SKINCARE | Lip Care with Three Ships Beauty

Last year, I made it a point to purchase skincare more wisely and purchase Canadian if I could. I made a list of brands I wanted to try and instead of buying everything at once I wanted to pace myself and use up what I had so that products wouldn't be sitting around unused (and unloved). One Toronto-based brand that caught my eye was thanks to an episode of Dragon's Den for Three Ships Beauty. Founded by two women, Laura and Connie sought to create 100% natural skincare that was results-driven, effective and at an affordable price point. Now, over the years the word "natural" has meant less and less to me, but "results" still perk my interest. Three Ships also has a fairly comprehensive glossary of the ingredients they use and why which I very much appreciate! Though today's review is just for their newest lip products, I did purchase a couple of cleansers and toners so I will review those later on!   

Press samples

HAIR | Meditatively Washing my Hair with the Innersense Organic Beauty Pure Trio

There are A LOT of brands out there and I don't know about you, but with Instagram becoming oftentimes, the SOLE platform that brands get famous on, I am constantly saving photos to my created "Wishlist" of products to look into and try. Though I only discovered Innersense Organic Beauty through a Detox Market press box a few months ago, this brand seemed to have a large following on Instagram so I did a bit of investigating. I'm always in the market for healthy haircare that will be safe AND effective on colour-treated hair as it is still generally the salon-grade products that "cut to the chase" the quickest. Innersense seemed to be a blend of the two having been founded by husband and wife team Greg, the chemist, and Joanne, the hair stylist, and has since become a well-known and beloved brand especially among those in the textured hair community. The products are pH balanced and I kind of enjoy the philosophy behind the brand of treating the act of hairwashing and haircare as a ritual or "ceremony" as they would phrase it. I think of a skincare routine that way, so why not my hair which influences so much of my life and how I feel?

 PR gifted

BODY | Apothekari pH Balanced Natural Deodorant

Earlier this year, I pledged to feature more local brands and I thought I was doing so well until I looked back at every post I have written this year and realized that THIS will be the first time I am doing so! Granted, I have been doing a fair amount of it in my Instagram stories especially when it comes to bath bombs, but today is all about Vancouver and science-based skincare company Apothekari. They have a fantastic sunscreen that I reviewed last year and last Fall, after over two years in the making, Apothekari released natural deodorants! Coming in three scents, these deodorants are free of aluminum, parabens and baking soda with a formulation focused on pH balanced pits! We talk about using pH balanced products for our skin in our skincare routines, our hair and scalps, but what about one of THE most finicky and sensitive places like our underarms?!

 PR gifted

SKINCARE | Masking with My Tata Harper Trifecta

If you have been with me awhile, you will know that about five years ago, I used to work for Tata Harper. In fact, I was the first Canadian-based employee when the brand first launched in Sephora Canada! I took a year off to explore the world of beauty and skincare and even though it didn't quite work out, I look back on my days with the Tata team fondly and still buy her products because they are among what I call my "ground zero" products. These are the products that reset my skin when I can't quite figure out what's going on with it. I have reviewed a number of Tata Harper products over the years both through gratis (given to me while I was an employee) and purchased on my own and though there are certain products that do not agree with my skin or just don't do enough for the luxurious price tag, there are a few heroes that I have consistently repurchased and these masks are some my all-time favourites!

Purifying Mask was PR gifted

SHEET MASK | Viva Organics Collagen Hyaluronic Acid Mask #CanadaEh

I am going to squeeze in one last Canadian brand for this month's Canada theme and that is Vancouver-based Viva Organics! Best known for the Amaze Exfoliating Gel, Viva Organics was founded almost 20 years ago by husband and wife duo Amy and Jimmy when there were fewer options for skincare with effective and more herbal ingredients. Now, we have a ton of options, but even so, the natural skincare industry is becoming saturated with phrases like "no harsh chemicals" and "non-toxic" to a point where I don't even know what to use anymore to describe this category of beauty/skincare products. All I will say about Viva Organics is that their brand focus is on small batch natural skincare technology made without parabens, synthetic fragrances, endocrine disruptors, carcinogens or GMOs. Though I haven't tried the Amaze Exfoliating Gel yet, it was the Collagen Hyaluronic Acid Mask that caught my eye and has turned out to be one of my favourite mask discoveries this year!  

Purchased by me

SHEET MASKS | ORGAID Organic Sheet Masks and New Honey and Brown Rice Face Polish!

Way back in 2017, I attended Cosmoprof North America in Las Vegas, which is an annual beauty trade show focusing on beauty brands with cool technologies, so you won't be seeing anything boring! Favourite brands like Odacite, Purlisse and Pai were all there to showcase what made them different from everyone else and the lineup this year looks pretty amazing too! While visiting the Green Beauty area of the show, I came across the brand ORGAID, made in California and developed by Korean chemist Dr. Baek, and at the time, was exclusively a sheet mask only brand. Not only was the essence free of parabens, alcohols, phthalates, phenoxyethanol, sulfates and artificial fragrance, but what REALLY set this skincare brand apart from the others was the invention of a sheet mask material called Ecoderma!

