March Favourites! ✿

March Favourites! ✿

Well hello everybody! It's that time again....Monthly favourites time! Now this month is strictly beauty...Do you guys prefer that or do you prefer when I do a mixture of beauty, hair, and fashion? Let me know! 

So let' start off with the product I have been using the most this month....The Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. Now I was a little skeptical of this palette because I thought it was a tad overpriced considering how neutral and plain it was, until my friend bought one and let me play around with it and swatch it. As usual with Urban Decay, the shadows are all extremely creamy and not chalky at all. It contains 5 matte neutral shades as well as one satin finish highlight colour. I have used this every single day since I got it, creating neutral smokey looks as well as subtle definition on the eye; so easy to create that "no makeup" makeup look! For me, this is a total staple because it is so much more suitable for class than the Naked 3 palette. Check it out here.

Next we move onto my newest favourite contour product. It is the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. It is a truly grey under toned brown which is the ideal shade for contouring-no orange in it whatsoever. I mean let's just start off with the best part of this whole product....The smell. Its name doesn't lie people, it literally smells like milk chocolate..mmmmm... Anyways moving on to actual performance, it isn't extremely pigmented, which I actually prefer for a contour so that I can build it up to exactly the amount of shadow I fancy. You want it to be subtle. (Let me know if you want me to upload a contouring routine post!) Too bad you can't smell it through the computer though...♡

So let me just start this one off by saying that yes, I am a self-proclaimed Nyx addict. So obviously I had to give their blushes a go and boy I am not disappointed. This is the Nyx powder blush in the shade Peach which is just the perfect bright pink spring colour. It has a very smooth consistency and glides onto the cheeks so nicely with the powder brush from my last post. The pigmentation is medium which gives off that lit from within glow. Long story short, it is well worth the $5.00 . Buy it here gals!

To be honest, I didn't even realize that I had two Nyx products in here...Well this is embarrassing; see I really am an addict! So anyways, if y'all didn't see my post completely dedicated to this product, check it out for a detailed review! I'll just give you a quick overview because I went into detail in that post, but this stuff smells amazing, feels amazing (creamy and not sticky at all), and has amazing wear-time. $5.00 isn't a hefty price for this gem.

Now last but certainly not least, we have my monthly dose of e.l.f. products. Yes I would say that the brush I just did a post on would definitely be a favourite too, but I have been using this one literally every single day. It is the e.l.f. kabuki brush from their "studio line" and is the softest thing on this earth. I'd say it's an impeccable dupe for any high end kabuki brush (only $6.00!). It has the perfect amount of fluffiness, picks up the powder in just one single dip and applies it very smoothly all over the face. I have been using it to set my foundation! Get it, you won't regret it.

And that's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty

 PS. Follow my twitter (@LeighVBeauty) and Instagram (@LeighVioletBeauty) ! I follow back ♥

Newest Brush Discovery!♡

Newest Brush Discovery!♡

Hello everybody! So when I was on that recent America trip where I got the Nyx Lip Butter that you read about in my last post, I also was in the market for some new brushes and bought a few at Target from the trusty brand, E.L.F. Now I picked this particular one because I hadn't really seen many (if any) brushes that really looked like this; it's like a hybrid between a flat-top buffing brush and a kabuki powder brush. Also the sleek black look of this studio line brush is so nice and makes it look so much more expensive than it was ($3.00!). 

To begin with, I can't even express how soft the bristles of this brush are. They are honestly a dream. Now the packaging says that this brush can be used for liquid foundation as well as powders for the face (even though it is called a powder brush). I personally opted not to try this brush with liquids because it did not seem quite stiff enough and I felt that it would just end up making my makeup look streaky. So the first thing I used this brush for was my blush and oh man I am never going back.

As you may recall from my 'why I love my Nars blush/the best way to apply pigmented blush' post, I used to swear by using the E.L.F. small stippling brush to apply any blush whatsoever. Well that has all changed now. Literally, you dip this flat brush into the blush (don't even worry about swirling it around in the product because it picks up a bunch of powder just from contact), tap it off a bit and literally swipe that momma on your face and be prepared to be mind-blown. It applies the product in one even stroke and it is literally as simple as that; there is no need to even blend! This holy-grail brush applies so evenly and perfectly just wow y'all need to try it, especially considering the price!

Check this beauty out here!

And that's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty

 PS. Follow my Instagram (@LeighVioletBeauty) and Twitter (@LeighVBeauty) !

