i heart beauty blender

So I never really got the whole "apply makeup with a damp sponge for a flawless face" thing. I originally tried this with those little triangle makeup sponges, but I don't know where I went wrong, because once that water hits those things, it is like you are hosing down a pack of wild dogs. They stink.

THEN I bought the Sonia Kashuk beauty blender dupe at Target in the States, and honestly, it really didn't do much. Needless to say it did not give me that porcelain finish I was after. I had all but given up hope... until I met the much blogged about beauty blender.

Bargin bin finds!

At 75% off how could I resist?

I found this GOSH compact in Modest Liberty near the bottom. I thought the colour palette was nice, with soft grey's and pinks. The pigmentation on these is alright, they aren't the most pigmented but they blend really well, and give a nice soft finish to the lid. BUT what really sold me was the little light on the mirror! You know for all those times you get stuck applying your eyeshadow in the dark.... Nifty.


Also I picked up a Jumbo Lip Gloss Pencil in Gypsy Red from GOSH as well. This is a really creamy red. It is easy to apply but it can be tricky to wear, as it is so creamy the colour can wander outside your lip line, perhaps a liner would help with this. Reminds me of those Nars Velvet Lip Gloss Pencils...I will have to get one and compare.

How have you been? Do you ever hit up the bargin bins?

MAC me over

I picked up a few things from the new MAC collection. Over all, I wasn't super impressed with MAC me over, it was a very large collection but nothing really jumped out at me. I am trying to build up my core collection and not get too distracted by the collections.

One item that I knew I wanted was the 226 brush. I smaller version of the 224, this brush does it all. It applies highlight, lid and crease colour really well. I am really happy with it, and considering picking up another one...

MAC 224 left, MAC 226 right

My first Luxe Box...

A week ago I received my first Luxe Box by Loose Buttons. This is a box filled with 3-5 deluxe sample products ranging from perfume to moisturizers to makeup. Loose Buttons is a Canadian brand, but I do believe that there are a wide variety of these types of companies throughout the USA and Britain.

You subscribe to Loose Buttons like you would a magazine. It costs 12$ a month and you can choose either 1, 3, or a 12 month subscription. The shipping is free, which is Canada is really great. Now on with the good stuff.

There's just something about OPI's Skull & Glossbones...

"Find a penny pick it uuuu....AGH! I chipped my nail polish!" This pretty much describes the relationship I have with nail polish, until I bought OPI's Skull & Glossbones.

Is this some super powerful new nail polish blend? Does it have an adamantium core? No no, nothing like that. It just wears really well.

Back 2 Mac

Do you stroll into MAC and feel completely and utterly lost? Even after you have spent countless hours on blogs, youtube, makeupalley, reading up on products? For me it is like I am a kid in a candy store and I can't decide what I want. Normally, I am pretty fearless, I know what I want and nothing is going to stand in my way...but at MAC I am so overwhelmed, I want everything...(hence MAClust).

I am a huge fan of the Back 2 MAC program, it is one of the reasons why MAC is my favourite brand. So recently, I hauled in 18 items to MAC. I was nervous that they wouldn't take back my eyeshadows with the pan missing (as I depotted it) but I had no trouble. I feel like the "MAC won't return eyeshaows without the pan" is some cruel ubran myth that was generated on the internet.

Quarry and Handwritten ended up following me home. Quarry is a mauvey grey and Handwritten appears almost like a deep brown purple, but when swatched it is more brown than purple. Both are matte but Handwritten is classified as a Matte^2 (squared), which is intensely more pigmented than regular matte shadows. A gal could run into trouble with these if she isn't careful, these are great shadows for in the crease.

Left Quarry, Right Handwritten

Z palette thoughts

So...when your makeup collection reaches a certain...fullness, some choose to move to a new home where closets and counterspace are plentiful, others (like me) buy palettes. I have several MAC palettes that I use, but I can't bring myself to pop off the dividers and take advantage of just the magnetic pan underneath (I am a neat freak at heart). So, at Imats Vancouver 2011, I took advantage of the Z palette vendors and bought 2.

Gets dirty like a mutha..

The large zebra print was priced at $21 dollars while the smaller leopard print at $14. I consider this a bargin considering it is really difficult to find a online supplier for this in Canada, not to mention the shipping can be pricey.

Compared to MAC palette, size