because retail therapy is often the best kind

    Have you ever been to the mall during the day on a weekday? It's quiet and fairly peaceful, in my opinion, making it the best time to go. My friend Cynthia and I went to the mall Tuesday and it was such a fun trip. The weather was fair and we enjoyed a few hours of "retail therapy" with a yummy lunch (yay Chick Fil A!) I even got to pick up my dress that I'm wearing for my boyfriend's prom *squee*!

Taken from http://www.debshops.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11013454&cp=3371585.3369425.

This is my dress!

     We both snagged a pair of cropped sweatpants from Aeropostale on sale (super comfy! I'm wearing mine now!) I've actually wore mine all day, as I've been somewhat under the weather :( My friend Brad kindly pointed out on Facebook that my symptoms sounded like hangover... and really, if I have a hang over, I would like at least ONE drink first. I'm feeling better now, after about a billion hours of sleep and having to stay home from school and work (which is pretty darn great, especially considering how affordable gas is and all!) Eh. But enough about being sick. More about the mall, now.
     We also went in Bath and Body Works. Now, anyone who knows me will probably be able to tell you that I am a BBW fiend. I love all of their stuff. My very favorite scent would most likely be Japanese Cherry Blossom, just because it is so versatile. On Tuesday I purchased a few things in their scent "Forever Sunshine"; thanks to a buy 2-get-3-free sale and a coupon Cynthia gave me, I wound up buying two full-sized products and I received two for free :) I also bought a mini body lotion for a dollar in their new scent "Country Chic." It smells lovely, and I think it fits it's name quite well! When I got home with my purchases, I had an epiphany: I have way too much BBW! So I'm on a mission to use up some of the older ones until I can buy or even use new products. I have sets (shower gel/ body lotion/ body spray) that are close to being empty (around a week or so's use is left in them) and they will be the first to be used, one at a time, until they are emptied. This week's scent  is Orange Sapphire. I really do love it, I do; I just rarely use it anymore. I bought it last year as a summer scent and used it and White Citrus interchangeably every day. However, when the weather became cool, it was shoved to the back of the cabinet, not to return until I decided to clean. For a citrus fragrance, it is very deep and sultry. I'll list the notes (copied from their website):

• Top Notes: Succulent Blood Orange, Tarocco Orange, Sparkling Grapefruit, Sicilian Bergamot, Vibrant Mandarin, Davana, Black Currant Buds, Juicy Raspberry, Sparkling Peach
• Middle Notes: White Jasmine Flower, Sheer Orange Blossom, Chinese Magnolia, Orchid Petals, Freesia, Muguet
• Base Notes: Intoxicating Musk, Light Patchouli, Soft Vetiver, White Amber, Vanilla Infusion, brush stroke of Golden Honey, Cognac, Myrrh

      It makes sense that I love it so, because it contains patchouli, bergamot, amber, and musk, scents that I love dearly, but rarely are all in one fragrance. Plus, it has several others that I quite like. If you're interested in trying this fragrance out, though, you might want to move quick- I've heard rumors about it being discontinued sometime in the near future!
     So, what are your favorite scents from Bath and Body Works? Have you started any type of plan to reduce how many products you have, like my plan or a project ten plan?

kiss me, I'm green- faced

     I hope that everyone had a wonderful Saint Patrick's Day! I know that I did. My boyfriend took me to a local restaurant where we had a nice meal and took in all of the green decorations/ green- beer drinkers. I even had some (green) bread pudding :)  Another fun green thing? Since my face is acting strange I used the Queen Helene mint julep masque today during my bath. No matter how awful my skin is being, I can always count on it to help. I thought about taking a quick picture of it on, but I concluded that even if I did bother to get out of my warm, fragrant tub, I really didn't want to post a picture of me while I wasn't wearing clothes (even if it was only of my face!)

Warding off pinches is serious business, and selecting the wrong attire could be... erm... painful. Yes, that is my cat in the picture... she wouldn't move....    

     And of course, I had to do a special green and gold eye look for the holiday. It is a little too bold for just any old day (for me, at least!) but I think it captures the spirit of St. Patrick's Day.

 Please excuse the spots on my face- I've been breaking out over the last few days and can't figure out why.

