Marc Jacobs Genius Gel Super-Charged Foundation in 10 Ivory Light

Like most I rely on foundation daily to even out my skin and as much as I love how it makes me look, I really don’t like shopping for it. You see the lightest shade in most ranges, high-end or not, usually doesn’t even come close to matching my skin. So whenever I find something that looks light enough I can’t stop the excitement which is what led me to purchase the Marc Jacobs Genius Gel Super-Charged Foundation in 10 Ivory Light.

First let me just say thank you to Marc Jacobs Beauty for offering such a wide range of shades: 15 in total! Now onto the foundation, it promises to be long-wearing and weightless all the while minimizing imperfections with the use of Soft Focus Powder. The coverage is medium to full depending on if you layer it or not, the texture is so light that you can easily add more if you need more coverage. One layer covers most imperfections and really evens out the skin. The texture is very watery, much more liquid than gel, and because it contains a lot of pigment it does cling to dry patches. I would recommend it more for combination to oily skin but it could work on drier skin types too if you prime or moisturize well before application. The finish is satin so it looks very luminous without giving a dewy glow and it is matte enough to last all day on my skin.

The shade 10 Ivory Light is a very fair color and a good match, even though it is a tad pink I can still easily make it work. This foundation is highly photogenic it almost acts as a filter and blurs your skin. However, what impressed me the most is how good it looks in person. I find it gives me flawless skin and I loved using it. Sadly I later discovered it contains silica so I don’t use it every day anymore, BUT I reach for it whenever I know I’ll be taking picture (I used it for my graduation pictures and it looked great) or if I want my skin to look really perfect. This is a great foundation and it is worth the investment in my opinion, especially if you have a hard time finding a good shade match. 

The Marc Jacobs Genius Gel Super-Charged Foundation is available from department stores, Sephora and the Marc Jacobs Beauty website.

Innisfree Eco Flower Tint in Camellia, Rose and Balsam

The beauty world is full of lip colors in different textures and finishes, some turn out good, others are better left alone. What makes all this exploring worth it is the feeling you get when you find the PERFECT lip product! I want color, lasting power and a formula that is comfortable to wear all day long. For me this has come in the form of the Innisfree Eco Flower Tint.

This has to be my favorite lip stain formula and all the colors are gorgeous! Camellia is a bright pink that lifts the complexion, Rose a light red/rose color that is still bright without the full-on punch of a traditional red lip and Balsam a slightly peach orange shade that looks very natural and different from a typical nude. The Eco Flower Tint actually comes in five shades and let me tell you the other two will surely make their way to my makeup bag in the future.

Unlike most liquid stains, they are actually kind of creamy which keeps them from making your lips feel as dry as the Sahara. The light cream is super easy to apply and doesn’t go on patchy so you can get a really even color all over your lips. Rose has a more watery consistency than the others but it is not drying either and applies just as well. They last most of the day on me (depending on what I have for lunch and if I wipe my lips a lot) and they fade evenly which is always nice. The tints have a satin finish, luminous but not glossy and they don’t make your lips look smaller like matte lipstick can do. You can easily apply lip balm or a gloss if you want more shine, my favorite for this is the Innisfree Canola Honey Balm.

I honestly don’t know what more you could want from a lip stain (except for even more shades!), I can’t fault it or recommend it enough. Oh and it’s super affordable to boot! Another amazing product from Innisfree, I think I can see a trend here ;)

You can get the Innisfree Eco Flower Tint from their website. 

Dior Airflash CC Primer

Dior is my biggest luxury weakness, I mean their packaging truly is luxurious and their products usually have great textures so they are fun to apply. I also love Givenchy makeup but for some reason I just cannot resist a little Dior. Today I have a review of the very unique Dior Airflash CC Primer, an innovative spray-on face primer.

This primer contains Photo-Smart Pigments™ and is supposed to even out the skin, color correct, brighten as well as make your foundation easier to apply and last longer. A pretty tall order if you ask me. Well good news is, on my skin at least, it does fulfil most of its promises. The spray is very fine and I can’t feel it on my face, but results are there. While I don’t see much color correcting it leaves my skin looking more luminous (like it’s lit from within) and that brightness does make my skin a bit more even. The effects are not an in your face glow, it is more subtle while also being slightly blurring. The Airflash CC Primer gives my face a lovely satin finish that makes applying foundation over it a dream. The skin feels very soft and smooth with it on. I also noticed my foundation does last longer when I use the primer even though it does not offer a lot of shine/oil control.

