Sparkled Beauty

As promised in the Marcelle Classic Elegant review post, I'm bringing you this giveaway (for all my Canadian readers, as requested by the sponsor).

International readers, due to some time constraint from my part (getting ready for my trip home), I couldn't get the giveaway I promised you ready before I leave. I'll have it up during the last 2 weeks of my vacation, so I can gather the prize items and mail them out to you as soon as I'm back to Canada. So it'll be a New Year present instead of Christmas for you. My appology!

Again, the prize is the exact same set that I received for review, includes:
- Wet & Dry Eye shadow quad in Tropics
- Concealer palette in Universal Beige
- Vita-Lip Plumping gloss in Nude
- Lash Extreme Lengthening mascara for sensitive eyes, and
- 2-in-1 Retractable Eyeliners in Copper and Brown.

The same old Rules:
1. You need to be a Canadian follower of this blog. New followers are welcome!
The easiest way for me to check this would be seeing my blog name in the "blogs you follow" section below your blogger profile. If you are following me by different means than Google Friends Connect, please mention it in your comment so that I know.

2. Please leave a comment on this post, telling me which Marcelle product you are interested in trying out (besides the items in the prize), or if you already have a favorite Marcelle product, tell me about it.
Your email address needs to be provided either in your profile or in the comment for me to contact you if you win. If I can't contact you, I'll have to pick another winner.

3. Extra entries (not mandatory) for posting about the giveaway on your blog and/or twitter (by using the RT button at the bottom of the post) with links to this blog and the giveaway. One extra entry for each method. Please leave the link of your post or tweet in separate comments.

4. The giveaway starts today (November 20) and ends Friday, December 4, 2009 at 11:59PM ADT (Atlantic Daylight Time). There should be enough time for the prize to be sent to you before Christmas.

5. The winner will be randomly selected from all qualified entries (through random.org) and be notified on Sunday, December 6, 2009 (or sooner, if I could make it). He/she will have 48 hours to get back to me with shipping information, or a new winner will be selected.

6. The prize will be shipped directly to the winner from the sponsor.

Thank you to the sponsor and good luck to everyone!

Ok, I am panicking as it's just more than a day left for me to get ready to leave, so let's have some fun to take my mind off things.

Sweeps 4 bloggers is giving away the Gentle Body Exfoliator from Erno Laszlo, valued at $38.

I've heard so much about the brand but haven't seen it around or tested anything from it yet. Plus, I love body scrubs of all kinds, so this is a fun one to enter.

But hurry over, as it closes tonight at 8 Pacific time.




April at dot...dot...dot... is having a Holiday Giveaway Event that runs until this Sunday, November 22.

There are many prizes to win, so feel free to browse her blog.

My picks:
- Herb'n Development scrub
- Anderson Soap
- Red Clover Clutch
- Kidoodles crayons for the child(ren) in your life
- Purse hanger

Top picks: MAC and elf, Almay lip gloss and Coach Coin pouch giveaways!

Beauty and Personal Grooming has a giveaway for The Body Shop's Love Etc. new line - the EDP (in the picture), body wash and body lotion, valued at $50.

Last day to enter would be November 26.

I start getting a fragrance kick, so I'm curious about the EDP the most. Having a set is even better, as it helps the scent linger longer.

Have you tried this scent before?

Love Urban Decay and Hello Kitty? Join Maggie at The Polka Dotted Apple for her first giveaway to win by November 29:

- THE Urban Decay Book of Shadows, Vol II
- Urban Decay Sparkler Pen Lipgloss in Rocket
- Sugar Lip Slick in Sand
- Old Navy Lip Balm in Toffee Crunch
- Hello Kitty Mechanical Pencil
- Japanese Kimono Hello Kitty Mini Notebook
- Hello Kitty Glitter Sticker
- Japanese 'Crown' Design Loose Powder
- Container with coordinating puffs, and
- 2 samples of Chanel Precision Eye Cream/Wrinkle Cream.

Wow, that's a fun package.

My answers for the questions she asked:
My most prized possession? My confidence
My definition of beauty? Feel good about one self
Makeup item I recommend to her: MAC All that glitters
My favorite KIND of makeup item? Mineral pigments/eyeshadows, I love colours and the pay off pigments provide
A weird factoid about me? Don't like to drive but took the driving test and got a license
The fondest memory of my childhood? Got constant good grade to please my parents
Describe myself honestly: Makeup addict
Something she could do to improve her blog: Love her close up eye makeup pics, she should keep them coming.

