My Favourite Makeup Brushes

I thought I'd share my favourite and most used makeup brushes. The majority of my most used brushes are from Real Techniques, then I have a couple from MAC, a few from Quo, and one from Sephora. Each brush has a different use. Some I reach for on a daily basis, while others are favourites for when I'm looking to add something special to a look. 

Quo Bent Liner Brush

When I am going to use eyeliner I almost always opt for a gel liner. This brush is absolutely perfect for gel liner and makes it so much easier to apply because of the fine tip and the bend in the brush. 

Quo Crease Brush

It's a toss up between this brush and my MAC 217 for favourite crease brush, but I really love how the Quo brush is tapered at the end. It fits into the crease and places the powder perfectly. 

Quo Brow/Liner Brush

When I'm using shadows instead of eyeliner, but want a more distinct line, this is my go-to brush. It also doubles as a brow brush. 

MAC 217 Blending Brush

I've had this brush for a few years now and practically use it everyday. This brush is so versatile. At first I pretty much only used it for blending my shadows, but now I use it for everything. If I'm being really lazy I can get away with only using this brush. 

MAC 213 Fluff Brush

I have had this brush for several years. I think it's pretty amazing that I have had it for so long and it is still intact. For the longest time I was happy using just this brush. Now I use this for placing shadow all over the lid or placing shadow on the outer part of the lid. 

MAC 219 Pencil Brush

This is my most recent purchase. I wanted a brush that would allow me to be more precise with my shadow application, and this brush works well for that. It's great for darkening up the crease, adding colour to the outer V, or placing shadow along the lash line. 

Sephora Pro Cream Shadow Brush #28

I initially bought this for concealer, but it is called a cream shadow brush, so that is what I've been using it for lately. I love using this brush to blend out my Maybelline Colour Tattoos. 

Real Techniques Accent Brush (from the Starter Set)

I haven't been wearing eyeliner much lately, so I have been using this brush to line my upper and lower lash line with darker shadows. It's good for subtle day looks. 

Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush (from the Starter Set)

This brush is so soft. I would say I use this brush and the MAC 213 equally for placing shadow all over the lid. 

Real Techniques Contour Brush (from the Core Collection)

I don't contour that often, but this is a great contouring brush. It gets right into the hollows of your cheeks. I love using this brush to highlight the tops of my cheekbones. 

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush

This is the perfect foundation brush. I think it blends out my foundations beautifully. I used to prefer blending out my foundation with my fingers, but since getting this brush it has become my favourite way to apply and blend out foundation. 

Real Techniques Blush Brush

For blush it was a toss up between this and the stippling brush, but sometimes I use my fingers to blend out cream blush, but I always use this brush for powder blush, so I decided to include this one. It is so soft and feels lovely on your cheeks.

Real Techniques Powder Brush

I use this brush daily. It applies the perfect amount of powder and as I've mentioned with all the other Real Techniques brushes, so soft!

What are your favourite brushes?

Hello Spring!

So I have been wearing these pants a lot lately. I have worn them out to events and I have even wore them to the movies twice! They are the perfect lounging pants but can also be dressed up, which is so convenient. Even though I love them and wear them a lot, I often feel conflicted when I wear pants like these because I feel like I'm wearing my pajamas. I wonder what I'll think when I look back at these photos 10 years from now. 

Outfit Details

Sweater ℅ Joe Fresh

Sarah Stevenson for Target pants

Forever 21 necklace

Old Navy shoes

Photos by my sister

Lately Vol. 12

I recently discovered how to make collage templates in photoshop so I decided to test one out for this Lately post. This collage is a little crazy just because I had quite a few Instagram photos to share this month. The photos are in no particular order.

One of the major highlights of the month was The Faculty of Celebrity Studies event with Lainey Gossip. Such a fun night! There was a lot of heated discussion and celebrity gossip, and I actually left the event with some information for a paper I'm writing for school! Another highlight was the A Little Lux event with Fresita and Skoah (which I posted about here). I've also been having fun with spring makeup, and I've been completely addicted to smoothies lately!

So that is pretty much it!

xo Ashley

A Little Lux with Fresita and Skoah

On Tuesday night myself and my blogger friends Melanie of Born Lippy and Becky of Velvet and Vino, as well as a handful of our friends, participated in a night of luxury made possible by Fresita at Skoah in Kensington. The night was named "A little Lux" and was such a great experience. Melanie hosted the event and brought us delicious doughnuts from Jelly Modern, Fresita provided the Chilean sparkling wine, and Skoah pampered us with Glo and Go facials. Fresita is a great summer wine that will be perfect for sipping on my back deck on a weekend when the weather warms up, and I loved all the products that were used in my Skoah facial. I'll definitely be going back and picking up some products!

