A personal touch...

This post is quite possibly one of the most personal blogs I have ever written.  Someone once told me that writing your feelings sometimes is the best way to deal with your feelings so that is what I am choosing to do. 
My parents divorced when I was very young.  5 years old to be exact.  My father has since remarried and as a result of his new marriage I have been truly blessed with some amazing additions to my family unit.  One of which was my nephew, Dylan.  We met when Dylan was but 3 years old.  Dylan was born with cerebral palsy, a very severe case.  He had a very rough and trying life.  He was not able to use his legs and had very limited mobility in his arms.  This did not stop him! He was never discouraged.  While he was limited physically his mind worked just like everyone else's.  Dylan and I clicked instantly, it was like we had always been family.  We enjoyed making fun of other members of our family and we picked on each other like we were brother and sister.  When I got my driver's license I would pick him up and take him to lunch or shopping and when I moved away to college I would make a point to try and still do those things with him.  anyone who knows me knows I love my nephews more than ANYTHING in this world.  They are truly the light of my life.  Dylan was different, he offered something different to my life.  He taught me things I had never imagined.  I learned a new appreciation for life and every breath I was able to take.  Dylan never once "wallowed in self-pity", he never once complained, in fact even on his worst of days he still managed to smile and mutter the words "somebody else has it worse".  It was no secret to all of us that Dylan's life was truly a blessing and with his health conditions it was likely he would not live what would be considered an average number of years.  Even though we had known this for years we had never expected all our days to be as numbered as they really were.  Shortly before Christmas of 2011, during a routine doctor's visits our family was  informed  that Dylan's lungs were not functioning as they should and as a result his life was very precious and limited.  His body was wearing out.  He was tired.  As time had passed since Christmas each day he got a little weaker and a little more tired.  But he was continuing on as he always had, he still went to school, participated in choir and was tride and true to his school athletic events.  Several weeks ago my sister texted me one morning and told me she needed to speak with me and I should call her as soon as I could.  I of course immediately called her.  Dylan had been to an oral surgeon and was informed that some of his teeth were at a risk for septic infection and due to his lung condition doing surgery would most likely (95%) result in Dylan being placed on a ventilator.  It was not the news we had wanted to hear.  The doctors and Dylan's phenomenal pain management team had decided that before any decisions were made about surgery a more extensive run of testing should be done. Just a few days later I received the call that Dylan was on his way to the emergency room and shortly thereafter he was transported to a Children's hospital almost 2 hours from home and placed in ICU. This was Sunday April 29th.  His condition was worsening and only extreme measures could help us now, and they were measures that Dylan decided were not the life he wanted to live. On Wednesday May 2nd, Dylan was sent home under the care of hospice. My sister called me on the way home and informed me of the situation.  I had planned a trip to Ohio to see him on May 12th, but once hospice arrived to the house later that evening they informed the family it most likely wouldn't be much longer, with that notice I left Tennessee at 9:30 at night on Wednesday May 2nd and rushed home to be with Dylan and my family.  I was able to spend time with him reading, talking, hugging, singing and cuddling.  We even got a few moments together to tell each other how much we loved each other.  I told Dylan that he had changed my life and I could not be more grateful for my parent's divorce and my father marrying his grandmother because had that not happened I would have never been so privleged to have Dylan in my life.  Dylan's presence in my life changed me, for the better.  At 11:48 pm on Friday May 4th, at the age of 16 Dylan very peacefully took his last breath in the arms of his mother and father.  I had gone to my parents house to sleep for a few hours and received the phone call I should return to the house, I had no idea what I was walking in to at that point, we had spent 2 days with no sleep, barely eating, and quite honestly i was loopy.  I guess part of me suspected that something had happened, but a large part of me thought i was going over there because he had gotten worse but there was still time.  I was wrong.  When I arrived he had already passed.  I felt like everything around me was crumbling.  I couldn't speak.  It hurt in a way I still 2 weeks later cannot put in to words.  I'm angry. I'm angry he's gone, I'm angry at some point I am going to have to come to terms with it, and I am angry that there are so many people in this world that will never get to know the beautiful and amazing person that he was. I feel so amazingly blessed to have been a part of his life, I feel blessed because I know how much he loved me and I feel blessed that I got to be the person who helped him unwrap his presents every year for the last 13 years, but I feel sad because I never get to hug him again, or hear him say "I love you Aunt Kelly" again , I feel sad because I never get to take him to lunch and take fake shots with him at parties again , I feel sad because I don't get to pick on people with him anymore, and I feel sad b/c every Christmas eve from here on out I will not be the privileged one to help him open all of his gifts.  I feel angry because right now I feel that it's the greatest of people that suffer the most, I feel angry because my sister is now without her only child, I feel angry because he was only 16, and I feel angry because I so desperately do not want to accept that he is gone, but someday when I am ready, I will.  I know they say things get better with time, but right now I admit that it doesn't feel that way.  During those last few days we were told, "Don't cry because it's over, Smile because it happened." I will cry because it's over, I will have those days were the pain from losing him feels crippling, but I will have the days that I will smile because he was part of my life.  I will smile because I was able to love someone like him.  I will smile because I have so many beautiful memories of him, and I will smile because I know how much he loved me. 

