My Favourite Eye Creams

ikea working deskSkin care is an important daily activity of mine that I don’t like to skip. From applying sunscreen, facial moisturizers and eye creams. I’m a huge fan of taking care of my skin and by doing so I drink a ton of water throughout the day. Probably four water bottles. Which probably is just average. Whatever. That’s my Philosophy water bobble (that I scored from Blissdom).

I haven’t tried out too many eye creams, and lucked into a few that I’ve stuck with over the past 5 years or so. Probably because I went big and not home. #GoBigOrGoHome. Is hashtagging while blogging a thing? Is that fine, or weird? I can’t tell. Yet.

My-Favorite-Eye-CreamsLet’s get back to the subject of the day. My favourite eye creams I’ve tested, have and will still repurchase. These two? I’ll always repurchase.

Eye creams will last me anywhere from 6-8 months. I apply them definitely once a day, in the mornings and try to remember to use it at night too.

Miracle-Worker-Eye-CreamPhilosophy Miracle Worker retinoid eye repair ($66US / $78CDN) — it’s lightweight gentle eye cream that has HPR (retinoid) which supposedly targets fine lines and wrinkles. Gotta be honest, I don’t think any cream will cure skin problems. I just really want to keep my skin hydrated instead of sucked dry like it usually would be.

Miracle Worker sampleI use about 1/4 to 1/2 pump of this and recently opened a new bottle of it. It was hard to tell when I was getting low on product, but with the consistent half pump of product, it lasted me 11 months. I’m not sure how that’s possible, but I do recall opening it up last February and raving about it at Blissdom to the Philosophy crew, telling them how long it’s been going! Buy it at Sephora!

sline

Bobbi-Brown-Extra-Eye-RepairBobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair Cream ($69US / $80CDN). Not to be mistaken with the Hydrating Eye Cream that they sell at Sephora. I’ve had to buy this stuff at Holt Renfrew while living in Ontario, or at a Bobbi Brown counter in Macy’s from now on.

Bobbi-Brown-eye-cream-openThis is a bit on the thicker, and heavier side. Perfect for someone who wants to just use it as a night cream or has dry skin. This hydrates my eye area so intensely, I kind of want to open the new jar of it tonight. It feels much more luxurious but not as easy to use since you have to dip your finger into the glass pot. I haven’t used this since 2012 but I bought the Philosophy and the Bobbi Brown on the same day last February and I’ve just never really rotated for fear of one of the two drying out. So it’s still sittin’ pretty in its box. Patiently waiting for me to open it.

Do you use an eye cream?

What are your favourite eye creams?

Have you tried any of the eye creams I’ve listed?

Continue Reading

Take care of your beautiful chompers!

I’m no stranger to candy. I love it so much I’ve been known to eat it for breakfast. Not sure why I admitted that, but hey. I’ve got a valid point to make later on in this post.

I’m not as quick to eat sugary foods anymore. Doing the Paleo challenge for 30 days, I’ve learned so much about food than I had in my entire life time. If anything, it changed my way of eating, and thinking of the consequences that food has on your body. Healthy food like eggs for breakfast is way better, than eating a mars bar. Who knew.

Treats are just that. Treats, reserved for a special time. It’s not a meal replacement or even a snack. It’s just a treat to have. Once in a while NANCY. Not for breakfast!

Upon moving from Newfoundland to Ontario in 2006, I had two main purchases I wanted to make. First up was fixing my crooked teeth, then I wanted to buy my very first car. Flashback time!

Since then I’ve gotten my braces off and now I have beautiful teeth that I like to take care of, as they cost about half of what my car did.

Luckily I can use my new Philips Sonicare PowerUp toothbrush to make them extra sparkly. I received this brush from the PR company to review about a month ago, shortly after the BlissDom Canada conference. I had a chat with one of the PR girls at BlissDom, and asked to review this particular product.Philips Sonicare with toothpaste

My boyfriend is a huge advocate of dental health. He was the person who pushed me to care more about my teeth. If he wasn’t around, I’d probably have dentures by now. One thing that always sticks with me that he suggested was that: always drink water after drinking/eating sugary treats — especially if you don’t have a tooth brush around. It sloshes away all the grim and gunk on your teeth and doesn’t just sit and chill out there making holes in your enamel. Kind of makes sense to us. Again, he nor I aren’t dentists nor do we want to be. But we like to think it works.

Don’t say bye bye to those beautiful chompers of yours. You don’t want dentures do you? Take care of them. Floss more (errr…note to self) and if you hate flossing, get those fancy tooth pick flossers instead of the dirty string that I HATE holding onto when he gets tooth-goo all on your fingers. So nasty.

Also. Please remember to brush your tongue. That’s where your stank breath comes from.his and hers philips sonicare

Fun facts about my mouth:

  • I never started caring about my teeth until I met my Boyfriend, over 8 years ago. He’s a huge dental hygiene fan.
  • I have a lot of fillings. I’m embarrassed to say how many. Actually scratch that. I have no idea how many I have. They’re all white now because I got the silver ones dug out and replaced with shiny new white fillings.
  • I get complimented a few times a week on how white my teeth are.
  • I don’t white my teeth.
  • I brush my teeth 3-4x/day (morning, after work, sometimes right after supper and again before bed)
  • I still wear my retainer after getting braces off in 2008. My teeth most definitely shift and move, especially if I don’t wear my retainer for a week. It’s painful putting those suckers back on for the night when I don’t wear them.
  • I drink through a straw. Always. Mainly to avoid stainage. At least that’s my philosophy behind it all. I have no idea if it works.

