And the Oscar goes to...

Well the Super Bowl of fashion was last night- and first off let me just say how much I love Ellen. I think she absolutely stole the show last night as the host. The hubs watched it with me (and he normally hates watching awards shows with me) and he was LOL the entire time. But of course the most important thing that I look forward to is the red carpet. I wish I had reasons to get all glammed up just so I could wear sequins, silk, tulle, etc. Usually I would pick my worst and best dressed of the Oscars but I am proud to say that there is no one that I could pick for worst dressed. Way to go 2014. I think that is the best way to end awards season in my opinion. So I've decided to do the best dressed in the top trends of the red carpet:

Black:

 Red:

White:

Blush with embellished overlay:

Men's white tuxedo jackets:

Honorable mentions:

 Who made your list for best dressed last night?

February Favorites

Hi Friends!

I can't believe it's already the end of February! A lot of happened this month and I can't believe how fast it has gone. One thing that I want to start on this blog is my monthly beauty favorites. For those of you who don't know me. I am a product junkie. I can not tell you how many times I go into Ulta and Sephora and see what needs to come home with me.

Hair: One thing that I have been in love with this month is the L'Oreal Boot It High Lift Creation Spray. It retails for $4.99 at Ulta, and it claims to give your hair targeted root application with a unique fan spray for instant lift and fullness with a modern back combing effect. Strong hold boosts body on any style for voluptuous, textured look that lasts. Heat protection. What I love about it is that since I have pin-straight hair I am also curling it just to add some waves and texture- BUT whenever I do curl it, the top of the head ends up being FLAT (whomp whomp.) I usually just spray this on the top layers of my hair and it instantly looks fuller and I have that big Texas hair. It also smells amazing too. Sometimes I use this instead of my dry shampoo because it adds volume but it doesn't have that baby powder smell.

Skincare: So two skincare products that I have been OBSESSED with this month are the Boscia  Tsubaki Deep Hydration Sleeping Mask and the Mario Badesu Cleansing Milk with Carnation & Rice Oil. So I suffer from eczema and in the winter is when it's at its worst- especially this year. But these two products literally saved my skin. The sleeping mask retails for about $34 from Sephora and it is a deep-hydrating overnight sleeping mask that intensely moisturizes and protects to deliver long-term anti-aging benefits and smoother, baby-soft skin. I usually use this mask twice a week after I wash my face and and I leave it on overnight and rinse it with water in the morning. 

The cleaning milk retails for $10 at Ulta and it is a creamy, tissue-off cleanser that gently cleanses all face makeup and debris from skin's surface without leaving it dry. The carnation oil can aid in the reduction of wrinkles. This one I massage onto my dry face in circular motions and then with a warm damp towel I wipe off/rinse my face. I love this product because I really can tell a difference in my face after using this for the last month, I have very deep lines in my forehead (I guess I'm always deep in thought), but after using this my fine lines have diminished drastically. Now granted they are still there! But it's not as prominent as it use to be before I started to use this product.

NYX matte bronzer in medium

ELF studio blush in Pink Passion

Face: I have 3 products for my face that I am currently loving. My ELF Studio Blush, My Hourglass No 28 primer serum and my NYX matte Bronzer. My ELF Blush (Eyes. Lip. Face) you usually can find at Walmart, Target, or online and it retails for $3. The color that I have been using is Pink Passion. Pink passion is like a Barbie pink but when you swatch it- depending how heavy handed you apply it- it becomes a great pink sheen that gives you have doll glow and it blends nicely. The bronzer that I have using this month is my NYX matte bronzer- you can find this at Ulta, online, and I believe they just started carrying it at Target. I usually will use this shade (medium) or I also have this in the darkest shade(deep) The deep I use either when I'm tan or when I want to have a defined contour. But lately I've been loving the rose gold sheen that the medium has been leaving on my skin and it has been able to warm up my face without it being too harsh. Finally the primer that has become my official holy grail face product is the Hourglass primer. This primer is a silky, luxurious oil blend that glides on to strengthen the skin's natural moisture barrier, even out pores, and shield against environmental aggressors. It includes 14 essential oils, 10 lipid-rich plant oils, and 4 vitamins. 

