Nordstroms Has Become A Dress Playground

Hey everybody! Today I am posting about all the wonderful weddings I have been going to recently and all of the fantastic dresses I have found at Nordstroms! So many of my friends have been getting married recently and I have this huge issue where I CANNOT wear the same outfit to two events. Especially not in one summer. I've been able to find a bunch of great picks at Nordstroms and while I've always been a fan or Nordy's, I usually just shop at The Rack. I've learned that great deals can still be found in stores if you shop the sales racks and during their discount weeks. 

This past weekend, my boyfriend, Chad, had a really close childhood friend get married in Napa. I wanted to wear something floral and girly, but also a little bit edgy. I found this gorgeous dress by Wayf that is a simple sheath style dress (meaning it gives you no shape but is soooo comfortable) with a beautiful and bright floral pattern against a navy backdrop. My favorite part was the subtle and sporadic splashes of checkerboard pattern. This dress is the perfect combination of girly and edgy. To give it even more edge, I did a side french braid into a fishtail braid with a chunk of hair curled around it. I wasn't positive I loved my hair but I ended up really enjoying it. It was different and unique which I loved. I chose to wear a bright pink lipstick (Mac Magenta Lip Liner with Mac Girl About Town [long wearing amplified formula that rooocksss]) with a dusted-out white eyeshadow look and a bold winged liner. To finish off the look, I wore a long, layering necklace from Bauble Bar with a "stone" embellishment. I thought this was a great way to add a natural and earthy feel to the entire look. I also wore a cuffed earring (from Nordstroms Rack) which looks great on the ear where the hair is pulled away from. 

I wanted to get a close up of my hair so you guys can let me know how you thought it turned out. PS how nice does Chad look?

Another big wedding this year was for some dear friend's of ours from the church. I found another sheath style dress on a sales rack for only $24! It was a total steal and I'm excited to find ways to style it for cooler weather. I went for a more romatic approach with this look by wearing a side french braid with the other half of my hair in loose curls. I wore a vivid lipstick by Maybelline in "Vibrant Mandarine" over Mac's "Cherry" lipliner and just some false eyelashes. Because I'm obsessed with mixing styles, I added my cuffed earring to this look as well, again, on the ear where the hair was pulled away from. 

What was really great about this dress was that it was great in the hot weather and all the bold colors contrasting agains another bold color was really out of my usual comfort zone. 

My last option was for a wedding for one of my old co-workers at The Little Gym. This wedding was at the beginning of the summer when it was dreadfully hot. I wore a simple Maxi Dress that I got on a super sale at Nordstroms in a cobalt blue color. Simple curls and light pink lips (Mac Lipstick in Pink Nouveau with Oyster Girl Lipgloss on top) was what completed this simple, summery look. 

Just a quick mention that I wore a dress just like the one above in a green patterned style with peachy-perfection make up (Mac Flamingo Lipstick and Tarte's Tipsy Blush) to my good friend Bri's wedding where I actually got to do her bridal make up! This was the first time I ever got to do anyone's make up for their wedding and I felt so lucky to be a part of her special day. 

How beautiful is this bride?!

A HUGE Cosmetic Purge

It's about that time of the year where you will probably be given lots of cosmetics, clothes, fragrances, etc. as gifts. While searching for a scientific calculator the other day, I found myself throwing out so much old makeup that I never even use anymore. I hope you enjoy this type of video, I thought it may be interesting to see what it is that I'm tossing and maybe it'll help you to clean out your collection!

The Mac Counter--Why I Hate Going There

Here I am again with yet another rant. These seem to becoming more and more frequent here on Beauty and Blogging but this is definitely a beauty subject that needs to be addressed. Especially because while researching some of my material on google such as "do Mac employees work on commission?", my search results were flooded with forums saying "because they sure are bitches!"

And you know what ladies and gentlemen, I am going to have to agree.

I do want to make a point right now loud and clear; this is not meant to be a hasty generalization. I'm speaking from experiences of my own and through others. This is not to say that there haven't been times when I've gotten great service at the Mac counter (meaning the counters or the free standing stores, by the way) and had someone who was willing to help, not pushy, and easy to talk to, but these times have been few and far between.

As a cosmetic junkie, I find myself in Mac quite often. I really do love Mac Cosmetics. I love my Mac palettes, adore my Mac lipsticks and liners, lipglasses, blushes, the whole nine yards. What is really important to realize, is I do not just wander into a Mac store to "browse" anymore. I know that place like the back of my hand and always go in with specific things I want to pick up. I never walk in NOT to buy. My bestie put in best in her blog (check it out! She rocks) the Mac counter is like an adult Crayola Crayon box. You cannot beat the selection of colors and finishes at Mac. With all these times that I am in the Mac store, I very rarely spend less than $50; I like to think I am a good customer. Apparently the majority of employees think otherwise. 

