September Mini-Haul/Reviews

   It's been so long since I wrote and posted anything. There's been quite a lot going on. The most exciting recent development is that my husband and I found a new place to rent, and (here's the best part) it's a little house! I am beyond thrilled and excited to go from living in a tiny one bedroom apartment in a loud and not-so-safe area, to a cute and tiny little two bedroom back house in a really nice part of town, and within walking distance to the local library! It's more than we ever imagined we could find, so we are elated to say the least. 

   We'll be moving in to the new place at the end of October, so I have been busy simultaneously cleaning the new place and packing up the current apartment. Hence, the absence here. As annoying as the whole moving process is, it hasn't been too great a burden since I really love where we'll soon be living. I'm so ecstatic about it that packing feels like it's actually worth it this time around. I'll probably document the process, or I will at least attempt to, because I have a lot of DIY's planned for utilizing/decorating the space in our new home. 

   On another, and not quite as exciting note, I did a little bit of shopping at Sephora and Target during September and thought I'd share some of what I got. I actually got quite a bit at Target but when I collected everything together to take the photos for today's post, I realized that half of it was already moved to our new place. So that was a bit of a bummer because I was really excited about those purchases. I guess it just gives me an excuse to share them in a later post.

   Without further ado, here is my haul, click the read more link below to see photos of each item and mini-reviews...

Summer's Last Hurrah

   
   I know that in quite a few places the weather is starting its transition into cool autumn. Here in sunny, Southern California however, the heat feels like it was cranked WAY up. We've been experiencing a bit of a heat wave, and it has been rather unpleasant, to say the least. 

   Over the weekend we had the opportunity to visit our friends that live out in the deserts of Hesperia. It felt a little like our last hurrah of the summer, seeing as I've gone back to work at the school and next thing we know, I'll be too busy for a social life. It was majorly hot where we were, but we were very grateful for their air conditioning. It was so much fun to get to visit our dear friends, and I snapped a couple photos to share. They are from my iphone, so they're not the best quality photos by any means. I do think they are share worthy though.
 

   

You guys, that heat. I was dying. DYING.

       Thank you to those of you who have been visiting and reading my blog, I really appreciate the support! Are you looking forward to autumn weather? What's your favorite thing to do when it gets cold? Thanks again for visiting!

Till next time!

Love, Little Mouse

Face of the Day 03: My Go-To Eye Look

 
   When it comes to doing my makeup on a day-to-day basis, like most people, I like to stick with a look that is reliable. I tend to favor the good-old nudes and browns, along with my "signature" cat-eye. Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think about how I use pretty much the same three to four shades when I have such a wide variety of colors in my collection of shadows, eye liners, and lipsticks. It may be silly to some, but I feel like there is a time and place to play with different looks, and being in a rushed/hurried state or stressed before work is not the time to try to experiment. In fact, I think that's the quickest way to increase anxiety. Therefore, I stick with my basics and I know I'm not alone in this habit. 

   Long story short, this is pretty much my Go-To, Everyday eye look. I contour my crease and add definition to my lower lash line, and then create a little drama with a winged/cat-eye liner. It is a simple and hassle free look to achieve, only takes five to eight minutes to do, and (in my humble opinion) is very pretty. 

   Lately, I've been using a few different shades to create a layered brownish-nude eye look. I use a Mac Pro Longwear eyeshadow, a Makeup Geek shadow, and a few different shades from both the Lorac Pro 1 and Pro 2 palettes. It seems like a lot, I know. It really is quite simple and quick to do though.

   I use Makeup Geek's Peach Smoothie as my crease transition shade. Then I pat Mac's Pro Longwear shadow in Bamboo (it's really old an unavailable now, I should really just get rid of it but...I digress) all over my lid and up to the crease. 

   Then, I take the Light Brown shade from the Lorac Pro 2 palette and pack that on to the outer half of my upper lid. I use Nectar from the  same palette as my blending/smoking out shade, but I that comes second to last in the whole process. 

   Then I use Taupe from the Lorac Pro 1 to deepen my crease, then Sable from the same palette to darken the outer V of my eyelid. After that is when I take Nectar, from the Pro 2, on a fluffy blush and blend out all the edges and really work the layers of colors in to be more cohesive and clean looking. Then I use Sable, Taupe, and Nectar along my bottom lash line, just to add a little definition. After I use Kat Von D's Tattoo Liner in Trooper to create my winged liner, I finish off the eyes with mascara. 

