Beauty, Daily, Fashion, Photos, Twitter

Blogger Meet Up in Toronto

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I’ve known some of these girls longer than I have known my boyfriend. That’s over 8 years, you guys! And last weekend was the first time that I’ve met some of them in person — finally!

erica nancy leanneLeanne (to your right) met me at Sephora right after the Make Up For Ever event I went to. We’ve been online friends for so many years that I can’t even remember when we “met”. She too, is originally from Newfoundland and moved to Ottawa a few years ago. Then, a few weeks ago she and her fiancé up and moved to Toronto. Uh, a meet up was certainly required at this point. We then left the Eaton Centre immediately to go snag Erica who was waiting for us at Union station. Also the first time that I met Erica and we’re not even that far away from each other. Oops.

We took the subway to Yorkdale mall where we all did a bit of shopping. Leanne picked up a pretty bracelet from Kate Spade and me? Well let’s just say that I don’t shop in Toronto often and when I do, look out. toronto-buys

Forever 21 had their already cheap jeans on sale for $7.80. I already have a pair of these from a year or two ago that I decided it was time to break the bank and spend another whopping eight bucks on a pair. Ouch, I’m not sure how I do it. pants-from-f21-and-zaraEver since last year I’ve been itching to get a pair of khaki green pants. Zara had them for $54 and it stung a little, especially after paying $8 for a different pair at the previous store. But I bought them. I wanted them. In my shopping cart they went.

Also picked up this cozy knit scarf from a different Zara location, along with some Aveda’s air control hair spray. My fav.aveda-air-control

We went to Hemingways in Yorkville for some grub and stayed for hours just chatting, telling stories and laughing. Thanks for the photo, Amy.hemingways-toronto-blogger-meetupMe, Noreen, Laura, Amy, Erica @ Wastemytime.ca, and Leanne @ Fresh-Season.

I ordered sweet potato fries and the Out of Bounds Chicken Salad.hemingways-menu

It was as great as it looks.salad-and-sp-fries

It was definitely well worth the trip into Toronto, specifically for the fact that I think I met some life-long REAL friends during this outing. Love to Leanne! I think I should probably make it a monthly occurrence to visit her in Toronto. Whatta ya say.

What do you have planned for this weekend?

What are some of your favorite restaurants in Toronto?

Don’t forget to enter my Philosophy gift set giveaway, for Canadians only.

 

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Beauty, Contests, Daily, Health, Photos

A gift set, from me to you!

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If I really enjoy something, I rave about it. So much so that I influence other people to buy their products.

For instance, it’s no secret that I enjoy Fossil leathers & watches, Make Up For Ever mascaras and even the philosophy skin care line. My co-worker showed me her new purse and iPad cover that she bought from Fossil yesterday. YESTERDAY. I took photos of it, so it’ll be up on my site soon. When I went out to dinner with my blog/twitter girls, one of them mentioned she bought a Fossil watch due to the fact that I raved about them so much.

Well, I’m sure you already know that I have been loving the Philosophy Purity product —it’s the only facial cleanser that I will allow on my face. I bought a 700ml bottle of it and I just used up the last drop of it last weekend. Thankfully, I have backups in sample forms and I am currently using that.

travel-makeup-bagSilly me – I don’t know why it’s not even in my make up bag. It shoud’ve been in this photo.

Plus? Philosophy will be at BlissDom Canada this year and I get to say hi to the folks I’ve been talking with via e-mail for the past… oh, forever. They get to meet the Philosophy addict (ahem, me) right in the flesh. Lucky them!

Enough talk about how much I love them. Hopefully you will start to enjoy them as much as I do because they have a great deal going on right now at Hudson’s Bay.

philosophy-giveaway-for-spi

Now until September 24, with the purchase of $65 worth of philosophy product, you will receive:

  • exclusive black tote featuring a polka dot ipad case
  • full size lip shine
  • purity deluxe cleanser
  • hope in a jar deluxe moisturizer

I have better news.

Whooo buddy, you guys are gettin’ spoiled! I’m giving away everything you see in the photo above with the deluxe samples included.

Pretty good right? Please note this giveaway will end on September 24 at midnight EST and is only open to Canadians. Please use the rafflecopter form below to enter :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Beauty, Daily, Hair, Health, Photos

Foundation Nation event at Make Up For Ever with Troy Jensen!

