NARS Luxembourg Satin Lip Pencil

One of the makeup items that I bought during my hiatus was the NARS Satin lip pencil in Luxembourg.  I have to admit, I bought the color solely based on the name.  Luxembourg is named after the Jardin du Luxembourg, an exquisite park I visited last summer while in Paris.  It turns out, I really love the color, go figure.

NARS describes it as a watermelon pink.  I'd say that is pretty accurate.  Besides the color, I LOVE the texture and creaminess of the pencil.  And it is incredibly pigmented.  I barely have to touch it to my lips to get color payoff.  Fair warning though, it stains your lips.  I once wore it two days in a row and after attempting to take it off, had stained lips for another 24 hours.  Another issue, it requires sharpening which wastes product.  For $25, I'd expect this pencil to twist up.

Here it is on my lips:

The next color I'm going to get is Yu, a really pretty bright fuchsia.

I'm Baaaaacccckkkk!

Well sort of...  First let me explain my year plus absence.  I was studying for the CPA exam (which I've since passed!!!).  That was like having a second full time job as I was studying 30-35 hours a week!  Also, I wasn't buying too much makeup. Sure I was buying here and there, but nothing like the past.  I even stopped following MAC releases!

Then suddenly as I was trying on a pair of shoes that I had purchased over the weekend, I got the urge to blog about them.  I'm hoping this reignites my love of blogging and becomes a regular thing.

So this weekend I purchased the Brian Atwood Cassiane gold fringe sandal.  It was love at first sight!  I can't wait to style them with a little black dress or some skinny jeans and blazer.

Brian Atwood Cassiane Sandal  (similar style here)

P.S. My pedicure color is China Glaze 'A Rose Among Thorns' ::swoon::

Manicure Mondays-Love & Beauty Nude

With all of the working I've been doing lately, I wanted a no fuss, low maintenance color.  And what's more low maintenance than a nude color.  Love & Beauty's Nude is a peachy nude.  In some lights, it looks more pastel on me than nude.  It has very subtle silver shimmer running through it.  The formula was a little hard to work with.  I used two coats for opacity, though I could have used three to even it out.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Out the Door top coat.  It's still on my nails after 3 days with only minor tip wear.

On a completely different note, I just finished the Hunger Games series and OMG!  Incredible!  I highly recommend these books!

Sleek Pomegranate Blush

I recently had the opportunity to do a swap with BeautybyJJ in the U.K.  The last swap that we did, I had received some Sleek products and was really impressed.  So I requested some more.  Among the items she sent me was Sleek's Pomegranate blush.  It is a lovely raspberry color with a shimmer finish.  And by shimmer, I don't mean glittery.  It just gives off a nice sheen to where a separate highlighter is not needed.  The staying power is normal, lasting about 6 hours on my oily skin before starting to fade.  And it is highly pigmented so a lite hand is recommended.  As you know Sleek is very inexpensive with this blush costing $6.99.  I highly recommend their products!

Manicure Mondays-Color Club Pretty In Platinum

Color Club's Pretty In Platinum is a greyed silver and has very fine shimmer particles.  After wearing the bright red last week, I wanted something a little less "in your face".  The formula was slightly thick, needing two coats to achieve opacity.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Out The Door top coat.  The color is still on my nails and it is day 4.  So far, no chips and minor tip wear.  These days, I barely have time to change my polish, so I appreciate a manicure that will last.

I'm Still Here...

I've been working like a crazy person lately as it is my busy season and I work 60+ hours a week.  Usually Sunday is my only day off.  I'm really trying to stay on top of blogging but when I get home, I'm simply tired.  Please bare with me with the sporadic posts. Only 4 more weeks until my busy season is over!

Manicure Mondays-Essie Lacquered Up

After wearing Essie's Shine Of The Times last week, I opted for a more classic manicure.  And nothing is more classic than red.  Essie's Lacquered Up is a tomato red cream polish.  It only needed two coats for opacity.  It wore well, lasting 5 days without chipping.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Out The Door top coat.  It was my first time using this top coat, and so far so good.

