Beauty

Sunkissed after sunset – date night with my number one

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Thought I’d tell you a little bit about our Valentine’s Day, and it just so happens that Clarins and McDonald’s were part of it — ha! Clarins and McDonald’s, doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it? Sure, many people turn up their noses at me when I say I love McDonald’s, but our love for McDonald’s is r.e.a.l. Hence the name of this post sunkissed after sunset, a date night with my No.1 this Valentine’s Day.

This is my excited face. Excited for McDonald’s. 

Don’t be throwin’ any shade at me, but Valentine’s Day at McDonald’s has been our tradition since we were in the first year of our relationship. Long time readers understand that we couldn’t possibly break the rules 12 years in. And Clarins is a product I used to look all dolled up for the evening of fine dining, ha!

Let’s get to it! Here’s the full list of products I’ll be using.

Clarins Face Contouring PaletteClarins Face Contouring Palette|$42. (The Clarins Face Contouring Palette is another great gift thanks to the Octoly website where you can sign up for free product from Octoly if you have 10k+ on Instagram / 1K on YouTube.)

Left| a beige highlighter illuminates and creates depth
Middle| a bronzey deep shade to use for contouring, sculpting, and defining
Right| soft rose blush creates a healthy-looking glow

You know what? Thinking back on it, I’m pretty sure this is the first Clarins makeup product I’ve ever tried, apart from their self-tanner (which I used on my wedding day, fun fact!). I don’t use that self-tanner anymore because it doesn’t have a colour guide and I almost always missed a spot when self-tanning using their product.

I love doing these step-by-step tutorials, because it helps a lot of my readers out who are kinda new to makeup. As always I love to keep things natural looking, but definitely with an added sunkissed look. I amped it up on Valentine’s Day giving a sunkissed after sunset healthy look to the skin. Follow along with me, and I’ll show you exactly where I placed what products, and then give you a final look down below!

B’ys ya first gotta prep the face and hydrate it up. Otherwise the foundation and everything on top will be all cakey and gross. At least, in my experience with my weird dry skin. So, I’m using my ol’ faithfuls. Never stray from my Bobbi Brown Extra Eye repair cream + Philosophy Hope In A Jar moisturizer combo. It’s gold.

Once it all sinks in, I wet a sponge (looks like a BeautyBlender, it’s not – I got it in a swag bag from an event a while back) and apply my foundation with it, for a healthy radiance look to the skin. I wanna glow, baby, so I’ve reached for a lightweight foundation Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 053 Dark Beige. I also never stray from my favourite concealer Cle de Peau in Beige.

Ah my favourite two steps, adding dimension and a bitta colour to the cheeks. I dotted on Burberry lip and cheek bloom  ›  No. 09 Poppy then set it with the powder blush in the Clarins palette. Then I went to town on the bronzer shade buffing it in with my fave brush for bronzer, the Dior Brush Backstage Brushes Kabuki. I love looking tan, lol.

Since thicker brows are in, I have decided to continue filling them in and making them look prior to the days of waxing and plucking the heck out of them .Dior Diorshow Brow Styler inUniversal Brown is terrific for that, and the ultimate match for my lil’ brow hairs. For mascara I have been using theBobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara since right before Christmas. I don’t want it to ever dry out, and I would love it if Sephora (or other places) sold all-the-brands of travel sized mascaras. I think they last just as long, and half the price. Maybe that’s why they don’t do it… lol

Top it off with some gloss (because I was eatin’ McDonalds and definitely didn’t want my lipstick to fade all weird!) with Burberry Kisses Gloss in Tangerine No. 77!

