AN EXPLANATION OF SORTS

Where to start? I suppose a hello is in order. And then an apology. I feel as though I've let you guys down in the past couple of months. I suddenly disappeared off the face of the internet without any explanation. Don't get my wrong, it's not as though I think anyone was hanging off my every post – far from it – however I did build connections with you guys and I feel guilty vanishing. So I reckon I should let you know what's going on.

5 SURE FIRE WAYS TO TAKE A GREAT BLOG PHOTO

Do you ever try and take a photo for your blog and it's just not happening? Yeah, it's le poo. Some days I'll take over a hundred photos and the camera is still kicking my ass. When I'm stuck like that I'll usually go back, look through some of the better photos that I've taken in the past and try to pull from them. What I've noticed from doing that is that I have 5 sure fire ways to get a good shot. Well actually, there are probably more than 5, but 5 is such a nice, round number that sounds great in a title. If I go for one of these tricks I can turn things around.

21 COMMON SKINCARE INGREDIENTS AND WHAT THEY DO

As I entered my teen years, my skin became increasingly problematic. It was never horrendous by any means, but it was quite sensitive and prone to blotchiness and breakouts. Dealing with these issues got me interested in skincare. I've actually become something of a junkie. I love knowing exactly why and how products work. It's funny because they always tell us at work to speak to the benefits of a product, rather than the ingredients, but to me they're one in the same. To truly understand the benefits of a product, you have to understand the ingredients and what they're able to do for you. Knowing that will help you to determine exactly what's right for your skin and whether or not a product is worthwhile.

MARVELOUS NETFLIX TV PICKS 3

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love me a Netflix binge-a-thon. There's so much good stuff constantly coming out on Netflix, particularly the original series, that I feel as though I could never get bored. It's a life-long conquest. Every once in a while I like to do an update on what I thought were stand out shows. Here's my new batch. Apologies for the fact that I'm rubbish at writing about shows. Really, you could skip my blurbs and just watch the shows. Oh, and please, please let me know what you've been watching!

BIG OL' HIGH END FOUNDATION REVIEW

I have obtained a rather large number of high end foundations in the last few months. This works quite well for me as, like many of you I'm sure, I love testing out new foundations. There's something immensely satisfying about the search for the perfect foundation. Finding the one foundation to rule them all, the one foundation to find them, the one foundation to bring them all and in the darkness bind them... yeah, that foundation. So anyways, I've tried out a lot of foundations and I wanted to give you a summary of my thoughts.

6 TO TRY

Sometimes I wear makeup. Wut? Get over it. Kiddiinnng. As per usual I've been dabbling in a mix or new makeup gems and old reliables. And it struck me the other day that I haven't done a 5 to try type post in ages, if ever. So I went to pick out five gems that I think everyone should own in their collection, and naturally I had to pick six.  

10 BRILLIANT MAKEUP TUTORIALS TO WATCH

Recently I wrote a post on 10 Must See Beauty Videos. False. Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica. Today I realized that that post wasn't actually recent at all. It was written almost a year ago. So it's time for an update! A lot has changed in a year. I hardly recognize myself. Somewhere along the line I became a person that watches Desi Perkins and NikkieTotorials. For some time I was very reluctant to admit this change in myself...to myself... seeing as I don't generally enjoy heavy makeup. However, I cannot deny that these ladies have such incredible, high level artistry skills that it's a pleasure to watch them. Of course I still love my usual English/Aussie crowd so we'll be getting a bit of both in today's mix. Onward with the 10 picks.

10 TIPS FOR CONTOURING LIKE A PRO

A post on how to contour? How original. I know that just about everybody and their dog has done a post on how to contour now and it might seem like I couldn't possibly have anything new to add. But friends, I'm going to try! In the past year I've learned some cool tricks and tips about how to contour like a boss. There are a lot of interesting little things you can do to really alter the shape of your face. So without further adieu, fingers crossed you find something useful here.

TOP 5 BLEMISH CONCEALERS

If there's one thing I'm good at, it's concealing with a spotty face. I've dealt with breakouts on and off since high school (though I'm lucky that my skin is in much better condition these days) and, although it's been frustrating, the silver lining is that I've had loads of first hand experience testing out different techniques for covering blemishes, as well as testing out different concealers. After trying out a butt ton, I'm happy to say that I've found a clear top five.

