SUMMER DATE IDEAS

Hello lovelies,

For all of my people in the Western hemisphere, I hope summer is treating you well and that you’re getting plenty of well-SPF’ed sunshine! I know that summer is one of the most romantic seasons (whether you’re in a long-term relationship or playing the singles game), so I came up with a list of summer date ideas that’ll be worth checking out this season.

Hiking

• Okay, so I’m a little biased, and I live only 3 minutes away from Jasper and the Great Canadian Rockies! Sothroughout the summer, you can frequently find me hiking up a mountain. However, if you don’t have easy access to the mountains, you can still hike local trails!

Beach days

• Okay, so there might not be too many things more relaxing than a beach date with your beau. Rent a canoe, paddle board or kayaks to make the day a little more adventurous! Or even catch the sunset on the water.

Local/county fair

• Go walk the county fair, appreciate the street performers, snack on some cotton candy, win a teddy bear and MOST DEFINITELY take a romantic trip for two around the ferris wheel.
• Speaking of ferris wheel – I NEED TO GO TO BRIGHTON.

Volunteer

• I know that majority of non-profit organizations are looking for volunteers, and not to mention – ANIMAL SHELTERS! I volunteer at one of the local shelters in Edmonton, Alberta and I love it. Spend your date day making the world a better place!

• 

Berry Picking

• I know in Canada, we have lots of farmers that let people come through with buckets and pick berries, apples, vegetables, etc. Pinpoint a warm evening to do this with your handsome beau.

Wine tasting

• This is for my 18+ (or 21+ in the USA) peeps, but a wine tasting date is a great idea! Book a wine tour, and sip on some alcohol in the summer sun
• Not to mention, is there any very more beautiful than a vineyard?

Star gazing

• All I’m saying, is that your boyfriend has a pickup truck, then lay down a blanket and drive out to a remote location. Pop some bubbly and just lay there and look at the BEAUTIFUL NIGHT SKY!

Driving range

• Go hit some balls and show that you’re a good sport! Besides, he can wrap his arms around you.

Let me know if you have any additional date ideas for the summer? I’ll be using them for me and mine!

Happy sunshine and summertime,

Shop here: www.muttsnmotivation.com 

Visit me here: www.instagram.com/celinadawdy

Must-Watch Holiday Films

How I haven’t made this blog post in the history of my beloved blog is beyond me. I am a Christmas fanatic. Really. All November and December, I eat, breath and sleep Christmas.  So here, I present to you a Holiday watch list by a (self-proclaimed) professional.

Home Alone

• No doubt to get a couple of laughs from the fam when you’re watching a much-cuter version of Macaulay Culkin.

Santa Clause

• Tim Allen is like a Christmas movie king. He even stars in Christmas with the cranks as (once again), a grumpy old guy that finally sees Christmas spirit.

Elf

• Oh Will Farrel…THANK YOU.
• The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.

The Grinch

• Did you know Taylor Momsen played Cindy Lou? Because I found that out like two years ago and it threw me for a loop. Still a classic though.

Step Mom

• Okay, this is just one of my all-time favourite movies ever. Susan Sarandon and Julia  Roberts are: A) beautiful and B) guaranteed to make me ugly-cry. Every. Single. Time.
• DO NOT FRET – this movie is not black and white.

Family Stone

• Award winning cast who includes Diane Keaton (yes), Sarah Jessica Parker (double yes) and Luke Wilson (drool). Oh, and also will MOST DEFINITELY make you ugly cry.

The Holiday

• You don’t have to ask me twice about that Christmas fettuccini, Kate. A wonderful and heart-warning drama about love, friendship and the holiday’s.

What Christmas movie are you settling in with for a long winters nap?

2016 Favourites

Hi lovelies,

Can I be the first to say it? 2016 was a bitch. Regardless of that, there are some standout products that I have been loving throughout the year. Some have been released in 2016, whereas others I have just discovered this year – regardless, I would love to share!

