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Surfers, Blue Bottle Coffee and Pacific Ocean Views

June 10, 2015 42 Comments

My friend Jenna lucked out during her week long trip to California. I had a completely blocked itinerary for her as soon as she arrived at the San Jose airport. I’m not saying it was so cholker-blocked that she couldn’t relax, it was the epitome of relaxation if I do say so myself. Hotel stays, wine tours and spa treatments â€”Â I’m tellin’ ya, not everyone is going to get that type of treatment. I’ve known Jenna since we were three years old, and it’s been close to 4 years since we’ve seen each other in person. It was long overdue for a girls trip, so I invited her down to Sunny California. Except, it happened to be really chilly and only kinda sunny the entire time she was here. Whoops. Can’t change Mother Nature.

Blue-Bottle-HanaHaus

After our overnight trip to San Francisco came to an end, we woke up at a reasonable hour, packed up our belongings and started the drive down to Carmel. To break up our 2 hour commute I swung by the city of Palo Alto and stopped at the new Hana Haus Blue Bottle coffee shop. More on that place later, but it’s a beautiful spot to relax and/or work if you so choose. I had to show her all the cool spots, you know.

Then we stopped for lunchÂ Â at one ofÂ favourite brunch spots in Los Altos: Bumble (see what I did my first visit to Bumble)! We had a nice little lunch on their adult patio away from any children, and had a grand ol’ chat, catching up. After we were done there, we took our time driving down the scenic Highway 1 to Carmel.

I always love to stay at the warm and welcoming Hofsas House when visiting Carmel. I surprised my husband for his birthday last year for a trip down to Carmel as a late honeymoon gift for the both of us, so I knew Hofsas House was the place to go once again. I love going there!

Our room was so spacious, quite large really! Such an airy, and sweet feeling room. Perfect for our little getaway for just the two of us.

Talk about being spoiled. A bottle of red plus some chocolates and wine walk tour tickets were waiting for us in the room as we arrived. We definitely hit up the Wine Walk tour right away but not before showing Jenna the little town of Carmel and taking her to the serene Carmel beach, hoowee!

The sand here is the softest I have ever felt underneath my feet. Surfers galore. Dogs frolicking on the beach and couples holding hands. My heart was swooing! Can you now see why I love this place so much that I need to take every visitor here?

Carmel-woods

After a quick visit to the beach, since it was windy and chilly, we walked around the downtown core, and did the self-guided Wine Walk Tour and sampled wines at three different wine tasting rooms before heading off to supper.

This one being my favourite. Because, how fun is it to pretend you’re taking a bath drinking wine? It’d be better if the tub was filled up and in my own bathroom. Hehe! Cheers to that!

After our wine tastings were over with, we walked back to our room at Hofsas House, grabbed some warmer clothes and got ready for supper.

WeÂ headed out for a quick 15 minute drive up north to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove to have a meal at The Beach House in our trusty 2015 Prius Five that took us everywhere on our week long excursion. I never thought about buying a red car, and not for any real reason to be honest. But doesn’t this red just pop out at you?

I don’t know what place is prettier, Pacific Grove or Carmel. Both places are absolutely breathtaking. This was our balcony-type view from The Beach House, in Pacific Grove. I mean. Come on! Watching the sunset while eating supper with this view… unreal, and nothing like I’ve ever experienced in my life. We couldn’t stop raving about it.

Our meals at The Beach House hit the spot, but the winners of the entire meal was most definitely the home made ice cream cakes. I’m still thinking of how good they both were.

After we finished our delicious meals, we drove around Pacific Grove for a little bit just as the sun was setting. Perfect timing for that golden hour photo op, am I right? I think I have a thing for taking photos of trees. Especially the ones around this area, they’re really cool looking.

Once we were back in our room at Hofsas House, we lit a fire and hung out for the rest of the evening, watching a bit of TV before falling asleep. The next morning, we woke up super early because I wanted to take Jenna back to Carmel Beach for some more photos then off to Point Lobos (you can see more photos here from when my Husband and I went). I’ll let the photos do the talking for themselves…

Secluded beaches = everythingÂ dreams are made of.

Hooray for my camera balancing on the edge of a fence, and me racing down to beat the self-timer count down. Oof!

That next day when we went to Point Lobos, we were heading back to San Jose â€”Â but not before doing a bit of outlet shopping in Gilroy.Â Such a fun way to end this leg of the trip! Stay tuned for the San Jose staycation in Santana Row which will be up next week sometime.

Hofsas House
San Carlos St, Carmel, CA 93921
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The Beach House at Lovers Point
620 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove, CA 93950
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Disclaimer: Thank you to Hofsas House in Carmel, and The Beach House in Pacific Grove for hosting our stay andÂ feeding us yummy supper!

Beauty, Reviews

Dior Addict Tie Dye Lipsticks

June 6, 2015 4 Comments

That’s right there? A lot of the goodies from Dior Tie Dye summer 2015 collection. Look at it in all its glory. Hoowee, tons of fun colours to play with, and many A+ products.

