I've finally gotten around to taking pics and tossing what feels like a ton of items from my stash.

Some are just old, some dried out, some I hate and some are actually empties (gasp).
The Body Shop Cranberry Joy Body Scrub: I love this stuff and I got it last year in the Body Shop's post holiday sale. Would I buy it again?Yes, I love this stuff, I have a large tub in my back up stash.

The Body Shop Cranberry Joy Body Wash: I love The Body Shop's washes too! Would I buy it again? Yes, but first I must go though my stash, wait I have one in there...woo.

Sebastian Trilliance Conditioner: I got this in my October GlossyBox. Would I buy it again? Maybe, I liked it a lot and it really left my hair feeling nice. Maybe once I finish the conditioners I have hanging around.

L'oreal Total Repair 5 Conditioner: I love this stuff...as you may have notice I'm always using something from the line up. Would I buy it again? Yes! I love it so much.
 Lip sticks and glosses:
 So, well these are old, or I hate them. One or the other really.
The first two above are Revlon ones that are old and kinda dried up, I loved them once and even used one up, but it is just time to say goodbye.

The next down is Hard Candy, I never liked the smell of this one, sweet and like medicine, ick.
Then it is an Avon gloss, I never loved it at all, the sparkles are just too chunky.
Then it is a Cherry Coke gloss from Lipsmakers. I got this for the scent really, but since it did nothing but dry out my lips I decided to toss it.
Lastly it is a NYX lip pencil that I hate...the shade looks awful.
 Here is a Liz Claiborne palette with eyes and lips in it...which I got so long ago and never used...time to toss.
After that it is all ELF glosses, one mineral and the rest the regular line. They were great once because they squeezed out, but I never wore them.
Lastly here is a mixture of things.
Cargo concealer, I loved but is so old and used up it has to go, I loved it and will definitely buy again.
NYX trio that streaked and I hated, will not rebuy.
There are two gift with purchase Estee Lauder shadow duos, as you can see I did hit the pan on 3 of the shades. They are really old and it is time to just let them go.

Cargo One Base: a great eye primer, love it. Would I buy it again?  Yes, it is a great eye primer.

Sephora Cheek Stain in Rose Pink: I never liked this stick, it always sweated whenever I opened it, what is that about ? Would I buy it again? No, ick.

Joe Fresh Cream Eyeshadow in Sugar: This was great Champaign pink shade, but it dried out on me. Would I buy it again? no, I've got enough cream shadows

Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof Eyeliner: I got this as a gift a long time ago, I've finally finished it off. Would I buy it again? No, it never retracted and that was kind of annoying.

I once again begged my hubby to drive me up to the Lisa's sale. This time he didn't humour me by waiting in line, instead he waited in the car.

After a 35 minute wait, I no longer was in a line and staring at empty Tim Horton cups, I was inside and shopping with rude people.

Some words of caution...
-The lines are long, be prepared to freeze outside, so dress warm and bring a charged phone to play games on.
-Once inside people are rude, I mean they don't move even when you say excuse me, they stand in the worst spots and just stand there until you shove them hard.
-You get a red mesh bag to put stuff in, well people drag them on the floor and you will trip and fall on them. I am not sure what these peoples issues are but they are complete d**ks and I want to slap them all with something.
-People will shove you hard and make no apologies for it. Now I realize I just said you have to shove people, but at least I say excuse me several times before resorting to shoving.
-There are no children allowed! Period. Which think of how much worse all these rude people would be with children...ick.

On the bright side...
-The deals are well worth the wait, perfume, shampoo, bandaids, anything, cheap
-The staff are quite nice and polite, makes up for the idiot shoppers.

That all being said, I went for xmas gifts and not myself so my haul was small.

All the smashbox sets I got in the past with the exception of the Wish set, which I have zero interest in.

Cargo has been added this year, $9.99 for sets makes them a great deal.

All Annabelle and Marcelle cosmetic products are $1.99

Skin care sets are also available at great deals.

So this is what I got...

