Sparkled Beauty

One of the latest drugstore releases that get my attention was CoverGirl Katy Kat Matte lipsticks.

I mean the classy white tubes, the cutest shade names printed next to cat ear prints on the colour indication at the bottom and the semi matte finish with soft and moisturizing texture are impossible to resist.

Canada gets 10 in 11 shades available in the US (no Perry Panther, the black shade), 2 tubes each for 8 shades and 4 tubes for Crimson Cat and Maroon Meow on the display. No indications of them being limited edition at this point.

The ones I bought: Catoure, Coral Cat, Crimson Cat, Maroon Meow and Cosmo Kitty.

Catoure still appears quite nude on me, but with a pink undertone which gives me a bit more life than a straight nude. Coral Cat is appropriately named, needs a bit of layering for colour payoff. Crimson Cat, which I had hoped to be a classic red, turns out to have a pink undertone, and Maroon Meow is dark but not hard to even out (not streaky), with great pigmentation.

Cosmo Kitty is quite different in the line, a cool toned purple which plays as a perfect topper colour. On top of a dark red liner, it becomes a warmer purple, much easier to wear. Or add a layer of tinted gloss/ balm and turn it into a pink toned shade.

If you are wondering, Cosmo Kitty looks the closest to Urban Decay Vice lipstick in Twitch and Hard Candy Fierce Effects lipstick in Thunder. Bite Amuse Bouche lipstick in Taro or LA Girl Glazed lip paint in Coy are in slightly warmer tone.

These lipsticks feel comfortable on, last well on my lips and fade away evenly. I wish they were more matte but that does not effect the performance. Each tube is 0.12oz/ 3.5g, retails $10.99 (on sale for $8.99 this week at Shoppers).

This post is to feature the Cover Girl Flamed Out eyeshadow pencils that I have just reviewed. If your eyes are drawn to the lip colour, stay tuned to find out what it is :)

I used Cover Girl 345 Ice Flame in the inner corner and 300 Silver Flame in the outer corner with no base, blended upward with the blurple shade in the Essence 3D eyeshadow in Irresistible Purr-ple.

I also ran the eyeshadow pencils on the lower lash line in the same order. As mentioned, they felt cool in contact, gave my eyes a little bit of relief from morning tiredness. And if I didn't stress enough in the review, definitely NO application on the waterline because they burn!

If my eyes looked a little red in the pics, you know why. Only a few seconds after I finished putting the pencils on the waterline, my eyes started to hurt, teared up and turned red. I wiped the products off right away and the burn subdued. Though it was the only time it happened, I have no intention to test the other 3 pencils this way.

Other face products:
- Sunscreen: La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL cream SPF60
- Serum: Hydraluron moisture booster
- Moisturizer: L'Occitane Immortelle Precious cream
- Primer: Annabelle CC Instant Perfecting base in Luminous finish
- Foundation: Avon Ideal Flawless foundation in Medium Beige
- Concealer: Revlon ColorStay foundation in Warm Golden
- Brows: Yves Rocher eyebrow pencil in Brown
- Blush: Sally Hansen Natural Beauty sheerest cream blush in Sunrise.

I was on the last drops of Revlon ColorStay foundation and tried to use it up as a concealer. Worked quite well when I didn't need full coverage.

Other products for the eyes:
- Brow bone highlight: Annabelle single eyeshadow in Aura
- Eyeliner in the waterline: Annabelle Smoothie eyeshadow pencil in Licoriche
- Mascara: Lancome Hypnose mascara in Black.

Finally, if you haven't made some guesses, on my lips was Rimmel Apocalips lip lacquer in Apocaliptic :) It was shockingly amazing, you won't know it until you try.

Imagine L'Oreal Wet Shine stains on drugs, coverage wise. Wear wise, Apocalips does not last as long as Wet Shine stains. I guess when the colours are more bold, we notice the fading more too. No bleeding or drying. A must have!

