I hope everyone had a good Holiday Season. It's been slow on here, a lot going on with the Holidays. My husband was home a lot and Ella is now 4 months old and more awake. We took a trip back to Montana the beginning of January for Ella to meet her Grandpa as my dad is loosing his battle with Lymphoma after a year and half. So it's been quite the emotional Holiday Season for me since December. I have no idea how long it may be slower on here as once my dad goes on hospice I'll be going back to Montana, which I imagine will be in a few weeks. Getting on here might keep my mind off stuff for now that Erik is back at work. Ella's so close to rolling over and starting to eat which means mobility and me spending the day making baby food. I need a 50 hour day.
So here's Ella in winter gear, which I thought was adorable as in Texas we never need this. You can tell she was very excited about being dressed in winter gear and outside in 15 degree Montana snow:
I also find that I'm paring down a little bit into more wearable everyday items versus collecting just to have a cool makeup item. Mostly because I'm lucky if I'm able to get makeup on everyday, kudos to those moms with under 4 month olds who can get makeup on everyday. I find myself focused on getting skincare done, but beyond that a lot of days I'm au naturel. I'm also cursing post partum hair loss at the moment, it's insane how much hair you loose. Mine started around 3 months and I've stopped using all my shampoos I was playing with and just using Nioxin now, which does work. I'll make a post about that one day.
For now what I have I'm working on is the THREE Holiday quad and a few Lip Jams, the Natasha Denona Highlighters, Chanel's new Spring Sunkiss Ribbon Blush, the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani palette, Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Foundation, plus all the skincare I've finished. I'm waiting to get a spring Suqqu trio when it releases, some more Natasha Denona items like a blush duo and some single eyeshadows once I narrow down the shades, and Armani's Maestro Glow Foundation. I'm debating to get a few of Tom Ford's spring runway items and Armani's Year of the Monkey Highlighter.
Gwen Stefani has been one of my favorite Icons since I was a Senior in High School and Tragic Kingdom came out. She started my love of red lipstick. When I bought the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette it came with a few samples of lipsticks, that are now out on Urban Decay, and I was pretty excited to test the reds.
Rock Steady is a deep cooler blood red creamy shade. 714 is a warmer bright red matte shade. Ex-Girlfriend is a given that I will order it as I'm a lover of nude pinks or your lips but better shades and it's a sheer slightly shimmery nude pink similar to the Naked shades Urban Decay has done in the past. Firebird I love to stare at, it's a bright fushia with blue pearl, but I know I would never wear it anymore.
The back of the card shows all the colors, which you can now check out on Urban Decay's website which does have a few exclusive colors.
Swatches Top to Bottom: Urban Decay Bad Blood, Urban Decay Gash, Urban Decay Rock Steady, Urban Decay 714, Charlotte Tilbury KISSING So Marilyn, Armani #400 Lip Maestro:
Ex-Girlfriend I will buy and review separately once I order it. Firebird I didn't swatch as I have nothing to compare it to. So I tested 714 and Rock Steady this week trying to decide which I wanted to get. 714 is lighter and warmer than all the shades above. It's a Mega Matte and it feels that way, like iron. It's dry and feels like MAC's Retro Matte Ruby Woo. I'm not a fan of Ruby Woo it's too dry for me, I prefer the regular matte like Russian Red. It wears well as far as time, but it's way too drying for me. So, bummer but I'll skip that one. Rock Steady is a creamy shade, it's slightly glossy, heavily pigmented and moisturizing. It feels as pigmented as the Revolution shades, but a touch thinner and glossier. I actually prefer the Revolution formula to this one. This one feels like it has a touch more slip to it. Rock Steady is darker on the lips than it looks swatched, it looks like it does in the sample card. It's a bit lighter than Gash and warmer. It's darker than Bad Blood. I think I'll probably end up with Spiderwebs and I'm still debating Rock Steady. I really really wish both were in the Matte Revolution formula versus this creamy one. Knowing Gwen, I'm sure the creamy shades were meant to be layered over lip liner so I'll have to try that and see if it makes them a bit longer wearing and less slippery.
