Beauty - sparkleshinylove

Roxymandy March 30, 2014

The blossom lounge x bkr Beauty Water Challenge

I made it! It wasn’t easy, and there were times that I slipped, but I finally made it to the end of my challenge.

I’ve posted a few times regarding this challenge, but just to refresh you, the challenge was to drink 5 bottles of water per day from my fancy little bkr bottle provided by blossom lounge.

To recap, my previous posts are here and here

Seems easy right? Well for a non-committal water drinker like myself, this challenge started off as painful. I really had to keep my bottle with me at all times, or I would find myself at 9:00pm with 4 bottles to go!

The bottle is super light weight so I could easily throw it into my purse, yoga bag or gym bag and it didn’t feel like a heavy burden.

As I moved through the challenge it got a little easier every day. The bathroom breaks didn’t seem to lesson until the 3 week mark, but when they did it seemed like the challenge had made a real difference in my life. Having the water bottle with me at all times started to feel natural. After the first couple of weeks I changed up my meal time routine as well and had water with my breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of making myself another drink.

I have to admit that it took me a while, but drinking water started to feel less like a challenge and more like something I naturally did.

Another big difference was how I felt when I didn’t drink enough water! Before the challenge I hardly drank water at all, and it didn’t seem bother me. Once I got into this challenge I felt very dehydrated when I didn’t drink water often enough. That told me what a big part of my life my water intake had become, and how dehydrated I really was before all of this started!

I took a photo of me before the challenge started, mid-way through the challenge, and at the end of the challenge to see if there was a change in my skin. I was really skeptical about this because I had always heard that water made a huge difference in a persons complexion, but I didn’t know this to be true.

I was pretty surprised to see a difference in my skin! My face really seemed to have a lot more colour to it, and overall I looked much more awake and hydrated. I looked and felt a lot healthier than I expected! The results were strong enough that I’m definitely going to continue drinking water at this pace. The good news is that it won’t seem so much like a challenge anymore.

It’s hard to explain what a difference drinking this much water has done for me – you really need to try it yourself! I was always skeptical about the results people said that drinking water would do for them health-wise and beauty-wise until I tried it myself. I think the results would definitely vary from person to person, but the results could only be positive with this type of challenge!

My “before” photo

My progress photo

Fresh face (minus my mascara – I can never get that off!), one week after the challenge started

My “after” photo

Roxymandy March 25, 2014

Where to Shop – Make Up For Ever

I’m usually the worst when it comes to committing to beauty products. I tend to bounce around between different shampoos, hair spray, lip gloss, perfumes, and even toothpaste! I was the same with make up, but over the last 3 years my make up base has remained the same. I’ve been using four products from the Make Up For Ever line – a couple are staples, and two are what I would call nice to have!

My saviour is the High Definition Foundation. It’s oil free so it’s perfect for someone like me with an oily complexion, and it has an amazing natural finish. The HD part really sold me, because who doesn’t want to look good in HD? It basically provides invisible coverage which I love. The product was actually developed in partnership with television and film technicians! Those are the people you want to have a say in your make up, right? I find that it lasts all day, and it doesn’t take a lot of the foundation to provide good coverage. Usually it takes me about four months before I get to the bottom of the foundation, so at $49.00 it’s not completely terrible if you need 2 or three refills per year. It’s your face – you need to invest in it!

I also can’t live without the Full Cover Concealer. AMAZING coverage. You need so little of it too – one tube lasts me close to a year! You wouldn’t believe how little will completely conceal everything you want to hide on your face! I have a toddler so trust, there can be a lot I need to conceal some days. It’s a little on the thick side, but that works for me because it stays put and does what it’s supposed to. It will run you $37, but that may last you a years worth.

I can sort of live without primer – some people swear by it, but I’m not one of them. When I remember to put it on, I do. I have tried a bunch of them, but I usually found them a little slimy (especially the Smashbox ones!). I have the HD Microperfecting Primer To Go, mostly because I was too cheap to buy a big one, and this $19 one has lasted me forever because I’m so forgetfull. So for me it’s take it or leave it, but it’s one of the better ones I’ve tried. Maybe I’m just not meant for primer.

