The Makeup Monologues

When it comes to Canadian cosmetics, I can be a bit spoiled for choice. Compared to my makeup collection at whole, I guess it doesn't look like much, but it's not much to shake a stick at! I wanted to do a makeup look using only Canadian makeup and realized that while I have lots of Canadian lipstick and blush, I lack Canadian incarnations of eyebrow products, concealer, eyeshadow primer, everyday staples like that. I actually had to run out to the store earlier today upon realizing I didn't have any foundation, powder or concealer that was Canadian- I settled on a loose powder by Joe Fresh then ran back home to do this post. Here's all the stuff I chose to smack on my face! ... Set against the beautiful background of a majorly outdated Toronto skyline. For my lips, I went with Bite Beauty, eliminating all of my Marcelle products. Sorry, Marcelle. I chose the lip primer, Luminous Creme lipstick in Violet, and lip gloss in Nine from the Watercolou...

I'm here with a breakthrough: advertising, sometimes, does work, even on the more critically-minded of us. We are here today because I saw this advertisement in a magazine: (source: womenfreebies.ca) and, against my better judgement, even knowing that every purple drugstore liner I've purchased has been a flop even though it looked great in the advertisements, I sought out this Annabelle Stay Sharp liner in Ultraviolet. The packaging bears a strong resemblance to, if not being nearly identical, Smashbox's self-sharpening eyeliners. It's sleek and nice and represents the colour inside. It is, however, especially prone to rolling off tables. And it really does stay sharp every time! In some ways, such as when you go to just swatch it, this is wasteful rathe than convenient. Ultraviolet is a light purple liner with a cerulean duochrome. It's kind of neat, actually, just not what I expected or wanted, which was an intense violet eyeliner. It's heavily ...

I had never really lingered at the Annabelle display at my local pharmacy, but recently I've been wanting to try out some Canadian cosmetics brands. So as my first foray into the brand, I picked up three shades of their TwistUp lipsticks, because the colours looked interesting. (L-R) Mai Tai, Kinky Pink, Royale  I expected these to be opaque, but they apply rather sheer, like tinted lip balms. (Top to Bottom) Mai Tai, Kinky Pink, Royale Albeit, nice tinted lip balms, but not opaque "lipsticks". They'd be better to just call these lip crayons. Mai Tai is a candy apple red. Kinky Pink is a shocking fuschia that's very flattering. Royale is the colour of grape juice. Overall, these are very nice if you're looking for a sheer wash of colour. I prefer lip gloss for that purpose, so I've given these away already!