Face of the Day

The Body Shop Honey Bronzer in 01; YSL Rouge Volupte in #13; Revlon Blusher in Wine with Everything; Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler; Urban Decay's Naked 3 Palette; Alway One Coat Triple Effect Mascara in Black; Nars SheerGlow Foundation in Siberia; Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Fair.

Happy Saturday!  I thought I'd throw up a quickie post to show you what I have on my face for a basic Saturday afternoon.

Because I went with the Naked 3 Palette on my lids, I decided to keep it simple with my blush and go for a more natural barely-there color.  I've also been loving the Body Shop Honey Bronzer lately, it's perfect for people with paler skin tones who still want cheekbone definition and it's not orange-y at all.

I love my YSL Rouge Volupte, the one I have is Peach Passion and a full swipe of it is slightly too much for my current skin tone.  I dabbed it with my ring finger over some lip balm and it was perfect.

Hope you're all having a nice Saturday!  I picked up a few little things that I'm really excited about and I'll have a post on those tomorrow!

As of Late

I thought I'd throw together a post of some pictures I've taken as of recently and let you guys know what I've been up to.  First of all, I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who watched my first YouTube video; I was super nervous but the compliments and kind messages I received made me want to make another!  What do you guys think??

It's always important to make some 'me' time and for me, that means candles lit at any time of day, a glass of wine or a cup of tea, a good magazine and a manicure.  Now don't laugh, but I'm embarrassingly late to the Songza party and since I discovered it, I've had it playing almost every minute that I'm at home.  I've found so many great new artists and songs and it's been so nice to have going while doing my spring cleaning.

I'm going to proudly sit my ass on the cliché bench and be the 20-something year old girl listening to soft sleepytime indie.

Part of my jump on spring cleaning has been organizing my cosmetics and tools; not to mention disinfecting my organizer and giving things a proper dust and wipe down.  There is no shame in treating your makeup like decor, that's why it comes in such pretty colours, right??

I'll repeat how much I despise drinking water, but somehow, putting lemon in it makes it not so bad.  I feel like the kid whose parent has to tell them that healthy food is somehow awesome to get them to eat the damn thing.  It's like happy lemonade water, all the cool kids are drinking it.

With this being my last semester at university, things have gotten pretty hectic with all the midterms and readings, so I've been trying to keep everything in check with an agenda.  Bonus, it's small enough to fit in my purse.

I've also given my nails a break from all those dark winter polishes.  Unfortunately, I'm a nail polish nut and the sight of my short, naked nails is unbearable.  The fix?  Try one sparing coat of glitter polish over a base coat.  It dries super fast and it's quite dainty in my opinion.

Thanks so much for reading, I'll be back soon

xox

New Video!

YOU GUYS. I actually did it.  After months of deliberating and self-consciousness, I filmed a video!

Rather than doing a post with the new Topshop Gloss Ink, I thought I'd film a video for you instead.  It's super basic and quick because my camera can't film for that long but it's something, right??!

Don't forget to watch it in HD and all the products are in the information bar below!

Yes, that's a giant leaf behind my head.

Holy Grail Nails

It's not often that I find products that I can swear by and dub as my "Holy Grail".  When it comes to makeup, I'm still in the process of trying new things but with regards to my nails, I can without a doubt say that I will never stray from these products.

I've been using the Original OPI Nail Envy for about 2 years now and I'm probably on my 3rd or 4th bottle.  I used to have very dry and brittle nails that were always peeling and I thought that the only remedy was to get gel nails.  I bought this bottle on a whim one day and I was not disappointed.  It's marketed as a nail treatment, meaning that you paint 2 coats on bare, clean nails and then another coat every other day for about a week.  I used this when I had my gel nails removed and my nails were back to being thick and healthy in no time.  Now, I'll apply 2 coats as a smooth base for my polish and I don't remember the last time I broke a nail.  This bottle is quite pricey but worth it if your nails break often.

