October 2013 Beauty Purchases

Hi guys, hope you are having a magnificent Thursday. Okay so I know it probably seems like I say this all the time but I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting very much lately. The next morning, after my last post I woke up with a terrible sore throat which quickly progressed into the flu, it lasted for about a week. Wonderful way to ring in Fall right? On top of that I just finished taking my finals yesterday so I was also busy with studying and turning in late work before the deadline. Now that my schedule is finally relatively clear I thought I'd share with you guys my October beauty purchases. Everything in this post I bought at Target except for the first two items. Hope you enjoy!

I bought this hairbrush at Forever 21. I just thought that the floral print on the back was really adorable and I needed a new brush. There's not much more I can say here besides it does the job. You can find it here.

I also bought this nail polish at Forever21. I'm a sucker for pastel colored polishes and since my lilac colored Essie polish was starting to dry out I thought I'd give this one a try. I've tried Forever 21 polishes before and I liked them so I hope this one works the same. I was also looking for a new mint colored polish, but sadly I didn't find one. You can find it here.

So I am sure that you guys have seen, bought or at least heard of these by now.  Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable balm stain does exactly what it says. It goes on smoothly like a lip balm and leaves a lasting color on your lips like a stain. The color I picked up is "honey" which is a lovely natural pink. Personally on me the color does not show up as much as I'd like it to probably because my lips are too pigmented. However I think if your lips are not very pigmented this a lovely color you can even wear daily for a natural look. And did I mention the smell? It has a minty fresh scent which I personally love! I'd love to purchase this balm stain in a deeper color when I get the chance!

I've been buying liquid eyeliner for so long now when I went shopping for a new eyeliner I felt like it was time for a change. So I went for this creamy pencil style eyeliner. It glides easily on the eyes and does not feel uncomfortable at all like some other pencil or "pencil style" eyeliners. I got it in "midnight master" which is the deepest black this line has. I'm almost positive I will be purchasing this eyeliner again!

I'm almost ashamed to say this but this is only the second make-up brush that I've ever purchased. Other than this brush I only own a foundation brush that I purchased at Sephora when I purchased my MUF foundation.The sales lady convinced me I needed it,but I'm not complaining. Honestly I don't know how I managed to live without it, it was a really great investment. However brushes from Sephora can get quite pricey so when I thought about buying a kabuki brush I thought I'd start with something cheap and then if that doesn't work out I'll probably end up buying one from Sephora as well. I haven't used this brush yet so I can't say much yet. All I can say is it feels really soft and I haven't noticed any fall out so far. I've heard some pretty good things about elf brushes so I hope this one lasts for awhile!

When I picked up my kabuki brush I seen this blush/bronzer duo and remembered a review I had read about it on Alexandra's blog. She said some pretty good things about it, so I figured why not try it out, afterall it was only $3.  I purchased this duo in the color "St. Lucia" which has been called a cheap but decent dupe of NARS "Orgasm" blush and "Laguna" bronzer many times. However since the NARS duo costs around $40, there is definitely a huge price difference. I haven't used it yet but the blush and bronzer both have a slight shimmer and are in lovely colors. I'm really excited to try this one out!

Last but definitely not least, Pacifica's "Indian Coconut Nectar" body butter. Oh my goodness you guys I wish smell-o-vision was a real thing. I just want you guys to know how incredible this stuff smells. To put it in the simplest of terms, it smells like Summer. It has a lovely coconut and vanilla scent that in a way reminds me of the smell of sunblock and the beach and all of that good stuff. This is great because even though my favorite seasons are fall and winter I just love using fruity, floral summer scents all year long. Also not only does this lotion smell incredible it's also very moisturizing, which is what a good lotion should be. It's also 100% vegan and cruelty free and a portion of the proceeds go to people in need of clean water. I would definitely recommend purchasing this lotion and other products from Pacifica, because they all smell so lovely.

Let me know what you guys thought of this post! Have you ever tried any of these products? If so what did you think of them? 

Fashion Union Wishlist + Find out how you can win £500($800) to spend at Fashion Union!

You can find all of these items and more here.

Happy first day of Fall guys! So last week I checked my email and to my surprise there was a lovely little email giving me the chance to win a £500 voucher from Fashion Union. The best part is all you have to do to enter is make a wishlist! Easy as pie right? Seeing as how I make wishlists and Dream outfits of the Week all the time, this was a no brainer! Of course, I'd do it! The featured store Fashion Union, is a clothing store based in the U.K. Seeing as how I live in America, I was not familiar with this store beforehand, but the best way I can describe it, is that it is very similar to Forever21. Their clothing and accessories are cute and trendy but don't break the bank which is always a good thing!

I ended up picking six of my favorite pieces for my wishlist! Although it's safe to say I definitely have many more pieces I'm in love with, so it was quite difficult narrowing them down! I tried to create a balance by picking out some more edgier pieces like the studded biker boots, the pu leather skirt, and the motorcycle jacket with some sweeter, girlier pieces like the lovely teal dress and that amazing heart print blouse! What I ended up with is two amazing outfits that I can definitely see myself wearing!

