Photos of the Month : September 2013

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there. I hope you are all having an amazing long weekend so far.

I am a little late on the pictures of the month of September but hey, it is better late than never right?

The fall season is officially here and these pictures are to prove it. I really love fall and to be honest, it is one of my favourite seasons of all time. I just enjoy the transition of the weather and the leaves changing and all the prettiness it brings with itself.

Also, the sky gets so pretty!!

So, these where some of the pictures I took during the month of September.

I hope you all had a great month of September! Until the next month. 

Love, Dina

Yves Rocher Waterproof Eye Pencil + Felt-Tip Eyeliner 12Hr - Review & Swatches

I totally love eyeliners. I can't have enough of them and when one of my friends gave me a bunch of the Yves Rocher Eyeliners , I was super duper excited to try them out.

I have had these for a while so I have had the time to use them and understand the good and bad parts of it. Also, it's the perfect opportunity to review it as well.

Eye Pencil : Cuivre, Turquoise, Vert, Bleu, Violet, Noir
Felt-Tip Eyeliner : Noir

Eye Pencil

- Cuivre : shimmery light brownish/champagne colour. The pencil itself is creamy and very easy to work with. This looks very pretty in the inner corners of the eyes, the lower lash line or I use it on my waterline sometimes and people have actually noticed it which is very nice. 

- Turquoise :  just like the name says, a shimmery turquoise colour. I love this one for the summer time but like always, if I feel like I can rock it during the colder months, then I just go for it. I usually use this colour on my upper lash line, just like you would with a black liner. It looks good on the bottom lash line as well as the waterline. This one is creamy and very easy to apply as well.

- Vert : slightly shimmery dark teal/green colour. This one can be a little dry and harder to work than the other two i mentioned above but it still isn't the driest of pencil liners ever so no worry there. I absolutely love this for the fall time. It is so gorgeous on the eyes.

- Bleu : matte electric blue. This one can be a little dry as well as the "vert" colour. It is so fun though. This looks awesome on the upper lash line and it looks very eye catching on the lower lash line or the water line.

- Violet : matte purple. as same as the other other two other colours a little dry. I also love this for the fall. 

- Noir: matte black. very pigmented and goes on creamy.

All of these pencil eyeliners are waterproof and very pigmented so a huge plus there. 

Felt-Tip

- Noir : goes on smoothly and also goes on very dark. dries matte which I love. Has a good staying power.

Eye Pencil : 06 Cuivre, 05 Turquoise, 03 Vert, 02 Bleu, 04 Violet, 01 Noir
Felt-Tip Eyeliner : 01 Noir

I actually wanted to do a test for you guys to show how water proof the eye pencils are. So in the picture above, I put my hands under the warm running water and nothing really changed so I tried to remove the swatches with my hand by rubbing on them. and as you can see the eye pencils are still the same but the felt-tip liner has lost it's pigment and it is almost removed. 

So the eye pencils are definitely truly waterproof, which it claims to be so yay. The felt-tip liner does not claim to be waterproof but claims to be 12 hour wear which is true because when I have this on, it does not go anywhere until the end of the night that I remove my makeup with makeup remover, which by the way, both the eye pencil and the felt tip liner removes with makeup remover very easily and I don't need to tug on my eyes to take them off.

The picture below, is when after testing with warm water, I used a makeup remover wipe. I wiped the top just once and that is what was left of the eyeliners. So it is waterproof but gets removed with makeup remover very easily.

The eye pencils are retractable and also have a sharpener at the end which is very convenient.

The felt-tip liner has form of a marker with a spongy but firm tip. I actually really recommend this for the beginners with liquid liners. It is super easy to use and you wont really mess it up.

Here is an example of how I would use the bright eyeliners on my upper lash line. I just do a simple, natural eyeshadow on the lids and go for the eyeliner. I get a lot of compliments on my makeup looks which is really nice and I absolutely keep doing them. haha

So overall, I really love these eyeliners and are actually one of my go to eyeliner pics when it comes to colourful liners.

Have you tried anything from the Yves Rocher line?

Love,Dina

Nail of the Day : Essie "Aruba Blue"

Fall is pretty much here and I got into the mood of painting my nails a fall-ish colour and I pulled this out of my nail polish collection. Since it has been a long time that I have worn this on my nails, I decided to just go for it and also do a little review on it for you guys.

Aruba Blue is a cobalt blue colour with shimmer which goes on very smooth and it is opaque in just two coats. I think this is a very eye catching because of all the shimmer and the blue colour.

This nail polish on the nails is the exact colour as it is in the bottle which I love that fact. I apply two coats and I am satisfied with how opaque it looks on my nails.