UPDATE: Apocalips have arrived at Drugstore.com but are called "Show Off" lip lacquers instead. The colour range is great, $5.49 each :)

So, I went and got 5 of the Cover Girl Flamed Out eyeshadow pencils. Here's a quick review and swatches for you :)

These are the regular pencils that need sharpening, not the twist up kind. The tight plastic seals on the products are great in preventing store swatching, but hard to remove. Be careful when you try to take them off with a sharp tool :)

As I mentioned in the haul, the shade names aren't printed on the pencils, only numbers. I'm not a fan of referring to a shade by numbers, come on Cover Girl!

Here they are, close up.

From top to bottom: 300 Silver Flame, 345 Ice Flame, 335 Ashen Glow Flame, 310 Red Hot Flame and 350 Melted Caramel Flame.

Cover Girl went earth toned with these pencils, interesting choice for a summer release. Red Hot Flame is definitely a unique shade for eyeshadows, especially drugstore.

Look how pretty they are all lined up. This explains my constant weakness for this type of products.

None of these 5 shades are matte. They all carry a shimmery sheen, some stronger than others. A note before we continue on, I intensified the swatches by swiping the pencils a few more times than what I would normally do on the lids, to show you the colours.

On the eyes, they will look a bit more sheer and subtle. Also, the pencils have a drier texture to them, which makes blending not as easy.

On the first row:
300 Silver Flame is more of a darker grey with silver sheen.

345 Ice Flame is a baby blue, the kind of shade that brightens your eyes.

335 Ashen Glow Flame is the light olive green with gold shimmers.

Something I haven't experienced before is that these Flamed Out pencils offer a cool feeling in contact. They are awesome to wake up tired eyes in the morning or chill them out on hot summer days. Brownie points!

Second row:
310 Red Hot Flame is an orange-y red, quite bright.

350 Melted Caramel Flame is beautiful, the taupe leaning to brown colour that lots of us love.

The eyeshadows are soft but not crumbly nor breaking easily, easy to apply. If worn as eyeshadows, they need to be built up for the colours to show. Worn as base, they create a beautiful canvas for whatever is applied on top of them.

I found a perfect way to wear these pencils - lighter shade in the inner corner, darker shade in the outer corner and a powder eyeshadow in the crease to blend out the edges. Check out the FOTD to see how that looks.

A word of warning: I do NOT suggest wearing these eyeshadows on the waterline or the tear duct! I found that out the hard way, please follow the link above to the FOTD post for more details.

Wear wise, these pencils last all day (no base/ primer). I noticed very little fading. No creasing either. All in all, they work well for me as cooling eyeshadow bases. Think of them as the Hourglass ambient powders, adding the glow to your eyes but from underneath instead of on top of the makeup.

The only thing I would ask Cover Girl to change on these is to print their names on the products, and tweak the formula so they could be used in the waterline.

If you are out hunting for this Cover Girl Flamed Out collection, the floor display (pictured, spotted at Lawtons and Shoppers) is big and 2-sided, The table-top display (spotted at Walmart) is smaller, with less products.

The eyeshadow pencils retail around $7.50 each, 10 shades in total, 2 each. I'm not sure they are permanent or LE. Review of the eyeshadow pots is coming soon.

It has been a good mail week, and I found fun new products to play around with. Here they all are :)

Let's start with the Sephora VIB sale. My US CP package from Tiffany at Will Work for Makeup came in with items that either were a lot cheaper in the US or I couldn't get here.

Not much, just 2 Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders in Diffused Light and Dim Light, reg. $45 (vs. CAD52) each and a Lorac Pro palette, reg. $42 (vs. CAD55).

These cost $110 (after 15% VIB, no tax where Tiffany lives) instead of CAD155 (after tax here), even after shipping, it was a steal. It sucks to realize that with a VIB discount, Canadians just get to the amount that Americans pay regularly.

I did get a few things from my Sephora during the sale:
- Shu Uemura eyelash curler, reg. CAD24
- OCC lip tar in Nylon, CAD19
- Stila Countless Color pigments in Acoustic and Finale (LE), CAD29 each.

I see that there are 10 shades of these on Stila website, only 7 on Sephora. Naturally, I kinda want the 3 that aren't at Sephora lol - Center Stage (pink, peach & blue), Melody (purple) and Encore (champagne & brown). The collection is coming to selected Shoppers soon, I don't know how many shades. Review for the 2 shades I got is coming.

