Loving Lately - September 2016

Man, where to start? September has been a zoo of a month, with a ton of family time and lots of early mornings/late nights working on projects. We started the month with a long weekend spent working with a splash of family get-togethers for good measure. That was followed by a brief but packed NYC visit for a few days; I walked around 5 miles each day, just exploring the city like I never even did when I lived there. I met up with my dear Marina for a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, mentally reenacting a scene from RHONY all the while.

It was a great visit, even with the absolutely heinous heatwave. We naturally took in a Jays game, knowing they were in town for a series with the Yankees.

Once we returned to Toronto, I wrapped up a digital magazine endeavour I had been working on since July for a fab company called Milni, which connects South Asian couples with wedding vendors of their dreams. Check out the first issue right here: http://bit.ly/MilniIssue1

We've had new additions to the family this summer, two very sweet nieces. I am completely enamoured with how tiny and peaceful and absolutely beautiful these babies are. Here's the latest addition, who was born the morning we flew to NYC. She is a little doll and makes my hands look like that of a giant. I love her to bits.

I also started a new gig that has been a wonderful experience, so it's been an amazing month. Tiring, but super fulfilling! Onto the products that made me feel a little bit more polished and presentable than usual:

Dermalogica Hydrablur Primer

This product has been out for a year now, and I've always been drawn to it purely because I wasn't into the finish of Skinperfect, a primer/SPF offering from Dermalogica. I love Hydrablur for exactly why you'd think - it's hydrating and it smoothes the skin's surface out, making skin a now-perfect canvas for makeup. It is loaded with silicones, but it also contains fruit oils and sunflower oil to balance the formulation. There's a "tint" that is released once the product is applied to skin, but it is virtually nonexistent so I imagine this would work on all skin tones without leaving a white cast. It's a real keeper as we move into cooler mornings/evenings, so I'm officially softening my "no primers ever" stance.

Artis Elite Smoke Oval 6 Brush

Y'all. I love a good makeup brush. Majority of my brushes that I reach for the most are made for the masses; Real Techniques and EcoTools have been in high rotation for years, accented with the occasional high-end brush. I admitted got sucked into the hype of Artis brushes, but the hype is real. This brush is awesome for foundation and concealer without absorbing all your product (glaring at you, BeautyBlender). I'm happy I chose this brush size in particular to pick up, as the larger brushes (Oval 8, Oval 10) all look like they would do a great job of quickly distributing product, but I reckon it'd be a little bit on the messy side. This size allows me to do concealer/correct under my eyes and around my nose with ease, so it's a real multitasker in my experience.

Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo in "218 Script" 

I don't commit to a lip colour for a full day of wear. I usually start with a lip balm, follow up with a lip stick or lip liner (sometimes both) and then as that combo of products wears off, I tend to reapply balm only, not usually feeling inclined to add more colour as the day goes on. I'm simply not a touch-up person; I've never carried a makeup bag in my purse (probably because  my preferred size of purse is usually smaller than most makeup bags out there) and it's simply an unappealing idea. All that being said, this lip colour has made it into my bag for trips to and from the office because I genuinely enjoy wearing it! It's a comfortable, creamy formula, so lasting power is certainly variable based on food/drink consumption, but the colour is a perfect colour for my pigmented lips and it simply livens up my face. Slim packaging is streamlined if you are a fellow small-purses-only person, and the formula doesn't settle into lines. Perfect fall treat.

Tom Ford Cream Eye Colour in "Sphinx"

Do you see that hint of duochrome-y goodness up there? It's a packshot, but there's a sense of sheen and shine in there, no? This peachy-pink-gold cream shadow is really beautiful when swatched. It looks underwhelming in the pot, but once it's on the skin, it comes to life! 

The out-of-focus nature of this shot is with purpose - it best captures the shimmer. The shimmer particles are certainly leaning towards the larger side of the scale, meaning it's definitely a shadow that catches the light, but it can certainly be mellowed out with powder shadows or other cream colours on top. I love wearing this on its own or with winged liner. It's a little on the summery side for some people at this time of the year, but so what/who cares/it's really pretty. Really looking forward to pairing this with Tom Ford's Honeymoon eyeshadow quad, which was my eye obsession earlier this year. I suspect they'll be a match made in heaven. 

Bits I Bought in NYC

I spent 4 nights and about 4.5 days in New York, NY, crashing with my dear brother (you know, family day weekend and all). I mostly had intentions of seeing friends, eating and generally wandering the city as I used to. I had a couple items in mind that I wanted to check out, so here are some of the bits I came back with. 

