About that Viral Mascara...

I don't think I have ever seen a make-up product as advertised as the Falsies Mascara has been promoted lately. In a way, it worked - it did pick it up last week.

I was in a hurry (lunch break), so I grabbed the first blue and purple package I saw. I noticed, once I got back to work, that it was the brownish black version, in waterproof. I hate waterproof mascaras, they tend to be rubbish, but it was too late - I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. Also, I prefer black mascara, but frankly, between brown and black, there is virtually no difference.

I expected a wand very similar to the Colossal mascara - first disappointment there. The Falsies' wand is curved, thinner and soft. I usually prefer rigid wands, but no biggie. It is easy to use and I didn't find I had to struggle to make it work.

Now, the formula - its main flaw is something I find very common when it comes to waterproof mascaras - it never really feels dry. The lashes "transfer" to the skin, and you quickly end up with semi-racoon eyes. That being said, when I wore it in the shower, it didn't seem to run, but it did flake. I took a nap with it - transfered some more around my eye area.

If the Falsies do a decent job separating the lashes and making them look thicker on the first coat, I am still very disappointed with the final result. It does not build up well. It didn't do a very good job enhancing my lashes (and  my lashes don't need that much help it begin with !), and I found that the final result looked like an awkward mess between badly applied mascara and cheap false lashes. The lashes look sticky, they do stick together, the mascara transfers around the eye, and the lashes look dull after a few hours. Also, after wearing it too long, it runs under the eye area and its waterproofness makes it hard to remove.

Bitter disappointment. Maybelline could have put couple million dollars they spend on marketing to much better use - say, developping a decent product.

What... Is... Up... *loading*... With the World Today ?

Je sais que c'est le contrecoup du monde instantané auquel a été habitué ma génération... mais seigneur, je réclame ce qui m'est dû ! Tout est lent aujourd'hui - notre machine à café fonctionne au ralenti, le journal est en retard, ma douche n'avait aucune pression d'eau, mon fer plat ne chauffe pas et Internet bat des records de temps de téléchargement. Reculer l'heure a bouleversé mon univers immédiat.

Pardon my French.

Stuff you've heard a zillion times but just in case you haven't :


Ecotools Brushes. Get them. They're great quality, easy to find, affordable, and the only thing I find weird about them is how my powder brush always seems to build a ton of static, it makes my bangs crazy.


Drugstore brands : I have recently released that almost every review of a drugstore product I have ever written starts with "well, this was on sale so I gave it a shot". Words of wisdom, my dear very broke make-up addicted friends ! I love trying new products, I love make-up, but I can't afford to indulge at Sephora's so I buy drugstore things to make myself feel better. It works. Check out the flyers you get once in a while, or the clearance bins ! If you picky like I am, you'll hate every other product you get, but that can happen at Mac or Sephora as well, and it's more heartbreaking.


Awesome people on youtube. I've talked about two so far, might keep doing that.


Your glasses : wash them !! I'm just about to leave for work, and most of the glasses I have to repair are disgusting. I mean, come on, you do brush your teeth before going to the dentist, run your glasses under hot water to get rid of all the crusted dirt before bringing them to me !

Lastly, read books. Good books. It's good for you.

Tackily Hip

I haven't uploaded a post in about a week, I know, but I'm a student - you've all been there, right ? Busy times !

I've been up since 4:30 am so I'm a little exhausted (pour le moins dire... gotta love working in a coffee house !) but I figured I'd upload a little something.

This is Vintageortacky, one of my favorite make-up artists on youtube. She's pretty, she's bubbly, she's very talented and her tutorials feature looks that are both intense and wearable. I adore how she uses colors, they are always very intense - and, I can't stress this enough, often wearable ! Check her channel out here !

Her channel features useful information videos, midly to very dramatic looks, plus size fashion, the secret to happiness and the meaning of life. Click the link HERE !

  Bonne nuit !! :)

No Such Thing as New Blacks

I have a strong tendancy to choose black over any other given color - probably some lingering side effect of my teenage pseudo-gothness (il faut bien que jeunesse se fasse...). I thus hereby declare the saying pink/grey/brown/turquoise/green-striped-with-purple-poke-a-dots is the new black bullshit obsolete.

Seeing that I am working today (Halloween), and felt too lazy to put a costume together, I decided that wearing some thick creepy black-and-red make-up would do the trick. Things you need to know about me : I rarely if ever wear colorful make-up; I own a ridiculous amount of colored make-up, because it's pretty; I (fairly) succeed in talking myself out of buying colorful make-up now - my drawers are full enough as it is.

For these reasons, I decided that buying a black base for the sole purpose of this black smokey-eye would be silly. That is why I used Mac's Blacktrack as a base.

I had my eye on Blacktrack for a very long while before I decided to purchase it, just because I already multiple black liners, either liquid or pencils. As it turns out, I adore this product as a liner - I find it easier to work with than a pencil (I have rather wrinkly eyelids) to draw a very thin line. I do  set it with a black eyeshadow, but I don't think it's a necessity.

As a base, I have to say, it does a very decent job. The product is very smooth, creates a nice opaque surface, it's smudgeable (thus, blendable) and once it is set, it does not budge. A little goes a long way - you do not need to build a thick surface for the shadow to go on very black, and if you put too much, it will crease. Sheer it out, and you'll be able to rock your dark look all-night.

Youtube Crush

I've always had a certain interest in make-up, but it has definitely grown out of control in the past years, since I've discovered the Youtube Beauty Community. Since then, I've fallen in and out of love with tons to make-up artists and bloggers... but this time, it's the real thing. I've found the one.