PR samples

MASK | Truly Organic Rainbows in Mirrors, Star Fruit and the Star Kisser Jelly Lip Plumping Mask

On any given day, I'm masking some part of my body and though it is mostly my face, I also enjoy finding new masks for my hair and lips! When I was on my girls shopping day in March, I stopped in Nordstrom to look at some shoes and on the way out, a clean beauty pop-up caught my eye because it had a number of US-based brands that I had only seen online like Rael, Clove and Hallow and Truly Organic. I had seen so many colourful, millennial-bait style posts on Instagram for Truly Organic from glitter lip masks to unicorn body butters that I had to see what the big deal was! Was it all just for show? Or were the products actually effective in addition to being so cute that I hated myself for wanting everything?!

Purchased by me

SHEET MASKS | "Menstrual Masking" with Rael Beauty

I love it when a product lives up to its pretty packaging. I first came across LA-based feminine care brand Rael Beauty on Anna's (@maskaddict) Instagram feed and though she does share with all of us A TON of sheet mask brands, this was one of the ones that I immediately looked up, found on Amazon.ca and purchased 4 boxes of all 4 masks available! Not only was the packaging sexy, but I loved the sustainable materials and ingredients and the brand's story. Created by three South Korean women, Rael's main focus is feminine hygiene and menstrual care with their initial products being 100% natural cotton  pads, tampons and liners and added holistic care like the sheet masks intended to combat those hormonal skin freakouts we all get during our periods as well as provide some added pampering. I adore these sheet masks and have already signed up to receive on autoreplenishment in a few months because I KNOW I cannot be without these! 

Purchased by me

SHEET MASK | Boo Bamboo Charcoal Sheet Masks #EarthMonth

I am always raring to go when it comes to talking about sheet masks and though I now have far too many to count (probably around 800?) I never get tired of finding new ones to try! Last summer I tried my first brightening charcoal sheet mask from clean and Canadian beauty brand Boo Bamboo and now I have its three sheet mask siblings to share with you!

PR samples

HAIR | John Masters Organics Honey and Hibiscus Collection #EarthMonth

I cannot believe that I have the next three days off as that is practically a vacation for me and though today was a bit of a grocery day as well as blog photo day, I will try to enjoy the next few days off as best as possible at with my furbabies and Casey. I have already had a nap with Hugo purring away on my chest which I consider such a luxury to do since I am rarely home to cuddle them like that.

As we are approaching Earth Day, let us continue on with some more Earth-friendly products this time for the hair! I have seen John Masters Organics products for years in salons and randomly online, but it didn't dawn on me that they were a clean brand until I saw that Whole Foods carried it in their beauty department! John Masters products are free of sulfates, silicones, parabens, phthalates, mineral oils, synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes and is safe for use on colour-treated hair. Their ingredients list for the shampoo reads almost like a skincare list! 

PR samples

SHEET MASK | Burt's Bees Hydrating Sheet Mask #EarthMonth

The next Earth-friendly product I have is one that I was unexpectedly disappointed with so it's possible I might get a bit ranty with improvements. Burt's Bees - we know and love this brand for skincare, makeup and being one of the earliest brands to have "natural" and affordable products right at the drugstore. I keep feeling like I want to apologize for what I am about to say about the Hydrating Sheet Mask*, but I just don't get how this mask can be given a passable rating and it seems I'm not the only one from reviews I have seen on Influenster and the Burt's Bees website!

PR sample

SKINCARE | Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream #EarthMonth

It's April which means more of a focus on Earth-friendly and clean beauty products! You will have to forgive the order of my skincare reviews as you all know that I take a loooong time to review things, but starting with what I started using over the Winter season, I reviewed quite a number of different things some of which I featured over on Instagram stories. I don't often care much about moisturizers because my skincare focus tends to be more on serums and treatments with moisturizers acting more like a "cap" for my illustrious routine, but I wanted to give a big, beefy blog shoutout to the Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream!

PR sample

SKINCARE | Dr. Roebuck's Tama Healing Mask

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Kim and Zoe Roebuck in a one-on-one session and you would never know that these twin sisters were in charge of a cult clean beauty brand.  Talk about Aussie down-to-earthness, these girls know exactly what is going on with their products and I felt confident that Dr. Roebuck's products were going to be a good addition to my skincare routine. Now, you know that I am super slow with my skincare reviews and I only got the chance to use their eye cream until this year when Dr. Roebuck's completely re-branded and came out with Instagram-worthy product packaging! 

PR sample

BEAUTY | Burt's Bees Fall Makeup Look

Yes, I still have makeup posts that involve me NOT wearing a sheet mask! At last month's London Drugs Beauty event, I had the pleasure of visiting the Burt's Bees booth and experiencing a couple of the makeup products I hadn't tried yet. While I have only tried their lip products and skincare, I was curious about the quality of their face and eye products as I hadn't read or heard too much about them. Obviously the great thing with Burt's Bees is that I know the packaging and the ingredients will always be good for me and the environment.

