It's been a while...

I promise I'm still alive! Ha ha, just been VERY busy the past few weeks, mostly because my work schedule has been crazy and all over the place. Which, by the way, I do not like one bit, but there's not really anything I could do about it, unfortunately. Anyway, update time!

First of all, I'm soo glad it's finally getting into the cooler fall months! Definitely my favorite time of year. :) I've been shopping LOTS lately, lol, and got some new jeans, sweaters, and pretty much all the other essentials for when it gets colder outside. My favorite thing I bought, though, would have to be my boots! They're mid-calf length, have a bit of a heel, and are biker boots! Also, I got them at Payless for about $30. This is what they look like:

I absolutely love them! Especially since I've been wearing a lot of skinny jeans/jeggings lately...these look really great worn over those, no matter what top I'm wearing.

Second, and this one is kind of random...I'm pretty sure I talked about going to see "The Help" back in a previous post. Well, I've been reading the book, and it's awesome. I definitely recommend it to everyone. :)

Third (also random): I've been trying to eat healthier and exercise more here lately. Back in January, after I was finished with RN school and the holiday season was over, I started doing that, and between the months of January and August, I lost almost 30 pounds! Very proud of myself for that, and I really like how I look...but I would like to lose another 20, because that will be at least 2 pant sizes down, which is where I feel like I need to be. I know it'll be difficult with the holiday season fast approaching, but I'm doing it the healthy way like I did before, so I'm sure it'll work. I'll try to keep updated on that.

Now the fourth thing that's new with me...I got a new phone! And...it's an iPhone 4. :) I LOVE it, and I've only had it for 3 days. The phone I had previously was a HTC Droid Eris. It was okay, but in my opinion, Android phones have nothing on the iPhone!

And now for the last thing, and I definitely saved the best for last. :) I'm dating a new guy! We've been seeing each other for about a month, but we "talked" on and off for nearly a year and a half before that. I'll have to write more about him and how we started dating in a separate post. He's amazing, and I'm definitely falling hard for him. :) He makes me sooo happy! And yes, he has a name, ha ha. His name is Mat. :)

I do believe that is it for now. Sorry for not posting much lately, but like I said, my work schedule has been crazy! Hopefully from now on I can write at least a couple of times a week, but we'll see.

xoxo, Brittany

Jeggings! And some other stuff...

So I went shopping with my twin sister today, who was needing to find a dress to wear to our cousin's wedding next weekend. While she looked through the dresses, I decided to look through the other clothes and see if there was anything I wanted to try on and possibly buy later. During my search through the racks of cute new fall shirts, I came across some jeggings. Up until a couple of months ago, I was much heavier (and 2 sizes bigger) than I am now, so when jeggings first became popular, there was no way I was going to wear them. However, losing weight does all kinds of things for your confidence levels. And even though I'm still a couple of sizes away from where I want to be, I have a new love of clothes that I wouldn't even dream of trying on a few months ago. So anyway, I picked up a pair of the jeggings in my size and headed to the dressing room. And let me tell you...these are the most comfortable pants I've ever put on! Yes they're denim, but I understand now what my little sister (who is tiny and can wear anything, ha ha) meant by saying they feel like pajamas. Because honestly, that's what they feel like. And now I'm very excited about pay day this week so I can go and buy those jeggings! Here's a picture of me in them. :)

Other things I love about this picture/my outfit:

1. That purple shirt...you can't tell because of the angle I'm standing at, but the sleeves have cutouts at the shoulders. It's also kinda loose on me at the top, and tends to slide to one side/fall off my shoulder a little which I really like. :)
2. My sparkly butterfly ring, because it's fun!
3. Awesome aviator sunglasses perched on my head.
4. My necklace...it's got lots of different colors in it, and kind of reminds me of candy. :)
5. The fact that even though I only got four hours of sleep today (I worked last night), you can't really tell in this picture...and in my opinion, I look fabulous. :)

And in case anyone wants to know, the things just listed came from a store called Rue 21, and the jeggings are at Maurices.

