I Can't Spare The Moisture

This weekend: went to Ikea with Nathalie to pick up new furniture, watched 1/4 of Le Divorce, picked up my Dad at the airport, cleaned my room like a crazy lady, slept too little, ate too much, watched Shutter Island and The Vanishing (Dutch, not American) with the BF, and thought about which lip balm is my favourite.

I used to love lip gloss, but these days I just can't be bothered. The dry, winter air makes my entire face feel so tight, and all I want is moisture, moisture, moisture.

There are times I want colour, and that's when I turn to Korres Lip Butter. It's $13 bucks and gives me a tint that lasts for a decent amount of time. Best of all, it keeps my lips feeling hydrated. I use the shade Quince (a medium pink shade that I'm sure would look great on all skin tones). In the past I purchased Wild Rose (too red for my liking, imagine it would look great on fair skin) and Mango (slightly orange, completely beautiful!).

Every morning, I use Vichy Lipdiose Lip Balm. I'm also a big fan of Rosebud Salve (the name of which had my friend Chris and his BF in hysterics for like an hour) and Kiehl's. I like Vichy more because using my fingers to apply balm makes me feel unhygienic. Also, I usually find myself realizing I need lip balm when I'm driving, making the stick form essential. Gotta warn you, the Vichy is kinda pricey at $16 (purchased at Shopper's Drug Mart). Totally worth it though.

What are your lip balm recommends?

While cleaning, I found a card from Nathalie that said "Happy 19th birthday! Can you believe it?! Next thing you know, we'll be 30." Ugh.

Need my sleep (cause I'm getting old),
D

The Lime Shop blog

Diana and I have decided to create a new blog just for The Lime Shop.

Check it out for updates on new products and the things that inspire us: crafts, foods, cakes, housewares and everything in between.

Thanks peeps and keep reading!

::: Nathalie & Diana

Spring footwear: Desert Boots

The inspiration: Free People's Desert Boots

My ideal spring wardrobe
Striped top, Elizabeth & James. Bag, MBMJ. Pants, Current/ Elliot.
Desert boots, Clark's Original. Silver Beaded Bracelet, The Lime Shop.

For the office, I prefer a 3.5" high heeled shoe. But for everyday, I much prefer flats - loafers, riding boots, sandals, and my new obsession, desert boots.

I first saw them on Free People site, and became obsessed. I'll probably shell out a bit more to get the Clark's Original at Get Outside Toronto. I just need to start saving...

::: Nathalie

*MBMJ, Elizabeth & James, Current/ Elliot pics from Shopbop.

Using your Lime Shop case

Ok, first things first - making videos like this kinda sucks.
1. I get why lighting is so important. Getting it to look right sucks.
2. Shooting a video without having your hands shake sucks.
3. Finally getting Nathalie to decide what accessories her hands should wear sucks.
4. Trying to sound coherent, when I never do, really sucks.

But it turned out well for a quick shoot (only three tries! ok, four).
And now you get to see our cases in action, which is pretty neat.
You can get one here: thelimeshop.etsy.com.

Hungry & tired & sleepy,
D

Scenes From A Mall

1. Unsuspecting lady gets her photo taken and she's being attacked by a Nike ad.
2. Diana successfully mocks the Olympic mannequins as onlookers shoot her concerned glances.
3. Nathalie refuses to line up to use the mirror, which is where iPhone cameras prove to be awesome yet again.

Scent of a Weirdo

When I smell a perfume I really like, I have all the symptoms of having a stroke. Scents have the ability to transport me to places I've never been and make me happier than I'm usually capable. About 2 weeks ago, I purchased the Tocca fragrance at Anthroplogie. It's a nice, clean fragrance but it wasn't the one I've been dreaming of.

I smelled the pictured perfume from Jacob almost a year and a half ago, but never purchased it. Every time I would enter the store, I would sample it and think how fabulous it was. I finally caved and bought it today. It's $30 for 30ml, which is decent. I wish I was one of those people who could talk about perfume like a pro, but I'm not. So I'm gonna lift from a Jacob PR doc that describes this scent:

"A cosmopolitan mélange of earthy delights, it was created in Provence by Jean-Marie Santantoni, an international perfumer from the prestigious house of Charabot who has created some of the world's most renowned fragrances."

My take?
It reminds me of a day years ago when my boyfriend and I were sitting on a bench, drinking coffee, both reading. It was kind of cold out and he leaned over and said "You're really weird and I really like you."

In short - it smells like awesome, happy times.

Nostalgic,
D

Fashion Gluttony

Why did I leave this shirt at the store? Helmut Lang, only one left, my size, perfect fit, ON SALE! Dammit!

(I'm not a narcasist. I took this picture because Diana was in the washroom and sometimes, we need each others approval. Or what I should say is, we need to justify our unnecessary spending to one another, in order to buy yet another grey silk shirt, or designer bag,or what have you. We need to justify the buy as special and worthwhile and to not feel like we're gluttonous fashion hoarding women... But most importantly what's with my right leg and WHY am I posing?)

::: Nathalie

Wide Eyed

I want large saucer eyes. Can you get this done in a cosmetic procedure? Ha - kidding. (Kinda...)

Take a couple of minutes to check out this blog: olsensanonymous.blogspot.com. All Olsen twins, all the time. It's where I go on the days I need a little inspiration with my wardrobe.

::: Nathalie

Ashley Olsen Source

The Gluttony That Ensued

I've been a bad, bad girl.

Have you ever seen the movie Julie and Julia? If not, we highly recommend it. However, I would advise dieters to be careful, because watching it made me go WAY over the 1500 calories I'm supposed to eat a day.

