Currently Loving - Army Green

I've never been keen on this army green color, but it's been growing on me lately. I think I wrongfully put it in a "bleh" category for a reason unknown to me. 

Bra - Pants - Top - Scarf - Eyeshadow - Earrings - Skirt - Bag - Dress

Some may call it "olive green". I really think it is a great color for fall, I'm hoping I can find a nice coat in this color. 

I can't wait to try this trend! An army green top will look so good with some distressed jeans and lace up booties. Smokey eyeliner too, obviously. Maybe I'll wear a whistle around my neck and blow it when people are taking up the entire sidewalk and/or walking too slow. Hmmm...tempting. 

Are you going to get into the army green trend this fall? 

Don't forget to enter to win an Anjolee.com necklace! 

Review: Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss

 It was a beautiful day the other day, so I decided to enjoy the outside and paint my nails finally. My nails have been terribly neglected.

Today I'll be reviewing the Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss in the color Mint Mojito.

I'm always drawn to these minty green-blue colors and I have way too many. And disclaimer: it's hard to do a good manicure when you're outside in the wind so apologies in advance for the sloppiness. 

I got this at CVS, it isn't necessarily a unique color but all of my nail polish was at my moms, so I decided to pick this one up. I should've realized this when I was buying it, but the cap is big and chunky and therefore not very easy to handle. 

The formula was very thick and goopy which made it hard to get an even coat. I did 2 coats to even it all out but it came out very opaque; there shouldn't be any need for more than 2 coats.

It took a long time to dry. It was tacky for a long time which is my biggest nail polish pet peeve. Even with the wind it still took a while to dry. 

I'm also an idiot who forgot to take clothes out of the dryer before I started, so I had to pretty much take out one item at a time very carefully. Only my right hand was still wet at that point, and it looks like a wreck. My fault obviously. Who the F does that?

It's been 3 days and I don't have any noticeable chipping, which is surprising to me. There's a little bit of chipping starting to happen at the base of one of my nails, but none at the tips which is actually shocking to me. No top coat was used.

The only other annoyance I encountered was the chunky cap which had to be twisted pretty hard to get it closed all the way. That could've just been my bottle though. 

I probably wouldn't buy this again because of the obnoxiously thick formula and long dry time. Maybe if they go on sale somewhere I'll pick up a few colors. 

In case you're curious, which I'm sure you're not, here is my nail painting spot for the day. Manicure in between dishes and laundry aw yeah :) even if I did completely mess up my right hand.

If I'm MIA for the next 9 days or so, it's just because I have to catch up on Game of Thrones before the new season starts. I'll try not to though.

And last but not least, don't forget I will be having a giveaway soon! 

Have you ever used this Covergirl nail polish before? Do you have any other suggestions for a Tiffany blue-ish color that doesn't have such a goopy formula? Get ready for Game of Thrones!

Coola Rose Essence Tinted Mineral Sunscreen Review

I know many of you are familiar with Hautelook.com. If you aren't, it's a website you sign up for and they have sales that last for a few days and you can generally get good deals on clothes that would otherwise cost a fortune. I saw one day that they were having a Coola sale. And if you aren't familiar with Coola, they are company who makes organic sun care products. They can be quite expensive, so I jumped on this sale as soon as I saw it. 

I ended up getting the Coola Face Rose Essence Mineral Sunscreen. This particular sunscreen has a tint and is SPF 20. Here's what the product claims to do:

My thoughts: The first thing I love about it is that it is chemical free and is certified organic. The less chemicals the better! The tint is quite light, so darker skinned people should be warned before trying this out since it only comes in one shade :(. It blended very easily and it did not leave my face sticky or dry, it had a nice natural finish to it. I like to wear this if I want to even my skin tone and protect my face for a day at the beach. The wear time was good, I still had a decent amount on my face even after laying out and sweating at the beach. If you go in the water, that might be a different story. I use this from time to time when I don't feel like wearing a full face of makeup or in between products. The bottle claims to be light enough to wear under makeup, but I wasn't too fond of that feeling. I tried it but it felt like my skin couldn't breathe with so much product.

The only real issue I had with this product was the scent. I'm not too fond of floral scents and it stuck on my face for hours, and when I applied powder over it, it smelled slightly metallic.

Overall I was impressed! Organic products have a tendency to disappoint me but this one definitely did not.

