We Love This Stuff!

Sally Hansen Color Quick- Metallic Fuschia

On a trip to the Mecca of awesome cheap stuff - Five Below - Boyfriend spotted the nail polish table and while picking through for colors he liked, came across this little beauty. While I’ll admit I was a little skeptical, at $2.95 if I didn’t like it I hadn’t wasted my fortune.  

I tried it Tuesday evening while watching Glee (guilty pleasure) and after following the directions- shake, click and have at it- I loved it! It negates the need to compulsively check the nail polish bottle to make sure it doesn’t fall over and tie-dye your comforter, and the bristles of the pen (marker?) are skinny enough that in two swipes it gets the sides of the nail. If you’re like me, I hate when I look at a completed manicure and see I missed the sides of my nails. This side-reaching feature earned this little baby huge points in my book! They’re also serious about the fast-dry part, as it’s thinner than regular nail polish it dries in record time.

Wednesday post yoga and shower I noticed the tips of my nails were looking a little worn, and it took me all of a minute to touch them up. Magical.

I’m hooked- I want one of these in every color!

Neutrogena Wave & Wave Sonic

If you’re anything like me, you’d love to have the super fantastic skin promised by the Clarisonic skin care system but really don’t have $200 lying around to shell out for it.

I found this budget friendly alternative at Wal-Mart a couple weeks back and I’m quite happy with it. There are two versions: the Wave, a one-speed vibrating unit priced at about $8, and the Wave Sonic, a two-speed spinning version priced around $14.

The catch is that unlike the Clarisonic unit, with which you can use any cleanser you want, the Neutrogena versions require purchase of cleansing pads. I picked some up for just under $6 for 30 pads, which isn’t terrible. It could get a little pricey if you’re using it twice a day, but I tend to only use it at night, and even though it’s not “recommended,” there’s no reason why you can’t toss a bit of your own cleanser on there and use one pad a few times. 

It’s actually quite a refreshing clean, and my skin has been clearer in the few weeks since I picked it up. It’s absolutely worth the small  price tag.

buildingaladder:

So, my first attempt verdict for my mini-elliptical!

Noteworthy Findings:

• Super easy to put together
• Very sturdy considering how small it is - it looks and feels like a real, gym-quality machine just miniature.  
• This sitting business in the video/the manual? I call BS on that, but in all fairness I didn’t try it. Standing all the way.
• I didn’t have a problem with the fact that it is free standing. I used it right in front of a shelf unit so that I could hold onto something if I needed to, but I didn’t. (Suck it, Erin!)
• The stride is very, very short - so much so that standing with your weight centered on the heel of your foot/normal stance just does not work when trying to push the pedals. Don’t worry, because you should…
• Carry your weight towards the front of your foot!! You’ll be able to get a good, smooth pace going. Because of that it feels a little more like a stepper than an elliptical, or sort of a hybrid of the two, I guess.
• It gets just slightly, barely wobbly the faster you go, but I suspect that has more to do with our old apartment floors, which probably aren’t super level.
• I’m really sore today, but that may have more to do with the fact that I was carrying a ginormous HEAVY box while trying to hail a cab for a very long time and then carry it up several flights of stairs.

I think it’s going to work!

Make no mistake, if I had the space to get a full sized elliptical I would 1,000% do that instead. But I don’t, so I can’t. I’ll let y’all know after I’ve used it for longer, but I definitely felt like I had actually done something and I think I’ll get my money’s worth.

(I like it a lot more than the stupid stationary bike my mom bought to replaced her broken treadmill back home. That thing is the worst.)

Urban Outfitters - Sparkle & Fade Knit Circle Dress

You know when you see something online and instantly fall in love with it? You know you have the perfect (brand new) shoes and accessories that you can now put to good use! You know of two up-coming occasions you can wear it for!  Buying this will actually save you money because you’ll be using all your pretty trimmings instead of buying more outfits!

This dress from Urban Outfitters was one of those things for me. I saw it online and fell headlong into swoon-worthy love. I could wear down the shore (I live in Pennsylvania) on my date with the crazy cute guy in the house next to ours. I can wear it to the BFF’s birthday in the city! And with a cardigan I can wear it to work. And at $32 a serious steal! And so, deep in love I bought it in 4 colors- red, jade, navy and black.

