Marcelle

Marcelle Essentials Purity Soothing Cleansing Water - 200ml - $14.25 - cleanses and tones the skin while removing eye makeup - I have never actually used a cleansing water before, it never occurred to me that a water could do a good job cleansing, never mind removing eye makeup - but it does!  You use it like you would a toner by applying it to a cotton pad - I found it most effective to use one side of the pad to do a quick swipe over my face, remove my eye makeup and then use the clean side of the pad to go over my entire face again to remove any leftovers.  There is something strangely satisfying that you get from this cleanser that you don't get from wash off cleansers, you get to see all the gunk on the pad that was removed from your face!  If you like seeing your blackheads on Biore strips you will probably also enjoy this!

This would also be a great cleanser if you have hard water at home!


Cliniderm Gentle Cleanser - 150ml - $16 - contains no parbens, dyes, perfume, lanolin, formaldehyde or protein. Specialized care for sensitive, allergic, reactive or dry skin.  Soap free gel cleanser that you can actually even use as a body wash if you are looking for one with no scent!  I liked the texture of this one a lot, it's a thin gel that rises off easily and made my skin feel very clean - it's not meant to take off eye makeup, and it doesn't so you will need your makeup remover for that but it did remove my face makeup.

If you are looking for a moisturizer to follow your sensitive skin cleanser, Diane Lai has a new collection of all-natural skincare products.  It's suitable for highly sensitive skin, dry skin, eczema and inflammation and can also be used on children.  Diane Lai was inspired to create the line because of her own child's sensitive skin and one of her objectives is to educate the public about the harmful toxins that many commercial skin products contain.  The first launches from the collection are:

Rejuvenate - 100ml - $45 - a daily moisturizing lotion to maintain soft and healthy skin and can be used anywhere that you have skin that is dry, tight and/or itchy - face, body, hands and feet.

Soothe - 30ml - $34 - to help comfort skin irritations and contains natural oils and anti-itch remedies to prevent further scratching and inflammation.  Also good for insect bites and mild sunburn.

Both contain organic shea butter, kernel oil which is rich in natural vitamins A,B,D,E, proteins and lecithin, cold-presses organic grape seed oil which is a natural moisturizer that is rich in antioxidants.  Even better is what they don't contain: parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, artificial fragrance, artificial colourants, retinols, sulfates, petro chemicals or oxybenzone.

If you are in Toronto, you can find Diane Lai products at Blossom Bath & Body - 157 Main Street, Unionville or at Moms to be and more - 1642/44 Bayview Avenue, Toronto as well as online at www.dianelai.com

If you're lucky enough to live in Montreal, you'll want to mark April 8th, 9th and 10th on your calendar for the Marcelle/Annabelle warehouse sale!

Taking place at 9200 Cote de Liesse from 4 - 8pm Friday, and 9am - 4pm on Saturday and Sunday - wish I could join you!

If anyone does go, I'd love to hear what it's like!

I love colour in spring and Marcelle hasn't disappointed me!  I really adore the look on the model and will be trying to recreate it myself at home! If only I had the blonde hair!

We all know that you can spend a mint on eyeshadow should you have the mind (and the bank account) to - but it's not absolutely necessary to spend a lot to get something good!  It's just hard to know what will work for you without trying them and a lot of the time, drugstores just don't offer testers so you can end up wasting your money on shadows that suck! 

We can't give you every eyeshadow out there but we  would like to give you a great big bunch for your testing pleasure!  And keep in mind, even if you don't win, every single one of these shadows on their own are under (mostly way under) $20 - which makes them incredibly affordable for everyone!  Combined you are looking at over $150 worth of shadowy goodness - so what do you say?  Ready to start swatching these babies?!  Here's what you could win:

