October Favorites

    It's the time for beauty favorites again! To start off, the Becca by Jacqlyn Hill palette is absolutely gorgeous. The packaging itself was enough for me to buy it because it was so pretty. The picture of it here definitely does not do it justice.  Inside, the palette comes with three blushes and two highlighters.  The highlighters are in champagne pop and prosecco pop. Prosecco pop is a golden highlight while champagne pop is a pinky flesh tone. Amaretto and Pamplemousse are two of the three blushes and are mineral based, so they have a bit less sparkle than the third blush Rose Spritz which is definitely more luminous. All five products apply and blend perfectly. No complaints here! 

    For the eyes, my go to palettes are the urban decay Naked 3 and Naked Smokey. Both make it super easy to do effortless, time-saving looks for my early mornings when I don't feel like actually trying with my eyeshadow. 

    Two mascaras I have been trying out this month have been L'Oreal's Voluminous Carbon black and the Voluminous Butterfly Sculpt (can you tell I like volume for my lashes?).  The Butterfly sculpt does a better job at "gripping" the lashes and really working in the mascara to make them look full and voluminous. The Carbon Black creates volume but with a more natural look. 

    The L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Glow foundation is my new favorite. I have dry skin/patches most of the year so having a foundation that hydrates is a must. This foundation definitely gives the face a nice glow without looking greasy. 

    Lately, I've been trying out cream matte lip products. The one I've found that I really like is the BareMinerals Gen Nude matte liquid lip color in Juju. It's a pretty mauve that looks natural on the lips and wears very comfortably. I will most likely be purchasing this lippy in other colors.  Bite beauty has beautiful lipsticks as well. I received a sample size in my Sephora Play box and I love it! It's in a really pretty bright pink called Kimchi. The formula is moisturizing and sits really beautifully on the lips. 

    Lastly, my new scents I am absolutely so glad I splurged on is the Jo Malone line. These perfumes are some of the best I have ever smelt and I definitely recommend giving them a sniff if you ever come across them. The two I own are Peony & Blush Suede as well as Wood Sage & Sea Salt. Peony is a gorgeous floral and Wood Sage is very woodsy and an extremely unique scent. 

    Those are my favorites for the month. Hope you enjoyed!

Paris Street Style

What a wonderful book! This is one of the best adult coloring books that I've seen. I included a couple pages that I have already colored in so you get an idea of the types of images that are in the book. Enjoy!

   

Thank you to blogging for books for supplying me with this copy. 

bloggingforbooks.com

Bees: A Gardens Best Friend

BUY HERE

    So in October my boyfriend and I bought a house! The front and back of the house contains very minimal landscaping and no flowers to speak of, just bushes, shrubs and trees. I chose this book to read because I want to add color to the yard and keep it native to the region as well. This in turn, will bring in the bees, butterflies, and all those other lovely insects that keep gardens going and looking great. 

   The book was not just about flowers like I was thinking it would be. Oh no, it was chalk full of educating material on bees themselves and the many kinds that exist. Each bee had its own picture so that the average joe (like myself) that knows virtually nothing about them, can at least, learn what each one looks like, as well as, the different kind of plants they're drawn to. 

   This picture was in the book and I thought that it was crazy! To think that so many items need pollination from bees to keep going opens your eyes and makes you think that maybe it would be a really good idea to not go the minimalistic approach. 

   The back of the book contains lists of native plants for all the regions in the U.S. It also has other information such as recommended books, online information, lists of bee-friendly public gardens and more. I would definitely recommend reading this if you're thinking about making your yard bee friendly or just wanting to plant more plants. 

Thanks as always to blogging with books for this great read! 

   

Paper Projects

My goodness it has been way too long sine I've done my last book review! Buying a house can do that to you. Anyways, hopefully I will be more on top of getting more reviews out as well as beauty stuff for those of you who are more interested in that. 

I first want to say that I have not done any of the projects in this book, but I know I will in the future. For example, the picture I have below of the balloon flowers is something I'll probably do for my first outdoor party because they're super cute and easy! There's also a three tier cupcake holder which looks very useful at some point either for a holiday or birthday. There are a lot of kid-oriented projects in the book so I would recommend it for parents or even babysitters to keep the kids busy for an hour or two. 

As the title suggests, everything is made out of some sort of paper source whether it be a cereal box or toilet paper tube or coffee filters which are awesome for recycling products that are used every day.

I received this book from the website bloggingforbooks.com. Great website if you love books!

August-December Favs

Oh man guys, it's been a very long time since my last post. But here we are at the end of the year with my favorites for the past few months!

First off is the Maybelline  Better skin foundation. This stuff is amazing! Once it sets it makes my skin look great even with my acne. It also doesn't really stick to dry skin, which I definitely get during the winter. To go along with the foundation, I'm also really loving the concealer in the same line to cover blemishes. 

