A gift set, from me to you!

If I really enjoy something, I rave about it. So much so that I influence other people to buy their products.

For instance, it’s no secret that I enjoy Fossil leathers & watches, Make Up For Ever mascaras and even the philosophy skin care line. My co-worker showed me her new purse and iPad cover that she bought from Fossil yesterday. YESTERDAY. I took photos of it, so it’ll be up on my site soon. When I went out to dinner with my blog/twitter girls, one of them mentioned she bought a Fossil watch due to the fact that I raved about them so much.

Well, I’m sure you already know that I have been loving the Philosophy Purity product —it’s the only facial cleanser that I will allow on my face. I bought a 700ml bottle of it and I just used up the last drop of it last weekend. Thankfully, I have backups in sample forms and I am currently using that.

travel-makeup-bagSilly me – I don’t know why it’s not even in my make up bag. It shoud’ve been in this photo.

Plus? Philosophy will be at BlissDom Canada this year and I get to say hi to the folks I’ve been talking with via e-mail for the past… oh, forever. They get to meet the Philosophy addict (ahem, me) right in the flesh. Lucky them!

Enough talk about how much I love them. Hopefully you will start to enjoy them as much as I do because they have a great deal going on right now at Hudson’s Bay.

philosophy-giveaway-for-spi

Now until September 24, with the purchase of $65 worth of philosophy product, you will receive:

  • exclusive black tote featuring a polka dot ipad case
  • full size lip shine
  • purity deluxe cleanser
  • hope in a jar deluxe moisturizer

I have better news.

Whooo buddy, you guys are gettin’ spoiled! I’m giving away everything you see in the photo above with the deluxe samples included.

Pretty good right? Please note this giveaway will end on September 24 at midnight EST and is only open to Canadians. Please use the rafflecopter form below to enter :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Foundation Nation event at Make Up For Ever with Troy Jensen!

Longest blog post title ever. But I’m calling it what it was.

The Foundation Nation event at Make Up For Ever with Troy Jensen was an experience I’ll always cherish.

I feel like Make Up For Ever has taken me under their wings and helped me immensely, with growing not only my blog but with me as a person. Once I arrived at Sephora in the Toronto Eaton Centre, I was greeted with sincere heartfelt hugs from the girls I know on the Make Up For Ever team. It’s so good to know them mostly all by name and being greeted with such authenticity.

make up for ever event sept14 2013My peeps and I. hahah Just kidding. I don’t know half the people in the pic. Lindsey (blonde hair) is the only one I know!

I feel so grateful that they keep inviting me to these fantastic once in a life time (for me) events because I’m not a beauty blogger. I don’t like putting labels on myself, and as I’ve said many times I can’t just stick to blogging about one topic because what if I get bored of what I talk about? Then I start getting fake and not being true to myself. I can’t let that happen sure, right? Which is why I blog about beauty, fashion, sports, my lifestyle and food! I love it all, and that’s how it’s going to stay. I’m not going to change — ain’t’ nobody got time for that!Troy Jensen

Celebrity make-up artist Troy Jensen* is touring with a Make Up For Ever’s Foundation Nation campaign promoting their new Pro Brush line and HD foundations. Troy was at Sephora Toronto Eaton Centre giving beauty bloggers tips and tricks on how to achieve a flawless complexion. Foundation Nation campaign was created to help women address their common challenges with foundation. How to stop colors from oxidizing, why to change up your foundation each season, and little tips and tricks on achieving certain looks.

* Troy has done countless makeup looks for Kim Kardashian! Fan girl alert!tory-jensen-in-toronto

I must’ve had an inquisitive face and to my surprise he asked me directly if I had a question for him. A little caught off guard, usually I’d go blank in that sort of situation and shake my head no. But I ended up asking him a few questions. I’m more into skincare and complexions than playing with make up so it’s right up my ally when I want to learn how to look create an even, natural complexion with some luminosity.

