All Natural Face Serum and LipBalm - Giveaway!

So I've been using this all natural face serum for about a month now. It's called Smelly Face Serum by Crunchy Mamas. The lip balm is their Honey Lemon which smells and tastes super tangy and nice. It fells really moisturizing on the lips and I keep it in my diaper bag! What I like the most about these products is that they're 100% natural. No chemical crap, no fake preservatives, no artificial fragrances, just real stuff. I'm on a journey to ditch the chemical crap in my life and only eat real food and only use real products. It's not something you can do overnight, but this is a step in the right direction!

Ingredients in the face serum: organic unrefined coconut oil, beeswax, organic hemp seed oil, organic rosehip seed oil, organic tamanu oil, vitamin e, organic carrot seed essential oil, organic geranium essential oil, organic myrtle essential oil

Ingredients in the lip balm: organic unrefined coconut oil, beeswax, raw honey, organic lemon essential oil

The serum is a really nice texture and feels like a light oil, not thick and heavy on my face. It takes about 5 drops to moisturize my whole face well. My mum even got to try it! When she put it on she said it smelled really funny. I'm like yea mom it's called Smelly Face Serum for a reason haha. It's the carrot seed essential oil that has that really earthy almost dirt-like smell. But it's ok mom it helps with wrinkles! "Oh gimme some of that then" she said lol!! 

Crunchy Mamas says their serum can help fight against wrinkles, age spots, uv damage, acne, dark circles, fine lines, blotchy skin, blemish scars, t zone problems, large pores, and dull skin.

I definitely noticed an improvement in my combination skin. It's like it evened out my skin type. I don't have that flaky dry skin on my nose and eyebrow area anymore. Seriously it would be dry even minutes after putting on my previous store bought stuff, and always has been honestly. I feel like it made my face look brighter and healthier overall. To be honest, even if it did nothing more than store bought stuff, I'd use it because it's completely natural!

I was afraid to use it except before bed because I thought it was going to make my face look oily or be too moisturizing like a typical night time moisturizer. I decided to try it and honestly I feel like it soaks in well in about 5 minutes. This is me about 5 minutes after using the serum. No makeup, bare it all haha! It feels great and doesn't look weird at all.

So I have a giveaway for you guys! You can win a Smelly Face Serum and a lip balm from Crunchy Mamas, and a custom sample of essential oils from me! The giveaway starts on Instagram, so you'll have to do the steps there to enter first. You can get extra entries on my Facebook. I'll post the giveaway form for extra entries here too!

Bondi New York Chasing the Sun ~ and Giveaway!

There is a new brand of polish around! - Bondi New York
You may have heard of this brand on Twitter or your favorite blogs by new, but it was definitely new to me when I heard about it a few months ago!
They don't have a whole lot of colors yet, and most of them are cremes, but: "Our mission is to launch twenty fashion forward colors twice a year which follow and predict runway trends, in addition to limited edition collaborations a few times a year."
Also an awesome thing, they donate to charity! "100% of the net proceeds of the brand go to our non-profit which in turn makes grants to charitable organizations. Our first partnership is with The Food Bank for New York whom we are donating a minimum of $25k this financial year."

Chasing the Sun is a nice bright orange creme. It's kind of traffic cone orange, bright but not neon, and a tiny hint of white thrown in (which you can see in the next picture better).

The formula was nice and smooth, but a little patchy, so three coats cleared that up.

You can buy Bondi New York polish on their website for $15 a bottle. They're also available internationally at Harlow and Co for $15. Like their Facebook page too!

And we have a giveaway for you, courtesy of Bondi New York!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Scapbooking Fun and Giveaway

 You know I love all things crafty! I really love scrapbooking, it's just hard for me to start and finish a project since it takes SO long. I found this scrapbooking software, My Memories, that is really fun to use though, and its easier because you don't have to sit at a big table with 23908 things out, glue, scissors, get all your pics printed, etc, etc. You can just sit at your computer, sip on your coffee without the worry of spilling it all over your paper, and do it. 

I didn't read a tutorial, help page, or anything to make these. I wanted to try it out from the perspective of a first time, without extra help and research, and see how user friendly it was. So anything I say about what it does or doesn't do is just my experience from my general use.

