Sparkled Beauty

Have you ever had a polish stealing the spotlight from another polish that you planned to feature in a post? This mani was totally not how I thought it would turn out :)

I started out wanting to try Orly Digital Glitter just by itself. From Orly Surreal Fall 2013 collection, Digital Glitter quite stood out with a bunch of dark looking glitters.

It is deceiving though, as the fuchsia micro glitters and gold glitters totally mask the base colour, which is actually clear. I only realized this when I applied it on my thumb.

Then I had to look for a base, Color Club Pucci-licious was just sitting casually on the counter waiting. It was a gift from a lovely friend in Toronto for Squirt. They spent a day together making nail polish art and baking delicious cookies while I was stuck at a conference. Life isn't fair huh? :)

Back to Pucci-licious. Not to smooth talk my friend, but it is a really nice polish. One coat to opacity, which I didn't expect, and a nice shade of purple with a good balance of blue tone.

With that, Pucci-licious stole the show, not that I have a problem with it!

To be fair, with the glitters in Digital Glitter, it probably looks better on top of a black base, I wouldn't discredit it just yet.

Hope everyone is well rested after the super long weekend and has their fair share of chocolate from the Easter bunny.

I managed to stay in for the most part of the time off to avoid the mall's tempting call, but my main fridge stopped working yesterday (i.e. $$$) so the week didn't start out well for me. One day at a time, I have to deal.

Whoa, a dip in temperature to -19 (-2F) windchill today, wth is Spring? Anyway, to boost up Monday's energy, here is a collective haul of what I got in the last 2 weeks for you guys :)

Shoppers had a one-day sale for 25% off regular priced items with $50 purchase two weeks ago.

I took the opportunity to get 2 of Marcelle's best sellers in bonus sizes at great prices, with the $10 off $25 coupon Marcelle offered for International Women's Day. Can't you tell this was the deal I have been waiting for? :)

I paid only $20 for both:
- Marcelle BB cream 70ml, $22.95 before discounts (same price as the regular 45ml) - only in the regular formula (not the SPF or Golden Glow)
- Marcelle Essentials Smoothing cleansing water 400ml, $17.50 (vs. the 200ml $14.50).

Even without any discount, the bonus size is already a great deal, and they are only available for limited time, so stock up! If you can't find these in their special display, check the wall shelf, they might be put back in there when the store clears the floor.

I went to a Shoppers that was a bit out of my way, and found Essence's Spring 2013 products in their regular display. I bought all the 3D eyeshadows, CAD3.49 each :)

First row, from L-R: Irresistible First Love, Irresistible Purr-ple, Irresistible Mermaid Kiss.

Second row: Irresistible Caramel Cream, Irresistible Chocolates and Irresistible Smokey Eye.

Discontinued products (selected shades of single eyeshadows, lipsticks, eyeliners, etc.) are reduced to $1 each, have fun shopping :)

Found lots of China Glaze from the extra 50% off clearance items at Sally. They were previously red tagged for $4.29.

I got China Glaze Sea Spray (dupe of Essie Sag Harbor), Starboard and White Cap - all from the Anchor's Away collection (Spring 2011).

Considering this collection is like 2 years old, I thought it was gone forever. Glad to haul some shades I missed.

And on the very right, randomly, Tree Hugger, a shade from the core line being discontinued.

More :)

China Glaze Escaping Reality, Igniting Love, Bend over Backwards, Hanging In The Balance and Water You Waiting For from the Cirque du Soleil collection (Winter 2012).

No It’s A Trap-Eze!, obviously, but I am happy to own these nonetheless.

A reminder, China Glaze are 2/ $10 all month of March, except the Glitz Bitz 'n Pieces collection. And the core line has been added with a few colours from selected previous LE collections.

Some examples, off the top of my head:

- Luxe And Lush (on the left) and Electrify (Capitol Colours - Hunger Games collection)

- Rare & Radiant, No Plain Jane and Deviantly Daring (on the right) (Bohemian Luster Chrome collection)

- Full Spectrum, Liquid Crystal and Prism (Prismatic collection).

If you missed out when they were first released, now it's your chance :)

From Lawtons, Avene gift sets are 50% off this week. I got the Hydrance Optimale Light, reg. $36.50, with three free bonus gifts.

The box was photographed from the top down to show you the 2 compartments. Nice as a gift.

The main product is Hydrance Optimale Light Hydrating cream (for normal to combination sensitive skin, 40ml). There is another version of this set for dry to very dry sensitive skin.

