Oh Canada!

Getting International Brands at Canadian Drugstores

In honour of Canada Day I thought I make a post about where to find some popular International Brands at Canadian drugstores. There are the typical drugstore brands than you can find just about anywhere. This includes Revlon, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Covergirl, Rimmel, Physicians Formula, Almay and N.Y.C. I will not be discussing these brands. There are also popular Canadian brands such as Annabelle, Marcelle, Quo and Joe Fresh. I will not be discussing these brands either as most of these brands are widely available in Canada. The brands I will be focusing on are usually hard to find in Canada as not many stores carry the brand. To save you a trip down south or overseas to collect some makeup, I thought I'd compile of a list of where some popular international brands can be found in Canada.

*Disclaimer the brands I'm listing may not apply to all branches of stores. Depending on where in Canada you live these brands may be carried in other stores. My information is based on Central Canadian Stores.

 

     

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Some Shoppers Stores have Beauty Boutique's that have high end products. Brands vary by location.

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June Favourites

Lips

The lip product I've been wearing a lot this month is Soap and Glory's Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss in Nudist. It is moisturizing and glossy and the perfect nude for my lips.

Nails

 I love the Formula X line from Sephora. It is long lasting and the range of colours and effects are amazing. The colour I've been loving this month is Incandescent, a muted orange- it kind of reminds me of a cantaloupe. I think it's a perfect bright colour for spring.

Face

I picked up the mini bottle of Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray this month. I don't wear a primer under my makeup very often but in the summer I don't want my makeup melting off my face. This has been excellent at keeping my makeup intact all day. It is also really refreshing. I spray it on my face after I've completed my makeup.

Body

 My skin doesn't get as dry in the summer as it does in the winter, but moisturizing is still important. I've been loving using the Strawberry Body Butter from the Body Shop. I love the Body Shop body butters in general but the fresh Strawberry scent of this one is amazing. It's softer than other body butters I've tried but it's not greasy at all.

Fragrance 

As a 100 point perk from Sephora I got a tiny rollerball of Mary-Kate and Ashley's New perfume. I had been wanting to get Elizabeth and James Nirvana in White for a while so when I found out that this was one of the Sephora Perks I just had to get it. I love this scent so much, I'm going to need a full bottle. I've worn this everyday this month. This perfume is described as delicate peony, chic muguet, and tender musk for a feminine scent with dark sophistication.

Wedding Eyeshadow Look

 I recently went to a wedding and did a family photoshoot so it was the perfect opportunity to do a really dramatic eye makeup look. This is by far the most complicated look I've ever attempted but I think it turned out really well.

*I'll include a list of all the products I used for my full face look at the end of this post.

For my eyes I started with the Urban Decay Primer Potion. I then placed a line of tape from the corner of my lower lash line to the end of my eyebrow. This creates a very sharp defined line and keeps the dark smokey shadow from getting everywhere. I used Selfish from theBalm NUDE'tude palette on my lid and the realTechniques base shadow brush to apply it. As the crease colour I used Sexy from theBalm NUDE'tude palette and I applied it with the MAC 217 brush all through my crease. I slowly built up the smokey effect by taking a little but of Sleek from theBalm NUDE'tude palette and smudging it into the outer corner with a small tapered crease brush. This is where the tape really comes in handy as a guideline on where to apply the shadow. Once I got to my desired amount of smokiness, I removed the tape and gently blended out the edge to make it slightly softer.

On my lower lashline I took some more of Selfish and smudged it along my lashes. I used Sassy from theBalm NUDE'tude palette as my inner tearduct and browbone highlight.  I finished my eyes with Urban Decay's eyeliner in Demolition on my upper and lower waterline. I lined my eyes with Maybelline's Blac Gel liner. I curled my lashes and used Benefit They're Real on my upper and Clinique's Bottom Lash mascara on lower. 

