My product picks for Spring 2012 – SUQQU, Chanel & Guerlain

Spring collection releases and swatches are in full swing on the blogsphere! I won’t be repeating any press release information here as you can easily find them just by doing a quick Google search, but I will share with you my top picks for this upcoming Spring.

The first and foremost, a brand that I have been obsessing over for the past couple of months is SUQQU. They release three collections a year – Spring/Summer, Fall and Holiday, which usually consists of a couple of limited edition coffrets (holiday sets). From this brand, I have my eyes on the Bright Veil Face Colour, which, from the looks of it, is a translucent pressed powder with a stripe of shimmer on the side to create that glow (hence the name “Bright Veil”). I also have my eyes on perhaps one of the new Blend Colour Eyeshadow palettes, which is actually a quint as the pan on the bottom left corner has two shades in the one pan. The Bright Veil Face Colour is limited edition whereas the eyeshadow palettes are joining the permanent line.

From Chanel, I definitely want the Le Vernis in June, which is a orange-apricot colour perfect for spring/summer. I don’t have a colour like that in my collection yet so it’s perfect. In addition, I want to see the Rouge Coco Shine in Flirt, which is a peachy-coral shade. I love the Rouge Coco Shine formula because it is so subtle, so it works beautifully during the day. I also want to see the Rouge Coco in 39 Paradis, which is a pink-coral. I find that the Rouge Coco formula is a little drying on me, but I love the colour payoff of the ones I’ve tried.

When I first saw the collection photos a few months ago, I had wanted the Blush Horizon de Chanel, but now I’m thinking twice about it as it reminds me of the Guerlain Blush G from Spring 2011. While Blush Horizon is more subtle and glowy and less shimmery and bold, I just feel I do not need two blushers that are so similar. That being said though, I still want it very, very much. Why? because I know I will regret it if I don’t get it. So yes, it is on my shopping list *shifty eyes*.

From Guerlain, I originally wanted the Gardenia Meteorites powder, but since I already have the Parure de Nuit from Holiday, I decided I don’t really need it. The new Rouge G shades scream ME so I will have to take a look at those as well.

Other things I really look forward to reading reviews of are from Les Merveilleuses de Laduree collection, which is debuting in February in Japan. I want to see how the dome blushers are, and how they compare to the Shu Uemura dome blushers being released for Spring, another thing on my “to swatch” list.

If I had to choose 3 things to buy for sure though, my list would look like:

1. SUQQU Bright Veil Face Powder
2. Blush Horizon de Chanel
3. Chanel Le Vernis in June

What are some of the picks you have for Spring 2012?

Favourite products for 2011!

Another year has gone by! That means I’ve had a whole year to discover and try new products… Here are the ones I’ve found to be my favourites or go-to products for this year.

Favourite non-beauty item… my new(ish) Canon EOS Rebel T2i!

Overall favourite discoveries

• Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation
• Marcelle Hydra-C Energizing Hydrating Gel
• Zoya Remove+

Skincare

• Makeup remover: AmorePacific Treatment Cleansing Oil
• Cleanser: Erno Laszlo Sea Mud Soap (review coming soon!)
• Exfoliator: AmorePacific Treatment Enzyme Peel
• Toner/Lotion: (in the summer) Cellnique Soothing & Hydrating Lotion
• Serum/Essence: none for this year =(
• Moisturizer: Marcelle Hydra-C Energizing Hydrating Gel
• Cleansing Mask: Cellnique Advanced Bio Renewal Mask
• Moisturizing Mask: none discovered this year
• Lip balm: Polysporin Daily Lip Care
• Sunscreen: Biore Moist Face Milk SPF 50+ PA+++

Hair & Body

• Shampoo: Lush Rehab Shampoo
• Conditioner: n/a
• Body Lotion: Crabtree & Evelyn Rosewater Body Lotion
• Hand Cream: L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Lotion

Makeup

• Face Primer: n/a
• Foundation: Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation
• Powder: Jill Stuart Moist Silk Powder Foundation
• Blush: Guerlain Blush G Serie Noire
• Eyeshadow primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Eyeshadow: SUQQU Blend Colour Eyeshadow
• Eyeliner: Dollywink Liquid Liner
• Mascara: Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara
• Lipstick: Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in 54 Boy
• Lip gloss: Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss
• Nail polish: Dior and Chanel Vernis
• Tools: Chanel Eyelash Curler, MAC 239

 I hope everyone a very happy New Year! May 2012 be an amazing year for everyone =)

Reflections of 2011 and outlook for 2012

I was inspired by Tao’s 2011 Reflections post to write my own reflections for this year. It has been a year of major changes and difficulties in my life. I have to say the second half of 2011 has not been good at all, but this just means that 2012 will be better.

