MAC A Fantasy of Flowers - Spring 2014 Collection

Let me just start with saying very seldom do I get stupidly excited about a collection launch but this guy right here had me ALL kinds of excited; as soon as the colours were released I knew I'd be saying a teary farewell to a good chunk of change. The day it launched I had pretty much very single item in my little pile ready to go until I remembered it wasn't too long ago that I got home from Paris where I'd invested a decent amount of money into skin care, so after much contemplation and soul searching I narrowed my pile down to my top 4 products.

Now you can see the whole collection here but for the sake of today's blog post I'll try and keep my rambling primarily on these four products. A quick note on the collection; it's the perfect combination of soft pastely neutrals and bursts of fresh colours to help transition into spring with plenty of shimmer and class. 

Nectarsweet Cremesheen gloss is that perfect pinky nude color that looks perfect on it's own or worn over top of another colour, I personally love to layer it over the new Fleur d'Coral lustre lipstick that also came out with this collection. Fleur d'Coral is a wonderful coral nude color that is perfect for spring; simple and elegant yet fun and playful all at once. I am addicted to layering my lip products so my power trio that I'm loving right now is the MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in In Anticipation with Fleur d' Coral and Nectarsweet piled on top for the ultimate girly lip combo.

Now the last two products you see swatched above are Perfect Topping Mineralize Skinfinish and Petal Power Mineralize Blush, it should be noted that up until about four month ago I had been wearing the same colour of blush every day for probably the last two years. I broke that streak and fell in love with some new blushes (Blushbaby and Warm Soul also by MAC) but Petal Power might have me wearing the same blush again every single day until I finish it and then I'll probably be trying to sell my organs on the black market for a new one. Now why you may ask is it so amazing that I'm willing to part with a kidney over it? Well let me list the ways I love thee! First of all it's a mineralize blush so it goes on pretty light but you can build the colour, that also means it's got a bit of shimmer to it. Second it's the perfect colour of pink for almost any body, and I do mean any body, I've seen it on so many different skin tones and it's looked rockin' on pretty much everyone. Third, the shimmer on your cheeks makes me feel like a fairy princess, need I say more?

Perfect Topping really is the best name for this new Mineralize Skinfinish, when my face is done and I'm about to head out the door I dust a little bit on to the tops of my cheekbones, the bridge of my nose and a wee smidge on my chin and it just adds this instant glow to my face; and remember what I said about shimmer - fairy princess! I was a little hesitant about this guy at first as I've picked up some of the limited skinfinishes in the past and been a little bit disappointed by them; I felt they were a little too metallic and not enough shimmer, they left my skin looking greasy instead of illuminated and enlarged the appearance of my pores which are generally quite well behaved and stay out of sight, but after one try of Perfect Topping it was love at first sight. 

Some other close runners up from the collection that are definitely worth a glance is the Lily White loose pigment and the Flare for Fantasy Cremesheen Gloss, this whole collection is just amazeballs and I foresee it selling out pretty quickly so I recommend running - not walking or jogging, I'm talking a full on sprint - to your nearest MAC location and getting your hot little hands on some of these glorious goodies, you can thank me later when you're all shimmery and wonderful like your own little fairy princess!

Just another quick note: you can now find us on bloglovin', so follow the link and show us some love. It's also a great way to keep up with all things Facepalm! And to continue with pimping myself out on social media check @facepalmbeautyblog on Instagram and head on over to Facebook. When our Facebook page reaches 50 followers I will be holding a giveaway and the more ways you follow Facepalm the more chances you have to win some of my favourite goodies. 

- <3

Skin Care for the Gods!

Clearly if you read this review or asked to borrow lip balm and I handed you this you've probably heard me sing the gospel of the french skin care brand Nuxe; if you haven't heard the Gospel of Nuxe then prepare yourself because this is another installment of "why is french skin care so damn amazing?!" Let me start with saying I recently had a "facepalm" moment with skin care; one of those moments where in retrospect you totally knew better buuut still did it anyways. Working in make up I have a lot of co-workers that are also skin care enthusiasts, some of which share my dry skin dilemmas, others that are facing a battle on the oily front. One day whilst musing about masks a couple of the girls were talking about how much they loved the REN Glycol Lactic Radiance Mask and how amazing it left their skin afterwards, and neglecting the fact that they both had either oily or dehydrated skin (not the same thing as oily - ladies and gentlemen, I'm looking at my Alberta peeps especially...) ALSO neglecting the fact that my skin is far too sensitive I decided to go ahead and try it anyways, cue the facepalm! The instructions say to leave it on for 10 minutes and you may feel a slight tingling sensation; 5 minutes in my face was burning and I had to rinse it off - I was left with dry, itchy welts that the next morning had turned into huge dry patches on the skin I've been working so hard on!!

