Favourite Primers

I first discovered makeup primers around six years ago. I saw a travel size version of the Korres Primer in the sample size section in Sephora and decided to try it out. From then on primers became a must have for me. Over the years I've had some primer fails and successes, but these five have been my favourites so far.

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer in Light
This was the second primer that I tried out. I've tried the original and the light versions of the Smashbox Primers but the light version is the one I prefer. I wasn't really a fan of the original version, but I know that  a lot of people rave about it and it's won some awards. I want to say the Smashbox Primer in Light was my favourite of the bunch, but they are all pretty close.

Make Up For Ever HD Microperfecting Primer in #0 Neutral
I've tried this primer in the travel size when I bought the Make Up Forever HD Foundation kit. I think it's pretty similar to the Smashbox Primer in light, so I was an immediate fan.

Korres Face Primer
As mentioned above. The first primer that I tried. It's been a while since I've tried this primer and I'm thinking I might have to buy this one again soon. Overall I love Korres as a brand. I like that they use a lot of natural ingredients and I've never had a reaction to their products which always brings me back.

Skindinavia The Makeup Primer Spray
I just recently was sent this new makeup primer spray to test out. I love the Urban Decay by Skindinavia makeup setting sprays, so I  imagined that I would like a primer spray too! I've been using it for a couple weeks now and I have definitely been loving it. It goes on as a light mist, and you can't even feel it on your face once it dries.

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer in Radiance
This primer is a little different from the rest of the primers I tried. It is described as having a "pearl tint" and is supposed to make you look glowing and radiant. I personally like this primer  because I think the shimmer in it give a nice glow and its pretty subtle after I apply my foundation over it.

What are your favourite primers?

Details | Floral Necklace

I thought I would just stop in with a quick post. I needed a break from homework, and haven't posted anything outfit related for a while so here is a photo of my current favourite necklace. I just love how it looks with a casual t-shirt or t-shirt dress. I go back and forth between liking delicate jewellery and statement pieces. 

What types of jewellery are you liking right now?

xo Ashley

Outfit Details

Forever 21 necklace

Joe Fresh dress* (similar)

American Eagle jean jacket

SHOP THE POST

Sunday Link Love #4

Here is my fourth post on recent links that I've been loving (check out my previous posts here).

Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere wrote a post called Age Expectations, and I wanted to share this post because it is something that I can relate to and some of what she talked about has been on my mind lately too. Sometimes I get too caught up and stressed out over thinking about the things that I "should" be doing or things that I "should" have accomplished by now, and I forget to appreciate that I actually am really happy with what I am doing and where I am at.

On a beauty note, one trend I've mentioned a few times is my love for orange lipstick for spring and summer, so I have been loving reading other bloggers recommendations and favourite orange lipstick picks. Some orange lip posts I've liked lately are La Belle Sirene's post Orange Lips for Spring, Beauty and Sabine's post The New Red Lip, and The A Style's post Orange Lips: Drugstore Picks. 

Another beauty post I enjoyed reading was the Beauty Collective's post on her brow routine. This post has really great step-by-step photos and the brow look is very natural.

This week Poppy Barley Made to Measure shoes had a voting event and pop up shop in Calgary. I'll have a full blog post coming up on the event, but for now you have to check out their website and take a look at their custom shoes!

And finally, a show that I've been addicted to lately is Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which is on the National Geographic channel, but you can also watch it on youtube.

FOTD | Neutral Eyes and Lips

My favourite shades from the LORAC Pro Palette are of course the neutral browns. These are always my go to colours. The funny thing is that I initially avoided these shades in the palette just because I knew that that they are my go to colours and I didn't want to neglect the other shades in the palette. So for this look I used light bronze all over the lid, and taupe in the crease and along the lower lash line. I also used espresso to darken up the crease a bit. For the brow bone I used cream (check out my review and swatches of the LORAC Pro Palette here). I also started using the LORAC eyeshadow primer and I really like it!

