Hello everyone. I hope you’re all having an amazing Holiday Season. I’ve been feeling very festive!
I’ve been wanting to write this blog for a few days but all the shopping and planning and decorating and Christmas movie watching have prevented me from photographing all these lovely products I’m sharing with you here today. I made time tonight and here it is.
So without further ado, the following are the products I’ve been loving and using and re-purchasing this year. These include Makeup, Skin Care, Bath and Body. Enjoy.
MAKE UP
- Aveeno CC Cream – tinted moisturizer with SPF. I wear it on a daily basis for a natural looking glow. A great product for day use and a great base for day/natural makeup.
- Vichy Ideal Tint – I got a sample of this foundation with a purchase on BeautyBoutique.ca. I’m very loyal to my brands and have used the Bourjois foundation for years. This foundation is a huge step up. Beautiful coverage, doesn’t cake or feel heavy and matches my skin tone so perfectly. I do my makeup and never touch it up and yet my skin looks freshly made up at the end of the day. Love this.
UPDATE: I realized after I posted this that I’d forgotten this amazing palette!!
Urban Decay Naked Palette – I’d been pining over this palette for years after seeing it on so many makeup tutorials. So I bit the bullet and bought it this Fall and am SO happy I did. The pigmentation and colours in this, the 1st of a series of 3 palettes UD came out with, are silky and suit my colouring amazingly. My faves are Sidecar, Sin and Smog but the best part if that you can almost do your entire face with it (eyes, bronzer, highlighter, contour and eyebrows) with the shades included.
3. Maybelline Lash Sensational – I discovered this mascara while watching Youtuber Kaushal Beauty. I’ve never like the stiff plastic mascara wands but this one curls, lifts and separates your lashes for doll like eyes. I’m hooked.
4. Stila Highlighting Cream – I shared this highlighter in a past monthly favourites blog. Of all moments, I discovered this product during a quick stopover at London Drugs on Vancouver island on my way up island to camp. I walked in to pick up camping provisions and saw this gorgeous shimmer out of the corner of my eye. Forget the Doritos, I picked this up instead!
5. Vasanti See The Light Shimmer Brick – This is the most recent product I’ve fallen in love with. I wanted to use up some of my Shopper’s Drugmart points and there was a sale for online purchases (free shipping and samples). So I chose this quad. It’s very shimmery so you can use the colours separately (which I do sometimes, using the darker shade as a blush) or swirl both colours for cheeks that go pop.
6. Maybellin Baby Lip – This is my go-to lip balm. The Quench scent is a bright juicy Grapefruit that totally reminds me of a lip balm I loved by Victoria’s Secret years ago. I keep one on my bathroom counter, bedside table and purse at all times. I buy them in bulk when they’re on sale. $3.99
7. ELF Blush in Twinkle Pink – For the perfect dupe to Nars Orgasm blush, this is it! A peachy pink with golden glints, this blush makes me happy and we should do what makes us happy right? As soon as I hit pan on this one, I run out to buy another.
8. Maybelline Age Rewind Conealer – Concealer is a girls best friend. If you’re feeling lazy and don’t have time, dot this under your eyes, around your nose and anywhere else you might have redness or uneven skin tone and you’re golden. I buy it in 3 shades to use all year ’round as my skin tone changes (from paler in the winter to tan-er in the summer). I’ve used this product for a good 3 years.
9. Clinique Colour Pop Lipstick – This matte red is so classic and doesn’t dry out your lips. I’ll be wearing it this Christmas
10. Pixie Lip Colour – Pixie is a brand from the UK that arrived in Canada just this year and is only available at Shoppers Drugmart. I’m allergic to most lipsticks that aren’t Clinique so when I read that they don’t use Colophony (my nemesis), I thought I’d try this rose colour and it’s so nice. Close to my natural lip colour, only better.
11. Real Technique Brushes – I love these brushes. I have the entire collection. End of story.
SKIN CARE
12. Pixie Hydrating Milk – I mist this all over my face and neck straight out of the shower everyday. Hyaluronic acid and black oat provitamin A keep my skin bright and prepped for moisturizing and makeup.
13. Cerave Foaming Face Cleanser – I keep my cleanser in the shower. Cerave contains ceramides, hyaluronic acid and niacinimade and protects the acid mantle of the skin. It’s gentle, unscented and my oily prone skin has never felt better.