     Here is a list of some of the products that I used:
- cheeks: Nyx powder blush in Peach 
- lips: Tokyo Milk's lip elixer for a base; Loreal Le Rouge lip stick in Rambling Rose; Bath and Body Work's Kiss Me I'm Irish lip gloss on top (it really is the cutest thing... peppermint with teeny tiny iridescent glitter flecks)
- eyes: Pixie Epoxy over Urban Decay's Primer Potion; Fyrinnae's Polar Bear all over lid; Fyrinnae's Dragon's Wing in outer corner and in crease; Fyrinnae's Finnigan's Wake as a highlight on brown bone and inner corner (I couldn't wear a Dropkick Murphys shirt and not wear Finnigan's Wake!)

 All of the products that I used today... please ignore the yucky dresser, it was a leftover from when my sisters shared that room when we were little... currently in the process of shopping for a new antique (haha, oxymoron, I know!) bedroom suite.

     So, did you do anything special for Saint Patrick's Day?
    

and the lip stick parade keeps marching on...

     This one isn't about Loreal, I swear! It's about the Mark lip clicks, the lippies that replaced the Dew- Drenched collection. I never had any Dew- Drenched, so I can't really compare the two, but I do like these. They "click" closed via magnets, so no more worrying about painting the inside of your purse (YIKES!) That excites me, because the whole Mark line is all about portability. These lip sticks come in a smaller tube than most, but there is still the average amount of product; sort of a less-is-really-more type of thing, which I like, can you say "space-saver!?" Because the package is so small and sleek you can really slip them anywhere you need to, whether it just be your make up drawer at home, a cosmetics pouch, or even your pocket.

Sleek, cute. and oh-so-portable!

      The first color I purchased was Coral Fixation at the begining of Febuary (I'm thinking.) The color was a bright, lighter corally- pink that I thought would be great for a fresh Spring lip shade that would easily transition into Summer as well.  The next color I picked was Gem. It was a replacement for an eyeliner that wouldn't scroll upward like it was supposed to. Well, lo and behold, my Gem has turned into Tutu and I just realized it today. I really do love the color; it is a wonderful shade of plummy-pink and looks like it has nothing at all to do with a ballerina. While Tutu and Gem are the same tone, Gem leans red while Tutu leans purple. Ah, well. I still have some credit from the eyeliner mishap, so I might try for Gem again.

Coral Fixation is on left, Tutu is on right.

Without flash.

With flash.



     These lipsticks are very creamy and not at all drying. They do not last as long as the Loreal Le Rouge ones do, but they do keep their plush, soft feel until they wear off. They are not particulary glassy, which I like, and they also don't have any frost or glitter, which is a nice change. I would have to give these  4/5 stars, because I like them and my Nyx lip sticks about equally. However, with these, there are only twelve shades and with Nyx there are well over a hundred. I may buy again, but probably only when I use up the last of my credit. The only colors that really appeal to me besides the ones I already have are Gem and BabyLuv, and BabyLuv doesn't look so original that I can't find an easy replacement from Nyx at $7.50 less.  



for some one who doesn't like lip sticks, I sure have been buying alot of them lately

     Hello everyone! This post might as well just be called "a continuation of "all of my lazy bones are apparently located in my fingers."" Why? I'm just going to share some more swatches of the Loreal Unfallible Le Rouge lip sticks. I really really like these, as you can probably tell. The formula is nice, the colors are complementary, and they wear wonderfully.  

From left to right: Everlasting Plum, Charismatic Coral, and Unending Kiss.

With flash.

Without flash.

     My favorite of the bunch would probably be Unending Kiss, just because it is a great my-lips-but-better color. I can wear it with pretty much any eye or cheek make up and not have to worry about it clashing. Everlasting Plum is really more of an evening or going-out type of color, but it's not overwhelming. And finally, Charismatic Coral is a cheery corally-pink that is bright and perfect for Spring (it definitely leans pinker on the lips than it does in the swatches.) If you're interested in this great little lippie, I hope these swatches helped!

love at first sight

Top row (left to right): Finnigan's Wake. Polar Bear, Equality, Knickers in a Twist, Snow Leopard

Bottome row: Jaguar, Hypercool, Forbidden Lover, Dragon's Wing, and Moon Child

Very bottom: Pixie Epoxy

     I never owned any loose eye shadows before this year. To be frank, they scared me. I was afraid that the color would be washed out, the fall out would be massive, and that I would *gasp* spill it all over everything (I can be a bit clumsy at times!) But, wanting to give them a try, I decided to go with Fyrinnae (http://fyrinnae.com/), an indie brand I keep hearing great things about. Well, long story short, I loved the eyeshadows that I had ordered so much that I placed a second order within a week of recieving my first! These shadows are so vivid and lovely that they have became some of my favorites and I use them at least four out of seven days in the week. Fyrinnae also makes this super neat stuff called Pixie Epoxy. It's not a primer, but more of an eye shadow glue. It holds even the sparkliest, glittery-est shadows tight to your lid with out fall out. So, on to the reviewing!

