week

Weekly Medley #24

Recently Updated16(1) Saturday’s face (2) My forth edition of  my The Beauty Bargain post (3) Outtake from yesterday’s style post (4) The trusted trio (5) The weekly blogging/youtube discovery (5) This week’s obligatory selfie (6) A look into my good pal Laura’s staples (7) A somewhat inaccurate depiction of the hurricane

 

Another week has passed, another three standout products have emerged. This week has been hot and humid, again, until Saturday when we got hit with the hurricane, some lost power and it was windy as anything. It almost getting to the point that the hurricane/wind situation was favourable because it meant that it wasn’t muggy and ridiculous. I’m not the kind of girl that can be a productive human being in the heat so it was nice to be able to wear full length pants without sweating up a storm, even while lounging in front of my fan. Weather and all that jazz aside, the beginning of the week was busy for me in a nice way – I was a nice functional social human being but an exhausted one at that.

I would be tempted to say that this was a shopping-heavy week as I did come out with a good (but not insane) number of purchases, but in truth it happened on Monday (one day) within a few hours. However, I don’t regret it at all. It being the pieces I picked up at American Eagle and Club Monaco, a few drugstore beauty bits that added up, three products from MAC that I provided an overview of here and the two beauty bits that I had been lusting after for ages from Sephora. It’s really not as bad as it sounds; I hadn’t been to the actual mall where MAC, Sephora and all that jazz is in ages so I did the damage that would usually be spread out among three trips into one.

For what felt like the 493489nd time, my lips were chronically dry, sore and somewhat chapped, at the beginning of the week and to sort it out, I used my Cicaplast Baume once or twice for reparative purposes but then went in consistently with my recent acquisition, the affordable Nivea Shea Butter and Vanilla Balm; after a few days, things were looking far less flaky and with this balm they’ve continued to improve. It appears that something I was using in the past few weeks wasn’t agreeing with my lips and the EOS balms weren’t exactly helping matters – retract what I said about it being the ideal balm for under lipsticks. With pot packaging, the thicker balm seems to hydrate instantly (once you open the jar that is) but tends to leave an unattractive white cast so it’s not one for aimless reapplication. In other words, I’ve been really loving it this week.

I seem to be following the pattern of picking three product yet again but I swear that it was accidental; the second two were both products that I’ve talked about in posts this week but they were results of that shopping trip. I declared my love for the L’Oreal Glam Bronze Mono in Universal Sun in my latest edition of The Beauty Bargain this week, despite having picked up a different shade than I intended to. The formula of the velvet-matte bronzer is luxurious and impressive on all fronts and the red-hued shade leans quite warm but really adds that natural bronze look to the face. I’ve even been foregoing blush whilst wearing a more wider application of this bronzer but it’s definitely not the ideal contour in my opinion and it won’t suit my fair skin in the cooler months.

I’ve not been as vocal about it around these parts but I’ve fallen equally in love with the MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Brow Set in Quiet Brunette (discussed here slightly); I’ve been intrigued by the idea of a tinted brow gel for some added brow definition with some crazy hair-taming power for a while but every shade seems much too warm for my weirdly ashy brows and when I asked about this one, I wasn’t expecting much and I got more than I was asking for. The formula is waterproof and the small brush is easy to use and adds the illusion of thickness in the hairs and this shade is amazing – it doesn’t look particularly ashy in the container but it suits my medium toned brows to perfection on its own in a subtler way. It also takes like a minute to do my brows with it and that is rather appealing.

A few days back, I accidentally found myself searching the popular beauty page on Bloglovin’ and it ended up being a happy accident because I found myself clicking on a new blog and a fabulous one at that, whose writer also makes lovely videos too – that blog would be Beauty Life Michelle, a fabulous Irish gal living in Australia. She’s entertaining to read and watch and I found myself enjoying her Everyday Makeup For Pale Skin video tremendously.

What were your weekly highlights?
Maggie, x.

