Sothys Spring/Summer Collection ~ Review + Swatches

Hello beauties! It's been a hot minute since I posted and I think an explanation is needed. I wish I had an exciting excuse (ahem reason) but I don't. I've been feeling uninspired and it's been crazy hot so I haven't worn much makeup lately. I've also done the unthinkable and have been spending more time offline - yes you read that right.  I've been enjoying the real world and sorry, not sorry. Sometimes a girls gotta stop and smell the roses, swim in all the pools and just soak up the sun (with sunscreen on, obviously).

But as they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I've missed you all. As I ease my way back into regular posting, I thought I would share a short and sweet review of Sothys Spring/Summer Collection.

Sothys Spring/Summer Collection takes inspiration from Sothys garden and the super greens trend that showcases lush nature and an invitation to freshness. Personally I don't see the connection, but I must admit I do like the shade choices!

Ombre Sothys - Eye Quartette ($68.50) contains four new complimentary shades that can be used dry or moist, separately or in harmony. Each shade is iridescent and they are easily buildable and blendable. Although I like the shades, I don't find them to be the most exciting. I really wish that there were a matte transition shade because without it, this quad just feels incomplete. The shadows are quite nice and they wear well with minimal creasing or fading which is super important.

Sothys has two lipsticks in this collection, one satin and one matte. They look very similar in swatches and in real life as well. The main difference is that Rouge Intense Sothys 235 Rouge Roseraie ($35.95) has a semi opaque, satin finish whereas Rouge Mat Sothys 330 Orange Escapade Velours ($35.95) is more opaque, kind of matte and a touch warmer. The tone difference is super subtle so I wouldn't focus too much on it. For those who aren't makeup addicted, I recommend picking your finish preference as they are so similar in colour. Both wear well and are definitely comfortable. Sothys does lipstick well. Really well. They taste good, glide on and feel so amazing plus they wear for hours.

There are a few other items in this collection that are not included in my review; The Calligraphy Eyeliner ($33.50), Sun Glow Bronzing Powder ($61.50) and a Nail Lacquer ($19). Although I haven't tried these particular items, I will say that from experience,  Sothys nail polish is quite good (review here).

Sothys Spring/Summer Collection can be found in Institute and Spas throughout Canada. To find the location nearest you, call toll-free 1-800-361-3004

*Press samples were generously provided to me for editorial consideration. All opinions are my own.

Givenchy's Couture Edition 2018

If you're looking to feast your eyes on some limited edition luxury, you've come to the right place. Behold Givenchy's Couture Edition!

This gorgeous duo is available for a short time only, so if you like what you see, I highly recommend you grab it while you can.

Givenchy has taken two of its most popular items and adorned them with LE packaging. This year, we see a vibrant floral pattern on a beautiful black background. Le Rouge Lipstick is a favourite of mine and I'm obsessed with floral patterns, so this is a match made in heaven for me.

This year's couture edition sees Le Rouge in shade N315 Framboise ($48.50) as the LE lipstick. The case is wrapped in genuine, printed leather and it can be used with other Le Rouge Lipstick, should you want to switch it up (or if you finish the lipstick but want to reuse the cap). This beautiful berry shade would look great on a wide variety of skin tones and can be worn throughout the seasons. It truly is luxury at its finest!

I'm a huge fan of Le Rouge Lipstick for so many reasons. It's very pigmented, comfortable and long wearing. Honestly, I'm sort of over liquid lips and have been reaching for comfortable lippies like this instead.

The second Couture Edition item is Prisme Libre Loose Powder in the shade N01 Mouseline Pastel ($75). This colour-correcting setting powder provides a matte yet radiant finish, while helping to camouflage slight imperfections. The shades are housed separately but combine into one when shaken.

I'm a huge fan of Prisme Libre Loose Powder, but I'd be lying if I said that I'm slightly disappointed that they chose this shade as their Couture Edition. Only because Givenchy chose the same shade for their LE Lunar New Year collection. As they say variety is the spice of life, so it would have been nice to see a different shade offered. But it's not like I won't use it so I'm not mad about it 💁

This collection is so pretty, I highly recommend you check it out. You can find Givenchy's Couture Edition in store and online at sephora.com

*pr samples were generously provided for editorial consideration. As always, all opinions are my own.

wet n wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Quads ~ Review + Swatches

It's wet n wild Wednesday, so today I'm sharing a short and sweet post about the newly reformulated Color Icon Eyeshadow Quads.

Wet n wild (somewhat) recently improved their eyeshadow by upping the ante on the pigment. In all honesty, I never tried the old formula, so I can't personally compare it. From what I've heard and read, it's apparently an improvement. These quads feature a transition shade, brow shade, eyelid shade and a crease shade. Long story short, they're complementary shades meant to be worn together.

