make up for ever

Massive Purge

~ stashy ~ 82 Comments

You may recall that the primary objective of this blog originally was to reduce my beauty stash. ^^’ I had a three-pronged plan:
A) Stop buying more (No-Buy / Low-Buy)
B) Use up what I have (empties aka Trash Stash)
C) Get rid of items that I no longer use (Purges / declutters)

This post is focused on plan of attack C!  I’ve been meaning to post this since early 2017 for “Spring cleaning”, but never got my act together to gather all of the items.  No time like now, right?  😉 This post will mainly consist of photos and product names listed out. It would take too long to provide a description of every single item with an explanation why it is being decluttered. Just look:

I had to stand on a step ladder to take this photo! 😆

Hold onto your hats!

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Foundation Application Methods (+ Tools)

~ stashy ~ 56 Comments

It’s been nice reading everyone’s festive holiday posts but this year I just don’t seem to have anything Christmas-y to contribute. I feel like I’ve covered all the Christmas topics in years past – if you’re wanting some festive posts from me, have a read through my Blogmas posts from 2016 and 2015. 🙂 🎄🎁

When I get the question, “How do you apply your foundation?”  I answer, “It depends.”   I’m not trying to be difficult, because it really depends! 😛  It depends on the foundation that I’m using. It depends on what kind of finish I might be looking for, or the level of coverage I want that particular day.  Here’s an overview of methods and tools that I employ to apply foundation.

I’ll also name some foundations that work well with each method.

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Trash Stash: August to October-ish 2017: Part 2 (Body and Hair Care, Makeup)

~ stashy ~ 54 Comments

Here’s the 2nd part of my slacker Trash Stash:

Bath products are fun to photograph since they’re more colourful. 🙂

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Sephora VIB Rouge Sale Shopping List Fall 2017 Edition

~ stashy ~ 107 Comments

Hey! I’m back. 🙂 Just in time for the Sephora sale. In a way, this is a bit of a cheat post since it was much easier to prepare than a review – ease my way back into blogging, right? 😉 If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I was on vacation for a portion of my time away from the blog. Here are some more of what I did in the past month:

• Visited some cities in Alberta (Calgary, Banff / Canmore, Jasper and Edmonton) – the Canadian Rockies are truly incredible and I highly a recommend visit! ❤

• Attended my first “by invite only” L’Oreal warehouse sale – don’t get excited, since I was on a No-Buy I didn’t get makeup, but my friend went nuts for the $1 nail polishes. I got several bars of Kiehl’s Coriander exfoliating soaps which were limited edition from Christmas – yay! (Kiehl’s Coriander is one of my all time favourite scents)  The most interesting part of attending the sale was seeing all of the brands that L’Oreal owns (besides L’Oreal): Maybelline, Essie, NYX, Lancôme, Shu Uemura, Urban Decay, YSL, Givenchy…

• Went to Canada’s Wonderland (amusement park) to ride the roller coasters – our favourite rides were Leviathan and Behemoth. Fall is the perfect time to visit since it wasn’t too hot and the line-ups weren’t long.

• Donated blood – it’s been years since I last donated because I almost fainted the last time. This time, everything went smoothly, although I did develop a large bruise that’s the width of my arm afterward. :/

• Cleared out old mementos, photos, clothes – just stuff – from our storage locker – there were some hilarious gems… ah memories 😀  We’re doing some significant refurnishing soon so we need to make room – new couch, dining room table / chairs, shelves for the spare bedroom, etc.

• Finally finished the entire series of the Sopranos. It took us about 10 months to get through all 6 seasons (more like 7 seasons since season 6 was split into part 1 and 2). I’m not a fan of this show – I did not like the characters and the story line was only mildly interesting. I was so happy to be done with this show. Guess what? Now we can order Netflix! 😀 😀 😀

It feels great to be typing up a blog post again. At this point, I can’t promise that I’ll be posting as frequently as I was previously, but I’ll try my best! 🙂

Onward to the Sephora VIB Fall sale!

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Megapost: Custom Palette Systems

~ stashy ~ 143 Comments

I’ve had this post brewing for months and finally dusted it off in light of the recent controversy with Z Palette. If you don’t know about it, read about it here, here, and here. Um yeah… total gong show. 😮  Z Palette is probably the most well-known of any major custom palette systems, so their social media misstep has certainly opened the door for other players to secure a larger share of the market. People are now looking for Z Palette alternatives – let’s have a look at what the options are:

I’ll be showing what I own and also list some that I know about but do not own.  All prices are shown in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.  Warning: long post and lots of photos! 😎

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Trash Stash: November 2016

~ stashy ~ 50 Comments

At the beginning of every month, I think to myself, “this month I probably won’t have too many empties, I might have 2 or 3 max”.  Then around the third week of the month, I am suddenly faced with a bag full of empties. Go figure.
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I finished some big containers too.

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Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation

~ stashy ~ 64 Comments

Earlier this year, when I asked for suggestions for what to redeem for during the Optimum Points Redemption event, the Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation was a recommendation by Kazzmarie. I originally selected the shade 20 Classic Ivory, but then I was worried it was too light, so I exchanged it unopened for the next shade up, 25 Nude Beige.
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It normally retails for C$17.99 for 30ml.

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Birthday Haul ft Charlotte Tilbury and Shu Uemura

~ stashy ~ 90 Comments

You didn’t think I wouldn’t take advantage of my birthday as an excuse to buy makeup, right? 😛 I’ve been busy the past couple of weeks:
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I haven’t gone back to the Charlotte Tilbury counter since my last birthday, so I suppose it’s an annual tradition?

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Miscellaneous Makeup Purge

~ stashy ~ 67 Comments

You may recall that last year I did an epic makeup purge!   And earlier this year I posted a base makeup and a lip product purge – the common theme on those 2 product categories is that they’re liquid items, with typically shorter lifespan than powders.  Today I have a mixture of various product categories including eye, lip, and skincare products – many of which are also liquid or gel formulas.
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The reason why these are in a separate purge post rather than included in my Trash Stash is because none of these items are finished / empty. Some items I loved but are too old to use anymore. Sadly, the majority of them will go into the garbage!

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Brush stash

~ stashy ~ 24 Comments

Some of you expressed amazement at the amount of brushes I own.  Let me refresh your memory, I have:
•  202 eye brushes (of which 163 are eye shadow, 31 liner, 8 brow brushes)
•  126 face brushes (41 blush, 33 foundation, 25 powder, 18 bronzer, 9 concealer brushes)
I don’t think that’s too much, but my perspective may be a little skewed.

Here they are:

brushstash1
Eye shadow brushes

Keep reading for more about my brush stash