Beauty, Photos, Reviews

Have you heard of Antipodes?

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Antipodes-Connect-W-NatureAntipodes is a brand I reached out to, because I was genuinely interested in trying out. They are a New Zealand based natural, certified organic skincare + makeup brand that definitely knows their stuff. As I get older, the more I want to simplify my makeup routine, and focus more on protecting the ageing of my skin (preferably slowing it down as much as possible), and keeping it plump, hydrated and as healthy as it can be. Although, it all comes down to the fact of what you put in your body, not just topically with lotions and potions. But I won’t ramble on about how one needs to maintain a healthy diet/workout regime.

It’s going to take me a while to try out these products one by one, and genuinely give my honest feedback, if you’ve been following me on twitter or instagram you know I’ve been having a daily hive breakout for over a month. I have a high standard when it comes to reviewing products, either I reach out to the brands I’d like to work with, or I say yes to the brands I already know and trust. Then again there’s the odd time where I try something new, because that’s always fun.

First up, the easiest product to talk about, a hand and body cream:

Antipodes-JubilationGood golly, I will probably be out of this cream in no time. It’s the Jubilation hand and body cream suited to most skin conditions, especially dry. Not to mention, hoooooboy their packaging — they got it all down pat, let me tell you that much. Kinda ritzy looking, right? I feel fancy yet a bit like a guinea pig trying all these goodies out, mainly due to the fact that I sometimes go ahead and apply products to one side of my face, or one leg and not the other, and so on. It’s what I did the first time using the Jubilation cream. It sunk into my skin quickly and I didn’t apply it to the other leg at all — checking the status of the moisturization, and it felt smooth the entire day. I swear it lasted 10+ hours, I was definitely feelin’ up the right leg of mine quite a bit.

The scent is something I have never smelled before in my entire life. It’s a combo of pure plant fragrance of fig, feijoa and wild blackcurrant. So smoosh that together in your brain and imagine the scent. Can ya do it? You guys might already know that I don’t like anything vanilla/too sweet, and more of a natural, fresh, or spa like scent to it. I feel like this hand and body cream is unisex as it has a bit of a musky undertone to it.

Here’s the kicker: it’s $45 USD. Ouch. However, a nice splurge for yourself once in a while, right? To be honest, I don’t know if I love the product to drop that much money on it, but it certainly is a nice treat. And that cream spillage in the picture? It was totally used up on my hands after I was done photographing it.

Not to worry about shipping from Antipodes New Zealand, because they have an online store for the USA shoppers.

Prefer natural + organic skincare? Try @AntipodesNZ
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More product reviews from Antipodes coming soon! Promise! Just give me a few weeks to try out the products in order to give you my best opinion on them all.

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Daily, Food, Photos, Reviews

Weekend Recap

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Oh man, I miss doing weekend recaps, even though they weren’t a regular thing; they’re still fun to do!

White Shellac NailsI’m going on week 3 (as of today!) of having my white shellac manicure. Not a chip in sight, just a bit of growth. The woman I went to was a perfectionist and added an ungodly amount of layers which I started to get worried about. It turned out to be the best manicure I’ve had in my life. That picture is from the first day I got it done, looks nice hey? 

My husband is upping his ante with training now. Ironman Lake Tahoe isn’t too far away now, so it’s crunch time. Just hope that this year it’s not cancelled like last years was, ON RACE MORNING. Ughhh. Every weekend he is gone for basically half the day. Putting in 6 hours on a bike, following up with a 30km run after, and yes he is totally using my spibelt that I reviewed not too long ago, he’s honestly loving that fannypack haha.

Running outfitHe and I go on runs together, with Alfie every weekend too. Except, it’s nowhere close to 30 clicks. 6 kilometres is enough for me, and I’m there drenched, sweat pouring down my back. I’m looking at getting some new sneakers soon! I have had these Mizuno Wave’s for a while. This might sound random, but I am really loving both the (red) Handful bra that I got from the Title Nine event, and the Target Champion sports bra’s. I have the Target one in white. It’s pretty, especially under a colourful lululemon tank.

Let’s talk about Sunday dinners. Who loves’em?

