How to Banish Winter Weight

I’ve always believed there is no point working out unless you are willing to get your butt kicked.  Or kick it yourself.  The trouble is most of us would rather not endure the pain, so professional help is required to get the results we want.

I’ve been training with for some time with George Gianniotis from G2 Kinetics, a talented (and portable!) Toronto based trainer.  I refer to him on Twitter as Trainer George and tweet about whatever punishment I endured at his hands that day.  Of course I am joking and I like the results, but I’ve learned the only way to get fit is to push yourself beyond what you thought you could handle, and T.G. is very good at that.

George has started sharing his top tips with ChickAdvisor readers and his first installment includes some of my favourite torturous positions.

Curious?

30 ChickAdvisor Members Get a Free Anti-Cellulite Cream from Biotherm

It may not quite be bikini season but that doesn’t mean a sister wouldn’t happily banish cellulite if given the chance.  Biotherm is launching their latest wonder cream, Celluli Laser D.Code Anti-Cellulite Care.  It is designed to target those unsightly dimples whatever the origin – behavioral or genetic.

Need to see it to believe it?

ChickAdvisor’s Product Review Club is giving away 30 full sized bottles to members who would like to review it.  Click here to read more.

BeautyEditor Picks: November

by Michelle Villett, BeautyEditor

You’ve no doubt noticed that BeautyEditor.ca has gone through more than a few design changes since hanging out its shingle in the blogosphere earlier this year. While I can’t promise we’ve seen the end of those—we’re still figuring out whether the all-white, minimalist colour scheme is our most flattering look—I CAN tell you about some new regular content. Starting with a monthly Editor’s Picks post. And oh! Isn’t it great this one just snuck through the door on the last day of November?

Here’s the lowdown. I used to give every product I fell in love with its very own post. The problem is, I fall in love often—and run out of room (and time) rather quickly. (Plus, who really wants to assign themselves the task of keeping up with those workaholic sites that churn out something like five, six, seven posts daily? Not you, I hope.) So I’m doing this for us both, dear readers. From now on, expect a juicy post every month telling you all about what’s on frequent rotation in my makeup bag and medicine cabinet.

Here we go! This month, I fell in love with two vastly different—but equally lovely—eyeshadows, a toner that really DOES live up to its hype, and a strange little pot of perfecting makeup.

M. Asam Magic Fini, $49: One of my weird travel habits is visiting the pharmacies in any country I happen to be in—yes, even in the U.S.—to scope out what cool stuff they have that we don’t have in Canada. This funky little pot resembles products I swear I’ve seen in Thailand. But Thai it’s not—M. Asam is a luxury European brand that’s been in business since the early 1960s. And now it’s available in Canada. This product, called Magic Fini, really IS magic. Trust. Even though it’s scarily dark in the pot, it suits all skin tones and instantly melts into your skin, concealing uneven tone, wrinkles, enlarged pores and other imperfections. Seriously—I was more than pleasantly surprised by how it created a natural-looking matte finish on top of my end-of-day makeup. My only gripe? I wish it came in a tube instead of a pot. Available at The Bay and Sears stores across Canada.

Thierry Mugler Ombre Stellaire Mono Eye Shadow in Mercury, $49: You may have heard me raving about this on Twitter the other day. Who knew I could fall in love with a silver eyeshadow? But YES. It happened. Thierry Mugler is a genius, I tell you. Most silver shadows are a tad scary because of all that pigment—messy, glittery, drag queen-y. This one? Silky, sheer, easily blendable and buildable to the intensity you want. I feel sorry for all my other shadows now because I want to wear this one—only this one—day AND night. If you never thought there was a difference between $9 eyeshadow and $49 eyeshadow, try this and then we’ll talk. Available exclusively at The Bay stores across Canada.

Pür Minerals Pür Intensity Gel Eyeliner in Plum Quartz, $19: Not sure why, but I never jumped on the gel eyeliner train—I’ve always been more of a liquid liner girl. But sometimes we have to revisit things, and after reader Allie commented on her preference for gel liners a few weeks ago, I was determined to give this product a go. Armed with an angled brush, I’ve been sweeping it along my upper lash line, and because it’s waterproof, it stays put! (I have Chanel Iman-style eyes, i.e. no eyelid creases, so non-waterproof liners tend to end up somewhere near my brows.) What also helps: the pretty plum colour is fairly sheer (although buildable), so mistakes are easily corrected. Available at Shoppers Drug Mart stores across Canada.

Biologique Recherche Paris Lotion P50, US$83: I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually purchased a beauty product in the past few years (I know… feel free to hate me), but I was so intrigued by the hype for this toning lotion that I forked out some big bucks to import it from the U.S. last month. A couple years ago, I covered it in a story in ELLE Canada on cult beauty products, and since then I’ve read some mighty impressive testimonials on Makeup Alley and on the blogs of Vanity Fair and Style.com. My take? It’s definitely the best toner I’ve ever used—pore-tightening, non-drying, dead-skin-cell-eliminating and imperfection-lightening—and like everyone who’s tried it warns, I may have just developed a rather expensive habit. Available at Beautyhabit.com.

Bamboozled: Bamboo Fabric is NOT Necessarily Eco-Friendly

by Janine Falcon, BeautyGeeks

If you’re adding green to your closet by way of bamboo-fabric garments, hold up.

Although of natural, renewable origin, “bamboo textiles are essentially rayon, wood that is (chemically) liquified and extruded into a filament, then spun into thread and knit or woven into fabric,” explains Lorraine Smith, a Toronto-based sustainability consultant. And that chemically-intense process negates all the eco-friendly qualities of bamboo. Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing the StyleCollective.ca

StyleCollective.ca is a select group of indie fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog and new-media sites by some of Canada’s top writers and experts.

INFLUENCE Comprised of nine key influencer sites, the all-Canadian collective includes media-savvy personalities with a female-audience reach via national television, magazines and newspapers as well as online. Expert members have appeared on progams such as “CBC Newsworld,” “CityLine,” “Breakfast Television,” “Entertainment Tonight Canada,” and “Steven & Chris;” authored features for magazines such as FASHION, FLARE, ELLE Canada, ELLE Quebec, Clin d’Oeil, House & Home and Best Health; written for newspapers such as The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Toronto Star, Metro News, The Gazette and Le Journal de Montreal; and created content for sites such as HGTV.ca, CanadianLiving.com, BestHealthMag.ca and more.

CONNECTING WITH WOMEN Characterized by thoughtful, authentic and compelling content, each site in the collective has been singled out as high quality, with a strong relationship with its audience. Together the StyleCollective reaches and interacts with a spectrum of women with a healthy appetite for style, quality and value, and in all stages of life enjoyment.

FOCUS When it comes to advertising, rather than creating mass computer-screen noise, we are about connecting meaningfully with a strong female audience. Working together to create a unique Canadian platform for readers and advertisers, the StyleCollective is a partner in reaching women of influence who are consumers and arbiters of style and engaged in social media.