Spring Night Out // Going to Market

Last night I went to a restaurant called Market at the Shangri-La Hotel in Vancouver; I'd been before and this time was just as amazing.  

My outfit was quite simple; because we were at dinner I opted for a comfier option and wore my H&M Black Lace Romper with my white Nordstrom Blazer.  I paired those with my Leopard Print Clutch which was actually from the bookstore Chapters if you'll believe it.  It's an excellent alternative to the J Crew one and they look identical.  Unfortunately, I don't think Chapters carries it any more but perhaps they'll bring it back in the fall.  My shoes were an older pair of Nine West Heels that have black ruffles on them.  Sadly, my feet were wrecked by the time I got to the restaurant, thank goodness you eat sitting down.

For accessories I kept it simple: my silver rings and my watch.  For makeup, I went with a brown smokey eye and a nude lip.

A deliciously bubbly French 75 to drink with the most amazing beef tenderloin I've ever had.

My mother ordered the Steelhead Trout with Truffle Mashed Potatoes, *drool*.

Of course, I ordered a side of fries with my steak and like everything else, they were perfect.

We then took a nice stroll down Robson street.  At nighttime, all the trees are lit up with fairy lights, pretty, no?

I hope you're all having a nice weekend!  Stay tuned for some beauty posts this week.

Jessie xx.

Delicate Necklaces from Brandy Melville

A while back I decided to pop into Brandy Melville to kill some time and stumbled across the accessory section.  I don't usually go in, mostly because I'm not a massive fan of crop tops and shorts where your butt hangs out.

I don't normally purchase pendants either but these two caught my eye immediately.  I love their simplicity and I also have a thing for crescent moons, can you tell?

I usually pair mine with a plain sweater and black jeans, which is my everyday outfit.  The only shame is that they didn't have them in silver.  My skin tone suits silver much better than it does gold, but I was willing to look the other way this once.

What do you think?

xo.

January Haul

Hi everyone!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've collected quite a few new additions during the month of January.  I haven't had any of them long enough to make a 'January Favorites' post but I figured I'd throw them together into a small haul.
Some of these were things that I'd been lusting after for quite some time and others were nice surprises. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do face-of-the-day posts with some of them because so far I've been absolutely loving everything!  Go get a cup of tea though, this is gonna be a long one.

Despite the fact that I have a beauty product problem, I have never owned a foundation that wasn't from the drugstore.  Actually, I hadn't even used foundation up until about a year and a half ago.  I didn't mind the foundations from the drugstore but I'm so freakin' pale that they never quite seemed to match my skin tone.  They were usually too pinkish and most of the time, even the lightest shades available were too dark.  After watching my favorite beauty gurus it dawned on me that many of them also sport a banshee-esque pallor.  I decided to bite the bullet and splurge on the Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in the color (you guessed it) Siberia.  

Now I don't need too much coverage but my one concern was that it would enhance my pink undertones rather than conceal them.  After the girl matched it to my skin, I took one look in the mirror and thought "Wow, my pale skin actually looks kinda...pretty", which is something I never thought I'd be O.K. with.  The slight yellow-hue cancels out my redness completely and gives me an all-over glow as the name would suggest.

This foundation is best applied using your fingers to warm-up the product and spread it easily onto the skin.  The Verdict?  I don't know if I'll ever go back to drugstore.  Well O.K., I might go back to drugstore, but I'd feel knots in my stomach cheating on this bad boy.

I never thought I'd purchase makeup from the Body Shop, but after killing time in their small cosmetics section over the holidays I realized that some of their products are pretty great.
I picked up their All-In-One Cheek Colour in the color Bubblegum, which swatches beautifully and can be built up or applied more sheer (bonus for all you other pale girls).  It's a gorgeous, babydoll pink, perfect for spring.
I also checked out their eyeshadows which are so finely-milled that they feel like butter and blend better than some I've sampled from the high-end brands.  I picked up the shade Oh, Honey which has just the right amount of shimmer in it for that eye-brightening, no-makeup look.  I'd wear this as a brow highlight or on it's own as a all-over lid colour.
P.S. They've got a 'buy one get one 50% off'/'buy two get one free' deal going on, I suggest you move your butt and get on that.

I'm not usually one to ask for take-home samples, I either like something or I don't.  When it comes to the GlamGlow Supermud Mask however, I'm ashamed to say that I returned several times before special occasions to grab a sample with enough to cover my problem areas.  This mask is crazy pricey but I'm siding with the majority of people who have tried this when I say that it is worth the hype.
I've got dry skin with clogged pores and most masks that suck all the crap out are way too harsh for my skin.  This one however, uses the magic of "insert long-ass ingredient list here" to vacuum out all the evil skin trolls that clog up your pores.  Even better, the mask dries to a light grey but the "skin baddies" remain dark grey...so you get to see them.  When the awful day comes I will be scraping this pot dry.

If I do a haul there's a 99% chance I went to Victoria's Secret.  Long story short, their makeup bags were 75% off.  Need I say more?

As much as I tried to convince myself that I didn't want to spend this much on soap, I smelled them again and spent a lot of money on soap.

It makes for sexy-scentsy shower time.

