The Shortest Month.

I have been using several beautiful, luxurious items during the past few months. They are too exciting to not talk about. Here are just a few words about each of them.

NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Santa Fe
NARS Sheer Glow is the golden unicorn of foundations. Medium, buildable coverage, nice formula, no scent (!), wide color range, good lasting power, good for dry and combination skin types, it's almost unbelievable. It's so popular and has stirred up so much buzz that I held on to a healthy dose of skepticism until I tried it out.This is definitely a product that is worth investing in and I can think of no negative points regarding its performance. I will be so bold as to say that this foundation is in my Top 2.

LUSH Dream Cream
Have I already told you that I am notoriously bad at moisturizing? Dream Cream has (thankfully) threatened to change that! This delicious hand and body moisturizer is LUSH's number one best-selling product and with good reason. Last night I rubbed Dream Cream all over, put on Dario Marianelli's Pride and Prejudice soundtrack and was transported...oh hey, is that Mr. Darcy walking through a foggy meadow toward little ol' me? (I regret that last sentence only a little bit).

Too Faced Primed and Poreless Pure 
$30 is steep for a face primer, but this product is worth every penny. It helps hide pores, is non-comedogenic, is oil-free and doesn't irritate my skin! Love it! 

Dior Amber Diamonds
Dior speaks for itself. If you want to splurge on an illuminating facial powder, treat yourself to this one. Seriously. Think: (wearable) diamond encrusted cheekbones, but not like Edward Cullen...like Christian Dior!

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Stereo Rose
I got suckered into buying Stereo Rose after reading many an anticipatory blog post about this coveted re-re-release. MAC describes this shade as a coral with golden/bronze shimmering "nuances" (Seriously though, MAC. Nuances?) In the pan, the coral-gold veining makes the product look copper, which is a nice alternative to the standard coral blush. I'd consider it a shimmering/highlighting blush with near-optimal staying power (I wore it for 6 hours without noticing fading). I would recommend swatching before buying it to make sure you like the effect but I imagine it would look nice of a spectrum of skintones. Also, I love the name. It makes me think about those vintage microphone tattoos framed by roses. Right!?

I'm baaaaaaaack,
Victoria

Bonus Bits

• I've got Drake's Take Care album on repeat.
• My puppy had surgery yesterday and is steadily recuperating. Please send him virtual hugs!
• I have been sippin' on some blueberry green tea and I can't get enough!
• TGIF, y'all.

Please leave a message after the tone.

*BEEP* 

Hey readers, it's Victoria. It's been a while since you've heard from me, I know, but please come back and read when you can. I'll have some new content up in the next couple of days. Alright. Talk to you soon. Ciao.

*CLICK*

Book Hauls and Dormant Blogs.

I have been voraciously reading over the last few months. I know I am lucky to have the leisure time (and long metro rides) to fill with reading for pleasure, but reading is something that everyone should carve out time for, like exercising and catching up on Breaking Bad. A dear, genius friend of mine from college, Francisco, shocked me one day when he told me he read for at least 5 hours a day and that many of the titles included books he had personally selected. As a Literature major that was part of his gig, but I think we should all strive for that ideal and actively dedicate time to things we love, even if our busy lives pull us in other directions. 

Here are some new books on my ever-growing To Read List.

I just realized how monochrome this book haul is.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Over a year ago, I sat with my friends at the majestic World of Beers and I distinctly remember my friend, Liz, talking about the latest YA dystopian novel that she could not put down. She described the sensation of being in a page-turning trance from start to finish. Divergent was this book. For whatever reason (read: because there is so much to read out there!!!) I never got a chance to pick up the book until now. Also, the pressure is on with the movie coming out in March of 2014. Sidenote, I am very excited to see Shailene Woodley in this leading role and doubly excited for her other leading role in The Fault in Our Stars movie that is currently being filmed! What? What's that you say? You haven't read The Fault in Our Stars? Close this browser now and go read it (Just kidding, wait until you're done reading this post...and then go pick up that treasure of a book.)!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
LET'S talk about this book cover. Isn't it every girl's dream to be an insanely long-haired, weapon-wielding, leather-clad warrior/assassin with armored shoulder pads and filigree cuffs? Isn't it? No? Seriously, though, without even opening this very cool book, I want to be the chick on the cover. I first came across this book when I saw a sweet resident of mine from college, Emily, (how I miss those RA days, especially her suite of lovely ladies) post about the release of this book's sequel. Needless to say, I was insanely hooked by the story of the extremely dangerous Celaena Sardothien (that name!!!!!) who has to win her freedom in a battle royale of sorts after being released from imprisonment in a salt mine. There's something else about Dorian, a Crown Prince, and Chaol, his Captain of the Guard (I sense a love triangle a-brewin'), but mostly I am sure this book will involve general badassedness on the part of Celaena and I can't wait to get lost in her story.

