Urban Decay Show Pony Shadow Box

I just received my Urban Decay Show Pony Shadow Box through the mail today and I'm so pleased with it. I've never tried any eyeshadows from Urban Decay, but I knew they were good and when I saw this shadow box online, I really fell in love with the colors. I've been looking for an emerald green and a ton of neutral colors to wear for work. My favorite shadows are from MAC cosmetics, but these are ranking pretty high. They go on smooth and super pigmented! The swatches I have done don't even have any primer underneath them and they already look vibrant. Imagine wearing primer and these colors are going to be amazing!

So far I'm really liking Snatch because it looks great as an all over eyelid color and it's shimmery, but not too shimmery for my liking. Mildew is looking a bit light and I really wanted a dark emerald green so I'm still going to have to experiment with it to get it darker either by packing the color on or getting a dark base. I haven't tried Flash or Painkiller yet. Smog and Toasted are really pretty. They're nothing special though, because you could find similar colors at a drugstore for much cheaper, but the texture and pigmentation is important to me so I love them. I have a feeling that I'm going to gravitate towards these shadows on a daily basis. I've never even hit pan on any shadows, but since these are a bit smaller, it might just happen.

So for $30 you get:

• 6 (0.9 grams) of eyeshadow in Snatch, Mildew, Flash, Painkiller, Smog, and Toasted
• 1 mini size Urban Decay Primer Potion
• 1 mini size 24/7 Eyeliner in Zero

My 1st big splurge in a long time

i can't believe i just dropped about $200 on a new purse. i'm not really a big spender on purses or accessories so this was a big splurge in my books. i sort of have this guilty feeling but what the heck! this purchase is going to celebrate that i have a job that i really like and enjoy and as a birthday gift to myself. i went to Macy's or Nordstrom's about a year ago and saw the B. Makowsky handbag line and fell in love after I touched one. the leather is out of this world! it's like nothing i've felt before! after that day i've been trying to canvas around to see where i can get a handbag for a good deal and one day i saw it on QVC and they sell it for way less! luckily i knew that he was going to do a segment and tuned in, and couldn't resist and just purchased it because it was too good of a deal. $100 off retail price and free shipping. come to mama!

Elf Complexion Perfection

I wanted to try a powder that would help out with my oil slick and shine and have been hearing a good amount of reviews about Elf's Complexion Perfection. It's pretty much this pan of silky powder which has 4 squares in it. There's a pale yellow, mint green, baby blue, and baby pink color. You can use them individually to color correct. For example, use the mint green to cancel out redness. Or you could swirl all the colors together and just even out your skin tone and mattify your skin.

I've been grabbing for this everyday and I really do think that it helps to even out the skin tone and mattify my skin. The product description says that it's pretty sheer in color, but applying too much can definitely wash you out. I have a light skin tone so I haven't had problems with it washing me out, but for tanned or darker skin tones, you may want to use a light hand to prevent that from happening. I typically use this after my moisturizer and before any makeup. But I've been noticing that I will just use this alone just as powder for the entire day. I'm trying to figure out if my Everyday Minerals is causing me to become oily and so far, it seems to be a a factor.

So for $3, this is a great product. It comes with a good amount of product, 13.5 grams, and it comes in a "NARS like" packaging with it's matte black case and a nice sized mirror. I just wish it had come with a puff inside because I can't really take it and use it without taking a regular sized powder brush. I'm probably going to have to invest in the EcoTools travel kabuki.

24th B-day

I had a pretty nice birthday this year and that's all I wanted! I'm not a crazy birthday celebrator so having a nice lunch with my family was just perfect. We went to Red Robin and had a feast! I got some money and gift cards to Sephora and Starbucks. My cousins know me well :) At night, we had a little celebration for my birthday and the Pacquiao vs. Cotto boxing fight. I don't know why but I love to watch boxing matches and it makes it even better to watch when a fellow Filipino is fighting. Pacquiao is an amazing boxer and he always looks like he's in his element and enjoying it. That match was super intense to watch and my heart was fluttering like crazy! Good thing he won though!

Then on Sunday, we went to my Grandma's house to celebrate again. My Grandma is too cute! She's 79 years old & can't really use her left arm/hand and still cooks me food! Such a sweet woman. I really had a good time just chatting up with her and asking her questions of her life. She has been dreaming about my Grandpa who passed away several years ago and they are such cute dreams. The first one was on his birthday and she dreamt that my Grandpa was asking her to kiss him, but she said she couldn't because she would trip or something (she uses a cane/walker that's why). Then on their wedding anniversary this year, she dreamt that they were on the bed, but he asked her to put a banig ( a Filipino hard blanket) down on the ground so they could sleep and be happy together there ;) and she ended up yelling his name out loud and waking up my aunt. My aunt then wakes my Grandma and says "Mom, dad is dead, why are you calling his name?" My Grandma had a pretty bad health scare earlier this year and we really thought we were going to lose her, so I've been really trying to get to know her on a different level and enjoy her company while she's still healthy. She's such a comedian!

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancer Tinted Moisturizer

I was beginning to get super oily half way through the day and I was getting frustrated. I've just been using my Everyday Minerals Foundation and even with primer, I was still an oil slick at the end of the day. I've been wanting to try a tinted moisturizer for a really long time now because it's almost fool-proof. So I went to the drugstore and found the Neutrogena Tinted moisturizer and decided to give it a go. The first time I wore it, I wore it alone with no powder to set it. It felt really light and gave enough color without being too heavy looking. By the end of the day, I wasn't as oily so I really liked that. Then I decided to use my Everyday Minerals foundation/powder over it to set it and I'm liking the results. My face isn't really that oily anymore and not very shiny by the end of the day. Hopefully I'll keep getting the same results!

So I've been working for almost a month now, it will be exactly a month on November 8th. I'm really liking it! I've learned a lot and at this point, they are giving me projects with minimal supervision. An assistant project manager sat down with me for about an hour and a half last month to teach me how to prepare a certain document. Of course, it was way too much information to retain but my notes are really helping. So these past 2 days, I've been working non-stop on the document and finally finished all the parts that I could. I'm just waiting on these 2 technical reports that other consulting firms are working on. I have been popping into the project manager's office once or twice a day to ask for help on some topics and he's super nice and helpful. I'll hopefully finish with this document next week, if not by tomorrow. Talk about an accomplishment! The job's pretty fun though because I like to research and write anyways. That's my update on work! :)