Archive for December 2014

Best of 2014: A Year in Review

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 is wrapping up, and what a year it has been. It started out pretty horrible for me but turned around and became the happiest, most fulfilling year of my life! Funny how personal growth can come from awful things, no? As this year draws to a conclusion, it also marks five years of blogging for me, which I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around.

Rouge Bunny Rouge Unforgettable Oriole

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Rouge Bunny Rouge was on HauteLook (affil link) a couple months back and I was absolutely thrilled to pieces because I had some account credit that was about to expire. I spent a good amount of time perusing swatches of the legendary eyeshadows of which I had been assured were legendary in formulation. It was this set of swatches that convinced me not to overlook the paler shades and I ended up picking up Unforgettable Oriole.

Perfume Diary: Tom Ford Oud Wood Eau de Parfum

Monday, December 29, 2014

I have not written a fragrance review in quite some time, mainly because I've been preoccupied for the same scent for the last few months. My friend Trisha gave me a small decant of Tom Ford Oud Wood, from the Private Blend collection and I'm enjoying each wear more and more.

Unwinding with TATCHA Luminous Deep Hydration Lifting Mask

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

I'm making amends to my face right now.

The hustle and bustle of the holidays, has regretfully made me neglect my skin. Somewhere between creating the perfect presents for family, the cooking and the baking, I forgot to supplement my skin with much needed moisture. My nostrils were a bit chapped; there were quite a few little dry patches and boy, it was uncomfortable.

Book Review: Homemade Nail Polish by Allison Rose Spiekermann

Monday, December 22, 2014

Happy Monday!

I have something a little different for you guys today. Allison of the indie brand Nail Pattern Boldness has written a book entirely about polish and I finally got my mitts on a copy. A book entirely about polish and sparkly things? Now there's a page turner. Homemade Nail Polish: Create Unique Colors and Designs for Stunning Nails is just under a hundred pages chock full of polish related information and ideas.

Mundane Monday, Vol. XXII: My Secondhand Dog is Pretty Great

Monday, December 15, 2014

I can't believe I didn't post about this sooner.

Two months ago, we adopted this fantastic dog from a local rescue. Her name is Vesper! She's a 2-3 year old German Shepard.

EOTD

Sunday, December 14, 2014

This look started out as a cat eye. Unfortunately, the eyeliner on one eye looked thicker than the other, and by the time I evened it out, both eyes had a thick swoosh going on. At that point, I decided that I might as well top it with eye shadow because it had just clearly gone beyond the boundaries of a simple cat eye. The feature shadow of this look is Femme Fatale Cosmetics Flare, a medium red shadow with golden iridescence.

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills Powder Duo in Granite
Eyes: Smashbox 24 Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer, Inglot Gel Liner #77, Illamasqua Daemon shadow, Lancome Hypnose mascara, false lashes

By the way, I'm on my yearly indie shadow bender.

Every.
Damn.
Year.

Nails of the Day: A Vision of Red Prints

So because I help international friends make purchases through Sephora, I ended up hitting Rouge again. Yep, despite my best intentions to shop elsewhere. For renewing Rouge status for another year, there was a free Sephora Formula X polish in an "exclusive" color. It's called X(Heart)Rouge.

That color is red. Red creme. Opaque, leaning a bit warm.

How exciting.

I used it to stamp over Chrome Girl Nails Between The Sheets, a white creme. Used Winstonia W111, W113 as well as my new plate from eBay. They're basically knockoff of large scene Moyou plates, but for under $2, I can deal with it.

I phoned it in on the clean up job, guys.

Have a great weekend!

Inglot Pearl 606

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

My purchase of Laura Mercier Fire Glow from the Summer 2013 Collection spiraled into a deep appreciation of coppery/metallic orange colors that has lasted even until now. I recently saw a good friend of mine wearing this shade and I kinda had to immediately have it myself. Inglot Pearl 606 is a very sparkly/metallic copper.

Review: Toppik Hair Building Fibers Starter Kit

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Over the last couple months, I noticed that I was losing quite a bit of my hair. For me, it wasn't a copious amount of daily shedding (like the kind that happens fairly often postpartum as hormones level out) but my hairline started to recede and I started developing those pockets of visible scalp near the temples that you would associate with male pattern baldness. While I'm glad that it's not very visible in pictures, it was definitely something I (and husband) noticed in person. Though I do not base my self worth on my appearance, the seemingly rapid loss of hair was nevertheless distressing. After moping about it for a bit, I looked into Toppik Hair Fibers.

Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide On Eye Pencil in Black Velvet + Matte Black Smokey Eye Pictorial

Monday, December 8, 2014

This review is going to be short and simple, mainly because I already reviewed another Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Pencil a few weeks ago. I made a short sort of pictorial to go with it, because in this instance, I happened to use Black Velvet as not just eyeliner but as the base to this matte black smokey eye.

I tried Black Velvet, which seems to be much better compared to Plushie (review here). It is creamier and applies without as much skipping, with impressive pigmentation. However, it still flakes off a little bit during application, as you can see in the following pictorial.

Glossybox Limited Edition - The Ultimate Holiday Gift

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!

American friends, I hope you had a most spectacular Thanksgiving weekend. I was fortunate enough to spend a long weekend with my in-laws and hand more than my fill of turkey. Today, I'd like to show you the limited edition Glossybox Ultimate Holiday Gift box.