Tweet My Favourite Products of 2010

Hi everyone :)

Before i start reviewing and swatching all my new goodies :), i thought i should do a little post to wrap up my 2010! I know this is a bit late, but better late than never! :D so, here are my all time favourite products of 2010 :) I use most of these products on a daily basis, some i have even repurchased once or several times!


note: Since there are a TON of products i want to mention, i will try not to go into full details about each product unless it is one i have never reviewed on this blog. Otherwise, i will put links under the products i have previously reviewed that will direct you to the review post :)

Favourite Face/Skincare Products of 2010

1. Revlon Photoready Foundation in Nude
Im almost done my first bottle and i do plan on repurchasing once im done :) i know it does has some shimmer which some people might not like, but i dont think its too noticeable once applied. What i love about it is that is gives pretty good coverage, helps evens out my skintone and is very nice for photos :) i also LOVE the pump! its probably the best pump i've ever used as it allows you to pump out as much or little as you need <3

2. Maybelline Mineral Power Concealer
-review here-

3. Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder - translucent
Im already finishing my second compact, so you can really tell how much i love this lol i apply this daily with my ELF kabuki brush to set my foundation. What i love about it is that its easy to use (in pressed form so its not messy), does a great job of setting my makeup so i dont look shiny, keeps my oily tzone matte for the whole day, annnd its cheap to buy! I also use this with a small fluffy brush to set my concealer and it helps alot! :)

4. Clarisonic Classic in Pink
-review here-

5. Neutrogena Oil-Free Fresh Moisture
This is my all time favourite moisturizer!! I know im weird, but i dont like using creams or lotions on my face because it feels too heavy and oily for my already oily skin. so i tend to stick to only using gel moisturizers and this one is my HG. although its got a gel like consistency, it feels as moisturizing as any other cream lotions but absorbs much faster and leaves behind nice silky soft skin :)

i have repurchased this moisturizer so many times i have lost count and im almost done the tube i have now! so its about time i go repurchase another :) unfortunately, the last few times i went searching for this, i couldnt find it! i am SOO worried that its getting discontinued so next time i find one, im stocking up like no tomorrow!!

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Favourite Eye Products of 2010

1. Urban Decay Naked Palette
- review here -

 2. Wet n' Wild Coloricon Palettes
- review here -

3. Stila Smudgepot in Bronze
I dont normally venture outside drugstore products too often, but i am SO glad i did for this one! I love love love this product and have used up quite a big chunk of it lol (pretty much used it everyday since i got it!) i chose the shade bronze because black seems too heavy for day-to-day wear, but aside from color, the formula itself is amazing! super soft and creamy, but once its on, it stays on! i love it and will most definitely repurchase once im done!

4. Covergirl Lashblast Volume - waterproof
This has been my favourite mascara ever since i first started using it. Although it doesnt volumize as much as id like, it definitely lengths and darkens my lashes nicely. The best part about this, is that it holds my straight asian lashes in a curl for the whole freaking day! *yay* my lashes are so stubbornly straight that not alot of mascara can hold them up, but this one does and since its cheap & readily available, im not switching mascaras for awhile!

mascara runner-up : Loreal Voluminous in Black Brown
Sometimes when i want more volume in my lashes, i use this mascara first and then a layer of covergirl after. I really like this mascara as well because it really helps add volume and thickness to my lashes. I chose the shade in black brown so i could wear this on its own for lazymakeup days :) but overall, if covergirl never came out with their lashblast, this would be my mascara!

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Favourite Lip Products of 2010

1. Nivea Essential or A Kiss of Moisture
- review here -


2. Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine
Along with my nivea tubes, i also LOVE this stufff! It smells heavenly (like butterscotch *yumm*) and gives my lips just the perfect amount of moisture. I tend to use this in the morning after i wash and moisturize my face. then after im done applying makeup, my lips will be all ready and prepped up for any lipstick/gloss i plan on putting on for that day :) the only thing i dont like about this is the application method as it comes in a small jar.. so its not as sanitary as others. still, i love both the packaging and the product inside!

