Topbox July 2014 review and swatches

 Hello Darlings!

 

Today I am doing a review of July's Topbox! I love topbox because it is a Canadian subscription box therefore it arrives super quickly.

This is the first time I have requested one of their brand specific boxes. Each month they give you an option of a special box that will contain items from one specific brand with all items showing and listed, or you can choose the regular box, and all items will be a surprise! I decided to request the Benefit They're Real box because I really wanted to try their mascara that everybody adores and the push-up liner which I've heard mixed reviews about.

 

This is my pretty benefit tube, I like that their items come in this cylinder, I always keep all of them [not sure why, to be honest, maybe I will store make-up brushes in them when I travel, or store some art supplies]

 

 

The first item in my box was the Stay Don't Stray eyeshadow primer, I wasn't sure about it at first because the color says Medium/Deep as my skin is on the lighter side.

 

 

 

 

 

But then I swatched it on my arm, yes it is indeed a bit darker than my skin but hey, it's an eyeshadow primer, eyeshadow will be going on top of it so the primer will be covered anyway, I'm not worried about the color at all, will definitely keep it in my travel bag.

 

 

Up next is the They're Real make-up remover. I have not tried it yet, but I will soon, will not use this sample for travel though because I don't want to carry cotton balls/pads with me, I would much rather bring a bag of removing wipes.

 

 

And then I opened up the push-up liner! I was really excited to try it out, the way it was wrapped in a little candy-like wrapper made the unwrapping even more exciting!

I am not new to applying cat-eye liner, I've been doing it for years so I would say I am quite good at it, the tip of the applicator made me quite skeptical, as you have to squeeze the tube to push the liner get out [in the full-size product I believe you need to turn at the bottom of the tube to push the gel out]. This method made application very uneven, sometimes too much will come out and I will end up with a little ball of liner, and when too little comes out you have to go over it again in the same spot and you might mess it up and end up with an uneven line.

 

 

Swatch on arm, to show the inconsistency of the liner:

 



 

 

Liner applied, I ended up with a very uneven cat-eye, so this liner is a no for me.

However if you are just starting out at applying your liner in the cateye shape, this might work for you. I believe it did not work for me because I have mastered my own way of application and I am so used to it so it is the only way for me, and everything that is not how I do it and what I use just doesn't work. everyone is different, so try getting a sample/mini size of it first.



 

 

 

They're real mascara: I was super ecstatic to try this new mascara that I've been hearing so many great things about! My lashes are naturally dark and long, so I don't really NEED mascara, in fact I rarely use it, but I'd like to get more thickness to my lashes, as they're slightly on the thinner side, I need volume, not length.

 

 

The first thing I can say about this mascara is that a little goes a long way, the first coat I applied turned out PERFECT! I got absolutely flawless, natural looking, long lashes. I didn't get much volume from it, but definitely some length, but really, one coat is more than enough, it opened up my eyes nicely. As I applied a second coat I noticed that it started clumping, so I stopped right there. Overall this is a great mascara for length, if you are looking for a more high end mascara that will give you volume and thickness, Estee Lauder's mascaras are excellent for that!

 

 

Left side: with mascara. Right side without.



I also received two extra items in my box this month, the first one is a full-size nail polish by Ceramic Glaze in the color Blueberry Bubblegum, a pretty mint color.

 

 



 

 I also received this gorgeous eyeshadow quad by Be a Bombshell called Madrid. This is a full size product retailing at $16 USD

These shadows are super creamy and very pigmented, I will keep this lovely palette in my travel bag. I love it!

  

  

 

What was in YOUR topbox this month?

 

 



Julep Maven July 2014 Review and swatches

Hello Darlings!

 

Today I will be reviewing my July box of Julep Maven!

I did the customized box (you can choose the items you receive in your box if you commit to getting 3 boxes, but you can still skip months if you like)

I love being able to customize mine because by the time it arrives I totally forget what I chose so its still a surprise and I know I'm gonna like everything I get!

