Posted to
Health & Beauty on May 22, 2012 - 04:34
I've been trying to abstain from beauty/cosmetics purchases lately, as I have far too much makeup. But sometimes...I will cave, lol. In this case, I saw that Essence was now available at Shopper's Drug Mart (it had previously not been available in Canada, where I live). So I picked up a few Essence products, and some other items along the way!
Here's what I purchased:
GOSH Eye Shadow Brush
(Flat), $4.something (I can't remember, lol): I've lost a couple of my e.l.f. Studio brushes, so I bought this one as a replacement. It's made of 100% natural hair and feels SO SOFT!
Essence Gel Eyeliner Brush, $2.99: I needed a new eyeliner brush to use with my Maybelline Color Tattoos and the one Stila Smudge Pot that I have. This brush has artificial bristles, but is still really soft.
OH MY GOSH! Nail Lacquer in Cobalt Blue, $4.00: I saw this shade and knew I had to have it - I love cobalt blue and I have never seen a cobalt blue polish at the drugstore, much less for four bucks. I do have a quickly-growing nail polish collection, but could I resist? No, lol!
Essence Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss in Kiss Kiss Kiss, $1.49: This is such a steal! It's non-sticky and adds a nice pop of colour to my lips. It also seems to last quite long, too...all for $1.49!!!
Essence Colour & Go Quick Drying Nail Polish in Lime Up!, $1.99 (or $1.49? I can't quite remember, oops!): I love lime green nail polish, and have been looking for one to replace the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish in Lickety-Split Lime, which I had to throw it because it SUCKED. Hopefully this one is better - at the very least, it's cheaper!
So there's my haul! I am loving Essence products so far and will be buying more in the future...the novelty has not yet worn off for me, lol. XD
Have you tried any Essence cosmetics before?
***Photo is my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Food on May 22, 2012 - 04:17
I love Skinny Cow ice creams, but they are pretty expensive. So when I saw that they were on sale recently, I purchased a box of Caramel Truffle ice cream bars. They are 100 calories each and are actually pretty substantial compared to some of the other 100-calorie ice cream products out there.
I did like the flavour of this ice cream bar, though it did have a slight artificial aftertaste,
which I wasn't too crazy about. It does taste of caramel, but not REAL caramel. It was still pretty good, though.
In the future, I think I will stick to Skinny Cow's ice cream sandwiches, and I may try their ice cream cones. But I'm not sure I liked these bars enough to purchase them regularly.
Have you tried any Skinny Cow ice creams?
***Photo is my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Health & Beauty on May 21, 2012 - 23:49
I was checking my e-mail this past week when I saw an e-mail from my local Joe Fresh store saying that they were doing free manicures that day. The store is easy for me to get to from my work, so you bet I headed down there ASAP!
When I got there, there were two manicurists, and only one was doing someone's nails. I was expecting to have to wait to get my free mani, and I didn't even have to!
There were several shades available to choose from, but I chose Orange Sorbet because it was such a fun, bright colour. I noticed that, as it was being applied, the first coat looked streaky, The second coat, however, evened everything out quite nicely. Fortunately, the polish dried quite quickly, so I was able to do some shopping at a mall nearby. :)
The wear time on this polish was pretty good! It lasted a bit longer (i.e., a few more hours) than nail polish usually does on me. I was quite impressed, considering that Joe Fresh nail polishes are only $4, or 3 for $10. I don't own any yet, but I will definitely be purchasing some in the future!
Have you ever tried any Joe Fresh nail polishes?
***Photo is my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Food on May 21, 2012 - 23:41
Sometimes, for breakfast, I throw some random stuff in with some Greek yogurt and hope it tastes good. And usually, it does! Recently, however, I found a combo that I will make again, for sure. I combined nonfat Greek yogurt with grapefruit, walnuts, and agave nectar. It was really good! I was worried about the grapefruit and yogurt being too tangy together, but a couple of squirts of agave
nectar made it work. The walnuts added a nice crunch, as well.
Other combos that I've tried with Greek yogurt include frozen berries, oranges, honey and cinnamon, and oatmeal. But I think I like this one the best!
Do you like Greek yogurt? What did you have for breakfast this morning?
***Photo is my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Health & Beauty on May 21, 2012 - 23:20
I received this lip gloss with my 'a href="http://www.luuux.com/health-beauty/april-2012-glymm-box?blog_id=82348">April Glymm Box. Though everything else in the box was sample-sized, the gloss was actually a full-sized product! Considering this product retails for $28 Canadian ($25 USD according to the Mai Couture website), I was quite happy to be able to give it a try.
This product claims to
fill in lines of lips and restore moisture. I guess it sort of does that - it's moisturizing and non-sticky, but I don't think it fills in fine lines that well. It also allegedly contains "plant extracts" that plump lips without stinging. Well, it doesn't sting, but also doesn't do any plumping, either, lol!
Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the colour of this gloss - it tones down/lightens my lip colour, which is NOT a look that I like. My lips don't have much natural pigmentation in the first place. >.< I think I will have to try it out over some lipsticks to see if I can make it work for me! At the moment, though, I'm using this occasionally as a lip balm, but not really wearing it outside the house, lol.
Would I buy this product? No...lol. I mean, it's a nice, nonsticky gloss, but there's no way I'd pay more than $25 for it, especially for only 5 mL of sheer gloss that really isn't anything special, in my opinion.
Have you tried this lip gloss? Do you prefer pigmented lip glosses or more sheer ones?
***Photos are my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Health & Beauty on May 21, 2012 - 01:33
I received this nail polish with my Julep Maven 99-cent box (you can see my post on that here). As I mentioned in my previous post, I was not too thrilled with Heather (though I loved the other two nail polish shades I received). I decided to try it and just get it out of the way, lol. It's a work-appropriate colour, so I did wear it to work this past week. I wasn't surprised to find that I
didn't like it after I had applied it. :/ However, I decided to see how it would look with a matte top coat (N.Y.C.'s Matte Me Crazy Top Coat), and I liked it a LOT better.
I still don't LOVE this colour, but I won't mind wearing it occasionally to work with a matte top coat applied over top of it. Considering I got THREE nail polishes for 99 cents (with free shipping!) I'm really not going to complain about the one dud of a shade that I got.
Have you tried any of Julep's nail polishes before? What do you think of this shade?
***Photos are my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Food on May 20, 2012 - 23:20
There is a catering company in my neighbourhood that makes awesome paninis - it's pretty much my favourite place to get a sandwich. Being a catering company, however, they also sell frozen "take and bake" meals. The last time we were there, my boyfriend and I decided to try their shepherd's pie.
Well, I have to say that it was the best shepherd's pie I've ever had! Shepherd's pie is a really
simple dish, but it's amazing how much high-quality, fresh ingredients and proper seasoning can make a difference. I was surprised that something like a shepherd's pie could actually taste complex.
Needless to say, I had seconds of this dish, and we will be back to try different dishes from this catering company in the future. The last time I checked, they also had chicken pot pies, butter chicken, and chicken cacciatore. Can you say YUM?! I will never buy another frozen dinner from a supermarket ever again, lol (well maybe not NEVER, but you know!).
Do you like shepherd's pie?
***Photo is my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Health & Beauty on May 20, 2012 - 06:17
I recently signed up for the Julep Maven subscription box, because they were having a 99-cent special that I just couldn't resist! I got the "It Girl" box, which included three nail polishes (and a nail file!):
Helena, a vibrant fuchsia shade.
Mandy, a bright coral shade.
Heather, a frosted taupe shade.
I LOVE Helena - fuschia is one of my favourite nail polish shades to wear. I also
really like Mandy, as I'm a fan of coral colours, as well. To be honest, though, I kind of...hate Heather, lol. A lot of taupe shades are too cool-toned for my skin, and I dislike frosted nail polish finishes, anyway. But for 99 cents, this box was well worth it. I got two shades that I just love, and...a work-appropriate shade, lol. I have already worn Heather to work, actually, and have found a way to make it more appealing to me (but that's a story for another post!).
If anyone is interested in subscribing to the Julep Maven program, here's my referral link. ;)
Have you tried any Julep nail polishes before?
***Photo is my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Food on May 20, 2012 - 04:51
This was a dinner that my boyfriend made for me. It's kind of difficult for us to find something that we both want to eat for dinner, but we were able to settle on some pork chops, mashed potato, and asparagus. Asparagus is one of the only vegetables my boyfriend will eat, lol.
The pork chop was coated in panko bread crumbs, which are crispier than the North American kind. They sort of remind
me of crushed corn-flakes, actually! The mashed potatoes are your standard mashed potatoes, lol. Finally, the asparagus was steamed.
I liked this meal! It was pretty well-rounded, considering what my boyfriend normally has for dinner. :P We will probably end up having this again. :)
What did you have for dinner tonight?
***Photos is my own; please do not take.
Posted to
Health & Beauty on May 18, 2012 - 08:00
Not too long ago, I made another "frankenpolish", and am quite pleased with the way it turned out! I used a realllly old bottle of Wt n Wild Nail Color in Blazed (a bright pink shade) - I think there was maybe a bit more than half of the original polish left in the bottle. I also used about half a bottle of L.A. Colors Art Deco Nail Art Lacquer in Bright Orange. Combined, they make a bright
peachy shade that I really like!
The formula is a bit sheer for my taste, but I don't mind too much. I think I'm wearing three coats in the photo, but I don't remember. >.< I'm fond enough of the colour that I'll probably be wearing it quite frequently this summer, though. For a shade that was made from two old nail polishes, it's actually quite an on-trend colour, lol!
Has anyone else tried making "frankenpolish" before? I've had a few "misses", but I still find it really fun to experiment. If I know I'm not going to use a nail polish, trying to turn into something that I will want to wear is sort of a challenge for me! :)
***Photos are my own; please do not take.
