Shu Uemura - Painting Liner

I love cream/gel liners. On the hunt for a new one since Estee Lauder's Double Wear one wasn't the best for me. Ordered this on Shu Uemura's website for $25/cad. I love the packaging on this. Very compact and sleek.

So far I am pretty impressed with this eyeliner, its very creamy and glides on smoothly. I find it to be very pigmented, a little product goes a long way. I have used this almost every day for over 8 months and i'm almost hitting the bottom.

Only thing is that its so creamy, it can smudge easily right after application, if I laugh right after I put it on (i have small eyes) it will smudge a bit.
It lasts over 12+ hrs, still pigmented til the end. Only thing is that it does smudge a bit if you don't let it dry. Easy to wash off, doesn't leave a residue at all like some eye liners do. I'd like to note that I've left the cap off a couple times for 24 hours and was super happy that the product didn't dry up!

So far I'm content with this product, I would repurchase it unless I find something that performs better.

The Face Shop - Pore Minimizer Controlling Emulsion

I've bought a couple items from The Face Shop since it's made it debut in Alberta. I have pretty big pores and it of course, does not help that I pick at them on a routine basis.

I picked up this emulsion since I've actually always been eyeing emulsions to try out. I didn't get one last time I was in asia and was happy to see that I could buy one here! From what I gathered, an emulsion is a very light weight moisturizer that is just to provide more moisture and protection to the skin. For any skin care routine, you of course apply all products lightest to heaviest. So this goes on after your serum but before your main face cream.

I love the scent of this product, its very fresh and clean smelling yet not overbearing. Has it minimized my pores? Not that I've noticed. Nor has it actually improved the moisture of my skin, it's very light weight and I feel like maybe I'd notice more of its performance during the spring/summer... but as of now it's not holding up/aiding in my main face cream with these Canadian winters.

I also adore the packaging of this, it comes with 130 ml and let me tell you, i've barely made a dent in the past 3 months I've had it. It's such a light cream that you actually don't need much of it to evenly spread across your whole face.

Overall, I would recommend this to people that are just looking to add a bit of extra moisture to their routine but don't have overly dry skin. Its not too expensive and you do get a good amount of product.

I would give the other products in this line a try, purely because of how much I love the scent. Hopefully the other product in this line provide a better performance for my skin.

Duchess Bake Shop - Edmonton, AB

This is quite a popular spot in Edmonton, usually fairly busy and with a line. They offer a wide selection of pastries and do have a small selection of food.
One word: Overpriced. Lets add another word, ridiculously. Ridiculously overpriced.

They have delicious looking pastries and food. But the price they are asking for is too high. Granted there are a couple of items that are reasonably priced for a couple dollars. The taste of these pastries aren't outstanding. Subpar at best.

My friend had a Brioche Pepin, macaroons and meat quiche. While I had a Vegetarian Tartine with a side salad and pumpkin cream soup. I also purchased a Paris Brest.

First off, the Vegetarian Tartine has Roasted Pears with Brie. I found there were too many pears on there, and it offered too much of a sweet tartness to this dish. The pumpkin soup was delicious but cost an extra six dollars, which in my opinion is pretty ridiculous.

The Brioche Pepin was ... eh. It didn't really taste like anything, it was a very heavy pastry.

The Paris Brest, it was alright. Has a light praline mousse filling, was very light tasting. It was just nothing special. Just an average tasteless pastry.

The macaroons, this is a funny part. My friend bought the packaged one up because usually it's cheaper then buying them individually. While we were sitting there, she calculated the prices separately, if she had bought the same amount separately it would have been cheaper.

I like the interior and the looks of the dishes. They look classic and delicious. I dislike the price and the lack of flavor that accompany the prices. I would not recommend Duchess Bake Shop and would not be back.

The Rock, Wood Fired Kitchen - Red Deer, Alberta

"My My Hey Hey"

Ive tried it numerous times since it has opened and "rocked" Red Deer. Every time I am left unimpressed and unsatisfied.

