Loving Lately - February 2016

Toronto is currently in the midst of a wintry mix storm, so I figured I might as well hunker down and write about what I've been reaching for more often than not this past month. I was a bit out of routine this month thanks to Family Day/NBA All-Star Weekend, but I'm getting back into it all gradually. I've found myself focused on using things up since I have a bit of a habit of flitting around from product to product, then clearing out the product pile-up on my bathroom counter and starting all over again. Suffice it to say, this habit is kind of awful and eradicating it is a work in progress. On to the goodies:

The Estée Edit by Estée Lauder The Up & Out Double Mascara 

The idea of a capsule collection targeted at Millennials and sold exclusively through Sephora seems like a no-brainer in terms of Estée Lauder really chasing down a market they've been missing in recent years aka flaunting its brand ambassadors (Hi, Kendall) turned "guest editors". The collection is 26 products that are meant to embrace the idea that EL built its brand on, which is "Beauty is in attitude". The collection hit sephora.ca over the weekend and I was drawn in by this mascara (and a blush, which was a patchy nightmare upon application, so it went back to Sephora). I like the idea of a double-ended mascara because it's two looks or functions for one price, and this was no exception. When I got my hands on the tube, I instantly saw a resemblance between the "curl/lift" brush and MAC's Upward Lash brush, and the "volume" brush actually reminded me a lot of now-discontinued MAC Plushlash Mascara. I can't say the wands are identical to the MAC counterparts I just mentioned, but they are hugely reminiscent and both perform well. The formulations are wet, so thinner lashes may want to steer clear ...or leave the tubes open for a while to dry'em out. I found that applying with the "volume" side first and then following up with the "lift" brush was the best method for my lashes, giving me a full, fanned-out effect.

Dermalogica Skin Resurfacing Cleanser

When it comes to exfoliation, I'm an acids girl the whole way. The occasional physical exfoliant can feel good, but on a nearly daily basis, I reach for products with lactic or glycolic acid for even, smooth skin. A recent trip to the IDI led me to snap this cleanser up and I have been really happy with its performance. Now, this cleanser is in no way meant to be used to break down makeup - definitely use it on already-clean, damp skin. Massage this stuff in for 30 seconds and feel the difference in your skin after, thanks to the lactic acid (third ingredient in the bottle) that works to break down the built-up dead skin. I use this a few times a week and in conjunction with retinols/retinoids and don't experience any irritation. Give this a whirl if you deal with congested skin on the reg!

Jo Malone Green Tomato Leaf Candle

Yes, a candle just made the cut into this post. There's a slew of things from Jo Malone that I feel like I have glazed over before, including the brand's Just Like Sunday range, which is a collection of home candles that are meant to evoke specific scents reminiscent of Sunday meals. All that aside, if you like Diptyque Baies, you'll likely be into this scent, which is a bit more green with a hint of moss, but ultimately similar to Baies, probably because of the cassis note. I like Diptyque plenty, but it was nice to explore something different from Jo Malone. I also wanted to give my Jo Malone Moroccan Rose & Cardamom candle a rest because it was limited edition last winter and I'm one of those nutty people who just longingly admire candles if I know I can't buy them again. Noteworthy: this candle has excellent throw even when it isn't lit, so candle hoarders rejoice!

Tom Ford Eye Colour Quad in "Honeymoon"

When I first saw this eye palette, I loved the overwhelming warm tones of the eyeshadows and then I had a flashback to this Lisa Eldridge tutorial that she did in celebration of 100 years of Bollywood. The quad she used on her model was Tom Ford Eye Colour Quad in "Burnished Amber", which was a limited edition offering years ago. I have watched and re-watched this tutorial many times over the years and never really forgot about how flattering this quad was on East Indian skin. I got my hands on Honeymoon a little after its initial launch and have absolutely loved it. As much as I wear and love cool-toned taupes and neutrals, there's something alluring about the copper-tinged gold, warm bronze and cranberry shades that I'm really loving, and the deep plum has a soft warmth to it that is also wildly flattering when worn along the lash line. The shadow formula can be worn wet or dry (any Tom Ford shadow stamped with TF in the pan is this versatile formulation), and I have worn this daily since getting it. Fave palette I own - huge statement - hands down. 

Deciem Hand Chemistry Retin-Oil 

Like I said, acids and anything that helps with skin cell turnover are my go-to for even skin. That philosophy is now spreading to my body. As a person who is no stranger to scars (two escalator falls in the last 2.5 years, one of which ended with escalator teeth scars on both my shins), introducing a retinol-boosted product into my body care routine made perfect sense. This oil has been kicking around my bathroom for a while, so I finally threw it into the mix after seeing it pop up on a fellow beauty fan's IG the other day. In addition to scars, I have really uneven skin on the tops of my thighs. A part of me thinks it's from friction caused by clothing or activity, but the skin in this area sort of resembles keratosis pillaris, which is a bummer. This oil has basically cleared up my uneven skin on my legs and has diminished my [very dark] scars from my tumbles. It has 1% retinoid to even out skin tone and texture, and it's a dry oil texture, so it absorbs rapidly after applying. I tend to layer this underneath a body lotion, such as Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Body Cream (which contains a happy trifecta of glycolic, lactic and salicylic acids) for maximum impact. Obviously, as with any retinol or acid, slap on SPF if you're going to be in the sun because your skin will be more susceptible to burning when you're using a retinol or acid product. 

