NAILS | Moustaches #CBBxManiMonday

I realized last weekend that I didn't really have an idea as to what I wanted to wear on my nails for today, only that I wanted to take advantage of my long nails on BOTH hands! Although since then, the middle nail on my right hand has broken, but everything else is still intact which is amazing since it has been a really busy week where I usually start to "stress-break" my nails. My goal for this Holiday season is to try to be as nice as possible to everyone no matter how stupidly they behave!

 

Purchased by me

This is probably the first time I have featured a polish twice as the "main attraction", but when my nails are long, a thermal polish like Cadillacquer's Eivor looks so nice because there are often two colours showing at any given time!  

SHEET MASK | Miniso x Strawberry Shortcake Sheet Mask Collection

I completely forgot about Sheet Mask Sunday last Sunday as we were recovering from a Halloween party from the night before. I swear that now if I stay out past 10pm I am a zombie the next day and it is even worse if I stay out on a work night. I often struggled with it even in my early 30s and now I actually start to feel physically ill around 9pm if I am still out which is so sad, but I guess that's the joy of getting older 😩.

Purchased by me

This is the era of nostalgia and I am all for it as I loved watching Strawberry Shortcake and her friends growing up so when I saw these sheet masks at Miniso while out on my work lunch break, I had to grab all three scents!

MAKEUP | Happy Halloween with Cruella de Vil

As I mentioned on Monday, the last week has been very crazy and as it turned out, the rest of this week has been busy as well! Not quite as socially straining as last week, but I feel like I have been pulled in a few different directions with the end result being that my work desk is filled with half completed things and that replies to emails are definitely more delayed. I have often said that a source of pride for me are my follow-up skills, but when there is too much work on my plate, I start to forget. What I would like is two days off in a row which I am only getting next week so I need to survive just a bit more, not get sick and then be ready for the holiday season!

Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year when it comes to beauty, nail art and seasonal decor. I love Halloween-themed snacks, some movies (mainly the ones in cartoon form or by Disney), but oddly enough, dressing up in costume is probably my least favourite thing to do. Face makeup yes, but outside of that I actually get a bit stressed about the logistics of putting a costume together!

NAILS | Witchy Vibes with Sation Ego-Friendly #CBBxManiMonday

As I mentioned last week, I had a SUPER crazy work week last week so I took Sunday off to recharge and sleep in as I didn't realize how much tension I was holding onto until it was all over. My apartment is a mess, I haven't been Pixyling for Halloween because I have been so tired once I am not working and I feel like everything has been put on pause for the last two weeks. A not-so-nice work incident happened last week as well that only reiterated what I suspected and while it didn't happen directly to me, it happened to someone on my team which was annoying. At any rate, I know that we are handling it with professionalism and I only hope that the universe agrees (way to be cryptic, I know). 

Purchased by me

I really thought I would have the energy and the time to do a fun Halloween nail art manicure, but I had to keep my nails neutral last week for a brand visit and that brings us to this week where I STILL have a few more work things to get through, but hopefully I make it through without getting sick as cold and flu season is now upon us and I have yet to get my flu shot!

NAILS | Fall Polka Dots #CBBxManiMonday

I think this will be the only time you see me this week as I am going to be super busy with work and my personal life! My brain is starting to feel a bit overwhelmed to the point where every time I wake up, I feel like I have to go to work. That happened yesterday at 5am even though we are closed on Sundays and then I really had to force myself to go back to bed!

 

Press samples

I have been craving this kind of burnt orange colour ever since the weather started colder and seeing as how I like my nail art quick and dirty now, polka dots it was!

SHEET MASK | Monchhichi Hydrating and Soothing Face Masks

 

Purchased by me

I had an extra day off last week, so I am feeling a little bit more rested today and hopefully ready to face the next two weeks which are going to be packed with schmoozing and socializing! I am trying to keep taking care of myself which means - regular sheet masking! I was strolling around Miniso over the summer and saw these Monchhichi printed sheet masks that had such fun packaging I couldn't resist! 

EMPTIES | September: The Month of Samples

Here we are! Another month of Empties and I did decently well for the month of September as I was nearing the end of quite a number of products and also kept up with sheet masking. It just started feeling like Fall last week and I know that October is totally going to fly by as starting next week, I have a ton of events in my work and personal life happening. Something tells me that as fun as the rest of the month will be, I will need to massively decompress right after!

SKINCARE = 4

I managed to finish two Burt's Bees Peppermint Lip Balms down to the plastic as you can see that I was scooping product out! The First Base Skincare Double Dose vitamin C serum is one of my all-time favourites so if you were to flip through my Empties Stories on Instagram, you will see this serum a lot! I also managed to finish the Jowae Soothing Cleansing Milk which I have had for a VERY long time. Milks are not my favourite textures for cleansers, so I was kind of glad to see this one emptied! 

