Haul and Swatches (Pic Heavy)

The drug stores had kick-ass sales this week and I bought lots of beauty goodies.
RiteAid had a BOGO half of on their NYC products and I used that as a opportunity to buy "Love Letters," a gorgeous top coat that's gotten good reviews in the beauty blogosphere.
Here are my nails (Sally Hansen's "Gunmetal" as a base) without "Love Letters:"

And here they are they with "Love Letters:"


It's really time to invest in a new camera because the one I have doesn't show how shimmery and beautiful "Love Letters" is over "Gunmetal."

I also bought a top coat from RiteAid as my half off item.
Wet n Wild products were half off at Walgreens and I tried my best not to go crazy in there.
I ended up buying this pretty purple polish called "Wild Card" and three lip shimmers.
Here are the lip shimmer swatches below:


From left to right: Maple, Berry and Spice.


Swatches of the three on my arm.


Berry.

Maple.

Spice.

Song of the Day: "F.U.N.K" by Betty Davis

Today's song of the day is from music's most underrated singer, Betty Mabry Davis.
I always "air guitar" to this song, which is my life anthem right now.
Enjoy!

Fall Lips

Fall lip colors are usually known for their dark berry hues and vampy lipsticks.
I didn't have any fall lipsticks in my beauty arsenal so I recently picked up two lippies during a Wet n Wild BOGO free sale at RiteAid:

The lip shimmer on the left is "Cinnamon" from Wet n wild's natural wear line. The lipstick on the right is called "908C," which is a vibrant plum.

Here are some arm swatches of them:


Here's the "Cinnamon" on my lips:


And here's the "908C" on my kisser:


I think I'm also going to wear Sally Hansen's "Golden Berry" this fall:


I think my fave of the bunch is the "908C" because I love purple lipsticks. What lippies are you wearing this fall?

Got my huuuuuuuurrrrr did!!!

Last week, I finally got my locs retwisted for the second time this year:





There's NOTHING like the feeling of fresh locs!
My babies are down my back and healthy as ever.
They look good:)

Song of the Day: "The Dog Days are Over"

I first heard this song in the trailer to "Eat, Pray, Love" and now it's all I listen too, now that I know the title "Dog Days are Over" and artist "Florence and the Machine."
Enjoy!

NOTD: "Teal We Meet Again"

Excuse me for a second while I glance at my beautiful nails.
You see these babies?



Yeah, I think they're hot too.
Sorry for the ego and all but this hue is just some kind of special and having a serious affect (or effect?) on me.
I had been fawning over Sephora by OPI's "Teal We Meet Again" for a few months now.
The color, a shimmery teal, was originally a part of Sephora's "Havana Nights collection.
That collection featured some real beauties, but "Teal We Meet Again" really stood out to me.
Every time I'd go in Sephora, I'd swatch it, put it in my basket, then put it back on the shelf.
I just couldn't bring myself to pay $9 for a bottle of nail polish.
I'm cheap.
But after like two or three months of admiring this polish, I just got tired of swatching it so I bought it during my last Sephora visit.
Glad I did.
This polish is a beauty of a color that I think really belongs in a fall collection because of its gemlike quality.
It looks sooooo good on me; compliments my skin tone and everything.
I think I'm in lurve.
And I think I've found my favorite nail polish color of all time.

French manicure with matte tips

I've never been a really big fan of French manicures because they've always seemed so boring to me.
But I bought these Nailene Perfect Pedicure strips on clearance from RiteAid for 99 cents to experiment with some Frenchie designs:



I used "Gorgeous" from SinfulColors:


And I ended up doing a Frenchie using matte tips:


It's OK, not my best nail look. What do you think?

Song of the Day: "One in A Million You" by Larry Graham

Today's "Song of the Day" is a tune from bass god Larry Graham.
Please forgive my ignorance here but I've heard this song a million and one times and had NO IDEA that Graham sung it.
(Go ahead and joke me:))
Apparently, it was Graham's biggest hit and reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980, according to online reports.
Graham, as you may or may not know, got his start in my second favorite singer Betty Davis' band playing bass.
He also fronted Graham Central Station and played for Sly & the Family Stone.
Dude. Was. The. Bomb.
The Texas native is credited with inventing the bass slapping technique or "Thumpin' and Pluckin."
But one of the most talented bass players to ever live also had somewhat of a voice on him too.
Enjoy the song!

Black Beauty in Cuba

I originally saw this posted on a message board and thought the images and music were awesome.
The song is called "Quimbara" by the late Latin music singer Celia Cruz, who was Cuban.
The images are simple, elegant and beautiful.
I'd love to learn Spanish, and plan to master it one day.
And I will learn to Salsa (I took one class that I wrote about a few years ago.)
My family is suposed to be some kind of Portugese or Cuban. (Don't ask.)
Sadly, my mother doesn't know too much about my roots in Cuba. Don't ask why, she just doesn't. I'd like to dig for them one day.
But until then, I have this beautiful Cuban video to enjoy:)

Song of the Day: "Close to You"

This is a new song by R&B legend Ronald Isley featuring the eclectic singer/rapper Lauryn Hill, who's supposedly making a comeback.
I like the song's classic, slow soul sound.
And Isley's and Hill's voices blend very nicely together.
Overall a beautiful song.
Enjoy!

Sephora Haul:)

Felt like I hadn't been in Sephora in ages so I had to go treat myself to some beauty goodies today. Here's what I got:

-fresh soy face cleanser: I got a sample of this $15 cleanser the last time I was in Sephora and it's a dream. The formula is soft, very light and left my face feeling clean and refreshed.

-Pacifica Lotus Garden perfume roll-on: This bad boy has gotten lots of praise in the beauty blogosphere so I wanted to try it out. I've used Pacifica products before and like them because they are made without parabens and phthalates. This $12 scent smells soooooo good and I'm going to use it as my fall smell-good.

