Category Archives: Miscellaneous

My Water-Adjacent Essentials

July 25, 2014Miscellaneous, VacationAveeno, Hawaiian Tropic, Life, Make Up For Ever, Nestea, RevlonChelle

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I am very lucky to be surrounded by friends and family who happen to have far better amenities in their apartment complexes than I do! As such, I take advantage of their pools when I don’t have the opportunity to get my butt down to Toronto’s waterfront.

I’ve recently embraced wearing a bikini for the first time this summer! After having spent a lot of my 20s not overly impressed with my body, I used to either shy away from situations that involved swimming or delve into the land of tankinis. But no longer! As such, I’m loving laying out by some sort of body of water (pool, lake, whatever, I’m not picky!) and soaking up some sun.

All of this to say, I’ve got a few items I’ve been carting around with me for beach or pool days and I thought I’d let you know what they are.

Hawaiian Tropic – Sheer Touch Sunscreen in SPF 15

While I’m not someone who drenches themselves in oil in order to ensure maximum tanage, I’m still not wanting to remain the ghostly white pale thing that my skin resets to every winter. I usually start off the summer with an SPF of 30 and then scale it back as my tan develops. A friend recently introduced me to Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen – a brand I had completely avoided because it didn’t indicate on the front of the bottle that it’s waterproof. However, if you look at the fine print on the back, it is waterproof and therefore much, MUCH more suited to swimming. The biggest seller on this one? Aside from the scent (coconut-y, pina colada-esque), it has SHIMMER in it. Flecks of gold freaking glitter! If I have to swear sunscreen, you’re darn right I want to be looking like a disco ball while wearing doing so! I believe I grabbed this tube at Walmart for around 8 bucks.

Drinking Nestea (Zero, now) while hanging out on a friend’s dock (all the while listening to Matchbox 20, Moist and Serial Joe) is a memory that I cannot shake from my teen years. I used to spend a lot of summers hanging out on my best friend’s dock at their cottage by the lake, and I drank these by the cartonful. I’m not a huge fan of drinking alcoholic beverages by the water when it’s too hot – it dehydrates me and makes me feel fuzzy, and not in a good way. When the sun is beating down on me mid-day, and I’m covered in greasy sunscreen and feeling sweaty – I want something refreshing. And that’s either going to be a Nestea (the Canadian version, not the American one – that stuff is too much like real tea for me) or an espresso frappuccino from Starbucks.

And I have to say, aside from a towel, a drink and some sunscreen, there’s not a whole lot I do while laying out to get some sun. After I get out of the sun though, that’s when I need a few more products.

Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer

After I’ve washed all the sunscreen off, I whack on Aveeno’s facial moisturizer. It has an SPF in it, but I mostly just like the moisture it provides. This is my daily moisturizer, it pretty much follows me wherever I go.

Inevitably there are times when I get too much sun and have to whack on some aloe. I like the gel version because frankly… it feels neat. It’s green, see-through and goes on smoothly. As you can tell from the massive amount of product I’ve already used, this helped me out quite recently when I was little overzealous in the sun. And it’s cheap too! Life brand for ~$2 at Shoppers!

And lastly, if I’m going anywhere after having been in the pool, the last thing I want to do is whack on a pile of makeup, but I do want to look at least somewhat alive. I’m currently going through a trial-size tube of Make Up For Ever‘s Smoky Lash Extravagant, so I’ll pop several coats of that on my lashes. Since I don’t bother with an eyelash curler, I make sure to push my lashes upwards with my finger while the mascara is drying to give my lashes a little bit of a lift.

And to bring out some colour in my cheeks, I’ve been using Revlon‘s Coral Reef cream blush. Nothing fancy here: I stick my fingers in the pot and blend it onto my cheeks and hope for the best.

It’s not much, but this is what I like to have around me when I’m visiting someone else’s watery area. Occasionally I’ll have a book with me, or my iPod for some music, but really… I just like laying there and dozing. (And then promptly jump in the pool when I overheat!)

How Many Shots Does It Take?

