Favorites: February 2014

January and February down, bring on March and Spring! Seriously though where did the first two months of 2014 go?

Today I have my favorite products of February to share with you guys.

Up first are some hair prodcuts that I received from BzzAgent and have been testing out. It's the Neutrogena Triple Repair shampoo, conditioner and a leave-in treatment. Not going to go into much detail because I plan to do a full review of them. In short, I like them.

I have been loving my Eclos Moisture therapy Regenerative Cream during the cold months. This moisturizer is too thick for me to use during the summer, but it's perfec

Favorites & Empties: January 2014

Happy Friday! I'm combining my favorites and my empties this month, because I only finished two products. So let's get right to it.

Both of the products that I finished up this month were hairsprays, Vintage Glam Thermal Freeze Spray and Suave Touchable Finish. Suave touchable finish is pretty much my all time favorite hairspray, it is the one that I purchase over and over, and will more than likely continue to. The Vintage Glam was a product that I won from Sally's Beauty back in September last year. I have a love hate relationship with this hair spray. I love it because it holds my style, but leaves my hair feeling touchably soft. I also love that it comes out in a fine mist, but that also leads to why I hate it, the spray lingers in the air for a very long time. First time I used it I sprayed my hair went off to do some other things came back about 10-15 minutes later and you could still see the spray just hanging in the air. Probably not a product that I would repurchase solely based on it's price, $8.49 Just can't see paying that when I can get my Suave for $2.97

Now on to the good stuff, my favorites from January!

Year In Review: Favorite Products

Welcome to the first of four posts in my Year in Review series! Today I'll be sharing my favorite products from 2013! I have quite a few things so let's get started. Also if I have reviewed the product I'll link to that post in case you want to know more about it.

I'll start off with my favorite lip product, Maybelline Baby Lips in Quenched, since I don't have a photo of it because I'm out of it and I can't find a photo that I took of it, but we all know what it looks like. I went through several of these lip balms in 2013 I think they moisturize my lips well and I love that it has SPF in it.

I tired several new skin care items this year and came out with three that I really liked. L'Oreal Hydrafresh Toner, eclos Skin Prep Cleanser and Avon Moisture Boost Daily moisture lotion. I hear a lot of people say that you don't need a toner, but I feel like it really helps my skin and it makes it feel really fresh. This toner did not leave my skin feeling tight or dry. I have been using this same bottle of eclos cleanser for months, and it is probably my most favorite cleanser ever, hands down. It cleans my face well and leaves it feeling soft and smooth. The only issue I have with this product is the price. I have used several moisturizers this year as well, but I stuck with the Avon one the longest, it's a really light moisturizer, but it gives my skin all the moisture that it needs.

Next are face products that I used the most in 2013. I instantly fell in love with the Olay Fresh Effects BB cream, I have been using this since early summer. It gives me the moisture my skin craves and evens out my skin tone, it does not give much coverage though, that's where my NYC Sunny bronzer comes in. I love this bronzer and will probably never

Mish Mash Challenge Week 16: Faux Stone

Happy Wednesday and welcome to another installment of the Mish Mash Challenge! This week our theme was Faux Stone, so I headed over to Google to search out some stones. I decided to try and do Turquoise one because I seen a really cool tutorial on it and two because it is one of my favorite stones!

I started out with 2 coats of Wet n Wild's I need a Refresh-Mint, then I used a black cream to do a Water Spotting to get the veins of the turquoise and lastly I took Milani's Signature Gold on some plastic wrap and 'sponged' some gold on each of my nails.

My index and middle fingers are my favorite from this mani and my little finger is my least favorite because I got too much black on it. Overall though I really like this mani, it's different from any thing I've done before.

Top 10 Fall Nail Colors

I don't know about you, but when fall arrives I tend to change up my nail colors a bit. I put away the super bright neons and bring out some darker vampy colors. I thought today I would share with you my top 10 picks for fall nail colors.

I will go ahead and say, please excuse my messy cuticles, I did not take the time to clean them up before snapping pictures.

In the fall my nail color choices usually range from nudes, golds, browns, plums, burgundy, gray and sometimes a red. So lets get started with the top 10!

First up is a polish I have shared on the blog here recently, Avon's Gel Finish in Glimmer. It is just a lovely golden color with fine flakes of gold.

Next up is Viva Las Vegas from Pure Ice. It's a light taupe color with fine gold shimmer.

Milani Signature Gold, is just that. A very pretty warm gold color with tiny flakes of gold shimmer.

Chocolate Martini was the very first Orly polish I ever bought. I just love it's chocolaty brown metallic color. Looks a little more coppery in person.

Gray is also one of my favorite fall colors for my nails. Color Club's Status Update is a nice charcoal gray cream. I paired it with a bright pink for just a little bit of a pop.

I think lilac and lavenders are good colors for fall, not dark and not super bright. One of my favorites is Wet n Wild's Bite the Bullet from the Megalast line. It is a cream polish.

As I mentioned above I love vampy colors for fall, two good examples of this type of polish would be Wet N Wild's Disturbia and Under Your Spell. Disturbia is a nice dark plum color with flecks of purple shimmer while Under Your Spell is what I'm going to call a chocolate burgundy with flecks of shimmer.