Other fun things that I found while we were out shopping: awesome biker boots, dressy black ankle booties, purple moccasins, a few great jackets, and lots of pretty jewelry. After we were done shopping, we were both thirsty, so my sister got a vanilla Italian cream soda and I got a caramel frappe! Perfect ending to a shopping trip, I think. :)

Also, we had IHOP take-out for dinner...it was delicious! And I ended my day with sitting on the pull-out sofa bed with my little sister (who is spending the night tonight), just talking, listening to music, and looking at things online that we want.

Overall, I had a wonderful day, despite the lack of sleep. Speaking of, I do believe it's time for me to catch up on some of that. Goodnight! :) xoxo, Brittany

What I've been up to!

This is an update of sorts, and a short review of a couple new products I've bought recently.

Last weekend, my sisters and I FINALLY saw The Help! And oh my goodness, it was a WONDERFUL movie! I'm not gonna say anything about it because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I will say this: go see it...tonight! Ha ha. I hope to get to see it again, and I will be buying the book. I will also add this to my movie collection when it comes out on DVD. :) It was seriously one of the best movies I've ever seen, and I highly recommend it.

Okay, now for a short review. Like always, I don't even know if anyone actually reads this blog lol, but I'm gonna pretend that people do, just because it makes me feel better about spending time to type these posts up, ha ha. Alright, I'm sure a lot of people have heard about the DermaNew microdermabrasion system. I ordered one after seeing several positive reviews on it on Youtube, and I got mine in the mail last week. I've been using it pretty much every day, and it has made such a huge difference in my acne and the overall appearance of my skin. This is what it looks like...

And in case you were wondering, I got it from Beauty Choice.

In my last post, I mentioned the L'Oreal Double Extend Tubes mascara that I had recently bought. I've been using it for a few days now and LOVE it! It definitely makes my lashes look longer, and it's super-easy to apply and take off. I'm also still loving my Urban Decay Naked palette...been using it every day since I got it, ha ha!

Something else that I got last week is from iVi Scents. I bought the limited edition Kandee Johnson Birthday Cake Collection, which includes sugar scrub, body butter, and soap. These are the best-smelling bath products I've ever used, and they're so much better for your skin than a lot of other stuff is, because iVi Scents makes their products from non-toxic ingredients, and uses as many natural ingredients as possible. I love that, because I definitely do not enjoy putting harmful chemicals onto my skin. And the smell...I just want to eat all of this stuff because it smells so good, ha ha. Anyway, this is what the soap looks like:

And the sugar scrub looks like this:

And finally, the body butter:

The Kandee Johnson Collection is a limited edition set, but I just checked on the iVi Scents website and everything is still available...and the soap and sugar scrub are at discounted prices right now. The Birthday Cake scent will be available whenever, but if you're a Kandee fan like I am and want this set, I recommend getting it soon. :)

And oh my gosh, I can't believe I didn't say this first: I GOT A NEW CAR LAST FRIDAY!!! :D It's a Nissan Versa, and I absolutely LOVE it! It is a very pretty color called Arctic Blue. Here is a picture for ya!

Isn't it just adorable?! Yes, it's a cute car that gets good gas mileage, but it's also ALL MINE! Ever since I've been driving, I've had to share a car with my twin sister. And now I have a brand-new car that's my own. Love. :)

Not sure what I'm gonna be doing tonight. My little sister is coming over, so I'm sure we'll find something to do, even if it's just ordering pizza and watching a movie on Netflix. Hope you all have a wonderful day!
xoxo, Brittany

My Favorites: Beauty Product Edition

So, here it is! Another list of some of my favorite things, but this time with beauty products (make-up and hair stuff).

