Lavender Love

I've been in love with the color purple since...  well, as far as I can remember, Jr. High when I painted a monochromatic portrait in purple.  Since then, this purple passion has turned itself into a Lavender Love.  From my first lavender purchase of a lavender shey butter tub to lavender soap, lavender fabric softener (That the cats love as well!  They fight over the freshly washed bedroom rug!) and even lavender perfume...I'm in lavender love.  So on Saturday while dropping off show cards (for an upcoming gallery show that my neighbor and I will be in) at local shops in lawrenceville (Pgh) with my neighbor Jules, it was only fitting that I would find more wonderful lavender products!

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When we ventured into Jay Design, located on Butler near 46th, we only aspirations of dropping off show cards but found much more.  At all the previous stores, Jules and I would browse each store as we felt rude just dropping off cards.  Jay Design was to be no different...

We entered the store and walked into a wall of smell.  My first fear was that I would start to sneeze but amazingly my allergies were kept at bay.  As Jules pawed at the other cards in the front of the store, I looked in awe at all the wonderful candles, soaps and other body products.  I was in heaven with the mix of soap and the layout of the store that screamed eclectic antiques.  Suddenly my eye was drawn to movement on the ground and I was startled to see a cat.  Yes a cat!  In a soap store!  He's a little orange and white tabby named Larry (for lawrenceville of course) who is one of the two resident cats who lives with 3 other dogs at the store.  We wandered further into the store further and that's when I found a set of  lavender rosemary guest bars.  The scent was divine!  We came to find out that Jay Design provides handmade and french milled soaps in a large variety of fragrances and types, which they make in the store each week the same way Jay did when he first started the business.  How wonderful is that?  =)  We found soaps that contained oatmeal mixed with scents such as lavender, almond and cherry.  There's also a musky manly soap made with patchouli for the guy that doesn't want to smell too feminine.

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After talking to Marge who was managing the store that day, we found out that they were having a special during the lawrenceville blossom tour the next weekend.  (During the blossom tour, you visit businesses listed to see what they offer and pick up a pack of seeds.  You don't need to purchase a thing but just visit for the seeds.  The tour helps to bring business to the small shops in lawrenceville and help people see that there is more to the area than just an old mill town.)

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I decided to hold off on any major soap purchases until the sale.  So this weekend, I plan on returning to stock up on all the soaps and lavender wonders to my hearts content.  Plus I fully intend on bringing the camera so I can get some snapshots of the resident cats!  Once I get some shots of the shop and try their soaps, I'll post a full article on this little diamond in the rough known as Jay Design!

Paper laces DIY...

In planning of the invites, I became a lover of the paper pocket folds.  These are interior pocket envelopes that contain an extra flap of paper to paste the invitation to.  But sadly we already purchased all our paper for the previous design.  So I had to determine another way to package the information neatly in the envelopes.  This led me to the ribbon strips, which some girls were calling belly bands, to bind all the invite sheets together...  But I didn't just want a simple ribbon, paper or combo of both strip.  I wanted something that was more interesting.  Mrs. Champagne's bands are cute with the initial card posted on the front.

Mrs. Champagne's belly bands

But I wanted something with just a little more flair.  I determined that I could use the special blades in my rotary cutter to get fun edges on the paper strip.  But that wasn't enough, I also wanted the lace effect that you get via border punches.  This led to a day of looking for sunflower-esque border punches to find the Fiskars Sunburst border punch.

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From here, I decided to search for the Sunburt punch to see where I could find it the cheapest and I came across a blog for making exactly what I planned to do!  So here is a DIY by Amy at paperlaces on making paper lace with the Fiskars punch.

1.  Amy punches out the border pattern onto her paper (a neutral brown or kraft paper) using the Fiskars border punch.
2.  She then trims the unpunched edge with mini-scallop edge scissors by Fiskars.
3.  The last step involves inking on a little color to give the laces a little dimension.
Here are her finished laces...

4.  Then you glue the laces as you see fit to your projects.

She glued them facing each other or away depending on the project.  They can be layered on top of other strips of paper or put directly onto the project itself.

(All paper lace images are from http://paperlaces.com/paper-lace-with-fiskars-punches/)

I was so inspired by this little online demo that I went out that week to find the border punch.  But sadly all 3 craft stores I visited did not stock the sunburst design I'm in love with.  Anybody else just love little paper crafts and find themselves rushing out to find the tools to make them?

