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!

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!

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 :)

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!