If you are in the market for a new eyeshadow palette, now is the time to shop.
With the holidays coming up, Sephora is off the chain with the holiday-edition palettes from various makeup lines. I received a few of them his season, but I was most excited to break into the Kat Von D Star Studded palette.
I’ve dipped my toes into Kat Von D’s makeup line (which is sold exclusively at Sephora) before, and although I have enjoyed what I have tried, it’s a brand that I don’t usually frequent when I visit a Sephora store. With that being said, I was super excited to try out her holiday palette.
The Star Studded palette (C$66/ $55 USD with a value of C$130/ $108 USD) contains 24 shadows, which are grouped into six coordinating colour quads. You can stick to a quad or mix and match to create a unique look. There is a nice mix of mattes, shimmers, and glitters, and the sleek black palette (which has an embossed star on the cover – it was hard to photograph) also features a mirror on the top potion. There is an annoying plastic sheet that opens like a book over the shadows to keep everything clean, but you can rip if off if you wish.
The first colour I gravitated to was the shade Gothica, a glittery purple, so I knew I absolutely had to create a look based around that particular shadow. I have experimented with the palette a bit so far and one thing I noticed was the amount of fallout from the shadows. You definitely have to tap off the excess, otherwise it will fall over your face. If you are using the darker colours or the glitter, definitely apply your foundation last.
1. Fill in your brows and then lay down an eyeshadow primer. I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance, however, if I were just doing this look for fun, I would have put down a cream purple shade (which I actually ended up doing for along the lower lash line). For the brow highlight, I used the colour Anti-Star, the white glitter.
2. With a mix of Moz and Banshee, both mattes, apply this as your transition shade below your highlight using a fluffy crease brush.
3. With a flat shader brush, pack on Gothica, the purple glitter shade, all over your lid area.
4. With Fascination Street, the matte purple, and a fluffy crease brush, blend this in the crease area to smooth out any sharp lines.
5. With a black pencil liner, line your upper lash line (not shown, I added it after the photos), and then apply a few coats of mascara. After, with a purple cream shadow, I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Matic in Iridescent Pop Purple, line your lower lash line, and then go over top of that with Gothica. Apply a couple coats of mascara to the bottom lashes and you are done.
Foundation is CoverGirl Stay Fabulous Three In One Foundation; concealer is Maybelline Fit Me; bronzer is from the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit; Blush is NARS Super Orgasm, highlight is NARS Hungry Heart.
Overall I really do like this palette, however, I did find Gothica to be a bit sheerer than I would have thought. I really had to pack on the colour, which was kind of disappointing. Also, the amount of fallout with these shadows is kind of surprising.
All in all, I do like this palette, but I do find that for the amount of money it retails for, I can think of a few different choices that I feel are better value (the Too Faced Everything Nice palette is C$68 and you get blushes, bronzers, brushes, and a mascara in addition to the eyeshadows – review coming soon!). I do like the palette, but find it’s overpriced for just shadows (yes, I know the Naked palettes are like $60 a piece, but I find those eyeshadows are better quality than these). If you are a Kat Von D fan, pick this up, otherwise, I would say to shop around.
Is the Kat Von D Star Studded Palette on your wish list?
Please note, product sent by PR, all opinions are my own.
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There’s a reason they call Winnipeg, “Winterpeg”.
Being in the centre of Canada, this prairie city (the largest between Toronto and Calgary) is notorious for having -40 weather (celsius, of course). Yes, it’s cold, but we get used to it.
Another thing we are known for? Having a large aboriginal population. The CBC reported in 2013 that Manitoba has the highest percentage of aboriginal people among Canada’s provinces. According to a survey from Statistics Canada, 16.7 per cent of Manitoba’s population identified as aboriginal – four times the Canadian average of 4.3 per cent.
The abundance of aboriginal imagery and culture is found in many places around the city of Winnipeg. Take for instance The Forks, our most popular tourist attraction (and the home of the recently opened Canadian Museum for Human Rights). So it makes perfect sense that the fastest-growing shoe company in Canada is based right here, in the middle of the prairies.
The shoe company? Manitobah Mukluks, an aboriginal-owned footwear company that makes mukluks and moccasins. Headquartered right here in Winnipeg, the company produces 20 per cent of their products locally (averaging 20,000 pairs per year), with a demand of 250,000 annually.