I recently used up my Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation so right now I am only using my NARS Sheer Glow in Mont Blanc. I really love this foundation so I don't mind using it daily. I pretty much always use my Bobbi Brown Corrector under my eyes. I think it's great for covering up my dark circles. For my lips I decided to combine my Maybelline Blushing Beige and NYX Beige lipgloss (which is actually a pinky/mauve colour. The Maybelline lipstick is pretty close to my natural lip colour, so I wanted to add a pinkish gloss to add a little colour back.

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light, but I am absolutely obsessed with this powder. I think it's got to be one of my favourite products that I own.

What are your favourite beauty products?

Outfit Details
Forever 21 floral necklace
Wilfred Free t-shirt via Aritzia

NYX | Butter Glosses

I've had these two NYX Butter Glosses for some time now, so I thought I should write a post and share what I thought. It's definitely been hard to resist buying up all of these glosses! I keep hearing great reviews and everyone has a different favourite colour. The two shades that I own are Strawberry Parfait and Maple Blondie.
I first saw these at my local grocery store and luckily they were on sale so I picked up Strawberry Parfait. There weren't many reviews out when I picked it up, but the one thing that I had read was that these glosses were very pigmented and opaque. I was pretty surprised when I put on Strawberry Parfait and it was fairly sheer. A couple weeks later there was another sale on these glosses so I grabbed Maple Blondie. This time I was surprised at how opaque this gloss was. So from my experience with these two glosses I'm guessing there is a range in how sheer and opaque the rest of the glosses are. NYX does describe them as "sheer to medium" coverage. These glosses feel sticky when you swatch them on your hand, but they don't seem to feel sticky on the lips. The scent of these glosses is unreal. They smell sweet and sugary and I love it! I also love the buttery, creamy, smooth texture of these glosses.

Have you tried NYX Butter Glosses?

Lately Vol. 13

So not too much is new for this lately post. Still loving statement necklaces and still loving smoothies. I've been adding this chia, hemp heart, and buckwheat cereal to my smoothies which has been a great way of adding more protein to my smoothies. The weather has warmed up finally so I've been wearing my new lace Toms almost daily. I also recently received Skindinavia's new makeup primer spray, which I've tried a couple times so far and am loving. I'll have a review coming up soon.

So quite a while ago I signed up for a half-marathon with my brother for June thinking that I would have plenty of time to train. Well, the race is coming up fast and I have hardly trained at all. I've upped my running schedule the last couple weeks so we will see how ready I am on race day. I might end up walking a lot this time around.

This weekend is a long weekend so I've been getting in some quality time with JP. It was also one of my good friend's bachelorette parties this weekend, which was so much fun! My sister and I are also planning a crafting day tomorrow. We are going to try and tackle some of the DIY projects on my Pinterest board like this painting. 

xo Ashley

Lip Product Wish List

Lately I've been liking a mix between sheer lip products and brighter colours. I'm a little obsessed with lip crayon's lately too. I've also been loving pinks and oranges, so I thought I would put together a little wish list. Obviously I am on a student budget so it is pretty unlikely that I'll actually acquire many of the items on this wish list. I think the first thing I'd want to pick up is the lip crayon from Bite Beauty. Sharon of Under the Blush mentioned it a couple weeks ago during a twitter chat and I've been wanting it ever since!

1. Bite Beauty Deconstructed Rose Lip Gloss Library

2. Nuxe Reve De Miel Lip Balm

3. Tom Ford Lip Colour in Wild Ginger

4. NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Red Square

5. Bite Beauty Line and Define Lip Primer

6. YSL Rouge Volupte Sheer Candy in Tasty Raspberry

7. Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy

8. Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayon in Blood Orange

9. Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Colour in Rosy

What are some of the lip products on your wish list? 

Skoah | Facial Masks

photo by Samuel Hoffe

photo by Samuel Hoffe

I wrote a post recently about an event I was lucky enough to attend hosted by Fresita and Skoah. I got to try out some of the products at Skoah, so I thought I would share what I picked out and my thoughts so far. Some of the products that I wanted to test out were the Klensing Lotion, the Glow Tonik, and the Hydradew Mask, but I ended up going with two masks, the Hydradew Mask and the Aha Mask.

