Beauty Haul

eauty hauls are one of my favourite things to read from other bloggers. I wanted to share with you what I got in the past week. Hopefully these photos and initial thoughts on these items will be helpful to you. I know I love reading what products people love/dislike as it is really helpful in determining if I purchase them or not.

Victoria's Secret Candy, Baby body lotion in Spun Sugar and Warm Vanilla. VS had a promotion going on
where you could mix and match 3 body products for $25. I went with my mother-in-law and I
decided to buy her, my sister-in-law, and myself the body lotions. My mother-in-law chose the Spun Sugar
and Warm Vanilla scent and although all the other scents were amazing I also got it in the same scent. It
literally smells like sweet sugar. I usually don't like sweet scents, especially when they make me smell like a
dessert, but for some unknown reason I really liked this smell. I have worn this body lotion for a week
now and I have really been enjoying it. I've also gotten compliments on it at work. The best part is
that the scent lasts. I would get a whiff of the smell throughout the day and it made me smile.

This is a sample package so I'm not sure what the real packaging would look like.

My co-worker knew that I was really into BB Creams and she just got the Boscia BB Creams in.

She asked me to try it to see if I liked it.

The product comes out pretty thick and it's quite hard to blend. I've noticed that most

BB Creams have a thicker consistency than foundations, but this one feels really thick.

I have actually worn this BB Cream for 2 days now. I do like it as it absorbs quickly and feels like 

I'm not wearing any makeup. It also has fine shimmer so once you blend it all out it gives

your face a luminosity.

See it blended out. You can see it covers my blemish that you can see in the previous photo
nicely.

This is Quo's (a Shopper's Drug Mart brand) blush/bronzer duo. Isn't the packaging gorgeous?
I normally don't like Quo products, but this one I LOVE. The colour I have is in You're A Peach
and it looks so natural on my face. I haven't found a bronzer that looks natural on me yet, but I think
I've found it. It doesn't have too much of a shimmer and blends so nicely.

The colour may seem ruddy and not that interesting, but it's actually quite nice on my face. I think I'm
about an NC 25?

Here is the back of the package.

A quick swatch. It was hard to capture the colour on camera because it didn't really show, but on
the left is the blush and on the right is the bronzer.

I was using Seche Vite's base coat for a while now, but I wasn't blown away. I went to my local
beauty supply store and bought Essie's Protein Base Coat. I originally wanted to try Essie's First Base
Base Coat after hearing about it from SparkleMissA's YouTube video, but the sales associate told me that
this one was better. We shall see. It's interesting because the formula is white.

I then got Essie's Good To Go! Top Coat. Again I heard about this from SparkleMissA's YouTube video
so I wanted to try it. I was using everyone's favourite- Seche Vite for a while now, but I hated how
it got all thick and goopy when I didn't use it all that much. Plus, I heard the chemicals in that top coat
was pretty scary stuff.

Now for my favourite- MAC!

My brushes were becoming insanely dirty and although I deep clean it every week I still felt that it
wasn't clean enough. I saw Tiffany D's video on what she uses to clean her brush- Mac's Brush Cleaner.
I rushed out to get it. It was only $15 so totally affordable. I used it yesterday and it did an amazing
job. I'm so happy with it.

I picked up 2 things from Mac's Fall Colour Collection. The first thing I picked up the collection was the
MSF in Porcelain Pink (re-promote). In the store the sample had beautiful gold veining throughout.
It's a light pink with gold shimmer. The one I got looked just pink, but I think once I keep using it
I will be seeing the gold veining underneath. I've been using this for a few days now and I like it.
I use it as a highlighter and it gives me a beautiful finish. I try to use highlighters sparingly as I can
get pretty oily throughout the day.

Here's a swatch.

My second item from the collection was the eyeshadow quad in Parlor Smoke. I wanted it because of the
eyeshadow Parlor Smoke (it's the top left one). It's a grayish purple and it reminded me a lot of
my favourite Mac eyeshadow- Shale (permanent). Parlor Smoke is a frost finish. It's not as pigmented
as I would like, but it's a beautiful inner lid colour. The next 3 shades are Cross Cultural (matte) which is
a neutral brown; Indigo Noir (Matte) which is a purple-y navy colour; and Steel (Veluxe Pearl) which
is a steely gray.

Here it is swatched. I wish they were more pigmented, but they do feel silky and there is hardly any
fall-out. I hate eyeshadows that are pigmented, but have crazy fall-out.

I picked up 2 things from the Styledriven Collection. I didn't realize that they were going to be
permanent. I picked up Styledriven (I think this is what the girl in the promo is wearing on her lids). It's
a beautiful sky blue and it swatches gorgeously. Everything in this collection is in the Pro Longwear
formula so the eyeshadows are supposed to last for 8 hours. The eyeshadows are a bit bigger than
the regulareyeshadows. I think this was 0.11oz compared to the usual 0.05oz. It was also a little
more expensive at $24CAD a pop.

This is Fresh Flare. This too swatches beautifully. The sales associate commended me for not being
afraid of colour. I got these 2 colours because it's hard finding these shades that are silky
smooth and so pigmented.

Here it is swatched. Styledriven is to the left and Fresh Flare is beside it.

