Ciate's Mini Mani Manor Advent Calendar Review & Last Year's Comparison

Happy Tuesday!

I picked up the Ciate's Mini Mani Manor Advent Calendar on Sephora's website which you can find here. It will set you back $60, but you get free shipping for spending over $50 and you get free samples. 

I am going to do a little comparison of last year's Ciate Mini Mani Advent Calendar with this years. 

There are only 3 out of the 24 nail polishes that are the same from last year:

Kiss Chase

Ivory Queen

Confetti

 

I loved last year's packaging but this year's really took the cake. I love how they made it into a "Manor". It reminds me of a doll house when you open it up!

 These are the colors included. 

 As you can tell the packaging is much bigger this year than last year, which may be considered a downfall for some because of storage. But you may like the bigger look, completely preference. 

 Last year's numbers were much more visible. This year the numbers are in gold. Which I like.

 I love love love that they included pearls this year instead of the caviar beads like last year. Don't get me wrong I love the caviar beads but I also like switching it up! So the fact that they gave pearls gets me excited and I can't wait to use them in my nail art. 

By the way, I am going in order of the days. 

 From left to right:

Kiss Chase(same as last year), Cha Cha Cha, Meet me in MayFair, Girl with a Pearl

Meet me in MayFair is the feather nail polish that I haven't had a chance to use. Feather nail polish was huge this year so I'm looking forward to using them. 

 From left to right:

Espadrilles(such a pretty glitter red color!), Ivory Queen(same as last years), Loop the loop, Boom Box

 Not only do you get white pearls they also include black pearls.. ahh!

 Mineral Love (love this!), Prima Ballerina(this is glitter), Strawberry Milkshake(how cute is the name?), Back to Black Pearls

 From left to right: Superficial, Beach Bum, Let it Snow Glitter, Knee Highs

 From left to right:

Apple & Custard, Confetti, Talent Scout, Slumber Party glitter

 This year they are also giving you nail transfers, which are perfect for the season. I haven't tried any of Ciate's nail transfers so I'm excited to try them. (I'm not sure if Fair Isle is a permanent part of Ciate's line?)

From left to right: 

Power Dressing, Mistress, Celestial

Day 24 is always a full sized version of Ciate's nail polish. I like last year's better than this year's. Not to mention we have 3 silver glitter colors in this month's collection. 

Overall, I am extremely excited and Ciate did not disappoint. And I cannot wait for December 1 to apply the first color. 

I haven't decided if I'll post the nail colors every day on my blog but they will definitely be on my Instagram (vzaleski) or my Facebook page since I am trying to utilize that more, which can be found here.

Will you be purchasing this year's advent calendar?

Weekend Recap: Lorac Mega Pro Palette, DIY Wreath, DIY Cards, Christmas Wish List

Happy Monday!

This weekend was pretty low key for me. My fiance worked Saturday so we went in Saturday night and returned back here Sunday night. So it was a hectic weekend. 

I needed to take my summer clothes home and bring back some fall/winter ones. I was running out of fall-ish outfits to wear to work. Haha. Which meant a lot of repeat outfits. Oh well, the struggles of living far away and not having storage in your apartment!

I celebrated my mom's birthday this past weekend as well and I made her my first ever wreath.

 

All the supplies for this wreath were purchased at Wal-Mart. 

 I also picked up this box of cards from Joann Fabrics when they were having their 25% off Friends and Family Coupon a while back. I think it ended up being $4! I've decided I am going to be making cards for the upcoming holidays. (Hey, weddings can be expensive!) I have all these scrapbook stickers I picked up at the flea market for 50 cents each so I am going to put them to use. 

 I also blogged about the Lorac Mega Pro Palette over the weekend, you can see it here. Go check it out!

 When I went in this weekend I got all the Christmas catalogs and was having a field day. I decided to take pictures of some of the things on my Wish List. 

Formula X Paint the Town set. Here $55

Victoria Secrets Frosted Apple lotion. Has anyone tried this? Here $14

I really love this color of the Formula X Ombre Glitter collection. Here $12.50

 Look how cute my mom set up her front stoop for Thanksgiving?!

Taking this little bugger for a walk, this was right before he tried going after another dog. Why do all small dogs think they're the toughest? Haha 

Have a nice Monday night!

Monday Night Football in this apartment tonight!

Lorac Mega Pro Palette Review & Swatches

Happy Saturday!

Today I'll be reviewing the Lorac Mega Pro Palette from Lorac's holiday collection. 

Unfortunately, I can't give you a link to purchase it because it is sold out. 

