SNOTD

I just realized I forgot a base coat.  My nails will be stained for sure.  This is AVON N206 Cherry Jubilee.  I love this color.  I really cannot do red well so this has a little blue/purple in it that compliments my cool skin tone better than a brick or orange type red. 

Another stellar product from AVON.  Great price, probably $2.99.  This nail polish has to be 2-3 years old and still going strong. 

AVON now has Nail Wear Pro in a square bottle but I do see they still have the color in Cherry Jubilee.  The regular price is $5 but you can always wait for a sale to get it at $2.99.

I'm seeing red...

So it started last week, the dreaded red face.  It happens every year.  The crisp cold air of fall turns my face bright red.  I haven't changed a thing in my skin care routine.  The only thing that has changed, is the temperature.  My face is tight and it feels raw.  It's the strangest thing.  Like I have been skiing and it's 20 below outside. So this year, I've decided to do something about it. 

Clinique is offering an on-line special right now.  Purchase $21.50 worth of product, and you get an 8 piece bonus.  I'm assuming that they are sample sizes but you get to choose the 6.  The 8 pieces include 2 make-up bags, a lipstick, a mascara, an eye cream, a make-up remover, an eyecolor quad, (the violet quad is all out, I had it in my cart on Friday but held off to order until today) and skin care favorites, I ordered the 7 day scrub. 

For the $21.50 in product, I actually ordered the $45 Redness Solutions Redness Regimen.  The Redness Solutions cream was $39.50 by itself so I just decided to get the 3 product bundle.  I've had my eyes on this for months now, probably since last winter.  I don't have rosacea.  Well I might after reading this website. My eyes are red, check, I have red patches, check, I thought I was breaking out, those must be cysts, check, fair irish skin, check...  Well signs are looking pretty good that it is rosacea or something like it.  Thankfully it only occurs in the winter.

So we'll see how it goes!

So for $45 I got 6 products, 2 cosmetic bags and the Redness Solutions package, free shipping and since I ordered through ebates, I got 8% back.  Never heard of http://www.ebates.com/?  Basicaly if you are going to order something on-line, check ebates first for your store.  Ebates offers cash back for purchases and they usually have a coupon code for the store.  Right now they are offering double cash back on many of the stores and Clinque has 8%.  They will then send you a check quarterly, I believe.  You don't pay for anything, sign up is free and you get cash back for purchases. 

So for my $45 purchase, I get $3.60 back.  It adds up.  So if you plan on doing some Black Friday, Cyber Monday or any other holiday shopping on-line, go through ebates and you'll be surprised how much those $3 and $4 add up.  Plus ebates offers free shipping codes, free sample codes, it just depends on the store and what they are offering.

Happy shopping!

SNOTD

Happy Halloween!!!  Not quite orange, but close enough!

This is Mary Kay H018 Coral Glow.  Fun summer beach color but I thought I would break it out of the vault for Halloween!

I need to find out if MK even makes nail polishes anymore.  This is a great formula.  Not super thick, dries in a reasonable amount of time and if you are careful with your application, one coat works well.  I have 2 coats on today. 

Happy Halloween!!!

No Halloween is complete without a carved pumpkin and roasted pumpkin seeds!

This was really easy.  I always buy the pumpkin carving kits on clearance after Halloween for around a $1.  They have a ton of patterns in them.  Just photocopy the one you like, tape it to the pumpkin and start punching out the pattern.  You will use the dot matrix to carve out your pumpkin.

Now on to the roasted pumpkin seeds... Scoop them out, rinse them off, add a little seasoning salt and butter. 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven and you have delicious roasted pumpkin seeds!

Separate out as much of the pumpkin as you can stand. 

Add water and the pumpkin seeds float and the left over pumpkin bits sink.  Scoop out the seeds with a slotted spoon into a colander to drain the excess water.  Then spread them out on a baking sheet and add melted butter and seasoning salt.

15 minutes later at 350 degrees....