 

Weekly Medley #19

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(1) the weekly product highlight (2) yesterday I upgraded my blog and have begun to make a few changes (3) the pre-birthday-supper face (5) soaking up the sun in short-shorts (4) I speed-read another book in the guilty pleasure series of mine (5) there’s nothing that compares to lounging outdoors in the heat with a book in hand (6) another post in my skincare series (7) another gorgeous day

This week was marked by Saturday’s one year anniversary of the blog here – it feels so strange to write that as it seems like yesterday – and today was actually my twentieth birthday, as well. This week was nothing particularly noteworthy to be honest but the constant gorgeous sunny weather had me pleasantly surprised and frequently lounging outdoors, reading and planning posts in my little book of blogging. More than that it was actually hot which is not exactly standard here on the east coast before later June but I’ve been enjoying it

Although I have only used the product once since picking it up, the Herbal Essences Naked Moisture Cleansing Conditioner has impressed me enough to deserve mention as a weekly love. I picked it up on impulse on a rare trip to Target as it seems to be the only place where its stocked near me and it was economical, priced at six dollars for its 500 mL container that actually came with a pump. With a nice minty herbal scent, the cleansing conditioner was hydrating but lightweight, catering to those with finer easily-weighed-down hair than those that I had tried before. For me, the only real negative to the product is that it contains the silicone that builds up in the hair titled dimethicone but at the very least it’s nowhere near the top of the ingredient list. In a nutshell, this provided nice curl formation and gentle cleansing with no limpness occurring either.

In honour of having my blog for an entire year, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade my blog to “premium status” or whatever, getting my own domain (and consequently having to change my blog title because the ‘beautylit’ was actually taken but I’m not opposed to the new name), more customization options and all that jazz. There will be a few more changes going on in the next little while but I’m sure you can see that I also switched up the layout quite a bit here. I’ve had the itch to do this for months but I talked myself out of it time and time again so I’m glad that I finally went for it. I’m sure you know the drill in regards to my indecisive nature by now.

There are few things in life (beauty included) that I enjoy as much as lounging lazily and reading a good book so the fact that this week consisted of loads of this, I’m pretty satisfied. Although I actually read three or four books, I thought I would give you the highlights. I read the brand-new City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare and pretty much devoured it which is unsurprising considering that this series has been the fuss-free guilty pleasure series for years. I also am still enjoying Middlemarch and have made significant progress on the less than brief novel.

How was your week?

Maggie, x.

 

Weekly Medley #16

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(1) the lazy Saturday face (2) the obligatory self-promotion: “An Affordable Curly-Hair Styling Duo” (3) I think I might love my Rimmel foundations a wee bit (4) “I went in for one thing and came out with 7 – whoops” (5) attempt to photograph OPI Tickle My France-y involving hardcore yoga balancing (6) slightly more successful nail photo (7) OMG I bought clothes

Being my ever-so-slightly wordy English major self, I tend to abhor the whole institution of using words such as blah and like frequently to describe events and the like, even on my little beauty corner on the internet but despite having a few days to mull it over, I cannot come up with a more articulate yet accurate way to describe my week. This was one of those typical Spring weeks of constant rain and unappealing weather outside and a constant feeling of grogginess — in other words this was one of those dull blah kind of weeks when the days kind of passed into a blur. I wasn’t doing nothing all week but I’m definitely more than aware that I was not being as productive as I should. Story of my life, honestly. On a more positive note, I was adequately consistent on the posting front, getting out six posts in the last week and I was pleased with them overall. It’s nice to be satisfied with your blogging week even when your actual week might have left much to be desired – in my view, at least.

If you’re someone who has a love/hate relationship with shopping, where it can uplift your mood and spirits until that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach of buyers remorse like me, days when you head out expecting to pick one thing up and then ending up with at least ten your bank account reads at least $100 dollars lower are neither wholly exciting or wholly torturous. This happened midway through the week for me but in my defense my purchases were practical things rather than of the more frivolous kind and there was loads of sale action happening. And shocker I picked up three pieces of clothing because American Eagle was having one of those buy one get one for blah-blah-blah kind of promotions and was offering their clearance items for additional ridiculous savings. I’m pleased with both the beauty items and the fashion items that I picked up and do not regret picking them up or curse the Canadian return policy on drugstore cosmetics.

