My Drugstore Go To Primer!

Maybelline is a drugstore brand that I live by. I absolutely love their face products, especially their Fit Me collection. This year, I began applying baby skin instant pore eraser before my foundation and let me tell you, this stuff does wonders. It’s gotten to a point where the moment I know I ran out of this stuff, I go to my local drugstore and stock up. As you can see, the bottle states that it’s a pore eraser and it doesn’t lie.

I am a girl who has large pores and I absolutely hate when my pores ruin my makeup look. This primer comes in a silicon clear paste and applies smoothly on my skin. The moment this stuff touches my skin, it literally blurs all my pores out. Almost making it look like I don’t have any. My favourite thing about this product is that it is incredibly cheap compared to high end products. Always remember, you don’t have to use expensive high end products to have beautiful flawless makeup. Drugstore makeup can do the same trick, just do your research for dupes!

If I must compare this to a high end product, I would say this is the dupe for Benefits the pore professional primer. The only difference with this is that the paste is a skin tone beige colour whereas the maybelline pore eraser is clear.

This keeps my makeup looking flawless all day and I will never stop using it. Are there any drugstore primers that you are currently using? If so, let me know in the comment section, I would love to give some new ones a try!xo

The Best DIY Acne Treatment!

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to share with you one of my favourite DIY acne treatments that worked for me and a few of my friends. Acne is something I have always suffered with ever since I was in high school. It wasn’t terrible but I always knew my pimples were there. I got the occasional pimples, a few on my chin, cheek and forehead.

So, after doing research, I never knew how much a banana peel could do for my skin. YES, a banana peel. What I have been doing every time I get a pimple is cut a small piece of a ripened banana peel and rub it in circular motions all over my face until the inside turns brown. You have the option of leaving it on over night, or allowing it to sit for 3-5 minutes and rinsing it off. By doing this, your skin will absorb the nutrients and vitamins from the banana peel!  I try to do this twice a day if it isn’t being left on my skin over night. This did wonders for me and friends that I have recommended it to.

It may sound crazy but it works wonders! Has anyone tried this before? let me know in the comments section!xo

 

Drug Store Primer!

 

If you’re a makeup guru, you’ll know that the new talk for primers is Nivea after shave balm. This isn’t a discovery I found, however, nikkietutorials has recommended this balm as a primer before applying your makeup. So I purchased this for about $7.00 from Shoppers Drug Mart which you can buy here. I actually tested this product out for about 2 weeks and the results are pretty good.

So many of you guys are probably wondering? how can a cream be better than brand name primers. Well, this cream has something called glycerin in it. This is amazing if you like to wear a full face/ full coverage makeup. This is definitely worth the money because you get so much product in this bottle, however, if you’re someone who travels a lot and likes to take makeup around with you everywhere you go, this isn’t a bottle you wanna carry. I’d recommend taking a traveling kit where you can pour some in it and put in your bag. But I’m not gonna lie, I love this product, it works super well for me, its great for oily skin and my makeup lasts all day!

A little disclaimer, this product is for men, so it does have a scent, almost like a cologne, however, it does fade after a few minutes of applying it. I personally don’t mind the smell but it does fade!

if you’ve tried this product or are going to try it after this post, let me know in the comments section how it goes for you!xo

 

 

 

Peanut Butter and Yogurt Dip Recipe

Ever wonder what you can have as a light snack? Try my peanut butter and yogurt dip, which tastes great with any type of fruit!

All you need is peanut butter, vanilla yogurt and cinnamon powder. Three ingredients that lead to an amazing recipe. Here’s how it’s done.

Recipe:

2.5 tablespoons of vanilla yogurt 

2 tablespoons peanut butter 

1 to 2 dashes of cinnamon 

Mix this thoroughly until you get a creamy consistency and voila! Peanut butter and yogurt dip! Very light and delicious, it’ll have you licking your fingers for more.

You may use which ever brands you’d like for this recipe and substitute peanut butter for almond butter if you’d like. 
If you try this recipe, let me know how you liked it. If you have other fruit dips recipes, please feel free to leave them in the comment section!xo

DIY Mask: Dry Skin

anyone wondering how to beat the cold weather that causes our skin to dry up? here, let me help you.

