briogeo curl charisma coil custard

Fall Favourites

I’m one of those girls who lives and breathes for the Fall; however in typical me tradition, my skin went super dry and dehydrated and I came down with a bad combination case of allergies and flu-cold- virus-hybrid when the season truly emerged. I was exhausted, dry and itchy and not sleeping well at all. These are the products that I heavily relied on during this time and continued to use even when I started to feel better, but still kind of felt like my skin was cracking. They also were a lifesaver when it got actually cold and my skin freaked out yet again.

Pestle & Mortar NMF Lactic Acid Toner ($44 US)

This acid toner that I tried in the Caroline Hirons Summer Kit had become — and continues to be — my most frequent choice for a chemical exfoliant and it’s been a godsend as my skin went sore, parched and a bit more sensitized. It features a blend of lactic acid, gluconolactone, niacinamide and a few barrier-enforcing ingredients. It’s a gentler choice and helped my skin remain bright, even in texture and minimally flaky.

La Roche Posay Toleraine Ultra 8 ($25 CDN)

This is the mist that changed my mind on mists. I honestly was starting to believe mists were watered-down milky toners until I tried this one. It contains only eight ingredients and works wonders to plump up and to sandwich in the moisture underneath my milky toner and serum. It contains glycerin, soothing allantoin and the peptide carnosine. Best of all, it never stings on pissed off skin.

Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence ($23.81 CDN)

I have zero qualms about putting snail slime on my face. I’m not entirely sure what that says about me. Nevertheless, this gel-serum is 96% snail mucin and also features betaine, sodium hyaluronate, panthenol and allantoin. It’s a fantastic humectant serum that is really healing, deeply hydrating and delightfully non active. It’s great for plumping up that kind of sick tired skin and injecting moisture. I also reckon it would be amazing on hungover skin…

Dr. Dennis Gross Stress Rescue Super Serum ($96 CDN)

This was another product that I was introduced to by the Caroline Hirons Summer Kit and likely wouldn’t have tried otherwise. It’s an expensive milky serum, with niacinamide, squalane, plant oils and a bunch of soothing plant extracts with antioxidant activity. I found it to be concentrated enough to maybe even be worth the money — it’s lasting me months — and definitely barrier reinforcing. I will note that on my most irritated skin days, there was a tiny hint of a sting around the eyes — but this is likely due to the few essential oils it contains. Essential oils aren’t my favourite but I’m pleased that they aren’t citrus or peel oils. This is an awesome serum for sensitized skin and a pissed off skin barrier. It’s so moisturizing, I could get away with using without a moisturizer on top on my dry skin.

Paula’s Choice Omega + Complex Moisturizer ($35 US)

I’ve been loving having this fluffy shea butter containing moisturizer back in my life, especially dealing with dry, dehydrated and irritated skin. It has omega-rich plant oils, fatty acids, ceramides and squalane. It’s really great on sore skin and helps to maintain a healthy skin barrier. Not only is it a favourite to apply after serums and treatments at night, it also wears fantastically under makeup. It’s a good one also to wear underneath a mask to help protect sensitive skin from being aggressed further. 

Dior Forever Skin Glow 24h Wear Radiant Perfection Skin-Caring Foundation ($64 CDN)

For months, it had been so hot and humid that I wouldn’t dream of reaching for an actual foundation and instead was relying exclusively on tinted sunscreens. Now that cooler weather is in bloom, I’ve been enjoying using a small pump of this lightweight skin like foundation applied with my finger tips. It has a luminous finish and sits in the versatile medium-coverage category. It feels lightweight and doesn’t require being set.

Huda Beauty Naughty Nude Eyeshadow Palette ($85 CDN)

On the days I can muster the energy to do more than get myself out of bed and slap some skincare on my face, I have been really enjoying playing with eyeshadow. I recently tried out this palette and have been loving the quality and warm, neutral and smokey colour story. There are a bunch of mattes that serve as blending colours, crease colours and deeper shades to add depth, pretty satin and sheeny shades and fun metallic shades and micro glitters. The shadows are easy to work with and wear well. I enjoy the variety of light to mid-toned shades to use as lid colours and the overall burgundy-plum shift to the palette. The blue duo chrome shade is also to die for. I love that I have so many options with this palette and don’t find myself needing to pull from other palettes or single shadows. 

