Beauty Night Out

Thursday night, Kira and I attended the Beauty Night Out Event at the Embassy Suites on 22nd. We weren't entirely sure what was be going on, but we knew we were getting a gift bag and there would be free manis, pedis and massages.

The first thing we saw when we got there was the open bar sponsored by PINK Vodka. We both got flavored martinis and DAMN those things were strong. I took 2 sips and just left it. Inside the event, tables were set up by various companies, including spas and independents, beauty and accessories. There was also an houre d'avoure(sp?) station that had been pretty picked over. But I really enjoyed the canollis :)

There were five treatment booths set up, a hand scrub and massage, a back massage, a Moroccan mud facial, a makeover, and a $5 paraffin hand treatment. I did the paraffin, and we both did the hand scrub. My hands were silky smooth at the end of the night. There were a handful of independent jewelry and handbag designers, nothing fantastic.

But we did really like Belabumbum and Queen Bee Designs. Belabumbum was selling at amazing prices, we both got thongs for $4, and Kira got a cami set for $25. Queen Bee has beautiful necklaces, all chunky, natural stones, but the prices range from $65 on up, many in $100s, and we didn't want to spend that much that night.

The gift bag included the book Change Your Face Change Your Life, a special edition of New Beauty Magazine, L’Oreal Professional hair products, Bliss shower gel, Nutrisoda, and a few other samples.

It was a really nice event, and Kira and I enjoyed ourselves, but I was hoping for something more like the International Beauty Show that happens in New York once a year.

New Tubes

In my latest TestTube, I received a sample vial of Blinc Kiss Me Mascara, aka the tube mascara. This is the one that doesn't paint your lashes, it tubes them!! I don't love the look of this one. It is inky black, but my lashes didn't get all full and long like I love, and they also looked kind of hard. To take this mascara off, you just rub your eyes with warm water. And then, voila! you have stringy black things all over your face and hands. They are like body paint/peel-off face masks/peel off nail polish strands of black goo. Its not gross at all, just really funny. The best part is that you don't have any leftover mascara finding it's way to your towels or pillowcases, which is great, but it also doesn't migrate on your eyes, and therefore kills the whole bedroom eye look, which I adore.

So I will continue to use my little vial of peel-off mascara just for the fun factor of taking it off.

I also got my tube of Lola Ultimate Mascara, which got rave reviews on Meg's Makeup. I wanted to see how the product stood up on its own, and I am a little dissapointed. There was no WOW this morning. But let's take a step back here and remember that mascara doesn't make me happy unless it looks like I'm wearing falsies. I know someone is going to tell me to get DiorShow, which I have tried and do love, but let's also remember that I have trouble commiting to one product.

Back to the Lola, for those of you who don't have my extreme demands, I think this would be a great product. And next time I use it, I will wear primer underneath, and that my dear friends, will hopefully give me the over-the-top lashes I love.

Beauty and the Budget

If you have been with me since the beginning, you know that until August I had excusively been using mark products; part of the reason I started my blog to was to follow my reintroduction into the wonderful world of cosmetics.

I have to admit, and I'm sure you know, I went a bit wild. All the new products were just too alluring and I couldn't stop whipping out the plastic. Having my first real job, and an income that allowed me to go crazy, didn't help matters either.

But I've come to realize that I need discipline (something I'm not very good at), so at the suggestion of Shannon, I am giving myself a budget. This is only for products, my salon expenses are the same every month so I don't feel the need to include them since I don't get erratic and overzealous with those. I'll also allow myself special purchases outside the budget on a case by case basis: first exception, the super-powerful blow dryer my step-mom has that cut my drying time by 75% and made my hair look shiny and new.

To determine my budget, I averaged my spending over my last three pay periods, which was $190. I'm giving myself $150 a pay period. My point isn't really that I need to save a ton of money, but that I need to control what I buy, and think about how much I would really use the product or if it just looks pretty. Because that 20th pink lipgloss is getting a bit redundent.

California Dreamin'

on such a rainy day

Sorry it's been so long. I went away this weekend for my cousin's bar mitzvah and it was my birthday too!! Yeay, I'm 23 now!!!

Anywho, stepmamma and me decided to go spray tanning on saturday night so we would be nice and bronze for the party. She has been a few times before, so I got instructions from both her and the girl at the salon on what to do. Basically, you need to cover your cuticles with barrier cream, as well as a light layer inbetween your fingers and toes and on the tops and bottoms on your hands and feet. You also put up your hair in a shower cap, but leave your hairline exposed.

