Shoe Binge

Trying to make up for lost time (or posts?) so I wanted to share a recent shoe binge that I went on since discovering gojane.com; an amazingly diverse and reasonably priced online shoe, clothing and accessory site. After seeing these beautiful yellow wedges on A.Co, I HAD to get them in Pink...... and then order two different pairs of heels....... then another pair and some flats! It really is like a crack addiction sometimes, isn't it?!

Top to bottom: Oversized Buckled Wedges (they come in yellow, black and white as well), Velvet Butterfly Caged Heels (these did come in black too but they only have nude left) and Faux Patent Espadrille Wedges (no longer available).

Top to Bottom: Play for Peeps Faux Patent Pumps (available in black & beige too) and Pointy Laser Slit Flats (only color left is this champagne, wish is really gold in person).

Now I can't wait for Summer to hurry up and get here so I can wear these! Here are some of the new additions settling into their new home; not the red peep toe pumps & flats as I just got them today at work.

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Must try: Green Tea Ice Cream

If you like anything about Green Tea or ice cream you need to allow these worlds to collide into one perfect dessert, Green Tea Ice Cream! I was lucky enough to be taken out for one of my fav meals today, Sushi, for my Birthday. For dessert I was handed this mound of lusciously refreshing iced perfection.

It may sound like a weird combination but the flavor is so unique and not too sweet, it is the best way to end a fabulous meal. 

If you want to try Green Tea Ice Cream out to see why I am raving about it, you can find it at any Asian Market in the frozen section. Or if you are feeling adventurous, there are tons of recipes on Pinterest to try making it on your own at home.





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Product Review: Balea Pore Strips

I am sure many of you have used pore strips before. I used to use the Biore brand religiously a few years ago. But I let that part of my "beauty regime" fall away for many years. No reason why, just didn't keep up with it. While browsing through Shopper's Drug Mart I came across their store brand of pore strips, Balea Charcoal Nose Strips and decided that I needed to give them a try. For those that haven't used pore strips before I recommend them. They adhere to your skin to take out built up gunk and blackheads; don't worry they don't rip the skin off. They are cheap, these were $5.99 and really easy to use.

So here's what you'll do:

Here's what the box looks like, surprisingly they don't 'appear on the Shopper's website -- weird?

1) Take the strip package out of the box and open it. You will find your strip, these are charcoal so they are black in color.

2) Wet your nose with some warm water. If you want a better result, hold your face over a bowl of HOT water with a towel over your  head for a couple of minutes. This will open up the pores nice and wide and make more goop come out. Peel the strip away from the plastic cover.

3) Apply the strip with the side that was on the plastic to your nose (the shiny side) and smooth it over so that the strip covers your skin completely.

My helper, he takes up most of the floor space in my bathroom. But he's cute so he gets away with it :-)

4) Wait for 10 - 15 mins for the strip to dry. It should be hard, like plaster of paris.

5) After the strip is dried, grab the edges and peel it off. Not too fast, that might hurt if you are sensitive on the schnauze. 

6) And there you have it, a strip full of gunk. It was hard to focus in on the strip but trust me, this pulled up tons of goop. Yucky but we all have it!

The Result -- My pores are clean and smooth and they just feel better than before. I liked these strips, they are definitely on par with a brand name like Biore. The charcoal makes them stick well to your skin so they are super effective. If you see them in Shopper's; try them out and let me know what you think!

Which Necklace to Wear with Which Top?

I came across this handy little guide on Facebook and wanted to share it with you. I have never really had any strategy to choosing my necklace; I think I kind of just go with the colors of the outfit or what I feel like wearing that day. Maybe subconsciously I take the neck shape of my shirt into consideration but I doubt it!. Sometimes I think no necklace looks best -- to keep it simple. 

This guide for choosing necklaces takes the guess work out of which one would compliment your top the best. I broke the collar shirt rule today by wearing a longer necklace rather than a short pendant as this guide suggests and I still think it looks okay. But if you have no idea where to start with choosing an accessory, these pictures should help :-)

Source: Polyvore Blog

Rule breaker!

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Third World Bazaar

This Sunday I stopped by the Third World Bazaar located on Mitch Owens Drive in Ottawa (outskirts) which operates out of an old barn. The Third World Bazaar is a family business that purchases products from around the developing world and sells them to the Ottawa general public over a six week period. They have everything you could want from chairs, cabinets, mirrors, scarves, jewelry  vases and any knick-knack you can think of. I have been going to the TWB for 3 years now and I love it every time. Here are a few pictures of my visit -- no I didn't buy anything but I sure wanted to!

