July 31, 2014

EOTD & the one-month-countdown!

Good morning to all! It's official as of yesterday we have less than a month until our baby girl makes her appearance, we couldn't be more excited!:) I have my Doctors appointment tomorrow where I will be checked to see if I'm dilated or effaced at all (which I'm pretty sure I am) and get the doctors thoughts on how close she is to coming. I can't wait! 

Anyways, on to my Eye Of The Day yesterday;




Although yesterday was National Lipstick Day I went without, lipstick just isn't my cup of tea. We were just running to the store and hanging around so I figured I would test out a "real" brown smoky eye ("real" meaning that I added the shadow on the bottom lash line that I fear oh-so-much). It wasn't too harsh or crazy, all matte to be daytime appropriate, and all from my beloved Lorac PRO original palette. All in all, I really love how it turned out, I felt it was well blended, subtle but still defining my eyes and giving off some drama. What do you guys think? This is a slightly more dramatic version if my go-to daily look, what's your favorite daily look?

Products used: Elf Eyelid Primer, Lorac PRO palette (shades used; cream, taupe, sable, espresso, nude, and white), Rimmel Waterproof Gel eyeliner in Black, and Benefit They're Real! mascara.

Keep your eyes peeled for a reveal of my brand-new positively dreamt diaper bag and first impression! Thank you so much for reading, hope you'll come back soon.:)

July 24, 2014

Manly Baby Shower?!

Haha, okay maybe not. Let's be real, a baby shower can only be so manly in the first place, and having a little girl only makes that harder! However, Logan's coworkers are quite excited for us and so wonderfully decided to surprise him with a mini baby shower at work last night. Safe to say I was not expecting what he came home with this morning. I thought maybe 4-5 people would be orcastrating this event because (A) he works night shift and one would think less people work night shift than day shift because well, who wants to pull all nighters constantly and (B) I simply thought not many people worked with him on his wing. But no, he showed up at the door this morning with about 1 1/2 dozen bags! 



We spent the morning unwrapping, looking at all the adorable outfits, soaking up all the excitment of this baby coming soon, and being extremely grateful for such generous people. It was a blast and I can't describe how dang cute these outfits were (there's only so many times I can say "that's SO cute!" Before it becomes simply inadequate) along with countless diapers, wipes, and other bath/miscellaneous goodies.

Here's a few of our favorite things we received (there were like 5 outfits I'm in love with that I didn't take pictures of for some mystery reason, thanks pregnancy brain):

What an adorable thing to have on a bib!

This beautiful frame that I wanted but didn't know where to find, how fun is that going to be to fill up with pictures of baby rolls and toothless smiles!:)

A little romper, I have a thing for soft-gray combinations in baby girls' clothing. So precious!

And this little outfit, love the "peasant" top as my mother-in-law calls them. Those little polka-spots along with little cute owls and bubble-cap-sleeves, killll me!

Safe to say we're set for bath things for a while. (Hello, swollen toes)

And a huge bag filled with diapers and wipes strategically stacked to fit perfectly in this adorable polka-spot bag. That doesn't include the 100-count box of size ones we got also! Phew!

We are feeling so incredibly blessed to have people willing to be so generous and help so much when we really haven't known them for long at all. We couldn't be happier with everything we received and all of this only makes our little girls arrival even higher-anticipated! I hope you all enjoyed a glimps into our excitment and adorable-clothes-stash, have a super wonderful day and thanks for reading!:)

July 23, 2014

Summer sunset smokey eye tutorial

Hello again all!

Today I planned out a nice little tutorial for you all. This is by far the most complicated look I've done since startin this blog and I'm pretty proud of making it a tutorial. Keep reading to learn more, enjoy!

First I did my eyebrows, and primed my lids with my Elf eyelid primer, and let it set for 10 minutes.

