Christmas Makeup Wishlist ♡

Hello lovelies!

As I'm sure I've probably mentioned before, I am a bit of a makeup junkie. If  I see something makeup wise that I know I don't need, and probably will never make full use of I just have to get it (just ask my MAC lipsticks that I always forget to wear). Any-who, this season I've seen some awesome new (and old) makeup palettes and products that I'd love to own and here's a few that have caught my eye:

1. GALAXY CHIC BAKED EYESHADOW PALETTE 
BHCosmetics - $12.95 (reg. $22.95)

Eeeeeek. I love this so much! Astronomy is one of my favourite subjects and these colours and the cosmological names that go with them are PERFECT. That only problem with this palette, and it's not even really a problem... is that the front of the palette looks really cheesy and suited towards tweens, but that aside, this palette... I... want...

2. CAROUSEL GLOSS IN 'SNOWSICLE'
Lime Crime - $17

I've seen images of this gloss floating around on Tumblr and it is super cute. This can be worn over top of another colour or just by itself as seen on the image on the right. For a lover of anything that glitters this is seriously perfection.

3. MAYBELLINE COLOR WHISPER IN 'BERRY READY'
Walmart - $5.94

Although Maybelline's Color Whisper line has many lipsticks that are lip balm quality and quite sheer this one is not at all! It is very colourful and the perfect reddish-berry shade for the Winter and holiday season!

4. 'CUTEST CHRISTMAS' NAIL POLISH TRIO
XOXO Nail Candy - $30

If you are one of those people who obsess over nail polish, you have got to check out all the indie polish sets for Christmas being released! This is by far one of my favourite sets. I swear if I had tons of money, I would buy every single polish in the worlddddd! Just kidding. Maybe. Like this sets' name hints at, these are really cute! And get this -- the names of the polishes in the trio (from L to R) are: Cotton Candy Snowflakes, A String of Twinkle Lights, & Milk and Cookies! So cute. ^-^ Click the link to see some swatches of these!

5. STAY MATTE PRESSED POWDER
Rimmel - $5

 

 Self explanatory really. Everyone needs a good pressed powder. Plus, everyone raves about this one!

6. LORAC PRO PALETTE
Sephora - $55

My go-to palette right is Urban Decay's Naked palette (the first one) and I've had it for about three years. I've hit pan on the shades I use daily and so I've been wanting a new neutrals palette and I've heard this one is even better the UD's Naked, so no wonder I'm pining after this!

7. TOOFACED SWEETHEARTS PERFECT FLUSH BLUSH

Sephora - $37

I've heard some mixed reviews about this blush, but honestly, the packaging is just too cute to not own it...

8. BOURJOIS DELICE DE POUDRE BRONZING POWDER

eBay - $15-$25

This is an older product, but the packaging is adorable and I've always wanted it. It smells like chocolate too! I don't think this sells in Canada/US though, so I'd have to purchase it off eBay... hmm.

9. VARIOUS E.L.F. PRODUCTS
E.L.F. - $1-$6

I love e.l.f. products. They are hit and miss, but when their products are a hit, they are really good. Plus, for the price of what they're offering, it's amazing. I just outlined a few of the things I'd like to try from e.l.f. which are linked here: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. On Cyber Monday more or less everything on their website was 50% off and I'm regretting not making an order. So, next time they have a sale like that (hopefully a Christmas sale) I'll definitely be making a purchase! You can also get e.l.f. from Target if you live in the U.S., but I'm sure you already knew that, heh.

So that's it! I'm sure there is more I've spotted that I'd like to add on my wishlist, but this is what I can recall from the top of my brain. ^-^ I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and perhaps I'll make another one like it. Leave a comment if you wish and tell me what you'd like to see more of on this blog!

With hugs,

Jessica

Influenster Maple VoxBox ♡

Hello everyone! n_n

Last week I was so excited! I came home from school and found a VoxBox from Influenster at my doorstep! For those of you who don't know, Influenster is a sort of community where people can review products from companies and share their opinions about them. When you sign up you fill out a social profile and can earn "badges" that enable you to be a recipient for one of their VoxBoxes.

Each VoxBox has it's own theme, and depending on which badges you've earned you may be elligible for a VoxBox that caters to your badges! VoxBoxes contain products from various companies that you can try out, review, and then share your opinions with your social media outlets! Not to mention, signing up at Influenster is 100% FREE! To note, it is also not guaranteed you'll receive a certain box. But, the more active you are on Influenster, the more of a chance you get to receive a VoxBox.

This past week I recieved the Maple VoxBox, because well, I'm Canadian! This is my first VoxBox ever.

 Note: All these products below were received complimentary from Influenster for reviewing purposes & to share my 100% honest opinion with you guys!