Here is is swatched. I haven't tried Styledriven and Fresh Flare yet, but I'm excited to try them soon.
I need something special to go to so I can bust out these shades!

What's in my purse?

lthough I'm constantly changing bags, I thought I would share with you all what bag that I'm currently carrying and the contents of the purse.
One thing I loved to do when I was little was go through my moms purse. I always thought it was so fascinating to open all the compartments and see what lovely things she carried with her. I feel that the contents of a woman's purse reveals what sort of person she is.

I didn't take anything out for the sake of this post. This is what I had in my purse when I came home this afternoon.

My Kate Spade Gold Coast Metallic Evangeline in the colour Platinum.

I love the turn lock detail on this bag.

It's absolutely filled to the brim with stuff.

Isn't the lining pretty? It's gold polka dots.

The first thing in my purse that I took out was this small MAC makeup bag that I got from the 2010 holiday collection- A Tartan Tale. It's too thin to put much in it, but I try not to carry too much makeup with me when I carry this bag.

BTW, do you like my nail polish colour? It's China Glaze's Secret Peri-Wink-Le. I love it!

In the MAC makeup bag: Boscia blotting papers in Peppermint. It's limited edition. I heard good things about the original Boscia blotting papers, but I'm not sure if I love it...

The paper is light blue. It's not really showing up that way. It's very thin and it leaves your face refreshed because of the peppermint.

In the MAC makeup bag: Maybelline's Stylish Smokes eyeshadow quad in Natural Smokes. I absolutely love this quad, but I HATE the packaging.

My favourite colour is the first one (top left). It's the most beautiful shimmery taupe. If you don't have this already go out and get it.

In the MAC makeup bag: Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero (black). Everyone raves how great this pencil is, but I find it ok. It doesn't stay on my waterline and I find it too soft. I'm still on the look-out for my HG black eye pencil.

In the MAC makeup bag: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Prim-Rose (668). I picked this up last week and I love the colour. It's a nude-y pink- very similar to MAC's Lazy Day lipstick from the To The Beach Collection. It's also very creamy and moisturizing. Love! I hope this isn't limited edition because the metal part is gold instead of their usual silver.

In the MAC makeup bag: Revlon's Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Peach Petal (150). I use this lipgloss with a lot of lipsticks. It's one of my favourite glosses. The packaging is very similar to Chanel.

My Aveda Hand Relief cream. I have very dry hands. This hand lotion is ok, but the main reason I carry it with me is because it's small.

My keys. I have a lot of keys. Just last week I was looking for a nice keychain because my keychain keeps snapping open making all my keys fall everywhere. So annoying!

My subway token purse. It's a beautiful Japanese coin purse that my boss gave me for Christmas a long time ago. She's not my boss anymore, but I love this purse. I stuck a Yorkshire Terrier button on the zipper head. I have a Yorkshire Terrier named Rosco.

Yikes! I'm embarrassed to be showing you this, but I have a McDonalds coupon book in my purse.

I've already used one- 2 can dine for $8.98. I don't eat fast food often, but I like to have this in hand just in case.

More coupons and a receipt.

My Prada wallet. I should have taken better care of it. It's so dirty. I tried cleaning it, but nothing works. I need a wallet that's small enough so that when I'm carrying smaller purses it doesn't take lots of room. When I'm carrying my big purses I love having continental wallets.

My card/coupon holder. I got this at an Asian gift store. I carry all my points cards and coupons in here. It keeps it really well organized.

My iPhone earphones. I have to figure out a better way to organize this. It gets so tangled up with everything!

Benefit's Garden of Good & Eva perfume. Again, I carry this with me because it's small. I don't particularly love it, but it still smells nice on days when I need to spritz something on me.

A Bic lighter. Don't worry, I don't smoke! I have this in here because I was at a shoot on Friday where we were shooting aromatherapy candles and I wanted to make sure I had a lighter on hand just in case the photographer didn't have any.

My Lancome Juicy Tubes Smoothie Lip Gloss in Dreamsicle. This is a gorgeous lip gloss that keeps my lips moisturized for a really long time. I use this a lot when I'm not wearing any lipstick. It's a sheer, pale pink colour.

My Dior Creme de Gloss in 231. This is a beautiful nude pink lip gloss with shimmers that looks gorgeous on top of pink or nude lipsticks.

My EOS lip balm. I tried so hard to get this, but I find that it dries out my lips quickly.

Super cute, but I'm more in love with the packaging than anything else...

This is a new addition to my large collection of lip balms- Cake Beauty's limited edition Strawberry Shortcake lip balms. I don't think it's out yet. I got this from my co-worker because we were shooting it last Wednesday.

Here's what it looks like. I haven't used it yet, but it smells divine. Did you know Strawberry Shortcake was my first book?

A butterfly clip and a vintage hair pin.

A Club Monaco gift card. Club Monaco is one of my favourite stores. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law knows this so they keep giving me CM gift cards every time!

A Mexx Kids gift card. This is for my son. I'm waiting for all the spring stuff to come out because everything now is clearance stuff.

My Kate Spade authenticity card.

What it says on the authenticity card. I usually keep these cards for all my designer purses in the little zip pockets.

The last thing in my purse? My iPhone 3. That's my beautiful son on my screen.

My purse empty.

I hope you guys enjoyed this!