Summer Haul Part 4 - Final

While at Sephora I came across a scent that I really hadn’t planned on purchasing – Boyfriend by Kate Walsh. The last perfume I had been using was Pink Sugar by Aquolina, which is a really sweet cotton candy scent. Boyfriend is definitely more of an older, sophisticated scent which I felt like trying as I have graduated from university and moving on to a new stage in my life. I came across it because I was looking for Pink Sugar in a rollerball and in the rollerball section they were out of it but I smelled Boyfriend and really liked it. A rollerball is a great way to sample a scent. Because I was trying it for the first time, I didn’t really want to make an investment in the full eau de toilette. How Kate Walsh (Addison from Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice) designed this scent was supposed to “capture the scent of a guy on a girl: a man’s cologne mixed with perfume” and that’s definitely what it seems to smell like. According to Sephora, the notes include dark plum, myrrh, night blooming jasmine, benzoin tears, skin musk, golden amber and vanilla woods. They describe the style as sensual, vanilla and amber. Usually I like scents that are fruity or clean but I love that this scent is so different from anything else I’ve tried. I love that it’s in a rollerball because I can throw it in my purse and not have to worry about it leaking, and I can apply it in the car without spraying it and having everyone else in the car smell like it (lol an issue with my boyfriend!).

I purchased the coralista blush from Benefit. I had been using my baked on blush from The Body Shop but it is very pink and this one is more of a coral shade so I think it is more natural. It looks amazing and even the container is gorgeous! The only quams I have are that the brush it comes with sheds quite a bit, but you could always just use your own blush brush.

So those were a sampling of some of the products I bought this summer! Tons of fun new products out there, and there were tons of great sales! What did you buy this summer?

Summer Haul Part 3 - Pink and Sephora

I went to Pink not too long ago and I was super excited to go because I hadn’t been for so long. I really like the bags that they have there. I have a really big gray one with polka dots that I put all my clothes in to travel, and I have a pink leopard print one for all my ‘getting ready’ stuff. I picked up a pink zip-up tote for my sister, which she has been using as a diaper bag. I also got a cross-body bag:

http://www.victoriassecret.com/ss/Satellite?ProductID=1265563474750&c=Page&cid=1311125461086&pagename=vsdWrapperhttp://www.victoriassecret.com/ss/Satellite?ProductID=1265563474750&c=Page&cid=1311125461086&pagename=vsdWrapper

This one is not the exact bag I have, and although I recently bought it I don’t see it on the website. It is similar to these ones but it has a zip-up top and an extra zip-up section in the front. I really like it because if I am going out and only want to take maybe my wallet and cell phone. It is so much lighter and you don’t have to carry it or constantly readjust it on your shoulder so I am very happy I got it.

I had purchased the Aquolina pink sugar hair perfume awhile ago and wanted to get the rollerball so I had a portable one to put in my purse. Unfortunately when I was in Sephora they had none in stock, so I ended up getting the eau de toilette instead. Love this scent, so sugary and delicious, great scent for summer!

One of my favourite purchases this summer was definitely the Urban Decay Naked Palette. I had heard so many rave reviews and hadn’t planned in advance on buying it but wanted a new palette. I have two palettes I had gotten for Christmas but after having been dropped a number of times they were falling apart and a lot of my favourite colors had been pretty used up. But after I had decided to buy it, they didn’t have any in either (this was when I went to get my pink sugar rollerball, so they must have been really low on stock at the time). Next time I was in, I asked the girl who worked there if she knew when they’d be getting them in stock. I ended up totally lucking out because although there was a waiting list of forty, they had just received about sixty so I got one before they were even put on the shelves. Before that they had only been getting six or seven at a time so they could never keep them in stock. If you haven’t heard of this palette, it has twelve eyeshadows in shimmery neutral colors, although there are a few darker ones as well. I wanted a palette that was mainly neutral because I don’t go to dark with my eyeshadow, so to me any palette with mainly dark shadows would be a waste. It comes with an eyeshadow brush and a mini Urban Decay primer potion. This is such an AMAZING palette! Gorgeous colors, super pigmented so you don’t have to keep layered on coats.

