Save Your Hair and Skin This Winter!

Hello all you fabulous readers! How are all of you doing today? I have been exam-free for the past couple of days, and I can finally get back to blogging, without interruptions. I was just itching to make more tutorials, and now I can since I will not have any serious school work for a while. Those of you stuck studying, good luck, and at least try to go to go to bed earlier than 2 AM( trust me, it’s harder than it looks during exam season). Well, onto today’s post!

Winter can be a pretty enjoyable season, but a lot of the fun can get sucked away when your skin and hair suffers from the frequent bitterly-cold temperatures. One day without gloves and your hand can look almost as dry as old leather. Leaving conditioner out of your hair for a couple of days can leave you with straw-like hair, and tons of tangles. This post is completely dedicated to a few ways you can replenish dry locks and leave your skin as soft and supple.

Hair Tips:

Tip #1: If you use moisturizing shampoo without any results, try using natural oils to help restore moisture to your drying hair. Place a scoop of coconut oil (about the size of the tip of your thumb), in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. Take a small scoop of the coconut oil, warm it between your palms, and apply directly to your scalp and hair strands, all the way to the tips. If you are staying at home all day, put it on in the afternoon, and wash it out with a gentle shampoo before you go to bed. Try to skip shampooing your hair the next day. If you cannot find coconut oil, pure olive oil does the trick. For those who prefer premeasured products, look out for VO5 Hot Oil Moisturizing Weekly Intense Conditioning Treatment ($3.99 CAD, drugstores)

 

Tip #2: Try keeping your hair tied up. Exposure to extreme cold can cause split ends and dryness to form faster. Why not try out that chic chignon you’ve been eyeing in your favourite magazine? If you prefer to keep your hair loose, try wearing a cute hat or beanie to offer a bit of protection to your locks.

Tip #3: Avoid heat styling your hair too often. Even without the cold weather, you can damage your hair to the point of “frying” it. You can still achieve pin-curls and stick-straight hair without heat styling it. Using heatless methods are often gentler on your hair, and can be easier to do.

Skin Tips:

Tip #1: It’s a good idea to switch up your skin routine once the weather gets colder. You might’ve gotten away with wearing just a light moisturizer with additional SPF, but you might need a slightly thicker cream. Switching to a thicker cream may seem too heavy and oily, but you can get creams that are thick, yet oil-free (as well as creams meant for acne-prone skin). TRY: Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief ($43.00 CAD for 1.7oz/50mL, or $ 58.00 CAD for 2.5 oz/75mL, can be found at Sephora, Clinique.ca and other fine department stores)

Tip #2: Winter can make your face feel dry, but it can also make your makeup looks crackly caked on. Switch up some of your powder-based cosmetic products, to ones that are cream-based. Cream makeup is a good choice for the winter, because of how moisturizing it can be. Look out for cream foundation, blushes, eyeshadows, or any other cosmetic product that you can think of temporarily switching. For fans of cream eyeshadow, try this soon-to-be-classic palette: Revlon Illuminance Crème Shadow in Va Va Bloom ($ 8.87 CAD, drugstores)

Tip #3: This tip is one that I often forget to use. Try not to go outside without gloves on. The cold weather can make your hands dry, which can speed up the development of wrinkles on your hands.

 Tip #4: You might want to increase the number of times you exfoliate your skin, instead of once every two weeks, increase it to once a week, to achieve results.

Tip #5: Even though it may not be as hot outside, it is still just as bright. Keep applying sunblock to protect your skin from harmful UVA and UVB rays. Everybody’s skin already has something similar to a built in SPF, but its better just to apply sunscreen. Try to look for an SPF of about 30-40, to remain protected from the sun’s harsh rays. TRY: Aveeno Continuous Protection Sunblock with SPF 30 for Face ($ 10.49 CAD, drugstores)

Well, that’s all of the tips I have for now. I hope they come in handy for any of you readers. I will have another post up soon, and the rest of the pictures for any posts I have missed. Until nest, time, thank you for reading and have an amazing day.

Happy reading

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Image Sources:

 All images belong to their rightful owners, I do not own any of the photos from the links listed below.

