Sparkled Beauty

Yesterday was one big white-out around here, 60+ cm on top of what accumulated from previous snow falls, plus blowing snow, made shoveling very challenging.

The whole city was shut down. Buses are still not running this morning. Huge snow banks, unploughed streets and sidewalks everywhere. It will take days :(

Forgive my rugged look while I am raising my white flag to Old Man Winter. Can't touch my brows until my shaping/ tinting appointment next week, so bear with me.

Just want to show you a quick look using Hard Candy Spring products:
- Glamoflauge foundation in Light Medium (no concealer)
- Natural Eyes eyeshadow palette: a few eyeshadows on the lids, lower lash line (smudged) and brows, together with Eyes the Limit eyeshadow primer and Take Me Out eyeliner
- Ombre baked blush in Punch as blush and highlight.

On the lips is NYC Expert Last (Satin Matte) lipstick in Red Suede. Told you it is stunning!

The only extra product I used is Essence I ♥ Extreme Crazy Volume mascara, the hot pink tube. Forgot how well it separates my lashes, not sure about volume though. Great for layering.

That is it from me today. I can go on and on about the snow and how depressed I am with it, but you probably heard enough. The positive note is I still believe in kindness. I received the best support from you guys since I posted about mean tweets.

In town last night, a baby was born whose mother was helped through snow banks to get to the hospital safely. It warms my heart. Just hope people don't take their weather frustration out on others.

Hope things are looking up where you are!

It is 10:30 right now, it has been snowing all night and the wind is still brutal. I haven't tried to get out to shovel (if I can get out at all, since snow is now as high as my window and the back door is blocked).

Thank you so much for your support and kind comment on yesterday's post. My heart is still heavy but I'll plow through, just like I will with the snow and winter this year.

These 3 pretties are NYC's new Expert Last (Satin Matte) lipsticks. Now I did review the Expert Last lipstick line before on the blog, but there are 5 new shades with "Satin Matte" finish that I am certainly curious about.

I bought 3 boldest ones - Pure Coral, Velvety Fuchsia and Red Suede (0.11oz/ 3.2g, CAD1.77 each or 2/CAD3). The other 2 were sold out at my location.

The only indication of the finish of these lipsticks is the "Satin Matte" label on the safety wrap (and on the display). Once you remove the wrap, they look exactly the same as other Expert Last lipsticks. And they still do not fully swivel down.

Note that these Satin Matte lipsticks have a sweet candy scent to them. I do recall the Expert Last line having a light scent but not this sweet. Prepare yourself for that.

And, as you can see in the swatches, the lipsticks are not matte (or satin matte) at all. I had so much hope for them :(

Pure Coral shows up more like a pink to me. I could use a coral shade for Spring, if it comes.

Velvety Fuchsia is just like the name, a hot pink fuchsia. More fuchsia than Forever Fuchsia from the regular line.

Red Suede is stunning and bold, a classic red. Red Rapture from the regular line is slightly darker.

I am left a little disappointed with the finish of the lipsticks. The colours are pretty so they will join my stash, but it would really refreshing if I can get more matte lipsticks from the drugstores. Stay tuned to see the colours in future FOTDs.

Feel like something dark and something stands out on your nails today? Try NYC Crystal Couture top coat in Rule the City (Fashion Queen collection, Fall 2014).

Rule the City has red micro glitters and silver shimmers on a charcoal black base. Opaque enough on its own, no colour base needed.

This is the only shade I asked my friend to hunt down among other mono-toned glitter jellies from Fashion Queen, $1.99 in the US. As far as I know, Canada did not get this collection.

I used 2 coats coat of Rule the City here, and, like I said, no base. I love it when a glitter polish does this, save me time and $. Note that this is not a texture polish.

Since the base is charcoal, not black, I reason that the mani is not too over the top for work and wear it during the week.

The red glitters make this shade a lot more fun to wear, a nice contrast to the snow we have been getting :)

Hang in there, I heard it gets warmer for the weekend after the snow we will be getting this evening. And only one more day till Friday!

Squirt has been a little obsessed with lotus flowers since our trip home last year. I was in the mood to do a 2-toned lip, so here we are, a red/ pink lotus themed FOTD :)

The star product was NYC Expert Last lip colours in Coralista on the lower lip and Forever Fuchsia on the upper lip. I picked the sheerer colours for easy pigmentation manipulation.

On the eyes was MUA palette in Poptastic. I put the reddish pink in the outer V, the other pink to transition to the brow bone highlight, and the light gold in the inner half of the lids.

