Christmas Wish List

Hey lovelies! This post was meant for Sunday, my usual time, however, due a fun illness with heavy antibiotics, this is coming a little late. Today I wanted to do something fun as I'm nowhere near fully recovered: a Christmas list! I've found some really cool and unique products over the last year that I've put to the side and saved, so i thought would be fun to share as a kind of wish list. I hope you enjoy!

Christmas Wish List

Bill Murray Dot Tee: $55.00

Bill Murray. 'Nuff said.

Z&L Medallion Slipper: $48.00

World Map Watch: $29.50

Revlon Gold Series Titanium Coated Lighted Slant Tweezer

Tassel Trimmed Aztec Poncho: $48.37

There you have it; a fun, eclectic wishlist that hopefully will give you some great gift ideas for others or for yourself. Have a happy holiday lovelies <.3

Cyber Monday Reveal

All my Cyber Monday stuff came in! Woo-hoo! I am PUMPED to be able to show you all my goodies! :-D I hope you guys enjoy this fun little show-and-tell, and later this week there will be a video talking about great Christmas/Holiday gifts.

<.3

Eyebrow Problems

Hey lovelies! I thought I would give you a break from my face (sort of) and do a written post today. 

If you've seen any of my videos or photos I've posted on here of myself, then you know I have some pretty thick eyebrows. Despite the fact that I've plucked, waxed, and threaded over the years, my eyebrows have always grown back  with a thick and eyebrow-y vengeance. Even though my eyebrows are quite large and relatively thick, they are less thick towards the front and tail end of each brow. So sometimes I do like to fill them in, just a little bit though; just to give them a slightly more bold appearance.

When it comes to plucking, for the most part I only pluck the random strays and try to maintain my large, bold natural shape. However, about a week and a half ago, I woke up to find what looked like I had plucked the front part of my eyebrows in my sleep. 

 

 (Pictorial evidence - see how the front part looks like i have a section missing from both sides towards the middle/bottom? Yeah, there was hair there the night before. I would NOT do this to myself, no matter how much money someone paid me. Well, maybe for a million.)

 

I emitted a silent scream that morning and immediately began contemplating how to fix this. I knew that it would take a couple of weeks for the hairs to grow back to full thick and bushy glory. I also began trying to figure out what exactly the f*&% had happened to my brows to cause this. I had filled in my brows the day before, and I had scrubbed a little harder than usual to get my makeup off that night. However, I didn't notice those holes after the makeup was off and I was moisturizing. I spoke to a coworker about it the next day, since she fills in her brows every day, and she said she scratches in her sleep and has woken up to find eyelash and eyebrow hairs missing on many occasions.

Color me nervous - I hope this doesn't become a reoccurring problem. The picture above was actually taken this morning when I woke up. You can see the hairs are growing in, and I feel that they're growing fast, but obviously not fast enough to take away my insecurity about it. 

Enter meet cute Castor Oil. I hopped on Youtube that same day and found several videos talking about the magical benefits of castor oil. Of course, it's not an actual miracle product, and it won't make changes overnight. The videos I've watched though have suggested that after several weeks worth of use that it does help improve thickness and possibly speed up hair growth. I have ran around to 3 different health food/regular food stores in my area - no such luck. Apparently places down here don't see a need for virgin castor oil. I'm actually at the point where I'm planning a New Orleans trip today purely to swing into Whole Foods to pick some up, or I'm ordering it online tonight. One of the two is happening, but I will post an update in the next few weeks after acquiring it to let you know/show you how it's working on my brows <.3

IT Cosmetics Review

Hey lovelies, so this event actually happened last weekend, sorry for the delay in posting! I hope you guys enjoy my thorough (AKA - LONG) review. I'll try to keep it shorter next time. <.3

Below are the pictures from after I got my makeup done at the event. 

Nope, my scalp isn't bleeding - leftover hair dye that won't come out no matter how many times I wash my hair.

So this one time when I got Urban Decay for free...

Hey lovelies, tonight I went to an event. I bet you can't guess what I got for free :-P. Naaaah, I think you already know...

Sorry about my extra crazy enthusiasm tonight, I'll try to tone it down a bit next time, I was just so excited! I'm also trying out different filming locations around our new place. The light was a bit bright here, so I might try another room next time. Hope I didn't blind you guys! <.3

The Black Friday/Cyber Monday Conundrum

Hey lovelies! I'm sorry for the delay in posting, we have internet again! Woo-hoo! Here's a video I quickly made tonight for you guys.

