theBalm Instain Blush in Toile

theBalm Instain blush in Toile with matching sleeve

Have you heard of these pretty additions to theBalm's makeup line? The Instain blushes promise "long-wearing, staining" colour in six different shades inspired by various fabric prints or patterns. Nail Polish Canada has added theBalm products (including Instain) to its ever-growing cosmetics section, because clearly carrying tons of amazing and/or hard-to-find-in-Canada nail polish brands wasn't enough! I got a chance to try one of the Instain blushes and chose Toile.

Each Instain blush comes in a coated paper case with a design that reminds me of a fashion or beauty magazine, complete with headlines in both English and French such as "Rosy cheeks all day & all night" and "Fall for this blush". The blush is held closed by a magnet in two corners; if you're the type to carry a blush in your blush, make sure to slide on the matching sleeve so it doesn't accidentally flip open and get blush bits everywhere. The blush pan is bordered with a design that matches the shade name (in this case, a toile print) and includes a mirror.

Although it seems to be part of the Fall set of blushes, Toile is a warm pinky-coral that I could wear any time of the year. It's brighter than its sister Argyle, but still very natural. I had a hard time capturing the colour correctly on my camera, and then trying to edit the photo to get the right colour--and I still don't think I got it quite right.

Ever since I started testing Toile, it's replaced my go-to everyday blush. The warmed-up pink is perfect taking me from walking corpse to healthy and flushed. I'm used to using blushes that need a couple sweeps across the pan to get enough product on the brush; I ended up doing the same for Toile the first time and had way too much on my cheeks! It is a very pigmented blush that only needs one or two sweeps of your brush and a light hand. Despite being so pigmented, it still blends easily. It wears very well on my dry to normal skin, lasting a full day at work plus the hour-long commute home. When you combine all those things with the pretty colour of Toile, you've basically got a foolproof blush in my book.

artifical light: theBalm Instain in Toile / Sally Hansen by Carmindy in Cherub / Hard Candy in Living Doll

I swatched it next to two other blushes that were former staples: the dethroned everyday blush Sally Hansen by Carmindy in Cherub and Hard Candy in Living Doll. It's just a bit brighter than Cherub and maybe a little pinker, but it's way more pigmented. Living Doll is much pinker and noticeably cooler-toned.

natural light: theBalm Instain in Toile / Sally Hansen by Carmindy in Cherub / Hard Candy in Living Doll

Instain blushes also come in Argyle, Lace, Houndstooth, Swiss Dot, and Pinstripe, with shades ranging from hot pink to maroon. Take a peek at Nail Polish Canada and tell me which one you'd try!

Ingredients: mica, lauroyl lysine, magnesium stearate, dimethicone, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, caprylic/capric triglyceride, diethylhexyl syringylidenemalonate, ascorbyl palmitate, tocopheryl, acetate, retinyl palmitate, sodium dehydroacetate. May contain titanium dioxide (CI 77891), iron oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Red 7 Lake (CI 73360), Red 6 (CI 15850), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Orange 5 (CI 45370), Red 27 (CI 45410), Red 28 Lake (CI 45410)

Available at Nail Polish Canada, London Drugs: ~$22 CAD / 0.2oz (5.5g)

This post contains product samples received for consideration.

Blog and the (Van)City - a fashion & beauty bloggers' mini-conference

I've been tweeting a lot about #blogvancity lately, and with only a few days left to go, Blog and the (Van)City is almost here!

I've had the luck to meet some amazing women and create close friendships through blogging; being able to ask for advice or a second opinion, or just talk about the ups and downs of having a blog with another blogger helped me grow and improve so much. That's why I'm excited to be organizing this event with my good friends Jordana and Sheila--to help fashion and beauty bloggers from Metro Vancouver connect with each other so we can all support one another.

In addition to building up the blogging community, this three-hour event also features discussions on balancing a full-time work or study schedule with blogging, a Q&A panel with super cool people like blogger Alison of alison*elle and PR professional Gemma Bishop of Hawksworth PR, and an opportunity to network with industry professionals such as Brandi Halls, Director of Communications for LUSH North America. Attendees will be able to ask the questions they've always wanted to ask another blogger or an industry professional, or share their own advice and experiences with someone else. To top it all off, we also have tons of goodies from LUSH, Revlon, Almay, Marcelle, and Annabelle for each and every attendee!

We have a few spots left, so if you are a non-professional beauty or fashion blogger in Vancouver or know someone that is, check out the full details and request an invite at Vancouver Beauty and Lifestyle Bloggers. 

Hope to see you there!