Beauty, Daily

The pop up Makeup Show SF

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The Makeup Show is the largest pro-only makeup event in the United States dedicated to artistry, networking, community, inspiration and education. A few weeks prior to the event I received an invite to go to the blogger preview.

Um, YES I will be there!

So on August 29th I ventured out bright and early that Saturday morning to attend the pop up Makeup Show in San Francisco (not the full-size show, which I can only imagine how HUGE it can get). Perhaps I got a little lost trying to find cheap parking along the way, but ended up getting there still 30 minutes early with a pretty sweet parking spot that might’ve looked a little sketch. That’s what I call a success.

Bioderma at BeautyLishOf course, I wait in line for an American coveted product: bioderma micellar water. Although I’m Canadian and it’s readily available at many drug stores in Canada, I couldn’t help but line up at the Beautylish booth for the discount! I ended up picking up two mini’s because I don’t go through it that quickly since I use my purity by philosophy more often than Bioderma.

I’m telling you I wasn’t expecting it to be so incredibly busy and packed. Ladies and gents came prepared, with lists of what they wanted, what items cost, and lined up for the items on their want-list. I was in awe of it all, going around like a lost kitten trying to find its way. In fact, I even did my homework to scope out what brands would be there. But little did I know how busy it would be by the time I got around to shop and talk to all the brands I wanted to.

beautylish-buysI had no idea there was lipstick in that lipgloss package! I only discovered it as I was taking these pictures yesterday, ha!

I was in line paying for some Senna Cosmetics that cost $1.00 each (!!!), and the woman ahead of me ordered pretty much 10 of everything, if not more. I casually mentioned to her that she must like their products (considering I had never heard of the brand before), and she reported back to me in her soft voice that she came all the way from Africa, and needed to stock up. WHAT?! I looked down, and sure enough she had a rolly-suitcase with her by her side, stocking up on makeup. Holy f-bomb.

I ended up leaving earlier than I expected. You guys are probably sick and tired of me talking about my on-going hive situation, and I certainly hope it’s not part of my regular life, having chronic hives all the time. But it has a little bit to do with why I didn’t stay too long at the event that Saturday. The place ended up getting so packed that we were shuffling our feet trying to wiggle our way in and out of the crowd. I talked with a few brands, but not before they started looking at me a little odd. I headed to the washroom shortly after, only to realize my hives were out in full-force and add to that? I had blood shot eyes! It was embarrassing to say the least, so I ventured out of there and headed home. Unfortunately I totally forgot Make Up For Ever was there and had 40% off their stock. UGH! I missed out on picking up my favourite mascaras from them!

I also left before seeing a few people who were supposed to make an appearance, Cassandra Bankson of Diamonds and Heels, Cora Alvillar of Vintage or Tacky, and Makeupby_ev21.

Regardless of the hive-sitch, I had an awesome time sitting in on a talk with celebrity makeup artist, James Vincent as he showed us some of his favourite products at the pop-up and gave us an exclusive sneak peek of this year’s show. We even received this huge bag of goodies to take home with us. Look at it all!makeup-show-sf-haul

Have you ever been to a makeup show? 

What is your favourite brand for mascara? What about foundation? 

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Daily

Exploring new cities + Toyota Rav 4

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2015 Toyota Rav 4I’m pretty independent when it comes to exploring around our new home, here in California. Often times I go out on weekly excursions with Alfie and check out new-to-us places considering a lot of the areas around here are dog friendly, and he’s just as happy to join along.

I mean, look at that smile. Alfie in 2015 Toyota Rav 4

Exploring around California has been put on hold for close to two months. If we’re getting honest here, the hives had put me in a negative self-concious mood and I wouldn’t dare step outside of the house if my face was swollen, or my hives were popping up. I felt down, and generally just pissed off at the fact I couldn’t pinpoint what I am “allergic” to. Some of my blood results have come back and shows no signs of allergies there. Waiting on a few more.

So, I assume I just have chronic hives out of the blue. Luckily I can tame them for the most part during the day time with over the counter allergy pills, which can often cause me to feel drowsy.

However, for the most part they work well, and I’ve been ITCHING (ha, no pun intended) to get out on the road and explore more, when I’m feeling up to it (and not drowsy!).

Alfie and I went back to the little town of Saratoga (see our previous two trips to Saratoga here, and here) to explore and just wander around, window shopping especially since I had the Toyota Rav 4 for a week. Although, many parts of California is dog friendly, including Saratoga Village, we didn’t go inside any stores. But I did end up filming a bit when I was there! Check it out on my YouTube channel.

2015 Toyota Rav 4

2015 Toyota Rav 4 dashboard

I’m pretty sure I’m going to be one of those women whose next car is going to be a little higher up. It might sound silly, but I feel safe when I’m higher up in a vehicle. Like I won’t get sucked into an 18 wheeler on the highway. My mind is wild.

2015 Toyota Rav 4 XM RadioAny time I get a car to review and they have XM radio available, I automatically tune into channel 53 Chill. It’s basically the perfect driving music, although sometimes my husband says it’s often too relaxing. But I’m totally diggin’ it you guys.

ToyotaRav4-4picsI was in the limited edition, all wheel drive model. So given that, it was a great drive, with all the features. The seating was the most comfortable I’ve had in the last few cars I’ve driven — love the cushiony feel to a drivers seat, rather than stiff — the car I own has stiff seats, leaving your butt numb if you’re driving for a few hours on end.

