Keep that sunkissed glow year round

bareMinerals-touch-up-to-glowBy now people are jumping into the winter scene, recommending how to take care of your skin during the colder months. Products that work on your skin during the summer months mightn’t work during the dry months. In fact, many make-up artists recommend you switch up your foundation when the seasons change. While I agree to it somewhat, I don’t agree that you should go from completely dewy and sun kissed during summer, to a flat matte face for winter. With the dry skin I have, matte doesn’t look good on me and I always prefer to have glowy skin year round.

Here’s the thing. You’ve searched high and low for your holy grail foundation, only for the seasons to change and make up artists are telling us we should switch out our foundation for the summer/winter months! What to do? Rather than go out and buy another foundation in a darker/lighter colour, I have a solution! If you are going into summer and your foundation is too dark: apply a gel bronzer to your foundation: instantly warmed up. If your foundation is too dark, I suggest adding moisturizer to it: creating a lighter shade suitable for your winter skin.

You guys know I have to be reppin’ Canada at any moment possible. Leave a comment if you guys have the exact same pair of mittens, from The Bay! Here are some ways I keep my sun kissed skin for a winter glow.

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1. Exfoliate. 2. Self-tan. 3. Apply serum. 4. Moisturize. 5. Apply foundation.
6. Dab concealer where necessary. 7. Add warmth to the skin with bronzer.
8. Apply highlighter. 9. Make your eyelashes flirty with mascara. 10. Add lipgloss.

While you should exfoliate your skin regularly to get rid of dead skin cells, it’s important to also do it when the air is dry and cold in order for your foundation to sit nicely on the skin. To prevent your foundation from looking cakey on your kin, try mixing it with a bit of moisturizer.

Swap out your lightweight summer moisturizer for a thicker one during the winter. I amp it up and use philosophy no reason to hide serum, and a thick moisturizer to really penetrate into the skin to achieve a youthful glow for that, I reach for philosophy back to nurture. I have been using philosophy products since 2011, I know it works so I don’t fuss with my skincare routine one bit.

bareMinerals-touch-up-glowTo make that glow last throughout the day I like to have my cheekbones catch the light. I dab illuminating powder from bareMinerals on the upper corners of the cheekbones, and sometimes if I’m getting really glammed up, I put it on my brow bones, and the inner corners of my eyes. Go for gold undertones if you have warm skin, and silvery pinks if you’re fair. Though, there really are no rules when it comes to applying make up.

close-up-touch-up-to-glow  touch-up-to-glow

Here’s what touch up to glow looks like on my cheek bones. I’m thinking it looks pretty decent, right? My skin definitely has a bit of a sun-kissed glow to it, but it’s not over the top. I’m definitely going to be sporting this makeup look tomorrow when I go to a fun blogging event in San Francisco. I’ll tell you all about it on Thursday though!Winter-Glowy-Skin

Most importantly: remember to hydrate! Your skin will suck up all that H20.

If you’re into wearing make up and don’t mind an extra step, use a primer before foundation as it creates a barrier for any dry spots you may have on your face. Foundation can often accentuate dry patches and if you want to look extra flawless, use a primer. I haven’t used many, and I have tried a sample of Benefit Porefessional, which I enjoyed.

Philosophy and bareMinerals products were sent for review.

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Lipgloss Heaven!

Happy Thanksgiving! We aren’t having our first American Thanksgiving today, since my husband has a race today. So we’re hosting it at our house tomorrow, with two of our other Canadian friends and their baby. I’m so excited, I’ve been cleaning, decorating and getting the house overall organized. I’ll definitely be blogging about it. However today we’re going to talk about some beauty goodies again.

I know, I usually try to space out reviews with non-sponsored posts, but the bareMinerals and Buxom lip glosses are a must-see and only here for a limited amount of time. Plus, those who are doing Black Friday shopping, or Christmas shopping in general, may want to pick up some of these goodies for a friend, or open the entire package and separate them out for mini gifts to people. These would be so sweet to hand out as party favours if you had a few girlfriends over for a wine night, or a “just because” gift.

Pretty sure I have a lifetime supply of lip glosses right now. Buxom lip glosses are a product I have repurchased a couple of times, mainly in the colours Katie and Bunny. I have found they last longer on my lips than my NYC butter glosses, which are also beautiful but for $1.99 you get what you pay for. They simply don’t last.

So here we go. Let’s dive right into the lip gloss heaven!

bareMinerals KISSING boothâ„¢ ($54 value for $26US / $CDN) 6-Piece Mini Marvelous Moxieâ„¢ Lipgloss Collection

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xes-and-ohsGet it? Kissing booth? Lip glosses set up like X’s for kisses? I thought it was cute, lol.BMMarevelousMoxie

Left to right: Sweet Kisser, Major Flirt, Big Tease, Lucky Lady, Thrill Seeker, Jezebel

Kissing-Booth-swatches


Buxom-Winner-Takes-All2Buxom Winner Takes All ($32US / $40CDN) 6 piece Mini Full-Onâ„¢ Lip Polish & Lip Cream Collection

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Left to right: Chloe, Creamsicle, Sophia, White Russian, Trixie, Berry Blast

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Do you save the best for last? That’s what I usually do. So good. So much happening. A few duplicates (two)  from the Winner Takes All collection, we have the Buxom Lip Gloss Roulette ($59US / $74CDN) Winning Collection of 15 mini Full-Onâ„¢ lip polishes and lip creams.Buxom-Lip-gloss-roulette

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Left to right: Claire, White Russian, Jennifer, Mai Tai, Rebecca, Zoe, Sophia, Katie, Julie, Dominque, Megan, Karen, Mudslide, Isabella, Lavender Cosmo

Roulette-swatches

What do you think of the whole slew of them? A lot of beautiful shades to choose from, right? Anything stick out to you?

What is your favourite thing about Thanksgiving?

Do you usually travel somewhere for Thanksgiving?

Is anyone hitting up the stores for Black Friday tomorrow?

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A main attraction

Main-attrctinGuys, I love playing with makeup. It’s so fun using bold colours on the lips, and neutrals on the eyes – or vice versa. Usually if I’m experimenting with makeup I don’t often leave the house, because for the most part it comes out terrible (especially the eyeshadow). Now that I’ve watched endless hours of YouTube, I have become a little more comfortable with blending the eyeshadow so it doesn’t look like I have two black eyes (or brown, in my case – since I will never use black eyeshadow. It’s a little daunting!). Luckily bareMinerals have come out with a Main Attraction set where all you need to get ready for a holiday party is some foundation, concealer and this shoe box of goodies.

Here’s what it looks like on me:BM-Main-Attract

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Main-AttractionHoliday make up kits make a great gift to someone for Christmas, or even as a hostess gift during the Holidays. Thanks to Sephora’s 20% off sale a few weeks ago, I picked up a number of holiday gift sets for friends this year. This one, however, was sent by bareMinerals for my review.

bareMinerals-xmas2014A main attraction is a 7 piece full-face collection for a center stage look, according to bareMinerals. The little shoe box of makeup has a mirror built inside too!

Not only is the packaging excellent, the collection includes a ton of makeup for $54USD / $68CDN. Inside the kit:

  1. bareMinerals READY® eyeshadow 2.0, The Curtain Call featuring Matinee and Opening Night
  2. Lasting Lineâ„¢ long-wearing eyeliner in Absolute Black
  3. Lash Dominationâ„¢ 10-in-1 volumizing mascara in Intense Black
  4. Mini Marvelous Moxieâ„¢ lipstick in Make Your Move
  5. Marvelous Moxie lipgloss in Leading Lady
  6. Fair blush
  7. Tapered blush brush
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