Patriotic Red, White and Blue "FOTD" and "NOTD"

Happy 4^th of July everyone!  I hope all of you are having a great holiday.  I’m getting ready to head out to be with some great friends, but first I just wanted to share with you my patriotic “Face of the Day” and “Nail of the Day”.  Neither one is a full tutorial, however I have included all products used to get the look.  I hope everyone likes it.

On Eyes:

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Too Cool

Hot Topic eye shadow in Red

Crown Brush "Smoke It Out" palette – blue shades plus white

Loreal Carbon Black Intense Liquid eye liner in Black

NYX Slide On eye liner in Sunrise Blue (SL14)

Tarte Gifted Amazonian Clay Mascara in Black

On Face:

Too Faced Primed and Poreless primer

MAC Mineralized SatinFinish in NW35

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Protector Finishing Powder in Honey

MAC Mineralize Blush in Warm Soul

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle

MAC lipstick in High Tea

MAC Tinted Lipglass in Nymphette

Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor in “Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi”

Pure Ice in ”Starry Nites”

Kiss brush on nail art in “White”

Again, I hope everyone is enjoying their 4^th of July celebrations!  Have a great rest of the week and I’ll talk to ya’ll later!

Weekly Wrap Up

So yeah, I’m way behind, lol.  How’s everyone’s past couple of weeks been?  They’ve been good for me, just busy, which is why this week’s wrap up is for the past two weeks.  It’s gonna be a bit long so I better get on with it.

Starting with weight loss, I’ve pretty much just been maintaining with a slight fluctuation up and down, not even a pound though.  I still can’t get into a routine lately for working out, I just don’t want to.  I know, I know, I’m going to half to though, if only just to stay healthy.  Anyone have any motivation they can give me, lol?

Moving on to beauty purchases, I have quite a few. 

From Hautelook my Alterna hair care order finally arrived.  I ordered the “Thickening Compound” and the “Straighten Balm” both from the Hemp collection.  I’ve used them a couple of times and half to say I really do like them.   They’re both made from natural ingredients with no gluten, parabens, synthetic color, phthalates, mineral oil, petroleum, DEA, TEA or animal testing so they’re not hard on your hair and they’re good to use on color treated hair.  Like I said, so far they work well, and the price was very reasonable ($6.99/each for the larger 6.7 US fluid ounces size) since it was from Hautelook, so I’m very pleased.

From MAC I picked up a new foundation, Mineralize Satinfinish in NW35.  I just needed one slightly darker for summer since the NW30 made it look like my head was floating above my body, lol.

At Ulta the past 2 weeks I’ve only picked up a few items.  I grabbed 2 of the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Protector Finishing Powder, one in “Honey” to go with my new foundation and the other in “Creamy Natural” to go with my lighter foundation.  I’d heard really good reviews of these comparing them to MAC’s Mineralize Skinfinish pressed powders but at half the price.  So far I really like them, the only problem I foresee is that Ulta had them on clearance and I can’t find them anywhere else.  A bit disappointing.

I also picked up an Ulta Extreme Wear gel eyeliner in “Ink”, a nice dark blue.  I haven’t used this yet and I’m hoping it performs better than the Ulta brand eye shadow I got a few months ago.  We shall see.

At Sephora I grabbed a new perfume, the original Michael Kors scent.  I really love this.  I first got this as a sample from a previous Sephora order and fell in love immediately.  The description from the website lists it as having notes of “Dewy Freesia, Tamarind, Chinese Osmanthus, Incense, Fresh Tuberose, White Wings Peony, Blue Orris, Arum Lilies, Cashmere Woods, Musk, Vetiver Haiti.”  It just smells sooo yummy!  I want to wear it every day but don’t want to use it all up, lol.

One last item I picked up at Sephora was a sample trio of Tarte primer.  It has a .25 fl. Oz. “Clean Slate Poreless” 12 hour perfecting primer, a .25 fl. Oz. “Clean Slate Flawless” 2 hour brightening primer and a .09 fl. Oz. “Clean Slate 360° Creasless” 12 hour smoothing eye primer.  I grabbed this because I’m almost out of my Too Faced Primed and Poreless primer and was thinking about trying the Tarte ones.  It was right by the register so it sucked me in. So far I’ve tried the “Clean Slate Poreless” one.  It works well and the formula is nice. I also tried the “Clean Slate 360° Creaseless” and so far, I’m not impressed with that one.  It seems bit watery for an eye primer.  I’m gonna try it again tomorrow.  I’m hoping the issues with it are because it’s new.

That’s pretty much it for beauty purchases this week.  I have a few more items coming this week in the mail that I’ll share next week after I try them out.

