The Tarte of Giving Collectors Set & Travel Bag - Review

I am finally doing a review on this lovely set from Tarte. I received it in the mail for about a week or so ago and took some time to play around with it before I did a review for you guys.

So here we go!

This whole set comes in a beautiful purple travel bag which the colour is a signature from Tarte or so as I have noticed.

First thing there is a hanger that can be used to hang this bag on a door. The products come in different large pockets that can be used for storing makeup. Also at the top, it comes with a removable clear bag that can be detached.

In the clear bag comes a Pure Maracuja Oil with dropper opening, Cheek Stain in Flush, Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara, Maracuja C-brighter Eye Treatment, and an Amazonian Clay blush in Memorable which is a limited edition colour specific to this kit I believe.

The eye treatment is amazing in my opinion. I have used it before and I was very happy to get a back up of it in this kit. It is very moisturising and hydrating for the eye area and non-irritating. I find that a lot of eye creams make my eyes water, but this one doesn't which is amazing. Also it has Vitamin C which it has brightening effects. 

The Maracuja oil I have also used before but it was in the roller-ball form, so it was hard to use on my face, so I just used a tiny bit of it under my eye. But I am very happy to be able to try it with this dropper on my face. This one also has Vitamin C which brightens the skin. My most issue with my skin is hyperpigmentation, so this help a lot with that.

Cheek stain in Flush is a very pretty sheer berry colour. It looks scary dark in the packaging buy it comes off much softer and more wearable.

Amazonian Clay blush in Memorable can look frosty in the packaging, but it comes off as a very pretty soft pink/ mauve colour with glow to it.

The "everyone loved" Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara which I hadn't actually tried before!! haha

When I got this and looked at the brush, I instantly thought, no this is not the brush I like for my mascaras, I'm not even going to bother with this. but I changed my mind and tried it and I am glad I did. Surprisingly I really like it. It was lengthening and volumizing for my lashes and it wasn't clumping my lashes even though I thought it would because of its brush.

In the second  pocket comes this palette which is a very slim, cardboard that flips open and you have four different sections of eyeshadow shades with a dark eyeliner shade as well. So it is basically four different eye looks in each section that has five different eyeshadow shades. They have made the job easy for you to figure out which colours goes with which but you still can mix and match as you wish.

It also has a clear sheet on top of the shadows with their names. I kept the sheet for the sake of the picture.

The swatches follow the exact place where the each eyeshadow is placed. So it is easier to see each swatch and the actual eyeshadow and compare how they look in the packaging and how they swatch on the skin.

The eyeshadows are so soft to the touch but not that soft to break if you know what I mean. Pretty pigmented and good eyeshadow choices for this palette. I think you get a little of everything in a way. You have a section to get blue/silver look, gold/green look, taupe/purple look and a bronze natural everyday look. And as I mentioned before you can still get a lot more looks with this palette since they are all in one palette and can be mixed and matched. I just stated the obvious looks with different sections that it is paired with.

Now for all those lip gloss lovers, this kit comes with eight different Maracuja Lipgloss shades. The shades goes more toward pink colour. These can be applied sheer with just one application but they also can be build up to a more bold, true to the tube colour.

The feel on the lips is a little tacky which makes the lipglosses to stay longer on the lips. The tackiness is not huge or uncomfortable in anyway. It has a peppermint candy smell to it which is really nice and yummy smelling.

This kit can be found at Sephora stores and Sephora website.

This is a great kit for someone who is new to the Tarte brand. I was not new to this brand and still absolutely loved this kit. It has a bit of everything and honestly, there wasn't anything in this kit that I disliked.

I am actually very happy with this kit and I also think this would make a great gift as well.

Have you tried anything from Tarte? What are your thoughts on it?
Love, Dina

Photos of the Month : November 2013

I can't believe 2013 is almost coming to an end!! I hope you all have had a great month of November and start of December.

Here are a few pictures from the month of November. I actually don't have a lot of them, so I hope you enjoy this few pictures.

Toronto Sunset

Very beginning of November, still some leaves left.

Mid November, snow started!! Huge snow in Canada.

mac and cheese, home made of course

A very delicious cake me and my mom baked, it was amazingly delicious
German Chocolate Cake is the name I believe.

