MAC 2011 Surf Baby! haul + other beauty extras ;-)

s some of you may know, I've only recently been into MAC beauty products. Considering how much I LOVE anything beauty related I can't believe I never really took an interest to MAC. Actually I was into it while I was in high school, but only their nail polishes. I never really had any other MAC products. I've been following their limited edition collections recently and even though they come out with new ones practically every single month I just can't stay away! When I heard about the Surf Baby! Collection which is this year's version of last year's To The Beach Collection I knew I wanted to check it out as soon as it hit stores. I only got one product in last year's To The Beach Collection and I regretted not getting any more. I got the Lazy Day lipstick and I am absolutely in love with that lipstick! I wish I got a back-up... Anyways, I didn't go too crazy with the purchases, but I picked up 3 things.

And here they are...

I got 'Swell Baby' which is a mid-tone gray. It's a satin finish. Out of all the colours (there was a white shadow with gold shimmer, a mustard gold colour, a reddish brown colour, and a turquoise/teal colour) I was most interested in this one. I think it'll look nice with my skin tone. Plus, I'm obsessed with gray. I know people are going crazy over the turquoise/teal one- Surf USA, but at my age I really can't pull off crazy eyeshadows like that anymore... It was beautiful though.

And here's a swatch. Sorry about the poor lighting. I took this close to midnight.

And here it is with flash. I know it doesn't look that intense, but I'm hoping to use it as an all-over lid colour so I didn't want a really dark gray.

I know Christine from Temptalia wasn't too crazy over this Cheek Powder called My Paradise, but I couldn't resist not getting this. It's so pretty and when I swatched it at the store I quite liked the pigmentation.

The gold hibiscus pattern is an overlay, but I don't care. The coral blush is quite nice on its own.

And here's a swatch of the 3 colours. The one of the far left is the swatch with the gold and coral mixed together. The one beside it is just the coral swatch. And the one beside that is the gold one swatched on its own.

With flash. As you can see, the gold and the coral mixed together is a completely different colour. It's a beautiful peachy gold.

This one is called Hibiscus. I wasn't interested in any of the other lipsticks. I think this one is going to be the big seller anyways in this collection. It's a beautiful coral red. It's a deeper version of Viva Glam Cyndi. I wore this the day I bought it and numerous people commented that they liked my makeup that day. That's always a plus!

Here's a swatch of the lipstick on the far right.

And with flash. If you're afraid of trying red lipstick, but want to try a bolder shade I think this one is perfect. It's not as bold as a true red lipstick, and it's a perfect shade for spring/summer.

So that's all I got from the collection. I could have gotten more, but I recently went on a clothing shopping spree so I didn't want to go too crazy...

Today I had a day off from work and I got a chance to stop by an Asian mall. I've been dying to go to one recently because I've been obsessed with Asian skincare products. They had several beauty stores in the mall and the first one I went into I bought a mascara. I bought the Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamour Volume On (wow, what a name!) Mascara. This mascara has a cult following in Asia and I knew I had to try it out. Now, they have several different formulas for the Majolica Majorca mascaras, but I didn't know any better so I just bought whatever I saw. The one I got is the volumizing mascara, but there's also a lengthening one and many others. I wish I got the lengthening one, but oh well...

I don't suffer from the typical Asian lashes- the short, stick-straight, barely-there lashes, but I still love trying out different mascaras that will lengthen my lashes. I will keep you guys posted how I feel about this particular one.

Enough blabbering, on to the stuff I got:

I didn't have a whole ton of time at the mall (I had a restless baby with me!) so I wasn't really able to browse in the stores. I went in with a mission and I bought things rather quickly and left. From left to right: Majolica Majorca mascara, Nyx Round Lipsticks, Moroccan Oil.

The mascara is actually quite small. I think the packaging is really cute. I paid $25CAD for the mascara. A little steep, but again, I didn't have a whole ton of time to check out other stores to see if I can find a cheaper price.

The wand is so different from my Makeup Forever Smoky Lash. It's a plastic wand and quite puny looking. I'm kind of skeptical what it can do, but I've been looking at reviews online all afternoon and it's gotten great reviews. We shall see...

I already have a bottle of this that I'm almost out of. This small bottle lasted me for over 3 months. I got this for just under $15CAD. This stuff is amazing! I have coarse, thick hair and when I use this my hair feels so soft and shiny.

I know this (and even the last product) is not an Asian product, but when I saw a store carrying the whole line of Nyx products I had to get a few lipsticks. We here in Canada don't have Nyx at the drugstore. Well, actually they sell it at Pharma Plus, but only a tiny range. They don't even carry the round lipsticks. Well, this little store at the Asian mall had it and I got Strawberry Milk (which was on my wish list for a looooong time) and Narcissus.

This is Narcissus. It's a lot more brighter and pinker in person.

This one is Strawberry Milk. It's showing up more nude, but it's actually a baby pink.

Narcissus on the left and Strawberry Milk on the right. Both have no shimmer. Maybe a little sheen.

I was amazed how creamy the texture was.

Here it is with flash.

I'm hoping to go back to these stores soon so I can pick up a few more products.

I hope you guys all have a great weekend!

Great finds

oes anyone else get a high when they buy something exciting? I do.