Or if you are into UK makeup, this one is for you: Shakespeare and Stilettos has some for you.

You can win:
- Sleek LE 'Graphite' eyeshadow palette
- Rimmel MAX volume flash mascara in ultra black
- Barry M nail paints in 'pink flamingo' and 'bright purple'
- Sleek blush in 'flamingo' no 937, and
- Eyeko hot! hot! hot! red nail polish.

She picked awesome items, as I personally haven't seen any of them before. Don't you want to win?

Enter before December 9 for a chance.

And then, there's Princesa Livia's First Giveaway with Sleek palettes.

Check them out: Sunset or Graphite? Graphite or Sunset? Gosh, hard choice.

Enter anyway, and depending on the order you get pick, you'll get one or another. They are both fun, so we shouldn't waste anymore time, should we? Deadline is December 7.

It's amazing how much we read/ heard so much about UK makeup without having direct access to them. Well, until Sleek has their online shopping website up, the brand is still quite out of reach to us. Bloggers and blog giveaways rock!

I also want this prize at the Manicure Mommas giveaway too.

It's the Ulta-exclusive OPI Tiny Tinsels set with 4 mini bottles of Berried in Gifts, Amethyst Twist, Silver Belles. and a Rapidry Top Coat. This is something people outside the US, like me, can't get our hands on, unless we can find someone there to swap with.

They posted swatches of the shades in the post too, so feel free to check them out and enter. Contest ends November 30.

Aquaheart has a mark Blockbuster giveaway, going on until November 27.

What's inside the Metallic faux snakeskin train case?
- EXCLUSIVE LE multi-mix color cream in roxette and solara, plus snap to it mini to hold both shades
- On the edge hook up liquid eyeliner in cleo plus hook up connector
- Scanda-lash hook up mascara in blacklash
- Just Pinched instant blush tint in cheeky
- Shimmer glossblossom ripening lip tint, and
- Insert card with complete how-to's and face charts.

mark is another brand that I never experienced with, I'm curious.

Back to packing I go!

You probably heard me mentioning Marcelle before as a Canadian makeup and skin care brand, a sister of Annabelle.

Recently, I was fortunate to receive some Marcelle makeup for the look below called "Classic Elegant" to review.

The model is gorgeous and the photography technique certainly brought out all the colours of her eye makeup. Ignoring the fact that I needed toned down looks for work, I like to play around with colourful looks, like this one.

I never did a FOTD on this blog, just because my camera always fails in capturing both the colours and the total look. So I'll review the products that were used for this look, plus some crappy cropped pictures of my one eye and lips, lol. Don't hate me! I need a new camera with good micro photographing function.


Product list:
- Wet & Dry Eye shadow quad in Tropics
I personally love wet/dry shadows as I enjoy the "wet" look, the colours come out more vibrant and last longer. Personal preference :-)
- Concealer palette in Universal Beige
I wanted to try this one since forever.
- Vita-Lip Plumping gloss in Nude
Curious whether it's plumping.
- Lash Extreme Lengthening mascara for sensitive eyes
- 2-in-1 Retractable Eyeliners in Copper and Brown.

What I came up with:











My review:
The quad has a beautiful bronze colour (the only shimmer colour, my fav), a beige for highlight, a light green, and a dark olive green for the crease.

The bronze has good colour payoff, but was used as a wash colour in this look and it disappeared when I applied other colours on top, only the shimmer came through.
The beige colour showed up very lightly in the inner corners.
The light green was quite powdery, even when I used it with a damp brush. The colour was nice and brighten up the look, but I had to reapply after blending the dark olive green to the crease.

So I'd say it's a fun quad with colours that could make good combinations, but as the texture and colour payoff are not consistent, you 'll need to have a few test runs to see which ones work best together.

The gloss is nude (the swatch is right underneath the green colour but you can hardly see it), would be ideal for less pigmented lips. It was just it on my lips on the picture above, no lipstick. It's shiny, not sticky, and doesn't dry out my lips. I didn't feel any plumping though.

The liner I used was Copper, a nice dark coppery brown. It comes with a built-in sharpener on the other end of the pencil, which is nice. The colour shows up easily on my arm when swatched but not on my lash lines. Maybe it was just me who isn't an expert in applying eyeliner, but I found it was a bit hard to use.