Then it's into the towers you go. We used the California Tan system, one tower sprays you, the other drys you. First you stand facing the spray tower for your front shot of color. The machine counts down from 5, and then it starts. So at 5 I started holding my breath in preperation. Then I heard some hissing, and was about to take a breath, when the real spray came out and I was hit with a freezing blast of tanner, all while I'm sputtering to keep holding my breath. Then you turn around and do it all again. So COLD!!! After the tanning is complete, you use the fan in the other tower to dry off. The fan was so light, I could barely feel it drying me. I also had to rub in the cream on my hands and feet. Once I was done, I could see an amazing natural, perfectly colored tan, and I was hooked. The only downside was that I felt really sticky. The next morning I woke up and my palms were orange. After rubbing my hands and feet, I forgot to wash my hands. I also saw that the top of my hands were all splotchy and my feet were super dark.

I think with a little practice, I could really get the hang of the perfect application, because the rest of me looked fab!!

Also, check out my friend Shannon's new blog, I'm Eating a Souffle.

Temptations: To Cave or not To Cave

Smashbox has a whole new line of lip enhancing glosses. The glosses moisturize and plumlp are seperated into 3 color categories: sheer, true and full. All of the colors look so pretty, and the tube is a sleek clear and black. The sheer shades come with brush applicators, and the true and full shades have velour doe foots. My favorites from each range are Pop - cool pink from sheer, Pout - baby doll pink from true, and 35MM - shimmery suede brown from full.

During lunch today, Shannon and I went to the stationary store around the corner from our office. We both love all the pretty paper and buy more than we can use. I firmly declared that I would not buy anything new until I used up a good deal of what I already have, unless of course I found something with a fleur de lis on it. Then two seconds later, I spot notecards with a gold fleur de lis, with envelopes with a fleur de lis lining. So yes, I caved and bought them. Oh, and they are Crane's.

And a coupon:
Spend $35 at Lancome, use code SHINE to get blush subtil duo in shimmer mocha havana and aplum and definicils mascara in black

L'Ovin L'Occitane

My erratic beauty habits; the spending, the complusion to try every new thing, the need to hoard and never throw away, have made me quite envious of those serene women who have their system of tried and true products and stick with it.


So in attempt to move myself in that direction, I have decided that all future everyday skincare purchases (I'm not including special treatments) will be either L'Occitane or Caudalie.

I just love how each of these brands stands behind using natural products, uses the natural scents of their ingredients and not perfumes, and oh, did I mention they are French? Plus, the packaging is so simple and elegent. And the names are pretty too.

My decision commenced in the purchase of the L'Occitane Olive Discovery Kit; sadly no longer available. It came with the face wash, face cream, and eye serum.

The face wash only takes a little bit to get a great lather. I can feel it taking away the make-up, dirt and impurities of the day without stripping my skin. The face cream is so luxurious; my skin feels so smooth after. The Olive Line is all about radiance, and my skin is looking very bright and clear.

I haven't formed an opinion on the eye serum yet. Last week, my eyes totally freaked out, got all puffy and had splotches of dry skin. Since the serum is a gel, duh! It didn't do much in the way of moisturizing. I was able to get a few samples of their Shea Eye Balm on my mall trip last week, and this has made all the difference. The puffiness and dryness underneath my eyes are gone. There is still a bit of a bump on my top lid, which was the worst spot, but it has gone down significantly and keeps getting better. I know I will soon be buying this, I am beyond pleased with the results.

I can't wait to continue exploring both of these lines. My next purchase will be the Caudalie Gentle Buffing Cream.

Sephora Coupon: HOTMAMA for a deluxe Laura Geller sample of her liquid eyeshadows in Champagne and Mocha.

A Smelly Dilemma

What to do when a product that works well smells horrible...

Well I have two of these lemmings, but I can't throw them out.

I'm talking about the Neutrogena Acne Mark Fading Peel and Origins Modern Friction.

The Fading Peel smells like the musty towel that has been in the corner of the boys locker room all semester. The smell is quite atrocious, but I haven't physically gagged yet. A different story however for the Modern Friction. As water gets added to the product, the smell gets even more pungent. I cannot even use this in the shower, b.c I can no longer breathe and my eyes water. I don't know how to describe this stink, but it is gross. And I have actually gagged while using this product. Plus, if it even gets foamy around my eye area, it makes my eyes burn.

So why haven't I chucked these? Because they work!! The Fading Peel really does take away the dark spots that form after a pimple goes away and the modern friction leaves my skin so smooooth.

I know that this is the smell of the modern friction, but I'm wondering if I maybe just got a funky tube of the fading peel. any comments on that??

Also, any suggestions for products that work the same way but smell pleasant?
I will keep using these until I find replacements, because in this case beauty really does equal pain.

My Signature Shade

I've finally found a signature shade that I would be happy to have on my nails all the time. What makes it even more unique to me is that I came up with my own combo of colors. I'm layering limo-scene over ballet slippers. The ballet slippers helps to neautralize my nail bed and give a base of pink for the limo-scene. Doing this helps the pink in the limo-scene really come through. I find that limo-scene on its own can get a but silvery-white. I really am pleased with the result these two polishes give and I engcourage you to mix your favorite shades to best complement you.

