After receiving all those wonderful goodies from Jesse's Girl, I immediately went online and ordered some more stuff. When the package arrived about 20 little baggies with Eye Dusts were included. I haven't had a chance to play around with them, so I decided to this weekend. I grabbed 4 colors and decided to see if I could make them work together.

Here are the four I grabbed.

I haven't gone on their site to match them up. It has been a pretty busy week so far. Not to mention I have been battling the worst headache on and off since Saturday. It's on again right now, and so this post will be fairly quick as a result.

Eye Dust 80579 - Emerald Green

Eye Dust 80554 - Copper/pink

Eye Dust 80563 White/grey/blue multi-chrome

Eye Dust 90567 Green/Orange duo-chrome

So impressed with these eye dusts. Now if I can just find the time to figure out what they are on their site.

I am working on videos for all of the latest collection and going back and finishing the ones from the rest of the collections when the sun comes out. This one still needs a little editing as I forgot to take pictures of Awakening after I did the video I realized I got lint in my manicure. You can't see it in all the video/pictures. But when you can see it, you can really see it. So I may redo the manicure for picture purposes later. But I think these videos help see what each polish really looks like. I start with the manicure so you can see one coats and two coats. I hope you enjoy the video! If you would like to see anything different on these videos, let me know.

Good morning everyone! I can't believe I have 1,000 followers on my blog! Wahoo!! I need to think of a giveaway. I have a few ideas, hopefully by the end of the week I will have a give-away posted. Let's see if I can finalize one of my ideas.

In the meantime today I bring you another sample. This sample I have had for a while. I think it came with some stuff I ordered online. This is Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss in Fame. I'm not a huge gloss fan. If I wear a gloss, I wear Victoria's Secret Very Voluptuous Lip Plumper. Not that I need a lip plumper, but I just like that gloss, I have been wearing it for years when I want a gloss. As many of you know, once I find something that works, I tend to stick with it. No need to change it if I love it as it is. So this little Smashbox sample has sat there since December. Doing this little sample preview on the blog has got me going through my samples and trying ones that would have probably just sat there.

Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss retails for $18. The description on the Smashbox sight says:

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. It has been a bit on the busy side. I really have nothing for you today either, so I figure I will repost pictures of  the Hypnotic Collection in between my post. In the meantime let me entertain you with a little story. I recently joined the gym, because I am to the point where my body is what is referred to as being skinny/fat. Have you ever heard that term before? What that means is that externally I look skinny. I used to be wicked skinny, now I see myself as more of a normal than a skinny, but many people still think I am skinny. I am 5'3" and weigh somewhere between 117 - 127 lbs on any given day. I don't weigh myself often, but when I do I am somewhere in that vacinity. As long as my close fits, that is all I care about. I have a lot of clothes and I don't want to have to buy all new clothes because it no longer fits. But I digress, back to being skinny/fat.

In a Trance

So externally I am skinny, but my muscles are gone. Well they are still there, but they have a lot of fat around them. They are just there doing nothing. I get winded going up the stairs. A gallon of milk is heavy. Hence the term skinny/fat. It has nothing to do with eternally looking a certain way, it has to do with the amount of fat in my skinny body. Make sense?

Hypnotize Me over In a Trance

 As a result, I knew I had to start working out. I did good for a little while last year. I started doing yoga and walking. But as busy as I am with Cult Nails, there is always a reason not to get off my duff. I made them all to myself. "It was a long day at work", "I have to get a blog post written", "There's a ladies meetup", "I need to spend more time with the kids"....aaah the kids, my biggest excuse.I feel guilty for working all day, then I feel guilty for working on Cult Nails, so I feel the biggest guilt leaving them to go work out. I wish I could do Cult Nails full time and be home with my kids more. One day... Although they are growing fast and I worry it might be too late.

