SDM Redemption!

So today was a Spend Your Points event at Shopper's Drug Mart. If you spent 95,000 points, you could purchase $200 worth of products and only pay the tax. Sweet! I couldn't resist this and told myself it would make a nice Mother's Day treat. ;)

My local SDM had all sorts of stuff going on. There were raffles for some pretty amazing prizes like $250 Shoeless Joe's gift cards and Pandora jewelry, a huge table of delicious desserts, a sidewalk sale of discontinued items marked down to as a low as $1 and surprise bags for $5 or $10! So fun! I'm wondering if this was happening at all SDM's as I forgot to ask them just what they were celebrating.

Anyway, here's what I picked up:

My apologies for the crappy iPhone pics!

So I picked up one of the $5 surprise bags, a 35ml of Coco Chanel EDP for $73, Shiseido Luminizing Satin Face Color for $38, the Shoppers Drug Mart Fragrance Sampler for $75, 2 Quo Ceramic Nail Files for $3 each (I gave one to my daughter), La Coupe Mousse for $3, Balea Mousse for $3 (both of these are for my daughter who has very curly hair), Always Panty Liners that were on sale for $3.99, and 2 Maybelline Baby Lips for my daughter that were $5.99 and buy 1, get 1 free! I received a Shiseido Water Bottle with some samples in it for purchasing the Luminizing Powder, and a Valentino Body Lotion for free.

Okay, so the surprise bag was pretty useless to me, but it was fun to buy, and I opened it with my daughter and told her she could have anything she wanted. The SDM sales associate told me the bag could contain anything from around the store and wasn't just cosmetics. My surprises were an auburn  L'Oreal hair dye, which I will never use, reading glasses...haha! I'll give these to my dad, pantyhose...lol haven't wore these babies in 15+ years, a Maybelline Eyeliner, a Sally Hansen nail polish and a L'Oreal eyeshadow quad.

Here's a couple pics of the Shiseido Luminizing Satin Face Color. I've heard amazing things about this highlighter, and I know it's HG for many!

 

And a swatch taken with flash:

 

Here's the Shiseido Freebie:

 

And a swatch of the Perfect Rouge Lipstick, shade RD142:

I thought this bottle of Valentino lotion was so adorable:

I didn't snap any individual pics of the Coco Chanel, but I'm sure you've all seen it before. :)

The fragrance sampler contains 10 perfume vials, and a certificate to redeem for whichever you want. Included were samples of:

Vera Wang Princess EDT
Yves Saint Laurent Manifesto EDP
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue EDT
Burberry Body Tender EDT
Lady Gaga Fame EDP
Nina Ricci Nina L'Eau EDT
Marc Jacobs Daisy EDT
Juicy Couture Couture La La EDP
Givenchy Hot Couture EDT
Roberto Cavalli Just Cavalli EDT

Let me know if you redeemed at SDM and what you got! Thanks for reading!



Smashbox Love Me Eye Shadow Palettes - Admire Me, Entice Me

Hi beauty lovers! Hope everyone's week is going okay so far. :) 

Over the weekend, I partcipated in Shoppers Drug Mart's 20x the points on cosmetics promo. I went into the store with a few things in mind, but couldn't find any of it at my closest SDM. I'm really looking forward to seeing Quo's spring collection in stores! It looks super gorgeous! Anyway, I picked up both Love Me Eyeshadow palettes by Smashbox. I also picked up a Maybelline Color Tattoo, but I wrote about that in a separate blog.

 

 

I think both palettes are just gorgeous, I and had a really tough time deciding which to purchase, so I grabbed both. I'm so glad I did!

Entice Me on the left, Admire Me on the right:

 

Please note that the lovely "Love Me" adornment does lift up, so all shades are easily accesible.

 

I found all the shadows soft and fairly pigmented upon swatching. I had to layer a couple of the shades a few times to get these swatches. I think they are so beautiful, so I honestly can't wait to try these on my eyes.  Hopefully there's no trouble with application.

 

Entice Me:

 

Admire Me:

 

Have you tried anything from this collection? Please share if so! :)

 

Thanks so much for reading. xo

Maybelline Color Tattoo Review - Bold Gold, Pomegranate Punk and Edgy Emerald

I've been wanting to try the Maybelline Color Tattoos for quite some time now! I've heard mostly good things about them, and I found them at my local Superstore for $7.99. I picked up Bold Gold and Pomegranate Punk to try. Then later in the week, I picked up Edgy Emerald at Shoppers Drug Mart (during 20x the points) for $9.99.

