Beauty

Custom Lipsticks at BITE Lip Lab San Francisco

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Bite Lip Lab on Fillmore, San FranciscoI would say my first introduction to the brand BITE Beauty was a pretty fantastic one. Having knowing about the brand, but never trying their products I was invited to create my own custom lipstick at the 4th, and brand new BITE Lip Lab in San Francisco on Fillmore Street.

As soon as I received the e-mail invite I knew immediately what kind of lipstick shade I wanted to create for myself. I have a Burberry gloss in a colour that I think is the perfect nude shade for my complexion, and I love it so much I wanted to make it in a lipstick form.

While the event happened a few weeks ago in the stormy weather (with tons of landslides, eek!) I’m Canadian and I’m going to admit that driving through the rain in Sunny California was just as bad as a mild Canadian snowstorm. Driving to The City (what the fancy folk call San Francisco) took twice as long, calling the roads treacherous was an understatement. California highways are not built for rain. Ya can say I was white-knucklin’er the entire way trying not to hydroplane too often. I made it, and I was early enough to snag free parking on a side street. Unheard of!

Bite Beauty Lip Lab San FranciscoAs soon as I stepped inside from the gloomy weather outside, I was greeted by many smiling faces, and Canadians too! Susanne Langmuir, founder of BITE is a Torontonian and came down for the event — definitely cool to meet her in person.

How to make your own lipstickWhen you arrive at a Bite Beauty Lip Lab, you’ll work with a Lip Lab Artist and have your choice of the following services:

CUSTOM LIPSTICK
1 lipstick | $55 -Or- 2 lipsticks| $80

a] choose a shade from 200 lip pigments
b] pick a finish: glossy sheer, matte creme, amuse bouche
c] pick an all-natural scent: 9 scent to choose from

–

BESPOKE LIPSTICK
2 lipsticks | $150

a] Work with your Lip Lab Artist to create a unique lipstick colour of your choice
b] pick a finish
c] pick an all-natural scent

Katie, a BITE Lip Lab Artist sat down with me and we got to work on my custom lipstick! I prepped my lips before starting, and applied their Agave Sugar Lip Scrub followed up with the Agave Lip Balm. They gifted us those two in a goodie bag in addition to their popular seller, Lip Mask.

Mixing Lipsticks at Bite Lip Lab

I was so prepared you guys. I sat down in front of their ‘new neutrals’ set of pigments as I knew that I wanted to venture into that realm of colours. Because I work with many lipstick colours as a beauty blogger, I already know what shades suit me and what don’t. I found my peachy-nude shade on the second go, and was ready to select the finish and create the lipstick then-and-there. What I wasn’t expecting was to choose a matte finish, assuming it would be drying for my lips. Not this one by BITE though, it was a matte creme and felt so comfortable on. I also got to pick an all-natural scent for my custom lipstick. I ended up mixing coconut and mint together for my nude lipstick! An odd paring, right? But it smells fantastic. Here’s the colour on me! 

Bite Beauty Custom Lipstick in 411MSince I found my perfect shade so quickly, we decided to play around with more colours. If I was going to made a second colour, it would hands-down, be this orange-red shade. I love a good orange-red and although definitely an outstanding bold colour, I think it pairs well against my teeth and skintone, Ha! Not humble-sounding at all, am I?

Most noteworthy, the entire experience at BITE Lip Lab is pretty impressive. From picking out your custom shade, to watching it get mixed with a finish + scent of your choice, then have it be frozen-in-time to a solid in 7 minutes, then carefully applying the bare naked lipstick colour to the plastic bullet. So fun! Therefore, I suggest a lipstick lover to do it at least once in your life, especially if you’re one of those ladies who had a favourite lipstick that ended up getting discontinued. This is the way to bring that long-lost shade back to in your life by choosing the Bespoke Lipstick service.

Products mentioned:

 

BITE Beauty Lip Lab
2142 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA
628.444.3770
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11 – 7 / Sunday 11 – 6
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Daily

Sudio oozing perfect minimalistic vibes

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Got some new rad wireless bluetooth headphones (white regent with interchangeable caps to customize!!) from Sudio Sweden. The code ‘spiffykerms’ can get you 15% off a pair!

Oozing perfect minimalistic vibes, I showed you premium pair of wireless Sudio earphones in December. I had the pleasure to work with the brand again to show you the headphone style. Getting straight to the point I will be completely honest and tell you I much prefer the earphones to the headphones — and I wouldn’t normally choose earbuds over a set of over-the-ear headphones, but the headphones although probably better than being too loose, is a bit too snug feeling on my ears. It squeezes them, and the domes don’t completely cover the ears, thus a squishing feeling. I’d much prefer them to be larger in size, even if it would look a bit dorky. I prefer comfort. Perhaps it would be nice for the designers to look into making different sizes for future models.