Squirt said I looked very pink, which I assume she meant I went overboard lol. Oh well, fun to play around with nontraditional colours once in a while :)

Other products used:
- Vichy Dynamic hydration serum and light cream (review coming soon)
- Maybelline Baby Skin Instant pore eraser
- Cover Fx Conceal Fx Camouflage concealer in Light (too hot for foundation that day, I was lazy too)
- Avon SuperShock gel liner pencil in Intense Brown
- L'Oreal Telescopic Shocking Extensions mascara in Blackest Black
- Make Up For Ever HD Second Skin cream blush in #510 Raspberry
This shade fit right in with the colour theme
- Wet n Wild ColorIcon brow & eye liner in Mink Brown.

It was hard not to press my lips together with this lip look, as I always do that after applying a lipstick. The two colours I picked were not too different so I might be able to get away with the look out in public, didn't try to leave the house that day though lol.

How has your summer been so far? I am trying to "reorganize" the makeup/ nail polish room, looking for the ultimate organization that works for the room size and the stash size.

Not having an IKEA and not being able to grab storage systems from many sellers ("US shipping only" or crazy shipping cost... sorry, no!) slows the process down a lot, obviously. A year after moving in this house and I am still not settled down. Well, can't waste these summer days staying in, so we are out when we can. Organization can wait!

So, I was browsing Walmart looking for new nail polish (duh) and came across a NYC multi-buy display of their nail polish and the Expert Last lip colours (2/ CAD3).

I was in the mood for summer lips so I bought 5 Expert Last (and 1 for a friend) among about 20 shades available. From L-R: 404 Air Kiss, 405 Blue Rose, 432 Red Rapture, 445 Coralista, and 447 Forever Fuchsia.

Crazy bright looking, aren't they? :) Glad to see the full safety seals and the colour coordination on the tubes but not too glad with the bullets not swiveling down all the way.

This is how the lipsticks look with the caps off, without any extra twisting. I would hate to nick the beautiful bullet while opening or closing the lid, but I guess it serves the purpose of displaying the colour through the clear lid.

I had a blast trying out these lipsticks. They are creamy and not drying, stay quite true to the colours in the tubes. For the cost of close to nothing, these are winners in my book.

On me, they last a few hours and left a light but even stain on the lips when they wore off. I just topped up with a gloss or tinted lip balm and my lips had colours again :)

Swatches were done in the same order as above, with indirect flash in the first pic and in the sun for the second.

The first 3 shades only took one swipe to swatch, a few more on my lips.

Air Kiss is the perfect raspberry pink, pigmented and bright.

Blue Rose is appropriately named, a great pink with more blue undertone.

Red Rapture is the red version of Air Kiss, equally fabulous.

The 2 shades on the right, Coralista and Forever Fuchsia, are on the sheer side.

These colours are good for everyday wear, a standard coral and pink with no blue undertone. With extra layers, they would work as night time lip colours too, conveniently.

Note that these lipsticks carry a scent similar to the NYC City Proof Twistable Intense lip colors, which I enjoyed. If you don't have a problem with scented lip products, I'd totally recommend the Expert Last lipsticks. Here is a two-toned-lip FOTD with Coralista and Forever Fuchsia.

Following the NYC Vox Box gift pack review yesterday, I did a look with the products:

- Individual Eyes palette in Smokey Charcoals
A daytime smoky eye look with all 4 eyeshadows on the lids with the primer underneath and the illuminator on the brow bone under the white highlighter shade
- Sun 'n Bronze bronzing powder in Hamptons Radiance
I used Real Techniques foundation brush to apply he darkest colour under my cheekbones and on the side of my nose. It is, as expected, a bit too light to show up on my skin tone
- City Proof Twistable Intense lip color in Ballroom Blush
The colour is beautiful but would pair better with a neutral eye look. I have been wearing it at work, toned down or sheered out but still pretty.

Other products used:

- L'Oreal Youth Code Texture Perfector serum concentrate
- Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 CC Tone correcting moisturizer SPF15
- CoverFx cream foundation in M50
- Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch highlighting concealer in Buff
- Marc Jacobs Magic Marc'er Precision pen in Blacquer
- Milani Liquid Eye liquid-like eyeliner pencil in Black
- Styli-Style ColorLash mascara in Blue
- ArtDeco bronzing glow blusher.

Thought I would include the skin prep items in the product list. I am trying to be better at using a serum before my moisturizer (after sunscreen of course) as serums are overflowing my skin care drawer lol.

Also tried to practice my liquid liner skill, so there is one in the list too :)

It is sunny outside, but freezing cold with windchill too. Not that it's something new this winter around here, as you all know. I am worn out, a number of people at work off sick too. Something in the air, and it's not Spring, I tell you.

