SKINCARE | A by Bom Ultra Bouquet Patch Mask

Purchased by me

How are we at the end of January already?! While I was on staycation two weeks ago, I did a clean out of "items I have purchased and want to blog about". One of those items were these A by Bom patch masks that I purchased 7.5 years ago...yeah, I know. In an effort to rip off the Bandaid and USE stuff, I plunked these on my bathroom counter and started using them right away!

BEAUTY | December Ipsy Original Bag

Purchased by me

I was supposed to have a morning facial at Dior this morning, but my esthetician was sick which was kind of good with me as I really wanted to stay home instead of driving downtown. It's also a gloomy day so perfect for hunkering down and writing about my December Ipsy Original Bag! I haven't done much writing in probably two weeks as I have been spending a lot of my time organizing and cleaning and trying to do what I can just to have LESS STUFF in my life. I think everyone is really good at this in January, but not so good in July so I am hoping to keep it up!

NAILS | Wintery Glitter #CBBxManiMonday

One press sample

I had originally intended on spending my Sunday doing some blogging, but I ended up going through my craft bins and doing some organizing which took about 5 hours! It was incredibly tiring and then I always get leg cramps because there is a lot squatting, kneeling and just being on the floor sorting through things. I still have a few things to sort through, but bit by bit I will hopefully be able to reduce just the amount of STUFF I have in my house!

SHEET MASK | Village 11 Factory Daily Fresh Up Tea Tree Mask

Press sample

I must have been really tired on Sunday because this post was pretty much ready to go, but I feel like the day just went by really quickly and then suddenly it was 4pm, dark outside and I wanted a nap! Today is my day off, but I am actually leaving my cave and going to a Pixi Beauty event later on just to prove to myself that I can be social and because Pixi has some fun looking new releases I want to see!

NAILS | Sally Hansen Gem Crush Be-Jeweled Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

Throwing it back again to Sally Hansen Gem Crush this week because this collection was truly an amazing release over 10 years ago now! I only wish I had gotten the whole collection back then, but I just had too much self-control LOL! 

FRAGRANCE | NEW PixiPerfume ft. PixiFig, PixiRose and PixiMimosa EDP

Press samples

I was watching a new Tati video last week and she featured these new Pixi Beauty fragrances and I was like "Did I hear you correctly? Pixi has FRAGRANCES??" Then a few days later, this perfect package of #PixiPerfume showed up completely unexpectedly at my door, I sniffed and then knew I had to share what my nose thought with all of you!

BEAUTY | Content Goals for 2026

I am a little late in finalizing my thoughts for what's to come for me and the blog this year, but I feel like from watching YouTube videos of both past and present creators I have been following that "having less" and focusing on things of value is the theme for 2026! For me, it was a already a theme for 2025 with trying to cut down and track my spending and what started with watching finance content eventually evolved into the algorithm recommending minimalism videos. The above photo is an example of a hobby that I kind of went crazy with in the last year, but what I like about it is that even though I have spent like $4000 on Pixyls since 2024, it's a hobby that stores neatly and the only "equipment" you need is a pair of sharp tweezers. I store most of my completed pieces in a big art notebook and that's it! Anyway, here is what you should be seeing from me and Cosmetic Proof this year!

NAILS | Purple and Gold Glitter Gradient #CBBxManiMonday

 

Some press samples

I just did a mass reorganization of just one small section of beauty goods and it honestly took a whole afternoon! I also have four different medium size bags of cosmetics that are being given to various work colleagues and friends. Thank goodness I know people of all different ages, skin tones and types because much of this would then go to waste! 

SHEET MASK | A By Bom Ultra Serum Leaf Mask

Purchased by me

It has been extremely wet and rainy these last few days so staying indoors and cleaning has not been the hardest thing in the world to do while I am on my "forced" vacation. I only say "forced" because the other manager and I realized that neither one of us had taken any vacation days since August! November and December is a blackout period for us in retail, but the fact that neither one of us had taken any was a bit of a surprise to me and then I realized that this is the FIRST year where we didn't have that horrible employee of ours! I usually would use a few vacation days every month just to escape work and seeing that awful woman's face/dealing with abusive emails, but now work is enjoyable so there is nothing more to escape! 

BEAUTY | November Ipsy Original Bag

 

Purchased by me

Oh goodness, I had all the photos for this November Ipsy Original Bag taken so early and then December got so busy that I completely forgot to test out the products until this month! I am off until next Thursday so my original plan was to play catch up as well as experiment with some new product, but then the clothing moths hit. I have been vacuuming like crazy, going through each and every piece of clothing I own to find out if any of my natural fibres have been compromised (my Dior cashmere scarf is currently in the freezer as I found two moths on it!) which has been overwhelming and tiring especially when I had planned to take some time off to relax! Next up, is now doing a massive load of laundry and putting things in the dryer to kill what I can with heat!

NAILS | I Sea You Wear OPI Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

Press sample

We have been doing this #CBBxManiMonday thing for 9 years now and while I haven't been the most consistent, I still do my nails fairly often and when I see them all done up even with just a plain nail polish colour, I feel super put together. This month's theme is simple, but I think one of the more fun ones - "Shimmer and Glitter"!

SHEET MASK | Pacifica Future Youth Time Shift Hydrogel Facial Mask

Purchased by me

It's our first Sheet Mask Sunday of 2026! I started doing Sheet Mask Sunday way back in 2020 as a way to stay organized about my sheet mask usage and lo and behold six years later, I am still doing it! Sometimes, I'm good about weekly other times not so much, but I gotta give myself a pat on the back anyway! I feel like I am starting to see the effects of being such a religious sheet mask user now that I am in my 40s as it's probably the only thing other than genetics that I use more than the average person. 

MAKEUP | Fenty Beauty Holiday Lined + Luminized 2-Piece Lip Set

 

Purchased by me. Affiliate links.

While I was making my Sephora VIB purchases in November last year, I made a little pact with myself that IF I were to make a purchase, I should indirectly "subsidize" the cost of it by doing a review and blogging about it. Yes, this was the idea with all of the other purchases I have made in the past, but I actually struggled to keep my VIB Rouge status last year now that I do most of my makeup purchases through Dior/Holts. I basically ordered 4x from Sephora - two of which were VIB Rouge events, one order of sale items to add to my birthday gift and one order to use my $100 Rouge Gift so it was all very controlled and they were specifically Sephora exclusive items. This year, I don't even know if I want to give Sephora $1000 of my money, but I am sure the beauty lover in me is going to want something new and fun to try out at some point so we shall see!

SKINCARE | Beauty of Joseon Glow Serum

Press sample courtesy of YesStyle. Affiliate links.

Happy 2026! We made it everyone! It only made sense for the first review of this year to be all about *GLOW* so here we go with the Beauty of Joseon Glow Serum!