ABC Nail Challenge: Letter H

It's Wednesday and that means it's time again for the ABC Nail Challenge! Today we are on letter H and I am so happy with the way my Letter H manicure came out! Today H is for Holographic Hearts! I used Pure Ice Black out as my base color and used my Color Club Holographic polish in Cherubic for my stamping. My pictures do not do this mani justice! I could not for the life of me get a picture that represented it as well as it looked in person. The black really made the holographic polish stand out!

Be sure to stop by and check out what all the other ladies did for the letter H!

FOTD: 1

Today I am doing a Face of the Day post! I really liked the way my make up look came out and I wanted to share it with you. If you like these types of posts let me know and I will do more of them in the future.

I was watching a video on YouTube by Jasmine over at Green Eyed Monster and she did this really simple pretty eye look using the Walking on Eggshells trio from Wet n Wild and I just loved the look so I decided to try it out for myself today.

List of products that I used:
Cover Girl cg smoothers BB Cream
Avon Ultra Luxury liner in dark brown
Wet n Wild Walking on Eggshells Trio
Wet n Wild Brulee single eyeshadow (for my highlight shade)
Milani Illuminating Face powder in Amber Nectar
Avon Totally Kissable Lipstick (new line from Avon) in Natural Glow
Maybelline One by One volume express mascara in brownish black

My FOTD:

I totally forgot to use primer! I'm just going to Easter play practice at my church tonight, so it should be okay. I do wish that I had of used the highlight shade that comes in the trio instead of the Brulee, so I will change that next time I wear this look. I also used the brown shade from the trio as a liner for my bottom lashes. The lipstick is kind of a sheer lipstick, but can be built up.

Be sure to check out Jasmine's video!

ABC Nail Challenge: Letter G

Today is all about the Letter G from the ABC Nail Challenge. I was not happy with my G mani at all. It started out too plain, I tried to 'spice' it up and in my opinion failed LOL.

For letter G I used Gold Dust from Pure Ice, it's a very pretty pale gold color. I used 2 coats in the photos below. The next day or so my tips were fading and one nail was chipped, so I decided I would try a funky french mani. I used some masking tape and some craft scissors that cut a design instead of a a strait line and used it as my guide, so to speak, for my french mani. It didn't turn out the way I had imagined it in my mind. It's all about trial and error :)

Be sure to check out the other ladies that are participating in this challenge!

ABC Nail Challenge: Letter F

Today is Wednesday and that means another letter in the ABC Nail Challenge! Today we are on letter F and today F stands for Flakes! I used Flirt by Sally Hansen from the XtremeWear line. I topped that off with Essie Luxe Effects in Shine of the Times. I really love the way this came out. When you look at the flakes at first they may look one color then if I move my nails they are a different color. I have seen green, gold, red and orange.

Outside in direct sunlight

Also outside in direct sunlight

At the window on a cloudy day :)

Can not wait to see what the other ladies have done for letter F! Be sure to stop by and check them out too!

Project 10 Pan

I'm sure most of you, if not all, have heard of Project 10 Pan. If not, you just select a number of products that you would like to use up and you have to use them up before you can buy anything else. I decided to do Project 10 Pan mostly to use up some of my older products that I have neglected. I have chosen 10 products that I've had for a while, some are almost empty and some others look like they have hardly been used.

The items that I chose for my Project 10 Pan are:

1. Fresh Sugar Rose tinted lip treatment
2. Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake body wash
3. EOS Hand Cream
4. NYC Smooth skin primer
5. Maybelline One by One Volume Express Mascara
6. Wet n Wild Megaslicks gloss in Strawberry Ice
7. Wet n Wild Megaslicks gloss in Rose Gold
8. Avon Ultra Luxury eye liner in dark brown
9. ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Luminance
10. ELF Golden Bronzer in Golden

I will do monthly updates letting you know how I'm doing with using up these products. I took photos of their current state and I will take new photos when I update to show how well or not so well I've been doing with using them up. I am hoping that by doing Project 10 Pan that I will use up some of my makeup stash. Wish me luck :)

Have you ever participated in Project 10 Pan? How did it work out for you? If you have never participated are you planing on doing Project 10 Pan in the future?

