Happy Sunday!  I thought I would do a quick blog post (a little picture heavy though).  This is my everyday face look.  It’s very basic and neutral with a fun lip to add some colour.  I usually wear this Monday to Friday to the office and it’s super fast to do.

What I Use

I use a variety of products from difference brands, I’ll even switch up some colours on some days but the face routine pretty much stays the same (sometimes I’ll swap different colours for my eyes, but for the sake of this post the ones I’m using are my “go-to” colours).

Okay so the first thing I do after I apply my moisturizer in the morning is put on my face primer.  I always use Hard Candy’s Sheer Envy Face Primer, however, in this post I used Smashbox Photo Finish Luminizing Foundation Primer because I got a sample size of it from Sephora and I want to use it up before I open my new tube of Hard Candy.  With that being said, I mean the result will be the same; foundation primer makes the foundation go on smoother and will fill in any lines or creases.

After the primer is applied I’ve been using Bare Mineral’s Original SPF 15 Foundation (I use it in light W15).  Get some powder on your brush and then buff it all over your face.  Sometimes I will use a liquid foundation before the powder, but currently I’ve just been using this.

I look so serious here haha

After I apply the powder I then apply an under eye concealer.  The one I’ve been using the most is my It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye concealer in the colour Neutral Medium.

Make sure you blend!

After you apply the concealer I use NARS Laguna bronzer to contour my cheeks and forehead.

What you want to do is suck in your cheek bones and find the natural curve in your face and apply the bronzer there and all the way up to the corners of your forehead.  As a result you are making your forehead look small and creating cheekbones.

After you are done contouring, grab your favourite blush and apply it to the apple of your cheeks.

The blushes I usually use are NARS Orgasm or Angelika, I’ve been really into Orgasm lately for some reason, probably because I have a bit of a tan and it looks really great with some colour (it’s not the best on pale skin in my opinion).

Then I take a Ziggy break…

Once that’s over and the face is done we can move onto the eyes!

I highly recommend using a lid primer, my favourite is Urban Decay’s Primer Potion.  Apply a little bit of that to your lids and blend all over your lid up to the brow bone.

Next grab your favourite neutral colours, mine are from the Naked palette in the colours Sin and Naked. Apply Sin all over the lid and then Naked in the crease.  If you want, apply Virgin on the brow bone as a highlight.

I used Urban Decay's Sin all over my lids

Apply Naked to the crease

Sometimes I will switch these colours out with MAC’s All That Glitters on the lid and then Satin Taupe on the crease.

After that I add on some liquid eyeliner, I usually use MAC’s Liquid Eye Liner. Sometimes I will use a gel liner but if I’m in a rush then I will use this one because it takes less time to do.  I never use pencil liner on my upper lash line.

Because I have eyelash extensions I don’t use mascara, but obviously this is the point where you would add it. I recommend using an eyelash curler before you curl your lashes and then apply your favourite mascara.  Prior to my extensions I loved Benefit’s Bad Gal Lash. Finally add some lip colour and you are good to go!  I never apply lipstick in the morning when I do my makeup because by the time I get to work it’s not going to be there anymore.  I always eat breakfast after I finish getting ready and then usually have a cup of coffee when I get to work.  I’ll apply lipstick on after that. The colour I usually gravitate towards is YSL’s Rouge Volupte in #19 Frivolous Pink.  It’s either that or MAC’s Myth with NARS’ Turkish Delight over top.

And that’s it! That’s my everyday face routine, especially from Mondays to Fridays.  It’s easy to do, doesn’t take a lot of time, and is very basic and neutral, perfect for the office or anywhere really!  Sometimes I will use either a black or white eyeliner on my lower lash line, but if I’m pressed for time I’ll skip it.

What does your everyday makeup routine consist of?  Leave it as a comment below. 🙂

Also, don’t forget to enter my Sally Hansen Salon Effects giveaway! Ends August 15th! Oh, and of course, subscribe! 🙂

I haven’t done a Cult Collection post in so long!  This one has been on my bucket list since May when I bought the product but I just haven’t had the time to do the photos.

In this issue we are going to talk about Yves Saint Laurent’s (YSL) Touche Eclat, a highlighter, concealer, and brightener.

From the YSL website:

The beauty secret of the world’s top makeup artists and models, Touche Éclat is the original must-have for a radiant, flawless face.