Four universally flattering colours, four easy to wear lipsticks that are more like tinted lip balms. Glossy, pigmented, comfortable on the lips and easy to apply without a mirror. Success. My kinda lip product.

These four limited edition lipsticks have a two-tone colour in them, with that second colour in the Christian Dior logo all the way through the entire tube. The two toned is meantÂ to mimic a tie dye effect to the lips, and gives off a smooth glossy finish.

Left to right: 002 Coral Trip, 005 FuchsiaÂ Utopia, Red Bliss 001, Nude Fever 006.

Same combo as above, swatched on my arm.Â Left to right: 002 Coral Trip, 005 FuchsiaÂ Utopia, Red Bliss 001, Nude Fever 006.

Here’s how they lookÂ on me.Â 002 Coral Trip.

005 Fuchsia Utopia.

001 Red Bliss.

006 Nude Fever.

What do you think of the Dior Tie Dye collection so far? Did you miss Tuesday’s blog post where I walked you through a makeup look I did for that day?

Beauty, Reviews

Dior Tie Dye . Beauty Talk Tuesday

June 2, 2015 22 Comments

Makeup looks, and not necessarily product reviews of makeup, are probably one of my favourite types of beauty posts to do. That way you can truly see how to use a collection, or a various amount of makeup brands on one’s face. This time I’m going to stick to mainly products from Dior’s latest line: their Tie Dye summer 2015 collection.

So many fun colours for the lips, cheeks and even eyes. As per usual, I kept things pretty tame on the face and went for yet another every day type of look. Throughout the next few weeks I’m going to be posting a bit about the new Tie Dye collection, so stay tuned â€”Â because I have a feeling I’ll even be posting about it on Saturday’s too!

Can you tell I made this tutorial just after I woke up (and showered)? My eyes look super sleepy in the first few photos. Ignore that, and let’s get right into the look.
1. Diorsnow Global Transparency Essence. Did you know using a serum is like drinking a green juice for your skin? My skin is almost always sucked dry of moisture, so I’ve been applying some sort of serum both day and night to help bring some moisture back into my skin. This one is excellent and I do enjoy how it makes my skin feel especially in the morning after a whole night of rejuvination. However, I might have to skip on it if I were to buy it myself rather than it being sent for a review, considering the hefty price tag associated with it.
2. Dior Capture Totale Multi-Perfection Eye Treatment. Eye creams are a dime a dozen, whether they’re expensive or fit in your budget. I have a couple of favourite ones throughout my rotation, from everything to a thick hydrating one, to a lightweight one for other days.
3. Philosophy Full Of Promise moisturizer. For the cooler months I’ve been using this mositurizer as opposed to my favourite Hope In A JarÂ also by Philosophy. But I feel as though this one sinks in better when I am prone to my dry skin issues. It looks fantastic underneath makeup, causing a glowy look to the makeup.
4.Â Diorskin Nude BB Creme in 025. Look how much that tube of BB Creme has been used. A lot! Clearly I’m enjoying it after using it for 5 weeks straight. For day to day makeup I prefer a more lighweight applicationÂ and as an added bonus it has an SPF of 10. Now I don’t think SPF 10 is strong enough for my fair skin, so I apply an SPF after my moisturizer and before the foundation layer.
5. Cle de Peau concealer in Beige. I have been using this concealer in almost every makeup look I’ve done in the past year. It’s the concealer that just won’t come to an end. It’s brightening under the eyes and covers up that silly red circle on my cheek by my nose.

6. Diorshow Brow Styler in Universal Brown. I wish I was great at doing my eyebrows. But I feel like I’m not doing something right. I’m still practicing. Bonus is that there’s a little spooly hidden on the bottom side of the brow pencil. The Dior brow styler is similar to Anastasia’s Brow Whiz, and I have that one too, but I think the colour on that one is a little too red for me.
7. Clinique High Impact Mascara. Lengthen those lashes! I have about a handful of favourite mascaras. This being one, which is excellent for an everyday look. Nothing too drastic.
8. Dior Tie Dye blush in Nude Tan. Perfectly pigmented to give a coral glow to the cheeks
9. bareMinerals California Bronzer. Add a bit of sun-kissed bronzer to achieve the perfect California Bronze. If you haven’t seen my review/tutorial on this it’s over here!
10. Dior Addict Tie Dye Lipstick in 001 Red Bliss. More like a tinted glossy lip balm, you don’t need a mirror to apply this like I had originally though. Toss it into your purse and reapply when you’re on the go.
11. Dior Lip Mazimizer Collagen Activ in 006. Adding another extra bit of gloss to the final look, I used this lip plumper. Alright, so I have to be honest. This one is pretty similar to my go-to lip plumper by Buxom lip glosses, but Buxom gives an icy cooling to the lips, where the Dior one is a bit warm. So, it’s taking a bit of getting used to. The colour is gorgeous though, a nude colour which can easily be paired on top of other lip products.