So what's IS new with you all? You have been quite quiet on here, sometimes I feel like I was talking to myself lol.

I am looking forward to the trip to Toronto in April - just to see friends, eat out and shop. I do need some drawer organizers from IKEA when I'm there, after buying like mad at Dollarama here. Muji drawers look great but they are tiny. I'll need a truck load of it if I want to put my stuff on display like that :) Any tips for me?

I received a NYC package from Influenster Vox Box last week, as a gift after completing the review of NYC Big Bold products with a FOTD last month.

Reviews were not required for these but I thought some of you might be interested in seeing how more NYC products perform.

What I got, from L-R:
- HD Felt tip liquid liner in Extra Black (which I won't review, as I have others to finish before they all dry out)
- City Proof Twistable Intense lip color in Ballroom Blush
- Sun 'n Bronze bronzing powder in Hamptons Radiance, and
- Individual Eyes palette in Smokey Charcoals.

The Sun 'n Bronze bronzer looks quite nice with stripes of colours running through it. However, it shows up light on my skin tone.

The swatch on the left was done heavily with the darkest stripe only, with a narrow brush, for colour concentration. I tried to contour my face this way but the colour did not show up well. It would look nicer on lighter skin though.

On the right is how the bronzer looks all swirled together with a blush brush. Hamptons Radiance will add a touch of warmth all over face with a light sheen, like a finishing powder, not a bronzer per se.

Despite the name, the Twistable Intense lip color is a little sheer with the first swipe but buildable (the swatch is with 3 swipes). Ballroom Blush is a quite bold fuchsia pink once built up, has a nice sheen to it.

It lasts a few hours on me with eating and drinking and does not seem to leave any stain on the lips. It is comfortable to wear, and needless to say, the twisting mechanism and the light candy scent are appreciated.

The Individual Eyes palette has 4 eyeshadows - Highlighter, All Over Lid and 2 Crease/ Contour (powder), plus a primer and an illuminator (cream).

The eyeshadows are by themselves on the top half and on top of the primer on the bottom half. The illuminator is across the bottom, quite shimmery.

The eyeshadows are not extremely pigmented, take about 3 swipes in the swatches. They all have a satin finish, are easy to blend. The black could be more pigmented to support the Smokey Charcoals name.

The primer goes on as a skin-tone-coloured cream but dries to a powder finish. It does not improve the colour payoff but keeps the eyeshadows in tact for about 6 hours on me. I use the illuminator on the brow bone, toned down with the white eyeshadow from the palette on top.

The palette has a hard plastic sheet that fits on top of each pan to minimizes contamination between the two textures, simple and effective. If the colour pigmentation is improved a bit more, this could be a great smokey palette on its own.

Overall, the Twistable Intense lip color wins the competition. With the $2.99 price tag, I might have to check out the purple shade called Gramercy Park Plum soon. Check out the FOTD I did with all the products mentioned :)

How is it for a "bold" post title eh? Product names though, not my creation lol.

Here is a look I did with NYC Big Bold items I just reviewed:
- Big Bold Curl mascara in Extreme Black and
- Big Bold Plumping lip gloss in Big City Blush, used on top of a stain to add some colour to the lips.

Like I mentioned yesterday, on its own, Big City Blush only adds shine, not colour, to my lips. I wear it by itself or on top of a nude lipstick for the bus ride to work, and touch up with more colour after my morning tea.

Also featured in this look is Avon SuperShock gel eye liner pencil in Cobalt, one of the pretties dark blue liners I have. To repeat myself, it is so soft and pigmented that I only have to apply it lightly to get tons of colour.

Other products used for the look:
- Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover foundation in 123
I am still recovering from a few breakouts I "earned" during vacation, thought a good coverage foundation would do me good :)
- It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eyes full coverage concealer in Neutral Medium
- Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tenacious Teal as base
- Marcelle Spring 2013 makeup palette (the one with 9 eyeshadows, 2 blushes and a highlighter, no specific name) - I used 2 shades of blue for the eyes, the white eyeshadow on the brow bone, and the peach blush for the cheeks.
Avon Cobalt fits right in the blue theme of things, but I am also known for wearing a random colour on my lower lash line too :)
- Avon Ultra Luxury brow liner in Dark Brown.

The lighting was quite forgiving in these shots, I was thankful for a bit of sunshine I got that day.

Been a bit under the weather and lost some sleep over crazy wind on Saturday and last night. Count me cranky! One positive thing is Squirt and I were productive in the weekend, putting together 2 Alex's, a dining set and 3 bar stools lol.

