Getting Your Rest

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Henna

When you’re super busy, it’s more important than ever to get your rest.  I’ve cut down on my caffeine and that’s helped a lot.  Most days, I lie down and I’m out but on the nights where I need a little help, I have two go-tos: Lavender Shower and Bath Oil from Bleu Lavande, and Dream Water.

Bleu Lavande is a company out of Quebec that makes products that have lavender in them.  They’re pretty concentrated, and you’ll be able to really smell the lavender in them.  The Lavender Shower and Bath Oil is creamy and not too foaming so it actually moisturizes.  It makes for a one-step shower routine because there’s no need to moisturize afterwards and the scent is just so relaxing.

I also love Dream Water.  This is a natural sleep aid in the form of little water shots.  It contains Melatonin, 5-HTP, and GABA.  You take it when you’re ready to go to sleep (not before), and it helps you go to sleep more quickly and then helps you stay asleep.  It’s available in pre-mixed bottles, or in little powder packets that you can mix into water or juice.  There are three flavours available: berry, tea, and “nighttime nectar”.  I have the berry one and it’s generically berry tasting.  I drink it quickly and so I barely notice what it tastes like, but within half and hour, I can feel myself being very sleepy.

Also – a good workout helps, and I find if I haven’t exercised during my day, it’s way more difficult for me to fall asleep!

 

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New, NARSissist Loaded Eyeshadow Palette

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Henna

Meet the NARSissist Loaded Eyeshadow Palette, maybe the one palette that you might just use forever.  It’s filled with neutrals in matte, shimmer, and glitter shades, so you have everything you need to create a really subtle makeup look, or to create one that’s more intense. 

The eyeshadows are really nice quality – truly you can feel how good they are at first touch.  Buttery smooth so they blend well, and intensely pigmented so you need just a little to get the effect that you want. 

The colours in the palette are amazing – there’s literally something for every occasion. 

The colours inside are (from left to right, all three rows):

Newbury Street

Windsor

Privilege

Dover

Foix

Castille

Alnwick

Beaumaris

Splendor

Versailles

Montaillou

Reale

My favourite shades are Windsor and Dover.  They’re both matte, so I’m using Windsor all over my lid, and Dover in the contour and they’re both perfect.  Newbury Street is a bit shimmery so it works as a high-light in the inner corner of the eye. 

The darkest shades are Montaillou and Reale – although Reale looks shimmery, it’s actually more matte and will still work as a liner. 

Splendour is a perfect pewter-like shade for a smokier, more intense look, and it’s an easy enough shade to wear. 

All-in-all, this palette is amazing and one that I’ll be using for a long time.  It’s available right now at The Bay and Nordstrom, and Sephora.ca, and it’ll be in Sephora stores on May 1.  

The packaging is great too – the palette is heavy and sturdy so it’s not going to deteriorate or fall apart on you.  There’s a huge mirror inside so you can use this when you travel or on the go.  

This is absolutely one my favourite eyeshadow palettes that I’ve ever gotten.  

$74.

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Urban Moisture for Dry Hair

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Henna

If you have dry curly hair, you know the need for something slippery and light to make it look its best.  Shu Uemura is turning into one of my favourite hair care brands.  The formulas are elegant, and they are usually very moisturizing, working without weighing your hair down. 

I love a dual-phase spray because it’s usually more hydrating.  The Shu Uemura Urban Moisture Hydro-Nourish Double Serum is like a detangler and leave-in conditioner in one.  You shake it up to mix the two layers and then spray thoughout your hair.  It feels slick and slippery but dries to feeling almost nothing, which is great.  I top it off with a cream that has a bit more hold to it, but if I’m going to straighten my hair, I’m stick with just this and blow-dry it.

Pick it up online or in salons for $50.

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Make Up For Ever Artist Liquid Matte

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Henna

You might not like the matte lipstick trend, but there’s nothing better than a lipstick that stays on past a morning coffee, and even past lunch.