The next day is the day I did my haul at the drug store, I was a little weary of trying a new moisturizer with my skin already so angry at me so I did a small patch test that night and in the morning my skin in that area felt so amazing I decided to be brave and use my new Rêve de Miel® Ultra-Comfortable Face Cream. I've been using it for about a week now and I'm so very in love with it and let me tell you why!

So first it has that unmistakable scent all the products from the Rêve de Miel line, it's sweet from the honey but also has a really soft herbal smell to it. It's a thick cream but almost has a whipped texture to it which makes it fantastic to apply - a little goes a long way here people! I also love that like most Nuxe products the vast majority of ingredients are naturally sourced, it's got a 6 month shelf life after you open it, which to me speaks volumes about the ingredients. It contains Sunflower oil derivatives, safflower ceramides and precious plant oils to repair the lipids in your skin, barley, aragan oil and shea butter to soothe and nourish your skin as well as honey to repair and vitamin E to protect. 

After just one week of using this I've noticed my skin seems much plumper and softer and it's even diminished the dry patches I was left with from the glycolactic mask mess, it has quickly replaced my previous day moisturizer and I'm excited to get my hot little hands on the night cream version while I'm in Paris because that does seem to be one of the items that hasn't made it over to Canada yet, but if you see it somewhere let me know in the comments below! 

I'm currently on vacation and may not be posting as much as I would like but you can follow me on Facebook I am also on instagram @facepalmbeautyblog I will most likely be posting pictures of my exploits into French and British skin care and cosmetics, so be sure to check those out for all the latest and greatest in the FacePalm world! 

January Drug Store Skin Care Haul

I will be the first to admit I'm kind of a skin care snob and I've been that way for a while; I would turn my nose up at the thought of purchasing a cleanser or a moisturizer from somewhere that also sold cereal and postage stamps. Having been this way for ages I was probably the last to know that some of the drug stores have really stepped their game up and are now carrying high end brands and even foreign brands that are next to impossible to find even online.

After sending a copy of my Paris shopping list to a co-worker who is also interested in skin care and lamenting about how I couldn't even find any of it online she brought to my attention that she'd seen quite a bit of the Nuxe skin care line at Shopper's Drugmart. On my break I dashed over there and quickly spent $98 in 15 on so many goodies!

The only thing I've tried from this haul before was the Rêve de Miel® Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm which is a life saver for someone with constant chapped lips like myself; if you live in Alberta you NEED this in your life! I've been battling super dry skin for a while and finally had it under control until I tried the Ren Glycolatic Face Mask I had mentioned in a previous post and had a horrible reaction to it that left my face super dry and flakey, so I figured I would also give the Rêve de Miel® Ultra-Comfortable Face Cream a try and see if it was able to restore my skin back to its soft supple past! I am also in the process of trying to grow out my hair that I've been dying for well over a decade and hearing amazing things about Klorane I decided to give their Desert Date Hair Mask a go! After seeing Avène Thermal Spring Water on so many beauty blogs and vlogs I had to find out what all the fuss is about and I'm super excited to see what kind of results it gives. I'm just as addicted to Soap and Glory products as the next girl, I have been since I used to live in Ireland so I was so excited to see Shoppers Drug Mart expanding what the collection they carry to include cosmetics and since I've been battling dark circles under my eyes I figured I'd give the Trick & Treatment Under Eye Concealer a whirl! The other two products I picked up at TNT Asian Supermarket, one you may recognize as the Mysterious Flesh Eating Booties I reviewed last week, I bought a pair of them for my mum to try as she's always complaining about her dry cracking feet, so we'll see how she likes them! And last but not least the strange package of powder with no English on it whatsoever that depicts a girl sweating in a bathtub, best guess is it's bath crystals of some sort, mildly nervous but kind of excited to try them!

I also picked this little dude up at the grocery store the other day, seriously if you see me in public don't let me anywhere the hair/skin care section, I HAVE A PROBLEM! This is just a single use deep conditioning hair mask that clearly states it's for people like me that use and abuse their poor hair, plus it's paraben free and I like that!

I will most likely be writing a review of some of these products within the next week, if there's any item specifically that you'd like to see a review of let me know in the comments below! Also, if there's any drug store "must haves" that I need to check out also leave those in the comments below.

Face Q Peeling Foot Mask

I picked these guys up from the asian supermarket at the recommendation of a girlfriend who had nothing but AMAZING things to say about them and having adored other products by the same brand I figured I'd give them a go!

