ESTEE LAUDER/MAC WAREHOUSE SALE

Hey y'all!

So this past weekend was the Estee Lauder/MAC Warehouse sale in Markham, ON. It's a sale that happens a few times a year, where they sell cosmetics at crazy reduced prices. Some of the brands featured this year were Estee Lauder, Mac, Origins, Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Coach, Smashbox, DKNY.

My Mom was able to score tickets for the Saturday and Sunday sales, and I just wanted to share my experience with you!

The line up on Saturday morning, taken from the front of the line.

We got there at around 9:30 AM and waited in line for about 45 mins before getting in. That line wraps all the way around the building on the outside too. Crazy! Lucky there were no insane people in line. Everything went really smoothly, I was pleasantly surprised!

Eye shadow table

I actually thought the warehouse was going to be as crazy as an anthill, but surprisingly it was not! Here's a photo of one of the tables holding eye shadows. Most of the setup was like this- a table full of testers that were strategically taped up, and an area to claim what you wanted. Each tester was numbered and a pad of paper and pencils were supplied on each table. You write down the numbers you wanted, and go to a designated area where your selection is bagged for you.

Here are a few more photos of some of the things they were selling. A lot of them we at crazy prices!

Here's my haul for the two days I went:

Saturday Morning Haul

From L-R: Clinique A Season's Worth of Pretty palette (containing 5 lip colours, 5 eye shadow colours and 3 cheek colours), Clinique Bold Eyes to Go set (Full size bottom lash mascara, eye shadow duo, travel eyeliner and travel High Impact Mascara + makeup bag), Smashbox Try It Kit containing Travel sizes of the Photo Finish Foundation primer, Photo finish eyelid primer, limitless eyeliner, full exposure mascara and lip enhancing gloss), Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme mascara, Clinique Repairwear Eye cream, Clinique moisture surge extended thirst relief cream, Clinique Chubby Stick in Whole Lotta Honey and Mac Lip Glass in Entice.

Sunday Afternoon Haul

From L-R: Ojon Conditioner, Ojon Leave-In treatment, Michael Kors for Estee Lauder kit (Full size lipstick, travel lip gloss, sumptuous extreme, eye liner, nail polish and full size blush bronzer duo in a coordinated MK makeup bag), Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief, and a Clinique Shaving set for Ronnie boy.

Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow

After checking out, you're asked to surrender your ticket. In return, we received a full-size Mac Pro Longwear Eyeshadow in Always Sunny. Also, if you donate $5 to breast cancer research, you receive another gift! Two full-size Mac Mineralize Eyeshadows and a Mattene Lipstick. Here eyeshadows are pictured in Pretty & Prim (pink and burgundy) and Heaven & Earth (Teal and black) and the lipstick is in Nocturnal Instincts.

So that was my awesome EL/MAC haul! You can look forward to future reviews on the products I bought (Probably while I'm sick in bed recovering from my wisdom teeth removal). Until then, let me know about your favourite EL and MAC products and your experiences at past cosmetic warehouse sales. Comment below!

xox,
Ysobel

Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Pink Toffee vs. Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Pink Toffee

Good morning everyone!

Today's topic is inspired by one of my recent lipstick purchases. I owned a tube of Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Pink Toffee, and it was honestly my most favourite thing ever. And it gave me a MLBB (My lips but better) kind of look. Unfortunately the product removed from the lipstick shaft one day and left me a with a giant mess of yuckiness. In a desperate search for the next best thing, I went around my local department store, swatching every single brownish pink lipstick I could find, and I came across this- Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Pink Toffee. Here are the comparisons.

Clinique on the left, Revlon on the right. I actually had to clean out the case of my Revlon lipstick before taking this because it was that gross.

 Both lipsticks come in your standard twist-controlled tube with a metallic shaft. I'm a fan of Clinique's packaging; the tube has some heavy weight, the twisting mechanism is very smooth, and it's bamboo shaped (I love bamboo anything). The Revlon packaging is a little lighter in weight, not as well constructed but still decent.

In terms of product, Revlon's is a little harder with a firm consistency, great for keeping smudges under control. Clinque's is softer, and though it feels soft enough that the lipstick will totally bend out of the tube on you, it actually doesn't, which is awesome (because that's exactly what happened to my Revlon lip butter).

Swatching Clinique's Pink Toffee vs. Revlon's Pink Truffle

 In terms of colour, Clinique's is much more rich in colour and has a nice sheen to it. It has great colour payoff and lasts a good 3-4 hours without reapplying. Revlon's is a little more sheer and with a cooler tinge with a similar sheen, but I find I have to reapply it every 2 hours or so. Pink Toffee seems to be more orange than it's Revlon counterpart.

Clinique and Revlon on the same pair of lips

Side by side on my lips, the two colours are almost undistinguishable (is that even a word? the spell check on this is flaring up on me). Here the colour pay off of Pink Toffee is very obvious, you can really see its melon undertones against the cooler tones of Pink Truffle.

The Verdict? I would say that these are suitable dupes of each other, not 100% identical but nearly there. Clinique's version will set you back $19CAD, Revlon I've seen anywhere from $7-10$CAD depending on where you buy it. If you must choose one to have in your lipstick collection, I'd reccommend Clinique's Pink Toffee. You won't have to reapply as often and it will definitely last almost twice as long as Revlon's lip butter. When comparing price and hours of wear, it makes Clinique's Butter Shine worth about the same as the Revlon counterpart. It does cost a little bit more, but you're paying for quality packaging that isn't going to muck up on you and a product with twice the lasting power. I'd say that's worth it!

xox,
ysobel

Have you tried any of these lipsticks? Do you own anything in the Butter Shine or Lip Butter family? I'd love to hear from you!