CrossFit, Fashion, Health, Photos

Is Lululemon worth the price?

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Are we paying through the nose for a brand name, or are we paying for quality?

Here I am wearing a $99.00 Lululemon on the left, and a $14.99 Costco item on the right. Which one is better? That raises a great question. When lululemon first came out it was designed, and manufactured in Vancouver, BC Canada.

When I was home for the Christmas holidays I went to Costco with my Mom to pick up a few things. I noticed the inexpensive active wear and picked up a white zip up jacket. At first glance I looked down at my clothing and thought they fit the same on my body. That was until I took a photograph of the two on the same day, and saw that there was noticeable difference in the two. For comparison sake, I am wearing a size 4 Lululemon Run: Distance Pullover (no longer online but here is something similar), and the Costco zipup is a size small.

I’m not sure why I tend to favor white warmup tops, because I can’t seem to get over the fact that my deodorant stains the armpits a faint yellow in such a short time. Both the Lululemon pullover, and the zipup from Costco are equally as “stained” however the Lululemon one was purchased in January 2011 and the Costco in December 2011. I try not to wear my Lululemon one as often because it was so expensive. So I tend to wear the zipup one more to CrossFit. Plus, it’s easier to get off quicker as it’s a full zip and not a half.

You can notice that both tops have the thumb hole’s. But in the arm area of the Costco version, it’s larger. I feel like the Costco one fits great in the body, but could do with a smaller arm size. The Lululemon one is tight all over and as for the thumb loops, they fit great. Except when you want to fold the flap over to have it cover your hands fully. I feel like my fingers would feel more comfortable if they’re straight out, but the Lululemon hand covers make them curled. Does that make sense?

I haven’t purchased anything from the Lululemon website in ages. Mainly for the fact that 3 pairs of my 4 crops that I own by them have had stitching come undone after the first few wears! C’mon, how does that happen? Lululemon’s customer service is pretty top notch though. I sent in photos and they examined them and said it was a quality control issue. Darn right it was. My legs aren’t that muscular, to break threads like that.

Lululemon is still designed in Canada, but now manufactured in China.  This happened a number of years ago, therefor I felt that the quality of the items at Lululemon are no longer what they used to be. There seems to be more pilling issues happening on the groove pants, and of course the noted threads coming undone on the empower crops, and zoom crops that I own. Perhaps I’m coming cheaper in my old age (lol) but I expect a lot more from a pair of $100 pants, or top. Which is why I wanted to compare the two: Lululemon vs Costco.

The fabric on the Lululemon top feels a bit more luxurious but if you felt both at separate times, you’d think they were made from the exact same material. The Costco version is a fraction of the cost, but the quality is way up there. I think that if Costco made their jackets a little more fitted like Lululemon, more people would buy from them. Sure I as heck am going to keep shopping there, especially if my parents have an ongoing membership at Costco. But that means I’ll also have to wait til I fly back to Newfoundland to shop there.

I don’t have any complaints about the Costco jacket whatsoever. Just little nit picky things about the fit. As for Lululemon, sure they have amazing designs, keep bringing out great products, and the jacket I’m wearing above looks better as there are different seams and colors incorporated into the design. But overall, I’m not sure if it’s worth the hundred bucks anymore. Will I keep shopping there? Well, yes quite frankly I will — because they always have good sales on their online store plus free shipping. They just need to address the quality control issues on the pants. Until then I won’t buy any more crops from them.

Do you have any expensive workout clothes, or do you stick to non-name brand such as Costco?

I’m off to mail my parents an Easter surprise package in this massive corrugated box. I hope shipping costs isn’t through the roof! (I’m covering their address with my hand in case you’re wondering what the random high five’ing of the box was for).

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Daily, Hair, Health, Photos

How to get your hair healthy

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I’m on my last installment of my morning routine. First you saw my skincare routine, then makeup routine where you see how I achieve an airbrush makeup look (both which are permanently linked over on the right hand bar) My hair was unhealthy and dry for a number of years of shampooing, blow drying and straightening it every single day.

In August before I flew off to San Diego I went to my hair salon and told them to chop it until it was healthy. He cut off quite a bit of hair. But it’s only gotten better since he’s done so. I no longer have layers in my hair. Who ever thought that putting layers in baby fine hair was a dingbat.

Recently, I asked my hair stylist if I should go get long layers when my hair gets to my ideal length. He said no way, as it looked messy and unkept in his opinion. Alright sir, you know what you’re doing. I’m loving every cut he’s given me, so I should trust what he says. I was straightening my hair so much my hair didn’t go straight anymore since it was that damaged. I reversed the effects of the use of a hair straightener. Go figure! Look at that frizz.

What do I do to keep my hair healthy and in top notch shape now? From August — December 2011 I still shampooed, and blow dried every single day. I didn’t end up flat ironing it because I frankly didn’t need to do so. In the states I picked up this Boar Bristle hair brush from Sephora which I blogged about.

