Sugar Skull/Day of the Dead Halloween look

Hello lovers!  I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post!  
This is a quick post with a few pics from Halloween.  I did a Sugar Skull/Day of the Dead look.

Did you dress up/do a special look for Halloween?

In The Groove

MAC's In The Groove collection released in stores today and there's no other way to describe it other than a hyped-up frenzy.  MAC collections always release their products on their website about two days before they're released in stores.  Last Tuesday everyone was buzzing about the repromote of Mineralize Skinfinish (MSF) Stereo Rose.  I believe it was up on their website at 8:00 AM EST.  I was able to place an order for Stereo Rose, Jazzed lipstick (another hyped up item), In the Groove & Soften the Mood.  I ordered it at 9:20 AM.  I think by 9:45 Stereo Rose was listed as sold out on the website.  It was madness.  Everyone was tweeting about how they got it or how they didn't order it on time.  It was insane.

I don't know if I'll ever receive the backordered item but I was determined to get a Stereo Rose MSF when it was released in stores today.

I ventured to the Nordstrom MAC counter first because if they didn't have it there is a MAC store right outisde Nordstrom.  If the MAC store didn't have it I could go around the corner to the Macy's counter and get one.  

Luckily I snagged the last Stereo Rose from the Nordstrom counter!  

I ended up getting Stereo Rose, Togetherness, Calm, Cool & Collected & Jazzed.

Now here are my shitty swatches.  My Samsung dual screen camera is shattered and broken so I can't adjust any settings when I take pictures.  Sorry :(  I'll be getting a new camera soon.

Stereo Rose is a coral with golden/bronze shimmering nuances.  I think it's gorgeous and it will look great on medium skin tones.

Jazzed lipstick on the left & Stereo Rose on the right.

Calm, Cool & Collected  is a cool-toned green trio featuring a grayish-white beige with satin sheen, neutral spring green, and darkened gray-green.  I absolutely love this trio!  I can't wait to wear it.

Togetherness is a cool-toned purple trio that includes a soft lilac with a satin sheen, blue-based violet purple with a frostier finish, and a mid-tone silver gray. The pigmentation here was even and rich throughout the trio.  It's gorgeous.

I'll post pictures of In the Groove & Soften the Mood when they've been delivered.  Were you able to get your hands on Stereo Rose?

Hidden Treasure & Lapis of Luxury

As promised here are a few photos of Essie's Lapis of Luxury (from their 2010 Resort Collection) and one coat of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure on top.

I think I'm more of a fan of Hidden Treasure on top of darker colors.
Happy hump day dolls!

A True Hidden Treasure

I finally got my grubby mitts around Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure!  This gorgeous nail varnish came out in the 2010 Spring Runway Nail Collection back in April and everyone has been tweeting and blogging about how gorgeous it is.  Being the nail polish collector that I am, I had to have it.  I searched everywhere.  I went to CVS, ULTA, Target, super markets & Rite Aid.  I finally found it at Walgreens and I snatched the last two bottles from the display.
Here I did two coats of Hidden Treasure on top of Zoya's Envy.  Envy is a creamy blackened green with subtle yellow undertones.

Click to enlarge

I did my nails two nights ago so there's a little wear on the tips.  Hidden Treasure has irregular shaped flakies that reflect a rainbow of colors.  In some angles they cast an amber glow or a green glow.  It's pretty, no?  I can't wait to try it on different colors.  I heard it looks amazing on dark purples & blues.  I would also like to try just one coat instead of two.  The flakies are harder to see on pastel light colors but I'll be sure to post photos so you can see the difference.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far!
xoxo, J

In and Out Number 3

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A Small Haul or a Smaul

I have a small haul for you all!  It rhymes!  :D  I ordered a few things from the Sephora and NARS websites.  I've been obsessed with expanding my NARS blush collection.  I'm drooling over a few more colors and when I have something in mind then I usually have to have it.

L to R: Illamasqua Milf (I'm not a fan of this name but it's a pretty color) vintage mint green
OPI for Sephora: Read my Palm - light jade green
OPI for Sephora: Havana Dreams - pale sky blue

The three of these are cremes and I can't wait to try them!  I especially love Illamasqua's nail varnish formula. I typically only need 2 coats and they're perfectly opaque.

