The Modern Mulan // #NYCBeautyPro Challenge

This month's New York Color Beauty Pro Challenge was to create a look inspired by your favourite fictional character. I chose Mulan. Yes, we've got the Asian thing in common, but Mulan was more than just pretty looks to me - strong-minded, brave, confident and a little boyish. Her makeup is quite natural so I thought I'd pull from that. 

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I based my look on the photo above - a thin, winged liner; lightly flushed cheeks, and a pink lip. Mulan's makeup is super simple and understated yet pretty, something that I strive for my makeup to be every day! 

PRODUCTS USED: New York Color Big Bold Volume by the Lash Mascara ($4.99), New York Color Color Wheel Mosaic Face Powder in 723 Pink Cheek Glow ($4.99), New York Color CityProof 24HR Waterproof Eyeshadow in Murray Hill Champagne ($2.99) & New York Color Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stain in Perpetually Mauve ($2.99) (also wearing Paul & Joe Liquid Eyeliner) 

What do you think of Mulan's makeup? 

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New York Color Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stains in Faithful Coral, Perpetually Mauve, Unforgettable Fuchsia, On Everyone's Lips & Get Noticed

The promise of lip stains is very, very attractive to me. Colour that lasts yet feels like nothing on the lips? Sign me up. The New York Color Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stains ($2.99) are new to the drugstore and, if you're into stains, something I'd strongly suggest you check out. 

NYC Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stains in Faithful Cora, Perpetually Mauve, Unforgettable Fuchsia, On Everyone's Lips & Get Noticed 

The NYC Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stains are housed in a gloss-like tubes with a doe foot applicators. The consistency of the stain is a creamy but slightly watery. The product feels cooling and wet upon application but dries down quickly. While drying down, I get a slight stinging sensation which dissipates after a couple minutes. The lightest colour (Faithful Coral) almost doesn't show up on my lips and requires a couple layers to build up colour. The other four (Perpetually Mauve, Unforgettable Fuchsia, On Everyone's Lips & Get Notice) only need a single coat but the intensity of the stain can be strengthened with two layers. Regardless of any number of layers, the product isn't drying or moisturizing but feels weightless on the lips.

New York Color says that their stains alst only 4 hours, however I'd say that it's more like 16 for the darker colours. The first time I tried Unforgettable Fuchsia, I was afraid that my lips would be permanently stained. That's the big BUT. The darker colours like the fuchsia and the orange/red are hard to remove - even with the help of a heavy duty cleanser.  

The Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stains meld into the lips so perfectly it's almost like your lips are naturally coral, mauve or fuchsia. I've applied 5 of the 6 colours on my lips. The missing shade is #300 In the Spotlight (cool pastel pink), which I'd presume would be like Faithful Coral - 

sheer and hard to build colour. 

Faithful Coral 

Perpetually Mauve

Unforgettable Fuchsia

On Everyone's Lips

Get Noticed

The 4 deepest shades of the Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stains are perfect for lengthy work days, as they don't require touchups and you can easily apply a lip balm overtop without disrupting the colour.  I've said it before and I'll say it again. There are some hits and misses in the NYC line but the hits are great bang for your buck. 

Have you tried the New York Color Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stains? 

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Empties #12 // March 2015

My product-using enthusiasm was half-assed this month because not wearing any makeup is equivalent to not using any product. 

Here's my rating scale: 

(>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ // worthy of dance party (repurchase)   

^u^ ^u^  // pretty great (maybe repurchase) 

-_- // indifference (will not repurchase) 

Finally finished a huge bottle of the Sapien Women Body Scrub*-_- . In addition to being natural and cruelty-free the scrub looks like poop (literally) when it gets all over the shower. The exfoliating is subpar due to the widely disbursed  pieces of coconut bark. The Lush Prince Charming Shower Gel* (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ smells delightfully sweet and works into a fairly light lather leaving skin feeling clean but not stripped. The CoLab Dry Shampoo* ^u^ ^u^ in Rio ran out quite quickly. The scent is great but the product lasted less than a month and a half. A baby sample of the Living Proof Satin Hair Serum ^u^ ^u^ lasted me for more than two months. The light oil works in either wet or dry hair and leaves locks feeling smooth and silky. The serum smells slightly peppery like a clean man. I like, I like. 

The Bioderma Atoderm Lotion (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ is super lightweight and great for when my skin is feeling particularly sensitive or dry. The Mika for Shu Pore Eraser* (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ worked really well on its own to even out my skin tone and underneath foundation. The foam formulation is super cool and the SPF was an added bonus, as it let me skip the sunscreen step. In addition, the limited edition packaging was a pleasure to keep on my makeup table. At first, the Bioderma Sebium Pore Refiner -_- did well to mattify and hide the pores on my nose. However, it seemed like the more I used it, the less effective it became. 

