Everyday neutrals with MAC, Rouge Bunny Rouge and my Z Palette

I thought it might be fun to do a quick post featuring my most used, day to day, eyeshadows!

Now, I'm not very adventurous with my lids. I like neutrals and taupes - in my opinion, there's no way to go wrong with them. And since I have blue eyes, brows tend to emphasize them so I tend to gravitate towards them.

From left to right, we've got: MAC Shroom, All That Glitters, Omega and Woodwinked, Rouge Bunny Rouge Bohemian Waxwing, MAC Satin Taupe, Bronze, Smut and Brun.

Once again, in the same order MAC Shroom, All That Glitters, Omega and Woodwinked, Rouge Bunny Rouge Bohemian Waxwing, MAC Satin Taupe, Bronze, Smut and Brun.

So overall pretty boring huh?

But at the same time, they are so simple to use. I often use All That Glitters all over my lid with Omega in the crease, and Brun on the lashline. More often than not, Brun is used on my brows, if I can't be bothered to use my Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector which is a tad more time consuming. Some of my favorite 1 step, all over lid colors are MAC's Satin Taupe and Rouge Bunny Rouge's Bohemian Waxing, which is a new addition. Woodwinked is also very flattering as an all over lid color, especially with a black winged gel liner. I keep going back to Bronze, Smut and Brun to add depth to my crease. Smut looks very muddy in the swatch, but it actually works well in the crease - it is actually more plummy than in the swatch. Shroom is my go-to to add brightness in my eye's inner corner.

So there you have it - my most used shadows, safely enclosed in my Z-Palette.

What are your most used shadows? Do you keep them together in a palette or separate?

Bite Beauty Luminous Lip Library - Review & Swatches

After having tried their Bite Beauty Color and Shine to Go minis (reviewed here) I knew Bite Beauty was a brand that was to be on my radar. Bite Beauty is an all-natural lip care company that operates out of downtown Toronto. I had no idea they were a Canadian company! Their goal was to create lipstick that was good enough for women to eat - I can't say I would, but the fact that these lipsticks are edible make me think they can't be bad to put on your lips!

When I saw the Bite Beauty Luminous Lip Library available on Sephora's website, I knew I needed to give it a try. I was excited to try 9 Bite Beauty colors - who knows, maybe I'll find my perfect color?

This is what the palette arrived looking as, all packaged up.

 And inside that was this:

And this is what the actual palette looks like! It has a sleek cardboard casing. It feels quite sturdy.

And the inside looks like this! It comes with a small lip brush, which is actually quite good. It has rounded edges which makes lipstick application easy.

From left to right: Cava, Rosette, Pepper, Fig, Cin Cin, Poppy, Carménère, Rosé, Tannin

All, and I mean all of the lipsticks, are incredibly pigmented. They are smooth and creamy - really one of the best formulas I've come across. None of these contain shimmer, or glitter bit. They have a semi-glossy finish - they are still quite opaque and creamy so I wouldn't say they are glossy. They do not dry my lips out whatsoever.

My favorite of the bunch are Pepper, Rosé, Tannin and Cin Cin. Even if it looks a bit orange in my swatch, Cin Cin was quite flattering on, especially with some gold tones for eye makeup. 

I can't speak much of the Prep, Prime and Protect balms, but the Prep was quite pleasant to put on under a lipstick. Personally, I would have preferred to have more lipstick colors in the palettes rather than try on a lip primer and balm. I don't use lip primer, and I have way too many balms already!

If you don't mind applying your lipstick with a brush, I think this would be a great buy! I personally don't have the time to apply my lipstick with a brush in the morning, but I don't mind doing it for a night out. Plus, it's fun to explore different colors you might not think of buying in a full-sized tube!

Hope you all had a great weekend! I visited my grandparents (who live in the middle of nowhere) and it was a blast! My brother and I took some scenic pictures - perhaps I'll post them this week.

Thank you for reading!

Snow themed mani with Essie's Bikini So Teeny

When nailpolishcanada.com first contacted me to participate in their Holiday Nail Art Challenge, I wasn't sure I'd be good enough for it. Me? Nail art? I can't say I know my way around that. But, I'm a pretty creative person, so I decided I'd give it a go anyway - worst that can happen is that I'll have fun with my nail polishes!

This week's theme was snow! So I put myself to the task and came up with this manicure!

I didn't want to create anything complicated (because I'm not that good!) but wanted something sparkly and layered.

For this manicure, I used the following products:

From left to right: Essie Bikini So Teeny, Orly Twilight, China Glaze White on White, Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam, OPI Pirouette My Whistle, and Seche Vite Top Coat.

