My Favorite Hair and Makeup Products

What woman doesn't want to talk about hair and makeup?! New products, trying new things, tips and tricks, colors... the fun goes on.
Being in cosmetology school, I've learned a lot of tips and tricks. Some I use, some I use only on clients. So today I decided to share with you all whats in my cosmetic bag!

These are my every day go to products. I don't know what I'd do or look like for that matter without my dream team.
Lets start with my hair products. These are just some that I use every day: Bed Heads Ego Boost Moroccanoil Luminous Medium Hairspray Catwalks Thickening Gel Riccis Head Trip Locked Up Root Booster
At school we sell Bed Head, Catwalk, and Riccis products. So of course I have a ton of them floating around. You can buy all but the Riccis brand in stores. I highly recommend Ego Boost if you have split ends and need a lightweight leave in conditioner. Moroccanoil Hairspray is the best hairspray on the market. It's slightly expensive but it's fabulous for your hair. And with short hairstyles, you need a lot of spray. Catwalks thickening gel is freakin amazing! If you have thin and/or fine hair that won't do anything, buy this product NOW! I have both thin-fine hair that hates volume or being thick, I bought this and it looks like I have triple my normal hair, I get tons of volume, and a little goes a long way. Riccis Locked Up is a root booster to help boost volume from the root and help to give you the upmost volume. Mix that with the thickening gel and you're a sexy hair goddess.
** Also amazing tip: if you want a post makeup finishing mist that'll help your  makeup last all day, spray hairspray on it! It's better than a finishing product. It's sticky at first but once it dries, you can't even tell**
My go to eye makeup: Urban Decays Naked 2 Palette Maybellines Dark Brown Eyebrow Pencil Maybellines Falsies Mascara Mally Volumizing Mascara elf gel eyeliner
If you aren't great at doing eyeshadow or making a smokey eye, the naked palette is fool proof. You can mix all the colors or a couple and create a sexy simple look or sexy smokey eye. Nicole's eyeshadow color tip: Most people think to match the color of their eye to the eyeshadow... NEVER DO THAT!! One thing most women don't realize is  just how important eyebrows are for the final look. A filled in eyebrow is super sexy. You don't even need an eyebrow pencil, you can use eyeshadow!! I use both. Try it and let me know what you think. I use two mascaras- one for volumizing, one for length. Both of these together makes my eyelashes look fake and sexy as hell. Gel eyeliner is the new thing and let me  tell you, I'm so glad I tried it. Now I won't go back to anything else. Sometimes if I want a fine line I'll use my felt tip liquid eyeliner. But for $3 this gel liner is bangin!!! 
Last but not least, my face makeup: Covergirl Trublend foundation Physicians Formula bronzer Mac blush
I go between liquid and powder foundation, right now I'm rockin the trublend. It's lightweight and blends perfectly. Physicians Formula to me has the best bronzer out there. I haven't found another bronzer like it. Put the bronzer OVER the foundation and you'll forever have a sexy glow. Don't forget to blend down through the neck, nobody wants a tan line. The Mac blush was gifted to me, it's verrryy pigmented so I put a little on and boy does that little go a long way. Never put blush on below your cheekbones, start at your apple and swipe upward over your bone.
Hope this helped or gave some insight into awesome and generally cheap makeup purchases. Next time I'll talk about contouring and highlighting.

A Beer Pong Table, Pumpkins, Football, and Bonfires

Today I'm linking up with Sami  from Sami's Shenanigans ffooorr:

Saturday morning was spent at school, and it was a heck of a busy day. Since there are only about 10 of us on the floor able to take clients, we were all doubling up. It was crazy but awesome at the same time. I also got to try Sexy Mother Pucker extreme lip plumper which was weird feeling. It makes your lips tingle and feel numb, but it made my bottom lip larger.

