NAILS | Sinful Colors #Pride 2017 Collection

Summer in Vancouver is the time for a hike up Grouse Grind, biking along the Stanley Park Seawall and Pride! BC Day is the day after the Vancouver Pride Parade on August 6th so you can bet that it is going to be absolutely crazy downtown! To celebrate all things Pride, Sinful Colors has teamed up with international singer and song writer, Era Istrefi to bring us the Pride Collection! If you haven't heard her songs, she is most well-known for "Bon Bons" (her makeup is super cool in the music video) and "Mani Per Money" which totally has this reggae vibe to it. Era is a proud supporter of equality and gay rights, even performing on the Sinful Colors float at Pride in NYC this year and is the inspiration behind this year's new nail polish shades!

Sinful Colors Pride Hashtag Nail Art

EXPERIENCE | Jayne Goes to Cosmoprof North America in Las Vegas! (DAY 1)

Three weeks ago my husband and I attended Cosmoprof North America, one of the largest trade shows for all things beauty from July 9-11th. Can you guess who was just dying with excitement at the prospect of visiting over 1000 vendors?! This event is not open to the public and is mainly for business owners/brands, but this year, there was quite a bit of focus on social media and influencers with a number of American bloggers and Youtubers acting as trend scouts for innovative and cool beauty products at the show. I was really excited to have gotten a press pass for the show and I would go back next year in a heart beat now that I know what to expect!

Cosmoprof North America

NAILS | The Reason I Can't Afford a House - Avocado Toast #ManiMonday

Two months ago, Australian property tycoon, Tim Gurner made a comment to 60 minutes regarding millenial spending saying:

“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn't buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each". 

I don't discuss politics all that much here, but this comment was sadly amusing to me since I DO love avocado toast, but housing prices in Vancouver are so ridiculously high (similar to Australia) now that even with two incomes hitting six figures, my husband and I will likely never own what our parents owned 25 years ago. My parents bought our HOUSE with a huge yard eight blocks away from my apartment now for around $350,000. Today, a CONDO in my current neighbourhood STARTS at $850,000. It's not like salaries have increased to reflect this pricing so now it's not uncommon for millennials to stay with their parents longer to save up or to have parents help out with a down payment. Foreign ownership has contributed to this housing bubble and while the BC government has finally decided to implement a foreign ownership tax, I think it was a little too late. The bubble has to burst at some point, but for now I guess I have my avocado toast to keep me company.      

Avocado Toast Nail Art

KOREAN BEAUTY | Banila Co. It Radiant Lace Hydrogel Mask Sheet

Who says you can't look beautiful while wearing a sheet mask? Years ago, I probably never would have posted a melfie because it's sort of a vulnerable post, almost moreso than a bare face because you are constricted by the rigidity of the mask itself. You can't do the subtle Mona Lisa smile let alone be alluring, but now sheet masks have become not necessarily about skin, but about entertainment with a few skincare bonuses thrown in!

In North America, we recently started loving pictures of dogs, cats or kabuki masks printed on sheet masks, but then I saw a lace mask from Korean company Banila Co. which looked like the prettiest thing I had ever seen!

Banila Co. It Radiant Lace Hydrogel Mask Sheet Review

NAILS | The Chic Female Nail Art

There are times when I see a set of nails that I just HAVE TO HAVE and practically all the nails on @flowidity108 aka Hang Nguyen's account have me pretty much wanting to have new nails every day! Every design is so minimalistically pleasing and is a style that I am learning to embrace. I haven't really done any nail art in the last few weeks since Canada Day as I was away in Vegas and then came back to a bit of a storm at work. When I saw these chic Art Deco style nails the other day, I figured these would be a great way to ease back into it and look stylish too!

Female Nail Art OPI California Dreaming

HAIR | GIVEAWAY with The Matrix Summer SOS Kit #GetMessedUp

Oooh, I have some good stuff to talk about today! I have had quite a bit of fun with Matrix in the past being blonde and lavender with the Colour Lounge App (here) and now it's time get down and dirty with the Matrix Mineral line of styling products. Each of these products provides a varying level of texture taking you from beach bum to a night out with just a few pumps and a quick tousle!

