Inspiration for the Week

Inspiration for the Week of August 18th

1. I love butterflies! And this ring from Van Cleef & Arpels is to die. Of course I’d probably have to wait for someone to die in order to get one so I’ll just wear the ones I inherited from my husband’s grandmother. I didn’t get the chance to spend much time with her before she passed, but I know we would’ve definitely been shopping BFF’s.

2. This outfit Katie Holmes is sporting is giving me Fall, when it hits 100 degrees (and I know it will) I’ll be staring at this pic willing the cooler weather to finally arrive. Even though we’re still having hot weather I’m going to attempt this outfit this week. Hot weather be damned!

3. Don’t forget to moisturize before bed! I love Estee Lauder and right now Dillard’s and Lord & Taylor each have separate “gift with purchase” promotions going on. Who doesn’t love a GWP?!? If you haven’t tried Advanced Night Repair now is great time to give it a try, your face will thank you. Trust!

4. I have so many maxi skirts! Why did I not think of trying this trick before? I need to try this out this coming weekend. Thanks Glamour for the inspiration.

5. When I’m having a bad hair day, especially once the weekend gets here my go-to is “throw a ball cap on”. I’m trying to get away from that and I’ve started wearing my DKNY felt floppy hat, which surprisingly is quite cool even in the height of summer. I’d like to attempt this look with a scarf, I just need to find the right scarf.

 

There you have it, my inspirations for the week. What are you looking to for inspiration this week?

Josie Maran Argan Matchmaker Blush with Brush

I’d originally planned to write about Josie’s Argan Lip Treatments I received in the 5 piece collection I ordered from QVC, but since there’s a possibility of a Today’s Special Value coming up at the end of the week. I thought I’d write about another purchase I made on QVC since it’s an exclusive to them. It’s Josie’s Argan Matchmaker Blush with Brush. It comes in three shades, Fair/Light, Light/Medium, and Medium/Dark and you’re supposed to choose according to your skin coloring or the shade you’ve chosen for the Matchmaker foundation if you use that, but in my opinion that’s not the way to go. I read some reviews that said the Light/Medium had an orange hue to it once applied and this is the color I would’ve have gone with if not for reading the other reviews and watching the video on QVC. If you watch the video there are pics of which shade you should fall into, but there’s also models that are there to apply the blush and show you how it works. Between the reviews and seeing the different shades on the models (the model that was using the Medium/Dark I could identify with, she’s the first to appear in the video) I decided to go with the Medium/Dark even though at the moment I still have my winter coloring :cough: self tan :cough: since it appeared to have a more reddish berry color to it and that’s the shade I was going for. And voilà when I first applied it that’s exactly what I got!

Now for the application part, when applying it I do one swipe across the compact with the brush and then tap the brush on the side of the compact and that is enough for me. Now if you want to go a bit darker you’ll definitely need more swipes, but I found when I did two swipes my cheeks looked like a little girl who got into her mama’s makeup. Of course the darker your skin then yes, you will need more than one swipe in order for it to be visible. Also depending on what color you’re looking for you may actually prefer the Light/Medium and its orange undertones. I haven’t heard much when it comes to the Fair/Light, but from watching the video it seems to have a peachy color to it. If you want some color on your cheeks but don’t want it to be as noticeable then I’d say go with the Fair/Light. I prefer to have a “natural” makeup look which is why I use the Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid foundation, but I do prefer to have color on my cheeks which is another reason why I went with the Medium/Dark shade.

One trick I learned from the host on QVC was, if you’re running short on time and all you have time for is mascara, lipstick and blush then use this blush on your eyes. Boom! You now have eyeshadow. I used this trick the other day on my lids and it gave me just the slightest hint of color but that was enough for me and at the end of the day I didn’t have that eyeshadow crease you can get. I also love that Josie gives you a brush to use with the blush and it isn’t one of those chintzy throw away brushes either it’s an excellent quality brush.

