March and April Beauty Empties

Hello everyone. I have some more beauty empties and reviews to share with you. Today I have quite a few since I have two months worth. I kept meaning to write up a post last month but I just never got around to it.

Aveeno Positively Smooth Shave Gel // I love this product. This is probably my 4th bottle, if not more, that I've used up. I'm not sure it really helps me shave less often but it's a great shave gel.

Tresemme' Heat Tamer Leave In Spray // This is my favorite heat protectant to use on my hair. I spritz it all over damp hair. It never weighs my hair down or leaves buildup. Yep, I need to go purchase another one actually.

Olly Vitamins - Beauty // I heard a bit of a buzz over this newer brand of gummy vitamins. Found these at Target and decided to give them a try. They are pricey, I think, but they are the best tasting gummy vitamins I've tried. I also have the multi and love it. I'm on my 3rd bottle of each.

Not Your Mothers Deja VuDo Style Extender (sample) // This smells of apples and I love that. I'm still unsure on the product itself though. Sometimes I used it and never noticed a difference and other times I thought it really helped extend a blowout.

Tresemme' Perfectly UnDone Wave Creation Sea Foam // This is a really light weight mouse basically. I like to use a product like this when I let my hair air dry and leave it to it's natural texture. I picked this up when I heard it left the hair touchable and smooth, not crispy. Well, it still managed to leave my hair a bit crunchy. I think I'll stick to salt sprays.

Simple Cleansing Micellar Water // Love this. I don't think it's as good as Bioderma, but for the price difference I'd continue to buy this one.

The Body Shop Ginger Scalp Shampoo // I had one of these in my last empties too. Still love it. Doesn't strip my hair. I use it every single time I shampoo as the first cleanse.

Secret Clinical Strength Deoderant // Favorite deoderant. I have some "natural" ones I'm trying out but they just work as well as this one so far.

Sephora Solid Brush Cleanser // My favorite makeup brush cleanser. Works great. I've heard some people say it leaves a film on their brushes but I haven't noticed any.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circle Concealer // This used to be my favorite concealer. Not just for under eye but for any spots or redness. But something has changed. This now seems to make my skin very oily and I think is causing the occasional breakout. I won't repurchase.

Sensodyne ProNamel Toothpaste // This has become my favorite toothpaste and I'm probably on my 5th tube of it. I have very thin enamel on my teeth and used to have terrible sensitivity but this has helped tremendously.

Kate Somerville Age Arrest Eye Cream // Didn't like this at all. It actually irritated my eyes and would make them water. Wouldn't repurchase.

Maybelline FitMe Concealer // Now this is my favorite concealer. The pigmentation is excellent. Staying power is great. Doesn't settle into my fine lines. I'm trying to use up some of my stash right now so I haven't repurchased this...but that may have to change. I just haven't found anything that works as well.

Dior Diorshow Mascara (sample) // I've heard really great reviews of this mascara. But I wasn't impressed. I think the main problem though is the design of the sample. It just seemed that all the mascara was on the tip of the wand and none on the bristles. I probably wouldn't purchase the full size though.

YvesSaintLaurent Touche Eclat (sample) // I know that this is a cult favorite among beauty bloggers and editors. But it just doesn't sit well at all on my skin. Settles into my fine lines every single time. Definitely wouldn't purchase considering the huge pricetag. I think the Mac version is better...and it's cheaper.

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara // This is another repurchase. Most mascara smudges so badly on my lower last line but this one doesn't. And of course that tiny brush is perfect for coating the lower lashes.

- Jessica

February Beauty Empties

Hello! Hope you are having a lovely week and getting accustomed to daylight savings time. I'm so happy there's still plenty of sunshine to see after work, but today I am exhausted.

This morning I wanted to share my recent beauty empties. I used to show these kinds of things on my youtube channel. But I'm not sure if that's the right platform for me. So I thought for now I'd just post about them here on my blog.