I regret not getting a NARS Boys Don't Cry (Pierre Hardy) blush and a Buxom coconut-scented Hot Escapes bronzer because of pinksofoxy :) Oh well, next time!

On to drugstore stuff. Karen from Frazzle and Aniploish was helping me hunt down goodies that I couldn't wait to get my hands on.

Yes, these :) They are the Maybelline Color Tattoo Duochromes that might show up in Canada later, but they are LE, I could not miss the chance to collect them all.

First row, from L-R: 10 Precious Pearl, 15 Blue Paradise, 20 Waves of White, 25 Shady Shores.

Second row: 30 Icy Mint, 35 Cool Crush, 40 Seashore Frosts and 45 Lavish Lavender.

I think Maybelline starts the numbering again just with this collection, so the numbers might happen to be the same with current shades, a bit confusing, but whatever. Swatches will be up soon.

More duochromes, in naii polish form this time.

Here are the Funky Fingers duochrome bunch with, from top left, clockwise, Venom, Pink Pixels, Mood Ring and Primrose.

Haven't got around to wear any of these yet, but they look awesome in the bottles. If Funky Fingers could do it, why can't others? I need more good duochromes, more brands should join the bandwagon!

Gotta give Funky Fingers an award for funny looking bottle shape lol. They are awkward to hold for pics.

More lemmings to fulfill, this is a Wet n Wild LE palette galore :)

In the background are the Color Icon eyeshadow medleys with a MegaLiner liquid liner attached, in 34120 and 34121 (no names).

In the front are the Color Icon eyeshadow palettes in Nude Awakening and Going in the Wild (LE).

No sign of these in Canada yet, at this point, unfortunately.

I was so happy to get my hands on the Jesse's Girl Julie G Frosted Gumdrops collection for cheap. It was on Groupon US for $13.99, I begged Karen to get me one.

From L-R: Blueberry Fizz (blue), Rock Candy (light green), Crushed Candy (lilac), Tangerine Dream (yellow orange), Sugar Rush (orange red) and Hot Cinnamon (raspberry red).

Making a rare appearance at the top is Maybelline Vivid lipstick in Blazen Berry. This is one of the two shades Canada missed out on, the one I wanted the most. Yes, I ask Tiffany for 2 tubes of it, just cause.

And you know these highly anticipated Rimmel Apocalips, don't you?

Rimmel said these won't get to the US next year, I don't even know if Canada will get them. And hell no, I won't wait till then to find out.

I got Apocaliptic and Stellar off echemist for $7.25 each, free shipping. Not too bad!

Wore them over the weekend, let's just say they are shockingly amazing. You gotta try at least one!!! Need swatches to prove it?

What's new in town? Milani shelf at Lawtons is fully stocked with new products that American bloggers have been raving about. It didn't help that the brand is 25% off this week with bonus Airmiles :)

I bought:
- Eyeshadow primer, reg. $9.99
- Multitasker face powder in Medium, reg. $10.49
- Color Statement lipsticks in 20 Uptown Mauve, 24 Black Cherry and 26 Nude Cream, reg. $6.99
- Color Statement lip liner in True Red, reg. $3.99.

Could have got a lot more with the eyeshadow pencils, blushes, etc. but I stopped there lol.

A brand new Cover Girl Flamed Out collection has showed up as well. Cover Girl is 20% off at Lawtons, so I caved.

I got 5 shades of eyeshadow pencils. From top to bottom: 300 Silver Flame, 350 Melted Caramel Flame, 335 Ashen Glow Flame, 345 Ice Flame and 310 Red Hot Flame, reg. $7.49.

Just a note, the names are only on the plastic wraps, once you peel them off, you are left with just numbers printed on the pencils. I hate referring to a shade by number instead of name. Frustrating!

The 4 eyeshadow pots don't come with plastic seals, so only numbers, no names. I got 345 (dark pink), 315 (blue), 355 (dark brown) and 325 (green), reg. $4.99.

