November has gone, can you believe it? and now we're onto December - which means there's only 25 days left til  Christmas! Have any of you started your Christmas Shopping yet? I have to say, I'm actually 90% done! so I don't need to go and push around the mall with the last minute shoppers.

My favorites this month contain some repeats (which only means that I truly love them!):
1. Smashbox - Photo Finish Pore Minimizing Primer
This has become a must have in my makeup routine - as the name suggests, it fills my pores and doesn't leave a greasy residue. Perfect canvas for makeup application after.

2. Maybelline Fit Me! - Hydrate and Smooth Foundation
My first time using a drug store foundation since my teens that I actually like! My shade is 220 and I combine it with a little bit of Charlotte Tilbury's wonderglow to give it even more of a dewy finish. 

3. Embryolisse - lait-Creme Concentre
Adds an amazing level of hydration to the skin in the morning before I put on my makeup. It's lightly scented, reminiscent of jasmine? I am definitely ordering more after.

4. Laneige - Water Sleeping Mask
 I use this every night now that the weather is much colder. I wake up with baby soft skin. I recently gifted the Laneige skin set to my girlfriend to try since I love so many Laneige products! I even started using the foaming cleanser and toner!

5. GinZeng - Refreshing Eye Cream
Salmon tinted and not overly greasy for my under eyes! Love it!

6. Aveda - Shampure Dry Shampo
This is my newest discovery when I went to Aveda during Black Friday to restock on the Volumizing tonic. It doesn't have an aerosol can and comes straight from the tube. It's herbally scented and plant derived. It volumizes the hair slightly while works to absorb the hair grease!

7. Cover Girl - The Super Sizer Mascara
The wand of this mascara is quite interesting, it's an inverted triangle and has short plastic points instead of a brush. Somehow, this adds a lot of volume and length and I can get away with two coats of this and no liner and my eyes still look existent!

8. no name brand foundation brush from Phoenix Beauty that I bought for 9.99
Even though this is no name brand, I had to include this as my monthly favorite only to prove a point to my fellow readers. I wanted to let you know that sometimes, you do not need to buy high end brushes just because you think they will be better than no named brand ones in the market. I got this from Phoenix Beauty at Pacific Mall for 9.99 and it works better than my Sephora Pro Airbrush Foundation Brush which cost triple that amount! 

The collection includes:

- Pure Color Envy Sculpting Lipstick in Envious, Red Ego and Carnal $34 each.
- Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Envious - $25
- Pure Color Envy Sculpting Eyeshadow Palette in Pink Mink $55
- Modern Muse Le Rouge: 3.4oz/100ml EDP $122, 1.7oz / 50ml EDP $90 and 1.0oz/30ml EDP $68.

If you are like me, the thought of forgetting to use SPF on your face comes quite often. I always remember to put SPF on my body, but never remembering that my face is equally, if not, more important. The reason that I have been guilt of neglecting SPF is because I do not like to put excessive layers of product on my face and having it feel greasy after. Imagine layering on your toner, serum, moisturizer, SPF .. THEN primer? please... ain't nobody got time for that! Secondly, the products that I have tried in the past, either have a white cast/flash back in flash photography, or break me out.

That is why when I was contacted to try out Reversa, I thought what do I have to lose? and gave it a go! This face cream contains SPF 30 as well as ant-wrinkle properties. The benefits include:
- Reduction of the appearance of lines and wrinkles.
- Exfoliates, moisturizes, softens and smooths the skin
- Filters UVA/UVB rays and helps sunburn
- Non-greasy, leaves a pleasant silky feeling on skin
- Ideal for daily urban activities #urbanprotection.

The product is housed in a practical and elegant airless-pump bottle and allows you to see how much product you've used so you know when to re-stock before you run out! It is available in most Canadian drugstores and a 50 ml bottle is $45 approx. In the same line, there is also a anti-wrinkle eye contour cream with SPF 15, and anti-wrinkle fluid with SPF 15.

My thoughts and would I repurchase this?
Yes! 100% yes! I really loved the weightless texture of this product. When dispensed, it is like any ordinary white-tinted cream. However, when applied thoroughly to your skin/face it dries to almost a satin/powder textured finish. It doesn't ball up when applying primer or foundation. There is no flashback when using flash photography and well its great to have a product that serves two purposes - SPF + moisturizer. It says to apply this at least 15 minutes before you head out the door and get exposed to the sun.. so I wouldn't say that's unreasonable consider you put it on after your skincare routine, put on your makeup then get dressed etc .. so that's more than enough time...

Until next time, XO - M.

Hello lovelies! I'd like to apologize in advance for the week I took off last week as my schedule just became too busy and overwhelmed with work and I really didn't want to deliver anything half-a-sed for you guys and thought to just take a break entirely and start fresh today with an all new Makeup Monday look.

This look is inspired by the colder temperature now in Toronto and with fall in the air, I thought a pretty mauve look would be ideal.

