Holiday Gift Guide ❤ Gifts for the cutesy type~

With the holidays just a few weeks away, you might already be thinking of what gifts to give your friends and family.

If you haven't already purchased your gifts, here are some you might want to consider:

Made by EkiLove creations! You all know I am fans of Eki's creations having purchased two separate orders (4 pouches in total! Here and Here). Eki just came out with new creations today, so if you haven't gone to check it out, go now! Her products usually sell out really fast, so if you want some, act soon!

Her earrings & charms are adorable too!

What about an iPhone cover? This comes in black and white (if you buy it from the official Sanrio website). You can also find it on eBay or other websites; there are more styles and designs on the other websites.

Or... a Fujifilm Instax Mini! I've always been a fan of this type of camera, its like an instant camera but a cute kind, where you can buy different frames for the pictures. They don't just come in the Hello Kitty theme, they have different colours and other characters as well.

On my wishlist this winter is the Jill Stuart Sweetness Collection. It was outlined in one of my previous entries, but this is about $100 after shipping and handling, which means I might have to wait a while before I actually get my hands on one, that is if it doesn't sell out.

Speaking of Eki, she is currently having giveaways both on her EkiLove site as well as her personal blog site. Make sure you enter!

Picture sources: EkiLove.com, Sanrio.com, Urcosme.com

Spring/Summer 2010: Coffret D'or

For Spring/Summer 2010, Coffret D'or is releasing:

The new AA Colour Lipstick. It is like gloss in a stick, supposed to give you pretty, juicy lips. Its one of those Japanese fads to have gloss in a stick, so I'm not surprised about this release for Spring/Summer 2010.

Five variations of its new Jewelcious Eyes.
Two new loose blush variations.
Additionally there is a new Long Power Mascara (in 2 variations) and a pencil eyeliner as well.

I'm starting to become immune to these new Japanese collections. Every season they seem to release the same things without much variation in colour/style/texture. Say for example the eyeshadow palettes, every season there are blue, green, pink, neutral and purple palettes with very similar shades. I'm sorry to say I probably won't be getting anything from this collection.

What do you think?

Source

Awesome deals from Cosme-De! 45% off Guerlain!

Hey guys, I'm still ultra busy lately, so this is just going to be a short post.

Are you still looking to get Christmas presents for friends and family? Cosme-De is offering a few products are REALLY good prices.

• Guerlain Ombre Eclat (4 shade eyeshadow) is on sale right now for just $34USD!! There are 5 shades to choose from, but one is currently sold out. Get it now because I've never seen a deal like this. These palettes are usually $62CAD, so you save about 45% once you factor in taxes and currency exchange.
• Guerlain Les Voilettes Pressed Powder is $35. This is pretty much 50% off! Get it fast before it sells out!
• The Face Shop pack of 5 face masks on sale for $16. There are 5 varieties, one of each type of vitamin. I generally like products from the Face Shop, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is pretty good.
• Dior HydrAction sample set is $26. HydrAction is one of my favourite lines from Dior and this set is really awesome because it allows you to try deluxe samples of their products. It also comes with a pouch and a mini lipstick.
• Lancome Oscillation is on sale for $27. These are usually around $30-40, so you do save a bit.
• Etude Bright BB Cream is $14. I've never tried this, but I have heard good things about it.
• Bobbi Brown Nude Eye & Lip palette is $55.
• There are a few Laneige products and gift sets on sale as well. I won't list them all, but you can check them out here.
• Shu Uemura lipsticks are $18, their eyeshadow pans are $17 and their blushes are $19.
• Dior lipsticks are $23 and eyeliners are $25.

Cosme-De sale stuff sells out VERY fast, so I recommend getting them early. Last time the My Beauty Diary Mask sold out the second day it went on sale. One of the Guerlain eyeshadow palette variations have already sold out as I'm writing this, so GRAB YOURS at Cosme-De NOW!! Don't forget that you get FREE worldwide shipping from Cosme-De too =)

I would buy another palette if I didn't get Bal de Nuit a few days ago. I really like Rose Boise, Bronze Dore and Turquoise Cendre...

Very interesting concept: the new Heme Instant Lift & Whitening Eye Mask

Ever wonder what it is like to dress up like you were going to a masquerade ? Well here is your chance without looking too silly. Heme, a Taiwanese skincare brand, is introducing a new eye mask that is shaped like a real mask.

