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Get to know me

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My pal Teri over at A Foodie Stays Fit did this questionnaire not too long ago, and I thought it was way-over due that I did something a little more personal on the blog.

1. What brings you the greatest joy? Scott. My nephews!!! Alfie posing for pics lol. Laughing. Cruising around California (honestly I love it here). Fun upbeat music.

2. What are your vices? Going to coffee shops. I guess it’s not that bad of a vice. Wait. Candy. I guess candy…because: sugar. Mmm.

3. What is on your nightstand? My nightstand is pretty tiny since it’s just this table. I keep 2 rose lip balms on there (dior, and bobbi brown), a dior apricot cuticle cream, my iPad and my phone (plugged in).

4. Do you have a secret talent? YES OMG. I can chirp like a bird! LOL. I used to work in an office and one of my co-workers (Hi Gloria!) fell for it every time, looking up at the ceiling thinking that a bird was stuck in the tiles. Ha!

5. What is your greatest indulgence? Ugh. Junk food. Espresso drinks. Popcorn. Candy. I love makeup too though.

6. What should everyone try at least once in their life? Living on their own! Traveling alone. Eating at a restaurant alone. (I stole this answer from Teri who took it from Christina, but I 100% agree with all of these also!). While I haven’t lived alone, ever (I’m not sure I’d be okay with that)… I travel solo a lot, and eat alone a lot too! I don’t mind.

7. What makes you laugh? Scott. Alfie. Immature jokes. Friends.

8. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?  I guess it’s my ‘party trick’ from back in the days when I climbed 5-6 times a week. I could do multiple pull-ups/chinups on door frames. Watch a really really really old video of me doing it here. I also competed in the Nationals (once) back in the early 2000’s, I guess I don’t tell many people that. While I still climb (21 years of climbing!), I’m not as hardcore as I used to be.

9. What is on your bucket list?  Buying a house! I want to travel more. I love exploring with our little family of three (Me, Husband Alfie), and want to do that more. I still want to visit places all over the world (Germany, Italy, Australia… I could go on!).

10. What is on your feet right now? I’m barefoot sitting here at the computer. But I just wore my cheapie Charlotte Russe brown flip flops (seen here) to grab an iced espresso.

11. How did you make your first dollar? Well Teri’s answer was so cute, selling rocks! Haha! If I’m not counting my first real job (Tim Hortons!), I would probably say singing Christmas Carols with my older brother at the neighbours houses all down our street. They gave us money to sing, and we were all about it! Haha.

12. What superstition do you believe in? I always seem to throw salt over my shoulder if I spill it on the table. I also knock on wood. I guess those count!

13. What items in your closet do you wear the most? I’m a huge fan of Zara jeans. Although they don’t seem to last me more than two years, but they fit the best and make my toushy look nice. I also wear my Target faux-slip on vans every.single.day (I have them in both black, and white). I also wear basic tee’s from Forever 21 pretty regularly. I’m just a jeans ‘n’ tee type of person. Love the look. I really want a pair of white slip-on chucks, like these I found at the outlets not too long ago.
14. What is the best gift you’ve ever received? I have to say there are two situations here. One being my Samsung NX 10 camera my husband surprised me with one Christmas. It’s what I use for most of my blog photography, it definitely gets a ton of use. And secondly, my surprise combined wedding gifts and going away party (moving to California) with my co-workers in Canada. It was simply the thought that counted but omg they gave me a whole lot of Fossil goodies (watch, purse, bracelet) — because they knew how much I love Fossil.

15. What is on your liquor shelf? We have a wine-cabinet in our kitchen, but don’t drink often. So we have a full stock pile now. I just counted 5 bottles of wine, a liqueur, and a whole lot of beer.