• La Cross ingrown toe nail device - $2.49 - the man gets these so I thought it might help
• Sally Hansen Tweezers - $1.49 - mine have gone dull.
• PolytoGo -$3.49- I got this for the man who is a cook and always burning himself. Personally he loves the polly for burns, but for quick treatments I think it might help
• ListerinetoGo -$2.99- This might help kill germs when I can't brush...let us see.
• Cargo Pro Pick Collection -$9.99 - This is a great set. 4 shadows, gloss, mascara, reverse lip liner and eyeliner. I got this for an xmas gift
• Dairy Milk fruit and nuts -$4.99 - this is from the UK so it is an xmas gift
• Annabelle mini Pigment set -$1.99- I wanted this last time and never saw it, for $1.99 I couldn't pass it up.
• Quality Street -$10.00- I got this to snack on..you can see I have already done that.

Recently Sparkled Beauty and Beauty Thesis both blogged about great Cargo finds at Winners. I found a few items too at my Marshall's, but nothing worth writing about.

Yesterday though I found two of the City Of Lights Set that they both blogged about (here and here). Unfortunately for me, the one was completely destroyed and the other one was tampered with.
I picked up the tampered one, it had finger dabs in 3 of the 4 lip-glosses and some light marks and one gouge on the shadows. Nothing horrible, but still upsetting. I thought I would try my luck asking for a discount.

I had no intention of paying their full price when the product was tampered with, so I asked for a discount. The gentalman at the counter said usually they give 10% off in situations like this but he would give it to me for $12 instead of the $14.99. I was happy with this so I bought it.

I fully plan on sanitizing the items. It is sad that it got tampered with or I would have given it to someone as a xmas gift.

So the tip is, if it is damaged, ask for a discount, you might just get it. This applies to other places too! My friend got a good deal on a zuca over a minor scratch. Just ask, you never know.

1. Stain your lips
As you wear a red lip, it will fade, usually in the centre first. If you stain your lips this helps keep  the colour put longer. It also gives you a great base layer of red.

I personally love Sephora's lip stain or Balmshells, they are deep and dark and look great on their own.

Bonus tip: I let the stain absorb and will apply it two or three times before moving on for maximum saturation of colour.

2. Line your lips and fill them in
This is an important step, for a few reasons. One, lining prevents feathering and smearing of the lipstick outside the lip area. Two, by filling in your lips all over (seriously coulour all your lips, not just the rim) you prevent that fading in the centre and stop you from having just having liner left on your lips when the lipstick fades away.

I love Annabelles liners, they come in any shade you could dream of and are pocket book friendly.

3. Reverse line your lips.
This prevents you from smudging outside your lips and gives it more definition and that sharp wow look.

Line the outside of your lips with a pencil that matches your skin tone, then blend out with fingers. You can do this before all the other steps if you want or even at the end.

I love Cargo's Reverse Lip Liner or Mac's Pro Chromagraphic Liner in nc15/nw20.

I love Canada, so all this week is Canadiana week here at Batting A Lash.

the full collection

OneBase in 02 on the top lip glosses and reverse lipliner below

mascaras and eyeshadow palette

blushes and glosses

glosses blushes and bronzer

bronzer in medium

Matte BeachBlush - Tenerife

again---Matte BeachBlush -Tenerife

BeachBlush - Miami Beach

BeachBlush - Sunset Beach

agaIn --- BeachBlush -Sunset Beach

LIP GLOSSES

Essential Eye Shadow Palette in Warm Neutral

It seems I forgot one of my eye palettes and the eye primer in the photos...oh well, so here they are

primer on the left and Peru palette

again

Overall thoughts on the brand:

I am leaving in two days to go on a short vacation to visit some family in the prairies. Since it is a low key family visit with no grand plans (no family reunions, weddings, or anniversaries this time) I wanted to pack light but still look my best.


On Sunday I picked up a travel cosmetic container set at the dollarama and today I started to pack up my essentials for my visit.


Everything:

• Marcelle: Hydra-C Radiance - Facial Exfolianting Gel - 1oz
• Marcelle: Hydra-C Radiance - Facial Cleansing Gel - 1oz
• I got these a while back at a Suzy Shier/Lou Lou Magazine event. I've been using it the last little while, but was trying to save it for the trip.
• Avon: Planet Spa Greek Seas - Soothing Eye Treatment - 0.5oz
• Mac: Cleanse Off Oil  - I poured some into a travel bottle from the dollarama kit
• Jounee: Bio-restorative Day Cream PSP - SPF 30+ - 0.5OZ
• I got this in an ELF special kit, it was supposed to be a 1oz bottle but they lied (they did, I was also supposed to get other items with the kit that didn't come). It is an ok day cream, it is a good size for travel.
• Mac: Fix+ - 30ml bottle
• I refilled my little bottle of Fix+ with some from my big one.
• Mark: Get a Tint Tinted Moisturizer Lotion SPF 15
• I put some of this into the larger tub from the dollarama kit
• Avon: Solutions Maximum Moisture Hydrating Booster Serum
• I pumped a bit of this into the smaller tub from the dollarama kit

They all fit nicley in the ziper bag that came with the dollarama travel kit.

