved my points instead.

I did end up hauling from the sale section instead – and boy were there a lot of goodies! I also got my Hourglass No. 28 Primer Serum sample – it supposedly has a blend of 28 vitamins and oils to hydrate and prep your skin.

Left to right:

1. Hourglass No. 28 Primer Serum sample
2. pink Sephora fragrance atomizer
3. silver Sephora fragrance atomizer
4. Sephora 2 in 1 Kabuki Flex brush
5. Sephora Long-Lasting Eyeliner in Glitter Taupe

You cannot begin to comprehend how happy I am with this meager purchase! Simply because I’ve had my eye on the atomizers and the kabuki flex brush since… forever. Since they were full priced. Since they’d dropped to sale prices. Since the sale prices dropped further. I’ve seen them on the Sephora website countless times at slowly decreasing sale prices but have never seen them in stores. Then, they continually sold out before I had a chance to make an online order.

Today, I found the atomizers for $3 CAD and the flex brush for $11 CAD. Oh. My. Three dollars. THREE DOLLARS! I’d like to squeal a little here but that would be unprofessional. I know I hardly wear fragrances, but with these cute little atomizers in my purse, maybe I’ll have more inSCENTive to (Dark, you are rubbing off on me)! Since I have a hard time keeping liner on and hardly own liquid liners, I figured it didn’t hurt to pick up the eyeliner as well for another $3 CAD.

I also made a happy discovery that the Sephora at Toronto Eaton Centre now carries Bobbi Brown! No more having to get to a Holt Renfrew in order to buy Bobbi Brown, with no returns allowed and uppity counter ladies. Hooray for Sephora’s return policy and earning beauty points for purchases!

Other happy news to share, but a bit of background first: I’m planning on doing a huge post about my eye makeup problems sometime, once I’ve found a solution to it all. I have trouble keeping eyeshadow and eyeliner in place, despite the many different brands I’ve tried. I’ve used Urban Decay, Too Faced, NARS, MAC, Smashbox, and Laura Mercier eyeshadow primers with little success. I’ve used low end eyeshadows to high end ones, powdered shadows to cream – none of them will stay in place without fading or creasing after a few measly hours. I’ve been trying oil-absorbing finishing powder pre-primer with little success. One time, my eye makeup was half gone after only 20 minutes (I’m looking at you, Smashbox eye primer). Only the MUFE Aqua Creams are able to withstand the test of time – but still not foolproof, quite yet. Today, one sales associate (SA) from Sephora told me that MAKE UP FOR EVER is soon releasing an eyeshadow primer as well. I’m super excited about this and am looking forward to see what MUFE has to offer – I have high hopes for you, MUFE, seeing as how your Aqua Creams are awesome!

Originally, I had intended to swatch and review the Mai Couture lip gloss, but at Sephora, I couldn’t resist trying on some lipsticks as well. So inevitably, I had to take off my gloss – guess it will have to wait for another day. I didn’t end up purchasing any full-priced items, because I figured that since they’re permanent items, they won’t be going out of stock anytime soon – I may as well wait until I get my first paycheque this summer before I splurge again. But I think I know one thing that will be on my shopping list; here I am with Dark, and sporting NARS lipstick in Niagara:

I went to Forever 21 after Sephora while I was waiting for Dark to pick me up and saw this beautiful cream strapless dress with gold patterns.

I really wanted it, but there were only 3 left and they were all large – which wouldn’t stay up on me for sure I wasn’t sure if it could be altered one to two sizes down, either, so I didn’t end up buying it. I just checked and they don’t seem to have it online… don’t you hate when you fall in love with that one item and it just doesn’t fit? Oh well.

I did walk by a lovely turquoise-coloured rectangular scarf which caught my eye as soon as I saw it. I have lots of thick woolen winter scarves and one light silky zebra-print squared scarf, but not one right in the middle in terms of warmth and substance. This one is perfect for the in-between Spring and Fall weather. I got it for $11.80 CAD and I love the colour so much, I didn’t care for the more versatile neutral cream version.

