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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

makeup reviews

ESQIDO Unisyn Collection ~ Synthetic False Lashes

ESQIDO Unisyn Collection ~ Synthetic False Lashes
March 28, 20180 Comments
Hello!

I have a super exciting blog post today! ESQIDO is launching their first ever synthetic lashes! These lashes are part of the new UNISYN collection, which includes 10 different lash styles. These lashes launch TODAY (March 28, 2018) and there are some great deals happening that I will include in this post if you’re interested! ESQIDO also surprised me (last night just before the launch) with an affiliate code that will give you 15% off your order. Just use the code: amys

I received the Unisyn lash kit for free as PR (which was a complete surprise to me because I didn’t realize I was on the list) and was super excited because ever since working with ESQIDO on a post a few months ago, I’ve fallen in love with how pretty and easy their lashes are to use! I did want to add a disclaimer because I did receive mine for free, but I was never told that I had to review these in exchange for the product (since I was surprised with them) nor am I being paid by them to do this. Like I said before, they also surprised me with an affiliate code, but I’m simply excited to share these with you and truly love them!


Here are the lashes I’ve received!


PB&J
Naughty & Nice
Heart & Soul (After wearing them)


Heart & Soul are my favourite ESQIDO lashes so far! So much so that if I were getting married tomorrow, I'd wear these! I filmed a video where I try on all three of the styles that I received from the Unisyn collection, and I have lots of good pics that really show off the styles, comparisons of my eyes with just a bit of mascara, versus the lash styles, and close ups! I have a previous blog post about ESQIDO lashes (a mink set) that you can read here if you’re interested!

Here’s the Unisyn video!:




The Unisyn lashes retail at $22 USD, so they’re much more affordable than the mink lashes offered by ESQIDO, but you can save more money if you decide to buy a kit, or purchase two.  A Unisyn kit is $50 USD and comes with three pairs of lashes of your choice, as well as one Companion Eyelash Glue (AKA my favourite lash glue ever). I think this is a great price considering the glue itself is $10 USD. The value of the set is $76 USD, so you’re saving quite a bit buying the set rather than buying everything separately.  If you already have the glue (or lash glue that you love) and just want to try out the lashes, you can buy one pair of Unisyn lashes, and get the second pair half off. You can only do one per order so this is great if you’re only interested in two of the styles. Overall, I think the Unisyn kit is the best value if you’re interested in trying the brand out!

These lashes feel even lighter than their regular mink lashes! They’re ridiculously easy to apply (one try every time for me) and I surprisingly didn’t have to trim any of them. These also have a cotton band so it’s really easy to hide it and help it blend in with your lash line.

Here are a few pictures of my eye look that I was wearing in the try on video. The green eye look will be up on Saturday if you’re interested to see how I achieved it! The Gold eye look (the Instagram picture… follow me!) will probably be up next Saturday. The last instagram picture is a gallery of each of the lash styles on one eye, versus the other eye with only mascara on:


PB & J
Naughty & Nice



A post shared by Amy Sousa (@beautybyamysousa) on

In this Instagram post I'm wearing my favourite pair, Heart & Soul



A post shared by Amy Sousa (@beautybyamysousa) on

And here's an Instagram gallery!

I hope you've enjoyed this little preview of the lashes and my first impressions! Don't forget to use my code amys for 15% off (or anyone else's code so you can save money) and to pay attention to the deals I've mentioned today so you can get more for your money!

See you soon!

*This post contains one affiliate code (no affiliate links). I've received the lashes for free, but was not sent them in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own!
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Monday, February 12, 2018

hair reviews

Wise: Essentials Bundle ~ Perfect Valentine's Day Gift!

Wise: Essentials Bundle ~ Perfect Valentine's Day Gift!
February 12, 20180 Comments
Hello!

With Valentine's day coming up this week, there are a lot of gift ideas and gift bundles going around for women, but I thought I'd talk about a great bundle catered towards men. My boyfriend, Steven, has been testing out the products so he can pass along the information from a male's point of view for me to provide a proper review!

Wise sent over three products from their Essentials Bundle, which retails for $95 CAD: The Birch Bark Daily Shampoo, which comes in a minimalist refill pouch that is environmentally conscious, the Glacier Clay Pomade that comes in a beautiful container, and a sample of the Red Maple Styling Cream. The essentials kit also comes with a Neem Wood Comb, which retails for $15, but I did not receive this so I can't give a review (but it looks nice!). The Essentials Bundle is a much better deal than buying the products separately (even if you didn't include the comb) so you are saving money!