Shopping wise, I did make it to Victoria's Secret sale for a few makeup items and fragrance sets (65 - 75% off). Check it out if you haven't already. Also pulled some online purchases for clothes, resisted a Skindinavia order because they cancelled the discount code (good for my wallet then!).

And... my new US CP package is on its way, with items from QVC (It Cosmetics) and drugstores. I am super excited!

Also part of the Maple Vox Box I received for review were 2 big New York Color makeup items :) A mascara and a lip gloss, with the tubes about a time and a half bigger than normal, each retails $4.99.

The NYC Big Bold Curl mascara in Extreme Black has an oversized curved brush that is supposed to give up to 12 times more volume and 99% more lift.

I'd call this mascara a gentle giant. Despite of the size, the brush does not hurt my eyes and the bristles coat my lashes well when I use both sides of the curve.

The mascara does give my lashes volume but, as with most mascaras on me, not much of a curl.

The NYC Big Bold Plumping lip gloss in Big City Blush is meant to make lips look up to 50% fuller with high gloss shine that lasts up to 4 hours.

The applicator is huge (but, again, gentle) and picks up a bit more product than I need most of the time. No big deal, I just scrape it off at the top of the tube.

This particular shade does not have much pigmentation but is a good slap-on-and-go type of colour on me. It is also great on top of another lip product for the shine.

The plumping effect is not very noticeable, a slight tingling feeling on your lips like when you have a mint in your mouth. It does not bother me. The gloss also has a soft sweet scent, thought I should note.

A swatch of Big City Blush, side by side with Elf Matte lip color in Natural to show you the tone and pigmentation.

As you might guess, I like to pair these two together for a natural look. On my dark lips, they look nude but not washed out, and a bit of shine is always nice.

All in all, with these two products, not all claims hold true but they do have good things to offer, at a reasonable price. I am happy to use up the mascara and will check out other colours of the gloss - a red or fuchsia.

Check out my FOTD wearing these products. Have you tried anything from NYC lately and what do you think of their products?

Hi everyone, I have been bad with taking pictures of my nails lately. I have been wearing lots of pretty/ popular shades with blingy glitters and didn't stop to take any shots of them. Plus, I am still in the bright colour phase which might not be season appropriate, lol.

Anyway, a rare occasion where I wore a dark shade - Avon Golden Twilight. The name suggests some prettiness, doesn't it? Let's see.

Golden Twilight is a dark deep vampy purple shade (very close to black) with slight gold shimmers. An LE and is not around anymore, I'm afraid, as it was part of the 2009 Sparkle holiday collection from Avon. I grabbed this from a blog sale a long time ago.

Application and wear were good, nothing to complain. I only needed 2 coats for opacity. A winner all around, especially if you are a fan of dark shades.

If you are wondering why the colour on my middle finger looks a little different from the rest, I did add a coat of NYC Love Letters on that nail as an experiment. Look how pretty they look together, a duochrome eh?

Hope you all have a good day. This week is going to be long for me, but at least it's close to Halloween :)

So I went to see SATC last night. I was there half an hour before the show and the line was ridiculously long. Good thing we found seats up top, as I certainly didn't want to sit close in the front.

The movie was entertaining, better than I thought it would be, lol. The bf said he enjoyed it too, surprisingly. It was long though (almost 2.5 hours) and I was exhausted coming home almost midnight.

Anyway, I thought this NOTD would fit the occasion: NYC Big Money :) As you can see, it's the old packaging that was cleared out a year or two ago. I didn't even remember I had this colour until I brought the stash out to take pics, lol. I own only 1 shade with the new bottle design, haven't tried it, so I can't compare, but I do like the coverage and wear of this formula.

It's a cute green, not too in-your-face kind of colour. I would just wear it like that if it wasn't a week day mani, lol. As you see in this second pic, I mattified the shade with China Glaze Matte Magic.

The colour dulled down a little, so eventhough it's suitable for work, I don't love it as much as the orgininal finish.

It is sunny (well, on and off) today. It hasn't been warm around here since Tuesday, so the sun is always welcome. Hoping that'd keep me awake :) Have a great day, everyone!

It was a horrid day for me yesterday, things kept going wrong. I planned to do some swatches for a review that night but it didn't happen, so I have a stash post for you instead.

These are the NYC bottles, old design, except for the very last one. I got them when Lawtons put them on clearance for CAD.89 before putting out the new bottle design. These are what started my journey with nail polish, lol.

First row, from L-R: Plush Platinum, White Lights Glitter, Paparazzi Pink Glitter, Broadway Burgundy, Starry Silver Glitter and Big Money.

