mark. gets Sassy

On January 9th, mark. welcomes in the new year with some Sass!! After a month of repackaged products into giftsets, and another with nothing new but ugly jewelry, we finally have some products to get excited about. A run down of what you can look forward to:

Sassy Eau du Toilette and Dry Oil Mist
A sheer, modern fragrance infused with sparkling black currant, peach skin and ginger leaf. Delicate yellow jasmine and rose coupled with warm musk and white moss add a distinctively dynamic touch for a scent that's pure sass.

Pro Glimmer Hook-Up Lip Powder & Pro Gloss Hook-Up Plumping Lip Shine
Loose, pearlized powder adds staying power to any gloss, lipstick or balm. Pairs perfectly with Pro Gloss * Plumping gloss adds a hint of shimmery, super-shiny color. Wear alone or layer over Pro Glimmer. Pro-inspired duo preps and shines for full glossy lips.

Make It Big Lash Plumping Mascara
Build and lengthen for clump-free, lavishly long lashes with this lightweight, smudge-proof formula and super-sized brush.


Femme 4 Eye Shadow Quad
Subtly shimmering shades glide on silky smooth and can also be used as eyeliner.


Glow Xpert Face Shimmer
Instantly brighten any complexion with this sheer, shimmering lotion. Use as a highlighter on browbones, cheekbones or wherever you want to glow. Includes Xpert sponge tip applicator.

Hook-Up Mints
Freshen your gloss. Freshen your breath. Introducing mark's latest Hook Up innovation. Glow Baby Glow in Pink Crush—our best-selling shade—comes connected to sugar-free cinnamon and chocolate mints. Includes one refill of each flavor and a connector.

And the Accessories...
Fit to be Tied Bag, Little Black Shirt, Teared Lariat Necklace, Cross the Line Earrings, Squared Off Ring

Color Me Beautiful

Color # 1: Rock the Gloss
Thursday~ Mark Juice Gems in Creme Caramel. Interesting story, this shade originally came out in February as part of the Toute Sweet collection. There were five shades and they came in extremely small tubes, mine was gone in two weeks. For x-mas they dropped sugared almond and marshmallow, and re-packaged the other three (buttercream brioche and chocolate fondue are the others) into the juice gems tubes yielding a much greater amount of product.
Friday~ Victorias Secret lipgloss pots in Ice Princess. This shade and actually the entire line have been discontinued.

Color # 2: Manicure Day
I used Limo-scene today, which I know I love, but something the girl did, is just making it seem drab. I wanted to try a different nail salon, but due to circumstances, I ended back up at the same one I had been going to. I'm not giving up on this color though, it's been absolutely gorgeous before.

Color # 3: See Last Post
I got my lipgloss set!! I was so exited to see it in person, the colors are amazing. If you gravitate towards pinks, purples, and nudes (that means you are a "cool" person, as opposed to "warm") you will absolutely love this set. As they enter into my Rock the Gloss rotation, I will post reviews. I also picked up Beautiful Iris eyeshadow. Purple shadow really makes my blue eyes pop, and I needed a strong medium toned color, this is soo it!

And on a non-color note: I went to BBW to pick up the two scents from the temptations collection that smelled yum-my; Cinnamon Bun Heaven and Pecan Passion. Nothing makes me happier than sweet foody scents. The other scents in this collection are Pumpkin Pie Paradise and Spiced Apple Rapture. But here is the kicker: They added four MORE scents for the holidays. Wickedly Hot Chocolate, Twisted Peppermint, Spicy Gingerbread, and Crazy Caramel Corn. I want all of them expect the chocolate. They all smell so delicious and are going to make my sleepy morning showers feel like Christmas morning.

Coming up soon.....
my sephora order, but I'm not saying what I got until it comes :)

Dress You Up in My Love

MAC Holiday Formal Black: I am lo-vi-ing the packaging, but none of the colors are really pulling me in.
MAC Holiday Dress Sets: We have a winner!!
The Mac Holiday Dress Sets collection includes two 5-piece lipgloss sets in cool and warm; a 4-piece lipgelee set; 5-piece pigments sets, again in cool and warm; and a 4-piece shadestick set. I swear the cool lipgloss collection was made just for me, and while it is not yet available, I am definitely getting it!! and the price~ $28.50!! How can you beat that?? I am also intrigued by the shadestick set, but I will wave to see it in person before I make a decision.

