Tuesday 11 July 2017

Tips for Growing Naturally Curly/Wavy Hair

If you are a curly girl, despite whether your hair is considered to be more on the wavy side or on the tightly coiled side, you know it is very important to be taking good care of your hair. Of course everybody’s hair is different thus the way you have to take care of it will be different as well. My hair personally would be best described as, wavy/curly. Below I am going to be talking about some of the things I found that have really helped me to grow out my hair. 

  1. No Heat!
I know you’ve probably heard this a million times but it is honestly very true. For someone who heat styles their hair everyday, this is much easier said than done. I myself struggle with this, as I used to be the person who would heat style their hair everyday. This does not have to be achieved overnight. This process can be slow and steady. For example, if you are used to using heat on your hair everyday, try wearing it natural once a week or even once every couple of weeks. After you have been doing this for a while you can gradually wear your hair natural more and more often. When I first started using heat on my hair less I would leave it natural every other week. Now, I’ve learned to work with my natural hair and love it more, so I only use heat the odd time. 

     2. Do Not Wash Your Hair Everyday!

Again, I’m sure you’ve probably also heard of this tip a million times throughout your life and I know for some people this is also much easier said than done. When you are starting off it is important to remember that this is a process, you cannot expect to go from washing your hair everyday to twice a week immediately. When you first start training your hair to get greasy less often, your hair is going to look a little greasy. It is important to power through this stage because I promise you the results will be totally worth it! A few things that might make this process easier include; using dry shampoo on your non-wash days, wearing a hat, putting your hair up into a bun or into a braid.

     3. Protective Hairstyles

For those of you who don’t know what I mean when I say protective hairstyles, these are any hairstyles that protect your hair from the elements and from rubbing against things such as your clothes. This will decrease breakage which will allow your hair to grow longer as it will on be breaking off at the ends. These hairstyles can include things such as braids and buns. I promise they are not going to be as boring as you may think they are going to be. Take braids for example. There is so many different kinds of braids out there for you to try! These include braids such as crown braids, dutch braids, french braids, waterfall braids, and many more. 

      4. Healthy Diet

if you are a junk-food lover like me, this can often be the hardest part of trying to grow out your hair. That being said, not only will you see results in your hair when you start eating a healthy diet, but you will also notice a difference in your skin and overall well- being. For me, when I started being healthier, starting with something as simple as drinking more water, I noticed my hair was shinier and my skin was a lot more glowy. 

I know these tips are all pretty popular, and if you have been looking into growing your hair for a while you’ve probably heard these a million times. However, they have always seemed to make a positive impact on my hair and the speed in which it grows. I would definitely recommend these tips to anyone who is trying to grow out their naturally curly or wavy hair. 


Thursday 20 April 2017

Tasty Teas 2


David’s Tea- Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait



This tea basically tastes like spring in a little cup. If you like stuff that tastes a little fruity but are not a fan of things that are too sweet, this is definitely the tea for you. The description that the website gives about the tea is, “this rich, tangy blend combines rhubarb, strawberry, and yogurt pieces.” 

This tea is great to drink with your breakfast in the morning, however it is not limited to only being a morning drink. I like to drink this tea all throughout the day. My favourite time to have a cup of this tea would have to be after dinner, almost like a desert. It is definitely the perfect flavour for a desert time tea!


The caffeine rating on this tea is a 0, which means that it is caffeine free. This makes this tea perfect for any time of the day, especially for those who do get kept awake at night from caffeine. I would definitely recommend this tea to any of my friends who are first starting out drinking tea, or who are looking for a good spring time tea. I would give this tea a 4/5!

Saturday 15 April 2017

Easter Makeup Look

With Easter this weekend, it gives all makeup lovers a chance to go a little above their normal daily makeup look. For those who are used to sticking with neutral colours, this gives them the opportunity to add some colour. Today I will be talking about a few different products that I believe would work well to create a cute look for the easter weekend. Before I start off I wanted to mention that I will not be including products such as foundations, concealers or powders. Also I will only be giving a brief description of how and why I would use each product, not a full in depth tutorial due to the fact that this is only a written component and not a video component. 

