July 2014 Favorites

Lawd July has been a month! I have been out of town every weekend this month except the the last weekend out of the month. Phew! I'm still tired. Let's get into some favorites!

Eyes

Well in my palette post for July, I told y'all that I had NO CLUE on what I was going to use other than the Urban Decay Smoke palette for some weekend trips. I pulled out the Laura Mercier Artist Palette for my work trip that St. Louis. This is the first one that came out in 2012. I forgot how much I enjoyed this palette. It's an all in one palette where you don't need any additional shadows. You have highlight shades, blending shades, darker shades that you can use as eyeliner or to smoke out a look along with good everyday shades.

When it comes to neutral eyeshadows, warmer neutrals like gold and bronze kind of intimidate me. Sometimes I feel like they don't look "right" on me. If I do a warm shade on my lid, then I typically use a cooler toned shade to balance it out. My beauty pusha did a warm toned look on her channel with some warmer shades and I was like hmmmm. I took two Jane Cosmetics eyeshadows with me to St. Louis. The shades Sunset and Earth are warmer toned neutrals. I used them together and a little bit of Rich Coffee from the Laura Mercier Artist palette. But the look over all was warm toned. I really liked this look.

I almost forgot to mention Lancome's Bi-Facil. It's their double-action eye makeup remover. I've always wanted to try this but it's a pricey product. I got this in a Today's Special from HSN back in April or May. It's one that  you shake. This stuff is awesome. One pass and your eye makeup is pretty much gone. It also does not irritate my eyes. How can you have an eye makeup remover that's irritating? I mean really! I've really enjoyed this product and would purchase it outside of getting it in a set. I want to try Neutrogena's eye makeup remover. It's the one at the drugstore that I've heard the most good reviews about. I may get Lancome's again during Sephora's VIB sale in November.

Lips

Orange and peach are colors that I love on my cheeks but I don't always care for them on my lips. How some people fear red, is how I fear orange and peach. One morning I had originally grabbed Miliani's Mai Tai lip gloss to wear. I know I had worn it previously and had originally liked it. I got it back in March when I got Raspberry Rush (mentioned Raspberry Rush in June's favorite. Mai Tai is pictured). Anyway, I threw it on and I was like oh no. I left it on while I finished getting ready thinking maybe I would warm up to it. Then I was like no ma'am! I took it off and grabbed a peachy gloss. Said no to that. Then I remember I had a Chanel Glossimer in #337 Calypso. This gloss is the perfect orange gloss for me. It gives a hint of orange but it's not full on color. I forgot how much I liked it. It's comfortable to wear and the shimmer in the gloss isn't too much. I believe this was limited edition which is a bummer. So I will keep this gloss in easy reach for the rest of the summer. This is the only Glossimer I own. May peruse the Chanel counter and check out some of their other brighter shades since I like how Calypso wears. Next on my "purge list" are lippies. So I will definitely go through the orange and peach lippies along with other bright lippies I have with a critical eye. Me and brights don't always get along. It has to be the "right" shade for my comfort level or I just won't wear it. There are certain brands that make brights "wearable" like Bobbi Brown. So from now on I'm sticking with those for future purchases.

I made my first trip to the CCO in July. I picked up 2 MAC lipsticks in Del Rio (muted plum-brown) and Viva Glam III (muted brownish-plum). I've paired both lipsticks with the Bare Minerals Gloss in Wow Factor (rose). Both for me are good everyday shades for my skin tone.

Face

My drugstore skincare kick continues. I picked up the Olay Foaming Face Wash for Combination/Oily Skin from Ulta when it was on sale. It's inexpensive anyway but it doesn't hurt to save a little more on a product. It reminds me of Bare Minerals Foaming Face Wash. It doesn't really foam. At least I don't think it does like other foam cleansers I've used. It's a really nice cream cleanser that I used at night when I first got it. On my various trips this month, it was the only cleanser I took with me and used it morning and night. I have really really enjoyed using this cleanser. I poked around on Ulta and Amazon reading reviews on it and people really like this cleanser. Several reviews were from people who have used the product for years. I'm still loving the Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub in the morning. Once I use it up (just bought another tube), I may stick with Olay. We shall see. I did get another small bottle of philosophy's Purity the last week of the month for giggles. I'm enjoying using it but not enough to get a full sized bottle.

I also picked up Clean and Clear's Persa gel-10. I went back and looked at the last skincare routine video that Nicole Guerriero posted on her channel. I knew she had mentioned an acne spot treatment product that she liked. I picked it up from Ulta. I tell you I'm in Ulta like once a week. Sad I know. Anywho back to the product. This is a really nice acne spot treatment. It's not overly drying which I like and it smooths into the skin nicely. It gets the job done without being too harsh. I will definitely keep this in my skincare arsenal.

