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Esqido Unisyn lash review: Bread & Butter, Love & Peace, Smoke & Fire

April 19, 2018

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Firsts are a tricky currency. Their being implies a certain limited nature: not a perfection, or a finality, but a first. There are a limited number of firsts to go around, and Esqido has conquered one of their remaining ones with the Esqido Unisyn False Lash collection.

I’ve been thinking a lot about firsts recently. They’re an ever-depreciating collection of commodities, but what makes them tricky is that they don’t exist. They are, like so much of our world, purely symbolic – and, as someone who can’t decide if they believe in firsts or not, I struggle to treat them with the “correct” amount of reverence.

I left the first big, functional love of my life last month, and I’m still feeling the echoes of that decision every day.

The Unisyn first: Synthetic lashes from Esqido

Esqido toes an interesting line with the Unisyn collection because it’s so not what the brand set out to be. For a company that built itself entirely on mink lashes, introducing a synthetic substitute–and therefore suggesting that synthetic false lashes can be as good as mink ones–risks being detrimental to the brand.

But the market is changing. This launch tells consumers not only that Esqido is listening, but also that they still believe that mink really is the best. The Unisyn lashes retail for $22, while Esqido’s mink lashes sit at $24-$32: a premium price for a premium product.

I’m still in knots about my firsts. I’d like for them to be something I treasure, but I am sometimes gripped by the (ironic) urge to be a rational agent. Firsts are like stuffed animals, or mementos, or old letters; they are something for sentimentalists.

Esqido Unisyn Bread & Butter ($22 USD)

I liked all of the Unisyn lashes that I tried, but the Esqido Unisyn Bread & Butter lashes ($22 USD) took the cake. They’re a delicate band with (get this) extra-fine 4-7 mm black and translucent brown lashes.

The resulting look is more natural than any other false lash I’ve ever seen. They deliver the perfect natural, everyday look for small eyes, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the brown lashes will make them even more wearable for fair skinned or light-irised folks.

Before/after – bare, curled lashes

Esqido Unisyn Bread & Butter lash review – before/after

Esqido Unisyn Love & Peace ($22 USD)

The Esqido Unisyn Love & Peace lashes ($22 USD) were another hit for me. While Bread & Butter is listed as a light volume lash, Love & Peace is a nice step up to “medium.” These lashes are a wispy, criss-crossed 7-11 mm, in all black.

Love & Peace offers more volume and length than Bread & Butter, and these lashes are more noticeable at a distance. They’re as full as I’d go in the Esqido Unisyn line for my eye shape and preferences.

Esqido Unisyn Love & Peace lash review – before/after

Esqido Unisyn Smoke & Fire ($22 USD)

Finally, the Esqido Unisyn Smoke & Fire ($22 USD) lashes are gorgeous… but a little too much for my eyes. Because I have to trim my lashes a little on the short end (my fellow sensitive-eyed monolidded folks will know the struggle of being stabbed in your inner crease with a false lash band), the density of a lash like this makes the trimming look obvious.

Those with smaller eyes can still wear the Esqido Smoke & Fire lashes, but know that at 9-15 mm, they’ll be a Look. These straight lashes are very voluminous, with tapered inner and outer corners. Trimmed (I trim about 8 mm from the outer corners of Esqido lashes for comfort), you lose that outer taper.

Esqido Unisyn Smoke & Fire lash review – before/after

The Esqido Unisyn Lash verdict?

Firsts may be tricky, but not when it comes to the Esqido Unisyn lash collection. At $22 USD each, these are a wonderful first synthetic lash collection from a mink lash brand. They’re a little more affordable than the mink lashes that made the brand famous, but look just as natural, wispy, and fluffy as the “real thing.” I find them to be slightly more comfortable, though this may be due to the lash styles rather than the line itself.

For those on a budget, I also really like the Kiss Lash Couture Faux Mink collection ($5.99 USD), which has a more limited selection of synthetic lashes. Many of the Lash Couture lashes are long, dense, or spiky, with few light volume/natural-looking lashes available; with the Unisyn collection, you’re paying more per lash, but you have many more options for light to medium volume.

It’s hard to get things right on the first time – but Esqido knocked these out of the park.

Availability: $22 USD each at Esqido.com. Permanent as of April 2018.