Nyx Butter Gloss ✽

Nyx Butter Gloss ✽

Well hello everybody! This past Friday I went to the States for a bit of shopping, and of course makeup was a huge part of the haul. Well I came across the Nyx stand, and was very intrigued by the Nyx butter glosses because of all of the positive input they've been receiving, but I found myself very hesitant because of my experience with the Soft Matte Lip creams (read my review on them here)  which wasn't terrible by any means, but wasn't awesome either. Anyways, long story short: I picked up a nude butter gloss in the shade Tiramisu because (as always) I had to make my own opinion on it!

Now the packaging is adorable and coloured the same as the actual product itself which is quite handy when reaching into my lip drawer which is actually full to the brim (Do you guys want to see a makeup collection post?!) so I can easily identify what I'm grabbing. 

This product has a doffa applicator and oh wow the formula is a dream. I mean first off, it smells and tastes incredible...I don't even know how to explain it! Like really sweet cookies or something if that makes any sense at all. Anyways so application is smooth and very easy; it just glides on and is in no way messy.

As for colour pay off, I got mine in a nude shade so I suppose it is a little hard to tell, but I found that it was not super pigmented, but as a gloss, I sort of liked that; it just gives off a gorgeous natural sheen. As for longevity of this product...Incredible! Especially for a gloss. Not only did the slight tint stay a long time, but the actual glossy consistency on my lips stayed for a good hour at least! That's more than I can say for any of the other glosses I own. 

But it here! ... even if you are not a huge lipgloss fan (like myself) you absolutely have to try this. Especially since it's so darn cheap!

And that's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty

I made an Instagram! Go check it out :) @LeighVioletBeauty (Don't worry I follow back hehe) 

Winter to Spring Transition Outfit Idea ❀

Winter to Spring Transition Outfit Idea ❀

Hello everybody! So today I thought I'd do something a little different for you guys and bring some fashion into the picture. Let me know how you like this and whether I should keep adding fashion posts in here and there, or just stick to beauty. Without further a due, let's get into it! So this look was made to be sort of a hybrid between 'those summer nights' and 'those cozy winter days by the fireplace' as the perfect transition outfit. (I don't know about you guys, but here in Canada, it's still pretty cold...) 

I started with these awesome faded green skinny jeans from Pacsun as I thought they would add the perfect amount of spring colour without being bright enough to be full out spring attire. I then paired them with these awesome brown boots with a gorgeous gold buckle detail from Macy's to keep the look away from complete black as much as possible.

Moving onto the top half of the outfit, I thought I would 'spring' up the look a bit and pair this awesome black and white detailed cropped tank (which is perfect because my jeans were sort of highwaisted - it's not warm enough yet to be full on exposing the belly!) from Forever21 with my black lace bralette from Aritzia just peaking over the top to add a feminine touch. On top is probably my favourite piece of the whole look. It is the ultimate hybrid of the outfit: the oversized white knit cardigan from Brandy Melville. This cardigan is perfection because I have warn it beside the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate on those super cold snowy days as well as out with my friends to the beach at midnight on a crisp summer night. The colour makes it even more perfect; yes we still wear black in the spring and summer, but I just found that the white shade of this just lightened up the look even more.

As far as accessories go, I kept the look simple with some classy black sunglasses from Target to look super laid back; put them on top of your head when the sun goes down for an effortless "I'm not trying" sort of look. For jewellery, I wore this gorgeous tiny dainty gold necklace with a heart pendant. They have some awesome ones at crush clothing!

All in all, I think this is the perfect outline for an awesome 'in between seasons' look and have some fun with it! Mix and match pieces to create your own look and tag me on instagram (@leighvioletbeauty) or twitter (@LeighVBeauty) so I can check them out!



And that's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty

Blinc 'Kiss Me' Fiber Extensions Mascara Review ✖

Blinc 'Kiss Me' Fiber Extensions Mascara Review  ✖

Well hello there my lovelies! So I'm sure I'm not the only person who's been hearing all about this new up and coming brand "Blinc" and their super cool fiber extension mascaras. Their motto is "Stop painting your lashes, tube them!" claiming that their mascara lengthens your lashes a tangible amount by creating little tubes around each lash. Well I of course had to give this a whirl...And here's my personal experience.

The tube is super cool and slick and all but upon opening it, we can see that the brush is like way behind the revolution of all of the recent cool wand types that have been coming out in the past year or so. It looks like a brush right from like two years ago... Which obviously makes the application that much harder. I decided to apply this mascara alone not in conjunction with any other mascaras in case they ruined the fiber job. 

Verdict: This stuff is horrendous! I was actually completely shocked at the pure clumpiness and just how messy this stuff was! I have not had a mascara experience this bad since like grade 8. My friends who have tried this agree as well. Here are some photos of what my lashes turned out like...I used an incredibly light hand and yet it still somehow got all over my upper lid (thank god I wasn't wearing eyeshadow or it would have absolutely ruined it!) and made my lashes all stick together so it looked like I only had three eyelashes and it certainly did NOT make them longer at all.... I have other mascaras that don't even claim to lengthen that do a better job than this.... All in all: DO NOT buy it will only let you down especially considering it costs $35.00 .