 I still haven't made our wedding scrapbook like I had planned to, so I thought I'd try out a wedding page! I made this with the My Memories scrapbooking suite.

This is a collage of the most important parts of our wedding ceremony with the actual wording we wrote. I made my own custom layout with this one. You can change the shape of the pictures, add shadows, embellishments, words, word art, and more. You can rotate things around and change the opacity too. 
Unfortunately you can't do much with the text boxes. I couldn't really rotate them or change the shape of them. You can make them follow a circle or square though.

Here is one of their premade templates. This one is for Christmas.

I used it to make a Christmas card!

You can see I repositioned some things, added smowflake, etc. This was fun! 

I went through lots of awesome things about the program above, so lets do some cons. 

I mentioned the text boxes aren't that versatile. Rotating is a super pain in the butt. It isn't smooth like Microsoft Word for example. You have to move the slider that makes it rotate, see where it lands, then micro-adjust it again. The entire program runs very slow like this. It isn't my computer, because I have a pretty fast computer. When choosing picture for my layout, it was faster to open the file with the pictures on my computer, memorize the number, scroll down to it in the program, and click it before the preview even uploaded.

You can make all sorts of things with this software: scrapbook pages you can put in a digital scrapbook online or have printed, photo books, cards, slideshows, invitations, stationary, or custom gifts like a mug for grandma. I love that you can export the files as a jpegs and put them on Facebook!

The My Memories scrapbooking software sells for $39.97. If you use my coupon code: STMMMS46363, you can get $10 off that price, and an additional $10 to spend in the My Memories store to buy things like different scrapbook paper, stickers, etc. 

Sound like fun? Then enter to win a free copy!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love & Happiness Giveaway

I've been planning a giveaway for you lovelies for months now! It was actually supposed to be a Happy Wedding/Honeymoon giveaway (I just got married 6-23-2012), but I couldn't manage to get it up right before or after the wedding, so here I am two months late ;P. So I'm calling it a love and happiness giveaway because I love you guys, I love my new married life, and I want to hear about your love and happiness too!

Prizes: Barielle Elle's Spell, Barielle Falling Star, Barielle Gotta Have Fate, Barielle Decadence, Barielle Nail Strengthening Cream, maybe some other random stuff :D.
All of the products pictured except Gotta Have Fate were provided to me by Barielle for either my personal use or a giveaway, so I wanted to give them away to you lovelies! I chose what I think are their best and most popular colors :D.


Many of you said you'd like to see pictures from my wedding, and this giveaway was meant to celebrate it, so I have way too many for you here haha. :D



Walking down the aisle

His first look...he was so nervous :).

We did a handfasting as our unity ceremony and Jeremy and I made the cord.

The first kiss as husband and wife!

We're so happy!

This is love!

And here are some from our honeymoon in San Diego, California!

Sunset dolphin cruise :)

Our rings (can't get enough of them) next to a lily pond in Balboa Park

Balboa Park cactus garden

My favorite pic from the zoo - BABY HIPPO! I even kissed his little face through the glass lol. He was right up against it with his momma.

Sunset on the Pacific Ocean

On the beach! It was way colder there than I thought it would be so I had to buy this awesome rainbow hoodie!

Megan and Jeremy :)

We took a ride in a lovely horse and carriage :)

And here is the giveaway form! All entries must be entered into this form to count. Comments on this post (like the fun questions) will only count if you have already entered them into the Rafflecopter form. I added lots of ways to get entries, some of which are kinda fun, so don't forget to look at them all!

Remember I would REALLY love to hear your romantic stories and see the pics in the comments as well so everyone can see!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Barielle Sweepstakes

Enter Barielle Cosmetic's BFF Sweepstakes!!! 

 No purchase is necessary. All you have to do is like their Facebook page, and enter the sweepstakes. It took 15 seconds! If you are one of the 20 lucky people randomly selected, you will win Barielle's Nail Strengthener Cream (Full Size) and a Barielle Base Coat, Top Coat, and 3 Shades Colors of your choice - a retail value up to $74.50. The Contest runs today through June 30th.

Girly Bits, Graduation, Getting Older Giveaway Winner!

I have chosen the winner of my Girly Bits, Graduation, Getting Older Giveaway to win the entire Girly Bits Sea's the Day collection!

