New purchases and new experiment

I was on the lookout for the perfect leather shoulder bag...and I found it!! I got it from asos.com for about $129 I believe. It's my new everyday bag and it matches my fall attire so I'm pleased with the purchase. I wear it across my shoulders which is so nice because now I have my hands free to hold my phone and coffee. I was so tired of purses slipping off my shoulder!!

New nail polish color! Butter London in Fash Pack. I got it because I wanted a Chanel Particuliere dupe that wasn't as pricey. I got this polish for $10, which is still kinda pricey in my opinion, but it was the closest match I could find. I like the color very much, but it seems to chip easily.


Got a new hairbrush because I heard natural bristle brushes are better and gentler on your hair and my hair has been very dry and brittle lately so I purchased this brush off of amazon.com for about $15 and I've been loving it ever since. The one I purchased below is the Denman large natural boar bristle cushion hairbrush.

The natural bristle brush is supposed to help hair look shiner, massage the scalp and reduce hair breakage.



Stella by Stella McCartney. Notes are rose oil, peony, mandarin, rose absolute and amber. This is my go-to fall scent. I absolutely love rose scents, I'm always spraying rose water on myself because I love love love rose and I wanted something that smelled sophisticated and rosey, but not powdery. This is my favorite rose scent!! well at least so far it is. I love YSL Parisienne, but it is a tad sweet so I like Stella more. After smelling it on me I instantly new, like Coco Mademoiselle, this perfume will be a staple.

Victoria's secret sweater purchase, the cotton cable dolman-sleeve sweater in blonde heather like in the picture below. I've also tried out some of victoria's secret's eyeshadows. I got the silky eyeshadows in champagne, between the sheets, and lose control. They are all various shades of brown and after trying them out I think I want to try more victoria's secrets eyeshadow.

I've been wanting the Urban Decay Naked palette, but I do not want to pay the money for it since I have so many neutral colors anyway so I got the NYX nude on nude palette instead. It costs much less and the colors are great, not too shimmery. It is a very small palette, but I think it's perfect for travel. I ignore the two lip gloss colors though, they look and feel waxy.



ALSO, I ordered some Babyliss hot rollers. I don't have a picture, but I'll put one up later when I receive them. I've been wanting a hot roller set and just gave in and bought one because I don't want to perm my hair again since i damaged my hair severely, but I still want to be able to have that natural wavy hair look. Hopefully I get the results I want from this hot roller set.

Now on to the new experiment...

I've always been a hygiene freak, so naturally I could never skip a daily full shower. Lately, however, my hair has been extremely dry with a serious split end problem. I have some hairs that are split four times in one hair!!! Another problem is that my hair just seems to be dull, lifeless, limp and flat.

So...

I've decided to go on the "no shampoo" hair method. Sounds gross I know, but I'm feeling brave and I don't know if it's just because I'm feeling restless, but I want to do something different. However, I will probably gradually transition into it instead of dropping shampoo cold turkey. I've heard that your hair looks pretty bad for about 6-8 weeks, but after that your hair's oil production stabilizes. The method is supposed to result in healthier, shinier, thicker hair.

Shampoos these days contain too many harsh ingredients that don't do much for hair. They strip your hair of it's natural oils and this whole "wash your hair everyday" might just be a marketing scheme for hair product companies to boost sales.

I've decided to do it...with a few adjustments. I heard you can wash your hair with baking soda and condition with apple cider vinegar to keep the hair looking less messy, so I will definitely do that. I think I'll also spritz my hair with rose water because I always want my hair to smell good :) I don't know if I'll give up shampoo completely, but I do know right now that I want to reduce shampooing my hair so much because it seems to be making my hair more dry and brittle. I'm kind of excited about this :)))

The colder season has also given my extremely dry skin so I've been moisturizing with coconut oil and it is super amazing. I definitely recommend it. I will probably talk more about this later.

what an uneventful day...

Halloween 2010 - Vampire

This morning I woke up with an allergic reaction on my face, more specifically the area above my lip was covered in red splotchy spots! It was on my right elbow too. It's gotten better now, but I stayed at home today since I have no need to go to the office this week and I can just do my work at home. Our remodeling is all done and I was taking a bath in our new jacuzzi for the first time last and decided to throw in a bath bomb. I'm prety sure the bath bomb is what caused my allergic reaction because that was the only thing I did differently from my normal activities. I guess there's a lot of aromatic oils and such in the bath bomb and thats probably what set it off. Oh well, I'm so used to these allergic reactions since I've always had really sensitive skin.

With the remodeling done now, we're working on cleaning everything up and making everything homey again. It's been a very uncomfortable past one and a half moneths living in the basement while the house was being torn apart and put back together. Now that everything is done I feel so relieved and I'm so thankful for the final product.

