NYE 2012: Sparkle in style with Dress Therapy

I don't know about you guys, but I love the fun and excitement of dressing up on New Years Eve. There's something about the new year that makes you want to wear something just a little bit special. Let's face it. When you look especially gorgeous it can totally change your whole attitude. And there is nothing like a new dress to put that spring back in your step!

If you frequently shop elegant pageant dresses or cocktail dresses chances are Dress Therapy may already be on your radar. I know I have been lusting after *this* dress for a minute now. If you have not heard of Dress Therapy yet- Go. NOW. lol. I just love their selection of formal wear and undergarments that work well under said formal wear. Their prices on Spanx are slightly less expensive than in the department store so this is also something a girl can appreciate. The many prom dresses available would dazzle even the pickiest of teenage girls...and it makes me sooo jealous this website didn't exist when I was prom age!!! They also carry several styles of heels, many of them embellished with chunky glitter or rhinestones-both of which are very popular right now.

 Dress Therapy has so many beautiful dresses it can be a little intimidating trying to find your perfect dress.
So for this post I enlisted the help of a few stylish friends and came up with the ultimate list of must have NYE dresses. I also put together 3 makeup looks that I feel go great with these dresses and just NYE in general. So without further ado here are my NYE looks:

"The not-so-classic LBD"


Available for purchase HERE

Available for purchase HERE

I cannot say enough good things about these two Sherri Hill dresses. Neither are too short yet they are just short enough to be daring. They are fun, sparkly, and both are flattering styles. The gems on the top dress are just amazing. The second dress is what I'd describe as sophisticated fun. Both of these stunners would make any gals NYE a night to remember.

The makeup look I chose for these dresses is kind of  'old Hollywood glam meets gothic'. I used a lot of the champagne-y and warm highlight shades in my Tarte for True Blood Pallet, along with a golden toned blush, winged black eyeliner, thick eyelashes and a deep purple lip. Deep purple lipstick is popular this winter I have noticed. It's edgy and makes your teeth appear whiter. I'm digging the trend.

Remember to keep the eyeshadow soft and light since you're wearing such a dramatic lip color.


The 'Pop of color'

Available for purchase HERE



Available for purchase HERE

I picked these dresses because they both have a lot of deep metallic color and sparkle to them. I love wines, purples, and peacocky shades of blue for this winter. They are so flattering against many skintones and yet are still so vibrant. I love that Dress Therapy has a better selection of plus sized dresses than you will find elsewhere.

The makeup I chose for this look was a shimmering wine colored eye paired with a matching lip, pale pink blush, and just a little bit of glitter. I started out with a super sparkly deep brown from a company called Jujubeads called 'Dark Soul'. Again I used my Tarte pallet but this time I went for V. and Waitress. Then I used an amazing sparkling white shade from My Beauty Addiction called Snow Globe as a highlight. I finished it off by packing on Abigail Boutique Designs Big Papa. I blended it out and then packed on more Big Papa with a moist brush. I made my own lip gloss by mixing a tiny bit of Big Papa with a clear balm. Adding a little bit of glitter is totally optional.

And last but not least... 'the ultimate NYE party dress'.



Available for purchase HERE



Available for purchase HERE



They're sexy. They're silver. They're sparkly! What more could you ask for really? Both dresses have sweetheart necklines which tend to compliment voluptuous bustlines as well as smaller busts. Both of these dresses just glimmer and for me... that's what a New Years Eve look is really about. Wear one of these only if you're prepared to have all eyes on you ;)

The makeup I chose was easy. A simple silver and black smokey eye. I used the two sparkly black shades in my Tarte pallet to make my crease, Then I packed on Abigail's Boutique Designs Hidden truth all over under the crease and on 2/3rd of the eyelid. I used this shade because it adds an iridescent navy blue sheen as well as some gold tones. The gold tones give the silver on top of it sort of an antiqued color. I packed on Starchild from the Tarina Tarantino Starchild Pallet all over the inner eye and lid. I finished my eyes off using MBA Snow Globe and ABD Ice Queen as a browbone highlight. I kept my blush and lipstick a peachy nude shade with some gold tones.

There you have it! Perfect party dresses for your NYE 2012 bash. Which dress are you dying for?? Get to it and check out Dress Therapy out HERE




In accordance with FTC disclosure policies I need to mention that I received compensation for this post. All opinions stated are my own and in no way influenced by receiving compensation. 

Work to play: Purple eyes in 3 steps

I've been slacking on my makeup looks again lately. So..I figured now would be a good time to put up the 1st in a series of tutorials that features build-able looks that will take your eye makeup from day to night.

These are meant to be easy, simple and take only a few minutes for those times when you want to change your makeup but do not have much time or many products to work with.