Make Up For Ever Artist Liquid Matte is a liquid lipstick by the brand known for their awesome foundation.  It applies creamy and slick, with  opaque coverage with one swipe.  There’s enough time to play with it and get it on your lips perfectly before it dries.  But once it dries, it stays on and just needs something oily to come off.

Here are shades 107 and 203 – Neutral Beige and Cold Pink.

The lipstick does feel slightly dry but that’s because of the matte finish.  Like any other matte finish lipstick, dry lips will look more dry, and this is best used on hydrated lips.  Even though it’s matte, it feels comfortable on the lips and lasts a long time without cracking or getting gunky.  It wears off gradually, but would possibly last for a night out.

There aren’t a ton of colours to choose from, but they’re all natural lip shades and look pretty.

 

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L’Oreal Infallible Total Cover Kits

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Henna

I love L’Oreal’s Infallible line because its made up of products that lasts a long time on all skin types and I’ve lately become a fan of their Total Cover Professional Color Correcting Kit and the Total Cover Concealing and Contouring Kit.

I’ll start with the Concealing and Contouring Kit – you can see how excited I was to use it: I’ve already dipped into it before I thought of taking a picture, and it’s quite smudgy.  The sponge that comes with mine is totally unused.  I found the square shape of it made it a little bit difficult to really dip into the colours accurately, so it’s better for me to dip my fingers in and mix up my own colour.

The formula is soft and kind of greasy but super pigmented and very blendable.  I really like mixing up the shades to make a colour that I can use as a foundation, but it’s also very easy to use these as highlight or contour colours.  The darkest shade in this palette is quite warm, so it doesn’t look like a totally natural shadow, not to mention the fact that if you have darker skin, then it won’t work as a contour colour for you.

Aside from that, and despite the very emollient texture, these are really easy and fun to use, especially if you really like playing with and mixing your makeup. The colours go on easily, and once you set them, they stay on for the whole day.

The colours in the Total Cover Professional Color Correcting Kit are similarly slippery and easy to mix.  They are very pigmented so they’ll do a good job correcting any kinds of dark circles or pigmentation issues.  You will need to use these, let them set, and then use foundation on top.  I really like using the salmon colour as a dark circle corrector, but there’s a similar shade in the Conceal and Contour palette, so if that’s all you need then you probably don’t need to double up on palettes.

Overall, these are a hit – the colours are easy to blend and use, and they’re pigmented enough to take care of any concealing that you might need.

$19.99 each at Amazon.ca or mass retailers all over Canada.

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Nivea Cleansers

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Henna

I’ve become one of those people who love cream cleansers.  There’s nothing that emulsifies all your makeup better than a cream cleanser and that’s why I love them.  I used to hate them because they all left a residue on my skin – they’re supposed to be moisturizing – but I have a way around that now.  Now I use a wet wash cloth to wipe off my cream cleanser and then follow up with a scrub or a foaming cleanser to make sure that my skin is really clean.  There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing all your makeup come off on a white wash cloth and seeing how clean your skin is!

My latest favourite cleansers are by Nivea.  I’ve been using NIVEA Creme Care All-in-One Facial Cleansing Lotion ($8.99) and NIVEA Creme Care Facial Cleansing Wipes when I’m in a pinch and I love them both for their moisturizing qualities and their beautiful Nivea scent. 

Not only are they both moisturizing, but they also manage to take off all makeup, even mascara.  The Cleansing Lotion really feels creamy and does leave a residue on your skin if you wash it off with water.  It emulsifies makeup and does wash it off, but it leaves moisturizer on your skin – I prefer to wipe it off with a wet wash cloth to really get everything off. 

You can get both at drug stores and mass merchandisers, and if you head to the Nivea site, you can get a coupon for $2 off any facial care products!

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Women in PR Canada – One Year Anniversary Event

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Henna

If you work in PR or if you want to, then I hope you’ll consider coming to this event.  It’s the one year anniversary of Women in PR Canada.

The party will be on May 11, 2017 and will be hosted at Calgary BMW.

