MAC Creme In Your Coffee

MAC Creme In Your Coffee · $15

When it comes to red lipstick, I'm not quite convinced that red red looks good on me. Because of that I tend to lean towards more brown and deep reds which seem to suit my complexion a lot better. For a long time MAC's Cosmo has been my go-to lipstick but it's a bit more pink than red (yet still has a bit of brown), so I went on a search to find something a little more elegant.

Creme In Your Coffee is just really beautiful. It's described as a "creamy mid-tone pink brown" but it's definitely more reddish brown than pink on me. I'm a huge fan of the cremesheen finish as my lips have been a little more dry as of late, and this finish tends to not dry my lips out! I was between this, Capricous, and Plumful but I'm definitely glad I got this first — especially because everyone is blogging about Plumful at the moment, ha.

MAC lipsticks are still my favorite lipsticks of all. Sooo many colors, finishes, and I just love the packaging. What do you guys think of Creme In Your Coffee? Which lipstick shall I get next?

Travel Bag Essentials #1

Since it's my last day in New Jersey (*cries*) I thought I'd give you a look into what I brought with my on my little Thanksgiving vacation. I've also added links to reviews I've done for certain products!

Let me just start out by saying earlier this week I was talking about how I didn't have a makeup bag anymore and on Black Friday my mom came home with this gorgeous Vera Bradley bag for me. Isn't it adorable? I love it so much, thanks Mama!

Base: I brought my beloved Caudalie Beauty Elixir and Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, YSL Touché Éclat and Laura Mercier's Mineral Powder (reviews for those coming soon, yay!). For application I brought my Real Techniques Buffing Brush and Expert Face Brush.

Cheeks: I brought along Tarte's Amazonian Clay blush in Exposed, Benefit Hervana, and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle. All my favorites for autumn and winter (minus Douceur).

Eyes: I brought MAC eye shadow in Naked Lunch and NARS Portobello (review coming soon). For lashes I brought my Le Curler and that super duper Dior duo. For eyebrows I've got my Anastasia Brow Wiz, Mac Mystery and a MAC 263 brush.

Lips: My current favorites for A/W: MAC Dark Side, L'Oreal Infallible Le Rouge in Tender Berry and MAC Creme In Your Coffee (review coming soon).

Annnnd that's all, folks. What do you guys think of my traveling essentials? Is there anything you can't go on vacation without?

Batiste Wild Dry Shampoo

Batiste Wild Dry Shampoo  $9.99

Quick review!

I went off dry shampoo for a while, but I'm back in the game (especially since I'm on vacation at the moment). I've recently run out of Brit and am not to keen on the smell of Blush anymore, so when I saw this adorable can in the beauty supply store I just had to go in and try it out. 

Wild is all around a great dry shampoo. The packaging is adorable(!!!!!) and the smell is just really really lovely. I'd definitely say that this is tied with Brit for my favorite Batiste scent — it's quite sweet and a bit vanilla-y, perfect for fall and winter to me. Are you guys into dry shampoo? What are your favorite Batiste scents?

Public Service Announcement

Not really a PSA, but...

I'm currently back in New Jersey for the Thanksgiving holiday and I'm super excited to be here for a while (plus that means we'll be in England in less than a month, eeeeeep). That said, be prepared for regular blogging to happen, for the most part!

Anyway I'm writing this post to say: I'm going to be selling some of my prints on Society6! If you didn't know, aside from blogging, photography is what I'm most passionate about. You can see a bunch of my photos here and see the prints and such that I'm selling here. I'm currently uploading a ton of stuff so stay tuned! Even if you don't buy anything I'd really love for you to just check out my stuff and tell me what you think! Also if you see anything on Flickr that you'd like to see in print form, let me know <3

...and now back to our scheduled programming...

Caudalie Beauty Elixir

Caudalie Beauty Elixir · $18

It was only a matter of time 'til I hopped on the Beauty Elixir bandwagon. All my favorite bloggers use it and rave about it, so how could I not try it for myself?

