A Weekend in Montréal

Last week, I spent Sunday through Tuesday visiting my Mum in Montréal! It was so refreshing. To sum it up, my little weekend (I say weekend because that's basically what a restaurateur's weekend is) was filled with shopping, delicious food, chain-smoking on my part, and SO much coffee. Surprisingly, I didn't take very many pictures which is unusual for me as I'm always snapping away at everything. Also unusual, I almost exclusively relied on my iPhone 5 instead of my Canon. Regardless, take a look!

In the metro | Cute street art | GORGEOUS desserts at Pâtisserie de Gascogne

Pizzédélic! | Pizza Mozzarella Basilic Frais | Found heaven in Boutique Point G

Le Glacier Bilboquet! | Even in French, Starbucks can't get it right | So very true

Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal | In the metro again | Cappuccino at Cho'cola

Pizzédélic, Bilboquet, and la Gascogne are all places that I have been going to with my family for years and years. If you find yourself in Montréal, make a point of paying these establishments a visit. I promise you will not be disappointed. I definitely hope to go up again sometime in July. Hopping to the subject of shopping, a picked up a few beauty goodies that I look forward to showing you soon. What did you think of my little trip? Do you like these sorts of travel posts or do you think I should keep this to my Instagram? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you soon!

Haul: CVS/pharmacy

For whatever reason, CVS has been handing coupons out lately. I've been going in for an Odwalla bar and walking out with a receipt three feet long! On that subject, I see what you're doing, CVS. I've noticed that this only seems to happen when you are an infrequent shopper or when you buy very little. They're probably doing this as an incentive to get us to come in and spend more often. Whatever they're doing, it's working because I figured it was time to take advantage of these deals. Here's what I got.

• Neutrogena Ultra-Soft Eye Makeup Removing Pads
• Refresh Contact Lens Comfort Drops
• Porcelana Day and Night Creams
• Vaseline Cocoa Radiant Lotion
• Schick Hydro Silk Razor
• Q-Tips
• Blistex Moisture Melt

Other than the Blistex Moisture Melt, I had price-reducing coupons for every item. The original total was $64 and change, I paid an even $40. Not too shabby! Has CVS been spitting tons of coupons at you too lately? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter. 

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you soon!

Macaron Marathon: Cakeology

Back in November, there was a weekend where I was pretty under the weather. My Dad brought me two dozen macarons that had been left over from a function he helped with. Ziggy (my chihuahua) and I spent the day nibbling on them one by one and they made me feel so much better. I thought they were excellent and wanted to get more. I asked him him to find out who made them but no one seemed to know so I resolved to go around all of Boston and its surrounding areas to try and track them down. Even if I never found them again, I would still be eating lots of macarons and hopefully finding some fantastic spots along the way. I decided to name this segment Macaron Marathon because if you say it in French, it rhymes. Whenever I go to a new place, I will report back with pictures and my thoughts.

The macaron hunt began at Cakeology, located in Boston's Downtown Crossing at 45 Province Street. It's a vibrant little shoppe with big open windows to view the workspace and the products from the outside.

Their primary specialty is cupcakes and special occasion cakes, but they make two macarons of different flavours that change every day. When I walked in, the pastry chef was in the middle of filling a fresh batch of macarons, something I really appreciated knowing that some places sell frozen ones. The inside of the shoppe is kind of small but open so that you can watch the sugary treats being made behind the counter. Metallic pink paint stains the hardwood floors and the walls are painted a vibrant purple with multi-tiered modell cakes on various shelves. There are three tables, each one with potted grass and (rainbow and chocolate) sprinkle shakers as center pieces. All in all, a very cute spot to enjoy a hot beverage and some sweets tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of downtown.

The two flavours that day were pistachio and hazelnut. I got two of each, priced at $1.75 a pop. The texture of the shells was a bit firmer than I normally expect for a macaron; these were not the type that literally disintegrate after each bite. Do not take this as too much of a negative, their being thicker made for less mess and longer enjoyment. They were both visibly grainy, a result from not grinding the almonds finely enough - a problem of aesthetics, not taste. A macaron snob would write these ones off completely because of these slip-ups but my heart is big enough that I still have room for leniency. My only issue was the filling in both of them. It was a very sugary cream, so sweet that it sadly took away from the both the pistachio and hazelnut flavours of the shells. Regardless, I did enjoy these macarons and I would recommend Cakeology if you're looking for a spot in downtown Boston.

Also in the Boston area? Let me know if there's any place you know of that I should check out by leaving a comment or tweeting me. Thanks so much for reading and stay tuned for more dainty delights!