EDIT: I started reading this book since originally drafting this post. I am about 100 pages in and WOW. Celaena is unreal. Sarah Maas does some very interesting world-building here. I really like the pace with which Maas unravels the complexity of the story line and the subtle writing style is also refreshing. Okay, no more until I finish.

Angelfall by Susan Ee
"It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world," reads the back cover. Sold! I could probably talk for 10 years about my love of haughty, warrior angels (e.g. Gabriel in the movie Constantine, Raziel in The Mortal Instruments Series) and maybe this is counter intuitive, but I appreciate when angels are given a bit of humanity under all their loftiness. To me, it actually makes them more mysterious and unreachable, like the nature of heavenly creatures is as it should be: suuuper complicated (multiple us added for emphasis).

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
I saw this book listed under one of Purewow's "read this book before the movie!" lists. I am in the process of rediscovering YA lit (if you couldn't tell) and I curiously clicked on the preview of this book on Amazon. Let me tell you, I was REALLY upset that the preview kicked out as early as it did, because I must have cracked up at least 10 times during those first couple of pages at rebel without (or with) a cause, Sutter Keely's observations of the world. Hilarious. I'm sure I'll enjoy this.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
This was totally a recommendation from John Green in one of his latest live streams. John Green could literally get me to read the phone book for fun! Needless to say it looks like this book will package vampires and an actual strong female lead in a gritty, dark story, which I can definitely appreciate. I know Holly Black belongs to the same writing circle as Cassandra Clare, so that also counts for something. Another very cool cover!!!

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith...
...a.k.a. J.K. ROWLING! I started reading The Casual Vacancy months ago and I have to confess that I put it down because the story didn't really capture me. I have faith that I'll pick it up one day, especially since the writing was very beautiful (no surprise there). The Cuckoo's Calling is JKR/RG's first straight up crime novel, which isn't exactly my literary comfort zone, but I am excited to get into this one. I can't help but wonder if some magic is lost in knowing that Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for a special lady who has written another very special story (are there still people out there who have not read Harry Potter?). I kind of wish that detail had been kept a bit more under wraps, but that's just me.


What books have you had your noses in lately?

Happy Reading!
V.

Bonus Bits

• I recently finished reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and I couldn't stop smiling like an idiot. It's such a great story and I think my favorite part about this series is that I get to talk about it with my oldest nephew. He has read all of Rick Riordan's books and my heart literally swells with joy at the thought of him falling in love with reading.
• I guess I took a mini hiatus from blogging in the last month, but I am back and I have a lot to share with you. If there is something you would specifically like to see on here, let me know!
• Moment in high school history: I was just reminded by my sentence above: I need to give a shout out to my 10th grade English teacher, Ms. Mary Albanese, who taught me that "a lot" is grammatically correct and "alot" and "lots" are basically not that a thing in the English language.
• I have consumed WAY too much Diet Coke today.

I never thought I'd post a candle haul.

Happy Monday!

By a show of mouse clicks, how many of you are candle fiends? I am definitely a sucker for great candles and, more importantly, candle sales. One of my best friends, Alicia, and I went to Bath and Body Works last week (they were having their 2 for $22 sale on 3 wick candles going on) and here is what I snagged!

Cider Donut is just as delicious as it sounds. To be honest, despite the yummy name, I thought I'd hate this candle since I'm not usually into what I call "syrupy" smells (think super cheap, pecan-scented candles) but this one surprised me because the sugary donut scent is perfectly balanced with the savory sweetness of the cider. It's delightful! This gets an A+ from me. I also picked up Lemon Mint Leaf, which smells so clean and delicious, but the glass holder met its sad demise when I dropped it on the floor a mere 24 hours after purchase.

But then I put the candle in this beautiful vase/holder thing my mom found and all was well! 

The mini candles were 3 for $10 so I got Lavender Vanilla (you can never go wrong with lavender, right?!), Blueberry Pumpkin Patch (OH MY GOODNESS this mini candle is so fragrant and makes the room smell like delicious blueberry baked goods! Buy it!), and Harvest Coffee (I'm planning on lighting this one in the mornings in an attempt to further wake myself up. Pavlov would be proud.).

