My Current Wishlist | April 2014

Top to bottom, L to R

• Laura Mercier Creme de Pistache Body Souffle - This is a super indulgent body cream that has been all the rage lately. It's uber pricey, but I love all things pistachio and I just know I would love this scent. Someday, I just might have to splurge and drop the $60 on it.

• Bumble & Bumble Pret a Powder - Best described by Bumble & Bumble, Pret a Powder is "equal parts dry shampoo, style extender and volume in a pinch." I use dry shampoo regularly, and this stuff is supposed to be the bomb.

• Chloe Roses de Chloe Perfume - Chloe is perhaps my most favorite perfume I've ever owned, but Roses de Chloe smells absolutely heavenly. Equally classy and sexy, this scent is something I'd never get sick of. I need to use up a couple perfumes before allowing myself to purchase this.

• LaVanila Deodorant - I've been testing various all natural deodorants casually for quite some time now, and this one has been highly talked about. It doesn't come cheap, but I'm determined to find a worthwhile natural deodorant and once I find a great one, I'm happy to pay for it.

• fresh Soy Face Cleanser - I got a sample of this in my Sephora haul, and recently brought it on vacation. I really loved the soft rosy smell and the clean feeling it provided.

• Too Faced Melted Liquefied Long Wear Lipsticks - A gloss, stain, and lipstick in one, the swatches of these lipsticks look amazing. They don't come cheap, so for now they'll remain on my wish list.

Have you tried any of these products? What are you wishing for?

This Week #1 | (New Series!)

I've noticed a popular Sunday post that creeps around the blogging world on Sundays, and that's a weekly photo recap. I like seeing snippets of other bloggers lives, especially told through images and so I thought I'd start this series here, too. Funny enough, I've also been looking to up my blog posts to 4 days  per week (instead of just Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and this is the perfect way to ease in to 4 days of posting (although this week there will be just 3 posts as we recuperate from our little vacay)! Let's dive right in...

Winnie cuddling before work//Signs of Spring in my backyard//Where we spent our weekend//Winnie at her first puppy class

This week was busy with prepping, and by prepping I mean getting ready for a weekend away in Vegas for my best friend's bachelorette party! It was my first time there, and my husband's too. (The boys came with us - which was really nice!) What happen(s)ed in Vegas stays in Vegas will be more detailed in next week's post, so stay tuned!

The weather was so beautiful over last weekend and early in the week that blooms are popping up in our back yard! After the absolutely frigid winter we had, this is such a welcome sight. The picture above is also the start of my 100 Happy Days posts on Instagram. If you don't know what all the #100HappyDays posts you undoubtedly are seeing everywhere are about, I'd highly recommend you check it out. 

This week we took Winnie to her first puppy class. I could honestly sit and watch those puppies play together all day! How can you be mad or sad while watching the little cuties have so much fun together? My husband, Jake, and I learned a lot just from one class and we're looking forward to the next 5 weeks of class time. I can tell it's going to be the highlight of my weeks.

Come Thursday, pedicures and spray tanning were in order before the trip to Vegas. I am typically the shade of egg whites, so I figured I'd try my first spray tan. It's fun to have some color and put some bronzer to good use! 

That pretty much rounds out our week (since I don't want to give you too much info on Vegas just yet). Busy, busy, busy - just how I like it. Let me know if you like these kinds of posts! I'm excited to start including this new series on Glazed Over!

See ya Wednesday, gals. (Glazed Over is taking Monday off to recuperate) Have a relaxing Sunday!

Lime Crime - Crema de Limon

Earlier this year I redeemed some Ipsy points I had for this Lime Crime - Crema de Limon nail polish. I absolutely LOVE Lime Crime packaging and branding, it's the marketing professional in me (my day job). It's fun and vibrant, and the products are always edgy and colorful. This is the first time I've ever owned anything from the brand, and I was super excited to finally try something of theirs out. 

Crema de Limon is an opaque, pastel cream yellow. I'm wearing two coats, topped off with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. I thought for sure this was a matte color, because of the packaging, but it isn't.

