Category: Mini Make Up Haul

Sadly today I ended up caving and breaking my No Make Up Buy Ban. Although I do have a very good reason why I ended up caving. Last week I got word that my aunt died from her battle with cancer and her funeral was today.

My aunt and her family live in Ottawa which is roughly 2- 2 1/2 hours away from me. So my sister and I were constantly checking the weather on the weekend to figure out if we would be going or not because it was forecasted that there would be freezing rain here (Montreal) and there. Up until this morning it was basically okay lets wait and see what the weather would be like. Thankfully the weather was nice enough that we decided to make the drive up.

I was up since about 4am this morning getting ready and packing a bag just in case we ran into bad weather and had to stay over night. Thankfully that didn’t happen the weather was perfect until tonight.

I made it a point that we weren’t going to stop until we got into Ottawa and near the church that the funeral was at. Well this wasn’t going to be a 2 1/2 hour trip, it turned into nearly a 3 hour trip. The roads were wet and I was driving between 80 and 100 m/h. We made it just in time.

The service was beautiful and it was nice to see all my first cousins (10 of them), second cousins (10+ of them) and third cousins (just a few of them so far) and the reception was fun because we got to laugh over so many crazy things we did as kids and my aunts fantastic spaghetti sause.

Before leaving Ottawa I really needed some retail therapy because I was tired and stressed out and honestly not looking forward to my drive back to Montreal because I had no idea what kind of weather we were going to run into etc. This was the first time in many years that I have driven that long so my back was sore and I had a headache. Not pictured is the tylenol that I bought.

Thankfully on the main road we were on they didn’t have a mall only groceries stores, restaurants, gas stations and pharmacies so we stopped into Shoppers Drug Mart (Pharmaprix here in Quebec) and I quickly headed to the Essence display because up until that point I didn’t realize that selected Pharmaprix here in Montreal have them. (I discovered that there is roughly a handful close to me now carry this line)

If your not familiar with Essence they are a company based out of Germany that make affordable make up that you can only buy in stores. When I say affordable I mean everything is basically under $5.

Here is what I picked up.

 ~Stay with me long lasting lip gloss. This is suppose to be a new item. I got one in the shade 08 Deep Rose. It was more like a sheer color for me. What I really like is the applicator has a roller kind of brush that makes application easy. It was a nice gloss and it wasn’t sticky. This is available in siz shades..

~The next one is XXXL Shine lip gloss. Its in the shade 07 Big Night Out. Its available in fourteen shades. This had a hint of color which I liked since it wasn’t something that wasn’t bright.  I loved that it wasn’t sticky and I am sure this will be used quite a bit.

~If you know me, you know that one of my favorite scents is Strawberry so when I spotted the Sweet Strawberry and Strawberry Smoothie I knew I had to pick them up. I love the texture and the smell of them and I am kind of partial to the smoothie more but they are perfect to throw in your purse.

Although I have to say that when I got home and was looking at everything, I first thought that I had picked up two sweet strawberries and was disappointed but upon closer inspection I realized that I did get one of each.

 I was in total heaven when I saw this little three pack of mini glosses. How can you not love something that has New York on it? I am a total New York addict and I always look for things with that on it.

 I don’t know what the shades are so I will just describe them. The first one is a pink, the second one is a pink glitter/shimmer and the final one is a clear one. I haven’t tried these yet but as soon as I do I will probably do a post about them. I figured with what I have opened and used already I should be good for a little while.

 Finally the last few things I bought was the cute pink essence sharpener. One is a regular size sharpener and the other side is for a chubbier pencil. Lately I have been getting  a few eye liner/ lip liner pencils and I thought it was time I picked up a sharpener.

I also picked up these cute little quads. They are roughly about the size of our $1 coin.

The first quad is from the Cherry Blossom Girl collection. Its the 01 Dreaming Under a Cherry Tree. The shades are peach, nude, brown and red. Although it doesn’t really look red in the picture or in person. I thought this would be a perfect spring look with many ways to wear it. It has a shimmer and matte finish to them.

The other quad is 12 Purple Day. This is just like the other quad with shimmer and matte shades. The colors are purple, pinkish purple, a dark grey and a silver. This one also has great color options. I am sure both quads can be mixed and matched with each other.

I honestly wanted to buy more from the essence line but I purposely said to myself that I will only pay cash and not use my credit card to avoid over spending and that worked for me.