This was a few Christmas's ago.  I actually was the one that purchased the goofy glasses for him.  you can even see my hand to the left of him and my super awesome shiny pink bag!

This was actually here in Knoxville when my dad and step-mom Rita brought Dylan down for the weekend to see me.  He had so much fun!  It was probably one of the best weekends I have ever had!


Also this is quite possibly one of the best things I have ever seen.  This was a news segment from nearly 4 years ago that covered one of the many business endeavors that Dylan embarked upon.  Others included (lemonade stand, dog biscuits, selling his own paintings).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RHZgNYsJq8

Benefit Tan about Town and Full Glam Ahead

During a recent hunt for a matte bronzer I ran across these two value sets at Sephora, one of which included Benefit's Hoola bronzer (which is matte).  I had never really tried anything from Benefit cosmetics so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I picked up these two sets:

Each set contains 3 pretty decent sized samples of product.  I would consider all the samples actually more travel size than sample size.  The contents of the Tan about Town set included:

- 0.06 oz Some Kind-A Gorgeous in Medium
- 0.14 oz BadGal Lash
- 0.1 oz Hoola
This set is a $37 value and costs only $12!!!

I absolutely LOVE the Bad Gal Lash and the Hoola bronzer.  The Some Kind of Gorgeous product is a cream to powder skin perfector. It is a decent product, but It really isn't a good shade for me. I most likely would NEVER purchase this product on it's own. 

The Full Glam Ahead set includes:

- 0.13 oz High Beam
- 0.09 oz Stay Don't Stray
- 0.14 oz BADgal Lash
This set is $37 value and cost only $12 as well!!!!

I absolutely LOVE everything in this set.  The High Beam is a GREAT product.  It is seriously the perfect cheek highlight.  I love it paired with Pretty Addictions Shattered Pearls.  I am also a big fan of the Stay Don't Stray, personally I like it better than Urban Decay's primer potion.  When my travel size of High Beam runs out I will most likely not even hesitate to spend the near $30 to replace it, I love it that much!!!

Have you ladies ever tried any of these products? What did you think?  What are your favorite products from Benefit Cosmetics?  What do you recommend? 

Suave Keratin Expressions

So I really wanted to jump on the Keratin bandwagon, but honestly some of the products are WAY expensive if you aren't sure how much you will like them. While I was blog browsing I noticed someone had posted about Suave Professionals Keratin Expressions.  I figured I'd give it a shot!!!

I purchased the one for colored hair that had the tag line on the bottle that read "Lower Sulfates".  These babies retail for around 3 dollars a piece at your local Walgreens and I have to admit I really do like these products!!! I haven't used other Keratin products to be able to compare these to, but I do really like the change I notice in my hair when I use these products.  They also smell AMAZING!!! For me these were a great starter product to the Keratin movement and have definitely made me want to try other Keratin products!!

