sparkleshinylove - A lifestyle blog for girls who love a little sparkle!

Roxymandy July 9, 2014

Favourite Toronto Mom Blogger Contest

Top 30 Toronto Mom Blogger 2014 Nominee

Toronto Mom Now is running their annual Favourite Toronto Mom Blogger contest, and I have been lucky enough to be nominated!

I am definitely a newbie when it comes to blogging (it will be one year in the fall), but it’s been a great year so far, and I am so lucky to be included in this list of 30 blogs.

If you like the blog and you have a moment, head over to Toronto Mom Now to do some voting! You can vote for up to three blogs in this competition, and it’s a great way to find other blogs you may want to start reading as well.

Click on the link here to vote, and thanks for reading!!

Roxymandy July 7, 2014

My New Obsession: Kids Shopping Online with Alex and Alexa

Alex and Alexa is my new obsession. They have over 200 international clothing and toy brands, and it’s like a one stop shop for anything that’s cool for kids.

It was founded in London seven years ago, and it makes online shopping so easy because there is so much on one site.

It’s a safe and secure website which gives you peace of mind, and they not only accept credit cards, but Paypal as well which I find so convenient. Or dangerous – it really depends on if you have a budget or not! They have free delivery on all International orders over $160 USD (I know, that seems like a lot!), and free returns to all countries worldwide.

Standard Shipping is only $13.85 CDN! That is not bad at all. Especially since Burberry charges $20.00 CDN on their website for shipping, and Alex and Alexa sell Burberry. It doesn’t make any sense why it’s cheaper to shop for Burberry on a website other than the actual Burberry website, but at least there is a cheaper way.

They not only have an awesome clothing selection for infants and children, but they have toys and décor from around the world. This is much better than shopping at Babies R Us. I love the selection of gadgets for babies, and beautiful and unique newborn gifts.

The football section is amazing! It’s so hard to find kids uniforms, but they have a great selection, along with shoes and other memorabilia. They even have a signed cleat from Wayne Rooney. How awesome is that?

It was so hard to pick some of my favourites, but here is a sample of some of the items I liked the most when shopping yesterday. Give yourself lots of time to browse on this site – it’s totally worth it! www.alexandalexa.com

The Butter Flying Rainbow Cloud Mobile, $81.46

Boon Baby Bath, $106.39

Djeco Soft Putting Game, $44.33

Boon Odd Ducks, $12.19

Beatrix New York Insulated Bottle, $31.59

Sebra Pack of 4 Printed Swaddles, $35.46

Babybjorn Cups, $22.72

Sew Heart Felt Grey Pony Rug, $99.19

Seletti World Map Dinner Placemats, $28.26

Maileg Princess and the Pea, $127.45

Lecons De Choses Skateboard Shelf, $116.92

Lego Mint Storage Brick, $28.24

Ugg Chestnut Suede Erin Booties, $64.28

Burberry Check Strappy Dress, $126.34

Doc Martin Union Jack Boots, $57.63

Kenzo Royal Blue Tiger Tee, $39.34

Roxy Mint Green Zip Hoodie, $41.01

Ralph Lauren EZ Deck Shoes, $56.52

Roxymandy July 4, 2014

Summerlicious 2014

I love opportunities where I am not responsible for making dinner. I’ll take any excuse I can to eat out in a restaurant instead of slaving away in the kitchen myself. A great excuse to try some of the best restaurants Toronto had to offer is Summerlicious. Today, July 4th is the first day and it runs until July 20th this year. Either lunch or dinner is offered at these restaurants at a fixed price which is usually well below what it would cost to eat there for a regular meal, and each meal is three-courses.

If you are interested in trying it out this year, I’ve mentioned some of my favourite restaurants included in Summerlicious below. That way if you don’t like dinner you have someone to blame! Just joking – they are all excellent restaurants worth giving a try. Here is a link to the Summerlicious website to see all of your choices.

Bosk
Shangri-La Hotel Toronto
188 University Ave

I recently posted about my great experience at this restaurant. They describe their food as Canadian, and their flashy champagne cart and attention to detail on each plate wowed me. Check out my review here.

$25 Lunch, $45 Dinner

Canoe
66 Wellington St W, 54th Floor, Toronto Dominion Bank Tower

I tried Canoe out one Winterlicious a couple years ago because I wasn’t sure I could afford it not during one of the “liscious” events! Canoe is expensive, but it has an amazing view of the city, and critics say it’s one of Canada’s best restaurants. This is one of the most popular choices of Summerlicious, and they only have availability on Monday the 7th!

