Skincare review: Dr. Barbara Sturm Darker Skintones Discovery Kit

Skincare review: Dr. Barbara Sturm Darker Skintones Discovery Kit

Full disclosure, before trying the Dr. Barbara Sturm Darker Skintones Discovery Kit ($150 CAD)  my skin was in good shape. This was merely curiosity on my part for trying these products. Here are a couple details that I want to share before beginning my review:

• Skin Type: Normal to Combination (Normal in the summer and dry forehead in the winter)

• Skin Issues: none at the moment but previously had hormonal acne on my chin and jaw

• Skin Tone: Dark (Makeup shades - Pat McGrath Foundation #31 and Fenty Beauty Foundation 430)  

The Darker Skintones discovery kit comes with a Foam Cleanser (50ml), Enzyme Cleanser (20g), Hyaluronic Serum (10ml), Face Cream (20ml), and Face Cream Rich (20ml). I used this kit for 6 weeks starting on July 5th, 2020. Out of this kit the best products in my opinion are the cleansers. The foam cleanser has a light fragrance of “fresh” and is gentle and soft on my face. The enzyme cleanser is a finely milled powder that you add drops of water to and creates a paste. This is a physical exfoliator which most people have moved away from in favour of chemical exfoliants. Personally I really liked this exfoliator, it didn't feel rough on the skin and my face didn’t feel stripped. For me, the hyaluronic serum was average on my skin. It did what it was supposed to do but my skin didn’t feel more hydrated than usual. I also found the face creams to be good but average.

My overall impression is that this is a solid skincare line if you don't have any specific skin issues, like hyperpigmentation or texture. The real downsides for me is the pricing and the lack of any difference in my skin. The discovery kit cost $150 CAD pre-tax, for the full sized foam cleanser (150ml) you’re paying $90 CAD and for the full sized hyaluronic serum (50ml) you’re $390 CAD, this is to illustrate that this is luxury skincare and unless you have the coins I don’t believe it is worth it. I didn’t experience any change in my skin since using these products. Which is great that I didn’t have a negative reaction but also disappointed, as I assumed that these luxury products would give me more glowing skin etc. 

Before starting the kit

Midway

Currently (as Aug 13)

I hope y’all found this review helpful and leave any comments below. 

Chau!

OOTD: Prairie girl

As I’m recalibrating how I feel about summer this year, I’m looking for clothing that is easy to wear, comfortable, but still makes me feel amazing. 

Black Prairie girl chic

I grabbed this prairie girl dress from Aritzia (it's still on sale!) and added my white sandals and who doesn’t love eucalyptus? 

Easy, breazy, beautiful prairie girl! 

Happy Thursday!

2 Tips to Save Your Sweaters

Hey y’all I made a quick video about clothing care - mainly saving your sweaters from hangers!

If you’re interested in some other clothing care tips check out my previous post.

Its not hot but sometimes it’s sunny

Is it summer in Toronto? It’s 10 degrees celsius and cold enough where even my tights couldn’t save me! I’m really wondering what kind of summer we’re going to have? Shorts - no, short dresses - definitely not, swimming - in what lake? The only saving grace we have is that while it's not hot it will definitely be sunny! Which means we can always wear our sunglasses (I mean it's sunny in the dead of winter too).

This season anything goes when it comes to sunglasses, do you want a Grace Jones-esque cat-eye, the tiny nose percher, or are you feeling the FENTY hater blockers? I’m enjoying the variety of sunglasses in different shapes and styles this season and this variety makes me feel like buying a pair for every mood. Sunglasses are a great accessory whether they are from Forever21 or Celine and they make me feel like it's summer even if the weather isn’t cooperating.

Here are some of my favourite styles (click on the pictures for the links):

Beauty Bonus 1: Costco has a skincare section you need to raid!

Discover & share this Tea GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.

This week I stumbled upon something EXCITING! Costco is selling mid to high-end skincare for 15%-60% less than Sephora, Amazon, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Saks Fifth Ave. You can purchase these items on Costco.ca without a Costco membership.