It's officially autumn! Too bad there are no apple orchards in Miami. I guess Facebook photos of other people going apple-picking will just have to hold me over. Thanks in advance for posting these, my Midwestern friends.

Love,
V.

Bonus Bits

• I have a few other haul posts coming to you soon including polishes, books, and more...
• I have the Cider Donut candle on as I type and it is just delicious.
• Xabi is sound asleep in his crate next to my bed and there is something just so sweet about watching puppies sleep.

Shop My Stash!

Aloha! 

I first saw this shop my stash theme on Emily Noel's blog and I thought it would be excellent to bring to The Violet Hour. When you shop your stash, you are essentially pulling out unused or forgotten items in your beauty collection and placing them back into regular rotation instead of buying new products. It's a beauty renaissance!

Welcome back,...

Benefit Stay Don't Stray in Light 
A long-time Benefit lover, I bought this more on impulse than necessity and it was the first eye shadow primer I ever owned. I like that it evens out discoloration on my eye lid and I would say it extends the wear of my shadows so that they last all day without creasing. This primer increases the longevity of my shadow but it did not necessarily improve the vibrancy of shadow colors. I don't know that it makes my undereye concealer last longer, but since it is tinted it does add a layer of coverage than I can appreciate. I think the reason I haven't been reaching for this is because it's been replaced by my MAC Paint Pot in Painterly (although I wouldn't wear Painterly in my undereye area). Stay Don't Stray now comes in Light and Dark shades!

Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque
Hello, bright eyes! Bobbi Brown corrector is a pink/peach base to be worn under concealer to help cancel out any darkness in the undereye area. I don't know how I ever let this adorable little compact slip under my radar. I tend to have a bit of purple-toned darkness under my eyes and I absolutely see a reduction in this when I use this corrector. It applies easily and does not dry out my eyes area. In short, I would recommend this to anyone with undereye circles. Also, depending on the shade, I have seen people use this in lieu of a concealer. On the Bobbi Brown website, there is mention that this product is creaseless when worn under concealer, but I have experienced some creasing with it in the past, so just make sure you set it with powder and give your self a quick mirror check before walking out the door. 

Maybelline Mega Plush Mascara
Maybelline mascaras are hit or miss for most people, but I am way into really separated, feathery looking lashes and this is an excellent mascara if that's what you're into. For a seriously done up look, I would recommend curling your lashes and applying three coats of this mascara, combing through your lashes between each coat. I have tried both the original and waterproof formulas of this mascara and I would recommend the original formula since it is less drying than the waterproof and therefore doesn't give the same effect of having a million fanned out lashes like the original formula does. Only downfall is the wiggly brush (what is this about?), but it's easy to get used to.

MAC Sheertone Blush in Peaches
My beloved Peaches! Has there ever been a more perfect sheer peach blush than thee? Peaches was my first MAC blush and it is the most lovely soft orange color. When I purchased this I went in looking for a peach blush that was nice enough to be visible but not so loud that it would clash with a red lip look that I was going for. It came down to Peaches and another Sheertone blush called Gingerly, which ended up being a bit too bronze for me. My favorite pieces to pair with Peaches (say that 5 times fast) are my MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation (I wear NC20. The yellow-undertones look so nice with this blush) and MAC Brun eye shadow for bold brows!

Revlon Lip Butter in Red Velvet
Despite archaic beauty rules regarding season-appropriate lip colors, red lips are classic all year-round (or at least they should be!!!). Red Velvet has been part of the permanent lip butter collection for a while and I am surprised at just how buildable this color is. I have worn it really sheer in the daytime for a strawberry-stained look and amped it up to a bold crimson in the evening. This is probably an underrated lip butter.

Swatches!

Have you been neglecting any make up products?

Hugs and more hugs to you!
V.

Bonus Bits

• Xabi started a new obedience class this weekend and he did so well!
• Liverpool play Manchester United this Sunday! I love Red War Days.
• 2.5 more weeks until Mumford & Sons!

NYX Parallel Worlds Make Up Collection: Review, Swatches, and Look Book Fun!

August 21st is the date, ladies and gents! City of Bones, the first installment in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments Series, is coming to theaters! Tomorrow! I am pretty impressed with the cast of the film and Clary Fray is quickly becoming one of my favorite heroines. I am usually pretty skeptical when books are adapted to create films, as there are always details that get lost in the translation, but oddly enough I am walking into this one with a wholly optimistic attitude. When I saw the NYX Parallel Worlds Make Up Collection during my latest visit to Ulta, my eyes were positively glittering! Make up collections inspired by movies (a la Urban Decay's Oz the Great and Powerful Theodora and Glinda palettes) are brilliant marketing moves and I can proudly say I'm a sucker for them, especially this one. It's a chance for me to nerd out and unabashedly let my fan girl flag fly.

