If you haven’t heard already, the makers of the famous beautyblender…..”you know that pink sponge that looks like an egg?” are coming out with a new product called Liner.Designer this March 2016! I love the beautyblender. I truly believe it makes a huge difference applying your foundation with a damp sponge vs a dry one. Love the shape as well.
So let’s talk about the Liner.Designer. It’s suppose to get you the perfect eyeliner look with no mistakes. It comes in a small case with a mirror and has three different sides you can use. One side is straight, one round short and another curvy edge. It reminds me of a guitar pick. Which I have tons of sitting in my guitar bag at home. After seeing this I’m considering taking one of them and placing it in my make-up bag. Why not?
These are the eyeliner looks you can achieve with the liner.designer. Pretty cool. However, I think it isn’t worth $16. You can save yourself $16 and use hacks like a guitar pick, paper or tape.
So if you have money to blow, go for it. Otherwise you can easily get the above results with things you probably already have at home.
Toronto’s Canada’s First Benefit Boutique is here!
You probably all know that I own a lot of Benefit products and that I’ve been a huge fan since my Shopper Drug Mart days of being a beauty advisor/make-up artist. If you asked me to name a few of my favourites, I’d start with gimme brow, high beam and the dallas bronzer. For those of you who have been living under a rock, don’t know about Benefit Cosmetics, it’s a San Francisco based make-up brand that believes “laughter is the best cosmetic”. Every product has a fun, girly and unique spin. I’ve been to the boutique in Connecticut and California, so I had an idea of what to expect.
I was over the moon excited to be invited to the Grand Opening of Canada’s first Benefit Boutique, here in Toronto. I must say, Benefit’s corporate team is a bright bunch. I mean, the whole team (brow experts to corporate) are amazing! The strategy of slowly entering the Canadian market by placing little brow bars in Sephora stores around the GTA was brilliant. The perfect way to create a strong clientele and an opportunity to see geographically what/where would work best for the first boutique. Well, that’s my own marketer assumption. If you haven’t heard yet, the boutique is located on 2614 Yonge St and you can’t miss it! (see above image of boutique front)
You don’t live in Toronto? Don’t worry, rumor has it that they’ll be opening more boutiques across the country in the next five years! The boutique has a brow raising variety of services. You can most importantly get your eyebrows done, facial and body waxing, threading, tanning and more.
If you didn’t get a chance to catch my snapchats (HumJK) from that day, here are the highlights:
Benefit Roller Lash vs Lancome Ôscillation Mascara, which one wins at the end?
There are a ton of mascaras to choose from and the only way to find which ones work for you is by narrowing it down by the look you’re trying to achieve and finding mascaras that help you achieve it. Most of the time I use my mascara by Too Faced that gives me thicker lashes but other times I go for a lighter lengthier look. Benefit Cosmetics launched the Roller Lash Mascara last month with a social media campaign that you couldn’t miss.
Roller Lash Facts:
This mascara is inspired by hair rollers and gives you curled long lashes for a wide-eyed look. The brush has a patent-pending Hook ‘n’ Roll™ brush. They’re tiny little hooks that catch, lift and curl all lashes. Even the shortest and straight lashes. The curling effect from this mascara is good enough to replace your eyelash curler.
Ôscillation Facts: This mascara has a vibrating wand to help lift, lengthen and give volume to lashes. This vibrating mascara provides 7,000 oscillations per minute! Pretty cool if you ask me, but doesn’t stop me from still moving my hand to apply the mascara. (I can’t help it!) I love that it doesn’t have parabens, sulfates and phthalates. Also free of synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes, and triclosan. Which means it’s great for contact wearers or sensitive eyes.
Round 3 – Wear
Lancome Ôscillation:
You can see below that length is mediocre and volume is non existent. I did three coats and this is what I got. I found the vibrations don’t really do much. Instead, it started to get a bit clumpy close to the base of my lashes.
Benefit Roller Lash: Below image shows lots of volume, length and a bit of lift or curl midway. This is with two coats. No clumps.
Winner: Roller Lash! Great price comparatively, true to its facts and winning results.
