Empties #3

Holy hell December has flown by!

Also, my holiday break from school has flown by. The first half of it consisted of grad parties, shopping days, bakings/food making days followed by 3 Christmases and a wedding venue tour today. So after our venue tour, I decided to take some photos to get a few posts up.

Ready to see my trash? Let's go.

YAY CANDLES! haha, Harvest Gathering from Bath & Body Works. I love the candles that have the decorative lids. This one smelled like apples and cranberry with a tiny bit of cinnamon. SO GOOD. The green one is from Target, the scent is Noble Fir & Cedar. I think this was from last year, but I started burning this before we even got a tree and it put me in the mood for Christmas! Smelled exactly like what the name would suggest and like a day of perfect Christmas tree hunting. I'm definitely keeping this container for something.

Shower stuff - Fortune Cookie Soap's Whipped Soap in Fried Pussycat. Good scent, good texture, squeaky clean. Dirty Springwash from Lush which is my FAVORITE. So minty, so fresh and so clean, clean. Also from Lush is a sample of So White body wash. It was nice and mild, I think it's supposed to be apple-y. And then Bumble & Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil shampoo and conditioner. I love this stuff, already repurchased and being used. 

I hardly ever use up any nail related product, but I did give up and buy a new Butter London Nail Foundation because this one got super gunky. Also my Sally Hansen Big Shiny Top Coat ran its course. Finished another Hourglass 1.5 MM Mechanical Gel Eyeliner in Obsidian. I seriously love these things, they last longer [both wear time and number of uses] than a lot of bloggers said they do and I love how tiny it is and how inky the color is. And of course, mascara samples. I was pretty disappointed with the Buxom mascara with the Full & Fabulous brush.. I had to layer it a ton and I only really liked it with Urban Decay's Subversion priming mascara. 

Of course, Neutrogena Makeup Remover wipes, Urban Decay b6 Prep Spray.. I seriously don't know if this stuff does anything super special, I just am so used to using it after skincare but before makeup, so I keep buying it. Is it sad that I am afraid of giving it up for a while to see if it changed anything? Yes, it is. I used up one of my bottles of Victoria's Secret Prime & Set Spray. It's not the greatest setting spray but it isn't the worst one I've used. Sadly, they are discontinued. That little blue bottle is Origins Zero Oil Clarifying Toner. I love this and am planning on repurchasing! 

So there we have it: my last round of empties just in time to start the new year and on to new trash. haha!

Lately...

I've really felt like I've been in a funk since getting back from vacation.. and after Thanksgiving.. and after our anniversary.

I'm just now getting into finals at school, so that's probably what's doing me in, but at least I have been taking a few photos here and there, not for homework. I used to really love fall and winter in terms of working on my portfolio, but these past couple of years, school has really sucked all motivation and self work out of me.

So since tomorrow is December 1, I think I'm going to try a few things to get back on track and feeling more like myself.

I can do it!

Friday Favorites 3

Eeep, missed another week but oh well.. I was on vacation!

So let's jump right in:

• Palmer's Skin Therapy Oil. It's the shit. I don't always use it like you would think, but I have been obsessed with putting a few squirts into my bath water to help moisturize my skin. It doesn't add any scent to your bath, which is nice, so it's amazing. I have been going bath crazy lately and have gotten Sean a bit hooked on them too. 
• Dior 5 Color Eyeshadow Palette in 566 Versailles. I wore this almost every time I wore makeup on vacation because the top two shadows were nice and shimmery and not too difficult to use quickly. I do have a few issues with this palette though. I think they should have gotten rid of one of the top shadows, probably the one that's more gold since there is a gold glitter in the middle. They really could have replaced it with a black, purple or burgundy... or just SOMETHING. And the bottom right, the brown, is a gorgeous chocolate brown with shimmer, but the texture is so disappointing... especially when you look at the other 4 shadows. But now with the holidays coming up, that silver is going to be used a ton. It's amazing and buttery. 
• Kat von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Jeffree. This is a color WAY out of my comfort zone, and I only initially bought it because it's named after Jeffree Star. Now that I've worn it more often, I love it. On my lips it doesn't look as in your face as I was expecting and the comfort level and staying power is amazing, no matter how sheer you apply it. I tend to apply it with my fingers instead of the applicator. 
• Urban Decay Naked Skin Body Beauty Balm. Well there's a name, huh. Anywho, I bought this after testing some at Sephora before I went on vacation and I was pleasantly surprised. Usually I don't like these shimmery tinted body lotions anymore but this was really gorgeous and I wore it almost everyday on vacation when we would get cleaned up for dinner. The tint doesn't make my pale princess skin look fake tan-ey and the shimmer is really flattering. I love the smell and the tingly feeling you get when applying. This is a nice way to wear shimmer for grown ups. =]
• Clinique Smart Custom Repair Serum. I just recently got into trying serums and being more serious about my skincare. I love this stuff! At first I just thought this would be hyped up and a non-essential part of my routine, but I have noticed my skin just looks better.. I can't put my finger on what looks different, it just looks different. Healthier, I guess. Now I feel weird if I skip this step, morning or night.