Capture 8 hours of sleep with the click of a pen. With a few strategic strokes of this award-winning complexion highlighter—dark circles, fine lines and signs of fatigue virtually disappear. Powered by the radiance-boosting Luminocaptide Complex, skin is instantly illuminated, so you look rested and refreshed—even if you’ve been up for hours. Sleek and sophisticated, it discretely slips into a makeup bag for quick touch-ups anytime. It’s the one beauty essential no woman should ever be without. 

I picked this up at Holt Renfrew in Calgary when I was there in May (weird enough, as I was writing this the SA literally called me to tell me about their upcoming Private Shipping event).  I beelined straight to the YSL counter (we don’t have one where I live) and picked up this product as well as a few lipsticks.   The very helpful sales associate explained the product in detail to me, showing me it’s effects and telling me how popular it is. Apparently, one of these are sold every 10 seconds in the world.  Crazy, considering it’s expensive price tag ($40 USD, $50 CDN).  However, it is a fashion magazine editor favourite, so it must be good, right?

The product works by clicking the button at the end of the pen, where the product is distributed through it’s attached brush.

You then apply the product anywhere that needs brightening and/or concealing.  I usually apply it under my eyes and around my mouth area.  For the case of this blog post I also applied it underneath my eyebrows and around my nose.

Before. All I have on is moisturizer and a face primer.

With YSL's Touche Eclat.

After, with YSL's Touche Eclat blended in.

As you can see from the photos, my face does look noticeable brighter.  In the after photo (above) I only have Touche Eclat on with a foundation primer and moisturizer, no foundation.

They claim that it’s eight hours of sleep in a pen.  I personally haven’t tested it after pulling an all nighter (I haven’t pulled one of those since I was like 10), but it really does do what it says. Whether or not it’s worth the $50 CDN price tag, well, that’s up to you.  If you look around online you can find some recommended dupes for it.

As for the actual pen itself, the YSL sales associate said that it would last up to 70 clicks, which may not sound like a lot, however, you don’t need a lot of clicks to get a lot of product.  Usually I’ll do two clicks if I’m applying it all over my face, or one if I’m just using it under my eyes.  The stuff really does spread out; you don’t need a lot of product to cover every area.

With makeup over top

So would I recommend it?  If you really want it then go for it, otherwise a concealer and a highlighter will do just fine.  One of the main reasons I got it myself is because it’s not available in my city, plus it’s a true cult beauty item; I had to try it.  It does do what it says, but I don’t think it’s a staple in my book.  Would I repurchase it?  I’m undecided right now.  The high price tag though is definitely a put off.  If it was between that or a YSL lipstick, I would definitely go with the lipstick, but that’s because I’m a lipstick kind of girl.

Have you tried YSL’s Touche Eclat?  What were your thoughts?  Hit or miss?  Cult or over-hyped? Leave a comment below!

Also, don’t forget to enter my Sally Hansen Salon Effects giveaway! Ends August 15th! Oh, and of course, subscribe! 🙂

So July is officially over so you know what that means?! July favourites time! This is the first favourites post in a while where I have actually been on time for one. I think maybe it’s the fact that it’s a holiday here in Canada, I’m having a lazy Monday.

Some of the stuff I’m going to mention I already blogged about but what the heck, I’ll mention them again.

NYX Eyeliner in White

I have wanted a white eyeliner for a while now and since I’m saving my moola for Vegas I wanted one that was inexpensive (MAC’s Fascinating eyeliner is like $17.50 CDN). I have wanted to try NYX products for a long time now but the only place that sell it at in Canada (at least in my city) is at Zellers, which I hardly ever go to. Anyways, one day I was in Zellers and I picked this guy up along with a lipliner (which I’ll get into in a bit).

The reason why I wanted a white eyeliner is because after watching numerous Michelle Phan YouTube videos, I was pretty convinced that I needed one in my collection. I hardly use pencil liner (I’ll only use it on my waterline) and I only have it in black. The white liner, however, can be used to make your eyes look bigger (especially if you have small eyes), it can be used in the corner of your eyes, under your brow bone, and on your cheek bones as a highlighter. So therefore, it has multiple uses and well worth the pice of $3.99 CDN.

NYX Lipliner in Dolly Pink

I have wanted this lipliner ever since Dulce Candy mentioned that she uses this with NARS’ Turkish Delight to create the most perfect baby pink colour for her lips. So of course, knowing me, I go out and get NARS’ Turkish Delight (a $29 CDN lipgloss) and then wait like four months to get the $3.99 lipliner (hey, I never go to Zellers!).