Review: Not Your Mother's Way to Grow Long & Strong Shampoo & Conditioner

Not Your Mother's Way to Grow Long and Strong Shampoo is made with essential vitamins, herbs and bio-active extracts. It's a salon formula that will have your hair stronger, healthier and in turn longer. It's also a sulfate free shampoo. Claims you'll get longer hair faster, strengthens hair, anti breakage formula. Conditioner claims it will strengthen, moisturize and give your hair a silky texture. Intense moisturizing for all hair types. Says it can be used for chemically treated hair as well.

I think it's really cute that they added on the bottler that Grow Long and Strong was for already existing hair, that it did not grow new hair.

I think this shampoo and conditioner smells amazing, makes me think of strawberries! I feel like this shampoo and conditioner has definitely improved the quality of my hair. I think my hair looks and feels so much more healthier. I think I have way less breakage as well. Both the shampoo and conditioner say to massage into your scalp for 2-3 minutes. I did this with both the first time I used them, but I felt like it took too much time, so for the rest of the time that I've been using these products, I just lathered up the shampoo real good, rinsed, then applied the conditioner on my hair and leave it in while I finish with my shower routine, then I'll rinse it out well. The shampoo and conditioner are both a thicker consistency than any other I've used before. The conditioner though is the thickest conditioner that I've ever seen.

I've never used a sulfate free shampoo before because I've heard they do  not lather like regular shampoos, and I like my shampoo to be very sudsy, otherwise I feel like it's not getting my hair clean. I was very please that this shampoo had a very good sudsy lather to it even though it is sulfate free.

Final Thoughts: I really like this shampoo and conditioner and I may make it my new go to shampoo and conditioner. At Walmart this retails for $4.97 each for a 8oz bottle. The cost is a little higher at places like CVS, which kind of puts me off, but I feel like the few extra dollars I would be spending on this product would be worth it in the long run for the health of my hair.

Quality: 5/5

Price: 4/5

Packaging: 5/5

Scent: 5/5

Overall: 19/20

Shampoo ingredients

Conditioner ingredients

Shampoo on the left, conditioner on the right.

Review: Firmoo.com

Firmoo is the world's most popular online eyeglass store. They offer customers quality products at affordable prices. I was contacted by Firmoo and asked to help promote their First Pair Free program, in exchange for my own free pair of glasses!

I bet you're wondering how the First Pair Free program works, right? It's simple, all you need to do is go to Firmoo.com, create an account, find the frames that you want and put in your prescription information, you can also get non-prescription lenses. All you have to pay is shipping costs.

Glasses for me are a necessity and a fashion accessory at the same time! Firmoo is a company that understands that as you can see from their statement:
"The old opinion that glasses are only necessities for people with vision problems has already gone. Glasses are increasingly becoming a fad and must-have accessories for  celebs and fashionistas. Everyday we can spot millions of non prescription glasses wearers and we are constantly fascinated by many noted film stars’ signature non prescription glasses.They instantly upgrade your look of modern,sexy, vintage or geek by wearing different styles of frames.
Any hot glasses/sunglasses /goggles frames you want can be found on Firmoo, and all are available for both prescription lenses and non-prescription lenses. Are you desperate to have a new look? Now here is the chance, Firmoo has launched a First Pair Free Program to people  worldwide. You will absolutely fall in love with the excellent quality, affordable prices, fashionable designs, fast delivery and the good service after trying them with paying shipping only! You even can get a refund/exchange if you are not satisfied with them. It's totally Risk free, so why not have a try?"

The frames I picked out are just your basic black frames and retail on the site for $29.00 They also come in a purple/pink color. The shipping was pretty fast considering they do come from overseas. They were packaged very well. They glasses come in a very nice and sturdy case. You also get a drawstring type bag, extra screws, nose pieces, a screwdriver and a cleaning cloth. I am very a happy with my new glasses! I really like that they have a try it on feature on the website. You just upload a picture of yourself and then you can try on the frames to get a feel of how they will look on you. They have so many frames to choose from ranging from small frames to large frames, plastic, metal, you name it's probably on there! You can get prescription glasses or sunglasses and you can also get the frames with non-prescription lenses.

Click here (http://www.firmoo.com/free-glasses.html) to get your free glasses now!

This is what came in my package from Firmoo

Extras

ABC Nail Challenge: Letter E

It's Wednesday and that means it time for the ABC Nail Challenge! We are up to letter E today. I did not have a hard time picking out my E polish, as it was the only one I had. It's East Village by NYC it's a beautiful teal/turquoise color, however it is very sheer, so I layered it over  Black Out by Pure Ice. I LOVE the look that it created. It made the polish actually look like more green. I am having so much fun with this challenge! Be sure to check out all the other lovely ladies that are participating in this challenge, their links are below.

