NYX haul & swatches.

Hey everyone! So I ordered a bunch of stuff off of the NYX website while they were having their Thanksgiving/black Friday 50% off sale. I had not had any of the single eyeshadows from them and I REALLY wanted to try them so I thought what better opportunity right?! I ordered about $100 worth of stuff and paid roughly $56 for everything counting shipping. So here are the swatches and the pictures explain what I got. Enjoy! :]]

 NYX Blushes in Spiced & peach.
NYX Round lipstick in Frosted Beige 

NYX concealer in a jar. 

xoxo -- niki

A very merry Christmas.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone! Today was a very good Christmas for me. I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful day blessed with wonderful family, gifts, food, and memories to last a lifetime! There are nothing like good Christmas memories to look back at and put a smile on your face at any given time and point of the day throughout the next year!

My day was spent mainly at my boyfriend's house. We woke up at around 7:30 to open presants and eat lovely livermush, egg, and cheese casserole. MMMM! It was delicious! We all opened our presants, smiled and laughed as the morning went on. I got some pretty sweet stuff & so did everyone else. We went to his grandmas house afterword and just spent some time up there then walked back across the road to his house & cleaned up the living room that was full of torn wrapping paper and gift bags and just watched Christmas movies while the smell of good home Christmas cooking was in the air. Yummy! Of course, I had to get ready to go into work before I could eat. I only had to work a few hours though. I went to work and came home to my house and ate Christmas dinner here. I also opened gifts from my parents.

The best part about today that I will remember for a long time is that it snowed today. This is the first white Christmas here that we have had as far back as I can remember and I am 21 years old. It is nice to have the feeling of being able to have your first white Christmas. To me, that is something that you will remember for the rest of your life and it happened today for me. It is supposed to snow even more tonight so I hope to wake up looking out of my bedroom window and seeing the hills and roads covered with twinkling snow. I live on a hill where I can see out over the creek near my house which is beautiful when covered in snow, the roads, above the trees, and other houses. It is really a really breath taking view when it snows. I will have to snap some pictures tomorrow and post them here for you guys to see! :)

Now, I am sitting here all cuddled up in my snuggie with the heat on blast, the smell of creamy nutmeg in the air, and writing this blog post. I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and if I don't post something before new years have a happy and safe new years! Enjoy the holidays with loved ones and cherish every moment. :) <3

xoxo -- niki

NYX haul & swatches.

Hello loverlies! :] I ordered a bunch of NYX products when they were having their thanksgiving 50% off sale & I recieved them by UPS yesterday evening! I was so excited to get this package, because I did not own any NYX eyeshadows except for their duo chrome loose pigments and I wanted to try some of their singles. Here is a photo of everything I got

I got:
NYX single eyeshadows:
Iced moach
Golden dune
Golden amber
Sensual
Green tea
Smokie mountain
Exotic green
Navy blue

NYX loose pearl eyeshadows:
Mink pearl
Yellow gold pearl
Oro pearl
Penny pearl
Mocha pearl
Walnut pearl

NYX Blushes:
Peach
Spice

NYX lipstick in Frosted Beige
NYX concealer in a jar
NYX runway collection 10 color palette in Casting Call

So far, I am happy with every item I bought. Everything is very pigmented and very pretty. I can't wait to create so many looks with these items. :]]

xoxo -- niki

elf brush review.

Hello beautiess! :]] First off I wanna say hello to all of my new followers and all of the sweet comments you guys have left me. :] When I first made this blog I figured no one would probably see it. I'm glad that I'm helping someone and that I am being helpful to everyone who reads this blog! :]

This review was actually requested by one of my followers and I thought it would be an awesome review to do sense so many people love and purchase makeup from this brand! Elf brushes are a good cheap alternative to any other more expensive brush companies. Granted I do not own any MAC or any other designer brand brushes, but I do know that these are awesome quality brushes.