If you live in the Ottawa area, I highly suggest you check it out. If you aren't into furniture you can just relax outside and visit the local food stands. I had some wonderful Samosas from the Indian food stand -- shopping makes me hungry! They also offer hot apple cider which is a must have during the Fall season and you only have to make a small donation to partake in some hot cidery goodness!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Feel free to share what you did in the comments :-)

Dig It

1) Athena d'Orsay Pumps at shopbop.com

2) Lace Booties at necessaryclothing.com

3) Shirt Dress by Michael Kors

4) Kimchi Blue Scalloped Lace Bralette at wanelo.com

5) Sole Society Ankle Booties

Haven't done a Dig It post in a while so here we are! While browsing through Pinterest I pinned all of the above items in the effort to find similar options for cheap. I am also still looking for a nice Chambray button down shirt but haven't been successful yet.

Also to show the new sweater I picked up at Fairweather over the weekend, here are some Gorilla Shots of how I wore it today.

Sweater: Fairweather (new)

Tights: Lysse

Shoes: Nine West

Necklace: Chloe

Earrings: Colombian Emeralds International

Shopping #Fail

So this weekend I had a hankering to go to Target and spend some time looking through their merchandise for new Fall clothes (boots in particular). I haven't been to Target since moving to Ottawa so this was an exciting way to spend a Sunday afternoon, for me anyways, doesn't take much to make me excited these days :-)

So I do a Google search on the trusty iPhone and get the closest store location to me, which is in Billings Bridge. To say this is close is slightly inaccurate because I live at least a 30 mins drive from anything in Ottawa.

Once I get to the strip mall where the Target is located I see that Target isn't opened (all other stores were). Hmmmm..... weird? So I go back to my Google search and see that the location I chose to go to doesn't open until the Fall! ARGH! How did I not see that before? So since I had driven all the way there I decided to look around some of the stores at Billings Bridge.

I picked up some cute necklaces from Ardene, they were 3 for $15. I also went into Fairweather, tried on and bought a purple and grey stripped sweater for $20 that I desperately need for work. It seems like all of my sweaters have decided to die just in time for Fall - they are all pilled or have a hole so I may return to Fairweather to buy more.

 Super hero stance!

Shopping outfit:

Jacket: Agent 99 in Kingston, Ontario (old)

Shirt: Dynamite

Jeans: Rag & Bone

Boots: Nine West

Necklace: Ardene (new)

 A better look at the boots, I love these and will probably wear them out by the end of the Fall/Winter

Sorry for the flash in this picture! This is the new top from Fairweather . It is super comfy and will go with dress pants, leggings or jeans easily.

So for $35 I got 3 necklaces and a sweater for work, not a Target adventure but not too shabby.

I also had filmed and uploaded a new Vlog and then I promptly deleted it. Why? Well I found it too long and boring, I also say "ummm" like a hundred times during the video. So I chickened out! 

What did you do this weekend?

Order from BooHoo.com and 100th Post!

I am so excited for two reasons today -  and I am sure you can already guess why by the post title :-)

First, this is the 100th post for Planet MelMac! I know that this isn't ground breaking especially in the land of so many talented bloggers in the Blogger-verse (sp?). However, this Blog  really only started as a small hobby for me at the beginning of the year and now I find myself constantly trying to improve what I post and finding new topics to share with my readers. At the start I was so shy and timid that I wouldn't even post a picture of myself to save my life. It felt too exposed and like I was setting myself up to be criticized. But with the encouragement and inspiration of some amazingly strong Ladies, I now have:

- (Fairly) Regular outfit posts, I really should be more consistent, so I will work on that.
- Found new and creative ways to edit photos
- Acquired and started using a snazzy Nikon L320 Coolpix Camera
- Upgraded my iPhone 3 to an iPhone 4S to take better quality pictures on the fly (among other major benefits)
- Started a Twitter account for Planet MelMac
- Posted my first very short Vlog with more to come (promise!)
- Attained many site visits and connections with my series of posts regarding a Wine Tour in Prince Edward County
- Most importantly my readers have shared their stories and questions with me and that has been my favorite part my far (Office Divas have been a personal favorite)!

When I look through my Blog at the beginning of the year to now, there is a real progression and growth; I am truly proud of that. Thank you to all of my readers for taking a peak at my life and for leaving such wonderfully sincere and encouraging comments; you guys ROCK!

Okay, now on to number two. My order arrived from Boohoo.com yesterday while I was at work and I raced home to see if my Madison Leather Look Thick Leggings would 1) fit and 2) could I pull these off? I am happy to report that they did fit and they look fabulous! I love the look of the partial leather and I am impressed with the fabric quality. It is thick and looks well made. All for the price of $30 plus no shipping fees! Hallelujah!

My order had arrived! Boohoo.com included a great catalog as well.

 Love the way these look -  sexy and stylish!

Top: Vero Moda

Shoes: Nine West

These earrings will go great with my new leggings!

