Daily, FitFluential, Health, In the Kitchen, Photos, Reviews

The Club House

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I woke up early this morning angry that my alarm didn’t go off. It was 7:34, I had “slept in” and I was going to be late for work! All my mumbling in the morning as I rushed out of bed and did a few things I remembered it was Saturday morning! Hallelujah.

So, I took it upon myself to get some early morning me-time in before I had to help my boyfriend pack up my car. He’s taking it and driving up to Muskoka to do another race: the 70.3 half ironman which he’ll be competing in tomorrow.

My me-time consisted of a little micro exfoliating treatment. Hello facial therapy.  It had been about 2 months or so since I treated my skin to a nice deep scrub (see my review last summer). It was well worth it and I even made The Boyf feel my face afterwards.philosophy-micro-exfoliatin

Friends know I usually have popcorn for supper, when my boyfriend is away. But I think I’m coming down with a little cold, I’m feeling very stuffed up. I was actually craving a club house sandwich for lunch. I didn’t have any of the ingredients (no tomatoes, no lettuce) so I decided to just improvise.

Can you guess which bread is mine, and which is The Boyf’s? He likes to carb load before races and I’m still trying to not eat as much carbs.dempsters-white-and-thin-br

I liked the Dempster’s THINS buns so much I tried last week, and I decided to venture out and use my last free coupon from Dempster’s to pick up a new package and try out their THINS bread. Don’t forget about my giveaway I’m hosting! You can win yourself some free coupons to try it out for yourself too.

The ingredients for my chicken salad sandwich. All finely chopped was some chicken, bacon, mushrooms and red peppers. The sauce is this amazing aioli (fancy name for mayo) that I always buy at the local health food store. It has a lot of fat content, but I love it.ingredients

I ended up making your typical 3 bread layer sandwich and toasting the bread slightly. Then once it was all assembled with spinach on either side of the bread I took way too long taking some snaps for the blog post. lunch-outsideThe great thing about my sandwich was that it wasn’t too huge. You know those absolutely massive BLT sandwiches you get at restaurants you can barely open your mouth wide enough to take your first bite? They should start using the THINS. It wasn’t too thin that my aioli sauce soaked through, and definitely held up. Sturdy bread if you will.

Pour yourself a tall glass of skim milk, chop up some carrots and you’ve got yourself a hearty lunch. club-sandwich-by-dempsters

Need to pack some lunches for your kids in their second week of school? Sandwiches are the easiest, and can be so diverse if you put your mind to it. Check out the two sandwiches I made the Boyf and I last weekend using similar bread. dempsters-chicken-salad-san
Also remember that there’s a twitter party happening on the same evening that my contest ends (September 10, 9pm EST). Join Twitter to party and #WinWithTHINS with over $1,000 in prizes up for grabs! Just follow @Dempsters for all the details and they’ll have a special prize for you if you can make it there!

I’ll see ya next time! I’m off to do a bit of online shopping :)

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Beauty, Fashion, Photos, Reviews

Artisan Brush Collection by MAKE UP FOR EVER

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header-pic-for-mufe-brushes

In March, I had the opportunity to meet Dany Sanz, Make Up For Ever Creator & Artistic Director. Agh!! I’m not the least bit excited due to my massive smile and wide eyes. ;)Dany-Sanz-and-I

I have to be honest, I felt a little out of place since it was a Pro Seminar and I’m nowhere close to being pro, let alone a make up artist of any sort. I just love playing with makeup and know how to apply it soley my own face.  Needless to say, it definitely was a real treat to take the day off and head into Toronto for that event where Dany unveiled not five or ten, but seventy six new cutting edge brushes. There was so much talk of all the brushes at that morning seminar in March, but we didn’t get to purchase, or have access to them until they officially launched in August. It’s been a long wait my friends, but they’re now available.

The extensive set of brushes range anywhere from every day must-haves, to performance tools for make up artists like brushes that looks like you’d use to paint your house with. I wasn’t joking.

The construction of each brush involved 25 stages and was hand-crafted by a total of 30 people from start to finish. Unbelievable, right? Hand-crafted? That’s dedication to your brand, right there. The softness of the brushes are quite something else. Due to the bristles being synthetic I was wondering how on par they’d be with make up application. mufe-08201325002

Ever since I received them last week I’ve been using them daily for make up application. I haven’t noticed a huge difference in the way they apply make up on my face which is significant for me. I like my face to look consistent.mufe-08201325001

Artisan brushes classifications:
100s complexion
200s eyes
300s lips
400s artistic specially designed for professionals

Fiber classifications:
Wavy — more splayed for a lighter application
Straight — generous and precise application
Straight and Wavy — a blend or combination of both fibers

make-up-for-ever-brushes

You’ll notice that the end of the beechwood brush handles are snipped off at a diagonal wedge. That’s because it serves a dual purpose, to assist in faux lash applications. Clever.

