Makeup Haul

Ulta, Nordstrom Rack, and BirchBox

*Credit to the boyfriend for finding the perfect meme.

Ulta

Nyx Pristmatic Eye Shadow in Frostbite. This is my second of these shadows, and I just love it. It's this iridescent purple-y white. Ugh. The texture of this shadow is ridiculously silky. If you're ever perusing Ulta, touch them. They have crazy high pigment. I also have it in the shade Mermaid, but that has more of the shimmer/glitter texture. Not mad, because the color is gorgeous.

In the picture below, I have it on top of the next product.

Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Lavender and Rust. So, the lavender is just that. A super soft purple that I bought solely because it brought out the purple tones in the Frostbite shadow. I seriously love the two together! I also bought the rust to go under a shadow as well. I've been loving red shadows. Is it fall yet? The pencils blend out really nicely, and they come in so many shades. My only problem is sharpening them. I've watched the little hacks, but I've yet to successfully sharpen it.

Left to right swatches: Lavender jumbo pencil, Rust jumbo pencil, Frostbite shadow from above.

Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in Transylvania. I wish I could convey how much I love a dark lip.  Like, a dark lip in fall with porcelain skin is my perfect look. I now have two of these, because I thought I lost the original that I scoured the Earth for. Literally, it was sold out for months. I also can't tell you how much I love these matte lip creams. I'm not a fan of glossy lips, so these are perfect. They last a good amount of time, but they're also easy to tuck in your purse and touch up when you need to.  So, Transylvania is a deep red with some purple undertones. It's actual perfection.
Here it is in all of it's glory:

Nordstrom Rack

Stila Coming Clean Revitalizing Gel Cleanser. Anyone else think of Hilary Duff's "Coming Clean" song? No... just me? There was a time when I got the Stila Face the Day moisturizer, and I was in love with it. Really liked it. So when I was browsing the make up at Nordstrom Rack, I saw this and just grabbed it. Let me just say that since I've starting using this, Tea Tree Water and 9 to 5 from LUSH, my skin has actually been looking clearer. Way less breakouts, guys, and that's important!


Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Revolver. So, this one, I just took a gamble on. It's a gunmetal color, which I love. However, it does have a metallic finish. I'm so-so on that so far. I've only tried it on a darker shadow look (you'll see below), but I think it would look way better on a lighter look. It definitely doesn't budge, though!

BirchBox

Leaving the best for last, because I got so many great things. *insert heart eyeballs emoji here*

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in Light to Medium. I've been itching to get a contour kit for quite some time now, and I'm so glad I held out for it. The colors blend nicely, and they aren't too, too orange for a pale girl. I come across that a lot, and no thanks to the orange skin! I'm just overall really happy that I can do a more natural contour or a more dramatic one depending on how I'm feeling.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Taupe. Here's another product I just had to have. Basically everybody on YouTube uses this, and it always looks so flawless. Not only can you make your brows look really natural, but it also holds your them down and in place. I learned really quick that you only need the tiniest amount to get the whole brow done. It looked like a took a taupe sharpie to my face the first time. Not cute.

Coastal Scents Revealed 2 palette. This is the baby of the haul. I'm just so happy with it. Originally, I bought this for that deep red color in the bottom row. (4th in from the right) However, upon swatching, I'm literally in love with this palette. It's going to be a staple for fall, for sure. Tons of mauves, reds, browns, and golds. 

Here is that gorgeous red in action. Seriously, can you handle it? I can't. I've also got on the Urban Decay liner and contour palette, because it was all new, and I just had to play with it all!

What are some of your favorite recent purchases?!

My Current Beauty Favorites

Batiste Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is a necessity for me, unless I feel like washing my hair every night. (Which I don't) Basically, my head is a grease pot on the 24-hour dot. It's real cute. I've tried quite a few dry shampoos and this is by far the best I've tried.  Currently, I have (L to R) Refresh, Original, and Wild. I usually have a bunch of the Wild scent, but they always seem to run low on that at Ulta, so I trapped the other 2. Totally in love with Refresh now.

