Be Bold, Be Beautiful... Courtesy Of Anastasia Beverly Hills

I'm going to embarrass myself and admit that I totally watched The Bold & The Beautiful when I was younger. Also, Days Of Our Lives... And Passions. Hey, there were some really good looking men in those shows!

Aaaanyway, what I'm talking about here is a different kind of Bold & Beautiful... I'm talking about the Bold & Beautiful Kit by Anastasia Beverly Hills. The kit comes with 2 "books" -- Vol. I Bold Brows and Vol. II Beautiful Eyes. Let's take a gander, shall we?

First up, we've got Vol. 1 Bold Brows. It comes with Pomade, Brow Powder, Mini Tweezers, and a Mini Duo Brush.

Now, I have to admit that I normally don't do much with my brows. I'm pretty lucky in that they're fairly full and don't require much work other than grooming. Still, I sometimes have the urge to make them fuller and more ta-dao like so (except not as bushy, maybe). Growing your brows out can be tedious and take a while so the other option is to use brow products like those found in Anastasia's Bold & Beautiful Kit.

The Brow Pomade comes in a a dark, ashy brown shade and the Brow Powder comes in a taupe-y tray shade. Now, my brows are black, so I really wasn't sure how the Brow Powder was going to work out for me. However, combined with the Brow Pomade, it looks quite natural. The pomade allows for the brow products to stay put all day and it has definitely stayed with me all day.

The Mini Duo Brush is also quite useful. I use the spoolie end to comb through my brows and the angled brush end to apply both brow products. The angled brush has dense, stiff bristles that do the job perfectly.

And the Mini Tweezers? I love! I have one tweezer. Oh, I've tried many others before, but none of them work as well as this one. I've been using it for so long that the brand logo has worn off. So if I lost the damn thing (and I have many times), I can't even go out and replace it with the right tweezer. Well, I am happy and relieved to say that this Mini Tweezer works just as well for me! Huzzah! No more dealing with bushy brows when I lose my big tweezers! I love that it grabs every single hair. Because it's so small, I do have to do more tweezing than when I use my big tweezers. But on the upside, it can catch even my smallest bits of hair, precisely because it's so small.

Next up, we've got Vol. 2 Beautiful Eyes, which is an eyeshadow palette that contains 4 shades -- 1 matte, 1 satin, and 2 shimmer (the medium brown shade is mostly matte, but there's a little bit of shimmer in there) -- and one double-ended eyeshadow brush. The brush itself works well enough, though I do prefer larger ones. Between the shader brush and the pencil brush, I much prefer the pencil because I like when they are on the smaller side.

The shadows are all very soft and on the sheerer side of pigmented. Unfortunately, the 2 matte shades hardly show up on my skin; although I do like using the light beige shade as a subtle highlight on the brow bone. I've used the medium brown shade to contour, but it the shading is much too subtle for my liking, even when I've packed it on.

There is a peach-coral shade that has a subtle gold pearl that is absolutely gorgeous. It's not incredibly pigmented and is definitely offers a hint of colour, but it's not so subtle that you don't see it. It's the perfect shade for somebody who wants to incorporate more colour into their look but doesn't care for anything too bold or bright.

Meanwhile, the darkest shade is, unsurprisingly, the most pigmented shade of the bunch. It's more unique than your typical black because it has bronze glitter shot through it (soooo pretty!); but it's not over the top shimmery.

Surprisingly, despite my slightly oily lids, these shadows stay on for a good 6 hours without a primer. It applies smoothly and I experience just a little bit of fall out.

In the photos above, I've used both the Brow Powder and the Pomade on my brows. For the eyes, I used the satin coral shade all over the lid and in the inner third of the lower lash line, the medium brown shade along the edges of the coral shade to blend (I promise I used it!), and the matte beige shade on the brow bone (again: I promise it's there!). For the black with bronze shimmer, I applied it to the lower lash line and blended up. I also applied some to the lower lash line.

The combination of the coral and black/bronze shimmer shades are utterly gorgeous -- I've actually been wearing this look a lot in the last few months!

All in all, this is a fantastic kit by Anastasia. The products perform well and the shades are gorgeous (despite 2 of them not showing up too well for me). I've really been enjoying using this kit over the last month or so. I've shaved a few minutes off my morning makeup routine because most of what I need is in 2 "booklets". The Bold & Beautiful Kit retails for $36 USD, which is also fantastic value for money!

