July Favorites

Seeing as how it’s a week into August, and I’m now a week into being unemployed I’m taking the time to do an actual favorites post. I can’t even laughingly call these monthly anymore because they’re so…not monthly. But I feel like now that I have the time I might as well do a favorites post. Will they start being monthly? Nobody knows.  [Read more…]

February Favorites

Hello hello everyone! It’s MARCH, so that means it’s time to talk about FEBRUARY. Err, in other words, my favorites from February. Woot!

Favorite Hair Products


Um realistically my favorite hair product in February was my beloved Stephanie, aka Awesome Colorist, but since calling her a product is kind of rude, I’ll go with the kind that are in bottles!

Ahh the precious. I have talked about the Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Overnight Hair Rescue (long enough name for ya?) before, but it is basically like an intensive night cream for your hair. You put it in at night and then wash it out in the morning. I love it! My hair has been dry (because really I’m overdue for a trim) and this doesn’t make it go away completely (needing a trim is cured by, -gasp- getting a trim) but it really helps. Now, no lies this stuff is expensive, so it’s definitely a splurge item. ($35 at Sephora or Ulta)
Another favorite of mine recently has been the Wen Cleansing Conditioner in Winter Vanilla Mint. This scent was limited edition around holiday, so I’m sorry for talking about it now, but I just now have really been using it the past month, give or take. I already used up a bottle of the Sweet Almond Mint last fall, and reviewed it for Stylebell. I love Wen Cleansing Conditioners! They don’t weigh my fine hair down and they really make it feel bouncy and healthy. The Winter Vanilla Mint smells like candies, and if I had to point out any flaws it’s just that it makes me hungry. (Available at QVC – $29)

Favorite Skin Products

I haven’t really been doing a whole lot differently with my skin. Still using either Caudalie’s foaming cleanser or my Neaclear. I’m also still using The Body Shop’s Vitamin E moisturizers (love love love love love!). But as I’m wearing more makeup lately, I’m adding a few things that help makeup “play nice” with my skin.

I’m still learning how to deal with my dry skin. For years I had oily skin, and I’ve really only had dry skin for the past year or so. It’s a whole new experience! I took for granted that I never had the problem of my skin looking too matte. Now, even on days where I’m not wearing any makeup, I like to go over my whole face with MAC Strobe Liquid. It’s just a thin, slightly hydrating lotion that has a very pretty pearly pink luminescent quality. It gives my face that natural glow that has since left me along with my overactive oil producing skin, lol. I’ve also been using my MAC Fix+ more, as it takes down the powderiness of face powders. (Strobe Liquid and Fix+ are available from MAC for $30 and $20 respectively.)


Favorite Color Products

Wee! The fun part! Like I said, I’ve been wearing more makeup lately. I made you a collage!
These are all the things I’ve been feeling much love for over the past month. I’ve been wearing very little in the way of foundation or concealer, but I do sometimes wear a little MAC Mineralized SkinFinish Natural just to even out my complexion. Sometimes you just wake up looking a little blotchy, yanno? Yeah.  And NARS Laguna is a staple product that I’m obsessed with because it adds warmth/glow without looking orange or dirty. (MSFN is $29 at MAC; NARS Laguna is $34 at Sephora)
The drugstore lip products are killing it right now, and I’ve been wearing my Rimmel Stay Glossy Lipglosses and Revlon Lip Butters pretty much exclusively day to day. Revlon Lip Butters are another one of those products that have been getting a ton of hype lately, and they’re TOTALLY worth it. I have three (Creamsicle, Candy Apple, and Sweet Tart) and I LOVE THEM. I was just saying on Twitter that I want more. :) (Price varies on these from drugstore to drugstore.)
I’ve been on a bit of a NARS Eye Shadow kick, using the heck out of my Doceurs de Paris palette and my Best of NARS palette, particularly a couple shades from the Kalahari and All About Eve duos. But as usual, I’m using drugstore mascara. Rimmel ScandalEyes is my lash of choice lately. It’s really dramatic. It’s not my absolute favorite mascara, but I like it. I will be reviewing it more in-depth soon. If you liked MaxFactor 2000 Calorie mascara but are living in the states and can’t get it anymore, try Rimmel ScandalEyes. I think you’d like it. For my brows, I still love my Billion Dollar Brows brow powder (holy grail!) but I have been really liking the new Senna Cosmetics Sketch-a-Brow pencil too. The effect is very natural-looking and it’s so simple to use. (NARS eye shadows vary in price at NARS; Rimmel ScandalEyes will vary depending on the drugstore, and Sketch-a-Brow is $18 from Senna Cosmetics)
I just realized I completely forgot another product when I was making my collage!
The Magic Hair Pad is one of those genius inventions that makes you think “why didn’t I think of that?!”. The concept is super simple– it’s a square of velcro. Really. That’s all it is. But you press it into your hair to hold it out of place while doing makeup, washing your face, doing a facial mask, etc. GENIUS. The picture shows black, but they come in pink too. I like them so much sometimes I will sport one just to hold my bangs out of place while I’m hanging out around the house. Not the most fashionable statement, but the rest of my outfit usually consists of flannel pajama bottoms and a tank top when I’m doing this, so I have thrown fashion to the wind at that point. ;) But pretty much any girl with hair needs to own these. I think that’s most of you. (Available in a pack of 2 for $7 at MagicHairPad.com)









