NAIL ART | L’Oreal Infallible 2-Step Nail Colour in Irresistible Bonbon with Valentine’s Nail Decals

Gotta love good ol’ nail decals as the quickest way to get some pretty cool nail art goin’ on! I loved the new L’Oreal 2-step Infallible Nail Polishes so much that I went to London Drugs to pick up this baby soft pink in “Irresistible Bonbon” for the specific purpose of Valentine’s Day (this is the excuse I tell myself, NOT that I’m some sort of nail polish hoarder…).   

Just like the previous colour I reviewed (here), “Irresistible Bonbon” was also opaque in 2 coats, but didn’t look quite as shiny which was a little disappointing. The wear was about 5 days on me with these photos taken at the 4 day mark hence the slight tip wear. I thought these nail decals* from Born Pretty would pair perfectly with such a sweet sounding/looking polish and came in three sheets with some fun little sayings as well as some sayings that didn’t quite work in English…one decal even said just “Beautiful Finger”…

Like I said, I was a little disappointed with the lack of shine on this particular nail polish shade, but the nail decals were a fun talking point at work and were just as easy to use as the Born Pretty decals I constantly use. I just LOVE THEM!

I don’t really have a question for you guys, so just tell me something interesting about yourselves!

NAIL ART | Studded and Aztec-Inspired Nails

Along with nail decals, nail art studs are one of my favourite ways to add some bling. Nail studs can either be used as delicate accents OR as full on nail armour. When it comes to pricing and variety, I always turn to Born Pretty. My partnership with them was borne out of my inherent love for their products long before as a customer. I rarely do “nail armour” because I tend to lose studs, but the final product always looks so awesome.

NAIL POLISH | *NEW* L’Oreal Infallible 2-Step Nail Colour in Fuschia for Life

Painting my nails always makes me feel better and generally if I don’t have nail polish on, I’m either sad or stressed. I started feeling a little bit better over the weekend, having made it through a full day without crying about Yoshi, and had the craving to paint my nails a super bright colour. I figured, why not dive right into some of the new drugstore beauty releases like the new Infallible 2-Step Nail Colours from L’Oreal? Hot on the heels of the gel-lacquer type nail polishes, these new polishes come in 12 must-have colours and require two steps for an ultra shiny and lasting finish. Step 1 is the actual nail polish and Step 2 is a fast-drying tinted top coat. Below is the shade Fuschia for Life*($10.99 CDN) in two coats with the tinted top coat.

NAIL POLISH | L'Oreal - Hidden Gems

Every time we start the year fresh, we all say we’re going to try new things. I don’t fully believe in New Year’s resolutions because a very small percentage of us actually complete them. I am the eternal pessimist so I never make them. Instead, I write down what I happen to achieve along the way and I make small, tangible goals for myself like this one: TRY A NEW NAIL POLISH BRAND. It’s nothing crazy, but it’s only Jan. 3rd so baby steps, right?

What I have on is 2 coats of L'Oreal - Hidden Gems, a textured teal, black and silver glittered polish, that is unlike anything I own. This is the first time ever wearing/featuring a L'Oreal nail polish so let’s tick that off as “accomplished”!

I am not normally a fan of textured polishes, but this one caught my eye in the bottle. It seemed so dark and mysterious and seemed to have a lot going on “emotionally” for a nail polish.

I just realized that I started off the year with a bit of an “emo” polish.

Are you a New Year’s resolutions person?

Guest Post | Daytime Facial Creams You Won't Regret!

Hi there, my name is Jordana, or as I'm known online, MizzJ of Just J and I'm very excited today to be blogging on Cosmetic Proof. I met Jayne last year at Blog and the (Van)city, a fashion and beauty blogger conference in Vancouver and was wowed by Jayne's blogging skillz. She is a crazy beauty expert, so you can imagine my Doge-like reaction to get to post on her site!

Today I'll be sharing with you my tried-and-true list of favourite day creams. For me, finding a great daytime face cream can be harder to find than say, for a night-time product. Night creams are generally just for anti-aging and repairing, but a day one? It's got to be moisturizing, repairing, anti-aging, light, quickly absorbing AND provide sun protection! Oh, and not smell funky. Pretty tall order for one product!

So shall we get down to business? In no particular order, here are my favourites:

Hada Labo Goku-jyun Light Lotion

Hada Labo is a very popular Japanese drugstore brand known for their use of hyaluronic acid in all their products. The Goku-jyun light lotion is kind of in-between a toner and a lotion. It's a milky colour and is slightly watery. This lotion is perfect as a base under CC or BB creams and feels quite refreshing alone in the summer. If you have oily or combination skin, this gentle moisturizer will leave your skin soft, but not greasy. For those with drier skins, you may require an additional lotion or moisturizer, especially in winter months.

What I love about this lotion: absorbs quickly, feels light, but highly effective. A little goes a long way.

I would love it even more if: it had SPF

Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Moisturizer SPF 30

Protecting your skin is an absolute must. I didn't always wear sunscreen religiously and now I'm paying for it with sprinklings of hyper-pigmentation on my cheeks. The reason why I resisted against daily use of sunscreen so long was because I hated that pore-clogging greasiness that most sunscreens give off. I don't know what they're doing over at Neutrogena, but they've somehow managed to mitigate that – not entirely, but enough to make wearing a daily sunscreen based product bearable.

