Haul Time!

Haul from Sephora VIB sale and from ELF!

Blink Restaurant and Bar, Calgary Alberta

Stopped by here with a few friends a few weeks ago. First walked in and noticed the well decorated interior and was welcomed instantly by the friendly staff there.

My one friend tried the Twice Baked Cheese Souffle to start and loved it, they thought it was well balanced while for myself it was just a little too much cheese for my liking.  We also decided to start with a beef carpaccio dish which had a great balance of flavor.

For the mains, I decided to go with the salmon for the main, cooked perfectly to my liking (then again, its hard to screw up salmon) but I didn't like the sauce it came with but again personally I prefer my salmon by itself. My other companions tried their rabbit dish. Cooked perfectly, well balanced dish. It was a very comforting dish but not too heavy like most would be.

For desert we did try a strawberry shortcake with basil ice cream. The basil ice cream was a nice refreshing palette cleanser. Was extremely satisfied with this dessert.

Overall, I had no complaints. Well balanced dishes that change with the season, nice atmosphere in a very open spaced venue.

http://blink-calgary.com/

The Body Shop - Hemp Products

Back with a review on a couple products from the Hemp line by The Body Shop.
This line is popular for people with eczema or psoriasis, or just super dry skin! First off, i've had pretty bad eczema throughout my life. I'm slowly growing out of it as I get older but my skin is still dry and sensitive. For me, a good moisturizer is one where i only have to apply once or twice and I'll feel comfortable in my own skin. Most moisturizers I have to layer it up a couple times and then top it off with other products in order for that to happen :(
I finally tried this line out since there has been some buzz for it.
I dislike the smell of all the hemp products, smells like... plastic mixed with random incense.

Hemp Body Butter:
$20/cad per body butter.
Repurchase: No
I've used a bunch of body butters' from The Body Shop before. None are really moisturizing but i was suggest to try the hemp and that it will be more soothing and comforting.
Sadly, it was a no go for me. It wasn't any more moisturizing then the other body butters nor was it any help to my rashes or irritated skin. Didn't like the scent. Didn't like the price. Didn't like the moisturizer it provided (which is bare minimum by itself)

Hemp Moisture High Balm
$15/cad (not sure since it is not for sale anymore?)
Repurchase: No
This item is kinda like vaseline petroleum jelly except not as bad. Sadly I did not like this product, its very greasy - does not absorb into the skin easily. I thought it would help and dry flakey areas but it didn't do much. Preferably i would use an actual body oil for the dry patches since it would be more effective then this product. Another weird thing is that, I didn't touch the product for a few weeks and then when i went to try it again it developed a weird .. skin like film on top. Equivalent to if you left pudding out, you'd have to break through the skin to actually get to the pudding.

Hemp Hand Protector
$20/cad for regular size, $10/small
Repurchase: Most Likely Not
One of the Body Shops Best sellers! Its actually a pretty good hand moisturizer, doesn't take too long to soak in. But the smell puts me off, its different for body products since I usually can't smell whats on my arm. But i do smell my hands often (leaning my face against them, rubbing my nose etc) and the smell of this hemp line just isn't worth it. There are other good hand moisturizers for a lesser value that smell better.

Overall I've tried enough of the Hemp products in that line, to know I will not like any of the others....
None of the products really worked for me even if they did, the smell of the products would turn me off from using it.

http://www.thebodyshop.ca/en/shop-by-line/hemp.aspx#/hemp.aspx