This is by far my favorite eyeshadow palette. It's the perfect palette of different fall/winter shades. The texture of these shadows is what amazes me even more. They have almost a velvet-y finish to them, which I think helps with the pigmentation. Which, by the way, is amazing pay off. In my swatches that you'll see it's literally one swipe onto my skin, that's how pigmented they are!

Onto the palette!

 The only thing I do not like about the palette is the packaging. As you can see it's going to get pretty messy with fingerprints. It has that almost velvet finish that sticks to everything.

The top portion has a huge mirror which is not pictured. 

As you can see I have been playing with this palette. It has a mixture of matte shadows along with shimmer shadows. Which is perfect for those who are not fond of shimmer but like to use it sometimes. I am a big fan of shimmer but I know some are not.

Onto the swatches. I have broken it down into sections. 

From left to right:

Cream, Fawn, Camel, Sepia, White, Khaki, Brown, Stone. 

These are all of your matte shadows.

From left to right:

Dusty Plum, Orchid, Mulberry, Espresso, Lilac, Wisteria, Gray, Black

More of the matte shadows. 

Just take a moment and look at how pretty these are and the color pay off on these! It's amazing!

From left to right:

Opal, Sand, Copper, Sienna, Vanilla, Cashmere, Smokey Topaz, Dusty Rose. 

These are more your shimmer shades. Opal in this picture does not do it justice. It's SO pretty. It has a gold tint to it which is amazing. I used the Vanilla and Smokey Topaz together today and love it.

From left to right:

Apricot, Blush, Merlot, Indigo, Granite, Maroon, Deep Teal, Caviar

I'm going to have to say that all of these are my favorites of the paletter (if that's even possible to have favorite, I love them all!) The deep teal and indigo are just amazing. The indigo has all types of glitter in these shadow which can work so well with different eye looks. It's just amazing. 

I wish that I can say go out an buy this palette but as of today they're sold out. I heard on the Lorac's website that they would have one more shipment but I'm not sure how true that is. They were strictly selling them on Lorac's website and Amazon and supposedly there is to be another shipment.

Let's hope Lorac's get their act together and makes more of these. 

For the palette to buy (if it comes back in stock) is $58. I was told by my friend that all the colors are new besides two of them. So it's definitely a limited edition. 

Wait and see they will come out with a Lorac Mega Pro Palette 2 and it'll be more beautiful than the first!

Wedding Wednesday: Meeting the Catholic Priest Part 3 & 4

Happy Wedding Wednesday!

I have so much to share because I missed the past two Wedding Wednesdays, so I'm compiling it all into one blog post for your reading pleasure. {kidding} 

The past two Wednesday {ironically on Wedding Wednesday} we had appointments with the priest. 

If you have been following along please refer to this post and this post. 

I'm happy to announce that my fiance & I are officially on the church's calendar for the wedding! Not just for the wedding but for the rehearsal as well, which makes me feel more at ease, to say the least. 

Anyway, we took our inventory tests a while ago (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, refer to this post). My fiance & I are having a Catholic wedding so this was a requirement to get married in the Catholic church. My fiance is not Catholic but I am. We went over our answers from the Inventory Exam to discuss any areas that the priest felt we needed to discuss. One of the questions was:

"Does your spouse frighten you?"

I was confused that he was even bringing up this question because I know I put "no" down but my fiance put "yes"! The priest began to ask him why he felt that way. The look on my face was probably priceless but the look on his face was definitely priceless. I was mortified. I looked at him and said "I did not know I frightened you". He kept saying that he must have put down the wrong answer that that wasn't right at all. Haha. We had a good laugh in the end and we still talk about it. I don't think I'll ever get over that moment. Haha :)

Many of the other questions regarded religion, which was expected because I am a practicing Catholic and he is Protestant but doesn't follow. For example, one of the questions that we did not have the same answer for regarded making decisions based on religion. Obviously my fiance does not turn to any one, but I would. There was a series of questions that were like that, but it was fine, and it obviously did not prevent us from moving on to the next marriage steps, nor did it stop the Catholic church from marrying us. It was to be expected considering our different beliefs. 

