1 Million by Paco Rabanne

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Henna

Paco Rabanne, the fashion designer, is launching a new scent for men this September called 1 Million.  After reading through the press notes, I have no idea where the idea to call it 1 Million came from or even what the 1 Million is.

The fragrance itself, however, comes in luxurious gold bottles and has sweet citrus top notes followed by rose, cinnamon, and spice notes. The drydown is leather, amber, and patchouli.

If you read all that and thought: wait, that sounds rather feminine, you would be right.  The smells so good that I want to wear it myself, but it is a masculine scent if a soft one at that.

The 100 ml Eau de Toilette is $112.  Available at The Bay.

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MAC Prep + Prime Natural Radiance Primer Review

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Henna

I’ve been using my time at home to go through all the makeup that I’ve gotten over years and years, and the one thing that I pulled out was the MAC Cosmetics Prep + Prime Natural Radiance Primer. I have this primer in the pink but it came in yellow too. I remember that MAC came out with these primers when colour correction was having a moment. The yellow primer was great for brightening medium-dark skin tones, and the pink primer was more for light skin tones.

Colour correction is a great way to reduce the amount of foundation or concealer that you’re putting on your skin. Instead of covering up whatever redness or sallowness you have, first you correct it, and then you put cover-up just to even everything out.

Now, even though I’m a medium skin tone all the way across the board, I’m using the pink primer and because it’s so subtle, it’s not making that much of a difference for me.

I’m liking using this primer but what struck me first when I used it is that it’s not silicone-based at all. That means that I can use it everyday without making me break out. I love that.

I checked the ingredient list and saw that the top ingredients in this are water mixed with glycerine and other moisturizers. As such, it’s a great primer for people who have dry skin an especially great for anyone that has flaky skin on their face (and I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes do). It moisturizes but also locks in the moisture and keeps those flaky bits down so that you can put foundation on top. You might want to save it for special occasions, but I actually think that it’s great for everyday and you have dry skin that you want to keep under control when you’re wearing foundation.

You can find this at MACCosmetics.ca or wherever you get your MAC products.

$49.

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Catrice Cosmetics HD Liquid Coverage Foundation Review

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Henna

Let’s start by saying that Catrice Cosmetics says that you can wear this foundation for up to 24 hours, and I definitely did not try it on my face for that long. There is no way you could get me to wear foundation for that long, even if I was awake for 24 hours, I would have to wash my face at some point, because I love my night-time routine.

I will say, that the first time I swatched this foundation on my hand, I actually had trouble washing it off. Water didn’t work, soap didn’t work, I actually had to reach for my oil-based cleanser, use it on dry skin and wipe the foundation off with a wet cloth. So it is long-wearing and will last a really long time on your face.

I did notice that this foundation lasted the whole day on me – that includes lasting through a workout where I got really sweaty. So the lasting power is there.

The Catrice Cosmetics HD Liquid Coverage Foundation comes in lots of colours – but the ones that I got, Camel Beige and Latte Machhiato Beige (046 and 060) were too pink in their dry down for me. They looked nice and warm-toned when they were wet, but they didn’t dry the colour that they initially looked.

You can find this foundation at Shoppers Drug Mart for $13.99.

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Conair Unbound Straightener and Curling Iron

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Henna

Check it out: it’s my Conair Unbound Hair Straightener and Curling Iron in 1!  Honestly, I normally curl my hair with my hair straightener so I was super excited to get this and it did not disappoint.  The outside of the Unbound are round, and the inside is flat.  You can set this to “curl” or to “straighten” and that will activate either the outside or inside of the iron.

The best feature of this is that it’s completely CORDLESS!  You just need to plug it in to charge it and other than that, you don’t need to plug it in to use it.  You charge it for 3 hours when you first get it (using a USB charger) and then you can use it for about 3 months.  It stays hot for about 15 minutes at a time, which is more than enough time for me to use it on my hair and make some loose curls.

The cordless feature and the USB charging makes it perfect to keep at your desk or throw into your bag for travel and that’s what I’m going to be using it for.

There are also 4 heat settings with this styler and I’m using the lowest one which is 280 degrees Fahrenheit but the hottest is 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

I liked the titanium plates of the Unbound but they’re not the floating kind like my regular straightener and so I kind of feel like this grabs on to your hair harder than usual. That being said, the pros outweigh the cons, and I was still able to get nice curls using this.

Get it on Amazon, and it’s on sale right now for about $80.

 

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Fenty Pro Kiss’r Luscious Lip Balm Review

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Henna

I know that Fenty has a whole bunch of new products out right now, but I just wanted to take a minute to tell you guys that their Pro Kiss’r Luscious Lip Balm, which I have in Hint Hint, is amazing.  It’s actually so moisturizing and comfy to use, and I might just like it better than Gloss Bomb which I also found so moisturizing.

$24 at Sephora.  Comes in 4 colours but I just used the clear.

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Vichy Mineral 89 Sheet Mask

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Henna

The Vichy Mineral Booster 89 is known for the Hyaluronic acid boost that it gives to your skin, and now there’s the Mineral 89 sheet mask. This mask hydrate skin in 10 minutes and leaves it hydrated for the next 24 hours.