That's all folks!

Fortune Cookie Soap 2014 Winter Soap Box

Alright - I received my second ever Soap Box from Fortune Cookie Soap.

For this Christmas, the theme was Old Fashioned Family Christmas.. so like Christmas Vacation style. =]

So far I'm pretty impressed with the products, but not my photo taking. I took all of these photos before going on vacation last week so I just snapped away and thought I was good. So, sorry!

Now, admittedly I haven't used most of these yet. But I'm really excited to!

First thing I saw was this guy. It's a Shower Steamer in the scent "I Pledge Allegiance, Amen!". These are just little shower steamers to make your showering experience smell nicer. haha It smells not too girly or sweet, so I'm excited to try it. I think I'll use it tomorrow morning. =]

This is a Hydrate Me bar in "Sparky". It smells like a nice dessert or bread you'd enjoy in the winter. =] Also I should try this in the shower tomorrow! So far these two products are new to me and did not show up in my previous box so I definitely had to look up exactly what they do and how I should use them. haha. 

I've always hated using hand sanitizers because I HATE the alcohol smell and how they felt so drying. Until I tried FCS OCD Hand Sanitizers. Seriously I love them. I have 3 now. The Polyjuice Potion scent is my favorite [and it has glitter so I'm automatically going to like it] This scent is "Mele Kalikimaka" which is Merry Christmas in Hawaiian. =] I took this with me to the Bahamas for vacation and it was well used. It smells very tropical and like a few drinks I enjoyed whilst on vacation. They don't dry your hands out, too!

This label-less gem is a mystery fragrance Deep Conditioner. For now, I'll just call it "Christmas Bonus" as the card calls it. It smells nice; I have yet to try it but I know I need to because vacation wreaked havoc on my hair! It's so tiny though! I'll definitely have to focus it on my ends. 

Winner for most interesting scent name is this Whipped Soap in "Fried Pussycat". One of my favorite parts of the movie and I am actually almost out of this already! I would totally buy more Whipped Soaps from FCS after this guy. The scent is nice and warm and smells so Holiday-ish.

I think this itty bitty jar was accidentally label-less, but it's the Cuticle Butter in "Moose Mug". I want to eat this cuticle butter! You hardly need any, so this will last me a lifetime. It sinks in so fast and so nicely that you won't feel all oily and gross. 

This is the Whipped Cream/Body Butter in "Jelly of the Month Club". It's nice and thick like I was expecting. The scent is a bit sweeter than I like, but so far all of my body butters from FCS have been a tad sweet. The scent doesn't stay intense for long though and they stay nice and hydrating. 

Finally the Fortune Cookie Soap!!!! As you can see, the scent is "Tis the Season to be Mary". This smells very soap like and perfumey. Not girly or sweet, just like a hint of soap under the scent. It's not bad, but not my favorite. 

Again, I'm pretty happy with my box and can't wait to try the remainder of my products!!!

Friday Favorites 2... on a Sunday.

Well I dropped the ball and skipped last week and this Friday I was actually in a wedding sooooo...... my Friday Favorites will be on a Sunday.

At least I took a non iPhone photo though, right?! 

mmkay. Let's see what I've been loving lately.

