101 Beauty Tips Every Girl Should Know: Tips 81->77

Can you all believe it is almost the end of August?! Time literally goes by so fast! It feels like just yesterday I started school at George Brown College. But now I am done and looking for a job! Time for me to grow up even though we all want to be kids forever! Now onto the beauty tips!

81) The #1 reason for flaky mascara is that the formula is too dry or old. Make sure to close mascara after use to help keep its moisture. 

This would explain a few of my flaky mascaras. I thought it was just the quality of the mascara but I guess not its because my mascara was too old. This happened to my Maybelline Define-a-Lash mascara.

80) To fake clear skin when you notice a pimple, "Apply tea tree oil as soon as you spot it." - Stephanie Flor, makeup artist

Usually when I notice a pimple, I apply my Clean and Clear Persagel 10 on it. I might have to try this tea tree oil. I know you can get this at The Body Shop!

79) During the summer, "Its easy to forget that feet can be sunburned. Be sure to apply sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 50 when barefoot" - Dr. Leslie Campbell, DPM

I always get a flip flop tan whenever I wear them out during the summer. I do apply sunscreen to my feet but I only do it on occasion. Tan lines on the feet are the worst because when you tr to wear another pair of sandals, the tan lines show like crazy! Just Google "Foot tan lines"....you will be disturbed.

78) For clear skin, look for a cleanser with salycilic acid.

Since I do have dry skin, I would normally not look for a cleanser with salycilic acid. This is best for people who have oily/combination skin or oil skin. The facial cleanser I am currently using is the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleaner. I buy it from Costco so it comes in a huge club size bottle (20 fl. oz. or 1 L).

77) When choosing a red lipstick, you just want to remember to get one that looks good with your undertone. If you have a warm undertone, then go for warmer reds, and if you have a cool undertone, then go cooler.

I have yet to find the perfect red lipstick for myself. I tried a few from Make Up For Ever and have no luck. I thought they would have the best for me. I might have to stop at MAC Cosmetics and get an artist to find the perfect shade for me. I have a cool undertone for those wondering.

101 Beauty Tips Every Girl Should Know: Tips 86->82

Yay! Another blog post! I am literally on a roll this week! I have filmed 2 videos and have edited both of them! One is up right now! I will post it down below! I have also posted a blog post yesterday about my adventures in Blue Mountain with Shawn. Fun times!

Let's go onto the beauty tips for today!!

86) For slick back hair, use a serum.

For some weird reason, whenever I have my hair in high ponytail or any kind of ponytail for that matter. I never use a serum. I've always liked the natural look or I would put on a headband do keep away the flyaways. I will use this tip when I am rocking a high ponytail for any of my night looks. I find that Kim Kardashian rocks this look very well.

85) For the perfect cat-eye, "select a thin liner brush that is tapered to the point" - Pamela Taylor, makeup artist

This is so true! All my liquid eyeliners are tapered to a point. My favourite ones include Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner and the L'Oreal Lineur Intense Liquid Eye Liner in Carbon Black.

84) To make your cheek bones appear higher, use bronzer under the cheekbone and highlighter on the actual cheekbone.

I always follow this rule. Although I already have naturally high cheekbones, I like to enhance them by applying bronzer on the hollows of cheeks and a shimmery highlighter on the tops of my cheekbones.

83) Before you blow dry, start with a volumizing spray or light gel to give the roots some lift.

I use to do this a lot in my first year of university whenever I blow dried my hair. I had a heat activated volumizing mousse (pink bottle) from L'Oreal that I ran through my roots. I would put my hair upside down and blow dried it. Once I was done, my hair was so full and voluminous. CRAZY!

This was the exact bottle!! It's crazy that I found a picture of it online!

82) For fuller lips, extend the lip line using a flesh tone lip liner. Be careful not to go over board!

I will most likely will never use this tip. I am happy with the size of my lips but for those who want fuller lips go right ahead! I was browsing through Sephora a few year ago and found the perfect lip liner that would do this! CARGO Reverse Lip Liner. Sadly, Sephora does not carry this anymore but I know in Canada, Sears carries CARGO!! This lip liner acts as both a lip liner and will make your lips appear fuller because of the highlighted effect of it!

Blue Mountain Fun!

This past weekend, me and Shawn took a trip to Blue Mountain to celebrate our 23 months anniversary. It was such a beautiful place. I don't know why I haven't been there before. Maybe it is because it's quite far from where I live and I can't deal with long drives. Although me and my family do long road trips to Virginia, Florida, Connecticut, etc. I have this thing against going North. I would rather go South!! Well after this weekend, I will definitely do more visits up North!

I wanted to share some pictures of our trip so I hope you enjoy! I will also post a vlog video of our trip! It will be up in a few days!

