Bright blushes are perfect for summertime – they look especially gorgeous against tanned skin. But fair skinned gals, don’t let bright blushes scare you – they add a flush of colour when dusted on lightly at the apple of the cheeks. Put your sunglasses on – here are some of my favourite bright blushes from my stash:
I do have to say though, no photograph can truly capture the BRIGHTNESS of these blushes – you have to see them in person to appreciate them!
Starting this Friday, I’ll be on a road trip! We’ll be heading to northern parts of our province, also known as “cottage country” (don’t let the word “cottage” fool you, they have multi-million dollar homes that are owned by Hollywood celebs), and then heading to Ottawa. We’ll be staying mostly at Bed & Breakfasts (B&Bs) which are essentially rooms or a portion of someone’s house. They’re more homey than hotels – and usually the breakfasts (included) are amazing! We won’t exactly be roughing it, but I will be fairly low-key in terms of attire and makeup. I always ask myself 3 questions when packing makeup for a trip:
Keeping these in mind, here is what I’m packing for our 9-day trip.
I typically carry my makeup roll for the cosmetic items and a separate bag for skincare. The makeup roll was a gwp from Smashbox, and the cute travel bag is from Consonant Skincare.
Happy Canada Day! 
In honour of Canada Day, today I’ll showcase some Canadian brands and a few items I own from each.
Lise Watier (Shoppers Drug Mart, online)
LW made her name firstly through her signature perfume, Neiges (which I don’t particularly care for) but has since branched out to colour cosmetics and skincare. I’ve grown fond of her lipsticks, eye shadows, and concealer.
When I finally understood the concept of a transition eye shadow, it upped my eye shadow blending game by tenfold. A transition eye shadow shade is one that is typically matte and slightly darker than your natural skin tone – this helps to blend the lid colour into the brow area. Most days now, I just pop on a shimmery neutral shade [taupe!] on the lid up to the crease, then I blend the edges with a transitional shade – something like this:
My blending skills are better than my photoshop skills.
It looks like I spent a lot of time with my eye look but in fact, it took less than 5 minutes. I’ve depotted some of my most used transition colours into a small z-palette so I can have a range to choose from each morning:
I would group my transition shades into neutral, warm and cool categories. I’m around NC25 so these would be suitable for skin tones that are similar.
After being burned one too many times with discontinued or limited edition items that I LOVE, I decided to take matters into my own hands and purchased back-ups of certain products for insurance purposes. Here are some items I have unopened in my stash:
Anna Sui Dolly Girl Lipstick in Natasha 003 – $25
I’ve already used up an entire tube of this – this is my second tube, plus I have another unopened one in my stash. It’s a gorgeous sheer coral shade with tiny shimmers that’s very hydrating. I use this as a tinted lip balm and it goes with any makeup I’m wearing. The pretty packaging and bullet design are just added bonus! This was a limited edition item from 2011.
I was tagged by Sandy of Lippie Obsession to do this and it’s right in my wheelhouse! Since I pulled out all my lipsticks yesterday for the lip stash post, I figured I’d do this tag today. For the Makeup Muggles out there, MLBB stands for “My Lips But Better” which means these lip products enhance the natural lip colour – usually a close match or slightly darker / brighter / lighter / shinier – whatever is “better” to you.
I do not wear lipstick regularly, but when I do, I typically choose a MLBB shade. My lips are quite pigmented, so some of these colours may seem deeper than what you might consider a MLBB lippie. I chose these lipsticks not only for the colours, but also for how much I like the formulas:
From left to right:
• Illamasqua Glamore Nude Lipstick in Minx
• Elizabeth Arden Exceptional Lipstick in Breathless #17 (of COURSE I have to include this! See my post comparing the old vs new)
• Guerlain Rouge G de Guerlain Lip Color in Garance 06
• Shiseido Perfect Rouge in Dreamscape RD351
• Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick in Fig
• Shiseido Lacquer Rouge in Portrait RD203
(That Guerlain tube was a PITA to photograph!)
As I’m laying out all my lip stuff in preparation for photography in today’s post, The Boy asks me, “What’s the purpose of all these pictures?”
“They’re to show my whole collection on the blog.” I reply.
“So it’s like… makeup porn?” he asks.
“YUP! You got it!” 😆
My lip stash is probably the least exciting of all of my stashes – the majority of my lip products can fit into one frame:
I’m just not that into lipsticks. I feel bold colours don’t suit my face. I’m also not into matte textures or shimmer, or overly glossy finishes – so it leaves me with a fairly narrow band of comfort zone, as you’ll see in my stash. And I only own 5 MAC lipsticks! (of which 3 are retired) It’s relatively small by comparison to my eye shadow stash (600+) or nail polish stash (400+) That said, I have amassed a lot of lip balms and butter butters.
Another month end, another installment of Trash Stash. I’ll let the group picture do the talking:
Another full month of emptying!
I almost renamed this Tag to “Tool Time Tag” – anyone remember the show Home Improvement? 😛 I was tagged for this first by Joy, and then by Shareen. Thank you!
Rules:
• Tag up to 5 people & let them know you tagged them.
• List what you want. If you got three things that are unbelievable or twenty… Don’t care, just share.
• Cannot be actual makeup, skin care, or hair care products – just the tools/gadgets you use.
Finally, the actual review of this brush! For all the talk about lemming it, then buying it, now I can review it and stop pining for this brush! I’ll cut to the chase: this brush is AWESOME! The true test for me was when I first touched it to my face to apply blush, and immediately thought, “I must get a back up of this!” 😀
Firstly, this brush was released as part of the “MAC is Beauty” collection, and MAC describes it as:
A long-haired blending brush for the face made of natural fibres. This ultra-soft and silky tapered brush allows for a light dusting of any powder, making it perfect for an all-over wash of colour. M∙A∙C professional brushes are hand-sculpted and assembled using the finest quality materials. They feature wood handles and nickel-plated brass ferrules.
Here it is in all its unwashed, unused glory:
The brush cost me $50.50 ($42 USD) and is made in Japan.
Tip: the country of origin information is no longer etched into the handles of MAC brushes, this information can now only be found on the clear wrapper / sleeve that brushes come in:
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