February 22, 2015 by gn0mel0ver

Finally, The Best Mascara

If you remember, and why wouldn’t you, it was a monumental declaration, over a year ago I declared that I would go through a giant box of sample mascaras and do an experiment on which one I thought was the best.

And as with all of my best intentions, I managed to document only three of them before I simply resorted to trying them on and then declining most of them forever. Mascara is no joke.

The mascara needs to look natural. It needs to separate the lashes, lift my short spindly genetic shortfalls, from the hovels of my face and mold the shacks of my eyelashes into skyscrapers. I want the structure to last all day but easily tear down at night.

I tried all of the mascaras in Sephora’s 2013 Lash Stash box listed here:

Benefit They’re Real Mascara (which I all ready loved previously)
Blinc Mascara
Buxom Lash Mascara
Clinique High Impact Mascara
Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara
Sephora Outrageous Mascara
Make Up For Ever Smoky Extravagant
Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes Mascara
Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effect Mascara

I also tried MAC’s Zoom Fast Mascara, Clinique’s Lash Doubling Mascara, Maybelline’s Great Lash, Lancome’s Hypnose Doll Lashes, Benefit Bad Gal, and Bobbi Brown’s Everything Mascara through various samples and purchases.

It was quite a task, which is why it took me over a year to complete.

And at the end of it, I had narrowed my choices down to Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara (my old favorite) and Bobbi Brown’s Everything Mascara.

But then something unexpected happened.

I tried one of my last mascaras, Make Up For Ever Smoky Extravagant Mascara.

AND I LOVED IT.

It was everything I liked about Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara without the residual clumping that is hard to remove at the end of the day.

I could not wait to order a full size of it.

That is when I ran into a problem. I was not the only one who adored their trial of Make Up Forever Mascara from Sephora (I believe Sephora gave out samples in their birthday gifts last year). And I was not the only one who had decided to jump and order the full size version. However, before I did, I read the reviews. Many of them declared that for whatever the reason, the full size version did not live up to the smaller size.

Thankfully, you can order a travel size version. And that is what I have been doing for the last six months.

So, oddly, the travel sized Make Up For Ever Smoky Extravagant Mascara is the winner of my mascara trials. It lengthens lashes dramatically without being too stiff. It removes easily. It stays on all day without any flaking. It separates well. It is the mascara I will and have been exclusively buying for myself. Although, my daughter received the same kit. Her heart still belongs to Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara. So, that is the brand I buy for her.

Have you tried any of these mascaras? What is your favorite mascara? Have you done eyelash extensions? Or that eyelash growth serum? Or do you ever use fake eyelashes? I have tried the fake eyelashes once. But I have not perfected it. Maybe one day I will try again.

*This post is based on my own use of the different mascaras. Your experience may vary from my own. All photos here are unfiltered to truly show the way the product looks when I first apply it and the lighting I apply it in.

September 28, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Oiseau Maxi Dress

I fell in love with Anthropologie’s Oiseau Maxi Dress as soon as it came out (this keeps popping back in stock. With the 25% off sale, you might be able to call and find it in a store). The bold graphic bird print reminded me of one of my favorite dresses (ironically never shown on this blog), the Indigo Shoal Dress.

However, as much as I loved the idea of it, I knew I would never wear it without having to have some sort of coverage on my arms. The straps were just too thin for my comfort level.

It finally went on sale and miraculously enough, it also happened to be during Anthropologie’s extra 20% off sale price promotion.

I swooped in and grabbed it.

The dramatic ruffled bottom was such an unexpected, sweet surprise.

Because it was September and the end of summer, I did not want to wear it with a denim jacket as I had planned. Instead I borrowed my daughter’s Forever 21 Cardigan.

One of the great things about having a teenage daughter is borrowing her stuff.

One of the not so great things? The borrowing goes both ways.

I had no idea what Oiseau meant when I purchased the dress.

Do you?

Want to take a guess?

It is French for “bird.”

Doh.

I probably should have made that deduction.

What kind of birds or Oiseaus would you say these are?

I am really unsure about the answer. I just know I like them.

Do you own any animal print dresses?

I believe I own four.

I could be wrong.

Sometimes it feels as though my brain has flown the coop. It needs to come home to roost. That would make me happy as a lark.

Groan. Sorry about the idioms. I really need to quit them cold turkey.

P.S. * I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

*this post was edited using VSCO’s C1 filter at level 3 and contrast at level 1.

July 11, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Lemon Fields

Lemon wine
Thir-ty seven
A day without kids
I ate everything.

Isn’t that catchy? I think it is the next big hit.

Actually, I did not go to a lemon field. And I had neither lemon wine nor wore lemon or wine on this day, but I did visit a vineyard. I wore a lemon color and I drank enough wine to lead me to believe that this post should be entitled, “Lemon Wine” and then promptly changed my bleary mind. Does that count?

When my husband and I visited this vineyard, our children had embarked upon a weeklong camping trip with their grandparents. We were footloose and family free.

We ate so much I got sick.

I would say drank, but both the waiter and myself concurred that it must be the food and not the wine that had my head spinning. Who am I to argue with an expert?

Speaking of spinning, I spun through their gorgeous vineyard.

I had previously reviewed this skirt here, and I had dismissed it. But then Jessica from Breakfast at Gigi’s went and bought the skirt and I loved it so much on her, I decided to try it again. This time I ordered the Zocalo Maxi Skirt in a medium (it is sold out, but you might be able to call customer service and find it in a store). It was on sale and I loved pairing it with turquoise.

Another brilliant thing Jessica did was to iron the sides of the skirt closed. I contemplated doing this. And I eventually might go this route, but for now I simply paired my skirt with a lace slip. I like the extra dimension and coverage that it provides.

I cannot get enough of my Simply Livly’s Turquoise Necklace.

Who says romance is just for kids?

Wait. Does anybody say that? That is just wrong.

Either way, I definitely had a moment with that creme brûlée.

And nobody can tell me differently.

Have you spun through a vineyard? Or from a vineyard?

And who thinks lemon wine should be a thing?

Those strawberries are sweet and all, but lemons… they’ve got some tang.

P.S. * I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

July 2, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Swingin’ Through The Vines

I have decided that my favorite silhouettes for my body type are shift dresses and swing dresses. I do not like tight things. I find myself pulling them down or pulling them up, forgetting to suck in my stomach or sucking it in too much. It is more of a hassle than I am willing to bear.

So, when I saw this swing dress at Forever 21 for less than $30, I was sold. But it was a tad short. Probably because although the store’s name suggests that we will always be of a certain age, my body parts have not received that message.

I paired it with my favorite slip, Free People’s Trapeze Slip. I want another color in this, because I wear the one I have constantly.

The necklace is Simply Livly’s Turquoise Necklace. The shoe’s are Anthropologie’s Tarara Gladiator Sandals.

We took my husband’s VW Bus for a spin and I love that the color of the bus matched the color of the slip.

We ended up at a vineyard with amazing views.

I love when we stumble upon a gorgeous piece of scenery. Actually, I love stumbling upon anything unexpectedly good.

Have you stumbled upon a beautiful piece of scenery lately? Did it make you want to spin? I will admit, this day was so gorgeous, it made me want to embrace the sky. Thankfully, my unrestricted garments made that possible.

Not the actual embracing of the sky, but the insane act of trying.

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

Forever

Finally, The Best Mascara

Oiseau Maxi Dress

Lemon Fields

Swingin’ Through The Vines