If you live in Canada, or basically anywhere that isn't the United States, then you'll probably understand the struggles of online shopping. Shipping internationally isn't cheap, and after conversion of the dollar, shipping costs, and sometimes even duties, it almost isn't worth it to shop online at all.

I scoured the internet for the cheapest stamping mat I could possibly find. I really had my heart set on the Simply Neat Miracle Mat by Bliss Kiss, but it just wasn't a good financial decision for me. After adding it to my cart and going through the checkout process to figure out how much it would cost with shipping, it came to $34.72 USD. Which isn't entirely bad... But when you work conversion into this equation, that's about $46 CAD. Yikes! I am NOT paying nearly $50 for a stamping mat. Cue the as-seen-on-tv "there has to be a better way!"

I searched high and low for a cheaper alternative to the Miracle Mat. After shipping costs, duties, and conversion, I had come to the conclusion that I wouldn't ever shell out the cash to purchase one. Thinking I was doomed to use the plastic baggie method to create decals forever, I stumbled across the Fairy Mat on Aliexpress. For only $9.21* + free shipping, I thought it was too good to be true. And when you buy off of sites where the products primarily come from China, it's always a bit of a gamble of whether or not the product will be of good quality. I couldn't find a single review for this mat anywhere aside from the reviews on the seller's page. And when you're purchasing from an online vendor, it's hard to know which reviews are real and which are paid for when they're all positive 5-star reviews.

*Prices may vary depending on the seller and/or exchange rate of the current time.

I took a chance on the Fairy Mat, and of course by the time I had received it in the mail, Born Pretty Store had released their new stamping mats on their website ($11.97 CAD for the larger size, or $7.98 for the smaller one). AND, they also offer free worldwide shipping. C'est la vie, right? But the Fairy Mat from Aliexpress still works out to be the most inexpensive stamping mat I've found to date online.

Now let's do some math now boys and girls. My measurements are based on a conversion widget that I found on Google, so don't take my 100% word on these numbers, okay? The Fairy Mat is 33*24cm which is a pretty decent size for a stamping mat. That is roughly 13*9.5 inches.  The Miracle Mat is 16*12 inches, which makes the Fairy Mat a bit smaller. The BPS mat is 11*8 inches (28*21cm) which is smaller than the both of them. They also offer an even smaller mat that is 8*6 inches (21*15cm).

I was pleasantly surprised by the Fairy Mat's excellent quality, and I now use it all the time when I do my nail art. The mat is made of a bendable and durable white silicone, which has yet to stain from use. Any polish residue can be cleaned off of the mat with 100% acetone and a cotton ball. I've used it for reverse stamping which was very fun and a new experience for me. In the past, I used to create decals for my nails by using the plastic baggie method (i.e. you just paint onto a baggie and wait for your designs to dry, then simply peel off the design). I found that my decals dried faster when I painted them onto the stamping mat than when I painted them onto a baggie. I'm not sure why, but I'm blown away and will probably never be using a baggie for nail art ever again. If I'm not using the Fairy Mat for actual nail art, I love to paint my nails over the mat because if I make and accidents, it's super easy to clean. It also has a bunch of little stencils that you can use as guidelines to create decals, a little ruler on the bottom right corner, and two sets of fingernail templates that you can use as approximate guidelines for your designs. If you really want an inexpensive stamping mat, then I would recommend giving the Fairy Mat a chance.

Be sure to check out my video below! I'm still playing around with my Fairy Mat and all of the different things I can do with it. Reverse stamping is fun and all, but I've learned that stamping mats can be used for lots of interesting nail art techniques. I saw someone else do this trick on Instagram, but I have no idea who it was. If you figure it out, please let me know so that I can credit them! If you recreate this design, please tag me so I can check it out (@blondiesnails).

Matte polish is trending, and you can make some really cute nail designs with matte polish. However, some matte polishes don't last as well as glossy polishes, which means chipping down the road. And we all hate it when our freshly painted nails start chipping early. One typically wants at least a couple days of wear out of their nails.