I've had numerous dishes from this place since it's opened (Only one photo, the most recent one):
"Get Back Mac", I was expecting some good ol comfort food. It was bland, not cheesy enough
"Classic Rock" Pizza, the basic pepperoni pizza. This wasn't bad, not overly greasy but not overly special. I can get the same satisfaction from Delissio.
"Flirtin With Disaster" Actually not bad, had a nice balance with the sweetness from the onions and a nice minor kick to it.
"Bourban Chicken Wrap" Just a generic wrap to me, nothing stood out in this dish verse a wrap at other restaurants
"Beer Battered Fries" Now this I believe everyone just loves,
"Chicken in a Basket" The fries were the only good thing about this. Too much batter on the chicken.
"My My Hey Hey" This was my latest meal @ the rock. It was bland, tasteless and boring. I was super disappointing since i was craving a creamy and rich pasta dish that day. I would have been more satisfied with sidekicks.

Sorry The Rock but the only thing that I would go to the rock for are it's drink specials. I feel like almost every dish I have is boring, tasteless and just doesn't deliver.

Bamboo Hut - Sylvan Lake, Alberta

I may be a little biased in my Review, but i love almost every dish at this place. And if you don't, we can't associate.

"Mango & Pineapple Cream Cheese Stack" Cream Cheese stacked between deep fried rice patties topped with coconut. This is different, i like it but it's not what I usually salivate over. Its essentially a unstructured cheesecake with asian flare, its a must try but i find that not everyone loves it.

"Deep Fried Bananas with Mango Ice Cream" If you meet someone that doesn't like this dessert... run.

"Salad Rolls"I usually never order these at asian restaurants, most of the time they are paired off with hoisin sauce topped with peanuts. I personally find salad rolls to be pretty boring. But the peanut sauce that comes with these are amazing, especially when its nice and warm... mm. The peanut sauce is the star of this dish.

"Spicy Fried Squid" I liked this so much, I tried remaking it at home.... didn't turn out the same way. Its lightly battered, perfectly crispy with a nice hint of spice to it.

"Spicy Wonton Soup" The name says it all. Nicely seasoned wontons with a spicy broth and lots of veg.

The Curries I've had almost all the curries except the Red Chicken and Pork and Pineapple Red Curry. All these curries carry a creamy coconut base balanced out with numerous spices. I love the green curries, it has the perfect kick to it to blend with the coconut flavor.

Noodle Bowls You can't go wrong with vermicelli bowls. They're light yet filling with their beautifully charred meat.

"Chicken and Shrimp Pad Thai" a classic thai dish with intense flavors. You get the balance of sweet, spice and sour. Its a tasty and savory dish that almost everyone loves.

Cashew Chicken

"Cashew Chicken Stir Fry" to me, this is a great comfort dish right behind the green curry. The bell peppers add a nice sweetness to this savory dish. This isn't one of my favorites but I love it non the less.

"Hot Thai Stir Fry" , this is one spicy ass dish. It really helped my heart pump, they were not kidding with the name. Personally, prefer my go to Green Curry dish for spice but when I want something more, I hit up Hot Thai Stir Fry.

"Coconut Pineapple Chicken" If you like pineapple on your pizza, your most likely going to fall in love with this dish. I love the sweetness the pineapple brings to such a savory dish.

"Sues Seafood Stew" "tangy coconut satay sauce" is the perfect way to describe it. It makes your tastebuds do a little dance and you may be tempted to lick the bowl. If you like seafood, this is a must try.

Hot Thai stir fry

Those are just a few quick notes on the dishes I've tried at Bamboo hut. I will one day, try everything on their menu... but it is hard. It's hard ordering a new dish when you just salivate over a favorite. Not saying you'll be disappointed but when you crave something...

