&*(Victoria's Secret Sale Haul)*&

Hello lovelys!

I AM BACK! Finally, right? haha So I have several posts for today to catch you all up on what has kept me so busy! haha I hope you all enjoy all the new posts and at least find something you really enjoy!

Also, I currently have had 628 views on my beauty blog. First off, I have to say WOW and Thank You! I never thought I'd be hitting a number that big. lol I seriously thought just friends would be viewing this blog and it has just blown up to where I'm getting at least 25 views a day.. So what way to give back to my viewers? A give away of course! When I reach 1,500 views I will be doing a give away for 3 lucky viewers! =) This will be out of my own money just to thank you all for everything! I will also be doing a give away on my facebook page that I am currently working on updating!

Once I reach the 1,500 views, I will post a blog post on here of how to qualify, what the gifts for each of the 3 winners, and when to look for a facebook page give away as well! This will be for all USA viewers, I won't be able to ship outside of the states.. I'm sorry in advance for that! I want to put together really great give away prizes so I won't be able to ship outside the USA! =(

Anyways, enough about that exciting news.. Now to the good stuff! The haul of course! haha


So I went to the mall the other day and saw so many stores were doing their cleaning out old stock type sales including Victoria's Secret!

Now I love some of their fragrances so I found a lot of their PINK fragrances on sale. I believe they were 50% off!!

You all know how I love my makeup as well so I decided to pick up some of their makeup they had 5-% off as well!

Pretty right? haha

Now the third large perfume in the back, I actually bought from Bath and Body Works for 50% off because they wanted full price at Victoria's Secret. haha Way to beat the system and find deals!

Anyways, so the four fragrances in the back in order:

PINK with a Splash -- Fruity & Bright

ALOHA PINK -- Tropical & Juicy

PINK with a Splash -- Warm & Cozy (my favorite that I bought from Bath & Body Works)

ALOHA PINK --Vibrant & Beachy

The two small perfumes are:

(Left) ALOHA PINK -- Wild & Breezy

(Right) ALOHA PINK -- Lovely & True

The two boxes in front of the perfumes are lipsticks. I'll show swatches coming up. :)

The purple tube is a purple mascara in the color called Violight.

Then the eyeshadows.. The four eyeshadows and the quad I also have swatches coming up..

My opinions --

So the perfumes are all amazing, obviously since I smelled them there and bought them! haha I personally was disappointed that they were charging full price for Warm & Cozy (my favorite fragrance of all time lol) and I had to go to Bath & Body Works to get it on sale! I went right to Bath & Body Works after this store to get that fragrance since I already knew it was on sale before I got to the mall!

I have to admit, I'm completely blown away by the cosmetics at Victoria's Secret! The lipsticks are so creamy and they don't take much to have full color and last a long time! Plus, can you beat 50% off! lol Talk about great savings for great products!

So now for swatches!

(Left) Lipstick in Instinct (Middle) Beauty Rush Soothing Lip Balm in Clear Shine (Right) Lipstick in Heated

My opinions on the lipsticks -- These are amazing! I especially love the creamy neutral color in Instinct. It is such a soft color but great color payoff. They are extremely creamy, I seriously can't get over the formula of these! Feels like a lipstick and gloss in one! On the color Heated, it's a pretty color on light skin! Super pigmented and just as creamy! This color stays like crazy! haha I love it! There is a swatch in the middle but it really is just a clear balm. haha I love it though because it has a minty smell and tingle too it when you apply it too your lips! Definitely a great product although just like most glosses, it can get sticky over a long period of time.

For this swatch, you can click on the picture to make it bigger since it is really small for the blog..

The top four swatches are Beauty Rush wet/dry shadows. Left swatch is dry, right is wet.

I know they green and purple got switched around in the top of the image, lol Sorry about that.

The colors are as follows:

Glamerald (green shade)

Violet Femme (purple shade)

Gold Rush (gold shade)

Flower Girl (pink shade)

Okay these are okay and I don't think I would buy again. I am not a huge fan of them dry, they go on kind of flakey because of the sparkles in them. None of these are matte, they are all frosty with glitter in them. I do on the other hand like these wet. They go on well, are great colors so if you wear yours mainly wet, these are a good pick for you! I personally do not like how big the glitter is in it that I didn't notice in the store. That's about the only downfall to these unless you like glitter! lol

The bottom swatches are of the quad I got called Uninhibited. Now if you are a sucker for packaging like I am, lol these are adorable! The lipsticks and this quad all have the zebra print in the packaging! So cute and I'm really impressed with this quad! The top line is dry, the bottom is wet! 

