Covergirl TruBlend Foundation | Review

Last month BzzAgent gave me the opportunity to test out a Covergirl foundation for free.  I had a choice between a few different ones, so I picked the TruBlend formula in the colour L2 (and because I am the palest, I could have probably gone with L1, but it looked way too pink for me).

My thoughts on this foundation are quite concise. It is a lovely, thinner texture that covers imperfections with ability the of a much thicker foundation.  Covergirl offers 21 different shades - a true bonus, knowing how hard it is to find a nice matching foundation. I've applied this foundation to my face using my fingers, a beauty blender and a makeup brush - looks pretty sweet every which way you could desire applying this.

This leaves my skin looking AMAZING. Seriously, glowing but not greasy - trust me, my face gets greasy so easily that this is a must. It doesn't cling to dry patches, it sets beautifully and it lasts all day. I am able to cover all of the unsightly things that I need to, without feeling like I'm coating my face.

Bottom line? This is one of the nicest drugstore foundations I've ever used. I'm shocked.
I said I would be concise.

Cheers,
Kait

Empties | Autumn 2015

Since it has taken me around one million years to get to this post, here are all the things I used up between September & mid-December...ish.  There isn't one sample included...I may have used things along the way & thrown them out. Oops.

Makeup

Maybelline Define-a-brow in medium brown
This is one of my favourite affordable eyebrow pencils.  It is super skinny & easy to use. It also matches my eyebrows really well! The little bitty comb on the end is quite useless, but otherwise a great little product!

Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in West
This has been such a long time coming. I have been almost done this eyeliner for months, but just kept neglecting to use the end of it.  I hauled it out just the other day & literally had 2 days of wear left.  This is a dark, creamy brown – great for anyone who doesn’t want black!

Urban Decay All-Nighter makeup setting spray
This setting spray is my favourite. I’m glad this bottle is gone because it was getting quite old & I’ve heard some pretty gross stories about old bottles of these (mould anyone?).  I repurchased, but I grabbed a smaller bottle, so that I can use it up more efficiently.

Covergirl Lashblast Volume Mascara
This was a pretty great mascara. I don’t have anything mindblowing to say about it, but if I ever reached the end of my backstock of mascara, I would consider this one again.

Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse foundation
I could not use this up quickly enough. Funny thing is, I used to love this foundation. This time I found it didn’t dry down & kind of looked weird on my skin. Non merci.

Physician’s Formula Mineral Wear Foundation
This stuff is the bomb.com.  My mother recommended this to me and I now recommend it to you folks.  If you are scared that a powder foundation will cling to weird dry patches, I’m here to tell you that this one will not.  What it will do for you, however, is make you look like you’ve got amazing, flawless skin. I’m down for that.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer
Everyone talks about this concealer. What they say is true – it’s pretty great. I’m half-way through another one of these babies.


Skincare

Dove Go Fresh Body Wash in Cucumber & Green Tea
This is a lovely, moisturizing and inexpensive body wash.  It is quite a nice smell, but there are others to choose from in the same range.

Purity Made Simple
This is quite a popular product from the Philosophy brand of skincare. While it does a nice job of washing the face, I am trying to find something a little bit less stripping, so after the next small bottle is gone, I won't be repurchasing for a while at least.

Simple Vital Vitamin moisturizer
Nice moisturizer, weird smell. After a while I couldn't put this on my face anymore because the smell bothered me so much. I finished the tub by using it on my elbows!

Lush Tea Tree Water
This toner is one that I almost always have one hand. I spritz it on my face after my shower every morning. It is refreshing and because of the tea tree, seems to help with the acne situation.

Degree Motion Sense Deodorant in Tropical Tango
This deodorant smelled nice & was on sale. It worked fine. Was I blown away? No.

Burt's Bees lip balm
I go through these fairly often. They are my holy grail lip balm for night time. I never go to sleep without this on my lips.  Some people find this a little bit too waxy, but I think they are magical, healing sticks of goodness.

Swisspers Cotton Rounds
Best cotton rounds going. This is a weird thing to review, but when I find these ones, I pick them up.  Oddly, they are hard to find in this dinky little town of mine. I'm using a different brand right now. Not as good. Find these.


Hair Care

Vidal Sassoon Color Preserving Conditioner
In late summer I used this box kit to dye my hair red.  I even wrote a review on the dye & the process. This is your typical box-dye conditioner. I use them once a week or so. They are moisturizing.

Live Clean Moisturizing Shampoo
This is my absolute favourite drugstore brand of shampoo & conditioner. They have all kinds, they aren't expensive and wow are they nice for your hair (& for the environment).

That's all for now folks...but never fear, I've already begun a new collection of used up products of all kinds. Hopefully I'll post another empties before it becomes this large again.
What have you been using up?

Cheers,
Kait 

Lush Christmas Haul #2 | December 2015

As promised, here is the second Lush Christmas haul of the season.  I really can't resist the Lush Christmas collection. Everything is just so yummy & sparkly & perfect.

