Some days I spend hours and hours looking at my hands and what they are doing, (mainly folding, gluing, and tying ribbon). The view today is nice! My nail polish (Plum Seduction #917, Revlon) looks great with the ink color (Pantone 583) on the folders I'm building for Krista and my Becky Kelso ring just looks great with everything.

You know how I love my beauty gurus and this one's a keeper! I've learned some really useful tips from watching some of makeup artist Lisa Eldridge's videos. She also has a wonderfully classic bridal tutorial you should check out if you're going to do your own makeup for your wedding day. Even if you know what you are doing these videos are inspiring.

Some cosmetic things I am really loving lately, all tested and approved!

Pixi's Nude Shade Wardrobe: Such a great combination of colors! They're all so very natural and soft. Everything you need for the "natural with definition" look is in this palette. I've used this every day since I got it. 'Nuff said!

Illamasqua Nail Varnish: This UK company really excels at gorgeous, unique colors. So glad this brand is finally available here. Check out "Alarm" and "Muse", my two favorites.

Korres Eyeliners: $32 gets you 10 eyeliners that retail separately for $16 each. They're creamy and go on very smooth. Easily the deal of the week!

I have been feeling just a slight chill in the air in the evenings lately, and it's made me excited for the coming fall, my absolute favorite season of them all!
What better for fall than perfect skin, a defined brow, gorgeous lips and a fan of incredible lashes? Don't we all wish?!

Make Up For Ever's Smoky Lash Mascara - I have really skimpy lashes and I have been secretly (secrets out!) been dying to try Latisse, the new prescription balm for longer eyelashes, but am (not so secretly) too chicken for no particular reason. So instead I've been addicted to this mascara which seems to create the appearance of more lashes rather than thicker lashes. Not sure how it works, but my lashes seem to look very natural, just darker and more numberous. Nothing worse than clumpy lashes! I absolutely hate it when mine stick together. It's going to be a bit of a MUFE love fest this post - so hang in there.

Make Up For Ever's High Definition Invisible Foundation - This is so good! The finish is fairly matte, but not at all dry looking. It's really true to it's name in that it's imperceptable when you have it on, both in person and on camera (something I think we are all searching for). The coverage is good, I'd say medium to high. Overall, this is my new favorite foundation - highly recommend trying this one out.

Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense Lipstick - (the satin finish was my personal favorite). These are really not like any other lipstick I've tried. They're incredibly pigmented and they stay on like crazy, perfect if you'd rather not be reapplying your lipstick all the time. You need so little to create a really nice looking, lasting lip. I really love the intensity of color these offer - #33 was my favorite - but I was looking for a very 80's pink - so that one might not be for everyone.

POREfessional from Benefit - This reminds me a lot of a much more expensive primer, and it lives up to it's name. I have larger pores on my cheeks close to my nose, and this really helps the make up float over top rather than sink into my pores. Very nice. Love this.

Anastasia Brow Duo - This is a brand I've never tried before but their brow duo is a new part of my everyday makeup - it's so natural and soft looking.

Thanks for hanging in there, I'd love it if you'd share your favorites for fall, and I'm sure our fall bride's would appreciate it as well!

It is so hot here. So hot. I normally have fun with my makeup in the morning - eye liner and I have a history of good times together - but lately it's been all about making my skin look nice without using anything unecessary. Nothing worse than makeup sliding around on your face on a hot day!
I've found a couple great products recently (mainly from watching Pixiwoo) that work perfectly for hot weather and that I have been absolutely loving.
1) Makeup Forever HD Concealer. Looks so natural on, stays on.
2) Hoola bronzer. I try to get as little sun as possible on my face, but I really don't dig the vampire look. Bronzer is my friend. This stuff is awesome because it's got no shine to it and it's super sheer. It's the most natural looking bronzer I've ever tried.
3) Pixi Lip Blush. I really hate it when I'm driving with the windows down and my hair gets stuck in my lip gloss. This Lip "blush" is exactly like a magic marker for your lips. Not sticky, not drying, and stains your lips a delightfully natural shade for a few hours. Really great for summer. I have this in Purity, and would highly recommend it.
Anyone else have hot weather recommends? I'd love to hear them, and I'm sure the summer brides out there would be greatful! Stay cool everybody!