3. Maybelline Moisture Extreme in Nude Blush
- review here -


4. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses - all shades
These lipglosses are the best lipglosses ever! Although i do have to say the pigmentation could be slightly better, and the color choices could be slightly wider, i absolutely love the formula! it is soo smooth and 100% not sticky! I know alot of people dont mind the stickness, but i for one cant stand it! So these lipglosses are perfect for me and currently, my favourite shade is Life's a Peach :)

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Favourite Blushes of 2010

1. Annabelle - Rapture
2. ELF - Candid Coral (swatch)
3. MAC MSF in Stereo Rose & Petticoat (swatch)

4. Hard Candy - Living Doll & Honeymoon (swatch living doll, swatch honeymoon, both applied)

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Favourite Nail Polishes of 2010

sparkling diamonds - LA colors

1. Sally Hansen - Silver Slightblade
2. Nailene french manicure - Petal Pusher
3. LA Colors - Mega Watt
4. Rimmel - Steel Grey (Swatch)
5. Revlon - Minted (swatch)
6. Nicole by OPI - Black to the future (swatch)
7. Sally Hansen - Gray by Gray (swatch)
8. LA Colors - Sparkling Diamonds (Swatch)

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Favourite Brushes of 2010

1. ELF Studio Powder Brush (review)
2. ELF Studio Kabuki Face Brush
3. ELF Studio Small Angled Brush
4. Ecotools Bronzer Brush (review)
5. Ecotools Crease Brush
6. Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush (review)
7. Sigma E30 Pencil Brush (review)
8. Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush (review)

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Favourite Skin Boosters & Serums of 2010

1. The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost
Great as a primer and a skin boost! This not only smells sooo good! (think oranges!) but also has a silky texture that is great for prepping your skin for makeup :) Plus, its supposed to make your skin less dull and i think its done a great job!


2. Loreal Lash Serum

i lovee this stuff! you apply it day and night on your lashes and its supposed to make them thicker, longer and healthier! although i dont have crazy results, i do notice that my lashes are alot healthier now in that less fall off during makeup removal. Plus, i do notice slight thickening and lengthing and i am soo excited :D <3

3. My Beauty Diary Masks - Natto & Aloe Vera
- review here - 

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and i think that about sums it up :) theres probably  a ton of other products i wish i could mention and it took me a long while to narrow it down to the list i have above lol. but overall, im happy with the ones i chose :) Starting with next post, there will be a TON of new swatches and reviews :) i hope you're all as excited as i am! take care!

Tweet Birthday Haul :D

Today is my 21st Birthday!! 

*yay* I am now offiicially legal everywhere in the world :D haha feels pretty good!



Anyways, since im writing this post the night before, i cant really tell you what i did for my birthday just yet :p but here are some items that i hauled as a little present to myself hehe :D i didnt go too crazy because my new years resolution was to spend less lol so i told myself that after my birthday.. i will stop spending as much and restrain myself from purchasing items/products that i already have. hope it works out! lol

firstly, i picked up my free birthday gift from sephora

this year, the birthday gift is a vanilla birthday cake shampoo, shower gel and bubble bath from philosophy. Although i really wanted the gift from last year (which changed AFTER i got my bday gift) i have to admit, this stuff smells REAL good :D cant wait to try it!

Next, i stopped by MAC to take a look at their new collections :) I usually dont buy MAC even though i LOVE their products... cause they are pretty pricey and they add up FAST! lol but i swatched several of their products (i'll post swatches of the Peacocky eyeshadows i swatched in a separate post) and found two i really really liked! So i thought, why not :) i'll treat myself to a little birthday MAC gift hehe

i ended up getting the "let me pop" paintpot from the cham pale collection, as well as Dalliance eyeshadow from the peacocky collection.

Dalliance is a gorgeous white gold shade with green undertones.. i will do a separate post for review and swatches! but let me tell you, the peacocky eyeshadows are REALLY pigmented and buttery! plus, they are HUGE! haha much bigger than the normal eyeshadows :)

Let Me Pop is a gorgeous coral paintpot with gold shimmer. although i saw some reviews of the cham pale collection having gritty paintpots, i swatched this several times and so far, i think this ones pretty smooth! however, i do have to say it is very shimmery and not as pigmented as other paintpots.. still, i LOVE the color!

