Manic(ure) Monday

Welcome to my weekly installment of Manic(ure) Monday.  During tonight's program I will showcase my most recent manicure and give a quick overview as to how I accomplished it.  In last week's post I promised I would get a little fancier, and I did.  Just keep in mind that this week's "fancy" is all my own.  I didn't have a friend here to help me out. 

And there it is!  I used Sinful Colors again, as usual.  The coral type color is called Hazard and the blue is Savage.   I wouldn't normally pair these two colors together but it turned out awesome.  Quick instructions to get this look:  First I did a coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty base and top coat.  Then I did two coats of color.  Once the was dry it was time for the dots.  Do you remember a few manicure posts back with the confetti nails?  Well I used that same stick to make my dots.  If you don't remember or didn't read it (shame, shame) I took a wooden cuticle pusher with the pointed end on one side and ran that end back and forth real quick on the lid to my nail polish bin to flatten it out a tiny bit.  Then I dropped a little bit of color on a piece of plastic and dipped the pusher into it to make my dots.  My idea here was to start out thick at the bottom by the cuticle and space it out as I got to the tip.  If you're going to try this, let your dots overlap at the bottom and remember, the more polish you use and the more pressure you use, the bigger the dot.  Lastly, I finished with another coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty.

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!  No, I know it's not top notch but I liked the way it turned out.  The colors look great together and it's a fun design idea.

Now it's time for me to cuddle up with my blanket and watch Ink Master.  I hate that I just admitted that but it's pretty addicting.  It's on Hulu, you all should check it out.

Quickie

A few posts ago I showed you my hair curling technique, not the one with the curling irons but the one with the blow dryer and straightener.  Remember?  Ok, I did it again today and it turned out a bit better and so as promised, here are some pictures to prove it. 

I love this look.  It doesn't take much effort and works for just about any occasion.  And these pictures were taken after I had spent a little time in the rain.  So low maintenance!

Sorry about the short post tonight!  I'm just so consumed with online shopping and watching Magic Mike.  But I did do my nails AND bought a new nail polish in preparations for Manic(ure) Monday.  

Catch ya on the flipside, SUCKERS!!!

Party Hair!

I just turned 24 and in true Amee fashion I had a party.  Now, I won't go in to detail about how we played beer pong and had too much tequila, and you should probably thank me for it.  But I will go in to detail about how I did my hair!!!  How stoked are you?  There's even a video included! 

These are my tools!!  The curling iron is a Conair Instant Heat curling iron.  I think it's a 1 inch barrel but I really can't be sure, and it seriously only cost me like $14.99!!!  I also have it in a smaller size barrel.  For hairspray I use this Aussie Mega.  It's a flexible hold and it works great and smells great!

I start by parting my hair in three sections, two front sections and the back section.  The back is the hardest part for me so I always start with that.  For each curl I use about an inch of hair and always curl away from my face.  In the video below I show you how I do every curl.

(Sorry about the video, this is literally the first time I've done it)

Seems easy enough right?  RIGHT!  Honestly, I'm just now getting comfortable with curling my hair and it doesn't look too bad right?  I know that in the picture below it looks a little prom-ish but as soon as I finish I spray it with some Aussie hairspray and re-do any pieces that look a little loose and leave it alone while I do my makeup and get dressed.

Now here comes the fun part!!!  After I'm dressed and ready and all my curls look perfect for the prom court picture, I shake it out.  I don't get to crazy with it, just give it a little shake and run my fingers through it and this is the finished product!  I'll usually go back through and touch up anywhere that looks a little too loose but I won't use as much hairspray so I'll all blends together.  I really wish I would have gotten a picture of the back of my hair because in that photo it looks super loose but I promise it wasn't!  :) 

So uh, yeah, that's how I curl my hair.  Sometimes.  Sometimes I part it differently or use more or less hairspray.  Ya know, just play around with it.  Have fun with it.  Pin it back if it doesn't turn out exactly how you want it.  Or you could always throw it up in a top knot.  That should hide all your cuss ups.  Don't worry, I've had to pull that one before. 