 

http://www.aveeno.com/suncare/cp/facial/spf30

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/vo5-hot-oil-moisturizing-weekly-intense-conditioning-treatment/ID=prod8883-product#descriptionNamedTab

http://www.clinique.com/product/1687/5089/Moisture-Surge-Extended-Thirst-Relief/index.tmpl

Long Time No See!

Hello all you fabulous readers? How are all of you? Some of you may have noticed that I haven't blogged in a long time, but my blogging schedule should be regular now. School has been a whirlwind of homework and tests and other conflicts. How are your live right now? Are you super busy as well? There will be another post up in another couple of hours, and a tutorial post coming up as well. So, stay tuned, and  thank you for reading my rant!

Happy Waiting 

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Lancôme Colour Design: 5 Shadow and Liner Palette Review

Hello my wonderful readers! How are you? Today is a product review day, and I chose one of my most favorite palettes to date. The full name of the product is the Lancôme Paris Colour Design: Eye Brightening All-In-One 5 Shadow and Liner Palette. Phew! Other than being known for exquisite cosmetics, Lancôme is also known for the long names of their products. All cheesy jokes aside, keep scrolling down to read my full review on this product. Well, onto today’s post!

This palette first caught my eye when I was browsing around the makeup counters at one of The Bay department stores. It was a few minutes to closing, and I saw this palette and loved how the colours looked. You do not find many people wearing teal-green shadows anymore, but I believe that more people would change their mind about those colours if they took a look at the palette. I only recently saw a few other cosmetic brands posting advertisements with teal and blue eye shadows, which made me feel happy to see them. These modern shades of teal are perfect for transitioning from winter to spring (or if you live somewhere cold like me, winter to even more winter!). I am a big fan of Lancôme, as their products never fail to impress. This palette has a lot to offer, and I hope you all feel the same way after reading my review. 

The first feature that deserves attention is how they give you a lot of eyeshadow to experiment with. I have two other Lancôme palettes, and both of them are only half-finished, as they give you a fair amount of product. This palette is different from the other two, as this one numbers each of the eyeshadow steps, with a number.

 As soon as you open the box, you will find a folded instructions booklet. One side shows you how to achieve a wearable “day” look. The reverse side will show you how to achieve a “night” look. This is a very useful resource for those who are just starting out with makeup.

The instructions and numbered steps is not why I had bought the palette. It was purchased because of the beautiful colours, and how they look flattering on a lot of skintones. I was a bit worried that the colours would not look very flattering on my skintone, but as soon as I applied the bright teal shade to my lids, I loved the way it looked. Here are the swatches for all the colours below:

For some unknown reason, this photo keeps uploading so that it rests sideways.

Another great feature of the palette is that every shade is numbered 1-5, so you know which one to apply. Another thing I would like to compliment is how the shades (like always) are smooth, and not chalky, and do not crease on me. Also, they are all perfectly pigmented, not too bright, and not too subtle. You can easily amplify the brightness with another layer of colour for a more dramatic effect, but I believe the colours make the right amount of impact as it is.

 

I would definitely recommend buying this palette, especially during the winter season, as you will get a lot of chances to experiment with the colours, as they just scream winter glamour. Pictures will go up; I just have to keep studying, for the time being. So go to your nearest Lancôme counter and try out the palette for yourself!  Well, there you go! Thank you for reading this post, and enjoy the rest of your day.

Happy Studying

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EXAM TIME!!!

Hello my wonderful readers! How are you doing? I know, it's been a long time since I've blogged, but its exam time in Canada. This means I just stay home ad study, and I have basically so life for the next couple of weeks. at won't stop me from blogging, though. I shall put another post up later today ( it is currently 1:09 am), and keep posting as the next couple of weeks or so progress. How is exam going for all you Canadian ( and maybe even American) readers? You're probably enjoying reading mass amounts of literature, and doing equations. Maybe even a few of you are ready to chuck your calculators into the Pacific Ocean. Even if you do, I can understand why. Okay, it's bedtime now, I have to get up early in the morning for a studying session at school. Study hard, and enjoy the rest of your days.

