5 PRODUCTS FOR DARN TOOTIN' DEWY SKIN

Every time the weather gets toasty I decide I need to become Gisele Bundchen. I have yet to figure out how to sprout three extra feet of leg and grow an additional five cup sizes... I'll get there eventually... but the makeup thing I've started to work out. I find that focusing largely on cream products helps to bring that glow factor to the skin.

BIG SUNGLASSES & BOLD LIPS

Yeah I tried pretty hard to look cool and casual here. Let's just acknowledge that and get it out of the way. Every once in a while I like to give an ode to a look that I really love. Like my ode to the half bun or the red lip and winged liner. Today it's an ode to big sunglasses and bold lips. Mmm I love that look. It probably spawned from my unhealthy obsession with the Olsen twins. Sidenote, we played “name that Olsen twin” on Google Images the other night and I was good. I mean there's no dancing around it. I was just outright good. And modest.

PHOTO EDITING: 1 SIMPLE TIP · CLEANER PHOTOS

I recently discovered a simple editing trick that I think has helped to clean up the look of my photos. Essentially it's brightening the edges of your photographs. Now I hope I've got this explanation right, but when you photograph with your aperture wide open (as a lot of beauty photographers do) the lens can block the light from the corners of your photos. This results in a vignette effect. A vignette can look gorgeous, but it doesn't necessarily always work for bright beauty photography. I've started editing out this effect using a couple of different methods. Note: this tends to work best on untextured backgrounds.

PHOTOGRAPHY: CATCH-ALL DISH CRAZED

Forgive me my noodly father, for I have sinned. Gluttony is my crime. Gluttony of the catch-all dish variety...

THE BUDGET CONTOUR COMBO

Up until this point I'd been using the Sleek Contour Kit for any chiseling of the cheekbones. It's not bad. It's matte, it blends well and it comes with a highlighter. However, the colour is too warm for me. I like a true cool toned shade for contouring. It looks much more believably like a shadow that way. So I went on the hunt.

NARS PURE RADIANT TINTED MOISTURIZER

I got tired of hearing about how great the Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer is, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. To take action. To take a stand. I'm really just trying to butter you up for the fact that I bought it. But hey, I got it from Blushing Wit's blog sale so it was a third of the price. I figure I've gotten a real bang for my buck. Plus the tinted moisturizer has come in handy. Hey-oh! I'm all over the place today. Anyways, grab a cup of tea, stay a while. Let's talk finish, coverage, longevity, etc.

3 NEW CLEANSERS

I love a good cleanse. There's something so wonderful and relaxing about getting home from a long day's work and massaging an oil cleanser into the face. Equally, it can be refreshing to wake yourself up with a splash of water and spot of cream cleanser. Good stuff. So yeah, I tend to go a bit crazy on cleansers because they provide such an experience. I've accumulated three newbies in the past couple of months.

BLOGGER: HOW TO MAKE HOMEPAGE IMAGES CLICK THROUGH TO POST PAGES

One of those funny little things that Blogger does is to open homepage images as a full resolution version of themselves. Instead, I think most of us would prefer that homepage images clicked through to their full post page. Only from the post page should the image open as a full resolution version of itself. Does that make sense?...You click your image on your homepage and it takes you to your post, then you click on your image on your post page and it pops up as a larger version of itself.

HOW TO DO AN INSTANT EYE LIFT WITH MAKEUP

Not everyone is born with the eyes of Angelina Jolie. In fact, you could say that only Angelina Jolie was born with those eyes. Good one. But you catch my drift. She has those gorgeous, sexy eyes that seem to somehow defy gravity. Well we're here today to fake it my friends! As per usual, I've laid out the process in a simple five step format.

THE ENTIRELY SMUDGE & CREASEPROOF EYE

I have the oiliest eyelids known to mankind. I could polish floors with my eyelids, grease pigs with them or deep fry your fries for you. When people tell me they have oily eyelids I scoff at them... as though I have something to be proud of. Am I setting the tone? Even with an excellent eye primer, most eyeshadows only make it through half a day for me before they bunch up into little lines. Likewise, most mascaras leave me with panda eyes. But I've recently discovered a trio that stays in tact from morning to night. Honestly, I went running in it the other night and it didn't budge. Praise FSM!

5 PLANS TO UPDATE MY PERSONAL STYLE

I'm a big fan of Pinterest. I find so much fashion inspiration through that platform. Yet it doesn't seem to translate to my own sense of style. I go shopping with the mindset of “LET'S DO THIS!” and somehow leave looking as boring as usual. This year I plan to finally kick it up a notch. It's time that I stop looking at people and thinking “I wish I looked like that” and start actually doing it. So I have 5 plans to update my personal style.

BRIGHT SUMMER LIP PICKS

I love the summertime. It's the greatest time of the year for me. I get to swim, eat excessive amounts of ice cream, go running not in the rain (any Vancouverites feel me here?) and crack out the tank tops. Breathe thine limbs, breathe. I also have an excuse to recover my bright lipsticks from the depths of my drawers and wear them out in public so that my friends' dads can say “that's an interesting colour.” I'll run through the lineup I've got today.

6 GOALS FOR THE COMING MONTHS

When I went away to Europe it felt like a life changing event. I know, how unoriginal – a real Eat, Pray, Love moment. Nonetheless, it was a big step for me. It meant facing a massive fear, as I mentioned in my Greece and Italy post. Amazingly, everything went really well. I've felt very much trapped by my fears in the past few years (actually my whole life if we're being realistic) and facing a big one like that gave me the boost of confidence to make some changes. Some big, some small. I wanted to talk to you guys about some goals I have for the next few months.

FEEL GOOD MAKEUP

Given the amount of time I've spent in the past few months feeling less than fantastic (it's easier to say this now that I'm feeling significantly better), I thought it might be nice to do a post dedicated to “feel good makeup.” Makeup has the power to give me a little pick me up. Not only do I enjoy the process of application, which I find soothing, but I also enjoy the effect it can have on my appearance. I'm not looking to completely alter who I am, but I appreciate having something to even out my skin, brighten my cheeks and widen my eyes. You get the picture. It's a subtle way to add a little oomf.