I've been using rose hip oil on my face at night for the past two weeks and although I hate the feeling of putting oil on my face, the results have been pretty good. I feel like there's no dramatic change, but my face overall seems brighter and maybe more even in skintone. I'm pleased with the results so I'll keep using it. Hopefully it is not the cause of my allergic reaction today, but I doubt it since I've been using it for a while now. I've still been using my Thayer's rose water toner as well, I absolutely love that stuff.

I am looking forward to the holidays and eating lots of yummy sweet things!

Small purchases

Got a small bottle of Eau Roma Water to keep in my bag. Hopefully it won't irritate my skin. If so then I'll just get a spray bottle to carry some of my Thayer's rose water toner around with me.

Amazing perfume find. I love this scent and I love the simple red bottle! (vanilla, jasmine, blackcurrant)

trying out some new products form FYF

Ordered Floral Blush Blossom in Romance and Autumn from a company called FYF (Flawless You Forever) www.flawlessyouforever.com Can't wait to try!!!

I sense another LUSH purchase coming up too :P

Remodeling.

Left work early today and thought I'd do a little ramble on here. The home is being remodeled so I'm having lots of fun shopping for tiles, paint, new furniture, etc. Thought I'd share some of my Fall Favorites. Not numbered in order of importance or anything I just felt like numbering :))

Shoes

(1) Matisse Westfalen oxford booties

I got these recently on ovestock.com and I just love them plus they are quite comfortable despite their height. Thought I'd post a pic since I haven't yet.

(2) Frye Engineer boot in black

I love wearing these with skinny jeans, skirts, dresses, everything. They just add the right amount of toughness to everything.

Clothes & Accessories

(1) Express (minus the leather) moto jacket in black

(2) Banana Republic Trenchcoat

(3) Chunky circle scarves (from various places)

(4) Goorin Brothers Bowler Hat

(5) F21 Cocktail Rings

(6) Oversized dolman sleeve sweaters (from various places)

(7) Jeggings!!

(8)Knee High socks

(9)Rose-themed items

(10) iphone 4

Makeup

(1) Too Faced Snow Bunny Bronzer

(2) NYX megashine lip gloss in beige

(3) Korres lip butter in Wild Rose and Mango

(4) Stila Pretty in Paris travel palette

(5) LUSH Fresh Farmacy cleanser & Fever massage bar

(6) OPI Skinny Dip'n in Lake Michigan & Tickle My France-y

(7) NARS Angelika blush

(8) Benefit Benetint (of course!)

(9) L'oreal HIP color chrome eyeliner pencil in violet volt & black shock (goes on smoother than MAC pencils)

(10) Thayers Rose Petal Witch Hazel Toner

I got to pick all the new furniture for our house and I can't wait to get my new vanity!!! It's gonna be so preetttyy. The living room and kitchen are almost done and I'm satisfied with my choice of cabinets and granite :)) I got to choose all the bathroom tile too and that's gonna be done soon too!! The remodeling has been so exciting, but tiring as well since I live out of boxes. The carpenter is building new shelves as we speak. I should probably post before and after pictures if I can.

ALSO...I am a big perfume person and maybe I should list my top favorite perfumes now that I've made recent additions to my collection.

My Favorite Fragrances

(1) Chanel Coco Mademoiselle:

I absolutely love love this smell and it literally lasts all day. I love wearing this on nights out. It's a sophisticated oriental scent. Makes me feel feminine and elegant :)))

(2) Stella by Stella McCartney:

This is more of a woodsy rose scent. I love rose scents, but I have to say this is the best one yet. Not too sweet, just how I like it. A great every day scent for me.

(3) Burberry Brit

I don't really like sweet perfumes but this ones isn't sickening to me because it seems a bit more complex. Perfect for fall and winter. It's a warm scent that reminds me of sipping hot chocolate next to a fire while its snowing outside. Lasting power is not bad

(4)Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne

This is a rosy floral scent. I love rose scents which is why I bought this perfume, although I think it could smell just a tad bit more rose and a tad less fruity. It's a great light everyday scent. The staying power is not that great, but thats probably because I'm comparing them to the Chanel perfumes.

(5) Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka

A very unique smell and one that I disliked at first, but it's quirky scent grew on me. It's a sweet and spicy scent, but one that is completely different from anything else I've smelled. It gives me a mysterious and earthy feeling.

A couple pics of my puppy Mickey!!

collective haul over a long break...

I've been MIA from my blog for a long time and so I wanted to share a bunch of shopping I've been doing...a lot of shopping for sure.

I've beem going blush/bronzer crazy lately and so I've vowed to not buy any more of them. Let's hope I can keep that promise.

Top to bottom, left to right: Nars Angelika, NYX Pinky, Too Faced Snow Bunny, MAC Pink Swoon.

