Brush It Off

I'll be the first to admit I'm not always consistent when it comes to cleaning my make-up brushes. To be honest, I usually wipe off my eye shadow brushes on my t-shirt in the morning.
While powder brushes don't need to be cleaned every use your other brushes that contain foundation, concealer and liquid liner brushes do. My foundation brush works better dirty oddly enough, but that's no excuse to not clean it! Instead of a thorough clean every time, I quickly run it under hot water until later.
Every week I do a full clean of all my brushes.
If you have higher end brushes you'll want to be extra careful on how you wash them. Cheap brushes are made of synthetic hair, and premium brushes are real hair mostly made from animals. You also want to be careful not to immerse the tips while cleaning because the glue that holds it together could losen.
Here's the best way I've found to wash them:

I use a gentle soap (This one is Method, but I used to use Softsoap as well) and MAC brush cleaner. I run warm water, wet the brush then use a little amount of soap in my palm. I circle the brush in my palm until the color is too dark, then I rinse. Repeat if needed.

 Once it's clean of all make-up I put the brush on a paper towel and drop some MAC cleaner (mostly alcohol) on it and wipe it both ways a couple times. Leave to dry.

Make sure you set the brush back in it's original position while drying.

The Great Debate

I love having color on my nails, but I have a love-hate relationship with polish. I do enjoy how easy (for the most part) it is to quickly change my color, but I can't stand how easily it chips and fades.
Working in the beauty industry I quickly came to love higher end polishes like OPI, Zoya and SpaRitual. The colors are a very wide ranged spectrum, and I get them at a great discount. Don't get me wrong--I have a lot of drug store brands as well. Are they all the same? Well, that depends. My higher end products--OPI, etc do tend to last a little longer, yes. But they sometimes need to be thinned out with nail polish remover as they get really thick. No big deal but kind of annoying. I love the color range on OPI--they've been doing this gig for years and really know how it's done. Plus the names they come up with are awesome! I also personally think they have the best Base and Top coat.
SpaRitual is a great brand as well. They are environmentally conscience company that makes fantastic products. All of their products are Vegan and organic. The colors are also in a wide range, and are quite beautiful. Both OPI and SpaRitual are free of DBP (dibutyl phthalate), formaldehyde and toluene--but drugstore brands still have them in some of theirs.
The one brand I'm always on the fence about is China Glaze. It's supposed to be a higher end polish (sold in beauty depot's , Chatters, etc) but it's soooo not. The colors are INCREDIBLE. When it comes to neons, China Glaze is the front runner for sure. But as soon as it goes on it comes off. The glitters are also fantastic, but have also come off easily. Usually the whole nail in one go...so at least that's easy.
My drug store nail polishes were bought before I knew about the good stuff, in a passing glance, or a quick needed color change. I do love some of them, but for the most part they fall short.
The colors are great, but within hours they chip. A great brand that has been around for years in South Africa and the UK is Essie. It's finally here, and it's a great polish! It actually lasts quite a long time and has a great array of colors but is still under $10. Another of my friends swears by Sally Hansen polish, and I have a couple colors in it as well and have to say they are pretty good, too. So here's my nail polish collection:

One of the best days ever in the beauty world (in my opinion) is when OPI finally wised up and made their gel polish, Axxium. I don't know why it took them so long to come up with, but it was a miracle.
Axxium gel is a perfect OPI color--and I mean PERFECT. You love I'm Not Really A Waitress? They matched it perfectly. When it first came out they didn't have a lot of colors but they are slowly working them all in--including lots of the new and glitter collections. I think they have about 35 colors out. The gel lasts a couple weeks depending on how long it takes for your nails to grow. And the shine lasts the entire time, which is a big deal for me. Essentially they are gel nails, so the downfall to this is ruining your nails. And while OPI says they are "soak off" they really aren't. Again, they are gel nails so they need to be filed down. Not really a big deal in my books for the cost of having gorgeous color that doesn't come off, but some may be turned off. You can get this service done in most nail salons.

OPI's wide range of Axxium Gel colors

Gel has honey-like consistency

Another great product that has recently come about is Shellac. It's a step up from Axxium. It's fundamentally a nail polish with all the bad things gone. It stays on as long as Axxium, it has great colors, it doesn't wreck your nails, and best of all--removal is actually simple! So the service takes less time to do as well.

Shellac

Color on nails is Shellac

If you're getting married or going on vacation somewhere where there will be lots of sand and water and you'll want your nails to look good the entire time, I definitely recommend going for a longer color!
What's your favorite brand(s)?

