Shoe Scores

Shoe score-(age?) has been off the hook for me recently! I keep saying I will not buy another pair, I will not buy another pair, and suddenly bam! Another pair beckons me.

The first ones came from a trade shop in SLC called Pibbs Exchange. I haven't been having much luck with them for years, as I would bring in clothes to trade and they wouldn't take any of my, awesome mind you, crap. This time they took the full bag of my clothes and I was technically walking with $90 in credit.

If you know me, I never walk with credit, I spend it all in the store immediately. I found these curiosities there. I couldn't decide if I liked them or not, but then finally my self-consensus was yes. The shoes were $10.00 and they were from Europe and the brand simply said "B" I came to find out those are shoes in the $200-300 range. SICK SCORE BRO. Ugh. I did not just type that.

Here they are to make up for me just typing that:




Next, I was innocuously browsing the Anthropologie site, when the sandals of my toe's dreams popped up. I salivated and whispered, "I neeeeed these." The hitch? they were $118 unreasonable dollars. I have NEVER paid that much for SANDALS in this increasingly older life of mine. But I NEEDED them. I hadn't seen them in real life yet, so I decided I would go to the store and look at them and be realistic that they were not that beautiful. But they were. And they were perfect. And they make my feet look dainty and springy. And I have been saving my money so why not, I told myself, why not. And I totally spent that buttload of money on these sandals. And I don't regret it because I love them. I love that they came with a dustcover that I will never use, and I love that I have probably already scuffed them because I am incapable of having nice things. Regardless, they are a beautiful black leather, they zip up the back, and they are blessedly comfortable.




After that splurge, I vowed that I did not need the loafers, Doc Martens, short heels, and Converse that I was eying. I was fine. Doing well. Then I woke up this wonderfully warm day and decided it was time to color my hair, probably because I couldn't afford a haircut after a giant sandal purchase, and I figured this would make it look refreshed. I went to Got Beauty, who should be called Got Bounty, given their vast selection of everything I love, and was in blackout shopping mode the second I saw that all of their shoes were 50% off. I found a nice pair of brown leather wedge shoes by Seychelles. If you have never gotten a pair of these shoes do it and do it now. They have heels, flats, wedges, and every single one of them is filled with a cloud of heaven that makes them pure and utter comfort. These $70 shoes cost me $35 today and in a blind drunke shopping frenzy I purchased a pair. Feast your eyes upon THESE!



That's all on shoes, I still have some serious catching up to do that will include my recent gardening fetish and a stumble upon second-hand score store.

Southern Scores

Last night probably marked the trillionth day in a row of me getting approximately five hours of sleep a night and with great lack of sleep comes great amounts of caffeine. I downed so much today that I think my brain broke at approximately 9:00 a.m. today and what started out as a G.I. Joe thread, slowly led down into the abyss of bringing Kevin Costner back into the limelight. While we are doing so, why not do it in a fashionable manner? Keith Rein, of awesome Georgian descent decided to take it upon himself to combine my love of Juicy Couture and Mr. Costner in such a way that I think I may have spit about half that 3rd cup off coffee on my desk when I saw the finalized product. Behold:



Yes. The Juicy Costner sweats. Now I finally have something to wear when watching Water World, Dances With Wolves, or getting my Field of Dreams on. I must find a place and find it now that will make myself and my fanciful puppies these garments.

And to further butter my bread, what is the best thing about coming home from work? Having a package on your doorstep with your name on it. It is so demoralizing to get home day after to day to see things that are simply marked "resident" or to have to open a pile of bills and see how irresponsible your were this month. So when I saw that package sitting there with my name written on it, I inner squealed with joy so as the neighbors would not think I was crazy. I was so excited that when I got inside, I quickly greeted the dogs and proceeded to step in a big fat pile of dog poo. After cleaning that up, I went into my room and opened my package. Carolyn Rittweger, also of awesome Georgian descent, had mailed me these B.A. freaking sock monkey slippers!!!!!



Okay first of all, I was coveting the ones that she had when she was visiting here. Now, I know the Bible says don't covet it is bad blah blah, but I totally coveted them and got a pair! If they grow teeth and eat my toes off at night I totally deserve it. I have such an affinity for sock monkeys, and well, monkeys in general that it may not be healthy, but needless to say this was a day maker. I am never taking them off while my feet touch the ground in my house. Hopefully they just meld themselves to my feet and become a couple extra appendages.

