Pure Anada Natural Mascara Review

Today I'm reviewing a natural Canadian brand called Pure Anada. I was in the market for a new mascara and honestly I didn't have high hopes. I used to love the blinc tubing mascara but when I noticed it had plastic in the formula I felt like I had to make a change. I just couldn't get over the fact that every time I washed my mascara off the little plastic tubes went down the drain and added to our global micro-plastics problem. The plastics don't break down over time and as someone who truly believes we need to be restoring as many of our natural spaces as possible I felt guilty every time I put on mascara.

However, there was a reason as to why I used tubing mascara in the past. It's easy to remove, doesn't flake or smudge, and it doesn't create racoon eyes when I cry or rub my eyes due to allergies. All these things I wanted in a mascara going forward.

On a whim I decided to try Pure Anada's natural mascara. This is a vegan formula and I really like the ingredients of this (no plastics!). I thought I'd therefore give it a shot as it's only $14 CND for 9 grams- a significant drop from my previous mascara. They even have a sample size of 4 grams in a half-sized tube through their website for $7 CND.

Here is a list of the ingredients: Aqua, CI 77499, Hydrogenated Olive Oil Stearyl Esters, Stearic Acid, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Myrica Pubescens (Bayberry) Fruit Wax, Pullulan, Glyceryl Caprylate, Oleic/Linoleic/Linolenic Polyglycerides, Xanthan Gum, Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Galactoarabinan

Pure Anada's natural mascara comes in two shades Black and Brown and only the one formula. I purchased the black and it comes in a nice heavy black tube. Upon testing and continued use I am still frankly blown away by how good this mascara is.

This formula doesn't smudge on me, it doesn't leave raccoon eyes, and it flakes very minimally (even my beloved tubing mascara flaked a bit on me- I have allergies and so I'm always touching my eyes). This washes off really easily too.

I also find the formula of the mascara to be both slightly volumizing and lengthening. I've shown below myself with firstly no mascara, mascara on one eye and not the other and finally on both eyes so you can really see the effect the Pure Anada Natural Mascara gives. I love that it creates a natural but still amplified look to the eyes. Perfect for everyday and someone who doesn't want the fake lashes look.

Wearing no mascara

Wearing no mascara on the left eye and Pure Anada mascara on the right eye

Wearing Pure Anada Mascara on both eyes

The only problem I have with the mascara is actually the wand. It has an odd curve to it that I find difficult to use that also brings up too much product. It's not too much of an issue but I often struggle to get the wand to the inner corner of my eyelashes without hitting the brush against my eyelid.

I only ever have the patience for a single coat of mascara so I'm not sure how this would perform with multiple coats, however the Pure Anada website says that layering coats is possible. They also state that this is pH balanced for eyes and won't cause a burning nor stinging sensation even for those of us with sensitive eyes. Additionally it is described as water resistant which I would say is true as I do have watery eyes and this mascara doesn't come off until I gently cleanse it off at the end of the day. No major rubbing or harsh cleansers needed!

Overall, I'm really pleased with this find. I lucked out and found it at a Sobey's that had a natural cosmetics and medicinal section. However, their shipping through the Pure Anada website is reasonable too. 

Sprite Rating: 9/10 

I wish the overall packaging itself was easier to recycle and that there was a slightly different wand but other than that this mascara rocks!

What mascara are you using at the moment? Have you tried the brand Pure Anada?

Marc Jacobs Style Eye Con No. 7~ Swatches and First Impression of The Vamp and The Tease

The Vamp palette

Hey so here is another couple items I swatched on my latest trip to Sephora. Again I don't know about the animal-testing status for Marc Jacobs but I haven't purchased anything from them yet and will not until I can get confirmation that they are cruelty-free (of course if they do animal-test then I will not obviously).

The two of the four palettes I swatched are The Vamp and The Tease. These are the most colour of the palettes there is also The Starlet and The Lolita.