Rock the Gloss
Yesterday: Shu Uemura Lolishine in 922. This nude with sparkles color is the perfect shade to go with a smoky eye, which I did with Vincent Longo Untitled III. Very Allure Magazine Cover.
Today: Chanel Glossimer in Spark. I paired this light red with Bobbi Brown Champagne Shimmer wash and Champagne Truffle, ooh la la.

You put the Ugg in Ugly

My doctor's appt today took me into GWU territory, and all those college outfits - my god!! Now I only graduated last May, but my school was a commuter school and people got dressed for class. On top of that, most people worked, so the majority of students went to class in their work clothes. My first year of college was at a traditional college, so I do remember the oh so wonderful mix of pajamas and loungewear worn to class. I saw the standard I rolled out of bed after a long night of partying and just can't be bothered, the it's just class and I want to be comfortable, and then the girls with the cool sense of fashion. But on almost all of them, I saw UGGS!!!!!! Ug, don't these girls realize that the Ugg fad died out years ago?? I know they are comfy and warm, but they are NOT the only shoes that offer these features. So please, give the Uggs to someone who truly needs warm shoes, and get out of 2004.

Rock the Gloss: A Sephora Collection gloss in Hot Coral: the shade is my lips just more intense. I do like this color, but it wasn't cutting it today.

Mission Accomplished

In my quest for luminescent nails, a color has been found that meets my high expectations: Minimalistic (from the bare necessities collection). I had every faith that this color would deliver and it certainly has. I am definitely a white polish kinda girl. I love the idea of having a signature polish, and this one could definitely be it. Plus the name is great: I think nails should always be simple. I hate overly done nails, though I admit to being a design-junkie in high school.




oh! the horror>>>>>>>>>>>

Keep Running Up That Hill

OMG, People, OMG! People are actually starting to read my blog!! Thank you to all of you who have been reading, and esp. those who have commented. Please keep the comments coming and pass around the link....more readers gives me motivation to write more frequent and better posts.

Rock the Gloss: Yesterday I used Shu Uemuras Pink Shell. This gloss has a story behind it. Last December, I saw a trio of Shu glosses featured in In Style Mag. This gloss was one of them. These were limited edition and very hard to find. I searched eBay for a set but never ended up getting one. Then a few months ago, I finally found a brand new one on MakeUpAlley. The gloss gave a wonderful pinky/purple iridescence to my lips and it has an amazing creamsicle flavor.
Today I am wearing Pout's Gorgeous Girl. I love the color, it is the perfect nude, but it goes on really light, and the pink of my lips still comes through, I just wish that it would make my lips totally nude.



And on an unrelated note: OC premiered last night, one of my fav shows. Each season the premiere is overly dramatic and the Cohen's have to scheme to get Ryan to come back home. Of course by the third episode the show goes back to normal and life in Newport continues on. It is going to be an interesting season without Mischa, but I'm sure I'm not the first to point out that Shannon Doherty was only in the first three seasons of 90210. Summer's character seems to have gotten a lot more interesting. Taylor is now credited so she will be popping up a lot more, and I really thing that Kaitlin is going to steal the show. BTW the title of this blog is in honor of the amazing song in last nights episode. It's called Running Up That Hill by Placebo, they also did "Every You, Every Me" from Cruel Intentions, and the song is just as awesome. Seriously - iTunes=get it today! Also check out the Band Keane, they were also in the episode and have a lot of good music

***a little later***
I got a new phone today. My old one was janky. Almost a year ago my phone and nail file got into a fight, and the nail file won. I covered the scratches with rhinestones, but they were starting to come off. I also totally killed my battery using one of those cellboost things, to the point where i could almost never use my phone b.c it was always dead. So here is a pic of my pretty new phone.

Rock the Gloss and other musings

Today I have begun my own personal Rock the Gloss challenge. From what I have read on other people's blogs, you have to use a different lipgloss everyday for a month. Of course when I do it, I get to do it my way. So last night I gathered and counted all my glosses, and I have 28, a perfect four weeks. Granted I don't acquire any more during the month.

So today's color is Mark Glow Baby Glow in Honey. As a mark rep. I believe i got this one for free. It's darker and heavier than I normally wear. I might even end up using this challenge as a way to assess all my colors and get rid of those that aren't flattering. To be honest, I was bummed when I pulled this one out of my bag, not really an exciting color to start the month with, but oh well.