1. Caress Tahitian Renewal body wash // This is my umpteenth bottle of this stuff. It's my favorite body wash. The smell. The suds. The exfoliation. Yep, I'll buy more!

2. Mally Voumizing Mascara // This was the first Mally mascara I've used. It was pretty good. But I've used better and have several other brands in backup to try. So probably won't repurchase.

3. Sephora Brush Cleaner // Love this stuff. I keep it on my makeup table, spritz on brushes and wipe on a paper towel for a quick cleanse. I'm using Cinema Secrets right now, but so far I think the Sephora one might be my favorite.

4. L'Oreal Infallible Makeup Setting Spray // When I first tried this I didn't think it could possibly be as good as my Urban Decay Setting Spray. I was wrong! This is my 3rd bottle. Love it.

5. Body Shop Ginger Scalp Care Shampoo // This is another constant repurchase. I usually wait until they are having a sale and stock up on it, like 4 bottles at a time. Leaves my scalp feeling great and my hair loves it too.

6. It Cosmetics Bye Bye Redness Correcting Cream // Another product I loved! I could just apply this to my problem areas, add powder and go. No foundation needed. I'm trying to use up what I have now but I would definitely repurchase this in the future.

7. It Cosmetics Hello Lash Extensions Mascara // I've used fiber mascaras before and loved them. This one was kinda blah for my lashes.

8. Mac Fix + // If you saw my previous beauty post then you will know that I've already repurchased this product. Enough said.

9. Anastasia Clear Brow Gel // If you like a clear gel for your brows, this is a good one. Personally I just like a pencil or powder on my brows and no setting gel.

- Jessica

Beauty Buys

I love a good shopping trip. Back in February I ran into my local Walgreens and Dillards just to pick up a few things and ended up walking out with all of these! It had been a while since I'd let myself buy any new products, because let's be honest, I have a million and one things I need to use up. Ha! But these were just calling to me.

1. Revlon Colorstay Foundation - 150 Buff & 200 Nude // This brand and formulation of foundation has been in my collection for years. My skin leans more toward the oily side, but both the normal/dry and combination/oily formulas work for me. The bottle I had was a darker shade from last summer and was old packaging. I was so excited they finally brought this out with a pump! I've worn the 150 by itself and in combination with a few other foundations that were a bit too dark for me. In fact my current favorite is to mix it with Dior Skin foundation.

2. Wet'n'Wild 1 Step Wonder Get - 722 B Missy In Pink // I was pretty excited to try this one. But it left me pretty disappointed. I did love the color and the fat brush which made for easy application. But the color went on streaky. Also, I wanted to truly test out the formula so I didn't apply a fast dry top coat like I'm used to and ended up with a ton of smudges. I will say though that for no top coat this wore quite well with no chipping.

3. L'oreal Infallible Pro Matte Gloss - 302 Fuchsia Amnesia // There might of been a momentary lapse in judgement when I picked this color. It's beautiful and I do love a pink, but it's too bright for me to wear on its own. Perhaps I've become to accustomed to wearing a nude lip. But, this has quickly become my go to lip product. I lightly apply it to my lips so it becomes like a stain. Then I apply either a gloss or layer another sheer lipstick over it.

4. L'oreal Nail Color - 207 Pinot Purple // I've tried this formulation before and I think it's a great one. Not perfect but the application is great and it's wear time is on par with most of my other polishes. This color was gorgeous in the day, the perfect purple. But at night or in a dimly lit area it comes across almost black.

5. Mac Fix + // This is another product that is not really new to me. I had a small bottle for years that I used when I'd foil on eyeshadows. But after watching a youtuber douse her face in it once her makeup was done to combat any extra powder on my face I decided to get a new bottle. After I've applied all my makeup, except for mascara and lip product I soak my face in this product and then use a piece of paper to fan it dry. Sometimes I follow up with a setting spray but most days I've been very happy with just the fix +.