I wouldn't say I'm addicted to shopping, but my heart races when I find something good. But the weird thing is I always find something great when I'm not looking for anything specific to buy. Today I stepped out at lunch time to do a few errands. I had to get another tube of my favourite mascara and a birthday card for my younger sister. First I went to Indigo to pick up a pretty

birthday card. I'm very picky with cards. It takes me a long time to pick one. I know it's something that you read once and throw out (well, I don't!), but I still want to make sure the card reflects who I am. I finally settled on a card by Papyrus. It's a little more expensive, but so beautiful. I'm sure my younger sister will appreciate it. So I thought I was done with Indigo, but as I was walking towards the cash a book caught my eye. It was a wedding DIY craft book. I'm married and so are my sisters, but I couldn't resist peeking inside. I love anything to do with crafts and the front cover was so beautiful. There were so many craft ideas and I realized that they could be tweaked so that it wasn't wedding centered. I just had to get it.

So my next stop was Sephora. I've been currently using my holy grail mascara, Makeup Forever's Smoky Lash mascara, but my tube dried out. I wanted to pick up another tube. But, when I walked in I saw the Hello Kitty Collection for Sephora. Now, I'm not a huge Hello Kitty fan, but when I first saw the press release I just fell in love. I wasn't a fan of MAC's Hello Kitty collection because I thought the packaging was not very pretty. But this one was so true to Hello Kitty's original style. I was eyeing the hand held mirror because my previous mirror broke. I was debating whether to get the Lioele Princess Mirror in Baby Pink, but I decided I liked this one better. Plus, it was even more stunning in person. It was huge too and surprisingly light! The downfall was that it was pricey ($46CAD) and left visible fingerprints. However, it was too pretty to pass up. I've been also looking for a small compact mirror to carry with me. The Hello Kitty collection had one, but I found it really hard to open. The hinge was not very flexible. I decided to get the eyeshadow and lipgloss compact instead. The packaging was uber cute too. I could use that as my mirror when I'm traveling now.

I'm now going to post pictures of all the things that I got today. Plus, a freebie at the end!

Isn't the birthday card so pretty? I didn't know it was a birthday card because the outside had a pig, but the message inside said it was a birthday card.

Here's a close-up. The little swirls are all shiny copper. I hate cards that have glitter because it gets all over my fingers then on my face, but this one had none :-)

A simple message inside.

"A wish to you for a sweet, carefree lighter-than-air day! Happy Birthday"

This was the book that I fell in love with. It's called Handmade Weddings by Eunice Moyle, Sabrina Moyle, and Shana Faust. What do you know, Shana Faust is the former Deputy Style Editor of Martha Stewart Weddings. Figures!

I just love the paper-wrapped favors. I'm thinking I could wrap soaps in personalized wrapping. It would look amazing! Can't wait to try this.

Here's another great idea. I'm known as the girl that wraps presents nicely. Last Saturday I went to a baby shower and everyone guessed what my present was because of my wrapping.

Just gorge! Beautiful photography.

So here's what I went to Sephora for- my Smoky Lash.

Packaging is not that exciting, but this is an amazing product. Goes on super black and dries quickly. It also make my lashes look super volumized and loooong.

Here are the 2 Hello Kitty products I picked up. I'm on the waiting list for the brush set.

This is the Say Hello Eyeshadow and Lipgloss Palette

Even the expiration date jar has a bow!

Isn't the compact so cute?! This is how I imagined Hello Kitty cosmetics to be packaged.

It was hard to see the detail of the compact in my last photo so I'm holding it up against my grey wall. The lid of the compact has an iridescence to it.

The Say Hello palette has the purple colours. The other one had more neutral colours. This one swatched better so I got this one. Plus, I have so many neutral palettes.

The 2 colours on the right (top and bottom) have shimmers, but they aren't chunky. The 2 left ones look like a satin finish.

I'm not sure if the lip glosses are of high quality. They look really sheer, but it's good to have in case of an emergency. The white, pink (bottom left) and plum (bottom right) have glitter and the mauve one (top right) doesn't. I didn't swatch them in the store. I was more into the packaging more than anything...

This is a pretty thick palette. 3/4 of an inch?

Here's the back.

This is my prized possession- the hand held mirror. This is the box it came in.

The backside has Hello Kitty's face. So cute! I know it looks heavy, but it's really light. That's great because I use my hand held mirror a lot when I'm putting on makeup. I don't want my hands/arms to be tired.

Another view. Don't you love how her bow isn't flat? It has facets so that it sparkles.

Here's the actual mirror. I wish the mirror was more round than oval because I feel like I don't see the entire length of my face, but I'm nitpicking here.

And now for my freebie!

At work, I get a lot of free stuff. Mainly beauty products, but sometimes non-beauty related stuff. Today I was by the freebie shelf to get some chocolates (we have a stash of junk food there for the late nights) and I saw this beautiful tea pot and tea cup set.

I've been looking for a teapot because I got a pretty loose leaf tea and teaball set for Christmas from David's Tea. This teapot looks vintage and I can't believe nobody snatched it up yet!

Here's the tea pot and tea cup separated. I'll feel so elegant when I'm enjoying my afternoon tea...