• Clear disposable hair elastics
• 4 hair clips
• stay put head band

• Clinique: Lash Doubling Macara - travel size 
• ELF :Studio Eyebrow Lifter & Filler
• Cargo: One Base 02 - 0.60 oz
• cant live without this
• Mac: Lipglass - Cultered -0.17 oz
• Revlon: Matte -Pink Pout 
• Annabelle: LeGloss Stick - Girlesque
• Joe Fresh: Eyeshadow -Cherry Blossom
• Cargo: Essential Palette - Warm Neutral
• Mac: Infactuatiing Rose: 6 Cool Eyes
• I've had this for a while, it is 6 purple shades that I love
• CoverFX: Skin Prep
• I packed it with the face stuff for leakage reasons
• Kett Sett Powder

• Blistex Silk and Shine 
• Rimmel Shine Temptations in Foxy.
• My fav lipstick of all time that is always in my purse (discontinued, sigh) 
• Clinique Happy Heart Purfume Roll On with Pink Bamboo Lipgloss on the other side.
• Motrum
• Ok I refilled it with Advil, but it is a good travel bottle and if you get headaches when the presure changes or if anything else can set you off it is good to have with you all the time.
• Arbonne - Ultra-hydrating Hand Cream -15 ml
• Jerky
•  I got this at the dollarama. Jerky for the flight will give me protein and hold me over at my riducsly early flight. I hate paying the crazy flight prices for food. The whole pack has 70 cals, 0.4 g fat!!!! Great pick me up
• Dad's Oatmeal Cookie - 2 pack
• Great pick me up as well. Only 3 Weight Watcher's points for me, so always good to have on hand.
• Elle October Issue
• Just got it in the mail. Must keep brain occupied on flight.
• CoverFx BrightPrep
• I wont be bringing this on the flight with me, but it will be on my skin! I read that when flying you are exposed to much more UVA/UVB rays because of the altitude (you are also exposed to more radiation), so I want to protect my skin before flying.

Sometimes I buy somethings and then later realize I don't love it as much as I thought I did in the store, or I simply just don't know how to incorporate it into my looks.

We all have our 'Go To Products' that we use every single day and feel we can't live without. So today I'm listing my favourite stuff that I'm using everyday during the summer and can't live without.

1. Mascara - A basic staple in every girls makeup kit. I have about 15 to 20 mascaras in my kit at the moment but right now I'm turning to just two 90% of the time.
• Avon SuperExtend Mascara - Oh I love this stuff. I wear this 9-5 on work days because it is so waterproof (most waterproof don't cut it for me), the wand rocks and it makes my lashes longer (all things waterproofs usually lack in).
• Cargo Triple Action Mascara - I got this as a tester before it hit the shelfs, but I love this on days I can wear non-waterproof mascaras (aka the weekends and nights). The same awesome wand as my Avon mascara but with a curling formula that lengthens and thickens.
2. CoverFX Skin Prep - This stuff is so light and silky on the skin with nurturing properties I just love it in the summer (they also make a similar version with an spf if you want).
3. Mark Get A Tint (in Light) - In the summer months heavy melting foundation is not an option. Tinted moisturizers and quick, easy, moisturizing and light on the skin. This one protects my skin with an spf of 15 and moisturizes it while evening out my skin tone. Light on the skin and leaves it soft. I have to buy one of these every summer.
4. CoverFX SettingFX - This is a mineral setting powder. I have never tried a mineral setting powder (Mac Mineralized Skin Finish Natural being the only exception). This powder acts like a translucent powder by setting the makeup, but is mineral based and leaves the skin so silky and smooth. Oh how I love you SettingFx.
5. Vasanti Tinted Lipbalm - I got two of these this week and they are in my purse all the time. I love how smooth they are and how glossy my lips look with them on. So summery and sheer, I've fallen in love.