The Tease palette

Here are The Vamp swatches. 

All of these shades I found well pigmented, especially the matte shade. Unfortunately I couldn't understand why they'd put two very close to black silver glitter shades in this. One is more black-blue and the other more black-grey but they are so similar it seems a bit stupid to me.

 The Tease palette swatches. Sorry they're a bit blurry- Sephora lighting isn't the best. Again these eyeshadows are well pigmented and I liked the dark shades because they're different (purple micro glitter!) and a lovely navy. The mattes here were lovely too.

I kind of wish I had swatched the other two palettes as I was pretty impressed with these. Not so much the price of $71 CND but the packages themselves were lovely and sleek looking.  Here are some of the full palette shots.

The Vamp

Top: The Tease, Bottom: The Lolita

Top: The Starlet, Bottom: The Vamp (too bright sorry)

Anyone bought one of these? Heard good things about the Starlet palette but I've not seen swatches. Supposably the smaller mini palettes aren't as good. Can't understand why they would vary so much in quality. Anyone tried these?

Marc Jacobs Gel Crayons~ Swatches and First Impression

If you haven't heard there is a new brand out at Sephora by Marc Jacobs. I am unsure about the animal-testing status of the company. I'm going to try and find out more and will update here when I do. I haven't purchased anything from the line, I'd like to say (and I won't until I can determine the animal-testing status) I merely swatched the products in store.

These gel pencils are supposed to be an innovative for their use of a gel texture. I'm sure I've seen something similar before but I can't remember from where. First though here are the swatches.

T-B: Th(Ink), Intro(Vert), N(Ice), Ro(Cocoa), Jazz(Berry), Blacquer

T-B: Th(Ink), Intro(Vert), N(Ice), Ro(Cocoa), Jazz(Berry), Blacquer

The best shade by far was Blacquer- super opaque, super gel-cream texture, really really easy to apply- it just glides on. Ro(Cocoa) comes in second place just a tad behind Blacquer with the same texture and almost as good of pigmentation. It is a lovely satin shade of medium-dark brown.

Unfortunately the good dies off a bit after those two. Of the rest Th(Ink) an indigo shade (a dark blue with purple undertones, think blueberries) is the next best. This however doesn't have the same texture as the other two instead being much drier and lacking the 'gel' cream. You can build up the pigmentation with this until you get the desired result and a couple passes gets rid of any patchiness. N(Ice) and Intro(Vert) are about tied in terms pigmentation. Kind of patchy also and needing multiple passes. Also dry in texture in comparison with the first two shades. These two are also the sparkliest of the selection. Intro(Vert) is a kelly green and N(Ice) is a glittery silver. Finally Jazz(Berry) the most interesting colour in the line and the worst performer. Swatched so so patchy and seriously took way too much work to get the swatch I did. And if you look at the top picture you can still see the patchiness. Very disappointing, especially as the colour is so nice- berry with a burgundy metallic.

One thing I will say about these though is that they are really hard to get off! I seriously scrubbed at these swatches with a cotton round soaked with makeup remover and they barely budged. I still have remnants on my wrist where I couldn't get these all off!

Anyone seen the Marc Jacobs Beauty line yet? Does anyone know their animal testing status? What do you think of these liners?

Too Faced Review~ Exotic Color Intense Eyeshadow in Poison Orchid

 For my birthday this year my mom got me Too Faced's Exotic Color Intense Shadow Single in Poison Orchid. I'd been eyeing this shade for a while as I had swatched it when they were first released and was amazed by the shimmer but as they are rather expensive at $18 USD a pop I never took the plunge. I'm so glad I received this though as Poison Orchid is incredibly unique and super sparkly.

I've left a whole slew of things at school as I was so sick non-essentials were abandoned and promptly forgotten. I was focusing on trying to breathe- then it turned out that I was much sicker than I thought and I've not made it back to school and so most of my blogging things are there. Thus, my swatches are only on Too Faced Shadow Insurance. 