Then I proceeded to try on hats. Forever 21 had a lot of hats – small hats, big hats, red hats, blue hats – hats I don’t have names for because I am not a hat person. I’ve never been a hat person. I never looked good in baseball hats which flattened my hair and plastered sweat to my head, and girly hats (my name for any hat that has more coverage than a baseball hat) just looked plain silly on me. And I absolutely refused to be the tomboy who wore a silly girly hat – I’d be the laughingstock of all my friends. The only hats I ever tolerated and actually grew to love were visors. But visors are a a lot of trouble to put on and take off because I had to wear them under the  half of my hair (does that make sense?) because if it just sat on top of my head, I’d have a flattened groove in my hair around when I took it off. Eventually I gave up and only wore visors on vacation or when I knew I would be in the sun all day.

I began to realize that I am truly aging when over the last few mall ventures, I’ve been looking at girly hats. Because 1) I have grown into myself and am comfortable with my appearance; 2) I no longer dress or act like a tomboy and am slowly but surely changing my wardrobe into that of a young lady; and 3) I want a big floppy hat to help cover my face from the sun – because we all know that sun damage is what ages your skin the most.

So I picked a neutral coloured girly hat that I liked the shape of and would be most comfortable wearing with any outfit. I really like the scarf-like embellishment of this one – and coincidentally, it happened to be marked down to $10 CAD. By the way, if anyone knows the proper terminology for my new girly hat, please feel free to enlighten me, and I’ll promise to stop calling it a girly hat

Outfit: tank top from Dynamite, skinny jeans from Bootlegger.

Granted, I’m still not comfortable wearing a girly hat – I haven’t yet walked out in public with it yet. But owning one has to be the first step, right? I’m not sure I care whether or not my family makes fun of my changing wardrobe, either. I don’t think I will.

And would you look at that? The NARS Niagara lipstick is still on my lips after a dinner of pad thai. Not in full, but I’d say it’s pigmented enough. I need that paycheque!

Tell me: have you had any new things you’ve tried recently? Any that you want to try but haven’t yet had the courage?

This month’s shipping box was white instead of pink:

But within was the usual glossed pink Glymm Box.

As before, there’s the lovely Glymm bow tied around the package and the product info card was decorated with flowers. I have yet to see any flowers in April, but one can hope. Upon opening the box, a very nice fragrance spills out – I’m not quite sure how to describe it but it was undoubtedly coming from one of the items.

Left to right:

1. Mai Couture Social Gloss in Sake Sunrise 1001
2. Atelier Cologne – Orange Sanguine Fragrance
3. Lucia Soap No. 1 – Goat Milk and Linseed Soap
4. Free Your Mane – Sulfate Free Hydrating Shampoo & Daily Detangling Conditioner

Here, #1 and #3 are full-sized.

Looking at this spread, I’m not impressed. A bar of soap, packets of shampoo, and a tiny sample of cologne… By the way, isn’t cologne supposed to be for men? Why is it in my Glymm Box? As the “bonus 5th item”, there is a NuMe $100 gift certificate towards professional styling tools and hair extensions for their website. Considering I was not impressed at all with the NuMe hair extensions in last month’s Glymm Box, as well as the fact that I still didn’t feel any urge to try them a month later, I’m not dancing for joy over this “gift certificate”. I will check it out just so I can tell you about it later.

I highly suspect that the total bill will be much over $100 – otherwise they wouldn’t be quite so generous with their gift certificate. We shall see.

Back to the Box. Mai Couture seems like it rings a bell – I don’t remember how prestigious this brand is. I don’t own anything from this brand, though. I received a full-sized 5 mL product, which retails for $28 CAD.

The description on the product info card is as follows:

Treat your lips with luxury you simply can’t live without. Not only will this gloss fill in unwanted lines and restore moisture but it will create full kissable lips. Your lips will be healthy and plump. This sheer formula will create a sumptuous and luminous sheen. The secret: A complex mix of plant extracts naturally enhances lip volume effortlessly without the allergen. Your lips will be the life of the party.

I think I will be enjoying this gloss. I’ll keep you updated on how it wears. I suppose this month’s Box is worth it if this product alone costs $28 CAD.

