MAC Pro Longwear Lipcreme in Faithfully Yours, Positively Dashing and Sweet Ever After - Review and Swatches

I own three of MAC's Pro Longwear Lipcremes. From left to right, Faithfully Yours, Positively Dashing and Sweet Ever After. I didn't buy three because I loved the product so, but I bought each colour for different reasons. They are $20 Cdn. and $17 U.S. Overall the colour selection for this line seems lacking to me. Lots of dark goth colours here.They are 3.6g or 0.12 oz.

Faithfully Yours was purchased for two reasons. I can not seem to find this perfect shade of stone purple that I want, so I bought this thinking I had found the colour. The second reason was because I was curious about the new Pro Longwear Lipcremes at the time. I got this when the line was first launched. I don't dislike this colour, it is just a lot darker and stronger than I wanted. It looks crazy goth if you are not careful. I have to just dab a little on and then add lip gloss later to make it remotely wearable. The colour is described by MAC as blackened, dirty purple.

I bought Positively Dashing because I wanted a long wearing lipstick in a fun colour. This is a bit loud I think, but I do like this one the best of the three and I wear this one the most of the three. It is described by MAC as mid-tone "berry" blue-red. If you check out MAC's website you won't believe how the colour looks on there, it is nothing like it is in real life. Please see the swatch below and compare the two for kicks if you like.

Finally, there is Sweet Ever After. This was a dumb purchase on my part. I got sucked into buying this because Tiffany D went on and on about how wonderfully perfect this colour is and she used in a lot of her tutorials. Now I watch Tiffany D videos religiously. No one does eye makeup as perfect, fun and classy looking as she does. The woman is a genius with eyeshadow. However, 4/5 times I totally think she misses the mark with her lipstick choices. She tends to favour a lot of barely there nudes (so why bother just use lip chap) and her lips are on the smaller side so whatever she wears doesn't give her face a huge pop of colour. Sweet Ever After is too shiny and gold caramel for me. It's too J. Lo Glow! MAC describes it as copper frost. Gee, that should have tipped me off...I can be such a moron sometimes. Hey if that is your thing than power to you, but it isn't mine. It looks crazy and sickly on me. I am too cool toned and it is way too warm toned. I have to dumb it down with a whack of lip gloss if I wear it. Also, I find that either my top or bottom lip dries a slightly different shade than the other lip with this colour and it looks weird....

I hate the packaging of these. Sure it looks sleek and modern, but the cap snaps onto the tube base and they are constantly coming apart and unsnapping. It drives me mad. Not recommended for the old purse my friends. This has disaster written all over it.

The swatches are from top to bottom, Sweet Ever After, Positively Dashing and Faithfully Yours. These go on dry and dry even drier. The key I have found is to let them completely dry then add some lip gloss so it doesn't look so dry and severe. Also, they are damned uncomfortable if you leave them on as is. I put on Positively Dashing this morning at 7 a.m., ate two meals, applied a little gloss in the afternoon over it (I was in a rush this morning) and some of it was still on at 6:30 p.m. They do last. If you are a low fuss gal, this may be your ticket. But why or why can't anyone invent a long wearing lipstick that is comfortable and moisturizing?  

Rating: 6/10 (they last but need gloss help and the packaging sucks)

Clarins Everlasting Foundation SPF 15 - Review

Sorry I haven't done a blog entry in days! I've been busy and haven't been wearing much makeup lately. I still have tons of eyeshadows and stuff in my stash to try out and review but alas I have been negligent! Also, I am a bit caught up in reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" and I am totally addicted.

Since I have been a makeup bore lately, I thought I would go back to basics. Clarins Everlasting Foundation SPF 15 is the foundation that I have been wearing for over a year and a half. I have gone through maybe 5 or 6 bottles to date. I normally wear 107 Beige in the winter and in the summer mix 107 and 109 Wheat. I find 109 Wheat is just too dark on me even in the summer. Supposedly, 108 exists, but no one seems to sell it. I like this foundation because it glides on smooth, you don't need much, it feels fairly light wearing and it gives you a nice dewy, glowy complexion. It is long wearing but I do find the coverage fades a bit over the course of the day. I would describe this foundation as medium coverage.

Once in a blue moon I will notice some areas near my nose (where I perspire I guess) can look a tad cakey in the summer months. For foundations, the ingredients are pretty good. I have decided to try a couple of Estee Lauder foundations after a few people have recommended them to me for a change. I will let you know how that works out. Overall though, I think this is one of the better foundations out there. I may be repurchasing this depending on how things go. I would definitely use this again.

Rating: 8/10

Love J'adore? Want to save $55-$98? Nivea to the rescue....

I was in a panic one day when I realized that I forgot to put on deodorant before I ran out of the house. I stopped by a drug store and quickly bought some. I grabbed the Nivea Calm & Care. I don't see the name of the scent anywhere on the product, but it is the green blue one as pictured above. As I wore this throughout the day, I kept getting convinced that someone kept walking by me wearing J'adore perfume by Christian Dior. When I got home, I realized that someone was me. I could not believe how much this smelt like J'adore which I own. Now the smell is not identical, but it is very similar. The Nivea is actually much stronger than the perfume. I got the Nivea deodorant for about $3 or $4 Canadian on sale I believe. So if you want the smell of J'adore and want to spend $4 for the pleasure, here is your cheap solution.

As an aside, this deodorant is supposed to be 24 hour after-shave care. It should calm the skin and reduce irritation. I easily get irritated after shaving, and this does seem to help, but I still get some redness even after using this product as an FYI. It does work very well as an anti-perspirant and smells fabulous. It is mild and gentle on skin.