Petty Actions

We all have a way of becoming petty...  wether it's looking at someone else and pulling apart how they are dressed to comparing their knowledge to yours and seeing them as inferior because of something uneducated they said.  Pettiness is everywhere and comes out in everyone.  Chose to accept it or not, it's true!

While talking to my friend Jules the other day, we vented about all things stressful in our life and talked of relationships.  We discussed how you sometimes just know a relationship is over but can't end it.  I brought up an example of a guy I dated back in undergrad, who wasn't the right guy but despite my attempts to end it, he always found a way back most likely due to it being long distance and the fear of being alone.  Now when I finally did end it, there was drama and lots of it.  And for several years, there was petty dislike of each other.  Two years back, he had found me on an internet site and we let bygones be bygones.  I was happy that he had managed to turn his life around, found his perfect mate and was starting to build his future.  Then last fall I came to find out this guy died suddenly.  I was in complete shock!  He was only 30, had just gotten married not even two months before, bought a house, adopted a dog...was starting his life!  What makes everything worse about his sudden death (possibly an aneurysm) is that he left his new wife completely devastated.  She found her soulmate and suddenly lost everything in an instant.  There will be no children, no walks in the moonlight, no growing old together.  Every plan they made, every future possibility with him was ripped away in a moment.

When Jules heard all of this, she was shocked.  She never knew the guy but none the less felt the grip of his story and how precious life is.  To be truthful, you never know what will happen to you and when.  With how sudden you could die from a condition that may never be diagnosed, it seems pointless to be petty.  Why grumble about someone not being who you wished or wanted them to be but accept them for who they are.  Why hold grudges because someone didn't do what you wanted or hurt you in the past.  What's done is done and can not be undone.  Despite this, many people still continue to be petty...  maybe because they haven't been enlightened or have forgotten an eye opening experience they had.  For them I feel sorry as there is more to life than pettiness.

My re-enlightenment via Jules has me saying to myself that I need to just let go of my stress and things that worry me.  Why worry about the deoderant being discontinued or the fact that my teeth aren't as white as they could be and focus on the important things such as relationships, friendships and getting this PhD finished.  There's no need to be irritated about missing dyes or buffers in lab...it's all inconsciquential in the greater scheme of things.  As the old saying goes "Carpe Diem" aka "Seize the day" or in laymen's terms "Life life to it's fullest!"

Twice the price... half the product?

When I first wrote this post 3 days back, my original intent was to question if using the Secret clinical strength was worth the cost.  I had just bought it as it was on sale at the local Rite Aid and I figured I'd give it a whirl.  See my sister and I have a way of sweating through any deodorant that isn't a Secret Solid.  And by solid I don't mean that invisible solid crap... I mean the old school secret that has been reduced to the baby powder scent at just about every place you can buy it.  (Yes, every time I saw less variety at the stores, I've screamed inside "Please don't discontinue the only thing that works for me!"  Sadly I found out yesterday (from the horses mouth) that it is discontinued and no longer available.  So it appears that I must buy up what I can find to hold me off until I find a replacement deodorant/anti-perspirant.)

At any rate...  I bought the clinical strength Secret to test it's abilities.  When I pulled it out of the large box, it was half the size of all the others I have bought in the past...  And double the price!

To add insult to injury, when I clicked it up to starting position I distinctly notice that the bar was halfway up the tube without any use.  *Huge frownie face!*

Once again... I just hoped this stuff would work (for the wedding that is) considering how much it costs!  At that point in time, I didn't really need a new deodorant as I was quite happy with the opaque white solid.  But for the wedding, I need something that keeps me stink free, sweat free and doesn't leave white marks on my green band.  Sadly after getting an email back from secret saying the only thing that has kept me stink free since puberty is history, I was and still am hoping to make this deodorant work.

So here's my current experience from the past few days with the clinical strength...  The first day I wore it, I applied the night before as directed and put nothing on that morning.  Sadly, I noticed sweat the next morning midday in lab.  =(  The following day, I put it on at night then reapplied the next morning.  It worked better but I still managed to sweat in it.  And it didn't help the nervous sweats at all.  I also made Josh sniff me to tell me if he could smell any odor.  I know...  such a cruel mistress I am making him sniff my underarms.  Despite sweating and swearing I smelled bad, he (after much prodding) admitted that I was only "mildly aromatic".  So I didn't smell like a sweaty pig but I'm still not very impressed with this more expensive clinical strength stick.  But I also am in a bind as now I need to find a replacement that works.  In the past, I had tested with other brands to only find they didn't work.  The gels didn't last, the invisible solids were a joke, the crystals were so so and in the end I always went back to my old faithful.

