Time for Five: Things I'm Feeling Right Now

Here are five random things (in no particular order) that I'm feeling right now:

1. Oxfords!!!

I'd been craving some oxford shoes like a pregnant woman craving pickles. Luckily, I found a darling pair when I stopped by my local mall's ALDO shoe store. These babies are called Kegerries and set me back $50. Not too bad for style and taste:) You can get them here.

2. My beautiful Indian duppatta (scarf)

My dear friend Poh Si, who I visited in India a couple of years ago, recently sent me this gorgeous duppatta (or scarf) from New Delhi. It has a beautiful floral/paisley design and is big enough to wrap into a skirt, shirt or dress. It's a beauty!

3. French manicures

I used to not like French manicured nails but now, I'm gravitating towards the classic nail style. I really dig the ones that I call "Funky French" nails, which use color to create the French look, instead of the traditional hues of the white tips and pale pink base. The one in the picture above was done with Sally Hansen's Jumping Jade and Sephora's Disco. What a beautiful combination. I'm going to do more of these "Funky French" nails in the future.

4.Dylan's Candy Bar Candy Butter Cream

I got this butter cream from Sephora for $6 a while back. Apparently, the line is being discontinued. What a pity. Not only is this butter cream formulated without parabens, it's made with Vitamin E, Jojoba Seed Oil and Shea Butter. That's why its thick formula has been doing a good job guarding my skin against the brutal winter weather like Julius guards Beyonce. And the butter cream smells so good, just like a strawberry Twizzler. Used this bad boy up in about two weeks. Think I'm gonna pick up another jar.

5. Curls

The most I'll do to my locs is put them up in a ponytail because I can get really lazy with them. But lately, I've been wanting to do more with them so I broke out my box of rod curlers and went to curling! The end result is in the above picture. My curled locs have so much body and personality. They help me feel pretty too:) Going to start wearing my hair curled more often.

Another new headband

I don't know what's been going on with me lately but I'm starting to really get into headbands.
Maybe it's because they represent some kind of girly innocence?
Could be that some of the designs are just so darn cute?
Or maybe it's simply because I'm weird.
I don't know why I like headbands all of a sudden, but I recently picked up a $3 one from Charlotte Russe:


This one is brown and has a floral flower accent on the side. So cute!

My new workplace lippie: Kat Von D's Cathedral

The beauty goddesses have shined their lights upon me; for I have found thee perfect work lipstick.
Not that red or berry hues aren't suitable shades for the office, but I'm totally digging Kat Von D's lip stick in Cathedral.
I recently got this as my 100-point Sephora perk.


This is a sample so the tube is the size of my pinky. It fits it in the palm of my hand.


Here is Cathedral swatched on my hand. The lipstick has a hint of pink and mauve color to it, which makes it an understated hue.


And here is Cathedral on my lips. It's a very respectable and safe color. I think it has workplace written all over it. A full-sized tube costs $18. What do you think?

Nails of the Week (Pic Heavy)

A couple of my 2011 financial goals were to stop impulse and wasteful spending.
Well, looks like that goal is down the drain. Take a peep at this photo:


Ulta is having a mega clearance and of course, I went crazy in there during a recent visit.
Having a coupon and turning in my "Ultamate" rewards points only added fuel to the fire.
The polishes (from left to right) included Revlon's Royal and Silver Dollar, L'Oreal's Queen of Hearts, N.Y.C.'s Fuchsia Shock Creme and Ulta's Socialite.
You would've thought I dipped my fingers in a rainbow last week because I wore a different color every day.
Here are swatches of all the lacquers:


I'm a huge fan of Revlon's new Top Speed polish collection and had been eying Royal for a while. It's been very popular hue throughout the beauty blogosphere and I see why. It's a pretty navy blue, but my only caveat is that it stains really bad. But that's OK. The color payoff and price (at $4) were worth the stains.


This!!!! OMG!! I love Silver Dollar so much!! I currently have this blinding hue on my toe nails. It's such a beautiful metallic polish that kinda looks like I wrapped my nails in tin foil. That's OK though, this lacquer is doing it for me.


And this is a funky fresh mani with Royal and Silver Dollar. Nice, huh?


Oooooooh. Now this polish, called Queen of Hearts, is aptly named because it is a red lacquer that I can get down with. It's a metallic, cherry red that has teeny, gold shimmers in the formula. Normally, I would turn my nose up at reds, but this one caught my attention. I paid about $1.30 for this bottle. Good buy.


Who doesn't like a bubblegum pink polish? Fuchsia Shock Creme isn't my fave pink but it's bubbly and happy and loud and nice. I paid 50 cents for the bottle.


Socialite is my first Ulta polish purchase and my least fave lacquer out of the bunch. Just doesn't do anything for me. Good thing it was only 50 cents.

My poor little phalanges. They're probably asking me what's up with all the polish switches and swatches. Well, they'll be some more in the upcoming days. I picked up some more nail goodies today. What are you currently rocking on your tips and toes?

Song of the Day: "When My Man Cries"

I forgot how much I love Nikka Costa.
While listening to my Costa Youtube playlist, I came across this performance.
I've never seen Costa live, but this is one of my fave performances of hers.
She's raw, passionate and honest while singing about her man.
Please enjoy this as much as I am!

