J Crew Heartbreaker Sweater

Made it to the city after Christmas. Dare not to go shopping on Boxing Day as it is like Black Friday sales in U.S. Gave it a couple of days and here I come.

Went to Fairview Mall to check out the new J. Crew store which opened in late Oct. Very nice store layout and they got men's wear as well, which is not available at the Yorkdale store location.

I am in there to get the pixie pants as they are on backorder online and won't ship out until March??!! I love the factory version so much but want a grey pair to switch things up a bit. 

Sale section is quite good. Still a lot of selection left and everything is 50% off sale prices.

Heartbreaker sweater in size M (buy here)

I love heart patterns and when I saw this come on the website a while ago, it caught my eye immediately. But of course not at its original price at $118. 

They only had size medium and large left so I grabbed a medium. I would have preferred the small but it is ok to pair with my factory ponte pants. Sale price is $48. Much better deal.

Lambswool diamond sweater in size S(buy here)

I wasn't planning to get any more sweaters but thought I would try on a few. This is the first one that I grabbed off the rack. Love the soft pink, red and orange diamonds. It is quite soft but it is not on sale yet.

Collection cashmere herringbone sweater in size S (buy here)

Compared to the previous sweaters, this one of course feels much softer and luxurious. But I find it fits quite small, especially in the upper arm area. If it goes on further reduction, I may consider it but will have to size up.

Pixie Pant in grey size 4R (buy here)

I have the factory version and to be honest, they fit exactly the same. Elastic waistband and the main difference is the pixie pant has its zipper at the back, while the factory version has the zipper on the side. If you haven't tried these, you are definitely missing out the most-comfortable legging-look pants. I have been wearing my factory ponte pants almost every day since I got them a month ago. They do stretch out a bit after a few wears so go with your normal J Crew pant size. You may find it a bit tight on the waist at the beginning but it will stretch out. If you get a size bigger, you may end up with too much material in your bum/knee area. I prefer the factory version as the side-zipper is more convenient but since they don't offer it it in grey and I want a grey pair so this came home with me. Yes, regular price. I got this with a gift card I got from my best friend for my birthday so there, I can justify that :)

Merry Christmas

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season!

Winter Wonderland

We had a ton of snow and as beautiful as it is outside, it makes traveling quite challenging. Lucky we are spending Christmas here and may have to make some alternative plans for New Year's.

We already had our round one of Christmas celebration over the weekend as family members arrived.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

J. Crew Lace Printed Sweatshirt

Are you all ready for Christmas? We had a ton of snow over the past few days so for sure we're having a white Christmas. Trying to avoid the malls this past week as people are frantically doing their last minute shopping and it is getting very chaotic everywhere.

My Christmas shopping was done quite a while ago but I was dreading to wrap up my gifts until last weekend. So all wrapped and ready to go. Spending Christmas here and then we are heading home to Toronto for a couple of weeks to visit my side of the family. I have been doing very good in restraining myself from doing any more online shopping for the past 2 weeks. Tried so hard not to be tempted by J. Crew constant sale promotions. 

There are a few items I have been "stalking" on. One of them is the lace-printed sweatshirt(seen on Shopping with m & Gigi's Gone Shopping) But when I saw it on sale last and on the fabulous A Bigger Closet, I had to bite.

J. Crew Lace-printed sweatshirt in size S (here)

It is a thicker fabric of sweatshirt with lace-printed pattern. It is a stiffer kind of fabric. Not your usual soft cozy sweatshirt kind. The pattern is very cute. Not too overly done and I like the bottom of it as it gives the illusion of you wearing a lace top over a cami.

As the fabric is thicker, I can definitely wear this even in the cold winter months. 

When I saw how A Bigger Closet style hers, I'm immediately sold as she layers it with a tissue turtleneck, making it more appropriate for winter weather.

I tried it with my black turtleneck but I may try it with a brighter color to make it contrast a bit more.

Currently this is sold out online. Think it will pop back sooner or later. I'm excited to check out the sale sections when I'm in Toronto. There are a few new stores and a factory store opened since I was home last. 

My First Ipsy Bag

Last month I signed up for Ipsy bag. Yes, another monthly beauty subscription box. I believe this one is fairly new to Canada so I'm very excited. It is US $14.95 per month.

My bag got stuck in transit for more than a week and I was so anxious to get it before Christmas. I wanted to be a surprise when I open it but my patience ran out and I browsed through the blogging world to find out what I will be getting. I think everybody is getting the same products. Not 100% sure but of all the bloggers I visited, we all got the same items.

Package comes in a very pretty hot pink bubble envelope

Inside is a ipsy makeup bag with my goodies and the product info card and some coupons

Products I'm getting:

Urban Decay glide-on eye pencil in zero(black)

MAI Couture highlighter paper

Mirabella Primer for face and eyes

NYX loose pearl shadow

Bombshell lip gloss in hot mess

I have tried Bombshell lip gloss before. It is pretty nice but quite sticky. I wasn't too thrilled to see the shade hot mess as it looks bright red which is a shade I wish I could wear. I tried a swatch and it is more of a coral red which I think I can pull off. Texture is still very sticky though.