I've been wanting to post about Fashionface for a while. Made up of Nicole and Samantha Chapman, (two sisters who happen to be professional make-up artists), Fashionface.tv is a collection of make-up tutorials ranging from simply beautiful to wildly creative. I have been addicted to watching their segments for a week and a half, but I just can't seem to get a good screen shot! Every time I try I get half closed eyes, mid-vowel face. I finally just decided to post without the screen shots, hoping that you'll take a look see for yourself! Could come in very handy if you're looking to get creative with your bridal makeup!

Done! I got my fancy manicure! It was really very much like any other manicure, only in the end my nails were instantly dry. They have a shiny wet look to them, but are completely bulletproof. I was able to dig around in my purse right after with no damage whatsoever. The product I tried was called CND Shellac, which uses a thin base coat, polish and then a thin top coat that are all cured under UV light. The results are not thick and lumpy like a lot of acrylics or other gels, and they are said to last at least 14 days. At $30-35, it's more expensive than a regular manicure, but if it really does last, it seems sort of worth it. The only minor complaints I have is that you have to go back to the salon to have it soaked off. Normal nail polish remover will not do the trick. And they have only 12 colors, most of which are on the boring side. I chose a coral color called "Tropics" because I was feeling summery, but they do have some lighter shades that could be very bridal. I think the best thing about it would be that you could get your manicure several days before the wedding, rather than the morning of, and not worry about it looking dull or chipped, then off you go to your honeymoon with no touch-ups or anything. I will keep you posted at the 14 day mark to let you know if I am still without chips. I have high hopes, so far I am quite happy with it. It really does look nice.

Lately I've been addicted to painting my nails. Purple! Coral! Fun!
I previously wore them totally natural, moisturizing and buffing them shiny every week or so. Sadly, after several "newborn" months of scrubbing my hands 12 times a day and neglecting my nails in favor of sleep, they are now looking rather pitiful. The phrase "she's let herself go" pops to mind whenever I look at my hands. No so good. So I polish.
This is fun but I'd also forgotten how annoying it is. Let them dry, nick them, chip them... It's not a perfect system. So! You can imagine how intrigued I was when I heard of this "3 week manicure" thing. That's right, reportedly this manicure lasts, unchipped, for up to 3 weeks. I've read about it here, and here. I have appointment today (in the interest of science) to discover if indeed this mani can last from the wedding night straight thru the honeymoon. The things I do for you! Stay tuned for pics.

What a great idea for bridesmaid's gifts! These adorable little cosmetic bags by Juju Baju would be so fun to fill with little beauty treasures.
Had I about $100 to spend on each girl, I would include a Mac Shadestick in a different shade for each of my ladies, a Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler, (because everyone needs one), a bottle of relatively environmentally friendly Sephora Nail Color by OPI (my favorites are Caliente Coral, On Stage, Bare To Be Different, and Metro Chic), a wand of L'oreal Beauty Tubes Mascara (as a girl with dainty lashes, I think the 'tubes are perhaps my most favorite mascara), and last but not least, a Bonnie Bell Lip Smacker in Dr. Pepper (because that was my favorite when I was 9).

beyond the sea, over the rainbow, in a galaxy far, far away- all brides dance with this much grace and joy at their weddings. Why don't they teach this stuff in elementary school right along with multiplication? Wouldn't we all be more joyful creatures if we could do this when our favorite song came on? So jealous.

I'm going to reveal something slightly embarrassing right now. Whenever I go home, my sisters and I have this bonding ritual where we do each others hair and makeup. It's nice, actually. The embarrassing part is that my dad, long ago, dubbed this ritual "Fussy Pretty Beauty Shop". He just sort of came out with it one day, as in "We have to get going girls! We don't have time for this... this fussy pretty beauty shop!" Needless to say, all three of us could not stop laughing, and we were probably late for whatever it was we had to go to. Anywhoozy, the title stuck. So now on lazy mornings over the holidays when we're all at my parent's house hanging around in our jammies, we'll look over at each other and ask "Fussy Pretty?". What follows is a colorful dust cloud of powders, shadows, and blushes. We're girls. We like things like this. My point is that the Blockbuster Palette from Sephora that I got for Christmas last year was like the best thing that ever happened to Fussy Pretty Beauty Shop. 64 eyeshadows (most of which are totally wearable), 32 lip colors (love the glosses), 7 cheek colors, and a translucent powder... and a partridge and pear tree. This pallette is available again this holiday season (they sold out really quickly last year), and at only $48, would make a fantastic present for any of your girls. Bonding potential abounds.