I also stopped by Zellers to pick up some more moisturizer since i was running low.. unfortunately, they didnt have any of my favourite in stock :( and i refuse to use any other! lol on the good side, i finally found wet n wild's LE holiday palettes! I was SUPER STOKED for these as im sure you know by now, these palettes are my all time favorite drugstore palettes :) and the new LE ones have such gorgeous colors plus many MAC dupes! *yay* i waited for these to come to canada for so long :D

i got 3 palettes out of the 4 :)  

 

golden goddess

 

sugar plum fairy

night elf

finally, to end off my makeup haul lol, i did stop by smashing cosmetica up in crossiron mills. For those who were a fan of this store like me (this was my fav store in that mall!), i am sad to say that they have now closed down that location :( if you're in the calgary area, the next closest smashing cosmetica will be in banff :( *boo*

BUT, good news is that before they closed, they actually had a pretty good sale! the majority of their products were all sold for $5!!! So i picked up several items i've been wanting to try :)

Firstly, i got thebalm shady lady eyehsadows! i've always wanted the full palette, but since they ran out of stock, i chose 4 shades which i loved :)

mischievous marissa, luscious lani

all about alex, just this once jamie

again, i will do a separate post to review and swatch, but i have to say, these are SOOO buttery and pigmented its crazy! i loveeeeee them and wish i tried them earlier!! <3

Along with the eyeshadows, i also picked up Becca's shimmering skin perfector.. which i think is like a highlighter :) this normally retails for (i think) around $50!! so picking it up for $5 is AMAZING! :D i've never tried anything from this brand, but this looks promising :)

Last item from smashing cosmetica was a stila lippie in olivia :) never tried their lippies but this shades looked like a pretty everyday shade so i couldnt help myself hehe

look at the pretty packaging!!

I also picked up a ring and a pair of suede gloves from H&M. i absolutely LOVEE the ring! and the gloves are pretty and classy hehe and they will keep me warm <3

love love love big ringss :D

warm suede gloves :)

Finally, the last two things i got are kind of random but i love them :) of course, i HAD to get my all time favourite cupcakes hehe these are the red velvet cupcakes from buttercream and they are sooo good! not too sweet but just the perfect balance between the cupcake and icing <3 love love love!

and then, i saw this pink hourglass at winners and i just couldnt not get it lol. i dont know.. it seems pretty random and all, but i just love it :) i think im going to put it on my bedside table and use it at night when i read. this hourglass is supposed to time 30 minutes so that should be a good chunk of time for me to relax before bed :)

 

So there you have it! theres my little birthday haul :D i will be doing separate posts for each makeup product and provide reviews and swatches as always :) my bf also just hinted to me that he has finished wrapping all my presents so i SUPER cant wait to open them up tmr! hehe :D hope you all have a good day and i'll be back soon with more goodies and reviews!

Tweet Special Deals: Stila, MAC, Coastal Scents & Benefit

Hi everyone! I've been quite busy lately with midterms and assignments and all (actually, im currently working on one but just taking a break ^_^) but i thought i'd let you all in on a few amazing upcoming deals and offers!


1. Stila cosmetics
Their friday happy hour offer starts now and best of all, Stila also has two amazing offers! For tomorrow only, all orders will receive free shipping and a free lip candy ($22 value) in one of three colors! Here are the codes:

Fruit Punch (code: FRUITPUNCH), Sugar Plum (code: SUGARPLUM) or Brown Sugar (code: BROWNSUGAR)

Click to start shopping!
Stila Friday Happy Hour - Trick or Treat! Free Lip Candy and Free Shipping!


2. MAC Cosmetics Canada

To celebrate their new collection - A Tartan Tale - MAC is offering free standard shipping with any purchase. Use code MACGIFT. Offer valid until midnight Oct 31, 2010. Plus, if you spend $90 or more, you will receive A Tartan Tale, MAC fantastical holiday printed story for free! No offer code neccessary.

Click to start shopping!

3. Coastal Scents
Enjoy $5 off any purchase when you spend $25, take $10 off any purchase when you spend $50 and $20 off any purchase when you spend $100 or more. As National Breast Cancer awareness month comes to a close, they are offering their Think Pink 12 piece palette with rose petal inspired shades. Plus, they are also bringing back the Think Pink Brush Set! Im thinking of getting the brush set... what do you think?

4. Benefit - Trick or Treat

Clicking treat will get you: a free full sized pocket pal (their lip/cheek stain and clear gloss) with $50 purchase. Enter SPOOKY10 at checkout.

Clicking trick will show you she laq and magic ink.. unfortuantely, i dont see any offers with these two products.

And thats it.. at least for now! If i find any more exciting offers i will let you all know asap :) Happy shopping!! (i hope i dont get pulled into buying the pink brush set from coastal scents... i have more brushes than i need, but.. it just looks so pretty!!! ><)

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Tweet Stila Silk Shimmer Gloss Review

As promised, here's the review and swatches for Stila's Silk Shimmer Glosses! I absolutely love these and hope you guys do too!

