NOTD & Review: Classy manicure

Yesterday, I decided to finally paint my nails!
It had been such a long time, but I wanted to go with something very natural, mainly because I wanted to try a new nail polish my mom bought.

Excuse the dry cuticles :S

*Drumroll...* Review time!

I wanna talk about the three products I used on my nails.
First, my base coat.

Misa Base Coat - 7.95 $CAD

This is from Misa and it works great. Don't worry, it doesn't make your nails look pink-y, it goes on sheer. However, it works so well 'cause it's slightly adhesive after drying, which makes the nail polish adhere better to it. Not only that, but it's really meant to protect your nails from getting stained!

The nail polish I used is from OPI, called Bubble Bath.

OPI Bubble Bath - 9.95 $CAD

My mom is yellow under-toned, so she thought it looked to pink-y on her nails. Since I'm more of a pink undertone, I find that it's a great nude for me! Absolutely nothing bad to say. I does need 2 coats to be more opaque, and it dries pretty quickly.

My top coat was also from Misa.

Misa Top Coat - 7.95 $CAD

It does wonders! It dries and creates a shield on your nail polish to protect it from everything. My nails are really dry and thin, but after using these 3 products, I feel like I have gel nails on or something! They have never felt as strong as now. And needless to say, the quality of the top coat is great: no bubbles. I have only worn this for a day but usually, I always chip my nail polish the first day.. not this time. And I did hit my nails on pretty hard surfaces... not a scratch.

I definitely recommend these 3 products!!


♥ Journey to Healthy Update
Last week was pretty good. I managed to eat all of my fruits and veggies like planned.
I did do my three workouts, although I skipped a couple during the week so I had to do 2 Sunday night to achieve my goal.
Next week, I want to do the same thing.
Practice makes perfect! The more you do it, the more you get used to it.
Check out the three workouts I have to do this week!

Squats and Lipbutters

It has been a week since I decided to get on my Journey to Healthy.

I'll be honest, I wasn't as successful as I would've wanted to be. I didn't record properly my fruits and veggies intake. I also didn't finish my 7-day Just Dance challenge, mostly because I wasn't home 4 nights this week, which obviously makes things harder.

However, I can say that I know what I've done wrong and I can only improve.
So, for next week, I will have a little post-it in my agenda on which I will draw a grid of the week. For every portion of fruits that I eat, I will check in red, and for veggies, in green. My precise goal is to eat two snacks per day, 1 fruit and 1 veggie.
For my fitness goal, I want to do 3 sets of 20 sit-ups and 3 sets of 20 squats each day. I'll increase if it's too easy. I'll create a grid which I'll hang on my white board and write down how many of each I've done each day. For the days when I run out of time or am not home, I'll make sure to take the stairs everywhere I go.

Now that my goals for Week 2 are out of the way, I just wanted to mention my newest makeup item which I've wanted for a loooong time.
Revlon Lipbutter! Oh yeaaah. I got it in Sweet Tart and I do love the color. My only concern is that after a while, it dries on the lips, probably because my lips absorb the moisture. I will try using a lipgloss on top.

Not the nicest pictures but the color is pretty close to reality.

What were your New Year's resolutions for 2012? Still working on them?
xox, Alexx :)

Open Box: Coastal Scents Smokey Palette

*This is not an in-depth review; it's my first impressions after a couple of uses*

On Black Friday, I was determined to purchase something online. There were all these amazing sales and I didn't know where to start! 

I ended up purchasing only the Smokey Palette from Coastal Scents, which was at $9.99 instead of $19.99. With shipping and taxes, it came up to $18-something... for 36 eyeshadows, I'd say that's a pretty good deal! So I purchased it on the November 25th and on December 6th, it was at my door, so I must say shipping from the U.S. to Canada wasn't that long...

Anyways, here are the pictures!

Packaging for this small palette was insane... So much stuffing to make sure it wouldn't break!

I even had huge bubble wrap around it! This reminds me, I gotta go play with it after I post this...

They also sent me a sample of one of their pigments!

This is what the cardboard box of the palette looks like. When I opened it, the palette was also sealed with fine plastic. Come to think of it, eco-friendly people must be going insane with all this unnecessary packaging... but I must admit I would've been PISSED if anything was broken.

The palette itself! It has a nice sleek matte finish, which is great for those who hate fingerprints on their stuff. It also closes well so you don't  have to be afraid it'll pop open.

The colors! There is a nice variety of shades, both matte and shimmery. The concept of this palette is that you get 6 sets of 6 eyeshadows that are great to create different smokey eyes. From top to bottom, left to right, you get: golds/warm colors, greens, purples/plums, neutral/black, blue, and pink/violet shades.There are also a bunch of colors that are great to use regularly, such as the matte black which is pretty well pigmented, and some nice shimmers for all over the eyelid. It's great if you want to start experimenting with color, which was my purpose for buying this.

Picture of the shadows with flash. We can see the shimmery shades better on this one... 

Overall, for the price I got this palette, I think it was totally worth it and I can't wait to experiment with it more! I might share with you pictures of looks that I'll create with this palette if any of you are interested.

If you have this palette, what are your thoughts on it, or on any other Coastal Scents products? If you don't, would you purchase it? What palette is on your wish-list this year?

