If You Don't Know, Now You Know...

Ebates...seriously one of the best incentives to shop online.  Start your shopping at ebates.com; search for the store and click shop now!  A new window will open and you will see a tracking number.  Within a few seconds, you will be redirected to the homepage of whatever store you are shopping from and off you go!  There is nothing left for you to do aside from shop.  Ebates tracks your purchases via that tracking number and you get a certain % back.  You can get the money deposited into your PayPal account, sent to you via check or sent to someone else.  I've always opted to have the check sent to me.  Info on when the money is paid can be found on their website.  They also offer bonuses for referrals; if you are new to Ebates, I totally appreciate you clicking my affiliate link here.  But, if you chose not to, no big deal.  The point is that you are being paid to shop :)  We can all agree that is a good thing!

Seasons of Change

 Mits been a while since I've blogged...like, a year. To say my life has been flipped upside down and shaken to pieces is an understatement. My dad died on July 2nd. His loss is tangible; there will never be a way to fill the void he has left. He was the funniest, smartest, sweetest, kindest, hardest working, most all around amazing person I've ever met. Saying that I miss him is a gross understatement. I am so lucky that he is my dad and I will forever be grateful for having him. He truly set the bar HIGH on what being a dad should be. After his loss, Chris and I decided to relocate to Morgantown. I could transfer easily with my job, my mom needed the help and I wasn't a fan of Charleston in any way shape or form. Well, I loved some of the shopping but I'll get to that in a few. So, we sold all of our belongings, listed our house and once again call Morgantown home. Chris is the marketing director for an engineering company here and we're all settled in. Speaking of the Charleston house, it's under contract and closing should be soon. Like next week soon. Fingers crossed!

For those of you unfamiliar with Morgantown, I will share this one tidbit with you.  The shopping is horrid. The makeup shopping is so bad its almost criminal.  Which, since I've given up buying makeup once again for Lent, it's a good thing. All 325 other days, though, it's crapola. How Sephora and Ulta have missed this college town is beyond me!  Since I'm resigned to drug store brands, Lancôme, Clinique and Too Faced and The Balm from a local spa (which have saved me from the edge...thanks Spa Roma), I've been drooling over the web and QVC. With that being said, I thought I'd jump back in with a few recent favorites, both drug store and prestige...

1. Primers. For a while I wasn't sold on primers. The silicone based ones left me wondering what the hell happened to my makeup within 30 minutes of application and some of the others just seemed to do nothing as far as prolonging my foundation or keeping my eye makeup vibrant and crease free. Then, at the recommendation of several of my favorite YouTube gurus, I found Rimmel Stay Matte Primer and Milani Eyeshadow Primer.  These two are total holy grail status and both from the drug store. For me, these surpass Urban Decay, Kores, Benefit, Smashbox, Bare Minerals and Nars...no joke.  Rimmel's primer truly keeps my face matte allllll day. That's saying something.  I can look a little Exxon Valdez in the ol' t-zone. So can my eyelids. Not with Milani. Put them both on and let them set for a few before putting on any color (note: put your eye primer under your eyes and it can help your under eye concealers last longer). 

2.  AA..BB..CC...Huh??  Since this trend has made its way from Asia, I was pumped!  My first foray into BB creams left me underwhelmed. It was seriously just a tinted moisturizer. What was the hype all about???  Then, just a few weeks ago, I decided to try IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream. Now I get it. This stuff is amazing. It's SPF 50 which is a must for ye olde pale skin. Its cruelty free. And it's from IT. If you haven't tried IT Cosmetics, I HIGHLY recommend the entire line. I have the Celebration Foundation, Bye Bye Under Eye concealer, Vitality Face Disk and three brushes. I love them all. I can't wait to try their lip products which I've heard great things about. I'm especially intrigued by the blue toned lip gloss which makes your lips look super white (it was on QVC yesterday and I drooled during the entire presentation (item number A231719 because I know you're dying to know about the blue lip gloss, too).  Another thing that makes me love IT is their customer service. I had a packaging issue with the CC cream so I emailed them. That afternoon, I got a sweet response from Holly asking for my mailing address because they wanted to replace the product. How awesome is this??  That went above and beyond and I appreciate it. Thanks again, IT!

3.  Lip Service  I have no self restraint with lip products. None. I have a sinful number of lip products but you can bet the house that's the first thing I look at when perusing cosmetics. Right now, I'm loving Maybelline Color Elixir in 105 Polished Petal. It's limited edition, so I bought two. Of course I bought two. Why wouldn't I buy two??  I've heard there is a matching lipstick but it has evaded my clutches. Have any of y'all seen it?  Another new favorite is the reforumlated and gold tube encased Urban Decay Naked Lipgloss in Lovechild. I initially bought it in the shade Naked but was dismayed that it was NOT the same shade as the original Lip Junkie squeeze tube shade. Lovechild is a gorgeous shade that has fulfilled my "all things UD Naked" dreams. An "old" staple lip color is from Jouer in the limited shade Birchbox Pink. Super bright shade in the tube but goes on sheer.  Great shade and Jouer is a great line. 

More favorites to follow...hope y'all have a happy day!!