What's in my travel make up bag?

I recently went away to visit a friend for a weekend. I flew there and it was only about an hour flight which meant I didn't want to have to wait for a checked bag or pay for a checked bag for such a short trip. However only packing a carry on means bringing as very little make up as possible but still enough to do the job.

Left to right: Elf Dump Bag, Rimmel Lasting Perfection Foundation, Too Faced Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette, Maybelline Lash Stiletto, Maybelline Fit Me Matte in Translucent, Elf under eye concealer and highlight, Essence lip liner in Satin Mauve, Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara Cover Girl Bombshell Powder Brow& Liner,  Essence Make Me Brow, Elf Blush in Tickled Pink, L'Oreal Infallible Contour Kit.

I love this palette you can create so many different looks with it that its a great palette to travel with and it fits comfortably in my makeup bag so it doesn't take up too much space!

I clearly use this blush a lot as you can see I've hit pan on it! This contour palette is the only drugstore one I can find that fits my pale skin tone. The highlight is a little powdery but if I put it on top of the Elf cream one it looks amazing!

I just realized I forgot to include the L'Oreal Colour Riche Le Balm in Nourshing Nude that I use with the lip liner, this combo is my everyday nude lip look I love it!

All of these items fit in my make up bag with extra space! I totally could have packed more but wanted to keep it as simple as possible.

What are your go to travel make up products? Let me know in the comments below, I always love to try new products!

-M

Covergirl Trublend Liquid Foundation *Review*

I received this foundation for review from BzzAgent. I love trying out new foundations but find it hard since I have fairly pale skin, it is often hard to find a foundation that matches my skin tone and doesn't oxidize. This one comes in about 21 different shades ranging from palest to fairly dark as well. There is a good variety of shades for any skin tone.

This foundation is light-weight with at most a medium coverage. It glides on smoothly with a nice dewy finish. It doesn't feel cakey or heavy. I have applied it with both a dampened beauty blender and a foundation brush. I will say with a brush you get more coverage but again its only about medium coverage. However you still get a great finish with either the sponge or brush.

BEFORE:

I have very pale skin with a lot of acne scarring and redness.

AFTER:

Just foundation applied. 

After the rest of my makeup is applied. I love the finish of this foundation! So dewy and fresh looking. 

I do find this foundation only lasts 4-6 hours, 6 hours being with a primer. I really like this foundation for the summer as with it being so lightweight it's really great to wear in the heat. However it doesn't have SPF in it so that is something you will need either in your moisturizer or primer.

AFTER 7 HRS WEAR AND A NAP

Ignore the smudged eyeliner, this is what happens when you nap :)

Overall this foundation has a great price point between $8-$12 and can be bought at any drugstore, Walmart or Target. Although this foundation has a pump, it doesn't seem to work as good as other pumps which sucks because a pump on a foundation is one of the best things!

S'mores Chocolate Cookies

If there is one thing I can never have enough of it's s'mores... It is not unusual for me to wake up and make a s'more over my stove at 7 am before I go to work in the morning. 

I literally try and make every s'mores recipe I find, some haven't always been winners. However some have! and these cookies are one of those! They are every bit delicious as they are easy! 

These cookies have everything you want in s'mores; graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate and lots of it!

The Recipe:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2-3 mini marshmallows per cookie 
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.

Cream butter and sugars, next add the egg, vanilla, and milk. Mix all the dry ingredients in separate bowl(flour, cocoa powder, baking soda). Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix until no dry ingredients remain. Fold in chocolate chips and graham crackers. Once all mixed scoop out using a tablespoon measuring spoon and drop on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Next top each cookie with 2-3 mini marshmallows.

Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until the marshmallows appear toasted on top. Moving your rack up one spot will help to toast the marshmallows. Let the cookies cool for about 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a cooling rack or enjoy them warm off the pan for that perfect, campfire s'mores experience!!

I hope you enjoy not only making these but eating them as much as I did! 

Simple Micellar Products

I received these products as part of a ChickAdvisor review club. If you haven't heard of them before you should totally check them out here.

In my package I received the Simple Micellar Make Up Removing Wipes, the Micellar Water, and  the Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturizer.