Accomplishments:

1. Graduating from my undergraduate program – I finally completed four years of stress and frustration! I graduated this May with a B.COMM (with honours too, which was somewhat surprising, haha). It has been a long journey with lots of tears and laughter. I still remember the night that I finished my very last exam, the feeling was completely overwhelming because I knew I had done it. I didn’t end up going to convocation because it was too far, but the feeling of receiving my diploma in the mail was still satisfying.

2. Securing a job – I started looking for a job starting last September. I knew I wanted to be home in Vancouver but the job market here was still pretty bad, especially in a slowly recovering economy. I’m happy to say that I was able to start a job tentatively this September and then finally securing it in December.

3. Not buying stuff just because – I’m pretty proud of the fact that I’ve stopped spending money like mad on things I don’t need. When I was in school, I bought things to relieve stress, but now that I’m out there in the real world, I’ve been pretty good with my money spending. I’ve also stopped hoarding makeup, especially the collectible items I don’t use.

Lessons Learned:

1. Things will always work itself out – It has been an extremely difficult year of job hunting for me and sometimes the future looked bleak, but after all of this, I learned that things will always work itself out in the end. If a door closed on me, then another window will open. The road is not an easy one, but I will arrive at the end!

2. Some friends are just not worth the time – I’ve made numerous friends over the years as I’ve grown up. When you’re young, you always hope that everyone is friends with you, but over time you slowly realize that not everyone is worth the time. I’ve come to that point where I’ve realized some friends just aren’t worth my time, especially those who look the other way when you need them to be there. Having a few really good friends is way better than having countless just “okay” friends.

Resolutions for next year:

1. Learn to use my DSLR! – My parents bought me a Canon EOS Rebel T2i in July as my graduation and birthday present. Over the summer, my photos haven’t required much manual adjustment due to the good lighting, but now that it is winter and lighting generally sucks, I’ve needed to do more changing of the ISO and Aperture and things like that. I really need to read my camera manual and then slowly pick that up!

2. Eat healthier – Due to stressful times this year (and over the last 4 years), I’ve been eating without many limits. As I get older, I feel like I really do need to start eating healthy as my metabolism is slowing down and my body can no longer bounce back like before. I also need to start hitting the gym, or taking some dance classes, just to get some exercise in there as well.

3. Save up for a down payment – It has been a little hard adjusting to living with my parents after four years of living on my own. I definitely think I prefer my freedom, and as I feel I’m becoming more and more financially independent, I need to stop living under their shelter. I hope to start saving up for a down payment on an apartment or townhouse soon.

Lastly, I want to thank every one of you for an amazing year on Maddy Loves. This year has been a very good year for the blog as I was able to really expand it and get the name out there. I’ve also made several very valuable relationships through the blog with some fantastic ladies, you know who you are. Thank you to all of my company sponsors, blogger friends, and most importantly, my readers, for always being there and supporting me. I hope 2012 will be an even better year for everyone!

Thank you for reading ^__^

Blogging & Cyberbullying

Bloggers now are somewhat like internet celebrities. We put ourselves out into the internet for the purpose of giving inspiration to people or to help people with their purchasing decisions. With the intense product competition in the marketplace in this day and age, combined with the heavy marketing and advertising being done, as a consumer it is hard to choose products that are suitable for you at a price point you are comfortable with. The purpose of bloggers, especially us beauty bloggers, is to be your white rabbit: test out the products for you and then give you recommendations based on our thoughts.

I’ve received feedback from several PR and company reps and they’ve all come to the same conclusion, that blogging has become one of the most important forms of media available to consumers, many times even surpassing the power of magazines and other traditional forms of print media and advertising. The reason for this is simple, that bloggers operate their blogs because of their pure and simple interest in the topic, without any real forms of compensation. We spend hours photographing, swatching and testing products, and then hours writing about it. Blogging is not an easy task; when committed to it, a blogger can spend anywhere from 15 or more hours doing blog-related things. Not many people can say they are that committed to something, especially without receiving compensation.

Cyberbullying, or trolling, is not new to the world of blogging. I’m sure all of us have experienced it, the occasional reader calling us ugly, or anything else that is rude and completely uncalled for. The vast majority of the time, we just suck it up and ignore it because we know that those people are just a tiny percentage of our readers, and that most of our readers are actually very supportive of what we do. But I can tell you now that it does hurt. Every mean comment that we get, it really does affect us emotionally.