Saturday evening after a hectic day, and many plan changes, we headed to Hartford for a Halloween party at a super fun bar with my sister and her fiance plus a couple of our friends. My sister informed me literally 2 hours before we would have to leave that it was a costume party... yea we didn't have a costume. Somehow I thought of the easiest, coolest homemade couples costume ever.

We were a beer pong table.

And boy was it a hit at the bar.

We carried around pong balls and had people play.

We were also asked to enter the group contest...

we didn't win but was told but half the people that we should've.

Sunday morning we slept in after a late night out.

It felt so nice to not set an alarm, let me tell you.

After we finally got our act together,

we went out to brunch at a local diner

and then pumpkin picking!!

I sat in the wheel barrel and was literally crying

I was laughing so hard... but made for a cute picture.

Sunday night we headed over to my parents house

for our usual bonfire and dinner date.

And we carved our pumpkins too!!

Dans is the awesome minion,

mine is an angry (suppose to be happy) pumpkin.

We also made banana boats,

which is bananas, chocolate, and marshmellows wrapped

in aluminum and put in the simmering fire.

Welp lemme tell you-

you're suppose to use hersheys, not semi sweet choc. chips.

We also didn't have marshmellows.

They weren't bad,

but definitely not great.

More fun to make because we were laughing so hard

at the provocative looking bananas.

So there ya have it. I also received great news Friday night at work: I am being promoted and start my training as a bartender at work. I'm super excited to finally be trained and working as a bartender. I also feel extremely honored because I was  chosen amongst the many people I work with. Here's to new adventures :)
How was your weekend?? Do anything exciting?! Share below.

The Not So Perfect Me.

Around here I like to keep things fun, quirky, and all about hair with a side of food and marriage. That's the way I normally am every day in real life as well.
However,  there is a side of me that I try super hard to hide on a daily basis.
I have severe paranoia and anxiety. About a lot of things. And it drives me absolutely nuts every day.
Some things that I constantly think about are: bugs, lice, money, health, allergic reactions, death, work, my future, cleanliness... the list goes on.
Most seem stupid and crazy, but for some reason they haunt me. It's a daily struggle to try and get them out of my mind.
I haven't found anything that works except for whenever I'm with Sir Dan. He just has this way about making everything go away. I feel safest when I'm with him. It's great and bad at the same time. I'm hoping one day to feel this way on my own.
Every day I work towards relaxing and letting everything go. Little by little I will get through this.
Does anybody else go through stuff like this? Any advice??

The Time I Thought I Could Be A Fashion Blogger

I'm not really one to be  in the fashion now. Sure I try to be, but because my wardrobe consists of  mainly black, it's extremely hard.
However, I'm a sucker for some cute boots. And over the past couple years, I've worn the exact same pair of boots. Now they are torn and worn like a retired prostitute. With some money I've been saving from work, I decided to treat myself to some new ones.

I'm obsessed with them both. However does anybody else have this problem?!?!

One side zips all the way up, the other doesn't quite make it?! What the heck calves!!! So now my goal is to stretch the crap outta these boots so that they both zip up. So now I'm wearing them around the house  in hopes that they'll be stretched enough for tomorrow. Highly doubted, but a great idea.
Have you bought any cute boots for the upcoming season??

A Fall Filled Weekend

I'm super sad it's Monday, for once. I normally love Sundays and Mondays, but this weekend was too much fun  and I don't want it to stop.

one. Sunday night at my parents house consisted of one of my favorite home cooked meals, a bonfire, and crazy convos about child birth. needless to say- I'm not going to be bearing children now. two. we had to stop at target really quick and I spotted this. It's October 20th... this disgusts me!! three. Saturday night we hit up our fave local bar for some drinks after our adventure up to NH. four. at the Keene annual pumpkin festival. literally hundreds upon hundreds of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes.  five. at a beautiful lake in NH. so romantic and gorgeous with all fall foliage. six. the beautiful path to the lake. seven. another spot on the lake. eight-nine. again at the pumpkin festival. one of the coolest pumpkins  at the festival. 
How was your weekend?! Can we rewind and do it all over again??

