Avengers: Age of Ultron Inspired Makeup

It's no secret I love superheroes. So I took today, the North American opening day for Avengers 2, to try my hand at some hero themed looks. Sadly my fav (Captain Marvel) didn't make the cut on this movie, so I had to find some other characters to be inspired by. I asked on Twitter what Avenger people would most like to see a look based on, and the top two were Thor and Hulk!

For Thor I took inspiration from his darker MCU costume rather than the brighter one from the comics. I went for a grey and silver smokey eye with bold winged liner (cause the man can fly!) And then I chose red lips for his red cape. I also went with a little bronzer, because Chris Hemsworth is always looking pretty tanned and beach ready. 

For Hulk I went all green! Green shadow, green liner, green lips, and then just a touch of purple on the lower lash line and on my cheeks for his purple pants. 

Who's your favourite superhero? Would you ever do a makeup look inspired by them?

Makeup Swap!

The other component of my hangout with Lauren and McKenna was a makeup swap. I ended up getting a lot of things that I'm really excited about. It's mostly lip products (no one is surprised) but there are a few other things that I feel like might be interesting. 

Rimmel Stay Blushed in Sunkissed Cherry: I've only ever used one liquid cheek product before so I'm interested to see how this goes for me. The colour is very pretty and I've been getting a lot more into blush lately so I'm excited. 

NYX Butter Lipstick in Little Susie: To be honest I'm not certain it's Little Susie? I'm not at home right now. Either way I really like this. I'm a fan of the formula, it's super creamy and hydrating. The colour is really nice too. 

CoverGirl Colorlicious Lipstick in Seduce: I tend to like CoverGirl lipsticks, and I love red lipsticks, so we'll see how this one compares to my other favs. 

NYX Round Lipstick in Chaos: Yet another red. Mostly I picked this for the name. It also swatched fairly different from the other red I chose, so I didn't feel as silly picking them both. 

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Hot Pink Rage: It's so pink! Lauren didn't like this one because she isn't a fan of the Milani lipstick smell, but I like it. 

Stay All Day Vinyl Lip Gloss in Nude Vinyl: I'm not really a lip gloss person. I'm not sure why I grabbed this to be honest but it just spoke to me for some reason. So we'll see how it goes. 

Benefit Posietint: Another liquid cheek product. I'm a sucker for cute packaging. Also the colour is really soft and pretty, so hopefully it will look nice. 

Sephora Collection Eyeshadow in ???: I can't find the colour name online, but it's a really nice lavender shade and I'm loving pastel purples right now so I'm super excited to give this a go. 

Nails and Sephora Sales

On Friday I spent the day with Lauren and McKenna, it was a four part adventure: manicures, birthday dinner, makeup swap, and Sephora sale. My post on the swap is coming later this week.

I haven't gotten my nails done very many times, this was actually my third ever manicure. The venue was Polish'd Nail Bar which is located in the PATH in downtown Toronto. Due to it's location their clientele is mainly business people on their way to and from work. The experience is tailored to this, with a small, minimalist space and quick service.

The girl who did my nails was adorable and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants was playing on the tv, so overall it was a great experience for me. The colour I got was Essie Flowerista, which is part of their Spring 2015 collection, which I didn't know until later but I'm excited that I chose a new and exciting colour.

shown here with matching lips (Maybelline Vision in Violet)

I had less luck at the Sephora sale. 15% off tends to bring out the animal instinct in the best of us. So it was crowded, I was anxious, and all the things on my list were sold out. 

Luckily the sale isn't just one day. So prepared to go into battle once more, I headed into my local Sephora. Luckily it was much less crowded, and though I browsed a little, I had my eye on the prize. 

My first pick was Clinique Cheek Pop in Cola Pop, which ended my search for a snow white blush. It's the perfect red blush, very blendable and buildable and soft and just. It's really nice, I'd really recommend it. 

But one of the things I excitedly grabbed was the NARS Audacious Lipstick in Janet. Which when I got home I realized was nearly identical to Covergirl Spellbound (if you're looking for a dupe I'd highly recommend it)

So once again I was off to the mall, this time exchanging Janet for Audrey (and returning a pair of shoes that didn't fit) And I couldn't be happier. Audrey is a much more unique colour, a sort of muted berry red. I adore it. 