All in all it's just a really gorgeous toner. Everything about it is gorgeous — the bottle, the smell, the way it feels on your skin. I use this in the morning after I shower as my face is usually pretty red and this stuff definitely helps calm my skin a ton. My skin also feels a little more, I don't know, firm? Plump? It just feels amazing as if it's truly ready for me to apply makeup. Seems silly, but I don't know how else to explain it. The fact that it's a mist makes it even better, it's overall so much easier to apply than most other toners. 

Another great use? I love spritzing some on around 1-2pm just to make my face and makeup feel a little more refreshed. The plant-y and minty smell really wakes me up and makes me feel slightly luxurious. Overall I'm really in love with this stuff and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. $18 for a 1oz bottle might seem a little steep — until you use it for yourself and see that it really is worth the price. 

What do you guys think of this product? Do you think it deserves the hype it gets?

A few of my favorite things

So I thought I'd do a little something different and show you guys where I keep all my makeup. It's not really storage or anything of that sort — I usually keep out what I use most and throw the rest in my left over Glossybox which is still gives me pretty easy access. This is only really my makeup collection; my hair products, accessories, and tools are a-whole-nother issue I need to tackle one of these days!

I've got a few more Instax photos to put on the wall but I seem to have lost them in the move a few months back, so hopefully I'll be able to find 'em and stick them up soon. The two cards are from Richard and his sister and were for my 23rd birthday this past July. They're just so cute I love having them out. There are a few products here that I haven't reviewed yet, but will be soon! I've fallen (madly) in love with YSL Le Teint Touché Éclat and Marc Jacobs Daisy as of late; I can't stop wearing them! Anywho, let me know what you think of my little setup as I'm loving it right now :)

That little moleskine in the pictures is probably one of my most prized possessions — it was a little gift from Richard when we first started dating and I still love it as much as I did when I got it. Also present is my 'lil pink Nintendo DS loaded up with Harvest Moon Cute.  P.S. shooting/writing this post has put me in a Francoise Hardy/French music mood - go listen.

mountain view

“The secret is, find something you love to do, and then … do it for the rest of your life.” - Rushmore

skirt, jumper, boots · Topshop | Richard's boots · Zara Man

This post is a little different than my usual posts, but it's the first of many like this to come. I've gotten slightly bored of my living room as a backdrop and I feel like other than the expression on my face, the photos lack character, charisma, and fun. This blog is a huge part of expressing who I am so I figure it's time for a change. (I'm also working on a new layout yay!)

Richard and I spent the day in Mountain View dodging people walking through the little area we were taking photos in, drinking pumpkin spice lattes, and of course enjoying a coconut bubble tea. Although this wasn't the best location for photos, we've already scouted out our next one which I'm super excited for! We also saw Skyfall which I totally recommend if you're into Bond movies — it was soooo good.

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend! All photos of me are by Richard (and the others are by me). I'll be posting some on my Flickr, if you'd like to check them out! p.s. let me know if you like posts like this; I love hearing what you all think. ♥

Birchbox Man: November 2012

Birchbox Man · $20/mo

Another BB Man — a little late, but better late than never! This box is all about simplifying and supporting Movember, though not everything here represents those two things. Oh well!

Firstly is the American Crew Post-Shave Cooling Lotion — this is sure to be a hit especially because of how much Richard still loves the Kiehl's Brushless Shave Cream (which also contains menthol). The even cooler thing about this American Crew lotion is that it can also be used as a daily moisturizer! 

The EVOLUTIONMAN Wash & Buff is a handy little face scrub which exfoliates and removes dead skin cells with tiny microbeads. It's not supposed to cause any irritation to the skin which is a definite plus.

The Créme Styler by TOWELDRY (what is with these all caps brand names?!) is a lightweight styler that you warm up in your hands and use to style as desired. It's supposed to be long-lasting and contains keratin and organic wax, so we'll see how it goes!

