What's in my Shower Tag!

I didn't get tagged from anyone in particular, in fact, I didn't even know this was a tag until I Googled it right now.  I just was thinking that it would make a cool post and then thought about it every time I was taking a shower, and then promptly forgot again as soon as I got out.  But then I was taking pictures of my lips for the Topbox swatches from last post and was reminded, had my phone out for pictures, and had just cleaned my tub!

Not that you even see pictures of my tub..lol.

Soooo, without further ado, here is what is in my shower (and my thoughts on the products).

So, here's a list of everything and then I'll break it down individually with pictures of each: Fructis Anti-Dandruff Dry Scalp Shampoo, Just Bee Natural Quenched Pomegrante Shampoo, Balea Everyday Moisture Conditioner, Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake 3 in 1, Vasanti Brighten Up Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator, Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleaning System Brush, Dove Sensitive Skin Soap, Irish Spring Original Soap, Bath Pouf from The Body Shop, Random Hair clip.

And here's the lowdown:

Fructis Anti-Dandruff, Dry Scalp Formulation
- This is hubby's shampoo, though I use it occasionally when I want a good stripping shampoo since it's anti-dandruff and has sulfates in it.  He doesn't really have a problem with dandruff, but I bought this when he was getting a bit flakey and it's a super 700mL one and he doesn't use copious amounts since his hair is short so it's lasting a long time.  I picked the dry scalp version because the regular one had a lot of sulfate based detergents in it (like more than one listed) and this one only has one I think, so I thought it would be a bit less harsh that way.  It was on sale at Shoppers for $3.97 or something ridiculous like that, so I got that.  I think that was like in February...man...it has lasted a long time.  I only remember because we got it from the one beside his dentist and we only went there in Feb because his tooth was hurting.

Just Bee Natural Quenched Shampoo
- I don't know if the brand is "Just Natural" or "Just Bee Natural" because it has a Bee and not the word.  But on the back it says "Bee Natural, Bee Beautiful, Just Bee" so I assume the brand includes the word?  Anyway...this shampoo is mine.  It is SLS, Paraben free, etc etc.  I don't care so much for all the "naturally sourced" claims for shampoos, but I tend to just look for a sulfate free shampoo that smells good.  This one lathers well even without the sulfates so I am pleased with that.  It smells really good too.  I had to choose between this and the coconut scent they had, but went with this because hubby doesn't really like coconut.  This smells fruity but not artificially so.  It is gentle, which is good because I lather rinse and repeat usually.  I also have used this to clean my makeup brushes last cleaning and it worked well for that as well.  I got this for $6.99 at Superstore and it wasn't on sale, so I would likely purchase this again because it's reasonably priced for 700mL.

Balea Everyday Moisture Conditioner
- I don't use conditioner every time I shower because my hair isn't as damaged as it was before and was a conditioner junky. I actually bought this on our honeymoon because I had thought the hotel would have given us conditioner as well as shampoo but they just had shampoo and I still had my super damaged hair.  It was on clearance at Shoppers for $1.97 which was also ridiculous.  It is a decent conditioner, it does use silicones though so if you're not into that then don't use it.  It is a lighter conditioner though even with the 'cones.  I probably could use it everyday and not have it weigh down my hair, but I prefer a little argan oil styling serum after my shower instead of the conditioner in my shower.  I do have a problem with the packaging though...it takes a lot of force to squeeze it out, and it's getting worse for that because it's getting emptier.  The plastic is kinda hard and un-squeezable at the top and if you squeeze the bottom it just moves to the top because there is less resistance there than to go out the valve.  I likely would not buy this again unless it was on clearance again. Oh, and the reddish stains on it are from when I dyed my hair (I mixed some conditioner in with the dye and got dye on the bottle).

Happy Birthday Beautiful gift from Sephora Beauty Insider program

Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake 3 in 1 shampoo, shower gel, bubble bath

- This was last year's (2011) birthday gift from Sephora, but I started using it this year (since birthday is in October I get it near the end of the year).  I mostly use it as a bodywash/shower gel sort of thing if I want to smell yummy for some reason, or just randomly throughout the week.  I have used it as shampoo on occasion, but it does have sulfates in it so I don't like it as shampoo.  It smells delicious though.  This was the 2nd time I got bodywash from the birthday gift thinger...but this sample size is GIANT compared to the first one.  So I am pleased with that.  I don't think I would buy this again because the full size product is $21 at Sephora, but I might buy a sample set with this selection in the set?  I don't buy bath stuff that often though because I either get some as a gift or I just use soap.