All in all I am super excited about these products.  Have you ladies given them a try yet? What did you think?  Do you have any other Keratin based products you recommend? 

Zoya's Dominique and Pru

This post has been a long time coming, but we all know that I have really been slacking on my blogging recently. Anyway I finally decided to try out Zoya polishes.  When I happened to try it out they were running a sale where you could get two polishes for the price of shipping.  SAWEET!!!!

Anyway I decided to try out these two:

L to R: Dominique, Pru

Dominique is a bright, saucey red
Pru is a purplish pink with gold undertones

They are both gorgeous and holy mama do these colors stay on!!! Overall, I am incredibly impressed with these two polishes.  The sad thing is that you can only purchase these online.  However, it is soooo worth it!!!

Have you ladies ever tried out Zoya polishes? What do you think of them? What shades are your favorites?

Jordana Easyshine Glossy Lipcolor

Have you ladies ever tried Jordana's Easyshine Glossy Lipcolor?  If not, OMG they are AMAZING!!!  I have seen them at my local K-Mart and at all of our local Walgreens.  They retail for 1.99 each and they are worth every single penny. 
Here are some swatches:

Swatches L to R: Pink Lemonade, Watermelon, Raspberry, Berry Colada, and Grape-tini
Like I said they are all very moisturizing they have a lot of color pay off and to make it even better they all have amazing smells!!! My favorites are Watermelon, Berry Colada and Grape-tini. 

If you haven't picked any of these babies up yet, I would def. get on it, you can't beat how awesome of a product they are for their very small pricetag!!!

Mirra Daily Shampoo and Conditioner

So, several months ago while doing my grocery shopping at Kroger, I of course had to make a trip down the Health and Beauty Aisle.  There was a brand of Shampoo and Conditioner that I had been eyeballing and I happened to luck out and one specific formulation was marked down from $4.49 to $1.29 each. I of course took advantage of the opportunity and picked it up. 

Mirra Daily is a Kroger Exclusive brand. You can get more information on the brand here.   The particular formulation I picked up was the Smoothing Shampoo and Conditioner.  I have since gone to replenish my stock and this is no longer available (probably why it was so cheap).  This time I picked up the day to day formulation.  They have color care, deep moisture, and volumizing as their other formulations.  All of them have extracts from a natural product.

What drew me to these products is that they do not contain sulfates OR parabens.  I have really been trying so hard to take better care of my hair so I try to keep at least 2 good hair products in my rotation.  I absolutely LOVE the way that these smell and I have to admit I absolutely LOVE the way my hair feels after using them!  For the price it's totally worth it, plus your hair will be grateful :)

Have you ladies tried these products yet? what did you think?

Sneak Peek of Reviews to come

So I had been doing really good at not buying a bunch of health and beauty supplies and then BAM, I got back in to the habit of doing it... I've been picking up things here and there and then realized oops, I hadn't been blogging about them.  Today I am going to give you a little sneak peek of items I will be reviewing coming up and where I got them. 

So Let's talk about what is in this picture...

Daily Mira Smoothing Shampoo and Conditions: Sulfate and Paraben FREE, purchased at Kroger
Suave Keratin Infused Shampoo and Conditioner: Lower Sulfates, purchased at Walgreens
Garnier BB Cream: Light/Medium, purchased at Walgreens
Aloe and Shea Body Butter: Amazingness, purchased at The Body Shop
Zoya Nail Polish: Pru and Dominique
Sinful Colors Nail Polish: Nirvana, purchased at Walgreens
Sally Hansen Hard Coat: purchased at Kroger
Wet N' Wild: Purple Gray Color (can't remember name), purchased at Walgreens
Jordana Fabuliner: Black, purchased at Walgreens
Bonnebelle Blush-to-Go: purchased at Dollar Tree
Jordana Lip Gloss: Berry Colada, Raspberry, Watermelon, Pink Lemonade, and Grapetini, purchased at Walgreens and Kmart
Wet 'N Wild Lip tint: purchased at Walgreens