 

 

The first shade I tried was Bold Gold. I applied this on my eye using my finger and without a primer. Big mistake for me! There was major creasing and melting after only a couple hours. I totally blame this on my oily lids.

 

The next day I tried Pomegranate Punk. This time, I applied my primer of choice (Too Faced Shadow Insurance) and after the primer was dry, I gently patted my lids with a tissue to soak up any remaning oil. I just wanted to be sure they were completely dry and oil free. I then applied the eyeshadow with my finger. I'm happy to say that Pomegranate Punk lasted me late into the night and was still looking perfect when I removed my makeup before bed. :)

 

Today I've been wearing Edgy Emerald for about 9 hours, and it's still good to go. :) Again, I applied this using a primer, and I blotted my eyelid gently with a tissue before application.

 

I think all three colours are super gorgeous, and I can't wait to try more shades. I'm looking at Audacious Asphalt next.

Here's my swatches, without flash:

 

And with flash:

I've been playing around with these eyeshadows to try and create different looks for the past few days. I'll be sure to post a blog when I find something worth sharing!

Have you tried the Color Tattoos or any other cream shadows? I was very close to picking up a Shiseido Shimmering Eye Color this past weekend, but the price was pretty steep.

Thanks for reading! :)

 

Murale Redemption!

Happy Valentine's Day, beauties! I hope everyone is enjoying their day, whether single or not. :)

Today, my little Valentine's treat to myself was a Murale redemption haul! I decided to spend 80,000 points for $200 worth. If you don't know what these points are all about, Murale is owned by Shoppers Drug Mart and uses their wonderful Optimum point program which you can learn more about here.

Also, if you're in Canada and you haven't been yet, I would highly recommend visiting Murale. They carry many high end brands including Chanel, YSL, Guerlain and Bobbi Brown (note that not all brands are available for sale online), and their customer service is UNBELIEVABLE. The lady that helped me today, was genuinely so sweet and helpful, and they gave me a follow up phone call later in the day to see how I was liking my products. :)

Today I redeemed for Shiseido Facial Cotton, Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs in 01 Les Violets, Guerlain Meteorites Compact in 02 Teinte Beige, Nars blush in Dolce Vita and Chanel Glossimer in Jalousie.

Sorry for the blurriness. And just the overall bad pictures. :( It was very overcast today, and I didn't realize how blurry they were until I uploaded them hours later. So here is the Ecrin 4 Couleurs in 01 Les Violets. I think this quad comes in such a beautiful compact! I was worried when I began swatching because the matte colour on the left is quite chalky and not as highly pigmented as I would have imagined. I'll have to see how it applies on my eyes. The other 3 colours are lovely, soft and nicely pigmented.  This retails for $64.00 CAD 

 

 

The Guerlain Meteorites compact is a Pressed Powder with a soft, light texture. It has the same strong scent that the Guerlain Meteorites Balls have, and I found it to be decent on my oily skin. With most pressed powders, I have to touch up every couple of hours, and I find this to be no different. I do like it more than my Diorskin pressed powder because I find it less chalky. I think it gives a nice, natural look.  I do have to say that for the price, I found the compact feels a little cheap. This was $67.00 CAD.

 

 

 

I knew I wanted another Nars blush to add to my collection, but I waited until I could swatch in store before deciding which to pick up. I went with Dolce Vita which is described as a matte, dusty rose. Love it! Nars blushes are really of exceptional quality and I highly urge you to give one a try if you haven't yet. These blushes are $32.00 CAD.

 

 

 

Admittedly, this is my first Chanel Glossimer. I've heard so many wonderful things and had been really wanting to try one. I picked up the shade Jalousie. The saleslady pointed to it and said she thought it would be perfect for me, and I smiled big because it was the colour I found most eyecatching. It is a beautiful bright pink with red undertones. I find it to be quite long lasting, and not overly sticky. Love it! I would definitely purchase more shades. These retail for $31.00 CAD.

 

Here's a little swatch taken on my hand:

The Shiseido Facial Cotton are my favourite cotton pads ever! They never shed, and are very soft. For $9.00 CAD you get 165 pads.

So that ends my redemption fun for the winter, and now it's time to build my points back up for the next one.

Did any of you spoil yourselves in any way this Valentine's Day? :)

 

Spend Your Points Haul: Lise Watier Pastel Power, Urban Decay Theodora, Dior Cherie Bow etc.

So today I participated in Shoppers Drug Mart's Spend Your Points event. I redeemed 80,000 Optimum points for $200 worth of cosmetics. I adore this program! I did two top redemptions at Christmas and got so many goodies! I almost always participate in SDM's 20x the points events, so as you can imagine, my points build up really quickly! If you don't know about Shoppers Drug Mart's Optimum Program, you can learn more, here.

