Saturday 31 May 2014

Skinenvy Sugar and Beeswax Face and Bikini Strip*

*Press Sample*

Skinenvy sugar and beeswax face and bikini wax strips review

Look, we're all a bit ugly.
You know it. I know it. 
We can't do much to cover up our inner ugliness, BUT we can massage our egos by ridding ourselves of external ugliness (which admittedly is never as ugly as some of our inner selves, let's get our priorities straight) and face fuzz is definitely one thing worth getting rid of. 

Thursday 29 May 2014

Guest Post: Spring Pastels with Hello Kitty

Hi everyone, it's Jen from Vibrant, Vivacious, Veracious Beauty Blog! So excited to be posting on A Beautiful Zen today. Today's post is all about celebrating Spring with some pretty pastels. When it comes to eye shadow, I'm typically a neutral fanatic. Bronzes, golds, taupes, champagnes- sign me up! But there's something about emerging from this particularly nasty Winter that has been motivating me to ditch the nudes and delve into some cheery colour!

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Mary Kay at Play Bold Fluid Liner*

*Press Sample

Mary Kay has just launched a couple of new products this season including four new shades of fluid liner!

Sunday 25 May 2014

Mary Kay Triple Layer Tinted Lip Balm*

*Press Sample

Mary Kay at Play Triple Layer Tinted Lip Balms in the plum pink again, atomic red orange you lovely reviews

It's hard not to make the comparison but when I saw the Mary Kay Triple Tinted Lip Balms I immediately thought of the Maybelline Baby Lips. This may not be the first nor last time but I have to be a backtracking politician and take back my initial dislike for the Maybelline Baby Lips. More and more these little tinted balms have been making their way into daily use so having more color options with the Mary Kay Triple Tinted Lip Balms is definitely a bonus.

Friday 23 May 2014

Guest Post: Transitioning to Warmer Weather with Julie


Hello lovely fans of A Beautiful Zen! It's me, Julie from Swatch and Review! As part of the Canadian Beauty Bloggers guest post series, I'll be hanging out on Jenn's blog this month talking about the transition to warmer weather. 

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Mary Kay True Dimensions Lipstick Roundup*

*Press Sample

Mary Kay True Dimensions Lipstick swatch review

Mary Kay just released ten (!) new shades to their True Dimensions Lipstick line. And that means, ALL THE SWATCHES!!! 

Monday 19 May 2014

Situation Analysis of the Meetup OR Meeting EssieButton

"Liam Helmsworth:"
"Really?"
"No? Zac Effron for sure. Man.... If i saw him.."
"LOL, you obvious have a type"

essiebutton toronto meet up

There aren't many celebrities I'd want to spend an awkward hour conversing with and thinking that I've met the "real (insert celebrity name here)". I've gone to signings, heard TV personalities lecture, waited by stage doors for Broadway actors to leave for home, but lately, those sorts of things haven't drawn me in. 

Saturday 17 May 2014

7 Statement Lipsticks or Wear It Like You Mean It

statement lipsticks

 If I'm wearing a bolder lip, the magazines tell me I'm making a statement. Well, I don't know what statements they think I'm making but it's really one of the following:

1) I only had 5 minutes this morning so I'm going to whack you in the face with how red my lips are to detract from how minimal everything else is.

2) I'm going to gym after work. Removing eyeshadows and full foundation is a pain. Lipstick removal is easy.

3) I'm at a party and I want to look like I'm the shit.
(we all know that 3 rarely happens since  I'm a granny, and that most of my parties involve properly cooked food and people talking about politics, so it's always 1 or 2.)

Thursday 15 May 2014

Cleansing with Camomile (Ft. The Body Shop)*

*Press Sample

The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil review, The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter, The Body Shop Muslin Cleansing Cloth review


Cleansing oils, I try many and report back dutifully.  As current oil were stocks running low, the hunt began for new options.  Clinique’s versions caught my eye but The Body Shop’s Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil and Sumptuous Cleansing Butter called out instead with their reasonable price point.

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Montagne Jeunesse Mask Roundup*

*Press Samples

Montagne Jeunesse Masks Roundup review

While the other CBB girls were pitting mask against mask (beauty, it’s a cruel world…) I was slowly making my way through the Montagne Jeunesse Masks ($2-3CDN) as well. Though the packaging images scare me (no… I don’t really want olives coming out of my eyes…), and the names are lengthy, the contents of each pouch are worth a few mentions.