I was actually thinking about un-subscribing because I am starting to feel like I have so many nail polishes and I don't use them as often anymore (I used to have 'Nail day Monday', but now I don't because I don't really feel like staying up late while baby is sleeping because she gets up early, so I'd rather sleep than do my nails at night!), but then my box arrived and I fell in love with Julep again, I think I will be staying for a while, maybe I will get items other than nail polishes since I have so many! we'll see!

 

So this is my pretty box, I like how they change the wrapping paper according to the season and the theme of the month, this collection is called 'the poolside collection' and all the colors are bright and summery. Love it

 

 

 

 

And my colors are (left to right):

Beverly: A beautiful dark purple, I do not own any nail polish that is similar to this one, very unique color, I have a feeling this one will be my favorite for the next little while.

Lissa: A very pretty neon blue, it is literally the color of a blue highlighting marker, a very wearable color.

Vicki: A beautiful coraly neon pink, I did not think it would be as bright as it is, it did not look bright on the pictures online nor in the bottle, I assumed it would be the perfect Barbie pink, it isn't, but its a very interesting color, definitely out of my comfort zone.

 

Here are the swatches on my nails:

 

 

 

To subscribe to Julep Maven click here and receive your first box for FEE! Use code: FREEBOX you will only pay a tiny shipping fee of $3.99US and for 3 nail polishes/beauty products, that isn't much at all is it?

 

 

What did you get in your box this month?

 

Childcare search: 2000 days pre-kindergarten review

Hello darlings,
This will be a new series of posts reviewing childcare places I have looked into! The first one I will review is the first one I have ever looked into when looking for a daycare for my daughter.

Important note!
I have not gone as far as having my child at this daycare, this is a research-based review, everything in this post is based on online research and my interaction with the childcare providers and my observation. I have not visited this place, because I did not feel the need to before I knew this place wasn't right for my child. This review is my personal opinion on the service I received.

Alright, let's get to the review.
When I typed 'best daycare in Calgary' in Google search, this was the first daycare that showed up. Their website looks very well maintained and professionally done, overall it looks very promising. My favorite part was that they said "we are not a daycare, we are a school", as education is very important to me, as well as the arts. Me and my husband are both creative, artistic people and this place looked so perfect. It did not have a single negative review, not even one! And it was within walking distance from my home. Without hesitation I hurried to put my baby on the waitlist, paying a deposit fee of $150. A big mistake.

My issues with this place:
1) Removed/Deleted negative reviews:
I was researching this place every day since I filled out the application, slowly, the negative reviews started popping up. Parents were claiming their children did not receive the services that were promised, and claiming the owners are very confrontational and aggressive, and did not address the issues and chose to ignore them instead. I thought "oh well, one bad review among 10 good ones isn't that bad, right?" WRONG. As I kept checking the review website, more negative reviews came up.
However, strangely enough, many of the negative reviews disappeared as if never existed (poof!). I regret print-screening them. I am not sure how they did it (possibly marking the reviews as inappropriate, or not helpful, or something), but they got at least 2 negative reviews removed from a daycare search website (it was either Godaycare.com or Daycarebear.com), both have one negative review on each right now, but I am 100% sure there were AT LEAST 3 negative reviews.
Here is one negative review, somehow it did not get deleted.

 

 

2) Not getting back to me on time.
Their website guarantees to get back to you within 2 business days. My application did not get a response until TWO AND A HALF weeks. After two weeks, I asked for a refund of my deposit. So what if it says 'non refundable'. It is only non refundable if you get service and they keep their promises. I was urgently seeking childcare for my baby, and after two weeks I received a voice mail saying that their "system was down", how the heck do you have a functioning business when your "system is down" for two and a half weeks?! Does it really take 2 weeks to fix an email account? After I was denied a refund, I called the place, their customer service lady, mumbling and stuttering, after putting me on hold for 5 minutes, replied: "um... mam... I... I am sorry but... the website says the deposit is non refundable so....."
me "yes, and THE WEBSITE ALSO SAYS that you will get back to me within 2 business days, mot two and a half weeks. The deposit is non refundable if you get proper service, or any service at all. And since this was a mistake on YOUR end, I am asking you to make the exception and issue me a refund."
Once again the lady repeated herself saying the deposit is non-refundable. Did she even listen to anything I said?
After that awkward phone conversation, I have sent them an email, again asking for a refund, to which they never bothered responding. I guess once they realized I am not interested in their service nor willing to invest any more money in their business, customer service became non-important to them, all of a sudden.