The Westin Trillium House
The hotel where we stayed! Gorgeous place but could have been a lot better for the price we paid.

The view of our hotel from their backyard area. GORGEOUS!!

Amazing Fish and Chips we both shared at the cute Irish pub there! Their fries are AMAZING!

So cute! They have an outdoor chess board for people to play with!

I wish I were a kid so I can jump into that fountain to keep cool.

A view from the Open-Air Gondola that we went on. It was basically a ski lift but more enclosed.

Me and the Blue Mountain Village!!

DINNER!!!

My Filet Mignon!

Shawn's New York Striploin

Me and Shawn both shared this double stuff baked potato. It was like eating heaven!

Angry Birds candy we found at the candy shop there!

WHO WOULD BUY THESE?!?!? The purpose of mint is to freshen the breath, not make it  worse!

DESSERT TIME!

My $9 flour-less chocolate cake. It was delicious but not worth $9.

Picture of us on the dock.

Our hotel room number! Perfect because my favourite number is 4 and we were celebrating our 23 months anniversary. WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!

 I hope you all enjoyed the photos and had an amazing weekend!

101 Beauty Tips Every Girl Should Know: Tips 91->87

Before I start with the beauty tips, I just have to show you a screenshot that made my week!!! It literally is the best day ever when one of your favourite author tweets you back!

Click to enlarge!!!

Sylvia Day wrote the ever popular book Bared To You which is very similar to Fifty Shades of Grey but a lot more sexier!!! I tweeted her about her releasing the first chapter to her sequel to Bared To You called Reflected in You and she tweeted me back and retweeted my tweet! *passes out* I literally was screaming and dancing around when I saw that she did that!!! Ever since, I have been getting tons of retweets, favourites and romance authors following me!! BEST DAY EVER!!

If you don't follow me on Twitter already, my twitter handle is @jdo87

Now onto the beauty tips!!

91) "Balance out your shimmer. If you're doing a shimmery eye, do matte lips" - Raychel Wade, founder of Cheek to Chic and La Prairie's colour ambassador

I always follow this rule! I do sometimes however like to put a little gloss on my lips because I find that matte lips make my lips look dead sometimes. Only with nude lips!

90) Brush out your curls with your fingers to give your hair a more tousled look. 

I only do this on second day curly hair because if I were to do this with day one curls, my curls will be completely gone the next day. I have made a tutorial on Relaxed Big Curls today, so check it out down below!!

89) To make your manicure last, apply a thin later of clear every two days.

I do not do this because I change my nail colour pretty often. I will however use this rule when I am on vacation or trips since I won't be able to paint my nails since I will be too busy having fun where ever I am.

88) Wear white eyeliner to make eyes appear less red.

I like to use the white eyeliner on my waterline but I only like to do this during the daytime. In the night, I usually go for black or a deep plum colour. I love to use my Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 14L which is pearly white.

87) "Take a shimmery gloss to the center of your lips, top and bottom - this will attract light to your lips, making them look pouty." - Katrina Barrion, makeup artist for Giella Custom Blend Cosmetics

I tried doing this a few times. It does work! But when I reapply throughout the day, I forgot to only put it on the center. I personally think this tip would work best for photoshoots, self portraits or days where you know you won't be out for so long so you would not to need to reapply.

See you next week for more tips!!!!

101 Beauty Tips Every Girl Should Know: Tips 96->92

I hope everyone is enjoying my new blog series! Today I will continue with Tips #96 down to Tip #92. Don't forget, I will be posting 5 tips every Tuesday and Thursday until I reach Tip #1!!

96) To prevent hair colour from fading in the summer months, use a conditioning treatment weekly or bi-monthly. 

I personally do not have coloured hair but I will definitely pass this information onto my mom and friends of mine who do colour their hair. If I were to colour my hair, what colour do you think I should choose? Let me know in the comments!

95) Breakout before a big event? "Take oral cortisone a few days before the event to clear your skin" - Ava Shamban, dermatologist and author of Heal Your Skin.

I always have this problem! Every time I have somewhere big to go to, the week of the event I tend to breakout. I have tried a cortisone cream for my eczema but never an oral cortisone. I will have to ask my doctor about getting some. These are not over the counter so you will have to ask your doctor for some.

94) "In order to keep eyeliner from running and smearing, opt for liner formulas that offer stayproof wearability." - Robin Schoen, Urban Decay Makeup Artist.

My favourite pencil eyeliner is by Make Up For Ever. It's called Aqua Eyes and you can find it at Sephora or any store that carries Make Up For Ever. I literally have this pencil eyeliner in a wide range of colours. I believe I have over 5 of them! As for liquid eyeliner, my favourite is the Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner. It does sometimes irritate my eyes a little but that's only if I start my line to close to my tear duct.