You can see that the package for the mask is quite bag. That’s because one side contains the serum and the other side contains a dry tissue mask that you soak when you’re going to use it. At first I thought that this would be a little bit messy and extra work, however you actually mix the mask and the serum together inside the bag, popping the seal in between the two sides and squeezing the serum from one side to the next.

This tissue mask was cooling, soothing, and hydrating. Loved it.

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New Trend: Hair Perfumes

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Henna

Guys, hair perfumes are the hottest new trend and it’s just crazy to me. Are regular perfume sales down?  Are people not spending enough money on hair products that brands are trying to give them something new to spend money on?  I’ve got a Dior perfume lying around somewhere, and I do love my scented hair products so I guess, like most things, you can sign me up for this too.

I also have the Bumble Bumble Invisible Oil Hair Fragrance but I don’t get that much use out of it because I already smell so strongly of Bumble and Bumble products.

I was at the salon last night (I go to Jerome salon) and they’ve got the new Balmain Hair Silk perfume which my stylist did use on me.  It smells amazing of course, light and fresh, a bit citrusy, but overall, clean. It’s over $100 and I would think that something niche like that would have more personality or be more distinctive, but they chose to go with wearable and accessible which is cool.

The other interesting new product is the Ouai x Byredo Super Dry Shampoo in the scent Mojave Ghost.  I haven’t smelled Mojave Ghost by Byredo but Ouai products always smell good so I thought this was an interesting partnership between 2 interesting founder-driven brands. This is way more affordable at $32 which is what I want to pay for something that goes on my hair.

Indie brand Raincry also has new hair scents, and there are 4 to choose from.  $53 and available at Nordstrom or online.

What do you guys think?  Will you be purchasing?

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July 2020 Favourites and Empties

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Henna

I know this is coming a little late but I had to share my July favourites and empties with you.

http://www.instagram.com/tv/CDzCq90pR-1/

Here are are my 5 favourite products for July! Do you guys want to see more? It’s hard to do such a tight edit but maybe I’ll go up to 7 or 8 for August.

1. Neutrogena Hydroboost Sunscreen in SPF 50. ($15)

2. Vichy Sport sunscreen. ($29.95)

3. Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Colour in Babe.

4. Olaplex No. 6 Bond Smoother Leave-In Conditioner (I got it from my salon, http://www.jeromesalon.com/, but you can get it wherever you normally find Olaplex.)

5. Lise Watier Eye Opening Vegan Mascara.

Empties:

Niod CAIL ($90)
Skin Actives Hair Serum ()

 

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Annabelle Free Spirit Eyeliner Review

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Henna

You guys know that I love my liquid eyeliner, and do a cat eye most days, and definitely on special occasions. For me, it’s an easy way to oomph up your eye look without a lot of work. Lazy yes, but it works.

For the past few weeks I’ve been trying out the new Annabelle Free Spirit Eyeliner – this eyeliner is long-wearing and proposes to have a glossy finish. I found the pen and its tip easy to use because it had so much pigment in it that it went on smoothly without any tugging.

I will say that the pigment in the liner is very wet, so for my eye shape, I had to wait until it dried before I could fully open my eyes. It’s not really a problem, but just something to be aware of when you use this pen. Once it dries, it stays put and I loved how it looked on my eye.

I was surprised when I looked up the price of this liner. It is just $9.95 at Shoppers Drug Mart, which is cheaper than a lot of high-end liners that I’ve tried.  It also comes in lots of different colours – yellow, blue, teal, grey, brown, and green in addition to the black that I tried.  You can find them all online.

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Sunscreen Holy Grail: Vichy Ideal Soleil Anti-Shine Dry Touch Lotion

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Henna

Matte sunscreen exists, and I carried this @VichyCanada sunscreen in my purse because it was my favourite…

The key to using sunscreen everyday is to find something one that you really like so that you don’t mind using it every morning.  

It’s important to find something that’s not greasy so that it doesn’t make your skin too shiny, and you also need something that rubs in quickly so that you don’t perceive it as a time-waster.  I also need something that doesn’t look white on my skin, because that’s not a good look, and if I can find something that’s oil-free, then we’re golden.

Guess what?

Vichy’s Ideal Soleil Anti-Shine Dry Touch Lotion gives me all those things.  It’s a thick cream that melts into your skin and blends in quickly with a clean finish. The sunscreen is oil-free but formulated with silicone so that it has a dry, powdery finish, and appears to be matte while absorbing oil throughout the day. There’s no white stuff here, and then you can follow up with your makeup.  The best part is that because it’s clear, you can apply it all over and not worry about it getting on your clothes. 

This sunscreen is also long-wearing and sweat resistant, and water resistant for up to 80 minutes, but of course all of that will vary depending on how oily your skin is, what you put on top of it, and exactly how much physical activity you’re doing outside.  It also has Mexoryl in it which helps the sunscreen stay photostable meaning that it won’t break down as easily in the sun.  All good qualities, especially if you’re going to be using it in the summer.

Available online or in drugstores for $28.95.

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