Face:

Blush: 

The blush I would choose to wear in an easter makeup look would be the tarte amazonian clay blush in paaarty. This blush is a pinky/nude colour and looks gorgeous on the skin. The consistency of the blush is creamy and smooth and is not a powdery mess at all! Also this blush is very pigmented so you do not need to use a lot, which allows you to get numerous uses out of it. You can pick up a bit of the product and apply it with a light hand for a subtle glow or you can use a bit of a heavier hand to achieve a more defined look. This blush retails for $35 Canadian and $28 US. 














Highlighter: 

The highlighter I chose for this look was the Laura Mercier Face Illuminator Powder in the shade in Devotion. I just want to point out before I continue that on the Sephora website it does state that this particular shade of the product works best on fair to medium skin tones, fair especially. This is the way I would describe my own skin tone, however I do believe that this would still work nicely on those with darker skin tones. That being said, this highlighter is one of my absolute favourites that I think can be worn everyday, or on a night out. If you are looking for a slight glow, simply get a small amount of the product on a fan brush and apply it to the cheek bones. This will still catch the light but definitely will not be blinding. If you like a more dramatic highlight, sweep your brush in it a few times and apply it on to the skin and repeat if needed. This product retails for $53 Canadian and $44 US. 











Eyes:

Eyeshadow:

The eyeshadows I chose to use come from two different eyeshadow palettes. One of the palettes I will be using is the Urban Decay Naked Palette (the first one). The other palette I will be using is the Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Volume II Palette.

The colours I chose to use from the Tarte palette are, pearl and conch. Conch I will use to sweep all across the lid as a base colour and pearl I will be placing in my inner corner and along my brow bone. This palette retails for $47 Canadian and $36 US. 
















The colours I chose to use from the Urban Decay palette are, sin, toasted and hustle. First I will be layering sin over where I placed Conch earlier, all across the lid. Next i will take toasted and work it throughout the crease of my eye. Lastly, I will take hustle and place it into the outer corner of my eye. After all of this is done I would just blend it all out. This palette retails for $66 Canadian and $54 US. 














Eyeliner:

The liquid eyeliner I chose to use to create a small wing is the Elf expert liquid eyeliner in jet black. This retails for $2 on the Elf website. The eyeliner I chose to use on my waterline and lower lash line to add a pop of colour is the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in the colour Asphyxia. This eyeliner is a really pretty light frosty purple. This retails for $25 Canadian and when I looked on the US website it was actually not available :(












Lips:

Lipstick:

For lipstick the one I chose is the Marc Jacobs Le Marc Creme Lipstick in the shade Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I would describe this colour as a dark rose/nude shade and it is described on the website as a baked rose shade. This product retails for $38 Canadian and $30 US. 


















OR

Liquid Lipstick:

The liquid lipstick I chose for this look is the Tarte Tartiest Creamy Matte Lip Paint in the shade Birthday Suit. I would describe this colour as a light pink/nude shade. This product retails for $24 Canadian and $20 US. 

















Although a number of people might describe this makeup look as still pretty neutral, I think it’s a great look for the Easter weekend and a great way to step up your normal makeup routine. Thank you for reading, I hope you have a great Easter weekend with your families! :)


All photos come from the products websites!


Wednesday 12 April 2017

Elf Hits and Misses

Elf as many of you know is a drugstore makeup brand that is, for the most part, extremely affordable. While there are some products that unfortunately do not work well, there are also some that are good enough to rival more expensive products. Most of their products range from $1, $3, $5 and a few things have a slightly different price. One of my favourite things about this brand is that it allows you to test out numerous products for the same price as one good eyeshadow palette from sephora. Even if one of the products you tried out you end up hating, you can rest easy knowing you probably only spent a couple dollars on it. 

To keep this post short and to the point, I will be sharing with you two products that I like and two products that I don’t like from elf. Along with the products I will also be posting the prices of each of them and links to the website where you can purchase them!

