NO BUY NOVEMBER PART4 BEAUTY PRODUCTS (ANYTHING)

Hi everyone,

So here in the GTA we have finally been hit with are first snow fall of the year which occurred Saturday November 23 and continued well into the night leaving us with just under a foot of snow and plunging temperatures feeling like -20 with the wind chill. I will be putting my winter boots to good use this week.
Speaking of which this is it the last week of "NO BUY" November and we have successfully made it unscathed, at least I know I have:) As I mentioned previously I found this a pretty easy challenge and would gladly do another one again in the future.

This last week we are able to just randomly share whatever items we have found in our stash that have become new and interesting all over again. I have 5 items to share all focusing on different areas, which I thought would round out the final week nicely.

 First up is:

ALBA BONTANICA ACNEDOTE FACE WASH- Truthfully when I first got this I really wasn't sure how I felt about it. I used it for a few weeks and I did not see a real difference if I had a small breakout etc. I decided to shelf it and come back to it at a later time. Now this past week I found myself grab for it and use it a couple of times again. I have no clue what is going on, but I keep getting pimples on my nose which seldom happened before and now it seems as of late every time I wake up there is something there. I don't know if it's a product I am using, maybe it could even be this particular face wash.?!?!?!? I am at a loss. However I did give it another fair chance, but I think this will be put to the back of the closet yet again. ACNEdote is a natural face wash with willow bark which for those that don't know has naturally occurring salicylic acid. I feel the peppermint oil is actually what is over stimulating my face and making me break out. You get 177ml for about $15

So all though rediscovered not my favourite choice for the month.

 

MILANI CRYSTAL GLOSS- SUMMER BABY
When this gloss first released it was considered a very good dupe for Mac's Nymphette tinted lipglass. I would have to agree based on the photo's I have seen of both swatches. However what a huge price difference Mac is $18 here in Canada and the Milani gloss is only $5. I love the smell, price, wear time and portable size of the tube of the Milani gloss and glad I picked one up and you should too:)

SPARITUAL LACQUER- SUN SALUTATION
For anyone who is new to my blog I am a huge fan of SpaRitual nail polish and think it's worth every penny and highly recommend this line if you are looking for beautiful, unique, vegan, earth friendly products. The pictures I take of this polish never ever do it justice, it is so much more beautiful in person and I suggest checking it out if you ever spot it at a store. It truly is the most amazing rose gold I have ever seen (no joke) and it lasts for days. SpaRitual polishes are 15ml bottles and cost about $13.

 

 

 

I have several polishes from SpaRitual and they are all my favourites in my entire collection of polishes which is currently sitting at 75.

 

 

 

L'OREAL LIMITED EDITION CANNES QUAD- COPPER COCKTAIL

I got this quad back in the summer and it got stuffed to the back of my eyeshadow drawer and I happened upon it and was wowed by its beauty all over again. I love strong metal shades that leave that foil type finish behind. I think there is nothing more pretty and definitely makes the eyes pop.

My only complaint with this quad is even though the lay out looks modern and geometric it is flawed because you need to be very careful when trying to pick up just one colour on your brush.

Also there is not much product, I imagine if I used it everyday it would be gone in no time. It was $12 which is also quite high for what it is. They are nicely pigmented and blend out well.

 

 

There are other quads out there with similar colours. Unfortunately this can no longer be picked up because it was limited edition, but you might find one floating around on Ebay if you really must have this one.

 

 

 

 

PINK SUGAR PERFUME BY AQUOLINA

Over the month of October I started experimenting wearing warm spicy fragrance, but have gradually headed back to my favorites which are "gourmand" type scents. Not saying I don't like the spicy scents I just prefer the sweeter tones especially now that I am in full on Holiday/Christmas mode. So with that I pulled out my bottle of "PINK SUGAR" and I have been loving it once again. So yummy it truly is like sweet candy in a bottle. I love that its a mix of vanilla, caramel, fig, cotton candy and a nice musky base and also sweet berries mingling in there to. There is a lot going on with this perfume, but it some how all seamlessly works together for a truly sugar-tastic experience. I got a 50ml bottle on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart for $20 which is an excellent deal as it retails at Sephora for $45.

 

SO THAT CONCLUDES THE NO BUY NOVEMBER SERIES AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED EVERY THING I FEATURED OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS. ONLY 6 DAYS TO GO AND THEN I AM GOING SHOPPING LOL;D

DID YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE THAT WAS FEATURED IN MY "NO BUY NOVEMBER" POSTS???

