Sephora Cream Lip Stain

I recently went into a Sephora shop – one of my favourite things to do – because I had run out of red lip stain.

One of the sales girls pointed me in the direction of the Sephora Cream Lip Stains.

They had a number of lovely colours that tempted me, but I had come for red, and so red I would leave with ... ok, plus one more because ... I’m weak! Heehee

I ended up with the shades Always Red and Mandarin Muse.

 

They’re quite bold, but that’s what I love about lip stain; you can wear dark, bright colours without getting it all over your teeth, face and everywhere else!

I really like how they apply; you only need one coat – they’re very opaque. They’re also creamy, as the name would suggest, so they don’t dry out your lips. With a lot of stains, I find I need to use a gloss over top to keep my lips from looking like raisins : )

 

I’m enjoying these two for now, but I will definitely be swinging back into Sephora to try a few more shades before the summer’s out!

Let me know what you think of these or other stains! I’m always in the market for a good lip stain, and would like to know what's working for others.

 

Talk to you soon,

 

xo Kelly

"No Comment" & help please!

It's been ages since I've posted on this page - and for one reason - I can't see comments and it's driving me crazy!!

I've had friends and family tell me that they've been commenting on my blog and I DO NOT see their comments. This just makes me wonder how many other comments I'm missing!!

I've tried to change settings and nothing seems to be working.

One of the main reasons I wanted to blog was to be able to interact with people, so not being able to see comments is majorly frustrating.

Anyways, I'm looking for suggestions if you have any!

Since comments are obviously not the way to go - if you could tweet me @K_Sullo with any tips that would be AMAZING!

Thank you & hope to talk to you soon!!

xo Kelly

Legs ... in a CAN!

So, I've seen this product in the drug store before but never gave it a second look.

I happened to be watching a beauty vlog about self tanning (which is something I've been wanting - but nervous - to try) and the vlogger mentioned Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs at the end of the video.

She described it as "makeup for your legs". The sound of that seemed much less intimidating than self tanner because it's temporary and easy to wash off if you screw up!

So I ran out that same night and bought a bottle.

It comes in 4 different shades in a lotion consistency: Light, Medium, Tan and Deep.

Each of those shades also come in an aerosol can and feel more like a mousse. They are described as Light Glow, Medium Glow, Tan Glow and Deep Glow because they have bits of shimmer.

Now, I was going to purchase the "light" shade because I am extremely pale - especially my legs which rarely see the light of day. However, the sales girl talked me into getting the "tan" shade.

Her theory was that the colours don't go from lightest to darkest, but rather it has more to do with undertones and the light is more yellow, whereas the tan is more pink.

I took her word. She was wrong ;)

The tan actually looked lovely and gave great coverage without looking streaky, which was my biggest fear. It was, however, much darker than my arms, and my husband and I laughed because it looked like I had two different sets of limbs poking out from my dress. I ended up wearing a cardigan over my outfit to cover my arms, so no one knew the difference.

I went out the next day and bought the light glow which is amazing! It's perfect. It matches my skin tone, it doesn't streak. Words cannot express how much I love this product.

I've begun referring to it as legs in a can because when I spray it on, I literally feel like I am putting my legs on.

I've kept the tan shade to use for when I finally get the courage to use the self tanner I bought last month!

We'll see if that ever happens...

In the meantime, I am quite happy with my little legs in a can and would 100% recommend it if you want flawless leg coverage - who doesn't!?

Take a look and see what I mean:



Don't mind the mosquito bites - it's summer in Canada!

Let me know if you've tried it or if you want to!

Xo Kelly

DIY: Natural Face Mask

I'm a huge fan of natural beauty products!

Wherever I can, I try to incorporate items from my kitchen into my beauty cabinet.

My skin has a tendency to freak out (ie. break out) when I use too many new products, especially those with heavy fragrance and colour, so it's handy to have a natural solution when I know my skin needs a treatment, but I don't think it can handle anything too intense!

