New Year, But What's New?

As I'm sure, all of your timelines, news feeds, blogger reading lists, et cetera are being dominated by new years resolutions or something of the sort. Me? I'm just trying to get a hold of things. I've been MIA for a while now due to some bad family circumstances. That's all I'll say about that, but I'm back and ready to give this bloggin' thing another go. No rediculous 'New Years Reslutions' here, just taking life one day at a time which is the only challenge I'm currently able to take on.

A lovely quote to live by, via Titanic:
"I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand you're gunna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you ... to make each day count." 
For those of you looking to make each day count, I challenge you to not make any unreachable goals. Live this year, and have a damn good time doing it.


Now, on to the fun stuff. :) 
I have to rave about my new signature scent! Its gorgeous, very sexy, and sophisticated. Honestly,  it is the most beautiful perfume I have ever experienced. The oddest thing though, its been out for years and I have no idea how I just now discovered it. Its Michael Kors by Michael Kors. Clever name, right? But even the bottle is simple yet gorgeous. Take a look for yourself. 

Funny thing is, I absolutely hated Michael Kors Very Hollywood, so I assumed I would hate this too but oh no, I was so wrong. Once I smelled the magazine ad sample, I was obsessed. It was love at first sniff. I kept that magazine ad with me for days, constantly smelling it to make sure it was as good as I thought it was. The scent is so fresh, it just doesn't get old to me. It seemed so opposite of the overly-sweet Very Hollywood I had come to despise. Goes to show you can't judge a perfume by its maker... or something like that. 

I left the magazine ad on my boyfriend's nightstand one day... too obvious? And, as I had hoped, I received it as an anniversary present shortly after. Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I've had this perfume for weeks now and for the first little while, I wore the perfume to bed it was so delicious. I just couldn't get enough of it. I started having suspicions that the scent was changing a little, as it started to show the floral notes more than before and I stopped wearing it to bed. I've been steadily wearing it everyday though, and I can no longer smell the nuance of difference I once smelled. Someone please tell me I was not going crazy. Perfume scents slightly shift over time, right?!

Answers/common experiences would be greatly appreciated. Best wishes for 2012.

xox

Box Dye Tips + Review

I've been getting my hair colored since I was 13. Now that I'm a college kid on an incredibly tight budget I decided to take matters into my own hands for a much cheaper way to change things up. I've had bad experiences with at-home color, but then one day I discovered mousse dyes. OH MY GOD these are so easy! It takes the hassle out of at-home color and you can literally do the entire process (preparation & shower afterwards included) in one solid hour!Anyways, the best brand I've found as of yet is L'Oreal Sublime Mousse. And just as a reminder: all mousse dyes are permanent, so be very careful when selecting your color! The color I chose is 60, pure light brown. I chose this because I wanted an ashy brown to cover up the permanent red color I put in my hair one year ago at the salon. Terrible decision to take it permanent- red is the trickiest color to get out/cover up.

Here's my results: (Keep in mind my permanent red underneath because yes, it's STILL showing through after multiple permanent ash brown color sessions.)

The most helpful tip I've ever received for picking out box dye colors is to place your finger over the strip of the hair that the light is shining on. This will help you get a sense of what the true color is since we all know flashes and different lighting can completely distort a color.

Exhibit A ^ on flash color distortions. :)

Another incredibly helpful tip is that when picking out your color, always, always look at the up-close visual of the hair, and not the photo. The picture used is typically a person that already has the perfect complexion to complement that shade, which might not be the case for you. See just how different the photo looks from the up-close? The photo almost looks as if there's a golden tone in this color, which is not the case at all. Remember the previous permanent red when looking at the small strands of golden peeking through my hair!

My final result :)

To see the difference the color made, just compare to my previous post. 

Last and final tip:

I'm sure you've all heard it, but I'll repeat once more. When coloring yourself, never go more than 2 shades lighter or darker than your current color. The color I chose was about one shade darker than my color, but it was a cool, ashy color while my previous was a warm, reddish color. 

Overall, I'm very happy with my results and if you are thinking about going permanent on your own, I highly recommend this line of colors - plus there's such an extensive color range to choose from! Good luck :)

FOTD & a strange coincidence

I'll be honest, there's nothing special about this look, its just one I actually had the time to take pictures of as I was running out the door.

I did a thicker black line than usual, by lining both top and bottom lashlines with my ELF liquid eyeliner pen, and then lining my waterline & tightline with my H.I.P. liner. On the lids are the colors chase and M.I.A. from my UD palette, as well as the color flow for a highlight. I have no clue why my lip color turned out so pink, but I used a CG wetslicks fruit spitzers gloss in rasberry splash.

Please forgive me for the clumpy eyelashes, guess its finally time to replace my Maybelline Falsies. :(

Looks like my newest pair of black patent pumps have a long lost cousin that has been residing on my desk for the past two months.

xxxx

Product I Regret Buying: Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof Gel Eyliner

I am typically a fan of Smashbox, but I can't even fake it with this eyeliner. I bought it in the color Navy Blue and have had it a while, however, I've only used it 3 times and that's enough for me. 

