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Beauty Vixen

Nothing says late glamour like Red Carpet Season, and while it might be wrapping up this week with the Oscars, there is plenty of glam to be had with L'oreal Paris' new items for Spring. Today I'm going to look at some of their new items and create my own Red Carpet look using just 5 items (yep, 5 items, I'm crazy like that).
 First up is L'oreal's Lumi Cushion Buildable Luminous Foundation. This is their first cushion foundation and mine too. The idea is simple you open it up, take the sponge and dab it into the sponge that is saturated in the foundation. You then take that sponge (or cushion) and dab it onto your face in layers until you are happy with the coverage.
Ok, so I do not know what to say about this one other than I am in love. LOVE  I say, it goes on so smooth and even without much effort at all. It blends out so well and even. It is only a medium coverage, so you may still need a concealer, but man is it great foundation for a natural look. My skin looks so real in it, which is a strange thing to say, it certinly dosn't look fake or cakey at all. Just perfect. This might be my new everyday work foundation.
Next up is the Voluminous SuperStar Red Carpet Black Mascara. This is a two step mascara meant to lengthen your lashes. With a first white step that volumizes and a second fiber black step that extends the lashes it deliverers some longer lashes then I am used to getting from just a mascara. I don't find that the white is visible at all once the black is applied. Also, many times I find the white layer to be too dry in these types of products, but not with this one, it goes on just like a normal mascara would. 
Brows might not be everyone's thing, but to me a good brow product can make my day. Since I colour my hair I rely on brow products to make me look normal and not crazy with mismatched brows to my hair. Since my hair is currently purple I need to darken my bows quite a bit (oh yeah and there are grays in there too now). L'oreal's Brow Stylist Definer in Dark Brunette I am able to make my bows Red Carpet ready with little effort at all. It has an automatic thin pencil which also retracts (a rare thing) and a nice spooly on the end (why cant all spoolies be like this one?). Any way I work it, a few strokes of this and my brows are darker and nicely filled in.  The only down side I would say is I think I will be going though it pretty fast since whatever I extend out seems to get used up quickly.

When I first saw L'oreal's Black Velvet Liner I thought it was a powder, but really it is a pen liquid liner with a fuzzy tip. The tip is flat shaped making it incredibly unique. It also means it takes a while to get used to it. If you want a nice thin line on your eyelids that is thin, that is actually really easy to do since it is such a wet formulation. Creating a cat eye is another thing, that took a bit of practice of me.  I am pretty bad at getting my own wings to match up (other peoples I am a pro at it), so I always have a makeup removing q-tip handy, and this was n o exception. I think if you want to create the perfect wing every time this might not be fore you, but if you want to create thickening and bolder liner looks It really might be for you. Anyways, bellow is a pick of what I did with it and I am quite happy to say I will continue to be using the liner for some time to come because it has an incredibly soundproof formula, and when it comes down to it, that is what matters the most to me, everything else just takes practice.

Here you can see how everything kind of comes together. My brows look great, well shaped and the right shade. My liner is tight to my lashes and have a crisp look to them. my lashes are long anand defined. No white primer showing at all. Finally you can see my skin looks really good. I wore this look all day and night and it didn't smudge one bit.
So all I added to this look was a L'oreal Pro-Matte Gloss. I could have chosen a red lip to be really Red Carpet Glam, but instead I chose a Fuchsia, Amnesia to be exact . You can check out my full review on the glosses here.
So there you go, four new items I am loving from L'oreal that I think are Red Carpet worthy. 

Is there anything you just love in a Red Carpet Look?

*Press Samples featured, all opinions are my own.
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Valentine's Day has come and gone, which means it is time to do a bit of an update on my Finish 8 By Valentine's Day challenge. So how did I do?
1. The Body Shop Nutriganics Drops of Youth:
Done! I used it up. I have a backup bottle, and I think I will pull it out ASAP since it just got relaunched in a better packaging.

2. L'oreal Paris Infallible Pro-Spray & Set - Makeup Extender Setting Spray
Done! I did great on this one, I finished it within a week. I am now using Urban Decay's De-slick setting spray.

3. Mac Prep + Prime Fortified Skin Enhancer
Failed! I barley dented this one. I still have som much to use up. I am going to continue to try to finish it off sometime soon.

4. Mac NC15/NW20 Chromographic Pencil:
Failed! I did not finish this one either. Sadly, I misplaced this tiny thing about 4 times and started using other pencils. I really want to finish it up so I will try some more.

5. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer in Nude:
Tossed! This one smelt strange....really strange. So I just tossed it

6. Pixi Illuminating Tint & Conceal
Tossed! It is just too shimmery for me for day to day. Ick. So I am tossing it.

7&8 Benefit Lolli Tint and Lolli Balm:
Almost there! I am almost done with the balm, the tint not so much. I will continue to try to wear them more often. I love how they look with my new purple hair.

