REVIEW + Giveaway || What's Up Nails Canada Day Nail Vinyls

Hey guys, long time no talk! I'm trying my hardest to get back on track right now, but it's taking some work...

But that's not what today's post is about! Today I have a quick, short review for you and a giveaway for the first 10 people who read this and want these vinyls! Thanks so much to Nail Polish Canada for sending these for me to review and including me in their giveaway promotion! For more details on how to get your free vinyls, stick around until the end of this post!

First, I wanted to share my quick thoughts on these guys. I also ask you to forgive my atrocious nails; my new job (Starbucks barista) doesn't allow nail polish at all and I spent a lot of time washing my hands, using cloths soaked in sanitizer, and washing dishes, so my nails have seen better days. Not all of us can have stunning Instagram-ready nails, I guess. Anyways, here's a look at the vinyls I keep talking about:

As you can see, these vinyls from What's Up Nails come with 20 stencils of various sizes, as well as 20 maple leaf stickers. And as the back of the package suggests (and I'll demonstrate later), you don't have to waste those maple leaf pieces: they make cute nail stickers!

I love that this packaging gives you detailed instructions on how to use these properly, because not everyone has any clue how nail polish and nail art works. And in my impatience to get this post together I even made the mistake of not letting my base polish dry before using the stencil... So please... LET YOUR BASE POLISH DRY COMPLETELY... It will save you tears and nail polish!!

Once your base is dry, select the right size stencil for your nail size, position the sticker how you want it on the nail without any rippling or bubbling so you'll have clean lines, carefully fill the stencil with a thin layer of your chosen polish, and remove the stencil immediately.

If your polish wasn't dry before you put down the stencil, it will pull away some of that base when you peel back the stencil, which sucks... You can see an example of this below. Sometimes it is much worse, and sometimes (like this time for me), it's mostly saveable with a nice layer of topcoat. But DO NOT put on your top coat until the design is dry, or it will streak! As I mentioned, you can also use the maple leaf shapes as nail stickers, which you can also see below. You'll just want to make sure to remove any bubbles and that the edges are laying flat against your nail before you put on a topcoat to seal it to the nail. The package suggests 2 good layers of topcoat; I used a layer of my glittery base and a quick-dry topcoat, and can't feel the edges or corners on the leaf, which is my biggest gripe with most nail stickers!

I figured everyone would be doing some form of the basic red and white for their reviews for this promotion, so for something a little different I went with this magenta over a sheer white base, and I actually really like how it turned out! So don't be afraid to mess around with colours for something unique if you're doing Canada Day nails... if you have these stencils, you already have the shape down right, it will be recognizable even if you do it in, say, your hockey team's colours instead of red and white!

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If you want to get your free Canada flag vinyls, you can go to http://www.nailpolishcanada.com/products/free-canadian-flag-nail-vinyls-1-sheet-20-stencils-by-whats-up-nails.html and use my code: O3Y5CUGSOGP. The code will work for the first 10 people to use it. In the case that all my codes are used, there is a list of other bloggers with special codes on that page, so make sure to see if any are still available before giving up!

If all the codes are gone, but you still want the vinyls, or if you prefer spending money to getting free things, you freak, then they only cost $5.65 CAD, and can be bought here.

Don't forget to let me know if you use my code! I'd love to hear what you think of these vinyls; personally, I'm pretty impressed with the quality!

Thanks for reading!

REVIEW || RaspberryMint Lip Care Products || New Canadian Brand Review + Discount Code

Hey Guys! Today's post is going to be a quick little review of two Canadian-made lip care products from new Canadian brand: RaspberryMint! I was lucky enough to be sent a couple of products to test out and review, but as always, all opinions expressed in this blog post are my own and completely honest. And as a heads up, if the brand or anything I mention in this post interests you, RaspberryMint was nice enough to give me a 50% off code to give you, so you'll want to make it to the bottom of this post.

RaspberryMint is cruelty free, Canadian made, and was started by a registered nurse who is committed to hand making products in small batches using natural, organic ingredients and no parabens. If you want to read more about the brand, you can do so by clicking here. Now let's take a look at what I tested out myself.

Diva Night Repair for Lips

This stuff smells so good! It's a strong cherry candy scent, and maybe it won't be for everyone, but I love it! It smells like Cherry Nibs, or maybe the cherry scented markers...? Anyways, I'm obsessed! It's also great how basic and nourishing the ingredients sound: coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax, flavour, argan oil, vitamin E, and hemp seed oil. Only the flavour is a little vague, but I'm not bothered. When I first got this, it sat in a cold car for a while before I got around to opening, and it was really, really hard, but with a little warming up, and the warmth of your fingers, it melts quickly and easily and glides easily on to the lips.

As the name suggests, it is mainly intended for nighttime lip conditioning, since it is basically an oil, even if it does start off as a solid; the heat of your fingers and lips practically liquify it, but it does also sink in quite quickly, depending how thick you apply it. Of course, you could always carry this in your bag and apply any time of the day, there's nothing stopping you from using this anytime, aside from the prospect of of oily fingertips.

Also, this product is HUGE! I don't know what I was expecting, but it was definitely smaller than this! The tin this comes in looks more like the packaging for a hand cream or something, rather than a lip product. Here's what it looks like sitting on my hand, for scale:

All in all, I quite like this stuff as an at-home lip moisturizer, where I can easily find a way to get it off my fingers without making a mess. It smells great, feels great, and really does moisturize. I was skeptical that it could last through the night, since it is more slippery than thick or sticky, but if you apply generously it does keep your lips soft and comfortable through the night and into the morning. I'd happily recommend it if you are interested. It sells for $14 CAD, which is pretty good for how much you get, but don't forget about the discount code at the end of this post. You can find the Diva Night Repair for Lips here.

Strawberry Hemp Lips Oil

While I was testing this, I thought it was also from RaspberryMint, but with a little searching, and clue from some coupon cards included in my package, I found this lip oil was actually from another site belonging to Cherish, the nurse who started RaspberryMint, and this site is SteviaDrops.biz. It seems a little weird that she runs two sites with very similar products, but I've tested the products and written most of this review already, so I'll continue. Also, while I couldn't find the strawberry scent on SteviaDrops, there were several other scents available.

This "lipgloss" product is basically a liquid oil blend containing "coconut oil, grapeseed oil, hemp seed oil, and natural flavour oils" and it comes in a little roller ball, like essential oil blends sometimes do. A liquid oil product is a bit of a wierd choice for a lip product, in my opinion, but the rollerball application does make it work pretty well. You're never going to get a super accurate application, of course, but it does work to condition your lips. As an oil, it feels really light on the lips, but without completely soaking into the lips right away. You could work around this a little by dabbing less oil onto the lips and rubbing it in with a finger, though. It soaks into the skin quite quickly when blended. The strawberry scent is a little fake, but still more natural than the cherry of the Diva Night Repair. Overall, this is never going to be a favourite product, but it is nice, and I kinda like that it could be used on random dry patches of skin around your body because of the way it absorbs so quickly into the skin.

These sell for $5 CAD, and you can find all the available scents here, on steviadrops.com.

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As I mentioned, RaspberryMint.ca gave me a code for you to get 50% off your purchase from now until March 31, 2017. The code is GRAND50. So if these products, or anything else on the site, interested you, you can give them a go for a nice discount now!

You can also use the code OFF20 to get $20 a purchase of $50 on SteviaDrops.com, if anything there interests you.

Thanks for watching!