Pixi Polish

If there’s one thing that’s easy to hoard up, it’s nail polish. It’s so tempting every time I hit up a Target, Shoppers or London Drugs to pick up a few bottles. Next thing you know, you’ve got a huge stash of nail polishes with a variety of colours, formulas and finishes. Today I’d like to share some new polishes to me that are cruelty free.

Pixi by Petra Nail Colour – $8.00 CAD*

These little bottles are so cute! I find Pixi products at my local Target, and I have to say these polishes are very reasonably priced. Not going to lie here… I borrow these off my sister, but hey! Sharing is caring, right? Whenever I see she’s picked up some new beauty products that are cruelty free, I feel obliged to test them out, like quality control. I’m so thoughtful, aren’t I? My sister is on a huge natural kick, she’s done her research and listed out all the chemicals she wants to avoid, and these polishes made the cut.

When I first cracked open these Pixi polishes, I was confused. Each shade has a different brush. The bright pink colour is called ‘Vivid Coral’ that has a fantastic wide brush. The purple shade is called ‘Very Violet’ that has a super thin applicator. I’m a fan of the bigger wand, it makes application super quick. Just two swipes of the brush and you’re good to go. These polishes are ‘3 Free’ meaning they do not contain Toluene, Formaldehyde, or DBP. I really like the formula on these polishes, they’re a cream formula with no shimmer, which I personally prefer. The colours are very, very bright and lean on the neon side of colours. I find these polishes to last a good 5-7 days with a good base and topcoat. For the price, I think these are a great cruelty free option, and there’s tons of great shades to choose from.

As pictured above, two coats does the job nicely. One thing to note is these polishes dry matte. It’s really strange, but I feel like the matte aspect helps these polishes to dry incredibly fast. It’s really impressive. If you aren’t a fan of a matte nail colour, just add a topcoat and you’re set!

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

* In case you were wondering, here’s Pixi’s statement on animal testing: “Pixi does not test on animals, nor do we have any other parties, such as suppliers, conduct any animal testing on our behalf. Pixi uses only the highest quality ingredients which have a proven safety record and are widely used in the cosmetics industry.”

Beauty Swap with Blushing Biddies

A couple of weeks ago, April from Blushing Biddies offered so kindly to help a sister with tangly hair out and send me a Tangle Teezer as they’re impossible to find where I currently live. I couldn’t believe her generosity, and I thought that maybe there was an opportunity here to share some of my favorite beauty products with a fellow cruelty free blogger. I can count on one hand the number of female friends I have, so I generally don’t get to share my love of make up and beauty with anyone, instead it’s always sports talk over beers and (lately) Game of Thrones. Don’t get me wrong, I love that stuff too, but it’s also nice to be girly. So we decided to do a swap of some of our favorite beauty products. I quickly wanted to say a huge thank you to April for doing this with me, and here is what April was so kind as to share with me!

I love getting mail, does anyone else? It’s just so exciting to get a package and rip into it.

I’ve never actually tried anything from ELF Cosmetics, so I was really happy to see some goodies from them. I’ve already gotten acquainted with the ELF Essential Eyelid Primer in the shade sheer. So far it does a lovely job of keeping my shadows on my eyelids. Next to it is the ELF Essential Wet Gloss Last & Brow Clear Mascara. It’s a dual ended clear mascara, one side is meant for brows and one side is meant for your eyelashes. To be frank I’ll probably just use both sides for my brows. One thing I had specifically asked for was from Flower Beauty. Flower is exclusive to Wal Mart and only sold in the States, so I can’t buy any of their products. I love a good cream eyeshadow, and I was sent two shades of the Colour Play Creme Eyeshadows. I have the shades ‘Gold as a Mary-Gold’ (left) and ‘Wild Geranium’ (right). I wore the wild geranium shade out and I really like the colour. I’m going to test these out a bit more and probably write a post on them, so keep an eye out for that.

Included in the box of goodies were some lotion tissues, I can’t read any more than that on the package, but I’m sure they will be lovely. There were also some mini nail files that will be great for keeping in my hand bag. I was really excited to see the Physician’s Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Original Jumbo Lash Mascara. Wow what a name! I’ve seen some beauty vloggers on YouTube talk about this mascara, so I’m excited to give it a go. April also included this Pharmacopia Verbena Facial Soap that’s got the Peta bunny logo, and is made in Canada. I love trying out new kinds of soaps, so this was a lovely product to see in the box.

Ahh what started it all! The Tangle Teezer. SOOO happy to finally get my hands on this guy. If you read my post about my impossibly tangly hair, then you’ll know how badly I needed this. It works so great at working through the knots in my hair so effortlessly. I love this thing! On top of that, April included The Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, and the classic NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk. Two products you can never go wrong with.

To finish off (I know, how spoiled did I get??), April sent a Travalo, which is a mini spray bottle that you can easily add your own perfume to make it portable. I already have added my favorite perfume into the Travalo and I love it! I peeked around on their website and they also make rollerball versions if you prefer that to a spray bottle. To my amazement she also sent two Urban Decay products. She sent the 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in the shade ‘Naked’, and the 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in the shade ‘Rehab’. I can already tell I’m going to use the crap out of the shadow pencil. It’s the perfect colour. I feel like these might be being discontinued though, because there’s only one shade left on the Sephora website, and they’re on massive clearance on the website. I’ll have to keep an eye on that one.

Whew that was a long post! Thank you again so much to April for sharing your favorite beauty products with me, and I hope you enjoy what I shared with you. I hope this post either inspired you to get a little generous and share something you love with someone, or gave you an idea or two of what to treat yourself to.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Pinched Cheeks

Spring is the time to really get into blush. With warmer weather finally approaching, adding a hint of colour to the cheeks is a great way to embrace the season. Today I’d like to discuss a very affordable blush option that’s cruelty free.

NYX Powder Blush in Pinched – $6.00 CAD

NYX describes this blush as ‘coral pink with gold glitter and iridescence’ and I agree and disagree on that description. I see the colour as more of a true pink, but I agree on the gold glitter. It really made me question using it after I purchased this blush back in February. I don’t mind a little shimmer, but when I can see straight up glitter bits in the blush, I’m terrified. I’m happy to report that the glitter somehow doesn’t get picked up by a brush, so you don’t look like a disco ball when you’re wearing this blush. Instead what you get is a beautiful sheen on the cheeks that looks so healthy.

These blushes are very pigmented, so I can see this little pot lasting me a very long time. A little goes a long way, and this particular shade really awakens my complexion and makes me look vibrant and for a lack of a better term, it makes me look awake. I’ve been pretty busy these past few weeks, and this blush has saved me from looking run-down.

I should also mention that this blush blends so beautifully on the cheeks. The formula isn’t chalky at all, it feels so smooth and buttery, and you don’t feel any of the ‘glitter’ when you run your fingers over the blush. With just a little product on your brush, you can really blend this blush into the skin to create a natural effect. It has an almost skin-like finish which is great for minimal spring/summer makeup looks.

I’ve been watching a lot of Game of Thrones lately, I’ve blown through 2 seasons since being done school, I’m about half way though season 3 now. I’m pretty sure that’s what possessed me to try this braided hair situation that I attempted.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna