I smell goooooooooood

Hello everybody!

I'm currently sat in AJ's apartment watching her play Skyrim. It's very relaxing and I am very happy. Between prepping for Thanksgiving and having an early morning (early for me, it wasn't that early) on Black Friday, I've been very tired. So I slept like a rock and have caught up on my sleep enough that I was ready and willing to brave the mall today and get some deals while I could.

First stop was Bath and Body Works. Now, in my last post I posted about some of the candles I bought. Let me say, the Hot Apple Toddy and Frosted Cranberry are exquisite. They smell amazing. I will say that I don't think the Hot Apple Toddy is strong enough to really blast a whole room with the smell but in my small room and condo it smells the place right up. The Fresh Balsam is really strong. It made my whole room smell like trees in about two minutes. So, because I love them so much, I bought another Hot Apple Toddy today. I also bought one called Fresh Fallen Snow. I'm curious how strong it will smell lit because it's not too overwhelming when it's cold.

I also delved into the buy 3 get 3 deal that was going on. I bought some of the holiday scents because I love the holidays and I like to smell nice. I purchased the Candy Apple, Twisted Peppermint, Sugar Plum, and 1000 Wishes (which is a new scent, not so much a holiday one). I'm looking forward to using them and seeing if they actually moisturize as well as they claim that they will.

As I've mentioned before, I am the queen of the itchy Minnesota Winter skin. The bathbombs from Lush have worked extremely well for the days when I have time to take a bath and kind of pamper myself. For those days that I don't have the time to lay in a bath for an hour, I need to find a way to moisturize enough that I don't scratch my skin off. Lately, I've been exfoliating my legs (since they bear the brunt of the itching craze) and using baby oil. It's been working well but sometimes I don't fancy smelling like a baby so I'm hoping these shower gels and lotions will help.

The shower gel So White that I bought works okay as a moisturizing shower gel but the apple scent is gone before I get out of the shower. Sad.

In addition to the numerous good smelling things, I bought a warm fuzzy blanket, a heated blanket, and flannel sheets with little scottie dogs on them. I love them so much. I love fuzzy warm things.

I also bought a new wool peacoat from Macy's and almost barfed when I paid for it but it's beautiful and should last for a long time (it better for what I paid for it).

Let it be known, I have bought one Christmas present. I'm awful.

Haulin'!

Hello everybody!

I know it's been about 84 years since I've written a blog post. I've been sitting around considering what I really want to be writing about.  In the past, it's been me mostly ranting and raving about the events happening in my life and, to me at least, it seemed very boring to read. It also made me feel like I was coming across as a very self involved person which, if you know me, is not the case. Right? Right. 

So. Here's what I'm going to do. 

I'm going to make this into a tester blog of sorts for the time being. I've been very into pampering products and playing with makeup and just being comfortable and at ease lately. I'll be posting little blurbs and pictures (we know how I feel about pictures) about some products, items, or food that I'm really loving and probably some that I don't love too much. Hopefully it'll help some people or give ideas about findings some stuff while out and about!

Right. So, first batch of products that I am really enjoying this fall:

I was at the Mall of America the other day for FOUR hours. Four hours. I even have the proof in the form of a blister. While there, I made a stop in Lush. For those who have never been to Lush, it's a handmade cosmetics shop that is all natural and against animal testing. Walking into a Lush shop is like being smacked in the face with ten zillion scents and it can be very overwhelming and headache inducing. Luckily for me, I knew what I was in there for: bath bombs. I have terribly dry skin in the Fall and Winter so I'm going to be taking more bubble baths for the moisturizers. Also, why not? Working retail has put such a strain on my feet and lower back and just sitting in hot, pretty water sounds like bliss. 

I bought this shower gel on kind of an impulse since I've been very happy with my Sensual Amber shower gel from Bath and Body Works but this wasn't priced too bad and it smells SO good. It has a very light apple smell and lathers up very nice. It made my skin very soft and the razor itches I usually get after shaving didn't happen when I used this. A really cool part of Lush is because every product is handmade, the gels have stickers on them telling the buyer who made that particular batch and when. Because it's homemade and fresh, it does have a "best by" date. We'll see if I actually use it all by the date.

