Canadian Beauty

Contour and Strobe Products We Can All Afford

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Henna

Now, you don’t have to spend a fortune on well-made highlight and contour palettes, thanks to NYX which is now sold at Shoppers Drug Mart. Check out my reviews of the two new palettes from NYX and which one I favoured.

The number one problem with most contour products is that they’re either not pigmented enough, or they’ve got shimmer in them instead of being totally matte. Leave it to NYX to solve all that for us.

NYX has two palettes that are amazing if you want to try your hand at sculpting your face: a Highlight & Contour Pro palette, and the Strobe of Genius Illuminating Palette.

Let me start with the Highlight and Contour Pro Palette because, quite honestly, it’s my favourite. Check it out below. There are 4 highlight colours, and 4 contour colours.

Of the highlight colours, two are shimmer, and the two middle ones are matte. I found that I could wear all the colours on my medium-toned skin. The yellow is brightening, the cream was great for under my eyes, and the shimmer colours were perfect for highlighting the top of my cheek bones without making it look like I was covered in sweat. I love how finely-milled these powders were and that they were so pigmented. A little went a long way, and I made sure to blend everything with a huge fluffy brush.

The contour colours are all matte, and need to come with a warning! They are SO pigmented that I would recommend using a smaller brush and tapping it gently into the powders before lightly applying where you want to contour. My favourite is the greyish beige brown beneath the yellow and I think it’s a colour that will suit a large number of people. I used the browns more to contour in the crease of my eye, and the darkest brown was great to fill in my brows!

This is a versatile contour palette and it’s perfect for a beginner because you can get a sense of what you really want and experiment with different colours. If you’re more experienced with makeup, then I think you’ll really like using all the highlighting colours.

Also! The colours are refillable, and if one shade runs out, you can get a refill of it! Did I say that this palette is versatile?! It’s versatile! Love it, they thought of everything.

Lets move on to the Strobe of Genius palette. This palette is definitely for “strobing” and not just highlighting. That means you want light reflecting off the very high points of your face – the tops of your cheekbones and maybe the tip of your nose. Personally, I found that I couldn’t really tell too much of a difference between all the different strobe colours. Most of them wore very cool and had a slightly silvery iridescence and I wasn’t a fan of that.

Unlike with the Highlight and Contour palette, I really didn’t get a lot of use out of all of the strobing colours, but I did like that I could use them as an eyeshadow, and they wore very well when I did that.

The colours are super smooth and blend effortlessly. There was no fall-out when I used them, and I could make them look natural.

If, however, you want to color correct, or like to match your strobing to your eyeshadow look then this palette might be for you.

I’ve already said that the Highlight and Contour Pro palette is more for me, and it’s one that I’d even travel with.

Each palette is $27 and available online or at Shoppers.

Posted in Spring 2016 | Tagged NYX, palettes | 1 Comment

New Garnier Whole Blends

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Henna

For the longest time I’ve been seeing Garnier’s new Whole Blends line at the grocery store, but I put it off because the whole line reminded me of Herbal Essences, so I just thought “been there, done that”.

But then I read the ingredients to the Whole Blends Coconut Water and Vanilla Milk shampoo and conditioner, and guess what? There was actual Coconut Water in there, and in fact it was high up on the ingredient list!

So I decided to give it a shot, and I have to say that the line is worth trying. Garnier has six different “blends” that you can try out: honey, coconut water and vanilla milk, green tea and apple (which is more clarifying), cocoa butter and coconut oil (I need to try this one next), Avocado Oil and Shea Butter, and Argan oil and Cranberry.

They all promise to moisturize your hair and really condition it, so this line is perfect for those of us with dry and damaged hair. My hair just seems to soak up the moisture, especially since it’s so dry where I live. The shampoo and conditioner that I tried were moisturizing but didn’t weigh my hair down, which was perfect. A day later, my hair is soft and silky and blow-dried so easily. Oh, and it smelled amazing.

$6.99 each for the shampoo and conditioner.

Posted in Shampoo and Conditioner | Tagged Garnier | Leave a comment

New Year, New Detox

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Henna

Have you guys watched the new Netflix docuseries Cooked? It’s amazing, and it’s changing the way that I think about my food. Check out the trailer for it:

At the heart of the series is the message that we should all be cooking more, and if we did, we would be a lot healthier. We should know where our food comes from, and how to prepare it ourselves. It’s common sense but it’s also something that many of use forget in our day to day lives. We’re so busy on our phones that we don’t make time to get all the groceries we need and really plan family meals – and not just dinner. Wouldn’t it be great if we all had home-cooked food from breakfast, to lunch, to dinner?