First is make-up, and I'm going to go in order of when I put them on...makes the most sense, right? Ha ha. Okay, so, the first thing I put on when I'm doing my make-up is face primer. I use Sephora Smoothing Primer or Benefit "that gal" brightening face primer. They both do a pretty good job of keeping my make-up in place. Only difference really is that the Sephora one gives a "slicker" feel to my face than the Benefit one. After primer is, of course, foundation. Lately I've been using the Covergirl Natureluxe foundation in 310 (flax). I absolutely love this stuff. The foundation is very silky and smooth on my face, even when I'm in a hurry and don't have time to put primer on.

In the hotter, more humid summer months (that seem to last forever in Arkansas, lol) I will use a tinted moisturizer if I know I'm going to be outside a lot, or if I'm at the beach or lake and just want a little bit of coverage. My two favorites are Covergirl CG Smoothers tinted moisturizer in fair to light and Philosophy Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer in light to medium. I like to have 2 different colors like this because once I have a nice tan (which usually doesn't take long) the "fair to light" colors aren't dark enough for me.

I do use a concealer under my eyes, and another on any blemishes I have. The product I use for undereye circles is Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Tinted Anti-Dark-Circle roller. It is amazing, and I think it's starting to lighten up my dark circles. The concealer I use for blemishes is the Physician's Formula concealer twins in yellow/light. I use the light side, and occasionally will use the yellow and light on top of the Garnier under my eyes, just when I'm sleep-deprived and need extra coverage.

After foundation and concealer, I use some kind of powder. My favorites right now are BareMinerals powder in fairly light, and Make-Up Forever HD powder. The BareMinerals is good if I need just a bit of coverage, or if I'm going to be spending a lot of time outside because it has SPF in it. The HD powder, however, is awesome. It feels like silk powder on your face. It's very translucent and colorless, and to me it doesn't give that heavy feeling that a lot of other powders do.

Following powder, I use bronzer to contour my face (under my cheekbones and on my temples). The bronzer I'm using right now is Hard Candy So Baked Bronzer in Tropics. It's a good color for my skin tone, and it does what I want it to. After that, I use a highlighter on the tops of my cheekbones. I always use a cream and then a powder to set it. I just got Urban Decay cream highlighter in Sin, and it is beautiful! For the powder highlighter, I've been using BareMinerals mineral veil in Feather Light. It's pretty. :) I then use a blush right along my cheekbone, kind of between where I've put the bronzer and highlighter. It sounds weird, but it works and looks good. The blush I have at the moment is Clinique Blushing Blush in Smoldering Plum. It's a really pretty dark pink color.

Next is eyes! I LOVE eye shadow, and I think it's safe to say that next to lip gloss, eye shadow is my favorite make-up product to buy. For everyday, I like a neutral color. Lately I've been using Covergirl Eye Enhancers Trio in Cafe Au Lait. However, I just got this yesterday:

One word for this: LOVE! And that's after using it just once! I can't wait to play with it some more and come up with different color combinations and looks. :) Urban Decay makes another palette that is one of my favorites, and that is the Alice in Wonderland palette. I'm not sure if it's still available, because I'm pretty sure it was a special thing just for the movie back when it came out. However, you might still be able to find unused ones for sale on eBay.

Some other eye shadows that I like are Clinique's Color Surge eye shadow duo in twilight mauve and brandied plum. These two colors actually came with my Blushing Blush in Plum, as a small palette. I got it in a gift set a few months ago. These purple colors are fun for when I want to do something different with my eyes. Another brand that I think makes pretty good palettes at a wonderful price is ELF. My two favorites from them are the Beauty Eye Manual-Smoky Eye Edition, and the 32 Colors Eye Shadow Palette.

To keep all of these colors in place on my lids, I always use an eye shadow primer. I like Too Faced Shadow Insurance, but my favorite is Urban Decay Eye Shadow Primer Potion. The Too Faced one does its job by keeping my eye shadow on all day (or night), but the Urban Decay one does that, plus makes every color you put on top of it look absolutely fabulous. 