It claims to give your eyes an instant lift, while whitening the areas around them so you won't have panda eyes. I wonder if whoever came up with this knows that the reason people have undereye circles in the first place is not because of excess melanoma, but because of broken blood vessels (ie. capillaries) underneath your eyes. You can't get rid of these in the short term because its inside your flesh, not on top of your skin.

But anyways, I'd just thought I'd share because this is quite an interesting concept, although I wonder if you were going to do a mask like that, might as well do a whole face mask and take care of the rest of your face too. I guess Heme is going for the whole princessy look.

This product is now available for purchase in Taiwan for $299 NT for a pack of 5, which is about $10 CAD.

Would you use something like this?

I ❤ free Guerlain, Clinique and Clarins

Shoppers Drug Mart is having their Bonus Redemption Days this weekend, which means you can redeem up to $200 in FREE products with 75,000 Shoppers Optimum points. Normally you can only redeem $150, so I took advantage of the additional $50 in free stuff to go and get some of my wishlist products.

I ended up with: Guerlain Parure Extreme Foundation, Guerlain Eyeshadow Palette in Bal de Nuit (Holiday LE), Clinique Even Better moisturizer with SPF20, and a refill of my HG mascara sealer the Clarins Double Fix' Mascara (and an umbrella for the UK, but thats not pictured). I was so happy I called ahead because the Bal de Nuit palette was the last one they had in stock, so of course I grabbed it immediately.

If you are in Canada, but you're not taking advantage of the Shoppers Optimum Points system, you are seriously losing out. Basically when you're in the program, you earn 10 points per $1 you spend (basically 1 points per 10 cents, rounded down to the nearest dollar) at Shoppers with the Optimum Card. Then they have different levels of points you can redeem for a specific amount of dollars. For example the highest level they have is 75,000 points for $150 of products. They can be put towards anything in the store. To help you get more points, they have special times of the year where you can get 10x, 15x or 20x the points if you spend over the certain amount. And then you can collect the points until you get enough to redeem them. Also they have special redemption days, like the one that is happening this weekend, where you can redeem more than the usual amount. From my calculations, all you need to do is spend $375 during those times that gives you 20x the points, and then you can redeem for $200 during the bonus redemption days. It is quite a good deal!

I'll be doing swatches and reviews once I've tried these out. Right now they're just for admiring purposes =)

P.S. Sorry for the sub-standard picture, my camera ran out of battery again and I seem to have lost my charger... again! What bad luck I have... I will do nicer pictures once I find the charger. Thanks for your patience!

P.P.S. I have added a few Lancome products to the one year anniversary giveaway. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do. The prizes should be finalized this weekend and then I'll update the original entry with pictures and details.

Jill Stuart Mix Blush Compact in 09 Little Bouquet Swatches & Review

Previously I wrote about my haul from Cosme-De, here are the swatches from the Jill Stuart Mix Blush Compact that I bought.

From left to right (bottom) are the swatches of the palette in clockwise from top left corner. The colours are quite sheer even though they look bright and scary in the actual pan.

The top bit there is the mixed swatch of all of the colours together. It is very sheer. I had to move my brush around and around multiple times to get this colour, and even so it is not very heavy.
You can clearer see the pink-ish flush that is the blush.

Left to right: light pink shimmer (least pigmented, very shimmery, somewhat pearly finish), apricot (okay pigmentation, not as shimmery as the first one), pink, fuchsia (this one is almost red in colour, which is what gives you the potential berry tint. This is very pigmented, to it must be used with care).
This is what the brush looked like after applying the mix blush. I swatch the individual colours using my fingers, but the mix blush was swatches with the brush. The brushed turned out VERY pink-ish/apricot, but it didn't show up that well on my arm. I have a feeling it is going to be better for the cheeks though because my arm is more tanned than my face.
Swatches on tissue paper. It is a lot more pigmented here, but I still have to do a few swirls of each (except the mixed swatch) to get this pigmentation. Colours swatches again in clockwise from top left.
Without flash in artificial lighting.
Overall the blush is smooth and easy to apply. I really like it as it looked exactly like what I expected it to look. Also, this is unlike any other blush I own due to the apricot being pigmented, it turns out more orangy than pink. I definitely love it.

What do you think?