Past Few Days at Cover FX and Toronto Beauty Blogger Event

Just an update on what I've been doing at Cover FX headquarters since a lot of you were interested in what I'll be doing there! Wish I had some pictures but this will be a quick post anyways!

Happenings at Cover FX:

Day 2 - Created Cover FX Pro membership discount codes and compiled Inner Circle e-mails, essentially an online newsletter with tips and tricks, coupons, and more.

Day 3 - I met the Cover FX creators - Lee Graff and Jenny Frankel! Cover FX is a really tight knit company/family :) I also helped Katherine put together press kits for beauty editors from top Canadian and US magazines. I am officially jealous of how many different kinds of products that beauty editors must get to try!

Day 4 - Compiling more Inner circle e-mails, and started blogger outreach project. I'm on the hunt for skincare blogs/forums! Any suggestions?

Day 5 - Today! Continued searching for skincare blogs/forums. Assembled Conceal FX sample packets for Sephora online - yes, work IS involved in putting these together! Samples take effort to make and are precious - I will never look at a sample the same way again. Katherine also colour matched me for Powder FX in M50. Can't wait to try Cover FX products :)!

I will also be with Melissa and Katherine dropping in at the Toronto Beauty Blogger event this Sunday! Melissa made fabulous gift baskets for a few of you lucky bloggers! This will be my first time meeting any of you bloggers! Will any of you be attending? If so, can't wait to meet you!! :)

Jewelry Box

I've been looking for a nice jewelry box to store my slowly increasing jewelry collection. I've seen some really creative ways to store jewelry like using pretty bowls, tree stands and so on. But I'm saving that for my future home, since right now living away from home, there is no point in making my room all nice and pretty :p I found this jewelry box at Chapters on clearance for $30! I love going to Chapters to find random things like this. It looks really plain on the outside, so I'm planning to stick some decals on the outside of it later :)

How do you store your jewelry?

I think Murale is my new favourite store :D

I wanted to get this blogpost out because Murale is having an excellent Shoppers Optimum promotion running from now until March 20th. You can either choose 20x the points or a $20 gift card when you spend $50 or more. I was waiting on this ever since my first visit to Murale just so I can obtain more points and I also really really needed new skincare items. I haven't changed my basic skincare for years and years. The main reason was every time I've tried a new product I would be sensitive to it. My skin will generally heat up and form random red patches. Lately my skin has been more oilier than usual and just dull, formed spots around the T-zone and has become lifeless. My skin was begging for attention!

So I took a trip to Murale this morning with a brand in mind (Avene) and perhaps trying out the Bobbi Brown Gel eyeliner. (I never end up buying what I have in mind!) I walked around, realized that the prices of skincare products are ridiculous these days, and that Avene was more for people with apparent skin issues such as psoriasis. So I asked an SA for some help with a skincare brand that would suit my needs and it so happened that a representative from L'Occitane was there. So you're thinking, yeah, of course she's going to recommend you this brand since they are trying to promote this brand. I totally kept that in the back of my mind.

I only know the L'Occitane brand from their infamous hand cream, so I was sort of surprised they even had a skincare line. She showed me the Red Rice line which is for sensitive, combination skin along with ingredients to help restore "purity and radiance". She used the cleanser, toner and ultra-matte face fluid on my hand. I seriously was hooked from the smell of these products and everything felt really gentle and the face fluid made my skin super mattified. I was shocked to see the prices on these because they were actually not bad. Cleanser - $24, toner - $24, face fluid - $28, reminds me of the price range of Clinique products. I've always want to try an entire line of something since I've always picked and chose from different lines (although there is much controversy about this). I even received a hand massage with their Fresh Face Water (I loved this too, maybe next time!) and their hand cream.

So here is the loot:

For purchasing two items or more from L'Occitane they were also giving out a deluxe size of their very popular hand cream! The representative also gave me two samples of their eye balm.

Red Rice cleanser, toner, and ultra-matte face fluid.

Deluxe size hand cream! Woot! My hands felt so smooth after that hand massage!