I definitely recommend if you don't like paying full price for their stuff, check out this sale! I think its every store having it now! I do not know how long this sale is but check it out! =)

I want to know your opinions as well! I want to know what you'd like to see more of or less of on this blog! Do you want haul posts, nail tutorials, more swatches? What would you like to see? I'd love to hear your opinions! 

Thank you again to everyone who has followed me, viewed this blog, shared it with friends, you are all amazing! Remember to always stay smiling! =)

XoXoXo,

LB

&*(Reivew -- Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips)*&

Hello lovely's, thank you for being patient and sticking with me through this move and getting set up. I'm still not set up with my own computer here yet but my family has let me play with their Apple computer and I'm in love! Took a bit to figure out since it's been awhile since I used one but FINALLY got it figured out and am getting to post again! I have missed you all and thank you again for all the support!

Today I have a review of the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects, real nail polish strips. I was at first not going to even try these because of the fact that at my Wal-Mart they are being sold for $7.50 and I thought for something I get to use one time, that's not really worth the price. I WAS WRONG! haha I wanted something new to show you all since I'd been doing a lot of designs with decals I got at a not really widely known store so here is something you can pick up at your Wal-Mart or drug stores! Definitely worth the price if you want a quick nail look that doesn't have a lot of wait time for all the layers to dry! haha Keep reading if you want to know how they apply, what they look like on, the wear time, my review, etc.

So here is how these strips work!

Step one: Clean your nails, shape them, and leave them dry with no polish underneath. 

Step two: Find the right strip that fits your nails.

Step three: Remove plastic backing.

Step four: Stick the strip to your nail and smooth with the smooth end of the file that comes with it.

Step five: Fold end of nail polish strip over the end of the nail and file it up against the end of your nail.

You're done, or so they say.. haha

MY REVIEW.

First I was kind of surprised when it smelled like nail polish when I pulled the backing off. I know it said it was real nail polish strips but it wasn't what I expected. To place them was super easy!! I'm serious from start to finish, it took me 10 minutes with even filing the extra polish strip off. When I first pulled the strip over my nail I was kind of confused how to file it off but it actually is really easy. :) I was pretty happy with these. Now, the wearability.. No, it wouldn't last more than 5 minutes without a top coat. THAT IS A LIE! You can not just apply these and leave it like that. They peel at the edges of the nail. Now, EVEN with that, I'm still impressed! If you have a fast drying top coat, it still dries quickly and it still is faster than trying to do detailing on your nails. They come in a variety of looks. I picked the lace/fishnet one. It is black design with my skin tone color underneath. I did this design three days ago and still is going strong! 

So for the price, yes I will buy these again! Just remember to keep a fast drying top coat with you when you do these! Definitely check these out! They are fun, have lots of styles, and easy to do!

Hope this helps you find other alternatives to having to wait forever for nail polish to dry! If you can place a sticker, you can place these! I even had a nail that I didn't like how it lined up and just carefully pulled it off and placed it again! :) Easy right?!

Have fun with these! Here is a pic of my finished nails!

I was going to post a review on the philosophy acne line but I want to try it for a full month so I can give a good review on it. I haven't been able to use it everyday when I was packing and moving so I will start that today! :) 

Anyways, until next time (which should be soon I promise haha), stay smiling and remember you are beautiful just the way you are!!

XoXoXo,

LB

&*(Been Away WAYYYY Too Long)*&

Hello lovelys. I want to apologize on the delay of new posts and getting my youtube channel going. I feel really bad because I said I'd be back sooner but I've been getting settled in with my family. My husband is military and is deployed for a year so I moved back to be with family and we had an interesting 3 day trip in the car with my three dogs and cat in one car, and my family their two dogs and my stuff in a trailer STUFFED of my stuff. lol I feel really bad because we left later than we planned and we had to pack the whole house for getting ready to leave. So thank you all for having patience! I still haven't even set up my computer here yet so I promise sometime this week I will have a post up for you. Most likely a nail tutorial and product reviews since I haven't done one in forever. lol