Vasanti Brighten Up Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator

- I got this as a sample in October's Topbox and at first I didn't like it.  It seemed too rough on my skin.  But I think it might have been that day or something I had sensitive skin because since then it has been okay.  I like the fineness of the grit in it for exfoliating.  I like that it has chemical exfoliation from the enzymes (papaya and something else) as well as the mechanical exfoliation from the grittiness.  However, I don't think I'll buy this in full size ever mostly because I have the next product.

Olay Pro-X Brush

- I have had this for over a year and it is still awesome.  I can use it daily and it's not too rough, and for extra good exfoliation I can use any scrub first and then use that overtop to rub the scrub in.  lol, rub the scrub.  Mine is a little stained because of hair dye and using it too close to my hairline while rinsing out hair dye.  I just use it on the fast speed and so I like that it remembers which speed you're on when you turn it off.  Really that's just switches remaining in place, but I pretend that it is remembering my preference.  I recommend this to anyone who wants something to exfoliate without being a harsh scrub...or just anyone.  I don't know how it compares to the Clarisonic, cuz I don't own one and have never tried one, but I can't imagine it being that different really.  I especially like that it can go over my nose stud and not rip it out like a cloth would, yet get all around it unlike my fingers with a scrub.  I think I got mine with a coupon while on sale for like $27 or something from Pharma Plus...and it comes with a little chemical exfoliator lotion thing which I liked as well but the full size is like $25 or something so I didn't buy it when I ran out of sample.

Last little Bits here:

Dove Sensitive Skin Soap

- I bought this a while back for some reason, and just recently found it in the box again while cleaning out some drawer...so I used it.  I used to have The Body Shop soap in Olive, which I liked as well.  I prefer soap and a pouf to bodywash and a pouf generally...because it is waaaay cheaper.  I likely won't buy this soap for a while because I got 4 soaps from the Body Shop for free for my birthday this year.  So I don't need soap for a while.  I also have a backlog of like Dial and Lever 2000 or whatever it's called.  Soaps I bought for some trip and then never used after that trip.

Irish Spring Original Soap

- This is hubby's.  He has always used Irish Spring Original.  The only time he hasn't was when they didn't have any at the store and so we had to get Irish Spring Aloe soap, which he said smelled girly.  Silly boy.  I like that he sticks to the same thing though and so Irish Spring soap smells like my Man.  I don't use it though obviously.  Maybe once in a blue moon where I am out of my soap and body wash at the same time.

Body Shop Pouf

- Got this with a set of Olive scented stuff including a scrub, soap, and bodywash.  I like this pouf because it has a fabric loop for hanging.  However, it is starting to come apart from the centre so there is one section that I can stretch out fully.  But it serves it's purpose.  I am not picky about poufs.  Just no sponges please.

Random Hair Clip

- This is a remnant of when I had long hair.  I would put conditioner in my hair and then clip it up off my body so I could wash my body and let the conditioner sit.  It also helps not getting conditioner on your back to help prevent bacne.  However, my hair is short now and this is useless...just haven't taken it out of the shower.  It is probably rusted.  

So that's it folks.  Not very exciting.  More exciting than some people's who just have shampoo and soap though.  If you wanna do the tag, then do it! It's fun!

TTFN

- Becka

My Favourite Lipsticks: In my Collection

I used to not wear lipstick.  I had like...a billion lip balms and glosses (maybe that's an exaggeration...lol but at one point I had 8 lipglosses in my pencil case at school).  I never got into them until after I got really into more intense makeup.  It helped that it looked a lot better whenever I had unnatural coloured hair.

But lately I have been wanting to try more colours and wearing lipstick more often, and trying to venture out of my comfort zone of sheer barely there colours into more substantial lipsticks.  So I have been buying some here and there and this is my collection.

Two Month Waiting List....