I’m not one to end up losing makeup in a permanent way — most often misplaced items can be quickly found my searching underneath my bed or emptying out my purse– but when I actually was without my Revlon Lacquer Balm in Enticingfor a good month, I realized how great the comfortable and easy dark red was in the balm-y formula so I had to replace the one I lost when Revlon lip products were on for 25% off. However, I did not think that along with this necessary purchase would be another six items but it happened nevertheless… I won’t get all focused in on the details now as I’m planning on doing a collective thoughts kind of post in a week or two after trying the products – thoughts? So, I lied and being proud that I nabbed these practical purchases at somewhat of a discounted price and thinking that any of you fellow Canadians might be able to hit up Lawton’s to join in on the same deal- if it’s still on – I thought I would give you a rundown of the products I picked up and the price that I paid for them: Revlon Lacquer Balm in Enticing/Vivacious ($7.46), Revlon Bold Lacquer Mascara in Blackest Black ($7.46), Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Longwear Nail Enamel in 210 Casino Lights ($5.99), L’Oreal Super Liner Brow Artist in Blonde ($7.99), Sally Hansen Diamond Shine Base & Top Coat ($7.49) and La Roche-Posay Rosaliac AR Intense Anti-Redness Intensive Serum ($26.40).

Although I must admit their colour range does leave much to be desired, I have to say that I’m a huge fan of Rimmel’s foundations — they are on the more affordable side of the drugstore variety, neither dry out or irritate the rather fragile skin on my face and come in fairer shades with warm undertones that fall on the more yellow-toned side of things. It is by no means a new development that I’m loving my Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation – I’ve quite possibly rambled on about my love for this product more than any other product on here but after not loving it on my skin after I had that exam-period blemish problem last month as the teensy bit of shimmer can highlight imperfections slightly – but I’m also loving my newly purchased Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse foundation so in the last week or two I’ve been switching between the two and out of my love for both have had a hard time picking which foundation to go for. As I’ve said before, the Stay Matte isn’t all that matte or shine-controlling but it offers excellent coverage in a weightless cream kind of formula that can be blended seamlessly into the skin and does not cling to dry patches it seems. I should mention that the second offering is appealingly budget-friendly and appears to come in lighter shades so its a great one for the fairer skinned but if you’re anything more than tanned it might not be such a great option.

How was your week?

Maggie, x.

 

 

 

 

Weekly Medley #15

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(1) The pre-movies face (2) The loved product of the week (3) My face again, obviously (4) evidence that I am no longer ghastly pale – woo (5) the show that I’ve Netflix-marathoned this week (6) the blog that rekindled my fixation on style

This week was an uneventful one, I’m afraid, but it would be difficult for me to be happier about it. Although I can say that I actually went out and socialized in public this week, wrote up a few posts and made some major organizational headway, this was not a particularly eventful or productive week but for once that does not ensure impending doom. And, let me just express my incredulity over the fact that it is now May.

After not buying clothes in ages as regardless of my share of wholehearted efforts to look stylish or pulled together through attire/outfits because I always failed in the face or comfort or whatever, becoming more indifferent about this whole style-oriented thing, my interest has been rekindled this week. That’s not exactly true — there’s been a gradual change but I might have just become more conscious of it all of a sudden. I suppose I admired the style and whole pulled-togetherness that some bloggers and vloggers that I adore exude and then bam, I found myself scouring through Sophie’s blog and found myself inspired by her minimal style posts and addicted and possibly found myself addicted to her other posts as well – I’m sure you know how it is. The picture above in the bottom-right is taken from one of these posts titled, “The Basic Wardrobe” and it’s definitely one to commit to memory if you ask me. In light of this, you might expect the occasional style post or mention in these posts but don’t worry, I haven’t lost any of my focus on all things beauty in the slightest.

Despite being someone who embraces their paleness and doesn’t obsessively yearn to be completely bronzed all of the time, there’s a product of the self-tanning variety that has earned it’s rightful place of mention as the weekly beauty highlight. Being generally incompetent in general and oblivious to the world of fake-tanning, I went for a less intimidating product- a standard gradual tanner- namely the  Jergen’s Natural Glow Firming Daily Moisturizer in Medium to Tan and I’m glad I did. It’s not a dramatic product but this is definitely a perk for me as after a few days of repeated use there is quite a difference and it looks natural. I accidentally picked up the darker shade but I’m glad I did, as it gives me that natural-looking beige-yellow kind of tan that matches my natural undertones. But for me what stands out about the product is that my extremely-sensitive eczema-prone body skin can tolerate this product with no irritation involved – rather it is actually moisturizing – and it goes on fairly evenly even over my rough skin that cannot tolerate any sort of scrubbing action. There may be a few hints of unevenness in colour along my wrists/hands and a select few severe dry patches on my skin but apparently it looks as if I actually got it from the sun — my friends actually thought the shade was authentic. This is no miracle worker but it has found a home in my everyday routine and doesn’t require much fuss.

