Holiday travel: Do you need a special skincare regimen?

December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 ~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

We always get these kinds of travel tips. But the actual useful ones? Read on! (image from theguytravel.com)

I haven’t been travelling much lately since I’ve been busy with a lot of side projects. But when I look back at my travels all over the world, one thing links them: How do you arrive at your destination looking fresh, happy, and rejuvenated? When I was twenty, I really could enter a plane and leave with perfect skin having done nothing. Now that I am a bit older (just a bit), if I do nothing, I will have puffy eyes and dull skin after a trip. It is a mystery why traveling on a moving vehicle brings out the worst in skin: namely bloating, dehydrated skin, eye bags, and water retention. There is something about riding on a bus/plane/train that does this. And every gal needs a plan to combat this. Arriving at your destination looking well rested and fresh is important. I want whoever is picking me up to be impressed. Here are my tried and true tips for minimizing the damages of travel.

Do these steps during your trip on a plane/bus/train:

Hydration: drink water, drink water, and then drink water. It keeps your body fresh by flushing out toxins, and discourages water retention. Water retention is your enemy because it makes you look super puffy. Avoid salt, since it can make you bloat.
Tea does something: A hot cup of tea steams up your face, gives your body antioxidants and soothes stomach and digestion. It also help calm the nerves and provides hydration. All things you need while on a plane/bus.
Tone your skin: Toxins and dirt stick to your skin while travelling. Car and bus exhaust, recycled airplane air. They all suffocate your skin. Spritz a mister of spring water on your face, or do what I do and pack a bit of rose water. Put the toner on a cotton swab and dab your way to refreshment.
Moisturize. After toning your face, put a good weigh moisturizer on your face. I find creams to be a bit greasy for day wear, so cocoa butter and coconut oil are my go to’s.
Sleep. I can’t say this enough. Arriving at a destination sleep deprived affects your spirit, personality and appearance. You can’t think straight if you are tired. I like to use a sleeping pill if travelling over night to ensure I sleep on those bumpy travel routes.
Make-up: you need a bit. Travelling while wearing too much make-up feels gross, so don’t over do it. Just before you arrive at your destination, touch up with essentials such as bb cream, mascara and lipstick/tinted lip balm. This makes all the difference and boost the effects of all the hard work you did during the trip for your skin. Put in some hair salve to moisturize your hair ends.

Voila! Arrive at your destination looking effortlessly gorgeous and enjoy the holidays! You only live once so have fun looking and feeling your best.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 🙂

Gradient Lips Trend: All the rage in Korea!

November 30, 2015 ~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

I first heard about this trend two years ago when I was working retail with this girl who had taught English in South Korea for a year. This is a common thing people with a undergrad degree in the Arts do, but then most of them come back to North America somewhat jaded with job prospects and life in general. Anyways, so we worked together and she often complained about how ridiculous the make-up trends were there. The “gradient lip” trend was her favourite one to dis-credit. She said she hated the look of it, but I think she just hated cute ideas in general! But I digress. Basically, the trend involves painting your whole lips nude, then, just in the center, placing red so it looks as if you ate some ripe red fruit, and it had stained just the inner part of the lips. The motivation behind this trend is that it is supposed to look cuter and younger. So let’s put this to the test on me!

You need two lip colours to do this. Make sure they contrast eachother enough. The main point of this trend is nude coloured lips, with a gradient dab of bright colour in the center. — You need two lip colours to do this. Make sure they contrast each other enough. The main point of this trend is nude coloured lips, with a gradient dab of bright colour in the center.

Come close for a kiss! ha ha. This is how it should look. I don't know if you can see it. But it is indeed two toned, with the red in the center, fading out to nudey pink on the edges. Like? — Come close for a kiss! ha ha. This is how it looked on me. I don’t know if you can see it. But it is indeed two toned, with the red in the center, fading out to nudey pink on the edges. Like?

How I find this look:

I can see why it might be a trend in Korea. There is something very natural about this red in the center lip…because that is where lips tend to be redder anyhow. When I showed this lip trend to my kid, he couldn’t tell I was wearing lipcolour! Another thing I like about this trend is that it’s an easy way to wear a bright red lip colour without looking like you’re screaming “look at my lips”! It is more subtle. And that’s why I like it. 🙂 My tips for getting a more defined gradient is to do the center part bright red first, then outline it with the nude lip colour to blend and smudge it. What do you think about it?

Halloween done easy, simple and cute!

November 4, 2015 ~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

I have been known to make a big thing out of Halloween costumes. I participated in cosplay in the past as well as hand crafting my kid’s costumes every year. There is nothing more fun than making a whole costume from scratch! But this year, I wanted to give myself break. No dyeing white pajamas green (my kid was the Riddler once), no fantastical complicated face make-ups (I was a sugar skull one year), and no accessorizing to the nines like I had in the past. Just a really low-key, modest costing, costume requiring only store bought bunny ears. Boring? Not at all. I am going to don the ubiquitous rabbit costume this year, but as generic as this costume can get, I still wanted to make it cute, special and classy in my own way. Halloween bunny costumes can get so garish and trampy looking…so I have to reign it in with my own version.

The reason I choose the bunny rabbit as a costume is that my boyfriend already owns a tail coat, a top hat, and a cape. All he needs is a magic wand, and he’s a Magician. And in the spirit of being an enthusiastic girlfriend who likes couple costumes (kinda), I decided I will be his white rabbit that he has pulled out of his hat. So yes, we’re taking on the couple costume this year and walking down that road in dating. Ha ha. But really this is just going to be fun.

Materials for Costume:

1 set of store bought bunny ears: You could make your own, but it’s so much easier just to buy one for 5 bucks.

This is the only item you really need to buy, since making it may be difficult! Super fuzzy and cute!

2. 1 Fluffy, furry white sweater/top–There was a faux merino wool trend last winter, so you can find one easily still and probably have one!

3. White bottoms, tanks, pants, skirt…etc. Just stick to clothing that is the colour of your bunny!

Optional: Extra furry material. I lucked out this year and found a furry hat to cut up and make into a puffy tail, cuffs and neck tie. Can’t have a bunny without the fluffy tail!

It happened that I already had a furry merino sweater. So turning into a bunny was sweet and easy! I did make the tail though!

Material for Face Make-up:

Being a bunny is great, because you don’t need to spend a lot on stage make-up and prosthetics. Just use a good foundation, powder, shadow and line your eyes the way you would do a regular beauty make-up and add whiskers! Tip: Draw your whiskers not at your nose level, but slightly below, because that’s where the whiskers are on a real bunny!

This the the finished product! I feel that it was so simple, but still fun. And my boyfriend looked dashing as my magician.

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