Tarte Glow Your Way to Gorgeous - Sneak Peak

I was suppose to receive my QVC package today as stated in the expected delivery date of my order. I'm glad the wait time was cut down a week shorter. As usual, excitement was killing me! :)

The products in this set are tucked neatly in Tarte's purple and gold makeup bag.  This bag is really very compact yet spacious.  I can see myself using this to store makeup and brushes when travelling.


Cute Tarte engraving on the zipper...


It's even smaller than an I-pad... (not that I own one hehe...)


Here's how the bag looks when opened. See the goodies? 11 products all in!








Here's a snapshot of the collection goodies...


I will review the products individually in future posts :) Stay tuned!

Tarte Glow Your Way to Gorgeous

I officially admit I have zero will power when it comes to restricting myself from buying more makeup! Total fail! I saw the Muse's post on Tarte's Glow Your Way to Gorgeous set (QVC exclusive) and this baby is just yelling "take me home mama!".  I tried hard to resist, but the deal is just too good to pass!

The set is priced at $49.95 US and $5.95 US for shipping and handling within the States.  Shipping to Canada costs some $13+ bucks.  It includes:

• Makeup Bag
• Lights, Camera, Lahses! Clinically-Proven Natural Mascara (Retail: $19)
• Maracuja Creaseless Concealer (Retail Price: $24.50)
• Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Peaceful (Retail Price: $25)
• EmphasEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof Cream Eyeshadow (Retail Price: $22)
• SmolderEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof Eyeliner (Retail: $25)
• LipSurgence Natural Lip Luster (Retail: $24)
• Blush Bamboo Brush (Retail Price: $27)
• Eyeshadow Bamboo Brush (Retail Price: $28)
• Sharpener
• FREE Deluxe Mineral Powder Bronzer in Park Ave Princess (Retail: $10)
• FREE Sample of Tarte’s Pure Maracuja Oil (7mL)

The concealer, blush, and cream shadows are the items I really wanted to get my hands on.  I chose the concealer in Medium for my NC-25 to NC-30 complexion. Base on the swatches online, Tarte's shades seem to run a bit lighter than other brands. Certainly hope I chose the right shade.

This set is under item number A218483 and A219234 for Auto Delivery at QVC.com.  According to the Muse, the free bronzer and Maracuja oil will be included in the first shipment of your set but not in future deliveries if you you go with the Auto Delivery option.  The price is good until July 2.  You can get the set to $60 USD afterwards.

Now, tell me if it sounds logical to fall into this trap? Would you have the will power to resist???

NARS goodies

I got my first NARS blush in Deep Throat more than a year ago. The pigmentation and staying power is superb so I've been wanting to get more.  I've been wanting Angelika, Madly and Luster, but I couldn't find any excuses to cave into temptations due to the overflowing amount of blushes I have in my stash. An easy excuse could be - I don't have something similar.  But then how many cheeks do I have to use up these products anyways?  Anyhoo.....enough rambling. What I really want to say is, I finally succumbed and purchased not one, but THREE blushes! ... and more  (*guilty*)

Without further ado, here's my recent NARS acquisitions that joined the family in the past months.

NARS Oasis Blush

These are the type of blushes I would normally skip.  It certainly doesn't look appealing on the pan, at least for me.  Dark berry shade with chunky glitters, that's my first impression.  So, what why did I buy this blush then?  As I said, I want to get a new NARS blush, but I don't want duplicates of what I already have.  I did my homework and checked a lot of blogs for swatches and reviews.  As dark as this seems to be on the pan, the cheek swatches actually shows a kind of sophistication that looks really appealing.  So I decided to get this from Sephora while I still have my 15% VIB discount.  If it doesn't work out, at least I can return it.  After 2 months, I happily report that this baby is still in my drawer and not back to the store.  I really like it and even wore it on my son's birthday party.  I guess, sometimes mature pink does look good... at least for my age. Well, I'm not saying I look old with this on, but I certainly don't look like a doll with this type of pink.  The chunky glitters that I was dreading, isn't so visible after all when applied on the cheeks.  It's certainly a "like" for me!

Here's how it shows on my cheek on my son's birthday (sorry for the blurry photo). I used a stippling brush to apply this for a light touch and  also not to get as much glitters on my cheek.

