Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Christmas card template from: Shabby Blogs

Heidi Klum's VS Holiday 2009 Exotic Jewels Collection

For the most part when it comes to makeup I've never really been one to buy anything besides normal drugstore brands. However, when I first saw Hedi Klum's Exotic Jewels Holiday collection for Victoria Secret it was love at first sight. I came across the collection in November when I was browsing Victoria's Secrets website and just knew I had to take a trip to VS and splurge on something!

I ended up getting two items from the Exotic Jewels collection. First I got the Face Powder Gems which was a random gift from my sister. The gems are a mix of pinks, nudes and champages and I've been using it over my blush to add a little extra sparkle. To me the Face Powder Gems aren't really all that pigmented, but they do provide a little bit of sparkle. And not a fake glittery one but a nice subtle glow. I also got a $10 dollar gift card in the mail from Victoria Secret for the holidays and I used that on the Hidden Palace eyeshadow palette. From my experience Victoria Secret makes really great eyeshadow palettes!

I own one other VS eyeshadow palette which I think is from one of their makeup collections in 2007 (the Heavenly Faces quad with white, brown, purple and blue shadows). Ever since I got the Heavenly Faces palette it has been one of my FAVORITE go-to eyeshadow palettes. My addiction to these VS eyeshadows was one of the reasons I could not pass up Hedi Klum's Hidden Palace palette. After using Hedi's palette a few times I can honestly say I LOVE it just as much (if not more than) my Heavely Faces one!!! It's seriously AMAZING! The shadows are pigmented yet you can still apply them sheer. The only color eyeshadow that I haven't tried from the collection is the black. Mostly because I don't know what to do with it or how to incorporate it in with the lighter shades. The only downside to the palette is that the brush it comes with isn't all that great. Personally I don't see that as being such a big deal. I just use another eyeshadow brush I have.

The limited edition collection was inspired by Hedi's recent trip to India and includes six items:

• Passion Fruit Lip Gloss $14
• Exotic Spice Perfect Lipstick $16
• Luminous Face Powder Gems $22
• Majesty Glitter Liquid Liner $12
• Hidden Palace Eyeshadow Palette $24
• Amethyst Extra-lengthening Mascara $13
  

The face gems and eyeshadow palette are probably about all I will be getting from the collection. I love the shade of the lipstick and lipgloss however they both have a strong smell to them that I really couldn't stand. I read online they are supposed to smell like chocolate but in the store they smelled like spices to me. I don't use eyeliner all that much so there is no need to buy that. If I were to get anything else from the collection it would probably be the Amethyst mascara...I don't know if I am adventurous enough to try a crazy colored mascara though!

If you haven't yet check out Hedi Klum's limited edition Exotic Gems collection! These items great quality, beautifully packaged and best of all modestly priced. The Exotic Jewels collection items would make really great gifts (to give or get) for the holidays. Overall I am SUPER happy with the two items I have. I think this may be the beginning of an addiction to Victoria Secret's makeup...I'm really excited to see what they have in store for Spring/Summer and even for next year around the holidays! :)

YouTube Beauty Guru looks I'm loving for the Holiday Season...

Hi Girls! Just though I would share two makeup tutorials from YouTube that I have tried and think are cute (especially for the winter/holiday season)! In November I tried julieg713's plaid nail art design. I think her design would be super cute for the holiday season! You could even use traditional plaid colors such as red, black, and green or come up with your own crazy combination of colors.

Another look I am really loving is AllThatGlitters21's "Pop of Green" tutorial that she did for people with brown eyes. I have brown eyes and I agree with her-the bit of green really shows them off ! I love this look so much I have been doing a dupe of it ALL week long!

P.S.- For Elle's Pop of Green look Avon's Glimmerstick eyeliner in Emerald is a great (and cheaper) alternative to Urban Decay's Covet. That's what I've been using! :)

Yes, I started Black Friday shopping... and it's not even FRIDAY yet!

