Face Primers

About 2 years ago, my oldest sister Shannon introduced me to Smashbox's Photo Finish Foundation Primer. I had used other primers before, but this one works amazing. I use the clear one and even if you don't wear makeup, it makes your skin look perfect. It blurs fine lines and makes pores disappear, as well as make your skin look soft and smooth. They come in different shades for different corrections.

The colours are:

Clear - Obviously clear (this is the most popular one)
Light - A light version of the clear (for oily skin)
Apricot- This one has SPF 15 but dries clear
Green- Minimizes redness (great for rosacea)
Lavender- For natural yellow skintones
Apricot colour blend- Conceals under eye circles, veins, sunspots
Bronze- To give your face a tan glow
Luminizing- Sheer luminous gold to brighten dull skin

The green is great for rosacea as green is opposite on the colour wheel from red, it neutralizes your face which sets a perfect base for your makeup. People of all ages can use this, whether they're 13 or 133.

Makeup swapping for summer plus my favourite summer songs!

I went boating at Christina Lake for the first time of the year yesterday, so I think it's safe to say that summer is on the way. It's time for swapping our winter makeup/skincare to our summer stuff!

1. Instead of using a liquid foundation, use a tinted moisturizer or mineral makeup. The great things about most mineral makeups and tinted moisturizers is that they usually have SPF 15, which is so important, you don't want to walk around like a lobster all summer. I like: Victoria's Secret Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15, Bare Minerals mineral makeup. Nice and light for summer.

2. Instead of heavy black eyeliner, switch to a chocolate brown or bronze. I see way too many girls that overdo the black liner and it makes them look really harsh. It doesn't look sexy, it looks like a raccoon. In the summer, shimmery bronze accents all eye colours and goes great with a (fake!!) tan. I like: Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Baked.

3. Instead of pink blush, do coral, bronze or peach. It gives you a warm, tanned glow and looks so summery and healthy. I love pink blush for winter and spring, but warm peachy shades look amazing this time of year. I like: Hard Candy's Fox In A Box in Skinny Dipping, Physician's Formula multi coloured bronzer in Light,  NARS blush in Orgasm.

4. Instead of lipstick or sticky lip gloss try a (tinted, if you like) lip balm with SPF. Lips can burn so easily and why not look good while protecting your lips? I like: Burt's Bees Lifeguard's Choice Weatherproofing Lip Balm, ChapIce squeezy tube lip balm SPF 15.

5. Instead of regular mascara, switch to a waterproof one. Because even sweat can make it run. I like the kind that makes tubes around your lashes, they're sweatproof, but not waterproof. If I swim, I like Dior. I like: Maybelline Beauty Tubes Mascara, Dior DiorShow Blackout Waterproof Mascara.

6. Instead of cool toned eyeshadows like purple switch to golds, bronzes and browns. Because it looks good. I like: Sephora Baked Moonshadow trio in Sunbaked, MAC eyeshadow in Woodwinked.

7. Instead of regular moisturizer, use a coconut scented moisturizer or a shimmery gold moisturizer. I like: The Body Shop's Body Butter in Coconut, Victoria's Secret Tan Enhancing Shimmer Lotion with Tint.

8. Instead of light toenail polish colours, do a hot bright colour! It's summer, time for fun and leave the shy, boring colours at home. You want hot pink, coral, orange, bright blue, bright purple and shimmer! I like: OPI's Show It And Glow It, OPI's Mad Hatter, OPI's Shorts Story.

Hope this gets you all ready for summer time, I've got my bikinis and my Justin Bieber beach towel that Tina gave me as a gift (HAH!) and my flip flops. Don't forget a rockin summer playlist on your ipod. My best Summer songs:

1. Boys Boys Boys - Lady Gaga
2. Boys Of Summer- The Ataris
3. I'm On A Boat- The Lonely Island
4. California Girls- The Beach Boys
5. Girl At The Rock show- Blink 182
6. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun- Cindy Lauper
7. Blow- Kesha
8. Party In The USA- Miley Cyrus
9. Cowboy- Kid Rock
10. All Summer Long- Kid Rock
11. Baby- Justin Bieber
12.  Baby I Love Your Way- Bob Marley
13. Island In The Sun- Weezer
14. Take It Off- Kesha
15. California - Wave
16. Summer Girl- Stereos
17. Cruel Summer- Ace Of Base
18. Rockstar- Nickelback
19. Teach Me How To Dougie
20. Don't Stop Believing- Journey

All right, you're all set. Have a safe and fun filled summer!

xoxo

Set your makeup and reduce oil and shine for 16 hours?!

While I was in Sephora recently, I grabbed a bottle of Urban Decay's De-Slick makeup setting spray. It claims to reduce oil on your skin and set your makeup for up to 16 hours. It won't clog pores or cause breakouts. I jumped at the chance, because I have pretty shiny skin. (which I'll love when I'm older because people with oily skin age better).

The bottle looks okay, nothing overly great and Sephora has a great return policy so if I hated it, it can go back. There's a few tricks you have to know before you use it, write a bad review and return it.

1. You MUST shake the bottle before you spray it onto your skin, or else it won't activate.

2. Always spray AFTER you moisturize.

3. Spray 2-6 times about 8 inches away from your face.

4. Allow to dry and apply your primer, then your makeup.

5. Spray 3 times again about 8 inches away.

6. Done!

PS Don't spray too close to your face, or else it will actually make you look even shiner. You need to be about 8 inches away, not 2 inches.