 

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING HERE AT MAKEUP'ASYLUM

 

 

XOXO

 

QUO DELUXE BEAUTY PORTFOLIO and FOLLOW UP ON QUO 8PC BRUSH SET

HELLO EVERYONE,

 I am quickly realizing that Quo products are very hit and miss. I had purchased the limited edition butterfly brush set (I do have a review for this) and now after using it for close to a month I find that it did not live up to my expectation. Upon further research on these brushes I have noticed quite a few people complaining about the same things I did. These brushes are not as soft as they appear and the quality standard is subpar. I have noticed shedding from these brushes which is a BIG no no for good quality brushes and splaying as well. This should NOT be occurring with brushes that only came 8 to a set and were regular $50. The only brush I have reached for a handful of times is the blush brush, other then that the rest just sit beautifying my vanity. I would not repurchase Quo brushes again in the future unless their quality standard changes.

Moving on to the next item which was also part of this limited edition collection and carries the same butterfly motif on the box, is the DELUXE BEAUTY PORTFOLIO. So again a big selling point for me in the moment was the butterflies and the fact this kit did come equipped with quite a bit of beauty product. When you flip open the top you will be greeted by 45 eyeshadows and 6 cheek colours one of which is a bronzer. There is also a mirror in the lid of the box, but I never use them. Then there is a slide out drawer that houses 9 cream eye liners and 18 lip glosses.

EYESHADOW & CHEEK COLOUR

CREAM EYE LINER TOP ROW, MIDDLE AND BOTTOM ARE ALL GLOSSES

 

As you can see there is a lot going on in this collection, but does it meet my standards? Here is what I think.

There are some nice colours to be had in the eye shadows, but some of them are lacking in the pigment department which tend to be the lighter colours. They are quite dusty and in order to achieve good colour pay off with the lighter shades you really have to build it up, that wastes a lot of product. There is significant fall out as well and the shadows in general are quite powdery.

 

I would say the better colours in this palette are the browns, bronzes and darker greens and blues.

I have done swatches of everything in this palette. This is all the eyeshadows moving from left to right in the palette.

 

 

 

So some of the lighter colours are really struggling to even show up on my arm for these pictures and that's with me using a primer before hand for all of these pictures.

 

Then we have the cheek colours which I think for the most part are pretty decent, but that do not wear for a long time especially if you sweat a lot. There are some nice offerings here, but bare in mind that they all have shimmer with the exception of one shade that is more matte compare to the rest.

 

 

The colour right in the middle of my hand is the one that has a more matte finish and a deeper peach undertone. As you can see the bronzer on my wrist is super shimmery, which some people may find hard to work with. However if used correctly and not with a heavy hand you can make this work to just give a nice glowy sheen to the skin.

 

I actually feel the real star of the show in this entire box is surprisingly the cream eye liners. There are very nice rich colour choices and the pigmentation is very good. I can't tell you how well they wear all day long. I have only used them to do some makeup looks, but not put them through the rigors of my daily life routine as of yet.

 

The colours are as follows from left to right: Silver, brown with a bronze undertone, metallic purple, flat navy, deep rich green, flat black, inky purple glitter, flat blackish/green and glittery smokey grey.
I think these will be very versatile cream liners and can amp up any holiday looks down the road. I feel I would tend to use more of these colours during the cooler seasons. My exception would be the green, brown and silver which I would use now as well. Actually there really are no limits with makeup in my eyes so if you see a colour you like rock it now or whenever you heart desires. Just have fun with it.


Lastly are the glosses. I don't normally use glosses out of palette sets, but there are some colours in this one that I may just use at some point or another. I like that there is a mix of cream finish and shimmer because not everyone enjoys a sparkly lip, sometimes all we want is the shine.

 

All the colours have decent colour payoff especially the cream finishes, but tend to look all very similar. The glosses leave behind a nice soft finish and they do apply surprisingly buttery smooth. They do not feel tacky and all the colours offered are very wearable for everyday use.

 

This was a limited edition kit so it is no longer available, but QUO is always bringing out something new and similar. So if this sounds like it might work for you then check out Quo's full line of cosmetics today. 

