Category Archives: Product Reviews

Zoya Charming Collection Swatches & Review

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Zoya Charming Collection Swatches

As polite as a curtsy in a 1900s ballroom and as captivating as a graceful ballerina’s fouetté, in comes the Zoya Charming Collection for Spring 2017!

Surprisingly, although I’m a green lover, the purples (Abby, Tina and Millie) stole the show for me.

  • Abby is a great transition hue because the whisper-soft lavender is white-based and wintry, yet has enough saturation to keep the Easter bunny hopping.
  • Tina is a medium purple private dancer on your nails with a youthful spirit that’s simply the best when you need a pick-me-up. (Bonus points for those who saw what I did there.)
  • Millie is the showgirl in Vegas with an extravagant sequin mini dress accented with oversized feathers! In every lighting condition, this shimmery plum catches the light and takes centre stage without hesitation.
  • Amira is reminiscent of the scales on a mermaid’s tail that shimmer softly yet with gusto as the sun kisses them with summer dreams.
  • Lacey is a muted sage that twinkles like it’s full of little stars amidst a nail-polish sky. (Even if you’re not as big of a fan of green as I am, this could be your gateway green. Hehe!)
  • Jordan is a bubblegum pink that has a princess personality. If it was a person, it would wear a seven-layer tulle ballgown with satin corset to the prom.

Let’s talk about the formula. It’s not always just about the colour. Substance versus beauty. Even though I’m willing to put in more effort for a tricky formula if the colour is a showstopper, the less effort I need to exert, the better.

I’m happy to report that the formula for all of these shades is great! They are easy to work with, and you can build up opacity quickly.

In all of my swatches, I used two coats of colour and no top coat. (For these quick collection swatches, I don’t use a top coat, so you can see the finish of the polish by itself. For future in-depth reviews on individual colours, I always wear a top coat, unless it’s a textured polish that’s designed to be worn solo, of course.)

I applied a thin first coat and then a generous second coat. The cremes are solid at this point. For the shimmers, you could apply a third coat if you want to intensify the colour, but I was very happy with the second coat.

See the rest of this post for a closer look at each swatch, as well as bottle shots and the official press release (to give you details about the colour story).

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L’Oréal Colour Riche Le Vernis à l’Huile Jardin des Roses

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L'Oreal Jardin des Roses

They didn’t promise you a rose garden, but here’s one anyway. 🙂

It’s L’Oréal Colour Riche Le Vernis à l’Huile Jardin des Roses!

To get the opacity in my photo, I used two generous coats.

The formula was smooth, easy to apply, and very shiny. Pictured above is what the nail polish looks like without a glossy top coat.

I love the the bottle design – so elegant and luxurious. It looks much more expensive than a drugstore polish.

Wishing you all a Happy Monday and a great start to a fresh new week!

Disclosure: This post contains a press sample provided by PR.

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I Attended The Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey Launch Dinner Tonight

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The Body Shop Almond Milk and Honey Collection

Tonight, thanks to the generosity of The Body Shop and PR, I was treated to a delicious vegan dinner at Planta in Yorkville! As if that wasn’t enough, I also left with a big bag full of amazing The Body Shop Almond Milk and Honey skincare.

This new The Body Shop Almond Milk and Honey collection is specially designed for those with sensitive skin. Its scent is so yummy, it smells edible, even though it’s not. (My all-time favourite scent from The Body Shop is Wild Argan Oil, but this is tied for first place.)

During dinner, Dr. Christine Choi Kim, the Global Dermatologist for The Body Shop came from Los Angeles to give us a presentation.

To put the cherry on the top, the founders of Greenhouse Juice Co., Emma Knight and Hana James spoke about how to nourish your skin from the inside out.

We all got to flip through and preview their debut cookbook called The Greenhouse Cookbook: Plant-Based Eating and DIY Juicing, which has lots of healthy recipes from dinners and desserts to smoothies and appetizers.

(I was eyeing the chia pudding recipe, as I’m on a chia seed kick lately.)

PR informed us, to my delight, that we’d all be getting a copy of the book when it’s officially released in April! 🙂 (This is perfect timing because I am in desperate need of some food inspiration. I used to cook new dishes and experiment all the time. I stopped for a few years, but I want to get back into it.)

While I didn’t photograph every dish that arrived at our table (I was busy stuffing my face…), here’s one that I managed to capture before devouring.

Planta Toronto Vegan Restaurant Dessert

Above is the dessert that’s made with toasted almond cream, dragon fruit, and a field of green “pearls.” It was like nothing I had ever eaten before, and I assure you that it was nothing short of heavenly!

I almost didn’t want to eat it because it looked like a work of art, but, well, my oink-ish instincts kicked in, and the rest is tummy history.

(It’s cute how the cubes look like little dice.)