I bought all these blushes/bronzer after reading reviews because I didn't want to waste money since some of these products were pricey. Turns out the reviews were correct and I am very happy with these purchases. I was looking for the perfect pink blush, but I ended up loving all three pink blushes I purchased. Nars Angelika has a beautiful gold shimmer, NYX Pinky is a very cheap matte barbie pink, and MAC Pink Swoon is a more subtle matte pink. I recommend any one of those three blushes. Along with hunting for blushes I was looking for the perfect bronzer for my skin color since I'm on the lighter size. Too Faced Snow Bunny is now my official HG bronzer. I gave up on bronzers long ago because they always looked too orange or muddy on me, but this one is perfect!! I'm so glad I gave it a try :)

Close up of Nars Angelika in all its shimmery glory

A small NYX haul because I wanted to test out their lipglosses as well as some eyeshadows for halloween. The eyeshadows in the left photo are rust and amber gold, beautiful rich colors. Below those is a lipliner in rose, which is a perfect natural light pink. In the photo on the right I have NYX blush in peach, which was a total waste of money because its chalky and doesn't show up. Then below those I have the NYX megashine lipglosses in Tea Rose (top) and Smokey Look (bottom). I also have the lipgloss in 129 beige which I use almost every day now, but I didn't post a pic.

When it comes to lip gloss I always stuck to high end brands like MAC because I had one bad allergic experience long ago with a drugstore lipgloss which made me fear all drugstore lip products up until now. I really love NYX lipsticks and lip glosses. You do have your hits and misses, but there are some colors in their lipstick and lipgloss lines that I absolutely can't live without now. Examples of those are the NYX round lipstick in Thalia and the NYX megashine lipglosses in 129 beige and smokey look. It's no wonder they are so popular.

I'm in love with Viva Glam Gaga and so I decided to try the Cyndi Lauper lipstick too. It's a very wearable red coral color, however, I still love Viva Glam Gaga more.

The Stila Collectible travel Palette No. 2 "Pretty in Paris" I bought because it was only $10 and the colors were something I could wear at the office. I use this palette a few times a week for my neutral work look. A good buy in my opinion!

My first Korres lip butter purchase was in pomegranate, which is a coral color. One of my favorite items to keep in my purse. Then one day I walked into Sephora and saw that they had many more color selections so I picked up Mango (left) and Wild Rose (right). They are sheer and not as dark as they are in the pot. $10 each. Mango is a sheer peachy summery color and Wild Rose gives a very sheer red stain. I love them both so much!!! They are perfect on those days when I want a little color but don't feel like reaching for a lipstick. I wore these often in the daytime during summer

I did an Everyday Minerals haul. From top to bottom, left to right: Glow Blush in Charm & Hypnotize (which are also swatched on my hand); ultrasuede, snow leopard, sugar skulls(free sample), fools gold, summer bronzer (free gift), twinkle twinkle little bat. I've swatched all the eyeshadows and the colors are very pigmented and bright, but I haven't really used any of them yet. The summer bronzer, which was a free gift is nothing special. I would not reccomend this bronzer because it is not very pigmented and ends up looking orange when built up.

I also went a little brush crazy over the past few months. I bought five Sigma brushes (top two pictures), left to right: Sigma Duo Fibre F50, Sigma SS239, Sigma Short Shader E20, Sigma Small Tapered Blending E45, and Sigma Pencil E30. All five of these Sigma brushes are excellent quality, very soft and not prone to shedding. I am very anal about my brushes being soft so it's always the first thing I look for in makeup brushes and Sigma brushes definitely pass my test.

I also bought various Coastal Scents brushes from their pink series (bottom left and bottom right pictures), left to right: Pink Oval Synthetic Concealer Brush, Pink Semi Firm Pointed Crease, Pink Angle Taklon Liner Brush, Pink Duo Fiber Powder Stipper, Pink Kolinsky Lip Brush, and the Pink Kabuki Brush. The brushes overall are not bad. The ones I wouldn't recommend from the batch I bought are the pencil brush and the kabuki brush. They both are very scratchy and I never use them. The brushes overall do shed which is annoying, but for their price I don't mind.

I also bought three Everyday Minerals Brushes (middle picture), left to right: Long handled kabuki, flat top brush, eye kabuki brush. These brushes are so incredibly soft and dense. They have not shed at all in my use. I use the long handled kabuki and the flat top brush for putting on pressed mineral powder foundation. The flat top brush also works well for bronzer application. The eye kabuki brush is a little too big, but I like using it for blending the entire lid.

Last one I promise, but I also purchased brushes from the EcoTools line and I'm so glad I did because I absolutely love their bronzer and powder brush. I use them literally every day. EcoTools makes the softest brushes I have ever felt. I also got the Alicia Silverstone 5-piece brush set with bag. My favorite brushes from that set are the duo fibre brush and the blush brush. The bag it comes in is really cute too. I know I don't have pictures of these brushes but that's cuz I haven't cleaned them and I seriously use them like crazy.

