September 2014 Favorites! [Beauty, lifestyle, food & fitness]

One of my favorite type of posts to read (or video to watch) is someone's favorite products or things they've been loving lately. It's always been a fun way to find out about other things I might like, so maybe you guys will find a new favorite in the post below! This is a collection of a few things I really loved in the month of September. 

Jumping right in here!

--BEAUTY FAVORITES--

The Nudes palette by Maybelline

I briefly reviewed and swatched this palette here and did a makeup tutorial with it. I purchased it to bring on my trip to Disney and have been addicted ever since. It's a great budget-friendly neutral eye shadow palette for anyone looking to try some nice everyday eye looks or something a little smokier. Can be purchased at most drug stores!

A Couple Nail Polish Favorites!

Most of the polishes I wear are some shade of blue, purple or red/pink, so these were an easy grab at my local TJ Maxx when I spotted them (and for two name-brand polishes at $2.99-$3.99 a piece? Take my money.) Both wore without chipping for at least several days (which is miraculous on my nails). Left is Sylvia by Julep, right is Chills & Thrills by Essie.

My Everyday Eye Makeup Tutorial! (and mini Maybelline The Nudes Palette Review & Swatches!)

Good morning and happy Saturday, friends! Ever since my first round of blogging (about two years ago!), one of things I've had requested again and again is how I do my makeup how you see me wearing it on the blog (or Instagram, or wherever you know me from!). I am about as technologically advanced as the average nursing home resident, so I've avoided making videos at all costs, but I finally sucked it up and made a video tutorial of how I do my eye makeup! Check it out below!




The palette I used for this video is the Maybelline The Nudes palette. I picked this up at a drugstore a few weeks ago and to be honest, I wasn't crazy about it at first. I've been using a higher-end palette for the last year (Lorac's Pro Palette to be exact) and it's hard to go from using a high-quality eye shadow to a slightly-less quality eye shadow because the consistency, pigmentation and ease of use is just completely different. But after playing with it a little, I really like the Maybelline The Nudes palette. The colors are perfect for a neutral palette and for being a drugstore product, the shadows are generally quite pigmented and blendable. For 12 eyeshadows for around $10, it can't be beat!

Playwright

Sweater: HM

Skirt: Love Culture

Purse: HM

Heels: Target

Necklace: Gift from husband

Nails: Dress to Kilt by Essie (2014 fall collection)

Oh, how I've missed blogging! And wearing and photographing cute outfits! And dodging traffic as I attempt to take blog photos in the parking lot of my apartment complex during rush hour!

To be completely honest-- I've yet to wear this outfit out of the house. But I've been thinking about this outfit since the moment I acquired this sweater at HM a few weeks ago. As you may or may not have read in my last post, I'm a personal trainer now. So my day to day outfits consist of: yoga crops, Nike's, and v-necks with "ANYTIME FITNESS" plastered across the front. Not exactly up to par with the clothes I used to wear as a realtor. 

But back to this outfit. I bought the sweater and could see this outfit come together in my mind. And I was determined to find a way to wear it. So far, all I've come up with is this: wearing it in the parking lot while my husband photographs it. But word on the street is that someone is going to take a hard-working little personal trainer on a date to an extra long play this upcoming weekend. And that personal trainer is me. And that "someone" is my husband. Or any woman, man, small child, or blood relative willing to sit through a 3+ hour play with me. I'm not picky. ;-)

Hello again!

Hi!

So after a very long leave of absence (almost a year!), I've decided to come back to the blogging world! I've missed it so much! I love the community and the connection that blogging always brought to me, and I can't wait to utilize my blog more to help and hopefully entertain people once again in a number of ways, including some new ones!

I plan on taking the theme of this blog in a slightly different direction than it has been in the past, which was mostly style and beauty. While I still definitely plan on having plenty of elements of style and beauty involved (because it's still a passion!), I also plan on including a lot more health, food, and fitness related posts. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know most of what I post about is fitness or food related... with elements of cats, nail polish and selfies, of course! ;-)

I'm changing the theme of my blog for a number of reasons, but the main one being that I (and what is important to me) has changed significantly over the last 18 months. I've also had a career switch: I was formerly in real estate and now am a Certified Personal Trainer at a local gym. I would definitely consider this my "dream job" and am incredibly happy and fulfilled by what I do. I love helping people, and I hope to share some of what I do here on the blog as well!

So if you're a previous reader reading this right now, then hello, welcome back and leave a comment reminding to come visit your blog and catch up with you! And if you're a new reader, introduce yourself in the comments and I'll be sure to check you out too! 

Black & Blue

Top: TJ Maxx Skirt: Charlotte Russe Heels: Target Jacket: TJ Maxx

Sorry for my mini blog absence for the last couple of weeks! I'm still trying to pull myself back into the swing of regular blogging. I know it's a matter of making the time for it, which shouldn't be as hard as it's been because I love doing this. But bear with me! :)

One of the many perks (or something) of blogging is being able to see photographs of your clothes on your body. I think it's a bit more realistic than the mirror. Maybe? One thing the mirror did NOT tell me about this outfit that these photographs are telling me loudly & clearly is that this skirt does not fit as well as it used to. I blame all the squats in the gym, making my butt and quads fill out this skirt. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking with it. You guys would tell me if I was getting fat, right? ;) 

I kid, I kid. <3