Buy one, get one 50% during this launch; use code raec for an extra 15% off your order (indefinitely!) Fully customizable lash trios are available with a tube of Esqido Companion Lash Glue as the Unisyn Lash Kit ($50 USD; $76 USD value).

Tags: /Esqido, Eyes, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Spring/Summer 2018

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Excited about this April: E.L.F. Zhou and 4 more favourites | SHINY THINGS

April 12, 2018

Rae Chen

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1. E.L.F. Zhou Monarch Choker

I know: I’ve talked about this before. But the E.L.F. Zhou Monarch Choker (£102 GBP) is one of my favourite possessions, and I feel like I never get the chance to wear it (less even, now that it’s summer). So, I’m talking about it again.

My honey bought me this choker near the beginning of our relationship, during my last trip to Toronto. It’s a gorgeous, extremely sturdy leather band with “two d-ring buckles in a butterfly wing arrangement,” which suited us perfectly: we’re not lifestyle kinksters, and E.L.F. Zhou doesn’t require its customers to be. (Although it’s definitely sturdy enough to be – which I guess we are, too.)

There are a number of things that I remember about that trip, besides how short it was. I remember my phone dying on me right as I was supposed to meet him on the Friday. The hokey little restaurant where we stayed too late and had the best fries of my life. The way he looked at me the first time he slipped this around my neck, like he was falling endlessly and was wholly all right with that fate.

2. Je Joue Mimi Soft Vibrator

It’s no secret that I adore Je Joue’s Mimi Soft vibrator ($94.99 USD). My original one’s battery wore out last September, and I hadn’t gotten around to replacing it – even after giving one away for my blogiversary.

The brand was kind enough to send me a replacement so I could compare the updated version, and I’ve given it a spin around the block already. My initial response? It’s still good… But isn’t quite the same as it was in 2014. Stay tuned for more.

3. The Body Shop French Grape Seed Scrub

Did you know that The Body Shop’s spa line includes four different body scrubs?? Because I didn’t, but they’re all fantastic.

This is my favourite of the bunch, and well worth picking up: The Body Shop French Grape Seed Body Scrub ($32 CAD). It’s so thick that it seems almost sticky, with a hydrating green base that’s full of grape seed oil, grape seed powder, and grape bud extract. It smells mostly like grape seed, but also–inexplicably–like the base notes of The Body Shop’s Absinthe Purifying Hand Cream ($21 CAD).

I’ve used this scrub twice this week. Even that buttery E.L.F. Zhou British leather has nothing on how soft my butt is right now.

4. The iPhone 8

After months of deliberation, I finally bought a new phone: the iPhone 8 in Gold. (It’s not very gold.) It’s bright and shiny and it ended up being the only major smartphone option for me – the Pixel, Galaxy 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X are all so large that I can’t hold them in one tiny, arthritic hand.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently thinking about systemic biases in design. (If “recently” means “over the past three years.”) Modern design is so thoughtlessly catered towards men that it’s even made for biologically male bodies in “female” spaces: the height of the toilets in women’s washrooms; the depth of the chairs used in nursing areas; the weight of the doors to women’s changing rooms.

How different would smartphones look if they were made for a 5’4″ frame, rather than a 5’10” one? Would I be able to stay in public for more than a few hours at a time if chairs were designed with my body in mind? What about cars – would women have a lower motor vehicle accident mortality rate if seat belts were made for us, too?

5. Saje Spa Spirit

My final April favourite is something that’s helping me get through my most recent breakup. Saje Spa Spirit ($16.95 CAD) is a scent I started using in January, and it came with me in the move.

It’s bittersweet: Spa Spirit is mostly eucalyptus and benzoin, and my ex and I loved it equally. Smelling it makes me wish I could go home again – to step through the door into the always-too-hot apartment and tell my cat he wasn’t allowed into the hallway; to lean into my partner and kiss him hello. I want to feel his threadbare t-shirts under my palms; to nestle up against his tall frame and let his chest hold the entire weight of my body through my face.

Spa Spirit smells like home, and in doing so, it makes home portable. It isn’t a place where I was once very happy, and once very sad: it is a warmth that I hold in my chest, and I share with you.

Even if you don’t like dogs.

Tags: /Fashion, Je Joue, Product Photos, Saje, Sex, The Body Shop, The Edit

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Lise Watier Urban Velocity review, swatches, makeup look: BALANCE

April 2, 2018

Rae Chen

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Here is what I know: no matter what I do, I will be doing you a disservice. I’ve run the scenarios again and again – there is no way for me to get it right every time.