I really love the burgundy shade of Finger Paints called Pin Curls & Pouts, this is going to be a great color for fall. I think it would also look fantastic with a flaky polish over it, like Essie's Shine of the Times.

Last but not least is a red, Go Crazy Red from China Glaze. My camera absolutely hates reds and I have a hard time photographing anything red, but here is my swatch. For an even better swatch look here.

What are some of your go to Fall nail colors?

Mish Mash Challenge Week 5: Music

Welcome to another installment of the Mish Mash Challenge! When I seen the theme for this week was music I had a brilliant idea in my head, paint music notes on my nails, can we say total fail. Y'all it was such a disaster, I tried 3 times to paint them on and it looked terrible each time. So I was thinking what in the world am I going to do for music. My hubby offered to paint them on for me, and I was like okay, but before he got the chance to we went to visit my family and my Niece wanted me to do her nails, and she brought out these nail stickers and guess what was on there, Music Notes! Week 5 Mani saved LOL!

For my base colors I used White on the Spot from Milani and Black Out from Pure Ice. I then placed the stickers my lovely, mani-saver Niece supplied me with on my ring fingers as an accent nail. After I did that I still thought it looked a little plain so I topped my nails with some Color Club glitter polish that I won in a giveaway that the fantastic Liz, from A Mani Maniac, had a few weeks ago.

And here is the end result:

Stop by the other ladies blogs and see what they did for Music Week! I'm still healing from my oral surgery, so it may be later in the week before I get around to every ones blog.

Mish Mash Challenge Week 4: Nail Art You've Never Tried Before

I am super excited about this weeks challenge, as it has challenged me to try a nail art technique that I've never tried before! Every time I see a gradient nail art I always say to myself 'I want to try that!' Well this week I did and I have to say I don't think I did too bad for my first time!

I painted my nails with Milani's White on the Spot for my base color, I then used three Sinful Colors polishes for my gradient, 24/7 (pink) Amethyst (purple) and Happy Ending (green). I love how bright it came out and I am proud of myself for giving a new technique a try.

I can't wait to see what everyone else did for their never before tried technique!

Favorites: July 2013

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July, where did you go?

This month I had all new favorites, so let's just dive right in!

I had three new face favorites; Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream, NYC Sunny Bronzer, and Milani baked blush in Luminoso. I love how moisturized the BB Cream left my face and how it evened everything out. I have full review of this cream if you would like to check it out. The NYC Sunny bronzer is perfect for my fair skin, it gives me a nice hint of color with out making me look muddy or orange. I also really love this because it is a matte bronzer. I usually do not wear blush at all, but this blush looks great for summer, give a hint of peach with just a little sheen.

I only had two favorites for my lips in July one is a new discovery and the other was in last months favorites. The old favorite is the Cover Girl Nature Lux Gloss Balm in Grenache. I love how this feels on my lips, very cream and moisturizing. My new found favorite is a lip stick from Avon, in the shade Pout, to bad this is one of the many colors they are discontinuing when they launch their new packaging coming in Campaign 19. It is a beautiful soft nude pink.

For a change I have some nail favorites this month! Up first is my new go to base coat, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener, I don't know if this actually hardens my nails, but it really helps with making my polish last longer. I have a new favorite shade of polish too, it's from S.he Makeup (available on iKatehouse) in the shade Melon, just a pretty bright lime green with some shimmer. My last favorite for the month of July is my Vitamin E oil. I have been having a terrible time with my nails peeling and my cuticles looking dry and I wanted something inexpensive to use, a couple fellow bloggers suggested using the Vitamin E oil that you can get in the vitamin section of Walmart. I tried it and I love it, it has help the condition of my nails and cuticles so much, I just have to keep reminding myself to use it. I went a few days with out it and my poor nails showed it. I try to apply it twice a day and every time after I take off my nail polish.

What were your favorites for the month of July?

NOTD: July 4th

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Just a quick little post today. I wanted to share my July 4th mani with you. I attempted to make my nails a flag! I used Maybelline Color Show Navy Narcissist and stamped stars with Color Club Holo Cherubic, I really wanted to use white, but none of my whites would stamp good. For my other two fingers I first painted them with Milani's White on the Spot, used some scotch tape to make some stripes, and painted over that with Siren from Pure Ice.

Did you do a July 4th mani? Let me know in the comments below, I would love to see them.

Hope you all have a fabulous 4th!

And today is also my babies birthday! They are 4 :)

ABC Nail Challenge: Letter Z

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We have reached the final day of the ABC Nail Challenge! This has been such a challenging and fun challenge to take part in. The ladies will be starting up another challenge soon so keep an eye out for that. I'm not sure if I will be participating in the upcoming challenge or not :/ I was hoping to get to do a new nail product trial, but that fell through so I will be taking part in the new challenge! :)

Anywho on with the Z manicure. I have one Zoya polish that at the beginning of this challenge I said, I'll save this for my Z. Ummm yeah so that did not go as planned, I used it for my L because it's called Lotus. So I had to figure out something else to do for Z, and the best I came up with was Zebra nails! I used Konad stamping plate m57, White on the Spot from Milani and Blackout by Pure Ice.

