Manicure Monday: OPI Cajun Shrimp

I have an oldie but a goodie for my very first Manicure Monday!

OPI Cajun Shrimp is a shade that I've loved for years now, although I didn't actually own it in my personal collection until last week. But starting from even before I was married or had kids, I would often pick this shade when I'd go to the nail spa to get my manicures or pedicures done. I loved it because it was a bright red shade that had just enough pink/orange in it to make it unique and not so "China-doll" looking. 

I don't know what happened but over the years, I sort of forgot about this shade ... and it wasn't until I was in my local Target last week that I remembered how perfect this polish is for summer. 

As is typical for OPI, the formula for this polish was amazing; thick and even but not gloopy, and definitely not runny. It could have easily been a one-coater but I applied two coats to be safe. I had this polish on for the 4th of July holiday weekend and I have to say, it was mighty festive!

OPI Cajun Shrimp is readily available at retailers like Ulta or drugstores like Target or CVS; they typically run around $9-10.

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Just wanted to write a quick note saying that I'm in the middle of moving house (yes, with two small kiddos! and a dog!) so I won't be able to post on this blog very regularly until probably August. Thanks for being patient, and I promise I'll have lots of fun things in store once things settle back down!

REVIEW: Erin Condren 2014-15 Life Planner

I've been eyeing the Erin Condren Life Planners for years now. Years. I don't know how I first stumbled across them, but back then I believe the planners were only sold through Shutterfly or some website like that.... I could be wrong, but in any case, I've been drooling over them for a long while now.

I've always been a paper & pen aficionado. Even in this digital age, I have a strong appreciation for writing things down and I still love to journal every night before bed. I've been using paper planners since I was in high school, and you best believe that they were never the boring school-issued agendas either. Even at 16, 17 years old, I would go to the fancy stationery stores and splurge on a nice planner for that school year... and I would use it to death. All my assignments would get written down, upcoming events, parties, test dates, etc. The habit carried through to college and obviously came in handy after I graduated when I was a preschool teacher.

After having my first baby, the things I jotted down weren't quite as urgent (no more, MUST READ 100 PAGES OF BIOLOGY TEXTBOOK TONIGHT! written in red anymore heh) but I used my planners to maintain my sanity - keep track of appointments, play dates, meal planning. Then, after giving birth to my second child, I tried for the sake of simplicity to keep everything in my iphone calendar but really... old habits die hard, and I found myself itching to write things down so I could cross them off afterwards. Plus, it was hard for me to remember to actually open up my calendar app on my phone to see what was going on; it's much, much easier to keep a planner book open to the relevant month/week so that I can physically see my schedule and be reminded to check it for upcoming appointments.

In any case, long introduction to just simply say... I finally bit the bullet and bought my VERY FIRST LIFE PLANNER. The new planners for the 2014/2015 year were released on June 12 and you KNOW that I was poised and ready with my laptop at midnight on June 11. Apparently so was every other EC fan out there because their website crashed once and it took me forever to checkout my cart. No care, no matter, I did it, it's over, and a few days ago I opened my front door to find a glorious box from Erin Condren Design. Hallelujah!!!

(Front & back covers)

As you can see, I went with the gold & white foil pressed cover ... and gah, it is so stunning. I can't even. AH! You can see in the pictures above that when the light hits the foil it just gives off this really beautiful sheen. It's almost too pretty to write in.... I mean, I'll obviously love it and use it but truth be told, as soon as I opened the box and got all my accessories and "extras" settled into the book, I just set it on the counter and stared at it for a few days. Every now and then, I'd lovingly open it and rifle through the pages, but I haven't jotted anything down in it yet hahaha. I will starting July, though!

Once you remove the elastic band (all the Life Planners come with one) and open it up, this is the very first thing you see. The foil editions have this really pretty overlay for the first page and I think it's really classy. Love it!

Aside from being just super GORGEOUS, this thing is practical on every level. Beauty meets function; it's the best of both worlds, you guys. The first few pages of the planner are yearly overviews of 2014 and 2015. And then, each month for the next 18 months has its own tab with a two-page monthly spread, and two-page weekly spread for each week. The monthly spreads have major holidays already noted, and the weekly spreads have tons of room to jot down appointments, meetings, meal plans, exercise goals, shopping lists, or anything else your mommy brain might risk forgetting. It's A W E S O M E.