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Longest blog post title ever. But I’m calling it what it was.

The Foundation Nation event at Make Up For Ever with Troy Jensen was an experience I’ll always cherish.

I feel like Make Up For Ever has taken me under their wings and helped me immensely, with growing not only my blog but with me as a person. Once I arrived at Sephora in the Toronto Eaton Centre, I was greeted with sincere heartfelt hugs from the girls I know on the Make Up For Ever team. It’s so good to know them mostly all by name and being greeted with such authenticity.

make up for ever event sept14 2013My peeps and I. hahah Just kidding. I don’t know half the people in the pic. Lindsey (blonde hair) is the only one I know!

I feel so grateful that they keep inviting me to these fantastic once in a life time (for me) events because I’m not a beauty blogger. I don’t like putting labels on myself, and as I’ve said many times I can’t just stick to blogging about one topic because what if I get bored of what I talk about? Then I start getting fake and not being true to myself. I can’t let that happen sure, right? Which is why I blog about beauty, fashion, sports, my lifestyle and food! I love it all, and that’s how it’s going to stay. I’m not going to change — ain’t’ nobody got time for that!Troy Jensen

Celebrity make-up artist Troy Jensen* is touring with a Make Up For Ever’s Foundation Nation campaign promoting their new Pro Brush line and HD foundations. Troy was at Sephora Toronto Eaton Centre giving beauty bloggers tips and tricks on how to achieve a flawless complexion. Foundation Nation campaign was created to help women address their common challenges with foundation. How to stop colors from oxidizing, why to change up your foundation each season, and little tips and tricks on achieving certain looks.

* Troy has done countless makeup looks for Kim Kardashian! Fan girl alert!tory-jensen-in-toronto

I must’ve had an inquisitive face and to my surprise he asked me directly if I had a question for him. A little caught off guard, usually I’d go blank in that sort of situation and shake my head no. But I ended up asking him a few questions. I’m more into skincare and complexions than playing with make up so it’s right up my ally when I want to learn how to look create an even, natural complexion with some luminosity.

Did you know that you should be swapping out your foundations each season? I sure didn’t until Troy told us! I always wanted a dewy luminous look to my skin, year round. I do self-tan often but do have varying shades of the foundations I wear. I’m going to have to research a little more on what types of foundations will work for my dehydrated skin coming up in these cooler months.tory jensen_

Some of the tips he mentioned was that when creating a contour on your face, rather than using bronzer he often simply uses a darker foundation shade. Smart thinkin’.

Make Up For Ever tweeted this photo during the event. I spot me!mufe-tweet

 

how-close-i-was-to-troy-jenGah. So close.

Even closer ;)troy-jensen-and-me

After our intimate session with Troy Jensen we were each given mini consultations on complexions.

I was in tears laughing with Alisha, a resident make up artist from Make Up For Ever at Sephora Toronto Eaton Centre. She told me I was hilarious and full of energy. We were joking and carrying on, I simply did not want to leave the chair I was in! So much fun. Rather than having a foundation overhaul, we decided on going with a bold red-orange lip with some bronzing and highlighting on my face. Which was phenomenal. Loved the look Alisha created on me.lip stuff at make up for ever

I did learn a few tricks about lip liner, where to start and how to connect the ‘lines’ of the liner, also on how to work with a bigger lip ‘crayon’ which I have been using with other brands. She gave me tips on how to create a very sharp line with a tool like that.

makeupforever-booklet

She also bronzed and highlighted my face, complimenting me on my own makeup but mentioning I had great cheekbones and she wanted to emphasize that more. Alisha used #8c lipliner and #40 lipstick for my pop of colour, and #30 bronzer, #3 shine on (highlighter) for my face using the new 112 Straight & Wavy brush that I got to take home with me! Along with a goody bag with the Sepia Blue eye shadow palette.make-up-for-ever-products

Thanks again, Make Up For Ever! My statement could not be more true:makeupforever-tweets

Here are some links to where you can find Troy and his work:

Check back tomorrow and see what’s inside all my shopping bags when I went to a blogger meet up after the event! toronto-buys

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