Hits:
  1. Elf Expert Liquid Liner in Jet black $2
















Words can not describe how glad I am that I chose to purchase this liquid eyeliner. At first I was skeptical due to the applicator of the product. Instead of having a felt tip like the liquid eyeliners I have used in the past, it has an applicator that resembles a very thin nail polish brush. The eyeliner is super black and pigmented and doesn’t fade as you wear it. It is also extremely smug proof. After wearing the eyeliner all day it was still completely intact. To take it one step further, at the end of the day I even took my finger to the line and smudged it out, and was happy to find it did not smudge. I would definitely repurchase this product and recommend it to anybody who is looking for an affordable option for a liquid liner. I would give this product a 5/5.

2.  Elf Contouring Blush and Bronzer duo in St. Lucia $4
















The quality of product you receive from this duo really makes it a fantastic deal for the amount of money you are spending. The blush is a really nice pink colour with a touch of shimmer. A high end product that this reminds me of is the Nars Orgasm blush which retails for $38 Canadian and $30 US.  The bronzer does also have a slight shimmer to it as well, however it s not overpowering at all! When a person is looking to contour or bronze up their face, it is pretty common to look for products without any shimmer in them. However, the bronzer in this product actually works very well and the sparkles are pretty much unnoticable on the skin. The duo itself is a dupe for the Nars Orgasm/Laguna blush and bronzer duo which retains for $54 Canadian and $42 US. I would repurchase this product and recommend it to anyone who loves the Nars products but does not love the price tag or anyone who has been looking for a cheap blush and bronzer option. I would give this product a 4/5.

Misses:
  1. Elf Flawless Finish Foundation SPF 15 $6
















I just wanted to start off this review by stating while overall this foundation was a miss for me, there were some positive aspects about it. The coverage of this foundation I would say is light and can be built up quite easily to a medium coverage. For a cheap foundation, the colours matched fairly well and blended out quite nicely. However, the cons about this product slightly outweighed the pros for me personally. First of all, I thought this product went on a little patchy in areas that might be more dry on the face. This could be fixed by applying more moisturizer than normal in those areas, however it was still a pain. Second of all, I found that when I wore this foundation for a few days in a row, my skin would tend to breakout a little. Another thing that I did not like about this product was, the fact that it simply was not long wearing at all. Within the next couple hours, when I looked in the mirror, the foundation had worn off and looked extremely patchy. I tried wearing more powder and even changing up the powder I was using but it didn’t make much of a difference. I also made sure I used a primer beforehand and also a setting spray when I was completely done my makeup. I would no repurchase this product, and would give it a 2/5.

  1. Elf Concealer (stick concealer) $3
















When I purchased this concealer, I was very excited to try it out and ended up being very disappointed. For starters, the colour was really upsetting and not true to how it looked online at all. The colour I ordered it in was ivory. When I actually applied it onto my skin, it came across very orange and did not blend out well at all. Second of all, the consistency of the product was terribly drying on the skin. It clung very easily to the dry patches on the skin and even the lightest layer looked extremely cakey. It was very hard to apply and even harder to blend out. Despite the good price tag, I would not repurchase this product and would give it a 1/5. 

Although not every product in the Elf line is perfect, it is still overall a great brand with numerous hidden gems within the line and man products that are definitely a steal for the low price! Although it is definitely very hit or miss, I definitely encourage any makeup lover or anyone just getting into makeup now to do some experimenting with the brand. Although there is a few products I have tried from Elf that I consider to be misses, I have also found many products that I love and I will definitely continue purchasing from the brand!



All pictures are from the Elf cosmetics website :)

Saturday 1 April 2017

Tasty Teas

David's Tea Chocolate Macaroon
If you are a tea drinker then it is no surprise if you are as in love with the David’s Tea brand as I am. Davids tea is a fairly popular brand of tea in Canada, and is also found in various places across the US. If you are not a huge tea drinker or are stuck on the classics, (for example you drink green tea but thats about it), If you do find yourself having a cup of tea every once and a while, or are wanting to start switching out your cup of coffee for tea instead, Davids Tea is almost guaranteed to have a flavour that is perfect for you.