Moving on to the few fashion purchases this week.  The first one is at JC Penney I got the denim shorts and green shirt I was wearing in the most recent “Outfit of the Week”,  I also grabbed a second t-shirt while there in purple, all 3 items are Arizona Jean Co. brand.

From TJ Maxx I was trying to find a small makeup bag to keep my lipstick and lipglasses in while we’re at my sister Mallory’s graduation on Saturday (so they don’t melt in the car).  I wasn’t able to find a makeup back but I did find a small Michael Kors monogram wristlet that will work perfectly…for only $35!

Last, from Coach I got a new bag, a Laura tote in foam (a really pretty sea green color).  This was also shown in the last “Outfit of the Week”.  It’s a nice, big tote that holds all my junk with room to spare.

Finishing up this week’s wrap up, as usual, is my most recent manicure in “Spectrum” from the Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition collection.  This one is a blue-to-green changing color that’s really pretty and sparkly.  I wish I could get it to photograph the way the color changes  but no matter how many different angles I tried it just looks blue.  Oh well L

So, that’s it for tonight.  Long, I know.  I’ll be sure not to let 2 weeks go by before doing a wrap up in the future.  It’s just too much for one post.  Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week this week.  I’ll talk to ya’ll later J.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hey everyone!  How was everyone’s week?  I hope it was great!  Mine was nice.  Friday was my birthday and even though I spent the whole day at work at least I was with some of the best co-workers ever.  Also, Aaron got me my new Keurig!  I can’t wait to use it tomorrow morning (I don’t drink coffee on the weekends, lol.)  It’s Sunday so you know what that means.  It’s time for the Weekly Wrap-Up!

As always, starting out with weight loss, I’m up 2.8 lbs from my last official weigh in 2 weeks ago.  Seriously guys, I have to get back into the game.  I haven’t been working out like I should and other than my healthy meal on Tuesdays I haven’t really been eating all that well.  I’ve just been snacking way too much and sitting on my butt, lol.  That’s why, starting tomorrow it’s back on track.  That means exercising one way or another 6 days a week, not snacking because I’m bored and watching my portions.  I’m also gonna get to Wal-mart at some point and finally get a bicycle.  Aaron owes me one from 2 Christmases ago and now that my mom and sister have one (along with Scarlett) we can all go bike riding.  So wish me luck everyone, I’m gonna need it, lol.

Moving on to fashion purchases, I dropped by Rue21 yesterday and picked up 4 more shirts similar to the blue and pink leopard-print one I bought two weeks ago.  Two are solid colors: one pink and one teal.  The other two are prints: a grey, black and white leopard print and the other is blue and black stripes.  They were $4.00 each on clearance so I was very excited. 

Then I stopped by Wal-mart because I needed another pair of dress capris.  We have some important people coming into to the office this week so no jeans on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I got a cute pair of light grey ones that should look good with my new pink shirt tomorrow.

Next we have my few beauty purchases this week.   I stopped by MAC to pick up some more of my Mineralized Skinfinish Liquid Foundation in NW20. 

Then it was off to Ulta where I grabbed some new eyeliner.  I got two of the NYX Slide on Eyeliners,  one in Sunrise Blue, which is a bright, dark blue, and on in Azure which is a bright turquoise.  The Azure one is actually a replacement.  A few weeks ago I spilled my eyeliners all over in the bathroom.  I thought I got them all put back away but the Azure one was missing when I went to use it earlier this week.  I think it accidently got into the trash can and thrown away.  Such a waste L. 

I also picked up two of the new Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 hour cream eye shadows.  One in Too Cool (a frosted white) the other one is Tough as Taupe (a taupe, obviously, lol).  I’ve heard excellent reviews on these, that they work just as well as MAC Paint Pots for about half the price.  I’m planning on just using them as eye shadow bases which they are also supposed to be excellent for.

I grabbed a new Essie polish as well in Armed and Ready, a dark grey- green with a gold shimmer.  It looks really pretty in the bottle so I have high hopes once it’s actually on my nails.

The last purchase at Ulta was just some Jergens natural GLOW daily facial moisturizer in Fair to Medium.  I grabbed this because my self-tanner comes off my face when I was my makeup off.  Instead of using the regular Jergens natural GLOW for the body I wanted something formulated for faces so I could use it every day without causing break outs.  It’s also SPF 20 so I’ve got the sunscreen part covered as well.

I’m gonna end this evening with this week’s manicure, “Trout Pout” from butter London.  It’s a nice cream salmon shade.  I really like it and it’s perfect for Easter next week.  This is the first time I’ve tried butter London polishes and I have high expectations so I’m hoping I won’t be disappointed.

