Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation and Concealer Review

Finally have a second to review Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage SPF 15 Foundation and Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12 Hour Concealer.

Previously, I had been using MAC foundations/concealers... but I wanted to use something a little bit more organic. I picked these both up at Sephora back in April during their Beauty Insider sale and to be honest, I was no nervous switching foundations so close to my wedding (I was worried trying a new product would make me break out!) but happy to report that my skin agrees with these products!

I got the foundation in "medium light beige" and the concealer in "medium"

I love both of these products!!

The foundation goes on so smoothly and it blends really well. I find that the colour is matched perfectly with my skin tone so it gives me a really natural/no make up look (which is pretty much my go to look!).

The concealer is also great! It helps cover my acne scars and I love how it comes in a 'lipstick' format. Its super easy to put on (I previously used MAC's pro longwear concealer and I always had issue with pumping out too much product!!) and its not wasteful at all!

Definitely loving Tarte's products - currently looking into Tarte eyeshadow and lipstick/lipgloss...

The forgotten work bag

Bobby left his work bag at home today.... Luckily he put it next to Kiwi and I noticed it this morning when I did my daily Kiwi check in.

Here is his bag with a cold brew coffee and chocolate. FYI Bobby, I ate your chocolate as payment for bringing your work stuff and buying you a coffee!!

Bobby's 29th

It was Bobby's 29th birthday on the 10th... so naturally, we celebrated this entire weekend! 

Side note: because I am the crazy hedgehog lady, and not one post can go by without mentioning, Kiwi, the late Chaos, or hedgehogs in general.... I finally picked up this hedgehog doormat at Crate and Barrel!! 

Hedgehog on hedgehog!

Okay, so it was Bobby's birthday on Friday... and on Thursday, I bought him some beers to drink this weekend. It's increasingly difficult to buy beer for Bobby since he wants to try original craft beers... all I can say is, thank god for untappd!!!!

The first stop on the birthday tour was a romantic dinner for two at Orrange. However, because there was a pet store near the restaurant (and because I knew there are hedgehogs there)... this became our first stop.

Go away crazy humans!!

These hedgies are not socialized so they were really hard to pick up...

Such a little cutie!!!! This hedgie is very shy but it didn't bite!

Okay... so after we played with the hogs, we went next door for some food! Orrange is okay, decent food, decent prices.

Birthday boy with his guinness

After dinner, we went to Bobby's favorite store:

After Home Depot, we went home for affogato (on our super awesome espresso maker)....

... and birthday cake (Chocolate Explosion and Tiramisu from Whole Foods)

Too distracted by the affogato/not realizing there is cake in front of him

Kiwi came out to wish Bobby a happy birthday beg for cake

Bobby and his Rogue Voo Doo Donut beer!!

Okay so that was Friday... the real "party" was Saturday at Port Moody Ribfest!!

Now, it has been uncharacteristically hot in Vancouver the entire month of June. It was 30+ degrees for a couple of weeks and there are 100s of forest fires all over BC due to the extremely hot and dry weather.... Basically, we have all be praying for rain... and while I am glad it rained, I wish it did not happen at Port Moody Ribfest while I was standing in line holding my uncovered half rack of ribs!! It seriously poured rain and all I could think was, should I wait in line for corn as well?!?!? But I digress...

Giant pack of baby wipes to help us get through this meal

The food at Ribfest was okay. Maybe the rain dampened the mood a little bit... but the craft beer was definitely underwhelming!!

Sebastian met up with us at Ribfest and then we met up with Brad-Ja-Luca for menchies!

I hope you had a great birthday weekend Bobby!!! Love you :D

The BBQ dilemma

Someone at work (let's just call him G) offered to buy a communal barbecue for our lunch room patio... such a sweet gesture to be honest... except for my poor coworker who got tasked with sourcing said barbecue!

So my very kind coworker went to Canadian Tire and Home Depot to bargain for a good deal with the sales associates at each store... and in the end, she got a great deal on a floor model barbecue... which is a bonus so we wouldn't have to put it together... and because we work so close to the store, they even wheeled it over for us (reluctantly!!).

This all went down yesterday afternoon. And on my way home from work, I saw a barbecue just outside of Cafe Citadella (super cute coffee shop in a heritage home) that someone was giving away. I seriously laughed so hard at all of the work my coworker had to go through to get our barbecue when one was up for grabs!

In the end, this free barbecue is a lot smaller/less nice than the one we got...and who knows if it's even functional... it was just funny due to the timing of these events ;)

Our Wedding!

So we tied the knot last weekend (June 27th)... after months and months of planning! I wasn't sure if I wanted to blog about our wedding.. but I wanted to give a huuuuge shout out to every single person involved in making our special day a reality.... so, here goes!!

We had our ceremony, reception, dinner and post dinner festivities at Shangri-La Vancouver. From the moment we got in touch with Stephanie (Events Manager) to plan our wedding to the second we checked out of the hotel the day after the wedding, the service we received was A+. Seriously, everyone was so accommodating and kind! We truly felt like royalty! Everything went smoothly (minus my brother almost arriving late for the ceremony!!!). The staff did such a wonderful job! The night before our wedding, they sent us some sparkly wine and chocolate covered strawberries to enjoy... and they included craft beer for Bobby (because they knew that Bobby does not just drink any beer!!). I would definitely recommend holding your event at Shangri-La Vancouver :)

Before walking down the aisle...

Back in January, the minute we secured our venue and paid our deposit, the first thing I did was book a hair and make up consult/appointment. I am so terrible at both of these things and knew I would need to recruit some professional help... a quick google search led me to Beauty Calls, a mobile hair and make up service. Here I met Alysia Hamilton (super sweet owner) and Lily Ling (super awesome hair and make up artist). Both Alysia and Lily are so sweet... and Lily is AMAZING!!!! She did such a wonderful job! I looked and felt so great at my wedding! :) Seriously, book Lily now for your hair and make up needs!!! You will not regret it.

Photo credit: Lily Ling

The second appointment I made was cake tasting! This was a no brainer. When we lived in Yaletown, we frequented Ganache Patisserie. We sat down with Peter and he helped us decide on a custom flavor and cake design. Our guests were impressed and there was no cake left at the end of the night!

Single tier hazelnut chocolate with mango filling... with strawberry macarons... mmm

We had a very small ceremony (15 guests total) and my plan was to wear a plain white dress. This upset my mother greatly and I realized that not taking her wedding dress shopping/wearing a "traditional" wedding dress was robbing her of her mother of the bride experience! So we went to The Bridal Gallery and Debbie helped me pick THE dress ;) Bobby custom made his suit from Indochino.

Photo Credit: John Miguel
Dress: Mori Lee 6794
Flowers and pineapple boutonniere: V&J Plantshop

And last, but most certainly not least, photography was done by Dora and Alex from 21 Mpix Photography and they did such a great job! We've only seen a few pictures and cannot wait to see the rest! Random story: I met Dora through Lily (my hair and make up artist!! You can read more about our meeting here). Make sure to contact Dora if you need a photographer for your upcoming event!

Huuuuge thanks to all for making our wedding a reality! Special shout out to Peter and his crew at V&J Plantshop for custom making Bobby's pineapple boutonniere :)