Matrix Style Link Hair Review

MAKEUP | Rouge Dior Couture Colour Lipsticks with 16 Hour Comfort (Yes, Really!)

I'm a little annoyed with myself at time of writing this as I have just discovered an additional three shades of the Dior Rouge Dior Couture Colour Lipsticks ($43.00 CDN) in my office. It obviously goes to show you how unorganized I was and that I need some sort of intervention. I even have a list on my phone of things that I "need to locate". Thankfully, these Rouge Dior lippies were not limited edition and were repackaged and reformulated to include a matte finish and an updated satin formula.

Dior Rouge Dior Swatches Review

NAILS | Quo by Orly Color Amp'd Je T'aime L'Ocean Swatch #ManiMonday

I'm going to be honest with you guys. Today is the first time in in almost 3 years that I have not had my nails painted on a Mani Monday. I always have swatches ready to go, but this time it was because I was working on something very special which took me until very late to finish leaving me no time to even put on base coat! I had bare nails at work and all day I would look at them longingly wishing I could paint them right then and there!

Today's nails are a summer delight because when it comes to neon polishes, I really do reserve them for summer sunshine as it only seems fitting! Having recently been introduced to the Quo by Orly Color Amp'd series of polishes, all I can say is that their summer neons are some of the best I have tried. You will not need a white base to enhance the colour and the finish is super shiny! All you are seeing on my nails is two coats of Je T'aime L'Ocean* ("I love the ocean" for those unfamiliar with French) and top coat. That's it! 




Would you wear neons in the Fall/Winter?

Quo by Orly is available exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart.

BATH & BODY | Giving Some ATTITUDE with the New Super Leaves Collection

Montreal-based brand ATTITUDE, first caught my eye when I was in the household cleaning aisle of London Drugs trying to find something to clean my bathroom that didn't give me a headache. The bathroom cleaners I was using had such noxious scents that I often felt like every breath I took killed off a few neurons or two. I noticed a citrus-scented bathroom cleaner by ATTITUDE and I was sold. To this day, my bathroom is cleaned with only non-neuron killing products so even though cleaning products excite me (because I'm old), I was like "yeahhhhh!" when I saw the new Super Leaves Collection at my local London Drugs. 


NAILS | Picture Polish Ocean by Kelly's Kolors Swatch

It was INCREDIBLY hard to choose a nail polish to wear to Cosmoprof knowing that I really wouldn't have time to do my nails while I was there. Granted, it's not like there wasn't any nail polish at the show, but I just didn't want to worry about doing my nails in 47 degree weather! It was intense! I knew it would be sunny in Vegas so you know what that meant. HOLO!

Picture Polish Ocean Swatch

MAKEUP LOOK | Clarins Sunkissed Collection Summer 2017 with Swatches

Every summer, I always look forward to the Clarins release of their limited edition "big" bronzer in addition to a couple of other products that I know I can easily phase into my existing makeup routine to make it truly feel like summer. I am already starting to see Fall items and it makes me a little sad to think that this beautiful weather is only in my grasp for another two months at most. I swear, we wait all year for summer only to fast forward to Fall and the holidays! I can see why people live half the year in Arizona just to keep that summer feeling going!

Clarins Sunkissed Summer Makeup Collection Review Swatches

MAKEUP | Shu Uemura Lasting Soft Gel Pencils

Of all the things that most people want in a good eyeliner, I'd say that longevity and smoothness of application are probably what we want the most. Liquid liners are one thing, but when it comes to some of my first pencil eyeliners, I thought tugging at my eyelid was normal or that having the colour be gone by the end of the day was just something to expect. The beauty industry really has come a long way in developing formulations that do what we want without feeling like we are applying industrial strength chemicals.