After my eye shadow, I use eyeliner, unless I'm in a big hurry and don't have time, ha ha. My favorites are Rimmel London Exaggerate waterproof eyeliner in Noir, Maybelline Eye Studio gel eyeliner in Blackest Black, and a new favorite, L'Oreal Extra Intense liquid pencil eyeliner in Carbon Black. I literally bought this last night and came home and tried it, and it is wonderful! It goes on very smoothly like a liquid or gel liner, but it's super easy to put on like a pencil liner. 

After I'm done with my eyeliner, I curl my lashes. I use Revlon's eyelash curler, which is amazing. After that, I put on my mascara. I've got a couple of favorites. First is Maybelline One By One in Blackest Black. It looks sooo good on my lashes! I was lucky enough to be born with naturally long lashes...however, since I'm also naturally a blonde, the ends of my long lashes don't show up very well. This mascara darkens and thickens my lashes, and makes them look really nice. In fact, the other night at work I had this on, and one of the nurses complimented me on how long and pretty my eyelashes were. :) Another favorite of mine is Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash (I think the color is just Black). It's great and I love it and can't say enough good things about it. I also like Benefit Bad Gal Lash mascara, for exactly the same reasons, ha ha. Last night I bought L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes mascara in Blackest Black. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but I'm excited to get to use it today! Supposedly it makes you look like you have lash extensions...and even though I do have long lashes, I don't see anything wrong with making them look longer lol. 

I have also recently started defining my eyebrows. I like Maybelline Define-A-Brow in light blonde, and have been using that. However, my Naked Palette came with a color called, well, Naked, and I used it on my brows yesterday...it worked really well! 

And now we move on to lips. My absolute favorite lip products are MAC lip liner in Subculture, and MAC creme sheen glass in Fashion Whim. They give the perfect pink color to my lips, and it goes with whatever clothes and make-up I already have on. If I want to do something darker, though, I like Revlon Just Bitten lipstain + balm in Beloved. It's kind of a pinkish-plum color and very pretty. I also like Bare Escentuals Buxom Lips lip gloss in Dolly. It's a dark pink and feels so nice on my lips...it's also mint flavored, which I love. For lip balm, I love Eos in lemon drop and Burt's Bees. Both are amazing products.

Okay, I believe that is all for make-up. Now I just have a few hair products that I'm going to mention quickly. These are all products that I use after I've washed and conditioned my hair. The first is Organix Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil. I use this after towel-drying my hair, before I blow dry it. I can't even begin to describe how soft and healthy this makes my hair feel. I know I do a lot of damage to my hair when I straighten or curl it, but I feel like this argan oil just makes it un-damaged again. It's awesome. Before straightening my hair, I us Got 2b Guardian Angel flat iron balm straightening spray. I can definitely tell a difference in the health of my hair since I've started using this as opposed to when I didn't use any kind of heat protectant on it. Another product I like that I'm not even sure is available anymore is Bed Head A Hair Stick for Cool People. It's a texturizing stick, and I just rub a little on my fingers and run them through the ends of my hair after I've straightened it. This stuff works especially well at keeping my bangs under control when they just don't want to stay in place, which is more often than I'd like, ha ha.

And now I'm gonna mention my top 3 favorite perfumes right now. For summer, I like to use a body splash. I love Dream Angels Heavenly and PINK with a splash Fresh and Clean, both from Victoria's Secret. The Dream Angels Heavenly I actually use year-round because I love the scent so much, but in the cooler months I switch to the perfume formulation rather than the body splash. I also love, for summer, Forever Sunshine body splash from Bath and Body Works. It smells like all the best things about summer: sunshine, flowers, fruits. Love it.

One more thing and then I'm done, ha ha! The Aveeno face wash that I was using made my face break out after like, 2 days. So needless to say, I am not using that anymore, and have instead switched back to using my Murad Clarifying Cleanser. I have a whole bottle of this left, so I figured I would use it up instead of wasting it, since I did pay quite a bit of money for it. Also, just to clear up something from my last "favorites" post, the foot scrub I use is Peppermint and Plum scented.