Eye balm samples

I have my fingers crossed that these products work for me! I really hate looking for skincare products because my skin is overly sensitive. I've tried many cloth masks, and my skin dislikes those as well :( I'm always skeptical of all these claims that brands tend to over-exaggerate about. Also, with skincare, I just hate how it takes so long to realize if it works or not. Expect a full review if they work well! If not, you'll hear about it too ;)

Have any of you tried skincare products from this brand before?

First day of my beauty internship at Cover FX!

I tweeted a few weeks ago stating my disbelief in a wonderful opportunity beauty blogging has given me. I'm now a beauty intern for Cover FX!

So the story goes, during my reading week while I was studying, I was in such a state of boredom I was constantly checking my tweetdeck. In that one moment, I saw that Cover FX was seeking for a beauty intern in Toronto. My first thought was - no way! Second thought - I should apply! Third thought - wait...they would never hire me, I major in Life Sciences. So I decided to close their ad. However, a few minutes later, I decided to just apply.

Finding a job 101 - there is no harm in applying. Even if there are a few qualifications that a company is looking for that you don't have, just apply! And that goes with applying for any job in general. From my experience, you never know what can happen if you don't apply. I applied for a retail job at The Bay for a Dior counter once, and guess what? I got the interview. No, I didn't get the job, but the interview was an interesting experience, and my weak thoughts of "they would never even consider me" was proven wrong.

I got a call back from Melissa at Cover FX literally one hour after I sent in my resume, quite conveniently while I was exercising on the elliptical! I was shocked, out of breath, and thinking - is this for real? I must've sounded like a nutcase breathing heavily through the phone and on a high of endorphins - embarassing, I know. Thankfully, Melissa was amazingly informal and I was excited to go to Cover FX headquarters and meet her. I think it took me a few hours after the phone call to realize what just happened.

The interview was probably one of the most informal interviews I've had, and Melissa was super sweet! She welcomed me to the team right on the spot! :)

I officially started at Cover FX today. I met the Cover FX team, I was educated about the brand, shown the displays seen in various stores and different educational materials. I also packaged a bunch of value kits to be sent to stores worldwide, worked with returns, and helped cut up some mini product pamphlets. Melissa is a such a sweetheart and did a great job making me feel comfortable on my first day :)

I am free to blog about my experience, and I thought it would be an interesting read for all of you whether it's a leisure read or perhaps if you're considering to do this in the future! And no, Melissa is not telling me to blog about my experience and she clearly stated I am not expected to rave about Cover FX products. But, I won't hold back if I truly believe in the brand ;) And I will surely let you all know if a Cover FX product is worth raving about!

As always, thanks for reading!! xo

My Abercrombie Haul

I tweeted about an Abercrombie Haul last week from the abercrombie.ca website, February 25th to be exact, when they had a clearance sale. They still have some of the items on sale now, but it seems as though only the XS sizes are available! I received my parcel of goodies on March 2nd, which was 3 business days! I'm tres impressed. I'm very specific about shopping online and I need to know if something doesn't fit I can easily go to an actual store and return it. Online Canadian websites such as Aldo, Forever 21, Gap, and Abercrombie offer this (with exceptions in some cases - read their shipping and return policy!). Abercrombie did not offer free shipping, shipping was $15 but they clearly stated that there would be no surprise duty fees. The prices were also too hard to resist! I rarely shop at online stores when they are not responsible for any duty fees - big turn off! So this is what I hauled!

Tara - $19.92

Reminds me of spring! Love the print and jewel buttons :)

Drew - $15.92

Beautiful flower detailing and jewels around the collar. I really enjoy how comfy their knits are, I'm super sensitive to knitted material against my bare skin :P

Beth - $12.72

Just a simple long tank with more jewels :)

Nicole - $15.92

I've wanted a nice checkered shirt for a long time now and this is super comfy!

I will definitely consider purchasing online from Abercrombie again. This girl is very satisfied with her purchase!!

Thanks for reading xo!