Summer Haul Part 2 - Lush and Too Faced Brow Kit

This summer I went to Lush for my very first time. I had heard a lot of good things about it, but there are no locations that are close by. I didn’t buy anything at the first Lush I went to because to be honest I was a bit overwhelmed. I didn’t know much about the products or how they worked so I just took a quick peek. After getting home, I visited their website and took a better look at which products interested me. The first thing I got when I went next was Rock Star Soap. This soap smells like vanilla candy – it is kind of a cotton candy-ish smell and it smells delicious! I really love the color of it as well - pretty pink! Normally I’m not into bar soaps because I find them very drying but this one I find doesn’t do that. You can get them to cut off a piece of whatever size you like so the price can vary. The second thing I got was the Comforter Bubble Bar. This one is described as bringing a real sense of comfort just like a comforter would. This has sweet blackcurrents, cypress oil and cassis absolute. It smells fruity but like a ‘dark raspberry’ kind of scent. You crumble some off into the tub under running water and it bubbles right up. It actually does a really good job at bubbling, much better than I expected. You can use as much or as little of it per bath as you would like. It turns the water a pinky-purply color too.

I had been thinking for awhile about using a brow powder to define my brows, and I found that my favourite makeup company, Too Faced, makes a brow kit. This is a palette with a bunch of items inside that really helps you get your brows looking great. First, it has illustrations at the top that explain step-by-step how to use each item. This is helpful so you know exactly what products to use and in what order to use them. It has 3 different stencils, which you hold up to your brows and fill in to determine where to tweeze and which areas to grow in (the kit comes with tweezers, actually pretty decent ones – for some reason I thought they wouldn’t be very good but they are really good. There is two brow powders, Blonde and Brunette. The blonde one is kind of a grey-brown color and the brunette one is very dark brown. Although my brows are dark, I can mainly use the blonde color, and I just add in a little extra brunette powder to use it up and to darken them a bit. Next, it has a setting wax to hold everything in place. It comes with a little pencil to get some extra definition – I find that I don’t really need it that much, but if your brows are really sparse and you want to add a bit more shape to them it’s great to have. This is a brown color. Lastly, there is a pink highlighting powder. It’s more of a cream than a powder, which other people have complained about but I really like it because it gives it a thickness and staying power. The kit itself was something like $41 but I find it’s definitely worth it because by the time you add up the individual items it gets pricey. Also, some of those items are hard to find on their own, and to have them in their own convenient box is really nice. I love the finished look of my brows after using this kit so I am very glad I bought this.

Summer Haul Part 1 - Books and the Body Shop

Summer Haul

Hey guys!

So I wanted to do a massive summer haul because I’ve went shopping pretty much weekly since summer officially started. I’ll try to give you a good idea of what the product is and where you can find it! If I have already mentioned a product in a previous blog I’ll skip it.

I’ve bought a few books from Coles or Chapters this summer – Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti, Seventeen’s Ultimate Guide to Style, and Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares. Unfortunately, I have yet to read ANY of these books so although they all look great I will have to wait to give you a review on them! I just finished Stay by Deb Caletti, a book I bought not too long ago and it was amazing! It is about a girl who is in hiding with her dad from her obsessive boyfriend and it is such a good, gripping read. I definitely recommend it, all of her books are fantastic. You can check out her website at www.debcaletti.com.

I’ve spent some time at The Body Shop and it’s really been one of my favourite stores lately. I am obsessed with the mango and sweet lemon lip butters. They are great lip balms that smell nice without being overwhelming and they moisturize really well. I've stocked up on a few so I can store them in some different places so I never have to worry about having dry lips. Normally I don't like a lip balm or gloss where I have to apply with my finger but these ones are not too bad.

I bought a blush from the Body Shop called baked on blush in the shade 01 petal (it comes in two different shades and this one is brighter). This is my absolute favourite blush right now, it is a super flattering color. I swirl together both the pink and the highlight color. I use the blusher brush from The Body Shop as well to apply. I bought a primer from there as well called ‘Matte It’ which is a mattifying primer. They also have a moisturizing primer if you have drier skin. I use this primer as my very first makeup step (after I moisturize).

Stay tuned for part 2!