March, 2015 - sparkleshinylove

Roxymandy March 18, 2015

Review of First Aid Beauty’s Face Cleanser

I am horrible at taking my makeup off at the end of the day, yet I seem to love trying out different kinds of make up remover’s and cleansers! I guess subconsciously I am thinking that if I find the perfect one, maybe I will change my ways and actually wash my face properly.

It’s not that I don’t wash my face, but I don’t do a great job of wiping off all of my makeup.

For a couple weeks I have been using First Aid Beauty’s Face Cleanser with Fab Antioxidant Booster. First Aid Beauty (or FAB products) can be purchased a Sephora, or on their own website in Canada.

FAB products are free of harsh chemicals and known allergens, including parabens, phthalates, alcohol, fragrances and artificial dyes.

The promise of this product was to remove surface oils, make-up, dirt and grime. It also advertises that it’s safe for sensitive skin, which is good for me since I fit in to that category.

What does it smell like? Well nothing really. It does have a bit of a smell, and it wasn’t a particularly lovely one. It smelt a bit like a cleanser should I guess. Nothing floral, nothing overly offensive – it just smells like a product that would be called unscented.

It doesn’t take a lot for this FAB cleanser to work which is nice! It retails for $20 per bottle (USD), so it’s nice that it would seem to last a long time since you need very little to clean up. It was really gentle on my skin, and it didn’t leave any redness or irritation.

After using this product my face didn’t feel overly tight at all – just clean and cleansed.

Overall I liked it a lot, and I am definitely going to keep using it. Will it help me with motivating myself to clean my face thoroughly every night? Well, it will help a lot since it’s a great product, but can anything combat my night-time laziness? Probably not.

To learn more about this product, visit the FAB website here!

Roxymandy March 17, 2015

Our Night at Medieval Times

In the past I’ve attended the dinner and show at Medieval Times in Toronto, but this weekend we had the opportunity to take my son there for the first time. We were lucky enough to receive passes to enjoy the show on Saturday, and at the end of this post you have the chance to win 4 passes of your own to see the show!

In order to get our son excited we headed over to the show’s website to play a few different video’s so he would know what to expect. This made him even more excited – he really loves horses and that was all he could talk about.

The day of the show we had three different options for what time we would book – 1:30pm, 4:30pm and 7:30pm, while some days there were even show’s at 11:00am. We chose the 7:30pm show, and arrived early so we could tour around the castle before things got started.

Parking was right on site ($11.00 for the event) so we didn’t have a long walk into the venue. Once inside we were greeted as “Lords and Ladies”, so it was like the show started as soon as you walked through the doors. Everything flowed and was nicely organized so we easily picked up our tickets, received our crowns in the colour of the knight we would cheer for, and our family photo was taken.

Once inside there was a large bar in the centre of the room, along with a special wine bar to the side as well. We toured around the venue looking at what the vendors had to offer (obviously a light-up sword was purchased for our son!), we watched as Lords and Ladies were being “Knighted” since they were celebrating special occasions, and we took a look at some of the horses we would see soon in the show.

We were called into the auditorium one cheering section at a time, and again everything was nicely organized as we were guided to our seats.

We had what you would call the King’s Royalty Package, which meant we were in the front row with an amazing view! We were also provided a behind the scenes DVD of the show, a commemorative program, a knight’s cheering banner, and each of us received our entrance family photo which was printed, framed and ready to be taken home at the end of the show.

Things got started very quickly! We were served drinks as the show began, and our dinner was served in courses as the show went on.

We started off with a tomato bisque soup and garlic bread, followed by the largest piece of oven roasted chicken I had ever seen, with a herb-roasted potatoe and corn. There are also vegetarian and halal meals upon request.

Our son was so funny – right away he asked “where is my fork?” We have always taught him to use utensils (he is 2.5), and we didn’t even think that he would be thrown off by being asked to eat with no utensils. He tried without success to eat everything using only his mouth (so funny), and eventually gave in to using his fingers.

The meal was absolutely amazing! I ate almost every bite. The best part was that the show was happening while we were eating. Eating at restaurants with a toddler means that half of my time is spent keeping him entertained while I try desperately to eat my meal.

This was the first time I had ever eaten at a restaurant and had the opportunity to eat everything on my plate. My son was so mesmerized by the show! He couldn’t take his eyes off of what was happening in front of him. There were horse tricks, a falcon flying around the auditorium, jousting, and sword fights. He loved every second. I basically held up his food in front of his face so he could eat and keep his eyes on the show at the same time.

The meal finished with apple pie, and a some moist towelettes to clean our sticky fingers.