L'Oreal HIP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner 956 Midnight Blue - Review, Swatch and ELOTD

I got this product ages ago on a trip to Buffalo, N.Y. They don't seem to sell this in Canada. I got it at a Kmart I believe and for L'Oreal, it wasn't super cheap. I think I paid around $12 U.S. or something. The product came with a brush I believe that was cheap and scratchy. I have since thrown it out. It is a really neat colour, somewhere in between electric and navy blue. In the pics above, here I am wearing the eyeliner today. I was going to swatch this for you, but I figured a swatch on the eye so to speak was just as good as. You can also use this as an eyeshadow base if you are doing a smoky dark blue look. The list of ingredients was on the box and I have chucked that too. I seem to remember that there were some questionable ingredients, but since I don't wear this often nor apply it to a large area of my body at any given time, I am not going to freak about it. In case any of you are wondering, I am also wearing my beloved MAC Shroom in these photos along with MAC Wedge in the crease for a natural look. That was my ELOTD or Eyeshadow Look of the Day....

This product glides on pretty smooth and there are some micro bits of shimmer in it. The container holds 4.5g or 0.159 oz. MAC's Blacktrack container has 3g or 0.10 oz. Needless to say, the L'Oreal HIP is quite a bit more generous with their quantity of product. I don't feel that this eyeliner though is as pigmented and as long wearing as my MAC or Clinique gel liners but it is super nice nonetheless. It also can flake a little after several hours of wear and I never have that problem with MAC or Clinique gel liners.

Rating: 7/10

Merle Norman Purely Mineral Eye Pencil Dusk - Review and Swatch

Today, I will be reviewing the Merle Norman Purely Mineral Eye Pencil in Dusk which is a dirty denim grey. At least that is the way I would describe it. In real life it is a lot more blue than my swatch shows. The top swatched line is the line a bit smoked out, mind you, I couldn't do it justice on the inside of my wrist. The bottom line is just a plain, old swatch. This eyeliner smudges fantastically. As I said, my line above does not do it justice. It makes for a quick mini smokey eye in seconds. Just use a shimmery neutral eyeshadow colour, line your top lash with this and then smudge the line with a MAC 217 or 219 or some other smudge brush and viola! you are set to go with just a little mascara. There is actually a smudging sponge tip on one end of the eye shadow, so you can use that too and save getting out a brush.

This is a very unique and neat colour. I really like the look it gives my brown eyes. It's perfect for work when you want to look like you spent some time in front of the mirror, meanwhile it was effortless. I have had this eye liner awhile and honestly I don't remember what it cost me. It wasn't cheap but it wasn't uber expensive either. The only thing I don't like about it is that I do find it can transfer a bit to the lower lash area. That is a pain in the butt. I have long since lost the box, but as I recall there was nothing too scary in the ingredients. I will definitely buy this again.

Merle Norman describes this line of eyeliners as:

This pencil is packed with Jojoba Oil derivative, Vitamin E and mineral pigments to protect and condition the delicate skin around the eyes. Intense colour and a built-in smudger means you can achieve any look!!

Rating: 7/10

Sigma Beauty F84 - New Fave Foundation Brush, Review and Fantastic Customer Service

I ordered a F84 brush from Sigma Beauty a few weeks back and I instantly fell in love with it. It is an angled kabuki style brush. It is fantastic for foundation! It trumps my other foundation brushes by far. I don't know how I lived without this brush. It is prefect for getting in and around all of the contours of the face. The brush is effortless. It's $16 U.S. on its own or if you buy it with another kabuki brush, the F82, you can get the set for $24 U.S., which is what I did.

Within 3 days of using the brush (I had only washed it once when I first got it) I noticed the craziest thing happening. The metal started to peel! You can see from my second picture above just what I am talking about. I was horrified. I did curse a bit. I have never had a MAC brush do that ever and I have owned MAC brushes for years...I know Sigma brushes are lower end, but still, peeling on Day 3 is pretty brutal. I contacted Sigma right away and they responded within 24 hours. I had sent them the pic above. No questions asked, they said they would send me a new one and I received it in less than 2 weeks. Considering it had to change hands at the border, that is pretty good. I didn't have to return my peeling brush or incur any expenses. Nada. I think excellend customer service is a rare beast indeed these days, and I was postively wowed by Sigma's customer service. Kudos to you Sigma for making me happy and the making the process effortless!

Rating: 9/10 (point off for the peeling on brush #1)

Fresh Sugar Rose Lip Treatment - Review and Swatch

In the top picture I have the full sized tube (4.3g or 0.15oz.) and the smaller trial size (2.2g or 0.08oz.). Sorry the trial size looks crusty because the writing on the tube has been worn off from being in my purse. I really, desperately wanted to love this colour the way I love the Fresh Sugar Plum, but I don't. The colour barely shows up on my lips. I do like it for moisturizing purposes though. At $26 Cdn. for the large size, I can't justify the cost for something that barely shows up on me. I have cheaper lip balms for that. This colour smells like pink lemonade. At first I liked the smell but it wears on you after awhile. The Fresh Plum still smells amazing...sigh. If you are super pale and don't like much lip colour, but want mildly shiny lips, this may be your thing. If you are seriously considering this purchase, I would suggest you get the trial size first (I got mine free from Sephora as a bday gift) before committing to a big tube at $26 smackeroos. I bought the big one and didn't try it for ages. I am sorry I bought it before I got the smaller size for free. I will use the big one in its entirety I assure you, but I won't be buying it again. I will stick with the Fresh Sugar Plum which shows up on me very nicely and smells like $1,000,000.

Rating: 4/10

Contest Time! Update!

So I had a contest going that ended 2 days ago...I was giving away free makeup....but no one entered the contest I am sad to report. So there is no winner......

Maybe I will try it again down the road, but since I got zero interest.....maybe no one is interested?