The bonuses are Soothing Moisture mask (20ml), Moisturizing body lotion (50ml) and Thermal Spring water (50ml). Free gifts and 50%? I`m in!

In the left corner is the EoS lip balm duo, Spring LE edition, with Strawberry Sorbet (pink) and Passion Fruit (purple), $5.99. Not on sale, but the price was right and I didn't want to miss the chance to grab them.

From the clearance section at Lawtons, China Glaze Tranzitions collection was $4.99, I only got Modify Me, one with more noticeable colour change.

OPI Mariah Carey collection was slightly discounted to $7.99 each, I got the 2 Liquid Sands - Can't Let Go and Get Your Number.

Also a heads up, Fruits & Passion's selected scents are being cleared out for 75% off. I saw Passion Fruit - Guava (my favorite), Field Berries, Orange - Cantaloupe and Pear - Peony.

At Winners, I found Color Club Fiesta collection in a set. There are a few exciting things about this find.

(1) The price is only $9.99 (past finds in the past of Color Club sets were $13 - $15).

(2) All individual bottles now have name stickers at the bottom. No more guessing, oh yeah!

The colours are, from L-R: Mamba, Flamingo, Wild Cactus, Sunrise Canyon, Endless Summer, On The Rocks, and a clear top coat. They also come in duos, $4.99 each, if you don't want the whole set.

And another exciting find at Winners: Color Club Halo Hues 2013 collection!!! $7.99 a piece. No sign of Halo Hues 2012, but the 2013 bunch is better anyway. This is $2 cheaper than Color Club's retail price, and no shipping cost :) The display was almost full when I found it.

From L-R: Eternal Beauty, Cosmic Fate, Beyond, Miss Bliss, Over the Moon and Kismet.

I didn't get any shades, since I'm counting on a friend in Toronto who can find them cheaper, but I am glad Winners have these. I know we all kinda secretly hope Color Club will have these in a set, like for the Fiesta collection above, but this will do, for now :)

A very long post, isn't it? Hope you all start out the week on a positive note. And if any of you spots Essence Vintage District display at Shoppers, give me a shout, please! :)

It has been a while since I posted a haul post. Found some Color Club nail polish sets at Winners that might be of interest to some of you.

The large set (6 colours and one top coat, CAD14.99) is nothing new, but I can't recall seeing this teal duochrome on the very left. If you know the names of these shades, please kindly let me know. I suck at relating names and shades, you know that.

Something I haven't seen before: the mini sets (CAD6.99 each, 7ml vs. 15ml full size). Still no individual shade names but at least we narrow it down to collection names :)

My guess:
- The In True Fashion set has Port-folio, Editorial, Model Behavior and First Looks.

- The Winter Affair set has Berry and Bright, Ho-Ho-Holly, Gift of Sparkle and Snow-flakes.

I personally prefer the full sized bottles, especially for great shades like Port-folio or Gift of Sparkle, but haven`t seen the full set anywhere. I'll have to watch Winners' shelf like a hawk now.

Also found a display full of Ruby Wing colour changing nail polish. I grabbed two bottles. Swatches coming soon :)

It has been a busy weekend! It rained both days with sunny breaks, but shopping turned out really great :)

With the Super Redemption event at Shoppers in the weekend, I couldn't find the L'Oreal Glam Bronze display at all, so no LE Infallible eyeshadows for me. They are on sale for $5.99 until today (2-day sale only), so if you see them, grab them.

What I ended up redeeming the points for, all on sale:
- Maybelline Dream Bouncy blush in Hot Tamale - $4.99 (the Colour Tattoos are too, but I have all the shades I wanted already)
- Quo by Orly nail polish in Orange Pop, on clearance for $5
- L'Oreal Colour Riche Balm SPF15 in Rose Elixir and Caring Coral, $5.99 each (2-day sale, sale ends today, hurry!)
- L'Oreal Colour Riche lipsticks in Intense Fuchsia and Royal Red, also $5.99 each (2-day sale)
- Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-touch sunscreen SPF110 (yes, we now have the highest SPF in Canada), $9.77
- Batiste dry shampoo in Blush (200ml, a little bigger than the old version 150ml), $7.99.