In case you for some unknown reason wanted to check it out... here it is.

And that's unfortunately the way I see it!

LeighVioletBeauty

PS Follow my twitter to keep up with my beauty madness! @LeighVBeauty (I follow back y'all ♡)

Dior Addict Extreme Lipstick!

Dior Addict Extreme Lipstick

Okay I've never tried anything from Dior before...but after today...I really want to try out more from them. That's right, no rambling on before this post; we're getting right into it today!

So as I tweeted on Saturday, I went shopping (did some serious damage to my wallet) and of course Sephora was a must. From my friend's recommendation, I went ahead and purchased one of these awesome lippies in a beautiful coral shade called 'silhouette'.

So packaging... Oh my is it ever luxurious. It is so unlike any other lipstick in that the lid covers the entire product and it's got the sleek silver nub at the bottom; so chic! I got to say, I feel pretty darn glamorous when I whip this baby out of my makeup bag.

Now onto the product. I was expecting more of a typical lipstick consistency and all, but this is something completely different. I myself am a lipstick kinda gal, but this stuff rocks my world. It's like a perfect hybrid between Revlon lip butters, Mac lipsticks, and a lipgloss.... If that makes any sense. The texture is kind of more on the side of gloss, and it definitely has a glossy finish but wow it is sure pigmented and applies like a lipstick. All in all, this is the smoothest lip product I have ever tried and it is now officially my favourite lip product too!

It is ultra longwearing and so moisturizing (score!) with incredible colour pay off! What more could a girl ask for? The only downside would be the price... But I mean you kinda gotta expect that when you're  buying a really highend brand such as Dior. To me though, it was such a good investment that was totally worth the money and I can guarantee that I will be purchasing more (it comes in 22 shades...YES) as well as trying out some of their other products because of the sheer amazing quality of this one!
Buy it here!!

And that's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty



PS I'm thinking of starting to film YouTube videos also! What do y'all think?

Two in One Highlighting Blush from the drugstore! ♡

Two in One Highlighting Blush! ♡

Hey everybody! I am sorry for the break in between posts, it's my final week before spring break and I just got a new job, so I got a little busy. But from here on out, the posts should be coming pretty constantly! 

So today I wanted to share with you guys my favourite drugstore highlighting blush. Sometimes I find it's kind of a pain to have to go from contouring to blush to highlighting all before class or work, and it usually results in skipping steps. Have no fear, this product is the answer to all of our face makeup problems! 



So this holy grail find right here is the Hard Candy Blush Crush Baked Blush in the shade 127 Honeymoon. Personally, I find the detailing on the packaging to be a little too "Ed Hardie" for my liking, but overall, it's not bad for a drugstore product especially considering the cheap cost. 

Now onto the product itself. This is a baked blush, so the product comes off onto the brush very easily. I have not yet tried using it wet...I prefer to use all of my makeup products dry. Now when looking at this blush, I can see it has a satin finish but I was not prepared for the gorgeous highlight it gave my cheeks. It is such a beautiful glistening light pink, it gives off the same quality highlight as my Benefit Watsup Highlighter. 


Now because this product can be used as a blush and highlighter in one (I would definitely not recommend using a highlight separately in conjunction with this blush), I tend to start by placing the product on my cheek bones and then sweeping it towards my temple, but higher up than you normally would with blush. I try to bring it along the top of my cheek bones for that incandescent healthy glow. 

All in all, Hard Candy never ceases to amaze me with the quality of their cheaply priced products. Well done Hard Candy! I would 100% recommend this to all of you no matter what skin tone. 

Check it out here!

And that's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty

PS Keep up with me and my blog and daily beauty finds/obsessions on my twitter! @LeighVBeauty 

Best Drugstore Eyebrow product!

Best brow product from the drugstore ! ☼


Hello there everybody! So as most of you may have seen in my tweet on Friday (@LeighVBeauty) I had a mini Walmart haul... Oops! So anyways, I was looking for some new brow products and really wanted to try a gel because my eyebrows get a little crazy and sometimes have a mind of their            own..... So anyways, I picked this baby up!

This is the Marcelle Duo Eyebrow-Pro. It has a brow pencil on one side and tinted gel on the other! So handy. The whole bottle is the colour of the shade you're buying, so there aren't any misunderstandings when it comes to the shade of your brows. The style of the packaging is nothing special, but hey it gets the job done.

