OOTN & FOTN

It was so nice to catch up with friends on Friday night (thanks Rob!)  ;) 

We went to a club called Bar244. 

I really liked the music - lots of dance music! All drinks are cheap at $3-$4. I think the only turn off for me was the young crowd - it felt like a throwback to high school ten years ago. Okay, that would be cool only if I was ten years younger LOL 

Ah well, still had a fab time with friends and that's what counts :)

I haven't done an OOTN and FOTN post in a while so here is one for you (now you know why I was late ten minutes Rob haha)

I coloured my own hair earlier this week with L'oreal Feria #45 Deep Bronzed Brown.

If I stay within 1-2 shades of my natural hair colour, L'oreal Feria hair colour has never let me down. And even though my hair is a long length, I only need one Feria box dye

The eye shadow I have on is mainly MAC Nehru which I did a post on a few days ago here

The lashes I have on are my favourite pair! It's my trusty Ardell 107s and I've done a post on them here 

I layered two necklaces: one is Hello Kitty and the other is from Charlotte Russe 

I wore the Guess Kayla dress, which I'm not surprised to see they are sold out of

My purse is Steve Madden (I loveee the studs on this bag)

My heels are the Patent Uber Covered Platform Pump in Nude by Charlotte Russe (patent + nude + high heel = love at first sight for me! I have a shoe haul post coming up by the way)

These are the side slits in the Guess Kayla Dress. 

And these are all the accessories I had on last night :)

Not mentioned already is the Charlotte Russe bracelet to the far left.

The Bebe cuff bracelet (under the high heels) 

Both rings are from Forever21

My watch is from Guess

Do you like seeing these type of posts? 

If so, I will try to do them more often....

And how is your weekend coming along? :)

Accessories, Dresses, Makeup

Some of the things I got in the past month from...well, you know who ;)

Forever21 Floral Print Dress in "Blue Pink"
Shoes: Charlotte Russe Peep Toe Bootie with Side Zipper 

The dress above reminds me of Tommy Bahamas because of the print and bright colours
And the peep toe booties above are from Charlotte Russe - I la-la-love them ;)

Black dress with shoulder beads from Forever21 

I love the taupe colour of this Forever21 Perforated Knit Dress. It is a bit long (just above the knees), but it's nice for a more formal dinner

A couple of bandage dresses from a store on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto called Axiom

Frederick's of Hollywood "Intoxicating Ingenue Dress" 

It was my first time visiting a Frederick's of Hollywood store when I was in Buffalo NY last month.

Dale and I went to the Walden Galleria location, which was a slight disappointment. I was expecting the store to be bigger, or at least have a better selection compared to their vast online selection. 

But we did manage to find a couple of things including this nice black one shoulder ruffle dress ;) 

As for the patent peep toe slingbacks above, I'm surprised they're not sold out online at Charlotte Russe yet. They can match almost any outfit and they're super comfortable yet sexy. I have them in every colour now :) yay!

If you read my blog, you'll know there's a running joke between Dale & I with holes in my socks

There's some affordable jewelry that I really like at Forever21

This is their lavish panel bracelet in light green/gold

Dale chose these two earrings out for me himself from Aldo - they're really nice :) 

The left pair is "gibler" in silver and the right is "gundlach" in white nubuck

I have swatches of all seven Icing nail polishes, which was picked up at Claire's. I will have it up in my next post shortly ;) 

The bottom pink ring is the faceted faux stone ring from Forever21, the middle ring is the vintaged filigree ring from Forever21 and the top cream coloured ring is the faceted bead ring in olive/gold from Forever21.

I love rhinestones so the jointed leaf earrings from Forever21 are a favourite! 

Left to right: China Glaze in "Innocence", Nina Ultra Pro in "Punki Pink", Orly in "Passion Fruit"

I picked out the far left polish, he picked out the other two bright colours (his favourites). I will try to get some swatches up in my next post

I agree with all the highly rated reviews of Rimmel Royal Gloss - the texture is smooth & not sticky 

I rarely get a chance to visit Wal-mart, but on my last visit I picked up a couple of Hard Candy Painted Lady lipsticks, a Hard Candy Plexi Gloss and their Lash Tinsel Glitter Mascara 

I have swatches of both lipsticks which I will also try to get up on my next post shortly

I did not pick out these Estee Lauder and Clinique makeup items myself - but for Estee Lauder, I love the luxe gold packaging and you can feel the quality from the amazing texture of their lip products

This is my second Hot Tools curling iron (the 1.5") - he got this for me when we were in Buffalo NY

I much prefer Hot Tools over Conair curling irons - for quality and the way it handles.

