Summer Scents - Favourite Body Sprays

Bath & Body Works Website Description : 

White Citrus - inspired by the sun-drenched citrus groves of the Mediterranean coast. Is invigorating blend of crisp citrus and water lily.

top notes: lemon zest, sparkling grapefruit, juicy tangerine

mid notes: ginger flower, water lily, apricot nectar, lily of the valley, freesia

dry notes: clean woods, sheer musk

my thoughts: this is my absolute favourite. I am totally obsessed with this one. it smells fresh and I can definitely smell the lime/lemon which ever. this is the perfect spring/summer scent.

Maui Hibiscus Beach - a refreshing mix of star fruit, mango wood and tropical hibiscus

top notes: mandarin, star fruit, bergamot, pineapple

mid notes: guava, Brazilian passion fruit, hibiscus, watery watermelon

dry notes: mango wood, creamy musk

my thoughts: this one smells like a perfect day at the sunny beach. it smells fresh and a little sweet and perfect for spring/summer.

Beautiful Day - as beautiful as the perfect spring day with sun-kissed apple, wild daisies and fresh pink peonies

top notes: sun-kissed apple, dewy pear, sparkling cassis

mid notes: wild daisies, lily of the valley, fresh pink peonies

dry notes: white beach, blonde woods

my thoughts: this smells like a fresh smelling shower in a field of flowers. it is so fresh and cool smelling that is the perfect spring/ summer scent. when you spray this on, it feels like you just smell good yourself not because you put on a body spray.

Secret Wonderland - a whimsical blend of luscious strawberry, frosted jasmine petals and white amber. inspired by a world you never dreamed of

top notes: luscious strawberry, wild goji berries, ripe raspberry

mid notes: gardenia petals, jasmine, peach nectar

dry notes: coconut musk, creamy vanilla, sandalwood, white amber

my thoughts: this smells sweet and magical which absolutely suits the name. I like this more for spring time which the weather is cooler but I still use it in the summer as well.

Forever Sunshine - captures the romance of warm days that linger into cool autumn. blend of juicy tangerine, pink peonies, sweet praline

top notes: juicy tangerine, golden apricot, sparkling mandarin, exotic berries

mid notes: gardenia petals, freesia, pink peonies

dry notes: vanilla bean gelato, creamy sandalwood, nuzzly musks, sweet praline

my thoughts: this smells very sweet but not in a way to make you nauseous. it smells like a sunny day and a hint of vanilla.

So overall, I am really bad at describing scents so I really tried to bring it to words what ever the body spray smelled like. I hope it gave you guys a new list of body sprays to look for and smell for yourself the next time you are at a BBW store!!

What are some of your favourite summer scents? 
Love,
Dina

Ole Henriksen 3 Little Wonders - Review

I have been hearing really good things about Ole Henriksen skin care and when I was at Sephora and saw this kit sort of packaging with three products that looked interesting, I decided to try the "3 wonders" and see how it goes...

Truth Serum Vitamin C Collagen Booster : 

• serum consistency 
• light weight
• absorbs quickly to skin
• brightens hyperpigmentation / acne scarring / dark spots on face (saw changes after using for about a week)
• would definitely repurchase

Sheer Transformation Facial Moisturizer :

• gel consistency 
• absorbs quickly to skin
• can have a burning sensation if there is an open acne/ wound that is open (I was applying it and had a paper cut and it actually burned like an alcohol would, maybe has alcohol..)
• did not see that much of a change
• would not repurchase probably

Invigorating Night Treatment Gel : 

• light weight
• moisturizes well but nothing too exciting just a normal moisturizer.
• did not that much of a change
• not sure if I would repurchase

So those are all of my thoughts in point form so it is easy to read. Over all, out of all these three products my favourite would have to be the truth serum. I could really see a change when I used it but with the other two, they were good products don't get me wrong, but they just didn't do anything special that I could really notice. So I will use all these products but as for repurchasing them goes, I would just get the truth serum and skip the other two.

Have you used any of these products? what are your thoughts on it?
Love, Dina

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation + Concealer - Review & Swatches

Hey everyone, it has been a very long time since the last time I actually sat to write a new blog post! It is good to be back and hopefully I will be staying and no more 'blog break'.

Recently my face has been more on the dry side specially on my cheeks and chin so I was searching and watching different videos to find a good drugstore foundation and I think I have found a pretty good one. 

Foundation: 400 Natural Beige, 303 True Nude, Concealer : light/medium

I finally picked up this wake me up foundation from Rimmel and it is actually my first time to try anything from the foundation part of Rimmel brand if I'm not mistaking and I have to say I am pretty impressed. Even though the drugstore I went to had testers for this foundation I still couldn't really decide which shade was best for me so I went for the last two shades they had because my colour is right in between the two. My drugstore had only four shades available for the foundation and the concealer so I still have to mix the last two darkest shades to get my skin colour but this whole process might be worth it.

First of all, it comes with a pump applicator which is always a plus in my book. The concealer has a spongy applicator like how lip glosses are usually so that is also a good easy way to use the product.

