Storage: My Jewelry (Part 1)

While I'm still fine tuning my whole set up and finding proper placement for my doodads, I have had tremendous help from a long forgotten source.  I stumbled onto an extremely old jewelry container I had packed away for what seems like forever ago and had totally dismissed from memory.  Dusty and dirty from neglect, I cleaned up the clear, plastic gem bought on a whim during my stint in high school but never really used... until now.

This small jewelry container is neat little find.  Besides it being made of the clear, hard plastic/acrylic that is so popular now, it has two main areas that can accommodate variously sized items.

The top part is dedicated to earrings, which can be accessed via lifting the top of the case.  It also has a drawer at the bottom that can easily be pulled out and used for additional items.

The top shelf has two rows of grooves and holes for both your post and small hook earrings to fasten to and/or hang from.

The bottom drawer is better suited for larger pieces like hoops, teardrops and chandelier earrings.  You could really put anything in the bottom, including rings and small bracelets, but I chose to keep it earring oriented.

And did you notice the old school, gold hoops - otherwise known as "donuts" - that I'm still holding on to?  Umm... yeah.  Can't let these go, man.  Just can't.

Anyway, finding this has been serendipitous.  I do have way more jewelry than this could possibly hold, but I think its size and design lends to finding my smaller earrings more efficiently.  It beats having to wade through a huge jewelry box filled with a motley of accessories just to pluck out a pair of studs. 

Not sure if The Container Store or other outlets sell anything similar, but if you happen to encounter something close to its layout I would recommend getting it.  Pretty cool and totally worth it.

Friday Flashback: Roller Girl Madness

When I first saw this, I just HAD to have it!  Yes, it had totally cool colors and came with a bonus lip gloss and eyeliner, but do you see the groovy roller girl chick with the incredible Afro plastered all over the palette?  That's what sold me on it.  I totally fell and fell hard for Urban Decay's super awesome Roller Girl palette.

Roller Girl was a limited edition mini-palette that Urban Decay released a couple of years ago.  It consisted of four different eyeshadows, a mini Lip Junkie in Crush and included one mini 24/7 Glide-On eyeliner in Whiskey.

Whiskey is a dark, chocolate brown and is part of UD's permanent lineup of eye pencils.  Like all of their 24/7 Glide-On liners, it is creamy, well pigmented and lasts all day on me.

Crush Lip Junkie is a creamy, hot pink lip gloss.  Its non-sticky, semi-sheer formula has a pleasant minty fresh smell as well as taste. It is nicely pigmented and leaves ample color on the lips in one application.

Roller Girl boasts a pretty hip list of shadows: Woodstock, Verve, Suspect and Darkhorse.  Like all of UD's shadows, they are super plush, potently pigmented and so easy to work with.  These shades are all glitter-free so fallout has not been an issue.  At the time, Verve was a color that was unique to the quad.  However, it has since become a part of Urban Decay's regular lineup with the introduction of its newly formulated single eyeshadows. 

If you weren't able to snag a Roller Girl palette when it was first released, you can totally get all the colors and the liner and the lip gloss that it included now with no problem.  In fact, if you're a UD fan, you probably already have a deconstructed version of this in your stash.  So in that regard, you didn't actually miss out on the contents.  But the packaging is a whole 'nother thang.  I mean, did you lay your peepers on the palette's design and the gorgeous chick adorning it with the funkdafied coif, knitted legwarmers and old school roller skates?  I mean, how cool is that?  It's totally cool, man!

And if you totally feel the palette's vibe and are hip to the jive then slip me some skin, man, so I know you dig.  Can you dig it?  Right on, man.  I knew that you could. 

Lip Glacé Poppin'

Not that I need another lip gloss, but there are a few out there that have piqued my interest.  I definitely do not qualify as a lip gloss fiend; I mean, there's not too much that separates all of them except for maybe texture, taste and smell.   However, I do sometimes find myself caught up in the pretty colors and lose myself to temptation.  It's because of this that I wanted to try a Lip Glacé from Laura Mercier.  And so I did.  And its name is Coral Diamond.

Coral Diamond is a lovely pink-coral shade with silver shimmer.  It has a nice consistency in that I didn't really find it to be tacky or overly sticky (which I know some find bothersome).  It has no discernible taste, but it does have a sweet smell to it.  I can't put my finger on what it smells like, but I didn't find it to be cloying.

Coral Diamond is semi-sheer, but the doe foot applicator picks up enough product so that you can have visible color and luster with just one swipe.  And this is absolutely crazy over a nude lip; it adds potent shine and will almost certainly give your nude a nudge.

Needless to say, I like it mucho.

Laura Mercier Lip Glacés can be found at Sephora and retail for $24.

