Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Today I’m reminded of those awesomely grotesque trading cards called Garbage Pail Kids (GPK):
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The characters depicted were a modification of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls (which I also loved) in ghastly situations with a punny twist on their names.  I actually had a couple of packs of the GPK cards and a little toy.  I’m surprised I was allowed them, since in our household, we weren’t even allowed to say the word “fart” (we had to substitute “pass wind”… “Pass wind face” doesn’t have the same ring as “Fart face” imo).  Here’s a short trip down memory lane.

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Orange nail polishes

This post is dedicated to fivezero.  I had lodged a complaint on her blog a few weeks ago because I felt she had been featuring too many orange nail polishes on her blog lately.  I mentioned that I only owned 2 orange nail polishes whereas she had 20 minimum.  Well, it turns out I actually own 3 orange nail polishes, and in the spirit of Halloween, I will showcase them here:
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L to R:
• Essie Braziliant
• L’Oreal Nail Color Orange You Jealous
• Essence #46 Wake Up! (this was the one I didn’t realize I had)

I’m testing out something different for this post – a black background!  I’m not sure how I feel about it – I think it makes colours look wonky.  I mainly did it for the Halloween-y theme of orange and black. 😛

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TBT: Sephora + Pantone 2012 Colour of the Year – Tangerine Tango

This Throw Back Thursday doesn’t go back too far, but it features the colour  orange which is appropriate for Halloween coming up.  Just 3 years ago, Sephora partnered with Pantone (the universal colour authority) to promote the colour of the year.  In 2012, the colour was Tangerine Tango:

It’s a deep reddish orange that translates well into a variety of cosmetics products including blush, eye shadows, lipsticks and nail polish. Not being able to pass up anything limited edition, I bought this quad:
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Sephora + Pantone Universe Color of the Year – Eyeshadow Quad

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Michaels haul

Now for something entirely different!  I mentioned in my intro post to this blog that I dabble in crafts – mainly knitting and some jewellery making.  So I was pretty stoked when a new Michaels store opened up in downtown Toronto!  I finally had a chance to visit this past weekend and of course, I can never walk out of a Michaels store empty-handed:
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In my defense all the beads were 50% off! 😉

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Illamasqua Nail Varnish Collection Megapost

Today’s post is dedicated to Julija of Infinitely Awkward, and pays homage to fivezero’s megaposts.  In one of the comments, Julija asked me how many Illamasqua polishes I owned – I did a quick count from my inventory spreadsheet, and the answer was: 47.  😮 (Correction, the number of unique shades is actually 44, I purchased back-ups of certain shades which I will indicate with an asterisks) Arguably, Illamasqua are one of my all time favourites in terms of formula and colour selection. Up until last year, I had easy access to the brand but unfortunately, Illamasqua decided to exit from the North American market. Many of the ones I own were purchased during the clearance sales. Here is my Illamasqua collection, grouped by colour:
Illamasqua_mega3 Illamasqua_mega4 Illamasqua_mega5 Illamasqua_mega6 Illamasqua_mega7
I also recently purchased these nail swatching spoons – I’ve been looking for ones with short handles (on the right) rather than the long ones that are meant for display purposes (left):
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I’m pleased with these shorter ones, now I can see swatches of all my polishes easily and store them on a ring.  I’ll probably do series of nail polish megaposts with other brands in my stash.  Here we go – every single shade of Illamasqua nail polish I own swatched.  These are listed alphabetically and shown with 2 coats (no base / top coat) – shade descriptions are from Illamasqua’s site where possible.

Mega picture heavy post!

L’Occitane Shea Butter Gentle Toner

L’Occitance is a brand that I don’t tend to turn to for facial skincare – their biggest draw for me is their Shea Butter Hand Cream.  I decided to give their Shea Butter Gentle Toner ($25 for 200ml) a try since it’s meant to be both gentle and moisturizing, plus it’s alcohol free.  I got this for “free” last year when I redeemed my Optimum Points at Shoppers Drug Mart.
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Bioderma Cicabio Crème

I may have mentioned before that I’ve got sensitive skin.  This applies not only to my face but also to my body.  I get random contact dermatitis and hives fairly frequently.  In fact, I’m actually allergic to an ingredient that is supposed to help with skin irritation and healing: bacitracin.  This ingredient is found in common topical ointments such as Polysporin / Neosporin.  I’ve been wanting to find an alternative if I ever needed something to help heal my skin.  I stumbled upon Bioderma Cicabio Crème:
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In English it reads: Soothing Repairing Cream for irritated damaged skin. Sounds promising.  I kept this unopened until I had an opportunity to try it out recently.

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TBT: MAC Twig

In today’s Throwback Thursday post, I’m showing my MAC Twig lipstick:
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The colour in itself isn’t really a throwback, although I’m willing to bet money that the shade has been around since the inception of MAC.  But what’s TBT about this lipstick is the bullet.  It’s silver.  And no, it’s not a limited edition.

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Mandom Barrier Repair Concentrate Serum

I have another skincare review since in September I finished up all of my skincare and rather than buying more (due to No-Buy), I finally cracked open a bunch of products in my stash.  The Mandom Barrier Repair Concentrate Serum is a product that I had read many online rave reviews and had been keen on trying it out for myself. I purchased this in December 2014 from Sasa.com, at $16 for 60g.
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The bottle comes in a clam-shell packaging that thankfully did not require bolt-cutters to open.  The baby on the packaging kind of freaks me out.

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Untrieds: Essie Cashmere Mattes

This post was prompted by a review of the Doves and Roses’ review of Essie Spun in Lux in which she talked about how quickly the polish chipped.  I had purchased 3 polishes from the Cashmere Matte collection from my birthday haul but I had yet to try them.  After reading Anne’s review, I was a bit apprehensive about the formula.  The Cashmere Matte collection came out earlier this year with 6 shades ranging from ivory all the way to a deep blackened navy – I bought the mid-range shades (as I’m wont to do!):
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I’m not a fan of matte finish polishes but I bought these with the intent to apply a topcoat over them to bring out the neat blue shimmer.

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