Here is what else I know: I am as cruel as I am clever, and you are the only thing that makes me want to write.

This Lise Watier Urban Velocity makeup look is one that I put together weeks ago, and posted on Instagram in February. It got lost in the mess of my life (read: I mixed up these photos with these ones, because apparently my face looks the exact same always), and I couldn’t find the words for it until now.

The Lise Watier Urban Velocity collection

I can handle a breakup. I can even handle two. But, now, given the stress of four in fewer weeks than that: I may actually shatter.

This collection is a tiny capsule (a feeling that I know all too well.) It contains three baked and marbled products; each Lise Watier collection launching just a little bit farther from the norm. The brand picked a beautiful Asian model for this collection, with stunning pastel pink hair. (Annabelle, owned by the same parent company, also gracefully launched a Spring collection featuring a male model. Because I didn’t already love Group Marcelle enough.)

Lise Watier Urban Velocity swatches: Blush, Eyeshadow Trio, and Lipstick

I liked the smooth, plummy eyeshadow trio in the Lise Watier Urban Velocity collection, though it’s pricy at $44 CAD. The baked blush was a bit of a letdown; the colour just isn’t right for me, though the product itself is gorgeously pigmented. (If you’re looking for a gorgeous blush from Lise Watier, their Blush-On Powder in Libertine is spectacular. It came with me during my move in a separate bag from everything else, because I couldn’t bear to go a week without it.)

The lipstick was odd – gorgeous, with a semi-sheer finish that made my lips look full and kissable, but I just don’t get marbled products. I want to be reassured of consistency!

My limitations are as strict as my habits, and I want my lipstick to be the exact goddamn same in every swipe. I have spent so much time bending – I am almost out of energy, but I would to take everything I have left and put it in you. (I hate your dark wood fetish; the side panel that I always bruise my thigh on. They make me never want to leave.)

The Urban Velocity makeup look

The problem with this writing is that it is undefined. You are an ever-changing concept in a stream of thought; an indivisible many. You are all of my dark shadows–you are something I cannot stomach–you are my only good thing.

(You will waste away on library shelves, and I will be here, waiting to decay.)

(These photos don’t really fit this post any longer, do they?)

This look was mostly plum, so I paired it with something crisp: a chilly lace bralette (last season; similar) and a soft white button-up (this one). The lashes are my current favourite: Kiss Little Black Dress lashes ($5.99 USD). I’ve gone through three pairs – they look so natural on my small, monolidded eyes, but so full.

I used the base that I always do (Pür Cosmetics Eye Polish Eye Base + Topcoat in Satin, which keeps my eyeshadow from creasing), and topped the look off with a few Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadows.

You know the story from there: and then I mixed these photos up, got overwhelmed, and set them aside until I could start getting my life in order again.

Tags: /4. Makeup looks, Canadian beauty, Cheeks, Eyes, Indie brands, Lips, Lise Watier, Makeup looks: colour, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Spring/Summer 2018

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Rocky Mountain Soap Co. Natural Bar Soap (Shea) review, photos | WASH IT AWAY

March 29, 2018

Rae Chen

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The products: Rocky Mountain Soap Co. Natural Bar Soap (April 2018 Shea Butter reformulation)

Things are different. I’m not single, but I feel like I am: alone; adrift. I miss living with my best friend. I miss having someone else in my life who legitimately loved Rocky Mountain Soap Co. as much as I do – and would have been psyched to find out that their soap bars had been reformulated to be more hydrating.

But more than that, I miss having someone who could see why I selected each of the words I’d use to talk about it. Someone with all of these beautiful words to share – a sleeplessness to match my own, and a drive to play with language. (I miss your gorgeous, multi-clause sentences. I miss that half of your jokes are told in other languages, largely dead.)

I’ve been using Rocky Mountain Soap Co. products since before I can remember. When I was growing up, they were a hokey, hippie brand – awkward packaging and greasy formulations. (I don’t mean that negatively – I’m an Albertan despite my better judgement; I love a greasy hand butter almost as much as I love a good flannel shirt.)