Jenny Clinkenbeard!

I love it when people I actually know win! She's one of my friends on Facebook and is super nice. Yay Jenny! I used Rafflecopter for the first time and it was a breeze, I recommend it! I read absolutely every one of your blog comment entries and hearing your best polish memories was so sweet. 

I hope you guys enjoyed and thank you all for following my blog!

Giveaway - Girly Bits, Graduation, Getting Older!

It's about time for another giveaway! I have been meaning to put this one up for eons, but got busy with my internship. I just finished my internship so this giveaway is in honor of finishing my internship successfuly / having time for a life / graduating college soon (May 19th) / my birthday (May 4th)! Yay me!

The prize is the entire Girly Bits Sea's the Day Collection! I have the whole collection too and love it. Pam is an indie polish maker who does it all by hand and is doing so well in her home-made business. It's inspiring! Thank you to Pam at Girly Bits for providing this collection for the giveaway!

Here are some swatches to get you drooling.

Sailor's Delight

Stormy Skies

Street Magic over 4 different colors

Purple Potion and Razzle Dazzle

Denim Diva

Great polishes! Want them? Enter my giveaway!

Don't forget to check out the rest of Girly Bits polishes on her blog!

Giveaway and Review: Apothica!

I recently made my first order with Apothica and it was great! The package got here two days quicker than I thought it would, so the shipping is quick! They have a million well known brands including Deborah Lippmann, Cargo Cosmetics, Too Faced, Stila, Essie, Estee Lauder, Burt's Bees, Smashbox, SpaRitual, and the list goes on.

I have never tried a lip liner, but I have read good things about them. I thought to myself that I didn't want a whole bunch...I wonder if there is just one that just magically goes with every color you want. Well there is! Meet Too Faced Perfect Lips Lipliner in Nude!

When I first saw this I was like no way...that's way too dark. It won't go with my skin tone and it will stand out too much. What if I want to wear a gloss with it and it shows? Well something made me get it anyway, and I'm glad I did! I have been wearing this Too Faced lip liner for days now and it's great! It's easy to apply, goes on smooth, feels comfortable on my lips, and lasts just the right amount of time. What I mean by that is when your lippie fades, you aren't left with this ring around your lips that looks dumb. It's subtle enough that even if your lippie does fade before the liner, it doesn't look obvious and weird. It can be applied light for subtle color or dark for bold color, can be used all over as a base to help your lippie stay on longer, can be worn alone, pretty much awesome.

Just to prove it, here are some pics with different colors and kinds of lippies with different opacities:

Alone

With sheer untinted Chapstick

Covergirl Natureluxe Gloss Balm in Grenache

Loreal Ripe Melon

WetNWild bright red: This was a fun test where I put it on one side and not the other. You can see one side is fuzzier and kinda all over. It didn't make the two sides look different so much as the side with lipliner applied so much easier. The cheap bright lipstick didn't bleed outside the lines, didn't smudge past the edges, and I didn't have to wipe it off the side of my lips a hundred times because it kept screwing up. 

Final note: If you want a fabulous lipliner, from a tried a true brand, and you just want one to go with everything so you don't have 15, this is it! = Too Faced Perfect Lip Liner in Nude

On to the giveaway!!! You have the opportunity to win a $25 giftcard from Apothica to spend on fabulous makeup and nail products!! Here is how to enter the giveaway:

Option 1: Facebook

1. Visit Apothica.com
2. Write on Apothica’s Facebook wall about what you think of Apothica. Include the direct link to your comment in the form (click on time below comment, copy that url).
3. Bonus: Opt in to Apothica’s Newsletter, which is at the bottom left of their page. If you can't see it, try a different browser.

Option 2: Twitter

1. Visit Apothica.com
2. Tweet about Apothica on your own Twitter account. Include the direct link to your comment in the form (click on time below comment, copy that url).
3. Bonus: Retweet Apothica’s tweet about this giveaway

Option 3: Blog

1. Visit Apothica.com
2. Write something on your blog about what you think of Apothica. Include the link to this blog post in the form.
3. Bonus: Write about the brand Too Faced, mention Apothica in the post, and have a link in that post to Apothica.com. Include the link to this blog post in the form.