Awakening

 Again, you can tell my mind is all over the place right now, can't you? Let's get to it then, shall we? Once upon a time I was extremely fit. I looked good. Damn good if I do say so myself, then we moved to a place I didn't like, and I got depressed, and working out just wasn't fun anymore. Then we moved again and everything fell into place. I love where I live, I love the people around me, I love my Cult Nails job, but my body? Not so much.

Hypnotize Me over Awakening

I live a half mile from the beach, everyone walks around in bikini's for crying out loud. Me? No thanks! Perhaps I could, but there are too many factors that don't allow it. If you must know I was a sad 94 lbs when I got pregnant the first time and ballooned to about 175 lbs by the end of that pregnancy! I almost doubled my weight!!! So as you can imagine, from my breasts, to my belly to my round behind and thighs, I am a road map! Stretch marks is nothing compared to what I have. Is that a little TMI? I share this, because I get a lot of emails from people who say my life seems perfect and I am beautiful and blah blah. Let me just tell you all, life is as perfect as you make it. If you saw me with out makeup or the perfect pose, or when I am cranky, I think you would have a whole other perspective. Just ask Juan, he has to live with me! We all have our faults and flaws and I have plenty. So if I make my life seem perfect on here, I apologize, things are about to get real!

Enigmatic in the sun

So there is no bikini in my future no matter how hard I work at it. To be honest, even a tummy tuck wouldn't help. Well it would help that flabby skin that won't tighten no matter what I do, but as far as stetchmarks go, probably not. But regardless of whether I can get in a bikini or not, I want my toned and muscled and strong body back! Why can't I get back to where I was? Why have I lost all my committment and energy to my health and body?

Enigmatic in the shade

I don't know why, but laying on the couch watching TV for an hour at night just seems so much more fun than moving my body! I had to take matters into my own hands. I joined a gym. I figure if I am paying for it then I will force myself to go, right? Well I joined on August 9th as a birthday gift to me. Since then I have been to the gym 5 times. 5 times in 16 days! I feel like I am throwing my money away!

Hypnotize Me over Enigmatic

 I refuse to give up though. I am going to keep working at it, I am going to push myself. I am going to make this work! So last night my friend asked me to go to the AquaFit class with her. I thought, isn't that the water aerobics class full of old ladies? But I went. Can I just say O-M-G!!! That class was intense! I had no idea? How did water aerobics not catch on? We used the water as resistance and water weights for added resistance. The instructor led us on an intense aerobic excercise for 45 minutes! I was in the water sweating! Here's the thing, I realized you can take the easy way in the water and do the excerises half assed, or you can be serious and get a killer work out. I stayed pretty intense the whole time and when I walked out of that water, my entire body felt like jelly! After all that water resistance, it was weird getting out of the water for a few seconds.

Hypnotize Me by itself - 3 coats

I did a little online Sephora shopping a few weeks ago and picked up the Kat Von D True Love kit. I have never tried her stuff before, and honestly I didn't think I ever would. I was a fan of Miami Ink, but more so for the tattoos I could see rather than the "reality show" behind it. I liked that you could hear the stories behind what inspires individuals tattoos, but could care less to see all the other fluff. When Kat Von D started LA Ink again I watched for the tattoos. I am not one to get starstruck and buy something just because a celebrity made it. So paying a premium for her makeup because it had her name on it was just not something I was going to do. But a friend of mine loves her eyeshadows and told me they were amazing, so for about a year now I have looked and considered but never bought. Now that I'm on a kick for colored eyeshadows, I thought why not. Well actually I was going to get the new Urban Decay Anniversary set, but this set seemed like a better value for my money, so I went with it. The set came with the True Love Eye Shadow Palette which retails for $24 on it own, full size eye shadow primers in skin and smokey which retail for $15 each, An Autograph Pencil (eyeliner) in Amor Puro which retails for $18 and a lipstick in Celebutard which retails for $18. I paid I think $42 for the entire set. I can't quite remember and unfortunately Sephora no longer has the set online. Too bad, because overall I think it is an amazing set.




