Gift Guide: 11 Beauty Products for the Blogger on Your List

Welcome to the second installment of my holiday gift guides! I’ve compiled the list of top books for the blogger in your life, and today I’m bringing you my top beauty picks! Again, some I already own and recommend, others are on my own list, and others are just famously wishlist-ed around!
1. Illamasqua Kontrol
With Lourde and the runways making purple an acceptable lip color, this old favorite of mine is finally coming into play! The color is bold, but also just muted enough to not appear too costume-y. It lasts all day as well, what being by a quality make up line.

2. MoroccanOil Conditioner
I LOVE this conditioner; it always leaves my hair irresistibly smooth, no matter how many times I dye, straighten, and harass it. The blogger in your life will LOVE this product.

3. Tokyo Milk Lotion
This is a more recent acquirement of mine, but the Tokyo Milk lotion leaves my hands silky smooth subtly scented, and with no oily or sticky residue. Definitely a quality lotion, and coming in a variety of scents. My favorite is the woodsy “dark excessive” shown here!

4. Birchbox
What blogger wouldn’t love a subscription to the latest samples of beauty products!? No blogger, that’s who. Birchbox delivers a carefully curated box of beauty products to the door each month, chock full of samples to test out and review and play with! Alternatives to this brand include GlossyBox and PopSugar Must Haves!

5. Chance by Chanel
Whilst many bloggers have their own signature scent, few will say no to a spritz of this iconic perfume. With the air of luxury and classic elegance, Chance by Chanel will not disappoint this holiday season.

6. Clarisonic
Though it may be pricey, the Clarisonic facial cleanser is a dreamy wonder. It works like magic to make any skin flawlessly smooth and clear.

7. Eos Lip Trio
Eos lip balms have been on the up and up, and while Chapstick and other brands of lip balm are a classic stocking stuffer, the Eos is a step up. These are a great gift for any stocking you need stuffed!

8. Ciate Caviar Nail Kit
Ciate kills it with nail kits; they’ve done velvet, pearl, and now “caviar”, little embellished balls that great a three dimensional glam look for your nails! A great gift for the DIY nail lover to create envy inducing tips.

9. Aerin Winter Palette
Aerin beauty products, coveted and clean, are to die for. This winter palette has you covered with all that you need to look fresh and ready to party the holidays away!

10. Lash Stash Gift Set
Sephora is always on point with their holiday gift sets; they have perfume sets, brush sets, nail sets, and ofcourse, the lash set. Each comes with a perfect sampling of the year’s hottest products in generous amounts, making this a gift easy on the wallet and pleasing on the eyes (is that a mild pun!?)

11. Naked 3 Palette
Beauty bloggers, and all other ladies and drags interested in make up, have been obsessing over the Naked palette’s for years. I still have my first one around here somewhere; they’re the perfect palette for all things you need for flawless skin for a night out or any other event; that’s the great thing, they’re versatile! Now, just in time for the holidays, Urban Decay has released the latest; the Naked 3 Palette. Currently sold out and extremely coveted, if you can get your hands on one your little blogger would love you forever, of this I am sure!

What do you have on your beauty wishlist!? Would you be excited to receive these products for the holidays?

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Mom’s Birthday & What I Wore

This year I did all I could to make my mother’s birthday the best it could be! I woke up earlier than her to make funfetti pancakes and blueberry coffee (in their coffee maker; which for me is a challenge as I’m a Keurig girl!). She loved her breakfast and relaxed all morning while i fixed up her bathroom with her tangible gift; a sand and seashell square-‘quarium’ alongside Seagrass and Seashore scented candles.

I took her out to lunch to an esteemed nearby eatery we’d never been to, Not Your Average Joe’s. We enjoyed a fresh pitcher of sangria, while she dined on vegetarian lasagne and I had a veggie burger with fries. It was an exceptional suburban dining experience and my mom seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself, to my pleasure.

She went to work, then a work meeting, then home to a homecooked seafood meal by my father and a chocolate tiered cake.

Happy Birthday Mom! ❤

Now, what I wore:

Forever 21 skirt and sweater

Guess? Bag

Wacoal bra from Nordstrom’s

(skirt and bra in the “haul” post here)

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Nails of the Week: Chanel Drip

I kept seeing the below image floating around on Tumblr and was SO SO inspired! I had to try it out for myself, thankfully it was fairly easy, considering how I’ve become a sort of (self proclaimed) nail drip expert.

I started with a basic base coat, slightly whiter than the inspired image. I used Sally Hansen Hard Nails Xtreme Wear in ‘Bamboo Shoot”. Then, using the same drip technique I used here and here, I created my drips on most of my fingers, saving my pinky for the interlocking C’s, using Esse’s ‘Licorice’.

I then used my bobby pin and verrrry carefully drew in my C’s. Sadly, my left hand isn’t as sturdy as my right so when it came time to do it on my right hand it came out so horribly I had no choice but to paint the whole nail black. I topped each nail off with a top coat of N.Y.C.’s Nail Glossies in #201. Anyway, simple yet edgy chic. Ya dig!??

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The Gray Way

I meant to post this like, 2 weeks ago before my trip to Maryland, but it never posted. Enough pointless chatter; Gray hair has been showing up everywhere from the runway to the middle schools.

images from Backstage at Chanel

First seen on the runway of Chanel as streaks in the model’s hair, there were many differentiating views on the trend. When the following year showed full on gray heads, more people became more accepting and adoring of it. The first “real” person to attempt this trend was 13 year old fashion blogger Tavi. Personally, I don’t like the girl’s sense of fashion due to her love for all things grand-parental, and this hairstyle was no exception.  After Chanel and Tavi, other fashion icons and celebrities tried the style out for themselves; including Kate Moss, Kelly Osborne, and our Queen, Lady Gaga.