3) This is something I observed based on the pictures from the facilities only, I have not physically visited the daycare. But as they say, an image is worth a 1000 words.

 

This is their baby room, one thing that really concerned me is nap time. It looks like the babies have nap time on the floor carpet, as I do not see any beds or anything that would be comfortable for babies to sleep on (other than those large pillows), so this was a big concern for me.

 

 

This is their art room. It looks nice and clean, but there are two things that concern me about this one:

- Their daycare costs $1000/month, and for that cost, I'd think they would invest in better quality furniture than the cheap Ikea bookcases, these are actually the old ones that are no longer sold at Ikea due to not being child-safe enough (Expedit), they were replaced with the almost identical but softer-edged one called Kallax (yes, I am an Ikea nerd)

-They claim to be having art classes for them kids, but I only see one easel ! Do they all share, or what?

It may be a little harsh to be judging a book by its cover, but those little details just make it more of a deal-breaker for me, personally.

 
4) Research of the owners names lead to awful reviews from their previous occupation as real estate agents. 
I have googled their names (as one negative review that got deleted advised), and these are the reviews that popped up.

Now I do believe in giving people a second chance, and it is unfair to judge someone based upon their past, because I, in all my naivity, believe that all people strive to better themselves. This was the last part of my research, and I was disappointed with the results, as I really wanted to give this place a chance. I hoped that the things said about their real estate are incorrect about their daycare, but judging by the way I was treated and the negative reviews I found, it all kept adding up and I just won't feel comfortable sending my child to 2000 Days. I refuse to compromise on less than the best care for my child.


And since they seem to be researching reviews about their business often, I would be glad if they commented on this post.

Julep June Friends and Family surprise box swatches and review

Hello darlings!

So I have finally received my Julep Friends and Family Surprise box for the month of June. I have never ordered any of the surprise boxes so I thought I'll give it a try. I ordered Surprise box #2 (the one with the baby blue question mark).

In my box were 3 nail polishes, top to bottom: Bunny, Annie, and Jodie.

Personally I was really disappointed when I saw Bunny, as I have receieved it before in my monthly boxes, not once but twice. Now that would have been great if it was a color I constantly use and like, but I have never used it yet, I'd use it if I was to do a French manicure, but I have a baby and don't want to have long nails, so a French mani is not an option for me for the next 3 years at least.

Also this color appears to have gold shimmer in the bottle, however when I swatched it there was no visible shimmer at all, just plain white.



Annie is a very interesting blue color, I love that it isn't as bright and flashy as it looks, it's kind of a muted sea blue.

The last color is Jodie, a beautiful burgundy color with orange shimmer. I have never seen anything similar to this before, it is a very unique color and is my favorite one from this box.

 

 

Overall I am pretty happy with this box, as it was a great value, it only cost $10 and I received 3 nail polishes valued at $20. Just slightly disappointed I got Bunny, but that's the fun part about the mystery box, it's a complete surprise!

 

 

xoxo,
Em.

 

Bath and Body Works 2014 semi annual sale haul - Part 1

Hello all!

Today is the frist day of the semi annual sale at bath and body works stores, the online sale started online about a week ago and I just got home from the mall with my first purchase:

 

I decided to do more than one haul during this sale, so today I grabbed all the items that I wanted the most, as I know they are very popular and will go super fast.

This Paris Amour bubble bath was 70% off and ended costing $3.75, so I grabbed three!

(3 is my lucky number, it seems like I unintentionally got 3 of almost everything!) 