I have to say that every single item on this list I am a HUGE fan of, I will be doing an in depth review on these items as time goes on... First up will be the Daily Mira Products :) 

Organix Acai Berry Avocado Shampoo and Conditioner Review

I know it's been like a million years since I have blogged.  I apologize.  I've been busy and honestly just kind of forgot about it.  The holidays were pretty good actually.  I had a great time at home with my family for Christmas.  I can't believe how much my nephews are growing up.  I had a very quiet and rather awesome New Years and now here we are... starting another semester of grad school.... How were your holidays?

Probably a month or so ago my friend Blake and I were at Walgreens and noticed that the Organix hair products were on sale.  They were buy one get one free.  Each retailed for $6.99 so you got them for $3.50 each, I figured why the hell not!!! After all, they are all sulfate and paraben free!  I'm really trying to take better care of my hair and pamper it a lot more so I thought I'd give this stuff a whirl.  I decided to go with the Acai Berry Avocado collection. 

according to the Organix website:
The shampoo and condition are An exotic nutrient luxurious blend of antioxidant rich acai berry extract and guava to instantly nourish and enrich your hair while avocado proteins add nutrition and balance along with Moroccan argan oil to moisturize your tresses and create a shiny, smooth, frizz-free finish. 

I have used the products a few times, and every time I use it I like it a little less.  The shampoo is alright, but the conditioner is nothing to run around and brag about.  My hair feels gross/gunky and it doesn't feel conditioned at all after using it.  The smell of the products is fantastic, I actually love the smell, but damn I hate the way my hair feels after using the combination of the shampoo and conditioner.  If I use the shampoo and then a different brand of conditioner there is a significant improvement, however it just feels like my hair has some build up on it and for just washing it I expect it to feel a little better than it does when I use this product.  I think that's fair, right? 

as for the product, I definitely will not be purchasing these exact products again.  I am fond of some of the other Organix products so I am not saying I will never purchase something from this line again, just definitely will not be buying these two, ever again.  Not worth the money even at buy one get one free. 

Have you ladies tried this shampoo and conditioner before?  What did you think?

Pretty Addictions Cyber Monday Special

I know, I have been a total slack ass lately with blogging.  I've just gotten caught up in getting ready for Christmas and all the school and work stuff, unfortunately blogging has been put on the back burner.  I have been crafting like crazy for Christmas and I must say I have made some super cute little crafts for everyone in my family!  I plan to do a blog post on everything I made with maybe some DIY instructions after the holidays. 
Anyway, today I wanted to share with you what I picked up from Pretty Addictions Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale.  The wonderful owner and my dear friend, Kassandra ran one hell of a sale in honor of the craziest shopping time of the year, 40% off EVERYTHING!!!! Plus as usual if you spent 20 dollars excluding shipping you received a free 5g jar of the Shadow of the Week!!!!

I just love the new little packaging they have been using.  I also LOVE the new look of the business cards!

This was everything that came in my order. 

I ordered:
4, 5 g shadows
1, 20 g blush
1, mini blush
1, mini shattered pearls
2, mini bronzers

I also received the free 5g jar of the shadow of the week for ordering $20 or more of products.

Let's see some swatches!!!

1. Blush-Moulin Rouge (20 g jar, $7.50)
2. Bronzer-Fiji (mini, $3.50)
3. Luminizer-Shattered Pearls (mini, $4.50)
4. Bronzer-Barbados (mini, $3.50)

I also ordered a mini of the blush French Kisses, but I didn't swatch it b/c I had already purchased one before and had swatched it in another post (at the time this made sense)

5. Glistening Icicles
6. Shiver
7. Frostbitten
8. Dirty Girl ;)
9. Famous (Free 5g jar with order)

I am absolutely in love with everything in this order.  I was a bit scared of Moulin Rouge at first, but it turns out I am seriously in love with it. 

Because of the incredible deal Kassandra was running I received ALL of these pretties for $23.90 INCLUDING shipping (which was only $2)!!!!!

