I "nose" a great find when I see one...

I love pharmacies. Like I love them. And I mean love with a big fat capital L. I love them all, every kind; big or small, from here, there, and everywhere. It doesn't matter where I am in the world; Toronto, Calgary, Dublin, London, Amsterdam, even Mombasa, Kenya; it is literally impossible for me to walk past a pharmacy without stopping in. Here I can spend countless hours (ask anyone who has braved this with me before to confirm that) browsing aisle after aisle after aisle, looking, reading, testing (and inevitably buying) all the new and exciting, as well as tried and tested, products that line the shelves. It is admittedly one of my favorite ways to spend a day (or two...or three...)

So you can only begin to imagine my elation when my contacts at B.Kamins told me that I could have my pick of anything...and I mean anything...on their amazing website and they'd send it off to me to review for my blog. They obviously were unaware that in my world that is like sending a six-year-old into a candy shop and telling them it is theirs for the taking. So, I logged on the first day and began my browsing. I looked, I read, and then I looked some more but it was all so overwhelming. This wasn't my first experience testing out the wonderful products from B.Kamins (their Vegetable Skin Cleanser still ranks up their as one of my all-time favorite skin products), so I knew that quality wasn't going to be an issue but really, how can you choose? Was it greedy to ask for one of everything?

With fingers that didn't want to cooperate with what my brain was telling me was right, I closed down my browser and walked away. The next day, with a level (and less greedy) head on, I logged back on and narrowed my choices down to my top three picks, the top one being an intriguing Bamboo and Rice Facial Polisher listed on their bestsellers page.

Days later, when my package finally arrived I ripped it open and headed straight for the bathroom. First things first, I popped the top of the small white tube and took a sniff (my readers are well aware from my last post that I have a thing for pretty smelling things)....I stopped dead in my tracks. How do you describe a products that smells so organically natural, and yet still somehow manages to smell like some form of industrial strength chemical cleaner. Ugh. I am admittedly a little disappointed. I guess with a name that included bamboo and rice, I expected something a little fresher and clean smelling. However, I do have to pause at this point to reminded myself that some of the most reliable products on my shelves at home are actually some of my worst smelling (ever gotten a good whiff of Elizabeth Arden's Eight Hour Skin Protectant??? One word: Ew...but it works like a charm). And so, with an internal note to keep inhaling to a minimum I splash some water on my face and get down to business.

Being that I was blessed enough to have been given this product free of charge I have to admit I wasn't exactly being as stingy on my portions as someone who actually purchased one of the $45 bottles might have been. I quickly learned my lesson. As I gently rubbed the nickel-sized dollop into my skin it erupted into beautifully light bubbles that danced over my skin (called "tensio-active sudsing agents" I would later discover) while the tiny granules of milled bamboo and rice beads felt like they were literally scrubbing the badness right from my skin. But then it just kept bubbling....and bubbling. All right, first lesson learned: a nickel-sized dollop is definitely too much. The remainder of the week (I like to give myself at least that long with a facial cleanser in order to judge the full effect) involved dime-size drops that did the job just right and would totally agree with my budget when this bottle runs out and the next one finds its way onto my shelf.

So you get value for money, but do you get results? Designed for all skin types, the Bamboo and Rice Facial Polisher is meant for a deep cleanse and to rid your skin of impurities "while helping to clarify and refine the complexion". Did I notice a huge difference in my complexion? Admittedly no, but I am also lucky enough to have a very clear complexion. Where I did notice the joys was how healthy my skin looked (and yes, there is a big difference between a good complexion and that glow of truly healthy skin) and how fresh I felt after each wash. It was like dipping my face into a rainforest, every time I walked away from that cleanser my skin felt like a layer of dirt and grime had been lifted from my skin. So maybe that industrial-strength cleaner joke wasn't meant for nothing.

And no, It might not smell the best but my theory proves true once more: when it works this good, it doesn't have to smell the same.

B.Kamins products can be founds in leading spas nationwide and on their website www.bkamins.com

Thank you for all the love!!!!

It has been just three weeks since I first started my blog and the response has been incredible!! As you can see from the shot above, I already have enough products to get me through countless reviews and I absolutely cannot wait to get started!! So thank you, thank you, thank you to all the companies who have shown an interest and sent me samples to review!!

Next step: let the social networking begin!! Keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter, beaut*eh is (hopefully!!) about to start popping up nationwide!!

SOS! Winter is coming!

I know, I know, it feels like the Canadian summer has just started and here I go bringing up the dreaded winter already. But I promise it is all with good cause.