I wore this for Easter, and this is the perfect pale yellow for the holiday. It isn't streaky, it isn't patchy, it's just a nice, cream nail polish. Yellow can be a tough color to sport on the nails, but Crema de Limon would look good on anyone. This polish started chipping towards the end of the second day of wearing it.

Have you tried anything from Lime Crime? 

 

Revlon Legacy Lipsticks | Jungle Peach & Snow Peach

L to R: Jungle Peach, Snow Peach

Revlon recently reintroduced a series of vintage lipsticks that had once been discontinued. If you've been patrolling the aisles of your drugstore lately, chances are you've seen them. When I found them at Ulta not too long ago, I couldn't resist the peach shades. But really, all five of the shades are stunning. 

My favorite of the two is Snow Peach. This color is SERIOUSLY awesome. It's a pigmented pink-coral color that looks awesome on fair skin, although I could see it being gorgeous on tan skin as well. I can't speak to that as I'm white as snow all the time. This color went on smooth, was creamy and lasted 4-ish hours on me with some wear.

Jungle Peach looked so so gorgeous in the tube but  just look at this mess on me. It pulls really orange on my lips. I look like I'm dying or suffering from some kind of sickness when I wear this. I'm so disappointed because it looks so pretty in the tube. This will unfortunately be given to someone else who can pull it off. 

Did you snatch up any of these limited edition Revlon lipsticks? What did you think?

Ipsy | April 2014

This month there's no Battle of the Subscription boxes now that I officially said goodbye to my Birchbox subscription. I've held on to Ipsy, a subscription service that is totally worth the $10 a month. You get so many awesome, and often full-sized products to try each month. If you're interested in susbcribing, click any hyperlinked "Ipsys" in this post.

First and foremost, how cute is the bag this month? It looks like a record player and the inside says "Beauty Rocks". I like the square shape of it, too. Here's what's inside...

• St. Tropez Gradual Tan Plus Anti-Aging Multi-Action Face - This moisturizer not only provides anti-aging benefits, but it adds a subtle glow to the skin. I actually have a full size version of this that I haven't pulled out to try just yet. This will be perfect for use on the go!

• Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Apple Pink - This balm has a cool packaging feature - the top part houses a lip brush for application. It's FAR more pigmented than I expected it to be, providing a nice wash of color on the lips.

• dr. brandt microdermabrasion - This product is marketed as an at-home alternative to expensive dermatology office treatments. I'm a skin care junkie, so I'm looking forward to trying this. 

• Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black Velvet - I am super excited to receive a travel size of Urban Decay's awesome 24/7 eyeliner! This is a velvety smooth waterproof eyeliner, known for being absolutely amazing. 

• Elizabeth Mott pop! goes the shadow eyeshadow in Champagne - This eyeshadow is super smooth, and a gorgeous shimmery champagne nude color. It smooths on like butter and would be a gorgeous shade for any skin color. Here's what the shade looks like (on the inner 1/3 of my eyelid).

Have you tried any of these products? Did you get anything different in your Ipsy bag? Let me know! 


p.s. Here's a bonus picture of Winnie from Easter! She had so much fun running around with family. Also, she has her own Instagram account now! Find her at: WinnietheGoldenRetriever

BH Cosmetics Blush Duos

Not too long ago, BH Cosmetics was featured on Hautelook, one of my favorite email subscription services. If you haven't signed up, you HAVE to! Here's a link to do so. The reason I love it? You can score seriously awesome deals on cosmetics brands like Lorac, Laura Mercier, Urban Decay and more! 

When BH Cosmetics was featured about a month ago, I knew I had to snatch these blush duos up. I had heard Sam Schuerman talk about them on her YouTube channel and she raved about how great they are. I trust her opinion, so I went with my gut and purchased these. Of course I just deleted the email with how much I paid for these, but I think I paid just $4 each.

