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

NAILS | Dioriviera Summer 2026 #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

Oh my goodness, I am so late with posting ANY nails! ManiMondays used to be the one thing I felt I could make time for because I always had my nail painted, but then my nails started breaking big time a few months ago and the inspiration for nail art has been lacking as well. I feel like I have sort of done everything, but at the same time there is nothing wrong with old favourites, right? Everyone loves a bit of nostalgia? 

EVENT | A Day with Dior Beauty: Facials and Matcha

 

It's not very often that I do back to back events with Dior in one day mainly due to my lack of energy and not wanting to stay downtown and dealing with traffic on the way home. With how busy and chaotic the last few weeks have been, I was willing to make the drive downtown and get an amazing facial as well as do a little bit of shopping!

FRAGRANCE | Dior Addict Peachy, Purple and Rosy Glow EDP

 

Purchased by me (I feel like 90% of things are purchased by me at this point, but I guess for consistency?)

I have been on a total fragrance kick the last two years and though I normally find many of Dior's fragrances to be on the more serious side, when I saw the notes and packaging for the new Dior Addict EDPs, I was delighted to see something lighter and more fruity for the Spring and Summer season!

NAILS | Dior Holiday 2025 #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

The Holiday season is kicking my butt. Though my past blog post was seven days ago, I haven't actually sat down to write anything in over two weeks. I have been really hustling at work as I have set a crazy goal for myself this season so we shall see at the end of the month if my efforts have paid off! 

NAILS | Dior #908 Bold Black Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

Easing into the Halloween spirit with some dramatic nails and with this new nail shape, they look extra spooky! Can you believe it is October already? Here in Vancouver, it feels like Fall in the morning and Summer in the afternoons! I'm sure the rains will come soon, but I whipped out my first turtleneck dress last week and I realized that I love autumn/winter work clothing way more than summer work clothes because I'm just always hot in the summer, but you still have to cover your arms and legs in a professional environment so I just never really know what to wear.

NAILS | Dior Shocking Pink #580 Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

I had to make a bit of a nail shape change as one side of my nail broke, but luckily when you have longer nails, breakages just mean different nail shapes so in this case we went from square to stiletto! As this last #CBBxManiMonday of September, let's just enjoy this new Dior shade from the Miss Dior Fall Collection!

NAILS | Dior Wild Beige #321 #CBBxManiMonday

 

Purchased by me

I think I may only be doing swatches for awhile as the effort of doing nail art in the last few months has really felt like too much! Honestly, my nights have been filled with watching Succession and then Pixyling until it's time to go to bed. I know, I'm such a nerd, but that's how things have been the last little while and I am not hating it! I did pick up all of the Fall polish releases from Dior though so at least I have some new things to share with all of you this month!

MAKEUP | Dioriviera Summer 2025 Collection

Purchased by me

Now, that we are more than halfway through summer, I realized that I should really get on sharing with you all the items I picked up from the Dior Riviera Summer 2025 Collection! Now, that I do not receive Dior press samples, I am extremely selective about what I buy from each Dior collection and rightly so! The collection was much larger than the items I picked up, but truthfully I didn't want more lip oils so I stuck to, what I think, are the prettiest pieces in the collection.

LIFESTYLE | Five on Friday (Birthday Festivities)

This last week definitely deserves a solid blog entry as I had taken it off to celebrate my birthday so there were lots of things and events to note!

ONE

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.

NAILS | Dior #999 #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

Forgive the lack of posts again, but I had a very long weekend with Inventory at work and I pretty much crashed around 4pm for a 2 hour nap and then just wanted to diamond paint and do Pixyls all night long. Thankfully, I have today off so I was able to head out and run some errands at London Drugs as well as pick up a press package from UPS. I have not had the urge to sit down and do my nails just yet (I still have not decided on my design for today) so I am cheating a little with sharing this swatch of Dior 999, but for a red, white and pink theme this month I think 999 takes the cake in terms of iconic shades in the luxury beauty space!

NAILS | Happy NYE! #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! We made it! I'm still doing my best to catch up on rest, but one thing I am not doing is harping on 2024 as I feel like we should never tempt fate by saying good riddance to one year and hoping that the next year is better (ahem 2019 to 2020!). While 2024 was a challenging year in many ways for me, I also discovered that I was stronger than I thought and that eventually it paid off in the form of a super toxic employee leaving! So, I will drink to that!

MAKEUP | Dior Holiday Golden Ball 2024 Collection

Purchased by me and it was QUITE the splurge!

As some of you know especially from my Instagram, back in April while I was stress leave, I decided to dedicate my beauty budget for the remainder of 2024 to one brand and that brand was Dior! I was scrolling through Instagram and started seeing some their new releases, events and GWPs and it made me go back into my old Dior press samples and reminisce. In doing so, I realized that I had been neglecting a VERY good brand with quality formulations and of course, FANTASTIC packaging. Over the years, I have been tiring of Sephora and their lack of client service so I have been buying all of my Dior products almost exclusively from the Dior counter at Holt Renfrew. I like that I am buying from a Canadian department store and giving commission to a real person. I have also been rewarded with facials every month, invitations to exclusive events with Dior as well as GWPs that are way better than what I have ever received at Sephora. Suffice it to say, I am going to be continuing to shop with Holt Renfrew! 

NAILS | Dior Soir de Bal with Snowflakes #CBBxManiMonday

Decals are press samples

This is THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER for so many reasons, but the main one being that for the last two years, myself and others in the store have been terrorized by a very difficult employee. The most difficult and unprofessional employee I have ever come across in my 20 years at work and as of last Thursday, this employee is retired and most importantly gone. 

NAILS | Fall French #CBBxManiMonday

Some press samples

I did it! I have painted my nails after almost one month of having naked nails! They are still very short compared to what I normally have and my ring finger is still having a hard time hence the slightly different shape, BUT I painted them and that in itself was a huge accomplishment seeing as how I am still sick with a cold. 

MAKEUP | Dior Forever Skin Perfect 24H Multi-Use Foundation Stick

Purchased by me

It has been such a long time since I have done a foundation review! Foundation is like skincare to me, but I have been really trying to finish what I have as I have so many older foundations that aren't even in existence anymore hence the lack of trying anything new. As this is the year of Dior for me, I was paying VERY close attention when they announced a new multi-use stick foundation! I loved how easy it was to use my Basma Beauty Foundation Stick so I was hoping this new foundation from Dior would be one I enjoyed just as much.

BEAUTY | September 2024 Favourites

Press samples indicated with *

It has been FOREVER since I have done a monthly favourites post (I kid you not, it has probably been 10 years!), but I felt like sharing some products that I just have not been able to put down for the last month and half because it's possible you might feel the same!

NAILS | Dior Blue Star Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

Purchased by me

Today is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S! Though it is a holiday here in BC and work is operating on holiday hours, I will be working a completely normal day from 9-6pm as we have a brand visit and Loss Prevention audit happening. They were scheduled by different countries/provinces that were not aware of Truth and Reconciliation Day hence what would normally have been a very chill day is now going to be a super packed "ON" day for me and the other manager!  

NAILS | Dior Montagne sur Le Noir

Purchased by me

I know this is ManiMonday even though it's Thursday and I am sorry about the delay! I have been really busy with work and just feeling like relaxing after a "socially engaging" week with both staff and clients. Today is my first day truly off and alone in the house and so far I have managed to do laundry, grocery shopping, make lunch and do some house budgeting. It's time for a nap!