First I swatched the eyeshadows alone without the primer. Unfortunately I am still learning the swatching makeup thing and I had a tough time getting a good picture of this. Left to right is Benji which is am almost white. It is a very soft white look that can be used for hightlighting. I really love this color and will be reaching for it again and again. Next is Benji. This was like a bronzed gold creamy shadow. It was thick and very hard to apply. Rebekah is a nice neutral earthy color with some shimmer. Lucifer is a perfect smokey black, I'm sure this is a staple for many. Cholita is a dark burgandy type color. Skiba is a muted purple which is amazing I must say. Babe is a bright purple, I don't see myself wearing this one often, but I bet my daughter will go crazy for it. The last one is Missy and this one I am unsure of. It looks white, but it seems to have purple undertones in it. But a bit of Babe dustings flew on it, so maybe its that?

I am going to try this new segment that I'm going to call I Love Samples. I don't know how often I'm going to be able to do it, so I am not going to commit just yet. I have so many ideas for a weekly segment, but unfortunately with how busy I am I can't seem to get them to stick. I have about 3 or 4 videos that need editing, which put my weekly videos WAY behind, so I don't want to make another weekly commitment that I won't keep.

But for now let's get this one started. I have a ton of sample beauty products. It seems whenever I order makeup online I get samples. Friends give me samples and I even occasionally receive samples in the mail sent from fellow bloggers and blog followers. I love getting them and I do use them, but now I figure I will share them with you. Sometimes after trying a sample, I end up buying the full size product, other times I don't. So I will let you know how I feel about the product along with the review.

First up I tried Stila's Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer.

Here is what Stila has to say about the moisturizer:


Stila's iconic tinted moisturizer got a makeover! 

Introducing the new and improved Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 20 that is now WATER-RESISTANT!. It's more than just makeup; it's sheer luminous color infused with light-diffusing pigments to help diminish the look of fine lines and wrinkles, plus it includes skin-enhancing ingredients such as ginger root extract, gingko biloba leaf extract and chamomile for antioxidant protection.

This revolutionary oil-free, tinted moisturizer multitasks as a skin-hydrating, skintone-perfecting, SPF-protecting complexion enhancer. The micro-fine light diffusing pigments create a sheer wash of natural color and help diminish the look of fine lines and wrinkles. Its oil-free formula melts right into the skin and dries down, creating a gorgeous glow without the tackiness or greasiness. 

Other key benefits include:

• Oil-free tinted moisturizer with SPF 20 protection
• Water-resistant
• Light-diffusing pigments help diminish the look of fine lines and wrinkles
• Ginseng root extract and Gingko Biloba Leaf extract provide potent antioxidant benefits and help prevent premature aging

Size: 1.7 fl. oz. Retails for $34





 In the picture above I am completely makeupless. Well except the eyeliner. (More on that in another post) That is what I look like. Overall I have pretty good skin. I have a bit of acne on my forehead that likes to make an appearance every so often and a little patchy skin here and there. I have a few sun spots and some wrinkles starting to appear on my forehead. (Dang I want some Botox!) I also have bags under my eyes. Overall I just need a tinted moisturizer that will soften these things up a bit, nothing major.

Here I am wearing the Stila Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer alone - nothing else. The color is a bit off for my skintone. I definitely need a darker shade. But it instantly softened the appearance of the minor imperfections on my face. It also gave me a nice glow. I added the rest of my makeup and wore this to work and I am happy to say my makeup didn't melt off before the end of the day! This is great for when you don't want to wear makeup either but want to look a little refreshed.

So will I buy this? I absolutely will. I was using Laura Mercier for $42 until I found the Sonia Kashuk Tinted Moisturizer at Target for $12.99. They both provided the exact same end result for me, so why not save the money. But now my budget is set for $12.99 tinted moisturizer and the Stila version is $34. But even for the cost increase, I think this is going to work out perfect for me since it has everything I am looking for in a moisturizer. But first I will wait until I finish my current bottle of Sonia Kashuk - I hate waste.