14. Strivectin Advanced Retinol – I added Retinol to my skincare regime 2 years ago. Retinol is a pure form of Vitamin A. It is said that Vitamin A and C are crucial in keeping skin looking young (aside from a clean diet and exercise of course). Retinol speeds up skin turnover and diminishes fine lines and sagging. I can’t tell you if it really works but what I do know is that my skin feels great, I can see the skin sloughing off (giving room for the new skin underneath to come through) and my makeup goes on smoothly. I’m 42 so you tell me.
15. Shiseido Benefiance Retinol Eye Masques – I just started using these eye masques just this year. They come in a tray with each masque soaked in a retinol serum. Apply one under each eye and relax in the bath or go about your business for 20 minutes. The masque promises to reduce puffiness and fine lines and I can attest to this. It’s really crazy, I put these on before a special occasion and when they come off, yes, my eye bags are gone. They’re expensive but there are 12 packs in a box and you can use them as little or as much as you’d like AND YOUR UNDER EYE BAGS WILL BE GONE – sold!
16. Timeless Vitamin C Serum with Ferulic Acid – Vitamin C is another powerhouse face care product. This antioxidant helps with discolouration which is something I have been trying to correct after living in south america for 11 years and never wearing sunscreen. Yikes!
17. Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair – This is the first line I purchased when I decided to start using Retinol. Because Retinol is very strong and can irritate skin (even burn it). I eased into it by using this eye cream and serum then after a year, graduated to the Stivectin Retinol. I love what this line does to my skin however so I still use it in the day and keep the strong stuff for nighttime use.
18. Face Masks by Life Brand – These masque come in cream, clay and sheet masques and I use one at least once a week while I soak in the tub. I met the owner 2 years ago and told her how much I love them and she was so kind to send me a bag of them! Only $5 for 3 masques.
Bioderma Micelle Solution – It’s a tie for me with this product and Clinique’s Take the Day Off balm. Both do an excellent job of removing even the toughest makeup (mascara included) the difference? Clinique’s balm is a product I used when I have the time, to apply, massage into my skin and remove with a terry cloth. It’s a product I use more in the bath before applying a masque and relaxing. Bioderma’s Micelle Water is my go-to when I get home after a night out and want to go to bed without my makeup. Just soak a couple of cotton pads in this miracle water and swipe across your face. Makeup disappears. Good night!
Hair Care
19. Nexxus Emergencee Shampoo – I alternate between the Nexxus City Sheild and Emergencee shampoos. The first I use Spring and Summer. It comes in the green bottle and has a fresh herbal scent and leaves my hair squeaky clean when it gets oilier in the warmer months. When the electric heating goes on in the fall and winter, I find my hair needing more nourishment. The Emergencee shampoo is a thicker consistency with deeply hydrating marine collagen and a wonderful salon scent.
20. MoroccanOil Soothing Hair Mask – I skip the conditioner in the winter and go straight for an intense hydrating mask. After shampoo-ing I put a thick layer of this masque from the middle to the ends of my hair and clip it up while I do my face care or shave then rinse it out. The scent reminds me of winter because I first ever bought this product around Christmastime 4 years ago.
BODY
21. Bioderma Tanning Spray – I am not a sun worshipper. You will not find me lathered up in suntan lotion laying out in the sun any time soon. This doesn’t mean I never want a healthy glow or to at least look like I just got back from a caribbean vacation. Any time I will be wearing a dress and bare legs, I am using this easy, streakless, mess-less spray. Unlike tanning lotions that can leave your hands orange, Bioderma has come up with the perfect shade of golden in a can.
22. Crystal Deodorant – I read once that the chemicals and parabens in deoderant have been found in cancerous breast lumps. Since then, I stick to this all natural deoderant made with 2 ingredients: water and natural salt crystal. This product is unscented so I add a couple of drops of my favourite rosewood essential oil. This is a deodorant not antiperspirant.
23. Vichy Ideal Body Lotion – This body lotion leaves my skin silky and gently scented. It absorbes quickly and is never greasy. A lovely product I just started using early this year.
BATH
24. Origins Ginger Float Bubble Bath – Bath time is my favourite time of night. Every single night from October until March I have a warm bath. Bath time is sacred time as I use the alone and quiet to meditate mostly. And being a special time of day, I like to use special products and this is definitely one. This bubble cream is thick so you scoop out a handful of it and run it under the water. It creates gorgeously scented bubbles of ginger and a hint of citrus. I love soaking in this spa like scent.
So there you have it! All of my very favourite products for 2017. I love discovering new products so drop me a line if there’s something you can’t live without and I’ll look into them.
Love,
Jennifer