Urban Decay's Alice Through the Looking Glass Palette

As little girl, I fell in love with Wonderland. Everything from the White Rabbit, to the Mad Hatter, to the Chesire Cat and hookah smoking Caterpillar had me captivated. Alice, with her curiosity and sense of adventure lured me right in and Lewis Carroll's stories of Alice and the quirky characters she crossed will always be some of my very favourite. 

So naturally, when I saw that one of my all time favourite brands, Urban Decay were collaborating with Disney's 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' film on a collection, I was a little beside myself. I don't think I've ever torn into a package so quickly as I did this one, and have been so eager to collect some thoughts and swatches for you!

The Colour Correcting Trend : Is It Necessary?

Let's start this post off with three truths shall we? One: I may have had a few beers before writing this (so sue me). Two: I'm spending the day shopping with my Grandmother this week and I'm childishly excited about a little retail therapy. Three: I think the idea of colour correcting as the hot new trend is totally ridiculous. Yep, I went there.

With stores like Sephora literally devoting entire displays to products that are meant to colour correct, clearly its 2016's answer to the Strobing and Contouring trends of 2015. Here's the thing though - do we all really need to be colour correcting, and if so WHAT are we correcting and WHY? 

Noteworthy Vol #1 | 5 Things Worth Reading and Watching This Week

Noteworthy is a new series where I catalog interesting things I find on the grand interwebs each week to share with you all. Some with be beauty, some fashion, others fascinating newsworthy tidbits I discovered that I thought we worth sharing. So without further adieu, here are 5 interesting things worth reading or watching this week...

MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande

If you're new to MAC Cosmetics as a brand, or have heard the term "Viva Glam" thrown out there before but didn't really get the meaning, it's a range of lip products that the brand donates 100% of the revenue from to the MAC AIDS Fund. The brand has been a pioneer in HIV/AIDS funding since the Viva Glam range was created in 1994 with the legendary RuPaul as the face, and has gone on to collaborate with some incredible stars such as Elton John, Rihanna, Boy George, Debbie Harry, Mary J Blige, Dita Von Teese, Lady Gaga and now, Ariana Grande - which I have a review and swatches of for you today!

Ellie Goulding for MAC | A Collection I Can Get Behind

 

If ever a MAC limited edition release seemed made for me! The MAC x Ellie Goulding collaboration is laced with super wearable everyday peaches and pinks. The collection screams of something I would gravitate towards and I would highly suggest if you love a great nudey-peach or golden pink, you head to your nearest MAC counter or get online now before its long gone.

2015 : The Most Memorable Makeup Moments

With the dawn of 2016, I can't help but look back on the last year and reflect on some of the highs, and lows of the beauty industry. There were plenty of memorable makeup moments last year, so I thought I'd break it down into 10 categories. I also have my Top 10 Makeup, Skincare and Hair of 2015 posts coming soon, so stand by... 

Five Favourites | Beauty Bloggers

If there is one thing I love almost as much as talking about makeup and beauty, it's reading about it from other awesome bloggers. I think blogs are such an important way to communicate about products (hence my involvement in it!) and really help connect the average consumer with the product in a (mostly) unbiased way. Here's a shout out to some of my favourites:

What's In A Name? | Brands With Memorable and Sometimes Controversial Shade Names

Cosmetic companies have come a long way from giving their products bland boring names or shade numbers, and these days some of them are pretty darn memorable! What was once an industry full of fuddy duddy names has now spawned into some hilarious, cute, raunchy and even potentially inappropriate names. While some brands have been doing this since the dawn of their lines, others are making waves for themselves with rather risque titles, creating mixed reactions .

Currently Reading...

I thought it might be fun to take a step away from my usual beauty banter and talk about some of the pages I've been turning lately. At any given time I have about 13 books on the go, but these three are hanging around on my windowsill by my desk taunting me to read them. 

Pet Peeves | Cosmetic Counter Customers

If you've ever worked retail (shouldn't there be a law mandating that we all should at some point? Even stevens, ya know?) one or more of these might spark a memory in you. They are the customers that stand out, that irk us a bit, that leave us shaking out heads, rolling our eyes or with that "did that really just happen?" deer in headlights look... 

WANTED | Hard to Get Beauty Bits

Every once in a while I fall in love with reviews or raves over products, right them down on my wishlist and drool over them online, only to realize they aren't available to me here in Canada. It's a real bummer! Sometimes they make their way here eventually, and other times they never do. Here's a little list of some of the talked about bits I'm really wanting to get my hands on these days...

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY | LilyPebbles and ViviannaDoesMakeup

Today, March 8th 2014 marks International Women's Day, something that has been observed since the early 1900's, a time when the world was vastly changing and women were starting to make their voices heard. There's a great basic timeline on the International Women's Day website that can be read here.

Two of my favourite bloggers and YouTubers, LilyPebbles and ViviannaDoesMakeup teamed up with Comic Relief recently on a trip to Ghana where the met with women who with the help of Comic Relief, had taken charge of and turned their lives around. They've been able to create a network, train each other skills, start their own businesses and empower themselves to earn their own living and support their families. 

Anna and Lily both made videos on their trip, which I've embedded below for your viewing pleasure. It's inspiring to watch their trip and even more so to see women build a life for themselves amongst poverty, rampant HIV and AIDS.

GIMME SOME LOVIN' | The Blogger Love Tag

This afternoon when I was playing a little catch up with my BlogLovin feed, I came across the lovely Fee's post, The Blogger Love tag, and it not only was it enjoyable to read, but it helped me find a couple new blogs to read. Bonus! I thought it might be fun to give it a go here and join in with the beauty blogger community a bit.

WORTHINESS vs APPEARANCE

Something that has come up many times over the years when I wax on about my love of makeup and more recently skin care is the question, "why do you think you need all that?" and in simple form the answer is always, "I don't need it"