Boar bristles are natural and won’t damage your hair. But they may hurt your scalp if you press too hard on it. I’m now used to it as I’ve been using it for a number of months. Plus you can kind of mold your hair straight with the manipulation of this brush. Occasionally I’d straighten it, and come into work and flaunt my hair off to Julie (hi friend!) and she mentioned my hair did not look any different than the day before. Huh! Weird hey? Well, now my straightener can go to heck, because I clearly don’t need it to achieve the look.

I use a hair serum and use a pump or two in my damp hair, focusing on the ends, and then putting it in my hair again once its dry, to leave it silky smooth, and shiny and frizz free. So that’s all I’ve been doing and my hair has grown a tremendous amount since then. I go to get my hair trimmed every 12 weeks now and my hair stylist always compliments me and tells me to keep doing what I’m doing. When I first went to him in the early summer the front ends of my hair were very thin and sparse as I straightening that part of my hair the most. It was breaking, and so brittle and dry.

He fixed that by chopping it all off in August. After taking care of my hair, the last photo shown is what my hair looks like now. Without the use of a hair straightener, I think I used it 4 times since August. See the difference six months can make?

(click to enlarge image)

January threw everything for a loop and I decided to try out only washing my hair 2-3 times per week. While it’s a learning curve for sure. Learning how to tease my crown so I don’t look bald from rubbing the back of my head on my pillow all night long, causing my hair to separate oddly, to using hair spray to keep things in place.

In order of usage on days that I wash my hair.

  • Lush shampoo bar
  • Walmart conditioner
  • The Body Shop wooden wide tooth comb
  • Kérastase Elixir Ultime hair serum
  • Aveda ceramic round brush
  • Sephora boar bristle brush

Days that I don’t wash my hair I use:

  • Principessa dry shampoo
  • L’Oreal hair spray

Embrace your natural hair as much as possible. Sure I treat myself and straighten or curl it once in a while. But for the most part it’s all the work of patience, a boar bristle brush and hair serums. I’ll get into detail more about the hair serum I use in a few days. I LOVE IT.

See related posts:

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Daily, Health, Photos

Makeup routine

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I wear makeup almost on a daily basis. I like how it evens out my skin tone and makes me look not-so sunburnt. I have the reverse effect of raccoon eyes meaning that I have a really white under eye area and rosy cheeks. Not to be confused with rosacea.

Shown in order, here are the products I use on my face on a daily basis. I’ll get further into it below but I don’t wear two foundations on my face each day, but just switch them out whenever I’m feeling it. Same goes for the under eye concealers, I don’t wear them on a regular basis.

After my simplified skincare routine I apply foundation. My go-to was Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation until they took it off the shelves to reformulate it to a Moisture Supreme foundation which is now a thicker, greasier, heavier consistency. I have disowned that particular product but still love the brand itself. Since I have dry skin, I like to have a dewier finish rather than a matte, flat look to my face.  I’d rather look hydrated with luminous foundation than look like I haven’t exfoliated and have dry flaky dandruff like skin on my face. I’ve been using Marcelle BB Cream as my new foundation. You can see a full on routine that I blogged about here.

I am a huge fan of foundation and would purchase the most expensive bottle, if it worked for me. That is the only one item I will splurge on, because I think it is so worth while to me, personally. I recently bought the Bobbi Brown Luminous Foundation but I haven’t used it enough to say that it is my holy grail foundation that will ultimately replace Laura Mercier’s Moisturizing foundation. I’m still a little disappointed that they did discontinue my favorite foundation.

Ever since I had my weird flare up in using a certain eye cream I have been really hesitant on putting too much on my face. If I really feel the need to put under eye concealer on, I use the Bobbi Brown Corrector in the color bisque. I use the absolute smallest amount you could put on your finger. Literally a pin point and blend it in. If I have a red mark on my face from a blemish I use Laura Mercier Secret Concealer. Though I haven’t used that one in ages.

The next thing that goes on my face is one of my favorites. The bronzer. Not sure how to apply it? Here is a video I filmed on how to apply bronzer. I’m not too partial on a certain bronzer but I have gone through a few boxes of Benefit Hoola, I have also tried Laura Mercier Bronzing Pressed Powder, and next to use up will be my Vasanti Brazilian Bronzer.

I’ve been using blush lately just because I have it and I like to use different colored blushes on my cheeks to give it a varied flushed look to my skin. Right now I’m using E.L.F Blush in the color candid coral.

I don’t need to use mascara as my eyelashes are one of everyone’s favorite feature of mine. People have joked about how envious they are of me for having such long lashes. I use mascara to make them more obnoxious and volumized. My day-to-day mascara is Vasanti Long Lash mascara. It’s decent for every day wear since it’s not too in your face. It gives your lashes a nice coat and doesn’t flake and leave residue underneath your eyes at the end of the day. When I want them to look like false lashes I use my all time favorite duo which is the Makeup Forever Smokey Lash then Buxom Lash layered on top.

I know a ton of people are a fan of MAC Cosmetics, and I did a MAC makeup review back in 2009 of all the information still remains accurate in my opinion, so check that out too if you’re interested. I don’t wash my brushes daily anymore more like ever 3-4 applications.

See my skincare routine below:

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