The Simple & Natural Men's Shampoo on its own retails for $34 CAD (in the minimalistic pouch), and for $20 CAD in the reusable glass bottle (which can hold up to 100 ml... travel friendly!). This shampoo contains essential oils, which makes this smell amazing! Both Steven and I have used this and we both enjoy it!

Steven found that you need to use more product than regular drugstore shampoos for it to lather well, but understands that this is because of the natural ingredients and lack of harmful chemicals that many shampoo's contain.  I, on the other hand, have been exclusively using natural shampoos for a few years now, so for me I'm used to low lather, but in my opinion this lathered quite well and I didn't have to use as much as some of my favourites.

We both felt that our scalps felt really nice and tingly after using this, likely because of the essential oils. This also contains high levels of vitamin C and antioxidants, and 100% of the ingredients are local, with 70% of them being natural. This left our hair feeling just as clean as our other shampoos and it did not get greasier any quicker. Steven washes his hair every few days and has been using this exclusively since we received it almost two weeks ago. So far he really likes it and will continue using it since it doesn't irritate his sensitive scalp—if anything it seems to soothe it. I've gone back to my regular routine, though I did enjoy it!


The Simple & Natural Men's Clay Pomade retails for $32 CAD (for 60 ml) and is described as being for a medium hold. The packaging is beautiful! The lid is real wood and looks very sophisticated. The ingredients are great (93% natural, 100% local) and actually promote healthy hair by helping moisturize. The finish is matte, which is great for photography so your hair doesn't look greasy, but it stays in place! You can also buy this in the minimalistic packaging for $24 CAD!


The Simple & Natural Men's Red Maple Styling Cream/Cream Pomade  retails for $32 CAD (for 60 ml) and will give a strong hold. The instructions say to use a quarter-sized amount onto your hands and to spread your hands through your hair to style however you desire. The pamphlet describes that this is for a polished look, which is perfect considering Steven has graduation photos the day I'm posting this review, so I can update you no how this held up! The ingredients in this are also amazing (93% natural, 100% local) and this will give a light-shine finish, but not greasy looking. This also comes in a minimalistic packaging option for $24 CAD.


I highly recommend checking out the Wise website and the Essentials Gift Bundle that includes these products! They are are very interesting company that is environmentally conscious, which is super important nowadays. I think this would be a great Valentine's Day gift for your significant other, or just a great gift in general for anyone in your life that would use these types of products. Steven really enjoys them and will definitely continue using them!

See you soon!
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Wednesday, February 07, 2018

life

January Beauty Favourites

January Beauty Favourites
February 07, 20180 Comments
Hello!

I've decided on a few small-ish New Year resolutions that relate to beauty for 2018, and one of them is doing favourites posts every month. It's a week into February, so I thought it'd be a good time to look back and post my January beauty favourites! This is actually quite big for me considering the most I've done favourites posts/videos in the past two years is once every quarter, and even then it's usually once a year like my 2017 Makeup Favourites. Let me know if you want me to do a post or video on my 2018 beauty resolutions!


Too Faced Chocolate Gold palette! 


This should be no surprise considering my Chocolate Gold Swatches that I posted a little while back, as well as my Halo Eye GRWM/Tutorial. This palette is amazing! It's super pigmented, easy to blend, has the important matte colours incorporated into it, and has bright pops of colour mixed in with the regular golds and silvers. This isn't for everyone, but if you like metallic-looking eyeshadow I think you'll really love this!


Chorus Supernatural Glycolic Facial Peel


This product was recently sent to me for consideration. I've been using this every single week since I picked it up the last week of December (the instructions say once a week) and I can definitely say that I feel a difference in my skin. I just posted a full review on the product so click here to read it! I've been using products from Chorus Supernatural products for over a year now and really love their brand so much that I've purchased products on my own on multiple occasions, so I was really excited when they invited me to become an affiliate (The links for the website and for the peel are affiliate links.! You'll be seeing this again soon in a different blog post or possibly a video (or both)!


