pretty review: the face shop

A quick intro to The Face Shop: a Korean company specializing in skincare, makeup and nails. The Face Shop recently opened up a bunch of stores in the GTA area and lucky me, there are three I can visit without much effort. On a recent trip I picked up a sheet of water decals for the nails and a hand cream.


Daily Perfumed Hand Cream in Green Tea (30mL/1oz.): This looks like an updated version of The Face Shop's previous Green Tea Hand Gel Cream. I decided to give it a shot because I was looking for a small enough hand cream that I could keep in my purse for on-the-go hand moisturization. The product comes in a acrylic paint-like tube which I find kind of annoying because the tube ends up with all kinds of dents and dings which really bother the type-A in me. There are a variety of scents for the hand cream including berry mix, apple pop, tiare, rose water and the scent I chose, green tea. While there were testers in the store of each scent (The Face Shop has testers of I think, every single product in their stores), my full hands chose what I thought would be the least offending one. Being very sensitive to smells I thought green tea would have a mild, fresh scent and I was not disappointed. It's fresh and light and doesn't give me even a whiff of a headache. I would even consider this scent a-okay for men to use and will get feedback from my partner later. Unfortunately this hand cream doesn't really do anything for my hands. Other than making them smell nice for a short amount of time, I find the gel-like consistency to not do anything to retain or add any much-needed moisture. Then again, my hands are super dry thanks to a super-dry condo in the wintertime and excessive hand usage including washing dishes. I like it for the scent but people with medium-to-extremely dry hands would be best to use something different.

Lovely me:EX Water Decal Nail Sticker in 02 Flower Garden: There are five different designs of water decals from The Face Shop but the store I went to only carried two, probably because the others were already purchased. This set includes red, pink and white roses of various sizes as well as some leaves, single bud roses and Gerbera daisies. I kind of wish there were more variety seeing as how it's labelled "Flower Garden" but I guess the variety of colour should suffice.

I found these much harder to apply than the water decals from The Born Pretty store (which you'll see a review of soon). They wrinkled on my nail plate and a top coat didn't help to smooth things out. They were also more fragile than the Born Pretty Store selection as I ended up tearing a few in half. The good thing about these is that you do have some time to get your water decal into place whereas some other types don't give you that leeway; you're kind of stuck with whatever placement you do with your first application.

I can't recall the price on these two items but I believe the cream was less than $10 and the water decals were less than $5. While I'm not crazy about the hand cream for its gel consistency, I will say that I'm not completely displeased with the water decals. I'd definitely give another design a go though I didn't see any other design from the Internet that I was crazy about. I suppose that if The Face Shop were to release more of these decals in different designs I'd definitely be up for checking them out.

pretty: monday mani (with striping tape)

This is probably my favourite mani to date but also one that took the longest to create. My inspiration came from Sugar Nails but the website isn't functioning at the bottom. Once it does or moves to another location, I'll be sure to include the photo here. Basically imagine a mani featuring gold stripes with a purple ombre effect on top.

Here's how I got started with my version of said manicure. On my left hand I used a green and turquoise and on my right hand I used a magenta and pink to create the ombre effect. I started by getting all my equipment ready and prepping my nails. 

For this mani you'll need the following items:

- Base coat (OPI Natural Nail Base Coat is my fave)
- Matte top coat (optional)
- Base polish (OPI Love Angel Music Baby is the gold I used)

- Polish colours for ombre effect (I used two from Ardene)

- Top coat (OPI Top Coat pictured here)
- Scissors
- Striping tape (I bought mine at a local nail art store for $1 each)
- Cosmetic wedges (Make sure yours are latex-free if you're allergic like me!)

All tools required minus the freezie in the background

Start by cutting your striping tape and adhering to something you can pull it off of easily (ie: nail polish remover bottle, edge of desk, etc). I used approx 4-5 pieces of tape per nail so I cut at least 20 strips.

Paint nails with your base colour and apply matte polish, if necessary. I used OPI's Love Angel Music Baby which is a satin finish and therefore I didn't need the matte top coat. I'd recommend the matte top coat just to make the stamping process a little bit easier. Once your base colour is dry, add the pieces of striping tape in whichever way you want. I connected some and disconnected others so it didn't look like too much of an actual pattern.

