NAILS | In Honour of Indigenous People #CBBxManiMonday

This week's #CBBxManiMonday is a bit delayed on account of the extreme heatwave the Pacific Northwest is having and is an emotionally heavy set of nails. As this is our last week of "Allyship" themed nails, I wanted to pay my respects to the children lost in Canada's residential school system. With the recent discovery last week announced by the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan of 751 unmarked graves at the former Marieval Indian Residential School, this year's Canada Day should be one of listening and acknowledgement of Canada's far from perfect past AND its continuous mistreatment of Indigenous people. Canada Day also happens to be my birthday so I will still be celebrating that, but there will be no Canada Day nails or anything like that happening in this space. This year is especially heavy and we should all feel ok with that.

 

Some polishes provided by PR

SHEET MASK | Banobagi Vita Cocktail Foil Brightening Mask

Vancouver is in the middle of a heatwave and I have honestly never encountered temperatures like these in my life here. I mean, we are hitting 40 degrees now and because these temperatures aren't the norm, very few homes have air-conditioning so all I can say is that it has been very uncomfortable the last few days and will continue to be for today and tomorrow. Our place, while normally quite cool as we are shaded by a large tree and face away from the sun, has felt like my own personal oven with no air movement. I feel most badly for our kitties who have been "pancaking it" all over the apartment. We've been changing their water a lot and trying to keep things cool for them. Today's mask is not one I would recommend for hot days like these because the Banobagi Foil Mask will heat up the skin as the foil acts like a little incubator that keeps in moisture in addition to heat.

Purchased by me through my FaceTory subscription

SKINCARE | 5 Chemical Sunscreens

Just when I think I have found THE sunscreens that I plan on using for life, summer brings out a whole new slew of sexy looking sunscreens that I cannot wait to slather all over my face! There were so many new ones I was using this year that I decided to break this round up into two posts - chemical and physical sunscreens. I use chemical sunscreens more often because of the nicer texture and I figured that many of you did as well for the same reasons hence starting the Summer season off with these five chemical lovelies!

Some PR samples marked with *

NAILS | Rainbow Blobs #CBBxManiMonday

For whatever reason, I had my nails done early Sunday night, but just felt like I didn't have anything I wanted to say about them other than "I blobbed". It was a hot night and I was pretty much ready to go to bed after these bad boys dried because they took FOREVER to do so! Well, we are now officially in summer and 2021 definitely looks more promising than 2020 in terms of travel and seeing people. I think I am one of those people who is incredibly anxious about socializing again as I have loved embracing my true introvertedness. Social outings while fun once I'm at them, are often sources of great mental stress for me which is why I often hate going to multiple events in one day or even just having multiple "relaxing" appointments in one day. You will never catch me doing a pedicure AND massage in one day and those are supposed to be chill activities! I always split things up and even when I think about press events, the past year has taught me that I can live without them. I understand their importance, but I have loved languishing in me time this last year and going at my own pace when it comes to blogging and my personal life. 

PR samples

SHEET MASK | Steambase Manuka Honey Propolis Perfect Shield Mask

Just when I think I have caught up with the world of sheet masks, I realize that in the world of Kbeauty, I will NEVER catch up. I don't know how people manage to keep up with the sheet masks that are out there because I have been trying to make room in my office for two years now! I went a bit crazy buying every brand and mask under the sun and I am seeing the error of my ways in terms of lack of moderation. The pandemic changed a lot of things for me and even though I still buy the occasional sheet mask(s), I am nowhere near the level of acquisition I was at before and I am grateful. I did allow myself a large YesStyle purchase back in November of last year as I had my eye on a few Kbeauty products including a new-to-me brand called Steambase. I was immediately attracted to their hexagon logo and minimalistic packaging. Their brand promotes skin balance and health using thermal spring water and botanical ingredients.  

Purchased by me

HAIR | 5 Heat Protectants I Use Everytime I Style My Hair

I never thought about how much I use heat protectant until I looked around and saw just how many bottles of the stuff I had and just how empty most of them alllmost were (I'm terrible at sticking to one)! If you have coloured hair, you will understand just how important using a heat protectant can be as it keeps colour in your hair for longer, but in general protects hair from damage from heat styling tools and UV light. A lot of protectants also hydrate, add shine and help to improve hair texture so even if you don't have coloured hair, this isn't a bad product to add to your haircare routine! 

Kerastase and Rene Furterer products are PR. Rest purchased by me.