July Ipsy Bag - Beach Beauty!

Hello!

Today I got my Ipsy bag and once again I was super impressed!

 

This month's bag was different based on your profile and could have contained items from the following brands: Benefit, Coola, Demeter, derma/e, bh cosmetics, Nailtini, pop beauty & sexy hair.

 

I got the items below:

All sorts of fun!\

 

BH Cosmetics - California palettes $9.95/ value-  $1.50??

 

So first up - an eyeshadow palette from BH Cosmetics.  It has one shadow from each of their California Collection palettes.  You can buy a full palette for $9.95 on their site (with their current sale) and it has 16 eyeshadows and 4 blushes. 

 

 

As you can see they aren't super pigmented, but they are pretty colors and very soft.  I built them up a bit, and over a primer they do quite well.  Plus I love the size, perfect for the @ work makeup bag!

 

Derma/e Microdermabrasion Scrub: Full size $32.50 for 2oz./ 1oz value - $16.25 

 

This stuff is smells divine - lemony fresh. Here's the description from their website: "This salon-perfect formula uses an exclusive crystal blend including Dead Sea Salt and Volcanic Sand (rich in Silica) to buff away dull surface cells, help diminish the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and acne scars, and absorb excess skin oils. Enriched with natural astringents Lime and Lemon Peel, and antioxidants Grapeseed and Vitamin E, this fine treatment product retexturizes skin leaving it soft, smooth and younger-looking." The "grit" is medium in my opinion - not harsh like St. Ives (which is terrible for your face - seriously.  That's why it's so cheap.) 

 

I used a small bit on my hand - and it left it very soft.  If you have normal skin I would say you could use this once a week.  It's a bit pricey in my opinion for an exfoliant - but I will gladly use the 1 oz!

 

 

Coola Mineral Sunscreen: $36.00 for 1.7 oz/ .23oz = $4.87

 





I don't know much about Coola but here's the description from their website: "Keep the sun and environment at bay with this SPF 20 broad-spectrum UVA/UVB sunscreen; a clear, Titanium Dioxide based formula (for those who are Zinc sensitive) made with 98% natural ingredients. Organic Acai Oil - high in Omegas-3/6/9, Vitamins B1/2/3, plus antioxidant Vitamins C and E - delivers a powerful defense against aging. Organic Sunflower Seed Extract promotes elasticity while organic Linseed Oil, containing Alpha-Linolenic Acids, reduces redness and irritation. The phyto-protector Plankton Extract rejuvenates, as organic Cucumber Extract calms skin."

• Hypoallergenic
• Paraben Free
• Ultra Sheer
• Anti-Aging
• Water Resistant (40 minutes)
• No nano-sized particles

So it has a lot of oils in it - which will scare a lot of people but you know I love my facial oils. I will definitely use this up!


pop beauty Lip Crayon Full Size - $4.17 - Usually only sold in a set of 6 for $25

 
I got Coral Crush and it is a lovely color! 

 

 

The consistency reminds me of the Revlon Balm Stains - and it's moisturizing like that, but it doesn't really leave that much of a stain.  I wish there were more colors of these available individually.

 

 

And finally...

 



Sexy Hair Weather Proof Spray 3.4 - $15.95/ 1.7 = $7.97

From their site:

"Big Sexy Hair Weatherproof Humidity Resistant Spray - Big Sexy Hair Weatherproof is a high-performance humidity resistant spray that promises to leave your hairstyles intact, removing any chance of humidity attacking mishaps."

Total Value of this months bag =$34.76

Once again I am so impressed and excited to use my goodies!

What did you get in your Ipsy bag?

Jasmine

Inner Beauty Friday - Book Club

Hello,

Today I am once again linking up for book club! 



This week I read 2 books, both of them pretty good and historically interesting!

First up - The Light Between Oceans by M.L.Stedman


Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com: "
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them."

My thoughts: I liked the book but you pretty much get the whole plot from the synopsis.  I also just couldn't like the wife either.  The information about the lighthouse industry in Australia was really interesting.  A lot of people are just raving about this book and giving it 5 stars - I mean its a good piece of fiction but is it super original - not really. 


