Beauty, Daily

Buxom’s customizable eyeshadow palette

16 Comments

Buxom-headerBy now, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know I don’t stray too much from makeup brands, and I only recommend the companies I’ve tried and trusted. You’ll notice that I don’t stray off course with my skincare regime — and it’s why I don’t talk about it much because it could get boring for you to hear me repeat myself about how much I love philosophy products. Well, the same goes with my makeup. I love certain brands, and don’t stray from them.

Customizable-palette-buxomBuxom launched an Eyeshadow Bar which is a customizable eyeshadow palette. The eyeshadows launched in June with primer-infused luxury exclusively being sold at Sephora. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what primer-infused meant. I presumed correctly and it is meant to last longer on the eyelids without using primer. Lessen the load in your makeup bag!

Buxom-Customizable-paletteLeft to right: diamond darling, designer or die, star treatment, 24kt stilettos, filthy rich, and invite only.

Buxom-eyeshadowsAs you can tell from the photo, the palette has a huge mirror, and the packaging itself is quite sturdy, so great for travel if need be.

I’m excited about the variety of colours you can choose from: 40 shades for you to mix and match, whether you want to buy the eyeshadow in singles, or 6 to slide into your own personalized palette.Although creating your own palette isn’t unique — not many companies offer customizable eyeshadows that I know of. A few renowned beauty companies like Inglot and MAC have been doing similar palettes for a while, and that’s all I know of. Buxom is one of my go-to brands for mascara (fantastic for layering on top of Make Up For Ever’s Smoky Lash) and lip glosses as I’ve spoken about on the blog before. Though it’s still exciting to try out a handful of their eyeshadows and play around with simple natural looks. Considering I don’t wear eyeshadow often, and prefer to stick to a neutral look, I asked that mild colours be sent over for me to review. The eyeshadows themselves are pigmented and didn’t crease on my naturally crease-y eyelids, so that’s a plus.  The palette is wonderful for those who have probably bought a pre-made palette in the past and only used a couple of the colours out of the whole thing. Now, you can truly customize with colours that you know you’ll get your use out of. And if you’ve used up one of the colours so much, you can easily swap it out for a new one!

Buxom-lipsI filmed a “get ready with me” youtube video featuring this palette and some lip products that I showed here, but you’ll have to wait until next week to see that one! It’s both exciting and hilarious if I do say so.

Buxom-lip-foundation-swatchI also wanted to talk a bit about the lip foundations. Hooboy, those are some pigmented lip products that doesn’t easily wash off with a bit of soap (on the arm). If you want to get the true colour of your lipstick or lipgloss, or just want a long lasting natural base colour, use these. The two on the left are lip foundations, and the two on the right are lipsticks. All natural colours, perfect for an every day look.

Buxom-lip-products

Swatches-of-Buxom

I went scouring on Sephora’s website, and noticed that they’ve uploaded a PDF file in case you needed inspiration on how to create certain eye looks using the Buxom eyeshadows. ‘Lacy Things’ look is probably my favourite, and I admit – some of the wild colours look really gorgeous on the eyes! Too bad I have terrible skills with application of the eyeshadows, I must go practice.

Buxom-eyeshadowDetails of palettes and eyeshadows:

Or if you prefer to have your eyeshadow palettes pre-built for you, there are 3 that you can choose from:

Disclaimer: I was sent the Buxom products for review. All opinions are my own, it would be rude to take anyone elses ;) 

Continue Reading

Daily, Health, Photos, Reviews

Not so necessary cosmetic haul

6 Comments

As mentioned, I went to Toronto on Saturday to meet up with Priya at Luminato where she was there working with Vichy.

Yay us!

After our meet-up I ended up going back towards the downtown core of Toronto and shopping mostly at the Eaton Centre. Normally, I’d head straight to Yorkville and do shopping there. But that routine usually happens the same way every time I visit the city. So I decided to stay at the mall for the majority of my day. Until I got lost a bunch of times. Then I had enough and went home ;)

I’ve never tried Victoria’s Secret cosmetics before, but due to me popping into the store unexpectedly during their Semi-Annual sale, I scored. Scored 50% off their makeup. Sweet. No welding equipment here, just beauty and cosmetic things!

All of the purchases. So many purchases. Unnecessary. But so fun.

VS Beauty Rush blush: dollface  // VS Concealer palette.

I have yet to try the blush, but the concealer palette is pretty waxing and difficult to use. I’m not sure I like it. Right now I’m using Sonia Kashuk hidden concealer palette that I LOVE.