Other products I used:

Body Shop Vitamin E Illuminating Moisture Cream

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer

Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 110 Ivory

Revlon Colorstay Concealer in 02 Light

L'Oreal Dream Lumi Touche in Radiant

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in 03 Natural

Body Shop Honey Bronzer in 01

Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush in Glisten

Naked Basics- Naked 2 for brows

Rimmel Apocalips in Solstice 

My Lip Crayon/Butter Collection

Part 3 of my Makeup Collection Series

Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Crayon in Nudist

This is the perfect nude for me. It is super glossy and moisturizing and it leaves the slightest hint of  "my lips but better" colour. It also smells deliciously of vanilla. I would like to get the 2 other colours available and at $5 CAN it's a steal.

 Clinique Chubby Stick in 07 Super Strawberry

I was slightly disappointed in the Chubby Sticks. I love the colour but overall it was an ordinary lip crayon with a big price tag ($19 CAN). They are moisturizing but not particularly long lasting. They are also scentless and tasteless which is typical of Clinique products. I would not buy any other colours .

 Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey

Revlon is by far my favourite brand for lip products and it's drugstore which is a major bonus. The Kissable Balm Stains are very comparable to the Clinique Chubby Sticks but in my opinion they are 10 times better and half the price. They have a slight peppermint scent and taste which I understand isn't for everyone but I love. They are very glossy, not sticky at all, and the colour is also super long lasting. I have my eyes on many more colours and I would love to get some of the matte ones.

Covergirl Nature luxe in 215 Hibiscus

This is a few years old now (I don't think it's even still available) and mine is almost all used up. I'm not the biggest fan of Covergirl products. The colour of this gloss balm is very nice and natural on me. It is almost scentless and tasteless but it is not long lasting.

Revlon Lip Butters

I love the lip butters they are super moisturizing and long lasting. They can be applied lightly like a balm but they are pigmented enough that with many layers they can look like a lipstick. They are scentless and tasteless. I have 3 shades but I'd love to pick even more up.

 080 Strawberry Shortcake

035 Candy Apple

085 Sugar Plum

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette Review and Eyeshadow Look

I use my Naked Basics palette daily. It is probably my favourite palette that I own. I consists of 5 matte shadows and 1 satin highlighter shadow. As is to be expected with Urban Decay the shadows are buttery, pigmented and very easy to blend. A variety of looks can be made using the 6 shadows from a natural day time look to a smokey eye. The packaging is very sleek and skinny making it perfect for travel with a mirror that is a very usable size.  My favourites and most used form the palette are Venus- my all time favourite highlight shadow, Naked 2- a perfect natural crease definer and Faint- I use it to fill in my eyebrows. (Foxy can also be found in the Naked 2 palette.)

Urban Decay Descriptions:
Venus- off white, satin
Foxy- cream bisque, matte
Walk of Shame- very light nude, matte
Naked 2- taupe, matte
Faint- warm dusty brown, matte
Crave- dark brown/black, matte

Swatches:
Venus, Foxy, Walk of Shame, Naked 2, Faint, Crave

Easy Naked Basics Eyeshadow Look

This is a simple and sophisticated eyeshadow look that can be done in minutes and only uses the Naked Basics palette. I started with the Urban Decay Primer Potion all over my lid to make my shadows last longer. I then used W.O.S all over from lid to browbone to even out my skin tone and minimize the appearance of any veins. I then took my M.A.C 217 brush and starting at the outer corner by my lashline, I started blending Faint into my outer V. I concentrated most of the colour in the outer edges only taking the excess from my brush into the crease. I kept applying and blending until I got my desired look. By applying and blending more you could get a smokey eye or by applying less a very natural day look. I stopped somewhere in the middle. Once I was happy with my crease, I took the colour Venus and with a Real Techniques base shadow brush I applied it to the rest of my lid. I also used Venus as a brow and inner tear duct highlight.

I finished off with liquid liner (I used Rimmel Exaggerate), brown eyeliner to tightline my upper rims (UD 24/7 in Demolition), and mascara (L`Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess).

This palette can be found at http://www.urbandecay.com/urban-decay/eye-makeup/naked-basics/355.html