Good News :)

Confession! Of course I was THRILLED to notice HOOLA has a matching sister lipgloss. Thank God!

I love it!! I've been rocking it all day :)

Xoxo!! Mucho love!!
Ann :)

LOVVVVVESSSS 2012 #3

It's official!  Today...I fell...in...love!  With "LOVVVVVVES 2012 #3!"

I have been in a blush rut as of late, and since I'm blogging again, I decided I should consider finding a new blush for the blog.  We all know I am Benefit Cosmetics' biggest fan, so, naturally, I started at the Benefit section of Sephora.com.  As a general rule, I just love their little boxed blushes...they are so cute!

My eyes stopped on HOOLA ($28) again for the 1,005th time in three or so years.  Bronzer...hmmm.  All of my BFF's are bronzed goddesses, even when they don't tan for months, so they swear by bronzer and it looks gorgeous on them.  I, on the other hand, have to wear SPF 90 (in the shade) and still end up somehow burning.  I have tried tons of bronzers in my life, always vying for that "sun-kissed beachy look."  Let's just say it never ends well...yikes!

I started reading the rave reviews on HOOLA and even found several reviews from fair-skinned chicas posting about how "amazing" it is and how "everyone needs to try this..." etc etc...etc.

This I had to see it in person.  I rendezvous'd over to our fake JCP Sephora (ugh) and zoned in on the HOOLA.  To be honest, I wasn't totally sold by looking at it but I decided to put my trust in the fabulous reviews...THANK GOD!

I am IN LOVE!  INNNN LOVE!!!  Granted, it doesn't look like much but it is ohhhh soooo fabulous.  I can't live without it.  I thought back to one of the reviews that mentioned using a small round brush with it to make it more even.  I did the same!!  LOVE!!  It really is the PERFECT COLOR like everyone said!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!  Get some HOOLA and make it even better!!  xoxo!!

Mucho love to you all!!
Ann

LOVVVVESSSS OF 2012 #2!!

Whoa!  That was close!  It is 11:25 p.m.!  :)

My second true love of 2012 comes in the form of BOOTS.  I am seriously as obsessed with cowgirl boots as I am mascara, so you know they are ROCKIN'!

Frye is one of my favorite brands.  Soooo comfortable, soooo adraoble and I just love their vintage-ish look.  In fact, I wore these babies Christmas shopping today and had about five compliments on them!  :)  I bought them on zappos.com...love the zapp!  

HAPPY HOLIDAY SHOPPING!!  

Mucho love to you all!  xoxo!!

Ann

Lovvvvesssss of 2012 #1

**Cues trumpets**

An now, for Edition #1 of my LOVVVVESSS.  Sorry I have to spread it out over a few days but I am trying to post every day!  And let's be honest: I live on a farm...I don't have as much to write about as when I lived "in the big city" (haha).

OKAY!!  This may not be all beauty-related but here we goooo!

#1:  Nook.

I'll admit it.  Growing up, I was *kind of* a book nerd.  I rocked the V.C. Andrews and Stephen King like nobody's business.  We are not talking Jean-Paul Sartre here, people.  I also spent my entire young life convincing my dad to subscribe me to "cool" magazines that taught me nothing (except how to spend money like it is going out of style, how to create the perfect smokey eye and how to not land myself in the "Embarrassing Stories" sections) like YM, Seventeen and Vogue.  He was a pretty easy sell because he also likes to read books and magazines, and I think he was just happy I was reading.     

After I got a real job, I subscribed to like 10 mags.  Martha Stewart, Lucky, Vogue (I see a pattern here...which is hilarious because in Iowa, we have in-person access to about NONE of the things ever modeled in Vogue), Mademoiselle, Journal of Accountancy (haha!), Elle, etc.  As much as I hated working in a cubicle and doing accounting, I loved the theory of accounting and really did enjoy reading about tax code in my free time.  Honestly, the worst part about leaving public accounting was not getting my U.S. Master Tax Guide anymore and hearing all the tax code updates throughout the year!  OMG!!  My accountant friends are going, "I knowwww!!!!" while everyone else is going, "What in the H is she talking about?"  

Eventually, I decided to be a mom and my books and mags turned into dust collectors....sad!!  (No, I did not subscribe to Parenting, omg!)  Also, I felt HORRIBLE wasting all of that paper and just throwing them in the trash...ahhh!  Especially those I didn't even have a chance to read!  So, my "Dear Ann:  Please Re-subscribe!" letters of desperation all went unanswered years ago.  