This shade is amazing on but it does have quite a bit of fallout, so it really does need a sticky base like Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. 

Poison Orchid is a charcoal-purple base with violet shimmer throughout. It has a duochrome effect to it as well as you can see when you compare the two pictures below.

The packaging is adorable- flower shaped with a little window in the lid so you can see the shade inside. It's a hard black plastic that seems quite sturdy and is easy to open and close. However it picks up finger prints and powder like crazy.

On the eyes this creates a very easy purple smokey eye that requires no real work to achieve. It has good pigmentation and the shimmer/glitter bits don't have any discernible feeling to them unlike some glittery shades I own.

You can get this shadow from the Too Faced's website, from Sephora or any other Too Faced retailer.

This really does look better in real life but I think you can get an idea of the shade from the above shots. Poison Orchid is truly unique, I don't own anything similar at all (which is amazing as I own waaaay to many purple eyeshadows).

Overall, though I do think that these are priced too high I am really digging Poison Orchid. The colour is unique and sophisticated, perfect for a holiday party. I'll try and get an eyelid shot up of it soon.

Sprite Rating: 8/10- lost points due to fallout issues and high price.

Would I buy it again? Yes, I think the shade is unique and beautiful. Though I may want to get it during a sale to save my wallet a bit! (And don't forget to use ebates! Sephora is currently 8% cash back)

Black Friday Madness!

There are tons of online deals going on this weekend and today especially! If you haven't already now would be a good time to buy holiday gifts! I was bad and bought myself some pretties already, but I've promised myself nothing else for myself until the new year! Anyways here are some of the best deals out there today (at least in my opinion!)

Cult Nails has a reduction on all in-stock polishes and the nail files are on sale too.
Sugarpill has 30% off everything today, and 20% off this weekend. Code: PINKWEEKEND
Venomous Cosmetics has 10% off everything and you receive a Venomous Cosmetics pen and a gift with purchase shadow in Thankful for free too. Code: THANKFUL
Darling Girl Cosmetics is 20% off everything (including the new Darling Deer Christmas collection!) You'll receive a refund via paypal :D
Clarisonic Mia packages are 20% off with the Code: CYBER20 at Clarisonic.com
Hi-Fi Cosmetics is 40% off everything, that's the highest discount of the year!
Geek Chic is 30% off (non-samples) and orders over $50 receive a limited edition or prototype item free (which is also the free shipping point) they just released a Dr. Who collection that looks lovely!

There are a ton more Le Gothique has an amazing list of sales as does Phyrra. Plus ebates has double cashback on many stores today in addition to the discounts so don't forget about them!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US and happy shopping everyone!

True Blood Vampire Lips

Official True Blood Lips

I've been asked before how to capture the Vampirey goodness that is the True Blood Lips and this is my take on it! Enjoy!

I used:

• Scarecrow Small deluxe Vampire Fangs
• Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Twilight
• Mac Kissable Lip Colour in Love Peck

You could also use:

• Any set of Vampire fangs you want (though I highly rec. the Scarecrow brand, you can read my review here!)
• Nars Cruella Matte Lip Pencil
• Hourglass Siren Lipgloss
• Any Dark Red Lipstick, to make a red darker apply a light layer of black lipstick and layer the red over it, you'll get a lovely rich red!
• Also the paler you make you face the more the red will standout- I recommend a white matte eyeshadow over any skintone tone to lighten your skin colour without having major mismatch between you face and neck :D

Is your True Blood tasting a little Tarte?

Tarte one of the best natural companies has gotten together with HBO to create a small but heady True Blood collection- out just in time for the new season to start on Sunday. Not many of you know this but I  adore vampires so this is right up my alley! There are 3 limited edition items and they are currently only available on the Sephora website. The cheek stain (a sheer red with shimmer) costs $30 USD, the lip stain (still infused with that strong mint scent) is a iridescent red shade for $24 USD, and lastly is the eyeshadow palette that has 17 eyeshadows and black eyeliner, mascara and eyeshadow primer for $52 USD. 