I realize this was a really long post...sorry! Oh well, I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it anyway. I'll write again soon! Have a great day! xoxo, Brittany

Review of my weekend!

So, despite the unpleasant events from Friday night, the rest of my weekend was pretty much awesome. :) Saturday morning I didn't do much except a little bit of cleaning and a lot of sitting around my apartment being bored, ha ha. That afternoon, however, was much more exciting. My little sister came over after she got off work, and we went to one of our favorites, Chick-Fil-A, for a late lunch. After that we got in her little car, and I drove us the hour it takes to get to the nearest mall...one of the things I dislike the most about living in a small town is having no mall any nearer than that.

We get to the mall and decide to look around for a little bit before we start actually shopping for what we went there for in the first place, which was lingerie for our cousin's lingerie party that was today (she's getting married next month.) As we walked through Dillard's (a big department store, for those that don't know) I remembered that a few weeks back when at the mall, I noticed that there had recently been a MAC counter added. Dillard's, as I said, is pretty big...like, 3 stories big. And nearly half of one floor is all make-up and perfume counters (well I might be exaggerating a bit on the "nearly half" part, but they do take up quite a bit of space). In the past it's just been Estee Lauder, Clinique, Kiehl's, Origins, Clarins, and a few others. Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I noticed the MAC counter. I've been wearing make-up for around 10 years, and I've wanted MAC make-up since I first found out they existed (which, truthfully, was only 2 or 3 years after I started wearing make-up.) So of course I had to buy something...and I LOVE what I bought!

The lip liner is in Subculture, and the cremesheen glass is in Fashion Whim. Together, they create the most perfect pink shade on my lips. :) Here's a pic to show it on me.

It's not the best-quality picture, but you get the idea. I have plans to go back very soon and purchase several more items, including but not limited to: eye liner in Smolder, a lipstick, eyeshadow, and whatever else I decide to get. :)

The rest of the afternoon at the mall with my sister was fun. We found what we were looking for, and then headed home. She spent the night with me (aww :3) and then we (being my sisters and me) got up this morning for church. We had every intention of getting there early enough for Sunday school, which is always great, but sadly that didn't happen. Oh well, there's always next week, and we did make the service, which was wonderful today and just what I needed to start my week with. :)

After church today, my little sister had to go to work. However, my twin was with us too, and so we went to my grandparents' house for lunch, like we always do. We stayed there for a couple of hours, then came home and got ready for the lingerie party. Then we went to that, and it was a lot of fun. We missed our nighttime church service, but made it back to the church in time for a meeting we had to attend. After that, Bethany and I went to Colton's Steakhouse and had a nice dinner together. :)

And after that, we came home, and just sat around in our own separate spaces watching YouTube videos or whatever (at least, that's what I was doing lol).

I've got a very sleepy little dog curled up in my lap, and I'm getting tired as well, so I do believe it's time for me to go to bed. If you're going to bed as well, then I hope you have sweet dreams! And if not, then have a good day, wherever you are. :) xoxo, Brittany

Here Comes the Sun...

Well actually, the sun's been out for a good few hours now...I just wanted to put a Beatles reference in this post, ha ha! I am determined to make today a good day, and nothing says "good day" to me like great music. When my baby sister gets off work, she's gonna come over and we're going to go to the mall! I'me excited. :) Anyway, back to the music. If you look at my full profile, I've got a few of my favorite bands listed there. Most of them don't have much in common other than the genre (rock/pop and indie is what I usually listen to) but they do have this in common: great lyrics and awesome beats. I woke up this morning in a Foster the People mood, so that's what I'm listening to right now. Love them! I've also been listening to LIGHTS a lot lately, who I also love. And of course, The Beatles, Lykke Li, Florence + the Machine, Owl City, Relient K, Snow Patrol, and all of the Grey's Anatomy soundtracks. I know that last one sounds weird, but all of the soundtracks have great music on them...and I love the show, so that's an added bonus. :)

So, I still don't know if anyone is reading my blog...but if you are and happened to read my post last night before I edited it, please read it again. Yes, I edited my post. When I wrote that last night, I was in a not-so-good mood...then I woke up this morning and realized how immature it was for me to trash-talk my sister so much on the Internet. So I changed some things in it.