Quick Tip

Have you ever been in the shower and realize you ran out of shave gel? This happened to me once and I ended up using conditioner. And I never looked back.
Conditioner works just as well as shave gel, and it's WAY cheaper. Especially if you just go to the drugstore and buy a massive no-name bottle. It's creamy and moisturizes the skin just as well!

Spring Cleaning!

Much like cleaning your house come spring or cleaning out your closet, it's also a good time to go through your make-up and throw out unused or bad items as well.
Mascara should be changed every 3 months. If you have an eye infection at any time, immediately change it then. Once it's exposed to air and your lashes it dries up and collects bacteria. Here's the pro's recommendations:

1. Mascara-3 months if used daily, 6 months if not
2. Concealer-18 months
3. Liquid Foundation-1 year
4. Loose powder foundation-no expiration date
5. Cream eyeshadow-1 year
6. Powder eyeshadow-2 years
7. Lip pencil-3 years
8. Lipstick-2 years
9. Lipgloss-1 year

It's also annoying to have a ton of eyeshadows that you never wear cluttering up your drawer. Also take that time to wipe everything down and organize it. Just remember the clothes rule: if you haven't worn it for a year, you're not going to wear it again--throw it out! That way you now have room to buy NEW colors!! (At least that's my excuse ;)

Easy Beachy Waves

I love what salt water does to my hair on the beach. I have pin straight hair naturally, so when the salt water and humid air hit my locks, I turn into a surfer girl with lovely waves :)
It's hard to do this if you don't live by the ocean. You can try to do it with styling tools but nothing looks as authentic. Until now!
A couple years ago I was reading People magazine and they were highlighting a Bumble and Bumble product called Surf Spray.

Upon reading the description (Excellent for wavy types and surfers with winter blues; adds body to fine hair) I knew I had to have it. The problem was that Bumble and Bumble products were extremely hard to find in Canada. Only select salons (as in salons that ONLY* sold B&B) and those were few and far in between as well. Luckily, I have friends in the states that can get their hands on it. But luckily they now sell it at Sephora!!! ($30)
I LOVE this product. It does exactly what the ocean does, but without all the tangles and sand.
The best method is to towel dry hair really well, comb through and do NOT use any other products (detangler, Moroccan Oil, etc) besides the spray. Let hair dry a little bit more, then spray hair generously and scrunch with hands. Roll into circles and put in clip pins:

If you don't have pins, bobby pins can also be used. I have also put my hair in buns and used 2 big claw clips.

Let hair dry as much as possible. If strapped for time blow dry. When clips come out spray all over and scrunch up again. Leave hair alone after! The more you touch the less it'll stay.

I'm also wearing the Revlon Tutti Frutti in this picture :)

I also found a pin on Pinterest that allows you to make it yourself. If anyone does, let me know how it turns out!
*The great thing about Bumble and Bumble as a company is that they are only exclusive to their salons and select places to ensure authenticity. If you take it back, it goes back to them direct not back out again. They are very adamant about that, and that shows quality and respect for the customer.

Product Warning!!!

There are times to be thrifty and times to spend that extra little amount. One of those times is with shampoo and conditioners. I know it's so easy to go to Shopper's and just grab some shampoo. Oh look, it's on sale! It's so cheap! It smells so good! They even have my salon brand here!
 Wait...what?
Have you noticed how drug stores and supermarkets now carry salon brands like Joico, Bed Head, etc?
Ever wonder why, considering the back says "Only guaranteed when sold by a professional" or "Sold only in salons"?
Curious, I asked my hair stylist about it. She said that it's pretty sketchy stuff, black market type deals. When salons and distributors receive the products they are on the shelves for sale. Some places allow returns/exchanges if the product doesn't work for the customer. This is great. So the salon takes it back, and sends it back out with their sales rep who sometimes can't send it back to the company, or the company won't take it. They turn around and sell it to the drug stores at a low cost. You don't know where this stuff has been. It could have been in someone's car in the winter (extreme temperatures compromise the product), it could have even been used. Either way, if you don't buy it from the source it's no good. I buy my shampoo and conditioners (salon brand, L'anza) at Chatter's where it's cheap for the big bottles, and they have sales quite often. My hair stylist says she actually goes there, too.
Another reason why you shouldn't buy lower end product? It's really bad on your hair. My stylist can actually look at your hair and see the build up. Pantene is a perfect example of this--sure it makes your hair super shiny and soft, but it uses a lot of wax to do so. Coating your hair in wax for a long period of time is no good. Love lather? That's added salt. Also not good.
When asked if any drug store products were even okay she actually thought about it, then said no. It's just not worth it. Spend the extra money.
That being said, I do have my Dove deep conditioner but twice a week is okay as long as it's not an everyday occurrence.
Go on--next time you see this in the store, check the back. Then back away!