To set the under eye area, I'm loving the City Color HD powder. It very fine milled and after it has a few minuted to set the under eyes they look very smooth. 

For mascara, I've been using the Covergirl clump crusher. I have to say I like the orange tube (lash blast volume) one better than this one but it gets the job done. I use it in conjunction with the L'Oreal Voluminous mascara which is really good at making my lashes look thicker. 

My favorite blush for the winter is the Laura Gellar Blush-N-Brighten in Tropic Hues. The color is a pretty berry tone on the cheeks, giving them a fresh look. As for highlighters, Wet nWild and Revolution have terrific options. The Revolution highlight that I have is in the color Peach Lights and has a light pink glow. Wet n Wild has more of a gold/orange glow. Both colors look really pretty when the light hits them, and it's great because they're both drugstore options!

I have a few favorite lippies! I swear anything lip related is my makeup obsession. Maybe I'll do a post on my top 10 favorite lip products. 

The Sephora Oil Infusion lip gloss in 06 Bubby Grenadine feels so amazing on the lips and gives a lovely wash of color. Don't be afraid of the bright color because it's nowhere near as bright on the lips. 

Korres carries their lip colors in many colors, but I chose wild rose because it's a great color for winter and the product itself is great at moisturizing my lips.

I saved the best for last of these three! Colorpop is amazing guys. If you haven't tried it, you need to. Their lip colors are super pigmented. The one I have pictured here is Tiger in the sheer formula which you can build up to be more opaque. 

The eyeshadows are amazing as well. Again they're very pigmented and blend very easily. The only downside is if you're into de-potting and putting them all into one palette, it isn't possible with these. The formula is a special one so if they're exposed to air for a long period of time they dry out. 

This year one of my favorite Youtubers (Tati Westbrook) partnered with Birchbox and came out with her own line of lipsticks and eyeshadow crayons. The eyeshadows have really good color and blend very easily. I would definitely recommend them. The lipstick is pretty but doesn't have great wear, especially if you're eating and drinking. 

Happy New Year!! 

I Take You

Should you? That basically sums up the entire book. Lily WIider the main character, can't decide whether to go through with her marriage or not. She's engaged but cheats consistently throughout the book, which in today's day and age probably sums up some people's lives. But for myself, I cannot relate so I was not a fan of this book. There were a few redeeming characters, but they didn't make up enough of the book to keep it together. I definitely would not recommend this book. I'm not sure how it even got past publishing. 

I would like to thank as always Blogging for Books for supplying me with this book to read and review. 

June/July Favsies

    It's summer favorites time! My first favorite of the month is the Kat von D tattoo liner in Trooper. This liner is amazing if you want smudge-proof, all day stay power. It's a super hyped up product, and you know what? It definitely lives up to that hype.

    For my under eyes the Tarte CC Under Eye Corrector  in the shade light/medium. I love this cream for canceling out the blue/purple underneath my eyes from lack of sleep and super early mornings at work. 

    I haven't been wearing as much foundation so I use liquid/cream/gel blushes. I've really been liking the Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Cheek Jelly in Pink Escape. The cheek jellies are very blend-able and give a really nice wash of color to the cheeks. If you want just a bit of color use a little, if you want a darker cheek then you use more product and do multiple layers. Same goes for the Stila Convertible colors. I have the shades Petunia and Hibiscus. 

    Another cheek product that has been awesome for the summer is the Temptu liquid highlighter in Pink Pearl. I just dab a little bit on my fingers and swipe it across my cheekbones and it gives a lovely highlight. 

    My lip gloss/lipstick obsession continues with two more items for this month, the first one being the Victorias Secret Beauty Rush  gloss in Royal. I picked this lippie up on a whim when I was doing some bra shopping and it landed up being only $2.50! Can't beat that awesomeness. The gloss looks like a bright purple in the tube, but it looks so lovely on the lips! I'd say it does keep its purple tinge, but it also looks pink at the same time.  Overall when I run out of this one I'd buy it again and maybe try other colors as well. I have yet to try a gloss that has amazing staying power and this one is no exception. After about a half hour, I have to reapply, so if you don't like non long lasting glosses this isn't for you. 

The Ulta Matte Lip Cream is so freaking amazing. Beautiful color in Striking stays matte and it actually stays on the lips for a decent amount of time. If you do land up eating it will come off on the inner part of your lips which I'm not a fan of. I also recommend putting on chapstick a bit before you put it on so your lips stay moisturized long after the matte cream goes on. 

   For my scent this month I've been all about the sample I received in my Ipsy bag called Classico by Jor'el Parker. It's a beautiful scent for summer and fall. The scent is a mix of musk and floral while being romantic and sexy.