Last haul before my NO BUY!

Before I start this post I just wanted to apologize for not blogging in almost a week, so sorry!!! I've been feeling a little "off" lately and just needed a break, you know how it can be sometimes. Today I want to share some purchases I made before I go on my first ever no buy for the month of February! I spent wayyy too much money between Christmas and a bunch of sales in January. And I just did my taxes last night, this is the first year I owe the government money instead of getting a refund from them, super sad face =( So I decided I need to get back on my strict monthly budget. Which means I can only spend about $100(or LESS) a month on makeup, nail polish, skin care, etc. Anyways, this weekend I picked up a few things I'm very excited about!

Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup - I am IN LOVE with this foundation!!! It's full coverage and looks amazing. I don't why I was wasting my time with drugstore ones, I just tried the newest Revlon PhotoReady Airbrush Mousse Makeup and it is horrible. I definitely think this Estée Lauder foundation is well worth my money.
Estée Lauder Peach Nuance Blush - I actually wanted to repurchase my absolute favorite blush, Nude Rose but they didn't have it...and I'm not going to lie I've had Nude Rose for over 5 years (I actually 'permanently borrowed' it from my mom and it's still not finished). Before I got into beauty blogging I had no idea makeup expires, so when I realized that I knew it's time to let go of my favorite blush and buy it brand new again haha. But I picked out this highlighter/blush combo instead, I like it a lot!
Estée Lauder gift bag - Since I spent over $50 I received a free makeup bag with samples of their Perfectly Clean cleanser, Time Zone AM/PM anti wrinkle creme and Advanced Night Repair serum (which I'm highly interested in, full size it quite pricey).
Tarte Lights, Camera, Splashes! - I needed a new waterproof mascara so I bought this one. So far I'm not really liking it on it's own (the way it coats my lashes), but it worked better for me on top of some normal mascara. We'll see how I feel after a couple of weeks of use and I'll have a full review!
Soap and Glory Hand Food - Whyyy does Sephora put all those little goodies for you to stare at while you wait in line?! Oh yeah, so that you'll be tempted to buy more!! Haha so that's pretty much why I got this, heard good things about it and I really like it.

That's my haul!!! I'm actually excited to start my no buy, although I don't know how easy it will be for me...since I can be an implusive buyer sometimes (especially for sales). Got any tips?? I'll probably just ignore lots of emails and tweets, if I don't see it or know about I won't be inclined to buy :)

NOTD Half Moon Camel

This is one of those manicures where I have this idea in my head but nothing turns out right! I've been wanting to do a half moon manicure, I really like the style because it's so simple and chic. I didn't have any sort of nail art tape but a lot of people recommend using reinforcement stickers. Well I tried that and totally failed, the reinforcement stickers refused to stick onto my nails! The polish would bleed through and when I peeled off the stickers the line was definitely not straight....I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, maybe my stickers just suck. So then I tried using some french tip guides instead, which is what I used here. They stuck onto my nails a lot better but the lines still aren't perfect, as you can see here...oh well!

As far as this color combo I chose...not a huge fan haha. I received this RGB nail polish in my Beauty Social gift bag, I knew this color Camel wasn't going to look good with my skin tone. I wanted to use it as least once, the formula was really good and very opaque. But I don't think I'll ever use it ever again, need to find it a better home. Now that I've done this half moon style, I don't think it looks that great with my squared off nails. I guess it looks okay but definitely looks better with rounded shape nails. Do you think a half moon mani look good with square nails? I've gotten a few compliments like "oh your nails are so....different!" haha at least people notice them. I'll probably give this another shot with some other colors. That's my nail of the day, thanks for reading!

January Birchbox

This month's Birchbox focuses on bringing clarity to every aspect of our lives. I am really excited I received a full size item in this months box, otherwise I would have been really disappointed. I'm not ready to cancel Birchbox yet, even though I keep saying I am tired of getting perfumes samples and snacks...which I received again this month. I love trying to new products, but I have so many different skin care items now and I really want to stick to a regimen. Anyways those are my initial thoughts, let's see what I think about all my products this month!

LUSH Haul - Grand Opening Party!

