Millarville Christmas Market

Today I had a lovely time at the Millarville Christmas Market. I got some delicious fudge, ate an awesome grilled fluffer nutter sandwich with bacon (it was way yummier than it sounds), and found my first bottles of China Glaze! Yes, you heard right...China Glaze!

I was so excited because I have not seen this brand in any of the stores and I have been wanting to try it. I have also been looking for Christmas green and a wintry kind of glitter. The silver glitter shade is called Lorelei's Tiara and the green glitter shade is called Winter Holly. I can't wait to try them in some fancy Christmas nail art! If you have any suggestions on where to find some good nail art tutorials I am open to suggestions.

Quo Redeems Itself!

I know that I did some Quo eyeshadow bashing in my last post but in this post Quo redeems itself with another product in their holiday collection: Quo by Orly Naughty nail lacquers in a .15 fluid oz size.

It costs $20.00 at Shoppers Drug Mart and comes in a range of six shades pictured below (from left to right) from chocolate brown, frosted berry red, red, frosted orange, frosted gold, and a very light pinkish brownish neutral. The colours in this collection have no names which I find unfortunate because I love cute nail polish names. The formula is really nice and goes on easily in two or three coats. It dries really quickly. The brush reminds me of a smaller version of the Essie brush and that is the only drawback that I have noticed about this product. It did not even start to chip until two days in and usually I get chips on the first day which is more than I can say for Essie. You can extend the life of this nail polish by fixing any small chips and applying a top coat every couple of days.

I am currently wearing the frosted berry shade pictured below and I love it! I have worn the red shade as well but didn't have the foresight to take a picture. Please excuse the terrible job that I have done of cleaning up my polish mistakes. I am still learning about the world or nail polish.

Overall I was impressed with the longer wear and the pigmentation of this product. I could do without the small brush but this product is a mini so it is a little difficult to get around that. I do recommend these nail lacquers as a fun and affordable gift.

They also have a larger version that costs $40.00 and has a good range of colours. I think this is the right picture of the set but I am not sure.

What beauty-filled things are you gifting this year?

These are a few of my favourite (and not so favourite) Things

I am sitting here with a large mug of light hot cocoa thinking about some of my favoourite (and not so favourite) things: the new Quo palette that is a dupe for Urban Decay's Naked Palette versus my favourite Hard Candy Kal-eyedescope Baked Eyeshadow Duos.

I was very excited to purchase this palette at first because I wanted Urban Decay's Naked palette but did not want to pay $60.00. Honestly, I was not impressed at all with the Quo Back to Basics palette which I purchased at Shopper's Drug Mart for $15.00 plus tax. I found the pigmentation to be very much lacking. The shimmery shadows are hardly shimmery at all and the matte ones seem to disappear on my eyelids. They do go on better wet and you get better pigmentation but then the blendability suffers. I like the packaging because there are two magnets that keep the palette closed. It comes with a shadow brush that is decent for all over the lid and the crease. Overall, I would not repurchase this palette which I guess is a good thing because it is part of Quo's limited edition holiday collection. It is definitely not one of my favourite things.

I do, however, love the Hard Candy Kal-eyedescope Baked Eyeshadow Duos in Secret Rendezvous and Peace and not only because they were only $5.99 plus tax at Walmart. Peace is my absolute favourite for an everyday wearable makeup look (but you can just as easily wear Secret Rendevous in the same manner). It is a great neutral to pair with a cat eye and it is very blendable. The packaging is fairly easy to open and it is attractive and fits well in makeup storage containers. I guess the only downside to the product would be the amount of shimmer for people who would like a more matte look. I really love the amount of shimmer. Also, these eyeshadows are fairly long wearing compared to the Quo palette.

I guess I could almost say "let the buyer beware" when it comes to the Quo Back to Basics Palette. It is a good dupe for the shadows of Urban Decay's Naked palette but the product just does not deliver the goods. What are some of the middle of road products you have bought that you did not like compared to some of the more cheaper products?

Christmas Wish List

I decided to put together a beauty wish list for Christmas to help my family and friends with the guess work of buying Christmas presents. Here it is:

What beauty-filled things do you hope to see under your tree this holiday season?