Last but not least check this out- 12 Days of Saving for HOBY Oregon.  Show them some love.

Manic(ure) Monday

It's Monday again... And the perfect day to announce that I think I'll make every Monday a Manic(ure) Monday!!  I'm going to tell you all now that this requires me actually doing my nails once (or twice) a week and that will be a bit challenging but I'm excited about it!  Now some weeks I'll just do a so-so paint job and show it off and tell you what products I used but then other times I might get a bit fancier and maybe give a little tutorial on how I did it.  Or how Ariel did it...

So let's get down to business.  I've already said it once and I'll say it again, I love Sinful Colors.  It's super cheap and there are tons of colors to choose from.  The solid purple is called Dream On and the glitter is I Miss You.  Dream On dries super fast with a matte finish.  It doesn't look the best if left alone but when you put a top coat on it really pops!  

Sorry today's manicure wasn't more exciting.  My next one will be, I promise!  But now I'm going to relax and enjoy some television and my Christmas lights.

Oh and how cute is my new Starbucks ornament??   Ok.  I'm done, have a good night.

Manic(ure) Monday

Monday is almost over!!!  [Insert collective sigh of relief here] And what a Monday it was.  I swear, this is the worst day of the week to work in a pharmacy.  But this blog is my escape from the daily grind so I'll end my work rant now.

I did my nails finally!  It's been probably 2 weeks and with how hard I am on my nails that is like a week and a half too long!  I have about 20 different nail polishes and every time I go to paint my nails I get so overwhelmed at the possibilities.  But then I think "HA! Like I can do anything other than a simple polish anyways!"  Luckily for me Ariel came over tonight to catch up on some of our shows (Glee, Gossip Girl, Nashville, etc)  so I had a helping hand in tonight's manicure.  

Cute right?!  We decided to try a confetti theme since my birthday is coming up.  I figured it felt right for the occasion!  I took one of those wooden cuticle pushers and flatened out the pointy end by just rubbing it back and forth real fast on the lid to my nail polish case.  (Super technical stuff right there.)  That process made it into a small circle and she just dipped it in to each color then dabbed it on.  My one suggestion is to be sure to start with the dark colors and work your way to the lighter ones.  The order we used was purple, blue, pink, yellow.  Do multiple dots of each and don't be afraid to let them overlap.  The size of the dot varies based on how much polish you have on your stick and/or how hard you push down.  And, if you need to know every little detail like most of those internet freaks, the polish we used was all made by Sinful Colors besides the pink which is Sally Hansen Kook-a-mango.  The Sinful brand is my favorite!  We sell it at Walgreens for $1.99 and there are SO many colors!  I'm pretty sure they put out a new line of colors every other week too so it's always fresh and on trend.  The Sally Hansen is amazing too but it's one of those dreaded expensive ones.  $7.99 at Walgreens.  Eek!  Lucky for me, we recently clearanced out ALL of our Sally Hansen Complete Manicure line in order to make room for new colors and I bought this one plus a few other colors for like $1.69.  Such a steal!!!  Look at me being all frugal and stuff.  Haha.

Ariel's nails turned out super cute too, I wish I would have gotten a picture.  She painted all but the ring finger on each hand purple and the ring finger was painted pink.  She then topped the pink with a glitter top coat.  When I'm alone the two tone paint job is my fall back.

Now let's talk makeup brushes!!!  I had a question on the last blog post wondering what eye shadow brush I use.  Instead of answering that question I decided to do one better.  I'm going to tell you all about each of the brushes I use.  I can't guarantee that I'm using these brushes correctly but it works out for me!  And to answer your burning question, these are all Ecotools Brushes.