Best Foundation

via sephora.com

Diorskin Forever Perfect Makeup Foundation Broad Spectrum 35 – pricey foundation, but leaves a beautiful natural, medium-coverage finish that lasts all day (added bonus, theres already SPF in it, which makes your morning routine that much easier)

Best Bronzer

via sephora.com

via physiciansformula.com

Physician’s Formula Butter Bronzer Murumuru in Light – since I’ve purchased this, I cannot put it down. It’s the perfect satin matte bronzer, that leaves a subtle, natural glow (it also smells like pina colada, which brings me back to summer paradise every time I open it)

Honorable Mention: Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea – whereas the Physician’s Formula was matte, this bronzer definitely does have a luminous finish, therefore, I reserve it for summer. When I’m sunkissed, this bronzer adds an extra kick to my complexion.

Best Blusher

via sephora.com

Clinique Cheek Pop in Nude Pop – The perfect natural flush of colour for my skin tone – especially in the summer.

Best Highlight

via anastasiabeverlyhills.com

Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in That Glow – absolutely gorgeous! I love the variety too. I especially love mixing bubbly and sunburst.

Best Fragrance

via sephora.com

via sephora.com

Winter perfume – Thierry Mugler Angel – this fragrance is definitely not for everyone. I love it though because it is so warm and cozy. Once it settles on the skin, it’s a truly exceptional scent, perfect for the colder months.

Summer perfume – Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb – I’m clearly behind on the bandwagon here but THIS SCENT IS OUTSTANDING. Sweet, floral, sexy.

Best Moisturizer

via amazon.com

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel – I have combination skin. Can be incredibly dry, yet gets oily throughout the day and I suffer from semi-frequent breakouts. This moisturizer is perfect. Hydrates my skin enough that I don’t suffer from dry patches, yet not too much that I will become extra-oily. It doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin or clog pores. I have tried many high-end moisturizers (First Aid Beauty, Origins, Murad, etc), yet nothing holds a candle to this. This is probably my standout product of the year – and it smells beautiful!

END OF SUMMER | FAVOURITES

Hi sweets!

Summer in Canada is coming to an end. Our hot, sunny days have been replaced with reddened leaves and rain. It’s been a nice change of pace, and I’m excited to get my scarves out for the season change.

Along with that, I have a few favourites to wrap up the summer:

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Fragrance Favourite

Dior Blooming Bouquet – Unfortunately, with summer coming to an end, this scent will likely be locked away until Spring. It is so light, and airy – such an easy, beautiful, girly scent. In the words of Charles Gross, it smells a lot like “raspberries that have been left out in the heat”.

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Beauty Favourites

It Cosmetics CC+ Illumination – When I first received this, I was on the fence about it. Usually I will mix it with a matte foundation to tone down the dewey-ness in it, but it leaves a lovely finish to my skin.

Too Faced Sweet Tea Bronzer – Another product best suited for summer, it gives such a beautiful, sunbeam glow.

MAC Melba – I’ve mentioned this in a favourites before. I just keep going back to it. It’s a perfect blush for any makeup look.

Sephora Radiant Luminizing Drops in Morning Light – These are gold. They create such a natural glow at the high points of my face.

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Random Favourites

Bath and Body Works Leaves Candle – I treated myself with my annual fall candle shop at Bath and Body Works. In previous years, I have never picked Leaves up. However, after hearing Zoella rave about it, I did. I have loved the scent!

Hunter Rain Boots – The mass amounts of rain we have gotten lately, has given me the excuse to pull my Hunters out again.

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Music Favourites

Way Down We Go – Kaleo

Rise Up – Andra Day

Carry Me – Kygo ft. Julia Michaels

Closer – The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey

Corner Booth – Luke Bryan

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Alright, I hope you all had a lovely month. What are your recent favourites? What are you doing to prep for the changing seasons?

Thanks for reading, xx

RIDE OR DIE | TAG (Jaclyn Hill)

Hi babes!

The lovely Jaclyn Hill has created another Youtube trend, called the Ride or Die tag. Below are my #1 products for every make up product category.

