Newsflash! The elusive skunk (brush) has come out of hiding!

(Haha, sorry for my lame attempt at a funny title!)

Yesterday I stopped at Target and was shocked. I saw a very rare sight.

I had heard about this elusive creature.

I had seen pictures about this mythical beast.

There were a number of sightings...

Yet, it just wasn't indigenous to my area for some reason! I was sure that it was just a myth, a tall tale, whatever you want to call it. Either way, I never thought I would come across it......

The Sonia Kashuk Highlighting Brush

Okay....okay....it doesn't look like this.
But you would think with the limited availability of it, it should!

Here's the real thing ;)

I haven't tried it out yet, but, is it ever so soft!!! I don't have the MAC brush it's apparently compared to, but I do have the Posh skunk brush. It's about the same size (length-wise) but the Posh brush is definitely more denser. But, I'm still so excited that I was able to find this brush! I don't even know how long I've been reading about this brush, and for $10, it's a great value.

It was really meant to be...really. There was only ONE of these suckers in the display and there were no more to be found. Even more strange, there wasn't even a tag/sticker/spot for it- it was just hanging in a random brush spot. There was a TON of Sonia Kashuk products on sale as well- picked up a cream eyeshadow pencil/stick-thing in a gorgeous light silvery-taupe for $4!

Anyways. It's almost embarrassing how excited I was to find this brush! I snatched it up so fast and clutched it to my chest. I think my mom (who was with me) stepped back for a moment and denounced me as her daughter ;)

Enough of my shenanigans for one night...
...I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Adding to the maddness: 15% off Sephora Code.

Oh, hello. I'm sure this is old news already, but I'm sure that most of you are already aware of the 15% off code for Sephora that hit this morning Is this Sephora's idea of a Tax Day special? I thjink so!! If you haven't seen it, here it is (or if you have seen it, here it is again):

Also, I don't know if anyone else had noticed this. When you log in to your account on Sephora, check your main My Account page, check above the Beauty Insider (assuming your a member) header (right where it says how many points you have in your bank. Notice this? :

Fill out or update your Beauty Insider profile and you'll be rewarded with 50 points in May!!! I did it, I just hope I actually get those points ;)

Needless to say, I took advantade of the code. I ordered a few goodies that I've had my eye on and just totally lagged on purchasing. It's a good thing I waited, I saved almost $12!

FOTD/EOTD - I Saw Her Standing There; A Beatle-ey Look...

Back with another look from another concert I attended!

A couple of weeks ago I attended another performance from my local Philharmonic. This time it was a performance of The Classical Mystery Tour. Yep. The Beatles. I lagged on getting tickets and before I knew it, they were sold out. ONLY...I won free tickets again one day before the show!! :) I really don't know what's going on, I never win things! This time I called in to a local radio station, it was really pure luck.

Anyways, the show featured members from the original Beatlemania show on Broadway and featured our Philharmonic performing with them on stage, which totally gave each Beatles classic a beautiful lush sound. And the guys performing as the group sounded amazing. They sang just like them, played just like them, and from the back of the theater where I was sitting at (haha, I won balcony seats, but for a sold out show, beggars can't be choosers), even looked like them. They played for a good 2 hours and performed everything from "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to "Get Back." I took my best friend along with me (a fellow Beatles aficionado) and had a blast singing out loud to all the songs. It was Beatles Bonding :D

To make a long story short...
(To Late!)
Here's the look I sported that night...

-For my bases: Wet 'n' Wild Cream Shadow in Cafe Au Lait and NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Mocha
-Lid: A mixture of NYX Mocha Pearl loose shadow and MAC Sweet Sienna pigment
-Crease: Mark's Retro Peacock
-Outer Corner: A tad of Lancome's The New Black
-Highlight: MAC Rose Blanc
-Liner: On the lid, Jane's Mineral Gel liner in Brown, and on the lower lashline, Styli-Style's Line & Seal 24 Pencil in Black Brown
-Brows: Maybelline Define-A-Brow
-Mascara: Maybelline Full 'n' Soft

Full face...unfortunately this was taken at 3 in the morning when I finally got home after more Beatles singing and Wii playing at said friends house, so, it's not the freshest. But here it is anyways:

I used my regular face stuff like Rimmel's Stay Matte foundation in Ivory and Make Up Forever Full Cover Concealer in #4. I'm pretty sure there's some trace of MAC Pinch O' Peach blush somewhere. The one "Beatles" item I'm wearing is L'Oreal Color Juice Stick in Strawberry Fields (kind of faded here, but I am wearing it)...I mean, I had to wear it.

