The Minimalism Game #minsgame

Miracle of miracles, I finally did it!  I completed the Minimalism Game in the month of January.  Woot!  If you don't know what the Minimalism Game is, you declutter one thing on the first day of the month, 2 things on day two and so on.  By the end of the month, you will have decluttered 496 things.  It was conceived by The Minimalists.  I have attempted it so many times, only to admit defeat around day 12.   Truth be told, most of what I decluttered was paper clutter.  I think Marie Kondo said that she hates paper clutter the most because it is so boring and uninspiring.  Because it is so boring, it is quite easy (for me at least) to part with.  I struggled with depression for many months last year and just let the junk mail pile up.  I think the enormous pile of mail kept me going for at least 2 weeks.  I really wanted to start the new year on a more positive note and tackling the home was a step in the right direction.  Now, I am not a hardcore mininalist but I really appreciated having a system that gave me a road map for the entire month.  I actually continued into the first half of February because I was so thrilled that I was able stick it out for an entire month.  Continuing on in the vein of trying to declutter the home and be organized, I picked up this drawer organizer which I repurposed for coralling the makeup I use on the daily.

  

 I really believe in coralling bits and bobs.  All the disparate items placed in a single container help to reduce "visual noise" as they magically become one.  I really like this drawer organizer because it has expandable sides and it is small and compact.  You can find similar at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Not pictured above because I had it out is Urban Decay's Lightbeam Palette.

I am obsessed with this palette.  Pantone's colour for this year is Living Coral and the sunset hues of this slim curated palette is beautifully on trend.  Don't let the warm coral tones put you off.  They are the perfect office appropriate  eyeshadow for my warm skin tone.  I do find the glitter shadow "Golden Hour" to be gritty and chunky.  But I am past the age of wearing disco glitter on my lids so I don't mind.  It is similar to Urban Decay's iconic Naked Heat palette, in particular the Mini Naked Heat, just with a bit more pizzazz. I love a curated palette where I use almost all of the eyeshadows and not just one or two.  Plus the fact that it fits neatly into the container above is a massive bonus.

How are you doing with your 2019 goals?  Drop a comment and let me know.

LBH June Favourites: Sony Earphones, Urban Decay Ultimate Basics Palette, Whiskey Stones

I can't believe that the year is already half over and it is time for June favourites.  I resisted joining in on the palette trend for ages.  I only ever use a couple of colours and, considering the price tag, it just seemed a waste.  However, I couldn't resist picking up the Urban Decay Ultimate Naked Basics palette.

It was half off at www.sephora.ca so I got a full sized palette with 12 shades for the same price as an Urban Decay mini, travel sized palette which is an amazing deal.  I just love the rose gold packaging and the double ended brush is a good usable size.  It comes with a huge mirror.  The only shade that has a hint of shimmer is Blow which is the first one on the top row, the rest are matte.  Do you have any makeup palettes that are your holy grails?

The hot, humid weather has well and truly arrived and frosty drinks are my saviour.  Ice cubes melt and dilute drinks so these whiskey stones are a great alternative.  Made of granite, they stay cold for a long time and do a fantastic job of keeping drinks cold without diluting them.  These are Canadian made and were perfect for Canada Day celebrations which was this past week.  I got mine at Chapters.

My old Ipod earphones were slowly dying but I was dragging my feet on getting another pair as I had already replaced them one time previously.  However, I decided to drop into The Source and pick up another pair as I saw they were having a sale.  I am really pleased with these Sony earphones.  The sound quality is very good.  They are noise reducing and I was a little sceptical at first as I wasn't sure how much noise reduction in-ear earphones would be capable of as compared to on-ear headphones.  However, they reduce ambient noise surprisingly well.  

The little silicone covers on the earbuds are like suction cups that create a vacuum in the ear.  I didn't realize how much my enjoyment of listening to podcasts and music was being impacted by my previous earphones until I got new ones.  Lesson learned!

This is not a sponsored post.