These are the three brushes that I own. There are three different lines of brushes from Elf. There is the essential line, studio line, and the mineral line. I own the studio powder brush, and the essential blending brush and lip brush. These brushes have never shed, even when I washed them. The powder brush is really good for applying the powder deep into your skin so that it doesn't just slide off of your face at the end of the day. I also tried using this to buff in my foundation at one point. It worked okay, but it doesn't work as good as a synthetic brush would. The eye blending brush is a very good crease brush if your looking for an everyday crease brush. This would not be ideal for cutting your crease or if you are wanting a more defined crease. It does define your crease, but to get a more cut crease you would need a smaller crease brush. Wow I think that I used the word [crease] in that paragraph wayyyy to many times! lol! The lip brush, I don't use very much. It seems to be a good lip brush from what I can tell and from how many times I have used it. These brushes really are soft and are not harsh on your skin. They did not irritate my skin when I pressed them against it.

I forgot a brush! I also own the bronzing brush by the essentials line.

Sorry for the orange picture. I took this one in a hurry. This one is not ideal for bronzing to me. This would be a better highlighting brush for me. This is really good for highlighting my cheek bones. The bristles look a little sparse and to be honest it looks very peuny compared to most angled brushes, but like I said it is small enough to be a good cheek highlighting brush. The bristles are not scratchy at all, they are nice and soft. This could also pass for maybe a very small blush brush.

The elf brushes that have the white handle are all $1 which is amazing for the quality of these brushes. I think some of the names can be deceiving, like the bronzing brush for example. I know the eye brushes are of very good quality for the $1 line, but if I was going to buy face brushes from elf I would spend two extra dollars and go for the studio line brushes which are the $3 brushes with the black handles. I know the studio brushes are great. I have yet to try the mineral  brushes which are the ones with the wooden look to them and they cost $5. I plan on trying some soon! 

xoxo -- niki

Great beauty finds going on right now!

Hello lovelies! :]] I just wanted to make this blog post to let you guys in on some great beauty finds right now! :] I have been noticing that as it gets closer to Christmas there are more and more sales going on which [thankfully] includes beauty products!

The first one that I am VERYY excited for is the e.l.f sale. E.l.f is having 50% off of all their studio line products right now! I LOVEE elf products because most of their products are good and they are cheap cheap cheap! :] I am fixing to go make me a cart right now after I get done with this post. There are also some amazing gift sets with great products in them being sold at e.l.f right now. Go grab them up before they get gone!

 Rite aid is having buy one get one free on their tresseme products and sally hansen products. Their also having buy one get one 50% off on all mascaras, nail polishes, and wet n wild cosmetics. Walgreens is having buy one get one 50% off on L'oreal and neutrogena products. The falsies mascara by maybelline is 40% off!! At CVS all revlon cosmetics are buy one get one 50% off.

Sephora has two of their NARS duos on sale for only $10! That is a crazy deal! Bare Essentuals products are 20% off. Almost all of the Sephora brand body washes and lotions are down to crazy low prices. They have Kat Von D lipgloss on sale for $8! You can get the makeup forever beauty tricks and treats set for FREE! just add it to your cart! :] Kat Von D eyeliner on sale for $8. Sephora brans eyeshadow quads for $6 to $12! Sephora nail polish for $3. Sephora lipglosses are $4 to $7! I mean just go look for yourself. You can get some good deals there right now! :]

I mean these are just a few beauty deals going on right now! You guys need to go check out these sites! :]


xoxo -- niki

Revlon Super Lustrous Lip gloss in Lilac Pastelle.

This post is going to be about a lip gloss that I recently purchased after hearing everyone elses opinions on them and seeing all of the beautiful colors they had to offer. I decided to just try one first and see how I like it and if I wanted another one or the rest I would get them. Here are some pics of the gloss in the tube.

First of all lets talk about the packaging. The packaging is sleek and really nice looking. It doesn't look cheap at all. It looks like a high quality lipgloss. The lilac color is just beautiful. I decided on this color because I don't have any purple toned lip glosses. I figured that this one would be a nice one to start out with. :] I was right! Here is a swatch of the gloss.

It is absolutly gorgeous. Of course it is not this opaque when it is swiped across your lips, but it does give your lips a nice milky lilac glow. It makes them look flawless. This gloss is far from sticky and glides on smooth. I wish I would have taken a lip shot for you all so you could see what I'm talking about, but I'm sure you can google it and get a better one than what I can show you.

All in all this lip gloss is worth the $6 I spent on it. I will be purchasing more of these and will keep you guys up to date on which ones I get. :]

xoxo
-- Niki

Everyday Hair Routine.

