MAKEUP | Tom Ford Traceless Soft Matte Foundation with Before and After Photos

Purchased by me

This is the first true foundation I have purchased since before the pandemic and my third "complexion improvement" product in three years so this was KIND OF a big deal! I went to my first Estee Lauder warehouse sale last November and right in the lineup were a couple Tom Ford foundations. This was completely an impulse buy as I have never tried a Tom Ford foundation nor had the urge to until that very moment in the check out line! I took a guess on the shade after looking up some positive reviews online and decided that for $45 (more than 50% off as it retails in Sephora for $115!), I would give this luxury foundation a go!

NAILS | Last Round of Hearts, I Promise! #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

I know Valentine's Day is long over, but I had seen this manicure on Pinterest (sorry, there was no credit given to who did them) and really wanted to do it because I have super long nails now which means more real estate for designs like these! 

SHEET MASK | Annie's Way Mango and Black Tea Bubble Tea Masks

 

Purchased by me

I don't often feature Taiwanese branded sheet masks, but Annie's Way has been one of my favourite brands! Founded by Annie Wu, this brand is known for their wash-off jelly masks and their 100% silk soft sheet masks that focus on gentle, nurturing skincare and protecting the skin barrier by minimizing exfoliation. The Bubble Tea series caught my eye a couple of years ago and when I saw the Mango and Black Tea Bubble Tea Masks on sale at Winners, I knew I had to pick them up because they sounded so delicious!  

NAILS | OPI Nature Strong "A Clay in the Life" Swatch #MidWeekMani

Press sample

As I write this, my husband just had a Zoom presentation with some colleagues from New Zealand so that meant 9-11pm for us which means he is pretty wired. I, on the other hand, am desperately trying to wind down as I have Inventory today (by the time this posts) and tomorrow so I want to be as well-rested as possible. I feel like I have done Inventory 100x now, but I feel like it never gets any easier because you KNOW it's going to be a long day no matter how much energy you conserve. We do start our Inventory after we close so you could legitimately have a busy day and not really be able to do anything about it because it is retail after all! My night will probably end after a 12 hour day and I will, as usual, feel like throwing up only to have to be at work less than 10 hours later. I cannot WAIT for my upcoming Sun/Mon off lemme tell ya! 

SKINCARE | Dr. Jart Cicapair Tiger Grass Collection

Press samples marked with *

How I haven't done a non-sheet mask review for Korean skincare brand Dr. Jart is a mystery to me, but as I am playing an eternal game of beauty product review catch up, I guess it's not a huge surprise. I first tried the Dr. Jart Cicapair collection back in 2019 when I went to a Sephora GWP event at Park Royal with a friend and the featured brand was Dr. Jart. The Cicapair collection contains Centella asiatica or cica which is known to be very skin-soothing. It is also referred to by the name "tiger grass" as tigers would roll on this soothing grass whenever they were itchy or needed healing! That day, I picked up the Tiger Grass Calming Mist to dip a toe into the brand's actual skincare and was quite pleased! I recently had the opportunity to try a few more Cicapair products so I think I now have a pretty good understanding of the collection! 

HAIR | Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Collection

Press samples 

Back in my Tata Harper days, whenever I had a shift at Sephora Pacific Centre, the Tata Harper end cap was always close in proximity to the luxury haircare brand Alterna. I had never heard of the brand until a couple of years ago and when I started looking into it, I put it on my wishlist, but because of the price point I could never decide which products to try. Now, I am more willing to spend on haircare, but mainly on treatments and masks versus shampoos. 

NAILS | Velvet Hearts with Cirque Colors "Chemistry" #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

I use the month of February to get the heart manicures out of my system because I actually REALLY enjoy them! I also picked up a bunch of magnetic polishes from Cirque Colors as I have now fallen for the velvet nail trend! I was never into magnetic polish before as the cat eye or chatoyancy look never appealed to me, but then I saw an IG video of Cirque Colors "Chemistry" in action and I was so enamoured with how velvety the nails looked! 