Left to right:

-Eye shadow brush.  This is the one I use on a daily basis for super simple all over coverage.  I tend to stay away from using this to apply colors though.  If I'm applying brighter colors or black and want a more vivid precise look I'll use just the regular old eye shadow applicator that usually comes with the eye shadow itself then I use my brush to blend it out and soften it up.  One tip I have is no matter if your using a brush or an applicator blow on it right before you apply it.  It takes off excess color so you don't end up with it everywhere.

-Angled brush.  I don't know if that's the technical name or not.  I mostly use this for a liner.  Typically I get it wet then dip it in my eye shadow (usually black but sometimes purple or a raisiny purple brown color) and run it across the top lash line.  The water makes whatever color you use a lot more vivid and easier to apply.  Sometimes I use this brush to apply color to the crease when I'm doing a smokey eye.  But then I wipe it off because I haven't mastered applying shadow to the crease or the smokey eye.

-Overall powder brush.  The name says it all.  

-Concealer brush.  I don't use this much.  I actually used this for a LONG time as my eye shadow brush and couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting a soft blended look.  Meh, sometimes I still use it for eye shadow.

-Foundation brush.  I use this to apply and blend my liquid foundation.  Nothing fancy about that. But it kind of hurts to use it.  All of these brushes are very soft but there's something about the way the bristles(?) are cut and sometimes certain strokes kinda stab in to my face.  Oh well.  Pain is beauty right?  Hahahaha no.  I usually call it quits when that happens.

Always remember to blend, blend, blend.  And then clean your brushes regularly!  I don't know if I'm doing it right but I'll usually just wash them with my bath and body works antibacterial hand wash.  It seems to do the trick.

Now I need to go watch Vampire Diaries.  Vampire Diaries trumps blogging any day.  =]

Sunday Funday?

...More like Sunday Doomsday.  Sunday is my 2nd least favorite day of the week.  Monday, of course, is the first.  I dislike it so much because it means my weekend is over.  Donzo.  Finished.  Gone.  Hasta la vista weekend.  

On Saturday I made a trip up to Eugene to visit with one of my best friends and while I was up there I made a stop at Victoria's Secret.  I am IN LOVE with that store.  And while this Santa Clause was up there picking out a couple gifts, she picked out a little something(s) for herself too.  Don't judge me, it's an early birthday gift to myself.

Isn't this gift set amazing?  It's the Dream Angels Heavenly fragrance and makeup set.  This is how Victoria's Secret describes the Heavenly scent- "Luminous and sensual, Dream Angels Heavenly glows in luxurious warmth.  White musk, sandalwood, vanilla, and white peony"  Now I'm not a fan of musk, at all, but I think the vanilla trumps that and honestly feels just warm.  I would definitely recommend this to just about everybody.  Even dudes.  :)  Go ahead Cam.

Oh and just look at that makeup kit!  A while back I bought one of their larger makeup kits and all of these colors plus a few more things were included but this is the perfect size to keep in my purse and I'm kinda stoked on that.  My only problem with the entire gift set is that the kit is just about [thismuch] too big for the makeup bag.  Who does that?!?!  I mean, you can get it in there and zipped but if you want anything else in there then you're screwed.  So for now I'll let the kit roam my purse freely while I use the bag for my extensive lip gloss collection goo hoarding.  They were having an amazing buy 2 get 1 free deal so the last thing I picked up for myself was a VS Limited Edition Bombshell Gloss and Go keychain.  The gloss looks nice but feels a little sticky so I wouldn't suggest buying one for the gloss alone (and at $30 a piece I definitely hope you don't).  But all in all I the keychain is well made and would make a cute stocking stuffer.  Both of these things plus a lot more awesome gift sets can be found on their website.  www.victoriassecret.com

On the agenda for this week: 

-I HAVE to paint my nails, badly, and I was thinking of doing a little show and tell. 