Then from NARS I ordered these two cream blushes.
The left is Penny Lane and the right is Enchanted from the new Summer 2010 collection.
These are the first two cream blushes I've tried from NARS and I love love love them.
Penny Lane is a gorgeous nude pink and Enchanted is a soft peachy apricot with gold sparkles.  It's absolutely gorgeous!

You can click on the photo to enlarge.  I hope you can see the gold sparkles.  They aren't huge and chunky but it really creates the most gorgeous sheen on the skin.

That's it for my small haul!  I hope you all are having a lovely week so far!
xoxo

I got a blogger award!

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The gorgeous Stacy from The Jerseymooners gave me these awards!  She's so sweet!  You have to go check out her blog.  I love it!

For the "Beautiful Blogger" award you need to:
* Thank & link to the person that gave you the award.
* Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you’ve recently discovered.
* Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won.
* State 7 things about yourself.

For the "One Lovely Blog Award" you need to:
* Thank & link to the person that gave you the award.
* Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you’ve recently discovered.
* Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won.


Now I'm going to pass along the award to 15 bloggers that I absolutely adore.  They aren't necessarily new finds but just a few that I enjoy reading.  Warning: there will be a mix of makeup, nail, fashion & pregnancy blogs in my list.

1. Sandra at 15 Steps, then a beauty blog 
2. Kellie Gonzo at Also Known As ... She has amazing NOTD's.  Check her out!
3. Blair at Heir to Blair. This pregnancy blog is my absolute favorite!  She's hilarious!
4. Nikki Desuasido at Hello Nikki.  She is gorgeous and I love her sense of fashion.
5. Alexandra at HRH's Collection.  Check her out.  She's amazing!
6. Lipstick Rules is an amazing makeup blog!  She's a Canadian blogger, a great writer & I love her posts.
7. Crystal at Makeup Before Coffee has amazing EOTD's and she's gorgeous!
8. MelforMakeup is a fabulous makeup blog.  Check it out!
9. Kenny at smonk you: a story about being a dad is an amazing pregnancy blog written from the point of view from the father.  His posts are touching & witty and it's interesting to see things from another perspective.
10. So Very Fabulous is another great makeup blog I love to read.
11. KarlaSugar is the BEST blog for swatches.  This blog is amazing and I always turn to it when I need to see swatches of recently launched products.
12. Rae at The Notice is another fabulous beauty blogger.  Love her posts.
13. Em from Too Much Blush is a talented beauty blogger from Australia.  I love her FOTD's.
14. Katy from TwentyFourCarat has an incredible blog covering a wide variety of topics from makeup, books, fashion & exercise.  Love her.
15. Amanda from Beauty ... and Whatever Else.  Her blog is awesome.  The topics she writes about is ranges from makeup to exercise.  Check her out!

Now, on to the 7 facts about me ...

1. I'm ambidextrous but my parents taught me how to write with my right hand.  I do everything else with my left from eating, opening bottles & brushing my teeth.
2. I can play the piano without looking at sheet music.  :)  This might not be a special talent but my mother in law is always impressed because she cannot play without sheet music in front of her.
3. For highschool I went to boarding school in Switzerland for four years.
4. I almost died when I was 7.  I choked on a Gobstopper and since no one knew the Heimlich maneuver my brother hit me on the back until I swallowed it.  Now I can't swallow pills bigger than Advil.
5. After I eat I become instantly cold to the point where I'm shivering and covered in goosebumps.  I always say it's because all my blood is rushing to my stomach to aid in digestion.  I have no idea if that's true.
6. My 1st trip to the Philippines was when I was 2.  My family and I went back every year 'til I was 25.
7. I have a horrible memory and I can't even remember what I had for dinner two nights ago.  :)

Hope you enjoyed this and I hope you enjoy the blogs I have tagged!  :D  Happy Easter!

Big news!