I'll give the crystal a go again as future hubby swears that if I put it on after my shower at night instead of in the morning, it will work.  We'll see...  and that thing sure did cost a pretty penny too.  Twenty one hundred pennies to be exact from l'occitane.

So now I'm just nervously looking to try anything that works for others who found they can sweat through most deodorants...  Any suggestions?

Sniffing out your Mate

We all know that the sense of smell is a very powerful tool.  It tells you what is bad to eat, when there is danger (fire) and even enables you to remember specific memories in an instant.  But this sense goes far beyond mere memories...  It can tell you if you and your mate are genetically compatible!  I'm dead serious, it's scientifically proven that if a man smells bad to a woman, chances are his MHC receptors (pathogen detecting receptors on immune cells) are too genetically similar to the woman (science article 1, 2, & 3).  You are probably thinking how is this so important?

(source = http://www.clevelandseniors.com/family/cat-newyear.htm)

Think of it like this...  Why is inbreeding bad????  Because you build up rare gene alleles (different forms of the gene) that lead to genetic disorders.  In a similar fashion, if you mate with someone who has the same receptors for infectious bugs (bacteria, viruses, & parasites) then you decrease the variety of receptors your children have making them more susceptible to infection by bugs you lack receptors for.  But if you mate with someone who has different receptors, it makes your children more evolutionarily fit and capable to handle a larger variety of infections.  So prior to things such as genetic testing...  the best way to detect compatibility was by the sense of smell!

So now you're thinking... alright, my mate smells good to me that's good for our future lil ones!  Well not quite...  It has also been shown that women on birth control have an impaired ability to smell too similar of a mate.  Yikes!  While on the hormone the woman's ability to smell shifts over time so that the mates they tend to find more attractive are those who have far too similar genetics.  Scary hun?  Especially considering that a large amount of the single mate seeking population is on birth control.  And if you are close to thirty, you've probably been on it for quite some time...



Now I'm not by any means suggesting drop the pill now to find your compatible mate.  But if you have found your mate and you worry about this, you could try getting off the pill for a bit and see if the smell is still good.  Or another alternative would be to seek genetic counseling if you were really afraid...  I'm just happy that I was extremely attracted to mine way before I ever picked up that little pill.


References:
Association for Psychological Science (2010, January 18). Scent of a woman: Men's testosterone responses to olfactory ovulation cues. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113122514.htm


Boehm T, Zufall F (February 2006). "MHC peptides and the sensory evaluation of genotype". Trends in neurosciences 29 (2): 100–7. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2005.11.006. PMID 16337283.


Miller SL, Maner Jon K. (February 2010).  Scent of a Woman: Men’s Testosterone Responses to Olfactory Ovulation Cues

Psychological Science  21: 276-283, first published on December 22, 2009 doi:10.1177/0956797609357733


Santos PS, Schinemann JA, Gabardo J, Bicalho Mda G (April 2005). "New evidence that the MHC influences odor perception in humans: a study with 58 Southern Brazilian students". Hormones and behavior47 (4): 384–8. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.11.005. PMID 15777804.


Weisfeld GE, Czilli T, Phillips KA, Gall JA, Lichtman CM. (2003). Possible olfaction-based mechanisms in human kin recognition and inbreeding avoidance. J Exp Child Psychol. 85(3):279–95. 

A lovely Easter find!

As we were wrapping the afternoon up at my Baba's (slovak for grandma) house, my Baba came out with a handful of First for Women magazines.  She said that I might be able to find something useful in them as they are magazines for younger women.  I leafed through the top issue that happened to be the latest edition featuring all things Easter and spring.  Now I for some reason always leaf back to front (I know i'm weird but less fuss with the pages that way...  someone so needs to invent a backwards magazine for us weirdos) and in the back I came across table decorations for a spring get together.

(yes my scanning skills suck tonight...  Source = First for Women March 22, 2010 issue)

I fell in love with the glass cups containing jelly beans and daisies!  It was just the perfect combination of color and contrast.  I immediately thought, wedding tables!  I've already purchased a few items for the reception tables but not everything...  and I'm sure I could adapt this to fit my desires.  Here's what I am going to would do if I use this on our tables.

(Source = First for Women March 22, 2010 issue)

1.  The glasses could easily be bought at Ikea for ~ $1.00 each or less depending on type.  I'm fond of these really neat beer glasses due to their shape.

