Hey all, I’m back with another tutorial for you! This one combines the sexiness of a smokey eye with the brightness of spring..definitely a fun and sultry look. Try it out!
Smokey spring makeup tutorial
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Makeup tips for Mature skin
Recently I was back on CHCH Morning Live discussing makeup tips for mature skin. I had the unbelievably gorgeous Donna Skelly as my model, for those of you who don’t know Donna, she is a former news anchor for CH and an amazing woman.
We discussed the importance of a good skin care regimen, why cream products look better on mature skin than powder and a few other important tips. Here’s the clip for more info:
Skin Beautifying Detox Prep
There are only 3 days left till we start our skin beautifying detox! So today is the day we cut out all the processed foods, dairy and caffeine and switch to a vegan diet. This is so important because we want to get as much junk out to let the detox work its magic. Now the best thing you can do to make sure you stick to your detox is to be prepared. That means stocking up on all the groceries you’ll need for however long you are committing for.
Here’s a list of ingredients for juicing. These are probably the foods you’ll use most in your juice:
- Kale
- Spinach
- Cucumbers
- Celery
- Apples
- Pears
- Lemons
- Ginger
- Beets
- Carrots
You can always switch up your juices and play around to see what flavor combos you like best. Additional veggies/fruits I would recommend are:
- Oranges
- Bell peppers
- Grapes
- Swiss chard
- Tomatoes
Experiment and play around to see what you can come up with. Remember to keep in mind the 80% veggie/ 20% fruit ratio. The important thing is to avoid a spike in your insulin levels, that’ll only make you crave more food and we don’t want to run around being all hangry and scaring people!!
Here are a couple juice recipes for you that I personally love. The first one I drink every morning-
Effortlessly beautiful Juice
- 4 stems Kale
- 1 cucumber
- 4 stalks celery
- Handful of spinach
- 2 apples
- 1/2 lemon
- Chunk of ginger
- Parsley & Cilantro
Not your mom’s V8
- 4 celery stalks
- Handful of spinach
- 1 red pepper
- 1 carrot
- Chunk of ginger
- 1/2 lime
- 1 tomtao
- 1 apple
Remember when juicing, go light to heavy. So basically you want to put the light, leafy foods into the machine first and end with the heavy, water rich foods last. This ensures you get every drop of nutrient out of your greens.
Oh and if you have any questions at all, you can comment below or on my Facebook page.
How your skin benefits from juicing
There are many benefits from adding fruits & veggies into your diet, I mean we all know that, it’s general knowledge, watch one episode of Dr. Oz and you’ll be reminded of that. But how does your skin benefit from juicing?
When you drink a glass of 80% veggie/20% fruit you are delivering a high dose of antioxidants, nutrients and vitamins into your body. Now because you’ve juiced them, you’ve removed the fiber which will allow your body to skip digestion and transport all of that good stuff directly to your blood & organs. When good stuff enters your cells, it pushes the toxins that had set up shop out and it gets eliminated from your body.
Greens are high in Vitamin A which helps fight free-radicals which makes it a great addition to most of your juice recipes as it is anti-aging. 
Cucumbers are very hydrating which helps get rid of that dull look and improves the elasticity in your skin. I use cucumbers and celery in my juice as they are very high in water.
Lemons detoxify your body by cleansing the liver and are high in Vitamin C which helps build muscle and collagen.
Ginger has many immune boosting properties to it which can help tackle those nasty auto-immune disorders a lot of us suffer from like eczema (I’ve had it since I was little), psoriasis and others. Not to mention, it is a very powerful anti-inflammatory food. Add ginger and lemon to as many juices as you can. 
Now if you are planning on joining me on this detox, you will have to do a little pre (and post) homework first. You’ll want to switch your diet over to a more vegan one with lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains and nuts for 3 days before and after the cleanse. This will help your body eliminate the processed foods in your system and when you are done it will help your body readjust to digestion.
If you’re hesitant at all (let’s be realistic, we all have to go to work, we can’t sit at home and juice all day!) just note- you can juice everything in the morning and take it with you. The juice will still have powerful enzymes in it up to 24hrs.
I’m really excited to start and more excited that there are a bunch of us doing it together, it will make it that much easier! Don’t forget, start date is Monday, April 15th 
Spring Clean your Skin!
So we’ve talked about how important it is to get rid of old makeup and minimize your exposure to toxic products, and now it’s time to give your skin a break. I don’t mean tossing all your products out, I mean giving your skin a deep clean from the inside out.
How do you do this exactly? 2 words- Juice Detox. You might recall last year I embarked on a quest for perfect skin detox after watching Joe Cross’s film Fat, Sick and nearly Dead. I was frustrated with a dry scaly patch on my forehead that just wouldn’t go away for the life of me. At the end of the cleanse, the patch was gone! Fast forward to present day and my eczema is back with a vengeance! I have had eczema on and off for as long as I remember, and while it was worse in my youth, it has recently spread like wildfire, all over my shoulders, arms and upper back.
