I ♥ Sephora

As a cosmetics and beauty lover, Sephora is obvs my go-to spot. I can spend hours there, looking at all the glittering glosses, pigmented shadows, and oh so much more. (I can also spend lots of money there, and do, as I'm really close to becoming a VIB Rouge, which I'm not super proud to admit. SA (Sephora Anonymous) anyone?) Anyways, since I do most of my shopping there for my cosmetics, I'm going to start showing my beauty hauls from there (and probs other places too). On my last visit there this past week I got:

Bare Minerals' Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in Hypnotist
$18

It's kind of an odd gloss, as it's holographic, and it reminded me of fish scales at first, but it was just too cool to pass up, so I got over it. It feels really smooth and moisturizing and isn't sticky at all, which is a huge plus. I've worn it just plain by itself, which produces a nudeish creme shimmer, and also over colors, which gives the color an extra boost and shimmer. The holo effect is beyond amazing and suuuuuper duper cool and I'm kinda obsessed with it, as I'm a sucker for holo anything.

Sephora Collection Colorful 5 Eyeshadow Palette in No 7 Mild to Wild Khaki
$25

I absolutely love this palette for fall! It offers a nice variety of greens and can give you an everyday look to a smokey eye. It also gives you a nice little guide on the back of what colors to use and where to place them on your eye based on the look you want to achieve.

Benefit Porefessional Pore Minimzer
$31

I like to think this helps my Grand Canyon pores and I suppose it does a bit. I tend to go between this and Dr. Brandt's Pores No More.

Manicure Monday: On Nightwatch

As I said in my last post, I'm all about the Halloween nails for all of October, so obvs I have some on today! For this mani, I used Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Nightwatch, an almost-black navy. I then used my dotting tool to create the white dots with Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in White Out and then was too lazy to go find my black polish, so I just used the navy again for the other dots. Originally, I was going to use actual googly eyes, but I knew I'd be too fidgety with them and they'd pop off within minutes, so simple eyes they are. I'm planning on doing some glow-in-the-dark polish over the eyes too to give it a fun effect!

Halloween Mani Inspos

Though Halloween is weeks away, I celebrate it the entire month, mainly on my nails and with pens (I got awesome needle ones from Target!). Below are some Halloween nail art inspirations! Def going to try some of them out!

Obsessed with these Day of the Dead skulls from
Drop Dead Gorgeous Daily! Probs would do one as an accent!

Love this chic take on spiderwebs from Refinery 29!

A classic Halloween mani for me & the one I
always seem to get the most compliments on!
Tutorial from The Beauty Department.

October Preview

Trying to get back into this, especially now that it's part of my social media class! I'll be incorporating things for the class throughout the rest of the semester, so bear with me a bit, but I will be posting my usual things! So, my "editorial calendar" for the next couple of weeks: every Monday I will share some fab Halloween manis for #ManicureMonday because it's finally October (!!!!!!) and October means Halloween everything! Duh. Every Wednesday, I will be continuing "Wishlist Wednesday" with my wants for the week! Enjoy and Happy October!!!!!!!!

Best & Worst (And Everywhere In Between) Dressed of Emmys 2014

Overall thoughts on this year's Emmy fashion: not impressed. There were no dresses or ensembles that I thought "Oh my gosh. I'm in love." Kind of disappointed, as this red carpet is now supposed to hold me over until award season. 

Also, overall thoughts on this year's VMAs: why do you think there's no post? The only outfit that slightly impressed me was Demi Lovato's dress, but other than that, nope. Even Taylor Swift, like what in the world was that?! A word search onesie? No. And Katy Perry's denim dress? This is not 2001, you are not Britney, and that man was definitely not Justin in any way. I personally feel the majority of them dressed pretty trashy and that's not worth my time to write about. (I know that sounds snobby, but whatevs it's the truth.)

Anyways, back to Emmys:

Best Dressed:

Sarah Hyland in Christian Soriano

Love this. Totally age appropriate, fun and flirty, and just super cute. I also like that it's Christian Siriano.

Honorable Mention of a Dress I Like A Lot:

Allison Janney in Nicolas Jebran

This got a lot of thumbs down, as people claimed it was too 80s, but I like it. I love velvet, I love the color, and hello: big bow.