What products make you feel BOLD & BEAUTIFUL?

* This product was provided by PR for review consideration.

Insert Witty Title About How I Really Like The L'oréal Colour Caresse By Colour Riche Lipsticks Here

When I first heard of the L'oréal Colour Riche Colour Caresse Lipsticks, I immediately wanted to purchase them... But they hadn't been released in Canada yet, so I ended up playing the waiting game. But during the waiting game, real life took over, and I soon forgot about them. There was also the fact that I hadn't stepped foot into a drugstore in what felt like ages, so I wasn't even aware they were available in Canada til literally the week before I purchased it -- which was like, a month or two ago (possibly three, omg >_<). This post has been sitting in Blogger as a draft since then.

Ah, well... Better late then never, right?

So... What's so different about these lipsticks? Well, my friend, let me tell you...

L'oréal has formulated the Colour Caresse lipsticks to have 50% less wax than your regular lipstick. They've also developed a Lightfeel System that is supposed to feel incredibly lightweight and is "never sticky or heavy."

Pretty big claims, don't you think? But I must say, these claims are actually pretty accurate! The Colour Caresse lipsticks are what I expected the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters to be like -- the pigmentation of a lipstick with the feel of a lip balm. It feels so comfortable on the lips, I can actually forget I'm wearing it. In fact, in terms of consistency and feel, I would compare the Colour Caresse lipsticks to one of my favourite ever lip products - MAC's Tinted Lip Conditioners.

However, it definitely doesn't hydrate like a lip conditioner/balm. It's definitely not the most hydrating lipstick out there, but I do love how it fades to a stain; it leaves a nice touch of colour, even if I don't reapply.

I chose Violet Chiffon, Velvety Fuchsia, and Cherry Tulle -- all very pretty shades! My most worn are definitely Velvety Fuchsia and Cherry Tulle. But I must say, my favourite has to be Violet Chiffon. As much as I love purple, it's not really represented well in my lipstick collection and after seeing it on the stunning Rema of The Burgundy Book, I knew I had to get it for myself.

These lipsticks apply smoothly and for the most part, evenly. My lips are fairly pigmented and a little bit of the natural pinkness comes through when I apply 1-2 layers of this lipstick. When applying more, I found that Cherry Tulle tended to not distribute pigment as evenly, while Velvety Fuchsia and Violet Chiffon stayed even.

L-R: Velvety Fuchsia, Cherry Tulle, Violet Chiffon

Velvety Fuchsia

Cherry Tulle

Violet Chiffon

Because these lipsticks are so lightweight, they're pretty damn easy to wear. I like to reach for one of these if I'm in a hurry to get ready and want to add colour to my look. So if you're scared of lipsticks, you may want to start out with a "lipstick hybrid" like those in the Colour Caresse line. With 12 lovely shades to choose from (3 of which are in the neutral territory) and a $5.99 CAD price tag, you can't really go wrong.

What are your favourite lightweight lipsticks?

Girl, Take That Eye Makeup Off!

For me, finding fantastic skincare products is kind of a never-ending search. I love skincare (well, beauty products, in general) and I'm always up for trying new things. But once in a while, a product comes along that makes you think: "I think I'm gonna use this forever long." (Forever long, guyz...)

A few months ago, I purchased The Body Shop's Camomile Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover during their 50% off site-wide sale and I must say, I've been pretty impressed with it.

Firstly, as the name suggests, it really is gentle. The last two products I've used were Bioderma and Simple Eye Makeup Remover. They both worked well enough, but there were definitely things I was dissatisfied with with both products. Bioderma made my eyes sting occasionally and Simple didn't remove every last trace of makeup. However, with The Body Shop's Camomile Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover, neither of those things are an issue! It removes every trace of eye makeup without stinging. Yes, even the stubborn pencil eyeliner that always seems to make a home on my lower lash line -- it removes even that!

But if that's not enough, there's also the fact that it costs $15.99 for 250 mL of product! Bioderma costs more and contains less, while Simple only contains 175 mL. The Body Shop also has many sales, so it's quite easy to stock up on this product when it goes on sale. I purchased this bottle for $7.99, which is approximately the same price that Simple retails for.

I'm seriously so happy with this eye makeup remover, I honestly don't think I'll be using anything else anytime soon.

What's your favourite eye makeup remover?