Hope you all have a very safe December. Stay tuned for the pictures of December, the very last month of 2013!!

Stay warm, cozy and safe lovelies!!

Love, Dina

Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil - Review

I have seen a lot of people talk about this product for a while! Everyone seems to be loving this Argan Oil by Josie Maran, so I thought I would also give it a try and see how it goes for me.

I mainly bought this because of all the good benefits it claims to have and also it is 100% natural and organic and no weird ingredients just the pure Argan oil itself.

As it says on the packaging, this is full of antioxidants, vitamin E and essential fatty acids. It is supposed to nourish and protect the skin and it also says that is is non-irritating, non- allergenic and allergy tested as well.

★Click on the pictures to enlarge, easier to read the packaging★

The packaging has a dropper so it easy to get the amount you want and control the drops rather that pour it in your hand which can be very messy.

When I first tried this, the first things I noticed was that it was very light weight and thin in a way. I did not expect that at all. I thought it would be too oily and greasy feeling.

It applied smoothly and my face did not feel greasy just very well moisturised but I could feel the oil on my face. I did this at night before bed. So I waited for the oil to absorb into my skin before going to bed so I wouldn't get the oil all over my pillow. 

So when it was 90% absorbed into my skin, I jumped in the bed and ready to go to sleep until my face started to get all itchy and it wasn't a normal itchy face. My whole face was itchy and very irritating and I couldn't ignore the itchiness. I got really scared so I jumped out of bed and washed my face immediately and when I was done washing it, the itchiness was completely gone!! It was a very weird experience. So that night I just did my normal night time skin care. I did this a several nights to see if my face would react to it the same and it did. Fortunately it did not cause me to breakout but the itchiness was very uncomfortable and I could not stand it.

I decided to return this item. It just didn't work for me as well as it did for other people which I heard they "love it and its the best" and all that. I was very disappointed with this product and I wish it had worked for me but oh well..

When returning this, the lady at Sephora suggested that I would keep it and use it on other parts of my body and hair but the way it reacted to my skin, it freaked me out and also, the main reason I bought it was for my face so when it didn't work, I had no reason to keep it.

You can find this product on the Sephora Website (Click Here) and stores!

Have you tried this oil? What are your thoughts on it? 
Love, Dina

Buxom Full-On Lip Polish in Sugar - Review & Swatches

So Sephora had their VIB sale this month and I took advantage of it and ordered some stuff from their website. This lip gloss was one of the things I ordered. I had a sample of it a long time ago and just tried it recently and I fell in love and had to buy the full size!!

This is a plumping lip gloss so it gives a cooling, tingling feel to the lips. It has a pleasant kind of sweet smell.

The one I have is called "Sugar", it is a pretty natural colour which is why I love it. I don't usually gravitate towards natural, brown/ nude lip colours since I don't think it looks good on me personally most of the time but there is something about this lip gloss that I think it looks amazing and I am pretty much obsessed.

It is a sheer rose beige colour with shimmer and it is a bit sticky but not to a point that it is uncomfortable on my lips. I actually don't mind it at all and I am one of those that HATE sticky lip glosses. So being okay with the feeling of  this says something! I actually don't mind the tiny stickiness it has because it lasts longer on my lips than any other normal non-sticky lip gloss.

Flash Photography

Here you can see the shimmer on the lips much better with flash, but it is not glitter and BAM in the face. As you can see, in natural light, it looks very pretty and natural. So the shimmer is not as scary as it might sound like.

Natural Light Photography

You can find this lip gloss on the Sephora website (click here)

So overall, I love this lip gloss. It is my first time trying an actual Buxom lip gloss. I was always curious about their lip glosses and I am glad I tried the sample. This baby is definitely added to my favourite lip products.

Have you tried any of the Buxom lip glosses? What are your thoughts on it?
Love, Dina

Favourite Lip Products for Fall/ Winter + Swatches

So with the whole fall season being here (or should I say winter? because it is getting really cold here), I get into the "lip trend" sort of. I actually love the idea of a bold lip with the rest of the face natural. So I picked some of my favourite fall/ winter lip products and thought to share it with you and do a little review as well. 