Then, a few years back, the company went through a total re-brand, right down to the stores themselves.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Soap Co. is gorgeous and hip, with all of the same great ingredients as before (but way cooler packaging.) They managed what most brands never will: to take a well-loved favourite from years gone by and make it relevant again.

The Rocky Mountain Soap Co shea butter formula

I’m not good at the things that I want to be. (Or, rather, I’m good at things I would prefer not to be good at). But the Rocky Mountain Soap Company has their shit figured out: they’re good–no, great–at soap. Their natural soap bars are nourishing and full of natural ingredients, and above all else, they’re an affordable luxury. These aren’t $25 bars of soap – they’re $5.95 CAD bars, in lovely paper packaging.

Rocky Mountain Soap Co’s soap bars are handmade in small batches in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (yes, really). Their team has been working on a reformulation for a while, which officially launches April 2018. The new bars are just as cleansing as the old ones, with a slightly slipperier, creamier lather.

The new bars are identical in scents and shape to the old ones, but they now contain fair trade, organic Baraka shea butter hand-made by women and families from the Kperisi village in Northern Ghana. It’s blended with coconut oil, olive oil, and sunflower oil, and the brand new formula means that the Rocky brand can now say that all of their products are GMO-free. (The old formula contained soybean oil, cottonseed oil, and canola oil.)

Why shea? Well, shea butter (and especially this one, which is unrefined and minimally processed) is rich in antioxidants and fatty acids. It’s nourishing, moisturizing, and encourages collagen production in the skin. Plus, it’s great for cold, dry winters – like the ones we get here in Canada.

My Rocky Mountain Soap Co bar recommendations

I was sent three soaps for this review: Juicy Orange, a citrus-scented bar with orange juice and calendula to gently unclog oily skin; Pumpkin, an unscented soap for dry skin (this is my third or fourth bar of it); and Lemongrass, an astringent soap that uses rosemary to help balance oily skin.

My skin is decidedly not oily, but I’d also really like to try the brand’s Cedarwood bar – I hear its cedarwood and fir essential oils remove excess oil while deodorizing the skin, and I bet it would be a great “booster” product for your underarms. (I don’t usually smell when I sweat–thanks, mom and dad–but I do when I’m really stressed.

And man, have I been stressed.

Despite all of the gorgeous soap around me, I can’t quite get clean. My head is messy: full of more things than I should have taken, or maybe not enough. I am a web of dependencies; a series of suppositions that lead me to believe that I feel more things than I do.

This is commercialized grief: pain given value in the form of labour; being brutalized for the sake of work products. (Everything in this world is nothing more than labour: you needn’t feel guilty your greatest sin. It’s the other one that guts me.)

The Rocky Mountain Soap Company Natural Bar Soap verdict?

I really liked the original RMSC Natural Soap Bars, and I really like the reformulated shea butter ones. I don’t usually use bar soaps (they’re too drying for my crazy-dry skin), but when I do, I try to make sure they are almost always these ones. I have easily gone through a half-dozen of these bars over the past two years – and though I’ve moved back, will likely continue to do so.

Rocky Mountain Soap Co. is one of the few brands that has my undying nostalgic loyalty, and they do a great job of making natural products accessible. They’re not filled with strong perfumes or dyes (ahem, Lush), but they’re not obscenely expensive, either. (Did you know that the Skin Owl bars are $24 each? That’s insane.)

If you are secretly all bad sex puns: this soap will cleanse you.

Availability: $5.95 CAD at Rocky Mountain Soap Co. Permanent reformulation as of April 2018.

Tags: /Canadian beauty, Cleansing, Edmonton, Indie brands, Product Photos, Product Review, Rocky Mountain Soap Co, Silicone-free, Skincare, Small Business Saturdays, Spring/Summer 2018

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EAT (YOUR HEART OUT): Jacek Pie Collection review | Local #yeg finds

March 26, 2018

Rae Chen

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The collection: JACEK Chocolate Couture Pie Collection (Spring 2018)

So: it’s over.

I left my partner last Sunday. By dinnertime Tuesday, I had moved all of my things out of our apartment.

I have never had to leave my home before. The breakup was hard, but I’ve felt it coming for a while. The moving, though – the moving was rough. Our home was a mix of our belongings, but it was mine: I unpacked every box alone in the apartment while he was at work. I hung every painting; selected every dish. I brought our cat into our lives, and hand-picked his food every month. (Chicken’s current favourite). I folded our socks on the weekends.