And so begins a different kind of detox for me. One that eschews packaged food for food that I’ve made myself. Now, I’m not perfect and lets be practical – there are only so many hours in a day and I’m working too. But cooking more is something that I want to work towards.

As I learn more about food, I’m also interested in “superfoods”. These are foods that are nutrient rich and do good for the body. To amp up my superfood intake, I’ve started adding Neal’s Yard Remedies new Organic Berry Complex ($49) to my smoothies and breakfast bowls. The Organic Berry Complex is a powder made up of ten superberries and ground up apple. It’s vegan and preservative-free and so tastes so good that you’ll forget that it’s good for you (I find that it just tastes like dried apple chips).

You can make a simple breakfast bowl like the one I have below. I used some plain Greek yogurt and drizzled some honey on it. Then I added some pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, and put a scoop of the Organic Berry Complex on top. The result was delicious.

You can pick up the Organic Berry Complex online or at a Neal’s Yard Remedies boutique.

Posted in More Than Beauty | Tagged Neal's Yard Remedies | Leave a comment

The Gentle Skincare Company You Need to Know

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Henna

Skincare seems to be a hot topic for so many people. If you have kids, you’ll be aware about the rise in nut allergies, but if you’re in the beauty industry, you’ll realize that more and more people have sensitive or easily irritated skin. Most of my friends have very sensitive skin or some kind of skincare issue that requires them to take special care of their skin.

Luckily, unscented and gentle options are available even at the drugstore, but now there’s something new – this company nails sensitive skincare by offering products that are simple but are well-made so that they feel good on the skin.

The company is Schaf skincare and they’re making natural, organic, gentle, and effective skincare products that suit everyone.

The line includes a cleanser ($25), a moisturizer ($45), a scrub ($30), an eye cream ($30), and a shave cream ($25).

My favourite product was the Hydrating Facial Cleanser. Made with aloe, coconut oil, and hyaluronic acid, this cleanser is so smooth that it feels slippery on the skin. It’s lightly foaming and effective at taking off a bit of makeup without drying skin out completely. I almost want to say that my skin feels better after washing with the Schaf cleanser than it did before!

No matter what your skin type, you’ll also love the Nutritive Moisturizer. It contains Hyaluronic Acid, Shea Butter, and Peptides to help keep skin hydrated, plumped, and fight off discolouration. The moisturizer is oil-free so it feels light and refreshing on skin, takes away any tightness, but doesn’t make skin look or feel greasy. It is great for priming skin for foundation or any other base, and kept my face feeling comfortable throughout the winter. My skin not only felt better – it looked better too.

Schaf is definitely my favourite new skincare line that I’ve tried recently, and if you’re looking for gentle skincare products then it’s the one to try. Oh, and I should mention that the line is for men and women.

Pick it up online or check out their list of retailers to find it in a city near you.

Posted in Skin Care | Tagged Schaf, skincare | 1 Comment

New Creed Royal Princess Oud

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Henna

Oud or Agarwood has an earthy woody but warm scent and has been the “it” ingredient in perfume for a few years now. I’ve stayed away from it for the most part because the oud found in most perfumes is quite warm and sweet, and sweet scents are just saccharine on me. Real Oud isn’t quite so sweet but it’s still warm. I’ve smelled it in Indian incense before, and it’s a scent that instantly makes me feel comforted.

Now imagine that you’re an early-20th century princess who’s well-traveled and for your personal scent, you choose something with classic floral heart, but also with a touch of mystery by having oud as a base.

Creed’s new Royal Princess Oud was inspired by the sketches of 20th century clothing in the Creed vault. It’s a fresh scent that has notes of Iris, rose and violet. The floral heart is surrounded by a woodiness, thanks to base notes of sandalwood, and other woody resins extracted from plants much the way that oud is.

Like all Creed scents, this one is long-lasting and scents the air around me too. It has strong sillage – it wafts off me – and I absolutely love that. I love that my closet slightly smells like it because it scent has lasted on my clothes. One spray is more than enough for me, and even though I’ve been wearing this scent every day I haven’t gotten used to it yet, which is testament to how interesting and unique it is.

The scent is feminine and yet still modern thanks to its initial coolness. It never really gets too warm, and it doesn’t get sweet the way that other oud scents do. I think that’s because Creed has used other resinous scents instead of just oud, and so there’s a woodiness that’s rich and interesting along with the floral heart that keeps it feminine and sparkly.