Stila silk shimmer glosses with flash

Stila silk shimmer glosses without flash

 I got these two sets at Winners for $9.99 CAD each! Compared to the price of a single silk shimmer gloss at sephora ($22), this was totally worth it. First off, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of these! I will go through each of these separately as it is hard to review them all at once. But overall, these are a little bit sticky, (but it is bearable!) and although they seem very strong in the pictures, are all very smooth and wearable once applied. I'm very happy with these :) Here's the swatches!

Swatches with no flash

Same order as pictured above

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Swatches with flash

What they say:

Stila's new silk shimmer gloss in kitten delivers that golden pink shine to the lips that we all have come to love. The silk proteins make for smooth, moisture-rich wear, while ultra-fine pearl shimmer provides that signature stila shine. Enriched with vitamins A, C, and E, this lip-loving formula is bound to become the next cult classic.

My take:
I have checked both Stila and Sephora's website but have only found this silk shimmer gloss available in kitten. Im not sure of the names for the rest of these colours so I will review these in order from left to right:

1. Baby Pink:

This one has the BEST smell out of all of the other silk shimmer glosses. It smells like a hazelnut hot smoothie from tim hortons! yummmmmmmm! The colour is very pretty with no shimmer. Although it looks very pigmented in pictures, when applied, it is actually more of a sheer pink.. just a hint of colour. However, layer this over a light pink lipstick and it would look amazing!

2. Fuschia Pink:

This one has a sweet candy like smell. The colour is a nice fuschia pink with no shimmer. I found that this one was much more pigmented than the baby pink colour and it shows up much better on the lips. It is a brighter pink and would look great either on its own or paired with a lipstick.

3. Shimmer Fuschia Pink:

This one also has that sweet candy like smell similar to that of the fuschia pink. This colour is similar to the fuschia pink but is loaded with shimmer. In my opinion, I think this one is nicer than the fuschia pink, mainly because i love the shimmers! :) It is also well pigmented and applies smoothly (You cant feel the shimmer bits). This one would look great on its own or paired with a lipstick as well. 

4. Shimmer Red:

Although this looks like scary red in the tube, it is actually a very sheer light gloss with shimmer. It is slightly tinted and has some pink undertones. This one also has that sweet candy smell. Prior to testing these glosses, i had thought that this and the copper brown were not very wearable and that i would not like them as much. However, i found that this was actually very nice and very wearable. :)

5. Copper Brown

I think the majority of these glosses have that sweet candy smell.. this one is also the same. Now brown lipstick/gloss is normally a colour that i stay away from mainly because its not very flattering for my skintone. This doesnt mean that it wont look good on you so you may have a different opinion! That being said, I can see myself rarely using this as it is simply not the right colour for me. Also, there is a metallic sheen to this one which i find a bit overpowering. Maybe if it was toned down a bit, i wouldnt mind this one so much :)

6. Kitten?

Im not sure if this is the one, but it looks very similar to Kitten. AND finally, a different smell :) This one doesnt have a strong smell, but it is definately not like the sweet candy ones earlier. Nor is it like the hazelnut. Its more of a creamy... lipsticky (not the bad kind) smell? Im not quite sure how to describe it, but it is a pleasant smell. Out of all the glosses, i think this one is the most neutral toned one. It is a nude pinkish colour with shimmer. This one would look better paired with a lipstick, but could definately be worn on its own for more natural, less makeup days :)

Overall: A+

All of these have a very very nice texture. They are silky smooth (as the name implies), conditioning and applies easily. I think all of them are wearable with the exception of the copper brown, which is more metallic. My favourite silk shimmer gloss definately has to be the baby pink one. I cant stop smelling it!! and the colour (although a bit sheer) is perfect for everyday wear :). My new favourite pairing at the momment is Rimmel's Airy Fairy and this lipgloss ♥. (I used this in my FOTD that i previously posted, heres what it looks like)

For a more dramatic look or more pigmented lips, i'd have to go with the shimmer fuschia pink, as it has the best colour payout with loads of shimmer! Here it is paired with Avon's apricot glow :)

If you have a chance, i'd definately recommend these, especially if you can find them in these trio sets!!

xAgnes

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any companies and any of the above products mentioned were all purchased by me with my own money, or given to me from family and friends. All reviews are from my personal experience and what works for me may not work for you. Please keep this in mind when testing these products.