Bazar D'mila

1. Giorgio Armani Blushing Fabric in Shimmering Peach ($38 USD): Armani foundations are a cult classic and for good reason. When applied, it looks like your skin but much better. The new Blushing Fabrics are very much the same concept mimicking your natural flush but better. Inspired by Armani's finest couture fabrics, you feel like you're applying a rich, weightless mousse to your skin. On me, the blush applies more pinky than peach and I'm absolutely in love with it. You can apply as sheer or as heavy, but beware - you only need a pinch to get your cheeks blushing. I find it easier to dab a little with my ring finger on the apples of my cheek and blend, but it works wonderfully with a brush as well. In my line of work, I sweat A LOT. This pretty blush definitely holds up until I'm ready to remove my makeup.

The hefty price tag may keep the wallet in the purse, but you won't be disappointed with these blushes. After all, it's Armani - would you expect anything less? To make your dollar stretch, I suggest using it as a lip stain and/or apply a gloss over top. Mix it with a bronzer and you'll have the ultimate summer flush!

2. Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in #10 Orange ($22 USD): This is one brand that has everything you could possibly want from a makeup line and then some. I'm so in love with these Aqua Creams that my kit is screaming to have every single one! If you've been searching for something that won't budge, smear, or melt-off then look no further. These creams are highly pigmented and water-proof. They come in a rainbow of colours and can be used on the eyes, cheeks, and lips.

Shades #5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 are formulated for the Lips & Cheeks.
Shades #1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, and 22 are formulated for the Eyes & Cheeks.

If you're daring and love bold colours that make a statement, you will love Orange this summer. This shade is just gorgeous on tanned or deeper skin tones. On someone really fair it will look equally as beautiful but use sparingly as it packs a lot of pigment and is hard to remove once blended. The texture is dreamy and creamy. Looks amazing as a blush or bold lip colour! The price point is a steal for how functional the product is!

Have you tried these blushes? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Want 'em? 

Makeup Makeovers: Weddings by Robert Jones ($24.95 USD) is a must-have beauty guide whether you're a bride or a makeup artist - or both! This beauty gem offers in-depth tips on how to create a multitude of looks with step-by-step guides, beautiful photos, and makeup essentials for creating a picture-perfect wedding look. It covers beauty for a range of skin tones and tells you techniques for achieving the right look for different times of the day (morning, mid-day, evening etc). It's an excellent guide for women doing their own makeup or for the makeup artist that needs a little inspiration! 

This book had been on my want-list for a long time. I love popping this out during bridal trials! It really helps when narrowing down a look for the big day. Lighting plays a big key in how your makeup looks so you'll appreciate all the tips. I'm a very visual person and LOVE all the beautiful photos in this book! 

Have you read this book? Love it? Hate it? Want it? 

Visit www.lecosmetique.com for all your beauty and makeup artistry essentials!

The Zuca Bag had been on my covet list for a long time.  After months of shopping and comparing (and bugging the hubby), I finally got my hands on one. You can read my post here. Despite purchasing the slightly smaller Sport version and not purchasing the utility pouches, my Zuca is still by far my favourite beauty essential of all time. I'm happy to report that my bag is now complete with 5 large Utility Pouches! Happy dance!

The Zuca Utility Pouches ($17 USD) are made out of nylon and fully lined, with durable easy-to-clean clear vinyl. These pouches are truly multi-purpose and can hold anything from your beauty products, to art supplies, to pretty much anything that needs storing.

I heart these pouches! Whether you are a makeup artist or makeup junkie these bags will hold all your favourite beauty must-haves. One pouch fits all my essentials for creating a flawless complexion. I have my foundations, powders, primers, moisturizer, concealers, and setting sprays all in the bag above. Each pouch also comes with labels so you can easily identify your products.

What I'm especially happy about is that all 5 pouches plus my brush belt all fit perfectly into the Sport version. Another reason to love these pouches is that they slide in and out like shelves and stack neatly in the bag. The only con? With all the extra room, I ended up adding more makeup to each pouch!

I highly recommend the Zuca bag and utility pouches. Transporting my makeup is no longer a scary ride since I know my products are safely secured! 

Do you own the Zuca? Love it? Hate it? Want it?

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing makeup with the CARGO Cosmetics team for the Toronto French Lingerie Fashion Show that took place at the artsy and chic Wychwood Barns. It was a unique show full of beautiful scantily clad models and dancers in luxurious lingerie pieces, spectacular dance routines, and of course stunning makeup! 