I'll pass you straight over to Samantha for the latest update on her wedding diet. Here she is:
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So last week I mentioned getting in better shape. Since then I read the South Beach Diet book and Dave and I decided to do it. Phase one started with cutting out bread, pasta, fruits, cookies or alcohol…. my favorite things (alcohol was easy enough…chocolate, not so easy). I went a whole week without those things. I increased my protein consumption (tofu, tofu, tofu) and increased my running mileage (a friend and I are doing a half marathon in April). I did not lose a pound; maybe I ate too many calories of almonds and tofu (I know it sounds crazy but that must be why). My mom and dad are doing this diet too. So now everyone’s serious, they lost a few pounds but are in good health to begin with too.

Friday after feeling discouraged about my failure to lose weight, Dave came home with a new plan called The Best Life Diet. The guy who penned it is Oprah’s health and fitness guru. I’m not a huge Oprah fan but Dave got the book for free from his publishing company, so I’m reading it. It makes far more sense than cutting things out drastically. It’s a gradual approach. I’m already in the second phase of it from my first week on South Beach. I’m not going to go crazy. I’ve decided that instead of being strict and obsessing, I’m going to take the underlying principles of each diet and apply them to my life. So here’s the diet: Try to stick to three meals a day and two small snacks, make sure there’s protein in every meal, skip refined sugars (except on occasions or on the weekend), increase exercise and vary it more than I currently do and most of all watch portion size. I can’t expect to drop weight like sedentary people that eat cheese fries with a side of Pepsi, nor am I looking to yo-yo diet. I see that there are a lot of diets online for brides but I want to do this mostly for my life… not that looking bad on my wedding day is not a motivating factor as well. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ah President's Day! The day I never seem to get off. It seems that no matter what my job has been over the years, President's day is the one holiday I invariably get screwed on. I just got back from a vacation, so I can't complain too loud. We missed last week's update on Samantha's wedding planning, because I was on said vacation. This week, Sam needs advice! I'll pass you right over so you can commence dispensing indispensable advise.


I'm beginning to struggle a bit with winter weight. Everyone I know keeps saying, “the wedding’s just around the corner”. I know, I know butttt and a very big butt; I can’t seem to get motivated. I’m not going to starve myself. I already run about 1.5 to 2 miles in the morning and then do about 40-45 minutes more at the gym (from 5:03 AM -6:20AM before I have to leave for work at 7:30-ugh!) weekdays. I’m a vegetarian but I eat eggs and dairy…that sums it up. I do have a sweet tooth and love bread but generally I eat pretty healthy. In the spring I will be more active, like I might run in the park or something after work. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else I might do to kick start better eating and working out? I also want to start doing more weight training to get my arms looking better (I descend straight from Russian peasants so my lineage dictates arms with extra padding…even when I ran the marathon…even when I was on the swim team). Thankfully my genes are not all bad, this photo is of my grandmother (nana Sally) and grandfather (papa Aaron). She looks like a doll, I could never look that angelic but it's a good goal. A dear friend once told me that her grandmother used to call winter weight "winter wool" so I guess come spring I'll have to take off my sweater! Any tips on slimming down healthfully or good weight training tips is so appreciated.

to point a laser at your face.

Patience. You must have patience. I realize that you are looking at this highly uninteresting image and thinking about clicking back to where you came from.
But wait!
There's this common fear among all brides that when the big day comes, she'll have a mammoth zit somewhere conspicuous. I know about this fear, because I had it. Everyone has it. You're afraid that two days before the big day, you'll get a big zit on your chin. Everyone knows that the big ones don't heal in two days. Fortunately, makeup covers a lot, but if there was some way we could heal it faster...
NOW we come to my point. Your patience has been rewarded. The point is that I've discovered this little laser gizmo that heals blemishes very quickly. I'm not kidding. I have one. It really does speed up the process quite a bit. The basic gist is that you point it at your blemish, and the laser stimulates cell grown to help the "problem" heal faster. It also helps with redness and small scars. The only catch is, you have to have some time to use it (about a half hour every evening before you turn in). I like to use it while I'm watching TV, and that works out well for me. I also found that since I've been using it, I've gotten less breakouts in general.
The best price I've found is here. They also sell them here.
I realize that everyone has little tricks that work for them. What are your beauty secrets?