The Neutrogena Healthy Defence Daily Moisturizer is basically 70% sunscreen and 30% moisturizer. Its non-comedogenic, non-greasy, formula absorbs quickly so that you can apply your makeup right after application. I started wearing this cream before the advent of BB creams in the Western market, but I'd still argue buying this over a BB as I feel that dedicated products work better than multi-purpose ones. While I may not love slathering a thick layer of BB cream all over my face, I would gladly do so with this one.

What I love about this lotion: light-weight, has SPF, great for summer

I would love it even more if: it was more moisturizing. In winter, you probably would need to layer this on top of another moisturizer.

L'Oreal Dermo-Expertise Hydrafresh Moisturizer

This is another oldie, but goodie. The L'Oreal Dermo-Expertise Hydrafresh Moisturizer with SPF 15 is one of my standbys. It comes in a sizable 70mL jar and feels like a night cream, but with a refreshing, cooling sensation and quick absorption time. It has a light, citrus smell and truly makes your any type of skin feel “just showered.”

What I love about this lotion: leave skin feeling super fresh and soft

I would love it even more if: it came with a higher SPF level

Kiehl's Skin Rescuer

I've reviewed this product previously and I cannot rave enough about it. The Kiehl's Skin Rescuer is a thick, creamy, luxuriate your skin in it, cream. The Skin Rescuer is designed to soothe away the effects of stress in your skin with its high levels of glycerin, shea butter and chamomile. It's perfect for dry, irritated skin and for use in cold weather conditions. While the Skin Rescuer is a bit on the pricey side compared to others in this list at $42, it is great value for cost and kept my complexion calm and youthful.

What I love about this lotion: super moisturizing. A little goes a long way.

I would love it even more if: it had SPF or was cheaper

I hope you find this list helpful! I would love to know what your thoughts are on these products and which product is your favourite daytime moisturizer.

An InLinkz Link-up

Shoppers Drug Mart | February “Spend Your Points Event”!

This past weekend was another Shoppers Drug Mart event where redeeming 80000 points got you $200 dollars of product ($64 more than what you would normally get!) just in the beauty department which is a WONDERFUL dollar amount to work with ;-) It’s really quite the haul!

Urban Decay | Naked 3, Naked Lip Gloss in Rule 34 and Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin

What better time than to complete my Naked collection with Naked 3 as well as a lipgloss from their Naked line! I love the colour Sin from Naked 1 so when I saw that there was primer potion in this exact colour that I could use alone or in conjunction with another colour I grabbed it right away! I am SUPER excited about all three of these items!  

Guerlain | Eye Liner in Bleu Outremer

This is a navy blue liquid liner with one of the thinnest little brushes I have seen. The packaging reminds me of a quill and inkwell and yes, it was $42 for 5mL…but that’s what redemption time is all about! You’ve already spent the money to get the points so why not splurge?

Maybelline | Color Elixirs in Nude Illusion, Blush Essence and Dashing Orchid

Buying these also gave bonus points which was an added bonus, but these are my first color Elixirs and so far they feel and look pretty nice. I chose two lighter colours which aren’t quite as pigmented as the darker ones out there so I might grab one more in a really bright red later on.

Maybelline | Color Show Street Art Collection in Wild at Heart

I don’t have a matte black and red glitter. That was my only reasoning.

SensatioNAIL | Gel Color in Rock my Emerald and Scarlet Red

I managed to find two more colours in the clearance section for $0.99 each! These are normally around $17 each at Shoppers so getting them at this price is a fantastic deal!

L’Oreal Elnett Satin Hairspray in Strong Hold

I have heard way too many good things from so many bloggers/vloggers about this hairspray so into my basket it went!

This should be MORE than enough to hold me over for awhile as I am starting to struggle with where to put everything! I foresee another MUJI order in my future…

Topbox | October Cosmetics Magazine Edition

When I saw that Topbox had an upgrade available for October with a Shiseido product in it, I don’t think I even hesitated to type in my credit card number to authorize the upgrade as I believed that the additional $5 (Topbox is normally $12) was well worth the upgrade considering what I would be receiving! The size of the Topbox was very tall, similar in size to the Chatelaine Topbox and also included a Cosmetics magazine.

Shoppers Drug Mart Redemption and Fall Beauty Bonus Bag (Pt. 2)

As promised, here is the second half of my Shoppers Drug Mart Redemption haul! It was a bit of a whirlwind as this was the first time I had EVER seen nail polishes in the clearance section. For whatever glorious reason, the Shoppers that I go to has now decided to have a continuously awesome clearance section, so I’d better make some room in my nail polish toolbox for more $1.99 polishes!

March 2013 “Metropolitan Chic” Glossybox

The theme for March was to celebrate the arrival of spring and and being armed with the right tools to prepare our beautiful selves for the warmer months to come. Out of the five products I received, I would say that maybe only two of them are what I would consider products I would use for warmer weather. Let’s have a closer look!

Enough Already with Shoppers Drug Mart!

As promised, this is the second half of my Shoppers Drug Mart shopping spree and during this event, if you spent $75 or more on anything in the store you received 18 500 points. I bought food as well, but I will just show you guys just the fun stuff! Unless soup and juice is fun for you…then I can edit the post and show you that too!