I like the mascara. The long handle actually helped me to stabilized my arm for better application. The brush is in cone shape which works well with my extremely short lashes near the inner/outer corners of my eyes. It also separates my lashes nicely which I didn't get sometimes from my favorite L'Oreal Voluminous.
Again, my crappy lashes can't show any lengthening effects, not the mascara's fault.

The concealer is an interesting product. The instruction at the back of the packaging said the bright beige colour on the lower right corner is for under eye areas, and the other 3 are for blending to find the match shade. I found the colour in upper left corner has a bit of pink undertone, so I tried it under my eyes and the lower right corner and lower left corner colours to conceal my acne scars. They worked quite well for that purpose, but I will need to play around a bit with mixing and matching to find the ultimate use out of this palette. I like the texture and the medium coverage that it provides.

Hope you find this review somewhat helpful. Stay tuned for a chance to win the same "Classic Elegant" kit that I used for this review. I'd love to see your creations with it.

I saw this deal on a forum and thought it was interesting: Blinc Kiss Me mascara on cimel.ca.

I have never heard of this website before and am not commissioned to promote this deal. As a matter of fact, I want to hear your thoughts if you have heard or shopped there before, also what you think about this particular mascara.

This mascara is $24 on Sephora, only in black. The Canadian-exclusive deal is CAD29.95 with free shipping, and 6 colours to choose from.

I recall seeing this mascara at Shoppers, but can't say I remember how much it was sold for. That's how much I know about Japanese makeup, lol.

Hope your week has been going well. Mine was slow and stressful, as Squirt was sick and just went back to school today, plus the bf was sick too. I was totally in no mood to pack, and it's only just a few days from the weekend.

We were downtown today when they had the Olympic torch run and ceremony. People walked around with the Olympic flags, and the streets were all festively lighted up. Very Christmast-y, which kinda cheered me up :-)

These are some of the items from my MAC kit purchase. The shades don't work for me, so I'm letting them go.

Terms:
- All the items are sold as is. Not all items in the pictures are available, only the ones with price listed next to the pictures are.
- The items have been slightly used by the MA that owned it, never been used by me, and have been sanitized when possible.
- First come first serve. Please email me with the items you are interested in, the country and your paypal email address, so I can confirm the shipping cost.
- Location: preferably local or Toronto (when I'm there for IMATS this weekend). Otherwise, shipping will depend on the number of items you get and where you live. Please email me for quote.
- Payment: Cash, if delivered. Otherwise, Paypal only. Please pay within 24 hours of receiving the invoice, or the item comes back to the sale.
- I can't be responsible if the items are lost on the way. I'll have receipts to prove that the package is sent though. No returns, please.

MAC Studio Fix (90%): CAD20 or $18 each (compared to brand new price: CAD31/ $26)

- Studio Fix Fluid in NW15, NW25 and NC37

- Studio Fix in C40.








Lipsticks: (compared to brand new CAD16.50/ $14)

- Heatherette lipstick in Fleshpot (90%): CAD11 or $10

- TWIG (90%): CAD9 or $8







Others:

- Fix+ (90%): CAD15 or $12 (brand new CAD20/ $17)

- Matte (85%): CAD15 or $12 (brand new CAD22/ $18)

- Select Cover-Up (NW15) (like new): CAD15 or $12 (brand new CAD18.50/ $15.50).

This is a little haul I did when Winners was having 20% off more than a week ago but didn't want to post up, as I wasn't sure I'd keep all the stuff.

They are fragrances and I shopped by the looks and brands only as there was no testers at Winners, as you know.

What I got:
- J Lo Glow after Dark Night Bright body lotion (200ml), cost me CAD6.50 after discount

- CK Eternity Summer for men (100ml), reg. $75 from retail stores, paid CAD24

- Lolita Lempicka Coral Flower (50ml), reg. $69, paid CAD28

- Gwen Stefani L.A.M.B (100ml), reg. $72, cost CAD22

- Elizabeth Arden Mediterranean Breeze (50ml), reg. $47.50, paid CAD16

I would probably keep the LL Coral Flower, as I heard some good reviews about it, but have no idea what the rest would smell like, lol. If you have tried any of these fragrances before, please do let me know whether they are good to keep.

And this was from the makeup/ bath & body corner.

- Korres Fig set with a body butter (150ml), a shower gel (250ml) and a body scrub (50ml) CAD13.50

- Delon+ Mango body butter (2 in the set) CAD8

- Bare Escentuals Crown Jewels (Mother-of-all-gems) for CAD16, comes with a Clear Radiance all over face colour, True Gold and Opal glimmers, Onyx liner shadow, a double-ended Precision eye brush and an angled Face brush.

