Swatch Sunday: Suva Beauty Saffron

Suva Beauty Saffron

Hot off the heels of Suva Beauty‘s Block Party palette launch, the branch has switched gears and gone for something deeply spicy and autumnal with their Saffron palette!

Suva Beauty Saffron
Suva Beauty Saffron

When I first saw the shades in the Saffron palette I gasped. A neutral palette with a solid red and some very deep warmer red-toned shades? Holy smokes was I ever into it!

Suva Beauty Saffron
Suva Beauty Saffron

Colour-wise, what makes this palette unique to me is the reds, and thankfully there’s not just one of them. Paprika is definitely the brightest and most exciting shade to me, but Cinnamon is basically a toned down version of it and Saffron is a shimmery take on the colour.

A video review will be forthcoming, but for now please enjoy the swatches!

Suva Beauty Saffron Swatches

Suva Beauty - Coriander
Suva Beauty – Coriander
Suva Beauty - Saffron
Suva Beauty – Saffron
Suva Beauty - Cinnamon
Suva Beauty – Cinnamon
Suva Beauty – Paprika
Suva Beauty - Turmeric
Suva Beauty – Turmeric
Suva Beauty - Ginger
Suva Beauty – Ginger
Suva Beauty - Star Anise
Suva Beauty – Star Anise
Suva Beauty - Sarso
Suva Beauty – Sarso
Suva Beauty - Clove
Suva Beauty – Clove

The Suva Beauty Saffron palette can be purchased on suvabeauty.ca for $42 CAD or on suvabeauty.com for $35 USD.

The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration.

Skincare Saturday: Winter Skin Prep with Live Clean + Giveaway!

Live Clean Body Wash & Body Lotion

Winter is around the corner, and while I’m cold weather lover (yes, I do in fact frigging LOVE snow!), I must admit that my skin does get fairly parched during my beloved months. So of course I’m going to try to combat that by reaching for my hydrating Live Clean body washes and body lotions.

Live Clean Body Wash in Coconut Milk, Argan Oil & Vanilla Oatmeal
Live Clean Body Wash in Coconut Milk, Argan Oil & Vanilla Oatmeal

Live Clean has plenty of body wash scents, but I’ve picked three of my favourites for this post. The Argan Oil (middle) one is definitely the most moisturizing out of all of the Live Clean products I’ve tried, so it’s an absolute must for me. Second to the Argan Oil scent is Vanilla Oatmeal (super cozy and warm – I love this scent so much!) and Coconut Milk. While Vanilla Oatmeal may be a typical cold weather scent as it smells somewhat akin to Christmas baking, I realize that not a lot of people may associate Coconut Milk with the winter, but for me it’s a wonderful refresher in the morning when I need something a bit different from all the thicker scents I gravitate to in the winter!

Live Clean Body Lotion in Coconut Milk, Argan Oil & Sensitive Skin
Live Clean Body Lotion in Coconut Milk, Argan Oil & Sensitive Skin

Once you’re done cleaning yourself off in the shower, we all know it’s time to moisturize our body… but do we always really do it? Honestly, for me the biggest problem is usually that moisturizers come with a twist off or pop off lid, and that drives me bananas when I’m fresh out of the shower. Thankfully, the Live Clean body lotions are a pump top which makes it as mess free as you can get. No more struggling to get the lid of a bottle off with wet hands and/or gooping up the side of the tube because your hands are covered in lotion. (I *cannot* be the only person with this problem!) I chose corresponding scents to match the body wash, except for Vanilla Oatmeal because Live Clean doesn’t yet make a lotion in that scent (but I heard it should be coming in 2019!). Instead, I opted for the Sensitive Skin Unscented Lotion because there’s a lot of people out there with sensitive skin and scented lotion sometimes causes more problems than good. If that’s the case, then the Sensitive Skin option is the one you want to be on the lookout for if you’re picking these up yourself!

If you’re curious about the brand, know that Live Clean was not only founded in Canada, but continues to be developed and manufactured here as well. Their products are minimum of 97% plant based and natural ingredients, have biodegradable ingredients with a vegetarian formula and are never tested on animals. AND? The suggested retail price for each item in this post is around $8 CAD!

Giveaway!

Live Clean is being their usual awesome selves yet again and have offered to do a giveaway based on the products I chose for this post!

