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    The last 48 hours of my life (aka where the hell I’ve been recently)

    I’m on spring break, as you may or may not know. So I figured… may as well take a break, at least for the weekend. I promise to kick it into high gear during the week (or so I hope).

    So what have I been doing?

    • I watched Coraline in 3-D
    • And watched Twilight.
    • And then read Twilight from about 7:00 to 11:30, with only a couple of breaks. Forced myself to slow the fuck down and read every single word, because I rushed through it the first few times that I read it (shortly after it came out, a looong time ago). If you love Twilight and you haven’t yet done this… DO IT! It’s worth it. Trust me.
    • Contemplated re-watching Twilight, but it wasn’t that good.
    • Lost my second favourite scarf, which mum picked up for me in Pheonix
    • Found my scarf – yay!
    • Looked into cameras. I haven’t decided on one yet.
    • Checked out the new Joe Fresh makeup line – yes, as in the Superstore brand. I didn’t pick up anything, but I swatched and sniffed, and I’m impressed!!

    Alright. It’s after midnight here, so it’s time for me to tuck in.

    Or maybe watch some more deleted scenes.

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    Best discontinued product ever?

    I know I have a TON, and I know that I bitch about it regularly. Here’s a few that just break my heart:

    • Estee Lauder Plum (though, I’ve been wearing Lancome Aplum recently… and I think I love it more! -gasp- Good timing, though, because mum’s fallen in love with Plum, so she can have that one ^^)
    • Olay Quench for Sensitive Skin. I still haven’t found a suitable replacement.
    • The entire Aura Science line. How could they do that to me?!
    • And lastly (for now,) my beloved Labello Med and Biore Warming Anti-Blackhead Cleanser. Neither have been discontinued, but I’m allergic to the “new and improved” formulas of both. Talk about a sudden excess in fragrance!

    So? Have any of your HG items been discontinued? If so… what were they, and have you found anything the same (or better!) yet?

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    Just read to the bottom, alright?

    This’ll go up at six tomorrow morning, as usual, but I’m writing it at quarter to nine on Wednesday night!

    I have a major Chem35 (IB material – VSEPR, mainly) test tomorrow (Thurs) so I don’t have time to give you guys a real post, and Tess didn’t email me her Tessa Thursday segment! I’m headed into hardcore-studying-mode from 9:00 to, well, probably until 11:00. So… there won’t be a real post for today. Not even a drafted-for-later-scheduling post, because the only ones I have left (I’ve told you. School. Has. Been. Hell.) are all meant to go up as a series, and I’m not done all of them!

    So, because I don’t want to let you guys down, here’s a ten-minute review + anecdote.

    What you see above is a tube and swatch of NYC lipstick – the shade is Mauve Gold, in their Ultra Last Lipwear formula, and it’s actually pretty decent! I mean, I wouldn’t dub this “holy grail” or anything, but if you’re in a foreign city and you forgot your lipstick at home, picking up a tube of this stuff wouldn’t hurt. It’s not very pigmented and quite glittery, but seeing as they’re sold for like $2… you can afford to pick one or two up in a pinch and lose them a week later. The shade’s nice enough.

    I mean, it’s not recommended, because it’s wasteful, but you could theoretically do it.

    If you’re actually thinking about it, though, think about the polar bears first. YOU ARE INDIRECTLY KILLING BABY POLAR BEARS.

    But I digress.

    So I swatch this stuff, in typical Rae fashion. Upload the pictures to my computer a few days later. Edit for colour representation. Move the file from “raw” to “done!” so I know they’re suitable for impromptu posting…

    …and mom leans towards my computer screen, looking at the photo below.

    “What are those?!” she asks incredulously. “Are those your pores?!

    Oh, mothers. See, this is why I rarely let mine out of the house alone.

    “Mom,” I say in all seriousness, quirking an eyebrow (yes, I can do that. And a whole other assortment of strange and singular facial expressions!) “That’s called a tissue. It’s white. And fibre-based. What. In. The. Hell.”

    There is a pause. And then, meekly but with humor:

    Raaaaaae. You’re totally going to blog about this, aren’t you?”Clearly, the answer was yes. And you’re all off to a better start of the day because of it!

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    More discontinued awesomeness

    Remember the gorgeous blushes I told you about the other day? Well, I tried out two glosses from the same line, Aura Science. The tubes are awkwardly shaped, but the gloss! Oh, the glosses! Decently pigmented and … what is this maddness??!

    They’re non-sticky!!!


    And the bastards cut not only these glosses, but the whole line. How could they do this to us?!

    Anyhow. Swatches, lip swatches, and photos of the holy grail glosses follow.
    Left: Glazed Pink, a pearlescent, shimmery peachy-pink.

    Right: Baby Plum, a more pigmented warm red-plum.

    (Same order as above – Baby Pink, then Glazed Plum.)