I recommend anyone in the area to try Bamboo Hut or their other family owned restaurants Blue Dragon and Sophears in Red Deer. If you have a love for asian food, you will be left wanting more.

First Julep Maven "Modern Beauty" Box

This is just a quick post about the "Modern Beauty" box I got! This took a lot longer then I expected to receive, they did send me a promo code for a free nail polish to apologize for the delay because I guess they realized it got sent out late. I was not sent this box, purchased it with my own money.

Each box has $40 worth of product, it costs you $25 dollars. I always passed on these boxes since I have no interest in nail polish. But I recently saw that they do offer make up products, so i decided to try it out. The "Modern Beauty" box comes with two full sized products each month.

The first "Modern Beauty" box comes with one pencil gel eyeliner and a small neutral eyeshadow palette. I thought the palette looked larger online, but its pretty small in person. Nice neutral tones, surprisingly pigmented. The pencil gel eyeliner was really smooth, I've never used gel liners in pencil form before but so far am impressed. Ill have a more detailed review on both these products later.

On the way to check out, they of course entice you to other items for a good deal. And I am a sucker for those promos, so I picked up the "Konjac Cleansing Sponge" for $6.99 where as the reg price is $12.00. First thoughts: I've used a cleansing sponge before, only from Saje. I loved it and was hoping this would be the same deal. Except this came already wet/soaked in a cleanser? Where as the one at Saje is a dry sponge that poofs up when under water. I also picked up the "Blank Canvas Mattifying Make Up Primer" for $13.99, where reg price is $28.00. Also have more detailed reviews on these products in the upcoming future.

At the moment, I don't see this box being worth $25 dollars a month or $20 /month for a 3 month plan. I only went for one month just to see the products performance by this company. I ordered this on October 2nd and I got it October 31, they did notify me and apologize that my package would be 2-5 business days behind schedule, they also offer tracking for each package, which comes in handy.

I'll keep you updated on product performance and my thoughts!

Size comparison in my hand.. 

Light swatches of eyeshadows

 

Burts Bee's Herbal Blemish Stick vs Saje's Zap Blend

I love these herbal blemish sticks! I first discovered it from Saje and fell in love with their blend, recently I was shopping around and saw that Burts Bee's offers one for a bit cheaper. I ran out of the one from Saje so i thought might as well give Burts Bee's a try, since most of their products are a hit with me!

Saje on Left, Burts Bees on right

Burt's Bees Herbal Blemish Stick clocks in at 12.99 / cad at most retail stores. Saje's Zap blend comes in at 19.95/ cad. It has a more potent scent, much more stronger / lasts longer then Saje's Zap blend. The scent is so much more stronger, If i put it on my cheek or around my nose I really have to watch how much i put on or the ecualyptus/tea tree scent hits my eyes and makes them water. Blemish/zit diminishing power wise, i found it took longer with Burts Bees vs Saje's Zap. It does diminish blemishes and clears up zits but not that fast. maybe a week or so to get rid of a significantly large zit. Simple packaging, glass roll on with white lid where as Saje has a more sleeker apealing Packaging. Dark Brown glass.
Saje clock is at .30 oz while Burts Bees at .26 oz

Overall, I prefer Saje's Zap Blend. It clears blemishes much more faster I found then Burt's Bees. As well as the scent wasn't as potent. I would have to put it right under my eye for the tea tree/eucalyptus blend to make my eyes water. It's more expensive but in the long run you'd use less product making it be worth the price.