Nathalie had me over for dinner tonight (because a good bff always feeds a bff). We had pasta and lemon drizzle cake. Here's the thing, when people say 'cake' they usually mean a slice (or two if you're being bad). We took bad to an entirely new level and ate an entire cake between the both of us.

Now our breathing is labored and Nathalie's threatening to vomit lemon.
It's a good thing that I'm wearing a skirt, because if I was wearing pants I'm pretty sure I wouldn't fit in them.

With a heavy heart (and body),
D

Accessorize your iPhone with The Lime Shop

A small run of iPhone cases were added to our Lime Shop today. Check it out.

::: Nathalie

J'adore

I adore this outfit. Over the knee socks makes it.

Source

Post Valentines Day

It's been a busy and emotional weekend and somehow, for my own sanity, I've managed to accomplished a fair bit.

Valentines Day was sweet: a trip to the AGO, dinner at home and renting Revolutionary Road. Our meal consisted of seared tilapia served on Swiss chard with steamed carrots and pan fried baby potatoes with a light olive oil lemon sauce. Dessert - classic red velvet cake.

And finally, just this evening, Diana and I managed to finally get our Etsy shop up and running - thelimeshop.etsy.com. Similar to our previous online shop, Lime., we're featuring handcrafted iPod and iPhone (coming soon) cases, along with a variety of other accessories.

We would love it if you checked out our shop.

We hope you enjoy the rest of your long weekend.

::: Nathalie

Yulanda, we'll miss you.

Part of the reason this blog exists is because of Yulanda Yee. I met Yulanda online years ago, and gravitated towards her incredible photography and sweet nature. When she started her fashion blog, I sent the link to Nathalie who felt a connection to her style & writing like many all over the world. Nathalie and Yulanda became fast friends.

Yesterday, Yulanda lost her battle with lymphoma. I want to send my condolesnces to her family and friends. She was an incredible gal and she'll be forever missed.

I saw a note on her facebook page from a friend that made me sad, but it was really beautful:
"Take some photos there and send them back okay?"

We miss you. <3 <3 <3

Alexander McQueen found dead

Diana just emailed me: Alexander McQueen died!
He apparently hung himself in his London apartment and found dead at 5am this morning, Toronto time.

What a great loss for the fashion world.

When Your Eyebrows Make You Say 'Ew'

I don't let a lot of people touch my face. When I do, it's for a pretty good reason and up until a few days ago, I thought threading was one of them.

My mom introduced me to threading a couple of years ago, and found that it was a cheap and efficient way to get my eyebrows did. The results were consistent, until last Friday when the lady who did my brows did an amazing job of f'ing them up.

I was hella pissed, but the weekend was pretty excellent, so I've managed to chill out a lot. However, I'm writing this post as a reminder to myself and a warning to you guys.

1. If you regularly get threaded, ALWAYS GO TO THE SAME LADY, THE ONE WHO DOESN'T GIVE YOU AN ARCH ON ONE SIDE AND A DEFORMED BROW ON THE OTHER.
2. When it stings, say so. I just ignored it and realized when I got home that there were cuts above each eyelid. EW.
3. Look at your brows carefully before leaving. I took off pretty quickly cause I had somewhere to be, but now I wish I'd taken a good look. I definitely wouldn't have paid for this crap job.

Dammit, late for work,
D

Sale at SSENSE!

SSENSE is having a secret sale!
Type in SECRET20 at the checkout to get 20% off select items!

If you haven't heard about SSENSE, it's a great luxury online store based in Montreal. Awesome for us Canadians who hate being charged those pesky duties and customs charges (ew).

Sorry for the short post, being at work kinda hinders blogging right now.

<3,
D

Cheap Thrills

While Diana is a menace for luxury hair care, I could care less and would much rather do with what the drug store has to offer.

I went to Shoppers in search for a remedy to cure my frizzy, damaged, residue coated hair and came out with three products - Neutrogena's Anti- Residue Shampoo, Aveeno's new Conditioning Leave-In Treatment and Baléa's Deep Moisture Hair Mask.

Here the results for my hair type (long, thick, spilt ends, easily prone to frizz, wavy/ curly in nature):

Neutrogena's Anti- Residue Shampoo ($8.99)
Pros:
- It really worked. My hair was so clean and shiny after - like new!
- Great price point and since it's only supposed to used once a week, I could see it lasting a year.
- Frizz free hair! Product build up must have accounted for my former frizzy mane.
- My hair was so easy to manage after. Using the flat iron was a breeze.
- Highly recommend. This will become a staple item in my hair care routine.

Cons:
- Odd detergenty like scent that lingers. I could smell it on my hair the morning after my wash.


Aveeno's new Conditioning Leave-In Treatment ($8.99)
Pros:
- A little goes a long way (and I have a lot of hair).
- Spray pump design that's easy to distribute through out the hair.
- Makes hair so much easier to comb when it's wet.
- Pleasant clean scent that's not over powering.
- Highly recommend and would buy again.

Cons: None.

Baléa's Deep Moisture Hair Mask, exclusive to Shoppers ($3.99)
Pros:
- Ridiculously cheap price point.
- Leaves hair frizz free and easy to manage, even when I let my hair air dry - my typically frizzy locks turn into soft waves.

Cons:
- I like my conditioners to feel like conditioner in the shower. Do you know what I mean? That coat that goes over your hair and instantly makes it softer? Well this doesn't do that. It seems to disappear in my hair and as a result, I end up using more product than I probably should.
- Haven't developed high faith in this product. Would only buy this product again if I was short on cash.

::: Nathalie