Urban Decay glide on pencil

I'm very happy with this. I received one in my previous Loose Button boxes but it was in aqua blue. It is easy to glide on and stays on quite well. It smudges a little though. But aqua blue liner is not my color and I'm excited to get this in black.

Overall, I'm happy with my first Ipsy bag. I just hope they will keep up with the quality of their bags and I will definitely keep my subscription. I have subscribed to 3 other beauty boxes and cancelled after a short few months. I am looking for mostly high-end cosmetic items to try and the boxes disappointed me month after month with drug store brands. I accumulated more hair products than anything.

Blogger Day of Silence

Tarte Lipsurgence Trio Set from Hautelook

I have been browsing on Hautelook website for a while. They have deep discounted flash sales which last for a few days. This is the first time I bought from them and very happy with the delivery times as I heard the shipping time to Canada can take a long time.

There was a Tarte sale a few weeks ago and I am always curious about their lipsurgence set. They are basically lip tints. Sephora had a holiday set a while ago but sold out.

The set I got from Hautelook consist of 3 full-sized products

From L to R: Enchanted, Charmed & Joy

Enchanted is a deep rose color. Charmed is a soft baby pink. Joy is a frosty peach color.

From L to R: Joy, Charmed & Enchanted

From L to R: Enchanted, Charmed & Joy

They are full-sized products which retails for CAD $31 each. I got this set for $29. Pretty good deal. I just wish the shipping isn't that deep. 

This is very comparable to Revlon's Kissable balm stain. Very smooth and moisturizing to apply. Got a hint of menthol at application. This is more moisturizing than the Revlon's but not as long-lasting. Staying power is still impressive. As much as I love the Revlon's kissable balm stains, I just feel the choices of shades are not that great. These Tarte ones have much better color selection as I always like to layer this with lip sticks and lip gloss. 

Huge Lush Haul...Banning myself after this

Yes, I have done ANOTHER big Lush haul. It doesn't seem long since my last one. I do take baths 3-4 times a week. I thoroughly enjoy taking a hot relaxing bath at nite before bed. Lush bath products are certainly not cheap. I tell myself that constantly. I have tried other drug store brand bath products but they are not even close. 

All the products I got this time are bath products. Only one of them is a body butter.

I also got a Christmas gift set in this order as a gift. I picked this set as the receiver may take more showers than baths.  I got the Snow Fairy gift set which includes the snow fairy shower gel, a Shimmy Shimmy glitter bar and the Angel's Delight soap. 

I got the order from the North American Lush website. I believe I got a special on the shipping charge as I thought the shipping rate is by weight. I only paid $6 for shipping for this huge order.

Ok, let's get into what I got in this order: 

Top: Cinder Bath Bomb, Marzibain Bubble Bar

Bottom: Aqua Mirabillis Body Butter, another Marzibain Bubble Bar

These ones are re-purchases. I enjoy Cinder bath bomb so much. It is a smaller bath bomb which is the perfect size for one bath. I split the bigger size bomb into 2 usually and that requires a hammer and a screwdriver which is not as easy as it seems sometimes. Aqua Mirabillis body butter is my third body butter. The 2 Marzibain bubble bars are retro Christmas products and I love the Snowcake soap so much that I stocked up quite a bit on my last order. That would go perfect with this.

Top(from L to R): Golden Wonder Bath Bomb, Vanilla Fountain Bath Bomb, Ice Hotel Bubble Bar, Chirstmas Eve Bubble Bar

Bottom: North Pole Soap

The Golden Wonder bath bomb weighs heavy. There is a surprise in the middle when you shake it. It is going to be a treat for myself on Christmas day. The rest I believe are also limited Christmas products. North Pole soap is scented like cocoa and peppermint which I'm so excited about. 

Pop in the Bath Bubble Bar and MMM Melting Marshmallow Moment Bath Melt

I have been buying quite a bit of beauty and bath products in the last few months. It is so much fun to explore new products. But I am going to be put on a ban. I have accumulated a huge stack or pile to be exact that will last me for a while. I am putting this down in writing so that will help me in keeping my promise. I have also cancelled 2 more monthly subscription box service so I can use up my pile. The two I am keeping my subscriptions to are ipsy(myglam) and Topbox. 

Blog Anniversary Giveaway Winner is...........

Thank you so much for all who participated in my one year blog anniversary giveaway. We got a winner............

Using Random.org and the winner is:

Kelly A @SparkelsandShoes

p.s. Kelly, I have emailed you directly so please contact me with your address so I can send your prize out.

Last Day for Giveaway & CoverGirl Clump Crusher Mascara

*******Last day to enter my giveaway********

Got the new Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara a couple of weeks ago. Wanted to give this a try as I love their lash exact mascara and heard this one is very similar in the formula.

Believe this one is fairly new and of course I couldn't find it at my local drugstores and I got mine from ebay.

curved wand with pretty dense bristles

have a tighter opening to the tube of mascara

When you pull the wand out of the tube, run it up and down a few times so the "clunk" of excess mascara will be deposited at the opening of the tube instead of all onto the wand. The formula is very similar to the lash exact mascara which I love. I'm just wondering if this comes in a waterproof version. Waterproof ones are harder to remove at the end of the day but it is a drier formula and won't smudge so much on my lashes when I blink.

