Photos of the Month : December 2013

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the last "Photos of The Month" of the year of 2013!! I can't believe 2013 is over and it is already 2014!! it still sounds a little weird to say 2014 and write in down. I was just getting used to say and write 2013!! haha. Any ways, I hope you all have had a great holiday and a very happy new year. 

The month of December was pretty crazy for the people of Toronto. I'm just speaking for myself here but I'm pretty sure some will agree with me. With all the snow and ice storm and then the crazy -40 degrees Celsius, it was just insane and COLD!!!!

The credit for this picture goes to my brother! 

With the ice storm and all that came with it which included lots of trees falling and breaking and making a disaster over all and the power outage, I'm sure it was all over the news, I still tried to capture some of the beauty it brought with itself.

At night, it rained a lot and started getting really cold while raining which was not good because in the morning, all of the tree branches were frozen. 

As you might be able to tell, the trees look white pretty much. Yes this is actually really beautiful but a lot of the trees where falling off and making lots of disasters because of this. Fortunately me and my family and friends were not really affected by this. We were just lucky. This is why I can see the beauty of it. If it affected me in some way, I'm not sure if I could say the same...

Any ways, enough of the ice storm talk, we here in Toronto have some amazing sunsets. This is not the best of them, but it's still sunset!! I love sunsets, there is just something really amazing about watching the sun go down and make the sky go all dark and stuff.. I'm probably just rambling right now, but honestly, today is one of those days that I just want to type whatever comes to my mind on this blog post!!

This is the very button of my window in the early morning. It is all frozen and icy and beautiful and unique.

Bath & Body works had such good deals during the month of December and obviously for a very good reason. So I treated my self and got some candles and my favourite between the ones I got is Fireside. It is absolutely amazing. It smells warm, cozy, woodsy, mysterious, and I could burn it all day and not get a headache from it!!

And the last picture is FOOD!! I could not end this blog post and not include a picture of delicious, mouth watering shrimp salad that I made. Yes, yes, let us take a moment and drool all over ourselves and enjoy this delicious looking picture and I am going to stop rambling right now!

I hope you guys had an amazing year of 2013 and I also hope that you had an amazing start of 2014.

Stay warm ,comfortable, and safe lovelies. 

Lots of love, Dina

It'sJudyTime Eyeshadow Palette : Review & Swatches

 So I am finally doing a review on the It'sJudyTime eyeshadow palette. I was so excited and happy when Judy announced that she had created her own little palette and I could not wait to get my hands on it.

Finally I got it in the mail and opened it immediately and took pictures because I wanted to play with the colours right away. Judy also mentioned in her video that she wanted her palette to be for the everyday girl that uses mostly neutral eyeshadows but she also included some colourful eyeshadow for a pop of colour.

I absolutely love the packaging. It is simple and compact and pretty small which is amazing to fit in a makeup bag or purse and travel friendly.

It has magnetic closure so the lid doesn't just open by it self. It has a good size mirror and the size of the eyeshadows are pretty decent and I don't see my self hit pan any time soon. Also a very nice quote below the mirror!

There are a good mix of different finishes which are shimmer, satin and matte finishes. The texture of these eyeshadows are smooth and feel pretty creamy to the touch and they are also pretty pigmented.

I created several different looks with this palette and I have included 4 of them here to just show you guys different ideas of makeup looks.

I also have put a mark on the eyeshadows that I have used for the certain look.

Look #1: I used the colour that looks a mix between blue and purple with satin finish in my outer corner and blended it in the crease. Then I used the brown matte shade to blend out in my crease. I used the cream matte colour as a brow highlight. In the inner corner I just have a white shimmery eyeshadow that was not included in this. It is just a simple white shimmery eyeshadow that pretty much everyone has for sure.

Look #2: This look must be my go to everyday eye look. I used the bronze shimmery eyeshadow that is in the second row, all over my lid and almost in the outer corner as well. Then I took the other brown satin colour on the top row at the right side in my crease. I used the brown matte in my crease and used the cream matte colour as brow highlight. Very simple and easy to do.