The price of Conair curling irons in Canada is pretty much the same as Hot Tools if you're getting it in the USA or through ebay ($30-$40)

The Tokidoki Sodashop perfetta cosmetic case from Sephora. The print is super cute! And I love how there is an inner slide slot inside the makeup bag. 

Ahhh you know me with Hello Kitty! :P

We were in Sephora and I loved both the HK compact mirrors - by why oh why was the rhinestone covered one not a compact (it's a one-sided mirror)? So I chose this Hello Kitty compact instead which is super super cute - love the outer mirror finish and there's a magnifying mirror as well as a regular one inside

I will have some swatches up in my next post

Doing anything exciting this weekend? ;)

Leaf's Game, Review of Hair Salons: Deerhurst Salon & Red Lemon Salon

Sports are always 10x's more exciting in real life than on TV

Dale took me to a Leaf's game a couple of weeks back with the best seats I've ever had to a game - several rows up behind the Leaf's bench ;) Thank you very much Dale!

Mind you, I won the bet we made - the Leaf's beat the Calgary Flames :P

I asked if anyone noticed my hair colour in my last blog post....and thank you for noticing the difference but I bet you didn't know what colour it's suppose to be LOL 

Looks more reddish doesn't it? :( 

Two days after my hair was coloured at Deerhurst Resort Salon

***Review of Deerhurst Resort Hair Salon***

Dale treated to me whatever I wanted done at the Spa at Deerhurst Resort
I opted for a hot stone massage, hair cut and full colour

Regarding the full colour, I wanted to go purple - I wanted to do something adventurous, fun and I wanted this colour done professionally since it's not an easy colour to achieve at home

I was hesitating to write this review but I decided I should
It is not a positive review, but anyone who is contemplating going to the Deerhurst Spa and paying that kind of money (price list here) deserves professional treatment and to walk away happy about it
I did not feel that way

I was booked for cut and colour with Heidi

I'll start off with the positive:

• on time (I was the 1st appointment of the day after all)
• I'm happy with the style of cut  
• you and your hair stylist are in separate rooms from others so it's private, which was nice
• the dim lighting is relaxing
• she offered her professional opinion on my initial choice of colour. See, there were only two purple colours in the colour book I was given (why only two?!). Initially I chose the lighter, more plum version of the two purples but Heidi said it would look very fake as an all over colour and recommended I go for the darker shade of purple to avoid the dreaded "wig" look. I took her advice

Now the negative:

• although I am happy with the style of cut I requested, Heidi cut more than I asked and more than she had reassured me that she would (she even verified the amount of hair to be cut using distance between her fingers so it wasn't due to verbal discrepancy). This wasn't the make it or break it since this happens most of the time
• every time I have gotten my hair cut, the hair stylist will hold up a mirror behind me so that when I look forward into another mirror, I can see my haircut from behind when the job is done. Heidi failed to do this
• although the dim lighting is nice, it makes it difficult to see proper colour. While Heidi was blow drying my hair after the colour was washed out, I asked her if she noticed my hair looked reddish. She said yes, there is a bit of red undertone but for sure it's purple if I see it in the sunlight. She blamed the red tint from the dim lighting. My much friendlier massage therapist whom I saw right after my colour and cut also informed me that colour doesn't pick up well under the dim lighting in the spa. Well well....Dale even thought it looked reddish more than anything when we went out into the sunlight. Even I had a difficult time seeing that my hair is purple rather than red! Grrrr
• not only does the dim lighting make it difficult to see actual real colour, it makes it hard to see colour at all. When I went into the sunlight later, I saw how much dye was left all over my neck!! There was a lot of dye smeared on my neck and I was shocked that I didn't notice it in the salon (mind you, I was more shocked Heidi didn't do a good job at cleaning it up)
• her personality. This is very important for me and for this reason, not only will I hesitate going back to the Deerhurst Salon, but I will not recommend Heidi to any future client. She was very cold and rude. I've never had such a negative, judgemental person as a hair stylist. For example, when I told her I wanted to go purple for colour, she blurted out why. I told her I had gone blonde before, reddish before and now I just wanted either purple or navy blue to experiment ;) And since she is blonde, I asked if she ever went dark (like experimented with colour). Her response was that she thought it looks "disgusting" when blondes dye their hair darker. Yep, "disgusting". WTF?! I thought being a hair stylist she should be more open minded or at least use a different choice of adjective. It really offended me especially with her tone of voice and I had just told her I use to go blonde - so does that make me disgusting? At one point she referred to Dale as my husband and because at that point I didn't feel like explaining myself to someone like her, I just played along. Dale and I joked about it later and how he's my husband of two years LOL
• she got some soap suds on my face while she was washing my hair but I know it was an accident. It's just that this didn't help the situation regarding her personality
• when Heidi was brushing my hair after the colour, before the cut, I guess my hair or her brush caught onto one of my earrings and the back part of my earring fell off. We both noticed it right away and when I offered to help her look for it at that moment, she said "Oh no, I'll look for it later." I asked her again and she said she'd do it later when she swept the floor. The whole situation was not handled well. I was rushed off to my massage right after my hair appointment - mind you, without my earring and without seeing my hair cut (because she didn't hold up a mirror). It was only when I was done with my massage that I asked my massage therapist about my missing earring with Heidi. I never saw Heidi because she had stepped out of the salon and the massage therapist had to apologize on Heidi's behalf that the back part of my earring was not found. Seriously, what if that was white gold or something valuable to me as a gift? Sorry is not enough. In fact, Heidi never apologized to my face nor did she write a short note. Dale had already paid and tipped everyone on my behalf and I didn't want to make a fuss because I just didn't want to upset Dale. Luckily the earring was just sterling silver and not valuable to me

