Korres Quercetin & Oak Antiageing Foundation

Anti-Ageing Foundation

Buying make-up online can be a bit tricky, especially if you have never seen a product in person before. I find that I will stumble upon a great sale (Hautelook... you are my weakness) and just wing it, hoping I order the right color and that the product will work for me. Some times they work and other times I end up passing the products off to friends and family. Recently I bought a whole slew of Korres products on sale and while some of the items I had tried before and loved I had never actually tested out their Quercetin & Oak Antiageing Foundation.

 

I wasn't 100% sure on what color to pick and ended up choosing 05 Bisque, its a shade light for me during the summer months but I was able to make it work mixing in a foundation that was a bit darker. Now that its getting cooler outside and I have been spending less time in the sun I find myself reaching more and more for this foundation and not needing to darken it.

This foundation is marketed as long wearing, anti-aging (that would be from the Quercetin) and promises crease proof and a soft focus finish. I find that this foundation glides on quite smoothly and settles with a youthful hydrating feel. This gives a medium coverage that is easily buildable. For me I tend to reach for high coverage foundations but this  builds nicely and doesn't look cakey when wearing multiple layers. The formulation wears well through the day on more humid days I do see a bit of separation on my t-zone but I fault that more to living in Houston and having oily skin than the foundation itself. In all I really like this foundation and for that matter the Korres brand in general, they always impress me with the quality of their products!

DIY Halloween Wreath

DIY Halloween Wreath

 

Growing up my mom always had us crafting especially around the holidays. My sister and I would sit down with my mom and make our own holiday decorations. This was probably the start of my love affair with crafting. Since we moved into the new house I didn’t have any real decorations for fall/Halloween being that we lived in an apartment previously. So, I decided to make my own Halloween wreath and thought I would share this really easy and fun DIY.

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Fall is here and this weather couldn't be more perfect! I love being able to break out more of my light weight sweaters! This weekend our neighborhood is having the annual fall festival, we are excited to participate in the fun and hopefully make some new friends (we don't know to many people in the area we moved to). Enjoy the weekend!

 

Love this fall wreath tutorial by Tatertots & Jello. I'll be sharing my own wreath tutorial next week. 

I'm drooling over this mexican chorizo and garlic shrimp burger!

Sex and the City reruns are constantly playing and I have probably seen all of the episodes several times, but that doesn't stop me from re-watching this classic. Check out some facts you probably never knew about the show.

Who doesn't love a great cocktail? The girls over at the beauty department have compiled this awesome list of fall themed cocktails.. will you be giving one a try?

Lists of summer reading books abound on the web so I am loving this bloggers request to keep those lists going for Fall reading. Check out her book suggestions HERE.

Now that I have a nice big kitchen with new appliances I feel a lot more food related posts will be coming, these are some food styling tips I will have to keep in my back pocket.

Tan Towel

Tan Towel 

I briefly mentioned my love for Tan Towel last week when I shared the Total Beauty sample box from HSN. Asmentioned in that post I had been turned on to Tan Towel by a friend who had been using it for years. I had finally decided to try it out when HSN had an awesome today special value package. A 34 piece set for just 35 dollars, pretty great deal if you ask me. I was also able to get it on auto ship so I set it for every 90 days till I decide to cancel! SCORE!
Set includes:
12 Tan Towel Plus half body
10 Tan Towel Plus full body
12 Tan Towel Face Tan

Too Faced Bulletproof Brows

Too Faced Bulletproof Brows

Ulta has a 21 days of beauty promotion running, basically every day for 21 days they have 1 or 2 products deeply discounted. This is seriously one of my favorite promotions, you can stock up on great products for super cheap. For instance I was in dire need of new eyebrow filler. I was up for trying something new since I had run out of the NYX Automatic Eyebrow pencil. After I had run out of my last pencil brow filler I was using some taupe/brown shadows as a substitute and it just wasn’t cutting it.  I had seen Ulta was going to have 50% off the TooFaced Bullet Proof Brows and new it was exactly what I had been looking for.

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I filled in my planner for the next couple of months and it hit me that this week is our last free weekend through the end of December. Things are going to be crazy with weddings, football games, girls weekend, and all the holiday festivities. I love having such a full calendar! Have a great weekend!

Credit: Striking Truths

Take a look at marriage counselling in the 1950's... I'd say we've come a long way!