Have you tried the Roller Lash or the Lancome Ôscillation mascara? Which do you prefer? Comment below 🙂
There was a time when the younger me wasn’t a huge fan of coconuts. I just didn’t like the taste of it. Years later I tried it again and to my surprise, I loved it! You must have used or consumed coconut in one way or another. This multi-purpose ingredient has become a favourite for people all around the world. The coconut trend was strong last year and it seems like it’s here to stay. It can be used to hydrate your skin externally or coconut water is amazing for hydrating internally. Speaking of coconut water, my favourite juice company, Simply Orange is coming out with a new flavour with coconut water!
Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil
The first time I bought this, it was to substitute vegetable oil and be a healthier choice. I found so many other ways to incorporate coconut oil into my daily regime. For instance, making a homemade scrub with coconut oil and brown sugar, using it in your dry hair as a leave-in treatment or in wet hair as a hair mask. Most pregnant women swear by this as a life saver during pregnancy for their itchy dry skin. A 414ml bottle like this isn’t very expensive either. Around $10 at whole foods. (Don’t quote me on that)
RMS Beauty Lip Shine
This lip balm lip shine that has five colours to choose from, feels more like a treatment than a lip shine. I’ve tried the colour sacred and it reminds me of my Benetint by Benefit Cosmetics. Benetint is great for that flushed natural lips look, only this isn’t just a tint, it provides a lot of hydration. Results that you see right away! With organic oils such as coconut, moringa and castor seed; it’s no wonder my lips feel and look great after using this. Not sure why it’s called lip shine though. My lips don’t look shiny at all after using it.
Tip: Due to the texture, you can use this product in multiple ways. Use it on your cheeks as a blush.
Coconut Water Shampoo
I dye my hair a lot and because I do, it gets dry very fast. Doing a coconut oil treatment isn’t the best choice if you need to style your hair the same day or even the next. My hairstyle lasts a lot longer when it’s not oily. Most people will agree to that. Especially for volume. Instead of an oil, this coconut water shampoo does wonders for my dry locks. Not only is it sulfate free, but smells great too! I love that it comes in a semi small bottle, in case you change your mind and don’t want to be stuck with a huge bottle of unfinished shampoo.
Do you use coconut oil/water products? If so, what are your favourites?
Epic Blend is a Canadian brand of premium lip balms that you may have seen or read about somewhere online or heard about them through one of my favourite magazines, Elle Canada.
There are so many unnecessary ingredients in cosmetics these days. Brands seem to be either coming up with innovative targeted ingredients or they are moving forward by keeping it simple and tapping into the market of au naturel.
[Tweet “RT if you have a lip balm in every purse #Beauty”]
You can never have enough lip balms. Especially during dry winters like the one we’re having. I’ve tried lots of different lip balms and my least favourite ones are the ones that go on greasy and promise to be moisturizing but aren’t. As soon as the greasiness wears off, you’re left with dry chapped lips again. I’ve found the solution with these Epic Blend balms that are not greasy and have lasting moisture results without harsh synthetics. There are so many flavours to choose from but my favourites are grape and citrus kick. YUM.
These natural flavours come in three categories:
Hemp
Made with organic hemp seed oil. Advantage: quickly absorbs deep into the skin cells for lasting moisture results.
More Moisture
Has seven moisturizers to keep your lips moist.
Organic Shea Butter
Organic Coconut Oil
Organic Sunflower Oil
Organic Castor Oil
Organic Beeswax
Non-GMO Vitamin E TIP: Moist lips make for a great base when applying lipstick 😉 Advantage: The organic shea butter being one of the seven organic ingredients provides extra moisture and a boost of staying power.
Vegan
These balms are 100% plant-based and beeswax-free.
Advantage: The all-natural food grade Candelilla wax used gives these vegan balms a smooth texture.
If you’re in the market for an all natural, gluten-free, non-GMO, petroleum free and most importantly not tested on animals lip balm, then Epic Blend is what you’re looking for. Definitely keeping one in all my go to purses.
Have you tried Epic Blend before? If so, what’s your favourite flavour?
If you haven’t tried them yet then here’s your chance to win! Good luck!
On November 13th, Toronto bloggers were invited to the Miracle 10 Skincare Boutique in Yorkville for an evening of networking, learning about beauty trends for 2015, drinks, sushi and other yummy appetizers.