Just Because: 

Kevin Spacey in Ralph Lauren

I just love a good tailcoat.

Honorable Mention of a Dress I'm Torn On: 

Melissa McCarthy in Marchesa

Hm. I don't know. I love the dress, (I would wear it in a heartbeat), but just not on her. I think it's just too dark and too pouffy, which I'm usually all for, but it just does nothing for her.

Dress I'm Torn On:

Mayim Bialik in Oliver Tolentino

First off, props to her because I feel this dress is way out of her comfort zone, so you go Mayim. I actually quite like this dress. The color, the lace, the silhouette (amaze)... just not all that on her and not at this event. Perhaps the Oscars? Or a ball?

Honorable Mention Worst Dressed: 

Sarah Paulson in Armani Privé

What is this? It looks like tons of tulle bunched together with blood splatter. (Too far?) It's probably really itchy too, which is probably why she's posing like that.

Worst Dressed: 

Lena Dunham in Giambattista Valli

I mean, really. Why in the world would her stylist (or anybody who knows her for that matter), let her leave the house like this? Leave the house AND go to the Emmys. I love the skirt, just not on her and not with that top. That top. Ugh. Did she not learn about ill-fittingness with her yellow Zac Posen gown? Is she ready to crawl into bed and use the skirt as a blanket? It's just all unflattering. And the hair, oh the hair. E! quoted her on her hair, saying, "I always have kind of a bad hairstyle as Hannah, so it's nice to kinda chop it off or do something that shows me I'm a real woman." I don't watch Girls, so I don't know what her hair typically looks like, but I can bet it looks better than this platinum bowl. Also, probably the real tragedy of this ordeal, is that it's likely nobody else will wear this skirt and wear it properly... 'tis a shame. 

All pictures via E! via Getty.

Tunes Tuesday: "Shake It Off"

I'm super excited about this Tunes Tuesday because!!!!! Taylor Swift has a new single and is coming our with a new album!! (Obviously I'm a T Swizzle fan.) I knew she had some sort of big news coming soon, but I didn't know it was a new single until I turned on the radio and heard it, at which I may or may not have screamed a little. I absolutely love the beat in this song, as well as the lyrics, especially because in true Taylor style, the song relates to her life. Also, the music video is super cute and awk (which is relatable for me, because awk).

Manicure Monday: Back to School! (Bleh)

Bad note: today is the first day of classes. Good note: it's my last first day as and undergrad and I have these cute nails to look at! I figured it was only fitting for me to do a schoolish theme for this sacred day, so I decided to do a pencil accent nail (which in retrospect, I wish I'd have done all my nails as pencils). For the nails that don't have the pencil, I used Essie's Cute as a Button, which is also what is used for the eraser. (It looks red in the pic, but it's more of a coral. You can also opt for a dusty rose for the eraser as well.) To make the pencils: two coats of Ulta's Sun- Sational, wait until it's a little dry, then two coats of the coral (or pink), again, let dry a bit. Then with a striping brush, I used Sally Hansen's Celeb City, make a thin-ish line, covering up any unevenness of the coral tip. These actually turned out much better than I thought they would and like I said before, I wish I would've done them on all of my nails, especially since they were so easy! Happy first day of classes!

*NSYNC Has a "New" Album

Lalalalalalalaaaaaaa. Sorry, I'm just extremely excited because: *NSYNC IS FEATURED ON ITUNES' MUSIC HOMEPAGE. Although I'm a Backstreet Boys girl (Nick Carter 4ever), *NSYNC was (and is) a close second and any mention of either (obviously) gets me extremely excited.

Anyways, they have a featured "new" album release, titled The Essential NSYNC, that has the essential (hehe) NSYNC songs. Tearin' Up My Heart, Bye Bye Bye (insert hand dance), It's Gonna Be Me (insert JT May meme), Pop... need I go on?

Thirty-four songs featuring the angelic voice of JT (and Joey... I was a Joey girl for whatever reason), and the others for only $14.99. Like. That would buy my happiness and cause multiple window-down-music-blasting-"singing"-at-the-top-of-my-lungs sessions.