I am with child!  I'm sorry I have been MIA for a while but I've had a lot going on.  I won't be buying much makeup anymore since I have a little one to worry about now but I will still be posting EOTDs & FOTDs.  I will still be purchasing beauty products just not as often as I was pre-pregnancy. 
So if any of you are interested, I started a pregnancy blog to document my journey into motherhood!  Here's the link: Life with Loaf.  Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far!  Spring is almost here!  I'm so happy warm sunny days are almost here!

Mannequin Hands

One trend for spring 2010 will be flesh-toned neutral nails.  These are my "mannequin hands".  
In my first picture of mannequin hands I'm sporting OPI's My Daddy's the King in two coats.  I'm not that into this color because it's too sheer.  It would've looked better with three coats.

Here I'm rockin a Zoya varnish in the color "Jennifer".  I love love love this color.  The formulation is perfect and I only need two coats.

In the last shot you can see the subtle gold shimmer.  It is such a lovely color and it's the perfect neutral for me.  I'm loving the trend of mannequin hands!

China Glaze Up and Away NOTD

Here is my attempt to recreate my favorite NOTD: polka dots!!  I used two varnishes from the China Glaze spring 2010 collection Up and Away.  I've always loved reading nail blogs and this is my attempt to recreate Steph's Closet famous polka dotted NOTDs.  She is seriously the queen of polka dotted manicures.  Go check out her gallery!
For the base I used Grape Pop and Light As Air for the polka dots.  I haven't had a chance to go to Sally's to pick up a dotting tool so I had to use a tooth pick.

My polka dots aren't uniform in shape which bothers me.  With more practice hopefully I'll become better at polka dotted mani's.

Battle of the Book of Shadows

adies and gentleman: may I present to you a swatch comparison of two Urban Decay Book of Shadows!

Volume 1 vs. Alice in Wonderland

In the corner to my left we have Book of Shadows Volume 1 

And in the corner to my right we have Alice in Wonderland

All swatches on the left are from Volume 1 and swatches on the right are from Alice.  All swatches were done without a base. Please click on the pics to enlarge.  The swatches look better this way :)

Here are the same swatches in the sunlight.  You can see the gold shimmer in the greens in this shot.

These last three swatches are from Alice in Wonderland.  There aren't any colors that I can compare them to in Volume 1 so I swatched these so you can see how pretty they are.  I love how taupey Mushroom is and White Rabbit would be perfect as an inner corner color.  

 Overall I love Alice in Wonderland.  The payoff is great and there are a few more original colors that were released in this book that we haven't seen before in previous palettes.  I think this palette is worth the splurge if you don't own any other Urban Decay Book of Shadows.  I hope these swatches helped you.   xoxo

Urban Decay and China Glaze haul

Hello my lovelies!  I have a really exciting haul to share with you today!  My Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows arrived in the mail!  UD began selling it on their website last Friday, Jan 15th so I ordered mine right away.  It sold out online in one day!  It hasn't hit Sephora shelves yet however they are taking phone orders at 1-877-SEPHORA or (1-877-737-4672).

It comes with travel size Eyeshadow Primer Potion, 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils in Flipside and Zero.


The China Glaze Up and Away spring 2010 collection also became available to purchase last week so I placed an order with Head2Toebeauty.com.

From L-R: Peachy Keen, Lemon Fizz, Re-fresh Mint, Four Leaf Clover, Something Sweet, Light As Air, Grape Pop, Heli-Yum


I've been so excited for this collection to come out ever since I saw promo pics around Thanksgiving last year.  These colors are perfect creamy pastel shades for spring and I can't wait for the warm weather!


So now I'm off to do my nails with Four Leaf Clover since it's a shade I sadly cannot get away with at the office. :( 
Next week I think I'll rock the Re-Fresh Mint or Peachy Keen for work.   I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  Ciao for now XOXO

China Glaze Up & Away Collection

I just placed my order for the China Glaze Up & Away Collection!  I'm so stoked.  It's available at Head 2 Toe Beauty and will be available at Sally's Beauty Supply soon.

These are the colors I ended up getting.  (click to enlarge)

You can see beautiful swatches over at Scrangie's blog <-- click it!
I can't wait for spring and these gorgeous creamy pastels take my winter blues away.   Will you get be getting anything from this collection?