• Hempz White Peppermint and Vanilla Body Creme. I love Hempz lotions, but sometimes their scents are too much for me, even when I love them. This is LE and I found it in the travel sized goodies in Ulta near the registers, of course. I use this as a hand cream and it's nice because the scent is awesome [I love anything minty] and not too heavy. It doesn't feel too oily as well. 
• Benefit Porefessional powder. Although I hate the packaging now, I adore this stuff. I use a brush to apply it usually, but for special occasions [like the wedding I was in this weekend], I use a damp beauty blender to apply it and everything stays put and stays matte[ish] all day and night. 
• MAC x The Simpsons blush in Sideshow You. This was an online only LE blush and I love it. It's a nice coral/peach with some shimmer but it looks so pretty with everything. 
• Sugarpill Lumi loose pigment. I FINALLY got my hands on this stuff and it's amazing. You can kinda see in the photo the blue duo chrome color it has and it works great as an inner eye highlight or a fun transformer pigment to use on top of eyeshadows. 
• Stila Stay All Day liquid lipstick in Patina. GAH love. This is my way of trying out new lip colors and slowly getting into bolder darker lips. 

So there we go - Friday faves on a Sunday =]

Here's to hoping I don't wake up with 6 inches of snow on the ground!

Ipsy October '14

Alright so I was lazy and skipped September's ipsy... and really all I liked of it was the bag.

So now onto October! I feel like ipsy redeemed themselves with this month's... a little.

I kind of wish it was more Halloween related, because if I remember correctly, the September one was about back to school and the February one was about Valentine's Day... WHY NOT HALLOWEEN?!

Onward we go!

The bag isn't too bad this month! It reminds me of a chocolate bar with the quilting... and I think that the theme was candy shop or something??? I don't know I was bad and tossed the card ASAP. I actually used the bag this past weekend at my cousin's wedding as I was her personal attendant so I carried lots of little things in my purse, so this bright bag helped when I needed to fish it out. At the top there is a Nicole by OPI nail polish and a Starlooks lip gloss. 

Pictured twice, because I'm awesome possum, is this Epice exfoliator. I haven't tried it yet and I don't want to open it until I do. Same goes with the VolumEyes mascara. This hand cream is a nice size and the consistency isn't too thick, but I don't know if I like the scent. Very floral and figgy... obviously. 

This polish is Nicole by OPI in the shade Feeling Very Cherry. It's not as brown as it looks in the photo. I wore this to the wedding but I didn't take any pictures, sadly.. It was pretty patchy on the first coat but it did well with 2 coats. It was nice and vampy and beautiful. 

This gloss was pretty.. and the size is so cute. The shade is Guilty Pleasure. LOOK AT MY BROKEN NAIL IT'S SO GROSS. 

natural light

flash

Overall I was pleased with this months bag. I'm still waffling on whether I want to cancel my subscription or not though.

Friday Favorites 1

Okay so I've been coming up with some posts that will get me going on posting more regularly!

I love favorites posts from others, whether it be weekly, monthly, or whenever, so I'd like to give them a go!

I took these with my iPhone, but next time I'll actually use my camera, it's not like that's my major or anything..... ha.


Anywho, here we go:

This week I've been loving:

• Dior Star foundation... this foundation rocks. Not too dewy for me and I can build it to almost full coverage. It's pretty perfumed though so if you don't like that you might not want this. I enjoy the smell though. I'm shade 010, but I think I am getting a shade darker for when I go on vacation because I need to not be this pale. haha.
• Klorane Dry Shampoo... I got this in an ipsy bag, I think. I only dug it out because I have misplaced my favorite Lush one. It smells really good and brushes out nicely. 
• Lush Dirty Springwash Shower Gel... Nice and minty, even smells a little manly, which I like. It will wake you up in the morning.
• Illamasqua Powder Eye Shadow in Heroine... This is my favorite for contouring. I do like Illamasqua's cream color in Hollow as well, but lately I've just been using the powder. 
• MAC Mineralize Blush in Lured to Love... My dining room light makes this look more pinky than it is, but it's pretty orangey peach/coral. At first I thought this was too light for me, but lately I've loved it for adding a tiny bit of color. This was from a past collection... I can't quite remember the name of it but it's the one with the gold accents. 

So that's about it!

Empties #2

I feel like my empties are piling up on a horrible level.

Anywho, some of these aren't really EMPTY empties, I'm just sick of them.

