I received these 3 MUA Sweet Sheen Lip Balms through my UK / Canada swap with Nicola of Beauty As I Know It, back in July:
I had never heard of these but I know of the brand MUA (Makeup Academy). It’s a pretty popular “high street” (aka drugstore) brand in the UK, and it’s not sold in Canada. I love tinted lip balms so I was excited to try these!
I take cleansing quite seriously. In the morning, it’s not as much of a focus for me, since my skin is mainly covered with skincare that I applied the night before, and any sebum from my skin from sleeping. However, by nighttime, my skin has gone through a full day of external elements including skincare, makeup, sebum and any environmental pollutants / dust that have coated my face for 16+ hours. I need to remove all of this thoroughly before applying my evening skincare.
I use 4 key cleansing products:
• Oil cleanser
• Eye makeup remover
• Micellar water
• Toner
Here’s a more in-depth look at what I’m currently using.
Finally, I’m getting around to wearing MAC Party Line! I got this a while back as my Back to MAC item, where I returned 6 MAC empties for a lipstick. That was back in September. But the shade I chose was quite a deep plum colour, more of a Fall-looking shade that I had to wait until recently to wear.
Plus, I had to work up the nerve to wear this deep colour! 😮
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I guess I’m that friend with benefits. 😉 This is the 2nd time I’ve offered up my Sephora VIB 20% off discount for my non-VIB friends! The last time was back in April, and I was able to re-qualify for VIB status solely on my friends’ purchases. 😛
This time surprisingly, the list was not as long! Here’s what I bought on behalf of my friends:
Friend #1: Maison Martin Margiela “Replica” Jazz Club perfume $120
I’ve tried this perfume on before and it is a unique smoky fragrance with tobacco, leather and rum and notes.
Before we get to the Pants Party, I want to acknowledge that today is my 300 Days of Makeup No-Buy!!! And this will be my final No-Buy badge before I’m finished my yearlong ban.
I’m SO psyched to be finished my No-Buy, you can’t even imagine! 😀
Random: Did you know that in 10 pin bowling, 300 is the perfect score? This is achieved by getting a strike 12 times in a row. 😮
So, I recently bought FOUR pairs of pants! I haven’t bought pants in ages. Hence, the Pants Party:
That’s Brick, from Anchor Man… I just couldn’t help myself, heh. 😛
I saw this on Chic and Polished so I had to do it too!
Blush or Bronzer: Blush, I just love blush and apply it 99% of the time, whereas I wear bronzer maybe once a month.
Lipgloss or Lipstick: More lipstick nowadays but still more of a balm gal
Eyeliner or Mascara: Mascara, I can survive without liner
Foundation or Concealer: Concealer is just a more concentrated form of foundation so I can use concealer to cover just the areas that need it
Neutral or Colour Eyeshadow: Give me neutral or give me death!
Pressed or Loose eye shadows: Pressed, nobody’s got time for loose
Brushes or Sponges: Brushes although sponges are good for patting on colour for a more intense application
This polish should really be renamed to “Bait and Switch” because it’s some shady business going on here! Firstly, I spied this polish in a random dusty Guardian Pharmacy on the bottom shelve behind some Revlon polishes. It was covered with a fine layer of dust but I was quite pleased with myself for finding a Milani nail polish since Milani isn’t readily available here. I think the lady at the cash was surprised someone wanted to buy this polish – it’s likely sat on the shelves for 4 years since the Neon collection were released in 2010 (I bought this polish last year). There were a few Neon shades in the display but the vibrant purple colour called “Rad Purple” drew me in:
The important thing to note about this polish bottle is that it is opaque, which I didn’t even notice until I got home and opened the bottle. Now for the bait and swatch…
Since I finished up my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (MSFN) powder last month, I finally got to open up my MAC Studio Sculpt Defining Powder (SSDP), which has been sitting in my stash since it launched in Sept 2014. 
I know… I have a tendency to buy stuff and then not open it for months.
The compact costs $37 for 10g and is made in Italy. I mainly bought this because the tester at the MAC store felt so smooth. I told the MA that I love the MSFN and she said this was comparable but even more smooth looking. I was intrigued! I was matched to the Light Plus shade.
At Winners (Canadian TJMaxx) a couple of weeks ago, I saw a bunch of Shiseido Perfect Rouge lipsticks for sale at $12.99 a pop. They’re regularly $30 each. It reminded me of the collection that I had at home… which I paid full price for (don’t you just hate that? Seeing stuff you bought at full price marked down at a later date?) I keep neglecting my collection so I thought I’d pull them out:
I own (left to right):
• Fleur OR341 – orange coral
• Dreamscape RD351 – muted pinkish coral
• Sublime RD142 (gwp size) – warm soft red
• Harmony RD750 – brick red
• Pink Mesa PK303 – brownish pink nude
• Venetian Rose RS711 – mauve rose
It seems that not a lot of people have tried these lipsticks, so I’ll do swatches of them here and provide some information about this fabulous lipstick.
I saw this topic on Styled by Lauren so I wanted to do my own list too. Since so many of you are listing your Sephora VIB sale shopping lists, I’ll kind of join in with this post even though I won’t be partaking in the VIB sale this time around (*sob*). Next year I’ll be able to indulge in getting these items from brands I want to try more of:
Charlotte Tilbury
The obvious choice. Since this brand’s launch (and debut in Canada in June this year), it’s been a hot brand in the makeup world. I got my grubby little hands on a lipstick via a gift card for my birthday, and I’m itching to try more from the line, namely the Colour Chameleon eye shadow pencil in Dark Pearl, an eye shadow quad, and possibly a blusher.
Surratt Beauty
This brand launched at Sephora this year and I’ve been anxious to try something from it. The first thing I have to get my paws on is their Relevée Lash Curler. I’ve perused the displays and it appears that most of the products are made in Japan – the line does have a Japanese aesthetic to it. I want to try their Artistique Blushes and Eyeshadows – which all fit into custom palettes, I’m a sucker for custom palettes!
