Love It Or Leave It: Beautyblender

This one is definitely a love it! In the past, I could never get myself to purchase the beautyblender because here in Canada it retails for approximately $30. I'd constantly pick it up on my trips to Sephora and by the time I checked out I'd put it back because common who want to pay $30 for a sponge?! I had read reviews on "knock offs" of the beautyblender and have heard they don't live up to the beautyblender itself. I haven't ever used any other brand so I can't say that is true or false.

Soooooo...finally I gave in when my friend went on a trip to the US. They retail for only $21 and best part?! No tax! Much better! I have to say if I ever had the chance to try the beautyblender then I would 100% pay the $30 plus tax and purchase it in Canada any day.

Physically...
It's a small sponge shaped like a very pointy egg. To use the beautyblender you have to soak it in water and squeeze the excess like a regular kitchen sponge. It will double in size! This is great because it makes it even fast to apply your foundation because it covers more surface area than a brush. It should not be dripping of water at this point but it should feel damp to the touch. I just squeeze a little bit of my foundation on the back of my hand and use the beautyblender to apply it on to my face. I've used the beautyblender with a tinted moisturizer and a full coverage foundation and they both looked phenomenal on my skin.

Foundation Brush vs. Beautyblender
With a brush you can apply too much foundation and look cakey. I had this issue which is the main reason why I would rarely wear liquid foundation. It was a little too much for me to just go to work or to wear everyday but powder foundation didn't really do much for me but I settled for it. With the beautyblender I am able to get an even coat of the foundation on my face. I've noticed it lasts a lot longer without my darker spots on my face peaking through a few hours into my day. My foundation feels light on my face even when I'm wearing my heavier, full coverage foundation like my MAC Studio Fix. The beautyblender is great on days where I'm in a rush because two layers of my foundation under my eyes can double up as a concealer.

I recommend the beautyblender to anyone who was skeptical like me. It is worth it and no, it's not just a sponge. Ironically enough, on the packaging it says "Modernize the Way you Make Up". It's very fitting for the product because it has changed the way I see foundation and now I can have natural looking flawless skin.

I hope you guys give this one a try. If you use the beautyblender let me know if you think it's worth the investment!

IPSY July 2013 Glam Bag: Beach Beauty

I was as excited as ever receiving this glam bag because it was my first one. This post will be my first impressions of the products.

I opened up my bright pink packaging and found the following inside:

The bag itself is very cute. It fits well with the beach theme. I think it would make a great makeup bag that would be easy to wipe clean.

Inside the bag were the following:

Coola Mineral Sunscreen Tinted Moisturizer
Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon
BH Cosmetics California Collection Eyeshadows
Benefit Benetint
Big Sexy Hair Humidity Resistant Spray

I received the Coola Mineral Sunscreen Tinted Moisturizer with rose essence and spf 20. It is an organic sun care line. I used this for about two days and it's a light weight tinted moisturizer. I have a few dark spots on my face and it covers those up well and evens out my skin tone. I don't see my face getting too oily during the day but I do top it off with my MAC Studio Fix powder. I don't like wearing liquid foundation every day I think it's a little bit too much so I think I will invest in the full size version of this product.

My Pop Beauty Crayon unfortunately was squished and the top chunk of it came off. I just threw it away because there was no way I would have been able to salvage it. This was a bit disappointing because it is a really great colour. I absolutely adore rose lip colours. I was able to save half of it so I'm still satisfied. I have done a swatch of it on my hand which you can find at the end of this post. The colour of the tube and of the crayon itself is deceiving because it is much more pink on the skin. I haven't gotten a chance to try this one out yet because I've been so obsessed with the Benefit benetint.

The next product was the BH Cosmetics California Eyeshadow Collection. This was a big miss on my end when I swatched the shadows. Malibu is a very over powering gold colour but it's not a flattering gold. Malibu is more of a fake yellow gold. I might try and put this one to use with a gold and black smokey eye and see how it goes. San Francisco is an average shimmery brown. It would be okay to use for layering when I create smokey eyes so I may be able to get some use out of that. The one colour I was the most excited about was Hollywood because I love wearing purple liners and eyeshadows because they compliment my dark brown eyes so well. However, it turned out to be extremely unpigmented. It barely shows up when i swatched it using my finger. It still didn't show up as well as I would have liked it to when I used a brush. I only swatched it on my hand about half an hour ago and it's already fading away on my hand.