This sample is a win! What's even better is that I was able to get two days out of this sample and I have 2 more! Even with the color being off, I'm still going to use them. WAHOO! How about you? Do you wear tinted moisturizer or foundation? If so which one do you use? I'd love to hear!

The Hypnotic Collection has finally arrived! I say finally as if it is late. I was told it would ship to me some time in the last week of August and here it is August 19th and we are already preparing packages to send out all the pre-orders! So we are actually 2 - 3  weeks early! How exciting!

I don't show other brands of nail polishes here often unless it is something I absolutely love (for obvious reasons) and feel I can recommend to you. So this is one of those polishes. When Jesse's Girl took us out at CosmoProf, I had the pleasure of sitting next to JulieG of Youtube fame herself. Her nails are amazing! She has the exact nails I wish I always had! Long skinny nailbeds with the perfect curve to them. But to make them more amazing looking was her amazing polish. I had to ask her what it was - she quickly responded that it was Jesse's Girl Julie G. Yup they named a polish after her! Pretty cool. Anyway at first it seems like a basic, but it just looked amazing on her. I knew I had to get it!

This is an cantaloupe colored polish with a hint of pink. I put it next to a cantaloupe colored candle so you can see how it compares.

Jesse's Girl Nail Polish retails for $2.99 and can be found at Rite Aid or on www.Jessesgirlcosmetics.com. I found that I needed three coats for this color.  If I was the patient kind and let coats dry in between applications, I think I could have achieved perfect coverage with just two coats. But outside of that I am very happy with the polish and I would definitely buy more. You definitely can't beat it for the price. I also didn't clean this manicure up. I was too lazy. It actually looks a lot better in person - darn macro lens!

I had a tough time capturing how this color really looks. I wish it looked like this in person. It is a lot brighter in person.

Unfortunately the color doesn't look as good on me as it does on Julie G. For me I would like this just a bit darker and a little less bright. But at the same time I am loving it and can't stop staring at my nails. My kids already started school, so it feels like Fall in everything we are doing, but it's 95+ degrees out everyday, so it feels like Summer too (Which it totally still is here). So this is a perfect color to keep the summer going. I highly suggest you get on over to Jesse's Girl and get this polish and perhaps a few eyeshadows while your at it. I am really enjoying this brand. (Better yet, save your money and get our upcoming Fall polishes which will be available any day now, and then buy this polish with whatever you have left over! LOL)

In some lighting it takes on a more orange hue, while in other lights it looks like a bright pinkish orange. But no matter what when I take a picture it comes out either vibrant pink or dull cantaloupe.

Julie G showed me some swatches of her upcoming line within Jesse's Girl Cosmetics that will be releasing in the next few weeks. If I remember correctly there are 6 - 8 colors coming out. I will definitely be supporting her and Jesse's Cosmetics buying all of her colors.

This look was a lot more vivid in person. Almost as vivid as the swatch pictures, I just couldn't get the pictures to really showcase that. I used the green powder that I have an arrow pointing to on the base of my lid and then I added the purple in the side ways v pattern and extended it up towards my brow. I then added some more of the green on the insides towards my nose and blended it into the purple in my crease. Does that make any sense at all?

My friends really loved the glitter and want to see it as a future color for Cult Nails. I'll have to see where I can work it in. I wasn't thinking of adding this one in, but if my friends want it, I just may have to listen. After all I made Cruisin' Nude for a ladies cruise last year and my friends insisted I make it part of the line and it was one of the first colors to sell out.

Right now this is in a clear base, I wonder if I can put it in a jelly pink polish instead. Hmm, maybe I can make it a little better. Let's see what I can come up with.
What do you think, would you like to see either of these glitters make it as part of the line?

My skin tends to get oily during the summer months, as many of you may have noticed in some of my shiny faced pictures I've posted. So I am really looking forward to trying this stuff. I can't wait to see this site out of BETA testing to see what it will be all about.

Did you order the Stila set from this site? Are you planning on ordering the PeterThomasRoth Clini-Matte All Day Oil-Control SPF 20?