I have been wanting to do a post on cruelty free makeup for a while now and today seemed as good a day as any for it. The intent behind this post is certainly not to preach to anyone about ethics (because Lord knows I’d come down on the side of guilty if that’s what this was about), but simply to provide a point of reference to anyone who wants to use cruelty free makeup.
It’s time to discuss... *pause for dramatic effect*... ZEE FROWLINE! I mean honestly, it’s abrowt time. I find myself so attracted to full, fluffy brows. Yes, even on the lady kinds. I do love a bit’a’ Cara Delevingne and some Lily Collins ‘ere and there. I’ve got fairly thick brows myself, but they’re pretty wonky. There are big chunks missing from the general structure. I don’t do much plucking these days, other than a few stray hairs. I let my brows grow wild and I shape them by filling them in, rather than taking hairs away. I’d say there are three main things to focus on with brows: colour, shape and setting them in place.
I can’t seem to get enough of Sleek. I think they are definitely one of the best drugstore brands out there. Their packaging is simple and appealing and has a Nars-esk feel to it. They offer a lot of things that I think are harder to find in a drugstore brand – great palettes, bright colours, high pigmentation. I won’t go on for now because I want to do a more in depth post on Sleek soon. For today I just wanted to show you guys a few odds and bobs I got recently that I thought you might enjoy.
The weather seems to determine what I talk about a lot of the time. Today is utter shite out. It rained and rained, only to be interrupted with even heavier rain. But I guess this wouldn’t be Vancouver if that’s not what our Spring looked like. Dingy weather tends to have me veering away from bright fun colours and towards something deeper. I picked up these two fellas on a grocery shop yesterday. Whenever we go grocery shopping the first half of the trip consists of me sneaking off and swatching a bajillion products on my hand. What can I say? Our Real Canadian Super Store has the good stuff (that’s makeup, not drugs). Apparently it’s the place to be if you’re a beauty junkie in Canada. Back to the point.
I just got back from a visit with my dad that ended up taking a turn down a very different road than I expected. We only had a couple of hours together and I figured we would probably just keep it light and talk a bit about the new blog. We did indeed start talking about the blog, and he began making suggestions about how to approach things and creating interesting posts and all the while I just felt this pit in my stomach. I feel so much pressure to be original and successful when it comes this venture. It’s a pressure I always put on myself in life no matter what I'm doing. I'm already killing myself over the fear that no one will want to read it. My dad talked about opening up and engaging with people in my writing and that's what I want to do in this post today.
I’m dressing less and less like a nun these days with the weather steadily improving. I’ve even been getting these old lobster arms out to see the light of day. Impressive no? It seemed fitting to assemble some products that compliment the end of the Dark Age and the dawn of a new light (I hate when people are overly dramatic. Thank God I effectively steer clear of that). Nothing makes me feel more summery than using products that leave my skin looking tanned, dewy and radiant. This is particularly true when I’ve not actually got a tan yet and I’m still as pale as an Englishman in the midst of summer.
Some days you just think “damn life is good.” Today is one of those days. Boyfriend makes delicious almond meal muffins and jasmine green tea for you while you take photos... yeah I’m lucky to live this life. Onto the makeup: I’ve been browsing Pinterest the past few days and the thing that kept jumping out at me while I'll scrolled around was bold red lips. There’s something so beautiful and classic about about a good red lip. It made me want to put together a look that I find classically attractive - those red lips paired with a 60's cat eye. I find that when you’re wearing a statement on the lips and eyes keeping things ultra clean on the rest of your face is flattering. So I kept my focus in this look simply to lips, eyes, brows and contouring.
I’m gonna give a little shout out to cream eyeshadows today. They’re a beautiful thing. They add a little something something when you apply them sheerly and they can build up to one bold mother trucker if you pack them on. The best part is that if you find a good formula they stay in place all dang day guuurrlll.
I’ve been really keen to get my hands on a nice coloured mascara of late. I’m not a huge eyeshadow wearer and mascara seems like a fun way to introduce a little colour into the palette for summer. When I saw Tati whip out these guys – the Maybelline Mega Plush Deep Velvets – in one of her New at the Drugstore videos I was intrigued. They took their sweet time getting to Canada, but they’re finally here. I grabbed the shades Navy Velvet and Purple Velvet. There’s one more shade, but green didn’t really interest me.
Ah yes, concealer my old friend. Man’s relationship with concealer dates back almost as far back as the existence of the Earth itself. Alright, I’ll stop talking out of my ass now. In all seriousness though, concealer is a beautiful thing for those of us with imperfect skin. If I could only have one makeup product it would be this.
I just got done talking about my morning and evening cleanser and now here I go with another one. I bought this one recently because I wanted to try a cleansing oil, but I didn’t want to break the budget, as I already have a great evening cleanser. And of course I wanted it to have a decent ingredient list too. The only cleansing oils I could really find at a low price point were this (at $16 Canadaian) and the new Garnier Nourishing Cleansing Oil and let’s just say the Garnier one has a misleading name – lots mineral oil.
Please allow me to ruin your life with an online shopping addiction just as I have done to myself. I insist. Don’t struggle, you’ll only sink faster. I’ve banded together what I find to be the best places online to find beauty products. I know depending on your country there are probably much better places, but I’ve tried to pick sites that are available and affordable worldwide. Onward ho:
I'm putting a stop to my
shameful Chuck binge-watching marathon to write a post. The weather is
finally turning somewhat decent and it puts me in the mood for a little
colour. Also to get outside, but first about the colour! I think spring
makes most makeup wearers want to crack out some colour so here are some
(mostly) old goodies you might even already have in your drawer that
may want to see the light of day once more.
Shall we continue straight onto evening skin care? I think you’ll remember a few familiar faces, and by faces I mean products, from my morning skincare routine. But fear not, there are some new...faces... too.
I reckoned it was about time to dive into skincare. I have extremely sensitive skin. My face will burn if I put the wrong thing on it. So it’s taken a long time to even start to figure out what to put on my finicky bastard of a face. I’ve bought so many skincare bits over the years that I really wanted to try because everyone talked about how great they were, but I just can’t use so many of them without reacting. So the solution that I’ve come to for now is to be realistic about what my skin can take and keep it super simple. I stick to skincare brands tailored to sensitive skin – mostly French pharmacy brands.
