1000!

Hi all,

1000 people have viewed this page, and I'm SO excited about it. I thought this would be a little blog for me and my friends, but 1000 people!

Visitors to Beauty Over Thirty have mostly looked at the 5 Ingredient Look and Basic Face. I will continue in that vein, making videos and writing posts and reviews for busy women who want to enhance their beauty with a little bit of makeup, a little more fashion, a little extra fun.

I want to tell you what I've got on my BOT to-do list, and I'd love your feedback on what you want to see from BOT. Coming up, I'll be writing and making videos about:

• Colour correcting - a lot of us have developed redness, sallow skin on our faces and discolouration around our eyes as we've gotten a bit older. I'm researching how the pros do colour correcting and what products they use. 
• Spring fashion update - I'm going to do a summary (with pictures!) of what the trends for fashion are going to be in Spring 2015, as shown in recent fashion weeks around the world. I'm talking about ready-to-wear fashion, not couture! We have professions to dress for!
• Common ingredients in skincare - A few months ago, I did a lot of research into skincare to develop my own routine for my own needs, and right now I'm in the middle of looking for a new serum as mine is about to run out. I've found that knowing the ingredients in cleansers, serums, moisturizers and treatments that do what you want is the key to success. I'm going to write about what ingredients do what and how to look for them in your skincare choices. 
• Information sources - I know you don't get all of your beauty info from me! I want to give you a rundown of what sources I've found the most reliable and which sources can be kicked to the curb. 
• The cost of beauty - This post will be a while down the road as I get more information gathered, but I want to talk to you about how beauty doesn't have to be costly, and building on the common ingredients posts, how you can recognize when a product is overpriced for what is in it. 
• And of course, I'll be filming more 5-ingredient looks, nighttime looks that take a bit longer and use a few more products and reviews galore! I have a growing list of products to test - I've just done a test of Maybelline's 14-hour lipsticks and, spoiler alert, there is no reason (other than THE HYPE) for this product to be flying off the shelves in the drugstore. 

As always, I shall do my very best to research and learn and pass on good, reliable information about beauty.  I swear, this winter has been awful for my own skin - I've been waking up scratching myself in the middle of the night. As I write this, I have two different very dry skin (aka winter skin!) moisturizers on each half of my body so that I can pass on which works best and how to relieve winter skin dryness and itching. I'm also trying to learn to take better pics!

Thank you all for coming over to BOT, reading a bit, watching a bit, and maybe learning a bit. Don't forget to comment, share, all that stuff so that BOT can reach the next goal - 5000!

Til next time,

Amanda

A Small Haul

Hi all,

Last night I decided to check out the Rexall (a Canadian drug store chain) close to the University of Toronto. I read earlier this week that a few Rexall locations in Toronto are carrying some hard-to-find brands such as TheBalm, Cargo, Vasanti, Studio Makeup and much more. 

I was not disappointed! First, I have to say that the cosmetician at this location was, in a word, superb. Leia saw me at the NYX display that was empty of anything I was interested in, i.e. a good selection of Soft Matte Lip Creams (Milan, Copenhagen, and Ibiza specifically). As I came around the corner to the displays for The Balm and other mid-range cosmetics, Leia came up to me totally unobtrusively (thanks for that, Leia!) and we just started chatting about makeup. 

Leia, like me, was not at all interested in makeup, skincare and all of the things BOT is about until a bit later than most gals. She gently moved me from brand to brand, telling me her honest opinion about a few things that I was interested in, and once she got to know a bit about my preferences (she had my colouring down pat within 10 seconds!) she introduced me to new products from some amazing brands I hadn't known about. Check out the gorgeousness from Emani, a vegan, cruelty-free brand from California:

Emani Mineral Hybrid Cremes in (l) No Free Ride and (r) Co-Dependent

Emani Mineral Hybrid Cremes in Co-Dependent

Can you see the shimmer creams and pinks in the beige?

Leia can tell you, I actually gasped when I saw these.

Emani Mineral Hybrid Cremes in No Free Ride 

(horrible quality, but its' hard for the camera to focus on these!)

Again, the slight shimmer in the light greens and creams is just gorgeous. 

Next up, a selection of Cargo Cosmetics product is carried at Rexall. I've never seen it anywhere else except for the junky makeup islands at Winners and Marshall's. I have two Cargo liquid lipsticks in my collection and their Suited to a Tea palette. Suited to a Tea contains 12 cream eyeshadows that frankly, are disappointing. The colour payoff is minimal and they are all exceedingly difficult to blend. Leia told me that Cargo is used on photo shoots and film sets, so perhaps the professionals have better luck (read: skills)  than I. It is also aggravating that a Canadian company that is located in Toronto only offers free shipping over $50 to the US. 

In any case, Leia and I discussed the merits of Cargo's Jet Lag concealer (which, in a gimmicky yet kind of cool move, you get 30 frequent flier miles if you purchase this product for $30!) that Leia said is her holy grail concealer - and then she lost it. I think, when I'm wealthier, I'm going to have to replace it for her. I purchased the contour palette - out of stock on the website, and I got the peach colour instead of pink:

I have to say, the packaging is really cool. The palette is enclosed in what looks like a brushed stainless steel cigarette case. Cargo's logo is clean and unobtrusive, so the whole look is nice. 

I haven't tried this yet, but it looks like it will be nice. Leia knew the pink wouldn't work for me, so she made sure I got the last peach palette. Thanks, Leia! Just in case you're not sure what each product does what, Cargo has stamped it on each colour. Thanks, Cargo!

WHAT'S THIS?! A bonus gift with purchase!  

The Essential Lip Colour in Santa Fe - described as a deep apricot. See below for a swatch (one pass).

I am deeply in love with this deep apricot. This rookie lipstick went straight to the top and won a coveted place in my purse makeup case. Welcome to the big leagues, Santa Fe.

And that, my friends, is my first little haul post. Tell me what you've purchased recently that you like or even dislike, and how you're using your newest products. No restrictions! Makeup, hair, clothes, jewellery, I want to hear about all of it. 

Til next time,

Amanda