Manicure Monday- peachy pink edition

s I'm writing this I'm feeling extremely congested and dizzy. It looks like I've come down with a cold yet again. For a girl that never gets sick I'm surprised how this winter has affected me health-wise. I've had 3 colds so far and they were just awful! The last cold I had, I was sick for almost 3 weeks! This time around I feel like there is a huge lump in my throat and I'm having a hard time swallowing because my throat is so swollen. My nose has been running all day and I wake up with my eyes sealed shut with eye crusties. I know it sounds gross, but I've never experienced this before. Even though I was feeling like crap I wanted to paint my nails to make myself feel a bit better.

All the nails except the ring finger is Essie's Van D'Go. 

The accent nail (the ring finger) is Sephora by OPI's Traffic Stopper Copper. I talked
about this in my last beauty haul.

Although the colour of this Essie polish is quite beautiful- a peachy pink, it is extremely
hard to apply. I find the formulation thick and streaky. I used 3 coats to get this opaqueness.

In hindsight I should have applied Essie's Van D'Go as a base before applying the Sephora
by OPI polish on the ring finger. I had to apply several coats of the Sephora OPI to get
the glitter to show. Because this polish is more of a top coat and the rose gold glitter
is on a clear base it's not really meant to be worn on its own. However, I LOVE this
polish. It's so beautiful.

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. 

Retail therapy

'm taking the rest of this week off from work so I decided to do a little shopping.
I only really shop during my lunch hour so it was a nice treat going to the mall and spending the afternoon there. I wanted to treat myself for working so hard. I literally was staying late at work for 2 weeks straight.
I checked out many stores and even ventured to the new Topshop store, but didn't end up purchasing anything there. I felt it was overpriced for the quality of the clothing. I did like their cosmetics and am regretting not getting anything. I was really interested in the lipsticks in On The Town (pale lavender) and Innocent (mauve-y pink). I also wanted the blushers. I loved how silky smooth they were. I loved the blush in Pop (neon coral) and Powdered (neon pink). The bronzer in Holidaze was quite nice too. All the makeup items are quite affordable and the packaging was so nice. It didn't feel cheap. I might have to go back and pick them up…
Here's what I did get:

I'm still unsure about this purchase. I'll tell you why at the end.

I never heard of this line prior to today. It's called Modern Vintage.

Isn't the box nice? It made of a really sturdy material.

This was the last in a size 6. 

And here it is. It looks dirty here, but it's my lighting. It's made of suede.

I love the stacked heel. I find them so much more comfortable to wear. The boots are super comfortable.
The only downside is that I may have bought a size too small. I think a 6.5 would have been perfect.
This also came in a beige, which I liked even better, but they didn't have it in my size.

And here is the sole. I'm still unsure about this purchase. I saw a couple of Rebecca Minkoff bags that
were on sale and I am debating whether to go back to exchange it for that. I mean, I literally
destroy my shoes. That's why I can't justify buying expensive shoes. Plus, the winters here are brutal
and I can just imagine the salt destroying these shoes… What should I do??? Should I return them?

Next is Sephora.

I finally gave in and got the Clarisonic Mia. My skin has been so awful lately. I think it's mainly due
to stress at work. I've been getting major acne on my chin area and nothing's worked.
I'm hoping this will clear out my clogged pores. I also got some samples of acne spot treatments
at Sephora as well as a cleanser.

I got the pink one because that's the only one they had. I hate how the Canadian Sephora's don't have the
same stock as our American counterparts. The good news is that I got this for $119. It is originally $139CAD, but I saw a stack of these in a section where they tagged it at $119 so they gave it to me for that price! Isn't that sweet?!