Lunch $25, Dinner $45

Cibo Wine Bar
522 King St W

This trendy restaurant on the lively King West strip has some very ……interesting art in the basement, but the menu is very simple and offers traditional Italian food.

Lunch $15, Dinner $25

Fabbrica
49 Karl Fraser Rd

Fabbrica is not cheap, but they back up their prices with good food. The location is one of my favourites as its a part of the outdoor mall Shops at Don Mills. If you really like your dinner it’s likely you can pick up another one at Mark McEwan’s grocery store across the road to take home! They have lots of pre-packaged meals which are searched at all of McEwan’s restaurants across Toronto

Lunch $20, Dinner $35

La Société
131 Bloor St W

This Yorkville French restaurant is gorgeous. It’s like stepping into a restaurant in Paris. When I ate there for Summerlicious last year I loved that oysters were an appetizer option! My meal was perfect, and patio is great for people watching.

Lunch $20, Dinner $35

Lee
601 King St W

Lee (named after the Chef Susur Lee) is all about Asian and French food in family style portions. We had to make a 9pm reservation just to get not this restaurant, but the sushi was totally worth it!

Dinner $45

Weslodge
480 King St W

This saloon-style restaurant has a lot heads on the wall, and a lot of crazy drinks on the menu! It’s a packed bar at night, and I snacked on a scotch egg (my first one – very tasty!) and a “pastrami”-style sandwich which was made with bison, but really did taste like pastrami. I don’t know, maybe it WAS pastrami and they lied to me. Anyway, it was really good – and fun!

Lunch $20, Dinner $45

Stock
Trump International Hotel & Tower
325 Bay St, 31st Floor

Stock has their own chocolate lab, and they have special mini leather chairs to hold your purse. Does it get any more amazing than that? Stock is in the 31st floor so the views are amazing, and they even have a patio.

Lunch $25, Dinner $45

Roxymandy July 1, 2014

Benefit’s They’re Real Push-up Liner

Over the weekend I tried out Benefit’s They’re Real Push-up Liner. I previously posted about Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara, and I was very impressed with it. I have probably purchased four of them since I posted about it, because I’m pretty obsessed with it! I seriously can’t live without it.

The liner was only released this weekend, and I was really excited to try it. I’m used to buying cheap pencil liners, or gel pots for around $10-$12 so it was a splurge to pay $29 CDN.

The tube distributes the liner by twisting the bottom so it comes up the AccuFlex Tip. The tip bends in the direction to pressure, which made it very easy to keep close to my lash line. The tip was really neat!

I found it to be very very easy to apply. Prior to this I was using a gel liner in a pot with a brush, so this was so much better. The tip gives you a lot of control so you can do a very thin line, or easily layer it to thicken the line.

I found that this stuff dries very quickly, so if you make a mistake you need to clean it up right away. Once I finished using the liner, it was there to stay. I had to use make up remover to get this stuff off. Even in the shower this liner wouldn’t come off. I would definitely say that this stuff is waterproof!

The one thing I don’t like about the liner is there is no way to tell if you are running out. I found that sometimes I would have to twist a few times before the liner refilled, and that made me worried it was already empty. Once it’s actually empty I’m sure it will be at the worst possible moment when I have only done one eye and I need to go out. It will be frustrating to not know when it’s close to being empty.

Otherwise I am a big fan of this liner! I’ve never had one so accurate before. I like that it didn’t smudge at all and seemed to have wearability all day. The only other frustrating thing about this great liner is that it’s another essential I feel like my makeup bag can’t live without, and it’s not cheap!

You can learn more about Benefit’s They’re Real Push-up Liner here!

Roxymandy June 25, 2014

Chic Tees and Tanks for Summer

It seems like lately one of the stylish ways to say what you mean is on your shirt! I’m not talking about one of those t-shirts men seem to gravitate towards that have some sort of gross saying on them that they think is hilarious – I’m talking about music lyrics for summer concerts, or a casual tee that has something clever on it that can be paired with an over-the-top princess skirt. I always see these great tops floating around on Etsy, but to find ones for purchase can be difficult. I have rounded up a few that will likely be a part of my wardrobe shortly – check out my finds!