NAILS | Pink Abstract #CBBxManiMonday

Some press samples*

It is the last day of June and one day before my 42nd birthday! I have been off work the last few days celebrating and every day has been pure joy spending it with people I like and doing things I enjoy! It's hard to believe that the first birthday I celebrated here on Cosmetic Proof was my 29th birthday and here we are at 42. It's sobering how much time has passed and how things have changed and yet stayed the same. This is a place that anchors me and where I can happily sit in nostalgia with "how things used to be". With the way AI is going, people won't even have to read makeup reviews anymore, but I like having things here for me. I have always said this place is my diary, my online journal and even my own personal database of swatches and beauty products I have tried so I feel like I will continue to write here even if more and more people go towards TikTok and Instagram for their makeup reviews. I am here for all of us who are in our 40s or more!

SKINCARE | Teaology Matcha Tea Ultra Firming Collection

Press samples

Wow! I have an honest to goodness full routine of skincare to review for all of you! I don't often use all the same brand anymore and when I do get an opportunity to do a full routine, I do it very gradually so even though I received all of these products back in January, I have been slow about phasing them in, but now I am intimately close with them and can share my thoughts!

SHEET MASK | Bring Green Tea Tree Cica Fresh Mask

Purchased by me

Well, Happy Sunday to all! We are officially in Summer now and less than a week until my birthday and all of its celebrations! I am EXCITED for the heat (not 40 degrees please!) and lazy summer days off to begin! Today in Vancouver it is dark, gloomy and 14 degrees so not exactly summer weather as I sit here in my Aritizia hoodie, but hopefully it clears up a bit later on in the day. Today I have from Bring Green what I thought would be a summer sheet mask, but based on the results I think this mask could easily be used throughout the year as it is quite hydrating! I think I have already let the cat out of the bag with that last sentence, but I'll try to keep the rest of this post entertaining.

BODY | The New L'Occitane Almond Shimmering Oil

Press sample. Affiliate links.

I have already done a mini review of the new L'Occitane Almond Shimmering Oil on the ol' Gram, but I loved it SO MUCH that I wanted this product to be Googleable so that everyone can know about it! 

NAILS | Glitter Pride #CBBxManiMonday

Press samples

Today was my day off and I had high hopes that I would wake up at 7am and start the day early with a cup of Nespresso (I just recently started using my machine again) and then leave to run a bunch of errands. I ended up getting up at 9am after falling back asleep and even though I had my coffee, I felt like a snail all morning. I did end up completing my errands and even ended up doing a little bit of beauty shopping at Shoppers and finding a good read at my local library! I came home, made some lunch and then had a little nap. I ended up getting a second wind of energy around 4pm and then made dinner early so we could eat at 6pm and have an early night. My husband just got back from a work trip in Australia so his jet lag has been pretty awful so he tends to want to crash at around 8pm so I figured if we had dinner early, he could sleep if he wanted to. And that, everyone was my very boring day as an adult!

SHEET MASK | Teaology Matcha Tea Superfood Firming and Blemish Tea Glow AHA Sheet Mask

Press samples

I have been enjoying a much needed day off today as I just was not in the mood to work yesterday. And by that, I just mean that I wasn't finding tasks that I normally enjoy as fun as usual. I always like to stay busy regardless of how I feel as standing/sitting around on my phone makes me feel mentally and physically worse so if I don't feel like doing a mentally exhaustive task, I will switch to visual merchandising or organizing repairs or just flat out cleaning! I got up relatively early (thanks to Bustyboo) and ended up having breakfast and going for a 5km walk before noon! I have really been trying hard to get at least 10K steps/day and so far, I have been able to keep it up for a over a month! My Apple watch has been telling me what a good job I have been doing LOL!

BEAUTY | October 2024 Ipsy Glam Bag

Purchased by me

I am well aware that it is June, but hear me out! With the Canada Post strike at the beginning of November, this bag actually arrived AFTER my November Ipsy! Now, with Tariff War 2025 happening, I have slowed down my Ipsy subscription (they only let you skip every other month) in order to avoid the exchange rate and focusing less on American goods. When I did start using the October Ipsy bag I did notice that almost every product felt more suited to NOW than October so it all worked out!

NAILS | Mermaid Scales #CBBxManiMonday

 

Press samples

I am very excited to share today's mani with you because it is the first time I get to try BKIND's nail polishes! BKIND is a Quebec-based, woman-owned, vegan and plant-based beauty brand and in today's economy and trade war sitch, I am all about supporting Canadian brands! While I will have a separate post for BKIND's hair products and skincare, the nail polishes were the first products I literally GRABBED!

NAILS | Dior Coral Pop with Butterflies #CBBxManiMonday

 

Purchased by me

June is here and we are officially halfway through 2025! How crazy is that? The last 6 months has absolutely flown by both at work and in my personal life and I am looking forward to summer! My birthday is in a month which means vacation and annual birthday shopping spree is coming up so lots to look forward to. It has also been 6 month at work where for the first time in YEARS, I am actually enjoying the "managing people" part of my job in terms of educating the staff by putting together what I think are fun features and benefits emails, but for jewelry! It is the first time I have ever seen anyone do this in our location and I can only hope that the staff find this information useful. We have almost the perfect team and I say that in the sense that we have half a team of people who are keen to learn and care and the other half who are riding this job out until retirement so it is extremely hard to get ANYTHING from them. They make mistake and they don't really care to improve or apologize, BUT they are the most senior members of the team and currently the most knowledgeable since everyone else is so new. This situation is definitely loads better than the having the awful and toxic employee we used to have (thank God she left in December!), but still leaves us with questions on how to move forward.

SHEET MASK | Jumiso HelloSkin Chewy Elasticity Mask

Press sample

I wasn't feeling well almost all of last week. I had a headache for a week and even today I am still feeling it in bits and pieces. My guess is that it was mainly due to weather pressure as the humidity in Vancouver has been on the higher side, but waking and going to be with a sinus/pressure headache has sucked! We had a really intense work day last Sunday when we all came in while the store was closed to do a massive visual merchandising project that had us opening hundreds of boxes and disposing of them. It was a lot of physical work that left us all exhausted the next Monday morning. I was SUPER grumpy and pretty much kept to myself the next day just doing more paperwork than people things. I think it's time for a much needed vacation!