    The flat applicator. I don’t mind it – to keep these clean for my kit, I blob ’em onto the back of my clean hand first anyways.

    Glazed Pink (my favourite of the two)

    Baby Plum – isn’t it a gorgeous no-nonsense, classy-but-glossy lip?

    And another shot of Glazed Pink! I’m hoping this’ll translate the pearl factor a little better.

    Argh. It just kills me that I can’t tell you where to get these, or how much they are! They truly are amazing products. If for whatever reason you have a chance to buy anything by Aura Science… do so!

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    I might love GWP quads more than "real" shadows.

    Why? Welll, it’s simple: I’ve never hit pan on anything, so free (or cheap, if you buy them online) small shadows let me have variety in colour and brand without breaking the bank. If I can get something in GWP form, I will – then, if I really love it and I use it all up, I can buy a full-sized one clear of concience!
    Today we’re taking a quick peek at one of my favourite Lancome quads. There’s a lot less shadow per pan than some of the square quads, but as I said – that’s not a problem for me!
    As I find with most Lancome colours, they’re gorgeous in the pan, but apply quite sheerly. Howerver, I tried them over UDPP this time, cleaning out my little swatch boxes with a q-tip, filling with UDPP, and then with shadow again! The photo below is sans-base. I can hardly see the first two!

    And here’s what they look like with UDPP. Much bolder, and still gorgeous!
    The individual colour breakdown?

    • Floralesque: a sheer salmon pink shimmer that would be gorgeous as a pinkish hilight for a ton of looks, but when layered over UDPP, the first thing that pops into mind is “bridal pink” and “Bobbi Brown”. Why? Floralesque is pink without being over-the-top, and it’s not too red, so you don’t look tired or swollen – just fresh! It’ll work wonderfully for a day-appropriate neutral-pink eye.
    • Positive: this matte yellowy-nude basically didn’t show up without UDPP, and was pretty boring with it, too. If it’s a good shade for you, it’s a nice enough all-over matte, and I suppose it would be nice if you have very unevenly pigmented lips, or prominent veins (like me!) However, there’s nothing special about this colour.
    • Lézard: brown with a touch of glitter, but I’m on the fence with this one. I think it’s very much a hit-miss shade, working well for some but not at all for others. The glitter’s a little too far and few between to be called “shimmer”, but not chunky.
    • Mochaccino: my favourite of the four, this has a touch of glitter and shows up as a fairly sheer medium-light brown. It’s not much of a special-occasion colour, but more of an everyday hard-to-screw-up shade!

    All in all? Don’t go hunting for any of these on their own, but if you happen to have this quad, it’s a keeper! I know you’re probably all going wait, what?! and I realize that what I just said was fairly confusing, but let me explain: on their own, each shade is nothing magnificent. But a girl needs some easy-to-wear sophistication in her traincase! In my eyes this is very Lancome, from the sleek packaging to the pretty-but-fairly-plain colours.

    I like to think of this as my maid-of-honour quad. You have to be there and look happy, fresh, and radiant, but you’re not allowed to steal the spotlight!

    (Psst: this is what they look like when you’ve washed your hands twice with handsoap. You can really see where there was UDPP!!)

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    Great CS? We have that here!

    Tip: when shopping for makeup, shop from 8:00 to 9:00, or preferably even from 8:30 to 9:00. Sephora will be empty, and there’ll be a ton of cheery salespeople to give you a hand!! Note that the fragrance boy has at this point gone home.

    I was helped by four (four!) different girls for different things, and came home with a sample of Light Blue that sprays (I can’t stand the vial, so though I love the scent I never wear it around to try it), decanted just for me by a hilarious salesgirl, a sample of Bliss’ Baggage Handler for my puffy lids (“I swear by this suff – I have it at home and use it almost every day!”), and a sample-bagfull of disposable mascara wands (I asked where I might be able to find them and the SA laughed and told me conspiratorily that she was going to grab me a bag for them, and would “happen to accidentally not notice” if I grabbed a bunch. So I grabbed a couple… and she threw in like ten more :P )

    Rae is happy.

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    Late St. Paddy’s Day eye

    (I know, I’m lame – I took these when I got home from school, but hadn’t uploaded them!)

    What did I do? Easy! A swipe of So There Jade on my lower lashline, and my beloved HiP cream liner in my upper one. Then I went with a coat of Fiberwing on my top lashes only – I wanted a subtle, clean, fun, fresh look, so I only put one one layer, and only on my upper lashes. (I chose the Fiberwing, instead of my HG mascara, Rimmel Lycra Lash Extender, because I didn’t want the super-dramatic volume and length, not today!)

    I took everything with me, just in case, but as you can see, the look held up wonderfully!
    I’m too lazy to think up a new YOU prompt, so either answer last week’s if you haven’t, or tell me about your St. Paddy’s green :)

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