BEAUTY | May 2024 Ipsy Glam Bag

Purchased by me

Another month, another Ipsy Glam bag! I have to say, now that I have less PR coming in and no other subscription boxes, I really enjoy it when the I get my notification that my Ipsy bag has shipped! I feel like this is what it should have felt like back when I was subscribed 10 years ago!

NAILS | Autumn Owl Nail Art #CBBxManiMonday

Now, these are nails I actually give a *hoot* about! I said in my previous nail post that I have let the hand-drawn element of my nail art die a little bit just because I've been too tired for probably a year now to sit down for hours just to do one hand, but last night I wanted to draw again! One animal that I have seen for Fall that I have been too scared to attempt was the owl. Though my owls looked "a little high" as my husband said, I think they turned out alright considering! I tried to stick to solely nail polish instead of acrylic paint, but I feel that the owls would have turned out better had I used a more workable medium like acrylic paint. Either way, it was good to get my paintbrush dirty again with some drawing!

Press samples used

NAILS | Who Wants Glitter? Meeeee! #CBBxManiMonday

I can't believe my 10 day staycation is down to the last 24 hours! I managed to get quite a bit done though which was good. Harper got her FVRCP vaccine, I got the O2 sensor on my car replaced and went to the dentist for a cleaning (no cavities, yay!). I also taught myself how to use Instagram Reels because I refuse to believe that someone approaching 40 can't learn a few new tricks (even though there was a point while editing a video where I wanted to shoot someone). I don't get large chunks of time off like this often and after the first few days of just catching up with household things like vacuuming, laundry and meal planning, my brain gets creative in terms of what it wants to do for the blog and content. If you are a stay at home mom who also blogs, more power to you! If I had to do the house stuff every day and try to find time to photograph product, film and edit a reel and write a blog post, I would be exhausted 24-7 which is what I gather moms feel like!

OPI polish was a press sample. Ciate polish was purchased by me.

NAILS | The Ciate Denim Manicure #MidweekMani

When I used to work at the mall, browsing at Winners was a dangerous lunch time activity and a lot my beauty self purchases came out of that store for years with many things purchased on a whim or because they were "such a good price" only to be used 6 years later...like this Ciate Denim Manicure kit. This is when I am glad nail polish doesn't go bad! I made it a point during my 7 weeks off work to go through some of these kits that I purchased and because the #CBBxManiMonday team and I have monthly themes, "denim" never really seemed to fit it with any of them, but since I had a bit more time over the last few weeks, I sat down one night to watch Tati and paint a pair of jeans on my nails!

 Purchased by me SO LONG AGO!

NAILS | Ciate Chalkboard Nails #CBBxManiMonday

Five years ago, I picked up the Ciate Chalkboard Manicure Kit and now five years later, I am actually using it! I think I never really got into the whole matte finish which is why I never used the kit, but with this week's CBB theme being "Back to School" I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try it out! It didn't turn out well and I swore a few times because the polish and chalkboard pens weren't as nice in consistency as I thought they would be, but what the hell here is is the manicure! 

Sinful Saturdays | All About You with Ciate Cuticle Tattoos (Ooh!)

SIX coats of polish. That’s how many coats I have on in today’s Sinful Saturdays post because I jumped the gun and thought Sinful Colors – All About You was much more opaque than it was. I am actually wearing 3 coats of All About You, 2 coats of Revlon Gel Envy – Blackjack and two coats of All About You!  It just goes to show you that maybe looking up a swatch or testing it out on a nail wheel would have been better than going in blind. All About You is a very autumn-like glitter with its copper and gold-coloured glitter all sitting in a clear base. To jazz this manicure up, I donned some relatively badass Ciate Cuticle Tattoos that I picked up from Sephora. They were a little challenging to position, but actually look kind of cool!

Sephora | Sinnage Edition #2

The last Sephora order I placed online was back in January so almost half a year later, I thought I could spoil myself again! I’ve had a shopping cart going since February, but over the last couple of months I’ve been swapping things out and looking for the best beauty deals. When I saw a Buxom lip gloss as a gift with purchase of $35, I knew it was my time to pounce!

Day 17-Having Fun with Nail Foils

Today’s manicure is all about trying a new technique which I feel is pretty much the theme of this entire challenge! I just picked up the Limited Edition Ciate Colourfoil Manicure Set and decided to give nail foils a go! I started with three coats Ciate-Pepperminty (provided with the set) and once my nails were completely dry, used the provided foil glue and rubbed random pieces of coloured foil onto sections of my nails. The fun part was ripping off the foil almost like when waxing! Seeing the foil get transferred was oddly satisfying and I do enjoy the end results. The only thing that didn’t work out so well was that once I applied top coat, the colour from the foil started to bleed…but other than that I actually love the results!