This is going to be a small blog post on my everyday hair routine. So I do have color treated hair. I used to have highlights but I recently just died my hair a chesnut brown/redish color. My highlights still show through some which gives it a cool effect that I like. :] For shampoo I use the Garnier Fructis color shield shampoo and finish off with the sleek and shine conditioner also made by Garnier Fructis to give my hair some shine and body. Once a week I will use the Clay Pac by Alto Bella violet moisturizer with haircolor enhancers to give moisture to my hair and enhance my color some. :]

This is all the products I use. Now I don't put all of these products in my hair every single day. I do use some of them some of the time for an extra boost. First what I do is I will take my wet hair and run the wide toothed comb pictured above through it to get all of the tangles out. If you use a brush it can pull your hair out and cause it to break off more. After I do that I take a small dime size amount of my Paul Mitchell super skinny shine serum [$16-$20 at select salons] and run it through my hair evenly. After I do that, I take my Beyond the zone kill the kink straightening balm [$4-$6 at Sally's Beauty Supply stores] and run a nickle size amount through my hair evenly working from tip to root. The last step I do every single day no matter what is spray my tresseme heat protectant[$3-$5 at drugstores] all throughout my hair before I blow dry. If I need a little extra volume that day I will add my Advance Techniques volumizing mousse [$4-$6 from an Avon rep.] just at my roots. The mousse lifts up the root which adds volume to the hair. If I am having a frizzy day I will spray my John Frieda frizz ease in my hair to calm the frizz. If I am having some tangles or my hair feels very dry or brittle that day I will spray my aussie leave in conditioner [about $4 at drugstores] to soften it up.

After I do all of that I will blowdry my hair using my round brush pulling the hair gently from root to tip. After the hair is all dry I will spray another coat of heat protectant in it and straighten my hair using my Remmington flat iron. This flat iron is like my baby. It is better than the babyliss flat iron I bought which is sitting in my drawer and retails for almost $100. This only cost me $40 at walmart or target. It's great. :] The best part about it is that I have had this one for about 2 and a half years now and it has not lost any heat or broken on me.  After I straighten my hair I will spray a little tressme tres two hairspray [$4-$6 at drugstores] and style it how I want it using clips, bobby pins, etc .. and Vola! My hair is done. :]

Hope this was helpful to you in getting a hair routine going for you if your looking for one or if your just looking for some new products to try. All of the products mentioned are great and are fairly inexpensive.

Hope you enjoyed! :]
xoxo
-- Niki

Spruce up your brush holder. :]

This is going to be a post about sprucing up your brush holders ladies! Now I know most of everyone uses the sephora inspired brush holders with the beads and the containers. I sort of use the same thing but mine is a little different. I have a spinning holder that I got from TJ Maxx for $12. It was just plain and all black when I got it.

at first I just stuck a little rice in the holder areas to use as my beads instead of spending like $5 on some little beads in a small bag go spend a dollar on a wholeeeeeee bag of rice. It will last you longer and go a longgggg way. <3 I still have the rice in there. I noticed my brushes kept falling over and wouldn't stand up. So I got some more rice and filled it up more. It now works perfectly.

I went and bought some ribbon from walmart with the demask sort of pattern on it in black and it just looks like 100 times cuter. :]] I love it now. && it spins so it is easier to get to your brushes. Here are some pics:

Sorry for the dirty brushes. They have been used. :] But it looks SOOO much cuter. To me it looks like a new brush holder. :] I used tape to tape the ribbon on instead of gluing it on so I could change up the pattern or color of the ribbon according to holdays, moods, etc .. It is really a great way to decorate your brush holders inexpensivly and make them look elegant! :]

Now to the brush holders that most of you have. Just the glass jars or acrylic containers with the beads. The same idea can still work with the ribbon and the tape. Here is an example:

These are all sooo CUTE! :] I tried to find different ones with different ribon designs and also using different things for the beads to give some ideas. You can use tape to hold it in place for more security or you can just tie the ribbon around the container. It is totally up to you. I love the first one with the big bow on the front. I started to do a bow but it would have been too hard to have room to spin it around to get to the brushes. :/

You can also do permanent things like gluing jewls or rhinestones onto your holder or even onto the ribbon. :] Just do it how you want and make it your own since everyone in the beauty world pretty much has the same brush holder. lol. :] I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I hope that it was helpful!