SHEET MASK | The Creme Shop Pineapple Enzyme Infused Face Mask

Purchased by me

Not gonna lie, I have had this review sitting in my drafts for awhile AND I keep a physical "copy" of each mask that I want to review in a box in my office so let's just say, it has been probably a few years based on the colour of my hair in the selfie below! I think I stopped reviewing The Creme Shop and their sheet masks because in terms of results, they are all fairly similar. The masks I DO like sharing with you are the printed ones because who doesn't love seeing Hello Kitty or a unicorn on a sheet mask?!

BODY | Stoic Beauty LoveTO Valentine's Bundle

 

Press samples

I have only ever celebrated one Valentine's Day on the day itself and that was when my husband and I first started dating back in 2006. I baked some heart-shaped sugar cookies and iced them with an Argyle sweater pattern (he was really into Argyle sweaters back then). We then went to IKEA to get some cheap furniture and ended the "date" with a Swedish meatball dinner at the IKEA cafeteria because you can't go to IKEA without having these delicious pieces of heaven! After 2006, if we did happen to celebrate Valentine's Day, it was on February 15th and after because I think it's so ridiculous how much more expensive flowers are and how much busier restaurants are. So, here we are two days after the infamous day of love talking about Stoic Beauty's LoveTO Valentine's Bundle!

NAILS | Hello Hearts! #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me 

Happy Valentine's Day! We don't really celebrate this very commercial holiday, but I won't lie that I do love cheesy hearts and the colours red and pink! I also find eating heart-shaped chocolate very satisfying, but I always buy it on sale after Valentine's Day because we know it will be 50% off on February 15th! 

SHEET MASK | Laneige Two Tone Sheet Masks

Purchased by me

I entered the sheet mask game when I feel there were a lot of just "fun" masks that were colourful, had patterns and were, I'll say it, a tad gimmicky though when I saw these brightly coloured Two Tone Sheet Masks from Laneige a couple of years ago, the concept made sense. As is, we multi-mask with different types of clay as different areas of our skin each have their own needs so why not do the same with a sheet mask?

NAILS | Cadillacquer Aviva Swatch #MidWeekMani

Purchased by me

This is going to be short as I can barely keep my eyes open and I am only on Day 3 of my work week which is ridiculous. I had a really rough two days, but today I managed to whittle down my to-do list from 28 items to 8 which made me feel a lot better. I wasn't planning on doing my nails until Monday, but they were starting to look pretty ragged on the right hand and whenever I am feeling low, a fresh set of nails always makes me feel better so here we are with this week's #MidWeekMani!

MAKEUP | Auric Cosmetics Smoke Reflect Cream and Powder Eye Shadow Duo

Purchased by me

I think we were all pretty excited when local Vancouver YouTuber Samantha Ravndahl launched her brand Auric Cosmetics. As her popularity has grown over the years from a young MUA fighting with L'il Kim when the latter stole her work without credit (I remember following that reddit thread when Sam posted asking for help) to YouTube/Instagram star, one thing that has remained consistent is her honesty about products and brands. I feel like she has always been genuine here even though her livelihood depended on getting sponsorships and deals. She has also been honest about her use of Photoshop and commenting about what really happens behind the scenes with many of the seemingly perfect IG photos and brand trips (when they used to happen monthly!). Having met her in person a few times over the years at events, I don't think we would be best friends, but she is fun to listen to on camera and I will always like her somewhat cynical and refreshing take on the beauty industry. 

NAILS | Magenta Geodes #CBBxManiMonday

Press sample

I am amazed I got 13 blog posts out last month because I have been so f'ing busy (in both good and not so good ways) at work that I am literally scared for my health. My brain and my heart are constantly racing with things that need to be done and of course things crop up during the day that need to be dealt with as well. Needless to say, it has been a challenging week and I am doing my best to stay mentally sound. We are short-staffed and everyone is feeling a little low and for an introvert like myself who needs her batteries recharged, it's hard to be a cheerleader so I have honestly been keeping to myself and saving my energy for clients vs. employees. Now, I actually had these nails done for last week, but couldn't bring myself to even edit the photos for all of 5 minutes. That's how unmotivated I was to do anything other than survive my day job which I will say, I despise doing. I hate having my happiness dictated by my job and I am actively trying to fill my personal life with things that add some distance to my work life. Let's just say it's all still a work in progress!