If there is one announcement I get excited over each year, it’s when Pantone announces the Color of the Year. Pantone is the global colour authority and provider of professional colour standards for the design industries. Each year, they comb the world looking for colour influences. Influences stem from technology, fashion, home, entertainment, you name it.

Last year’s choice was Radiant Orchid, which was a beautiful fuchsia colour, with pink and purple undertones. The year before that it was Emerald, and the year before that was Tangerine Tango. For this year, they chose something with less pop, Marsala.

Marsala is a naturally robust and earthy wine red, definitely more of a bland colour compared to their past choices.  In fact, when I saw they announced it, I was a bit disappointed.  To go from a beautiful fuchsia to a neutral? It wasn’t that exciting.  But then it grew on me. Okay, Marsala isn’t as exciting as tangerine or emerald, but let’s be real here, those two colours aren’t that easy to wear. Marsala, on the other hand, is.

Since the Color of the Year inspires many industries for the year to come, including the beauty industry, I was so excited to see what the brands had in store, especially Sephora. Each year, Sephora teams up with Pantone and releases a capsule collection of products that  embody each year’s shade.  The colours chosen include the Color of the Year, as well as complementary shades that you can wear with it.

If I wasn’t excited about Marsala before, I definitely am now that I’ve seen the products.  The collection includes eight items, everything ranging from an eyeshadow palette to a cheek palette, a liquid eyeliner, a mascara, a blush brush, a lip set and more. Some of the items have been seen in past Color of the Year collections (like the cheek palette, where they just swapped out the colours), but others are new, like the lip crayons.  The best part? Everything is housed in rose gold packaging.

I do plan on doing reviews on some of these items, but for now I want to show you how wearable Marsala is.

1. Starting with the eyes, I laid down the Cooling Marsala Multi Stick as an eyeshadow base. This product can be used for cheeks, eyes, lips, you name it, and provides immediate skin relief and a cooling effect.

2. For eyeshadow, I used the Smashbox Full Exposure palette because I wanted to keep this look neutral. Using a fluffy crease brush, first apply the matte tan colour in the crease, then go over that with an orange.  I used Make Up For Ever Artist Shadow in S-74.

3. Spray a flat shader brush with a setting spray, then using the tan shimmer colour, apply this on your lids.

4. With a pencil brush and the matte brown, first work this into the crease, then bring it down to the outer V. Blend it all out. Using that same matte brown, apply this to your lower lash line as well.

5. With the matte black and a fluffy crease brush, work this into your crease lightly. We just want to darken up the crease area, not make it black.

6. Using the shimmery white, apply this along your brow bone and in the inner corner of the eye.

7. Line your upper lash line with a liquid liner and then wing it out.  After, apply a couple coats of mascara, and if you wish, falsies.

8. To add a pop of Marsala to the eyes, I used the Marsala Metalshine Liquid Liner, applying it on the winged part of the black liner.

9. Apply your foundation, concealer, and contour.  Then for the cheeks, I used the Marsala shade from the Shimmering Marsala Cheek Trio and applied it with the Marsala Pro Angled Blush Brush #49. I have this palette from last year as well, from the Radiant Orchid collection, and found the blushes to be a bit chalky. You might have to blend the colour out with a foundation brush to make it even.

10. To finish up, I used the highlight from the same cheek palette, and Rose Dawn from the Marsala Layering Lip Collection on the lips.  I’m not usually that impressed with the products Sephora puts out, but this collection is a must.  Everything in it is extremely wearable and the quality is amazing in everything I tried.  I’ll be doing separate reviews on some of the products, as well as other Marsala posts, so keep an eye out.

What are some items you’re eyeing from the Sephora Marsala collection?

Please note, products sent by PR for consideration. All opinions are my own.

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Not sure about the weather where you live, but here in Winnipeg, oh my gosh, it’s been so cold.  I’m talking about -40-degrees-Celsius-with-the-windchill cold.  There’s no joking around here, it’s taking everything in me to not buy a plane ticket to Cuba to escape from this frozen apocalypse weather.