THE ONE MINUTE SMOKEY EYE

I do a lot of smokey eyes at work. I love doing it, but what I constantly hear from clients is that “the smokey eye” is too challenging of a look from them to achieve on their own. It's completely understandable because when you look at the artistry being produced on Instagram, it's intimidating as heck. I'm super intimidated and I do this stuff every day. But a smokey eye doesn't have to be a challenge. It doesn't have to be twenty different shadows and ten different blending brushes (don't get me wrong, I love that stuff too). It can be as simple as two products and one brush. That's what I'm going to show you guys today – a super simple one minute smokey eye.

COULD IT BE LOVE? THE GREATEST FOUNDATION BRUSH

IMATS came to Vancouver a few weeks ago. Seeing as I have next to no makeup (crowd throws vegetables at my head), I felt I should pick up some more. I'm full of good jokes. I circled around the convention and when I saw the line for Morphe I decided I wanted no part in the madness (think 3 hour waits). Instead I headed over to Royal & Langnickel where I felt far more at home with the common folk.

JULY FAVOURITES

Blimey-o-riley it feels like ages since I've done a monthly favourites. I've been incredibly lucky to try out a lot of products since starting at Sephora. It makes it difficult to pick what I've enjoyed the most. But this month there were some exceptional stand outs that I'm pumped (yeah PUMPED, let's have some brewskis and lift some weights PUMPED) to share with you guys.

FINDING AN ALTERNATE ROUTE IN LIFE

It's one of those days where I wanted to talk about something more than makeup. I've struggled with self esteem quite a lot in the past few years. You could say I've had something of a quarter life crisis. The root of the issue has, for the most part, been that I have trouble finding direction in life. I'm certain that I'm not alone in this, so I wanted to share my experience.

WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS LIPSTICK?

Okily dokily, so I picked up the Sephora Collection Colour Lip Last Lipstick in Blooming Rose a few weeks ago and it straight up blew my mind. It is cray cray good. And I don't use the term cray cray lightly... because it's disgusting. Every time I wear this bad boy I get people asking me what's on my lips and lemme tell you why.

NARS VELVET MATTE SKIN TINT

A few months ago the NARS Velvet Matte Skin Tint launched. I've seen some mixed reviews on this guy, but for the most part people seem to be giving it a thumbs up. I've tried it out on loads of clients at Sephora so I've got a good idea of the look of the initial application, however I wanted to see how it lasted throughout the day. You can imagine I was pleased when I received this in gratis so I could give it a proper go. So what's the foundation like? What's the good and what's the bad? Here we go.

GIVEAWAY: BECCA JACLYN HILL CHAMPAGNE FACE PALETTE

It's no secret that the past few months... well, almost year... have been a bit of a struggle in terms of finding the time for blogging. It's a bummer because I still very much love the whole blogging shebang. I love writing, I love makeup artistry, I love photography and I love the supportive community that is you guys. To thank you scrumptious petals for sticking with me through the chaos, I wanted to do a giveaway. And nothing says giveaway like the Jaclyn Hill Champagne Face Palette (except for maybe a brand new car, but I'm no Oprah).

CURRENT LIP FAVIES

Ah lipstick. What would I do without you? I ask thee, how doth one spice up their life without the help of a lipstick? The Spice Girls might know, but I'm lost without a peppy red, or a blindingly obnoxious pink. Try taking up Salsa classes instead you say. I don't think so. I'd much rather keep throwing money at Sephora. Onto what I've been wearing lately... allow me to take you on a tour and segue out of this bizarre and disastrous intro.

THE PERFECT MOISTURIZER FOR OILY SKIN

I found it. It has been found. Alert the townspeople. The perfect daytime moisturizer for oily skin now resides in my cupboards. I have been on the hunt for this product for a long time now and, let me tell you, it has been a challenge. The issue with finding a good moisturizer for oily skin is that you're usually either left feeling greasy or you're felt feeling un-hydrated. I finally feel like I've found a product that strikes the right balance.

MY MOST BELOVED COLOURPOP SHADOWS

Colourpop Super Shock Shadows have been a mother flippin' revelation in my life. I remember the first time I ordered a batch. I took them out of their sassy little box and swatched them on my arm. Then I immediately soiled myself. These mofos are the most pigmented shadows you'll ever work with. But that's not even the best part. The best part is that they're phenomenal for oily eyelids. If you have those kind of lids that turn every shadow into a few measly lines even with a primer, then these will be your saviour. Once they set, they're indestructible. I've done a few orders of their shadows now and I fancied showing you my favies. Here they are all layed out.

THE WORST HIGH END MAKEUP

Most of the time I only talk about products that I have the warm and fuzzies for. There are loads of amazing high end bits that I now can't picture being without. However, there are most definitely some duds lurking in the shelves at Sephora. They're there, just waiting for you to pick them up and take them home, thinking you'll be happy together. But you won't. You'll never be happy together because they're liars. They're the type of products that sit on the couch all day watching soap operas and ordering you to make them more nachos. They don't care about you at all. Well, I think it's time talk about these products and reveal their true colours. So please, join me in a good old fashioned bitch fest. Was that over the top? It got weird with the nachos didn't it?

