Pretty In Bronze

 Hello!

If you're in Canada and reading this, I'm sure you know that Forever 21 shut down all of their physical stores few years back and no longer shipped to Canada either, which was very sad for many people including myself. I loved buying undershirts from there, but I also used to buy a lot of tops and dresses in my university years.

A few months ago I got an email from Forever 21 letting me know that they had a new website specifically for Canadians! The re-opening sale was really good, but everything was sold out in my size because everyone was so excited that they were back. I decided to wait, especially because my entertainment budget is super strict and not very large, so I could get a decent amount of clothing that I'd been needing. Fast forward to April and I found myself scrolling around on Dynamite's website (my favourite clothing brand) after some targeted Instagram ads got the better of me. Everything was so cute, but after years of pretty much exclusively buying clothes second-hand, I couldn't stomach the price. A lightbulb then went off in my head and I remembered that Forever 21 was back so I switched to their website and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were not only having a sale, but I'd get an additional 10% off by signing up with my cell number (I haven't received any texts since the promotion code).

I needed shirts, specifically crop tops that work well with high waisted pants. I don't have many crop tops, probably three that I've collected during the last decade, so I figured it'd be a good idea to buy a bunch in my colour scheme (pastels, white, black and grey) since that's pretty much all I wear. Here's everything I bought! (I took these photos a few days apart, but due to my beloved monthly visitor, I was very bloated for the indoor photos).

Floral Eyelash Lace Bralette 

I purchased this in White and Black. I've only ever owned one bralette and I don't even have it with me in my temporary living situation, but it's also a shade of pink that I don't really love and won't work as a shirt on its own. I got both of these in an XS/S (Extra Small / Small) because I'm pretty flat and the only other size was the Medium/Large so it was really my only option anyway. These are pretty stretchy, but also thick and feel higher quality, so I can wear the black one on its own without it being super obvious that I'm not wearing a bra underneath, however, the white one is a lot more obvious. The back has lace detailing, as well as along the top boarder, so this will look really cute under shirts or dresses that show those areas off. I'm very impressed with this top, so I'm now tempted to pick up the last colour available, pink (the same Rose colour as one of the shirts mentioned later in this post) if I end up making another order in the future. Hopefully it's still available if I do!

Cropped Tank Top (Semi-cropped hem)

Cropped Tank Top (Cropped hem)

All in all I'm impressed with the shirts I ordered and I'm definitely ok with the price they came out to (with taxes and shipping I paid $60 CAD). I will say that there's not nearly as large of a selection on the Canadian website, and from what I saw, the options available in the main section of the site aren't available in the plus-sized section of the website and vice versa, so you will have to specifically shop in the section according to your size. While I definitely prefer shopping for clothes second-hand, especially because I'm not really good with fashion and hate spending money on clothes, this seems to be the most affordable option while I'm not able to safely go into physical stores. I'm just making it a point to buy pretty basic options that I can wear for years on end, like I do with all of my clothes.

Have you ordered from the new Forever 21 Canada website? Let me know your thoughts and if there's something I should consider getting as a tall flat-chested girl with a large behind.

I'll see you soon with a new post!

Hello! 

Welcome back to a new review! This is, in my opinion, an exciting review because I've gone years with my dentist begging me to buy both of these items, but I recently (finally) in early March purchased an electric toothbrush and water flosser. I've always been hesitant because they're normally so expensive, especially if you want a cute one, which of course I did so I kept pushing it off for years.

Due to the pandemic, I haven't seen my dentist in over one year (closer to one year and a half). This is very bad because I'm the patient that always has at least one cavity, despite visiting every six months. For some reason my teeth don't hold the fillings well so they always break and expose my teeth to cavities. I've been worried since it's been so long, so I finally started researching what the best electric toothbrushes are on the market, while still hoping for a cute pink one, and discovered Fairywill.

Originally I discovered their pink toothbrushes and was very close to buying them after reading the amazing reviews, but when I saw the water flosser set, I knew I had to get it. I have permanent retainers, which makes flossing almost impossible (even the dentist has a hard time), which is why he's always recommended me to buy one of these. I immediately ordered the Eight piece set after confirming it had the features of the super expensive tooth brushes and it arrived within two days, despite not having Amazon Prime.

I'll start with the toothbrush itself since that was the most important part of my purchase. The toothbrush included in this set is the D7 Series Electric Toothbrush. Fairywill has a chart that compares the different toothbrush models on the product page, and this one appears to be the runner up to the strongest model, their Pro Series. 

 Hello!