The NYX Parallel Worlds Make Up Collection comes with a look book and 6 full size products, a smokey eyeshadow palette, powder blush, soft matte lip cream, mascara, jumbo eye pencil, and liquid liner, housed in a sturdy black box. All the products come in a black organza drawstring bag. This decorative element gets at the darker themes of the story while still being swanky.

The Look Book
The Parallel Worlds look book includes two make up looks: a softer daytime look inspired by Clary Fray and a nighttime look inspired by Isabelle Lightwood (although there's a typo on the product: they spell it "Isabel" in the look book, tsk tsk!). I love both of the eye shadow suggestions here, especially because the color accents are BLUE and PURPLE, which my brown eyes adore! Since the focus of these looks is the eye make up, it was intelligent of the creators of the collection to include a blush and lip color that serve as nice complements to both understated and sultry looks.

The Smokey Shadow Palette 

First thought: This is a very charming and versatile palette. There are six shadows: charcoal, black, deep plum, navy, beige, and white. The charcoal shade has a significant amount of glitter, which is beautiful, and the rest of the shades have small flecks of shimmer. I am not bothered that there are no matte shades and I think it includes enough shadows to get at multiple styles of smokey eyes depending on what your flavor is. Are the shadows the best quality I've ever tried? No. Are they pretty blendable? Yes. Do I think this is an overall fine product? Sure. Sadly, the black with shimmer, purple, and blue shades swatched a bit patchy (patchily? no, that's not a word). The softest and most pigmented colors are the charcoal with sparkles, beige, and white. At the end of the day, I think this is a really nice palette for someone that is beginning to experiment with smokey eye looks.

Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cashmere

These Jumbo Eye Pencils have gotten such a buzz from the beauty community for their longwear, great pigment, and variety of shades. Cashmere is a golden champagne color and delivered on all the good things promised. I was surprised at how softly it applied and it was a very nice base for the eye shadows from the Smokey palette.

Le Frou Frou Boudoir Mascara 

This mascara really surprised me! Le Frou Frou promises a smudge-free mascara experience complete with super volume and length. I found that it did a strong job overall, but mostly in the volume bit and I found it comparable to the Maybelline The Rocket mascara, although it did not hold a curl as well as The Rocket. The overall look was soft and fluttery, which I can definitely appreciate and I will be reaching for this mascara more and more.

Liquid Liner

This was a dud for me. The liner gave an imprecise line because the brush bristles were frayed (unintentional pun! haha). I am apparently not adept at using liquid liner, and when I first applied it it got all over my lashes and made them stiff and difficult to go back and apply mascara to. Thumbs down.

Blush in Pinched

You already know my take on Pinched (I included it in a recent post about hyped up products) and it's inclusion in this kit makes a boat load of sense. It's a buildable, peachy-pink with a hint of shimmer, appropriate for day and night. Pinched is a really nice blush since it is soft and goes with Clary's subtle look but is also a good pairing with Isabelle's dramatic eyes look. It is a pretty pigmented product so pale peeps beware!

Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul
Istanbul is a baby pink matte cream, and like Pinched, is really nice for both understated and bold looks. I did find the formulation of the soft matte lip cream to be very drying if you applied multiple coats and it made the fine lines on my lips very noticeable. If used sparingly just to coat the lips once, it doesn't feel as drying.

Swatches

L-R: Le Frou Frou, Studio Liquid Liner, Cashmere, Pinched, & Istanbul.

The Smokey Shadow Palette.

Clary's Look
What products would a 16-year-old, incredibly brave, fiery, beautiful, misfit shadowhunter put on her face? Clary is an excellent heroine and I have had many a nerdy daydream about filling her Converse and running around NYC searching for the mortal instruments. Just call me "Queen Nerd." In the style of Clary, I decided to use a pretty understated make up look with just a touch of shadows and darkness around the eyes. I used pieces of the NYX collection and added in a few extra ones from my collection. 

