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?

Grateful :)

It's been a while, I know! But better late than never!
I wanted to share beauty related things I got for my birthday, plus a few extras which I wanted to share, and to say one thing: thank you. Thank you to those who read me, those who wished me a happy birthday, those who spoiled and those who care about me. It really means something to me :)

Let's get on with the beauty products! Some were gifts, some were purchased by me.

From left to right, top to bottom:
1. Rimmel Fix & Perfect Face Primer
2. Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Grape-Going!
3. Ralph Lauren Rocks Perfume
4. Rimmel Exagerate Waterproof Eyeliner Pencil with smudge-tip
5. L'Oréal Voluminous False Lashes
6. Maybelline New York EyeStudio in Made for Mauve
7. Rimmel Vinyl Gloss in Take a Chance
8. Physician's Formula Happy Boosting Powder in Translucent
9. Physician's Formula Gentle Cover Corrector in Yellow 

So far, I'm happy with all of these products, except the mascara. It's kinda clumpy. I haven't tried the polish yet, I'll do a NOTD post when I do :)

Here's a special mention to my boyfriend, who offered me a beautiful gift: a super nice watch, which I didn't really need, but am in love with. 

And to my parents, who finally gave me what I wanted for such a long time! :D This is partially why I haven't blogged in a while... still clumsy with the keyboard and still got a few things to set up in order to feel "home".

And finally, a huge thanks to two of my best friends for offering me some great entertainment: Just Dance 3! Gosh, I love you girls, and the game! :)

Tell me, what was the best present you ever received, and for what occasion was it?

New glasses!

As my birthday was on Thursday, October 20th, and I celebrated Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday, I haven't quite been able to blog about it.
However, I will be posting a Birthday Haul article shortly if you guys are curious to see what I got! (I got a lot of sweets, so by the time I take pictures, they might not exist anymore...)
But, here's something I received recently in the mail that I was really excited for.
I have a pretty bad vision and I wore contacts most of the time because I hated my glasses. The contacts aren't very good to wear all the time, but I would wear mine from 6 a.m to 10 p.m., which was way to much and my eyes would get very dry. However, I ordered new glasses through Clearly Contacts, and I looooove them! So, I think that I'll be wearing glasses more often now. Plus, they were sooooo cheap! Not even 100$! For those who have glasses, you know that's a great deal.

Yeah, I am au naturel in this picture... 0 makeup.  It was the morning after my birthday party organized by my boyfriend! It was so nice :)

What do you guys think of my frames? Do you wear glasses (like it or hate it)? How bad is your vision?

Recent purchases! + First MAC product??

Finally! I'm taking a break from studying and thought I would use my time wisely by updating my baby (my blog)

Here's what I purchased during the last weekend!

From left to right:

1. See that teeny tiny little black box on the side? No? Let me give you a zoom:
   Yes! I got my very first MAC product! I wanted to get something I was almost 100% sure I'd like and wouldn't mind paying a substantial amount of money for, so I went for the classic old paintpot. I got it in Bare Study, and it cost me 21$. I haven't touched my Urban Decay Primer Potion since!
2. I got this teal shirt (it's a bit darker in real life). It cost me 5$, from Urban Outfitters. Very comfy!
3. The two camis were 5$ each from UO as well. I haven't worn them yet but they can be very practical for layering, which will come in very handy for fall.

That's about it! Pretty small article but better than nothing, right?

Speak up! What was your first MAC product? Which one do you really want to get?

My trip and a little makeup haul!

First things first, I think I gotta apologize for the lack of articles during the past week. 

As those who follow me on Twitter might know, I was on vacation and although I really wanted to update my blog, the wi-fi there was pretty unreliable so I couldn't do much!

I had a blast in Maine. I was there with my boyfriend and his family, including his sister who's hilarious! We were laughing all along and it was great. We went to the beach, played mini-putt, watched Crazy Stupid Love (great movie!), shopped in Boston, and took it easy. I really enjoyed my time there and I hope I can go there again soon with them! Here are some pictures which were actually taken last year in the same place (I didn't have a camera this year with me!) :

Now, onto the haul! As I was in the United States, I knew I could find cheaper makeup than in Canada. So there I went, destination: the drugstore! Let me just add that my boyfriend didn't let me get unreasonable and spend as much as I could have. For $28, here's what I got:

Wet n Wild Trio in Knock on Wood

I got this because I really wanted a sort of burgundy shade and that bottom one is amaaaazing. 

These swatches are without primer. Look at that crazy pigmentation! And it was only like 3-4$. FYI, these are shimmery shades, but it's not chunky glitter in them.

Garnier Skin Renew Anti Dark Circle Roller
I got this as it was in one of my wishlist articles. It retails for over 20$ here, and there it was 13! I've tried it 2-3 times and so far, I like it! It's slightly pigmented and also gives a light to medium coverage on your dark circles!

NYC Smooch Proof 16H LipStain in Coral Reef.

I think it was about time I got a lipstain so my boyfriend won't complain about getting lipstick all over... This shade is really cute!

Rimmel London Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil in Pure White

I really wanted something for the lower waterline to make me look more awake! This is gonna be my best friend during school, although it's not suuuper long lasting.

Wet n Wild Single Shadow in Brulee - From what I've heard, an excellent dupe for MAC's Brulee!

You can't barely see it and that's the point: it matches my skin tone awesomely! This is gonna be my go-to nude color for my eyelids!

Tell me, what have you done and where have you been this Summer??

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!