The best thing that you can for your skin is to moisturize it with products that can be found right in your kitchen!

Avocado, Honey and Coconut Oil Face Mask

Avocado and coconut oil are amazing for moisturizing. Avocado has many anti-oxidants that are great to replenish moisture on your skin. the healthy fats in avocados also reduce any inflammation. Coconut oil is a natural antibacterial and anti fungal. It is an excellent moisturizer. Lastly, the honey an antibacterial, which is an amazing use for acne and prevention. Honey helps slow down aging (who doesn’t want that?). The honey in this mask will give you a complexion boost, which is also moisturizing and soothing, but also, it gives you a glow once you wash off the mask.

Heres what you need:

1/2 an avocado

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

1 tablespoon of honey

mix these ingredients together until you get a pasty consistency. if you find that its too liquidy. You can add in the other half of avocado remaining. Apply the mask on your face and neck and leave it on for 10-15 minutes. Once the times up, rinse with warm water.

P.S this is also an amazing hair mask!

This is a great mask for moisture and glowing skin. If you give this a try, let me know how it went for you!xo

Beauty Hack-How to get smoother skin!

Hey lovelies, its been a minute since my last blog post. Recently, I’ve been trying out this new trick in order to get my makeup to look flawless each time. I have a lot of peach fuzz on my face and I’ve noticed that when I apply my makeup, it somewhat looks obvious. So I came across Nair and Hair Care remover, specifically for the face and I can say, this thing does wonders!

So first thing I do, is wash off all of my makeup and put my hair in a bun (this is an important step if you don’t wanna lose your hair). Then I apply the Nair Hair Removal all over my face making sure, I don’t allow it to touch my eyebrows (obviously). I allow this cream to sit on my face for about 3-5 minutes. I then grab a paper towel and slowly remove the cream off my face.

Disclaimer: this cream has a weird smell, so it is recommended to wash your face after.

Lets get to the best part, once I wash my face from the cream, I apply Caudalie Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet Cream all over my face. This just hydrates my skin a little after the Nair cream. Caudalie products are so amazing, especially because majority of their products are made from natural ingredients! Lastly, I moisturize my lips using their Lip Conditioner leaving my lips nice and smooth for the next morning.

After doing these steps, I promise you, you will have beautiful skin once you wake up and your makeup will apply and look flawlessly beautiful!

If you end up trying this amazing beauty hack, let me know how it goes for you in the comments! xo

Morphe Palette Swatch!

Yes ladies, I got my hands on a morphe palette! I’ve actually had this palette for a month, I’ve been giving it a go and to be quite honest, I love it. This palette is so pigmented, especially the shimmers. Although, I found some of the solid colours a little less pigmented, it still wasn’t a problem for me. What I like to do is spray a little Mac Fix+ from a far onto my brush and that gives me the pigment and colour i’m looking for.

The palette I purchased is 35K, Koffee Eyeshadows. I found that this palette had all the colours I like to wear on a day to day basis. This sells for $39.99 on the morph website, however, its currently on sale for just $22.99! You can purchase this beautiful palette here.

I did do a little swatch for you ladies, to see how pigmented and beautiful the colours really are.

Although I wasn’t able to fit all the colours onto my arm, I hope this gives you a little glimpse of how beautiful the palette colours really are. When I swatched these, I did not have to run my finger through them multiple times, which to me, proves that they’re pigmented eyeshadows.

If you have a morphe eyeshadow palette, leave a comment below. I’d love to try some new ones out.

DIY Blemish and Acne Mask

One of my favourite DIY’s to do when my skin isn’t cooperating is a banana mask. Easy and simple. The ingredients are already in your kitchen. What I like to do is cut half a banana, mash it up so it becomes a paste, add 2 tablespoons of yogurt and one spoon of honey. I normally leave this mask on for about 15 minutes, you will definitely see a huge difference in your skin, especially, in texture.

So, many of you are probably wonder how can in home products help? Allow me to explain.

Bananas: Bananas play a big role in healing scars and preventing pimples. It is rich in anti-oxidants. There are many anti-inflamatories, such as, vitamin A, zinc, potassium, lectin and amino acids.