This little retail therapy helped ease the stress and made the drive home more fun although I’m not sure if it was having my little bag filled with items or the delicious Tim Horton’s coffee I had picked up.

Have you ever tried Essence before? What are your thoughts? What should I be on the look out for?

I was going to save this until the end of the month but Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s asked me if I would post this earlier. So I am.

She graciously helped me out with this with her fantastic recommendations. Lucy is turning into my go to friend for make up advice and recommendations.

Just a heads up but this haul is quite massive but that is only because the other night I found out that I had accumulated enough Pharmaprix Optimum points that I could redeem them.

When I was on the Pharmaprix website I saw this promo for the  Fall Beauty Bonus. When you spend $125 or more on cosmetics, skin care or fragrances you will get a silver cosmetic case filled with 13 luxury beauty and fragrance samples for free. The kit is valued at $137.

The offer is valid from October 13th to October 26th, 2012 and its while qualities last.

I had enough points that I could take advantage of this so I figured why not since its basically completely free since I was able to redeem my points. Although a few items I had to put back because they didn’t fall into that category to qualify me for the freebie so I here is what I picked up:

I needed a new concealer and decided that with all the skin issues I have been having recently (see my previous post) I figured I would stick within the same line so I picked up this Bourjois Healthy Mix in number 61 Beige Clair.

 I found out that if you wear a liquid foundation that you should set your make up. I didn’t get Lucy recommendation (perhaps next time) but I stayed within the Bourjois Healthy Balance line and got the Unifying Powder (10 hour) in the shade of 52 Vanilla

I really like the smell of this line and it doesn’t smell like normal make up which is really nice in my opinion.

This is the foundation Lucy recommended and its the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum. Its in the shade of 51 Light Vanilla. This was the perfect blend for my skin tone.

The top is the powder and it doesn’t look that like this person. The swatches are the foundation and the concealer. (In that order). I have to admit that I was always very unsure of liquid foundation in the past and always went for the powdered stuff but honestly why haven’t I used it before? I really liked the coverage and the blending of it. I love the smell of this line and I think eventually I would like to try more products in this line.

I decided to try two nail polishes from this brand and picked up: Cerise Noir (#21) and Beige Glamour (#27)

Here is the swatches of the polishes. The Cerise Noir is one coat and Beige Glamour is with one coat and two coats. (in that order) which are very nice shades.  The Cerise Noir is darker in person.

Rounding up that purchase I decided since this was basically free that I should splurge and buy some good eye shadow so I decided on the Benefit’s kit. This is the peek-a-bright eyes kit. I have tried previous Benefit products from my various sample boxes and loved the brand so I fugured why not.

So in order there is an eye bright (pink), shadow base (beige), contour shadow (dark brown), highlight shadow (dusty rose like) and included was two brushes a concealer and contour & liner. I love the packaging of this very girly and its a magnetic closing so no fumbling trying to open it in a rush or in the early morning.

 

I wish that other items could have been included in this promo but thankfully they had a sale on the following items so I took advantage of them.

I was told that a good mascara to wear during the day to make your lashes more natural and not in your face that you should wear a brown so I don’t have a brown but tons of black so I picked this up its the Covergirl Natural Luxe mousse mascara. I have to say that they were right. It was perfect for the daytime and it made my lashes pop without it being in your face.

This was another item Lucy highly recommended and its the Rimmel lipstick. Its in the shade of Airy Fairy #070. I have to say that I normally don’t wear lipstick (mainly because I have a hard time picking out good ones and the right shade) but with this one Lucy was right on target and I love it. It gives you some color but not alot.

This is the swatch of it. Its very nice and I like the texture and smell of it (not sure how to describe the smell of it but its really nice). This is now my go to day item.

So I was able to use up my points to qualify for the Fall Beauty Bonus.

I was really impressed with the size of this make up bag. Its huge as you can see. I probably won’t use this to travel with but I think it will be great to put it in a dresser to hold items not used all the time.

This pouch is removable so this probably can be used to travel with.

This screen holds the bottom contents in place without worrying of them falling out or going all over the place.

I loved how the products were placed in this Ziploc baggie and not loose all over the place. The booklet was great in talking about all the products and its Pharmaprix’s (shoppers drug marts) favorite items.

I decided to group them into categories and this is the skin care line.

~Lab Series is a multi-action face wash for guys.