Covergirl's Plumpify BlashPro Mascara, retail $9.97CAD Walmart

I recently received Covergirl's Plumpify BlashPro Mascara in Black from BzzAgent to test and review for free. I was super excited to try this product, as last year I tried Covergirl's Super Sizer mascara through them and fell in love with it. Since then, this mascara has been my favourite drugstore mascara and my every day go-to. I loved Super Sizer so much, that I got my hopes up and couldn't wait to try another one of Covergirl's "amazing" mascaras.

Covergirl wasn't lying when they said that the Plumpify mascara had their biggest brush ever. The double-action brush is supposed to create voluminous lashes from the base, but it's difficult for the brush to reach the base of your lashes without the bristles pricking at your lash line. The brush is created of a hard plastic with long bristles twisting around it. But the brush is created in such a way that the mascara's formula can't even cover all of the bristles – you can still see the original red colour of the brush that is present before you dip your brush in the formula. The brush is also so large that it has difficulty going in and out of the tube. While applying the mascara, the large applicator makes it uncomfortable to apply the mascara. One has to be careful not to prick their lash line with the hard bristles, and careful not to touch their eyelid or brow area while coating the tips of the lashes.

The formula itself though is good, which makes the brush the disappointing feature. The formula is smudge-resistant, opthalmologically tested, hypoallergenic, and washes off with soap and water. Removing the mascara at the end of the day is easy, which was a refreshing change as I usually use a waterproof formula that is difficult to remove. The formula does give a nice curl to my lashes, my lashes are defined, the formula doesn't clump, or flake throughout the day. The mascara gives a more natural curl and lift to my lashes, which is nice if I want a makeup-free makeup look, but I like having volume, thickness and oomph in my lashes. Because I liked the formula and not the brush, I thought I would be clever and screw on the applicator of my Super Sizer mascara onto the neck of this bottle. However, it didn't work. I spoke with another BzzAgent about the brush and she said that she MacGyver'd herself a new brush by using a disposable brush, some wire, and the lid that comes with the Plumpify mascara that you take off before putting the brush in. It was very clever, but I already threw out my lid and don't have any disposable mascara brushes at my disposal.

All in all, I loved the formula of this mascara, but the brush was too large and gimicky for me to enjoy. If the product had a different brush, I probably would have liked it more. For now, I can use one coat of this mascara to use the formula, and use my old Super Sizer brush to get the volume that I crave for my lashes.

*UPDATE*

So after over two weeks of using this mascara, here are my thoughts:

My thoughts on the brush hasn't changed. The brush is still large, too bulky to fit back into the bottle with ease, and the bristles are still hard and prickly when I try to apply the mascara. If you look at the picture above, there' a lot of mascara build up on the tip of the brush when you take it out of the bottle. This hasn't changed. I'm constantly wiping the tip of the brush off before applying the product. However, you can take advantage of this issue by using the stamping method to coat the roots of your lashes. Basically, take the tip of the brush (after wiping off some of the excess product of course) and just stamp the bottom of your upper lash line. It's the best way to get coverage of your roots without feeling the prickly bristles, and can give a more seamless finish between your lashes and liner.

The formula is still great and gives pretty decent coverage and wear throughout the day. It doesn't flake or get sticky, and my lashes are defined. However, there is not as much curl and length as I wanted from the product. I've never had a need to use an eyelash curler before, but if you apply one coat of mascara, use a curler, then apply again, you can gain a more optimal curl.

Anyways, I hope that you found this useful. Even though I wasn't much of a fan of the Plumpify mascara, I kept using the product to try and find some more pros than the cons I had already listed. After giving the mascara a second chance, these were the methods that I found that helped me to combat some of these issues.

If you're a nail artist, I'm sure you've heard of the Born Pretty Store. Born Pretty is a beauty supply store based in China that sells inexpensive nail art tools and supplies. Oftentimes, they send nail art bloggers some of their products for free to test and review in order to promote their store. And I’m no exception to the wide array of bloggers who have been sent their products in return for endorsement. It’s honestly a great experience to be able to try out nail art supplies for free. Most of the time, I really do like their products. Only once have I actually not liked one of their products (I’ll get into that later though). The bottom line is: Is the Born Pretty Store worth your time?