I started with two coats of Bikini So Teeny, which in itself is beautiful. Then I used Orly's Twilight just on the tip of my nails. I then dotted China Glaze's White on White as well as Nicole by OPI's It's All About Glam on my nails with a pencil (#klassy) as well as a mechanical pencil (#professional) to get the different sizes of "snowflakes". After this, I added OPI's Pirouette My Whistle on top of everything to create some dimension. A coat of Seche Vite to finish it off and VOILA!

I had so much fun doing this!

The Holiday Nail Art Challenge is live on nailpolishcanada.com and you can vote for your favorite snow manicure here. Of course, I'd really appreciate if you could vote for me!

For my all my American friends - Happy Thanksgiving! Our Canadian one has already passed, but yum, I could totally eat stuffing and sweet potatoes again! That's my kind of comfort food!

bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow Quad in The Truth! Swatches and Review!

Yes, I know, here I am again about the bareMinerals eyeshadows. I won't babble too much on how amazing these are but here's a quick recap of my last review of The Happy Place:

- the eyeshadows are AMAZINGLY soft but do not crumble
- the shadows are amazingly pigmented
- they are the longest lasting shadows I've ever come across. Period.

So, in case you're considering buying these, here are swatches of another palette from the bareMinerals READY Quads, The Truth.

The packaging is sturdy and smooth. Much like NARS packaging actually.

On to the swatches!

 From left to right: Serendipitous, Magnetism, Fate, and Apropos

All of the shadows are pigmented and easy to blend. In fact, those swatches were done with a quick swipe of my fingers in the pan.

I've gotten a lot of use out of Magnetism for my everyday makeup, usually blending Apropos lightly in the crease. Serendipitous has replaced my MAC Shroom as I find is easier to blend, and more pigmented. I suppose I do have similar MAC in my collection that are comparable to these shadows, but the quality of this palette is superior to any dupes I might have.

Hope this helps in case you're contemplating these purchasing these palettes! They'd make a wonderful gift for any makeup lovers in your family/friends! This palette would particularly be perfect for the neutral lovers out there!

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I want to take a moment and thank everyone who entered my 100 follower giveaway. It means a whole lot to me that some of you took the time to tweet, retweet, mention on blogs, and generally support me. Thank you! I truly couldn't do it without all your support!!

Congratulations to Sabine for winning my 100 followers giveaway! You package is on its way to you!

Shopping my stash for the perfect nude lip

Lately, I've been searching for the perfect nude. And I'm finding the search (from behind my computer) absolutely impossible. It is SO HARD to tell from online swatches whether a nude will flatter your skintone or not.

After a twitter conversation with the lovely Claire from aucuparia brumalis about "the nudes" I decided to shop my stash and see what my favorite nudes are!

Here's what I came up with:

 From left to right, we've got: MAC Blankety, MAC Hue, MAC Hug Me, Estee Lauder Crystal Baby, Marcelle Rouge Xpression in Sincerity, Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Cream in White Russian, Clinique Chubby Stick in Whole Lotta Honey, MAC Cremesheen Glass in Boy Bait.

From left to right, again: MAC Blankety, MAC Hue, MAC Hug Me, Estee Lauder Crystal Baby, Marcelle Rouge Xpression in Sincerity, Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Cream in White Russian, Clinique Chubby Stick in Whole Lotta Honey, MAC Cremesheen Glass in Boy Bait.

My daily favorites of the bunch are Estee Lauder Crystal Baby and the Clinique Chubby Stick. As nudes though, Crystal Baby literally looks pink on me, and the Chubby Stick is too dark to be a true nude. I love the creaminess of MAC's Blankety, but it tends to make me look a bit washed out, and if my lips are dry, it emphasizes that fact. I almost never reach for MAC Hue or Hug Me as I find them quite sheer, and prefer a more opaque finish. Plus, both of them are harsh on my already dry lips. Hue isn't incredibly flattering on me, and I never think to use Hug Me even though I like the color on me.

The closest "nude" I own that I consider nude on my skintone, is actually the Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Cream in White Russian. I got this lip gloss in a Sephora 100 point perk and really really like it. I'm not a lip gloss girl at all - I much prefer lipsticks. But this lip gloss' combination of being plumping (and not being allergic to the plumping agents for once!) and the perfect nude made me fall in love. Perhaps nudes work better on me as glosses? MAC's Boy Bait on the other hand, is too sheer  to give me the "nude lip effect".

Have you ever been on a mad search for the perfect nude? Right now, I'm contemplating NARS Pago Pago, MAC's High Tea, and various Le Metier de Beaute Lip Cremes.

Have you found your perfect nude lip? If so, please share! I'm so interested to know what your favorite nude lip products are!