First Impressions: CoverGirl Flamed Out Mascara + GIVEAWAY WINNER

So it is time to announce the GIVEAWAY winner. First off, thank you to everyone who entered; we really do appreciate each and every one of you. 

The lucky number was 3 and the third comment belongs to Ashley McKernan! 

Congratulations Ashley, we will be contacting you soon and getting your prize out as quickly as possible!

Now on to the review...

Today I am coming to you with a first impressions review of the new CoverGirl Flamed Out Mascara. I recently picked this up at the drugstore because I was running out of my beloved Lancome Hypnose Star and wanted to see if there was a cheaper mascara that I would fall in love with.

Product Info: As this is a drugstore product it varies in price depending on where you go but in Canada this runs at around $6.00 to $8.00. 

Consistency: I found the consistency of this particular mascara to be on the dry side and while this is not necessarily a bad thing, it can result in clumpy-ness if too dry and I did find that to be the case with this one. It definitely left clumps on my lashes and on the brush.

Style Icon Saturdays By Cate Featuring Miranda Kerr

So if you have followed this blog for a little while, you will probably know a bit about me and you may have guessed that I adore Miranda Kerr. She is the reason why I adore Rose Hip Oil and use it almost everyday. She has enviable skin so I always look to interviews with her for tips and I am dying to try her skincare line soon. Another thing that I admire about Miranda is her sense of style. She always looks great confident in the clothes she chooses.

Here are some of the reasons why I looks up to her style.

She Rocks A Good Skinny Jean

Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar

Fashion MG- Style

Harper's Bazaar

Business Model Mag

Miranda loves to wear skinny jeans and pants when she is out and about and she always seems to pair her skinny jeans with a looser fitting top (my favourite look) which makes her outfit seemed relaxed and casual and chic at the same time. 

Kit Softening Face Mask with Strawberry Yogurt

This week's facemask is the Kit Softening Facemask with yummy strawberry yogurt! This mask is pretty much what you would expect... it felt just like I was putting strawberry yogurt on my face!

Just like the majority of the Kit facemasks  I cleansed my face with warm water, applied the facemask, rubbed it in for a minute, left it on for 5 minutes more, washed it off, and voila! 

8 Books To Read This Summer

This is by no means an all encompassing summer reading list, but it's a decent start! I wanted to share with you some of the books I'm looking forward to reading in hopes it will give you some good ideas, so here they are...

8) All That Is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon

A historical novel and love story set at the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union, with the Chernobyl power plant meltdown at the focus. All That Is Solid Melts into Air blends the stories of various characters who are either directly impacted by the Chernobyl disaster or are struggling with life somewhere in Soviet Russia. There is Grigory, a surgeon who is called to the nuclear power plant to provide medical help, but when he questions the impact of the radiation the government is ignoring, there are dire consequences. There is Artyom and his family, who are sent to a relocation camp after the evacuation of their town and search desperately for their missing father. There is Yevgeni, a young boy who is a genius at playing the piano, but facing horrible bullying at school.

7)The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

Lucy grew up in mysterious circumstances: her darkly beautiful mother was only around for a short time, enough to marry and give birth to her, but she disappeared again when Lucy was only a small child. Many years later, her best friend Cheri disappears and is murdered... Despite growing up in the small town, because of her mysterious mother, Lucy never really fits in. Lucy cannot stop thinking about the two women she has lost, so she decides to find out what happened to Cheri with the help of a local, Daniel. Soon she finds out a secret that is greater and more horrifying than she can imagine.

Review: The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter

There has been a bit of a craze lately with alternative cleansing methods, particularly cleansing butters, balms, and oils. I think it may have started with the infamous Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish or the Eve Lom Cleansing Balm which are both on the pricey side. I received a sample of the Eve Lom version a while back and got a chance to see what all the hype was about and to be quite honest, I didn't care for it so I was reluctant to try another alternative cleansing form for a while before i heard people raving about this one. 

The Sumptuous Camomile Cleansing Butter by The Body Shop is a cleansing butter rather than a balm and different in texture and overall use. Today I am going to share with your my thoughts on this highly raved about product.

Style Icon Saturday by Meg Featuring Zooey Deschanel

Known for her cute and slightly eccentric style of dress, Zooey Deschanel has been a fashion trendsetter for the last little while. I've always loved her girly and 60s inspired style, from her hair down to every last dress! Now she's designing with Tommy Hilfiger, so it looks like her fashion icon status is only going up from here!

