It’s My Birthday and My Invites

Guess what? It’s my birthday today!  Normally, I like buying perfume on special occasions, but I don’t know what I’m in the mood for right now, so I haven’t gotten anything.  An update on that soon, but any suggestions would be appreciated!

Let me talk for a minute about invitations, which I use frequently enough for my childrens’ birthday parties.  There are a plethora of invite sites out there now, but the one that I’m using more often than not is Paperless Post. If you check out the website, you’ll see that it’s a little different looking than most other invite sites – it has a clean layout and looks chic.  

In fact, it’s made that way because it offeres something other than your standard invitations – you can get invites that are “designer”.  There are invitations designed by the Kate Spade brand, by Oscar de la Renta, and even by the Rifle Paper company.  There are invites that you can order paper copies of – perhaps to send to people who don’t check their emails very often, or even just as a memento of a special occasion.  All the standard holidays are there: birthdays, anniversaries, save-the-date cards, and more.  

Check it out and tell me what you think!

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Drybar Sparkling Soda

I love me a good shine spray – they’re perfect for taming frizz and giving hair a dose of moisture.  If I want staying power then I use a hairspray, but most days I just need a bit of TLC, and so I’ve been turning to Drybar’s Sparkling Soda shine mist ($35).  It’s light-weight but still makes your hair very shiny.

Sparkling Soda has moisturizing ingredients such as beeswax, castor oil, and glycerine, but the formula is such that it’s not at all sticky or tacky.  It’s great for really smoothing hair and taming it down. 

Of course, one of the best thing about all Drybar products is their scent, and Sparkling Soda is no exception – it’s scented with a warm blend of vanilla, amber, and coconut and is the equivalent of putting perfume into your hair too. I love that because it makes my hair smell nice any time that there’s movement.

Pick it up at Sephora and Norstrom stores.

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New Just in Time for Summer: Almay Healthy Glow Makeup and Self Tanner

With blizzards on the East Coast and strange weather on the West Coast, it’s hard to tell that spring is around the corner, but it really is!

Just in time on the counter is Almay’s Healthy Glow Makeup and Self Tanner.  In the summer, because of my skincare products (exfoliators and scrubs), my face is lighter than the rest of my body.  Self Tanners formulated for the body are usually so moisturizing that they don’t always work well on the face.  They can be apt to clog pores and make skin greasier than it needs to be. 

Almay’s new product is a foundation and self-tanner in one.  This foundation is really an all-in-one because it also has spf 20 in it.  It has light – medium coverage and really works well at evening out skin tone while gradually making it more tan.  Now, the self-tanner is so gradual and the foundation light enough that there’s a good chance that even if your skin gets a tad darker, the foundation will still match.  I tried this in medium, and I’m usually a medium in most foundations, and it worked well even though the self-tanner made me a bit darker.  It made me a darker side of medium, but not too much. 

Because of the self-tanner, I actually don’t like to use this foundation every day.  I don’t want to be using self-tanner daily, but I love using it on the weekends or 3 times a week.

Pick it up at drugstores and mass merchandisers now.

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New Vichy Idealia Peeling

If you’ve wanted to add a Glycolic Acid product into your skincare routine, but were always too worried about its potency, then Vichy’s new Idealia Peeling essence is for you. 

First of all, this is not a toner.  Toners are meant to take off excess residue on your skin and leave it a little cleaner than before.  Idealia Peeling won’t do that.  Because it’s an essence, it’s meant to be applied to the skin and left on there.  There’s no harsh alcohol, but you’re still applying it with a cotton pad.  I prefer to put a couple of drops on my hand, and press them into my face.  

Idealia Peeling is formulated with glycolic acid in a moisturizing base, so it leaves skin more clear but it’s also a does of something extra before you apply a thicker/heavier moisturizer to your skin. 

It’s perfect for skin that needs a bit of a glow – it’ll exfoliate but not so much that your skin will get dry or flaky. 

Pick it up at Shoppers Drug Mart or online.

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Bite Beauty The Lip Pencil

I’ve come to love a good lip pencil. The best kinds are super dry and highly pigmented. This means that they stay on your lips and because they’re so pigmented, you can use them all over your lips like lipsticks.

Bite Beauty’s new Lip Pencil took three years to formulate. Like all Bite Beauty products, it’s made with ingredients that are safe to eat – nice to know since we do end up eating and drinking some of our lip products throughout the day.


What I love about this pencil is that it’s super creamy, thanks to the whipped shea butter in it, so it doesn’t drag on your lips. It’s easy to line them with this pencil but it’s also easy to fill them in. Afterwards, the pencil just sets and stays put. Of course, it’ll come off with eating and drinking, but a great deal of pigment stays on, almost like a stain, and re-applying is easy enough. The finish is totally matte. The colours available are mostly pinks and nudes – although there are a few deeper options – so this is a pencil that’s perfect if you want it to look like your actual lips.