Welcome back to another post. This one is a little bit different since I used to film an empties video every few months back in my YouTube days, but it's been a long time. It's been over a year since I've stepped foot into my office, which means I've been using up product way less with the only person who has to see me being my husband. This, unfortunately, means that a lot of products that I've owned have expired and gone bad. Well, to be perfectly honest, a lot of these products were already expired, but now they're completely unusable. In this post, I'm going to focus on the products that aren't empty and will give each one its own mini individual review. Next post will look at product I've actually used up!

This makes up roughly half of all of the products that are being thrown out, which is terrible. Most of these were products that were sent to me in some form of PR or to try out, so while my wallet isn't necessarily crying over it, it's still terrible for the environment and I really hate being wasteful. I feel especially guilty because I wrote a good chunk of this post on Earth Day. Oops. I've committed to not buying products that I won't use so I know I'll be better going forward, but it still sucks that a lot of these went to waste.

Most links are affiliate, though a lot of the products are no longer available.

Bio Oil - Yes, THE bio oil. I'm pretty sure I've had this stuff since late middle school or early high school. I still remember the day my mom bought this for me while at our nearest Walmart. The promise of this stuff getting rid of stretch marks was what drew us to it first, but what made my mom actually buy it was the hope of it fading scars. I will say, this stuff did help, but it's so expensive (at least it was at the time for us) and it was very high maintenance. I'm talking three times a day (once before school, once directly after school and once before bed) just to fade some light scars. It worked, but I suspect that with a few more years of patience that the shaving scars would've gone away on their own like all of the other ones I've gotten have without me using this stuff. It's nearly half full, but it's been well over a decade so it needs to go.

 Hello!

If you've read my last blog post, you'll know that I've been having some skin issues that have stopped me from being able to wear makeup and even skincare.  Months later, my weird patch of nose eczema hasn't been active, but it has left behind a light scar. Over the last month I started using skincare again and even washing my face with my foreo without irritating it, so I know it's similar to my other eczema scars and is dormant at the moment. Because of this, I want to start using proper skincare again to target all of the acne scars I have on my face, the acne itself and my uneven skin tone. Of course I will be linking to the products I mention, and those will be affiliate links where I'll only earn commission if you make a purchase.

I haven't been able to see a dermatologist at all. Everything is locked down again and I haven't moved yet, so I'm still stuck with the only doctor in this town. I've been doing research on skincare and have decided, after testing out ingredients for a few days, to try a strict skincare routine and see what results, if any, it brings.

In the mornings I will wash my face with water (nothing else) and will apply my The Ordinary Azelaic Acid suspension 10%, and on days where there's sun I'll top it off with my Juice Beauty SPF 30 Oil-Free Moisturizer. It's not the most moisturizing product out there, but it's nice and thin and keeps my face safe from the sun without me needing to apply multiple products. If there's no sun, I'll use a very small amount of my The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. 

Flash photo of my face on Day One

No flash photo on my face, Day Two

In the evenings I'll be washing my face with my Cetaphil Oily Skin Cleanser, and two to three times a week I'll use my Foreo (original Luna Mini) to get a deeper clean. Once dry, I'll apply my Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2% and then massage my Divine Essence Rosehip Oil into my face. The rosehip oil is very moisturizing and doesn't irritate my skin at all. If anything, it soothes it, which is great considering Vitamin C can be irritating to people with sensitive skin, and this seems to counteract that part for me.

For my actual acne breakouts, I've been using the Neutrogena Rapid Clear Stubborn Acne Spot Gel. I've always loved salicylic acid, but The Ordinary hasn't been selling it for years now and a few co-workers gave this one a good review. I do really like it, but I will say that you should only apply it directly to the spot and only sometimes over the surrounding area because it will completely dry out the surrounding skin if you use it every day.

I'm hoping to do this routine for at least four weeks, but will be taking weekly progress pictures to include in my update post at the end of this trial period. Here's what my face looked like at the start so you can have a good look at the dark spots/scarring I have around my chin, the very light spot on the bridge of my nose, and a few on my forehead. My cheeks are always red (though you can't tell from these pictures), so I'm hoping that will subside as well.

I'm hopeful that the Vitamin C and Azelaic acid will help with the dark spots and the redness with consistent use. I'm publishing this post on day four and so far nothing has gone wrong, which is great! If anything weird happens, like my nose eczema spot returning, I'll definitely do an update post to talk about it, but otherwise I won't update about this routine until the end of the four weeks! My next post should be a mini-review post with a bunch of products I've used up/expired/are being thrown out so keep a lookout for that.

See you soon!