Taking care of oneself is essential. Self care is a huge part of taking care of oneself. Personally, I enjoy bathing and bathing-related products including skin care and hair care.
Having these items and using these items makes me feel good, even if only for a short period of time. A nice new shampoo and conditioner combo and/or face care products make me happy. My most recent “self care” purchase was small but mighty.
I purchased OgX’s “Quenching Coconut Curls” shampoo and conditioner as well as Soap & Glory’s Face Soap and Clarity 3-in-1 Daily Detox Vitamin C Facial Wash. Both were items that so happened to catch my eye the night before on good ole’ Pinterest. And, in my defence I have been looking for something to tame my waves/curly/frizzy hair as well as a new face wash that would not dry my skin out too much but that also would not make my face feel as though it had not been washed. All of these products seemed pretty promising and had a lot of great reviews so the next morning I got up and walked to my local Shoppers Drug Mart to find my new inspiration to shower.
If nothing else, I have found my new favourite holy-grail face wash. I LOVE this face wash SO MUCH, I am so happy now that I walked around the Cosmetics aisle a good 4x trying to find Soap & Glory. It retails for about $22.00 CAD which is not bad considering the amount you get. It is a pretty generous helping of face wash that will last because you only need a pea-sized amount to get a good lather going. It smells fantastic (to me) and I thoroughly enjoy washing my face every morning and night with this product.
Good for all skin types and is actually NOT a soap but a complexion-friendly, non drying foaming facial wash. It smells great and leaves my skin feeling clean and refreshed but not tight, dry, or irritated. It has caused me zero breakouts (which is something short of a miracle) and actually helped heal some spots that I was battling. It also has “polishing micro beads” which is a nice little exfoliating bonus. I give this face wash a solid 5 lipsticks out of 5.
It is definitely my new favourite and something I will hands down repurchase more than once.
This shampoo and conditioner is lovely but in all honesty did not WOW me like the face wash did. It smells amazing (if your into coconut) but it did not tame my waves/frizz nearly as much as I had hoped it would. It is possible that I was just expecting entirely too much out of this product. I like it but I don’t love it. I am also not as hip on coconut as I once was which is no fault of the product. I like it enough to continue using it and I want to try more from this line in the future. For me the price point was a little high at $12.99 each (and wouldn’t you know a few days after I made this purchase this whole line of products went on sale for @$6.99, just my luck). All said and done I would give this shampoo and conditioner 3 lipsticks out of 5.
It’s good but it’s not great and for the price (when it is not on sale), I feel that I can get more bang for my buck at Sally Beauty, namely with the 180 Pro line, if I am being completely honest.
Granted I was a smidge disappointed with the frizz-taming abilities of my new shampoo and conditioner, the face wash alone has me so pleased that it’s kind of okay. I actually kind of have the urge to go buy like, 5 to put away.
I recently purchased Garnier’s Whole Blends Shampoo and Conditioner in “Honey Treasures”. I am a HUGE fan of honey and honey flavoured or scented things. I walked by this in the store and it caught my eye, I literally stopped and backed up a few steps to go back and inspect.
To my delight this product line claimed to “heal and protect” and that is something my hair can ALWAYS use. Healing and protection. PRO.
This product also claims to be paraben free and made with natural extracts. Never a bad thing. Another PRO.
Made with Royal Jelly, Honey, and Propolis Extract – most of which I am really not familiar with the exception of the honey… but sounds good and smells UH-MAZE-ING. I could literally wash my whole self with this scent and then spritz some on for fun – if there was a spritz-on scent available. There is not.
It lathers really well and leaves my hair feeling clean but not overly dried out like most drugstore shampoos do [that are not for severely dry or damaged hair]. The scent is just lovely jubilee. I really cannot get enough. It was quite literally the deciding factor. The conditioner is rich and creamy, it is not one of those run-right-out-of-your-hands-I’m-so-thin conditioners (I’m looking AT YOU Tresemee!). It left my hair feeling soft in and out of the shower. I let my hair air dry for the most part and some of my natural wavy curls came poking through. More PROS.
One last PRO – It was only $4.99 (CDN/ea.) and with my Shoppers Optimum Points I used I pretty much got these products for free (thank you Shoppers Optimum Card!!! LOVE that thing).