I didn't take too many shots of the concert, but here's one I managed to snap during the Sgt. Pepper section of the show:

CHALLENGE:
Comment with any and all cosmetic items you can think of that has a BEATLES reference to it. Aren't as crazy about The Beatles as I am? Don't know song titles? Here's some help. Humor me. Let's see how many you can think of.

Viva Las Vegas!

As I briefly mentioned in the last entry, this past weekend I paid a little visit to good ol' Las Vegas to participate in a bowling tournament. I think I may have mentioned that, yes, I am a bowler and have been since I was a tot (Well, not really a tot but since I was 6). I, along with my step-dad and a couple of others, went to bowl in a PBA Pro-Am Tournament, meaning that we got to bowl with the pros!!! It was my first time doing a tournament like this and it was so much fun!! I admit I was really nervous at first bowling with these guys I see on TV all the time- but once we started I cooled off and the pros were all so nice!!! Here are some photos:

Here I am overly excited at the Casino/Bowling Alley the tournament was held at- Red Rock Casino. Let me tell you, this place was niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Here I am with Pro Bowler Danny Wiseman!! It was so funny because my mom has a mad crush on this guy. I had hoped and on the verge of praying that I would get to bowl with him, just for the sake of my mom. And- I did!!! We bowled three games and each game the pros rotated, and I got to bowl with him the first game. He was sosososososo nice and told me my ball had a good curve :D

With the famous Norm Duke! I know you may not know who these guys are- but these guys are veryveryVERY famous in the bowling world- legends! Norm here is ranked the #7 in the "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years".

And with Tony Reyes- he was the last pro I bowled with and I know it sounds redundant but he was SO NICE!

I know this is kinda random but isn't this beautiful? I walked around The Forum Shops at and Caesars Palace on Saturday night (it was nice because there wasn't many people out) and had to stop by the Carolina Herrera boutique. It was nice and quiet so I snapped some pictures :) Here's my next bag.....in about 20 years when I save up enough money.

Okay- enough with the ball talk ;) Time for some makeup! Whenever I travel out out of town, I always make it a point to stop by an outlet center (If I'm near one)...and I definitely make it a point to stop at a CCO (Cosmetic Company Outlet). Unfortunately I'm not very close to one (though I do have an outlet center close to me) of these stores- so I'm always excited to see what I can find.

I stopped at the the CCO store at the Primm Outlet, at the Nevada state line. I don't know how many of you will stop at this particular store, but I just thought I would share with you what I found at this location.

First, eye products:
They had a lot of single eye shadows. They had some from the Starflash collection (no Smoke and Diamonds though!!), a couple from Naughty Nauticals , some from the regular line, there might have been a couple from the McQueen collection, and a couple of from Neo Sci-Fi, Cool Heat and Moonbathe. There were plenty of Fluidlines (around 8), Paint Pots (again, around 8), about every Paint (tube) available, and there were two containers full of liners (No Power Kohls or Pearlglides- boo!) and shadesticks. Oh- and pigments! There were about 7 pigments for sale (As well as a glitter)- all very pretty but none came home with me.

There were also a few palettes- I was surprised to see one of the Fafi quads, all the palettes (both eye and lip) from the Nordstrom's Color Forms collection, as well as two interesting palettes, called "Trip" that came in both warm and cool and included three shadows and two lipsticks in each. I almost picked one up, but passed when I realized the lip products wouldn't work for me.

As for face products- there were TONS! Lots of foundation, concealers, and skin care products. I spotted some MSF products like the Natural powders and the duos, that came with a highlighter. I saw one Sulpt & Shape powder, both blushes from Neo Sci-Fi, and the highlighter powders again from the Color Forms collection. There were 5 "regular" powder blushes and a few cream blushes.