Anyways, thank you all again. I'm so glad I got online today to see I had almost 400 views since I started this blog! Makes all the hard work worth it! Glad everyone loves it as much as I do. Until next time, remember to stay smiling and be proud of who you are! Lately I have just felt better than before and found even more self confidence. I will admit even in here that I have had weight problems. I gain it easily but to lose it, well it's a challenge. I lost alot of self confidence recently with all the changes going on in my life and finally decided to take back my life. I started weight watchers recently and I feel fantastic! No, I am not a spokesperson for them or anything nor am I being paid to say this but I really am happy with the new system. I have already lost weight and once I get a good pair of walking shoes, its on! lol I challenge each of you to not be afraid of change and take back your life. Confidence is something so many people have issues with. I'm learning that I'm beautiful the way I am BUT I want to be healthier is my main goal. I know what I was eating before and how I was letting stress and things take my life over, that I wasn't doing the best for myself. To each their own, I'm just saying don't be afraid. I was afraid it'd be hard, afraid to do it alone, afraid of change but now that I've embraced it, BRING ON THE WORLD! lol I will keep you all informed as to how it is working for me if you are interested. I just want you all to be happy and healthy! :) I wouldn't normally talk about this topic but its been something I have had issues with so I thought I'd share my story with you all too. I'm not perfect. I have acne (that is starting to go away with eating right Score for eating healthy!!) and I'm short so weight shows easily on me. I just challenge you all if you want something in your life to change, take hold of it! Never let fear stand in your way!

Until next time, be beautiful, be you, and be happy! =)

XoXoXo,
LB

&*(Nail Tutorial -- Medieval Times)*&

Hello lovelys! As promised, here is my second nail tutorial of the day!

I recently found a store called Jewelry in a Box where everything in the store is a dollar. Yes, a dollar! For nail stuff, hair accessories, makeup, fashion jewelry, and much more! I was beyond excited when I saw that the El Paso store had more items than the one they had in Las Cruces. Anyways, I've been looking for nail decals that didn't cost an arm and a leg! Luckily the store in El Paso had a lot of decals to choose from! I was super excited and spent more than I should but happy with the quality of everything I got.

Anyways, here is a tutorial with a few of the items I got from this store! Hope you enjoy!

NOTE: I am sorry that some pictures are turned and others are not.. all the pictures are aligned right and are how all my other posts are but for some reason, some are turning when loaded on here. Not sure what is going on! =(

Here are the products I used for this nail design:
1.) Sinful Colors Basecoat
2.) Sinful Colors nail polish in Black on Black
3.) Kiss Nail art Striping nail Polish in Black
4.) Nabi Striping nail Polish in Black Glitter
5.) Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener

Decals from Jewelry in a Box

Abella Glamour Nail Art Kit

I used the gold glitter beads.

Starting with clean natural nails, I put a layer of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails hardener to help strengthen my nails to protect them from breaking. This hardener is a great product and is the reason I can grow my nails out like I do. I just recently cut them after doing the number one mistake people make with nails: To peel nail polish off... I knew better but did it anyways. lol Oops!

Next, I put two layers of Sinful Colors basecoat. I like this basecoat with dark colors to protect my nails from staining. It leaves your nails with a milky white base color.

Next, I painted my nails with one coat of Sinful Colors nail polish in Black on Black. This is such a pigmented color that you really only need one coat.

Again, I'm sorry the pictures are turned.. Can't figure out why they are loading that way but when I view the pictures they are all aligned the same way.

Next, to add some detail in the background of the stick on decals, I decided to do stripes of the Nabi striping nail polish in Black Glitter.

If you make too large of a stripe, you can always use the Kiss Nail Art striping nail polish in Black to fix mistakes. =)

Now time for decals! These decals are super easy to use. Literally I just picked them off the sheet with tweezers and placed them.

NOTE: After you do most of the decals and the french tip beads, the Nabi striping nail polish in Black Glitter doesn't show very well. I found it didn't give as much of detailing that I wanted. It's very subtle.

To do the french tip in these really small gold beads, I put a small amount on a paper plate and put the hardener nail polish on just the tips of my nails where I wanted the beads to stay.

Then I dipped my nails in the gold beads and shaped them the way I wanted with a wooden stick used for nails.