March TALLY: 

0 tosses

5 full-size

2 samples 

7 total 

YEAR-TO-DATE: 

12 tosses

23 full-size

9 samples

44 total

I'm going to promise myself that I'll try harder next month. So much product to use and so little time! 

What products did you finish up last month? 

Purchased products and press samples featured. Reviewed items linked to blog post. Press samples are denoted with an asterisk (*). 

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Hard Candy Smokey Eyes Look Pro! Tin Palette

The Hard Candy Smokey Eyes Look Pro! Tin Palette ($7.98, exclusively at Walmart) is a new, fun little number for your eyes. The one stop eye look shop includes nine of the eyeshadows, Eyes the Limit Eye Shadow Primer, a dual ended foam applicator, a mini Take Me Out Eyeliner in Soy, and an instructional card for three looks. 

The Look Pro! Tin palettes are also available in 927 Natural Eyes and 926 Sassy Eyes - which include the same primer and eyeliner but different variations of eyeshadows. 

Seem familiar? If you haven't already guessed, the tin packaging seems to be an affordable take on the Too Faced eyeshadow palettes. While the Hard Candy Eyeshadow formula isn't quite on par with the buttery, softness of Too Faced, Hard Candy's offerings are of decent quality if you can handle a little fallout. 

Each row of three represents a look - day (warm neutrals), evening (cool neutrals), and drama (purples). For all three rows, there's a definite pattern. the first shade is shimmery, the second is a satin shimmer, and the third is a deep matte. As aforementioned, there's a bit of fallout with all of the shades. Furthermore, the lightest shades seem to be a little chalky and hard to work with. For the most part, everything else in the palette is pigmented yet easy to work with. 

The primer is good but a little silicone-feeling and slippy for my liking. I prefer a primer that's more tacky. As for the eyeliner, it's pretty standard - ultra-black and creamy, fairly long-wearing (5-6 hours).

I was slightly disappointed to see that all three looks in the instruction card were variations on the exactly the same look - the lightest shade up to the brow, the medium shade all over the lid, and the darkest shade in the outer corner and the crease. The instructions are good for a beginner but pretty useless otherwise. Here's how the looks turned out: 

Day Look

Evening Look

Drama Look

Overall, I'd say that this is a really, really good beginner neutral palette. It's got some neutrals, darks, and a little colour - with the addition of a primer and liner. My favourite look is definitely the Day Look, as this is what's most similar to my daily makeup. 

Have you tried the Hard Candy Look Pro! Tins?  What's your favourite smokey look - day, evening, or drama? 

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No Makeup for a Month // the results of #nomakeupmarch

As a thought experiment, I wore no makeup from mid-February to the end of March. I explain why in my first #nomakeupmarch post (see here). As an exception, I attended 10 events in 13 days which equated to about 35 days total. I did not, however, wear any makeup on my birthday. 

I did a bit of thinking during my break from makeup and these are my conclusions: 

1. Nobody actually cares if you wear makeup or not. I wasn't being treated any differently with or without. The only real difference is that nobody's noticing that I'm lacking in the ridiculously bright coloured lipstick. 
2. Makeup makes your skin seem worse than it actually is. My skin is not as bad as I thought it was. Relative to wearing a heavy coverage foundation that provides doll-like perfection makes you feel like all your imperfections are a big deal when the fact of the matter is that there are people without food and here you are complaining about a puny pimple or that a spot on your skin is a hair darker than the rest of your face. 
3. No makeup = better skin. Pre-no-makeup, my skin was having a bout of breakouts around my mouth and on my cheeks. Now, my skin's just fine on it's own. No concealer necessary. 
4. Without makeup, being lazy is still not okay. When you go outside, there's chemicals and pollutants and all sorts of yucky stuff. So, it's still necessary to cleanse and moisturize. When I skipped a face wash my skin wasn't feeling so great. 
5. Sleep and diet show on your face. No sleep Stephanie = dehydrated skin, pimples and puffy eyes. On the other hand, lots of beauty sleep = fresh faced and bouncy skin. 
6. I didn't pick at zits/pimples as often. Knowing I wasn't able to cover up an irritated area on my face, I picked at my imperfections less.  
7. I became disinterested in reading/writing blog posts and watching Youtube videos about makeup. Maybe it's better that I wasted less time watching people put makeup on. It's hard to take part in mass consumption if you're not actually consuming. Hence why boys don't know the difference between foundation, concealer and primer. 
8. I missed makeup things - like having thick, curled eyelashes and wearing a different shade of my-lips-but-better every day of the week.