NARS Makeup Your Mind - Cheek Kit

I saw the release of NARS' Makeup Your Mind kits on various beauty blogs but I didn't think of owning any of them coz it's a Nordstrom exclusive. It WAS just an eye candy for me and I quickly forgot about it.

One day, we went to Yorkdale mall and I decided to check the Shu Eumura counter and ask if I can get my eye brow pencil sharpened even if I didn't get the product from Canada. They agreed and so that was the end of my objective. I was browsing through the products from different brands and accidentally laid my eyes on NARS' Makeup Your Mind kits near the NARS counter. I was like, OMG!!!! I gotta get this! I got the cheek kit which comes with Orgasm/Angelika blush duo, Laguna bronzer and Copacabana multiple - all full sizes!!! The SA at the NARS counter was surprised as well. She said NARS rarely come up with kits with all full size products. My wallet hurt a bit when I paid for this kit, but the deal is all worth it!

Now let's dig the goodies that comes with the kit!

NARS Orgasm/Angelika blush duo


We see Orgasm/Laguna most of the time, but I often hoped that NARS would come up with a duo that contains two blushes instead of one blush and a bronzer. Imagine my excitement when I saw this kit - NARS granted me my wish! LOL I was more into Angelika coz I already have a lot of Orgasm dupes in my stash. But it doesn't hurt to get both! Turns out, I've been using Orgasm more than Angelika. Don't get me wrong, they're both pretty. I guess peaches are my go-to looks so Orgasm fits most of my looks. I love everything about this duo but I just find that I get a lot of loose blush pigments on the pan when I use it. The blushes doesn't seem to be as packed as my other single pan NARS blushes. That being said, the blush powders tends to mix up with the other side of the blush.

NARS Laguna Bronzer



I'm currently using another NARS Laguna bronzer in mini size that I got a while back with a kit. I will not touch this until I finish my mini size bronzer. I'm normally not into bronzers as I like to look as fair as I can (Asian thing). I tried a couple bronzers in the past year - Hoola, ELF Bronzers, Annabelle Zebra bronzer - and Laguna is by far my favorite. I like that it's not too pigmented which makes it more natural and easier to work with. I also love the golden tone which doesn't make me look dirty (Hoola makes me look muddy). I've been using Laguna religiously since the warmer months and so far I'm loving it. I don't know if I will keep applying bronzer as it is an optional step in my makeup routine. I just might put this full size bronzer in my future blog sale.

NARS Copacabana Multiple (forgot to take a photo of this)

This is a multi-purpose highlighter (hence the name multiple) which can be used on the brow bone, cheek bone, nose bridge, cupid's bow, lips and lid.  I could easily love this product, but I have so many highlighters in my stash that I don't need to add more.  So, this might also end up in my future blog sale.

Do you love NARS products?

Joe Fresh cosmetics

When I checked my stash for products to review, the first brand that came to mind was Joe Fresh cosmetics. Their line doesn't seem to have a lot of visibility over the internet as I can only find a few blog posts and videos featuring their products.  I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on this Canadian line which offers awesome products at a low price point. In fact, you can only get these at local supermarkets (Loblaws and Real Canadian superstore).

I normally check online sources for reviews before buying any product.  But for Joe Fresh, it's just pure impulse.  I remember the first product I bought from their line was their powder blush in Pink, creamy lipstick in Cinnamon, and tinted lip balm in Honey (read: blush and lipstick hoarder! LOL).  It was love at first try, so I've been going back and collecting more.

Take a peak at my Joe Fresh collection... Forgot to include the tinted lip balms.  I'll cover that in a future post along with some new lip glosses I have acquired recently :)

Happy Joe Fresh family :)