She has taught me a lot of vital style lessons like...

A bold choice of coat can make your outfit stand out and look polished.

Photo Courtesy of Marie Claire

Photo Courtesy of Marie Claire

Vintage isn't a one trick pony: whether you are going for girly, cute, or sexy, there is a vintage look out there for you.

Photo Courtesy of Style Bistro

Photo Courtesy of Style Bistro

Weekend Wish List

It is Friday so the weekend is pretty much here. What are your plans?

I love seeing what is on people's wish lists. It is fun to see what products and items people want to own. I have done one of these in the past, which you can check out here.

Here is my current wish list:

La Roche Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel

This is the only product on this list that I have owned before. I actually used it for a little while and then stopped because I wanted to try something else. Recently, I have been working my way through all the products that have been sitting underneath my skin cupboard and this was one of them. I rediscovered this and learned just how amazing it is at keeping my skin clear without being overly drying. I will definitely repurchase this but once I finish the other three cleansers I am working on.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith AKA J.K. Rowling
This book won't be released until June 19th but I am still excited for it. I love Harry Potter and I will read anything by J.K. Rowling and this books seems very interesting. I love mystery novels.

Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream
I have heard from so many people and bloggers, especially one of my favourite YouTuber's CarahAmelie about this being one of best BB Creams and it is a drugstore one so it is definitely affordable and I would love to give it a try.

Kit Mud Mask with Chocolate Facemask Review

The first thing I thought when I saw this mask was "This is going to get messy!" but, surprisingly, I think I'm actually getting better at putting on facemasks with little to no fuss now. Yippee!

It probably also helped that this facemask was so darn thick.

I'm a fan of anything chocolate, so this mask smelled absolutely heavenly to me. That right there was enough for me to purchase it again, but feeling how soft and nourished my skin was afterwards is the clincher! This mask also contains sea salt extracts to clean the skin, as well as shea and cocoa butter to moisturize. My skin was feeling a bit dry and this really did the trick to hydrate and refresh it.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald - Book Review

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitgerald by Therese Anne Fowler is the fictional imaginings of Zelda and Scott's life together, told from Zelda's perspective. This interested me immensely as I find Zelda a fascinating person in her own right and so much of the focus is often on Scott that I desperately wanted more insight into the person he was so enraptured by. I have been a longstanding fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, having read the majority of his novels and many of his numerous short stories. I have not read Zelda's work, but after reading this novel I plan to pick up The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald, where all her published work can be found.

I have always been facinated by Zelda and Scott's extravagant and tumultuous relationship. The pair were always drawn to each other as if destined to be together; they had an incredible love and fondness for each other, yet at the same time had explosive episodes. Their relationship was fraught by jealousy and competition, and they often made each other quite unhappy. There is a lot of mystique and glamour surrounding their extravagant and often frivolous lifestyles, filled with parties, drinking, and mixing with the movers and shakers of New York and Paris: the most influential artists and socialites of the time. I think this was, in part, why I found the novel so absorbing... It has this mysterious aspect to it because the Fitzgeralds (especially Zelda) are hard to pin down as being solely this or that because there are so many different and conflicting representations of them. I was impressed by Fowler's in-depth research and her desire to set the record straight on some of these myths. This book helped me find the essense of the two as individuals and as a couple as well as humanized them in the face of harsh depictions. Zelda, especially, has been painted with a harsh brush: as a jealous and talentless wife, a leech who dragged Scott down, and more. But in this novel you fall in love with Zelda in this novel, despite her faults. You admire her forward thinking ways despite her conservative, Southern roots, her desire to be her own person and to live her own life with her own work.

Style Icon Saturdays By Cate Featuring Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

So, to be honest before Pinterest I had never heard too much of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. All I knew was that she took Megan Fox's place in Transformers but you can find many fashion boards on Pinterest filled with Rosie's classic style and I have constantly been finding myself lusting over her many fashion choices. Although it was really hard for me to narrow down this post because their aren't really any looks of Rosie's I don't like, I tried my best to show you the ones I like the best.

She Loves Ankle Booties Just As Much As Me

Image Courtesy of www.flipandstyle.com

Image Courtesy of www.flipandstyle.com

Image Courtesy of www.flipandstyle.com

Image Courtesy of www.flipandstyle.com

I have been really into ankle booties this past winter and early spring. I even bought a pair but the zipper broke so I had to return them. I know that I will have to purchase a few pairs for the upcoming fall. Rosie loves to rock her ankle booties with some skinny jeans or pants. I think they look great and they make her long legs look even longer. 