Is apparently what there is at Sephora in my city for buying the Urban Decay Naked palette.  It's so friggin popular man.  I was gonna go get one there tomorrow, but my friend went and let me know how long the waitlist is and then informed me of this wonderful little tidbit of knowledge: The Shoppers Drug Mart near one of the malls has them in stock in store.  Yay!

They had like 5 in stock...I dunno how more people don't know of this..haha. I felt so sneaky getting it.  First of all a Shoppers that carries Urban Decay! Most of the ones near me have Benefit, Smashbox, Lancome, Stila, and Clinique and some other high end stuff in their Beauty Boutique section, but I haven't seen one with an Urban Decay til today.  So yay for both Naked palette with no wait, and also Shoppers Optimum points! Boo Yeah!

I will be patient and wait til tomorrow to try it though as I just washed all my brushes.  I finished my eye drops last night and since starting them my eyes have only watered when I am yawning lots, or sneezing lots, or if like sweat gets in them (which happens a lot more than one would expect apparently...lol).  No random out of the blue watering so yay. Healed! I can wear makeup again!  

I already threw out most of the stuff I know I had used when I was infected...and I am keeping one or two that I used maybe once and not actually on the watery parts or near the watery parts of my eyes (crease use only) just because it's a shame to throw out a barely used Urban Decay Graffiti.  But, I am uber excited to start building up my collection again. Yay. 

Review: Sigma Round Top Kabuki Brush

Taken from Sigma's Website

OMG. I Love this brush.  Love is such a weak word for it actually. I have tried applying liquid foundation in several different ways, and while I found that each foundation usually has the best way to apply it, everyone else seemed to have awesome possum time using a duo-fibre brush and that made them all flawless and glowy. Well not so for me.  I have tried duo-fibre stippling brushes and either I did it completely wrong or it's just wrong for me because it didn't look good at all.  Or it would look okay for 5 mins and then suddenly get cakey (a habit I have with foundation in general though).  I have tried regular foundation brushes, fingers, sponges, damp sponges, stippling, buffing, other kabukis, etc.  None worked as well as this Sigma brush.  The closest was a damp sponge but that only worked with my Revlon Colorstay.  

This brush, using it to just buff on my liquid foundation is like I am just brushing away impefections with a magic brush and I don't even have foundation on.  

The bristles are super soft and unbelievably dense.  The handle is a good size, not awkwardly long, and not short like traditional kabukis.  It looks all sleek and sophisticated. It is totally my favourite brush in my collection. I think I may order the angled top for using with blush/bronzer.  Or even splurge and order the set and either have a backup round top or give it a friend as a gift.  I love this brush so much.

I haven't washed it yet, but I imagine it is going to be a bit difficult because the fibres are so dense.

I hope sigma uses these bristles for other brushes.  I can see an eyeshadow brush being really awesome with such soft dense synthetic bristles.

Seriously, go buy this brush. It is so awesome, and only $16 bucks.

GO NOW! lol..jk.

Bye!

Mini-Haul

I finally paid off all my credit card debt and now I just owe my parents money for them paying some tuition for college, so I finally have some spending money that is guilt free.  I have a steady income and most of it is saving right now so I have been spending it as well for stuff I need/want.  Here are some purchases!

I have gone on a bit of a nail polish rampage...I wasn't allowed to wear it during clinic or outreaches for school so I could only wear it weekends really and now that I am done school and a) my nails have grown a lot since I Haven't been massaging lately and b) I no longer have to be polish free when I work...I have bought and worn a lot more colours.  However, I am mega impatient and can't be arsed to wait around while polish dries.  I find it takes enough time to even paint your nails in a proper manner that when they have been painted I immediately get bored and want to do stuff, thus usually ruining my polish.  So, I love quick dry polish.  I love the new line from Wet'nWild the "fastdry" line.  They last alright, sure they chip, but no more than any other polish I have and less than some of the crappier brands so yay. And for less than $3 each that's pretty good. I have 4 colours from them:

"gray's anatomy"

This one is a duochrome or whatever, looks greyish in some lights and purplish or pinkish in others and somestimes even green, photos are crap quality from my phone. 

(I ripped of the label so no name lol)

This one was the initial purchase because it's soooo bright blue and I fell in love.

"teal of fortune"

Can't see this one too great but it's a lovely teal shade, very mermaidy, however it stains your nails.