Please excuse my fingers and cuticles. I totally forgot to apply some lotion before I took these photos :/
Also, I'm looking for a good, but inexpensive cuticle oil, something you could get from Walmart or the drug store. Anyone have any good suggestions?

As always, be sure to stop by and see what all the ladies came up with for letter Z

Favorites: June

Wow how quickly did June fly by!?!? Another month gone by means another round of beauty favorites! I had a handful of products that I was loving this past month.

Up first is the ELF Makeup Mist and Set. I love this stuff! It's great to wear all year round, but I find myself using it more when it's warm and humid out. I use this to help keep my makeup in place all day and I also use it to help powder products not look cakey on areas of my face where I may have some dryness. I like to spray it all over my face then I take the ELF flat top powder brush and pat it around on my face to create a nice finish.

I have also been loving my Avon BB Cream. So far it has been the BB cream that has worked the best for me. I will have a full review on this BB Cream on Monday, so be sure to check that out!

I tend to keep my makeup neutral all throughout the year, but especially in the summer time, I go for the barely there look. So I have been pairing my Milani Shadow Eyez pencil in Champagne Toast with my Wet n Wild Walking on Eggshells trio. I think these look great together and make a very pretty neutral eye look. I have been using my Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless mascara a ton as well. I have a full review on this mascara.

Keeping with the natural/neutral look, I have been loving my Cover Girl Nature Luxe Gloss Balm in the shade Grenache. My new favorite lip product!

Top to Bottom: Cover Girl Nature Luxe  in Grenache, Milani Champagne Toast, Wet n Wild Walking on Eggshells Trio

What products have you been loving this month? Let me know in the comments!

Haul: Dollar Tree & Big Lots

The Dollar Tree and Big Lots are two really great places to find awesome beauty products at a very low price! I went and did a little shopping at each of these stores last week and wanted to share with you the items I picked up.

We'll start with the items I got from Big Lots. Usually when I go there I will find a least a couple of good beauty buys, this time was no exception. I picked up a pack of epielle Green Tea Cleansing Tissues, not sure how well these will work, I will let you know, but for the price I could not pass them up. You get 60 wipes in the package and they were only $2.00. They also had 30 count packages for $1.

I also spotted some of the Goody Spin Pins. I got one of these from Influenster a few months ago and I love it. I have seen these at Walmart and they retail for around $6-7, Big Lots had them for $2.50! Of course at that price I had to pick one up.

The last few items I got were nail polishes (like I need anymore lol) They were $1.00 each. I got a Sinful Colors Magnetic polish in the shade Polar Opposites, I don't like the magnetic part of these polishes, but you can wear them just like regular polishes. I also got a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in the color Blizzard Blue, it's a sheer color, but looks awesome layered over black. I got a NYC polish in the shade Python Green and a polish from the Holiday Lights line that was out in Rite Aid stores last Christmas. It does not have a color name on it, but it's just a clear/white flakie polish with the super cool light up brush!

Left to Right: Sinful Colors Polar Opposites, NYC Python Green, Holiday Lights, Sally Hansen Blizzard Blue, and Milani Pink Pop (Dollar Tree)

Also from Big Lots I found a set of Sally Hansen mini polishes called Happy Manicures with Gem Crush, never seen any of these before. The set comes with Big Money, Be-Jeweled, Bling-tastic and Lady Luck. The names are not on the bottles so I do not know which is which. These glitter polishes can be wore alone with two coats. They are super pretty and so sparkly! I got the set for $3.00

Moving on over to the Dollar Tree. I went there specifically because I heard that they had Milani products, ummm Milani products for a $1.00, I think so. I only got three items, a nail polish in the shade Pink Pop (pictured above) and two of the HD Advanced Lip Colors, one in Classy Nude and one in Raspberry Blush. I really like these lipsticks they are creamy and feel very moisturizing on the lips. Also they are kind of sheer, which I like, but if you like darker lipsticks you can build them up.

Top to Bottom: One swipe of Raspberry Blush, A few swipes of Raspberry Blush, One swipe of Classy Nude, A few swipes of Classy Nude

While I was there I seen some L.A. Colors Trio and picked up a couple of those as well, I got Sunflower and Orchid.

Sunflower Trio

Sunflower Trio Swatches

Orchid Trio

Orchid Trio Swatches

I also wanted to pick up one of the NYC Sunny Bronzers, so I had been looking for it at Walmart cause I thought it would be the cheapest there. Well all of them had been opened, so I thought I'll just run by Rite Aid and see if they have it, they did and to my amazement, at a cheaper price than Walmart! $2.99 at Rite Aid versus $3.97 at Walmart! I'm hoping this will make a good bronzer for me since it is kind of light and so thankful that is does not have shimmer!

Have you bought any new beauty products lately? If so, what did you get?

Just a reminder that Google Friend Connect (GFC) will be leaving July 1st, so please follow me on Bloglovin'