So, this is my tried and true, all natural go-to mask. It works like a charm when my skin is looking dull or seems to be breaking out a lot.

This is enough for one mask

HOW to make it:

I just kind of eyeball the measurements, but it's about:

- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 1 tablespoon of oats (which I blend up first just because it's easier to mix - you can leave them whole if you want)
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

I mix all of the ingredients together into a paste, dampen my already cleansed face and massage it on in a gentle circular motion.

I let it sit for about 15-20 minutes and then rinse it off with warm water.

I usually do this before bed, and apply my nighttime moisturizer afterwards.

This is one of my all time FAVOURITE masks, and here's a breakdown of why it's the bomb!

 Honey
- is ANTIBACTERIAL - helps fight breakouts & acne
- has lots of ANTIOXIDANTS, so is great for slowing down the signs of aging
- is MOISTURIZING and helps give a GLOW to the skin (yes please)!

Oats
- are a natural CLEANSER
- help SOFTEN the skin
- naturally EXFOLIATE as you rub on to the skin
- help reduce REDNESS & IRRITATION of sensitive skin

Nutmeg
- helps fight BLACKHEADS & reduce the appearance of ACNE SCARS

Need I say more?

Nothing like chunks of oats on your face to make you feel glamorous!

Immediately after doing this mask I always notice a difference in the texture of my skin. My face instantly feels softer, plumper, more hydrated & looks healthier!

Give it a try and let me know what you think!!

Till next time, keep shining!

xo Kelly

Where's The Other 1% ???

My family would always joke that we grew up in a house where if you came home with a test mark of 99%, our parents would say ‘where’s the other 1%’?

Lately I’ve been really feeling the consequences of searching for the 1% in life.

I think it really hit me when a woman I work with was given a new car by a family member and proceeded to tell me how miserable the whole situation was making her. Why? Because the car she was replacing had sentimental value. We looked at her new car in the parking lot and she stared at it with a frown and a sigh.

Never mind the fact that the old car kept breaking down and costing her a fortune. “My other car was bigger ... I could sleep in my old car”.

A missing 1% I think, in a 99% fantastic situation!

Why do we do this to ourselves??

I do it all the time!! Is it to brace ourselves for the heartache if something does go wrong? Is it so other people don’t get jealous that things are going well for us?

Who knows? But I’ll tell you what: I’m converting to a 99 percent-er! A glass is half full-er! Sure, things are never perfect, but do we have to torture ourselves on top of it chasing the wind to find the missing 1 or 2 percent? Is that how you want to spend your life – in pursuit of the one (%) that got away? Not me.

So, before I ramble on and on, I’ll stop myself and just say that I wrote this to remind myself, and hopefully anyone else who’s reading, that it’s a much more fulfilling way to live to enjoy the amazing things we do have, than to mourn for the things we’ve lost (or never received).

I hope you have a great day & don’t forget to remember all of the wonderful things and people in your life – and I’ll do my best to do the same!

xo Kelly

Sonia Kashuk

I was wandering around Target over the weekend with a friend of mine who was quite excited when we stumbled across the Sonia Kashuk line.

To be honest I've never heard of her until now!

We sniffed through all of her fragrances and checked out all of the makeup.

Bath & Body is always my favourite thing to buy & try, so I grabbed the Pink Innocencia hand creme ($6) and eau de toilette ($20).

          

My friend picked up the Yellow Alluriana hand creme, which has a light, fresh grapefruit scent.

All of the fragrances were nice in their own way, but the Pink Innocencia was just so floral and romantic.

I'm still deciding whether I like it as an eau de toilette, but I really love the hand creme. It has a great consistency. It's very smooth, moisturizing and thick, but not greasy at all.

I'm happy with my little purchase and now that I know about her, I'm going to check out more of the Sonia Kashuk line for sure!

Does anyone have Sonia Kashuk favourites?

Shellac Mani

 

 

 

Over the Christmas holidays I was feeling festive and got in to the habit of painting my nails in Christmas colours... red, with a gold sparkly accent nail, silver and green etc.