Burts Bee's Herbal Blemish Stick:
alcohol denat., calendula officinalis (calendula) flower oil, borago officinalis (borage) seed oil, achillea millefolium (yarrow) oil, carum petroselinum (parsley) seed oil, aqua (water, eau), salix nigra (willow) bark extract, melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) leaf oil, citrus medica limonum (lemon) peel oil, foeniculum vulgare (fennel) oil, juniperus communis (juniper) fruit oil, eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus) leaf oil, citral, geraniol, limonene, linalool
Reference: Ingredient List

Saje's Zap Blendingredients: essential oils of lavandula angustifola (lavender), melaleuca alternifolia leaf (tea tree), anthemis nobilis (roman chamomile), pogostemon cablin (patchouli), myrtus communis (myrtle), eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus), pelargonium graveolens (geranium) and thymus zygis (white thyme).
Reference

Good Ol Customer Service pt 2

At a small family run Asian restaurant, I once had these two old ladies come in... the restaurant wasn't too busy so there were many choices of seating available. It honestly took them way too long to decide where to sit, they decided on a table meant for six.. not that it mattered, since like i said, it wasn't busy but I found it a bit odd.
There was a special at the restaurant for spring rolls, one spring roll for one dollar. They offered two types, a veggie one and a meat one.  Veggie spring rolls are offered with plum sauce while meat ones are offered with a fish sauce..
They each ordered one veggie spring roll (one while ordering said egg roll instead, which I had to ask to clarify since her friend ordered the veggie spring roll and we were all discussing what was in the veggie spring roll)... first let me say, if you've been to a chinese restaurant, you would know sharing dishes is pretty normal. So we normally put any spring rolls ordered on to one single plate.
I brought their food out, few minutes later they complained about the sauce exact words saying "It's bland, watery, doesn't taste like anything" I noticed I accidentally brought out fish sauce instead of the plum sauce that goes with the veggie spring rolls. Fish sauce, bland? Bland my ass, woman. I owned up, apologized stating that it's fish sauce and i brought the wrong sauce to go with your spring rolls. I go grab the plum sauce and bring it to them, again apologizing (I thought I sounded sincere, since I was ... but who knows, maybe they thought I wasn't).

Few minutes later, one complained that their teriyaki dish lacked any teriyaki sauce.. a few people ordered the same dishes at different tables and none of them had complained of the lack of sauce. I go grab her some extra sauce from the kitchen, bring it out to them. At that point, I found them to be continuously rude and honestly thought I could not be serve them without showing some sort of attitude or pretend to even smile. So this other server jumped in at the end... While she was clearing their table and asking if they were ready for their bill (I was standing a few feet away at the counter doing something, so I did overhear word by word their conversation) one lady said "This whole meal was very gross, and the spring rolls... why did you put it on the same plate? Are you guys broke?"
She literally said the words, "are you guys broke"
Sorry lady, sorry that I put two spring rolls on the same plate, sorry that I didn't want to waste a plate, sorry that you had to deal with the nuisance of your deep fried spring roll touching another spring roll. The horror.
My friend was so caught off guard that there was a moment of silence and then the lady continued "And why didn't I get another plum sauce!? We'll never come back here again"
Finally my friend responded, "Yeah! We always put the spring rolls together on a plate... I'll go grab your bill" and just walked away.. She did give them a fake smile... how she managed to do it - I have no idea.

The thing is,  I checked on their table a couple of times, refilling their water and such. After my wrong sauce mishap, I did go back and ask how they were doing... and they both said they were doing fine!
While I asked that, you could have told me you wanted an extra dipping sauce to drown your one spring roll in...  Or when the one lady asked for more teriyaki sauce, you could have mentioned something about some extra plum sauce...
I just do not understand.... and the fact that they had the audacity to ask if the restaurant is broke because we put TWO SINGLE SPRING ROLLS on ONE PLATE is ridiculous.