• potassium helps lock in moisture and dehydrate the skin.
• zinc helps fights acne causing germs
• Vitamin A helps heal acne scars and brighten dark spots
• Lectin helps destroy the bacteria that causes acne
• amino acid helps nourish the skin. Strengthens connective tissue and helps maintain skin elasticity and strength.

Yogurt: yogurt helps fight acne, fix discolouration and lock in moisture. Yogurt contains natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. The lactic acid, a natural alpha hydroxy acid, in the yogurt helps smooth and exfoliate skin. This ingredient can be a little runny, so if you can, try putting less yogurt than banana.

Honey: Honey is naturally antibacterial and full of anti-oxidants, such as, organic acids, flavonoids and enzymes. This is one of my favourite beauty tip for pretty much anything. Honey contributes to acne, pores, complexion and swelling.

if you would like something more exfoliating, you can add a little brown sugar into the mixture.

please note, all skin types are different, so I recommend that you try this on a small patch of skin first. If you do try this mask, let me know how it went!

 

Beauty Sponges Review!

So being the girl that I am, I am huge on beauty and makeup. Around the time the original beauty blender came out, I began to experiment with it and see the difference it does to my makeup application.

So the purpose of makeup sponges are to help give you a more flawless finish when it comes to foundation and concealer application. The instructions say that in order to see results, you must run it under water and squeeze the excess out.

The first one I used is the original beauty blender.

Let me begin by saying this does wonders! I absolutely saw the difference instantly. Using a foundation brush, you are bluffing your foundation, using circular motions, whereas, the beauty blender, it uses a patting motion, minimizing the use of your makeup.  You can either use a beauty blender to directly apply your foundation or apply your foundation using a brush, then buff out all the harsh areas using the damp beauty blender.

Once the beauty blender is damp, it absorbs all the excess makeup on your face, leaving you with a flawless finish. These are sold at Sephora for $28.00. You can purchase them here.

After 3 months have gone by, I needed to replace my beauty blender. It is recommended that it is replaced every 3 months so that bacteria does not accumulate. I enjoy finding dupes for luxurious products so, I decided to try the first one that came my way. I decided to purchase a beauty sponge from forever 21.

My results with this sponge were not horrible, however, it was not the best. It did not give me the coverage I was looking for. Once you damp this sponge, it does not soften like the beauty blender, it soaks in a lot of water and gives it a dense feeling. The foundation application was not bad. I liked using this for my concealer because it did blend it well with my foundation. It gave my concealer the soft finish I was looking for, especially on my chin and side of the nose. This product sells for $6.90 and an be purchased here.

On my search for the next beauty blender, I came across Sephora’s beauty sponge. I remember not being able to get my hands on it.

To be quite honest, I liked it. It still gave me that medium to full coverage i was looking for. Although, after damping it, it does not soften like the original beauty blender, however, it still does the job, if not, even better. The shape of this sponge allows you to reach areas you weren’t able to with the original beauty blender. It provides the same coverage as the original and still gives you the flawless finish. The best part is, this product is only $15.00. You can purchase this product at Sephora, which can also be found on their website here.

Let me know what you guys think about these products, this was just my experience, however, I’d love to hear back from you and see how this product worked for you!

 

 

My Top Favourite Restaurants In Toronto!

If theres one thing to know about me, it’s that I love food. I am definitely a foodie. I have put together a short list of restaurants that I truly enjoy whenever I’m downtown.

Joeys:

Joeys has always been my go-to. It’s the first thing that comes to my mind. This restaurant gives you the option of satisfying all your cravings. They serve foods from seafood, steak, indian food, pasta, sushi and burgers! They also accommodate for people who prefer gluten free or are vegetarian.

Blaze Pizza:

Right in the heart of downtown Toronto. If you’re looking for a decent place to eat, blaze pizza is the one. Its a good place to catch up with some friends and enjoy some pizza. They have a super cozy atmosphere and if you’re a student and aren’t looking to spend much on food, this is your go to!

Nami:

Any sushi lovers? well, Nami is a restaurant to visit. The fish couldn’t be any more fresh and delicious. Not only can you order delicious sushi, but also, grilled fish and veggies with a creamy peanut sauce.

If you have the time and looking for a place to eat. These restaurants are definitely something to take into consideration! Remember, food is always worth it!