To date this is my entire Pretty Addictions collection.  I should have fanned out the samples to show how many are there, because there are a quite a few!

Have you ladies ordered from Pretty Addictions yet?  What did you think? What did you purchase?

The Demise of my Shellac Manicure....

Well... I decided this weekend I could no longer handle the grow out and the color of the shellac.  So I took it off... The sad thing is it left my nails looking like CRAP

You can pretty much see how much grow out I experienced over the course of about 12 days.  You can also see that it kind of left my nails a little rough looking.  My friend, Blake got a manicure the same night that I did and I must admit hers looks loads better.  She doesn't have nearly as much grow out, but then again her polish was much closer to her cuticle than mine was. 
I can definitely see why for some this would be something beneficial for them. For me though, I don't see myself getting another shellac manicure unless it is for a wedding I am in or something.  I personally like changing up my polish too much for this to be realllllly beneficial for me.  I'll stick to painting my own nails and in the rare cases a mani is necessary I will for sure get a Shellac manicure... since it's only another 5-10 dollars and it does in fact last MUCH longer than a regular manicure. 

Shellac Manicure Update :)

It has now been 10 days since I got my Shellac Manicure.  I thought I would post a little update on how well it is holding up :)

Sorry that the top picture is a little blurry.  If you look close you notice that there aren't any chips in the color and it's actually holding up way better than I had expected considering what I do on a daily basis.  I do a lot of computer work and I also work with a lot of organic solvents and chemicals so for this to be holding up to all the conditions that usually cause regular nail polish to run for it's life I am impressed. 

The drawbacks for me personally are grow out and the gap between the cuticle and the polish and I am honestly getting a little bored with the color.  That's my update for now :)

I'll post another one next week (if I can keep the color on that long :))

Pretty Addictions Tuesday

I know this will sound really silly, but as part of my efforts to try and show love to all of my cosmetics I try and rotate the brands I use daily.  Today I chose to bust out one of my all time favorite companies, Pretty Addictions.  I wasn't planning on taking a picture of the look, but I loved it so much I decided to anyway.  As always the picture isn't as awesome as I would like.... LAME

I love it! Now, let's talk about what products I used!!!!

Primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion
Inner 1/2 of eyelid: Hero
Outer 1/2 of eyelid: 25 kt Gold
Crease and above crease: Brown Sugar
Inner crease and slight "outer v": Locked & Loaded
Inner 1/2 of bottom liner: Hero
Outer 1/2 of bottom liner: 25 kt Gold
Eyeliner: NYX Liquid Eyeliner in Extreme Coffee
Mascara: Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume in Very Black

I just am loving this look. I wish it looked better via pictures, but I guess you can't have it all!!!

What look are you ladies rockin' today? 

My First Shellac Manicure!!!

I'm sorry my blogs have been incredibly sparse lately.  Graduate school is catching up to me and I have been so busy between doing stuff for school, applying for jobs and maintaining my social life that unfortunately blogging has been put on the back burner.  Plus, I'm trying to not spend as much money so that means I have less products to talk about!
How many of you ladies use these social "couponing" sites as a way to try new and different things in your area?  Have you ever heard of Groupon or LivingSocial?  Well recently I subscribed to another one (like I really needed to) called HalfOffDepot.  During my first week of being a subscriber a local Salon was offering a Spa Pedicure and a Shellac Manicure for only 20 dollars for both! If you have ever looked around you will know that usually the cheapest rate for a Shellac Manicure alone is around $25 so this was a hell of a deal.  I of course had to snatch it up.  I had to see if this was really a 2-3 week manicure or not! Plus, who doesn't need a good pedicure once in awhile!
So, a little insight in to what a Shellac Manicure is.  The line of products that the manicurist at this Salon used was Gelish.  According to Gelish:
"This system uses only a pH balancing agent to stabilize the moisture level of the nail. Then the Mini Gelish Foundation Gel has adhesive properties that attract to the keratin in the natural nail, not causing any depletion, only acting as a 2 sided tape to adhere the Mini Gelish Gel Polish to the nail itself. "
The process for using these polishes is the same as that of a regular manicure with two exceptions the formulation of all the products are different than that of regular polish and you use LED and UV light to set the formula.  The manicure starts with of course cleaning the nails, trimming the cuticles, buffing etc.  A base coat is applied and your nails are then place under a UV or LED light for around 1 minute.  After the actual polish of your choosing is applied you then place your nails under the light again for approximately 2 minutes.  This allows the polish to set as described above.  After this is finished a top coat is applied, some more light time and BAM the nails are dry! There is no sitting around for hours waiting on your nails to dry! How awesome right?
I went with my friend Blake last night to use our halfoffdepot deal.  Let's see the results...