Next up The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan


Synopsis from Amazon.com: "1878 Paris. Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. "\

My thoughts:  I really liked how you could look up the paintings referenced in the book on Cathy Marie Buchanan's website.  Also I had no idea about the "petit-rats", I assumed ballerina's came from the middle class.  But then again there was hardly a middle class in Paris in the 1800's.  And life was rough for these poor girls!  If you like historical fiction, art and ballet - you'll love this!


If you want more Inner Beauty readings check out Ember @ BudgetSplurgeBeauty! 
We're both committed to getting an Inner Beauty Blog Hop going!!  If you want to join let me know - we will link up on Fridays!


Until Next week!

Jasmine

Influenster - Colgate Box

Hello!

This week I received the "Colgate Box" from Influenster!  Inside was a bottle of Colgate Total Advanced Pro-Shield (wow that's a lot of descriptors!).  It is supposed to "Kill germs on contact and keep working for 12 hours—even after eating and drinking." Well that's good -  I worry that during the day my Diet Coke habit is rotting my teeth so hopefully this will help!

It also claims to:

Kills 99% of Germs

Significantly Reduces Plaque

Helps Prevent Gingivitis

No Burn of Alcohol

Freshens Breath

 

Here is all the info from the back:

 

 

I do like that you don't have to wait 30 minutes to drink after using it because a lot of times at night I brush my teeth and then go to bed.  But I also need to take my vitamins and pills, and I need to drink to wash them down, and I don't want to wait 30 minutes.  Lazy, I know.

 

So I will give this a run for the next 7 days and let you know my thoughts next week.

 

Have you ever tried Colgate Total Advanced Pro-shield?

What's your favorite mouthwash?  Dental product?

 

And thank you to Influenster for choosing me for this box!

 

Jasmine

Inner Beauty Friday - Book Club

Hello:

Once again I am linking up with Heather @ Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club!



This week I read to pretty diverse books and both of the were just ... "meh".

First up Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy:


Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com:  "A murder at a British boarding school in the hills of western India launches a young teacher on the journey of a lifetime.
In 1974, three weeks before her twenty-first birthday, Charulata Apte arrives at Miss Timmins' School for Girls in Panchgani. Shy, sheltered, and running from a scandal that disgraced her Brahmin family, Charu finds herself teaching Shakespeare to rich Indian girls in a boarding school still run like an outpost of the British Empire. In this small, foreign universe, Charu is drawn to the charismatic teacher Moira Prince, who introduces her to pot-smoking hippies, rock ‘n' roll, and freedoms she never knew existed.
Then one monsoon night, a body is found at the bottom of a cliff, and the ordered worlds of school and town are thrown into chaos. When Charu is implicated in the murder—a case three intrepid schoolgirls take it upon themselves to solve—Charu's real education begins. A love story and a murder mystery, Miss Timmins' School for Girls is, ultimately, a coming-of-age tale set against the turbulence of the 1970s as it played out in one small corner of India."

My thoughts - I don't get the blot - how does it change!?! (if you read the book you'll know what this means).  And the whole story is covered in the synopsis, you just get more detail.  For some reason this book was just hard for me to get through, the pace of the book was just to slow, and I feel like too many stories were trying to be told. 



Next up Tethered by Amy MacKinnon


The synopsis from Goodreads.com: "Clara Marsh is an undertaker who doesn’t believe in God. She spends her solitary life among the dead, preparing their last baths and bidding them farewell with a bouquet from her own garden. Her carefully structured life shifts when she discovers a neglected little girl, Trecie, playing in the funeral parlor, desperate for a friend.
It changes even more when Detective Mike Sullivan starts questioning her again about a body she prepared three years ago, an unidentified girl found murdered in a nearby strip of woods. Unclaimed by family, the community christened her Precious Doe. When Clara and Mike learn Trecie may be involved with the same people who killed Precious Doe, Clara must choose between the stead-fast existence of loneliness and the perils of binding one’s life to another."

My thoughts: The synopsis is a bit misleading, it really doesn't matter if Clara believes in God or not.  It should just say "Clara, an emotionally fragile, anti-social, Trichotillomaniac has to start dealing with life when a series of crisis happen."  Again, I just couldn't connect with the story, it felt forced.  And the description of her and the cover picture confuses me, and I am one of those people that likes the cover of the book to give me some link to the story.

