NAILS | Year of the Tiger #CBBxManiMonday

T'is the Year of the Tiger! I am a little jealous that I am not born in this year because who wouldn't love a tiger?! I am a "water pig" and I guess there is something cute about a pig as well. Today's nails were inspired by this post by @princessscottage and it has been awhile since I have painted something quite this detailed and so late at night so Mr. Tiger looks a little loopy!

Year of the Tiger Nail Art

Press samples

SHEET MASK | Ultru I'm Sorry For My Skin Jelly Revitalizing Mask

How is it that we are now on the last #SheetMaskSunday of January?! I mean, seriously? Then again, I am truly looking forward to next month for a few reasons, one of which is blog-related and the other because I will be taking a week of staycation! I plan on getting tons of beauty stuff done as well as finally planning the living room! In terms of what I am looking forward to blog-wise, February 1st is Lunar New Year which means that I will be doing #LunarFebruary again! This is when I feature mainly Asian brands and what is amazing is that this year I feel like there are more Asian-owned brands that have cropped up in the last few years that are new to me which I hope to share next month!

Ultru I'm Sorry For My Skin Jelly Revitalizing Mask
Purchased by me

LIFESTYLE | Five on Friday - Jan 28 - Sephora Haul, New Candles, Wordle, Beekeeper's Naturals and Lab Grown Diamonds!

I have been doing these Five on Friday posts on the week before because sometimes things happen on the Friday itself so I figure doing a recap of the week before makes more sense! 

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I placed a small Sephora order at the very end of December so technically, I still haven't placed a Sephora order for 2022, but should I proud of that seeing as how it's only the end of January? I have been wanting to try the Glo Lit whitening vials for awhile and when I saw them in the sale section they seemed worthwhile so I will be trying them out over the next couple of months before they expire. I also picked up a fun little cranberry-themed Violet Voss eyeshadow palette that seemed like a more compact version of the ABH Renaissance palette. Finally, the item I was most excited about was this Sephora Weighted Eye Mask! I like sleeping with weight on my eyes as I find it comforting and this one even stays on when you sleep on your side! 

SKINCARE | Neo Naturelle C-Major 23% Vitamin C Serum, Silky Skin Natural Sugar Scrub and Aqua Harmony Moisture Infusion Complex

Science and nature are my two most favourite combinations when it comes to skincare and when a brand introduces their products by saying that not everything "natural" or "organic" is safe just because it is plant-derived or that just because an ingredient is manufactured it is toxic, I pay attention! Vancouver-based, family-owned, Neo Naturelle harnesses the power of science and lab-made ingredients to deliver maximum results from botanically-derived ingredients. Each ingredient in every one of Neo Naturelle's products has a reason for being along with a user experience that smells and feels luxurious from beginning to end!

Neo Naturelle Review
Press samples

NAILS | Cirque Colors Cool Blast Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

Ah, I totally wanted to do some nail art, but I started feeling a bit gross on Sunday night with a headache and just feeling meh so I took it easy and decided to paint my nails this very much "very Peri" nail colour while crying to more episodes of Queer Eye!

Cirque Colors Cool Blast Swatch
Purchased by me

SHEET MASK | Jayjun Cosmetic Gold Snow Black Mask

Who wouldn't be curious about a sheet mask that has the words "gold" and "snow" in the name? That and the packaging is definitely what caught my attention when I saw a box of these Jayjun Cosmetic masks at T&T! They were on sale and looked pretty fancy as they were packaged in a nice-looking hard cardboard box that opened like a book and came with an intense looking serum! I mean, it's BLACK! I've always liked Jayjun masks as many of them are multi-steppers and they make SO MANY different ones that I have only just begun to scratch the surface when it comes to what the brand has to offer! 

Jayjun Cosmetics Gold Snow Black Mask
Purchased by me

LIFESTYLE | Five on Friday - Jan 21- (Birch + Fog Order, First Book on Kobo, Yellowjackets, MaskerAide Haul, LEGO N64 Cube)

Putting five relatively interesting things to discuss for today's post seemed to be a bit of a challenge because between work, home and the pandemic, I have realized that I am incredibly uneventful and I don't hate it, but I feel like you will all read this and think I'm so full of it! I feel boring AF! I had a short four day work week which was nice as we are all trying to burn through remaining vacation days before the fiscal year end in March. At my work, we are only allowed to carry over five vacation days and amazingly enough, it can be challenging to actually take vacation over the year as you need to coordinate with other employees to make sure you aren't short-staffed and you also need to be around for certain sales events or risk not making commission!