Refinery29 shares a great list of inexpensive beauty buys for fall.

A few great tips for building your work wardrobe regardless of the type of office you work in. Check it out here.

With changing seasons their is always a change in fashion, if you can believe it I don't own any plaid clothing. Crazy I know since fall is pretty much my favorite time of year and you dont think fall with out thinking plaid. This is a cute offering from H&M I am looking to scoop up.

Learn how to make a Fun-Fetti cake from scratch.

Body by Burberry

Body by Burberry

 

I have long been on the hunt for a new fragrance to add into my selection, I have had the same couple of fragrances for a few years (Very Hollywood by Michael Kors and Daisy by Marc Jacobs) and found it was time to switch things up.  Back in May I boughtthe fragrance Amber Musk by Aerin Lauder, I was pretty happy with this perfume but since it was a bit pricier I want to save it for more fun occasions like a night out on the town rather than using it every day. So the search continued, I kept my eyes out for fragrances I thought I might like… tested them during random trips to Ulta but never ended up buying any.

One day in my Gmail I saw I had earned a 25 dollar credit to Ruelala for being such a loyal customer ;). Wahoo! I had just seen they had a whole slew of fragrances up for discount so I promptly logged on and scrolled through the offerings.

HSN Total Beauty Sampler

HSN Total Beauty Sample Box

You may have seen a post (here) a couple months back about this HSN beauty sampler box; well I have finally gotten around to posting some thoughts on it. Sampler boxes have been quite the rage for a few years now and the popularity seems to keep growing as all sorts of retailers are putting together these boxes… even Walmart is getting in on the game! This box is still available on HSN and is just a one-time purchase no worries about monthly subscriptions.

I really like the less frequent/ non subscription boxes over the likes of IPSY and Birchbox because darn-it sometimes I don’t need that many samples! Also with onetime boxes you can usually see what you will be getting and can decide ahead of time if it is worth your money. This sounds much better to me than getting a box of goods to only be disappointed by its contents. Anyways… on to the contents of this box!

A Total Let Down | Garnier Clean + Shine Control Cleanser

Garnier Clean + Shine Control Cleanser

I completely fell in love with the Charcoal detox  face wash from Michael Todd true organics and when I ran out I decided to try and find myself a less expensive alternative, maybe one I could pick up at a local store instead of ordering online. I had seen a few offerings of charcoal face washes around and decided to try this one from Garnier after one blogger raved of its benefits. So I headed out to my local store and picked it up for the inexpensive price of $7.99

Influenster VoxBox

Influenster VoxBox

I received my second influenster box a couple weeks ago and with the big move I hadn't had anytime to share it with you all. Influenster is a program that sends free products to try in return for reviews. Any one can sign up and connect their social media accounts to increase the chances of being picked to receive a box. You can see my first box here.

 

This box wasn't quite as exciting to receive as the last one although a couple items did tickle my fancy. It contained Pure Leaf Tea, Bikini Ready weight loss chews, Elizabeth Arden Caplet Serum, Playtex Sport tampons, Softlips Cube, First Degree Burn Cream

Box Contents: Personally I don't really drink tea unless it's regular unsweetened tea at a restaurant so I didn't try out the Pure Leaf Tea (it was lemon flavored). A girl can always use a box of tampons so this box from Playtex was nice but nothing to write home to mom about. As clumsy as I am the burn cream will surely be put to good use and immediately went into my medicine cabinet (I am always burning my self while cooking or doing my hair).

Now for the two items I fell in love with.

Flawless Future Caplet Serum

 

I was really excited to get a good size sample of this Elizabeth Arden serum. My skin has been all over the place lately going from breaking out like crazy to becoming insanely dry and having flaky patches. I jumped at the chance to try this one out. Elizabeth Arden is a great brand so I had high hopes for this. This is a liquid serum with mini-beads that burst when dispensing. The serum dries smooth and weightless, what I love about this is it makes a great serum that can be used in the morning before putting on make-up. I was able to make the sample last almost 2 weeks and I definitely saw an imporovement in my dryness and uneven skin tone. It is a little pricey at $60 (although in the realm of expensive skincare $60 isn't terrible) but I think totally worth it.