Ok so 2 done and 2 tossed that gives me a 50% success rate. I just 3 very close to done items left  and one half full item to go. I will try to get them out of my life by the start of spring.

Is there anything you've used up recently?
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L'Oréal Paris' Iconic Colour Riche Lipsticks have turned 30 years old. In honour of this milestone, I was given a spectacular box, filled with 30 Colour Riche shades. Aren't they gorgeous?
The thing is, I am already a huge Colour Riche fan, and I had all these already in my collection (actually, I found two more after the photo).
Rather than swatch all day and night, I thought I would share with you my 6 favourite shades from the line (because I couldn't narrow it down to 5).

True Red
Not much that the name isn't stating, this baby is a true, true red. It doesn't run itself too blue; it just works. It is also super deep and velvety. I also love its matching nail polish.

Blake's Red
There is so much to love about this deep matte red. It is a part of the Colour Riche Collection Exclusive Pure Reds Collection and was created to be the perfect matte red lipstick for Blake Lively. Blake and I have a similar skin tone, which made me immediately think it would look good on me, and I was right. That being said, I feel it would look good on many skin tones (something I noticed about the Red and Nude collections). I also have a soft spot for the packaging saying Blake on it, since it was my father's name.

Intense Fuchsia 
This one has some pink pop to it. I really love a bright pink. Intense Fuchsia is incredibly wearable and truly not too bright (it is a fuchsia, not a hot pink); there is also a hint of shimmer in it. 

Fairest Nude
There is something to be said for finding your right nude; it's like music plays and the lights brighten a bit. This nude looks great on my fair skin tone, without looking dated and early '00s on me (am I making myself understood? I always feel like I don't belong in nudes that have no pink in them). This baby has the right amount of pink in it to really work well on me and is so wearable on a day I want to wear a nice nude shade. 

Julianne's Nude
This lipstick is part of the Colour Riche collection Exclusive Nude line and was created to be Julianne Moore's perfect nude shade. While I really love all of the lipstick in this collection (J Lo, Eva, etc.) despite how different I am from thespokesperson'ss skin tone, Julianne and I have so much in the skin tone department in common it is uncanny. Plus I often have red coloured hair, so this one really just works for me. It has a bit more pink in it than Fairest Nude does, but works just as well anytime I put it on (as does the nail polish). Perfect is really the only word I have for it.

Tropical Coral
This isn't too coral, but a nice nude coral, which makes it really wearable. I can pull off a straight orange or a nice bright coral, but 90% of the time I want something I can just match with anything, and this lipstick is one of those. 
So there you go, my favourite Colour Riche shades. Do you have a favourite?

*Products were sent to me for review; all views and opinions are my own.
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A few months back I attended a launch for the brand Dessange. While new to Canada, Dessange is nothing new to the rest of the world. Founded in 1954 by Jacques Dessange, it now has over 400 salons in 40 countries.
I've tried out for a few months now two lines from Dessange, the Salon Color Restore collection for colour treated hair and the Oleo Miracle Collection for damaged hair.
The Oleo Miracle Collection:

I used this for about a month before I coloured my hair. 

Replenishing Shampoo:
I loved that this shampoo has oils in it. It makes me feel like I'm not stopping my hair dry. It lathers well and always left my hair feeling quite full of body.

Replenishing Shampoo:
This is your average thickness conditioner, it makes your hair feel hydrated and a bit stronger. It also smells really, really good. I  always felt like my hair was getting a bit healthier after each use, which really when I look at it, is the whole point of the collection.

Replenishing Serum:
I like this serum, scratch that, I love this serum. It smells good, it is jus the right thickness for my dry ends, and it never feels heavy. I love the oils, argan, camellia and pracaxi, somehow they work very well to fix the damage done to my hair. Bravo.
Overall:
This trio did a good job of fixing all the damage I did to my hair and works best all together. Hands down the serum will be a re-buy for me.

Salon Color Restore Collection:

Color-Restorative Shampoo:
I had not coloured my hair in months and months, so I held off on using this line until I coloured it again. I was medially impressed with the shampoo. It was creamy, always a good thing for dry or colour treated hair. It also did a really good job of washing my hair without drying it out. Something I am always impressed with.

Color-Restorative Conditioner:
The conditioner was thicker than the replenishing condition, but not too thick. It never left my hair feeling heavy.

Color-Restorative Serum:
Finally the serum....this stuff was defiantly thinner than most serums I have used, but it seemed to work really well with the shampoo and conditioner that I really didn't mind. In fact it is so thin and light that it never weighted my hair down and I could use it 2 or 3 days in a row without having that heavy silicone/oily feeling that I would normally get, thus letting me extend the period of time I could go without washing, thus making my hair colour last even longer.

