A Woman's Worth

Maybe it’s just me but sometimes life leaves me feeling like I’m on a super long, scary, mostly out-of-control, roller coaster ride. It’s not the ups and downs that get to me but the whack-a-doo gravity defying twists that leave me feeling like I’m not 100% sure which way is up.

The Used

1.) Diorskin Nude, Natural Glow Radiant Foundation; 2.) Lush, Dream Cream; 3.) Lush, Eau Roma Water; 4.) Neal's Yard, Wildrose Hand Cream (sample); 5.) Neal's Yard, Rose Facial Polish (sample); 6.) Lush, Grease Lightening; 7.) Batiste, Dry Shampoo; 8.) Oilatum Junior Cream; 9.) Better You, Magnesium Oil Joint Spray; 10.) Lush, Fresh Farmacy Facial Cleanser; 11.) Lush, Full of Grace; 12.) Lush, Dirty Toothy Tabs; 13.) Lush, Ocean Salt; 14.) Rimmel, Precious Stones; 15.) Rimmel, 60 Seconds

Everyone, please take this opportunity to turn to the nearest reader and hold hands. This might get a little bit confusing and we don't want to lose anyone along the way.

Finger Painting With Alice In Wonderland

I've been perusing a lot of the beauty magazines and runway shows lately and have developed a fascination with some of the nail looks. You'll notice more than a passing interest in statement nail treatments on my Pinterest, with multiple ones involving the color black. 

The other day I found myself digging through the magazine racks at the grocery store when I stumbled upon a Glamour edition with a sample of Nail Inc.'s Motcomb Street Polish.

Thinking it was black in the packaging, I couldn't have been more excited. Nail Inc. polish usually costs £11.00 per bottle.

The cost of the Glamour magazine with this product was £2.00. 

 Score!  

(Cue me doing my little happy dance.)

I hadn't looked closely enough to realize it wasn't a true black. Instead, it was a really dark navy blue.

At first, I was slightly disappointed. I wasn't sure how it would look with my olive skin tone. 

 

I was really pleasantly surprised. Black can be such a glamorous and dramatic color but I think Motcomb Street is a pretty alternative. And while I tend to keep my nails shorter because of how much art, typing, and cooking there is in my life, I love being able to have a little nail love in my life.

 I was really pleased with the formula's quality. It went on smoothly, dried quickly, and gave a nice opacity in just two coats.

Definitely a color I think Alice in Wonderland would've approved of. 

 

What color nail polishes are you wearing this winter? 

By-the-by, this isn't a paid advert. I just stumbled upon this lucky find and loved it. And I like spreading the love. ;)

 

It's Like Cotton Candy

I've been out and about and up to all kinds of things. To catch everyone up just a touch, I'll take a  quote from one of my ex-neighbors, "I done did get my hair done y'all."

There's blonde underneath. It's that blissfully white light blonde that's always reminded me of spun sugar (the kind that's not pink.) 

I've always been a fan of trying new stuff with my hair. The other day, Laura took the plunge to green and she looks fabulous! As a shout out to her, I have to share a photo of a gem I discovered on one of my adventures.

 (They're all waiting for you Laura!)

 It was so tempting to join her with her green hair but my sallow skin can't carry that. Maybe I'll try something close and go a bit more blue when I get tired of this.

So, I have to ask if you guys like what you can see of my hair? I also want to know what your wildest hair experiments have been. If you send me pictures, I'll happily do a post on my readers and their best/craziest/coolest hair styles!

To Be Worn Or Not To Be Worn

It's been at least 3 long years of no make up wearing for me. I've always loved make up but being out of the loop for that long has left me with a whole new set of toys to explore. Have you heard of L'Oreal's Studio Secrets Primer? 

A Nail Tale

Yeah - see my nails there? That should tell you everything you want to know about this product. But, if you want a complete break down of just what's wrong with it let's take the jump together. 

A Nail Tale

Have you seen these images from the Daphne Groeneveld for Jill Stuart Spring 2012 Campaign by Mario Sorrenti?

HairFlair

My family and I are picky. Have you noticed? We have a lot of tick boxes that need to be checked off before we give our approval. I'm super excited to tell everyone all about...

Porcelain

{sources for images contained in collage here}

Growing up I always wanted that picture perfect flawless skin I saw in all the fashion magazines. I would try searching high and low for beauty products that would provide the best results. I no longer try to recreate those images of smooth, blemish and pore free faces for the sake of looking like the girls in the magazines. I've learned through my life experiences that the condition of our skin can be a reflection of what is going on in our bodies and minds. While I take better care of myself on the inside than I used to, I'm still hunting out those products that can help me continue to detox myself from the outside.

Beauty and the Bed

{Belle from Beauty and the Beast because I can't say the title of my post without singing the theme song}

Lately, my schedule has been hectic, crazed, and even a little bit insane. I grab moments to relax here and there and look for beauty whenever I can but despite my efforts, I can often feel the wheels of my brain spinning like crazy. I can't shut it down, even as I lay in the dark, feeling each ticking moment of the night slipping away. After experiencing a few nights of this nature, I thought today would be a good a time to separate some of the truths from the myths about sleep. 

Iconic

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Ugh! The humiliation I will endure for the sake of my blog. I really hope you guys appreciate it. Today's not so fashionable confession: I was a teenage theater geek.

