NOTD - Chanel Blue Satin

I feel like I have a favorite nail polish associated with each color family like if pink comes to mind -OPI mod about you is my favorite, and if royal blue comes to mind...well then it's chanel blue satin. Chanel Blue Satin is a deep royal blue and its gorgeous with short nails.

This polish is lovely on the nails. I only used one coat to get a perfect opaque color.
 Do you have a favourite royal blue polish?

Happy Friday everyone!


My commitment to beauty

I have been so busy lately and have decided to take a day or at least afternoon to pamper myself. Wednesday night has been my "beauty night" and here are some of the things I have done as part of my commitment to beauty this year:

1. Exfoliate. I exfoliate daily with my clarasonic but once a week I use a stronger exflolator and it is eather Origins Brighter By Nature pads or Dermalogica gentle exfloliator. Either one of these can be used twice a week but I find that to be way too harsh for my skin so I only use them once a week. After a good exfloation treatment, I use Mega Mashroom Skin Calming Face Mask to calm the skin and put some moisture back. I first sow this mask in Lisa Eldrige's skincare video and was surprised I didn't have it since I had all the rest of Dr. Weils for Origins line. I bought it then and love it. It is perfect to calm irritated skin.

2. A hair conditioning/mask. My hair is colored and very very long. I keep it healthy by using a mask at least once a week Here are some of my favourite hair masks. Aveda Dry Remedy Hair Mask is the star here. If I had to purchase only one going forward, this would be it.

3. Polish my nails. I only change my polish once a week. I use Stickey base coat and Orly glosser and my polish last chip free for a week but once a week I have committed to change my polish. After all I have to use up 5 bottles pretty quickly as part of 2011 polish out.

This has basically been my Wednesday night beauty ritual. It's snowed tongith (again). It has snowed way too much here this year. I tried to take a picture with my pup but he wouldn't have it. He was far more intersted in doing this.....(NOTE TO SELF: Do not use Coralista and pet the dog. It smells too much like food)







Current Product In and outs

I have a couple of recent product love/misses and thought an in and out is in order.

In:
1. MAC paints. I adore these! I love cream shadows because they are easy to apply, wear good on their own but also make powder shadow "pop". I don't read much about the MAC paints but these are truly exceptional. They offer a lot of color but never crinkle or crease. They last all day and are gorgeous on. My favourite of all time and one I would recommend for everyone to try is Stilife. This is a gorgeous champagne lilac color. It's very similar to Urban Decay sin but much better in consistency. It's more pigmented and I find that sometimes if I want to wear the UD on its own and I start packing on the color it crinkles a little. This does not. I try to recommend this to everyone in my life. It's a lighter version of my favourite eyeshadow MAC sable. Below is a swatch of Bamboom to the left and Stilife to the right. These are so creamy in texture but yet dry so nicely, are very pigmented and just gorgeous on.

2. Orange/Coral Blushes. I love Laura Mercier blushes and this specific one "Lush Nectarine" is just lush! This looks like a scary orange but on it applies so beautiful and it sheers out to a gorgeous coral. It warms up the cheeks nicely. One thing about Laura Mercier blushes is that they are so creamy in texture and they melt into the skin. They do not sit on top of the cheeks like some other blushes. Love them all but am really enjoying corals at the moment.

3. Origins Mega Mushroom serum. I have been exfoliating my skin a lot lately and my skin was in dire need of TLC. This is perfect to nourish the skin and reduce sensitivity. It's recommended for people with rosecea which I do not have but this feels like such a nice treatment after a good exfoliation. The top cap in the picture looks a bit gross (Sorry!) but that's the product. The color of this product is green. This is lovely.

Outs:

1. This is a big out! NARS discontinued their Mounia blush and I didn't get a chance to buy it! I have wanted Mounia for a long time but kept putting it off as I thought this is a product I could get anytime! This Christmas I asked for it but it was unavialble online. I thought it was sold out due to the holidays but NARS was in the process of discontinuing it. Sephora never carried this color and I have no NARS counters around me. Very disappointed that I will not get to try out this color but hopefully I'll find something similar in another brand.

What are your in and outs?

Hope you all are doing well.







Nailpolish out 2011

Hello everyone,
Polishes..one of my obsessions. I have tons and tons of polishes along with base coats and top coats...this is just a little picture of a "few" of my polishes.



I love polish and find it a great way to dress up an outfit. I love how I can wear the brightest pink to get in a spring or summer mood, a fire red to get in a Christmas or holiday mood or dark polish to celebrate fall. But because I have so much polish I very rarely use up a bottle. This year I'm going to set a goal to use up at least 10 bottles of polishes or bottom/top coat with the next few months. I have picked 10 bottles to finish up. 5 of these polishes I would repurchase and value and 5 I would not and I simply need to use up.
The 5 I would repurchase because I love so much are:
1. OPI Metro Chic. This is a gorgeous purple/muddy color and it's very unique. I get loads of compliments when wearing this color. Although its more of a fall color, I use this all year around.