"sage in the city"

This is sorta the green I want my wedding colour to be, yay. 

Here are a couple not from that line:

I love this one too, called "grey matter" as you can see.  Good creamy finish with no shimmer.

"night prowl"

A different WetnWild.  Do NOT buy.  I had to put like 4 coats on to get to the opacity I wanted and while putting more coats on it kinda move the sparkles around as you're brushing so it's hard to get it even.  Finally when it's opaque enough it's the same colour as my other dark purpley reds.  

Other purchases

Test Drive: Tresemme Waterless Foam Shampoo

I think I saw a commercial about Tresemme Dry Shampoo and I wanted some, but I couldn't find it in the store when I was randomly browsing so I got this instead.  So I thought I would do a play by play and first-time thoughts on the product for you readers out there.

Photo taken from the Tresemme website 

It cost about $6 here in Canada and it's hilarious to me because it's called "waterless" but the first ingredient is water.  They mean rinseless...but it's still funny.

This seems like an awesome product for me because I tend to get sweaty-head at night and wake up the next day after a really nice hair day with some greasy roots and pouffy ends and it's annoying to use baby powder or corn starch to dry it up and then style and the you get the weird powdery feeling on your head.  So I thought I would give it a go.  I wore my hair up today because of the greasies...so this is my starting look.

 Oh yeah! Hehe...So the instructions say to take 2-3 pumps and distribute throughout hair.  So I did the 2-3 pumps...

Not a lot, honestly.  It ran out quick, so I put in approx 6-8 pumps worth.  However, I think I did too much honestly because I don't think you're supposed to saturate the hair at all, just work it through as best you can.

Then you're supposed to towel it off.  The back of the container makes it seem like you put it in and towel dry right away, but the site says to put it in, let it sit, then pat dry.  So I think you'd just experiment to find out which works.

This is where I speculated that I put too much in because it wasn't towelling dry at all...just...towelling.  I got the same effect as if I had just done a quick water/shampoo/rinse of my root area, which defeats the purpose of the "waterless" foam if it's like a shower in a can basically and I have to dry my hair still.  I shall try next time using less.

Final result...wet roots.  Not what I had envisioned.  However, they are drying now (30 mins later) and they feel a lot softer and cleaner than before I did this, and it smells lovely.  Very fresh-scented.  I have hopes of it working better when I follow the 2-3 pumps only...I'll keep you updated.

- Love, Becka

My trip to Sally's!

So the other day I searched on google for Beauty Supply stores in my hometown and I got a few weirdo places and one that seemed okay so I checked that out on monday and it seemed smallish with not that many types of hairdye.  So I was a bit bummed but whatever.  So I check online on Sally's and maybe I can order stuff? Nope, it's US shipping only for the time being.  Ugh...so I store locate for nearest one thinking I might cross the border sometime in the near future and...lo and behold, there's one near my neighbourhood! Yay.

So I bus there (worst bus ever....the driver kept braking at random times and drove probably like 60kmh in the 90kmh bus only zone...).  It's amazing! I've never been to a beauty supply store before but I am totally going to go there often I think.  Esp if I am going to be dying my hair again regularly.  I got their club card because it was only $5 for the whole year...

My Nail Polish Collection (Thus Far)

So I was thinking about doing this for a while, but never got around to it.  I kinda was going to do it alongside my makeup collection post, but that never happened lol.  So when I saw Leah do this, I was reminded of it and since I have the weekend off and nothing to do...haha, I thought I'd go for it! 

Here's how I store them.  They're all just jumbled into a basket on my bottom shelf near my desk for easy access.

Review: Avon Smooth Minerals Lip Tint

Photo taken from the Avon.com website. 

Brand: Avon

Name: Smooth Minerals Lip Tint

Colour: I have this in "Smooth Nude" and "Smooth Shimmer"

Cost: The website says they're $3.49 at the moment.  I think that's about right.  I actually got them because my Mommy decided to buy them for me.  Thanks Mom!

What I liked: I love the smoothness of them.  They definitely live up to their name.  They are pretty sheer but still give some colour.  The Shimmer one is like a nice cross between a gloss and a balm IMO, and the Nude one is darker than what I would call nude but it still is close to my natural lip colour and works well.  I like the packaging, reminds me of the Softlips balms.  They go on smooth, they make your lips feel nice and they've got minerals in them which are nice. 