My favorite shopping day of the year by far is Black Friday. Super crazy I know, but I've woken up year after year at the crack of dawn to go to the mall and shop til I drop. This year I think I'm going to sleep in. I found some awesome deals online both yesterday and today so there's really no need for me to go to the actual stores.

If you love Black Friday as much as I do, you probably already know its the one day a year New York & Company has their fabulous 50% off sale on EVERYTHING! It started yesterday on their website and I ordered one of those comfy velor jacket and pants set in graphite heather grey. Both were on sale for $14.97 each.

I also picked up the graphite heather sequin tank from their ComfortZone collection for $9.97 to wear with the velour jogging suite. It will look super cute for winter and the holiday season!


I also decided to check out American Eagle as well and saw they are having a Thanksgiving Day sale online; 25% off and FREE SHIPPING off any order. Even items from the clearance section! Can't beat that. Whenever I went to actual AE stores on Black Friday they never really have any steep discounts.

I ordered the AE Herringbone flats from the clearance section in both red and grey. They came to only $18.71 a pair. I doubt I will actually keep both colors. I'll decide which ones I prefer when I see them in person.

I also ordered the suede AE Tumbleweed boots. LOVE LOVE LOVE boots. Especially slouchy ones like these that have that vintage worn in look. These boots sold for $89.50 at full price. They were also from the clearance section as well and I ended up getting them for only $44.96!

I'm not really one to order shoes online and have never purchased any shoes from AE. I'm hoping I'll like them just as much in person and that they will fit right! If not I suppose it's not the end of the world as I can easily return them to my local AE store.

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Black Friday shopping! :)

NY& Co. clearance rack finds!

This past weekend I went to the mall and found some great super cheap stuff in the clearance section of my New York & Company. There was a ton of stuff and EVERYTHING was 70% off! (On top of that I also got an additional discount for being a Triple A member). If you shop at New York & Company definitely check out the clearance section! They are probably clearing older merchandise so they can put new stuff out for the holiday shopping season.

Anyways here is my haul...
I got this shirt. It's just a simple white shirt with elbow length sleeves and flower detailing at the neckline. The retailed for $18.95 at full price. I nabbed it from the clearance rack for $4.26!

I also got a plain black shirt that looks similar to this one. Instead of flowers, it has silver rhinestones around the neckline. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of it on NYandCompany.com, guess they must have sold out of it online. It was $4.26 as well.

My favorite of all is the plaid ruffle cami's I got. I was ecstatic with this find, so much so that I ended up buying it in three colors (the fuchsia/cranberry color shown in the picture below, the brown plaid print, and the black plaid print)!

They were only $6.07 each (a HUGE markdown from the original sale price of $26.95)! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the plaid print and the ruffles... its just super super cute! I've only had them since Friday and I've worn the fuchsia and black ones already! Plus after going into another NY&Co. store this weekend and seeing these camis still marked at full-price I know I was very lucky to get such a great deal on them! :)

Happy clearance rack shopping! XOXO

These boots were made for walkin'

I love UGG style boots but as a recent college grad I can't justify paying a couple hundred dollars for real ones. Maybe someday. I've been on the search for a new pair for the winter and this past weekend while I was watching TV I saw the cutest pair of UGG style boots in Macy's Veterans Day sale commercial . Less than 24 hours later I was on Macys.com ordering myself a pair. They just came today and they really are super cute! Unlike most imitation UGGs they are REAL suede and were on sale for only $39.99! Can't beat a deal like that. Cold Jersey winters, I'm ready for you! These are the boots that will be keeping my feet warm & cozy...

Style&Co. Witty Cold Winter Suede Boots Macys.com $39.99

Since UGG style boots always seem to be popular but not everyone wants to spend so much on the real thing I thought I would blog about my find and the other cute and affordable alternatives I have found. Winter is just around the corner after all!

Style&Co. Shorty Cold Weather Suede Boots Macys.com $39.99

Embroidered-Graphic Faux-Suede Boots OldNavy.com $34.50

Faux-Fur Lace-Up Boots OldNavy.com $39.50

Steve Madden Avalon Sweater and Suede Boot FamousFootwear.com $59.99

Pearls are a girl's bestfriend...

