Here's to a BRILLIANT NEW YEAR!

SO EXCITED ABOUT 2009!!! I wish everyone success and happiness in all they want to accomplish in the year ahead!

Some of my makeup looks...

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Gotta love LA!

I purchased this corseted top at a little boutique in Panorama City a month ago for $3??? It was beyond clearance, and it's not defected or worn! Though, it wasn't a thrift store, just a hole in the wall boutique. Since it's winter, I will pair it with a black cardigan, and pearls always add a nice and feminine touch.

Red again...

Untitled by XGlamourousX

I really do have a love affair with red, it's such a powerful color!

Seeing red

L'amour by XGlamourousX

Various things I like...

Untitled by XGlamourousX

Alexander McQueen, yet another formidable Brit!

From his RTW Spring 2009 Collection....

Endless diaphanous layers of ballerina-esque tulle, emanates a delicate yet haute couture air. Very Carrie Bradshaw, Season 6. I think that is the season she really embraced her femininity, or should I say Patricia Field finally embraced and displayed her feminine creativity, for Carrie's character.

While the wild artsy hair works for the unrealistic runway, in real life I would have paired this with medium pearls and soft wavy hair. For evening, low side ponytail, beret and little black jacket.

Amandine Bakery on Wilshire

Adorable little cafe & bakery amid bustling Wilshire Blvd, in Beverly Hills. The best buttery, flaky croissants ever! Though the sandwich left much to be desired as I am a vegetarian and asked for tuna but had to settle for the wrong order of turkey and avocado, so I just took out the turkey, and ate it with the yummy side salad it included. They also had a gorgeous array of desserts and pastries to choose from, decided against them, since the content description card attached didn't seem too appealing.











Gorgeous winter day in Santa Monica, really felt more like a hot summer day.

Pink Cheeks!

At the moment, I am rotating through:

L-R: NYX PB04 Silky Rose, NYX PB05 Pinky, MAC Pink Shock, Maybelline Fresh Plum

Blush is one of my favorite products to apply and I get unusually excited right before I apply it, about applying it as much as selecting the day's shade. No matter the season, pink is always my favorite! I well like Maybelline Fresh Plum, as I have said before it reminds me of NARS blushes in the respect that they are deeply pigmented so a little will go a long way, so it will wear all day also. Girls Luv Pink by Milani is actually an eyeshadow, although since I am am multi-tasker, I expect the same from various beauty products, so I utilize this as a cheek hightligher as well. One little disappointment, however, NYX PB04 Silky Rose, hardly shows any result, no matter how much effort you put in applying it. So when I go for the barely-there look, it's what I reach for, so it's not all together a complete waste.

VIVA la ULTA & ESSIE!

L-R: Vanity Fairest, Pink Is The Link, Room With A View, Mademoiselle, Formal Dinner, Cocktail Party



I love to combine Essie polishes and create my own looks, this is one of my favorites, Mademoiselle & Vanity Fairest together.


I finally found and visited the Ulta Beauty in Burbank a few days ago. My shopping experience has been good there in the past, I like the high end/drugstore end combined idea. Also makes it easier if you have to make multiple purchases from multiple stores, novel idea.

Upon inspecting my vast nail polish collection, I realized I was out of my beloved Mademoiselle from Essie. I wish I just stopped at Madmoiselle, but at the scene of the crime I realized I was out of Vanity Fairest, ooooh, and Pink Is The Link is adorable, and what lovely shimmer Room With A View has! Yes, I scored all four.

What I adore about Essie: long-lasting, hardly chips, quick-drying, uber shiny, don't need a top coat, but I add one just to protect, very wearable colors and sophisticated. The majority of the line, or I should say my favorite part of the line, is neutrals, pale pinks, beige, milky opaques, but no matter how similar they may look in the bottles, upon application it's a completely different effect, perfect for every mood, skin tone.

After deciding my final purchases, I looked at the Holiday Collection for 2008, namely the reds which I love on my toes this time of year. I liked a few but decided I had done sufficient damage thus far. So I was happy to find out that since I have an ULTA rewards card, with every $14 worth of Essie spent, you select a complimentary shade of red! I got the reds anyway, two of them, in Formal Dinner and Cocktail Party, what a sweet deal!

P.S. I do my own nails and toes.