I have a ritual, when it’s time for a breakup. I’ll take three days: three perfect days to wallow pathetically at home; to ugly-cry while naked in bed, hair unwashed. For three days, I get to talk out every detail of my relationship, skip class, and exist on tissues and cake.

I woke up on Wednesday feeling tired but recovered – and with an intense craving for JACEK.

I picked up a small tray of JACEK’s Pie Collection from their 104th Street location as a surprise for my partner in February. They were so mouthwateringly good that I went back two weeks later and bought the 24-piece collection, plus another six for my family.

About JACEK

JACEK is a local brand, with locations in Edmonton, Sherwood Park, and Canmore. They offer only ethically-sourced chocolate, have a bunch of vegan options, and ship across Canada. I love the brand for a lot of reasons, but one of them is their founder: JACEK is the brainchild of Jacqueline Jacek, a small business owner who creates “applies the principles of haute couture in the creation of artisan chocolates.”

Jacqueline started the company out of her basement in 2009 on her own dime, and has grown the business since then with the help of a wonderful support system. This interview from YEG People is a great place to start if you want to learn more about her – it’s a well-written piece with some excellent questions.

JACEK Razzleberry Pie

The Pie Collection

The JACEK Pie Collection is the brand’s Spring 2018 collection, and it really is worth eating 30 pieces of. (Especially if you’re sad: I can justify almost any food expense just after a breakup. My wine bill has doubled since last Sunday.)

For me, the highlight of the collection is Razzleberry Pie: a colour-flecked dark chocolate dome filled with blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry ganache. The creation is just a little bit tart, and the attention to detail is something that only JACEK could manage – the filling is the most gorgeous, saturated berry colour.

My second favourite is Sugar Pie, a dark chocolate truffle. It’s filled with gorgeously velvety sucre à la crème, and tastes like biting into the sugar-butter mixture that you (or, rather, I) always steal out of the mixing bowl when I’m making chocolate chip cookies. It fills all of my cookie dough-eating needs, and saves me from getting salmonella.

(I always refer to my chocolate chip cookie recipe as “Boyfriend Cookies,” because I stole it from my partner when we started dating. They’re the best cookies I’ve ever eaten in my life.)

(Also, how much would it suck to end a three year relationship, suddenly have to move back in with your mom, and then get salmonella??)

Next comes JACEK’s Pecan Pie – “toasted candied pecans dressed in dark chocolate,” and the rest. My ex loved their Coconut Cream Pie and Peanut Butter Pie, which I was less enthused about. Both are excellent, but more well-executed than earth-shattering; the perfect chocolates for oatmeal eaters and picky kids.

That colour!

I spent three years of my life trying to get someone to love me who was never going to love me the way I needed them to. He said his love: he repeatedly affirmed how much he loved me, and did his best to improve his life so mine would be easier. And he did really, fully love me.

But I show my love, and I need someone to show it back. I talk about my relationships until five in the morning; I leave little notes around the house and send silly texts in the middle of the day. Getting dressed and taking a walk to buy my partner JACEK just because is how I know it’s real – little gifts and acts of service. I need someone whose work I enjoy; who enjoys my work.

I need someone who comes home early on days that we’re supposed to play Overcooked in our pyjamas, not someone who works late unless they have plans to go out with someone else.

The JACEK Key Lime Pie chocolates are white chocolate lime ganache, a bit of crunch, and a milk chocolate shell. They’re a bit like this: a bite of tartness; a step unto the breach.

Tags: /Indie brands, Product Photos, Product Review, Ramblings, Small Business Saturdays, Spring/Summer 2017

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EAT ME: Smokey eye Sleek Makeup When the Sun Goes Down review & makeup look

March 15, 2018

Rae Chen

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This Sleek Makeup When the Sun Goes Down makeup look is… Everything I feel this month. I am fully submerged; I am empty and ready to be consumed.

It’s an interesting space to occupy: being shallow, starry-eyed, and very twenty-five. I am making good decisions (I think), but I’m the only one making them. I am a constant loop of three-hour naps and collapsing onto the floor and trying not to fall in love.

It is less of a dumpster fire than a controlled burn, but I am very bad at preventative measures.

