A little beauty haul

had to go to Sephora yesterday to pick up my holy grail liquid eyeliner- the Sephora brand Long-Lasting 12HR Wear Eye Liner. I've talked about it here in a previous post. Of course, it never ends up being a quick grab and dash whenever I go to the mall. I picked up a few more beauty items. Nothing too crazy, but I'm really loving everything I picked up. I also picked up a few clothing items which I will talk about in my next post.

I've been curious about these hair ties when I saw Kendall Jenner wearing them on her
wrist on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I always have 1 or 2 hair ties on my wrist
at all times. I always end up giving 1 to my sister or friends when they need it. Also,
since I have long hair, hair ties are a must. Especially with 2 little ones to care for.

Here's what one looks like on my wrist. It's super cute. I've also tried using them to
tie a pony tail and it holds up pretty well. It was $10CAD for a pack of 8. They also
had a different colour set with more neutral colours, but I thought these were more me.

Although I have a ton of nail polishes I realized I didn't have any glitter polishes that are

gold or rose-gold toned. I do have a very fine gold glitter polish, but I wanted a polish

with chunky glitters. I've been obsessed with Amelia's nails on her blog and she loves using

glitter polish as a top coat so I immediately wanted to get this polish at Sephora. It's

the Sephora by OPI top coat called Traffic Stopper Copper. It's a rose-gold glitter top coat
with multi-sized glitters on a clear base. I was also eyeing the gold version called
Only Gold For Me and a purple one called Mauve-ie Star In The Making.

This was $12CAD. I wanted to try 1 before getting the others. I might have to pick up
the others now because I love it.

Here's what it looks on my nails. I did use a nude colour as a base. It's Going Nude, Eh?
from Sephora by OPI. It's no longer available, but a ton of other companies make similar
nudes.

Another view.

So this is what I went in for. It's my go-to liner. I'm sad that they raised the price.
I remember it being $12CAD, but now it is $15CAD. It's still cheaper than other high-end
liquid eyeliners so I'm fine with the price increase. I get the 01 Black. For those of you
who are interested this liner it also comes with a brush tip. It has something like 'High Precision
Brush' on the side of the tube. I don't like that one. Make sure you get the one that doesn't
have that on the tube. The brush on that one is very flimsy. This one has a felt-tip so
you have more control.

I didn't get this on my trip to the mall. I ordered this off of eBay. I normally get the Dolly
Wink liquid eyeliner at an Asian mall where I live, but it is quite expensive. I think it
comes out to almost $28CAD with tax.
I decided to check out eBay to see if it would be a bit cheaper… and it was. I paid $17.48USD
with free shipping. Here is the seller if you are interested- terry_yuen72.

They changed the packaging from when I last bought it. I don't like it as much.
Apparently the formula is better now? I'll have to test it out.

And here is the felt tip. It's very fine and well-made. The felt tip is much sharper than
the Sephora brand one. 

Here is the old packaging. Much cuter, I think.

Here's what it looks like on my hand. The top line is with a thicker stroke and the bottom
line is a thinner stroke. I like using this liner to make the flick on my cat eye because you
can make a very sharp and precise flick because of how fine the felt tip is. BUT,
I don't like using this to make a general line on my eyes because I don't find the black
is as intense and pigmented as the Sephora brand liner.

Here is the Sephora brand liner below the Dolly Wink liner. You can see how intense
the black is. I made a thicker line and a thinner line. The Sephora brand liner is not
that great making a wing because the tip of the felt tip is not that fine. I like my wing
on my cat eye to be very precise.

Stay tuned for my clothing haul. Hope you guys are enjoying your week!

Sephora VIB event + Lush

esterday was the beginning of Sephora's 4-day VIB event.
I invited my non-VIB friend because the coupon I had allowed me to give my friend the same discount. It was my first VIB event ever so I didn't know what to expect. And boy, was I surprised. I mean, if it was a 50% off event I can understand the amount of people that were at the store, but it was only 20% off. The store was literally packed in every inch of space that they had. The lineup for the checkout went around the perimeter of the store. And yet, I decided to stay because I really wanted this one particular item- the ghd straightening iron. I knew it was expensive ($225CAD a pop) and I would never get it for full price. This was my only chance to pick it up with some sort of discount. While I was looking at it there were several other girls that wanted it too. They ended up taking the last 2 boxes that were out. It was the ghd Classic 1" Styler. I asked the Sephora SA to check the back for more and to my delight she brought several boxes out- 1 including a limited edition Scarlet Collection. The SA told me that the Scarlet Collection came with a heat protectant bag, 2 clips and a limited edition look, but for the same price as the regular Classic 1" Styler. When I checked the Sephora (USA) website it says it's a $270 value for $225USD. That's in USD. Usually the Canadian price is so much more. So I was happy that the Scarlet Collection was $225CAD. I got the last box of the Scarlet Collection and my friend got the regular box, but she would be paying the same as me without all the bells and whistles that mine had.

