September Ipsy Bag Review

Happy Tuesday!

I figured instead of posting what was in the Ipsy bag every month I would give it a week or so to test out the products and let you know my opinion. Because that's what every one really wants to know, isn't it? :)

I really got a lot of use out of this month's Ipsy bag. I never tried any of these products before so all of it is a first for me. (By the way - can I just say how difficult it is to take photos in the fall? It's dark before you know it and when you want to take pictures the natural sunlight is already gone! *The blogger's real struggle*)

Everything in the picture above was included with the Ipsy bag minus the Kiss nail decals. 

 I actually picked these up while we were grocery shopping. I'm such a sucker for nail stickers. 

 Caviar CC creme not only smells amazing but works amazing as well. The only grip I would have is that it leaves your hair with the stiff-gel consistency, but all you need to do is brush your hair out and it's gone! You can find this product here. Originally $25. The size of the one from Sephora ia 2.5 Fl. Oz and mine is .85. But this will definitely get me a few more uses, especially if you just use it on your ends like I'm doing. 

This is the only product I didn't use. I'm always weary of facial products because of my skin type. I may try it tonight. If it's something to write home about I'll do a review, if not, consider it not that great. Haha. Anyway, you can find it here for the full size it's $13.99 

 I was super excited to see this shadow brush in my Ipsy bag. I saw Crown brushes at IMATS this past spring but never tried them. I love this brush because it's a two in one. It picks up pigment amazing-ly and I seriously have no complaints. I have been using it every day ever since. I tried to search for this brush on their website but didn't have any luck. 

 I have tried a Pacifica product in another Ipsy glam bag and was not a fan - it was an eyeshadow duo and I just didn't like the way the colors came out - not very pigmented. This eye pencil however is AMAZING. It's so soft and smooth. Immediately after I tried it I went onto their website and wanted to see about ordering more. You can find them here for $11.00

I have never heard of Hikari lipsticks before this Ipsy bag. It's such cute and simple packaging (The best kind). I can't express how much I love this color and it's seriously perfect for Fall and Winter months. It's the prettiest cranberry shade here for $13.00

Swatches of the eyeliner and lipstick. 

I spent $10 for the Ispy bag and got $63 worth of sample sized products. 

JOIN! :) 

(and no, I'm not sponsored)

Have a great night

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday!

One day down, four more to go. I'm pretty excited about this upcoming weekend. So needless to say, I'm counting down the work week, although when don't I? hehe

Today I'm doing a little weekend recap. We stayed in again, for the third weekend in a row - I am not complaining - it's well needed and deserved. We have been going in every weekend in the summer or going somewhere so taking a couple weekends off has been good to us, and for our apartment - I've done a lot of cleaning. But I am also looking forward to this upcoming weekend. :)

Friday: 

Fiance's brother came down to visit and we went for a walk. We live right across the street from the levy and it's so beautiful at night. I swear I can never get sick of this view. 

Saturday: 

I was putting things away and stumbled upon this little gem. I bought it at Target in those dollar bins. Is now the wrong time of year for me to try to even grow this? 

I ordered this online and it came on Saturday! More on this in another post. 

Sunday: We stayed in all day Saturday that I needed to get out for just a little while on Sunday. So I went out and did some shopping. This is just a sneak peak of my purchases.

OOTD. Of course I needed to sport my Eagles shirt for game day. Too bad we lost. :(

How precious is this? It was at our local K-Mart and they just had some displays. Unfortunately it wasn't in stock, but I scoped it out online and it's on sale for $17. This is something I'll be putting under our tree this year once I purchase it. 

I also did some fall/Halloween decorating and a couple of Pinterest projects I'll be sharing this week. 

Remember this owl from this post. This is what it looks like with a candle in it. It's so cute! 

How was your weekend?

Wedding Wednesday: Building our Guest List & Spreadsheet I Came Up With

Happy Wedding Wednesday!