Second row: Mod Mauve, Purple Pizzazz, Charming Rose, Love Me Red, Taxi Yellow and Broadway (new packaging).

Quality isn't the same with these polish, some are with great opacity, and some are sheer. For the price, I wouldn't complain, but wish that there's more of a consistency across the line.

These Wet n Wild polish also deserve a big mention in this post, as they were kind of the very first collection I was hunting all over for - the Craze collection.

From L-R: Rustic, Shield, Morbid, Inferno and Goldmine, plus the Wild Shine in Sparked.

I was so happy when I got my hands on them, and still like them like I did at the time. Gorgeous colours, great application and cute bottle design with patterns on the caps. And very soon, the new Color Craze collection will drive me insanse again. Brighter colours and vibrant patterns, I'm so there. I was told they are going to be on Walmart's shelves soon, but no specific date. It might still be a few weeks though, considering how late the first Craze collection was to make it here. Either way, I'll be waiting.

I'm back home from Toronto and back on the blog too. Sorry for not posting during the last 4 days. I was without internet at the hotel room, and then was out and about most of the weekend. But I have some fun things to post today :-)

As you might have known, Rexall Pharma Plus is having 50% off sale on all nail polish and nail treatments starting last Saturday, I certainly couldn't miss it. The items in the pic were accumulated from a few different Rexall's during my "treasure hunt" with some lovely friends.

First row, from L-R: Del Sol Ruby Slipper (from a small display of about 5-6 shades, wish they had more, CAD5.49 after discount), Sally Hansen Complete Salon in Commander in Chic, Gray by Gray, Fairy Teal, Purple Pulse (CAD3.99) and Del Sol Pretty in Pink.

Second row: Revlon Grape Icy, Peach Smoothie (Scent of Summer collection) and No Shrinking Violet (CAD2.75 each), Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Grey and Marine Blue (CAD2.49).

These are basic popular shades from each brand, I always wanted to get them but couldn't bring myself to pay full price. Half price? I could do, lol. There wasn't any great deal on makeup, so I didn't get any.

My free time in Toronto wasn't all about shopping though. I was very lucky to meet up with a few Toronto bloggers, and my best friend from uni. We talked, we ate (Indian, Korean, Vietnamese food, sushi, dim sum, omg), we drank (bubble tea, milkshakes, Frappucino, martinis, etc.) and we talked some more. We even had a haircut together, lol. Time seemed to pass by too quickly when I was with them. Love you, my dear friends!

And look what they gifted me, out of kindness. I was so touched, didn't know what to say except thanking them.

First row: Etude House Mini Heel Pedicure 02, Borghese Rome Scarlet C, NYC Frightful Fingers in Phant-asmic and OPI Jade is the New Black.

Second row: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Admiral Blue and Emerald Green, Sally Hansen No Chip in Endless Claret, Sally Hansen Star Opal in Crystal Opal and a pink Sally Hansen Nail Prisms.

I am over the moon with this stash, as I either never own anything like it (expect lots of "My very first..." posts soon), or they are hard to find/ discontinued shades. I feel so blessed.

Toronto is a great place to hang out, with great company from you, ladies, plus good selections of food and entertainment, and public transportation makes it a little easier to get around. I had a lot of fun and hope to be back in November for IMATS. Can't wait to see you all again.

I did have a review post scheduled for today, but the company's website seems to be down this morning (I can't access it), so that post will have to wait. Want to see my sparkly nails instead? :-)

This is another L'Oreal Resist & Shine Titanium Black shade called Black Turquoise.

Despite the turquoise/ teal flash you see in the bottle, it looks black IRL both in the bottle and on the nails, very little shimmer - same issue as I had with Black Gold.

If L'Oreal could add a bit more of the coloured fine glitters, it would have been a fantastic shade. However, I have to give them credit for the opacity of these polishes. This is a ONE coater, and took little time to dry, even before the top coat.












Didn't want to wear a black polish to work, I added some colour on top. This is NYC White Lights Glitter with blue and green glitters in clear base. It looks boring in the bottle, even the flash couldn't bring out the glitter colours, but it became a total different polish on top of Black Turquoise.

Click the pictures to see the bling. On the left is indirect flash, on the right is with blurry effect :-) The glitters brought a lot more depth and a flash of colour to the black. This looks like a subtle version of OPI Alice. I am loving it.

Update: The lost comments the other night were back on my dashboard, so happy. I don't get many comments, so didn't want to lose any :-) Have a great long weekend, ladies!

How have your weekend been ladies? I was pretty busy today. It was raining until mid afternoon, but I didn't complain, as I have a pretty colour on my nails today :-)

As soon as Friday night hit, I wiped off my work colour right away and looked for a fun colour to paint. I went with orange/yellow a few weekends already, so I wanted something different.