July 23, 2014MiscellaneousChelle

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I’m always fascinated (and sometimes annoyed) by just how many pictures it takes to get the perfect one. We always like to portray ourselves in pictures how we want others to see us. Whether it’s making sure you’re showing the world your best angle, or chopping off a few extra pounds by zooming in the picture a bit – there’s always something we’re trying to convey in the pictures we post online.

Having logged well over 100 different makeup look s I’ve done on myself that were suitable for posting on this blog since its inception this past October, I’ve learned just how many photos it takes to get the right one. And for me, that number seems to be somewhere between 30 and 50. (And if it hits over 100…. /shudder)

So in order to get these three shots:

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I’ve gone through all of these to find the least blurry, the best angle, the right “this is how I felt at this moment in time” photo that I possibly could.

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And then chopped them all down in an attempt to make it look like I’m not standing in front of my badly lit bathroom mirror or in my bedroom at the crack of dawn before work!

So, tell me! How many pictures does it take you before you get one that you think is suitable enough?

P.S. If you actually want to know what’s on my face in the shots above, the full product listing can be found in this recent post: What’s On My Face – Volume 19.

Use Up 2014 – Update

July 14, 2014MiscellaneousCoverGirl, Jack Black, MAC, Physicians Formula, RevlonChelle

At the start of the year I chose 14 items that I liked well enough to use up, but that I wasn’t interested in repurchasing. The goal was (is!) to clean out my collection of items that kind of just sit around because I don’t reach for them daily. Usually when I force myself to use a product over a period of time, I discover new ways to use them. And since I’m a fan of progress updates (there’s a fitness one coming this Friday on how I’m progressing with my fitness goals this year!) I thought I’d give you an idea on how I’m doing with my chosen 14 for the year.

Since I made the mistake of junking one of the products without thinking about it, let’s get to that one first. It was MUA‘s Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand. I used to think I liked it – it goes on really smoothly on the skin and the colour match was really good. However… over time it turns my face into a greasepit! I’m not even an especially oily-skinned person either so that was super disappointing. It wasn’t worth finishing so when I got to halfway in the tube, I just chucked the whole thing out. (It was in my previous Empties.)

I’m quite proud of this one actually! CoverGirl & Olay’s Tone Rehab CC Cream foundation was my most used foundation throughout the winter months this year. It was too dark throughout those months so I mixed it with a lighter foundation (Bourjois’ Healthy Mix Gel foundation in 51 Light Vanilla) and it worked out wonderfully. Of course, now it’s too pale for the summer months on my tanned face so I’ll have to wait till the autumn months to wear it again. Interesting to note is that the swirled in Olay cream eventually gets squashed down as the product decreases in the tube.

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm in Natural Mint

This one is totally dunzo. Jack Black‘s lip balm is really only flavoured vaseline with SPF. I wore it mostly while running at the gym (I get dry lips while running) and it didn’t do a whole heck of a lot. Like any vaseline product though, this was great at protecting my lips from windburn in the freezing winter months when I wore it outdoors.

MAC‘s limited edition Strawberry Malt lipglass is beautiful… for the first fifteen minutes after application. Over the years I’ve just gone off of lipgloss because it really doesn’t have any kind of decent lasting power, particularly when you work in an office environment and don’t have the luxury of checking your makeup every waking second. My best example of this is that I had put this gloss on shortly before an hour long meeting I had at work, one in which I was expected to speak out loud, but not carry on the entire meeting. I was even complimented on my lip colour when I walked into the meeting! So I spoke a bit throughout that hour, but not extensively. By the end of the hour, all of the gloss was gone from my lips – to the point that the person who had complimented me actually asked “what happened to your red gloss??” at the end of the meeting. That’s just ridiculous. So lately I’ve opted to layer this over top of lipstick so that it at least lasts a little bit longer. I’m a little bit over halfway done with the tube, so it really shouldn’t last that much longer.

Finishing up four eyeshadows is actually a bit more of a ballsy thing to do than most people may think. I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to do it! But when I really started focusing on it, I started plugging through the shadows relatively quickly. Brule was the first one I finished up – I used it primarily as my daylight browbone highlight shade. Next up was Haux which became my go-to lazy day shadow – not something I wore too often, but often enough that I was finally able to finish it up.

