a manly OOTD : pink biker !

I like to mix and match pieces of cloth that were not meant to meet !

A pink sheer top from Le château bought 4-5 years ago in an outlet

Black straps from hubby

Jeggings from RW&CO : who knew that one day, I'll wear those. I used to say that they were ugly, not classy, ultimately uncomfortable and You'll never see me in those blablabla....Now I admit, I'd sleep in those if I could !

Pink boots from Payless : bought 4-5 years ago and so torn it's not even decent to wear them but I can't resolve myself to throw them away...

I couldn't resist posting this 2nd pic , even though it doesn't flatter my butt ( but hey, let's get realistic my future as a top model was quite dark even before this pic !)... So, where were we?....Oh, yes ! I posted the pic because my 8 year old is my photographer and said : mum your jacket is on the floor and you always say we mustn't DO that....She cracks me up...She is such a sweet nice tyrant !

And ready to go out in the wind (so cold today in Montreal !).

Black leather jacket from La City bought 10 years ago when I used to leave in Paris....A basic stays a basic, doesn't it ?

Pareo used as scarf : offered by mother in law (official sponsor of my scarf collection ...)

Caro-working this week end (but night off for Halloween night with the kids : yeah !) xxx

Blue brown pigment EOTD : Jangsara, my hero !

First , here is the original look. This MUA is absolutely awesome. She does make up like no one else : it's just ART and BEAUTY and .....Go and check her: you'll be amazed !

My pale copy :

Painterly paintpot (MAC) as a primer

Blue brown pigment (MAC) all over the lid

Reflect teal pigment (MAC) over the blue brown pigment

Plum from the Wet and Wild Lust palette in the crease

Vanilla dupe from the Wet and Wilde Lust palette under the browbone

Feline khol liner (MAC)

Volume precision mascara (Marcelle) in black

FOTD :

Annabelle skin true foundation

Annabelle Zebra bronzer

NYX Angel blush

Rimmel Vintage pink on the lips

JOTD :

big chunky jewelry in wood : hoop earrings and a big heart !

Caro-my heart belongs to my blog (poup poup pidou !) xxx

Greed EOTD : Wet & Wild palette

EOTD : Greed palette from Wet & Wild

Colors I used :

pale shimmery purple color all over the lid

black shimmery color : outer V and crease

peach matte color : to blend

beige matte (top of the palette) : Highlight

a whole look with a single palette : hooray !

Dupe alert again for MAC :

Carbon : the black matte

Black tied : shimmery black

Samoa silk : matte peach (but I don't have it so it's just a guess !)

Vex : shimmery purple-grey (again a guess but pay off is VERY bad so I wouldn't consider it a good dupe)

feline khôl liner (MAC) and Mascara Marcelle Volume precision in black were used. Nobody was injured in this particular sequence of events...

FOTD :

Annabelle Skin true foundation

Annabelle Zebra bronzer

NYX Angel blush

Brow-zing in dark from Benefit for the brows

JOTD :

earrings from ten thousand villages

little black Onyx elephant given by Vicky

First impressions on the Greed palette :

The bad : The pay off in 2 colors is really poor : the shimmery peach and the shimmery pale grey-purple . It's a shame cause they look gorgeous in the pan.

The good : ...But if you don't have Carbon (MAC) or Black Tied (MAC), it's definitively worth it for the price of the palette... I like the matte peach color and I don't have nothing looking like this particular color in my collection so it's a nice addition. The highlight matte color is interesting because I tend to use paler colors. I noticed that using a "darker" highlight was good to "warm" my look (in this case a very dark smokey...Nice find !)

Caro-dark knight xxx

Vanity palette EOTD : endless love for W&W

From the moment I tried those Wet and Wild palette (Lust and Vanity), I swear I 've been using them non stop. They are so versatile, their pigmentation is fantastic, the staying power stellar. My only complain is that they are harder to blend than MAC e/s. But I'll survive !