I let the manicurist pick what color was going on my nails since I really had no preference.  She chose a deep purple.  I really love the color.  The only part that stinks is that my nails were short when I went in.  Today is day 1 with the new manicure.  So we shall see how this goes.  I will keep you all updated!!!!

Have you ladies ever had a Shellac manicure?  what did you think?

Mini-Haul!

Today, I thought I would share with you lovelies a few of my most recent purchases. I haven't been buying much recently, since I put myself on a 60-day makeup ban. I simply am running out of room and places to store things so I decided it was time to put a halt on my purchases for a little bit.  I am currently 22 days in to my 60 day ban, and I have to admit it's going much better than I had anticipated.  My ban only includes makeup items.  Haircare, nail polish and other hygiene products are ok, just NO makeup, unless it is a necessity.

Last week I decided I need to change up the color of my hair a little bit so I made a stop on the way home from work at Sally Beauty Supply.  The last time I colored my hair my hair was furious with me for several weeks after so I decided to purchase some moisturizing treatments/deep conditioners for the aftermath to try and help it through it's anger. 

The product on the left is Silk Elements Moisturizing Treatment (trial size).  It was on sale for $1.99 last week at Sally's.  The product on the right is Ion Repair Solutions Treatment (trial size).  This product is 100% vegan and was on sale at Sally's last week for $1.99.  



 I know what you are thinking, I know this is a makeup product. But remember when I said I was allowed to buy as long as it was a necessity.  Well I consider one tube of mascara running out and the other drying up making is necessary to make a new purchase.  My mom has been raving about Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume mascara for months now. Yesterday when I was at Kroger I noticed this was on sale for $6.39 so I figured it was a worth a shot.  I also had a $1.00 off coupon so I only paid $5.39 for the tube! SCORE. 

The last purchase I made was from Walgreens.  I bought two of the nail art colors from the Sinful Colors collection.  I have really been wanting to dry and do some designs on my nails and these itty bitty brushes seem to be what gets the job done.  Each one of these are $1.99. 

What have you ladies been purchasing lately? Find any good deals or must have products?

Meet the newest love of my life...

Can I please just take a minute and rave about how Wet 'n Wild cosmetics just continue to amaze me! The ONLY thing I have bought from Wet 'n Wild in the last several years that did not impress me was their eye makeup remover.  Everything else I have purchased from their line recently just amazes me.  Their shadows are rich in pigment and blend amazingly, their eyeliners are awesome, the two mascaras I have purchased are pretty stellar as well.  I know you ladies have seen my good friend Kassandra, over at Pretty Addictions recently blogged about a palette that her husband purchased for her for their wedding anniversary.  She kept telling me how amazing this palette was and since I am a huge fan of neutral and green shadows I HAD to get one for myself.  Let me introduce you to my newest love of my life the Wet 'n Wild color icon palette called Comfort Zone...

I absolutely LOVE this palette! there are so many possible combinations and the best part it was only $4.99 at Walgreens!!!!

Let's see some swatches :)

The picture was taken with flash.  The upper half of the swatch is over NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk and the bottom half is done with no primer at all.

For some reason this picture WILL NOT rotate properly... after 20 minutes I give up! 