left to right: hunk, razzle

 Lips: So for the month of February I was really into the orchid lip. Idk if it was because it was voted pantone color of 2014 but I was obessed. The four lip products that I consistently used this month were the NYX cosmetic's butter lipsticks in hunk and razzle ($5.99 at Ulta), the NYX buttergloss ($4.99 at Ulta) in raspberry tart, and the Milani cosmetics lip intense in Fiery Coral ($6.49 at CVS). The butter lipsticks were new this year and what I love about them is the texture and the fact that you can build the intensity of the color. For the butterglosses, this particular color was new for this year and what I love about it is when you wear it alone, it's a nice sheer wash of orchid but if I want to intensify my lip I usually pair it with hunk for a bright purple lip. the Fiery Coral has definitly been my everyday go-to lip color- and I think it's because of the vibrancy of the pink and the staying power. It's more like a stain then a gloss which I prefer stains over glosses any day!

left to right: hunk, razzle, raspberry tart, fiery coral

Eyes: Ok, for eyes- what I have been loving and wished I had bought this when it first came out is the Lorac Pro Palette. I cannot believe I lasted this long without this eyeshadow palette. The colors are so versatile that I'm able to create an eyeshadow look for absolutely anything with this palette. The top row is all matte eyeshadows and the bottom row is all shimmer shadows. It's like it took the 3 Naked Palette's BEST eyeshadows and put them into one palette. This is currently being sold online and at Ulta. and its for $42.  Two mascaras that I have been loving are the Too Faced LASHgasm mascara and the Better Than Sex Mascara. They are both sold at Ulta and Sephora- the Lashgasm is $21 and the Better than Sex is $23. I really like using these together to get the perfect lashes. I start with the LASHgasm(a voluptuous, fluffing mascara that conditions as it thickens to create dramtically long lashes with intense color. This unique, flexible molded brush grabs lashes from all sides for a climax of length and volum)  to build a base with my eyelashes and really separate and lengthen them and then I use the Better Than Sex (the brush was designed to separate, coat and curl each lash to voluptuous perfection. to pump up the volume.

left to right: nude, champagne, gold, light bronze, pewter, garnet, deep purple, slate

left to right: white, cream, taupe, light pink, mauve, sable, espresso, black

lashgasm mascara

better than sex mascara

Well those are my February Favorites! I hope you enjoy and until next time

- Mikaella

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an eye opening weekend

Well it's been awhile since I've last posted! Sorry for being MIA but A LOT has happened these past two weeks. I've recently just moved into a new condo with the Hubbs, and I've been doing a lot of soul searching in regards to my career. One thing that really made me open my eyes was this past weekend. So it was my cousin's Birthday and I went over there to celebrate along with our other family and friends and I saw a lot of my old friends who I haven't seen in awhile due to work, and basically life getting in the way. As we were all standing around talking and drinking alcohol..talking about whose was getting married or having babies next.. I noticed that how everyone was talking about their jobs and what was going on at work. Did we really get to that age where all we talked about was married lives, babies, and careers? It then hit me on how unhappy I am with my current employment situation, I was working non-stop possibly 60 hours a week and was getting mentally and physically drained from it all and with no recognition-instead I feel that I was being mistreated due to other reasons (which I won't go into right now...) but  I probably couldn't tell you the last time I was actually able to spend time with my husband. I have never been somewhere where I actually hated my job- which thinking it about it on Saturday, I was actually about to burst into tears when I would talk about my job to other people. I believe this was God's way of telling me that I need to step away from working in Retail and to find a new career outlet, or possibly work at a smaller company so I wouldn't be as stressed and drained as I was the last 3 months...

