Bite Beauty The Lip Pencil

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Henna

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.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Spring 2017 | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Kerastase Chroma Riche

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Henna

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.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Shampoo and Conditioner | Tagged | Leave a comment

Garnier Micellar Water in Travel Sizes

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Henna

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.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Cleansers | Tagged | Leave a comment

Dior Poison Girl

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Henna

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. 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Perfumes | Tagged | Leave a comment

New Dermalogica Daily Superfoliant

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Henna

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.

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Skin Care | Tagged | Leave a comment

Beautitude, Beauty with An Attitude

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Henna

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.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in For the Body | Tagged , | Leave a comment

OPI’s new Fiji Collection

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Henna

If you’re getting in the mood for bright tropical colours after this cold winter season, then OPI’s new Fiji collection for Spring 2017 hits all the right notes.

Pinks, blues, yellows, is what’s in store in a range of shades that are creamy and shiny.

Colours are:

Two-Timing the Zones
Living on the Bula-Vard
Getting Nadi on my Honeymoon
Poly want a Lacquer?
Do You Sea what I Sea
Is That a Spear In Your Pocket
I Can Never Hut Up
Super Trop-i-cal-i-fiji-istic
Suzi Without A Paddle
Coconuts Over OPI
No Tan Lines
Exotic Birds Do Not Tweet

Here’s Poly Want a Lacquer. It’s basically the perfect spring colour.

Here’s Coconuts Over OPI which is a pretty basic, but not so basic shade.

The collection is available at salons and The Bay right now.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Spring 2017 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New Shea Butter Intensive Hand Balm

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Henna

L’Occitane first became known stateside for its amazing hand cream which was made up of 20% Shea Butter.  It’s greasy but it works. 

If that wasn’t moisturizing enough for you, know there’s a Shea Butter Intensive Hand Balm which is 25% Shea Butter and it’s even more luxurious and moisturizing. It has a very rich feel and melts as you rub your hands together, and what’s great about it is that it forms a film over your hands so that they’re protected from dry heat or air conditioning.  Cuticles are instantly smoothed down and your skin just feels softer and smoother.  I rub it on every night before I go to bed, and its keeping my hands feeling comfortable even after I wash them. 

Pick it up online  or at Shea Butter boutiques for $40.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Hand Cream | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New L’Oreal Infallible Paints

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Henna

Wearing colour is always going to be daring and fun, and to help you make the most of your look, there’s the new L’Oreal Infallible Paints collection.  There are glossy Lip Paints, Infallible Eyeliner Paints, Infallible Blush Paints, and Infallible Eye Shadow Paints. 

A quick review of the Eyeliner Paints ($12.99): these are like marker-type eyeliners with a super fine tip that’s not too soft, so you can really control the kind of wing that you want.

The Lip Paints ($12.99) are glossy but super pigmented.  The darker colours are more difficult to wear because you need to be precise with the colour, but they work really well on top of lip liner.  Because they are so pigmented, they do last a long time on your lips provided you don’t eat or drink anything.  Once that’s done, then you’re going to need to reapply.  I’ll always love a matte lip simply because of how long-lasting they are, but I like that the glossy lip is making a comeback!

The Infallible Blush Paint compact ($19.99) is my favourite – the blushes are pigmented but not so much that they’re difficult to work with – they actually blend really nicely into powdered skin and they last a really long time. The price makes this a real bargain and it’s comparable to more expensive palettes that are out there.

If you want to play with colour, I suggest giving these a try – they colour payoff of all of them is amazing and they’ll work with every skin tone.

Available now at Amazon.ca and mass retailers everywhere.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Spring 2017 | Tagged | Leave a comment

New Givenchy Dahlia Divin Le Nectar de Parfum

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Henna

Givenchy has a new flanker to its popular Dahlia perfume, and it’s the Dahlia Divin Le Nectar de Parfum.  It has a lot of the same notes: woods, rose, musk, but it’s now enriched with a top note of tonka bean and vanilla which makes it smell decidedly sweet.  

These notes take Dahlia Divin into a gourmand territory.  The top notes of mimosa are sweet, the middle smells sweet, and even the floral musky drydown has sweetness in it.  

This is definitely a feminine scent and appropriate for the winter months, when it’s nice to wear something warm and sweet to combat the dry nature of cold weather.  It lasts a really long time, with the golden mimosa notes really stealing the show and being quite apparent throughout the day.  

The packaging is beautiful – gold thread around the neck of the bottle, and gold leaf throughout the heavy glass stopper on top.  It makes for a precious addition to the vanity.

Available online and at Sephora and The Bay.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in Perfumes | Tagged | Leave a comment