PR samples

GIVEAWAY | Aromatherapy with Scentuals Natural and Organic Skincare

Aromatherapy was a necessary part of my life long before it became trendy as I try to avoid alcohol or prescription medications if I can as I have always been that 1% that gets that random unpleasant side effect in the fine print. I have a phobia of vomiting and nausea so the minute I know I can potentially feel sick from something, there is no stopping me so as hippie as aromatherapy used to be, it became a part of my life as soon as I realized I was prone to daily headaches, motion sickness or just having a hormonal day. I even get headaches from high air pressure so surrounding myself with scents that feel like they are opening up blood vessels in my brain and alleviating pain can take me from zero to hero so when I saw that Canadian brand Scentuals had specific headache products, my interest was piqued!

PR samples

HAIR | Live Clean Mineral Clay Rebalancing Shampoo and Conditioner

When I had virgin hair, the words "clay" and "rebalancing" would not freak me out like they do now. I recently used a "clarifying and rebalancing" treatment from a very expensive haircare brand and was shocked at how drying it was for my hair. It honestly destroyed it to the point where I had STICKS of straw for hair and I had to mask and oil my hair like crazy to even get it back to half the softness it was. When Live Clean released their Rebalancing Shampoo and Conditioner, I hesitated with trying it because I couldn't have what happened before happen again! 

PR samples

BODY | Tata Harper Smoothing Body Scrub

This is one of those posts where I am super unhappy with the photos. I have been trying to experiment with different product layouts, but I took a whackload of photos last year because I was trying to be productive and have the photos "just in case". Now, I have decided to focus on my flatlay game which has always been a challenge for me so thank you to those of you who have left encouraging comments on my IG photos! This also means that I mentally cannot "curate" more than three or four flatlays because I just find it so exhausting even though I have all of the "common" pieces that flatlays should have.

Mini rant aside, let's focus on more splurgeworthy products and add to this glorious CBB "Worth the Splurge" linky of products that has been MOST entertaining for my wallet. It has been a hot minute since I have chatted about Tata Harper here on Cosmetic Proof, but many of you know that I am a huge fan. I rebuy her products all the time despite the price tag because they really are effective and have worked for both myself and my husband, who grudgingly hates the face that the Tata Harper Repairative Moisturizer seems to keep his skin from breaking out. Obviously Tata is fantastic at skincare, but she also has some great body products so when she released her Smoothing Body Scrub (150mL/$95.00 CDN), the exfoliation fiend in me had to have it!

Affiliate links

GIVEAWAY | Live Clean Fall Beauty (It's Alll the Good Stuff!)

This month has been so busy that I COMPLETELY forgot about my 6 year blog anniversary on October 1st! When I started blogging, it was seen as almost an embarrassing hobby, but now people seem genuinely interested and excited when I tell them all about this "successful hobby" as a friend so adequately put it. I know some get discouraged and jaded with blogging and the politics of PR and bloggers and believe me, I have some very strong opinions, but this will always be my Fortress of Solitude. While I am never extremely personal in my entries, I try to share a piece of normal life with you with every post and I often go back into my archives to see what was going in my life at certain points and reminisce. I like seeing what I enjoyed blogging about leading up to my wedding, when I was having a rough time at work or when I was just about to finish school.

How fitting that in addition to Cosmetic Proof turning 6 that Live Clean has decided to help me and a fellow reader celebrate the arrival of Fall with a Beauty Renew and Repair giveaway! Live Clean has had such a strong presence here because I enjoy their products and their philosophy and with the weather getting drier, my skin has been more itchy than usual after a shower (I love my hot showers that's why) and has been sucking up all body oils and moisturizers so hydration has been my best friend.

BATH & BODY | Crystal Hills Organics - Crystal Infused Skincare!

Last month I had posted on my Instagram stories about a local new-to-me brand that I found interesting, but had a few questions about. Crystal Hills Organics is based in Kelowna, BC in the gorgeous Okanagan Valley (their Instagram will have you wishing you could work your 9-5 job there) with a goal of using the healing power of nature to soothe, cleanse and protect and enhance the body. Crystal Hills has their own organically certified farm for all the grapes, herbs and flowers used in their products and the soil is enriched so that only the freshest and highest quality ingredients are used. Not only was I happy to learn of this, but also that the founder, Andrea Barone, has a background in Biological Science and Occupational Health and Safety. There are so many indie green brands popping up that I tend to gravitate towards the ones that have some scientific process or at the very least surround themselves with people who do. 

BEAUTY | The Live Clean Summer Beauty Care Giveaway!

I am not quite done with summer yet and even though Fall is slowly making its way into my wardrobe and makeup, I find myself still reaching for sunscreen, products to enhance my tan and my ever-rotating collection of TKEES sandals. Even though my last hair review for Live Clean didn't quite work out, these summer beauty products have been pretty awesome.