- - Lomography | Simple Use Reloadable Film Camera Review (Lomochrome Purple Edition) - -

Today I'm back with another Lomography-related post!

This post will be a two-in-one: a review of Lomography's Simple Use Camera and a brief review of the Lomochrome Purple film stock.

If you've been following me on Instagram, you'll know that a couple of months ago I acquired the Minolta SR-T 101, an analogue camera that shoots 35mm film. I have since tried different kinds of film stock (rolls of film) and am always keeping an eye out for more!

Even before getting the Minolta, I knew that one film stock I really wanted to try was the Lomochrome Purple. Lomochrome Purple is Lomography's homage to Kodak Aerochrome and EIR, two iconic infrared films. Like its predecessors, Lomochrome Purple distorts the colours of reality but it does this by painting your photographs in purple hues (see photos below).

- - Lomography | Lomo'Instant (Song's Palette) Review - -

2020 was a rough and isolating year for many of us. Ironically, it was also the year when I was able to make a number of meaningful new connections with people. What I started doing in 2020 that I had never done before was participating in polaroid exchanges with individuals all over the world who were passionate about instant photography.

I was able to identify early on that my favourite photographs were the ones that had a vignette effect (ie. a darkened perimeter). These photographs stood out to me because they had a different feel/mood than the photos I had been shooting with my Instax Mini 9.

For example, take a look at these photos:

- - Remember Saffron Rouge? - -

I was going through my emails a couple of days ago when I came across a name I thought I'd never see again...Saffron Rouge.

Do you guys remember Saffron Rouge? At one point, this was the largest online retailer of natural and organic skincare products and cosmetics. It operated from 2002 until the company ultimately dropped off the map in 2015. The closure was unexpected - there was no goodbye email to their customers. The company simply shut down its website leaving people, who had been ordering with them for years, scrambling to figure out what was going on.

Fast forward to 2021 and it looks like Saffron Rouge's founder, Kirstin Wood, has started another business venture - MPENZY. Much in the spirit of Saffron Rouge, MPENZY (pronounced as "mmm-pen-zee")  is an ingredient-conscious brand that offers organic body products. MPENZY describes itself as a brand that "truly focuses on transparency," so I am hopeful that it has learned from the mistakes of Saffron Rouge. 

In the time that Saffron Rouge has been gone, I've actually found products that work well for me so I doubt I'll be trying anything from MPENZY. Having said that, MPENZY seems like a promising company. The packaging and product descriptions look good. The prices aren't too bad (some of the products are 50% off currently). I do wish the company a successful future.

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What are your thoughts about MPENZY?

Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you for reading! 💙

- - Fujifilm | Instax Square SQ6 Unboxing : Taylor Swift Edition - -

Happy weekend!

This will be a bit of a long read but I hope you enjoy it. 😊

The first time I heard "Look What You Made Me Do" I thought it was an interesting song. At that point (2017) it had been a while since Taylor Swift released music (or had been seen in the public eye) and her new sound was very different from what I had previously heard from her on the radio. But I loved it.

As I started eventually listening to the Reputation tracks on YouTube (all of which I really liked), I also noticed a series of "The Making Of..." videos. These were intimate videos (all shot with TS's phone from the looks of it) which showed the writing and recording process that Taylor Swift had gone through in making her new album.

To me these videos were a huge game-changer because: A) I had never before seen a singer take their fans into their world that much, and B) it was really cool to see parts of the songwriting process. I started looking at other interviews and videos where Taylor Swift talked about the songwriting process and this made me really respect her as a singer, writer, and as a storyteller.

Read more after the jump:

- - Nature Collection | New Jeju Line Review - -

Hi everyone! How was the beginning of your week?

This past Saturday, I received an email from Nature Collection (aka The Face Shop) about their new Jeju products. Even though they didn't advertise it at the time, these products have actually been in Nature Collection stores since (I believe) early October.