As for the ones I haven’t finished… there’s Shroom, which is really close to being done. It’s slightly shiny/shimmery, so while I use it as a browbone highlight, I don’t use it on the daily. The other remaining one is Swish, a frosty pink hell-ish nightmare. I think I’ve used it once this year and I have to say I really, really don’t like this shade. I bought it in my teens and it’s not a shade I’m particularly interested in using in my adult life. The texture of this has also gone very, very soft and crumbly. If I don’t use this up by the end of the year (and I won’t) I’ll just end up chucking it out.

Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium

What a mistake choosing this bronzer was. I have no chance in hell of finishing this guy up. I used it daily for roughly four months straight and the only thing I succeeded in doing was obliterating the sun emblem in the middle of the product. If I look at the pan intensely, I don’t even see a dent in the product. I don’t know what this is made out of, but it might as well be a brick. I became so frustrated with my lack of progress on this product that I ended up moving on to other bronzers that I enjoy using more. One thing’s for sure though, the lack of progress I’ve made on this bronzer has stopped me from buying anymore bronzers completely.

Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm in Twilight

No progress to report on this one. I wear Revlon‘s Twilight lipstain every now and then, but due to the nature of the tube I can’t tell how much is left. It still seems to contain plenty of product though since it’s still very moist when I apply it.

Awkward and disorienting “Now” shot! Revlon‘s Sunset Peach gloss is about halfway done and should be gone by the end of the summer. It’s an easy summer shade to pop on, so I’ve had a lot of use out of it lately.

Yikes, my lip butters need work! Cherry Tarte is done, but Creamsicle and Red Velvet need some serious work done to them.

And of course little Mr. Noms came outside on the balcony to see what I was up to while photographing my products!

Well, I’m a lot less far along on these products than I thought I was going to be halfway through the year, particularly with the lip products. I had expected to plough through the lip products but struggle on the eyeshadows. When in actuality it’s the reverse. And let’s not even talk about that bronzer, I’m totally pissed off at it. *grumble grumble*

Products I’ve Hit Pan On #2

July 11, 2014Hit Pan, MiscellaneousMAC, NiveaChelle

My original “Products I’ve Hit Pan On” post has become one of my most visited posts on this site. So I suppose that means I’m not the only person interested in seeing some well-loved products!

Clockwise from top left (all MAC): Naked Lunch, Nylon, Club and Shag

These MAC shadows aren’t ones I’ve recently hit pan on, but I forgot to include them in my last post.

Naked Lunch (top left): I bought this in 2009 as part of a look I wore for a friend‘s wedding (anyone else associate certain products with periods in their life?). I don’t wear it so often anymore, but I typically tend to use this in gradient looks. For example, Naked Lunch, Star Violet, Sketch, or Naked Lunch, All That Glitters, Sketch. It can be quite frosty, but it’s a beautiful highlighting shade that’s on the pinker side.

Nylon (top right): This is my second pan of Nylon and one of the original first few MAC shades I bought in my early teens. Nothing beats Nylon for a frosty, luminescent glow.

Shag (bottom left): Another one of my original MAC shades – this one has long since been discontinued. Shag is very, very similar to Haux, just slightly more red-brown instead of Haux‘s rosy-browness. I only hit pan on this one because back in the day I stuck a pin in the middle of the shadow to figure out how much I had left!

Club (bottom right): Club has been a staple in my collection over the years. It’s a browny-green duochrome (which can also often look like a rusty-brown shade) that has been duped by many other companies over the years, but this was the “original” shade to me. This one crumbled on me at one point and I had to re-press it.

Nivea’s Caramel Cream Kiss is a newer purchase for me (just this past March), but it’s become well loved. It does leave a bit of a white cast on the lips if you apply too much, but since it’s the balm I put on before I go to bed at night, I’m not really that fussed about what it looks like. It doesn’t really smell like caramel to me, but it’s certainly got a sweet, syrupy scent.