And as if Dale wasn't sweet enough to take care of everything and was there for me in the lobby of the Spa when I was finished, he surprised me a gift from the Spa as well 

Dale bought me Pevonia Botanica products from the Deerhurst Spa

That was very very sweet of Dale to surprise me with this
But really, all I wanted after that run-in with Heidi was a big hug from Dale and I got that too ;)


***Review of Red Lemon Hair Salon***

In light of such a negative hair salon review, I feel that I should finish off with a positive one

I'll start off by saying I really really miss my old hair stylist Julie (her nickname is "Gemma" because there was more than one Julie working at her old hair salon)
She has such a fun personality AND on top of that, she is awesomeeee with hair

Gemma can really colour hair well
Before I saw Gemma, I rarely ever got any compliments on my hair colour. Like, none. But as soon as I started getting highlights with Gemma, I even got compliments from people walking down the street! One person I know who actually has experience colouring hair had noticed my highlights one time and specifically asked me, "Who did your hair colour? It looks really good." And trust me, it's not the colour I chose - it was how well it was done.
Gemma is also really good with hair cuts - honestly I have no complaints about her whatsoever and would go back to her in a heartbeat

So, why have I not gone to see Gemma lately?
Because the hair salon she use to work at had closed down and it was close to my parents house. Plus at the time, I was still living at home with my parents.
The salon she moved to is called Red Lemon in Georgetown (link is here) and it is further from my parent's house. Plus, I live on my own now and it's about a good 45+ minute drive from my place to her salon now :(

I'm not sure why but I actually felt like I was cheating on her when I had to go visit other hair salons closer to me LOL

I really miss Gemma - you gotta get your hair done by her if you live in/around Georgetown!
If you cannot book with her, Charmain is also really good with cut and colour and the both of them work in the same salon. My younger sister Jennifer would always book with Charmain and I would book with Gemma at the same time ;)


Do you have your share of good and bad experiences with hair cut/colour? 


Do you think my hair looks more red or more purple? 

At Home Beauty Remedies

Just found an old Chatelaine magazine clipping on how to make a few easy, common, beauty products from using household ingredients

I wish I had some diaper rash cream handy as I have a couple of stubborn zits now - have you tried using diaper rash on a zit before?
Personally I use baby powder as dry shampoo and to also add a bit of texture & volume
And I love the honey + sugar lip scrub - yum!

I'm going to remember that vinegar rinse the next time I need to get product build up out of my hair ;)
White vinegar is also great for cleaning out calcium build up in a kettle by the way

Have you tried any of these homemade beauty recipes? 

Do you have a homemade beauty recipe that is not listed in the article?

Review: Silk Elements Moisturizing Treatment Conditioner

This was the only conditioner I used for 3.5 weeks while I was on vacation so it's time for a review...

I bought this Silk Elements Megasilk Moisturizing Treatment hair conditioner from Sally Beauty Supply 

I know, the consistency looks gross but hey, it's conditioner!

This product is highly rated by many users. 

At first I thought it was pretty good too - that is, until I ran out of my leave-in conditioner 

For 2.5 weeks I did not use any leave-in conditioner and I only used this conditioner after shampooing. 

At the end of 2.5 weeks? The last 1.5"-2" inches of my hair were fried. FRIED! 