Primer

• Becca Backlight Priming Filter – for illuminosity and glow
• Benefit Porefessional – to smooth and blur

Foundation

• Maybelline Matte and Poreless

Concealer

• Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer

Face Powder

• Maybelline Better Skin Face Powder

Under Eye Setting Power

• Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Setting Powder

Blush

• Mac Melba

Bronzer

• Benefit Hoola

Highlight

• Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in That Glow

Mascara

• Benefit They’re Real

Lipstick

• Rimmel London Airy Fairy

Liquid Lip

• Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Lolita

Eyeshadow Palette

• Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

Setting Spray

• MAC Fix Plus

Perfume

• Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black – such a sexy scent
• Dior Hypnotic Poison – always my go-to on a date night, a little romantic mixed with a little sexy

Honestly, if anything, this tag really showed me what I needed to purchase during the Sephora VIB Sale!

What are your Ride or Die products?

Thanks for reading xx,

(Disclaimer: featured image of Jaclyn Hill taken from Jaclyn Hill’s Instagram page)

MARCH | FAVOURITES

Happy April, you beautiful souls!

 

I wanted to do a roundup of a few of my favourite beauty products for the month of March, as well as a few lifestyle favourites…and a new addition to the family. I also included one of my new favourite perfumes. So…let’s get to the favourites!

• Benefit Hoola bronzer 

Finally we are seeing a little bit of sun here in Canada! So I’ve really been loving bronzed skin lately…and this product does just the trick! Not too ashy or warm, just a perfect neutral shade, perfect for bronzing or contour.

• Mac Fix +

Such a boring item for me to mention, but I’ve been loving it lately! With Spring finally arrived, I love a glowy complexion, and Mac Fix+ takes any trace of a powdery finish off of my skin.

• Rimmel London Lipstick in Airy Fairy 070

This is my perfect pink-nude. I’ve heard BeautyCrush (SamanthaMaria) talk about this shade before, and it truly is perfect. The formula is creamy and comfortable.

• The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer

I got a sample from my Ipsy bag. It’s beautiful. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m finding my Becca highlighters a little too much, so this has been a great replacement. I’m waiting to buy the full size.

• Lush Whip Stick

These little lip balm tins from Lush are INCREDIBLE. I ran out of my last one, and had to go pick up a replacement immediately. My EOS, Burts Bees and Soft Lips can’t compare now. (Not to mention, cruelty free and natural is such a good marketing strategy). This product actually soothes my lips, and doesn’t force me to reapply every 20 minutes.

• ColourPop highlighter in Wisp 

This is a beautiful shade. I’m especially looking forward to wearing it in the summer, as it’s a little dark (but it still looks nice on my fair skin). It’s described as a golden champagne colour on the ColourPop website.

• Maison Martin Margiela REPLICA Beach Walk 

I picked this up in March, and wrote a blogpost a couple days after that (blog post here). I have just fallen more in love with it – it is a perfect summer scent.

Lifestyle Favourites

• Topknots – the little twist kind because my hair is finally long enough, and it’s scruffy-chic.
• Boyfriend Jeans – once again, a little scruffy-chic…and oh-so-comfortable.My favourite are from Express.
• Our new family member – WYNN!!! She’s a sweet little ten week old puppy. She’s been a handful, but worth every minute. I’ll be posting an introduction post later this week for you guys.
• Calligraphy – it’s my new hobby. I’ve been practicing every night.
• SELF LOVE – my recent struggle with depression has given me a whole new appreciate for self love. I’ll follow this up with a post as well.

So please, stay tuned!

Let me know what your favourites for March were…and if you have any Spring/Summer fragrances that you suggest!

Thanks for reading xx,

 

FEBRUARY | FAVOURITES

February has been an interesting month with the temperamental weather and my intense Spring fever! Some of my makeup choices have been more summer-appropriate, since I’m lusting for warm beach days. So lets get into my favourites!

• Doll 10 Products: I first received these products in a beauty box and hastily disapproved of them because apparently I didn’t like cream products. I have them a try and I LOVE them! The cream blush is so natural, dewey and just makes the skin look beautiful. The highlighter gives an incredible natural glow. When used together, it just means the best skin day!
  • Doll 10 HydraGel Cream Blush in Flirt – $16
  • Doll 10 H2Glo Highlighter in Champagne – $30

• Mac Melba Blush: I neglect this blush in winter. However, come spring and summer, it’s a must have! It gives the cheeks a nice peachy, pink glow. Bonus: Ingrid Nilsen loves it too…so it must be good!
  • Mac Powder Blush in Melba – $26