Going down memory lane now.

Bye, bye, bye.

Wish List Wednesday: Christian Louboutin Nail Polish

As a lover of shoes and manicures, you can imagine how excited I was to hear about the announcement of Christian Louboutin's new nail polish. Inspired by the signature red soles of his shoes, Classic Red is set to be released mid-September at the (in my opinion) high price of $50 and is available for pre-order now.

Will you be splurging on this lustrous red?

The bottle design was inspired by the Ballerina Ultima

The making of the bottles; Mr. Louboutin painting a drawing of his shoes with his signature red

*photos via Saks Fifth Avenue

National Lipstick Day

Happy National Lipstick Day everybody! In honor today's great holiday, I wore Mac's Lip Pencil in Cherry... as my lipstick. (So not really proper celebration of National Lipstick Day, but whatevs.) Since it's not a proper lipstick, it's obviously very dry, so I put Sephora's Ultra Shine Lip Gloss, in Shiny Totally Lucid, over it for super shininess. Side note: it does bleed after a while because of the gloss. Perhaps if a balm or different gloss was used it wouldn't, but that's a test for another day.

What color did you rock for National Lipstick Day?

Tunes Tuesday: "Ghost" by Halsey

One of my current song obsessions is "Ghost" by Halsey. I heard it on my Sirius radio and have been hooked. I love her voice and the beat of it and can't wait for her to release more things! (Reminds me a bit of Lorde, no?)

*I couldn't find a video of the actual song (besides a remix), but it's available on iTunes (and only 99 cents)!

Acoustic version (also amazing):

Manicure Monday: Simple and Chic with Dior

For my birthday, my boss gave me some Dior nail polishes and I'm absolutely addicted. They go on so nicely and smooth and the brush is fantastic! They surprisingly also last quite a while without any chips! I've had it on for five days so far and all I have is minimal wear at my tips! The color I have on is Wonderland #575 and is coral.

Pants (background): Catherine Catherine Malandrino, available at Saks Off 5th
Chain Ring: BP, available at Nordstrom

The pants are super comfy and can be dressed up or down. I wore mine with coral heels and a navy top for work, but they'd also be cute with sandals and a white t-shirt. The ring is also versatile, as it can be worn on two different fingers, like I have, to give it a sort of draping, or just on one finger, as it typically is worn. 

Wish List Wednesday: Catbird & Jennifer Fisher x J. Crew

So. This has obviously been neglected and I'm so upset that it's been over five months since I've last posted. I really wanted to stick to this and I've just let other things get in the way and blah blah. So what's a great thing to add to a blog I barely write on? Another alliteration day, of course! Time for "Wish List Wednesday."

It was just released today that Catbird and Jennifer Fisher (two of my favorite jewelry brands), have both partnered with J. Crew to sell several of their pieces. The Catbird Lovecat Ring (avail for pre-order) and the Jennifer Fisher Gold Mini-Star Charm were both created exclusively for J. Crew.

The pieces on my wish list? Catbird's Diamond Baguette Ring and Jennifer Fisher's Gold Octagon Letter Tag, though no R is available (boo).

Which pieces are on your wish list?

14K Diamond Baguette Ring, $320

10K Gold Octagon Letter Tag, $625

Catchup: February 17th

Playing catchup with things.. this week's mani monday:

Absolutely loving my pointy nails, and so is everybody else! I've gotten many compliments on the shape of them and people are shocked that they're real! I'm also super proud of myself for keeping them this way for this long, since some of them (ahem, pointer finger), like to keep breaking and is now a different length. Anyways, I feel that this shape of nail looks better when it's a thicker polish, to mimic acrylic nails, and one way to achieve this thickness is with glitter!!!!!!!!! (I'm glitter obsessed, in case you can't tell by the obscene amount of exclamation points.) For this mani, I again used my fave black (Wet N Wild's Fast Dry in #229C Ebony Hates Chris), OPI for Sephora's If You Got It, Haunt It, (which based on the name, I'm assuming was a Halloween shade, but I picked mine up from TJ Maxx recently), and China Glaze's Fairy Dust. I did one coat of the black, as it's pretty solid, and also because the Haunt It one has a sheer black base, so it covered up any splotchiness. I then did one coat of Haunt It, which has the prettiest combo of glitter in it... some blues, greens, silvers, and a bit of holographic glitter. Obviously that wasn't enough sparkles, so I did one coat of Fairy Dust, a pretty holo top coat of sorts, and wah-bam!, glitter satisfaction. As usual, a top coat to seal all the glittery goodness in and done! I'm obsessed with these nails because they shine and sparkle so much! The picture doesn't do it justice.