This look is mostly the Sleek Makeup When the Sun Goes Down Eyeshadow Palette ($12 USD), paired with aptly messy hair and a touch of a high-maintenance lifestyle. (No one in their right mind owns coloured contacts – how the fuck are you supposed to see clearly out of these, my little Murderinos?)

I’ve been meaning to try these palettes for years, and now that I have two of them in my possession, I’m glad I have. Though they’re no longer the only cheap eyeshadows on the market (you can thank brands like Colourpop for filling that dearth), they’re quite good. I prefer When the Sun Goes Down to Oh So Special; the brand’s warmer shades seem to be slightly stronger performers, with less muddiness in the base.

The palette is paired here with a mix of old and new. The Maybelline Fit Me! Blush in 45 Plum on my cheeks is new to me; at the price, it’s stellar. (I’m pale enough that it’s tough to find a blush that won’t work on me, so I tend to prefer simple drugstore blushes to luxury ones.) The Esqido lash glue is new as well – I’m not sure I like it, but it definitely looks like a million bucks for only ten.

Aside from that, these products are all old favourites: Kiss Shy lashes (my holy grail), Make Up For Ever’s Pro Light Fusion Highlighter, and the Annabelle Skinny Brow pencil that I’ve gone through half a dozen of. Even the dress I’m wearing here is something you’ve seen before.

(The lip is easy, just like the rest of me: Charlotte Tilbury Opium Noir, but applied sheerly and pressed into the skin like red ink.)

I’m enjoying the comfort of falling back on my old favourites; on the slight, dry grit of these eyeshadows. It’s difficult to keep above the water line when everything in your life is changing. It’s difficult to manage when you aren’t holding still.

This used to be an almost wholly personal blog (don’t go looking: I wiped it of most everything embarrassing years ago), but one of my goals for the year has been to bring that back. So I will tell you this, internet: I am gutted.

Tags: featured/4. Makeup looks, Charlotte Tilbury, Eyes, Fall/Winter 2017, Makeup looks: neutral, Product Photos, Product Review, Ramblings, Sleek Makeup

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The Brush Bar & Board review, photos | Brush washing for dummies

March 9, 2018

Rae Chen

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The products: The Brush Bar The Brush Bar and The Brush Board

I have had these brush-cleaning tools for… Oh, god. At least six months; likely far longer. But I wash my brushes embarrassingly infrequently, and as always, I prize a thoroughly-tested review over a fast one.

The Brush Bar is a company run by an Asian-American father-daughter team, which immediately puts it in my good books. I love supporting family-run businesses, and those run by POC deserve, if you ask me, special consideration. Dr. and “Almost-If-She-Hadn’t-Quit-“Dr. Wu founded The Brush Bar together in 2014, and are still running it together out of San Jose, CA to this day.

The Brush Bar ($38 USD)

The Brush Bar is a simple concept, executed very well. The Wu’s describe it as a “gamechanging makeup brush drying tool,” and honestly?

It is.

Each bar holds 10 brushes and dries them securely in an upside-down position, keeping water out of your brushes’ ferrules. (As any good makeup addict knows, getting water in the ferrule of your brush can loosen the glue holding your bristles in place, shortening their lifespans.) The bar is very compact, resting on the edge of any flat surface to turn it into a brush-drying area.

The crab-like clamps in The Brush Bar are tipped in a soft silicone, and flip back into the bar for easy storage and travel.

The Brush Board cylinders (gentle), pyramids (deepest clean), and cones (deep with a quick dry)

The Brush Board ($28 USD)

I liked and do use The Brush Bar, but what I really love is The Brush Board. It comes in a lovely mint green plastic, and has six different surfaces for washing your brushes.

The sections are deep enough to pool a bit of water and soap into them, so you’re not re-soaping each consecutive brush. Each section has a different intensity/texture, and they’re all honestly very effective: I can wash even the most stubborn eye primers and lipsticks out of my brushes using this board.

It works on the same principles as a silicone brush mitt, but I like how the slim profiles of the matching Brush Bar and Brush Board lend themselves to easy travel and storage. The board keeps my hands dry and non-clammy throughout every brush-washing session, and lets me wash my brushes with colder water than my hands would be able to tolerate (thus prolonging their life even further.)

The Brush Board triangular prism (medium scrub), ridges (scrubber and scraper), and waves (scrubber and scraper)

The Brush Bar & Board verdict?