The final look! Easy peasey right? :) 

Although late posting it, I hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day :)

Face|

1| Philosophy  ›  Hope In A Jar moisturizer
2| Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation  ›  053 Dark Beige
3| Cle de Peau concealer  ›  Beige
4| Clarins  ›  Face Contouring Palette
5| Dior Brush  ›  Backstage Brushes Kabuki
6| Burberry lip and cheek bloom  ›  No. 09 Poppy

Eyes|

7| Bobbi Brown  ›  Extra Eye repair cream
8| Dior Diorshow Brow Styler  ›  Universal Brown
9| Bobbi Brown  ›  Smokey Mascara

Lips|

10| Burberry Kisses Gloss  ›  Tangerine No. 77

 

Shop the look!


Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary from Clarins . All opinions are 100% my own #gifted #honestreview #octolyfamily

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Daily, FitFluential, Fitness, Photos

Valentine’s Day Sunset Bike Rides!

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Sunset Bike RidesValentine’s Day. Bike Rides. Especially at sunset? Can’t get any better than that. Gotta say you guys, riding our bikes together has got to be one of the most fun things.

Alfie-meWhy didn’t I get a bike sooner? Why didn’t anyone remind me how fun it is to go bike riding?

I mean, I’m not even afraid of the clipless (or are they called clip-in?) pedals? Sheesh, so much easier to go. And the pedals can be adjusted to be harder to step out of the pedal (scary), or easier (safer, for me…). We toured around lookin’ like pros, all suited up. I have to say, wearing the entire cycling getup doesn’t feel too bad at all. I thought I’d feel/look foolish because I don’t have a biker-bod (aka no muscles in my legs lol). But I’m feelin’ pretty good. It is a little funny feeling wearing those padded shorts for the first few times, though.

LosGatos-TrailWe cycled up, and left the house around 4pm because: traffic = sketchy on a bike, and cars aren’t that nice to cyclists. Plus we live in a busy area of town, and navigating through that was nerve-wracking a little. But it’s all part of the process I suppose!

New-BikeHowever, I did have my first spill on the bike on Valentine’s. I may have even cried a little. I mean, the car was being totally impatient next to us, and I was unclipped going as slow as a snail. Anyway, I suppose if you think shedding a few tears is handling it like a champ, then I guess I handled it like a champ. haha.

McDonalds-pigoutAs per our ten year Valentine’s Day tradition, we had to clue it up with a big meal from McDonald’s. You guys know the story on how that goes, right? It was excellent.

I’ll be blogging more this coming week! Come back soon!

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Beauty, Daily

Valentine’s Day at Santana Row

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I’m choosing to keep it short, sweet + simple for this Valentine’s Day. A mini gift guide on what to get your Valentine! Everything shown, you can grab at the stores in Santana Row, and the links for the ten items are below!

Santana Row Valentines Day

BUY:
Anthropologie Boho pillows  ..  Urban Outfitters Herschel Duffel  ..  Kate Spade Battery Bank
Anthropologie Body + Hair Oil  ..  Urban Outfitters Herbivore Mask
Best Buy Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones  ..  Free People Vegan Tote
Sephora Blue Sea Kelp Scrub  ..  Ted Baker sweater  ..  Ted Baker dress

Gosh, it’s been ages since I’ve stepped foot on Santana Row’s property. Last time I went was in early December, right when they put the Christmas lights up! I think I’m going to head there this week, especially over to Anthropologie and pick up the Posies & Co. body + hair oil. I want to smell it, and drop the thirty bucks on it.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? We aren’t huge on giving gifts for Valentine’s Day, but if you’ve been a reader for a long time you know that Mr. Spiffykerms + I enjoy going to McDonald’s on Valentine’s Day, because it’s our tradition! If you hunt back on the archives of this blog, you’ll know why. I think we might’ve missed one or two years of not going on the famous February 14, but I’m sure this year we will go. Especially because we have gift cards (tee hee!). Maybe after our meal there, we can hop on our bikes around the city to burn off all the high calories we ate.

P.s. Are you diggin’ the new gift guide layout? I thought I would put my Graphic Design skills to work again, and come up with something different that I normally would do. I kinda like how it all turned out though, what are your thoughts? 

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