A GLOWY NO MAKEUP MAKEUP LOOK

A little while ago Urban Decay was doing a competition to create an “I woke up like this” strobing look. I looked through the competition's photos and, let me tell you, some people were waking up with a bum ton of makeup on. Slept in your full face did ya? What are you, Britt from The Bachelor? Zinnnng. I kid, I kid. Anyways I wanted to do something closer to a no makeup makeup look (but still very glowy) and I was pretty happy with how it turned out, so I thought I'd share the look with you.

THE CONCEALER RUNDOWN

After a short interlude, we return to our regular programming. I.e. back to the rundown series. We've covered bronzers and highlighters. So what's next, you ask? Pretend like you asked. Concealers! I'm bizarrely a total concealer nutcase. They are one of my all time favorite makeup products because I truly believe a good concealer can massively raise your confidence level. I've tried a fair few in my many wise and humble years, so please allow me to have a chat. Then you shun me.

SEPHORA GRATIS HAUL: APRIL & MAY

I won't bore you with a rambling intro today. Psyche. Imma bore the crap out of you. This morning I woke up and took my first breath as a conscious human on May 20th. I wondered to myself if it would be another sunny day. You see my blinds were shut, prohibiting me from knowing what to expect. I closed my eyes again, seeing as I was a bit sleepy, but then opened them again because I knew I really ought to get up...

Yeah, okay that's enough of that. Hey, here's some shit that I got given from work!

THE HIGHLIGHTER RUNDOWN

I've been meaning to make a mini-series for a while now. I thought it might be nice to pick a category of product – eyeliners, highlighters, foundations, etc – and give you a rundown of my experience with each one. I already covered bronzers in the last post and today we're moving onto highlighters. I hope you guys like this idea and if there's any category you're especially interested in hearing about, please let me know!

THE BRONZER RUNDOWN

You know when you look at your makeup stash and you think sweet Jesus how did I end up with so many bronzers? No? Probably just me. I'll check myself into rehab after I'm done typing this up. Bronzer is a staple product for me. I wear it almost every day and the days that I don't I usually regret it when I catch the ghost staring back at me in the mirror. Because it's such a staple product, I find myself dabbling in new bronzers quite often, trying to find the perfect one. After rifling through my drawers I've discovered that I've accumulated over a dozen. Yikers. I decided now would be a good time to give you a rundown of each one before things get any more out of hand.

APRIL FAVOURITES

Summertime has arrived in Vancouver. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden I'm getting a tan and I can't bear to wear pants. Well, to be fair, I never like wearing pants. With the change in temperature comes a change in my makeup tastes. I'm lovin' the bronzed skin and sheer formulas for the lips, and that's exactly what you'll see in my very late April Favourites today.

MY FREELANCE MAKEUP KIT

I don't know if today's post will pique anyone's interest, but we'll give it a go anyways. I recently started doing some freelance makeup work again. But seeing as it's been a few years since the last time I dabbled, I had to rebuild my kit almost from scratch. In the chance that there's anyone out there wondering about building up a freelancing kit, or even anyone just curious to see the contents, I wanted to share with you guys what I've stocked mine with.

MUST HAVE EYE MAKEUP BRUSHES

Switching over to high quality eye makeup brushes might have been the most mind blowing experience I've ever had... in terms of makeup that is. Let's not get carried away here (I'm looking at you Better Than Sex Mascara). It's pretty incredible though because, with the right brushes, suddenly all of my shadows seemed to be 10x more pigmented and blend like a dream. I feel as though I've narrowed down my staple brushes to a total of seven. Does that seem like a lot? Nah.

DRAMATIC WINGED SMOKEY EYE TUTORIAL

This, mes amis, is Brooke. She has the face of an angel. She's practically made of eyes, lashes, cheekbones and lips. It's borderline annoying to look at. So naturally I stole her face for today! I gave it back, don't worry, but it was great while it lasted. 10/10 face borrowing.

25 BANGING BEAUTY TIPS

Pardon me, I didn't mean to so violently toot my own horn with that title, but here we are. It's been ages since I've done a beauty tips post and, seeing as I'm practicing a lot more on real human faces (a relief for my guinea pigs), I've got some new ideas. We'll start with a little skincare and move onto tricks for foundation, contouring, eyeliner, etc.