The final member of my Make Up For Ever team is the HD Microfinish Powder. This only comes out on special occasions because it’s a little finicky. Have you ever seen photos of a movie star on the red carpet, and it looks like the have a white blotch on their face? I used to wonder how their make up artist and assistant’s didn’t notice they had something on their face, but I’m pretty sure it was a form of this powder. The Make Up For Ever one sets my make up and evens out my skin tone, but it almost has an invisible finish. I’ve noticed I look fine in the mirror, but in photos of it’s not even I might have a white splotch on my face! It can only be seen if it’s uneven with a camera, so you need to be careful with it because you can leave the house looking fine, but if someone takes a photo of you and you did a bad job making it even then you are toast. A little goes a long way (mostly because it scares me), so at $22 it wasn’t a bad investment because I’ve had it for years!

Make Up For Ever can be purchased at Sephora in store and online.

Roxymandy March 21, 2014

A Roundup of Dry Shampoo Reviews

Since I straighten my hair everyday, I try to only wash and blow dry every other day. I tend to have oily hair, so dry shampoo is a must. I feel like I have tried all of them searching for the perfect one! I have narrowed it down to four different kinds that I’ve got on the go right now, and I’ve reviewed them for you below.

Cake’s Volumizing Dry Shampoo Spray is the most costly out of the four, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best. It retails for $22.00 CAD, and the smell is AMAZING! It smells like lemon, sugar and vanilla. It absolutely creates volume – better than any of the other dry shampoo’s I’ve tried! It didn’t leave any white residue at all, but I didn’t feel like it did much to absorb any oil in my hair. It was great to do a messy ponytail with, but when leaving my hair down it didn’t make my hair look refreshed at all. It really made it feel like I added a lot of product to my hair, and when I touched my hair it seemed almost sticky. I wanted this one to work the most because of that amazing scent, but I found it was just great for a messy ponytail.

One of my favourites, but the cheapest of the group is Batiste Dry Shampoo. Normally I buy it at Shoppers Drug Mart for $9.99, but I often find it in Winners for even cheaper. It comes in a few different scents like Blush and Tropical, but even the original spray doesnt have a bad scent. The volumizing effect isn’t bad, but it’s how it refreshes my hair and absorbs the oil that I’m impressed with. When I spray it in it really looks like I’ve washed my hair! As long as I don’t play with it too much throughout the day, it keeps your hair looking refreshed for most of the day. I found this one left a bit of white residue, but it could easily be brushed out.

Marc Anthony 2nd Day Clear Dry Shampoo doesn’t have the most amazing smell, but it’s claim is that it actually absorbs smell from your hair. Does your hair smell bad enough to need spray? If I’m at a campfire or something then yes, my hair smells bad. When I have second-day hair my main concern isn’t the odour of it, because it doesn’t smell bad! I felt like claiming to eliminate my hair’s odour was a strange offer! Otherwise it did a good job at absorbing excess oil, and volume-wise it wasn’t bad either. I didn’t experience any chalky residue with this one at all.

The latest addition to my dry shampoo collection is Redken Pillow Proof Blow Dry Two Day Extender. It came in a swag bag from WMC Fashion Week so I gave it a try! Redkin has revamped this line, and have changed the bottle to a hot pink colour (you may have seen it in monochrome packaging previously). The nozzle has some serious pressure – I actually had to hold the canister pretty far from my head! It claims to extend your blow-out to the second day which I think it does, and unlike the other sprays it didn’t claim to add volume. It’s good it didn’t claim it would be, because it didn’t add any volume at all! It did seem to absorb oil, but because it didn’t volumize it was hard to tell because the volume in the other dry shampoos made my roots look fresh. This dry shampoo did absorb the oil, but because my roots were still pretty flat, my hair didn’t seem as refreshed.

Out of all of these dry shampoo’s, I would say the Batiste and the Marc Anthony are the best. The both absorb oil and have a bit of volume. The Cake Dry Shampoo is the one I wanted to be the best, but the feeling it left in my hair made it seem less refreshed after using the spray. The Redkin was the most disappointing due to the lack of volume.

Roxymandy March 4, 2014

The blossom x bkr Beauty Water Challenge!

Do you drink enough water every day? My personal answer is a resounding no! I have tried and tried but I usually lose track of how much I have already drank and have just assumed it’s enough for the day, or I pretend that my Starbucks order has enough water in it to hydrate me.

This is bad.

I need to make a change, and now I’ve been challenged to do so! And I’m not talking about a New Year’s resolution kind of challenge, because those are always broken. Toronto’s own blossom lounge and bkr have teamed up to challenge 10 beauty and fashion bloggers to take on a 30 day challenge of drinking 2.5 litres of water per day. The result? Well I guess you will have to wait and find out! Water is the key to incredible skin, so part of my challenge is to terrify you with an au natural before photo, and throughout my challenge I will update you with how my skin is progressing with the new hydration I’m providing it.