We got this Sephora tote bag. I don't care for this bag. It's just a plain tote bag.

While I was at the checkout a SA was giving out samples. I got the Dr. Brandt Dark Circles Away
Collagen Eye Serum. 

I also got a sample of the Ole Henriksen Truth Serum. I have tried a sample of this in the past, but
didn't love it.

And now I present to you my ghd Scarlet Collection. The box was different than the classic ghd box.

Inside the box was a hot pink bag.

The bag has a magnetic closure and when you open it it unrolls into a mini mat and it reveals
another travel-sized pouch.

The mini mat is heat resistant so you can rest your hair iron and it won't burn.

The travel pouch can detach itself from the mat with these snaps that are on both the mat and the
travel bag.

The straightener comes with a cap that is safe to put on even right after you turn off your iron.
The regular ghd doesn't come with this cap.

The plate of my ghd is also in the limited edition colour- red. The regular one is in a gold/beige colour.

Here is the plug. The actual plug comes with a plastic protector. 

It also has these safety buttons. I have to press the red button after I plug it in my socket to turn
my ghd on.

The travel pouch has 2 compartments and 1 came with 2 hair clips.

This is the close-up of the bag.

Next I went to Lush to pick up Ocean Salt. I heard great things about this product and I was able to
test it out at the store. It is AMAZING! It's a face and body scrub and I'm planning to use it on my face
twice a week.

I bought the smaller tub for $19.95CAD. The larger one was $34.95CAD? That was a better deal, but
since this was my first time trying it I wanted to get the smaller tub.

The back of the tub has a sticker with the person who made the batch of Ocean Salt. My friend also
got the same thing and hers had a different person on her tub.

You have to stir the mixture before using it.
I used this on my face this morning and I just massaged it on my face in circular motions and my skin
feels so soft and nice. It smells really nice too like coconut and lime.

I also picked up a cleanser called Herbalism. I have combination to oily skin and my face has been
extremely sensitive and acne prone lately. I plan on using this every day.

It doesn't look pretty and smells a little vinegar-y, but I have high hopes for this. 

HUGE (I mean HUGE) beauty haul (Photo heavy)

MG. I have 2 large bags filled to the max with beauty products. I still have 1 from the last beauty sale. One of the perks of working at a magazine is the beauty sale that we have twice a year. I've worked in several magazines in the past, but nothing compares to the one I have at my current job. This time around there weren't that many perfumes, but I'm not a big perfume wearer anyways. I just get them to give away as gifts later on. Plus, they are so expensive when you buy them retail. I don't think I've ever purchased a bottle of perfume... EVER. Anyways, I wasn't able to take photos of every single item that I got, but I just captured 80% of my haul.

I guess this is a Clarisonic Mia dupe. It's by Olay and it's called the Olay Professional Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System. I've seen it at the drugstore and I'm going to say it's around $30-$40? I wanted to get the Clarisonic one a week before, but I couldn't justify spending over $150 for it. I've been using this one for a week now and I LOVE IT! Mind you, I've never tried the Clarisonic one, but I've noticed my skin texture is a lot smoother and my pimples clear up quicker than when I didn't use it. My husband also tried it and he loves it as well. This comes with a 2 speed setting (I use the lowest speed setting) and comes with batteries and a trial-sized cleanser. The other day my Beauty Editor gave me another box of this because I had raved about it to her. She said, "Oh, I found another box of this. Why don't you have it." Score!

I got the Lancome Mineral Eyeshadow Quad in Cold Harmony. It's the purple quad. I haven't tried this yet, but I love cool-toned eyeshadows. Especially purple. Can't wait to try this one out.

