Beauty Obsessed

This past weekend was finally the big bachelorette bash in Toronto that I’ve been anticipating for months!  It was exactly as I’d hoped – filled with good convo, absolutely beautiful weather, and a TON of fun with some of the best ladies I know!  So much happened that I wouldn’t even know where to start, but let’s just say that we certainly lived it up and came back with some amazing memories (as well as some pretty rough ‘after-effects’ from a wee too much drink and not enough sleep

A few other notable things happened while I was away – first, I only bought a small fraction of the beauty products I was planning to buy.  I almost feel ashamed, like I’ve let you down (lol)…the big list I was working on for weeks hardly came into play in the end.  More on that in a moment though.

The second thing that happened was I met the terrific blogger Liz from Beauty Reductionista, and it was such a treat!  We met for brunch, and though we talked ‘shop’ (natch!) and our fondness/weakness for all things beauty, we also got a chance to get to know each other outside of the world of cosmetics, and it was really great.  One of the things I like so much about blogs vs. other publications like magazines and the like, is that you naturally learn a bit about the person doing the writing – their personalities can help but shine through to some degree, and it’s that connection that makes reading someone’s views on a product so much more relevant.  Of course, you can only get so much knowledge about a person from online, so meeting Liz in person really took my respect for her to a whole new level.  She is extremely well-spoken, poised, kind but truthful (an exceptional and rare trait), and I so thoroughly enjoyed chatting openly with another about the cosmetic world in all it’s glory.  Growing up I often felt that my passion for beauty was perceived as superficial, and I sometimes hid how much I loved it, or downplayed it because I worried people would think I was flaky or vain.  Knowing that there are other people out there that are as obsessed with cosmetics as I am, yet are still intelligent, grounded, and wonderful people, makes me feel proud to be counted among them.  It reinforced my sincere love for my fellow beauty bloggers and blogging in general.   So here I am once again saying THANK YOU to Liz and all the other fantastic bloggers out there, you totally rock!  And don’t you forget it

Moving on…

Since I just had one serious ramble there and some of you may be tuning out, I will recap my shopping woes as briefly as I can and save you the eye strain.  Here is the main issue with my failed shopping spree: by the time I arrived at Holts around 10am, realized it was closed until 12pm due to the holiday, wandered around Bloor St. for two hours (where I did make a pit-stop at Sephora), and then FINALLY got my chance to do some major credit card damage, I was totally not in the shopping mood.  That time had long passed, and it translated to me only picking up two things at Holts: G.Armani’s ‘Eyes to Kill’ mascara (the original) and one of the ‘Eyes to Kill Intense’ eyeshadows in #6 (Khaki Pulse) (Review to come – but I can say with assurance that they’re both AWESOME).  I milled about the store for a while, consulted my list and checked out the noted items, but it was just not in the cards for me.  Cle de Peau’s concealer, which I imagined would be the ultimate cure for my dark circles, was a HUGE flop.  It matched my skin tone fine, but did not cover even as well as my current concealer, and in fact creased worse than any other concealer I’ve tried.  And the SA set it with powder!  So, yea, not impressed, and for $85CDN it would need to blow my socks off anyway. I did pick up the Korres Yoghurt Mask at Sephora, which I’m liking so far (also will review that soon), as well as the Sephora Brand Bamboo blotting papers, and another Jack Black lip balm.  I was hoping to grab the newest Fresh Sugar tinted balm but it wasn’t yet stocked, which is just as well since JB balms are less than half the price of Fresh.
So to wrap it up, while I had an amazing time away, it seems I came back with mostly memories and not a whole lot else   Which in the end is probably a good thing with the move happening this week (we get the keys tonight!!).

Since I came back sans a new concealer, which I’m desperately searching for, I beg you – send me some other suggestions on a great concealer that won’t crease and will cover up these bad-boy circles that continue to plague my very existence! (how dramatic)

I truly hope everyone else had a fabulous long-weekend!  Although maybe not so good that you feel as thoroughly wiped out as I am!