I started by priming my face for smooth, even skin and then followed up with a lightweight water-based foundation for a fresh, natural complexion. Clary is not at all the type of girl to put on pounds of make up so I wanted to keep it simple here. I decided not to put on any undereye concealer as Clary spends basically all of her time sleep deprived and being chased by demons and assorted angry people. I then filled in my eye brows using a red-based dark brown eye pencil. Next, I applied NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cashmere to my entire lid. I put the shimmery beige shade from the NYX Smokey Eye Palette all over the lid and blended it into the crease. As suggested in the look book, I mixed the navy blue and the white shades from the Smokey palette and applied them to the outer v, also blending into the crease. I then placed the white shade under the brow bone. I went in again with the Jumbo Eye Pencil and applied it to the tear duct area. I used the black shade from the Smokey palette to line the upper and lower lash lines to keep it subtle and followed with three coats of Le Frou Frou Boudoir Mascara. For the cheeks, I lightly applied NYX Powder Blush in Pinched to the apples of my cheeks and blended the color back. I decided to skip bronzer and contour because, let's get real, Clary would not do this. For the lips, I applied a brown-nude lipstick as a base and then applied a thin layer of the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul. Voila! Recipe for instant shadowhunter face! I hope you like it!

This sullen photo is included for extra viewage of details.

My introduction to Cassandra Clare's writing was The Infernal Devices (Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, & Clockwork Princess,), which is the prequel series to The Mortal Instruments (I did not follow directions, here. Apparently it's best to read them in order of publication, not in order of chronology. Whoops!). I absolutely adored The Infernal Devices. No Romantic hero will ever be on the same level as Mr. Darcy, but I will be so bold as to say that Will Herondale is formidable competition, all brooding with his angular cheekbones, dark blue eyes, and fluttering lashes. I devoured The Infernal Devices in record time and there was scarce an emotion I didn't experience while reading those books. I cried and laughed and cried some more and got angry and felt my stomach in knots and was breathless and was overjoyed. What I most appreciate about these books is that, as cheesy as it sounds, today's Victoria is a different Victoria from the pre-Infernal Devices Victoria. And that's really my favorite thing about books, the pages change you, leave you different. These books are about love, honor, sacrifice, and all these (literally) magical things, but most of all I was captured by Tessa's gutsy moves in the midst of a difficult and confusing fabric. Is one ever too "old" for a coming of age story? Naturally, after reading The Infernal Devices, I had to get my hands on The Mortal Instruments and read as quickly as possible. I love these books just as much as The Infernal Devices. They are the kinds of stories that as I reached the end and closed the back cover, I couldn't help but feel that I had been dragged through the most trying yet satisfying adventure. I hope that the Mortal Instruments movie franchise only catapults Cassandra Clare's stories further into the limelight and who knows, maybe one day, I will see Tessa, Will, and Jem on the big screen! Until then, I have Clary, Jace, Simon, Izzy, and Alec....and Magnus to hold me over!

By the Angel, I am very excited for City of Bones! Are you thinking of seeing it?

V.

Bonus Bits

• I came across this blog post yesterday (that I LOVED) about fashion inspired by the characters in City of Bones so I will link it here!
• Yesterday was the first day of school for most of the city and I have to say that I miss that not having a first day of school anymore. I miss how much of a clean slate that first day is.
• NYX at Target?! Score!

July Beauty Favorites.

As we usher in the month of August, yes, the "last" official month of summer, let's review what I was loving for all of July...

L'Occitane Hibiscus Flower Ultra Rich Body Cream
Oh, this body cream. I am NOT a floral scent fanatic by any means, so I reached for the tester of this cream on a whim. It is a pretty complex scent, so the hibiscus is not overwhelming by any means. I definitely smelled a little bit of the shea butter scent that is part of L'Occitane's permanent line (you know, that sweet, powdery shea scent? yum!), but it also has a stronger layer of magic that I can only sum up as: this body cream smells like the beach, like ocean, salt, sand, sun, and sunscreen. The scent does a good job of transporting me to some beach paradise without the risk of sun burn or sand fleas or shark bites (Happy Shark Week, by the way!). Thanks, L'Occitane! Obviously, it does a great job of hydrating the skin. I usually put this on my body before I go to sleep because it's a little too thick for me to use as a standard day time moisturizer. I am sorry to include a limited edition product (I bought this at a duty free recently, so not sure where you can even get this anymore. Maybe a L'Occitane outlet?) but I had to talk about how great this is. 