I found that when I used the OPI as a top coat, my nails were tacky for hours and not as shiny as I'd hoped they'd be.  Then I found Essie's Good To Go Fast Drying Top Coat.  This stuff is amazing and allows me to paint my nails at nighttime without waking up with my bedsheets having made imprints on my nails.  It also adds a shellac-like shine and can be reapplied throughout the week to remedy dulling nails.  Bonus, it's the same price as the Essie polishes.

Wearing Essie Polish in Lilacism

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 :)

birthday

Hi everyone!

Hope the new year has been treating you well, I've already had a few ups and downs which is why this post is quite late going up.
It was my birthday on the 19th and unfortunately I hardly took any pictures; however, figured I would throw these into a quick post.  I was also considering maybe even do a bit of a haul post because I've come to acquire quite a few new things as of late, including beauty, clothing and other things.
I had a wonderful birthday this year, my boyfriend took me for a lovely brunch followed by a nice walk on the beach.

New phone case: Disney Tech

Sweater: French Connection

Ring on left hand: David Yurman

A perfect sunny, warm Vancouver Sunday <3

I have a lot of new blog-related things that I've been wanting to try lately so hopefully I'll get the chance within the next little while.

Let me know if you'd like to see a small haul post :)

xo

Feeling Better

With school starting back up strong and my immune system running for the hills, I've been feeling a little under the weather lately.  On top of that I haven't been able to blog the way I want to.  By this, I mean that it's hard to make outfit and makeup posts when your makeup is non-existant and your daily wardrobe can be classified as "I'm running late" with a hint of "Screw it".
With my birthday coming up and a mountain of schoolwork on my plate, it's time to woman-up and get back into the swing of things (yes, woman-up).  Here are some of the ways I like to get back to feeling more "me" while taking it easy.

1. Make your bed.

Ok, I am potentially the worst at making my bed but I have to admit, having made my bed first thing in the morning makes me feel quite put together and ready for the day.  I've also read that people who make their beds in the mornings get more done during the day...or something like that.  So go ahead and actually use those two pillow shams that came with your duvet cover, just resist the urge to jump back in.

2.  Put on a nice lotion and spray some body spray.

Even if I'm not going anywhere, I like to put on a nice body lotion and spray some body spray when I get out of the shower.  Something about it just makes me feel so luxurious, especially if it's one I tend to save for a date night, like Victoria by Victoria's Secret.  

3.  Put on a super comfy shirt.

After my lotion, nothing feels better than throwing on a nice, comfy shirt.  I love this one from Forever 21, gotta get my plaid where I can...

 4. Drink loads of water.

If there's one thing I've learned the hard way, it's that when you don't drink water, you feel like total crap.  I often get so dehydrated that I forget how good my body is supposed to feel.  It gets pretty bad when I'm in school and will go hours in classes without a bottle of water handy.  With this being my last semester, I've decided to work harder at drinking water and I bring my bottle with me to every single class.  We're supposed to be drinking about 8-10 cups a day, or a litre for every 50 pounds that you are (if that makes sense).  So far, my headaches have been much less recurrent and the dry patches of skin on my face are subsiding!  It also helps if you've got a cute water bottle, I got mine from Lululemon.  

5.  Put on some big, fluffy socks and read a book for leisure.

I'm always telling myself that I haven't got time to read because of all the school-related reading that I should be doing instead.  However, I somehow have the time to watch ample movies and tv shows in the evenings.  I absolutely love to read and replacing your endless evening internet scrolling with a good book is extremely beneficial and therapeutic.  In the evenings, try turning off your cellphone for the night and getting through a chapter or two of a real book, not a magazine.  I find that it helps me fall asleep if my head is resting against a pillow and instead of thinking about who has uploaded what to Instagram, I can fall asleep thinking about a story or another world.  I'm currently reading the sequel to one of the best books I've ever read, it's called Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness.  If you love witches and vampires like I do, but you hated "Twilight", read this book.  Now.

I hope this post was helpful for some of you and hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon;  I have so many outfits in mind for new posts!

Until then, I hope you're all having a nice weekend, xoxoxo