Mini Mac Collection

L-R: Creme D'Nude - Angel - Snob - Pink Nouveau - Girl About Town

While most girls, ladies, women rush out to get the latest and greatest from every new MAC collection, speaking of which, who launches new collections every two to three weeks? One collection hardly gets to shine or even take a bow, because it's pushed aside to allow for a hotter, trendier, sparklier one to take the limelight. I, myself, avoid the stampede simply because nothing has been all that captivating. Sure, under the florescent lights at the MAC counter everything looks fabulous, but not enough to make me want to palpitate with excitement. Of all the MAC collections I regret not investing in are the Heatherette and Barbie, simply because they had sold out by the time I got around to it. Maybe there will be dupes later....

Here are the tried and true lipsticks that I constantly pick up from the tester unit at the counter, turn it over, just to find out I have that at home. I then put it back and think, Gosh, I have all I really LOVE from MAC, from the myriad to choose from??

Skin Smoothies

I just love these shower gels. I am not one to buy drugstore body washes, but I ran out of Eminence's Blueberry Soy Yogurt Body Wash, and thought these smelled lovely. I am so happy I did. Though I wish they didn't contain SLS, they are extremely moisturizing, not to say you shouldn't follow up with a body lotion post shower, smell fresh and invigorating and create lots of suds to cleanse your whole body with just a quarter size!

Top 3 Favorite Exfoliants

Exfoliating in imperative if you want healthy, radiant, dewy, luminous skin and an instant mini makeover with no downtime or side effects! Read on for my favorite 3 that I turn to when I need to wipe the slate clean, so to speak. (I alternate between, not use them all simultaneously, of course.)

Fresh Sugar Face Polish



This face scrub smells exactly like iced tea/lemon, so spreading it luxuriously on my face is a real treat for the senses. Kind of surprised I can't smell the strawberries in it. It leaves your skin just radiant, dewy, moisturized and it dissolves nicely, so it won't allow for over-exfoliating, as some of us exfoliating junkies have a propensity for. Probably too aggressive for the delicate skin on the neck, but perfect for the decollete. At $55, I would expect nothing less, and use it 2 times a week. So next time you are in Sephora or the Fresh shop, definitely worth a gander at least.

Eminence Pear & Poppy Seed Microderm Polisher



Immediately after cleansing the day off of your skin, it feels great and refreshed, but once you try this product you will see what you have been missing. It's like you removed a rough mask of lifeless cells, dirt, oil, and residual product. Which is essentially what you do, but this product goes above and beyond and deep into pores. My favorite part is knowing that even after the silica beads are washed away, nourishing vitamins penetrate your skin and instantly improve your complexion, creating instant brightness and youth. Soft, fresh and supple skin absorbs moisturizers, serums, masques and other treatments easier! $46, at spas.

Ingredients include: Pear Pulp, Apple Pulp, Pear Juice, Apple Juice, Poppy Seeds, Fine Walnut (Exfoliant), Silica, Glycerine (Plant Derived), Guar Gum, Plantain Extract, Green Tea, Apricot Kernel Oil, Alfalfa, Mica, Glycolic Acid, Biocomplex (Vitamins A, C, E, Coenzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid), Glycine Derivative.

Philosophy Microdelivery Peel



This is the first non-microdermabrasion machine microderm exfoliant I used and I was instantly hooked! During a routine shopping spree at Sephora, I was given a sample of this miracle and I couldn't wait to go home and give it a whirl. I didn't know what to expect, but needless to say it exceeded my expectations! I couldn't wait to go back to Sephora and buy the kit.

What struck me first was the smell, intoxicatingly sweet aroma of juicy oranges. Which means vitamin C, which means anti-aging and I love that! It's not just a scrub that you wash away and you're done, it actually serves several purposes. Personally, I am not fond of the shampoo/conditioner combo, I feel really cheated because my hair is still so dry when it dries. However, when it comes to skin care, a multi-tasking product gets a thumbs up from me.

After removal, my skin was as soft as the day I was born, I couldn't stop feeling it, and so dewy and glowing. I used a little spatula to remove a dime size of product for application and I used it 2 times a week, sometimes only 1, and it lasted about 3 months. The price tag? $65, and worth every penny!

Vitamin C

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin derived from juicy and delicious citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit. Our bodies therefore can't store age-fighting antioxidant rich vitamin C, so the best way to up your levels is to consume some of them every day. Other benefits of vitamin C include: maintaining the integrity of collagen in your skin, muscles and bones, the antioxidants help ward off free radicals which diminish the cells' functions, keeps immune system strong, gums healthy and beautifully glowing skin. Great stuff!

Include some citrus fruits to your water, salad, fresh juice, fruit salad, smoothies.