What are the possible side effects? Multiple bathroom breaks. Multiple. But other then that, why not challenge yourself with something that can only do you some good?

Plus, how cute are these bottles? I know that when I need to be motivated, something cute will always help things along. This water bottle is more of an outfit accessory than the tupperware-like creature I was using/not using previously. Plus the glass bottle is covered in soft silicone as well, so when I’m running around and accidentally drop it, it my not be the huge disaster that it could be! Celebs like Emily Rossum, Alessandra Ambrosio, January Jones, Gisele Bundchen, Malin Akerman, Jessica Alba and Amanda Seyfried have all been spotted with a blk waterbottle too, so why not you?

So my journey begins! In the meantime, have you checked out blossom lounge before? Shop online at www.blossomlounge.com, or in person in Unionville at 157 Main Street, unit 102, or in the Distillery District at 24 Tank House Lane, Suite 101.

Are you ready for this? Here is my before photo! Stay tuned for my challenge updates!

Roxymandy March 3, 2014

My Experience with the NuFace Facial Treatment at Masion Blanc Day Spa

The other morning I was feeling a little depressed with all of this cold weather and my severe lack of Vitamin D. I tried to remedy the situation with a little online spring shopping, but I still felt a little blah. I thought what I needed was a spa visit to boost my morale.

I intended on booking a scalp massage, which I had heard was a bit of a life-changing 30 minutes. Based on my self-prescribed winter depression I felt like I needed a little extra something so I randomly chose a facial to try as well. I’m not really a facial girl. What I mean by that is there are some people who swear by and have a facial done on a regular schedule. I am one of those other people who usually books a facial once every couple of years. It’s just never high on my priority list. I chose what was called a SkinFit Facial without really knowing what that meant! I saw that it was dubbed “Pilates for your face” and I immediately thought, crap, was I supposed to be working out my face this whole time too? So in order to catch up on some lost time, I booked this facial and a scalp massage at Maison Blanc Day Spa in Whitby.

Maison Blanc is one of my go-to places for manicures and pedicures, so I knew I would be in good hands (literally) for my massage and facial. My facial began with an exfoliation (this was much-needed – I always forget to do this, and it’s so important), and then I was ready for the NuFACE portion of the SkinFit facial. NuFACE uses microcurrent and LED light which is a low-level, soft wave therapy. The device has two prongs which are gently run along your face, and the soft waves help to firm, tone and lift your skin. We started at a medium level, and I could not feel the waves at all. It just felt like someone was running something soft across my face. This is what had me a little skeptical – if I couldn’t feel this thing working, then was it really working? I did feel a bit of a tingle the closer the facialist was to my eye area, but it was nothing that I would say hurt or even annoyed me at all. She worked on my forehead and brow area, and below my cheek bones. My facialist explained that for best results this should be done a couple times a week, but for a pick-me-up this can be done periodically like I was doing.

My service was completed with a deep hydrating treatment and a powerful antioxidant protection, and then a hydrating mast was put on while I enjoyed my scalp massage. Can I just tell you how amazing a scalp massage is? Why don’t we do this more often?! I always think to treat myself I will get a massage, but what about my poor neglected head! I am always pulling on my hair – blow-drying it, styling it, straightening it, curling it, or spraying it down with something – it obviously needs a bit of TLC. The massage was amazing! It made me so relaxed I got a little sleepy. I thought that having the scalp massage and the facial was the perfect combo.

As for the results with the NuFACE system, I really wish I thought to take a before and after picture! I didn’t expect to blog about this, but after seeing and feeling the results I was pretty impressed and knew I had to share! There was a significant difference in how my cheekbones looked, and above my brows. I just looked much fresher, and things seemed a bit more lifted. I don’t usually do a lot of anti-aging treatments, and I really just thought this would be fun, but it’s definitely something I would do again. It really made me look like a had a weekend full of sleep and relaxation, and it only took about 30 minutes to achieve it! I think I would do this again before a special event or a wedding, because the results truly lasted a couple days, and it really made my face look refreshed and healthy. The next morning my face wasn’t sore, but it did feel like I had done some sort of workout on it the day before. It felt like it had been massaged, and it was actually a good feeling.

Maison Blanc actually sells the NuFACE system at their spa for home use. The SkinFit Facial was $50, and you can just have your brow area done for $15. You can add this to any service for $30, which is what I opted for.

You can learn more about the NuFACE system at www. mynuface.com, or to try it out visit Maison Blanc Day Spa in Whitby at www.maisonblancdayspa.com