*The planners also come with a beautiful clear plastic bookmark so that you can easily find which week you're currently in except my planner was accidentally shipped with one of the older versions from previous Life Planners. I didn't want to include a photo of it since it's not technically what you'll be receiving if you order one of the new 2014/2015 planners. Which brings me to say that EC has incredible customer service. I emailed them about the error and they were really nice and prompt about sending out a new bookmark for me. Can't wait until that arrives!

After all the monthly and weekly spreads, there are lined and blank pages for doodles or notes .. and as you can see, they're not just boring lined or blank pages, they're decorated and colorful. Fun! 

I think my favorite part of these planners are the STICKERS that they come with. I know I'm a grown woman who is excited about stickers but... c'mon, stickers are fun at any age. Each planner comes with a few sheets of included stickers that say "birthday" or "party" or are just blank, but you can also order additional sheets of stickers and customize them with what YOU want them to say! So, I ordered a few sheets that say "date night" or "girl time", etc. I can't wait to use them!

At the back of the planner there's a folder to hold your Perpetual Calendar, which is basically a small booklet of important dates that never change year to year so you don't have to constantly be writing them down when you get new planner books. And behind that there's a small plastic pouch to hold your knick knacks and what nots. I put my coil clips in there so that they're ready to use when needed. 

Okay! And then that's where the Life Planner would typically end, but as an added option, I ordered a customized notepad and stuck it on the back cover of the book so that I could have extra scratch paper to write notes and stuff. I love the inspirational quote on this: If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it. 

I also ordered the additional pen holder that you can stick to your planner because... let's keep it real, I'm always losing my pens!

So one of the new features with this year's edition of planners is INNER-CHANGEABLE COVERS. What the whaaaaaat? As you can see, the front and back covers easily pop off so you can change the covers when you get bored of what you have. I'd say this is really genius of them to do because if there's ONE thing that makes it hard for me to remain committed to one notebook/planner/anything, it's when I get bored of them. And this planner goes until the end of 2015 so if I'm trying to use this for the next year and a half, I NEED to have the option to mix it up a bit once in awhile so it stays fresh for me. LOVE this idea! I've already ordered a second set of covers to swap out when I'm ready, although I have to say I'm so in love with the white & gold right now, I don't think that's going to happen for awhile.

And that's it! I do have to say that if you're planning on ordering the extra notepad to stick to the back cover like I did, it will make your book a little bulky and difficult to close. This normally wouldn't be an issue except that with the pop-off covers, if you're not careful, you might find that the back cover pops off a bit with the added girth of the planner. 

Erin Condren Life Planners are available RIGHT NOW at the Erin Condren website and start at $50 for the classic designs and $75 for the foil pressed ones. Go get yours today!

REVIEW: Estee Lauder Double Wear vs. DW Light

My very first blog post, woohoo! And what better way to break ground in this new beauty blog than with a post about foundations?

I'm sure many of you have heard about Estee Lauder's Double Wear foundation either from other beauty bloggers or YouTube beauty gurus. I can't remember exactly when I was first introduced to this line of makeup, but I do know that it's been on my radar to try out for awhile. When I first heard all the hype surrounding this foundation, though, I was confused. In my mind, Estee Lauder is what my mom used to wear.. I'd always thought it was for more mature skin and an older demographic. Then I realized ... I'm probably now the same age my mom was when she was wearing Estee Lauder. WOAH, talk about reality check!

Anyway, after having my second baby, I've found that I have even less time to get ready in the morning. I need makeup that I can slap on relatively quickly and not give a second thought to. Touch ups throughout the day? I don't have time for them! I like makeup that'll perfect my tired skin but not look too "done-up". While I was at Nordstrom asking the sales girl about this foundation, I noticed that they had a "Light" version of the same Double Wear foundation. After talking with her about the differences, I was really torn between which one to purchase. So! I bought the Light version and got a sample of the regular Double Wear to test at home.

