MAKEUP | Clarins Spring 2018 Collection with Swatches and Look

I know we are already getting whiffs of the Clarins Summer collection, but I thought the Spring collection was so pretty that I needed to share before we start moving into the bronzed goddess looks of the summer. What I have loved about this year's Spring collections is the dose of pink we are getting! I have chatted about the launch of Clarins SOS Primers which also launched in Spring and I am grateful that they are not going anywhere just yet, but for now let's talk about the other stuff!

PR samples, Affiliate links

MAKEUP | Dior Glow Addict Spring 2018 5 Couleurs Edition

I just went on the Dior website to get some information on these Glow Addict Spring 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palettes figuring that by clicking "NEW" I would get these. Well, of course not! Why? Because it's time for summer! The summer collection is already up and I'm just starting to talk about Spring. 2018 is starting to kick my ass and this coming week is one that I am just dreading, but let's look at pretty things and forget about what's coming shall we? 

PR samples

BEAUTY BOX | Avon A Box "The Power of Pink"

It's not just during Valentine's that I like pink. I am generally quite feminine and have to control myself when it comes to how much pink is actually in my life because we all know how it looks when your bedroom, clothes and accessories look like they've been lifted from the set of "Legally Blonde'. I have secretly always wanted a fluffy pink pom pom pen especially back when I used to be in the Organic Chem lab. Would YOU trust the girl writing down her crystal yields with a fluffy pen? THAT'S what I thought.

So, Avon has been killin' it with these A Boxes and though I haven't had a chance to show you all of them yet, I think they are such a lovely way to get introduced to Avon and what their products are all about because ladies and gents, there are some serious winners in these A Boxes! 

NAILS | Creating Negative Space with the New Joe Fresh Gel Look Polishes!

So many awesome polishes and so little time! I remember picking up my first Joe Fresh polish from The Real Canadian Superstore 5 years ago because they had one of the coolest flaky polishes around. Now, Joe Fresh has a new gel look formula that has got some crazy intense shine going on! I was inspired by this pin to try out another negative space mani using a few polishes from the new Spring collection and I cannot wait to try more colours now because damn, this formulation is NICE! 

NAILS | Going Girly with LACC Nail Lacquer

I love how I have posted one product in honor of Earth Day on April 1st and now it's halfway through the month and I am only featuring the second brand. I feel like I am letting down Mother Earth. I feel like this shorter week has left me scrambling with trying to get things done as I am working my day job the long weekend, but no one else is so much of what I need to get done is going to have to wait  until next week.

Anyway, I digress so let's get back to prettier things "at hand" with this simple, but fun manicure featuring one of the BEST healthy polishes I have come across - La Couleur Couture aka LACC Nail Lacquer! Based in Vancouver with the polishes made in New York, this brand is vegan and 10-free meaning there is absolutely no formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate, camphor, formaldehyde resin, xylene, parabens, phthalates, fragrance or animal by-products! Owner and founder, Farima Hakkak, is so passionate about her brand and polishes and also one of the most down to earth and NICEST people I have ever met so I wear her polishes with pride!   

NAILS | A Little Late with My LAST Pink #ManiMonday!

So I'm a little late in posting my nails for Monday on the blog, BUT they did make it to Instagram so that still counts, right? I will keep this short and sweet, but although this mani didn't turn out quite like I wanted, the colours were still super cute and fun and I wanted to share! This is actually a taping manicure, but the top coat I used was a bit too liquidy so it made the lines bleed around my studs totally destroying that crispness I had worked so hard to achieve. Note for next time: use a thicker gel-like top coat!

NAILS | OPI On Pinks and Needles #ManiMonday

I have been having a fantastic time digging through my nearly 2000 bottles of polish to find the best of the pinks and reds for the CBB Valentine's theme this month! This has also made me realize that I need to do a SERIOUS clean out of my polishes. I have a problem with breaking apart collections because I just love how cohesive they look as a group. It's like seeing just four out of five Spice Girls. Geri - I will always miss you!

Today's manicure is short and sweet because I have one more planned for Valentine's Day! I have had to slow down on the nail posts mainly because it has been so dry here in Vancouver that my nails have been breaking. They are short (for me) and because I like a larger canvas/surface area for nail art, I have been slowly growing them out over the last week and a half.

NAILS | Just a Couple 'O Hearts for Valentine's Day #ManiMonday

Hearts. As cheesy and commercial as Valentine's Day is, I cannot get enough of the hearts and the fact that everything is pink and red! I love pink so much that I have to stay consciously aware of HOW MUCH I actually have in my life so that it doesn't start to look incredibly tacky. At least with nail polish, it can be a total pink party and it's A-OK!

In continuing with my love for Duri nail polish, today's heart manicure features polishes from the three collections that jumped out at me the most: From Russia with Love, Revel in Luxury and Sweet Affair. This manicure is similar to a cloud manicure in its execution only with fewer "poofs" or bumps.

NAILS | Pretty & Polished "I Do!" Swatch

This month the CBB is all about pink, red and white for Valentine's Day so for the entire month of February I am ONLY going to wear those three colours on my nails. Totally doable, right? It will finally give me the opportunity to get through the numerous shades of untried pinks I have accumulated over the years! Can I have an aaaaa-men?!

Today's swatch is from one of the very first indie polish brands I started using and even had a custom thermal polish made for my wedding along with mini bottles of polish for all of my female guests! Needless to say, Pretty & Polished was a big part of my wedding day and "I Do!" was one of the polishes I gave to my guests! This is a white-based cream polish filled with fine matte pink and medium sized shiny hex glitter. I did my best to get the glitter hearts, but even with glitter fishing they remained highly elusive. All of these photos are three thin coats with top coat.

