Video review of Dior Escale à Pondichery which takes me away. My first cardamom note perfume that I loved and the only one I’ve ever liked from Dior. This smells so different on skin than it does on paper because the cardamom really pops with heat. On paper, it’s quite citrusy. Not at the counter, you can get this on the discount sites. Did you know that in Indian culture green cardamom is a “cooling” spice? Makes it better for the summer. What’s your favourite spicy perfume?
New lip pencils! Wearing Physician’s Formula Rosé Kiss All Day lip pencils here.
These came in a package of 3 that came with a sharpener too. The hot pink is called She’s a Wild Rose, then Blushing Maive which are both glossy. These are very smooooth and moisturizing with a slightly sweet taste to them. They’re also super pigmented which I’ll show you in a reel. It’s annoying that you have to sharpen these but the formula more than makes up for that.
It’s actually hard to find a pigmented moisturizing lipstick and one that’s fairly long-lasting. If you’ve bought Nars Velvet Lip Pencils which also need to be sharpened, then you’ll like these too. Which colour do you think is the best?
Me using the new Murad eye masks that just launched, and some makeup I’ve been using regularly.
The Murad masks are new. They’re formulated with retinol and made out of no-slip cellulose. People asked if these falls off and no, they don’t, but I also prefer to lie back and do nothing when I’m wearing an eye mask. It’s my new thing to do.
I liked these for their refreshing effect, and I’d suggest using them before an event.
Here’s the makeup I’ve been using, and actually there’s nothing new.
Bare Minerals Original Mineral Veil Transluscent Setting Powder. I like it! Less waste than loose powder! I use it with brush and not with the accompanying puff.
Fenty Beauty Cream blush in Rose Latte. I got this last year (over a year ago, actually!), stopped using it, and just took it out again. It’s a bit of a deeper colour than I normally go for, so I normally use this closer to my contour.
Stila eyeshadow. Discontinued. Never met a glitter shadow I didn’t like.
Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin foundation. I got a warmer shade and I like it so much better. The undertones are better suited for my skin tone.
Physician’s Formula lip balms. Because these need to be sharpened, I like to keep them at home instead of in my purse.
Vasanti Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner. These are the best eyeliners ever. Try them. They’re super black and they don’t smudge at all!
Things I’m done with, and let’s go in order of most-liked to worst.
XO Treatment Room Pink Perfection Peptide oil. I loved this. It was light but moisturizing and made my skin so soft. Sometimes I even mixed it into a heavier moisturizer to lighten it up a bit. This smelled like strawberry candy.
Kerastase Discipline Smoothing Milk. This was a sample (obviously) and it went on my wishlist. It actually takes your hair and you can use it on wet or dry hair. Kerastase products are heavily scented but I love them. I like my hair to smell good and I liked the smell of this.
Vichy Aloe Vera Mask. Smells like a spa, like lavender and herbs. Aromatic. Inhale deeply and relax while this is on. It’s self-care more than anything else.
Live Clean Cannabis Conditioner. This took forever to finish because I hated the smell. It smells like soil so your hair smells terrible after you use it. Do not recommend.
Talika Lipocils mascara. Life’s too short for smudgy mascara.
Have you tried any of these?
Perfume diary: most worn January and February. March is here, so this is a little late, but I finally moved some things around over the weekend. I’m always organizing and reorganizing and hoping to move things so I reach for them and give them a good wear. That being said, I never plan what I’m going to wear in advance and it’s always what the mood is at that time. Anyone else? Anyway…
Chanel Paris-Venise. This arrived in January and I love wearing it. It’s a powdery vanilla that really works for cool weather especially if you don’t want anything too heavy. Honestly,I’ve worn it so much and I think I’m going to put it into the box and put it away for a while. This made my mornings and put me in such a good mood everyday. I love the fine mist, and the sweet lemon first thing in the morning. But it doesn’t last long, and by lunch, I’d find that it was basically a skin scent. I still love it and lasting power has no bearing on how good a fragrance is. It’s just the way it is. It’s fine. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Vintage Guerlain Samsara EDT. This is a heavy fragrance, and definitely not as worn as the Chanel because it’s so dense. I love it, and I want to get other versions of Samsara to try. If you’ve experienced them, let me know your favourite and why in the comments.