Swap Haul #2 With BeautyByJJ

NARS Makeup Removing Water

I've been unhappy with my makeup removing wipes lately.  I felt they weren't "wet" enough and they took too much elbow grease to remove my makeup.  I'd always been curious about cleansing waters but hadn't had a chance to try one.  So when I heard that NARS had released a cleansing water, I jumped.

According to NARS, it's a soap-free, alcohol-free water that removes face makeup and tones the skin.

Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Peg/Ppg-35/40 Dimethyl Ether, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Trisodium Edta, Cucumis Sativus [Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract], Chamomilla Recutita [Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract], Sodium Hyaluronate.

I soak two cotton balls with it and place them over my eyes for about 20 seconds, then I gently wiggle them before wiping.  And my eye makeup is gone, no joke.  No mascara, no eyeliner, no eyeshadow, GONE!  I then turn over both cotton balls and wipe the remainder of my face makeup off.  Now I don't wear water-proof mascara, so I don't know how it fairs against it, but with regular mascara, it cuts right through it.

Afterward, my face is left feeling clean, yet hydrated.  It's wonderful I tell you.  The only caveat is the price, $28 for 6.7 oz.  OUCH!  Much more than my $6 makeup removing wipes.  But it's NARS, you expect a price point like that from NARS.

If you can splurge, I recommend it!  It's available at nars. com, NARS counters, and, Sephora.

Manicure Mondays-Confetti Purple Reigns With Essie Shine Of The Times

I've already mentioned that I had purchased the Essie Shine Of The Times top coat.  Well I couldn't wait to try it out.  Since the Essie polish is a play on a Prince song, I decided to put it over Confetti's Purple Reigns (I know, I'm a nerd).  I loved the effect!  This is two coats of Purple Reigns and one coat of Shine Of The Times.  Purple Reigns had a nice formula, very pigmented.  Shine Of The Times is also nice, but a little thick.  Nothing too hard to work with though.  I topped it with Diamond Dry top coat.  I'm sure the manicure would have lasted longer than four days but I grew tired of the bumpy texture and changed it.  All in all, it's a gorgeous top coat and I highly recommend it!

Essie Shine Of The Times

This is my first nail polish purchase under my stipulations for Nail Polish Out 2012 (see post here).  I'd heard rumblings in the blogosphere that Essie's Shine of the Times was a dupe of the super duper hard to find Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (the original version).  Once I'd heard that, I knew this would be one of my 5 nail polishes I'm allowed for 2012.  And I'm so glad I purchased it!  It's a multichromatic flaky top coat.  The flakes give off shades of copper, gold, green, and blue and are suspended in a clear base.  It will be featured in my next Manicure Monday post.

So I now have 4 polishes left to purchase for 2012.  I think this may be harder than I originally thought.

Products I Regret Purchasing

Manicure Mondays-OPI Over The Taupe

OPI Over The Taupe was my very first OPI polish.  And still remains a top favorite of mine.  Over The Taupe is quite simply a taupe.  I still find these types of colors very chic and every time I wear one, I get compliments.  The formula on this is a little thin, although I was able to achieve opacity in two coats.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength top coat.  I always get superior wear with OPI and this was no exception, lasting a full seven days.  Are you still liking the taupe trend?

Another Swap With BeautybyJJ

I recently did another swap with BeautybyJJ.  Check out what I sent her!  I'll do a video on the products I receive once I get my package.

My Newest Fragrance (And Obsession)-Prada Candy

From the moment I took the sample from the sales associate at Nordstrom, I knew I had to own this fragrance!  It is in one word...delicious.  It's a sweet fragrance but not overly sweet like say a Britney Spears Fantasy.  This is a sophisticated sweet, the kind of sweet you'd smell on a woman carrying a Celine Luggage tote.