L'Oréal Studio Secrets Color Smokes Eye Shadow in Forest Smokes for green eyes, Cobalt Smokes for blue eyes, Lavender Smokes for brown eyes and Blackened Smokes for all eyes.
Maybelline EyeStudio Quad in Pink Persuasion and Duo in Khaki Craze
Marcelle Graphic Eyeshadow Quad in Dimensional Blues
Annabelle Eyeshadow Trio in Grafix
mark. Celestial Eyes Shimmery Cream Shadow in Grey Storm
Avon 12-in-1 Eye Palette
Barry M Trio Eyeshadow 040 Greys
Sephora  Eyeshadow Single in Preppy Look No 41
Hard Candy Duo in Blind Date
Rimmel Glam'Eyes Mono Eye Shadow in 120 Urban Green

Sound good? Like something you might want? Read on then...This contest is open to everyone everywhere and it's very easy to enter, just leave a comment letting us know that you follow (if you aren't a follower you can sign up through Google or Facebook - signups are in the right sidebar)

1 entry for following and leaving a comment answering the question - what is your favourite inexpensive eyeshadow?

And for extra entries you can do one or both of the following:
1 entry for tweeting the contest
3 entries if you post this contest as a post or on the sidebar of your blog

If you prefer not to leave your info on a public post, please leave a post saying you want to enter and then e-mail your info to info@beautycrazed.ca, please put "Eyeshadow Contest" in the subject line.  Winner to be decided by random drawing and you have until April 8th to enter.   

L'Oréal Youth Code is a new skincare line specifically developed for the 30+ year old crowd whose skin displays the signs of today's hectic lifestyle: stress, fatigue and aging.  Developed to boost skin recovery, the patented GenActiv Technology works to reactivate the skin's repair genes to help recoup its youthful qualities of smoothness, vitality and radiance.  It also improves the ability to defend itself from aggressions and to retain much needed moisture.  The GenActiv Technology is paired with Adenosine, which has now been identified as essential to cellular functioning and fundamental part of DNA that can slow down the effects of aging.
Available in the line:  Rejuvenating Day & Night Cream, Rejuvenating Day Lotion SPF 30, Rejuvenating Eye Cream and Rejuvenating Serum Intense for $29.99 each.  Also coming in a 3-step system set which will have the lotion, cream and eye cream for $42.99.
Clarins Kiss For Life - with the purchase of each Lip Perfector - $20 - Clarins & Shoppers Drug Mart will give $10 to Motherisk - a program of the Hospital for Sick Children - which treats the mother and protects the unborn.
Clarins Vital Light Day - lightweight version - 50ml - $95 - Same great cream as before but in a lighter version that helps to fade melanin spots and bring a youthful brightness to the skin as well as reduce signs of aging.
Clarins Vital Light Day SPF 15 - lightweight version - 50ml - $95
Clarins Vital Light Night - lightweight version - 50ml - $98 - revitalizes the skin during the night and restores deep luminosity, firms the skin and smooths wrinkle so you can wake up to fresher, youthful-looking skin.

People who spend too much time at Shoppers Drug Mart (me) may have noticed that your Quo brushes just got a lot more colourful!  If you love them, don't wait to pick them up - they are limited edition and will just be around for a couple of months!  The price is the same as the regular silver handled brushes and they come in pink, turquoise and purple!
Also new from Quo are Electric Eye Pencils - Spark - crystal white, Fire - warm yellow, Charge - jewel green, Volt - soft pink, Shock - deep purple and Arc - smokey blue & Luminous Gloss Sticks - Star - burnt peach, Glow - coral, Shine - translucent pink, Blaze - cherry red, Flare - burgundy and Flash - plum red - $12
Quo Smokey Eye Shadow Palette - $25 - 7 powder shadows and 1 cream liner - 2 different sets one in purples and earth tones with a bronze cream liner and the other in shades of blues and greys with a silver cream liner.
Marcelle Essentials Foaming Cleansing Gel - 170ml - $14.50 - oil, alcohol, soap and paraben free it's made from ingredients of 100% natural origins and is meant for all skin types.
Marcelle Multi-Colour Face Powder and Powder Blush - $16.95 - one gives you a glowing complexion the other shimmering cheeks.
Marcelle Revival Regeneration Firming + Brightening Cream Serum - 50ml - $34.95 - for mature skin -  face, neck and decollete provides an instant firming and lifting effect and long lasting action against wrinkles.  Reduces the appearance of brown spots, evens out skin tone and gives radiance.  Improves skin elasticity and suppleness while reinforcing and regenerating it.