I’ve long been researching the effects your food has on you, reading blogs, seeing a holistic nutritionist and watching documentaries, but it’s never been something I’ve committed to fully. Well my body is telling me it’s now time so I am embarking on another juice detox, and I want you to join me!!
Whether you are suffering from a skin disorder of your own or want to give your winterized skin a spring glow, juicing has so many benefits.
Here are the detox deets:
- You can commit to however long you want- 3, 5 or 10 days (I’ll be doing 10)
- The juice should contain mostly veggies with a little fruit
- Juice at least 4 times a day and still make sure to drink lots of water
- No food allowed. We want to give our digestive systems a break for a bit so our body can use all its energy to repair our skin and bodies
- Get approval from your Doctor first. This is a must!
- We are starting Monday April 15th
Stay tuned to the blog this week, I’ll be posting recipes and more info on the benefits of juicing. Oh and if you want a menu plan, check out Joe Cross’s website, www.jointhereboot.com, there are great plans listed there and watch his film (the trailer is posted below). I hope you join me on this journey!
Toronto fashion week- Trend watch!
I was fortunate enough to attend Mastercard Fashion Week in Toronto a couple weeks back at David Pecaut square, next to the Roy Thompson Hall. It was such a fun event, I love the craziness that goes on back stage with hair & makeup people working like mad and models and photogs running around! That combined with the fact that it was uber windy and the tents felt like they were gonna knock over, it definitely made for an interesting evening.
I was on trend watch, checking out the latest in the beauty world and I was not disappointed. Maybelline lead makeup artist, Grace Lee worked her magic once again, using her expertise to bring the designers visions to life.
I love this soft smokey eye/bright lip combo she used for the Chloe Comme Paris show! The look according to Grace was “rich club girl gone bad” layering multiple Maybelline products on top of each other such as Baby lips and Maybelline’s new shadow pigments due out soon. 
The lip was a combinations of Color Sensational vivids in “On fire red” & “Electric orange”. The result was effortlessly gorgeous.
For the hair, Redken lead artist Jorge Joao used Guts 10 to give the hair that gritty texture and then french braided one side of the hair and added a few other braids. Here’s the team hard at work!
A few sections of the hair were wrapped around a 1″ curling iron and set with Control Addict 28 hairspray. Which is amazing btw, I was always an avid Sebastian Shaper plus user, but I have now totally fallen in love with the lasting effect the Control Addict has. Definitely worth trying!
Essie was there representing nails and I love this swirly metallic look. Lead artist Rita Remark used multiple colors (No place like chrome, Trophy wife, Overt the top, Midnight cami & Sexy divide) swirled together which created the look. Nails have become so much fun as of late, which I totally attribute to Pinterest & Youtube.
Here’s the models strutting their stuff on the runway.
Can’t wait for next seasons looks! Did any of you catch the shows?
Makeup Expiry Dates
With the weather warming up (I swear spring is around the corner!!) it is time for some spring cleaning. What better place to start than with your makeup drawer? I recently posted a clip from an appearance I did last week on CHCH Morning Live in which we discussed some makeup expiry dates, here is a follow up breaking down more of our popular makeup items and how long we can keep them for.
Please remember, it is so important to get rid of old products because they can be full of bacteria and toxins that can lead to skin irritations and infections. Don’t take a chance with your skin!
Give your makeup bag some spring cleaning!
Not sure when to throw out those old makeup items? I’ve got expiry dates for you, how to clean your brushes and some spring trends to try out! This is a clip from my appearance last week on CHCH Morning Live.
2013 Oscars Red Carpet style inspiration!
The 85th annual academy awards was on last night and there were 2 things that were pretty apparent- Seth Macfarlane is a funny guy, and princess dresses are experiencing a serious comeback.
The 2013 Oscars red carpet had a ton of style inspiration for us viewers at home, I put together some of my fav beauty and fashion looks from last night for you
First up, best accessory and a new trend I’m sure! Jennifer Lawerence’s backwards necklace. She wore a long diamond chain draped across her neck like a scarf! It was super pretty (as was her makeup and gorgeous dress).
Best hair of the night goes to Reese Witherspoon. Old hollywood curls have been a big hit at this season’s awards shows and Reese knocked it out of the park last night. So nice. 
Best dresses of the night. My first is Zoe Saldana. I love how unexpected this dress was! So unique and I think I actually said wow when I saw it.
Naomi Watts in Armani Prive. Here’s another different dress, apparently she worked with the designers for a month in developing the dress. It fit her so well and was just so fresh and different than anybody else’s dress.
Jessica Chastain. She looked so va-va-vavoom, like Jessica Rabbit in her form fitting dress, long red hair and GORGEOUS makeup. Man she has great eyes for makeup!
What were your favorite looks from last night?
My Top 6 MAC Lipsticks
I have been getting requests from you guys to do videos with my top makeup picks, so I decided to start with my top 6 MAC lipsticks. Watch below to find out what they are and stay tuned for more vids like this!