There are 6 wet n wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Quads available and I'm going to share my thoughts on the 4 that I was gifted. These quads are very similar in the fact that the mattes and the light shimmer shades need to be built up. They're all pretty blendable, and wear for most of the day when worn on top of primer. I always wear these with a base or primer because I find that they lack that wow factor without it.

Silent Treatment 337 is a neutral quad that is great for day looks, although you could certainly smoke it out for night looks. This is probably the most universally flattering of the 4 I have.

Walking On Eggshells 340B is by far my favourite of the four. This quad features warm nudes that would suit a variety of skintones. I'm particularly fond of the crease and eyelid shades, often wearing them solo on my lids. I love the romantic vibes this quad gives me, and I can totally see myself reaching for it year round.

Hooked On Vinyl 343B was the first quad that caught my eye and I was so excited to use it. Until I did. The warm orangy tones are gorgeous, but I just can't with the green crease shade. I like it, but not with the other shades in the palette. It's too deep, dark and intense to be worn with such soft shades. These are supposed to be complete quads, and this one isn't (for me). That's just my personal opinion.

Petalette 344B was another miss for me. This quad features some seriously pretty pink and mauve shades, but I just don't suit cool toned mauves. The transition shade shows up like a bruise on me and the brow bone shade lacks pigment. The eyelid shade is ok, and I can see myself wearing it with other shadows from my collection.


Quality wise, these quads are decent enough and the price is more than affordable. I'm not crazy about the colour combos on some of them, but that's just personal preference.  I prefer wet n wild's 10 pan palettes (review on those here) but these are still pretty good.

You can find these products in store at Rexall, online at well.ca and wetnwildbeauty.com

*pr samples were generously provided for editorial consideration. As always, all opinions are my own.

Wet n Wild Color Icon 10 Pan Palettes ~ Review + Swatches

I'm going to preface this by saying that I've been purposely late to the wet n wild party. Why? Let's just say I remember when wet n wild was comparable to dollar store makeup, and I refused to believe it could have changed that much. Well here I am. I can admit when I'm wrong, so here it goes. I was WRONG about wet n wild. So, so wrong!

I've been testing out a lot of wet n wild products so there will be a ton of reviews coming your way 😉 Today I'm kicking it off with the coveted Coloricon 10 Pan Palettes. There are 4 available and I currently own 3 of them - Rosé in the Air, Not a Basic Peach, and Comfort Zone.

Rosé in the Air is often compared to a very popular, prestige palette. I happen to own it, and I will be doing a dupe post for it real soon. In the meantime, let's just take a look at this beauty. There's a good mix of mattes and shimmers and the shade selection is perfect. You can go bold and daring or dial it back for the office. The mattes are buildable and blendable, but they aren't overly pigmented. You will need to build them to achieve opacity and they need to be applied over primer. Same with the shimmers, although they pack a bit more pigment. I do find that the lighter shades need to be built up more than the deeper shades.

Not a Basic Peach is my favourite of the three. There's an awesome mix of neutral and peach shades with a blue thrown in for good measure. The mattes in here are a smidgen more pigmented than Rosé in the Air, but they still need to be built up. The shimmers are pretty great and look best when applied on primer. I am currently living for the orange, coral and blue shade.

Comfort Zone is a pretty palette that's perfect for evening looks. There are more shimmers than mattes and the shade range is deeper and smokier. I love the earthy vibes and how a lot of the shades have colour shifts to them. I didn't even notice that blue had a brown shift until I swatched it (it looks so basic in the pan haha). These shades are absolutely stunning and you need them in your life!

All in all I'm pretty impressed with the quality of these palettes. They wear well and last most of the day with primer. Do they feel like high end eyeshadow? No, they don't. But you can't beat the price and the quality is pretty darn good for drugstore makeup.

You can find these palettes at Rexall, Walmart, online at well.ca and wetnwildbeauty.com



*pr samples were provided for editorial consideration. All opinions are my own.

Diorskin Forever Undercover Foundation ~ Review + Swatches

Hello beauties! Today I'm talking about foundation and Dior, specifically the new Diorskin Forever Undercover Foundation. Before I get into my thoughts, let's take a look at the facts and the claims.

First up, the facts! Diorskin Forever Undercover ($64) is a water based formula that contains the highest level of pigments in the entire range; nearly twice that of the original fluid foundation. To avoid a mask like effect, the pigments are given a specific coating (plant based) to merge with the skin, providing an imperceptible finish.

And now the claims. Diorskin Forever Undercover is said to be an ultra-high coverage foundation that looks natural and wears for 24hrs of extreme correction.