Plus I got a free brush from Sigma, its a short travel sized blending brush, Sigma Blending E25. I haven't used it so I can't say anything about it, but I liked all the other brushes so I probably will like this one too.

So if I were to recommend any makeup brushes my must haves would be:

*Sigma for eye brushes

*EcoTools Bronzer Brush

*EcoTools Powder Brush

*EcoTools Blush Brush

Sigma or EcoTools Duo Fibre Brush

*Everyday Minerals Long Handled Kabuki

Made a couple fragrance purchases. Just got Chanel Chance because I've been wanting it forever and cause I love Coco Mademoiselle so much. It was very expensive, but I used a 15% off coupon on fragrance.net so I was able to purchase it for $98, which is still A LOT, but better getting some dollars knocked off than nothing. I also got Burberry Summer earlier in the summer season because I just wanted a light summery scent and because it was only $33 on Amazon. I have come to the conclusion that Chanel makes THE BEST perfumes!! (Or at least my favorite ones)

Bought 3 OPI colors. Left to right: Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, Skinny Dip'n in Lake Michigan, and Tickle My France-y. I am in love with the last two colors and wear them constantly. Skinny Dip'n in Lake Michigan is a shimmer peachy nude while Tickle My France-y is a no-shimmer beige-y nude, perfect color for fall. Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous is an extra shimmery gunmetal, which looks great, but not something I can wear every day.

Lush haul!!! I got the Fresh Farmacy cleanser, which is a very gentle and very pink cleanser. It has chamomile, rose and tea tree oil in it. What I love about this cleanser is that it doesnt dry out my face. Then I got 2 massage bars. The first one is the Fever massage bar, which smells like jasmine, rose and sandalwood. Smells like heaven and melts like butter! The second one is Shimmy Shimmy bar which is a sparkly heart shaped bar that smells like vanilla and leaves you all glittery when you use it. I absolutely ADORE LUSH

Forever 21 jewelry haul. I've never been much of a jewelry girl. I just like having simple silver pieces here and there, but lately I've had an itch for CHEAP jewelry. Here is the collection I've gathered from F21 recently

I made four shoe purchases. the first is from Aldo. Strappy platform shoes that go perfectly with black mini skirts. Pretty comfortable too.

My second shoe purchase is the Frye Harness 12r boot in tan. Beautiful high quality boots, but they have been a pain in the ass to break in. Especially tough on my right ankle bone for some reason.

Some plain brown sandals from F21 that I wore daily during the summer. I have a hard time picking out sandals I like because I like simple styles and these days they have so many complicated strappy things that I really can't imagine myself wearing.

A cute Juicy Couture handbag. It's cute, but I don't really like it that much. It looks good in the picture, but the way the bag is built is really weird. I have a hardest time searching for things in this bag for some reason. The handles also wore down pretty quickly which was a disappointment.

Free Pink Tote from Victoria's Secrets. I love free stuff

Two really cheap circle scarves from F21 in mustard and beige. I think they were under $5.

Four jacket purchases from H&M. Two hooded trench coats in tan and black as well as two blazers in gray and black. I get very cold so I love buying things to layer on.

Urban Outfitters purchase. A faux leather hooded bomber jacket. Not as shiny as in this photo. Love this to death! I have a real leather jacket I got from Express from a couple years back that looks kind of like this one minus the hood and it was twice the cost of this, but I find myself wearing this one more.

I'm bad I know, but I got another faux leather jacket, this time from Express. It is the "(minus the) leather moto jacket." I wanted this one because I really like the motorcycle/biker look and it goes great with girly dresses and heels when I go out on weekends.

Another Urban Oufitters purchase. I got the Frye Engineer boot in black (I love Frye boots!), a white button-up shirt that was on sale, and a white vanity mirror. I also got this really cute vintage vanity tray, but it is on backorder :(

I HAVE TO QUIT SHOPPING NOW!!!

We're remodeling our house and so I get to pick out different pieces for the house which is fun. Getting a whole new kitchen, bathroom and all new floors. I'll also be getting a new vanity set!!!!

I think I'll have another update right after this to show you my puppy!!! Mickey!!! He has moved to the garage for the remainder of the remodeling so that he won't have to inhale all that dust while the contractor is working.

My honey backed my car into an Escalade so now there is a dent on the rear bumper.

I am in love with jeggings.

I decided I want to be a vampire this halloween.

I have skipped the gym for a really long time now.

I have not been feeling very healthy for about a month now, I think I need to go through a cleanse or something.

I recently gave Mickey a funny haircut but its growing out now.

I got the Remington 3-in-1 hair styler and now use the wind tunnel thing daily instead of the diffuser for styling my digi perm.

Thats all I can think of for now for whats been going on lately.