It wasn't all in the email but from what I've seen in stores late last year, the new Jeju line includes: an aloe cleanser, a 3-step nose mask, a foam scrub (I believe I've seen the regular cleansing foam as well), a clay mask, and nose strips. I've got a few of these products for you today!

More after the jump: 

- - Hasbro | Bob Ross Monopoly Review - -

Happy Friday!

Today I'm back with another interesting version of Monopoly! The edition I'm reviewing today features artwork from one of the most iconic American painters and television personalities - Bob Ross.

Unlike Monopoly for Millennials, the Bob Ross Monopoly was a lot tougher to track down. This edition came out last year in August in the US and it took a few weeks to appear in Canada. When it finally did, the online stores where it was available charged quite a bit for it (e.g. $70+ on Amazon), and the online stores where the prices were reasonable (e.g. $39 at Game Shack) were sold out of it. I never did end up finding this Monopoly edition in any of the brick and mortar game stores I checked.

Ultimately, I ended up waiting it out a bit and purchasing this edition on Amazon.

Read on after the jump:

- - The Face Shop | Dr. Belmeur Lip Balm Duo Set Review - -

 

Happy Monday!

If you know me in person or if you've been reading this blog for a while, you might know that one of my favourite brands is The Face Shop. The Face Shop is owned by LG, so over the past few years you may have noticed that TFS started carrying a variety of sister brands in their stores (e.g. Fruits & Passion, Belif, VDL, and even Avon recently) in addition to The Face Shop products.

To have a name that better encompasses all these brands, The Face Shop (in the past two years or so) started changing the name of its stores over to Nature Collection. The reason I mention all of this is to try to clear up some confusion. If you ever see Nature Collection anywhere, know that it means The Face Shop (and vice versa). Hopefully this doesn't make you more confused, but please ask questions if it does! 😁

Read more after the jump:

- - Fujifilm | Instax Mini Film Review : Rainbow - -

Happy Friday!

Today I'm continuing the Instax Mini Film series with my favourite Instax film - Rainbow!

The Rainbow film includes 10 sheets with a vibrant, gradient border. The gradation of the colours (as you see below) is circular / continuous and (at least in my experience) each film pack can start at any point in the pattern.

More after the jump!

- - ColourPop | Sailor Moon Pretty Guardian Shadow Palette Review - -

Hello again!

One of the things that made 2020 a little brighter for many anime fans (myself included) was the Sailor Moon x ColourPop collaboration that was released in February. The collection features 9 pieces: 2 glitter gels, 2 blushes, 4 liquid lipsticks (2 glossy & 2 matte), and an eyeshadow palette.

This has been ColourPop's most popular collection to date and it's easy to see why - many people grew up watching Sailor Moon. When I was younger, Sailor Moon was the inspiration behind many short stories and a small (totally unofficial) book I wrote. Nostalgia, take my money!

The Sailor Moon collection sold out (so quickly) a few times before I was able to purchase anything. Luckily, I was finally able to get my hands on the Pretty Guardian Shadow Palette and that is what I wanted to talk a little bit about today.

Read more after the jump!

- - Fujifilm | Instax Mini Film Review : Airmail - -

Happy Monday and hello again!

A number of changes (and lots of ups and downs) have occurred at my end since my last post, so that's why I haven't been too active on this blog. Fortunately, I am working towards getting back into a routine. Given my offline work schedule, I don't think I'll be able to continue publishing posts three times a week, but hopefully I can work out a regular schedule once there is a little more certainty at my end. Thank you for your understanding and continuing support!

Today, I wanted to put up a few photos taken with the Airmail Instax Mini Film.

- - Fujifilm | Instax Mini Film Review : Stained Glass - -

Happy Tuesday!

