The Balm: Meet Matt(e) Nude

Ever heard of the The Balm? Me neither...until recently.  Emily from BeautyBroadcast turned me onto the Meet Matt(e) Nude Palette and I can't get enough. Its a fully matte eyeshadow palette with neutral colors - just perfect for everyday use.  The colors have great texture and last all day. Highly recommend!

Great news -- The Balm is launching a new website today and offering 50% the entire site from 12pm EST to noon tomorrow.  Go check it out!

How Do You say L'OCCITANE?

I am so glad to find out I'm not the only one who butchers the name L'Occitane! It's apparently pronounced LOX - EE - TAN - sounds simple right? Not when its spelled L'Occitane, haha. At least the company is aware of how tough it is to pronounce, they posted a little video on their YouTube channel to help us out! Now you can go out and feel special that you can correctly pronounce L'Occitane now. You're welcome! :)

Wet n Wild Trio Review

Wow, its March already! When did that happen? I've been meeting to post about Wet n Wild Eyeshadow Trio's for a while. They are such a great drugstore eyeshadow, you can buy the trios for about $2.99 or the 8-color Collection for $4.99! What a great deal - they are wonderfully pigmented and creamy. They are easy to blend and come in tons of great colors. I have the Silent Treatment Trio (shown below - Sorry the picture isn't great, I took it with my cell phone). 

I also recommended them to my friend who picked up Walking on Eggshells, which is a nice neutral trio. She's new to makeup and really likes how WnW tells you where to place each shadow (eyelid/crease/browbone). It doesn't get much easier than that!

I'm also really excited about their Spring Collection coming out soon -- keep an eye out for them!

Clarisonic Mia 2

I have been loving the Clarisonic Mia 2 Cleansing System. I've been using it for about 4 months and what a difference! I love the super clean feeling of my skin after I use it and I think my pores look smaller as well. Its a great product for any skin type... I have combination skin which is very sensitive/reactive. I tried this with no problems and I think my skin looks better than ever!

I bought it on QVC's Today's Special Value last year, but it can be purchased at Sephora too!

Dry skin? Try this...

My skin has been super dry this winter, which is unusual since I have combo skin/ oily t-zone and sensitive skin. I think my skin had gotten drier as I've gotten older too.

This lotion from SkinMD has been a life saver, it feels nice, very light and really hydrates my dry patches. I definitely recommend it - the website lists where to buy, it can be found it at Walgreens for about $18. (www.skinmdnatural.com)

Let me know what your go-to moisturizer is or leave a comment and let me know what you think of SkinMD!

Makeup and such

Lately I've been obsessing over makeup and thought I might blog some reviews of different products I've been loving. Let me know if you'd be interested in reading my thoughts...I know I haven't blogged in a while. I've been busy with a 2 year old, a full time job, my MBA and just life. So stay tuned...

Gift sets kit   (clipped to polyvore.com)

Butternut Squash Bisque

Tried this really easy recipe & it turned out great!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Butternut-Squash-Bisque/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced carrots
4 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
3 cups vegetable stock
salt and ground black pepper to taste
ground nutmeg to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

Directions

Heat the oil and melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion in the butter and oil under tender.
Mix the carrots and squash into the pot. Pour in vegetable stock, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender.
In a blender or food processor, puree the soup mixture until smooth. Return to the pot, and stir in the heavy cream. Heat through, but do not boil. Serve warm with a dash of nutmeg.

Christmas card display

I found the cutest way to hang your holiday photo cards from iHeart Organizing!

It was very easy too -- just needed 2 ribbons, a bow, glue gun and some fun-tack.

Glued the ribbons and bow together and hung on a door.

 

Then just stuck the photos on. Viola! 

New Photography Blog

I've been working on a new blog this summer strictly for my photography.
Here it is!
http://www.nicolebaileyphotography.com/blog/

Nicole Bailey Photography on Facebook

Bad Blogger

So sorry I have been m.i.a. these past few months. Work, School and Life just got in the way...I've never been this busy in my entire life! Hopefully things will calm down toward the end of October, which means I will be posting pretty sporadically until then.

To say I'm sorry... Anyone* who joins RueLaLa.com before October 10, gets a $10 credit! Enoy!

*New members only