LUSH 9 to 5 and Tea Tree Water 

I love tea tree oil. We've definitely discussed the benefits here.  My skin is mostly oily and has occasional breakouts, mostly when I'm stressing out. Typically, when I wake up in the morning, I've got a nice sheen of oil on my face. Since I've started spritzing with tea tree oil at night and moisturizing with 9 to 5, that's not the case. At night, after I shower and wash my face, I spritz my face with like, 3 to 4 pumps of the Tea Tree Water and massage it in with my hands. Then I rub in a small amount of the 9 to 5 moisturizer. Guys, a little goes a loooong way. It literally melts into your skin without leaving any residue. My skin is ridiculously soft afterwards. Another plus is that it isn't extremely fragrant.

Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation

I'd been wanting to try this foundation for quite some time when I bought it, and I'm happy to say, it doesn't disappoint. I'm currently using this in the shade Fair Sand. As would be expected from a clay foundation, it has a matte finish, and they have a pretty wide color selection, in my opinion. I typically wear this on the weekends, as like, my special foundation. Mostly due to the price. It stays really well throughout the day, and I typically only have to blot my face once. 

NYX Photo-Loving Primer

Anyone else have some blotchy, red skin, or just naturally rosy cheeks? If so, you need to try a green primer under your foundation. This stuff works wonders. I will say it's a little oily, so you need to make sure to shake it well before applying. But after applied, it doesn't make my skin any more oily than normal. And it helps give me that porcelain look I love. *insert sassy emoji here*

NYX Voluptuous Mascara

More life problems? I have hooded eye. If you're a hooded eye gal, you understand the struggles of opening your eyes after applying mascara or liquid liner. I actually love this NYX mascara so much that I have an extra in my drawer all the time. It has a drier formula, so I don't have to worry about it leaving cute little polka dots on my brow bone if I open my eyes. It also gives my lashes a ton of volume. I usually start with this, then do a second layer with a lengthening mascara. Seriously, I swear by this stuff. If you have any other drier formula mascara's, leave it in the comments! I'm always looking for new mascaras.

Benefit Hoola Bronzer and Cargo Water Resistant Blush

These are both products I discovered through my Birchbox subscription.  A few tries of each of them, and I was totally hooked. So, the Cargo blush is water proof. I can definitely attest to that, since I go straight from work to the gym, and my blush is still right where I put it. I'm using the color Bali. It's just this nice peachy-pink, and I adore it. The Hoola bronzer I use almost daily for my contour. Since I have pretty pale skin, I don't need a super deep bronzer or contour shade. This one is on the lighter end, although, it does have the bronzer quality of being slightly orange. But, it could definitely just look orange against my skin.

Lippies you'll find in my purse:

I have to make a confession. I'm addicted to lipstick. It's a real problem. Not for me, for my boyfriend. It takes me forever when I'm perusing Ulta for new stuff. I'm always drawn to lipsticks, but then I just stand there and stare at them because I can't remember what I have at home. So, these are the ones in my purse alone. I typically go with a more neutral shade during the week, because I'm at work, and it just seems weird to walk in with red lipstick on. To sit in a cubicle. So, let's do this thing from left to right.

Too Faced Melted in Fig. It's this awesome dusty rose color, and it's not too glossy.

NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien. It's another rose pink color. I like wearing this under the two NYX lip creams coming up.

Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick in Pretty Social. This one is a lighter, almost sheer, lavender pink. Again, I wear this under a matte cream.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in London. This is a darker neutral color. I can basically lightly layer this over any color, and I just love the outcome. I'm not into glossy finishes, if you can't tell.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Cairo. This one is a lighter, brighter, peachy neutral. I wear this a lot during the week over the NARS.

NYX High Voltage Lipstick in Flawless. Super pigmented neutral that kind of falls between the two matte creams in color. I wish this line was matte, because they are amazingly pigmented and have some great colors. Again, I just dab a matte cream over it, and I'm good to go.

If you have any favorites that you swear by,  please comment below. I'm so indecisive when I walk into Ulta or Sephora, so something to go off would be great! (; 

Friday Funday!

Tiramisu Dip

I did it. I made something, I photographed it, and, now, I'm posting it. It's been a while guys, a long while. Sometimes, I'm like, "yeah! I'm going to make this and take some pictures!" Then it doesn't come out as pretty as I want, so I don't. Oh, the woes!