I am very pleased with my first shopping experience with Boohoo.com and I will definitely be a repeat customer. They shipped from Ireland so it does take some time for the parcel to arrive to Canada, but I didn't find that unreasonable, especially when the shipping is FREE! I haven't worn these leggings out yet but I have plans, oh do I have plans to. I felt strong, sexy and confident wearing these leather look leggings (if only briefly in my bedroom) and I will be buying more of them from Boohoo, for sure!

Thank you again for reading and I look forward to sharing 100 more posts with you!

Love,

MelMac oxoxoxoxo

Help I'm...

Happy Friday All!

I have a sort of confession to make, I subscribe to GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow's website that showcases all things Gwynnie. I know there are definitely mixed feelings out there regarding Gwyneth. She has expensive and superior tastes, her sometimes pretentious comments are off putting and her all around annoyingly perfect appearance is well just annoying; but whatever she's doing is working for her. I think she looks fabulous and she is more beautiful in her 40's than ever before. So for that, I am inspired by her!

For an example of some of the items featured on her website, here's a really cute tiered ruffled skirt featured on the GOOP website:

Looks like something you could get at Forever 21 for like $20-$35 right? Oh no, not on GP's website, it's a whopping $345! Yes, you read that right! Completely unattainable, pretty but ridiculous. However, I am inspired to find a similar skirt that is reasonable and still cute. And I did!

Once in a while GOOP features really cool websites and one that I really enjoyed looking through is Help Remedies. It's a site that offers quick fixes for those annoying little problems that pop up in our everyday busy lives and also mixes in some humor along with the their handy remedies, like this Help I've Never been kissed!

These kits are also reasonably priced $4 + shipping and can be ordered through the website. They come in cute conveniently travel friendly containers and you can mix and match to make sure you have everything you need to be prepared for anything.

Thanks to GOOP for featuring these handy little packets on their refreshingly different website.

*GOOP has not sponsored this post and all opinions on here are my own.

Vlog - Joe Fresh Dress Find

So, because my first attempt at a fancy edited Vlog didn't work out, I did a Gorilla Vlog in the change room at Joe Fresh. It's rough and uncut, LOL!

Sorry for the shaky camera and the weird sideways thing I do at the end.

What do you guys think of the dress? It was $24.99 and I think it will be great for work, even though I have too many dresses already :-)

First Haul Post: Beauty!

I have seen several "Haul" posts and videos on some of my favorite blogs but I never had the desire to post one myself. I feel like what I buy is pretty boring and why would anyone want to see that? But I like to view these Haul posts by other bloggers to see if there are any products I might like to try or to get inspired, so.....here we are. My first Haul post! Yay! I am hoping to do a video to accompany this as well later this week so stay tuned for that (that will also be a first for me, yikes!)

I have really toned down my shopping over the last few years, I used to spend way to much $$ on random trips to Shopper's Drug Mart to buy stuff I really don't need. Then it ends up cluttering my space and I LOATHE that. However, I had a ton of Shopper's Optimum points to use and there was a promotion this past weekend that if you used X amount of points, you got like $15 - $20 extra to spend. For those readers not from Canada, Optimum points are earned when buying products from Shopper's Drug Mart that you can accumulate to earn money towards buying more products; the more points, the more "free" $$ you have to spend.

So while in Kingston this past weekend visiting my Mom, I headed to Shopper's to spend my points to get things I really don't need. But it was for free so no guilt!

Here's what I got:

Revlon Lip Butter in Sugar Frosting; Bought this Lip Butter before but I didn't love the color, this shade is more me :-) It goes on smooth with pigment that you can actually see and it's moisturizing. Get's an 8/10 from me.

Olay Regenerist Resurfacing Night Elixir; I have used this before and liked the results but switched to a cheaper brand to save $$. Since this was freebie I will gladly use this again. It's a serum that exfoliates at night while you sleep giving your skin a blast of moisturizers and it get's a BEST rating from Paula Begoun! I give it a 9/10 right now but over extended use I am hoping this will help with my fine lines.

I have read countless reviews of this deep conditioning hair mask from Macadamia and wasn't sure if it would live up to the hype. I used it once this weekend and I wouldn't call it a miracle product but I definitely think that this works. I have naturally curly/wavy hair that I highlight every 9 weeks so it gets DRY and DULL looking. This hair mask made my hair feel softer, made it shiny and smells fantastic . It contains silicon  so that is what coats your hair to make it soft. It is pricey at $32 for this 500ml tub but most reviews say that it lasts a long time. That will be the deciding factor if I buy it again. Remember to only use hair masks once (max twice) a week, overuse will actually damage your hair! I give it a 8.5/10 as the product did work but I will need to wait and see if it lasts as long as reviewers claim it does to justify the price. I also don't know if I like the idea of my hair coated in silicon but it seems to work!