While some brands are flashy, bright and full of glitter and unicorns (not that I hate unicorns or anything), I've always found Shu Uemura to be this silent, but steady brand with consistently good, solid products. Everyone has heard of Shu, knows how cute their packaging is and is aware of their luxury quality, but the brand doesn't seem to have the same Instagrammable shareability of more millenial-targeted brands. If anything, I hope Shu never goes in that direction, but we are going to try something different in addition to the standard review for today. If you have seen the atelier makeup done by Shu makeup artists, it always embodies the innocence of Asian style makeup with the appeal of something daring you'd see on the runway. There is also no fear of colour whether it'd be on the eyes or eyebrows so in addition to reviews, I will do my best to attempt some more avant garde looks that may turn out to be complete fails so tips will be appreciated!

Shu Uemura  Lasting Soft Gel Pencil Swatch Review

NAILS | imPRESS One Step Gel Press On Manicure

I am officially back home from Cosmoprof in Vegas and it's time to do some major catch up over here! The days leading up to my trip were wrought with issues at work and what felt like a ton of running around leaving little time for preparing posts which made me sad since I love this little nook of internet. There will DEFINITELY be a Cosmoprof recap this week since there was a lot to see, but while my Gravol high wears off (it takes almost 24 hours for me shake the drowsiness!), it'll just be nails for now. 

imPRESS Nails Press On Manicure Review

SUMMER | Natural Sunscreen with Alba Botanica + GIVEAWAY!

It's finally totally acceptable to show some serious skin and whether I'm going through some sort of early mid-30s crisis or not, I have been craving some smaller clothing which means I need to be much more cognizant of applying sunscreen and WHEN I last applied it. In keeping with my ever-growing collection of green beauty products, natural sunscreens were never the best because they felt like heavy, pore-clogging creams that protected skin from the sun, but made you break out. It's interesting to see how much better technology is now because there are a ton of natural products that rival if not exceed the the performance and quality of the "big guys".

Alba Botanica has been creating 100% vegetarian products since 1979 and though I have used the odd body scrub here and there as well as the sunscreens from last year, but honestly it wasn't until these new sunscreens that Alba flew back onto my radar! 

Alba Botanica Sunscreen Review

LIFESTYLE | Influenster Spring Vibes Voxbox

Influenster and I go way back to the very first Canadian Voxbox in 2013 (here for memory-sake) and to be honest, I don't feature them on the blog all that often because of two reasons - one, I never get chosen for any of the makeup Voxboxes and two, the requirements for getting badges is now a bit insane and while I don't mind featuring a few things on my social media feeds, I refuse to put laundry detergent on my primarily Instagram beauty feed. I also believe that I am no longer part of the demographic selected for makeup as you can see that MOST people who are chosen are millennials. While I am a tail-end millennial, I usually get surveys for skincare because obviously someone in their 30s is all about anti-aging and not a Kat Von D lip liner! Don't get me wrong, Influenster gave me a Keurig once two years ago so THAT was pretty sweet. Maybe when I hit 50, I'll get sent red Corvettes or 20-something boy toys. It'll give a whole new meaning to the "box" in Voxbox.

Influenster Spring Vibes Voxbox Review

BATH & BODY | My Green Beauty Shower Routine ft. Simply Scrub

I am not at all a morning person so I tend to have quite the shower routine at night when I have hours all to myself! I never used to be one with a routine, but it was my boyfriend/now husband who told me I needed to moisturize once I got out of the shower because my skin was so dry. This was the beginning of my shower gel and body lotion obsession. I had to buy one of those huge Rubbermaid tubs to store everything in and TO THIS DAY still have one in the office. Every time I dive into it, I feel excited like when Mr. Dressup would reach into his treasure chest of costumes (Canadian childhood much?).

Though I cycle out what I use in the shower based on season and what I am currently reviewing, I have noticed a shift towards the more green beauty side of things so here are some of my current natural favourites that I hope you all enjoy!

Simply Scrub Review

NAILS | Happy Canada 150 and Birthday to Me!

Apologies for the blog silence the last three days as I have had some very long work days and then a horrific case of food poisoning Thursday night from a bowl of tuna poke. It was a pretty good bowl too, but an hour later and every hour after that...from 9pm-6am was probably one of the worst things I have ever experienced in a very long time. Thankfully, today is my birthday and I am feeling SO MUCH better so at least now I get to head out and celebrate!

Canada Day Nail Art