This past weekend my fiance & I sat down and created our guest lists. 

I had a really hard time trying to decide how I was going to come up with our guest list so I went on Pinterest for some tips on creating your guest list efficiently.

I took some of the tips and put it into an Excel spreadsheet. See below for the columns I used to create the spreadsheet:

The columns included: 

Guest # (to keep track of each guest)

Name

Address(to send an invitation and thank you card)

Phone Number

Email (which is optional but I plan on sending out our website to the guests)

Invitation Sent Y/N

RSVP Y/N

Table # (this will help with seat charting as well)

Gifts received from guest 

Thank you card sent Y/N 

I like the idea of having everything in one big snap shot. I won't need to refer to cards after my bridal shower (besides inputting the information) to send out thank you cards and for what I received from each guest.

Unfortunately I am having a guest list issue - I want to invite WAY too many people. I have a couple ideas of cutting people and I will talk about that in another post because, honestly, I need to think it through before I post it.

I am also in the process of learning how to make this file usable for other people to use to make up their guest list. I'm hoping by next Wedding Wednesday I'll have it up for you to use. 

Have a good night!

DIY Gold Polka Dot Canva Art

Happy Monday!

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to be back to a regular work schedule. Last week was just rough for me. 

Anyway, a couple of weekends ago I bought canvas and some scrapbook paper on a mission to recreate a pin on my Pinterest board. I've decided since the Fall is here and Winter is coming that I am making it a goal to make our apartment feel more like home. I always thought of living out here as temporary so I always thought of it as a waste. But I honestly don't know why I thought of it as that, it's not like if I do move back home I can't take the things back with me. Haha. Just illogical thinking. 

So I went to our local Michaels with a couple of girls from work and picked up 3 canvas boards, 3 pieces of scrapbook paper and a circle hole punch. Costing me a total of $27.00

 I made sure to cut the hole punches as close together so I could get the most punches out of it. The hole punch I purchased was 1 1/2 inches. This is what cost me the most money. It wasn't on sale and I didn't have another coupon to use so I ended up paying $9.99 for it. 

 Originally I tried using this Scotch spray for poster boards - simply because it's what I had laying around. It did a horrible job, I ended up switching to hot glue. I had much better results, not to mention it went a lot faster. 

 The size I bought was 12in x 24in. They had a 2 piece set on sale for I believe 40% off and then they had 1 canvas the same size that I used my coupon on. 

 Basically I just placed the dots where I wanted them to go and then started gluing. So it was kind of an organized mess.

The completed project above our couch. 

The couch is also very boring and needs some life. I'm on the hunt for some colorful throw pillows. But I don't just want any throw pillows I want stylish yet soft and comfortable. So I'm still on the hunt. I think I'm going to try TJMaxx next. 

Have a great night!

Outfits I wore on our Norwegian Cruise

Happy Thursday!

I completely forgot about doing a post on the outfits I wore on our Norwegian Cruise in August. I purposely took pictures just to share on the blog and as I am going through all the photos (all 700+ of them) I realized I took outfit pictures. Haha. *Blogger problems*

Below are outfits I wore on the cruise:

 

Dress: Kohls/Shoes: Kohls/Watch: Michael Kors/Cropped Jacket: JCPenney

 Bikini: Victoria Secrets

Bathing Suit cover up: Bon-Ton

Skirt: Kohls/Black tank top:Walmart/Shoes: Kohls/Necklace:Rainbow/Watch: Michael Kors/Purse: Coach

This is a dress you can wear like 9 different ways but I opted for the traditional tube top

Dress: Long Beach Island/Purse: Coach/Watch:Michael Kors/Necklace: New York & CO

 As you can tell I wore my bikini a lot! 

Tank: Kohls/Shorts: TJMaxx/Watch: Michael Kors/Purse: Coach

 Watch: Michael Kors/Bracelet: Long Beach Island

Little towel frog! How cute!