Below are some photos from the night. I brought my camera so I could snap some moments from the event, but there was also a photographer who took some great shots! 

me, Becky of Velvet and Vino, and Melanie of Born Lippy
photo by Samuel Hoffe Photography

Brittany of Life, Set Sail, Karolina of Karolina's Style, Melanie of Born Lippy
Samuel Hoffe Photography

Saumuel Hoffe Photography

Brittany of Life, Set Sail
Samuel Hoffe Photography

Samuel Hoffe Photography

Samuel Hoffe Photography

Samuel Hoffe Photography

Samuel Hoffe Photography

Samuel Hoffe Photography

Samuel Hoffe Photography

Thank you so much Fresita and Skoah for an amazing night out!

Follow Skoah on Twitter
Follow Fresita on Twitter

Second to None - Reinvesting In Hope

If you are in Calgary and free Thursday May 1st, come out and support your community by checking out the Second to None - Reinvesting in Hope charity event in support of The Alex Youth Health Centre hostess by Distinctive Women. The Alex provides primary medical care to vulnerable Calgarians, and focuses on crisis prevention. I currently work with at risk youth in Calgary, so I will definitely be out supporting this event.

The Second to None - Reinvesting in Hope charity event will be collecting donations of gently used high-end fashion clothing and accessories and will include a runway show and  silent auction. To learn more about how high-end consignment can help vulnerable youth build self-esteem, read the article below from The Alex website:

Mini Drugstore Haul

Maybelline Blushing Beige and Ravishing Rose

Maybelline Colour Tattoo, 09 Nude Compliment

Essie, Find me an Oasis | Nails Inc., Porchester Square | L'oreal, Tangerine Crush

So I wouldn't technically call this a haul because I didn't buy all these items all at once. I'm the type of person who usually only buys one item at a time. If I'm out getting groceries or running errands and I see a sale or a deal I will usually pick up one thing, and that's how this little collection accumulated. I grabbed a lipstick and a colour tattoo from the Maybelline limited edition Dare To Go Nude spring collection, a lipstick from the Maybelline Buffs collection, and then three nail polishes that I thought would be nice for spring and summer. When I saw that Nails Inc. Porchester Square was on sale it was a must buy for me. I have seen so many rave reviews of it, and I love the colour. I'm also a sucker for Maybelline Colour Tattoos, so as soon as I saw the Dare To Go Nude display I knew I couldn't resist. There were four new colour tattoos on the display, but the colour Nude Compliment was the only one that appealed to me.

So there you have it. A little collection of my recent purchases.

xo Ashley

Sunday Link Love #2

Here is my second instalment of links that I've been loving from the blogosphere over the last couple of weeks.  

First of all, I was going to share this post by Brittany of Life, Set Sail, because I love her Bobbi Brown lip colour and need that t-shirt from Aritzia, but then she posted today about a new online magazine that she will be writing for, and I decided I also needed to share that! The magazine is called A Little Opulent and is by bloggers for blogger. You can find Brittany's post about it here. 

I'm loving the Manicure Monday posts from Sharon of Under The Blush, and although I'm not too great at nail art, I'm thinking that I could actually do this polka dot manicure. 

Anna of Vivianna Does Makeup wrote a post, The Tale of Going Barefaced, which I loved. 

This Marbled MacBook DIY by Linda of The Mavric is amazing! I might have to try this DIY for myself. 

And finally, this post on the Ambient Lighting Blush in Mood Exposure by Coco of The Beauty Milk, because I have been obsessing over this blush since it was released. 

Easter Nail Polish

L'oreal Le Pastille and Sweet Lilac

I feel like every spring my love of nail polish is renewed. Over the last couple weeks I've been getting back into nail polish and have picked up a couple new shades for spring. I noticed a L'oreal display with a few different pastel colours and two speckled nail polishes and I fell in love with the pale pale lilac and the pink with black speckles. What I love about these nail polishes is that they are so pale they are almost white! I thought these two colours would be the perfect combination for the Easter weekend.

What colours are you wearing on your nails this spring?

Pastel Peplum

 

I wore this outfit to a wedding shower last weekend. I love the fact that this shirt has a slight peplum feel to it, but it still has movement and flow to it. This is one of my purchases from my phoenix trip. When I was shopping with my friend Lindsay in Phoenix we thought it would be a good "therapist" shirt. I think it's kind of funny that one of the first things I started thinking about once I found an internship for the fall was how to start developing my "therapist" wardrobe. I think the fun thing about clothing and personal style is that it can be a creative way to represent your personality and different

aspects of your life. 

