Bad, Blogger, Bad!

Hey Ladies!
Long time no chat! I have been absent for just over a week and I feel horrible. I feel like I get into blogging cycles- I either blog tones and tones in a short period of time, or I completely fall off the blogwagon for a while until I feel like something's missing.
I'm not going to moan and groan about a million excuses, but I was working a lot last week (for the last month for that matter). But, yesterday, Tuesday, was my last shift at work for a while. I told my manager that I was going to take all of September off so I can get a feel of my new school workload and schedule. I'm also going to be commuting 5 days a week to my school (about an hour each way) so I need to see when I am finding myself free to squeeze in some extra shifts at work. I don't start school until Sept 6th so I've decided that the time between now and the start of school will be my summer "me time". This Friday I am heading up north to go to my university roommates house, which is beautiful and right on the water, with all my other uni girls. I am so excited for tanning and sipping on cocktails all weekend!

I have some plans for some upcoming posts that I'm excited to start writing! Tell me, what is everyones' end of summer plans?

Mac Studio Fix Powder review

The other day I stopped by the Mac counter. I wanted to get a replacement of one of my most purchased Mac products- the Mac Studio Fix Powder. This is my 3rd or 4th repurchase of this product- a definite holy grail item. It is so versatile. Sometime I use it to set my makeup, other times on lazy days I use it as my foundation. I have used Macs mineralized skin finish natural before I switched to this, and I much prefer this mainly for the fact that it has very good coverage for a powder. It is also great to carry in my purse for on-the-go touchups or oily spots. I also love the fact that it has the bottom compartment with a sponge for, again, on-the-go.
Previous times purchasing this product the girl matched my colour to an N5, which seemed to match me great. But this time I was matched to an NC40! When she said let me try NC40 I was like, "ummm I think that's going to be way to dark!" Although, surprisingly it fits! Keep in mind though I am nowhere near an NC40 in their foundation, so it's always best to go in and get matched in a store or at a counter rather than risking a shade disaster by purchasing online.
Have any of you girls tried Studio Fix Powder? Would you give it Holy Grail status? Let me know in the comments!
xx Jessica

Bag Love

For the last couple of months I have had my eyes peeled for the perfect school bag that I could carry my laptop, folders and other necessities, and look professional AND cute. A lot to ask of a bag but I think I've found her! On Friday my Mom and I went shopping and we just happened to walk into Danier Leather, a store I had never really been in before nor had the desire to. Although when I saw this bag I knew it was what I had been looking for, and it was on sale...double score!

It has its own padded compartment for my laptop with lots of extra room for my other things. It was a little bit more than I had initially wanted to spend, but my Mom made a good point that I should buy something of good quality that will last me and stand the test of everyday use. I'm loving it!

What are you girls planning on using as your school/work bag this fall?

P.S. Sorry for the less that perfect pictures. The last one is from their website. If anyone has any tips on taking good quality pictures I would LOVE to here them!

xx Jessica

Follow me on Twitter!!

Hey guys. I recently just created a twitter account for my blog. My username is @ruffsandtruffs .Send me your Twitter usernames so I can follow you guys too!

My Everyday Eye Makeup (Using Mac)

   

                                      

This is the eye routine that I use pretty much everyday. It is my go-to look and it literally takes me 4 minutes- tops. If I'm going out for dinner or something and want the look to be a little more dramatic I am just a little more heavy handed with the crease colour and switch out my brown eyeliner for black.

What I used and how I do it:

1: First I apply All That Glitters from Mac over the entirety of my lid and blending it out a little higher than my crease. If you own or have used this colour you know how absolutely wonderful and versatile it is. It is by far my favourite Mac eye shadow. A lot of times I just use it alone, putting a little more in my crease and it looks like I'm wearing more than one colour and I spent so much more time on my makeup than I actually did. PLUS it makes blue/green eyes *POP*!

2. Next, I apply Wedge from Mac in the crease with a fluffy blending brush. This shadow has a matte finish and is a perfect crease colour to compliment a more shimmery lid colour.

3. Recently I have become a huge fan of brown eye liner. It gives a much more softer and less harsh look over black, but stil defines your eyes beautifully. Here I used Maybelline's Unstoppable in "Cinnabar" and applied it to my lid and my waterline.

4. Finally, I finished of with a mascara. Here I used L'Oreal's Voluminous Carbon Black.

And there it is. It is seriously that simple to achieve a quick, yet pretty eye look super crazy fast without using tonnes or products.