The pictures were taken with flash.  The upper half of the swatch is over NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk and the bottom half is done with no primer at all.

I am so incredibly impressed with Wet  'n Wild products as of lately.  The only thing I have purchased from them in over a year that was a huge disappointment was their eye makeup remover. I am absolutely loving all of their shadows, especially their limited edition collections. 

What about you ladies? Have you ran out to buy the Comfort Zone palette yet?

Coastal Scents Haul :)

I have been dying to purchase new brushes for months now. I have been looking around endlessly for a good set of brushes, that contained all the particular brushes I have been looking for at a price that would fit in to my budget.  I happened to notice last week that Coastal Scents had their 22-piece brush set on sale for $34.95.  I debated on making this purchase for about 2 hours and then finally around 4:00 pm I made the purchase.  I was shocked that by that same evening I had a shipping confirmation from the company. Monday morning I woke up and checked the tracking number through USPS and noticed that my order was ALREADY in Knoxville!! It seriously made it from Florida to Tennessee THAT quick.  Unfortunately, Monday was a holiday and the post office was closed so I had to wait until Tuesday to get my goodies.
I ended up ordering the 22- piece set AND the Destiny Blender brush.

I forgot to take a picture of the GIGANTIC box that the items were in, but it was about 3 times the necessary size, I thought I was getting all kinds of stuff I didn't order! Anyway, the 22 piece set came in a super awesome carrying case. 

Overall, the brush set is WELL worth the money.  Two of the brushes in the case retail for $14.95 by themselves on the coastal scents website.  So getting 20 other brushes for theoretically 5 more dollars is a hell of a deal! The brushes are super awesome quality and so far, the few days I have used them I am in LOVE!

Mass props to Coastal Scents for their awesome brushes at a super affordable price AND their mega fast shipping!!!!

Have you ladies used any of the Coastal Scents brushes? How do you like them? 

A Little late to the party :)

I don't mean to rub it in or anything but check out what my good friend Kassandra at Pretty Addictions, picked up for me!!!!

Yes, that is correct the ENTIRE Wet 'n Wild Dream Weavers Collection!!! We had both been searching high and low for this collection.  I even had friends and family who lived in different areas checking their local CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid for the collection.  Finally Kassandra ran across them and purchased the ENTIRE display which included 2 complete sets of the collection.  She asked me right away if I wanted the second set.  I was at first very hesitant because there are a few that I just don't see myself using, but nonetheless I was sucked in by their beauty and decided I wanted them. I received them last week...

This is how Kassandra sent them packaged to me.  There was so much bubble wrap that the package couldn't fit in my actual mailbox (I live in an apartment) they had to put the package in one of the BIG mailboxes instead!  She was determined after all of our hunting that these little beauties were NOT going to break on the way to Tennessee! I got a good laugh at the amount of bubble wrap. 
I haven't had much of a chance to play with them yet and test them out, but I plan to get some swatches up for you all very soon :) 

Are you ladies just loving Wet 'n Wilds shadows like I am?

Just a little something (accessory wise :P )

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!! I had a great weekend myself.  Got to see some of my family, spent a lot of time with friends and did some relaxing. 

Have you ladies ever heard of a store called Ross?  It's very similar to a TJ Maxx/Marshalls.  I absolutely love Ross, truthfully I don't know how I survived without Ross before moving down to TN!!! Anyway, I was on a hunt for a particular decor item last week and made a stop in to Ross.  I of course had to make a little trip through the accessory section and happened to find some deals I just couldn't turn down! 

 I got two beret style beans and a pack of three head bands all for under 15 bucks! I just couldn't beat it.  I have a hat very similar to these to that a friend made for me.  It's bright red so it is not always going to match.  So i decided to pick these two up to add to my collection because I absolutely love the way these hats look. 

the grey hat is actually from Jessica Simpson's clothing line. It his garnished with some large buttons along the side.  It retails at $30.00, at Ross it was only $5.99. 