Some good news from Lawtons. First, they now carry Wet n Wild, including the Fergie nail polish (not makeup). Product selections are similar to what we see at Walmart and Superstore, but Lawtons run sales more often :)

Second, those with good eyes will notice those little boxes on the bottom right corner in the pic. Yes, Real Technique brush sets have arrived as well, prices range from $19.99 to $23.99. Individual brushes will be available later in the summer.

Not pictured, but I also got an awesome deal at La Senza with their 40% off weekend promo. Sale on top of sale, and the loyalty discount, I got about 70% off regular price for the Body Kiss bras they have just launched. They are kind of awesome :)

I have done a lot of swatching and testing over the weekend, so stay tuned for reviews. Hope every had a good weekend and some good family time with loved ones.

There is a makeup sale going on this week at Superstore that I missed in the Weekly flyer post (my flyer was missing a few pages, bummer). I include the list below, with stuff I bought, please have a read.

Maybelline:
- Color Sensational/ Color Sensational Vivid lipsticks: CAD6.97 (save $2) - I got Fuchsia Flash, Vivid Rose and Hot Plum (pictured).
I have been wanting to get these Vivids for a while now, couldn't pass up the deal. Was hard to walk out with just three, I tell you
- SuperStay 24hr 2-step lip colours: CAD7.97 (save $2)
- Volume Express/ the Rocket mascaras: CAD6.97
- Dream Matte/ Liquid Mousse foundations: CAD9.97 (save $2.50).

I am holding out for the Maybelline Whisper lipsticks that is coming out very soon. Do give me a shout if you spot them in store (in Canada).

Cover Girl:
- Lip Perfection lipsticks/ Lip Perfection Jumbo gloss balms: CAD6.97 (save $1.50)
I got a lipstick in Embrace (pictured), seems to be the darkest shade on the purple side that the line has
- Outlast lip colours: CAD6.97 (save $3)
- Last Blast/ Clump Crusher mascaras: CAD6.97 (save $2) - I got one in Very Black (water resistant version, pictured)
- Clean makeup: CAD5.97 (save $2).

Happened to have a few Cover Girl $2 off coupons from Brandsaver to use with this sale, I was very happy.

L'Oreal:
- Colour Riche lip colours: CAD7.97 (save $2)
- Voluminous 24h Power/ Voluminous Million Lashes mascaras: CAD7.97 (save $1)
- Magic Skin Beautifier BB cream: CAD12.97 (save $3)
- Studio Secret Perfecting base primer: CAD11.97 (save $4).

Revlon:
- Super Lustrous lip colours/ ColorStay eyeliners: CAD5.97 (save $3)
- Brilliant Strength/ ColorStay nail polish: CAD4.97 (save $1.50).

Almay:
- Smart Shade Perfect & Correct primer: CAD12.97 (save $3)
- Intense-i Bold shadows: CAD7.97 (save $1.50).

Selected Essie nail polish are CAD7.97 (save $2). I didn't get any new shades, but found some on clearance for cheap (reduced to $4.99, before the 50% off pink stickers):

- All Tied Up (Bikini So Teeny summer collection)
- Don't Sweater It (Stylenomics fall collection), and
- Power Clutch (Brand New Bag collection - Fall 2011).

I haven't been getting any Essie lately, might go back for more. I don't really care what collections they are.

Sally Hansen Real nail polish strips (selected) are CAD7.97 this week too, if you need any.

So head on to your Superstore/ Loblaws and check out the cosmetic section before the flyer changes.

I'm back home past midnight on Sunday, exhausted. Spent all day yesterday recovering, unpacking and cleaning up. Not much excitement to report, other than this awesome Super Mega Redemption haul from Shoppers that a friend was so kind to do it for me while I was away.

Now you don't need any more introduction to these Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr eyeshadows, right? I myself don't own many MAC paint pots (like 3), so I can't pass up the chance to get something similar for a fraction of the cost of MAC - CAD8.99 each.

First row: Tenacious Teal, Audacious Asphalt (which I heard is quite close to MUFE Aqua cream #1)
Second row: Pomegranate Punk (very similar to MUFE #17), Bad to the Bronze and Tough as Taupe.