Orange Crush

I walked into Sephora the other day and was thrilled with their signage--Orange is the color of the season! I feel like there isn't enough of this wonderful color in the world of make-up. Yes, there are the nail polishes (only recently), and the subtle tones of orange, but I think it's really started to become popular.
A couple weeks ago I was in Superstore and saw that Revlon had a new line of lipsticks out. I was immediately drawn to the packaging (good marketing right there!) because it was so bright and colorful. I picked up the orange one instantly, sampled it and fell in love.

 The color is called "Tutti Fruity", and basically it's a Lip Butter--it's very moisturizing with a tint of color, but not too much. The orange is really subtle at first, but if you put layers of it on it will get darker. If you're a little leery about orange lipstick, this is the way to go. It actually looked a little peach/coral.

Pair it with a gold/peachy eye and you're good to go! Check out the other colors as well. There is also a commercial that Emma Stone is in that I'm pretty sure she's wearing this shade:

 

It's only summer for a short period of time, so brighten up!

Be Kind To Your Skin!

I'll be the first to admit I'm super lazy when it comes to taking my make-up off at night. It was actually one of my resolutions this year to not go to bed with any product on. It's a tough battle as my take off routine is about 5 min. I soon come to regret it as I wake up in the middle of the night with eyes stinging and in the morning my pillows are covered in make-up and my eyes are crusty.
Thank goodness for make-up wipes! If I'm really tired/lazy I use the Oil of Olay wet cleansing cloths because they are pretty moist and leave your skin fresh and hydrated. I literally just lay in bed and wipe my face clean. And then I get up and use my toner and cream after anyways ;) I keep them in my drawer beside my bed so I don't have an excuse like getting up!
The moral of the story is to always always ALWAYS take off your make-up!!! If you consistently leave it on it WILL age you, you will get more break outs, and it'll clog your pores forcing them to get bigger.

Tone It Down

When I was younger I used a lot of beauty products not really knowing the full benefits of them. I just bought them because I thought the more the better, what harm?
One of those products was toner. I used to use the Body Shop Grapefruit toner because I loved the smell, and I really enjoyed the clean, tingling feeling after. I had no idea why I was using it. I had no idea of the benefits until a couple years ago.
After you wash your face with said cleanser your PH balance is changed, even if you use a cleanser that works perfectly with your skin type. You need to use a toner to even it out and balance that change. It also has the benefits of putting the moisture back into your skin and shrinking pores. Try to stay away from harsh toners that contain alcohol, and instead go for neutral ones like rosewater.
A common misconception for applying toner is to put it on a cotton pad. You can do this but you lose a lot of product, and that is never a good thing. Instead, buy toners that are in spritz bottles or make your own by pouring the bottle into a container that has a spray nozzle.
I've been using the Eminence toniques for years and I LOVE them. They last forever and they come in the spray bottle.
TIP: Spray your face with the toner, and immediately apply your moisturizer. You'll find that you will use less product, and that's always a plus especially if you have expensive creams!
These are the toners I have (Rosehip for day, Wild Plum for night)

Great for Dry, dehydrated skin types and removes surface impurities.

Best for Fatigued or dry skin types, also supplies mineral nutrients to the skin.

Frugal Find!

I'm all about cheap make-up. To be honest, there are a lot of good thrifty brands out there that work just as well as higher-end products. That being said, there are some things I won't buy bargain brand (but that's for another day).
I was in Winner's the other day and was in the beauty section. You can find great items there! Nail polish, make-up, perfume, etc. I happened to see an eyeshadow palette and immediately swooped it up. It has 30 AMAZING colors and it was only $4.99! No joke.
Most people would probably overlook it because it's so cheap, but I have a secret for keeping my eyeshadow (any eyeshadow, including MAC) on. Simply swipe some of your moisturizer onto your eyelids, and let breathe for about a minute. You don't need a lot, just use the remainder on your fingertips from the application you did on your face. This will bond the eyeshadow to your lids without causing creasing. You should also use a sealer after all powders are applied, and before the eyeliner and mascara is put on.