Joes Jeans & Other Things I Can Only Buy In My Dreams

I got my every once in a few days teaser email from Anthropologie that torments me and baiting my credit card to come into their store, when I saw these babies.




Joes Jeans have been a staple in my life of searching for the perfect pair of pants for years now, but unfortunately these Joes Raw Hemkickers rack up the 1/7th of a paycheck price of $152.00. This brand is ideal, and has suited a curvy gal like myself well throughout the years when I can find a pair on sale or hanging out in a consignment shop. Any pair of Joes I have purchased in the past have managed make any ass look like it just came out of the sweet junk in the trunk factory. The sizes always run a bit bigger than you expect, but I consider that a plus, anyone wants to feel skinnier for a day. They also don't make your whole crack hang out when you bend over, low-riders have been a long time nemesis of mine.

Not only that, these Hemkickers look like they could fit a shorty such as myself, and complemented with a nice pair of heels I could be on Cloud 9. And not not only that, they would probably look perfect on you tall drinks of water that I am so envious of, and are perfect for the spring that we have all been lusting after. They are currently in limbo on my wish list, and if stock at work does what I want it to do, I may have to break down and get them before they go away forever.

As if Anthropologie hadn't been abusing me enough as of late, they just rolled out their sister company that is not Anthropologie. I was hoping it would have the same prices that are still a little overinflated as it's red headed step-child company Urban Outfitters, but somehow they have managed to make the prices even higher than Anthropologie, but the clothes are just as awesome. Just because I can't fathom paying over $200 for a shirt Doesn't mean I am not on the website drooling still. It is called Leifsdottir, and you can go drool with me until we create a swimming pool sized puddle on the ground at the site below:

http://www.leifsdottir.com/index.cfm

When You Are Not Blushing With Pride

As the LCD Soundsystem song goes, "Everybody makes mistakes." And the above photo is complete and utter proof of me doing everything completely incorrectly, leaving the house that way, and then to top it off, someone getting photographic evidence of it.

Ugh This was when I was going through my "I am not sure which brow powder complements my hair color mixed in with "I found some sweet pink blush and some incorrect lighting so let's just use the whole thing on my face in one sitting" phase and then topped off with “Wow green brings out my eyes, so lets just cover the whole lid.” Trust me; I have learned many things about myself from this photograph.

Blush has always actually been a long time nemesis of mine. I have opted for the lighter colors in the past, but then it just feels like there is absolutely no color on my face at all. So I end up in a room only to find myself dusting it on over and over and over again thinking I look fabulous until I see myself in direct sunlight and am frightened by the two giant pink bursts of color that have punched themselves onto each cheek.

Blush is one of those things that must be thought of as not a necessity in the makeup world. It is an extra nice thing that has been brought in to help highlight the face, but if given a choice, it would probably not be amongst the things that I must must have. However, being translucent and wanting to add a bit of color is something I enjoy doing albeit it being the trickiest part of some tired mornings. I have learned from above photograph that you must find the perfect mix of a darker color and then layer the top of it off with light shimmery color.

I have yet to find the blush brush that will change my life, so right now I am using some smaller cheap ones that were given to me for Christmas many years ago. Brush mission will be coming up as soon as I get that spare few hundred dollars to purchase the ultimate set.

Something I have tried offset the “I hang out with clowns” look is to put my blush on my big ol' round cheeks with the tried and tested rule of all time, smile and lightly brush the apples of your cheeks. Then I like to grab a different blush highlighter and dust over a coat of Too Faced Pressed Afterglow. The color I use is called Betrayal. It is perfect because it is not I am 17 all over again and trying to sneak into the club glittery, and it gives that nice sunkissed look, not the sun just made out all over my cheeks sheen.





It does cost about $24 for this highlighter, but it is something that is used sparingly, and to top it off I did some legwork for you and found it at a very reasonable $12.99 right here: http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4275187

Though after many years, I have found something that is completely worth the whoopingly unbelievable price of $45 that I shelled out for it. When Victoria and I were getting married within months of each other, makeup money was of no object and we discovered the Chanel counter and the wonderful ladies that worked there. She was able to do my pinupish style of wedding makeup that I wanted with the darker eyes and the bright red lips. But when you go with that combo you really need to tone it down on the cheeks to avoid the Picasso drew all over my face with crayon look.

She put a Chanel blush on me that looked really soft and natural called Joues Caontraste in Narcisse, and it complimented everything perfectly.