2. OPI mod about you. This is another color I love and will keep buying over and over again. It's a very pretty bubble gum pink with a slight lavender undertone. I know loads of people complain about how this applies. I put two very thin coats and get perfect opaque color.



3. OPI  You don't know Jacques! This is also another one of those muddy colors. It's a gray color but with a dark brown undertone. I love this especially during fall

4. Sephora by OPI "I'm with  Brad" This is a dark burgundy. It's gorgeous during the holidays and beautiful on sunshine when the burgundy color really shows.

5. OPI coney island cotton candy. This is a sheer off white with a soft peach undertone. I did not like this for the longest because I did not know how to apply it. It kept applying sheer and strikey. But with some patience and two very thin coats, this gives a perfect clean natural look.

Here are the 5 I'm going to use up and not repurchase.
1. OPI natural nail base coat. There is nothing wrong with this base coat, but I would much rather keep using creative nail design stickey coat. I think Stickey keeps my polish on longer. I have them both and really there is no need for two base coat. Will finish this and not repurchase.

2. OPI top coat. This does nothing...not expectational shine or no chip qualities to this. I'll stick with Orly glosser for a glossy shine (I have it on on the You don't know Jacques! picture above and it really gives a gorgeous shine to the nails). Can not find this at the moment so no pic of this but it's just a top coat.
3. Maybelline colorama polish. This is a pink sheer polish with tons of shimmer. It's too sheer and I wouldn't repurchase. This is small though so I hope to use this up quickly.

4. Sally Hanson pure putty. This is a soft lilac putty polish. This only works for me certain times of the year depending on my tan. Not special enough to repurchase.

5. Sally Hanson Vanilla whimsy. This is very similar to OPI coney island cotton candy but I prefer OPI just a little better.



My goal is to use up these 10 in the next few months and clear up some space. I'm also going to "try" and put myself in a polish ban but will allow myself to buy just 10 polishes this year. If I use up more I may change that number.

Are you putting yourself on any "product" bans this year?

Hope you all are doing amazing.











NOTD - ORLY Sweet blush

Orly is a brand that I do not own any of their polishes. I have their top coat (glosser and in a snap) and several of their French Manicure kits but none of their actual colored polishes. While reading Kardashian Konfidential (I know I'm really educating myself, aren't I) I read that Kim's fave polish at the moment was Orly confetti. Off to Sally's I go to purchase this color. It's pink, it's pretty...I must have it! Sally's didn't have it (it's a limited edition color) so I walked off with another one of Orly's french manicure polishes in the color Sweet Blush. I didn't do a french as my nails are very short at the moment because I've been sporting dark colors but I love how it turned out on it's own. It's an off white pink color that gives that pretty clean look and goes with everything! This will replace OPI bubble bath for me because OPI has reformulated bubble bath (I have both the old and new formula) and the new formula is too sheer. I only have two coats of Orly sweet blush in this picture but it could take three coats.

Overall I love it. It's very pretty and feminine. I'll be looking into buying more Orly. Let me know if you have any suggestions or what your fave polish is at the moment.

Hope you all have had an amazing week.





December and mid January favorites

Ok so this is really really late but I thought I'll do a quick "favorite posts" as I have couple of products that have been must haves last month and this month.
My makeup needs have changed a bit in the last couple of months. I'm training to run a full marathon in April (wish me luck) and with the cold and snow that we have experienced most of my runs have been in the gym. My makeup has to be simple and quick (can't carry my vanity in the gym bag though wish I could). I reach for eyeshadows that work worn all over the lid, and mascara that does it all in one swipe. I simply don't have time to do all the blending and the countering these days.

Starting with MAC Pro Lash mascara. I love this mascara. I know MAC's mascaras get mixed reviews from a lot of people and I can't say that I love all of them, but pro lash is in the top 10 favourite mascaras for me. I love it because it lengthens, volumes, separates and does not clump. It's instant gratification type of mascara. Once coat gives results. I know this is a fave among MAC artists and I can really understand why. I totally recommend this product.



2. MAC mineralized blush in Warm Soul. This is a minzeralized blush that's a soft brown with tons and tons of gold shimmer thru it. Again a product that gives a bit of a glow so it highlights, it's a tan color so it bronzes the skin and a gorgeous blush to lift up the face. All in one. I took the pic below in direct sunlight so you can see the gold sparkles. When you put this on the cheeks there are no glitter particles. As most mineralized products this works into the skin and becomes more of a glow or shimmer with no glitter.