As you can see in the picture below, the foundation in the bottle has a nice sheen to it. So this foundation is no where near matte finish. It is more like satin finish and it is medium coverage and it is buildable so you can be able to get full coverage with this but I usually use a small amount to just even my skin tone and then use the concealer on the spots that needs more coverage.

One pump is more than enough for my full face but since I have to mix the two colours, I usually have a bit more than I need to use so I just wipe it off with tissue or something. 

It has a slight pink finish to it which is so not my skin's undertone but I manage to work with it since I actually like this foundation. I just use a full coverage powder that has a yellow/golden finish to it and lightly apply it to my face to cover the pink finish of the foundation and it has worked so far!

This foundation has a light perfume-y smell to it. It is perfect for dry skin which I have, also it doesn't accentuate dry patches if you have any.

I tested this foundation with no primer or setting spray and it lasted for more than 12 hours on me. I did my foundation at around 8 am in the morning and took it off at around 11 pm at night the same day and the foundation looked good after all those hours. No fading or anything. I just had to blot my T-zone one time during the whole day which is pretty amazing. I usually have to blot two or three times a day because I like to look matte in my T-zone which tends to get a tiny bit shiny during the day!

So overall, I would say this is my new favourite drug store foundation so far. It does have some down sides to it but it also has some good sides to it as well, so I would say it is worth the little hassle that comes with it. Such as mixing the two colours to get my match and also apply a golden toned powder to match my skin. Since it looks good when I am fully finished with my makeup, I try to be patient and take the time so this can work for me.

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

Physicians Formula Matte Collection Quad Eyeshadow in Canyon Classics - Review & Swatches

Personally, I don't tend to collect matte eyeshadows.. like ever. I like to have a few of the neutral necessities of the mattes and that is about it. But lately, I have been interested to find a good matte palette that pretty much had everything I would need. So when I stumbled upon this eyeshadow quad from Physicians Formula, I got pretty excited!

Now I was initially thinking of considering the Urban Decay Naked Basics but then I thought I wont be using just the matte eyeshadow for a full on eye look so I couldn't justify paying that much money for getting only half of the eye look I want. I only use a cream matte shadow for brow highlight, brown for blending the crease and sometimes black for setting my my eyeliner but other than that I use shimmer eyeshadow for the rest of the look, so you get what I mean when I say I would use it for half of the eye look I am going for. 

This matte eyeshadow quad comes in a grey/silver durable plastic packaging which I think comes very handy and it is travel friendly and doesn't take a whole lot of space. The overall packaging look is very simple and nothing flashy or overly exciting but it does not mean the product quality is bad. heh

Inside, this quad has a small thin mirror in the top and a sponge applicator which I just throw out because I prefer actual eye makeup brushes. haha

The eyeshadows are all matte as the name of it already tells. There is a cream/ white shade. Two brown shades which one has a warm undertone and the other has a cool undertone to it. Finally there is a dark grey eyeshadow as well.

The quality is very creamy and very pigmented. A little bit of this stuff goes a very long way and they blend easily as well. 

The price ranges between $7 - $11 depending on the store you get it from.

Overall, I think this is a very good matte eyeshadow quad to have, so if you are looking for a good matte eyeshadow similar to these shades, you might want to give this a try!

What are your thoughts on this eyeshadow quad? What are your favourite matte palettes?

Love, Dina

Photos of the Month : January 2014

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have had a great month of January and a good start to the month of February. I really enjoyed sharing some of "nature" pictures of mine during 2013 through these blog posts so I decided to keep doing them since it is so much fun for me and it is a little different than my usual beauty posts. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do! :)

Winter is still happening here in Toronto! yes, it's all white everywhere STILL!! Don't get me wrong, I love snow and how beautiful it is, but sometimes you just get tired of how cold it is outside!! Well, it is Toronto and there is nothing I can do about that. In my opinion, Toronto is so UNPREDICTABLE!! One year we have the most pleasant winter ever and the next year it is all warnings of how being outside for 5 minutes the skin is going to freeze.

But honestly, some days can be a bit of a disaster. Let me explain to you so you wont think I'm crazy. So it snows A LOT and then nothing happens for a few days just super cold weather and lots of wind then one day the temperature goes high and it is so pleasant it feels like spring, well not really but you get what I mean. So the snow starts to melt, obviously, and then at night the temperature drops again and all that melted snow is now ICE!! So imagine walking on solid ice. That's how crazy it can get here. I'm sure it is a whole lot worse in other places but Toronto, come on... go a little easy on us would you??

Any ways, I really do try to look at the positive side of things which can be REALLY hard at times. Well, at a lot of times.. haha

I don't have a picture of those days that I had to walk on ice because I had to be careful not to fall, so I didn't really remember to bring out my cellphone and take a picture. Oops, my bad, forgive me!! :D

My "photos of the month" posts wont be complete unless I include some sort of delicious looking picture of food. So, this was my way of making easy, fast, home made pizza!

I hope for you all to have an amazing month of February. Stay safe, warm and happy lovelies.

Love, Dina.