Let's start with the make up removing wipes, I freaking love these things! They are my new favourite and dare I saw holy grail make up removing wipes. They are awesome at cleaning off my make up even my eye make up. They don't sting my eyes like other wipes do and they don't leave my face feeling dry or like I scraped my make up off. I often find that other wipes feel scratchy on the skin and my skin always feels stingy after. I usually end up washing my face with cleanser and using a heavy moisturizer after I use them. However, with these wipes I don't even feel the need to wash my face afterwards. 

The Micellar water, I love using this stuff if I am wearing very heavy eye make up, like a dark smoky eye, a lot of liquid liner, or waterproof mascara . Like the wipes this stuff doesn't sting my eyes like other micellar water's I have tried. It works amazingly and I also use it with my contacts in and it never seems to affect them like other make up removers have. I would recommend though to have good quality cotton pads. I have some cheap ones at the moment and they always seem to fall apart but this really has nothing to do with the micellar water... just me being cheap buying crappy cotton pads haha 

Now for the moisturizer... I love Nivea Face moisturizers, I use both the day time and night time Q10 stuff... However since I received this one in the mail I have been using it day and night and my face has had very minimal if any breakouts since I started to use it. My only complaint is that there isn't a SPF in it. I have VERY VERY pale skin and burn quite fast especially on my face even in only like 15 degrees celsius. 
Overall I am super impressed with these products and they are quite budget friendly as well as you can get them at your local drugstore or Wal-Mart. 

Let me know some new products you have tried out and what you are loving in the comments!

- M

Banana Hazelnut Crepes

We love going to Cora's for breakfast, I love the fresh fruit and decadent breakfast choices. There are only about 4 or 5 Cora's in the city of Calgary so on the weekends they can be very busy, very often we want to go but there is always a line up and when I am hungry the last thing I want to do is wait in a line to eat.

One of their recipes that I love to "re-create" is there banana blasts. If you have tried this before oh my goodness you need to! They are light crepes filled with Nutella and sliced banana with a bit of whipped cream on top! Sooo Yummy!

This is one of the easiest, tastiest breakfasts to make.

I have made these crepes for years, they are one of the easiest things to make pretty much fool proof. 

1/2 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Milk

1 Cup flour

2 tsp Sugar ( I sometimes omit this, out of forgetfulness) 

1tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

Melted Butter for pan

I put all the ingredients in a bowl in the order of the list and mix it with a fork or whisk. You can also mix these in a blender, it is much faster and gets the lumps out easier. 

Once all the lumps are out I put coconut oil in my pan and melt it, after it is melted I take a 1/3 Cup measuring cup and scoop the batter and pour it in my pan.

I tilt my pan in a circular motion to try and cover the entire bottom with the batter, once the bottom is covered with batter and it starts to bubble a bit I use a spatula and flip the crepe over, once it is slightly golden on both sides I take it out of the pan and repeat the process till all the batter is gone. 

Next the fun part: Adding the toppings! 

This time I used Laura Secord Hazelnut Spread, but you can use Nutella too. I spread a thin layer of it all over the crepe

Then I add sliced bananas ( I somehow forgot to take a picture of this step )

Lastly I just fold up the crepe like a burrito, I will use a little of the hazelnut spread to keep the crepe closed. Then I add a few dollops of whipped cream and a couple more slices of banana on top.

You can also add in other toppings like strawberries with the hazelnut spread, or a custard and other fruits or even a rhubarb! 

Voila! You have your very own version of the Cora's Banana Blast!

Empties / Mini Product Reviews

I know I know... Its been a long time since I wrote a post, between the winter slump and the lack of daylight I have been LAZY!

Originally this blog was just going to be posts on things I crafted and recipes I made, but then I realized those aren't the only things in life that I love and am passionate about. I looove trying new products and giving reviews of all the new things I try to my friends, either through social media or face to face... always willing to tell them all the new products I am loving or hating... Which brings us to this post.