How was your week?

Maggie, x.

Weekly Medley #14

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(1) the book o’ blogging and my knee out in the sun on Saturday (2) me out in the sun on Saturday (3) photo evidence of my Spring Makeup Update post (4) the MAC lipstick in action (5) the obligatory pre-leaving selfie (6) MAC Sweet & Sour, the lipstick love (7) the skincare and book loves

This week wasn’t so fun until Thursday, I’ll assure you, but that’s to be expected with the whole exam situation from hell. Since finishing I’ve felt so odd — like there must be another essay to write and exam to torture myself over — but not so odd in the sense that would lead one to become an actual responsible human being and get right into that cleaning and organizing thing that goes along with that whole notion of normalcy where you earn money by acquiring an actual job. I was not that desperate to lose the strangeness of it all.

The weather has been nice, sunny and in the temperate twenties this week with a few cool and muggy days in between, however that’s to be expected when you live on the east coast. Yesterday, I casually wore short shorts if that is any indication. And I’ve spent hours lounging outdoors, relaxing and writing in the book o’ blogging and this has to be among the best things ever — up there with delicious lattes when you’re dead on your feet and stressed out of your mind.

Because my family is not big on the sweets and we all have a tendency towards abundant food sensitivities, we tend to both give and receive more substantial gifts for Easter and one of the substantial gifts this year was the book written by Helen Oyeyemi titled, Boy, Snow, Bird and let me assure you that it was fantastic. And I’m very picky about granting praise to reading materials. I know this should have technically fallen under the umbrella of last week’s post but I didn’t actually finish this until the beginning of this week and it was all kinds of crazy, so forgive me. I’m sure my mother’s intention in giving me this present was to enjoy reading a book for actual fun after my exams were finished but somehow in my groggy zombie-like state, I decided to finish it all on Monday night when I should have been writing the essay from hell. But the book was fantastic in itself, not just as procrastination material, I might add. It’s one of those rare five-star books and its written from three interwoven perspectives, intensely psychological and thrilling while also dealing with important issues (race, appearance, etc.) in an interesting and non-cliched manner.

Beauty-wise, my fixation was directed towards the skincare front. This is probably related to the horrendous stress-induced breakout along my chin and jaw that appeared in all of its painful-underneath-the-skin blemish glory. Thankfully, I had the sense to not try to murder it, drying it out and all that jazz, but rather took the more effective soothing route of going heavy on the BHA exfoliants of the Neutrogena and Clinique gentle variety and adding in more healing rosehip oil than usual. I’m pleased to say that there’s but one active blemish left on my face as of now and my severely easily irritated skin has not exhibited any signs of seeking vengeance yet.

On Wednesday as a treat upon finishing exams and all, I picked up a few things of the beauty variety and fell in love with one or two of them and one of which was the MAC Sweet & Sour Lipstick that was recently made permanent. I’ve been wearing the muted corally-orange shade nonstop. It’s a cremesheen so it doesn’t do my dry lips any favours but the shade makes it worthwhile so I can’t really bring myself to care.

Finally to sit down and breathe, I was able to do that thing where you go out and celebrate –the reason for celebration was my long-time friends birthday and it was nice to go out for a change. It was also surprisingly pleasant to write up a few posts that I’ve been wanting to put up for ages, such as the Spring Makeup Update post…

How was your week?

Maggie, x.