Look #3: I wore this for the new years eve actually. First I took the dark blue and put it all over my lid but left the very inner corner and I put a white shimmery eyeshadow there to open up the eyes. Then I took the reddish brown matte eyeshadow and used it in my crease then the brown matte shade to blend it all in the crease and the cream matte eyeshadow as my brow highlight.

Look #4: For this look I actually followed one of Judy's videos and did it on my self. I doesn't look as good as hers but hey I tried to follow instructions! haha. So for this I put the shimmery purple all over the lid then I used the red/brown matte colour in the crease then the brown matte to blend it all out and the cream matte colour as brow highlight as always. Then I took that dark burgundy/plum/dark purple shade(however you describe it) and used it as sort of eyeliner on my upper lash but very thinly. the colour actually shows up very dark and the shimmer can't really be seen as I have showed in the swatch which is a shame because it looks gorgeous in the pan. 

You can purchase this palette on the BH Cosmetics website. Click Here

For Judy's YouTube channel Click Here

Overall, I am really pleased with this palette and Congratulations to Judy for such a success. This has been in my makeup bag I can see myself going to this palette a lot. Who wouldn't love a great everyday palette? I know I would!! ;)

Have you tried this palette yet? What has been your favourite go to palette lately?

Love, Dina

The Tarte of Giving Collectors Set & Travel Bag - Review

I am finally doing a review on this lovely set from Tarte. I received it in the mail for about a week or so ago and took some time to play around with it before I did a review for you guys.

So here we go!

This whole set comes in a beautiful purple travel bag which the colour is a signature from Tarte or so as I have noticed.

First thing there is a hanger that can be used to hang this bag on a door. The products come in different large pockets that can be used for storing makeup. Also at the top, it comes with a removable clear bag that can be detached.

In the clear bag comes a Pure Maracuja Oil with dropper opening, Cheek Stain in Flush, Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara, Maracuja C-brighter Eye Treatment, and an Amazonian Clay blush in Memorable which is a limited edition colour specific to this kit I believe.

The eye treatment is amazing in my opinion. I have used it before and I was very happy to get a back up of it in this kit. It is very moisturising and hydrating for the eye area and non-irritating. I find that a lot of eye creams make my eyes water, but this one doesn't which is amazing. Also it has Vitamin C which it has brightening effects. 

The Maracuja oil I have also used before but it was in the roller-ball form, so it was hard to use on my face, so I just used a tiny bit of it under my eye. But I am very happy to be able to try it with this dropper on my face. This one also has Vitamin C which brightens the skin. My most issue with my skin is hyperpigmentation, so this help a lot with that.

Cheek stain in Flush is a very pretty sheer berry colour. It looks scary dark in the packaging buy it comes off much softer and more wearable.

Amazonian Clay blush in Memorable can look frosty in the packaging, but it comes off as a very pretty soft pink/ mauve colour with glow to it.

The "everyone loved" Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara which I hadn't actually tried before!! haha

When I got this and looked at the brush, I instantly thought, no this is not the brush I like for my mascaras, I'm not even going to bother with this. but I changed my mind and tried it and I am glad I did. Surprisingly I really like it. It was lengthening and volumizing for my lashes and it wasn't clumping my lashes even though I thought it would because of its brush.

In the second  pocket comes this palette which is a very slim, cardboard that flips open and you have four different sections of eyeshadow shades with a dark eyeliner shade as well. So it is basically four different eye looks in each section that has five different eyeshadow shades. They have made the job easy for you to figure out which colours goes with which but you still can mix and match as you wish.

It also has a clear sheet on top of the shadows with their names. I kept the sheet for the sake of the picture.

The swatches follow the exact place where the each eyeshadow is placed. So it is easier to see each swatch and the actual eyeshadow and compare how they look in the packaging and how they swatch on the skin.

