My Very First Knockwurst - OPI's Germany Collection

Anyone else as excited as me about the OPI Germany collection? I very much restrained myself picking out colors because I only got two color and wanted every single one from the collection.

My first pick is My Very First Knockwurst (my second being Every Month is Oktoberfest). It's a gorgeous nude/pink. It applied flawlessly in two coats!

I though it was a great option for a neutral pink - most of the time, I find these types of polishes too pink. Plus, it was quite long wearing lasting a good three days without chips or tip wear! 

Sneak peek at what's coming on the blog! My Vika Alex is settled and full! As you can see, it's comfortably nesting between two dressers.

Movie of the week: Hugo. Hugo is a gorgeous film about a young boy who lives alone in a Paris train station. The cinematography of this film is absolutely and completely breathtaking. If you're watching the movie, take a moment to observe how busy the background is, and how imaginative the set design is. Oh and it's a Martin Scorsese movie and well, whatever he does is genius. Except maybe for Shutter Island, which I didn't love. But yes, Hugo is a must see. DO IT.

Hope you're all having a good week! Pay day is today and I might have done some damage, courtesy of miss Chelsea of chelsea wears! Enabler alert!!

Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector 03 - my brow savior!

My brows have always been the most difficult part of my beauty routine. No matter how much I pluck, trim or wax them, they always look out of control. My left eyebrow also has somewhat of a cowlick that makes it impossible to groom. Because they've always been really thick, I never really saw much of a use to fill them in. However, after filling them in with MAC's Brun for a while, I started noticing how well my filled-in brows shaped my face and how they made my makeup look pulled together. On days were I didn't want to wear too much makeup, I'd fill in my brows, put on mascara and cream blush and felt amazing. Once summer hit, MAC's Brun was more prone to slide on my oily skin and most pencils weren't long wearing enough for my taste. I knew it was time to look for a new brow product and after hearing Arianne rave about the Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow corrector, I knew I had to have it. I hear that Make Up For Ever has come up with new Aqua Brows products and I would've picked up the Taupe shade but the Sephora I visited hadn't started carrying it.

On with it!

Make Up For Ever's Waterproof brow corrector claims to be waterproof (duh!), sweatproof, and have a natural finish. You need the absolute smallest amount of this product is is so pigmented.You need maybe... 1/5th of what I have swatched on my hand. Seriously. This tube will last you forever and ever. I chose shade number 03 for my brows. At first, I thought it might be too dark but I learned how to use it more sparingly and really blending in my brows with an angled brush.

This is 03, swatched and then blended. It is potent.

The staying power of this product is excellent. It stays all day on my brows without budging, even in extreme humidity. I haven't tested its waterproof claim as I don't often dip my brows in water. I also like that it blends in so well in my brows. Because they are so thick, powder can look... well powdery in my brow hairs and I tend to avoid that effect by adding brow gel. But then my brows are crispy and I hate that feeling. I don't have to add anything with the Brow Corrector - it lightly of shapes my brows while filling them in. Done.

Eww before shot with zero makeup.
 

And after, brows done à la Make Up For Ever brow corrector, and general makeupness.

If you think you can find yourself a color match in these brow correctors and you're a stickler for filling in your brows, you will not regret this purchase. It's easy to use and gives a better finish than powder or gel, in my humble opinion. This retails for $22 CND and is available at Sephora.

How do you handle your brows? Au naturel or filled in? And what do you use - I'm curious!

Cheap taupe nails alert! Essence's Walk of Fame swatches and review!

I picked up Essence's nail polish in Walk of Fame for a whopping $1.49 a few months ago. Essence has been putting out quite modern colors for excellent price and value. And how exciting that Canada gets them too!

Walk of Fame was a bit thick in its formula and dried very fast, so application wasn't the smoothest I've ever used. However the wear time was quite good, and the color was very flattering on my skintone. It does dry darker than the color appears in the bottle, but that didn't bother me too much. It seems to be in the same family as OPI's You Don't Know Jacques, but I don't own it to compare. My ring finger was accented with glitter from Sally Hansen's Gem Crush polish in Big Money.

I've purchased great nail polishes lately and can't wait to share them with you!