-I've been working on perfecting (haha, yeah right) a new technique that gives my hair nice waves.  It turns out different every time for me but if I have a good enough hair day that I can take pictures of I'll give you all a quick step-by-step.
-Venti Dark Roast with no cream from Starbucks.
-It's my birthday and I'll blog if I want to.  (December 6th, mark your calendars.)
-Anything else I can think of, because that's kind of the idea with this whole blog.
-OH!  Also, I should be receiving my Cosmo Voxbox from Influenster (www.influenster.com) this week!!!!  I have absolutely no clue as to what is in it but I'll be sure to share it with the world as soon as I bust it open.  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  I'm going to go curl in the fetal position and mourn the loss of my good friend, Saturday.  JK!!  I'm going spend the next 4 hours playing The Sims.  

Happy Friday!!!

I'm writing you from the backseat of my parents van tonight because we are on our way to my Aunt Laurie's house to a surprise birthday get together. SURPRISE!!!!

Tonight's post will be a little less substantial than previous posts but I'm going to Eugene tomorrow to visit my lovely Bri and I plan on picking up a few things at Victoria's Secret :) :) :)

On to my reviews of the universe-
I got a variety pack of Malibu Rums a couple weeks ago. The flavors included were- Original, Mango Malibu, Cranberry, Lime, and Pineapple. While getting ready to go to my Aunt's I mixed myself up a drink of Simply Orange and the Mango Malibu. It gets 84,367 stars! So good!

And since we are already talking about booze, Monarch Tequila is the way to go. I pay $9.45 for a fifth at my local liquor store so it has the cheap factor. It's tequila so it has the drunk factor. And it is very tolerable so it has the drinkable factor. But none of that really matters because I'm too cheap for anything else.

Moving on. Who here has seen the latest masterpiece from Wes Anderson titled Moonrise Kingdom? Beki (Cuss ya later) so graciously let me borrow all her Wes Anderson movies to improve on my hipster street cred. This movie is an awkward (aren't they all) story about a young boy and girl, they meet, write letters to each other, decide to run away together, and fall in love. Awwwwee!! NOPE! There is this scene where they are dancing on the beach. The girl is in her underwear and training bra and the boy isn't wearing pants and they kiss. The dialogue here is what sends this movie in to a whole different realm of awkwardness. I'll let you all watch it to find out what happens next.

My last tidbit is a quick "look of the night" type thing.

Tonight's look is brought to you by NYC BLACK eyeliner, Maybelline Great Lash, Maybelline Eyeshadow (the glittery black in the middle) L'Oreal Hip Eyeshadow (that awesome tan shimmer), E.L.F pressed powder, E.L.F. Blush stick, and Revlon ColorRich Lip Butter in Peach Parfait. I've already kind of talked about everything in that list besides the Revlon Lip Butter. That stuff is purely magical! It has the feeling of a nice lip butter with the color of a lip stick. I also have it in Creme Brûlée. I would definitely recommend both shades plus any other shade you think you could rock.

Ok. That's it. Have an awesome Friday night!! I love you.

Hahaha JK.

Kinda.

3.75 Minute Makeup Routine.

We all have those days.  "Holy Cuss, I have to leave for work in SIX minutes and I still don't have any pants on!" I can't be the only one.  Anyways, this is what I do to make myself presentable to the general public, I'm using that term quite loosely but I won't get in to work stuff...

1- Clean & Clear Face lotion, so important for me this time of year.  This stuff is pretty good too, it has salacylic acid in it to fight off acne and its moisturizing without leaving my skin oily.
2- E.L.F. pressed powder.  This stuff is amazing, it has acne medication in it!  WOOO!  Plus its SUPER cheap. Like $1 at Walmart cheap.
3- Rimmel Stay Matte powder.  I apply this with a big ol' powder brush on areas where I am a little extra shiny.
4- Lip Stuff.  Today's look is brought to you by E.L.F. Lip Stain in Nude Tangerine. What?!
5- EYES! My fave part of this whole routine.  My go-to eyeshadow is this cute L'Oreal HIP eyeshadow.  That tan one you see on the left is super shimmery.  It's cute alone or on top of other colors.
6- I always, ALWAYS, use black eyeliner.  The cheaper the better.  And lately (within the last two weeks) I've gotten pretty decent at applying it to the top lid, how old am I?
7- Last but not least, a quick coat or two of mascara.  I love mascara.  I never buy the same stuff twice in a row.  Right now I'm using the classic Great Lash with the funny looking tear drop brush.  Although I like the mascara itself, the brush takes a little time to get used to it.