So let’s talk about fashion; most of the bloggers that evening played it safe and wore black. Either I didn’t get the memo or everyone hit a creativity block and went with black. When I go to blogger events that’s one of the things I really look forward too. Checking out what everyone’s wearing and how they wore it. Why not? It’s like a live magazine spread. Outfits you’ve seen in stores on the racks come to life. I usually have more pictures to share but this was an event where I took less pictures and did more absorbing of the event.The guest speaker for the evening was Michelle Villett from BeautyEditor.ca, who spoke about beauty trends for the season and had lots of blogger tips to share.
Bloggers had the option to get mini facials, mini makeovers by Dior or mini manicures. I was a bit late to the event, so 15 mins to arrival, Michelle was ready to speak on beauty trends.
So what are some beauty trends we’re seeing this season? Heavy, bushy but not bushy, dark eyebrows. Like Cara Delevingne’s. If you know me very well, you know my eyes lit up when Michelle mentioned her. I love her and her signature eyebrows. You might remember my blog post about brows and my mention of her wonderful brows.
Some other beauty trends that were mentioned by Michelle were:
Graphic eye-liner/eye-shadow
Playing with your eye liner lines, doubling them up or create angles you’ve never created before are all trending for 2015. Geometric shapes in eye shadow application is also big. Creating squares, triangle applications and getting really funky around the eyes is the it thing.
Bare nails
I love this trend because I’m not big on wearing nail polish. I have a huge collection of colours but rarely get an opportunity where I can sit down and give myself a manicure. Bare nails, filed down to a neat, clean cut size with a either top coat or a bare colour is in for Spring 2015. I love nudes, beige and light brown nail colours. If you want to skip the colours and shine then go for a matte top coat.
Messy/Natural hairstyles
As much as you’ll want to just roll out of bed and call it your “messy look” it isn’t that simple. For instance a messy braid still requires you to braid your hair and then strategically choose pieces to gently pull apart for a looser less crisp look. Or how about the messy bun. For this I literally just pull my hair together, tie it into a bun and loosen it up. Everyone has a different variation of what a “messy look” looks like, so play around with different styles till you get to one that suits your face shape and style.
Matte lips
Huffington Post mentioned a matte red-orange lip at Ann Yee’s Spring 2015 show here:
Ann Yee Spring 2015
Milani cosmetics also posted on Instagram that they’ll be coming out with a matte lipstick collection in 2015:
Image source: Milani Cosmetics Instagram
Natural make-up
Natural make-up look Marc Jacob Spring 2015 runway
[Tweet “”The best thing is to look natural, but it takes #makeup to look natural.” – Calvin Klein #beauty #bblogger”]
Miracle 10 has a 10 day challenge. They challenge you to try their skincare routine and see the results in 10 days. Took a look at their products and I’m intrigued. I’m taking the challenge and will share the results in a post coming soon.
Have you tried Miracle 10 products before? What are your thoughts on the brand?
When was the last time you went to a mall? Did you happen to go inside Sephora? How about Tory Burch?
I uploaded my first shopping haul last night and I’m going to be completely honest with my readers. I was super nervous! Now that it’s over and out there on the world wide web, I wish I had done this when I was a busy bee being a professional make-up artist, entrepreneur and going to all those awesome beauty and fashion events. But you know what, it really is never too late!
It’s about time I crawled out of my safe zone and did something that involves all of my talents. Technology, beauty, fashion, social media and marketing, to mention a few. Feels weird even saying that, but a good pat on your back once in awhile feels good.
Here’s the video:
Stay humble and thank you so much for watching! xo
Have you ever looked back at your pictures and thought “whoa! What’s up with that uni-brow?!” or noticed your overly plucked eyebrows?
Our eyebrows go through their own changes either based on lack of attention or too much attention. Always keep in mind that the shape and look of your eyebrows play a big role in framing your eyes and enhancing your appearance.
It was evident that if you had thick eyebrows, you may have to tweeze/wax them. If they were thin, you would need to fill them in. Today the rule of thumb is that they can be thick and still look hot. Just like one of my favourite models Cara Delevingne. She is known for her power brows.