You can find Creed perfumes at Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen, Saks, Nordstrom, and La Maison Ogilvy. You can also order it online.

$260 for 1 oz, $385 for 2.5 oz, and $670 for 8.4 oz.

Posted in Perfumes | Tagged Creed | 1 Comment

L’Occitane Launches Solidarity Balm for International Women’s Day

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Henna

Every year, L’Occitane launches a limited edition product in support of International Women’s Day. This year, this product is a Shea Butter Balm scented with rose and decorated in a design reminiscent of fabrics worn by the Burkinabe women in Africa.

The Solidarity Balm is only $6 and 100% of the profits will go to an NGO that helps fund women’s leadership in Burkina Faso, where L’Occitane gets is Shea Butter.

Pick up the balm in L’Occitane boutiques. It is a hard balm that melts in the palm of your hands. It’s great as a nail and hand balm, or even applied on the ends of your hair to smooth down ends.

The balm is so potent and thick that it lasts a long time. Pick it up at L’Occitane boutiques.

Posted in Skin Care | Tagged l'Occitane | Leave a comment

New eos Flavour – Summer Fruit

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Henna

Our favourite organic lip balm is now available in a Summer Fruit flavour. 95% organic and 100% natural – no that doesn’t mean that it’ll work better than plain old petroleum jelly, but at least you won’t feel bad if it you end up licking your lips an accidentally ingesting some of it.

The lip balm also has Jojoba oil, shea butter, and vitamin E in it.

Pick it up for $3.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix, Loblaw’s, Walmart, London Drugs, Uniprix, Chapters (always a little overpriced there!), and Costco.

Posted in Skin Care | Tagged EOS, Lip Balm | Leave a comment

New Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Concealer

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Henna

…so, I have to give a shout out to Wayne Goss and his video Makeup Trends That Need to Die in 2016 because it’s everything that I really think about makeup. Yes, I love contour, highlighting, strobing, blush, concealer, lots of lipstick, etc, but all at the same time? No way. The video basically slams the Jaclyn Hill and Dress Your Face school of makeup which is really about using so much makeup that you don’t even look like yourself anymore, and I say that despite the fact that I love both their work and watch Jaclyn Hill ALL the time, but I just would never be able to use so much highlighter on my face even for a night out.

SO, that being said, I actually have usually not been a fan of concealer, not even for the under eye area. I think that completely masking your dark circles usually looks super fake and overly powdery (if I know you IRL, YES, YOU TOO!), and I just use foundations to do it, or HEY, I advertise the fact that I’m tired! No biggie, I’m a mom, people usually get it and know that it’s not because I’ve been out partying – LOL.

Buttttttt, all that being said, there’s definitely nights out when I want to look brighter, more awake, and just like I’m all there, and so concealer is for those times. If I’m going to use one, it better glide on, not settle into fine lines, and it should really look natural on the minimal makeup that I’m wearing.

And so that’s what you get with the new Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Concealer. The concealer comes in just 10 shades which seems minimalistic for the brand, considering how many shades of foundation they have, but considering how light-weight this is, there’s a chance that it’s going to mix into whatever else your using.

They’ve divided their shades into two categories: the peaches and the yellows. I went with a yellow-based concealer as that’s what kind of skin tone I have and I wanted something that would brighten, not just neutralize dark circles. If you have very very dark circles and need something to neutralize the darkness before using foundation or another coverage product, then definitely go with a peach-based shade in your color – it will work wonders and because you’re neutralizing and not just covering up, you’ll find that you’ll actually need less product in that area and so you won’t have to worry about it caking or settling into lines.

This concealer actually really reminds me of the Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Concealer which I had in a colour that matched my skin exactly, and I used almost like foundation until, uh, the glass tube broke. Shucks, as much as I love glass packaging, I get why everyone hates on it all the time. Make Up For Ever has their concealer in a tube, however, I’m not finding that to be much better because already my concealer has leaked all over the place and it’s quite messy. These also run on the light side, so test them in store or be ready to make a return. Or order a couple of shades so that you’re not running the risk of wearing one that’s too light. I have it in Y31 which is described as being for medium skin tones, and it’s definitely brightening because it’s on the light side. I still use it, but sparingly and I can’t use it all over my face because it’s too light, and not really meant for that.

I know this review has been a bit rambly, but basically this is a great light concealer if you need it specifically for the under-eye area. It won’t hide everything, but you know what, that’s ok.

$32 at Sephora. Yes, pricy, but you’ll only use a tiny bit at a time, I promise.

