A fan from a closed land - My mom memorable Momento

My most memorable momento is from my father. See, he went on a charity trip to Cuba several years back to sing. The whole trip was sort of a hairy situation from setup to end. First with clearances, then last minute change ups on their trip there, and more on the trip back.

During the trip our communications were SEVERELY limited. He could not speak of much of what went on while he was there except his actual singing as informed by the groups guide.

Anyways, for awhile I became very nervous when he did not contact for a few days. Although later it just turned out that the wifi/phones hadnt been working.

On his return he brought me a lovely silk fan, and more than that, much relief to see everything turned out fine. The ordeal made me realize how much I miss and worry about him even if he's out of communication for only a couple days.

It made me realize, no matter how old I get that I will always see my dad holding and comforting me as a little girl.

He was able to sing for the people in Cuba and hopefully put some smiles on some faces there. Along with being able to share the experience of visiting a country that most of us Americans will likely NEVER see.

I tag the following to pass the torch on posting your most memorable momento. Kelli Gonzo, Vintage Musings of a Modern Pinup, and Konad Addict

This post is my entry for the ‘My Most Memorable Memento’ contest conducted by My Yatra Diary travel blog and Indian Coupons."

Review Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

I was asked to try out Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure (Thanks, Influenster!). I Tried it out several times over the past few weeks, although sadly, only snapped one picture. My hands have been so dry this winter, I didnt feel "up to" taking tons of pictures.

The colors are lovely. I was sent 3 colors to test. #540 Jaded, #510 Pat on the back, #470 Red my lips as shown above. Red my lips is very very red. It goes on in 1-2 coats fully and has quite an eye popping sheen to it. Pat on the back is a lovely deep purple. I, personally, liked the light color it went on in the first coat but it was streaky and required 2 coats. At that point it comes out nearly plum/black. Still, lovely.

Unfortunately, my fave color of the 3, took MANY coats to reach saturation on the nail. Jaded took maybe 4-5 coats to not be streaky and be visible. It is a very translucent color. At full color saturation it is gorgeous.

The good news is, this polish dries very fast, even with 4-5 coats you wont end up with a gooey undrying mess like other brands. It will just take more patience & time that 1-2 coats.

The finish lasts pretty long, at least 24-48 hours with "mothers" hands (you know, washing dishes, cleaning, fixing things).

Rimmel London Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation review

I have a problem with extremely oily yet combination skin. My forehead tends to be very oily, but my jawline & nose is dry. Influenster.com sent me Rimmel Stay Matte foundation to try out in a VoxBox.
Rimmel London Stay Matte is thick and mousse like. It doesnt apply very easily, as without a sponge it creates streaks. However, with the proper tools (a dampened sponge was best) it applies quite nicely. Even though its thick, it is transparent coverage in my opinion. The good news is, my oily spots stayed matte through the evening. I did not have runs, or coagulation of my foundation which is usually an issue with most foundations/bbcreams.
The overall look is VERY matte, which I personally do not like. I do like some dewiness in my cheeks so that look must be achieved with a slightly sparkly blush when using this foundation. The downside is if you have dry spots or dry skin. This will make your dry spots look like a dessert and doesnt look good at ALL on dry skin.
I suppose, if so inclined, one could mix it with moisturizer for those dry spots.

I would highly recommend this to those of us with very oily skin only.

I received this product to test via Influenster. My opinions are my own

Free Amazon Prime for students

This deal is on again. Free Amazon Prime for students for 6 months. I use Amazon prime for shopping for my nail & beauty items ALL the time. Can't beat FREE!

I've purchased everything from Vegetable Glycerin to Nail Polish through prime. I've bought beauty blender dupes, and Konad plates. Most items have a free shipping Prime option if you search (not always the first results). So if you have a .edu email be sure to sign up and save.

Join Amazon Prime Student here

$5 FREE to New Fashion site

Have you heard about ShopLately? If not, you should check it out. It is a new stylish site with tons of amazing items.


When you join through Facebook (I set it so it only posts to me)You'll get $5 in free credit to use as you please.
They have tons of beautiful items including scarves, jewelry and bags for very cheap prices (even cheaper after you apply credit). Run on over and check it out, you may find something you love.

Aveda Birthday program

Birthday Program
Join our Birthday Program** and get a free customized gift (valued up to $25).