The one thing I did notice that I don't like is a couple of the eyeshadow colours are exactly the same or very close to it, but due to placement in the box you would not notice this till after the fact. So when buying a larger kit or palette ensure to take care in noticing this because then your really not getting as many different colours as you would expect for the price.

 

Again this portfolio was originally $50, but I purchased it for half price.

 

I personally find as time is going on I prefer to purchase either single pan shadows or small sets like trio's or quads that way you can be more selective about your colour choices and don't have to be stuck with a bunch of extra colours you don't enjoy using.

 

On a closing note I think that both this beauty portfolio and the brush set would be useful for a teens birthday or for a novice to the makeup world who is just starting out and wants to play with some colour. Also the only other time I might find this handy is if your going away. You can throw it in to your bag and you literally have every thing you need in one box.  I on the other hand would have preferred to spend that $50 elsewhere.

 

QUO IS EXCLUSIVE TO SHOPPERS DRUG MART SO FIND YOUR CLOSET LOCATION TODAY AT www.shoppersdrugmart.ca

 

 

Hope this gave you all some insight and what to look out for and don't get to starry eyed over packing as I sadly have. Till next time everyone....

 

 

STAY BEAUTIFUL XO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MILANI COSMETICS LIPSTICKS, GLOSS, LIP CRAYON AND BRONZER

Originally when I placed this order I thought I had a variety of items, only to discover that its mostly lip products. So if your a big fan of lip goodies then keep reading.

All the Milani items I ordered are from WELL.CA.

The first item is the LIP FLASH full coverage shimmer gloss pencil. This pencil is amazing you look at it on and would think it came from a lipstick tube, but no it's a crayon. The colour is 05 HOT FLASH. This is a true sexy red that leaves a wet look to the lips.

 

You can see this colour on my lips if you check out my INSTAGRAM by clicking on the link in the side bar.

 

The next item is the CRYSTAL GLOSS FOR LIPS in the colour SUMMER BABY. This is such a pretty soft pink with a beautiful fine gold shimmer. This is almost identical to PAUL & JOE'S lip gloss, part of the lip and eye duo called Santa Monica. The only difference is Paul & Joe's is a hair lighter. You can also get a similar colour from Mac called Nymphette

 

 

 

However all these colours are similar but not in price. The Milani is only $5.50, Mac runs $15 and on the higher end Paul & Joe's lip and eye duo is $34. At least there is options here for every budget which is nice.

 

The next two items are Milani's colour perfect lipsticks.

 

For summer I am a huge fan of the bright and bold, so after viewing colour swatches on line at WELL.CA I decided to go with #23 MANGO MAMBO. This is a rich orange red colour that is not for the faint of heart, you will stop traffic with this lip colour.

 

 

The next colour is #07 ROSE HIP. This lipstick is such a staggering bright pink your friends may need to wear sunglasses. This is a deep delicious pink reminiscent of that of the skin on the magical dragon fruit. So if your looking for a bright exotic pink to wear this summer grab yourself some "Rose Hip."

 

 

 

Milani lipsticks do have fragrance in them that is noticeable, so beware if your sensitive to fragrant cosmetics. They are 3.74g and are only $5.29 at Well.Ca.

 

The very last item today is the BAKED BRONZER in the shade SOLEIL. This is a very nice bronzer, however it does have a noticeable shimmer to it compare to other's I have tried. Which in the world of bronzer you either love it or hate it. I don't mind it, but I prefer something warmer and more natural. The compact is fairly nice and has an extra compartment that houses a small brush and a handy mirror, similar to that of Physicians Formula. Great for throwing into your bag for on the go touch ups.

 

 

 

So if your looking for a fun, sunny, affordable bronzer check out Milani Baked Bronzer today. It also has no scent which is nice and may be more ideal for those who have sensitive skin.

This bronzer is 7g and was $12.99 and comes in two other shades which are GLOW & GOLDEN

 

 

I hope you all enjoyed this review and maybe you too will find products to love from Milani.

 

I find these products to be good quality and very affordable. I just wish they were sold more readily in Canadian big box stores. However if you live in Canada and want to purchase Milani products then check out

 

www.well.ca

Any order within Canada over $25 is always free shipping excluding remote locations

 

You can also see Milani's full range of products at

 

www.milanicosmetics.com

 

You can also follow Milani and Well.ca on Twitter and Facebook.

Sign up at well.ca so you don't miss a single deal

 

 

Till next time my pretties....

 

 

STAY BEAUTIFUL XO