Anyways, I have already mentioned this in my Barbie Lips post (if you want to see swatches, check out the post here), but I absolutely love this colour! I have tons of pink lipsticks to pair this with so it will get lots of wear. I have always associated lipliner with older women that I never felt like I needed to buy one, but this colour is just so gorgeous and fresh, it’s a must in my opinion. There are so many glosses and lipsticks that you can pair this with to create the most girly lip.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips

I did a whole post on these already but I just had to mention them again (don’t forget to enter my giveaway!). These things are fabulous. I was sent a few of them from APEX Public Relations, the PR company that handles Sally Hansen in Canada, a few weeks ago and so far I have only tried the neon yellow colour (Electric Shock). I was a bit hesistant over these at first because they are basically stickers. I didn’t think that you could get 10 days out of them (that’s what they claim), but wow, I had them on for 11 before I finally took them off (they come off easily with nail polish remover). The only reason I took them off after 11 days was because I like switching up the colour and they were a bit chipped (I like to pick at my nail polish).

They are quite expensive for a one-time thing (retails for $9.95 CDN, I have seen them for cheaper though at some places), however, the cute patterns are just to-die-for that I think they are totally worth the money. I mean lets see you paint on a cheetah print or butterflies or fishnets. Even the neon colours are gorgeous. Before I tried them I totally thought, why would anyone buy the solid colour ones, now I totally understand.

To me, they are the drug store equivalent of shellac, and shellac can cost around $30, so I mean why not buy these instead, they last probably the same amount of time as them and you get super cute patterns, colours, and glitters.

It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer

I blogged about this last week so I feel weird mentioning it again, but I really do love this product; this stuff truly does work. I don’t have dark under eye circles at all but I use this to freshen up my face mid-day or in the morning just to add that extra bit of coverage.

I’m not going to go into huge detail here (check out my post on it here for more info) but I would highly recommend this product. The only downside is that it is sold on The Shopping Network in Canada so you have to either order it online or phone it in the old-fashioned way.

MAC Eyeshadow in Too Dolly

I have always loved a pop of blue underneath the eye to add a bit of colour to my look. Unfortunately I don’t have a blue eyeliner (it’s on my list), so therefore I have to fake it with a blue eyeshadow and a eyeliner brush.

The only blue eyeshadow I have is from the MAC Hello Kitty collection in the colour Too Dolly from the Too Dolly four eyeshadow palette. I absolutely love this colour though. It’s like a turquoise greeny-blue that just stands out so beautifully with a neutral eye. I will usually pair this with Urban Decay’s Sin on my lid with Naked on my crease (both colours are from the Naked palette). The hint of blue creates that perfect pop of colour to the look. It’s a basic eye with an edge to it.

ALDO Ellingwood Wedges

I have wanted these wedges ever since I saw them in the spring at ALDO, however, the $75 price tag kept me off buying them.

Fast forward to last week when I was killing time in the mall and I went into ALDO and saw that these bad boys were on sale, but only in yellow. I quickly snatched them and asked for my size but then I was told that they only had them in size 10. I’m pretty sure my heart broke, like it was some sort of sign from the shoe heavens that they weren’t meant to be. I asked if the red ones were on sale and I was told no, however, she could order the yellow in for me. I thought why not, and asked for the red ones in a size 7 so I could see if they would fit. Okay, now here’s the freaky part. While I was waiting for the sales associate to bring me the shoes my flip flop broke! My favourite pair of Haviana flip flops! If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is!

Anyways, so I tried on the shoes and they fit perfectly, but instead of ordering them through the store, I went home and ordered them online. This way I could have more control over it, plus ALDO has free shipping for a limited time. I also managed to snag an extra 10 per cent off (if you sign up for their email alerts they send you a code for 10 per cent off. It says it’s for regular priced items only but it worked for me). A few days later the shoes were in my hands, or rather, my feet.

These wedges come in four different colours – yellow, red, blue, and beige. I think I liked the beige the best but the yellow is just so fun and adds that pop of colour to any outfit. They are all on sale now online (when I ordered mine only the blue and yellow were on sale), so if you like them I would recommend ordering them soon.

As for the fit, so far they are super comfy. They are synthetic, however, the straps are super soft and comfy and so far, no rubbing! They are super tall, but I find them super easy to walk in. I highly recommend them.

So that is it! Not a ton of things made the cut this month because I am saving my money for Las Vegas this month. What were your favourites from July? Have you tried anything that I mentioned? Leave me a comment and don’t forget to subscribe!