Briogeo Curl Charisma Chia + Flax Seed Coil Custard ($34 CDN)

Despite being a fine haired gal with a head of waves and looser curls. I’ve been loving using this thicker richer styler as a cream paired underneath a gel. I have high porosity hair that forms juicy clumps with a richer kind of cream and I’m enjoying this one in soaking wet hair. I’m liking how much control this cream gives to my hair and how concentrated the product is. I enjoy the boost of protein along with the glycerin, castor seed oil and shea butter. It also works well to keep my hair in clumps for multiple days and revives clumps on subsequent days. I can also get away with this cream as a single styler.

Zara Tobacco Collection Rich Warm Addictive ($25.90 CDN)

Ever since the chill has come into the air, I’ve been happily wearing this fragrance that’s actually from the men’s line. It’s a warm boozy vanilla that isn’t too sweet or too overpowering. It’s not so intense that it’ll last an obscene amount of time but I find it easier to wear on more casual occasions as a result. This is warm and cozy in a bottle and definitely reminds me of Elizabeth and James Nirvana Bourbon that’s no longer available. 

What have you been loving?
Maggie, x.

 

Fall Sephora Sale Edit

I legitimately have spent enough money at Sephora to maintain my VIB Rouge status from these biannual — or sometimes more frequently if we’re lucky — savings events the last three years. Starting today, October 30th, VIB Rouge members will have access to 20% off until November 9th. Beginning November 3rd, VIB members will have access to 15% off until the 9th as well and beginning November 5th, any Beauty Insider member will have access to 10% off until the 9th as well. The code is HOLIDAYFUN and can be used as many times as one desires. Here are some products I’m interested in or would suggest you think about:

Briogeo Detox + Restore Kit ft. Scalp Scrub Shampoo + Don’t Despair Repair Hair Mask ($67 CDN | 2×236 mLs)

The Briogeo Don’t Despair Repair Hair Mask might actually be my holy grail deep conditioner and those aren’t words I use lightly. This kit also comes with a full sized deep conditioner along with their scalp scrub shampoo for only a little bit more than the price of the deep conditioner alone. The mask is lightweight, silicone-free and contains a myriad of oils, biotin and some hydrolyzed proteins. It always leaves my wavy curls bouncier, clumpier and moisturized — the slip is also out of this world fantastic. The scalp scrub shampoo is a more recent discovery of mine and I enjoy using it as well — and it’s expensive so this kit is appealing. It doesn’t contain sulfates but it has more deep cleansing surfactants than I would usually use, leaves my sensitive scalp feeling soothed and refreshed and my hair not dried out. I’m usually against essential oils but I love the peppermint when I’m in need of clarifying.

Briogeo Merry Multi-Masking Kit ft. Don’t Despair Repair Deep Conditioning Honey Bear Hair Mask ($46 CDN | 1×236 mLs, 2×59 mL)

Because the very thought of running out of the cult-favourite hair mask gives me feelings of anxiety and because I’ve wanted to foray into their other mask offerings, I picked up this set during the Friends and Family Sale. I must say that for the price of the full-size classic deep conditioner — and a full sized product — this holiday kit provides excellent value. It has a full sized honey rendition of the classic mask that I’ve always wanted to try and two smaller tubes of the classic Don’t Despair, Repair and the new protein-free Be Gentle Be Kind Avocado + Kiwi Mega Moisture Superfood Mask.

Bumble & Bumble Repair Blow Dry ($38 CDN | 150 mL)

While the most heat I’ve used on my hair in a year has been a diffuser, I would still recommend this leave-in cream for those of you who blow dry or flat iron slash curl your hair. It contains silicones to smooth out the hair and, lock out humidity and protect the hair from heat damage — but I never experienced build up using a sulfate-free shampoo either. It doesn’t provide loads of hold but leaves the hair smooth, shiny, moisturized and super-soft. It’s a particularly great cream to use while blow-drying even wavy-curly hair into a smoother style.