One thing I love about the Victoria's Secret PINK line is that they make clothes that are crazy comfy yet acceptable to wear outside the confines of your cave.  This crewneck is perfect to wear with the "every day tights and boots" uniform.

I wore this for several days straight before someone brought it up.

The last item is a sneak peek at something that I received for my birthday.  I thought it a little much to dedicate a post to a birthday present but this is special.  Rather than giving it all away up front, I figured I'd slip it into an outfit post, so stay tuned for that!

My fingers are out of breath.  After this it has now occurred to me that this could have been broken up into several posts.  

Maybe I'll do a makeup look with the some of the products I purchased?  Would anyone be interested?

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading!!

I'll be posting again shortly!

xo, J :)

it's the little things

Hello!

So lately I've been looking for ways to jazz up my extremely monochrome fall wardrobe.  I always stick to the basics; blacks, greys, sweaters, hair either in a bun or just straightened, etc.  I've decided to look at the particulars rather than the whole and start small with some accessories.  All the ones here are super cheap and basic from either Topshop or H&M.  The reason I love these places so much is because you can get certain items that make a big difference for a little price.  The hair accessories were all around $5 and the socks were 3 pairs for $13 so I couldn't say no...

Socks and Plaid Hair Bow: Topshop; Black Bows and Burgundy Flower Clips: H&M.

These are great because they can just be clipped around the elastic of a bun.  The bows can be worn on either the top of beneath the bun and both flowers can be worn at once.

How adorable are these rainy day in London socks?!  I got these along with some spider and ghost ones to wear during October :)

A bow that is plaid.  

Makes even the quickest, messiest of ponytails better.

I also made a bit of a larger purchase at Topshop this weekend so I'll have a post about that up soon!  Hope everyone's having a nice October,

xo

Must-Have Fall Accessories

So yes, I've been gone for some time and for that I am sorry.  School started and even though it's early in the semester I've had a lot on my plate and I've been seeing friends again and I've just been busy doing...stuff.  Like chopping off my hair.

All sorts of stuff.  Like getting really really really excited for fall.

Unfortunately this fall prepping now excludes tasty calorie-loaded fall treats because my boyfriend and I have recently gone "paleo", a.k.a. eating like a caveman, a.k.a. not eating any of the incredibly yummy things I see on Pinterest a.k.a. having a secret meltdown when no one is looking.  BUT I will admit that so far on this "diet", or "lifestyle", I have had zero headaches (probably because of the amount of water I've been drinking), I'm no longer nauseous and not as tired as I used to be during the day.

But that's a whole other story (or another post).

Today's post is all about how I've been getting ready for fall that does not involve a pumpkin-y carbfest.

The first thing is this gorgeous plaid (surprise surprise...) scarf that I came across in the Zara September Lookbook.  They just brought it out into stores here in Canada and my boyfriend knew I was dying to have it so he picked it up for me as a gift!  What a doll.  It's not only reversible with different coloured plaid on either side, but you can tie it in a way that shows both at the same time!  I'll definitely be making an outfit post with this in the near future.  Did I also mention this scarf is MASSIVE?  Like blanket massive...

Scarf: Zara. Find it here.

The next item on my must-have list is one that we've all seen in our favorite Youtube Beauty Guru's fall makeup tutorials.  You guessed it, the plum lipstick.  I tested a few out and this was the winner!  It's Revlon's Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in 035 Backstage.  The "suede" finish is beautiful and considering it's not glossy, it glides on beautifully and stays on.  For a long time, and slightly stains your lips as well so be sure to remove it using some makeup remover on a pad.  This shade would suit all skin tones as well, I'm extremely pale and it's not too overbearing.  Plus, you can build up the color by dabbing it on for a lighter look or swipe it on for a more vampy one.

Next I picked out my favorite nail colours for fall.  I selected two darks and two more neutral shades.  The first is OPI's Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees which is a great dark grey shade for those who want a dark polish but find black a little too severe.  The second is Deborah Lippman's Single Ladies which is a gorgeous dark burgundy colour.  The next two are more nude shades for when your nails need a break from the dark.  I chose my Essie Topless and Barefoot which is a perfect beige and Kiko's #319 (?).  It's a smokey color that would look amazing with some silver glitter at the base of your nail!

This scent is my favorite Fall/Winter perfume and it's so unique and intense that I only wear it from October to February, otherwise it just smells out of place in my opinion.  It's Jo Malone's Pomegranate Noir and it's that kind of fragrance where you smell it and imagine cold, dark evenings and sweaters and Christmas.  Plus, the small size is so convenient that you could even throw it in a clutch.  I honestly cannot wait to start spritzing this one again!

I don't want to say I saved the best for last but these might just be what I've been looking forward to most.  Fall candles!!  This year, Bath and Body Works came out with some real doozies for this season.  I picked up (and burned) the three-wick candles Leaves, which has a nice woodsy cinnamon smell and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin which smells exactly the way you dream it would.  They are so deliciously fragrant that I've left the Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin one open on my night table and it has filled my whole room with fragrance.  That and I feel sorry burning something so good.  I also picked up a mini Bergamot Woods which smells like a delicious man.  There's no other way to describe it.

Well that's enough of my ramble, what are your favorite fall must-haves??