Beautiful packaging…and really loved this scent.
Notes are lime with creamy coconut as the base. Lasting power wasn’t great, but I will say that this wears close to the skin, so if you think you can’t smell it, get closer.
$185 at Sephora.
*This was received free as part of a promotion with the expectation to post on Instagram. Views are my own.
Nothing like a little mini! I got this free sample of the Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Primer with a purchase, and I would have saved it for a trip, but I’m not going anywhere anytime soon so I thought I would just use it up.
This primer is meant to be the first step in your haircare routine when you style it. It moisturizes and protects hair from heat and UV damage. It is perfect for all kinds of hair, but especially dry and damaged hair.
This little mini isn’t sold separately but you can get the full size for $32 and a travel size for $14.
If you order from Bumbleandbumble.ca they always include samples with their orders.
I have a thing for foaming cleansers because they give a squeaky clean. The only thing is that I have to find something that doesn’t dry my skin out but still cleans it well.
For this, I’m loving Chantecaille’s Rice and Geranium Foaming Cleanser.
I’m not sure what exactly the rice and geranium are doing for my skin, but there are little granules in this cleanser that dissolve once you start rubbing it into your skin. You get a little bit of scrubbing but not too much which makes this great to use on a daily basis.
I also like the heavy lather that this gives. It means that my makeup comes off really easily and that also makes for cleaner skin.
Like all Chantecaille products, this smells lovely, like a floral spa product, but the scent is not a lingering or cloying one.
$64 online.
A throwback today from Rihanna. I think this look would work today too! Love the blue eyeliner and a deep navy is my favourite. What do you think? Would you wear more colour now that our faces will be covered with masks?
I find Rihanna to be such an inspiration when it comes to hair and makeup. Not that I would ever be able to pull off some of the looks that she does, but what she does is usually a great starting point for me on a night out.
Take here, the blue eyeliner that she is sporting under her eyes instead of on top. I love that. Eyeliner on top is cool, and yes, it looks good because it’s a subtle pop of colour, but why not be a little more adventurous and put some colour underneath?
This would work with almost every colour of eyeshadow, but I wouldn’t go with one that’s too dark because it will only emphasize under-eye circles if you have any, or it will make it look as if there are circles under your eyes.
I’m definitely going to be trying this out in the summer. What do you think, is it something that you would do?
Do Lip Plumpers really work?
Yes and no.
Yes they plump up the lips by irritating them with a highly minty or cinnamon-like feel. The irritation causes blood to rush to the lips and so they get plumper. Some products also add moisture to the lips so that they look more plump. You’ll notice that almost all lip plumpers add a lot of shine to the lip. Shiny lips appear to be more plump than matte lips. It’s somewhat of an optical illusion.
No, the effect is not long-term or long-lasting. As soon as the irritation is gone or your lips are used to the product, then the plumpness is gone too.
I think that it’s so cool that Shoppers Drug Mart is now carrying the Honest Beauty line of skincare products, since there are some things that I have been wanting to try.
This Honest Beauty Hydrogel Cream has been great for my combination skin because it’s not too rich. The formulation is top-notch. There’s a mix of glycerine, squalane oil, and Hyaluronic acid which all blend together to give you a hit of moisture retaining ingredients, and something that will seal them all in (the squalane oil).
This Honest Beauty Hydrogel Cream has definitely been one of the more nice, elegant moisturizers I’ve tried this summer. It feels more like a traditional cream than a moisturizer, and just leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth.
Find it at Shoppers Drug Mart. $29.99.
I’ve been wearing more lipstick just because I’ve been in the house more and I like to look like I’m going somewhere even when I’m not. My lipstick doesn’t always stay put and if it’s creamy then it bleeds and feathers.
My solution comes in the form of Aveda’s Nourish-Mint Lip Definer. This is a vanilla and mint wax stick that creates a thick layer over your lips so that your lipstick has something to stick to. Though the Lip Definer is waxy, lipstick seems to glide over it smoothly and then just stays on.
The pencil is a sheer nude pink that neutralizes all other colours on your lips so that the lipstick colour is true and bright.
The comments on the Aveda site complain that this doesn’t have much colour and that it’s too waxy, and that’s true. The problem is that this isn’t a normal lip pencil and functions completely differently. It’s not supposed to provide a base colour for lipstick, and it’s waxy so that it can create a smooth layer on your lips.
When I use this I find that my lipstick lasts longer than usual, and wears more evenly so that after a couple of hours, all I need is a touch up. The best part is that my lips are moisturized the whole night even if my lipstick is super matte.
Pick this up at Aveda for about $30.
