Hooray for Sephora boxes! ~ NARS mini haul ~

I love the sound of the UPS truck... especially when it has a handbag or Sephora box on it for me!

Today it was the latter, and I was excited to try out some new colors, as well as receive a few freebies with my order!

The first freebie was a makeup set for VIBs, free with the code 'MUSTHAVE' (may still be available, it is good until supplies run out) - and was for a Make Up For Ever set of four items with a cute little cosmetic bag. It came with a lip gloss, finishing powder, mascara, and aqua eyes liner.

My other freebie was the Too Faced 500 point gift, . I finally decided to cash in some points I'd had saved up since I have fairly good luck with Too Faced products, and it seemed like a fun little set.

The main things that I actually ordered... were a few things from NARS. (Which we will refer to as my 'NARS mini haul', ha!) A blush in Angelika, lipstick in Mayflower, and lip lacquer in Chelsea Girls. I was looking for a fun, pink nude lip color for summer - and I needed a brighter blush as well. I tend to gravitate towards plums and darker colors for cheeks & lips, so I constantly have to remind myself to add in lighter colors to my collection every so often.

I've already tried out a few of the products, and I love everything I purchased from NARS. The colors were as I expected them (well, I thought Mayflower was going to be a little bit lighter from it's picture online - but it's still a really pretty color none the less) and very wearable. Angelika looks intimidating in the packaging (which I had anticipated from reviews online), but is very wearable with a light hand. I went into trying it with what I *thought* was a light hand... and I'm going to need to be even lighter next time.

Mayflower is a pretty light raspberry color with a bit of shimmer, it's similar to the popular Dolce Vita - which I also own (I'll try to swatch them to compare at some point)... but it is different enough that I went ahead and decided to keep both. Chelsea Girls is a great nude color to go over lipsticks and give that nude lip look.

I think all three colors are great additions to my NARS collection and bring a bit more of a "summery" look into my makeup options!

Ultra cute Scentsy cupcake warmer!

Scentsy's "warmer of the month" for July is an adorable mid-sized pink and green themed cupcake!

I hadn't tried Scentsy before, but have a few friends that are consultants and numerous friends that have raved about using Scentsy in their homes... so decided to finally give it a try! And well... you can get me to buy just about anything if it's shaped like a cupcake.

The cupcake warmer is the warmer of the month for July 2011, and I also ordered the scent of the month, Happy Birthday. The cupcake warmer is classified as "mid-sized" and although I don't have any of their other warmers to compare sizes just yet, I would say that it's a really generous size. Much larger than I anticipated it was going to be. (So much bigger, that I decided that if this is the size is standard to their other warmers... mid-sized is probably the biggest size that I would need in my house - because it looks size appropriate for a counter top or something of that nature.)

If you've been living a rock like I have, and haven't tried Scentsy yet (because it seems like everyone I know has already tried these...) the deal is that it melts little bars of fragranced wax with the use of a light bulb and is covered, so that it is more pet and child friendly to have in your home than an open flame.

The scent I ordered, Happy Birthday, smells fantastic - and it has a lot better staying power than other room scent options I've tried once it's turned off. Hubby noticed it instantly when he came upstairs the first night I tried it, and agreed that it smelled like, "walking through a field of cupcakes"... Ha!

I think I'm going to be trying a few different types of warmers and scents in the future, perhaps a nice apple smell for the kitchen and wall plug-in warmers for places like our bathroom. While these are definitely safer than an open flame to have in your common living areas where adults are present - the wax that gets heated up in the top (and the cover itself) does get VERY hot. So it could be a burn hazard if tipped over near children or pets. I used pot holders to take the cover off to see what the wax looked like once it was turned off. So a sturdy location that is high enough out of a child's reach is probably the best spot to keep it, as with all heated scent home items.

All in all, I'm really pleased with my first Scentsy product and I can't wait to try another item from their product line!

This review was done independently. Reviewer did not receive compensation for their opinions.

Progress on the Cupcake Room Makeover & Life

So I've discovered that I'm not very witty when I'm pregnant... in fact, my mind is fairly blank - which of course doesn't make for good blog posts. 

The other unfortunate side effect of my mind being blank - or preggo brain as it is affectionately called - is that I've also done things like lock myself out of my house while Cupcake was inside napping, accidentally left my drivers license in my wallet at my house while taking my daughter to swim class (once I realized I didn't have my wallet with me, I drove very, very slowly...), and leaving the changing pad from Cupcake's diaper bag that I've managed to keep track of for a year up to that point - in a restaurant bathroom.

These things are not the norm for me... but being pregnant apparently zaps my ability to remember simple task down to about 50% efficiency.

I am happy to say though, that I finally remembered to take pictures of the cupcake tea party room decor that I've collected so far, and seeing everything together has made me that much more excited!

Pillow from Private Quarters, Bedding from Olive Kids, Wooden room decor from Cute Kid Creations

Items from Cute Kid Creations

Excited to be making progress and be finding items that fit exactly what I had in mind for Cupcake's room!

I've also ordered some wall letters to go with the other wooden items I ordered from Cute Kid Creations, which should hopefully arrive at the end of the summer.

My ultimate goal is to have Cupcake in her new "big girl" room by the beginning of Fall, so I still have some ordering of furniture to do - but I figure I will take full advantage of the nesting stage that should hit me around September or October to get everything completed for her new room.

In other news... peanut #2 has been determined to be a GIRL, according to our most recent ultrasound! So hooray for being able to reuse some of Cupcake's clothing. Peanut #2 will be taking over Cupcake's current room (which we call the nursery) so I've also ordered her some wall letters as well, to match the jungle animal theme in that room.

So now that we know the gender, I'm in need of a nickname for the second baby... and have been tossing potential nicknames around. Sticking with the "baked goods" theme, baby #2 might end up being... Cookie? Muffin? Buttercup? We'll see what ends up sticking in the end.