Current Beauty Wish List

Admittedly, there's not much terribly spring-related about the beauty products I'm currently yearning for, but it's April now and I guess I'm starting to think about revamping my beauty routines?  Either way, I put together a quick list of the things I'll be saving my extra pennies for this month:







1. Hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation, $55 for 1 fl oz.
My skin runs toward the oily side of the spectrum, and I've heard nothing but glowing reviews of this foundation.  It's supposed to work wonders for us oily girls, setting to a nice powder finish and staying all day with medium to high coverage.  My only hangup is the price tag; I'm generally a drugstore foundation kind of girl, but is this one worth the splurge?
(Hourglass website, Sephora)

2. Kenra Platinum Working Spray 14, $22
In my seemingly never-ending journey to learn how to curl my hair (long story), I've tried a lot of different techniques and products to get and hold a good curl.  I recently came across a product that works pretty well for me, but I just can't seem to shake that feeling that there could be something better out there.  When I was getting my hair done for my wedding a few months ago, the woman making me bridal-ready used this Kenra spray on my hair before she curled it, and it worked wonders!  Now, to be fair, we were going for a seriously long-lasting look that was a bit much for everyday curls, but I think a lighter application would make for a good, natural, touchable style.
(Kenra website)

3. Sigma E59 Wide Shader Brush, $14

The Sigma Essentials kit was the first set of quality brushes that I invested in, and I've been increasing my collection little by little over the last year or so.  Next on my list is this wide, fluffy brush, which is supposed to be great for blending around the edges of your crease.

(Sigma website)

4. NARS Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder, $35

Yet another product that I've seen reviewed on YouTube for months now.  Given that I have drugstore-priced powders that work perfectly well, is this one worth the price tag?

(NARS website, Sephora)

5. Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara, $19

My wedding-day hair and makeup helper used the Lights, Camera, Flashes mascara on me for the big day, and it looked gorgeous, but again, it was a bit much for everyday.  I'd love to try this natural, curling, volumizing mascara and see how it compares to my other stand-by favorites.

(Tarte website, Sephora)

Are there any other products I should be on the lookout for?

Makeup Mess of the Day

I don't normally bother with a full face of makeup on my days off, especially not when we're about to head out on a 5-hour car ride, but I pinned a Naked 3 look this morning that I was anxious to try out, so I wound up just going for it.

Foundation: Cover Girl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1

Concealer: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind

Powder: Rimmel Stay Matte

Bronzer: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil

Brows: Billion Dollar Brow Universal Brow Pencil

Cheeks: Benefit Rockateur

Eyes: Milani Shadow Stick in Champagne Toast, Urban Decay Named 3 palette, Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Demolition, Rimmel Scandal Eyes in Nude

Lashes: L'Oreal Lash Out Butterfly

Lips: Butter London Tinted Lip Balm in Teddy Boy

Selfie time!

Ulta Haul

Never let it be said that I don't know how to kick off spring break with a bang:  I spent the morning getting my oil changed, drove forever and a day to the records office to get copies of our marriage license, then capped the afternoon off at the DMV.

It's a party up in here.

In between all those errands, though, I made sure to also recognize an opportunity to treat myself with a little trip to Ulta.  Before we got married, my apartment was around the corner from this particular store, but it's so far out of the way from where our house is now that I rarely ever make the trip (which I'm sure my husband appreciates...), but since I was in the neighborhood this morning, I couldn't resist.

A few necessities, a few fun new products and one new-to-me product. 

I knew that I definitely wanted a new bronzer; I've only recently gotten into the bronzer game and started off with the palest, subtlest color I could find (and it smells like coconuts!), but I'm starting to feel a little bit brave and wanting to try a deeper color, and so I wound up spending about 15 minutes wandering back and forth between various compacts in the high-end half of the store, swatching, debating, and swatching some more.

I finally decided to go with the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer; it's a deeper color than I've ever ventured to wear before, but seems easy to blend out and (bonus!), is made with real cocoa so it smells of chocolate.  I've seen girls on YouTube talking about this for years, and I'm excited to give it a shot for myself.

Never mind the goosebumps.

I admit that I have a bit of a mascara problem; I have, by my count, 4 tubes open at the moment?  Maybe 5?  I really didn't intend to buy a new mascara until I used up one of the current ones, but I was lured in by, you guessed it, YouTube reviews of the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara.

The packaging is super pretty, too.

It's supposed to do wonders for your lashes, so I picked this one up on the condition that I'm not allowed to even open the tube to look at the brush until I'm ready to use it (yeah, right; we'll see how that goes).

Cheeky...

Quick break from the pretties to mention the necessities: spring is coming!  And along with spring comes capris!  And maxi dresses!  And maxi skirts!  And the need to shave my legs!

Pretty colors!

I've been on the hunt for a good powder compact that I can throw in my purse for a while now; I love the Rimmel Stay Matte, but the packaging is so flimsy that it would be a disaster to carry in my bag.  I wanted something with a little bit of coverage, but most importantly I was looking for a compact with a mirror and a sponge so that I wouldn't need to also carry a brush with me.  To be completely honest, my cheapness was the thing holding me back.  Even the drugstore powders can run up to $13!  Something in me clicked today, however, and I grabbed the L'Oreal True Match Powder.  I touched up with it before heading out for my second round of errands, and so far I like this product!

