My Makeup Goals (winter edition)

I thought I'd share some of my beauty-related goals for you all. Some goals are related to rejuvenating my makeup routine, and others revolve around being more conscientious with my makeup. I plan to revist these every couple of months, examine how I lived up to them, and modify them if needed. Either way, I hope you enjoy reading them!

1. Deep clean brushes every 2-3 weeks.
My eye makeup brushes that get quite dirty to to daily use. I have a daily brush cleanser I enjoy using that reduces buildup, so I think deep cleaning them every few weeks is fine.

2. Paint nails once a month
 I used to never enjoy painting my nails, but I do love having friends paint them for me! While they never turn out as nice looking when I do them myself, I love looking down and seeing colour on my nails. I have a pretty limited nail polish collection, so I plan on picking up a couple this month and trying out different jewel-toned shades.

3. Wear lip colour two times a week
As I've mentioned before, I don't wear lip products that often. But I do enjoy wearing them on ocasion, and I have found several shades and types that I enjoy wearing. So my goal is to increase my usage of them.

4. Use eye cream daily.
I'm trying out this new eye cream from Lise Watier, so I want to develop a habit of wearing this every day. Most days I'm rushing out the door, but I do want to make this a priority.

5. Moisturize more often.
I admit, I'm bad at moisturizing. It tends to happen only when I make an extra effort to moisturize. I do moisturize my face and neck as part of my skincare routine, but other areas, such as my hands and feet, don't get treated as often as I should. Especially now where I'm working, my hands often become quite dry and cracked, so I want to take care of them more.

6. Use one new products at least every two weeks.
I have a giant list of new products I'm testing out. A lot of them are samples or products friends have given me. In the next couple months, I'd love to use them up, write reviews, and see how they work for me.

Products I'm curently trying out

This page will be updated as I work through various products.
Almay Smart Shade Foundation
Almay Smart Shade Concealer
Tati LOC Impress Me Eyeshadow Crayon
Lise Watier Lift and Firm Eye Cream

Affordable Beauty is on Instagram!!

Hey everyone! As I've mentioned in the title, I'm now on Instagram! If you follow me there, you'll be able to see my panning challenges, progress, and random makeup-related pics. :)

Here's just a sample:

Cleaned my brushes today! #feelssogood

A photo posted by @panningmybeauties on Jun 20, 2016 at 10:51am PDT

This week I'll be using Wet N Wild's Paradise cove palette for the #oneweekonepalette challenge, created by @fortworthfamous ❤️ I'll be using just this palette all week in hopes to see some progress made with these eyeshadows! Wish me luck! #panningcommunity

A photo posted by @panningmybeauties on Jun 20, 2016 at 8:52pm PDT

February Topbox Review!

At long last, here is my final Topbox review!

Topbox is a Canadian monthly subscription service that delivers 4-5 beauty products to your door every month. You are put on a waiting list that can take 2-3 weeks, but both times I've signed up, I received an email notifying me I made it off the waitlist within ten days. When you subscribe, you are able to fill out a wishlist of products you would prefer, and you have the option to select a privé box from higher end makeup brands. This month, I selected the normal box.

Nova Scotia Fisherman Extreme Skin care Sea Salt Soap
When I opened the bag, I was immediately hit with a very strong smell. To me, it doesn't smell like sea salt, it smells a tad perfume-y and is incredibly strong. It is a nice, all-natural soap, but I can't imagine putting this on my body, since the smell is so intense. This one's a miss for me.

Pop Beauty Kajal Pen Purple eyeliner
This is a beautiful plum eyeliner. I don't have an eyeliner this shade, so I was quite excited to receive this. The pigmentation is pretty good, but the liner not as soft as my other liners, so doesn't glide on as easily. Overall, it is a gorgeous shade, and I'm fairly happy with it!

Smashbox Photofinish Primer
Another great item! I don't have a lot of primers, so I was quite excited to try out this primer as well. I thought this primer was a pretty decent one. Since I don't normally use face primers, I don't have much to compare to. I tested it out under foundation on half of my face, and just used foundation normally on the other half. In general, the primer did blur my pores and make my foundation look a tad smoother. I don't think the effect was great enough to justify a full size of this, but I might try out other primers and see how they compare.

Morgan Taylor Nail polish

Along with the soap, this was another dud, as far as I'm concerned. Although the nailpolish is good quality, I will simply never wear this colour (unless maybe I'm dressing up as Elphaba for Halloween).

Overall, I was quite impressed with full size eyeliner, and the primer was pretty decent as well. When reviewing this box, I realized that it wasn't as good as I had previously thought it was. I think my happiness at receiving a full size eyeliner masked the fact that I only enjoyed 50% of this box's contents, which is unfortunate.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, as this will be my last Topbox review. After last month's disappointing box, I decided to cancel the subscription. I simply was not receiving enough products that I liked to justify receiving this box. While I love the price, the products themselves were often less than satisfactory, and I was only enjoying half of the contents. On the odd time I enjoyed the whole box, I still wouldn't repurchase most of the contents. I am happy with the service for introducing me to new products, and I may re-subscribe in the future (you never know) but for now I am saying goodbye.

