Winter Wonderland

Things have just been nuts the past few days, thus my non-blogging! But things should get a bit calmer now...I had my last final of the semester yesterday. And to celebrate, I part-tayed at my BFF's annual Winter Wonderful party. I loved my outfit so much I may wear the same outfit for another holiday party next week! This dress is one of my best Target purchases ever...it's extremely comfortable and a very flattering fit.

Dress: Target

Boots: Naturalizer

Bag: Lockheart

Bracelet: FaCuff by Ava Austin

Broach: Vintage

Earrings: Vintage clip-on

And here's a shot of the yummy cupcakes I made for the party! :D

Website Wednesday -- Nail Polish Discount Sites

Lately I've been very into nail polishes. A lot of that is because I started hanging on the Nail Care Board of Makeupalley.com. However, I've always loved nail polish. Even as a little girl I loved nothing more than when my aunt would do my nails for me. And then as a teenager I loved how nail polish was such a cheap beauty fix that I could afford, thanks to great polished by Wet 'n Wild and similar brands.

As an adult with more money to spend, I started crossing over into the world of more expensive salon brands, like OPI, China Glaze and Essie. However, at $8-9 a bottle for a polish, it was becoming a rather expensive habit! So thanks to the Nail Care Board I found some discount Web sites that offer brands like this for almost half off, if not more!

Two such sites that I've purchased from and had great experiences at are:

• Head2Toe Beauty Store -- Here you can find the latest polish collections by OPI, China Glaze, Creative, Color Club, Misa, and Orly for a significant discount. You can also purchase Essie on here, however, they no longer offer a discount for that brand...I believe it was Essie's decision as I used to be able to purchase Essie for a discount on this site. 
• 8ty8Beauty -- Here you can get OPI, Orly, China Glaze, Creative, Color Club and Seche Vite.
  

And other discount sites I've been meaning to try: 

• Trans Design, Inc. --  They offer a lot of polish options, including OPI, Orly, Nicole, Sation, Entity, New York, Amour, China Glaze, Creative, Essie, Kolor Ring and Misa. This one seems to have Essie for a discount, so I'll be ordering sooner than later! LOL
• Ulta -- While Ulta's Web site doesn't always have the latest polishes online, they many times have sales on OPI, Essie and other brands they carry, plus weekly coupons and dollars off with Ulta Club Points can end up saving you quite a bundle!

 Right now my favorite nail polish is OPI Merry Midnight from the Holiday 2009 collection. The picture really doesn't do it justice...it's a very sheer deep purple with flecks of shimmer in different sizes, shapes and colors. This is with three coats on...it's fantastic!

Two for One!

Wow, these last few days at work have been absolutely insane and I've had know time to post to my blog. So I'm making it up with photos of both yesterday and today! :)

Monday's outfit...it was freezing! And parts of Northern CA had snow...craziness!

Sweater: NY & Company

Pant: Ann Taylor Loft

Bag: Hoakon/Helga

Boots: Payless

Necklace: Cost Plus World Market (awesome cheap find!)

Watch: Anne Klein

Frames: Lulu Guiness

Still freezing today!

Top & Pants: Ann Taylor Loft
Jacket: Target
Bag: Lockheart
Boots: Payless
Watch: Anne Klein
Broach: Thrifted vintage
Earrings: Vintage from eBay
Frames: Lulu Guiness

Here's a close-up of the earrings...I love these!









 

I Heart Casual Friday!

I don't think there's anything better than Casual Friday. I swear I'm more productive at work because I'm in my jeans and I'm just comfy and cozy! :)

Sweater, Tank & Jeans: Old Navy

Bag: Hoakon/Helga

Sneakers: Payless

Glasses: Lulu Guiness

Necklace: From Silver Jewelry Club

Watch: Vintage

I've Come to Realize...

That I have a lot of purple and black in my wardrobe. Since I just realized I'm wearing the same exact colors top to bottom as I did on Tuesday. LOL I guess I know what I like!

Sweater Dress: From a no-longer-existing retail Web site

Tank: Old Navy

Tights: Assets by Target

Boots: Payless (from last season)
Bag: Isabella Fiore

Watch: Anne Klein

Necklace: Elizabeth Cole

Earrings and Braclet: Vintage from eBay

Frames: Lulu Guiness

Website Wednesday -- Makeupalley.com

Ah, Makeupalley.com. I've been a member of this site -- lovingly referred to as MUA -- for 7  years now. This was the site that really started all my current obsessions in makeup and beauty products and fashion and has continued to feed them on a constant basis!

The main facet of MUA are the discussion boards. Over the years they've grown from just a few to currently 22 subject-dedicated discussion boards, some more popular than others. Two of the most popular boards are the Makeup and Fashion boards and they move fast! But the gals (and guys!) on these boards are in the know about everything from discount sales to product releases and discontinuations even before the sales associates are. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to a make-up counter to ask for something I heard on an MUA board only to have the sales associate look at me like I had three heads. LOL And it's a well-known fact that representatives from make-up lines lurk the Makeup board to learn what MUA members are saying about their latest products.

But MUA is not just about the discussion boards. One of my favorite features -- and the one that brought me there 7 years ago -- is Productville. Wondering how the latest mascara from Revlon or hair product from TiGi is? Don't purchase it until you check out the reviews in Productville! MUA members give very detailed descriptions in their reviews and rate the products, so you can filter them by the percentage of those that would purchase again and other important information.

Another great facet of MUA is swapping. MUA members can put together lists of items -- makeup, skincare, nailpolish, even clothing and accessories -- they want to get rid of, as well as a "wishlist" of what they want. You can search both swap and wishlist items and set up swaps with other members. I've been swapping for pretty much the entire time I've been on MUA and through it I've met a lot of great people and tried a lot of great products, even ones from other countries I could never get here in the U.S. otherwise. 


So that's basically MUA in a nutshell. If you have even the slightest interest in beauty and fashion, I would urge you to check it out just for the discussion boards and Productville alone. I know you'll be amazed at what you learn while you're there!

Back to the Grind!

I swear, being off from work is great, but the coming back after six days off? Not so much! LOL Between the 180+ emails in the inbox, 55 Outlook tasks popping up and everything else, I need more time off all-of-a-sudden! :)

Sweater: The Limited

Skirt: Old Navy, but thrifted from Crossroads Trading Company

Tights: Assets by Target

Shoes: Nine West

Earrings: Vintage clip-on hoops

Eyeglasses: Lulu Guiness frames