Shop Your Stash: August Edition and some FOTD

With a new month comes a whole new round of the Shop Your Stash project with new rediscovered products to try!  As I've mentioned before, I like doing this to really go through items in my collection I might have not used in awhile and to find new ways to use them.  After two months of doing this, I can say that it's going well and I'm definitely finding new products in my collection that I've forgotten about.

For those new to my blog, the Shop Your Stash project has a couple guidelines:

• I pick 20 - 25 face, eye, and lip products that I want to use more often in the month

• I have to use each product at least two times in the month

Without further ado, here are this month's selections!

Keep reading to see more details and swatches of all of the products!

Product Favorites: July

Being in a cold climate for the better part of the year had me totally unprepared for this summer.  When it hit 90 and above, I was seriously pulling out all the stops to make sure my makeup lasted throughout the day.

However, one benefit of having such hot weather is that I also want to wear colorful makeup to match the gorgeous weather.  

Keep reading to see my favorite products of the month!

The Shop Your Stash Project: July

I have to say, I'm really liking my Shop Your Stash Project idea.  It's encouraging me to not only use products that I either haven't used in awhile or products that haven't been used much at all, but it's also pushing me to be more experimental and creative with my makeup rather than just blindly reaching or the Naked palette or my other neutral shadows.

As a refresher, here's what the whole "Shop Your Stash Project" is all about:

• I pick 20 - 25 face, eye, and lip products that I want to use more often in the month
• I have to use each product at least two times in the month

That's it.  Pretty simple.  If you want to see  the products I chose for June, check it out here!  There were some products that made it into my everyday rotation and that I absolutely LOVE (holler at the ELF Giddy Gold Highlighter and the Vincent Longo Lip and Cheek Gel Stain), and there were products that I really had make an effort to integrate into my routine, such as the Alverde Liquid Eyeliner, and MAC Orange Tempura lipgloss.  But all in all, I was happy about the "new" things I had to use from day to day.

This month, I have a whole new bunch of products to use, 22 items, to be exact.

Here they are in all their glory:

Keep reading to see exactly what these products are and swatches!

Product Favorites: June

I promise that eventually, I'll get these up on time and at the end of the actual month, but for now, my busy little life (aka applying for jobs) is pushing back the monthly posts that I want to do!

But, the monthly favorites are finally here, and although there aren't many products this month, these products were really loved this month.

Keep reading to find out why I liked these products so much! 

Review: Vincent Longo Water Canvas Foundation

I used to never wear foundation, but it seems that this year I have been on quite a foundation kick. Introducing, the Vincent Longo Water Canvas Foundation ($57).

Cost: $57
Availability: vincentlongo.com and nordstrom.com

Keep reading to see my thoughts and how it applies on my face!

Empties Post #2

Do you ever have those days when nothing seems to go right?  You wake up and everything just feels wrong, your plans don't go right, you don't get things done when you want to, and everything seems to go wrong at the same time?  

I think I can safely say that I had the worst start to the week ever.  I moved back to DC all excited to start looking for jobs and doing my own thing, until I left my wallet on a bus.  THANK GOD I found it, but it was the most stressful two hours of waiting for the bus to come back to the same stop. Can you believe that there is no way for the people working at the metro center to communicate with the bus drivers, meaning I had to hope for the best that someone turned in my wallet.  Needless to say, I have a little more hope for humanity when my wallet was indeed, turned in with all my cards and cash intact!

On top of that, my phone somehow completely died yesterday.  Although I had planned to get a new phone soon anyway, I had wanted to keep this phone intact for when I went back abroad since it's unlocked.

This all contributed to my inability to get things done (i.e. my online classes and much needed grocery shopping) and messing up some serious plans.  This morning, I woke up determined to start getting into a normal routine and get things done.  I'm happy to say I got a new phone (and resisted against the iPhone again and got the new Samsung Galaxy S4), got my groceries, and got some job applications....with a little bit of retail therapy to get over the stress of the past few days (but that's for another post!).  

The past couple months I've been working on finishing more products - I have a good amount to show, but I'm near the end of many products right now so my next post will be much more exciting!

 Keep reading to see what I thought of these products and if I would buy them again!

Review - Vincent Longo Lip and Cheek Gel Stain: Keeping It Fresh and Light for Summer!

Once it starts getting really warm around here (aka real summer), I have to start being a little more tactical about my makeup.  I can't just throw on any old product and expect it to last throughout the day, so my most long-wearing and fuss-free makeup comes out to play during this time. 