Some of you might recognize him from Temptalia - his videos have been featured on a few occasions. Dustin Hunter (aka youtube's Dustyohunter) is, and I quote his channel presentation :


"My name is Dustin Hunter, I'm an artist and a musician living in the wonderfully wet Pacific Northwest. I have two large dogs and wear far too many band t-shirts.


Musician: I write, compose, sing, play guitar and piano. I'm a fan of just about anything glam rock and prefer 20th century composers when it comes to my classical tunes (gimme some T.Rex with a side of Stockhausen and I'm a happy camper - Not as happy as Pamela Springsteen, but happy).


Visual Artist: My weapon of choice has always been a number 2 pencil and a ream of plain, white, copy paper. Give me a ballpoint pen and I'm set for days."

Dustin is an incredible source of information, tips, informed reviews, knowledge about products, photography, objective descriptions, organization tricks, subtle/man make-up advices, creative ideas, do-it-yourself tutorials, driving advices, jokes and cute smiles. I think he's fascinating, funny, interesting, has gorgeous eyes and offers series of exhaustive reviews of different product. Special mention to his pigment series, and the very recently uploaded Guide to MAC foundations. His videos are very professionnal, and have obviously required hours and hours of work and dedication.

CLICK HERE for his channel. You know you want to.

PS - this is quite possibly the least representative video of his channel, but he's in the shower and he is yummy. :)

Your Best Friend of the Week

If you've never heard of Mehron before, you're hearing it from it now, and it's about time !

 A little history

Mehron was founded by Mehron Melik in a loft in Broadway, New York, in 1927. For years, his "Mehron Ladies" went from show to show - burlesque, vaudeville, silent movies, ballets, etc. - to provide products and tips & advices on stage make-up.

After the beginning of WWII, Mehron stepped back from the make-up industry to spend a few years meeting with severely disfifured soldiers to teach them how to apply make-up in order to hide their scars wounds or burns. He traveled for two years from New-England to Virginia, stopping in many veterans hospitals, and helped hundreds of soldiers to regain a little pride.

During the 50's and 60's, the important growth of the entertainment industry in the United States ended the "Mehron Ladies" era : Mehron products were now carried by retailers. In 1971, Martin Melik took over the company, and he has been working hard since to developp and improve Mehron's selection of products, and improve the company's image, focussing on impeccable customer services.



Why you care

Mehron is one of the leading brands in stage make-up in the industry. Their products are long-lasting, apocalypse-proof, very pigmented, affordable and easy to get your hand on. In my area, they are carried by some crafts store, any costume store, and around Halloween, even in drugstores.

Some of you who are Youtube addicts like myself might have seen some people use Mehron's water-activated colors as eyeshadow bases - it is one of the many examples of how versatile their products are. I personally didn't think picking up some stage make-up items could be useful for everyday use, but after purchasing a few things to do some Theater Make-Up, I often found myself reaching for them for every day use !

That being said, the great think about Mehron is, even if you don't ever use the product you purchase after Halloween, it's so dirt-cheap that it will have been worth it anyway. At my local drugstore, I found some fake blood, tooth-stain or colored foundation (green, white, grey...) for only 3-5$ each. In specialized stores, most of their products are available in a wide range of colors and size - and, I can't stress this enough, are incredibly affordable for the quality of the item you are getting !

I cannot stress this enough - if you are doing some stage make-up for a show, movie, production of any kind, if you plan on doing some body painting, feel like adding some versatile products to you collection, or just want to be the Joker this Halloween, do consider Mehron !

As I said, Mehron should not be hard to find this time of year - that being said, if you live in a town that does not believe in stores, Mehron products can be purchased online on the following websites :

Mehron's official website

Silly Farm is an amazing website to get any kind of special effects make-up. That being said, I have never purchased anything from them because the shipping fees to Canada are super mcduper expensive. Their products are incredibly affordable, though !

Have a great Halloween !

Because for Once, Being Yourself Is Overrated !

Remember when you were a kid, and Halloween would come up, your parents would make you go to a field, pick a pumpkin, spend a whole afternoon with your hands in orange goo to empty it, draw on it with a sharpie and not even let you risk a few fingers by cutting it yourself, throw you in a stupid mouse suit with your winter coat underneath (where I live, it freezes by Halloween, sometimes even snows), make you ring at every single door in your neighborhood for hours ONLY to collect candy that they will end up stealing from you anyway ? Oh, the cavities and stommach aches from the cheap potato chips... No wonder the second we turned 16, Halloween stopped meaning free candy, and started meaning booze and creepy parties ! One's gotta deal with their traumatisms...

All jokes aside, I love fall, I love make-up, I love parties, and I love how on every October 31st, you can combine all of these elements. Every year, I start planning my costume in the middle of the summer, think of how awesome it's going to be, and then forget about it until I realize on October 28th that I have no idea what I'm going to come up with that year. You'd think I'd learn - think again. It's October 24th, and I have no idea what I'm going to wear next week-end. Don't judge, procrastination is fashionable.

I'll be going out downtown this year, so the plan so far is only to wear something thrashy and black and a funky face make-up - I'll probably be doing a few friends' make-up too. I think that a lot of people in the twenty-ish area and up will be doing the same - whether it's for school, work, or going out. Whilest looking for ideas online, I stumbled upon a bunch of old Mac face charts that were somewhat Halloween themed, so I figured those could be helpful for some of you !

Click below to see more...