(source = www.ikea.com)

2.  The jelly beans would be another issue... Future hubby suggested the idea of getting the solid color jelly beans from the candy stores.  But that will most likely cost more ($8-9/lb)  than buying the mixed bag and sorting into cups of single colors.  (I had a talk with a friend about m&m's for an event where they needed a certain color and it's way cheaper to buy the big bags and pick out the colors.  Welcome to the era of mass production!)  We could for  go the jelly beans all together but FH is a jelly bean addict.  He loves those little things!  So if we did this idea, real beans for sure!

(How neat is this?  Honey flavored jelly beans! source = www.jellybelly.com)

3.  The flowers we can always do fake from the local craft store.  This way they would last without water and a couple bunches on sale is not going to break the bank.

In all, this idea wouldn't set us back too much as we only need about enough for 20 odd tables.  At the reception there are 46 tables picnic tables on the wrap around porch, and I bought around 24 of each diff type of candle decoration (2 types... clear glass and amber glass).  As I was planning to find some small inexpensive potted fall mums for the tables, I can mix the mums into the one decor idea and the glass daisies into the other.  To make things even more fun, I can get different size drinking glasses and use different size daisies.  That will cut down on costs too if the daisy arrangements have various sized daisies on a stick.  Smaller flowers and smaller glasses = cheaper too!

I just love finding random ideas in unexpected ways...  Anybody else agree?

Cute as a button wedding favors...

While scouring the martha stewart website for punches, I found a section on handmade party favors.  My eyes dilated like a cat fixated on a bird outside a window.  My current idea for our party favors is kin to our sunflower theme.  I'm going to purchase little vellum envelopes and put a handful of sunflower seeds inside.  Then I'll punch holes in the flap to tie it shut with divine twine in our wedding colors.  To finish it off, I'll add a handmade label.  Then in addition to the plantable sunflower seeds, we also plan on having a cookie table that we will place little chinese take-out boxes in the wedding colors so that guests can take home sweet favors as well.   But despite those plans any ideas from Martha are always welcome...

On her site, I was first drawn to her flower wrapped favors!  Easy to make and probably adaptable to a sunflower-esque design...

These paper lantern favors are so adorable...  and would go with the lantern theme we were throwing over the dance floor area indoors.

The tea and cookie favors were very cute as Josh is a tea fanatic.  But the cost of making several hundred would be crazy...  Although it has made me realize I need to invest in a tag punch.

Upon stumbling on the origami favors, I thought... hmmm this would be a nice way to add in a little of the origami that Josh loves to fold but folding that many would be hell.

Then I came across the tree cups!  Drool...

"Orphaned teacups make perfect little temporary pots for young myrtle trees that can then be used as gifts, party favors, or place settings. Put a thin layer of gravel in each cup. Plant topiaries in potting soil, and cover the dirt's surface with moss. Place near a window, and water when dry. After a week or so, transplant to a pot with a drainage hole." ~ Martha Stewart [quoted from her site]

I am gushing in love with these!  Future hubby thinks they are the cutest as well once he found out that it's real trees in the cup and not just a faux sapling.  This would not for the wedding however as that would be an insane amount of money to make this many unless I found bulk trees for cheap.  But for the bridal shower...  It's so a WIN!  I want to run out today and hit all the local Goodwills looking for teacups or bike down to the local greenhouse to ask about young myrtle trees!

Anyone else just find the perfect little favor for a party and want to run out for all the supplies?

{All pictures featured above are from http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/handmade-party-favors}

Birthday Surprise(s)

For most of Wednesday, I had been feeling quite discontent due to stress...  This feeling dissipated after the makeup trial and hanging out with the maids.  So I was in a rather chipper mood when I got home around 10:30 and didn't expect a thing.  I came in, set my bags down and future hubby in his anxious little kid voice tells me to come into the kitchen as he has a surprise for me.   I walk in to find this...

Fresh cut daffodils in a coke bottle and a Reese's peanut butter cup cupcake from Dozen's Cupcakes!  And he had stories to go along with the surprise.  Earlier in the week, he saw the wild dafodils growing in the woods along the trail.  He mentioned that the cop sitting in the park was probably a bit confused to see two grown men walking out of the trail with flowers when him and his buddy collected them that evening.  He then told me of his the candle fiasco...  the b-day candles weren't in our kitchen drawer so the guy at Dozen's taped one to the box.  But when Josh took it off, it broke in half.  So it being wax, him being a smarty...he used his lighter to melt the wax and stick the candle back together.  All these stories and surprises in an attempt to try to get me in a better mood.  I found that to be so sweet.  *swoon*

But the surprises didn't stop there.  The next day, he ended up on walnut street for a coffee.  He stopped in Sephora to pick up my birthday gift freebe (they were out of the day before) and picked up some other little gifts.  It included a LOL cats books that made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe, a ye old english dunny and this adorable little labbit.  {Him and I have a fascination for little asian collectables aka Kawaii (means cuteness in Japanese)}

All this sweetness just to make me feel a little better...  I really have found my knight in shining armor.  =)

Sephora! Part 2 of 2

Part deux!