This is probably the most exciting part of this months glam bag. This was the first teaser I received in an email and it got me really excited. I do enjoy these lip and cheek tints by Benefit. I own the other two colours and they're perfect for blush that lasts a long time and make okay lip tints. I say okay because they kind of dry out my lips. A difference I noticed was the pink and the coral one I have is opaque liquid product and this one is more clear. This was the only one I hadn't tried so I was excited to give it a go because like I mentioned above I really enjoy rose coloured lip products. I used this for about two days and it doesn't dry out my lips at all. Now I wish I had bought the full size a long time ago. I haven't tried it as a cheek tint yet but I'm sure it's just as great at the other ones.

This was the last product in my glam bag. It's the Big Sexy Hair Weather Proof Humidity Resistant Spray. My hair often gets a little frizzy if I straighten it and it's humid outside. I used this for two days as well but I wasn't able to get a feel for the product yet. I will try it on my dried hair without straightening or curling it and give you guys an update!

Here are the swatches of some of the products above:

Easy Cherry Cheesecake Recipe

I learned this super easy recipe from a friend and I've been obsessed with making it ever since. I'm not much of a baker so I was surprised when this turned out perfectly airy, light and fluffy.

Ingredients:











- 8oz cream cheese
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- 6 tbsp sugar
- few drops of vanilla
- Pre-made graham cracker crust
- Cherry pie filling

I used a Kitchenaid standing mixer but a whisk would work just fine.

1. I started off by taking out the cream cheese a few hours before to bring it to room temperature. Don't skip out on this step because it ensures that you won't have any lumps of cream cheese when you're mixing.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Mix together the cream cheese, egg, sugar, sour cream and vanilla.

4. Pour the mixture into the graham cracker crust. It's that simple.

5. Cooking temperatures vary depending on your oven. Mine usually bakes for about 40-45 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the middle and make sure it comes out clean before you remove it from the oven. It's okay if it cracks a little and slightly browns. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it after it came out of the oven.
6. Let it cool completely. Add the cherry pie filling on top. You can of course switch this out for strawberry pie filling or fresh fruit!

I hope you guys try this out. It is a fool proof recipe and it's not even possible to mess it up. Give it a try. I guarantee you will love it!

Half Moon Manicure

I have a passion for doing my nails and it's very rare I would be caught without my nails perfectly manicured. I got into nail art about a year ago and have taught myself to do a variety of different things. I'm no pro but I can do a decent job. The half moon manicure has been a popular trend I've been seeing around and I figured I would give it a go. It's a simple manicure anyone can do without the fancy nail art tools. Let hop right into it.


Here is everything I used to achieve this look:

- Reinforcements (I used these to create a perfect half moon shape on each nail)
- OPI Natural Nail Base Coat (This base coat keeps my nails from turning yellow)
- Any two nail polishes of your choice. Today I'm using Essie's Butter Please (my personal favourite) and Wet n Wild's Fast Dry Nail polish in Silvivor
- Beauty Secrets Hardener High Gloss Top Coat (This huge 73 ml top coat is from Sally's Beauty Supply)

Start off by shaping your nails to your liking. I prefer straight square nails.

Next, I applied my topcoat.

I started off with Wet n Wild's Silvivor and applied it about half way down my nails. I personally don't apply it to my whole nail because I find it to be a waste of time because it gets covered up anyways. If applying nail polish isn't exactly your forté, I suggest painting the whole nail to ensure you achieve a smooth design once you are done. Once I applied Silvivor, I let my nails dry completely. Then, I went ahead and cut the reinforcements in half for my fingers and used a whole reinforcement for my thumb. Ps. I also stuck the reinforcement on the back of my hand a few times to make sure it wasn't too sticky that it would pull the polish off my nails.

Once I had all the reinforcements in place, I applied Butter Please.

Once the polish dried, I removed the reinforcements.

Voila! You're left with this beautiful design. To ensure my manicure lasts me all week long I added my Beauty Secrets top coat. I love this top coat for many reasons. It adds an amazing shine and mainly because it really strengthens my nails. I've noticed once I remove my nail polish that my nails stay strong and are less prone to breakage.