EOTD : So I did a pin up look with it lately : using the shimmery white all over the lid (Dazzlelight dupe IMO). The crease color is the medium matte brown. Highlight is the beige-ish matte top color and the brown shimmery darker brown was used under the eye (easier to see on the 1st pic because on the 2nd it's completely washed out by my camera...). Liner : NYC black liner. Mascara : Marcelle Volume precision in Black.

I am so in love with those palettes that I bought Greed and Pride palettes this week end in addition to my collection. Those hues are less in my"color range" but I am curious to try them !

I also bought an e/s trio : "Cool as a cucumber" because of the beautiful pale green on the top. I am a bit curious about the fact that the word "Browbone" is engraved in that very green color : I personally see it more as a beautiful lid color than an highlight but let's stay open-minded !

Then I was enable to resist buying 2 long-lasting lipsticks : Think Pink and Mauve outta here. I'll review them later...

Caro-so sad the week end is already gone xxx

OOTD : conservative look for less than 50 $

Here was one of my looks for work :

White ruffled Cardigan : Joe fresh in sale : 20 $

Checked Pants : Joe fresh in "crazy" sale : 6$97 (the 97 cents is delightful, isn't it ?)

Black tank top : H&M for 5$

Grey shoes : Winners, gift from mother in law : 0$

Jewelry : left overs from Vicky : 0 $

So this was my "less than 50 $" OOTD appropriate for work!

Caro-with crazy hair courtesy of a dry shampoo from TRESSemmé xxx

JOTD : you know I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it !

As I told you before, Vicky , a colleague, wanted to get rid of "non trendy" jewelry. So she gave me loads of unwanted bracelets, necklaces end earrings...She found those items were too much "80's"....I don't think that it's a problem apparently ! So I piled bracelets like crazy : hubby called me Mister T all day !

Then, for the necklace, I got rid of all the "not so nice" items linked to the big silvery chain (big pink pearls, a cross and a weird circle). Then I linked the transformed necklace with another"plasticky" black necklace and tada new necklace ...

This is what you get as a MUA face when you let her play with 80's jewelry ! Sorry for the shiny face : end of the day !

Caro-80's were COOL xxx

OOTD : the 10 $ dress

OOTD : Sometimes, you browse the alleys of your grocery shop and between the broccolis and carrots you find that :

You do NOT find this incredibly sexy women in her seducing 30ies but you DO find pieces of outfit that will soon end up being published in a blog.

A nice little black dress for 10 $...The material looks shiny in the pic because of the flash but in reality it's a matte fabric very stretchy and incredibly comfortable.

I love the way it drapes over the knee : good job, Joe Fresh !

Then here is a DIY necklace (done by mum, thank you, mummy !) : she used those little balls that you throw through blowguns at birthday parties when a kid. She put those in a tube of fancy fabric ... et voilà !!!

Caro-sometimes a little black dress is all you need xxx

PS : nails on the 2nd pic are courtesy of Stormy (Revlon) : a true 3-day-wear (no chip, just a little tip wear....goooooooooooooooood !)

OOTD : Temporary secretary dress in summer

OOTD : another Modcloth dress from Bettie Page ! When I received it, I wasn't sure I'll keep it. IT felt a little too "costumey" for me. But hubby and kids convinced me it still looked pretty....I use the belt over the cardigan to accentuate the hourglass figure.

As I decided to keep it, I played the vintage role ad nauseam : pearls and "don't mess with me, kids" look !

Shoes are from Winners, Cardigan from Urban behavior a 100 years ago...

Caro-feeling like a modest first grade teacher in the 50's xxx

Monochromatic grey : SOTD, JOTD, NOTD...

SOTD : my sweet grey pumps offered by Mother in law at Winners. That's funny, there were moments when I went there I could never find anything...Now each time I stroll the alleys, I find too many cute items. May be because I changed the store I use to go to (very messy) to a very clean and well organised new store ?

NOTD : my yesterday find. The perfect dupe for Metrochic : Stormy from Revlon ...