It occurred to me a couple of months ago as I was removing my eye makeup one night that for a product junkie, I was not being very adventurous with my makeup remover and in fact had been using the same one for years!  Not that it's a bad thing to find something that works and just stick with it, but for me this is crazy talk and what if something much better had happened in removers and I had totally missed it?!  The horror!  So of course I immediately set out to try some new (to me at times) removers.  Here are the ones I liked best:

Biotherm Biocils Lash Optimizer Eye Make-Up Removal Care Lash Condition & Beauty Waterproof - 125ml - $31 - a makeup remover that works to prevent loss and thicken lashes with three active ingredients: madecassocide, L'arginine and citric acid.  Suitable for sensitive eyes and for contact lens wearers.  I have noticed that I do tend to lose lashes when removing my makeup, I've always chalked it up to my being too aggressive with the cotton pad but a remover that would also help with this issue seems like a good idea to me!  It removed waterproof mascara and liner easily and didn't leave an oily residue - just remember to shake it before use!




Isomers Totally Tugless Multi-Use Make-Up Remover for eyes, lips and more... - 240ml - $25 - paraben and fragrance free - helps calm, soothe and soften the skin while cleaning.  This one is a little bit different as it requires more work but if you are very sensitive, you will probably prefer this to the oil based removers.  One area at a time, you apply and hold for several seconds, this helps lift the makeup up and off the skin.  Wipe skin clean with downward strokes.  Repeat if necessary and rinse with tepid water.  The Shopping Channel carries the whole Isomers line, you can check it out at www.theshoppingchannel.com
Marcelle Essentials Gentle Make-Up Remover for Sensitive Eyes - 150ml - $14.25 - half oil, half water, all effective.  It contains green tea and cucumber extracts and is hypo-allergenic and perfume free. This one also easily eliminated waterproof product, I did find it a bit oily then the others but since I always wash my face after removing eye makeup, this wasn't a big deal to me.
Also available in the Marcelle line is an oil-free remover - 150ml - $12,25, a remover gel - 100ml - $12.25 and remover clothes - very cleverly packaged as 2 packs of 15 cloths which make them great for travel - $12.25.
If you're wondering what my "go-to" product has been for all these years, it's - Lancôme Bi-Facial - 125ml - $34 - gets off makeup, including waterproof, with ease - suitable even for sensitive eyes and for contact lens wearers.  It's the priciest of the bunch but it need not worry, our love affair isn't entirely over, I just can't promise not to ever stray...

Marcelle continues to impress me with their seasonal collections - the packaging is so cool and  they really seem to have their finger on the pulse of current trends and can deliver it at such a great price point that everyone can participate!  I love blues and purples so I'm all about this one!
Graphic Face Pressed Powder - $14.95 - Prismatic Neutrals - four harmonized hues to give your winter blah skin some glow.  As a pale faced person, I was pleased to see this one give me a bit of colour to go with the glow - and I especially like that it really is glow and not sparkle!
Graphic Eye Shadow Quad - $11.95 - Dimensional Blue and Dimensional Mauve - four harmonized versatile hues to create lots of different looks!  I love the look of these compacts and as someone who has never used up an eyeshadow in her life, the design is fine for me - but keep in mind if you are the sort of person who does use one up, because there are no barriers between the colours, as you use up the compact the colours will eventually crumble together!  But because of the price and the good quality of Marcelle shadows, I am still calling this one a good buy!
Rouge Xpression Lipstick - $11.95 - from the new lipstick line comes two new colours available only in this collection - Delightful - dark rose with blue undertones - I love cool based colours and this one looks great on me, swatch to come soon; or Curious - creamy earth-tone - if you like nudes, you will probably like this one - I don't really do nude so I can't give any sort of useful feedback for it.