(pink petal tea cake, carribean escape, pink petals)

These candles were $12.50 each, which is kind of a good deal but isn't a must, as they often have the 2 for $25 deal quite often which is the same deal as the $12.50 each but I really like these scents and I am pretty sure they won't be around all year long.

(Twilight Woods, Aloha Waikiki, Frosted Cupcake, Paris Amour)

These wallflower refills were $3.50, which isn't part of the semi-annual sale as they were the same price before, but I needed to add something to use a $10 off coupon.

They do have a 6 for $25 sale on wallflower refills, and I had some in my bag but when I got to the register I ended up with a mix of the 3.50 and the 6 for 25 ones, baby was getting upset and wanted to go so I just ended up grabbing these. My store was kinds short on wallflowers and I could see they haven't gotten shipments in a while as many of the best scents were sold out, so I don't feel so bad about not getting the deal, hopefully they will get a shipment for part 2 of my haul :)

 

 

(Dark Kiss bodywash x3, Dark Kiss body lotion x3)

All classic signature collection products are $4 each

This is such a beautiful scent for fall-winter, it smells very sexy, feminine yet musky. I am absolutely in love with it and will probably be back for more. Crossing fingers in hopes my store will still have them as they didn't have many of these today.

 

 

(Exotic Coconut bodywash x3, Exotic Coconut body lotion x3)

All classic signature collection products are $4 each

I'm all about coconut this summer, sadly my store is all out of the Oahu coconut sunset collection products, but luckily I managed to get the body mist and body lotion before they ran out, but the new collection isn't on sale anyway and Oahu is now a permanent scent so I will wait until they restock.

The Exotic Coconut actually smells more cocnut-y then Oahu so I stocked up on these, hopefully it will last me for the rest of our short Alberta summer.

 

 

Soapy soaps!

Select sopes are 10 for $25

I couldn't help but stock up! I looooove the macaron and the coconut soaps (did I mention I like coconut?) Me and hubby seem to go through these so quickly. I will probably go back for 10 more on my next haul.

 

 

A great tip for shopping the Bath and Body Works semi-annual sale: If you have the $10 off $40 purchase coupons, whether its actual paper ones, on your phone, or printed. Ask your cashier to do split transactions every $40 so that you can save more money by using your coupons more than once. The people in line behind you might get a little upset, but they can wait, it's not like they will walk away from making their purchase as this sale is too good to walk away from. Also remember to do your math as you shop, maybe get multiple bags and put $40 worth of products in each bag to make it easier for the cashier and speed up the process. Also a good tip is to check out other stores, as every store has different things.

 

And a reminder: Tomorrow starts the in store Victoria's Secret semi annual sale, so be sure to check it out as the prices are going to be insane, and things will be going fast!

 

 

 

Happy shopping!

Em ❤ 

Mommy rant: Parenting Advice

I know many new moms can relate to this and I think I should address this publicly.

Here's why we don't like when people try to tell us how to raise our children (especially people we don't even know or know briefly, who do you think you are?!)

Parenting nowdays is so different from what it was 5-10-20-30 years ago, and now we know things that weren't known back then when it comes to things like nutrition, vaccinations, childcare, and so on. Don't underestimate our intelligence, respect the decisions we make.

 

The fact we are first time parents doesn't mean we are clueless. We know what we are doing, we spend many hours learning and researching. If I want my daughter to be vegan, she will be vegan unless she chooses not to be. If I don't want her to attend the stampede or other activities involving animal abuse, she won't go unless she decides otherwise.

 

Don't say we are bad mothers because you disagree with our way of parenting. I am the mom, I decide on my child, whether someone likes it or not.

 

Focus on your own life instead of judging and criticizing others, have a positive outlook instead of looking for the negative in people and you'll see how much happier you'll be. One of the many things I have learned from parenting is to not judge other mothers (unless they don't care of their children at all/are totally incompetent, then they shouldn't have had children in the first place).

 

That is all 

makeover before and after

Here is a makeover I did for this lovely lady today, took me about 45 minutes for everything! 

What do you all think ?