After about 4 weeks, I still can't see my greys, and that is a good thing since I only used a semi-permanent hair colour, and usually after 3 washes I can start to see them peeking though at my roots.

Overall:
Way to go color-restorative line, my hair is still grey free...you deserve some type award. I am impressed.

If you are invested in trying out any of the four lines Dessange has out (the other two are for natural blondes and for California blondes), you can find them at your local Shoppers Drug Mart for an incredibly reasonable $12.99-$14.99


*Products were give to me for review, this does not reflect my views on them.
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I've been on the search for the L'oreal Paris La Palette Nude 2 for about a month now. None of the stores near me were selling it. This last week my luck changed, I went to my Rexall and saw a display featuring both the 1 and 2 palette for $12.49. I could not believe it, since most drug stores were selling it for $29.99 (while Walmart was selling it for $23.98).

I went and snatched up two of each palette right away.
The best part is I am giving one of each away to you guys.

I'm most excited that I now have more matte shades to work with in the rose gold colour. I love my UD Naked 3 palette but find it really lacks in the mattes, this might fix that and give me some more work day apropriate options.
I picked up the La Nude 1 as well because of the price and as well just because it looked so darn pretty and I just can't resist a nice nude palette (I know I have more than enough).
How To Win:

Enter using the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This contest will run until June 6th and is open to Canadian mailing addresses only.

This is not a sponsored contest, I paid for these items myself and will be shipping them myself.
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Foundation: Longwear without the compromise. Never masky, never cakey, never dull – Infallible Pro-Matte™ is L’Oréal’s new generation of longwearing makeup. The micro-sponge technology absorbs excess oil and shine to create a dimensional matte finish without the need for a heavy or caked-on look. Use a sponge to buff it out for a sheer and natural look or apply in layers for more complete coverage 
Powder: Go beyond matte to perfectly polished. Use this powder alone for a sheer coverage and soft matte finish or over your Infallible Pro-Matte Foundation to nix oil and shine. APPLICATION TIP: focus powder application on the T-zone – the centre of the forehead, the bridge of the nose and the chin. Apply with the included sponge for greater coverage or with a large fluffy brush for a sheer dusting of powder. -lorealparis.ca
Since everyone has been going on about the new L'oreal Infallible Pro-Matte Foundation and Powder for the last few months I decided I had to go out and get my own. It turns out I am Classic Ivory in the foundation and Porcelain in the powder.

I have dry skin but love the look a matte foundation, I like it more than a glowy dewy look in fact. Sadly having dry skin I can't often accomplish that. This foundation over a nice primer (I used L'oreal's Miracle Blur when taking these pics) gives me nice matte look without drying up my skin into flaky little bits.
I personally like to use my fingers to apply it or a beauty blender/real techniques sponge for a smoothed out finish that isn't too thick. It does dry quite quickly on your skin so I would highly recommend working in sections rather than applying all over and then blending.

Overall it gives a nice light to  medium coverage that really buildible lasts all day for me and doesn't dry my skin up or look flat.
For the powder,  if I use it over the foundation it brings it from a medium coverage to a full. Any flaws that I could see with a medium coverage foundation that should have been covered with a concealer get covered with this powder. Yep I can skip concealing.
On its own it is great when I have lazy makeup days. I wake up, I wash my face I feel a tad bit oily and don't want to do the full foundation routine, I buff some of this on and it evens out my skin and takes away the oil and shine. Perfect.

One thing I really do love is that it never goes cakey. I've even done touch ups throughout the day and have been quite impressed that nothing is cakey and doesn't cling to dry patches on my skin (or at least doesn't make them look dry and noticeable).
I like to take away any powdery finish from it by spraying a setting spray over it (I really am loving the L'oreal Infallible Pro-Matte one at the moment, the collection works really well all together).

A look I created using the foundation and powder on my face.
Pros: 
  • Easy to find at the drug store or mass retailer
  • Doesn't dry out skin
  • Great coverage
  • Doesn't look Flat
  • Doesn't get cakey
Cons:
  • A bit pricy. - I got mine at walmart for $14.96 and $12.96, much cheaper than a drug store.
  • The packaging gets dirty really quick.
Overall:
I'm glad I bought these products. I thought maybe with my dry dry skin that it might not be for me, but I really think it is working well for me. I love the light to  medium coverage and the full coverage they give together. Alone or together they work really well for me. I would definitely buy them again.
Have you tried the Infallible Pro-Matte Products? What do you think of them? I'm loving them
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Jill Oliver-Fox is a Toronto based beauty blogger with a love for beauty, food, and pets. She began the blog in 2009 and hasn't stopped since. To read more about Jill and the Blog, click here.

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