At the moment it is only letting beauty insiders buy them but it's free to sign-up to become a BI so that isn't such a difficult thing to overcome. 

The 17 eyeshadow shades are:

- The Light (Shimmering Warm Ivory)

- Fairy (Shimmering Pink)

- Dusk (matte warm taupe)

- Dawn (Shimmering gold dust)

- Werewolf (Matte Chocolate)

- Waitress (Sparkling pink Champagne)

- Nocturnal (Sparkling deep indigo)

- Charmer (Sparkling burnt copper)

- Glamour Me (Sparkling Deep Plum)

- Stake (matte Steel)

- Bayou (shimmering golden tan)

- Telepath (Sparkling warm rose) 

- The True Death (Sparkling Silver)

- Immortal (Sparkling midnight Black)

- Moss (Shimmering forest green)

- Legend (Deep Matte Black)

- "V" (Sparkling Crimson)

I think most of the names are appropriate though I wish they'd actually named a couple of the shades with character names like Pam, Sookie, Eric and Godric. (Why oh why did you have to die Godric!) Also I don't really get why the palette has two black shades.

Anyways, tell me what you think? Gimmick or cool? Personally I'd love to get a chance to swatch all of these!

Joe Fresh Liquid Liner Pen~ Review

Lately, on a quick run in to the grocery store I spotted Joe Fresh's Liquid Liner Pen, a felt tip thin black liner. This Pen was only $6 so I thought I'd give it a try as I like other Joe Fresh products and I've been wanting to try a liquid felt-tip liner pen for a while. There were a couple other shades such as a light brown and a dark olive green but I chose basic black for a fifties sort of look. I was hoping to create a cat eye.

One of the best things about this liner is the felt-tip. It's got a really fine tip so I can easily do a thin line along my lashes. The sort of matte area of the plastic makes the pen easy to grip and it's not too difficult to create a bolder line as well. I was a little worried the liquid wouldn't reach all the way to the very tip of the felt end but it did. Yay.

Now for the bad news. First up is that this needs to be stored horizontally, which is a pain, though one I could live with if not for this liner's other faults. Though the pigmentation isn't bad, it isn't the blackest black out there, but again, I could live with this. 

The main issue I have with this product is the lasting power. It has very little. It never fully 'set' meaning when I rubbed my eye a little later it came off some on my finger. Also, by the end of the day this liner was completely gone on my one eye and only faintly visible on my other eye. It didn't fade evenly and instead of disappearing, it instead migrated to my already dark under eye circles. Can anyone say major transfer issues?! I didn't even leave the house yesterday when I tried this liner! Sheesh! I suppose it may last longer with a primer underneath but I don't really like pushing primer up that close to my lash line, plus if my eyes watered at all (as they like to do, especially during allergy season) I have a feeling this liner would be a lost cause. 

On top of this, the liner only hold 1 ml of product. What a pathetically small amount! 

Sprite Rating: 2/10- The only good thing is the low price tag and the fact the felt-tip liner is decent.

Would I buy this again? NO! Not worth even the $6 CND. I want my makeup to last!

Joe Fresh Polish Haul & Twilight NOTD

Joe Fresh Nail Polishes- Butter, Twilight, Mallard, and Gunmetal

Hey all! I popped into my local Zehrs and they had released the new spring Joe Fresh polishes with the exciting flakie polish in Twilight. So, since they have the great 3 for $10 CND deal I bought all three of my store's Twilight bottles (one for me, one for my giveaway and one for a friend in the USA) and 3 other colours to try from the range. If you don't know Joe Fresh is a cruelty-free grocery store cosmetics line currently only available here in Canada. The bottles are the same size as the small Wet n' Wild Craze bottles are. 

Butter is a light pale yellow cream shade. I've been lemming American Apparel's Butter for awhile so I decided to take the plunge and get this one!

