Wishlist: Bobbi Brown everything

 

One of my all time favorite high end products to use on my face is Bobbi Brown cosmetics. I blogged about their Holiday 2012 collection a few months ago, and now I’ve created a wish list for myself, of Bobbi Brown cosmetics. Hey, it’s getting close to Christmas. No harm in creating a list now is there? :)

Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair Cream ($68 USD/ $75 CAD). Huge fan of this thick, luxurious eye cream and I don’t mind spending the money on it. My jar of it ran out a few weeks ago and I just haven’t gone to Holt Renfrew in Toronto to pick another one up. My jar ended up lasting me seven months. A good investment I say, at just $10/month for it! They sell other Bobbi Brown cosmetics inside Sephora stores, but not the eye repair cream. I may not even wait for Christmas to get this, because it’s such a great moisturizer. I used it twice a day under and around my eyes. It’s a great base underneath under eye concealer as well since it doesn’t get my makeup crepey or flaky. Available at Holt Renfrew, or Bobbi Brown.com.

Bobbi Brown 24k Shimmer Brick. This product is limited edition, but Bobbi Brown always comes out with some great shimmer bricks. I’m always swatching them when I’m inside Holt Renfrew. It’s a lust-after product by yours truly. I’m a huge fan of skin care over makeup, but when it comes to makeup I’m all about foundations, and making your skin look the best possible. Having this shimmer brick adds a little glow to the cheeks. It’s perfect for all year round. Glowy skin doesn’t have to be just for the summer time! You can buy it on Sephora’s website for a limited time.

Bobbi Brown Extra Soothing Balm. I love diverse products and would love to give this product a try. I hadn’t heard of it until recently when I was on Bobbi Brown’s website and scoped out the Extra Skincare line. Love that you can use it on your cuticles (mine are always so gross looking, unfortunately and I literally need to put cuticle oil on them a few times per week), your heels (!!!), and even on your cheeks for a glow. Sign me up… I wonder if it’s available in Canada?

This is not a sponsored post.. psh, I wish it was. It’s just a wish list of mine!

 

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Luxury organic skin care by GRATiAE

One of the many benefits of having a blog, is getting to try out products that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise tried, or purchased. This review, being one of them. Primarily because of the cost of the product ($59.99), but don’t let that deter you from reading about it, or even going out yourself and purchasing it.

As always, I give my full 100% honest opinion. I’m hoping that everyone reading this truly appreciates my reviews. I put it all out there on the line. The blunt, honest truth whether it be good, or not so good. Thankfully, this one gets an A+ in my books.

I go through a ton of body exfoliators and lotions. Due to the nature of my already dry skin, I’m prone to it being itchy or flaky if I don’t exfoliate on a regular basis. Plus, who doesn’t want to have smooth skin all the time? Especially if you’re like me and are semi-addicted to self-tanning. You don’t want to have patchy dry skin while your tan is fading off.

A little background on GRATiAE. It’s a Canadian premium skin-care company that offers certified organic products. They take minerals from the water and combines them with Sea of Galilee native flora and organic essential oils. Love how they adopted the name GRATiAE, as it originally came from the Roman empire who named the spring GRATIAE, meaning The Three Graces, after the goddess of charm, beauty and fertility in Roman Mythology.

To be quite honest, I don’t read labels to make sure that they’re organic, before putting them onto my skin. But the short ingredient list on these products definitely make me appreciate it. I mean, I don’t intend to put unknown chemicals into my skin with body lotions, but it happens with generic brands. Speaking of which, which body lotion/scrub do you use on a regular basis? 

The Passion Fruit & Ginger GRATiAE body butter soaked into my skin but left my body feeling very moisturized for plenty of hours later. It felt rich but not too thick and the scent? Oh man, it literally smelled like a pina colada which smells great but tastes gross, haha.

Passion Fruit & Lime GRATiAE exfoliating body scrub.

The scrub itself was a dry almost salt-like consistency. I found that the body scrub did its job, on wet skin while in the shower and it wasn’t difficult to work with. Some scrubs end up rolling up into a little ball and doing nothing while I’m in the shower. This one was effective, and left me feeling very moisturized after. Had somewhat of a “greasy” after-touch.

Both products shown above retails for $59.99. A little steep, but that’s what you get for a luxury product. Will I re-purchase these products once I run out? Probably not. Only reason, is that they’re quite pricy and a wee bit out of my price range. If they lower the cost, I would reconsider for sure.

I also got a few mini samples of the lifting facial serum, and lifting moisture cream. Nice little moisturizers for sure. I usually use a serum at night before bed, and then moisturizers in the morning.

The packaging is in this luxurious looking tubs, ready to be whipped up on my body after a nice hot soothing shower. Unfortunately right now they’re only in Alberta, and Nova Scotia but you can view on their facebook page a full list of GRATiAE retail locations.

You can find GRATiAE on twitter, and on Facebook!

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A healthy take on my snacks

Many people have nick-named me Candy Girl. So it’s no surprise to anyone, that I have a big ol’ sweet tooth.

I’m surprised I don’t have more cavities than I do. Surprisingly enough, since I just went to the dentist yesterday to get a check up. Everything’s good to go. Until next checkup! Yay free toothbrushes :)

In fact, here is my current candy stash. A wedding the Boyf & I went to while we were home, had a candy bar! Fill up your own Chinese-takeout box. You betchur bottom dollar I filled that baby right to the brim!

Steering away from the unhealthy snacks for a bit, it’s good to branch out and not always have bad sugars while sitting at a desk job 9-5. Three Works sent over some dried apple snacks for me to try out.

I didn’t hesitate at all. Mainly because one of my favorite fruits are apples. Honey Crisps to be exact. Plus, Three Works is a Canadian company, and I love supporting the locals!

I ended up getting an assortment of four different flavors. Plus, the small tins? The whole entire tin contains just 100 calories! Madness. I’d gobble that thing right up.

When I first opened the package, it was sealed up with one of those paper lids underneath but also in its own little baggie too! This company is taking extra care in their packaging, making sure the apple chips don’t get stale, I’m telling ya that right now.

Scrumptious.

First thoughts? It was quite light, and very crunchy.  As someone who used to enjoy crunching on ice cubes (I gave that up, ha ha) it was enjoyable.

These would be great sitting at my office at work, or of course incorporated into school lunches or what have you. I have the caramel one’s opened at work, and I’m definitely not sharing. The taste of caramel isn’t overpowering at all. Just the right amount, I’d say.

Quick tidbits on Apple Chips:

  • Gluten Free
  • GMO Free (no idea what that means)
  • Non-fried
  • Fat Free
  • Healthier than potato chips
  • They’re Canadian!

Three Works Apple Chips are sold in major retailers across Canada including Safeway, Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart and Longos.

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