And this week's tunes Tuesday:

"To Be Wanted" by Plug in Stereo and Megan & Liz

I've just started hearing this song on my Sirius radio and like it a lot. It's very catchy! (I also think it's great that Megan & Liz are making it on the radio again.. I used to follow them on YouTube and they're quite talented!)

"All of Me" - John Legend

With Valentine's week in full effect, I decided to do a more romantic song for Tunes Tuesday. "All of Me" by John Legend is so beautiful.. I love it! Enjoy!

Conversation Hearts Mani

So obvs I didn't catch up by Saturday, but I'll try to throughout the week. Anyways, I have a super cute mani to share with you all on this lovely Manicure Monday! With Valentine's Day in a couple of days, my nails obviously have to be themed appropriately so, so I took some inspiration from the popular conversation hearts candy! For this mani I used Wet N Wild's Fast Dry in #229C Ebony Hates Chris, Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in #420 Yellow Kitty, Wet N Wild's Wild Shine in #402 Tickled Pink, Essie #746 in Borrowed and Blue, China Glaze in #868 Peachy Keen, and Sinful Colors in Olympia. I started off with one coat of Ebony Hates Chris (my absolute favorite black- dries quick and only one coat is usually needed). I wasn't too concerned with the tips of my nails being completely covered and actually should've covered them even less (as now it starts to show with chipping). I then did a quick dry top coat (Seche Vite) over the black, so that it would be sealed in and wouldn't be smudgy when I did my pastel hearts. After that was pretty dry, I began painting on my hearts. I began with two lines (like ^) and then rounded the edges. Depending on what polishes you use and their opacity, it could take anywhere from two to five coats of the pastel to make it solid. (I later realized that I should've painted the hearts white first, giving the pastels a much better base than black!) After those were pretty dry, I again sealed it in with a top coat, making sure that the pastels didn't bleed and smudge onto the black. What makes this mani: Essie's Matte About You top coat. I used this over just the hearts, creating the distinct chalkiness of the conversation hearts! I love that it's not a typical pink and red Valentine's mani, and I've gotten so many compliments on this mani from complete strangers!

Slacker Over Here

I know, I've been majorly slacking in my posts. School, work, sleep, blah, blah. I promise to catch up by Saturday! I've got my fave lips colors, tunes, manis, and some baking goodies coming your way!! xx

Happy February!

Happy February all!! With it being the month of love, lipstick is a very crucial component, so for the month (at least until Valentine's Day), I'll be posting some of my favorite lipstick and glosses! Up first: Revlon's Colorburst Matte Balm in Elusive. I'd describe it as a dusty rose pink. I've bought three of these matte balms so far and absolutely love them! It's odd because they're matte, but since they're a balm, it's not matte matte. It goes on really nicely and lasts throughout the day. (I only had to do one reapplication after eating.) My favorite part? You can put gloss on it and it doesn't bleed. Like. You don't understand how happy that makes me. I'm not really a matte person and like my lips to be glossy and smooth (I hate the way they feel when they're matte), so I usually put a gloss over my lip color, but the color typically bleeds (which makes me feel like I have old lips). This one did not though! It stayed put and I was in glossy/color heaven!

Ratings: (1 = meh, 5 = amazeballs)
Color solidness: 4
Bleeds: NO!!!
Stays put: 5
Kissability: 4 (Barely comes off!)

Kiss, kiss! xx

Tunes Tuesday: Lana Del Rey, "Once Upon A Dream"

In addition to "Manicure Monday," I want to start "Tunes Tuesday," where I'll be posting songs I'm currently loving! If you watched the Grammys the other night, then you likely saw the new promo for the new movie "Maleficent" coming out this summer. It. Looks. Awesome!!! The movie clips were set to a haunting version of the usually cheery "Once Upon a Dream," yet it was still hauntingly beautiful. I later saw the version was by Lana Del Rey and also figured out you can download it here for free through Google Play! Enjoy!