As for the aquisition of new glosses, I have been thinking deeply about my purchases from gloss.com for the beauty week event mentioned yesterday. Here is the problem, I certaintly don't need any more make-up, and there isn't anything out right now that I am obsessing over (like my bobbi brown shadows or dior detective chic). So it would purely be a frivolous purchase solely based on the clever marketing techniques employed by gloss. Of course as a marketing major, and I can see right through all of their schemes to lure me in; they still work on me, but at least I know why I feel the urge to splurge. So the question remains: do I really need to drop $75 on something I only want because it is being dangled in front of my face, or do I save it and get one of the many other things I need and want?

Third oob: Most of the time I talk about make-up, today I want to discuss fashion. Stockings: a point of contention for most women. There are two things that can come from these small garments. Scenario one: Your stockings are itchy, are easily prone to holes, by 9am you have already noticed one starting, and generally make you uncomfortabel all day. Scenario two: they feel silky smooth, and im part a feeling of glamour all day long. Mmm, want to know what today is? Scenario one! So moral of the story Hue brand stockings suck, this is my third pair that I have been disgruntled with and will cease to purchase them. I advise you to do the same. I will now faithfully purchase stockings only from Victorias Secret, which lead me to scenario two. A note on Hue, while there stockings suck, I have been enjoying their tights and will most likely continue to explore the many colors and textures available.

Gloss Beauty Week

from now until Nov.7, Gloss is running amazing promotions for their beauty week. If you spend $75 or more you get 1) free shipping 2) 9 deluxe samples in a cosmetics bag and 3) 4 brushes. There are also a slew of other freebies that are brand specific. I know most of us just had a payday, and this is a great oppurtunity to stock up on fall/holiday looks. Check out the holiday collections by MAC, Bobbi Brown, and Chanel **i'm seriously considering this trio, what do you think?** especially. I know I'll be taking advantage of this offer, I just have to decide what to get♥

It's been so long...

Well, I pretty much lost my interest in posting, but my motivation has been restored (see comments on previous post).

Let's start with my all time favorite topic: my nails!!

So to back track on my previous manicures...after dune road, my color of the week was Glorious Glow. The second Emma started to put this on me I hated it. Too many things going on; all this shimmery green and yellow, very mermaid, very tacky. I love iridescence, but on my nails: trash-ville.

During that week I came to a realization, I was paying $25 for a manicure every week, my polish was chipping 2 days later, and my nails were breaking. Elegant nails mine were not. The solution: time to get the fakes.

I have really been trying to avoid this, due to the overwhelming majority of women who make them look nasty, thus giving them a bad connotation, but then I remembered the women at the apple geek bar whose artificials were absolutely luminous; my stepmom, who keeps hers short and sweet; and finally, D who sits next to me at work, always keeps her nails looking great, and is a wondrously fabulous creature. So after some discussion with her, I took myself to get gel nails.

Since my decision was spur of the moment, I hadn't brought along a polish. (Don't you find that when you decide to do something, you have to do it now, and waiting is worse than death?) I took this opportunity to try OPI's Bubble Bath, which I have heard is the color Giada de Laurentis uses, and if you know who she is, you know how amazing her hands always are.

My verdict: the color would be beautiful on my natural nails, but the gel's require different hues. During the week I took off the color and tried Essie's Pound Cake: yuck, it was soooo streaky!! As soon as it dried, I took it off and started over. Allure was my next victim, it is too clear for the fakies, you could see my natural nail through the gel and what not, I am keeping this, I will have to re-evaluate it some other time.

And now to the present: Yesterday, I got my fill-in, they are short and slim, just like I wanted. I used the last color from my list: Spaghetti Strap. This is another color with the same fate as Bubble Bath, I think it will be great on my toes, but it is too weak for the gels. My muse for perfect nails, is the above mentioned lady at the Mac store. She was wearing a beautiful floor length white gauzy skirt, simple white tank top, beautiful brushed gold jewelry, and then the nails, they were just radiating moonlight. She was the essence of boho-chic, and yes this woman and her style really made a lasting impression on me.

I think that limo-scene, marshmallow and minimalistic will most likely lead me into my dreamy ideal.

