Massive Purge

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)

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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June and July 2017 No-Buy-Low-Buy Accountability

I hadn’t planned on being MIA last week but it was my final week at my old job and it was so busy!  I ended up having a lot of social engagements last week (goodbyes) – being out every night makes it difficult to blog!  Things likely won’t settle down until after Labour Day weekend…

This post is a combined June and July accountability (I know, I’m so late with this!)  June was a No-Buy month whereas July is a Low-Buy month.  My budget for July was originally $200 but since I slightly overspent back in April, I had to subtract off $1.70 from my budget, leaving me with $198.30 to play with.

I was able to stretch my budget by supplementing with gift cards – plus, I received some birthday presents! 😀

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Favourites Lately: Early 2017

This is my first quarterly favourites post for 2017. I’ve been taking down notes on various items that I’ve enjoyed between January and March:

I try to have a balance of items but it looks like this is more heavy on the makeup front. 😛

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Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer in Beige

When I hauled this item from Nordstrom in October last year, many of you expressed interest in seeing a review of this, so I prioritized it to test out.
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And 4 months later, here we are! This is as speedy as I can get, ok? 😛

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Hauluary 2017 – Makeup and Skincare

When I look at it all together like this, I think I got a bit carried away with makeup hauling…
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But when you pick up a little bit here, a little bit there, it doesn’t seem like it’s that much! 😉  I wasn’t able to go on actual Boxing Day to shop but many of the deals are available for the whole month of January – basically when stores sell out of stuff is when the sales end! 😛

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Best of 2016 Discoveries

And here it is – as you can imagine, trying to narrow down the best items was difficult! These items are new to me but may not be new launches in 2016.  Also, these items may not necessarily be my absolute “Holy Grail” of all time – they’re simply the best from the past year (I probably should do a “Holy Grail of All Time” post one of these days…)  Here’s what made it into my Best of 2016 Discoveries list:
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A departure from previous years, instead of doing Top 10 or “Top xx of 20xx” (ie. Top 16 of 2016), I’ll list top items within categories: makeup, skincare, nails, body care etc.  This post is long but rather than breaking into several posts, I decided to do it all in one – I just hate it when they break movies into 2 parts – I don’t want to do that to you! 😛

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PP12: KATE Stick Concealer in Natural Beige

It’s Canadian Thanksgiving Day today! Happy Turkey Day to my fellow Canadians. Yes, we celebrate Thanksgiving way earlier than the US. Find out why here.  Onto regular programming – an update on Project Pan!
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KATE is a Japanese brand that I had some exposure to when I visited Hong Kong about 5 years ago.  It is owned by Kanebo, the conglomerate that also owns Lunasol and Sensai. KATE is their lower-end drugstore range. Today I’m showing the Stick Concealer in Natural Beige:
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I got interested in this product because people raved about how it is a cheaper alternative for the cult favourite Cle de Peau Beaute Concealer. For those not familiar with that – it is supposed to be The Concealer to End All Concealers.  It also has a hefty price tag to match – it costs $70 USD (approx C$90 at current exchange rate), while the KATE Stick Concealer costs only ¥1,000 (approx C$12.50) for 3.1g of product.  I was intrigued so I ordered this online in early 2014.

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New Revlon Mascaras: Ultimate All-in-One and Volume + Length Magnified

I guess I’m on a drugstore kick lately, yesterday with the Maybelline SuperStay foundation, and today I’m reviewing 2 Revlon mascaras from their recent revamp of their mascara offering:
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Ultimate All-in-One (red cap)
Volume + Length Magnified (blue cap)

I can’t remember the last time I bought a Revlon mascara. Maybe the Grow Luscious? That was years ago! And it never appealed to me enough to repurchase it. To me, Revlon excel at a lot of products – foundation, lipstick, nail polish – but mascaras are not one of their strengths.  And mascaras are cash cows for cosmetics companies – how frequently do we (“have to”) replace mascaras, and how many mascaras do we seem to have open at once (if you have just ONE mascara open right now, please comment below, and I don’t believe you!)  It’s a very lucrative market at the drugstore – just look at how wide the assortment is, and how often companies launch new mascaras.

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