The color that I knew I absolutely wanted was Lilac, a purpley pink that is perfect for spring. Lilac is a very pigmented blush that leaves the perfect tint to the cheeks, especially if used with the highlighter on the right hand side. The blush itself is lightly shimmery, but does appear to be more matte as the day wears on. This is a great shade for us fair girls. 

I took a chance on Iris, a very bold matte berry red. This shade requires a light hand when applying as it's very vivid and pigmented. This blush gives the perfect "in from the cold" flush. The lighter, coral shimmer shade works well as a blush, but probably only for those of us who are quite pale. (Pale girls, holla!) I like to use both of these combined for a nice flush with a dewy finish.

The quality of these BH Cosmetics blush duos far exceeded my expectations when compared to the price of them. They are very richly pigmented, they blend well, and they come in a variety of shades that will suit any skin type. If these come back around on Hautelook, I would highly suggest you check them out.

Bye Bye Birchbox Haul

If you follow me on instagram, you know I recently unsubscribed from Birchbox. I subscribed for over 2 years, but felt that it just wasn't worth even $10 a month anymore, especially with services like Ipsy that provide excellent value each and every month for the same price. I had accumulated $50 worth of Birchbox points, and figured before I canceled, I ought to cash those out! Here's what I used my points for.

• Shea Terra Organics Body Creme in Bourbon Vanilla ($16) - I took a chance on this body creme. I'd never heard anything about it before, but all the scents sounded amazing (Bananas & Baobabs, White Chocolate, Gingered Pumpkin, etc) so I took a leap of faith and picked the bourbon vanilla scent. It doesn't go on super smooth, but I kind of wonder if it froze when it was delivered. Aside from that, it smells amazing and I love it! 

• Nuxe Reve de Miel Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm ($19) - Beauty bloggers galore love to rave about this lip balm. It's thick, citrusy and mega-hydrating. I haven't really given this much of a go, but I'm going to put this in to my night-time lip therapy rotation soon.

• Klorane Soothing Eye Makeup Remover ($9) - Much like the body creme, I had never heard a peep about this eye makeup remover so I took a chance. I haven't tried it, but stay tuned for my review once I do.

• Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm in Shea Butter & Vitamin E ($7.50) - This lip balm won Temptalia's 2014 Reader's Choice awards, so I knew it had to be good.... and it totally is. 

Overall, I'm really happy with what I got with my Birchbox points! Have you tried any of these products? Let me know!

OPI - Stay The Night

The textured polish trend has been around for a while. I'm late on this bandwagon, but I finally found a textured polish that I had to try. I tend toward glitter in the first place, but if I'm going to take the texture plunge, it's certainly going to be with a glittery polish (the only kind I really like when it comes to this type of nail polish). 

OPI's Stay the Night is part of Mariah Carey's Spring 2013 line (so I'm a year late... what of it?!) but I recently picked this up on sale at TJ Maxx. You might remember me hauling this specific polish.

Stay the Night is a black textured base full of hot pink glitter. This is an amazing color. It looks like lava on the nails! I used 3 coats to achieve full opacity. I thought for sure that this would chip right off, but it stayed surprisingly well, lasting me 2-3 days without chips, and then a few more days with some sizeable chipping. Overall, I was really impressed with wear time.

The sheer beauty and awesome wear time of Stay the Night made me want to try even more textures. I have one more (which you can see in my nail polish haul) but I think I'm going to keep my eye out for even more beautiful "Liquid Sand" colors. 

Are you in to the textured polish trend? Let me know in the comments below!

HerStyler Argan Oil Hair Set | Review

Once a week, I pamper my hair with some sort of hair treatment. I blowdry my hair now and then, and I'm prone to split ends and tangles, so making sure to use a deep conditioning hair mask is essential. 

For Christmas, my best friend gifted me this HerStyler Argan Oil set. She had recently fell in love with it and said I must give it a try. Well, you don't have to tell me twice. I've been using this frequently since December, and I'm finally ready to give you all my review.

This set consists of the Nourishing & Moisturizing Shampoo, the Argan Oil Hair Mask, and the Argan Oil Vitamin-E serum. This set retails for $120, and can be purchased online here. 