Secondly, I took a domed, fluffy, blending brush (mines the Real Techniques Round Crease Brush) and dipped it into Mauve from my Lorac PRO Palette and mixed in just a hiiiint of Taupe for my transition shade. I lay the transition shade first to make blending easier so it doesn't muddy up the lid colors, which I'll be adding later.

*note I apologize these photos are pretty yellow-toned, I could not get my camera to adjust properly.:(

Then I took Sable from the same palette on a flat fluffy brush and blended that 3/4 of the way into my crease. I'm going to steer clear of that inner-most 1/4 of my crease so my pop of gold will show up ideally.


Then I look Garnet on a flat shader brush and kind of "stamped" it on my outter V to (A) avoid fallout as much as possible and (B) to get the right shape on both eyes. No one likes it when one eye has a night outter V shape and the other is more... Uh... Oval-y.


Then I just took the flat fluffy brush previously mentions and blended that out so there weren't any harsh edges.


After that was nicely blended I took Hustle from my Naked 1 palette on a (clean) fluffy flat blending brush and used that to just deepen my crease a bit for some more definition.


I then took Lt. Gold from my Lorac PRO palette and put that on my inner crease (remember that 1/4 we left bare?) and brought down a little onto my inner-most lid.

*gosh, sorry that bottom photo is so darn blurry! Today is apparently not my day.

Finally I took Urban Decay Half Baked and a flat shader brush that's a bit more dense and dabbed it onto the middle of my lid (the inner-half specifically).


Finally I added some eyeliner (L'oreal Super Slim liquid eyeliner, in Black) and mascara (Kat Von D mascara I can't recall the specific name and it's nowhere to be found on the packaging) to complete the look.


In natural lighting, to get a truer feel for what it looks like outside of my very yellow lighting.




Thank you all so much for reading and bearing with me lately. I hope you all are enjoying summer and taking advantage of these gorgeous days, come back and read again, I'd really appreciate it!:)

July 16, 2014

EOTD and baby bump update!

I apologize for the brief absence, I have been very busy these past few days with baby stuff, appointments, etc. In all honesty these next few weeks are going to be very busy as we only have 3 weeks until I'm term (could go into labor at any time) and 6 weeks until my due/induction date! Get very very close.:)

Anywhoo, thought I'd give you all the bump update and my EOTD today!


This week I am 34 weeks and starting to really feel the discomfort that I've heard oh-so-much about. Last night I think in total I got 4 1/2 hours of sleep before my two naps so far today, not fun. However, I know it will all be well worth it in just a few weeks, and I'm grateful I've made it to the home stretch without any major discomfort/unpleasant symptoms until now. We are so excited to meet our baby girl, and to cuddle her and spend lots of bonding time together as a family. Logan is especially excited to cuddle her all the time and "lick her until she loves him".:)
        Maternity dress from Old Navy
        Headband from American Eagle 
        Nail polish is Orly "Live Wire"

Now onto my eye/makeup look today!




I was so determined to do a sunset orangey yellow look today with a tutorial but my UD Vice pallete (original) has mysteriously gone missing. I'm quite broken up about it. So I was watching Cry Baby with Johnny Depp in it and was inspired by the main-character girls (I wasn't paying much attention) makeup, winged liner but still relatively natural looking. 

Products used: Wet N Wild Comfort Zone palette (the top right hand "browbone" shade, neutral taupe color), UD Buck (from Naked One palette), Elf Eyelid Primer, Rimmel ScandalEYES Waterproof Gel Eyeliner (black), Kat Von D mascara.

Today it's actually been really mild out and we're finally getting some relief from our unusually sweltering Pennsylvanian summer. I hope you all are staying cool and enjoying your summer so far! Come back to read again soon.:)

July 10, 2014

EOTD, smokey eye featuring NARSissist Palette

It has been insanely humid all of the sudden here today, just now at 7:00pm it has become ridiculously humid! Anyway, how are you all today?

Today I broke out my NARSissist palette and kind of went to town, which resulted in this smokey eye. 