6. Mac Prep + Prime - Radiant Rose // Another oldie but goodie product I've used. This is great to put over concealer around the eye area to add some brightness. Just be careful not to add too much!

- Jessica

january 2015 empties

goodmorning! hope you all had a lovely weekend.

i know it's been a few weeks since i've blogged. and honestly it's just because i didn't have any content ready, mostly due to the short days still and not enough daylight/time to get stuff photographed. but i did a bit of catching up this weekend so i'm ready to get some posts back up!

this morning i have a beauty related post, well actually a video! that's right, i dug out my little camera and set up a little space in my house to record. it's been a while, like since may of 2013 that i have filmed anything...so it might take me a bit to get used to sitting in front of the camera again.

today's video is discussing and showing all the beauty related products that i used up last month.

link to my video if it doesn't show up above for you

i'm hoping to figure out a way to start filming some process videos for card making and scrapbooking. right now i'm racking my mind trying to figure out how to setup to film from above my table. as soon as i get that figured out then i will start filming!

have a lovely day!!!

- jess

empties video - volume 2

i have a new post up on youtube that i wanted to share over here on the blog as well.  enjoy!

- jess

3 polish reviews

goodmorning!

today i have 3 nail polishes to review.  all of them are lovely brown shades.

first i wore opi suzi says da from the 2007 fall/winter russian collection.  it's a chocolate cream shade that pulls on the red side.  even with 2 coats if you are in the right light the red really comes through and reminds me of a chocolate covered cherry.

when i went to put suzi says da away i noticed i had another opi polish that looked very similar only with shimmer.  it is esspresso your style from the fall 2007 deliciously dark collection.  i really think they are nearly the same base shade but the addition of the shimmer in the espresso your style polish really adds a nice depth to the color.  i also added orly's so go-diva glitter as a top coat on my ring and middle fingers which matches perfectly. 

as with all other opi polishes i had minimal tip wear only for the first 3 days and then chipping after that.

i'm definitely a fan of the chocolate shade of polishes.  i was hoping i'd like one over the other so i could remove one from my collection but they are all keepers!

- jess

zoya polish review

i adore polish.  it's rare that my nails are bare.  such lovely colors mean my collection of polishes is starting to get a bit out of control...and yet there is always a new color or colors calling my name.

this winter zoya has really been on my radar.  i saw a few reviews of their winter 2012/2013 collection a few months ago and then started stalking my local ulta.  it felt like it took forever for them to update their zoya selection and bring out the new collection.  finally they had a sale on zoya buy 2 get 1 free and i finally scored a few.  i picked up blaze and storm along with rekha (which i've not worn yet) from their nyfw 2012 collection.  then as part of one of my glossybox i received electra.

i applied blaze on my nails first as i thought it would be lovely for the holiday season.  the polish applied beautifully and i only needed 2 coats.  the base color is more of a raspberry red.  and oh the shimmer this polish possesses with micro glitter is amazing!  the pics just do not do it justice.

this polish quickly stole a place in my heart as one of my top favorite polishes of all time.  the wear on the zoya formula for me was the standard i get with most polishes.  and even though it has micro glitter, it was a breeze to take off the nails.

this week i wanted some glittery nails for new years so i applied a base of storm polish.  the coverage on this color i found to be a bit more sheer than blaze.  it took two liberal coats for me to get an opaque base.  i was actually more excited for this color than i was for blaze, but to me the micro glitter just shimmers better in blaze.

i decided to apply electra to just the tips.  it is a holographic bar glitter in a clear base.  it is stunning.  however i do have issues with bar glitters in that my tips always seem very sharp once the polish has dried and sometimes the 'bars' of glitter can really poke through the top coat and cause friction when your hands rub against anything.  i did have to take a nail file to the tips of my nails as it was so rough i was afraid it would catch on a sweater or even scratch the delicate skin around my eye when applying makeup.

the storm and electra polishes have been on my nails for two days now and so far no chipping.