I found it at the clearance section, didn't realize the Buxom Big & Healthy lip polish was missing (probably that was why it was discounted). Disappointed.

I bought these Korres Quince body butters (235ml) a few days before this event, so no discount. CAD7.99 each wasn't bad anyway, especially when it's one of the best sellers on Korres' website.

The body butter is supposed to be an extra moisturizing cream for dry skin conditions, so I have been using it on my legs mostly. It is quite thick but not greasy at all. I like the scent, very light and fruity, not too sweet. Hoping it works well for my skin during the coming winter.

As you have heard from me enough, IMATS is this weekend (woo hooo!), so just want to do a summary of highlights from IMATS website, and from browsing around the net. I also spent a few hours watching IMATS LA videos on youtube, just to know what to expect. So here goes.

The Exhibitor list has been updated with the latest addition of NARS (I'm excited about this one) and the Bay. This year, MAC will only be teaching/ presenting at the show, so no MAC shopping.

For Canadian brands, they'll have Cover FX, FACE atelier and Yaby. I was hoping Pandora's Makeup Box also joins this year as they have become quite popular recently and they are Canadian. Not long after juicystar07's video about their products went live, the website crashed due to extremely high traffic. Impressive huh? Pandora's cannot confirm whether they'll be at IMATS Toronto at this time yet, so the chance of seeing the brand is not high.

MUFE will be 40% off at the show. The line at IMATS LA was crazily long - the wait was anywhere between 40 minutes and 2 hours (yikes)! allthatglitters21 said people passed along a note about things they wanted when they first got in line, and the stuff will be ready for them when they got to pay. As the result, people in line wouldn't know if the stuff was sold out or not.

According to My Daily Grind on Beauty, besides individual products at the show, there are some HD sets as well. The company told me we don't have to rsvp, just pick them up at the show like anybody else.

The best seller sets:
- 4 Must Have HD Concealers (305,330,355,370) $80
- 4 HD foundation set WARM (117,128,177,185) $115
- 4 HD Foundation set COOL (115,155,175,180) $115
- HD Powder & Kabuki Brush $50
- Perfect Primers (HD Elixir, HD Primer N0, All Mat) $85
* taxes included, plus a black MAKE UP FOR EVER bracelet with the purchase of an HD set.

Would you be interested in any of the sets? If not, what are some good MUFE products you suggest me to check out?

OCC offered 20% off at IMATS LA, I don't know it would be the same in Toronto.

Another brand I want to check out is Naked Cosmetics, as I saw a few pretty pigment sets people bought at IMATS LA. Some people mentioned next time around, they would spend their mony on a stack of Naked Cosmetics' pigments instead of a shadow or two at MUFE, so I'm very curious.

And there're the hard-to-find brands (at least to me) like Ben Nye, Kryolan, Eve Pearl - heard raves about her foundation and salmon concealer.

Brushes would be a big thing at the show, many brands, many product choices. Auraline, Crown Brush, Hakuhodo and Royal Brush would sure keep us busy. Auraline also has empty palettes for cheap (could fit MAC shadows), but the minimum order on the site is $50. There shouldn't be any minimum limit at the show, so shop away. Hakuhodo is a high end brand above others (about $25-30 higher than MAC's range), just so everyone is prepared.

Also, they do take credit cards at the show, so you don't have to bring cash, lol. It works better for their benefit, don't you think? Just watch your budget and don't blow it too far, lol. If we could gather 10 people or more, there's "group discount" for 1 order all together. It doesn't sound practical, considering how busy the show might be and people are scattered all over the place. Can you keep 10 people at one place to put in one order?

In terms of speakers, if I could pull myself away from the goodies, I would want to see Eve Pearl, Koren, Pursebuzz, and New Moon's MUA Norma Hill-Patton.

Advanced tickets are available until 5pm EDT, November 19. Tickets at the door would be CAD40 (1 day) or CAD70 (2 days), and CAD20 for children under 12. Note: you can change the date of your tickets by 5pm, November 19 by emailing jennifer@makeupmag.com. Tickets are not refundable but is transferable.

Also, the Afterglow party for IMATS participants is going to be at the Brazen Head Irish Pub, 6pm on Saturday. Anybody going?

Hope it's gonna be fun time for all who decide to attend. And it'd also be a meetup among us, bloggers. See you there!