Philips Sonicare has surveyed Canadians asking their opinion on beauty related questions concerning their smile and beauty. Here are some interesting facts I pulled from the PDF they sent me.Philips-Sonicare-survey2 Philips-Sonicare-survey1

My boyfriend bought a sonicare toothbrush at walmart a while ago and only uses it at night. Now I have one and they can be BFFs! Here’s a photo of our toothbrushes chillin out. It’s a his and her’s station. Twinsies, even. Except mine is way newer and cooler. I enjoy that the base of my toothbrush doesn’t take up as much space. It’s only a tad smaller, but with an itty bitty bathroom like ours, every inch truly matters.Sonicare-in-bathroom

What can I truly say about a battery operated toothbrush besides that I love using it before be when I’m already tired and don’t feel like doing anything but besides laying down in our comfy bed.

Are electric toothbrushes better than manual?
Well, that’s a personal preference really. My Boyfriend and I both have two toothbrushes each. A manual and electric that we use on a daily basis (no, we don’t share. Gross). I’ve been told by my dentist that proper and diligent brushing with a manual brush is just as effective as electric ones. The key is to be consistent and brush regularly.

The bottom line? If you’re concerned about your oral health, grab a sonicare toothbrush and use it. The benefits from using an electric toothbrush is that it takes less time to do a throughout job than you would do manually. Good for people who are sleepy and just want to head to bed quickly.Philips-Sonicare

How often do you brush your teeth?
I said this above but I usually brush my teeth 3x a day, sometimes 4. I use an “extra soft” tooth brush and change the brushes every 5-6 months and at night use the Sonicare.

Do you floss every day?
I don’t. I’m a hypocrite.

When was the last time you had a dental check up?
I am covered with insurance with work and go every 9 months. It’s funny, every time the dentist calls I question her if it’s really been 9mths since I’ve been. Feels like only 3mths ago. Hate going, in fact I’d rather go to the gynecologist than the Dentist. Probably because for years — every time i went to the dentist I needed something fixed.

Philips Sonicare PowerUp is available for $39.99 at major retailers.

Continue Reading

Business cards: Think outside the box.

Three day BlissDom conference requires three posts to recap. If you missed the other two (1), (2), go ahead and read them!

By day three I was all talked out. There’s only a so long an introvert can be outgoing around strangers. But I kept it goin’ and handing out my button business cards. I gotta say, it definitely helped having something other than a piece of paper to hand out. I received a lot of compliments on how unique it was, that I handed these out. nancy-button2

Finally! A photograph of the food I ate at the Delta Meadowvale. This breakfast was tremendous. Eggs, bacon, Tim Hortons tea, some juice.breakfast-day3

After breakfast I prettied myself up and put on some bold red lips from Annabelle Cosmetics. You know, since I’m doing the #24Day challenge and all. I told you the mirrors were flattering. HOLY why can’t this mirror be in every bathroom I enter? Flawless skin, if I do say so myself. Probably help from the philosophy skin care I used and foundation. Photo completely untouched. I think I may end up using it to update my headshot on my bio there, to the right.headshot-in-mirror

I changed my clothes and headed down to the Tim Hortons room to get more tea (I drank it constantly!). Earlier that weekend I noticed that two other bloggers who are also doing the #24Day challenge was at the conference. So of course we had to take a photo of us all together with the same lip colour: Monroe! Meet Michelle from Lipstick Rules, and Anjali from Rock That Look. Annabelle-24Challenge

The last day of the conference was all about learning, and listening at the sessions, and micro sessions. One of the three micro’s I attended was Kyla from Mommy’s Weird. I keep repeating myself. I was so happy to meet Kyla. She is hysterical, easy to chat to, down to earth, and dances up a storm at PJ parties ;)kyla-and-i

I walked around after my micro sessions, feeling so informed on how to grow my blog. Honestly, it’s so difficult to put into words on what I learned this weekend. The friends I met. The companies I can finally put a face-to-the-name to. The weekend flew by and I am sad that it’s over — but I will go back next year because I had such a blast.

Hallmark surprised us with a completely revamped set up. They were ready for Christmas and giving us all sorts of goodies in huge gift bags. Christmas-at-Hallmark

Lunch from Lentils. Spoiled with salmon, goodness. I’ve never had lentils before, and they didn’t disappoint! So good, you guys. lentils-lunch

After the last sessions, we had a closing keynote with guest speaker Drew that left everyone in tears (good tears) we had a three hour break. I was sitting on the couches in the hallway for most of it. Just relaxing. I got a tweet on my phone that I ended up winning a purse that I spotted at the Handmade Market Place earlier. I love it. It’s a small, yet practical passport explorer bag.  our-family-world-purse

Finally after about an hour of sitting on the couches after everything was over, my stomach got the best of me. I decided to listen to it, and feed the belly. Sliders and sweet potato are always a good choice.supper-at-delta-meadowvale

The PJ party was another highlight of the weekend.ready-for-the-pj-party

Sponsored by Cottonelle and PayPal Canada. Cottonelle had an amazing spa-like retreat for us where they set up manicure tables and gave massages all night long. I b-lined it to the massage table as soon as I walked in, and thankfully at that point there wasn’t any lineups. The massage was very welcomed after a blissful, long weekend. express-spa-at-blissdom

Brandy, Nicole and I. Brandy-Nicole-Nancy

Tatiana, myself and Shannon.pj-party

There was so much dancing, so much laughter and fun. I learned a ton this weekend. Not only about my blog, but about myself. BlissDom Canada and everyone involved has truly outdone themselves and I will be back again next year. I also want to give a special shout out to Chevrolet Canada once again for sponsoring me to go.

Continue Reading