Also, don't mind my messy table. HA

Got these as a sample from Sephora [of course] and I was really impressed. I thought this would weigh my hair down and amp up the oil production but really, this shampoo and conditioner [I'm now super annoyed I didn't put them in that order in the photo] really made my hair feel healthy and the scent lasted forever. I definitely think I'm going to pick up the full size bottles.

I got the Ole Henriksen wipes in an ipsy bag a month or two back and I had heard these were good so I was excited to use them. I liked them but they left a weird residue on my face so I felt like washing it anyways. And after a few uses, the stick factor on the packaging wore off and they got a little dry. 

The Neutrogena wipes never disappoint me and I actually like this version more than the one in my last empties. However, I haven't been able to find these ones lately so I've just gotten whatever was at the store.

Mmmkay, the Cetaphil cleanser came with a bag of samples from Ulta and it was a solid everyday cleanser. Nothing too special, nice and gentle. I already use Origins High-Potency Night-A-Mins most nights after my cleansing routine, so I just used this sample when traveling. It smells so good and when you wake up, your skin feels amazing. Also from Origins was this Plantscription cream with SPF 25. I just used this for moisturizer in the morning because it had sunscreen. It was pretty thick, obviously because it's a cream, so I didn't use a lot. 

Speaking of sunscreen, I also used this CoTZ sunscreen sample from Ulta and this stuff was pretty cool. It felt exactly like Benefit's Porefessional primer. It also had a tint to it, which was nice. Also this sample bottle of Peter Thomas Roth All Day Moisture Defense Lotion. This smelled like sunscreen but went on very lightly and lasted a good long while. 

I finally used up this sample bottle of Tarte's Maracuja Oil. I don't know why but I fell out of love with it and eventually just started to use it on my hair at night. 

So recently I bought a travel sized version of Make Up For Ever's Mist & Fix setting spray. I liked it, but I'm not sure if I like it more than my Urban Decay. Also ran out of my Urban Decay b6 prep spray. I love this stuff. It could act more like a placebo effect on me, but I just got another full sized bottle and I feel a lot better. 

Holy moly lots of Origins, eh? I had been using the Make A Difference Plus Rejuvinating Treatment as my morning moisturizer. I loved this stuff. I'm trying a new moisturizer at the moment but I would definitely consider repurchasing this. And then we have my favorite lip scrub ever, Mint Julips from Lush. This smells [and tastes] amazing and I will purchase more. This was almost empty but some water got into the pot and solidified the sugar. I do have another pot of scrub going, but it's a different flavor. 

Recently I bought an Herbal Memebox and there was this packet of bath salts. This stuff smelled super strong and I am not a huge fan of honey so I put some spearmint eucalyptus salts in with it but this stuff made for a great soak. =] 

Almost used up a bottle of Seche Vite fast dry top coat. It's at that goopy stage that sucks. Also used up some hand cream from Bliss. I love their lotions and creams! This was a great purse friend!

And this year I gave in to the hype on The Body Shop and the wonderful things they sell. They were having a sale on their raspberry scrub and I bought 2. I should have bought 10 because I am IN LOVE with this body scrub. It's so nice and scrubby. It looks and smells like raspberry jam. I find it hilarious that the tub even has a little icon that tells us not to feed it to children. HA. SO good, I need this forever. 

Well I obviously ran through some mascaras. I used up this MUFE sample of their Smoky Extravagant, which I always like to get. They make overnight trips nice and easy. I tried this Maybelline Great Lash mascara in Blackest Black, which I have loved since high school. However, I tried this Lots of Lashes wand, and I did not like it. I tried to use it up but just gave up on it. Also used was Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara. I love the wand on this and the formula. One of these times, I really should get the full size. 

As far as the Tarte lash primer, I got bored of it. It didn't really help my mascara that much. The Mac Opulash Optimum Black was pretty good. The wand was huge though! It's been a long time since I've used one that big. The one with the pretty packaging was Kat Von D's Immortal Lash in Puro Amor. I didn't like the wand and the formula lacked a little, but once it dried out a bit, it wore a lot better. The last mascara, was Be A Bombshell mascara. It was black, and it was just mascara. Did not do anything for me. Did not like at all! The little silver tube was just a sample of Anastasia Brow Gel. I love this stuff and just bought myself a full size. =]

I cringed when I finally ran out of my all time favorite liquid liner, Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper. Best ever and I hated the few days I waited before repurchasing, but now a new one is safely in my liner drawer and is used almost daily. 

