A SOLO TRIP: TORONTO ISLAND

When was the last time you took a trip alone to spend time with you, yourself and you? As a woman in my late twenties, I know that traveling alone isn't always the safest, however, changes in my life has made me realized, once again, how important it is to appreciate and enjoy spending time alone, with just myself. Isn't it lonely? Isn't it weird? By yourself? I hear these questions a lot from my friends. If you can go shopping alone, eat alone, you can definitely travel alone - prioritizing safety of course. I know this is an unusual post on my beauty blog but once in a while we need to take a break from all the lipstick reviews.

For my day trip, I didn't have a lot of ideas where to go. In the end I decided to visit Toronto Island (Centre Island) because it's a crowded, family friendly place. I've only been there once before and I honestly don't remember much of it. This time going back and alone, I was able to take whatever side route I wanted and leave whenever I wanted. 

If you've never been to Centre Island before, it's basically one of the three islands that make up Toronto Islands. You have to take a 10-15 minute ferry there. There are restaurants, an amusement park for kids, beach, bikes rentals, a farm, and picnic spots. The ferry costed $7.50 CAD round trip.

On my way to the ferry terminal. I don't have a picture of the terminal because I never planned to make this post.

On the other side.

Taking a side route led me to this scenic scene.

The beginning of Centreville (the amusement park). It looks really fun for kids!

The part where edges of the amusement park meets the farm, called Far Enough Farm.

The beach. I don't know if swimming is allowed but a lot of people were sun tanning.

I think I walked about the park for about 3 hours before getting really tired and heading back so I wasn't able to see everything. There were also quite a lot of tourists there. I can't even tell you how excited I was when I heard some Singaporean accents (too much Clicknetwork and TreePotatoes! I'm obsess with how funny their videos are). 

To be honest, it was a little bit lonely because most of Toronto Island's attractions are better done with someone else. Nonetheless, still worthwhile spent with myself. Next stop: going to the theatres alone!

You can find more information about Toronto Island here. 

2 comments personal, toronto, trip

[REVIEW] SKINFOOD ROYAL HONEY COVER BOUNCE CUSHION

Skinfood is known for their amazing skincare line. However, their regular cosmetics lines have never really impressed me. When they came out with the Snoopy collection, I just completely fell head over heels for their cushion case cover. Isn't it just adorable? To this day, it's still my favourite cushion case - it's just a bummer that none of my other Innisfree, Herea, Iope cushions fit into it.

There are only two shades for this product. I have #1 Light Beige.  15g came with the case and refills are purchased separately. I purchased my cushion from TesterKorea. Although the Snoopy packaging is Limited Edition, you can still purchase the Honey Cover Bounce Cushion in regular packaging.

SCENT

It doesn't have a scent. 

PACKAGING

The cushion puff that comes with this product is unlike any that I've used before. It doesn't feel like blue ones that comes with the the Innisfree/ Iope ones. How much product it picks up shows right onto the cushion whereas with the blue ones, I feel like products sink and sit inside the puff. The cushion itself also seems to release a lot more liquid than the Iope/ Hera Innisfree ones. I merely need to tap the surface and a lot of product seems to come out. There's actually a slight curvature in the actual cushion so it's slightly domed whereas the ones I've used before has always been flat. I like that the puff picks up a lot of product because that means I don't have to jam it in like I do with a lot of others cushion foundations. 

COVERAGE

I'd say that this has medium coverage. It's actually the most that I've seen from all the ones I've tried. The finish is a semi-matte.

PERFORMANCE

I have mix feelings about this cushion. Although it's got really nice coverage, it's not really all that hydrating and blending is a pain. Because the coverage is so high, edges need to be blended out otherwise you'd end up with an obvious cushion mark on your face. However, often the case is  I end up having trouble doing that. The product doesn't seem to want to mesh together, especially around my nose. I always end up having trouble covering the pores there because the product just sits on top instead of filling everything in. It's also not very hydrating which is good and bad. It's good because the product won't slide around but bad because it's so hard to blend. When the product sits on top of my skin, it can look really patchy especially around dry areas like my nose. At the end of the day, I usually have a bit of redness peaking out from my chin and around my nose.

OVERALL
I'd say skip this. There's so many cushions in the Korean market that does a heck lot better.

7 comments cushion, review, Skinfood, snoopy

[REVIEW] Maybelline Color Sensational The Loaded Bolds: Midnight Merlot & Berry Bossy

Would you believe me if I said I've never purchased any Maybelline lipsticks until now? I've used a few of their Baby Lips in the past but the colour selections of their lipsticks in Canada have never called to me. I purchased these lipsticks from Shoppers Drug Mart.

The Loaded Bolds were just recently released for the Summer 2016. I saw a few swatch videos on YouTube before I went out and made my purchase. I've got to say, the colour selection of this line is incredibly out of the ordinary and I'm so happy for it. I'm not sure how popular this line will be since this is most of the colours aren't really the typical "safe" colours that people wear on the daily. When you're wearing any of these lipsticks, you're making a statement.

Maybelline offers a range of 20 colours in this line but as usual not every colour is available in Canada.  They've got some really unique colours like blue, black, white, violet, brown. I know that this isn't the first time these colours are made, but it's the first for the drugstore market isn't it?

Picture Source: Ulta

DESCRIPTION

Source: Ulta

Going - kind of - out of my comfort zone, I've purchased two colours: Midnight Merlot and Berry Bossy.  I wanted to try some of the other colours like Gone Greige and Violet Vixen, but I know that I'd probably never wear them outside so I didn't bother.

