NAILS | Black and White

I always feel like I need a pick me up in the middle of the week regardless of whether I'm working a "true week" of Monday to Friday or something more random. I think I am happiest when I am able to have two new manis a week since I tend to get bored quite quickly by Thursday and let's face it, there are too many polishes out there waiting for a home on my nails!

Today's is inspired by @flowidity108 again and is deceivingly simple looking. I have been dying to do a black and white manicure and this is the first of two designs that have been on my nail art bucket list!

BEAUTY TOOLS | Beauty Bigbang Unicorn Makeup Brush Set

Guess what? These brushes are made with REAL unicorn hair! Yeah, no. As much as we want "real" ingredients in our food and beauty products, I actually prefer synthetic bristles to actual brush hair just because I feel they are a bit lower maintenance in terms of cleaning them and keeping them free of bacteria. It also means that I can have brushes that look like THIS. This 7 piece Unicorn Makeup Brush Set* from Beauty Bigbang is the price of two tall caramel macchiattos and they are among the prettiest brushes I own. Almost immediately after I instagrammed storied these brushes, I made a place for them on my now VERY full makeup counter because these babies were getting used right away!   

NAILS | Drippy, Trippy Neons #ManiMonday

I love summer brights, but I don't often wear neons because some can be fairly high maintenance when it comes to making them look good. I don't believe in wearing a white base to enhance a neon's intensity and a neon formula can be tricky with many applying unevenly. I didn't think I'd be wearing a neon this summer until the Cirque Colors Vice Collection*. Cirque is one of those indie polish brands that I treat like gold in my collection. Companies like Cirque inspire the mainstream brands and when Nail Polish Canada started carrying their polishes, my wallet breathed a sigh of relief that I no longer would have to worry about the 30% US exchange on my credit card!

SKINCARE | Nannette de Gaspe Face Youth Revealed Dry Sheet Mask

The packaging is what got me to pick up the Nannette de Gaspe Face Masque. I was in the skincare section of Holt Renfrew on my lunch break (NEVER a good idea) and saw what looked like pieces of art, but lo and behold it was a DRY SHEET MASK. The first I had ever seen! I raved about the Charlotte Tilbury Dry Sheet Mask a few months ago and was floored, BUT in actuality Nannette de Gaspe had come out last year. Both brands utilize the same dry sheet mask technology from Quebec-based lab Biomod, but of course I had to pick up this $145 luxury skincare item to see what the fuss was all about! What I will say is that at the time I got it, CT had not released her mask yet so this was the ONLY dry sheet mask I knew of! #justified  

NAILS | Running 'Round in Circles

The quickest cheat to livening up any manicure is to use some form of a stud or sequin. They are fast and easy to apply and can last the length of your manicure if applied correctly and sealed in with top coat. You guys all know that Born Pretty is my jam when it comes to nail art supplies, but recently I was introduced to another Asian website BeautyBigBang that has fairly reasonable pricing, worldwide free shipping and similar product selection albeit on a smaller scale. They have those super cool mermaid brushes as well as a number of beauty gadgets that anyone would love (LED eyelashes!) I actually quite like the site as it is quite a bit cleaner and more smooth than a lot of these Asian shopping sites and was happy to shop and find some new goodies to add to my cart!

MAKEUP LOOK | mark. Havana Sol Collection "You CAN Pull Off Blue!"

I haven't posted nearly as many summer looks this season and I have to kick myself a lot of the time because there are some collections that I am definitely discovering far too late like the mark. Havana Sol Collection! Not only do the bath and body products smell like some of the best things I've smelled since fresh McDonald's fries, but the makeup collection is so perfect for getting you in the summer party mood! I, on the other hand, had to clean and get groceries while I was experimenting with the collection so the only people that got to enjoy this look were the meat and deli folks at Loblaws!