Another reason I really enjoy using this is its scent, it just smells amazing! The one down side of this primer for is that it contains silica, I know most people are fine with it but my skin does not agree with it (at least it’s seems to be a common denominator in product that break me out or make my skin bumpy). Because of this I cannot use it every day but it has not stopped me from spraying it on for special occasions or when I want a subtle boost of radiance.

Now I highly recommend testing it out at a Dior counter before purchasing it, because it is expensive and people seem to be quite divided about it. Is this something you need in your life? Probably not, but it is a fun product and I do enjoy using it, so it is worth having a look at if you are looking for something different from your everyday primer. 

The Dior Airflash CC Primer is available at Dior counters, Sephora and Feelunique.

Madam Secretary: Téa Leoni's Best Performance Yet

Snow days have always been one of my favorite things about living in Canada, because every year you can count on them to provide an unexpected (and much needed) break from work and daily life. Today is such a day and, as it looks like the weather will still be the same tomorrow, I wanted to take the time to talk about a TV show since there is nothing better than spending a lovely day at home watching the snow falling, cooking and enjoying great entertainment. Obvious your choice of program is important and I always love shows that are captivating and interesting as well as being funny. As of late, Madam Secretary does it all for me.

The show stars the incredible Téa Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, the American Secretary of State, and lets us explore the inner workings of the State Department as Elizabeth balances diplomacy and international crisis. All the stories focus on very real problem, making the show really believable and interesting because we can relate episode to real events. All the dialogues are intelligent, it feels like the characters know what they are talking about and have relevant things to say, they are not babbling nonsense. That being said, humour has a place in the show and witty and funny lines have their part in every episode.

A special note has to be made for all the stunning sets and locations. The McCord’s home is beautiful and homey, while the State Department’s offices look dignified and filled with history. They also manage to make all the foreign locations look real and I like how they pay a lot of attention to details so there is a lot to see in every scene.

However, what really makes the show for me is Téa Leoni’s performance, she is amazing!! I mean the way she delivers her lines and her composure really give her the credibility required for the role. I mean she could really be the Secretary of State because she is just so believable. Her performance alone is worth watching the show for.

Madam Secretary has a lot to offer to its viewers, a perfect blend of political drama and family dynamics with a dose of fun and engaging storylines. I enjoyed watching season 1 again after getting it on DVD and so far season 2 has been just as good!

Madam Secretary airs Sunday night at 8PM EST on CBS. Season 1 is available on DVD and on iTunes. 

Daily Lip Balms Honey Edition Featuring Innisfree and The Green Beaver Company

The mission to keep dry lips at bay in the winter goes ever on, thankfully I love trying out new lip balms. At the moment, I’m having quite a love affair with honey lip balms as I cannot get enough of the scent. So today I bring you the Honey Edition of my favorite lip balms: Innisfree’s Canola Honey Lip Balm and The Green beaver Company’s Honey Lip Balm.

The Innisfree Canola Honey Lip Balm was actually the first product I tried from the canola honey range and it is lovely. It contains canola honey extract and mango seed butter to moisturize the lips and leave them supple. I found it works great on dry lips but it does not offer enough moisture to heal chapped lips. To me it’s better at keeping your lips soft when they are not in bad shape and because it has a super glossy finish it helps make your lips appear softer and smoother than they actually are. It looks beautiful over lip stains and I love using it throughout the day instead of using a gloss. It has quite a strong scent, but I love it because it reminds me of my favorite honey bubble tea. The Canola Honey Lip Balm is a really nice offering from Innisfree which also has other honey lip balms, including newly released tinted ones. You can see them all here.

Next we have one from my favorite Canadian organic skincare brand: The Green Beaver Company. Their Honey Lip Balm has a waxier texture than the Innisfree one, but since coconut oil is actually the first ingredient it’s actually very emollient and goes on super smoothly. It is certified organic by Ecocert and its mix of oils and honey makes for a very nourishing and moisturizing balm. That being said, I still don’t think it’s enough to heal super chapped lips but it is nicely hydrating for day to day use. It smells and tastes just like really honey, which makes sense as the formula is all natural. I like that it does not just protect lips from drying out (like typical waxy lip balms), I believe the blend of oils (coconut, sunflower and cranberry) makes for a winning hydrating combination. Lastly it’s super affordable and you don’t have to be afraid of ingesting bad chemicals while wearing it. 

The Innisfree Canola Honey Lip balm is available from their website and the Green Beaver Company Honey Lip Balm can be found in many health food stores as well as on their website.

Scorpion: A TV Action Drama Favorite

Cold weather creates the perfect opportunity for some cozy time at home and to me nothing is cozier than a lovely evening with a good TV show. Ever since last fall I haven’t found that many new shows to love, but a returning one has really stepped up its game for me: Scorpion. Season 2 has been amazing so far and it made me want to re-watch season 1 which is actually much better than I remembered!