That’s it for this week!  Hope everyone has a great week ahead and I’ll talk to y’all later!  J

Weekly Wrap-Up

It’s Sunday and it’s the Superbowl, neither of which I’m all that excited about, so I’m spending this evening catching up on the shows I have on the DVR.  I’m quite a bit behind due to spending two evenings this past week filming tutorials for everyone J.   Sunday also means Weekly Wrap-Up time!

Starting with weight loss this week, I was very excited to have lost 3.6 pounds.  I really didn’t think that was going to happen, I’d gotten really off track the past few weeks and hadn’t been working out as much as I should have.  I also had not been eating well at all so I expected to at least maintain my weight if not gain a few pounds.

I’ve been back on track this week and have picked up quite a few healthier snacks.  They even taste good too.  My favorite right now is Nature Valley Granola Thins in peanut butter with a layer of dark chocolate on the bottom.  They are yummy and are only 80 calories per serving! 

My one weakness, however, is Dr. Pepper.  This week I sucked it up and got some Dr. Pepper 10 (yes, I know it’s supposed to be “for men” but it tastes way better than Diet Dr. Pepper).  I generally don’t drink anything diet if it has aspartame in it as it is so unhealthy and causes all sorts of bad stuff, but I only bought it for those times when I’m really craving Dr. Pepper but don’t have the extra calories to spare.  Anyway, should be easier to stay on target now.

Moving on to beauty purchases, my NYX “Box of Smokey Look Collection” arrived this week.  I haven’t really played with it much because I’m still experimenting with my Crown Brush palette,  but there’s lots of potential I can see.  The one time I did use it this week it was for a very natural brown look, not the least bit smokey actually, lol. 

This palette is divided into “Classic Smokey”, “Purple Smokey”, “Bronze Smokey” and “Natural Smokey”.  It also has 12 glitter shadows, 16 lip glosses, 4 concealers, 3 blushes and 3 other colors used for bronzer, highlighter and contour.  The colors are nice and pigmented and I hope to be able to create lots of different looks with it.  Check out the pictures of the palette below and it can be purchased here.

I also stopped by Ulta and was lucky enough to be able to grab the last “Love at First Blush” blush (obviously, lol) by Stila that they had left.  I haven’t had a chance to try it yet but the colors are nice.  I also got a similar Physician’s Formula blush called “Happy Booster” which claims to be mood boosting due to some plant extracts used in it.  I’m weary of this because it has a rosewater scent to it which is something that usually gives me a headache.  I haven’t actually tried it yet either though so I’m hoping once it’s applied the scent isn’t as strong.

I also picked up one of Maybelline’s Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Treatment Concealer.  I’ve heard many good things about this so I decided it was time to try this out.  I had been using Garnier Nutritioniste’s Skin Renew Anti-Dark Circle Roller which works pretty good but I’ve heard the coverage of the Maybelline one is better. 

I also got a new jar of Olay Age Defying Anti-Wrinkle night cream and two new EOS lip balms in sweet mint.  I just love both these products.  The Olay makes my skin nice and soft and the EOS does the same for my lips.

Finally, I picked up 3 new nail polishes.  Two were in the clearance bin which was nice.  They were part of OPI’s Pirates of the Caribbean line.  I got “Planks A Lot” which is a light purple and “Stranger Tides” which is a kind of a pale sea green color.

This week’s manicure is the other color I bought, “Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi” by Nicole by OPI’s Kardashian Kolor collection.  It’s a bright red cream shade, perfect for Valentine’s Day which is why I bought it, lol.

 That’s it for this week, hope the upcoming week goes well for everybody!  Talk to you all later! J

Weekly Wrap-Up

Wow, it’s Sunday already!  Weekends go too fast and weeks too slow, don’t you agree?  Anyway, it’s time for the weekly wrap up.

Let’s start with this week’s results of the Wedding Challenge at work.  I’m down two pounds!  It seems a bit easier this time to stay within my calorie allowances since I have so much support from the people I work with.  We’re such a GREAT team!  Working out is taking some getting used to though.  I totally got off track the past year or two.  I had been going to the YMCA 3 times a week but I got lazy and stopped going.  Then my shift at work changed to me getting off later and I just couldn’t find the time to fit it in.  Now, with the elliptical at home and Just Dance 3, I can’t blame it on not enough time, lol.  The last thing I need to do is find healthier recipes to make for dinner for all of us, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Moving on to purchases this week, they’re not very interesting.  This week’s shopping pretty much just consisted of groceries and other household or work necessities.  I did order a new some new eye shadow.  It’s a Crown Brush smoky eye palette I found on Hautelook.  Once, I receive it I’ll be sure to post and review.