Lise Watier Hydraforce Review #GetInTheBubble

Hey everyone! I'm back at it with another review. I'm really excited to share this one with you guys! So full disclosure, I signed up for Topbox's Glamsense program. Every so often they send you surveys to fill out, and if you meet their criteria, they send you a new products to test and review! Through this program, I received a kit featuring Lise Watier's Hydraforce Hydra-Protective Comforting Cream, which I want to review for you all!

This product is described as a gel-creme, intended to moisturize areas such as your face, hands, and neck. One of the more interesting ingredients is the Gaspé algae extract. The website states, " A survivor of harsh environments, the Gaspé algae has developed a highly efficient resistance system, enabling it to thrive in severe conditions. Its extract guarantees the skin’s global hydration, transforming it into a veritable defensive shield." The packaging says you can apply it in the morning and/or evening.

Sounds good, right? Well I was curious to see how it performed. I get the occasional dry patches, and often my face feels tight after I take a shower, even after I moisturize.

The cream does have a gel-like consistency, and when I first applied it, my skin felt very moisturized and soft. As I went about my day, I noticed that moisturized feeling stayed for a couple hours, unlike other lightweight moisturizers that dissipate quickly after application.  My cream was for normal to dry skin, and Lise Watier also sells cream for normal to combination skin.

The package came with a sensor and a cord to plug into your phone. Using the Hydraforce app, you can test your skin to see how hydrated it is, and then see the difference that the Hydraforce cream makes. I was interested to see the results from the sensors and how hydrated my skin was. Here are my results:

The picture on the left is when I tested the cream on my hand. As you can see the app tested only 34.1% moisture. After applying the cream, the moisture increased to 44.9%. I'll play around with the app in the continuing weeks and see how the moisture levels increase or decrease throughout the week.

So what are my thoughts on the cream? The cream is $45, so it's not a cheap product. I really appreciate that it's a heavy-duty moisturizer that will attack those dry areas! If you do have dry skin, I think this product will work well for you. I also tried out the creme after a shower, and it left my skin feeling very soft and moisturized, and not tight at all!

If you want to test out the Hydraforce cream and app, there is a Hydraforce Squad event happening in Calgary tomorrow from 12-4 PM at The Bay in Sunridge Mall where you can see the results for yourself! If you don't live in Calgary, you can check out hydraforce.lisewatier.com to see if there is an event in your area. Let me know if you do and what you think of the Hydraforce cream!

Finish Four by 14th Reveal!

So Valentine's Day came and went, and I completely forgot to post the reveal! It's been a busy month, so I'm sorry this is so late! But without further ado, here's how I did!

December 2015

February 14

Lip Smackers Lip Balm in Kiwi
I'm proud to say I used it all up! While I didn't have that much to use up, I can't remember the last time I've used up a lip balm, so I'm happy about this one!

December 2015

Feb 2016

Revlon Illuminance Cream Shadow in Copper Canyon
This definitely gained a noticeable difference, especially on the left hand side of that gold shadow. Not fully used up like I planned but still some progress!

Revlon Berry Bloom Quad
I certainly used up some of the lightest pink shadow. This was one I simply stopped using after a while. I didn't like the texture of the shadow anymore, as it was incredibly dusty.

                

Skin Rx Microdermabrasion Face and Body Scrub

I'm very happy with how this has gone! I used it almost every week and have almost used it up. And since that picture was taken two weeks ago, it is almost gone now!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how my challenge went. I finished the lipbalm, almost finished the face scrub, and made some progress with the other products. And I know eye products are so difficult for me to use up quickly, so I'm happy with how I did. I have some thoughts about other challenges I want to do, but I have to decide on the products first!

 

January Topbox Review!

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, and I know this review is super late! Still, I'm back with my latest Topbox review!

Topbox is a Canadian monthly subscription service that delivers 4-5 beauty products to your door every month. You are put on a waiting list that can take 2-3 weeks, but both times I've signed up, I received an email notifying me I made it off the waitlist within ten days. When you subscribe, you are able to fill out a wishlist of products you would prefer, and you have the option to select a privé box from higher end makeup brands. This month, I selected the normal box.

Without further ado, here are the products I received:

Teeez Trend Cosmetics Nail Lacquer - Chain of Stones

 While I was excited to receive my first nail polish from Topbox, I was a little disappointed it was so sparkly. I rarely wear nail polish in general, and I would only wear this on special occasions, so even more infrequently. Nevertheless, it is a good product.

Vivierskin C E Peptides

This product is supposed to make your skin feel smoother and brighter. I wore this a few times but did not notice much difference, and the smell is quite strong, and some might find it off-putting, so I can't say I would recommend this.

Pureology Colour Fanatic Multi-Tasking Hair Beautifier

Since I don't use too many products on my hair, I was happy to receive this product. I quite enjoyed this product, as I felt it made my hair smoother and shinier. The smell is delicious too, which is always a plus!

Eyeko Black Magic Mascara
Since I've received a mascara in October's box and two in December's box, I was a little frustrated because I don't go through mascaras that fast. I did appreciate that it had a curved brush, but like most mascaras, it did not keep my lashes curled, and smeared under my eyes after four hours.


I was looking forward to this month's Topbox, but for the first box of the new year, I was a little disappointed. Out of all these products, I'd only continue to use the hair product. Immediately after receiving this box, I cancelled my subscription. February's box was the last one I received, and the review should be up within a week or so!