My hair was frizzy, the split ends were very noticeable & just looking very damaged

And I did not use any heat styling tools at all during those 2.5 weeks

Luckily my hair instantly felt & looked much much healthier once I resumed using CHI Silk Infusion 

So now I'm left wondering if all the rave reviewers had used a leave-in conditioner after using this product and based their experience on that? 

Overall, this is not a bad conditioner. 

But since this is like any other basic conditioner I've used which I need to pair with a leave-in conditioner, I will not be repurchasing this product unless it's on sale. 

However, I don't live near a Sally Beauty Supply so this conditioner is not even readily available to me

To date, the most moisturizing conditioner for my hair has been Shiseido Tsubaki which I reviewed here

Shiseido Tsubaki is HG for me. 

Do you depend on leave-in conditioners? 

What's your HG hair product(s)? 

Review: L'oreal Couleur Experte in Almond Rocca Light Brown

I neglected my hair colour for the past few months & it was starting to look scary so I bought this 

L'oreal's Couleur Experte at home colouring kit....it includes a base colour and highlight colour

I got the colour 6.0 Almond Rocca

Shouldn't be a problem right? I have dark brown hair 

Before (LEFT) and After (RIGHT) using the base colour 

 The base colour covered my roots and coloured my hair a uniform deep brown with some red undertones. 

Left: After base colour but before highlights
Middle: After highlights
Right: Side view of highlights

The highlights came out a bit brassy and copper-ish brown.
There was enough base colour formula to cover all my hair - which is considered "long" lengthwise.
However, I felt L'oreal should have included more highlighting formula.

I'm okay with the results but it's not what I was expecting based on the "Colour Results Guide"

Do you colour your hair at home? 
Have you tried this colouring kit before? 
Any plans for this weekend? ;) 




Aside: I'm currently away on vacation and this post was made prior to my trip. I will get back to your comment when I have internet access/am back from vacation :) Thanks so much!

Product Review: Shiseido Moist Hair Pack & Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner

Hands down, within top 3 best shampoos and conditioners I've ever used....10/10 in my books

It's the Shiseido shampoo and conditioner. The one above is the "moist pack" one.

I bought mine from the Asian supermarket T & T and I've seen it selling in Asian malls.

I get mine for around $14 each.

I've also tried the Shiseido Tsubaki line of shampoo and conditioner.

This one is usually a few dollars more than the moist pack one, at around $17 a bottle I think.
This is the "damage care" line

There's also a red and gold coloured Tsubaki line sold at the T & T grocery store....


I find that the moist pack version works exactly the same as the Tsubaki version. They're both super moisturizing for my hair. I can't even use it for several consecutive washes in a row because it's so moisturizing it will weigh down my hair.

These have definitely improved the health of my hair. I can't remember the last time my hair felt that nice after washing it with another product.

The only thing is, you should use these in conjunction with one another. I have tried using the Shiseido shampoo, but mixed it with another brand of conditioner and my hair didn't feel as soft after. I also tried using the Shiseido conditioner after shampooing with a different brand shampoo and it didn't make my hair feel as soft after either. Strange huh?

Anyways, I will always have a bottle of Shiseido shampoo and conditioner in my bathroom :)

I highly recommend this product if you have dry/damaged hair.

Have you tried any Shiseido hair care products?

Aside: I'm currently away on vacation and this post was made prior to my trip. I will get back to your comment when I have internet access/am back from vacation :) Thanks so much!

Product Review: Shiseido Moist Hair Pack & Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner

Hands down, within top 3 best shampoos and conditioners I've ever used....10/10 in my books

It's the Shiseido shampoo and conditioner. The one above is the "moist pack" one.

I bought mine from the Asian supermarket T & T and I've seen it selling in Asian malls.

I get mine for around $14 each.

I've also tried the Shiseido Tsubaki line of shampoo and conditioner.

This one is usually a few dollars more than the moist pack one, at around $17 a bottle I think.
This is the "damage care" line

There's also a red and gold coloured Tsubaki line sold at the T & T grocery store....


I find that the moist pack version works exactly the same as the Tsubaki version. They're both super moisturizing for my hair. I can't even use it for several consecutive washes in a row because it's so moisturizing it will weigh down my hair.

These have definitely improved the health of my hair. I can't remember the last time my hair felt that nice after washing it with another product.

The only thing is, you should use these in conjunction with one another. I have tried using the Shiseido shampoo, but mixed it with another brand of conditioner and my hair didn't feel as soft after. I also tried using the Shiseido conditioner after shampooing with a different brand shampoo and it didn't make my hair feel as soft after either. Strange huh?