The first thing I noticed was how amazing this set smells. Both the shampoo and conditioner smell like warm coconut. The serum has kind of an odd smell that reminds me of citronella candles. I use the shampoo like I would any shampoo, rinse it out and apply the conditioner mask to the bottom half of my hair (avoiding my scalp to make sure my roots don't look greasy or weighed down) and allow it to sit for at least 5 minutes before rinsing it out.

After my shower, I apply one pump of the serum to damp, towel-dried hair along the bottom half of my hair (same section I used the conditioning mask on). My hair instantly feels like velvet once the serum has been applied. It is so luxurious! 

The HerStyler Argan Oil Hair Set is amazing. When I brush my hair out post-shower, it takes almost no effort. The tangles just melt away. It leaves my hair not only looking and feeling amazing, but smelling great, too! Unfortunately, this set is entirely too expensive for me to repurchase regularly, and I do think there are comparable options out there for a much cheaper price. My only negative is the lofty price tag, but if you're not afraid to shell out some cash, you will not be disappointed with the HerStyler Argan Oil set! It is certainly Glazed Over approved.

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick | Review & Swatch

Lippies are my thing. I've got more than I care to admit, so when offered the chance to try a shade from the new Moisture Renew line from Rimmel, I jumped at the chance. I am always on the hunt for a lipstick that not only looks great and has lasting power, but one that moisturizes too. The Rimmel Moisture Renew line promises vivid color with a burst of moisture. The color you'll see here is As You Want Victoria, just one of 18 total shades in the line.

The Rimmel website describes this line as such:

Lips so cared for, true colour is maximised! Maximised, radiant colour. Innovative formula with 3 super Moisturisers. Lips feel up to 70% more hydrated and up to 60% smoother! SPF 20, Vitamins A, C and E for protected lips.

The Rimmel Moisture Renew lipstick goes on like a dream. It's super creamy, and mega-pigmented with just one run over the lips. It's so smooth and feels nourishing, but only for a short time. As it wears it does not keep the lips hydrated for much longer than a few minutes. 

The pigmentation is the real gem of this lipstick. I am able to get 4+ hours of wear, even through drinking and eating (although there is some transfer). 

For just over $5 at most drugstores, you really should give these a go if you're in the market for a new lippie. I really enjoy using it and I will definitely look to get more in the future.

Target Spring 2014 Beauty Box

I feel a bit bad posting about this, as it's no longer available, but as I considered whether or not to share with all of you, I thought - hey, Target does these boxes now and then and you might want to know for the future. So, I apologize this is no longer available, but make sure to keep your eyes open for a new box in the future.

Long story short, I paid just $5 plus shipping for the Target Spring 2014 Beauty Box. ONLY $5!!! That mascara alone is worth ~$8! You can only purchase these boxes online, and you have to act fast as they sell out rather quickly. I think this was a really great value with awesome products to try. I'm really happy with it! 

The contents of the box are as follows (From the Target website):

1) TONI&GUY Casual Sea Salt Texturising Spray (2.5 fl oz): Want beachy hair without hitting the surf? Spray from root to tip for salty, sultry texture and subtle, windswept waves.
2) L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara (.22 fl oz): Stretch and lengthen lashes for a fluttery, winged-out look with this unique mascara formula and revolutionary asymmetrical Butterfly Brush.
3) Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo (1.7 oz): Give hair a rejuvenating boost with this paraben and colorant-free formula made with natural tapioca to instantly absorb excess oil with less residue.
4) COVERGIRL Smoochies Sizzle Gloss (.44 fl oz): Pucker up. Sheer color meets sizzling shimmer in a moisturizing formula that’s always stunning, never sticky.
5) Jergens BB Cream Light (2 fl oz): Finally, a multi-tasking beauty cream in a quick-drying formula that goes on sheer and delivers visible results in just 5 days. 

Have you tried any of these products? Were you lucky enough to score one of the Target Beauty Boxes? Let me know in the comments below!