First of all, the finish. In a word, heavenly! I can't get over how this foundation balances full coverage with a natural finish. It's matte yet somehow radiant, and my skin looks perfect. Literally perfect. And the best part is that it's completely undetectable (so long as you find a shade match).

I love how Diorskin Forever Undercover doesn't set right away; you have ample time to blend and adjust your coverage. To achieve a higher level of coverage, Peter Philips recommends applying with a foundation brush. 

As far as wear time, I will say that it's long wearing, but not 24hr wearing (at least not for me). I've tried it with primer, on its own, set with powder plus setting spray and I can't get longer than 8 hours out of it. I will say that it fades gracefully and evenly.

All in all I really like this foundation but...

The shade range (although better) is still very lacking. There are 24 shades that are mostly neutral toned. So those who are very fair or deep will likely have a hard time finding a match, as will anyone with a very warm or cool undertone.

In order for me to wear this foundation in the winter, I need to mix it. Even then, it's not perfect. I'm pretty pale with a yellow undertone. I tried Shade 015 Tender Beige as it was the lightest, most warm toned neutral shade, but it was still too pink. The lightest yellow based shade is 021 Linen and that's too dark for me right now. 023 Peach is too orange. Everything in between is too neutral or pink. In order for me to make this foundation work, I mix shade 015 with a touch of 021, add a couple drops of MAKE UP FOR EVER Chromatic Mix in 02 (review on those here). 

The good news is that shade 21 will definitely work once I get my faux tan on 😉

Do I recommend this foundation? Hells ya if you can find a match! The finish is one of the best I've ever tried. I seriously hope that they add some more shades/undertones to the range.

You can find Diorskin Forever Undercover in-store and online at sephora.com

*pr samples were generously provided for editorial consideration. As always, all opinions are my own.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Color Eye Shadow ~ Review + Swatches

If you've been anywhere near social media, you've already heard about MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Color Eye Shadow. In case you haven't, Artist Color Eye Shadows are single eyeshadow pans that can be put into magnetic palettes. MAKE UP FOR EVER have their own branded palettes available and Sephora will give you a discount when you bundle a MUFE palette with Artist Color Eye Shadows (more on that later).

The best part? Not only can you create your perfect palette, you can build more than one since there's 121 shades to choose from (hello choices!) If the idea of a customized palette doesn't get you excited, I don't think we can be friends. Seriously though 😋

Now I definitely have a type when it comes to eyeshadow, but I do like to branch out. I decided to try to fill in some gaps in my collection and chose shades that are different from what I own. Meet M-924 Purple (matte purple), I-918 Lavender (iridescent purple) and I-722 Mandarin (iridescent orange) 😍

Purple is a hard shade to get right. And let me tell you, MAKE UP FOR EVER got it right. M-924 is pigmented, buildable, blendable and true to tone. I love to use it as a crease shade.

I-918 is a stunning lavender shade that's very on-trend for spring. I like to wear it as an all over lid colour paired with M-924 in the crease. This iridescent shade is very creamy, pigmented, blendable and just flat out awesome!

I will never tire of orange and coral. They make up a huge part of my eyeshadow collection yet I can never have enough of them. The moment I saw I-722 Mandarin I knew I needed it. This beautiful shade is a little peach and a whole lot of orange, if that makes sense. This iridescent shade looks gorgeous on its own as an all-over lid colour. It also looks amaze with contrasting shades, such as purple. If you like warm, peachy tones then you will want to be adding this to your collection asap.

Earlier I touched on the discount Sephora is offering if you purchase an empty palette plus 2 or more Artist Color Eye Shadow. Here's the official deets, as found on the Sephora website!

To redeem your set:

1. SELECT YOUR EYESHADOWS AND PALETTE: Select 2 to 6 Artist Color Eye Shadows and any size of refillable palette.

2. ADD EACH ITEM TO BASKET

3. GET A DEAL: Discount will automatically apply at checkout. Your final set will be:

- US $29 ($36 value)/CAN $37 ($46 value) for 2 Eyeshadows & any size palette.

- US $39 ($53 value)/CAN $50 ($68 value) for 3 Eyeshadows & any size palette.

- US $49 ($70 value)/CAN $63 ($90 value) for 4 Eyeshadows & any size palette.

- US $59 ($104 value)/CAN $77 ($134 value) for 6 Eyeshadows & any size palette.

Note: Each item will display separately with the original price when added to your basket. The discount will display above your order total. Additional promotions and discount offers do not apply to this set.

Have you tried Artist Color Eye Shadow? Would you like to? Let's chat in the comment section below 👇

*pr samples were generously provided for editorial consideration. As always, all opinions are my own!