I got the opportunity last week to meet the Manitobah Mukluks team and visit their headquarters right here in my hometown, as well as learn about all the philanthropy that they do.
Obviously I had known about the brand prior, I’ve seen their cute mukluks in some of the biggest shoe retailers here in Canada like Town Shoes and Browns, but I didn’t know how much the company was actually rooted to the aboriginal community. The company isn’t just about footwear, they are all about supporting Canada’s First Nations culture and community. Prior to going to their offices in Winnipeg’s Pointe Douglas area, we visited the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development (CAHRD), a non-profit, human resource development organization that delivers literacy, education, training, and employment to the urban aboriginal population of Winnipeg.
Comprised of two programs, the Aboriginal Community Campus (ACC) and the Neeginan College of Applied Technology (Neeginan College), aboriginal individuals can go through CAHRD to gain improved literacy skills, life skills, and training for new career paths. Thousands of aboriginal people have found employment through CAHRD and hundreds of CAHRD students have gone onto graduate from post-secondary institutions. Every year Manitoba Mukluks partners with CAHRD to provide an education bursary that allows aboriginal students to attend college or university. They also fund a beading club, where they give beading supplies to the school to teach the act of beading to students, as well as post job openings for the company.
On a broader level, they also founded the Storyboot Project, which aims to revive the traditional art of mukluk and moccasin making by selling products made by artisans and traditional mukluk makers through the company. By doing so, it keeps the preservation of the craft alive and well, and supports the artisans who make the shoes. You can purchase a pair of these one-of-a-kind storyboots from their website, where the artist themselves receive 100 per cent of the proceeds.
From the boardroom of their Winnipeg headquarters they also hold the Storyboot School, where aboriginal artists teach the skills of crafting aboriginal footwear by hand to aboriginal students in Winnipeg. This five-week free program passes on the traditional form of mukluk and moccasin making to aboriginal youth, something that is often lost in today’s culture.
As for the actual mukluks themselves, I got to walk home with a pair of their Kanada Mukluks in black. The boots are made with sheepskin sherling, cowhide suede, rabbit fur, with a Tipi Vibram sole, making them wearable for everyday, and especially for winter. This particular style, which is made in Canada, retails for $299 CAD, but the company offers many other similar styles for less money.
I usually wear my Uggs when winter comes, but I have gone through many a pair of those boots and although they are commonly known as winter boots here in North America, they don’t hold up very well by the end of the season. Since aboriginal ancestors created mukluks to survive the coldest places in Canada (I’m sure Winnipeg would be one of them), I have high hopes for these boots this winter. Plus, it seems that mukluks are totally in for winter 2014, good thing since I can’t think of a better place to wear them than my hometown, Winnipeg.
Learn more about Manitobah Mukluks, and order your own pair, from their website, Manitobah.com.
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I’ve always been a fan of Yves Rocher’s nail polishes. Not only are they great value ($2.95 a pop), but the formula is always really good and the size is perfect. I have bottles and bottles of polish, so much that I don’t think I will ever finish a bottle of nail polish, so these small 3ml sizes of varnish are perfect.
Yves Rocher always comes out with limited edition items for the holidays, everything from bath and body to makeup, to of course nails. This season they have unveiled a four-piece collection of glittery nail polishes that are perfect for the holiday season.
Available in four colours, silver, green, pink, and coral, these lacquers contain glitter and grit, making them reminiscent of a snowy texture. Think Deborah Lippmann’s Mermaid’s Dream, but for a tenth of the price.
My favourites are definitely the silver one and the green one, but the pink and coral are beauties as well. You can buy them separately, or as a collection for $11.
As for wearability, since they are a glitter, don’t expect these to last too long. I had minor chips for the three colours, and then for the silver, a chunk came off one nail. For less than three dollars though, these are definitely worth it. The best part is that you only really need one coat. I used two to make sure it was really opaque, but a thick coat will do the job.
Will you be picking up any of the polishes from Yves Rocher’s winter collection?
Please note, products supplied by PR. All opinions are my own.
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1. Fill in your brows and then lay down an eyeshadow primer. I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance, however, if I were just doing this look for fun, I would have put down a cream purple shade (which I actually ended up doing for along the lower lash line). For the brow highlight, I used the colour Anti-Star, the white glitter.
