ColourPop Pressed Powder Shadow Palettes in Golden State of Mind & Semi-Precious, from Sephora Canada (November 2017)

Haulage! Sephora × ColourPop (November 2017)

2017-11-032017-11-03 fivezero9 Comments

I’m just a little bit addicted to ColourPop’s palettes, now. When Sephora Canada started carrying a small selection of ColourPop on Halloween, I couldn’t help myself and ordered both of the new eyeshadow palettes, Golden State of Mind and Semi-Precious.

They run a bit more expensive (CA$33) than the usual ColourPop Pressed Powder Shadow Palettes (US$16), with some caveats:

Regular palettes contain 12 × 0.85 g shadows (10.2 g total); Golden State of Mind contains 15 × 1 g (15 g total) shadows, and Semi-Precious contains 8 × 2 g shadows (16 g total).
This works out to the regular palettes costing US$1.52/g, and, using the current exchange rate of 1 CA$ = 0.78 US$, Golden State of Mind costing US$1.72/g and Semi-Precious costing US$1.61/g.

I don’t think this works out too badly, all things considered. It sure is better than ordering directly from ColourPop, having to wait longer for it to arrive, and paying customs charges (ColourPop products are made in the USA, so I haven’t had to pay duties). I made sure to use Ebates Canada, too.

Anyway, I know the big November VIB sale is coming up, but for some reason I felt like I just had to order these now (I don’t even think they’re limited edition, are they?).

fivezero's Ipsy Glam Bag "Like. A. Boss.", September 2017

Ipsy — September 2017 Glam Bag “Like. A. Boss.”

2017-09-212017-10-17 fivezero2 Comments

Before I start with my September Glam Bag, I just wanted to provide an update on my missing Ipsy bag from August. When August 23 rolled around, I noticed that Landmark tracking said it was delivered on the 17th but I had never received it. I contacted Ipsy and they immediately sent out a new bag for me, which arrived by the end of the month. I was super happy with their customer service—the bag was exactly what I was supposed to get, except for an item from theBalm which they replaced with a different item from the same brand. I will have to save the extra items for a giveaway.

Well, it turns out that earlier this month, my original Ipsy bag arrived! So much for Landmark’s tracking, huh? (I’ve had an issue with them before on a Julep order—Julep were similarly wonderful and quickly sent a new package; the original has never turned up.) I’d never heard of this Landmark company until this year; suddenly I’m getting more packages from the US handled by them. They also never responded to my inquiries regarding my lost Julep package. Hrmph.

Anyway, September’s Ipsy Glam Bag (referral link) arrived in good time (well, the 19th, which is a little later than usual but I did have a points redemption item in the mix, too).

Ipsy September 2017 Glam Bag: “Like. A. Boss.”

Image: ipsy.com

What I Redeemed Points For

ColourPop × Amanda Steele Pressed Powder Shadow Palette in Weekend Warrior (4 × 1.5 g full size; US$18 and recently discontinued) [750 pts]

What I Received

Beauty For Real I-LINE 24-7 Eyeliner in Champagne Buzz (0.28 g full size; US$14)
ColourPop Lippie Stix in Ipsy-exclusive shade Glam Bag (1 g full size; US$5)
E Nature Birch Juice Hydro Sleeping Pack (12 mL sample; 75 mL for US$28 at Sokoglam, plus 20% off code below or at official US site)
Pretty Woman Nail Polish in Girl Boss, formerly known as Cherry Bean (10 mL full size; US$7.99)
Smashbox Photo Finish Primer in Radiance (0.25 oz; 1 oz for US$39)
Ipsy makeup bag

Glam Bag Cost

$10 + $4.99 (shipping to Canada) = US$14.99

Total Bag Value

$14 + $5 + $4.48 + $7.99 + $9.75 = US$41.22

Pretty typical value this month. I gotta say I’m pretty happy that the Canadian dollar has been moving up against the US dollar, lately! Whee!

fivezero’s Ipsy September 2017 Glam Bag

Image: ipsy.com

Ipsy Coupon Codes

Beauty For Real: 20% off any purchase with code IPSY20 (through 10/31/2017)
Pretty Woman: 30% off any purchase with code PWGLAM (through 10/31/2017; US & CA only)
Sokoglam: 20% off any purchase with code IPSTERS (through 10/09/2017; one-time use only)

There were no codes for my ColourPop and Smashbox items, so here are a couple of other good ones I saw:

Catrice: 25% off any purchase with code IPSY25 (through 10/31/2017; US only)
Ciaté: 30% off any purchase with code IPSTER (through 10/31/2017; US & CA only)

Here are some more detailed product shots:

fivezero's ColourPop haulage, She Palette (July 2017)

Haulage! ColourPop — She Palette (July 2017)

2017-08-032017-08-03 fivezero18 Comments

I actually have some older ColourPop haulage to post (I’ve only posted Part I) but my newest order just arrived, and I wanted to share it since I got the new She Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette from the Karrueche Fem Rosa collection!