I will admit, my husband didn’t seem to mind the snug fit of the headphones. He took ownership of my Sudio earphones and brings them to work daily and came back without me asking an opinion of it, saying they were surprisingly excellent sound quality. More recently, I asked him to bring the headphones in one day to see how they felt when wearing for long periods of time. I tried it for four hours tuning out the world, cleaning my house (as I do every Monday!) and although squeezed for the first bit, I didn’t get a headache or sore ears, and neither did Mr. Spiffykerms.

The ear caps are interchangeable, and I picked some blue palm tree leaves to add to mine since… yar Canadian over here is obsessed with palm trees.

Music is a huge part of my day, especially as a blogger working from home it can definitely get lonely and quiet without something playing in the background. Alfie’s barking out the window at the neighbours definitely does not count. Ha! By the way, how do you listen to music? Often I tune into Google Music and select a station that way. On the flip side, I’m one of the weird people who don’t like to listen to music while they run. I like to be fully aware of my surroundings when running on the streets, as I often run alone. One, I would never wear huge over-the-ear headphones when I workout (think of the sweat build-up in the headphones, ew!) and the earphones pop-out when I run, anyway. I hate fumbling and fighting with any ear phones to stay in when I’m moving about.

So who are these headphones truly for? If you work in a communal space like many of the Bay Area jobs are around here, and want to listen to your own music, pop these bluetooth headphones on. Maybe you’re an avid traveller/commuter and are always on the go — these would be pretty great for you too. I wouldn’t suggest you wear these while driving. Has anyone else seen super bizarre sightings like that? Isn’t your car stereo good enough? I’ve seen so many people driving with earbuds in, or headphones. So strange!

Personally I find it’s hard to describe how they sound the sound quality is pretty great, but it’s no noise-cancelling $300 headphones, nor are they a cheap pair of headphones that sound like they’re from the dollar store. I’m diggin’ em though. Interested in a pair? Head on over to Sudio Sweden, and the code ‘spiffykerms’ can get you 15% off a pair!

Disclaimer: Sudio sent product for review.

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Fashion

OOTD: Winter Exploring

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Hey hey! First of all, Happy Valentine’s Day friends! Anyone have plans? If you know us, you know where we’re going… I’ll save that for another post though ;)

Simply put, I’m constantly cold. Tsk at me all you will. Winter or summer, hand me a sweater ’cause I need it. I’ve gotten called out before for wearing a winter coat here in California, because I’m Canadian and I know what cold feels like. Cold is cold, regardless of where you live, you acclimatise to it. When you’re used to Canadian 4ºc and it drops to -20ºc you’re cold. In California when it’s 15ºc one day and 4ºc the next, you’re frozen (at least, I am. My husband isn’t as fazed as I am to it).

With that being said, I’m definitely comfy cozy in my FERA ski parka. I’m wearing the Jen Insulated Ski Parka [$290 USD] in the colour Aqua and in a size 6 (there’s tons of sizing and colours). I’m definitely eyeing up that red one called Lava, I think it’d look excellent against my dark hair and skintone!

What I’m wearing
Target Jeans | Joe Fresh black tee |
Fera Jen Ski Jacket | Rebecca Minkoff Mini Moto Satchel
Target riding boots | white shellac nails

I have been obsessed with white shellac nails ever since moving to California. I can’t stop getting them done that colour! When I opted for red over Christmas it didn’t feel like ‘me’, lesson learned ha! Also, if you’re wondering where the heck my beautiful wedding ring set was, these photos were taken about 2 weeks ago when they were still at the repair shop. You know before a few days ago I hadn’t had my entire set, since I brought it in the first time on December 1st? Shockin’ isn’t it. Long story short, they ruined my bands when they fixed two stones in each band (wedding band, and engagement ring). So, after much debacle they replaced it with an identical one and now I’ll be wearing a false simple/minimal gold band inside the house, and save the bling for when I’m out and about. There ya have it.

While there isn’t any snow around here unless you go up to Tahoe area, I still have been wearing this on our weekend adventures while my husband and I (Alfie too!) explore the California coastlines with his brand new drone. For the most part we’re playing around with the drone settings right now and figuring out places to fly it (it’s quite limited), so I’m doing a lot of standing around.

One day before our Christmas trip back home to Newfoundland (Canada) I received the FERA jacket for review. I didn’t bring it, and now hold a bit of regret, because it’s such a nice warm coat that goes over your bum and on the wrists it has an extra layer of cuff made of lycra (which keeps the wind out!).

Not sure if you can see it in these pics (click’em to enlarge ’em), but the collar of the jacket is lined with fleece so it’s nice and soft against your skin when you have to really bundle up and zip the jacket. Nice hey?

Shop Fera Jen Jacket here.

Disclaimer: Fera sent the Jen Jacket for review. 

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