A LUSH store finally opened here in San Diego, CA and they had their Grand Opening Party yesterday! I was so surprised how busy it was, there was a line outside for people waiting to get inside! Even though they were only letting a limited amount of people in the store, it was ridiculously crowded inside. You honestly could not move one step without bumping into someone. Besides that, they had some great perks if you decided to join the party and spend money. They gave the first 100 people in line a free limited edition shower gel, they gave away free soaps if you answered a trivia question correctly (I totally did not know the answers, I'm a LUSH newbie :X) and free fresh mask treatments inside the store. They also had mini cupcakes and beverages to nibble on while you shopped. If you spent more than $65 you got some really great free goodies with you purchase too!  

Here's what I bought:

Cute Blog Award!

I'll be honest, I normally don't like doing these blog awards because they remind me of high school and myspace, I don't know why they just feel very kiddish to me. I feel bad saying that, just cause I know it's a nice way for the beauty blogging community to connect with each other. But I've been tagged in a few and haven't done them so today I thought aw what the heck let's do it! Plus it is a great way for you guys to learn a little bit more about me :)

Jen from Adventures in Beauty tagged me, thanks Jen! Her blog has beautiful photos, great reviews, tips and looks...check it out if you haven't already!

Finger Paints Special Effects: Asylum, Motley & Twisted

FLAKIES!!! Okay okay I know you've probably seen a ton of these swatches already but you haven't seen mine! :D This is probably the best Finger Paints collection ever, these are actually the first polishes I own from Finger Paints because their colors never really interested me, until now! I got three colors that are the most unique to me...Asylum, Motley and Twisted. I didn't get Flashy because it is a dupe of Nubar 2010 which I have, you can see  awesome swatches here. And then I didn't get Flecked because it looks similar to one of the Zoya Fleck Effects, which I plan on buying next time there is a good promo code out. I did two coats of all the flakies over the different colors below, also all the photos are taken indoors with natural lighting becaue in direct sunlight the flakies kind of get washed out. Let's take a closer look at these STUNNING flakies!

Black out.

Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know I will be participating in the SOPA Strike tomorrow protesting to stop Internet Censorship Bills, SOPA and PIPA. SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act and on January 24th, Congress will vote to pass Internet censorship in the Senate. We need to STOP THIS. Visit this site to learn more or watch this YouTube video to see the hypocrisy behind it all.



If you don't feel like watching the video, in a nutshell: the same people that are trying to get this law passed are the same people that disturbed the file sharing software (and PROFITED), taught people how to use it and THEN turned around and sued people like you for billions of dollars. ---> Can you can selfish, greedy, scamming hypocrites??? They probably planned this all from the begining. The government is trying to put laws on something they do not own, they do not own the internet, no one does. Do your part and get this video to as many law markers in WHATEVER country you are in. 

What does this mean for you? Say you like to add music to your YouTube videos...they will sue you for that. Bye-Bye Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, etc. They will block sites in others countries so you can't see them.
Think if you don't live in the US this doesn't effect you? Wrong. They can send in the troops to arrest you and shut down websites in your country.


I will be blacking out my blog from 5am to 5pm tomorrow. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

January Beauty Army!

The very first Beauty Army kit! When they launched on January 1st at noon, I was sitting by my computer ready to buy my subscription and pick my samples! The site had some issues because of the all the excitement and everyone trying to place their orders all at once (since there was only 300 available this month). I was able to get through without much hassle, take the beauty quiz and pick my samples! You can choose up to 6 samples out of 9 they recommend based on your profile. My box arrived last week and I've been using my samples now I'm to share them with you guys!

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you all SOOO much for entering my giveaway!!! It was lots of fun to read your responses and thanks for any advice that was given. I can't wait to host another one!

Now without further ado, the winner is....

Joy Compton Barnett!

CONGRATULATIONS! :D Please respond to my email within 72 hours or another winner will be chosen. Thanks again to everyone that entered, I hope you all have an awesome week!

