e.l.f. haul!

The last time I visited the e.l.f. webpage, I saw they were doing a "Mystery Bag" promotion. Buy $20 of products and they'll throw in a mystey bag with $20 worth of extra goodies. The promotion was ending that day so I jumped on it, and on Saturday my package came! These are the products I purchased:

contour, small precision, and kabuki face brush

These brushes are from the e.l.f. studio line, which are more expensive than the professional, but are higher quality. These are super soft, and I haven't experienced any shedding so far. The kabuki face brush is extremely dense and soft, and the small precision is perfect for applying cream eyeliner

L to R: cream eyeliner gunmetal, mineral eyeshadow primer sheer,
and glossy gloss dragon fruit

The lipgloss was hands-down my favorite purchase out of the whole bunch. This is a really lovely gloss that feels cushion-y on the lips. It gives semi-sheer coverage and has a very pretty tint which is the perfect pink for my lips. Also, the cream eyeliner does not budge. This baby took ages to clean off.

Lastly I purchased 4 eyeshadows as a part of their custom essentials compact. These come in little metal pans that magnetize to the compact, but are easy to remove. Here are swatches of the shades I went for:

L to R: ivory, sage, navy, dusk

I had high hopes for these, but wasn't super thrilled with the quality. They look quite pigmented, but they seemed muddy on the eye. I have also learned that blue is not a shade I can wear, I looked like I had a black eye! Woops. Out of these 4, sage was my favorite.

On to the Mystery Bag! This was a random assortment of products, but I liked their choices! 

Romantics mineral eyeshadow, two shades with a blending brush

polish in Royal Purple

mineral powder brush

L to R: blush giddy gold, shimmering facial whip spotlight

The blush giddy gold is actually a highlighter and seems scary, but actually it's very lovely when you have a tan. The facial whip is also supposed to be used as a highlighter, but I can't seem to make it work, it's just too bright for my skin.

L to R: dual eyeshadow glow & eyeliner pearl, liquid lipstick ruby slipper,
 mineral eyeshadow sassy, sweet

I love the dual ended eyeshadow/eyeliner. I'll admit that I don't use the eyeshadow end for its intended purpose, but both work great for highlighting that inner corner of the eyelid. I add just a smidge in the inner corner and it lights up my face.

Thanks e.l.f.! As I'm a big fan of their products, and I'll be keeping my eye out for more good deals from them.

(These products were purchased by myself, except for the Mystery Bag which was included in the purchase)

my week in photos

1. my fridge

(my brother's grin makes me smile every time I look at his picture)

2. these books

(who doesn't love Tolkien?)

3. this sheet music

(I really want to learn this song, but its more difficult than I anticipated)


4. this mac 'n cheese

(because I refuse to grow up)

5. this bowl

(because it was the perfect gift from a beloved aunt, and I used it to
serve spaghetti and meatballs on Monday)

home sweet home

Halloo there!
We're now happy and settled in our new Austin home! We found a nice little 2nd-floor walk up and things went much more smoothly than I anticipated. Here are some photos of move in:

I had no idea moving could be so stressful. My father was military so we moved a lot during my childhood, but being responsible for an entire move was more than I could have imagined it to be. Now my house is normal and happy and I'm so glad to be done with it. We've already started discussing another move after our lease ends in this apartment, but I don't know if I can handle it!

Unfortunately we're still sleeping without a bed frame. We decided to stain it and then things started piling up, and the frame got put to the wayside. it's still tucked away in our storage unit on the patio! So floor it is.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our move!

Ch Ch Ch Changes!

When I started this blog, I told myself I wouldn't become once of those bloggers who posts infrequently and then apologizes for not blogging. And look at what I have become! I'm going through some really big changes at the moment and have had difficulty coping, so I took a quiet, unannounced hiatus to try to get my life under control again. So bear with me, this is a really wordy, TL;DR post.

I recently became engaged to my wonderful boyfriend of 3 1/2 years, who proposed April 10th. It was quiet, personal, and really romantic, and to keep it that way I'm not going to say much about it except to show you the ring!

Isn't it the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen? I'm completely enamored with it, and have been pining for it ever since we took it to the jewelers to get sized (it should come back sometime this week, yay!). The ring was originally a size 3, and because I have freakishly small hands we have to size it down to a 2.5 :O

To add to the big changes happening around here, Craig was also hired by an engineering company in Austin, TX and he starts in June. So...we're moving at the end of May after we graduate!! Ahhhhh!
It's going to be a huge change for us. He's lived in Colorado nearly his entire life, and I've lived here for 7 years. I'm a little nervous about the heat and humidity that everyone keeps reminding me about, nervous about making friends and finding a niche, and just generally nervous about the whole thing! But everything I've heard about Austin so far has been quite positive, so I can try to put my worries behind me and just enjoy the ride.

But I will always, always hold a special place in my heart for this:

(Taken at the summit of Mt. Democrat, thanks Craig)

and this:

(Boulder Flatirons: via)

But most of all, I'm going to miss my wonderful family. We're going to be 16 hours apart, which is heart-wrenching to me. I've never been more than 2 hours apart from them for any extended period of time, so this will certainly be an adjustment. 

Concerning changes on this blog, I'm going to be expanding a little. I've found that nail polish, while lovely and obsessive, isn't something I can write about constantly. I need some variety, so I'm going to try an slowly infuse extra bits of my life here. Especially our move, new apartment, etc. :D

And to encourage myself, I'm going to be taking part in the photoadayMay hosted by Fat Mum Slim, which took me slightly by surprise because April has literally flown by.

I'll post the photos to twitter daily so check back! And let me know if you're participating as well in the comments below! :)

And on that note, I have one last parting comment:

I graduate in 11 days. Commence the freaking out.

Cosmetic Cupcake Giveaway

I  also wanted to let you guys know that Michelle who writes the really lovely blog Cosmetic Cupcake is celebrating her 2nd blog birthday with a giveaway!

Go here to enter and follow her blog, she always writes the loveliest posts and her nail art is always adorable. (You should also follow her on Twitter, her instagram is always popping up with fun hauls or yummy foods)