Travel Bits

I recently escaped the cold for a brief jaunt to sunny Arizona. Here are some products I used on the daily (if not multiple times a day) while traveling! 

Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré

This product alternative title is apparently "24-hour Miracle Cream", and I'm thinking that's a substantial claim, but not one that I'm really going to argue with. I first started using this when I heard about it in a Pixiwoo video and then stumbled upon it at Ricky's NYC. I'm pretty into the texture and hydrating properties (shea butter, beeswax, aloe vera, soy protein), though I'm not wild about the packaging. The metal tube is pretty beat up, as it's my go-to travel moisturizer. I figured it'd be a great contender for any airplane dryness I'd face (boo HISS @ connecting flights), and it was.

SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion UV Defense SPF 50

It's a daily staple, not just a travel necessity, and frankly, sunscreen ought to be a daily staple for all y'all! This is an incredibly lightweight titanium dioxide/zinx oxide formula that absorbs quickly with no greasy residue at all. If you're at all averse to sunscreen greasiness of yesteryear, try this formula to have any and all of your sunscreen apprehension dramatically shift to complete and utter love. This one won't leave any whitish cast on your skin, so it's great for any and all skin tones. It's a needed product in your daily routine. Also: this sunscreen wears beautifully under makeup!

Nivea Sun Lip Care SPF 30

As I've mentioned, I have unusually pigmented lips, and time in the sun makes the edges of my mouth much darker. My go-to tinted balms that contain SPF usually melt in no time in heat (sorry,  Fresh Sugar Lip Tint), so I avoided carrying them in my bag for touch-ups or taking them with me when traveling. For sunscreen protection without a tint, I packed this Nivea stick, which is comfortable to wear thanks to vitamin E and sunflower extracts.

Benefit The Big Easy

A newcomer to the Benefit range and a totally welcomed addition to my warm weather face routine, this lightweight foundation formula adjusts to match your skintone (though there are multiple shades in the range to begin with), goes from a creamy liquid to a matte, powder-like finish and contains SPF 35. What's not to like about this?

Chloé Eau de Parfum (mini)

Nabbed a mini of this perfectly summery EDP as a Sephora VIB Rouge deluxe sample and have thoroughly enjoyed both wearing it and admiring the adorable nature of the teensy bottle. The pink peony, rose and amber notes are unusually appealing to me, a not-so-floral fragrance lover. Reminder: I like mini beauty things.

Jo Malone Vitamin E Nourishing Hand Treatment

I can't say I love decanting products too much for travel purposes. I seem to buy endless amounts of travel-size containers for this exact purpose and they all seem to collectively suck because they all end up being the containers that leak endless inside my Ziploc bag. No bueno. Every hand cream I had in my arsenal seemed to be 2+ ounces, so I was amped when this sample surfaced in a drawer. I've had a number of these over the years, and the smell now reminds me of air travel (in a good way - and yes, I do think that's a thing!), and it really does an excellent job of hydrating, softening and soothing hands. Well worth the full size purchase!

Good Things Come in Teensy Packaging

As I alluded to in my post on highlighters, I'm from a fam where we are serious fans of anything miniature. A little mini bottle of Heinz, a little jar of jam, it doesn't matter what it is, we just stop and and coo over it and comment on how cute it is. So that's how much I like mini condiment offerings... multiply that affection by about a thousand and that's how much I love beauty product minis.

Minis are always helpful in getting to know a product before committing to the full size, and I've actually been turned on to many a product by miniature sizes and samples. Sampling is essential in this industry in order to determine how compatible a product is with your skin, colouring or body chemistry. Sampling is just good sense, and I hope it's something that more brands consider engaging in if they don't currently have a sampling program in place. Minis that are given compliments of a brand are fun paraphernalia to have as keepsakes. That's how I view any and all Chanel bits that I've amassed since interning there. 

I've accumulated a pretty vast collection of tiny products over the years, given as samples from the counters or included in gift sets and the like. Here's a small (hehehe) sampling of my collection of minis that I doubt I'll ever tire of. They're just so precious and twee!

Included in this photoset: Chanel Les Exclusifs in Gardenia, Beige & Jersey; Chanel Coco Noir; Dior L'Or de Vie Serum, Eye & Lip Contour Cream and Face Cream; Calvin Klein Downtown; Prada Luna Rossa Pour Homme and Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia Eau Fraiche; NARS Mini Bronzer in "Laguna", Jo Malone Vitamin E Gel, Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus, Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer, Laura Mercier Eye Basics in "Buff", Bobbi Brown Rich Color Gloss in "Pink Buff", Benefit Ultra Plush Lip Gloss in "Hoola", Trish McEvoy Beauty Booster Serum, Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint.