The tea that I am currently obsessed with is the Chocolate Macaroon. This tea is definitely something to look forward to when you wake up in the morning. Even if you’re not a huge chocolate lover, you would most likely still love this tea. Personally, I am not a huge chocolate lover but I am absolutely obsessed with this tea. The description the website gives is, “a sweet, satisfying blend of black tea, coconut, chocolate and pecans.” I usually drink my tea black, but if you are a person who likes to add to your tea and are trying to cut back on the sugar, this tea will be perfect for you. It is quite sweet, sweet enough that you may not want to add sugar, but not too sweet that if you drink your tea black, like myself, you won’t like it. 

If you are not familiar with the brand, they always put a caffeine level on their teas. This means that you can choose a tea with no caffeine in it if you want to be able to sleep after, or choose something with a little bit of a kick to it. The Chocolate Macaroon tea has a caffeine level of 2, which is their medium caffeine level. This makes it a great tea to make instead of a cup of coffee. If you are a coffee junky who usually has multiple cups in the morning, try switching out one of those cups with a cup of this tea instead. 


Overall, I would give this tea a 5/5. I absolutely love this tea and I will definitely be repurchasing it time and time again. Would definitely recommend to any tea lovers out there!

Tuesday 21 March 2017

The Best Contour Kit!






















The Kat Von D shade and light palette retails for $65 Canadian and $45 US. At first I was skeptical about this product because of the fairly high price, but I am extremely glad that I purchased it. 

This palette is equipped with 3 different contour shades (known as shade) and three different highlight shades (known as light). This allows the contour kit to work for virtually any skin tone. The contour shades can be applied lightly for a more subtle look, which can be good for those who have a more fair skin tone. They can also be applied with a heavier hand for a more dramatic look. 



The consistency of the powders is quite creamy and is very easy to blend. Each of the shade options are extremely pigmented and a little bit of the product can go a long way. Below you will see some swatches, from left to right the colours are; subconcious, shadowplay and sombre.



For myself personally I do not use the light shades the same way as I would a traditional highlight (to achieve glow). Instead, I found that it worked really well to set certain points on my face after applying foundation and concealer. I use the lightest of the light shades which is called levitation and I use it to set under my eyes and the centre of my face, forehead, nose and chin. Below you will see some swatches of the light shades, from left to right the shades are; levitation, lyric and lucid.




One thing a lot of people love about this product, myself included, is the packaging. It is just so beyond cute! It definitely is made to be on display within your makeup collection. Inside it comes with a generously sized mirror, making it easy to use on the go. The packaging also stays closed very nicely, making it unlikely to transfer product into your bag when you are travelling with it. 

Yet another pro about this palette is the fact that it is refillable. This means that when you run out of your favourite shade, lets be honest the only one you probably use on a regular basis, the palette doesn’t become useless to you. You can simply purchase a refill in that shade and replace the empty one. Also, although every shade may not be compatible with every skin tone, that doesn’t mean that you won’t find a use for the other shades. One thing that this palette works perfect for other than contouring is eyeshadow! The shades that may be too light/dark for you will make for gorgeous eyeshadow shades!

Overall I would give this product a 4.5/5. I truly love this product and it would definitely be something I would repurchase and recommend to any of my friends. 




All photos seen above were taken by me:)

Friday 17 March 2017

Covergirl Outlast All-Day Concealer Review

The Covergirl Outlast All-Day Concealer is a relatively new product. I’ve recently picked this up and have been trying it out for about two to three weeks now. I have pretty fair skin in the winter so I always find myself having to pick up the lightest shade in a foundation or concealer. This being said the shade I picked this up in was colour 810 fair.

Some things I liked about this product were; the consistency was really nice and it was very easy to blend out. Some things I did not like very much however were; I was not a fan of the doe foot applicator because it made it seem a little unhygienic and I also was not a fan of the colour. It was to my understanding that this was the lightest shade and it came across very orange under my eyes.

 As for coverage, I believe that this concealer is light to medium coverage depending on how much/ how many layers you apply. Overall I would give this product a 3/5 rating.