Any of the items at Sephora that have a savings of 20% or more are a really good deal, as Sephora only has it’s 20% off sale twice a year. The items highlighted in green are an extra good deal and if you like the Sisley products listed they are a highway robbery if you buy them through Costco.

I’m not going elaborate on this to death, rather see the list of the available products and the savings below:

P.S. I think the skincare products that Costco.ca has in-stock change regularly, so a month or two from now some of these items may not be available. I will confirm in a couple of days!

Chau!

***Cover Photo credit: Photo by Audrey M Jackson on Unsplash

Style Diary 2: EXTRA AF - Feathered Vest

“See my vest, see my vest, Made from real gorilla chest” - Mr. Burns

Do you have that one item that you bought because you just couldn’t get over how extra it was? For me my EXTRA AF item is my Pello Bello Silver Grey Vest, I bought it on sale and on a whim at Saks a randomly. I love the texture of the feathers, the pockets can hold my iPhone 8 plus, and it's surprisingly warm.  

I’ve worn this vest on numerous occasions since I’ve bought it, I would say the trick to wearing your Extra AF item is not caring about the occasion - you wear it because you love it!

I paired this vest with oversized Diane Von Furstenberg Silk Pyjama Top (I bought the top with the purpose of wearing it out - not to bed), Uniqlo jeans distressed jeans with unfinished hem, and my go-to Frank and Oak heeled ankle boots.

See outfit details below (click on images to shop the look):

Style Diary 1: Wearing Neon to work

Neon Chartreuse (the colour between neon green and yellow)

Neon has been trending over the past 3 years and I’m not sure who started it but as someone who isn’t quick to jump on trends, I decided to try neon out this past month. If any of you are familiar with my blog or instagram page you know that I’m a huge fan of Aritzia, while shopping their winter sale for sweaters, I scooped up this sweater (Wilfred Free-Isabelli Sweater- Waffle-knit crewneck sweater) in neon chartreuse to try it out. Functionally, I love this sweater because its soft and warm, which really saved me for the last couple of month when it was -20 Celsius.  Now to the best part, yes I have actually worn this sweater to my corporate job (multiple times - it was really cold!). Unless you work in a company that is a very strict/formal dress code the only thing you have to fear is standing out. I will say glowing like a highlighter will garner attention because you’re literally a beacon but otherwise I’m perfectly in the parameters of my companies policy.

I’m sure you’re thinking, yes your brave and you stood out but how can I possible work neon into my work clothes? What does neon chartreuse match with? I’ve pulled together 3 looks with my neon sweater that you can wear to the office (if permitted).

Neon Sweater with Black Dress Pants

Neon and High Waisted Skirt

Neon & Navy High waisted wide-leg pants

Neon & Black Pants - Bonus points if you pair this with a non-black shoe. Everyone should have a pair of black pants (if you don’t please email me), this is an easy look and very comfortable for a day in the office and with a colourful shoe transitions well into an evening look.

Neon & Tan High-Waisted Pencil Skirt -  At first glance, these two colours shouldn’t work together. I personally like the contrast of the two pieces and the colour of the skirt falls into the neutral category which tones down the brightness. It creates a unique look paired with comfortable black stacked heel ankle boots. The boots aren’t too high so you can comfortable get from meeting to meeting without feeling your feet go numb.

Neon & Navy Wide Legged Pants -  Blue and Yellow work well together, using different tones of both colours make it easy to pair the sweater and pants together. Personally, I like wide-leg pants for work because you can wear them with flats and heels and look cute in both.

The moral of the story is that you can wear neon to work! If you have something in your closet right now or you were eyeing an item, try it out!

P.S. I wasn’t joking about the black pants, if you don’t have any please email me - you’re clearly in dire need of a closet rehab!

Beauty Experience: Bite Beauty Lip Lab

If you live in Toronto and hangout on Queen Street West, I’m sure you’ve walked by the Bite Beauty Lip Lab numerous times. I was always curious and this curiosity came to fruition this month.