This black on is a little bit more plain, but not any less adorable.  The brand is LuLu (which I do not believe I have heard of before) according to the price tag it retailed for $18.99 and I was able to score this for only $4.99!!!

I absolutely love headbands as an accessory, unfortunately I don't wear them very often.  I think my head is an odd shape or perhaps I have entirely too much hair, but for some reason head bands never seem to fit my head properly!  I think these are adorable, they are braided leather, the package came with a tan, chocolate brown, and black headband.  These retails for $15.00 for all three, at Ross they were only $2.99!!!


Have you ladies found any accessories lately that you just couldn't live without owning? 

Happy Monday!!! I hope everyone has a super fantastic week :)

My favorite CHEEK products!

I know I have done a post like this before, like months ago, but truth is my favorite cheek products have changed quite a bit, so I thought it would be a good time to update and let you know which products I grab for the most to put a little color on these cheeks of mine! To be honest, I used to not EVER wear blush or bronzer. I always just put my foundation on and left.  These days I don't feel my look is complete without some color on my cheeks. It's amazing what a little blush or bronzer can do for a look!
Let's see what I grab for the most!

On my list of most reached for items are:

Pretty Addictions Blush-The Big "O"

Pretty Addictions Blush- Wild Thang

NYX Cream Blush-Natural

Wet 'n Wild Bronzer-Everything Under the Sun

I know it's a big shock that there are two Pretty Addictions products in my top products, but seriously these blushes are amazing.

Swatches were taken without flash (Top to Bottom, then vertical swatch): Pretty Addictions-Wild Thang, Pretty Addictions-The Big "O", NYX Cream Blush-Natural, Wet 'n Wild-Everything Under the Sun

I am in love with all four of these products!!!

Pretty Addictions-Wild Thang - A BRIGHT Barbie Pink with light shimmer (love this color)

Pretty Addictions-The Big "O" - A coral orange with slight pink undertones and tons of gold shimmer! (my favorite!!)

NYX Cream Blush-Natural- A "pinched" pink with no shimmer

Wet 'n Wild-Everything Under the Sun - I am not a huge bronzer fan, but OMG I love this bronzer!!! I wear it way more often than I have worn any other bronzer I own. It's one of the best things that has ever happened to me, makeup wise that is!!!

Ladies, what are your favorite cheek products? What do you reach for the most???

My favorite Eyeliners!

The other night I was going through my eyeliner collection and got really sad as I realized how many of my eyeliners I neglect on a very regular basis. I have my favorites and I tend to forget to branch out and use the others in my drawer (this is a reoccurring theme with most of my beauty products, I find my favorites and neglect everything else in the drawer.)

These are my most often reached for eyeliners. Some of them I use way more often than others, but when it comes to eyeliner these are the ones I reach for and all the other ones in my drawer just get left behind :( 

Picture was taken with flash (I know it's not that great but out of the 15 I took, unfortunately this was the best!) (L to R):

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Zero: Matte black liner (if you haven't used the 24/7 liners, you are missing out! They are incredibly smooth and easy to work with and they stay on for hours and hours and hours!)

www.urbandecay.com $18

NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Coffee: Shiny coppery brown (this one is my favorite! I love wearing brown liners, sometimes black can be too harsh for me)

www.cherryculture.com $4.50 (on sale now for $3.75)

Mary Kay Eyeliner in Steely: Gunmetal gray with slight Navy undertones (gorgeous! If brown doesn't work with your look of the day and black is too harsh this is an AWESOME alternative)

www.marykay.com/sbhicks $10

ELF Cream Eyeliner in black: Jet Black very matte liner (only complaint, creme liners tend to dry out very quick and become difficult to work with)

www.eyeslipsface.com $3

NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Purple: BRIGHT purple! (I LOVE this eyeliner, this is my 2nd favorite of all time!)

www.cherryculture.com $4.50 (on sale now for $3.75)

NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Black: I like to call this one my IN YOUR FACE black liner

www.cherryculture.com $4.50 (on sale now for $3.75)

Ladies, What are your favorite liners? Have you ever tried any of these? What did you think?