Thursday Thoughts

Today I am showing some love at Jennifer's link up over at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom because a) there are a few things I'd like to rant about and b) I just really love her link ups.

~ I have been pretty upset these last few days...yeah sure, I'm not much of a cheery person when I am stuck in lines after hunting for perfect gifts for the family. But if there's one thing that upsets me the most, are thieves.
Nobody likes getting their sh!t stolen.
UPS dropped off some packages at my door (I was not home).
Neighbors confirmed they saw packages.
Got home.
No packages.
No one saw anything.
Upset? Pissed? You bet. It makes me so sad that people would have the audacity to take packages and that no one is neighbor-ly enough to help out.
/rant

~ On a lighter note, I thank God for the good people of Amazon who totally understood the situation. This made me feel a little better but still a little pressured to have to wait for the money to come back into my account just to get it to go back out. -.-

~ Christmas is here in 6 days!

~ My baby boy is finally 4 years old. :3 He's grown so fast...it really feels like only yesterday he was as big as E...

birthday party on Sunday

He had so much fun at his birthday party even at his surprise party at daycare! Which even if his dad wasn't able to be there, he told him all about it that very evening :)

~ ^ This means that E is almost a year old! :O As if the holidays and JD's birthday weren't enough to stress me out a little more... But regardless, my babies are growing up so fast. Where does the time go, seriously?

~ I finally got to see my final grades for the class and I passed! Just barely but I passed! :D Never again will I take more than 2 classes a semester. -.-;

What are your thoughts? How are the holidays treating you? Share and/or link up!

ipsy December 2013 "Celebration" review

We all know my obsession with this bag. Honestly, I think the bags got better up to this point! And the stuff I got this month, more than definitely I will use them all!

First look

Signature by English Laundry sample size:

Quick note on this: I had a chance to smell one of them due to it being damaged upon arrival but the other one, I haven't really had a chance to test it out since it was covered in the fragrance of the other. BUT, it smelled amazing and it lasted pretty much all evening on my hands. I love perfumes and I'm pretty picky on the fragrances I put on my body but so far I am loving it.

Nicka K NY in Classic Taupe full size:

Subscribers were either getting this color or a red one. I am actually relieved that I got this color. I'm more of a neutral person when it comes to nail polish...but it's also because I already have more red nail polish than I know what to do with. D:

one coat; outside light

JCat Beauty The Big Lip Pencil in Red Rose full size:

I know I have enough red polish...but I can't get enough of red lip products! I was so sad though that I wasn't going to get the NYX lipstick (D:) but I got this instead. With a little bit of gloss, it adds the right touch for a night out!

swatch; outside light

The One Stick by Be A Bombshell in Girl Crush full size:

I am upset that I got such a soft color. It works better as a lipstick than a blush. It's a bit shimmery too. I mean I can always trade it for a darker color, like Sunset...

outside light

POP Beauty Bright Up Your Life Eye Shadow Trio in Naturally Bare trial size:

I was praying and hoping that this would be the color I get instead of the other one which is basically black and grey. I was so excited seeing that these colors were so bright and looked great on my skin!

with flash

THE BAG:

This is probably my favorite bag out of all the ones I have had this year. It so pretty and great for on-the-go...I just which it would have had what the last bag had (the strap) and it would get a 10 in my book.

red interior, can you say sexy?

I give this bag a 5/5. All of the products were on the most part full sized and I know I will use every single product, even the bag! I think every month ipsy is looking back and just trying to top themselves from the previous bag. Sure, ipsy has gotten a lot of negative feedback about the brands that we get (we get a lot of repeat brands) and "I didn't get this color" and "I didn't get what I wanted".
I am guilty of not always getting what I want. BUT the point of this subscription is to discover and try out new things.

Interested in something new? Click on my link and try it out! For $10, you get your money's worth and then some.

Manic Tuesday

~ My, oh my, have I been missing out in the blogging world! Holidays, Christmas posts have surrounded us all. Now I'm not exactly a grinch, Christmas is one of my favorite holidays to participate in. It's the people. I really do think that people have lost the meaning of togetherness and what Christmas really means.