So next time your in Winner's check out what treasures you can find!

Did You Know?

Adele has been said to use 3 false eyelashes at a time!!! No wonder her eyes are always so full and long!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

One of God's gift to women is detangler, or at least in my humble opinion ;)
It's a blessing for long hair, for easily tangled hair, and for damaged hair. When my hair is super dirty I wash it twice and scrunch it all up to hell. Even a deep conditioner doesn't help. When I get out of the shower I have a rat's nest on top of my head. No matter what I did, I used to pull out so much hair trying to get all the knots out.
Using a detangler not only helps you comb through your hair, but it helps seal and protect as well. I used to use kids detangler cause it smelt good. Now they have it for adults!

It comes separated ("milk" and oil), so you just shake it up and apply. Don't worry about going overboard with it as it doesn't weigh your hair down or make it greasy. There is also a pink color shield type as well. It's relatively cheap (about $4, Superstore) and lasts quite awhile.
Remember to always start at the bottom of the section of hair and work your way up! My mom never seemed to figure that out...

You're Making Me Blush!

One of the 2 things I cannot live without beauty-wise is blush (the other is mascara).
Blush is used to emphasize and contour your cheek bones, and give you a younger appearance. Women have been pinching and slapping their faces for centuries to redden their cheeks. During WWII women in camps pinched their cheeks to make them look healthy. So basically, blush saves lives :)
One of my favorite blushes is the Nars line. Specifically "Desire".

"Desire" gives you a "just came in from the winter cold" look.

I'm sure you're looking at this and thinking, "That looks like something from the 80's!". And you'd be right. Blush colors haven't changed much of the last couple decades, but the application has. In the 80's we (if you were around for it) used blush to excessively highlight our cheekbones. For example, check out this classic 80's beauty:

In order to have a natural, healthy blush apply to the apples of your cheeks first (smile really wide), then go lightly up the cheekbones.
I always match my blush to my eyeshadow--bright pinks to cooler tones, corals and peaches to warmer.
 You can also get blushes with highlighters in them as well. I do like this, but have a tendency to stay clear as my bronzer is a bit shimmery already.

MAC "Daft Pink"

 I happen to think that all blushes are made equal, expense wise. I do have a couple higher end brands, but drugstore blush works just as well. As long as you use a sealer it'll last all day and well into the night.

Left: Cover Girl in Rose Silk
Right: Cover Girl in Classic Pink

And if you're lucky enough to be one of those people that naturally blushes often, good for you! Blushing is a sign of endearment and being lovestruck :)

Doe Eyes

Awhile ago I was downtown for a walk when I came across the Noir Lash Lounge. I was intrigued as the place was very new, and the tag line on the door was "Lashes aren't just an added service, it's our ONLY service". I've heard of brow bars but not a lash bar. I went home and looked it up online immediately (I would have gone in but unfortunately I had a cranky baby.)
I was IMPRESSED! I assumed they just did eye lash extensions, but they do a lot more.
First off, there are 7 different types of extensions to go by--from subtle to excessive (mink), and with the exception of the mink ones they are only $75 per set and $35 for fills. I work in a spa that does eyelash extensions and not only is there just one kind, but they are about $200+ for the initial service, and about $150 thereafter.
They also have a $35 service that just does the outer lashes. Another great incentive to this is the special they offer called the Noircissist--buy 5, get 6 on any of the services! Pretty good deal considering you go back every 4-5 weeks for the touch ups.
They also do Lash Dips. I thought it was a tint, but for $125 it has to be something more. This is the description:
"Wave those wands farewell and say hello to the most perfect coat of mascara. LashDip is blacker-than-black, clump free and precise and (here's the kicker) lasts up to 6 weeks. The other stuff like how it's 100% hypoallergenic and free of toxins and preservatives - now that's just frivolous". I'm interested in this as well because my eyelashes are white blond. This could be good!
They also sell false eyelashes, about 10 different styles from subtle to outrageous.
I've never had eyelash extensions, though I've always wanted them. I do have naturally longer lashes, and use Latisse as well (to amazing results!)
I am definitely going to check out this place soon! So far there is only locations in Vancouver and Calgary.

Holiday Nails!

This holiday instead of going traditional colors I choose a coral...sparkle of course ;)
Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Years! Do any of you have any beauty resolutions you made? Mine is to drink more water and to always, always, always take off my make-up NO MATTER WHAT!