Resolutions for 2013

It's that time of year again when we try to make resolutions and plan to stick with it. I make some resolutions every year but never follow through or stick with them. This new year will be different. I'm determined to make 2013 a better year even though nothing terribly dramatic happened this year. The biggest thing that happened is I moved out of my parents house on July 1st, and moved into my own apartment with my fiance. I have to admit, it's a struggle sometimes to make rent and try to budget for monthly bills, but we've done it so far!

Anyways, onto my resolutions for the upcoming year!

1. The biggest resolution for me is only buying what I need and not what I want. There will be times where I want to buy something for myself just because, but I want to cut those down quite a bit.

2. The next big thing is I'm putting myself on a spending ban for 3 months starting January 1st. Of course I'll have to buy food and things for everyday living, but this is primarily a spending ban on anything beauty related. That means I won't be buying any makeup, skincare, body care or hair care until April 1st. That definitely seems so far away but I've already lived in my apartment for almost 6 months! Where does the time go?! I'm pretty sure I have plenty of stuff to last me for 3 months so I think I'll be good. It'll just help me make more room for more things! :D

3. My next resolution might be kinda tough, and that's to eat more healthy foods. Once I moved out and started to do my own grocery shopping, I couldn't believe how expensive food is! I already try to buy healthy foods, but going on a quick grocery trip to stock up on essentials costs about $50, so buying healthy snacks and dinner stuff gets put on the backburner. It also doesn't help that I have a fiance who can eat everything under the sun and likes to drink an entire gallon of milk in 2 days! It's just nuts. I'm trying to clip coupons and keep a look out for really good sales and whatnot and I'm definitely going to continue that throughout the new year. 

4. My fourth resolution is to grow my blog! I want to improve on my writing and the content I provide you guys. You won't be seeing many haul posts (hopefully) and I hope to do more reviews.

5. My last resolution for the year is to just be happy! I constantly stress over little things and get sad over everything and it doesn't help me. I hate to say that money is the cause of my stress, but in all honesty, more money would help out alot. I work in retail making basically minimum wage and my fiance works in construction, which of course means he has little work in the winter. That's a big cause of my stress and I'm going to try and make the best of things and be positive in the new year. I have a roof over my head and food in my fridge so I can't be complaining too much. Things will only go up from here!

I'm adding this picture to this post because I love the shirt I'm wearing. My shirt says, "Note to self: Today is going to be AWESOME!" I'm going to try and use this as my mantra and see if it helps :)


What resolutions do you have for 2013?

Review: Kiss Nail Dress in Shrug

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to be reviewing the Kiss Nail Dress in the print Shrug. I received this in the Influenster Holiday Voxbox which I have a post on here. 

Kiss Nail Dress on the left

I did say in my Influenster post that I was terrified to use these. Personally, these don't appeal to me and I had trouble using them. I know people who do use nail designs like this and love them, but I just think they're very awkward to work with. I do like the design of them and the little booklet that comes in the package has all the designs they have. They really are cool designs, but I really don't have the patience to use these. They don't lay all the way flat and the tips of my nails feel very rough now even though I try to smooth them out with my nail file. I hate to say this, but I don't won't be purchasing in the future. I truly appreciate Influenster for sending me the Voxbox and I hope to receive future boxes. I just hope and pray that I don't get anymore of these! I also did a review on Influenster here.

The picture doesn't look that bad, but in person it doesn't look very nice. I'm not great at putting on nail polish either but I prefer that way more now that I gave these a try.

*Disclaimer: I received these complimentary of Influenster for review purposes. All opinions are honest and 100% my own!

Review, Tutorial & Swatches: Maybelline Eye Studio Color Plush Quad in Mad For Mauve

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share with you a review and tutorial on an eyeshadow quad I bought a couple months ago but never really tried out until recently. It's the Maybelline Eye Studio Color Plush Silk Eyeshadow quad (boy that's a mouthful) in the color Mad For Mauve. I know these aren't too new but I wanted to give my take on it anyway. This quad jumped out at me right away. It has some beautiful colors that I think would compliment any skin tone.

I really, really love this little quad. The colors are beautiful, the texture is so silky (like the name says) and buttery, and they go on very nicely as well. The first color is a light champagne color that is a very nice highlight color for the browbone and inner corners of the eye. The second color in is the shimmery mauve color. This color is probably my favorite in the whole quad. I like this as an all over lid color. The third color in is a very pretty mossy green color that is also good as an all over lid color or the outer part of the eyelid. The fourth color is kinda hard to describe. It's a mixture of a plum color, but there's also some red mixed in there. I guess it's sort of a plum-y burgundy color. To me, that color changes colors depending on the lighting. It's very pretty in the crease or can be used as a shadow liner.

