#FrenchFriday : $100+ French drugstore beauty haul!

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Howdy! Let me welcome myself back to the blog after a well-deserved vacation, which turned out to be an epic trip to my homeland. Aahh France, how I had missed you... I enjoyed every minute of this adventure, from the chilly, rainy days in Paris to the naps by the pool in Montpellier. And of course, the food orgy in my hometown of Lyon, considered the gastronomy capital of France. I'm surprised I didn't put on more weight actually... oh wait, I don't own a scale!

Anyways, let me know if you'd like to see pictures of the sights, the foods, the vistas besides what I posted daily in my Instagram stories, but for today we'll focus on my beauty purchases. Long story short: I couldn't do the crazy high-end makeup shopping at the airport duty-free I was planning to indulge in, because I didn't have the time (Roissy is a hellhole). So most of what I brought back, I bought in one single trip to the largest pharmacy in Lyon, aptly named Grande Pharmacie Lyonnaise. Not much has changed in France since I left, but that pharmacie definitely has! It was always a great place to shop for cosmetics, but now it's turned into a real drugstore with most of the store devoted to cosmetics, and the prescription counters hidden in the back. My dream. Let's take a look at what I got!

#FrenchFriday: am I in love with Monsieur Big, Lancome's new mascara?

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If you've been on my blog before, you must have noticed that I talk about Lancôme a lot. It's definitely my favorite French beauty brand, and even though they have a few misses sometimes, they have a ton of fantastic products that I love, from the Juicy Shakers to the Glow Subtil cream highlighters.

They're also famous for their great mascaras: Définicils for those who look for separation and a well defined fringe, Hypnôse for those who prefer dramatic volume, and my favorite, Grandiôse with its unique twisted wand. There is now a newcomer in Lancôme's mascara wonderland: Monsieur Big. I was going to buy it, but I was very lucky to receive it for consideration from Influenster. You can't even begin to imagine my excitement when I got the news that they were sending it to me! Was it as good as I hoped? Let's find out!

Unboxing: Sephora Play! July 2017

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It's that exciting time of the month when the Sephora Play! box shows up at my door! We now all know that this beauty subscription box can be very inconsistent from one month to the next, so was this summery edition a must or a bust? Let's find out!

#FrenchFriday : Scouting Niche Brands at Cosmoprof

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Earlier this week, I was at Cosmoprof in Las Vegas for work. If you've never heard of the event, it's the biggest professional trade show for the beauty industry in North America. I know, lucky me! Besides being on my feet all day working, and averaging 16,000 steps daily according to my fitness tracker, I also had a little bit of time to wander around the show floor, looking for interesting French brands that I could present to you guys. So here we go, prepare to discover cool niche beauty brands you most likely never heard of!

#FrenchFriday : A Safe Summer Glow With Clarins Liquid Bronze Self Tanning

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Clarins Liquid Bronze is one of these cult products that have been around for ages, that I've been wanting to try for years, but never found a good reason to buy - until now. There was a sale (there's always a sale) and I've noticed that my skin is noticeably lighter since I did a couple IPL sessions to erase redness and sun spots on my face,  so some of my favorite foundations have become too dark for my complexion. Yup IPL works, at least on sun damage, let me know if you want to read about my experience. Anyways, I thought a self-tanner for the face sounded like a good idea to give me a sunkissed look without the dangers of sun exposure, so the Liquid Bronze finally found its way to mama.