Review: Maybelline's Express Manicure Quick Dry Protecting Top Coat

Since my previous post was a loose tutorial on nails, I thought I would stick in the same theme for today's review. My grandmother and I Facetime each other every few days or so. (I would call her every day but work gets in the way of doing that. She's basically my Mum minus the fact that she didn't give birth to me, to give you an idea of how close we are.) A few months ago we were chatting and she raved about this new top coat she had just gotten. She picked one up for me and mailed it out the next day from France.

She was not exaggerating one bit in her praises! A fast-drying protecting lacquer, it also adds a lot of shine and makes a manicure last significantly longer without chipping. I'm talking my manicure has gone eleven days strong and all the nails looked like new minus the visible growth. How impressive is that!? I've looked at Maybelline's varnish line here in the States and regrettably have to say that they don't have something like this available. They do have the Express Finish line with a variety of colours but no top coat - quite silly in my opinion. Please don't think of me as a tease, I'm just smitten with this product and wanted to share. If you or someone you know is going to either France or the UK, definitely add this to your list of things to bring back! 

What is your all time favourite top coat? Leave me some recommendations in the comments or on Twitter. I would love to try out some more options and eventually post a compare and contrast perhaps? Thanks so much for reading and I hope to see you soon! 

How-To: Colour Blocking Nails

I don't know why, but I always feel like doing my nails really late at night. Especially nights where I have to wake up early the next day. And I always want to do something fancy and complicated. Because you know, why just settle for one colour and be done with it? That's just too simple.

Case in point, the other night, I felt like colour blocking my nails at 23h30. I had never tried it before but I had seen a few tutorials here and there and it looked easy enough. I found some tape, picked two colours I thought would look good together and dove right in. Let's just say, it did not go well. But on the bright side, by every possible thing going wrong in that attempt, I can now tell you how to colour block your nails to perfection! Rather, I can tell you what not to do and hope that your attempt turns out better than mine did.

1. When selecting your two colours, make sure they're both opaque. Laquers that require multiple coats each have a tendency of never fully setting thus leading to disaster and therefore, heartbreak. We don't like heartbreak. Preferably, try to pick colours that only need one coat each. The two laquers I chose are Lilacism and Where's My Chauffeur, both from Essie. 
   
2. I clearly don't have the patience to do everything in one sitting, so I would recommend applying the base coat and the bottom colour at night while winding down before going to bed than apply the second colour in the morning. It's a little more foulproof for me. If you want to do this in one time, make sure to have ample time for the bottom colour to dry. If it is even remotely wet, the tape will peel it off, like so. Look! It's a smiley face. It's a smiley face because it feels accomplished about ruining my nail.
   
3. Once you are absolutely, positively certain that the bottom colour is completely dry, it's time to put the tape on. The way I did it was I put the tape on the half closest to the root which made it harder to make sure the bottom half was completely protected on the sides. I would recommend doing the opposite and putting the tape on the outer nail plate instead. Allow lots of time for the second colour to dry before removing the tape slowly. 
4. Apply your favourite top coat, wait for it to set, and off you go! Your finished product will hopefully look significantly better than this. I had to do a lot of touch ups on both colours which resulted in noticeable lumpiness. I was so frustrated at this point that I didn't even bother cleaning up the sides, which I apologize for. 
   

I hope you find these pointers useful in your colour blocking endeavours. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. If you do try this or have done this already, please send me a picture of your nails either in the comments, on Twitter, or on Instagram. I would love to see your colour combinations. Hope to see soon!

Nibbling On: LUNA Bars

I work in a restaurant, and it seems to be a pretty common misconception that people in this industry are well fed. I can see where that idea comes from. We're around food all day and we talk so highly about our product, but that means nothing. If anything, we spend the majority of the day starving. My employer is decent enough to offer the staff what is called "family meal" at 16h every day. There are some spotty days, but it's usually well-balanced, relatively healthy and most importantly, filling. Besides that however, we're on our own all morning long before and all night after family meal. So I like to have snacks on my person during work for when I just need a break or for those mornings where I'm running late (ie, every morning). 

I discovered LUNA bars last summer while browsing the energy bar aisle at my grocer (yes, my grocery store has an entire aisle of energy and protein bars; there are three gyms around it). At the time, I wanted to have something to snack on during my four-hour bus ride to and from New York. I was surprised to learn that LUNA is actually a branch of Clif bars created specially for marketing towards women.  It's definitely working because I pick these up regularly. I like the variety of flavours to choose from and I find the wrappers rather appealing. They're perfect to just chuck in my bag and have a kick of energy and nutrients that I appreciate. Last week, they were on promo 10 for $10 so I picked up a whole variety. Normally, I usually get S'mores or White Chocolate Macadamia when it's around. Their website is very well laid out if you'd like to see a full listing of their products or just to learn more about the company.