Today I'm back with a very brief post about the Stained Glass Instax mini film. The name for this film is very interesting. When I think of stained glass, I think of intricately designed windows...not coloured squares equally spaced out. It is what it is though. 😅

- - Fujifilm | Instax Mini Film Review : Macaron - -

Ah, the Macaron mini film. 😍

As soon as I started purchasing coloured/patterned mini film, I knew that I wanted to try the Macaron version. The one thing that really held me back was the price. Whereas most Instax mini films will fall in the $13-$18 CAD range (when they're reasonably priced), for some reason the Macaron film is typically at least $22.

I ultimately purchased two packs of this film from AliExpress, so the price ended up being about $13 per box (after taxes). If you can wait about a month for your purchase then sometimes AliExpress is really the way to go!

- - Fujifilm | Instax Mini Film Review : Sky Blue - -

Happy Friday!

Today (and for the next few posts) I'll be shifting focus back to a few Instax mini film reviews. For this post, I wanted to take a look at the Sky Blue Instax mini film. This film holds a special place in my heart because after getting used to operating my Instax Mini 9 camera, this was the first non-white film that I tried.

- - Lush | "Outback Mate" Soap Review - -

A couple of weeks ago, I was a little shy of the $40 free shipping threshold on Lush's website. Without wanting to spend too much to get there, I decided to pick up a soap called Outback Mate for $6.95 CAD. I'm a big fan of soaps but I've never actually tried any of the ones from Lush, so this was exciting!

- - Monthly Empties | May 2020 - -

 
Happy Sunday! 😊

With the fresh start of a new month just around the corner, this seems like a great time to try something new! For the month of June I plan to publish posts on Sundays as well - I have just enough ideas to carry me through to the end of the month. 

It's an ambitious plan and life may get in the way, but we'll see how it goes!

A Monthly Empties post seems like an appropriate way to close off the current month. This series of posts is an opportunity for me to briefly review the products that I used up during a given month. In May, these are the products that I finished using:

- - Inkbox | "Yu Yi" Tattoo Review - -

Just between you and me (and my mom who's probably reading this - hi mom!), I have always wanted a tattoo. I find tattoos fascinating and I admire people who are brave enough to get them. For me, I think the reason why I haven't gotten a tattoo is because there is nothing that has so much significance for me right now that I would permanently want it on my body. That and my parents would probably disown me.

Luckily, there is a less scary, semi-permanent way to "try out" a tattoo!

- - Oceane | White Pearl Facial Peeling Gel - -

Happy Tuesday!

I haven't written anything about skincare in a while so I figured a good place to start would be with a product that helped improve my skin during this quarantine. I'm pretty diligent when it comes to face scrubs - I make sure to use one at least once a week. However, I typically prefer to use a stronger, gritty scrub rather than a peeling gel.

Why? Well, it's mostly because I had a horror story with a peeling gel once. 😅

- - Hasbro | Monopoly for Millennials Review - -

One of the board games I was able to convince my family to play during the quarantine was Hasbro's Monopoly for Millennials. This game came out late 2018, and although I'm not a board game (or Monopoly) collector, I loved the light-hearted jabs at millennials (I'm a millennial myself), so I went ahead and purchased the game. Yes, take my money, Hasbro!

- - Fujifilm | Instax Mini Film Review : Chinese Festival - -

Sometimes when you spend long enough flipping through the pages of AliExpress you can find some really unique items. That's what happened to me one day when I stumbled across an Instax mini film that I had never seen before. The film above was such a rare find that last year when I purchased it there was only one seller selling it. As of right now, I see three sellers (one, two, three) with this film on AliExpress.

I can't find an official name for this film pack anywhere, but one of the sellers I linked above refers to this film as "Chinese Festival" so I figure that's what I will call it too.

- - Fujifilm | Instax Mini Film Review : Black - -

Happy Friday!

For the next few posts I will be focusing on more Instax mini film reviews. These will be relatively short posts (or at least that's the plan) in which I will share a few photos that I have taken over the past couple of years with different kinds of Instax Mini Film. All the Instax photos in these posts have been taken with the Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 camera.

Today, I wanted to take a look at the Black Instax Mini Film.