Here is what I loved in November. The vitamin C that I’m using right now and the toner that’s helping my skin. One thing about the vitamin C: I’m using it on my hands too and they are so much softer, so this is some magic stuff. Perfect for skin that’s more dry.
http://www.instagram.com/tv/B5l5MelhE4z/
What I mentioned:
Beautyblender.
Deciem Hylamide C25 Booster.
Biologique Recherche P50V
Lanolips
Sahajan Body Oil.
Wearing Tom Ford’s Costa Azzurra Acqua today and I don’t like it.
You know old-school men’s cologne from the 80’s? Sharp? Biting? That’s what this smells like.
The notes are: Juniper, Herbs, Green Notes, Oak, Warm Woods, but this doesn’t die down to any warmth. There is oak and woods at the end, but it’s just not a really original or interesting scent. It also stays way too astringent even on my skin which ends up being so warm.
There are so many amazing Tom Ford scents to choose from, but this is one I would avoid.
$165 for 30ml.
It’s my first time trying out the Bio-Sculpture Nail polish collection and I’m impressed. Check out the beautiful colours that are perfect for fall. Love them all.
The shades (from left to right) are:
Angelic Statue, Starlit Cobblestone, Antique Granite, Mauve Regalia, and Knight’s Armour. They are all super pigmented and you need two coats to get full coverage.
Here’s Starlit Cobblestone which is my favourite colour. Even though I put a top coat on it, this is a gritty nail polish and it retained its texture. The polish went on really goopy and I had to be careful while I was applying it, but I’m happy with the effect and I like that it offers something different. This looks really good on short nails!
Look for them at salons that offer Bio Sculpture Gel nails.
You asked for a hand cream that wasn’t thick and wasn’t greasy. I found one and I made sure that it actually works.
Try Biotherm Biomains Hand and Nail Treatment.
I’ll be honest – I have no idea how it helps your nails, but it sure does help your hands. This cream is soft and absorbs into your hands almost instantly. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not working. It really does help prevent your hands from getting too dry, and ensures that even your cuticles are perfectly moisturized. The cream’s scent is light and fresh, and not at all overwhelming.
You can find the cream wherever Biotherm products are sold.
$35.
These are no longer, but they were cool while they lasted. Moisture, colour, and a bit of pearl on the lips as part of MAC’s Strobe collection. I really want to get out the original Strobe cream and try it again and the winter might be the time for it because this is when my skin is the most dry. 
MAC has relaunched its Strobe cream, and the launch includes a set of Lip Conditioner Sticks with the same great “Strobe” pearl that the creams have.
If you’re unfamiliar with Strobe, it was/is a cream that has shimmer in it so that your skin looks like it’s glowing when you wear it. It’s a nice effect especially if you’re feeling that you have more dulness than you should.
Pictures? Of course.
Strobe Blossom
Strobe Current
Strobe Rays
Wow – I mean, I like small wands because they let me get every single lash, but this is something else. The wand for Clinique’s new Lash Power Mascara must be the slimmest on the market, and you know what? I really like it. I can really get the little lashes at the ends, and overall my look is pretty dramatic. This mascara works better for length than volume, but the length itself does provide a lot of drama.
The long-wear formula comes off easily with just water, but it stays on the whole day without any flaking at all. Apparently this is a hit mascara in Asia, and I can totally see why. If you find the bigger wands a little unwieldy then this is the better choice to make.
$26 at Clinique counters.
There are so many new foundations this season, but this one is definitely my favourite. It’s Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Longwear Foundation – I’m colour 7.5 warm or neutral. Mostly, I prefer warm, but the colours are so close together that the neutral shade works for me too. Here’s me wearing the shade 8 warm – there’s no filter or any retouching on this picture – and I think that even though the foundation is a touch too dark, it looks very natural.
This foundation has a thin texture and enough slip that it would work for any skin tone. After moisturizing, this doesn’t amplify any dry spots but it also lasts through oily skin. So it really does last the whole entire day.
My favourite thing about this foundation is that it is highly pigmented but it goes on looking like real skin, which is key for a medium to full coverage foundation. It makes skin look poreless, refined, and healthy! You can see your freckles through it if you want, or you can cover them all up. The best part is that if you want high coverage, you don’t need to use a lot. I dab it on with my fingers, and then smooth it in, but a Beauty Blender would work too. I don’t like using a foundation brush with this one because it’s too thin and I seem to use way more product. I like using my fingers because I can just smooth it in and get coverage where I need it – like on my chin and around my mouth.
There are lots of shades available – 44 to be exact – and they come in warm, cool, and neutral shades and I found that more than one shade worked with my skin – which is a good problem to have. I could match a natural colour to my neck, or use something lighter for my cheeks or to highlight. I think that maybe this is my favourite foundation ever because of how natural it looks and it even photographs amazingly well.
Pick it up at Sephora and other department stores.
$53.
Check it out – this is Sothy’s latest collection, called Detox Energie.
