Magazine Party & a Fashion Show

Where Y'at Magazine had their Best of the Big Easy party at Metro this year which included an open bar and featured food from some popular places in the city such as Drago's and Nacho Mama's. Captain Morgan's Black spiced rum was the featured drink so I tried it with root beer and it was really good. There was also a balloon drop for money and prizes. As usual I didn't get anything and wasn't even able to grab a balloon since the runway was in the way :(

 The fashion show was by Hemline and we were able to score seats in the second row. 

 This was taken on the way to the show. I saw a brick wall and decided to do a photo op lol

 Here I am hamming it up haha. There were more, but I'll spare you lol

 

Dress, earrings & Clutch: Forever 21

Shoes: Jessica Simpson

Watch: NY&co.

$350 worth of styling products? Sign me up!

I recently found out that Misikko is having a give away in which you can choose up to $350 worth of anything on their site! This is an amazing giveaway due to the fact that you won't be getting some random stuff that you may or may not even want or need since you will be choosing it yourself if you win. There will be 3 winners for this so just follow the rules below to enter. Contest ends July 4th.

You guys may remeber my blog post on the Hana hair dryer they sent me and I was blown away by the results so I would especially love to try their Hana flat iron...among other things ;)

          

                   

Grand Total: $338.97

1. HANA Elite Flat Iron 1" 100% Ceramic

 I flat iron my hair about every 3 days on average so having a good quality flat iron is key to healthy hair. Having an adjustable heat seating is a must and this one heats up to 450 degrees. Perfect for thick and coarse hair like mine. 

2. Moroccan Oil Restorative Gift Set

I NEED this in my life. Especially now that it's summer and I'm in the sun more and I'll be spending a few weekends at the beach...all that leads to dry hair. These products would help put the life back into it.

3. Quick Tan Tanning Mist by Body Drench

All I would need is the perfect tan to go with the perfect hair and I'm all set :)

What's in your dream package?

Dressing / Vanity Room Updates & Organization

As some of you may know I've recently changed made the spare room in my house into a dressing/vanity room. I'm completely obsessed with it and while I'm not the most organized person, having this room makes me want to organize everything! Here are some updates. 

My favorite thing is this makeup desk. It was Jason's school desk when he was little so I just touched up a little of the black paint that had chipped off, repainted the top w/ a high gloss paint and bought a piece of glass to go over the top. My absolute FAVORITE thing would have to be the Chanel logo. I found the logo on Google, printed it out, stuck it on the desk and layed the glass over it. I feel like it really makes the desk. 

I got this cushion from Walmart since sitting on that hard piece of wood was no fun

This piece above is a letter holder from TJ Maxx that I got for $6.99. It holds 8 MAC palettes perfectly. I currently have 3 MAC palettes in front and 2 larger ones behind them.

This drawer in the middle of my desk basically held all my lashes, misc palettes and other stuff that I didn't use much. It was kind of messy since I would just throw stuff in there. Sooo...

I went to the $1 store and got these little white baskets to better organize it. 

This thing here is actually a shoe rack that a neighboor of mine threw out. Nothing is wrong with it and it looks brand new. When I first saw it I immediately thought it would be perfect as an accessory holder. Plus I had this bare section of the wall that I've been wanting to cover up a bit. I find that having my accessories on display like this helps me use more of them. Before I would just rotate through the same 2 or 3 bracelets.  

I'm not sure if I will keep this thing long term. If I find something better to put in that spot I will probably end up giving it away, but for now it works perfectly. 

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If you wondering what I did w/ my paper towel holder that I was using as an accessory holder. 

I re-purposed it as a toilet paper holder since we already have one in the kitchen.

What do you guys think of the updates?

Benefit Bag Gal Lash Mascara VS. Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara

I finally got around to trying out Benefit's Bad Gal Mascara. As soon as I applied it I noticed that this mascara would be an excellent dupe for Neutrogena's Healthy Volume mascara so I thought I would compare the 2. 

Both mascara's have a bristle brush head which is my favorite. I feel like this type of brush gives the most volume and separates the lashes best where as the plastic ones can sometimes make the lashes look a little clumpy on me. (Neutrogena mascara on top and Bad Gal on bottom.)

These mascara are pretty much identical. They both seperate the lashes without any clumping or smudging, but I have noticed that after about 6 hours of wear the Bad Gal started  flaking on me. 

Neutrogena mascara was applied on the right and Bad Gal is on the left. One coat of mascara each. Sorry for the blurry pic, but you can still tell that the lashes look pretty identical.

Only in this pic below can you kind of see a difference, my lashes look a little a little more separated on the right, but it may be because the Neutrogena has dried out a little so the consistency isn't as wet. The Bad Gal lash was a fresh tube when these pics were taken so the formula was a little wetter. You know how sometimes when you get a new mascara it takes a few days or a week for the consistency to dry down a little to where it works the best? That's the case with this one. I know TiffanyD on youtube has talked about that before with mascaras she has tried.  

For this pic above, I applied 2 coats of each and I had to comb out the lashes on the left since they looked a little clumpy (no pic of the lashes after they were combed out). After I combed it out they looked identical to me in both length and volume. (I've been using the Bad Gal lash now for about 3 weeks and the consistency is just right.) Overall it's a pretty good mascara if you don't plan on wearing it for more than 6 hours, both kept my lashes soft (no stiffle, brittle lashes here) and gave really good length and volume and after curling them with a lash curler my curl held up for most of the day. The full size Bad Gal retails for $19.00 at Sephora. I won't be repurchasing this due to the flaking, but I will finish up the tube since there are days when I just apply mascara when I run to the store or go out to eat so I don't need to get 8 hours of wear from it. 

Have any of you tried these mascara's? What's your current favorite?