Well, I guess that's about it for now. If you have been reading my blog, tweet me @brittanyl2010 and let me know. I'd love to hear from you! xoxo, Brittany

Quick update before bed!

Well, maybe not so quick...haha. We will see.

I've been unable to post the last few days because of Internet issues, but thankfully those are fixed now. I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night, which means I was pretty much a zombie until sometime Thursday afternoon. The sleep deprivation feeling is the only thing I don't like about working nights. Well, that and the fact that my sister who I live with seems to always want to have disagreements with me right after I wake up and am about to get ready for another night of work.

Take Tuesday night, for example. It was my second night of work, which is sometimes the hardest because I've already worked one and know I still have one left. Anyway, the conversation topic right when I wake up is almost always what do I want for dinner. My sister usually will cook dinner for us or go get something before I have to go to work. I really don't want to get into details, because I think that's immature. Even though this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want, I still have to draw the line at getting into personal details about arguments with my sister.But basically, I just wanted a cheeseburger and fries for dinner...I don't eat fast food more than a couple of times a week, so I didn't think it was a big deal. My sister didn't want to get me a cheeseburger, I got frustrated and was already tired, and yeah, I cried. Couldn't help it, because I've always been like that. If I'm sad, extremely angry, frustrated, or any other unpleasant emotion, I just break down into tears. And she knows this! So why she called me a picky little child, I don't know. But anyway, my little sister was there and told her to stop being so mean to me (love you Hannah!) and she eventually went to Burger King, and I got my junior cheeseburger and fries.

Also...I've been excited about having a girls night with my sisters since about 2 weeks ago when we planned it. Even though Bethany and I live together and Hannah is just a short drive away, we all have pretty busy schedules and hardly ever have time to go out. So we planned to go out to eat at our favorite sushi restaurant in town, shop a little bit, and go to the movies and see The Help. And this part will get a little more personal, just because. If you knew my sister (Bethany) you would know that she has a reputation for being late or barely on time EVERYWHERE she goes. It's awful. And I'll be the first to tell you that I used to be that way, too, but I've grown up a bit since then and don't do that anymore. So, the "early" showing of The Help was supposed to start at 6:45. We were going to go eat, go see the movie, and then shop. She wasn't ready to walk out the door until 6:20. I told her that there was no way we would have time to eat before the movie, and that maybe we should just go to the late one instead...it started at 9:30, and it's not like we live very far away, so we would still be home at a decent-ish time. She agreed to that, and I said that we should eat, shop, and then go to the movie. She needed to stop at Bath and Body Works to get something, so we went there and then went to Sushi Cafe, where we met Hannah for dinner.

This is where it gets bad. When we're almost done eating, Bethany decides that maybe it's not a good idea to go to the movies tonight, since she has to get up "really early" in the morning to go see her boyfriend. Needless to say, I got pretty mad, and told her that it was best not to talk to me at that moment. And we didn't go to the movie.

So we did our shopping and came home. I'm still kind of ticked off, because I got all dolled up and even wore my new wedge heels...just to eat sushi and shop for some beauty products? No, just no. I'm going to a bigger city that's about an hour away tomorrow with Hannah...we're going to the mall to get a gift for our cousin, who's getting married soon. Anyway, I think I might just take Hannah to the movies, if she wants to go.

Okay, I think I've ranted enough for one night. My next post will be much better, I promise. :) I'm thinking of doing another "favorites" post, but with make-up and hair products. I'll also try to post a better pic of myself sometime in the near future.

Have a lovely night! xoxo, Brittany