Posted in Spring 2016 | Tagged Make Up For Ever, MUFE | Leave a comment

New Year New Brush from The Knot Dr.

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Henna

Have you heard? Starting today, there’s no more shopping online at Murale.ca – instead, head over to BeautyBoutique.ca to get the high-end beauty products you would have bought at the Murale site. It’s no big deal, obviously. Murale is also owned by Shoppers Drug Mart, but with only a few locations in each city, sometimes it’s just the same to head over to a Shoppers Beauty Boutique and get what you need – and now we’re doing that online too.

I only noticed because I was going to talk about my latest find from Murale: my new Knot Dr. hairbrush.

So backing up just a little bit, I have a little one who’s 3. And I do her hair every day, and lately that’s been resulting in more tears than anything else. Clever mom found a solution: cookies! Yup, have her munching on cookies and there are no tears, no matter how many tangles.

… you can see the flaw in this plan. Yes, it works, but man, did I feel guilty after doing it just once! Junk food in the morning is no good, and really, I try to not even buy cookies at home because then you end up eating them.

So I was looking for a solution and I found The Knot Dr. at Murale. I’ve already tried a Mason Pearson brush (didn’t really detangle that well), combs (they work but aren’t always gentle), and wide-toothed combs (they’re not as smoothing as I would like). Last year, I even got a Tangle Teezer (love it but then lost it, whoops). The Knot Dr. looked promising.

I have the Knot Dr. PhD Hybrid Styler which is thinner than their regular model and has 135 bristles all of which help get tangles out. I am loving this brush. I use it on wet hair like I normally would, and it gets caught at the tangles, but then I slow down and carefully brush them out, and they come out so easily. I don’t like using a detangling product or a leave-in spray because I find that there can be a noticeable residue on very dark hair, but with this brush I don’t even need it. My daughter’s hair becomes so smooth and is so easy to style… and I haven’t had to resort to any cookies!

The Knot Dr. also makes a brush for kids, but it’s smaller and made specifically for kids’ hands – I don’t need that at this point since I’m the one holding the brush! I’ve been using it on myself too, and it’s worth the $25 price tag. It comes in a range of colours: cabernet, ebony, ivory, and sharkskin. Check out the entire line at Murale stores.

Posted in Tools | Tagged Murale, The Knot Dr. | 2 Comments

New Perfume Line: Clean Reserve

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Henna

I’m back in the perfume game, and the latest line to catch my eye has been the new line of scents from Clean. Clean has been a perfume aisle mainstay with scents that smell like laundry detergent and freshness. There’s the original Clean scent which nailed smelling clean on the head, and then there were all sorts of introductions like rain and grass, but also other scents like cotton candy, mojito, etc.

Now, the line has something for those of us who like a little bit of dimension: Clean Reserve.

This new line of scents has more lux packaging than the original Clean bottles but the same focus on scents that are fresh, wearable, and can be layered. The bottles, I’ll add, are huge, with beautiful blonde wooden caps that cover the spray mechanism. The wood is a nod to the sustainable ingredients that the fragrances are made of, and the fact that the bottle is recyclable. They feel hefty in your hand and look beautiful.

The scents are:

Blonde Rose

Terra Woods

Skin

Velvet Flora

Amber Saffron

Sueded Oud

Warm Cotton

Smoked Vetiver

Rain

Of course, I’m a sucker for Rose scents, and a fresh rose scent really appealed for me, so that’s the one that I have.

It smells…. not like roses!

This is a fresh floral scent that’s very clean and musky, powdery and light, but definitely not a major rose scent. It’s not like your grandmother’s rose, and it’s not like your garden’s rose. It’s definitely slightly warm and very fresh, but it feels kind of airy and anonymous to me. It’s a unisex scent that’s easy to wear – it fades into the background pretty quickly, and doesn’t overpower the wearer which is always a good thing.

I found the lasting power to be lacking, but I think that the problem is also that it’s one of those scents that you kind of forget about after a while. It’s on my vanity, and I’m reaching for it daily – I like it well enough – but I’m also curious to see if there’s one I like better, such as Smoked Vetiver or Rain. Lately, I’m craving the herby scent of my old Marc Jacobs cucumber perfume that I gave away years and years ago, so I’m hoping one of these will bring back the grassy freshness of that.

You can check out the Clean Reserve line at Sephora stores now – there’s also a discovery set which might be for you if you like to try them all before buying a huge bottle or if you tend to go through perfume very quickly.

$125 each at Sephora. Terra Woods is exclusive to Sephora.ca.

Posted in Perfumes | Tagged Clean | Leave a comment