Product Review: Wearable Birkenstocks?

A few weeks ago, I did something I thought I would never do. I bought* a pair of Birkenstocks. I have always associated them with my parents, which isn't a bad thing, but I always thought they were way too well, dorky/hippyish for my style. I had to face up to the facts though: I am still a teenager, my knees are hurting more and more frequently, and I only get this one body for the rest of my life. The conclusion this brought me to was that I was going to have to stop wearing heels/shoes with no arch support ALL the time. 

The short version of that rather longwinded paragraph is that I bought* these shoes, the Birkernstock Mayari:

I am so happy with my choice! 

I wanted to get them in black, but the sales woman and my mother talked me into getting these, and since there weren't any black in stock in my size, I decided to just get the coppery-blackish ones. They look slightly greenish gold in the picture, but they are a warmer colour in person. It turns out these shoes go with pretty much everything I have tried to wear them with so far, from all black, to blue and bronze, to red, purple and pale blue. They are really and truly neutral, you know they are there, but they don't detract from the colours of the outfit at all. 

The second thing I absolutely love about these shoes is the fact that it is like walking on clouds. Even my most supportive walking shoes have very noticeable feeling when I have them on, not painful necessarily, but you know they are there. With these, it's like you aren't wearing shoes at all, except your feet never get sore. I haven't tested how far I can walk in them, but I wore them all day for a couple days and didn't feel any pain.

I have yet to try and wear them with a skirt, but I have a feeling they will go quite nicely with at least some of my skirts. The miniskirts might not get along with them too well, but I can still wear other shoes some days.

This post is pretty much me talking about why I love shoes, but what do you think? Have you ever worn Birkenstocks?

Love, Rosie

*Ok, so my mum bought them. But I picked them out, and she wasn't even planning on buying me shoes.

Product Review: Green Beaver Lip Shimmer in Bordeaux

 I decided to rearrange the schedule for this weeks post a bit, it just ended up being that the post scheduled today wasn't really ready enough to be published. Instead, I'm reviewing Green Beaver Lip Shimmer in Bordeaux.

To start, these are my lips without anything on them:

And now, my lips with several very carefully applied coat of the lip shimmer:

Now, on to the review;

Colour: I like the colour. It's not the very dark red that the packaging and product led me to believe it would be, but it's a nice colour. I was hoping it would give me gorgeous dark lips like the White Queen:

Even if it didn't give me the colour I wanted, it was still a lovely colour.

Quality: This stuff is AMAZING. I like it just as much as the Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer I have been using for over a year. It is moisturizing and healing and protecting and all sorts of lovely things. That being said, my lips are in very good condition to start, so there wasn't much to be done.

Packaging: This is where everything falls apart. Honestly, my Burt's Bees Lip Shimmers come in bright yellow packaging, this stuff is lime green. They are fun, but it must be possible to get all natural,  good quality lip shimmers in understated packaging. My big problem with the packaging though is that the thing to make the stick of lip shimmer come up farther doesn't work. Sorry about how vague it is, but what I'm trying to say is that once I wore it down to the plastic, I can't make it come up any farther. I don't know if mine is faulty or they are all like this, but I'm pretty mad. I would wear this stuff everyday, but I can't get any out!

Over all, the actual product is amazing, but the packaging is a bit annoying. I will definitely be buying it again though.

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

PS: Ages and ages ago, I wrote a guest post on the blog at ChapOAir, a site that helps you find Cheap Flights. If you want to listen (err... read me) ramble on backpacking stylishly, please check it out.

The Bata Shoe Museum

I discovered what I think may be my heaven on earth today. The Bata Shoe Museum, in Toronto, Ontario. A Museum dedicated to shoes? Yes please! I will definitely be checking it out next time I'm in Toronto. At the moment they have an exhibit on Renaissance Chopines and Baroque Heels. If any of you think that the shoes some women wear today are crazy, check out the site.

Image Source

In case you were wondering, those are an example of Venetian Chopines. I told you they were crazy!

Another cool thing to check out while you are on the museum's website is their online exhibit. You can learn tons of stuff (or just drool over crazy shoes) from the comfort of your own home/internet café/library/wherever you.

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

My new love: My Mom, the Style Icon

I have been known to borrow clothing from my mummy. For example:

This sweater was originally my mother's, circa the 1980s. She had some pretty cool clothing back in the day, and still does.

These moms though, they are truly magnificent. I discovered My Mom, the Style Icon about half an hour ago, and it is definitely one of my new favourite blogs. If my mother and grandmothers had clothes that amazingly awesome, I would probably never shop again.

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

Product Review: Maybelline's Mineral Power Concealer

After a concealer disaster on Tuesday, I immediately went out and bought a new one, better suited to my skin tone. Ok, so I didn't have time till Thursday evening, but immediately sounds way better than two days later.

ANYWAYS, after hemming and hawing for a good ten minutes, I decided on Maybelline's Mineral Power Concealer in fair (0-1). It claims to have "Healthy perfecting coverage" and "creamy texture" that's "never cakey or heavy".