93) Always allow about two finger from your nose to where blush starts.

This is so important! If your blush is too close to your nose, it will look like you have been blowing your nose for hours. It will make your face look more flushed than it really is.

92) "Make sure you hydrate the skin and put on a primer" - Jessie Powers, makeup artist and national educator for Make Up For Ever

I always hydrate my skin before I put on any makeup. I moisturize with either my Vichy Normaderm Pro-Mat Ultra-Mattifying Hydrating Care with SPF 15 OR my Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. I don't tend to use primer because my skin tends to be dry. But on days where I feel like I will be melting, I will put on my primer. My Vichy moisturizer also acts as a primer.


Don't forget to come back this Thursday for more tips!!

Taken from Beautyhigh.com

How To: Plan Your Perfect Fifty Shades of Grey Vacation

As you all know by now, I am a huge Fifty Shades of Grey fan! It's such a bad obsession to the point where I have planned a vacation with my boyfriend Shawn to go and have a Fifty Shades of Grey themed vacation for our TWO year anniversary!! Yes indeed girls, I have done it! I wanted to share you with the ideas I had for the trip so maybe in the future you can take your own Fifty Shades of Grey themed vacation. You know you want to!

***PLEASE NOTE: All of these pictures are my OWN!!!***

Escala
1920 4th Avenue, Seattle, Washington (Intersection of 4th Avenue and Virginia Street)

The infamous home of Christian Grey!! It's a must have on your places to visit if you are going to plan a trip all around Fifty Shades. The public is not allowed in the building unless you are an actual resident of the building or if you have made an appointment to view a model home. They only take serious inquires so don't even try to make up a story. You might get caught! They should seriously consider charging people for tours of the place because the book is such a huge hit and when the movie comes around, we all know this place will be packed!! You can take pictures outside however so that is what I plan to do. If I could, I am going to try and get a picture in the lobby...*crosses fingers* (Update: I didn't get to go in but I had an opportunity. You will see it in this video.)

Click for Escala website



Ralph's Grocery and Deli
2035 4th Avenue, Seattle, Washington (One block west of Escala)

I believe Ana talks about this grocery store in Fifty Shades Freed. The store name is not mentioned in the book but it is "two blocks from Escala". Ralph's is just one block so close enough for me! Ms. Jones does some of her grocery shopping at this store since it's just a few blocks away from Escala. I plan to buy a bucket of Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream here...

Click for Ralph's website

Pike Place Market
1st Avenue and Pike Street, Seattle, Washington

This market is close to where Ana's apartment is with Kate. In the book they did not mention the exact address to where her apartment is but we do know it's located in the Pike Place Market area. So why not stop buy and do some grocery shopping here. Some interesting places to check out here is the first Starbucks store (1912 Pike Place) and The Gum Wall.

Click for Pike Place Market website


Puget Sound

Seattle, Washington

This is the exact sound that Christian takes Ana on board The Grace in Fifty Shades Darker. I believe they also take another trip on The Grace in Fifty Shades Freed. For those of us who don't own our own yacht, we can always take a ferry around Puget Sound. I am planning to take the Harbour Cruise. It's a one hour trip around the sound and departs at various times throughout the day. You can take amazing views of the Seattle skyline. I can't wait! 

Columbia Tower
701 5th Avenue, Seattle, Washington

Yes indeed girls.....this place EXISTS!! But as for the Mile High Club on the 76th floor that Christian Grey owns, it's not real. This is the tallest skyscraper in Seattle which is a plus because they have an amazing Sky View Observatory that the public can check out. Supposedly it has the best views of Seattle and is better than The Space Needle. It is also cheaper than The Space Needle! It only costs $9 for adults and $6 for students!! Please note these prices are as of August 18, 2012. Prices may change! There is an exclusive club on the 76th floor. It's called the Columbia Tower Club. I have looked into it and it's great for people who live in the area but not for us tourists.

Click for more Sky View Observatory information

Parking Lot
Boren Avenue and Stewart Street, Seattle, Washington

Yes I know....I have done it again....THIS PLACE EXISTS! If you all remember that steamy car scene that Christian and Ana shared after the intense car chase in Fifty Shades Freed, this is the exact parking lot!!! I plan to visit this place but as for doing the deed in public in a car parking, I don't think so.

The Fairmont Olympic Hotel
411 University Street, Seattle, Washington

This is the hotel that Christian and Ana stayed at when they find out that Christian's home is no longer safe in Fifty Shades Darker (I don't want to spoil who it was for those who haven't read it). They stayed in the Cascade Suite. Don't forget to order the Chicken Soup when getting room service. It's the same soup that Christian has ordered for Ana in Fifty Shades Freed.