MAKEUP THAT WILL LAST ALL NIGHT LONG

Looking for something that'll last all night long? Bow chica bow wow. Sadly, I haven't turned into Cosmo magazine overnight and I am in fact talking about makeup. Perhaps you're looking for a face that will last you through a night at da club, or maybe maybe even something to take you straight through to the next morning (over-exaggerated wink). Whatever your motives may be, I've got your back homie.

NO FOUNDATION AND A POP OF COLOUR

I woke up this morning and it was a bright sun-shining day. Days like that just make me feel wonderful. Anyone else get that? It put me in the mood to do something bright and fun with my makeup. A bronzey, glowing complexion, free of foundation, and a pop of colour on the eyes seemed just the thing for today. It's simple as can be, so let me take you through it!

SEPHORA GRATIS HAUL: FEBRUARY AND MARCH

I feel like I should first start by explaining what I mean when I say this is a Sephora Gratis Haul. The last time I posted a lot of people thought that I'd gone absolutely mental and bought everything I could get my hands on. Alas, 'tis not the case. One of the perks of working at Sephora is that you get given product to try. Everything I'm showing today was given to me by the company. So I've got my loot from February and March and, as always, I'll give you a quick review of everything.

COLOUR CORRECTING: CORRECTING THE BULLSHIT

Colour correcting is the newest, biggest trend in beauty. Sephora is chockablock full of brands launching their version of these innovative products. People are getting really excited about the whole thing. I, on the other hand, am taking the grumpy hipster approach to it all. For one, colour correctors ain't nothing new. They've been around for ages. The only difference is the industry has now taken the whole thing to ridiculous levels. There's a lot of bullshit to wade through on the shelves – a lot of products no human would ever need. So my friends, I'm here to help you navigate that bullshit. Please, come with me on a journey of realistic expectations.

HOW TO ADD LINES TO YOUR BLOG DESIGN: THE CHEAT SHEET

Adding lines to a template changes the flow of the page. It's breaks up each section of information and gives your eye a clear understanding of what's what. Style lines aren't for every design. A more minimalist approach works better for some templates, but if you're like me and you want to play around to see what you can create, I've got a little cheat sheet for you. Below I've listed how to add lines or borders to pretty much every section of your blog possible. Hope it helps, and remember, this is for Blogger, not Wordpress.

CLEANSER REVIEW GALORE

Cleansers are one of the skincare products I like to play around with most. My treatments are usually pretty boring because I'm on prescriptions and I don't want to mess around with them. But cleansers... well that's when I'm like a college girl making out with another collage girl at a frat party while a bunch of dudes watch... experimental. Inappropro? I've had the pleasure of trying out a load of new cleansers in the past few months and I want to give you guys the run down. Come, get experimental with me. Giggity.

THE FOREO LUNA MINI

You know you work at Sephora when this conversation happens.

Me: Man, I wish I had a Luna.
Co-worker: Oh, I have one. You can have it. I don't want it.
Me: What? No, that's crazy.
Co-worker: No really. I don't care.
Me: Okay, well I'm baking you some cookies.
Co-worker: Okay.

WHEN I HATE MY BODY

It's 2:39 in the morning and I can't sleep. I finished an episode of Girls about an hour ago and it brought to the surface some things that I usually manage to keep sitting below. It sounds stupid, I know, it's a TV show, but fuck, when things hit you, they hit you. The show triggered a lot of difficult feelings for me, one of them being my hatred for my body. My body, that's something I don't ever talk about here.

FEBRUARY FAVOURITES

Today I took my guinea pigs to the vet. And today is the day that my pigs went from being boys... to, well... to unics. It's going to drive them nuts all the jokes I make at their expense. Mind you, it's hardly their fault if they're a little testy about it. What does this have to do with my February Favourites you ask? Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to make some jokes about balls. Come on, they weren't total junk were they? Onward and upward! I've had a lot of favourites this month so we best get on.

10 STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH WRITER'S BLOCK

In the past year or so since I started blogging, I've hit a few rough patches. There are times when I sit down to write and nothing seems to come out. Sometimes my brain just shuts down and other times I get down on myself for not being better or more creative or this or that. When this happens I need something to help me climb out of it all. I need a strategy. Well my friends, these are some of the strategies that I've relied on over time to help myself along in the creative process (and yes, I do feel like a douche saying creative process).