Now onto application! So step one would be to fill in your brows with the pencil side. Now this was my first time using a pencil in my brows (I used powder before) and I had this weird notion that it would be super thick and pigmented like an eyeliner...Which it obviously is not. It's a decently sheer sort of pencil that shades in so flawlessly while actually shaping your brows too. I loved this pencil as a first-time user, but I have to say, I do prefer my powder when it comes to filling in...But shaping was amazing with this product!


Next, we move onto the best part of this entire product: the tinted gel. Now I also had never used a gel on my brows before, but was extremely keen on it because my brows do not like to stay in their arch form all day which is so annoying. The beneficial thing about brow gel is yes, it holds your eyebrows in place, but it also creates that shiny sort of sheen on the brows that looks like glossy hair which makes them look even more natural. So this particular gel was quite nice. Now it's hard to really formulate an opinion when you have nothing else to compare it to (don't worry I plan to change that by purchasing different types of brow gels in the near future to find the best one for you guys), but it did what anybody would typically expect: it went on and made the hair stiff but in a productive way that held them in their shape.



All in all, this product cost me just under $15.00 (in Canada), and I think it was well worth every penny; it's double the value with the pencil AND gel. Also, it is very travel friendly which is always handy because it can be thrown in a bag and taken with you anywhere easily without having to bring two separate products. Being a first time pencil and gel user, I would most certainly recommend this product to y'all. Just look at this before and after picture! It really defined my brows and made my eyes pop. My other brow just looks so scraggly and sad....


buy it here!

And that's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty


Ps. This is the finished look! (ignore my lame face) Love the definition in my brows ♡

February Favourites! ♥

Now I know that I am a little late on this post seeing as it is now March, but hey! This way I made sure that these were all my favourites in every single day of February.

So let's start off with hair care, something I have not yet mentioned on my blog before! This is the Suave anti-frizz gel cream, I don't know exactly how to describe it other than wow. It says for fine hair to apply when it is dry, and for thick curly hair like mine, to apply either when wet or when dry and I do both because my hair can get so frizzy. I got this in my stocking for christmas and was not expecting much because nobody ever really talks about this brand but oh man.. This is my new holy grail of hair taming products. It has tamed every single one of my fly aways without looking crunchy or greasy! Score. I don't know what to say other than if you suffer from frizz like I do, you absolute have to give this a go. buy it here!





Next, we have skin care/foundation...win-win! It is of course, my Garnier BB cream. I won't give you the whole down-low on this product as you can read about it in my earlier blog post here! But basically, the colour is radiant and I have been getting compliments on how glowy and healthy my skin looks (it has an awesome dewy finish), and just overall, my skin has been loving it too. It's good for you and looks amazing too!

Now we are onto powders. I am a bit of a powder nut...not that I really use that much.. But I really think it is such an integral part of your makeup look whether you are going for a matte finish or a dewy finish! Now I have so many favourite powders, but just for the month of February specifically, I have been loving my Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder. Check it out in my blog post here!
 I make sure to use it with my dewier foundations so that it compliments them perfectly to look totally naturally flawless (not too matte, not too dewy/greasy). I would definitely not suggest using this with a matte-ifying foundation unless you have super oily skin. Nonetheless, the wear time on this stuff is awesome and it just looks so beautiful on the skin.


Here is my holy grail of under eye concealers...Now I am completely aware that this is nothing new to you guys..everybody and their mother raves about this. But anyways, I use this every single day, eve when I don't wear any other makeup (because my under eye circles are severe), and it is honestly a dream. I will never switch away from this concealer I will continue to repurchase and repurchase. The formula is full coverage, smooth and decently crease-friendly (I haven't tried any that don't crease at all for me because I have these cracks under my eyes) and long wearing. The applicator is a big sponge-y thing and it's so soft and just wow. Make sure to always get your under eye concealer one shade lighter than your actual skin tone. Check it out here!

Onto bronzers, my best find for this month was my N.Y.C. Smooth Skin bronzing powder. Now this isn't exactly news to you guys because I dedicated an entire blog post to it because I love it that much. It is honestly amazing for contouring (because it has no shimmer) and for warming up your entire face. You can even use it in the place of blush. It is an all around MUST HAVE. Read my review on it here!!





Finally onto blush. You all know, I am a blush FANATIC. Now I know it's a tad on the pricey side, but hey I appreciate all the drugstore and high end blushes all the same. This has just been my favourite for this month! It's the Nars blush in the shade torrid. Now once again, I have an entire blog post dedicated to this blush, it is in my opinion the most beautiful shade of blush that Nars has, and it still looks like its a colour that my cheeks could have flushed all by their own. Even better, it stays on all day, through out school and work and into the evening! So beautiful.


That's the way I see it!
LeighVioletBeauty

PS Don't forget to follow my twitter! @LeighVBeauty ♡