Each time I used it I used a different brush, two angled eyeliner brushes by both MAC and Sephora, and a tapered small pencil-like brush as well from a MAC gift set. None of them were successful in the fight against the uncooperative liner. Here is the most recent attempt:

The picture speaks for itself. The eye liner is a mess... no 'hot' involved.

Its crumbly, not smooth, dry (ever since the very first attempt), and leaves the ever-frustrating spotty effect. 

A very sad fail with this product and I wouldn't even consider re-buying.

Review: NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara

When I posted about the Taylor Swift concert (here), I failed to mention that when we arrived, free mascaras and Covergirl coupons were being passed out at the entrance! This really excited me because I've been curious about the NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara ever since I saw Taylor on a commercial advertising it. Not like I would go run out and buy a product because Taylor says its the best, but because Taylor has a way of making the product seem like her- natural, youthful, and carefree. Anyways, this is what they were handing out:

Nothing special, just an ad for the concert, a $2 off Covergirl coupon, and the NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara in the color black brown.

So without any other products applied to my eyes - didn't want to take away from the mascara :) - this is what it looks like on me after two coats, top and bottom:

As you can see, It's a very separating mascara and is decently lengthening although I have had better. It gives absolutely NO volume, which is disappointing to me. The biggest problem I have with this mascara is how bad it transfers when put on lower lashes! I've never, ever had a problem with Covergirl mascaras transferring before and this just leaves a terrible look. 

P.s. This was only after about an hour of wear! 

The point of this mascara is to be lightweight on your lashes and personally, I didn't notice any difference. Also, that isn't something that really bothers me in the first place, so why fix what isn't broken? 

I don't have a picture of it, but the wand kind of resembles Taylor because of its tall and slender stature. Strange thought I know, but that's what I saw. I'm not one to usually like the skinny, longer wands though so this could be another reason I am so unimpressed with this product. Overall, I would not recommend this product and I'm just glad I didn't waste my money on it.

Have any of you tried this product? Feel free to leave responses and your own reviews in the comments below! <3

FOTD: Daytime Sexy

For this face of the day, I went with a blended purple look with a touch of a golden sheen and a glossy natural colored lip.

An up close view:

To get this look I used:

• bh cosmetics 88 color palette in cool matte
• Too Faced Liquif-eye with a matte black eye shadow in the above palette (I'll do a review on this product soon - so amazing!)
• L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes in 635, Blackest Black
• N.Y.C. Kiss Gloss in Pink Lemonade

I'd apologize but I personally love the messy-hair look (I know most don't) and with this I wore a pair of light wash jean shorts that look a little roughed up, and a gray top with cutout shoulders and crochet detailing on the back. Paired with my Tiffany's heart shaped key necklace and rhinestone earrings and I was out the door! Black flip-flops were my shoe of choice due to the unbearably hot weather and amount of time I figured I'd be on my feet for the day. 

Hope you have a great Saturday! xox

You Are The Best Thing That's Ever Been Mine :)

After an incredibly busy weekend, I have so much to say! This will most likely be a scatterbrained, ramble post, just as a warning. :)
Last week I got a bid from the wonderful Alpha Omicron Pi and I accepted :) I am very happy to say that I am now a baby panda! Thursday we had our first mixer which was such a blast, and we each had colored teams. I was on the orange team and yes I did some crazy bright orange eyeshadow to show my team spirit! I don't have a good picture of the look unfortunately, but you can just imagine how ridiculous I looked.


On Friday, my friend had to go back to our high school and crown the next homecoming queen at the football game since she was last year's winner. I did her make up to complement a gorgeous white long-sleeved dress with diagnol stripes of gold sequins all over it. We were rushing to get her out the door though, so I didn't get to get a close-up of my work to post. Her overall look was a dark lip with a lighter bronze colored eye and a very subtle lighter pinkish cheek.


On Saturday, I went to a festival with my boyfriend. Nothing too exciting to share with you about the event, but I am very happy to say the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette is now mine! Props to the amazing, wonderful boyfriend that surprised me with this gift as a congratulations on getting into the sorority I wanted! Some pictures of my palette:

The thing that shocked me the most? How shallow these shadows are! Look at this:



Aside from that slight problem, I am very happy about the color quality and the way they turn out on the skin.


Last but not least, I went to the Taylor Swift concert on Sunday with my sister as a birthday present! We felt way too old to be joining the crowd of mainly 5-14 year olds, but we still had a lot of fun! Some pictures and how I did my nails:



Taylor rockin out:

If you can't read that, the color is called Sunday Afternoon, which was fitting because I was painting them on a sunday afternoon:)

Turquoise shatter to accent.

This was all done on top of a silver chrome I've had for so long that the name scratched off! It was Revlon though. (I did some stalking and read that Taylor typically uses gold or silver chrome nail polish.) Also, I rocked a sharpie written 13 on my right hand to support the singer. <3

Sorry for such a long post but hey, I warned ya. :)