The inspiration for the look was the original blond bombshell, Brigette Bardot. Think sultry, sexy, bedroom eyes and hair. I received quite a few emails and comments asking what products we used and how to achieve the look so I figured why not blog about it!

Get the Look: 

 The look on one of my models who is a professional dancer. Could be a model right?

Step 1: Prep your face with CARGO's blu_ray High Definition Mattifier. Backstage it was a sweaty, sticky mess due to having no a/c. This primer was probably one of the main reasons the makeup did not slide off!

Step 2: Even out your skin tone with CARGO's Foundation - Oil Free. It was my first time working with the product and the results were beautiful. It gave awesome coverage yet did not look heavy on the skin. I also used this to cover under the eyes. Tip: Prep your eyes first but save applying foundation all over for last when doing a smokey eye. This will save time (and product) re-doing foundation from shadow fall-off.

Step 3: Set your makeup with CARGO's blu_ray Pressed Powder. It contains photochromatic pigments that help makeup stay consistent in all types of lighting plus the micronized mineral pigments diffuse light to camouflage imperfections and fill-in fine lines. 

Step 4: Line the top and bottom with CARGO's High Pigment Pencils in Black. Don't worry if the line is not straight. Dip a smudging brush into the darkest shadow in CARGO's Essential Eye Palette and smudge over top of the liner to diffuse the colour for a smokey definition. Repeat on the bottom and line the inner water line with the pencil.

Step 5: Apply the darkest shade from The Essential Eye Palette all over the lid and into the crease. To really make it sultry, concentrate most of the colour close to the lash line and outer crease. I like to apply the shadow with a flat shadow brush then blend with a firm but fluffy brush. Highlight the brow bone and inner corner with the lightest shade. The look would not be complete without black mascara and some flirty fake lashes (not shown)! These palettes are perfect for the woman that loves an easy, polished look or for makeup beginners. Each shadow is named according to the placement on your eyes.

Step 6: Balance the strong eye with a nude rose blush like CARGO's Tonga. I also contoured the cheeks with CARGO's Matte Bronzer (not shown).

Step 7: To really give the lips a nude finish, I filled the lips in with CARGO's Reverse Lip Liner in Light (not shown). I then topped off the lips with a nude gloss from CARGO's Lip Quad in Casablanca.

What do you think of the look? Would you wear this?

You can now purchase some of these products online by visiting CARGO's Facebook page! 

UPDATE: M.A.C. will be donating $100 000 to a non-profit organization in Juarez and will be changing the product names. It's clear the beauty blogging community has a voice. We love beauty but we will never stand for exploitation or discrimination all in the name to be edgy or to make a fast buck.

Has M.A.C. done enough? If the Rodarte collection was made to bring awareness of Juarez and to donate proceeds to Juarez charities from the get-go there would be no controversy. The apologies and efforts seem too after-the-fact. As someone commented on this post, the upside is that we are all aware of the help that Juarez needs. Has Rodarte done enough? I don't think so. Why aren't they offering to give a portion of their clothing sales to a Juarez charity?

What I do commend M.A.C. for is that they are not too big of a company to listen to their consumers. If you do plan to buy from the Rodarte collection, at least you'll know part of the proceeds are going to help the women of Juarez. Another reader left a comment saying she'd rather donate her money directly to a charity. I agree. If you're looking to donate visit this site for a list of charities in Juarez:
http://www.charity-charities.org/Mexico-charities/Juarez.html

Original Post: 

There has been much buzz over the controversy of M.A.C.'s  Rodarte collection and the designer's questionable inspiration of a little town in Mexico called Juarez. The history of Juarez was news to me and  I was unfamiliar with the background of the town until I read it on Vex in The City. I had heard about the collaboration between M.A.C. and the Rodarte sister designers, Laura and Kate Mullevy, launching this Fall but didn't clue into the controversy that surrounds it. 

Juarez, known as a factory town in Mexico, is notorious for the disappearance of hundreds of women between the ages of 12 and 22 who have been raped and murdered on their way to work, with little help from the police leaving most cases unsolved. It's disturbing and horrific, leaving me more sad than inspired. 