The eyeshadows are so soft to the touch but not that soft to break if you know what I mean. Pretty pigmented and good eyeshadow choices for this palette. I think you get a little of everything in a way. You have a section to get blue/silver look, gold/green look, taupe/purple look and a bronze natural everyday look. And as I mentioned before you can still get a lot more looks with this palette since they are all in one palette and can be mixed and matched. I just stated the obvious looks with different sections that it is paired with.

Now for all those lip gloss lovers, this kit comes with eight different Maracuja Lipgloss shades. The shades goes more toward pink colour. These can be applied sheer with just one application but they also can be build up to a more bold, true to the tube colour.

The feel on the lips is a little tacky which makes the lipglosses to stay longer on the lips. The tackiness is not huge or uncomfortable in anyway. It has a peppermint candy smell to it which is really nice and yummy smelling.

This kit can be found at Sephora stores and Sephora website.

This is a great kit for someone who is new to the Tarte brand. I was not new to this brand and still absolutely loved this kit. It has a bit of everything and honestly, there wasn't anything in this kit that I disliked.

I am actually very happy with this kit and I also think this would make a great gift as well.

Have you tried anything from Tarte? What are your thoughts on it?
Love, Dina

Photos of the Month : November 2013

I can't believe 2013 is almost coming to an end!! I hope you all have had a great month of November and start of December.

Here are a few pictures from the month of November. I actually don't have a lot of them, so I hope you enjoy this few pictures.

Toronto Sunset

Very beginning of November, still some leaves left.

Mid November, snow started!! Huge snow in Canada.

mac and cheese, home made of course

A very delicious cake me and my mom baked, it was amazingly delicious
German Chocolate Cake is the name I believe.

Hope you all have a very safe December. Stay tuned for the pictures of December, the very last month of 2013!!

Stay warm, cozy and safe lovelies!!

Love, Dina

Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil - Review

I have seen a lot of people talk about this product for a while! Everyone seems to be loving this Argan Oil by Josie Maran, so I thought I would also give it a try and see how it goes for me.

I mainly bought this because of all the good benefits it claims to have and also it is 100% natural and organic and no weird ingredients just the pure Argan oil itself.

As it says on the packaging, this is full of antioxidants, vitamin E and essential fatty acids. It is supposed to nourish and protect the skin and it also says that is is non-irritating, non- allergenic and allergy tested as well.

★Click on the pictures to enlarge, easier to read the packaging★

The packaging has a dropper so it easy to get the amount you want and control the drops rather that pour it in your hand which can be very messy.

When I first tried this, the first things I noticed was that it was very light weight and thin in a way. I did not expect that at all. I thought it would be too oily and greasy feeling.

It applied smoothly and my face did not feel greasy just very well moisturised but I could feel the oil on my face. I did this at night before bed. So I waited for the oil to absorb into my skin before going to bed so I wouldn't get the oil all over my pillow. 

So when it was 90% absorbed into my skin, I jumped in the bed and ready to go to sleep until my face started to get all itchy and it wasn't a normal itchy face. My whole face was itchy and very irritating and I couldn't ignore the itchiness. I got really scared so I jumped out of bed and washed my face immediately and when I was done washing it, the itchiness was completely gone!! It was a very weird experience. So that night I just did my normal night time skin care. I did this a several nights to see if my face would react to it the same and it did. Fortunately it did not cause me to breakout but the itchiness was very uncomfortable and I could not stand it.

I decided to return this item. It just didn't work for me as well as it did for other people which I heard they "love it and its the best" and all that. I was very disappointed with this product and I wish it had worked for me but oh well..

When returning this, the lady at Sephora suggested that I would keep it and use it on other parts of my body and hair but the way it reacted to my skin, it freaked me out and also, the main reason I bought it was for my face so when it didn't work, I had no reason to keep it.

You can find this product on the Sephora Website (Click Here) and stores!

Have you tried this oil? What are your thoughts on it? 
Love, Dina