In order to be entered, you're only required to do one option. You are allowed to do all 3 options and all 3 bonuses, which equals a total of 6 entries. Please fill out the form below with your entry information. Commenting won't count for entries. This giveaway will be open for 3 weeks - Closes 10/6 12midnight EST.

Illamasqua Giveaway

Illamasqua came out with a new collection called Theater of the Nameless. It includes four polishes, other makeup, and some pimp pics - all of which you can see here. 

They're giving away three sets of the polishes. You can enter till September 5th, which is Monday. Click here to go to the page with the entry form. 

They all have a rubberized finish and look pretty awesome. Click here to see swatches. 

Just wanted to share this with you since I have no Illamasquas, they're pretty expensive, and I thought you'd all like to enter :D. 

Madison the 5yo Vlogger - Giveaway

I came across this awesome video today...have you seen the 5 year old beauty vlogger Madison? I heard about her a month or so ago and she's just the cutest thing. She really knows her stuff too. Well she's holding a sigma brush kit giveaway where you sent your entry through the mail, so I thought it would be fun to enter :). You should too!

Here is her video:

Isn't she adorable? "I know my hair is pretty." Watch some of her other videos too. They rock.
I wrote her a little letter and added my favorite polishes of the moment at the bottom just for fun since I know she's into polish :D.Then signed it:I thought it was fun and an interesting take on giveaway entries :D. Don't make fun of my handwriting...
Anyone else <3 Madison?

Lovie Giveaway Winner!!!

Want to know who won my Because I Love You Giveaway?
So I counted up ALL the entries *whew*. 496 entries. I only threw out one person for cheating. There were 496 entries with a total of 189 entrants. That's a lot! I'm really happy with all the comments I got from you ladies in the form and glad that so many entrants seemed happy to read my blog and enter my fun giveaway.

Random.org ---> 1-496, and the number it picked was 80! One of the earlier entries, hrmmm :D. So I went back and looked and it's someone from my super awesome facebook group. My lovely friend, and online polish girlfriend :D....

*drum roll*

Michelle Wray!!!

Yay Michelle :D! So glad it's someone I know and love that won, I always enjoy that. How funny too because when I went to announce it on the FB group she said I hope it's me haha! Well it is!! Hope you ladies have fun and better luck next time! :D

Giveaway! Because I Love You!

I started collecting for a giveaway a couple weeks ago because it just felt like time :D. I wanted to do something for you ladies because I love you! Interestingly enough this coincides with my recent milestone of 300 followers! So let's celebrate!!!

All items for this giveaway were purchased and provided by me. They are all brand new and unswatched. So love me :D.

What you'll get:

Borghese Tutti Gelati

Pixy Stix scented nail polish in grape, cherry, and blueberry

Essie Showstopper

Sally Hansen Problem Child

Milani Melt Down

Funky Fingers Favorite Girl

Color Club Vitabase

2 containers for nail art items

Glass nail file

EOS lip balm in Summer Fruits

Natural bath salts hand made by me

A medium bottle of Zoya Remove+ from my personal stash

A Victoria Secret zippy bag

Take a look at each item!

Pixy Stix scented nail polish in Grape, Cherry, and Blueberry.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Problem Child (swatches here, here)

Essie Showstopper (swatches here, here)

Funky Fingers Favorite Girl (swatch here)

Milani Melt Down (swatches here, here)

Color Club Vitabase nutrient nail strengthener

Borghese Tutti Gelati (swatches here, here)

Glass nail file, purple with a heart and rhinestones

EOS lip balm in Summer Fruits. I bought some of this for myself too and love it! It's free of petroleum products, since that's something I've been thinking about lately with my recent blog post.

Two little storage containers. I have loads of these and love them. I use mine for loose rhinestones, glitter, cut filmo canes, beads, all sorts of nail art things!

A bottle of Zoya Remove+ I poured off from one of my huge refill bottles :D. It's not just a little!

All natural bath salts hand made my me with tea tree oil, orange, blueberry, and rosemary.

All coming to you in this cute Victoria Secret bag!

So what do you think ladies, likey likey?

All you have to do to enter is be a follower, give me your email so I can contact you, and fill out the form below. There are also opportunities for extra entries. The giveaway will end August 13 at 12am EST. I will choose a winner through a random number generator and email that winner. She/he will have 48 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.