The following contains the variety of products that I was introduced at my makeup trial.  They are described in the order of how you apply them for those that want a similar look as I got for my trial.  It's a long post but worth it...  

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Now the Step #1 of beauty is cleansing and moisturizing.  

This involves washing your face twice a day, moisturizing and in my case I throw a little spot on peroxide treatment to keep from breaking out (Oil slick city skin here!).  You follow that up with a good moisturizer that lacks things that will lead to the skin exfoliating such as alpha hydroxy (Tip from Dee Ann) as the weight of your makeup will make your skin want to exfoliate killing it's wear time.

I have currently have that step down with all these products I have at home...

I'm using L'Occitane's Foaming Rice Cleanser  $20

Mary Kay's Acne Treatment Gel (peroxide mix that works for my oily skin)  $7

Mary Kay's TimeWise Age-Fighting Moisturizer for combination to oily skin  $22

(note...  some Mary Kay products are do it all at once sorta things so it's a good idea to check that it doesn't have anything in it that will cause expholiation)  If that's the case and you just need some moisturizer for your wedding, go digging as I did through my 80 gajillion Clinique bonus bag makeups that I collect when I was an avid Clinique user and pull out the dramatically different moisturizing lotion.  It's perfectly safe for ensuring you to loose your makeup!

The only thing I might work into this step is a toner again like I use to use from clinique or neutrogena's alcohol free type.

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Now for Step #2 : The primers!

I've found in general if I wear moisturizer, that gives me an even surface for my makeup and I look less blotchy.  Primers one up that and ensure that the makeup stays in place and lasts all day.  When I walked into Sephora, I wanted to get the smashbox primer that Lauren (aka miss scissors from weddingbee) was talking about in her blog.  But Dee Ann mentioned a brand new makeup primer that waterproofed as well.  Plus it's vegan, all natural and chemical free.  How cool is that!  

For applying the primers, you just brush the liquid primers on, and allow them to dry.  For the eye primer, you have to sit with your eyes closed until it's no longer tacky so that you don't get a crease where your eye folds (Tip from Dee Ann).  I had a hell of a time doing so while hearing her and my sister talk about the shaddow she was going to use.

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer (Mineral primer that restores moisture, reduces pore size and protects against UVA/UVB.  It's also water resistant) $52

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Eden(Primer for my eyes.  Silicone containing for even application and also dries to a matte hue so it can be worn alone or with other shadows on top) $18

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The next step...  #3 is painting your face base!

This involves first putting on the concealer.  You dab on with your brush the concealer and while some like to blend it in right away, our theater pro told use to blend when you put the foundation on.  She put dots of foundation around my face with her brush and then in a motion that reminded me of someone using a stencil brush to dab on paint to a stencil, she dabbed and blended the foundation and concealer all at once.  Following this you can use a makeup sponge to remove a little of the foundation if it's a bit too heavy.  But it often times looks heavy because your face lacks any color variation until you add your bronze/blush (Dee Ann tip!).  After the foundation is dry you can dust on your blush/bronzer to your cheekbones.

Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer in pearl $32

MAKE UP FOR EVER Professional paris, HD invisible cover foundation in 110 Pink Porcelain (Foundation for that photo finish...  Designed to look good in bright and harsh lights) $40

- turns out I'm 1 shade above the lightest they have...  I knew I was a porcelain princess but didn't think that much!  =)

Smashbox Fusion Soft Lights in Intermix (Bronzer and Blush in one with a variety of colors for that natural sparkle) $30

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Step #4 involves a dab of color on your eyes!

For this step, a beige was added to my entire eye lid up to under my brow (the primer), then a gold shadow was applied in a circular area from the inner 1/3 of my eye outward and blended.  The light green was mixed in to the gold just a bit and also applied to that little region between my eye and nose to make my eyes pop.  Accent was added with brown shadow in the outer corners that was blended in as you get to the center of my eye.  That shadow was also used to line my upper lid and lower lid.  Then black liquid liner was applied on my upper eyelid and smudged with a brush so that it was more feathery in the center of my eye.  To follow it all up, mascara was added to my lashes and as my brows are well defined there was no need for any brow pencil.

