Monday, 5 November 2012

The Most Festive of Birthday Nails

My birthday was on November 1st and I've developed this kind of tradition where I always paint my nails like this for my birthday. I use OPI's Birthday Babe as a base and then top it with Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday. I love it! It's just another fun little way for me to get into the birthday spirit 

xoxoDarlingBuds

Sunday, 4 November 2012

Current Product Loves

Monthly favourites get a little redundant when I'm not constantly changing out my products every month. I found that I've been having to stretch what I've been "loving" as opposed to actually using. I've decided now to just to some random updates as to products that I'm currently loving; hence Current Product Loves
Twas the Halloween season. I'm not a huge fan of halloween, but I do love decorations. The only halloween decor my roommate and I had going on in our apartment was this:
Mini pumpkins, one of which I covered in aquamarine glitter. A little glass pumpkin tea light holder. An owl; and a cobweb/skull tea light lantern. Nothing too extreme, but enough to make it feel a little bit festive. Now that Halloween is over, I'll be switching out all of these decorations for Christmas! Let me tell you, I go all out for Christmas. 
here's a close-up of the cutest little glitter pumpkin there ever was. I just used Mod Podge and Martha Stewart craft glitter

In terms of beauty products, these are the ones that I have been using a lot of most recently.
the first two products kind of go hand-in-hand
1. MAC pro sculpting cream in Coffee Walnut
AND
2. Covergirl single eyeshadow in Brown Smoulder

I've been using these two products as contour shades. Firstly, I was using the covergirl eyeshadow. It looks super scary in the pan, and swatched for that matter, but because it's a matte eyeshadow, it did me quite well as a contour. I was finding that "contouring" with a bronzer was just making me appear more orange than anything. Brown Smoulder is a dark brown colour, with no red or orange understones - just your typical bear brown. I would use a really light hand of this through the hollows of my cheeks and it did the job of creating a shadow through my cheekbones quite well. 
Until I found the Mac pro sculpting cream in Coffee Walnut. This is the most frightening looking contour shade I had ever seen. It's a greenish-brownish colour, but seriously it's amazing! It gives the most perfect shadowed look to the contours of your face. I use this through the hollows of my cheeks, on my temples, and across my jawbone. It's a limited edition product from the Face & Body collection currently out now at MAC. I had a lot of difficulty finding this product, though, so when I finally did find it, it kind of made it all the more special. 
Top - Covergirl eyeshadow in Brown Smoulder
Bottom - MAC pro sculpting cream in Coffee Walnut


3. Dior Amber Diamond all-over shimmering face powder. The highlighter of the gods. I haul'd this a little while back (check out that haul here). I've been using this as my highlighter for the past month or so and it's a beauty. Subtle, yet oh so purrdy. 

4. Beauty Blender sponge. This is the ultimate tool for getting flawless blend to my foundation. I dampen the sponge, and then dab my foundation into place. I'm planning a "favourite beauty tools" post, and this will for sure be in it. 


5. Christian Dior crème de rose lip balm. Such a lovely product! It's rosy, and balmy, and lovely. I use this as a nighttime lip balm because it's nice and thick and has all night to settle in and smooth my lips by morning. I instragrammed a photo as soon as I got this puppy: 

6. Benzagel acne gel. I've been breaking out like a...I don't even know. Just bad. I've been using Benzagel as an all-over treatment on any problem areas. I found that spot treatments just weren't cutting it for this issue, so I turned to the big guns. Benzagel is a 5% benzoyl peroxide solution. For me, salicylic acid on its own doesn't do a whole lot. I have better luck with salicylic acid and something else, or just something else on its own. So far, this benzagel stuff is doing me some good. 

7. Collection 2000 concealer in 02 Light. A heavy duty, liquid concealer. Stays all day. Doesn't look cakey. I use the doe-foot applicator to apply this to any spots or discolouration, and then buff it out with either my beauty blender or a duo fibre brush. I wish they sold this concealer in Canada, but unfortunately, it's a UK only brand. 

8. Since I've been breaking out a lot, I've found that I've needed a heavier foundation for me to feel happy with my face for that day. I've been using Clinique Redness Solution foundation in the shade 01 Alabaster. I like this foundation, it does a pretty good job at covering the majority of my redness and it had very good staying power. The only critique I have though is that this foundation would not cater to pale, pale skin. I'm finding that as my tan progressively fades and I get paler, 01 Alabaster is becoming a touch too dark. I find it a little strange that a brand like Clinique, who supposedly is one of the top skincare brands, especially for people with sensitive skin, wouldn't have lighter shades of foundation, given that a lot of people with sensitive tend to be more pale. You know what I mean? Anyways, for the time being, this foundation is really helping me along. 