I plan to continue using this and I would like to pick up the deep conditioning mask as well. I feel this is something I would repurchase in the future, especially if I see it on sale (I loves to nab a good sale!).
One small note, I did find that though these products are supposedly “paraben free”, my dyed-black [areas of my] hair did bleed in the shower. Now for me personally this is a bit of a PRO. I knew going in to this endeavour (of buying a more affordable shampoo and conditioner) that there was this possibility and I am ok with that. I want my dyed black hair to fade out a bit, I find it just a little too harsh too close to my pale pale face. I think in the future I would prefer black tips instead. And now I am getting slightly off topic…
All in all I would rate this line a solid 4 out of 5 lipsticks for it’s price point, quality, and amazing scent.
It loses a lipstick point for it’s potential risk to dyed hair because even though I like it I don’t know how far it will go in terms of rinsing away colour.
Quo by Orly BREATHABLE Nail Color in 3 Spring-alicious shades.Happy & Healthy, The Antidote, Beauty Essential
I first started purchasing these nail colours a few weeks ago. It looked like a new line of Orly polishes so colour-me-happy I bought 2 right off the hop. Tried ’em, loved ’em, and now I can’t get enough of ’em!
The 2 that started it all… | Happy & Healthy + Beauty Essential
This polish is a treatment+color as well as the base and top coats. It’s a one stop shop. One bottle, 2 coats, your done. This polish dries fast and has an excellent pigment payoff especially after 2 coats. It also has excellent wear value. It does not chip off as easily as other brands (*cough* Essie), I am finding I can go days before noticing a chip. My nails look pretty farting good all week.
Grey + Pink | Quo by Orly “Happy & Healthy”
Their colour ranges from clear, baby pink, and mint green to dark purple and a wicked red. I want them all and I am slowly working on my collection. I pick one new one up on my weekly Shoppers Drug Mart trips. It’s a little pick-me-up for getting out of the house and getting errands done. I might buy the red one next. I feel like it would look so fab on my toes!
Dark Purple + Light Pink + Spring Coral = my new FAVES
The formula is smooth with a perfectly sculpted brush for applying professional looking self-manis and pedis. Easily lasts 7 days with minimal chipping. Addicting. Now that I have started to use this line it is the only one I want to use.
My nails these days are hard for me to grow. They are brittle and break making it hard for me to ultimately shape them the way I like. Since I started using the Breathable line [4-6 weeks ago], my nails grew out happy and healthy – just as the name suggests! They feel stronger and I have managed to grow them longer then I have in months. I have actually had to cut them down because they were getting too long for my personal comfort. Even in trimming I was able to trim my nails nicely instead of taking them down too far because it cut weird on a brittle, dry, nail. They are not too short and looking much better then this time 6 weeks ago. Literally the only polish I want to wear on my fingers and toes this Spring and Summer Season! I cannot wait to buy AND TRY (!) the next addition to my colour collection.
Solid 10/10 for this Quo+Orly collaboration. I have always enjoyed Orly Nail Polish and this line does not disappoint. I am literally excited to go out tomorrow (Saturday) morning to get me another shade. It’s a little thing but it’s a happy thing in my little world.
I may not be able to change my past or lift myself out of the depressive potholes I keep falling into but I can change my nails. It makes me happy to see a pretty colour on my nails [especially if I can GROW them!]. There have been times in the recent weeks I would just be lying in bed staring into space, zoning out into the wonderful world of “what ifs”, questioning everything, and I look at my new pretty nails that I did myself and it zaps me back to a happier thought. There are days when I may not even wash my face, let alone shower, but I will make time to paint my nails (not everyday, just some days). It is a small gesture of self care to myself and for whatever reason, it helps.
It’s a little pizzaz in my otherwise pizzaz-less outfit of track pants & my love’s sweatshirt. I would rate this line of nail polish a 4 out of 5 lipsticks for a great formula, being a 3-in-one, and because I am indeed addicted to buying them. It loses a lipstick, ironically, for it’s price point. It retails for about $10.99 CDN (when not on sale) and that just saddens me. I know that “higher-end” polish does indeed go for more then $10 a bottle but I personally prefer to pay LESS then $10 for one bottle of polish, especially at a drugstore.