SWATCHES

Midnight Merlot is a dark, purple wine colour. People kept saying that it's like a burgundy but I've always imagine burgundys to be red with a brown base. This one is definitely a bit more like a dark purple with red base. It doesn't have any brown in it at all.  It's also like nothing I've own before so I'm kind of glad to have it in my collection. I can't imagine wearing it often though as it's much too contrastive against my skin.

It looks a bit scary in the bullet doesn't it?

This lipstick is a bit patchy. I really struggle to just get it within the lip lines. 

Berry Bossy is a fuchsia, true berry colour. I absolutely love this colour.  I was a bit worry that it would be too bold or dark on my skin, but it's perfect.

Also looks a bit darker in the bullet. The slight curve of the tip is perfect for application.

BOTH

These swatches are better representations of the shades. It's pretty true to colour here. 

PERFORMANCE

Although the tester in stores felt a bit hard and applied splotchy, I'm please to say that these are incredibly creamy. The slight curvature of the tip allows the lipstick to fit on my lips easily which is great because control and precision is definitely needed when applying these lipsticks. Although they are creamy, it's not to the point where they start slipping around and getting onto teeth. They are also pretty moisturizing.  Though at first they might have a slight creamy sheen, it starts to look a bit matte after a bit. After application, the colours can look a bit patchy, but if you press your lips together, it evens out a bit. Both lipsticks are very pigmented. With both, I had to use a lip brush to outline my lips first, Berry Bossy applied a lot smoother than Midnight Merlot. Feathering wasn't an issue for me but I recommend using a lipliner to keep everything in place as precaution. 

In terms of longevity, I would say that these did really decent. They did smear onto cups and and rubbed off when in contact with something, but it wasn't horrendous. Both lipsticks left a berry - pink tint on my lips after they wore off. With Midnight Merlot, I had to be a bit more careful because the outer edges could leave a dark outline on my lips when the product at the centre starts wearing off. To increase the wear time, you could dust a bit of translucent powder on top. This will also make it more matte. 

SCENT

They've got a bit of a subtle, vanilla-y scent. I've seen quite a few people say that it's the typical Maybelline lipstick scent. 

INGREDIENTS

Source: Ulta

OVERALL

I'd highly recommend you go try a colour. These are not only incredibly unique in the drugstore market, they're also comfortable and affordable. 

* I purchased these

8 comments lipstick, maybelline, review

[REVIEW] Essence Shine and Sheer Lipstick 02 CUTE NUDE

Earlier on this year, I wrote about Essence's LongWear Lipstick in 06 Barely There. Since then, I've actually acquired more things from the brand - some which I love and some which are meh. A few months ago, I noticed that they repackaged/ revamped their Shine and Sheer Lipstick line. The colours have changed and the packaging have changed as well. I didn't give it much though since I'm not crazy about sheer lipsticks. However, during my frequent random beauty isle visits one day, I decided to pick one up.

I'm on a bit of a nude kick recently. I'm quite fair with cool yellow undertone which makes it hard to find the perfect nude. Joe Fresh's lipstick in Rose was the perfect pinky-nude and I still love that lipstick, but I'm sure all make-up enthusiasts can relate, we never stop even when we've found the perfect shade. The colour I picked up from Essence's Shine and Sheer line is 02 Cute Nude. At Shoppers (Canadian Drugstore), there were testers available. I believe there were 12 colours.  Though when swatched together, they all looked pretty similar.

PACKAGING

Although I can't exactly remembered how these looked before, I'm pretty sure they've made an improvement. The packaging is a simple clear, tinted cap with a silver bullet with a colour coordinated sticker at the bottom. It's not very expensive looking but to me, it's the product that's inside that truly matters + plus, did I mention this was only $3.49 CAD?

SCENT

A soft, sweet vanilla scent with a slight touch of synthetic lipstick smell. On the lips, all I can smell is soft vanilla though. It’s pretty pleasant.

COLOUR

02 Cute Nude is a soft nudey pink. It's very sheer though it can be built up just a bit, not a lot. If you've got pigmented lips, this will just slightly skim over the tops of the lips but it will still allow the natural lip colours to show through. It will not nude out the lips completely no matter how many layers you put on top.  The shine is also more of a moisturized lip balm type of shine rather than a glossy, slick shine. 

PERFORMANCE

I’m glad that they named this line Shine and Sheer because that’s exactly what these are. In addition to being slightly shiny and sheer, they’re actually pretty moisturizing. When I have it on, it’s got a bit of that Nivea lip balm feel. However, also like a lip balm, the wear time on these is pretty weak. I’d say this lipstick only lasts about an hour or two on me. However, since the pigmentation is pretty weak, re-application is easy. I don’t think you need a mirror for it. For $3.49, I can afford to have one in each of my bags so taking it out with me for reapplication on the go isn’t a problem at all. I’m also pleasantly surprised at how well it shows up on my lips. The swatch was pretty sheer so I had low expectations of this showing up on my lips at all. Even though it doesn’t completely cover up my lips, I still love how it tones it down just a bit!

Overall, I recommend trying a shade from this lipstick line. I find it quite refreshing from the trend of super pigmented matte liquid lipsticks that are raging around. Essence's Sheer and Shine lipsticks are just what they claim to be, sheer and shiny. If you don't like it as a lipstick, think of it as a tinted lip balm because they're that comfortable and moisturizing!

2 comments essence, lipstick, review, shoppers