• Boscia Exfoliating Peel Gel: I honestly notice a huge difference after using this peel. It’s extremely gentle, smells great and my skin feels so soft, and my dry patches disappeared.
  • Boscia Exfoliating Peel Gel – $42

• Makeup Forever Step 1 Primer: These primers are all incredible. I love the Becca Backlight Primer on my cheeks and perimeter of my face, and I put the smoothing primer on my T-Zone. It’s similar to Porefessional, but I prefer the MUFE!
  • MUFE Step 1 Primer in Smoothing – $43

• LUSH Dream Cream: just all around a gorgeous cream. It has more of a gel-type feeling, and soaks into the skin right away.
  • LUSH Dream Cream Body Cream – $27.95

• Batiste Dry Shampoo: I love all of Batiste dry shampoos! They are inexpensive and soak up all the oil quickly. This new scent is incredible though! It smells more like a light perfume instead of a dry shampoo.
  • Batiste Ella Henderson Sweet and Seduction – bought from Shoppers $8.99

• Essie Grow Stronger Base Coat: this product leaves a very transparent, pink colour to the nails, so even when I don’t want to paint them, they still look put together! I had gel nails for years, and now have embraced my natural nails and this product has been a life saver for my recovering nails.
  • Essie Grow Stronger – $9.99

• Neutrogena HydroBoost Water Gel Moisturizer: the picture shown is the Extra Dry version that I accidentally bought, but I prefer the regular formula. This moisturizer is incredible! I can’t believe more people don’t talk about it. It’s light, smells great, and hydrates (it has hyaluronic acid!)
  • Neutrogena HydroBoost Water Gel – $18.99

 

What have you been loving this month?! I’m always on the search for new products. Happy March!! Spring is on it’s way!

Thanks for reading xx,

FIVE | FRAGRANCES

I am a fragrance horder, to say the least.

I have a large collection of perfumes and on a handful of occasions, Kevin has found me in our closet smelling my favourite ones. There’s just something so intriguing about a good scent – it can make you feel relaxed, calm, confident, sexy or like the girl next door.

I thought I would put together a compilation of my five favourite perfumes.

1. My favourite perfume right now has to be Black Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. It’s the newest fragrance of my collection, but it’s quickly shot it’s way to the top. You’ll notice the dark notes of coffee, it gives the scent a sexy scent perfect for night time. However, with the orange intertwined into the fragrance, it adds depth and a hint of sweetness.
2. In second place comes Nirvana Black by Elizabeth and James. I think this might as well be my signature scent. It’s the most unique from all the scents I own. It smells mildly masculine, which makes me feel powerful and strong. However, the vanilla notes definitely add the feminine edge to it. This fragrance is probably best suited for the cooler months, however, I’ll likely wear it whenever I need an edge of confidence.
3. Viva La Juicy Gold Couture by Juicy Couture. This scent is sweet like berries. There’s such a freshness and liveliness to this perfume, which is tangled with amber and caramel. In my opinion, it’s best suited for spring and summer (and whenever you want to feel like the girl next door.)
4. Bonbon by Viktor and Rolf – Viktor and Rolf, though expensive, create a perfume like no other. Their Flowerbomb creation is one of the best sellers (unfortunately I’m not a huge floral woman.) Bonbon is a sexier take on the gourmand scents. It’s an extremely complex perfume with notes of tangerine essence, peach essence and caramel. Some may find it sickly sweet, but I do suggest it’s a perfume worth smelling when you pass it.
5. Alien by Thierry Mugler – I find this perfume one of the heaviest I own. I prefer the eau de toilette over the eau de perfume, just to lighten it up a little bit. It’s flirty and mysterious and their is so much depth to this fragrance.
6. My bonus perfume Hypnotic Poison by Dior – I feel like everybody has owned this perfume at some point. You know those evenings when you want to feel intriguing and passionate? This perfume does that for me. Hot date? Hypnotic Poison is the answer. I feel like it’s something that will keep people remembering you.

I would love to hear everybody’s favourites, as I’m always looking for more to add to my collection.

My number one must-have is ‘REPLICA’ Beach Walk by Maison Martin Margiela. It’s been a huge hit on YouTube and Bloggers such as Inthefrow and HelloOctober.