Anyways, I will always have a bottle of Shiseido shampoo and conditioner in my bathroom :)

I highly recommend this product if you have dry/damaged hair.

Have you tried any Shiseido hair care products?

Aside: I'm currently away on vacation and this post was made prior to my trip. I will get back to your comment when I have internet access/am back from vacation :) Thanks so much!

Review: TRESemme Curl Activator spray

I bought the Tresemme Curl Activator Spray a few months ago

It's suppose to make the curls in your hair stay curled for a longer period of time.

Yes, it does that.

But this product is like strong hold hairspray. And it makes my the curls in my hair stiff as if I sprayed it down with extra hold hairspray. I don't like that! I want my curls nice and soft to touch :S

I've even tried to spray it lightly and use minimal product, comb it evenly through - still not working for me.

And make sure you have a blow dryer handy when you spray this. If you don't blow dry your hair within a few minutes of applying this, your hair will stiffen really hard before you know it. I tried it once without a blow dryer - so trust me. I could have knocked someone out with my hair if I head bunted them.

No, I will not be repurchasing this product. And I also do not recommend it.

Just use hairspray -it's the same thing.

Although I would recommend light hold hairspray if you want some manageability minus the stiffness hehe ;)

Aside: this is a scheduled post I made prior to my vacation. I'm currently away so I will get back to your comments when I'm back/have internet access ;) Thanks!

Review: TRESemme Curl Activator spray

I bought the Tresemme Curl Activator Spray a few months ago

It's suppose to make the curls in your hair stay curled for a longer period of time.

Yes, it does that.

But this product is like strong hold hairspray. And it makes my the curls in my hair stiff as if I sprayed it down with extra hold hairspray. I don't like that! I want my curls nice and soft to touch :S

I've even tried to spray it lightly and use minimal product, comb it evenly through - still not working for me.

And make sure you have a blow dryer handy when you spray this. If you don't blow dry your hair within a few minutes of applying this, your hair will stiffen really hard before you know it. I tried it once without a blow dryer - so trust me. I could have knocked someone out with my hair if I head bunted them.

No, I will not be repurchasing this product. And I also do not recommend it.

Just use hairspray -it's the same thing.

Although I would recommend light hold hairspray if you want some manageability minus the stiffness hehe ;)

Aside: this is a scheduled post I made prior to my vacation. I'm currently away so I will get back to your comments when I'm back/have internet access ;) Thanks!

Review: Review: Got2b fat-tastic instant collagen root-boosting spray

I have serious issues with lack of volume in my hair. My hair is just flat. It's like a helmet - and I don't usually bother to style my hair at all.

But my younger sister who is big on voluminous hair inspired me a few weeks ago to put a little bit of effort into styling my hair. One of the products she recommended was

Got2B fat-tastic root-boosting spray

How to use the product

See the helpful instructions on the back? (okay, I'm being sarcastic)

Trust me, you don't just spray this in your hair and voila - big hair.

The way I used it (and I believe the only way it will work for anyone) is to spray it into your roots on dry hair. Make sure to spray the roots of even the middle and lower layers of your hair. I'm not sure why the instructions stop here because if you just leave your hair like this, you'll look like a wet dog and your hair will be flatter than before. Air drying doesn't help either. You need to blow dry your hair at this point - I blow dry with my head upside down on medium heat and I blow dry until the product/my hair is dry. It only takes about 2-3 minutes max because the product dries quickly with heat.

Tip

For products that use a nozzle spray format, keep the plastic cap thing

I'm holding the plastic cap thingie that I'm referring to

That way when you travel with this product, the nozzle will stay put and product won't spray out

BEFORE Hair voluminizer....

(above): bathroom lighting

(above): natural lighting

AFTER Hair voluminizer...

(above) bathroom lighting

(above): natural lighting

Verdict

I'm not sure if the pictures really indicate how well this product works for my hair - but it works well.

Unfortunately like every other product/method I have used to create volume in my hair, the volume deflates quickly over the course of a few hours. Maybe because my hair is too long/heavy? That is my only complaint - which is not directed at this product. I have tried more expensive hair products and the volume deflates just as quickly for me.

This product is more effective than baby powder or my dry shampoo to create volume.

If you're looking for an affordable hair voluminizer and you're willing to invest 2-3 minutes to blow dry your hair after, then I highly recommend this product :)

Do you take time/effort to style your hair when you go out?

Have you tried any really good hair voluminizing products?

And, have a lovely long weekend if it's Labour Day weekend where you are :)