MAC Tinted Lip Conditioner in Petting Pink

I really loved this lip conditioner when I first bought it a few years ago, but I no longer wear it nearly as much as I used to. This sits relatively untouched now in my makeup drawer at work unless I’ve forgotten to bring some kind of lip product with me that day. It’s smooth on the lips and has that vanilla scent to it that all other MAC lip products seem to have, but unfortunately it just doesn’t have a great deal of lasting power.

This is actually my second pan of this shade, but not because I finished it! My first Blue Sorcery actually smashed to pieces to the bedroom floor a few years ago and it was completely unsalvageable. I ended up buying a new one on Ebay since it was limited edition and I don’t regret it – that teal shade is *insane* when applied to the lids with a damp brush. I’ve hit a bit of the terracotta pan that it sits on (left-hand side) so I guess that counts as hitting pan? There’s certainly plenty left of this one though!

That’s it for this edition! Are you scraping bottom on any of your products lately?

June 2014 Favourites

July 2, 2014Favourites, MiscellaneousAnastasia, Boots No7, MAC, Maybelline, NiveaChelle

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I don’t even remember what spring is anymore. Every year in Toronto it feels like we go from serious sub-zero temperatures and then all of a sudden it’s freaking scorching outside! As a nod to the ever increasing temperatures and my ever increasing desire to wear less makeup as I stay up later and wake up later (and have less and less time to get ready for work every morning), I ended up leaning more heavily towards lip products this month since my eye makeup was looking pretty bare a lot of the time.

First up is Nivea‘s Lip Butter in Caramel Cream Kiss. This has become my nightly lip balm. I’ve put a rather large dent in this from using it every night before I go to bed. It’s thick enough that it’ll last all night and I’ll often wake up the next morning with a thin layer still on my lips. It doesn’t smell quite like caramel to me, but it’s still buttery, sugary goodness!

If I had to define happiness in a shade of lipstick, Maybelline‘s Vivid Rose would be it. I bought this last summer and fell in love with it immediately. This is a bright, hot, deep neon pink that smells like creamy frosting and lasts a surprisingly long time on the lips given how rich it is. Seriously, this stuff stays surprisingly creamy on the lips for many hours after it’s been applied. If you pick up one thing from Maybelline‘s Vivids line, let Vivid Rose be the one!

This sad pot of lipstick is MAC‘s Hibiscus lipstick. Unfortunately, the bullet broke a long while ago and the only way to salvage the lipstick was to depot the whole thing into a small sample jar I had from MAC. This lipstick was from the Surf Baby collection in 2011 and because it’s de-tubed, I keep forgetting about it! It’s a cremesheen, which I don’t have the best of experiences with, but there’s no denying that colour! A bright, shiny coral, this one is loads of fun to wear. Unfortunately, MAC hasn’t re-released it in the past few years since its initial release, but if you ever spot this at a CCO or on a blog sale, definitely snatch it up!

Boots No7 Instant Radiance Foundation in Cool Vanilla

Boots No7‘s Instant Radiance foundation in Cool Vanilla was too dark for me throughout the winter months, so I’ve only been able to recently bust it out and start using it again. And I, as per usual, had forgotten just how much I love this stuff. It blends in beautifully and it really does give a radiance to the skin that I never really expect from foundation, even when it’s called Instant Radiance! Love the pump too. I picked this up last year when I was in England, but I think Boots No7 brand is now sold at Target in Canada.

I’d just like to take this moment to give myself a massive pat on the back for finally figuring out how to use this properly! When I finally ran out of my MAC Omega shadow, and had this waiting in the wings, I knew I had to buckle down and figure out how to use this product. Sweeping powder through your eyebrows is one thing, trying to actually put some kind of gel product there can be maddening! This has become my go-to brow look now. It’s a lot more in your face than I’m used to, and I’m not entirely sure the colour is quite pale enough for me, but I like the end result so I’ll keep going with this until they come out with a lighter shade than Blonde.

And just like that, there goes June! Tell me what you were loving this month