Collection & Review: BITE Beauty

BITE has officially become my favorite line for lipstick. The lipstick crayons are so smooth and creamy, the color options are very on-trend and wearable, and the staying power is realistic for the working woman. I don't have time to be touching up my lips every hour during the workday let alone pull out a lipstick, a liner, and a gloss so these crayons are a perfect standalone product! What's even better, these pencils twist up so no sharpener is needed.

Best BITE Remix: Rhubard (plum rose), Sable* (peachy nude), Winterberry* (deep raspberry), Pomegranate (rich red)

*limited edition

Collection & Review: Buxom Lip Glosses

Buxom Winner-Takes-All Lip Set (left to right): white russian, berry blast, creamsicle, trixie, chloe, sophia

Lip Creams: mudslide, white russian, berry blast, creamsicle Lip Polishes: dolly, trixie, chloe, sophia, nicole (sample) Lip Gloss: sweet thing (sample)

During Sephora's VIB Sale I picked up a gift set from Buxom that included 6 deluxe sized lip glosses: 3 of the Lip Polish & 3 of the Lip Cream formulas (those w/ the gold tops). I already knew I liked Buxom lip gloss, as I have 1 of each formula and was curious to try out a few other colors. Buxom Cream formulas are my favorite, they aren't sticky, they have that warming tingle to them, and the smell delicious. I'm not a fan of glittery lip glosses so I tend to shy away from the Lip Polish formula since they range from having small micro-shimmers to chunkier glitter, but I do like all of the ones that came in this set. Yes, they are pricier than a drugstore gloss but they last on the lips and have a nice finish. I much prefer them to MAC or Stila glosses. 

Collection & Review: NARS Audacious Lipsticks

Bottom: Anita  Middle: Audrey  Top: Brigette 

The packaging of these NARS Audacious lipsticks makes pulling out this lipstick feel like a luxury - it better at $32 a pop!!! The metal bullet has a lovely weight, the lid secures on with a magnetic closure, and "NARS" is embossed on the lipstick itself. The satin formula is more forgiving than any matte lipstick, but I still prep with a lip balm beforehand. 

Left: Anita  Center: Audrey  Right: Brigette 

Anita is described as "antique rose" which is an interesting word choice but somehow works; it is less beige/brown than Barbara and less pink than Anna. I think it's a PERFECT mauvey-nude shade for the Autumn and Winter months. I love pairing this with a comfy white sweater, dark jeans, and brown boots. 

Audrey is described as "red current", but I think it wears more as a dark raspberry and is more wearable than the classic red lip. I would definitely recommend using a lip liner to prevent (minimal) feathering with this one - I use MAC's Half-Red ($16). To dress this down, I wear this color with a high bun, my dark-rimmed glasses and a loose, comfy cardigan. 

Brigette is described as a "nude rose"... when I think of rose I think of a much warmer pink, so I would say this is a more coral-pink with blue undertones running through it. VERY Brigitte Bardot! This isn't a shade I am typically drawn to, but I think it will be an easy way to work corals into my lip collection.

While NARS' Audacious Lipstick line has 40 colors, I feel like there are several tones within each shade so there is bound to be a nude, pink, and red that complements every skin tone... with some wild colors mixed in too. The quality of this lipstick is definitely worth the splurge but I'd recommend going into a Sephora or Nordstrom to try a few on and pick a go-to color that you'll get lots of wear out of.

XoXo, Be Beautiful.

Favorite Fall Lipsticks

With Sephora's Exclusive Holiday Shopping Event coming up (Nov 6 - 10), I figured I will do a little mini series of some recent purchases I've made over the last few months so you can pick them up at a discount! This first focus will be on lipsticks that I think are must haves for Fall.

(1) NARS Anita (2) UD Naked (3) Dior Swan #263 (4) NARS Audrey (5) UD Rush

Anita took my Audacious lipstick virginity - and every second blew my mind! The quality of these lipsticks truly are something to be raved about. Superb pigmentation + creamy satin/matte finish - the drying effect = luxurious lips. I really love how these wear throughout the day - they don't wear off patchy and leave that crusty Frazzled-Science-Teacher-look behind (no offense to those periodic table loving teachers out there!). This shade is the perfect every day shade for the modern girl in the non-Summer months (very work appropriate). There are definitely a wide range of shades in this line and I wanted to try one of the more bold colors too. While Audrey looks like a warm red-maroon in the tube, it has a berry pink undertone on my lips. It's a nice update to a classic red lip that makes it a bit more wearable, even in the daytime. 

Wedding Accessories

Apologies for taking the past 3 weeks off. Our wedding was on October 11th, we left for our honeymoon on October 17th for 9 days, and spent the days between at work. I plan to dedicate a few upcoming posts on recapping some of my DIY wedding projects and planning & design decisions that I believe contributed to being so relaxed and truly enjoy our wedding day.  Now onto the part that gets us girls all giddy...

After visiting a few bridal boutiques, I ended up finding my dress at David's Bridal (a later post will follow about the details of the dress). That's also where I found this grey Vera Wang sash that worked perfectly - I loved the softness of the tulle flowers and the hint of sparkle. The band itself gave a subtle separation between the fitted sweetheart bodice and the full tulle skirt - I loved how the contrasting grey highlighted my waist while giving the illusion of it being much slimmer and went well with our wedding colors (grey/navy/white)!

belt: Vera Wang at David's Bridal

I found my wedding jewelry at Macy's and my shoes at Nordstrom's Rack. I knew I wanted to wear my hair down (or mostly down) and the focus to be on the shape and movement of the dress, so I wanted my accessories to be simple and comfortable. I love the modern-vintage style of the jewelry, the crystals gave enough sparkle without looking gaudy.   

earrings: Carolee  bracelet: Carolee  shoes: Badgley Mischka

It was when I found my shoes that I can hands-down say was THE turning point from "anxious and a bit uncertain of all the design choices", to "excitement for the day to come when I got to put on my dress and see everything come together". I had pinned these exact same shoes on my Pinterest board with no intent of ever being able to afford them for myself but thought I could find a dupe. When I saw them sitting on the shelf in Nordstrom Rack at the very discounted price tag of $84, the clouds opened up and the angels started singing!!!

What makes them even more perfect is that I had already *thought* I found my wedding shoes already which I wore when getting my dress altered (these). Yes, they are VERY different than the Badgley's, it is incredibly difficult to find silver or white heels in stores that don't look like stripper heels. When I got home and discovered they were the exact same heel height, I was ecstatic!

I opted to skip out on a purse because I figured whenever I needed to retouch my makeup, I could escape to the Bridal Suite. So that's how I chose to style myself, I'll write more about my dress once I get some pictures.

XoXo, goodnight beauties.

Items mentioned in this post

Carolee Crystal Drop Earrings - silver - $45

Carolee Oval Stone Bracelet - silver - $75

Vera Wang Crystals & Organza Flowers Sash - sterling - $148  $39.99 on sale now  

Badgley Mischka Pettal Pumps - white satin - $255  $84 @ Nordstrom Rack