I might swatch Bold Gold and Fierce & Tangy to see if I want them too. With 10 colours in total to choose from, you will find something you like with these :)

And then, I gotta have all the new L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows in the L'Or collection, CAD10.99 a piece :)

Third row: Bronze Divine, Sahara Treasure, Goldmine
Last row: Black Onyx, Emerald Lame and Golden Mahogany.

I gave up on trying to compare shades we have here with those released in the US (with totally different names, why L'Oreal, why?), despite the risk that I might miss an exclusive colour, if any. I believe I now have all shades in Canada (except for the 4 matte ones that I didn't care for).

The rest of the haul:
Bourjois Smoky set (CAD36) with:
- Effet Smoky eyeliner in Intense Black
- Volume Glamour mascara in Noir Ebene, and
- Smoky Eyes eyeshadow trio in Gris Dandy.

CoverFx Total Coverage Cream foundation SPF30 in M50, CAD39.

Cover Girl & Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 foundation in Buff Beige, CAD17.99.

I am really excited being able to redeem my points for these. There have been so many new products coming out for the holidays and upcoming season that will keep us, beauty bloggers, busy. Hope everyone has a good start of the new year.

I bet you have seen pictures of these compacts with awesome packaging before. When Cover Girl tweeted/ FB'ed about their African-inspired Anniversary CLEAN compacts, I kept hoping we'd see them around here soon. The other night, I saw this post on I Colour Outside the Lines, went and called up the SA at my Shoppers (whom I know so well by now cause I go there too often, lol) right away. He confirmed they just got the display in.

On top of that, all last week, up until Friday, Shoppers celebrated 50 years of Cover Girl by offering x50 points with $25 Cover Girl purchase. You know what I was going to say, right? Double promos!!!

Sorry that the promo was over already, but if you are interested in getting these, Shoppers is running x20 points today or $10 gift card promos for the rest of the week.

I wanted to get all 3 patterns, but unfortunately we only gets 2 around here, no blue zebra prints at all. I confirmed this at Shoppers and Lawtons where I saw the display.

And not only that, there were only selected shades with these packaging, and you would be lucky to find one that matches your skin tone. Most are on the light side, I got the green snake-like print, for sensitive skin in the darkest shade there was, 235 Medium Light. It was CAD8.99 this week.

Additional items to get to the promo limit: Cover Girl LiquilineBlast in Violet Voltage, CAD8.99 and Cover Girl LashBlast Volume in Blue, CAD8.99. It might sound funny but I didn't know the LashBlast mascaras come in any other colours than black and brown, until now. Thought it might be fun to try a blue one.

Hope your weekend is going well. I passed out a few hours this afternoon, was just so tired for some reason. I might sleep through the long weekend coming up too, lol.

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was crazy :) Saturday was so nice, we spent hours at my friend's sitting on the beach and soaked up the sun on her deck. It was heaven. Sunday was a lot running around finding Squirt a new bed.

Anyway, this is a quick post just to let you know about the deals I found, hoping this will be helpful for you ladies who are looking for the same thing.

At Winners, there were tons of the Stila Lip Envy trios, CAD9.99 each, available in 4 different colour sets. The 2 sets I got are shown on the first row. The other 2 are from the April haul and a giveaway that I won. I put them all here to give you an idea what colour combinations are available out there. There might be more or less depending on the stock at your store.

Sorry that my pic is not very colour correct - the peach shades showed up too pink, so keep that in mind. Some shades are really pretty with fine glitters, some are cream. The ones I tried go on quite smooth and not sticky.

Other items found in store: Elf Encyclopedia books, China Glaze Poolside, Barielle and Jessica polishes, etc.

Shoppers is having selected L'Oreal products on great discount.

First, I grabbed the Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base for CAD9.99 (reg. CAD17.99, cross price check at Walmart: reg. CAD12.96). What a steal, isn't it? I wanted to try it forever, and I have been a fan of its expensive version (Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch).