It's difficult to look at this campaign shot of a ghostly model who is rail thin, and with eyes that stare back at you with nothing but emptiness. I can't look at her without getting goose bumps and not in the good way. Seeing this picture does not make me want to run out and buy the collection. And after reading some of the names of the products, all I could think was "Really??". No, I will not be swiping on my shadow called "Sleepwalker" only to be reminded of the women and children who were raped and murdered for this "inspiration".

Either M.A.C. and the Rodarte designers are absolutely insensitive or this is all apart of a brilliant marketing plan to make M.A.C. look like heroes, making this a sell-out collection. Style List almost seems to sugar coat the situation praising M.A.C. for issuing a statement saying a portion of the proceeds from the collection will go to those in need in Juarez. Fabulous, now that sh*t has hit the fan. Was the real purpose of the collection to recognize the hardships of these women and to be inspire us M.A.C. addicts to help? Really. I think these women have been exploited enough. Sometimes bad publicity is just bad publicity.

For all you die-hard M.A.C. fans, how do you feel about the Rodarte collection? Will the Juarez controversy deter you from buying this collection? Or do you love M.A.C. so much you've just got to have it? To read Vex in The City's insightful post click here. To read more from Style List click here.

I was very excited to find out about the new Acne Solutions Liquid Makeup from Clinique. A foundation that does the acne control job at the same time sounds like a perfect solution to my acne-prone skin.

What it is: A oil-free liquid foundation with 0.5% Salicylic Acid to help treating and preventing breakouts on dry combination to oily skin, retails $24.50/ CAD30 for 1oz/ 30ml.

What it offers:

- Texture: Light weight and dries quickly.

- Coverage: Medium.

- Colours: 8 shades available, a good selection for different skin tones.

How it performs: I received "02 Fresh Ivory" which is a bit lighter than my match shade, but for testing purpose, I did use it on my face without mixing it with any darker foundation.

The goods:

- The formula is light and oil-free, a big plus, especially during the summer months. The foundation is semi matte when dries. It did not break me out.

- The wear is pretty good, as it lasts until I come home at the end of the day to wash it off.

- It can also be used on the affected areas only as a cover-up/ treatment liquid during the day.

The not-so-goods:

- It is not a full coverage foundation, i.e. I still have to use concealer on top of it. I expect a foundation with acne treatment property would provide more coverage, as often enough, we have acne scars and old spots to cover.

- The liquid is hard to blend at times as it dies quickly. I would suggest to get a bit of product at a time and blend it out completely before getting more product.

- It does oxidize a bit, which works on my benefit in this case as the shade is a bit light on me (Later in the day, it looks like a better match for me). Keep this in mind.

- The low dose of salicylic acid is good to treat rarely occasional breakouts but not for skin with more serious acne problem or higher frequency of breakouts.

The bads:

- The foundation flakes - around my nose and mouth, and on my cheeks. It is not pretty.

Note that I always use a moisturizer and a primer before any foundation, and do not notice any dryness on my face prior to application. Dabbing more moisturizer on top did not help, I tried.

Summary: This foundation works great as a convenient fix for those with light acne problem on normal skin but is not a good solution for combination/ dry skin as it intensifies the dryness.

Have you tried this foundation? Love it? Hate it? Want it?

If you a loyal follower of Anh's blog, Sparkled Beauty, then you'll know she has a love for anything with sparkles! Like most of my encounters with fellow beauty bloggers, I "met" Anh on Twitter. When we finally met in person at the Girls Night In at LIFT in April, it was like meeting an old friend. Be sure to check out Anh's blog for her awesome makeup hauls and product reviews! Thanks Anh!

In the summer time I generally don't wear too much shadow for fear of having them smudge or crease on me. However, this season's stay put formulas give me reason to reach for the hottest summer hues!

1. Urban Decay Eye Shadow Primer Potion in Eden ($18 USD): The original UD primer is an absolute staple in my kit and when Eden came out I was definitely intrigued. A primer/shadow in one? Right up my alley. I received a sample to test out and decided to wear it alone as a shadow. 

On me, this "tawny matte hue" shows up more like a bone shade on me. A little goes a long way. With too much on, I felt it almost lightened my eye area too much making it look ashy against my skin tone. Definitely use sparingly. The primer does have a brightening affect as it lightens the eye area and reduces redness on the lids. Underneath a shadow, it is as long-wearing and crease-proof as the original. All in all, I prefer the original over Eden but it works great when a little amount is used.