She's Got Leather Style Down Pat

Image Courtesy of www.flipandstyle.com

Image Courtesy of www.flipandstyle.com

Image Courtesy of www.cocoperez.com

Image Courtesy of www.lamodellamafia.com

Leather is a very tricky thing to pull of gracefully and Rosie has proven on many occasions that she can. Whether it be in hot leather pants or a knee length leather skirt. 

First Impressions: Clarisonic Mia

I've been using the Clarisonic Mia ($145 CAN) for over a week now and I am LOVING it!

The Mia is one of the most basic and simple Clarisonic devices available. It is has one button and one speed. The other Clarisonic devices have varying different features including: a body feature, a timer, more speeds you can use (Delicate, Universal, Powerful), other colours and patterns, and different charger options. Cate, who has the Mia 2 which has 2 speeds and the 1 minute T-Timer, and I agreed that you really only need the essentials which the Mia adequately provides. 

I did have one little mishap the first time I used my Mia. Being used to how Cate's Clarisonic Mia 2 worked, I didn't realize the Mia didn't have a timer! So I ended up not counting and did a bit more than 20 seconds on my forehead. No adverse effects from it though, I just skipped the next nights treatment of my forehead to make sure I didn't overdo it. So if you are thinking about getting a Mia keep in mind you'll be counting!

How I use it:
I follow Clarisonic's guide which is basically this:

Kit Peel Off Mask with Cucumber Review

This week's mask is a little different than the previous ones- it's a peel off mask! I was very interested to try this one as I find masks in general to be messy and I thought this would be a cleaner way to get the same relaxing and beautifying mask feeling. And I wasn't wrong!

The instructions for this one were slightly different: Cleanse face, dampen face with warm water, thickly and evenly apply mask, massage into face for 1 minute, leave on for 15-20 minutes or until it hardens, peel (don't pull!) off.  Easy enough?

Unlike the other facemasks I have reviewed, this one is completely clear, making it a bit hard to see wear you applied it. Luckily I had just gotten out of the shower and had my hair wrapped in a towel, or I know I would have gotten some in my hair! But at least you look a little less goofy as you're walking around the house... just more shiny than usual!

{CLOSED} GIVEAWAY: Win A Signed Copy of "Our Interrupted Fairy Tale" by Megan Williams & Other Goodies!

Hello Everyone, 

As promised, it is time for another giveaway. This time we are giving away a signed copy of Our Interrupted Fairytale by Megan Williams. 

If you recall, we interviewed Megan via Skype a while back (you can check out that interview here) and we just recently got to meet her in person at one of her book signings in downtown Vancouver.  Megan so graciously agreed to sign a copy for one of you lucky readers to win. 

We are also giving away some lovely Vanilla Rooibos Tea as well as a mug from Starbucks to keep you company while you read Megan's awesome, heartfelt fairy tale. 

The rules to this GIVEAWAY are going to be slightly different than last time.

Here are the GIVEAWAY RULES 

1) You must be a blog member (This giveaway is only for blog supporters). There are 2 ways to join the blog this time. 

a) You have to click on the "Join this site" button that is on the right side of the site -----> 

Follow the instructions in the pop up window. 

or

2) You can follow us on bloglovin here. We realize that there are many of you who use bloglovin to follow your favourite blogs and we thought this would be an easy way for you to keep in touch with the happenings of our blog and make sure you are qualified for our giveaway.

3) You must leave a comment below on THIS giveaway blog post telling us two things: 

a) what posts you would like to see in the future.

and

b) what is on your current summer reading list.

4)You must leave either your email or your twitter handle in your comment. We have had a problem with giveaway winners in the past not contacting us back after they have won. We just want to make sure that if you win, you know about it. You don't have to write your personal email in the comments, we just want an email address that you have access to so we can inform you if you have won. 

5) You can follow us on Twitter and Tweet At Us with the hashtag #polkadotsblogbookgiveaway to receive an extra entry. 

6) You can live anywhere in the world. We do not want to exclude anyone from winning the things we give away so our giveaways will never ever be specific to any country. We will ship your winnings anywhere in the world!

7) You may enter as many times as you like by commenting on the giveaway blog post or by Tweeting Us.

8) Lastly, if you are under 18 you must have your parents permission because We will need to ask for your mailing address to ship the item to you so they need to be okay with you providing us with this information. 