Softlips Cube

I have been using this everyday since receiving it in my box and I have to say I love it! It does have a bit of tingly mintiness but doesn't make my lips peel like most mint chapsticks. The Softlips Cube claims 5 benefits in 1. It hydrates, Shea Butter restores moisture while vitamins A, C, &E help repair damaged skin. Plus it has light weight shine that adds a little something extra to bare lips. Really loving this one! Retail is about $3.50 but are currently on sale at Ulta.


If you are interested in receiving free boxes in exchange for review you can check out Influenster HERE!

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The perennial mark to the end of summer is always Labor Day, which has long and gone but while the feeling of fall has already hit around the country it is still blistering HOT here in Houston with temperatures of 100. My favorite time of year is fall with all of the great holidays and the start of winter with Christmas. Another weekend closer to cool breezes, autumn leaves and carving pumpkins!

I had a chuckle when I scrolled by this on Instagram. Halloween is one of my fave holidays and who doesn't love The Adams Family?

Real salaries of jobs in the fashion industry.

Fast food reasturant menu hacks. Go crazy. Order off the menu.

A great article about the time it takes for women to get ready and it's ok that we didn't #Iwokeuplikethis.

Seth Rogen on how married couples are depicted in movies today.

I desperately want these camo pants for fall. I have never been drawn to camo print all that much but these pants are the perfect addition to my fall wardrobe and I can already imagine the different styles I could wear.

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This weekend I am taking a mini vacation to Louisiana to see my Alma Mater SHSU play LSU. I’m not a huge football fan but how can I pass up a weekend of tailgating, drinks, BBQ and gambling at the casino! We have a pretty good size group of friends going so it should be a real blast! I hope you have an exciting weekend and enjoy this week’s links!

                                              (who doesn't love a good dessert...link below)

I love to bake cookies, I pretty much know the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe by heart. Here are some tips for baking the best chocolate chip cookies around!


Staying with the sweets theme check out this map of the united states broken up by popular desserts. Yum!

You know what they say in fashion... styles from yester year alway pop back up!

What a better way to close out the summer months than with a movie marathon of your guilty pleasure summer movies... we all have them (don't deny it)!

Women listening to men in art.

Blueberry Pie Bars

Blueberry Pie Bars

This past weekend we celebrated Labor Day over at the boyfriends Aunts house. We all hung out by the pool eating and drinking till we were gorged. I decided to bring these delicious and easy to make blueberry pie bars as my contribution to the food spread. They were a huge hit and everyone loved them so much I thought It would be perfect to share the recipe.

 

I originally found this recipe over on Averie Cooks (if you have never had a look at this blog you will find your mouth waters while scrolling through all the delicious recipes), I promise it's amazingly simple to make. I have made this twice now and both times I successfully doubled the recipe with no mishaps.

There are 3 layers to these bars; the crust and crumble topping, filling and the blueberry layer. The ingredients list is split up as such.

Ingredients:

Crust and Crumble Topping

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

1 large egg

1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Blueberry Layer

12 ounces (2 cups) blueberries (I used frozen)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Use aluminum foil to line an 8-inch square pan (I used a pan for doubling this recipe) and spray with cooking spray; set aside. You should not skip lining the pan, it really makes cleanup such a breeze.

Crust and Crumble Topping – whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Then add flour, the result will be a dry crumble mixture with small and large chunks. Set aside ¾ cup of mixture to use later on as the crumble topping. Use remaining mixture to create crust by pouring into prepared pan and packing mixture to create an even flat surface. I like to use my fingers for this. Set aside.

Filling - In a medium bowl, add the egg, Greek yogurt, sugar, vanilla, and whisk to combine.   Next add the flour to mixture and whisk to combine. Evenly pour filling over crust. Make sure to distribute evenly and smooth out with a spatula. Set aside.

Blueberry Layer - In a medium mixing bowl (I just use the same one I used as the filling), add blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Evenly distribute blueberry mixture over the filling.

Sprinkle reserved crust mixture evenly over pan to create the crumble topping.

Bake for about 60 minutes, or until edges are bubbling the crust and crumble topping should be golden brown. I used frozen blueberries for this, if you using fresh blueberries your baking time will decrease. I would start at 45 minutes adding more time as needed. When done be sure to let your bars cool completely before cutting. I like to bake mine the night before I need them so they can cool overnight. Then enjoy!