We want to celebrate your birthday by giving you a complimentary Personal Blends™, Pure-Fume Spirit™ or body care product ($25 value) custom blended with the aroma of your choice. Aveda’s Pure-Fume™ aromas are powered by pure essential oils, and 90% of them are certified organic. For a free gift on your next birthday, simply sign up below with your full name, full address and date of birth

Join the Aveda Birthday program today!

Primp & Prep for a girls night out

This post brought to you by Hpnotiq. All opinions are 100% mine.

*You must be 21 or older to drink alcohol beverages. Please remember to drink responsibly.*

Sometimes finding helpful information on preparing for a girl's night out is not easy. Interestingly, besides just peeking at blogs, many of which focus on daytime fashion, Hpnotiq has come up with a wonderful site. It has a plethora of great tips for style, beauty, and recipes.

The website is both trendy and useful for when its time to Primp & Prep for an adventurous night out with the girls. Or even for a night with with great at home cocktail recipes!

I actually quite enjoyed passing through the pages of the site preparing for my New Years girls night. We started at my house mixing a few drinks & checking out makeup tips.  Later in the evening we left for the casino to enjoy the rest of our evening together.

All in all I really appreciated the following aspects of Hpnotiq Primp & Prep... First, the recipes. As a former bartender I'm pretty good at mixing drinks, but sometimes a recipe is great for some new ideas. My friends had me print out a few of the offered recipes for them also. I also found the makeup & nail polish tips very interesting.

Let your hair down music up!

 

JustFab $20 off or 2 for $40 today!

JustFab is having a sale today on shoes. Either $20 off first order of shoes or handbags, or 2 for $40. Shipping is free.
Shoes are usually $40 each.
This is a great deal considering the selection.

ULINX : Attract attention with magnets!

Looking for something fun & different as a gift? I was, and I happened upon beautiful ULINX jewelry. They offer many classy, intricate designs for customization but also symbols. I was asked if I'd like to review this, and I felt it a worthy product to talk about with my readers.

The collection I went for was the symbols collection. The designs offered in the new symbols collection are very cute, however, I wanted to touch base on some problems I found. I expected a lot more from something that costs in the neighborhood of $80 as far as quality control. The First plus side is the magnets are extremely strong, you will not accidently rip this bracelet off. Maybe it you wore several together as a belt, but it would still be hard to do. Even if the link broke, it tends to pull right back together with its very strong magnets. To the side is an image of it hanging from a photo frame.

You can change the order and design of the charms to even make a ring (or many other possibilities like the ring I made! Purchase extra beads would be a suggestion so you can really play with designs. This has been a lot of fun to mess around with and I've had a lot of compliments while wearing it. However, for the downside. In the below image around the heart you can see what looks like a circular paint crack. This is actually quite a bit more obvious in real life and was shipped to me this way.

This was not the only tile with an issue. Several had chipped sides, poor quality images, not centered images, or scratches. In fact I could point out a flaw on EVERY tile the moment I opened the case. For this reason alone, I would suggest either purchasing from the other collections rather than symbols collection. I'm guessing because the symbols collection is new they're having some QC issues.

All in all, they are cute braclets with a novel idea that still need some work with quality control and detailing.

If interested check out ULINX

Disclaimer: Do remember, if purchasing this you should NOT purchase it for a child. Rare earth, and other strong magnets can be very dangerous (even deadly) to a child that swallows them.
I received this from ULINX to test and review. This does not influence my review. My opinions and thoughts are solely my own.

Gift Idea - Glassybaby Evelyn Candle & Cup

Glassybaby teamed up with Nordstrom specifically for the Evelyn Glassybaby (pictured in pink) for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The pink votive was created honor of Evelyn Lauder whom passed in November. Along with an initial donation of $25,000 - Ten percent(%10) of all sales of the Evelyn will go to Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Glassybaby candles and cups are not only beautiful, they provide support and purpose beyond. Glassybaby, created & founded by Lee Rhodes, provided her with the idea after she found a source of comfort from tea lights during her 7 year battle with Lung Cancer. The company has donated over $1,000,000 USD to charity since November 2003.

Each Glassybaby is hand blown and is the combined work of four Seattle Artisans. It can be utilized as a tea light holder, a cup, or a vase. The exquisite beauty is unsurpassed with little bubbles floating about within it. They are stury, and thick unlike most candle holders.

