Weekly Wrap-Up

Hey everyone!  I know, I know, it’s been about a month since my last wrap up.  The past few weeks have been very hectic around here but I hope to get back into the swing of things now that it’s seemed to calm down some.

I want to start this week by just saying life is too short, always remember that.  Make sure your friends and family know how much you love and care about them.  This past month we experienced a death in the family when Aaron’s uncle passed away in early June.  Then, a week later, the best boss anyone could ever have, passed away suddenly.  Both were gone way too soon and will be missed terribly by many people.  Always strive to be a good person and make your mark, you never know when you’ll leave this world.

So, now that I’ve depressed everyone, what do you say we move on to happier things?  I’m working on a new segment for the “Weekly Wrap-Up” to replace the weight loss section.  Since I’m mostly maintaining with small fluctuations, I figure there’s not much to report here.  I’m thinking of doing  a segment on upcoming weekly sales, like on Hautelook, Rue LaLa and Gilt (all flash sights for those that don’t know) and also in brick and mortar stores like Sears and Kohls.  Probably also Ulta and Sephora too (these would be online and in store specials).  This would start with next week’s wrap-up, I didn’t think of it in time to put together the sales for this upcoming week.  What’s everyone think about this idea?   I’ll try it for a while and see how it goes.

Moving on to purchases this week, I only have a few.  At Ulta I picked up some Ulta Extreme Wear gel eyeliner in “Strut”, a nice purple.  I have this same eyeliner in “Ink”, a blue, and find that it’s very good for the price. Regularly it is $10.00, I got the new one on sale for $4.00.

I also grabbed a new nail polish, “Vermillionaire” by essie. It’s a bright orange I can’t wait to wear.  I usually only wear orange at Halloween but I think this color is perfect for summer.

The last item I got at Ulta is the Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy flat iron spray.  I usually use Aquage Shine Spray when I flat iron my hair, but thought I’d try this out.  I have the shampoo, conditioner and hydrating mask in this line and so far I like it.  I’ve used the flat iron spray once so far so the jury’s still out on it.  I really like the Aquage stuff a lot so we’ll see if the Organix spray will work well enough to replace it.

At Target I picked up a Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip stain in “Rendezvous”, a really pretty coral color that doesn’t look to bright orange-y on me.  I also got a Loreal leGloss in “Plum Rush”, a pinky-purple. So far, I’m not liking this one, it has a weird taste and not near as much color as the ads claim.  That’s okay, this one was on clearance for like $1.72 or something like that.  I’m gonna give it another try buy may end up giving it to Scarlett.

The final item I got a Target was a cute turquoise, black and magenta color block strapless dress by Xhilaration.  It’s really nice and casual.  It will probably make an appearance next week as the “Outfit of the Week”.

Speaking of “Outfit of the Week”, since I missed getting it up on Friday, I’ll go ahead and include it here.

Blue top:  Susie Rose (Walmart)

Black skirt:  twenty-one (Forever 21)

Black heels:  Mossimo (Target)

Silver heart lock necklace:  Tiffany & Co.

Gunmetal cuff bracelet:  no brand (Burlington Coat Factory)

Silver tank bracelet watch:  Coach

And closing out this evening is this week’s manicure in “Wavelength” from the Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition collection. This one is a bright pink to coral changing one.  It’s been reminding me of something else since I put it on, I just can’t figure out what.  Don’t you hate when that happens, lol.

Well, that’s it for this week.  I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  I’ll talk to ya’ll later! J

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

Hi all!  I hope everyone’s weekend went well.  It was pretty good here.  Today is my and Aaron’s 6^th anniversary.  Hard to believe we’ve been married this long, seems like it’s only been about half that time.  Here’s what he got me:

Black and white diamond heart necklace--Helzberg Diamonds

He’s horrible to shop for so when we go to Kansas City in a few weeks he’s gonna pick something out at the outlets.

Moving on to weight loss, it’s not going so well.  I’m up almost a pound from the last weigh in.  It’s my entire fault, I admit.  I’ve been eating crap and not working out at all.  This changes tomorrow, definitely.  Back on the elliptical!