9. This is probably the most random product: Polysporin. Like I said, I've been breaking out pretty bad lately. I don't handle breakouts well. It's difficult for me to change my skincare and makeup routines to revolve around the changing texture and tone of my skin. That being said, I tend to pick. I always think that just getting rid of pimple by picking at it will solve all my problems. I'm totally not alone in this though, right? My picking has lead me to have some scars that I NEED to get rid of - hence the polysporin. I've been using this on marks I've left in my skin to help treat them quickly and to promote healing. I use polysporin at night, and Cicaplast from La Roche Posay during the day (which I mentioned in my Skincare Routine post which you can read HERE). 

And those are the products that I have been currently using and loving. 
That's it for now

xoxoDarlingBuds

Saturday, 27 October 2012

I'm Dreaming of AH-Mazing Eyelashes!

I found this product at Shopper's Drug Mart the other day and to say I was intrigued would be an understatement. I got all hot and bothered at the prospect of having glorious eyelashes all for the low low price of $19.99. Meet Peptalash. From the makers of Nanoblur and Hydraluron, Indeed Laboratories has now [hopefully] graced us with the miracle drugstore eyelash enhancer that we have all been waiting for. 

I've heard many success stories from users of eyelash enhancing products such as Latisse and RapidLash; but I'm not in the state to be paying upwards of $100 for a product that may or may not even work for me. Mascara and the occasional pair of false eyelashes have done me well...that is until now [hopefully]. I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. I don't even know of this product will work for me - I hadn't even heard anything about this product until the day I bought it on a whim.
I'm going to continue using it for the suggested amount of time. If anything happens, well that has yet to be determined, but I will for sure be keeping updates on the progress
So far, all I can say that I like the application process of this product. It applies just like an eyeliner would - it is a very thin brush tip applicator. The product itself is a clear liquid, much like the consistency of gel. 
The directions say to apply this product twice a day, i.e. morning and night. For daytime wear, I guess I'm supposed to apply it in lieu of eyeliner but still along the base of the lashes, even with mascara on. I'm a little fuzzy on the daytime details, but for nighttime wear this product has become a part of my nightly routine. It has now become second nature for me to apply peptalash to the base of my lashes, along with cleansing and moisturizing. How convenient. 
I know I'm probably getting my hopes up in thinking that Peptalash could be a miracle worker. A girl can dream though, can't she?

Fingers crossed!

-DarlingBuds

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

New Music

As I sit at my desk studying for my upcoming Social Psychology midterm - which is tonight, by the way - the words that I'm reading on the page of my textbook are becoming jumbled with the melodies of a few certain songs that I can't get out of my head.
I love finding new music. There's something so reassuring about knowing that there is always new music to be discovered - whether it be just new-to-me or fresh out of the studio. 
I find music in a lot of different ways. Sometimes it's recommendations from friends, or as a late, it's been recommendations from people I follow on Twitter, Tumblr and Youtube. I also find music through television shows, movies, and strangely enough, film trailers. Sometimes, it's a song playing faintly over the radio in a store; or just completely randomly on the internet. The possibilities for music discoveries are endless.
These are the songs that have been on repeat on my itunes as of late:

PASSENGER:
My friend just recently turned me on to Passenger. He's the opening act for Ed Sheeran right now on their tour. Passenger has a very similar sound to Angus & Julia Stone (if you don't know them, go check them out - especially "Big Jet Plane", "And The Boys" and "Yellow Brick Road"). I seriously love this song. Passenger also does a lot of acoustic covers of his own songs. Anyone who knows me knows that I LIVE for acoustic covers. Perfection.
This song is called "Let Her Go"
and this song is called "Feather on the Clyde"

Next up...
BAG RAIDERS - "SHOOTING STARS"
This song is my current phone ringtone. It's such a good song to chill to, dance to, drink to, have fun to...it's fabulous.

I recently went out for drinks with an old buddy and at the bar there was a live band playing. They played so many old favourites, and it rekindled my love for some oldies. 
first up, BOB MARLEY "LOOKIN' IN YOUR BIG BROWN EYES"

and secondly they played "GALWAY GIRL" by STEVE EARLE. Now from what I understand, this song was featured in the movie P.S. I love You with Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler. I haven't seen that movie, but I sure do love the song. 

Finally, this next song is super new to me, but it's already on repeat on my itunes. My friend (who has amazing taste in music and always finds the best stuff) sent me the link to the music video and told me I had to check it out. It's a funny song, hilarious concept and jokes music video. I love when music is humorous 
"THRIFT SHOP" by MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS

I hope you guys enjoyed some of these songs too
more beauty related posts are in the works. I actually lost my battery charger and couldn't charge my camera for these past 2 weeks. It was a major bummer. All that has been since sorted out and everything should be up and running very shortly

hang in there!

xoxoDarlingBuds
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