This GIVEAWAY will run for 3 weeks and close at 11:59pm (Pacific Standard Time) on Sunday, June 29th, 2014  and on Monday June 30th, 2014 We will announce the winner in a new blog post that will go up on this blog. We will also announce the winner on Twitter so make sure you follow us there for any updates. 

Good Luck to all of you and a HUGE Thank You for your support.

Style Icon Saturday by Meg Featuring Clémence Poésy

I was immediately drawn to Clémence Poesy's sense of style when I saw her for the first time, outside of the Harry Potter films. Being French, she has a very Parisian look to her: simple, yet chic.

Photo Courtesy of Elle UK

Photo Courtesy of Elle UK

Clémence Poesy has reportedly said: “I tend to wear exactly the same things at night that I wear during the day. I don’t really like dressing up unless I have to. I also tend to go out to places where you can wear a sweater and jeans.”

I can appreciate a sentiment like this. Although I do get the urge to dress up sometimes, I am more comfortable in the casual and laid back. But that's not to say that Clémence doesn't dress up, she's a huge fan of Chanel. 

Kit Hydrating Facemask with Sunflower Oil Review

This week's facemask is the Kit Hydrating Facemask with Sunflower Oil. When researching sunflower oil I found it has many positive skincare links, including helping to protect your skin from the sun as well as antioxidants to help with anti-aging.

(Am I the only one who always gets facemask everywhere, especially my hair?

Doesn't matter if my hair is up or down, it's messy!)

The instructions for this facemask will be familiar to you if you've read my other facemask posts: apply evenly to a freshly cleansed face, massage for one minute, leave on for five minutes and wash up! Easy-peasy.

Sarah's Key - Book Review

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is the story of an American journalist, Julia Jarmond, living in Paris in the 2000s. Julia's whole life changes when she stumbles upon the history of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup: the arrests of over 13,000 Jews, including more than 4,000 children, who were contained at the Veledrome de Hiver for weeks in inhuman conditions (lacking proper sanitation, water, and food) before they were shipped to concentration camps to be murdered. Julia's life becomes intertwined with the life of Sarah, a young inhabitant of the apartment Julia and her husband are renovating in 1942 and who, along with her family, was taken to the Vel' d'Hiv and later the concentration camps. 

This is a very emotional fictional tale of a real event. I have always been interested in the Holocaust since I was a little girl and read Number the Stars by Lois Lowery and The Diary of Anne Frank. Since then I have read many, many historical accounts of the Holocaust, but had never heard of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup and I had to ask myself why?

It's possible that I have heard if it and have simply forgotten the name and details, as I was familiar with the French complicity of World War II. Likely it us simply that as a Canadian with limited time in History class to focus on World War ll and the Holocaust, specific incidents like these, no matter how horrific, just slipped through the cracks. I remember only spending one or two days on the Holocaust in highschool (which translates into two hours, give or take!). And since there is much to be taught about the Holocaust, not everything can be mentioned. 

Side note: I am not saying my education in Canada on the Holocaust was lacking, I had a good teacher who went over the main details and stressed what was important, read numerous articles, watched an informative documentary with actual footage from the concentration camps, and had the opportunity to listen to a few survivors speak. The point is, you will never known everything about everything, especially with a small time frame! 

In The Kitchen With Cate: Pineapple Onion Pork Chops & Oven Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts

Hello again,

Today I am back with another cooking post. This weekend I went out of my comfort zone and made something other than chicken (gasp!) and it was delicious. This proves that going out of your comfort zone, even if it's just food wise, can result in something really good and in this case it resulted in something quite tasty.

I am also doing two recipes in one post today. I decided to make a side dish as well that I found on the oh so lovely Pinterest (which if you don't follow us already, you can here).

The first recipe is for Pineapple Onion Pork Chops. I found this recipe on the site www.tasteofhome.com and you can find the original right here.

Pineapple Pork Chops 

You want to take your Flour, Salt, and Ground Pepper and coat your Pork Chop pieces in them. The recipe suggests using a Ziploc bag for this but I did not have any large ones so I used this bowl which I found worked well as long as you make sure to coat the pork evenly. 

Once you coat the chicken you want to lightly cook them in your frying pan until they are slightly brown. Don't cook them all the way through since you will be baking them soon. 

You then add your Pork Chops to a greased pan. Add your Water as well as your Chopped Onion on top.