Created to help prevent premature aging, dehydration, and skin reactivity, this collection has ingredients such as elderberry extract, ginseng root extract, and peptides. I liked all the products I used because they’re moisturizing, but I will say that the serum ($129.95) is so strongly scented so if that’s not your thing then stick with the cream ($52.95) and the other products.
The Energizing Corrector ($67.95) has a very light, super sheer tint, and a bit of glimmer that helps skin look brighter and more even-toned. It’s great for using under foundation if you want a bit of a highlight, but it also works well as a moisturizer on its own.
Available at spas where Sothy’s products are sold.
If you’re like me, then maybe you like to stock up on the sets of products that you can get around this time of year. It’s a great way to try some products and see if they work for you. The Lano Jet Set Travel Essentials couldn’t come at a better time for me. I was actually going on a trip and I took it with me. What I realized is that you actually get a lot of product – my trip was for 4 days, but the cleanser and the face bases that I got were enough for at least two weeks of daily use.
Take a look at these cute essentials. The cleanser is foaming but not drying. The day cream has vitamin E in it but it’s pretty basic and great for any skin type. And the Recovery mask is one that can help ultra dry skin that’s only going to get dryer on the plane. You leave it on, but if you just need a hit of moisture you can wipe it off too.
$36 available at Sephora.
Before I get into my story, a little bit about me: I’m in my late-30’s and I’m very active. I work out at least 4 times a week, and I have for more than a decade. I eat healthy… sometimes… I don’t count calories or follow any special diet, but most of the time I do watch what I eat. Most people would describe me as slender and that’s always been my body type. That being said, there’s always been a bit of my body that holds on to my weight and I’ve never been able to lose that. It’s in the middle of my stomach, so it affects how I look, how I fit into my clothes.
So I decided to get CoolSculpting done. It’s a process whereby they freeze the part of your body that has fat on it. The fat cells get frozen and then your body gets rid of them on its own. It sounds crazy, like something out of a science fiction movie. But it actually works. I saw some before and after pictures, and then I decided to try it myself.
The entire treatment takes a couple of hours per body part. Because the fat cells have to be completely frozen, the freezing device has to be on them for a while. It suctions up the area that needs to be frozen, you lie covered in blankets for a couple of hours, and then they take the blankets and device off, and massage the area that’s been frozen so that the fat cells start to break down and can be discarded.
Having your fatty area frozen feels… uncomfortable, then a bit painful, and then you’re just numb. The hardest part is sitting in a chair by yourself for over an hour, but I brought my phone with me and read a book. Getting your frozen body massaged also hurt a bit, but the pain started after I had left the clinic. I was pretty sore and very swollen. I couldn’t wear tight clothes for a week because they showed how swollen I was, and you can’t take ibuprofen for the pain because it decreases the inflammation which is actually what helps your body get rid of the fat. Other than the soreness, there’s no actual downtime after having the procedure. You can continue to go to work and live your life as usual.
Because I wanted to get 2 parts of my body treated (upper stomach and lower), I spaced out my treatments a week apart. I had been told that I would be in pain afterwards and I didn’t want my whole body to be hurting. If I were to go in again, I think I would do all the treatments in one shot even knowing that it would mean more pain on my body. It’s easier to go in for 1 day than it is for me to book multiple afternoons off. I needed a total of about 3 hours per area. 1.5 hours for the treatment, and then extra time to get settled, pack up, etc.
It takes a month or two for your body to completely get rid of the fat cells, so the results aren’t immediate. But it happened, and the results were exactly what I wanted. I didn’t actually have a lot of fat that needed to be removed, so I needed 1 treatment on each area and after a couple of months I could see that the fat was gone. What’s crazy is that even though you don’t have fat cells in the area that was just treated, you still don’t lose any weight. And what I’ve noticed is that when I gain a bit of weight, I gain it in a different area now, like on my legs.
The treatments are expensive (if you are targeting your stomach like me, be prepared to spend over $1000 per treatment) but they work. I noticed better results than a gym membership and the results are permanent. I could still gain fat on my tummy but there are fewer fat cells and there will always be fewer fat cells. I could just enlarge the fat cells that are still there. You can lose 20-25% of your fat in the treated area with each treatment. I found that this was enough for me and I was very happy with the results. I was happy that everything is topical and there is no surgery or anything required.
This is a completely non-invasive procedure and it may not be for everyone. Besides possible side-effects, ideal candidates have a healthy lifestyle already and are struggling with losing a bit of fat in areas that seem to be untreatable. No matter now much I targeted my core, I was unable to really reduce my fat in that area, and it’s been a problem area for my whole life. I was really happy to finally have it treated, and a few months after the treatment, I’m still happy with the results.
If you are considering it, find a clinic near you (you can find one here:http://ca.coolsculpting.com/find-a-clinic), and go for a consult! If you’ve already had a treatment, I’d love to hear what you thought – leave me a comment!