The Evelyn Glassybaby is available exclusively at Cosmetics department inside Nordstrom or online at http://shop.nordstrom.com. They are a lovely addition to any home, as a gift for a loved one, or to give to someone suffering from Cancer as a source of hope and inner emotional warmth.

I was sent a sample of the Evelyn Candle Holder to provide input and images for my blog. This does not affect my opinion or review of the item.

O.P.I. Pink Hearts 2012

Don't forget to pick up your bottles of Pink Hearts 2012 in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Available on Amazon. OPI will donate $30,000 combined to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and to Rethink Breast Cancer in Canada.

Not only are the colors beautiful, but you can sport your stance.

Halloween Nail Art Contest!

Halloween Nail Art contest by Vivi La Nails UK!

First place is £50 Gift cert. They do ship to the US. I've used products from them before and they're very nice quality, customer service is good too. Shipping takes a little longer because it's international, but wasn't bad at all. So it's worth putting in an entry :)

Christmas Nail Designs

The holidays are coming, and you might want to prepare in advance. Here's a few quick and easy ways to get Holiday nails! Konad Stamping Nail Art Image Plate - M12 (Christmas Designs) is Christmas themed and makes nail design easy as holiday pie!

MASH Premium Nail Art Holiday Christmas Stickers make it even easier to add a little Christmas spirit to your beauty routine. If you haven't tried MASH products before you should start with something small. The price is right, and the quality is exceptionally good for the price.

I'm posting up Christmas stuff before Halloween since the Christmas plates sell out fast before the Holidays even arrive. Enjoy!

Glass Nail Files : the skinny

Trust me. I get it. You want to file your nails, and you're used to cheap nail files. Then someone comes along and tells you how amazing glass nail files are. So you begin searching and find out there are super inexpensive ones, and then very inexpensive ones. For a moment you think, well I can get the cheaper ones!

WRONG.

Trust me. I've been there, done that, have the T-shirt. I bought several very inexpensive glass nail files. Guess what?
Most broke in my hands, others shredded my nails. They were also a bit ugly at the top, with no real ryhme or reason to their design.
So when I was asked to do a post about quality nail files by design-glassware.com by Mont Bleu , I jumped. Quite frankly, more people need to know that sometimes(usually), you get what you pay for.

Design-Glassware.com also makes beautiful pumice-like stones for rubbing calluses.

I have tried higher quality ones, and was quite happy. Through this wonderful site you can also get really beautiful, quality Swarovski Crystal nail files.

So consider not only the polish you paint on your nails, the lotions and creams you apply. Remember nail health comes down to diet, and proper preparations with good, quality tools.

Specifically Design-Glassware.com is well designed, with a beautiful selection to chose from. They carry much of the hardware needed for beauty needs. Many have options for crystals on the hardware, which I love. Prices are reasonable, however they are in Euro's, not US dollars, and ships directly from Czech Republic. Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Design-Glassware.com All thoughts, opinions, etc are still honest and my own.

Difficulties

Having some technical difficulties with the domain. Please sit tight and understand.

Chloe Sunglasses %75 off today and more!

I'm not sure about you girls. But I check Groupon daily. With great deals popping up locally, and nationwide sometimes things can't be beat. Today there is a surge of nice girly things. Including some nice Chloé Sunglasses for %75 off retail! Price is $89. Enjoy.

Free Nail Polish or other goodies, your choice.

We all like free stuff. However, free nail polish is insanely hard to come by. Usually, companies never send out samples, or testers. You have to fork over the moola to decide if you love (or hate) it.



There's a new website called Copious. A bit of a mix of etsy, and maybe ebay. But without the auction style. Everything is available from handmade goods to designer purses . I saw a hot pair of new Fendi pumps up for a very good price.

NOTE: I believe to qualify for the free $10 you have to join with facebook or twitter and it must be your first time joining copious.

Since it's a new site, they're offering a $10 credit for new users. Which can easily snag you a bottle of Julep or other nail polish free with free shipping. Nail polishes go lightning fast, so if you find one available that you love, grab it. The best part of the site, once you click "buy" the item is held for you for 15 minutes , so no one can snag it from under you.

Better yet? The payment company used holds your payment in neutral escrow until the item has been shipped and in your possession for 2 full days. So unlike other websites, you don't have to worry about being sent junk.



So check out Copious and sign up before the $10 credit is gone. I've already used my credit, so I know the site works.