So now we wait. For tomorrow we will have a new colour to apply to keep me reverting to happy thoughts all week. Until then take care and thank you for reading about how much I enjoy this new nail polish.
Ahh April. It’s a new month, we are in a new season, and I am living in a new space. The sun is out today and I feel like I could use a pick-me-up.
I want to walk to a hair place that is close by and get something fresh done with my ‘do. I have been noticing that I seem to always gravitate toward this same look. Blonde on top, Black or whatever on the bottom, and a super-fried shag. I loved this look 10 years ago, hec probably MORE then 10 years ago now, and I am ready for a change. Ever since I added Violet aka Blackish-Blueish-kinda-not-so-violet to my hair [a few weeks ago] I have been HATING IT. I got my mom [an ex-stylist] to trim some of my shaggy layers thinking that would help. It didn’t. The top looks and feels pretty good but my bottom 2-4 inches is just nasty. It is so broken and fried that you can almost see through it. That is NOT HOT.
I have saved oodles of pictures to my phone for months now of haircuts that I like. Their all mostly the same type of cut so clearly I like it but I am afraid I will hate it on me. As much as I want to update my look I am so afraid to do it. I worry I will hate it more if I cut it but at the same time I am hating it now so what do I have to lose? I hate washing it these days, I HATE styling it – I just threw away my blow-drying brush and I am just about ready to chuck my straightener. I love a good blow out but I just keep failing doing mine. I am hating the straightener. Straight hair was so 10-15 years ago, I am sick of seeing it on myself. I look the same, pretty much, as I did in 2010 (hair wise). I chopped it all off a la pixie in 2014 and loved it for all of 2 seconds. I cried for months but I did it because I was SUPPOSED TO grow it back au natural. That did not happen and here I am, crispy, fried, over-dyed and frizzy. As usual.
I am mad at myself for not doing what I originally set out to do which was grow out my natural hair and start over. I am also embarrassed that I don’t seem to have the willpower to not dye my hair. I know I need to stop colouring it again and I want to stop. At least stop anything that isn’t highlights or a nice blonde. I like highlights and I like certain shades of blonde [on me].
I realize also that the reason that I have continued to dye and fry my hair is due to therapy and my mental health journey. Anytime anything happens I feel the need to dye my hair. It needs to stop.
I don’t feel pretty or fab in anyway lately with my hair. It is not complimenting my face or skin. I don’t want to spend an hour or 2 styling it anymore. I used to enjoy spending hours frilling with my hair. I have more important things I wish to use my time on. So, since I don’t trust myself to do anymore DIY hair stuff and I could use a pick-me-up I am trying to convince myself that I CAN and SHOULD go get my hair done. I have only had it done in a salon environment 3x in my life. I can’t afford colour which is fine right now but I am pretty sure I can afford a trim/new style.
Will I do it? I do not know. I want to but I may need to sit here and encourage myself for a few more hours.
I hate my hair and I need some new hair but I am too afraid to go and ask for what I want. Let’s see where this potentially takes us.
My eyebrows have been an issue for me for a very long time.
I originated with very thick, slightly uneven brows. When I was 13 the kids on the school bus called me “bushy eyebrow lady”. I was not allowed to pluck until high school and my mom always warned me about over-plucking and getting stuck with half an eyebrow. It was the late 90’s and pencil-thin brows were all the rage, I really didn’t care about ye old legend of half-brow, I was desperate to pluck. Oh how stupid I was…
Once I got a hold of a pair of tweezers it was pretty much game over. I had NO KNOWLEDGE of eyebrow structure whatsoever. I desperately wanted a high arch and the thinner the better seemed to be my motto. I recall plucking them particularly terribly in 10th grade, I literally plucked myself a new arch and in doing so pretty much took off most of the tail end of both of my brows. It looked HORRIBLE but I thought I had it GOIN’ ON!. Ugh. It almost makes me shudder.
Over the years I managed to do all the things you are not supposed to do whilst trying to shape a beautiful brow. I tried with no avail to get them even – one brow always seemed higher then the other and this drove me INSANE. I wanted them EVEN! This desire for evenness led me to pluck MORE. I over plucked the inner AND outer areas and always seemed to have that “sperm” look. So not hot.