And voila!!!  Like I said, presentable.  If I'm meeting up with a friend after work I'll touch up my face with the Rimmel, reline the eyes with the blackest eyeliner I own (the only eyeliner I own), pick out a color for my eyes and blend that in with the shimmer, add another quick coat of mascara, and finish with lip stick.

Witty sign off,
-Amee

P.S. The new Jenna Marbles video should be up today.  :)

The first of SO many hair products reviews

In the words of the great Jenna Marbles, I am a goo hoarder.  The term "goo" refers to just about anything us girls use in our hair, for our face, and on our skin.  I'll post a link to her video, watch it or we're not friends anymore. 

Are you done watching? Ok, on to the rest of my post.

Today I will talk about hair products.  Now, I would take pictures of the cupboard under my sink and my shower to show you all the hair goo I hoard but, let's face it, my bathroom is a MESS.  I have tried a lot of hair sprays, shampoos, and conditioners.  Lately though I have been trying more and more "other" hair goos like argan oil, heat protector spray, leave-in conditioners, and dry shampoo.  Lucky for you, I'll give you my honest to goodness opinion on these things.

Right now my favorite hair products are either made by Dove or John Frieda.  Here's an anecdote for you:  I died my hair reddish-brown a couple years ago then in May of this year I decided to go back to blonde.  Probably the best-worst decision ever.  Have you ever tried to dye your hair blonde after dying it red?  It had to be bleached.  And to some of you this may not be a big deal but I was a bleach virgin until then.  Anyways, I foolishly let my younger sister who was fresh IN (not out of) beauty school bleach my hair in my kitchen with 5 (FIVE!) packets of Sally's Beauty Supply bleach.  As you can probably guess, my hair turned out terribly.  A few days later I went to my friend Brittney who works at Hair Studio 28 and she spent a very long 3ish hours fixing my hair.  The color looked absolutely fantastic.  The condition of my hair?  Not so good.  For the next few months I religiously used Dove Intensive Repair shampoo and conditioner.  I know I should have used something fancy that said "color safe"  or "for color treated hair" but honestly, the Dove shampoo just smelled the best.  By the time I stopped using it (because something new was calling my name) my hair was back to almost tip-top shape.  Or at least as good as it can be for bleached hair that is constantly being blow dried and straightened.  Since then I have tried some good smelling Herbal Essences CRAP (left my hair oily and frizzy no matter what I did) and John Frieda Frizz Ease Smooth Start Repairing shampoo and conditioner and it too smelled fantastic (I'm sensing a pattern).  I had a few problems with the John Frieda.  One, the shampoo was far too runny.  Two, the conditioner was far too thick.  And three,  my hair was pretty frizzy if I just let it be which really didn't happen much so I guess that doesn't count for anything.   For right now I'm back with the Dove but as soon as I run out I'll probably try something new.

Now, lets talk about my other goos.  I have quite a few right now so I'll just tell you about what I use during my daily routine.  First I use John Frieda Frizz Ease leave-in conditioner.  My hair is practically unbrushable without it.  I know some people are worried about leave-in conditioner because they might have naturally oily hair.  Or maybe that's just me.  But let me tell you, that stuff is amazing!  I have no complaints about it.  And I don't think its possible to use too much but please, don't try to prove me wrong.  Second, if I plan to blow dry and straighten my hair I use a John Frieda Heat Protector Spray.  I don't think I have seen a difference with or without it. I don't even know if I'm supposed to be able to physically see the difference but with that being said, I feel better about the abuse I put my hair through when I do use it. Third, I use Dove Nourishing Oil Care anti-frizz serum.  I LOVE this stuff.  LOVE!  It gives my hair a nice, soft, touchable shine and it too smells great. But it is an oil so you really have to be careful about how much you use.  And it's your own dumb fault if you try to prove me wrong on that.  And that's pretty much it.  I use a few other things randomly as they go on sale at work but I'll talk about those at another time.