 White Hot Party

Dress: Lauren Conrad/Shoes:Kohls

 Better picture of this dress, I love it so much. So comfortable!

Top: Ross/Shorts: Forever 21

Word of caution: The Bahamas and Florida get real HOT in August - I'm talking 90+ degrees! Prepare for hot weather. I thought I was prepared but I don't think I brought enough shorts and tank tops - not to mention bathing suits.

Anyway, have a great night. I am super excited tomorrow is finally Friday and there's a good possibility of me getting out of work early. I deserve it, it's been 11 hour days for me. If you don't already know I'm and Accountant and our company was going through an audit. If you ever went through an audit I'm sure you'd understand - it's a week from hellllll! 

Fall Bath & Body Works Haul

Happy Tuesday!

This week work is very busy for me so I don't know how often I'll be able to blog this week (unfortunately). 

Two weekends ago I did a little shopping at the Outlets in Philadelphia and I'm sharing part of my haul. 

I love buying candles in the Fall & Winter, there is something about a candle lit in your bedroom or living room that reminds me of the fall. I think it's the coziness of it all. I love going to Bath & Body Works in the fall and winter months because they always have such cute decor and the best scents!

Here are some things I picked up. 

I picked up this adorable owl candle for 50% off plus an additional 20% off! It was originally $39.50 and I got it for $15.80! It's a candle holder for a 3 wick candle. I think it'll be the perfect addition to our end tables in our living room. If you like the owl it can be purchased here but it is not on sale.

I also needed some new hand soaps and picked up 5. The other one that is missing is Dancing Waters - I gave that to my future Mother-in-law. 

I don't know if I ever shared this little candle holder with you. It fits the mini candles - the one that is pictured here would fit it. I got this candle for free with a coupon. And of course I picked up the Pumpkin Cupcake antibacterial. If you didn't already notice I love the scent Pumpkin Cupcake. 

A new scent that Bath & Body Works came out with this year is Pumpkin Pecan Waffles. It smells SO good. I can't even explain it, just that you need to get your butt to a Bath & Body Works and smell it. Once I get another coupon I'll be picking up candles in this scent. It smells so delicious!

Another cute household item they have is this haunted house:

 

Unfortunately it is $64.50 though. You can find it here.

What are you hauling for the fall from Bath & Body Works?!

Recent Work Office Outfits

Happy Friday!!

It's finally here. I was lucky enough to even get out of work a little early today. I took advantage of that and went to our local Joann Fabrics for some crafty projects this weekend. Add me on Instagram(vzaleski) to see a sneak peak! :)

I've been piling up some of these work office outfits for a week or so now and thought it's time to post them! I also threw in a weekend shopping outfit from last weekend. 

Yellow top: New York & Company/Skirt: Forever 21/Sequin brown belt: New York & Company/Flats: DSW Blowfish/Watch: Michael Kors

Weekend shopping outfit, more on this in a separate post

Top: Kohls Apt 9/Shorts: JCPenney/Flip Flops: Kohls Apt 9/Purse: Juicy Couture/Watch: Michael Kors

Dress: Old Navy/Shoes: DSW Blow Fish/Scarf: Tommy Hilfiger/Watch: Michael Kors

Scarf: Tommy Hilfiger

Top: Ross/Necklace: Forever 21/Capri's: New York & Company/Flats: Target

Blazer: Charlotte Russe/Tank:Forever 21(Definitely over wear this!)/Necklace:Ebay/Shoes: Kmart

This is my happy it's Friday face! 

Today's outfit I tried to color block with the different color blues and my shoes I thought the leopard would be better than wearing plain black flats, I thought it would be boring! This outfit was definitely something new and different even though it's just a plain outfit. 

Anyway, my fiance's brother is here to visit for the weekend. It's just going to be a nice relaxing weekend with some crafts thrown in! :)

Have a great night & weekend!