What I disliked: The smell isn't all that great.  It's certainly not horrible or strong, but it could do with some sort of yummy scent rather than a waxy scent.  I also had trouble putting the product down in the tube.  It goes up fine, but it took a bit to get it to go back down which could be a problem if you put it up too high.  Also I notice in the ingredients it's not exactly groundbreaking in substances...just your basic oils/waxes/etc.  And it may contain carmine which if you're against that sort of thing then this is no good.  I would think only the Berry shade though would have it, but you never know.

Would I buy this product again: Probably, but I am sure there are other products that can give you the same results so it's not something I would rush to get.

Sunny NOTD + Earrings!

I had the day off today semi-unexpectedly because my one work called yesterday and said a few people had cancelled so there wasn't any use for me to come in.  Kinda sad but that's how the industry goes.  So I've had a relatively boring day with the hilight being going to Best-Buy to get a new mouse.  My mouse decided to stop clicking.  My dad tried to fix it but it still takes a lot of force to click the mouse and occasionally it doesn't work.  My computer is slow enough without having to deal with a touchy mouse so I shelled out the $21 to get a new optical mouse. 

On to the nails! I tried a few days ago to paint them yellow in the sun, but quick drying nailpolish + heat from the sun + wind = dries way too fast = sticky lumpy mess.  So I tried again today and I love the result.  I used a combo of 2 layers of Sally Hansen Instadri in Lightening and Claire's brand nailpolish from the non-neon rainbow set.

The SH gives the opacity, but it's a creme colour so it's hard to get it perfectly even without doing 3+ coats which is ridiculous, so I put the Claire's on top because it has a bit of shimmer which helps smooth over imperfections, plus it added more of a Taxicab yellow as the SH is a bit too light for what I like.

My *realistic* summer wishlist.

So I got the job! Yay! And to celebrate I already bought new mascara (L'oreal Voluminous, which seems to be everyone's favourite).  In other good news I went to my job-that-I-already-had today and my boss was in and told me that she was pretty sure I would be getting around 20hrs a week there this summer unless it was super slow at times.  This means that with both jobs I should be averaging around 30 hrs a week, which isn't full full time, but it will get my needs met.

So that means shopping!

I need to make goals of paying off my credit cards so I don't end up just spending most of my paycheck and then wondering why I have no money.  So I thought I should make a wishlist.  A realistic wishlist.  I have a separate wishlist for if I am able to pay off everything and have loads of excess cash, haha.

So here goes...

Review: Shimmer Strips by Physician's Formula

I've had this product for a while now and I go through periods of not using it, and then using it almost daily and then not using it again. 

Brand: Physician's Formula
Name: Shimmer Strips custom bronzer, blush and eyeshadow
Colour: Vegas Strip (Light Bronze)
Cost: I got mine on sale for about $12 I think
What I liked: This makes an excellent everyday eyeshadow.  The lighter shades are great for hilighting both eyes and face and the darker shades match well with them for crease work or allover lid colour.  There was a time where I wore the 2nd lightest shade all over my eyes every day with the darkest shade in the crease.  Everyday.  The texture is easy to blend and it is very shimmery.  There is also a lot of bang for your buck, especially if you use it as eyeshadow.  This has lasted forever and I have barely made a dent.
What I disliked: I find it overly shimmery for using as a bronzer.  I only use it as a hilight.  The colour payoff isn't that intense because it is so shimmery.  Even the darkest shade comes out light because of the shimmer.
Would I buy this product again: Yes, I don't think I can even get to the bottom of this though, but if I did, I would totally buy it again.  I would like to check out the other colours perhaps as well.

Ps: I think it would make a nice body shimmer for a night out too.  Just take a big fluffy brush to your collarbones, decolletage, etc.

So This is Where I'm At...

I realize this is kinda silly because I plan to go to the warehouse sale again and buy a bunch more makeup tomorrow, so I'll have to update again with more pics, but oh well.  I just spent the last hour taking pictures of my makeup and sorting through and throwing out a bunch (mostly lip stuff and nail polish).  So here is my stash!