Once you're happy with the placement, paint the cosmetic wedge with both colours of polish to create an ombre effect on the wedge. Tap it once to remove any excess polish and then tap it onto your first nail. Do one time at a time since it'll make the finished product look more "polished." Don't tap the polish onto your nail too hard either, because that'll cause small pieces of the wedge to come off onto your nail, which is really hard to remove.

I use a new section of my cosmetic wedge for each nail so that I have a clean look. Continue with each nail and then continue with the other hand until you're done! Use a top coat to finish your look and enjoy the results!

I had great results with this type of mani and many compliments wherever I went. Even though this mani took me a lot longer than I was used to (90 minutes including dry time in between), I would definitely do it again with other colours.

pretty review: topbox july 2014

I literally just lost my entire entry for this post because my new laptop is driving me crazy. If you're thinking of purchasing a new laptop and are thinking of Lenovo, think again. This IdeaPad has been driving me crazy ever since it was gifted to me and the only reason I keep using it is because my older laptop (Dell, I love you!) only has 3GB of space left on it.

So here we go again and hopefully I can make this post more concise than the first time around.

My package for Topbox arrived on the 16th of July and when I opened the bubble mailer, this is what I received;

Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure Neostrata products are awesome but aren't I a little bit young to be receiving anti-aging products? I know I'm not quite a young'un anymore but I thought I had a few good years ahead of me before having to worry about wrinkles and fine lines and aging spots.

I ended up posting on Instagram about my displeasure with the products I received and a comment was left that there was a mix-up with the shipping of packages by Topbox this month and was instructed to email them so I could receive the proper package. A rep from Topbox confirmed the error and later that night I emailed Topbox. A couple days later I heard back from Topbox and was told that the proper package was being sent to me and the next business day I received this:

The Benefit Cosmetics-specific products for this month's Topbox. I was beyond thrilled about having received the proper package but even more thrilled about the excellent customer service. Hats off to Topbox for correcting their error. I hope that any of Topbox-ers out there who received the incorrect package are able to receive the proper one as well. Now let's move on with a quick review of the mini samples.

It's upside down...oops.

Gel formula at very top

They're Real! Push-Up Liner: I was very excited about receiving this liner...it's basically the only reason I chose the Benefit Cosmetics option. It claims to be a gel formula with an innovative applicator that allows precision lining of the eye. What I liked about the eye liner is umm...uhh...nothing? Here's the deal: I was looking for a one step eyeliner. Currently I use a MAC 263 brush and the Blacktrack Fluidline (gel liner) to line my eye. It's precise and amazing. I can line my eye with a thick or thin line and control exactly how it goes on. I can create a winged look or none at all. The only downside is that it's a two product process. As soon as I saw this liner I thought, "awesome, it combines the applicator of an angled brush and formula of a gel liner in one!" I was excited, like super excited. Then reality sunk in. You have to squeeze the tube below the applicator for the formula to appear but if you squeeze too slowly nothing happens and if you squeeze too quickly a whole glob of gel liner comes out and makes a big mess on your eyelid. So that's what happened to me...a big, thick line of eyeliner on my eyelid and what's worse is that at the end of the day, my eyes looked like an even bigger mess. The liner definitely smudged despite using eyelid primer and despite its claims of being waterproof and budge-proof. This was definitely a letdown.

They're Real! Mascara: Short and sweeet, this mascara did nothing for me. According to Sephora this mascara "lengthens, curls, volumizes, lifts, and separates lashes for a spectacular 'out-to-here' look." I find the formula too "wet" to keep the curl in my lashes after I use Shu Uemura's eyelash curler and that's the main thing I look for in a waterproof mascara. Simply disappointing. I had received this sample twice before with a couple Sephora orders so I knew this was going to be gifted to someone who can take advantage of this. It does have rave reviews on the Sephora website so if your lashes are already curly, I'm sure this would work wonders for you. Unfortunately, my sparse and straight Asian lashes have a mind of their own.