NAILS | Hot Pink Smoke "Needle Marbling"

Gel polish has this feeling of being "complicated". Before the advent of at-home nail kits, you had no choice but to go to a salon for BOTH application and removal, but in the last couple of years, gel manicures have become more and more accessible with companies making it straightforward and easy to mimic salon quality. I used to get my gel polish applied at a salon too and when I realized that all you need to know how to do is APPLY POLISH, I started saving myself the $50 every month and used it towards buying my own polish!

One thing that I have had to research is how to do nail art with gel polish as the consistency is much thicker and never dries. Gel polish wants to goop and be applied thickly, but it actually needs to be applied in "thin" coats and cured with a UV or LED light in between. I definitely cannot do any fine detailing with gel polish like I can with regular polish, but one nail art technique that is PERFECTLY suited for gel polish is needle marbling or creating that "smokey" nail! 

NAILS | Pink, Grey and Studded with Duri Cosmetics #ManiMonday

I am beyond excited to be sharing my very first Duri polishes here! When I first started doing my nails, I never planned on blogging or sharing my hobby with anyone other than my husband and cats. I used to read mainly nail polish blogs and would come across all sorts of exotic sounding brands that I could never seem to find locally or at a reasonable price online. I remember seeing one nail blogger using Duri polishes along with their most well-known product, Rejuvacote, a nail treatment that preserves the life of your mani in addition to stimulating nail growth and fortifying nail strength. After seeing swatch after swatch of these gorgeous polishes, I knew that one day, they would be mine! 

NAILS | Dandelion Nail Art for Ane Li #SharingTheLoveForAneLi

Today's Mani Monday is a bit of heavy one as all around the world, people inspired by nail artist Ane Li pay tribute to her life and incredible contribution to the nail art community. You may not have known the girl behind the manicures, but her work has been absolutely everywhere with my favourite design being her dandelion nails. 

MAKEUP LOOK | Looking Sweet with Spring Pinks from Paul & Joe and Lancome

For the month of March I was fortunate enough to be selected for a Shoppers Drug Mart Instagram campaign focusing on complexion. I wanted to create a pink-themed makeup look that I felt comfortable wearing on a daily basis so I picked up a few products that would help me achieve a soft, glowy and girly Spring look. I also just happened to get my hair redone at Aveda so it was the perfect opportunity to make use of the salon-worthy hair that I will never be able to replicate on my own!

MAKEUP LOOK | Channeling the 80s with the MAC Flamingo Park Collection Review & Swatches

I am a genuine child of the 80s being born in 1983. Yes, it's true I am over 30 and only discovered the joy of makeup and nail polish in my late 20s. Though I don't feel the urge to relieve my fashion choices of the 80s, there is something nostalgic about brightly obnoxious pinks that takes me back to the time of side ponytails, hairspray and bright makeup. The MAC Cosmetics Flamingo Park Collection is all about satisfying your sweet tooth with punchy shades of pink. I have a few of my favourites from the collection that deserved an homage to the 80s.

MAKEUP LOOK | Fall Freshness with Guerlain KissKiss RoseLip and Rose Aux Joues Tendre Blush Review & Swatches

I absolutely love the inspiration behind this season's Guerlain Bloom of Rose Collection as it revolves around a 19th century discovery of a liquid tint that was gently dabbed onto the lips and cheeks. In 1918, Guerlain launched Roselip, which was the first solid lip colour to be sold in a jar and now the story continues with a collection that embodies natural shades to maintain a beautiful healthy glow - just like a rose. To pull away from all of the smoky Fall eyes I've been doing, I decided to channel the fresh faced makeup looks from Korea using the new KissKiss RoseLip Hydrating & Plumping Tinted Lip Balm* ($41.00 CDN) and Rose Aux Joues Tender Blush* ($57.00 CDN).

Swatch It Up | Trelly’s M.I.S.C. Polish–Beach Bunny

I know it’s totally not the right season for such a bright and fun colour, but in the world of nail polish, I honestly think that any colour works with any season. Wearing dark fall colours all the time sort of bums me out. I’ve also decided that in an effort to get through my nail polish stash and wear and share with you guys EVERY SINGLE POLISH I own that I am going to focus on at least ONE company each month and just wear polish from them! I have decided to kick off my endeavour with, you guessed it, Trelly’s M.I.S.C Polish! For today’s swatch, I am wearing three coats of Beach Bunny, a bright pink creme with bright blue and pink glitter of all different shapes and sizes. This polish is so awesome! The contrast between the blue and the pink is amazing! Application was very easy and the glitter was just dying to escape from the bottle onto my brush!

Bright nail colours for Fall? Yay or nay?

Rethink Breast Cancer #BattlePink with Swarovski Bling!

Now this is the kind of fight I want to be a part of! October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and this year marks Rethink Breast Cancer’s 2nd edition of #BattlePink, a creative campaign where Canadian influencers battle online in an effort to raise money and awareness for breast cancer this month. There are a number of retailers involved in Rethink which means that for this month, you can go shopping knowing that you’re getting a quality product and supporting a fantastic cause! Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have seen my most recent jewellery purchase from Swarovski!

One of the limited edition PINK items on sale this month is this “Crystal Moonlight” gorgeous slake bracelet ($80 CDN)! You can twist/thread this bracelet if you have a small wrist and has two crystal snap buttons at the back to further adjust the size.

The next item on my list is the Swarovski Pink Hope Pen ($38 CDN) whose body is filled with 160 Swarovski pink crystals! I would never let this pen out of my sight!

 

There are many other great retailers participating in Rethink Breast Cancer so have fun shopping PINK this month!