So far I'm quite liking this mascara. No clumps on the lashes and no smudges. I'm weird in using my mascara as I like drier formula and I find it always better when I open the tube for a while and let it go drier.

Have you tried this and what are your thoughts?

Sephora Haul

Placed a small order from Sephora. Seems like I'm getting a whole lot though since I'm redeeming my Beauty Insider points.

I have a few hundred points "burning in my pocket" for months. I want to redeem on items that I really want to try. Whenever I visit the stores, the 500 point gift just does not seem that attractive to me. So I started to "stalk" online as they have updated gifts pretty much on a weekly or bi-monthly basis.

LaVanila The Healthy Deordorant in Vanilla Grapefruit

Too Faced Beauty Editor Darlings Set

Too Faced 3-way Lash-lining Tool

Ever since I got my Too Faced Chocolate Solei bronzer, I have been very impressed by their product and decided to try more items.

The set includes: Lashgasm Mascara, Insurance Anti-crease eye shadow primer, gloss volumizing lip gloss, Insurance Smoothing Anti-Feathering Lip Primer and Primed & Poreless Skin Smoothing Face Primer

I have been using the Urban Decay Eye primer potion and am pretty happy with it. But you know, always want to branch out and try other brands. So decided on this set so I can try this and the face primer. My current face primer is the Benefit Pore-professional. 

This 3-way lash lining tool looks pretty interesting. Claims to do lash emphasizing, tight lining and eye-lining. So a 3-in-one tool.

You can flip the head the other way to have just dots. I think I will use that the most to just dot on the lower lash line to make my lashes look fuller. The staying power is pretty impressive. As I was just swatching, tried to see if it smudges and it doesn't. Need eye makeup remover to rub it off so hopefully it will stay put on my lash line as I have a bad habit of touching or rubbing my eyes.

My birthday gift, a mini-duo of the Fresh sugar lip balm

100 point gift: Lavanila Vanilla Perfume

500 point gift: Nars gift set which includes Blush in Orgasm, Velvet matte lip pencil, Pore refining primer & Smudge proof eyeshadow base

I have wanted to try the highly-raved orgasm blush for the longest time. I have accumulated so many blushes that I cannot justify in buying another high end blush. 

Mystery gift bag

They had a promo earlier. Mystery bag consists of 2 Sephora instant radiance foundation, bareMinerals eye brightener, Lancome La Base Pro, Sephora Outrageous volume mascara, Nars pure radiant tinted moisturizer & a perfume by Chloe

Quite happy with my mystery bag as it is always a joy to open up a free gift bag and see what goodies I'm getting. Most excited to try the Nars tinted moisturizer and the bareMinerals eye brightener, which hopefully can help with my dark circles underneath the eyes.

2 more days to enter my international giveaway

Just in case you haven't entered my international giveaway, you have 2 more days to do so.

Hope you all had a great weekend. We had a dump of snow on Sat and freezing rain this morning. I don't mind snow but freezing rain, it is such a dread. It is like a skating rink on the roads. Glad I don't have to go anywhere in particular today. It is so stressful with winter driving.

J Crew factory Charley sweater in dot in size S (buy here)

Personalized monogrammed necklace

My birthday is coming up and my good friend took me out for dinner on the weekend. I wore my factory Charley for the first time. I have the J. Crew tippi dot also and that one is of much better quality. This one is still nice and soft but I have a feeling piling may be inevitable. It is suggested to be hand-washed only.

China Glaze I Herd That

Tried my first glitter nail polish also. It is quite easy to apply and it takes no time to dry which surprised me.  I don't know why but I always thought that glittery polish is so hard to apply. I put on 2 coats and a top coat in this picture. However, only after 1 day of wear, it chips and part of the polish just came off in "sheets". Not sure if I applied it incorrectly? The thing about this polish is it is a drier formula and even part of my polish came off, I just reapplied some on the missing part and it is quite ok.

Covergirl Lip Perfection Jumbo Gloss Balm

I have been loving Revlon's Kissable Lip Stains. I got almost all the shades but I want one with a warmer brownish tone. Unfortunately they don't have the shade. Last week when HauteLook had a special on Tarte lipsurgence. I got a set. It is the first time I bought from Hautelook and heard their shipping is not the fastest. So don't think I will get the set any time soon.

I was at Shoppers Drug Mart this morning and was browsing their cosmetic display. Came across the new Covergirl Lip Perfection Jumbo Gloss Balm.

The packaging is very similar to the Revlon Kissable Lip Stain

The shade I got is 265. I believe it is the shade of Cocoa Twist. I recall seeing the names on the display but cannot find it anywhere on the lip balm itself.

It is a warm chocolate shade

Here is a swatch

It glides on very easily. It is a glossy balm, not a stain. So I would expect it to be very moisturizing, just like the Revlon's Lip butter maybe? I just got it and applied it an hour ago. Still very moisturizing on my lips. But will report back how the staying power is later on.