Here is a few of the products I have used up over the last two months.

top: Huggies Wipes left: Life brand Hydrating Face Sheet Mask, Bottom Left: Neutrogena Make up Remover, Bottom Right: Equate Make Up Remover Wipes

Make up removing wipes can be so expensive, I have been trying to find a brand that I really like and do a really good job at removing the make up, leaving my skin feeling clean and also ones that don't sting my eyes or skin. I have very sensitive and dry skin so a lot of these wipes can irritate my skin. I bought some of the Huggies Wipes knowing they would be good for sensitive skin, I liked them for days when I wasn't wearing a lot of make up, as I found they weren't great a removing the make up or very wet feeling. They were very gentle on my skin though. I would repurchase these though in like a travel kit to just keep as a wet cloth in my bag. The Equate wipes worked really well and are probably the best value for your money, they are cheaper then most make up wipes and do just as good of a job as the others. I buy these in a double pack all the time no matter how many other wipes I have tried I always go back to these ones. Sheet masks aren't really my thing... I find them uncomfortable and awkward to wear( I learned this trying out this mask) while this mask smelled great and felt very hydrating while it was on. I don't think it made a difference to my face afterwards. I feel like slathering some vitamin E cream on at night will work just as good if not better to hydrate my face. Neutrogena Eye Make Up Remover it took me forever to get through a bottle of this. I didn't really like how oily it made my skin feel so I only used it if I wore waterproof mascara which I rarely do, I have easily had this bottle for well over a year and now with micellar waters I definitely will not repurchase this stuff.

Left: Rimmel Lasting Finish 25hrs Foundation Right: L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara , Cover Girl Full Lash Bloom Mascara  Bottom: Maybelline Fit Me Hydrate & Smooth Foundation

I love this Rimmel Foundation, it lasts all day long, it is comfortable to wear and a medium to full coverage, I have very pale skin so any type of spot or scarring shows very easy on my skin and I find this foundation covers it up great to the point that I don't even need to wear concealer. I have tried it in two different shades the very lightest and second lightest one the second lightest shade works for me but I found it slightly too dark for the winter so since I have repurchased this I went back to the lightest shade. I had never tested this foundation out for the full 25 hrs until recently. I put it on one morning before work that night I went to the emergency room and ended up staying in the hospital when my husband brought me make up wipes well over 25 hrs later I still wiped off my foundation. This Miss Manga mascara is amazing... it makes my lashes full and curls them I really love the flexible brush. The formula is great not clumpy or flaky. The Cover Girl Full Lash Bloom is a really great mascara for simple make up days the formula is a bit dryer which makes my lashes look full but also like I'm not wearing make up at all. The Maybelline Fit me foundation, while I really like the formula of this foundation and how light it feels on the skin, its just not a great match for my skin, even the lightest colour is still too dark for me. Even looking at it in the picture and comparing it to the Rimmel ones you can see the significant difference. I also found that it would break me out the couple times I did wear it, But I do love the finish of it!

I actually had a few more products but after seeing how long and wordy this post is I think I will hold off and save those for a new post. 

Let me know if you've ever used any of these products or similar ones that you would recommend!

Resolutions- Life Changes

So often we set New Year's resolutions for ourselves, most often these are around being healthier including things such as, working out more, eating healthier, giving up bad habits etc... I haven't set any resolutions in years, and I am pretty sure one of my last resolutions was to wear more colour and less black. Any one who knows me knows this definitely did not happen, as about 95% of my closet is black and the rest grey.

This year I decided I didn't just want to set resolutions I wanted to change the way I live my daily life. I want to build better routines around my daily tasks. I am a person that works better with lists, its easier for me to remember what needs to be done. I found this weekly schedule of house cleaning tasks and decided to incorporate it in to my day.

I feel like it will help to not only not leave all the house cleaning to one day on the weekend. But if I do a little bit each day I will have less to do on my days off and be able to enjoy more time at home relaxing.

Second change is making time to do things for me; whether its crafting, crocheting, baking or blogging. I love to create and make things and so often I find myself not doing them because I feel like with just my Husband and I in our house I have no one to show my creations off to; however now that I have started this blog I now have a platform to share them on!

These are the only two things I want to accomplish this year, every thing else I feel will fall into place.

What resolutions or life changes have you decided to make for 2016?

-M