Spring Finds

With warmer weather getting closer each day, my mind has totally shifted away from winter everything.  I have been getting the bug to shop, but I'm trying to make sure that I really zero in on things that I love and not just impulse by for the sake of changing seasons.

In addition to sprucing up my wardrobe and makeup bag, I also have many projects planned for around the house this year as well.  I'm looking forward to injecting our home with more personality and charm and really making it feel like our space.

Here are some things I'm currently obsessing over:

Cedar Street Maise - Kate Spade

Stila Eyes Are The Window 'Soul' Palette - Sephora

XO Greeting Cards - Rifle Paper Co.

Personalized Scroll Pillow - Joss & Main

Apothecary Jars - Pottery Barn

Gold Foil Desk Calendar - Paper Source

Ibilin Heels - Aldo

Gold Canvas Print - Joss & Main

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush 'Luminous Flush' - Sephora

Wish List Wednesday

We made it to the middle of the week!  The weekend is getting closer and that makes me very happy. This past weekend the weather was gorgeous...perfect temps, cool air and that crisp autumn feel in the air.  This week, though has been plain crappy.  Damp, cool and rain rain rain with no signs of letting up.

With the weather getting cooler and cooler, it reminds me that the  holidays coming up way too quickly! I have been trying to get my Christmas lists together for who we need to shop for and how much money to allocate.  It's also the perfect time to compile my own Christmas list for when Hubby asks for ideas ;)  Here's my Wish List Wednesday compilation for this week:

SOLE SOCIETY LYLEE BOOTIE

This bootie is exactly what I have been looking for.  Not to dressy, not too casual and can be worn with anything from jeans to leggings.  I definitely need my shoes to be multi-purpose these days.

MAKE UP FOR EVER HD CONCEALER

I have been scouting around for the next leap I want to make in high end concealers and I think it's going to be this one.  I have heard rave reviews about the staying power and coverage of dark circles, so I want to see if it lives up to the hype.

MAC FIX+

I have a lot of glittery eyeshadows that I would like to use wet sometimes, but I need this stuff to make it work and make it stay! I have also heard that this makes your complexion look amazing if you spray it over your face after you apply your makeup for the day.

FOSSIL CECILE MULTIFUNCTION LEATHER WATCH

Yummmm.  I love love love this watch!  Simplistic and elegant and will match everything.  I love that it's a neutral band and that the gold isn't overpowering.  I have an all stainless steel watch that I love and wear all the time, but I need something totally different in my collection to switch it up.

What are you guys loving and wanting to add to your Christmas lists?  Do tell!

Let's Talk Hair

So.  This is definitely a subject that I both love and drives me crazy at the same time.  I love doing my hair and watching tutorials on YouTube and trying to recreate them, but more often than not I am not loving the results.

So what kind of hair do I have?  I have natural waves in my hair...and not the cute, Victoria's Secret sexy beach waves.  They are the weird, cowlick, frizzed out version.  If I blow dry my hair, it's relatively straight but I usually need to do some heat styling to get it to look a little more natural and effortless.  Add in the fact that my hair is super thick and gets greasy easily and I just get frustrated and ticked off. 

The funny thing is, I know what the issue is...product.  I know I need to get better products to help get the hairstyles I'm trying to do to actually stay in place.  Luckily, with all of the blogs and YouTubers out there, I have found a select few items that work for me for my daily hairstyles.

OGX MOROCCAN ARGAN OIL WEIGHTLESS HEALING DRY OIL

This argan oil is pretty awesome.  After my shower I comb out my hair and use 5-7 sprays all over my hair.  It detangles it, smooths and shines and keeps the blow dry time down.  With my thick hair I really need that.  Double bonus is that it's cheap and smells heavenly.  At $7.99 you can't beat it.

OSCAR BLANDI HAIR LIFT MOUSSE

This mousse is a bit on the pricey end, but I have been loving it so far.  It adds just enough volume for the day to day hairstyling.  I have noticed that when I use this, it helps control the oil in my hair.  I have found I can go longer in between washing my hair when I use this mousse.  That saves me time and helps keep my hair healthier with less washing and blow drying.

ORIBE DRY TEXTURIZING SPRAY

I have talked about this spray before and I loved it right from the beginning, and now that I've used it for quite a while, I'm still loving it.  It is great for second and third day hair.  It allows me to backcomb to get height for fancier hairstyles, combats any oil with it's dry shampoo properties and it gives my hair grip to pin it up or back.  Using this in combination with the Oscar Blandi mousse has really given me more flexibility with styling.  It's expensive, but I only use it when I absolutely need to.  I will definitely be repurchasing when this runs out!

These three items are my core team so far, but I still need to find some products that work well with curling.  Since my hair can get greasy really easily from the wrong products, I have to watch what I use and test things out to see how they work for me.  I need something lightweight that will give my hair lots of grip and staying power without weighing it down with thick creams or gels.  What are your favorite products for those kinds of styles?  Give a girl some help!

Wish List Wednesday

All of the beautiful seasonal clothes have got me wanting to run to the nearest mall and throw down the plastic for chic clothing this season.  However.  I need to space out my purchases a bit to *ahem* keep the wallet in check.  

Since I'm tempering my shopping habits, I have compiled a wish list of things that I am keeping my eye on to buy the next time I go to the mall or online shop, so that I remember what I want and don't just impulse buy other things that are not so high up on my list.  Surprisingly, I have a lot of clothes from last season that I will put into rotation again this year, so I'm focused more on only a few staple pieces that will enhance my wardrobe.  And beauty items, of course.