Starting with Thanksgiving. Crazy sales happening at 8:00 Thursday night?! Seriously? Making those poor people work at such an early time that they barely have time to eat and share with their family?! It's ridiculous. I for one, did not do any black Friday (even Thursday, for that matter) shopping. If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem.

Of course, if you did holiday shopping on any of those days, I am not going to bash you. Who am I to judge? But I seriously feel for those who worked those days. I've been there. /rant

~ So I am pretty much done with this semester. I have two finals to take on Thursday and good riddance until January.

~ My baby E is sooooo big. She's already taken her first few steps and I am glowing with pride. :D 3 more weeks and she'll be my little one year old. 

~ Speaking of which, party planning committee of one has been working non-stop to make JD's birthday a memorable one. Since he's turning 4, he's ben very vocal about the things he wants for his birthday and who he wants to share his day with. They grow up so fast... I am relieved he hasn't changed his mind regarding the theme. (He chose cars)

~ I honestly tried getting all my holiday shopping in November. -shakes head- Nope. Didn't happen. Going to the mall or other retail places once a week, definitely doesn't cut it. And now, working non-stop on JD's and Emma's birthday parties, yeah, STRESSED TO THE MAX.

~ So I know I didn't post a November bluum box entry. Here was the thing: There were a few items missing from the box and one of them came damaged. I was, of course, a little upset cause that's never happened to me before. BUT, the good people of bluum answered back after 48 hours (yeah, I am guessing they get a lot of emails) and have already sent me a replacement box that is showing up at my door this week! So far I am pleased with their customer service. We'll see what the box has to say about that!

~ Ipsy has already sent me my tracking number after announcing it yesterday that glam bags were shipping. 

Yes! I am loving the things coming to my door, but I wished I could've gotten the NYX lipstick rather than the JCat lip crayon. Oh well, maybe this means I should experiment more with those lip crayons!

That's it for now! How's your Tuesday looking?

Disclosure: Links are referral links, unless otherwise noted.

ipsy November 2013 review -- "Glam it Up"

Note: This post was written earlier but not posted in time. Curse my procrastination.

Ah! It's that time again, where after what seemed like eons from the time I get my tracking number to when it gets to my mailbox. I think they should really reassess the carrier they are using for shipping because it's ridiculous that this bag is stuck in Georgia forever. -.- /rant

Anyway, on to the review:
Nailtini in Champagne (full size):

What a pretty color. I had seen previews for it before but I didn't see the big fuss until I finally saw it in person. Nailtini has actually been in previous bags before (in July, I believe) and I don't really mind because to me, the more nail polish I have, the better. (No, I do not have a problem. Just an obsession.)

Be a Bombshell lip crayon in Shameless (full size):

More red? Yes, please. But this is not red red. This is more of a hint of red with a pinkish tint. It is definitely recommended to use it with something moisturizing. I find that this is the only flaw with this lip pencil, but other than that I love the rich color.

EM Cosmetics Lash Gallery Dramatic Volume Mascara (full size):

I loved it, loved it, loved it! It worked really really well and delivered very beautiful eyelashes. I was very satisfied that it left no clumps and it kept my eyelashes well fanned out with sufficient volume. As you can see in exhibit A below. (This is the picture I could get under the circumstances)

such awesome eyelashes.

Starlooks Gem Eye Pencil in Amethyst (full size):

I was hoping that I would get this color, It's perfect for little subtle shimmer in my make up to change things up a bit.

Close up.

BH Cosmetics Galaxy Chic Eyeshadow in Neptune (sample size):

I don't see myself using this color very often but it does make a nice combination with the Starlooks eye pencil I got in this bag.

Pixi Beauty Bronzer in Subtly Suntouched (full size):

I was slightly disappointed to see that this was in a very light color. Worked more as a blush kind of color for me...but still, I liked it more than my e.l.f bronzer.

Swatched: 1) lip crayon, 2) Pixi bronzer, 3) Eyeshadow, 4) Eye pencil

The bag:

I am not too crazy about the snake skin looking bag. BUT, this has a nice little feature that I haven't seen in the other bags: a little loop for easy-to-carry.

By far, this is my favorite bag (for it's contents). We got some really nice stuff this month and I am crazy to see what's in store for next month!

If you wanna try it out, here's my referral link!