Products used: Covergirl 3-in-1 foundation, Elf eyelid primer, NARSissist palette (shades used; Lhasa, Matrauge 1, All About Eve, Bad Behaviour, and Dogon), Maybelline Pumped Up! mascara, Rimmel ScandelEYES Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Black

I personally would wear this out for a day of shopping, because there's no shadow or liner on the bottom lash line. You could always bring the darker shades into the bottom lash line for more drama and definition if you like. I never do though because I just think my eyes simply cannot pull it off, I just end up looking dirty and muddy. I love that it's shimmery but not bam! shimmery, still wearable and not "draggy".

I hope you all enjoyed this and in the next day or two I will be doing a tutorial on how to achieve some type of smokey eye. Thanks for reading!:)

July 8, 2014

EOTD and my Lazy Tuesday

Today we went to Dairy Queen, ran some errands, I FaceTimed my mom, and watched The Fault in our Stars. It was a really fun day! I've felt kind of off all day and the baby wasn't moving a whole lot so I kind of took it easy. Thankfully we got her to move around a healthy amount to make sure she's okay and so now we're all feeling much less worried.

Today I used my Lorac PRO Palette (original) for a basic, easy, but pretty and soft eye look with a bold hot pink lip! Logan is convinced my lips look red, what do you think?


 

Please be kind and ignore my atrocious under-eye bags, I've been positively pooped lately. As you can see I did my eyebrows today, which I will be doing a tutorial on soon, even though I really don't do anything special.

Products used: Lorac PRO palette (Nude, Lt. Pink, Mauve, & Taupe), Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Branded, Elf eyelid primer, Maybelline Pumped Up! mascara, Covergirl 3-in-1 foundation, Rimmel ScandelEYES gel eyeliner in Black, and Milani eyebrow pencil.

Hope you all have had a wonderful beginning to your week and enjoyed your Tuesday! Please comment and tell me what types of posts you'd like to see me do (tutorials, basic looks, reviews, etc.) I'm open to all the options!

July 4, 2014

Happy Fourth of July! & EOTD

Happy Fourth of July everyone!:)

Today is a day to remember all of the hard work our troops have done for us, recently, and since the establishment of our great country. If it wernt for our troops fighting for our freedom things in this country would be so much harder, and life surely wouldn't be what it is today. So keep that in mind today in every way you celebrate. It's time to celebrate our freedom, our country's birthday, and everyone who's made it possible for us to be where we are today. I aplaud all men and women who fight for us to retain our freedom and our independence, so thank you!

Here's my Eye Of The Day for this gorgeous, mild (so far), Fourth of July!🎆


In artificial lighting:


In natural lighting:


I hope everyone has a great day celebrating and stays safe!

July 3, 2014

Review & swatches: Orly "Uncharted" nail polish

I have been all about summer colors lately, well, it being summer and all

The other day I was at my local T.J. Maxx and came across the amazing nail polish section that they almost always keep fully stocked with the Orly four pack mini's and full-sized duos. So I snagged up two! One of the "Hot Shots" four packs of mini polishes ($6.99) that has a gorgeous dark-er teal (matte creme), muted purple (matte creme), hot magenta-pink (shimmer), and a gorrrrgeous peach (sparkle). I also picked up a duo of full-sized Orly nail polishes, one being a matte creme orange, and the other a true-yellow shimmer.

Safe to say I have pleanty of nail polishes to keep my review-queue full for quite some time! Phew! Today I will be reviewing & swatching the magenta-pink shimmer. It is beautiful to say the least, it is what I can only describe as a dragon fruit-type color. See that ring of color right around the white flesh of the fruit? That's exactly what this color looks like to me. 



GAH! I love it. This is a two coat formula for sure, it doesn't look terrible with just one coat but it's streaky and uneven and the second coat makes it completely opaque and perfect. It's not goopy at all and went on very smooth, not a lot of effort required to level the paint. I think I found my new favorite pink polish, it's essentially fruit-punch for your nails!