FOTD Casual Saturday

It's been a fairly productive Saturday, just thought I pop this post in! I really enjoyed sleeping in until about 9am today, since I wake up at 6am Mon-Fri it felt really nice. I got ready for the day, a lovely cloudy day here which is my favorite. Went to brunch with my boyfriend, we got Filipino food at a local bakery we eat at often (being my boyfriend is Filipino). Then decided I should be productive by cleaning, doing laundry and of course some beauty blogging. Actually did some swatches of the new pretty freaking awesome Finger Paints flakies. They are amazing, can't wait to show you guys!

OPI Nicki Minaj Mini Nail Lacquers

I don't like Nicki Minaj but I LOVE these colors! Even my boyfriend was like, "why do you have that Nicki Minaj thing?" haha, and I said becauseee the COLORS are so pretty, I couldn't care less that's Nicki Minaj. This collection was officially released this month and includes three creme polishes, two glitters and a shatter. I only got this mini set so I only have these four to show you guys and I like them a lot. Let's see some swatches!

Naked2 Looks!

I can't believe I've waited so long to show you guys some looks I've done with my Urban Decay Naked2 Palette! I've been using the palette a lot and I love it, if you missed my review read it here! I really wish I could improve the quailty of the photos I take of my makeup, mainly not using flash but that's pretty much impossible :( By the time I get home from work everyday the sun is setting. I tried taking pictures of my makeup in my car during my lunchbreak haha, but the lighting was terrible too. And I usually only do my eyeshadow all nice and pretty at night before going out anyways. So here's a couple a looks I've done, I hope you enjoy!

SELF Magazine Beauty Tester - Brightening Scrubs

I was chosen (at random) to be a SELF Magazine beauty tester to help choose the 2012 Healthy Beauty Award winners! All I had to do was submit my information online and approximately 1,000 testers were chosen (I guess there was over 7,000 entries, so I feel lucky!) to test some of the latest hair, skin and makeup products. I had no idea I was chosen until a HUGE box arrived at my door…the box was so big and I was thinking “what that hell did I buy?!?” then opened it and realized was it was haha, don’t you just love surprise packages?

2011 Favorites + Why I Started Blogging!

I wasn't planning on doing a post about 2011 since I've only been blogging for about 6 months but then I realized that doesn't matter and I totally should! So I'll be sharing my favorite bloggers, products, nail polishes and makeup looks. I also wanted to tell my little story on how/why I started blogging....I hope you enjoy!

Evil Shades Blush

Hello everyone and welcome new followers! Oh my goodness I'm glad to see you guys are liking my giveaway :D Today's post is super over-due, I bought these Evil Shades samples back in October and somehow got busy blogging about other stuff and pushed them aside...I don't know WHY because these blushes are fantastic! The shades I have are: Pink Noise, Backtalk, Ravishing, Kona and Skön. Backtalk is my favorite because it glows under a black light...keep reading to see swatches!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a good New Year's Eve! Here's my festive manicure to bring in the new year...silver gradient using Zoya Trixie, China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara, OPI Simmer & Shimmer, OPI Rainbow Connection and Sally Girl silver glitter.

I'm not too big on doing new year's resolutions because I have SAME one every year...lose weight. But this year I plan on doing something different...my boyfriend and I got a Siberian Husky this past summer and Ruckus LOVES to run. I take him for walks everyday but I know he'd rather run not walk...SO I'm going to stop being lazy and start running with him! :)

Lastly this isn't a decision I made for the new year because I've been working towards it for a couple of months now, I'm going cruelty free! I (for the most part) stop buying from brands that test on animals and I'm trying to use up all my makeup that isn't cruelty free (it's taking a while, I may give some away). I keep going back and forth about something though....I can't decide if I want to stop buying from companies who technically DO NOT test on animals BUT the company that OWNS them does. For example...Burt's Bees, Essie, OPI, The Body Shop, etc) I love these brands and even though they don't test on animals the money I spend will still go to their owners who does. What do you think?? I've so indecisive and will be very sad if I can't buy OPI...but at the same time, it's so much more complicated then that. I'm taking a stand against animal testing for cosmetics but animal cruelty is such a huge issue in so many other places too. Oh man, I could go on forever about this topic so I'm stopping myself here. I'd love to hear your opinion, what your new year's resolution is, anything! Thanks for reading, cheers to the new year!