Friday, April 29, 2011

All Things Royal







I planned on waking up early this morning to watch the Royal Wedding. Who was I kidding? If I don't have to wake up for work I don't get out of bed before 8 o'clock without a fight. But today was going to be different. Thanks to DVR I didn't miss a moment of this royal affair. And it was quite royal. Every girl's dream is to be a princess, meet prince charming, and live happily ever after. And today Kate Middleton's dream came true, making it a little more believable for the rest of us (ok, not really). She looked absolutely stunning in her Alexander McQueen gown and her absolutely gorgeous smoky eye that made the statement that smoky eyes are no longer for the night owls. The lace looked very elegant, the tiara just the right amount of flash, and the bouquet. the perfect size, let the dress shine. A fairy tale for the whole world to see. It made me wish that we had a royal family in the US, if only for the richness of the customs and traditions.


Then come the guests. There were many stunning guests at the affair. With each arrival the hats kept getting more and more extravagant. My best dressed goes to Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece. Her dress was gorgeous and at the same time understated. The accessories went so well, without looking matchy matchy the way they do when you wear bright colors. The look was classic and very put together. Victoria Beckham wowed as usual in a navy dress, her own design, that was very simple, therefore letting her headpiece do all the talking. And the bride's sister, Pippa, looked amazing (but in no way upstaged the bride) in her Alexander McQueen white cowl neck dress that flowed with exceptional elegance.


And the worst goes to: sisters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice (just all around bad, way too much going on there from the hats to the, uuugggghh, enough said.)

Even though most of us won't get the chance to be a princess, (there's still Harry) we can all feel like one every now and then. Here are a few things I love that have that royal touch and never fail at making me feel like royalty.





Juicy Couture Couture Couture - This perfume smells amazing. It is my all time favorite, and just looking at the ornate design of the bottle transports me to a different time.









When I think of riches I think gold. Unfortunately I'm not a fan so rose gold is the my answer. It's very feminine yet has a presence about it, and I get compliment on this watch multiple times daily. It dresses up anything that I'm wearing, even a pair of sweats. (hard to believe I disliked rose gold just a month ago.)












Tiffany & Co. earrings are timeless. They will suit me for years to come. I wear them with everything and they make me feel elegant. They add just the right hint of class to any outfit but never look over the top.






LUSH products make me feel pampered. Every single item I have ever gotten from LUSH has had a feeling of luxury. I love the way you feel after pampering yourself with a long bath or a face mask.









A great pair of heels (I don't own these, but mother's day is coming, I wish.) I like being comfortable so heels are not an everyday occurrence but on those rare occasions they make me feel elegant (and tall). The right pair of heels can finish off just about any outfit (except for sweats in this case, but I'm sure some would beg to differ.) Heels just make a look polished.

8 Most Worn Items


Here are my 8 most worn items, things I reach for on a consistent basis, in some cases even every day. Included is a mix of cosmetics, clothes and accessories.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Recent Product buys, New face routine, and Things I'm loving.

So it's been a while since I've written but I've been sick and working a lot. Not much has changed in Chicago. It's the end of April but everyday I wait for it to snow. A month ago I was waiting for nice weather but that always brought disappointment, so I figure if I wait for it to snow maybe it'll start getting nice outside (yeah I know, it's all about me.) I've bought some makeup in the last month, I'll highlight the exciting products below. I also bought a few clothing items which I'm still waiting to wear because it's been cold. The cold weather and being sick has almost made me go back into a hibernation, not really being active for the last couple of weeks, other than hiking this past weekend. That was short lived though, because I haven't done anything since.

I've been kind of lazy lately, neglecting my everyday face routine. This has caused some minor break outs, which I'm working hard at correcting. I was using a retinol treatment (Avene Triacneal which I received from a friend) during most of March and part of April but I think it was clogging my pores and contributing to my breakouts so I had to discontinue it. In it's place I have resumed using a Neutrogena moisturizing cream with retinol at night following my cleansing and toning routine. In the morning I added Mario Badescu glycolic acid cleanser and toner to my routine and an seeing good results. I have only been doing this for about two weeks, so I will give it more time and once I'm ready to review I will post a review here as well as a day/night face routine video on youtube which will include all the products I use and the order I use them.

In other news I've gotten back into reading a lot. I just finished "Water for Elephants." I managed to read it in 3 days, it's that good and I can't wait to see the movie. I have finally started reading the Harry Potter series. I had put this off for years while the books sat on my bookshelf but with the last installment approaching at the theatre this summer it was time to get reading. I am amazed at how well the books flow and the vivid fantasy world that the writer creates. I now see what all the hype was about. I'm almost done with the second book and it's only been 4 days of reading. I anticipate being finished with the whole series by June. Next I plan on reading the next book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris and "The Hunger Games."Back to beauty items.

I did make a few purchases in the past month or so. Most of them were not that exciting, or were at the time, but have lost their initial thrill. The few that I'm excited about are as follows.














1. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blush in Dollface - This blush has amazing staying power (easily over 12 hours for me.)
2. Hard Candy Fox in a Box Boxed Powder in Skinny Dipping - just got this and have not opened it but it's in a color that i do not currently own and I think it will go great with coral lipstick.
3. Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Gel CreamLiner - I'm particularly interested in the brown liner. These are getting great reviews and it's sort of hard to find a budget brown cream liner.














4. LaVanila deodarant in Lavender Vanilla - let me start out by saying that this deodorant is ridiculously expensive and if i hadn't had a sephora gift card and a discount code i'm not sure I would have purchased it, but with that aside it is a good deodorant, last all day, smells pleasant but not overpowering and is organic, but really expensive.
5. Sephora by Opi Cover me in petals - this nail polish is so pretty and i'm so into corals for spring so it's right up my alley.
6. Sonia Kashuk Blending Sponge - have been using this sponge all month for applying foundation/concealer/cream products. It's amazing, and leaves a flawless finish to your face. It does stain though and seems like not that great quality but for $10 it's good. I still plan on buying the Beauty Blender in the future when this one dies.

I am, for the first time in months, excited about a limited edition Mac collection that comes out tomorrow. I think all the recent collections have been boring and all the upcoming collections through summer, are nothing to write home about either. And really, let's be honest I'm only excited about one product, and it's a re-premote, so maybe I'm not as excited as it appears. The product is Ever Hip lipstick. This lipstick came out with the Liberty of London collection. It is a very pretty pink/coral lipstick, and is one of the few limited edition items I've seen while I've been collecting that does not have another lipstick that even comes close to it in color. It was the first Mac collection I purchased something from but this lipstick was sold out by the time I got to the store. Hopefully I will be able to pick it up tomorrow at the Mac counter at my local Macy's (I seem to have the best luck there.) (Liberty of London packaging shown in this picture, coming out in regular packing this time.)



And lastly I'm loving some of my samples that I have. I really need to stop buying for a little bit (yeah right) and go through my samples because I have so many piled up and most of them look like they have potential. The once that I am loving and will be purchasing in the future are:
1. Origins Vitazing
2. Origins Starting Over Eye Cream
3. DDF Ultra Lite Oil Free Moisturizing Dew
4. Urban Decay
5. Givenchy Play perfume

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

New Hauls

Here is a couple of older hauls, check them out to see what i got.



Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Update

So for those of you wondering, no I haven't disappeared. I've been quite sick and then had to work extra hard to make up for being sick. I'm in the process of filming more videos and have plenty of blogposts coming up but in the meantime here is my March favorites video to hold you over. And if you like it subscribe to my YouTube channel for more like it. Thanks and I'll be back soon. Also follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/macmeblush