I picked up The Refreshing Remover Cleansing Towelettes by Garnier after hearing some rave reviews on YouTube. At first I did not like them. I thought the clothes were kind of dry. As I got into the pack, my feelings changed. They are very nice. Not sure if I would repurchase them again since I have other favorites. But if they went on sale or if I had to buy them again, I wouldn't mind using them.

Nails

I was in CVS and picked up some more Milani nails polishes that were on sale.Two glitter nail polishes that I picked up and got some serious use were Sugar Burst and Sugar Coated.

One of my favorite manis for the month was using Funky Fingers Highlighter and Milani's Sugar Coated. This was nice and bright that got noticed  by others lol!

Body

Nothing to report. Used various items that I enjoyed using but nothing that I really want to talk about *shrugs*

Random Stuff

I got new phone in June. My Droid RAZR Maxx was getting very sluggish and it needed to be replaced before it met the wall. I was waiting to see what in the hell Apple was going to do in terms of the iPhone 6. But I got tired of waiting and I honestly did not want to pay a bunch of money for a new phone. I ended up getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 for $1 from Best Buy. Yep $1 plus tax with the renewal of my contract. I researched between the S4 and the S5 and there weren't a whole lot of differences between the two. I also looked at the Galaxy Note. I've been enjoying the S4. Especially since my laptop is out of commission at the moment. I tell you chargers for electronics are worthless! When I get home in the evening, the last thing I want to do is sit at a desktop after being on the computer all day at work. I've watched YouTube videos, edited blog posts, placed online orders and everything on my S4. I love the screen size which I know people like to clown on Droid about. Nifty little thing.

Back in May, I picked up the GILI Leather Roma 2 Tote from QVC. I was leery in getting this due to some quality control issues with the bag. But my play auntie Lisa Robertson reassured everyone, saying that the issues with the previous version of the bag had been addressed. The GILI line on QVC, is her line that is inspired by pieces she owns or would like to own. This bag was inspired by a bag that she owns by Gucci. When I originally saw this bag in the Cream Snake, it spoke to me and I did order it before it aired as the TSV. *insert sigh* The day it aired, I ended up watching the last presentation of the day with Lisa. She got on her pedestal about the Natural Ostrich. Now y'all already know I loves me a tan bag and I was tempted when I first saw it but went with the Cream Snake. Let's just say that I ended up ordering the Natural Ostrich before the presentation was over. That damn Lisa can sell anyone anything! So yes I ended up ordering two bags.  When they came I was excited. When I got the boxes open and saw them both, I wasn't all that impressed with the Cream Snake. I said ok well let me carry it around and see if my feelings change. I carried it and still wasn't impressed. Long story short it went back. I gave the Natural Ostrich a whirl and was leery only because I was dissatisfied with the Cream Snake. That didn't last long and I love it! I have carried this joker and put it through it paces. I took it with me on my work trip to St. Louis, took on my weekend trips and used it as my daily bag for over a month. It's a great bag and I'm glad I kept it. I just switched out of it but I could seriously keep carrying it. Job well done aunt Lisa lol!!! I saw a sneak peek of some more of her bags coming for Fall. Trouble!!!!

Word searches were a favorite this month. During our last work meeting back in April, my coworker had a word search book. I said I would get one for our July meeting. I forgot how much I enjoyed this. I am truly my grandmother's child lol. Great way to clear your mind and de-stress.

Surprise Products of the Month

Wasn't surprised by anything this month. *shrugs again*

Meh Products of the Month

In June/July polish play, I mentioned that I had ordered two sets of Julie G nail polishes from Groupon. I was super excited to try these polishes based on folks saying that these are some of the best polishes at the drugstore. Well er ra ummmm.... The shades I got are really pretty, don't get me wrong. But I feel like they are just ok. After using them I'm not itching to run to Ride Aide to pick up more. Forsome of them, applying the first coat would have me going what the hell?!  By the second coat things would start to look better. A couple I did go in for a third coat. They were just too much work for me. So I'm kind of disappointed. But oh well.

I picked up the CVS Oil Free Acne Cleansing Towelettes on a whim. They are comparable to the Neutrogena Grapefruit ones. These are just ok. They're not very moist. When I used them to remove my eye makeup, they made my eyes water. I can't really say if they helped with my breakouts. They do a good job removing my face makeup. But I don't plan on repurchasing these when I use them up.

Not bad this month. I'm already thinking about how I want to do these posts for next year. Feel free to give me some suggestions. ☺

Here's a picture of part of  The Arch from the hotel we stayed at. I thought it was going to super hot but the weather was absolutely gorgeous the week we were in St. Louis.

On to August and another trip! Jeez! Headed to Nashville!