I also got the Healthy Glow Mineral Blusher in Glowy Ballerine. It's so pretty.

This is Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino Body Oil. It smells divine. I've never smelt something this good. I just checked the price of this online and it retails for $70USD! Holy Smokes.

Since I didn't get the Clarisonic Mia I snatched the Opal Sonic Infusion System with Anti-Aging Sea Serum when I saw it at the beauty sale. I also checked the price of this online and it's $185! I haven't tried this yet, but I definitely will.

This is my current favourite shampoo/conditioner. It's the Nexxus Pro-Mend Split End Treatment Shampoo and Conditioner. It leaves my hair silky smooth and it doesn't leave any build-up residue like shampoos can.

I'm not sure if you have heard of G.M. Collins, but it's an expensive brand of skin care products. I tried their serum not too long ago and it was amazing. This time around I got the Phyto Stem Cell Eye Contour Cream. Retail $90. At my age I am obsessed with anti-aging products. So far I don't have any wrinkles :-)

Kerastase Elixer Ultime Versatile Beautifying Oil has been compared to Moroccan Oil. I'm currently using a small bottle of Moroccan Oil, but once I run out I will use this one. I heard this one smells waaaaay better than the Moroccan Oil one. Retail $50.

I don't have very many blue eyeshadows. I picked up Burberry's Midnight Blue No. 20 single eyeshadow.

Burberry Feather Pink No.209 lipstick.

Burberry Nude Beige No. 9 lip gloss. Their packaging is amazing.

Got a whole bunch of Urban Decay eyeliners and shaders. I'm not making the colours here because you can sort of see the colours here. I already gave the dark brown one to my cousin.

Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Resist 24 Night Emulsion. Retail app. $55. I have been using this every night for a week now. It feels very rich, but it's because it's a night cream. I love how it brightens my skin when I put it all over my face.

Benefit's Bella Bamba. It's a shimmery, watermelon pink blush. Again, I haven't tried it yet, but it retails for around $35.

Isn't the bottle pretty? It's Guerlain's Jasminora Eau de Toilette perfume. It has a honeycomb pattern on the bottle.

I got a whole bunch of Zoya nail polishes as well as some Essie and OPI's.

DiorSkin Nude Glow Healthy Glow Summer Powder in 002 Sunset. It looks washed out in this photo, but it's a warm golden bronzer. It also come with a brush that is in a little pocket on the velcro pouch.

Smashbox Softbox Eye Palette. I think they were trying to copy UD's Naked Palette here. It's a lot more subtle in colour than the Naked Palette. And it comes with a dual-ended brush instead of the eyeliner pencil like the Naked Palette (although I heard the newer ones come with brushes now...) as well as a lid primer.

Deborah Lippmann Superstar nail polish. I know glitter polishes are a drag to remove, but I love sparkly nails.

Givenchy lip gloss. Forgot what the name of this one was...

Lancome lipstick.

Dior jelly lip gloss. Can you tell I'm getting tired? I stopped capturing the names of the colours.

I got 2 Tarte Amazonian Clay blushes.

Clarins lip gloss. I've never tried Clarins lip products, but this colour was so beautiful that I couldn't resist!

Stila Lip Glaze.

Prevage Body Total Transforming Anti-Aging Moisturizer. Retail $135.

Prevage Advanced Anti-Aging Serum. I don't think this is the real packaging. It might be a sample one. It retails for $155. I've been using this nightly before my Shiseido Wrinkle Resist Emulsion and my face feels so soft and supple.

Dior Capture Totale Radiance Restoring Serum Foundation. Not sure why I got this since I don't even know what colour it is!

Ole Henriksen Muscle Comfort Lotion. I've heard good things about this product.

Guerlain Ombre Fusion in 01 Bahia. This is a cream eyeshadow.

Decleor hand cream.

Tarina Tarantino Cream Eyeshadow in Meteor Night.

2 MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel and Sun Rush.

Stila blush. I think the idea of this blush is that it changes colour to fit your skin tone.

Jack Black Protein Booster Skin Serum. I gave this one to the hubby.

Benefit Finding Mr Bright. I've tried Girl Meets Pearl and Erase Paste. Interested in trying Posie Tint and High Beam.

Stil eye shadow.

Phew! I'm so exhausted from listing that all. I hope you guys have a great week and let me know what you guys have been buying for the summer.