(left: Cola Pop, right: Audrey)

FOTD: Sunset Lips and Cheeks

Last year, the trend was ombre hair, but this year, ombre is all about makeup. I've been seeing ombre lips all over instagram and tumblr, and yesterday I decided to give the look a shot myself.

I wasn't satisfied with a simple two toned lip, I also decided to go for a similar cheek look. The idea here is that it mimics the various stages of sunset, from orange and pink to pink and purple.

I went with a horizontal colour transition rather than a vertical one because I find it wears better throughout the day. Also I can't speak for all the CoverGirl Lip Perfection Lipsticks, but Spellbound wears like a champ. It lasts a really long time and then leaves behind a really even stain that's actually kind of hard to get rid of. I was pretty impressed for a product under $10.

Products Used:

Face: MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NW15, Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer in Fair, Pixi All Over Magic in Bare Radiance

Brows: Anastasia Brow Wiz in Dark Brown

Eyes: Stila Stay All Day Liner in Moss, Tarte Lights Camera Lashes Mascara

Cheeks: Benefit Coralista, Colourpop Mochi, Lovely me:ex I Make You Brighter in 01 Pink Glow

Lips: Sonia Kashuk Lip Definer in Hibiscus, Colourpop Lip Liner in Leather, MAC Lip Pencil in Nightmoth, CoverGirl Lip Perfection Lipstick in Spellbound

elf Small Stippling Brush Review

Recently I purchased a blush from Colourpop and I wanted to try it out with a few different brushes. Lauren, from Lipstick + Lacquer suggested I try a stippling brush from elf. Since Target Canada is nearing the end of its run, they no longer have much elf stock available. So instead I stopped by my local Superstore when I was in the neighbourhood and picked this up. 

This brush gave me a bit of a different look with the blush. I felt like I had more control than with my Real Techniques brush, possibly because of the smaller surface area, but also because of the technique.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with this brush, and I think it's a great addition to my collection.

Sephora Birthday Gift 2015

I recently went into Sephora to pick up my birthday gift. I've been excited to get this gift since my sister picked up hers in January. And for good reason! This set contains two NARS lip pencils, a Velvet Matte in Cruella, my favourite red ever and a Satin in Rikugien, which Sephora describes as a "rose pink", but I feel like leans more into neutral territory. I already have Cruella but I love it so much that I'm happy to have a backup.

Overall I'm super jazzed about this gift and I can't wait to get some use out of Rikugien to see how it looks on me.

How do you feel about this year's present?

March Favourites

H&M Hexagon Pendant: I love hexagons. They're my favourite shape, maybe because they remind me so much of bees. So when I saw this necklace at H&M back in December, I had to pick it up. Over the winter it didn't seem to match with all my heavy scarves, but now that it's been warming up I've been wearing it more and more. 

Bobo Academy "gay!" Bag: I got this bag on sale a while back, and it's become my go to tote. 

Colourpop Lumiere: This is my favourite everyday lipstick. I keep it in my purse at all times in case I want to switch things up during the day. 

Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson: After having a bunch of friends recommend this series to me for years, I finally started it at the beginning of the month. The books are LONG so it's nice to have it on my tablet rather than carrying around a huge paperback.  I've been loving it so far, so anyone who likes high fantasy, check it out!

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula: Okay this one is not just this month. I honestly swear by this stuff, I've been using it for years. It keeps my skin soft and smells amazing and I don't think I've talked about it here before, so I thought I'd share the secret now. 

Funko Pop Jupiter Jones: I went to Toronto Comicon a couple of weekends ago and picked this up. I love Jupiter so much that I couldn't miss out on this adorable little figurine. She'll be joining my Daenerys Funko Pop on my desk. 

Dr Bronner's Almond Castile Liquid Soap: After seeing Essiebutton recommend this stuff for cleaning brushes, I thought I'd try it out. I got the almond because I tend to prefer lighter scents. It works great! It's a little sudsier than I expected, but it gets the job done and smells great doing it.

Dove Dry Shampoo: I ran out of my tiny bottle of Klorane dry shampoo, and I was really sad because I haven't found anywhere around here that carries it. So I popped into Shoppers and picked up Emily's favourite. It's a little weird because it makes me smell like my girlfriend, but it's also pretty comforting. It works great and smells great, and I like how it doesn't leave my hair quite as powdery as some dry shampoos tend to. 

What did you love in March?