HIGH END MAKEUP STARTER KIT

Ages ago I did a Drugstore Makeup Starter Kit post. At the time I hardly felt qualified to follow up with a high end version, but now, seeing as I'm knee deep in the fancy stuff at work every day, I finally feel ready to do this. I've broken everything down into a category and given you my top recommendation for each one. Only, I thought I'd add an extra twist. I figured at the end of each recommendation I'd tell you whether or not I think it's worth the splurge or if you're better off with a trip to the drugstore. So here I go, stepping into my big boy pants, dishing you up a hot serving of outrageously expensive makeup.

FUN AND FABULOUS GALENTINE'S DAY LOOK

Just when you thought Valentine's Day couldn't be flogged anymore, I'm coming at ya with another tutorial. The last look was soft and sultry, so I figured we gone kick it up a notch this time. Ladies who are doing Galentine's, your friends will enjoy this one; ladies doing Valentine's... men might not understand this look. So today I kept the flirty cat eye, but this time I'm going bold with a double wing. To top it off I've got a red “stained” lip effect.

SOFT AND SULTRY VALENTINE'S DAY MAKEUP

I couldn't help it. Everyone is posting their Valentine's Day looks and I wanted in on the action. That, and I figured I haven't shown my face in a long time and maybe I should do that at some point. Just so you know that it is definitely still me. I am still alive... unless someone is playing a bizarre Weekend At Burnie's gag with you and they're using my body as a puppet. Stop now Holly. In the words of the great Buffy The Vampire Slayer wow if I knew I was going to go on this long I probably would have brought some water.

A TERRIFYINGLY HUGE SEPHORA GRATIS HAUL

Holy crow what happened here? I missed a few monthly gratis hauls so I decided to do one jumbo collective haul and it's grown into a monster. I had no idea how much I'd been given until I started gathering everything together for photographs. I'm not even sure how to handle a post this size. Do I talk about everything? Do I just list it all? In the end I tried to do something in between - a very brief synopsis of each product. Also, don't worry, immediately after this I'll go take myself out back and flog myself silly for being so spoiled (and not in a kinky 50 Shades kind of way, I promise).

THE BEST BEAUTY BLOG PHOTOGRAPHY

Today I'm going to keep my trap shut and let these images do the talking. Without further adieu, I present to you some of the most beautiful beauty blog photography I've come across. 

BRUSH CLEANING LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN

For a few years now I figured I had my brush cleaning game down pat (yeah, I get a lot of dates). I had my wonderful Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap and my Pro Hygiene Collection Brush Cleaner. I was set and, again, totally not lonely on Friday nights. But recently a few new products have come into my life. Friends, let me tell you, I can see clearly now the rain has gone.

HOW TO BUILD A PERFECT PINTEREST-INSPIRED WARDROBE

I'm always keeping an eye out for how-tos on building a Pinterest Wardrobe - you know, the wardrobe that says that "I didn't really try, but somehow I found myself looking fabulous." Unfortunately I've never quite found the how-to that I've been searching for, so I finally decided, gal darn it, I'm going to make it myself! What I've noticed over the years of browsing Pinterest is that fashionable gals have a few things in common - they tend to pick staple pieces that can be paired with anything, they stick to a lot of monochromatics (often adding colour with accessories), they layer their clothing nicely (longer t-shirts peeking out from knit sweaters) and they look primarily for fairly simplistic clothing with beautiful cuts. So I've assembled a wardrobe that hopefully achieves just that.

8 UNDERDOG MAKEUP PRODUCTS

The great thing about working in the beauty industry is that I get to try out a ton of makeup. There are some fantastic products out there that receive major hype through the blogging and Youtube community. But I want to forget about those products today. Instead, I want to tell you guys about some good'n's that I don't hear a lot of chatter around. I've picked out eight gems and imma break down why they deserve a little more love.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BUILDING YOUR SKINCARE ROUTINE

I've got a whopper of a post for you today. It struck me the other day that I hadn't yet written a comprehensive guide to building your own skincare routine. I've done posts on specific skincare woes, but I wanted to create a place that had it all. So here's how I'm breaking it down. I'm creating categories for common skincare struggles. I'll explain a little bit about how I would address each struggle (keeping in mind that I'm not a trained aesthetician – I've simply done a fair bit of research into skincare) and then I'll build a few shoppable potential routines for each category.

10 IDEAS FOR A HAPPIER, HEALTHIER 2016

A new year comes along and we all make a resolution. This year, however, I don't have one firm goal. Rather, I'd like to make a conscious effort to become a more well-rounded human being. I have a tendency to take the easy way out – watch trash television, sit in front of my computer, stay home and do the same old thing. Don't get me wrong, I think we all deserve a bit of comfort, but this year I want to push myself to do more and I'm sure a lot of you guys feel the same way. After all, there's a whole world out there for the taking. So here are some ideas for growing yourself as a person.