Oops.

I wore the black one out to the bar the night after it arrived in its pretty envelope. Nary half an hour later the armholes did that pop-in-front-of-the-armpit-thing. (I’m not so blessed in the boob department and when wearing stretchy clothes this is where the extra material likes to go). The armpit-pop made the dress look stretched out and almost too big for me. As a tiny person, big clothes are a pet peeve of mine. I thought maybe there was redemption after a round in the laundry?

Most disappointing of all- when I put it through said wash it shrunk. A lot. Like, it is now considered a shirt kinda shrunk. This happened with two of the colors (black and jade) before I conceded defeat and gave the whole lot of them away.  

I’m not usually disappointed by UO clothing, but I was by this dress. Serious bummer.

Havaianas Flip Flops

I am not exaggerating when I say that I live in these things. I own five pairs. Two in obnoxious colors that I wear to the beach and kayaking, and three in prettier colors, muted metallics that I can wear on a date with a sundress, or with slacks at work and get away with. 

I never used to be able to wear flip flops. The bit between the toes really bothered me. On a trip to LA a number of years ago, I was told that these shoes were all the rage with Hollywood and I just HAD to try them. 

Yeah, ok, like I care about Hollywood rages, but I tried them anyway and it was like walking on a cloud. To steal a line from one of Tumblr’s favorite gifs, my immediate reaction was akin to “they’re so fluffy!”

The rubber construction isn’t harsh on the skin between your toes like I remembered flip flops being, and they’re very well constructed. Take it from someone who has worn through a few pairs, they’re built to last. 

I know not everyone’s lucky like me to live in a place where you can get away with wearing flip flops 24/7, but even if you just need a comfy sandal to walk down to your apartment mailbox in, these come highly recommended. 

Stila Cosmetics In the light eyeshadow palette

I have been in lust with Stila eyeshadow ever since I got a full sized pan of Twig in my very first Birchbox. It’s velvety soft and stays in place well, and there are some gorgeous colors.

I had early birthday money I’d decided to spend at Stila. My budget was $40, and I figured I could find two shadows to add to my collection. Then I found this palette at $39 and squealed a little with joy.

I’m not terribly adventurous in my eye makeup, and this palette is just the right amount of neutral.  The colors are basic enough to wear during the day, with some in there to jazz it up for evening. It also includes a full sized Smudge Stick in a dark brown shade. 

I have used this thing almost every day since I got it. I’ve worn it to work, I’ve worn it on dates, I wore it to a business dinner with the company VP. 

One of my favorite parts about this palette is that it comes with an instruction booklet. It includes detailed instructions on getting six different looks. I’m a bit of a late bloomer as far as makeup is concerned. What I mean by that is I usually haven’t the faintest bloody idea what I’m doing. Having a how-to-guide is extremely helpful!

I’ll warn you, though, most of them are at least a little shimmery, so if that’s not your bag you may want to pass.  

One of the things I got with the recent PlumDistrict/ImageBeauty deal going around Tumblr was this curling iron:

I don’t have a curling iron any more, it was exactly $40, I’ve been curious about this style of iron, and if I could get it for $9 then sign me up, right?!

Obviously there’s a learning curve. I’m not really that skilled with the curling irons I’ve used my whole life, not to mention these new-fangled things. 90% of my head looks like I was trying to go to a belated Halloween party as Medusa.

The last 10% looks AWESOME. 

Once I got the hang of it, it went really quick. It doesn’t take long at all to set the curl. If I can remember what I did right for the next time, it’s going to look spectacular. 

It does come with a heat glove so you don’t burn yourself, but it’s kind of annoying and I kept getting it caught up in my hair so I ditched it and managed it fine.

This is going to sound completely ridiculous, but stick with me, it’s relevant. I am a total fangirl for The Vampire Diaries. One of the most amazing things on the show to me is Nina Dobrev’s hair when she’s playing the mean vampire. It’s so … perfect. I’ve always wondered how on earth they manage to get it to look like it does.

This thing is how they do it.