I can't believe I am ready to enter Phase 2 of my polish quest: the re-evelation of all the ones that made it past Phase 1. Of course there will also be Phase 3, which will most likely overlap Phase 2, involves the purchase of new colors, as Essie comes out with 6 new shades every three months. I already want It's in the Bag from the fall collection, and Pink Ribbon which supports Breast Cancer.

stay tuned for more updates on different topics and other musings...

The movie Dune is in my chocolatey drink

Not much going on this week, just a review of my polish: Dune Road.

This is from one of the Essie Hampton's collections, although since it has been out for years, I'm not sure which one it is from.
This color is very seashell pink, very pale, very shimmery. I like a little shimmer, but I think that a creamier color is more elegant. However, I do think that a little shimmer helps the polish adhere to the nail better. Have you ever tried to remove glitter polish? then you know what I'm talking about.

Oh yea!! Daily Candy had an article this week on Vuru, a company that makes vitamins supercute!! read the article, the editors at dailycandy write fabulous copy. I ordered the Hair Skin & Nails packet. I've been taking biotin that I got from CVS, the brand is Appearex, and it is sold with all of the nail stuff. I really feel like my nails have been improving. So when I saw this combo pack on vuru, I thought the more the better!! I can't wait to get my order this week!!

Another Manicure, Another Polish

My color this week was Essie Overnight. Just another pretty pale pink. My polish collection is getting fairly redundant, so once I finish the trial phase(4 polishes to go) I will have to begin on the refining phase. Of course Essie will continue to put new polishes that I want to try. Like It's In The Bag from the Fall Collection and Pink Ribbon, which is a limited edition shade supporting Breast Cancer Research.

I also got my TestTube this week. The GoSmile kit contained a small tube of PM toothpaste. I have been using this the past two nights. The scent is like a face cream, but it gets really frothy, so I feel like it really cleaning my teeth, and because of the no-mint, it feels just right for going to bed. The other products in the kit were two of their ampoules and a travel toothbrush. I got a NIA24 Kit with small tubes of exfoliater, repair cream, and SPF 30. I got three neutral Jane Iredale eyeshadows, a thing of loose powder, which I'm assuming is mineral foundation, and a lil sample lipstick, whose top fell off and smeared on the other products. (it all came off though, but I threw that out). I got Dr. Brandt laser in a bottle, used it last night, it seems nice. It is hard for me to judge anti-aging products, but if it feels good then I'll use it, and maybe I will never have wrinkles. The other two items I got are Obaji vitamin C serum, full size bottle worth $75, I haven't used it yet, b.c I am finishing off a sample of NV Pericone vitamin c eye serum, but I love me some Vitamin C. Lastly there is BABOR eye cream, I haven't tried this yet either for the same reason.

I tried to place an order on spalook.com with my gift certificate but it is not recognizing the code :(

I really do like this program though. I think it is an awesome way to try products I haven't even heard about, and I can't wait to see what I get in my next tube.

Fall Trend Event

WOW! What a day, lets start from the beginning:

6:00 am: alarm goes off, hit snooze.

6:05 am: alarm goes off again, turn it off.

6:30 am: wake up.

6:40 am: get in shower, get ready.

7:20 am: I'm ready to go!!

7:30 am: head out to the metro.

7:45 am: arrive at metro where I stand on the platform for 15 minutes waiting for the train. There is such a drastic difference between weekday and weekend mornings!

8:15 am: sitting on the metro at the airport for almost a half hour because of track work.

8:45 am: finally make it to Pentagon City, once inside the mall I have to find the directory so I know which way Nordstrom is.
I then have to go out to the parking structure to get into Nordstrom since the mall entrance is closed. Once I got upstairs, I got my ticket stamped and was given my two train cases (one for the absentee husband) I am seated, given my breakfast, and fill out my raffle ticket. The show was interesting. Representatives from all of the brands came out to talk about their new products. Some were much better presentations than others. Some of the brands also gave out samples. The only sample I was able to score was the Trish McEvoy Blackberry & Vanilla Musk perfume. I have only smelled this from the bottle, but it is great! Somewhere in there I nabbed a mimosa, yummmm. The raffle prizes where amazing gift baskets from all of the top lines, which sadly I did not win. Le Mer gave out a $250 basket during their presentation to the person that got the sample with the yellow dot. The Smashbox guy also gave out a few bottles of photofinish and some of their other products to people sitting in the first and second rows. Lesson learned: next time get there way early to nab a primo seat and score mucho samples.