NAILS | Dior Fall Limited Edition Charm Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate! I am working today and a full day at that because we have a brand visit, but I am trying to keep cool about the whole thing even though this month is going to be ridiculously busy for me at work and then by the time it's done, it will basically be November which means the holidays. In retail. So yeah, like I said, just trying not to feel too overwhelmed!

 

Purchased by me

This is the second nail polish from the Dior Fall collection and matches their clover green theme for the season. The shade "Charm" is a shimmery, metallic yellow-based green that under natural lighting is deeper in tone, but in direct reminds me of the black-eyed cats!

SHEET MASK | Dior Prestige Le Masque Micro-Nutritif de Rose

I use so many sheet masks now that many of them are starting to blend together or quite frankly, are just iterations of the ones I was using 20 years ago with fancy new packaging and such, but the sheet masks that DO seem to interest a lot of you, are the ones that cost a boatload of $$$$ 😝! 

 

Purchased by me

I am willing to take that bullet for all of us so let's get this review going for the "new to North America" Dior Prestige Le Masque Micro-Nutritif de Rose Sheet Mask!

MAKEUP | Diorshow Flash Eyeshadow Sticks

Purchased by me

I have often said that I am incredibly lazy in the mornings so when it comes to my makeup routine, as much as I would love to do an incredibly complex, multicoloured look, I generally end up using 1-2 shades and that's it which is why eyeshadow sticks have become such an essential part of my makeup routine. I have used many different brands over the years and certainly have my favourites so when one of my FAVOURITE beauty brands, Dior, released the Diorshow Flash Eyeshadow Sticks, I immediately picked up a few to try! 

NAILS | Fall Flakies #CBBxManiMonday

I am taking it back and getting nostalgic today with two shades that have not been around for a very long time! Remember when Urban Decay made nail polish? I missed out in the late 90s when their original collection was out because I thought it was too expensive and honestly, didn't really paint my nails all that much in high school. In fact, I wasn't really allowed to wear any makeup other than a clear coat of mascara and some blush so maybe THAT'S why I have a beauty blog where I showcase my weakness for all things beauty 😉? 

Purchased by me

In 2016, Urban Decay re-released some of their OG polishes from the late 90s in honour of their 20th anniversary with new slick packaging. Now, that I was making money of my own, I splurged on three shades with one of them being the deep, creamy, chocolate brown "Extra Bitter". 

SHEET MASK | APLB Glutathione Retinol Vitamin C Collagen EGF Peptide and Tranexamic Acid Sheet Masks

I have just wrapped up a 5 day in a row workweek which I rarely do and I have said it multiple times in the past that I don't know how people stay positive during the week and I understand why people who work this schedule despise Mondays and love Fridays. Thankfully, the most stressful thing that happened were the staff washroom toilets leaking so I got to call a plumber which encompassed two anxiety-filled activities for me - flooding and phone anxiety. Obviously, everything was fine, the plumber came and fixed the toilets, but then on Friday evening we saw that one of the client washrooms had started leaking so I look forward to reliving this routine again on Monday! Yay, for Mondays 😉

Purchased by me. Affiliate links.

Despite a very full week, I DID manage to keep sheet masking with this set of four APLB ("A plus B") sheet masks I picked up from a combination of a K-beauty store called Kiokii and... at Pacific Centre Mall and Yesstyle. I liked the packaging, the price and the very specific ingredient focus and since this brand seems to be all the rage right now for both their skincare and body products, I wanted to see whether they were worth the buy - *hint* yes, yes they are!

LIFESTYLE | Celebrating 15 Years of Blogging!

Today I celebrate a big one - 15 years of blogging! I cannot believe how long it has been and honestly how fast the time has gone! I remember just toying with the idea when I was working on my Computer Science degree in 2010 and then I thought that maybe having a blog would be good Javascript practice. I was also buying a fair amount of beauty products, but not wanting to show my face or identity because Instagram wasn't really a thing yet in 2011.

NAILS | The First of Fall #CBBxManiMonday

Happy first official Fall #CBBxManiMonday! After doing this manicure, I remembered why I don't often do vampy nails - the bloody-looking cuticles. Maybe it works out because Halloween is coming, but I don't think you will see this colour again on my nails... 

Essie = Press Sample and Chanel = Self Purchase

Originally, I wanted to show off this pretty Chanel purple glitter in the shade Spectaculaire 429 from their Summer collection, but it was pretty sheer so I thought layering it with a vampy purple would really bring out the glitter! 

SHEET MASK | The Pure Lotus Leaf Masks: Soothing and Brightening and Wrinkle Treatment

Press samples. Affiliate links.