You see, it all started on Monday. It was one of those wickedly hot days that we have all been wishing for since that last square inch of snow finally disappeared months ago, but that we all despise when it actually arrives. When I arrived home from the gym (in a car without air conditioning!) I wonder how on earth it can possibly be this hot at 10.45am? I climbed out of the car and literally lunged for the cool bliss of my house, I whipped open the screen door but before I could even get my keys into the deadbolt I heard a thump. Looking down I stared curiously at the FedEx package that now lay across my feet. It was addressed to me. Interesting, I thought. I rotated my head slightly to read the upside down return address. I quickly recognized the sender's name as my contact from NIVEA Canada. Suddenly I cannot move fast enough. My fingers fumble to throw my keys in my bag, in my pocket, in the bushes, anywhere really, as I grasp for the package like it will melt away in the sunshine if I don't get to it quick enough. The heat fades (figuratively, and in my mind, literally) into the background as I perch myself on the concrete steps. My inner beauty feign is singing a blissful (and impatient) tune, my heart is humming along in my chest, and my fingers are literally itching to rip apart the cardboard that separates me from whatever materialistic form of happiness I am about to find inside. I force myself to take a steadying breath, insisting that I savor the moment in case I irrevocably screw up this blog and never receive another package of pretty goodies ever again. The pull tab teases me until I finally allow myself to tug. In one swift movement the top pops open and I pour the contents out on to my lap. The largest item immediately catches my eye. NIVEA SOS Skin Relief Body Lotion for Extra Dry Skin? My gaze diverts to the beads of sweat that are forming on my bare arms and legs as we speak. I obviously have no concern for a problem of this type. Who sends out a lotion like this at the height of summer anyway? I ponder this as I toss it back in the box, making a mental note to review it a little closer to 'dry skin weather' and head inside.

Twenty minutes later I am showered and cooled when I turn the boxes contents onto my bed and begin to search out my first review from within. And there it is again, that silly lotion catches my eye once more. Still in my robe I look down at my bare legs, a little dried out from my shave, they are no where near what could be described as 'extra dry skin'. Ah, well, I think, I might as well give it a go. I pop the top, take a whiff, and that is it: I'm sold. From this point on I am pretty sure that no matter what kind of miracles it can or cannot perform on those with any kind of dry skin, if something smells this good I'm going to lather myself in it every single day.

So does it work? I throw off the robe and get down to business.

When described as a fast-absorbing, skin-soothing lotion that will repair and protect against dryness for up to 24 hours, one has to admit it is slightly difficult to be objective in the middle of the hottest month of the year. I mean, I know there are people out there who suffer from extreme dry skin every day of the year, but I have always been luckily enough not to fall into that category. Catch me in February, however, and I will be a grouchy, chappy, dry-skinned mess. So when I woke up the following morning and my legs (which usually cause me the most hassle in the cooler months) were still silky soft and moisturized to boot, my brain literally fast forwarded to the winter and what it would be like to wake up to that feeling every morning. I mean, who wouldn't want a soft, smooth body that smells like flowers (actually calendula oil, I would later discover) every day of those long, gloomy, gray months? Oh, and did I mention its one of NIVEA's best selling products? Well, duh. You wouldn't have to tell me twice. I mean, after all, I was sold with a whiff.

NIVEA SOS Skin Relief Body Lotion for Extra Dry Skin is available now from all major pharmacies nationwide. For more information on this and other NIVEA products, visit their website.

What a beaut*eh*ful beginning!

Say hello to our first batch of beaut*eh*ful sponsors!!!

* B.Kamins Chemists
* NIVEA
* Mary Kay Cosmetics
* Johnson & Johnson's

I look forward to bringing you all reviews of the latest and greatest products from all these wonderful names!

Welcome to Canada's most beaut*eh*ful blog!!

My name is Caitlin O'Hanlon and, to put it in simple terms, I am a beaut*eh*aholic. If it smells good, feels great, looks pretty and/or comes in adorably cute packaging, then I will want it. No questions asked. I will already be mentally half way to the checkout before I even get my hands on it. But am I always happy with the results that stem from my impulsive....and totally necessary....buys? Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no. Do I have shelf after shelf of products that only get one use and then get pushed to the wayside? Admittedly, yes. But, every now and then, I find a product so astonishly amazing that I can't help myself from wanting to tell the world (or at least all my close friends and family...and maybe a few strangers in the aisles of Shoppers Drug Mart) all about it.

And that is what brings me here. To all of you. Bringing you the good, the bad, and the (sometimes very) ugly of every product that comes across my little home office desk. I'll bring you detailed reviews of my trials and tribulations, photo proof of the successes and the failures, video clips of the best of the best and the worst of the worst. I'll bring you exactly what it is you want to know about all the countless products that line the shelves of your favorite stores and salons, east to west, north to south, in this great country of ours. Sounds pretty good....eh?

Come on and follow me....you are too pretty not to!!!