Beauty December 4, 2015

GIVEAWAY + REVIEW: illuMask

illuMask, as seen in Harpers Bazaar, Elle, InStyle & teenVOGUE.

You may have seen bloggers or stars using some kind of light therapy. Usually at a spa or skin specialists office. Well, good news! You can now do it at home! I know there were some smaller versions of something like this, but I have never seen a full face light therapy mask to use at home. I remember the first time I really got interested in light therapy was when I saw Jessica Alba’s instagram post:

I follow Dani Song (Blogger/Entrepreneur) on snapchat and for the longest time she ended her stories with a light therapy session, and then I got really curious! Waahh!! I can do this at home?!

I did my research and found illumask! Which by the way, at the moment their not selling on their website because their coming out with something NEW! I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

What is it?

A really cool plastic mask with little LED lights (pink: acne/red: anti-aging) to clear up your acne or fix signs of aging for $1 per use!

How do I use it?

Prepare your skin by cleansing it first. You put it on and press the start button on the attached remote. A 15 minute session will begin. Easy peezy! The hard part is sitting for 15 minutes but it’s the best for those who have trouble unwinding after a busy day. Each mask comes with a 30 days use. Also taking the mask off early doesn’t mean those lost minutes will add up to your next days session. They’ll be gone. So do the full 15 mins. It shuts off automatically after 15 mins, so don’t worry about falling asleep with it on. Once your done apply your regular moisturizer.

How does it work and is it safe?

Yes it’s safe. The light emission is similar to what you get from your LED tv according to teen vogue author Dan Koday. The red light helps stimulate rejuvenation and blue acts as a bacteria-fighter.

I was really looking forward to using the anti-aging mask since the acne one didn’t apply to my skin type. However, I read details that the illuMask has not been tested for use while pregnant or breastfeeding and to use it at your own discretion. Womp womp. I’m BF’ing so I immediately put it to the test on more mature skin, my mom. She’s used the full 30 days and I must say her skin looks great! After 15 days I noticed her face was a lot more radiant and she says from one use her skin felt softer. She’s definitely continuing her light therapy routine and I’m looking forward to using it as well, when I can.

My teenage brother used the acne one. Yes, guys can use this too! He has the usual teenage mayhem on his face and within a week I could see his face clear up and acne scars get much lighter! I wish I had this when I had acne. Because he’s a teenager I had to remind him to use it, but after a while he actually got into it.

Get creative with your illuMask and draw on it or place stickers like Dani Song did!

Here’s your chance to WIN! Yaassss you can win of these masks! I’m giving away two. One for acne and one for anti-aging! Just fill out the below rafflecopter and GOOD LUCK! P.S This giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beauty September 22, 2015

Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette

Packaging:

I love the packaging! It has a faux snake skin feel to the top and gold siding. I love that it’s in a compact shape, which only means that it won’t take up too much room when travelling and a better mirror shape.

What’s inside the palette:

This Tarte Showstopper Clay palette has six eye shadows and three cheek options. The champagne pink is really shimmery so I advise you to not use it on your brow bones and sparingly on the cheekbones. Unless you’re going for a strobe light look. The blush (fame) is one of my favourite colours for blushes. Especially for olive skin tones it gives you a natural looking glow. Pinks and reds tend to be too harsh for everyday.

The eye shadow colours are great for everyday, however if you’re hoping for the colour to be true once applied to your eyes, then you’ll need to use an eye shadow primer for the lighter shades. The darker colours were actually pretty good on their own. Without primer this is what the shades look like:

Price:

$46.00 CDN – A little pricey for my liking but with everything you’re getting in this one palette wonder, it’s worth it.

Have you tried this palette?

Beauty July 31, 2015

Five Essential Make up Brushes

Have you gone make up brush shopping? The amount of types, sizes and brands of brushes can cause confusion to those who aren’t make up artists. During my beauty advisor days the most commonly asked questions about brushes was, “What brushes do I need for everyday make up?” and people who did their research would either ask for a specific kind/brand of brush or “is this a synthetic brush or is it made with real badger/goat/horse hair?”

To start off invest in these five essential make up brushes to create your everyday looks:

Powder brush

Your powder brush is your go to superwoman/man brush. This is the brush you take when you can ONLY take 1 brush with you. You can use it for powder (obvi), blush and bronzer. Only downfall to it’s multi-purpose function is that you need to clean this brush a lot more if you’re using colour on it. You also might be replacing this brush more often. Why? Well, to use it for blush or contouring, you’ll be pinching it (see video) and for bronzer, you’ll be fanning it out. All of this shape changing will cause the brush hairs to fall out or lose its natural shape. The best powder brush is usually fluffy and has soft bristles.

My favourite: Smashbox

Blush brush

If you’re not going to use your powder brush as a blush brush (I recommend not too, unless it’s an emergency) then this is a must have! Get one that is angled so you can apply your blush evenly above the crease of your cheekbone. Your blush brush can also be used as your contour brush if you’re on a budget and only if you’re using powder for contouring. Tip: Never attempt to use a hair make up brush for any kind of cream/liquid make up. You can kiss that brush goodbye if you do.

My favourite: Benefit Slant Powder Brush (It was meant for powder but it works perfectly for my powder blushes, especially because it’s slanted.)

Shadow brush

As long as you have a really good shadow brush you won’t need a slanted eyeshadow brush. To get that precise straight edge at the end of your lids, use tape or an eyeshadow shield to make sure you get that perfect line.

Crease brush

Your crease brush is your beauty blender for your eyeshadow. It will soften any harsh eye shadow lines made and of course do its job as creating a crease.

Concealer brush

Make sure you get a synthetic concealer brush,especially if you usually break out into pimples. Synthetic brushes also hold more concealer for quicker applications. A small pointy one will get into all the nooks and crannies near your nose, eyes and above your lip.

My favourite: Bare escentuals

So you must be wondering why I didn’t add a foundation brush to the list. Well it isn’t an essential brush you absolutely need. You CAN live without one. As long as you wash your hands and apply your foundation gently with your fingertips you’re good to go! However, I recommend the beauty blender as well. It’s so perfect for blending in your foundation without getting your fingers messy and also the sponge effect is a lot nicer than the brush. Goodbye foundation streaks/strokes.

Beauty June 19, 2015

GRAND OPENING: Toronto’s First Benefit Boutique!

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:

Beauty May 27, 2015

Benefit RollerLash vs Lancome Ôscillation Mascara [Review]

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.

Product Face Off

Round 1 – Price

Benefit Roller Lash $29
Lancome Ôscillation $39.50

Round 2 – Product/Results

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 🙂

Beauty April 17, 2015

Coconut Favourites

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?

Beauty May 22, 2014

Shopping Haul: Sephora & Tory Burch

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

Beauty May 2, 2014

BrowsWOWed: Benefit Brow Bar

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!

Beauty April 4, 2014

How To Apply Eye Care

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.

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