Today I went to an SDM that carries more high end brands like Dior and Guerlain. They also carry Urban Decay, and that's why I went to this particular location!

Everything I bought is a new release/spring collection:

 Lise Watier Pastel Power Eyeshadow Quartet ($36), Dior 5 Couleurs Cherie Bow Edition in 854 Rose Charmeuse ($61), Urban Decay Oz The Great and Powerful in Theodora ($58), Smashbox Love Me Lip Enhancing Gloss in Adore Me ($22) and Lise Watier Eye Shine in Vert Sarcelle ($19).

I called the store in advance a couple days ago so they could put aside the Urban Decay Theodora and  Lise Watier Pastel Power Quartet. I was dying for both of these! I purchased a couple of other Pastel Power products last week, and I'm totally loving them. I think the Lise Watier quad will be so pretty for spring! These are not shades I would normally wear, but I'm super excited to try them! :)

Urban Decay's Oz palettes are something I've been seriously lemming since I first heard about them a few weeks back. The colours are beautiful, and I'll be sure to swatch them later on! This palette came with a travel size 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero and a Super-Saturated High-Gloss Lip Colour in Theodora (which I used before this pic...sorry!).

 

 

The Dior palette was something I bought on a whim. I had nothing else in mind and needed to get to $200. I thought the shades in this were gorgeous. I love the hot pink and black!

 

I really wanted something from the Smashbox Love Me collection as I know it is selling out fast! I swatched the Lip Enhancing Gloss in Adore Me, in the store and thought it was really pretty.

 

Lastly, I got the latest Eyeshine from the Lise Watier collection that was released for the Spring to match the Pastel Power Quartet.

Here's a couple swatches of the UD Lip Colour, the Smashbox Gloss and the Eyeshine.

Without flash:

 

With flash

 

 

 

I'd love to hear if you participated in Spend your Points today! Please let me know what you got. :) This promo runs until this Monday, the 11th, if you weren't able to get to a store today. Also, there are whisperings of a Spend your Points event at Murale for this coming week. I'm hoping it's true!

 

Thanks for reading! :)

Mini SDM haul - Lise Watier Pastel Power, GOSH etc.

Hello beauty lovers! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! :)

Today I did a mini haul at Shoppers Drug Mart. It's a 20x the points day, and I'm a huge sucker for bonus Optimum points. I also love the ladies at my local SDM! I called in last night, and they held a couple things for me. They are such sweethearts and always give samples, and sometimes fullsized products! It's always a joy to be in there.

I purchased two pieces from the new Lise Watier collection for spring called Pastel Power. It is the most adorable collection ever! I wanted everything, but settled for the Illuminating Beads and the Pink Power Blush. The Illuminating Beads are the same idea as the famous Guerlain Les Meteorites Balls. I only own a deluxe sample of the balls, and if I compared them, I'd say the Illuminating Beads are smaller. They are so cute! Can't wait to wear them. The Pink Power blush is just GORGEOUS. I'm completely in love with it. How adorable is the packaging for these product? It makes me so excited for spring. :)

 

 

Here's a swatch I took. From left to right is the Illuminating Beads, then the lighter shade from the blush, the darker shade from the blush, and then the two shades mixed together.

 

I also purchased a GOSH Velvet Touch lipstick in Shocking Coral. I wanted something for the spring that would work well with the Lise Watier products, and I read that the Lise Watier lipstick is drying and cakey. I think the GOSH lipstick is a lovely shade and just perfect for springtime!

 

 

I also bought the Essence Quattro in 11 Sea My Eyes. I really wanted the Lise Watier Quatuor Pastel Power Eyeshadow Quartet, but I settled for this. I forgot to take a picture of this product, but you can get the gist of it in the first pic.

 

The Shiseido Facial Cotton is my favourite cotton pads ever! Since I discovered them a few months back, I haven't been able to go back to anything else. They never shed and are soft and non-irritating.

 

The ladies also gave me a few Clarins samples; the Pure Melt Cleansing Gel with Marula Oil, the Multi-Active Day Early Wrinkle Correction and two tiny samples of the new Clarins Double Serum. I love Clarins, and I'm super stoked to try all these out!

 

Here's the prices for everything:

 

Pink Power Blush - $30

Illuminating Beads - $29

GOSH Velvet Touch Lipstick - $14,99

Shiseido Facial Cotton - $9

Essence Quattro - $3.99

 

Let me know if you participated in 20x the points day, today! I love hearing what other people bought! :)