BBHQ: February Task

Today I am bringing you another task from Beauty Bloggers Headquarters! This month all participating bloggers will be doing posts on our Blogger Office/Organization. I am excited to read the post from all the other ladies, I love good organization tips! So let's go ahead and get in to it!

1. Where do you blog? Do you have a space dedicated to your blogging work?
I typically blog in my Avon office/computer room. I do tend to pre-write a lot of my post on paper and I usually do that at night while watching TV.

2. What do you blog on? What do you recommend?
I blog mostly on my desktop computer. Ocassionally I'll use my laptop, but I like the desktop better because I have the whole desk to have my products, notes and any thing else I may need laid out on. Whereas, when I use the laptop, I have no where to put anything.

I recommend that you use whatever you feel most comfortable using :)

3. Do you have any blogging rituals?
I don't really have any blogging rituals. I do sometimes listen to I heart Radio while blogging, like I am now.

4. How do you keep your blogging ideas organized?
I have a tiny notebook that I will jot down notes and blog ideas in. I also have a weekly planner that I use.

5. Do you have a blogging schedule for the week? Or the month? If so, how do you stay on top of it all?
I don't really have a blogging schedule, per say. I usually try and jot down the blog post ideas I want to do in my tiny notebook, then I'll usually look at my planner and see what days will work best for those posts. Then I'll jot them down in my planner. Some weeks go as I have them planned and others I have to shuffle around sometimes because I didn't get around to writing them.

I feel like having my weekly blog post ideas wrote down in the planner helps me to prepare for the posts and for the most part helps me get them done by the date I gave myself.

Sometimes I'll write all my planned post for the week during the weekends, while my hubby is working and just schedule them to post on the assigned days.

6. If you review products, how do you keep track of what needs to be reviewed in your collection?
Usually to keep track of products that I need/want to review, I'll just jot them down in my little notebook and then I'll usually jot down in my planner two weeks from that day. This gives me the time I need to try them out and get all my thoughts down for my review.

7. What do you do with all your 'old' data?
Currently all my 'old' pictures and videos are still saved on either my desktop or laptop. I really need to decide what to do with all of them! I do, however, delete all the 'bad' photos and videos that I never used.

8. For fun, what beauty/non-beauty products do you need to have on hand near your blogging station?
I can't really think of anything that I need to have on hand near my blogging station, other than lip balm, and that's something that I have to have on had regardless of where I am and what I'm doing. I do keep a tube of my favorite hand cream in my desk drawer too.

An overview of my Avon office/computer room

My blogging station

My folder that I keep some blogging materials in, my notes for this post, my planner and my tiny notebook

Nail Polish Ideas for Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is nearly upon us! When I think of Valentine's day I think of Love and the colors red and pink. I thought I would share with you some polishes from my collection that I think would be great for valentines day. I also threw in three non-traditional Valentine's nail looks too!

I found 10 polishes in my collection that I thought would be great for Valentine's Day, below are the swatches. I tried so hard to get the true color of the polish, but my camera absolutely hates the color red for some reason :/

In this first set of swatches on the far left we have China Glaze Go Crazy Red which is a beautiful metallic red. In the middle, NYC Murray Hill Mauve, which is my favorite mauve color polish, I think this is great if you don't really like bright red or pink nails. On the far right we have Forget Now from Sinful Colors. This is a hot pink, for the most part sheer polish, but you can build the color.

On the left we have Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Cherry Red, a red cream. Next to that we have Pure Ice Gossip, which is more on the pink side than this picture shows. It is a cream polish as well. Next we have Watermelon Ice from Pure Ice, this is another sheer polish that is very buildable. In the swatch I used three coats. On the far right we have one of the truest red polishes that I own, Siren from Pure Ice. It is another cream polish.

In the last set of swatches on the left we have Gift Wrapped from Julie G. This polish is so beautiful, but my camera refused to let it's true color come through. It's a deep fuchsia/magenta color with some glitter in it. Next we have Candy-licious from Wet n Wild, it's a fun bubble gum pink cream polish. Last but not least we have I Red a Good Book, also from Wet n Wild, it is a beautiful deep red cream polish. A lot deeper than the swatch shows.

I also wanted to add a few nail ideas that are not so traditional but would still look great for Valentine's day.