Juicy Couture Gold Couture Perfume


I've been lusting over this for years now! I got a mini sample with a Sephora purchase about two years ago and fell in love right away. Since then I've been trying to collect as many mini samples, and would only use them on super special events (like Steven and I's anniversary and weddings), but I was waiting around to gain enough Shoppers Drug Mart optimum points to buy it. This year Steven decided to buy it for me as one of my Christmas presents, and since Shoppers is switching over their points system, we used all of my points up to pay for part of it. This is my favourite perfume of all time so far, though the Chanel Chance EauVive is a close second. If you like sweet scents that aren't mature, definitely check this out!


That's it for my January favourites! I want to keep these favourites posts quite short since they'll consist of the products I've been enjoying the most for that month (not my overall favourites... those will be much longer).

See you soon!
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Sunday, February 04, 2018

reviews skincare

Chorus Supernatural Glycolic Facial Peel Review

Chorus Supernatural Glycolic Facial Peel Review
February 04, 20180 Comments
Hello!

I have yet another skincare review! This time it's for the Chorus Supernatural Glycolic Peel! I've been wanting to try out this type of product for a very long time now, but never ended up picking one up. Back in December I was offered the chance to become an affiliate of Chorus Supernatural since I've worked with them in the past and LOVE the products that I've used so far. All of the links in this post are affiliate links, but the post is not sponsored and all opinions are 100% my own.


This retails for $30.90, which is good price considering you get a whopping 4.1 fluid oz and you only use the smallest amount each time. Chorus Supernatural products are always made from clean ingredients, which is why they've won the cert clean stamp of approval, and this specific product ranks  2 on the independent safety rating (low). I've been using this for over a month now, closer to two considering how long January was. I noticed a difference right away when I first used this, but now that I've used it every single week, once a week, since I received it, I can give my full review.

The product itself is a lotion that you put all over your face (or on your problem areas) for 10 minutes. The first time I used this I felt like my face was tingling a bit. I had a black head on my lip that I had just squeezed out (my bad) and it made that mini wound burn, but after I wiped it off there it was totally fine. I applied this all over my face and avoided by under-eye area and put an eye treatment there instead. After washing it off, the texture of my face immediately looked better.


The description on the site mentions that this will get rid of dead skin cells to help even out your face and restore glowing skin. I fully agree with this statement since my skin immediately felt smoother. After using it every single week since I received it, I notice that I almost have no awkward texture on my face anymore. It looks a lot more lively, which I guess is what the glow refers to. I've also noticed that my other skincare seems to soak in better now that my skins texture is a lot smoother and even.

I really love this and will definitely keep it in my permanent routine. Such a large amount comes in the tube, so I feel like I'll have this for years (or at least it starts to go bad), but if it keeps doing what it's doing, I will definitely purchase this, like I have for my other Chorus Supernatural products!

Go check out the Chorus Supernatural website if you haven't already! They have awesome skincare and haircare (check out my post on their shampoo and conditioner!) and all of their products have clean ingredients, and are cruelty free!

See you soon!
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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

affordable skincare

My Five Favourite The Ordinary Products

My Five Favourite The Ordinary Products
January 31, 20180 Comments
Hello!

It should come as no surprise that I'm a huge fan of The Ordinary! I discovered them about a year ago through the Canadian Beauty Blogger network when a member shared the amazing prices. I was so shocked at how affordable everything was that I put in an order—something I never do without hearing about a brand/products for several months first.

Fast forward a year and I've made three orders and one trip to a Deciem store to buy more The Ordinary products! I'm in love with their skincare and have also tried both foundation formulas. Since The Ordinary is brand of the month, I decided to put together a list of my top 5 favourite items that I own, which was super difficult. I managed to pick out my top 5 and listed the prices (in CAD) so I hope you enjoy!



Skincare


Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 ($6.80)

This is the first product I ever tried from The Ordinary! After reading a few reviews on this product, I decided to make my order, which included the next product on the list as well. Hyaluronic Acid does wonders for the skin, which is why it is added into a few of the other products that are also on this list, but also in so many products from so many other brands as well. I use this at night, though on weekends I use it in the morning as well. This stuff has really helped with moisturizing my skin and making it look more alive. My skin feels more plump (likely because it is more hydrated) and this soaks in so fast that other products layer on top like a dream. My bottle is almost completely empty, but that's ok because I have backups already!

Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA ($5.80)

I've seen mixed reviews of this, but this moisturizer works great on me! I can use this morning and night, but have recently only been using this at night. This works wonders on top of the Hyaluronic Acid. My second order from The Ordinary consisted of two backups of this, and a few other products that aren't mentioned in this post (but I still love them). 

