Melificent

What I Wore: The Ballet

I know I said I wouldn’t be back until the new year, but this outfit got a lot of love on my Instagram, so I figured it would make for a good end of year post. Plus, you all know I can’t stay away too long from the blog. It’s a weakness. I hope you all had a fantastic past couple of days with those you love the most!

My Christmas present this year was very simple(ish). I just wanted to be taken out on a romantic date to dinner and a ballet. Namely, The Nutcracker. I hadn’t been since I was a kid, and I’m a sucker for holiday traditions. I’d love for it to be one of ours, and eventually our children. The hubs pulled out all the stops and made me feel like a very lucky wife, which honestly, is a feeling I experience quite often. With that said, I knew this was one of the few occasions where I would be able to rock a sequined dress, so I took full advantage. I just didn’t think my (amazing) dress would come from Forever 21! It was a Christmas miracle. 😉

Dress; Forever 21 {similar}
Jacket; Forever 21 {similar}
Heels; Marc Fisher via DSW {in silver}
Bangles; various
Lipstick; Estee Lauder’s Forbidden Apple
Polish; Essie’s Aperitif

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My Beauty Essentials

So I wanted to try something new for today’s blog. I wanted to give vlogs a try again and run through my daily beauty routine. Unfortunately, the sound decided to disappear from my video footage rendering it all useless. Fun, right? Thank goodness it was shot during the tropical storm so it’s not like I had a lot to do regardless. So here is my second attempt. I’ve put together a list of all my daily beauty essentials to share with you. Since I don’t consider myself a “beauty queen” per say, feel free to chime in with recommendations and tips.

This is my daily face.
Approve? 😉

& these are the products I use to achieve it:

1. Estee Lauder’s Violet Underground eyeshadow palette
2. Revlon Color Stay Foundation
3. NYC Cover Stick
4. Bobbi Brown Loose Powder
5. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion
6. NYC Big Bold Mascara
7. Bobbi Brown Blush (pink rose)
8. Bobbi Brown Lipstick (uber suede)
9. Bobbi Brown Lip Shimmer (uber suede)

I like to mix up high-end products with drugstore to create a flawless, natural face. I think it’s honestly what every girl should try to achieve, not only with makeup but also with wardrobe/accessories. A few key designer items mixed with affordable pieces. Your face should be no different! So do you have anything to add? What can you not do without in your makeup bag?

Winner of Estee Lauder Giveaway!

First off, thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway and shared the love on Twitter! I appreciate any exposure my little blog can get! I’m glad all of you were excited about it, and I wish I had enough to send to everyone, but unfortunately, there can only be one winner.

And that winner is:

Congratulations, Tracy!!! I’ll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing address so I can send you your prize as soon as possible! Look out for another fun beauty review coming soon!

Estee Lauder Giveaway!

So I know I don’t post too much about beauty here on the blog, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a beauty addict! I absolutely live for high end (& low end) makeup products. From a very young age, I started my makeup collection and I haven’t looked back since. Unfortunately for me, it has one pitfall: I don’t know how to apply any of it correctly. For this reason, I often feel like I’ve used a bunch of product, but no one can tell I’m wearing makeup. That’s why I can never go wrong with lipstick – now that I can apply!

That’s why I am totally digging Estee Lauder’s new punchy Pure Color Collection for Fall 2012. Among my favorites were their Violet Underground eyeshadow palette, which is one of my beauty staples now, and the beautiful lipsticks featured above. What I love the most is that each shade contains silver and gold sparkle pearls which neutralize lips, making them look beautiful on all skin tones for a faceted, sequined shine that sparkles. And you know I love sparkles!

But I don’t want to be greedy and keep them all for myself, which is why I’m hosting a giveaway (!!!) featuring some pretty sweet swag from the collection! Up for grabs is a lipstick in Violet Crush, lipgloss in Rebellious Violet and a powder eyeshadow in Cyber Ruby. I chose these 3 because I think they would make such a fun, punk statement for the edgy girl in all of us!

All you have to do to enter is:
(1) Add @somelificent on Twitter
(2) Tweet out the following: “I just entered to win makeup from Estee Lauder thx to @somelificent! You can enter too: http://melificent.com/?p=8627″
(3) Comment to this post letting me know that you did steps 1 & 2, along with your twitter handle for verification

Easy right? The winner will be announced a week from today, 8/23.
Good luck lady loves!

What I Wore: Birthday Date

Even though it seems like the hubs and I would spend a ridiculous amount of time together, we don’t really get a chance to be alone and romantic too much. Life tends to get in the way, like it often does, and before we know it, we have not gone on a date in months. I think dates are a super important part of relationships that help keep them fresh and fun, so I was very happy when the hubs suggested we have a romantic dinner date for my birthday this past weekend.

We ate at Grazianos, a really delicious Argentinian steak house (we are carnivores), where we had good wine, good conversation, and snuck in some sweet hand holding and flirtatious looks. It was followed by seeing Wes Anderson’s latest flick, Moonrise Kingdom, which was hands down adorable and the perfect choice for the evening (he had deemed Batman wasn’t romantic enough). And it was lovely. I couldn’t imagine starting my birthday weekend off better.

I am such a lucky girl.

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