Pick them up at Sephora stores for $20.

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Kerastase Chroma Riche

Kerastase’s Chroma Riche collection is formulated especially for coloured hair – and since that’s me right now, it’s what’s in my shower currently.

The Reflection Bain Chroma Riche ($43) is a nice cleansing shampoo with some moisturizers in it, but it doesn’t strip colour. The Chroma Riche Masque ($66) that’s part of the line is maybe the thickest one from Kerastase. It’s great because it really sticks in your hair until you rinse it out. It makes your hair much softer and manageable but also really shiny. The line is perfect for high-lighted or colour-treated hair – it’ll keep hair bright and shiny and colour won’t fade as fast.

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Garnier Micellar Water in Travel Sizes

So Micellar Water – it’s actually such a controversial product among skincare specialists. Some people really hate it because they don’t think that it really gives your skin a good clean, and others can’t live without it because it’s so easy to use. Micellar Water looks and feels like regular water, but performs as a makeup remover. Put some on a cotton pad, and rub it over your face and it’ll easily take makeup off, leaving a bit of moisturizer behind, which is why it’s thought of as a skincare product too.

I love it, but I don’t use it to clean my entire face. It’s great for spot cleaning – you can fix too much blush or eyeshadow easily, without disturbing the rest of your makeup. I have some in my gym bag to help me take off mascara, and I love it to take off my makeup before I jump into the pool – that’s a case where I know that I’m going to be properly washing my face anyway.

Garnier has one of the best Micellar Waters out there – I find that it really does take off makeup easily, even eye makeup, without stinging my eye. That’s better than the leading French Pharmacy brand I’ve tried. It comes in two variations – All-in-one and Waterproof – both are excellent.

Pick it up at drugstores now.

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Dior Poison Girl

Dior’s Poison is such an iconic scent, and is basically synonymous with sophistication from the 80’s which is when the scent came out.  I remember relatives picking it up at Duty Free when they travelled or buying it on the plan, so it has certain connotations for me. 

Poison Girl, which is out now, targets a younger set – although I don’t know if you’re going to be buying Poison Girl simply because your mom wore Poison. 

The bottle will bring back memories.  While Poison was in a red bottle, Poison Girl keeps the original apple-like shape of the bottle, but now it’s a mauve-pink colour.  It’s an Eau de Toilette which is lighter and easier to wear.  

The juice inside also smells “younger”.  It’s a fruity sugary gourmand perfect for those who like their scents with a touch of confectionary.  It’s very feminine at the same time, with base notes of sandalwood and musk, but also lots of the tonka bean that stays throughout the length of this scent. 

You can pick up Poison Girl at Sephora, The Bay, and other fine fragrance retailers.

$72 for 30 ml, $95 for 50 ml, and $135 for 100 ml. 

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New Dermalogica Daily Superfoliant

This large bottle is filled with finely milled charcoal and other exfoliants, as well as a foaming cleanser that really makes skin feel clean.

Dermalogica’s Daily Superfoliant is brand new and adds to the brand’s already well-known exfoliators.

It’s different in its category because it comes out as a powder and you mix it with water.  AS soon as you do, it foams up and you can rub it on your skin.  The powder is so finely milled that you’ll feel a slight grittiness but not actually a scrubbing feeling like there is with most scrubs.

Because there’s also cleanser in the formula, this is great at wiping off remnants of makeup or previous cleanser.  Your skin is super clean but also brighter because of the scrubbing.  You can use it daily, or as often as your skin can handle it.  My skin is pretty oily so it can handle a daily scrub.

Available at Dermalogica.ca or at skin spas for $79.

 

 

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Beautitude, Beauty with An Attitude

I love the wholesome concept behind beauty lines that are made for pampering yourself.  Truly, it’s so important to take care of your body because it gives you such a sense of well-being – pair it with a good workout and you get the meaning to the idea that summer bodies are made in the winter.

Beautitude is made by sisters, Chrisanthy and Catherine Boriamos, whose family is behind one of the biggest sugar and salt importers in Canada.  They wanted to create a body line that used those ingredients, and so Beautitude was born. It uses ingredients that are natural and good for your skin. 

 

One of their products that really focuses on using quality ingredients is the Pardon my Polish sugar scrub ($50) which uses raw sugar instead of white sugar. The raw sugar is a bit rougher on the skin but it doesn’t dissolve as readily as white sugar, so it really holds up to a good scrub.  It’s mixed with hazelnut oil and avocado oil so that it’s moisturizing too.

The best way to use this is to get in the shower, get your skin wet, and then turn the water off.  Rub it in while the water is off so that none of it gets washed away before you’re ready.  Rinse off and then towel dry your skin.  The oils will stick to your skin, but not the scrub.  Your skin will be nice and moisturized while also being soft and smooth.

Follow up with their The Baume body oil ($40) which is light and silky but still moisturizing. 

You can get Beautitude products from their website and also from salons and spas across Canada.

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