So it wasn't a great reading week but I just started "The Painted Girls" and its very good so far. 

Also very good would be if you wanted to link up with me & Ember @Budget, Splurge Beauty next week for Inner Beauty Friday!  If you write a post on Friday that could be considered Inner Beauty Related - link it up here next Friday for everyone to enjoy!

Coming Soon!

See you next week!

Jasmine
 

Happy 4th of July!

Hello!

Happy 4th of July from Chicago!

 

 

 

Have a fun time if you live in the US, if not forgive us our Jingoism!

 

I am going to St. Louis for the weekend so my blog will be quiet for a bit...

 

But follow me on Instagram  (xjasminemariex) if you want to see what I'm up to!

 

Oh and check out my earlier nail art post from today!

 

 

Jasmine

 

4th of July Manicure!

Hello!

So I got out my supplies popped in Breaking Bad Season 5 and started on my 4th of July nails. 

I still am not really good at this but having this blog is making my try and try again!  (I use the Hallmark Crown Rewards card to scrape the plate by the way - I'm not super into greeting cards or something).  I also had a bottle of polish remover near by!

My biggest "challenge" was painting the star plate 3 colors and then stamping 2 of my fingers.  You can see the 3 colors in the background, and the residue from swiping the plate on the paper towel.

And here's how it turned out.  The colors didn't stamp quite as clearly as I would have liked - but it worked!

And here's the rest of my hand I did a star on my pointer finger, and eventually added glitter to the light blue nails.

And here's the final result!  I of course can see a multitude of imperfections.  But from a distance they look good!

Jasmine

What have we here...

Hello!

I was at Walmart last week and came across this display by Fing'rs:

And I literally said out loud "What have we hereeeee!"  There was stripping tape, and foils and studs and nail stickers!  You know nail art is super main stream when there is a display like this!  The prices were so-so, $2.48 for a few rolls of stripping tape is high, and the kits with the foil and studs for $6.48 are also way more than you would pay online, but not everyone buys from Amazon weekly like I do. 

So here's what I got:

Nail polish, a kit with foils and studs, and a pack of stones and sequins.

 

 

 

I got "The Boys in Blue" on the left - it goes on pretty sheer, it took 3 coats to get the swatch you see.  I also got "Star Crossed Lovers" on the right, it is very thick and you definitely have to place the stars, but they are awfully pretty!  Each polish was $1.68.

 

 

I also got the "Heart 2 Art" Embellish me kit #33041 - it comes with two packs of sequins and 2 packs of mini rhinestones.  I know these buggers are going to be tricky to place but for $2.48 I thought I could give it a try.

 

 

My biggest expenditure was the Heavy Metal extreme nail art kit for $6.48.  I know I could get WAY more if I bought this stuff online, but the convenience of it is hard to beat.  It came with some foils in silver and gold, stud stickers and loose studs.  I just realized I better get some nail glue to put those studs on! 

 

Overall it's not the BEST quality, but if you are doing nail art frequently you don't need it to last so it's a fun way to give it a try!

 

Where is your favorite place to buy nail supplies?

 

Jasmine







What I'm Watching...

Hello!

Today I thought I'd go a little off track and share some of my favorite things to watch that are Beauty related.

First and Foremost - James St.James & his YouTube videos Transformations - where different celebrities do his face - so good for so many reasons!



OMG - this particular episode above is with Mathu Andersen who does Rupaul's makeup and his work is just mind blowing to me. 
 
I've also been watching The Mary Tyler Moore show for some sweet old school inspiration!


I actually really like Rhoda's makeup:



I also have been sucked into "Pretty Little Liars" (I'm only on Season 2 don't tell me ANYTHING!)



For 17 year old girls - they have amazing clothes, hair and make-up.  I love "Aria" (Lucy Hale's) whole look.  And they all rock their long hair in different ways.

Now this isn't Beauty related - but definitely makes me think creatively:


Now they just call it HGTVstar - I love the challenges and the crazy, cool stuff people come up with.



Brooks may be cray-cray but this industrial design professor has some amazing work, so far I'm all Brooks for the WIN!


So that's what I'm watching - how about you??  (and I don't watch TV - I get all this stuff purely from the internet, Hulu or Netflix)

Jasmine