My Top Five Financial Goals for 2011

Some of my financial goals from 2010 will likely carry over into the new year.
I still have to pay off my credit card, work on saving more, giving more, limit my impulse spending and stop wastefully spending money.
But I also want to get into some investing too.
I recently met with a financial consultant who advised me to put more money into my IRA account and put the maximum amount into my retirement account.
Both of those goals are attainable but only after I pay off my credit card bill.
Hopefully, that'll be paid off in about three to four months (hopefully!!).
What are your financial goals for 2011?

Blue Sage Soap review

My girl Marrietta over at My Guide to a Girl's World (I mean the Beauty Santa) got me this pretty white tea-scented soap from BlueSageSoap.com.
I'm so much in lurve with this bar of sudsy goodness that I don't think I can say anything negative about it.
The soap is made with organic palm kernel, coconut, olive and almond oils and shea butter.
It smells soooo freaking good, works up a nice lather and the scent lingers on my skin until I moisturize with my body butter.
I really love the fact that this soap is natural and vegan.
You can pick up a 4 ounce bar online or in several of their nationallocations.

**FTC Disclosure: This product was not supplied for review by a marketing or public relations firm.

NOTD: Sally Hansen's "Jumping Jade" and other things

CVS is having a mega beauty clearance and I picked up a bottle of Sally Hansen's "Jumping Jade" for 75 cents.
It's a dark, shimmery green that's a perfect hue for brutally cold winter months.
It's gorgeous and probably my fave dark green polish color right now.
I've also been using essie's naturally clean polish remover that I got from Ulta for $6.
It does have some acetone in it, but is also infused with eucalyptus oil natural vitamins and antioxidants. This little four ounce bottle is doing the job!!

I also picked up a Sally Hansen nail art pen in gold for $2.
The pen is really nice because it works like a real pen, you just press down on it your lacquer and it writes, I mean paints. I made all kinds of designs on my left hand.
I will definitely buy more of these pens in other colors if i find some more on clearance.
Here's a pic of the designs I made:

Beauty products I'm really liking right now

e.l.f. lip gloss: I got this baby on clearance at Target for barely a quarter and I like that you apply the sheer, pink gloss with a brush. It was slightly goopy but I liked its sugary taste. Sweet deal.

Burt's Bees fragrance: The company recently came out with four new solid fragrances. I am in love with only one, the "Beautiful" fragrance. It's a fusion of scents such as vanilla, jasmine, coconut oil, banana. It smells good, plus comes in this cute, reusable tin. I think these are a little bit better than the Pacifica solid perfumes. At ten dollars a pop, they're a couple of dollars cheaper.

eclipse spa: I'm a sucker for a good soap and this one was soooo nice. I got it from the Shecky's event in D.C. a few months ago and at about $12, it was worth the price tag. It smells like one of my fave scents, cinnamon, and works up a nice, sudsy lather.

Jaguar Luxury lip/eye liner pencils: I also got these pencils from Shecky's. I like them because they're formulated with Vitamin E, are waterproof and also are long-lasting. Three strikes, I'm in.

c. Booth body butter and shower gel: OK, this has got to be one of my new fave natural body care brands. I picked up a couple of these products during a recent Ulta shopping trip. They were all under $10. The shower gel was thick and smelled good. I love how the scent lingered on way after I cleansed my body with it. And the body butter was a jar of buttery goodness. The price is right and so is the product. I'm in love.

The Body Shop body butter: I got this body butter on clearance for $4 from T.J. Maxx and love how this butter is formulated. It's not thick like traditional body butters. It has the texture of lotion, but heavily moisturized my skin. That surprised me, in a good way.


**These products were not sent to me for review by companies. I paid for them with my own funds.
Image sources: www.amazon.com and www.thebodyshop.com

My new headband

I just wanted to show off my new, cute little headband that Santa got me for Christmas.
It's got this shimmery flower that rests of the side of the band which gives off a retro vibe.
Plus, the actual headband is sooo comfortable. I usually don't do well with headbands because my head is so big but this one is cute and comfortable.
It jazzes up any outfit.
I love it.

Light it Up Holiday Giveaway Winner!!

Congrats to Lola, who won my Light it Up Holiday Giveaway contest!
I asked what you wanted for the holiday season and her answer was "All I want for Christmas is all of my family to come together....healthy."
Lola, you have two days to contact me or else the prize goes to someone else.
Thank you all for entering and congrats again to Lola!

NOTD, haulage and gifts

Happy Sunday.
I still have a couple more days left until my vacation ends so I've been enjoying every moment of it.
For New Years, I had Kimmykat Kolors' "Dream Big" with a coat of Forever 21's "Light Green" on my nails.
I've been into topcoats lately and "Light Green" has me very excited because it's a knockoff version of the very hard-to-find "Hidden Treasure" from Sally Hansen.
"Light Green" is a green-based topcoat but has these flecks of iridescent color that livens up any polish. Take a peek:



And the Santa Beauty was good to me. Here's a look at what I got for Christmas:



They include Carol's Daughter, Burt's Bees, Revlon, Earthworks and Bath and Body Works items.

And here's the haulage from my most recent Sephora, Ulta and Target visit:



They include lotion, shampoo, lip gloss, oil and perfume from Carol's Daughter, Tarte, essie, e.l.f. and Pacifica. Expect reviews soon.