Custom lipstick from Bite Beauty Lip Lab

I remember reading about Canadian brand Bite Beauty's custom-colour-making Lip Lab a little while ago, and then I saw Lesa whipping up a custom blend on Insta, and I made a mental note to check it out next time I was going to be in the city. My flight back to Toronto was pushed back substantially, so I had extra time to poke around. I made my way to Prince Street to partake in this experience and had a delightful time creating a custom lip colour. I decided to stick to a colour that I would wear more often than not, so a fairly neutral-leaning-ever-so-slightly-warm shade was born after two rounds of mixing and trying on the blends with my lip lab tech. The options include picking out a formulation (Matte? Sheer? and so forth and so on!), tweaking the colour to your liking, adding a scent via essential oils and deciding what type of lipstick cap you prefer (an odd but interesting choice to make).

My lip lab tech mixed too much of my custom colour, so I wound up with two bullets for the price of one. Custom lipsticks start at $36 each and go up depending on the formula you choose. I walked away with a flesh-toned sheer luminous creme lipstick scented with mango and mint essential oils. If you're never able to find a colour that pleases you, definitely stop by for a bullet or few as unique as your taste.

Tatcha Camelia Nourishing Lip Balm

This jar untouched was so pretty, but I couldn't even slow my roll enough to snap a pic of it before completely messing up the gold leaf of this lip balm. I'm so not blogger-minded in that regard! Oh well! What I can express is that this balm is reeeeeeally pretty (immaculate packaging, y'all), and is loaded with camellia oil. I recently fell hard for this type of oil after realizing it's the magic ingredient in Shu Uemura's Moisture Velvet range, as well as Shu Uemura's Essence Absolue hair oil. Those products are the only things that hydrate my hair, so I was more than willing to try this balm, and I'm quite pleased with it. There's a square of gold leaf on top of this balm that lends a hint of shimmer when applied to the lips, but once it's gone, you're looking at a pretty emollient formula.

Vaseline Rosy Lips

Once I saw this pop up on US blogs, I knew I'd make a point of hunting it down. I first asked the PR team for Vaseline if this was going to launch in the Canadian market any time soon, and after I received confirmation that it wouldn't in the foreseeable future, I began plotting. I hit several Duane Reades and didn't spot it, so then I carried on to Walgreens in Times Square, because desperate times call for desperate measures! I found a bunch, bought 3 (2 for friends - my hoarding mentality is more selective than that!) and have enjoyed the hint of tint and floral scent that this formula has. People have their views on petroleum jelly, but I cannot deny the way it keeps lips moisturized, even in heinous weather (and I spent three days outside for about 12 hours a day, and I barely reapplied - fantastic!). 

Aesop Moroccan Neroli Shaving Duet

Aesop has expanded aggressively in the US market (the brand originally hails from Australia!), with Manhattan proper being its primary focus. They have stores all over the city, all quite interesting and made from recycled or renewable materials, like old copies of The New York Times. When I lived in the city, I was an avid user of the Moroccan Neroli Shaving Serum. It's a lightweight gel texture that offers low-foam slip, allowing a razor to glide through with absolute ease. I admittedly grabbed this duo for my boyfriend to make up for a really foiled vday gift (Sidebar rant: Dear J.Crew, how did you completely mess up the execution of monogramming a scarf? Not one letter was correct!!!). The shave serum is accompanied by a soothing aftershave lotion, which is lightweight, hydrating and quite comforting to the skin thanks to shea butter and olive fruit, and a slew of other beneficial ingredients that Aesop just loves throwing into the mix (witch hazel. orange flower oil aka NEROLI, glycerin, ginger root extract)! You can find the Aesop range at Holt Renfrew Yorkdale if you're not keen on ecomm or heading stateside any time soon.

Laura Mercier Ambre Vanillé Eau Gourmande

I don't even know what the classification of "Eau Gourmande" is. Is that a thing? Do I just know nothing about fragrance concentrations?! Doubtful, but I need to go on record and say this was a wildcard buy for me. I'm not that into gourmand scents, and I truly haaaaate vanilla fragrances. Anyone who likes to smell like a cupcake is dead to me, and the success of scents like Aquolina Pink Sugar ASTOUND me. Suffice it to say, this scent does not smell that sugary. It's sweet, but it isn't cloying to me personally. The amber element sucked me in. I originally was drawn to the hand cream in this scent, then just started using the hand cream when I wanted to smell this, and well, logic eventually prevailed! YAY!