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:
In my defense all the beads were 50% off! 😉
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:
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):
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.
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.
Continue reading
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:
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.
In today’s Throwback Thursday post, I’m showing my MAC Twig lipstick:
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.
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.
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.
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!):
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.
I recently discovered the Canadian brand Saje, which sells products that promotes natural wellness. I had never heard of the brand until I encountered it at its new location inside Toronto Eaton Centre. Although the primary focus of the store is on their essential oils and aromatherapy, I was immediately drawn to their skincare section. I was half in the market for a new facial spray since I was finishing up my favourite Sukin one and I was out of facial mists – I was all set to simply buy a replacement of the Sukin rather than try something new. But then I spied a host of facial mists at Saje and was so won over by them that I bought 2:
Rose Hydrating Euphoric Mist ($14.95 for 100ml) and Jasmine Exotic Mist ($12.95 for 100ml). I keep the Rose at home and the Jasmine for the office.
I’ve seen this Tag done a few times (Megan has OCD, fivezero, and chubbychicsdiary, to name a few) and I guess I’m a glutton for punishment because I decided to answer 100 random and frankly, kind of intrusive questions! The title says no one ever asks these questions, but it seems to me that is no longer true! 😉
I know that not everyone will read this whole post so I’m going to ask this one small favour – can you still “like” this post? I need the encouragement. 😆 (and this is the only time I’m going to encourage people to like and not read a post!)
1. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Closed. Have you seen Monsters Inc.?
2. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?
Uh yeah. That’s what they’re there for – taking.
3. Do you sleep with you sheets tucked in or out?
Tucked in! I like to be snug as a bug.
4. Have you ever stolen a street sign before?
Nope! I guess I’ll have to put that on my bucket list now.
5. Do you like to use post-it notes?
Yes, they’re super handy.
This post is dedicated to chicandpolished, who requested that I do a review on Poshé topcoat after I raved about it in my Essie gel-setter topcoat review.
It is by far my favourite fast drying topcoat that I’ve tried! I push it onto all my friends and they love it too. 🙂
stash matters 