Spring Nails | Pastel Feather Effect

Here is the second combination I put together from my spring nail polish colours I pulled from my stash (see my first post here). The "feather" particles in the Nails Inc. polish are blue and pastel orange, and the orange is pretty close to my Gosh nail polish shade, Miss Sweety, so I decided to pair them together. I'm also dying to pair the feather polish with my new pale blue Essie polish, Find me an Oasis (seen in my mini drug store haul). I like how this combination turned out because it was quite subtle.

Has anyone else tried feather effect polishes? What do you think?

Recent Pins #2

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

So here is my second post on some of my most recent pins on Pinterest. I'm really loving statement necklaces with simple t-shirts lately. I'm also really loving bright lipsticks. Bright pinks and oranges are the colours that I am feeling most drawn to. I'm also still on my smoothie kick, so I've been pinning a lot of different smoothie recipes lately.

Follow me on Pinterest to see what else I've been pinning!

xo Ashley

Revlon | Lipstick in Pink Cognito

As I've mentioned before, I'm a fan of Revlon lip products. One of my Revlon lipsticks that I wear often is the Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Shine in Pink Cognito. This lipstick is quite sheer, and is a subtle nude pink. My eyes might be deceiving me, but I detect a fine pink shimmer in the formula. It definitely has shimmer, I'm just unsure if I'm imagining that it's pink! This is one of those lipsticks where there is no need to use mirror for application. The Shine formula is described by Revlon as silky lightweight colour, and moisturizing.

If you like lightweight, almost sheer lipsticks, then you might like this one too! You can see me wearing it here and here.

Kate Moss x Topshop

Last week I attended a pre-shopping event at the Chinook Centre Topshop for the launch of the Kate Moss x Topshop collaboration. The Kate Moss x Topshop collection is historic, because it's the last collaboration the duo will be doing together, and many of the pieces are directly inspired by Kate's personal wardrobe. I didn't end up leaving the event with anything, and I was feeling some regret over that for a bit, but I am on a student budget after all.

I think this piece was everyone's favourite!

Me and Karolina

in photo: Kara of PARK | Brittany of Life, Set Sail | Linda of The Mavric | Melanie of Born Lippy | Karolina of Karolina's Style

There were definitely some beautiful pieces that some of my blogger friends were lucky to grab, so I am looking forward to seeing how they style these pieces in the future! Karolina of Karolina's Style already has a post up wearing the sheer sequinned jacket, and you can check that out here!

Did anyone else check out the Kate Moss x Topshop collection? What did you think?

xo Ashley

Spring Nails | Pink, Lavender, Peach, Feathers, and Diamonds

A couple weeks ago, before I starting going crazy for some of the newer spring nail polish colours, I decided to rummage through my nail polish collection and pick out some colours that I definitely wanted to wear this spring. 

Sunday Link Love #3

My third instalment of links that I'm loving. Here we go:

So I'm not sure where this came from, but terrariums, cacti, and succulents are all over right now. I keep seeing so many blog post and photos on Pinterest and Instagram! I really liked this post on DIY Terrariums by Lipstick with Some Sunshine. (Another post somewhat related is this post by The Mavric!).

I've been feeling the blog love lately and wanted to give a shout out to two blogs that I've recently found, Kyra's Beauty Bag and The Celution. I've really been enjoying connecting with these two on twitter (here and here), and they have great beauty posts! 

I'm developing a blush addiction, and the blush that has been on my mind lately are the Clinique Cheek Pops. (Also both cream and powder Bobbi Brown blushes because of Brittany and Celina!)

Last, Melanie of Born Lippy has been killing it with her outfits. I am loving this blue ensemble, and cannot believe how cute her shoes are!

Hope you like these links! What bloggers, posts, products etc. have you been loving lately?

xo Ashley

Sister Style | Hello Spring!

Here are the photos that I took of my sister last weekend when we had our sister date. I'm glad that she lets me take photos of her outfits too! I love her button up and her shoes, and I think the button detail on her leggings is so cute!