Tokidoki Cromatico Eyeshadow in Carnivora (ivory beige pearl high impact shadow) $15

Yves Saint Laurent Eye Shadow Duo in Anise Green and Intense Plum $41

Tokidoki Perfetto Eyeliner in Sabochan (black liquid liner) $16

Blinc Kiss Me Mascara in black (Mascara that forms waterproof tubes around your eyelashes.  Removal is as simple as warm water and light pressure...of course you saw I messed that up in part 1)  $24

Go to their site... this stuff is amazing!

For those that don't use mascara alot, you should be able to just get away with one coating as I did.  But if you need multiple coatings it is recommended to use a base of water soluble mascara and then the blink.  It will keep from damaging your eyelashes.

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The Final step, #5 are your lips!

For this she applied a lip stain... yes a stain!  Sounds like something you'd get from Home Depot but no....  This will stain your lips the color you prefer and then instead of reapplying your color constantly over the course of a night, you just apply the gloss.  She used the stain to line and fill in my lips then went over top of that with a light pink gloss to give it shine.

Tokidoki Fantastico Lip Ink in Nana Star aka pink (To stain your lips all night long!)  $15

Smashbox Limitless-Long Wear Lip Gloss in Forever (To keep shine) $21

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Now you would think that by Dee Ann letting me know what I could hold off on, it would have kept me spending a little less, but no...  I bought everything from there but the concealer and foundation...  feel free to add up everything above.  Mind you I was running on raw hormonal/stress induced emotion that led to a "It's my Birthday, I'll cry if I want to!" mentality.  Does every bride go in for a trial then buy all the products no questions asked out of sheer excitement?  Or is it just bad to do a makeup trial when you are likely to use purchases to make yourself feel better?

Sephora! Part 1 of 2

When I first found the coupon for the maids, I knew I wanted to do a beauty trial with my dress.  Initially, I thought of a hair trial but time would be too pressed on Wednesday to get an updo and make it to the David's Bridal in time.

This then meant makeup trial!  Yet I hadn't searched for any styles and I really didn't know what I wanted.  I liked the idea of 30's style pin-up cheesecake makeup as I felt so beautiful last fall for Josh's 30th B-day shoot at Atomic Cheesecake Studios in Baltimore.  But bright red lips and a green dress scream christmas hooker!  Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful makeup but I've given into to agreeing with Josh and my little sister that it's a bit too strong for a wedding.  Ugg.

Having no aspirations as to how I wanted to paint my face, my little sister (aka my MOH) and I walked into Sephora and asked about a wedding makeup consult.  The sales associate disappeared for a few minutes then came back with their makeup artist Dee Ann, who we just loved.  She has a degree in theater, at one time specialized in theater makeup (for years) then switched to tv broadcast makeup and now moonlights during weekends at Sephora.  She was extremely knowledgeable and not pushy at all.  I always have this fear of going into a place and having them push everything at you.  Having worked retail and dealing with Lab Reps now, you occasionally get the "pushers".  She instead made a note of the products that are new or ones that don't necessarily get stocked regularly so that I would look to pick those up just incase they sell out.  Other products such as the foundation that they carry frequently could be held off on due to their availability and my possible getting a little tanner in the next 5 months.  =)

So here's the results of the makeup trial...

Me on a normal make-up free day.  Yes my cat is winking. =)

This is what I looked like after Dee Ann's magic!

The makeup made the whites of my eyes pop but also made me realize I need to get some white strips ASAP!  ;)

~6 hours later still looking good!

For the most part that is... I may only need to powder or use blotting paper once as my face seemed to stay rather dry.  =)

Then I had a blinc mishap!  See the directions said use lots of warm water and then gently pull the mascara tubes off.  I sadly have a habit of using too hot of water for everything as I heart killing bacteria!  So when I went to use warm, I used HOT on a wash cloth.  Then rubbed that wash cloth down my face leading to crazy goth emo girl...

A combo of the eye liner and mascara ended up on my under eyes and was not washing off.  I promptly pulled out the cold cream for the makeup and then used a warm wash cloth to rub the mascara off my face.  Next time I'll remember "warm" water only!

Ever have a makeup mishap when you didn't really pay attention to the label?

Coming next... Part 2 The beauty products used!