First let me give you the instructions for use because the only thing in English on this packaging is the ingredients list. Put the enclosed booties on (from here on referred to as the Mysterious Flesh Eating Booties) and let your feet sit and stew in the booties for an hour. I would recommend putting a towel under your feet if you're going to put your feet up as they may drip! After the hour is up rinse any of the residue off your feet and apply one packet of the enclosed lotion to your feet, I recommend putting socks on to help it soak in and not get everywhere.

Over the next couple days socks are going to be your best friend for a couple reasons; A. Because it'll help the lotion soak in (I recommend doing it at bed time) and B. All the dead skin is going to start peeling off your feet and it's super gross so spare everyone around you the sight of your feet molting!

I've got mixed feelings on this product so let me tell you what I love and what I didn't love so much; first of all they were a little more expensive than I expected as all their face masks are like $1 each, I can't remember the exact price but it was around $25 for a box that contained one set of booties and five packets of lotion. Secondly, my feet are more dry than scaly and I was hoping they'd have a more moisturizing affect which sadly it was the exact opposite they were quite drying. If your feet are extremely scaly and rough I think this would be amazing for you, I would also recommend using extra lotion on your feet while doing this to prevent them from getting so dry - use the enclosed packets of lotion at bedtime and wear socks and in the morning before putting socks on slather on some extra moisturizing lotion. I do have to say that while they did leave my feet a bit dry they are quite soft and two days after finishing the lotion I still have dead skin peeling off and now that I'm loading them with lotion they feel super soft.

If you're somebody that needs to see immediate results these are not for you; a week after using the mysterious flesh eating booties I'm now just starting to see the results but I am happy with what I see. I will most likely purchase these again but they won't be a staple in my skin care collection thats for sure! If you can get your hands on a package try them out and let me know what you think!

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse

After finding out the boyfriend had booked us a surprise trip to Paris in a couple weeks I fell into the black hole of googling French skin care; several items kept popping up on every blog I came across, ask anyone who knows me, I've been beyond excited to get my hot little hands on some of this liquid gold. Whilst counting down the days to Paris, and hording all the skincare trying to get my face ready for the streets of Paris, I was in Sephora picking up Ren's Glycol Lactic Radiance Renewal Mask(watch for a review in the next couple days!!) and whilst standing in line pursuing all the little goodies near the till my eyes fell onto a golden little bottle I've been dreaming of for weeks! Nuxe's Huile Prodigieuse was just sitting there calling my name!

As soon as I got into my car I cracked the seal, put a couple drops of heaven into my hand and ran my fingers through the ends of my parched hair! First I would like to mention the scent; its a really light aromatic smell with hints of floral without being overwhelming and obtrusive and yet has warm undertones, I can't quite place a finger on any specific familiar fragrances within it but the overall smell is a delicate inviting one. It has a light weight texture, not sticky and heavy like some other oils I've tried. Six hours after applying it to the ends of my hair I find my hair feels soft, still smells fantastic and is not at all greasy - although I would avoid applying it to the scalp as I feel it might get a bit greasy and unmanageable. So far I've put the oil in my hair, smoothed it all over my body after a bath and mixed it into my night cream. It absorbs into the skin quickly leaving your skin soft and dewy but not at all 
greasy. I found it instantly brightened my face and I'm excited to see what continued use has to offer.

Aside from how amazing this product smells and feels the ingredients are of 97.8% natural origin whish is definitely something to get excited about in the day and age when in comes to skin care with ingredients lists that barely fit on the packaging.

 I found my 50ml bottle at Sephora for $26, they also had the Huile Prodigieuse with shimmer dry oil that would look amazing in your hair and on your skin giving you that almost sun-kissed shimmer, I'll being going back for it shortly! If you haven't tried any french skin care yet this is an amazing introduction; it's simple, sophisticated and the results speak for themselves.  

Who, What, Wear and Why?

Why Facepalm Beauty Blog? I think like many things in life skincare, haircare, make up and beauty in general has many "Facepalm" moments when you can't believe it took you that long to figure it out. Let me have all those facepalm moments for you and learn from my trials and tribulations in the beauty industry.

Who is the face behind Facepalm Beauty Blog? My name is Sara and I'm a 22 year old long time make up addict and newly converted skincare junkie from the prairies of Alberta, Canada. I've dealt with everything from oily acne prone skin to skin so dry it bleeds. I've recently started down the path of becoming a certified MUA with the help of the guys and gals I work with at MAC so expect make up galore but makeup is only as good as the skin underneath an frankly I'm addicted to  skincare from all sides of the world, anything I can get my hot little hands on!

Keep your eyes on this space for reviews of some of my favourite - and not so favourite - products and where you can find them!

-Sara xo