Although a post is coming up featuring some summer/hot weather essentials, I wanted to dedicate this post to the Vincent Longo Lip and Cheek Gel Stain in My Sunshine.

Keep reading to see my thoughts on it and how I like to wear it!

Catching up FOTD (again) and One Last Smoothie

This past week was a whirlwind of trying to finish my final for my online class and packing to move back to DC.  Just these two have left me with barely enough time to do anything else, but things should be calming down soon.

Now that I'm leaving home, I won't have my VitaMix, so my smoothie making will have to become more simple and basic, but I managed to make one last smoothie:

Keep reading to see my most recent FOTD and what I used for this cleansing smoothie!

Quick FOTD and update!

 Road trip prepping is hard work. I despise eating fast food and will do anything to avoid it when I'm on the road. This led me to prepare snacks and easy car meals (i.e. zucchini pasta) for the better part of the night last night. Chopped peppers, celery, no-bake energy bites (pictures of that coming soon), zucchini pasta, and fruit galore! As a result, I didn't start packing until midnight, after which I was already half asleep and could not bear the thought of typing up my intended post of my favorite travel items. On another note, if you follow my instagram, you'll see that I got my haircut...finally. Instead of my normal you-can-barely-tell-i-got-a-haircut trim, I chopped off about 5 inches and had it thinned out a bit, something I haven't done in awhile. I think this length suits me better, but its not as effortless and requires a bit more thought and styling sometimes. Gone are the days where I can just let it be free and completely natural, but I really only need a styling cream in addition to my leave-in conditioner now, so I shouldn't be complaining. I don't have to style it, but it does look better straightened or curled. I'm kind of excited to curl it again, as I didn't like my longer, thicker hair curled before, but I generally hate styling my hair.. I have NO idea how I used to do it everyday in high school, and I haven't actually used heat on my hair for almost two years now unless its a special occasion. As a result, my hair has been visibly healthier, shinier, stronger, and split-end free, so hopefully I can still keep the heat styling to a minimum.

Now that I've blabbered on, here is my FOTD with a picture of my new length. Its quite similar to my old cut, but there are more layers, angles, and its been thinned out a little.

Since my makeup was already packed, I used completely different products today, and also tried out the Physician's Formula Eye Booster Liquid Eyeliner, since my favorite Maybelline Eye Stiletto is running out.

First Impressions: Is this supposed to be Ultra Black? I had to go over the lines multiple times to make it as black as my Maybelline liner. Maybe I just got a dud, but the color payoff is not impressing me. What is impressing is the fine tipped brush that makes it really easy to draw a thin line.

Products Used-
Face:
Revlon Colorstay Mousse Foundation (discontinued) mixed with a little bit of MAC Face and Body for color
Revlon Photoready Cream Blush in Coral Reef
Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer
Sonia Kashuk Barely There Loose Powder
Physicians Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Light Bronzer
Sugar Gingerbread Blush (discontinued)
Benefit SunBeam highlighter
ELF Golden Bronzer


Eyes:
NYX HD Eye Primer
L'oreal HIP Eyeshadow Stick (discontinued, color name rubbed off)
Sonia Kashuk Perfectly Neutral palette: champagne shade and brown on lower lid
Physicians Formula Eye Booster Eyeliner
Max Factor False Lash Effect WP


Lips:
Neutrogena Moisture Shine in Nectar (discontinued)
Vincent Longo Lipgloss in Dolce


Posts on my energy bites (or the new crack, this stuff is amazing), travel makeup, and pictures of my favorite place in the world (or at least the US) coming soon!

The 'Shop Your Stash' Project

So, last week I started something new. Although I've been going through my stash and rediscovering new things the past month, I wanted to find a way to use them all on a consistent basis.  This isn't a new concept - taking out a few products that haven't been used very much or in a long time, but it isn't something I've tried in awhile.

Here's what I'm trying to do: I took out 21 products for the month of June and my goal is to use each product at least twice, just so I can get some use out of it and be creative about the way I use it.  I've had this going for about two weeks now and I'm really pleased with how its going.  I certainly am enjoying products that I either haven't used in a long time or haven't used much at all.
I have a total of 5 face products, 7 eye products, and 9 lip products to use before June is over.  Some of these will undoubtedly end up in my June favorites, while others may just be average products - we'll see which ones make the cut!

To see what products I'm using, as well as tons of swatches, keep reading!

What was waiting for me when I came home.... + a cooking experiment

While I didn't buy too many things while I was abroad, I did make a couple purchases that I was excited to come home to.  More specifically, this...

Read about the products+ some of my ventures into cooking after the jump!