I'm headed to my friend's tonight for dinner, and I agreed to make dessert. She loves tiramisu, but I'm much too lazy for that on a Friday. So, let's make it a dip, which is also just perfect for summer! (In my opinion..)

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 c. mascarpone cheese

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 tsp. instant coffee

1/8 c. chocolate chips

Vanilla wafers for dipping!

How to:

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add in the mascarpone and combine. Mix in half the powdered sugar at a time, just to avoid having a cloud of sugar in your face.  Toss in the coffee and vanilla and combine! In a food processor, pulse the chocolate chips until they're pretty fine. 

Place your dip in whatever serving bowl you'd like and sprinkle as much of the chocolate as you'd like. Serve that up with some vanilla wafers, and you're good to go!

Refrigerate if you happen to have any left over!

So, can we discuss something completely irrelevant for a moment? While working on this post, I was watching True Life. Who even knew they still made this show? Remember when it was like, "True Life: I have OCD" or "True Life: I have Tourettes"? The only problem these kids have now? "True Life: I hate my butt" and "True Life: My family hates my boyfriend". 

The epitome of first world problems...

Anyway! This recipe is amazeballs, and, hopefully, it'll pass the tiramisu lovers test! I'd love to know if you try it!

Mother's Day Gift Guide

It's May!

Why, hello there! I apologize for the looooooong silence. I have a tendency to get overwhelmed by the amount of things I decide to take on. However, we'll have time to catch up in later posts!

Does anyone else have an awful time thinking of what to get their mom's for Mother's Day? If not, kudos to you, man. I've thought of a list of fool proof gifts, and decided I'd help all of us out. I might just be posting this so I can look at it next year, though. (; 

1. Personalized bracelet

Everyone likes personalized things. This could be anything from getting the word "mom" on something, to getting your (and your possible siblings) birthstone on rings, bracelets, or necklaces. 

You can find this one here.

If you have a little extra $$, this necklace is awesome.

Target has this bracelet! Not exactly personalized, but cute!

2. Anchor bracelet

I'm pretty sure I got my mom an anchor bracelet last year with a little card that said, "thanks for always being my anchor." If that note wasn't attaches, sorry mom! It was supposed to be! Here are a few cute bracelets:

This one is basically perfect for this note, and your mom!

I bought this one for my mom last year!

3. Spa basket

Let's face it, our mom's are probably exhausted from dealing with our shit for the past 18+ years. Or however long you've been alive. A basket with Lush products, fuzzy socks or slippers, body scrubs, wine, face masks, etc would be a great "thanks for dealing with me!" Here are some item ideas:

Lush has this massage bar soap conveniently called, "Love You Mom," or this slightly creepy bubble bar. If  you head over to the site, or store, they have a whole section of Mother's Day special products.

Do you remember my review of these? They're heavenly, and Target sells little individuals!

4. Candles

My mom is a candle fanatic. While you could definitely add a nice one to your spa basket, you could also get her a nice candle warmer and candles to go with it. Maybe some cute, decorative candle holders she'd love for the coffee table? The options are endless. 

Target has these or this birdcage, as well as plenty of candles to go with them.

World Market has these awesome hanging mason jar lanterns.

5. Cool cards to go with your brilliant gift

I personally despise cards. I hate trying to pick one out for someone, especially sappy ones. I'd rather just get something obnoxiously sarcastic and call it a day. 

Of course, Etsy has wonderful cards. You can find these here and here.

6. DIY vases, jars, scrubs, etc. 

even if you aren't in grade school anymore, she'll still tell you she loves what you've made! If you're tight on cash, DIYs can be really easy. 

I adore these easy DIY stamped bowls. They'd be great for mom's rings!

This simple watercolor mug is also a perfect DIY gift!

These gold-striped vases are great for spring and your mom!