What's your go-to eye look for work/school? I would love to see it!

xx Jessica

Makeup (Re)Organization

If your a reader of my blog and I have read my previous post you are well aware that I am pretty stressed out at the moment with life in general. When I get into funks like this one way that I tend to cope it by cleaning, sorting, and organizing everything around me (which kind of makes me wish I were like this more often :S ). So my first victim of my cleaning/organizing hurricane was my makeup. As you can see in the first picture there really was no rhyme or reason to how I stored my makeup. I would try and keep it quasi organized, but eventually I would use it and just through it somewhere. 

I have had this train case for over 5 years. It was a present from my aunt for Christmas and it came with a bunch of bad quality makeup which I never really ended up using. BUT the train case itself is brilliant and I had never really thought to keep my makeup in it.

 Everything fits in nicely and neatly and there is a fairly deep bottom part that is perfect for bigger items that I can't fit in the trays or even brushes. I wouldn't use this for travelling- unless I was a makeup artist or Tammy Faye Baker. When I travel, or stay the night at my boyfriends I just take what I need and pop it in a smaller makeup bag and off I go.

How do you guys organize your makeup? I would love to see!
xx Jessica

So Stressed: Life Update

I have been the worst blogger known to bloggerdom for the last couple weeks. I have had so much stuff on my plate that I couldn't find the time, and quite honestly the motivation to do any posts.
As some of you might know (I've posted this in a few posts before) I am starting a post-graduate program starting this September. My campus is in Toronto and my original plan, and had been for the last year, was to move in with my University roommate in Toronto. VEEERY long story short, there was vast miscommunication between where we both wanted/needed location wise in the city to be near where we needed to be.
So, my new plan of action is to commute into Toronto everyday. I live about an hour outside of the city, which isn't too too bad, although the wild Canadian winters we tend to have scare the pants off me. The upside is that I will be saving thousands of dollars I would have wasted on rent AND I don't have to leave my boyfriend. Although now I have a whole new plate of worries like what if I am the only commuter in my program and I miss out on a lot of social aspects of the program (which it is a VERY social/group oriented program), along with the stress of traffic, commuting, parking, my sad old car... blah blah blah. You might be reading this thinking that this really isn't that stressful of a situation, but for me I am the kind of person who needs a solid plan far in advance, and this situation has been all over the place for the last couple of weeks. So yeah, that is my story of where I have been. I have so many blogs I need to catch up on!
I hope to have some new post up very soon!
xx Jessica

My New Favourite Thing

A birthday gift from my amazing boy:)Yes- she is finally mine!! 

Hard Candy Review

For those of you who can remember, Hard Candy used to be sold at Sephora and Ulta, but a few years ago it seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth- until recently. The brand has relaunched their line at Walmart for ridiculously low prices, with a few items quickly gaining a cult-like following. 

I recently picked up two of their most popular items- their "Fox in a Box" blush/powder in the colour "Skinny Dipping and their "Glamofauge Heavy Duty Concealer" in Medium.

My thoughts of each:

Blush ($6): 

I actually really like this product. I don't use the two colours separately, but I swirl my brush in the box, mixing them together. The result is a highly pigmented peachy-coral colour, with a slight orange undertone. I have a medium skin tone and I find it very flattering, but I can also see it being very pretty on a fair complexion if it were applied with a very light hand. I also LOVE the packaging. It kind of reminds me of Benefit blush boxes. The only downside I can see in this product is the brush it comes with. Looks pretty, but kind of useless in my opinion. - for only $6 this is a steal!

Concealer ($6):

This product claims to cover everything from acne to tattoos- and it definitely does! Just like the name says, this is a VERY heavy duty concealer. You only need the smallest, tiniest, baby sized amount of this product to conceal anything. It is very, very thick. You have to be very careful with this product because it can look cakey very easily. I also would not suggest this product for under your eyes as it is so  thick that it will crease and look extra cakey. The onlt other downside is that there are only three colour options: light, medium and tan. I chose the medium because I tend to always be a medium shade, although I find it a bit too light. If I were to repurchase I would definitely go with the tan. 

bonus concealer pencil: 

great for quickly dotting on over a little blemish and patting in. Although, nowhere near the coverage of the Glamoflauge. 

Have any of you tried this product line? What do you think about it?