16. What is on your kitchen counter? Oh man there’s a lot. We have a lot of flat surfaces in our kitchen (in fact, I think it’s the biggest kitchen I’ve ever had in a home). I have Alfie’s food that needs to be put away. A half-roll of paper towels (select-a-size!). A Nespresso Dolce Gusto (see my review lol). A printer. Some decorations from Newfoundland. 2 Pineapple jars with lids (I love them). A toaster. An air fryer. And on our kitchen island we have the Amazon Echo (have you guys used one of those? They’re so cool). I think that’s it…

17. What would you never leave home without? Such a boring answer for me but, cash, ID, and phone.

Question for you: What’s on your nightstand?

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Beauty

MAC Brant Brothers Collection

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If there’s anything from MAC I’m familiar with, it’s their foundations, and their eyeshadows. I’ve gone through dozens of their foundations, and my first eyeshadow palette was a MAC one from around 2008-2009. Is it wrong to admit that I still have it?

I guess I can now replace it with the Brant Brothers quad I received for review, considering the colours in it are similar to the one I had back in the day.

MAC-Brant-paletteYou gotta hand it to MAC, the packaging is incredibly sleek with a glossy finish, and matte branding on top.

Open it up and it’s full of perfect neutral shades. Ahhh, right up my ally. MAC-Brant-Open

Shades in the Pillars eyeshadow quad:

  • Mother’s Milk Soft matte beige (Satin)
  • Sandstone Soft matte taupe (Matte)
  • Mystery Muted plum-brown (VLXP)
  • Carbon Intense black (Matte)

MAC-QuadCarbon seems to make its way into multiple MAC eyeshadow palettes. Hmm. It’s a colour I rarely reach for, but it’s a nice shade to smoke out the eye-look if you wanted to have it more night-time appropriate. You could even use the Carbon colour as an eyeliner shade to darken up the look, too. I almost feel like I haven’t practiced enough to create darker eyeshadow looks. One slip of the hand with a dark shadow on your brush and bam my entire eye makeup look is ruined. For me, I require full concentration doing an eyeshadow look. I clearly need more practice.

I’ve never had bad luck with MAC eyeshadows (I have a 15 make-it-yourself palette filled up with all sorts of neutrals shown here in 2009!!!), and I’m happy to report these one’s from the Brant Brothers collection is just as wonderful as they once were.

MAC Brant Brothers Collection (Pillar quad is $33 USD / $43.50 CDN) is now available.

Disclaimer: MAC Brant Brothers quad was sent for review.

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Beauty

MAC Cosmetics | Soft Serve Eyeshadows

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MAC-Soft-ServeIn May MAC Cosmetics launched the limited edition Soft Serve collection which are $22 cream eyeshadows available in 12 colours, that dries down to a powder finish. I feel like the two MAC Soft Serve eyeshadows I have for review mimic the two pantone colours of the year for 2016. Don’t you think? The entire collection is completely wearable pastel-ice cream type of shades. Mmm!

They have such a bouncy/spongy texture to it that is easily applied with your finger tips. Swipe on, and go! And in a ton of fun colours for the summer time. The texture is similar texture to the Dior Fusion Mono’s (seen here) if you are familiar with that. The texture is gorgeous and glides onto the eyelid seamlessly. I’ve only worn them on their own, or together, never mixed with a powdered shadow to see how they perform that way. Anyone else try to use them with other shadows?

You’ll notice that the packaging is quite similar to their paint-pots (I used to own one of the nude-coloured ones, but I actually prefer MAC paints over their paint pots!).

MAC-Soft-Serve-ShadowLeft-right: Girls, Girls!, Big Bad Blue. 

MAC-soft-serve-swatchesThere are two types of finishes from the 12 colours they released, a satin and a pearl. The two colours I received for review are satin finish. When you apply the shadows, they are a little more sheer than a regular shadow would be, but nothing a little buildable coverage can’t fix. They build easily and when you apply a primer underneath they’re set for the day. However, I did go without a primer once and it lasted a couple of hours before fading away.

What are your thoughts on the shadows? If you know the type of makeup look I tend to go for (natural, dewy and not powdery at all) you know that I’m definitely all about these creamy-like shadows. So nice!

Disclaimer: MAC Cosmetics soft serve eyeshadows were sent for review.

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