Did you know that you should be swapping out your foundations each season? I sure didn’t until Troy told us! I always wanted a dewy luminous look to my skin, year round. I do self-tan often but do have varying shades of the foundations I wear. I’m going to have to research a little more on what types of foundations will work for my dehydrated skin coming up in these cooler months.tory jensen_

Some of the tips he mentioned was that when creating a contour on your face, rather than using bronzer he often simply uses a darker foundation shade. Smart thinkin’.

Make Up For Ever tweeted this photo during the event. I spot me!mufe-tweet

 

how-close-i-was-to-troy-jenGah. So close.

Even closer ;)troy-jensen-and-me

After our intimate session with Troy Jensen we were each given mini consultations on complexions.

I was in tears laughing with Alisha, a resident make up artist from Make Up For Ever at Sephora Toronto Eaton Centre. She told me I was hilarious and full of energy. We were joking and carrying on, I simply did not want to leave the chair I was in! So much fun. Rather than having a foundation overhaul, we decided on going with a bold red-orange lip with some bronzing and highlighting on my face. Which was phenomenal. Loved the look Alisha created on me.lip stuff at make up for ever

I did learn a few tricks about lip liner, where to start and how to connect the ‘lines’ of the liner, also on how to work with a bigger lip ‘crayon’ which I have been using with other brands. She gave me tips on how to create a very sharp line with a tool like that.

makeupforever-booklet

She also bronzed and highlighted my face, complimenting me on my own makeup but mentioning I had great cheekbones and she wanted to emphasize that more. Alisha used #8c lipliner and #40 lipstick for my pop of colour, and #30 bronzer, #3 shine on (highlighter) for my face using the new 112 Straight & Wavy brush that I got to take home with me! Along with a goody bag with the Sepia Blue eye shadow palette.make-up-for-ever-products

Thanks again, Make Up For Ever! My statement could not be more true:makeupforever-tweets

Here are some links to where you can find Troy and his work:

Check back tomorrow and see what’s inside all my shopping bags when I went to a blogger meet up after the event! toronto-buys

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I’m going to BlissDom Canada!

Blissdom Canada

Heck yeah buddy. I’m going to BlissDom Canada in October!

Chevrolet Canada, one of the main sponsors of BlissDom has given me a ticket to attend the blogging conference in Mississauga from October 3-5. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to be getting to the conference just yet, but I have booked off Friday October 4 off work to attend. Travelling there isn’t really set in concrete but I’ll probably end up taking my own car. I’ll only be staying one night at the Delta Meadowvale hotel where the conference is happening and I’ve noticed that Philosophy (one of my favorite skin care lines) is set up in the bathrooms.

 Get those eagle eyes to work.delta-meadowvale

This will be my first experience with BlissDom Canada, as last year I attended the She’s Connect Conference in Toronto and the year before that, BlogHer in California.

BlissDom and Meadowvale Hotel has given us some pretty great deals when it came to booking my hotel room. Free wifi in all the rooms and free parking. There’s even a Starbucks served on site, full gym facilities and of course as I mentioned… Philosophy products in the room. Can’t wait to enjoy it all. Unfortunately I leave in the morning on the 4th, for the event. Which just happens to be my boyfriends birthday. Oops. I will make it up to him. He’s been gone on my birthday before too ;)

I’m most excited about meeting the faces I’ve been e-mailing the past year or so (Hi Sarah, from Philosophy! Hi Kaitlin from Chevy!) and meeting new blog friends to connect with and relate to. Since I’ve been blogging since 2003 or even longer (I honestly cannot remember when I started), I feel like I can’t pack any more into my brain about blogging. But I always welcome and appreciate attending the seminars throughout the conference.

nancy-button2I’ll do my best to tweet and instagram throughout the event on the weekend of October 4 and 5, and possibly handing out free swag from a favourite company of mine with my business card button attached. So stay tuned for that.

16 more days until BlissDom Canada starts!

Will I see you there?

Have you ever been to a blogging conference?

By the way! I created a facebook page for spiffykerms. I have no idea what I’m doing yet but if you want to like the page, feel free and I’ll love you forever.

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