The last product I picked up was the one that I wavered on perhaps the most this morning at Ulta; I had seen Samantha Schuerman include this lip product in her weekly favorites yesterday, and while it was gorgeous when I swatched it on the back of my hand, it was probably the least necessary item I bought and I wasn't sure how much use I would actually get out of it.  In the end, however, I decided to just go for it (treat yo'self, right?).

It's the Butter London LIPPY Tinted Lip Balm in Teddy Boy.  I'm not really a lipstick girl (too high maintenance), but what tipped the scales for me was the texture; it does feel much more like a moisturizing balm than a lipstick.  The color is gorgeous, too; a nice, natural mauve-y color that puts a little color on the lips but doesn't scream "I have lipstick on!!".

It's chilly in my house; my hand is not normally this purple.

I love a good haul, don't you?

Outfit of the Day: Parent Conferences

 

Yesterday was a bit of a bear; I had a full day of my last round of progress report conferences for this quarter, a quick drink with my staff to celebrate the end of said conferences, all followed by dinner with some friends at a semi-nice restaurant in downtown Portland.

To sum up, I needed an outfit that could pull triple duty.  My everyday wardrobe at work is pretty professional/casual.  Comfort and ease of movement is not only acceptable, it's recommended when working with young children in a therapy center setting.  Jeans are definitely a staple and it's not uncommon on my sleepier mornings to occasionally settle for a nice hoodie and my well-worn Chuck Taylors.

Not so on conference days.

To preface, I love pairing new outfit pieces together and taking inspiration from Pinterest (maybe frequently spending my lunch break lazily scrolling through Pinterest...), so conference days, when I'm not providing direct service to kiddos, are my days to try out new looks and make a little extra effort.  This is the part of conference days that I love (the 8 hours of meetings with parents, not so much).

This particular outfit is an oldie-but-goodie; I've had all the pieces for quite some time now, and have worn them all together in the not so distant past.  As it turns out, however, it's not dissimilar to a few outfits I've pinned recently (here, here and here).

Top: H&M (I'm not quite sure if it's exactly designed to be a dress or a shirt, so I generally throw a pair of leggings under it and call it a day)

Sweater: Gap

Boots: Bare Traps (Two-tone leather makes me swoon)

Belt: Target

Leggings: Old Navy (they might be a serious contender for the best reasonably-priced leggings out there)

Necklace: lia sophia

ipsy Unboxing, March 2014

The ipsy bags that have been delivered to me over the last couple of months have been a touch lackluster.  There were a few bright spots, of course (the Pop Beauty lip color I got last month is gorgeous), but overall I've not been terribly impressed.  I generally try to avoid spoilers before I receive my bag because I love to be surprised, but a friend let slip a few days ago that through her online research, she had seen what was on its way for this month and was anxious to see hers in person.

Is this not the cutest bag?  It might be my favorite that ipsy has ever put out.

I was pleasantly surprised this month!  That NYX trio in Bikini Bottom is super pretty; shimmery neutrals are right up my alley.

I'm a little skeptical of the eyeliner that came in this month's bag; I'm not typically one for colored eyeliner, but this blue is very pretty.  As it happens, I gave up wearing liner for Lent this year, but I'm eager to give this a try once Easter time is upon us.

There's also a Bare Minerals lipstick in a pretty, mauve-y shade, as well as a Pixi face primer that looks promising.  Overall, while it seemed like there were fewer products to sample this month, the size and quality of the samples made up for that.  It's a win this time around!

Old Navy Haul

Old Navy is one of those stores that I forgot about in recent years. When I was growing up, the nearest mall with any store worth visiting was at least an hour and a half away, it was a solid two hours to get anywhere near a Nordstrom or a Gap with a decent selection. Less than a mere hour-long drive, however, was a glorious mecca (for a high school kid with a serious shopping habit): a city that contained both a Target AND an Old Navy. It was like Christmas all over again whenever we were in town and got to stop by to peruse the racks of affordable and semi-trendy clothes. Add to that equation the fact that they carried plus sizes, which was a blessing in my heavier teenage years, and it was the perfect place to find a few fun pieces and a whole lot of "work staples" (what the hell did I need work staples for, I was 17; pull yourself together, woman).

 And then I grew up.

 I moved out of my parents' house after college. I got a job, and then I got a better job. I started to shop more with an eye toward quality, though my budget tended to prevent me from truly fulfilling my caviar dreams. I popped into Old Navy now and then, a pair of skinny jeans here, a stripey top there, and then it was out of my mind as quick as it had come.

 Over breakfast with my husband's family this past weekend, my sister-in-law mentioned that she wanted to pop into the Old Navy two doors down "just for two seconds". Smash cut to an hour later; we had torn apart the dressing room and each emerged with an armful of yeses, steeling ourselves to walk past our husbands to the registers, avoiding eye contact if at all possible.

The moral of this story is, I went into the store hoping to find some black skinny pants and a chambray shirt.  I left with a whole bunch of new staples to add to my spring wardrobe.  Breakdown below:

1. Canvas vest

2. V-Neck Camis (I also picked it up in navy and mint, because, yeah.  Pretty!  And inexpensive!)

3. Sleeveless top (Pinterest inspired, all the way)

4. White Tee (Because you can never have too many white t-shirts.  Also, it was free with the pants)

5. Black cardigan

6. Chambray shirt

7. Cowl neck top

8. Grey lace-front top (Clearance!)

9. Pixie pants