Vino. Vino. And More Vino.

After all of my years of drinking, and more importantly, this past year when my relationship with wine  went from casually dating to in a serious relationship- I've never been to a vineyard. Yes I know, I should be punished.
However,  this past weekend one of my best friends was celebrating her birthday and decided to head up to a vineyard in good ol' CT. There's actually a lot of vineyards in CT, which is just making this worse for me, huh?
As some of you may or may not know, Sir Dan does not drink alcohol at all. We were all slightly worried because it's a  day full of drinking, but he had equally as much fun.
Vineyards (if you've never been) are absolutely gorgeous and aren't just all about drinking (that's somewhat of a lie). Chamard Vineyard was absolutely breath taking. It was a partly cloudy day, around 65 degrees, crisp with a slight fall breeze.
My friends sister and I did the wine tasting and found the most delicious fresh mines I've ever tasted. My favorite was the Chardonnay that they made  on premises and grapes from the vineyard.
And now I'm gonna let the pictures do the rest of the talking. But honestly, go to a local vineyard and relax. Especially around this time of year when the leaves are changing and the air/weather is beautiful.

The wines we tasted

wine tasting buddy

the best wine I've ever had

the vineyard

I Found Mine.

Well the mushy theme seems to be the it thing around these parts. I'm normally not a mushad, but it's a good change :)
A couple weeks ago, my real life bestie Karla posted about the list, the list every girl makes about the 'perfect' guy. A while ago, I made my dream guy list. And here's some of it: Can't do drugs or smoke (anything). Not an alcoholic. Dark hair, light eyes, perfect teeth. Healthy, no crazy diseases or problems. Taller than me. Smart. Financially stable. Lots of goals. Knows where he's going with life.
It went on into more specific details of what I'd like and wouldn't like. Over the course of my dating life, I've let some of these slide. Most girls I feel do this, the most important ones at that. I let my top bunch fade away for 'the man of my dreams' at the time. I'd always let: can't smoke or do drugs, financially stable, smart, and has goals just vanish.
Finally I started growing up more and more and stop really looking for my 'soulmate.' I also realized that those few things were very important and to not let them go for anybody. 
Then I met my actual soulmate. From the day I met Sir Dan, I knew he was put in front of me for a reason. Do you know how many of the things Sir Dan filled and how many I had to change? He filled them all and I didn't change one thing, or let one go for that matter. That's how you know you've met your soulmate. You don't have to change yourself, your partner, or anything else... Their meant for you, and you them. Don't settle for anybody, there's somebody out there for everybody. Each day I'm thankful for whomever led me to my soulmate.

It's the Little Things

I've noticed recently that  I haven't really talked about the whole marriage thing on this here blog. So I've decided to change that right now.
The other day when I was finally starting to feel better, all I wanted to do was clean the apartment head to toe and do my laundry. But I still wasn't feeling well enough, I hadn't let my body rest between school and work... there was no way I could clean the apartment.
I texted Dan who was already at work, asking if he'd mind cleaning the bathroom.  His immediate response "not a problem, baby." After I got done getting ready, I headed downstairs to get my lunch squared away. The kitchen needed a good cleaning. Ssoo I texted Sir Dan asking if he'd mind also cleaning the kitchen. Again his response "sure, babe."
After work I came home to a clean kitchen and bathroom...  not like a woman would scrub, but clean enough to get by.
Our laundry is in the basement, which is two flights of stairs to go up and down with a basket or two full of laundry. I'm short and not super strong, so it's tough for me to carry them. On our way out yesterday, I asked if he'd mind bringing it down for me. He came back upstairs (which I did not know he wasn't upstairs), got my basket and brought it downstairs. But it didn't stop there- he put the load of laundry in for me. Nope it didn't stop there either. This morning after we switched it over to the dryer, I found my basket of clean laundry upstairs waiting for me.
Every day, my husband does something small that still surprises me. Whether it's a compliment (which is daily), the laundry, cleaning, rubbing my feet every night, the little things, I am constantly shocked at his forever giving. Sir Dan expects nothing in return, a kiss and a hug and some cuddling in bed. The little things are the things I look forward to, because I never know what their going to be, or when or why. I love the little things.

