Ontario Beauty Haul!

I am back in BC after spending a week in Ontario with my sister and brother in law. I had such a wonderful time and I feel much more positive and ready to take on the rest of August and the approaching school year. It was great to spend some quality girl time with my sister.  I am pretty bummed it is all over though. I had looked forward to the trip for so long and now it is all over like Christmas. At least I have a tonne of trip photos to look through and great new beauty products to play with! As I did buy quite a few items, I have decided to make one blog post for beauty items and a separate post for fashion items.

Surprisingly, I only bought 5 beauty items. I tried to only buy things I really loved on this trip as I have been on a major de-cluttering kick. I also knew that I would have to get rid of one beauty item for every item purchased (I have been good about keeping up with this- I've talked about this in previous posts).  I visited Sephora and MAC at Eaton Centre in Toronto and thoroughly enjoyed both stores. I had never visited a MAC or Sephora in person before as there are no MAC's or Sephoras anywhere near me.

So what did I buy? Let's start with Sephora.

If you recall my shopping list, I included Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara. I did end up picking it up in the shade "black". This is a tiny mascara that has a tiny wand. So far I've really been enjoying this for both my top and bottom lashes.

This was also on my shopping list: The Urban Decay Smoked Palette! Both my sister and I purchased this palette. It was one of the things I was most excited to purchase.

The palette comes with a sample of Urban Decay Primer Potion and a Look Book. This look book has several eyeshadow looks with detailed steps of how to achieve the look. Usually the looks that come with palettes are pretty simple and boring, but these I may actually test out.

Here are the shades! Super pretty, pigmented and so easy to blend! I have only used this palette once so far and I am already impressed. My sister has been enjoying hers as well.

This is the look I came up with today using the Smoked Palette. I am happy with how the look turned out :)
That was everything I picked up from Sephora..On to MAC...

This is an amplified cream lipstick in Vegas Volt! I LOVE this colour. It is a bright coral/orange/pink. It looks fantastic on and is moisturizing and long wearing! This was also on my shopping list. I now own a MAC lipstick and am super thrilled about it!

Next up is this Mineralize Skin Finish in "Earthshine". I had wanted to pick up a MSF, but I didn't know what shade. I chose this because it is soooo stunning! It is a plum with gold and pink. Super unique and unlike anything I have. I wanted this to wear as a blush/highlighter. Upon swatching it, I have discovered that it can also be used as an eyeshadow. Honestly, this MSF is just fun to stare at!

Finally, I picked up this shadow in "Parfait Amour". I loved this shade when I swatched it. It wasn't on my shopping list, but it was a must-have when I saw it. It is a purple/pink/blue tri-chrome. I've heard people say duo chrome, but never tri chrome...if it isn't a term, it is now! I love how this shade looks so different depending on how the light is hitting it. It looks pretty on the eyes and makes my brown eyes pop! Very pleased with it.

So that is the five items I picked up! I'm very pleased with the items and stayed within my beauty budget for the trip.  As I have stated in previous posts, every time I purchase a beauty product, I must discard something from my collection. This is to ensure that my collection does not grow out of control and to ensure that I am actually using everything.

So what did I throw away? Sadly, it was really easy to pick things so that means I still have way too much crap laying around.

I really have no excuse for keeping this...AT ALL. The formula of this concealer palette is just bizarre. It is REALLY greasy. I think I've only attempted to use this once. Most of the colours do not suit my skin tone and I've never been a fan of the whole green/yellow concealer craze. So honestly, only one of these is even remotely useful shade-wise. The little brush is useless...really hard and scratchy. This concealer kit is called "Nobody's Perfect Concealer Palette" and is by Hard Candy. I was suckered in with the cute packaging...don't judge.

I am pretty sad to see this go actually. This is a Revlon eyeshadow trio. The shades are really quite pretty and faily pigmented. I used this A LOT back in the day. You will see that I have created large dents in the shadows. There isn't anything majorly wrong with this, but I have moved on to other things and no longer use it. I also find it difficult to use the gold and the plum because they are so narrow. These have been discontinued, but they were decent quality. I haven't used it for years and it needs to go.

This I purchased not that long ago. I think about a year ago. It is a quad from Claire's. The pigmentation is actually quite nice. I never use it though and have shades similar to these in other things. I also do not like how the Claire's packaging appears. It looks cheap.

This is a Revlon Molten Metal liquid eyeshadow. I've had it since grade 11. I don't even need to explain why it needs to go.

There is nothing wrong with this product at all. It was actually quite a nice foundation for the price. Two reasons why I am throwing this away. A: The shade is slightly too light for me. I probably should have bought one shade darker. B: Most importantly...I DO NOT WEAR FOUNDATION. WHY DO I HAVE THIS? It is such a shame to throw away this much product, but there is no sense keeping something I do not use.

So there it is folks. That is what I picked up in Toronto in terms of beauty related items. Like I said, I will be posting a fashion haul shortly. I got everything that was on my shopping list for beauty products. I hope you enjoyed the haul!

Xoxoxo

Nicole