May/June Empties ✨

I am really bad at hanging onto to empty packages and remembering to take a picture.. somehow it feels a bit unnatural to hoard my garbage for social media? But here are a couple items I've finished up recently and how I felt about them.

Adama Minerals French Rose Clay Hydrating Face Mask - this was only just fine to me. I picked it up at Winner's on a whim, at the time I didn't have another clay mask I was using. It reduced oil after application but didn't do wonders for my skin. The mask feels like a regular clay mask once applied, but when you squeeze it out it's very wiggly like jell-o! It just made me laugh for no reason, so at least it was a joy to use. I would be interested in trying the brand's other masks and some other products.. the deodorants seem interesting!

Overall rating: 2.5/5, wouldn't repurchase. 

HadoLabo Gokujyun Hyaluronic Lotion - my favourite hydrating toner. It's just perfect in every way to me. It lasts forever, it has a nice watery consistency, it absorbs well, it helps with moisture and the rest of my routine. I only didn't buy another one because I order in online and I am deviating from my "holy grail" to try Klairs' Supple Preparation Toner. I'll likely go back to this one after.

Overall rating: 5/5, likely will always have a place in my routine.

OGX Argan Oil of Morocco Penetrating Oil - I just use it on the ends of my hair after showering and before styling. I always use some sort of oil or serum and to me they all work similarly. I like to try new brands and types of oils and serums, so while I liked this I probably won't buy it again any time soon. I'm using RenPure's Coconut Oil Renewing Dry Oil now since this one's gone. 

Overall rating: 3.5/5, worked well enough, but not running to grab a new one immediately. 

Stila Huge Lash Mascara - I really liked this deluxe sample, but at the same time, I have discovered most mascaras will work for me. I mostly just go out of my way to not purchase waterproof and everything else is fair game. Since I'm not picky, I don't repurchase mid-range mascaras. I can buy something that works well for $6 and don't have to shell out $30+. 

Overall rating: 4/5, but too expensive. 

Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Mascara - Now, considering what I just said.. I wouldn't be mad if another sample made its way to me or I was gifted this. It really did go the extra mile and make my lashes look perfectly lengthened and separated.. luxurious, like falsies. This is the only expensive mascara I would love to get again!

Overall rating: 5/5, but I really don't like the price so I'm crying into my new tube of Lash Paradise.

I'm really close to finishing up a couple of cleansers, some small skincare samples from Clinique and GlamGlow, and a Clean & Clear BHA. For makeup, I suspect I'll soon be reporting back about a bb cream, eyeshadow primer, and pencil eyeliner. 

a successful shopping trip

Yesterday I was surprised with an invitation to go shopping with my future mother and sister in law. We went to a little boutique in Paris, ON called Suzanne's of Paris. I'll admit that when I walked in, I didn't think I would buy anything or even like the store. It's kind of.. well, old, for me. The clothing is just not really something I could imagine too many young people wearing. Some dresses and boots were nice, but I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. What I think they had going for them was their selection of scarves and bags. Seriously, I should have taken a picture of this wall of scarves. I had the hardest time deciding. Anyways, I went with a red/leopard pattern one. It's sort of slinky and light. They had the same pattern in a bunch of different colours and I almost bought a black/grey one, but I've been a bit obsessed with red lately.  I apologize for the awkward photo.

The next thing I saw that I knew I couldn't leave with was this little leather purse. It was right beside a black one with grey trim and a forest green one with dark grey trim. It has a zipper section on the back and the inside has a pocket which will likely fit a cellphone. The strap is also removable, so it can be used a clutch!

My only complaint now is that the strap looks adjustable, but it only makes the whole thing go smaller. There is a bit of leather stitched around the metal slider that doesn't allow it to slide any further. I prefer long straps so I can wear bags off the side (especially small ones like this), but I'll have to make do with it being a tad short. 

Virginia bought a tan one with dark trim and I saw a red one with black trim on my way to pay.. but I didn't want to have a red meltdown (my winter coat is red)! I'll probably use this in the spring and summer, anyways.

The rest of our trip wasn't too exciting.. I hit Walmart and Winners in the mall because I wanted to buy some beauty products:

♥ E.V.A. Unbreakable Hair Oil Therapy ($15)
♥ Sally Hansen Gem Crush Nail Polish, Big Money & Razzle Dazzler ($6 each)
♥ Revlon Nail Polish, Radiant/Blue Mosaic ($5)
♥ Vitamin C (?) Anti-aging Day Cream ($9)
♥ China Glaze No-Chip Top Coat ($7)
♥ Avon Super Extend Extreme Mascara (free, gift)

I don't know anything about what is supposed to be in these popular oils that people have been using lately, because Virginia warned me against other stuff being added. She said this one looked pretty good, so I trust that. I included ingredients in case someone else sees something I don't know about. I've just used it once, so more on this as I use it more. 

Again, included ingredients because I'm not certain what's good and what isn't. It sounded good enough with the sea salt and different fruits and shea butter. I can never decided what to buy with moisturizers.