L’Artisan Parfumeur Coeur de Vetiver Sacre. I love this one too, it’s a bit of a tea scent, and it’s better in the summer so that’s when I’m going to wear it, so putting it away for a while.
Chronotope Perfumes Buen Camino. Lavender and immortelle make me adore this scent. I can wear a lot of this and not get sick of it.
Kayali Invite Only Amber 23. This is like a popular version of Serge Lutens Chergui, but with tobacco and a good puff of powder. Honestly, if you want a feminine sweet tobacco fragrance, try this one, it’s from Sephora so easy to order and sometimes it just hits the spot. This is my little 10ml mini. Isn’t she cute?
Anyway, I am going to put some of these away and change up this lineup a little. Actually the Chanel and the L’Artisan are going away and I’ll add something else in their place.
I got it from my momma…Literally…I was going through a box from the back of a drawer over Christmas and found this empty bottle of Givenchy III… at first I couldn’t believe she held on to it…but also, it’s totally something I would do, so I’ll hold on to it for her. I can still smell an 80’s floral chypre when I put my nose up to the bottle and it turns out that this is easily found on eBay… very likely this little bottle came as part of a gift set…I’m officially team keep the empty bottle. What team are you on?
Just can’t let it go…
Spicy rose is what I smell and taste like today. Refreshing and delicious at the same time. I let it go but it came back to me…Maybe for right now, it’s just meant to be… a forever perfume if there ever was one. But Portrait of a Lady needs to stop being on all the top 10 rose perfumes list.
Anyone expecting a fresh garden rose will be disappointed. It’s a dry herbal rose blended with pepper, cinnamon, and clove, at once homely and exotic. The spicy rose blended with patchouli, sandalwood, and a bit of incense the kind of perfume I can never get sick of.
Remember those scrubby gloves you used in the shower or that scrubby cloth? Well the new Fenty SkinPre-Show glow comes with that and they recommend you use it once or twice a week gently in your skin.
I don’t know how I feel about that but I will update. I’ve got the mini version.
The update is that this actually didn’t bother my skin as much as I thought it would, but I do like to wash it regularly and so usually use this glycolic acid treatment with my regular reusable cotton wipes. It has worked at getting rid of some texture on my skin which I really like.
The liquid in this is kind of thick but that means that it doesn’t run off the cloth and stays on. I do like that.
I think that there are a lot of options out there for a good glycolic acid, and this is one of them!
A roundup of all the hair oils I tried in the past few weeks. Honestly, I’m sure I have the same hair as always, but probably more grey than anything else.
A lot of these oils are so expensive – over $50 and when I used them, I really thought that it might be better to get a cheap oil and just put the rest of the money towards a nice perfume.
Of all of these, my least favourite oil was the Balmyard one. I found that it made my hair crispy, even after I washed it off, so I think that blend of oils is film-forming. The Ouai oil has silicone in it, so it’s not really a true oil, but it’s the best for frizz. The Aesop oil is good for a nice head massage. Sahajan – well that’s my favourite. The UMA Oil was good because it washed out clean and that’s a priority for me. The castor oil is from Amazon.
Obviously, I didn’t use any of these long enough to be able to see a real difference in terms of growth or hair health. For that, I would need to use each oil for at least 3 months, and I’d need to develop a consistent way of measuring change. I’m not doing that, and I don’t think any of these oils advertise life-changing hair development. That being said, the ritual of giving your scalp a nice massage cannot be appreciated enough, and if you’re locked down like we all are right now, a little ritual like this one might just be the thing that saves you.
Perfume today is L’Artisan Parfumeur Vetiver Coeur Sacre. Are old bottles > new bottles? I like the old ones… wish I had held on to more of them. Anyway, I needed something chill, I was expecting the worst but it was a completely normal day and I’m so thankful for that.
This perfume is a nice tall glass of unsweetened iced green tea. Normally, I wouldn’t wear it in the winter but I wanted to surprise myself and I need a refresh.
But this is the perfect summer scent because it’s light and you can refresh often, and I kind of like that in the summer. Putting it away for now and pulling it out in a couple of months.