First up is: Purple



1. Start with clean primed eyes.

2. Use a soft brown toned purple to define your crease and "V" area of the eye. I used the color 'Gargamel' from Abigail's Boutique Designs because it looks more or less purple depending on how much you blend it. I made the crease slightly deeper in shade and just blended it down over the lid a little bit.

 

3. Take a highlight shade ( I used Ice queen) and pat it into the inner corners of your eyelids, and sweep over your brow bones, For a shiner, more defined look you can also use a little to highlight the center of your eyelids. Finish it off with one coat of black mascara.

A perfect natural look great for work or school.

Okay now you want to kick it up a notch and add in a little bit more color, but you still want to keep your color light enough for daytime wear. No problem!

1. Take a slightly damp (NOT WET) brush and use a shimmery mauve-toned purple. I used Princess Purple in this look all over the lid and blended up into the crease. Using a damp brush will unleash the hidden shine within this color, and make the existing colors shimmer. Use a small angled brush to line underneath your eye as well.

2. Take a light lavender shade and blend it from the inner corner  into the center of the lid. I used Smurfling from the smurf collection- which is actually a pretty sparkly color so I just used a little bit. You can use it dry for a more subtle shine or wet if you'd like to see more of the sparkles. I used mine dry here.

3. Add on another coat of black mascara and you're good to go!

Last Part! You're ready for a  night on the town and need more of a purple punch....


1. Use a deep blueish purple shade to deepen the crease and the "V" of your eyelid. I chose Sonic Boom and blended it well with a fluffy brush using a circular motion.

2. Using a black liquid or gel liner make a very thin winged line above your lashline. Skip lining the bottom since we already have purple eyeshadow acting as an eyeliner there.

 

3. Define your brows, add a pair of false lashes or another coat of mascara and you're ready for whatever the night has in store for you!

finished :)

The top 10 reasons you should shop at small independant online businesses this black friday

• You can stay at home in your pajamas and shop to your hearts content! No lines or rude shoppers to deal with.

•  You'll end up with unique gifts that aren't available in department stores.

•  Many stores offer free gift wrapping all year long... save your money & time!

•  They offer more generous sales than major retailers so you will get more than your moneys worth.     

•   Small businesses really care a lot about having stellar customer service because that is how they grow their customer base. You will almost be guaranteed to have a great and problem-free shopping experience. 

•     Have green animal-loving friends or a relative with allergies? Many small cosmetics companies are committed to 100% vegan mineral makeup made with high quality ingredients that haven't been tested on animals.

•   Want a customized gift?? No problem. Lots of artisans craft lovely personalized items perfect for that special someone in your life. 

•  Making a purchase intended as a gift for someone is a great way to help the businesses you love to grow! Chances are that if someone loves your gift they may want to make a purchase of their own. 

• Most importantly you are helping a small business owner ( many of whom are single parents, military spouses, college students and families just like yours) pay for their holidays. You'll get the satisfaction of knowing that you may have helped a mother to pay for her kid's Christmas presents or for a broke college student's bills that month. 

 In these tough economic times I feel it's more important than ever to support our indie shop owners and local businesses. For many people this is their lively-hood. Their shops put food on the table. Not only that, but you almost always end up saving money. I was spending at least $70 a month at Sephora before I started doing most of my shopping at smaller businesses. I wasn't getting nearly as many products as I am now, and I wasn't always happy with my customer service experience (although I would like to say that Sephora & the MAC counter in the Franklin Park Mall in Toledo, Ohio has some of the nicest employees ever!). For a mere $25-$30 I can get an entire eye makeup collection from Abigail's Boutique Designs whereas $25 will get you 1-2 high end eyeshadows if you're lucky. Who doesn't like saving money and getting better stuff?

In addition a lot of independent artisans use their skills to help others in need, not only during the holiday season..but all year round. In fact just last month I told you about all the wonderful auctions put on by TeamPinkEye to benefit breast cancer awareness. April's Army, a disgruntled group of hilarious crafters assembled by Regretsy-is constantly donating to charity. Often times to other etsy sellers and small indie business owners who have fallen on hard times. People who commit themselves to doing things like that on a regular basis really kind of restore some of my faith in humanity. So yeah, I'm pretty sure i'd rather visit their etsy stores this Friday instead of Walmart. It just makes sense.



Here are some of my top picks for practical gift ideas from a few of my favorite online shops :)



For the wild gal in your life:

Mango Tango Smoothie collection available for $15 at www.abigalsboutiquedesigns.com

Available from Pretty Addictions HERE

Available from My Sweet Escape HERE

For your girlfriend who loves earrings:

Available from Ma'iingan Treasures HERE

Available from Addie LaDawn HERE or HERE

For your favorite teacher/neighbor/work friend:

Cinnamon Sandalwood Bath Bombs BOGO this Friday at Abigail's Boutique Designs 

For the socially conscience:

 

 

 

$5 of each purchase of this collection is donated to the APBA. Available from Abigail's Boutique Designs.