JOTD : a big bold necklace bought for 5 euros on a market in Europe 2 years ago ! Nice over a sheath dress to break the "formality" of the office look..

to balance the overwhelming necklace : discrete earrings from RW&Co . Sorry for the wet and crazy hair !

I wanted to do a post on the "hit pan" phenomenon but it demands a little bit of work and I am in a "Saturday kind of mood" aka I read post from other bloggers, I don't write ! Haha....

Caro-lazy blogger xxx

Playing dupes : again !

Does this trendy fall color remind you of something ?

May be Metrochic from OPI (Sephora) ?

Comparison in pictures ....

With flash, the OPI looks a little bit more Mauve than the Revlon one (Stormy). In reality, I cannot see the littlest difference : to make sure I painted half my left hand with the OPI , the other half with the Revlon one ! It is absolutely impossible to distinguish one from another ...

Now I'll have to remove the OPI as I am allergic to it but I am so happy I found a dupe ! Plus, it is 3 times less expensive...Are you tempted ?

Caro-chic cheap xxx

a bad hair day ....(take II)

Haha I'll guess this is gonna be a recurrent post : my hair looks crappy so how do I cope with it ?

First step: you cry and damn your hair for the 7 upcoming generations at 7 am in the morning

2nd : you struggle with them 15 min then decide it's not worth it

3rd : you pick your favorite scarf from Zara, lay it flat and pull it on top of your head

4th : when you reach your under hair area (aka neck) you twist the scarf to make it thin

5th : you have the 2 thin parts meeting on the side of your head and you do a very rough knot

When you grew older, you get wiser so you save step 1 and 2. And your hair is done in 30 sec : more time for make up : et voilà !

Caro-worldwide specialist of bad hair daysssssssss xxx

a bad hair day ....

or a bad hair week ? My hair is acting crazy lately : no volume on top and frizzy like crazy in the length. So all week end, I put my hair in a bun and under a hat bought in 3 colors at Aldo last week. Grey for yesterday outfit ...

...Cream for today.

OOTD : a cream knitted dress, under my "rock star" coat. It reminds me of the "Almost famous" movie with Kate Hudson (the one and only film she was good in, if I remember well...). This coat is so old, the back is completely distressed (I was going to Uni when I wore it and always had a backpack....). Boots were bought last year at Sirens, Those stores sell horrendous leggings, jeggings and T-shirts but I was amazed by their shoe selection last year (particularly in the boot area, there were really nice pieces for ridiculously low prices...). Big glasses to hide a "no-make-up-day" are from Winners.

Caro- looking annoyed in those pics xxx

The Hourglass figure : OOTD

The weather was fantastic today so we decided to "oxygenate" the whole family and went to Mont-Royal park for a big walk. I wore an old Kookai jacket : you could call it vintage, I guess, as I bought it probably 10 years ago. It came with a mini skirt that once fitted my mini bum...those days are gone ! Then I bought that longer skirt 5-4 years ago and I discovered that the color was a perfect match to the jacket : hooray !

Back of the outfit, for you to see the hat. A beret for a French girl, what can I say ? You can take the girl out of France but never France out of the girl ! I bought it in 3 colors at Aldo : grey, black and cream for 3.99 $ CAD each...They are soft and big and lovely, I couldn't resist !

Shoes and T-shirt are from JOE FRESH. I am not sure I will go on doing my grocery in Loblaws where they sell that brand as I'll tend to grab something not edible each time I pay a visit...

A cute squirrel eating a peanut....Kids had a blast running around the tree where it escaped !

Caro-faux fur friendly xxx

True blue, baby I love you !

I had my "Madonna" moment here , remembering that I listened to this album to death when I was a teen

I am still enjoying my Wet and Wild palette a lot (Vanity)...but to keep me from boredom, I added a splash of blue on the waterline.

I used a MUFE pencil then I dabbed a blue Color from the Aquamarine NYX trio and blended with my pencil-brush to smudge the color under my lower waterline. I was a nice way to invigorate a neutral look without looking like a Barbie on crack (expression stolen from Robyn ! Hello, doll...)