Another time, I was working at a big restaurant in a hotel, fairly spacey and by that I mean that some tables are really far from the bar/kitchen. Big parties are usually seated far since that is where the bigger tables are.
I had this one table of 14, most of them were really nice... the dinner was a form of engagement party for the intermediate family. What I noticed is that the daughter that was engaged and her sisters were all super high maintenance. The daughter that was engaged always had snide comments, not about me or the restaurant but just everything in general that they were talking about. I don't mean to eaves drop, but when I'm walking around filling water or handing out things I can't help but overhear things.
Anyways, the problem I had was with one of the sisters, she had to be around 16 (Side note: she was wearing this weird pink fluffy coat that I would not mind burning) and had honestly no respect for me. I do not know if she had no respect for servers in general or if it was just me personally... Maybe I bumped into her on the street and didn't apologize or maybe I looked at her the wrong way on the street, who knows!
Throughout the night she would order me around, no "can you.. take these sugar packets that you can't reach away", no "Please.. take this half finished can of Dr.Pepper out of my sight" no "thank you". For the used sugar packets, they were spread out and hard for me to reach without pushing my body in someones face, so she just grabbed them and threw them at me. Well not at my body, but I was clearing a plate out of the way and she just threw them over to me but them being empty it landed pretty short from the plate I just grabbed... so wait I guess she did throw them at me. But anyways through the night it was just these little things, her throwing things to me for me to grab out of the way, the way she ordered a drink.
Another thing was, her boyfriend was with her at this family event and she ordered for him throughout the meal! "He will also have a dr.pepper." "He'll just get the sirloin.." I'll ask how the steak was to be done tonight, I looked directly at him and she still answered for him on how his steak would be cooked and what he wanted for sides... He was staring back at me, he gave a small awkward smile. And I knew he could talk since I heard him talk and he would say thank you when I gave him something or took something away.
At one point as well, her younger sister (Three sisters in total here) asked for another drink menu. I went and grabbed one and placed it in front of her, and then this bitch grabs it and starts looking through it...
If you wanted one, ask me for one! Her sister then had to ask me for another one...
Sooooo at the end of the night, this really set me off. There is 14 of them, and there is only one of me. And I only have two hands.
I was clearing the entree plates out of the way since most of them were finished, I did walk by her first but she still was finishing up. So i did my circle grabbing almost all the empty plates out of the way, my hands full of big dirty plates not stacked nicely, heading on over to the kitchen that was far away when she says "excuse me" in a veryyyyyyy rude loud tone. The whole table was pretty quiet at that time, and this princess says "Take this as well", pointing at her plate that she just finished.

Hello bitch, Do you not see that my hands are full? Do you not think I will come back? Do you really need that darn plate out of your way?

I sort of lost it... I have an attitude problem and my attitude came out. I put down all those other dirty plates at small empty table beside me and go over and grab her one darn plate and walk that one darn plate to the kitchen.
Later that night, I'm assuming it was her aunt, came over and apologized saying "Sorry! Thank you for taking such good care of us, I hope our drunk asses at this end weren't a lot of trouble" (They were drinking a lot of wine)

Honestly, if it wasn't for that big tip that I was pretty sure I was gonna get from their high bill, I may have lost it. 

La Casa Pergola - Red Deer, AB

Oh La Casa Pergola... the great things I've heard about you. In High school my friend and I stopped by this little place and honestly I wasn't a big fan of their lunch menu...
But I've heard from many locals that this is the place for great authentic italian food. When i mention my "Meh" previous experience, they tell me the dinner menu will be worth it.


So a couple of us stopped by to check out this hidden away restaurant in downtown red deer and my reservations about this place prior were correct.

Ordered the Calamari, personally I found it unappetizing and soggy. The sauce, I was told, base is sour cream and it was weak and tasteless... Never had tasteless sour cream. Wasn't a very special dish. I love calamari and find most restaurants make it a little too oily, it wasn't oily here... when i say soggy, i mean it was un crispy from maybe not being properly cooked or sitting there too long before it was brought out...

