Well guys, summer is officially over this week.
We all say it, but summer really did fly by. I truly did have an amazing summer but I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed a few times. Aside from my blog, I have a “real job” as well, where I work full time Monday to Friday. In addition to all that, I teach fitness classes on the side and when I’m not teaching, I make an effort to go actually do a class. Because of my busy schedule I just wanted to relax, breathe, and clear my calendar for once.
Well, I got the opportunity to do so this past weekend. Ford Canada reached out and leant me the 2017 Ford Explorer for the weekend along with an itinerary of fun and relaxing things to do. I’ve driven the Explorer a few times before, and it’s actually the number-one large utility vehicle in Canada. The car is huge (seven seater), but its roomy accommodations were just what I needed to take the stress out of my life for the weekend.
I got the car Friday night and started doing some mental wellness stuff on the Saturday. I taught a step class at a local gym in my city and since it was cold and rainy that day (the rain-sensing wipers, which use an optical sensor that detects moisture, really came in handy), the heated steering wheel was just what I needed to keep my hands nice and toasty. After my class I took full advantage of the multi-contour seats that gave me a much-needed massage as I headed home to shower (the massage seats with the heaters turned on, plus the heated steering wheel = life changing).
In the middle of the afternoon I met my bestie at The Glam Bar here in Winnipeg for some blowouts, because nothing is more relaxing than having your hair washed and styled by someone else. Since the salon is located on busy Corydon Avenue, parallel parking was a breeze thanks to the enhanced active park assist feature. The 2017 Explorer uses its standard system of 12 ultrasonic sensors to help navigate into nearly all parking situations. I like to think of myself as a parallel parking pro, but since I drive a sedan normally, navigating this huge SUV into a parallel parking spot is kinda scary. The Explorer scans for suitable parallel or perpendicular parking spaces and then calculates the trajectory and automatically steers the car into the space. No more stressing about tight parallel parking jobs!
After we got our hair done we went back to my place, played with Ziggy and did our makeup. After we headed to Wasabi Sabi on Taylor for some sushi for dinner. Since there’s a ton of construction around the restaurant due to the underpass being built, the Blind Spot Information System was super helpful getting us there safely. This uses sensors to detect traffic in a driver’s blind spot, giving you a visual warning (either on the side mirrors or the entertainment console) if vehicles are detected.
The next day I picked up my boyfriend and we headed out to Pineridge Hollow for brunch. The popular rustic restaurant is located in Bird’s Hill Provincial Park so the 2.3L EcoBoost engine with intelligent All Wheel Drive got us there in a breeze. That, combined with Apple Carplay, let us get there quickly and safely since I didn’t have to mess around with my phone to use Spotify or text someone back (it’s so cool, you just talk to the car to send a text back to someone).
After brunch we headed to Winnipeg’s top relaxation spot, Thermea for an afternoon of their thermal experience. I’ve been there a bunch of times, but the spot never gets old since it’s the most beautiful urban oasis. After an afternoon’s worth of hot tubbing, sauna-ing, stream rooming and plain ‘ol relaxing, we hit the Explorer and headed back to my place to just chill on the coach and watch TV.
Like a lot of cities right now, our roads here in Winnipeg are filled with construction and because of that, I would rather just stay home than deal with traffic. The 2017 Ford Explorer really let me centre myself while driving and relax for once (seriously, those massage seats do wonders for your mind and body). I also want to note another cool feature that the car has that I didn’t use. The FordPass app connects you to the vehicle via your smartphone, where you can check your fuel level, locate your vehicle, remote start, and lock and unlock your car. It also can help you find an available parking spot near you and call for Roadside Assistance if you need it.
A huge thank you to Ford Canada for the much-needed wellness weekend. Although the weather was bad this weekend, I had the most relaxing, fantastic three days. All because of an SUV.
What are your favourite activities for relaxing?
Huge thank you to Ford Canada for loaning me the 2017 Ford Explorer for the weekend and covering the costs of the activities.
