I'm back!

I've been away from the blog for a few months now, not intentionally, but this Summer has been insanely busy! The last few months have been full of family weddings, work meetings, car repairs, and vacation planning.

My car blew a head gasket this Summer and my boyfriend and I decided to do the repairs ourselves instead of taking it in to a shop. Our friends let us use their garage for a few weeks while we worked every day on taking it apart, making the repairs, and putting it all back together. It actually started right away when we put it back together and we were quite impressed with our work! There have been a few minor setbacks since it was completed but it drives! It feels wonderful to have a car again! It was a learning experience but I don't plan on fixing cars again, it was awful coming home late every night smelling like oil and coolant and covered with grease.

RIP favorite sunglasses :(
Boyfriend, Brother, Grandpa, Cousins, and me!
Three of my cousins and I. Just some friendly competition! Haha!
As for the weddings, my cousin Sara got married in June and her wedding was such a blast! She got married at a golf course in Portland and it was a beautiful day. My cousin Megan got married earlier this month at a golf course in Bend, OR. We drove the 3 hours to Bend and rented a house with my cousins. Our refrigerator was stocked with beer and we played Cranium and Cards Against Humanity ALL WEEKEND. The weekend was so much fun but a lot of work as my boyfriend was the best man and I was a bridesmaid. Two family weddings in 3 month span of time is quite a lot but I love to see my family and have everyone together.

Last but not least, I'm going to Las Vegas with 3 of my friends for a girl's trip! We leave bright and early Thursday morning and I'm so ready! This year has been so stressful and I'm looking forward to relaxing with my friends and not having to worry about anything for 5 full days. Plus, we will be celebrating my best friend's birthday while on the trip! Hurray!

Hope your Summer has been fabulous! As much as I've enjoyed Summer this year I am already counting down the days until Fall. Bring on the cooler weather and falling leaves!

Beauty Fix: Help! I Have a Mustache!

I am not ashamed to admit that I may have some unwanted facial hair. I'm Italian and dark hair runs in the family so naturally dark hair= mustache. I haven't always been so accepting of this fact though.

I grew up with a younger brother and brothers can be kind of mean honest. I remember my brother pointing out the dark hair above my lip and I was SO UPSET. I was probably about 13 or so and was already having a rough time being a girl when a mustache was added to the mess. Back then I used to Nair my legs (didn't we all though?) and so I thought I would just Nair the 'stache right off my face. BIG MISTAKE. I ended up burning the skin above my upper lip and had to face middle school with that obvious burn covered in caked-on makeup. UGH!

After learning that tough lesson, I moved on to the Sally Hansen Wax Strip Kits that are actually meant for your face. These worked wonders for me. I felt SO much better about myself and used these all through high school and up until last year. When I moved in with my boyfriend about 5 years ago, he started assisting me with the waxing and it turned out even better having help (we're gross, I know). Last year, I either must have gotten a bad batch or they changed the formula because the wax would NOT remove any hair. It just melted all over my skin and made a big mess. We tried a few different times and had no luck so I decided I needed to find another solution for my...uh...problem.

I decided to purchase these mini facial razors and they have CHANGED MY LIFE. I know a lot of people find the idea of 'shaving' your facial hair really weird (my friends included) but I absolutely swear by these. I use these about once a week depending on how much hair you can see and use them right after I shower. This way my skin is already damp and the heat has opened my pores. I just run the razor along the hair quickly and it takes me about 5 seconds. You can also clean up your brow area, sideburns and any peach fuzz with these razors. I love this method because I can remove hair in seconds instead of having to wait for the hair to grow out in order to wax.

The only thing that I would caution you on when using this method to remove hair is to be careful. A razor can cut you if you are not careful and though I haven't cut myself yet, it can happen. Also, be careful when shaving close to the lip as you can cause ingrown hairs and they can be very painful. Again, this is not something that happens often but I would definitely caution you if you are not familiar with this method. I've been using them for over a year now so I know exactly where and how to use the razor on my face. I've linked to the razors that I use and recommend but I know there are all different brands out there that can do the same thing so find what works best for you!

Let me know if you have any questions! I consider myself pretty knowledgeable on the subject. ;)

Behind The Scenes (aka why it's so hard to take nice photos)

My camera assistant can make things a little difficult from time to time. He seems to think when I spend time ironing and laying out my background fabric that it's all for him.



