You’re Invited: Birchbox in Toronto!

if you are a beauty junkie like me then you know all about BIRCHBOX. if you are hearing about it for the first time, fear not i will fill you in! BIRCHBOX is an amazing subscription based beauty service that offers to expose you to beauty brands and new products you may never had a chance to try without the commitment of purchasing the full sized product. until, that is, you fall in love with it and decide you are ready. in a nut shell, you try before you buy, you earn shop credit, and then you buy full sized products that are delivered straight to your door in packaging clearly made for instagram. sounds like the perfect set up to me. i have been receiving a couple different boxed for the last few weeks and it’s like christmas morning every time. in fact what a fun and different alternative for gifting! instead of yet another magazine subscription you can gift someone you love BIRCHBOX instead. store that one away for the holidays and thank me later.

to celebrate their 5 year anniversary, BIRCHBOX is throwing a customer appreciation event in toronto just in time for fashion month. i will be there next week to join in on all the fun, talk beauty trends and dish out some of my makeup and skincare tips and tricks (and let me tell you, over all the years of modelling it sure has become quite a library). if you are in toronto on september 16th please join us from 6-8pm at l’ouvrier (791 Dundas St. W), i am looking forward to seeing all the familiar toronto faces and meeting new ones. we have been spending quite a bit of time in the city lately and it’s really starting to feel like a second home. make sure to RSVP HERE.

before we get to meet in person i also wanted to give you a little peek into what BIRCHBOX is all about. i picked some of my favorite brands that are available on the site to create three easy beauty looks to transition you from day to night. holiday season is just around the corner, not to mention the current fashion week situation (plus toronto fashion week coming up at the end of october), essentially the need for a few good makeup tricks up your sleeve is pretty much always. the great thing about these three looks is that they build on the first just by adding and tweaking a few products so you can get ready in the morning and just touch it up when you are ready.

look 1: nude neutrals

this is my absolute go-to look. i wear this practically every day and because we shoot almost as often i’ve got this one mastered. it takes 5 minutes to do and is very low maintenance. i used the cynthia rowley ‘the game face’ eye shadow palette for my lids and under eye as well as highlighter on my cheeks. i like to use eyeshadow instead of liner under my eyes for the smudged, slept-in kind of look. i used the cynthia rowley ‘beauty on-the-go’ multi blush and bronzer duo for my cheeks to keep with the neutral palette. the great thing about this set is that it has you covered for literally any occasion. on my lips i am wearing the pale ivory w3ll people narcissist foundation stick, i love the look of really nude lips, to minimize the amount of product i use i will just apply the concealer or foundation i am wearing on the rest of my face to match my lips exactly. when i’m on the go i want to be able to bring as little as i can so this trick really helps take care of that problem. depending on the outside temperature, the time of year and my general skin behaviour i will use the w3ll people realist invisible setting powder to keep anything from moving around.

look 2: daytime glam

because we’re not always into covering up our beautiful features, it’s sometimes fun to play around with color. you don’t want to go overboard in the daytime with heavy stage make-up so this LAQA & co. charm school kit (i used the mixtape shade) is perfect. more so even that it also doubles as a cheek stain! for this one i used the cynthia rowley ‘beauty on-the-go’ multi blush and bronzer duo on my cheeks. this time i added the pink on top of the already existing bronze for a more feminine touch. you can do this one from scratch or build on your earlier look to take you for after work cocktails or dinner. i love this combination of sun kissed cheeks, nude eyes and a soft red lip. notice how this one isn’t a very aggressive red. i find for my lips the darker the colors the thinner my lips appear, and because i want to create that illusion of fullness i really love how the LAQA & co crayons give me the best of both worlds.

look 3: 80’s baby

this look takes a little practice and patience but it’s well worth the struggle. the classic cat eye is getting a makeover with this electric blue cynthia rowley liquid liner. the super fine pen helps you create these perfectly straight lines quite seamlessly. i did discover while i was applying the product that it had to stay moist to glide smoothly (especially in the times when you need to re-apply) but a quick dab on a makeup remover wipe does the trick. the liquid liner trio comes with a navy and dark grey, for a more unexpected look. i simply added the liner on top of my already finished lids. i touched them up after a full day of wear since i don’t want to remove makeup too many times during the day but you can also very easily play around with different colors and shades. gold would look spectacular with this look and couldn’t be more perfect for a night out. BIRCHBOX carries a line called japonesque that arrived in my latest package, their shade 2 velvet touch eyeshadow is another amazing option to keep things a little toned down. if you are wearing electric blue eyeliner you are already making a statement.  and finally for the lips i chose to go back to a lighter shade, a pink lip stain from cynthia rowley keeps with the theme but it doesn’t overpower the look.

i hope these were helpful tips on how to easily transition from one look to another by way of adding or taking away just a few simple products. i would love to show you how easy it is to learn a cat eye and since it’s taking me longer than expected to actually shoot a tutorial video if you are in the toronto area on september 16th pop on by and we can do it together! for those of you who won’t be able to join us make sure to check out BIRCHBOX and the endless selection of amazing products they have in store. we have a scheduled visit to the BIRCHBOX headquarters here in new york next week right before the event where i will be building my own BIRCHBOX so stay tuned. until then i look forward to seeing you there! xoxo