This is actually a pretty intense moisturizer, which is perfect for me since I have pretty dehydrated skin. A small amount goes a long way! I saw a few other bloggers saying that this made them break out, but they also mentioned that this was too rich for them. I have very sensitive skin and this has never made me break out, so I guess I was right about needing the extra moisturizing power.  I maybe have one more use for this moisturizer before opening one of my backups, but I thought I'd show you the little device I use to squeeze out every last drop!


Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%($5.80)

I bought this from the Deciem store in Square One mall during an event where if you bought a friend you'd get 20% off. I finished up my old vitamin c serum and loved it so much that I knew I needed to replace it, so The Ordinary was my first choice for trying something new. 

I love this stuff, but it scared the crap out of my at first. The spheres actually hurt when I'm applying this to my face! I thought I was having a bad allergic reaction to the product, but I realized that the little spheres just feel like little blades running across my face when I rub this in. I also checked out the product page, and the "tingling" feeling is normal when you're first using and getting used to it. This is correct as this no longer burns or makes my face tingle as long as I am using it frequently. 

Wow does this help even out my skin! I feel like my acne scarring has diminished significantly! I learned about a year ago that vitamin C is very important to add to the skin because your body doesn't produce it, so not only do I need to take Vitamin C (and drink orange juice), but I need to keep using this and my skin will continue to look nice!

Salicylic Acid 2% ($5.30)

I don't have much to say about this since it's literally just Salicylic acid, but this works well! I've been using salicylic acid for many years, so it was a no brainer to pick up The Ordinary's version while at the same event at the Deciem store. It's just the clean ingredient, so it works just as well, if not better. The instructions say that you can put this all over your face to help even things out. I've tried this once and I couldn't tell a big difference, but when it comes to targeting acne spots, this stuff is amazing!


Makeup



Serum Foundation ($6.70)

I also picked this foundation up while at the Deciem event that I mentioned previously, but this isn't the first foundation I've tried from the brand. I've also tried their Coverage Foundation, but I bought that during the summer and got a shade that I can only match when I'm at my absolute darkest (and I don't lay out in the sun very often anymore). This foundation is light coverage, but that's what I love so much about it! I rarely wear foundation in the winter because my skin is actually pretty decent. My only concern is evening out my skin tone, so this foundation has been a life saver when I do want to look good on camera or in person. The shade range is surprisingly good for a brand that's fairly new to makeup! They actually have yellow undertones that are yellow! I got overexcited when I saw this shade in person. It is very yellow when I pump it onto my hand, which means it matches my skin perfectly!

I've seen a lot of negative reviews on the serum foundation, which confuses me because I love it so much! I apply this with an oval shaped brush (except mine is a cheap $4 brush from Amazon) and it seems to be the best for the foundation to go on super smooth and not leave streaks behind because it is super watery. I lightly pat on top with a beauty blender to remove any excess product, and my skin looks perfect! I think a big problem for many is how they apply the foundation, or that this is super light coverage, but for what I need this is absolute perfection... and the price makes things even better! I'm definitely going to be picking up more shades so I can wear this all year long (and I might pick up one or two other shades for the Coverage Foundation in case I do want medium to full coverage).

Final Thoughts?

I 100% recommend The Ordinary to everyone! The prices are ridiculously affordable, the products are high quality, the ingredients are pure, and you can find these in a bunch of different places! Most (if not all) of their products are cruelty free and vegan, which makes the brand even better! There are a few products that I haven't tried before that are already on my list, but considering I just received my fourth purchase a week ago (my friend and I ordered together) I thought I'd wait a while since I have a really good skincare routine going on at the moment. I did want to mention my #1 favourite since it may not have been super obvious in this post. My fourth purchase consisted of two backups of the Hyaluronic Acid! This stuff has made the biggest difference in my skin and I can't get enough of it! I have recommended this to pretty much everyone I speak to because it honestly works so well. If you can only buy one thing from The Ordinary, I recommend this 100 times over. 


I hope you enjoyed reading my little reviews on my top 5 favourite The Ordinary products! I've never received anything from the brand and they don't even know that I exist (though if you're reading this, I'd love to work with you!). All opinions are 100% my own (as usual).

See you soon!
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