- jess

review - forever21 mint & urban outfitters chilly

when i was on vacation in florida i happened to pick up quite a few nail polishes, including these two from forever21 and urban outfitters.  i don't have either store close to me, so i was pretty happy to get to get to shop at both stores.

first i started out applying the forever21 mint polish.  what attracted me to this polish, besides the fast it's only $2.80 is that it's a mint base w/ a lovely blue shimmer.  the shimmer is faint, but you can still see it even after the polish has dried on the nails.  this was the first time i'd used a forever21 polish and i'm not overly crazy w/ the brush, it's just a bit too thin for my liking.  the formula for this color was also a little thin and it took 3 coats to get it completely opaque.  it does wear really well as i had it on my nails for 4 days w/ minimal wear on the tips only.  i picked up 3 more polishes from forever21 and i'm excited to see if they wear just as phenomenal since they are such a great price point.

the urban outfitters i went to didn't have very many polish colors to choose from and i only saw one that caught my eye.  this polish retailed for $5.  chilly is a beautiful glitter polish.  it's a mix of blue micro glitter, small pink glitter and holographic glitter in a clear base.  this glitter polish is stunning.  i did apply 3 coats of it to my ring fingers.

both of these polishes are beautiful and i would definitely recommend you check them out next time you are in forever21 and urban outfitters.

~ jess

polish review - revlon buttercup and calla lily

revlon has really been coming thru lately with me  on their polishes.  they are a great price point, come in some great shades, including some amazing dupes for high end, fantastic color range and good formulation.  i've been looking for a lovely yellow for a while now and youtube has really been buzzing about the buttercup shade. so the day i went into ulta revlon products were on sale for bogo 1/2 off.  i decided to pick up the buttercup shade and also the calla lily.

buttercup is a lovely light pastel yellow.  nice and creamy, everything you'd want in a spring yellow.  calla lily is a creamy off-white with lovely micro shimmer glitter (i wasn't really able to capture it in the pics).  here's where the praise for these polishes starts to diminish in my opinion.

i think i must have just got a bad bottle of the revlon buttercup.  for starters the brush seemed shorter on it than the calla lily shade and also some of the bristles were rough and a bit longer.  it just made application a pain.  also, the color was very streaky and thick.  if i tried to put on a thin layer i only had streaks.  so i ended up having to use three layers of the buttercup to try to get it to look decent.  thankfully seche vite top coat can cover a multitude of "sins". ha!

now onto the calla lily shade.  i could tell from the bottle that it would be a sheer color, but i was hoping i could get it opaque in three layers.  wrong!  it took five.  i will say though that it applied much easier than the buttercup shade.  this is a lovely shade though and would be beautiful with an opaque white applied under it first.

even though the application was a bit of a headache, i have to say that both shades were really lovely.  so if you don't mind working with them a bit, they are a great purchase.  like i said though, i do think the brush on the buttercup shade i purchased was just a lemon.  oh, and the wear on these polishes was very good for me.

~ jess

polish review - zoya belle

last week zoya and birchbox launched a package of limited edition blogger nail polishes.  there are 3 shades in the collection - belle, kate and coraline.  belle was inspired by capitol hill style.  coraline inspired by eleventh gorgeous.  and finally kate inspired by the small things blog.

of course as soon as i saw tweets and emails about this collection i rushed out to buy them.  they retail for $22 for all three bottles and ship free.

the polishes are very lovely, especially for spring and summer.  all three are a sheer jelly polish and only one has shimmer.  i currently have kate on my toes.  today's review however is about belle, which is the one polish with shimmer.  as soon as i opened the package this is the one i was immediately drawn to.  it's a beautiful pink that has a coral/gold shimmer to it - i wish i'd been able to capture this better in my pics.  surprisingly i don't have anything else in my collection like it.

now since these polishes are sheer, it did take three coats of this polish to become opaque on my nails.  they apply very easily and dry beautifully.  here's my one and only problem with this polish.  it wore horridly on my nails.  as you can see in the pic above, i had major wear on my thumb nail and that was less than 24 hrs after applying the polish.  i used the same base/top coats i normally do and did nothing out of the ordinary in my every day life to cause extra wear.  i'm not sure if it's just the nature of the sheer polish or what...  next time i think i'll put down a base of an opaque pink first and use this polish as a top coat.


