September 2012 Favorites

Aaaaahhhh Fall is upon us! Ok since the last couple of favorites posts have been looooong, I'm going to try to keep the rest of them short. Let's see how this goes...

Eyes

Maybelline released some limited edition Color Tattoos. There are 4 bright shades and 4 neutral toned shades. The block has been hot trying to find these jokers! I lucked up and found all 4 neutral toned shades at CVS. I've only been able to find 2 of the brighter ones. I'm still on the hunt but seriously doubt I will find them. Anywho I in LOVE with the neutral toned ones. Gold Shimmer is the one I reached for the most this month. This one *pauses* *gushes* I could wear it everyday and be happy. Bad to the Bronze was my favorite of the regular Color Tattoos. But Gold Shimmer gives me a little more. It's just awesome all over the lid when some liner and off you go. I did reach for Bad to the Bronze as well this month.

Urban Decay shadows are on the list again. This month I reached for the original Naked palette a bit. I mentioned this palette in the post I did about rebuilding my makeup collection. Hands down this would be one of the items I would repurchase. I love color on my eyes but I'm a neutral girl through and through. To me there is so much versatility in neutral eye looks. The Naked Palette has a nice mix of warm neutral tones along with a black and silver shadows. I've debated on getting the Naked 2 palette but I'm still undecided.

I picked up another drugstore mascara. I got L'Oreal's Voluminous Full Definition because of makeupbytiffanyd. She mentioned it in her July favorites (I think) and compared it to one of her favorite high end mascaras, Armani Eyes to Kill. So I said hey why not. At first I was like meh and wasn't really liking it. The more I used it and I guess air getting into the tube, I loved it! I like it better than Carbon Black which I think I mentioned as a favorite but now I would reconsider it as a favorite. The full definition one is just that. It full defines your lash and gives them extra volume. Well at least it does on my lashes.

Lips

I picked up two more colors in the Revlon Kissable Balm Stains. They are two of the deeper shades in Smitten and Crush.  I have been really enjoying them and I may pick up one more in Adore and maybe Romantic *head palm*. I had to force myself to put them away and use some of lippies. If I didn't have so many lip product this wouldn't be a "problem".

I reached for two of my favorite berry/purple toned lipsticks from Revlon in Berry Haute and Iced Amethyst.

Face

Since I have reorganized my Bare Minerals products I can see what I have better and play in them. I have fallen in love all over again with  Bare Minerals blushes. I grabbed like 4 or 5 blushes to play around with for the month and was reminded why these are some of my favorite blushes. They are similar to Bobbi Brown's blushes in that they go on nicely and the you can build the color on your cheeks. Two that I reached for a lot this month were Rosy Outlook and Avant Garden.

Two other blushes I reached for a lot were Milani's Baked Blushes in Fantastico Mauve and Red Vino. These blushes are very pigmented and you have to be careful to not pick too much product up on your brush. I get carried away sometimes with Red Vino :D

Nails

A while ago crytalsis007 talked about Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear polish in Pacific Blue on her blog and I believe she posted about it on Instagram. I have searched high and low for this polish! I was in Ulta walking around and something said go check the Sally Hansen polish section. And sure enough there it was! I couldn't wait to change my nail polish lol! It is a very vibrant and pretty blue color. I've gotten tons of compliments when I wore it.

My nails grow and are strong for the most part but I have issues with them peeling. So I posted a question on QVC's Beauty Banter board on suggestions for a good base coat. Duri Rejuvacote was one of the recommendations. I found a duo on eBay for inexpensive. They have larger quantities available but I didn't want to get a bunch if I didn't like it. You can use it alone or with nail color on your nails everyday until your nails are better. Then you can use it as needed. I've been using it as as a top and base coat. I tried to use it everyday but of course I didn't, but I still was pretty consistent with it. I'm just about done with one of the bottles. I've been really liking and my nails are much better.

During Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty they had a deal on Butter London polishes (buy one, get one free). Now *pauses* I had no intention on get anything! I only have one Butter London polish. Love the color but it chips like in a day. I was online looking at 2 colors I saw on Instagram but I was not going to pay shipping on 2 polishes. So moseyed on over to Ulta near my office. I didn't see the two polishes I was looking for but ended up picking up 2 glitter polishes. The Black Knight is the one I have be LOVING this month. It has a black base with various colors of glitter. Two coats and you have a full look with glitter. No other base color is need. So now my interest in Butter London has resurfaced *head palm*

This and That

I have been all over everything pumpkin spice from Starbucks! I love the latte. I picked up the new Ready Brew coffee in pumpkin spice. You add hot milk and it is delicious! Now I'm just waiting on the red cups lol!! \O/

I got a bracelet from Landau. There was a shop in the hotel where my work meeting took place in August. I moseyed in there and they had a table of bracelets that were $20. I like this bracelet because it's casual.  Just throw on and go.

I picked up CVS' Skin Purifying Astringent Deep Clean and there's a story behind it lol! A lady walked in before me and we walked over to the beauty section display. She was looking and looking for something. She picked up this big bottle and walked on. Me being nosy I was like was what she looking for lol!  I haven't used a toner in YEARS. This bottle is huge and I think it was $4. So I said what the hey. I've been using it twice a day and have been liking it. I use my Clarisonic in the evening to get my makeup of and I love it for that. One of the things I hated about wearing makeup is that I could never get it all over. I felt like I had to wash my face 3 times. This toner helps get any residual whatever from around the edges of my face. Oddly enough my face feels really soft after using it. So score for me being nosy ahahaa!

Ok not too bad this month. On to October!

Bag of the Moment - Dooney & Bourke Donegal Crest Domed Satchel

Here is another Dooney & Bourke bag that I purchased via QVC. I like this bag so much that I have it in 2 additional colors. Right now I'm carrying the brown. This is the Donegal Crest Domed Satchel. It came with a wristlet and key fob. I love just about everything with this bag. The only downside it that the cell phone pocket it small. I got this pre the larger smartphones era. No big deal though. The zip pocket on the inside is large enough to hold my phone and other stuff. It's a nice size everyday bag and I like the shoulder straps. I can get it on my should without any issues and with the colder weather coming I do have issues with it while wearing a coat or big sweater. I promise you I do have other non-Dooney bags. Stay tuned...

Feeling Restless....

I don't know what's going on but I have been feeling restless lately. In my random musings I've been thinking on various aspects of my life as they stand right now and I'm not "satisfied". Something in me is like there is more to be had. Of course I don't know what the "more" is. Ok that's a lie, I kinda do. I was sitting at home on my bed and I guess all of my recent frustrations festered over and I started crying. It was kind of therapeutic. A good cry every now and then isn't a bad thing. But again I'm like now what?  Truth be told I do know what part of the what is. I just have to put myself in action and press forward. Easier said than done because as we all know life happens and you get sidetracked. I guess it comes back to one of my earlier posts about focusing on me which is also hard. Family stuff and other obligations have been going on and I know that I can only do so much. But at the same time I feel "guilty" because I don't feel like I'm doing "enough".  I guess I'm still working on finding balance. Ok enough babbling. Until next time......

August 2012 Favorites

Let's get to it!

Eyes

I had a work meeting the second week of August and usually I take waaaaay too much makeup. I said to myself that I was not going to bring too much this trip. I took one of my smaller Urban Decay palettes. I won the Feminine palette in one of crystalis007's giveways. This palette is great for travel. You have neutrals, a couple pops of color and a Zero (black) eyeliner.  It has one of my favorite eyeshadows from the Naked Palette Darkhorse. Stray Dog is quite nice too! Here's a link to on Temptalia's blog. It was on sale on Urban Decay's site but I don't see up anymore.

I took Urban Decay's eyeliner in Demolition (dark brown) with me during my work trip. I used it more so as a base when I used Darkhorse and Stray Dog from the Feminine Palette. It created a nice smokey dark brown look with both shadows.

Last month I mentioned a LORAC set that I purchased form HSN. In that set there was the Front of the Line Pro liquid eyeliner. Played around with it more this month and it's a really nice liner. The tip is fine and gives off the right amount of product. I have been able to do a cat eye easily with this liner which is usually hard for me.