Pretty much everything gets affected when it’s this cold, including skin.  I have had to lather body butter all over my body every night and apply lotion to my chapped hands every few hours.  Another problem area?  My lips.  Sure, oxblood and red lipstick is in right now, but it’s so not cute when your lips are peeling and dry. A lip balm can only go so far when it comes to chapped and peeling lips, you definitely need some heavy-duty treatments to get rid of all those skins pieces just hanging there.

I got the Fresh Sugar Lip Polish in one of the Sugar sets during the holidays from Sephora.  I’ve been a fan of their balms for a while, so I was excited to try out the scrub as I’ve heard so many good things about it. The polish is a sweet exfoliating treatment that is supposed to leave lips soft and smooth.  The formula is enriched with real brown sugar crystals to gently buff away dry flakes, while exfoliating and conditioning for a smooth finish.  It also nourishes lips with quick-absorbing meadowfoam seed, jojoba seed, and grapeseed oils, while shea butter provides long-lasting moisture.

Since my lips need some heavy-duty scrubbing, I’ve been using this product for the past month or so.  I do love the taste of the product and its quite soft and gentle on the lips.  Lips feel moisturized and soft right after you use it, but in the long run, this doesn’t really take away those dry flakes that are oh-so-irritating this time of the year.  This product is great for a quick fix, but if you really want to scrub those bad boys away, I find my Clarisonic does the trick best.

Would I recommend this product? For C$22.50, no.  I feel like you could create your own lip scrub for way less money (brown or white sugar and petroleum jelly), and considering that my lips were still left flaky, I think this product is more hype than anything. Yes it smells great, tastes great, even leaves your lips feeling great right after you use it, but hours later, they are just as dry as they were to begin with.

Save those pennies and DIY one yourself, or give your lips a good scrubbing with an old toothbrush or your Clarisonic.

Are you a fan of the Fresh Sugar Lip Polish?

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I am always on the hunt for new makeup looks. I have a ton of palettes and individual shadows, and as much as I love each and every one of them, unfortunately, sometimes they don’t get the proper love they deserve.

I’ll be the first to admit, once I find a look I love, I don’t stray far.  I love a good copper/gold smokey eye.  The staples in my routine are gold eyeshadow, a matte brown, and an orange (as a transition).  Slap on some winged liquid liner and mascara, and I am good to go.

Every night before bed you’ll find me perusing YouTube videos and one of my new fave vloggers is Shaaanxo.  She posted a GRWM a couple weeks ago which featured apricot eyes and I basically fell in love.  So much so that I had to recreate it.  In her look she used the Stila Magnificant Metals Foiled Shadow in Kitten, which is at the top of my makeup wish list (it’s $42, sigh..), so since I don’t have any foiled shadows I went with a shimmery pigment instead.

It’s a well-known fact that pink shadows make blue eyes pop, so here’s a great way to incorporate pinks into an everyday eye look.

1. First, lay down a pink-toned cream eyeshadow to act as a base.  I used Benefit Cosmetics Creaseless Cream Shadow in RSVP (not shown).  Then, with an apricot matte shadow, work this lightly in the crease area.  I used Solar from the Kat Von D Star Studded palette.

2. With a rose eyeshadow and the same fluffy crease brush, blend this over the apricot, keeping it in your crease. I used CoverGirl Flamed Out Shadow Pot in 305.

3. With a frosty pink shadow, like Lancome’s Color Design Infinite Eye Shadow in Everlasting Rose, work that over the other pink, really building up the colour.

4. Using a matte brown and a pencil brush, carve out your crease then bring the colour down to the outer V.  Blend it all out.  I used Leather from the Kat Von D Star Studded palette.

5. With a shimmery nude pigment (the one I used is a Pari Colour Cube), and a wet shadow brush, gently tap this on your lid area.

6. Line your upper lash line with a blacker-than-black liquid liner (I used Make Up For Ever Ink Liner), then coat your lashes in mascara.

7. With the same matte brown shade, apply this along your lower lash line, then coat those bottom lashes in mascara.

I absolutely love how subtle and shimmery this look turned out. It’s not the exact recreation of what Shaaanxo did, but a different take on it.  If you have blue eyes, you have to try this out!

What colour do you use to make your eyes pop?

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