You can probably see that the lightest color barely shows up on my skin (yay for being uber pale!), but the shimmery-ness of it is lovely for a highlight. I sheered these out too like I would when I put on my eyeshadow so you could see what it could look like on the eyes, but I have a little tutorial coming up, so keep reading! The mauve color is just freakin' beautiful! In the picture it almost looks like a rose gold. Just stunning! The green color is nice on my skin too and the darkest color looks more brown on me than burgundy.

Now for the tutorial! The first thing I always do, is prime my eyes with Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. Then I took the mauve color and put it on the inner half of my eyelid. I then took the mossy green color and put it on the outer half of my eyelid. I took a blending brush and lightly blended the two colors together in the middle so there wasn't a harsh line. Then I took the darkest color and blended it into my crease and blended out any harsh lines. After that I took the lightest color and highlighted my browbone and inner corners of my eyes very lightly. Then I finished off the look with Maybelline Illegal Lengths Mascara. Here's the finished look...

In the first picture, you can probably tell that the green doesn't show up very much. I tried to add more of the green but it just wouldn't show up, so I didn't keep trying. Overall, I do like how this look turned out. From far away, it's hard to tell that there are different colors going on, but when you blow up the picture, you can see it. I'm also not used to putting so many different colors on my eyes. I usually just do one or two. I have another one of these quads that I have yet to try out, but I'm pretty excited to try it because I did like this one. 

Do you like how this look turned out?

I Made A Fan Page On Facebook...

...But I have no idea how to add a flipping button to direct you guys there! I see alot of blogs with little buttons directing people to twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc, but I'm seriously clueless on what do to. If anyone has links from their blog to Facebook, please let me know how to do it! I've googled pretty much everything I can think of, but nothing has worked. Really, any help is greatly appreciated!

 For now, here is the link if you want to like my page!



-Katy

Influenster Holiday VoxBox 2012

Hey everyone! This post is pretty exciting because I received and email a few weeks ago saying I was qualified for the Holiday VoxBox 2012 from Influenster and I received it in the mail sometime last week! If you don't know what Influenster is, it's a website that's free to join, but invite only. You can be invited by someone through email who's already a member or go through the site and ask to be invited. You give reviews of products and experiences, complete surveys, and be engaged in social media. So like the site says, basically "Influenster is a place for culture junkies to come together and share their unique opinions of products and experiences." 

Now as far as I can tell, not everyone who joins receives these boxes. You receive an email saying you're qualified to receive the box, but you can opt out if you want. Anyways, lets get on with what I got in the box!

This card just tells me instructions on what to do after I receive the box and on the back it gives me a rundown of what I got.

So the first thing I got is a Goody QuikStyle Brush, and people either got this paddle or a half round styler. I first looked at this and thought, what in the world is this for? I didn't know what the blue bristles were and what they're used for, so I read the back of the card and it says, " Once again, Goody brings innovation to your hair routine! Go from wet to beautifully styled hair faster than ever! Super absorbent microfiber bristles removes up to 30% of water as you style. It's like a towel and brush in one." After I read that, I thought it was a pretty cool concept. Now I shower at night, so I'm never really in a rush to dry my hair. I figure this will be good if I ever need to wet my hair and style it how I want before work. This product retails for $11.99

The next product I received is the Kiss Nail Dress in a black and gray cheetah print design called Shrug. I gotta admit, these things terrify me! I'm bad enough at putting on nail polish, and I did attempt to put something like this on my nails at one point in my life, but failed horribly. I like the design and they come with instructions, so I'll give these another go when I have the patience for them. These can be used on fingers and toes and it comes with a design booklet and file. they retail for $6.99

Next, I received the NYC New York Color Liquid Lipshine. I've already tried this and I love it! The color I got is Nude York City and I just love how this feels on the lips. It's not sticky at all and your lips look shiny and full. It also smells really sweet, like a sugar cookie! It's available in 10 different shades and retails for only $2.49! I may have to pick up some more colors at that price.

The next thing I got is food! Influenster must know me well because I love to eat! I got the Quaker Real Medley's Oatmeal in the flavor Apple Walnut. I absolutely love apples and cinnamon in my oatmeal so I expect this to be really good. This little container is really cool because you can just add hot water and go, or stick it in the microwave for under a minute and you're good. This is good if you're totally in a rush and need something quick. These little guys retail for $1.79 per cup

Then I got an EBOOST Natural Energy powder to put in my water. I got the flavor Pink Lemonade. These remind me of Emergen-C so I'm dfinitely going to be giving this a try. These retail for $28 for a box of 20 powders, $39 for a box of 30 powders, or $39 for a box of 12 shots. 

