Current Favorites: 07/19/2011

Hey Guys,

I kinda missed the boat on the monthly favorites but I still wanted to tell you guys what I've been liking so I thought I'd do a little current favorites post. This might be some stuff I've been loving for a long time or relatively new and I'm still testing it out but I'm loving the first impression I've been getting. So without further adieu.. here we go!

First off I've been loving the organix coconut milk split end mender. This stuff smells yummy, makes my hair feel soft and has a price that's not to hard on the college budget.

I've also been loving ballerina buns! I have been wearing my hair like this all month. It's chic and gives my hair a nice break from all the products I normally use.

Last month I picked up the Clinique 3 step acne system which was difficult for me because I have been using Proactiv for 3 years. I decided to change because Proactiv sends out to many systems at once and I started to build up an extensive/expensive collection. Hence, I decided to try something I could buy in my town and didn't have to send away for. I will be doing a review on the whole system but this month I've been loving the foaming cleanser(1st step). This cleanser isn't obrasive and has no exfoliating beads like Proactiv, but it somehow manages to get rid of gross dead skin cells and helps my skin look glowy.

This month I also picked up The Body Shop's Green Apple shower gel. The smell lingers for a long time so I love this for the summer.This stuff smells delicious....I think I'd be cool if somebody made a caramel green apple shower gel. OMG YUM!

Then I've been liking my Korres Guava body butter. I bought this a couple of days ago and so far my first impression is good. I love how moisturized it makes my dry skin but my only problem is the selection of smells at my store. Guava was the one of the four I liked the most but I find it smells quite strong on my skin. I'm not sure if Korres has more scents but my Shoppers Drug Mart just received the Korres line so I may discover one I like more.

I also picked up the Burt's Bees Peppermint Foot Lotion.. This stuff keeps smells great and keeps my feet super soft all day.

Some nail polish I've been loving recently is Tangerine by Revlon, an orange with a slight silver shimmer; OPI's San tan-tonio, a nude which I love on my skin tone; and OPI's I Lily Love You, a multi-color multi-sized glitter (best decription ever really) with a sheer pink base from their newest collection and China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy; a neon pink.

Then my pride and joy... Duh duhhhh! My Daisy Eau So Fresh by Marc Jacobs. It's smells so pretty and sweet. I find the original Daisy for flower-y for me so I love this fruity floral.

I have also been loving the Starbucks Mocha Coconut Frappuccino. It's so tasty and it makes me hope this isn't just a drink Starbucks put out for the summer. Please Starbucks! Don't take away my mocha coconut!

Now for music! I've been hooked on She's Dope by Down With Webster (uhh oh uh oh uh oh) and Stop Standing There by Avril Lavigne.

So that's all for now friends! Please comment below and lemme know what you've been loving!<3

Talk to you soon

xox
Ash

P.s- Have you guys seen the new Rebecca Black? Go check it out and comment what you think!

I don't know how I forgot this but *not pictured above* is my NYX Cream Blush in Natural. This blush is the perfect color for a nice subtle glow. I love it!

Sally Hansen Crackle Topcoat Review

When I saw that other companies are coming out with their own versions of crackle nail-polish to compete with OPI's Shatter collection I was excited; not because I'm against OPI  but was looking for cheaper alternatives.

During a trip to Wal-Mart today I stumbled across picked through remains of a Sally Hansen Crackle display. Previous shoppers had left slim pickings with only two out of the eight shades available. I went with "Antiqued Gold" and immediately went home to try it out.

I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtream Wear in "White On" cause I thought the gold would look really nice against it. The directions say to apply a thin layer and boy do they mean thin. I almost had to get every speck of extra polish of the brush or the stuff wouldn't crackle like it was supposed to. The brush also didn't spread the polish very well so I'd sometime end up with odd blobs instead of an even coat. This also meant that some of the crackled chunks looked streaky and uneven.

I liked the color but not the crackle. It didn't have the same shattered look that OPI's collection has. I wouldn't bother buying another bottle.

Below are some pictures I took of the nail-polish after it dried. Please don't judge too harshly as I am awful at painting my nails when I rush so I flooded my nail-bed and I have to go take this off now :P

Rebecca

My thumb came out alright...

...but most of them ended up a hot mess like this.

First Apartment Drama: Packing, Unpacking, and Decorating

Now that you’ve acquired everything you need for your new pad, it’s time to move in and get settled. Before you move in make sure that all the arrangements have been made for electricity, cable, phone, Internet, or any other services you’ll need. When you’re packing everything away, remember to wrap up anything breakable before it goes in the box. It would suck to unpack your favorite picture frame only to discover it’s now in pieces.