Red & Robin Mini Talons

After creating my "talons," I decided they needed some fancifying! I used my striping tape to create my points and did three nails at a time, giving them little time to dry in between, as to not have the polish stick to the tape and create a funky, thick line. Both polishes are OPI.. the red is classic Big Apple Red and the blue is odd... the bottle says it's Gargantuan Green Grape, but it's most definitely not, so I don't really know what color it is, but it is very pretty! I did three coats of the blue and waited a bit for it to dry, as to not spread the blue. As if this all wasn't enough, I added a rhinestone to each of my ring fingers, giving it a little pizzaz! I've gotten loads of compliments on them and absolutely love the color combo!

How to Do Mini Talons

I've been wanting "talons" for a while.. so bad that I've even considered getting acrylics (but nah). So, when my nails were a bit longer than usual, I decided to make them into mini talons! (Mini because they're not as long as regular talons usually are.) They're really quite simple to do if you have longer nails! Just clip both corners and file to rounded points! It's that easy! Decorated/finished talons ova here!

Winter White Nails

With this blast of cold weather we've had here (Florida), I figured my nails should match this wintry goodness! First I did two coats of Sally Hansen's White Out and let it dry for a little. Then I took Sinful Colors' Ice Dream and began my glitter ombre! My method: 1. Paint two coats of just the tips of your nails with the glitter. 2. After those coats are semi-dry, put a glop of the glitter on the tips again and lightly brush it back, towards your nail bed. 3. Touch up any areas that you feel don't have enough glitter. (I typically wipe as much excess polish as possible, so I'm left with barely any liquid on the brush, and just dab/wipe it towards the nail bed.) Seal with a top coat and done... winter wonderland on your nails!

Plum Opal Nails

Nail time! Currently I have this lovely NYC plumish wine color on (Manhattan #248). I love it by itself, but I wanted to add something, so I threw on this new China Glaze top coat I got (Luxe and Lush #1132) and love it! It reminds me of little opal flakes and what really impressed me was that it picked up the plum color! In the bottle they were sort of iridescent, but when I put it on, it reflected the plum! Can't wait to put it over different color polishes!

How To Unclump Polish

When I was doing my manicure from the other day and went to open my glitter polish, it was all clumpy and would be absolutely horrible for the thin lines I needed to do! After some research and recall of my paid manicure days, I figured out the perfect solution: nail polish remover. Sounds completely bizarre, but it really works! Add nail polish remover (I used non-acetone) to the clumpy polish and shake well. Add it gradually and shake in between so you're sure not to add too much! If you try it out, let me know how it works for you!

Golden Globes 2014

I absolutely LOVE award season, mainly the red carpet, and this past Sunday was the kickoff to award season: the Golden Globes! The Golden Globes are my favorite of all awards because it has the both the television and movie actors and some singers! (And also because Tina and Amy hosted and they're my faves.) I'd say it was definitely a good start for the season fashion-wise, however... ugh. I HATED all the slicked hair. Literally everybody had it and it made me cringe. But anywho, below are my most noteworthy looks, the good and bad. Let me know your thoughts! Who was your best dressed?

Taylor Swift - Carolina Herrera

So I’m definitely a pro-Taylor person and typically love everything she wears, since it’s mostly feminine and sparkly, and this dress was definitely included! Love the silhouette and the nod to “Red,” (purposefully meant or not).

 

Lupita Nyong'o - Ralph Lauren

My vote for best dressed of the night. No clue who this girl was before, but now I (and I think the rest of the fashion-loving world) do. The cape, the color, ah! Absolutely flawless. FLAW. LESS.

Emma Roberts - Lanvin

She looked amazing! Love the style of the dress and the off-the-shoulder top and statement earrings!

Sofia Vergara - Versace

Definitely one of my favorite dresses she’s worn because 1. It’s not her regular silhouette of a dress and 2. This is my favorite type of dress. Frou-frou princess all the way! A lot of people didn’t like the necklace with it, however I’m okay with it. Would’ve preferred something smaller or nothing at all, but I can deal with it and I like the pop of color.

