The No-Buy Cheat

I cheated a bit this holiday season, but hear me out.

Annoyingly, my friends and family were respectful of my no-buy promise for this year and got me a lot of great non-beauty products. So I decided Christmas money was basically the same thing as a gift card, which might as well be for beauty products anyway. Right? 

First, the Shoppers Drug Store near my work had 50% off all Philosophy gift sets, so I kind of got… all three of them. Christmas Morning, The Bake Shoppe and Snow Angel.

Philosophy is rarely on sale in Canada and the Christmas sets are so amazingly sweet that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’m still going to work through my current stash of bath and body products, so it’ll be a while before I can break out the amazing shower gels and body lotions.

The second kind-of cheat was my Clarisonic Mia2, which sadly was not on sale but was exactly the amount I had left over from my Christmas cash haul. I'd like to think it isn’t technically a cheat because the little Neutrogena Wave that I bought six months ago had already broken down. I really liked The Wave, but the constant need to replace the little pads with each use was a bit annoying and eco-unfriendly. 

I can't properly review it just yet, since I've only used it once while drunk, but I promise to have a review up after about a month of use to properly give it some time, as I've heard the initial purging period can be nasty.

Anyhow, I hope you aren't all terribly disappointed in me. Happy New Year!

GH Review: Vaseline's Lip Therapy with Cocoa Butter

 This'll be a bit of a short one. I picked up a whole pile of these when I was in London a couple of years ago and they travelled with me over about three months, which is why this looks so thoroughly beat up.

GH Review: MAC's Briar Rose Beauty Powder

Released as part of the MAC Venemous Villains collection from Fall/Winter 2010, MAC's Briar Rose beauty powder is a beautiful cool-toned blush that's perfect for fair skin.

Video of the Week: Mary Greenwell's Gorgeous 'No Makeup' Look for Redheads

Mary Greenwell has been a legend in the celebrity/fashion makeup industry for over 20 years. What makes watching Mary so much fun, however, is her very carefree attitude with makeup and the way she so casually informs you why certain makeup applications tips are ridiculous.

She doesn't seem to have much of a filter -- the look on the model's face when Mary so cavalierly mentions her "pimples" is hilarious -- but the final product contains none of Mary's manic, messy energy.

Her work is so flawless and pure it's a work of art in and of itself.

Enjoy.

GH Review: Sally Hansen Inspired by Carmindy Pink Lustre Natural Highlighter

 

Again, this is another product from the potentially discontinued Carmindy line from Sally Hansen. I say "potentially" because I can't seem to get any confirmation that the products have been pulled from Sally Hansen or Carmindy's websites. Sally Hansen still has the products up, but when you go to them on Carmindy's website, you get an error page.

In any event, they didn't look they were moving much at the Shoppers on Commercial, which is the only place I ever used to see them, and then they had a huge clearance sale of all the items to make room for the new holiday products. So it's possible they're coming out with a new line in Spring, but it seems doubtful.

This product, however, I bought about a year ago when the range first showed up at Shoppers, along with an eye shadow trio (which I'll be reviewing later in the week). I love highlighters because I like when my skin looks dewy and shimmery -- even if it looks a touch unnatural.