Precious

Onto the reason I walked into the shop! Bath bombs! As I said, I'm really looking forward to using these and trying some others! I purchased So White (the bath bomb version of the shower gel above) which has a fresh apple smell. It's just a giant white ball but apparently it has a pink interior that turns the water pink! How

Cute little glitter angel!

exciting! I also bought the glittery Snow Angel that has a marzipan scent to it. The only thing that would change about this particular product is the glitter. It gets everywhere. My last purchase at Lush was the adorable little Butterbear. Look at him! He is precious with his little smiling face and pudgy belly! He smells like a warm vanilla night. I'm going to love using him.

Stop bleaching my stuff!

Moving on from my little Lush trip, I've been perusing around Ulta for some new makeup because *gasp* I've started wearing lipstick. I also have a weird problem in the colder months because my face dries out and then becomes excessively oily. Due to this, my face becomes ridden with spots and I hate it. I've started to use a Queen Helene Mud Pack Masque and it is BRILLIANT. It smells really good and is really good for pore shrinkage and absorbing the excess oils. I love it. Spot treatment has been the longest work in progress. I've done everything from ProActive to rubbing alcohol to steaming my face to open pores. What I've started to is mix a  Salicylic Acid cleanser (I used the Neutrogena Redness Soothing) and then putting Clean & Clear spot treatment on. It's been working really well for the most part. The only real big downside is that the spot treatment dries out your skin so it leaves you with a big dry patch that makeup clumps on. Added to that, the benzoyl peroxcide acts like a bleach to any fabric. Many of my towels have big bleach spots on them.

As for my makeup, I didn't take any pictures of anything aside from just a general picture of my mass of makeup. I'm really favoring the Rimmel concealer, foundation, and matte pressed powder. All of it goes on really easy and the powder keeps the layers in place. Brush-wise, I LOVE the RealTechniques brushes. They're so great. I'm also using some Sonia Kashuk brushes that are great for eye shadows and eyeliner. I have a really hard time finding a blush that I really like. Right now I'm just using some NYX mixture of colors. I'd like something with a little more of a dewy look to it but I'm so pale it's hard for me to not look like I've been to clown school. 

I've been having a lot of fun with my eyes lately. I always fill in my eyebrows because I think it makes every part of the face look more defined. I haven't been using any particular shadows, whatever I'm feeling that day is what I use. I have been feeling a little more autumnal so I've been using more golds, browns, and orange tines lately. I use Rimmel eyeliner and mascara. I love my Retro eyes mascara. Rimmel's Kate Moss line has been my go to lipstick lately because it's matte. I also ADORE my Mac lipsticks. They smell nice and are moisturizing and are just great and very much worth the money. 

Just call this Christmas.

Last but not least, my candles. I've never bought my own candles before but I always have wanted my own. So today I went into Ridgedale and popped into Bath and Body Works. They moved the store downstairs and have added a side store called White Barn. Apparently the company that makes B&BW candles just decided that they want their own substore to Bath and Body Works. I highly recommend going there. It smells amazing and there are candles everywhere. I like the more musky smells usually but this time I went with some kind of foody smelling candles. I'm really not a fan of food smells like 'cupcake' or 'maple waffles'. The first one I went with was Spiced Apple Toddy. The description on the bottom reads, " warming blend of apple brandy and spiced plum, infused with mulled cider and tart cranberry." I'd say that description is pretty accurate. The apple smell really comes through (can you tell I like the smell of apples in the Fall?). The next one I had to get because I opened it and I've never smelt something that was the description of Christmas but Fresh Balsm fit the bill. If the description of "outdoor beauty inside with the invigorating scent of crisp eucalyptus, fir needles & cedarwood musk" isn't enough to make you go and give this one a sniff, I don't know what is. My last choice was one called Frosted Cranberry. I'm not normally one for sweet scents but I cannot stop smelling this candle. It's a mix of "white cranberry, juicy peach and raspberry". It's glorious. I want to bathe in it.

So that's it! Lots of stuff but hopefully this wasn't too boring. Obviously these are just my reactions to these things and what works for me may not work for others. Hopefully this will give some of you some options to look for in the stores!

Song of the Moment: Don't- Ed Sheeran