Best for: Light sun protection when out in the sun. A light tint and light sun protection for everyday use. Lighter skinned people. Evening out skin tone for daily use or in between products. People who are looking for a good organic/chemical free sunscreen or light tint.

Would I recommend it?: Yes, as long as a slight floral scent does not bother you. And the shade thing might be a problem for a lot of people, since the tint is so light and it only comes in one shade.

Where can I buy it?: 
Coolasuncare.com

Do You Drink Healthy Teas?

I'd love to drink less soda and more water/green tea/what have you. I'm sure you've all heard the benefits of green tea, so I probably don't need to go into that. But here's a brief summary:

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As I've mentioned before, I used to be a subscriber to Eco Emi. Used to. I'm working a lot less now than I was in the summer because it is our slow season, but I plan to re-subscribe when I start getting more hours in. Either that or buy a gym membership, I haven't decided which yet.

Anyway, there are 2 things I can almost always expect in every box: lip balm and a tea of some sort. A healthy tea at that since it is Eco Emi.

I live in the south, so I grew up on sweet tea, VERY sweet tea. I've tried a few of the teas, I don't remember specifically which ones, and I could not drink them. I remember one was chamomile. I tried so hard to like it but I couldn't finish it.

I'm trying to get into drinking healthy herbal teas because I have pretty bad anxiety, and my mom does not think it's a good idea for me to go on medication, and some teas have been found to help with stress and anxiety.

Basically I'm curious to know: Do any of your drink "healthy" teas? As in, teas with actual health benefits? Can you stand to drink green tea? Do you sweeten them? Are they an acquired taste? Or is it a mind over matter thing? I need to know I'm not the only one here. I'm used to my super sweetened tea and that nastiness just isn't cutting it for me at the moment.

rms Beauty Cream Eye Shadow in Lunar

I've heard a lot of good things about rms beauty. The premise behind this line is basically skincare with color. All of the products nourish and hydrate your skin, and you can put them anywhere. So if you get a cream eye shadow you could use them on your lips, cheeks, or anywhere else you could think of. They are made with clean, natural, organic ingredients.

That being said, I love the idea behind it and the ingredients. I even love some of their other products, but this one was not my favorite. I love cream shadows so I REALLY wanted to like it. And please excuse the lack of pictures, I included this in the sample pack I purchased from Spirit Beauty Lounge (which I'll post about later), and there wasn't much to take a picture of.

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I did really love the color and when I applied it to my eyes it was gorgeous! It was a gorgeous champagne nude color, comparable to Stila's Smudge Pot in Kitten but a few shades lighter. However, before I even left the house it had started creasing! As the website suggested, I just tapped it away and it looked better. Not long after it was creasing again! By the end of the day I basically had no color left over.

I tried using it with no primer, a MAC paint pot, the Korres eye primer, and Urban Decay Primer Potion. I got the same results every time! I even tried to put an powder shadow over it and it still creased!

But, if you have drier eyelids this might be the product for you. Since it's like skincare and makeup in one, it moisturizes the eyes which I think was my issue. I have pretty oily eyelids and wear primer with whatever eye makeup I have on that day. Until I find an alternative I'll have to stick with my Stila Smudge Pots and Benefit's Creaseless Cream shadows.

Note: I found that if I skipped moisturizing my lids, it did stay a bit longer. The eye shadow is like a moisturizer so I just skip it and moisturize around my eyes at night.

I may purchase the full size version just because I do love the color and the concept, and just bring it with me to touch up throughout the day. But I would give them a shot if you have drier or not oily eyelids :) Don't let this turn you off from the brand though, I tried some of their other products that I have fallen in LOVE with! Be on the lookout for those reviews soon. Oh and my Lovely Links will also be up soon!

Korres Mango Butter Lipstick in Natural Pink Review

My Korres package came in the mail yesterday! I was so excited to try out my new goodies. I bought this lipstick, a lip butter, a lip butter glaze, a shower gel, and a sample of their eye primer. More reviews coming when I have more time to fully test everything out.

Let me start by saying this: I HATE wearing lipstick. As I mentioned in my July favorites post, I was loving Revlon's Primrose. It's a really pretty color and I still wear it, but this kind of blows that out of the water.