Any hoo.. LOL sorry for my long rant, I've just been struggling with that for the last two weeks and I just needed to let it out.. But today I have a interview at another Retail store (go figure) lol and I've never noticed how hard it is now to dress for interviews (especially in my closet). But here is what I've come up with- Mind you- this store is more laid back/casual so I couldn't dress how I normally would for interviews.

Cardigan: C.wonder | Tank: Gap | Necklace: Charming Charlie | Jeans: Loft | Shoes : Coach

Plan accordingly....

So for those of you who don't know me. I'm OBSESSED with planners. I just don't know what it is but whenever I see a new/cute planner I just have to have it. I know that everyone having smart phones there's no reason for anyone to have a planner unless they're still living in the stone age or are a teacher or a wedding planner. I think I just love being able to decorate and show my artistic side in a planner. The newest trend that I've gotten on lately is monograming. I just love to have my initials on everything. I blame work for this. But whatever the case maybe, I have been on the search for a new planner and one that I can personalize to my life and monogram my name all over it. Some places I've been looking at monogram planners are www.maydesigns.com and https://www.erincondren.com.

photo courtesy of may designs.com

I've previously ordered from may designs for my management team's christmas presents. I got them all monogram notebooks to use at our meetings. Of course, none of them are being used but they all loved that they each had a notebook that reflected their personality and had their initials on them. But all of their planners are 5x8 and are hand sewn together.

photo courtesy of erincondren.com

With Erin Condren's "Life Planners" what's nice is that you are able to choose how you want it personalized, they photostickers, text stickers, and the planner's size is 7x9 and is spiral bound. Now what it keeping me from ordering the life planner is the price. It starts at $50-75 but it may be the planner that I've been looking for. I used to have a Coach planner that retailed for $198 and all it had was a planner insert and address insert. So when you compare it to that, The life planner looks better and better.

Polar Vortex makes me do crazy things

So here in the District. It's a lovely 13 degrees...whomp whomp. I of course stayed indoors and procrastinated on packing for mine and husband's move to our new condo. But of course, cold weather makes me want to shop so I spent hours today staring at Pintrest and shopping online for furniture and getting inspiration on how should I style my life in 2014. Also, I have been struggling a lot in both my professional and personal life. From my health to my job, I've been in a funk these last few months and I thought blogging again (I tried once when I was still in college-didn't go to well) would help me get out of my funk. 

Anyways, since it is award season (my favorite time of year), the Grammys were last Sunday and here are my top 4 for best and worst dressed.

Best Dressed:

Arianna Grande- now, I am kind of getting tired of her always doing this time of silhouette and hairstyle, but she knows what works for her. I guess this is considered her signature style- she just needs to stop treating the red carpet like its her prom

Guilana Rancic- Now I may be a little bias because I just love and admire her so much. But I love this color on her. She always has a way of being sexy and feminine at the same time

Pink- I don't know if Willow has changed her outlook on her personal style, but I just love it when Pink dresses this way. You can still tell she can kick your ass if she wanted to, but she is becoming more girly and I think it suits her

Taylor Swift- well as annoying as she is, she knows what works for her. She's able to rock a sheath dress and she always looks good in metallics.

Worst Dressed:

Cyndi Lauper-ok, I understand that this is her "signature" but I mean come on Cyndi, can't you lose the cape- you're 60 years old already, You still can rock your own style but not over do it. Its not the 80s anymore.

Sara Barielles-Now, I don't HATE this, but this high low hem is too drastic, it either should've been a cocktail dress for a floor length dress. It kind of reminds me of a dress that Ginner Goodwin wore as Snow White in Once Upon A time- also I'll give her credit for wanting to add a pop of color with the all white, but I don't think she should've been too matchy matchy with her clutch and shoes.

Tia Carrere-What is with the jacket!? It just ruins it. I know the Grammys are a little more casual but then she shouldn't have worn the dress.

Zendaya-I know she's what 18? But come on... it's just wrong on so many levels. I just feel like she's trying too hard to break her disney image