I wore it today, and as some one who has tried many different concealers, I can confidently say that for me, this is the best one I have used. It lasted all day with only very minimal touch ups, it blended amazingly with my skin tone, it wasn't too heavy and I barely noticed.

I'm not going to go so far as to say I have found the Holy Grail of concealers, because I don't believe their is one*, but I may have found a concealer I will stick with for a while.

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

* Since everyone's skin is different, there can be no concealer that will be perfect for everyone.

PS: Virtual cookies if you go check out Exposure Extraordinaire, my new photography blog!

Product Review: Suncoat Water-Based Nail Polish

Look! This post contains actual content. Go on, faint from the shock, I'll wait.

A few weeks back, my wonderful mummy picked up a bottle of Suncoat Nail Polish for me. As older readers know, my mother has a thing against nail polish. I first heard of this water-based nail polish when Fin (the most stylish, and still straight guy I know), saw an article in his local newspaper, and sent me the link. He then went on to be a huge suck up when my mother said that she would have to go over the ingredients carefully, but that's another story.

Anyways, one Saturday a few weeks ago, she came home with this:

A bottle of Peacock blue, and a bottle of top coat. It goes without saying that I had electric blue fingers within minutes. I actually loved the colour so much that I decided to do a theme week: blue. I wanted to review this product to finish off the theme week, but time just got away from me. That seems to be happening a bit too much lately, come to think of it. Anyways, here are my thoughts on Suncoat water based nail polish:

Application: Fairly nice, a bit fussy. I found that three super thin coats plus a coat of top coat worked well, but it took a while.

Colour: LOVE! This colour is so gorgeous, I absolutely love it. It has little specks of glitter, and three this coats give gloriously opaque coverage. The top coat is great too, shiny but completely clear.

Survival: Fairly good. Apart from a few small chips, it lasted about four days. The major chips began, an I couldn't help picking it off. That four days of wearing may vary though, I am hard on my nails, they have to put up with: frequent hot glue incidents, jewelry clasps, hair, zippers, lots of typing, ect.

Over all: I liked this product, Not something I would wear all the time, too high maintenance, but I definitely like it. The price is pretty steep ( I think mine cost 13$ a bottle), but I might buy another bottle, red I think. All in all, it is fun, and I liked it.

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

(When I reviewed Sula Paint&Peel Nail Polish, several of you asked why my mother (who is a biochemist) is against normal nail polish. This is her answer: "The solvents ( the products that keep it liquid then dry away). Most of them cause cancer, when placed on lab animals. People say that you are just putting it on nails, dead tissue, but it soaks in." And yes, that is exactly what she said, word for word. )

(I am not in anyway connected to Suncoat, I just like this nail polish)

Product Review: Sula Paint & Peel Nail Polish

Here's the deal: my mother is a biochemist, and vehemently opposed to nail polish. This left me searching other options, and I found Sula Paint & Peel.

I got a bottle of perfect pink for 10$, and eagerly headed home to try it out. Usually, I try and only be positive on this blog, but this is an extreme case. I hated this stuff!

Reasons:

1. It is really thick, and hard to apply evenly.
2. It dries really quickly, which is good, but it dries so quickly that it is hard to get a coat without huge lumps.
3. It call's itself paint and peel, and it really is. Within a minute of it going on, you can peel it of. And It really does peel. Don't attempt getting dressed, opening a purse, or moving a hair. It gets snagged, then it looks terrible, and you have to peel off the entire nail.
4. There is nothing you can do to combat this. Using a polish that I know works wonderfully on it's own, I have experimented with top coat, bottom coat, both, all possible combinations.

My quest for a health safe, functional nail polish continues!

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

PS: Don't forget to check the sidebar for all the different ways to follow the blog, and my twitter feed!

St. Trinian's: A Movie Review

Seeing as I haven't worn, done, or thought anything at all stylish in the past week, I decided that today's post would be about a movie I recently watched, and enjoyed very much.

Usually, when I watch a movie and enjoy, I write it down on a list in my head, to be watched again sometime down the road, when I don't know what to watch. With St. Trinian's, I watched it again, and then a third time, within a week. Yeah, I liked it that much.

One of the things I liked a lot about St. Trinian's was the fact that while the characters are total caricatures, they are still the sort of people I would want to go to school with. I love my friends, but I think I would fit right in at St. Trinian's. So, for me, cool characters was a definite plus here.

Another thing I really liked was the sheer craziness of the whole movie. The whole plot is just so out there and sort of random, that it is a really fun movie.

Third point of awesomeness: the soundtrack is awesome. I discovered a whole bunch of british artists who I really love now while watching this movie. I totally plan on buying the soundtrack, and CDs by some of the artist who are involved.

What are you waiting for? Watch! I highly doubt that you will regret it.

