Ok, so it’s been a long time since I’ve truly tried and loved something Mary Kay, but this lip balm is everything. I actually can’t remember a winter where my lips felt so soft and smooth, and this winter is it, and it’s all thanks to this lip balm.
What’s also great are the special holiday flavours: Vanilla, Vanilla Mint (my favourite), and Vanilla Berry. They’re clear, glossy, smooth, and they last a long time on the lips.
$20 at MaryKay.ca.
Truth be told, I’m so tempted to keep this little gift all for myself, but it’s going to someone who could use something luxurious and special.
You get these three little Sugar Lip Treatments in the original clear version, the Berry tint, and the Plum tint. It’s a great way to show someone that you care… without going overboard either.
$33 at Sephora. All in a cute little box that you might not have to wrap so that you can see the expression on their face.
And it’s only $50.
I had so much fun opening this calendar last year, and ended up with lots of mini body butters and hand creams. It was great to be stocked up with moisturizers during the winter months, and there was lots to share with friends too!
This is definitely one of the best gifts on the market right now – actually, it’s perfect as a shared gift because someone different can open each day!
The value of the gift is $129 and each purchase sends a child to class.
Pick yours up while it’s still available online or in Body Shop stores.
…including me!
Ok, once Halloween is over, we start thinking about great presents, and this year, I totally have found a present that almost anyone would like. This present works for men, women, teens, grandparents, etc.
It’s the Philips Sonicare Diamondclean Rechargable Sonic Toothbrush. I’ve had a sonic toothbrush before, but this one is sleek and slick. The handle has a matte finish and five modes: sensitive, gum care, polish, white, and clean. The toothbrush is proven to remove 7x more plaque than manual brushing, and having gone back and forth between a Sonicare toothbrush and a regular one, I have to say that I can totally notice the difference. When I regularly use a Sonicare toothbrush, I notice that my teeth are cleaner, whiter, and less prone to having build-up on them.
This holiday season, the brush comes in a pink edition, and it’s normally available in black and white too.
The brush comes with a sleek looking charger, a glass cup to hold the toothbrush, a usb travel charger, and a sleek travel case, so that even on vacation you can take your Sonicare brush with you (something that I hadn’t been able to do in the past).
$229 at London Drugs and Amazon.ca.
I went to @HoltRenfrewCalgary and got the new Sisley Paris Phyto-Teint Expert Foundation.
I’ve used a lot of foundations recently, but this one is really taking the came – and at $160 a bottle, it’s the most expensive foundation I’ve ever had!
I’m totally a foundation junkie. I love how it goes on to your skin and blends away imperfections giving you the illusion of flawless skin. I mean, amazing skincare is a must, and helps your foundation just look and feel better, but it’s the one product that I always have and I’m always looking for.
The Sisley Phyto-Teint Expert foundation is a long-wearing oil-free formula that also helps skin look and feel better over time.
Because this is a long-wearing foundation, it does “set” and so it’s better to apply it with a clean foundation brush. You could apply it with your fingers, I did for the first few days, but I found that some of the foundation would dry on my fingers instead of on my face, so a foundation brush is great at spreading product without picking it up. I stipple on the foundation with the brush, and then go back and blend. This gives the foundation a chance to set just a bit before you blend it out. Start by stippling in the areas where you need most coverage and work out to the areas where you need less coverage. Then blend beginning where you started.
I use this foundation without a primer – I find that long-wearing foundation works best on skin that’s clean and just moisturized. I do wear moisturizer, wait for it to sink in, and then apply the foundation. With my oily skin, I do find that it doesn’t last that long on my skin. It looks perfect for about six hours, and then I definitely need a powder touch up. It does separate in places that are especially oily and needs to be smoothed out at times.
Unlike most long-wearing foundations, this doesn’t dry out to a mask. Instead, it’s moist, almost moisturizing, and leaves skin feeling very comfortable. It has a satiny almost powdery velvet finish that’s not completely matte. It’s slightly light-reflective and I think that’s why it makes the skin look so good. Because there’s SPF 30 in the foundation, it does have flashback, so don’t save it for special occasions. It’s fantastic for everyday.
Still, it looks so flawless when it’s nicely applied and does last on my skin for the rest of the day, and so I love this foundation and keep turning to it. There aren’t a ton of colours available – eight in total – and there’s a good blend of warm and cool colours.
If you’re in the market for a new and long-wearing foundation, check out this one.
This fall, Dior has thought of our dry dry lips and introduced the Rouge Dior Baume. Packaged in the same shade blue of its lipsticks, but in a sleeker tube, these baumes are slightly oily, super hydrating lip slicks that leave the lips feeling great.
It goes without saying that the staying power isn’t great, but it usually isn’t for balms. The coverage is sheer, but the deeper colours seem to wear better and longer, while the lighter colours… well, they’re light for a reason.
Not one to forget the details, Dior has also come out with two super cream lip liners that can be layered under the balms for more colour.
Rouge Dior Baume shades are:
There are also four new shades of Dior Vernis:
Check everything up at your Dior counter – and if you’ve seen the Fall 2014 collection already, let me know what you thought and what you picked up!