I have some comments on Canadian customs below; you can skip it if you’re not interested!

Alas, I have gotten dinged by Canadian customs on a ColourPop order for the first time. It makes sense, since this is the first time I’ve gone with free international shipping with a US$50+ order. All other orders that avoided customs were placed during ColourPop’s unlimited free international shipping promo in the spring, during which I placed several orders but kept each one around US$30 in value.

On the positive side, customs saw that since ColourPop products are all made in the USA—thanks to ColourPop for the huge “MADE IN LA” printed on the side of each box!—they are duty-free because of NAFTA, and my total customs charge consisted of Canada Post’s handling fee (CA$9.99) and sales tax (CA$8.09, 13% HST in Ontario on the US$50/CA$62.22 order value).

Now I’m starting to wonder whether it makes more sense to just keep ColourPop orders to Canada at about US$30, and pay the $10 shipping fee. The only reason not to do this is if Canadian customs doesn’t always catch everything—then it might be worth the gamble. Guaranteed US$10 fee, or chance of ~CA$18 fee? I actually have a second US$50 order arriving soon from ColourPop (the Yes, Please! palette came back in stock, and I couldn’t help myself, what with the Canadian dollar rising!), so I’ll eventually have two data points to help me make a future decision. Another option, of course, is to just make one massive ColourPop order—the Canada Post handling fee remains the same regardless of order value, and then it’s just a percentage sales tax that has to be paid.

Anyway, enough about Canadian online shopping issues!

Here’s the haulage:

She (Fem Rosa, Karrueche, Summer 2017) Palette, Pressed Powder Shadow × 12
Summer Solstice (Summer 2017) Foursome, Super Shock Shadow × 4
Gemini by Night (Sonya Esman, Spring 2017) Palette, Pressed Powder Shadow × 4
Pressed Powder Shadow in Board Shorts (Metallic)

Photos follow:

ColourPop Summer 2017 Nail Polish fairy collection

New Release: ColourPop — Fairy Nail Polish (Summer 2017)

2017-06-292017-06-29 fivezero20 Comments

Collection: ColourPop 2017 Summer, Fairy

ColourPop is finally bringing out some nail polish! This summer, they’re releasing a limited edition (bah!) collection of six fairy-inspired colors.

The six new shades are (my descriptions based on official photos):

Be Fairy Afraid (soft pink cream)
Dust a Dream (faded mint cream)
First Wings First (lavender cream)
I Wand It That Way (champagne-pink iridescent shimmer)
One Wish, Two Wish (charcoal holographic shimmer)
Pixie-lated (turquoise cream)

I’m a teeny bit disappointed that they’re basically not all shimmers (I mean, pastel creams are a dime a dozen, right?) but it’s still a cohesive and very pretty collection.

The bottles are cute and very ColourPop! I kind of wish their logo was more prominent instead of the sideways “polish”, though.

Be Fairy Afraid

Dust a Dream

First Wings First

I Wand It That Way

One Wish, Two Wish

Pixie-lated

The polishes launch on July 7, 2017, and retail for US$6 each.

I, for one, will be saving up my clams for I Wand It That Way, One Wish, Two Wish, and Pixie-lated (oh, who am I kidding? I want them all!). I just hope ColourPop will have produced enough to meet what will surely be very high demand!

Happy Shopping!

[Images via ColourPop]

fivezero's ColourPop haulage (June 2017)

Haulage! ColourPop — Pressed Powder Shadows (June 2017)

2017-06-20 fivezero7 Comments

So, back in May, ColourPop ran this amazing promotion that offered all of their eyeshadows at 3/$10 (really it ended up being 3/$9.99), plus a free mini Ultra Satin Lip for every $20 spent, plus—and this was the real kicker for me—free international shipping on all orders.

You see, while ColourPop do offer free shipping to Canada on orders of $50 and up, this is still not that great for Canadians. Not ColourPop’s fault, of course! They’re awesome for even offering free shipping to Canada, at all!

The issue is that Canada charges duties on imports which value a measly CA$20 and up, which is about US$15 at the moment. By comparison, the US exempts duties for imports valued at $800 and under.

This means that for Canadians, a US$50 / CA$66.67 order will likely end up getting charged $10 for Canada Post’s handling, plus tax, which for me in Ontario would be 13%, around $8.71. Also, if customs don’t notice that ColourPop’s products are all made in the US, and therefore eligible for NAFTA, they might tack on an additional duty of around $5. That means a US$50 order just became CA$66.67 + CA$23.71 = CA$90.38 (or US$67.79). Stinks, right?

