Giveaway entry!!

The adorable Holly at DollyMix184 writes is having a giveaway! It's her first and looks like great prizes. How cool to get some UK stuff eh?

She's super stylish, lovely, and funny so you should follow her blog regardless... and enter her giveaway!

The giveaway is open to everyone, internationally, in the UK, and in Ireland you just have to post a comment on her blog post saying "enter me" and you can also get additional entries for linking to her giveaway in your own blog and/or through Twitter.

Good luck everyone!!

New Year! An Award

Happy 2010! Hope everyone's NYE was safe and fun... or at least relaxing :-)

I just discovered I was given a blogger award by the lovely Cake Girl! However, there are RULES for this award, hehe. Here they are (in no particular order!) and my bloggers I'm passing it on to as well!

These are the rules to this blog award...

"Post 10 things that make you happy, try to do at least one of them today, link back to the person who awarded you and pass along for up to ten people."

1) Sleeping!

2) Hardcore workout session where I feel like I might pass out but 10 minutes later I'm so energized and feeling great about myself and life, haha.

3) Cooking and eating dinner with by bf, like a little family.

4) Hanging out with my best girlfriends, doesn't matter what we do, they're great.

5) Putting together a fun outfit/makeup look that looks great

6)Watching a great movie

7) Reading an awesome book

8) Date night with the bf

9) Really great smells be it from candles, incense, or perfume

10) Family

Passing it on to:

Stephanie of Aquahearts Makeup Obsession - Really fun blog and girl

Rosamond of Beari's Beauties - Doesn't post much but those she does are great!

Tennille of Cupcakes and Rainbow Dust - Such a cute, fun girl! Follow her blog

Denysia of Hello Denysia - Really lovely girl! Fashion and beauty posts!

Lollipop26 of lollipop26writes.com - One of my favorite youtube "gurus"

Ash of Memoirs from My Kitchen - Fun lady with some great recipes!

Ok, it says UP TO ten, LOL! I don't have too much time today to blog but I was SO surprised about the award I had to post. Hehe. Thanks Cake Girl!!

There will be some more blog posts upcoming - I think I will do a little Christmas present post and I might be getting an apartment! I'm going to look at it tonight, the bf has said he will go with me but has not committed to moving with me, lol. We shall see. WISH ME LUCK!

What I'm Loving :-)

I've seen a lot of these posts, a.k.a. ups and downs, most used, etc. so I decided I'd do something along the same lines.

End of 2009 loves

1. Leggings

2. Huge scarves

3. Perfume!

4. Chunky jewelry

5. Green eyeshadow

6. Credit cards (finally got one!)

7. Nail art (been painting my nails like crazy!)

8. Boots

9. Fuzzy slipper socks (omg so warm when lounging)

10. Blazing infernos in my fireplace

What were your most loved items of 2009?

PRESSIES!? What did everyone get for Christmas??

I got a flip hd camera from my boyfriend, Brandon. I got some monies from my Dad and my Grandfather... a gift card to the movies from my Aunt, a cute robe, and a cute betty boop shirt. My friend Jess got me a few movies I'd asked for... my friend Cliff got me a sephora gift card... Brandon's grammy gave me this lovely bracelet and his mom got me a lovely pink sweater (the bracelet has a pink heart stone on it that totally matches, hah). Was a good Christmas because all my folks liked their pressies. I'm giving Brandon half of the money for a playstation 3 and I got him some winter gloves (he doesn't have any but always tries to clear off the car with his bare hands). Course, it hasn't snowed since Christmas so they're not getting used and will probably be lost. Lol.

Anyone already starting out on their New Years Resolutions? 

I have! I pigged out Saturday and then started my "diet" on Sunday (we ordered from a pizza place and I got a salad with grilled chicken!). Also, I watched the film "Food Inc." (anyone see it? Sick) and have decided that I am going to try, as much as I can, to purchase more locally grown goods a.k.a healthier food (it can be expensive!) I discovered that there is a farmers' market in Salem! Of course it is between July and October so I missed it. I WILL be sure to visit in July though.  

I've been doing well with the gym too, however, sort of fighting with by boyfriend about it now. He wants to go back to the gym to prepare for the firefighter exam, the physical part, but doesn't want to go after picking me up from work because it is too much back and forth driving. In all fairness there IS a train that can take me from home to work and back, however, it is WINTER! I told him it wasn't fair to spring that on me now in the freezing cold. Then tried to talk to him about a schedule, like I take the train two days, he picks me up two days and goes to the gym after. I even said he could go to the gym after work and THEN pick me up and that when the weather gets better I will definitely take the train. He of course didn't want to talk about it and told me to forget it so... whatever, we'll see. I always try to get him to run with me or go to the gym on the weekend but his excuse is "there's no point in going for two days a week." His way or the highway I guess. I wish my apartment was more sturdy so I could exercise in there without being paranoid I'll fall through the floor and kill myself! LOL! I love winter but I'm yearning for warmer weather these days so that I can really exercise outdoors. I want to get into biking and rollar blading!

I did a little filming with my flip cam but it was charging most of Christmas day... so I got some present opening from Brandon's family and some day after cleanup of my family... if interested the video is here Christmas 2009!

That's all! Hope your holidays were great ladies (and any gents). Still trying to figure out what to do with my hair and for New Years

Winter Review - Aveeno

Aveeno active naturals essential moisture lip conditioner with spf 15 - Can I just say... I hate this chapstick. My lips have been absolutely horrible this winter and I feel like everytime I put this on it gets worse! This says that it has natural oatmeal, jojoba oil, and shea butter and is supposed to "temporarily" protect and help relieve chapped or cracked lips due to dryness as well as helps prevent sunburn. I don't think there's a real risk of sunburn in the winter but this has not worked at all for any of the other things it says it should be used for. I got this for free at the Shecky's Girls Night Out in Boston on August 15, 2009 but hadn't really used it much until now. Pretty plainly, it stinks. Also, it has a weird taste/smell and a really oily feel to it.

Overall: 0 out of 5
Packaging: 5 out of 5
Price: $3.69 on drugstore.com
Size/Weight: 4.2g (0.15 oz)
Would you buy this again? I didn't buy it to begin with but if I saw it in the drugstore, no, I wouldn't buy it nor will I recommend it.

Fantabulous Weekend!

Hello bloggariffic beauties!

I hope everyone is having a great winter/holiday season! I just wanted to update on my weekend because it was glorious!

I'm usually a total luggabed on the weekends and am really one to stick to home during the winter but I was out almost all of this weekend!

I went on a crazy mad shopping spree on Friday night after work with the boy to get all of my last minute gifts for fam and friends and ended up getting a couple of things for myself at Sephora. I went there to try and get their $24 palette that had like 30 shadows, 4 lip glosses, and a blusher and bronzer but they were OUT of ALL the Sephora brand palettes. I ended up packaging my friend a BUNCH of the Nyx trio eyeshadow things I got during one of their sales because I've only used like one of those since I got it.

What I got at Sephora was:

Benefit Cosmetic's My Place of Yours Gina perfume $36- Holy HANNAH! I LOVE this perfume! This scent is sort of spicy and totally sexy. I've worn it for two days now and it is VERY long lasting! On Saturday I went to two parties and sprayed this on about 7pm, went to my first shindig about 8:30pm and then the secont about 10:20 or so and at BOTH parties people commented on how good I smelled. When I got up Sunday morning I could STILL smell the perfume and it was so yummy and almost made me not take a shower again, lol. 

 

I also got Too Faced's French & Fabulous Palette $28.50. I did a look with it on Sunday, just really fooling around, as I've never used anything from Too Faced before. The shadows were a little powdery and not as much payoff as I had expected but still very nice! I LOVE the pale beigy/peachy color, it's a perfect highlight for my skintone or an allover the lid color for a simple everyday neutral look. The look I did was a simple neutral look with the top right color as highlight, the top right as all over lid color, and a combination of the second row left color and the black shimmer color. I have not used the bronzer or highlighter yet but I'll let you know what I think when I do.

I also got two Sephora brand professional brushes; the small synthetic eyeshadow brush #26 for $13 and the blending brush #29 for $15 - now, the only other brushes I have are some eyeslipsface ones as well as a couple bare escentuals ones I got with a get started kit but these sephora ones are GREAT! They are WICKED soft and I've noticed an IMMEDIATE difference in the quality of my looks with them. It is easier to blend, my shadow application is now more precise, and I get less fall out! I think I will be buying more of these rather than continuing to lemm after MAC brushes. :-)

That's all I got. Happy Holidays! So stoked it's a three-day work week for me!

OMG! I also saw the movie Avatar last night (Sunday night) at the IMAX and the entire thing was in 3D. It was AMAZING! I want to go again! The only bad thing I can say about this is that the 3D kind of hurt my eyes for a bit and sitting in the same chair for like 3hrs was a little rough, particularly due to layering for the cold as it got a bit hot. So, if you do decide to go see this... don't dress too warm, or do layers you can really take off in a confined space, lol. I could go on and on about how much I loved this but I won't (don't want to seem TOO dorky, haha)

Last Minute Shopping!

Aghhh! So, I have about three people left on my list for xmas shopping and am going to the mall today after work -shaking knees-

My list includes: my little brother (thinking gamestop/best buy gift card), my dad (no idea!), my bf's mom, my bf's dad, my bf's brother (again, gamestop/best buy gift card), my friend Nicole (her birthday was on wednesday as well!), my friend Cole (no idea!), and my friend Cliff (Harrison's gift card).

Last year I got my bf's mother a gift set from bath and body works but I have no clue whether or not she used it/liked it... he got her a tea set with some tea and may do that again this year. Bah!

I was flippin gout because money's tight and i don't want to get cheap gifts but I just realized I get another paycheck right before my bills are due so it's almost like I got free money! Hehe. I'm going to try try try not to spend a lot and to save most of it because I can never save anything.

Anyone else doing some last minute shopping? Do you all have at least an idea of what you're getting? Does anyone think gift cards are horrible? I feel kind of bad sometimes getting them but then I convince myself they're the best because the card giver doesn't have to stress and the card receiver can get exactly what they want!

Oh, I'm DEFINATELY getting myself something when I go out today... maybe a perfume and a couple bras. Omg. I hate my bras. Any suggestions where to go for bras? Most of my friends say Vic Sec's is not really worth it because the intimates get destroyed so quickly.

Bored Bored!

I've decided that I need a new hairstyle. Right before it became HUGE to have the sideswept bangs I did that and I also put red highlights in my hair which I was a big fan of. However, I'm lazy. Most of the time I have my bangs swept back into a ponytail and when I go out it takes me years to get them to sweep to the side! Shouldn't they, just by their name, do that already? I know I know... I'm supposed to "train them" which involves wearing them swept to the side often (either by blow drying or clipping them there, etc) but I'm so lazy in the morning!

Anyways, that was about 5 months ago and since then I have not even CUT my hair. (hides from criticism). When I died my hair (JUST highlights mind you) it took 2 bottles of product and cost me about $200. So, although I want to die by hair again (it's faded to plain jane brown again) I do not have and do not want to spend that much money.

Do any of you have recommendations for an affordable brand of dye that is salon-esque? I want to go red again and am waffling between doing thick blocks of highlight or doing like an under layer of hair is all red or the over layer of hair is all red thing (in my research I've seen it described as 'scene' hair). What do you all think?


Also, should I keep the sideswept bangs (and commit to actually making them sweep to the side and to wear them this way as often as phsycially possible) or should I hack them off and get all over fringe bangs?

I admit to having a large forehead and believe this will help be cammoflauge the gigantic-ness and give me the feminine feel of bangs without a lot of hassle :-)

Totally off the subject - how are peoples' holiday shopping going? I have about three people left on my list and they're all getting gift cards! Heh. Do people think gift cards are horrible or what? Personally, I like them because it shows thoughtfullness as well as practicality. With a gift card I know you love me and I can get exactly what I want! Win win.

Folks -- This is my IDEAL hair. I know I can't get it exactly like this though because my hair is THICK as a horse's mane. I also don't think I'd get the bangs SO long as to be hanging over my eyes, but it looks super cute and cool in the picture :-)

Here is the "scene hair" I mentioned above - however, I want the peekaboo color here rather than the rockin' hair cut that's rather mullet-ish. I also would not be sporting such a vibrant color (NOT saying at all that this is ugly or bad or anything, just not me).