Next up is a cute little card holder by Old Calgary. BB Man calls this a wallet but yeah, no, definitely not a wallet. There is no way Richard could put his cards and cash in here so I'm going with card holder. Either way it's adorable and awesome for days out when you don't want to lug around a big fat leather wallet. 

Last but not least is the John Varvatos Artisan Eau de Toilette. It's got a citrus-y scent — something I'm not used to smelling in colognes and perfumes, but really lovely none the less. 

All in all this was a great box. Doesn't beat the whiskey stones from last month (which we've been putting to good use), but still awesome! What do you guys think? Have you/your man signed up for this box yet? 

Orly Foil FX Polish in Rage

Orly Rage · $8.50

Sooooo I don't usually do posts on nails. Scratch that, I never do posts about nails. Well, that's about to change... I hope. Unfortunately for me, I'm super prone to biting my nails when stressed/anxious/nervous/etc and I'm one of those people who is always stressed and therefore always biting. Sigh. So here I am again on a journey to grow them out for the holidays and hopefully keep them at a decent length. I'm wearing falsies in these photos but once they come off I'm 100% going to crack down and let them grow naturally. Funnily enough, when I do let them grow they get long, don't break or chip, and are generally really awesome — go figure. Also please excuse the slightly messy paint job, I'm a little rusty!

This is my first Orly polish and when I saw in the store it I knew I had to have it. Metallics are really in right now, or so it seems, and I'm falling for rose gold all over again. Overall, Rage is a super flattering color to have on your nails and goes with basically everything. The formula seems great so far and there's not much chipping or peeling as you can see (though I'm only three days in). This is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite nail polishes — so much to love!

What do you guys think of this color and Orly polishes in general? Also let me know if you'd like to see more nail posts in the future! 

Election Day

Wizards for Obama shirt · Nerds for Obama

Leather Jacket · Zara

Disco Pants · American Apparel

Wedges · H&M 

Bracelets · Gifted 

Ahhh, so the day has finally come. It's Election Day here in the good 'ol US of A, and here I am ready to vote for the first time, wand in hand. No, but really, all jokes aside this is a pretty important day for us Americans as we get to cast our vote on who we believe should be the next president, as well as letting our voices be heard about different propositions and things of that sort (fuck yeah, Prop 37). I know a lot of people who aren't voting because: they "don't like either candidate" or they "don't like politics" or whatever else and all I have to say to you rebellious kids is YOUR EXCUSE SUCKS. I'm not really into politics but I do care about the future of our country and you should too.

Anyway... my friend Erin sent me a link to this shirt and I had to have it to wear when I go vote. I'm voting at a church so I think I may get some weird looks but I'm totally down for that. Still addicted to my disco pants and giving them probably too much love. Whatever! I'm loving them with my leather jacket lately; makes me feel like a biker chick from Grease, haha.

Hope you guys enjoyed my little voting day outfit and I seriously hope that every 18+ year old American that reads this shows a little patriotism and votes!

Obama '12! Over and out <3

Real Techniques: Core Collection

Real Techniques Core Collection · $17.99

After purchasing some other Real Techniques brushes a few months back, I decided it was time to get a few more. I settled on the Core Collection mostly because everyone and their mother (literally?) raves about the buffing brush for both liquid and mineral powder foundations. 

I love this little kit because it has a pretty great variety. I'm not sure what I'll be using the pointed foundation brush for yet since I prefer the buffing brush/expert face brush for foundations. The contour brush will be great for... contouring (duh) and probably touch-ups of blush here and there. The detailer seems perfect for adding a bit of shadow to the lower lash line, or even for applying lipsticks and other things of that sort. 

I do love the little case/stand it comes with, though I'm sure it'll be used mostly for traveling which I'll be doing a ton of within the next three months. Either way, I'm super excited to add these to my ever-growing collection. 

Do you own any Real Techniques brushes? Which are your favorite?