Written Reviews	20-100 points
Submit a Picture	15 (or 30) points
Submit a Video	20-100 points

3 Free Polishes:

This week, I received Lise Watier's HydraForce Hydra-Protective Comforting Creme to test and review from Glam Sense (Please note that I received these products for free to test and review from Glam Sense. The following review and opinions are solely my own.). I was mostly excited to receive this product because I needed a better facial moisturizer. I'm currently using one that I like, but don't quite love. It's a basic, unscented moisturizer that does it's job: it moisturizes. But if you recall, I'm currently using the Bioré Baking Soda products for my face wash and scrub, and it does leave my skin a bit dry. I needed something more hydrating than my current facial moisturizer. So you can see why I'm really excited to try a high end facial product.

The Lise Watier HydraForce Hydra-Protective Comforting Creme (gawd, what a mouthful!) retails for $45 CAD and is a formula for normal to dry skin. Lise Watier also sells HydraForce Hydra-Protective Creme-Gel for normal to combination skin. What's interesting about these products is that they use Gaspé algae extract to combat extreme weather conditions and maintain healthily hydrated skin. According to Vanessa Craft from ELLE Canada, the Gaspé algae (also known as Laminaria saccharina) "helps to reinforce the skin's protective barrier and prevent water loss." (read her short article about this 'miracle' algae here). Craft says that the Gaspé algae is a "seaweed found along the cold northeastern part of the Atlantic coast" that "develop[s] a highly efficient system in order to survive in [extremely cold] conditions. If harvested in the fall, it contains a higher active molecule concentration than at any other time of the year." I don't know about you, but I thought that this was really neat. In addition to this 'miraculous' seaweed, according to Lise Watier, this product boasts that 100% of women claimed that their skin felt more hydrated after use (this information is based on an evaluation for 25 women after 28 days of treatment with HydraForce).

Think the algae was neat? I haven't even gotten to the most interesting part about this box. With my facial moisturizer, I received a little device that plugs into my phone's audio jack and tells me how hydrated my skin is. It's a cute little gadget with what looks like two small, silver angel wings. First, I had to download the free Hydra-Detect app by Lise Watier onto my phone, then plug the little device in. When you open the app, you have five tabs. One is the main testing page, which is followed by tabs labelled Hand, T-Zone, Cheek, and Moisture Levels. You click the tab of the area that you want to test, hold the little angel wings against your skin, and wait for your phone to buzz and tell you what your moisture levels are. The Moisture Levels tab is handy because it tells you what the percentage of hydration your skin is — ranging from Dry to Normal, Hydrated, and Exceptional.

I have tested this app several times by deleting the app and reinstalling it to clear my data and start fresh. This is why, for those of you wondering, why my results from my unboxing video and the pictures I've attached to this blog post are different.

For my hands, my levels before moisturizing were 37.5%, and after moisturizing my result was 60.7%. The first time I tried this test, my level before moisturizing was 5% (ouch!). I guess even the app realizes that I have eczema on my hands.

   

Next, I tested my T-zone, where my results were higher than I expected. During my first tests, my results pre-moisturizing were much lower. I should note that I used this device after washing my face. I felt like washing my face before taking these tests would strip my skin of its natural moisture, but compared to my first results, if anything it boosted my moisture levels.

   

Last, I tested my cheek. These are my results:

    

My moisture levels for my t-zone and cheek were surprisingly high for the pre-moisturizing tests. During my first test, my results were lower than 50%, so I feel like washing my face definitely skewed my results.

If you are interested in learning more about Lise Watier's HydraForce products and want to test your hydration levels as well, there are HydraForce events happening in several Canadian cities. If you don't live near these locations like me, you can also test your hydration levels at a point of sale near you. The cities that are participating in these events are Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and Dartmouth. If you would like to learn more about these events, click here.

Please feel free to tag me on my Instagram and Twitter (@blondiesnails) and share your HydraForce experience. Just be sure to use the hashtag #GetInTheBubble!

#BioreBakingSoda