Mallard is also a cream, this is a blue-toned medium to dark green shade. (I'm such a sucker for greens)

Gunmetal is a metallic brown with plenty of silver shimmer in it. 

Twilight is a black jelly with green-gold flakies in it. 

Twilight needed three coats and as it is a jelly the black never does go to a true black. This could easily be solved with a black coat underneath. I also think it would look nice over other dark colours, very vampy with a twist. The flakies in this are gorgeous, mainly they reflect green and gold but sometimes you see a warm orange or even a spark of red. I really don't see it as a Spring shade at all, but it's definitely extremely different from anything else I have or have seen this season from other brands. Like another blogger said (and I can't remember who you are so I'm sorry!) I really see this as a fall shade, to me it's very reminiscent of halloween, october harvests and moons and dried leaves on the ground at night. Like the end of one of those really vibrant breathtaking sunsets in autumn, the second before it goes dark. Considering that Autumn is my favourite season, you can tell that this polish is going to be a favourite of mine :D.

I needed 3 coats and still have some spots that probably should have another coat but it applied well. The flakies were easier than I thought they were going to be to work with. With my normal one coat of China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat it feels smooth to the touch, no bumps or edges from the flakies. The flakies were fairly thick in the bottle too so you get a good coverage of flakie per nail when applying.

If you look at the top two nails you can see the differences in flakie colour fairly well- Green and Golden-Orange

I had issues photographing this one but I hope you get the idea. I really like the polish and if you get the chance try to get a bottle if you're into vampy colours! Not sure on the wear yet, but we shall see.
:D Till next time!

The Giveaway Prizes! (with Pictures)

I noticed some of you had issues finding Hebridean Sprite Beauty on Facebook! So Sorry! It's through Networked Blogs, you can click here to find it on Facebook! If you want the entry but have already filled out the survey, leave me a comment on this post after you've liked it and I'll give you the entry!

Now onto the prizes!

One Wet n' Wild Color Icon Shadow Single in my favourite shade Brulee. My personal one has a huge dent in it, I use it all the time as it's the perfect highlight and the perfect shade to even out discolouration on my lids. I even use it as an undereye powder over my concealer sometimes. Even those with darker skintones can use this shade in my humble opinion as it would make a great intermediate blending colour between two darker shades and for brightening the inner eye. A wonderful matte creamy shade with great pigmentation, that doesn't break the bank either. This is from awhile ago, but you can see my first impression of this eyeshadow and swatches on this post here! I'll probably do a full review on this soon.

Joe Fresh is a Canadian Brand that can only be bought at certain drugstores here, and these mini bottles have grabbed the attention of many nail polish fiends in Canada and beyond. This is the newest sensation is this little beauty released for spring. My first flakie polish and named Twilight I love the contrast between the dark base and the gold-green flakes. This bottle is brand new (I bought more than one) so you can enjoy this Canadian exclusive too! My nail of the day and review of this polish is coming next week!

The next prize I haven't bought yet so I've had to use a stock photo. (For some reason I can't find my gloss either! Sheesh!) But if you haven't heard of this gloss yet, it's about you do! This is my favourite of the drugstore glosses I've tried, medium to full pigmentation, SPF 15, smells wonderful and non-sticky! Plus the packaging looks like something from one of the higher end brands such as Estee Lauder. The shade I'll be purchasing for the contest is Life's A Peach really lovely peachy-pink shade with a slight shimmer. In the tube it doesn't look that nice but on the lips it really shows it's potential! An excellent everyday coloured gloss I think would suit many people. A review will most likely pop up about this gloss sometime this month. I have to find my mysteriously missing glosses first lol.

Last but not least is a New York Color Blushable Creme Stick in Big Apple Blush. I adore this cream to powder formula and the pigmentation is fabulous! Pictured above is my blush stick, the winner will of course get a brand new one. You can check out my review of this blush here!