I picked purple, lol. I don't normally like purple but this one is very cute.

This is Sally Hansen Hard As Nail with Nylon in Applause. The colour is great by itself, but I have been on a glitter kick lately, couldn't help it but adding NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in Starry Silver Glitter on top. It's blue round glitters and multi-coloured fine glitters on clear base, brought Applause up a notch. I love the result :-)

Did you guys go shopping at Suzy Shier or take advantage of any sale this weekend? I did get a few small things at the mall, haul post coming tomorrow. I'm so happy it's a long weekend (Canadian thanksgiving) :-)

Hi guys, when I'm posting about a haul not in a weekend finds post, it means something. It means there must be great deals somewhere that I can't help myself from buying more. The truth is I went to Walmart on the way home today just to return some stuff, but while I was there, why not browse around, just to see whether they have any new products. I already checked their flyer in the weekend and saw no remarkable sales, so I didn't expect anything.

But I was speaking too soon. Right on the counter/cashier inside the cosmetic section, I saw a small carboard display with NYC logo on the side, and it said 97c. I was like "Whaaat?". Everything in that box was in deed 97 cents, so of course I hauled. Check it out.

On the left are the Eye 2 Eye Colour & Contour shades. I can't find product info from NYC website, so you will have to bare with me and my pictures for now. Heather Plum (pink and plum) on the top and Blue Smoke (blue-ish grey and charcoal) on the bottom. The larger side is supposed to be the hightlight colour and the smaller side is contour. Makeup Alley gave Heather Plum 4.5/5 and 83% of people who reviewed the product would purchase it again. I couldn't find a review of Blue Smoke there, guess Heather Plum is more popular. I did a blog search, only found a review on Lady Lostris and she didn't like the Eye 2 Eye she got (Pink Ink). Mixed reviews right here, so it's gonna be up to you to decide whether to get these or not. I personally think with 97 cents a piece, I wouldn't complain even if they do not work out so well. So far I have had pretty good luck with NYC products, so we'll see.

At the bottom are the Mod Quads - Creme Liner and Eyeshadow collections. From L-R: Far Out Fawns, Bell Bottom Blues and Peaceful. It doesn't really show clearly in the picture, but Peaceful has wavey pattern on the shadows while the other 2 don't. I don't know whether it's an indication of different finish of the colours or not. No info on NYC website either. Makeup Alley has only 1 review on it, rated 3/5 but the lady would buy it again. Lady Lostris, in the same post, said the pigmentation is not good and she had to pack the colour on if she wanted it to show up. I might try one out, if it is like what she said, I'll return the other two.

On the right are the Liquid Lip Shine. From L-R: Iced Orchid (it looks more pink than the swatch on NYC website), Pearl Glow and Black Cherry Frost (these 2 shades aren't featured on the website). And Lady Lostris liked them. As long as they are not sticky and don't smell funny, I'm happy.

Last but not least, in the middle is Powder Blush in West Side Wine. I do find West Side Wine on NYC website, but it is the "Cheek Glow". The one I got has the same shade name but nowhere on the package said Cheek Glow, so I can't tell they are 2 different products or just a name change. I might keep it as a backup for my Cover Girl Cheekers, but I wouldn't get to it right away, as I have some Adorned with Grace's mineral blush waiting in line already.

There were a few more items in the box, like the mini tweezers, roll-on glittery gloss and the brozing face gels but I passed. If you like NYC brand and wanted to spend some small change (like 97 cents) to try them out, get to your Walmart quick, as the stuff would go fast with the price this cheap. Note that these 97-cent items are not on the shelf where regular-priced products are, so make sure to look for them.

Some more items I picked up: Dr. Scholl's For Her Rub Shield Friction Preventer Stick and Rub Relief Strips. I'm getting ready for summer heels, you see? All prepared, just need to get my heels out of the closet, lol. These ones were on sale for CAD7.50 each ($2 off from regular price) and I saved a bit more using a $2 coupon from Save.ca for the strips.

Sale alert: Walmart has new price on all Rimmel nail polish. They are now CAD2.50 a bottle instead of CAD3.15 like when I got my first bottle of Camouflage. Nail polish bloggers raved about Rimmel's Camouflage, so I gotta get myself one. Now it's cheaper, I wouldn't mind getting one more, maybe share the love with my mom and sis. There are a lot more beautiful shades on the shelf for your grabby hands, so take your time there, and breath!

Another sale alert: Certain Blistex's lip balms are on sale for CAD1 a piece. I picked up Mint and Rasberry Lemonade Blast (new) with SPF15. Feel good to protect my lips from the sun this summer already!