Saturday 10 May 2014

Doing Without Primer or What to Use as Eyeshadow Bases

Do you need eyeshadow primer, what to use as eyeshadow primer bases

In an attempt to use up what I have, I forwent  (yes, actually a word) the Sephora 15% off sale. Though I was running out of my NARS eyeshadow primer, I wanted to find other bases to help my powder shadows last the day and stay true to color. Thankfully I have more than a few cream shadow products available for this purpose. Here are some tips for picking colors for bases for your shadows.

Thursday 8 May 2014

PSA: Glitter Unicorns


While the rest of us are waking from our vampiric slumber, scrabbling for coffees or teas and mindlessly applying neutral OAM (office appropriate makeup) out of habit (yup, that brown, is the exact same one I used yesterday *yawn*), the rest of you fancy unicorns are reaching for something different. You, you special fairy angels, are reaching for the GLITTER.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

The Great Deletion of 2014

Now that I'm more or less over it, I hope you will allow me to roast myself and the situation. So without too much pomp and only because of circumstance....(and really, what is a death without a good public homage...)

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We are gathered to grieve and eugoogle-ize (sic.) the loss of countless (because I'm too lazy) images from the A Beautiful Zen database. The Great Deletion of 2014 took many casualties and was avoidable had Google been more clear on how Gallery worked. But let's note hate on Google! Let's learn that Google Gallery images (which Google calls "backups") are really the originals from the Blogger post and aught not to be deleted. Ever.

Let's also pay tribute to the now-gone images of the Maybelline Color Tattoo round up swatches, the Clarin's Spring LE 2013 Blush (oh that's half still there? small miracle) and the MAC Waveline eye posts, among others. Though the images will be missed, the products will not be forgotten. Let us all hold our Wavelines together, now, as an act of remembrance.

We will move on from this disaster! We will back up our photos (Huzzah!), create new posts (Huzzah!) with even more amazing imagery that will emblazon themselves onto the minds of their viewers (but not too emblazoned because that stings) and remember that all things are temporary (....Huzzah?), even makeup (like when old releases are forgotten every new season). Let us move forward together in these worthwhile pursuits joyously and with much frivolity. 

Onwards and upwards, goddamnit.

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Thanks for the online hugs, pats on the shoulders, and general understanding of my blight.

Jenn

Tuesday 6 May 2014

SO.

So apparently when you delete the photos in the Gallery on your Android, you end up deleting the actual photos in you Blogger posts. Suffice it to say, 80-90% of my blog posts photos have now been deleting.

I don't even have the words.....

Ecotools Pure Complexion Facial Sponge*

*Press Sample

Ecotools Pure Complexion Facial Sponge review

I have to be honest. I think facial sponges are a bit gimmicky. I'm not sure I really need them and when I think about sponges, my mind flashes back to the natural sea sponges I saw at Home Depot, the kind you use to remove left over grout when you're tiling your bathroom.... (that imagery is actually quite apropo).

Monday 5 May 2014

Essence, Shoppers and GIVEAWAY(S)!


A few more Shoppers drug marts are getting Essence expansions AND there's a whole bunch of new stuff coming out for Spring! AND they're holding a $500 SDM Essence giveaway AND so am I! (Woah, so much news all at once.)

Saturday 3 May 2014

In the Moment #7: Spring/Summer 2014 Preview in Vancouver


Might not have mentioned this, but I was away for two weeks in Vancouver. Basically I spent it eating (too much), shopping and catching up with new and old friends (ie a shopping date with Gerry and an awesome gym session with Bailey). To cap my trip off, I attended the Stila, Cargo, Ardell, Seche, and Ceramic Glaze preview for Spring/Summer 2014 lines. As last vacation days go, this day was ALL KINDS OF AWESOME!

Thursday 1 May 2014

Oh Yea...Prom... (Thoughts While Investigating Impress and Kiss Nails*)

*Press Sample Featured


At this point in my life, I've done my share of ceremonial stage walking. Points go to kindergarten graduation where I waddled up to receive my very own Xerox certificate. I'm sure cookies followed.

By the time I hit my Masters grad, my comrades-in-tomes and I were past caring and mostly walk across the stage for the parents. Reminiscing on my ability to walk in a straight line with only the trite advice of "don't trip",  I've come to a solid conclusion. There was no more hyped up graduation ceremony than that of high school.