Top 5 things that are better at the cottage

1. Beer.  Don't get me wrong, beer is awesome anytime of the day, but there's something about a cold beer at noon while sitting on the beach, or with cheese a crackers and a game of cards at 5:00.  And yes, that is a tradition.  But really, how can you argue with this?

2. Reading.  I have a challenge now to read a book for every day I'm at the cottage.  So far my record is 10 days and 10 books.   It helps having a former bookstore owner as a personal consultant whenever I'm up there.  I've been lucky enough to read some pretty amazing books that I wouldn't have come across otherwise.  Plus reading is about the only way to make tanning seem somewhat productive.  Or burning, in my case.

3. Groceries.  I know, this seems lame.  But have you ever driven a boat into town, docked it directly outside the store, and then left all the groceries on board while you go have some frozen yogurt?  Or a beer?  It's magical.

4. Board games.  There are never enough hours in a day to play board games at the cottage.  There's just something about sitting in the sunroom at the old games' table with a beer and your best friends that makes for the perfect evening.  And it's not just board games.  It's card games, crokinole, all of those awesome things.  And of course several rounds of Settlers of Catan.

5. Sunsets.  I'll let the picture speak for itself.

I'd also like to give an honourable mention to not wearing bras (a special shout out to CF).

How long until I'm up there again!?

P.S. A special thanks to all of my friends whose facebook pages I got the pictures from.  And of course to BF who lets me visit the cottage whenever I want :)

MAC Hey, Sailor! First Impressions

Yesterday was the in-store launch of the new MAC summer line, "Hey, Sailor!".  I'd checked out the collection online a week ago when it became available, but decided to wait to test out some of the shades before buying as they seemed a bit tricky to wear.  And I was glad I did.  Overall, I felt the collection had some really great pieces and the colours were very on-trend - a lot of vibrant orange and a gorgeous emerald green.  I won't go through all the pieces, but here's a shot of the entire collection.

When I initially saw the online shots of the products, I was super excited for a few of them.  There are 5 eyeshadow shades in the collection, and of the 5, there were 2 that I immediately loved - the bright green and navy shades.

From Left: Crystal Avalanche, Barefoot, Jaunty, Feeling Fresh, Nautical Navy

I ended up purchasing Jaunty - a shimmery, yellow-taupe - and Nautical Navy - a shimmery navy.  I was really tempted to get Feeling Fresh as well, but I wasn't sure where I'd ever be able to wear that bright of a colour.

I also tried out the two darker lipsticks, Sail La Vie - a bright orange - and Red Racer - a bright midtoned red.  I fell in love instantly with the red colour.  It's a true, intense red that is very classic and wearable.  The orange shade was beautiful too, and very on-trend for summer, but it was too warm for my skin tone, especially with the orange toned lipglass over top (I believe it was called Rivera Life).

The last thing I bought was the Suntints SPF20 Liquid Lip Balm in Au Rose.  I bought this without trying it on because I loved the slight peachy tint and the fact that it has SPF20.  After trying it when I got home, I have to say that it's a pretty sticky lipgloss with very little colour payoff.  In fact it's pretty much sheer, although it has a nice level of shine.  It's also got a bit of a strange taste, so if that bothers you, I wouldn't suggest it.  I'm sure I'll continue to wear this one, though, as I don't have any other lipglosses with SPF.

From Left: Jaunty eyeshadow, Nautical Navy eyeshadow, Red Racer lipstick, Au Rose Suntints

From Left: Jaunty eyeshadow, Nautical Navy eyeshadow, Red Racer lipstick, Au Rose Suntints

Unfortunately, the eyeshadows don't appear very pigmented in the swatches, but the blue is actually very lovely.  I'm seriously considering going back to get the green colour based on how much I like the navy.

I will point out one product that I had been really excited for, but was actually disappointing in person.  The highlight powder looked amazing online.  It's a combination of pink, peach and purple with white base in the photo, and based on the fact that it's marketed as a highlight, I expected it to have some shimmer to it.  When I tried it in person, however, it was quite chalky and actually appeared more like a heavy, matte blush.  Needless to say, I didn't end up purchasing this one.

