Sunday 24 August 2014

Vancouver Island - 2014




My family and I spent a week and a bit on Vancouver Island together before I started my first year at Univeristy (yikes!), and with a little fact about myself being that I love harbours and cold beaches, it was no doubt this was a perfect holiday for me. For me harbours hold such a majestic beauty; boats travelling out to see, to fish, to explore, ect; I'm in love with the audacity of it all and I could easily sit in a harbour for hours watching the world go by. 




We stayed in Parksville, it's a small retirement town on the island, great for family vacations. We stayed near a little bay, and right around lunch the tide would stretch way out of the harbour and we were able to walk along the ocean floor, there were often little tide pools with sand dollars, crabs and other sea life forms in them, it was so beautiful to see it all.


Sunglasses from The Place (Port Alberni, Vancouver Island)
Sweater from J Crew  (bought at a thrift store)
Dress from Mahina (Maui, USA)
Sandals by UGG (bought at a thrift store)


Dress from Mahina (Maui, USA)
Bracelet from Rebekah-Anne-Designs (Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island)
Boots from Spring


Eyeshadow from Loreal, Brazen Bolds Pallete in 559 What Happens in Vegas
Lipstick by Rimmels Kate Moss Collection in 01
Foundation by the Balm, Balm Shelter tinted moisturizer in light
Setting powder by Make Up Forever, Duo Mat in 201
Mascara by Cover Girl, lash blast length in Black Brown 

I generally tried to keep my outfits quite nautical, as we were staying my the sea, and I think I did a pretty good job of it, wearing mainly blue, white and red. I love dressing for occasions and for me this was the best excuse! I hope you can get some inspiration from this and I hope I have encouraged you to visit Vancouver Island, one of my favourite places in the world!

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Chella Beauty Products

Working at a Beauty Counter gives me a complete in on all the new products, how products are best used, tips and tricks etc. and I was invited to spend the morning with Chella, a brown and skin company from California that is bringing their products in Canada! I was super excited to go to this workshop because I am definitely one of those girls who has a huge complex with their eyebrows (they are just never exactly the way I want them). So any time I hear anything about luxury brow products, I'm all in! 

We were given a small lecture on how the products were used and what was special about the company over others, and then we watched the representive do a small tutorial on one of the woman, after all that we got to test some of the products and we were given our own! (An amazing perk to the job). 

Now for a few facts about the company before I show you my goodies! This company is only available at London Drugs in Canada, so don't go looking for it at Shoppers, or Walmart. You won't find it. Chella is a 5 star product and is only sold at 5 start resorts and spas in the States. The packaging is in French and English since all their products are made in Europe (it's also nice for use Canadians who are bilingual). And lastly their company is paraben free and has never (and will never) test on animals! Yay!



The first products I'll talk about is the Chella Highlighter in Cinnamon (the swatch on the top of my hand) and in Ivory Lace (the middle swatch), this product is made in Czech Republic (for quality purposes) and is a cream based highlighter. The Cinnamon highlighter is great for woman with darker skin tones and for woman with lighter skin tones to use as a couture colour (which I did in the picture below)! The highlighters are super bendable and best when applied with your fingers or a sponge/beauty blender, this will give it a natural and soft look. The highlighters are very multi-purpose and can also be used as an eye shadow base. Some woman have complained that it creases, but if you apply a powder on top it won't. This product is about $20 Canadian.

Next I'll talk about the Brow Pencil which I have in Taupe (bottom swatch). These are also $20 and are mechanical and retractable for really easy use. This means no sharpening! The brow pencil is made in Germany and is waxed based. The wax base is great if you don't want to do the whole works of applying a powder and gel, since it is a 2in1 kind of product! The product is also water resistant. This means you can get your eyebrows wet, just don't jump into a pool and expect them to not drown with you. I really liked the colour the Rep. gave me, its just that perfect sandy brown colour, not to auburn, not to dark or light, just perfect (I sound like goldie locks..).
The best way to apply the brow pencil is by holding it near the end and applying to very lightly, this isn't the type of product where you need a lot of it, start light and build up, it will give you a better consistency and not make your eyebrows look like they will jump off your face.


Here is just a picture of myself using the brow pencil, cinnamon highlighter (as a contour) and the ivory lace highlighter. The eyebrow pencil worked perfectly applying it the way I suggested above and the highlighters seemed a bit dramatic when I first applied them, but after blending it in I think it looks amazing and really gave some definition to my fat little face!

TIP: Use these products gently against your skin, a lot can go along way!

If you guys have any questions about Chella or anything else, always feel free to ask!

Brittany Corrlaynn