The Makeup Monologues

Well, the first month of the year came and went incredibly fast for me! I thought I wasn't going to have any favourites this month, but as soon as I looked through my Instagram profile I could definitely tell that there were some products I went back to again and again. Let's get into it, shall we? So I've got a lotion, a brow product, a blush, a highlighter and two liquid lipsticks. Mostly drugstore this month, wow! First, the L'Oreal Brow Stylist Plumper. Wow. I thought my Rimmel one was good, and I was so, so wrong. That one never actually held anything in place. This L'Oreal one did set me back 15 dollars, but it is AMAZING. It tints and plumps the brows with little fibers, and the wand is teeny tiny so you're not smearing brown gel all over yourself. But what really impresses me about this product is how my brows refuse to budge after it sets. It's like they're being held in place by industrial amounts of hairspray. And this doesn't fade...

This weekend I'm at the CFS (Canadian Federation of Students) Ontario Semi-Annual Meeting as part of Local 82 (Algoma University Student Union), in Toronto. It's very exciting and I've learned so much- but aside from that, here's what I brought with me for the four-day trip, makeup-wise! Let's start with eyeshadow. I knew I'd want to do some bright looks, so I packed my Urban Decay Electric palette. For more neutral stuff and smokey looks, I packed the LORAC Pro 2. For my main transition shades I packed my NARS eyeshadow duo in Madrague, and for my blending out shade/browbone highlight I brought along the Wet N Wild eyeshadow single in Brulee. I also packed some cream eyeshadow sticks- the NYX Jumbo eye pencil in Black Bean to use as a base under the metallic brights in the Electric palette, the brown Rimmel Scandaleyes pencil to quickly slap on the lid, and the two green pencils because I knew I'd want to do a green smokey eye, and I bought th...

Hey guys! I went through some products I'd been working on for a while in December, so I figured I'd do a quickie post about them! Dr. Dennis Gross Alphabeta Peel sample: Honestly, they were kinda fun to use, but they're meant to be used daily to see any real results. I don't know why samples like this even exist. Rimmel Brow This Way: I really liked this, though I don't think I'll be repurchasing. I just don't see the need for a brow gel now that I know how to properly use a brow pencil. L'Occitane Shea Butter hand cream: I LOVE THIS. I need the full size, my hands are addicted to it. Usually I hate hand cream, especially if it's unscented, but this stuff is just perfect. Adore. Makes my hands feel soft and hydrated in seconds. Ole Henriksen Featherweight moisturizer : I really loved this while I used it, but I won't be purchasing the full size because of cost. Regardless, it's a very nice, pleasant moisturizer for daily use. Mayb...

I went on a bit of an obsessed- er, dedicated- highlighter kick in December, snatching up any highlight I could find. My roommate and best friend, Winter, was very perceptive of this and picked me up a gorgeous highlighter for Christmas! She got me one of the OFRA Cosmetics highlighters that they did in collaboration with the girls from the dupethat instagram account! She opted to get me the pinky-silver highlight, called You Glow, Girl!  OFRA has been all the rage on instagram and youtube lately, mainly for their liquid lipsticks and collaborations with beauty mavens. I'm very excited to own something by them! The highlighter pan is about the same size as my Mary-Lou Manizer by the Balm. The packaging feels a little cheap, but the product inside is perfection. The texture is incredibly smooth and barely powdery at all. Here's a swatch from one angle, showing the pinkiness of the highlight. From here, it almost looks like I could use this as a blush topper! But ...

My Project Finish It for 2015 wasn't a total resounding success, but nevertheless, I'm going to do a Project Pan and a Project Finish It this year! Here are the products I'm going to do my best to hit pan on this year! Mostly eyeshadows, with one blush (that can also be used as a shadow). This CabanaBoy blush by theBalm was the first non-drugstore blush I ever purchased, and I've sparsely used it since- however, I got onto a kick with it this past December, and I've realized how versatile and wearable this blush is! It's going to be tough to hit pan, for sure, and I know I won't get any use out of this while the weather is warm (I use cream blush in the late spring/summer). But until April, and then again starting in September, I'll hopefully be wearing this baby out. It's a huge blush and I've got no hope in hell of actually finishing it, but hitting pan on it is definitely one of my bigger 'beauty' goals of the year. This Col...

For 2015, I chose an array of products- makeup and skincare- that I would try and use up throughout the year. For the first half of the year I worked at them diligently, but as my makeup collection expanded I sort of fell off the bandwagon. I don't have pictures of everything in its current state, so I've taken the starting pictures and labeled them. Blue X= finished. Green X= given away/tossed. So first, the makeup. Ardell Brow Powder: Finished the top and middle shades. Had no use for the bottom one, so I threw it out. Maybelline Dream Matte Powder: Finished early in the year. I still miss this, the best powder I've ever used. The Body Shop All-in-One Cheek Colour in Bubblegum: Finished! I can't believe I finished a blush in a year! I've since repurchased it because I can't live without it... Rimmel Vinyl Gloss : Finished it about 3/4 of the way and then tossed it because I hated the scent. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Bla...

My day 12 for my favourites of 2015 is supposed to be "eye extras"- so I chose two palettes I've been loving this year! The first is my Too Faced Jingle All the Way Phone palette. It was part of my use-it-up 2015, so I used this a whole ton in the first half of the year. Here's my (really badly done) review on it- that's all you need to know. But then... the Lorac Pro 2 palette came into my life around June and changed everything. These shadows are amazing, pigmented and soft. I never did neutral eyes until I encountered this palette, but now I also use it almost every single time I do colourful makeup too! I mostly used the left side of the palette (I've since hit pan on Buff, the top left shade). Here are some looks I've done with it. Cool Gray and Lt. Brown are the stars of the show here. Cool Gray is probably my favourite shade in the whole palette- it's so unique! And here's a look featuring some of the rose-gold-y s...