Also, the Double Extend mascara with Lash Boosting Serum (reg. CAD14.99) was on sale for CAD9.99 too. I got sucked in by the "serum" part, we'll see how it plays out.

Next is the latest mascara in the Cover Girl Lash Blast line: Lash Blash Fusion, in purple packaging (sorry it showed up more blue than purple in the pic), on sale for CAD6.99. I heard good reviews about it, so gotta try it out for myself.

So that's it for last weekend :) If you ladies found any good deals in store, feel free to let me know. Cheers!

It has been a great sunny weekend around here. It has been quite a long time we got to see the sun, so it is exciting.

I also have a few fun finds (good buys) around town that I think I should tell you about :-)

Superstore has the whole Aveeno Positively Ageless line on for half price this week. The Daily Moisturizer SPF30 Lift & Firming is reduced from CAD24.99 to CAD12.49. Accidentally, the Coupon Board (near the front of the store when you walk in) has the $5 coupon for any Aveeno moistuzier, so I ended up paying only CAD7.49. So check your coupon board.

Walmart has Cover Girl Smoky Shadowblast for CAD6.97, about $2 off from regular price. Plus, P&G Brandsaver has a coupon for buy 2 get $3 off any Cover Girl products, so they came out to be CAD5.47 each. I got Citrus Flair (green and bronze) and Silver Sky (grey and purple). I think they are fun to use, but don't know how well they work yet.

And the Physician Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Mascara Duo just came out at Shoppers. The one I got is for brown eyes, it has a regular black colour in one end and purple on the other end for "enhancing" effect.

I paid CAD16.99, not the cheapest price. I'm sure it'll come out to Walmart and other stores with better price. The thing is the mascara comes with a Full Price Rebate pink sticker right on the packaging, which means you get it for free after rebate.

It's not the first time that mascaras come in colours, but I'm curious about the dual end and how purple would look on my lashes, so I'm giving it a try (for free) :-)

I am spending the day sorting out my nail polish stash, so hoping there'll be a collection post coming up :-) I also have a Shoppers haul from the x20 point event yesterday. Have a great day, everyone!

I had a busy day today, wasted lots of time waiting for the bus to get around (as my "designated driver" is away until next weekend.









I was browsing a few Shoppers to get a few things for my swap. 1 store had Quo Colour Corrector Camouflage in the Now or Never display, so I picked it up to try out.

The Cover Girl TruShine lip colour in Coral Shine looked so tempting, I couldn't resist. I never tried the TruShine line, and I'm drawn to coral shades very often, as it compliments my skin tone better.

Also found the Sally Hansen Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Treatment on sale with a full sized bonus of the Complete Care 4-in-1 Hydrating Hand Cream, which is sold at the same price as the treatment. Not a bad deal.

I found the display of L'Oreal Bronze Gone Brazen Collection at Lawton with red stickers on (i.e. 50% off), so I grabbed the bronzer in Terra Bronze and the nail polish in Dessert Dawn which I missed from the clearance at Superstore last time. I put Safari Sunset (the darker shade) next to it for comparison.

The rest was what I found in the clearance basket - L'Oreal Color Juice Sticks in Island Punch (coral shade) and Cherry Freeze (well, cherry shade), HIP Color Rich Cream Crayons (supposed to work as shadows and liners) in Meticulous (taupe) and Intricate (blue), and a Softlips in Naughty Red. We don't have much exposure to the HIP line over here, except for the shadow duos. I've always been curious about the HIP pigments but never had a chance to even see it IRL. However, they aren't priced cheap, so I'm happy with the mineral pigments I have :-)

I was bored, so I went with a bold nail colour this weekend - the Revlon Scented when Dry Fruitful Temptations in Pretty in Papaya. 1 coat and it was opaque, very bright. I panicked, lol, so I put the chunky NYC Starry Silver Glitter on top to divert the bling.

It looked brighter IRL, and very daring. I actually surprised myself for not removing it right away. Nobody stopped me on the street today to tell me remove it either, so I guess I was doing ok.

The weather has been switching between sunny with clear sky and overcast with wind throughout the day. Hope the storm tomorrow won't be too bad.

Have a nice weekend, guys!