The most important thing during these cold months are some good lip balms! It is an essential to have them so the lips can be well moisturised for the next step which is lip colour. You don't want to have chapped, dry lips and try to put lipstick on them. It would just make them look bad and it is also good to have soft lips in general.

Nivea Lip Butter - Original, Sugar Lip Treatment - Original,
Nivea Lip Butter - Vanilla & Macadamia

I have three lip balms right now that I absolutely love. The Nivea Lip Butters are one of the best lip balms at the drug store. Since you have to dip you finger to get the product, I use them at home. I use the Original one at night and the vanilla scent in the morning. For outdoor, I use the Sugar Lip Treatment, the original one because then I can apply any colour of lipstick on top of it and not worry if they match and all that. Also I have realized that this sugar lip balm works amazing as a lip primer sort of. It is the perfect base for any lip product.

****

Sephora Ultra Shine lip gloss
Cinnamon Spice, Purple Red

I used to be a lip gloss junkie, you could say. I wouldn't use anything else besides lip glosses and all of my friends knew me for it. But over the past year or so, I have been all over the place when it comes to lip products so I don't have as much lip gloss picked out as I would have before.

Sephora Ultra Shine lip gloss
Cinnamon Spice, Purple Red

These two lip glosses are really beautiful and appropriate for fall and I love them. Cinnamon spice is a burgundy, berry colour with smooth shimmer. Purple Red is a purple, raspberry with lots of shimmer/ glitter. The colour looks more purple/ pink in the picture than in real life. These came in a set with a bunch of other colours. I love them. They feel light on the lips and it is not sticky at all. The colour lasts a good time on my lips but I usually remove any lip product I have on my lips before eating a meal so I cannot tell you if it lasts through eating food.

****

Philosophy lip gloss - Mangos and cream, Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss - Bordeaux

The philosophy lip gloss is the most neutral looking on the lips compared the the other 3 I have picked out here. It looks bold in the tube and in the picture it doesn't show the real life colour. On the lips, it is a soft coral/ red colour with slight shimmer. Bordeaux is a red wine with gold shimmer and it is very pigmented for a lip gloss. This and the Cinnamon Spice Sephora lip gloss is the two darkest colour I have as for a fall lip product goes. I don't really like super dark lip stick or any type of lip product on me personally. So these two are the darkest I would go which is not that often!!

Philosophy lip gloss - Mangos and cream, Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss - Bordeaux

****

Clinique Long Last Lipstick - Pink Spice, Mac Lustre Lipstick - Syrup

Now on to the lipsticks! Clinique Pink Spice is a medium berry/ pink with slight shimmer. I love this, it is very moisturising on the lips. MAC Syrup is a muted mauve/ dusty pink colour with shine, but no shimmer at all. This counts as a "natural" colour for me. It is like my lips but better colour. 

Clinique Long Last  stick - Pink Spice, Mac Lustre Lipstick - Syrup

****

Caryl Baker - Goodnight Kiss, NYC - 319 Violet Shine, Maybelline Baby Lips - Grape Vine

Maybelline Baby Lips in Grape Vine looks very dark and scary in the tube but it swatches to a very light, almost natural berry colour. I love the baby lips lip balms and this is definitely a favourite color for this time of year. Very moisturizing on the lips and smells like grapes which is awesome.

Maybelline Baby Lips - Grape Vine

Caryl Baker is a brand that I believe can only be found in Canada. Their lipstick in Goodnight Kiss is one of my favourite colours. It actually looks similar to Mac Syrup in a way. Goodnight kiss is a muted dusty pink/ mauve colour with no shimmer as well but it is more on the pink side than syrup. It is very moisturising. This does not feel light on the lips. I definitely feel it when I have it on but that is not uncomfortable which is good!

NYC lipstick in violet shine is a berry pink colour with slight shimmer. Goes on smooth on the lips and it looks very pretty and feels light.

Caryl Baker - Goodnight Kiss, NYC - 319 Violet Shine

 As you can see, the colours I go for are pretty similar to each other. I don't go super bold because I don't think it looks flattering on me personally but everyone is different :)

So that is all for my current favourite fall/ winter lip products. This will definitely expand since I love to try out different lip products!

What are some of your favourite fall/ winter lip products?

Love, Dina