The cologne. I didn’t even bother opening this. The sample is very, very small and it came in a sealed, translucent, waxy paper bag with a postcard in it. It’s all I have to say about it, really. 30 mL retails for $60 CAD, while 200 mL retails for $165 CAD.

The info card description:

Atelier Cologne is a niche perfume house based in Paris and New York. Each scent is intended to embody a “singular moment” of memory and experience. We present to you Orange Sanguine. “It was the kind of moment you would want to revisit. Everyone was here, gathered on the terrace for breakfast, and the scent of fresh oranges was diffusing in the yellow heat. A symphony of their laughter and waves hitting the cliffs played in the air.”

Hm. I didn’t get very much from that description. Did you?

In hindsight, I should’ve taken individual pictures of the rest of the products too. But anyway, the Lucia Soap was the fragrance that was infused into the Box. The 25 g bar is a full-sized soap, with a package of 8 soaps retailing for $17.50 CAD – so I guess I got $2.19 of soap. Classy. I do like the smell of this, but I have never had good experience with bar soaps, despite how silky and moisturizing the brand claims to be. I find that bar soaps give that almost-too-clean feel, where my skin is so stripped of moisture I finally understand the meaning of the phrase “squeaky clean”, as I can barely rub my hands together without them sticking. I much prefer liquid soaps – how about you?

These refined jewels are packed with pure botanical extracts and enriched with 100% certified organic Shea Butter. Not only will your skin feel silky-soft, it will also be thoroughly cleansed and smelling so seductive. Go ahead, drape yourself in luxury, you know you want to. Signature scents include: Goat Milk & Linseed (No. 1) and Wild Ginger & Fresh Fig (No.6).

I am so glad I got the Goat Milk soap, as I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed the scent of Ginseng at all. I might actually consider buying this – if only it were offered as a liquid soap instead.

Last but not least, the Free Your Mane shampoo and conditioner. Have I mentioned before how much I hate packets? There’s just something so unprofessional and cheap about them. It says that no, you don’t care to package your product in a user-friendly way that will ensure multiple uses without throwing it away after one go. And if you’re anything like me, you’d agree that packaging goes a long way when it comes to drawing the eye. I hate not being able to store unused product – packets are impractical, and should only ever be given as free samples.

“I’m sorry, I can’t make it, gotta wash my hair.” You will totally use this line after trying this shampoo & conditioner. It gently cleanses hair and scalp while natural oils help rebuild your hair’s delicate moisture balance. With an exclusive blend of Brilliant Baobab Oil from Africa, ultra-moisturizing Argan Oil from Morocco, anti-oxidant rich Pomegranate Seed Oil and Sweet Almond Oil it will truly Free Your Mane.

That does sound wonderful, doesn’t it? Too bad it doesn’t look like I’ll have enough product here for more than two washes. And who would be able to see immediate results from two measly washes? These are 7.4 mL packets, while the full-sized 300 mL product retails for $16 CAD. Honestly, if the full-sized product is 300 mL and it only costs $16, and you’re trying to promote your product, you could stand to make a deluxe size that included enough for a potential customer to actually try it out properly.

April 2012 Glymm Box: meh. I’m eager to try the lip gloss, but that’s about it. The bar soap smells nice but bar soaps have never done me any good, so I’m indifferent about trying this one out. The shampoo sounds great but the sample packet is a pathetic size – I’d rather have gotten one large shampoo sample than two shampoo & conditioner samples – I don’t have any expectations here. I don’t wear perfume, and this sample is smaller than something I’d get for free from Sephora – this sample I’m actually displeased with. I’ll let you know about the NuMe gift certificate when I have a chance to check out their website and products.

The March 2012 Glymm Box was initially disappointing, but I thought better of half of the products after some use. So far, the April 2012 Glymm Box is not overly impressive – we’ll see how it goes after I try some of these out. May 2012 may just be my last Glymm Box, if I don’t feel better about this box and the next one doesn’t wow me.

My disappointment could just be due to the fact that I don’t wear fragrances, I hardly ever switch shampoos, and I’ve always preferred liquid soaps. Here’s another blogger who was very happy with her April 2012 Glymm Box! What do you think?