[Haul] February 2012 #1

Hi everyone!

Like I said before, I had a list of products that I wanted to purchase (mostly high-ends but some of the drugstore products as well) and I ran to the Eaton Centre (a mall placed in the centre of Toronto) as soon as my midterms ended. It was definitely unintentional but the products that I ended up purchasing were high-ends only (since they were out of Colour Tatoos that everyone's talking about). So here's a brief preview of my purchase...

Lancome

From Lancome, I picked up Genifique and several lipsticks.

Genifique, Rouge in Love 250M Rendez-Vous, 

Colour Design Rekindle, Stylista, and Vintage Rose

And since I purchased over $38 (waaaaay more than $38 actually), I received a pouch with different gifts inside :)

Hypnose Doll Lash Mascara, Wannabe & Pale Lip

Bi-Facil, Renergie Lift Volumetry Volumetric Lifting and Reshaping Cream,

Color Design Sensational Effects Eye Shadow, A mini three-brush set

A mini brush pouch, Pouch with the brushes

Sephora
I wasn't really planning on purchasing anything from Sephora but I ended up purchasing a Laura Mercier lipstick and a Nars lipstick, after receiving my birthday present.

LAURA MERCIER Bare Lips

NARS Flamenco

MAC
Finally, I purchased Deep Truth in pan with a 4x palette along with two Pearlglide eyeliners.

MAC Black Line Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner

MAC Industrial Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner

That's all I bought and, as for today (19th), I made more purchases so stay tuned for more reviews and upcoming tutorials :)

xoxo
cynthia.

[Post Preview] Birthday + End-of-Midterm Haul

Hi everyone!

My birthday is just two days before my midterms, so I decided to list some of the counters that I will visit (I have specific item/items that I want to purchase)... and...so far... I think this is going to be madness!....but I'll purchase them anyway because I definitely deserve them all, for losing a birthday party and struggling with textbooks and essays. So here is my list of brands that I'll hit for sure:

High-End Products

- Kiehl 

- Nars

- Clarins

- Lancome

- Laura Mercier

- Chanel

- MAC

- Philosophy

- Giorgio Armani 

Drugstore Products

- Olay

- NYC

- Maybelline

- Revlon

- L'Oreal

Please have your fingers crossed for me to reduce some of the items because I'm thinking of purchasing more than one product from each counter.....!

xoxo

cynthia.

[Haul] Revlon, Loreal, Biotherm, and more Jack Black

Sorry for the delayed post :P As I may have expressed before, this is my fourth year and it truly matters since I'm applying for grad school. Therefore, I had to delay on 

REVLON

I know Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter was from the past season but I brought them with me anyways since I haven't had any chance to try them until this January. 

L'Oreal

From Shoppers Drug Mart, I also purchased Color Infalliable in 006 All Night Blue.

As you may know from my previous drugstore haul, I purchased 009 Permanent Khaki

and as much as I enjoyed it, I decided to give another one a try :)

BIOTHERM

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of Biotherm skincare products and 

I saw a recent ad for Biotherm Aquasource Nuit High Density Hydrating Jelly.

And I purchased it.

Just to share my first impression, I didn't enjoy it when I had it on my hand

but I don't think this is enough of overnight hydration purpose :(

I think I really really really regret purchasing this. 

I would test it for longer period of time but, for now, I wish to be able to return this...

(And it's from Shoppers Drug Mart so I can't return it...)

I think this is one of the steps of which you could've skipped,

especially when you're trying to apply so many skincare products before bed.

Jack Black

After my fifth visit to Sephora, I was able to purchase Jack Black Lip Balms and,

since my birthday is coming up, my mom decided to open her wallet to let me purchase 

ALL of the JB lip balms in the display cup :D (there were only six on display though)

It not only had lemon & chamomile but also natural mint & shea butter.

I'm definitely looking forward to using natural mint & shea butter one :D

I didn't bother touching the tester on display since I trust JB's lip balm.

That's how much I love these. 

Well, purchasing six more when I am still using my first one somewhat proves my love.

That's all I have for now and I'll post my reviews asap :)

xoxo

cynthia.

[Make-Up Tutorial] Mysteriously You

It's true that I've been posting the product reviews lately but I'm trying to shape my blog in a more organized manner.... so here is my new look: Mysteriously You.


Let's Start :)

- Apply some eyeshadow primer for a significant enhancement in both pigmentation and lasting power.

- Mix two shades (the black one on the top right corner and the taupe-brown which is the one under the black) and apply them on the outer corners of your eyes.

- I also used a soft peachy shade (the third one from the left on the second row) on the inner corner and blended all three together to achieve a gradated effect.

- Actually, it looks much more pigmented and more black but I think it still looks alright.

It doesn't look like so but, at the end, the look appeared to be more dark chocolate-taupe shade with some light gold silver. 

I also added the taupe-brown shade on the corners underneath. 

(and.. if you look really close, you can see some some fallouts) 

- I applied MAC Glitz and Blitz and Maybelline's the Falsies Volum' Express Waterproof mascara to finish off the look. 

And this is it! 

Just to share some personal thoughts, I'm having a rough time in school (since this is my fourth year), so tutorials will come in the slower pace than usual but I still hope you enjoyed the tutorials. 

If you liked this tutorial and want more of these, please subscribe to my blog or follow me on twitter @CDistrict900212. Thank you and I'll talk to you all soon!

xoxo

cynthia.