When you’re at the drugstore, you have to check out the new Tweezerman brushes that are now out. Affordable, super soft, and made of synthetic fibres that don’t absorb product, these is a nice unique collection of brushes. I mentioned the foundation brushes in my drugstore video, and they are small enough to get into the small contours of your face but still blend out foundation to a flawless finish without streaking.
Check out the graphic below to see the brush collection. I’m slightly obsessed with the eyeliner brush now since it’s a different shape than what I’ve seen before, and still manages to get close to the lash line and gives you a nice cat eye.
They are available on Tweezerman.ca.
I’ve been a little bit on the Kevin Murphy band wagon since last year. If you have very dry and damaged hair, his line of products is definitely one of the best out there in terms of providing hydration and making your hair look and feel amazing. Plus, the products are paraben and sulphate-free which is always a plus.
Since Murphy came out with the new Angel.Masque this year, I decided to try the whole line of Angel products that are a part of this line. That includes a Wash (shampoo) and Rinse (conditioner). The Angel line of products are for fine, coloured hair, and that’s definitely me. Stylists are always surprised at my hair. If I come in and it’s done up, it looks like there’s such a tiny amount of hair, but once it’s out and washed, they realize how much hair I do have. It’s just so fine that it looks compact when it’s together.
So I tried the Angel.Wash and the Angel.Rinse, and used the Angel.Masque once a week and I have to say that my hair has never been softer right out of the shower. This line of products is so hydrating yet so light that it doesn’t weigh fine hair down. Plus, it’s colour-safe and so it won’t fade your hair either.
Although the shampoos are sulphate-free, the Kevin Murphy shampoos always have tons of rich lather, and clean well. My stylist told me that the Rinses are actually supposed to work as regular conditioners and as leave-ins. Instead of washing 100% of the conditioner out of your hair, you just wash out about 70% so that there’s still some in your hair to provide some extra hydration and protection. If you find that it’s weighting your hair down too much, you just wash out a little bit more next time. It’s a genius strategy that totally works for my hair and means that I have to use less styling product later on.
If you too have fine, coloured hair, give the Kevin Murphy Angel line a try and if you’re looking for a great high-end haircare line, try this one. Kevin Murphy is only sold at salons (about $36 for the shampoo and conditioner each, and $39 for the masque).
Ok, so everyone knows that you need Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment products in the winter because they’re the only things that can really hold up to super dry and super cold weather. I will have them on hand for the next six months (um, yes, that’s how long this winter is going to last) and I have them in my car, and each of my coats.
Now, I’ve found my favourite colour too: The Ruby Tint.
It’s actually a surprise hit for me, because I usually like creams, not shimmers, but this just adds a nice layer of something extra to the lips. I think it looks like my lips but super flushed, but when I went to Skoah to get a facial, they asked me if I minded taking my lipstick off… I guess that means that it looks more like lipstick than a tint or a balm… and that’s okay with me.
This is fully a treatment and it doesn’t have any sulphates, parabens, and Phthalates in it, and it has SPF 15 in it which makes it super awesome. It is also mineral oil free.
It’s especially better to use this in the winter, because I find that in the summer it melts so easily. In the winter, the stick stays nice and hard but still swipes on the lips very easily.
In case you’re interested, here are the ingredients:
Cera Alba (Beeswax), Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Hydrogenated Olive Oil Decyl Esters, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Parfum (Fragrance), Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Sucrose Tetrastearate Triacetate, Limnanthes Alba, (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Passiflora Incarnata Seed Oil, Ribes Nigrum (Black Currant) Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopherol, Retinyl Palmitate, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Persea Gratissima, (Avocado) Oil , Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Vanillin, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Polyglyceryl-3 Polyricinoleate, Propyl Gallate, Aluminum Hydroxide, Ci 15850 (Red 7 Lake), Ci 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake), Ci 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), Ci 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), Limonene, Citral, Linalool, Benzyl Alcohol, BHT.
Grab it at Sephora for $26.
November is spa month at Wayspa.com, and that means that this ambassador went in for a much needed massage.
Now, I’m a little spoiled in the massage department. I used to have a masseuse come to my house two or three times a week just to give me a massage…. those were the days.
These days I’m a lot busier, and a massage is an indulgence that I don’t get enough of.
So, I went in for a Therapeutic Massage at The Spa Ritual, which is a lovely high-end spa in Calgary. The Spa Ritual is beautiful and relaxing and kind of a strange place for a therapeutic massage, but I know that their staff is highly trained and I knew that they could relieve some of the work-out related tension that I was experiencing. I had some sore muscles in need of TLC, and so that’s why I headed over there.
True to form, the massage I had was fantastic and just what I needed. The first 45 minutes were super painful as my massage therapist kneaded my muscles, and the last 15 minutes were super relaxing as my tensions were gently smoothed away and I was allowed to fall asleep.
The Spa Ritual has some super fun options when it comes to massage, including a real hot stone massage, a Royal Bamboo massage, and a Thai-Inspired Herbal Massage.
The Spa Ritual is one of the nicest spas in the city, and they accept Wayspa gift cards!
You can contact them here:
The Spa Ritual
106 Crowfoot Terrace NW
Calgary, AB T3G 4J8
T: 403 547 9558
F: 403 547 9252
