CLEAN Ultimate Beach Day

Hands up if you love the smell of summer and want to smell like it all year round! *raises hands* This girl right here is obsessed with beachy scents (mark. Saint Barts Soleil is one of my absolute favourites) so I was obviously very excited to get my hands on CLEAN Ultimate Beach Day at a media event a few months ago.

I've posted about CLEAN before (here and here) and no doubt the company continues to impress with its simple and refined fragrances that can be layered to create a unique-to-you scent. This latest offering comes housed in CLEAN's standard rectangular bottle but features a subtle glittery ombre glass.

From Sephora.com (where it retails for $74 CAD):
"Inspired by a carefree day at the beach, this refreshing fragrance offers a citrus floral escape. The scent opens with summery notes of mandarin orange, Italian bergamot, lemon, and Kaffir lime. The heart mellows into a bouquet of white rose, tuberose, soft neroli, jasmine, African orange blossom, and lavender. Crisp seaside notes add subtle bite to balance the softness of the flowers. The dry down embraces with notes of amber, musk, and sun-soaked sand."

It's hard to describe this perfume but to me it smells like the perfect blend of sunscreen, sand, and salt water... you know, basically like the ultimate beach day (no kidding, haha). It's a little powdery but not too much and I already know I'm going to be wearing this a ton as temperatures rise and the sun continues to shine.

Wedding Guest-ing

Wedding season officially kicked off for me this past weekend (I have 4 weddings to attend this summer) which finally meant an occasion to wear my new Diane Von Furstenberg Zarita Dress. I love my wrap dress and this is yet another classic DVF design. It comes in many different colours (although I'm partial to black, it making up a large portion of my wardrobe) and is a very flattering fit on. Definitely a great party dress!

Dress: Diane Von Furstenberg (on sale) / Shoes: Prada / Bag: Chanel
Bracelet: Pandora / Sunglasses: Quay Australia (here)

PRK Laser Eye Surgery Recovery (6 Month Update)

I promised an update to my PRK laser eye surgery experience (check out my post-surgery blog here) and I wanted to make sure I actually wrote one since I remember being frustrated at the lack of other peoples' updates when I was feverishly researching any and all things PRK last year. Honestly, I think the reason they don't update is because it becomes so easy to forget life pre-surgery.

In my case, it has now been 6 months since I had PRK. I wake up and I can see everything perfectly, whereas before I couldn't even read the time on my bedside clock which was less than a foot away from my head. The feeling of helpless blurriness is totally gone and being free from contacts/glasses has been incredible, especially now that it's summer. I was never much of a sunglasses girl even when I wore contacts but since I do need to protect my eyes, I've become quite religious about wearing them. As you can imagine, my sunglasses collection has basically tripled in size!

I'm especially loving my Quay Australia sunnies (here and here)

When I left off in my 1 month update, my eyes were not settled yet. Things were still blurry, it was hard to use the computer, and my eyes felt very dry. The blurriness continued for a few more months. I followed my eye drop regimen according to the 9 week tapering schedule set by Pacific Laser Eye Centre. I also continued taking Vitamin C and Omega 3 capsules, along with Restatis (a prescription eye drop for dry eyes) and preservative-free eye drops when my eyes felt dry.

I would say somewhere around 4 months post-surgery is when my blurriness/dryness issues seemed to level out. While I still use preservative-free eye drops at work, I find I don't really need them at other times when I'm not staring at a computer all day. I was already used to liberal eye drop use thanks to my dry eye syndrome, so continued use of eye drops hasn't been a bother for me. I just had my 6 month checkup with my eye doctor and she tells me everything has healed perfectly. In fact, it apparently looks like I never even had surgery! I am seeing 20/20 in both eyes with very slight astigmatism (+0.25) which I'm told is done intentionally to account for regression over time.

If you are in the Vancouver area (or planning on travelling to the area) and thinking about laser eye surgery, I cannot recommend Dr. David Lin at Pacific Laser Eye Centre enough. I mentioned my reasons for choosing him in my previous post and I stand by those reasons. Even though I had to wait many years to finally be eligible for PRK due to my numerous eye problems, I'm so grateful it eventually worked out and that it was such a huge success!

Lipault Paris Launches in Vancouver at the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet

As you guys know, I travel a lot for work. This means a lot of time spent at airports, on planes, and, of course, thumbing through the in-flight magazine when taking off and landing since you're not allowed to listen to your headphones or be on your laptop (side note: I wish domestic flights had a duty-free catalogue since I love looking through the makeup offerings). Anyway, all that to say, on a recent trip, I noticed an ad for Lipault Paris, a bag and luggage brand I'd never heard of before.

Then coincidentally, a few days after I returned home, I received an e-mail about that very same brand! Turns out they are opening their first-ever stand-alone boutique right here in Vancouver at the end of June.

Founded in Paris in 2005, the French line specializes in colourful and lightweight designs that are perfect for frequent travelers or those on-the-go. It reminds me a bit of Longchamp (which you know I love), but the focus seems more on travel-friendly accessories that you can mix and match or colour coordinate. I'm especially in love with their Miss Plume line right now... seriously, how gorgeous is the rose gold? Want.

It seems totally fitting that Lipault Paris is launching at the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet since it's right by the airport and, of course, joins a whole host of other designer brands currently at the mall.  I can't wait to check out their new store and all my fellow Vancouverites, you should too!

FOTD: Stila Matte 'N Metal Eye Shadow Palette

I love a good summer collection and Stila has some great new offerings I think people will really be into, including the Matte 'N Metal Eye Shadow Palette, Heaven's Hue Highlighter, and Color Balm Lipstick.

First up, the palette! I'm never one to say "no" to a good palette and I was pretty excited about this one. It comes housed in Stila's signature gold plastic packaging with a full-size mirror on the inside. The idea behind the shades is that you can mix and match however you want... maybe you want an all matte look, maybe you want an all metallic look, or maybe you want both!

If you're stuck, the shades are also arranged in coordinated order: three columns (top to bottom instead of by row) of four shadows for three different looks. The first look is a cool toned pewter, the second is a pink rose gold, and the third is a golden bronze. My swatches below are based on the three columns going from left to right.

The shades in the Matte 'N Metal Palette are right up my alley -- a mix of neutral mattes and some "metals" for a pop. However, as you can see from the swatches, not all the shadows apply that well. Some of the mattes are quite chalky, especially the lighter ones like Vintage, Velvet, and Feathered. The metallics are also patchy in the lighter shades, although they're a bit more forgiving since they can be easily blended.

Despite the disappointing swatches, I actually didn't have that much trouble once mixing the shades together for a makeup look though.

On my eyes, I'm wearing the four eye shadows from the middle column of the Matte 'N Metal Palette (with Sizzle smudged on as the bottom liner) which is the rose gold theme. I did my typical cat eye with my Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper and topped it off with some Ardell Faux Mink false lashes (which are, by the way, super comfortable and lightweight).

On my face, I kept things glowy with the new Stila Heaven's Hue Highlighter in Bronze. The texture is really similar to Stila's Perfectly Poreless Putty Perfector. It's bouncy, lightweight, and blends in really easily. It's definitely going to be a staple in my makeup arsenal this summer.

On my lips, I'm wearing Stila Color Balm Lipstick in Misty which is a pale barely there pink. Honestly, it's more a lip balm than a lipstick in this shade but I like it since it keeps my lips moisturized and is made with yummy peppermint oils.