I wore this during a fairly hot day while at work, then went for dinner with my work family, then went home and watched TV. At 10:30 when I was about to wash my face, I realized my makeup was still in place and my skin had a tiny bit of shine, but not nearly as much as it usually does. I'm impressed and excited. My skin didn't feel dry, either. Just not oily like usual. Amazing!

I know from online reviews, it's split about 50/50, some people love it, some people hate it. I think the people that hated it probably either didn't shake it, or applied under moisturizer or sprayed too close. I love it and will continue to buy it as long as it works for me.

Products I'm loving right now...

Time for another post about things I love and why...

1. Hard Candy Fox in a Box in Skinny Dipping. The orange/brown combo looks intimidating, but when mixed together it makes a beautiful coral colour. Orange is generally a colour most people don't want to achieve when it comes to makeup. However, it looks so gorgeous, and really brings out every eye colour. Wear high on the cheekbones and blend along the temples. Try it, I'm sure you'll love it.

2. Physician's formula multi coloured bronzer in light. This mixture of colours guarantees natural bronze colour, without turning you orange, muddy or sparkly. It's matte and even super pale people can get a gorgeous result. This is one of my favourites.

3. Urban Decay Heavy Metal eyeliner in gold. This is not for the faint of heart, but really adds drama to the eyes. I love glitter, so I'm a huge fan. These are larger sparkles, so it really stands out. Looks awesome with any eyecolour and looks amazing in the summer when the sun catches the light.

4. Hawaiian Tropic Sunscreen SPF 8. I wanted to get a sunscreen that had that summery coconut smell and this was it, they were out of SPF 20, but I use this as a body lotion because it reminds me of summer. It's so important to protect your skin, and I love how smooth my skin feels. It also doesn't clog pores.

5. Chap Ice Medicated Balm. This to me is alot like carmex, but doesn't smell as strong. I always have one in my purse. Really keeps your lips hydrated.

6. The Mint Sweeper/Washer. I know this isn't a beauty product, but I bought one the other day and I was surprised how amazing it worked! It fits under couches, and it was scary how much dust Mint had picked up. It programs itself to remember where walls are, so it won't continuously bump into them, but clean against them. It's quiet and it will wash the floor as well! You just wet the mircofiber cloth and hit the mop button. My dogs are a little weirded out, but they mainly just follow it around trying to figure out what it is. I love it!!

The horrors of at home box colour.

So I had someone ask me recently if box colour is really that bad or do I just hate it because I'm a hairstylist? The truth is, there are multiple reasons why I don't believe in box colour and I'll share those reasons with you, as well as post a few pictures to back it up.

1. There are many different things that are in box colours (like metallic shavings for one example) that can not only harm your hair, but also make it difficult to lift out of your hair if you decide you don't want that colour anymore.

2. There is no guarantee of the outcome. The box may say you'll be medium brown, but I've seen cases where the colour turned out red, ashy or even black.

3. The dye is very damaging for your hair because it's like a "one size fits all" sort of thing that's going on. At a salon, the hairstylist will custom make your hair colour so it's the least damaging for your hair, as well as take your natural undertones into consideration so it's best for the health of your hair.

4. When a professional colours your hair, they are able to get at every angle as well as not overlap (which causes further damage to your hair.)

I'm going to post some pictures of some girls that used box dye on their hair and had horrible allergic reactions...

In these cases, these girls not only had rashes and scabs that left scars, but had to cut all of their hair off as well. Truly horrifying.






xoxo

Sunscreen is the new tan.

With summer coming up, most of our makeup products change. We usually swap our normal mascara to the waterproof variety, foundation to tinted moisturizer and blush to bronzer. (I still prefer blush though.) But one of the most important things you should always use is sunscreen. Eminence makes an amazing sunscreen that is all natural and smells like vanilla. It's an SPF of 32 and increases the moisture in your skin by 200%! My skin just looks better having it on.

Before anyone gives me crap about always having a tan, I prefer to get my tan from a bottle and I'm not ashamed to say it. It's so important to use a sunscreen of at least SPF 30. While I know everyone wants a little bit of colour, there's so many sunless tanning options out there these days and you won't end up looking like a leather bag in a few short years.

Not only is tanning notorious for causing wrinkles and early aging, it's also very well known for causing skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer and can be deadly. Always wear sunscreen. If your concerned about Vitamin D, there's tons of supplements out these days, as well as having a good diet that's rich in vegetables. You'll thank yourself later when your skin is still looking good when you're in your 40's or 50's and when you're skin cancer free!

If this picture of Magda from There's Something About Mary doesn't turn you off from tanning, there's something seriously wrong.





xoxo

Something I'm very excited about...

Alright, it was going to be a surprise, but I can't keep it secret anymore. I am going to be offering airbrush makeup starting in May!!

What is airbrush makeup, you ask? It's exactly how it sounds, I use an airbrush and a compressor to add makeup to your face. The result is beautiful, natural and High Definition ready. There is no such thing as the wrong shade as I can custom mix colours to get your perfect foundation/blush/brow/eyeshadow shade.

Another feature I'm proud to say that I'll offer: This waterproof makeup can cover tattoos, scars, burns, hyperpigmentation, even rosacea! And it won't rub off on your white wedding dress either! It's long lasting, up to 24 hours!

Once I start playing around, I'll be personally testing it on myself and other people and I'll add before and after pictures for everyone to see.


xoxo