Overall I would recommend giving this blush a try and since it’s an exclusive to QVC you have 30 days to try it out and if you don’t think it’s for you then you have the option to return it. Just remember to return it before the 30 days are up! If you’re already using Josie’s Argan Oil this blush is a wonderful complement to the Argan Oil. Do you already have Josie’s blush? What do you think?

Thanks for stoping by! ❤

Josie Maran Argan Oil

So I finally took the plunge! I had been on the fence about ordering argan oil period, for obvious reasons (OIL!) but thankfully there were some reviews on QVC and Sephora to go by plus Josie Maran is just so darn convincing all on her own! I had read that the Argan Oil Light was the one to order if you have an oily visage or if you have a T-Zone like I do. And that is what I’m recommending now, as well. When Josie says “light” she means it. I use 4 drops in the morning after I’ve applied my Estee Lauder moisturizer since it has SPF which I will not leave the house without it on my face! Four drops is enough to cover my whole face and I don’t look like an oil slick and my makeup (Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup) stays put. The Argan Oil doesn’t have any SPF in it; as well it shouldn’t, since its pure Argan Oil and adding anything to it would no longer make it “pure”, duh! At night I use 4 drops as well and I pat it on just the way Josie shows you to when she’s on QVC and I pat lightly when I’m going around my eye area. Yes, you can use this around your eye area and it isn’t going to irritate them at all, well at least on me it didn’t and I also where contacts. Thanks to the polar vortex there have been days when I’ve added a 5^th drop of oil around my lip area, I also started getting a chapped/eczema type of thing going around my neck and I used the oil in combination with St. Ives lotion and it cleared it right up. I’ve been using the Argan Oil Light for a little over two weeks now and I love it! My face doesn’t look as red as before, it’s so much softer and for some reason, and this may not be the case for everyone, but my eyebrows are fuller. I haven’t been using it for the full four weeks, which seems to be the magic number to really see a change in your skin i.e. the fine lines I know are there, but everyone says aren’t; so I will update once I’ve hit that mark especially now that I’ve added the regular Argan Oil to my beauty regimen (did I really just say that?). I love this oil so much that I ordered the regular Argan Oil to use at night. I’ve only been using the regular Argan oil for a few days now, but I can feel the difference between the regular and the light. I usually splash water on my face in the morning and since using the regular Argan oil my face feels softer and smoother.

If you’re considering give Josie’s Argan Oil a try here’s my recommendations. If you just want to try the oil either the regular or the light go to Josie’s website and order there. You can order the regular here and the light here. Some of the reasons why is Josie doesn’t use a huge box to send you your product, it’s packaged well and everything is recyclable. She also offers free shipping on orders over $25 and who doesn’t love free shipping?!? And you may find a surprise or two with your shipment as well. 😉 And there are also some products like her new moisturizer that are exclusive to her site, I really want to try this product out, but since I just bought a new Estee Lauder moisturizer it might be awhile. Then there are products exclusive to QVC, a very dangerous place for me, like this Argan Matchmaker Blush and Argan Oil Collection that I did order the other day when QVC was having an Easy Pay day. I’ve already received the Argan Oil Collection so I’ll be adding more reviews as I use those products.

If you’re still wobbling about whether to give Josie’s Argan Oil a try, I say go for it! If the $48, 1.7 oz. is too much for you there’s a smaller size here for $16 and it also comes in light. AND if that doesn’t entice you enough then just wait until the 28^th of March she has a full hour on QVC from 12-1 am and if you’re like me then you know that could possibly mean a Today’s Special Value! If you decide to go for it let me know what you think and if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them as soon as I can.

 

Essie: Lady Like

Here’s my mani from this past weekend. Yes, I know it’s already Wednesday…of the following week. At least I took a pic right? I’m actually excited that my mani turned out as well as it did because I’m still having problems when it comes to that bubble effect that can happen and in my case very often. I also had a problem with the polish not quite staying on my nail especially on my right hand, but I finally did a search on Amazon and found a brush to clean up my oopses. It works great! Of course this pic is of my left hand so you’ll just have to take my word for it. 😉 What’s your current color?