One lucky person will win:

  • Live Clean Argan Oil Repenishing Body Wash
  • Live Clean  Coconut Milk Moisturizing  Body Wash
  • Live Clean Vanilla Oatmeal Soothing Body Wash
  • Live Clean Argan Oil Replenishing Body Lotion
  • Live Clean Coconut Milk Moisturizing Body Lotion
  • Live Clean Sensitive Skin Fragrance Free Body Lotion

Giveaway Rules

  • This giveaway is open to Canadians only.
  • This giveaway starts on November 3, 2018 and runs for one week.
  • One winner will receive the prize pack pictured and described above.
  • Please be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.
  • Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 48 hours to provide me with their mailing address. If the winner fails to respond within that time frame, I will pick another winner. (And so on.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Halloween 2018: Alice

If you couldn’t tell by now, I really love Halloween. And I REALLY love dressing up. This is my sixth year teaming up with people to do a group costume, and for 2018 we chose to do Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Lucky me got to be Alice!

This post will cover the details on my outfit, makeup and hair in case you’re looking to replicate the look for another year. If you’d like to see pictures of our entire group, please see yesterday’s post.

Alice
Alice

I was styling myself after the 1951 Disney animated movie “Alice in Wonderland”, which meant that my outfit was rather simplistic. However, finding a dress that was simple turned out to be rather more of a chore. Almost every Alice costume is now a “sexy” version which is really just… gross. She’s supposed to be a ten year old girl! Anyway, I ended up finding this one on Ebay from an American seller for $22.99 USD (it was identical to one that was shipped from China that I wanted, but I’d left it too late and there’s no way an item from China would’ve reached me in time for Halloween). I had it shipped to my friend Dorothy in New York so I could pick it up from her when I was on vacation this past month. Thankfully, the dress arrived while I was in New York! One thing though… I ordered a large and it didn’t come anywhere close to fitting around my back and there is zero give in the material. It could close around my neck just fine and up to my natural waist, but I’ve got a decent chest and a broad back and this left me with a 2 inch gap at the back. Thankfully, the apron straps covered most of the gap, but yeah, this dress definitely did not close up on me in the back! The outfit also came with the headband and bow, so I was completely set for my main part of the costume.

Alice falling down the rabbit hole!
Alice falling down the rabbit hole!

The biggest problem I had with this entire outfit was hunting down a pair of opaque white tights. My last resort was going to be buying dance tights, but that shop was a bit further out of my way than I wanted to go, so I was constantly checking any and all retailers around me. Eventually, after going into 20 different stores (not joking), I found a pair of white tights at a Legs Beautiful in THE PATH in downtown Toronto. I was ecstatic! While the tights weren’t necessarily vital to the outfit, they really did help add to the character.

We tried to make this look like I'd grown massive, but I'm not entirely sure it worked!
We tried to make this look like I’d grown massive, but I’m not entirely sure it worked!


I had some black ballet flats I used to wear to work that fit quite well for the look, although I didn’t get around to doing the little strap she has over the  top of the foot. I also picked up a small petticoat ($30) from Malabar to help fluff up the edges of my skirt and make it stick out more. I didn’t think it would be that important, but it ended up adding a lot of volume to the skirt which I really liked.

My makeup was fairly simplistic and youthful, which can actually be kind of tough when you’re used to packing on fun colours and product!

For my eyes, I used the Kat Von D Shade + Light eye palette – this one has become a staple for doing “character” makeup because most characters you see in movies or on TV don’t tend to look like they’ve got a ton of makeup on. They only wear products that enhance their features without going overboard. I stuck to the neutral quad in the middle and put the bone shade all over my lid and used the two greys to deepen up my crease. I applied ARTDECO’s liquid liner to my lash line and didn’t wing it out – I just wanted my eyes and lashes to appear larger. I popped on Covergirl’s Clump Crusher mascara to my top and bottom lashes and then put on a pair of House of Lashes Au Naturale falsies. If this sounds familiar, it’s because I did the exact same look for the eyes for my Captain Marvel costume from last year!

For foundation, I wanted to go quite pale and give myself that kind of “English rose” type look. I used Too Faced’s Peach Perfect foundation in the shade Snow which is a few shades lighter than I am right now, and then dusted on Urban Decay’s X-Rated blush to the apples of my cheek. I wanted the blush to fade out nicely on the edges, but I wanted the center of my cheeks to be quite bright to make it look like Alice has been rushing around Wonderland wondering where to go!

