Moving On....

I apologize for being absent over the last month or so.  Me and the Mr. decided to put our house on the market and build our dream home on an empty lot that we own.  For anyone who has sold a house before, the staging was crazy (especially for a control freak like me).  I had to do a ton of de-cluttering, cleaning, some minor repairs around the house, and a major garage clean-out.  Our goal was to have the house on the market by July 1st.  We met our goal and signed papers with our agent on the first and then pretty much had an offer on our house 24 hours later!  I am now less than 2 weeks from our closing date and attempting to get my kids all set up for their first day of school which is a little over a week away, pack, and get us moved into our temporary housing (aka my mother-in-laws house).  I am a bit overwhelmed with everything but hoping that all of this craziness will be for a great outcome!
I am so sad to say goodbye to our home which we have lived in for the last 14 years.  But I just have to keep telling myself that change is good!

Wet And Wild Pop Art Craze

So while getting ready for our vacation I ran to Wegmans for my sons medicine and some sandwiches. I had a few minutes to kill and while wandering the store I stumbled on the Wet and Wild Pop Art Craze eyeshadow collections.   I have seen these all over various blogs on the Web, been stalking the nouveau cheap sitings map, and pretty much every drug store in a 10 mile viscinity and here I come to find  them in my grocery store (go figure). I held back from getting all 6 trios and went with the shades I knew I would get the most use out of.  I picked up A Regular at the Factory, I'm seeing Triples, and To muse and Carouse. You will see I am wearing To Muse and Carouse. With my primer this shadow wore well. The peach color does not show well but I absolutely love the brown crease color. I have a feeling that the rest of the colors will make their way into my makeup rotation the rest of this summer.

De-Potting My Lipsticks

I have been totally obsessed with youtube videos lately and after watching a post, I decided that I needed to de-pot my lipsticks and put them into one handy palette.  I checked out various places for containers that would work.  I love the look of the Japonesque lip palette but I didn't really feel like spending $26 for the empty palette. I then started looking for containers that would work.  I have seen some people use pill containers but I I didn't really feel like scraping the Monday-Sunday letters off and I thought it might not be worth all of the work.  I then saw some stackable pill containers but I didn't think that I would like having to unscrew various containers to get to the shade that I wanted.  I then hit Michael's Craft Store where they had these small bead containers which were on sale for only $1.18 a piece.  I thought that they would be perfect.

 

After using some toothpicks to get all of the product out of each tube I then used my hair dryer on HOT to melt all of the various colors.  I was very pleased with how this turned out and I thrilled with how easy it is going to be to access all of my various lip colors!

 Super happy with the finished product!

CVS Haul!

I have to thank G. over at Nouveau Cheap for posting the CVS beauty clearance.  I was able to stock up on all sorts of goodies that I cannot wait to use.  I was thrilled with the mascaras I picked up- you can never have too many mascaras (especially since you need to pitch those every three months). I have been obsessed with lipsticks lately so I am really excited about all of the colors I grabbed.  The best part about this haul...I didn't pay more than $3.50 for any one item.  I even grabbed the Spoiled nail polishes for only 50 cents!  I'll try to post swatches once I start using some of my new products.  FYI- This sale is still going on at many CVS's so make sure you go and check it out!

NYX- Parallel Worlds Set

At the end of the school year, I am sometimes lucky enough to receive a few 'thank you' gifts.  One parent was nice enough to give me a visa gift card which I immediately decided would go towards a little shopping spree at Ulta!  While perusing Ulta a stumbled on the new Parallel Worlds set by NYX.  This set comes with  some awesome items for only $25.  I immediately decided that I would try the entire set out.  The day time smokey eye look is beautiful and I am loving the peachy-toned blush (pinched).  The matte lip gloss took some getting used to.  It is pretty light and matte

 but I love it with a sheer gloss layered over the top.  

Real Techniques Brushes

I have been following Sam Chapman (and her sister) on their youtube channel for a while now and became very interested in her line of brushes.  I have heard so many wonderful things about the quality of the brushes not to mention that they are totally affordable.  When I popped into Ulta a few weeks ago they were on sale buy one get one half off, so I grabbed a few (plus they let me use a coupon).  The set on the left with the gold handles is for the face.  It includes a pointed foundation brush, contour brush, detail brush, and buffing brush.  So far I have used all of the brushes and not one has disappointed.  I find the contour brush to do a great job with contouring which I am trying to do more of (after watching many videos on youtube).  I am also in love with the buffing brush which I have been using as a foundation brush.  I have used it with cream to powder and liquid foundations.  I find that this brush covers quickly and evenly.    

The set on the right with the purple handles is the eye set which includes the accent brush, base shadow brush, pixel-point eyeliner brush, deluxe crease brush, and the brow brush.  My two favorites in this set are the base shadow and deluxe crease brush.  The crease brush is the perfect size for fitting right in the crease and blending any deep shadow perfectly.  Each of these sets come with the case (which right now is folded to keep your brushes upright) and under $20.  

The two pink brushes are the setting brush (smaller of the two) and the blush brush.  The blush brush is probably my favorite of the bunch and probably the best blush brush I have ever used.  I have been using it not only for my blush but for applying my lose power and blending my contour and blush powders.  I am thinking of grabbing another one of these in the near future since I have been using this one so much!

Overall I would have to agree with all of the other reviews I have read on these brushes and I am completely hooked!

FYI- check out the real techniques channel on youtube for tons of tutorials on using these brushes!

New Perfume!

While at the Trend Show they featured Ger Ness, an adorable Norwegian who has a new perfume line out.  I loved the light floral smell and for less than $100 I received the 3.4 oz perfume, mini perfume, body lotion, shower gel, and bag.  I have actually been using the bag and getting tons of compliments on it!