Outfit Details
Danier leather jacket
Loft silk shirt
dress pants ℅ Joe Fresh
Joe Fresh necklace
Fossil watch
Coach shoes

Photos by my little sister

Coral, Peach, & Orange for Spring

It is currently still snowing here in Calgary, so I thought I would do a spring related post to get myself in the spring mood. One range of colours that I cannot resist are corals, peaches, and oranges. The urge to collect anything in this colour range drastically increases for me each spring. In the past I have definitely leaned more towards corals, but this year I am opening up more to orange. Back in February at the Holts Spring Trends talk with Lisa Tant, Lisa mentioned that orange was a hot colour this spring, especially for lips. I'm definitely on board with this trend. Here are a few of the coral, peach, and orange lip and nail products that I have been gravitating towards so far this spring.

Last spring I wore the Revlon lip butter in Juicy Papaya, Revlon lipstick in Siren, and MAC Cremesheen lipstick in Coral Bliss to death. So far this year I have been obsessed with Bourjois Color Boost in Peach on the Beach, YSL Rouge Volupte Shine in #14, and NYX Butter Gloss in Maple Blondie.  I also really love Revlon's Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Kiss Me Coral. Another Revlon find is their matte lipstick in Smoked Peach. Although this lipstick is matte I find it still has a bit of sheen to it, which I like. I also think that the Rimmel Apocalips in Steller is a nice version of a pink coral for spring. Finally, my Quo Luminous Gloss stick. It was my first venture into pencil lip products, and I still really like it. It's nice for a sheer wash of colour.

For Nails I have a post coming up featuring my Gosh nail polish in Miss Sweety, and I can foresee myself wearing L'oreal Tangerine Crush many times in the upcoming months.

What are your favourite coral, peach, or orange lip and nail products?

Recent Pins #1

(From left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

I thought I would start a new series where I share some of my recent pins on Pinterest. Here is a look at what I've been pinning lately. I love the two pairs of sandals that I pinned, and would be so thrilled if I could find similar pairs! I also need to look for that Joe Fresh lip product in the bottom corner! I guess it's a tinted lip balm in the colour Kiss and I just think the colour looks so pretty for spring.

Want to see more of what I'm pinning? Click here to follow me on Pinterst.

FOTD | Lorac Pro

I'm here with another Face of The Day post. I was really excited to test out the Lorac Pro palette, and I liked how this look turned out, so I had to snap some photos. I decided to go for a day-time smokey eye and use the pinks and purples from the eyeshadow palette. Because it was a day-time look I opted out of wearing eyeliner. I've actually been going through a phase where I hardly ever wear eyeliner anymore, and only occasionally wear it when if I'm going out at night.

Specifically, for the eyeshadows I used the matte Light Pink all over the lid, the matte Mauve colour in the crease, and worked a little into the lower lash line with a pencil brush. I then used Deep Purple in the outer v. I think next time I do a look like this I will drag the Deep Purple colour over more of the outer lid, and maybe up higher in the outer crease. I tend to always end up doing smokey-eye looks where you can only see it when my eyes are closed. I need to work on that. I also used the shimmery Nude shade along the brow bone.

Lately I have been really loving the combination of my Bobbi Brown Corrector and the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Hightlighting Concealer together. The corrector covers up my dark circles perfectly, while the highlighting concealer brightens up my eye area. I  am still really loving my Healthy Mix Serum gel foundation from Bourjois as well.

I decided to wear the Revlon blush in Wine Not*  and I like how it worked with this look. I applied it fairly lightly so the colour didn't overpower my face and take away from the eyes. I forgot to photograph the lipstick that I was wearing, but it was Revlon Super Lustrous Shine lipstick in Pink Cognito.

So thats the look!

SHOP THE POST

* PR sample sent for consideration 

LORAC Pro Palette

I've heard so many great reviews of the Lorac Pro Palette, so while I was in Arizona I had track it down and check it out for myself. I swatched a couple of the colours in store and fell in love, so I had to get it. The shadows are so buttery and smooth and the colours in the palette are all very wearable and great for both day and evening looks. My favourite thing about this palette is that the entire top row consists of matte shadows, while the bottom row contains shimmery shadows. The shadows are described as "velvety-smooth… infused with botanicals and are ultra pigmented to perform wet or dry". I like how sleek the packaging is as well, and I also like the magnetic closure. The one thing that is a little annoying is how quickly and easily the packaging gets scuffed up and dirty. I haven't used the palette too many times so far, but from what I have used of it, I'm liking it a lot. I did noticed a bit of fall out throughout the day from a couple of the shadows, but I found that when I used a primer like the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base the shadows stayed in place better. The palette also came with a travel-sized version of the Lorac Behind The Scenes Eye Primer, but I haven't tried this out yet. 

Have you tried the Lorac Pro palette?