BEST ultra wear lipstick/gloss, Valentine's, and this week's style in pix.

Hi, Loves!  How are you?  How are your pre-Valentine's preparations going? 

J & I love Valentine's Day.  Well, I'm sure I love it way more than him.  But, still!  We actually celebrated this year's Valentine's this weekend.  We just don't have the time to go all out on a weekday.  So, we decided to celebrate yesterday by dressing up, exchanging gifts, and enjoying a delicious meal at a nice restaurant.  And, it was fabulous!

Big surprise--I have a lot of fancy dresses, and between work and every day life, I don't usually get to break most of them out.  So, I used our Valentine's date night to done one of my favorite dresses, and pull together a Joan Holloway/Mad Men look(complete with bright red Chanel lip gloss!).  On a side note, this lip gloss is THE BEST long lasting lip formula I have found.  I am not kidding when I say that it.does.not.budge.  You can eat/drink/talk/kiss with it on for hours, and it stays on beautifully.  Plus, it doesn't smudge, chip, or flake.  I tried on a million long-wear lip glosses/sticks for my wedding, and after throwing tons of money away on formulas that failed, I discovered this Chanel one.  The one I'm referring to is Chanel Rouge Double Intensite, Ultra Wear Lip Colour.  It is like a lip gloss, but the color is rich like a lip stick.  My favorite color is Ruby Lite, and that's what I'm wearing in the pictures (below).  

So, if you're looking for an incredible ultra wear lipstick, don't look any further than Chanel.  At $34 a tube, it's a little pricey.  But, it's so so so worth it!  I cannot recommend this product enough.  And if you're wondering where to find it, you can either order it online here, or find a Chanel counter at department stores like Macy's.

Here's what we looked like all done up for Valentine's date night:

On J: Express head to toe.  Unsure about the shoes...
On me: Ann Taylor sheath dress with bow, Nine West pumps.
I look pretty Joan Holloway/Mad Men-ish right?! ;) 

At dinner.  We went for a late dinner, and left as they were closing the place down.  Oops!  Haha.

Here's what I wore this week:

Express cardi/pencil skirt, Worthington by JCP top, Nine West Jobst pumps

Forever21 button-up/necklace, NY&Co. cardi, The Limited pants, Nine West Jobst pumps

Express cardi, NY&Co. zebra print belt, Banana Republic pants, shoes via DSW

Casual Friday @ the office:
Vintage UCLA sweater (my mom's!), Express skinnies, Banana Republic belt, Etienne Aigner riding boots

So, tell me...

Do you have any plans for Valentine's day?

Have a great week!

makeup tutorial: easy halloween cat make-up.

Hello, my Loves!  How are you?

I am having a relaxing day at home by myself.  I cooked a little bit of shrimp pasta for dinner, and now I'm watching re-runs of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills-- Mind numbing TV at it's best! 

But, back to this post--

Halloween has always been one of my favorite days of the year.  I absolutely adore dressing up.  And I almost always put together an outfit out of things that I already own.  Sometimes I will buy a hat or some accessories to add on to my outfit.  But, I love the creativity that comes from creating a costume out of my own belongings!

In the past few years I have been: A Wicked Witch, Minnie Mouse, Santa's Helper, Morticia Addams, a Doll, and The Corpse Bride.

This year I will be going as....

 a leopard!

(MEOW!)

The only real reasons that I chose this was:

1.Because I love kitties.  2.Because I have a leopard print shirt.

That's pretty much it! Haha.  All I really need is some leopard ears and I'm set! 

Generally, if I make an outfit out of what I already own, I like to amp up my makeup to add to the costume.  And I usually have a makeup trial well before Halloween to really get the look down.

  So, without further adieu, here is a fun take on "Halloween Cat Makeup":

 Eyes: 

All you need to do is apply a brown eyeshadow all over your eyelids, then draw on a very exaggerated cat eye with a good black eye pencil.  I use Revlon ColorStay eye pencil in Black.  First, line the upper lash line, making sure to draw the line out extremely far, both ways (the outer edge and the inner edge).  Then, line the inside and the underside of the lower lash line.  Finally, put on a couple of generous coats of mascara. 

Nose: 

Draw on a heart shaped 'cat nose' with the same black pencil.  Lightly blot your new nose with a tissue so that it doesn't smear later.

Whiskers:

Using the same eye pencil, lightly draw on a few 'whiskers'.  Don't worry about making them even.  They look more interesting if they're not too perfect.

Voila!

Just a side note:

Prior to putting on the above, I put on the following, as shown in this video tutorial:

concealer

powder foundation 

bronzer 

blush

lipgloss

So, tell me...

What are you going as for Halloween?!

Are you planning on doing anything fun?

::I promise to post pictures of my whole ensemble after Halloween!::