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

Also, good job if you made the connection to the Just Your Everyday... post from a few weeks back, Just Your Everyday Kelly from St. Trinian's. Virtual cookies to you for having a good memory and actually remembering my ramblings!

Product Review: Maybelline Define-A-Lash Washable Lengthening Mascara

When it comes to mascara, I have an on again off again relation with it. Sometimes I wear it, sometimes I won't. When I do decide to wear it though, this is always my choice:

Maybelline Define-A-Lash Washable Lengthening Mascara.

My reasons:

1. It really is lengthening, and thickening.
2. It does actually go on clump free. Really.
3. The Very Black is just that. Very Black. Which, when it comes to mascara, is always a good thing.
4. It may call itself Washable, but this stuff doesn't budge till you wash it off. Really. Tears, rain, sweat, this stuff can take it all.
5. However, when you do want to wash it off, it doesn't present a struggle. Almost like it knows when to leave.

(I am not in any way affiliated with Maybelline, and I am not payed in any way to promote this product. I am just a rabid fan.)

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

PS: Don't forget to check the sidebar for all the different ways to follow the blog, and my twitter feed!

Product Review: Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer

This past week was my first week back at school after my summer holidays, and my entire head is reflecting it. During the summer, I don't wear make up most days, because I spend a lot of my summer working from home, babysitting. I don't put mouse in my hair. I don't wear contacts. So my face and hair are still adjusting to the somewhat harsher treatment, and the subsequent care. My lips aren't though. And this is why:

This is one of the only products I will put on my lips. Why? Because it is 100% natural, and the ingredients are things that make neither me, nor my biochemist mother cringe. An average woman inadvertently eats something like 26 tubes of lipstick in her life. And while the ingredients in normal lipsticks are supposedly safe, I am still skeptical. Anyways, I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, I'm just telling you one of the reasons this is one of the only things that goes on my lips.

Another reason: I love the colours it makes on my lips! This product has a somewhat sheer, but still very tinted colour.

A third reason why I wear this lip gloss/shimmer: instead of being neutral or drying, it really does nourish your lips. One of my awesome friends, who had struggled with dry lips every winter for years, saw this and decided to buy it because, as she said "This is what Rosie uses, and she never has chapped lips." Ever she didn't have any trouble either, once she started using it.

The only draw back to this product is that you have to remember not to re-apply too frequently, or you get an awkward build up.

Other than that though, this is pretty close to being the holy grail of lip shimmers/glosses.

If you have decided that you absolutely must try this, you can find out more about Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer here, and find a store near you here. (I do not actually live in New York, it was just the first place that came to mind.)

(photo from here)

(I am not in any way affiliated with Burt's Bees, and I am not payed in any way to promote this product. I am just a rabid fan.)

Thoughts? Requests?

Love, Rosie

Website Review: Closetviewer.com

So, way back on May 11, I got an email from a reader named Breanna, asking if I used the site closetviewer.com. I had never heard of it before, but said I would check it out. 

Closet Viewer is a site that allows you to sign up for free, and upload pictures of your clothing, add details such as the season, size, type of clothing, ect. It also allows you to use the calendar to see when you wore something and when you are planning on wearing something. You can also see your friends wardrobes and send notes asking to borrow items from friends.

In principle, I really like this idea; however, in practice it is hard to get started if you already have a large wardrobe. Who has time to photograph all the pieces in their closet and fill out a form for each one. Not me, for one. If you are only just starting to be interested in clothing, and your current wardrobe is limited, this might be a neat site. 

I believe that this site would work better if it were like Polyvore, and you could either upload your own photo, or search for photos already in the database, as I believe that this would be much simpler and less time consuming. 

Product Review: Covergirl Outlast Eyeliner

I'm pretty sure this is the best eyeliner in existence that won't leave you explaining to the bank that you really NEED the second mortgage, because have you seen the prices of eyeliner lately! 

Anyway, I first bought this because I was eager to try the twisty kind of eyeliner that doesn't involve sharpening, and because the one I was wearing at the time wasn't working out. My skin isn't very greasy, but my eyelids are super greasy. My beautiful, creamy black eyeliner usually migrates entirely to my crease by about ten minutes after I leave the house. I wear quite a bit of black eyeliner, so I'm guessing you can imagine my problems. This, however, is different. This stuff put up with a lot of crap from me, example, a long day at school, then shopping for an hour, before an intense evening of dancing. Without smudging AT ALL! 

The second awesome factor is the price. I can't find exactly how much it costs on the site, but I think that I paid around six dollars for it at my local super market. Some people might say that this price is a sign of poor quality, but unless it's radioactive, of something, I'm pretty sure this stuff is amazing. 

The one possible downside to this product is that it doesn't wear well with eyeshadow. Try as I might, I have yet to make it appear black on top of any kind of shadow, be it matte or shimmery. 

Over all, I think that I would give this product a 5/5. 

(Picture from Covergirl.com, the picture is a link to the product page. )

(I am not being paid to sell this product, I just really like it.)