My son hasn’t stopped talking about the show since we went. He has been carrying around our picture and the programme to show everyone the horses he saw. We had an awesome experience.

Now the fun part! I am giving away 4 general admission passes on the blog this week for Medieval Times Toronto!

The contest is open to Canadian residents beginning on Monday, March 16th, 2015 at 11:00pm, and ending Monday, March 23rd, 2015 at 11:00pm. To enter just comment below this post “I want to win!”. One entry per person, and the winner will be randomly chosen and announced on Tuesday, March 24th, 2015.

Good luck to everyone who enters!

Medieval Times in Toronto is located at 10 Dufferin St., Exhibition Place. For more information visit http://medievaltimes.com/toronto.aspx.

Roxymandy March 16, 2015

Street-Style Worthy High Top Sneakers

One of my favourite things to look at online are photos of street-style. Pinterest even has a category for it now, so I’m not the only one. I think it’s more fun to look at those types of styles rather than haute couture which is pretty unattainable for the average girl.

I really love the way people style sneakers into their wardrobe – especially high top sneakers.

I’m pretty obsessed with these new Nike High Top Sneakers I got last month at Holt Renfrew. I wear them any chance I get, and they are so comfortable! Stylish and comfortable are usually two things that do not go together in fashion, so I’m a happy girl.

I asked for these shoes for Valentines Day from my husband, and he thought I was a little crazy until he saw them. He thinks they are pretty awesome too. Which is good, since he paid for them and all.

Now I want to add more high top’s to my shoe collection, and here are a few more of my favourites below!

Nike Lunar Force Sky Hi Wedge Sneaker

Steve Madden Decaf Quilted Sneaker

Nike Dunk Sky Hi Sneaker

Chuck Taylor High Top Sneaker

ALDO Ciambave High Top Sneakers

Forever 21 Globetrotter Wedge Sneakers

Roxymandy March 13, 2015

DIY Painted Easter Wreath

I’m a big fan of wreaths. I pretty much have one for every occasion. It really annoys my husband because they are usually big and bulky, so they are difficult to hang on the door. But they are pretty, so I make him do it.

For Easter I decided to make my own wreath, which I had never done before! I bought a plain wreath at Michaels which was normally $6.99 but I had a 40% off coupon so it was a little over $4.00.

I picked up eggs at Dollarama for $2.00 a carton, and I already had a gold pen from my last DIY project. This whole project only cost me just over $10! Impressed? I was!

I either drew designs on each egg with the pen, or held it on the egg so enough would come out so I could use a brush to cover the egg.

The easiest part was to glue gun the eggs onto the wreath. That’s it! This was a really easy project. Normally wreaths are expensive, so creating this one for $10.00 was pretty awesome!

Roxymandy March 13, 2015

Freshening Up For Spring with Lampe Berger

It’s spring! I’m embracing it with cleaning, organizing, and doing a little redecorating. Overall I am ready to freshen things up!

In an effort to freshen things up, I have been using a Lampe Berger Paris fragrance lamp for a few weeks, and it’s been a really different experience.

My husband hates air freshners. HATES them. He dislikes anything with a strong scent, and he really gets annoyed with air freshners that plug in. He was always knocking them over, and he was convinced our toddler would start playing with them when he got older. So basically air freshners are a “talking point” in our house.

When I was provided a Lampe Berger Paris fragrance lamp a couple weeks ago, I was excited to give it a try! It has a really sleek design, and it looked like it fit right into our decor.

My starter kit included the fragrance lamp, wick, a funnel for the fragrance, the So Neutral home fragrance, and as a bonus I recived the Amber Elegance home fragrance.

It’s a very simple process to use your Lampe Berger. You pour the home fragrance into the lamp using the funnel provided, and then insert the wick back into the lamp. Once it soaks for 20 minutes you may light the lamp for 2 minutes. Then you blow the flame out and let the lamp purify your home.

The So Neutral fragrance was great for my picky husband. It deoterised our home, but didn’t release a scented fragrance. It was great after a meal to eliminate the smell of spaghetti and meatballs!

The So Neutral fragrance can also be used in between two fragrances when you want to change them up to clean the oil burner. The Amber Elegance scent seemed citrusy and very pleasant.

Having a dog in the house means that the outdoors is always coming inside. Dirt, snow, sand – whatever the season is, my dog is bringing it into the house. After running in the snow, he ends up having that “wet dog smell”, so freshening up that scent in our home is pretty important.

Overall I was very happy with my Lampe Berger Paris fragrance lamp, and I am looking forward to trying out some new scents.

To learn more about Lampe Berger Paris, visit their website here