The collection of seventy six brushes took Dany and her team over five years to create. Dany wanted a variety of synthetic fibers that mimicked the silky softness of natural hair. She hit the ball out of the park with that one. It’s hard to truly capture how silky and soft the brushes feel, but I tried my best to show you with a close up of the brush hairs as I hold them in my hand. new-face-brushes-by-mufeYou’ll notice on the brushes that my 108 brush says “straight”, where as the 160 brush says “straight & wavy”. That’s because the synthetic fiber technology has several diameters and types depending on the use. make-up-for-ever-ArtisanStraight fibers gives you a more generous and precise application. The wavy bristles are more splayed, allowing for a lighter application. Mix the two wavy & straight bristles together and you have best of both worlds.

I’ve been using my 108 brush for applying my Dior BB cream…dior

and 160 brush for my Jouer bronzer.jouer

I thought the brushes would be high end prices, due to all of the research and time put into development however I saw a chart where the prices range anywhere from $12 — $43. artisan-brushes-mufe

Suggested retail prices:
108 brush $36.00
160 brush $44.00

Take care of your brushes by washing them at least once a week to ensure the longevity and performance. Never get the barrel or ferrule (clamp) wet as it can end up separating and loosen over time. I use mild soap or baby shampoo to cleanse my brushes and my high end brushes still look like brand new after 4 years. And don’t let your dogs eat them ;)alfie-smelling-brushes

Make Up For Ever’s new Artisan brush collection will available in September. Limited selection will be at the Sephora stores but all brushes are available at Sephora.ca and Make Up For Ever boutiques.

Do you use brushes to apply your makeup? If so are any high-end?

How often do you wear make up?

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Daily, FitFluential, Health, Photos, Reviews

Foods I keep with me, at all times

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SNACKS

It pays to plan ahead, plus is saves me dolla bills. Bonus is that they require zero preparation. Here are the foods I bring with me whether I’m traveling or avoid going hungry.

veggiesVegetables and Fruit:
Fiber rich fruit such as carrots, and bell peppers are the easiest to carry around. Apples, unsweetened dried mango and berries are also great options. Contrary to what the photo may say, I do not carry around a fully cooked sweet potatoe in my purse ;)

nutsTrail mix:
I stock up on a trail mix that I create, from the Bulk Barn. It’s healthy fat and fills you up. Keep in mind you should only grab a handful and that will be enough. I always add in some mini m&ms. It’s one of my favorite snacks to bring to work. Such an easy thing to pack. Note I do get the raw unsalted nuts.

5-kind-barsEnergy Bars:
I don’t eat these bars as a meal replacement, but as a snack. Some of the protein bars are a little better than a chocolate bar but a lot of them are loaded with sugar, so watch the labels. Make sure that there is a good mix of carbs, protien (at least 8g) and some healthy fat (avoid trans fat!) and of course sugar, make sure it’s lower than 7g. Some of my favorite snack bars to grab are Kind bars, Luna bars, and Clif bars.

I blogged about Kind bars in my Healthy Snacking Tips post and a rep from Kind Bar asked me if I’d like to try out some of their new flavors that just launched. Heck yea I ain’t sayin’ no to that. As you can tell from the above photo I already enjoy their bars so there definitely wasn’t any hesitation e-mailing Erin back!

Some of the Kind bars have more sugar in them, but the new ones just launched have only 5g of sugar. Take a wild guess and tell me what you think was my favorite flavor of the two?

new-kind-bar-flavors2

No questions asked. Most definitely the dark chocolate chili almond. It wasn’t one of those bars where you take a bite, put it down and continue on with what you’re doing around the house, or on the computer. After every bite I couldn’t wait to bite into another piece. So much for slow eating! How does the chili interact with my taste buds? I thought it would burn the buds right off my tongue since I’m a huge wuss when it comes to anything spicy. The Kind bar just added warmth if anything. Thankfully it did not burn my mouth and was both sweet and salty which is clearly a winning combination. kind-bars

I left the maple glazed pecan & sea salt taste test up to my boyfriend to tell me what he thought of it before I opened up mine. Mainly because I’m not the biggest fan of maple even though I really do like maple syrup and maple walnut icecream. His reaction? “At first it tasted like… uhh. Then I was all…mmm!” And there you have it folks, Scott’s first review on my blog. What an informative guy.

Luckily a few days later I ended up bringing the maple one to work with me. Opened ‘er up and had a try. It has a lot more texture and crunch going on and wasn’t overpoweringly tasting like maple. It was more of a typical granola bar flavor than the dark chocolate chili almond. So it’s safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed that one as well.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post because I have some Make Up For Ever brushes that I want you to see!

Do you carry food in your purse/bag with you? What do you bring?

Have you ever had an energy bar?

What one flavor of the new KIND bars do you think you’d like: maple or the dark chocolate one?

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