Beauty Favorites

Hey y'all! After quite the busy summer, I have a few beauty favorites that I would like to share. As I've mentioned before, I am a huge YouTube junkie when it comes to all things make up and beauty and have accumulated a few goodies over the past few months thanks to my YouTube findings. (As a delightful side note, I am pretty sure The Mister knows how to do a mean highlight and contour due to how many YouTube vids he's listened in on...many a summer night in the C household was spent with me watching YT and TM playing PlayStation.)

Let's start with skin care....

Angels on Bare Skin - Lush - 

I was in search of a new cleanser and have very sensitive yet combination - oily skin..I scar easily (and go through spurts of breakouts) that require a daily exfoliation light enough for my sensitive skin but mechanical enough to slough off and eventually erase the dark scarring. (#HighMaintenance, I know.) All of that being said, Angels on Bare Skin, delivers that to me daily. It's a calming (and pretty exfoliating) cleanser for all skin types. The smell is amazing (like every thing from Lush) and your skin feels amazing after every use. If your skin is high maintenance like mine or you are looking for a nice gentle daily exfoliation, I would totally recommend this.

Breath of Fresh Air - Lush - 

On my trip into Lush, I also picked up a toner. I was in Florida and the Breath of Fresh Air toner just seemed like the right purchase. It can go over make up and perfect for the end of the summer heat or midday pick me up!

Sephora Masks - Rose and Green Tea - 

Also for my FL trip, I picked up a few Sephora Natural Therapy sheet masks as my skin always freaks out when traveling and I had heard the rose mask was super calming. I got the rose mask and rose eye masks and the green tea mask as well. The rose masks were my absolute favorite out of the two (though both were great). The smell is divine and it calmed by face right down after a nasty plane breakout or two.

Now, let's move on to make up...

L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte foundation- 

Y'all, I have a new favorite foundation and I am not afraid to shout it from the roof tops..This is a full coverage, matte finish foundation and it does not move, get shiny, or melt off your face for HOURS.. I put this bad boy on with a beauty blender due to how heavy it can feel on the skin if you don't apply it right. This is definitely for more combination/oily skin types! One thing to keep in mind - this foundation has a yellow under tone (except for the darkest two shades which are more pink-ish).

Urban Decay Naked Weightless Concealer - 

There is nothing I love more than a brightening under eye concealer (#DragQueen) that is also super light-weight and non-cakey. This is perfect for achieving the perfect highlight and contour look. A good dupe for this is the NYX high definition concealer wand.

NYX Contour Kit - 

Although this is not in my own personal kit, I have a good friend that got this recently and I have been doing her make up with it and LOVING it. It's a great price and the color payoff/pigment is very good. It blends like a dream and always makes sure her #ContourIsOnFleek. The banana shade is my absolute favorite for setting under eye concealer.

Lights, Camera, Lashes - Tarte - 

Believe me when I tell you - this mascara is the.holy.grail. I am an avid falsies user and nothing could ever get me away from my L'Oreal Telescopic....until I got a sample of this stuff during a recent Sephora purchase and OMG...I will never buy another mascara again.

Products in the Queue -

Just today, I picked up a mini GlamGlow mask...YouTubers fah-reak out about this stuff so I had to see what all the fuss is about...I will keep you all posted! I also got a Dr. Jart Brightening Infusion Hydrogel Sheet mask (can you tell I have a thing for masks!?) as it said on the package it is good for dark circles (check), dullness (check), dark spots (double check) and uneven tone...We shall see if it delivers!

Products I am in search of - 

A good body butter! It's so hard to find a reasonably priced body butter with decent ingredients in it. Any suggestions?

Life Update - 

Over the past few months I have been contemplating where I want my next step to be as far as social media goes and I am thinking of re-lauching my YouTube channel around the new year. I am hoping to get a new vlogging camera and start doing things like, tutorials, "get ready with me" vids, favorites videos, unboxing vids, Disney magic (duh) and maybe even some fitness related things as well. So stay tuned for all of that and let me know if y'all know of any 14 year olds that can teach me the basics of video editing!

Also, with the holidays looming and me finally finishing decorating our new apartment in the next few weeks, you guys can expect some fun little blog posts coming your way!

Happy Shopping!
xoxo

Halloween 2014

I have finally finished decorating the house for Halloween this year. It usually takes me all of September (and a bit of October) to get in all of my finishing touches. So, without further ado, here's all the 2014 haunts -

First I will start with the entertainment center that is always themed out with the corresponding holiday -

The entertainment center is the thing that took me the longest to finish decorating. My initial vision was 4 pumpkins flanking the snow globe but specifically "Cinderella pumpkins" (duh). Alas, the farm that The Mister, Cy and I frequent every year that carries the Cinderella pumpkins didn't have ANY gourdes at all this year! So I had to revamp my vision...I ended up getting a deal (4 for $16) on pumpkins at Shaws and just ended up spray painting them white for the effect I wanted. The snow globe was purchased at Home Goods a few years back and is one of my prized Halloween possessions.

Next, we have the bahh - 

All of these decorations have been collected over the years at places like the Dollar Store, Christmas Tree Shops, Michaels & AC Moore. I also love to include "live" things in my displays so the 10 for $10 mini white pumpkins at Stop and Shop came in handy for all of my vignettes. 

Which brings me to my floor to ceiling shelves...

Again, all of this stuff have been collected over the years. The black cat print was purchased at an art shop in Salem, MA (#SoHalloween) and the other prints were found on Pinterest. 

Even the fauxs got into the Halloween spirit!

The Mister's and my first Halloween together gets a little tribute every year....

#BonesNBows

Can't forget the kitchen! - 

Every time I change the flowers in the Crystal Head Vodka skull, I change the sign as well. I have tons of signs that I've collected over the years (Holla for the dolla store!) that match any color scheme imaginable!

#Magical

I will be lighting up the house later tonight/tomorrow and I will be sure to get pictures in all of it's Halloween glory!

Happy October Y'all!!

4th of July Fun

As I mentioned in a previous post, our entertainment center changes with the seasons/holidays. Since summer is in full swing and we are almost half way through June, I decided it was high time to unearth all of our 4th of July decor. A lot of it is from my buffet table from last year...

The crown (Hobby Lobby) has made a reappearance for the summer. The I <3 USA sign was purchased at Michael's on sale at the end of the 4th of July season last year. I found the printable online and got the frame at Christmas Tree Shops, I found the flags at Wal Mart along with the vase on the end, and the two floral accents up top were crafted by me with dollar store finds. Both the black stand and silver vase with pearls were found at Hobby Lobby as well. 

I also like to head to the Target dollar bin around Memorial Day and pick up some 4th of July themed paper goods. Tarjay never fails to impress me with their holiday merch!

(Cupcake ware purchased at Christmas Tree Shops last year)

Having all of this stuff inspires me to do another 4th of July buffet table this year. We'll see what I can conjure up! 

Happy Summer!