And for all those divorcées, Essie's new summer collection is called Starting Over and includes 3 red and 3 pinks. I think the 2 highlights of this collection are Starter Wife - a sheer pink (the one I most want to try), and Wife Goes On - a true red.









A reading list to go with these new shades:
The Debutante Divorcée by Plum Sykes
The Men I Did't Marry by Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schurnberger
The Starter Wife and Maneater by Gigi Levangie Grazer
The Right Address by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman

Model Student

I wanted to tell you about this wonderful book I just read: Model Sudent by Robin Hazelwood

Hazelwood is a former model and Yale graduate, so one has to assume that part of this book is autobiographical even though it is fiction.

The book focuses on the modeling career of Emily Woods. Emily is a new model finding her way in 1988 Chicago. She's 18 and will be atteding Columbia University in the fall. The book follows Emily as she leaves Chicago for New York, finds a new agent, juggles classes, go-sees, and jobs, goes abroad, and is faced with many decisions that could make or break her career.

I'm not good at writing up books, but if you like Top Model, like to read, or simply are reading my blog, please go read this book, it was soooo good. Hazelwood made Emily so real, I couldn't stop reading to find out what happened next. I couldn't wait to finish it, but I also didn't want the book to end. I would love to see this get optioned and turned into a movie. Of course they would make the ending the Hollywood version, but I would be OK with that. Oh and I hope Ms. Hazelwood writes some more novels, she is an incredible author.

How many D's?

My wonderful company gave us the day off today for Good Friday, and it was the perfect oppurtunity for me to go dress shopping for my cousin's Bar Mitzvah next weekend. I knew my first stop had to be Nordstrom, and it worked out beautifully. I spotted a gorgeous turquoise chiffon number and went to try it on. The dress looked good, but my boobs were squashed. I figured I just needed the right bra, and the sales lady sent for the fitter from lingerie. After meausring me I was in for quite a shock. What I thought were 38D's turned out to be 34DD or 34DDD depending on the brand. That one really threw me. She went to get me some bras to try on, and they felt so different. She reminded me that they will break in after a few wears, and I think they will give me the support I need and the clean lines I desire. This definitly helped the dress fit better, and I also realized that I needed the straps taken up as well. Add to that the high-waisted Spanx power panties I bought to complement the dress and I did some serious damage on my gold card. **that's almost my dress. Mine is a tank, not halter, and there are two swaths of fabric draping from the center of the bust.

I also hit the 12 for $15 tart sale at yankee candle. I got country linen, clean breeze, 2 buttercreams, 2 tahitian tiare flower, vera cruz vanilla, vanilla oak, vanilla cupcake, white chocolate mint, home sweet home, and sand & surf. I also got an electric tart burner to help keep my home smelling yummy all day.

For dinner tonight I made Champagne Chicken from pg 174 of French Women Don't Get Fat. It was so juicy and delicious (i just sang fergilicious as my spell check on that one). I also made the cooked pairs, pg 114, but I found that I don't really like pears.

Mascara Mishap

I was starting to run really late this morning, so I stopped doing my make-up half-way through, and grabbed my new smashbox red-carpet pallete (the freebie I blogged on last week) some lip gloss and ran. Once I got on the bus, I whipped out my make-up bag to finish the job, and while applying eye-liner, I realized that I had no mascara on me. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. If there is one thing I can't face the day without it is mascara. If my whole face was done, and the only thing I was missing was mascara, I couldn't deal. Anything else missing and I would be fine, but not my mascara. In my bout of depression, I just shoved my stuff back in my bag, and then dug out my prescription so I could get the opening hour of the CVS around the corner: 7am - we're back in business. So yes. straight from the metro, I headed for CVS. I picked up Maybelline Define-a-Lash Washable Mascara, because the bright green tube caught my eye, it claimed not to clump (i also did not have my comb) and it was on sale for $4.99. So it got the job done, but this mascara isn't so great. This was one of those new koosh-ball looking wands. The wand was so flexible my lashes were actually beating it away! It took some serious hand dexterity to get the brush to glide through my lashes. It didn't leave clumps, but it did bunch my lashes together, and the overall effect wasn't as bold as I normally wear. I like thickening mascaras and this isn't it. But for the price of a venti skim latte, I still got my morning fix.

More than a Blog

I have been an avid reader of Meg's Makeup since this summer, and I am so excited that I will soon get to review some products as well. If you haven't checked out Meg's site already, go read it now. The focus of this site is to review products in the same way you would tell your girlfriends about your favorite new find. But this way you get a bunch of opinions, which is great, because if you are like me, your friends are almost your clones, but I digress. On top of the great reviews are Meg's hilarious stories that go along with each product. Sometimes the anecdotes go along with the product, other times she goes off on the funniest tangents. But rest assured, the tales are intriguing, the reviews insightful, and the products covetable. Now go, go read!