Mereadesso - Face and Neck Toning Gel

A few weeks ago I found myself at my very first gifting lounge at the Stylus Awards. To be clear, I was working, but it was a gifting lounge none the less. While there, I was introduced to Mereadesso, a skin care line that boasts 'one step, one product, for every woman.' In the spirit of a one step process, even the company's name, which translates to Mother Now, is a nod to the time crunched mum who created it.

Linda Stephenson, the creator of Mereadesso, a chemist from U of T and a 22 year veteran of the beauty industry (MAC and Estee Lauder). But looking at her skin, you would have to assume she started working at the age of six. Nothing is a better business card for Mereadesso than Linda herself. Besides her flawless skin, this lady knows her stuff and doesn't hesitate to talk about it.

Let's be real, guys. When someone starts talking to me about their new miracle cream my brain shuts off and my eyes start to roll. I've worked in cosmetics and I know the reality between what is said and how it works. I am a skeptic.

So let's get this out of the way right now - Mereadesso is different. Within three minutes of meeting Linda, I knew I had to have the Face and Neck Toning Gel.

The Mereadesso girls told me about the globally sourced ingredients. The botanicals. The antioxidants. They promised me a 'wow' in 5-10 uses. I expected to like it but, again with the eye roll. I'm young. I take care of my skin. You know I'm not one for bragging... but I don't need that much 'work!'

Five days later? Yeah. That's a wow.

Pores? Tighter. Makeup? Lasts longer. Redness? Neutralized.

Just before I started using Mereadesso, I thought I had reached my personal pinnacle of skin perfection. I was wrong. I have never liked my skin as much as I do now.

Things I love most?
- Check out the ingredients list. The chorophyl is not to knock you out. It's to knock out redness. True story.
- I pump in a bit of my Anna Sui foundation for the sweetest, lightest and longest lasting tinted moisturiser. EVER.
- My skin feels tighter. And somehow, younger. I keep touching it to see if it's dry but it's not. It's kinda perfect.
- I'm so thrilled that Mereadesso is now replacing MUFE's elixir and Embryolisse in my makeup kit.

And lets not even talk about how cute their videos are!

My Kit!

And here I am, Friday night. My entertaining self, chillin' at home with a puppy.

The evening began with me cleaning my kit before seeing a client tomorrow, but honestly, there is nothing I love more than playing with makeup and organising. Break out the label maker - it's going to be a wild night. 

All finished!

After IMATS I picked up some new palettes.

Some wicked new brushes.

Makeup Forever Aqua Colours.

And my fav - Yaby Liquid Foundation.

Top left: 

skin palettes.

From left to right, top to bottom.

Yaby cream foundation, yellows; Yaby powder foundations, light

Yaby concealor; Yaby PF, medium; Yaby highlight

Assorted cream colours (cinema secrets, mufe flash); Yaby PF, dark; Assorted blushes

Bottom left:

A few liners

Face Atelier liquid foundation

Assorted glues

Inside the box:

MUFE HD powder, MUFE Aqua colours, MUFE Elixir

Benefit Shellac, MAC and Smashbox liners

Loreal Voluminous

Bottom right:

Colour palettes

Disposables

Left to right; top to bottom:

Assorted lipsticks, light;

Assorted lipsticks, medium; Yaby Dramatically Neutral shadows; Assorted pink-based shadows

Assorted lipsticks, dark; Yaby Pearl Paint shadows; Assorted brow and shadows

Top right:

moisturiser, nail polish remover, brush cleaner etc.

Yaby liquid foundations.

OCC Lip Tars

I'm really excited to work with the Makeup Forever Aqua Colours. I detest not being able to palette them but they are a pretty cool product. I picked up a red, pink and dark silver/grey (as well as the matching liner). I swipped them all over my hand at IMATS and kept showing Jessica exclaiming 'they really don't budge.' Which is what she had been telling me for ages.

A few people have asked me about the Yaby palettes, which I am obviously, a big fan of. To keep them clean I use makeup remover. Shocking, right? But seriously, that comes up a lot. 

I had other eyeshadow palettes but after picking up the dramatically neutral and pearl paints the others became redundant. And seriously, Yaby trumps everything in quality.

If you're looking to start a Yaby collection, my only regret is that I didn't stick to just freestyle palettes. Buddy-o Jessica did that and got 35 lippies to one palette instead of 20. The white space is pretty, but the thought of condensing my kit even more makes my heart skip a beat. 

I'm still trying out this new silver thingy. I love being able to work out of it and not needing to open things up to get to things but I hate carrying it around. I feel like a tool (haha - because it's a tool box!). Also, it doesn't fit on my bike. Chances are I'll switch it up come spring time.

By no means is this it, but this is generally what I carry around with me. When I need extras there is a space on the lid or I just throw a to-gosie in my purse.

So there it is. My kit.

Just can't get enough.

Of Halloween that is.

While scoping the ol' f-book this week the bf and I came across a website called Clubbing Republic. To sum it up, those people that take approximately 1 million photos every night at clubs across Toronto, then post their photos online for the world to see. Well, the world or the very people who are in the photos.  Bf and I are stay-at-home-rent-movie-make-dinner-types so the world of clubs are very very new/strange to us. We had a good laugh at all the ways girls have found to make costumes slutty on Halloween. Ie. Slutty Chilean miner. Slutty Swat Team. Slutty camo/army girl.

Anywhoo, what sparked my initial f-book hunt was to find the zombie girls I made over for This Is London on Oct. 30th. Here are the results. 

I only made over Randi. The blonde.

She and I both work at Blo during the week.

And lord love her for pulling off that Madonna bra.

I did the cops makeup. Not the blonde's.

Cannot for the life of my recall her name! 

Sorry!

I did both of these girls makeup.

Only a few went for the full zombie face.

The rest just did the ever present smokey eye

and some gorey cuts/bruises.

For the face makeup I used Ben Nye Character Cream Base as well as their coagulated and stage blood. I also busted out my trusty MUFE Flash Palette. I topped with a fine dusting of powder and finished with the MUFE Fix It. I also used the Fix It for those black metal boys. The stuff is like face glue. I L-O-V-E it. The lips were all OCC Lip Tars. I outlined all the lips with the black and filled them in with a variety of colours, depending on the girl. At the apartment, it meant that the girls looked like they had terrible liner but before they got to work the lips had blended and they had a dynamic lip colour with rich colour in the middle that transitioned to black. Wish I had a close up. Either way, give it a shot. It's a good look. 

xoxo

This Weekend!!!!!

Friends!!!!

I'm sooo excited. I love love love this time of year.

And I'm going to be honest, my shopping list this year might be pretty big. 

mascara spoolies

sponges

foundation brushes (I'm always searching for best one)

occ compressor!!!!!!!

MUFE waterproof pencils

And lets not forget how much Yaby I'm going to pick up. Oh lord. 

aaaaahhhhhhhhh. 

I'll be at the Yaby booth if you want to say hi and give me a high five and share a pepsi (one can, two straws!).

xoxo,

a.