(L) Double Wear Light; (R) Double Wear

I did get color matched for the regular Double Wear foundation but since I only got a sample of that one, I don't actually know what shade she gave me! I have warm undertones and was intensity 2 if that helps at all. In the Light version, I am in the shade Intensity 2.0.

 As you can see, the Double Wear (R) has more of the yellow undertones that my actual skin has because their shade range accomodates specific understones vs Double Wear Light (L) which is slightly pinker. Despite this, I still found this shade of Double Wear Light to be a good match for my skin.

First, I'll talk about the regular DW foundation -
I was the most excited to try the regular formula since that's what I'd originally gone to the store for. When I first tried it on, my reaction was "Oh my gosh.... this stuff is AMAZING." The finish is semi-matte and the coverage is medium to full, definitely buildable. Let me say... true to the name, this stuff does NOT budge. I have combination skin with an oily t-zone, and my makeup tends to slip and slide EVERYWHERE by the end of the day. Normally I have to wear my favorite Hourglass Mineral Veil primer underneath ALL my base makeup otherwise there's no point in me putting any on to begin with. But when I tested this foundation, I didn't use any primer because I wanted to see how good the foundation was on its own. Boy, was I IMPRESSED. Even without any primer, it looked better than most of my other foundations look WITH primer. I loved it so much that I wasn't even sure if I should try the Light version...

Speaking of which... The DW Light foundation -
I didn't think I could like it as much as I liked the original DW. But, you guys... believe it or not, Estee Lauder really hit it out of the park with BOTH of these products! The light version has the same budge-proof formula but true to its name, it's slightly lighter. The finish is a more natural finish, and the coverage is a little lighter although it can definitely be built up to a medium coverage which is how I like to wear mine. I seriously cannot speak enough about how great the stay-put ability of these two foundations is. I wore the Light version for 14 hours yesterday... FOURTEEN HOURS!! And when I came home, the foundation looked juuuust about as good as it did in the morning. There was just a little bit of redness peeking through where I have some spots but I didn't look shiny or greasy at all. And I'd say up until the 12 hour point, the redness was still covered pretty well so the foundation really only started breaking down after a full 12 hours in my opinion.

Okay, let's break it down:

The similarities

• Budge-proof formula (both are AMAZING)
• Quick-drying
• "Sticky" feeling - Let me clarify. It's not that the foundation feels sticky on my face, but because they're long-lasting foundations and they don't dry down to a powder finish, they have this slightly tacky feeling after application. For this reason, I like to set my face with one of my Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders just to smooth out the texture, not because it needs any extra coverage or mattification (is that a word?). 

The differences

• Color range - The original Double Wear has a much wider range of colors, complete with undertones, etc. The Light version still has a good range of colors but you'll probably be able to find the PERFECT match for your face with the original DW. That said, I think my DW Light in Intensity 2.0 is pretty spot-on for my light-medium warm-undertone complexion.
• Consistency - DW is more runny and DW Light is slightly thicker
• Finish - Both look incredible on the face, but DW gives a more "perfected" complexion look whereas DW Light looks like "Your Skin But Better" (aka more natural)

The verdict?

Personally, I prefer Double Wear Light after testing both of them out for about a week. The reason why is because as beautiful and flawless as the regular Double Wear looks, it's almost too perfect for my everyday face. As a mama to two kids, most of the time I'm just at home in shorts and a tee, or running errands around our town. Double Wear Light not only gives me great coverage but it looks super natural, which is important to me. I'd feel pretty silly going to the grocery store looking all made-up like I was going out for a fancy date-night with my husband, you know what I mean? Double Wear Light evens out my skin tone but still lets my normal skin kinda peek through. 

Either way, I'd recommend both Double Wear and Double Wear Light for you oily-skinned gals who need a good foundation that won't move at all throughout the day. If you're working or meeting clients, etc, I'd say Double Wear is probably more up your alley, whereas if you're like me and the only people you need to impress are preschoolers, then Double Wear Light is the one for you. 

Both Double Wear and Double Wear Light are $37 for 1.0 oz and can be readily found at retailers like Sephora and Nordstrom.