One of the main reasons I hate wearing lipstick is the formula just feels so heavy, waxy, thick, sticky, etc. on my lips, and also tends to put a spotlight on dry patches on my lips. I've always been one to play up my eyes and add some drama up there, and keep the lips natural. My lips naturally have a nice little tint to them, so I never found lipstick really a necessity for me.

-dramatic music- UNTIL now. The Korres Mango Butter Lipsticks (well at least this one, I can't say if they're consistent or not but I hope so!) don't have that nasty heavy feeling that most lipsticks do. The best part? It feels so moisturizing and doesn't show off my dry spots! Thank you mango butter!

When I first opened it, I was actually pretty disappointed because the color looked kind of on the red side, which isn't a bad thing but keep in mind the color is Natural Pink. It must have been the lighting though because I opened it to use the next day it didn't look that way at all.

It's not very opaque but you can build up the color. I usually don't build up my color because like I said, my lips don't need that much drama or attention. It also leaves a nice glossy sheen on your lips. I now understand what people mean when they say "my lips but better".

It's formulated without mineral oil, silicones, propylene glycol, and ethanolamines. (Not sure what the last 2 are? But that's what the Korres website said).

I wore it to work and I'd say it lasted about 2 or 3 hours maybe? I'm not really sure. So not the best staying power but I can work with that.

My camera fails at getting swatch pictures, the coloring is always a little off so this was as close to real as I could get.

I still don't consider lipstick something I would wear every single day, but when I do this is my new favorite lipstick. I will definitely be repurchasing!

Have you ever tried any Korres Products? Do you have a favorite lipstick?

Also, don't forget! You can enter my giveaway to win a MAC lipstick of you're choice and an Emma Kisstina MAC lipstick print! Giveaway ends August 22nd!

Sites to Help You Go Green

Going green has been a bit difficult for me. I'm on day 2 of being a successful vegetarian (well pescetarian technically since I still eat fish). It's harder than I thought not to eat meat. Not because I crave it when I can't have it, I'm just so used to not having to filter what I eat that I'll slip up and not even realize until later that night when I go over in my head if I did good or not.

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I've found some great sites that are helping, though.

Joining Eco Emi is going to help alot, so that I can get introduced to more brands and learn more about going green. They have a lot of info on their site about why you should go green, and brands and sites that they love.

I discovered No More Dirty Looks last night, and it's a very cool site! It's written by Siobhan O'Connor and Alexandra Spunt. The blog actually came from their book, No More Dirty Looks: The Truth About Your Beauty Products and Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics, which I will definitely be picking up!

Sephora has a "Natural" tab you can click while shopping. Also they have created their own natural seal, so that you know when you are buying something that is high in vitamins, antioxidants, and other good things and also low in GMO's, parabens, and other bad things.

Etsy has a bath and beauty section where you can find TONS of beauty products that are eco friendly. I can't speak for all of them, but most of the products are free of harsh chemicals and don't test on animals.

If you have a blog or a website, make it carbon neutral! It's so easy!

Upurea has all of your green beauty needs all in one site! If you are just starting out like me, this is a great way to find new brands that will fit your green needs.

Of course, TOMS has to be on this list! Everything about these shoes is great, they are eco friendly (and have vegan versions too!), they are comfy, and when you buy a pair of TOMS they give a pair to a child in need! I'm buying my first pair for back to school :)

I will be making a list of my favorite natural and green brands (once I test them and find out at least). So that may take a while. Some brands that claim to be natural aren't actually very natural at all *cough* Neutrogena Naturlas *cough*. It's important to read the ingredients.

That's about it for now! Do you have any favorite green brands? Do you make an effort to go green? Have you ever tried being a vegetarian?

Color Inspiration: Pink & Green

Time for another color inspiration :) I'm feeling pretty bright and happy today, so I thought pink and green would be appropriate. Enjoy!

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Hope this made your day a little brighter! The travel giveaway ends in 5 days, so enter while you still can!

Be green while you blog!

On average, a website causes .02g (or 0,0008oz) or carbon dioxide for each visit. If your blog gets 15,ooo visits a month, that's about 8lbs a year. The numbers change depending on how many visitors you get.

But, you can make your blog carbon neutral by joining Germany's program "My Blog is Carbon Neutral", Make it Green will plant a tree for your blog in Plumas in order to neutralize your blog's carbon emissions! (information from the Make it Green website).

So, neutralize your blog and encourage your friends to be green while you blog too!