As a lipstick lover who is friends’ with another lipstick lover, I was struggling to figure out what to get her for Christmas. We both spent too much at Sephora last year but what do you get for a makeup/beauty lover who already has everything they want at the moment (this is always a short moment). I figured an experience would be the best way to go and our shared love for lipstick lead me to Bite Beauty Lip Lab on January 6.

I chose the Bespoke service where you create 2 custom lip colours. The process is pretty straight forward, you sit with one of the Bite Beauty’s Colour Artists they ask you what colour you have in mind. Once you’ve decide on a colour the Colour Artist will mix the lip pigments, until you find your colour of choice. I created two different shades, a nude in the sheer finish and a raspberry-orange in a matte finish, it took about 3 or 4 pigment mixes to find each of these colours.

My 2 Bespoke Lipsticks

The colourful jars are the lipstick pigments that the Colour Artist mixes together to create your bespoke lipstick and the tiny jars with liquid in them are scents that you can choose to add to your lipstick as well.

Rating: 💄💄💄💄💄(for experience and product)

If you want to make your own lip colour I would highly suggest this service! Austen was our Colour Artist and he was great. Very knowledgable about what looks good on your skin tone but also narrowing down to the colour you desire. Further, I hadn’t used Bite Beauty lip products other than their agave lip balm. Can I say that the formulas are amazing! The matte was very moisturizing and not drying, while the sheer formula still have great colour payoff and is fairly long-wearing. Also have you ever chosen a scent for you lipstick? I had never noticed any of my other lipsticks have a obvious scent. For my raspberry-orange colour I chose the citrus scent because I plan to wear this colour out summer 2019. I believe I selected wild-berry for my nude colour scent.

90's Vibes

Last week I served you a red monochromatic look for a work holiday party. That look is for those of us who don’t mind standing out at work events. This week I’m bringing you something cute and sassy that will have you sashaying into the party and maybe onto the dance floor for a little one-two-step. As always, I aim to put together work looks that anyone can wear and feel amazing in!

This holiday looks is pretty simple - the two elements that give it the holiday vibes are the headband that is crown-like and the sparkly tights. I love the billowy sleeves on the Rebecca Minkoff blouse and knitted pattern around the arms and at the top. The black skirt I bought in Paris and it’s been my fun/party since I bought it. Now the tights and headband I bought from Urban Outfitters and they a really the icing on the holiday fruit cake. Headbands have also been really big this year and let's be frank, they’ve been been around since forever so definitely try one out this holiday season. If you live in a cooler climate you definitely wear stocking/nylons in the winter time. Why not make this seasonal mainstay apart of your holiday look? These tights are really sparkly, fun, and will keep your legs a little warmer.  Finally, the ankle boots with a bit of a heel give this look a bit of a 90’s girl vibe but are practical and easy to wear throughout the day.

Happy Work Partying! If you want to put this look together see links below:

Lady in Red

December is finally here and I’m ready for all things Christmas!

*If you follow my Instastories you know I’ve been drinking all of the Starbucks holiday drinks since they came out.

Not only is it time for delicious Starbucks drinks but it's PARTY TIME!

This year I have 3 work holiday parties! That’s right 3 parties which, require 3 different outfits that will get me through the work day to the work party. I’ll be showcasing 3 different work-safe holiday looks over the coming weeks. This week, I’m sharing Lady in Red.

I love a monochromatic look and had been looking for the perfect moment to pull this off.

Why do I love this look for a work holiday party? Other than the shoes (which I love!), You’re wearing dress pants and a dress shirt, which are comfortable work clothes. The pants and top aren’t the same shade of red which I feel softens the overall effect. Another great thing about this look is, you can throw on a black blazer throughout the day for meetings. Shoe wise, you can wear flats during the day and change into your heels for the party or, stay in the heels the whole day to get the full effect of this killer look!  

Lastly and most importantly - this look works for everyone!

I would definitely suggest you look through your closet and see if you have pieces in the same colour scheme and match them up. Luckily for me all of these pieces were already in my closet.

See what I did there? I shopped my closet, like the “responsible” adult I am (and you are too ;) ).

*If you’re in the holiday spending mood click on images below to recreate the look:

Happy Work Partying!