Recently one of my best blogger friends, and a very dear mentor of mine has been subjected to really terrible cyberbullying. I won’t go into details of what happened, but in the end she had to resort to deleting all of her blog posts prior to last year so that her presence on the internet has been decreased and so the possibility of her being trolled upon is also decreased. As a loyal reader of her blog, I found this news very saddening because I believed that all of the product reviews, swatches and makeup looks that she does are extremely helpful for me personally when I am looking to purchase products or just for general browsing to see what kind of looks I can create. However because of the few select people, she had to delete all of her hard work prior to last year. That was completely understandable though, because no one should have to go through that kind of abuse, it’s just very sad. No one should have to go through something like that. What difference is that to when someone is bullied so much at school that they have to transfer schools or be homeschooled. Even worse, you cannot run from someone on the internet, as long as you want to be there, helping people.

I’ve been pretty fortunate to not have to go through too much trolling on my blog, but on my Youtube channel it is a completely different story. I only have TWO videos on my channel, but I still get terrible comments, some of which I were just downright weird. I’m not that active on Youtube so I don’t really mind, but I can’t imagine what the popular Youtubers are going through and how much abuse they have to suffer every day because of their simple hobby. On my blog, I do get the occasional comment left by a troll, and even though I don’t get many, each one I get still hurts me, and that says a lot.

Rude comments are completely and utterly uncalled for. We spend hours and hours a week doing this both as a hobby, but also as a service to our readers. We don’t expect that we get thanked for our work, but at the very minimum we shouldn’t be getting emotionally abused. We don’t deserve any of this bu**sh*t. No one makes you read what we write. Of course we would love it if everyone came and read our blogs and wrote nice comments, but that’s not realistic, so we just hope that the mean people can keep out and only the nice people continue to visit us. Of course, it is easy for the bullies to say “why not just stop blogging?” Well then what about the 99.99% of our readers who actually find our work helpful, stopping the blogging will just be unfair to those who want to read our content.

On the other hand, I know I love to get supportive comments or e-mails. Once in a while I get a reader e-mail me saying she loves to read my blog and hopes that I can continue writing. It’s comments or e-mails like those that really touch me and remind me of why I am doing this in the first place – for you, my readers, as well as for myself. I’m sure other bloggers think the same way. There is nothing more comforting and supportive than a reader thanking you for all of your hard work.

This post has been somewhat like word vomit. Sorry if it’s a little random, I just thought I really needed to get this out there. Please remember that even though we are bloggers, and yes we are somewhat in the public eye, we are still human beings and we deserve that little sliver of your respect.

Thank you for reading!

Makeup organization for stuff I use daily!

I went out and bought a small-ish 2L clear plastic box today to organize all of the make-up that I use on a daily basis. I am trying to wear makeup more often now because of work, so instead of trying to find everything the morning of, I like to separate the “work appropriate” stuff from the more artsy stuff. The box was only 83 cents, including the lid (woot for cheap finds!) from Canadian Tire.

The box is a good size, fitting everything I need to look good for the entire day. I also like to keep my lipstick of the day with me in a makeup bag just in case I need to touch up after lunch or something.

I like to use powder foundation during the day because it’s easier to apply in the morning and it looks lighter and more natural. I also like to set everything with Guerlain Meteorites so it looks less powdery and more glowy (like I actually got a full night’s worth of sleep).

For my eyes, I use more subtle colours such as my NARS duos in Grand Palais and Kuala Lumpur. My Guerlain Bal de Minuit palette is still one of my favourites, as is this Coffret D’or green palette that is subtle and appropriate for the office.

I like my cheeks to look natural, like they’re emitting a glow from within kind of thing. I have Rock & Republic Call Me, Jill Stuart Sweet Lock and Chanel Espiegle in the box with me.

My lips are something I like to change up often. I have (from left to right) Chanel Rouge Coco in Gardenia, Paul & Joe Sahara collection lipsticks in #2 and #1, Chanel Rouge Allure in Desinvolte and Dior Addict lipstick in Diorissime.

I also love Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Confidence or Rouge Allure Laque in Santal as alternatives for lipstick.

Some other things I use are my MUFE HD Primer in #2, Maquillage Lip Essence EX and Rohto Lycee eye drops.

I keep my brushes, mascara, concealer and eye primer in a separate Hello Kitty cup.

The brushes I use on a daily basis include my Rock & Republic blush brush, Sonia Kashuk Powder Brush, MAC 239 (yeah it needs to be washed), Rock & Republic blending brush, a flat smudger brush and my lash/brow comb duo.

Lastly, my MAC eyebrow pencil in taupe, Clinique High Impact Mascara (my HG!), Majolica Majorca mascara base, Dior Skinflash pens in 001 and 002, my giant UDPP and eyebrow mascara are also in the jar.

And the set-up near my window. I have two Eki makeup bags in the corner, one is for random stuff and the other is to carry on the go with me.

Do you keep your daily makeup separate from the rest of your stash?