Beauty, Daily, Hair, Health, Photos

Ziplock baggies – not just for food!

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I wouldn’t call myself a product or sample hoarder, because I’m quite generous with giving away my products that I get inside my monthly beauty subscription boxes such as Glymm, TopBox, GlossyBox, and Luxe Box (see a comparison here).

Whenever I fly home to Newfoundland I cart half my suitcase full of unused, or swatched 1-2x products for my family. We’re heading back to Newfoundland next month, so I’m starting to gather up some of the products I’m “donating”, along with some early Christmas presents. Hey, it’s smart to shop all year round!

This weekend I decided to accumulate all of the beauty items and organize them into categories. These weren’t just samples, some of these products I was either sent to review, or bought myself.

It was a little overwhelming seeing it all out on the floor. So, I got the ziplock bags and went to work. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner.

The cute pink makeup bag is from CindaB, that I reviewed last year.

The reason I chose to put everything in ziplock bags, was to actually see what I have, to keep it organized by type, and to really use the products up.

I had everything piled high in the CindaB  bag, and it was just a mess. I was buying my favorite mascaras (make up for ever smoky lash!) without realizing I already had two. Moses.

I don’t like using multiple products at once. Right now I have three facial cleansers to go through, and I don’t want them all to be half-used up, so I’ll use an entire bottle and move onto the next, like a normal person lol.

Now that everything is in its own ziplock bag, I feel much more accomplished and relieved!

The bags I have:

  1. Foundations/Concealers
  2. Mascaras
  3. Perfume
  4. Hand & Body Lotions
  5. Body Wash and Soaps
  6. Eyeshadows & Eyeliners
  7. Shampoo & Conditioner
  8. Hair products (serums)
  9. Facial Cleansing Products & Facial Masks
  10. Blush & Highlighters
  11. Lip Products

I could be missing some, I’m in the TV room writing the blog post, and the bags are stored in the bedroom.

This is not my every day makeup. This is just stuff I haven’t even started to use yet. Or, stuff I wouldn’t use on a regular basis but have already dipped into. Like a few cream blushes.

My every day make up is stored in this bag, shown in this blog post.

Do you use your ziplock baggies for anything else other than food?

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Fashion, Photos

Lululemon quality: sub par

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Late last month I made an online purchase on Lululemon’s website. I picked up the Swiftly Racerback tank in the color blush pink. I can’t stay away from the nice designs and colors they come out with. But I’m reassured when I get a quality issue error on one of my new items that I just opened. I now remember why I stopped shopping there.

I mean sure the photo doesn’t make it seem like a huge deal. If I chop off that thread, there will be a hole where there shouldn’t be a hole. When you spend your hard-earned $48 on a tank top, you’d expect it to be in pretty top-notch condition when it arrives on your door step.

This has happened to a few items of my pairs of my Lululemon capri’s after wearing them once the inseams came undone on them. What the heck is going on with you Lululemon? Bring back the “Made In Canada” and stop sending everything overseas.

I e-mailed the GEC at lululemon, as I have already saved their e-mail address in Gmail. I also brought it to twitter, of course. Got some responses like the swiftly line has no room for error. Which I agree. It could snag easily if you’re not careful. I know that, due to the fact I already own two swiftly tech tee’s and they’re in perfectly good condition, especially at two years old.

Lululemon heard me on Twitter (@spiffykerms) and gave me the telephone number to GEC in Vancouver. I called and told them that I e-mailed GEC earlier and she brought up the photos. Without hesitation she said she was going to send me a sticker so that I can mail the parcel back to Lululemon without me paying anything out of pocket. Free returns for damaged items, good on them I say!

Here is the parcel, all ready to be mailed off! My hand is covering the tracking number and my return address.

Unfortunately, just days after I placed the order the Swiftly Tech racerbacks are no longer online. So I can’t get another one of them, and there isn’t a Lululemon store around here that sells the racerbacks. We have a personal training area that sells Lululemon but not the Swiftly tanks. Bummer.

I guess I’ll be shopping at Costco more often now for workout gear. Check out my Lululemon Vs. Costco workout apparel blog post I did back in March.

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Daily, Health, Photos

Makeup routine

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I wear makeup almost on a daily basis. I like how it evens out my skin tone and makes me look not-so sunburnt. I have the reverse effect of raccoon eyes meaning that I have a really white under eye area and rosy cheeks. Not to be confused with rosacea.

Shown in order, here are the products I use on my face on a daily basis. I’ll get further into it below but I don’t wear two foundations on my face each day, but just switch them out whenever I’m feeling it. Same goes for the under eye concealers, I don’t wear them on a regular basis.

After my simplified skincare routine I apply foundation. My go-to was Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation until they took it off the shelves to reformulate it to a Moisture Supreme foundation which is now a thicker, greasier, heavier consistency. I have disowned that particular product but still love the brand itself. Since I have dry skin, I like to have a dewier finish rather than a matte, flat look to my face.  I’d rather look hydrated with luminous foundation than look like I haven’t exfoliated and have dry flaky dandruff like skin on my face. I’ve been using Marcelle BB Cream as my new foundation. You can see a full on routine that I blogged about here.

I am a huge fan of foundation and would purchase the most expensive bottle, if it worked for me. That is the only one item I will splurge on, because I think it is so worth while to me, personally. I recently bought the Bobbi Brown Luminous Foundation but I haven’t used it enough to say that it is my holy grail foundation that will ultimately replace Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation. I’m still a little disappointed that they did discontinue my favorite foundation.

Ever since I had my weird flare up in using a certain eye cream I have been really hesitant on putting too much on my face. If I really feel the need to put under eye concealer on, I use the Bobbi Brown Corrector in the color bisque. I use the absolute smallest amount you could put on your finger. Literally a pin point and blend it in. If I have a red mark on my face from a blemish I use Laura Mercier Secret Concealer. Though I haven’t used that one in ages.

The next thing that goes on my face is one of my favorites. The bronzer. Not sure how to apply it? Here is a video I filmed on how to apply bronzer. I’m not too partial on a certain bronzer but I have gone through a few boxes of Benefit Hoola, I have also tried Laura Mercier Bronzing Pressed Powder, and next to use up will be my Vasanti Brazilian Bronzer.

I’ve been using blush lately just because I have it and I like to use different colored blushes on my cheeks to give it a varied flushed look to my skin. Right now I’m using E.L.F Blush in the color candid coral.

I don’t need to use mascara as my eyelashes are one of everyone’s favorite feature of mine. People have joked about how envious they are of me for having such long lashes. I use mascara to make them more obnoxious and volumized. My day-to-day mascara is Vasanti Long Lash mascara. It’s decent for every day wear since it’s not too in your face. It gives your lashes a nice coat and doesn’t flake and leave residue underneath your eyes at the end of the day. When I want them to look like false lashes I use my all time favorite duo which is the Makeup Forever Smokey Lash then Buxom Lash layered on top.

I know a ton of people are a fan of MAC Cosmetics, and I did a MAC makeup review back in 2009 of all the information still remains accurate in my opinion, so check that out too if you’re interested. I don’t wash my brushes daily anymore more like ever 3-4 applications.

See my skincare routine below:

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