Call me cuckoo, but I don’t really like using lotion. Sure, I had more prune-ish days than most growing up in moisture-barren Calgary, but Bath & Body Works Cucumber Melon Creamy Body Wash ($11, bathandbodyworks.com) soothes my current Toronto dehydration. First, it’s a shower gel. Second, the creamy milk and oat proteins don’t go straight down the drain, rather, they condition my skin even after I’ve dried off. Third, if I don’t want to apply lotion I don’t have to. And fourth, because it does double-duty as a cleanser and hydrator, according to math-by-Adriana, I’m saving money.
Toronto shop notes: V is for Victorinox
Girls Recap: Hannah heads home to Michigan to ditch her parents, date a pharmacist and blame everyone else for her boredom
Daily steal: Striped straw tote, $29
They said/We said: How will Facebook’s going public affect the fashion industry?
Kate does pastel-pink and Prada while having lunch with (no big deal) two dozen international kings and queens
Archive for Adriana Ermter
Shopping » Daily steal
The daily steal: Rosy hair pins, $16
I love vanilla-flavoured cake with butter-cream frosting and pastel-coloured roses made from icing. Sadly, my thighs don’t agree. Meeting me half way are Prismera’s sweet baby pink and butter yellow rose hair clips ($16 each, prismeradesign.com).
While the baby buds don’t actually taste so great (yes, I licked one), they do however, hold my hair back nicely and are easy to style. With the pink one tucked in on one side, and minus the guillotine, I’m channeling Marie Antoinette.
Shopping » Daily steal
The daily steal: Soy candle, $44
Yeah, I know it costs more than I would spend on a dry-cleaning in a month, but let me explain. Juara’s pretty and lightly scented Hope Soy Candle ($44, beautymark.ca) burns for a ridiculously long time, emits smoke-free signals (thanks to being made from soy) and, here’s the best part, donates 10% of its proceeds to Walubi—a charitable relief organization providing emergency aid to disaster-stricken areas of Indonesia. With earthquakes and tsunami’s rattling our world every few months, it’s a small price to pay.
Shopping » Daily steal
The daily steal: Liquid bra, $20
I’m buying new boobs. They’re liquid. They’re easy. All I have to do is squeeze Avon Solutions Body Liquid Bra Toning Gel ($20, avon.ca) all over and pow! Thanks to the gel’s formulation of collagen- and elastin-boosting pomegranate and fennel extracts, I look firmer, tighter and perkier than Molly Ringwald in The Breakfast Club. And I haven’t even started to apply my lipstick, yet. Just saying.
Shopping » Daily steal
The daily steal: Hair colour fix, $17

Photography by Nettika Berthelot
Call me Britney because, I had to Color Oops ($17, at drugstores) my hair when I DIY-dyed without reading the instructions, again. At midnight. On a Saturday. When my hair salon was closed. For two whole days. But, after a quick sprint to the drugstore and 35 minutes of processing and washing later (with nary a trace of ammonia or bleach peroxide to be afraid of) the unwanted hue was gone. I’m back to my natural blonde, but I’m still calling Susan at TAZ Hair Co. I need my colour fix.
Shopping » Daily steal
The daily steal: Two-in-one eyeshadow primer, $30

Photography by Nettika Berthelot
Okay, okay. I realize Benefit’s Stay Don’t Stray ($30, at sephora.com) costs more than what most of us would spend for on a beauty steal, but hear me out. This wonder product is a two-in-one primer. It keeps my under-eye concealer intact and my eyeshadow from sliding, melting, greasing and creasing off and into my eyelids—All. Day. Long. So guess what? I’m saving money and time. I no longer have to reapply my eye makeup at noon, and again at 5:00 p.m.; my concealer, eyeshadow and even my mascara don’t run out as quickly; and as a result, I’m saving cash. And that, my friends, constitutes a steal in my books.
Shopping » Daily steal
The daily steal: Lip balm, $4

Photography by Katie Ennis
Polysporin Lip Therapy ($4, well.ca) This lip balm is my lip saver. No, it’s not brand new to the market, but it is the only thing that keeps me flaky–and chap-free–while ping-ponging between freezing outside and roasting indoors. Seriously, slap it on and tell me I’m wrong. I dare you.
Beauty
Our beauty director has a massage moment
I like my body massages simple. Don’t rub me down with hot rocks, wrap me in tinfoil or make some bird-boned 60lb person walk across my back. And I’m not keen on the soft touch and tickle approach either. Massages should be the tension relieving, sleep inducing deep-tissue treatments typically found at specialty clinics, not spas. Or at least that’s what I thought. Read more »