Really important, I realize in my video it sounds like I'm bashing Black Friday, but that's not what I'm trying to do at all. Shopping in person on Black Friday in my opinion is worth it for the really pricey/large items like kitchen accessories, electronics, health gadgets, etc. That in my opinion is really worth fighting the crowds for. However, if you have to travel long distances and you're after ONLY makeup/clothing/accessories, in my opinion it's not that worth it because so many companies are now doing Black Friday sales online so you can shop from home for Black Friday and have it delivered right to your door for something that there's a larger quantity vs. only 5 of a specific trampoline that was marked down to $75 from $400 (Random example). Also, Cyber Monday sales are really amazing for all of the items as well, and of course most companies do free shipping or the prices are slashed so low it's worth it to pay for shipping.

I periodically check into my favorite stores, and so I don't feel the need to fight Black Friday crowds because I get great deals years round.This year I saw a lot of companies throwing out sales and deals that I have seen at previous points throughout this past year, which is why I am not as thrilled with Black Friday this year.

I'm my opinion, I recommend keeping close tabs on your favorite companies throughout the year via email list. Some companies of course only take discounts for Black Friday, and if that's the case then buy then, but for the most part more and more companies are doing random sales throughout the year to encourage buying during slower times. I know that Black Friday is built up as the day you run around fight the crowds, but if you can avoid it, shop at home on the websites or wait til Cyber Monday. Like I said, unless you are going for the larger/pricier items, then in which case fight those crowds!

I want to point out that various sites are having several deals today for the Cyber Monday holiday are continuing and the links are below. I hope you guys enjoyed my little show and tell!

Cyber Monday - Extended

Modcloth: Extra 25% off of with code CYBERMONDAY

Saturday: 30% off of everything with code OHWOW

Neiman Marcus Last Call: 40% off of everything + free shipping with code CyberMe

Stylemint: 1 for $10, 2 for $15, 3 for $20 with code CYBER

Baublebar: Free shipping + 20% sitewide with code CYBER20

Shoemint: Extra 25% off sale items with code EXTRA25

Giveaway Winner

Good eeeeeevening lovelies! Sorry for the delay - we're in the middle of moving and we need to get everything set up at our new place. Because of that, this might be the last post for about a week or so. Tonight is just a quick post but a necessary one: the winner of my Pop Beauty giveaway!

Congratulations to

Anna Huynh

You won! :-D 

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this giveaway, I don't know if it was just me, but I felt like the giveaway widget I used was a bit different this time around. I might use a different giveaway widget for the next one.

 

Thank you guys so much again for entering! <.3

Holiday Sets - MAC Brushes

It's that time of year again - you know, that time. The time when companies are rolling out their holiday sets, and if you're someone who works in close proximity to said awesomeness it's like being a kid left alone in a candy store with a credit card. (AKA - Slightly dangerous)

Luckily I have just a wee bit of self-control because I've only purchased one holiday set this year (so far). If you are going to get only one holiday set this year, I recommend the grand pooba of them all: a MAC Holiday Brush Set. If you happen to live near a MAC store, MAC counter, or have a Macy's/Dillard's/MAC giftcard that needs to see some action, go over or call them up and have them set a set aside one of the 3 brush set options they offer while they're still in pre-sale. This assures that you will 100% get a set when they go to regular sale. Each location only gets a certain amount for the pre-sale and sale. They're still in pre-sale right now in-store, but regular sale starts tomorrow - Thursday, October 23rd. If you don't feel like going into a store, they're available on the website here. When Thursday hits, all pre-sale items will go to regular sale, and any brush sets that are left over will probably be snapped up faster than rare beads in a Mardi Gras parade.

MAC isn't only offering brush sets though for this pre-sale; they're also offering eyeshadow sets, lipstick sets, and other accessories. All 3 brush sets are available for $52, and I chose a dual-fiber brush set that comes with 4 brushes. After tax it came out to be $57 and some change. If you're not completely familiar with MAC, you might be thinking "That seems kind of expensive for just 4 brushes, why did you buy that brush set?". Well let me tell you - because just one of those brushes in that set sells for $45 by itself. Add $12 and that gets me an extra 3 brushes. I like that math. 