Weekly Medley #13

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(1) makes more sense with second image – pleased with overall skin despite the hidden few cystic bumps that just emerged as a result of exams… (2) I’ve been really into skincare lately so naturally I was obsessed with the ‘Top 10 Skincare’ video that my favourites, Amelia Liana and Hello October’s Suzie did together (3) the Easter face (4) the corresponding product picture (5) it was warm enough to wear a sundress – erase the boob situation complications pleasee (6) the product discovery (7) the evidence of the greatness of this month’s Elle Canada (8) that drugstore essentials post that somehow happened

So this week went as expected. Monday was just as insane as I had expected, filled with the chaos of having two term papers due and delivering them online and in person, rushing around to the library to return and take out the mandatory books, hurrying to attend the study session for Psychology, cramming for the nights exam without success and writing my first exam. Much of the week was the same but slightly slowed down perhaps; with something major almost every day with no sort of real break in between. The exception was Thursday, a day of studying that should have left me confident for the night’s exam but the whole knowing that I had to write essays with actual evidence and the like, left me a nauseous nervous wreck — I even went in to the exam with my sweater on inside out but I couldn’t find it in my to care about it. Well, I’m pleased to report that now on Monday I’m nearing the ends of thing — things being this exam period from hell –, with four exams down and two final papers submitted, only today’s essay exam (yikes) and Wednesday’s paper left to go. I think I’ll survive today but the whole paper situation is questionable. I’m sure I’ll keep you updated on the essay front, explicitly or implicitly here.

Reading blog posts and watching videos of the same nature serve as that much-needed enticing escape from the whole endless stress shebang and one that stood out for me was Suzie from Hello October’s collaboration video with Amelia Liana of Liana-Beauty titled “Top Ten Skincare Favourites“. The two are among my absolute favourites to read and watch, entertaining while bringing helpful information and recommendation and genuine. And I’ve been especially into skincare lately and these two tend to be helpful for advice in the skincare realm because of our shared sensitivity traits. I’ve added their picks to the blogging notebook archives… And the selfie above is deceptive as you can’t see the two or three cystic spots on my cheeks that I only ever get during exam week (thankfully) that look quite angry, but otherwise the overall skin quality on the face has been rather good for me so I included the bare-face picture. I can’t really say more than that.

Now it’s time for me to shamelessly self-promote one of my blog posts of the week – and the blogpost in question is my “Drugstore (Makeup) Essentials #2“, which I must admit is rather lengthy but it’s actually quite concise, packed with information about some of my favourite makeup selection on a budget into one small relatively non-rambly post.

Although I’ve had this since I spotted it for a few dollars off on promotion at Shoppers Drugmart in the beginning portion of last month, I haven’t been able to be certain of my love for my newfound conditioner-mask-thing that costs well under $30 until recently. Said love is directed towards the OGX Sea Mineral Moisture Moisture Surge Deep Treatment. While being priced around the affordable ten dollars, the “deep treatment” – I would be more tempted to describe it as a rich regular conditioner but I do tend to go for deep treatments in the place of conditioners of the regular variety – actually nourishes the hair without requiring a ton of product and therefore giving hair this slippery feel and leaves it with nice texture and body with none of that tangly grittiness that tends to be associated with texture-boosting shampoos. And it smells absolutely delicious, suspiciously like Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray and nothing like that coconut-y beach smell that just doesn’t measure up. I feel compelled to state that it includes dimethicone high in the ingredients list, but isn’t all that silicone-y and despite the name it isn’t completely organic by any means but regardless, it’s my weekly product highlight.

I’m afraid that I must return to the books, despite the allure of trying to delude myself into thinking otherwise.

How was your week last week?

Maggie, x.

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Medley #12

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(1) Loving this overly-hyped blush from Hourglass (2) Sometimes I also have feelings for hair products, particularly when they work for my not super-curly but more-than-wavy-hair (3) Results of the hair-experiment featuring the DevaCurl Set It Up And Above (4) Coffee and I are in a committed relationship (5) Sometimes the weather acts like its springy self and I can wear flats without my feet turning blue (6) My day today… not unlike rest of the week (7) Hourglass Ethereal Glow in action… again, during said hair experiment

If you’ve glanced at just about any of my posts in the last week or two, I’m sure you’re well aware that that entity that we pretend is never going to exist called the exam period has begun. Monday was the last day of classes and it was a gorgeous day at that, then there were two spectacularly unproductive days “off” and thus the exam period officially begun and I survived my first exam. Well, I couldn’t write by hand until the next day but that’s kind of typical for these “short” essay exams…. So pretty much, I have one exam down and four to go but the more pressing matters seem to be this final research paper situation I have going on throughout the exam period. So, on Monday I have two research papers due and an exam later that night that I haven’t even thought about studying for yet. And two exams on Thursday that I’m only beginning to admit are actually happening. You may be wondering to yourself why I’m sitting here (on my bed if you’re curious) and writing this post when my time would clearly be best spent elsewhere, but blogging is good for the sanity of the soul and I’ve had a fortunately productive thirty-six hours – props to you, coffee.