9:40 am: Show ends and everyone heads downstairs. When I got off the escalator I was handed two samples from Kneipp: their almond blossom hand cream and shower gel, along with flyer about the brand. I had never heard of them, I guess they do all natural products. Then I made my way to the Shu Uemura counter for my appt. I guess one of the make-up artists called in sick, which meant they were backed up and I had to wait. I went to the La Mer counter to get a sample of Creme de la Mer, one of the Holy Grail beauty products. The little jar probably has like $15 worth of creme in it, I will definitely be hoarding this:)

10:00 am: I get to sit down for my consultation. Since I didn't wear any make-up, there was no skincare consultation. She started by asking me how I normally do my make-up, which is emphasis on the eyes, lots of mascara and liner, and light lips. My make-up came out good, but its not a look I would ever recreate. I was totally mistaken on that blush I said I wanted. It turns out it was actually a lipgloss, oops!! I ended up buying what the real blush in antique pink; on me it is a nice bright, sheer pink. I also got the lipstick she used on me, lolishine in 922, a really pretty sparkly nude, which is totally the lipcolor of the season. Even though I didn't spend enough money (I was $10 short) I was still given the free eyelash curler. I told her about my issues with the curler and she told me to play with the angles, and tip it back a lot more than I had been. She also used it on me in the demonstration and it did not hurt at all. Now that I have another (free) one, I will give it a second chance and see if I can make it work for me.

10:45 am: I continued walking around the floor, very in the mood to get more stuff, and stopped at Laura Mercier. I was able to get a quickie consultation on the under-eye concealer system. On one eye, I demo-ed the entire three step process. On the other eye I demo-ed just the concealer. They both worked well, but the 3-step was definitely better. I was only going to get the concealer today, and buy the rest piece-meal, but they were doing a very rare and nice GWP, so I ended up getting it all. The first step is the Secret Brightener, followed by Secret Concealer, and topped off with Secret Brightening Powder to set everything. It was $77 for everything, but if you have been plagued by dark circles your whole life like me, it would be worth your time and money to get your own consultation. I did skip on the two brushes that are used to apply the products, more on those later. In my GWP bag I got: 2 fl. oz. tube of clementine scrub, yeay, I love scrubs; .5 fl oz tube of Laura's famous tinted moisturizer in Sand, I hope this is my color; a .11 oz petal glace lipgloss, a very pretty pink/peach color; and a full size powder eyeliner in eggplant, which is great because I am so into purple for this season.

11:00 am: I finished walking the floor and made two more stops. At the little Phyto stand I got my hair scanned. It was so cool, they take this wand to your hair, and there it is magnified on the screen. My diagnosis: I have very dry hair. She recommended a series of products which she wrote down for me and gave me a sample of Phyto-7 which helps to moisturize the hair. I guess I really need to step up my game when it comes to deep conditioning. I also went to this Norwegian perfume guy, Geir Ness, who was giving hand massages with his lotion, Laila. I can never turn down a hand massage, I just love them!! but Holy Euro-Trash bat girl; this guy was so over the top, and his package was bulging in ten different directions due to his skin tight pants, nasty!

11:15 am: I popped into VS to get the free lipgloss from my card in this months Allure. The color they are giving away is Hottie. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks just like Chanel's Spark.

11:20 am: of course no beauty shopping day is complete without a stop in Sephora. Now for all of my Blowout fans, remember when Jonathan gave us a glimpse of silky dirt and made us want it right then and there? Well it is finally out, although you wouldn't know because it was named Create Weightless Smooth. Tricky tricky, but it is definitely the silky dirt product, and I have it!! nanny nanny poo poo. I also bought a pointed concealer brush. I looked for a brush like the one that was used with the setting powder, but I couldn't find one, so that will happen later on. There was another card in Allure for a free Kinerase sample at Sephora, so I got that too. Sephora carries the Phyto line as well and I got a sample of the three products they make for dry hair, phyto-7, phytojoba shampoo and phytosesame conditioner. In my bag were also samples of fioravanti conditioner, sephora eyeshadow, and philosophy supernatural.

11:45 am: my final beauty stop was Origins. I wanted to get samples of A Perfect World face moisturizer and the scrub Swept Away. I also got to demo their new microdermabrasion alternative Modern Friction. The girl massaged it onto my hand and showed me how the product worked. The rice starch grabs ahold of dead skin so you can actually see if coming off in little blobs, when you don't see anymore blobs, your skin is clean!! This stuff is awesome and once my bank account gets replenished, I am totally getting this product.

