Valentine’s Day is coming up, so this is an apropos video for buying a scent that’s nice but hopefully won’t offend. Share this with whoever’s getting you a present, or save it to come back to!
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CKuhPgtB5hK/?igshid=85x2r7fm4oyk
Perfumes mentioned:
@GucciBeauty Memoire d’une Odeur
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Eau Intense
@Prada Infusion de Vetiver
@OfficialByredo Blanche
@MaisonMargielaFragrances Music Festival
Here’s some new makeup that I’ve been using. The only thing that I didn’t like was the Charlotte Tilbury compact because the powders are so tightly packed, but it was limited-edition anyway. I’ve never had any issue with Dior or other high-end brands, so it’s kind of disappointing that a brand that bills itself as being so luxe is not really all that it’s cut out to be.
If you have eczema, you know how difficult it can be to treat. Even when it goes away, it can come back at any time which is the worst! We’ve got eczema in our family too, and so there’s a constant rotation of what we are using. This spring, we added the Aveeno Restorative collection to our skincare routine, and I was obsessed with the balm.
The whole collection has colloidal oatmeal in it which has been proven to soothe dry and itchy skin. The Itch Relief balm also has 0.5% Pramoxine HCl which is supposed to numb the skin just a tad so that it’s not so itchy.
I found that it made a difference on my skin but really bad spots were still itchy. The balm is nice and thick, super rich, but absorbs into your skin easily. I loved using it and it was done in a month because I went through it so quickly.
I do like the entire collection – even the lotion in the pump bottle has made a huge difference on my dry hands and is so easy to use.
You can get the entire collection online and in stores. I will say that the Itch Relief balm sells out so quickly so the best thing to do is to subscribe for Amazon notifications so that you can snag it when it’s in.
2 of my favourite eyeshadows along with my favorite eyeshadow primer. If you can’t get your eyeshadow to stay on, then try a primer for grip.
This NYX Eyeshadow primer really grips eyeshadow once it dries down but I’m sad to say that it also changed the eyeshadow shade a bit.
Nars eyeshadows in Etrusque and Stud.
Beauty moves so fast, and if you shop at Sephora a lot you might have noticed that fav Canadian lipstick brand Bite Beauty is rebranding as vegan and so earlier this year they got rid of all their products and have a whole bunch of new ones.
Amuse Bouche was a popular lipstick – I feel like I saw it around a lot – and I kind of loved it because it tasted so good.
That being said, they’re not longer around but I dug out what I had, and here’s a picture. Does vegan beauty matter to you?
Flash back to this beautiful colour from MAC… I wish I still had it.
Bad Fairy is definitely my favourite from all the polishes that came out in the Venomous Villains collection. It’s an orangy red with pink and gold duo shimmer and is so pretty! Now that you’ve seen them all, which one is your favourite from the bunch?
L’Artisan Parfumer’s Coeur de Vetiver Sacre, and is done by Carine Vinchon who also did their L’Eau de Jatamansi, which was a nice fresh salty blend that I loved but it just didn’t last on my skin.
Coeur de Vetiver Sacre (which means “The Sacred Heart of Vetiver”) is quite different from that scent, and takes the idea of the smell of Vetiver as it’s heart and base, and builds the scent around it. Thus, the warm woodiness of the vetiver grass is preserved and at the same time heightened by the other notes added to the scent.
The opening of the scent is cool and quite green, and then middles notes of bergamot and black tea come through. You can see how the vetiver is being enhanced. The bergamot provides a sparkling freshness while the black tea has a smoky woodiness to it. There is a pepper and ginger note, and then a drydown of musk, incense, and vanilla – both cool instead of being overly warm. The scent is bright and fresh yet so woody at the same time.
This is a perfect fall scent. It has a crispness to it, which autumn does because of the approaching cool weather. It also has a woody smoky aspect that reminds you of logs burning in the fire, and then a spicy vanilla aspect that reminds one of some kind of baking.
All L’Artisan perfumes are unisex, but of course, you would notice that some lean more feminine than masculine, and vice versa. Coeur de Vetiver Sacre seems to be a bit more masculine, perhaps because vetiver scents usually are, and the bergamot opening definitely doesn’t help. However, I’ve always been a fan of their more masculine scents, and I loved this one so much that I don’t want to give it to any of my male friends. Part of the reason is probably that they won’t appreciate it as much as I do, and if I give it to them, then I wouldn’t get to smell this as much, and lately, I have been spritzing it on everything. This is an EDT, but wears like an Eau de Parfum – the scent is strong and has fantastic lasting power.
My favourite cleansers can do more than one thing at once, and help me multitask.
That’s why I like the Biosource Cleansing Softening Mousse for dry skin by Biotherm. This cleanser has a kaolin base, so that it gently absorbs oil. The cleanser still foams so it’s adept at removing traces of makeup, but you’re left with matte skin without using a harsh soap on your face. It’s especially great for using in the morning so that your face doesn’t get as oily during the day thanks to the kaolin that was in the cleanser.
Available for $27 online, a tiny bit goes a long way and if you really want to reap the benefits of the kaolin, leave the cleanser on your skin for a little bit before you start rubbing it away.
Throughout the year, I am notorious for staying up past my bed time because I’d rather be having fun. This is worst in the summer because there are way more daylight hours, and as long as the sun is shining I don’t seem to get sleepy at all.
Of course, I still wake up each morning at the ungodly hour of 5:45 which means that there are often nights that I wake up with puffy eyes. I used to just ignore them and go about my day, but not anymore.
Now I am equipped with Clinique’s All About Eyes Serum eye roller.
It has the All About Eyes formula but in a light-weight serum that’s cooling when applied with its metallic roller. I’ve read reviews about this that say that it doesn’t work as well as its supposed to, but I’m going to tell you how to get it to work.
When I get up with puffy eyes, I take this, sit on my bed, and start rolling away under my eyes. The cool ball feels refreshing and I just use it to lightly massage the serum into my skin. I do this for about 5 minutes and then go about getting ready for my day. The serum absorbs really easily and you are left with moisturized under eyes.
You really need to take your time with this in order for it to work, and a quick swipe under the eyes just won’t do it. And to be honest, that’s not the point of this product. The whole reason that it has a roller ball on it is so that you can massage with it and so that it can provide a cooling effect to your skin. Without it, you just have a regular serum, don’t you?
Because this is so light-weight you can apply makeup on top of it and it won’t interfere.
I found my Mickey Contractor x MAC Cosmetics palette and so I took better pictures and thought I would post here. 
I’m still not that happy with the pictures – the lightest shade is actually more of a pink/beige with silver shimmer, the medium shade is a taupe with gold shimmer, and the dark brown and black are pretty well represented.
Just a reminder that this collection came out in 2011! So I’ve had this for 9 years and loved it. I used this palette again but I found that it wasn’t giving enough oomph to my look so I’ve put it away again.
This collection also had correctors, and here’s some info on Mickey Contractor’s career.