VS Beauty Rush – Dazzleshine lip gloss.

Yves Saint Laurent lip products. So luxurious.

Glossy Stain and Lip stick, but reversed when swatched on my hand.

Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash, my go-to mascara.

Buxom lip glosses in the shades Katie, and Bunny. I’ve used so much of this lip gloss up that I thought I’d buy another shade. It has a really interesting formula on your lips. It gives a cooling sensation to the lips! Such a nice feeling.

The colors next to each other again.

Bobbi Brown foundation stick and a bronzer! I have the Bobbi Brown Luminous foundation which I now wear on a daily basis. It has a nice dewy natural finish to it. The foundation stick is a little more long-wearing and has more coverage.

Anastasia’s Brow Wiz in the color caramel. On the right you can see the smallest of strokes you can create with this. Last year, a guy at Sephora filled in my eyebrows and I liked the look so I decided to finally pick this up. He must have been a pro at it, because I can’t re-create this look at all. I’m questioning myself now to whether or not I picked up the correct color. I purchased Caramel, and I looked on the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz site, and I’m confused. Maybe next time I’ll pick up Medium Ash??

If there’s anything you want me to elaborate more on, regarding my cosmetic haul. Let me know!

Continue Reading

Daily, Health, Photos

Makeup routine

5 Comments

I wear makeup almost on a daily basis. I like how it evens out my skin tone and makes me look not-so sunburnt. I have the reverse effect of raccoon eyes meaning that I have a really white under eye area and rosy cheeks. Not to be confused with rosacea.

Shown in order, here are the products I use on my face on a daily basis. I’ll get further into it below but I don’t wear two foundations on my face each day, but just switch them out whenever I’m feeling it. Same goes for the under eye concealers, I don’t wear them on a regular basis.

After my simplified skincare routine I apply foundation. My go-to was Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation until they took it off the shelves to reformulate it to a Moisture Supreme foundation which is now a thicker, greasier, heavier consistency. I have disowned that particular product but still love the brand itself. Since I have dry skin, I like to have a dewier finish rather than a matte, flat look to my face.  I’d rather look hydrated with luminous foundation than look like I haven’t exfoliated and have dry flaky dandruff like skin on my face. I’ve been using Marcelle BB Cream as my new foundation. You can see a full on routine that I blogged about here.

I am a huge fan of foundation and would purchase the most expensive bottle, if it worked for me. That is the only one item I will splurge on, because I think it is so worth while to me, personally. I recently bought the Bobbi Brown Luminous Foundation but I haven’t used it enough to say that it is my holy grail foundation that will ultimately replace Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation. I’m still a little disappointed that they did discontinue my favorite foundation.

Ever since I had my weird flare up in using a certain eye cream I have been really hesitant on putting too much on my face. If I really feel the need to put under eye concealer on, I use the Bobbi Brown Corrector in the color bisque. I use the absolute smallest amount you could put on your finger. Literally a pin point and blend it in. If I have a red mark on my face from a blemish I use Laura Mercier Secret Concealer. Though I haven’t used that one in ages.

The next thing that goes on my face is one of my favorites. The bronzer. Not sure how to apply it? Here is a video I filmed on how to apply bronzer. I’m not too partial on a certain bronzer but I have gone through a few boxes of Benefit Hoola, I have also tried Laura Mercier Bronzing Pressed Powder, and next to use up will be my Vasanti Brazilian Bronzer.

I’ve been using blush lately just because I have it and I like to use different colored blushes on my cheeks to give it a varied flushed look to my skin. Right now I’m using E.L.F Blush in the color candid coral.

I don’t need to use mascara as my eyelashes are one of everyone’s favorite feature of mine. People have joked about how envious they are of me for having such long lashes. I use mascara to make them more obnoxious and volumized. My day-to-day mascara is Vasanti Long Lash mascara. It’s decent for every day wear since it’s not too in your face. It gives your lashes a nice coat and doesn’t flake and leave residue underneath your eyes at the end of the day. When I want them to look like false lashes I use my all time favorite duo which is the Makeup Forever Smokey Lash then Buxom Lash layered on top.

I know a ton of people are a fan of MAC Cosmetics, and I did a MAC makeup review back in 2009 of all the information still remains accurate in my opinion, so check that out too if you’re interested. I don’t wash my brushes daily anymore more like ever 3-4 applications.

See my skincare routine below:

Continue Reading