2. M.A.C. To The Beach Shadow in Firecracker ($17.50 CAD): I know, this is so last 2 collections ago! M.A.C. is known for launching so many collections a month so even though this is the summer collection, it seems so passe! Nevertheless, Firecracker is still a must-have summer shade.

Firecracker is a warm, burnt orange-coral shade. The colour looks delish against bronzey skin. It's a bold shade but the warmth of the hue makes it so wearable for summer. Pair this with golds and bronze or smut it up with black khol rimmed eyes. Balance the shade with peachy, bronze or coral cheeks and a light gloss.

3. YSL Fard Lumiere Aquaresistant in Golden Sands ($35 CAD): Luxury in a pot. It's like sweeping real gold over your lids. I received Golden Sands to sample and fell in love with the high-shine shimmer. When I first opened it, I thought the shadow had a glitter finish. Thankfully, it doesn't but has strong shimmer pigments. For day, apply a small amount for a sheer luminous finish. To make it wearable for the office, mix with a matte shadow. But for night, layer the shimmer on! The more your layer, the more intense the pigment and shine. This light-weight, water-proof formula has a nice cooling effect and seriously does not budge. Sweat, swim, dance - this shadow isn't going anywhere!

4. Everyday Minerals Loose Pigment Shadow in Mall Punk ($2.50 USD): I don't usually gravitate towards loose pigment shadows but Mall Punk has become one of my everyday go-to shadows. It's actually a warmer pink in person and pretty much looks delicious when paired with peachy, bronze and pinks. This shade gives the eyes a luminous glow. I need about 2-3 layers until I'm happy with the intensity of the shade but when applied wet one swipe is all it takes. When applied with a primer, it lasts all day with no touch-ups! 

5. CARGO Cosmetics Color Eye Shadow Palette in Tahiti ($28 CAD/US): The price point of these gorgeous palettes are a steal! The Tahiti palette is definitely one to have this summer. These shades ranging from olive gold to bright teal are one of this season's hottest trends. I'll be honest, I haven't worn these colours in a while. But with my basic work wardrobe, I've been inspired to wear more colour! To make it more wearable for day, mix 2 shades together one lighter and one darker and smudge a little liner into the lash line. Since these shadows have a metallic finish, opt for a more matte blush and go for a creamy lip than high gloss. The shadows are highly pigmented and only took one swipe for the colour to show. The texture is velvety-smooth and doesn't budge. As a sucker for packaging, I adore all the different designs on each palette!

6. Milani INFINITE Liquid Liner in Infinite ($5.99 USD): Milani Cosmetics has definitely opened up my eyes to drugstore brands. I am in LOVE with these liners. The black shade is my go-to liner on brides when covering up falsies. Infinite is a bright ocean blue and is the perfect shade when you want just a pop of colour on the eyes. Whether you're a fan of bright colours or not you have to admit this shade is fieerrrce! Pair this with a neutral eye, peachy cheeks and lips this summer. I find the brush firm enough to work with but I'm also used to applying liner. If you have unsteady hands, I recommend using a thin angled brush. These liners are budge proof so after it sets it is hard to remove. Use a powder shadow in a similar shade as your guideline the apply the liner over top.

Have you tried these must-haves for the summer? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Want 'em?

My girl Lena from the popular blog, Listen To Lena!, is doing an AH-MAZING give away! If you love Tokidoki Cosmetics and Sephora then head over to her blog for contest details!!

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians! I will be doing all things Canadian today including showing my country pride by wearing two of my favourite red lippies from Canadian brand Beaute Cosmetics!

Beaute Cosmetics Liqui-Gel Stains in Fever ($29 CAD): I've given these gel stains rave reviews on Makeup Junkie in the past. When I want a red lip that will last, I reach for Fever, a deep wine red that looks gorgeous on its own or as a base. These gels don't over dry the lips and give unbelievable depth when layered underneath a lipstick or gloss. It really has some serious stay-powering!

Beaute Cosmetics Luminous Volume Gloss in Urge ($26 CAD): You want some sexy volume? The husband likey! I haven't used this gloss in a while and I forgot how unbelievably shiny and pouty this gloss makes your lips. On its own, it's a sheer red but not a shy red! It's sheer enough if you're scared of reds but not shy enough to be noticed. It's a great shade of cherry that I love. I love layering this over Fever.

How will you be showing your Canadian patriotism and does it involve a red lippie? Have you tried these lippies? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Want 'em?