Author: brightandbeautyfull

The Hair Goes to Canada, Likes It Lots

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{Happy New Year’s Eve!}

So! There I was in the YMCA of Saint Catharines {an A, no apostrophe} having availed of their truly excellent leisure facilities; after having used the product on offer in the showers {er…}, I reckoned I could cover all impending ills using one of my stash of Nuture Anti-Ageing Conditioning Hair Treatment. Even before I lashed it on, I noticed that The Hair looked especially wavy, in a good way. In the way that looked like nice, loose waviness, rather than the usual indecisive half-assery.

Okay. I applied the serum and dried it, and it felt like silk. Full-of-volume silkiness.

I overheard someone in the dressing area talking about the softness of the water in these parts. Ah! This is a thing that is always on my mind at this time of year, what with all the travelling. I have to say that Ontarian water may be the best I’ve come across anywhere!
HAIR IN CANADIA 2

HAIR IN CANADIA 1

This looks like a frame from a music video:
HAIR IN CANADIA 3
Clearly about to begin an impassioned ode to the Ontario Water Works Association.

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Uh, yah, eh?

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: The Love/Hate Beauty Treatment of the Year

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Not that Love/Hate, as I’m sure it would involve some class of blunt object.

This love/hate: the amazing look of eyelash extensions, and their less savoury aspects. Search the eyelash extension tag for the saga in its entirety; they look stupid fabulous, but amongst the things that I found dislikable were A} the time one of these bad girls got stuck in my eye, and B} the feeling that I never quite got eyeshadow or eyeliner — or any of the make up around my eyes — completely cleaned off.

The pictures tell the tale; every time I see this shot, I feel like doing it all over again.
EYELASHES the Original

And this one, which was taken during week five, in which I supplemented them with mascara, which I was expressly told not to do. I look like Bambi, or some other class of cartoon doe:
EYELASHES week five

And just for compare-and-contrast purposes, this is the way my eyes look on an average, unextended day:
BYE BYE EYELASH EXTs 1
Like Dreyer’s Saint Joan, with fewer Inquisitors.

I’ve had many, many treatments this year, and this was the one that was the most noticeable. After the first post, the amount of people squinting at my face was rivalled only by the curiosity when I got The Botox that time. There were also so many scary stories about lashes never growing back, which luckily didn’t happen. Would I do it again? Well, as long as I don’t look at those pictures, the answer is always No way…

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Iseree Cotton Pads, The Unsung Hero

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ISEREE cotton pads €.79These are 79¢. For 120 pads.

I was happy enough to leave it at that and post. I mean, even for Lidl, that is so cheap. Also: cotton is compostable/recyclable. You can do allll your face stuff — cleanse, tone, micellar water, pore minimiser — willy nilly, safe in the knowledge that you are being thrifty and green.

I’ve also found that these are the same all the time, which is not always the case with value brands. You buy a thing, and get used to the way it is, and then somebody takes a notion to either make it ‘better’, or more likely, try to make it even more cheaply, and the quality is destroyed — not the case here, which is great.

120 ÷ 3/day = 40 days of cottony goodness. I mean, approximately. Then there are the days when you have to use a million of them to remove the sparkly nail varnish whose base is apparently super glue, the days when you go a bit mad with the smokey eye, the days when your skin just feels… dusty, or something, and you’ve just got to use that cleansing water yet again.

Heart u Iseree Cotton Pads! Don’t ever change. And I mean that.

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That’s .79 euro-style cents, peeps.

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Smartest Make Up of the Year

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LANCÔME’s Teint Visionnaire is so, so smart.
TEINT VISIONNAIRE
Perfectly matched concealer in the cap! I ask you.

See here for a stupid dewy lookin’ selfie, and you may note its appearance here, bottom right.

When I was packing for The Christmas, I realised that I couldn’t do without this; I swathed it in bubble wrap and wrapped it a T shirt and tucked it in a boot. It’s that good.

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Best Mash Up of Stuff I Like

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Lush Locks
Candles and haircare! Thanks to this MARIE REYNOLDS LONDON Lush Locks Hair Treatment Candle. Here‘s the review, and here‘s an interview with the woman herself, talking about how she brought her concept for aline of massage candles into being.

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See beautyemporium.ie

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Best Headline Meets Best Relaunch?

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I think so.

DDML+ livin large

As seen in The Loop, T2, Dublin Airport

Is this the best display of a product ever? Oh, yeah.

The Internets were quite vocal about the relaunch of the beloved Dramatically Different Mositurising Lotion with the new +, with many complaining about the change in texture.

Me, I had grown up using this, and in my new life as a beauty journo, I had so many other things to try that this fell by the wayside.

I personally found that this felt richer than it had, and therefore believed that the primary innovation, that of strengthening the skin’s own moisture barrier, seems entirely plausible.

All I know is, it feels terrific to me, and I’m happy that the auld big yellow bottle is back in my skincare line up.

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Best Haiku Review of the Year

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Art imitates life: the poem is only going to be as good as the product. Neal’s Yard Organic Beauty Sleep was one of the year’s best new launches, and it inspired me to flights of fancy.

I have had hit-or-miss experiences with the brand, but this is a hit that goes through the roof. The original post is here; I look forward to the day that I can link to the glorious scent. Surely that is on track somewhere in software development land? Too weird?

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Daftest Post of the Year, and of Maybe Ever

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Which was a lot of work, actually; it’s so easy to assume that the computer just edits and downloads and uploads all by itself.

Anyway: daft!

I totally believe that my destiny is in this convertible.
HACKETT my other life
Is that, like, life dysmorphia or something?

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Cheekiest Q in a Q&A

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LADYCARE MAGNET

Magnet! Oh!

Also: this was one of the top traffic-generating posts of the year as well. This B&B! Q&A with the creator of the LadyCare Magnet made a change from my usual run of querying, and apparently Derek thought Q#2 was pretty funny.

Not funny: hot flashes! Night sweats! This little genius knocks ’em right out. Can’t recommend it more highly.

I used magnets to great effect when treated The Horseriding Injury, the story of which I am sure is linked in the above link. I tend to forget to keep using them, even though I should, as the the tendons continue perilously easy to induce enflarement upon. <Wow, what? In the same way, I suppose I should wear this all the time, but I don’t think I need it everyday. When I feel the surges about to descend again I just slap in on my undies — and trust me young wans, this shit is unmistakable, even as, like me, you won’t have experienced it before. It’s all ahead of you! Bwahahahahaha!

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Nicest Surprise in the Post

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I’d never come across SkinCeuticals before, and when their Mineral Radiance UV Defense came over the transom — which is an outdated phrase that I will always love — I was very pleasantly surprised.

I tried it straightaway to make a Snap! Judgement, and really liked that it didn’t look like anything was on my face:
SKINCEUTICALS on the gobWhich is sometimes the look I lIke to go for. You know, the natural one? With this, you get all the coverage, and not only the type that minimises pigmentation: this is stuffed with all those UV filters we need to be mindful of, and yet acts like a light foundation. Perfection!

See here for the full report. It’s an imminent candidate for IUIAU!

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