Then at Lawtons, some Color Club shades were on clearance for $1.75 a piece. I didn't get the sets from Winners before, but buying them individually is better :)

- Color Club Foiled collection (Fall 2011): Antiquated, Foil Me Once, Lumin-icecent, Perfect Molten and Cold Metal

- Color Club Backstage Pass collection (Fall/ Winter 2011): Take the Stage, Fame & Fortune, Platinum Record, It's A Hit! and Wish Upon A Rock-Star.

Don't know if I keep them all after checking blog swatches.

Onto what I have been really "passionate" about lately - jewelry!

There is a HUGE sale at the Bay for their previously-discounted Expression jewelry line. Items with last ticketed price of $10 or less would be $3.99, and items with last ticketed price of more than $10 would be $6.99.

Examples:
- The flower collar necklace in the box was originally $30, yellow-tagged for $14.99, I paid $6.99 (almost 77% off)
- The other 3 bracelets were $20 each, down to $9.99 and are now $3.99 each (80% off).

Of course I came home with more than what you see in the pic :) The sale is on until Thursday, so you still have time to check your the Bay for some good scores.

I was at Sirens checking out their sale racks, happened to notice their jewelry section and was amazed to find some really trendy pieces. And the prices are unbelievable.

The necklace is $7, and bracelets are between $4-5. The spikes with hematite beads, studded wraps are so in right now, I couldn't have enough. So, one more reason to love Sirens, seriously!

Hope your weekend went well. Squirt and I saw a rainbow on Saturday, brightened our day tremendously.

Winners has become alive again with so many new beauty products, so this is a heads-up on what you might find in store.

A new shipment of Cargo products has just arrived, with the mini 7in7, eyeshadow quads and duos, Lash Activator, etc.
EDIT: the brand is on HauteLook the day after I posted this, so I now add price comparison too. I got a blush in Mallorca for $9 (vs. $12 on HauteLook, retails $29), Safari and Mediterranean sets for $15 each (vs. $18 on HauteLook, reg. $34).

The Safari set (Spring 2011) has:
- BeachBlush in Coral Beach (full size)
- Eye lining pencil in Khaki (full size)
- Eyeshadow duo with a gold and a khaki (full size),
- Lip gloss in Serengeti (mini),
- 3 Triple Action mascara (mini).

The Mediterranean set (Summer 2011) has:
- Blush in Mendocino (full size)
- Eyeshadow duo with a gold and a copper (full size),
- Better-than-waterproof mascara (full size)
- Lip gloss in Morocco (mini),
- Swimmables Waterproof Eye pencil in Teal (mini).
Both sets comes with a small makeup bag.

I only paid $12 for the Mediterranean set because the teal liner was missing. Don't know if I'll keep it, cause the liner is kinda the reason I wanted the set at the first place.

I also found new Stila products. The brand was just on HauteLook, so I do some price comparison.

- One Step primecolors $8 at Winners vs. $6 (or a set of 3 for $10) on HauteLook
- Convertible eye colours have similar price at both places (around $7-8)
- One Step foundation $13 at Winners vs. $8 on HauteLook
- Kajal eyeliner (I found Sapphire) $9 and Smudge Stick Waterproof eyeliner (in Koi and Silver Dollar) $8 at Winners vs. $5 on HauteLook.

Considering HauteLook's Canada shipping isn't cheap, it's probably still worth it to get Stila from Winners. I think I'll only keep the Smoky Eye (Platinum collection) Talking palette ($13) though. Any of you has this palette?

From Pixi, I bought:
- Lumi Lux Radiance powder in Peach Petal $10 - beautiful rose patterns, good size too
- Lip blush in Love $7. I saw this shade in Sam Schuerman's Valentine tutorial and has been wanting to get it.

Both these items were on HauteLook before, for $7 and $5 respectively, so yeah, we pay a little more in store. Do you feel like Winners is our HauteLook lately, with no shipping cost?

I don't think we have access to this brand much, though this is not the first time I saw it at Winners.

On to nail polish.

With Color Club, I found 2 new sets with no names, just "All About Color" sticker on the packaging, $15 each.

It looks like these bottles are randomly selected to put in sets. I have no clues on shade names for the first set, as bright colours could end up anywhere.

For the second set, the first 3 shades are from the Under the Mistletoe collection, which Winners had before. The second last shade looks like Covered in Diamonds. I don't think I would ever know all names for sure. Why do they do this?

And Jessica, which I notice a small display a while ago but didn't really look.

This time, I spotted Iridescent Eye and gasped. It is the exact dupe of Chanel Peridot, with the price tag of $6. How can I not get it?

