Stila Natural Eye Shadow Palette

Hi guys! I stopped by Ulta after work today to pick up the new Stila Natural Eye Shadow Palette. I saw it a couple of weeks ago and I literally went to Ulta every single week until finally I stopped driving and decided to call the store ahead of time and get them to hold one for me. Like I said, I went and picked it up today and I'm so excited to use it! I've owned the Urban Decay Naked Palette since last summer and I've hit pan on half the colors in that palette and some of the colors like Half Baked are completely used up. I reeeally like neutral eye looks so I decided that this Stila palette would be worth purchasing. It was only $39 which is about $10 less than the Urban Decay Naked Palette. It has 10 shadows that are .49 oz each while the Urban Decay Naked Palette has 12 shadows at .05 oz each sooo you're getting a lot more shadow for your money. It also comes with a full-size Stila Smudge Stick waterproof eyeliner in Damsel which is a matte chocolate brown. I tested these on my hand when I got home and at the store and I could definitely tell the colors were creamy and went on smooth without a lot of fall out. The pigmentation was pretty good except I think Urban Decay has better pigmentation. I like that the Stila palette is shimmery, but doesn't have tons of glitter like the Urban Decay Naked palette. Sometimes too much glitter can make shadows really un-wearable for daytime. I also like that the Stila Natural Eye palette comes with a lookbook with 6 different eye shadow looks. I can't wait to try all of the looks!
Here's some pictures:

Top: Bare, Kitten, Bliss, Sunset, Sandstone
Bottom: Champagne, Gilded Gold, Luster, Night Sky, Ebony

My favorite colors in the palette are Champagne (pale gold shimmer), Kitten (shimmery nude pink) and Gilded Gold (bronzey gold shimmer).
There are 4 matte colors; Bare (matte ivory), Bliss (matte nude),  Sandstone (matte neutral brown) and Ebony (matte black). I think my least favorite color is "Ebony" because it's a plain black matte which I literally have tons of matte blacks in several different palettes. I guess it's convenient to have if you travel with this so I can see why they put it in there, but I wish that "Ebony" could have been replaced with a more unique color.

I also did some comparison swatches with my UD Naked palette....

First Row: Stila's Luster vs UD's Darkhorse
Second Row: Stila's Champagne vs UD's Half Baked
Third Row: Stila's Gilded Gold vs UD's Smog
Last Row: Stila's Night Sky vs UD's Gunmetal

I hope this post helped you if you were were thinking about purchasing the Stila Natural eye shadow palette. I really love both the Stila palette and my UD Naked palette....but I think if you had to get one of them get the UD Naked palette. It's just a really great palette. I got the Stila palette to try something new and because I already owned the UD Naked palette. So yeh, let me know what you think of the Stila Natural eye palette :)

New Dress - Urban Outfitters

Hey guys! I went to Austin last weekend with some friends and we did a lot of shopping. We stopped by the Urban Outfitters near UT and I ended up buying a couple of items including a purse, a dress and some flats for work. I'm wearing the dress I bought out to a restaurant tonight for my mom's birthday. I also wore it yesterday to work with a cardigan. I think its a great length and I'm in love with the back of the dress. There's also another pattern available, but I think the one I chose is the best out of the two.
You can check it out online here: byCORPUS Open Back Jersey Dress

Essie Resort Collection Summer 2011

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting as often. I feel like I say that a lot...but eh I'm trying to get a new apartment and I've developed a video game addiction that takes up all of my time hahah. Anyway, I still love nail polish so I had to blog about the Essie Resort Collection for Summer 2011. I found a four pack of minis at Ulta so it was perfect because I could try all of the colors out. All of the names in this four pack were "safari" themed.

From left to right: Da Bush, Lion Around, Fair Game, Your Hut or Mine
In the picture I'm actually wearing Your Hut or Mine, but it was reeeeeally difficult to capture exactly what the color is. It's a corally bright pink color with hot pink and violet shimmer that you can see when the light hits it. I think in the picture above you can sort of see the shimmer. It's really pretty! I've been wearing it all week and my toenails are painted with it too. Perfect summer color! I will do blog posts/NOTDs about the other polish colors in the coming weeks. I'm super excited to try Da Bush!
I guess this blog entry is more like a haul because I also wanted to share with you guys the purchase I made at TJ Maxx. I found a trio from the brand Nail Tek called the "Beautiful Hands Complete Care Trio." It normally costs $25 but I got it for $12.99. What a steal! I already use the Nail Tek Intensive Therapy for soft, peeling nails and was running out. So, this trio comes with that AND a ridge filling and strengthening base coat as well as a advanced hydrating hand cream. It's normally about $10 for just the Nail Tek II Intensive Therapy polish so this was a really great deal! I never thought to look for beauty products at TJ Maxx, but they had a lot of stuff! I was surprised. I even saw Philosophy products there and bought some men's shave products there for my boyfriend. Do any of you buy beauty products at TJ Maxx?

Dark Circle Treatment

Hi everyone! I have been excited for this blog entry for a while now. About 2 months ago I purchased the Amazing Cosmetics Concealer from Ulta and it is now the only concealer I will use under my eyes. I first heard about it in a Michelle Phan YouTube video and was impressed by its coverage. You really only need a very very verrrry small amount and it covers amazingly. With other concealers you'd really have to cake it on and it would look unnatural. The Amazing Cosmetics Concealer doesn't need to be caked on to cover and it doesn't fade off and settle into the wrinkles under your eyes like other concealers I've tried. It was kind of expensive, but totally worth it.
Here are the products I use on a daily basis for my under eye care:

1. & 2. - I use either Yes to Cucumbers Eye Gel or Aveeno's Smart Essential Anti-Fatigue Eye Treatment in the morning. These two items are meant for under eye puffiness. I prefer the Aveeno Anti-Fatigue Eye Treatment because it has a little roller ball that's metal so when you roll it over your under eye area it actively de-puffs and helps with circulation as well as being cooling/soothing because of the metal roller.
3. C. Booth Black Licorice Eye Cream is what I use at night under my eyes. I apply it with my ring finger and it really just helps hydrate my under eye area. I'm hoping it will help prevent fine lines from forming. It also has avocado in it which is pretty cool!
4. My Amazing Cosmetics Concealer will cover any darkness I have under my eyes. For me, I can treat dark circles all I want, but I will still have darkness under my eyes because it is hereditary. My mom's side of the family has very dark under eyes....sooo I've had to deal with it forever. I remember in middle school kids used to comment on my dark circles and people thought I needed sleep. Well, I could seriously sleep for 3 days straight and still have dark circles. This is why I have given up trying gimmicky products and now just keep my under eyes hydrated and cover the darkness with concealer. It's about all you can do.

Before applying Amazing Cosmetics Concealer & After

Please comment and let me know if you suffer from dark circles. And if so, tell me what you use to treat them and conceal them.

My Favorite Blogs

I thought it would be great to share some blogs with you guys that I really like. They are mainly fashion/beauty blogs.Click the pictures if you want to visit their blogs.

1.) Keiko Lynn My friend Carr just told me about Keiko Lynn and now I'm addicted to her blog! I looooove her style. She even does hair tutorials and makeup tutorials. What more could I ask for in a blog? :)

 

2.) Selective Potential                      
Selective Potential is a fashion blog by Tieka. I really love her hair and her style. She is so cute! Tieka definitely has a Zooey Deschanel vibe happening.

 

3.) Sometimes Sweet
Danielle's blog, Sometimes Sweet, kind of chronicles her life. I guess the reason I love her blog so much is because she has such an awesome life. She has a great husband and an adorable son named Henry and she is health conscious with great style. She seems very genuine and sweet and gives great advice on life.

 4.) Beauty by Clara
Clara's blog is mainly about nail polish, which is something I obsess over! She also shows off her different eye makeup looks and gives tutorials on them. Anyway, if you're a nail polish freak like I am then you should definitely check out her blog:
 

5.) Honeyflower3
Last but not least, Angela (Honeyflower3) is another favorite. Her blog is very informative and gives great product reviews. She also has a YouTube channel which is one of my favorites in my subscriptions: http://www.youtube.com/honeyflower3
You should all check out her blog and YouTube. She's so sweet and always responds to comments/messages! :)

Ulta Haul

Hey everyone! I really need to start blogging more. Some days I'm just not feeling it, well maybe most days. When I get home from work I just want to veg out on my couch playing video games. Also...other bloggers I aspire to be like are just so amazing that I feel like I should give up because my blog will never be as popular or as informative. I also wish I had a better camera, ehhh one day! I guess in the mean time I will continue to do the best I can. Today I felt like I should go ahead and talk about a trip to Ulta I made. I absolutely love Ulta! They usually have pretty good deals.
Here's some of the things I got:

CoverGirl was on sale buy 2 get 1 free so I repurchased my CoverGirl NatureLuxe Silk Foundation in "Alabaster." I also got a CoverGirl pressed powder for setting my foundation in Translucent Fair. The most exciting purchase was the new CoverGirl Mascara called Lash Perfection. I think it's the best mascara I've tried in a looooong time. I am extremely pleased with it. After using my eyelash curler my eyelashes usually lose their curl because mascara can weigh them down, but not with this mascara. It makes them look soooo good. Not clumpy at all! I think I will do a review on it soon showing my lashes before and after and maybe going a little more in depth. I also got one of Maybelline's new "Fit Me" blushes in Light Pink. It's really not that good. The pigmentation is terrible. Oh well. Anyway, if you shop at Ulta a lot then you know about the Ulta Rewards program. I got a level 2 reward this time so I was able to pick out a free eyeshadow by the Ulta brand. It's a nice gold color called Gold Leaf, but I really have to pack the color on with a flat shader brush and even then the fall out is bad and the pigmentation is seriously lacking.
Finally, I got this hair powder from the brand Not Your Mother's called "Girl Powder Volumizing Hair Powder." I think hair powders are the new thing for achieving volume these days. It seriously adds massive amount of texture. I just sprinkle a little directly into my roots and rub it in. I don't really have to tease my hair at all anymore! I was thinking about doing a review on this and showing my hair before and after with the hair powder. I know Got2B has a hair powder out for volume now as well. I'm sure that many more brands will be following this hair powder trend. We'll see!

Anyway, upcoming blog posts will be product reviews, a few OOTDs, and a post I'm extra excited about - "Hiding and Treating Dark Under Eye Circles" yeh something I've been plagued with thanks to my awesome genes. Maybe it will help someone out there who has the same issue :)

Essie Smooth Sailing

Hi everyone! I just got a new Essie polish tonight from Target. I have been dying to get some colors from Essie's Braziliant collection, but every time I see a display for it all the best colors are sold out. I was lucky enough to find "Smooth Sailing" at Target which was one of the colors I wanted. I'm still searching for Essie's "Absolutely Shore." I neeeeed it so bad! Anyway though, Smooth Sailing is really pretty. I don't have any polish color like it in my collection. It's kind of a lavender blue with a pearly shimmer in it.
What color are you wanting to try from the Braziliant collection? :)

2 coats, no top coat