NOTD & Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Review

I showed you this nail polish in my birthday haul and I decided to write a review because I thought you might be interested.

The nail polish in question is Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Grape Going!

First of all, the color is really hard to describe. It's sometimes blue, purple, grey, or green, depending on how the light hits it. 

It is not a glittery color, I simply added glitter on my ring finger.
The brush is very wide, stiff and flat, which took some getting used to. It seemed hard to distribute the color on the nail smoothly.
The consistency of the polish seems more gooey than regular nail polishes, which was again weird to me. The first coat went on very sheer. It took 2-3 coats total to get a solid color, and even then, it seemed there were spots where you could sort of see through.
As far as the quality goes, I don't really know what to say. It does dry pretty fast, which is what it's meant to do. However, after finishing my manicure, I realized I had little bubbles on my nails. Was it because of the nail polish or the top coat I used? I cannot tell...
Also, the third day of wear, which is today, I went to work with it. I usually wear gloves but I work in a pastry shop so I have to use my hands a lot. It did start to chip, but it isn't very noticeable.

So, you be the judge!

By the way, I got my second MAC product! Expect a review soon :)

Tell me: What's your favorite brand of nail polishes? What's your favorite color of the moment?

Macadamia Review: Moisturizing Rinse

The second step in this kit is to condition your hair!

This lasts way longer than the shampoo, since you don’t need as much conditioner as you need shampoo, so I got to try this more than the shampoo.

The product: It is color-safe, sulfate and paraben free. The consistency is pretty thick, just like any conditioner.

The smell: I feel like this should smell good, because it’s the last product you use in the shower. However, it just smells kind of herbal. Come to think of it, maybe the fragrance should be switched between the shampoo and conditioner.

The effect: This really made my hair feel so soft after shampooing. You don’t need much to get the result you want. Use like any conditioner, avoid the roots!

Overall: I enjoyed this conditioner, but I wouldn’t repurchase it because of the price and the smell. It costs 21$ for 10 fl. oz.

Macadamia Review: Rejuvenating Shampoo

On with the first step of this set!

Obviously, the size of this shampoo bottle is really small, so what I tell you about this product is what I’ve experienced during and after 2-3 uses.

The product:  The consistency of it is very similar to any other shampoo. It is a clear, slightly peachy color. However, I find that it doesn’t foam as much as other shampoos, which made me feel like I needed more to actually clean my hair and scalp. It is color-safe, sulfate and paraben free.

The smell: I find that it smells like cantaloupe! It took me a while to put my finger on it, but I’d say the smell is pleasant. It doesn't stay on veeery long.

The effect: Since it doesn’t foam up a lot, I find that you need to use more in order to be sure that you clean your hair properly. It doesn't leave the hair feeling dry or all tangled. 

Overall: I enjoyed this shampoo, but I wouldn’t repurchase it because of the price and the fact that it doesn’t foam enough to my taste. It costs 21$ for 10 fl. oz.

Macadamia Products Reviews!

This first post on the Macadamia products is just to introduce you to the line, if you haven’t heard of it, and also to give you my overall impression of this set.

Macadamia Natural Oil products are known for mixing “two of the world’s most valuable and beneficial oils, Macadamia and Argan, to provide the ultimate in hair rejuvenation and maintenance.” A popular brand of Argan oil is Moroccan Oil, which is also amazing stuff! If you want to read more about the benefits of Argan and Macadamia Oil, click here.

Basically, I heard about the Deep Repair Mask from Elle Fowler, and when I stumbled on this travel set, I told my mom we had to give it a try, since I heard these are amazing products.

In this travel set, you get for 25$:

• 30 ml (1 fl. oz) of Deep Repair Mask
• 60 ml (2 fl. oz.) of Rejuvenating Shampoo
• 60 ml (2 fl. oz.) of Moisturizing Rinse
• 60 ml (2 fl. oz.) of Nourishing Leave-In Cream
• 60 ml (2 fl. oz.) of Healing Oil Spray

Overall, I’m really glad we purchased these and gave them a try. I think it was worth the price and I wish I could afford to continue to use this line. In the next posts, I will review separately each product and give you my impressions of them, so stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I’m not sponsored by Macadamia Natural Oil for these posts. I am 100% honest in my reviews. These are more like “first impressions”, since I haven’t been able to try out the products for a long time, due to the size of these.

Beauty purchases + First Impressions!

I thought I'd share with you my most recent beauty purchases, and tell you what I think of them after one use!
So, first I got this lipstick from Revlon Colorburst, in Peach.

The color payoff is okay. I don't really like the smell of this lipstick, though. I really like this color, and I think it'd be flattering on anyone! It cost me 9$.

Then I also got a Maybelline Lipgloss which was on sale for 4,99$. It's in Pink perfection.

The color payoff is pretty good keeping in mind that it's a lipgloss. It smells really nice! A bit fruity... And it isn't overly sticky.

After I got a nail polish! This one is from Revlon, in Lilac Pastelle. It cost me 4,99$

I really love the color but for some reason I got bubbles when applying the nail polish!

Finally, I got this anti-breakage nail treatment from Yves Rocher. It was on sale for 6,50$. 

I haven't tried it yet 'cause I have nail polish on but as soon as I try it on for a while, I'll do a review!