Words are there are other Jessica shades that dupe Chanel colours, and they might even have better quality/ application. The nail polish section just got a little more exciting :)

I also found Color Club magnetics, LA Girls trios and some sets from random brands that I never heard of.

Skin care wise, I have been really into serums lately. I love how fast they sink into the skin, ready for moisturizer instantly.

I found H2O Green Tea Antioxidant serum (25ml, $10, was $36 before being discontinued last summer) and Sea Results Daily Defense serum (30ml, $15, reg. $60 on H2O website).

Looks like online reviews are more positive toward the Sea Results serum than the Green Tea one, so I might not keep both.

So, what is on your Winners radar now?

It's Tuesday, 2 days before I go visit the bf at his parents', and my "travel anxiety syndrome" is up. I love going places, but always get unsettled right when I have to start packing. Needless to day, I curled up on the couch last night reading the Vampire Huntress series instead (and didn't pack, of course).

Don't know how many of you read my blog way back when I posted about Revlon Not So Blue-berry (July last year), but it has always been my favorite from the first batch of Revlon Fruitful Temptations scented nail polishes.

This is a revisit, as I wanted something not too blue, not too purple, and Not So Blue-berry fit the bill perfectly. The scent is an added bonus, as it is very mild but makes the polish a little more exciting.

So here it is again, with Color Club Si Vous Please! on top.

I have been putting Si Vous Please! on top of everything, to "winterize" the colour a bit. It's a sheer base with white and silver fine glitters, which I thought is appropriate for the season.

Besides duochromes, I am now fascinated by sheer colour/ top coats like this. I love to see how a colour changes in front of my eyes. That explains why I keep buying nail polish, right? Or is that just an excuse, lol.

A little note: I don't know how often I will be posting while I'm away. Did think about bringing my laptop but I might be slacking a bit. I will post up the huge haul of stuff the bf is bringing me from the States, if you are interested. Hit me up on twitter for sure, as I always check there first when I'm around a computer.

Also, the TBB (Toronto Beauty Bloggers) is doing a New Year meet up which I will be able to go (finally), hope to see lots of bloggers there. And I gotta hit up the restaurants (All you can Eat sushi and all), as I'm desperate for good food. What is your holiday plan? Travel or stay in for some relaxing comfort?

This is the other VNS haul that I was waiting for when I posted a VNS haul in May. It is here now and I am so grateful for the help generously granted to me by a blogger. Thank you!

This order was for all the famous shades that everybody seems to own at least one bottles already, except me. I freaked out when people said something is discontinued, so I put in an order, lol.

First row: China Glaze GR8, L8R G8R, DV8, Spin Me Round, It's My Turn and Mahoganie.

China Glaze Kaleidoscope and OMG collections were released before my love with nail polish started, so obviously I missed out on them. Not all the shades were available for order anymore, unfortunately.

Mahoganie is from the Glitters and Chromes collection but wasn't available at Sally. I fell for its darkness and shine at the same time, lol.

Second row: OPI My Private Jet, Color Club Revvvolution, Wild At Heart, Fashion Addict, Magic Attraction and Wild and Willing. Now I can proudly say I own some Color Club, lol.

The last item I decided on was Seche Vite Professional Kit with a regular sized bottle (0.5Fl Oz/ 14ml) and a large sized bottle (4Fl Oz/ 118ml, 8 times of the regular size), including a little funnel for refilling when necessary.

It is already hard enough to find SV at Sally, and if you are lucky to find it, it's CAD10 or more for the regular size, depending on the sale. I only paid USD18.15 for this set. Now I'm good with top coats for a while :)

It took a lot for me not to go overboard on this haul. I certainly tried to keep the order within a budget, but I know I would regret afterward that I didn't get more, just because they are still many oldies out there that I don't own yet. But I'm settled with nail polish for now, as I have a LA shopping trip coming up at the end of the month, gotta save up.

A little personal update: The weekend camping trip was fun, especially for Squirt as there were lots of things for kids to entertain, and she meet a good friend at the campground. We had great weather the first day, and the sky was full of bright stars that night when we sat around the camp fire (my fav part of camping). However, it rained the next day and it took a lot to start the fire for a quick meal of hot dogs, lol. And everything in the tent was so damp, icky feeling. It still drizzled a bit while we packed up the next morning. I'm so "rained out", so fed up seeing more rain when we got home and more rain this morning. All in all, camping was tiring but worth it. Hope your weekend was a great one too :)