The brush that this nail polish has is pretty small. I am really used to the OPI nail polish brushes which are a medium wide size and I find it a little hard to do my nails. I have to work fast and pick up quit bit of the polish to be able to get an even colour all over my nails. I know this might be confusing but I'm not sure how to explain it in another way. haha

Also, this polish or the actual brush leaves minor brush strokes which can be seen if look closely. It is not a big deal really but to some people, it might be an issue.

Two coats of Aruba Blue, silver glitter on the ring finger  just to glam it up a little

The formula is pretty thin but it gets opaque in just two coats. This polish is very light weight and I don't feel it on my nails at all, unlike some cream polishes that feel a bit heavy on my nails.

Also, the fact that this polish is pretty thin, it is easy to get it on your cuticles which for me, this always happens. So I just paint my nails and then clean up around my cuticles after. 

Pros:
- Good coverage with two coats
- Jewel/shimmery blue colour can be flattering on different skin colours/tones
- Lasts for a good amount of time without topcoat

Cons:
- Small brush
- Minor brush strokes can be seen
- Could be a little expensive (depending on the store)

This polish is easy to find in the stores and it retails for about $9 - $12 (Canadian Dollars)

So overall, I really like this polish especially for fall and winter time. I think it is a very flattering on the nails. It is darker than the usual blue we see but not too dark, it is just very unique looking.

Have you tried this nail polish? What is your favourite fall/winter nail polish?

Love, Dina

Maybelline Baby Lips Electro Collection - Review

So Maybelline has come out with a new collection for the baby lips and once I saw them, I had to try out the new colours since I really did like the original baby lips when they first came out!

95 Strike a Rose, 70 Pink Shock

First of all, I LOVE the packaging. Even more that the original line. The original line is fun and bright but I prefer this black packaging with bright coloured writing! I think it is a bit more mature but still fun and exciting! Well, maybe that's just me! haha

95 Strike a Rose, 70 Pink Shock

The new collection has 6 new shades. I decided to go with two of the colours that I know I would really use and enjoy. So besides the two shades that I got there is also yellow, green, orange, and purple. They look very bright and neon in the packaging so I tried to stay away from the ones that I was not so sure I would use.

95 Strike a Rose, 70 Pink Shock

Strike a Rose is a beautiful rose-y, coral-y pink colour. It has a shiny finish and also comes off a bit deeper on the lip than the colour in the tube but this might just depend on your actual lip colour. This colour is very wearable and it is perfect for me for an everyday lip colour. This smells like strawberries to me, it has a sweet pleasant smell. Not overpowering which is good. It applies very smooth and pigmented. It can actually be sheer but can be built up as seen in the swatch below.

Pink Shock is a fuchsia, berry pink colour and the same shiny finish as the other one. This is much brighter and has more colour to it. It can both be worn sheer or be built up to get more colour out of it as seen in the swatch below. To me this one has the same sweet pleasant, not overpowering smell. This also applies very smoothly.

95 Strike a Rose, 70 Pink Shock

Unfortunately with these lip balms, there is no particular shape to the actual lip balm. It is just round unlike lipsticks so this can make the application a bit tricky specially with the ones that are pigmented. I don't recommend applying them without a mirror because it can go outside of the lip very easily and make it look messy.

These are a lot more wearable than lipsticks because even though these have colour to them, it is not as opaque and rich as a lipstick can be. Very moisturising on the lips and perfect for on the go. Feels light on the lips and I love that feeling.

Pros: 
- Pretty packaging
- Moisturising on the lips
- leaves the lips feeling soft and hydrated
- inexpensive

Cons:

- No SPF (unlike the original Baby Lips)
- No precise application (hence round shape)
- Needs reapplying (doesn't last a very long time)

These retails for about $3 - $5 Canadian dollars.

Overall, I actually really like the Baby Lips in general. I think these are great products for on the go or for the days that you don't want anything too thick or opaque on the lips and also these can be a good base for other lip products such as lipsticks or lip glosses. So, yes I do like them and I think it is an easy product to work with and the packaging is just super fun!

Have you tried the Baby Lips? What are your favourite colours?

Love, Dina

Photos of the Month : August 2013

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a good day so far.

In the past few months, I have really been enjoying these kinds of posts where I put up some pictures I have took of the month before. I think it is a little different than my usual makeup reviews!

Air traffic much? haha

Here are a series of flowers from my backyard which I think they're absolutely beautiful

Toronto can have some really beautiful skies.

Another random flower I saw during my walk

And another one! I am actually not sure if this would count as a flower but it sure is unique

 ..and more flowers! I really love flowers as you can see!

beautiful sunset sky!

This cutie right here was just chilling in my balcony!

Now time for some mouth watering foods! 

delicious salmon and veggies! keeping it somewhat healthy!

Home made pizza! so delicious.

As I like to call this, heaven in a bowl! so refreshing.

So these were some of the pictures I took during the month of August. 

I hope you all had a great August! 

Love, Dina