Seems like this month has been a month of rediscovery which is always fun. This month I reached for several of my Bobbi Brown products. I used several of her eyeshadows that I have and it was love all over again lol! They are so smooth, have great pigmentation and are so easy to blend.

Lips

So once again crystalis007's blog has gotten me in trouble yet again. I picked up Chanel's Troublant gloss from their fall collection. It's the perfect your lips but better gloss that you can wear with anything. Trying to be good and not get a back up.

I'm still on a red kick and have been using Wet n' Wild's Spotlight Red but I stumbled upon a Revlon lip gloss in Fire which is Fiiiyyaahh! LOL! I've worn it with Spotlight Red and on it's own. It's a red red so if you're not comfortable wearing a red lip then it may be a bit much for ya. Me on the other hand I likes it!!

I don't have a lot of MAC products but the few I do have I like. This month I was using Riveting Rose lipstick and Indigo lipglass a lot. They were from the Jeanius collection that came out last year.  They are both described as a deep burgundy with a blue pearl.  Ok we'll go with that lol! The lipstick has a frost finish.

I finally picked up one of the L'Oreal Color Richie Caresse Stick  in Violet Chiffon. I like the texture, pigmentation and how these feel on it. Tempted to get more but have to check on the price. I got this one a CVS and it was kind of expensive. I used some bonus bucks I had so I think I got it for $5. If you haven't guess I like purple colors on my lips :)

Face

I finally ran out of my Bobbi Brown concealer. So I decided to check out one of the new concealer items from Bare Minerals. I picked up Bare Minerals Stroke of Light in Luminous 4. This is toted as an eye brighter/concealer.  It provides light to medium coverage for the under eye. Now if you have serious dark circles or under eye issues then I wouldn't recommend using this alone. I don't have serious issues so this works for me to cover and brighten my under eye area. It pairs nicely when I use my Bare Minerals foundation and it did work well with one of my Bobbi Brown foundations.

Another Bobbi Brown item I reached for this month are her blushes. *sigh**pause* Can I tell you how wonderful they are?  LOL! In the pan they don't look like much but once you apply them...gorg! Similar to her eyeshadows they are smooth, easy to blend and you can build the color. Being able to build the color is important for me when it comes to blush. As a brown skinned girl my fear is always that a blush will not show up on me or it'll appear chalky. Also if you fair skinned you don't have to fear too much color going on your cheeks. Two of my favs were Desert Rose which the perfect pink blush for any skin tone and Plum.

One of my makeup loving sorority sisters gave me a mineralized blush from MAC called Love Thing that didn't really work for her. I gave it a whirl this month and it's so pretty. It's described a deep raspberry with fleck of gold. That's a spot on description. I guess this would be better to wear in the fall. But yall know I don't care about makeup "rules". I think this is going to start a downward spiral for purchasing more MAC blushes...gah!

Nails

I randomly picked up Zoya's Faye from my nail polish stash when I needed to do a quick polish change. I forgot how much I like it and noticed that I have been neglecting the Zoya polishes that I have. Faye is described as bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones with bright gold sparkle.

crystalis007 keeps getting me in trouble! LOL! She blogged about Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear The Real Teal nail polish. Here's a link to her post. I was in CVS (as usual) and picked it up. This was my go to polish this month. It's vibrant and a very pretty teal shade. It wore nicely on me as well. Since then I have picked up some other Xtreme Wear polishes *head palm*

During another random CVS run I pick up Revlon's Posh nail polish. I was thinking maybe it would be similar to Essie's Mojito Madness but it's more green. Oh well I really reeaallly like it so I'm happy with it.

When I'm not wandering around in CVS, I'm over at Walgreens lol! Both CVS and Walgreens are within walking distance of where I work. I picked up Nail Junkie from Sinful Colors. It's a pretty glitter polish with blue, green and silver glitter. I wore it as an accent nail with The Real Teal...gorg!

This & That (a bunch of stuff to talk about!)