(LtoR) Tavi, Kate, Kelly, Lady Gaga

Now, personally, I think the granny trend is silly; We’re all young and should embrace our fine features. What are you’re thoughts though? Feel free to comment and share!

Safe Style

The most important thing you can wear as a savvy fashionista who loves to have fun is… A CONDOM. Sure, they seem silly, unfashionable, inconvenient, especially with those trashy NYC Subway condoms haunting you, but I’ve come to let you know how much fun and FASHIONABLE condoms can be!

First off, let’s start with name brand; both Chanel and Marc Jacobs sell condoms. The Marc Jacobs come in an adorable matchbook type package with lovey dovey stick figures on them. Price? $1.50 each, to protect in style. Chanel is slightly pricier, at $279 per 12 pack of condoms. But, c’mon, who doesn’t want Chanel condoms!? The packaging bears the iconic Chanel logo with text stating “FOR USE BY TRENDY SLUTS”. You don’t get much cooler than that.

Sex and Sundhed Condoms/Packaging

While these designers are the only ones marketably promoting safer sex, there are also fabulous packages by lesser brands that make you still just want to grab for a rubber! Denmark company Sex & Sundhed has a package of 3 condoms that come in fun packaging that, when empty, spell out “No More Sex”. They will ship to our fair country, and you can buy these puppies at www.sexogsundhed.dk .

Moving on to something more guy friendly, the condom gun. While this ingenious packaging is still in the conceptual stages, I know a number of us are waiting for it to hit the shelves. The gun is a white plastic gun with the script “Rubber for Lover” artfully on the barrel. The condom itself goes in place of bullets in the cartridge.

For more info on this potential product, click here: http://nerdapproved.com/misc-gadgets/condom-gun-a-loaded-gun-for-your-loaded-weapon/ 

Now that you’re educated, go have some fabulous, frivolous, and fashionably fun sex! YAY SEX!

I See Red Lips, and I want them Painted Black

Okay, so this title may be a total fail on trying to twist Rolling Stones into something fun. But more importantly, BLACK LIPS!?

Black lips are a must for any hardcore punk rocker, but now they’re becoming more common on just the fashionably conscious. They’ve shown up on runways and in clubs (trust me, I just saw some blonde with black lips in a black mini last night). I’ve actually taken a good month or so to research this topic and was truly waiting on one more piece, but it’s virtually impossible to find, but the post must go on.

Normally, you go to Target or CVS or Duane Reade for your generic lipstick shade. Sadly, you’ll have a difficult time trying to find black unless it’s October. Which, in that month you can find a fabulously cheap ($4!) tube of Wet n Wild or CoverGirl black lipstick. So where to go during the other 11 months? First stop, my favorite make-up store, Sephora! As for lines, it depends on what you’re looking for.

Urban Decay offers a black lipstick for $22. It’s a very creamy like lipstick, pretty matte, but the downside to why I personally don’t like it is that it’s infused with glitter. Not my cup of tea when you’re going for a mature, refined dark look.

Illamasqua is my favorite “cheap and chic” brand for black lipstick. I put that in quotations because at $20, it’s not that cheap, but it’s the cheapest you will find black lipstick before. I personally own this one. I love the beautiful matte look and how easily it goes on. Sadly, it tends to come off easily too, especially on the inner, moistest parts of your lips. I also prefer to wear this with a sheer gloss over it to add some shine.

Moving on and up; YSL recently released a Limited Edition black lip gloss. THIS is what I was waiting for, but sadly, it was so limited edition even I wasn’t able to track a tube of it down! From what I hear, it was a semi sheer black top coat to add a dark tone to whatever base color you were using…I feel it would have been a perfect match for my Illamasqua, but alas. We can’t always get what we want.

If you don’t care about it actually being a lipstick, but prefer something that looks perfect, I suggest Make Up Forever Flash Color. They offer little cases of about 10 shades of make up that is multi purpose. I have their silver, and it can be used on eyes, lips, skin, and body! It’s quite lasting in darker shades such as black, but you’ll need a lipstick brush to use it. Good thing the make up itself is only $18.

Though not available at Sephora but speaking of extremely high end, the only other brand I’ve noticed to make quality, year round black lipstick is Chanel. For $28 you get perfect coverage and lastability. Where to get this? I tried it out at Bloomingdale’s, but Neiman Marcus and select Nordstrom’s sell the line.

MAC also has an amazing black lipstick, but I feel it’s too “sticky”. You definitely need to use a lip brush to apply it, instead of just rolling it on. It’s also $30, not so easy on the wallet, for a small tube of it.

Okay, now for budget diva’s; we’re talking about black make up, so where else to shop but Hot Topic. Manic Panic, the Hot Topic make up brand, offers a “raven black” lipstick for $8…Personally, it doesn’t stay on thick enough so it leaves your lips looking like they have a black over-sheen. But hey, if you’re not ready for a patent black look, go for it!

How to wear this fabulous lipstick look without looking like a creepy ghost/goth/emo kid? I suggest pairing it with sultry, darkened eyes and an all black, but CHIC outfit. You don’t want to pair it with anything black, as that would give off the wrong look of wearing it for the emo purposes. By wearing it with something very trendy, you show that you’re wearing it for the style.