Zooey Deschanel - Oscar de la Renta

Love. The skirt is my favorite part of the outfit… so whimsical and princessy. I liked the skirt and shoes as well, however two complaints: blah nail art (as she usually has masterpieces on her nails) and her hair. I think her hair made the outfit a little frumpy… especially with the flower.

Emma Watson - Dior

I absolutely love this look! She definitely took a fashion risk and I think it paid off! From the front I just thought, “Eh cute, okay,” but when she turned around... BAM. I also absolutely adore her one Dior Mise en Dior earrings… definitely going to try to DIY them.

Jennifer Lawrence - Dior

I hate to say this because I love her and usually love her fashion choices, however: what the heck was she thinking?! It seriously looked like she rolled up a sheet and tied two things of black rope around it. If the bottom black strip wasn’t there, I’d like it much better and I think it’d fall nicer. Also, it was too reminiscent of her dress from the Oscars last year (color and silhouette). She did give me my favorite red carpet moment though: interview bombing Taylor Swift and her conversation with her. Love her.

Kelly Osbourne - Escada

Love her dress. She was looking fierce. (I also really love her hair color and would absolutely love to dye my hair that color someday, but would never have the guts.)

Julia Roberts - Dolce & Gabbana

For real, what was she thinking? For someone who makes rare red carpet appearances, she should’ve killed this red carpet, but she miserably failed. It looked like she was going to the office and all I wanted to do all night was pull that stupid shirt off (in a non-weird way). The outfit and hair completely aged her and she could’ve done much better.

Lena Dunham - Zac Posen

Love the dress, just not on her. Completely ill fitting and does nothing for her. Felt so bad for her boobs.

Zoe Saldana - Prabal Gurung

I’m so torn about this dress. I like it, but it is very piecy, but also funky, and yet still feminine. I think it would’ve done better at a not-so-dressy event, like perhaps the Grammys.

Jessica Chastain - Givenchy

Love the dress and she totally reminds me of Jessica Rabbit, however, I feel like something was off with her makeup.

Paula Patton - Stephane Rolland Couture

My worst dressed. I don’t even know what to say. I can’t even think of a good description for that thing. Crumbled up toilet paper? I don’t know… just absolute disaster.

Margot Robbie - Gucci

So at first I just thought this dress was nice, but then I realized the trim was emerald and I’m currently loving emerald (see: Matthew McConaughey), therefore I love this dress. The surprise emerald (rather than black), just added so much more, along with the complementing shoes.

Matthew McConaughey - Dolce & Gabbana

Alright, alright, alright, he is looking gooooood. An emerald velvet tux? Like. Amazing.

Chevron & Striping

I'm a huge fan of nail art and regularly participate in Manicure Monday on Instagram and Twitter and plan on posting pics and tutorials of my nails on here! Today, I did accent nails with striping tape and glittered chevrons! For the grey, I used OPI's Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! and for the pinkish nude, I used OPI's My Very First Knockwurst. I'll admit, the grey was a couple days old and I didn't feel like completely changing my polish, so I decided on some "sprucing." (The grey does have to be completely dry though, as the mani involves pressing down tape.) I used this artist tape I picked up from Joann's and it works perfectly for striping! Cut the tape at angles and line them up as two points (like ^). Paint two coats of the pink and quickly pull off the tape (if it dries too much, the edges get funky). Then I used a glitter striping polish (Milani's Art of Silver) and outlined the chevrons. For my pointer finger, I simply did two stripes of silver striping tape and a top coat. However, the striping tape barely lasted me twelve hours (and half of that was spent sleeping!) I'm going to have to figure out how to make it last because I loved the look!

Hello!

Hi there, I'm Rachel and welcome to Of Whim and Wonder! I created this blog to share beauty and fashion trends that I'm obsessing over (or not so much), my favorite recipes, and fun DIY projects! I've started many blogs before and they've sort of... passed on. (Due to neglect.) This one is here to stay though, and I am so excited to begin this adventure and hope you follow along! xx