The show follows a group of geniuses (team Scorpion) who work together as contractors for Homeland Security in the United States. Every episode, you see them put their minds together to solve problems that no one else can figure out. Walter, Toby, Happy and Sylvester might be super smart but they struggle a lot when it comes to emotions and interacting with "normal" people. Thankfully they have the help of Paige, a waitress turned member of the team because she has great people skills. Agent Cabe Gallo works as their government handler and he also serves as a greater father figure to the team.

The dialogues are witty, the intrigues keep you engaged (you never know how they’ll solve the problems) and the cast has great chemistry. Personally what I enjoy the most is seeing all the geniuses try to deal with the emotional aspect of things, it leads to a lot of funny and very sweet moments on the show. Honestly I cannot recommend Scorpion enough, it’s really great! It also happens to be one of the rare shows I actually look forward to seeing every week because I know I’ll be entertained.

You can catch Scorpion Monday night on CBS at 9:00 ET and Season 1 is available on DVD from Amazon. You can also get it on iTunes.

Hobbry x Indigo Collection: Stationery Heaven

Who doesn’t love good stationery? While I didn’t need a new agenda this year I could not resist treating myself to a few new paper goods. You can never have too many notebooks right?! The new Hobbry x Indigo Collection is actually my favorite stationery line to have come out in years. Everything in it is gorgeous and I love that Indigo (a major Canadian bookstore) decided to collaborate with a great Canadian artist Bryanne (aka Hobbry). I honestly want everything in the collection but here are the things I decided to go for first. I’m sure there will be more to come, who can resist pretty watercolors and inspirational quotes?

I picked up this set of 3 Watercolour Quotes Notebooks, these are beautiful soft bound lined notebooks. You get a blue, a pink and a purple one. They are perfect to write your daily gratitudes, make lists or simply to write down ideas. They are such a pretty way to stay organised!

I also got 2 Letterpress Bookmarks in She Loved (purple one) and Dream Bigger (pink one). I used to have tons of bookmarks when I was younger but they seem to have all mysteriously disappeared. So instead I was using sticky notes, which work fine but they can leave glue on the pages and they fall quite easily. With my new bookmarks I always know where I’m at in my books and they are so pretty I smile every time I look at them.

The entire Hobbry x Indigo Collection is available exclusively in Indigo stores and on their website. Personally I’m looking at the File Folder and the gorgeous pink Recipe Binder, hopefully they’ll be mine soon. They ship internationally, you can read more information about it here. Let me know what your favorite thing from the collection is or if you end up picking something up yourself. 

Drugstore Mascara Roundup: Rimmel, Maybelline and L’Oréal

Over the past few months, I have been trying out loads of new drugstore mascaras because I had not really branched out from my favorite Maybelline ones. Today, I thought I’d round up the most recent three and give you mini reviews of each. I’m not one to wax poetic about mascaras (maybe if I find THE ONE) so I think this format might be more useful than doing individual reviews. Let’s get into it shall we?

First we have the Rimmel Wonder’Lash Lift Me Up Mascara, a lovely option for natural looking lashes. It gives nice volume and quite a bit of length for defined lashes that are fluttery. Because the formula is quite wet to begin with, I found it got better with time as it got drier. One thing I have to say however is that it is quite heavily fragranced with a cucumber scent so you might want to think about it if you have very sensitive eyes (I didn’t have a problem with it though). Overall, a really decent offering from Rimmel at a super affordable price. 

Next we have one of the most recent launches, the Maybelline The Falsies Push Up DramaMascara. Sadly I didn’t get on with this one, the formula was very heavy and dry, but at the same time it was also quite goopy and made my lashes clump together. The really short bristles of the brush did not help either so I was left with clumped lashes, no added length or definition. It also really weighed down my lashes, they couldn’t hold a curl. I was very disappointed by The Falsies Push Up Drama (a shame since Maybelline usually makes such great mascaras) and I suggested you go for the The Falsies Flared or the Mega Plush, both are really great.

Lastly I have the L’Oréal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara, I have been looking at this for years but never picked it up for some reason. Similarly to the Rimmel one, the formula starts off quite wet (typical with L’Oréal mascaras) and it really gets better once it’s dried a little. The brush is great at offering maximum definition and combined with the length-boosting formula, it gives you really great lashes. Even though you won’t get a lot of volume out of this one, it still looks like you have a lot of lashes because of the very defining brush. Another great option from L’Oréal and I might actually try more from the Million Lashes range soon.

I hope you have enjoyed this insight into my most recent mascara buys and have found it helpful. All the products mentioned are available from the drugstore and any store that stocks the brands.