Lip Gloss Love: Review of NYC Liquid Lipshine

I'm a lip balm type of girl. I just want something that feels good, maybe a slight tint of color. I tried out NYC New York Color Liquid Lipshine, and here are the details below.

So it's quite glossy, which is very pretty. Comparing to lipsticks or balms it is a bit stickier (one reason I usually don't wear glosses). It wasn't too bad, but my hair stuck to my lips a couple times. The taste, I personally could do without. I really don't like the taste of cocoa butter, or chocolate hints in it. I love(to eat real) chocolate. I'll pass in my make-up smelling/tasting like it though. If you like flavors like that, then this is definitely for you.

The color was pretty awesome, I tried Nude York City. What a great name! It worked wonderfully with my new red hair. Some of the natural pink of my lips showed through but it toned down my lip color enough to do very daring eye shadow! That was nice for a night. I find myself digging for my chapstick still in my purse, and if I can't find it I'm willing to swipe on the easy-to-apply lip shine. Otherwise, I don't use it much. For me, personally, it won't be a staple.

NYC New York Color Retails for $2.50 ish. I sometimes see it on sale much cheaper. The small price is sometimes makes it worth trying if nothing else.

Thanks to Influenster and NYC New York Color for letting me try the lipshine. My opinions are honest & remain mine.

Need New Years Nails? Try imPRESS Press-on Manicure

I've been sick for a month. No kidding! I have no energy to do anything, but I have to be involved with my family for the Holidays. I had to get creative for Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New years for my nails. Something that required NO energy. It's not my usual thing, I like to go all out.
I was given the chance to try imPRESS nails, which are fancy press ons. They are quite nice, for what they are. I do not like the feeling of press ons, but they got the job done. Plus, they come in some toned down colors, or crazy designs. Perfect for New years! Unfortunately, I didn't snap photos of my nails on Christmas, but they looked pretty natural. In a pinch, it's better than bare nails. Just like any press on, you have to be careful, something I am not good at. I couldn't stand it after awhile and ripped them off. If you're used to stick ons, you should try these though.
They come in these cute little packages that look like a nail polish bottle. You can try them out yourself with a $1 off coupon that can be printed from imPRESS Manicure.com in the bottom right hand corner.

My biggest tip? Size it on your fingers first, have a file ready to adjust the sides to the perfect size. Oversized press on nails will look REALLY FAKE if not perfect.
Thank you to Influenster for sending me these to try out! This doesn't change my opinion.

Giftcard Passion

It's almost Christmas! I LOVE gift cards. In fact, I'm getting one this year, as I do every year. I actually request them when people ask what I want. Why? It makes it so easy for me and them.

Gift cards may seem like a thoughtless gift, but I do believe you have to match the gift card to the person. In example, I certainly wouldn't purchase a Gift Card for a lingerie store for my dad. However, say your mother loves baking, but you're not sure if they'd want a bread machine? Get them a gift card to Williams-Sonoma. Or how about your best friend with super sensitive skin? What if she's allergic to the spa set you were thinking of buying her?(Ask me how I know!) You could get her a gift card for Pangea Organics.

Some ways to make it seem more personal are to give it in a box with a little extra item. Once I received a Victoria Secret gift card with an adorable pink teddy bear holding the card. So even after the card was long gone I had an adorable little bear to put on my shelf. It made the gift feel more personal. I've had friends who did scavenger hunts to find their card. One box opened had a clue, which led to another clue, etc. It's a fun and silly way to get your card.

Some of the most Rocking gift cards I've ever received? Some for my fave clothing brands, others that have been more general - Like Amazon and a branded mall gift card that can be used at any store in the mall owners system - even in other malls owned by the same parent company. Lastly, an iTunes gift card was pretty awesome, it wasn't for a lot, but it went a long way in getting new apps.

As an added bonus, the recipient can wait till the right time to purchase the items they want. Like when they're on sale. They can snag a great deal in the post Holiday sales! Even better if the giver found the gift card for a deal like on GiftCardsRock

GiftCardsRock shows great deals going on with Gift Cards all over. A big sale (IE BestBuy's recent sale on iTunes gift cards : When do they EVER go on sale?) among places of where to win a snazzy new gift certificate or card. It's a great way to integrate deals in your life as it's easily updated on Facebook.

Do you like receiving gift cards? Do you think they're good to give?

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Gift Cards Rock blogging program, for 6,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.