I think one of the very important things to consider and to talk about in your relationship is your religion beliefs. For example, do you want your children to grow up Catholic? Will you be attending mass with me and/or the kids? Will you support me if I go to church? My fiance & I had these types of discussions and we agree upon things even though we don't believe in the same thing. You shouldn't go in there blindfolded and completed taken back by their opinions. Even though you may not believe in something, doesn't mean your future husband or wife will believe in the same, which brings you to compromise. Compromise is huge in a working relationship. I'm not trying to hoot my own horn or anything, but my relationship wouldn't have lasted 11 years & 10 months if it was all my way. Relationships just don't work that way! Just like going into this marriage my fiance knew he had to make some compromises if we were to get married, does he want to get married in a Catholic church? No. But is he doing it? Yes, because he knows it's what I want. 

Has the priest tried to pressure my fiance into becoming Catholic? A little, but he is taking it in stride. There's things I have even learned about him while doing these classes. I had no idea my fiance prayed, in his own way. Even though he doesn't attend mass he does pray. He may not practice an "organized" religion, he does do it in his own way. And I kind of think that's why you have to go through some of these classes, it's a learning experience for both of you. But if you're in my situation where you're Catholic and your future hubby is not, my church certainly didn't put a lot of pressure on my fiance but there is some, just as a pre-warning. But all churches are different, so you may have different feedback.

Anyway, got a little carried away there.

Last Wednesday we met about the mass and who will be conducting the mass and the times, basically the good stuff! We got pamphlets on different readings we want during our ceremony. We even have the option to have one of our family members do a reading. He knows that I attend mass at home and even offered for my priest to come up here to perform the mass. Which I am currently reaching out to my priest to see if it's something he can do. I really like my priest at home so I would be so thankful if he could do it. It's not that I don't like the priest here, I would just prefer the other. The priest even offered my priest to stay at his place, which was awful nice of him. 

He did mention that he would not go to the reception (one less plate to worry about!). I don't know if this is typical for priests but I would assume so. We also discussed the things we can and cannot have as far as decorations go. He basically is ok with everything besides the throwing after church. He is limited us to certain items, but I'm fine with that. I asked if bubbles were ok, and he is fine with that. But I understand, the church has to clean that all up after because who else is going to do that? Besides do I really want things thrown at me anyway!?

He also gave us some sample programs we can use as examples, which I thought was very nice. It'll be nice to get ideas of the way other people set up their mass programs. He even offered us to use his copier (he's all about saving money) which was really sweet. 

So it sounds like we're almost set for the church. Which I couldn't be happier because I didn't realize how long of a process it would be. And I hope someone else that reads this will help them through it as well. 

It's such an exciting time and I'm trying to take it in stride and take it all in, because after all I only plan on doing this once!     

Weekend Recap: Pittsburgh, ScareHouse, Strip District & Hobby Lobby

Happy Tuesday!

This past weekend was very eventful for me. I really enjoy eventful weekends, it gives you something to look forward to during the work week. 

This past weekend we went to the ScareHouse in Pittsburgh. I've been hearing a lot of hype about it and I heard it was better than Terror Behind the Walls so I thought we would check it out. 

Friday:

I got out of work early so we can get to Pittsburgh at a decent hour. I also did my nails with the Kiss nail stickers I picked up a while ago. 

 

 As you can tell, I didn't do an amazing job, I got some "wrinkles" in the nails.

Our drive into Pittsburgh and we passed the Heinz sign, how lucky!

My outfit for ScareHouse:

NorthFace Breast Cancer awareness jacket/Fila Jacket from Kohls/Victoria Secrets Most Loved Yoga Pants/Nike Free sneakers

We used Uber (again) to get to the ScareHouse, this time they had Candy Corns as cars! How cute!

ScareHouse. I don't really have much to rave about this place. Terror Behind the Walls really had my expectations high. And not to mention this place was oddly similar in the scares at Terror Behind the Walls. It was ok, but not worth the trip.

I ended my night with a bubble bath with my Wizard from Lush. 

Saturday:

We slept in for a little bit (which is always amazing in a Mariott bed, btw). Then we went to the Strip District based on a recommendation from my manager. 

 My fiance always likes to get in on my outfit pictures. Haha

 Trench is a little wrinkles from being in my to-go bag. 

Charlotte Russe trench/Plaid Scarf: Ebay/Ross Jeans/Ugg boots

The Strip District was so much fun and I highly recommend it for any one going to Pittsburgh for the first time. Especially if your a Steelers fan, they had a ton of stuff for cheap there. 

We went to a Polish Deli, food was pretty good not the best. But it's always fun listening to the workers speak in Polish.

Went to my first Peace Love & Little Donuts. SO good! The line was out the door. Luckily we snapped some up before they closed.

I also went to my first Hobby Lobby, it's seriously amazing. I loved it! I bought some things so I'll share another day when I take pictures. 

Have a great night.