Briogeo Curl Charisma Chia + Flax Seed Coil Custard ($34 CDN | 177 mL)

I’ve always been a curl cream kind of girl and that hasn’t changed since I’ve started or restarted the curly girl method. However, I’ve been struggling with finding the right one to help my waves and curls clump and form nice curls — especially since that whole Devacurl debacle began and I can no longer recommend their creams. Despite this being marketed as a custard and for way tighter textures, it’s an excellent medium to rich textured cream with light-medium hold. It’s silicone-free but contains castor seed oil, fatty alcohols, shea butter, hydrolyzed proteins and amino acids, glycerin and plant oils. I tend to pair it with a gel but I don’t have to and I actually don’t have to use much product in my thirsty, high-porosity waves and curls.

The Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm ($12.99 CDN | 150 mL)

I’m borderline fanatical about using a balm or oil cleanser to dissolve sunscreen and makeup thoroughly with ease and minimal disruption to my admittedly fragile skin barrier — and this is one I’ve had my eye on. I’m not even sure if it’ll be eligible for a discount but I’m not sure I care. It’s fragrance-free, in tube packaging and contains sweet almond oil and oat kernel oil, along with soothing oat extract. It’s no frills but I’ve heard amazing things.

Laneige Cream Skin Toner & Moisturizer ($43 CDN | 150 mL)

This milky toner and moisturizer hybrid might seem boring as sin but it’s been a love of mine since I discovered it. It has a thick milky toner-lotion consistency that adds loads of hydration, soothing action and can function as a toner for drier skin types or a liquid moisturizer for the more sebum-blessed. It has an incredibly short and simple ingredient list: glycerin, meadow foam seed oil, vitamin e and tea extract. I’ve found it helps with hydration, protecting and repairing the skin barrier and leaves the skin luminous.

Viseart Aperol Spritz Eyeshadow Palette ($55 CDN | 12g)

This warm peachy-coral toned neutral palette is among my best makeup purchases of 2020. Ever since I bought it, it’s been my daily go-to palette; it’s easy, simple and has all of the shades I find myself reaching for on a daily basis. I love the variety of finishes and just how easy the drier formula shadows are to work with. I’m enjoying this edit format of Viseart’s palettes, as you get the versatility of one of the larger palettes and a variety of finishes. I would highly recommend Viseart shadows in general, but this format is my specific pick.

Huda Beauty Mercury Retrograde Eyeshadow Palette ($88 CDN | 16.72g)

This is actually a pick in my current small cart for the sale. A close friend of mine absolutely raves about the Huda Beauty shadows — I’ve never tried before — and in particular, this palette. I like the combination of some neutral shades in a variety of finishes, along with some pops of colour. Some of the colours are a bit outside of my comfort zone but I’m excited to play with the blues and purples — both shades are notoriously difficult to formulate but I’ve heard great things about these versions.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Face Palette – Sculpture ($105 CDN | 8.4g)

Those who have been long time readers of my little old blog here and those who I’ve waxed poetically about makeup to in real life will be aware of my love for the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder formula. I have a bunch of the blushes — which I absolutely love –, a highlighter — that I’m not in love with — and a semi-shattered palette of the original powders but I’ve held off on buying the larger palettes they tend to release each year. The large palettes are very expensive, kind of impractical — I mean, I don’t always reach for large face palettes in my day-to-day makeup life — and are worse value for money than buying the original individual products but I’m happy with this one that I bought in the Friends & Family Sale. It features the powders in Diffused Light and Dim Light — which are the two shades I’d be most likely to use anyway, a pretty champagne highlighter, Glistening Strobe Light, two blushes in Mood Exposure and Vibrant Flush and Natural Bronze Light. The powders are some of my favourites as a powder-disliking gal on the fairer end of the spectrum.

Will you be buying anything in the sale?
Maggie, x.