In college I discovered I could “draw them on”. AHA! A solution to my problems. Or so I thought. Again, I still had no legitimate eyebrow knowledge, this was loooooong before the days of YouTube tutorials and what not. I overdrew the inners, I overdrew the outers, and again thought I was rockin’ it. Good grief no.
In my mid-20’s I finally gave up and ditched the tweezers for awhile. Sick of looking at uneven eyebrows and hearing my mom yell “YOUR GONNA END UP WITH NO EYEBROWS!!!” I figured I had nothing to lose. It took a good 2 years and a few tubes of Billion Dollar Brows (I don’t even know if that stuff worked but it gave me hope) to get some brows back. By this time I had become so paranoid of over plucking that my eyebrows HAD actually become overgrown. Going to Beauty School I learned about eyebrow mapping and proper structure. My teacher actually told me one day that I could “use a pluck”.
Well.
That was all I needed.
Within a few weeks I was back to my super-thin brows only this time there was a little more evenness to them and nothing was too over or under plucked. For a brief moment there my natural brows were looking pretty good. I could add a little brow powder or gel and I was good to go.
And then I just kept plucking.
And plucking. I could not just LEAVE THEM ALONE.
Before I knew it I was back in sparse-town. Before I knew it I was buying and trying every brow powder, pencil, wax, and mascara on the market. There was a wrinkle in time where I thought that penciling them on was just my lot in life. I was just destined to have bad brows. I became VERY good at filling them in. For a good year I was obsessed with M.A.C.’s “quite natural” paint pot, with a good angled brush I could give myself brows I only dreamed of having. Even my teachers in Beauty School would compliment me on how good my brows looked.
The paint pot had a good run but after a couple of years I was getting weary. Filling in my eyebrows was not quite the fun beauty ritual it once was. It was tedious and as good as I once was at doing them, after becoming lazy with it I began to lose my ability to beautify my brows. Could have also been my complete loss in faith for the upper region of my face. I had begun to look back at my 13 year old eyebrows with sorrow. I started with such a good base, my brows could have been great but I ruined them. Not just once either. Enough times over the course of almost 20 years that they were to the point of no return.
Ohmygawd. The legend of half-brow is TRUE.
For awhile I totally gave up on my eyebrows. I stopped plucking but they weren’t growing back. I didn’t want to fill them in. I just wanted them to be naturally pretty but I had let it sink it that that would most likely never happen.
And then I heard about Microblading. It sounded too good to be true. It looked too good to be true. What is this sorcercy? Natural looking semi-permanent brows? WHAAAAT?!?!?! Long before I ever found a Brow Artist or ever made an appointment, I made up my mind that this is what I needed. This is what I wanted. SO BAD.
It took me another 2-3 years of research, scrolling before and after photos, and watching YT videos before I made the actual call. Once I found an Eyebrow Artist that I was confident in I contacted her immediately. I want to say it was May/June when I called. I got a consultation for the end of July. I was both super excited and a little disappointed. Super excited to obviously address this problem but bummed that I had to wait over a month. I wanted new brows, like, YESTERDAY.
Before I knew it July was here and it was consult day. I was in and out in literally 10 minutes. We talked about what I dislike about my brows (haha. EVERYTHING.), and what the procedure entails. I put down $100.00 and scheduled my first Microblading appointment. Then I found out I’d be waiting until the end of October. Again, I was bummed but I wanted this particular Artist to do my brows, her work is stunning and I figured I’ve waited almost 2 decades, what’s another 2 (errr 3-ish…) months?
I almost literally counted the days since July. It was like knowing Christmas is coming when your a kid only 100X MORE EXCITING. Again, before I knew it October was here and it was *BROW DAY* YaY!!!
It has been almost one week since I had the Microblading done and I LOVE IT. It was totally worth the wait… and the itchiness that I am dealing with at the moment. I’m not going to go into detail about the procedure itself, there is a ton of info about that if you search for it. I will tell you that the numbing cream works for the most part. For most of the procedure I could not feel a thing aside from her pulling on my face a bit. There was some spots in my arch that must not have taken to the numbing cream because it HURT. A LOT. Luckily it was only for a few strokes on each side but oh my. I could feel a tear coming to my eye.