I personally liked doing this where the black was a little wet on the tips to darken some of the beads to give different tones to the beads. I think these turned out really cute. Just be careful not to let too many beads stick or it'll make the tips of your nails very thick.

Top with a top coat of your choice and you're done!

I personally used the hardener for my top coat because I feel it holds to decals better. Just my opinion though!

Have fun with these and I hope you all find a store like Jewelry in a Box near you!! I am always driving the like two hours to El Paso now since they have an Ulta store as well as the Jewelry in a Box! Gotta love it!

Until next time, Remember to Always Stay Smiling!

XoXoXo,

LB

&*(Nail Tutorial -- Girly it Up)*&

Hello lovelys! I feel terrible that yet again I'm late on getting my post up! But I promise I do have the two tutorial pictures ready and am posting today! Also, doing a what's coming up post as well! =)

So if you'd like to see how I did these super cute girly nails, read on! Thanks again for all of the support!

The products I used for these super cute nails:
1.) Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
2.) Sinful Colors Basecoat
3.) Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac
4.) Pure Ice polish in Oh Baby!
5.) Glitters from the Edelle Deco Art Kit
6.) Little jar of decals are from Abella Glamour Nail Art Kit

Starting with natural nails, I decided to do a coat of Sally Hansen Hardener because I know I preach about how you shouldn't peel off nail polish but I did the other day and tore up the tops of my nails. haha I had to cut them down and am trying to let them grow back in. Anyways, this was just an extra step, it isn't needed.

As always, start with a base coat. I don't care how light the nail polish is, you should always protect your nails to keep them from staining and to add just a protective layer in between your polish and your nails.




I used Sinful Colors Basecoat because it leaves a light milky colored coat which can help enhance the color of your polish.

Next, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac. This is a perfect color for spring in my opinion and it makes like the ultimate girly nails. :)

I should have done this to my other hand but I didn't think about it haha... Just a tip, you can use one of these wooden sticks to wipe away the nail polish that gets on the skin. They are cheap and can save you from having to use a lot of nail polish remover. =)

Now for the decorating! =)

To do the glitter french tip, I used Pure Ice nail polish in Oh Baby! because it has the same iridescent glitter as the glitter I used for the nails.

I did the normal swipe of the polish across just the tip of the nail and then dipped the nail into glitter on a paper plate.

NOTE: Make sure the rest of your nail polish is dried or it will stick too it.

To add the decals, I put a drop of the Hardener on a paper plate and used the wooden stick to dip into the polish and to pick up the decals and place them on the nails! It's as easy as that.


Add a top coat, and you are finished!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Stay tuned for some black and gold medieval nails. =)

Remember: Always stay smiling!

XoXoXo,
LB

&*(Late Update)*&

Hello loves, I want to apologize! I hate that I broke my promise about having something up soon. =(

My father in law was here for a much needed visit and we have my family coming in the next few weeks to help us move. We have lots going on with moving. Gotta love the military lifestyle! haha Anyways, Sunday I WILL have two new nail tutorials up. I just did my second nail design today (even though I did my nails two days ago) just so I could have another one to post for you all. I again apologize. I hate that I didn't keep too my promise but life has to come first and this move is across the USA!! Anyways, I will be trying to do more to post for you all before I do my move so you will all have something to read before I get set up in SC. I will be also trying to get my youtube channel up after I get to SC.

It's really hard to find good lighting in this house and by the time I get everything set up for the videos, we will have to pack it up! haha I promise I will be doing my channel though.

Until Sunday enjoy your weekend and I will talk too you all soon.

Remember, always stay smiling!

XoXoXo,
LB

*Little Update*

Hello lovelys! I apologize for lack of posting lately. My Father in Law is coming to visit today so I've been busy preparing for his visit. If that wasn't enough to keep me busy, my husband and I are moving in about a month and its a big move SOOOO that also has us on our toes! haha I promise I will be posting another nail tutorial (cherries ^_^) this week. After my Father in Law leaves on Sunday, I'll be back doing my reviews and such! =)

I know it may not be huge to everyone else but thank you for helping me reach 250 views! That is beyond exciting for me since I didn't think I would get that many people to see my blog! I hope to reach more and just share this wonderful passion of mine!

Until then, remember keep smiling!

Have a great week everyone!
=)

XoXoXo,
LB