The last thing I received is a coupon for $25 off my first purchase at Sole Society. I honestly won't use this because I have plenty of shoes and I'm putting myself on a no-buy for 3 months starting January 1st. This is a very nice coupon though.

I also should say, if you're interested in joining Influenster, I still have five invites left. I really like this site. You can learn so much about different products and give your honest opinions about anything so I really recommend you try it out at least :)

*Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary for testing and review purposes from Influenster.

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to wish all my lovely followers a very merry Christmas! I can't wait to go over to my parent's house with my fiance and have an awesome dinner (with chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert!). We went over to his mom's house last night for Christmas Eve dinner and took a bunch of pictures, and I wanted to share one with you guys!

I know, I look really tired, but I had been at work since 6:30 in the morning, and when I got home, I just changed and we went up to his mom's house. Anyways, this is my fiance, David! I don't think I've ever shown a picture of him, so this is the first time you're meeting him really. And the cute puppy (well, she's about 15 years old), is Gizmo. Everyone calls her Gizzy and she's so stinkin' cute! She can be a little grumpy pants, but hey, she's an old lady now!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Holiday Smokey Eye Tutorial

Hey everyone! Again, I'm so sorry about not posting in a little while. Work is still kicking my butt (yay retail job!) and any day I have off, I just wanna be a bum. Anyways, one of the days I played around with my makeup, I came up with my version of a smokey eye that I think would be nice if you have a holiday party but don't want something over the top. It's nothing fancy but I love how it turned out, so here is my tutorial on it!

All products that were used

The very first thing I did was use my Urban Decay Primer Potion, like always. Then I put the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze (middle product pictured) all over my lid and into my crease. I then took a stiffer blending brush to blend out the harsh lines. I've noticed that if I use a regular fluffy blending brush, it doesn't do as good of a job so I gotta use my stiffer one. After blending out the color tattoo, I took the NYX eyeshadow in the color Sensual (last product pictured) and put it on the outer half of my lid and blended into my crease just a bit with my stiff blending brush. Next I used my all time favorite mascara, bareMinerals Flawless Definition Mascara and just put on one coat. If I use more than one, my lashes for some reason don't want to look nice anymore. After all that I decided to make the inner corners of my eyes brighter by using an illuminating highlighting eyeshadow by a brand called LA Splash Cosmetics in the color Exposed. I didn't take the lid off this when I took the picture because when I bought it, the girl ringing me up dropped it on the floor and I didn't realize until I got home, that it totally broke into a million little bits. I still use it though because it's an amazing highlight for the inner corners of the eyes. I just gotta be careful when I take the lid off. I also dusted a tiny bit of this on my browbone. This shadow is incredibly pigmented, so you really only need the tiniest bit. I bought this at Ulta on clearance so I'm not sure if they still carry it. Onto the final look...

There you have it. I really, really like how this turned out. I know alot of you (ok, most of you) will probably say that this isn't a smokey eye because I used no eyeliner. I probably have mentioned before that I don't really like or use eyeliner all that much but like I said in the beginning, this is my version of a smokey eye. Hopefully everyone likes this look!

December 2012 Ipsy/Myglam Bag

Hey everyone! Sorry my December Ipsy bag post is kinda late, but works been kicking my booty! Anyways, I received it in the mail sometime last week and I wanted to share what I got. I will say, I'm not super impressed, but I'm still happy with it.

First off, I have to say that I lost one of the items in my house that came in the bag and they're the Mai Couture Highlighter Papier. It's basically a little booklet of face highlighter sheets similar to face blotting papers. I'm not sure how much use I'll get from them only because I think I'll feel weird putting it on my face. It's like I won't have much control or something. Plus it seems like a waste. I was also going to say that I love the bag everything came in! It's so cute and I love the color of it (sorry it came out a little funky in the picture). It's just a really pretty metallic grey from what my eyes can tell.

Anyways, the first item I got other than the highlighter sheets is the NYX Loose Pearl Shadow in the color Mocha Pearl. I've never tried a loose pigment shadow before and when I opened this little bottle, boy was it messy! I'm also not sure how I'm going to use it if it's so messy, but it's a pretty color so I'll find a way. I do have other eyeshadows this color it's nothing spectacular in my opinion. 

Next I got the Mirabella Prime for Face and Eyes. I don't think I'll be using this as an eye primer because it says not to get it close to the lash line, but I'll definitely try it out as a face primer. I have a lot of primers to use up, so this may be sitting in my collection for a little while. 

The next product I got is the Be A Bombshell Lip Gloss in the color Hot Mess. Now I gotta admit, I'm not much of a bright red lip fan, at least not on me. I feel like my skin is too pale for it and it's better suited for someone with a darker complexion. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll give it a shot and maybe try to sheer it out as much as I can.

Lastly, I got an Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in the color Zero. I already have a smaller version of this pencil, and I do like it, but once I got my hands on Perversion, I can't really look at another black eyeliner. I'll definitely use Zero, but usually now if I want to wear a black eyeliner, I automatically use Perversion. 

Swatches of lip gloss, eyeliner and eyeshadow

Well that's my Ipsy bag this month. Like I said, I'm not too impressed but I'm not disappointed either. I love Urban Decay Eyeliners, I'll definitely use the lip gloss if I can sheer it out a lot, and I'll use the eyeshadow too. I don't really have a use for the highlighter papers and I already have lots of primers to use up. Hopefully next months bag is better!

Birthday Haul!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Work has been kicking my butt and I barely have a day off to myself. Last Saturday was my birthday and I did actually have off the whole weekend but I got busy and couldn't post my birthday haul until now. Please forgive me! I went birthday shopping on Sunday after my birthday so lets get on with what I got!

Note: It's probably gonna sound weird but I didn't really ask for anything for my birthday so I purchased these things with my own money. For some reason I don't like asking for gifts like this. I prefer gift cards honestly.

If you read my birthday wishlist post here, than you know how much I wanted the Tarte Carried Away Collector's Set. Sephora was my first stop of the day and I was determined to find this, and I'm so happy I did! They only had two left and one girl who worked there told me they were the last two they had in the whole store because they don't have it online anymore either. I'm still in shock that I have this. It was $54 but I had my $20 off a $50 purchase VIB coupon so I only spent $34, plus tax. I mean really, you get 24 full sized Amazonian clay eyeshadows, 8 maracuja lip glosses, 1 Amazonian clay blush in the color Adventurous, a blush brush, a Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 mascara AND an Amazonian clay finishing powder. Can you say good deal?! A 10 shade eyeshadow palette from Tarte typically costs at least $40, so all these extras are really incredible. This is the only picture I took and I haven't gotten around to playing with it yet, but if you guys want a full review on it, please let me know! I'd be more than happy to do one once the holidays are over and my work schedule goes back to normal. This is the most exciting thing I purchased that day too! I also did redeem my birthday gift which was a little Fresh lip balm thing with two lip balms. Sorry it's not pictured.

I then went to The Body Shop because I had to redeem my $10 birthday gift, plus they were having a sale where you buy 2 items, you get 2 free and buy 3 items, get 3 free. I decided on the buy 2, get 2. I picked up two more of the Aloe Calming toner, because you all know how much I love this stuff! I go through alot in the late fall and winter because it's pretty much all I use during that time. These are the two things I bought. My two free items were the Elderflower Eye Gel and the Honey Bronze Lip Nectar lip gloss in the shade Honey Bunch. They had a honey beige color, but this one's a bit more coral-y so I thought it would go better with my skintone. I've never tried the eye gel before and I probably should've checked the ingredients before I bought it because it has denatured alcohol in it, which is usually very drying. I'll still try it out because I don't have issues with dry skin around my eyes, but I'll do a review on it when I start using it. My birthday gift was the Almond Hand & Nail Cream. Their hand creams are usually $20 but they had a separate sale of 50% off. I mostly use their Hemp Hand Cream, but my fiance starts sneezing when I put it on so I figured I'll try this and see if it irritates him.

Next I went to Bath & Body Works because I had a $10 off a $30 purchase coupon. I saw their 3-wick candles were 2 for $22 (not 2 for $20 like their normal sale) so I picked up Twisted Peppermint and Peppermint Mocha. I swear, these candles are the best! I probably have said before that alot of smells irritate me and make me sneeze, but these candles smell so good! I just have to stay away from perfume-y smelling candles. Those set me off. Then to make my purchase qualify for the coupon, I saw this little I <3 Twisted Peppermint lip gloss set. It comes with a Twisted Peppermint, Twisted Peppermint Berry and Twisted Peppermint Cocoa. I've never tried these lip glosses before, but from what I read on the package, they must be flavored. I might give this as a gift too because it's such a cute set! (Or keep it for myself. We'll see...)