Pixie Epoxy

Pros: This product grabs your eye shadow and WILL NOT LET GO. And since your eye shadow is being grabbed, it looks so much more vivid and the textures and complexities are much more noticable. I've never been into foiling, but the result that you get with this is comparable, just without the hassle. Also, a little goes a looong way, so you're not actually using much product per use.

Cons: Untill I did some research about how to apply this, I was pretty much clueless. But, on the website's listing for Pixie Epoxy it has a great tutorial video showing how to use it, which is super helpful!

Stars: 5/5

Would I buy again?: Yes- it has became a staple in my routine!

No flash.

The bottom half of each swatch is bare skin and the top half is over Pixie Epoxy.

Colors, from left to right: Finnigan's Wake. Polar Bear, Equality, Knickers in a Twist, Snow Leopard, Jaguar, Hypercool, Forbidden Lover, Dragon's Wing, and Moon Child.

With flash.

Eye Shadows

Pros: These shadows are beautiful and complex- they are unlike any that I have ever owned before. They are very pigmented so I don't have to keep piling them on my eye lids to make them show up. They come in a huge variety of shades and textures, so things will never get boring. Another exciting thing? Even the glittery ones are sophisticated enough that you don't look like you've been borrowing from a little girl's play make up set ;) Also, the fallout is minimal.

Cons: These may not be friendly for those who are extremely accident prone... spillage = not good!

Stars: 5/5

Would I buy again?: Yes. And on my next order I'll hopefully get a shadow or two from the Arcane Fire collection.

     Overall, my experience with Fyrinnae was 100% positive. The price is right, the shipping charge was fair, and my package arrived in a reasonable ammount of time in lovely condition; the email notifications are so helpful for keeping up with your order. They even give you a free sample with your order (Moonchild and Hypercool were mine- that's why they look different!) The only downside I've had was the on-again-off- again nature of their website, but seeing as they are a small company that makes all of these goodies by hand with such a very high demand, it is more than understandable. I'm looking forward to buying from Fyrinnae again and hope to include at least one blush and lip lustre in my next purchase. I'm even thinking about trying their face primer- it sounds divine!

the review that wasn't supposed to be

     I don't buy very much "high end" make up, mainly because of the high price, but when I found this Urban Decay shadow box on Sephora's website for $16, I couldn't say no. Okay, so I think that Urban Decay and others like it may be mid- range? I don't know. To me it's high end ;) It was originally $30 and comes with a sample size of Primer Potion and a travel sized 24/7 eye liner in Zero (aka black.) The Show Pony shadow box consists of six eye shadows, two of which are special editions and only come in this shadow box (and the Preen shadow box, which is the same exact thing, except for different artwork.) This particular palette came out in 2009 (I'm thinking) and it's easy to find swatches for it, so I figured doing a post on it would be redundant. And then I thought that people who didn't get one the first time around might want one now that they are 1/2 priced, or maybe people who already own one might want to grab another one.

Ta- duh! This is the Show Pony shadow box.

     This was my first Urban Decay purchase and I must say that I'm pretty impressed. I've always pegged the Primer Potion as being something that people just thought worked well because it was expensive, but it really is very nice. I just hate the packaging. Not to say it isn't cute, because it is- it's just highly impractical. The 24/7 liner worked well, too. I experienced minimal smudging, except for just a tad on running outward from my outer corners, but that happens with every other eyeliner in the world. And with this one it happened less, so I liked it. The shadows are all highly pigmented, but it seemed like they took more work to get onto my brush than I expected. That is prabably just me though, because I am getting awfully spoilt by the Fyrinnae loose eye shadows, heehee. Speaking of those, they should be the next things I review.

The colors from left to right are Snatch (special edition), Toasted, Smog, Mildew, Flash, and Painkiller (special edition) (eyeshadows) and Zero (liner.)

No flash.

With flash.

     As far as stars go, this gets 5/5 for having nice products at an awesome value. This is a really nice way to get to meet the products from this company if you're a stranger. I've even started to reconsider my cheapie ways and I'm thinking about splurging on a full sized Primer Potion and 24/7 liner. Not in the very near future, but maybe soon-ish. I probably wouldn't buy this for myself again (it's going to take a while to finish all of that eye shadow!) I would definitely not mind giving it as a gift.