NAILS | More with OPI x Xbox in "You Had Me at HALO"!

This is my segue into spring nail polish shades as our CBBxManiMonday theme becomes all about pastels next Monday! This year's OPI collaboration is with an unexpected player - Xbox! That's right, the video game platform! I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of colour story and when I saw the whole collection I still wasn't sure if I would have ever imagined such spring-like shades for XBox. Nevertheless, I still think the collection is very pretty and the names for these polishes are just spot on! 

 

PR samples

SKINCARE | FaceTory Artemisia Balancing Light Creme

When FaceTory started coming out with their own brand of sheet masks, I was THERE so now that they have their own skincare products, I just want to try everything because the packaging is adorable and the pricing is very reasonable for the formulations even factoring in the US exchange rate.  One of the first skincare products FaceTory released was their Artemisia Balancing Light Creme, a lightweight soothing moisturizer targeted at red, oily, acne-prone or combo skin. This is not my skin type at all which is why this moisturizer say untouched until last year's heat dome when I wanted hydration, but without the greasiness!

Included as a bonus with one of my FaceTory subscription boxes

NAILS | OPI x XBOX Spring French Manicure #CBBxManiMonday

Wow, pat on the back to me for having a manicure actually done AND posted on a Monday! I had Friday off so I used it to finish my taxes and do my nails that night. I really should get into the habit of painting my nails Friday or Saturday so that I'm not rushing on Sunday night to both paint and type! It's one of those things, I know I should be more organized about (amongst other things), but I am not. If I had a set schedule, it would be easier, but I don't often have Fridays off and I never have Saturdays off because hey, it's retail. Nevertheless, this week I managed to be more productive than previous weeks which has mentally made me feel better.

PR samples

SHEET MASK | Sephora Collection Matcha Tea Face Mask

The Sephora Collection Face Masks have not been a stranger to Cosmetic Proof over the years and though I initially wasn't completely sold on them, they have become solid staples in my sheet mask collection and as new "flavours" get introduced, I just HAVE to try them all one by one! As I have been focusing on green coloured/packaged sheet masks this month, it only made sense to try the mattifying and clarifying Matcha Tea Face Mask!

Purchased by me, affiliate links

LIFESTYLE | Five on Friday - Mar.25th - Book of Boba Fett, Sample Wall, Day Out with Gerry, Holt Renfrew Haul and Turning Red

I didn't think I would actually sit down and write this as it has been challenging to get content out this month. Yes, I know blogging isn't everything, but I can never shake the feeling that I should be writing because I am still trying to make room in the beauty room to display my LEGO! Blogging about sheet masks isn't creating enough space and what I REALLY should be doing is blogging about whole skincare and haircare collections because those take up quite a bit of room! I do have a schedule laid out for myself, but finding the energy is the next step! While, this isn't a beauty post, it does help me feel a little bit better!

ONE

NAILS | Hermes Vert Ecossais with 18K Gold Leaf #CBBxManiMonday

It has been a long time since I have purchased something bougie and ridiculous and last week when I went shopping with my friend Gerry, that's what happened and it felt REALLY good. The last two years have been about small pleasures and finding joy in things that didn't necessarily cost money or at least not as much money. I was a big spender for most of my working life and though I never went too crazy, I definitely didn't need to buy as much as I did. Even now, there are still a few things I should curb, but luckily I had planned for our little shopping trip and the grand total of my spenditure amounted to about $300 which compared to previous years (ahem $3000...but this included a Celine bag!) which felt nice to do, but not overkill. You can see from the title what one of my splurges was!

 Purchased by me

SHEET MASK | Oscar Mayer Bologna Hydrogel Sheet Face Mask

I was tagged in a tweet by Jill from Beauty Vixen for the debut of the Oscar Mayer Face Mask back in January and initially thought it was a prank product because why would a brand specializing in "instant meat" decide to make something so completely unrelated?! I still don't have an answer to that, but I DO have a mask that looks like meat. On my face. 

Purchased by me

LIFESTYLE | Five on Friday - Mar.18th - The Woman in the House..., Sephora Haul, Lamy Pico, New Favourite Book and More Walks!

Wasn't expecting to not do a Five on Friday for such a long time, but lo and behold this is my first Five on Friday this month! There has been a lot going on in the world and my day job just ended up consuming so much of my mental and physical well-being that my attention span at home hasn't been great other than for watching movies. I feel like I will never catch up which is somewhat disheartening, but I am chipping away at my pile of stuff to do and hoping that as long as nothing new pops up, I'll be able to feel a little more accomplished! February was so nice and relaxing where I felt caught up at work and I was able to blog so much! It always feels nice to see a solid history of a couple of blog posts each week!

ONE

NAILS | The Hungry Asian Mint Condition Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

I thought this week would be less crazy, but I was wrong. It seems like the hecticness of the first week of March where I had all of this stuff happening work bled into the second week as we launched a new Service Repair app that everyone needed to be trained on which of course wasn't as smooth as we thought it would be. I felt so confused which freaked me out since I'm usually pretty good with tech things and though I eventually calmed down enough to learn and absorb properly, I was very stressed about it for a few days. This week seems to be just full of men who feel treating people like minions is the best way of doing business so I was slightly moody today and just need to survive one more day with some insufferable people before I get two days off in a row all to myself!

Purchased by me so long ago!

SHEET MASK | Garnier Replumping, Brightening and Balancing Serum Masks

I have been keeping a close eye on Garnier as over the last few years, they have released some very cool skincare products with my favourites being from their Green Labs collection! The Pinea-C Brightening Serum Cream SPF 30 (review here) remains one of my most favourite products and when I saw on Amazon that sheet masks had been added to the Green Labs repertoire, I bought all three as I had not seen them in my local London Drugs yet!

Purchased by me

SKINCARE | MaskerAide Matcha Detoxifying Clay Mask

I think I have just a handful of clay mask reviews on the blog mainly because clay tends to be very drying on my normal/dry skin so I am careful about what I use. For my skin type, a clay mask needs to make my skin feel refreshed and clean, maybe even a little brighter, but never EVER tight. Of the two wash-off masks MaskerAide released in 2020 (this still feels recent to me), I reviewed the Pineapple Brightening Jelly Mask last month (here) and now I have the Matcha Detoxifying Clay Mask!

Press samples provided

NAILS | Tropical Green Feels #CBBxManiMonday

I am almost all caught up to where I want to be this week as I feel like everything was completely put on hold for Inventory and our Audit (which I am still purging from my memory). I am ready for Spring and something new at this point which is why I went with an almost tropical theme for this week's #CBBxManiMonday. I am already thinking about warmer weather and I am NOT a summer person in terms of heat so this is saying something!

Press samples featured

SHEET MASK | 23 Years Old Silky Seaweed Mask

After a work week from hell, I am hoping to get back to a more normal schedule of blogging in the next few weeks! I'm still feeling the effects of the stress and anxiety I placed upon myself and even though I had a good sleep-in today, I know I will need to continue going to bed at a decent hour for a couple more days to feel better. I have a massage and facial coming up on Tuesday so I think I'm going to treat Tuesday like a super chill no stress day with possibly a bit of laundry in the middle!

Purchased through my Facetory subscription 

LIFESTYLE | Woodsmoke and Willow Plant and Animal Cell Polymer Clay Earrings

I was just going to post these fantastically nerdy earrings on Instagram and nowhere else because I thought it would look pretty on my feed, but then I realized that I wanted people to really KNOW about these earrings and this wonderful Etsy shop which means I needed to create some solidly "Googleable" content! 

Purchased by me