What's your favorite pink nail polish? Do you like this polish?

Review & Swatches: Rimmel ScandelEYES Waterproof Gel Eyeliner

So I have been on the hunt for ages for this eyeliner. I wanted to pick up both colors (black & brown) and every time I went they only had one or the other and there's only one place in town where it's available. Persistence pays off! Finally after many disappointing trips to K-Mart I finally found both colors stocked about a week ago.


This eyeliner is the ScandalEYES Waterproof Gel Eyeliner, is about $6 -depending on where you buy, I got mine for $6.59 each- and comes in four colors, black, brown, purple, & blue (I picked up the shades 001 Black and 002 Brown). Rimmel London makes these claims about the eyeliner: 

• Up to 24 hours of rich, intense colour that doesn't flake, smudge, smear or run.
• Easy to apply, glides easily.
• Professional brush for complete control to draw the lines you want.

Bold move, Rimmel boasting up to 24 hour wear! Now on the Rimmel website there isn't an ingrediant list and, sadly, I tossed my packaging before snapping a picture, my apologies. There's also 4 shades listed on the Rimmel website, black, brown, purple, and blue. No fancy color names here, but I don't mind.

Now, on to the good stuff! 


Included brush: It comes with a brush, which I tested on my hand doing the initial swatches and it just made too think of a line for my taste and so I kept them, but haven't used them to apply the product to my eyes. However, that's not to say they're bad brushes, they're very soft and firm enough to use in a practical way, not so firm that they'll hurt your eye though.


Application: this eyeliner applies very smoothly, it's nice and soft in the pot, easy to pick up on your brush, and doesn't drag or skip at all during application. It takes a minute to set so you have some time to smudge (if you want to), go back and correct any little blips if you have shakey hands, etc.


Wear: this product wears AMAZINGLY on me. I am beyond impressed, Rimmel! I have major issues with gel eyeliners, every single one I try either is too dry, cracks and crumbles, or just never truely dries causing endless smears. I can put this eyeliner on at 8 in the morning when the forecast is calling for 90% humidity, thunderstorms, and a high of 86 and know that I will see only the slightest transfer onto my lower lash line. The performance is amazing with these! It does not smudge, it doesn't crack or flake, and I only see the slightest hint of transfer if it's extremely humid/hot that day and I'm wearing it on my upper waterline.


  **Note: in the above photo, I wet the entire swatch, and rubbed only the.    right-most side with my index finger. Much like in the photo above that, except I omitted labeling the original side/adding the white "wall" to seperate them.**

Formula: the formula is very, very creamy, rich, pigmented, and smooth. It glides on without any extra effort to "make it cooperate", and there is zero need to "work with it" for any length if time to get the desired result. You do need a relatively steady hand, however, not as steady as you'd need with, say, liquid eyeliner. This is the blackest black gel eyeliner I have ever used (I've used high end, drugstore, etc. everything from Maybelline to Smashbox) and it doesn't fade whatsoever. I'm also pleased to say the brown is a true brown, no "black brown", and the brown is just as beautifully pigmented as the black! It's gorgeous. In the pot the Black appears completely matte (and applies so). The brown appears to have a very small amount of micro-shimmers in it but once applied they're really not noticable at all, and you won't get any crazy shimmer on your face when removing or if you accidentally sleep with it on.

My final verdict: both of these eyeliners can wear for 12+ hours on me (I would never wear one for a whole 24 to test that claim, sorry!) without any sliding around, cracking, flaking, etc. The pigmentation is beyond perfect, super rich and saturated colors. The waterproof claim is definitely true also, I washed my swatches on my hand with dish soap and water and they didn't budge, it's insane. Although, they do remove easily with an oil-based makeup remover (I use olive oil to remove all my eye makeup). 

These are my new Holy Grail gel eyeliners, I'm absolutely in lovvveee. 10/10 stars for me, and I'd definitely reccomend these to anyone in search of a great, and affordable, gel eyeliner.