Movie of the week: JCVD. I've been looking into classic action movies lately (partly in preparation for The Expendables) and JCVD was king of the black beast in the middle of this endeavor. It basically tells of the story of Jean-Claude Van Damme (as himself), a washed up action hero, who is caught in a situation which expects him to act like the action hero he so often depicts. Of course, Mr. JCVD is not the characters people expect him to be from his films, and has a hard time handling the situation. This movie was a heartfelt look at how cruel the Hollywood scene can be. It was truly a great movie, even if you don't have any attachment to Jean-Claude Van Damme as an action hero like my boyfriend does. Also, I want to marry Jean-Claude Van Damme. He has seriously given me a lot to think about with this movie.

A breath of fresh air with Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Adore

When I found out these had FINALLY arrived in Canada, I rushed THE DAY they were out to pick up a few shade. Unfortunately, the display at Walmart only had one tester, and after being chastised by the sales associate for "opening product" (which I didn't do, I tested the only tester available, thank you very much), I gave up on picking colors until I had seen swatches online. I left with a lonely Kissable Balm Stain in Adore.

The packaging is very sturdy. I totally expected this balm/stain to have a waxy feel to it but it does not at all. It's soft, smells lightly of mint, and has a light glossy look.

I'm actually really impressed with this product! The stain glides on very well and not patchy - plus it actually stains. I still had some stain on my lips after removing this product. Of course, I can only speak of the shade I picked, Adore, and not of the others. I heard the lighter colors do not stain so well.This reminds me very much of Clinique's Chubby Sticks, except with more pigmentation, a more pleasant smell/taste, and longer lasting. And cheaper! They are not particularly moisturizing, but they are also not drying to me either. Kind of in the middle which is fine by me. 

Swatched on my hand.

On my mug. 

My friend wasn't impressed with the color on me, calling it a "mom" color, but I'm personally quite impressed. I find it modern and autumnal. Plus, the undertones aren't mauve, but rather warm, and I find it flattering on my skintone. Mauve/fuchsia colors are usually not flattering on me, and since most of their range is sort of mauve, I don't see myself picking up too many of these. I really hope they come up with a wider range of shades.

I'm very happy with this drugstore purchase and have been wearing it for three days straight! For now, I can only speak for the Adore shade I've purchased, but if you're looking for a great fall shade, this is it.

Hope your week is going well! I myself have a cold or throat infection of some kind. Not fun, especially on a busy week!

Dior summer palette in Aurora!

I have lusted for this Dior palette since I first saw it. It seemed perfect for me - neutral browns, orange toned shadows for making blue eyes pop, and a beige shimmery shade. I couldn't find one thing wrong with it. So when I saw it at Sephora in my recent travels, it's seriously like a light bulb went in my head.

I must admit, the beautiful design in the shades and the gorgeous packing also sold me on this palette. I love how sturdy this palette feels as well. It was a bit afraid of messing up the pattern in the shadows but, da hell with it I told myself, they are meant to be used!

As you can kind of see, all the shades are shimmery.

Counter clockwise in the palette, starting with the orangy shade, ending with the middle shade.

What I really appreciate of this palette, is that it has 5 shades - it just seems like a more rounded amount of shadows, and a more complete palette. I get irritated that only 4 shades fit in a MAC quad (hence why I like my Z palette so much!) and always wish for one more shade. But anyway, point is, Dior, I like that you have 5 shades in your palettes. I'll probably get more of them. Actually, I'm guilty of having one in the mail at this very moment. Ouiiii!

I also really like that is has a well rounded set of shadow. I especially like the beige shade (second from right on arm swatches) and the darker brown shade. The dark brown is beautiful when blended all over the lid. The orange shade is sadly less wearable than I expected it to be, but is still very flattering with a matte brown shade in the crease. The yellow shade isn't terribly unique, but I quite like the way it applies on the lid. It's also much easier to work with than MAC's Goldmine, another yellow/gold shadow.

Here I used the dark brown shade all over the lid, and the yellow shade on the inner portion of my lid, for a quick and easy look.

I must say, I really like this palette. It's easy to use, doesn't require much thinking or effort, and I can see this being a staple for traveling. I do think the shadows aren't as pigmented and creamy as other shadows I have, but I think that they are still very easy to blend and do not create fall out issues. In some ways, I don't mind having shadows that are a tad less pigmented as they require less blending and more building layers. It's just a different way of doing things. The shadows also wore really well, even without primer.

If you don't have any dupes or this palette, or just want a handy palette (especially if you have blue eyes!), I'd highly suggest getting this. I'm already having so much fun mixing colors and trying different looks with this and I've only had it up and running for a week!

Do you like owning palettes or individual shadows more? Do you have a favorite Dior palette? I'd love to hear suggestions on which one I should get next!