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 ?

Target Canada now carries Elf and NYX cosmetics !

So,
I was walking through the make up aisles at Target (I am normally a high end make up kinda girl but sometimes I check out drgstores for make up as I shop for other things just to see if anything will stand out to me, you'll never know when you might have that "love at first sight" thing when this one product stands out to you and you know you two were meant to be.

Aaaanyway...
I stumbled upon the Elf (Eyes Lips Face) cosmetics aisle at Target here in Calgary, which I know is new because I was there yesterday (yep, mat leave, going to the mall every day, mallrat mom right here) and to my amazement they have quite a large selection. They carry most of their best selling items and quite a lot if brushes. I noticed that they were already sold out of the St. Lucia blush and bronzer duo, which is an affordable dupe of the Nars Orgasm Laguna blush-Bronzer duo. They were also running low on the primer, lip exfoliator, HD powder and shimmer powder. The price range is exellent, everything is either $4 or $8. Which is good compared to their regular priced items online of $3-$8 USD. So that's pretty close considering the exchange rate and the fact that shipping to Canada costs $15 usd on their website, except when they have their 50% off everything sales online, but its nice and convenient to have some of those products in store especially if you just need a few things, because if you shop online you better stock up on those bad boys if you want a good bang for your buck especially with their outrageous shipping costs.
I must say the ELF brushes are absolutely amazing for the price, they are very multi purpose, last forever and most importantly are 100% vegan just like ALL of their other products.

 

 

I also noticed they started carrying NYX products as well, I've seen that it is quite a popular brand in the states and many YouTubers have been raving about their products for like... Ever.
I'll be honest and say I am absolutely clueless when it comes to NYX as I have never tried a single product from them but I am very curious.
Q: What are your favorite and must have NYX products? What are absolute no-nos or items you regret buying? Comment and let me know!

So if you are a fan of either of these brands, run over and grab your items ASAP, because we all know that once something is sold out at target it'll be gone for a long, long time as they only seem to be restocking their shelves once in a blue moon (what's up with that?)

Happy shopping!!

JewelBits monthly jewelry subscription box april 2014 review

Hello everyone!



Today I am reviewing another subscription box, this time is a monthly subscription of jewelry called JewelBits. Each month you get 2-3 pieces of jewelry depending on your style selection on their website, you can choose one of three styles of jewelry: Boho Babe, Glam Gal, and Classic Chick.
I chose Boho Babe for my first box because it works best with the way I dress.
So first of all I must say that I am very impressed with their super fast shipping that only took 3 business days, which is amazingly fast for shipping from the US to Canada.

My box arrived in a bubble mailer, I'm impressed with how important it is to JewelBits that all pieces arrive without breaking.

The pretty box the jewelry arrived in!

A thank you note inside the box, how sweet!

Each item came in a little tie bag, I will use these to hold jewelry when I travel!

The first item in my box was this beautiful bracelet, you can't really see but it has tiny rhinestones all around the blue stones

The next piece I received was this beautiful long necklace.

The pendant

I didn't like the length at first but as soon as I put it on, I fell in love!

And the last piece is another necklace

It fits slightly tight around the neck, almost like a collar. It was quite a challenge taking it off because it was hard to find the clasps because it blends so well with the pattern of the necklace

Overall, I am very happy with all the pieces, this box is certainly what I was expecting, and even more! The pieces are so unique and detailed, I have been checking out some jewelry in stores and I haven't seen anything like these pieces I received. The only thing I wish was different is that I was kinda hoping to get earrings or a ring, and in general it would have been nice to get one necklace/ one bracelet/ one ring/ one pair of earrings. But that isn't really that big of a deal.

My first impression of the box is pretty great, I am very impressed with the packaging and the beautiful pieces. I am hooked !!

Get YOUR JewelBits here !

xoxo,

Em



Where to buy the Nars Ita brush in canada

The popular Nars ITA brush is currently sold out on the Nars website. Being a product junkie I decided not to give up on finding it, but still not pay an outrageous amount of money for it (you can buy it on Ebay for $80, ridiculous!), and it turns out I didn't have to look very far.

First of all, NARS came out with a new collection of brushes that apparently is identical to the original ita. However it is not yet available in Canada. A quick Google search led me to the Hudson's Bay website, and to my amazement, they still carry the original ita brush for its original price of 62 CAD. I ordered mine yesterday and it was shipped this morning. So yes, its real, and its in stock!

Get yours here
You're welcome :)