But Canadian customs officers are busy, so they don’t bother to charge on every single package that comes through (though I have heard that more packages are getting stopped due to an ongoing fentanyl problem). So, packages with values around US$20 are less likely to be stopped and charged.

I got super excited about finally being able to order from ColourPop without being charged an arm and a leg for shipping and duties—and to top it off, ColourPop was running a fab sale!—so I placed four separate orders, ranging in value from US$22 to $35. I was lucky and not one of them got hit for duties. Phew!

ColourPop’s packages always arrive in adorable-on-the-inside boxes, and the contents are securely wrapped. My kids are enjoying playing around with the colorful boxes. (Boxes are better than toys any day, right?)

My orders included a combination of Super Shock Shadows, Pressed Powder Shadows, and Ultra Lips in various finishes.

This post just covers the Pressed Powder Shadows. I picked up thirteen shades:

Backseat (Metallic, deepened aquamarine)
Ego (Metallic, rosy taupe)
High Strung (Metallic, dusty rose)
Locked and Loaded (Matte, pale yellow)
Made to Last (Matte, neutral mauve)
Pebbles (Satin, yellowy pink)
Pinky Promise (Metallic, wine)
Play by Play (Metallic, duochrome peach with a green gold flip)
Ringer (Metallic, warm champagne)
Sauvage (Metallic, duochrome peach with a hot pink flip)
Sideline (Metallic, duochrome eggplant with a green flip)
Take a Break (Metallic, duochrome peach with a subtle gold flip)
Up and Up (Metallic, duochrome teal with a green flip)

Sale Alert: ColourPop 3 for $10 Eyeshadows & Free International Shipping

2017-05-062017-05-08 fivezero16 Comments

ColourPop is currently offering free international shipping on all orders!

Plus, eyeshadows (Super Shock, Pressed Powder, and Pigments) are 3 for $10! Really they’re 3 for $9.99, because each eyeshadow shows up as $3.33 once you’ve put a multiple of 3 shadows in your cart.

PLUS! Each $20 purchase also earns you a free mini Ultra Satin Liquid Lip (choice of 5 shades), and every additional $10 gets another mini.

There are a few ColourPop shadows (Birthday Boy, Cricket, Lace, Partridge, and So Quiche) in my collection and I love them dearly, so I was way too excited about adding to my collection now that shipping to Canada is free for a limited time.

I placed two orders (hoping to avoid duties with two lower-value packages), each containing 10 eyeshadows. Since the shadows were 3/$9.99, I ended up having to add one extra small purchase—another eyeshadow at $5—to get the order over $30 so I’d get the second bonus lippie.

I didn’t actually plan on ordering a second round, but I took another gander at the site several hours later and noticed that two shadows I’d initially wanted (Bae and Play by Play) came back in stock! So…I ordered again!

My only disappointment was that there didn’t seem to be a free 4-pan eyeshadow palette added for each 4 Pressed Powder Shadows I ordered. Oh well, I guess I didn’t buy new empty palettes for nothing.

Here are the items I ordered (combined). I didn’t go for any pigments since the colors didn’t appeal to me, and they all seem to be marked “not intended for use in the immediate eye area”.

[EDIT 2017-05-07: Um, I placed a third order. Got the fifth free Mini Ultra Satin Liquid Lip in Dopey. I’ve added ColourPop’s color descriptions to all shades, as well.]

ColourPop haulage June 2016, Super Shock Shadows in Cricket, Lace, Partridge, So Quiche, Birthday Boy; Lippie Stix in Chateau (Matte X), Lady (Matte)

Haulage! ColourPop (June 2016)

2016-07-132017-07-01 fivezero10 Comments

I’ve been wanting to try ColourPop for a while, now (thanks to bloggers like A Brash Attitude with all her gorgeous eyeshadow swatches!), and when I recently had the opportunity to have US parcels brought up to me in Canada, I finally placed a little order for the first time.

ColourPop, sadly, don’t do nail polish, but I snagged a few eyeshadows and a couple of lipsticks.

Coincidentally, right before I received my parcel, my Ipsy bag arrived with a ColourPop eyeliner, which technically became my first ColourPop product:

ColourPop Creme — ColourPop Crème Gel Liner in Get Paid.

Rose gold in an eyeliner! Swoon.

ColourPop on their Crème Gel Liners [MSRP US$6]:

Creamy application makes blending super easy, and the formula dries down for long-lasting wear! Because the liner is so creamy, do not over advance your liner to prevent breakage. For blending and smoky looks, use a pencil brush. Smooth glide for easy and comfortable waterline application.

And, here’s the unpacking of my ColourPop order—the inside of the box is so pretty!