Good thing he's so cute...

April Favorites

April was a great month for products for me as I wore makeup more often. I work from home so most of the time I'm bare faced and in pajamas so it's wonderful when I have occasions to get dressed up for. The thing I love most about my favorites for April is that most of them are products that are easy to apply for a simple and natural look.


Makeup:


Nyx Butter Lipstick in Lollies- These butter lipsticks are amazing and I want more of them. They are so smooth and the colors are beautiful. I have 2 of the colors right now but I've been wearing 'Lollies' a lot since it's a light peachy pink that is perfect for a touch of color. The color 'Fizzies' is next on my list!

Benefit They're Real Mascara- I bought this mascara a while ago and while I liked it, I didn't like that it wasn't waterproof. I am all about the waterproof mascara so I kind of tossed this mascara to the side. This month I found it again and decided to try it out during the day and I actually ended up loving it! It is great for day time as it doesn't quite hold my curl as well as a waterproof mascara does BUT it does make my lashes look super long. Plus, it was so much easier to remove than I'm used to! ;)


Essie in Borrowed and Blue- I talked about this polish in my Spring Nail Colors post as it is one of my favorite nail colors for Spring. It's a beautiful pastel blue and I got so many compliments when I wore it!

Skin Care:

Hempz AromaBody Body Moisturizer in Pineapple Lily (Limited Edition)- I found this moisturizer in the sale section and I am so glad I picked it up. I have been slathering this stuff all over my body when I get out of the shower and it makes my skin feel so soft. Also, the scent is amazing. Especially if you like smelling like a pineapple. I am so bummed that it is limited edition because I won't be able to get another when I run out! They actually have it on Amazon right now but I'm not sure how long it will be in stock.

Hair Care:

Redken Hair Cleansing Cream Shampoo- I picked this up last month as I've been meaning to find a good cleansing shampoo. I usually use a very moisturizing shampoo but I need something to use every couple weeks to really clean my hair and get rid of any product build up. After using this I fell in love!!! It smells just like fruit Mentos. SO YUMMY! It makes my hair feel really clean and of course, my hair smells amazing after using it. This shampoo will be perfect for the Summer to pull out any chemicals after swimming in a pool.

KMS California Tame Frizz Taming Creme- I wanted to try a new product for my hair now that the weather has been getting warmer. I usually use the Argan Oil by DermOrganic (which I still love) but I decided to switch things up. KMS California's Tame Frizz line has a few different options, including an oil, but I chose the Taming Creme. This stuff smells amazing and I love how it makes my hair look and feel when I use it before blow drying. It smooths my hair so much and doesn't make it greasy. If you have thin hair like me, I'd suggest keeping it on your ends only. I use so little product each time that this bottle is going to last me forever!

Random:

Book: I read 4 books last month but my favorite was 'All The Truth That's In Me' by Julie Gardner Berry. When I first started reading this book, I was super confused because it wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. The cover and description make it seem like a modern story but it's actually set back in the Colonial days. It doesn't give specific dates but based on the fact that they used a pillory, I think that could put it in 1700-1800's. The writing style is also a bit different but I'm so glad I stuck with it because it was SUCH a good read. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it if you love historical fiction or mystery novels.
Show: I'm currently in the middle of SO MANY tv shows. I am such a sucker for tv series and sometimes I overwhelm myself trying to keep up with them all. My boyfriend put on the first episode of House while I was picking up a pizza and by the time I got back and started watching too, I was addicted. Now we are on to season 3 and we just love it! Dr. House is my favorite, I love how snarky he is. Every episode his team always disagrees with him and I always scream at the tv "Don't argue with House, he always figures it out!!!"

What were some of your favorite things in April? Can you even believe it is May and Summer is coming?!

Spring Nail Color Favorites

Okay, I swear I like other nail polish brands! Essie just BRINGS IT with their Spring/Pastel colors and I can't pass them up! I'm a little obsessed with doing my nails lately which is why I keep posting about nail polish. I love to put on music and sing along while painting my nails, it makes me happy! Clipping and filing my nails does not make me happy though, I wish they would just be ready to paint at all times. Ugh. I just want to get to the fun part, ya know?

Today I thought I'd share my top Spring nail color choices (aka the colors I have been rotating through nonstop recently).

1. Essie Fashion Playground: I talked about this color in this post and it's still in heavy rotation over here. It's my go-to Spring green!