They even had a good selection of nail polishes- about 10. I spotted the shades that came out with the Heatherette collection. And, yes- lots of lip products. Tendertones, the tinted lip conditioner pots, Mattene lipsticks, lots of regular lipsticks and lipgloss including the 3D glosses (I can't remember the collection name) and stuff from Fafi. I was surprised at all the Fafi stuff- they even had Fafi bags and the Fafi dolls (which were so small!!) So, yeah- as you can see it would have been EASY to walk out of there with bags falling off my arms...but you know what I came home with?

Three things. Only three.

Magnetic Fields from Neo Sci-Fi
Warming Trend from Cool Heat
(Not pictured: Syrup lipstick. Yummm!)

It was inevitable that I would walk out of there with the two most taupey looking shadows in the store.

I was really excited for Magnetic Fields- it was one of those "I wish I would have picked that up" shadows and thought I would never come across it. Boy, did I get lucky!!! Warming Trend is so pretty as a wash with Magnetic Fields smudged as a liner- a match made in heaven!

Anyways, I think I'm still recovering from my trip- I felt like I needed to sleep in this whole week! The "fun" (I use this term sarcastically) didn't stop when I got home- on Tuesday I got a call from my bank wanting to verify some purchases I made on my atm/debit card. I verified all the purchases I made when I was in Vegas....then they got to a pending transaction for $625 at TOYS R US!!!! And in Van Nuys (some geographical information: I'm about a good 200 miles away from the greater Los Angeles area)!!!! Needless to say my card was closed and blocked and some punk somehow scammed my card number. I was really upset and scared but I was so grateful that my bank swiftly took care of the whole situation. So gals- be very careful and look out for any suspicious activity on your cards!

THE SKY IS FALLING!!! Oh, no, it's just MAC on sale...

MAC SALE.
MAC SALE.
MAC SALE.

Yeah. There's a MAC sale.
25% EVERYTHING ONLINE.
Enter Code: MACFF9
Ends January 8 (That's Thursday).

Eh, I'll probably skip it.
Or, might order just to say I did. We'll see.

Is that a mascara in your pocket?

Yes, ladies. The new Lancome Oscillation Mascara is on sale for today only via Sephora's and Lancome's sites.

....am I going to be the first blogger to make a dirty comment about what you could use as an alternative if you don't get this?

*crickets chirp*

Okay! Okay! I'll save it ;D

We will return after this break...

I seriously can't concentrate tonight.

Honestly folks, I had a GREAT post planned for tonight, but it's all been put on the back burner because I'm a huge tool for American Idol and am SO HAPPY WITH WHO GOT THE BOOT.

Bye, Bye, Kristy Lee (Crap) Cook!!!!

I know, I'm cruel sometimes. But really, homegirl was long overdue to be sent home. Since Michael Johns was sent home way too early- the world is right again :)

The Daily Lemming: Old British Man Edition

Guh.

If you gave me choice between a Sephora shopping spree and a day (hell, even an hour) with Roger Daltrey....

I would choose Daltrey.

Sorry, folks. I just wouldn't be able to help myself.

Guh.

How to look glaaaaaamorous....80s style!

You need to see this to believe it.

Over this weekend I was surfing YouTube, as I do on many a Saturday nights when I'm home relaxing, and sometimes you just don't know how you come across certain videos. One video leads to another that leads to another that leads to another...you know how it goes.

That was when I came across the following batch of vids featuring Donna Mills of Knotts Landing (I faintly remember this show, but I was a wee lass in the 80s so I don't remember much. And besides, any TV I was watching at the time was on The Disney Channel). At some point someone on her management team thought it would be a good idea for her to film an instructional video of beauty tips for the women of the 80s. Sure, seemed like a good idea at the time, but I wonder if they knew the footage would survive this long? This gracious YouTuber uploaded the whole video to relish over the blue eye shadow, hot pink lips and contour-licious cheeks.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Can you POSSIBLY stand more? There's 6 more videos!

Part 3.
Part 4.
Part 5.
Part 6.
Part 7.
Part 8.

I'm almost tempted to feather my hair (and liner) and bust out this look over the weekend. Almost.