Kate for Rimmel

Maybe you've heard by now, Kate Moss has designed a new line for Rimmel. It's supposed to have some fantastic reflective elements that will hopefully make you look just like Kate! (Just kidding. No claims are being made by them to help you look just like Kate Moss.) In this photo she's wearing Shade 001 which I think is a really classic fire engine red. Great for those moments when you need some real Va-va-voom! There are 7 shades to choose from. Are you going to try one? And just out of curiosity, does having a celebrity behind a product make you more or less likely to try it?

xoxo

Hairtastrophe

Remember when Vanessa Hudgens cut off all her hair for a movie role earlier this year? I personally, thought it was a disaster. Her cute young little round face was suddenly aged straight into middle aged motherhood. 

Cheeky!

 

This is probably the weirdest post I've done so far. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo but let me explain. I was out and about, taking care of things when suddenly - I lost my mind. No one is safe any longer.

And the Eye's Have It Part 3

Caiti's eye clean and fresh, ready to go

Boot's False Lashes, Ultra

Caiti's eye with the lashes, liner and mascara

Caiti agreed to be my guinea pig today. Thankfully, she's inherited my love of all things beauty related so it didn't take that much convincing. (Actually, she was begging me to do it :D) 

This was a really different experience to when we experimented with the individual lashes. We used Boot's cheap and cheerful Ultra lashes. The adhesive that comes with it is white and a bit runny. Previously, when we did our experiment with the individual lashes, the adhesive had been clear and fairly gooey. This made for some interesting moments of cleaning up. I had to ask Caiti to try to keep her eye closed while I gently pulled her lid taught from above to make sure I could apply the lashes right at the base. When you tried to adjust one end by pressing it in tighter, the lashes natural curve could mean that the opposite end would pop up so that's something to be aware of while you work with it. The glue wasn't that difficult to wipe up or rub off if you got some where you didn't mean to. While I prefer the clear, slightly thicker adhesive that came with the individual lashes, I like the overall appearance of these better. With the individual lashes, despite using all 3 different lengths that came provided, they could often look "blocky" if you used more than one of the same length near another. These Ultra lashes, with their criss cross pattern help achieve a more natural appearance. At least that's what I think. How about you? Do you have a favorite brand or style of lashes that you prefer to use? What about the adhesives?

Ciao,

xoxo

Materials used: Boot's Ultra False lashes, Maybeline New York's One by One Volume Express mascara in black, Collection 2000 Extreme 24 Hour felt tip liner

I tried it and I liked it

I love make up but I have to confess, I don't wear it very often. I'll go crazy with the eye make up, blush and even lip liner, lipstick, and top it all off with a gloss. But I have to be motivated to it. One thing I almost never use, is foundation. It's mostly because I detest the way it looks and feels. I hate walking around looking like I have a pound of caked on anything all over me. I hate seeing that line of color from the face to the neck, and yes I know all about "blending" it. I have even had the good fortune of finding shades that match my skin tone really well. So many of the foundations though, seem to sit on top of the skin, collect oil throughout the day, or highlight any blemish you might have that's healing. So I have been on the hunt for a tinted moisturizer. I saw a brilliant write up about Clarin's Hydraquench Tinted Moisturizer so I thought, why not? Let's give it a whirl. Here are my thoughts:

It felt light going on and blended fairly well. I've got olive skin and have a little bit of a tan since we've been lucky enough to have some sun lately. I used shade #2 but I can easily see dropping down to shade #1 in the winter. I didn't notice my skin feeling particularly "hydrated" afterwards but I also never noticed any oiliness from it as the day progressed. That's really saying something for me. It doesn't provide the full coverage of a regular foundation so if you're looking for something like that, your journey isn't over. If you're looking to even out the red tones in your skin though, this can do the trick for you. I am also happy to report that I didn't break out from wearing it and I have fairly sensitive skin. 

Overall, I give this product a thumbs up. And no, Clarin's isn't paying me...but maybe they should ;)

Ciao,

xoxo

And the Eye's Have It Part 2

The lovely Rebeckah was kind enough to let me use her as my guinea pig and even kinder to let me take the "undone" photo of her eye beforehand. I wanted to see the difference between the natural eye and the one with false lashes. We used Eylure's individual lashes, Maybeline's One by One Volume Express in Black, and Extreme's 24 Hour felt tip liner in black to create this look. What do you guys think?

Ciao,

xoxo

And the Eye's Have It Part 1

My current beauty obsession, if you can't already tell, is all about fake eyelashes. They aren't something I can ever imagine myself putting on frequently but they're just so fun and pretty! I think I'm going to try  experimenting with them all just for fun and post the results on here. If anyone has any favorite brands that they'd like to recommend, please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments!

Ciao,

xoxo

Shiny!

Who comes up with this stuff?! 24K Gold pomade for your hair? It's artistic and makes me go "ooooohhh, aaaahhh" when I see it but holy cow. It does make me smack my forehead just the tiniest bit. I'd love to know who actually wears or uses this stuff that doesn't walk down a cat walk. 

Hair today, Gone tomorrow

Once upon a time, there lived a girl with long, wavy and slightly crazy hair. 

Bored and restless after growing it for 3 long years, she impetuously ran to a stylist a friend had recommended instead of her regular trusted stylist. 

Moral of the story, walk, don't run to anyone holding a pair of scissors. Second moral of the story, trust your gut. If every stylist you've been to before is contradicted by the one standing over your head with scissors, scream "fire!" and run for the hills. 

Hopefully, I can wash it and style it into something fabulous. For now, I can live with it even though it's not what I asked for. Hair grows back. If you've ever had a haircut where you've gotten unexpectedly not so great results, shed a little tear for me. Maybe it will help ease some of my suffering. Cheers everyone!

P.S. 

Although I didn't get the hairstyle I wanted, I did get to donate my hair to Locks of Love. Please take a minute to check out their site:http://www.locksoflove.org/ It's a great organization and even if you don't have the hair to donate, there are tons of ways to help support their mission. xoxo