Sorry ladies, the over plucked look is not “in fashion”. Good news! There’s hope! If you have made that mistake and can’t get them back to their fuller days, you can fill them in and fake it. There are so many options for fillers, hair growing formulas and pencils galore. I used an eye shadow occasionally to fill my own and on my clients. Hands down, the best products I have ever used were from Benefit and I haven’t used anything since I was introduced to it in my make-up artist days.
That being said, the beautiful ladies at Benefit booked me an appointment at the Yorkdale Benefit Brow Bar inside Sephora. I have to be honest, I was expecting an entire store of only Benefit products, maybe because I’ve seen the one in California and it was beautiful. Pink, everything. I can’t wait for those stand alone stores to come here! They would do amazing. Not to mention that the one inside this Sephora was so busy. Fully booked for the weekend and during my appointment 4 people asked at different times if they could go next.
To my surprise the brow expert was someone I knew from my very first cosmetics role! How wild is that?! I have known Kelly Correia for over a decade and she is still the beautiful person inside and out that I first met years ago. I always thought she had the most perfect eyebrows. There isn’t anyone else that I would trust my brows with but her.
Here is the breakdown of how Kelly did my brows at the Benefit Brow Bar:
1. She first started with a brow tint. Which made my brows look naturally fuller and a bit darker.
2. Then she did some brow mapping using my nose as a guide to get the perfect shape for my face. She drew guidelines on my brows using the product called brow zings.
3. She then showed me my brows to see if I approved of the shape.
4. Waxed the middle of my brows first and continued to wax and tweeze one brow at a time.
5. Once I had seen the shape and loved it, she showed me some products to fill in my brows and taught me the technique.
The brow pencil that was used on me was the insta brow-dark colour. And then the med/deep gimme brow on top to look fuller. Below are the products I use to fill my brows. When I’m in a rush, I use Gimme Brow. Love it!
I love these products so much that I just had to share them with you, so I did a giveaway on my Facebook and Instagram pages. I am ecstatic to announce the lucky winner who will be receiving a Benefit gift bag of BrowsWOWed goodies! Congratulations to @m_mila_sd!
Eye’s are beautiful and come in so many different shapes, sizes and colors. They’re the most fragile part of your face. I remember learning this the hard way at an early age. I was 16 and just started as a Beauty Adviser. We had the opportunity to try all of the old and new beauty products from all sorts of brands. Cheap to luxury, all natural to anti-aging.. any brand you can think of, I’ve most likely tried it.
One day after work we went to a seminar for NeoStrata. I love their products and know that there is no other like it. The fact that they state the percentage of Glycolic Acid it contains and that you can purchase it from a drug store is a bonus! (Let me know if you want me to do a post about Glycolic Acid in the comments below)
Everyone who attended the seminar went home with lots of new NeoStrata products. This one eye cream really stood out to me. So I tried it that night and put it on vigorously, thinking it would penetrate better and work faster. To my dismay, I woke up the next day with sore and puffy eyes. They looked horrendous! That was when I learnt the right way to apply skin care around or near the eyes.
The skin around the eyes is ten times thinner than the skin on the face. One of the many reasons why you should be extra gentle around the eyes.
[Tweet “Steps to ensure you’re applying your eye cream in the most gentle manner possible.”]:
1. Dot on your eye cream in the areas needed. Don’t get too close to the eyes.
2. Gently spread the eye cream with your ring finger. The ring finger is suggested because you naturally won’t use as much pressure.
3. Anything left on your finger spread under your brow bone. End with a circular motion, as seen in image above.
It takes time getting use to applying your eye cream this way, especially if you don’t have time and want to just smear it on. You’ll see a difference with this method, especially for those who have dark circles.
Would you use this method? How do you apply your eye cream? Let me know in the comments below.
If you haven’t heard already, the makers of the famous beautyblender…..”you know that pink sponge that looks like an egg?” are coming out with a new product called Liner.Designer this March 2016! I love the beautyblender. I truly believe it makes a huge difference applying your foundation with a damp sponge vs a dry one. Love the shape as well. 
These are the eyeliner looks you can achieve with the liner.designer. Pretty cool. However, I think it isn’t worth $16. You can save yourself $16 and use hacks like a guitar pick, paper or tape.