I always walk into the store and go to the display of things I'm planning on buying. I'll swatch them out and compare them to a few other shades and what not and wait patiently for someone to come help me. Most of the ladies and men working in there just gaze over my head like I'm not even there. If I'm feeling not quite annoyed enough, I'll sometimes ask "excuse me, could I get some help?" and they will usually say "Sorry, I'm helping someone else". That's fine, could you send one of the 7 ladies behind the register my way to help me?

Of those 7 ladies behind the register, maybe one is actually ringing things up? Whatever. So I go jump in line with a bunch of other people who are waiting to be rung up; the only difference is the majority of them must look like high rollers because all of the items they would like to purchase are behind the counter with a sticky note with their name on it. 

The worst part of the whole experience is when I get to the front and they ask what I want from the back, they never apologize for the lack of assistance that I recieved. Then, they ALWAYS have the audacity to try to up-sale me. 

"Oh, well you know, buying one pigment is almost as much as the set" 

"I know, Just the one pigment please"

"Well, I would just like to make sure you understand that for only 12 more dollars, you can get the whole pigment set"

"yes, I understand, I am educated, I can read the numbers, I've already told you just the pigment"

"Now, You're sure you just want this ONE pigment, instead of the set?"

OH. MY. GOSH. YES. I. AM. SURE.

"do you have a lipliner to match this lipstick, or do you need to purchase one now"

"yes, I do, at home"

"what brand is it? what is the shade?"

I cannot take the up-sale. ESPECIALLY after receiving bad....not even bad, actually, it's non existent service. 

It also drives me crazy when they run out of products; you are responsible for ONE brand, how are you ALWAYS out of the things I need? 

Why would I buy the empty palette without the insert? WHY? So I have to come back and deal with more poor service? How are you out of the inserts, but not the palettes? 

The whole deal about ALL of these events is that they are not one time occurances. I usually never get helped, usually one of the several items I'm purchasing is out (there have been occasions where all 4 things are out of stock...how?!), and I'm always a victim of the up-sale. 

I'm not sure is Mac employees work on commission, but I'm sure they do. I would think they would want to impress customers and try to build a retention with them so people will continue to come to the same employee and purchase items through them. Maybe I'm wrong. I do know what it is like working in an establishment that runs on commission, and though it wasn't my favorite way of working, at no point under any circumstance was I ever rude to a customer. I also would never ignore a customer; upon walking in the door, you should be greeted by an employee even if you are not able to assist them right away. 

Does anybody else experience this at the Mac counter? I would LOVE to hear stories down below in the comments =D

theBalm on Hautelook on Thursday 8/1/13

Hi everyone!! I know I've mentioned the website Hautelook before and how I love it to purchase high end brands at discount prices. Well, this Thursday one of my favorite, online-exclusive (pretty much), cosmetic brands theBalm is coming to hautelook!! I know there are a few things I'm going to try to get my hands on given they are available but I thought I'd post about some of my favorites that I already have. 

Blush in "Frat Boy" is a beautiful muted matte peach color. It may not look to special but I love it and always get compliments when I wear it. It gives a nice glow to your face. It's very similar to MAC "Melba" blush, but I like this one much more. The formula is so opaque, it cannot be beat

Eyeshadow Palette in "Meet Matt(e) Nude" the best matte palette on the market. You get so much eyeshadow per each color that I doubt i'll ever run out of any of them. This palette is a great basic palette for beginners or experts. 

Eyeshadow Palette in "Nude 'tude" a great alternative (not dupe) for the Urban Decay Naked palettes. I feel that the textures of these are even nicer than Urban Decay and some of the colors are quite unique 

"Mary Lou-manizer" is the best highlighter/luminizer on the market. It is such a gorgeous color and I often wear it on my eyelids as well. It's seriously gorgeous, I'd recommend it to anyone. It may be my top 3 most used product in my whole collection. 

Bronzer in "Bahama Mama" it's a very deep, opaque powder. Great for contouring and defining, and also looks great in the crease of your eye. And it's super small, cute packaging which is great for travel. 

All of the packaging for theBalm is precious, it's similar to how Benefit's packaging is but maybe even cuter. 

Some things I'm going to try to get if they're on Hautelook sale tomorrow...

Blush in "Down Boy"

Any of the Instain Blushes 

Meet Matt(e) Palette (original) 

En Root Dry Shampoo