As for beauty purchases this week, my “Blizzard” palette from Crown Brush arrived this week!  I’m so excited; the colors in it are so pretty.  Check out a few pictures:

Front packaging

With flash

Without flash

I also stopped by Ulta yesterday and grabbed 2 new nail Sally Hansen nail polishes from the HD Hi-Definition collection, “Spectrum” is a blue-to-green-to-purple changing color and “Byte” is a pink-to-purple changing color.  I also picked up a new lipgloss from NYX.  It’s one of their new “Pump It Up” lip plumpers.  I got the “Lindsay” color which is a light sparkly pink.  It doesn’t really plump, at least not on me, but the color is cute.

Finishing up tonight are my few fashion purchases.  I made a quick stop at TJ Maxx because I was looking for a new pair of sandals.  I did find a cute pair for only $14.99 that are black with sparkles.  If I”d only had an extra $60 I’d have a pair of silver Michael Kors ones but I was good and didn’t spend that much.

I did, however, find a new pair of Coach sunglasses in glittery purple for more than half off what they are in the boutique.  This is the first time I’ve actually found anything Coach at TJ Maxx so I was very excited and snatched it up as soon as I saw it, lol.

Well, that’s it for tonight.  I hope everyone has a great week ahead!  Talk to ya’ll later! J

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hi everyone!  Well, it’s Sunday again, the weekend just goes too fast.  I hope everyone had a good one.  I guess it’s time for the weekly wrap-up.

First, I just want to wish all the mom’s out there a Happy Mother’s Day!  I hope you all had a great day and got to spend it with the children who love you.  Scarlett gave me a sweet hand-made card and a pen with silk flowers at the top that she made in school. 

Aaron got me the Roped Pave Heart Key Ring from Coach.  I've already attached it to my handbag; I have more key rings then keys so I use a dog leash clip to hang the key rings from my bag.  They also end up with less wear and tear that way.

Moving on to weight loss, I’m still pretty much maintaining, which is good since I have no motivation to actually do anything.  I really need to get back into it though or I’ll be gaining soon instead.  Anyone have any energy they’re willing to give me, lol?  Hopefully this week will be better.

Lastly are my beauty purchases this week.  They were actually purchased last week but delivered just this week so I saved them until today to talk about.

From MAC I got the “’Shop & Drop quad from the Shop/Cook collection.  I know I’m a few months behind on this collection but I didn’t think I wanted anything from it until just now.  The quad has four colors (obviously):  Sugar Snack, a light pink matte; Hypnotizing, a frosted greyed mauve; Power Boosted, a violet veluxe pearl; and Shop & Drop, a deep blue satin.  I’m not going to do a full swatch post on this since I’m so late getting it.  I will say that I do love it, as I do pretty much all MAC eye shadow I get.  The colors are very pigmented, there’s not much fall out if any at all and the colors are gorgeous.  I’m still trying out new looks from it and hoping to come up with something original to show everyone.

Also from MAC I picked up the “Angel” lipglass from the new Fashion Sets.  I already had “Angel” in lipstick form and was quite excited when they released it as a lipglass, below are some swatches the shade, both by itself and also layered over the lipstick.  There’s also a nail polish in the same color that I did not get as I’m not that fond of MAC polishes, you can usually find the same shades at better prices and quality in my opinion.

MAC "Angel" lipglass

MAC "Angel" lipglass

MAC "Angel" lipglass over "Angel" lipstick

My last purchase this week was from Sephora and is the new Tarina Tarantino “Emerald Pretty” palette.  This is my first ever Tarina Tarantino purchase and I am absolutely loving it.  It has 6 full size eye shadows in it with colors named after The Wizard of Oz.  I will have a full swatch and review post on this one very soon so I’m not going to go into much about this other than the colors are beautiful and the formula of the product is so nice and smooth.  Check back soon for my full review on this palette.

 I’ll end this evening as I always do, with this week’s manicure.  This one is with “DVD” from Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition.  This one is a bit hard to describe, the best way I can is to say it’s a very glittery “chrome-illusion” (for those that don’t know from car paint jobs, it changes color as the light hits it from different angles) look with purples and blues.  I’ve had this polish for a while and have never used it because it’s actually very sheer but my girls at work chose this color when I asked them what I should do this week.  I only had two coats put on at the nail salon which gave pretty good coverage.   When I did my toes at home I used three coats and it came out much more like it looks in the bottle.  I like it both ways though and think it’s a really pretty color.

Well, that’s it for this week.  I hope everyone has a great week ahead and I’ll talk to ya’ll later! J