The Brush Bar and The Brush Board are a little more expensive than I wish they were, but I really enjoy using them. They make brush maintenance easier and more comfortable, and I do find that I wash my brushes more frequently now that I have them around.

If you’re looking at brush cleaning tools merely from a cost-based standpoint, these would not be my top recommendation. However, if you’re looking for tools that are sleek, stylish, and easy to store, then they absolutely take the cake. The Brush Bar and Board travel more compactly than other brush cleaning tools, and are far less cumbersome than a giant silicone cleaning mitt – so they’re perfect for a small or just generally well-organized living space.

Availability: Both permanent at The Brush Bar.

Tags: /Company Review, Indie brands, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Small Business Saturdays, Tools

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Vixen Mustang Tie Bright VixSkin review, photos, comparison (2018 update)

March 5, 2018

Rae Chen

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The product: Vixen Creations Mustang Silicone Dildo in Tie Bright

Back in 2015, I had the pleasure of introducing you to one of my favourite things ever: the Vixen Mustang. Now, three years on, my Fluor-A-Pink Mustang remains one of my can’t-live-without-it sex toys–but it’s gotten even better.

Shortly after my review, Vixen Creations updated the Mustang line to include suction cup bases rather than flat bases, but the dildo itself remains unchanged.

Tags: /Product Photos, Product Review, Sex, Small Business Saturdays, Vixen Creations

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Maybelline City Mini review: Rooftop Bronzes, Downtown Sunrise makeup look, swatches, photos

February 26, 2018

Rae Chen

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The product: Maybelline The City Mini Eyeshadow Palette in Rooftop Bronzes and Downtown Sunrise

So I wrote this entire post utterly confused, because the eye look that I thought was associated with these palettes didn’t match up to my experience with the product at all.

And then, two days after I started working on my draft (and late into the night), I realized that I had mislabelled an entire batch of images, and my actual City Mini makeup look had been tucked into a folder with some Maybelline Matte Ink swatches.

Therefore, it is with great relief that I can finally give you this post – completed, with the correct labels, and with a representative depiction of my experience with these palettes. So grab yourself a second glass of wine (I’m onto you), feel free to mock me behind my back or on the internet, and tuck in.

Maybelline City Mini Palette: Rooftop Bronzes (swatches and review)

The City Mini Palettes are… Interesting. They’re tiny enough that I can hold both of these two in the palm of my hand, but each is packed with great shades in an interesting layout. None of the colours are repeats–something that I honestly find drugstore brands often do better than high-end ones.

(Urban Decay Naked Basics, here’s looking at you.)

However: the formula of these eyeshadows isn’t my favourite. Maybelline can be a little hit-or-miss for me; some of their palettes are fantastic, while others leave something to be desired. (Blushed Nudes is still totally on my would-recommend list.)

Maybelline Rooftop Bronzes palette swatched on primed skin (indirect sunlight)

Maybelline Rooftop Bronzes City Mini palette swatched on primed skin

The shades in both of these palettes were flattering and easy to use together, but I’m not sold on the formula of these eyeshadows. They’re very blendable and are decently pigmented, but the formula is extremely soft. The shades apply well, but they blend away to nothing unless you’re careful, even on top of a sticky eyeshadow primer. For more impact, I’d recommend foiling each shadow as you apply it, or applying with a denser brush and blending only sparingly.

The makeup look in this post is largely Rooftop Bronzes, with the shimmery highlight (the middle top shade) from Downtown Sunrise.

Maybelline City Mini Palette: Downtown Sunrise (swatches and review)

The Maybelline Downtown Sunrise City Mini Palette is a little more unexpected. It has a frosty baby pink shade (which I love), a shimmery, wheaty ivory (which I also love), and an absolutely fantastic strawberry coral shade – which I die for.

It’s such a unique colour palette to see in a drugstore range, and while these formulas weren’t as strong as those in Rooftop Bronzes, it’s a refreshing change. I do have my hesitations about Downtown Sunrise; it’s very much geared toward lighter skintones, and the matte ivory highlight is chalky as all get-out, but it reminds me a bit of a drugstore rendition of my beloved Clinique Strawberry Fudge Palette from eight years ago.

For something a little funky, this is nice – if, I think, you can snag it on sale.

Maybelline Downtown Sunrise palette swatched on primed skin (indirect sunlight)

Wearing this sweater and these BonLook glasses

The Maybelline City Mini Palette verdict?