It's probably a little too soon in the game to be asking my loyal readers what their favorite hair products are but, ya know, if ya wanna... then please be my guest.

Also, to anyone who might be interested in influenster, holla atchya girl.  I'll email you an invite.

<Insert awesome, witty sign off here>

P.S. I'll probably reference Jenna Marbles again, and again.  Get used to it.  Please.

First things first.

I have decided to start a blog.  I'm not positive that I'll stay on topic with this blog or how long I'm going to keep up with it but here it goes.

My first order of business is reviewing just about everything.  But mostly beauty products.   I'm a member of influenster.com (I'll tell more about that here in a minute) and part of being a member is reviewing products and referring said products to friends, family, co-workers, loyal subjects, evil minions, or anyone else who's willing to listen to me.  When I buy a new product I'll try to post my inner-most thoughts about it for the world to see.  

I'm just going to let you know right now that I do not consider my self to be very good at, well, anything.  I get all my beauty tips from other blogs, youtube videos, friends, and trial and error.  Here's a couple examples that can prove my incompetence: I'm 23 and JUST started using a curling iron.  About a month ago I died my friend's hair for the first time.  I haven't mastered backcombing my hair.  Lip liner? What's that?  Do I need it?  I don't know!!

Another thing I'd like to say is that I have a love/hate relationship with spending money.  I absolutely LOVE to spend little amounts of money on products.  I'd rather buy 7 $2 nail polishes than 2 $7 nail polishes.  I buy all my beauty products from Walmart or Walgreens (employee discount, HOLLA!!), and almost everything I purchase is on sale.  I hate spending money on full price cosmetics.  There has only been 2 times in my life that I've gotten fancy makeup, the first time was when I was 18.   I got a makeup bag full of Lancome cosmetics for opening up a Macy's card, I regretted that idea as soon as I maxed it out.  And the second time was because my brother-in-law had given me some Saks Fifth Ave. gift cards that I used to buy Diorshow Unlimited Mascara (BEST EVER!) and a Garmin GPS.  Now my Macy's card is paid off  =] and the Diorshow has been used up =[.  

And now on to Influenster.  They hit the nail on the head with this definition: 

Influenster [in-floo-uhn-ster]

noun

An exclusive online community where tastemakers and trendsetters (such as yourself) come to share the latest and greatest news, places, products, and reviews with each other. 2. The hotspot you just bookmarked on your web browser that turns your social influence into sweet rewards

Basically, Influenster is a place for culture junkies to come together and share their unique opinions of products and experiences. Active members of Influenster get exclusive access to deals, promotions, and swag from brands that thrive off the input (the good, the bad, and the ugly -- they just want to know what's up).

I took that directly from their website, don't judge me.  Anyways, they just updated their website.  I honestly have no idea what it looked like before because my confirmation email got lost in my junk mail inbox (oops) and it took me pretty much forever to figure out how to get around that.  But one password reset button later I was in.  I really love it.  I love how easy it is to navigate.  I love the way it looks.  I love reading and writing reviews.  I love logging in and seeing my score that is now higher than it was yesterday.  If you are interested, hit me up with your email and I'll get you an invite.  If you're not interested, reread the description and focus on the part that says SWAG.  

So, that's that.  I feel like I've rambled on long enough for one blog post.

(((I feel like I need to come up with a nice sign off like the "Stay classy, San Diego."  But that would be a blatant rip-off of the GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE!  I'll try my best to come up with something for next time.)))