For lips I opted to put two shades together since I didn’t really have anything I thought fit a “natural” pink colour straight out of the bullet. I first put on MAC’s Mehr lipstick (if it’s good enough for Tessa Virtue, it’s good enough for Alice!) and overdrew my lips on the top a bit to get more of a flower petal type mouth. I then layered Too Faced’s Peach Kiss lipstick in Disrobed on the center to give it a bit more of a lighter peachy hue.

I kept making this face... I was trying to get across that Alice was constantly surprised about what she was seeing around her, but I definitely think I overdid it!
I kept making this face… I was trying to get across that Alice was constantly surprised about what she was seeing around her, but I definitely think I overdid it!

I really, REALLY like how the lips came together – I think the shade is very flattering and has enough of a young girl vibe to them.

While my hair is extremely long right now, I still decided to give it a little bit more volume by popping in my Irresistible Me hair extensions. I had originally thought to go with a wig, but the wig I had for Alice turned out to be downright hideous, so I’m glad I was able to stick with my own hair. By the way, I’ve had these hair extensions for three years and they’re phenomenal. While they were sent to me in PR, I would absolutely recommend them because they haven’t fallen apart at all, they look fantastic, and they wash and style to perfection!

To get Alice’s sideswept bangs without cutting my own hair, I took the entire front chunk of my hair, sprayed in some f Drybar’s Triple Sec to build up some volume, backcombed it a touch, and then wrapped my hair around to the opposite side of where I normally part it. My hair parts on my left hand side, so to switch the part of the other side with a spray of fringe covering my forehead made my hair feel very strange, but it added volume (since my hair isn’t used to being bent in that direction) and helped to give the illusion of Alice’s hairstyle. I used two bobby pins to hold the hair in place and popped on the bow-tie head band.

To add a bit of a younger touch to my nails, I used Mary Kay’s Pink Escape nail polish.

Since I wear gauged earrings in my earlobes, I pulled them out and went for a pair of Joe Fresh fake pearl and crystal earrings that had been sent to me recently. The timing was perfect to be honest – I don’t really change my earrings and wondered what the heck I would do with these when they showed up one day. Well, as it turns out – they were perfect for Alice!

Screengrabbed from my Instagram stories - you can see my earrings poking out!
Screengrabbed from my Instagram stories – you can see my earrings poking out!

Granted, my hair was mostly covering my ears, but the pretty Joe Fresh earrings did poke out every now and then!

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed the pictures and all of the detail. While Alice was a fairly simple costume, it was a lot of fun pulling together all of the pieces. It’s always a bit of a challenge to go easy on the makeup since I frigging LOVE to pack it on, but every time I do something on the “prettier” and simpler side of things, I’m reminded of how much you can change your look with makeup and how sometimes less product and less colours can really bring out your features. I still love my neon and rainbow eyes, but it was nice to just focus on a cleaner look for once!

Thanks for reading! If you got this far, tell me what you were for Halloween this year!

Halloween 2018: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

We stepped away from superheroes for 2018 and decided to delve into the fantastical works of Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland!

All the photos enlarge to their full size in case you want to see a bit more detail up close. Enjoy!

Halloween 2018 – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Chelle as Alice
Chelle as Alice
Steve as the White Rabbit
Steve as the White Rabbit
David as the Mad Hatter
David as the Mad Hatter
Kaitlyn as the Queen of Hearts
Kaitlyn as the Queen of Hearts
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
We're late!
We’re late!
The Mad Hatter confusing Alice
The Mad Hatter confusing Alice
The Mad Hatter telling Alice where to go
The Mad Hatter telling Alice where to go
The Queen of Hearts is most certainly not impressed with the White Rabbit
The Queen of Hearts is most certainly not impressed with the White Rabbit
Do you hear me, Rabbit?
Do you hear me, Rabbit?
Curtsy for the queen
Curtsy for the queen
LOWER!
LOWER!
There's rage in her heart
There’s rage in her heart
Where are they taking us?
Where are they taking us?

Halloween isn’t complete unless we head down Church Street in Toronto’s Village! Huge thank you to our friend Shawn who took all of our photos, and then followed us out on to the street for a few more! He’s done this for a few years now and is always a trooper about it – posts like these would not be possible without him!