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of phytosterols which are found in all seeds and nuts are helpful in loawering cholesterol.  Pumpkin seeds in particular are an excelent source of the minerals such as phosphorus, magnesium and manganese, zinc, iron and copper. In addition, pumpkin seeds are a good source of protein and vitamins A and K.  To see a more indepth nutrional analysis, click here.

Cheesy, warm delight on a cold Fall day...

When I am feeling adventurous and want to try out a new recipe, I usually turn to Big Girls, Small Kitchen for inspiration.  They always have fun recipes to try out.

I had some leftover zuchinis that my mom brought over from her garden and I have frozen a ton of zuchini bread so I needed another option!  I found a recipe for Zuchini and Rice Gratin.  It's a quite simple recipe.  Instead of arborio rice, I had brown rice on hand.  I didn't have arugula or onions either so skipped that as well.  Oh and I had yellow cheddar not white!  I also added red pepper flakes for a little spice.  So I fudged the recipe a little and it still came out great!

I chopped up some zuchini and sauteed it with a little olive oil, garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper and thyme.  I put in a pat of butter at the end.  Combined that mixture when the zuchini was softened to the cooked brown rice.  Then I added 2 beaten eggs and some cheddar cheese.  Turned that mixture out into an 8x8 baking dish, topped it with 1/4 bread crumbs and 40 minutes later I got this:

I let it cook for 15 minutes and mmm...  Great way to get your veggies!  (and cheese!)

ANEW Lash-Transforming Mascara + Serum

Well it's been a month so far...  Well actually 2 but consistantly a month.  I've alwys had thicker and longer lashes up until this year.  I began to notice that they were getting a little thinner.  Also my bottom left lash line has always been a bit wonky.  The lashes are curly and sparse while my right lower lash line are thicker, longer and straight.  It has always annoyed me slightly since I began wearing makeup in middle school.  My top lashes are super straight, I always need a curl to see them! 

Dual ends.  One end is the serum and the other mascara.  It is offered in both black and brown.

The mascara isn't too bad.  I still prefer my Covergirl Lash Blast or Waterproof Wet n Wild.  The serum is the reason for my purchase though!  It feels cooling to the skin as it dries, like a liquid liner.  After the serum is totally dry, it does not seem to interfere with my makeup application.  I have been putting a very thin line right at the base of the lashes.  I've seen the commercials for Latisse and just in case, I do not want any discoloration.  I also haven't had any irritation, itchiness, etc..

I honestly did not think that this was going to work.  It just seemed too good to be true.  Good price, AVON, etc...  Well my bottom left eyelashes are much thicker.  It is super noticeable.  When I first tried out this product I literally only had a few lashes on my bottom left eye.  For some reason they all decided to fall out at once.  Well they grew back thicker than they ever had before.  Usually I can cover up the sparseness with a little eyeliner and mascara applied to the lashes that are present.  No need anymore if this product continues to work.  I'm quite impressed.

I actually did not use the product everyday, day and night.  I would skip a day here and there and only use it at night.  I do not have a second to spare in my morning routine and it does take a few minutes to dry.  I have no discoloration around my eyes where I have applied the product.

So it's a winner!  If you want to start out with a more affordable alternative to growing your lashes, AVON is for you.  I will continue to use it and repurchase for sure.  I wish that they would just sell the serum separately because I like to use my own mascara.  I haven't tried any of the other products out there so I have nothing to compare it to but this is the first time in a long time that I full set of bottom lashes on my left eye.  I just couldn't imagine better results.  I'm super excited about that!

It retails for $20 but you can always get it on a sale if you are patient!

ULTA 20% off this week...

Use code 47139 at checkout!  There are some exclusions though.  The discount doesn't apply to Benefit unfortunately.  Bummer...  I've been wanting to get my hands on that Powderflage!  One of these days I'm just going to order it and be done with this no spending policy!

Ulta

30 more products to go...  Actually 28, I've finished a couple of things this week.  Yay!