Samples have gone the way of hugs in pandemic times – take a walk through Sephora and you’ll see that there are no testers and no samples. Maybe that will end, or they will have everything behind lock and key so that they can sterilize it for you before letting you try it, but I thought in light of the times, it was interesting to read this article written by my friend Melissa Shum when did PR for CoverFX. Have a read and let me know what you think in the comments.
Oh samples, where for art thou?
For as long as I can remember I was totally one of those beauty customers who took the idea of product samples for granted. Not literally like… I want a sample for every product I thought about buying but I did think sample availability should and would never be an issue especially for beauty brands.
My logic was… it’s a great way to promote a product and it encourages customers to try it before buying especially for big commitments like perfume. So naturally there should be samples galore right?
Since joining Cover FX I’ve come to a whole new realization about product samples.
Samples are a scarce and safely guarded resource here. Contrary to popular belief and as much as we’d love to, we do not have the luxury of endless supplies of samples for our products at the office or in inventory. It’s not because we do not forecast enough or that we don’t want to allocate budget towards that area. It is the reality that we are still a small brand in the sea of great and big brands in the beauty industry and consequently must work within the limitations of a small sampling budget.
Unless we’ve made proclamations for them in the beginning of the year during budget submissions they are non-existent. Every single sample produced is already accounted to something (e.g. in-store events, retail samples, press, bloggers etc.) and the samples put aside for a slush fund are usually quickly used up by unforeseen events. This makes it very challenging to participate in awesome opportunities that come up on the fly (e.g. gift bags for major events) or do any major promotional marketing (although I did manage to get my hands on a couple HUNDRED retail sized samples of our new product launching in the fall for a MAJOR promotion…)
Anyways to cope with the limited supply of samples, a few of us have a secret stash hidden under our desks.
We order them as they are made available and guard them with our lives. Literally! Even if a co-worker came asking for a sample we can all expect a friendly interrogation of “what is it for and how many will you need?” Although we have samples allocated to each department from the beginning of the year, our final quantities are almost always cut because of production issues.
With all this being said I am currently putting together my “wish list” for the total number of samples i’d like for next year… key word – like. *Crosses fingers* 😉
This is the best-smelling dry shampoo. Periodt. 
Drybar is the LA-based blowout bar, and they have a host of hair styling products available in their salons and at Sephora stores.
If you like smoky oriental scents, then you must stock up on their styling line because they have some of the best smelling hair products I’ve ever tried. For that reason, I’m stocking up on their Detox dry shampoo ($29) and dry conditioner ($29) – one is made for the roots of the hair, and the other is for the lengths of the hair. Both provide dry options to style hair without getting it wet!
The Detox dry shampoo is perfect for absorbing oil at the scalp and for adding some extra body to your hair. I love using it at night if I’ve had a busy (um, greasy?) day and I know that I’m not going to have time to wash my hair. I spray the dry shampoo through the roots, and let the powders absorb excess oil while I sleep so that I don’t wake up to lank hair. This dry shampoo is made of superfine powders so there’s no white residue and you can really build volume with it. Spray it from arm’s length away lifting hair up as you spray.
The Detox dry conditioner is one that I use in the morning. It smoothes my hair without adding extra weight or any oiliness. It’s still a dry finish but not as dry as a dry shampoo. I love it for adding some piecy texture to my hair but still being light and workable.
And, I’m finding myself skipping the perfume because both these products smell absolutely amazing!
Check out the entire line online or at Sephora stores.
If you want a 10% off discount code at Glossier, here it is.
When I heard that Glossier was coming out with a glycolic acid toner, I was ready for it. I mean, this is the one product that makes or breaks my skincare routine, it’s glycolic acid. It makes my skin so smooth and really gets rid of breakouts and scarring, which is basically what I need all the time.
So I splurged and bought this: it’s $29 on the Glossier website, which is more than what Neostrata costs at the drugstore and kind of not as convenient because I don’t need to wait until that comes to me. 
The packaging and look is amazing. I love the pretty pink plastic bottle, and it’s amazing that nobody has ever thought of putting toner in a nail remover bottle, because it prevents you from spilling the solution when you’re trying to get it on your cotton pad.
The solution itself is 10% mixture of glycolic, lactic, and gluconolactone. The blend means that it’s not 10% glycolic acid only, and that there’s actually less than 10% glycolic acid in here. They also say that there’s salicylic acid in there, but it’s a tiny amount: just .5%. That’s not going to make a real difference on your skin, so the other acids are doing the work when it comes to exfoliation.
Honestly, this might work but I found it too sticky to keep using on a regular basis, and I haven’t had that experience with any other glycolic acid toner. The sticky feeling was annoying and the finish is kind of – well, glossy – so I didn’t like using this in the morning. This would be fine under sunscreen or a moisturizer if you’re going to use it that way.
You can get Glossier products from their website.
I’ve also reviewed the Glossier Hand Cream here. I loved it.