    Lastly, I use a Satin finish lipstick called Verve by Mac. I love this lipstick. It's definitely the perfect "nude" for me. My lips are really pigmented, and because my skin is medium-dark with olive/yellow undertones, most nude lipsticks don't suit me well. I love that this one is a few shades darker than my natural lip color, but not too brown, yellow, or orangey.

   It may seem like a bit of work for what doesn't appear to be all that impressive or fancy, but I really like the way this looks for day-to-day. Bottom line, if you like the way a "basic" look makes you feel and it doesn't stress you out to create it or interfere with anything, then just enjoy it. If doing your makeup causes too much stress, then in the long run it's counter productive and just not worth it. 

Love, Little Mouse

P.S. I'm pretty pleased that I cut my bangs myself and they look decent!

August/Summer Favorites

   So we're already a week in to September. Time is moving by far too quickly! I am quite looking forward to fall and to some relief from the heat. I am totally a fall/winter weather girl because I cannot stand being hot and sweaty, it's awful. 

   Well, even though I'm late with sharing my August favorites, I wanted to still blog about these items because they were really favorites of mine for the majority of the summer. So, this is more of an account of August AND Summer favorites. 

Makeup
Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer and Primed & Poreless Powder- I really fell in love with these products from Too Faced. The bronzer is the perfect shade for contouring and bronzing, plus it really smells like chocolate. I absolutely love the way it smells. The Primed & Poreless powder is a really fantastic translucent setting powder. It's so soft and smooth, making it feel very lightweight on the skin. This has been THE most perfect powder for setting my concealer and mattifying my T-zone. It keeps me matte for hours, which is quite a feat when it's so hot and humid. Even when I feel my grossest and sweatiest, my skin looks nice and my makeup stays in place.

Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple- This lipstick has been so nice to wear the last few weeks, in fact I've almost worn it every day since purchasing it late July. It's such a lovely shade of redish-pink, and it goes on quite sheer, so it's not too bright or overpowering. The formula is very smooth and almost hydrating as well, so it doesn't dry my lips out like a matte lipstick would. I've really enjoyed it.

Skincare
Yes to Tomatoes Clear Skin Daily Clarifying Cleanser- This gel cleanser has been really helping keep my breakouts controlled. I still get a few deep, big pimples here and there, but I think they are mostly hormonal. But as far as the typical little groupings of breakouts, those have calmed down since using this cleanser the last few months. It's very gentle as well, it doesn't dry my skin out the way cleansers with salicylic acid do. I'm hoping continued use of this with the occasion use of my new Mario Badescu cleanser will really help to control and eliminate my breakouts completely.

Boscia Luminizing Black Mask- I got this sample size mask when the Sephora at JCPenny's was having a special on skincare products. I've gotten three uses out of it so far, and I really do enjoy it. It leaves my skin feeling really clean, tight, and smooth. The smell is also really pleasant. I'm considering purchasing the full size of it.

Daiso's Facial Scrubber- I saw this interesting little rubber facial scrubber as Daiso Japan and thought it would be good to use along with my facial cleanser to help remove dead skin and really clean my pores. I love the way it feels on my skin, it's not as sharp and pokey as some brush bristles, and I really feel like I get a good cleanse after using it. 

Clothes
Cotton On's Plain Black Tee and BDG's Black and White Polka Dot tee- As mentioned earlier, I cannot stand when it's hot, so I try to wear the lightest weight things as possible. So these two tee shirts have been staples for me this summer, they are sooo sooo light weight and comfortable to wear. They are both just a touch large on me, which is so great because they don't cling to me whatsoever. 

Gap's Denim Polka Dot Chambray Button Down- I've had this button down for a while, but I have really come to appreciate it this summer. On nights where it's still warm but a lot cooler when the sun goes down, this has been so great to throw over tee shirts as almost a light weight jacket. I think it adds a lot of depth and style to a simple tee with shorts. 

Forever 21 Jellies- I've had these sandals for almost two years now and they are still going strong despite the fact that I've worn them everyday for the past four months. I'm really impressed by the quality of these. The day they break or are too worn out, I just might cry.

Entertainment
I read a few books in August, but they didn't make my favorites cut. What I've really been enjoying is rewatching House on Netflix. Even though the show gets pretty predictable after a few episodes, I just really like the characters and the banter between House and everyone else. My husband and I also watched Jurassic Park a few weeks ago, and I still react the same way to it as an adult as I did when I first saw it at age seven. I just love that movie so much, so it was a lot of fun to watch it again. 

   Those are all my favorites for not only the month of August but the summer as a whole. Now I'm really looking forward to fall weather and getting to wear big sweaters while sipping hot chai lattes. 