-Teal We Meet Again nail polish: OK, I've been fawning over this $9 polish all summer. It's just so freaking GORGE!!! That's how excited this lacquer makes me. I'm going to apply it tonight but expect a (super biased) review in a little bit:)

-pencil sharpener: I've used this cutie before too and it was time to upgrade to a new one. This one was only $3. Not bad.

-Temptu retouch highlighter: This was my V.I.B. freebie and I'll try it to see what it's about.

I also bought some fabric squares for $1 from Wal-mart:



Not sure what I'm going to make (maybe some jewelry??) but I'm going to make something out of them. Aren't they puuuuurdy?

Gift Bag DIY

I recently won a chocolate fondue party and got to invite family and friends out to help me eat lots of sweet goodies. (Woo hoo!)
I'm naturally a giver so I gave the women who sponsored and hosted the party several small gifts.
The gifts were nothing big; just candles, beauty samples and nail polish:).
Now you know about my "Bag of Bags."
It's a resource that I often go to when I need to find a gift bag or gift box.
Well, I found a plain brown gift bag that was rather boring.
To spruce it up, I stapled a shimmery purple ribbon to it and tied it around the bag.

Here's the before:



And here's the after:


The ladies loved the bag (and gifts inside).
It was a fun, simple and cheap DIY project.
What ideas do you have for sprucing up plain gift bags?

Burts Bees lip balm and hand salve

Name: Burt's Bees lip balm and hand salve ($1.25)

Game: I see Burt's Bees products in two colors: yellow and green. They're easy to spot with their bright yellow packaging. And their natural ingredients have made them a major player in the green beauty game for a long time. I've always had respect for the company but never really used their products that much because they smelled too medicinal to me. Yeah, it's shallow but I like to smell good, ya know? I got this lip balm and hand salve from a clearance bin from Walgreens when I lived in Maryland for $1.25. The lip balm is soft and left my pucker nicely moisturized. I didn't have to keep applying fifty million times an hour like I've had to with other balms. The hand salve is nice too, but-and like I stated before- smells too medicinal. It did quench my hands' thirst, but I'm going to put it away and bring it out in the winter time. Despite the smell, I'm going to use it. And when I'm done with it, I think I'm going to put some rubber bands or lotion in the cute little tin that the hand salve comes in.

Photo from http://www.burtsbees.com.

Sula Paint and Peel Polish Review

Sula's "Kelly" on my nails:

Sula's "Teal" on my tips:

Name: Sula Paint and Peel Polish ($5)

Game: I've been fawning over Sula's Paint and Peel polishes for a while because they've generated mixed reviews all over the beauty blogosphere.
The thought of an official peel-able polish intrigued me so I scooped up two Sula's in "Teal" and "Kelly" from my local Ulta. Both were on clearance for $5 each.
The polish is a free of formaldehyde, DBP and Toluene and gets major brownie points for that fact.
But did the polish live up to the hype?
I found the formula to be very, very runny. It applied very streaky on my nails.
I'm sure part of that is because the polish is water-based, but I had to apply three coats of "Kelly" to get it totally opaque.
The colors were OK.
"Teal" is a little too dark to be a traditionally bright teal, but I think it works as a fall kind of blue. (I ended up exchanging it.)
And "Kelly" is actually a really pretty green. It has a both a spring and summer vibe to it.
The polish came off in bits in pieces during the removal process, which isn't what the product promised.
And I noticed that some of my nail bed was torn off. Not cool!!
I had to end up using nail polish remover to get the remaining polish from the side of my nails.
Overall, the polish is a nice concept but fell flat on performance for me.

Song of the Day: "(Fallin' Like) Dominoes" by Donald Byrd

Today's "Song of the Day" comes from the great jazz artist Donald Byrd.
They say music has to power to transcend us, no matter how we feel and this song is a testament to that thought of thinking.
When I'm in a doozy, I listen to "(Fallin' Like) Dominoes" and I always feel better. The thumping bass line, strong horns and positive lyrics always seem to lift my spirits.
Seems cheesy, I know but song is a keeper.
Enjoy!

Nails, nails, nails!

My lovely co-worker gave me two gorgeous polishes last week and here are swatches:

Here's Chanel (my first bottle!!!)on my toes:



And here's Lancome's "Stiletto Red" on my fingernails:



I currently have on SpaRituals's "Last Call:"



To spice up the pink, I put these little flower decals in the corners.

Lancome gift swatches

I recently won an awesome Lancome giveway from the gorgeous De of Beauty Logic.
I'm still fawning over my goodies which included some blush, a blush brush, bronzer, nail polish, two juicy tubes and a lip pencil:



Here's a close-up of the bronzer. Isn't that a pretty sunset??



And here are swatches of the products:



I lurves me some Juicy Tubes. It's one of my fave glossies of all time.

And here is the gorgeous "Miss Perfectly Pink:"

NOTD: Blues and Grays

I felt like wearing blue on my nails so I applied Sally Hansen's "Blue Me Away" on my left fingertips.
And since I've gotten used to wearing another color on my other hand, I brushed Sally Hansen's "Wet Cement" on my right nails.
To spice up the blank canvases, I stroked some black, white and pink lacquer on top of the colors.

I used these colors to create my current nail design:

This is on my right hand:


This is on my left hand:


I really like the blue design because I think that blue is gorgeous against my skin.

Which one do you like better?

New song from Cee-lo Green

This new song from Atlanta rapper/singer/song writer Cee-Lo Green has been floating around on the Internets lately.
I likes this and I think it's gonna be a hit like "Crazy."
No word on a new album release date or anything, all I know is that the song is new and nice!!