I have this obsession with collections of things. When I was a kid, nothing thrilled me more than a new box of crayons. Not because of the coloring possibilities necessarily, but because they were a collection of like items, all pristine, all at my finger tips. I would use the ass ends of my crayons, so that the tips didn't get worn down. I never wanted to spoil the tips. You could hide the ends in the box, but the tips, I tried to keep as nice as possible for as long as I could.
Hmmm. That sounded way more screwed up than I intended it. I guess we now know that my perfectionist tendencies started at an early age.
Really and truly, things have not changed much. I came across a makeup palette promising 96 shades of eye-shadow today. I almost peed myself. I don't need that much makeup. I won't wear bright green eye-shadow, or orange, or yellow (?!) But it doesn't matter. Just the untouched palette, it's varied hues, all in neat matching little cakes... (ellipses usually mean "pause" or "trail off", here they mean "shudder with glee").
I get the same joy from boxes of chocolate. This one from Marie Belle is great, because each chocolate is in the same shape, but is decorated with a different pattern. I don't even care what they taste like. I just want to OWN them.
Remember how the two tier, 4 compartment box of 64 Crayola Crayons was like the holy grail of crayons? Well, they now have a box of 120. Ya. 120. All I have to say to that is "...".

My recent infatuation with eyeshadow has lead me to these combos from Pop Beauty. I'm venturing to Sephora today to try one of them out... Now I wonder if you're supposed to buy based on your own eye color, or the eye color you wish you had. For example, I would like to buy the green one, but I guess I should really buy the brown one. If only they had hazel... I could probably get away with hazel.

ps.I really should be getting the brown

I while back I mentioned Tricia Sawyer for her ~awesome~ tutorials, on which I became totally addicted. After watching so many of them, I sort of got the itch to get some of the actual makeup, which I did. It came yesterday. I was totally beside myself with joy. I immediately made up one eye with one look and then experimented on the other eye with a different look, then took it all off and did two more seperate looks on either eye. My mister thinks I've gone crazy. I've got one smokey eye and one natural eye and he's got the "what's got into you?" look on his face. Not to worry. When my experimental phase is done, both eyes will match. Yes they will.
Needless to say, I'm delighted with my new makeup.
I've been emailing with the owner of the company, Tricia, and she's just the sweetest person you could imagine. I sent her a horrible photo of myself and asked for her suggestions about my colors, her choices were spot on. I got the "Kate" palette, which looks sort of dark and dramatic online, but can be very subtle and sophisticated in real life. I also got the "Ambitious" blush puff, which is sort of a shimmery light natural pink, somewhere between a highlighter and a blush.
Tricia is soon to come out with brushes and foundation, which you can be sure I'll let you know about.

Urban Decay Primer Potion. Fantastic product. I discovered this stuff thru Product Girl, and I'm really happy with it. It's basically just a nude cream you apply to your eyelid before you apply eyeshadow. It doesn't have any color, but it does help your eyeshadow stay where you put it. I bought a tube yesterday at Sephora and used it this morning underneath my eyeshadow. The picture above is my eye at around 1 in the morning, after about 15 hours (!) without reapplication. Notice, no creases! You'll have to take my word for it that there's the same amount of color on there now as there was this morning. I'm not sure what will happen when I apply a more liberal amount of shadow, but I'm optimistic. I'll let you know how it goes.
Because no one wants to reapply or worry about eyeshadow migration on their big day, I'd say this is a no brainer for $14.

As a supplement to a previous post about false eyelashes, I'd like to point you all in the direction of Tricia Sawyer who does a really amazing tutorial on how to apply a full fan of false eyelashes. She aslo has some other really helpful tutorials on applying eye makeup, foundation, and powder on her website. You can also subscribe to her video podcast and get your dose of "Trix of the Trade" delivered right into your itunes. New segments are released relatively regularly.
*You do need Flash 8 to view the tutorial directly from the link I provided. If you don't have it, you should get it. It's easy to install.

I love this makeup tutorial series! Elke Von Freudenberg demonstrates how to get a long lasting natural finish to your skin while still managing to cover those red spots I have come to refer to (not so affectionately) as "issues". There is an ENTIRE SERIES of these videos to be found on her blog: The Beauty News, so don't miss it. Not only do I find them helpful, but I often slip into a somewhat Bob Ross like hypnosis whilst watching them. Which I love.