Amazing new products! Nars dupes featuring Vasanti!

Hello my lovely subscribers!

So it's a lovely Saturday afternoon and I was in the shopping mood. I recently ran out of my BareMinerals concealer and my Tarte amazonian clay concealer is a tad bit dark. I've been on a serious hunt for a new concealer (I love the BareMinerals one, great coverage but holy do I ever blow through that guy fast). I know this may come as a shock to you, but I've NEVER been in a Rexall drug store before. I know, I know, there's plenty of brands there such as The Balm, I mean, what am I doing with my life, right?

Anyway, so I decided to pop in. I went in determined to purchase Mary-Lou Manizer. I walk in expecting it to be a carbon copy of Target/Shoppers, but nope! I was overwhelmed with all of these brands that I've honestly never heard of.

So I quickly grab my Mary-Lou Manizer, but then I see this brand next to The Balm that I've never heard of called Vasanti. I died, not literally, obviously, or else I wouldn't be here. The first thing that caught my eye was the Face Base Powder Foundation. It looked really silky so I swatched it on the back of my hand.

the box that the Face Base comes in

Now I need to warn you that this is not an exaggeration whatsoever, so brace yourself. This face base, I kid you not, is a perfect dupe of Nars' powder foundation. It has the same creamy texture and great coverage. It literally covers seamlessly.

quick swatch of the powder 

So Nar's Powder Foundation runs at $65 CAD with 0.4 oz of product. Vasanti's Face Base Powder Foundation runs at $28 CAD with 0.38 oz of product. Pretty damn fancy, eh?

Now onto the packaging: it is in a sleek silver plastic compact with a large crisp mirror and a sponge for application. I personally like using my BareMinerals precision face powder brush, but to each his own.

packaging

I grabbed the shade V4. This shade has a yellow base (as I believe the majority if not all of the line has, so my apologies in advance if you have a beige or pink undertone). It is a perfect colour match, and I honestly couldn't be happier.

So the next Vasanti product that caught my eye was the Liquid Cover Up. It can be used as a foundation, under eye concealer, or complexion concealer. It is brightening, light weight, and oil-free.

packaging that the Liquid cover up comes in

It is in a tube, which is kind of strange, and there is a brush tip. I fell in love with this concealer because, much like the powder, it blends in seamlessly with your skin but gives great coverage.

Packaging of the product

brush tip of concealer

This concealer covered up my hyper-pigmentation with very little product. It was easy to blend and didn't cake up. Ugh, I'm just in heaven.

So I'm glad I took a chance on this Vasanti line. It's Canadian and run by women so WOOH for supporting a Canadian brand! I honestly bought these products based on how they looked in store, I didn't even look up on sites like Make Up Alley to see what others said. And I'm glad I did this because these are two really great products. I definitely will be trying more products from this line. If you're looking for an awesome powder foundation or liquid concealer then I highly encourage you to check out Vasanti!

Anyways, that's all for now! I hope you all have a lovely day and don't forget to put a bow on!

Hillary

Important Update!

Hello my lovely readers!

So I haven't uploaded a video in 2 weeks and you might be wondering why. As a lot of you know, I'm a stinking poor university student (uhhh let's be serious, what else is new?) so I'm currently waiting on my smelly OSAP to be able to get a new camera (long story short - I had to give my old one back to my mom when I moved away). Well OSAP is being silly so it won't be in for another week which puts off the whole using the money that should be paying my tuition with to also pay for other things. Let's call it the Ontario Student Assist-me-in-buying-stuff-for-my-youtube-channel Plan. So yah, that is in the works. I was going to just do some lesser quality videos on my webcam on my new laptop that optimistically claims to be an "HD" webcam buuuut let's just say that HP overshot that promise. Soo I'm going to see how my point and shoot camera will do in regards to quality but I'd rather hold off and give you guys the quality you deserve rather than do a hack job.

That being said, I have a bunch of really fun ideas coming up. I have a few new make up techniques that I'm going to share with you guys in a couple tutorials that I'm sure you'll love. I also have a few DIYs (wow, I totally wrote DUI at first, I definitely do not have any DUIs, drinking and driving isn't cool), and a September favourites video (I was way too busy to do an August favourites so this will be exciting!).

Soooo hang in there! I will have a video up this weekend and then my next video should be back to Canon Rebel t3i quality.

Hope you're all doing well, and don't forget to put a bow on!

Hill

Nail Polish Haul (...I have a problem...)

So I've been on a huge nail polish kick lately. Why? Because I feel completely maxed out on make up, skincare, and fragrance. My nails are still recovering from my shellac experience where they put acrylic tips on (why did I do that again? ugh) so I just want to make them pretty again.

My awesome friend/sorority sister Liz shared the most amazing (yet terrible) information with my yesterday (p.s you can check out her blog here). She let me know that http://www.nailpolishcanada.com had major sales on a bunch of nail polish AND there was free shipping. I tried to resist the urge but it was pretty much impossible.

I've heard a lot of beauty bloggers talk about Deborah Lippmann nail polishes and could never seem to find them in Canada (and it's a blessing in disguise - these polishes are $20+). They are currently getting rid of the brand (for whatever reason) and the polishes are around $13. I know, I know, $13 is pretty steep for a polish. But I'm so sick of spending anywhere from 6-12 dollars on a polish and having it chip or completely peel off. I have yet to hear a negative review about DL polishes so I figured, why not give it a go?

I only ordered them today but I will do a follow up review later showing the colours and the pigment on my nails (and maybe a follow up showing how it holds up after a week). Anyway, onward to the colours!

So the first colour I grabbed is called "Whatever Lola Wants". It's from the collection that Deborah Lippmann paired up with Kelly Ripa for. I'm hoping that the polish is soft and gives a nice pink iridescence to my nails.

The second colour is called 'Purple Rain'. My hopes are that it is a lavender colour with a pearl finish.

The next colour is called "Let's Go Crazy". It is a polish from their Fall 2012 collection. The glitter polishes are what first got me with this brand. I don't know what the heck it is, but they just look so good!

The next polish I got was the Umbrella Waterproof Top Coat. I know what you're thinking - why the heck does a nail polish need to be 'waterproof' - isn't it already? Well apparently not so much. The coat says it is waterproof and UV-resistant with a high shine. It brings oxygen to the nail to makes it chip resistant. I am still on the search for a good top coat so I'm hoping this little gem doesn't disappoint.

And last but not least, I grabbed some colours to do nail art with. There's this one brand called 'Art Club' that carries nail polishes with the long thin brush (so that you can draw on your nails precisely). They had a set of 8 pastel colours for $33 - so I definitely couldn't resist! The colours are: Pastel Blue, Lilac, Lavender, Sky Blue, Pink Pastel, Mint, Natural and a top coat sealer.

I had my nails done recently with a bow (yes, I know I know) and I've been dying to recreate the look at home. So I'm hoping that the Art Club colours do not let me down - I will definitely do a review and a tutorial with them once they come.

bows on bows on bows

So that's all the excitement from my purchases. I could resist discounted nail polish with free shipping. Keep your eyes peeled for my tutorials/review. I will be posting the videos on my YouTube Channel, my Twitter, as well as the written portion here :).

I hope you all have a lovely Monday, and don't forget to put a bow on!

xo Hill