12:00 am: There was no way I could come home with all these goodies and have nothing for my husband, so I popped into apple to get him an iTunes gift card.

Whew, what a day!!

Make it Real Simple

Yesterday I went back to Emma at Celadon for my new Wednesdays @ 12:30 standing appt!! It was so nice to have someone actually take the time to make sure my nails were well shaped and cleaned. Oh, and a much better massage, that went all the way to my elbow. It is so great to have this weekly treat. On a side note, I was telling my husband that I would love to add a massage into my weekly routine, but I defiantly cannot afford that now. One day though, one day.

I digress, I used Essie’s Real Simple this week, which was recently put out as a part of their Anniversary Collection. This shade is beyond pretty. It is a wonderful pale pink, but the shade is much richer than old fav Ballet Slippers. Celadon only uses OPI, though I believe they do keep a bottle of BS on hand. Emma liked it so much though, that she said she might pick up a bottle for her clients. I really think this will be a new Essie fav.

Test Tube Beauty

I stumbled across this website yesterday called TestTube. The concept of the site is that you pay $25 dollars for a tube that has a multitude of products in it. They list the products that have been in previous tubes, and the brands for the incoming tube. It seems pretty awesome, and something that would be a lot of fun. However, I'm skeptical about everything. Take look at the site, have you heard about this before, do you know anything about it?? Give me your opinions and help me decide if I should join.

Thanx!!

Weekend Update

Two great things happened this weekend.

The first was that I got my Dior Detective Chic and it only cost me $4!!!! Here's how: I did a make-up alley swap in which I traded 4 products for a $25 Macy's giftcard. Then I paid for the remainder of it with the rent.com giftcard I got for leasing my apartment. I say it cost $4 b.c that is what it cost me to ship the items I swapped. The compact is so cute and the powder is very light so I can dust it on liberally.

The second was my discovery of the Shu Uemura Mode Make-up event. This coming Saturday at 8am in the Nordstrom at Pentagon City there will be a Shu Uemura fashion show. The tickets are $15, but this includes a Mimosa breakfast, a train case and a raffle. The cost of the ticket is also redeemable in product. I bought one for me and one for my hubby, so I'll be getting 2 train cases, double the chance to win something, and I can get $30 worth of product. I am definitely getting that gold blush, I'll decide that day how to spend the other $10. OH, I almost forgot. They are also doing personal consultations all day long. I made my appt for 9:30, right after the show. I'll be getting a full skincare and make-up application and the appt is booked out for 30min. I am so excited for this event. I will post next Saturday after I attend.

Filigree for Fall

This week has turned about to be quite an exciting week for new cosmetics: both to me and to the market.

Shu Uemura has come out with a beautiful filigree collection including 5 powder eyeshadows, 2 sets of three cream eyeshadow sticks and 2 blushes. All of the powders have a beautiful filigree pattern. My favorite is the Filigree Rouge 4 Beige Gold. FYI check out the events link to find out when you can meet with a make-up artist in your area to get a personal preview of these glorious new products.

I also got 5 new products this week. Three of them came from great swaps on make-up alley. Last Holiday Season InStyle Magazine featured the Shu Uemura Geisha Lip Trio of sweet glosses. I thought they were absolutely gorgeous, but never sought them out. However, I stumbled upon one of them Pink Shell, and made a swap for it all the way from Singapore!! It has a wonderful creamsicle flavor and it is a very pretty pale shimmery pink. I also got a set of 5 lip glosses from Sephora, I haven't tried them yet, but the colors are gold, silver, pink, coral, and berry. My third MUA treat was a clinique GWP eyeshadow quad. The colors are absolutely gorges, they are: Starstruck, Golden Lynx, Sugar Sugar and Like Mink.

On Tuesday I went to the now Macy's (former Hechts) and hopped on over to the M.A.C. counter. I went straight to the lipglass display to check out Underage and Oyster Girl. The sales girl also showed me a bunch of other lip products, but I stuck to my guns and got the Underage. I love this color, it is a great pink/nude with tons of shimmer.