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MAKEUP | Rimmel Oh My Gloss! Plump Review and Swatches

Thanks to some well-timed days off, I feel like I have been able to reset and get back some motivation to blog a bit more regularly. Yes, we are only just past the middle of January, but I am still giving myself some credit for having some posts prepared and actually doing my makeup! I've realized that I no longer like doing a full face of makeup on my days off because IF I need to wear a mask or go out at all, I just hate getting my lipgloss/lipstick all mucked up. I also don't like getting my masks dirty and now with my opting to wear N95s that seem so hard to come by, I want to conserve and reuse them as much as I can. I guess there is nothing wrong with using a mask with some makeup on the inside, but I just feel *blergh* about it now especially because I'm in one for 8-9 hours. For this reason, I have been accepting much less in the way of makeup press samples or prioritizing posting about them because lipsticks and lipgloss are not a big part of my life anymore (and my wallet seems happy!). However, I got bitten by the "makeup play bug" over the NYE weekend and wanted to try ALL of the new Rimmel Oh My Gloss! Plump Lipglosses! It has been awhile since my lips have felt the tingle of a plumping gloss so I got all dolled up and tried on each of these pretties!

Rimmel Oh My Gloss! Plump Lipgloss Review
Press samples

NAILS | Blurple Leopard Print #CBBxManiMonday

Here we are at Monday again, OMG. This is one weekend that felt like it just vanished and though I have today off, I was feeling so out of it and tired yesterday that today is going to be the day that I set out to accomplish EVERYTHING that I wanted to do yesterday. It's probably going to be exhausting and by 3pm I will need a nap! I did today's manicure while watching the first episode of the new season of Queer Eye and of course I was tearing up and thought the episode was so sweet! I love this new iteration of the series as it's never about changing someone to be who they aren't. The woman they were focusing on didn't want JVN to touch her hair AT ALL or even have him see it in its natural state and though he tried to reassure her that he has seen it all, she refused and he immediately backed off. I love that eventually she took his advice in 2020 so that when they went back for a follow up in 2021, she was showing off her natural hair!


Purple and Blue Leopard Print Nail Art

Some press samples

SHEET MASK | Skin Republic Purifying, Hyaluronic Acid, Brightening and Collagen Masks

Today's #SheetMaskSunday is extra special because one, Skin Republic is a new to me brand that I have been wanting to try for a few years and two, I even have an Instagram Reel showing how lovely these sheet masks are to apply! Made in South Korea, you have probably seen Skin Republic masks at your local drugstore, which I love as it can be a challenge to find good sheet masks available in-store in Canada that come in as large a range as these ones. Some of the Skin Republic sheet masks are even biodegradable (including the packaging!) with the goal to eventually have all of the masks be environmentally friendly! 

Skin Republic Purifying, Hyaluronic Acid, Brightening and Collagen Masks
Press samples

LIFESTYLE | Five on Friday - Jan 14 - (First Book, First Movie, Home Sick, New Shoes and New Norvina Palette)

I said I would "diversify my portfolio" this year and after thinking about the best way to do this, I thought I would take a page out of Renee's book (blog?) See the World in Pink and try doing the "Five on Friday" posts! If I can manage every Friday, that's great, but even just one Friday a month is something I would be happy with maintaining. I am also hoping that because the nature of these posts is to find five random things in the week to chat about that it will help me to appreciate each day a little bit more! It also helps the weeks from blurring together and having me feel like I have reached the end of the month not knowing how I got there!


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HAIR | JVN Hair Embody Daily Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner

Have you all started watching the new season of Queer Eye yet? I am saving them for when I have vacation next month to binge! A couple of months ago, I received a couple of JVN Hair products to try out to celebrate the launch and I have been making my way through them with my first review being for the Undamage Collection. Now, after a solid number of uses I have some thoughts on the Embody Shampoo and Conditioner!

 

JVN Hair Embody Daily Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner
Press samples

NAILS | Purple Matte and Holo #CBBxManiMonday

Today was my first time driving my car in a long time! I drove it back from work on Christmas Eve and then Vancouver had its snowfall and subzero temperatures. Without winter tires, I didn't feel comfortable driving in the snow and ice and I honestly thought it would all go away and melt a few days later as it normally does in Vancouver. Two weeks later, it was still snowing and while I have no issues with taking public transit, what DOES bother me is that I currently pay $354/month for my parking downtown which means that every day I don't park there is costing me money! So, last week when it looked like I could finally get out of my street parking spot that was never shovelled, I made it to my parking and LEFT the car there until today since my parking is paid for 24/7 and is super secure (I guess that's why I pay the big bucks!). My boss had given me some good advice in telling me that once I made it to the parking, I could just leave my car there and never have to dig it out of the snow again! Now, we are about to enter torrential "atmospheric river" weather so at least it's semi-driveable weather unless it floods...


Purple Nail Art

I'll make this quick as it is late, but in keeping with this month's purple and blue theme, I wanted to use multiple shades of purple so I settled on mattifying OPI Infinite Shine in Do You Lilac It? with a matte top coat and using some striping tape to get those zigzags along with the using the slightly holo OPI My Colour Wheel is Spinning from the Holiday 2021 collection. I feel like My Colour Wheel is Spinning looks just like OPI DS Extravagance don't you?