Lord of Misrule Shower Cream - This stuff is amazing. If you like the smell of the Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb, you'll love this.  It lingers on the skin for hours, is super moisturizing AND is super duper green. Seriously great

Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb - I had one of these in the first Lush haul of the season. I used it and decided that one was not enough, so I picked up another. 

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Salt and Peppermint Bark - This is a body scrub and boy is it scrubby! It feels just right for this time of year, especially if you have some dry, wintery skin.  It also smells like candy canes!

Golden Wonder - This bath bomb has been around for a few years, but I've never tried it before!  It smells very citrusy and you can tell from mine (that got kinda dinged up in the mail) that there is turquoise in the middle!

Holly Golightly - Another product that definitely got abused in the mail is this beauty of a bubble bar.  This bubble bar smells like Christmas.  It smells like cinnamon and cloves, but also like a Christmas tree. It usually has pretty holly leaves on the top, but mine crumbled off. Sad day.  It is also the most glittery thing around, so be aware that you might get out of the tub looking like a disco ball.  The upside? If this sounds great to you, it's big enough for 3-4 baths! 

Snow Angel - This is a bath melt that packs a punch with golden glitter all over.  This smells very lightly of almonds and vanilla, to me this feels like a very warm scent.  Because this is a bath melt, Snow Angel is meant to be super moisturizing! Another one to be weary of if glittery after-bath skin isn't your thing (but I love it). 

Rosy Christmas - This little gift set includes Rose Jam shower gel (my absolute favourite) and a small pot of Ro's Argan Body Conditioner, which I have never tried. This is a great little gift for someone who has never tried Lush products! I purchased it to get my Rose Jam fix, whilst testing out a small size of the Body conditioner! Also, look at that wrap job! 

All in all, this has given me a fantastic stock of bath and body goodies to take me well into the cold winter months!

Cheers,
Kait

Lush Christmas Haul #1 | November 2015

Welcome to my Lush Haul! The #1 implying that there will be a second one coming before Christmas. Which I will confirm is true.  This haul includes a few of Lush's regular products as well as a bunch of bath products from the Christmas line. This is my favourite time of year at Lush! 

Here are the products I purchased while on a trip to the city. Aside from Christmas bath goodies, there is also Dragon's Egg, which is my husband's favourite, & Fizzbanger. 

The Luxury Lush Pud - Same scent as Twilight (my ultimate favourite) done up for Christmas.  Smells of lavender & is a perfect for relaxing in the evening. 

Bar Humbug - This is a bubble bar that smells faintly of licorice. I haven't tried this one yet & it is new to the collection this year. It's meant to make people without Christmas cheer happy?

Stardust - This bath bomb is quite plain, honestly.  It smells of vanilla, which is nice. It doesn't have any colour or sparkle.  Lush says that it is good for post-party recovery. 

Butter Bear - This is the same bath bomb as Butterball, which is available year round.  This is their most hydrating product and although it is quite plain, it does wonders on the skin! They also came out with a gift set this year that was exclusively filled with 6 of these little wonders. Wow!

Father Christmas - This is a bath bomb that is adorable inside and out! It has the classic Snow Fairy scent (candy floss), which personally I'm not crazy about. It turns the water green! 

Lord of Misrule - This is my favourite holiday bath bomb. It was around last year and this year they've even come out with a shower cream with the same scent! This turns the water a deep wine colour and smells spicy and seasonally appropriate. Yum!

That is what I picked up during my first Lush haul of the season! Stay tuned for another one in a couple of weeks. The variety of products will be greater in the next one, not just for the bath (although there will be plenty of that too).

Cheers,
Kait

Wood's Body Goods | Review

In early September I was lucky enough to have been sent some products to test out from a company that I had never even heard of before.  Wood's Body Goods is a Canadian company that uses locally sourced ingredients to create handmade, natural bath and body products.  I was sent a deodorant, a shaving soap & multiple lip balms to try.

The rosemary & lavender deodorant that I was sent is absolutely fantastic. It smells herbally, but the scent doesn't stick around too long. What does stick around is the deodorizing power! While I might not wear this to run a marathon, it is more than sufficient for a day's work or even light exercising. It also available in a couple other scents, including unscented!

The beer soap is an interesting concept, but one that I love! Mine is a light brew (but they have others) and smells of nothing much. It lathers wonderfully and I use mine for shaving.  I believe that's what they are promoted as being used for.  If you look closely the soap also has a beer bottle cap in the top of it...how cute!

The lip balms I was less thrilled with, but I gave a couple to friends and they liked them.  They smell delicious! I just found that for my extremely chapped lips (especially with the weather turning colder), this didn't do enough. These come in around 5 different flavours, and they all sound yummy!

Interested?  They have an online shop here  OR if you live in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, they sell their products in real life (the list of where their products are sold is featured on their website).

Overall, I'm super impressed by this brand and I will definitely be ordering myself some more deodorant when mine runs low.

Cheers,
Kait