xoxo -- niki

NYX lipstick review && new coach sneekers! :]

Hey everyone! Well today is my B I R T H D A Y. Happy birthday to me! :] yaya! Before I get into the review I will tell everyone what I did today. Well I woke up. My mom made me pancakes. <3  yummy. Then I had to work today so I had to get ready for work I worked from 11 to 7. I came home at 7 and my family had grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. I had a hot dog with chilli and onions. Yumm. && then I ate butter finger cake. More yumm! I also got to get money and stuff for my birthday. I didn't do much today because I had to work but I am actually really celebrating my birthday this weekend. So I will def. be going shopping and out to eat and all that good stuff. :]

Anywhooo on to the review.

I bought 6 NYX lipsticks off of ebay from a cosmetics seller. Here is the link where I bought them. Her name is Joy017 and she runs an ebay store called Joy Cosmetics. You can also buy other NYX products from her. Next on my list is the Jumbo Eyeshadow pencils. The lipsticks were only about $12.00 counting shipping which is an awesome deal for 6 lipsticks! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250704187025&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I ordered the colors Strawberry milk, Sky pink, Summer love, Honey, Thalia, and Tea rose. All of the colors are amazing on me except for Honey. Honey I think is ment for people with more of a darker skintone with yellow undertones. It doesn't look very good on me. It just makes me look like I have muddy lips which is grosss. I'm going to try to find a very nude lipgloss to maybe tone it down some. We will see how that turns out. All of the other colors are amazingggg! My favorite has to be summer love of course. Its like a really pinky mauve nude color. Perfect for fall! Thalia would have to be my second favorite. It is a berry tone which is also perfect for a darker lip for fall, and strawberry milk is my third! sky pink and tea rose are very pretty colors also. I love them as well.
These lipsticks are VERY creamy and are not drying at all. You don't HAVE to pair them with a gloss for them to look good but if you want to you can! You would have to keep them from high heat areas because they will melt if heated enough; thats how creamy they are. The only downfall to these is they wear off within about an hour. So you have to keep re applying them but it is so worth the $2.00 you pay for them! they are really great lipsticks & I would buy alll of the colors. lol oh and another good thing is that when you think you are out of the stick of lipstick you can open the little colored cap at the bottom and there is more lipstick in there. :] So you actually are getting more than you think. Another great thing about that is you can see the actual lipstick color instead of having to go by a plastic swatch or a sticker on the top or bottom of the tube which can sometimes be misleading.

All in all I'd say if you were thinking about buying some. GO FOR IT. They are definitly worth the money and I love them. I plan on buying more for sure! Be sure and check out Joy Cosmetics on ebay. Her stuff is cheaper than on the NYX website or even some of the stuff on the Cherry Culture website.

Ohh and another thing before I go. I bought myself a pair of Coach sneekers! They are the Barrett sneekers. This is what they look like.

What do ya think? I think they are VERY cute. They are great for casual wear. They would look cute with jeans or shorts! I haven't worn them yet but I can't WAIT to wear them. They were $94 and some change counting tax. :]

xoxo -- niki

Fall & Winter scents!

Ahhh fall is in the air! Even though it has yet to get really cold. It has been around 75 everyday where I live and around 50 at night. I'm ready for it to get super cold so I can bundle up in my jacket & wear my boots! :]] which I need to go get some new ones, but anwayss. On to the fall scents.

I went into my collection of goodies and snapped a few shots of the ones I will be wearing the most this fall/winter. Now I'm going to try to use all or most of these up this fall/winter which is going to be a challenge. I'm not going to buy anymore until I use most of what I have up because what is pictured now I have like more than double of in my collection. haha.

My scents of choice are:
Bath & bodyworks:
Midnight pomigranate body splash
Warm Vanilla Sugar body splash
Japanese cherry blossom lotion
PS I love you lotion
Twilight woods lotion

Victoria secret Pure Seduction lotion & perfume
I feel like you need one fruity scent to balance out all of those strong musky scents. :]]

Hillary duff with love perfume. I also have the lotion. I got it as a gift set for Christmas one year.

Be Kissable perfume. I ordered this from Avon. I got it as a set with the body butter and the body wash.