Overall, it was an interesting experience. I'm not saying that wearing makeup is good or bad, but it's definitely a positive thing to take a short break. I won't stop wearing makeup or change up my routine drastically. However, I'm fully confident that if I lost all my makeup in a mysterious fire or got stuck on a desert island, I would be able to survive.

How long could you ditch your makeup?

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Real Techniques Duo Fibre Collection - Face, Contour & Eye Brushes

Let's all be in agreement that the purple, pink and orange permanent lines from Real Techniques are stellar yet affordable brushes. Recently launched in Canada is the Real Techniques Duo Fibre Collection ($29.99, see where to buy here), which I received in a goodie bag that time when I met Sam and Nic Chapman (omgs). 

All three brushes are made with two types of synthetic fibres, which means that they're 100% cruelty-free. Furthermore bristles are hand-cut and super soft (like all other RT brushes). Keep in mind that these duo fibre brushes are meant to create a light application of cream, liquid or powder product. 

For all three brushes, the bristles are not as dense as something like the Expert Face Brush, so product applies quite sheerly when using these brushes. 

Duo Fiber Face Brush

Duo Fiber Contour Brush

Duo Fiber Eye Brush

Light application indeed. I find these brushes best for ridiculously pigmented products that I only want a sheer application of. The Face Brush is perfect for blush while the Contour Brush is great for a light dusting of powder under the eyes or careful application of a dark bronzer. Both these brushes are round on one side and pinched on the other, which makes them more versatile - for covering a large surface area or being slightly more precise. As for the Eye Brush, I find that the bristles are so sparse that it ends up being quite hard to pick up product. Thus, I don't tend to reach for the Duo Fibre Eye Brush as often as the Face or Contour brushes. 

At $10 a brush in this set, the Face and Contour Brushes are certainly worth it. 2/3 is pretty good, so if you're looking for some duo fibre brushes for light application of makeup and can put up with one brush you might not like, then this is a great buy. 

Have you tried the RT Duo Fibre Brushes? 

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EVENT: the Clean Care Beauty Awards

On Friday, March 27^th, Clean Care (a Canadian Certified seal of approval for safer beauty & personal care products) announced the winners of its inaugural Clean Beauty Awards at the Green Living Show. I attended a media preview pamper session which featured a manicure from Bio Seaweed Gel, a chair massage by the Massage Lady, a skin consultation by Province Apothecary, and UV filtered water tastings with Strauss Water Canada. I also took a little walk around the Green Living Show which had a plethora of beauty and personal care products. 

Bio Seaweed Gel Manicure in Electric

Carina Organics Hydrating Skin Cream - smells amazing! 

Carina Organics Baby Shampoo and Body Wash - pH balanced, perfect for removing mascara! 

Out of 100 entrants, 12 awards across 4 categories were presented to the top performing green beauty products. Here are the winners: 

Makeup 

Lip colour – Neal’s Yard Remedies Pomegranate Lipstick

Eye shadow – Pure Anada Pressed Mineral Eye Colour

Mascara – Zorah Length and Care Mascara

Eyeliner – MarieNatie All Natural Eyeliner

Skincare

Lip care – Neal’s Yard Remedies Organic Shea Nut and Rosehip Lip

Face care – Helena Lane Argan & Frankincense

Body care – Neal’s Yard Remedies Beauty Sleep Body Butter

Odour care – Penny Lane Organics Natural Deodorant in Pink Grapefruit

Skin Wash Care

Face wash – Corpa Flora Beaute Divine

Body wash – Dr. Sponge Original Body Cleansing Konjac Sponge 

Hair Care

Hair wash – Carina Organics Pure & Natural Moisturizing Shampoo 

Hair treatment – Hamadi Organics Healing Serum

Browsing green skincare from @provinceapothecary at #GLS15 🌿🌷

A photo posted by stephanie lau (@stephh_lau) on Mar 27, 2015 at 2:36pm PDT

In all honesty, I have never tried any of these products. I haven’t delved very deeply into the green/clean beauty world. I know what products work for me, but I haven’t been particularly cautious or aware of the individual ingredients and chemicals that are in them.  Luckily, I received a few items in a goody bag and will be reviewing them in the coming months! 

What’s your favourite clean beauty brand? Have you tried any products from the Clean Beauty Awards winners?

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