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?).

New Release: Julep — Collection (August 2017)

2017-07-202017-07-20 fivezero4 Comments

Collection: Julep 2017 August, Julep 2017, Zodiac

Julep’s August 2017 collection consists of five new—and two re-released—duochrome metallics. And, of course, the latest addition to their 2017 Zodiac collection is a new shade for the sign of Leo (July 23–August 22).

(If you’re unfamiliar with the Julep Maven boxes, check out this review of my first ever Julep box!)

Here are all the new shades and products:

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)

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Black and Blue layered over Tropic Thunder, swatch

Sally Hansen — Black and Blue (Complete Salon Manicure) Swatch & Review

2016-11-142017-05-08 fivezero5 Comments

Brand: Sally Hansen

Don’t be fooled by the swatch above! Today’s shade is Black and Blue (580) from Sally Hansen’s Complete Salon Manicure line, and it’s actually a very sheer topper. The photo above shows one coat of Black and Blue over two coats of Tropic Thunder, a vampy blue cream from the same product line.

Here’s the bottle of Black and Blue. It’s a very sheer, light teal blue shimmer with purple iridescence. Gorgeous, right?

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Black and Blue.

It’s also sheer as heck, which makes it a fine topper, but don’t buy it thinking it’s going to look just like it does in the bottle. Here it is, alone, with two coats:

China Glaze — Pondering (Nail Lacquer) Swatch & Review

2015-09-302017-07-19 fivezero14 Comments

Collection: China Glaze 2015 Fall, The Great Outdoors

Welp, my low-buy’s not going that great! I spotted a slew of colors from China Glaze’s new fall collection, The Great Outdoors, at Winners and decided to pick up…several. This is the first China Glaze collection I’ve been wowed by for some time now! I got Cabin Fever, Check Out the Silver Fox, Free Bear Hugs, Pondering, Sleeping Under the Stars, and Wood You Wanna?

Pondering (82708) is a shimmery iridescent that shifts from purple to indigo blue to teal green. Check out this shot of the bottle’s base:

China Glaze — Cabin Fever (Nail Lacquer) Swatch & Review

2015-09-252017-07-19 fivezero20 Comments

Collection: China Glaze 2015 Fall, The Great Outdoors

Cabin Fever (82713) is one of a few iridescent polishes in this collection. It’s a cranberry pink-to-caramel bronze duochrome with a metallic finish. The pink has a touch of plum; the bronze has a touch of antiqued gold.

Crabtree & Evelyn — Black Tulip, Wisteria & Sky (Nail Lacquer) Swatch & Review

2014-09-292017-10-22 fivezeroLeave a comment

Collection: Crabtree & Evelyn 2013, Nail Lacquer Launch

I chanced upon Crabtree & Evelyn’s newly launched line of nail polish last year, and picked up three colors that have been sitting by my desk for quite some time now! I did give wearings to Black Tulip and Wisteria last year, and was fairly pleased with them, but I haven’t swatched and photographed them until now.

I’ll start with Black Tulip, the color that caught my eye most readily. It is very different from the rest of the C&E lineup. As you would imagine for a brand that specializes in old English style fragrances and bath & body products, most of the line is soft, pretty, wearable shades. And yet, Black Tulip sat there so invitingly among the pastel pinks and pretty peaches! It’s a deep, almost vampy (but not quite) purple microglitter duochrome that flashes olive green. I know, right? Not exactly reminiscent of a dewy rose garden or lilac bush! The formula for Black Tulip is a little on the sheer side, so it reaches full opacity with three coats. The green flash only shows up in the shade; I couldn’t really see it well in sunlight. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty purple and unique in this launch.

Sunlight:
Crabtree and Evelyn Nail Lacquer in Black Tulip, swatch

Shade:
Crabtree and Evelyn Nail Lacquer in Black Tulip, swatch in shade

Wisteria is the next color I chose, and it is much more in keeping with how you’d imagine a C&E to look. It is a pretty smoked periwinkle-lavender with silver shimmer. Two coats was enough.

Crabtree and Evelyn Nail Lacquer in Wisteria, swatch

Lastly, Sky is a pastel baby blue cream. It was fairly even and opaque with just two coats, which is pretty good for a very pastel shade.

Crabtree and Evelyn Nail Lacquer in Sky, swatch

Overall, the quality of these polishes is average: the sparkle isn’t amazing, the cream finish isn’t super smooth, the polish can feel a little watery or goopy. The lasting power is just all right. But, they were on sale, 3 for $12, so I think that for the price, you get what you pay for. The bottle is actually pretty nice for a $4-$6 polish, though. I think these polishes are pretty average, but if C&E ever released some unique shades, I’d certainly pick them up.

A quick visit to C&E’s website shows me that a year on, the nail polishes are still on the website. What’s more, there is a new collection out, which, unsurprisingly, appears to be nudes (Alabaster, Almond, Mocha and Peaches & Cream).

Crabtree & Evelyn Nail Lacquer, 0.5 fl. oz. / 15 mL. MSRP $6 US / $6 CA. Happily, the pricing appears to be the same in the US and Canada! These polishes are formulated without camphor, dibutyl phthalates, formaldehyde or toluene.