3. MAC woodwinked. Yet another MAC product. :) What can I say? MAC does some great products. I recently did a post about woodwinked so won't go on details. I love it because as I work into my crease it gives the appearance of two shadows. Perfect for when you're in a hurry.



That's about all I have been wearing in the last couple of months to get a bit of a glow and bronze but yet do it quickly. Craving pink at the moment though so going thru my makeup to find a pretty warm candy pink blush.

Hope you all have had an amazing week.







A trip to Amelia Island and Saint Augustine, Florida

Hi lovelies,
I wanted to post a few pictures of my latest vacation. I'm missing the beach so much.
I went to Amelia Island and Saint Augustine in Florida. I got to really enjoy these cities. Everything from the sunrise over the beach, to some of the best restaurants (French,Italian,seafood, wonderful desert/tea places and everything in between), gorgeous old buildings to the sunset and full moons over the beach create some of the most magical and romantic scenes and made these cities unforgettable for me.

Sunrise in Amelia Island, Florida. I love this picture. I ran every morning at the beach and it was beautiful running parallel to this view.

The relaxing view of the beach. I had fun sunbathing and reading a favourite book while overlooking the relaxing beach.  

Picture of some building at Saint Augustine. Saint Augustine is the oldest city in the United States. :) It has some beautiful old buildings.

This is the oldest house of the oldest city in the US.  Very unique

These are some pictures I took of the sunset in Amelia island. This was truly an amazing view. Just as the sunset was over, I got to take a picture of the city on a full moon. It was just magical and very romantic. 

I had a wonderful time and can not wait to go back.

Let me know if you guys like these posts and I'll post some more fun pictures.

Hope you all have had a lovely week.

EOTD -MAC vintage selection and woodwinked

I feel like I mention woodwink a lot in this blog, but woodwinked is one of those colors that exceeds expections. It's just a beatiful warm bronzey gold color that looks beautiful on everyone and particularly on blue and green eyes. What I like the most about woodwinked is that I can put this all over my lid and it gives the illusion of having two shadows. It blends out on the crease so nicely that it defines the area without needing two shadows. And when you are a girl on the go like I am, then shadows like this come very handy. I wore it today under the new MAC paintpot in Vintage Selection and it gave this soft bronzey glow to the leads. Love this combination.

I love how this shadow comes off so different on the crease and it gives the illusion I have one two shadows. This is a major winning point with me.

And finally a swatch of woodwinked.

I adore woodwinked and MAC vintage selection has to be my favourite paint pot of the new cham pale collection. MAC did not disappoint with this collection. Any woodwinked lovers out there?

Hope you all have had a lovely day.

Benefit Bella Bamba

I'm a sucker for blush! Can all of your relate? As soon as I heard Benefit had a new blush I trotted to Sephora and got my hands on it. It's their newest color and it's a gorgeous watermelon pink laced with gold shimmer. Gorgeous!

I love this on. It gives that perfect sexy flush to the cheeks. The package -I'm not a fan of. It's smaller in quantity than the regular. The size of it is 0.28 oz vs Coralista's size at Size: 0.42 oz and the top is actually glued to the box and has a mirror which is sort of a awkward design. I actually was a fun of their packaging previous to this. The color is gorgeous though.

Overall I love this and I think Benefit did really great. I really enjoy their face products and haven't gotten any of them that I wouldn't recommend.

What are your favourite Benefit blushes?

Hope you all have had a lovely week.



MAC chilled on ice versus MAC bare study paint pot

I recently got a few items from MAC's cham pale collection including Chilled on ice paint pot. Chilled on ice is a champagne pink with tons and tons of glitter. The camera is not going to pick up the glitter but it has a good quantity of gold glitter in it.

I love paint pots or eyeshadow basis on general. I love how they keep the shadow on for longer and if you go for colored primers such as paint pots, a few Urban Decay primer potions, benefit liner/cream shadows etc, you can really increase the vibrancy of the shadows. I was really excited to get my hands on chilled on ice. Overall I like it. It has tons of glitter which I'm usually not a fan of but this doesn't have much fall out and truly makes any eyeshadow much more vibrant. In color it's very similar to MAC's permanent paint pot in Bare Study. Bare Study is to the left and Chilled On Ice is to the right.

The color of these two is very similar. They are both a soft champagne color and even the swatch doesn't look very different. Applied on the lid though, Bare study is more fluid like and easier to apply. Chilled on ice's glitter makes it a bit more difficult to work with. In my opinion if you have Bare Study, skip chilled on ice.

Did you or do you plan to get anything from the Cham Pale collection?

Hope you all have had a lovely day.