Next year when looking for a Halloween costume idea never underestimate the potential of your Grandmother's closet (if you have a stylish Grandma that is)! What did I find in my Grandma's closet? A vintage shift dress style gown and pill box hat that I used this past weekend to recreated a Jackie O look. And of course you can't forget Jackie's staples- pearls and a pair of over-sized sunglasses! The frames I'm rockin' are my own pair of Coach Georgette in Light Tortoise.

Farmer's Market=FABULOUS!

Who would have thought?!? I went to a farmer's market the other day mainly because I was looking for those plastic claw hair clips. I'm a klutz and am always breaking them! I can rarely EVER find cute ones in stores... I used to find ones I liked at Claire's but their section for hairclips has gotten alot smaller. ULTA had some cute ones but they were insanely priced ($12-$15) dollars for a PLASTIC clip. Thanks, but ummm no thanks? I know those farmer/flea market places usually have vendors that sell clips for cheap so of course I needed to go there to see if I could find any. It was well worth the trip, I ended up getting quite a bit of cute hair accesories and a few other things as well! :)

Here are some pictures of my haul from the farmer's/flea market I went to...

These are some of the accessories I got. I got a pack of brown bobby pins that came in a cute little plastic case which makes them perfect for tossing in my purse when I'm on the go! I also got a few brown claw clips (I'm a brunnette so I just think brown ones look the nicest in my hair). Isn't the butterfly shaped one in the upper left-hand corner just the CUTEST?!?



Here are the other hair accessories I got. These are a bit more "fancier". I got a pack of ponytail holders made of green pearl like beads and a few more decorative clips with flower designs on them! I think pretty much all the hair accesories I got were only $1 each! The brown and green hair clips with flowers painted on them were the most expensive and they were only $1.35 each.... With prices as cheap as this why even bother buying accesories from a retail store???

In addition to the hair accesories I got a few other random items....


Some new scarfs for winter! One has a plaid print that looks similar to the trademark Burberry look and the other is just a white and black hounds tooth print. These were only $5! I love scarfs and love having a bunch so I can mix and match them up and wear different ones throughout winter. I think these will look so cute with my black pea coat. I am also still searching for a new coat for this winter. I really want a red peacoat and ordered two different ones from Kohls. I can't wait til they come and am hoping I end up keeping one because I think of these scarfs would look adorable with a red coat!

I also bought this bracelet handmade out of vintage pearls and coral beads. I LOVE it and thought it was just so cute and girly. Best part? IT WAS ONLY $5!!!! And it came with the cute little blue flower print handmade jewelry bag. This is probably my favorite item of everything I bought yesterday.


The last thing I got was this Christina Aguliera tour t-shirt for $1. I don't know what tour this is from as I have never been a one of her concerts but I love Christina. The tag in the back of the shirt was cut a bit so I have no idea what size it is but I'm sure its going to be big for me. I recently found this book in the library called Generation T 108 ways to transform a T-Shirt so I am thinking maybe I might try one of the projects in the book and make the shirt into something. One of the projects in the book showed instructions on how to tranform a t-shirt into a tote bag which I think its totally cute! Here is an picture of a totebag made from a t-shirt that I found online:


I might do that... if anyone has any ideas/suggestions about what I can make with the t-shirt let me know! :)

It's a Charmed Life...

Welcome to my new blog It's a Charmed Life... the musings of a 20-something. This blog was inspired by a few blogs I have came across via YouTube (mainly kandee the makeup artist and Ramblings of a Makeup and Shopping Addict). Here I will blog about fashion, shopping, and other random things. I started my first blog in 2006, Shelley's Star Autographs about my hobby of collecting celebrity autographs as a way to share my successes (which for the most part were obtained through writing to venues/fan mail addresses, although I do have a few in-person successes!) with other collectors. I enjoy blogging so figured I would start another blog! :)