 

Skinny Cow Milk Chocolate Flavour Heavely Crisp & Skinny Cow Milk Chocolate Dreamy Clusters
Both $1.29/bar or $4.29/4-pack

These are so freakin' delicious! Immediately after taking these photos I ate both of these. The Clusters were my favourite because I especially love caramel chocolates and in the packet they give you the perfect amount to fulfull craving for sweets that you may have. At 120 calories per pack I'd say that's pretty good. The crisp bar was also good, and is only 100 calories!

Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-On Manicure
$8.99-$10.99

These look really neat and I love that they're sparkly. It's also great that they don't require any messy nail glue! I'll have to review them further when I try them out, for sure.

NYC New York Color Big Bold Plumping Lip Gloss: $4.99
NYC New York Color Big Bold Curl Mascara: $4.99

I was so excited to see some cosmetics in this VoxBox. If you know me, then you'd know I'm makeup obsessed. It's bad. Especially when it comes to lip products and nail polish. Anyways! The lip gloss is interesting. The colour is too shimmery pink for my complexion but I do love how it feels on the lips. With some products that claim to "plump" the sensation on the lips can be a bit abrasive. This wasn't at all! It felt like a little minty tingle that wasn't the least bit bothersome.The mascara works pretty well too. The brush is HUGE. And when I say huge, I mean huge. For individuals with smaller lashes I don't see how it would work for them, but those with longer ones would get along with it just fine!

Ice Breakers DUO (raspberry flavour)
$1.99

Yum! These are interesting too. They're raspberry with a cooling effect that makes for a very interesting flavour (not a bad one). I kept snacking on these and they were gone in like three days (oops). I would definitely buy these! Plus, irrelevant, but, the packaging is pretty too. I like shiny things. :p

Montagne Jeunesse Clay Spas
$2.49

I love face masks. This one looks neat. It's infused with "Mediterranean clay with suitably spic cinnamon and pulped pomegranates  to protect." Cinnamon and pomegranates? I've never heard of that combination before, but I can't wait to test this out!

So that's everything in my Maple VoxBox! I was also kindly sent some NYC cosmetics coupons for $1 off any two products which you can see in the above picture. What do you guys think? If you want a chance to get a VoxBox sent to you, join Influenster (again, it's free so there's nothin' to lose)!

(I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.)

With hugs,
Jessica

The Body Shop Almond Hand & Nail Cream review ♡

Within this past week I bought this hand and nail cream from The Body Shop and I thought I'd share a review on it.

I'm sure many of you have used it before, or at least tested it at one of the shops, but as seen above, it's called Almond Hand & Nail Cream, and it supposedly "Moisturizes hands and conditions nails." and is made "With sweet almond oil and Community Fair Trade Brazil nut oil."

While doing some early Christmas shopping with a friend, she dragged me into The Body Shop to search for a hand cream for herself because her skin is very dry during the colder months. She ended up buying the hemp hand cream for extremely dry skin and I left the shop without purchasing anything.

When we started wandering around the stores again I started thinking that I wanted a hand cream too, because although my hands are never terribly dry, I do notice that when it is super cold and when I wash my hands a lot they feel somewhat dry and chalky (for lack of a better word). So I went back to The Body Shop and started smelling the creams and reading what creams do what.

By far, the almond hand cream smelled the best to me and what sold me on it was that it is for nails too. I like to paint my nails often, and nail polish remover and polishes cannot be that great for my nails so I thought  anything that would nourish my nails as well as my hands would be a major bonus. Everything in the store was also 40% off too... so that may have persuaded me in buying this cream too, heh.

Anyways, I've noticed quite a difference in my hands from just this past week that I've been using this product! My hands are definitely softer and feel more moisturized. I've taken off my nail polish too just to see if it does anything for my nails, and they do overall look more nourished.

What's also good about this cream is that it isn't too thick or too runny and when applied it doesn't sit on your hands. It sinks in pretty quickly, and makes your hands almost feel silky, without being slippery which is something that I look for in any type of hand or body cream. When I apply this I can't stop smelling the back of my hand because it just smells that good. So if you're looking for a hand cream I definitely suggest this one! I have honestly found no negatives in this cream.

With hugs,

Jessica

Sigma Crème de Couture palette review ♡

Hi lovelies!

I purchased Sigma's Crème de Couture eye shadow palette a few weeks ago and thought I should do a review on it for anyone who is interested. ^-^

I saw many pictures of this palette on Tumblr, and was immediately drawn to the name of the collection, the colours of the eyeshadow, and the packaging.

When I received my package in the mail, one thing that took me by surprise was the size of the palette. It is fairly small, and without opening the box the item came in I could already tell the palette was quite small from the size I initially thought it would be. For $32 (PLUS $10 shipping because I live in Canada) I was expecting something a bit larger, but that aside, when I opened the package, and then the palette lid I was very happy definitely began to get giddy. (Also it's my fault for not looking into how large the product is...)