Click for Fairmont Olympic Hotel website

-----------------

Now moving onto locations to check out in Portland, Oregon. It's about a three hours drive from Seattle, Washington. I tried to find Ana's apartment in Vancouver, Washington but it does not exist. Same as Clayton's Hardware Store.

The Heathman Hotel
1001 SW Broadway, Portland, Oregon

The hotel where the magic happens. Well more like where they spent their first night together. I plan to stay at this hotel for one night. I am not sure what suite that Christian and Ana stayed in. I'm imagining the biggest suite. They also stay here in Fifty Shades Freed, where Ana got to enjoy their Tarte Tatin. I tried looking at their menu and it's not on there! They have special Fifty Shades of Grey packages that can be added to your hotel room. They are only there for a limited time! They just recently however came up with a cocktail inspired by the books. It's called Fifty Shades of Gin! So if you can't get a hotel room here, at least stop by the hotel bar and grab a cocktail! This hotel is right in the Downtown core of Portland so there is tons of things to check out! Please note, there is also another Heathman Hotel in Kirkland, Washington. But the one in the book is Portland, Oregon. (Update: Check out my hotel room tour for the Deluxe King Suite HERE!)

Click for The Heathman Hotel website

Public Domain Coffee a.k.a. Portland Coffee House

603 SW Broadway, Portland, Oregon (4 blocks south of The Heathman Hotel)

This coffee shop used to be called Portland Coffee House where Christian and Ana had their first date in Fifty Shades of Grey. It is just a few blocks from the hotel which they walked from after the photoshoot. Don't forget to order a Twinings English Breakfast tea! I highly doubt they have it but it's worth a try.

Click for Public Domain Coffee website

Le Pigeon a.k.a. Le Picotin Restaurant

738 East Burnside Street, Portland, Oregon

I could not find Le Picotin anywhere in Portland so I decided to settle for whatever was the closest. This restaurant has a French cuisine and has a very laid back type of feel to it. Attire is casual so don't worry about having to dress up too much. It is located in the Industrial district which is perfect because Jose's Art Show (Fifty Shades Darker) would be in the type of area. I would say I did a great job at finding a close match to Le Picotin. 

Click for Le Pigeon website

Voodoo Donut

26 SW 3rd Avenue, Portland, Oregon

These are the doughnuts that Ray Steele requests Ana to get for him in Fifty Shades Freed. They have several locations around Portland. Just looking at their website makes me drool. I am definitely making a late night run for doughnuts. They do have locations that are open 24 hours so no need to worry if they are closed!

Click for Voodoo Donut website

I hope you enjoyed this and please let me know if you do plan a vacation with a Fifty Shades of Grey theme! I would love to know if I have helped you at all! Don't forget to check back for updated photos. It should be up not later than October 2012. Don't forget to share this with your other Fifty Shades of Grey obsessed friends! 

New Blog Series!!

I have decided to start a new blog series which will help me keep my blog updated more often. It will be called "101 Beauty Tips Every Girl Should Know". I will post 5 tips every Tuesday and Thursday. I am hoping this series can help you girls in your everyday life! I can't take all the credit for these tips because I found them on Beauty High. I will be posting each tip and will be writing my response to each tip. I want to see whether I already do these tips or not. We shall have lots of fun with this!

Here are today's tips:

101) "Always keep your summer makeup minimal. Minimal and sheer makeup is the way to go when it's hot and muggy outside." - Mary Greenwell, celebrity makeup artist.

I definitely follow this tip. I tend to go for light pink and coral blushes during the summer and I always set my make-up with a translucent powder so it absorbs any excess oil that I might get throughout the day. At night however, I do add a bit more eye make-up to bring up the drama. I also love bright coloured lips. It's the easiest thing you can do to get a fast make-up look without trying to hard.

100) "The best thing to do when you go to a makeup counter is be armed with what it is you want to do." - Raychel Wade, founder of Cheek to Chic and La Prairie's colour ambassador

This is very important. It helps you from over spending and keeps you focused. I usually have a list or a specific item I am looking for when I go to a counter. I may look through other items but I usually just go for what I am looking for.

99) Use excess eye cream on cuticles.

I have never heard of this but it's a great tip. If you accidently got too much eye cream out of the bottle, why not out it on your cuticles? Who doesn't love soft cuticles?

98) For smudge-proof eye makeup, take blotting tissue to remove any oil or any excess makeup from the eye area.

I have always used an eyeshadow primer for this so I never had to use this. But if I ever run out of primer or if I happen to forget to pack it, blotting tissue I will use!

97) "A good perfume should consist of balance blend of notes arranged in a way that creates harmonious accord." - Alexis Bergman, P&G's Global Flavor and Fragrance Trends

I totally agree with this. My favourite perfume of all time is Victoria's Secret Bombshell. I am obsessed with this scent! Go smell it and you will know why!