When you put items into their respective boxes make sure to label them. This way you know what boxes should be handled with extra care, might be heavier than others (ie: the “books” box is heavier than the “pillows” box), and what room it should be placed. As you’re unpacking you’ll be glad you did this so you won’t have to root through all your boxes just to find the can opener. 

The rest of unpacking is pretty self-explanatory; you take something out of the box and put it where it belongs. The only advice I can offer is unpack the stereo, play some tunes, get through it one box at a time, and don’t drag the process out. You don’t want to find yourself a month later stepping over boxes you still haven’t unpacked.

Once everything is in it’s place you’re going to want to decorate to make your new place feel like home. You don't have to head out to the stores to get decorative items that can end up being expensive plus it's stuff a lot of other people can have too. Try to incorporated your style into your place even in small ways. A relatively cheap decorating tip I like is the use of picture frames. You don't have to fill them all with photos and they don't have to all look the same. You can fill them with fun printed fabrics to add a pop of color, greeting cards that have a design you like, postcards from places you've visited, ticket stubs, you can even leave them empty and place them on the wall. The later is actually one of my favorite frame use as it looks really unique especially when a variety of frame shapes and sizes are used. You can check out some decorating with empty frames at Tip Junkie 

If you don't want to poke a bunch of holes in your walls from hanging photos, I suggest the use of Command Strips. These little guys can hold a lot, do not damage the paint, and allow you to change up your decor as often as you like without leaving holes all over the place. You can also get the strips that come with hooks if you're looking for somewhere to hang your keys or need something in the kitchen to hang utensils from.

Place nick-knacks on shelves, get a house plant, and Google some DIY projects for home decorating. There is an amazing amount of great ideas out there on sites such as Crafterholic and Cut out and keep. If you feel like you're a person who doesn't have a flair for home decor, don't worry because you can do it! Try displaying items that you really like or collect like books, movies, CDs or vinyl records, anything. This can also serve as a conversation piece for your home. For instance, I framed a crocheted hand towel and whenever someone comes over they ask why I choose to display it. I can then explain that my 94 year old great-grand mother, who is blind, made it for me when she found out I was renting my first place.

The most important thing to remember is that this is your first place so don't get bent out of shape if everything doesn't match. Work with what you got, incorporate your own sense of style, have fun, and it will be awesome.

Happy Decorating!

Rebecca

Nail Polish Summer Trends

Hi Folks,


I just want to start off by saying words cannot describe my love for nail polish. Nail polish is at the top of the list with Disney movies, caramel frappucinos and watching Jimmy Two Shoes.. and yes I am 20.. i swear.

There's a few staple summer colors and trends like nudes, baby blues and the ombre effect nail which look very pretty. There's also colors that help add to your trendy summer fashions like nautical nail colors and bright neon colors. Here are a few of my favorites and a few that I think will be sporting a lot this summer.


Glitters: OPI I Lily Love You (I don't have this yet, but I need it).. yes..need
OPI Teenage Dream
OPI Bring on the Bling
Wet and Wild Party of 5


Nautical Trend: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Metallic: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Celeb City
Orly Rage

Neon- China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
China Glaze Sun Worshiper
Baby Blues: Revlon Blue Lagoon
OPI What's With The Cattitude


Nudes: OPI San Tan-Tonio


Light Pink: OPI Steady As She Rose
OPI Pinking of You
Sally Hansen First Kiss


Brights: Essie Braziliant
Essie Turquoise and Caicos
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Yellow Kitty
China Glaze- Sugar High

Do you guys have any summer favorites? Comment down below and let us know..

xox

Ash

Strawberry Tart Recipe

I found this when I was looking through Crafterholic and I just had to try it. It was absolutely delicious and so easy to make even though mine didn't come out as pretty; however, you can learn from my mistake :)

I was preparing my supper while the dough was chilling. I thought it would be smart to also prepare the tart filling a little ahead of time. While the filling was sitting in a bowl during the chill time, a lot of the natural juices came out of the strawberries and pooled. I didn't think this was a big deal, but during the baking time the juices just boiled over everywhere making for some extra cleanup. Maybe if the filling is made just before it goes in the oven there wouldn't be so much overflow.

Here is the link http://crafterholic.blogspot.com/2011/07/strawberry-tart.html

Happy Baking!

Rebecca

Mini Haul: 07/4/2011

Hey Guys!

I just had a mini shopping trip and I thought I'd share what I bought..