One of my last stops was Victoria's Secret. I had one of those secret rewards coupon things (mine was only $10) and a $10 birthday gift card so I picked up two of their soft, comfy v-neck t-shirts that are 2 for $28. I only have this blue one pictured, because I already wore the other bright hot pink one I got so it's in the laundry hamper. I was also pretty shocked because they took both coupons for the transaction. Every time I have more than one coupon, they usually tell me I can't combine them, so I only paid $8 for both of them! 

I did also go to Aerie, American Eagle and H&M but didn't find anything. My fiance wanted to stop at Gamestop because he's a video game nerd, but he surprised me and bought me a Nintendo DS Lite and Pokemon Heart Gold! (Sorry, I'm a total and complete nerd when it comes to Pokemon. I admit it!) I was actually pretty excited for that. On Saturday, I went out to lunch with my mommy and we just hung out for the day. She also got me a huge slice of German chocolate cake, which is pretty much my favorite and some fudge. My fiance took me out for dinner that night too at Outback Steakhouse. I was a major fatty that day, and I totally didn't care! I had a pretty fun weekend so it was awesome :)

Anyways, that's everything I got for my birthday! Like I said before, if you want a full review of the Tarte set I got, please, please, please let me know! Sometimes I totally forget to review things, so I need to be reminded, especially if it's something as awesome as this whole Tarte set! I'll talk to everyone again later! 

-Katy

The One Thing On My Birthday Wishlist!

Birthday Wishlist
with tarte cosmetics

November 2012 Empties!

Happy December everyone! This past month I really feel like I went through alot of products! It really is such a good feeling to be able to use something up, but then of course you have to buy more. So here is everything I used up!

So starting off with hair and body care, the first thing I went through is the Oscar Blandi Volumizing Dry Shampoo Spray. I honestly hated this stuff. It didn't do anything to get rid of greasiness if I didn't wash my hair the night before and it just made it feel dirtier. It took me a really long time to use up because I typically wash my hair everyday. I had this for probably over a year or so. 

Then I used up The body Shop Banana Shampoo. I still have some of the conditioner left to use so that'll end up in my December Empties. I absolutely love this shampoo! It smells amazing and made my hair really soft. I actually have a couple more bottles of this and the conditioner left in my closet so I won't need to repurchase for a while. I also did a full review of this here if you want to check it out.  

Next I used up another The body Shop product and it was the Milk & Honey Body Lotion. I really like this lotion more for use in the Summer because it's very lightweight and now with it being more cold outside, it doesn't work as well. I just wanted to use this up because I didn't want it sitting in my closet til Spring/Summer. It's a bummer The Body Shop doesn't carry this anymore because it really is nice and smells amazing.

Onto skincare! I usually use up a bunch of skincare in a month and the first thing I went through is my beloved The Body Shop Aloe Calming Toner. I really can't say enough good things about this toner. I know I've mentioned it before in posts, but this stuff is really awesome! It only has like six ingredients so there's not much that can cause irritation. I have so many backups of this so I know I definitely don't need to repurchase for a long while. 

Next I used up the Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Cleanser. I'm so glad this is gone now! I wasn't a fan of this and it didn't do anything remarkable for my skin so I won't repurchase. I do like other Juice Beauty products, just not this. I did do a full review of it here.  

Then I used up this Olay Regenerist product called Thermal Skin Polisher. This stuff was interesting. When you wet your face, put some in your hands and starting massaging this on your face, it warms up, alot. Sometimes to the point of almost burning. It said on the package you could use it daily, but my skin is way too sensitive to be able to use this everyday. I doubt I'll be repurchasing this in the future.

I also finally used up The Body Shop Black Velvet Apricot Lip Balm. I had this for years and I thought it was just okay. It moisturized my lips for a while but once I got to the bottom of the jar, there were so many shimmery sparkles and it actually started drying my lips out more. This was part of a holiday scent so I doubt they'll bring this back. If they do, I know I won't repurchase. 

The last thing I used up is The Body Shop Aloe Soothing Day Cream. This stuff is really nice. I actually used this at night when my skin started feeling drier than normal and it helped to bring moisture back to my skin without getting super oily. This particular jar I'd had since last year from not finishing it up, but it was still good to use since there was no product separating or funky smells going on. I have another backup of this once my current nighttime moisturizer runs out. 

Well that's everything! I really think this is a good amount I went through. Still no empty makeup, but I'm almost done a face primer, so that may make it to my December empties!