Do you guys have any gift suggestions!? I'd love to hear them... I still haven't gotten anything! (;

Hack Your 2.0

Keurig 2.0 Hack

Hello, you lovely humans. So, for Christmas, I received the Keurig 2.0. I was just ecstatic. I ran out to the store for those tasty little Gevalia K-cups with the froth packs, only to pop it into my Keurig and get this message:

 

Excuse me!? The whole reason I, personally, got a Keurig was because of the hundreds of options I had. I was unaware that the 2.0 didn't have nearly as many options. I also came to find out that you get the same message when you want to use the refillable K-cup for your own coffees.  That was pure madness to me. I have so many coffees that I love that you can't find in K-cups. For example, local roasters. I also noticed that some of the bloggers I watch won a 2.0 (you lucky, lucky humans). So, I did a bit of research to find out how I could use these refillable cups. 

Turns out, Keurig was basically trying to cut down on the amount of external cups you could use. If you don't get that, I'll put it plainly. They wanted you to only use K-cups by Keurig and be greedy with all the profits. I get it, really I do. But that's not convenient for me. (: So I found a hack, and I thought I would share it with you! Because we all need delicious coffee.

What You'll Need:

1 Solofill Cup K3*

1 2.0 approved K-cup

Utility knife

Hot glue gun

*I found mine at Target for $11.99. According to all the things I read, this one fits and works the best!

How To:

Using your utility knife, carefully cut the foil top of the K-cup off. Don't waste that coffee!! Dump it into your reusable K-cup, or a bowl to put in your K-cup momentarily. Make sure there are no jagged, bumpy edges on your foil top. You want it as smooth as possible. Now, take your hot glue gun and dab glue around the rim of your reusable K-cup. Carefully place the foil top on top of your reusable K-cup. Place your newly hacked reusable cup in your Keurig. Now enjoy whatever coffee you feel like, whether Keurig wants you to or not! (:

I hope there's someone out there that was sorely disappointed finding that 'Opps!' message that this helps!! I'm now enjoying my Casi Cielo in the morning!

Go, Bucks!

Buckeyes

Guys. It never crossed my mind that there may be people in the world that don't know what buckeyes are. I think growing up in Ohio, you just assume everyone knows who the Buckeyes are, and what the delicious treat is. Of course, most people know who the Buckeyes are. So, most of us know that OSU is in the championship today! As an Ohio State alumni, it's basically obligatory that I know something about what's going on with the football team. Don't get me wrong, I take pride in graduating from OSU! Today is the perfect day to pull out these heavenly things out of the fridge for the game!

Forewarning: If you have a peanut butter problem, plan on taking these to work or... somewhere. Anywhere but your fridge.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 box (1 lb.) powdered sugar

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate

2 Tbsp. shortening

How To:

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the peanut butter and butter until well combined. Add in the vanilla. Then slowly beat in the powdered sugar. You might have to switch to using your hands in order to combine the ingredients. Once all the powdered sugar is mixed in, start rolling into balls. Pop those in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour. When you ready to finish them, lay out a piece of foil or wax paper on a cookie sheet. In a double-broiler, melt the chocolate and shortening, whisking until it's nice and smooth. Now, using a toothpick, dip the peanut butter ball in the chocolate. Swipe off any excess chocolate, and place on the foil/wax paper. Once you're all done, pop those into the fridge for about 30 minutes to let the chocolate harden.

Bam!

You're done! Take those babies to a party and be super popular because they're delicious!

Is there a treat that's native to where you're from!? I'd love to know!

Motivation Monday!

Fit Affinity

Is anyone else looking for the "new year, new you" motivation!? Let's be real, everyone says it. Recently, I saw that Fit Affinity had lower body workout guides on sale for $2.99. Uh, what? Couldn't pass that up! So, for $2.99, I got a 12 week workout plan! About a week later, they had the extension on sale for $2.99, as well. Or buy them both for $5.99. For $6, I now have 24 weeks of workouts. Pretty hard to deviate from that!

FYI, IT'S STILL ON SALE HERE UNTIL 1/5/2015!

For anyone who is just beginning their fitness journey, the guide comes loaded with how-to's for the moves, as well as some nutrition facts. I've looked through them, and I'm pretty damn pumped to start it! I'm sure I'll toss my own favorites in the gym, too! The pages also feature some fit chicks, I'm assuming to motivate you. (;

Here's a little snippet for those of you who aren't quite sure!

I'm super excited, and I'm starting this today! What are you guys doing to help meet your goals this year!? Let me know in the comments below!