The other 2 types of brush sets come with 5, yes 5 brushes. While I had my eye on the 5-piece, the 4-piece dual-fiber had the one brush to rule them all - AKA the BIG Dual Fiber Face Brush . The one I purchased my mother for her early Channukah present is a 5-piece black brush set that has synthetic hair on one side of the brush head, and real hair on the other. After some discussion, I learned something really wonderful about MAC - their brushes are cruelty-free. The real hair comes from shaving a horse's belly. No harm comes to the animal, he just gets a little haircut on his belly and then goes on with his day. That made me smile, and I hope it makes you smile too, because all I imagine is a horse with a cute bare belly running through the fields happy after his haircut (I imagine this because I'm always happy after my haircuts - it's like losing 10lbs without lifting a finger)

 

These are the other 2 brush sets available, so if you're shopping for that special woman in your life, or mother, or sister, or awesome boss you want to impress, this is the way to go. Each set has an amazing combination of brushes for a really wonderful price tag. <.3

P.S. - Don't forget to enter my giveaway which ends tonight here

Melted, and not the Too Faced kind

Nowadays when someone mentions the term "Melted", we, (or at least I), automatically think of the Too Faced lip products. They're colorful, bold and beckon to me every day at work, so I've always hoped that when if I ever said I experienced melting, it would be the lip product I would be referring to. This morning when I was doing my makeup though, I did experience melting, but not the kind I ever hoped I would:

A week ago I purchased a bag that Sephora offers; this one was called Summer Stash. It was a collection of sample sizes of Sephora's favorite summer products.

It had gone on sale about a month or so ago, and I had been watching it patiently, waiting for it to get marked down to a price that I could afford. Finally, a week ago, it had been marked down to the wonderfully low price of $11. After my discount, I walked out of there with it for $9. I was happy, especially since I was adding that beautiful little pot of the Stila eyeshadow pictured in the middle. To be honest, that was one of my main motivations to purchase the bag - I love Stila eyeshadow. I've used my Stila pallet into almost extinction, and the color looked so lovely on the packaging that I just couldn't pass it up. When I opened this bag, I was over the moon. The eyeshadow looked exactly like the picture, so I giddily put it in my drawer with the rest of my eyeshadows to wait until I had a look to use it for. 

Flash-forward to this morning, I'm so excited to try it out, and I pull it out of my drawer only to find it looked rather.....soupy. The beautiful golden color had been replaced by this strange bronze-y pinkish hue, and it no longer looked like a gold nugget, but instead a pot of glittery soup. There was also a strange pinkish liquid that had gathered at the top of the lid where it was screwed. I was panicked - I thought if this eyeshadow melted, then the others did too! Frantically I pulled out every eyeshadow to see if something had melted my collection in the middle of the night, but I found something strange - none of the others had been effected. They were all cool to the touch and perfectly intact.

When I hunted for a heat source that could've caused this, I found none, which only added to my confusion. Nothing caused this eyeshadow to spontaneously implode in it's container, and so I emailed Stila customer service with these pictures as proof I'm not crazy. 

As of right now I haven't heard back from them, but when I do I'll let you know if there's a reason why a metallic eyeshadow would do this. I own glittery shades from multiple brands, both in pallets and in single pots, and I've never experienced anything like this before. I tried to Google "Why did my eyeshadow melt?", "What causes eyeshadow to melt in it's container?", and various other questions, but nothing that could explain spontaneous implosion while stored in a cool, dark place.

This caught me off guard, but nothing will stop me from buying Stila. I love them with a passion, and I'm certain there's a good explanation for why something like this occurs. It may not be commonplace, but I'm certain something like this has happened before with other brands. I'll be posting in a week or two with what I hear back. <.3

October Giveaway - Pop Beauty

Hey lovelies! I hope you're as excited for Halloween as I am! I love this time of year. To celebrate the upcoming holiday, I created a giveaway for one of my favorite beauty products. Check out my video down below for more details and make sure to enter for your chance to win

All you have to do to enter is follow the steps on Rafflecopter to enter. You get 2 entries just for entering, but if you do all the options you get an extra 8, making it 10 entries total! This contest is open to use U.S. residents only and will end on at midnight on Wednesday, October 22nd. The winner will be announced on Thursday. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway