Great Mascara + Cheap Price = Fabulous

This Jordana mascara is at Walgreens. I paid maybe $3 for it and it works better than high end ones I have used.

 

Below is a shot of a single swipe of the mascara on the left side compared to nothing on the right.

 

 

Hope that helps you save a few bucks while we all recover from holiday spending. And yes, I wear a blue turban while getting ready in the morning.



The perfect red lip

    Christmas is almost here. I adore Christmastime and will continue to fully immerse myself in the season over these next few days. However, I did want to touch base with all of you on one particular subject.

Red lips.

 

   Do you wear red lips this time of year? Do you ever wear red lips? I always, always, always admire the women rocking the red but have tried and tried to no avail to wear it myself. Whenever I look at myself in the mirror after application I seemed to fall into one of two categories.  One, a small child playing with her mother's lipstick or two, a clown that has escaped the circus. It doesn't help matters that my husband (who usually admires what I wear) shakes his head and smiles that "I wish you weren't wearing THAT color" smile.

    Below are the three red colors I own, all of which I admired so much on strangers that I asked them what they had on and then hunted it down and purchased it. Now that is true admiration. Have no fear, at some point I will be wearing red lips...maybe tomorrow is my day since it is CHRISTMAS EVE!!! Until I get up the guts to take the red lips out of my bathroom here are a few colors for you brave ones to test out. 

Rimmel 850 Rouge (worn by a stunning worker at Anthropolgie)

MAC Ruby Woo (worn by one of my favorite bloggers, this one looks marvelous in photographs)

Shiseido RD 607 (worn by one of the mothers in my son's kindergarten class)

Pale skin has its perks, look how true to color those swatches are!

Left to right: Shiseido, MAC, Rimmel

 

Christmas Cookies

We made Christmas cookies. It was a total blast. The kids blew me away with their ability to do it all with minimal help. Not sure how I feel about that aspect of it. Anyway a few shots....and then the bad news....

Judah got sick the next day which meant we could not share any of the cookies with anyone as we had planned. Boo. Oh well. At least we are over that hump in the road. (fingers crossed)

 

Hope you are enjoying some festive activities.



Shadows

“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow, the million moving shapes and cul-de-sacs of shadow. There was shadow in bureau drawers and closets and suitcases, and shadow under houses and trees and stones, and shadow at the back of people's eyes and smiles, and shadow, miles and miles and miles of it, on the night side of the earth.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar  

 

Booties.

If you are scurrying about looking for the perfect gift...look no further. I chanced upon this lovely website over on the blog of beautiful Shalice, who you should be following if you are not.

 

The booties!!  Timeless, unique, well made, on SALE! I know they are a bit pricey, but please remember they are well made shoes that will last for years to come. Get them before they are gone. If I had not blown my stash on gifts already I would be scooping a pair up rather than posting this blog.

 

And for your drooling pleasure, a few of my personal favorites.

 

All images taken from www.mattbernson.com

Kid Craft: Watercolor Gift Tags

Especially during this time of year it is fun to involve your little ones in creating special touches on anything and everything. The other day, while painting, I was joined by my 5 year old and 2 year old, which is a very normal occurrence around here.  I try to let them join in on the activities I am able so I watched with self restraint as my two year old slopped my beautiful watercolor paints all over my pricey watercolor paper. "Kids should be allowed to use nice things", I kept repeating in my head as I watched her chat away while filling the blank white with color here and there. No perceived order to her painting or obvious color choices...nothing I was excited to hang on my refrigerator, but would because I love her. Then I had an idea.

About two weeks ago I purchased this wonderful tag punch. I have used it so many times I already got my 50% off total purchase price out of it. If you enjoy gift wrapping or embellishing then this item was made with you in mind. Vera's sweet little painting was cut-up and punched out and low and behold these stunning gift tags were created.

I love them. You don't have to because I do. I love the colors she chose, I love the freedom of stroke, but most of all I love that she had the biggest hand in creating them. She was rather proud of her ability when I showed her the finished product. I cannot wait to top presents with her creation. And truth be told, I tried to recreate them for my sale and found myself marveling at her superiority at choosing color pairings and effortless beauty. It is always special when you stumble across your child's ability in unknown areas.

 

So, if you are looking for a fun craft to do with your little ones then you have an option.

The Jolliest

 

Life is good. And until I have some sort of rhythm back in my days I leave you with this photo of my baby girl...who was made for this shirt for obvious reasons. Hope you're getting your jolly on.

 

 

Blush of the Season

 Below you will see my all time favorite blush brush and my current favorite blush of the season. Both are available at Ulta and the brush is even on sale right now! The blush is called Tea Rose and is made by the company NYX. It is under $10 and you can always find a coupon for it. I enjoy it for this time of year because it is a cream. A cream blush stays longer (on my skin) and gives a softer glow to the skin than a powder blush. It can be tricky to apply a cream blush (at least that is what I have heard from other ladies) but it is an easy skill to master. Sometimes I feel like women give up learning skills in makeup when they pursuing learning to do so many things in life. Cream blush should really not be a hurdle for us ladies, I mean really.

 

I am keeping it short and sweet because I have a to-do list a mile long...but I did want to let you know I am still alive....and wearing blush.