The gigantic lashes are courtesy of Marcelle Volume Precision Mascara . I finished the bunch of mascaras that I gathered like crazy and went back to my old love ..."I feel good doudoudoudoudou" like James Brown would sing

Caro in a musical mood today xxx

Accessories, my love !

First of all : shoes ...of course ! I bought them 3 years ago in Payless (for non Canadian girls, it's probably one of the cheapest store to find shoes...). I loved their retro vibe but found them ultimately uncomfortable back then. I guess there are still uncomfortable now but as I don't have to run after a baby and a toddler at the same time anymore, I can tolerate them....The tag said 27$99 (I still have it under the sole of my shoe !) but as Payless has BOGOs all the time , I probably grabbed them for half the price ....

Modcloth : Braid the storm belt good value for this very versatile belt. As I lost a lot of pounds, a lot of trousers are too big now, so I belt them like crazy !

Who doesn't like free jewelry ? I am such a lucky girl ! Last week end, I was working and I was feeling all gloomy (I hate working on week ends !) ...Then I looked at my computer and a colleague had left me a note saying : You'll find a little box full of jewelry I am not wearing. They need a loving home...

Isn't she a sweetheart ? Thank you Vicky !

She remembered buying the earrings at MEXX. As a pure coincidence, I had a DIY necklace that is done with the same material ! I guess it was DESTINY for me to have those earrings....

Again, a little bit of Vicky's unloved items. I already owned the white bracelet but the 3 golden ones are a perfect match.

Caro-enjoying her cheap goodies xxx

Playing dupes !

I am ashamed of it but I must admit I am a little bit of a snob...I don't like that much drugstore products particularly matte e/s. But, I heard such good things about the Wet and Wild Color Icon Palettes that I had to face Wall Mart (yuck !) to go and see for myself. No swatches possible there, so I grabbed the neutral one : Vanity and the purple one : Lust. I paid 8 $ CAD for those 2 ugly big palettes ( told you I was a snob !)

Then, I swatched those little pans and decided that the beauty can all be in the inside...

Now the exciting discoveries of a lifetime : I don' t have that many MAC e/s but the pale pink is a perfect dupe for Yogurt (MAC) while the creamy white could easily replace Vanilla (MAC). I have many silvers, plums and purples but none of them are Mac so no other comparisons for the purple palette but my little finger tells me that the shimmery burgundy color could be Sketch's twisted twin (Grey's anatomy quote, girls !).

In the neutral palette , the matte pale brown is the little brother of Wedge (MAC). the shimmery off-white is Dazzlelight's (MAC) little sister and the shimmery brown is a warmer version of Twinks (MAC)

The snob in me let the nerd express herself : GOOD VALUE, YOU SNOB ! FOR 8 $ , you can't even grab 1 single pan at MAC and you have 12 e/s in here ! Shame on me ....

Swatches on my shivering skin : goose bumps pictures nicely , don't you think ? Look at those matte colors : one swipe. Pay off is awesome !

a moment of silence is needed, people ....No primer, no flash, no Photoshop : the truth just the truth, your Honor !

Caro-discovering new horizons xxx

the mother in law OOTD : trench coat and color

OOTD : an old friend , my Kookai trench coat (hubby calls it the inspector Gadget coat...humph, this man knows how to kill the glamour !).The fabulous scarf was bought by my mother in law and it warms a too conservative coat (I wear it over my black coat as well and the splash of color always makes me happy ....)

My Tommy Hilfiger bag, a Modcloth bracelet, and Winners shoes (again offered by Mother in law...Am I not a spoiled child ????)

EOTD : I didn't even bother to picture it as I wanted to achieve a perfect cat eye and failed ....I used the highly praised NYC liner (supposedly favorite of Megan Fox....) Well, well, Megan loves it but I am not convinced...

No more posts this week end, I'll be working both days...

Caro-gogo gadget xxx