A while back I had bought a sample set of the different BB creams from Dr. Jart. So far, Dr. Jart BBs are my favorite. They always look so nice on days when I don't need tons of coverage. I have already repurchased the Benefit Porefessional Primer, and I bought the huge one at that. I love this stuff so much.. 

For eye primers, I used a sample of UD Primer Potion, one of my favorites! [Can you tell I love Urban Decay???] Also used my sample of eye primer from Lorac that came with the Pro Palette. It's pretty comparable to UD and Kat Von D's.

OOOFH. Finally at the end. 2 candles can pretty much sum up my summer, because now I'm burning Fall candles. haha. Both are from Bath & Body Works and first was Island Margarita. This smelled SO GOOD I wanted to drink it. I should have bought more of this scent. The Mango Dragon Fruit was okay, just sweet and fruity but I eventually got sick of it. 

Sorry for such a long post, but hope you enjoyed reading. =]

Picture Polish Gravity

I can't remember how I got into reading blogs, but after a while of reading beauty blogs and nail art blogs, I eventually started to purchase some of the new things I read about.

A while ago, I noticed this company showing up in posts frequently: Picture Polish.

So I've been a fan for years now. They make some of the most beautiful polishes ever. 

Either last year or very early this year, they put out a collection inspired by outer space. I just thought my manicure this week was beautiful so I took some photos.

This polish is called Gravity. It's a blue to purple to pink shifting scattered holo. SO PRETTY.

I have it layered over OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue!

Flash

If you have never purchased any Picture Polish products, you really should. Here's their site.

Unfortunately, this was a LE shade, so I apologize but they alway shave unique shades for sale.

SKOL

Feeling pretty good right now because I have finished all of my math modules. That means, tomorrow will be my math final and if I pass, I don't have to go to class anymore! THANK GOD.

I'm happy that the Vikings won today but I am so bummed I didn't get to watch.

Why you ask?

Because I had to be at school. On a SUNDAY. PRINTING. For hours.

While it sucked, it felt good to be 90% done with my Late Program Review Portfolio. I'm going to be shooting tonight for my Digi Darkroom finals so hopefully one of those finals will be good enough for my portfolio.

Oh and I have to make a list of 25 (!!!!!!) contacts for Business. I can do this.

I can totally do this.

Right?

Ipsy August '14

Eek late with this post but whatever.

August's ipsy bag was not a dud but it wasn't the greatest in my opinion. It just kinda was a bag of samples.


So, first off the bag isn't ugly. But I definitely would not have picked it haha. However I think I'll use it for a pencil case for school.

See? the bag is just not me. I did get a can of Klorane Dry Shampoo with oat milk. Honestly, I have yet to try this as I've got like 3 dry shampoos open right now, but I may stick this in my gym bag or bring it with me next time we go out of town just for its convenient size. 

The lip balm is Jersey Shore Sun Mongongo Lip Conditioner. The scent is mandarin green orange ginger. It smells nice and is moisturizing. A little slippery, but I just keep it around to use it. It's a nice summery scent/flavor compared to my usual minty balms. 

I also received Dr. Brandt Pores No More primer. I still haven't tried this but I probably will like it. I love Dr. Brandt products like the BB creams, but I have a ton of primers open and ready to be finished, so this will have to wait. I know, this post is super informative. ha

So, I was super excited to see this mascara in my bag! I LOVE Urban Decay and actually had bought the 2 pack of this Perversion mascara + Subversion primer but had yet to open it; I hate hate hate opening mascaras before I intend to use them. Since I had finished a few mascaras, I opened this sample size and I love it. It really is super intense black and very creamy. However, that creaminess doesn't help my lashes look super long and full of volume. I have to use 2-3 layers of this stuff to achieve that. I don't mind though. I like that the brush isn't anything crazy, either. 