They're Real! Remover: This creamy gel formula claims to remove waterproof makeup without yanking at your eyelid or eyelashes, a fault of many makeup removers. I'm currently using a gel makeup remover that I like but don't love. It doesn't remove all traces of my eye makeup but it is gentle enough for my ridiculously sensitive eyeballs. Here's a couple swatches of the product itself:

Rubbing the product onto the back of my hand (top right) really made the creamy gel formula noticeable. It's super creamy and a bit on the thick side. The application process was a bit tricky. The tube instructs you to saturate a cotton pad and gently remove all traces of eye makeup. Well, the formula is so thick that you don't saturate so much as...I don't know...slap and smudge it on like a thick paste? That's a terrible description but it really is thick. To "saturate" a cotton pad you would have to use the majority of the sample sent. Next came actually removing my makeup. It did a good job removing my primer and eyeshadow but the mascara was a whole other story. The makeup remover didn't live up to its claim of removing waterproof mascara easily. With how thick this product is and how much one would have to use to completely saturate a cotton pad, I'll stick with my current waterproof makeup remover. *Added: I thought about using this with the same method as a cleansing oil and guess what, it worked! Just squirt some of the makeup remover on the pads of your fingers and rub your fingers together to spread the product out. Then apply to your eyelids in a circular motion being careful of your eyelashes and making sure you don't get any product in your eye. Rinse off and wipe gently with a towel and you're done! The makeup remover did a way better job removing my mascara this way so I think I'll continue to use it as a "cleansing oil." I don't think it'll replace my current makeup remover but I'm glad I found a method of using this makeup remover that actually works for me.*

Just a tad too dark

Came with sponge applicator

Stay Don't Stray in Medium/Deep: This concealer and eyeshadow primer promises to make your products stay put. The Medium/Deep shade was a bit too dark for me so I only applied it on my eyelid since I didn't want to give myself a weird dark circle around both my eyes. While I'm used to Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion (in Eden, great match for my skintone), the Stay Don't Stray did a decent job at keeping my eyeshadows in place. I did a test run with shadows from the UD Naked 3 palette. At the end of the day the shadows were pretty much in the same place but I noticed that the pigmentation of the shadows was more pronounced with UD's Eden eyeshadow primer. So the Stay Don't Stray won't be a brand changer for me but I will use it up until it's gone...just won't be purchasing a full size in the future.

So that's it for July's Topbox. While I didn't find anything that wowed me, I was pleased with the customer service I received and will continue with my Topbox subscription. I figure I'll give it another go before I decide whether I should "stay or stray." (Hahaha *groan*)

welcome to my world

Hungry.Pretty.Kitties. What the heck does that even mean? Well it describes exactly what I'll be posting about: food, beauty and cats. I had a blog several years ago and kept it in fairly good condition but then a full-time job came around, as well as a move into the city and well, a certain blog got left behind. While I did have the hankering to re-start ye olde blog, I figured it would be best to start fresh since a minimum of three years have passed since the last post.

So here we are! Get ready for posts about food (oh glorious food), beauty products (including my penchant for weekly home manicures) and cats (two will be on the reg, Mischief and Matou, with surprise appearances from Chewy, who actually lives with my parents).

A little about me before we actually start? Well I'm in my early 30s (yeesh!) living with my fiance, Sean, whom I call my partner in public because we've been together so damn long. We've also been engaged for what seems like forever but is actually (only) three years, but in order to avoid the old "oh, when are you guys getting married?" question, I just call him my partner.

I'm currently on a little hiatus from work. After working full-time for four years at a place that was becoming increasingly stressful without any hope of moving up, I decided it was time to call it quits. I decided it was time for some rest and relaxation and as a person who is ALWAYS multi-tasking, the first few weeks off were kind of confusing. I wasn't constantly doing two, or three things at once. I also didn't have to be responsible and go to bed at a certain time or make sure I was setting my alarm before I went to sleep. It became glorious!

Now I'm ready to put my typing skills to use and blog about stuff that I feel passionately about--or otherwise. Hope you'll join me on this ride and have a fun time along the way.