This carried on after the holidays and I got excited to paint my nails a new colour each week (because that's about how long a polish will last for me).

Gradually my nail painting desires have worn off, mainly because I've lost patience for the drying time, and I've begun to sport bare nails.

Happily my friend, Samantha, and I took a trip to the nail salon over the weekend and I got a shellac manicure. Knowing I'd be looking at the same colour for up to 3 weeks, I avoided the temptation to pick a hot pink or mint green and went with one of my favourites, a classic French manicure. It never gets old.

Since I wanted something a little more exciting, I went for some diamonds to spice it up a bit!

Cleopatra & Colette by Tocca

I am INCREDIBLY picky when it comes to fragrance.

Since I'm so impossibly hard to please, I am forever searching ...

There came a day when I finally found THE ONE - literally. It was Dolce & Gabbana's The One.

I loved it. I had found everything I was looking for in a fragrance. My search was over ... until I found out that the real version of "The One", my husband, couldn't stand the smell!

Noooooo!

So my quest began once more and only this year have I found my new, true fragrance loves!

Or perhaps I should call them my fragrance BFF's ... introducing:

Cleopatra & Colette!

These little babies are from Tocca and were in the line display at Sephora, which I sometimes enjoy even more than the rest of the store, if I'm being honest.

I thought 'hey, the packaging is nice, why not give them a sniff and see'.

I fell in love!

I smelled Cleopatra first. It was perfect: sophisticated, feminine, light and fresh. It made me think of a Parisian spa.

I left it there, finished up with my purchase and went home... as the night went on I couldn't help but wonder 'What was I thinking'? I had finally found my dream fragrance! I had to go back for it.

So I did.

I bought the duo it was sold in, Cleopatra & Colette. I figured I'd just ditch Colette and hold on to my little gem, Cleopatra.

Turns out I hit the jackpot.

Colette is a beautiful fragrance as well! I love it almost as much as Cleopatra.

It's a slightly softer, more romantic and floral scent.

Anyways, I am SO HAPPY with my little perfumes!!

As soon as these little gift sizes run out ~ I will 100% be purchasing the full sizes. Now that I've found my new BFF's ~ I can't live without them!

DIY: Exfoliating Moisturizer

Exfoliators & moisturizers are my favourite things to buy!
I used to work at The Body Shop and owned just about every lotion, cream, body butter and scrub they carried - plus a million drug store brands!

One day it dawned on me that at the heart of these moisturizers were natural oils ~ almond oil, olive oil, sunflower seed oil ~ and at the core of the exfoliants were ... natural exfoliants ~ nut shells, salts, sugars.

"Eureka"!! I thought (well, maybe I wasn't quite so dramatic). But I was suddenly very eager to make my very own exfoliator with edible products that I knew were safe and natural.

I've experimented with all kinds of natural beauty products ever since ~ facial masks, hair treatments, moisturizers, but my classic go to that I never get tired of is a Sea Salt Moisturizing Exfoliator.

Below is the "How To Make It" and the "Why I Love It".

How To Make It:

Step 1: Pour about 10-15 tablespoons of sea salt into your desired container

Step 2: Add about half a cup of oil to the salt, or as much as gives you a consistency you like. *I use grapeseed oil lately, but you can use any oil that suits your skin ~ almond oil, coconut oil, olive oil ... the list is endless

Step 3: Bam! You're done.

  

You can now use this mixture in the shower to exfoliate dead skin cells away, as well as moisturize your skin! So simple, so effective!

Why I Love It:

1. It works! My skin feels super soft and moisturized directly after, and until my next shower.

2. It does the job of 2 products (exfoliator & moisturizer) in 1 step!

3. Mechanical exfoliation (the process of physically scrubbing the skin) promotes circulation

4. Sea salt is known to have great benefits for the skin

5. It's all natural

**One word of warning: the oil can really do quite the job on your tub, making it extremely slippery ~ so be mindful of that while you're in there. I try to give it a rinse with soap when I'm done so my hubby doesn't wipe out on a slip & slide the next time he's in!