I technically could have included one of my current obsessions, the luxurious-err-expensive Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Ethereal Glow ($41 CDN) in last week’s post as I picked it up last Thursday, motivated by the promise of free samples and all that jazz at Sephora but I had done a burst of drugstore shopping earlier in the week that I had thoughts on to mention here and I wanted to be sure I wasn’t just loving that shopping high that turns into buyer’s remorse and suddenly can turn into feelings of self-hatred. Being an English student, I should be horrified by my use of clauses in that last sentence but if I have to edit another sentence for clarity and whatnot, I may hurl my psychology textbook out through my window. But it’s a cool-toned blush that is actually really flattering on me, brightening the face without any sort of shimmer.

I’m sure many of you — and certainly if you have that wave/curl thing in your hair — have heard about that whole Curly-Girl shebang and although  I haven’t talked about it much on the blog here, – but have deliberated on it an exhausting number of times in the head – I am somewhat of a follower of the whole routine. If you’re interested in some actual description and mountains full of info on it, head on over to naturallycurly.com, as I frequently do. I have that kind of hair that is wavier than wavy hair but not quite curly in that ringlet sense with much tighter curls in the bottom half of my hair and the ends in general that refuse to do anything other than i’s naturally tangly mess limp-but-crazy thing. I have that kind of hair that is sort of fine in texture and therefore can hang kind of limply in sections but has an insane quantity of hair that cumulatively has its own mind and in the cooler seasons I tend to suffer from blahh hair, despite following sort-of following the method – I avoid sulfates and that has been amazing but I just limit my silicone use to the kind that are either water-soluble or don’t build up in the hair for the most part.  If you have hair like mine, I’m sure you’re aware of how finicky it can be with products but also that products are necessary. Yesterday morning, the inspiration struck me to actually address that birds nest on my head and wash it – my hair doesn’t need to be washed too frequently – and I did the whole shebang, scrunching my wet hair with some good old standard holding product (mousse but uninteresting) but then deciding to go for the DevaCurl Set It Up And Above ($27 CDN) paste that I’d had for a while and liked but wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about, twisting my hair into ringlets – I remember that technique being helpful before – with a good deal of the product and then pinning up the top sections of my hair to relieve the weight of the sections with bobby-pins, although duckbill clips would have been ideal. It wasn’t miraculous or anything but it resulted in the best hair I’ve had for ages and I’d but it down to the strange paste product and the whole routine. If you were curious, the chopped off portion in the picture above would show you how cute the upper portions of my hair looked while drying. My hair had actual life and texture to it even higher up in it. It was awesome. I hope this paragraph resembles some form of English but I can’t be too sure. Not sorry. Just annoyed at my typical self.

This week was that weird mix of wholly-unproductive days with days that reeked of productivity and somehow this resulted in six blog posts happening: last weeks post of this variety was late because I felt like I was dying last Sunday but I think that’s excusable and I did manage to type out five others…. (1) Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush review, (2) an ode to my fave limited-edition Color Tattoo, (3) the Liebster Award post (4) a review for the L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess and (5) my beauty-based guide for surviving this time of year.

How was your week?

Maggie, x.

P.S. Sorry for the longest ramble ever on hair without information actually being given……..

 

Weekly Medley #11

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1. The nail polish beauty – Nails Inc Baker Street 2. The obligatory selfie 3. The new cleansing oil love 4. Last week’s March Favourites post 5. Organizational inspiration, courtesy of Tamira. 6. The drugstore eyeshadow discovery, courtesy of L’Oreal
 This week — now last week thanks to my weekend of no productivity — was one of those calm before the storm kind of weeks, with classes wrapping up with only exams and final papers to follow. But I know I’m letting myself be lulled into this false blanket of security, as there aren’t any deadlines looming over me at the moment but I have to admit that the next few weeks will be all sorts of exhausting. I’m fortunate for this slowing pace, though, because I am suffering through quite a cold at the moment but it seems to be on the way out now. Being someone who rarely gets sick enough to interfere with my everyday life, I didn’t realize what the sudden fatigue was about but as soon as the runny nose, sore throat and cough came, it sort of dawned on me. I know I am not someone who is pleasant in any way to deal with when they aren’t feeling so great, so some time to breathe and sleep was kind of a necessity.