Now here comes the exciting part! Fashion Union wants to give everyone a chance to win, so they are making this competition available to everyone. That means it doesn't matter if you live in the UK or America or anywhere else, you can enter since it is open internationally! Fashion Union will choose their 8 favorite entries and put them on their Facebook page on October 1st. Fashion Union's Facebook fans will then "like" whichever entry they think is best and the entry with the most likes will be the winner! 

If you'd like to enter click here!

 The contest closes on September 30th,2013 at 5pm. So remember to get your entry in on time! The winner will be announced on October 4th,2013 at 1pm. Good luck everyone! I'll see you guys soon with an Autumn Tag post! P.S. I 'm tagging myself because I love Autumn that much!
Your's Truly,

Bianca

4 simple ways to make something new!

Take a necklace chain and a little bottle of nail art glitter...

Attach the nail art glitter bottle onto the chain and you've got yourself a cute and cheap fairy dust/glitter necklace! If your bottle is like mine and the hole is too tiny to fit the chain through, then cut a slit through the top so that you can easily open up the slit to put the bottle on and off the chain. The slit will be just enough to let you put it on the chain, however it will be too small for it to fall off the chain!

Take a small mint or candy tin can container...

Throw in some bobby pins,hair clips, hair ties, and other hair accessories inside the tin can. Throw the container in your purse and you've got an easy way to take some necessary hair accessories with you when you are on the go, and also recycle your candy/mint containers at the same time!

Take a cute little coffee mug...

Throw some pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, etc. in your cup and it becomes a cute little pen/pencil container. Place it at your desk or wherever you feel it will come most in handy!

Another thing you can do with your cute cups/mugs is use it to store some of your  
jewelry!

Take some of your old Christmas lights...

Hang them on your wall and you've got some cute bedroom lights!  I'm sure you've seem this same kind of thing all over Tumblr many,many times already. However I think using regular old Christmas lights, especially buying them on After Christmas sales is a much better bargain then buying those fairy lights at Urban Outfitters or wherever else.

Hope you enjoyed reading this random little post! Let me know if you guys liked it and leave me some comments, I love reading them! Have a happy Monday everyone and a great week!

Getting your Fall Wardrobe ready!

I think that my favorite part of fall clothing is that everything is so cozy and comfortable. Keep that in mind when shopping for tops. Look for light,knit sweaters like the striped one or the one with the bear on it to stay cute and warm during the brisk fall mornings! Also I cannot emphasize how important cardigans are. Personally they are always one of my fall staples. Look for long, boyfriend style cardigans in Autumn shades like burgundy, cinnamon, and marigold. Like the three pictured above. Long sleeved blouses, button up blouses and cute tees with animal graphics are also great. Lastly don't put all your sleeveless summer tops away just yet. Neutral colored and darker colored sleeveless tops can look amazing with a cute cardigan over them or a blazer or even a moto jacket like this one!

As far as bottoms go I feel like there are three main things you should remember: jeans, skirts, and pants. You can't go wrong with a cute midi skirt with tights. This look is really versatile and you can definitely either dress it up or dress it down depending on where you are going. Shorter skirts work too, I'm just partial to midi skirts! Something that I can't wait to buy is a pair of corduroy pants like the one's on the bottom left corner. I think they look absolutely gorgeous, especially in burgundy. Also look for pants in colors like pumpkin and olive like the two in the left top corner. This might be a little out of my comfort zone, but I also feel like plaid pants are cute for fall, they have more of a punk look to them at first sight, but ankle boots, a cardi, and an adorable peter pan collar top can easily take them from punk to autumn preppy.Last but not least make sure you have a few good pairs of jeans to complete your cozy ensembles!

When shopping for dresses for Fall I  tend to gravitate more toward darker colors. A lot of black, navy, plum, and burgundy. Marigold and pumpkin are also gorgeous!  Don't get me wrong though I still love wearing lighter color dresses, I think cream colored dresses look amazing in Autumn! Also look for dresses with cute patterns and cute little details like hearts, stripes, flowers, polka dots etc. Lastly look for dresses made with a thicker fabric for those chillier Autumn days ( they can also transition into winter). I fell in love with the burgundy dress in the bottom left corner! It's made out of velvet! I've never purchased a velvet dress before so that's something I'd love to own!

Boots, Boot, Boots! I feel like the most important pair of shoes you can buy for Fall is a good pair of boots! Look for ankle boots, tall boots, boots with buckles, boots with laces etc. Personally I think owning at least one pair of ankle boots and one pair of taller boots is all you need. They look especially great with a cute dress & a pair of tights! Moccasins are the next most important shoe. In my opinion Minnetonka  has some of the best quality Moccasins! Also every year I love purchasing the slipper moccasins they sell at Target. They're really affordable and super comfortable! Look for some cute flats and oxfords and you're all set!