The event will be a great place to network with other PR women in Canada.  It will also feature inspirational talks from speakers, discuss misconceptions and redefine perceptions for women in the field.

Registration starts at 5pm, and the event itself goes from 5:30-8pm.

You can get tickets online and are $45 for members, and $75 for non-members. Check out the Women in PR website for more information.

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Givenchy’s Gypsophila

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Henna

If you’re going shopping this weekend, then maybe you’ll want to check out Givenchy’s latest Gypsophila collection.  There are two products from that collection which are too pretty to pass up.

The first is the Prism Libre ($69) in Shade #1.  The outside is a beautiful black box.

Inside is a mix of four colour-correcting powders and a imitation leather customized puff.

The powder is very finely milled – and of course it goes on translucent but is very brightening.  The colours are pastel and beautiful.

The powder is great for setting makeup or even on top of sunscreen.  It instantly brightens and evens out the skin making it matte.  It’s long-lasting.  It lasts almost an entire day on my oily skin as long as the weather isn’t too humid.

I apply them with a powder brush instead of the puff that it comes with.   There’s less of a chance of messing up my makeup.  Blush and bronzer blend beautifully on top.

My other favourite product is the Poudre Bonne Mine, Floral Edition, 02 Douce Saison ($78).  It’s a beautiful bronzer that’s huge.  It’s matte so it works well as a contour or to add colour to the entire face.

These are available on Sephora.ca.

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Fragrant Friday: New Eau Contemporaine from Simons

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Henna

The best thing on the shopping horizon in Calgary this year has been the opening of Simons, a hip contemporary shopping experience that melds brand names with H&M-type basics.  It’s like The Bay meets Target, and it’s not huge but different enough from other Calgary stores which makes it worth coming back to.

The department store has just launched Eau Contemporaine which is their fragrance collection with Ruby Brown, a Montreal-based perfume house.  The perfume comes in three scents: Silk, Cotton, and Linen.

I have Silk, a floral woody scent with notes of grapefruit, rose, white tea, and bergamot.  The scent is clean and fresh and reminds me of a soapy floral.  I can smell the grapefruit and bergamot right away, and a white floral scent with a hint of tea.  It’s super easy to wear and unoffensive.  It’s light but still long-lasting like laundry detergent.

The perfumes are available at Simons.ca and in Simons stores across Canada.  $50 for 50ml.

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Paula’s Choice Resist 1% Retinol Booster

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Henna

I’m love skincare products with active ingredients, and over the past year I’ve become a huge fan of Retinol, especially in a 1% or higher concentration.  Yes, I had lots of peeling and dry skin at first, but I’ve now gotten to the point that I can use it every day and if I notice that my skin is getting dry, I just use some coconut oil instead of the retinol for one night and everything seems to be just fine. 

My latest find is Paula’s Choice Resist 1% Retinol Booster.  Containing 1% retinol, this is called a “booster” because you can add it to your regular skincare to add a dose of retinol to it.  Of course, if you mix it with something then the level of retinol is going down, but it’s a great way to introduce retinol into your routine if it’s not already in there.  It’s also a good way to still add some moisture into your skin with the retinol.

Truth be told, I use a big pump of this on its own and I love it.  It’s a watery formula, rather than a creamy one, so it’s not overly moisturizing, but it absorbs into your skin very quickly and you’re good to go.  There’s no scent and no tingling or stinging with this, but after a couple of weeks of use, you should see some results – that’s how effective retinol is. 

Retinol helps exfoliate the skin more quickly, and by doing that, it makes skin smoother, more even-toned, less wrinkled, and even more firm.  If you’re over the age of 30 and you’ve been noticing changes in your skin, this might be the product to add so that you can take care of that.  Better exfoliation can also result in fewer acne break-outs, but I find that when I use retinol, I still need to use actual anti-acne products on their own once in a while. 

If you’re interested, read about my first experience with Retinol and what you can expect when you use it for the first time.

Paula’s Choice is available online only.  The Resist 1% Retinol Booster is $52.

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