It comes in what looks like a small amount, but it has lasted me a really long time, and I use it as a special occasion blush. Not only that, it has rose oil infused in it! So for those of you that like to get all creepy with your makeup and smell it, this would be the blush to do it with. Again, it is not cheap, but if you are in for a splurge day, you can get it at Viva Bella here:
http://www.vivabella.com/productdetails.aspx?ProductID=33910
Or if you happen to be at the ruins that once were Cottonwood Mall, there is still a Macy’s left, and I highly recommend visiting the women of Chanel there. They are by far the most helpful and complimentary people I have ever come across at a makeup counter.

More on how I started to fall in love and slowly go into debt with Chanel makeup at a later date.

To Catch A Concealer

One day while while blindly wandering the makeup aisles of Nordstrom, I was hit up by a salesperson from the Prescriptives cosmetic counter. Now, I am a fairly easy sell, but I am putty the moment you want to put me in a chair, fawn over me, and do my makeup. This lady offered to do just that.

I was not too familiar with the Prescriptives line, for some reason they name always threw me off and didn't reach out and grab me. But when she started to apply a concealer to my face that covered those dark circles and made it look like I had never had a breakout in my life, I was sold. Let's not forget to add that I bought about $70 worth of other things from this makeup genius. What can I say, you make me look pretty, I buy all your crap.

The concealer is called Flawless Skin Total Protection Concealer, and since I am as white as the ghosts that haunt you at night the color I got was Level 2, Cool. Because I am cool I am assuming. As in awesome. It cost about $17, which is not bad considering that it has lasted me a full and happy year. I have found over the years that dumping your finger into concealer and trying to smear it onto your face is a mistake. I tell you this because of the fact that you end up in pictures with all these sloppily placed dots all over your face. Kind of like a bullseye that says "Hey look where I broke out and tried to cover it!" So I have turned to the Bare Escentuals max coverage concealer brush. I know you are supposed to dip all these things in powder and wah-lah have magic skin, but in my case that didn't really work, so I have been using it for my cream based concealers, and it gets the job done, blending everything quite evenly.

Yesterday my Prescriptives concealer decided that after a long and happy year together that we needed to "have a talk." It was feeling like our time together was well spent, but it had gotten empty after spending every day with me, and it was time to move on. I took it with grace and strength, and decided I could go to the mall and find a new one.

I walked into the same Nordstrom and started to retrace my footsteps as to where that magical makeover had happened one year ago. It was like a dream that was completely and utterly awesome, and you go to find the place in real life and it doesn't exist. I went over to the Clinique counter and asked the saleswoman if she knew where it had been moved to. Turns out that Prescriptives is no more and they are discontinuing the brand. It was met by my cries of protest, and my husband was kind enough to even feel my pain for me by pitching in, "Damned economy!" The Clinique woman was helpful when I explained to her that what I was looking for came in a silver dollar sized container and that it was a thick concealer, not all wet and creamy like the other kinds I have tried but did not work in the past.

She suggested that I try Bobbi Brown or perhaps the MAC counter, and I did my sad shuffle over to the Bobbi Brown counter first. The only thing they had in the way of concealer was the goopy kind, and honestly that has never really done it's job. It is too sheer to cover anything, so I ambled over to MAC, the hardest place to get help in a Nordstrom on a Saturday afternoon. My husband had a Eureka moment when I took him to MAC, telling me that all these years he had heard it, he thought it was just an acronym that girls used for generalizing going to a makeup counter.

I felt a bit shovy as I pushed my way through patrons to start applying multiple concealers to my hand to judge the texture and color of them. Eventually I found one called "Studio Finish Concealer" color is NW20 that looked like it was going to have to be my Prescriptives replacement. One of the associates grabbed a container for me with surprising celerity, I though for sure I would be waiting 20 minutes to get help. I brought it home, and am taking it through the test run today to see if it holds up as well as my past love. It does have SPF 35 in it, and I am a huge advocate of SPF at all times, but make sure you are using a lotion with that amount in it otherwise, I am fearing that I will end up with little concealer sunblock patches on my face. The cost on this one was about $17 as well, and I have to say, that even though that may seem like a lot for a tiny tub of something, the amount of time that it lasts you and the quality of it is key.

In the meantime, I will still continue my hunt via eBay for the Prescriptives concealer in hopes of having just one last fling with it.