Beauty Tip Thursday | Current Favorite Beauty Hacks

The beauty world can be an amazing place, but it can also be time consuming and confusing and (of course) expensive! I formed this list of 5 of my favorite beauty hacks that I use on a regular basis to save myself some time and effort during my beauty routine. I rounded up these 5 because they are literally my most used, but I have many more little tips and tricks that I could share, just let me know in the comments if you would like to see more of these beauty hack posts for Beauty Tip Thursday!

1. Voluminous Ponytail - If you have problems with your ponytail maintaining volume throughout the day just use this trick. Tease and pull the top section of your hair into a half up style and secure with an elastic. Gather the remaining hair and incorporate it into the ponytail with a second elastic. BOOM! All day volume! 

2. Lipstick - Make lipstick last longer by dabbing lips with a tissue after applying your lip color, then dust a translucent powder over your lips. This trick will help your lip color last longer and can easily make any lip color matte. 

3. Dull/Dry Hair - Make your own leave in conditioner by simply mixing a touch of your regular conditioner with water in a spray bottle.

4. Clumpy Mascara - Add a touch of saline contact solution to your dry or clumpy mascara to revive it. *Note : mascara should be discarded every 3 months so this trick should only be applied to mascaras less than 3 months old. 

5. Perfume - If you find your favorite scent doesn't last as long as you would like, apply vaseline to your pulse points prior to your perfume. This makes the scent last longer by preventing the perfume from being absorbed as quickly as it normally would. 

There you have it! Five of my favorite beauty hacks that I use regularly! Let me know if you would like to see more posts like this. Also let me know if you have any cool beauty hacks in the comments! 

Beauty Favorites | January 2015

I don't know what it is about January but I always seem to be caught off guard at the end of it thinking - where did the month even go? All of a sudden its January 27th and I'm finding myself rushing to gather my monthly favorites together so I can finally get one of these posts up at the end of the actual month I'm talking about (lets cross our fingers I make it happen more than once!). Without further delay, lets get into these favorites, and start also making our way through the shortest (and most gloomy in my opinion) month of the year. 

First off, I found myself reaching for these couple face makeup items pretty much every single day this month except for the days I wore no makeup at all. Loreal True Match foundation was always a favorite of mine, and after repurchasing it a couple months back I've found it back in my everyday makeup bag from the depths of my makeup drawers. Perfectly paired with the foundation was my Benefit Erase Paste which does a double duty of blemish and under eye concealing. I've been pretty constant on my bronzer and concealer this month as well - Nars Laguna Bronzer paired with the Rimmel blush in Pink Rose have been my dream combo. 

As for the rest of my makeup I've been keeping it pretty simple as well. I've really been enjoying a more simple eye look with lots of mascara - the one I haven't been able to keep my hands off of is Loreal Miss Manga which I did a full review of this month as well. As for lips I have to say a shout out to one of my favorite bloggers and fellow Canadians Estee (Essie Button), as I saw in her Best Beauty Products of 2014 video that she mentioned the Revlon Balm Stain in Honey was a favorite of hers. Lets just say any lip product specifically that Estee calls her favorite of the entire year has got to be purchased, like.. yesterday.

(Top to bottom) Nars Laguna, Rimmel Pink Rose, Revlon Honey 

There you have it guys! A very small but to the point January Beauty Favorites! Comment down below with some of the products you've enjoyed this month! 

Beating Winter Blues With Champagne Shades

I love a good glow in my makeup all year round, but I seem to be craving that lit from within look even more during this gloomy time of year. We're right into the thick of the winter right now, and it's not our skins best friend. The dry weather and short days tend to make skin dull and lack luster - my solution is to pull out the champagne tones. 

(Top to bottom) CG Champagne, MAC Naked Lunch, Hard Candy Tiki Bronzer

(Top to bottom) Benefit Watts Up, Smashbox light luminizer, NYX cottage cheese, 

Rimmel bullet proof beige 

My first and most obvious choice - note the name - is the Covergirl Eye Enhancers eyeshadow in Champagne. So soft and buttery, it makes for the most amazing inner corner highlight that will truly make your eyes pop. Naked Lunch from MAC is also one of my favorite powder eyeshadows for bringing extra brightness to my eyes - the bonus is it isn't a heavy glitter shade so it never looks over the top. As for cheeks my go to powder product is the Hard Candy So Baked Bronzer in Tiki. It's labeled as a bronzer but for that purpose I think it would be impossible to pull off. It is however one of the best drugstore highlighting products I've ever found. 

