Sephora Birthday Gift 2014 - Yay or Nay?

Friday, January 23, 2015




Sephora does a yearly birthday gift if you're a member of its Beauty Insider loyalty program. I picked up my 2014 gift a few weeks ago and finally got around to trying the products out. I thought I'd do a quick review. I know, I know, totally late to the party on this one but one can't help having been born a winter baby! 

So really quickly, the gift included the Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara and the Make Up Forever Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick in Copper Pink (N9).

Re: Mascara
I'll let the pics do the talking.

The I-Just-Turned-30 Skincare Overhaul

Sunday, January 11, 2015



I read an article in the Times awhile back that stuck with me. It was about how identical twins tend to not look so identical as they grow older due to differences in how they age. Apparently, how well or poorly your skin ages is not wholly determined by your genes, but rather one's lifestyle as a whole. Twin research shows that the key to having good, healthy skin throughout our whole lives is to:

  • Not smoke
  • Avoid the sun, and always use sun protection
  • Avoid stress
  • Actively work to preserve your skin by practicing good skincare
I turned 30 (dirty thirty!) at the end of last year and growing up, I always thought I'd feel ancient by this age. I'm pleasantly surprised that's not the case at all. However, I did get to thinking that I should probably start investing some time and dollars into taking care of ze one and only face that my momma gave me.


Wintry Lips! 2015

Wednesday, January 7, 2015




Winter is alive and well here in the Midwest. It is completely covered in snow where I live. It's times like these that make me wish I had kept all of my Adidas swishy pants from the 90's so I could go out there and make some snow angels! That would be just perfect right now. All wishing aside, it is beautiful out there, albeit a bit frigid.. And if you couldn't tell by the picture above, this weather has really got me in the mood to talk about the lip products that I love to use in the winter.

My picks are from left to right: Revlon Super Lustrous in Black Cherry*, YSL Rouge Volupte Shine in Pourpre Intouchable, Too Faced La Creme Lipstick in Spice Spice Baby, Revlon Matte in Really Red*, Essence in Wear Berries, Wet N Wild in Bare It All

So let's get to swatching. If you look below, you'll see that there's some wines, a festive red, some muted nudes, and a bright orchid lipstick (for the days I'm feeling that spring can't get here fast enough).


Sephora Collection IT Palette in Nude - Swatches and Review

Sunday, January 4, 2015



I was using this palette today and just remembering back to the time I was considering buying this online. I had the hardest time finding a good blog post on this and the reviews on Sephora seemed split down the middle between love it and hate it. 

I kept getting drawn to it though because it had all of the colors I like to wear: a taupe, a gold, a copper, a bronze, and some dark shades to use for some drama. It's got 7 shimmers, 4 mattes, and 1 shadow with an identity crisis (is a shimmer but thinks it's a matte). It's also got a nice balance between warm and cool tones. It's a $32 palette, so it's much cheaper than almost all of the palettes in the store by far (Urban Decay Nakeds, here's looking at you). It also comes with a brown eyeliner and a decent dual-ended brush, with an angled liner side and a fluffy blending side. Might this be the palette of my dreams? My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give it a go.

So what was the verdict... was this one (of many) poor life decision(s) on my part? Or am I just plain tickled that I found an everyday neutrals palette at a fraction of the cost? We shall see!