I had the Fettuccini Con Pollo , small portion for $17. And boy.. was it small. I could probably grab the whole portion in my small hands and cover it all.
I understand fine dining and their small portions, but this place is not exactly the real fine dining experience.
I also found this dish flavorless. The Chicken was cooked perfectly and seasoned well. But that was the only appetizing aspect of this dish.
The pasta sauce is described to be made with all these cheeses yet I honestly didn't taste anything. It just tasted like watered down white sauce with a faint faint hint of cheese.
I think those cheap side kick packages at the grocery store have more flavor then this dish.
And the price... not worth it.
(They ran out of broccoli that night and subbed mushrooms.)

Overall, my experience wasn't memorable at this joint. I love the ambiance of the place. Its quaint and sadly it would be a great restaurant if the food was more flavorable, or at least the price should not be that high for the quality of the food.
Don't see the great food that everyone else is saying so personally, I will not be returning to this restaurant.

Shiseido - Translucent Loose Powder Review

I thought I liked loose powders because its usually the better bang for the buck. But after this product, I realized my big dislike for loose powders and will not continue to purchase pressed powder.
I've heard many good things about this Loose Powder by Shieseido, I've been trying to find something comparable or similar to MUFE's HD finishing powder. You can find this usually around 40/cad at a local beauty counter comes with .63 oz of product... which is a lot! This will last you a good while.

Personally, I am not a big fan of this product. It has very sheer coverage, and was not long lasting because of that fact. You really have to pack this onto your skin to make it last most of the day, which I'm not really use to doing. And i found it wasn't really mattifying because it was so sheer. I have fairy dry skin, never really oily. But even after 12+ hour days a girl will produce oil with a full make up face, unlike MUFE's HD powder, this one would only last maybe 1-3 hours before you start seeing a shine or your make up isn't looking as fresh.

It can be a little bit messy, it being a loose powder and all. I usually just tip it upside down, give it a few shakes and then just use the power on the lid. More even pick up of product on brush that way. It being white/translucent it does not have any color effect on your skin.. that is unless you put a big glob of white powder on your face... it'll be a bit hard to blend out. I didn't notice a difference in my pores either as the product says it would keep it concealed.

Overall, not impressed with the performance of this product. I have moderately dry skin, producing oil after a lonnnng day of work and this product did not help the shine or lasting power of my make up. You can't see in the photos but there was no significant difference between the two sides of my face, with or without powder.
Would not recommend this nor repurchase.

Pointing at the side with powder
4 hrs into wear

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

right after application, left side is with powder.

Thai Express Review - Crossiron Mills, Balzac, Alberta

Hi there,

Was shopping with a friend at Crossirons and we were both craving some thai food!
I was feeling up for some Pad thai but wasn't a fan of the thin rice noodles they were using, I prefer the flat rice noodles though the photos did look appetizing.
We both ended up ordering curry, some spicy Green Chicken Curry for myself and mild Yellow Chicken curry (around $8-9 dollars/each) for my friend. She also ordered a salad roll for around $2.50/ 1 piece + generous amount of peanut sauce.

Yellow Curry with Salad Roll

Green Curry

The curries were pretty good, especially for their price. Personally I like a 2:1 ratio of rice to curry but many places put a ton of curry sauce and very little rice. Luckily Thai express puts just the right amount of rice & curry for this lady :) Good amount of meat and eggplant in mine, my friend's as well. Only thing was that for green curry, i expect it to be pretty spicy - clear my sinus' spicy! And i'm pretty sensitive to spice, a drop of sirachi sauce or a tiny bit of kimchi has my heart going! But the green curry there wasn't really that spicy, it was a "Oh I taste some spicy/thingly feeling on my tongue" which was a bit disappointing. As well as it wasn't .. green...
My friend's curry was mild, perfect for her liking - a good classic yellow curry. Another dislike is that I didn't really taste any coconut milk in the curry, every once in a while a hint of it..

Her salad roll was just a regular vegetarian salad roll, the peanut sauce was a pretty dark brown for what I usually see but it tasted fine. I always think salad rolls are expensive for what they are...

Overall for the price, its a good place to relish your craving for thai food!

www.thaiexpress.ca