LUSH Mint Julips Lip Scrub
I am a long-time fan of this scrub, but I have found myself reaching for it a lot this month. I was instantly hooked by the uber cute name of this product (mint juleps are so delicious!) and even more delighted to discover that the product had a mint chocolate scent (sorry, no bourbon). The associate at LUSH told me that because the ingredients of this scrub are essentially sugar and natural extracts and oils it was okay if you got a sweet little taste of the product while you were scrubbing away at your pucker. I wouldn't recommend eating Mint Julips (go make yourself a real mint julep!) but this is a very cutesy product. I tend to be overly concerned with preventing chapped lips, but when my lips do get drier I love how gently this scrub exfoliates while still leaving my lips feeling hydrated.

Revlon Grow Luscious Lash Potion Mascara
This bad boy gives me a lot of volume and very black lashes. I tend to like rubberized brushes better than bristle brushes, but this bristle brush feels more sturdy than other bristle brush I have used. And I can't talk about this mascara any more without mentioning the packaging. I love how colorful and whimsical the tube is and it is a beautiful addition to any make up bag. I have the waterproof formula, which is considerably drier than the original, but it will absolutely last you all (work) day and doesn't put up that much of a fight if you take it off with your standard make up remover.

MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in Cosmo + Lipglass in Underage
This has been my go-to lipstick + lipgloss combo this month and I came across it totally by chance. I have been hunting for MAC's Patisserie lipstick for a while and it's unclear as to whether or not it is even still available. Most of the counter MUAs look at me like I'm from Mars when I ask them about Patisserie, but it is apparently available online? Maybe at Pro stores? Either way, a very nice MUA suggested I try looking for a dupe using other MAC products so she recommended the glorious combo that is Cosmo and Underage. The Amplified Creme has become my favorite MAC lipstick formulation because it feels insanely soft and creamy when it applies. What's a better metaphor I could use to really convey it's softness? Lemme think. While I think, here is a photo.

Okay, I am lucky enough to have 5 beautiful and exciting nephews and nieces. 5! Unbelievable! I have had the honor of watching them grow, but I will always remember what awesome babies they were (/are, the littlest one is only 8 months!). If you've been around a lot of babies, you'll know that they smell like angels pretty much all the time and they have the softest, most pristine skin! I remember when my (currently) 3-year-old nephew was a few months old, I use to love nuzzling him and tickling his little cheek. THAT is what this lipstick feels like. It feels like you are kissing a deliciously soft baby on the cheek. Maybe a tad silkier if that's even possible. As for the lipglass, I like that it is not heavily scented and is not too thin, not too thick.

MAC Wedge
This matte shade is described as a "soft muted beige taupe." Sometimes I feel like the phrase "beige taupe" is a shorter way of saying "I can't really name this color but it has brown and grey so we'll just call it beige taupe." This shadow is actually a warm tan color in my eyes, but color argument aside, this is a great shade! I had originally purchased this as part of the eye make up look for my cousin's wedding in June, but now I generously work this into my crease for a subtle, every day look.

Swatches!

L-R: Hibiscus Flower, Mint Julips, Lash Potion, Cosmo, Underage, Cosmo + Underage, Wedge.

And for a non-beauty favorite...

Ray-Ban Wayfarer Sunglasses
I have never owned a fancy pair of sunglasses so I thought I'd treat myself (and my eyes! seriously, the sun hurts!) to a pair of Ray Bans. Honestly, the sun glare has been unbearable during my daily commute as of late. My best friend, Annie, has worn some seriously cool shades for a couple of years so I would have to say she is my inspiration for trying out Ray Bans at all. I tried on 3 styles of Wayfarers at my local mall: Original, New, and Folding. The Original frames are the iconic large and angled (and angular) ones. The New frames sit straight on the face and are generally smaller and have rounder edges. As logic would have it, the Folding glasses collapse into the size of one eyeglass (so cute!) and are also pretty square in shape. I originally intended to buy the ones Annie had (The New Frames), but because I have a rounder face, they didn't look as fly on me as they do on her (they look SUPERfly on her, no joke). 

Proof of Cool.

While I really liked the folding ones, I am not a big fan of collapsible things so I ended up choosing the Original Wayfarers. I tried on several colors in the Original Wayfarers and I went crazy for the tortoiseshell frames with dark lenses. Since wearing these, my eyes are no longer in pain! I love 'em!

Happy August!

All my lovin',
V.

Bonus Bits

• I'm more than half-way through Paper Towns by John Green and I think the story is glorious. I would definitely recommend it!
• My coworker went to Sephora in my place and picked up a MAJOR goodie for me! Can you guess what it is?
• It's Friday. It's Friday! What are you up to this weekend?