Once finished she handed me a mirror. I looked at myself and immediately felt on top of the world. I HAVE EYEBROWS! AND THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL! I was assured that they would look even better when healed and after my touch up appointment but even so, I am BLOWN AWAY. I (now) know how important eyebrows are in terms of framing one’s face but seeing it, WOW. I feel so much better about myself. What a difference. I will never go back to those bad brows EVER.
I cannot say enough good things about this experience. I can’t wait to go forth with my beautiful brows. I feel pretty and more confident. I don’t feel like people are looking at my uneven, barley there eyebrows. They are looking at me (and my beautiful eyebrows).
My only advice aside from PUT THE TWEEZERS DOWN is to do your research (if Microblading is something that interests you). Find a reputable Artist whom you trust with your face. Also, start saving. Prices vary by location but regardless this is not cheap (nor should it be).
Be prepared to not wash your face/ get your eyebrows wet for 24 hours – 5 days, don’t sleep on or touch them, and the itching, oh lawd the itching. The desire to scratch is real my friends. Not unbearable. But real.
Below are my before and after pictures that I took myself. The before photos are from the day before I had the procedure done (October 25, 2016), and the after photos are from 1 hour following the procedure (October 26, 2016).
COMING SOON : Days 1 – 7 blogs & vlogs.
October 25, 2016 – BEFORE BROWSLeft BrowRight BrowOctober 26, 2016 – AFTERLeft Brow AFTERRight Brow AFTERHELLO BROWS!Before & AfterLeft Brow before & after
A couple of months ago I purchased some Bio-Oil. I bought it in the hopes of reducing a nostril piercing scar. My hopes were high, as always, though in the back of my mind I did not really expect much.
Before and even after purchasing Bio-Oil I did a fair amount of research. Again, I was mostly interested in what it could do for scarring. I came upon a lot of anti-aging information and skin benefits but really thought nothing of it. I just wanted to make this scar look a little less noticeable, to me at least, I’m sure nobody else even really notices it.
I bought the smallest bottle of it that I could find at Shoppers, not wanting to spend extra money on something I may potentially not even really use. How ironic. I started applying Bio-oil only to my piercing scar(s) as soon as I got home. Later, I read the pamphlet in a little more detail. It stated that one should use the product for a minimal of 3 months to see results. This lowered my I-want-to-see-it-now happy high I was on. Three months?!? Ugh. It seemed like SO LONG.
Unlike me, I persisted to use Bio-Oil and even began rubbing it into more skin on my face. I read that it is good for uneven skin tone, aging, and dehydrated skin (actually, it says that right on the box!). So I figured why not try to make my whole face look better and not just my piercing scars. Even though it is an oil it soaked into my skin and didn’t leave an oily sheen all over my mug. It’s kind of nice and a little fun to rub it into my skin, it leaves my face feeling SO GOOD.
I got sick recently and umpteen nose-blows later my skin was so dry my poor nostrils were peeling like they were sunburnt. This encouraged me to up my Bio-Oil game, applying it in hoards pretty much every time I could remember. Upon feeling better I could not help but notice that my skin looks AMAZING.
Not only is my piercing scar less noticeable but I feel like my pores are less noticeable, my skin tone is not so patchy and my acne scars are fading. I am hooked. I never thought that an OIL would be part of my everyday regime. As someone who suffered from severe acne and needed a 6+ month round of Accutane in my early 20’s to get rid of it, I am not usually keen on rubbing an oily substance into my face. Bio-Oil has very pleasantly surprised me. It has not made me break out once (knock on wood…). I have even started using it on my neck, chest, legs, hands, and feet.
It has been a little over 3 months and I can see a difference. Forget the small bottle, I’m going in for the biggest one I can get my hands on next time.
I would rate this product a solid 5 out of 5 lipsticks for EVERYTHING. It feels really good and it WORKS! It does seem a tad pricey (to me) *BUT* a little goes a long way so I feel I am getting my moneys worth.
Please keep in mind that this is my personal review/opinion of Bio-Oil. I am not telling you that you should or should not use it. That is up to you to decide.
Also, my apologies I have no photo proof of my alleged change in my skin. I honestly did not think this stuff was going to work for me at first and never thought to take a few photos.
I purchased this product for myself from Shoppers Drug Mart. Oh how I loves Shoppers… and now Bio Oil 😉
iDREAMinViNTAGE 