MySpicedLife: Best of 2017 Beauty

I truly cannot believe how quickly 2017 has come and gone.
I’m not sure if it was the best year beauty wise but I did find some gems along the way.
Please let me know if you have tried any of these products below!

All of these products deserve the "MySpicedLife: Best of 2017" stamp of approval. 

High End Skin Care: Is It Worth the Splurge?

“Good” skin comes at a cost – no surprises there. Skincare is one of those things where we have so many options and hacks to help get us to that flawless face. At the same time, it can also get confusing when trying to figure out what is worth the splurge.

The general consensus is that for the following items (providing you have no major skin care concerns), you can scale back and save on as they contain the same basic ingredients that will still get you the results you need:
 Cleansers
 Toners
 Day moisturizers with SPF
 Lip balms
 Eye creams

When it comes to serums, night creams and face masks, we should expect to spend a few more dollars as these products are meant to penetrate deeper into the skin and are packed with highly concentrated ingredients that target your skincare concerns right at the source. I decided to put this to the test with a few pricey products. Although I am a skincare fanatic, I was skeptical on whether these products would be worth the spend.

Let’s find out!

Protect Your Blog + Be Stay Cyber safe on your social media accounts

On this day in 2014, I woke up to write and discovered my blog was gone! A bit of a back story, someone tried to hack my blogger account. So as a precaution, blogger put my account on hold. I had to jump through hoops to get it back... That day I vowed to upgrade my passwords and become more conscious what I post online.

There are 4 tips to keep you cyber safe as an influencer.

Holiday: Gift sharing + Stocking stuffers for you and others

One of the best things about Holiday makeup?? 

You get to sample a little bit of everything. 

Which is good but what if you find a great set that doesn't have everything you want. 

My solution...

Go halvies with someone & share the love. 

Yes.. Halvies is totally a real word. I have a great example in packaging sometimes there is like 12 lipstick shades and only six of them will work for me which means of the other six won’t. I can either regift them as stocking stuffers or since I won’t have seas with someone we can totally spell split up the colours that work for me and the colours that work for her so that everybody’s a winner. 

Quo Liquid Lipstick Bar ($20) can be found at Shopper's Drug Mart.

Is Double Cleansing for you?

After a good girls night or a fun date night to muster up the energy to take off your make up is non-existent. In my younger days, I do remember nights not taking off my make up. Please don’t judge me! Thankfully, I had amazing skin that time so it did not impact me.

There are many ways to fully get your make up off which unfortunately do take up time... but honestly it’s worth it. One thing, I will never give up on is make up wipes. But I'm going to be honest, that there are some wipes that do not fully do the job in one wipe. Those CHEAP ones that are ALWAYS on SALE! Stay away from them. Most of the time, those cheaper wipes only get off the first layer of make up. What about your sunscreen, primer, moisturizer or serum? There is still residue left over. Don't leave me- wet a rag and wipe your face.

So here is where double cleansing comes into play...

Holiday: Beauty Advent Calendar Love

Oh, it’s time ladies! This is probably one of my favourite times of year for make up. My issue is always when to buy. One of the cons about gift sets/advent calendars is that if it really popular... it sells out quick! When I was new to the make up game, I would always wait until it was closer to Christmas to actually go out and purchase the item. Guess what? It was gone by then. 

I finally had the opportunity to get two Beauty Advent for the first time this year! 

The Winter Wonderland advent calendar from Sephora Collection ($56 CAN) 

was the first one I opened. 

Best Sephora Collection Holiday Picks Under $15

Budget is the main word I see coming out of a lot of people’s mouth this season. And you know what? I don’t blame them! For me, I rather get more products for my buck. So instead of getting someone one gift for $50- I rather put together multiple items. I say this all the time but one of the best hidden gems at Sephora is their Sephora collection. 

I was actually sent a few Sephora collection Holiday goodies and I picked five products which I feel any beauty lover would be grateful for!