That was it for my Walmart unplanned shopping trip. Thanks for stopping by.

I have to get on blogger right away to tell you about another deal of the bottles of nail Sally Hansen treatments that I found. Remember the Weekend finds post last week where I mentioned I got the nail hardener, whitener, base coat and top coat at Shoppers for $3 each - on sale, after coupon? Today I found an even better deal at Lawton.

I was going back to Shoppers to find more Costa Blu but the CAD.99 deal was just for the weekend (bummer!), so I left. Lawton was kinda on the way, so I stopped by. Just passed the door, I saw 2 baskets of Sally Hansen nail polish (different lines), with red stickers and a sign said "50% off". I digged through, trying to find more Insta-Dri colours but didn't see any. I went on to the racks and see more red stickers at Sally Hansen corner. The nail treatment was 50% off as well. Please do not tell me they don't want to carry this brand anymore, as I like it. But I wouldn't complain a 50% sale.

Anyway, I immediately grabbed the Sally Hansen Complete Care 4-in-1 treatment which has been on my long time lemming list since the little "nail treatment" session I got at a "Cosmetic Gala" at Shoppers. The technician was obviously from Sally Hansen and she buffed and polished my nails, using this exact product, and I totally loved it. I wanted to pick one up since, but the tiny little bottle was more than CAD10 at Shoppers all the time and never went on sale. Even the deal of CAD5/bottle last weekend at Shoppers was just for certain products (mostly the ones I picked up) and didn't include the 4-in-1 treatments. Now I saw them on half price (CAD6.25), can't pass it up. Plus, I could use the $2 coupons (the blue stickers taped right on top of the package), so it came to a little over CAD4. I couldn't be happier. While there, I picked up 2 more Mega Shine and 1 Age Correct strengthener (this one is for my mom). Can't help it when these only cost me CAD1.65 each. Amazing right?

I love Lawton for its clearance sale, as I have seen huge dicount on stuff they want to clear up stocks. Like these Sally Hansen Line Smoothing Mineral Lip Treatments I got for CAD3.25 (top row, from L-R: Tourmaline, Amethyst and Kunzite), second row: Healing butter for Lips (CAD3.25), Lip Exfoliator + Moisturizer (CAD2), Lip Inflation tints (CAD2.25) and Chapped Lip Repair (CAD2). Another example would be the half-price clearance of the NYC Long-wearing nail polish that I mentioned in my Nail Polish stash post. And these ones too - the concealer wheel was CAD3, the lip glider was CAD1.50 and the lipsticks were CAD.99. The thing with Lawton is thatthe clearance sale has never been mentioned in the flyers. It is up to each store to promote the sale until all items are gone. That is one of the reasons why I like to do a quick walk through its cosmetics section. I don't see any red stickers there, I could just walk on by. Not many people go to Lawton to get their makeup, as technically it can't beat Walmart price-wise. But when stuff is on sale, I'm totally supporting them.

So, if any Haligonians out there that love Sally Hansen nail products, head over to Lawton for some good buy. I'm not sure this deal is available at all Lawtons, but the one I went was on Spring Garden Rd. Right downtown there for you, ladies.

Thanks for stopping by.

As you might have read from the Introduction post, I started my love with makeup just less than a year ago, very late in life unfortunately. It just had never been an interest to me until the stage of my life where I started thinking what I had done to myself. It was just like a lightbulb moment that opened my eyes. I started with eye makeup and was hooked. And as it was getting good, I fell for another beauty aspect of lie - nail polish!!!

It all started with a sale, haha... Lawton all of a sudden had 50% sale on NYC polish - I guess they tried to replace the old label (NYC Long-Wearing Nail Enamel) with the new ((In a New York Color Minute Quick Dry Nail Polish).
It wasn't even advertised on their flyer, so I was so surprised finding out about it during my "regular" makeup isle walk. I grabbed almost all the colours I thought would work for me (14, to be exact) at CAD.89 each. I figured it wouldn't be a big loss if they didn't work for me (or I can return the ones I haven't used). The verdict: they were 50/50. Some shades worked really well (opaque after 2 coats, reasonable wear and tear) like "Mod Mauve" - the middle bottle on first row, and "Starry Silver Glitter" next to it. Some needed 3 coats to show up, mostly the pastel ones. But for such a low price, they are fun to play with. As they are rarely available anymore, I wouldn't bother to list the shades.