Loving Lately - October 12th, 2013

What can I say? I don't consider myself the standard pink lover, but this image begs to differ. Allow me to run these down:

1. Dior Diorblush in 849 Mimi Bronze - The latest blush formulation to launch from Dior, which is weirdly soon after the cream blush range that launched not too long ago from this brand, but so what/who care, the new shade range is both extensive and lovely. The formula is plenty pigmented and application is pretty dreamy. This colour keeps me from having to use a separate bronzer as a contour, so yay for streamlining the ol' routine!

2. MAC Extended Play Giga Lash (RiRi packaging) - I'm not going to lie. The initial reason I bought this was because I just liked the packaging of this Rihanna x MAC collab (the third one of the year), and had never tried this formula before (and we all know I am a bit of a mascara addict), but luckily, it's quite decent for wiggling into the root of the lashes and almost sculpting lashes. Yeah. Lash sculpting. That's a thing now.

3. Jo Malone Red Currant & Cream Cologne - sorry to anyone who actually wants this, because it was indeed limited edition and came out in Spring 2013, BUT there's a very small but real chance your nearest Jo Malone counter might actually have this. I'm not a fan of gourmand scents, but Jo Malone did up sugary sweet in a very favourable way. There's a creamy musk note at the heart of this that mellows out the strawberry and raspberry notes. It's definitely not an everyday scent for me (lest we forget, I'm the person who pushed her Aqualina Pink Sugar-obsessed friend to abandon that scent and enter adulthood with grown-up fragrance that doesn't remind everyone of a bad hangover in 2nd year university), but it's a welcomed reprieve from the hyper citrus scents I wore all summer and the heavier/headier scents I'll be delving into in months to come this winter.

4. Valentino Valentino Satin Body Oil - I bought the EDP and body lotion set of Valentino Valentina last fall and quite adored the scent throughout the winter, so imagine my dismay when I moved back into my now-repaired condo and discovered that Valentino Valentina had apparently gone missing (along with 4-5 other fragrances and my flat iron). Suffice it to say, I was a touch heartbroken. An oud iteration of this fragrance is launching in November, but I could not wait to try it, and had to get a hit of this fragrance (and even an adorable mini version of the Assoluto flanker wouldn't satiate me). Instead of sinking another ~$100 in the EDP, I was creeping thebay.com and discovered there was a body oil of this fragrance. A body oil! For winter! In Canada! That makes enough sense to me! So I grabbed it for a decent price and have very much enjoyed the dry oil texture, as it absorbs quickly and I'm not paranoid about leaving really sketchy oil slicks everywhere my limbs touch.

5. Deborah Milano Blusher in Cacao - This one... well, this one will kind of make me seem like a crazy person. After seeing maybe two people on YouTube rave on and on about this specific blush, I was determined to try it. Deborah Milano doesn't ship to Canada. By some miracle, they do ship from Europe to USA, so I pulled that usual stunt of buying stuff and getting it shipped to my awesome brother who still resides in Manhattan. I'd have less of an ecommerce habit if he didn't, but I'd pay so much duty if he did, my goodness. Right, so, this blush is a delightful shimmery brown colour and if I dab it onto my cheeks just below the cheekbone but not quite in the contour, it's a pretty great definition without requiring a separate highlight. It's like instant structure for the face. What could be bad about that?

6. Bourjois Cream Blush in 04 Sweet Cherry - First started reading about these cream blushes on Euro makeup blogs and when Chanel launched their cream blushes, I was into the formula and wondered if the formula would be similar to Bourjois' and low and behold, they're really, really similar (spoiler alert: both brands belong to the same privately owned company). Both formulas have that brilliant cream to powder formula, but Chanel stuck to a really satiny finish, whereas Bourjois has a bit of shimmer in some of their shades. Sweet Cherry is a mid-tone dusty pink shade that isn't too bright and pretty ideal as a base shade for cheeks when patted onto cheeks. This formula looks ever so second-skin and natural. I grabbed this when I was in London in June and just grabbed a couple more on ASOS (sidebar: buying Rimmel and Bourjois products that aren't available in the North American market is an absurdly amusing pastime).

7. Fresh Life Eau de Parfum - I believe this is launching in November in Canada, and I'm anxiously awaiting the day, because I have put an aggressive dent in my bottle, and I've probably gone through about 40mL of the 100 mL bottle pictured. The notes are unusual in that this fragrance is essentially four different scents developed individually and then rolled into one. It's been a bit polarizing for some people, but it's launching in a fragrant candle and body oil iteration, and I have every intention of purchasing both when it launches because I kinda want to simply exist in this fragrance. The warm orange, velvet bergamot and grapefruit elements come out the most to my nose, but there's plenty more going on in this bottle. I think my only gripe is that it doesn't seem to last on my skin, hence my half-bottle dousing every time I leave the house, but your mileage may vary.


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