I love the formula of their cream blushes as they're not sticky and sloppy as the NYX counterpart.  Blends easily and dries to a powder finish.  I have long gave up on cream blushes as they tend to accentuate freckles and age spots on my cheeks. Furthermore, my cheeks turn oily in the middle of the day because of how emollient most creamy products are. Greasy cheeks - not a good sight. That being said, cream blushes are off limits in my stash for some years.  These babies totally changed my mind and gain back my fondness on cream blushes. The lasting power is superb.  An application in the morning is enough to last me the entire work day.  I initially got the shade in Apricot, which looks like... uhm... apricot! (gee, I'm really bad at describing things)  Imagine coral with a prominent orange hue.  The shade just brings life to my otherwise dull and yellow-toned face.  I couldn't get enough of it so I decide to pick up another bright color in Melon.  Melon is definitely more vibrant and more coral than Apricot.  It looks scary on the pan but definitely not so on the cheeks.  I'd say both shades are summer must-haves! :)

The powder blushes have been staple in my stash and I love them as much as the cream blushes. But I do use these more often than the cream versions as I can apply them in snap and get out of the door in no time.  These come in various shades which have a mix of subtle colors and bright bold colors.  I got 4 powder blushes - Pale Peach, Buff, Pink and another one in rosy color of which the name I can't recall for now.  Pale Peach and Buff are subtle everyday colors that gives just a slight flush on the cheeks.  As light as it is, they show up quite well on my skin tone (NC25-30).  Pale Peach is a peachy color that falls between Benefit's Sugarbomb and Coralista without the sheen. Buff,  on the other hand, looks light beige on the pan like a face powder shade, but definitely applies pink on the cheeks.  It's like a darker version of Benefit's Dandelion. For some reason, Buff reminds me of a bride's flushing glow.  Don't ask me why, I don't know either :) Both blushes feels like MAC's beauty powder blush with more pigmentation.  My definite faves!  

Too bad, I forgot to take photos of Pink and the other rosy shade before I gave them away.  I still see them on the racks but not on Joe Fresh's website. Discontinuing? Probably.  Pink is a bright shade that resembles MAC's Dollymix.  I'm not sure if it's a dupe coz I don't own Dollymix.  But they definitely look similar.  I have Cargo Catalina so I decided to give Pink away.  The other rosy shade, I remember giving it away coz it looks a lot like MAC's Prism, which I already have (and seldom use).

Joe Fresh blushes are 6 CAD each, which is pretty cheap in my opinion. I love these as much as my other high-end blushes.

Top: Cream blushes in Melon and Apricot

Bottom: Powder blushes in Pale Peach and Buff

Next up are lip products. I had picked up a few cream lipsticks but only one left in my stash right now. Again, purged due to duplicates.  The one I have now is in Nude, which I believed is part of Spring 2011 collection. I'm totally up for anything nude so I got this despite the overflowing nude lippies in my stash.  Nude is actually not nude, but pink and slightly frosty.  I can pull it off but not the type of nude I was expecting.  The formula is ok - creamy and pigmented, doesn't dry the lips but not moisturizing either.  A slight swipe of this gives you full color.  Staying power is average. I'd say 3-4 hours with constant drinking.  The other shades I gave away were from their permanent line - Cinnamon and Pink.  Cinnamon is warm beige that falls into MLBB category for most but just a tad bit dark for my liking.  Pink is a lighter and frostier version of Nude. I prefer natural lip colors so I tend to retain wearable nudes in my stash - which I admit is a boring color preference.  And since I'm a sucker for nude, I got the matching lip gloss in Nude.  I must say, this is the perfect nude for me - slightly dusty, slightly pink.  It resembles my favorite MAC Blankety and the Faerie Glen lipsticks in a MAC cremesheen glosses form.  Formula is slightly liquidy and not sticky.  Nude is considered quite pigmented for a gloss as it's enough to cover my natural lip color without a lipstick underneath.  Another point worth noting is that it is not super shiny like the MAC lip glasses. I might be the only person who prefer less shiny glosses. It just looks more natural and wearable on my lips (slightly full and slightly pouty).  Nude is my fave gloss at the moment :)

Joe Fresh lipsticks are 6 CAD each and lip glosses costs 8 CAD each. I think the glosses are slightly pricey for a drugstore/supermarket brand... it would be nice if they keep these at 6CAD each like most Joe Fresh products.

Lippies

Cream lipstick in Nude

Lipgloss in Nude

  Here are the swatches :)

Top: Lip gloss in Nude
Bottom L-R: cream lipstick in Nude, Melon, Apricot, Pale Peach, Buff

This post is lengthy enough, so I'll leave the eye products in my next review.