Until...dun dun dun!  BLACK FRIDAY!  

Although I have officially acquired Kurt's iPad, which I love, I decided I wanted to be like Belle and my dad and be in the lil' club of Nook toters.  The iPad had turned into my photography-surfing, emailing, calendar-having, business pad.  It also has tons of educational games on it for the little kids, so it is almost completely full of baby apps and Bubble Guppies videos!  [Hint:  if you get an iPad, get the biggest one you can get!]

I randomly decided to buy a Nook on Black Friday so I could dedicate it to non-business apps, non-preschooler games, read some non-photo books and subscribe to my magazines again (without the guilt of killing trees).  

My fave thing is the "Scrapbook" section where you create scrapbooks.  In reading a magazine, you can click the little scissors icon and send the page to a scrapbook!  Awesome!  For example, I have a Recipes scrapbook, a Photography scrapbook (OK, it's a little bit business), a Cute Outfits scrapbook, etc.  

Anyhow, yes, Vogue is in my magazine library once again.  Although I won't be wearing any Versace any time soon (wahhh), I still love looking at the clothing, jewelry and photography.

OK, so there you have it!  It may just be my favorite purchase of 2012!  As I write the other LOVVVESSS AND HATTTTESSS blogs this week, I will have to think about them and figure out which is my one true love of 2012.  <3 p="p">

Thanks for reading!!  xoxo!!

Much love!!

Ann

Makeup Blog? What?

Welcome. Newcomers!  xoxo!

Thanks you so much for fanning my Boudoir photography page!  :)  That is probably how you ended up here!  Yay!  So happy to see my blogger hits going up, up, up again!  :)

"Back in the day," circa 2009/2010, I used to blog about makeup, perfume, bath stuff and whatnot.  I have always loved makeup but never went to school for it, so I **technically** (ha) don't know what I'm doing (other than what the Von Maur girls have taught me).  I do really like buying random girly things and a few years, I also liked having a reason to avoid doing my MBA homework at night.  Hence, I would blog instead of reading Macro Econ...can you blame me?  

ANYWAY, of course, this is back when I had an office job, had to dress up and look presentable every morning by 7:30 and my only work overhead costs werrrrrre: gas for the car and jewelry from The Limited!  These days I don't buy **quite** as much makeup since:

a) I don't go anywhere M-F

b) I have so much makeup I don't get to wear due to a)

c) I have a pretty extreme photography habit now, which is the most expensive habit in the world next to maybe yachting or going on weekly safaris.

I used to be a big fan of blogging until the photo obsession and throwing Baby Will and Baby Elle into the mix!  <3 p="p">
All of that being said, I do still buy the occasional things and I know everyone liked reading about them, so I shall try to resurrect the blog!  This will also give me an excuse to browse Sephora for the newest fabulousness...oh darn.  ;)

If you have something you love, please comment or send me an email!  :)  I will probably also blog about clothing, shoes and whatnot on here.  Can't wait!!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

xoxo!

Love,
Moi :)  

High Shine!

Back in the day, I mentioned my huge love for Smashbox O-Gloss.  I still have a great amount of love for it but my love hath strayed to their High Shine line!

I am such a fan!  Super shiny, adorable colors!!  What more can I ask for!?

The thing is sooooo skinny, as you can see.  So guess how long I can keep these babies around => not long.  It's not Smashbox's fault that my handbag is loaded down due to my gloss hoarding and it gets lost in the shuffle, though!

At least one of these is a must-have and if I were you....I would go with Va Va Violet, $19, just for something different :)

xoxo!!

MUCH LOVE!
Ann :)

OH MY GOD!

I don't think I've ever posted anything that I want but probably won't buy!  I said probably ;)  If I receive a giant Sephora gift card for Xmas (hint, hint to the husband!), it's going into my online cart immediately.  Considering he never reads any blogs, I will be leaving this up on the computer post-haste.

Sometimes you just have to draw the line!  Here is a fabulous lil' palette of lipsticks I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have but for $75, hmmm...I will have to think about it for awhile.

BUT DOES THIS THNG LOOK AWESOME OR WHAT!  Ahhhhh!  I am a huge fan of pink pouts but I would really fear for my credit card if EB comes out with this in neutrals/peaches.  Hear that, EB!?

Mucho mucho love!!  xoxo!
Ann <3 p="p">