Julep March 2018 Matter of Time collection

New Release: Julep — March 2018 “Matter of Time”

2018-02-202018-02-20 fivezero3 Comments

Collection: Julep 2018 March “Matter of Time”

Julep’s March 2018 collection consists of eight new shades of matte nail color and two new skincare products in stick form: Dream Big Nightly Renewal Pressed Serum with BHA (15 g for $36 / $28.80 Maven) and You Got This Pressed Serum Daily Moisturizer (17 g for $36 / $28.80 Maven).

Julep is doing a great job of saving me money, with all the nail colors this month being matte! Eek—not my favorite nail polish effect. I shall be skipping yet another month.

Admittedly, the stick skincare looks a bit interesting, but I kind of feel like I’d rather try the Korean versions, first. Also, I am trying to get through my massive skincare backlog, so I am not really buying any skincare at the moment.

One other quick note: Julep released a Mystery Box (Express Yourself) last month, which included two polishes: Dora (Exotic Magenta Iridescent Shimmer), which I already have, and a new color, Ximena (Pink Sugar Iridescent). I’d probably have gone for it if Dora had been a second new color, instead.

Includes two better-than-candy nail colors
with a fluttering heart cosmetic bag + more beauty surprises.
…
Look for some extra glimmer. There’s a chance you’ll win
a Tiffany & Co. necklace in your mystery box.

Anyway, here are the eight new polishes for March:

fivezero's Ipsy Glam Bag "Snow Globe" (December 2017)

Ipsy — December 2017 Glam Bag “Snow Globe”

2017-12-222017-12-22 fivezeroLeave a comment

Firstly, I want to note that I recently discovered Ipsy offers a 12-month subscription for the cost of 11 months (so US$110 for a year, rather than $120 if you pay month-to-month). Well, I’ve been paying month-to-month this whole time! So I sent an email to Ipsy support and they gladly switched me over to the discounted year-long sub. Woohoo! So, if you’re a diehard Ipsy subscriber who never considers cancelling, hit ’em up for your 1-month discount!

Onto the loot! My December Ipsy Glam Bag finally contains a makeup brush! I had actually gotten a bit annoyed with the flimsy brushes I was getting, so I downrated most of them—then for a good stretch, Ipsy failed to send me any brushes at all. Lisa Frank, SLMissGlam, and Luxie brushes came and went and never found their way into my Glam Bag.

Finally, this month, I got another Luxie brush. It’s a pretty usable eyeshadow brush, and at least now I have the opportunity to rate it better so that I’m hopefully back in the pool for brushes.

Once again, however, I didn’t get the one nail polish they had on offer (a blue shimmer from Lottie London). I wonder how many Ipsters got that polish and are bitching about receiving nail polish?!

Ipsy December 2017 Glam Bag: “Snow Globe”

Image: ipsy.com

What I Received

Luxie Precision Shader Onyx Brush (239) (full size; ~US$24.26)
MAC In Extreme Dimension 3D Black Lash (1 g sample; 13 mL for US$23)
NIP+FAB Dragon’s Blood Fix Plumping Serum (20 mL sample; 50 mL for US$19.95)
Pixi by Petra Mesmerizing Mineral Duo in Orchid Ornament (1.5 g 2-color duo; full size 5.76 g 6-color palette for US$12)
TonyMoly The Chok Chok Green Tea Watery Cream (10 mL sample; 60 mL for US$25)
Ipsy makeup bag

Glam Bag Cost

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

Total Bag Value

$24.26 + $1.77 + $7.98 + $3.13 + $4.17
= US$41.31

The Luxie brush obviously provides the bulk of my bag’s value this month. It seems to be a Luxie × Ipsy edition, so I can’t find an exact MSRP, but the Onyx brushes seem to run approximately 35% more expensive than the Rose Gold line.

fivezero’s Ipsy December 2017 Glam Bag

Image: ipsy.com

Ipsy Coupon Codes

None of the brands I received have a code with Ipsy at the moment, so here are a few other good ones:

SLMissGlam: 30% off any purchase with code SLBLUEIPSY (through 12/31/2017, US & CA only)
Seraphine Botanicals: 25% off any purchase with code IPSY25 (through 01/31/2018, US & CA only)
trèStiQue: 30% off any $30+ purchase with code IPSYWINTER17 (through 12/31/2017, US & CA only)

Here are some more detailed product shots:

Haulage! The Ordinary by Deciem, Part I (March 2017)

DECIEM — The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Blemish Formula Review

2017-10-162017-10-16 fivezero2 Comments

Niacinamide was one of the first skincare products I ordered from DECIEM’s The Ordinary, and over the course of about four months, I used up a full 30 mL bottle.

The product’s full name is Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% High-Strength Vitamin and Mineral Blemish Formula, and it is meant to fade blemish spots, reduce skin congestion, and brighten skin tone.

Here is DECIEM’s description of the product:

Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) is indicated to reduce the appearance of skin blemishes and congestion. A high 10% concentration of this vitamin is supported in the formula by zinc salt of pyrrolidone carboxylic acid to balance visible aspects of sebum activity.

Contraindications: If topical Vitamin C is used as part of skincare, it should be applied at alternate times with this formula (ideally Vitamin C in the PM and this formula in the AM). Otherwise, Niacinamide can affect integrity of pure-form Vitamin C (L-Ascorbic Acid).

Notes: While Niacinamide and Zinc PCA reduce the look of blemishes and balance visible sebum activity, neither is a treatment for acne. For persistent acne-related conditions, we recommend the use of Benzoyl Peroxide and/or Retinoic Acid. DECIEM doesn’t recommend ongoing use of BHA such as Salicylic Acid for persistent blemishes. For temporary improvement in appearance of blemishes, Salicylic Acid would help. This formulation can be used alongside acne treatments if desired for added visible skin benefits.