I put Big Money (the gold one) on my fingers and Radiant (blue) on my toes. Two coats for each, though Radiant could have used a third. I love both of them and I'm guessing Razzle Dazzler is going to be the same. ♥


Then when I was home, my mom gifted me the new Avon mascara. It's supposed to have some special magnetic fiber formula that I don't really know the details of or really care about because I hate this mascara. It's very rare that I don't like a mascara, but this one is just so weird. The brush is very wide and plastic and looks like a weird comb. It's so big that I found it awkward to use on my lashes. I made a mess under my eye trying to coat my lashes the first time. The comb thing is so hard and plasticy that it almost seems to catch when you're trying to pull it out of the tube, resulting in this crunchy suction noise.  I did just two coats and it was clumpy. There was no separation of my lashes at all. The photo ended up making my lashes look better than they actually did.. but don't be fooled! 

I don't know if I'll use it up anyways or toss it. I might give it another chance, but I definitely prefer the Maybelline Illegal Lengths I've been using.

fiber/glitter.

I went out to Walmart to grab some thing before my Ottawa trip and I couldn't pass the cosmetics section without taking a look. There I found several new mascaras from various drugstore brands and decided I would pick one out to try. I did a toss up between Maybelline Illegal Length with Fiber Extensions and Revlon Photoready 3D Volume and went with the Illegal Length. It's my first "fiber" mascara and I heard horror stories about getting fibers in eyes and whatnot, but I decided to risk it. 

I like the packaging and brush. The lid twists a lot and actually clicks when it's closed, so you know it's not going to open in your purse or anything. The brush has all these little bristles poking every which way, which I'm pretty sure is to help with lengthening and coverage. I found that it covered everything; even the outermost lashes. 

I don't have a single complaint about the lash fibers. I think they're helpful for lengthening and I want to try more mascaras like this one. 

And of course I looked at nail polish.. it's my weakness. I found Revlon "Whimsical" sitting on a shelf beside Blue Lagoon, completely out of their regular place. It was like somebody else had the idea to buy them together to layer, but changed their mind and dumped them off where they were. I thought about getting Blue Lagoon, too, but I remembered all the complaints about the formula and passed. I put two coats of Whimsical over Sally Hansen Complete Salon "Shell We Dance?"and liked the way it looked. I tried to use Whimsical on its own, but I didn't like it at all. It needs SOMETHING else to it, in my opinion. 

I'm a big fan of all the hex glitters that have popped up in the past few months. I almost have all of the Revlon ones except Blue Mosaic. I'm still kicking myself for not buying it when I first saw it.

I think I'm going to go buy more nail polish I don't need tomorrow. Yeeaah.

Unexpected shopping

I stopped in a Superstore in my hometown tonight to see if coffee was on sale and decided it might be worthwhile to check out their beauty/cosmetics department. I have been in the store a million times and never thought about looking at shampoo or makeup or whathaveyou because.. well, it's a grocery store. I don't think about makeup when I'm buying food. But I'm really glad I went because I found some of the On The Prowl Wet N' Wild polishes I've been looking for!

My tiny haul: Nivea Smooth Replenishing hand cream, Wet N' Wild Cougar Attack, Maybelline Great Lash (BIG) mascara (Brownish Black).

























I don't know about anyone else, but this Nivea hand cream has been the only thing I've used besides The Body Shop Body Butters all year. They're usually about $5 in any drugstore. It's not greasy and it SAVED my hands last winter when I used it for the first time. I'm prone to dry skin and rashes during the winter since I always work in drive thrus and have my hands stuck out in the wind and cold and snow. I'd recommend it since it's cheap and works for me!

Cougar Attack has bee on my wishlist for a couple weeks now. It wasn't sitting on a shelf or in any display, just on its own in a random section, so I snatched it up. I think they also had Ready To Pounce, Tangled In My Web, and Behind Closed Doors. I didn't really think of grabbing anything else at the time because I was so happy to find this one, but I'm going back to double check and buy some more tomorrow.

Ugh, it's so perfect. The colour is a medium, sheer brown and the glitter is small and copper/orange. This was two coats, no base and no top coat. My nail polishes and stuff are at school right now and I'm only home for the week and didn't bring anything along. It's really bumpy without a top coat; I'd recommend one. It dried really quickly. I just love it so much! I apologize for my sad, chewed up fingers. I'm still trying to ditch the nibbling habit.

I just bought the mascara because I needed a new one. I didn't really choose it for any particular reason. I'm not picky with my mascaras. I like the colours of the tube and my "regular" old Great Lash worked good enough last time I bought one. I know, those are probably junky reasons. Oh, well.

Well, that was what I did before coming home for a boring night of pizza and Tumblr. I want to buy more thingssssSs. I really hope I can get Tangled In My Web, because I came up with an awesome idea. I'm not sure if it's been done (it should be, because the theory/mental image in my head looks so cute), but I want to do a half moon manicure with the bottom green and the rest of the nail pink, with TIMB over the pink part. Boom - watermelons.