This palette is supposed to resemble candy colours, and is styled after French macarons. You know those little cards you get in boxes of chocolates that tell you which chocolate is which? Well, there is one of those in the palette which I thought was adorable. It shows the colours listed in order, their names, and then describes them as if they were real macarons (see below).

The shadows in this palette are all matte shades (absolutely no shimmer or satin finishes) and come in quite the selection of colours (see below for photos). The only missing colour that I do believe would have been good to include is a white/beige for a highlight or under-the-brow colour. The only shade that is similar to that is Cherry Blossom, a light baby pink, and if you apply it lightly enough it should be able to work as a highlight.

As you can see, the shades are gorgeous and the names of the colours are adorable!!! When I was doing swatches of the shades I noticed that they were sort of chalky when pressing a brush or finger into them with some pressure, but not enough that made them terrible or impossible to use. The colour pay-off is mediocre, but if you build the colour up enough it will come out as true as it looks in the pan. Also to note, all shades work best with a primer beneath them (but then again, as do all colours of any palette really...). Scroll down for swatches in order as the colours appear above!

(Redberry Rose, Apricot Flower, Passion Fruit, Cherry Blossom)

(Meyer Lemon, Ginger Pumpkin, Cafè au Lait, Blueberry Cream)

(Violet Whip, Lavender Honey, Casis, Elderberry)

(Blue Chocolat, Almond Pear, Crème de Menthe, Citron Pistachio)
(All swatches were taken in natural lighting with no primer as base)

My favourite colours from this palette are Ginger Pumpkin (I lalalove the name, plus it's nearly Halloween so how fitting) and Apricot Flower. These look gorgeous with blue eyes. I'm not sure how I'll be able to use some of the colours such as the blues and greens because I'm quite pale and I'm not too adventurous with using colour, but I'm sure I can find a way.

Honestly, if you're into makeup, particularly eye shadow, and like adorable packaging and names and colours then I suggest this palette! Keep in mind, it is limited edition so get your hands on it while you can. It can be purchased here.

Ps. This collection also has three gorgeous blush shades that I wasn't able to purchase that are super cute too!

With hugs,
Jessica

Lip Smackers ♡

This will be my first real post (excluding my introductory post) and it's going to be on... none other than... LIP SMACKERS! Childhood in a itsy bitsy twist up plastic container that comes in many, many, many, etc. flavours! (Wait... would they be considered flavours when you don't really eat them? Or maybe you do... not judging...) Anyways, their website says there's been over 800 flavours produced! I want them all...

At my local dollar store they always sell Lip Smackers for well, a dollar, and I'm always so excited to purchase them. There's something beautiful (and slightly nostalgic) about picking one of these glossy chapsticks up. This week I picked up three flavours: Pink Sprinkle, Cherry, and Berry Peach.

(Pink Sprinkle, Cherry, Berry Peach) 

The first, Pink Sprinkle smells so so SO good! It smells like strawberry cotton candy but more amplified. It also comes in different packaging than regular Lip Smackers. It has a dome cap and it's clear with a pink polka dot pattern. On the lips it adds a nice small shimmer (you can tell it has a slight shimmer in the above picture) that I think is cute if you want your lips to simply have a little something extra. To apply this colour it takes a few good swipes on the lips to feel like you're wearing it which is the only downfall.   

Secondly, Cherry has got to be one of my favourites. It smells exactly like red licorice and I love red licorice. Unlike the other two, this one leaves no colour or shimmer on the lips and just leaves a nice thin layer of gloss that you can feel with one simple application. 

And lastly, Berry Peach smells like... I'm not too sure. Yes, the name is Berry Peach but it doesn't really smell like either of those things. Regardless, I love this one because it leaves a little bit of colour on your lips. A nice sort of sheer pink colour where it's obvious you're wearing something on your lips without being too drastic of a change from your normal lip colour. So, because of this, this one is my favourite out of the three!

(I didn't include Cherry because it was just a plain balm).

It's funny how I'm getting obsessed with Lip Smackers again because when I was younger my friend and I would take a weekly trip down to the local supermarket and end up buying one of these beauts. I also recall spending countless hours perusing Lip Smacker websites looking at all the flavours that they come in and playing the little games that ended up being featured on the website. Over the years I have tried many flavours of these Smackers and I have to say my favourites would be Dr. Pepper, Pineapple, Strawberry Kiwi Comet, and Lunar Lime (the last two being discontinued ages ago).

For a simple lip balm that are too cute to pass up, these are the best and for the price and cute packaging you honestly can't go wrong.