It is not an overly complicated fragrance, consisting of just three notes: white musk, benzoin, and caramel accord.  When it's first sprayed, you really get the sweetness of the benzoin, as it drys down, the luscious caramel and white musk notes come out.

This is an eau de parfum, so it's more concentrated.  I find that on me, it lasts all day.  I'll spray it around 8 am and it will still be lingering around 6 pm.

I received this as a Christmas gift from the husband and I couldn't be more thrilled!  He happens to adore it also.  Side note: I find this to be a man magnet.  I've been stopped by men in the grocery store, at work, and at restaurants asking me what I was wearing.

Prada Candy is sold at your finer department stores (Saks, Neiman Marcus, etc).

Manicure Mondays-Color Club Love 'Em Leave 'Em

I have to thank my mother for me acquiring this shade.  While browsing her nail polish collection, I noticed that she had two of these, so I asked her for one and she obliged.  Color Club's Love 'Em Leave 'Em is a nude base with holographic glitter.  It's the kind of holographic glitter that doesn't need direct sunlight to show.  I only needed to two coats to achieve opacity.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength top coat.  I lasted for a full 7 days before it started to chip.  Thanks again mom for giving me such a cool color!

Clinique Delovely Butter Shine Lipstick

I've been on the hunt for some "my lips but better" lipstick colors lately.  While browsing Sephora, I came across this Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in the color Delovely.  Delovely is a peachy brown with a nice sheen to it.  The color is sheer but buildable.  The Butter Shine formula is very moisturizing.  It applies evenly and has a nice slip.  With it being so moisturizing, it doesn't have the greatest staying power.  I get two hours tops with this color.  Not great, but not a deal breaker.   I like the packaging, it's a nice shiny metal casing.  The way it's shaped reminds me of bamboo.

Clinique Delovely Butter Shine lipstick

 These lipsticks retail for $14.50 at Sephora, Clinique counters, and clinique.com.  If you're looking for a "my lips but better" color, give this one a try.

Manicure Mondays-Orchid Steel Guitar

Orchid Steel Guitar is a metallic steel grey.  In the bottle, it has a hint of warmth to it that doesn't translate onto the nail.  It applied nicely with the formula being just the right consistency.  It only needed two coats for opacity.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Diamond Dry top coat.  It wore all week, I applied it on Monday and it started to chip on Friday.  My only complaint is that it doesn't seem to like quick dry top coats.  I had to wait until the polish was all the way dry before applying my top coat or else it would "shrink" on me.  This brand is exclusive to HEB grocery stores here in the southwest region of the US.  This is my second color and I really like the brand.

Hello Lover!!

Hello Lover!!  That's what I said when I put these bad boys on my feet.  These were the last pair in the whole Houston Saks Fifth Avenue store during the after Christmas sale.  And I happened to get them...and for 65% off!!  It was fate!  Without further ado, I give you my new Yves Saint Laurent Palais 105 open toe pumps in the color velvet (metallic grey)...

I love them!  I wanted to do some modeling pics for you guys but I have winter feet right now!

Every year I treat myself to a Christmas gift and these were it.  I plan on saving them to wear for my birthday in March.  Now I just have to find the perfect dress for them.  Did you buy yourself a Christmas gift?

Nail Polish-Out 2012

I hinted to this on Twitter and Facebook. You may have heard of other bloggers doing something similar, i.e. Gloss-Out 20XX, etc. I have decided that with over 150 nail polishes (pictured above), many untried, that I would not be purchasing any new polish in 2012.  However, I have given myself 5 freebies, meaning if there is some super unique color that I just have to have, I can get only 5 total for 2012.  I still have more than enough untrieds to continue my Manicure Monday posts for all of 2012.  Each time I purchase one of the 5 allowed freebies, I'll do a post on it letting you guys know.  This is going to be soooo hard as I consider nail polish a cheap quick beauty treat.  I sure hope I can do this!  How many polishes do you own?