EDIT: beautygeeks is giving away a pair of IMATS tickets. Hurry over and enter, if you haven't got your tickets already or want to bring a friend.

Photo credit: imatsshow.com

I went in to Sally in the weekend. They didn't have any new China Glaze, except the Love You Snow Much collection which I already saw last time. However, there were these little gift sets from Orly that I think you would be interested.

The orange box is the Enchanted Duo, with Prima Gloss (prismatic top coat) and Enchanted Forest polish. The sticker on the top coat bottle said "Shake it up!", I think shaking would change the look of it, haven't tried. Enchanted Forest is a cream, doesn't come with the little charm that the single bottles have.

The red box is the Sparkle Kit, with Star Spangled and Tiara glitter polishes.

These colours are not new, but the price is really good. The sets are CAD7.49 each (with Sally card) with full sized bottles (.6oz/ 18ml). Considering the singles are sold at CAD5.99 each, this is a steal. They are my very first Orly bottles and I'm excited. I'm a little unsure about Enchanted Forest, as I suck at applying cream polishes, but I was curious about the top coat, so I got both sets. Have you seen these around? Do you like them?

Bluenotes store next door was having extra 50% off (red tagged items) and extra 20% the whole store for the day, so I bought some graphic Ts and plaid shirts. It's not easy to photograph them all, so I'm gonna use stock pictures to show you the deals.














The Keyhole Stripe Racerback Tank was CAD12.50, down to CAD5, and the "Just Hangin' Out Cupcaking" Tee was CAD5.80 (org. CAD14.50) as red tagged items.
The plaid shirts were 2 for CAD30 (org. CAD29.50 or CAD24.50 each), came out CAD12 each.

It was a fun trip, but short. It was raining and Squirt wanted to go home. She has to stay home today, and so do I. Hope your Monday goes well!

How's everyone's weekend? Mine was busy. Squirt wasn't feeling too well, but I had to do some last minute shopping for my family, so we were at the mall for an hour.

I got my sister a Fruits & Passion massage oil in Grapefruit - Guava for 40% off (the coupon is in my Weekly flyer deals post, still good until the end of the month). The little booklet in the picture is their Holiday catalogue.

I'm always a big fan of guava, both the fruit and how it smells. Adding grape fruit, itt smells so good. I was looking for a gift set with this scent (as gift sets are always of better value) but they didn't have any.

Urban Behaviour was having F&F, 50% off regular prices. I got 2 scarves, CAD5 each, really like the colours. They were the last one in their styles in store when I found them. Also found the very cute gold necklace with a golden flower, some pearl-like beads, for CAD6.50.

If you are looking for some cheap buys, the F&F sale is still going on until the end of the day tomorrow.

We ended the trip with a quick dinner at Salvatore, one of the best pizza places in town. They were celebrating the 15th anniversary, so the prices were brought back to 1994's ($3 less for pizzas and $1 less for almost everything else). I loved the idea :-)

Their pizzas had some intersting topping options I hadn't seen anywhere else. It was my first time there, so I was a bit adventurous. We got 2 specialty pizzas - the Clam Pie Marinato (which was full of chopped baby clams, basil and garlic, with cornmeal on the edge), and the Pizza Miguel (garlic, onion, mushroom). We found the garlic was a bit too much, and toppings were very generous. The bf said maybe less would be more in this case :-) I liked the food, but maybe next time we went for the originals, so we could pick our own toppings.

I spent some time getting the stuff I bought to bring home ready for packing. I'm a pack rat, buying stuff and put them somewhere then couldn't remember where when I needed it. It was frustrating, lol, and packing didn't go so well for that reason. Squirt still has a temperature, don't know whether I'll have to stay home tomorrow. So much to do, so little time!

Thank you so much for all of you who entered my TBS's Originals giveaway.

The winner, chosen by random.org, is: heather. Congratulations!

I will email/ tweet you for shipping address. Please get back to me within 48 hours so that the sponsor can mail the prize to you soon.

I have another giveaway planned for everyone in the next few days. Just a heads up, there'll be 2 parts:
- At the sponsor's request, 1 giveaway will be for Canadian only
- The second part will be my own giveaway for you guys who can't participate in the first part. I'm thinking Canadian makeup as the prize. Does that sound fair? I'll try my best, but can't promise the exact prize yet.

Feel free to comment to let me know what you think, and stay tuned. Cheers!