[Review] Rosebud Perfume Co. Smith's Mocha Rose Lip Balm with Vanilla

As many of those who visited my blog may know, I'm pretty generous with many of the products that I reviewed. I mostly provide a review about what I love and what I constantly use but I'm about to review something that I thought I would never hate and that's a product with chocolaty scent. So here it is: Smith's Mocha Rose Lip Balm with Vanilla.

Weight: 14.2g (=0.5oz)

Price: CA$7.00 + tax

Design/Packaging

Rosbud Perfume Co. didn't make any fancy packaging for the lip balm but wrapped it around with transparent plastic.

This lip balm comes in an opaque white tube format with a rounded rosebud crest in the middle. The lid is a milk chocolate shaded plastic which, from its colour combination, pretty much explains itself as a mocha rose lip balm.

Product


Even before observing the actual product, one aspect that was the most detectable was its scent (which can be synonymous to the word "odour" in this case). Although the label of the product has the word "Mocha Rose" in bold (while the word "Vanilla" comes in a tiny-sized font), the lip balm possesses such a strong and intrusive vanilla scent that it instantly gives nausea (at least to me). Its taste is even worse.


The lip balm comes in clear strawberry juice shade and, performance wise, there's no doubt that this is an amazing product. Within 10-15 minutes of the application, it gifted chapped and flaked surfaces with emollient smoothness even when wiped off.


However, I cannot give any opinion on its consistency since I refuse to apply this product on my lips again (I'm not too picky about scents but  I really refuse to reapply this product on my lips and will return this product).





As I said, I believe I was pretty generous with many products that I've reviewed; however, this lip balm was something that I really had to get it off of my lips because of the overpowering scent that made me sick.

I know that this is an incomplete review since I cannot inform you with its lasting power and performance in detail but I just don't want to continue with a product that will make me sick. I really hope that you understand.

xoxo
cynthia.

[Review] Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15

I haven't tried any product by Fresh. Should I add any excuse to that, I have very acne-prone skin and therefore I'm very cautious when it comes to applying any product that may cause an unfortunate outcome. For lips, however, I don't really have such problem. 

The reason why I tried this is because I had to give up my JBLB to my brother who loved it so much and Sephora wasn't carrying JBLB. Therefore, I decided to give Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment a try.

Weight: 4.3g (0.15oz)

Price: CA$26.00 + tax

Packaging

Sugar lip balm treatment comes in a box where a dark burgundy container that is shaped like a screw-top lipstick. It feels quite heavy and sturdy but only contains 4.3g of the actual product.


Product

FSLT looks very close to Vaseline in lipstick version: with its opaquely pastel lemon shade. As seen from the comparison picture to the iPhone3gs, it also doesn't really contain much product.

Its citrus scent is not as powerful as JBLB but quite pleasing indeed. The scent is almost unnoticeable after the actual application of the product. However, it tastes quite horrible.

Just to mention some downfall, this lip treatment on both edges of my lips began to dry up a bit within an hour or so although most of the surface still felt smooth. It is very slightly and almost unnoticeably sticky.

To give my personal experience with this product, I began to experience flaking after two to three hours of application and failed to give a "treatment" that I was actually looking for when purchasing $26 + tax product. Moreover, I never experienced a noticeable enhancement of my lips. Therefore, I really don't experience such with my JBLB so I returned this product after two to three weeks of trial.


If you liked this review and want more from this blog, subscribe to my blog or to twitter @CDistrict900212 which will both be available on the top right-hand side of the column of this blog. Thank you so much for your support and I'll talk to you all later!

xoxo
cynthia.

[Bobbi Brown] Pot Rouge for Lips and Cheeks in Cabo Coral

I usually don't purchase Bobbi Brown products. There was the time when I fell into the pool of vanity where I thought that only the high-end make-up products have long consistency, excellent quality, and a great range of colours (which was partially true). Furthermore, they were perfect attractions for the ones who 1) have fallen into the pool of vanity like myself 2) can actually afford these extravaganzas. However, I came to realize that I shouldn't purchase what I cannot afford and what is not worth its price. Therefore, I consider as many positive and aspects as possible before purchasing high-end products. 

But I'm trying to talk about one of my numerous success from the high-end brand experience and here's an example: Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips and Cheeks in Cabo Coral. 

Design 

The Pot Rouge jar reminds me of Chanel Illusion D'ombre. They are about the same size (although Pot Rouge comes in a 5cm jar in diameter) and both have the logo on the black plastic lid. Pot Rouge comes in a transparent jar. 

Product 

It is a gorgeously light peachy coral shade (honestly looks more peachy to me) which falls into the warm-tone category. The colour in the jar is quite overpowering but it is gradually buildable. 

Its texture appears to be very hard wax-like but it melts, sticks and glows gorgeously on the cheeks, giving a dewy finish. However, the formula definitely is thick and dry for the lips, requiring an application of lip balm before using Cabo Coral. 

Moreover, it has a distinguishably awful scent (and taste) that may be recognizable but undefinable. It is undetectable once applied around the cheekbone but strongly detectable once applied to the lips. 

Personal advice

If you really want to apply it to the lips, Scrubbing the lips using lip scrub and applying generous amount of lip balm is recommended. Keep your lip balm handy at all time since it is very dry for the lips. 

xoxo

cynthia.