Samples of some products mentioned here were sent by PR for consideration.
All opinions are my own, and not sponsored by any brand/company.
No compensation was received for including these products as favorites.
Disclaimers are fun to type because they are super tiny and stuff. xoxo <3

Updated: What’s In My Shower?

I don’t know if it’s the voyeur in me or if I’m just super nosy but I love “what’s in my…” type posts, like what’s in my bag, etc. I did a what’s in my shower post previously, but the contents have changed! So let’s take a look at what we’ve got, mkay?
The Storage Itself – 
The corner suction basket/bucket thing and the mirror next to it are from Target. I love the bucket thing because it looks attractive, holds a surprisingly large amount of things, and also seems to be able to hold a lot of weight. It gets crap reviews on Target’s website, but whatever. I like it. I actually have another similar container that recently fell off the wall (see the lone suction cup stuck to the tile?) so I’m figuring out a solution for that…might have to get another one of these! I love that it has a hook on the corner, perfect for hanging a bath pouf or in my case, comb. There’s also a little tiny side pocket on the other side that I keep a razor blade refill in. I don’t know about you, but I never remember to change my razor blade until I’m actually in the shower. D’oh.
I really like having a mirror in my shower. I find it’s helpful to make sure I’ve removed all my eye makeup, and also helps me decide if there’s any specific areas I ought to target w/ my Clarisonic when I’m using it in there.
Hanging on the Mirror – 
My razor of choice is the Venus Embrace. Not to say I haven’t tried other razors and liked them (the Schick Intuition is also pretty good, especially if you have dry skin), but I always go back to the Venus Embrace. It has 5 blades and gets such a close shave. I don’t like to mess around when it comes to shaving. I don’t wanna have to go over the same place a million times. This gets the job done!
In The Basket – 
One product has remained constant this entire time– Kiss My Face Moisture Shave. I prefer the Peaches & Creme scent (SO yummy!) but I am not sure if they still make that as I can’t find it on their site. If it’s discontinued I’ll be kinda devastated (even though let’s be honest you KNOW I have like 6 bottles of it under my sink – I bought it in bulk from Amazon). However, I’ll use what I have and (in 20 years) switch to a different scent. If you have sensitive or dry skin you NEED to try this product. Not optional. NEED.
Other body-related yummies in my shower are the Bath & Body Works Supercharged Body Scrub in Coconut Lime Breeze that I reviewed previously and B&BW shower gel in Winter Candy Apple (one of my fav B&BW scents of all time – so glad momsy got me some for xmas!).
I change up what facial cleansers live in my shower (because I have lots, and also because I change depending on how my skin is acting). Right now I’m back to loving on Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser. I’ve been using it more than my Neaclear because I’ve been wearing a lot more makeup and Caudalie’s cleanser is better at removing makeup. 
Peeking out in the back of the basket you can see my shampoo & conditioner of choice – Alterna Caviar Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner. Ever since I first tried Alterna in 2010 I have loved these guys. Others I have tried and enjoy very much are Redken (Color Extend) and WEN.
A couple products mentioned in this post were originally given as samples by PR, but I have since repurchased (or plan to) on my own.