Last but not least Versace perfume. I LOVE this scent. I got it as a mini giftset from Sephora and I love it! I haven't even used all of the mini one up yet so I'm not going to buy the full size until it is gone. :]]

I want to get the new Coach poppy perfume so you might see that in an upcoming post. :]

enjoy your day! :] xoxox -- niki

Keep yourself organized!

One of the most important things to remember is to ALWAYS keep yourself organized as much as possible. Many of us or almost all of us beauty people invest in our collection of products and we want to keep them looking nice and clean, not all jumbled up in a bag or in a box! This post is going to be mostly showing and explaining ways that I organize all of my goodies in my room! Most are beauty. Some are just organization tips in general. :]

This is the first thing I use to organize with. I keep all of my "personals" in the top drawer because I keep my makeup in the first two drawers of my dresser/vanity. The second drawer is filled with my extra hot hair tools. The 3rd is filled to the BRIMM with magazines. These are also very sleek and modern looking.

This one is for your closet. These hanging shelves are very useful for closet space. You have more shelves to put things on! I stack all of my jeans in here. I'm thinking about moving  these and putting something else here though. We will see!

These are just a few of the things I use to organize my jewlery. The pink thing hanging on the wall is actually a place mat. They came in packs of 2 for a dollar at the dollar tree. I just use them to hang all of my hook ear rings on. The second piece is one from Claires. It cost like 12.50. I use it to store all of my  stud earrings and earrings that arent hook. I also keep my necklaces hanging here so they won't get tangled. The 3rd piece is used for my bracelets. I found this at goodwill for like 2 bucks.

Gift set boxes are good to keep for storage! I use this gift box top to store all of my nail polishes. Works great for me!

Baskets are also a great storage tool! They can hold makeup or anything really depending on the side. Here I just use this little golden basket to hold most of my everyday makeup! I like to keep it out where I can just grab it!

File holders are ALWAYS great for holding makeup palettes. I use this to hold my coastal scents palettes. I got it from walmart for like 3 bucks.

Glass is also good for storage! You can keep little things in glass bowls, stand things up in class cups, or use them to store your makeup brushes. I don't use them to store my brushes however I do use them for the other things. Anything in a tube I just stand up in a class cup and I can reach it easier then rummaging through a drawer to find it. I use glass dishes for little things like cotton balls, sponges, hair ties, clips,bobbi pins, etc.. The thing I use to put my cotton swabs in is actually a reed defuser. After I finished it up I just used it to put my cotton swabs in! :]

I keep some potted things and kabukis on this little platform thing. A candle actually came on this but I took the candle off and display that sepratly and use this for some potted things I tend to reach for.

I use this little spinning organizer for my brushes. It is PERFECT. It was like 12 dollars at TJ Maxx. It spins so I can just spin it around and access my brushes easily. Another great thing for storing brushes are these little pencil holders. Their like 3 dollars at walmart and are sectioned off. I used to use them until I found my spinning holder. Of course the all famous glass sephora inspired holder is great also. I use rice instead of the beads.

Over the door shoe racks are a great closet space saver! I use it to display my shoes that I tend to reach for the most. It also keeps them easily accessable! Another great shoe storage is the shoe under. The little compartment shoe holders that slise under your bed. I have two of those full of shoes. They keep my boots looking nice and neat for winter since they won't fit on my shoe rack!

& last but not least is plastic containers! The rubber maid tubs are good for keeping clothes in and changing them out according to the season. Sterelite containters are good for storing about anything. I use mine to store my nail tools, beauty tools, hair bows, curlers, head bands, makeup bags, cotton balls, makeup wipes, & extra products. But you can use them for anything you want. I use the little plastic trays that you can get in packs of 3 for a dollar to store my makeup with in my vanity/desser drawers. Cutlary trays are also nice for storing potted things like eyeshadows and bases. I also store some of my mini palettes in here. Plasic shoe containers are good for storing anything as well. I store my important papers, school supplies, usb cords, and things like blank cds & photo paper.

Another little storage tip is that if you have any big candles in jars that you have used up. Clean it out and use the jar for keeping things in. If you get the candles with big round openings you can use them to store your makeup brushes. You can also decorate your storage to make it look cute in your own way!

Storage is key to keeping yourself organized & keeping your stuff looking nice. I just wanted to show you guys how I keep myself organized. I hope everyone finds this helpful!

xoxo -- Niki