With this good start, I started to look around for polish at the drugstores. Again, I have had more luck with the clearance section at Lawton. I found these Revlon Glimmer Gloss bottles at CAD1.40 each.
Second row, from L-R: Banana Blaze, Blueberry Burst, Pina Colada Pop, and Cherry Fizz. They were pretty sheer, as the purpose was to add a shimmery/fine glittery look on top of another polish. First time using one of these, I applied it like any other polish. I didn't notice any difference on my nails and was gonna return them. I tried it one more time after reading the instruction "Shake gently and apply 2 coats". So I did, and liked how it showed up. Nothing extreme, just a fine shimmery look, just like I want it. I think I would keep all 4 shades now. The other 4 Revlon polishes were from Superstore (a grocery store with a reasonable cosmetic section) and Walmart, about CAD2.50 each (on sale, of course). First row, from L-R: Silver Screen (it looks more silver IRL, not blue), Gold Get'em (the gold shimmer didn't show up in the pic very well), Iced Spice, and Blackberry.

Also from Revlon, introducing the famous scented polish line. About 2 weeks ago, Lawton had Revlon polishes on sale for half price. I was asking myself whether they had the scented polishes in yet (as the line was still pretty new in Canada, I haven't seen it around), and if they did, whether they included it in the sale.
And the answer was yes for both questions. Awesomeness!!! The first Lawton I went to was in the mall and stock was quite minimal, so I went to another one to spot all 8 shades of the line. In the picture, from L-R: Raspberry Rapture, Not So Blue-berry, Mad About Mango, Pretty in Papaya, Coconut Crush, Passionate Fruit, Sublime Strawberry, and Mon Cherry. These were normally on for CAD$5.50, so I got them for CAD2.75 each, except for Coconut Crush (CAD1.65), no idea why but I wouldn't complain. I was so happy to find them all and even got some extras for my sister and friends. I haven't tried any of them on, as they are "a bit" too bright for work, but I'm anxious to put one on for the weekend, when I have some time.

I was very excited to own a few bottles from this next brand - Zoya. First, I have not seen Zoya anywhere around here. I heard there are some salons that have them, but I never saw one that does.
Zoya.com does not ship internationally, so I was out of luck. Second, this brand is 100% 3-free - Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde and Toluene. As I sometimes share my polishes with my little Squirt, I would opt for safe ones when I can. I saw a post on Kijiji about a month ago, a lady closing her nail business and offered what she had left in stock for CAD4 a bottle. I came to check out the shades. she only had red-ish shades, so I only grabbed 4. From L-R: Elise, Pru, Chloe, and Brooke. Application is a breeze with these cuties. Love them! Zoya is running their Nail Polish Exchange where people could send in their (used/unused) polishes to exchange for Zoya bottles at $3 each (shipping & handling). Lots of polish addicts took advantage of this little program. Too bad, it is not available outside US.

This is another favorite brand of mine, China Glaze. Beginning of April, Sally came to our city, for the first time. I was so excited. Also during the month of April, they have Buy 2 get 1 free all nail polish brands. I certainly took advantage of the sale, plus a coupon for $5 off $25 purchase.
Here's the damage. If they had later collections in stock (starting from Summer Days), the number would be a lot higher than 21.
First row, from L-R: Fairy Dust, Golden Enchantment, Ruby Pumps, Lubu Heels, Chiaroscuro, and In Awe of Amber.
Second row, from L-R: Awakening, Solar Power, Blue Sparrow, Strawberry Fields, Raspberry Festival, Cherry Pie, and Exceptionally Gifted
Third row, from L-R: Avalanche, Summer Rain, Vertical Rush, For Audrey, Cherish, Poetic, Turned Up Turquoise, and Base coat.

The rest of my stash, from multiple brands with different sales.
First row: Claire's Go Green (CAD!), Icing Let's Tango and Awkward (CAD2 each), Seche Vite top coat(CAD6.89), Sally Hansen's Nail Quencher base coat (CAD4), Cover Girl's Hannah Montana polish in Pink Twinkle (this one is for Squirt, CAD2.15)
Second row: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening (CAD4), L'Oreal Dozen Red Roses (CAD1.50), Rimmel Camouflace (CAD3.14), Rimmel Dazzle and Pearly White (on clearance for CAD.05 each. I know, 5 cents!!!), Sally Hansen Beet Red (clearance for CAD.25), and Sally Hansen Vintage Frost (CAD2).

I believe I have enough polishes to play around with for a long time, still that doesn't stop me from hunting for more. I read in some polish blogs that people could find some great cheap polishes at the dollar stores, but here where I live, I couldn't find any. The hunt goes on, and that's the fun of it.

It has been grey, wet and cold out for the last few days. Hope it is sunny where you live. Thanks for stopping by.