Monthly Favourites: May 2014

May was a whirlwind of a month over here at Facepalm base (aka the comfy overstuffed couch in my living room); this month I returned to school after a five year hiatus - I do not remembering being a student being so difficult! How do normal people juggle work, school and having a social life?! With that being said there's been some awesome discoveries this month, particularly in the skin care department!

Fragrance

Molecule 01 by Escentric Molecules. I got it! I finally got it! If you don't know what I'm so excited about you clearly haven't read this post yet! Pete, my amazing boyfriend got this for me as a birthday gift and I have been wearing it non-stop since. It's a really unique fragrance, more of a social experiment than a perfume but it layers amazingly with all of my other fragrances.

During a recent trip to Sephora with a girlfriend she was adamant that a smell a little rollerball from a company I'd never heard of and never given a second glance to before but holy hell am I glad she was so adamant! Vanille Coco by Comptoir Sud Pacifique is AMAZING! Seriously guys, it's like vanilla sugar and coconut had a baby; a sexy. sexy baby. The only was I can explain this fragrance without getting a little too risqué is to say it's like a romp through your wildest fantasies. With a shirtless Ryan Gosling by your side...

Skincare

Between work and school work I've had a hard time unwinding at the end of the day but Aromatherapy Associates Relax Body and Massage Oil has definitely been helping with this. I make my self a nice hot cuppa and slather my body in this wonderfully relaxing oil and curl up with a book (or Netflix if my brain is fried post studying) and have a little me time at the end of a hectic day.

Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel has been my saviour this month, I wrote a review on it here so I won't go too much into detail but I love it so much I've added the Oskia Renaissance Mask and Oskia Micro Exfoliating Balm to my Cult Beauty wishlist!

Lavanille's The Healthy Deodorant; armpits have skin so this is part of skincare, right?! I know like it seems like a bit of a random thing to have in my monthly favourites but this stuff is seriously awesome. I'm not really a sweaty person so I steer clear of antiperspirants (also, the thought of something stopping my body from what it is designed to naturally do kinda freaks me out) and this deodorant has filled the void in my underarms life. My armpits are super soft and wonderfully scented now, just in case you were wondering!

With all of the late night studying sessions and early mornings for work I figured it was time to pull double duty; I've been applying My Beauty Diary Dark Circles Intensive Eye Care Masks in the evenings and leaving them on while I study and so far the lack of sleep hasn't been showing in the mornings!

Bits and Bobs

Life: My birthday was on May 1st and I had a week full of celebrations with friends and family including dinner with my closest friends at my favourite local vegetarian restaurant Padmanadi's and a super cute Betsey Johnson watch from my mother!

Tea of the Month: Pomegranate & Acai Berry Tea Lemonade (mix 1/3 cup lemon juice with 6 cups of brewed Pomegranate Rooibos & Acai Berry Tea by The English Tea Company, sweetened to taste and served over ice) 

Book of the Month: This will probably be my last book of the month for a while as reading for pleasure is quickly becoming a thing of the past unfortunately. This month I re-read an old favourite that I read annually; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, no matter how many times I've read it I always find myself completely engrossed and moved by the book.

Netflix Obession of the Month: North & South, I binged watched this mini-series not once, not twice but THREE times during this month it was so good. I won't go into too much details as not to ruin anything but let's just say it's yet another British period drama and if you like Austen you'll love this romance filled mini-series.

Blogger/Vlogger of the Month: So my blogger/vlogger of the month is usually a beauty account but I recently stumbled upon SmarterEveryDay on YouTube and I'm hooked! Destin from SmarterEveryDay takes scientific principles that are usually quite dry and hard to understand and makes them easy and interesting (see: slow motion cats and How Houdini died)

Monthly Dose of Crazy Dog Lady:

I've been informed that for being the crazy dog lady that I am my mutts never seem to make it on the blog; so the newest addition to monthly favourites is the best dog photos of the month!

Meet the Mutts: Joe is my big boy, he is a 3 year old Rottie X that I adopted from Second Chance Animal Rescue Society back in July of 2011 and Reece is my little trouble maker. She is a 2 year old Pitbull X that first came to me as an emergency foster  back in October of 2012 while I was fostering dogs for Whitecourt Homeless Animal Rescue Foundation, her and Joe bonded immediately. She had Parvo and got really sick and spent awhile at the vet trying to fight the deadly virus off. Joe paced listlessly while she was gone; when she came home, she never left again.

What have you lovelies been loving this month?

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Molecule 01: Science Meets Beauty

You may remember my Top 10: Wishlist Items post from back in March where I shared my most lust-worthy items; since that post I've been gradually making my way through that list, treating myself every now and then to a more luxurious item but try as I might I could not find anyone that would ship Escentric Molecules: Molecule 01 to Canada. Imagine my surprise when I opened my birthday gift from Pete then and low and behold in that massive cardboard box filled with tissue paper there was a little black box nestled safely inside.

Eccentric Molecules: Molecule 01 has been described as being "created solely from the aroma-chemical Iso E Super, traditionally a perfume basenote that adds allure to a scent, which works as more of an effect than a fragrance. The scent has a subtle, velvety, woody note which will meld with your natural pheromones, vanish, then re-surface after some time, making it totally individual and personalised to the wearer. You will rarely smell this fragrance on yourself, Molecule 01 perfume is more about the effect it has on others." 

The concept of wearing a fragrance you can't really smell yourself is a strange one but I like to think of this perfume as more of a social experiment than anything else; I've made many friends and family try it on just I can smell it and it honestly smells so different on everyone, always warm and slightly musky but still unique.

I was wearing this to work one day and had a rather interesting reaction; one co-worker said that my perfume was a bit strong and another co-worker standing right beside her said she couldn't smell it at all, meanwhile I had clients all day complimenting me and asking what I was wearing.

All in all, this isn't a fragrance I wear every day because I do enjoy being able to smell my fragrance but I do love this so much, I'm curious how it would pair with another scent as well so I'll report back my findings on that after some experimenting!