HAIR | My Design.ME Routine!

I have been struggling to write blog posts for the majority of this month due to a more grueling schedule for my day job and though I have remained fairly chipper on social media, the reality is that I am coming home from work, having dinner then sleeping (plus sheet masking of course!) which has had me feeling so unproductive. I have pretty much written off this month for writing my usual goal of 15-20 blog posts so I hope that April will be a fresh start! For now, we need to discuss the hair care line Design.ME because I fell HARD for their dry shampoo and now that I have tried almost the rest of the products I feel like I have a much more well-rounded view of the brand, BUT their dry shampoo foam is STILL my favourite product out of everything!

PR samples 

NAILS | I am a Coral Minimalist CBBxManiMonday

March has been a complete write-off for me in terms of trying to hit my usual blogging goal of 15-20 posts a month. It started out alright, but all in all it has just been really tiring on the day job half of my life and I have been struggling to stay awake after coming home from work. These nails were tough to do as I had already fallen asleep for the night, but knowing that my girls Renee and Trysh had their nails done for today motivated me to at least do SOMETHING! Coral was still our theme for today, so I went through my many many untried polishes and found Dior Smile* which seemed like both a great colour and apt polish name for the start of the week!

PR sample

GIVEAWAY | Live Clean Foaming Body Washes (Yayyyy!)

When it comes to shower time, nothing delights me more in my bath products than ease of use and the least amount of fidgeting to get bottles open. I'm sure I'm not the only one who adores ANY bath product with a pump whether it be shampoo or shower gels, but now Live Clean has seemingly come out with what we have all been wanting - a Foaming Body Wash! Talk about ease of use, now I don't even need a bath puff! These new body washes come in three delicious scents: Shea and Murumuru Butter, Moringa and Matcha Butter and Mango and Aloe Butter all made with the same Live Clean promise of 98% plant-derived ingredients and being SLS and sulfate-free, silicone and phthalate-free, DEA and paraben-free and of course Leaping Bunny Certified! 

PR samples

NAILS | Coral with the New CND Sweet Escape Collection #CBBxManiMonday

These are definitely not my normal nail colours, but because the girls and I are embracing "Coral" this week, the timing to try out the new CND Sweet Escape Collection was perfect. This is a romantically candy sweet array of pastel-esque shades that are easy to wear with any Spring outfit. I didn't have time to get my nails done at with this collection at the CND event last Monday, but I was sent home with all five shades as well as the new Effects Top Coats which you will see over the next couple of manicures because they are pretty cool!

PR samples

SHEET MASK | St.Ives Soothing Oatmeal and Glowing Apricot Sheet Mask

These are the BEST drugstore sheet masks I have used! I was hesitant to review the St. Ives Sheet Masks as they were not available in Canada, but now that I see that the Shoppers Beauty Boutique online is carrying them I feel it is time to share the love! While I was in Maine last Fall, I headed on over to CVS to pick up every sheet mask known to man that we did not carry in Canada which included the Glowing Apricot Sheet Mask and the Soothing Oatmeal Sheet Mask. I hadn't used a St. Ives skincare product since my Apricot Scrub teen years and really did not know what to expect when it came to these sheet masks. All I knew was that nothing could be worse than the Yes To ones!

Purchased by me

MAKEUP | Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lip with Swatches

I have worn a matte lip almost every day for the last 2.5 months and almost every day it has been one of the Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lipsticks! Granted I have stuck to the more neutral shades, even getting to the half empty point on one of them, but these have truly become one of my favourite lip products for both their comfort level and performance! 

PR samples

SHEET MASK | The Body Shop Youth Concentrate Sheet Mask

When I attended The Body Shop holiday preview last Fall, I was literally on Day 100 of #100DaysofSheetMasks and that's when it was hinted to me that there may or may not be a sheet mask in the works for the Drops of Youth line in the new year. When the Youth Concentrate Sheet Mask* dropped, I had instant grabby hands because that's apparently what I do now with sheet masks. I'm like a crow for sheet masks instead of shiny objects!

PR sample

NAILS | When All Else Fails, Do a Dotticure on your Nails #CBBxManiMonday

Dotticures always save the day like a glitter gradient. They are fast to do and look impressive even to a more seasoned nail art lover like me. I was going to feature this super cool green glitter, but then it turned out to not be the right kind of green and would have looked weird painted on top of a nude base so at midnight last night, I whipped out my dotting tools and dotted away to "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" on Netflix. I was exhausted when my alarm went of this morning at 6am for work, but looking at my pretty nails made it all worth it!

PR samples

SKINCARE | Volition Snow Mushroom Water Serum

The first thing I noticed when I started looking at Volition products was how each product seemed extremely appealing. The Snow Mushroom Water Serum immediately caught my eye because I adore mushrooms (raw and cooked) and serums are my favourite part of my skincare routine other than sheet masking. If anything, I find that these two loves of mine go hand in hand.What makes Volition different from other skincare brands is the creation of their products because YOU get to create products "of your own volition". You get to be an inventor and submit your idea through the Volition website or vote on ideas that you would love to see become a reality. Instead of a brand telling you what the next big thing should be, Volition has decided to let you come up with the idea and they will then take it to the lab to test out. Oh, and Volition products also have the Clean Beauty stamp of approval at Sephora and after looking at the ingredients of this serum and most of their other products, I am liking the ingredient choices!

PR sample

NAILS | Mixed Greens #CBBxManiMonday

I feel like this last week has gone by in a blur, but with little to show for it you know? I feel like a lot has happened, I'm tired and grumpy, but I'm not really being productive at home. At work, things are fine, but I'm not feeling very motivated. I have a been feeling a bit stressed and today had so much going on that I had my Saje diffuser on full blast and even went up to the Saje store to pick a new scent called "Deep Breath" which seemed appropriate for today and with its blend of lavender, peppermint and eucalyptus it definitely helped my mood! As for the nails, apologies for the lack of nail art, but I really wasn't feelin' it BUT these shades of green are something!

PR sample featured as denoted with "*"

SKINCARE | #CBBGetsSheetFaced Week 4 with Su:m37, Sulwhasoo, Dr. Jart, Neogen and Trish McEvoy #LuxeWeek

OMG the final week of #CBBGetsSheetFaced is over and what a ride! Renee, Chantal and I all managed to stick to our masking schedules and have our skin not completely freak out! I did get my one very painful pimple which has now scarred so I'll have to stay on top of my Vitamin C treatments for that! This last week was all about luxe sheet masks being any sheet mask that cost more than $5. At this point, I have become quite comfortable spending $20 on a one-use sheet mask just to satisfy my curiosity and let you all know whether it was worth the price, but hopefully I chose some masks that some of you have been interested in trying!

One PR sample featured as denoted with "*"

MAKEUP | BECCA Year of the Pig Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter

It is the Year of the Pig have been hunting piggy beauty products since last year in the hopes that I would have a bounty of pig products for you, but in the beauty world most seem to be in Asia or are packaged in pig paraphernalia, but the products themselves are just normal or in red for the Lunar New Year. When it comes to LE things, I really need to enjoy using them too so I didn't want to spend too frivolously. My friend Jessie knew of my "hunt for the pig" and alerted me to the BECCA Year of the Pig Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter at Beautylish just after New Year's. I have never clicked "COMPLETE ORDER" so fast!

I got it from my momma (actually, I just bought it myself)