~ jess

polish review - china glaze for audrey and revlon aloof

so you know the other day when i said i don't really do blue polishes... i think i jinxed myself.  ha!

seems i can't get enough of the color lately and keep buying up blue polishes.  and i finally decided to jump on the blogger/youtube bandwagon with china glaze's 'for audrey' which is supposed to be a perfect tiffany & co. blue.  i'm not sure if it is or not since i don't own any tiffany & co. boxes, but i will tell you it is a very lovely color.

i started out by applying my regular base coats (nail magic nail hardener and china glaze strong adhesion base coat) and then two coats of revlon's aloof which is a very soft silvery metallic polish.  it is a tad thick, but definitely easy to work with.  since i was going to use a sticker to create a design i went ahead and applied a layer of seche vite polish to speed up the drying.

now i would recommend that you work on one to two nails at a time for the rest of these steps.  once the polish was set i used round stickers to cover the top section of my nail.  then applied china glaze's for audrey.  since i already had two coats of the revlon aloof i only applied one coat of the for audrey.  as soon as i applied that i peeled the sticker off that nail.  then i would let that sit for a few minutes before applying a final coat of seche vite over the entire nail.  i really liked the final look.  the china glaze for audrey applied beautifully and wore really well.  i would definitely recommend this color if you are looking for a lovely blue.  also the revlon aloof is a great color, although i'm not sure if it was a limited edition or in their permanent line.

~ jess

review - essie trophy wife & revlon whimsical

i'm not usually a blue polish kind of girl.  idk why, but i never feel like i can pull it off unless it's a blue-green.  i saw a youtuber talking about essie's trophy wife and thought i'd check it out.  that same day i found revlon's whimsical.

essie's trophy wife is a frosty deep teal that pulls a bit more blue i think than teal actually.  not only is it a frost polish but it shimmers like it might have some kind of super micro glitter.  it reminds me of the ocean when the light hits hit. soooo lovely.

revlon's whimsical is a light blue-gray with small and chunky blue and pink glitter.  i would guess w/ 2-3 coats you could have it opaque on the nails.  but i wanted to try it as a top coat.

so for this look i applied 1 coat of nail magic nail hardener and 1 coat of china glaze strong adhesion for my base.  i followed that with two coats of essie's trophy wife.  the polish was a great consistency and applied beautifully!  then on my ring fingers i applied 1 coat of revlon's whimsical.  i wanted some of essie's trophy wife color to pull through so that's why i only used 1 coat.  i followed that up w/ seche vite for my top coat.  i wore it for 3 days before i noticed chipping.  i actually was so busy that it stayed on my nails for 5 days, which by then it looked pretty rough.

my verdict:
essie's trophy wife - A
revlon's whimsical - A

~ jess

polish review - sally hansen diamond strength jewel overcoat

while roaming around ulta last weekend trying to get as much as i could w/ my 20% off coupon i wandered over to the nail polish area.  i keep telling myself that i'm not going to buy any more.  but then i'll see a color that i don't have in my collection and of course it ends up in my shopping bag.

they had a display for the new sally hansen jewel overcoats.  so much beautiful glitter!  i'm not sure how long they have been out, but i know i hadn't seen them before.  i immediately gravitated to the 501 - ring-a-ding which is a mixture of rose and yellow gold chunky faceted glitter.  the 507 - white veil also caught my eye as its a mixture of chunky gold faceted glitter and smaller white glitter.

after i got home with them i was a bit disappointed that they are set in a clear base and sometimes when you swatch them on the nail it only leaves behind a few pieces of glitter.

first i applied 2 coats of opi got a date tonight as my base color.  it's a very soft creamy pink.  i then applied 2 coats of the 507 white veil to all my nails except for my ring fingers.  and for those i used the 501 ring-a-ding.  since it is only the large chunky glitter i had to work with it more and use 3 coats.  finally i topped it off with seche vite.