I love satchels all year round,but I feel like Fall is the season that they most belong to. I look for satchels in neutral colors like black, navy and brown. However I also look for satchels in more traditional fall colors too! Also I like looking for bags with patterns like the satchel on the top left corner. I love the plaid detailing on it, to me it just says Fall. I also love the bag in the lower right corner, I just love the aztec pattern on it! Lastly the whimsy in me couldn't help it, I love that little fox shaped bag! Any accessories or piece of clothing featuring adorable little creatures like foxes and kittens are my weaknesses.

Make sure you have plenty of tights ready when Fall hits, because trust me they will become a staple in your fall wardrobe. Make sure you have them in a variety of colors and patterns like the ones featured above. If your looking for a great deal on tights the ones at forever 21 are really affordable and come in many cute designs and colors. The quality isn't half bad either!I emphasized belts in fall accessories because I really love wearing a skirt/dress and tights combo during Fall. I feel like a cute belt like the orange one with the leaf or the pink one with the bow can become a really cute statement piece to your outfit! Last but definitely not least: beanies and scarves! I know everyone isn't a beanie person, but I love them! I wish it was cold all the time, I'd wear them everyday. Look for knitted beanies and slouch style beanies. When it comes to scarves I love, love, love infinity scarves. They're just fuss free and look great! 

Hope you guys enjoyed reading my Fall Wardrobe checklist type thing! Fall is my most favorite time of the year so I was really excited to make this post! If there is something in particular in this post that you liked just click the picture that contains the item and it will take you to the polyvore set I created! Leave me some comments, I love reading them! Happy Sunday guys!

Yours Truly,

Bianca

Beauty Purchases! August 2013

Hey everyone hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday! So if you are reading this, I welcome you to my very first beauty haul (I think?)! Bear in mind that I am new to this, and I wasn't very sure if this qualified as a beauty haul or not so instead I just named it Beauty Purchases. You know what they say, better safe then sorry! Just imagine, I'd have all the YouTube beauty gurus/ beauty bloggers after my head if I got that term wrong!  Anyways enjoy.. um well whatever this thing is!
Yours Truly
Bianca.

• So these first two products I purchased at TJ Maxx. I love looking in the beauty/skincare section of TJ Maxx because you always find such unique and great quality items, for way cheaper than retail. I had been looking for a new body scrub after I ran out of my previous one, so I was really excited to find the two in the first picture. They are safe for all skin types and are not tested on animals. These are very different from my last scrub mainly because they are much less grainy and less thick. This is a very light scrub, with small grains, much different from sugar scrubs. They are both vegetable based scrubs with loofah fibers and made with natural ingredients like ylang-ylang, cactus flower, aloe vera, jasmine etc. So far I've tried the peach & passion one. It has a wonderful smell to it (as does oatmeal & honey), and leaves my skin feeling really soft. My only complaint would be that I wish it was a little thicker and grainier. 
• I haven't opened the makeup remover wipes yet but I just had to pick them up because I saw that they contain organic tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is really great for people with oily/ acne prone skin, both of which I have so I had to try these out. I also love that these wipes have no synthetic preservatives, are paraben free, alcohol free, hypo-allergenic, ph balanced and are not tested on animals.

• The rest of these products I purchased at CVS. I needed a new concealer  so I picked up Revlon's Colorstay concealer in medium. I haven't tried it on yet, but  I did open it up to see the consistency of it. It is a liquid concealer and seems much lighter than my last one. Also I really love the little applicator wand that comes with it. I'm not sure about the coverage yet since I haven't worn it yet so I can't really give a decent review!  If anyone's ever tried it before, let me know how it's worked out for you!
• Next up is this really pretty greenish color nail polish with a slight shimmer.  I've already painted my nails with this one and I love it. The polish goes on very smoothly and takes just a few coats to get a very pretty color. I would recommend three coats at least!
• For awhile now I had been using the Murad skin perfecting lotion as my daily moisturizer. I really liked that it's oil free, however even though it's oil free, I would still feel my skin get a little oily whenever I used it. & for $35 a bottle, I felt like I shouldn't have any complaints. So I switched to this moisturizer. I like that this one is also oil free and contains salicylic acid. It's a very light moisturizer, and leaves your skin feeling really soft, not oily at all.
• I don't use hairspray all that much but when I do I look for something with a strong hold, but something that won't leave my hair feeling all sticky. This hairspray does the trick and it smells nicer than most hairsprays too!
• Lastly, good ol' Chapstick! I'm pretty sure everyone has bought a Chapstick lip balm at some point in their life. I used to use them a lot when I was younger but stopped when I found out about Burt's Bees.  This is my first time purchasing Chapstick in literally years, I just picked them up on a whim. I seen them at checkout for $1 each so I impulsed buy. But I'm glad I did. I've been using the strawberry one ever since I picked it up, and all I can say is that I'm pleasantly surprised  It's been doing the job at keeping my lips unchapped (is that a word?) and I'm sure I'll be purchasing them more often again!