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If I had to pick a favourite colour, it would be kinda tough. I love black, I love pink, and I love glitter. Okay, I know glitter isn’t actually a colour (or even a shade really… a texture maybe?), but what’s not to love about a little shine. Naturally, when I saw Too Faced Cosmetics’ Glitter Bomb palette I knew I had to get my hands on it.
The Glitter Bomb palette is an eyeshadow palette that consists of eight glitter eyeshadows and two base shades in white and black. These base shades are necessary to brighten (the white one) or intensify (the black one) the glitter shadows. The glitter shades consist of pinks, purples, golds, and greens. The cool thing about this is you can either use them dry or wet. When used dry they are more shimmery, whereas wet will get you more of a metallic look.
Naturally since I love glitter, I couldn’t wait to dive into this. I used the white brightening base one night and the intensifying one the other, with a variety of the different glitter shades in here. I also have the Tarte Make Believe in Yourself palette, which is also a glittery palette, although more along the lines of metallics and shimmers. These are straight up packed-in glitters.
Before applying any of the shadows I did use Too Faced’s Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue Bonding Eye Shadow Primer, a translucent eyeshadow primer that is a little more tackier than your typical primer. This acts to grab and hold glitters, shimmers, and pigments better than your regular primer so they don’t come off.
1. Fill in your brows then lay down an eyeshadow primer, like Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue Bonding Eye Shadow Primer. Then with a light pink colour, like Georgia from the Too Faced Sweet Peach eyeshadow palette, and a fluffy crease brush, apply this in your crease to act as a transition shade.
2. With a flat shader brush, apply the Brightening base from the Glitter Bomb palette on the lid area (keep it just in the lid area, not the crease).
3. With the same brush, apply Rose All Day (the light champagne pink) all over your lid area.
4. Again, with the same brush and Confetti (light purplish pink) apply that on the centre of the lid over Rose All Day.
5. With a crease brush, use a brown shadow and apply that in the crease. I used a mix of Summer Yum and Puree from the Sweet Peach palette.
6. With a black liquid liner (I used Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper), line your upper lash line, winging it out, and apply some mascara (I used Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara) and some falsies.
7. For the lower lash line, apply the same brown matte eyeshadow and then some mascara on your lower lashes. I also popped Fairy Dust in the inner corner to highlight and the Brightening base along the brow bone to highlight.
8. Once the eyes are done, finish up the face. I used Too Faced Peaches & Cream Peach Perfect Comfort Matte Primer, NARS Sheer Glow foundation, Tarte Shape Tape concealer, Too Faced Peach Perfect Mattifying Setting Powder, Stila All Day Bronzer, Too Faced Papa Don’t Peach blush, Too Faced Peach Blur Translucent Smoothing Finishing Powder, and Tarte Make Believe in Yourself: Spellbound Glow Rainbow Highlighter.
9. For the lips, I wanted to keep it nude, so I used Too Faced Peach Kiss Moisture Matte Long Wear Lipstick in Doll Face.
Overall, as much as I love looking at the palette I wish it was more glittery. You can definitely see the glitter in the shots, but you aren’t going to get an overwhelming amount of glitter on the lids. It’s definitely more of a shimmer. When you use the Intensifying base, you definitely get of the glitter come through because the black base makes it pop more. Don’t get me wrong, this is a gorgeous palette, but I thought it would be more glittery when you apply the shadows.
As for the bases, these shadows are incredibly pigmented; the white is very white and the black is deep. As for the glitter shadows, I highlight recommend doing your eyes before your foundation as you will get a lot of fallout from the shadows. When I did the look using the Intensifying base, it looked like I had a black eye due to all the fallout underneath. I would also be interested in using the glitters with just the Glitter Glue primer and no bases. You may get more of an intense glitter look since the tackiness of the glue would probably hold the glitters better than the shadow bases.