I purchased two sets of Joy Magano's The Better Beauty Case from HSN. It was there today's special earlier in the month and I love them! It comes with a smaller and larger case.  I got them in leopard.  I use one of the smaller cases for my daily makeup and current play around with items. It has replaced the green basket that I had blogged about a while ago.  The other smaller case I used for my travel makeup and it was perfect. One of the larger ones I used for my Bare Minerals loose eyeshadows and blushes.  The other I have some nail polishes in. If these come back as a today's special I plan on picking up a couple of more sets and maybe some for Christmas gifts. Again they are awesome and hold a lot of stuff and you don't have to use them the strictly hold beauty items. During the presentation they should a variety of ways on how you can use the cases.

So I've been a quest to find a good daily moisturizer for my hair. On one of the threads I follow on QVC's Beauty Banter board, someone recommended checking out Shea Moisture. So I poked around online to check out their offerings and then made a run to Walgreens. I ended up picking up the Coconut & Hibiscus Hair Milk. It is light but moisturizes my hair nicely and I love the smell. On some days I pull my hair back and when I take it down it can be really dry. Not with this hair milk. When I take my hair down now, it's soft and moisturized. I've picked up some other Coconut & Hibiscus items from the line and hopefully I like those.

Played around with some new skincare items. I picked up Cetaphil's cleanser and moisturizer. I've really been liking the cleanser. It gets my makeup off with the Clarisonic in the evening and keeps my oil at bay after I use it the morning before applying my makeup. The moisturizer is light and not greasy.. It absorbs into the skin nicely. I also picked up Alpha Hydroxy Retinol ResQ from Ulta. This a dupe for philosophy's Help Me which I have used before and I did like it. I was about to purchase it again but found out about the ResQ which is a lot cheaper.

When I was at Sally's and I renewed my beauty club card I was able to get Silk Elements Megasilk Olive Oil Heat Protectant for free. I was like cool. If I don't like it then I could just pitch it since it was free. Well I like it! Usually I don't care for heat protectants because the tend to make my hair sticky. This one gives your hair a nice sheen and actually makes it soft. So score on this freebie!

I have been drinking Safeway's Refreshe Sparkling Water Beverages a lot lately. Since I've been trying to drink more water and less soda, this helps when I have the urge for a soda. It gives me the carbonation that I guess my body is looking for from a soda. They have a bunch of flavors. My favorite is strawberry watermelon. It's 0 calories and no sodium. You have to look because some do have sodium in them. In small amounts but still.

Don't know if I mentioned it before but I have a Keurig and I love it! One of my favorite coffees is Wolfgang Puck's Breakfast in Bed. It's so smooth and a nice medium taste. I don't do bold coffees. This is one is perfect for me.

Ben & Jerry's ice cream!!!!!! At the hotel where my work meeting was held, Ben & Jerry's ice cream was on the desert menu. Can I tell you that Coffee Buzz Buzz and Strawberry were everything! OMG! Vanilla was really good too but yea these two were delicious! I need to see if I can find them in my grocery store. Then again maybe I shouldn't look hahah!

Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy....yea well. I know these books have caused a lot of whoopla lately. I originally read all 3 books last month and felt like rereading them again. Yes there is sex in the book but to me there's more the story than just that. And please believe I have read worse books when it comes to describing sex or that talk about the BDSM  lifestyle. Anywho Christian Grey and all his 50 shades are quite alright with me LOL! I also got quite a few chuckles at Ana's inner goodness and subconscious :)

This month Elle Varner released her debut album Pefectly Imperfect. It has been a while since I have been excited about a release. I've heard her songs on the radio and I thought they were ok. She was on The Russ Parr Morning Show I think it was the day before the release date. They played a few songs and I was like oh I have to scoop this up. I loaded it on my iPod and have been jamming!! It's very rare for me to be able to listen to an album from beginning to end. I can with this one. The songs I have been loving are Sound Proof Room, I Don't Care, Not Tonight and Leaf. These four songs are right after each other and I have them on a loop. This release kind of reminds me of when Tweet came out with Southern Hummingbird  in 2000 and I still crank it like it came out yesterday. Tis a good feeling when you stumble upon GOOD music!

Phew! Alright good people that is it!

On to September. Fall is a comin and boot season!!!! Only 3 more favorites posts for 2012! Jeez where did the year go!?