Beauty Gift Ideas for Men

It's that time of the year! It's the season to get together with family and enjoy good but also busy times. One of my favorite parts of the holidays is giving gifts (and receiving them too...what can I say, my love language is gifts). The wrapping and preparation part is just as fun as giving the gift! I've been doing a fair bit of early shopping this year to avoid the December craziness, and just thought I'd share a couple beauty gift ideas I found for the special man in my life so far.  He loves them so far so hope you find them helpful to plan your gift-giving this year! .


The Art of Shaving - The 4 Elements of the Perfect Shave ($72 CDN at Sephora)


Photo from Sephora.ca

It's a fancy dancy travel shaving set, complete with a 100% badger hair shaving brush in a nice neat little travel pouch. It contains pre-shave oil, shaving cream, and after shave balm.  It is a bit pricey but a nice treat if that dude's special enough in your books. My hubby takes this to travel, and unfortunately has used up all the shaving cream before the others :(



B. Kamins Sun Defense SPF 30 (previously Sunbar SPF 30) ($41 CDN from SpaBoutique.ca)

Photo from www.skinstore.com

 A sunscreen in winter?? Yes, we need sunscreen all year around as those UV rays don't go away just because the temperature cools down! Sun exposure is one of the biggest contriburs to premature aging/wrinkles, and my hubby is starting to care more about this as he found a couple of white hairs recently.

What would a man want that's different from a woman? Women generally tend towards products that increase luminosity of the skin, whereas men tend to avoid anything that might make them look even the tad bit shiny (I am generalizing here, so forgive me if you are a man that likes luminous looks, to each their own!). Professional makeup artists tend towards decreasing shine on men's faces/heads in their work as well as usually shine = "oily", unless these a specific editorial reason to add shine of course! 

Ok so after all that pre-amble, why this product? Because it's one of the most MATTE sunscreens I've ever used! My husband loves it for this reason, it has none of that oily/sticky sunscreen feeling. We have two bottles going in the house right now.  A highly recommended product overall, and best of all you can use it too! (Which is why I chose a gender-neutral brand rather than a suncreen product that's targeted "for men").


Let me know what you got your man this season!

Topbox October 2013 Unboxing

 

The October Topbox came early! (I think they announced few months ago that this would be the case for Oct, but still, nice surprise!).  What's even more awesome, is the contents of this month's box, my favorite so far for size and value and variety! Click the jump to see what I got...!!

 

Topbox: September 2013 - First Impressions

 

Last month I had opted for the Velour Lash option, so missed out on the fun and surprise of opening a regular Topbox...which made this month's regular box extra fun to open! Topbox is a monthly beauty subscription service which I've come to look forward to now as it's quite a bit of fun and deviation from my everyday routine :)  Please note this is just a first-impressions post so I have not fully tried these products and thus do not refer to this post as a "review"! Click the jump below to see what I got this month! Please share with me what you got in yours if you're also a subscriber!

How To: Press Loose Mineral Eyeshadows

 

 

After my previous experimentation with using glycerin vs jojoba oil to press my mineral blushes, I have finally gone ahead and pressed all of my mineral eyeshadows! This is a more detailed tutorial with more photos than my previous post. Hope you find it helpful ^_^

Supplies:
- jojoba oil
- isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
- loose mineral eyeshadows
- small mixing container
- empty pans to press your eyeshadow into (I bought mine from eBay)
- something to press with (should fit into your empty pan, coins work great)
- something to stir with (toothpick or small cosmetic spatula works great)


1) Remove the sifter from your mineral eyeshadow container if it has one (will make getting the powder out much easier!)

 

 

2) Empty your loose minerals into the mixing container (or just use the existing container) and start adding jojoba oil DROP BY DROP until minerals start to clump together (careful not to add too much or will take forever to dry!). Then add alcohol, again drop by drop, until you achieve a wet-sand-like consistency.  The amount of jojobal oil/alcohol really depends on how much minerals you have, so just be careful and you should be fine!

 

2) Transfer the mixture into the empty pan



 

3) Lay a clean piece of cloth/fabric over the pan and press the coin onto it (press HARD!!). You will see that the fabric will have absorbed some of the excess liquid from your mixture.

 

4) Let dry (can speed up with light blowing from hairdryer, or just leave it out on window-sill), and place into your palette. Done!

Here are all the shadows I pressed.

 

 

 

Here are the swatches of the eyeshadows. The pigmentation from the bronze shimmer shade turned out very nice (same as before I pressed it). Unfortunately some of the darker shades did not become very pigmented (swatches are one finger swipe). They are buildable though so I don't feel I'll have trouble using them as crease shaders. If you want to use the darker shades as eye liner, you can also add a drop of water to the surface to the shadow, and make a nice paste to use as a "gel"eyeliner with a brush.

 

 

 

 

That's it for the tutorial on pressing loose mineral eyeshadows. Pretty simple right?! I'm super happy I did this as now I have a nice palette to open and use. Not to mention, I will actually use these shadows now (they previously just sat in my makeup drawer after I got too lazy to be opening those darn containers).

 

Let me know if you try this and how it goes!!

 

 

Giorgio Armani Concealer and Master Corrector Review

I had one of those Fridays where I felt the week was long and a self-treat was in order... so I ended up at the Giorgio Armani counter and decided to finally try the infamous Master Corrector and High Precision Retouch concealer.  Click the jump to see what I thought!

Weird Beauty Find: Silk Cocoon Balls

I was travelling out west and found this weird little item at Daiso in Richmond, BC (it's a Japanese dollar store, where the items are from Japan and are mostly $2 each with some exceptions).  I was wandering in the beauty section, saw this bizarre package of white little balls, and went "HUH"????  These are supposed to be actual cocoons of silk worms, and are supposed to help you wash your face?!?!?! So the adventurous side of me thought, well it can't hurt... Click the jump to see how they worked out!

Topbox July 2013 Review

 

 

I finally got off the Topbox waiting list and here it is, my first Topbox! I used to think I wouldn't like the surprise element...but I gotta admit, there was a nice pleasant feeling getting the box in the mail and not knowing what was inside...opening the tube and wrapper...it felt like getting a present :)  Anyhow, if you don't know what Topbox is yet, it's one of many subscription box companies. It's a Toronto company as well, so brownie points there! The idea is that you pay for a monthly subscription, and each month you get a box of beauty samples. Some of the samples are deluxe sized which can actually last awhile, and here and there full size products pop up as well. In the end, the added value of what you get is well over the monthly price. My sense is that these boxes are best for people who like to try new things.  You may find something you like or that new HG product, or you may find out what you do NOT like, which is equally as valuable I think! (so that you don't then go wasting money buying something you won't like, cuz you've already tried the sample!) Topbox costs $12+tax/month.  Click the jump to see what I got inside!!