Independent studies suggest Niacinamide is also an effective ingredient for brightening skin tone.

As per instructions, I did not use any Vitamin C with Niacinamide; other studies have suggested that use of these two in conjunction on the skin may not be a problem—for example, the TIA’M Vitamin C serum I am using at the moment actually contains niacinamide, as well!). However, I wasn’t introducing any Vitamin C to my skincare routine at the time I was trying out the Niacinamide, so I did follow DECIEM’s recommendation by default.

fivezero's beautyBOUTIQUE haulage, Shoppers Optimum Points redemption (September 2017) Chanel, Dior, Estée Lauder

Haulage × 2! beautyBOUTIQUE (July & September 2017)

2017-09-272017-09-27 fivezero1 Comment

This post covers two Optimum Points redemption orders I placed in July and September 2017.

I’ve been racking up the points via the Shoppers app, and redeemed 95k points for $170 worth of product (all prices in CA$) in both July and September during two PLUS Bonus Events. Here’s July’s order:

ARTDECO Art Couture Nail Lacquer in Silver Willow (978)
Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules (60 Capsules)
Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup in 1N2 Ecru
Soap & Glory Flake Away Spa Body Polish

Free samples (I forgot to take pics of these):

Elie Saab Le Parfum EDT (sample)
Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Overnight Firming Mask (sample)
Vasanti Brighten Up! New Skin Amplifying Moisturizer (sample)

beautyBOUTIQUE actually made the first ever mistake I’ve ever had with them: they sent me the wrong shade of ARTDECO Nail Lacquer.

ARTDECO Art Couture Nail Lacquer in Rose Peony (953)

They only asked me to send a picture, which I did, and then they sent out Silver Willow right away. I got to keep Rose Peony, as well. I was really pleased with their excellent handling of an error. Plus, when they sent me the correct nail polish, they also included three free samples!

Lise Watier HydraForce Hydra-Protective Creme-Gel (sample)
PRADA Candy EDP (sample)
Sekkisei Clear Brightening Mask (sample)

Haulage × 2! Jolse (August & September 2017)

2017-09-262017-09-26 fivezero3 Comments

After Jolse started offering “free” shipping to Canada again (I say “free” because they simply work the shipping costs into the product prices), I hit them up with an order in August:

Holika Holika Piece Matching Nails in GT07
Holika Holika Piece Matching Nails in YE02
SCINIC Ceramide 100 All In One Ampoule
SCINIC Honey All In One Ampoule

Now, orders from Korean online beauty stores usually take between 3–5 weeks to arrive to me in Canada. I assume a large part of this time is spent in Canadian customs, as well, though I think these orders are exempt from duties and tax because of a trade deal Canada recently signed with South Korea.

Get this. My August Jolse order shipped (August 8) five days after I ordered it (August 3). It arrived to me ten days (August 18) after shipping. I received my order in a record fifteen days.

I was delighted, but also wondered if this was merely a fluke, so for science (haha) I placed a second order:

Haulage! Chanel, Dior, & Estée Lauder with the Spend Your Points PLUS Event at beautyBOUTIQUE

2017-09-232017-09-23 fivezero2 Comments

This Saturday and Sunday (September 23–24), Canada’s beautyBOUTIQUE by Shoppers Drug Mart is offering a Spend Your Points PLUS Event (see details in this post).

Don’t forget to use ebates Canada [referral link], as well! It’s 4% cash back for beautyBOUTIQUE today.

I’ve been racking up the points via the Shoppers app, and redeemed 95k points for $170 worth of product (all prices in CA$), including my first ever Chanel blush:

Chanel Joues Contraste Powder Blush in Élégance (370) [$53]
Chanel Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour in New Dawn (578) [$32]
Dior Vernis Couture Colour in Metallics (612) [$33]
Estée Lauder Pure Color Love Lipstick in Moon Rock [$28]
Estée Lauder Pure Color Love Lipstick in Sly Wink [$28]

My subtotal was $174, so after tax, I paid a total of $22.62 plus 95k Optimum Points. Another $30 worth of Optimum Points will be added to my account in a couple of weeks, since this was a Spend Your Points PLUS Event.

Chanel Joues Contraste Powder Blush in Élégance (370) — Chanel Joues Contraste Powder Blush in *Élégance* (370)

Chanel Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour in New Dawn (578) — Chanel Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour in *New Dawn* (578)

DECIEM — The Ordinary “Buffet” Multi-Technology Peptide Serum Review

2017-08-142017-10-16 fivezero9 Comments

This review is a long time coming! I’ve had a bit of a skincare misadventure over the summer, but now, I’ve finally used DECIEM’s popular “Buffet” peptide serum for several months and feel that I can give it a more detailed review.

Earlier this year, I was looking to overhaul my fairly basic skincare routine and picked up several skincare products from DECIEM’s The Ordinary, a line of pared-down products. I was never much of a serum-user, as my routine pretty much consisted of cleanser plus moisturizer, but having read a lot about serums—and about the Korean 10-step skincare routine, in particular—I was determined to expand my skincare horizons.

The first product from The Ordinary that I worked into a routine was the much talked-about “Buffet” Multi-Technology Peptide Serum, which retails at a quite low price of CA$14.80. Other peptide serums can cost upwards of a couple hundred dollars, for the same 30 mL, so I was both very curious to see how effective The Ordinary’s product could be.

Peptide Serum Price Comparison Chart

For reference, here are some prices of peptide serums on beautyBOUTIQUE/Shoppers Drug Mart, Sephora Canada, and Well.ca. All prices are in Canadian dollars. For products available in multiple sizes, I used the largest, most cost-effective size.

Before I started, I didn’t realize there were so many! But hey, gotta add them all.