Highlight Powder in Crew

So those are my first round of purchases from this line, and overall I'm very pleased!  Have you purchased any of the new MAC line?  Let me know what your favourites are!

Review: Real Techniques Makeup Brushes

Hello everyone!  Today, I will be doing a review of one of my latest beauty purchases - the Real Techniques makeup brushes.  I was in the market for some new makeup brushes, in particular a flat-ended brush for foundation, but I couldn't justify spending $50+ on one from MAC or Sephora.  I know, MAC brushes are supposedly fabulous, but my budget just doesn't stretch quite that far.  But I had heard about Real Techniques brushes while watching makeup tutorials on YouTube, primarily from a few of the British beauty vloggers.  I hadn't heard of the brand before, and had never seen it in stores, but I decided to do a quick Google search to see what I could find.  And, surprise surprise, I found out that you can't actually buy them in Canada.  At least not at any of the stores that I knew were in my area.  Luckily, Amazon came to the rescue, as it so often does for me, and the best part was that the brushes were incredibly affordable!  I ordered two sets of brushes, 9 in total, and even with shipping from the US, it was under $60!  So I more or less got 9 brushes for the price of one MAC brush.  Hard to beat that!

So now on to what brushes I purchased.  Most of the Real Techniques brushes come in sets, so I selected the two sets that I thought I would get the most use out of.  First, was the Core Collection, which is mainly for base makeup.  It comes with:

• detailer brush - a small, tapered brush good for concealer
• pointed foundation brush - I actually found this a bit small for foundation, but works nicely for powder highlight on cheekbones
• buffing brush - a great stippling brush for foundation, I use it everytime I put on liquid foundation now!
• contour brush - a nicely domed blush brush which fits perfectly into the hollows of your cheeks for contouring

From left: buffing brush, contour brush, pointed foundation brush, detailer brush

Each set comes in its own hard-sided case, which will be great for travelling.  I got these four brushes for $17.99 US.  So far, I really enjoy the three larger brushes in this set.  I found the detailer brush a bit soft for my concealer, but that could just be my preference.

The second set I bought was the Starter Set, which is for the eyes.  I love the colour of the handles on this set, too, it's a really nice grapey purple.  It includes:

• base shadow brush - good for all over lid colour
• deluxe crease brush - my favourite of this set!  creates a beautiful contour and blends nicely
• accent brush - a short, domed brush, good for highlighting the brow bone
• pixel-point eyeliner brush - I haven't actually tried this one as I haven't worn gel eyeliner recently, but it looks like it would be pretty thick to use as a liner...I guess I'll have to wait and see
• brow brush - stiff angled brush, works well for brows, and as a thicker smudgy liner brush

From left: deluxe crease brush, base shadow brush, brow brush, accent brush, pixel-point eyeliner brush

This set was $17.86 US on Amazon - not quite sure why the $0.13 price difference between the two sets, but I'll take it!  As I mentioned before, the crease brush is amazing and if I had to pick one brush out of all of them as my favourite, it would be a toss up between this one and the buffing brush.  I've used both everyday since I got them.  

Overall, I really enjoy the handles on these brushes.  They're a fun colour and it makes it easy to find the brush I'm looking for amongst my jar of makeup brushes.  They also have a nice rubbery grip on the ends of the handles, which makes for good control when applying.  The bristles are all taklon and 100% synthetic, so they wash really nicely and I haven't yet had any problems with shedding.

In terms of negatives, I can't really think of any.  The quality is amazing for the price, even if I did have to have them shipped to Canada.  I'm considered ordering a few more of the single brushes, which are available on the Real Techniques website, which I will link at the bottom of this post.  Really, the only bad thing I can say is that I couldn't buy them in person in Canada!  If I had been able to see them, I probably would've bought the entire collection right off the bat!  Then again, maybe it's not such a bad thing that I couldn't do that...

Ciao!

Real Techniques website: http://realtechniques.com/