Essie - First Purchases!

Being honest here - the only reason I know about Essie is because of Pinterest.  The wonders of Pinterest have enlightened me about soooo many things!  Especially beauty/style/nails, all that stuff.

I haven't gotten around to purchasing any Essie products until recently.  Because, well... they're spendy.  

Essie is carried at different beauty retailers like Ulta, Rite-Aid, our local Fred Meyer, but they're always eight dollars for a tiny little bottle.  I love beauty products including nail polish, but I find it difficult to regularly drop almost 10 dollars on one bottle.

That's where Amazon comes in!  Even with shipping Essie polishes go for around 6 dollars through these sellers.  I find that worth it.

Here are the few that I picked up

Come Here! - Resort 2013

A darker coral that leans towards red - super bright & gorgeous

Cab-ana - Resort 2013

This is a beautiful bright blue that reminds me of the ocean!

Barefoot and Topless - Spring 2011

A pink-toned nude that really looks a lot better in person! I think it would be flattering on many skin tones.

A Crewed Interest - Spring 2012

A very light sort of 'creamsicle' color. I could not get a clear picture of it! And my nails looks quite shabby here... oops!

Overall I really enjoy the quality of Essie nail polishes and they have an awesome range of colors to choose from.  I will definitely be picking up more.  Obviously I'm not a nail expert, but I wanted to share these with you anyway (:

What are your favorite colors from Essie?

Thanks for reading...  I really, really appreciate all your comments & interest!

May IPSY Bag!

The time has come again, and I just received my May ipsy glam bag in the mail.  I peeked earlier on my online account to check out the products and I could not wait.  This month's bag is an all around winner. Yay!

Here's the little travel bag.  I like the chevron and the colors are perfect for spring.

I am a fan of Zoya so when I saw a full size bottle was included in this months bag I was ecstatic!  The color I received is Gie Gie which is a soft pink with lots of shimmer.

I have never heard of Juice Beauty before this month's bag, but I was interested to try it.  The lip gloss I received is in the color Champagne.  Juice is an organic brand, and as you may be able to tell from the picture the gloss has an unusual texture (chunky?).  However, it goes on smooth and isn't sticky at all.  There's not much in the way for color with this one but it gives a pretty shine to the lips.

The next product I received was St. Tropez Instant Glow body lotion.  Its a self tanning lotion that is meant for one-night use.  When testing this out I was shocked how dark the product is!  It's so brown it's almost black, but it goes on much lighter.  We'll see in time what the quality of the tan is.  I've been itching to try St. Tropez for awhile now, especially with warm weather coming.

This is one of those products I was sooooo thrilled to receive (:  I've wanted to try Macadamia forever since many people in the beauty community rave about their products.  However even sample sizes are pretty steep.  Can't wait to give this oil a go!

You can definitely see my finger print from my panicky swatching. Every bag has one disappointing item and this was it for me.  I received this Yaby concealer in the shade Honey which is about 10x too dark for my skin!  The texture is soft and it seems like it would be a good concealer, but I would look completely ridiculous to wear this out in public.  Oh well!

So that's is for this month's ispy!  

What are your thoughts on these products? 

How to Relax

All of us have things going on in our lives that make us want to pull our hair out at one point or another.  Those times where we feel like we're just going and going... the world is working against us... we can never catch a break.

As a college student I feel that often these days.  When I visited with my doctor today to for migraine medication, he said that "high achievers" like me often suffer from headaches and anxiety.

Well.  Good to know! (;

So how do you unwind from all this craziness?  Here's a few things I like to do when I'm overwhelmed.

Read a book - For fun!

What I'm reading right now

If you're a student this probably sounds like the last thing you'd like to do in your spare time.  Honestly though I have found reading to be one of the best anti-stress medicines.  It keeps your mind sharp, but also gives you a chance to escape to someone else's reality without breaking your bank or having to leave the comfort of your couch.  Pretty perfect.

Take a bath

Uh yeah... I wish this was my bathrom.

Maybe you left bath-taking behind with your toddlerhood but this is a tried and true relaxation favorite of mine.  At the slightest sign of stress in my life I hop in the bath.  That's really no exaggeration!  To compound these tips you can also read a book in the bath, which I did just the other night (:

Also...  Epsom salt

Adding Epsom to your  bath is another bonus.  I like using lavender scented salts that I pick up at Rite-Aid for a pretty cheap price.  It's a good alternative to pricey bath salts that don't really do anything for you.  Epsom salts are proven to help relieve stress, anxiety and muscle aches&pains.

Wear a face mask

I'm not sure how effective these actually are, I just love doing them.  They give me a little boost of refreshment after a long day.  These two are what I've been using lately.

Use a little heat

Oh look... the half ripped tag is still on.

The main place that I hold tension is in my shoulders/neck which gives me lots of little headaches throughout a typical day.  My mom used to run an independent business with her friend selling heatable sewn bags of feed corn (!?) called Heatable Huggables that got me hooked on using heat for my achy joints and such.  Now I use this neck pillow which I love.  It has aromatherapy too.

Treat yourself!

Sometimes you just need a little retail therapy.  If you're like me your obsessed with saving your money, but remember that money is made for spending.  Every once in awhile it's okay to indulge! 

What are your favorite ways to relax?

This Weekend - Zoo Trip

Tyler and I just finished an eventful weekend!  We went to visit his family in his hometown for a couple of days, and visited the Oregon Zoo while we were there.  The zoo is one of my favorite places to go.  I love animals, and its such a fun environment (:

Here are a few pics from our trip.  Unfortunately the majority of my Saturday was taken up by another migraine, but we made the most of the time we got!

How was your weekend?

I loved my orange lip Friday!  Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti.

Sunset along the Columbia River

Mt. Hood in the distance

Goat

Two giraffe

Seal -- He was staring in this one spot FOREVER... !?

Very comfy bear (:

Tyler and I <3