So, this is my go-to scrub in it's most basic form.

I will sometimes add essential oils for their scent and health benefits.

It adds a little 'kick' to throw some peppermint or lemongrass oil in every once in a while ~ or whatever you like!

Give it a try and see what you think ~ and make sure to let me know how it goes!

Happy Exfolurizing!!!

~ Kelly

Keratin Treatment

In my most recent (and first) blog post, I said I was going for a keratin hair treatment.

Well, I went...

I know I was curious about the process, so I thought I'd give a little description for anyone else who might be wondering too.

First off, I went to a salon called Salon Miah and Spa http://www.salonmiah.com/ .

My stylist, Kelli, started by washing my hair with a clarifying shampoo to make way for the product. Then was the fun part ;-) She brushed through my freshly washed, conditioner free hair ... ugh. I don't know if you've ever tried to do this, but with long, somewhat bleached hair - it's not a pleasant experience. There were actually two stylists working on me for this part, one on either side of my head, brushing away. Thankfully, they made it bearable and I survived! Woo!

Now it was time for the application.

The procuct itself was a light, mint green, thin gel/cream pictured below.

  
             

It went on like hair colour, painted on with a little colouring brush.


The setup

The smell was not as bad as hair colour ... but not my favourite smell in the world either. I had my friend sniff it and she described it as 'burnt hair smell'. To me it was more like .... fermenting fruit??? I'm not sure. Anyways, not the best smell, but beauty is ... stinky ... sometimes ... ?

Once my hair was covered from root to tip, she sat me under the dryer with a plastic cap to help it soak in.

Next came the blowdry and then a very thorough flat ironing. The heat from the flat iron is what sets and seals the product into your hair.

From start to finish the appointment was about 3 hours - a little longer than we had expected... mainly because I have more hair than she realised!

Just when I thought we were finished, there was one last step: "The Rules".

For the next 4 days:
- No washing
- No product of any kind (including dry shampoo)
- No hair elastics
- No clips/bobby pins

Essentially my stylist told me if you can think of something you'd like to do to your hair - the answer is 'NO - Don't touch it'!

This has been very hard - as telling someone they can't wash their hair and then forbidding dry shampoo is just plain cruel. ;)

I've taken some before and after pics to see if there is a visible difference straight away.

What do you think?



                             
                            
                                                                The Before's



                           

 

                          
                                                                 The After's


That's it for this post!

I'd love to know if any of you have had a keratin treatment, and what your thoughts were.

Or is anyone considering having one done in the future? Straightening or Conditioning?

Talk to you soon,

~ Kelly

Hello and Welcome to K-Sullo!

This is a really exciting day for me, as I’ve never before in my life made a blog post!

I’ve decided to create a little space where I can have an outlet for my love of writing and all things feminine... where I can post about different things I’m learning ~ about beauty and about life in general.

I wasn’t entirely sure where to start, so I’ve decided to share the next big thing on my beauty calendar.

I am going for my first ever keratin hair treatment!

There are two kinds that the salon I’m going to offers: one that straightens your hair and one that just conditions.

I like to hold on to the tiny bit of natural wave I have, so I’m going for pure conditioning.

I’ve bounced back and forth between blonde and brunette hair over the years and the last time I went blonde I vowed “NEVER AGAIN”! The bleach ruined my hair so badly and it took me forever to get it healthy again.

Of course “never” came sooner than I thought and I’m back on my way to blonde... typical!

                

Me bouncing over the years from brown ...

                                                       

                      



                                                                                   ... to blonde!



Anyways, this time I’ve decided to take EXTREMELY good care of my hair, so that I can have nice, healthy blonde hair instead of fried, straw-like blonde hair.

Here’s hoping!

I’ll definitely be posting about the keratin experience.

Wish me luck!

~ Kelly