2015 Toyota Rav 4What I did notice though, is although a comfortable ride overall, the suspension in the 2015 Toyota Rav 4 was stiff, and quite noticeable to me, especially going slowly over speed bumps in parking lots. Oof!

Looking at the Rav 4, it’s a 4 cylinder car, and the steering is nice as it’s easy to drive. It’s not sporty at all like my car but remember, it’s not supposed to have that sporty feeling.

Rav-4-wheelThe cabin itself felt a lot larger than other SUV’s I’ve sat in, but parking it was no issue, especially with that helpful backup mirror. It looks really good inside, and imagine it in beige leather — hooboy. See the buttons near the center console? Those are some heated seats for warming up my toosh. Oh man, so nice – and yes I definitely use heated seats in the fall and winter time here in California, as crazy as that sounds! I think my favourite feature on any new car has to be the dual control for both front seat passengers.

2015-Toyota-Rav-4There’s a button you can press on the side of the steering wheel for extra traction, say if you are going from pavement to grass (which is something my husband and I often do when we go to many of his triathlons) so your wheels don’t slip and slide all over the place.

I know the Rav 4 is a popular model of vehicle, so I’d be interested in hearing how many of my readers have bought one of these?

Also don’t forget to check out my video I filmed of the inside of the Toyota, and visiting Saratoga!

Rav-4

Toyota-Footer

There are more inexpensive versions of this 2015 Toyota Rav 4, however this limited edition version sells for $33,600. More information on Toyota.com.

Disclaimer: The 2015 Toyota Rav 4 Limited Edition was loaned to me for a week to review. All opinions are my own

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Beauty, Hair, Photos, Reviews

My (really honest) review of Irresistible Me hair extensions

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Irresistible Me hair extensionsFor the longest time I have been wanting to try out hair extensions. I’m the perfect candidate for it, with my thin/fine hair. You see all these beauty vloggers on YouTube reviewing hair extensions when their hair is either already super long, and perhaps also super thick. I reached out to a few companies a couple of years ago to review some extensions, but they didn’t get back to me – and so, I didn’t invest $100+ in buying my own because I wasn’t sure it was worth the money.

Irresistible Me hair extensions reached out to me, and asked me to pick out a set of clip-in extensions to review. I was so excited! I ended up with a middle of the range thickness (due to me not wanting a huge head of hair to try and blend in with my own), so I opted for 140 grams in the length and colour 20″ Royal Medium Brown, which is made from real Remy Hair – apparently the best hair you can get. Although not a perfect match (the hair extensions are a shade or two darker), but it blends in pretty well.

I filmed my entire process of first impressions, and wore them throughout the day. To be honest, I haven’t worn them much outside of the house since. I think it’s personally because I’m a little self concious of the length I asked for.

Irresistible Me hair extensionsGoing from close to shoulder length hair to wearing hair extensions past my ribs seems a little odd. Thinking back, I should have ordered something an inch or two past my regular hair, and use the extensions to gain some fullness to the hair.

Irresistible Me hair extensionsBut c’mon, I wanted to see what I’d look like with crazy long hair again. I can’t seem to grow my hair out past the length it’s at now.

Irresistible Me hair extensionsHalf set of hair extensions in my hair

Irresistible-Me-scragglyFull set of extensions in my hair — my hair is looking a little scraggly at the top. Hard to blend that in when you don’t have much hair.

The first day, they were really easy to curl and style. The second day I tried to put them in, I brushed the hair out from its curls and clipped them into my hair, but after 15 minutes or so, the hair looked really scraggly and it was like I had to cart around an extra hair brush in my back pocket in order for it to maintain a nice look to it. It’s not like they needed to be washed, because I had only worn the extensions for maybe 3 hours the previous day, so I’m not sure it was due to the 140g vs 200g of hair, or what.

Irresistible Me hair extensionsHair extensions outside with flash photography 

Irresistible Me hair extensionsHair extensions outside with no flash photography.

The texture of my natural hair is really soft, and each individual strand of hair is thin. With the hair extensions, it was more coarse hair, and the strands of hair were much thicker. In that regard it’s quite noticeable to me because it’s not as soft to the touch as my own hair.

If I had a regular hair dresser around me that I trusted, I’d bring them in with me to get a few inches cut off to suit me a bit better.

Overall, I would recommend them because you have the option to wear some, or all of the clips depending on the look you are going for. I just need to remember to place them more toward the nape of my neck, and not many clips anywhere above the ear. I just need to play around with the placement of my hair, and have my hair freshly washed/styled in order for them to not be noticeable in my hair when it separates.

Pros:

  • The clips were secure and stayed in my hair without teasing the hair and damaging it
  • Made my hair look bombshell
  • The hair looked natural in my hair (regardless of if I could tell it was ‘fake’)
  • Hair extensions can be dyed and cut (I think you can only darken, not lighten the hair though)

Cons: 

  • It wasn’t easy to hide in my fine hair, especially if I had any clips above my ear, towards the crown of my head (see me explain it more on the YouTube video I filmed)
  • If I wore all the clips, it felt really heavy, some clips tugged on my hair making it uncomfortable
  • It had a bit of a weird chemical/person smell, I couldn’t put my finger on it

What are your thoughts on hair extensions?

Do you wear extensions? Do you love/hate them? I need your thoughts and opinions! :)

Disclaimer: As stated above, Irresistible Me sent me the extensions for review.

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