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White Metals

Looks can be very deceiving. What may seem like a simple color, upon further inspection, may actually turn out to be a little more complex.  Such is the case with two lovely items I happen to be very fond of: MAC's Vanilla pigment and NARS' Albatross.  Let's have a chat about Albatross first, shall we?

Upon first inspection, Albatross looks to be an unassuming, ivory-white cheek product.  It's finely milled, like most of NARS' powdered products, but its stark color could be viewed as intimidating...

... until you swatch it and discover that the ivory-white is more of a white gold as it yields a soft, gilded shimmer upon application.

The swatch above is obviously heavy.  However, with a lighter hand and blending, the yellow-goldness of Albatross prevails and serves as the perfect highlight for the cheeks as well as under the brow and even your décolletage.

Now Vanilla is a loose powder pigment from MAC's permanent line of products and it behaves in almost the same manner.  It's a seemingly coy, off-white color that, at first, appears to be pretty basic.

It comes in a clear, vial-like container with a plastic stopper and rubberized lid.  No big deal, right?  The color seems quite ordinary...

... until you take a peek inside,

and take a swatch of the contents, which will immediately reveal Vanilla's true beauty.  The ivory white pigment is actually more of a white bronze and it is ab fab!  The picture above is not doing this shade any justice; if you're not already familiar with this frost white then you may have to see it in person in order to truly appreciate it.  And for those already acquainted with Vanilla, I'm sure you will quickly co-sign my sentiment when I say that it is downright pretty.

MAC Vanilla (above), NARS Albatross (below)

In comparing the two, you can see the difference in undertones and finishes.  But both are equally gorgeous and versatile in their uses.  Besides using it on the eyes and/or cheeks as a highlight, a little shake of Vanilla in a clear lipgloss will give you an awesome lacquer for your lips! (You can thank me later.)

Two delightfully deceitful products that prove to be more faceted than their ivory-white exteriors would imply.  

MAC Vanilla pigment can be found at Macy's and MAC stores, and retails for $21.  NARS Albatross can be found at Sephora and retails for $29.

Ma Vie En Rose

Did you all know that my favorite color is pink?  Probably not.  But it is.  I absolutely adore the color and, therefore, I am the typical "girly-girl" when it comes to my relationship with the shade.  I've been trying to build my collection of pink lipsticks, but it's been kinda hard because some end up taking on more of a purplish hue once they hit my lips.  But there are a few that have stayed true to color and I would like to sing the praises of one in particular: Revlon's Silverspun Rose.

Silverspun Rose is an endearingly feminine, frosty, carnation pink.  It is from Revlon's Moon Drops line of lipsticks.  It applies smoothly, feels moisturizing and is semi-opaque to opaque in nature.

As I mentioned, this pink stays pretty true to color on my lips and what a color it is!  I continue to be impressed with Revlon's line of lip products and this offering is no exception.  The color lasted all day on me with only minor fading after eating and drinking.  So for all my fellow pink enthusiasts, this one may be worth checking out.

Revlon Moon Drops Silverspun Rose can be found at Target and various drugstores, and retails for $8.

Escape to Coral Beach

If you're not the type to don a nicely hued highlight during fall and winter, now's the perfect time to indulge or add one (or two) to your stash of face products.  Besides the usual bronzes and golds, there are many that echo warmer, playful shades that play well across all skin tones.  I'd like to share with you one that happens to comprise four fetching colors that can be applied separately or all together.  I'm talking about CARGO's BeachBlush in Coral Beach.

Coral Beach is one of six shades CARGO offers in its BeachBlush line, which combines the benefits of blush and bronzer in one convenient product.  Like most of their cheek products, it comes in a tin about the size of your palm and is filled to the brim with four gorgeous strips of complementary shades that can be swirled together to create one.

The first color (starting from the right) is a light, golden peach shade.

The next one over is a pale pink.

The one next to the pale pink is a deep, copper-coral.

And the shade to the far left is a coppery, bronze-brown.

Every finely milled shade is highly pigmented, easy to apply and a breeze to blend out to your desired intensity.  The finish is a mid-frost and there is not one speck of glitter in sight.

Combining all the colors together will yield a soft, peachy coral that is ab fab!  With this on your apples and perhaps a darker bronzer as a contour, you will be set for the day with a radiant beach bunny glow.

If you're not too much a fan of corals and oranges, one of the other BeachBlushes may be more to your liking.  However, if you are partial to such shades then this is right up your alley.  Besides, you're getting like five blushes in one product!  I don't know about you, but that's considered a great deal of a steal in my book.  Just sayin'...

CARGO Coral Beach BeachBlush is available at Ulta and beauty.com, and retails for $30.