- - Beauty Box 5 | "Defining Moments" | July 2014 Review - -

Hello, hello!

Another day, another Beauty Box 5 review! I am almost caught up with everything. :) I don't believe that I saw any spoilers for the July box, so everything was a surprise for me. Let's take a look...

- - Beauty Box 5 | "Summer Chic" | June 2014 Review - -

Happy Tuesday!


Sigh...so many boxes, so little time. Today I have for you a review of the June Beauty Box 5. I got to see the spoiler for this box ahead of time, which was one of two shades of Nicka K nail polish (Lavender or Ripe Apple). I think I was secretly hoping for Lavender, but I wouldn't have minded either shade. Let's take a closer look...

- - Monthly Manicures | July 2014 - -

Hi friends!

As you can see in the photo above, there was nothing too crazy about my manicures last month. In addition to trying out some new polishes, I did also get a chance to try out two base coats. Take a look at how everything worked out right after the jump...

- - Memebox | Special #23: Girls' Night Out Review - -

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Happy Sunday!

I have been hearing and reading reviews about Memebox (pronounced as "mi-mi-box" / "me-me-box") for a while now, so when I was invited to join their affiliate program I decided that perhaps it was time to buy a box for myself to see what it was all about.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Memebox is an online Korean beauty retailer that sells several types of beauty boxes for a variety of prices. These boxes include: the original Memeboxes (global editions), themed boxes, Luckyboxes, Superboxes, and Collaboration boxes. I have yet to purchase a Global Edition Memebox, but those are kind of like a subscription that you have to purchase on an individual or pre-paid basis. They sell out pretty quickly and you usually have to purchase them months in advance (the latest Global Edition Memebox is #17 and it ships in November!).

In any case, I did purchase a couple of themed Memeboxes early on in the month. They were the Special #23: Girls' Night Out box and the Special #26: Hand & Nail Care box. I'm still waiting on the latter, but I do have the former to review for you today! There are also discount codes at the end of this post, so check those out if you get a chance.

- - Memories of Muskoka - -

Hi everyone!

This past weekend I went to a cottage in Muskoka for three days and two nights with Andrew and two of our good friends. Muskoka is beautiful cottage country roughly 3 hours north of Toronto. Recently I found out that the National Geographic Traveler magazine has previously given this regional municipality distinctions for being one of the best places to visit in Canada and, in fact, even the world.

The weather wasn't the greatest for the day that we were there the longest (Saturday), but we made the best of it with some ATV rides, a short hike, Taboo and Cards Against Humanity. There was also some swimming for two of us (not for the other two though - water was too cold), fishing, and a lot of chipmunk feeding and bird watching for me. All in all just a nice break from the chaos of everyday life.

You can check out some of the highlights after the jump...

- - Subscription Box News | Inner Circle & Beauty Box 5 - -

Hey everyone,

Some sad news for two subscription boxes - one is being stopped altogether by a company and the other one is implementing a shipping cost for Canadians. Read more after the jump...

- - Photography Roundup | June + July - -

Happy Monday!

You know what I haven't put up in a while? A photography post! I haven't really participated in any photo challenges lately and my last post for one was in May, but I have been collecting a number of random photos for the past few months. You can check those out after the jump. Enjoy!

- - Julep | An Extensive Guide to the Maven Subscription - -

Hi everyone,

Today's post is going to be fairly lengthy, but if you're genuinely interested in learning a lot about Julep's Maven subscription I think this post will be worth your while.

I'm writing about Julep today mainly because I keep seeing the wrong information about the Maven subscription all over the place. So hopefully this basic guide will include everything you need to know about what the subscription entails - both the good and the not so good.

Within the past six months, Julep has changed two major aspects of its Maven subscription: (1) the skipping option, and (2) the subscription plan itself. I'll discuss both of these in some detail throughout this post.

- - Film Review Friday | Week 4 - -

This week I'm a little bit late with my film reviews, so that's why this post is being published on a Saturday as opposed to a Friday. Moving on - today I have two great films to talk about (one of which is still out in theatres): Bridesmaids and Lucy.

Please note that although I try my best to not give anything away, there may be spoilers in this post. There may actually be more spoilers in this post than typical, especially for Lucy - so if you haven't watched that film, don't read anything below!

- - Julep | The Poolside Collection | July 2014 Review - -

Hi everyone,

It's been way too long since my last Julep review! As always, I'm working on fixing that. Just before the July Maven collection was revealed I realized that there are usually spoilers a day or so before the Maven window opens, so for anyone who can't wait to check out the new colours each month definitely see if you can find something on Google in the days leading up to the Maven reveal.

For July's Poolside Collection there were a lot of really nice basic crèmes. I loved the colours and was pretty tempted to get the whole collection, but I decided to hold out and save my Jules. The two colours that were my favourite this month were Lissa and Kelsey, but unfortunately they were in different boxes. Since I wasn't willing to part with my Jules just yet, I gave up my original subscription of $19.99/mo and signed up for My Maven ($24.99/mo) just so that I could customize my box and pair those two colours together. Then, just before the August reveal I asked customer service to switch me over to the 3-month prepaid subscription so I could go back to paying $19.99/mo.

Finally, after waiting for what seemed like forever to get my box, it arrived at my doorstep! Let's take a closer look at what I got right after the jump...