Sunday-dinnerLast night I made salmon my new favourite way: equal parts mustard + vinegar (1 tbsp is enough for 2 salmon fillet’s), and top with fav toppings such as cherry tomatoes, feta, dill and a splash of lemon juice. On the side I cooked up some baby carrots with a dollop of butter, Chef Sophiane’s side of roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes from Eat Mise, and broccoli/cauliflower, then a spinach salad to devour first. Sunday dinners is what I long for — except I’m not a huge fan of spending a ton of time in the kitchen, especially after we both get back from a run together. I still want to have a nice hearty meal to sit down and enjoy with my husband though, so adding a few sides to help in preparation definitely is worth it.

Dessert was a fine mixture of three delightful desserts, also provided by Eat Mise. Although I ordered sides and desserts, they do offer entrées to choose from too. Apparently they will be rotating their menu each month, which is exciting. I really hope the start-up takes off, and I wish them all the best. I’ll definitely be ordering from them again in the future. Eat-Mise-desserts

  • French Chocolate Cake with Blueberries by Chef Sang Ae: There were 2 layers to this, the first was definitely chocolatey, and the second had almost a dense cookie texture. This was our 2nd favourite of the trio.
  • Apple Tarte Tatin by Chef Sang Ae and Chef Sophiane: Unfortunately we both were not a fan of the apple tatin. It wasn’t sweet, and had almost a sour rum flavour (not to be confused with gone off), we were expecting it to taste more like apple pie, somewhat.
  • Beet & Berry Cheesecake by Chef Charles: Give me all the cheesecake! All of it. We both were digging into this one moreso than the other two. Although it didn’t look like the picture, it still tasted nice and creamy, with a nice shortbread crust.

To give you a bit of history on Mise, it’s a start-up company in San Francisco that I ended up contacting back in July, asking if they’d be interested in me being one of their first testers when their site launched just a few days ago. Heck yeah and they said YES! And guess what? I’m not getting paid to say anything about them, I was given a $20 credit and I was genuinely interested in trying out some of their foods from the Chef’s.

Mise‘s belief is to spend more quality time with your friends and family, and less time disappearing into the kitchen to check on things. I think this would be an ideal thing for people who have busy lives at work, and aren’t a fan of cooking in general, because the cost of the meals aren’t really too bad. When you add in free delivery and no tip required (says so on their website, it’s not me being a stindge here lol), it’s pretty decent. Plus, who doesn’t love getting dishes from local chefs, especially prepared in small batches so you know it’s not cooked and waiting in a fridge days beforehand. Their dishes arrive chilled, never frozen. Eat Mise makes real meals, meaning no added preservatives, straight from local chefs – gotta say, I’m pretty excited to read one of the items I got was made from a French chef.

OH MAN… how did I forget to mention this! I cannot believe I am getting to review hair extensions. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it, because I mean… it was someone elses hair before it’s going to go on my head. They arrived at my doorstep a few minutes ago, and I hope that I can put them in my hair and have them be somewhat undetectable. Don’t worry, there will probably be a funny YouTube video about it, or a very honest blog post, haha!

I’m looking forward to the end of this week, because there are a few events happening in San Francisco — will I see you at the Makeup Show SF, or San Francisco Sustainable Fashion Week events? I might vlog the two events, if I don’t get all awkward and weird :)

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Beauty, Daily, Photos, Reviews

Go ahead, let them think you were Born This Way

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Too-Faced-BTWWe all know hyaluronic acid is incredible for the skin. But have you ever heard of it infused into a foundation? If you’re at all into makeup like I am, and love coming to spiffykerms on Tuesday’s for… Beauty Talk Tuesday, you might already know that Too Faced Cosmetics has released a new foundation called Born This Way. It comes in 12 shades for you to choose from, with 6 more launching this fall. I heard that it was comparable to my wedding day foundation, Estee Lauder Double Wear. Now, I have a fond place in my heart for that foundation and it is up on a pedestal with the Dior Hydra Life BB Cream.

Born-This-Way-FoundationDo I think Too Faced Born This Way and Estee Lauder Double Wear are on the same page? Well, I think they’re in the same family. More like Too Faced is the little sister to Estee Lauder’s foundation. Both fantastic products, but I wouldn’t say it’s a duplicate.

Natural-and-Light-BeigeLeft to right swatches: Natural Beige, Light Beige.