Love, Little Mouse

Collective Summer Swag Haul

It's not often that I go completely crazy and spend a ton of money on just beauty products...but this summer I have been doing that quite a bit. I'm blaming it on all the amazing beauty bloggers/youtubers that I binge watch everyday. I have to be honest though, it doesn't take a lot to get me to want to go shopping for clothes and makeup as it is, so seeing people use products that I can't seem to live without is not a good influence on my spending habits.

Anyway, over the last month I got several things at Ulta, Sephora, and drugstores that I've been wanting to try and I'm very pleased with.

This is a crazy amount of things!

  

I love, love, love the bins by the registers of Sephora with all of the mini and trial size products. They get me every time. One of the things I saw and wanted to try was Hourglass' lip gloss in Iconic. It is a really beautiful, matte red. I love it. I was also really excited to see a mini compact of Stila's Convertible Color blush in Peony, I had to grab the little duo.                  

Revlon's lip products are all so very near and dear to my heart. I picked up two really fun, bright shades of the Just Bitten Kissable balms, two lipsticks in darker, fall shades, and a really fun, bright sheer red for everyday.                                         

I'm absolutely in love with The Balm's Mary Lou-Manizer, which I actually got for only $15 on Amazon, with free shipping. That was really exciting.

Walgreen's was having a massive sale on all makeup lines, so I got a lot of products from Wet n Wild and Maybelline. I love the blush and shadows from Wet n Wild, I'm so pleased with the quality and price. Sadly, I honestly regret purchasing both shades of the Maybelline concealer, I really should have only bought one, or none. I'm planning on giving the lighter shade to a friend since I haven't used it at all. 

I purchased the L'Oreal pressed shadow pigments in Amber Rush and I absolutely love it! It is a beautiful shade of rose gold. I purchased that and the NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk from Target. 

Here are swatches of all the Revlon lip products I purchased...
From top to bottom: Lovesick, Rendezvous, Candy Apple, Choco-licious, Raisin Rage
I love all of these shades, I think they're really beautiful.

I purchased some trial sizes of Mario Badescu skin care products to try out. I really enjoy the cleanser so far, though I haven't seen much of a change in my breakouts. I'm going to give it more time. I have really been enjoying the facial spray with rose water, and have been using it to set my makeup. It feels really refreshing and light on my skin.

I was using a trial size of the Lavanila deodorant and I decided to get the full size of it because I really love the way that smells and feels.

Lastly, but not least, this pleasant roller ball perfume by Pacifica in Island Vanilla. This smells so beautiful and lasts for a really long time. I have been using it as a base before applying my Marc Jacobs Dot.

While this is certainly a boatload of purchases, I didn't get everything all at once, so I don't feel as bad about having spent the money over a period of a few weeks.

Love, Little Mouse

Shorty Styles File 02

My hair is fairly thin, very fine, and stick straight. There's not a whole lot of body and texture to it, so I have to use a lot of product and a touch of backcombing at my crown to achieve the fluffy, textured, piece-y hair styles I prefer. 

These are the products I've been using lately. It may seem like a lot, but the combination doesn't weigh down my hair or make it stiff. The Argan oil spray protects my hair from heat and keeps my ends from splitting. I use it whenever I'm going to use any heating tools, and it leaves my hair really soft and shiny. The Rusk thick spray combined with the Sexy Hair root pump mousse gives my roots more body and lift. The Sexy Hair spray clay and Bed Head manipulator pomade adds texture to my ends, and I LOVE a lot of texture. I quite like the final result.

Love, Little Mouse

The Struggle

Due to a family medical crisis, obnoxious neighbors, and working late nights, these last few weeks have been overwhelmed with stress and anxiety. I feel like my routine has been completely torn apart and I can't seem to pull myself back in to order. I haven't been able to upload any photos to my computer either because the USB jacks aren't working properly for some reason. Oh the struggle. 

Things are starting to improve: the family medical crisis has calmed and will be over soon, the neighbors will always be jerks and there's not much I can do about that, and my work schedule will be stabilized in two weeks or so. I'm working on keeping my sanity together until this monstrous storm of emotions passes through, then I can get to work on piecing everything back together again. 

It's hard for me to admit when I have no control over a situation, to resign to the fact that I can't fix all my problems and everyone else's issues. I become overly anxious and insistent on making things work the way I believe they should, when really, I have to let go of the illusion of control. The only control any of us really have is over ourselves. We can't control anyone's actions or situations that are bigger than ourselves. It feels as if that's one of the more difficult realizations to come to as an adult. Maybe one day I'll be able to let go without difficulty. In the meantime, I'm quite a work in progress. 

Wise words from a dear friend.

Love, Little Mouse