I liked these Maybelline The City Mini Palettes, but I didn’t love them. Maybelline is a brand that I’ve always turned to for middle-of-the-road drugstore products: they’re never bad, but they’re only sometimes magnificent.

Rooftop Bronzes is a great palette for a neutral or bronze smokey eye at under $15, but Downtown Sunrise is a little chalkier. If you can snag these on sale, I say go for it, but I’d skip them at full price. $14.99 is still $14.99, you know? That’s like, three bubble teas or a brand new tube of Matte Ink.

Availability: $9.99 USD/$14.99 CAD at most major drugstores and mass market retailers throughout North America. Permanent.

Tags: /4. Makeup looks, Bonlook, Eyes, Fall/Winter 2017, Makeup looks: neutral, Maybelline, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches

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Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow review, swatches, photos

February 20, 2018

Rae Chen

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The product: Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow in Gold, Silver, Rose Gold, Mercury, and Germanium

Y’all, I am… Dying. I haven’t been keeping to my Monday/Thursday post schedule, and I’m sorry about that – but not that sorry. I’ve been waking up exhausted in the mornings, going to bed early because I can’t stay awake, and struggling to get through from point A to point B during the day.

As with any chronic illness, fibromyalgia has its ups and downs. I know that I’m in a down right now, just like I know that I’ll be up again later. I’ve been making my body do too many things this month – and those dues have to be paid eventually.

So hey, be kind to your bodies. Take breaks. And if you feel like crap: might I recommend that you, too, drown your sorrows in Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadows?

Stila Magnificent Metals drugstore dupe

Let’s get real. Annabelle says that these are the first chrome eyeshadow on the mass market, but they’re a product that we’ve seen before–at a much higher price point. These are reminiscent of the Stila Magnificent Metals Foil Finish Eye Shadows ($32 USD), which are likely being discontinued at $10 USD each.

Are they the exact same? No, not at all. They’re a totally different formula, but they’re similar enough that I’d say you don’t need to own both. The Stila shades tend to be wetter and have more pigment, while the Annabelle shadows are more of a true flakey glitter with a much simpler ingredient list.

Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow texture

The Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow formula

These eyeshadows are, basically, everything I’ve ever wanted out of a drugstore eyeshadow. I love my Shu Uemura glitters, with their multi-sized flakes of shimmer, and these totally fill the Shu-shaped void in my heart. (My last two Shu palettes had almost no flakey glitter in them.)

The Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow formula is moist and masque-like where the Shu formula was bone dry, and yet: the effect is extremely similar. The lighter shades give a transparent veil of visible glitter that stays exactly where its put, adding a fairy-like allure to any eye look.

And the darker shades? Well – they build up to a medium-full opacity and pack a truly glittery punch. But neither the dark nor the light shades have what I call Urban Decay glitter: these shimmer pieces are fine and look almost flakey, instead of looking like tiny craft store hexagons.

L-R: Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadows swatched in indirect sunlight. Gold, Silver, Rose Gold, Mercury, and Germanium

The Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow shades you need

I love all five of these shades, but my favourites are the lightest three. They’re a bit difficult to apply (thanks to the stay-together texture, which minimizes fallout but also makes the product hard to pick up on your fingertip or brush), but once you have the product in place, it stays largely where it’s supposed to be all day long.

Gold, Silver, and Rose Gold add the perfect amount of shimmer to any satin or matte eye look, and they have a strong eye-opening effect if you pop just a bit on the centre of your lid. For an extra-strong highlight, you can brush or pat Silver or Gold on the tops of your cheekbones, too.

Before & After: Maybelline City Mini Palette without (L) and with (R) Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow in Gold

The Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadow verdict?

The Annabelle Chrome Eyeshadows won’t make your body feel better, but they’ll sure as heck distract you in the meantime. They’re cheap, easy to find, and above all: beautiful.

For a flakey, long-wearing glitter on a scale from translucent (Gold) to full-fledged (Germanium), these are absolutely the way to go.

Availability: $8.95 CAD at Annabelle.ca and in Rexall, Shopper’s Drug Mart, and most major drugstores and mass market grocers across Canada. Permanent.
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Tags: /Annabelle, Canadian beauty, Eyes, Holy Grail, Indie brands, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Spring/Summer 2017

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