What is your favourite energy bar or snack food? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I'd love to hear what your go to snack is. Thanks for reading!

Review: Secret Clinical Strength Deodorant in Ooh-la-la Lavender

SUCH a random product to review, I know, but I figured I would share my opinion of it with you because of everything it promises. Allow me to give you an idea of why this subject is a big deal for me. In mid-January, I got promoted from hostess to backwaiter at the restaurant I work in. Boy, I did not know the beating I was getting myself into. Up and down the stairs fifty times a shift. Carrying 30-50 pounds at a time. Burns, cuts, bruises, broken nails. Getting barked at all of the time. It is tough. So tough that I started freezing up and having panic attacks for little to no reason. And just to add insult to injury, as a result of all of these things put together, I started getting these unsightly sweat stains at the pits of my black shirts. Great. So I picked up one of Secret's Clinical Strength deodorants hoping it would help.

The product's main focus is repressing "stress sweat" which apparently smells four times worse than normal sweat. I didn't have an odor problem but I definitely did have a wetness issue - hence the staining. I've been using it for about a month now and am thrilled to say that I'm looking good! I have noticed that I very rarely feel like I'm sweating there at all anymore (normal or healthy? probably not, but remember the priorities). My arm pits (and all the muscles in my arms too!) look good; the rest of me doesn't because the job just can't be helped, it seems.

My previous deodorant of the same scent was around the $5 mark, while the Clinical Strength version cost about $8 (on promo, otherwise it's normally closer to $10). My major complaint about this deodorant: there is so much packaging for so little product. Look at the stick, it's brand new and only half of it is filled.

Why is the tube only half full? Why is the box so much bigger? Why does it even need to come in a box? For whatever reason, this gets me really worked up and I'm not even that environmentally conscious. Wastefulness aside, this is a product worth investing in if you need to keep sweat, stressed or not, under control.

Thank you for taking the time to read about deodorant! A pretty awkward thing to write about, but it's certainly something all of us use (I hope so, at least). Hope to see you soon!

Refresh and Restart

If you've been following me for a while, you might have noticed that all my previous posts are missing. (If you haven't, then I'm sorry that we're starting on such a sombre foot.) Why? Because I deleted them. For a few days now, I've been going back and forth with the idea of completely scrapping everything and restarting my blogging endeavor from zero. Far too much has happened in the past few months and I've allowed too much time to pass in between writing. I look over what I wrote before and it seems like a completely different person's work. In reality, it is a different person's work at this point. Almost every aspect of my life has changed in one way or another in the past five or so months; somethings for the better, some not. I want everything to be better and I believe one big way to bring that to fruition is to start being completely and totally honest.

I started blogging back in June of last year as a way to pass the time while I was unemployed. I quickly found that I quite enjoyed it and continued once I began my new job in July. It forced me to think of things to write about and new ways to photograph. The job did not turn out to be what I was expecting so blogging turned into a nice distraction; and even more so once my now ex-boyfriend and I learned that his father was dying. His father's decline was very quick and he passed away on September 30. From there, blogging became a sort of cover-up. My boyfriend handled the death in all the wrong ways possible. I tried to keep it together for the both of us. I visualized the situation as a ship; does one abandon ship whilst going through rough waters? I believed the storm would pass, but it didn't. I didn't exactly abandon ship though, I sent out an SOS and I was rescued; otherwise, I probably would have never left. Everything that happened never should have, but it did. Now it's just a matter of getting past its wake.

So far, 2013 has been an extreme whirlwind of emotions. There was a period of time where I felt debilitating sadness. Like him, I also dealt with the situation and its aftermath incorrectly. I went behind peoples' backs and lied to those dearest to me, something I never would have expected of myself. I screwed up quite a few things in the process but worst of all, lost trust from people I care about. For a short while, I assumed that I was broken inside. I realized that instead I was and still am completely and totally lost. I don't know what I want to do or where I want to be. I'm literally waiting around and hoping that I'll wake up and know. In the meantime, I'm picking up the pieces and one of those pieces happens to be blogging.

When I originally started this blog, I wanted to focus on beauty reviews. It quickly turned into more of a lifestyle blog once I included some travel posts and later some food posts as well (exclusively macarons). Doing this complete refresh, I'm going to keep with the general lifestyle theme. You can expect beauty reviews of a broad variety, travel, reading, and the occasional food post. Anything that meets my fancy, honestly. If these are things that might interest you, please subscribe! You can also find me on Twitter and on Instagram. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I promise my posts will be much more lighthearted following this one. See you soon hopefully!