Happy Studying


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Body Shop Spiced Vanilla Gift Set Review (PART 2)

Hello my wonderful readers! How was New Years? My New Years celebrations went quite well, and I hope you all had an awesome time, as well. In case you did not read my previous post, this is a review for the Body Shop Spiced Vanilla Shower Scrub & Moisture Collection, gift set. Just click this link to get to part 1, if you would like to read that one first. Well, onto today’s post!

If you read part one already, you know that the other two parts in the gift set I have to review, are the body scrub and the fragrant bar of soap. Let’s start off with the scrub first.

As you can see in the picture, it has tiny granules, which I believe are walnut shells, in the mixture. This makes a great exfoliant, as the shells will gently slough away dead skin, leaving your skin wonderfully smooth. It has a great smell, that is not overpowering, and there is a good amount of product in the jar, which should last about 3 weeks or more.

The last product to review from the set is the bar of soap. This product lathered easily, and again, smells absolutely delicious. My skin felt really smooth, as if I was washing my skin with a moisturizer is stead of soap. They give you a pretty good sized bar, so again, may last 3 weeks, if you use it everyday.

Overall, I really enjoyed using this gift set, so if you can still find it in the Body Shop, I would tell you to buy it before they run out! I hope you liked my review, and thank you for reading.

**WARNING- This product does contain nut ingredients, so if you are allergic, please use your own discretion. I just want you all to be safe, ALWAYS read the label.**

Happy Holidays 

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Body Shop Spiced Vanilla Gift Set Review (PART 1)

Hello all you joyous readers! How are you? Today is going to be a review day, and I have a great gift set that I would like to rave about, below. I received this gift set for Christmas from a family member, and boy, I love it so far! I have been alternating each of the products, by using one product and then using the next one. So far I have only used two of them, but keep reading to find out my thoughts. Well, onto today’s post!

The Body Shop is a favorite of mine, as I am always buying products from there. Actually, one of the brushes in my makeup tutorial posts is from the Body Shop. As soon as I saw this wonderful gift set, I was itching to use the products. I believe that this set is limited edition, so it may not be available year round. The full name of the gift set, is the Body Shop Spiced Vanilla Shower Scrub & Moisture Collection. It comes in a gold octagonal clear-lidded tin. 

Inside the tin, you will find four products:

Spiced Vanilla Shower Gel 250 ml

Spiced Vanilla Soap 100g

Spiced Vanilla Body Butter 50 ml

Spiced Vanilla Body Scrub 50 ml

In my opinion, the spiced vanilla scent of the products, embodies the whole spirit of Chirstmas and the winter season. It makes you think of gingerbread houses, the fluffy snow of the first snowfall, and even sleeping in during a snow storm.

The first product I tried, was the shower gel. It gives you a very thick and rich lather, and moisturized my skin very nicely. They give you a good amount of shower gel, which should last about a few months or so, depending on whether you use it every day, or swap it out for a bar of soap once in a while. It did not irritate my skin, as a lot of body washes do, and it left my skin feeling soft and lightly scented.

The second product I had tried, was the body butter. I have not tried a body butter until now, and I have to say that it was a very good first impression. It’s very creamy and smooth, and does have that “buttery consistency”, until you gently apply it on your skin. Again, it smells very wonderful, and moisturized my skin exceptionally well. I felt as if the body butter outdid my regular body moisturizers, which it sure did. I might consider switching over to the Body Shop’s body butters from now on! My skin felt baby soft, and did not get irritated by the scent at all.

Though I have yet to try the remaining two products in the set, I will put an updated post, with my thoughts on the other products in the set. Overall, I would definitely recommend these products to anyone, as I have sensitive skin, and did not have any negative skin reactions to the products. Well, there you go! I hope this partial product review helped some of you readers out! Look out for the second part of this product review. Thank you for reading.

**WARNING- This product does contain nut ingredients, so if you are allergic, please use your own discretion. I just want you all to be safe, ALWAYS read the label.**

Happy Holidays

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It's Christmas :D

Hello my festive readers! How are all of your holidays (if you have them) are going? I've been enjoying my holiday time with my family and friends- and cherishing all the free time I have for doing absolutely nothing when I feel like it.What have you readers been up to? I hope you don't have too much homework to catch up on.  Well, enough writing for now, I are too much turkey and I am starting to feel sleepy. Enjoy the rest of the holiday season, and thank you for reading.

Happy Christmas,

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