Overall, if you love glitter and want a glittery look, this is a cool palette to own, but I would recommend something like the Stila Glitter & Glow Liquid Eyeshadow to get more of an out-of-this-world sparkle.
Have you tried the Too Faced’s Glitter Bomb palette? What were your thoughts?
Please note, products sent by PR. All opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links.
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Remember the whole hype over Too Faced’s Sweet Peach collection last year (or was it early this year? Time flies by way too fast)!? Well, to follow up on the whole peach craze, the trendy beauty brand has released Sweet Peach 2.0 – the Peaches and Cream collection.
I’ve never really been fan of peaches and cream. When it comes to yogurt flavours, vanilla, strawberries and cream, and strawberry banana are usually my go to. Peaches and Cream would probably be last on my list, however, right now it’s the first thing I reach for when it comes to my makeup routine every morning.
Launching at the end of this past August, this collection consists of 11 items ranging from a matte eyeshadow palette, a foundation, a primer, lipsticks, setting powders, a bronzer, blushes, you name it. This collection basically has everything, sans mascara and eyeliner, to do a complete look. Not gonna lie, I’m kinda in love with everything.
I recently got a range of their face products, including the primer, loose setting powder, finishing powder, and setting spray. They also sent along eight of the Peach Kiss Moisture Matte Long Wear Lipsticks, but I’ll get to those in another post.
I start my face routine with the Primed & Peachy Cooling Matte Perfecting Primer (C$40), which is a long-lasting cooling matte primer that blurs and smooths your complexion. This peachy-tinted primer, which is universal for all skin tones, is very lightweight and glides on skin to brighten your complexion, while at the same time mattifying it.
The Peach Perfect Mattifying Loose Setting Powder (C$40) is a lightweight universal peach-tinted setting powder designed to brighten your skin. It sets your foundation and creates a silky canvas for the rest of your makeup routine, like your bronzer for contour, blush, and highlighter. It also helps to absorb oil and reduce shine throughout the day. I always use setting powders after I apply my foundation and concealer to setting the product and provide a nice base for the rest of my makeup.
Once you have your blush and bronzer on, the Peach Blur Translucent Smoothing Finishing Powder (C$38) is perfect to lock it all in and smooth out any lines. I was actually really confused by this product at first because I didn’t see the point of having two finishing powders in a collection (although one is a loose powder and the other is a solid). Turns out this one and the setting powder are different. The Peach Blur is a finishing powder after you apply your blush and bronzer (so the last step before your highlight) that gives you the illusion of perfect skin. It has advanced optical correcting spheres that help smooth harsh lines and blur imperfections in a translucent peach shade that is universal for all skin tones.
To lock in your makeup, the Peach Mist Mattifying Setting Spray (C$40) leaves you with a matte finish and helps to control oil in a weightless formula. The packaging on this, along with everything else, is really cute, there’s a sticker on the top that prompts you to shake the bottle before spraying it on your face.
Im kinda obsessed with everything in this collection. I also want to note that all the products are infused with peach and sweet fig cream, so not only are they super refreshing but they smell ah-mazing as well. I actually went to spin with these products on my face (from earlier in the day of course) and I couldn’t help but notice I kept smelling this sweet scent in the room. Turns out the sweat from my face was making it really fragrant and even when some sweat got in my mouth (I know this is kinda gross), it tasted sweet. Also, the pink and gold packaging is totally to die for.
I’ve been using the combo of all these face products for the past few days and I’ve noticed how well my makeup has held up. My foundation seems to last a lot longer and doesn’t look as dull as it usually does after a few hours. There is also a foundation in this collection, however, I’ve been pairing it with one of my Body Shop ones and it’s held up amazingly.
I also have a number of items from the original Sweet Peach collection which are still in high rotation. It’s nice to pair some of those products together with the Peaches & Cream one to create an ultra peachy look, it brings a little sunshine to these gloomy fall days.
Will you be picking up anything from Too Faced’s Peaches & Cream collection?
Please note, products sent by PR. All opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links.
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