$10 of each sale of this $15 collection will be donated to lung cancer research. Available HERE

ALL proceeds are being donated to the education fund of two little boys who lost their father this year. Available HERE

For your favorite vampire-obsessed teen:

 

 

Rag Doll's Bath & Beauty Breaking Dawn collection. Available HERE and HERE

JujuBead's Jewelry Vampire's Desire earcuff. Available HERE and HERE

For the little ones:

CC Bums cloth diapers & accessories available HERE and HERE

Resin vanity pendants available HERE and HERE

Ed Hardy Bow from Abigail's Boutique Designs. Bows will be BOGO black friday AND cyber Monday!

So there's my little wishlist for you guys. What is on your wishlist this year?

RagDoll's Bath & Beauty Thanksgiving Dinner Collection review

Rag Doll's Bath & Beauty Thanksgiving Dinner collection sample set

Before I start my review I'd just like to mention that I've been having some major issues saving and/or publishing my blog posts lately. I don't what it is about Blogger, but this website just does not like me. Hopefully you'll see a few more posts popping up today and tomorrow. And if I post a ridiculous amount of blogs at once..don't be mad please lol.

Anyways on to the review....

I received this lovely set last month while all the crazy foster cat stuff was going on so it took me a few weeks to dig into these babies and really use them enough to form an opinion. My initial impression was that the theme and labels were really fun. As I'm sure you have already figured out yourself this collection is based on popular dishes served during Thanksgiving. All of the labels show a little picture of each food the color is based on. It's such a unique and cute idea and I thought it was all executed really well.

sparkle-tastic!

The collection consists of six gorgeous colors that feel very soft and are incredibly blend-able. I found all of them to be very pigmented except for the pale off-white highlight shade called "Mashed Potatoes". They definitely have a lot of staying power when used over primer and/or base. Even simply applied dry the majority of shades are very vibrant.

So what's on the menu you ask?

Pumpkin Pie- A bright pumpkin orange filled with shimmer and golden-orange glitter. This is surprisingly wearble for how bright the color is. It blends very well with the 2 brown shades in the collection.

Mashed Potatoes- An off-white shade that is almost a very pale taupe. Subtle shimmer when dry over
primer, and more shimmery when worn wet. I'm not a big fan of this shade over white base though.

Green Bean Casserole- A beautiful shimmer packed gold toned green. This color is AMAZING. You need to see it in person.

Cranberries- A cranberry red filled with silvery glitter. When worn dry this color is a lighter shade of red, but when worn wet it's a lot deeper, and even more sparkly.

Turkey- An almost metallic light brown with subtle shimmer. I love this color mixed with Mashed Potatoes because I think it brings out both of their shine and shimmer.

Gravy- A Dark brown filled with bronze-ish glitter. I really liked how this shade is so complementary to all the other shades.

Top row used over NYX white eyeshadow base and the bottom row is all dry, no primer except the second swatch of Cranberries-which is seen wet.

Turkey, Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

Pumpkin, Cranberries, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes

Cranberies used wet and Mashed Potatoes used wet

This photo is a little misleading. Cranberries is very red, not too pink.

Overall I'd have to say that I really like this collection. I think it has a good mix of shades that are fairly versatile, and can be worn in a variety of ways to create subtle or dramatic looks.  I would definitely buy a full size of this collection. Even if you're a little timid about wearing red or orange I think it's still worth trying out because the brighter shades really are still very wearable for anyone.

Other stuff of note? I thought Rag Doll's Bath & Beauty had really fast shipping. Everything is packaged really well, ingredient lists are readily available, generous sample sizes, active facebook fan page, and just general good overall customer service. I think my only complaint is that her shop is on Artfire BUT when asked she kindly paypal invoiced me because I was uncomfortable using AF sooo... more brownie points for good customer service there.

My tutorial using this collection can be seen here:

But wait there's more!

I never reviewed the Nightmare Before Christmas collection. Now I'm not going to make you sit through the longest blog post ever so I'll keep it short and sweet. I did not expect color that matte and highly pigmented to blend that well at all. I was really surprised with how well they actually did blend. I was really pleased with the set overall. The glitter was freaking awesome!

glitter!!

The set came packaged in a little black mesh bag with a tiny skull bead, and was wrapped in candy corn paper. Fun!

It's not too late to get these colors! They are currently on sale :)

You can purchase all the colors in this post HERE or HERE 


Hope you all had a great Fall-o-ween :)