Steal-ing

I found this little gem on my dear  bestie Karla's blog the other day, and really like it... So I stole it from her :)

making : well according to Sir Daniel, sweet loooove... but not right now haha. We are currently making our super well known, absolutely delicious favorite dinner.

Chicken Stuffed Shells.

cooking : ^^ those amazing shells
drinking : a water bottle filled with 3 packets of Emergen-C as fast as I can because that stuff is absolutely disgusting.reading: Some awesome blog posts
wanting: to not be getting sick like everybody else I know and am around all day. Hence the Emergen-C overdosage.
looking: for a nice black pair of boots... uh I love fall and boots,

but they don't make cute ones in baby sizes with dancer calves.

playing: TheSims Free Play on my phone while playing American Horror Story on Netflix, season 1... mostly on mute because I hate scary things.wasting: no time on getting through school as fast as I can to start making some real money. 
wishing: for some super awesome fall foliage and clothes to go with the beautiful weather we've been having.enjoying: the gorgeous, crisp weather and completely clear blue skies while watching the leaves turn into beautiful shades of falls colors.

waiting: for science to come up with something where you can lose whatever you weight you want in 1 day. Ok I'll take a week but something 

like that invention would be nice.

liking: my sisters brand new 2013 Honda Civic and wanting one of my own.
wondering: what is going on with our government. I've never been a fan of the government, but I like knowing something is there.loving:  my husband and his unconditional love and support. I've never had someone support me as much as him, even for something as stupid as coming home from work. hoping: that one day I'll get that excitement for having a child or two instead of being petrified... because I want children but 

don't want to go through the process.

marveling: at how smart and determined my husband  is in every aspect of his life. Please send a prayer that he 

gets a teaching job he recently interviewed for.

smelling: our amazing dinner cooking away
wearing: PJs cause they are super comfy.
following: this current path that I'm on
noticing: how much I missed blogging, but don't want it  to take over my life like it did before.knowing: that tomorrow is HUMP DAY and one of my best friends is coming in to get her hair donethinking: back to this weekend of apple picking with Sir Dan on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. We laughed the whole time and had a little romantic moment to ourselves.

bookmarking: some fun ways to decorate for the fall
opening: my locked phone to see tons of notifications and emails
giggling: at how cute my husband is while he plays an online game with his older brother on the other end of the state.feeling: tired and sickly, but happy and content at the same time.

Food, food, & Some Awesome Juggling.

Welcome fall in all its glory!!! Fall is by far my favorite time of year: big sweaters, boots, the colors, crisp weather, pumpkin everything...  the list can go on forever.
But one of my all time favorite events of fall is: The Big E. It is a fair 20 times bigger than all town fairs, it has a carnival, food up the wazoo, vendors,  animals, shows, concerts, games... you name it, they have it.
Sir Dan and I go at least a couple times while they're open for 17 days. This year we went twice on the most glorious fall days with the sun shining high. And we ate our way through the Big E, both times. Here I'll let the pictures do the talking:

there was piglet racing.

tons and tons of my favorite animal.
if you didn't know, now you do-
I have a cow obsession.

sheep sheering demos

this one speaks for itself

fried pickles

the craz-e burger-
a bacon cheese burger in between a glazed donut=
heaven

cow milking demos- one of my favorite things

an over abundance of candy apples and fair food

personal sauna boxes which are to die for

venison smokies are also freakin amazing

oversized dill pickles

the 'twerking' machine- really a workout machine

best baked potato known to man-
oversized potato with:
bacon, cheese, sour cream, butter, chives, and BBQ pulled pork on top

fresh corn

baby piggies.

I'm surprised that we even made it out without  being thrown in a wheel barrel. I wish this fair was all year long :)