Some other things on the menu tonight were cauliflower tots with truffled parmesan, rice rolls with mango, basil coriander, and Thai dressing, and coconut ceviche with avocado, toasted nori, and citrus soya.

There were also these incredible “crab” cakes made with hearts of palm, spinach, coconut milk, and warm spices. Aside from the dessert, this was the other standout dish.

Again, a huge thank you to The Body Shop, the fantastic PR team, and Planta for making tonight’s dinner a wonderful experience all around! 🙂

What’s your favourite item from The Body Shop? What’s the most delicious vegan dish you’ve ever eaten? Are there any specific products from this new The Body Shop skincare line that you’d like me to do an in-dept review on? Let me know, and I’ll see what I can do!

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Orly Fresh: A Trendy Taste of Pantone’s 2017 Colour of the Year, Greenery

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Orly Fresh

As a lover of green nail polish, it should come as no surprise that I am ecstatic about Pantone’s 2017 Colour of the Year, Greenery!

To celebrate the trend, I decided to pull out Orly Fresh, which is one of my (many) favourite green nail polishes. (Not that I ever need a reason to wear green, of course.) 😉

In Pantone’s own words, here’s why they chose Greenery (Pantone 15-0343) as the ‘it colour’ for this year:

A refreshing and revitalizing shade, Greenery is symbolic of new beginnings.

Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.

Greenery is nature’s neutral. The more submerged people are in modern life, the greater their innate craving to immerse themselves in the physical beauty and inherent unity of the natural world. This shift is reflected by the proliferation of all things expressive of Greenery in daily lives through urban planning, architecture, lifestyle and design choices globally. A constant on the periphery, Greenery is now being pulled to the forefront – it is an omnipresent hue around the world.

A life-affirming shade, Greenery is also emblematic of the pursuit of personal passions and vitality.

What is the PANTONE Color of the Year?

A symbolic color selection; a color snapshot of what we see taking place in our global culture that serves as an expression of a mood and an attitude.

What are some Pantone-Greenery-esque nail polishes that you’ve been sporting? Do you follow nail trends, or do you prefer to swim against the stream? (I do a bit of both.)

Disclosure: I purchased this nail polish.

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CND Vinylux Splash of Teal Swatches & Review

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CND Splash of Teal Swatches Review

CND Vinylux Splash of Teal, from the upcoming Rhythm and Heat Collection for Summer 2017 launching in March, is like doing a cannon ball in the water – it certainly gets others’ attention!

While it photographs on the blue side, to the naked eye, CND Vinylux Splash of Teal has perhaps a few drops of green in the mixture, which allows it to stay true to its name. It’s indeed a teal and less of a sky blue.

Old Man Winter may be folding his clothes and getting ready to pack his suitcase for the arrival of Spring, but your nails don’t have to follow suit.

Jump straight to a summer manicure fiesta with this beautiful teal!

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Will You Be My Nail Valentine?

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Happy Valentine’s Day to all my wonderful readers! 🙂

I hope that your day is full of love, light, and happiness!

On my nails, I’m wearing CND Vinylux Ripe Guava from the upcoming CND Rhythm and Heat Collection for Summer 2017. (Check that post out, if you haven’t already. It includes swatches of all six shades that officially launch in March!)

CND Rhythm and Heat Collection with Tulip

Edit: I decided to include a photo I snapped of some beautiful red roses I received.

Red Roses

No matter how busy you are, always remember to stop and smell the roses…not just on Valentine’s Day!

Disclosure: This post contains a press sample provided by PR.

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CND Rhythm and Heat Collection Swatches

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CND Rhythm and Heat Collection Swatches

Shake your grass skirt at the winter blahs because the CND Rhythm and Heat Collection for Summer 2017 will have you dreaming of hammocks, mojitos, and warm afternoon sunsets!

Launching in March, the six cremes have a slightly jellyish formula, which makes them extremely smooth and easy to paint on.

To fully cover my nail line, I needed to use either three thin coats or two thick ones. All of them were shiny on their own. My swatches show the nail polishes without a top coat, so you can see how they look straight out of the bottle.

Being a green fiend, Palm Deco (medium green) is my first choice, followed by Mambo Beat (hot orange-red), and Splash of Teal (blue).

Which colours are calling your name?

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the media launch event unveiling the CND Rhythm and Heat Collection, which was held at a salon called Fiorio Cumberland in Yorkville.

As you may have already seen on my Instagram, John Nguyen, one of the talented nail technicians there, painted my nails in the below fun design! He used the CND Shellac colours Palm Deco (green – two coats) and Shimmering Shores (glitter – one coat).

CND Rhythm & Heat Nail Art

Check out the rest of this blog post for a closer look at each colour in the CND Vinylux Rhythm and Heat Collection, as well as the official press release for more details!

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