I’m hesitant to declare my love for any sort of product, but this is especially true for those of the skincare variety, shortly after picking it up as I feel my thoughts could take a nosedive once the novelty subsides but I feel confident about speaking of my newfound devotion to the Garnier Clean + Nourishing Cleansing Oil. At the beginning of the week, I finally spotted the affordable $9-10 CDN cleansing oil and being dangerously low in my Boots Cleansing Balm, so it was completely justified that I picked it up. Contrary to what the marketing of the product would suggest, however, the main ingredient in the formula is mineral oil, that controversial ingredient that I luckily do not react to that is one of the gentlest makeup removers out there. This is my first cleansing oil and I haven’t yet braved trying to use it to remove my eye makeup- using anything other than Bioderma for this tends to be a recipe for catastrophe – but I can say that it removes everything when massaged into dry skin and then emulsifies with water to rinse clean. There isn’t a residue in the strictest sense left behind but it does leave my skin soothed and hydrated afterwards. It has my seal of approval.

In the same shopping trip, I went for the L’Oreal Colour Riche Eye Shadow in Sultry Seductress and I’m pleased to report that it can be filed under the successes. I’ll spare you the ramble but feel free to click on over here to hear the details; essentially it’s a plummy-hued quad with impressive quality shadows offering a variety of finishes rather than the usual uniform glittery-frosty mess. The pearly shade is very shimmery but that’s not necessarily a bad thing…

Oh, and I told myself that I wasn’t going to include this often-raved-about polish, the cobalt Baker Street from Nails Inc. because I only picked it up on Thursday with a few other bits and bobs from Sephora but I was in the mood to paint my nails that night and it was instant awe. The formula is undoubtedly the most opaque I’ve come across and forgiving simultaneously to boot – I was lacking the energy to bother with a second coat but the polish does not even need it. There’s something about this shade that can’t be put into words.

It’s times like these with such craziness ahead that I tend to turn to yet another attempt at organization — which is near impossible for me to achieve — and along with this, I returned to planning in an agenda. I’ve been putting in more effort-based goals and this has helped to not get disillusioned by the failure of actually doing what you set out to do in a particular day. I wanted to figure out an efficient layout for my plain old blogging notebook and I remembered the inspirational Tamira, of Lipstick With Some Sunshine’s post a few months back and I’ve been giving her layout a go and so far it’s working.

How was your week last week? I hope it was exponentially more productive than mine…

Maggie, x.

 

Weekly Medley #10

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I like to think that I’m not the only one who gets stuck into this pattern of wretched helplessness – although for your own sake, I hope you don’t experience this; when you stare at your computer screen for hours on end, stressed into submission and focused and tortured by your inability to achieve anything productive when it matters the most. Suddenly it’s 2 AM and you would want to drop out of life it it were an option when your crisis arrives and you aren’t done your first task of importance let alone the succeeding tasks so you go to sleep in hope of gaining or regaining some sort of thinking capacity. Too bad sleeping is a challenge in your state due to the combination of utter exhaustion and the stress of it all. You’re not quite sure how it happened but you wake up to the sound of your alarm and somehow managed to sleep for a good two hours despite the building wave of anxiety threatening to overwhelm you, – I’m going a little heavy with the metaphors but I can’t help myself – you splash some water on your face and drink the elixir of saving grace known as the latte. It wasn’t fun but somehow at the very last minute, you survive, assignment in hand and accomplish all that was necessary in a frighteningly productive trance until you’ve finished your eight hours of classes. This was me on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we were due for a blizzard — yes in March — but I didn’t think anything of it out of my weather-related skepticism; I couldn’t have been happier to be wrong. Classes were cancelled, the blizzard happened and thankfully we did not lose power. The opportunity was divine, allowing me to slowly transform from my zombie state into something closer resembling a human – although it did take a few more days for the change to actually occur. The whole beauty routine was not high on my priority list, more of a rushed 3-4 minutes grab n go spectacle. When presented with this challenge, I found myself relying on my beloved L’Oreal Lineur Intensefor a quick kitten-flick to add definition to my eyes in under a minute. I know, I know, I’m always rambling on about my love for this liner but I’ve been appreciating it for when I don’t have time for anything eyeshadow wise.