~Korres Pomegranate deluxe mattifing Treatment

~Strivectin Power Serum Total Powerhouse (anti aging treatment)

~Clarins Hydraquench cream gel

~Elizabeth Arden Prevage Face Advanced anti-aging Serum

~Biotherm Lait Corporel Body Milk

~Lise Watier age control supreme the eye care

This is the scents.

~Elizabeth Arden Red Door Aura. I loved the smell of this and I know I will be wearing this alot. It says that this a new expression of the iconic signature of Red Door. It maintains the vibrancy of New York with a sensual and sophisticated melange of rich florals.

~Coach Poppy eau de Parfume. This is another scent I really like. Its a fruity floral, cucumber flower petals, mandarin and bright baby freesia buds, while leaving behind a lasting, sensual blend of cedarwood, sandalwood, vanilla creme and whipped marshmallow blend. I tried this one and at first I didn’t really like it but once it wore on I grew to really like it. Another item I will be wearing alot of this fall.

~Taylor Swift Wonderstruck body lotion. Another nice scent and it left my skin silky smooth. I think I would wear this in place of days I didn’t want to use perfume.

Now the make up. Yea…

~Lancome La Base Pro. This is a make up primer.

~ Smashbox photo finish foundation primer. I love that you can wear this alone or under foundation. This smelled really good and I loved the coverage and how it looked. I wore this without make up one day and perhaps I will try it with foundation.

~Last but not least is Benefits They’re Real Mascara. Not sure of the shade but I think its black.

If you remember I recently got this in one of my beauty boxes and loved it. So I am happy I got another one as a back up. I know right now they have a promo for this with a get a full size and a travel size for under $30 but I didn’t get this because I have alot of mascaras waiting to be used.

 

So this is my make up haul. If you want anything reviewed please leave me a comment below and I will do one.

Do you redeem your Optimum points for these kinds of deals?

 

**I also was going to include my previous posts haul in this but thought it would be too confusing so I left it out.**

Growing up, I always had to deal with acne and had hoped that eventually it would stop but low and behold it doesn’t, at least not in my case.

Over the past year or so it seems like every other month is worse and this past month was no exception so I decided to use Kellett’s Clarifying Acne Treatment. Which was a sample I got in one of my beauty box subscription services lately.

Since I am fair skin I only went with one application instead of two. Well sadly it was the first and last time I will ever use it. I ended up tossing it into the garbage.

If you are a reader of my blog you know I never say anything negative about anything but this time is the exception and I am only basing this on my experience with the product.

Like I said I got this for free in one of my beauty subscription boxes and I am not obligated to review any of the products since I physically paid for the boxes.

With this break out I decided that I would try the Kellett’s Clarifying Acne treatment to see if it would clear it up. Well I had no sooner put it on when it began to feel like it was burning, I decided to wait a bit since I thought that perhaps thats what it was suppose to do but when it began to burn and itch I immediately washed it off.

It was a rough night because all I kept doing was scratching my face. In the morning it was red and I had more break outs and nothing I did seemed to help or get rid of the burning itch and the dry flakiness that had appeared. I tried to conceal it but it didn’t help. This was a hot mess on my face and I didn’t like it.

I went to my pharmacy to see if they could recommend something before deciding if I need to do to my drs and thankfully a fantastic lady told me about this:

Its La Roche-Posay skin line. She told me that the prickling and redness was because my skin no longer tolerates the application of that product and its called Intolerant Skin and right now its hyper sensitive.

She was fantastic with telling me all about this particular line and that it should work. I was worried that this was going to be expensive and she could see it on my face and quickly let me know that she thought there was a kit available to try and she found one so I bought it.

I quickly came home to try it and right away I noticed that it wasn’t as burning and itchy as it was before. I washed my face with warm water and applied the cleanser, gently tapped my face with a towel before spraying the spring water on my face (which I have to say was hard to get use to at first because you can’t get it into your eyes) and then I finished off with the soothing cream.

The next morning when I looked in the mirror it appeared much better, there wasn’t as much redness as the night before. I instantly noticed a difference that next day after using it and gradually the past few days the hot mess is now getting much better.

I wish I would have taken a picture of this hot mess but I was totally embarrassed by it. I felt like I was in high school all over again. I kept my head down and didn’t go out like I normally do and tried to cover it up the best I could.

I really like these products and I think I will go back and perhaps speak to that lady again about finding out what is good for my face and continuing that as my new skin care line.

What is your go to skin care? Have you tried this before?

Please note I was in no way compensated for this review. I purchased these products with my own money.