Today, J, S, and I took a stroll through Macy's during our lunch and were called over by the Benefit Girls. When my makeup artist asked me what I was looking for, I said "Whatever, I'm a make-up junkie" She first showed me Dr. Feelgood, which acts as a blotter/mattifier. Next up was You're Bluffing, this yellow stick counter acts redness. She followed up with Get Even, a really great pressed powder. I know I am getting to the end of my current powder, and this one is going onto the list of what I might get to replace it. She then used Dallas, a bronzer/blush/all over powder. I think that benefit is internally pushing this product. Since each girl used it on all of us. I even told my girl that I would like to try Dandelion, but she whipped out Dallas anyway. Yea, def some kind of contest going on there. Then we moved onto my dark under eye circles. We used a combo of boi-ing, ooh la lift, and eye bright, but I didn't feel like any of the products worked any better than plain old concealer. In the end, I was really impressed with the You're Bluffing, and made that my final beauty purchase of the work week.

Nail Revelation

Today I had a lunch date with J & S for a triple manicure. We went back to Natural Nails, and my second go-around confirmed what I have been thinking for a few weeks now: the pricier salons are worth it. Again, my manicurist, Nicole, rushed through everything, and I think in 10 minutes she had me under the dryer. I do go for the polish, but I also enjoy the experience, ambiance, and pampering, and I am not getting it at the cheapy nail salons. If you think about it a 12 min mani at $12 costs a dollar a minute. A 40 min mani at $25 cost roughly 60 cents an hour, so its more economical to get the better mani. I say you should always go for quality, it is worth it in the long run. This conclusion has led me to make a pretty bold move; I booked a weekly mani at Celadon, for the next 6 weeks, ladies, I am all set :)

For this weeks polish, I used Essie Delicacy. It is very pretty, but it is way to close to my skin color, and my nails are just blending into my fingers. I like light colors, but I still want them to stand out. So...up on makeupalley it goes!

I also wanted the share the fabulous book I just read:
The Booster by Jennifer Solow
The main character has an extra circular activity and she is quite the bad girl. Just reading this book made me feel as naughty as Jillian. I was completely pulled into the world of this book and it was absolutely incredible. If you are reading this, I command you to read this book too!!

My New Religion

I had my eyebrows threaded today and Oh.My.God. It was like a holy experience. It is such a cool technique the way the strings work to pull out the hairs leaving the smoothest lines I have ever seen. It didn't hurt, but it was a strange sensation. I left with the best brows ever and a new addiction. Sonia of Threads on L St is completely amazing and you can bet your Jimmy Choos I'll be making frequent and regular visits :)

Metrosexuals at the Nail Salon

I went back to 5th Ave Nails today, but this time I had Linda. She was extremely quick, like ten minutes. But she gave a good hand massage and polished fast and well. However, when I got back to work I noticed that the shape of my nails wasn't so great. When I sat under the dryer, there was a guy next to me who immediately starting blabbing. I think its totally cool for guys to get manicures, but being under the dryer means something needs to dry and that means he got clear polish. Men should buff and that's it, but I digress. He went on and on the whole time I was sitting next to him. It really irks me when strangers feel the need to talk my ear off, especially when I have nothing to say back and I just want them to shut the eff up. Unfortunately my three years in Georgia instilled some politeness in me and I have a hard time being my nasty old self. Its coming back in drips and drabs, thank god.

I went with Essie Vinyl Bikini and immediately decided not this keep this one. There is absolutely no color to it, I might as well have gotten clear polish like the guy next to me.

Update on eBay: I am still hunting for my Dior Detective Chic. Last week I bought Too Faced Snow Bunny and I got to try it out this morning. I have been lusting after this for months and I really like it, but it is extremely shimmery so I need to use a very light hand with it.

It may be the 21st century...

But its not the space age!! I've decided to rename Essie's Pearly White and make it Space Age Silver instead. It was so horrifyingly "Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century" that it just had to go. I've replaced it with Glamour. In the bottle they both had a similar shimmer to them, so I figured this was the best time to do a direct comparison. Now Glamour is what I would call pearly white. It really is the exact same color as a string of beautiful Mikimoto pearls. This is more what I was expecting.

I have also been highly coveting the Dior Detective Chic highlighter in beige vibration. Since its $55 dollars in the stores, I'm hunting on eBay like a mad-woman to try and get it at a better price. This compact is gorgeous, a beautiful creamy white leather case will look great for whipping out to use the mirror, and the powder inside has four wonderful colors that create the prettiest glow when swirled together. After seeing it in person yesterday, I have decided that I absolutely must have this. And I'm sure you'll feel the same.