Back to the hyaluronic acid talk for a quick minute. Don’t be wary of the word hyaluronic acid, as it’s not harmful to the skin regardless of it having the word “acid” in there. Preferably speaking, I think the word acid should be eliminated from that word altogether, but that’s besides the point. Hyaluronic acid is commonly used in skincare, moreso than makeup. It keeps moisture into your skin which then adds fullness and adds that youthful appearance — because, hello hydration. Keep drinking that water you guys. Any skin type, even oily, can benefit from hyaluronic acid — look that ingredient in your serums and moisturizer, especially if you have dry skin.

Too Faced Born This Way foundation is a trio of hyaluronic acid, coconut water (!!!) and alpine rose (which brightens the skins appearance) and is a lightweight yet medium to full coverage foundation that glides onto the skin. Something I look for in a foundation, as I have dry skin and don’t want to be re-applying or having it cling to any dry patches. I’ve applied it using both a beauty blender sponge, and with a foundation brush, both have given me coverage that I’ve been pleased with.

TooFaced-Melted-Lipstick

TF-Candlelight-in-hand

TooFaced-CandlelightCheck out my entire look below, where I also try out the Too Faced Melted Lipstick in the colour Melted Peony, and the Candlelight Glow translucent powder, also by the same brand.

1-41. Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair Cream: My favourite extra hydrating and extra thick eye cream. You should keep your under eye area hydrated! Do you? :)

2. Philosophy Hope In A Jar: A lightweight yet hydrating and moisturising face cream I have been using for years. Depending on my skins needs I swap between the Hope In A Jar, or the Full Of Promise both by philosophy,

3. Too Faced Born This Way Foundation: I applied the foundation in the colour Natural Beige with a damp beauty blender sponge for flawless, yet a luminous and dewy finish to the skin.

4. Dior Fix It: This is a new 2-in-1 prime and conceal for your face, eyes or lips. In this case, I used it under my eyes to brighten them up and cover any dark circles.

5-75. Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Cream Bronzer in Warm Tan: If it comes in a cream product formula, you betcha I am trying it out. This Warm Tan cream bronzer only works well when I have a nice summer tan going on, otherwise it can look a little orange on the skin. Luckily, I applied a light coat self-tanner the night before.

6. Dior Brow Styler in Universal Brown: Quickly becoming a holy grail in my makeup bag. This brown pencil is perfect for anyone new to filling in their eyebrows, a little stiff but still applies colour easily and beautifully with ease.

7. MAC Paint in Bare Canvas: This is a skin primer I like to use on my eyelids to even out any redness or veins that may appear. It’s absolutely perfect for a base for oily eyelids (like I have) for prepping them for eyeshadow, as it doesn’t crease and makes the eyeshadows appear bright and vibrant once applied on the skin. However, considering I don’t wear eyeshadow often, I like to use the Bare Canvas Paint on its own to simply even out my eyelid skin.

8-108. Too Faced Candlelight: To set everything in place I used this soft illuminating translucent powder to blur any pores and to make the foundation, concealer and bronzer stay put for the day. This setting powder has gold flecks in it (states that it has real gold in it), which adds a bit of radiance to the skin, making it appear glowy and light. It’s great, especially since I don’t like to powder my face because I prefer a dewier finish to my dry skin, but I’m lovin’ this! However, the packaging could use a bit of an upgrade, it works fine — it just doesn’t look high end. I’m being nit-picky though.

9. Too Faced Melted Lipstick in Melted Peony: This is my first time trying a melted lipstick before, and it can be applied as lightly or as heavily as you want, just layer it up and intensify the colour that way. This is a gorgeous, easy to wear baby pink colour — which I’d like to think is quite flattering on my skintone. I know this is a popular lip product, have you tried it? If you have, I’d love to know your favourite shade as I’d like to get a few more!

10. Dior Blush Cream Stick in Rosewood: Polish off your look with a bit of colour to the cheeks. This is a new cream blush stick from Dior, which recently released in their Fall 2015 collection. You can see me talk about it more in this YouTube video collaboration I did with my friend Megan.

The finished look, a natural but full coverage foundation. After-Too-Faced-Foundation

If you want to see a step-by-step video of me applying this entire look, I walk you through the steps visually, explaining it all.

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