Purple Nail Art

Purple Nail Art

Happy Monday everyone and be sure to check out Renee and Trysh's blogs for their Purple/Blue Manicures this week!

SHEET MASK | Merbliss Wedding Dress Intense Hydration Mask

The Merbliss Wedding Dress series is another cult collection of masks that have long been sheet mask favourites in the Kbeauty community. When you first start researching sheet masks, Merbliss is a brand you will see over and over again as they have some GOOD masks! The Wedding Dress series is based on the idea that on your wedding day, you obviously want the most luminous, bright and hydrated skin you can possibly get and how are you going to do that? With a Merbliss sheet mask of course!

Merbliss Wedding Dress Intense Hydration Mask
Purchased by me

NAILS | Sally Hansen Miracle Gel "Under the Tree" Swatch #MidWeekMani

Today was an unexpected sick day as both my husband and I started feeling a little under the weather with headaches and for me, a mild sore throat and dry cough. Unfortunately, these are all symptoms of the very contagious Omicron variant so we have both decided to stay in for a week. The line ups are so long to get tested that since our symptoms are so mild and the wait time for results is now 48 hours, we figured that by the time we know for certain we have what we think we have, we will probably be on the mend. We have our meals delivered via Chef's Plate so at least dinners are taken care of and we have enough snacks to make it through. Even the cats have everything they need so we don't even need to go out for them! The only thing we REALLY need is a 9V battery because our smoke detector decided to do its super annoying "I'm dying chirp" at 4am which freaked out the cats for hours. I found Harper in some random corner of the apartment and she didn't even eat until much later in the afternoon. So, for now we don't have a functioning smoke detector until Monday when we can leave the house!


Sally Hansen Miracle Gel "Under the Tree" Swatch
Press sample

MAKEUP | Cheekbone Beauty SUSTAIN Liquid Lipstick, New Brow Gel and Limited Edition Gold Body Shimmer

It has been a snowy week here in Vancouver with a 20cm dumping of snow happening last night, but I happened to request today off so I got to stay at home! I only had to go out to return a library book and pick up some cat food so other than that, it was very much an indoor day. Last month, I received an unexpected package from Cheekbone Beauty with some of their new releases that I wanted to share as this is a brand I admire and respect for what they stand for and the actions they take to achieve what they say they will do! They are now in Sephora which is amazing, but I still prefer shopping from their site directly. Cheekbone Beauty has done SO MANY things to ensure their products are kind to people, animals and the Earth (read more about their sustainability practices here) with their packaging having changed a little bit from my last review to reflect these new and improved policies while still making sure the product feels and looks luxe! 


Press samples

NAILS | Purple Holo Taping Gradient #CBBxManiMonday

It's the first set of nails for 2022! I was seriously at a loss for what to do even though our theme is "Purple and Blue" as an hommage to this year's Pantone colour of the year "Very Peri" which is kind of a purply-blue. These are two of my most favourite shades to wear so I think I was just lacking in inspiration for what to do, but then I saw this super pretty HOLO gradient from @hannahroxit and I knew I'd found my muse!

Purple Holo Taping Gradient Nail Art
Some press samples

SHEET MASK | TSAIO Girls on Period Masks in Joyce and Jenny (Yes, You Read That Right...)

This was definitely one of the stranger flatlays I have ever created as I found myself rummaging through all of my feminine hygiene products hoping that I could create something aesthically pleasing. For some reason, most period products are brightly coloured and/or very pink. Maybe this is to combat the fact that most of us don't look forward to our periods (at least I don't). I think the only time I did was when I was a 12 year old girl waiting to get her period like the other "more developed" girls in my class. I happened to get mine on Christmas Eve on the way to church so I will NEVER forget when I got mine! Since then, I dread that time of the month mainly because of the cramps, headaches and general fogginess. I usually get a headache for 3 days and cramps for about the same amount of time. I am very much still a pad girl, so I alter my work wardrobe so I'm more comfortable and the pad doesn't show. I have tried tampons, but I just never got on with them even though everyone tells me that my life will improve 1000% if I do hence this flatlay of no tampons and all pads and pantyliners. Amongst all of this period paraphernalia, who would have thought there were sheet masks that don't even bother hiding the fact that these are for those with "an off colour" complexion while having your period?

TSAIO Girls on Period Sheet Mask
Purchased by me

LIFESTYLE | Looking Back at 2021 (It Was Kind of a Crazy One)

I often refer back to my previous year's post for 2020 just to see where my head was at and now a year later, I feel like not a lot has changed AND that the world has changed. When I wrote my post last year, there was no vaccine for me yet and now after two doses and a booster to come, I don't feel quite as afraid, but now we have the Omicron variant to deal with. I think at some point, no matter how careful I am I will probably catch it as this variant seems to be much more infectious, but thankfully survivable for most. This past year has been somewhat dystopian in feel with the world being divided over vaccinations, vaccine passports and government mandates and I am thankful that most of my friends and family are fairly rational people.