Later on in the week, I discovered Natalie’s blog, Thunderlove, and obsessively began reading the archives and it’s quite possibly the best thing ever. Not only is she gorgeous (pictured in the collage above, the blonde who is not me obvs), but the content and style of her blog is fantastic and the layout and design is to die for. Highly recommend that you check it out.

All things considered, I feel pleased with the posts I got out this hectic week: another Weekly Medley post (not this one), a post on MAC Tenderling Blush, a review of the REN Hydra-Calm Global Protection Day Cream  and yesterday’s post on the simple smudgy eye. I didn’t get all the posts that I had hoped but I’ll get up one or two of those drugstore product reviews this week this week and I would expect a monthly favourites post in the near future.

What were the highlights of your week?

Maggie, x.

 

 

Weekly Medley #9

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I won’t try to bore you with the details as I’m sure if you’ve gone through the university ordeal yourself (or are currently undergoing the process), you know how stressful the few weeks before the end of the semester can be. I do suffer from anxiety and I am attention-deficit (diagnosed, if you were curious) and therefore making it through the day and remembering to bathe on a regular basis is difficult enough for me when I have so much that needs to be done and am so anxious and actually getting the work done that I’m stressing about is a whole other battle. It hasn’t been the greatest of weeks but I’ve survived without any sort of existential life crisis, so I can’t complain all that much.

I suppose I should mention that I was finding the whole structure of these weekly posts a little bit too repetitive so I mixed things up a bit this week. The posts haven’t been as regular as I’d like but things have been hectic for me and I’m glad I got as many up as I was able too – you’ll have to forgive me.  Although I wish I had gotten more posted here I was happy with my three posts last week: another edition of my Weekly Medley, a review of my MAC Dreaming Dahlia Lipstick that I adore and my early spring picks that I titled, Hello, Spring.  

I would not describe myself as someone who rejoices in the beauty of nature and finds some sort of spiritual connection or anything of that variety but when I opened the blinds this morning, although there were remnants of snow on the ground, it was sunny, birds were chirping and it was glorious. Being able to glance at some actual sunlight and some kind of life outdoors does tend to help one in the task of not succumbing to the seductive oblivion of crawling underneath the covers and pretend that you’re asleep and don’t have a million things to do.

I’m not saying its easy to get out of bed and be a productive human being however. Sometimes despite our best efforts, nothing seems to come and out of this dry spell, sleep doesn’t seem to come either. When I’ve needed an escape I’ve turned to my good pal, playing The Sims and drinking a cup of tea. Somehow after the two, things look a little brighter and productivity seems to happen – there’s little in life that a few rounds on The Sims and a hot beverage can’t fix or at the very least, remedy.

It’s rare that I find a nail polish that I have enough love for (and do not grow tired of) to warrant a mention as a favourite product in these sorts of posts but Essie Maximillan Strasse-Her is worthy of this honour many times over. The dirty grey-green shade fits into the whole spring theme without being overly cliched and this polish has the best formula that I’ve ever tried – instantly opaque on the nails and lasting for almost a week on the nails, which is a record for chipping-prone nails like mine.

From the moment that I first swatched the beauty, I knew that the limited edition MAC Dreaming Dahlia Lipstick would become a favourite in my building collection of lip products with it’s gorgeous coral colour in the comfortable and effortless lustre formula but I didn’t expect for it to as versatile as it is. Although it’s a fairly bright colour, it can be worn with some colour on the cheeks and eyes without caution and it’s a great one for when I only have a couple of minutes to get ready.

In the next week or so, you can expect at least one skincare-themed post and perhaps another drugstore makeup review or two… but that’s all I’m giving you for now. It’s now back to lab report writing, essay editing and eventually assignment writing for me.

I wish you all a more relaxing Sunday than mine but at the very least, I hope it’s more productive!

Maggie, x.