Here we are officially into Fall! I swear that the temperature dropped sharply right on September 22nd and has only continued! This morning, we hit single digits and soon they will be negative single digits (hopefully not negative double digits)! I know I keep saying this, but I am so freakin' behind on my reviews for pretty much everything, especially my beloved sheet masks and today's reviews for The Pure Leaf Lotus Masks are part of that group. Slowly, but surely right? I know I sound like a broken record, but I am getting older and I don't have that 30 year old stamina anymore. I am hoping that I get a second wind in my 60s and 70s!

BODY | L'Occitane Cédrat Deodorant Stick

I admit that I really put my deodorant through the ringer as it needs to start working the night before my workday! I take my showers at night and I read a tip a few years ago to apply both my deodorant and dry shampoo the night before and it has actually worked wonders! I wake up feeling more fresh and anything that cuts down on my morning "get-ready" time is one I am totally onboard with!

 

Gifted by Butterly

While this is not a new product, the L'Occitane Cédrat Deodorant Stick deodorant has gotten a makeover in brand new packaging that to me, looks less masculine and more soothing to the eye. The old packaging felt like it was part of a completely different brand! 

NAILS | Limited Edition Dior #628 Lucky Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

I honestly do not know what is happening to my nails, but they were constantly breaking in Montreal and then started looking super dry. I have a feeling living in AC conditions contributed to both my sore throat and my dry nails that week and I am still recovering - on both fronts!

Purchased by me

LIFESTYLE | First Montreal Visit Since 2018!

The last time I visited Montreal was all the way back in 2018 if you can believe it! I skipped 2019 and then of course there was 2020 where the whole world came to a halt and then air travel just looked overly complicated until around 2022. As someone who does not fly well already, routine is really what makes me feel better and having not flown for a few years at this point, I did not feel like doing it anymore. I had to fly to Paris in 2023 for work so that kind of got the juices flowing again, but since then I haven't flown - until last week and all in all everything was fine other than the usual air travel discomforts like Premium Economy being the same leg room as regular economy, delays at take-off and just weird people who treat the plane like its their own.

This visit was all about seeing family, especially our new nephew! We saw him our first full day in Montreal and he is a cutie! We stayed with my mother-in-law so we were well-housed and well-fed and from there it was just catching up with everyone, lots of socializing and lots of eating!

SHEET MASK | Anua Niacinamide TXA Serum Mask (K-Pop Demon Hunters Edition)

Purchased by me

As I write this, I have been back from Montreal two days and I am still struggling with the jet lag. I was up at 5:17am PST and could not fall back asleep so I went with the flow and just decided to get up. If I had been working, I would have stayed in bed as I am still feeling tired, but not tired enough to sleep as I just want to hit the ground running with catching up at both work and in the house! I made sure to do as many household tasks as I could before leaving so that we didn't come home to a messy apartment. We had a cat sitter come in once/day for the cats and she left everything really neat and clean so we were truly able to relax right when we got home.

EMPTIES | August 2026

Holy hell it's September! We are now basically welcoming Fall (I see red tips on the leaves outside) and officially closer to the end of the year than the beginning! Why is it that summer goes so fast? August went by pretty quickly as I was gone for the last bit of it and though I did use up a few little things here and there while I was on vacation, I had no plans on carrying back beauty garbage on the plane!

 

I used up FIVE skincare products last month including this entire tub of Anua Brightening Pads! I have always found these hard to use, but I really liked how nice these felt on my skin as they were kind of spongy (photo and review). I did it on days where I would wash my hair and didn't want to use a whole sheet mask so these were the next best thing! 

I used up SO MANY pimple patches because I got the worst cystic pimple on my chin back in July that took a week to stop spewing stuff. Now, I'm still scarred from it and you can easily see it in all of my mask photos. Granted, I have had these pimple patches for at least 5 years because I don't get a chance to use them very often, but they DO work at drawing stuff out and at least protecting the area overnight and encouraging healing. The Peace Out Skincare ones were by far the most effective!

Don't judge me on the makeup wipes. I have not purchased ANY makeup wipes in almost 10 years because I used to receive a lot of them in PR, but now I rarely use them and don't want to encourage waste. I am just trying to use up what I have and I still have probably 12 months worth of wipes left!

This might not look significant, but trust me, it is! This is a full size of the Smashbox Photo Finish Eye Primer where you only use a minuscule amount each time because a little goes a very long way! I even cut it up and was using product from every crevice to make sure this was REALLY empty! Pretty good product, but I have so many priming products to get through that I do not need to repurchase this at the moment.

I used 15 sheet masks last month is not bad for me now with my masking schedule not being quite as consistent as before. Compared to the sad two masks I used last month, this is a marked improvement!

If I were to include my travel empties, the number should be SEVEN, but honestly as these are samples I'm not too fussed. The sleeping masks actually come in packs of 30 so will see these again! 

Another month of skincare as makeup is truly SO HARD to use up in full! Why do we buy so much of it?