So there you have it, my first haul post! I hope to have a Vlog to accompany this post up by this Friday. It will give more of my thoughts on these products plus a couple of bonus products not included here. WARNING: I don't currently have video editing software (does anyone know of any free downloads?) so the Vlog will be rough and uncut! 

Product Review: Essie Nail Polish

Hi Everyone and Happy Friday! 

Like many of you lovely ladies, I love nail polish and having my nails neatly manicured is one of the small (but great) pleasures in life. It just looks....well, polished (pun intended!) Having tried just about every nail polish brand you can think of, one that I have never used is Essie. Being a Pinterest'er, I was always seeing Pins about Essie showing tons of the really fun colors they offer.

So while strolling through my local Shopper's Drug Mart I spotted a nice looking display of Essie Nail polish and oh look.... it's on sale! The price was regular $10, on sale for $3.95, I would be crazy to pass on a deal like that so with nothing to lose, I picked up a bottle of Essie A List; an opaque cream polish. According to the Essie website, this is an award winning product and has become a classic. 

I found that applying the polish was easy; the formula is on the thin side so that makes it easy to work with, especially when applying red which can get messy. The polish is creamy and seemed to set pretty quickly so you have to work a little fast, other wise you could get streaks. I applied two coats and that was enough to get the color where it needed to be. I didn't use a base coat but I did apply a top coat and in two days there have been zero chips. Not far enough in the wear to really see if this product is chip resistant but I have applied red nail polish before that has chipped the next day; top coat and all. I really like the color of this red, it is on the blue-ish side which I prefer to an orange tone. It is a true classic red that is shinny and will pop enough to get noticed. I have had several compliments on this color already and it's only been a couple of days. 

Overall I give this a 9 out of 10 only because the product performed the way I would expect it to but hasn't WOW'ed me. I would buy Essie again but probably only when it is on sale, $10 is too pricey when you can get a good polish for about $5.

Here are some Gorilla Shots of today's outfit where you can see that I am a little worse for wear, got into the sauce last night so I am at about 70% capacity today :-)

Dress: Le Chateau (old)

Shoes: Aldo (old)

Bracelet: Unknown (gift)

I hope you find this product review useful and if you are on Pinterest, follow me!

Tommy Hilfiger Dress

Happy Hump Day MelMac'ers! I wanted to start taking outdoor outfit pictures for the blog because I have a snazzy new Nikon camera that I am slowly learning to use properly. So I headed out on my lunch hour today to scout out a place to take said pictures with a cool back ground that would also offer privacy. Fellow bloggers, know what I am talking about; you don't want to be the weirdo talking selfies in plain view. 

So I drove, and I drove, then I drove some more.....then I hit a gravel road (I am now in the middle of nowhere if you can't tell), then I drove a little more to reach a dead end that was a parking lot for a hiking trail. Though not convenient this spot was private! So with bees buzzing around I managed to snap a few shots. Hope you like them!

This dress is a favorite of mine, I bought it at Tommy Hilfiger in the Trainyards (a box store plaza here in Ottawa). With the extreme heat we are experiencing, our office has declared that we can wear "Friday" attire for the remainder of the week to keep us comfortable. We do have A/C so I don't really know what the point is but I will take it! 

This dress is super comfortable and you can wear it endlessly -- for shopping, golfing or a casual day at work like me :-)

Before I went on my scouting adventure I stopped at my "go-to" salad bar for lunch, Farmboy which is also located in the Trainyards. 

How good does this look?

I used the Food setting on my camera for this shot

Let me know if you like this location for pictures in the comments below. I will continue scouting for a location that is closer to get to, but for now this spot is pretty and private. However, I can see getting to this location being an issue in the Winter months :-)

A Quick Out-the-Door Outfit for Summer

Yesterday I recapped my weekend of lazy sunbathing, a trip to the salon to get my hair did and a dinner out to Moxie's. I wanted to post my super easy and very affordable look that I threw on to go to the Spa where I get my hair cut and highlighted about every 9 weeks.

As we had incredibly HAWT weather in Ottawa this past weekend, most of my time was spent laying by the pool. To head to my hair appointment I wanted something comfortable and easy to wear so I turned to a bright yellow tank that I picked up at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago and my black Target skirt. To add a bit of style and interest I threw on a bracelet and some necklaces. Paired with some basic Flip Flops and VOILA! A super comfy and stylish outfit that cost a total of $48 all together, jewelry included though the bracelet was a gift so that was omitted from the price.

Top: Wal-Mart $8

Skirt: Target $12

Flip Flops: Fairweather $10 (on sale)

Necklaces: Ricki's ($10) & Dynamite ($8)

Bracelet: Unknown