I LOVE all three of these nail looks! First up is Sinful Colors Forget Now over a black Cream polish. In the middle is Sinful Colors Shirley & Buddy over black. Shirley & Buddy is a very sheer pink polish with little blue flecks of glitter, that I think the black really helps bring out. This last one is probably my most favorite nail look from this post, it's Material Girl from Pure Ice, which is just a glitter polish with little pink glitters and bigger diamond shaped glitter, over a cream black. It's edgy yet still Valentine's like.

I worked very hard on this post :) I hope that you like it and maybe even found a nail look for Valentine's Day!

Shop My Stash #4

I have been loving shopping my stash, but since I've been doing it every week I find that I don't get to incorporate all the products in to my routine. So I am going to only shop my stash twice a month, once every two weeks. So for this stash shopping post I am actually going to use some products that I already shopped, but didn't get to use yet.

This time around I only have four products; Wet n Wild Cream Eye liner, Milani Crystal Gloss for lips, Jillian Dempsey professional multi-pencil, and Mox Botanicals Lip Butter.

These are the products that I had shopped over the last three weeks and I either didn't get to use them at all or just very little. Now I will have two weeks to give these products another try.

What will you be shopping from you stash?

7 Deadly Sins of Beauty

I've seen this tag floating around and wanted to do it too :)
It basically goes through the 7 Deadly Sins and puts them in a beauty product category for each. 
So here are the questions and my answers

1. GREED- What is your most inexpensive/expensive beauty item?
My most inexpensive would be my ELF eye primer, which retails for $1.00 My most expensive would by my L'Oreal Youth Code Serum, which retails for $20.00

2. WRATH- What beauty product do you have a love/hate relationship with?
NYC eye shadows! I love the colors, hate the amount of time it takes to work with the product to get it to look decent.

3. GLUTTONY- What are your most delicious beauty products?
Not Your Mother's Smooth Moves smells amazing and my Wild Honeysuckle body spray from Bath and Body Works.

4. SLOTH- What beauty products do you neglect due to laziness?
Self tanners for sure. I don't have the patience to deal with them LOL Also my Olay regenerist microdermabrasion kit.

5. PRIDE- What beauty product gives you the most self confidence?
Eye liner! I feel like if my eyes are lined and popping, I'm good to go.

6. LUST- What one product are you currently lusting after?
Maybelline Color Whispers

7. ENVY- What product would you like to receive as a gift?
I am open to any for a gift, but if I had to choose just one I would pick a fragrance that I have fell in love with, Viva La Juicy La Fluer.

Hope you enjoyed this post! If you decide to do this tag, leave me a link in the comments, I would love to see your answers :)

Empties 2013 #1

Happy February! 

I have went through quite a few products since my last Empties post, so I thought I would share them with you!

Up first are some samples that I had. 

First one is the new Pond's Luminous Clean Cream Cleanser. I really like this stuff! I have already bought the full size product.

Up next is my L'Oreal Youth Code Serum. If you have been reading my blog you know I love this stuff and splurged and bought the full size.

I also tried some serum from Avon's Anew line, hated it! I washed it off my face probably about 5 minutes after I put it on. Left my face feeling sticky. Obviously I will not be purchasing the full size of that.

Another skin care sample I had was Scalisi Anti-Aging Moisturizer that I got in one of my Birchboxes. I finally decided I would finish it up too. Will not be purchasing the full size of this product.

I also finished up my second bottle of Neutrogena Fresh Foaming cleanser. I decided not to repurchase this again  just because I wanted to try the new Pond's cleanser.

I also had a couple of body washes that I finished up. One was a sample of Caress whipped souffle white peach cream. I've had this for probably over a year :/ Probably not anything that I would repurchase.

I also used up my bottler of Softsoap Ultra Rich Shea Butter Creme. I love all the softsoap body washes, they leave your skin feeling so soft. I would repurchase this.

I finished up my little sample bottle of Not Your Mother's Smooth Moves that I received from Influenster. My hubby bought me the full size as a Christmas gift!

I also finished up a bottle of  Vaseline total moisture cocoa radiant lotion. I have already purchased the full size of this. Love it, smells amazing and is very moisturizing!

And if you seen my January Favorites post you already know that I am bummed out about my last empty, which is my Viva La Juicy La Fleur fragrance sample. I couldn't even throw out the empty sample bottle LOL

 I would love to have the full size of this, but it is so far out of my price range.

What products have you used up recently?