 The eyeshadow I got ended up being the star of this bag, for me. It's J. Cat Beauty Flying Solo Eyeshadow in Half Naked. This was a bit hard to photograph, but it looked like a muted version of the orange polka dots on the bag with a real pearly/opalescent, pinky, yellow, sometimes green finish. I thought I would hate it, but I swatched it on my hand and was excited. I can't wait to depot this and put it in a Z Palette because this will be so useful in various ways. In some light, it does look like this orange, but then when the lighting or angle shifts, it looks like a champagne shimmery shadow or even a high lighter. Now, I don' know if I'll use this as a cheek or face highlight, but I will try this as an inner corner highlight and also to try topping other eyeshadows to change the finish.

Natural Light

Flash 

So, yuuuuup. Overall an okay bag. I'm resisting temptation in peeking into my Glam Room online to see what September's bag has to offer, but judging by the look of the bag itself? I think I'll love September's bag. 

Being Minnesotan... GO SEAHAWKS. haha.

Fortune Cookie Soap 2014 Fall Soap Box

Ok I still suck balls at posting regularly, but tonight, since I cannot log onto my math to finish that up, I figured I would get some ready to go! =]

I've always heard about Fortune Cookie Soap from other bloggers and have been interested in their [I think] quarterly Soap Boxes, so I finally gave in and signed up. I'm extremely impressed!

This box was for Fall '14 and the collection is called Witch Please! so it is Wicked/Wizard of Oz themed. Super cute!!!

 So this is what my box had in it. Along with the green paper shreds, there was black dot glitter and black witch glitters!

First off, there's this little jar of Whipped Cream. The scent I received was BFF's. I wasn't hoping for this one, but it smells pretty good. The guide that came with this box says the scent is blueberries and pumpkin. It definitely smells like a crazy blueberry pumpkin muffin [and like Bath & Body Works blueberry pumpkin scents]. This stuff is pretty thick and rich, so I am saving it for when the weather gets colder and crisp. I'm sure this has great moisturizing power. 

 Second is this OCD Hand Sanitizer in the scent Roy G Biv, which is a name I love [go art nerds!]. It smells really great for a hand sanitizer. I only like using scented ones because I can't stand the alcohol smell. My guide has a pretty cute description for this scent: "A full spectrum of bright citrus notes and florals against a cool fall background. Dusky breezes and bonfires, wind-blown leaves and charred woods brightened by notes of lemon, mandarin, cotton blossom and soft vanilla." Ha! Pretty spot on I suppose. ;]

This is a Personal Space Air Freshener in the scent Flying Monkeys. This stuff, I use like Febreze however it doesn't last very long. The scent is described as a "breezy blend of peach, watermelon, neroli, jasmine and banana." I like it though even if it doesn't last long... I definitely like to keep it in the bathroom when we have company. 

The baggie has Bubble Bath Powder in the scent Miss Popular, which is honey nectar, star anise, star jasmine, orange and violet. I like it and I have yet to use it, but I'm sure I'll love it. 

The teeeeeeeensy tiniest little bottle I've ever seen contains Perfume Oil in The Shiz. The scent is balsam, new dawn blossom, laurel and sweet clove. This is an odd scent, and it definitely is earthy, but I REALLY like it. It's very very different from what I usually wear and the scent lasts for a long time. I like to dot this on my wrists and behind my ear or on the back of my neck. It just smells like fall. Love it. 

On the left is the Hair Oil in Hair Flip. This hair oil is very nice and the scent actually pairs nicely with the Perfume Oil. The scent is hazelnut and vanilla. I only use this on the ends of my hair as of lately, but I can see myself maybe using it overnight at some point.  

On the right is the Walnut Facial Scrub in Swankified. Swankified is described as banana, cake batter and walnuts. I really like this stuff. It's nice and creamy and the walnut bits aren't as rough as I thought they'd be. I also expected this to leave a greasy residue on my skin after I washed my face, but it didn't. It definitely smells like banana bread or just baked goods in general. 

Finally, we have the Fortune Cookie Soap in There's No Place Like Home. This thing smells incredible. It's apples, cinnamon, allspice and clove. I love any apple cinnamon scent, so this was used straight away and is already gone. To be honest, I used this as a body soap and not a hand soap as I hate using bar soap for hand washing. This did leave glitter in the suds and sometimes on my body but I don't care. There's so much glitter littering my house, Kesha would probably love it. 

Overall I'm super happy with this box and happy that these samples last a while. I'm definitely looking at what is left of the collection and purchasing full sizes of my favorite scents and looking at new stuff to try!!!