TOO FACED BETTER THAN SEX MASCARA
I have wanted this for a very long time now, since my sister Ashley picked it up about a year ago.  I had been in a phase of loving Maybelline Falsies mascara for such a long time that I didn't want to go high end with my mascara. Since I had found a great drugstore one that worked for me I figured I wouldn't splurge on it.  But now?  I want.

TOO FACED PRIMED AND PORELESS PRESSED POWDER

I want this powder so so badly, but I am a little bit leery on purchasing it because my skin is so temperamental.  I am hoping it doesn't break me out if I decide to take the plunge and buy this.  Spot testing will be my friend for a while on this one.  Has anyone else bought this?  How did it work for you?

SOLE SOCIETY MIIA FLAT

Dear goodness.  This shoe is absolutely perfect, yes?  Honestly what I have been on the hunt for for MONTHS.  I have just discovered Sole Society and I think it's going to become my new best friend.

SOLE SOCIETY OMBRE MUFFLER

See? Told you guys.  I have also been wanting to get really big snuggly scarves this year and this muffler from Sole Society pretty much fits the bill!  I am all about comfort and flexibility this year with cold weather clothes and this would fit in perfectly.

These four things make me so happy to look at, so they must become part of my closet and make up bag soon, right?!  What are some items you have been eyeballing lately?  I want to know what you want for your closet, too!

Blushin' It

I have been pretty obsessed lately with watching and re-watching my favorite beauty YouTuber's "Favorites" videos because I am on the hunt for a new blush.  I can say with confidence that this is definitely a lacking part of my makeup collection.  For some reason, I never felt like I needed to wear blush (DUMB).  I am fair skinned and tend to battle a little bit of redness at times, so I guess I felt like adding blush would make my face look too wind-burned or something of that sort.

I only have two blushes in my collection, and one is a cheap NYX blush and the other one Clinique.  The NYX blush is pretty hard to work with because I feel like I need to use tons and tons to get any color payoff.  It also has a chunky gold shimmer in it, which I don't want all of the time.  Since I tend to add dewiness to my face with a highlighter, I don't feel like I need the chunks of gold in there, especially if I want to go with a more silver toned highlighter.

The Clinique one was nice, but it seems a little to...I don't know the right word...boring?  That's the best way I can describe it.  I guess it just seems to fall flat on my face instead of adding a pretty flush to it.

Anywho, I'm not feeling either one.

Obviously, I will need to consult someone at a counter to determine the correct color for me, but the next three are the brands I have been hearing over and over again as being the best.  So YouTube beauty gurus pretty much have me narrowed down to three I am trying to decide between:

MAC Powder Blush - $22

Everyone raves about how beautiful MAC blush is in Well Dressed.  I like that it's not shimmery, but I am not sure if this will be too pink for me.  I would love it if this would add that beautiful 'from within' color on me!  At $22, it's not horribly expensive, so it would be nice if I like this one the best out of the three!

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush - $26

Tarte's Amazonian Clay blushes keep being lauded as one of the best with great color payoff and staying power.  There are so many colors, I will definitely need to swatch these in Sephora.  Some of them have quite a bit of shimmer in them, so it will be interesting to see what works best for me since I don't want too much.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush - $35

This just looks delicious.  The Hourglass Ambient Light Blushes are quickly becoming a favorite among beauty bloggers.  I have a thing for marbled-looking makeup, so these look absolutely beautiful from the packaging all the way to the product itself.  I have heard that they look shimmery in the pan but don't look that way on the skin.  At $35, this one is the most expensive option, so I will have to make sure I am in love with this before I spring for it. 

Any experiences with these blushes or other ones that you love?  I am excited to head to Sephora and do some major decision making on these.  Since fall is right around the corner, I am excited to add another piece to my collection to hopefully keep that 'glow' throughout the cooler seasons!

That 'summer glow'.

My oh my how I love me some spring and summer.  The smell of the air, the newness of the world waking up around me and that beautiful, gorgeous sun that I always wish I could bottle.  My whole life I have been a sun junkie and a beach babe.  My Dad would forever try to get us to go to new places on family vacations but my sisters, Mom and I always chose the beach (sorry Dad!).  We would lay out slathered in oil getting bronzed to perfection right before we went back to school.

As I get older, the more I regret those decisions.  I am very fair, and thinking about the torture that I put my skin through when I was younger makes me shudder.  Mom and Dad always cautioned us against it, but hey, we wanted to be the sun kissed sisters.  (It was also totally unfair that our Mom could sit under the umbrella all.day.long and end up more bronzed than us!!  We totally got our Dad's Irish skin that burned first, not the Italian skin that bronzes!)

So now that I am in my ::gulp:: later twenties, I really really do not want to do that to my skin anymore.  I have always wanted to try sunless tanners on my face but I am super-duper sensitive skinned, so trying ANYTHING new on my face is extremely rare, especially if it's not skincare products.  I bit the bullet a few weeks ago though and bought this:

source

Well.  Let me tell you.  I absolutely LOVE this stuff.  I'm pretty much a Clinique girl anyways with my skincare routine, so I really trust their brand so I figured I would give it a whirl.  It applies really easily, it's not streaky and it's not orange!  I exfoliate with one of their masks first and then put this on and leave it for a few hours.  It lasts about 3-5 days, which is fine for me.  I would rather buy something that isn't super heavy and obvious on the face and just reapply every few days.  Being as fair as I am, it's more natural looking anyhow.

So far, so good!  No breakouts from it and I have applied round two tonight.  I am really glad that I found something I like that works for me that won't require me torturing my skin with sun every year.  And for $22, it's really not a bad deal at all.  The tube should get me through a few months, at least.  Since this works so well, I just may have to try the body tanner they have, too!  Man it feels good to get my summer glow going again!

**I was not compensated for this post, I just really like the product and wanted to share! :)**