2. Essie Spin The Bottle: This is my new go-to neutral shade. It's perfect for the times when you don't want a bright color but still want your nails to look polished. I've been wearing it A LOT lately as you can see here.

3. Essie Haute As Hello: I've just recently started wearing this color as my usual coral pink is in the form of Tarte Deco (FAVE!). Sadly, my Tarte Deco bottle bit the dust and so this color has taken it's place temporarily. I think my favorite thing about this polish is it's almost matte finish. It's definitely different and I love how bright it is! This color looks amazing with a tan!

4. Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant in Snow Storm: I picked this color up recently after seeing multiple girls wearing white nail polish. It looks SO pretty! I love the simple, clean look of it so I decided that I would try it as well. I love this white as it only takes 2 coats to make it completely opaque.

5. Essie Mint Candy Apple: This color has been a favorite for a few years now. This polish is more of a blue shade (although marketed as green? Yeah, I don't get it either!) and it is beautiful. I compared this color to Fashion Playground in this post if you are interested.

6. Essie Chinchilly: This color actually works during pretty much any season. This polish is a gray shade that is light enough to wear during the Spring and dark enough to look great during Fall/Winter as well. My bottle is emptying fast and I'll probably have to replace it this Fall.

7. Essie Borrowed & Blue: My nails are actually painted this color as I'm typing this post. It's chipping so it will be replaced by tomorrow but I got lots of compliments while I was wearing it. My Aunt said she had "never seen polish that color before" and so I'm taking that as a compliment as well! :)

ANNNNND...Here are the swatches so you can see what the color looks like out of the bottle (in same order as above).

Current Nail Color: Essie Spin The Bottle

The past two months have been pretty crazy around these parts so I haven't been sharing as much lately and I completely missed my March favorites. The only favorite I've really wanted to share is the nail color I was completely obsessed with during March. This was a random purchase and now when I go to do my nails I have to convince myself to branch out because I always want to use this color! The color is called Spin The Bottle and it came out in the new Essie Spring 2014 collection.

I'm not one to wear many neutrals. Usually, if I'm not wearing a fun color then my nails are bare. But now that I've found this color I may start wearing it instead of leaving my nails bare. It's a nude shade with a slight pink tone to it and at first I was worried it wouldn't look good on my skin tone since I have some yellow undertones. Once I put it on though and wore it for a day I ended up really loving the color on me. The formula of this color is great and it goes on really smooth. Sometimes I find that certain Essie colors have a difficult formula to apply but this color wasn't one of them.

I always get compliments when I wear this color and compliments are always a good thing! :)

Spring Wishlist

Even though Fall is my favorite time of year, I am BEYOND excited for Spring this year. The weather is finally getting warmer and the sun is shining! I'm not much of a warm weather person (over 80 degrees and I am OVER IT) but since we got snow this year I am fully ready to move on to the next season. I can't wait to bring out all of my Spring dresses and start wearing brighter, more fun colors!

I put together a Spring Wishlist to highlight the items I am dying to get my hands on this year. Some items are old, some are new but they are all items I neeeeed! :)

1. Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Unapologetic: I am in love with these Revlon balms (especially the matte colors!) and can't wait to wear them during the Spring time. Unapologetic is at the top of my color wishlist right now.
2. Sally Hansen Triple Shine Nail Color in Make Waves: I saw this color in a magazine and I have been obsessed. I can't wait to get my hands on this color. It looks gorgeous!
3. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Tipsy: I still have yet to try these blushes but I've heard nothing but amazing things about them. I saw these blushes reviewed a few months ago on Essie Button and I decided I had to have that coral shade!
4. Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Turquoise: This is the prettiest eye liner I've ever seen! This would look amazing smudged under the eyes for a little bit of color.
5. Jouer Matte Moisture Tint: I'm not sure which shade would be best for my skin tone but I've always wanted to try this tinted moisturizer. I used to use Benefit's You Rebel tinted moisturizer and this product reminds me a lot of that. I don't like wearing much on my skin during the warmer months and I have to have SPF so I'm thinking this would be a great product to try.
6. Essie Nail Color in A Crewed Interest: I have been in love with this color for years but I never see it in any stores. I may have to order it online because it looks like the perfect peach shade. This color would also look fabulous with a tan!

What products are on your Spring wishlist this year?