I made a trip to Shoppers Drug Mart because I've been wanting to pick up Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh and I decided to get the fragrance sampler. The fragrance sampler comes with eight 50ml-75ml perfume samples and a gift certificate for a perfume up to $89. The perfume samples that come with the box set are

1) Tommy Hilfiger Loud
2) Lacoste Joy of Pink
3) Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh
4) PAco Rabanne lack XS For Her
5) Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue
6) Givenchy Play For Her
7) Vera Wang Princess
8) Calvin Klein Euphoria
9) Kate Spade Twirl
10) Calvin Klein Beauty

So apparently I can't count.. ten perfume samples.. sweet!

This was a good choice for me because I paid $75 dollars for this perfume sampler kit and I'm already pretty sure I want Daisy. Daisy is $85 to buy just the perfume so I'm saving $10 plus I get ten perfume samples. On top of that since I bought it today(this offer goes on until tomorrow) Shoppers Drug Mart has an Optimum points bonus on where if you spend $75 or more you get 18500 optimum points which is a $25 value. Pretty good eh!

Then I bought the Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips in Miami Strip which can be used as a blush, bronzer and eye shadow. It was on sale for $17.59 and I used a $10 gift card that I received as a bonus a couple of weeks ago from Shoppers so I got the shimmer strips for $7.59. Yay! I just swatched them though and they don't seem as pigmented as I thought they were so I'll see how this turns out.

So this was my little haul.... Do you guys have any of the perfumes from the kit? and what do you think of Physicians Formula? Have you tried the shimmer strips?

xox
Ash

Daily Dose of Cuteness

June Favorites

Hey Guys,

Another month gone by and I'm here again with another favorites! Monthly favorites are one of the videos I look forward to watching the most on Youtube but since I'm not brave enough to make videos, I'm glad that I can share my favorites through the blog <3
I've had quite a few this month so here we go!

Nyx eyeshadow trio in 28A Very Delight- This trio has a bright white highlight, a perfect summer peach and a brown which I find myself always reaching for
Benefit high beam- To get the summer glowy look

Carmax cherry lip balm- Makes my lips super smooth and has SPF 15

Nars orgasm lip gloss- Lovely color with some bronzy sparkles which look amazing on sun kissed skin
Lush Bubblegum lip scrub- Rebecca talked about the Mint Julip lip scrub in an earlier post which reminded me of my bubblegum lip scrub.. It smells like hubba bubba and will get rid of any dead skin. Before bed I use my lip sbrub then I put my carmax lip balm on top and my lips are like silk in the morning

The Body Shop apricot and basil body wash- Smells like the epitome of summer and lathers extremely well for a product with no sulphates
Victoria Secret Splash of Pink body spray in Fresh and Clean- This body spray smells just like the name says.. fresh and clean!

Escada Taj Sunset- I'm not the best at describing scents so I have this description from my favorite perfume site www.nstperfume.com: The India-themed fragrance features notes Alphonso mango, nectarine, blood orange, watery floral accord, raspberry, pomarose, coconut cream, sandalwood and musk.. I love this perfume for the summer.. although I can't pick of notes of a perfume, I do know I like citrus smells and I guess it really shows through this perfume

Sigma Make Me Cool brush kit- I love the quality of Sigma brushes.. This brush kit was my first experience with Sigma and it's been great so far.. This kit comes with 12 brushes and these brushes are the best I've ever owned.. I <3 you Sigma!

OPI San tan-tonio- From the Texas collection, this color is the perfect nude

Essie Turquoise and Caicos- I don't this I have heard anybody say they don't like this color.. It pops beautifully on tan skin

Friendship bracelets- I love this trend. It adds a bit of boho-ness (it is so a word ;)) to any outfit and can help you incorporate different colors.

Wrap bracelets- I also love the look of these.. I bought a leather one this month that I can't stop wearing which brings me to..

Leather accessories- Whether it be my sandals, bracelets or belt, I love the classic preppy vibe of leather accessories.

Tcby's vanilla frozen yogurt with rainbow sprinkles- YUMMMMM.. that is all

Song's I can't get out of my head:
Coldplay-Every Tear is a Waterfall: " I'd rather be a comma, than a full stop ".. A quote all generations should think about.. especially my age group

Robyn- Call Your Girlfriend: "Then you tell her that the only way her heart will mend, is when she learns to love again, and it won't make sense right now but your still her friend". This song is written so beautifully.. I love the transition between the first and second verse and Robyn's story-telling.

Avril Lavigne- Smile: "It's been a while, since every day and everything has felt this right
and now, you're turning all around and suddenly you're all I need The reason why I smile". A happy summery feel good song~!