How to have a great afternoon (Macy's Benefit/MAC Haul).

As predicted, I stopped by Macy's for a little R&R of the cosmetic persuasion yesterday afternoon after a doctor's appointment (Unrelated side note: Cytomel is awesome. End of note). My first stop is always the Benefit counter- I've been a dedicated Benefit Fan for 7 years and it's become second nature to stop there first ;)

As mentioned in a previous post, I wrote that Benefit would be coming out with new loose powder shadows, similar to Show Offs! that I've known and loved for so many years. Turns out the beloved Show Offs! will be laid to rest in Makeup Heaven and Lust Dusters will be taking it's place. But, don't cry! Because Lust Dusters are divine and worth every cent at $18.

The one shade that had caught my eye on the Sephora site was Punk Royalty, a "shimmery grape". I'm absolutely weak-in-the-knees for purples; so it was no surprise that the gal at the counter said it was the only shade to sell out so far. And again it wasn't a surprise when she pulled out the hidden tester and my breath was taken away, it was everything I wanted it to be- a gorgeous, shimmery, bright-deep grape purple. Needless to say, I put myself on the call list for when they get another shipment in ;) I played around with the other shades too. I'm not a fan of pastel shades, but Moon Doggie is one minty green I would make the exception for. I loved that these wore so well, I swatched these on my hand at the beginning of my visit and they stayed on my hand through the entire time I was at Macy's- no budge in color or shimmer. I haven't really compared it to Show Offs! (I need to dig it out of my stash), but I think there must be something in the texture that makes them different.

After playing around with random products and totally stumping the assistant (I was sitting there on the stool and she was showing me all these things that I already had. "Have it...oh, have it....nope, I have it!..." she finally said "GIRL, what DON'T you have?!?!"), I left with a Lust Dust in Nugget (this was the "taupe" shadow, but it isn't so taupe in person- more of a champagne-sand shade...and I'm a sucker for these too so it had to come home with me), a Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in Flatter Me, and Miss Popularity Highlighter (she used this on my cheekbones and yum yum yum! Loved it!). And I hate that I always think of something I want after I leave and on my way home. I've been meaning to pick up the Big Beautiful Eyes palette for ages and always keep forgetting. Ah well, there's always next time.

After Benefit, I hopped over to MAC since it was in the middle of the afternoon and I was free to roam the counter with no congestion (the whole cosmetics area gets so crowded on the weekends- the main reason why I avoid going to Macy's at all on Saturday). I expected to leave with more, but only purchased two eye shadow singles in Shale and Twinks. Not a very heavy haul- but I left very satisfied!


I'm in the process of setting up an area for taking photos, it hasn't happened yet- but soon! And I'm also expecting an Avon/Mark haul this week. If you ask me what I got- I totally wouldn't remember- heh. I know I ordered some of the new face care products from Mark (including a primer!! A primer!! And under eye brightener! A brightener!) and I'm totally jazzed to try it out and report back here.


And now I must dash back to work, for I have this waiting for me:

Work, Work, Work.

(insert picture of face I posted yesterday)

What really goes on at work.

I make rubber band balls.

I make silly faces when people call and ask stupid questions.

That happens a lot.

Does this goofy photo make it my first official blogged FOTD? OMGITDOES.

Face:

-MUFE Full Cover Concealer (#4 Flesh)

-Revlon Colorstay Pressed Powder (Light)

-Benefit Dallas

Eyes:

-NARS Kalahari Duo

-Clinique Cream Shaper Eyeliner (Egyptian)
-Maybelline Full 'n' Soft Mascara

-NYC Browser (w/Ardell Lash & Brow Accelerator to groom) on brows

Lips:

-Faint remaints of Mark. Soothing Lip Therapy in Shimmering Shell

Hopefuly I'm going to make it over to Macy's today. I'm leaving early for an appointment with my lovely Endocrinologist. If all goes well and I'm out early- I'm hitting the counters!! To make matters worse (or, better), I was notified this weekend by mail that the limit for my Macy's card, JC Penny's card, AND CREDIT CARD were INCREASED. Boy, these people sure are trusting.