If you're more of a cream product type of person, especially in terms of face highlighters, then Benefit Watts Up is the perfect product. In a stick form it makes for super easy application and adds the most wonderfully natural glow to the skin without looking like you actually applied a highlighting product. Smashbox Artificial Light Luminizing Powder - what a mouth full - is yes, technically, a "powder", however I kind of find it to be an in between kind of product. The applicator dispenses small amounts of this creamy powder that adds such a beautiful glow to the cheeks or eyes. Just a tip, I dispense it onto the back of my hand and then use a brush to apply it to where I want it - applying it straight from the container can get a little tedious. 

My final two picks are both eyeshadow sticks, and seriously, who doesn't love a good eyeshadow stick - so easy to use and convenient. The NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in cottage cheese - the name leaves little to be desired - is a stunner. It's shimmery white with undertones of gold. Finally the Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeshadow stick in bulletproof beige, which I must add is waterproof, adds a gorgeous light golden glow to the lids. I love wearing this both alone and as a base to make other shadows really pop. 

Loreal Miss Manga Mascara | First Impression & Photos

Like a faithful beauty blogger I am always up for trying a new mascara - I feel like I'm on an eternal search for the perfect mascara. I don't believe this is a super new product in stores but I felt instantly drawn to the packaging, and I've also heard some positive reviews floating around so I thought I would give it a shot. This is actually the first Loreal mascara I've picked up in a long time. Lately I've been more devoted to my Covergirl and Maybelline ones, but it's always nice to switch things up! 

The Claim:

Voluminous Miss Manga Black Angel mascara featuring the 360 degree Flexor Brush to build bold volume with high intensity from top to bottom. Instantly builds oversized volume for up to 15x lash volume in a flash. Top lashes amplified and bottom lashes maximized for an ultimate wide eye-look. 

The brush, as you can see, is smaller at the tip, and then the bristles grow in size the closer you get to the cap. I really enjoy these kinds of wands because it always makes it super easy to get the lashes at the inner corner of your eye, as well as you bottom lashes. 

The above picture is full makeup minus any mascara or lash primer. I think as far as lashes go I've got decent ones. They're moderately long and decently thick, but not very dark in color. 

After applying the mascara (3 coats, just as I always do every day), you can visibly see it added length and volume to my lashes. The formula is very black, which I love, and pretty thick/sticky, which I also love. I imagine, as with all mascaras, the formula will change slightly after a couple more uses once some air has gotten into the tube. This demo is based on my very first time opening, applying and wearing the product so just keep that in mind! 

Overall I'd have to say I believe I'm really going to love and enjoy this mascara. It creates a great bold lash which is what I love. Even on a day to day basis when I'm not wearing foundation, concealer and the whole works I still do mascara, which is why I love when one single mascara can accomplish both length and volume. 

Let me know if you've tried/want to try this mascara and leave any opinions below! Hope you enjoyed this quick little review/first impression! 

A Little Body Shop Haul | January 2015

This past weekend I was out running some standard errands and decided to pop into the mall to browse. While walking around I passed The Body Shop and realized that it had been simply forever since I was even into the store, let alone bought something for myself. I felt as though I had let down an old and faithful friend, so to make up for my neglect I picked up a couple things in hopes of making amends (anything to justify buying beauty products!). 

I picked up two of my old favorites in my absolute favorite scent The Body Shop has - Coconut Body Butter and Coconut Cream Body Scrub. Both of these products are so super moisturizing and smell AH-MAzinggg! There is something about using coconut scented products during the winter months that I'm absolutely obsessed with. Maybe its because the scent makes me miss the summer sun a little less, and makes me forget about the snow outside, at least for a minute or two. 

I love this body scrub because it isn't as abrasive as others that have larger granules of sugar etc. It does the job without being to harsh on my sensitive winter skin. 

I decided to try a couple new products that I've been thinking about for a while now. First is the Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil, which I have seen Amelia Liana rave about on her YouTube and blog many times. I've tried it several times now and although I'm still in the testing stages, I believe I am a cleansing oil convert and I may become obsessed with this. 

I also decided to try out the RainForest Radiance Detangling Spray. I heard of this a long while back from a couple different friends of mine but I had never bothered to try it out. I recently ran out of the Garnier one I was using so I decided it was time to give this stuff a shot. After using it about three times now I can say I think I'm going to really enjoy it, and its been great for using on my daughters' hair as well. The scent is lovely, like blueberries, and I can see myself spraying this on my hair purely for the scent. 

I also received a little sample of their Vanilla Brulee hand cream, which I pretty much instantly stashed in my purse (if you can't tell by the dent I already have in it), although I have yet to try it out yet.

Hope you enjoyed this little haul on what I picked up from The Body Shop! Leave comments regarding your favorite Body Shop products because I think I've fallen back in love.