Two shadows is all this took so for those of you who are shy when it comes to makeup, it can totally work for you. It's also neutral enough that you can wear this at work too if you wanted! Totally day time appropriate! :)

A little over a week ago, I was invited to attend a dinner hosted by Dentek. The theme was "Teeth's Worst Nightmares" - as you can guess, everything we had was stuff that would get stuck in your teeth: corn on the cob, ribs, candies and they even had food that would give you horrible breath! I like to call super garlic-y breath "internal death" - it seems to radiate from within and never ever leaves you. You stink, and people won't want to talk to you. Gross, I know! However, I love the idea of this event! After all the deliciousness, we were sent home with a goody bag filled with toothbrushes, floss, toothpicks and these little tiny micro picks with brush ends that really help to get all the gunk and plaque build up removed from between your teeth.

Halloween is upon us, and I thought that I would try creating a simple makeup tutorial for any of you last minute ladies and gents who are looking for easy costume ideas. This is my first time trying something like this out. It's a modern take on a mask/masquerade look and I love it, all you need is your regular makeup products plus some black face paint.




Would love to see all your looks you've created for Halloween!

Stay tuned for more posts this week, it'll all be Halloween themed!!

Until next time, XO - M.

I recently had the opportunity to try out a protein shake called Vegan Pure All In One, and with my new motivation to try to live a more balanced and active lifestyle, I thought this could really jump start my change. I had tried plant-based protein shakes before, and the only way I could describe it, was "swamp water". I'm not sure if you know what I'm talking about, but its pretty famous, a competitor of this brand and is berry tasting. It also came in a natural unflavored scent, but that REALLY was like swamp water.

ENOUGH BABBLING... when I saw this plant-based protein shake that is said to be silky smooth and has a great vanilla taste, I decided I had to go for it. A bit of info about them - Vegan Pure was developed using a holistic approach by combining meaningful quantities of health promoting ingredients with 100% all natural vegan flavors obtained from real cocoa, vanilla beans and berries. It contains a lot of nutrients, fiber, protein and antioxidants - perfectly incorporated into a shake you can take with you..

Here's some key points from their website that really stood out to me and helped me grasp exactly what I was getting when I was drinking 1 serving of the shake. To see all the other facts, just click the link in the beginning of this sentence.
- 1 serving of Vegan Pure is 50% of your daily intake of vitamins and minerals.
- every serving delivers 16 grams of protein (same as 3 eggs), 4 grams of fiber (same as an apple), 2 servings of greens (same as 2 servings of kale), 1.5 grams of Omega 3 (same as 2.3 servings of salmon) and 1 billion probiotics (same as a cup of yogurt).


This product is available for purchase at Walmart Canada for $19.97, which is an amazing price, considering competitive brands sell them for around $39.99 for the same quantity.

Alright, so let's talk flavor and side effects - two very important points to discuss and is probably in most of your minds. Like I said previously, it doesn't taste like swamp water, considering it has broccoli powder, kale powder and spinach powder. The natural vanilla flavor really helps to balance out the flavors. I find it a tad sweet, however it is tolerable. I actually really like this post work-out as it fills me up, without having to consume a meal. I don't know about you, but after I work out, I'm hungry, but I don't actually feel like eating anything heavy so gravitating to this is actually good, it works for me. I am very interested in trying the chocolate flavor after I'm done this vanilla one.

Side effects - there are none, I don't get an upset stomach or anything from it. yay :) As you can see from the pic below, it is quite creamy even though you mix it with watery. It is opaque in color and doesn't taste watery and weak.

I was recently sent the Arbonne Intelligence Lip Treatment for review. It promises to soften the appearance of fine lines on the lips and contours, and supports the skin's natural moisture barrier. As a result, your lips are replenished, hydrated and moisturized. It is also said to enhance the appearance of lip volume and multitasks as a primer for lipstick or gloss. This is retailed at $46.

This product is Vegan, formulated without gluten and is a cream formula which absorbs quickly. If you look at the picture below, you can see exactly how thick this product is when it is dispensed from the tube.


You are to use this product morning and night as part of your skincare regiment. Gently pat it all over your clean lips and follow-up with either lipstick or gloss if you choose to.

Clinical Instrumentation Results after 3 days - as provided by Arbonne:
- 31% measured improvement in lip moisture
- 29% measured improvement in the appearance of lip volume was shown
- 19% measured improvement in the appearance of firmness was shown.

Clinical Grading Results after 3 days - as provided by Arbonne:
- 17% reduction in the appearance of wrinkles on and around the lips was shown

Consumer Perception Results after 3 days - as provided by Arbonne:
- 90% said their lips looked more youthful.

Please note that the above 3 statistics are based on a study of 20 women, which seems like a rather small sample population of people.

My thoughts:
The price of the product at $46 is really steep and I frankly don't think it's worth that price. Although it did provide moisture to my lips, I cannot comment on the volume or firmness of the lip. In addition, there is an interesting taste to the product, it almost tastes like perfume, but it doesn't smell like perfume. It's quite confusing. The sample population is also quite low for the data accumulated from the studies. When I look at the package of the product, there's ALOT of ingredients in it, and 90% of them I don't understand. I usually like to use products with a more simplified ingredient list, and would also contain the names of ingredients that I can understand. Take a look at the picture below that I've included. Overall, maybe this would be more beneficial to more mature clientele who may see the results of this product more over time.