I did buy one other thing, since Aaron gave me what was left on his Wal-mart gift card.  I picked up the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie.  It’s a really pretty, well, raspberry color, lol.  It’s a bit more opaque than I thought it would be.  All the swatches of other colors I’d seen had been more transparent and gloss-like.  It’s still a beautiful color and I think it should work well with my skin tone.

And lastly this week, here’s the purple smoky eye I was sporting yesterday in support of my Kansas State Wildcats, even though it didn’t help all that much L .  This is one of my most worn eye shadow looks as anyone who knows me knows my favorite color is purple.  Hope you enjoy!

 Products used:

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance Eye Primer

Maybelline Stylish Smokes Quad in Amethyst Smokes (06)

Loreal Carbon Black Lineur Intense Liquid Eye Liner

NYX Slide On Eye Liner in Purple Blaze (SL10)

MAC Mascara X in Black

Face:

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Liquid Foundation in NW20

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Baked Powder in Soft and Gentle

MAC Sheertone Blush in Pink Swoon

Stila “Empowered in Pink” palette Blush in Pink

Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer

MAC Iridescent Loose Powder in Silver Dusk (as a highlighter)

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Cosmo (LG110)

Well, that’s all for this week!  Hope everyone has a great upcoming week!  Also, if there is anything anyone would like to know or any look someone would like to see, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do.  

Talk to everyone later! J

Welcome to 2012!

Happy New Year!!  Hope everyone was safe last night and all is well today!  I just hung out with my family last night so not very exciting here.  We had snacks and watched the ball drop.  It’s the same thing we do each year.

Today I got the tree taken down and all the decorations put away.  The only things still up are the outdoor lights.  Aaron worked all day today and I’m afraid of heights so those will have to wait.  It looks like the holidays are over.  I don’t know whether I’m glad or not about that.

Anyway, time to start a great new year.  I only made one true goal (not a “Resolution”) for 2012, to not put anymore purchases on my Citi card.  I’m really bad about using it for impulse buys when I can’t really afford something.  So, I took the card out of my wallet and put it away.  I’m only going to make payments on it for the year.  If I can stick to this goal then this November, for Black Friday, I’m going to buy myself a new digital SLR camera.  I’ve wanted one for a long time but never bought one.  I’m bound and determined to do this so wish me luck.

As a smaller goal, I want to build up my savings so that means less spending over all.  This one will be harder I think so I’m not as hopeful, but I’m gonna try.

To finish up today please take a look at my New Year’s look from yesterday.  I figure just because I didn’t go out and do anything that’s no reason not to look all glam and such, lol.  I got this look from one of my favorite makeup bloggers, Makeup By TiffanyD.  If you click the link you can see her tutorial on how to achieve the look as well as her list of products used (which differs slightly from mine).  Check her out!

Products used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance Eye Primer
MAC Eyeshadow in Copper
Maybelline Eyeshadow in Golden Halo (270S)
MAC Eyeshadow in Dazzlelight
Loreal Carbon Black Lineur Intense liquid eye liner
NYX Slide On Eyeliner in Golden Bronze (SL16)
MAC Mascara X

Face:
Smashbox Photo Finish primer
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Liquid Foundation in NW20
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Baked Powder in Soft and Gentle
MAC Sheertone Blush in Pink Swoon
Stila "Empowered in Pink Palette" Blush in Pink
Too Face Pink Leopard Bronzer
MAC Lusterglass in Venetian Red

Once again, I hope everyone has a great 2012!  Talk to you later J.

Oops, I Lied

Like the title says, I guess I lied.  I meant to have this post up yesterday but time got away from me.  I did a little after Christmas shopping.  Picked up 2 boxes of next year’s Christmas cards for $2.50 a box.   I replenished my collection of gift boxes since most of what I have are just falling apart.  I got 3 packages of 10 for $1.50 each.  I was also able to replace my light up penguin that was stolen from the yard a few weeks ago so that’s a good thing.

I also said I’d have Christmas pictures too but I couldn't decide which ones to put up so I picked the one I thought was the cutest.

Grim and Dune playing in the wrapping paper!  It’s their favorite thing to do during the holidays.

And finally, here’s the promised pictures of my holiday eye makeup.

So that’s my Holiday Look.  I’m thinking the next look I do will be for New Years but I can’t really claim it as mine, lol.  I got the look from another blog I read, Makeup By TiffanyD.  Along with that look I’ll talk about my plans for the New Year J.  I’m not gonna call them “Resolutions” since no one ever keeps those.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me ramble and I’ll talk to you later!