507 - white veil

it was a bit of work to get the glitter on there just as i liked, but i'm very happy with the end result.  by using the soft pink as a base color this is the perfect pairing for spring.  i'm sure i'll be getting a lot of use out of these two bottles.

501 ring-a-ding

~ jess

essie play date polish review

i love spring.  it's my favorite season, for sure!  spring and summer are actually also my favorite seasons for nail polish.  usually i'm a pink nails kind of girl, but i definitely like a lot of other colors too.  i kept seeing pics of essie's 'to buy or not to buy' lavender polish and i was falling in love.  so i ran to walgreens friday to pick up that polish, but got sidetracked when i saw essie's 'play date' from their 'go overboard' collection.  what i love about it is that it is a much richer purple.

saturday i put it on my nails and was in love!  not only is it such a beautiful color, but its so creamy and a dream to apply to the nails.  it was opaque in two coats.  i used china glaze 'strong adhesion base coat' and seche vite for a top coat.  i did have chipping after two days, but that was just due to my nails splitting. 

essie 'play date' swatch

i can definitely see this polish getting a lot of use on my nails not only this year, but for years to come.  check it out next time you are in your local drugstore or beauty store.

~ jess

ps... i'll try to get better pics next time i do a polish review!

daily pics - 01.24.2012 - 01.31.2012

it's been a while since i've caught you up with my daily photos.  in fact, i think i'll break them down into a couple of posts.  i'll at least get up the rest of the january pics today.  i'm still doing pretty good w/ the photo a day.  every now and then i miss a day.  i did see a post/pic on instagram of things you take a pic of each day and loved the idea, but only followed it one day in february... so i might try it again in march.

yes, i'm still obsessed with greek yogurt. i'm not eating it every day, but most days i am. i still have no clear favorite brand/flavor. this was the first time i've tried a flavor that is already mixed into the yogurt...usually i buy the fruit on bottom or fruit on side. this was sooooo good. it tasted exactly like i was eating a key lime pie w/o the crust.

while grocery shopping i always look to see what new items have arrived in the frozen section of the grocery store. these meals are sooo easy to just grab and take to work for lunch...otherwise i don't have enough time to fix something of a morning and end up grabbing some kind of unhealthy fast food. i found this meal at a walmart supercenter, but not the one i usually go to. and i didn't even realize until i was eating it that it was vegetarian. oh.my.goodness. was it every yummy! quite possibly the best flavor of lean cuisine i've ever ate.

just a quick snapshot i grabbed friday morning...for two reasons. first the scarf was new. i'd just bought it the day before from tjmaxx. i wasn't sure if i should wear it yet or hold onto it for a few months since it's so springy...but i couldn't resist wearing it. i love how it brightens up a dreary winter day. second was the fact that i'd just had my hair trimmed/colored the day before. i'm still loving the dark brown so i just got a repeat of last time w/ some highlights. interesting note - my hair doesn't like color. in fact my stylist has to use the next to darkest color (blue-black being the only darker) to get that color on my hair.

this is the sigma dry'n'shape system. after you wash your brushes you place them in there and then most brushes will dry in 4-6hrs. it worked really well for all my brushes except my XL powder brush which took a little longer to dry. i'll definitely be using this from now on when i clean my brushes.

julep - demi polish. a lovely vampy red shade.

a sparkly wreath w/ a peacock...it hangs between my two large windows above my bed.

i'm sure by now you've seen a million pics/recipes for a green smoothie. this was the first one i tried and if you can get past the color and knowing it contains spinach it's actually really yummy. as in if i were blindfolded i wouldn't have known it even had spinach.
well, that's it for today. see you guys later!
~ jess